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Advocacy Campaign Launched Ahead Of April 22 Budget Vote

By John Voket

Published: April 10, 2014 12:00 am

Moments after the Legislative Council voted to send the 2014-15 town and school budget requests to referendum, resident and longtime school supporter Kinga Walsh thanked officials for their efforts. S...

School Board Discusses Staffing Levels For 2014-15

By Eliza Hallabeck

Published: April 10, 2014 12:00 am

The Board of Education unanimously voted to have “reduction in force” notifications shared with nontenured staff in the district who may or may not have their positions renewed for the 2014-15 school ...

24-Hour Fundraiser Nets More Than $25,000 For Newtown Nonprofits

By Kendra Bobowick

Published: April 10, 2014 12:00 am

For 24 hours on March 7, many Newtown nonprofit groups were among those benefiting from an online fundraising initiative. The first Fairfield County Giving Day, promoted by the Fairfield County Commun...

Sandy Hook School Students Launch Space Talk

By Eliza Hallabeck

Published: April 09, 2014 12:00 am

Flight engineers on the International Space Station helped Sandy Hook Elementary School students celebrate the end of the school’s One School One Read program on Tuesday, April 8. Seated inside Monroe...

DRS Reminder: Sandy Hook Workers State Assistance Payments Not Taxable Income In CT

Published: April 08, 2014 12:00 am

HARTFORD — In cooperation with the Judicial Branch’s Office of Victim Services, the Department of Revenue Services (DRS) offered a reminder on April 7 to taxpayers who received Sandy Hook Workers Assi...

Questions (And Answers) About CT's New Girls' Detention Unit

By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, ©The Connecticut Mirror

Published: April 07, 2014 12:00 am

When the state’s child welfare agency announced it needed to open a locked facility for troubled girls who break the law, state legislators had a list of questions they needed answers to if they were ...

Gun Rights Activists Protest State's Gun Law

By Associated Press

Published: April 07, 2014 12:00 am

HARTFORD (AP) — Gun rights activists gathered outside the Connecticut State Capitol over the weekend and protested the one-year anniversary of the state’s wide-ranging gun control law. The legislation...

Failed Gutter-Heating System Causes House Fire

By Andrew Gorosko

Published: April 07, 2014 12:00 am

At about 8:12 pm on Saturday, March 29, about 25 volunteer firefighters responded to an automatic alarm from a home at 54 Mt Pleasant Road where a system used to electrically heat drainage gutters fai...

Local Attorney Now Attending To Clients Of Paul S. Lux

Published: April 05, 2014 12:00 am

James M. Powers, Attorney at Law, LLC, of New Milford announces that, effective immediately, it will be attending to the clients of recently deceased Attorney Paul S. Lux of Lux & Timmel LLC in Newtow...

Making Room For More Tennis At Treadwell

By Kendra Bobowick

Published: April 05, 2014 12:00 am

Soft ground bore scars left by heavy machinery as Parks and Recreation crews dug out 21 tree stumps Wednesday at Treadwell Park. Pine, hemlock, and several birch trees that came down several weeks ago...

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Driver Teddy Hodgdon Visits Newtown

Columbiettes Celebrate Fifth Anniversary

CVH Animal Sanctuary To Celebrate America250 With Red, White & Blueberry Community Harvest

Flagpole Photographers & Cultural Commission Join To Celebrate 1776

Newtown Celebrates USA 250th Anniversary

This should have been printed as XXVII in case you would like to redo your calculations.

Elections Have Consequences XXVI

It is actually XXVII - 27. There was a misprint in the title.

With the publication of installment No. 26, Trump’s Triumphs has now consumed enough broadsheet paper—approximately 3.6 miles—to stretch from the center of Newtown, past the dump, and nearly to Sand Hill Plaza. That is the amount of paper used to print these 26 installments alone. Do you think they will stop before we get to Monroe? If Trump becomes 48 in 28 then we would make the sound for sure!

Dave, you are right that only those in the Borough signed onto the law suits, as it was made clear during the Borough meetings that signers had to be residents of the Borough. However, as you know, there was a concerted effort by the Newtown Conservation Coalition to organize people (throughout town) and to orchestrate actions intended to foil the overall development. If one searches the Bee for “Newtown Conservation Coalition” one will find many articles and editorials that cite the coalition. More that 18 of those articles and editorials, from March 2024 through February 2025, are about the Castle Hill Development and include direct quotes from the NCC head/founder including, e.g.,: 1) Newtown Conservation Coalition founder Dave Ackert has sagely urged his fellow NCC members to “stick to the relevant regulations issues and concerns in your testimony,” as “general opinions and concerns will not be considered when making their decision." [https://www.newtownbee.com/08292024/borough-zoning-to-begin-20-60-castle-hill-public-hearing." [https://www.newtownbee.com/08292024/borough-zoning-to-begin-20-60-castle-hill-public-hearing] 2) “We’re being sold a lot of things,” said Ackert. “The developer said he is going above and beyond in preserving open space, but the only part [of the plan] that doesn’t have houses are the steep slopes. He’s not avoiding buildable land, he’s using every buildable inch.” [https://www.newtownbee.com/09272024/borough-zoning-hears-perspectives-on-castle-hill-development] In addition to the articles and editorials, you (Dave) also wrote over 8 letters related to the development, in essence speaking for the residents, e.g., saying “On behalf of hundreds of concerned residents living within 500 feet who signed protest petitions, and residents downstream who’s property and finances could also be negatively impacted, I ask the BOS to rescind the discontinuance decision now.” [https://www.newtownbee.com/07102025/discusses-rochambeau-trail-and-6-commerce-road] The main tools for the Newtown Conservation Coalition are FOI complaints and legal action. These actions have increased the amount both the Town and the Borough have had to pay for legal counsel over the last few years. The cost is shared by all households and businesses for Town actions. Unfortunately, it is shared by very few, relatively speaking, for Borough actions. This year’s Borough costs are $58,000 to date. There were FOIA/legal actions in 2024 and 2025 too. Eventually, we will all see if that was money well spent. My sense is that the answer is no.

What’s Going On In The Borough?

my concern is not limited to this single FOIA request or this one case. It is the broader pattern of obstructionism, fear-mongering, and personal nastiness reflected in your Facebook page and other public commentary. You routinely call people to action by presenting only one side of complicated issues, assigning the worst possible motives to those who disagree with you, and giving little consideration to the legitimate concerns or perspectives on the other side. That may generate outrage and attention, but it does not make you a constructive participant in Newtown’s civic affairs. You are entitled to question public officials and pursue whatever legal remedies are available to you. But you should not pretend that your own conduct, rhetoric, and repeated escalation of disputes have played no role in the hostility and expense surrounding these matters. Newtown would be a nicer and more productive community with less of this kind of divisive behavior.

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Advocacy Campaign Launched Ahead Of April 22 Budget Vote

School Board Discusses Staffing Levels For 2014-15

24-Hour Fundraiser Nets More Than $25,000 For Newtown Nonprofits

Sandy Hook School Students Launch Space Talk

DRS Reminder: Sandy Hook Workers State Assistance Payments Not Taxable Income In CT

Questions (And Answers) About CT's New Girls' Detention Unit

Gun Rights Activists Protest State's Gun Law

Failed Gutter-Heating System Causes House Fire

Local Attorney Now Attending To Clients Of Paul S. Lux

Making Room For More Tennis At Treadwell