Date: Fri 06-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-election-O.J.-

Full Text:

MOUNTAIN for 10/6

I saw several people wandering around Wednesday with blank stares, looking

lost and confused. They were obviously going through O.J. withdrawal. Somehow,

The Young and the Restless just doesn't seem to cut it for them. They want

Judge Ito, Johnnie Cochran, and Marcia Clark, and no bed-hopping,

malaise-afflicted, sybaritic yuppies will do.

Those of you looking for real drama now that the Simpson trial is over may be

driven to look for excitement in the 1995 election campaign in Newtown.

Democratic challenger Earl Smith, Jr, this week decided to raise a few issues

by expressing his discontent with the way the Republican administration has

handled the bypass road through Fairfield Hills, the Main Street sewer line

issue, and the GOP Oktoberfest.

Meanwhile, Republican incumbent Bob Cascella, who is trying fend off Earl's

challenge, issued a proclamation, declaring October 15-21 as Connecticut

Character Counts Week in Newtown. If you aren't sure just what this

celebration will require of you, the proclamation suggest that you promote the

Six Pillars of Character in our youth so they may "leave their part of the

world a better place than they found it." The Six Pillars of Character for

those who may have temporarily forgotten due to the disorienting influence of

the O.J. Simpson trial, are Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility,

Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship.

These issues don't exactly have the fascination-factor of, say, a bloody glove

or the Furhman tapes, but you've got to give Earl and Bob credit for trying.

And I've got to say these things have a lot more to do with our lives than

anything that has gone on in Los Angeles since the Pleistocene Era.

On the whole, elections in Newtown are a lot classier that elections in other

towns, and perhaps the best evidence of that is something completely unseen.

Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats feel compelled to junk up Newtown's

roadsides with campaign signs. In fact, Newtowners are so sensitive to this

kind of visual pollution that most candidates realize that they would probably

lose votes with such signs.

Community Development Director Liz Stocker and her husband, Phil Ziachuk, won

some ribbons recently at the Orange Country Fair. They came home with a red

ribbon, a second prize, for the cherry tomatoes they grew in their "farm

plot," - an 8x10-foot square in their backyard in New Milford. More

impressive, they won a blue ribbon for their green tomato relish called "Z's"

for the first initial of their last names.

Making the relish is a big project. Liz said it takes two days to cut up all

the vegetables and to salt the tomatoes and let them sit overnight. She and

her husband produced four dozen jars of Z's relish from Liz's grandmother's

secret recipe. Friends who have been given jars as gifts have urged the couple

to market it commercially. Liz, if you want drop a jar off at The Bee for me,

I'll be happy to plug the product some more. Is catnip one of the ingredients?

Gary Fetzer remarked at Monday night's Board of Selectmen meeting that he's

had several calls from residents complaining about the advertisement for an

escort service in the police union's public safety awareness booklet. Bob

Cascella quipped that he's just glad it was the police union and not the

police department that sent out the publication.

Rigi Evans says there is a happy ending to the story of the cat that has been

hanging around the Grand Union. The black cat had two litters of kittens which

found homes through the assistance of the employees of Lexington Gardens but

no one seemed to be able to capture the cat. Maureen, one of the checkers at

the Grand Union who often fed the cat, tried for several weeks. Meanwhile,

Spay & Neuter got telephone calls continually from concerned shoppers, some

from as far away as Trumbull.

Finally, Rigi said, one of the fellows on the night crew was able to befriend

the cat and get it into a pet carrier. The cat, by now named "Grand Union,"

was taken to Dr Silverlieb at Mt Pleasant Animal Hospital where it was spayed

and given all its shots.

Best of all, the cat has been adopted and has a home before the winter weather

sets in. The problem of unwanted, abandoned kittens hasn't ended, however.

Rigi said another box full of kittens was found this week next to someone's

mailbox. Spay & Neuter will provide low-cost spay and neuter assistance (call

426-5730) to prevent this problem. But the organization has no facility to

house or care for unwanted cats and kittens, which can't be spayed until they

are at least six months old.

That's it for this week. I've got to go help prop up the Six Pillars of

Character, and I suggest that you do the same. But be sure to be back here in

time to...

Read me again.