News

Linda Gejda Selected As New Assistant Superintendent In Stratford

By Eliza Hallabeck

Published: April 29, 2015 12:00 am

The Stratford Board of Education appointed Newtown’s Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda for its new assistant superintendent during a meeting on Monday, April 27. Dr Gejda responded to th...

2015-16 Town, School Budgets Pass With Overwhelming Support

By John Voket and Kendra Bobowick

Published: April 28, 2015 12:00 am

School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, walked into the Newtown Middle School gymnasium just after 8 pm Tuesday, moments after the final few residents cast their budget votes, exuding quiet confid...

Budget Polls Quiet; Only 522 Votes Logged Four Hours Into Referendum

By John Voket

Published: April 28, 2015 12:00 am

Four hours into today's budget balloting at Newtown Middle School, Republican Registrar JoAnne Albanesi had logged only 522 votes. Any registered voter or Newtown resident with at least $1,000 in taxa...

Dinner To Benefit Resident Recovering From Cancer

By Kendra Bobowick

Published: April 27, 2015 12:00 am

Friends of Newtown resident and American Legion Auxiliary Third District President Alice Saxton are planning a benefit dinner to help Ms Saxton with medical expenses. Ms Saxton is recovering from esop...

Route 34 Bridge Atop Stevenson Dam To Close For 90 Hours; Detours Planned

By Andrew Gorosko

Published: April 27, 2015 12:00 am

MONROE — The antiquated Route 34 bridge positioned atop Stevenson Dam, which links Monroe to Oxford, will be closed to traffic for a 90-hour period to allow for maintenance work on the hydroelectric d...

Selectmen Reveal Charge, Possible Makeup Of New Community Center Committee

By John Voket

Published: April 24, 2015 12:00 am

At a brief April 20 Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman Pat Llodra and Selectman Will Rodgers reviewed and briefly discussed a proposed charge and a possible list of appointees to a new ad-hoc...

Residents Sought For Commission Posts

Published: April 24, 2015 12:00 am

First Selectman Pat Llodra is seeking residents to fill several opening on local appointed boards and commissions. In some cases the appointments are required to be affiliated with a specific politica...

Accidental Fire Heavily Damages Castle Hill Road House

By Andrew Gorosko

Published: April 24, 2015 12:00 am

Volunteer firefighters from all five local fire companies responded at about 6 pm on Thursday, April 23, to a raised-ranch house at 101 Castle Hill Road, where a fire had broken out, heavily damaging...

Superintendent Drafting Transportation Survey For Parents

By Eliza Hallabeck

Published: April 24, 2015 12:00 am

Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, told the Board of Education during its Tuesday, April 21, meeting the district administration would like to launch a transportation survey. The first dr...

Modeling Event Lands Town 'Celebs' On The Runway

Published: April 24, 2015 12:00 am

On Saturday, April 18, more than two dozen Newtown officials, staff, and local "celebrities" hit the runway at Rock Ridge Country Club to help support the C.H. Booth Library's CHBMakers initiative. CH...

