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WAY WE WERE for 10/3/97

OCTOBER 6, 1972

About 500 people came to the front of Edmond Town Hall on Sunday, October 1,

to sign petitions opposing a proposal by the Old Rock Road Corporation to

build a $27 million horse racing track in Sandy Hook. More than 2,000

signatures have been collected so far as the petitions continue to be

circulated. On Tuesday, October 3, First Selectman Frank DeLucia had a

six-hour meeting at town hall with Deputy Commissioner of Transportation John

Olshesky of the Bureau of Planning and Research and two other representatives

of that office in an attempt to learn where the new location of Route 25 will

be. Mr DeLucia said afterwards that he was no clearer on the routing than

before. The DOT representatives said, however, that it would be six years

before a tie-in between the Route 25 connector and the race track would be

constructed. Meanwhile, attorney Seth O.L. Brody has been asked by the

Planning & Zoning Commission to add his efforts to those of Town Counsel

Robert Hall on the application filed by the Old Rock Road Corporation to build

the track on 428 in the Botsford section of town in the Toddy Hill-New

Lebbon-High Bridge Road area. Property taxes on that land currently bring in

less than $5,000 a year to the town but the track opponents say the project

will have an ecological and traffic impact on the town.

The Board of Selectmen has asked Town Counsel Robert Hall to draw up a

resolution, to be voted on at a town meeting, which would enable the town to

join the Lake Zoar Authority. First Selectman Frank DeLucia said he and six

other Newtown residents attended the lake authority's meeting last week along

with representatives from Southbury, Oxford, the Lake Bantam Authority and the

Lake Lillinonah Authority. Mr DeLucia said concerns about pollution,

preservation of the environment and patrol of the lake are good reasons why

the town should join the authority. He also said the need might arise in the

future to use the lake as water source for the town.

Work is being done on a 1,300-foot stretch of Route 25 on Whisconier Hill in

Brookfield to straighten the road which has been the source of numerous

traffic accidents in inclement weather. The worst incident occurred in July

1966 when a truck full of asphalt crashed into a house owned by John Jones on

Farrell Road, filling the basement and kitchen of the house with asphalt. The

work by the Department of Transportation is expected to be completed by

mid-November, at a total cost of about $190,000.

October 14 is the deadline for residents to register to vote in the national

election. To date, the total voter registration in Newtown is 7,893. There are

3,402 Republicans, 1,891 Democrats and 2,600 unaffiliated voters.

Members of the detective division of the Newtown police department arrested

two men in Sandy Hook center on Wednesday afternoon on narcotics charges. The

arrests followed an investigation by the police of complaints by local

residents about crime in Sandy Hook center. The police officers staked out the

Sandy Hook Hotel and saw a 22-year-old resident of Pootatuck Park leave the

building carrying a clear plastic bag, the type marijuana is packaged in. They

also arrested a 17-year-old man who lives on Still Hill Road.

OCTOBER 3, 1947

The Bethany ball club played better baseball than the Newtown Bees to win the

final game of the playoff series, 10-2, on Sunday afternoon at Taylor Field,

taking the Pomperaug Valley league championship.

A special town meeting has been petitioned for October 10 for the purpose of a

vote on withdrawing from the planned regional high school. The State

Department of Education is seeking a ruling from the attorney general's office

about whether a town can withdraw from the district except by special act of

the General Assembly which does not meet again for two years. Meanwhile, W.H.

Kilham, Jr, of O'Conner and Kilham, architects for Regional High School

District No 3, reported that preliminary plans for the new school will be

completed within three months. The school can open by September 1949, Mr

Kilham said, barring unforeseen delays. The new junior and senior high school,

which will be built in Southbury, is planned to serve the towns of Southbury,

Newtown, Woodbury and Bethlehem. Opponents in Newtown say they want the high

school to be located in Newtown.

House Jameson of Main Street returned to the air on Thursday evening, October

2, when the popular radio show "The Aldrich Family" resumed after a hiatus of

13 weeks. The program is starting its ninth year. During the summer vacation,

Mr and Mrs Jameson, accompanied by Mrs Jameson's mother, motored through the

White Mountains, spent several days at Bar Harbor and explored the coast of

Maine.

Do you drive a Graham, Auburn Cord or Hupmobile? If so, Rodine Motor Car

Company in Danbury is able to keep your car in good repair, according to an

advertisement in this week's Bee. The shop can obtain all necessary parts for

a complete motor overhaul. It also does general auto repairs on all makes of

cars.

Republican William W. Holcombe and his running mate, Frederick Bresson, Jr,

will face off with Democrats A. Fenn Dickinson and Arthur E. McCollam in the

October 6 election for Board of Selectmen and other town officers. Polls will

be open from 6 am to 6 pm in the lobby of Edmond Town Hall. Following the

election there will be a town meeting in the Alexandria Room to vote on the

appropriations allowed by the Board of Finance.

One of the most striking exhibits in the main tent at the Danbury State Fair

is a replica of the famed Liberty Bell in Philadelphia's Independence Hall.

The exhibit is the work of Earl Yaple of New Milford, who has been an

outstanding agricultural exhibitor at the fair for many years. This year's

display is created of millet and popcorn seeds and stands in the midst of a

fine collection of garden products.