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WAY WE WERE FOR OCTOBER 10, 1997

OCTOBER 13, 1972

Town Counsel Robert Hall reported that Judge Frank Covello has denied the

plaintiffs' motion in the Boyle property suit to prevent the town from

obtaining title to the land on Boggs Hill Road which it intends to use for a

new elementary school. A Certificate of Taking has been issued by the clerk of

the Superior Court and filed on the land records. The neighbors who are

fighting the condemnation of the land still will have an opportunity to appeal

but the town will have the right to enter and use the land in the meantime.

The Planning & Zoning Commission has set November 17 as the date for a public

hearing on the $27 million horse racing track which has been proposed for

Newtown. Since public interest is intense, provision has been made to continue

the hearing on November 18 if necessary. It was also decided to ask town

boards, commissions and officials who have responsibilities in areas which the

track might affect to give the commission written evaluations of the race

track proposal. First Selectman Frank DeLucia visited Monmouth Park Race Track

in Oceanport, N.J., on Thursday and said his trip reinforced his belief that

as the town's largest taxpayer, the race track developers might well expect

town services to match. He said Newtown must decide whether it wants so severe

a change in its way of life as will be caused by construction and operation of

a race track within its boundaries.

The annual reunion of the Hawley family will be at the Hawley Manor Inn in

Newtown on October 14. The annual gathering by the Society of the Hawley

Family began 49 years ago and is among the few remaining reunions still held

on an annual basis although the practice now seems to be having a renewal of

popularity. The period between World War I and World War II was perhaps the

time of greatest popularity for family reunions.

About 50 people attended a public hearing in the Alexandria Room of Edmond

Town Hall on October 5 to review the Community Development Action Plan (CDAP)

report with its coordinators. Mae Schmidle, CDAP coordinator, outlined the

original formation of the group in 1971 and the eight advisory committees in

the areas of public utilities, transportation, economic development,

recreation, environment, municipal government, education and culture, public

safety, housing, and health and social services. Regarding specific CDAP

recommendations, Arthur Spector, a member of the Planning & Zoning Commission,

said the funds are not available at this time to form a sewer commission but

the plan should be implemented when money becomes available. The

recommendation for more walkways in town was strongly approved by those

present. George Grossner was of the opinion that Newtown should try to get

Route 25 put through as soon as possible because it is inevitable and would

only cost more later.

Volunteers from three fire companies fought another blaze at the old dude

ranch, Silver City, off Hanover Road on Thursday afternoon, October 5. It was

the second fire at the complex within a few weeks and is considered

suspicious. Hook & Ladder, Hawleyville and the Botsford tanker responded to

the fire call, finding a large storage barn fully involved with fire and

nearly leveled. A large horse barn about 10 feet away was on fire but the wind

shifted and firefighters were able to save the structure. The firefighters

laid hoses to a pond about a half mile away; 25 firemen were at the scene for

two hours.

Newtown Bee publisher Paul Smith is doing well after suffering a slight stroke

on Sunday night. He is recuperating at his home on Currituck Road.

OCTOBER 10, 1947

Republicans won all the offices in the town election on Monday as 1,835 voters

went to the polls. The closest contest was in the balloting for the office of

first selectman in which the Republican candidate, William W. Holcombe, was

pitted against A. Fenn Dickinson, nominated by the Democrats. Mr Holcombe won

by a margin of only 32 votes because many party members apparently crossed the

line: Mr Dickinson outran the average for his party's candidates by 108. For

the important posts of assessors, George H. Tower was elected for the full

term, and Frank H. Strasburger for two years to fill the vacancy created by

the resignation of Harry Greenman. Split tickets prolonged the vote counting

so that the final returns were not determined until after 10:30 pm. There were

357 split tickets this year compared to 270 last year.

Newtown's famed 100-foot tall flagpole, long a landmark for motorists from all

parts of Connecticut and many surrounding states, was a special center of

interest last Friday and Saturday when, with a 75-foot derrick supporting the

two shafts that support the monument, repairs were made by the A.M. Larson

Company of Waterbury to overcome the weakened condition of the base wood.

James M. Miner of the Parker House has made a detailed study of the history of

the flagpole beginning with its installation in 1876, exactly 100 years after

the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The sum of $107.50 was

collected for the erection of a Liberty Pole. The money was received by the

fund's treasurer, attorney Henry T. Nichols, who disbursed it as follows: to

Lawrence Mitchell, $20 for the pole; top mast and expenses, $19.83; Edwards

and Carroll for labor, $10.60; flag, $60.22; timber, $2; fire works, $10; camp

and gay, $6; paint, $3; total $131.65. G.H. Peck contributed money to make up

the shortfall, according to Mr Miner.

Since publication in last week's Newtown Bee of the legal notice calling for a

special town meeting on this Friday evening to act on the proposal of

Newtown's withdrawal from Regional High School District No. 3, the proposal

has become the hot topic of discussion throughout town. The original petition,

circulated by officers of the Newtown Republican Club, calls for rescinding

action taken at a special town meeting two years ago in which the Board of

Education of Newtown was authorized to enter the regional school district. The

petition asks that Newtown instead erect a separate school building at a cost

not to exceed the combined sum of money which Newtown would have appropriated

for the regional school and the $300,000 authorized by the town meeting last

month for a grade school building. The petitions began to circulate after

townspeople learned that the regional high school, which would serve Newtown,

Southbury, Woodbury and Bethlehem, would be built in Southbury, not in

Newtown.

The town's annual business meeting, drawing an attendance of about 100, was

held at 8 pm in the Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall on Monday. The town

budget, as recommended by the Board of Finance, was adopted, with a total

budget of $111,362 for general government and $130,410 for schools. The

subject of the care of town roads, after some discussion, was left in the

hands of the selectmen.

Hugh Quinn, Jr, who is stationed in Tokyo, made a telephone call home on

Saturday at 10:50 pm. The call came through very distinctly and it was indeed

a great thrill and pleasure for his family to speak with him since he has been

stationed in Tokyo for a year.

T.J. Dodd, chief assistant prosecutor of Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg

trials, will be the guest speaker at a public meeting sponsored by the Newtown

Rotary at Edmond Town Hall on October 30. His subject will be "Nuremberg and

the United Nations."