Silver Alert Issued By Newtown PD For 17-Month-Old Child

LOF Adaptive Skiers Is Gearing Up For Another Jam-Packed Summer

Snapshot: Jason LynchThis week's Snapshot features Jason Lynch.Family: My wife Robin, and our daughter Charly.How did you meet your wife? I met her on the subway in Brooklyn. I was helping someone with their stroller, and she saw me and handed me her business card.Pets: Two dogs, Jet and Utah.How long have you lived in Newtown? About five years. We used to live in Norwalk, and I used to drive the back roads home all the time. I’d see the antique houses and their plaques, and we’d talk about how unique each one looked and how great it would be to have a house like that someday. We were here for the corn maze, for my brother-in-law’s birthday, and we saw one of the houses on Main Street was for sale so we took a look and fell in love with it.Work: I work at IBM Research, where I am primarily a brand designer — so thinking about the Research brand, different applications, how it appears in digital at events, and also working with some of the emergent technologies as well. It’s incredibly hard but also interesting and fulfilling.Do you have a favorite podcast? I love podcasts. I like StarTalk, which is really interesting, about cosmic queries; The Illustration Department, about different illustrators and designers, which I like to listen to a lot; and I enjoy Freakonomics.What did you want to be when you grew up? A truck driver. I still think it would be an awesome job. We take a lot of road trips to Ohio, and I think about it quite a bit when we’re going through Pennsylvania. When I was a little kid they had that show, BJ and The Bear, and I loved it.What do you enjoy doing in your free time? I really enjoy cooking. I find recipes all the time, so I try to find new and interesting things. It’s hard to find the time to do it, but I enjoy it. During the summer we like to hang out on Lake Zoar. It’s our favorite place to be. It’s peaceful out there. We have a pontoon boat that we dock at Eichler’s Cove, and it’s nice because we can go down there, sometimes after work we’ll go out with dinner or go swimming for just an hour or so.What is the most recent book you’ve read? At home I don’t have a lot of downtime to read, but I love audio books. Right now I’m going through A World of Peers by Michael Pollan, which explores what is consciousness. It was really interesting. Before that it was Sammy Hagar’s autobiography. It varies quite a bit. My commute can be lengthy, so I enjoy audio books and podcasts when I’m going back and forth.What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? You’re not entitled to the results, you’re entitled to the work.Do you have any pet peeves? It’s silly and it’s a little thing, and I know this, but I cannot stand how paper towels or tape never tear cleanly. It drives me insane.What is something you cannot live without? Family, of course. And dogs. I have to have dogs.What is your favorite thing about Newtown? I like the sense of community we’ve experienced here. I enjoy walking, and I love being able to get groceries everyday — the walkability in the center of town, and seeing people all the time, I really enjoy that. And the homes, of course, which was primarily what drew us here. Do you have a personal credo? The work advice from earlier.

Financial Foundations: Expanding Access To Homeownership: Innovative Mortgage Programs

Head O'Meadow Students Cast Votes For Books

I understand your basic point, but not the numbers. Can you help us understand where your numbers come from? Thanks!

The ‘Me’ Generation

Tom, I appreciate you sharing your perspective. My advocacy isn't about a personal 'vested interest' in a single field; it is about the Standard of Newtown. While you categorize the salt shed and library parking as 'essential' and the turf as an 'upgrade,' I would argue they all fall under the same umbrella of maintaining town assets. The Turf Field ($1.4M): This was a replacement project for a facility used by thousands of youth athletes, not a new 'luxury' add-on. The Salt Shed ($1.2M) & Library Parking ($1.4M): These were passed at almost identical price points. The point isn't to say these items aren't important; it’s to ask why we find the money for infrastructure that serves one demographic while claiming we are too 'fiscally strained' to fund infrastructure for another. When we categorize things we use as 'essential' and things our neighbors' children use as 'extras,' we aren't having an honest discussion about priorities, we are picking winners and losers. The goal of my letter wasn't to be 'unproductive,' but to sound the alarm for the 82% of residents who didn't show up to the polls. We cannot be a community that only thrives in parts. If we want Newtown to remain a place where people want to move and raise families, we have to invest in the next generation with the same urgency we use to fix our parking lots.

The ‘Me’ Generation

Michelle, I am sorry to see that you are also a victim of fabrications. All those rumors that go round that seem so convincing. All so often, those rumors are little more than convenient lies. This has been happening for several years and hopefully we can come together to stop them. Until then, I ask that those of you who have heard disparaging remarks about the candidates take the time to meet with them to ask them directly what you are concerned about. Get to know them better rather than assume. We all will have better representation both locally and state-wide if you do so.

Support For Brandon Moore

He is just another politician, you could see it when he got Bruce Walcz'zzz'k elected. Say whatever it takes to get into office...

This is disappointing because it frames voters who rejected the Treadwell turf replacement as selfish or anti-youth. When I suspect that Katherine's motives were likely because she has some vested interest in those turf fields, which makes it exceptionally selfish. There is a clear difference between maintaining basic town infrastructure and approving an athletic facility upgrade. Library sidewalks, parking access, and a salt storage facility support safety and essential town operations. The turf field may be worthwhile, but it is still a different type of request. Residents can support youth sports and still question the cost, timing, or priority of a specific project. Calling that selfish, or turning it into a generational argument is unfair and unproductive. Newtown is better served by honest discussion about priorities, not by accusing voters of lacking community spirit because they disagreed on one ballot item.

The ‘Me’ Generation

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