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The fifth annual Newtown Kickoff Memorial Day Soccer Tournament will get underway this Saturday, May 23, and run through Monday, May 25, when champions will be crowned in six age brackets. The 1987 Kickoff Tournament will bring together 72 teams from five states, with the estimated number of participants around 1,080, according to figures supplied by Newtown Soccer Club president Tom McHale.

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If you have any favorite potholes, be patient. The strike by the Hamden-based International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478 probably will end some day. And when that day comes, the town Highway Department again will be able to purchase the blacktop it needs to patch and pave roads. Not only has the strike brought the state’s $5.8 billion infrastructure program to a virtual halt, but it also is preventing Percy Ferris’ Highway Department crews from applying hot patch to the town’s potholes.

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The town’s new property tax rate is 22.6 mills, which is 2.6 mills, or 11.4 percent higher than the former rate of 20 mills. The tax hike will mean that for every $1,000 in assessed property, taxpayers will pay $2.60 in additional taxes. The new tax rate, set by the Legislative Council on May 20, is four-tenths of a mill less than the 23-mill rate that Finance Director Benjamin Spragg estimated would be needed for funding the town budget.

May 25, 1962

The gravesites of veterans in all Newtown cemeteries will be decorated this week end in honor of Memorial Day by a committee headed by William A. Honan, Jr, assisted by Ernest Morgan, Carl Rockwell, and Robert Fairchild. As over 500 graves will be decorated, Mr Honan would be glad to hear of any site that may have been overlooked in the past or any new graves. This function was begun by the town many years ago, according to Mr Honan, and he states that some of the graves decorated in the Newtown cemetery go back to the Revolutionary War.

During the past several weeks the mail delivery routes of the Newtown Post Office have been given their annual inspection. For the most part, the mailboxes present a good appearance. A few, however, show the effects of the past winter’s snow and snow plowing. Posts are askew, boxes loose, and numbers or names illegible. Owners of boxes in this shape are being notified of the defects and are asked to make the corrections soon.

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Abraham Nezvesky of Huntington was honored Saturday night at a surprise testimonial dinner at the Synagogue of Congregation Adath Israel on Huntington Road, marking his 30 years as treasurer of the congregation. The synagogue is located on land donated by his father, the late Israel Nezvesky.

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Following a trend which has become very popular, the Newtown Rotary Club will bring an Antique Flea Market to Newtown for a one-day stand. The event will take place on Saturday, June 16, at the Italian Community Center on Route 34, from 10 am to 6 pm, rain or shine. Over 100 stands are expected to offer wares including furniture, paintings, china, glass, books, swords, guns, tin and toleware, and numerous other items. On Thursday, June 21, the Rotary Club will again be hosts at a commencement party given for the members of the graduating class of Newtown High School. The party will be held at the Yankee Drover Inn.

 

May 21, 1937

“Ez” Hall and “Van” Hayes, who usually are around at the stores in Sandy Hook, the editor missed them. On inquiring, it was found that Mr Hayes was in his garden which he keeps in apple pie order, and “Ez” Hall keeps on fishing in hopes that he will catch that other two-pound trout.

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As The Bee goes to press, rotary traffic signs are being placed about Newtown’s familiar flagpole. Though this protection, together with new signs at Lovell’s corner, have been long in coming through the offices of the Sate Traffic Commission, they are nonetheless welcome. Our thanks go to the commission, along with assurance that another step has been taken to promote highway safety in Newtown. Pedestrians will now have a safety island, which will be of help, especially to school children at this busy intersection.

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In order to show the real effects of the new Mirrorphonic sound system recently installed in the Edmond Theater, the management presented the earthquake scene from the movie “San Francisco.” The Saturday afternoon front row of “kids” gripped their seats in horror as San Francisco’s waterfront streets began to tremble and the buildings came tumbling down. The deafening roar was so realistic that several of the small movie fans, fearing that the quake had reached Newtown and was about to tear down the wall of the Town Hall, made a mad scramble for the front exit.

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The annual Memorial Day exercises for the town of Newtown will open at 10:30 am, dst, on Monday, May 31, in the Edmond Town Hall Theater, at which time Captain Curtis H. Dickins of Brookfield Center, retired Chief of Chaplains of the US Navy and rector emeritus of St George’s church, Newburgh, N.Y., will be the guest speaker, with an address on the “Value of Preparedness.” Taking part in these exercises, sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce, will be the Boy and Girl Scouts, Newtown school children, the clergy of the town and a quartet of singers made up of local citizens.

 

May 24, 1912

The senior class of the High School have been working for some time preparing for their class day exercises on June 7. Besides the class history, class prophecy, and grinds, they will present a play, “The Taming of the Shrew.” Bentley’s orchestra will furnish selections and music for dancing.

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Selectman Edward S. Beardsley of Monroe congratulates Selectman William C. Johnson of Newtown on the good work he has done on the road from the Monroe line to Hattertown Center and he also congratulates him that there is not an 11-ton auto truck to go over the road after it has been repaired.

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A meeting to promote the cause of Women’s Suffrage will be held at the Town hall, Saturday evening, June 8. The admission will be free. There will be good speaking, and the public is cordially invited. Mrs Albert Brown and Miss Theodora Wheeler of Fairfield were in town, Tuesday, making arrangements for the meeting. They were callers at The Bee.

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Carlos D. Stillson, a member of the Board of Assessors, was the victim of a painful accident, Tuesday night. As he was about to start home from the meeting of the Men’s club, while unhitching his horse in the yard of R.H. Beers, the horse suddenly started and he was thrown down, fracturing two or three ribs. His horse ran as far as Huntingtown, where it was overtaken by other members of the Men’s club, who followed it up with an automobile.