The owner of My Place restaurant on Queen Street, Louise Tambascio, has been named the 2019 Summer Reading Champion for C.H. Booth’s Summer Reading Program.
Ms Tambascio will help kick off the library...
Hark ALS plus friends and family of Newtown resident Laurena McCarthy are planning an evening of comedy at The Palace Danbury to celebrate and support her as she faces advanced stage Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Newtown students will bring assistance to a West Virginia community during a workcamp experience later this month. Meanwhile, one workcamper is collecting shoes to take with him, to further help the community he will be serving.
Flagpole Photographers Camera Club will wrap its 2018-19 season with an “Anything Newtown” competition on Thursday, June 13, beginning at 7:15 pm, at Newtown Senior Center.
Last Sunday, Theatre Arts & Opportunities Foundation’s InsideOut Youth Theater program, from Bridgeport, traveled to Brookfield to see a performance of "Annie Jr." This weekend the group will return to Brookfield, this time to perform its production of "Every Little Bit." Admission is free; donations will benefit the youth theater program.
On Wednesday, June 12, at 7:30 pm, The Society of Creative Arts of Newtown will have James Coe painting a landscape in oil. Mr Coe will be working from a photograph, and plans to quickly block-in and establish the essentials of a complete landscape painting in just about an hour.
The Stray Kats Theatre Company is planning to present the Third Annual Still Crazy After All These Years! festival at Edmond Town Hall this weekend. A collection of one-act plays will celebrate the lives of today’s senior citizens: healthier and more active and engaged than ever before.
The whimsical screwball comedy film Harvey (1950), starring James Stewart, will be shown at Edmond Town Hall Theatre, 45 Main Street, on Thursday, June 13, at 1, 4, and 7 pm.
CT Woolcrafters will host a local knit-in on Saturday, June 8, as part of an international observation planned by similar groups around the world. Weather permitting, knitters and fiber artists will be able to gather on the terrace outside C.H. Booth Library for a few hours.
Kathy Quinn’s letter rightly calls out the danger of giving in to bullies. But her argument also raises an interesting question. Here in Newtown, we’ve all seen how a large, vocal NIMBY mobcan overrun our local zoning board. Time and again, the board caves to the loudest voices, even when those voices don’t represent the broader community.
If that kind of pressure works for a neighborhood issue, why wouldn’t Donald Trump try the same tactic on a national scale? Whether it’s calling for reporters to be jailed or threatening TV stations with license revocations, he’s simply using the same “mob rules” playbook.
The lesson is the same in both cases: rights don’t protect themselves. If people stay silent, the loudest and most aggressive voices will dominate. The only real antidote is participation—speaking up, voting, and refusing to let intimidation win.
We love you, Minerva and Marklin, and we wish you all the best. We'll miss you and your delicious food. We have many fond memories of Mexicali Rose, as our children grew up nourished by your food and your love. You've spoiled us--nobody makes mole like you do, and we'll never find chicken-filled chili rellenos like you make anywhere else. Your homemade chips and salsa were expected at gatherings we've had. We look forward to a Mexicali Rose cookbook!
Renee, Monica and I worked together for years as Assistant Town Clerks. Together we hoped to provide you with a positive, and even fun, experience and hoped you left satisfied and with a smile on your face. In these sometimes difficult times, please give Renée a chance to bring that back to the Town Clerks Office. Leaving with a smile on your face goes a long way and hopefully gets paid forward. Once again, good luck Renée! It’s time.
Anne, your first paragraph condemning Charlie Kirk’s murder is commendable and appreciated. Sadly, it needs to be said. Newly on campus, a college student I know found himself surrounded by people who thought Charlie had it coming to him, and this student can’t help but wonder if they’d want him dead, too, for holding similar views to Charlie’s. No, this student isn’t a bigot, intolerant or exclusionary—but quite the opposite, as was Charlie Kirk quite the opposite. It seems that, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, so much of what you know about Charlie Kirk just isn’t so. It makes me wonder whether you have actually listened to a Charlie Kirk Show or to one of his civil debates.
I hear the term “Christian nationalist” bandied about these days. I’m a Christian and I’m a nationalist—that is, I’m devoted to what’s in the best interests of our nation--as was Charlie. Does that make us “Christian nationalists,” which you say is “utterly anti-American”?? Charlie had deeply held Christian beliefs that seemed to shape all his actions and speech. As the devout Christian that he was, Charlie would likely have wanted others to see the joy and salvation of holding similar beliefs. (He’d still be alive today if his assassin had followed Christ and the 10 commandments, including, “You shall not murder.”) But, did Charlie ever say that only Christians are welcome in our country? Certainly not that I’m aware of.
You talk about the “separation of church and state” in our founding documents. You must be referring to the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Did Charlie call on Congress to make a law to establish a state religion or to prohibit people from practicing the faith of their choice? Certainly not that I’m aware of.
There seems to be a lot of misinformation about Charlie out there. For example, the NY Times recently had to issue this retraction, "A correction was made on Sept. 11, 2025: An earlier version of this article described incorrectly an antisemitic statement that Charlie Kirk had made on an episode of his podcast. He was quoting a statement from a post on social media and went on to critique it. It was not his own statement."
I urge you to not just listen to the propaganda, but actually watch some of Charlie’s videos (unabridged) and see for yourself. You might still disagree with his views, but perhaps you will no longer feel the need to call him a bigot, intolerant, exclusionary and anti-American. Perhaps you’ll see for yourself how Charlie was all about inviting his opponents to a civil debate, not about “disregarding, diminishing, discarding, despising, demonizing” others. Perhaps you’ll see Charlie’s example as a way in which we can all treat one another rather than engaging in name calling, intimidation, or violence.
