Main Street was the place to be Halloween night as kids from all over town (and other towns as well) arrived in costume for some serious trick-or-treating. Some homeowners reported some 300 to 400 visits from ghosts and goblins of all shapes and sizes. Some even had to turn their lights out early after running out of candy.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal joined a group of people including Lin Hertberg, Gretchen Hyde, and Harvey Pessin, who spent the evening passing out treats along Newtown’s historic Main Street. Herb was hoping to slip into some more comfortable clothes for the night, but never changed after getting caught up in all the Halloween spirit. Still dressed in coat and tie at 7 pm, Mr Rosenthal told the kids he was dressed as a first selectman.

When Shirley Ferris stopped by The Bee on Tuesday to pick up some photos, she said she had a costume in her car to wear at the state agriculture department’s Halloween party later that day. She wasn’t wearing it yet because she had an early morning meeting with the state Education Development Commission. She said she figured it wouldn’t be to her advantage to show up dressed as a clown when she was planning to ask the EDC for money for agriculture department projects.

One sure sign that Halloween has come and gone is the strands of toilet paper decorating the town Christmas tree and other trees at the southern end of the Ram Pasture. It was actually kind of pretty. Still, I like the Christmas lights on the tree better.

Fairfield Hills was featured on MTV this past weekend, but not for its picturesque scenery and fine architecture. Instead, the network’s new show, Fear, portrayed the former state mental health hospital as an evil, haunted place, using its hallways and rooms to scare four young people. The filming, which took place back in September, shows three men and one woman taking on different challenges set forth by MTV producers. They all involve missions through the hospital’s empty tunnels and buildings which some believe to be traversed by the spirits of patients who died there years ago.

Barbara Phillips was spotted in the St James Suites in Washington’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood last weekend. She was attending a reunion of school friends from all over the country who were celebrating a very important birthday. When she got back to Newtown, instead of holding a traditional party, Barbara and Art invited their friends to help clean up the Orchard Hill Nature Area and afterwards to enjoy a buffet at the Phillips’ home.

I received a letter from a real estate company in Marlborough about Craig Shepard, a seven-year-old boy with a brain tumor who is trying to collect the most business cards and make the Guinness Book of Records. The letter, which was sent to dozens of companies, that in turn sent it to dozens more, is among the most persistent “urban legends.” Craig is alive and well. He does not want any more business cards. Over the past dozen years, the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Atlanta, Ga., has repeatedly pleaded for people to stop sending cards as it has caused an enormous mail problem for the non-profit agency. Anyone who would like to learn more about urban legends, including this one, can go to the Web site www.urbanlegends.com and look under “classics.”

Members of the Newtown Woman’s Club’s conservation department were spotted last week planting 400 spring-flowering bulbs at the barn at the former Holcombe property, which is now owned by Newtown Forest Association.

Jim Crouch is back on the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Jim, who is the chief dispatcher at the town’s 911 emergency center, took several years off from the ambulance corps while his children were preschoolers. Now that both are in school all day, Jim says he has the time to serve as a volunteer again, and he’s glad to be back.

Visitors to The Spa at Ricci’s Salon probably will notice the attractive free-hand paintings on the walls. They were done by Claudia Coopersmith.

When Samantha Lerman scheduled her wedding to David Bernstein for last Sunday, her Uncle Robert, who lives in the Virgin Islands, warned her that a hurricane could prevent his coming to the wedding. Well, the weather cooperated in more ways than one. Not only weren’t there any hurricanes in the Caribbean, but it snowed all afternoon during the wedding. And that suited Samantha’s Uncle Robert just fine. Because he lives in the Virgin Islands, he hadn’t seen snow in 34 years. There were almost a few glitches, however, as a short power outage hit the Heritage Inn just before the rehearsal dinner. Then Samantha’s brother, Sandy, who was a groomsman, couldn’t find his tie as the wedding was about to begin. But their mother, Laura, knew just what to do. Knowing that the waiters at the Heritage wear tuxes, she went to the desk and quickly arranged to borrow a tie. The wedding turned out fine. David is chief resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and the wedding was written up in last Sunday’s New York Times.

If you think that the only thing Louise Tambascio at My Place does well is cook, you’re wrong. At that same wedding Louise and her husband Adrian jitterbugged up a storm. Stephanie Hays, who was a bridesmaid at the wedding, has an exciting adventure ahead of her. On Monday she leaves for six months in London where she will be working. She’ll be rooming with Erin Archer, who is in law school there.

Molly Dorozenski has just returned home from Prague. She spent six months there after graduating from Yale. Her parents are living there.

Congratulations to former Newtown resident Dave Samoskevich who last week graduated from the police academy and is now a full-fledged member of the New York Police Department. Dave joins fellow former Newtown residents Paul and Chris Daly, who are already members of the NYPD.

Incidentally, one of Dave’s first assignments was to patrol the streets during the Yankees World Series championship parade Monday.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough political lawn signs this year to last me a lifetime of elections. Most of those I’ve seen have been from the Jim Maloney and Mark Nielsen race for the Fifth District US Congressional seat. One of Mr Nielsen’s signs did catch my eye, however, as it blew back and forth during Saturday’s windstorm. Some gusts were recorded at 45 to 50 mph, but the sign refused to budge, somehow managing to keep its footing in the grass in front of the Fireside Inn.

Old Man Winter came knocking at the door Sunday. He thought light snowdrifts would be a great reminder that winter is right around the corner. I told him to go back to where he came from because it was not time yet. Isn’t the first day of winter December 21?

Even parents get into the spirit of their Halloween costumes. Kate Mayer wore her “Cap’t Underpants” to the Head O’ Meadow Family Fun Night on Friday. She is the mother of four children – Zoe, Eliza, Brady, and Evan Eggleston.

Madison and Spencer Erhardt donated money from their piggy banks for the Treadwell Park Playground. As Suzanne Nemec of Newtown Savings Bank counted their money on Wednesday, Madison said to Ms Nemec, “The playground needs that money.”

Newtown Congregational Cooperative Nursery School had a costume party on Monday. Children say the funniest things sometimes. Patrick Rowley, 4, was participating in circle time when all of a sudden he blurted out, “Hey my parents are looking at me.” I guess children do not think about the fact that their parents look at them pretty often.

Until now, parking in front of the town offices at Canaan House at Fairfield Hills has been an art. Now, it has become a science. Formerly, the paved strip in front of the building was unstriped, allowing motorists to park creatively, and leave more space between themselves and the next vehicle than was probably necessary. With the addition of parking stripes, those vehicles will be packed in a bit tighter, probably increasing the number of parked vehicles by one-fifth to one-quarter.

When people go into Edmond Town Hall on Main Street they can now feel a bit more secure. The town hall is one of the first public buildings in the area to contain an automatic external heart defibrillator (AED), a device which can be used to revive people from heart attacks. Five town hall workers have received training in how to use the device, which is permanently positioned in the building’s inner lobby on the main floor.

I’ll be back next week with all the election palpitations, so get ready to defibrillate and…

Read me again.