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THE WAY WE WERE

FEBRUARY 23, 1973

Nearly 100 volunteers from three fire companies fought a blaze which destroyed

Tuttle's Glen Lodge in Sandy Hook on Sunday, February 18. When Sandy Hook

firefighters arrived at the scene after the alarm was sounded at 7:30 pm, they

found the top section of the building completely involved in flames. Chief

Herbert Lewis of Sandy Hook called in all available help from Hook & Ladder

Company No 1 and the United Fire Company of Botsford. An enormous network of

hose was laid and water was pumped from the nearby Pootatuck River. Intense

cold hampered the firemen as ice kept forming on the hoses. Firefighters

returned every day this week to wet down the stubbornly smoldering ruins. Glen

Lodge was a landmark in Sandy Hook. No one is sure when it was built. At one

time there was a railroad station across the street from it, and the lodge

served as an inn for visitors to Newtown. It also was known as Gallaher's in

days past. The Lodge was to have been sold on the day following the fire.

February 15 was Scout Government Day in Newtown. Eleven scouts, picked by

scoutmasters from Troops 70, 170, 270, 370, 470 and 770, learned firsthand how

the town hall runs by taking over a position of a town official for the day.

The youths and their new positions included John Dieringer, CDAP

administrator; Alex DeLucia, first selectman; Scott McCulloch, town clerk;

Gilbert Teal, judge of probate; Stephen Wehmeyer, tax collector; Michael

Storm, tax assessor; George Fahrenholz, recreation director; David Dickerson,

controller; Joe Niedermeyer, chief of police; Jeff Poulin, superintendent of

schools; Roger Forcht, highway superintendent.

A town meeting to act on special appropriations for the Board of Education and

a number of other items will be held on February 28. In addition to voting on

$38,000 for the Board of Education, voters will be asked to accept five roads

as public highways: Commerce Road, Cherry Heights Terrace, Russett Road,

Shamrock Lane, and Old Gate Lane. The meeting also will be asked to approve

the abandonment of Woodbine Lane from The Boulevard Extension to I-84.

Plans for a major shopping center in Newtown have been in the making for seven

years and, if the Planning & Zoning Commission grants a special exception,

construction will begin in late summer or early fall. In a news release,

executives of Miami-based Shopping Centers International Corporation have

released plans to develop a multi-level, enclosed, air-conditioned mall on 25

acres of Route 25, two miles south of the flagpole. To be called Newtown

Fashion Square, the mall will include two full-line department stores and

parking for 1,200 cars. The site is known to Newtowners as the Homer C.

Godfrey property and is presently standing empty. At one time gravel was mined

there until it ran out.

Christopher J. Spiro will represent Newtown at the annual "Three Outstanding

Young Men" banquet held by the Connecticut Jaycees at the Amber Room in

Danbury. Outstanding Young Men from over 75 Connecticut communities will be

represented in the competition. The three winners will then vie for the New

England competition. The winners have included Dr Tom Dooley, the three

Kennedy brothers and President Richard M. Nixon.

A new doctor has taken up residence in Newtown, a pediatrician named Dr

Humberto Bauta, who has joined Dr Thomas F. Draper, with offices on the

Danbury-Newtown Road. A native of Cuba, Dr Bauta had his early medical

training at the University of Havana. He graduated in 1959, a year before

Fidel Castro came to power, and left Cuba in 1962 for New York, where he did

his residency and internship at Roosevelt Hospital. Dr Bauta and his wife,

Gretchen, who was born in northern Ontario and educated in England, moved to

Newtown last November, buying a 50-acre tract at the top of Great Hill. There

they plan to build a contemporary home using native stone and wood. The family

includes a son, Christian, who celebrated his first birthday February 10.

Another child is due in July.

FEBRUARY 20, 1948

At Fairfield State Hospital during the past fiscal year 100 brain operations

known as frontal lobotomy have been performed, according to a Digest of

Connecticut Administrative Reports to the Governor just published by the State

of Connecticut. When successful, a frontal lobotomy results in a

"resurrection" of the patient, according to William F. Green, MD, Fairfield

Hills superintendent. During the 12 month period which ended June 30, 1947,

the hospital cared for an average of 2,444 resident patients. New admissions

numbered 770 persons, and an average of 365 convalescent patients was

maintained. For the year, the operating costs totalled $1.5 million, or about

$12.01 per patient per week. The report shows a staff of 422 persons against

an authorized quota of 580.

A meeting will be held at the Hawley Manor on February 26 to discuss the

possibility of establishing a League of Women Voters in Newtown. Although

there are about 20 LWV members in Newtown, there is no local chapter. It has

been felt for some time that membership could be increased if it was not

necessary to go to Redding or Danbury for meetings, and if study groups could

be built around local issues. Mrs Stuart Grummon, president of the

Danbury-Bethel League, and Mrs Hugh Gallagher, Fairfield County chairman for

the league, will lead the meeting. Mrs Bowen, proprietor of the Hawley Manor,

has kindly permitted the use of her "new room" for the occasion.

The Permanent School Building Committee met last Friday night in the

selectmen's office at Edmond Town Hall to open bids for the plumbing, heating

and ventilating and electrical work on the new addition to Hawley School. Work

is progressing on the addition by the DeFonce Construction Company of

Bridgeport, the general contractors, who have moved the home economics

building to a new location, out of the way of the addition, and footings are

now being placed for the new construction. Continued favorable weather, like

the present week, will greatly aid the contractors in fulfilling their promise

to have the building ready for use with the opening of school in the fall.

Smoke and flames were visible for 10 miles on Monday night when a disastrous

fire gutted the interior of the Allen block on Main Street, causing heavy

damage estimated at $200,000. The fire, which raged out of control for three

hours, threatened the entire business center of the town and required the

combined efforts of firemen of New Milford and the surrounding towns to subdue

without greater loss.

The Veterans Memorial Fund of the Charles Howard Peck Post 308, Veterans of

Foreign WArs, has reached a total of $4,288.50, according to a report received

this week from William Hunter, treasurer. Bert Carey, chairman of the

house-to-house canvass, reports that, because of difficult traveling since the

first big snowstorm, returns are incomplete. He has been urging workers to

finish their work as soon as possible. The funds will be used for construction

or purchase of a building to be used as a veterans' headquarters, dedicated to

the men of Newtown who died in World War II.

About 300 people braved the stormy weather last Friday evening to see the

highly skilled and thrill-packed exhibition presented by the Springfield

College Gymnastic Exhibition team at the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium. The

troupe of 25 college men, including the manager and lighting expert, all

worked together to present a well-run show.

An advertisement in this week's Bee presents the 1948 Pontiac with Hydra-Matic

Drive, the first low-priced car in the world to offer this great mechanical

masterpiece which shifts gears automatically and completely eliminates the

clutch pedal. Hydra-Matic Drive is optional on all new Pontiac models.