Date: Fri 07-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

James-Maloney-Congressman

Full Text:

Rep Maloney Checks In With His Constituents

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

The juniors in Newtown High School teacher Kim Pereira's American government

class joined with the seniors in Allison Epstein's US history class Monday

noon to hear about how government works from someone in a very good position

to know.

US Representative James Maloney visited the high school at noon, just before

the last school period of the day.

His visit was sandwiched between a day-long schedule of stops he was making in

Newtown and Bethel, a tour which he described as an old-fashioned survey of

his constituents' views.

It was a journey reminiscent of the hand-shaking political style of old, with

Mr Maloney visiting grocery stores and senior centers just to ask people about

what was on their minds.

His stop at the high school could not have been better timed.

"This was a sort of follow-up to letters we had written him earlier this

year," Ms Pereira said.

She added the students had been studying political parties and social reform,

so "his visit fit in perfectly."

The Democratic congressman, who defeated three-term incumbent Gary Franks in

November, also met with top officials from both towns.

In response to questions by the Newtown students, he outlined his plans to

work for the passage of tax-credit and tax-deduction bills during the current

session.

He also talked about "Brown Field Development," a land-use grant program he

supports that would allow for the identification and clean-up of polluted land

so that it could be re-used for commercial or industrial purposes.

One local example that Mr Maloney and First Selectman Bob Cascella discussed

was the possibility of applying for the grant, through the Department of

Environmental Protection, at the Swamp Road site, where the Batchelder Company

operated an aluminum smelting plant in Newtown for many years.

Rep Maloney said an example of this re-use was the site of the old brass

factory in Waterbury, where a $30-million grant was used to clean up the site,

then $100 million was spent on a new shopping mall, creating 2,500 jobs.