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STD HEAD: THE WAY WE WERE

DECEMBER 29, 1972

Newtown's flag was lowered to half staff when the news arrived of the death of

former President Harry S. Truman on Tuesday and it remained there through the

national day of mourning on Thursday when the banks and post offices were

closed.

Efforts are being made to replace Newtown's 30-year-old dog pound which is far

beneath the modern standard of comfort and sanitation. Acting Dog Warden John

D'Addario and Connecticut Canine Control Officer Paul A. Deneault are trying

to do something about the situation but it will cost an estimated $20,000 for

a new building. Currently the pound holds 28 dogs, eight more than its legal

capacity.

As darkness fell on Saturday, December 23, a group of 75 demonstrators walked

in candlelight procession during a light rainfall from the Queen Street

shopping center to the flagpole and back to protest the renewed bombing of

Vietnam. By December 27 the group had adopted a name, Concerned Citizens of

Newtown, and formed a steering committee. The committee intends to meet with

state representatives and take part in protests being organized in Washington

for the opening of the new Congress. The steering committee consists of Mr and

Mrs Dubroff, Betty Lou Osborne, Rita Kotch, Betty Swanson and Becky Swanson.

Big Brothers of Newtown sponsored a trip to the US Navy Submarine Base at New

London recently. Big Brothers John Wilson, Bill Denlinger, Gordon Williams,

Roy Cousley, Richard Ginnelli, Eugene Luchansky and Brian Gabney escorted ten

young boys on the trip. Big Brothers helps families with male children, aged

seven to 17, whose fathers are not in the home.

Volunteers from the United Fire Company of Botsford and Hook & Ladder Company

No 1 spent Christmas morning at a fire at a house on Platts Hill Road. The

fire was contained to a bedroom closet but there was heavy heat and smoke

damage in the house. Christmas weekend was a busy one for the firefighters.

They also battled a chimney fire and spent several hours on Christmas Day on a

pumping detail at a home on Sealand Drive which had five feet of water in the

basement because of a broken pipe.

The winners have been announced in the Decorated Doorway Contest sponsored by

the Garden Club of Newtown and the Town and Country Garden Club. In the

daytime category, Mr and Mrs William Hughan 3rd of 18 Sugar Street took first

place, second prize went to Mr and Mrs Walter Motyka of Possum Ridge Road, and

Dr and Mrs Malcolm Bowen of 59 L Washington Square, Fairfield Hills Hospital,

won third. Winners in the nighttime division for their illuminated entrances

were Mr and Mrs Roland Chiaradio of Sawmill Road, Mr and Mrs Raymond Hoyt, 25

Mount Pleasant, second, and third was awarded to Mr and Mrs Donald Lawrenson

of Shut Road.

DECEMBER 26, 1947

Monday night's special town meeting, held in the gym at Edmond Town Hall,

voted 99 to 71 to accept the report and recommendations of the Permanent

School Building Committee and to proceed with the construction of an addition

to Hawley School for elementary school use. The addition will enable the town

to take the children out of the old one-room school houses which are

considered substandard. The town had to act now because the State Public

School Building Commission refused to extend the deadline for use of a $50,000

state grant beyond January 9, 1948. But the project will be different than

that recommended by the architectural firm hired by the town. The committee

scrapped the proposal to construct a gym and do renovations inside the school

for an enlarged auditorium and a cafeteria and kitchen. Instead, there will be

eight additional classrooms and ten, if possible, to stay within the $350,000

limit.

Fuel oil consumers in Newtown are urged to curtail the use of fuel oil at

once. The first selectman has received a letter from the governor warning of a

possible fuel shortage in Connecticut this winter. The governor asked that a

fuel committee be appointed in Newtown to work with area, district and state

committees which are now being organized and which will set up a plan to

handle any fuel emergencies. The first selectman has appointed Renwick M.

Brown of Gray's Plain district as chairman of the local fuel committee. Mr

Brown is empowered to appoint as many members to the local committee as he

thinks is necessary. There is no shortage of fuel oil; rather, the governor

said the problem is the lack of tankers to bring the crude oil from the fields

to the local refineries. Demand for fuel oil is up significantly as domestic

and industrial needs soar in the post-war period.

Christmas lights and decorations about the town, coupled with Tuesday's

snowstorm, have combined to make this an old-fashioned white Christmas.

Private homes in the community, the tree at Edmond Town Hall, Newtown's

churches and the Fairfield Hospital grounds are lighted and decorated, as is

the tree adjacent to the monument at the head of Main Street. To George and

Jerry Jackson of the local VFW, who undertook the lighting at the monument,

and all others who aided in the work of beautifying the town, expressions of

gratitude are due.

Perhaps no more impressive record of personal service toward the devotional

observance of Christmas can be brought forward this year than that of Thomas

F. Brew, who has just completed the 60th year during which, under ten

successive priests, he continued to prepare the manger crib and its surrounds

for the Nativity scene displayed annually at St Rose Church. Mr Brew first

undertook this service while a young man 17 years of age in 1887, under the

pastorate of the Rev James McCartan. Under the Rev Charles Kane, larger

statues were procured. The Rev Walter R. Conroy, current pastor, installed

colored lights which now illuminate the statues.

Harold Mack of Palestine district received a broken shoulder late Sunday

afternoon when the 1914 Metz in which he was riding overturned because a wheel

collapsed. Mr Mack was a passenger in the Metz which was being towed by a car

driven by his son, Graham, and steered by another son, Duncan. The car had

been purchased earlier in the day in Jefferson Valley. The sons took their

father to Danbury Hospital for treatment of his shoulder.

More than 70 children attended the party held by the Riff Raff Club at The

Pines Inn Sunday afternoon. Special efforts had been made to include children

who, because of sickness in the family or other causes, had looked forward to

a rather bleak holiday. Judge Edward S. Pitzschler substituted for an

overworked Santa Claus. Ferguson's Band Wagon and the Townsmen's Chorus

furnished gay music. There were games, motion pictures, and an ample supply of

sandwiches, cake, candy and refreshments for the children.

Jim Bowen, son of Mr and Mrs William H. Bowen of the Hawley Manor, is

recuperating nicely from an operation which he underwent at Danbury Hospital

last Saturday. Jim is a student at the University of Connecticut. The Bowen's

younger son, Ralph, who attends Wooster School in Danbury, also is home for

the holidays.