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State Representative Mae S. Schmidle has received an unlooked for, but pleasant, boost, in her campaign to have the General Assembly pass a special act which would prevent the removal of Newtown’s principal landmark, the Main Street flagpole, from the middle of Route 25. Mrs Schmidle was recently at a local restaurant, the Newtown Inn, when she noticed red, white and blue bumper stickers urging “Save The Flagpole.” It turned out to have been the brain child of an alert marketing executive with Citytrust, which maintains a branch here at Church Hill and Commerce Road.

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I am here to introduce a new face: mine. My name is Wild Mountain Cat but, as you subscribers get to know me better, you may shorten it to “Mountain” as my family has already done. But now to the point, a writing practice I was told I must always remember during my first instructional meeting with Dennis Phillips, our new editor. He told me to be short, very clear in my words and he loved my bow-tie moustache. Remember that Wild Mountain Cat has some big news to tell.

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Newtown Camp Fire members will join their more than a quarter million brothers and sisters across the nation to celebrate their 71st birthday next week. The highlight will be the annual council Fun Fair, Saturday, March 14, at the Elks Hall in Danbury.

***

The Board of Trustees of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library greeted the town’s new librarian with a reception in the Mary Hawley Room following the board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, March 10. Dennis J. Clarke, who is now librarian at the Ivoryton Public Library, will assume his duties May 1.

***

Newtown’s Legislative Council may have “choked” last week as far as member Melissa Pilchard was concerned, when it turned down her recommendation that an ordinance be passed requiring local restaurants to display posters showing how to do the Heimlich maneuver to help a choking victim. The councilwoman, who said she had once witnessed someone choking in a restaurant, said she might try other means to get such posters up.

***

An aquifer protection district which would prohibit certain uses in the water recharge area for a local major water source, the Pootatuck River Valley aquifer, was adopted by the Planning and Zoning Commission March 6. The protection district regulations prohibit future development of landfills, public works, garages or filling stations and printing establishments in the aquifers recharge areas.

***

A new chapter of the Business and Professional Women’s Club, an organization started in 1919 to ensure equality for women, is now being formed in Newtown. The first organizational meeting, headed by Brookfield members Helen Wahlstrom and Lois Gardner, resulted in the election of a temporary chairman and secretary and plans for another meeting on March 16.

March 16, 1956

Through the generosity of employees at Fairfield State Hospital, Mrs Dorothy Campbell is at the Seeing Eye School in Morristown, N.J. where she is obtaining a new dog to replace Alta, the German police dog who died about three weeks ago. The blind woman has operated the patients’ and employees’ canteen at the hospital for four years.

***

A wedding of local interest took place last Friday evening at seven o’clock in the Franklin Memorial Methodist Church, Morehead City, N.C., when Miss Helen Willis, daughter of Mr and Mrs W. Roderick Willis of Morehead City, became the bride of Corporal Robert Scudder Smith, USMC, son of Mr and Mrs Paul S. Smith of Newtown.

***

First Selectman Edward J. Coleman acknowledged this week that some of the town’s dirt roads are in bad condition. That is the result, he said, of eight weeks of emergency work last fall by the road crews in repairing major flood damage, at a time when the dirt roads are normally put into shape for the winter. A top project of the road department is extensive work on the dirt road starting in April.

***

Protection for Newtown homes which are located away from convenient sources of water for fire fighting is provided by a 2,500-gallon tanker, added recently to the town’s fire fighting equipment through the efforts of the United Fire Company of Botsford. Along with countless hours given by members of the committee in charge of the project to build the tanker from a used oil tank and a second-hand truck chassis, some town residents donated money and other cooperated in providing needed supplies and equipment.

***

Newtown Girl Scouts joined together in celebrating the 44th anniversary of Girl Scouting on Monday afternoon, March 12, at the Congregational Church House. The entire program was planned by the girl scouts and their leaders, with the work the girls had done during the past year in troop and civic projects culminating in a most impressive Court of Awards.

***

The public is invited to an open meeting of the American Heritage Group, which will be held at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library on Monday evening, March 19, at 8 o’clock. At that time James R. Case of Bethel will give an illustrated talk on the route taken by General Rochambeau and his French troops across the state of Connecticut during the Revolutionary War.

***

The beauty of state parks throughout Connecticut and the work of the State Forest and Park Commission were graphically shown in a colored film and talk given by Arthur Christie, service forester, at the monthly meeting of the Garden Club of Newtown. Mr Christie gave considerable information concerning the purchase of trees from the commission for reforesting land.

March 13, 1931

Walter Nichols, Jr, Manuel Cents and Manuel Lauada of Newtown were burned about the face and hands, when a gasoline tank on a gas shovel exploded, while working on Mile Hill, Monday. The shovel had been standing out in the rain and the engine did not start easily. The motor back-fired and caught fire. Suddenly the gas tank of the shovel exploded, the flames striking all three men.

***

The Dodgingtown Fire Co. will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their organization on this (Thursday) evening at the Fire house in Dodgingtown with an interesting program. The gathering is to be an invitation affair. Refreshments will be served and it promises to be a great night in the history of the Dodgingtown Fire Co.

***

Michael Kober, employed at the Plastic Molding Co.’s factory in Sandy Hook, got a piece of emery in his eye, Monday. He was taken to the office of Dr E.L. Kingman, who was successful in removing it. He suffered considerable pain Monday night, but is now all right.

***

There was a merry good time and a fine attendance at the Bridge held at the Newtown Country Club last Monday evening. The usual five or six tables was increased to eight and it seemed to have the clan all out.

***

There will be no sewing meeting this week. Owing to the fine attendance there has been at the meetings this year, the year’s allotment of work has been finished. A total of 87 articles have been made and they have been distributed among the Danbury hospital, the Newington Home for crippled children and Ellis Island.

***

Sunday’s steady down-pour of rain, attended by heavy winds, was the most severe storm this section has seen for several years. Church attendance was reduced almost to a minimum. The local telephone service was hit some, about 35 or 40 phones being put out of commission.

March 16, 1906

Louis Sayette, who has purchased John H. Chautems’ place on Botsford Hill, is to erect, this spring, a large summer hotel on the place. He will begin work on it in a short time.

***

The action of Saturday’s town meeting commends itself to all thoughtful citizens as just and sensible. William Homer Hubbell’s resolution for a 16-mill tax, one mill to apply on the debt, went through without opposition. It was one of the best town meetings held in town in recent years.

***

Michael Kilbride is tearing down one of the old tenements of the Fabric Fire Hose Co. in the Glen and is removing it to the Lennihan property. It is now gossiped openly in Sandy Hook that he is to build a hall for the Lady Foresters, as forecasted in a recent issue of The Bee.

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WANTED: A boy about 16 years old that wants a good home, that can milk one cow and take care of horses and make himself useful on a place. Address: W.M. Reynolds, Newtown, Conn.

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The mid-year reports on all the Newtown students at Yale and Syracuse universities and Smith college have been received and all are reported as making very satisfactory progress in their work.