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THE WAY WE WERE

FEBRUARY 16, 1973

Fire gutted the lovely old former Gilbert homestead on Meadowbrook Road

Tuesday morning and firefighters worked almost all day at the scene. A

neighbor, Mrs John D'Addario, noticed the fire and called in the alarm. The

home, owned by the Peter Chapdelaine family, was vacant at the time. Heavy

smoke and intense heat hampered firefighters in their efforts. They used the

aerial truck to make a water curtain between the house and the barns to

protect the barns, a maneuver which was successful. By the time the fire was

under control, the roof had collapsed into the second floor.

The Newtown Democratic Party, meeting at a caucus in the Alexandria Room of

Edmond Town Hall this week, endorsed Gerald J. Frawley of Taunton Lake Road as

their candidate for first selectman. A Newtown resident for six years, Mr

Frawley is district sales manager for Investors Diversified Services of

Waterbury. Other candidates endorsed at the caucus include incumbent Diana

Schwerdtle for selectman; Joy Martin, town clerk; Herbert Cutler, Republican

incumbent, for treasurer; Ingrid McCauley, tax collector; incumbent Gary

McMahon, Board of Finance; incumbent Ted Schwerdtle, Board of Education; Alan

Martin, Board of Tax Review.

On Wednesday evening, the Republicans caucused in the Alexandria Room and

approved incumbent Frank R. DeLucia for first selectman; incumbent Thomas

Goosman, selectman; Mrs Donald Smith, tax collector; Mrs Robert Schmidle, town

clerk; incumbent Herbert Cutler, town treasurer. With the announcements

recently that Town Clerk Barbara Parker and Tax Collector Beatrice Pittelkow

would not run for reelection, these two offices are open to new candidates for

the first time in many years.

The request by the Hawley Manor Inn for a zoning variance for two oversized

lighted signs met strong objections at the Board of Burgesses meeting on

February 12. Warden Willard Christensen said that if a variance was granted to

the inn, other businesses on Main Street would seek the same thing, turning it

into what Burgess Donald Leavitt terms a "great white way."

The Newtown League of Women Voters announced this week that it supports

certain changes in Newtown's charter to provide for a more efficient and

responsive form of government. The league supports local elections to be held

in November; voting districts to be flexible to reflect changes in population;

two elected registrars of voters instead of four; limiting terms of office to

two consecutive terms, except Board of Selectmen; an elected Board of Police

Commissioners; four-year terms of office for all boards and commissions

including Park & Rec; a full-time town attorney; lifting the restrictions on

political activity by town employees (but inclusion of a conflict-of-interest

clause); appointment of a director of finance; a moving up of dates regarding

the budget-making process; inclusion of a capital improvement plan for

long-range planning of the town's fiscal needs, including methods of

financing; tax collector to be appointment; allowing for monies less than

$50,000 received through insurance claims to be made accessible for

replacement of those items.

Recreation Director Lee Davenson moved into a new office this week on the

lower floor of Edmond Town Hall, in the former bowling alley in the southeast

corner next to the meeting room. Previously, residents who wished to sign up

for recreation programs had to find their way through the Board of Selectmen's

anteroom to the corner office which Mr Davenson used to share with Mae

Schmidle. Space problems at the town hall continue to be a problem. The

dialogue about the future of the town hall is scheduled to be resumed at the

Board of Managers' next public meeting. According to financial records made

available to The Bee, the original endowment of the building by Mary Hawley 40

years ago has not been enough to meet costs. Income from the endowment wasn't

enough in the last fiscal year to pay the salaries of the building manager and

custodial staff, while the movie theater lost money, and some long overdue

maintenance work was made possible only because of a new bequest from the late

Otto Heise.

FEBRUARY 13, 1948

In view of the fact that one-half of the children who have been born on the

European continent since World War II are already dead from malnutrition, it

seems fitting that Newtown should be part of the campaign to raise $60 million

in the United States to feed some of those who are still alive. At least, so

it seemed to the group of residents who met at the home of Col C. Sidney

Haight on Main Street Tuesday afternoon to form a local chapter to assist in

the nationwide campaign which began on February 2. The goal of the local

campaign is one day's pay, profit or income from each individual.

"The most successful March of Dimes to date" was Judge Paul V. Cavanaugh's

description of the 1948 Infantile Paralysis drive in Newtown with figures

Tuesday night showing a total of $1,183.94 received at that time and further

contributions expected to be received in the mail. On a national level,

general hospitals are admitting polio cases at a rate of 150 percent higher

than ten years ago. This represents a marked step forward in the treatment of

polio because the general hospital, with its larger staff and resources, is

the ideal place for such patients.

Nearly 200 people attended last Friday night's special town meeting and

approved, with just one dissenting vote, a resolution to appropriate $17,000

for road work. Nearly all of the town's original $20,000 was spent on the cost

of snow removal this winter.

George Wheeler has completed the erection of a modern fireproof building on

Glen Road in Sandy Hook to house the Wheeler Garage and Service Station. The

building contains a large showroom, a lubrication room, a repair shop, and

office. The interior is complete in every detail and the latest type electric

gas pumps have been installed. Mr Wheeler has secured the services of Ernest

Kuhne and Albert O'Dell as mechanics in charge.

Because it is approximately a year since he had a vacation, Dr W.F. Desmond

feels the need of rest, and he and Mrs Desmond will leave by plane this

weekend to seek recuperative benefits of rest and southern sunshine at Boca

Grande, Florida, which is on the island of Gasparilla in the Gulf of Mexico.

After a two-week vacation, they will return, and the doctor plans to resume

his practice on Monday, March 1.

A lively game of basketball was played Saturday morning at Hawley School when

a lively group of Newtown fifth graders (and below) met and defeated an

invading team of Bethel fifth graders by the startling score of 6-5. Included

in the Newtown lineup were Stephen Smith, captain; Teddy Smith, Jimmy

Hellauer, Paul Kovacs, Bobby Fish, Jimmy Kearns and Peter Underhill.

A special town meeting was held Wednesday night at Edmond Town Hall to vote in

full legal form on the $300,000 in bonding needed to pay for an addition to

Hawley School. About 30 people attended the meeting and voted unanimously to

approve the funding. The proposal to construct the addition was approved at a

town meeting last December 22.