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RDGen News

with photo

scholarship fund boosters need

license plate orders by oct 31

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Calling all procrastinators! If you fit the following description, please

respond by October 31.

Newtown Scholarship Association committee members Kathie Trocolla and Bridget

Kellogg are hoping there are at least 100 pokey people out there who have

indicated a strong interest in having the special design "Historic Newtown"

license plate for their cars but haven't yet done anything about it.

The order form might be sitting on the tops of their desks ready to be filled

out, but they just haven't gotten around to doing it yet - although they

definitely plan to. Any day now.

"People are taking the informational fliers we've placed around town. There

must be several hundred out there. But they're not being sent in as quickly as

we'd like," Mrs Trocolla said recently.

The problem is, although there are more than 75 license plate orders that have

come in, there need to be a total of 200 orders before the Department of Motor

Vehicles (DMV) will print the special plate, which is similar in design to the

familiar Long Island Sound plate.

The plate features a specially created, colorful design by Sandy Hook

illustrator Steven Kellogg. A rooster is crowing on top of the flag pole,

surrounded by a stream of stars.

"Once we've got 200, we can place the order. Until then, nobody will be able

to have a plate," Mrs Trocolla added.

There is a one-time charge of $89 to order the "Historic Newtown" license

plate and, for each order that comes in, $24 of the cost is tax-deductible and

will be donated to the Newtown Scholarship Association for the benefit of the

town's graduating seniors.

"Once the plates are out there on Newtown cars, more can be ordered, any time

and in any quantity. If we could get this going, it would be a steady,

long-range money-raiser for the NSA," Bridget Kellogg, fund-raiser committee

co-chair, said.

If the orders don't come in, however, not only will there be no plates, the

scholarship committee will lose out on the money that's already been dedicated

by committed orders, a sum amounting to approximately $1,800, she added.

Mrs Trocolla said she and Mrs Kellogg have spoken to several town groups about

the "Historic Newtown" plate to try to get the word out, and they have placed

the informational fliers in several "people places" throughout town.

She mentioned the Post Office, Newtown Savings Bank on Main Street, the Drug

Center, Sharon's Coffee, the General Store and both town halls (Edmond Town

Hall and Town Hall South) as being places where the order forms could be

picked up.

In the hopes of persuading people to act, Mrs Trocolla and Mrs Kellogg have

set a deadline, October 31, for license plate orders to be sent in.

"It's not written in stone, but we'd like to try to nudge them," into action,

Mrs Trocolla said.

Of course, they'll gladly accept any orders that come in after October 31, she

added, because the "Historic Newtown" license plate fund-raiser is too worthy

an idea to fail.

But the sooner they get 200, the sooner the plate will be driving around town

on people's cars, raising more money to benefit Newtown students.

RDPAGE 1

Register To Vote

The registrars of voters will be in their office on Saturday to register new

voters. The hours will be from 9 am until 3 pm. Their office is located in the

lower level, Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street.

The registrars also will be registering voters in the office on Tuesday, from

9 am until 8 pm. This will be the last day to register to vote in the November

5 presidential election.

For information, call 270-4250.

GENNEWS

Agri-Expo Day

In Hartford

HARTFORD - The first-ever Connecticut Food and Agriculture Exposition will be

held at the State Armory from 10 am to 6 pm on Sunday. There will be 120

exhibits, demonstrations and educational programs with something for everyone.

At 11 am, the cooks in the family will enjoy watching as Lt Gov Jodi Rell and

four of the state's best known chefs create luncheon plates from a selection

of Connecticut grown produce.

The Connecticut Chef's Association and a variety of specialty food companies

will be on hand to give cooking demonstrations, offer samples and provide food

for sale.

Farmin' Fever, a lively audience-participation program meant to educate

children of all ages about food and agriculture, will be performed at 1 and 3

pm. There will be several other hands-on exhibits designed especially for

children and, of course, there will be live animals.

The expo will provide a look at the diversity and depth of Connecticut

agriculture, according to Shirley Ferris, the commissioner of agriculture.

Representatives of the Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station, the

University of Connecticut Extension, Farm Bureau and nurserymen, greenhouse

growers and florists will be among those on hand.

Tickets will be available at the door. Adults, $3; children under 12, free.

Plenty of free parking is available. The armory is located next to the State

Capitol Building, Exit 48 off I-84.

RD GEN NEWS

Police Chief On

Channel 21

Newtown's new police chief, James Lysaght, is the current guest featured on

Dateline Newtown. Hosted by Gary Fetzer, Dateline Newtown is a cable

television program that airs at 8 pm every Monday night on Charter Cable's

Channel 21. This show on the police chief will be on October 21 and October

28.

The new chief talks about his personal and professional background, the

importance of a community getting involved with preventing crime, his

experiences in the town so far, and events that have helped shape his

professional career.

If you have a topic or speaker that you would like to see featured on an

upcoming Dateline Newtown, or you would like to help as a camera person,

write: Dateline Newtown, PO Box 648, Newtown, Conn., 06470.

Candidates Night

At Rotary Club

The Rotary Club of Newtown will hold its annual Candidates Night Monday, at 7

pm, at the Fireside Inn. The public is invited to attend.

Among the candidates at this year's event will be longtime Republican State

Senator Fred Lovegrove and his challenger, Democrat Tom Ganim.

State Rep Julia Wasserman will also be present, along with a handful of other

candidates.