Newtown Youth Services Mini Cooper Raffle Ticket Sell-A-Thon This Weekend

By JOHN VOKET

Published: Sep 22, 2006 12:00 am

Newtown Youth Services is prepared to do whatever it takes to sell out the remaining raffle tickets, even if it means staying up all night to accomplish the task. With a limited number of chances still available for the sporty blue 2006 BMW Mini Cooper convertible, staff and board members from the local youth services organization will be outside Dunkinâ Donuts and Blue Colony Diner all day Saturday and Sunday beginning at 6 am pitching the $20 tickets.

Only 2,500 tickets will be sold for the drawing, which is set for September 30 at the Youth Services headquarters at 10 Glen Road in Sandy Hook. The winner need not be present to claim the prize according to Chris Gardner, chairman of the NYS Board of Directors.

The car raffle is a major fundraiser for NYS, a nonprofit agency that provides programs, activities, and services to children and families in Newtown.

âThe community has been very supportive of this car raffle. We just need that little extra push in ticket sales, which is why weâre going to be out selling all weekend,â said Mr Gardner. âWe hope people will stop by, learn more about NYS, and take a chance to win this gorgeous car. Every penny we raise after expenses will be put back into programming for the community.â

The tickets can be given as gifts, or as employee morale boosters, Mr Gardner said, or the winner can keep the car all to themselves to zip around in style.

Since the agency is on the cusp of merging with Family Counseling Center next year to form a larger and more efficient organization, the chairman said it is a very special time to be involved in NYS. Coincidentally, both organizations were launched more than two decades ago by parishioners at Trinity Church.

The new nonprofit, with the working name Newtown Youth and Family Services, will provide a way for the two agencies to reduce administrative costs and allocate even more money toward positive youth development programs and counseling services, including the area of substance abuse. Currently, both organizations find themselves stretched to serve all those seeking support or services.

âWeâre very excited to roll this new agency out sometime early next year,â Mr Gardner said. âStaff and board members from both organizations have worked very hard to make sure the transition is done right, and we think the final product will be an even stronger and more useful resource than what both organizations already provide independently.â

He said one way for the community to show its support is to buy a raffle ticket for the car, and to plan to run or volunteer at next yearâs Newtown Road Race 5K and Kids Run, a new Labor Day weekend tradition to benefit NYS.

For more information about the car raffle, to reserve tickets or to learn about NYS call 270-4335 or visit NewtownYouthServices.org. Or just visit Blue Colony Diner at 66 Church Hill Road or Dunkinâ Donuts in the Queen Street Shopping Center this weekend to pick up one of the remaining raffle tickets.

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Reservoir Rd. does indeed appear to have an interesting history that I often ponder as I hike the Rochambeau Trail. Early on it was apparently part of a main route from the center of the Borough to Taunton, which went up Mt. Pleasant Rd. and then roughly followed a watershed boundary from Mount Pleasant to Taunton Hill. When the current switchback road was built from West St. to Castle Hill in the 1800s, replacing the indirect route through the campground that Rochambeau used, the part of that original route to Taunton now known as Reservoir Rd. became redundant. But on an 1868 town map and topographic maps from 1892 and 1915, it looks like both routes were still maintained as roads. By the time of the 1934 aerial survey of CT, the connection to Mount Pleasant Rd. (maybe called Reservoir Rd. by then since the reservoir is visible) even had two outlets onto Castle Hill Rd. Since it is only shown as a partial dashed line on a 1953 topographic map, it may have stopped being maintained as a passable through road by then. But on a 1963 topographic map, where the section down to Knollwood Dr. had become a normal road again, the other end is shown as a dashed-line road, still with two connections to Castle Hill Rd., and a structure on the east side where one can still find remnants of a house today. Maybe a longtime resident can add comments about what it looked like in the 1950s and 1960s?

Clarity on Reservoir Road and the Rochambeau Trail

Please stop referring to your fellow Newtowners as the Mob. I was at the Legislative Council meeting where Mr. Pisani insulted the intelligence of a room full of Newtown voters; twice, and not in a satirical way. Plenty of new projects have been given the green light - the repurposing of the Taunton Press property is a welcome addition to Town, a new retail center is under construction on Church Hill Rd there are ongoing plans for the existing Fairfield Hills campus. Newtown is a wonderful place to live. Kudos to the Town officials who have managed to grow Newtown and maintain a small town feel, which may mean saying no to development more often than you would like. There will always be two sides to any proposal - different points of view are welcome and essential - name calling adds nothing to the conversation.

Who is Calling Newtowners Stupid?

Appreciate your perspective. Rather than litiate all of your opinions expressed here, here....I would like correct your opinion about the BOS having the final authority on road discontinuance decisions. State statute (CT GS 13a-49), requires the BOS' decision to be approvate by a majority vote at a regular or special town meeting (just like the one Newtown had a few years back to decide to spend the money to build an addition onto the High School). In towns that no longer have any town meetings, that responsibility would fall on the town's representaive government, or legislative body....in Newtown's case, our Legislative Council. Failure to follow this statutory process is but one of the reasons the town/the BOS is being sued.

There are many private roads in Newtown where they property owner owns right to the center line, for example this is often true in the lake communities. Many of these roads predate and do not conform to the Town's roads standard and therefore the Town never accepted them into the Town road system. Does the Town actually own this road?

It’s important to clarify the tone and context of Derek Pisani’s remarks, particularly the satirical line about suing Newtown for "Gross Stupidity." This was clearly a tongue-in-cheek jab at the exhausting culture of legal threats that’s become a staple on the local Facebook Group forums. It was a reflection of frustration over endless regulatory hurdles and obstructionism, and the desire to avoid common sense solutions not an insult aimed at residents. Satire, is meant to provoke thought and highlight the absurdities. If we are unable to distinguish between satire and literal threats, perhaps the comment hit closer to the truth than we’d like to admit. Rather than focusing on Pisanis style, we should be discussing the substance of what he’s pointing out: that Newtown’s progress is being routinely blocked by a small but vocal contingent who seem intent on saying “no” at every turn. They are saying no to any development, no to common sense solutions to crowd control, etc. Newtown deserves leaders who are willing to call things as they see them, even if their language ruffles feathers. That doesn’t mean they lack respect for constituents—it means they care enough to challenge the Mob and push for solutions. Isn't that what we elect people to do? I applaud Pisani's dedication, he certainly has earned my vote. Regardless, let’s not reduce conversation to tone-policing and outrage. Let’s focus on the issues that matter.

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Newtown Youth Services Mini Cooper Raffle Ticket Sell-A-Thon This Weekend

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