March 2, 1990

A Pennsylvania man was charged with reckless driving Monday, February 26, when the flatbed trailer truck he was driving rear ended the back of a tanker truck carrying liquid nitrogen and burst into flames. At 1:31 pm head dispatcher Betty Forbes received a call from State Police requesting that a single piece of apparatus be sent to a car fire on I-84. Mrs Forbes dispatched the Hawleyville Fire company. As Hawleyville Deputy Chief Edgar Beers was driving up Mt Pleasant he heard radio reports from Hawleyville captains who reported heavy black smoke. Mr Beers radioed to Mrs Forbes asking that she also call out the Newtown Hook & Ladder. By 1:40, firemen were reporting this wasn’t a car fire but a fully involved, two-truck fire. At 1:52 pm, the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Company’s tanker was dispatched. At 2:05 pm, Mr Beers — concerned about the possibility that the liquid nitrogen could explode the tanker — requested that State Police close both the eastbound and westbound side of I-84. Tom Cassin, an assistant chief of Hook & Ladder, observed that there was “a tremendous amount of damage, and I am amazed that both drivers were able to get out of that without serious injury.”

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For Newtown Police Officers Jeff Cowser and George Sinko, the first day on the job meant reviewing stacks of departmental rules and regulations with their Training Officer Michael Kehoe. “The training process is part of a collective agreement between the town and the union,” said Newtown Police Captain Michael Fekete. To keep the officers abreast of the latest laws, tactics, and equipment, the pair will get their 40-hour update every three years.

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When David Brown purchased the Newtown Bowling Alley in 1984, his intention was to find someone to lease or purchase the building and continue operating the duckpin lanes. “I underestimated the interest of operating the facility for bowling,” said Mr Brown. Mr Brown was forced to make a decision that broke the heart. He decided to close the alley, and with partner George Reichert, a local architect, decided to renovate it into office space. That renovation was recently completed. The renovation cost more in time and money than co-owners ever anticipated. The shape of the structure remains basically the same, but just about everything else is new.

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Over the last month traffic in Newtown has increased dramatically due to the bridge work in the eastbound lane of Interstate 84. But no one was prepared for the heavy onslaught of traffic which occurred following the fiery crash of the two trucks in the westbound lane of I-84, Monday afternoon. In half an hour, cars were stacked up past Exit 10; and more than an hour later, traffic was reported to be backed up for five miles from the scene by Currituck Road bridge. It was not long before Church Hill Road was clogged with motorists scrambling to meet their destinations. To combat the chaos, fire/police and police were sent to maintain the traffic flow at the town’s major intersections. Emergency crews worked the situation into the evening, while State Police attempted to get traffic flowing at a reasonable rate. Despite their efforts, all was not clear until after 11 pm.

March 5, 1965

The Right Reverend Monsignor Walter R. Conroy will be honored at an informal reception give by all of St Rose Parish Societies on March 14, from 6 to 8 pm, in St Rose Hall. The occasion is his recent elevation by the Pope to this high rank. His appointment as a Domestic Prelate with the title of Monsignor was announced on January 21 by Bishop Walter Curtis.

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The Newtown Jaycees report a satisfying response to their appeal for funds to keep the Sandy Hook Fife & Drum Corps in existence. To date some $800 has been donated toward the sum of approximately $1,200 needed this year for such necessary items as instruction, instruments, uniforms and transportation of the Corps to parades and its other appearances.

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The old Botsford Hill School in Toddy Hill District — which became a private dwelling many years ago and was gutted by fire last Saturday morning — was like many district schools of those days, i.e., its one-room was filled with students from kindergarten to high school. The most recent occupants of the property were Mr and Mrs Robert Wilkes, who were “burned out” in the early morning hours but escaped without injury. The school got its name from Daniel Botsford. It was built on a piece of land taken from Mr Botsford’s property. He built it so his children and neighboring children could get an education.

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Investigation is continuing with Officer Kenneth Shaw assigned to the case, of the theft of $19 cash and $551 in checks and receipt slips from the building department in Edmond Town Hall on February 24 during the lunch period. The $19 was in a cash box and consisted of building fees. The office was that of Earle H. Megin, the building inspector and zoning enforcement officer. The checks and receipts have been returned to the building department. They were found in a mail box in Bethel by a postman picking up mail from the box. Bethel postal authorities called the Newtown Post Office, and Postmaster Albert H. Nichols informed Newtown police of the find.

 

March 1, 1940

The garage belonging to Harry Gibbons of Stony Hill district was completely destroyed by fire on Thursday evening, of last week. The fire started when Mr Gibbons placed a lighted gasoline lantern near his car while he siphoned gas from the tank. The fumes ignited and it was only by quick work that the car was pushed from the garage area and saved. The Newtown and Hawleyville Fire Companies responded but arrived too late to save the building.

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When carried out during the first year of life, immunization procedures protect children against whooping cough, diphtheria and smallpox at a time when they are particularly susceptible to disease, Eugene E. Lamoureux, MD, Epidemiologist said in a recent broadcast of the State Department of Health. Parents should realize, Doctor Lamoureux said, that the sooner their children are protected from these diseases, the fewer worries they will have. Whooping cough is not fatal, but rather the pneumonia that may follow. Doctor Lamoureux warned of diphtheria carriers who harbor the germs, who are not sick, but who can pass the disease to susceptible persons. Everyone should be protected against smallpox by vaccination, Doctor Lamoureux stressed.

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The Newtown Athletic Club is proud to announce a series of all-talking, moving pictures of winter sports, to be shown at the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium on Tuesday evening, March 5, at 8 o’clock. The program includes pictures of winter sports in the Laurentians and the Canadian Rockies.

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The Town Players have been busy the past weeks preparing for “Our Town,” one of the biggest attempts of its career. The cast of twenty-five to thirty people have been drilling under the direction of Hazel Smith and are nearing the point where the play is in the making. In the large cast are also several high school students. The technical staff, those people not seen but so definitely an important part of each production, is under the direct supervision of Jerome Jackson the producer.

 

March 5, 1915

The house of Vinczeno Denaro in Hanover was burned to the ground about 9:30 pm, last Thursday night. Residents of the borough, who saw the illumination on the sky, though the fire was in Bridgewater. The house is located on a part of the farm formerly owned by the late John Mulligan. Fire broke out, Wednesday, about 7 o’clock in the residence of Samuel F. Tilson. The telephone brought the assistance of neighbors, a bucket brigade was formed and the fire was put out.

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With commendable public spirit Rodney Shepard is circulating a paper to pay for the installation of electric lights in the Town hall. Anyone willing to lend a hand to the worthy project should call at the store and put their name on the roll of honor. It is to be done without expense to the town. A.S. Green & Co. are doing the work.

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A.W. Reynolds received, last Saturday, from Foxhurst Farm, Lime Rock, Conn., a big black Orpington cock bird to mate with seven pullets that he raised from a setting of eggs purchased of Foxhurst Farm, last season. As this bird headed one of the prize winning pens at Madison Square Garden, last winter, he is probably the finest chicken that ever set foot in Newtown. This bird would have been in Madison Square string this year had it not been that he got his comb slightly frozen.

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In naming Morris D. Beers as deputy sheriff, Sheriff-Elect Simeon Pease has made an appointment which seems to give general satisfaction in republican circles. Mr Beers has been a resident of Sandy Hook for 10 years. He is a son of the late Julius A. Beers of Walker’s Farms. For a time he was engaged in the real estate business and was in the employ of J.H. Blackman. He served for a year on the Board of Selectmen. Last fall he established in the meat business for himself, opening a market in the Keating block.