Date: Fri 22-Aug-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-Bee-clock

Full Text:

MOUNTAIN for 8/22

Excuse me. Do you know what time it is?

I've been asking everyone on Church Hill Road this question just to see who's

been paying attention to The Bee's new street clock out in front of the

office. The big, green, lollipop-of-a-clock seemed to pop up like a mushroom

overnight on Tuesday night. Actually, it made its debut early Wednesday

morning thanks to the efforts of Doug Cooke, an electrician with Losito

Electric of Bethel. Doug showed up at 5:30 in the morning to complete the

installation of the clock, which he started the night before. The boss now

tells us we don't have any more excuses for being late.

Speaking of new street-side decorations, Frank LaPak has been busy decorating

his yard on South Main Street and one of the latest additions is a nice picket

fence. He was out giving it a coat of paint the other day, Tom Sawyer style,

and a few people did stop by to offer some help. Frank decided that nobody was

going to put one over on him and refused all offers.

A new blacktop driveway now leads from Glover Avenue up to the garage of Jim

Crick and I have learned that the contractor did not follow instructions to

the "tee." Jim had suggested that about forty golf balls be pushed into the

surface while still hot, thus allowing only the tops of the balls to show. It

is a sight that Jim is used to as he moves from one sand trap to the next.

Joe Kocet has some of the best rolling stock in town now, having just

purchased a new Ford pickup with many bells and whistles. And on top of that

he has been seen zipping about the fairways at the Newtown Country Club in a

nice green utility vehicle, complete with a dump body. He says that he is

going to have "Superintendent" printed on the front of it and hide the keys

from his helpers. And by the way, since I roam that area every so often, I

want to tell you that the course looks great thanks to the "Super."

Bill and Jean Honan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at a party at

the Stony Hill Inn Saturday night. The event, attended by more than 100

people, was put on by the Honan's eight children.

Several department heads from Newtown High School showed up for a tour of the

school's construction project Wednesday afternoon. The tour was given by

Assistant Principal Jules Triber. The teachers donned hard hats as they

traversed the dust-laden building. Social studies co-chairman Robert Dilzer

seemed to enjoy the tour, but expressed concern. He couldn't help but notice

that all the construction workers were wearing masks, while the teachers were

left to breathe in the fumes and dust-filled air. Fortunately, everyone

survived the tour.

For years, Bill McIlrath and Wes Gillingham have been touring the shoulders of

Hundred Acres Road, picking up trash. When they first started, most of what

they found was the usual assortment of cans, bottles, cigarette packs, coffee

cups, etc. Then about three years ago, according to Bill, a new item started

to show up in large numbers: large 40-oz. brown Schaefer beer bottles. They

started finding about five per week, and the number has remained steady ever

since.

"The odd thing about them was that for the most part, they were still in a

paper bag and even though most of them were thrown against stone walls, we

only found two broken ones in all these years," Bill says. "Our belief is that

two or three men on the way home from work are passing these bottles back and

forth until they finish the bottle, and so that their mothers or wives never

learn about this, they toss the bottles."

What these sneaky beer boys don't know is that they are making a daily

contribution to the Newtown High School Band. Wes takes all the bottles, worth

five cents each, to the band's bottle collection bin at the recycling center.

Peggy Martin is still looking for Head O' Meadow School grads to march in the

Labor Day Parade in honor of the 20th anniversary of the school. All you have

to do is gather before the parade in the staging area, which will be listed in

The Bee next week. Oh yeah, Peggy wants everyone to wear their Head O' Meadow

t-shirts - if they still fit, that is. I know many a HOM grad who doesn't

lament growing up so much as growing out. That old t-shirt can be a cruel

reminder.

And for those of you who never want to grow up, here's a useful reminder:

Read me again.