Features

Party & A Picnic In The Park

By Shannon Hicks

Published: Aug 23, 2022 08:00 AM

Newtown Senior Center and Newtown Parks & Recreation collaborated to present an outdoor concert on August 18. Approximately 70 people attended the event, presented at Dickinson Park.

Box lunches were provided by the two Town departments, and live music was performed by Conroy Warren & Friends, courtesy a Connecticut Office of the Arts grant.

While the heat of previous days had broken, most guests nevertheless opted to set up their seats in the shade of nearby trees. The music carried across the entire park, additionally offering entertainment to children on the playground and at least one young lady rollerskating in the skate park.

Margarita Pombar, in the pink, was the first to get up and begin dancing when Conroy Warren, at right, and two friends began performing during a Senior Center Picnic in the Park last week. Pombar kept encouraging the 70-plus attendees at the August 12 event to get out from under the shade of a few nearby trees, but most weren’t immediately joining her. Nevertheless, Pombar kept dancing, the band — including keyboardist Joseph “Reality” Weeks, left, and Patrick “Johnny” Gomes on steel drum — continued playing, and everyone at Dickinson Park that afternoon appeared to be enjoying themselves. Newtown Parks & Recreation and Newtown Senior Center provided box lunches for registered guests, and the musicians were performing through a Connecticut Office of the Arts grant. —Bee Photos, Hicks

Retired Hawley School teacher Judi Qualey was serenaded for her birthday, which was two days earlier. —Bee Photos, Hicks

Conroy Warren led the entertainment of dozens of Newtown Senior Center members and friends last Friday afternoon. —Bee Photos, Hicks

Patrick “Johnny” Gomes on the steel drum. —Bee Photos, Hicks

Keyboardist Joseph “Reality” Weeks. —Bee Photos, Hicks

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BOE Referendum, Round Two, UnderwayRegistered Newtown voters are heading to the polls today, for the second attempt by the Board of Education to get a budget for the 2024-25 academic year passed.Registered Newtown voters are heading to the polls today, for the second attempt by the Board of Education to get a budget for the 2024-25 academic year passed.All voting is again taking place at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street. Polls opened at 6 am and will remain open until 8 pm.Following a rejection of the school budget by 507 votes at a referendum on April 23, the Legislative Council at its April 29 meeting slashed $1,408,307 from the Board of Education’s proposed 2024-25 budget.The reduction was unanimously approved by all 12 councilmen, in contrast to a previous, pre-referendum meeting on March 27, where no bottom line for the school budget drew more than a simple majority of seven votes.The new bottom line of $87,409,066 is a $2,339,415 or 2.75% spending increase over the 2023-24 budget, which places it in line with the municipal budget, which was passed by voters.The previous proposed 2024-25 BOE budget rejected by voters was $88,817,373, which would have been a $3,747,722 or 4.4% spending increase.The education budget failed, 1,701 No votes to 1,194 Yes votes.On the secondary question to the education budget — If the proposed sum for the Board of Education is not approved, should the revised budget be higher? — the responses were 727 Yes and 2,071 No.The Registrar of Voters reported 15.1% of Newtown’s registered voters participated in the April 23 referendum, with 2,952 people showing up at the middle school to vote and another 47 turning in absentee ballots.

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It is a shame but yes, we are so broke... The NIMBY crowd will not allow any new development so there is no ability to add to the tax base... got to hire strangers to park at our schools, and grocery stores and sneak around on our property to ensure our kindergartners Spanish class doesn't get canceled.

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I was the recipient of such a invasion of my privacy when my daughter was visiting her boyfriend in Waterbury. They tried to get me to pay them taxes instead of Newtown. They were rude, offensive and threatening and I had to call the mayor of Waterbury to finally get it cleared up after being threatened. It was a long drawn out process to get this overturned. Are we that broke that we have to turn our residents over to these mercenaries? This is beyond belief. How dare you hire these rent a cops to harass and threaten us?

Thanks for the quote, many people don’t realize Newtown does not exist in a silo and we have peers to benchmark against. For example Trumbull also spends less per student and outperforms us. ALL students benefit from consistent policies and quality education. Affordability matters, especially to less affluent families which tend to skew more heavily minority based on census data.

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Why should it be a town decision? The town does not own the land. This town is not one big HOA.

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Spot on, tomj. One's personal life, family and/or business will be targeted if they're an outspoken R in this town.

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Party & A Picnic In The Park

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