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THE WAY WE WERE

APRIL 27, 1973

The Board of Finance has completed its work on the town's $8 million budget

for 1973-74, a reduction of $150,000 from the amounts requested by the Board

of Selectmen and the Board of Education. The revised budget reflects an

increase of $650,000 in spending over the current year but is offset in part

by $116,000 in federal revenue sharing. Finance Board Chairman W.W. Holcombe

estimates that the necessary tax increase will be between 1 and 1« mills. The

budget will come before a town meeting on May 1 at the high school.

Democratic Selectwoman Diana Schwerdtle, minority member of the Board of

Selectmen, has released a statement regarding First Selectman Frank DeLucia's

presentation of plans for the town's dog pound to the Planning and Zoning

Commission. Mrs Schwerdtle said Mr DeLucia went to P&Z for approval of the

proposed dog pound site under mandatory referral procedures without prior

action by the Board of Selectmen. She said his action was improper and illegal

and is another example of "his one-man rule and failure to consult the whole

Board of Selectmen."

Herbert Cutler of Newtown was named an honorary director of S. Curtis and Son

Inc at the annual stockholders' meeting in the corporation's offices in Sandy

Hook on April 19. Mr Cutler starting working for the company in 1923 and was

its president from 1937 to 1950, when he retired. He has served on its board

of directors since the company's incorporation in 1924. Other directors

elected include Albert F. Clear, executive vice president of The Stanley

Works, New Britain; James F. Osborne, president of Connecticut Coal Inc and

The Dock Inc Bridgeport; and James H. Curtis, vice president of S. Curtis and

Son.

The original Middle Gate School House, a one-room structure built about 1850

and now resting on the grounds of the present school, has been restored by the

Newtown Historical Society and will be dedicated on Sunday, May 6, at 2:30 pm.

Raymond Doyle, president of the society, will turn over the key to Fred Parr,

principal of Middle Gate, in the presence of school and town officials and all

the children who want to come.

Mrs Thomas Ineson formally resigned from the Board of Education at its meeting

Tuesday evening and Stephen Cerri, Republican candidate, was elected to fill

her vacancy through June 30. Mrs Ineson had announced earlier in the year that

she would not run again. She said she had decided to resign now because of the

impending search for a new superintendent of schools. She said she feels the

person serving on the board should be involved in the selection process from

the beginning.

Raymond Wade had good luck on the opening day of the fishing season as he

landed a gold trout, the only gold trout in the pond. Each year in stocking

the streams, the Hattertown Rod and Gun Club throws in one gold trout which is

not only a good catch, but also worth some prize money. Raymond, the son of Mr

and Mrs Edward Conger, was pleased to collect on both.

The proposed Newtown wetlands ordinance was received with warm approval at a

public hearing Wednesday evening in Edmond Town Hall. After 90 minutes of

discussion, the Board of Selectmen were urged to enact the ordinance quickly.

The essential provision of the proposed ordinance gives the power to the

Conservation Commission to make an inventory of wetlands within the town, and

make regulations for their protection. Samuel Chambliss, counsel for the

commission, said tentative regulations already have been drafted and approved

by the State Department of Environmental Protection, closely following the

guidelines laid down by the DEP. Under the regulations, owners of wetlands

will be free to use them for residential, farming, recreation, or conservation

purposes but will be obligated to obtain licenses for dredging, filling in,

changing the course of streams, or other activities which will directly affect

the wetlands or the water systems of which they are a part.

April 30, 1948

An open meeting held by the Newtown Board of Tax Assessors Thursday evening in

Edmond Town Hall attracted more than 200 residents as well as a considerable

number of people from surrounding towns. George Tower, chairman of the local

Board of Assessors, presided. He said he has become convinced since taking

office last October that proper tax assessment lies beyond the capabilities of

local assessors and that reevaluation should be done by outside qualified

appraisers. He passed out copies of the Grand List covering a 20-year period

to explain how the job has increased for local tax assessors. The Grand List

of 1929 showed 959 dwelling units in Newtown valued at $1,439,976, for an

average of $1,502; the 1946 Grand List showed 1,904 houses valued at

$3,457,750, an average of $1,816.

More than 100 voters and tax payers attended last Friday evening's special

town meeting held in the Edmond gymnasium for the purpose of instructing the

Board of Selectmen on the expenditure of $64,260 in available state funds for

road work in Newtown. The roadwork will include parts of Palestine Road, Eden

Hill Road, Old Green Road, Lane Road and Taunton Lane. These roads were chosen

because they carry more traffic than other similar roads in Newtown and in

their present condition require a large expenditure in continuous road repair.

The meeting ended at 8:25 pm, the lack of any argument indicating that there

was general agreement favoring improvement of the particular stretch of roads

selected by the selectmen.

The funeral of John E. Kearns, 53, well-known dairy farmer of the Gray's Plain

District, was held on Tuesday morning. Mr Kearns was in his usual good health

Saturday morning loading hay onto his truck for removal to his own property

and was in the barn on the J. William James place when he was stricken by a

fatal heart seizure. In addition to his wife, Florence, Mr Kearns is survived

by eight children: Mrs George Bresson of Newtown, and William, Edward, James,

Thomas, Ruth, Mary, and Martha, all at home. The funeral was held at Honan

Funeral Home and St Rose Church.

Coach Harold DeGroat will be calling the youth club leaders together soon to

issue a call for the adult softball players to form another town league. The

softball league failed to form last year but this year there seems to be more

players in town. The Fairfield State Hospital probably will have at least one

good team. Plastic Molding probably will furnish a team. Doctor Desmond has

the itch to pitch for the Country Clubbers again. So maybe there will be some

action this summer.

Those who appreciate really fine music are invited to Sunday afternoon studio

concerts of recorded music, scheduled to begin soon at the sound recording

studio of Rolab on Walnut Tree Hill Road in Sandy Hook. The studio does modern

high fidelity recording for radio, motion pictures, television, and home

reproduction. Call Newtown 581 for reservations.

Last Saturday fire broke out in a three-story storage shed on Glen Road, a

shed used by the Plastic Moulding Company for storing quantities of raw

plastic material as well as finished product. The alarm brought out a large

number of volunteers who pumped water from the Pohtatuck River and managed to

save the structure from complete destruction. The interior of the building was

badly damaged. Fire Marshal Walter L. Glover, Chief Hiram Hanlon of Sandy Hook

and Chief Fred Mayer of Newtown all were on the scene directing the efforts of

the volunteers. Loss was confined to the building itself, not the contents.

Dr Townsend Scudder, author and educator from Woodbury, addressed a capacity

audience of the Newtown Chapter of United World Federalists Tuesday evening in

the directors room of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library. Dr Scudder stressed the

futility of war from a historical standpoint and said that only by world

federalism can a civilization such as ours continue to progress or even exist.

The Keating Taxi Company, Danbury Taxi Company, and City Taxi Company, all of

297 Main Street, Danbury, have 14 new five- and seven-passenger sedans for

hire. The cost for a trip is 50 cents for anywhere in the city of Danbury, $2

to the flagpole in Newtown, and $4 to the railroad station in New Milford.