Date: Fri 11-Jul-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

way-we-were-july-11

Full Text:

THE WAY WE WERE FOR JULY 11, 1997

JULY 14, 1972

The Planning & Zoning Commission has been served with papers ordering it to

appear in the Court of Common Pleas in Bridgeport regarding its decision to

adopt new zoning regulations which became effective June 15. The plaintiffs

are F. Frank D'Addario and D'Addario Sand & Gravel Inc of Newtown, Inc. The

complaint says the new regulations constitute the taking of the plaintiff's

property without due process of law and are an abuse of the police power of

the community. The new regulations cover the removal of topsoil from the site

of an excavation, permits involving ponds and non-conforming buildings.

A Superior Court trial scheduled to begin this week on the lawsuit brought by

Lyman D. Rogers and Albert H. Goodrich against the Board of Education has been

postponed until July 18. The lawsuit enjoins the town from acquiring the Boyle

property as a school site. However, the judge to whom the case was assigned

disqualified himself because of business contacts with Attorney Thomas Cheney

who is also a plaintiff in his capacity as trustee holding title to the Boyle

property. So the case has been assigned to a different judge who will not be

available until next week.

A Newtown police officer and an auxiliary officer were injured on July 7 on

Church Hill Road when their police cruiser was hit in the rear by another car.

Officer Robert Wrabel and auxiliary officer George Stowe were taken by Newtown

Ambulance to Danbury Hospital along with the driver of the other car, a

Westport man, for treatment of minor injuries. Lion, the police dog, also was

in the cruiser but was not injured. The other driver was issued a ticket for

following too closely and was given a warning for driving under the influence

of liquor.

The Newtown Choral Society will have a new director for the 1972-73 season:

Eugenia (Jean) McGrath of Mt Pleasant Road, the wife of the Rev Donald

McGrath, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church. She has had a great deal

of experience as an organist and choir director. Most recently she served the

Immanual Lutheran Church in Danbury and now is the director of the newly

formed Christ the King choir.

A large group of parents attended the July 11 Board of Education meeting to

express concern about the route which the school bus will take to transport

kindergarten students who have been reassigned from Sandy Hook School to

Middle Gate. The move was necessary because of the assignment of a classroom

at Sandy Hook for library use. The parents did not protest the move but said

roads such as Hammertown and High Bridge are hazardous because they have blind

corners, a railroad viaduct and a railroad bridge. The board agreed but said

there are many similar roads in town which the busses must use because there

are no practical alternate routes.

JULY 11, 1947

Hundreds of cars brought participants and onlookers to the parking lot of

Edmond Town Hall on July 4 for the town's largest and most stirring

Independence Day Parade in many years. Credit for the successs of the parade

goes to the parade committee composed of A. Fenn Dickinson, chairman; Louis

Carboneau and Robert Lockwood, cooperation of the town's four fire companies

and the many organizations which were involved.

A meeting was held in Edmond Town Hall this week to present the plans for the

new memorial hall honoring World War II dead which will be built on a plot of

ground opposite Newtown Country Club on South Main Street. The hall is being

planned by the Charles Howard Peck Sr and Jr Post 308 of the Veterans of

Foreign Wars. Post Commander William K. Daniells said the plans are still in

the preliminary stages. The proposed addition would be two stories high,

approximately 40 by 60 feet, with a hall approximately the same length as the

Alexandria Room and somewhat narrower. The cost is estimated at $25,000 for

construction and $500 to $700 a year for maintenance. Cmmdr Daniells said the

post has a current membership of 65 and a potential membership of about 300.

Curriculum questionnaires for the planned Regional High School District Number

3 have been returned and are being tabulated and evaluated. Although no

conclusions have been drawn yet, some answers have proved enlightening. Of the

435 students who responded, 352 said "no" to the question of whether high

school should provide only a general, rather than a technical, education. High

school graduates, both college and non-college, said a very good business

course is needed at the high school. Since for the past several years 40 to 50

percent of the high school aged persons have not been in high school, the need

is for a curriculum which will encourage students to remain in school. About

50 percent of the parents of students in grades 7-12 said they expected their

children to go on to college. Teachers said they expected about 19 percent of

the students to attend college and another 16 percent to pursue other

post-secondary education such as nursing, technical trades and commercial

training.

Advertisement: "Home in the country for elderly people; plenty of milk and

butter and strictly fresh eggs. Good foods and good care. Call Newtown 62W1."

Newtown residents have a choice of summer entertainment: Mario DiCecco and the

Newtown Orchestral Society will hold their second summer concert on July 31 at

the Edmond Town Hall theater. Dorothy Gorman will be the soloist of the

evening. Next weekend the Guilet Quartet will play in the Alexandria Room with

a program of chamber music to include the works of Mozart, Schubert and

Brahms. And the Town Players are beginning to cast Noel Coward's "Blithe

Spirit" for performances on August 13-14.