A new addition to the Timeless Newtown: Embracing Every Generation series, John Boccuzzi Jr will present “Silver Linings: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities” on Thursday, June 5.
All are invited to join American Legion Post 202 members when they present their annual Memorial Day Weekend observance at the Liberty and Peace Monument.
Special events for the period of May 21-September 18, 2025, tied in to the “Timeless Newtown” series being presented by C.H. Booth Library, Commission on Aging, and Friends of Newtown Seniors.
State Representatives Mitch Bolinsky and Martin Foncello, in cooperation with Troop 270 of the Boy Scouts of America and the VFW Post 308 in Newtown, are encouraging Newtown residents to dispose of their worn American flags in a dignified and respectful way ahead of Flag Day.
Next week's meeting of the Genealogy Club of Newtown will feature a program by Nick Sheedy, who has been the lead genealogist on the PBS program "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates Jr for the last five seasons.
Bruce, welcome to the conversation.
Your recent statement after the storm — admitting that you should have communicated “faster, more completely, and more personally” — was fine as far as it went. But this is not just about one storm. It is about a pattern. You ran on openness, responsiveness, and transparency, even saying that “evasive answers or silence are unacceptable in government.”
The problem is that Newtown residents have been dealing with exactly that silence from you since you were elected.
Newtown’s Emergency Management page says the town, together with the Office of the First Selectman, provides “critical public information and warning” during emergencies. The town also rolled out CodeRED cellphone registration on March 24, 2022 so residents could receive emergency information directly.
So where were you when police were searching for missing 23-year-old Kateri Doty in January? Where were you during the brush fires near the Newtown town line in April? Where were you on April 22, when state police and Newtown police were searching for two people who fled an I-84 crash and a canine search moved into the Church Hill Road area?
Residents should not be hearing about a missing person, wildfire conditions, or police tracking dogs moving through backyards from Facebook, neighbors, or kids in town. They should be hearing from their town government.
This is not really about whether you personally press the CodeRED button. Or how many task forces you have created. It is about leadership. You are the First Selectman. You are responsible for making sure the town communicates clearly, quickly, and visibly when public safety is involved.
So yes, it is nice that you have finally acknowledged the problem. But the public did not need this storm to figure it out. We have been saying it for a long time.
Bruce, you were missing when the town needed to hear from you. The question now is whether this storm finally woke you up, or whether this is just another late apology followed by more silence.
The topic may be the same but the narratives every other week differ and I appreciate the installments. Rebuttals on factual content rather than focusing on form would improve the discourse.
Congrats to all the 275 graduates.
For context...class of 2005 had 360 students, the number of graduating seniors seemed to cap out in the late 2000's in the low 400's.
