June 19, 1992

Final plans for a new swimming pool at Treadwell Park will be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission and Public Building Committee next week. The Boards' members have been meeting with park planner William B. Aniskovich every week for the last six weeks to review plans for the $750,000 pool. The project is under constraints because the pool must be completed by the end of the year if the town is to take advantage of a state grant for $300,000. Mr Aniskovich, of the WBA Group in Branford, has attempted to complete all drawings of the project within 45 days after he was hired. He plans to have the project out to bid by July 1 and break ground by August 1. "We feel confident that we can make the [December 31] deadline if we start by August 1."

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Happy 70 Hawley! Fifth graders filled the walkway to Hawley School just before the grand celebration marking the school's 70th anniversary June 11. Usually fifth graders receive a gift from the school, but this year's class decided to reverse the tradition. They donated two basketball hoops and backboards for the playground. Doris Bushaw, school principal, showed a plaque that will be placed in the school commemorating the gift.

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The State Department of Mental Health commissioner has acknowledged problems of violence and overcrowding at Fairfield Hills Hospital - problems his office is tackling with the help of a team of professionals, problems it's taking time to resolve. "I will be very pleased if six months from now, things are a good deal better, and if the Alliance for Mentally Ill says we are working together," he noted. "But it's not going to happen overnight." At a lengthy meeting with two members of the alliance, Dr Albert Solnit listened to a host of complaints. In answering the frequently confrontational questions, Dr Solnit agreed the level of violence on the ward is a serious problem, and includes attacks on staff and patients. He also said overcrowding of forensic patients - some of whom are considered felons - in the acute ward is a problem his office has only recently been able to address.

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NEW HAVEN - In testimony in US District Court last week, Rod Mac Kenzie gave his side of the story in his trial on fraud-related charges. Closing arguments in the case were expected on Friday, June 12. Mr Mac Kenzie, an attorney, is charged with helping a client to defraud the First Federal Bank of Connecticut in 1987; and with two related counts of providing false information. In August 1991, the client pled guilty to one count of bank fraud, and to one count of knowingly making a false statement in a loan application to a federally-insured bank. Falsely inflating the property's value helped secure a loan exceeding the purchase price of a Danbury property. Mr Mac Kenzie was Newtown's first selectman in 1988 and 1989. He now lives in Newburyport, Mass.

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When construction starts for Newtown's sewer system in 1994, roads and front lawns in the center of town will be ripped open for placement of lines and laterals. It will be, quite frankly, a mess. The ordinary flow of community life in the town's center will be disrupted until the trenches are filled and roads are paved again. During construction, however, Newtown will be presented with a rare opportunity to use one eyesore to get rid of another - the overhead utility lines along Main Street. The idea of burying the utilities was first raised by Selectman Gary Fetzer. He was told it would be difficult and expensive. The idea was filed away until now. First Selectman Zita McMahon said this week that she has asked Public Works Director Fred Hurley to research the possibility.

June 23, 1967

Commencement exercises for Newtown High School's 123 graduating seniors will take place at 5 pm on Sunday, June 25, on the school lawn. In the event of inclement weather, exercises will be at Edmond Town Hall. The Rev Robert Hyl of St Rose will give the invocation and the Rev Robert Bantle of the Bible Baptist Church, the benediction. Music throughout the ceremonies will be provided by the high school band and chorus. Dr John W. Vlandis, dean of admission at the University of Connecticut, will give the commencement address. His topic is "The Mirror or The Window." Salutatorian Karen Nezvesky will speak before Dr Vlandis and Valedictorian Gordon Platt will speak following the main speaker.

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Money - that folding stuff, the long, green lettuce, whatever you choose to call it - within the next two weeks you're going to be asked to invest much as much of it as you can in protection for your family and your home. Newtown's combined fire companies are asking your support in their annual fund drive. The man who comes to your door will be in uniform. He'll be there for two reasons: not only to ask your contribution to the drive, but also to bring up to date the fire companies' records of how many people live where, how many children, invalids, pets, are members of a household.

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When Marcia Donoso first arrived in Newtown, she was sitting in the parking lot of the Queen Street Shopping Center with Diane Berkins, when a girl came leaping across the pavement to the car. She was dressed in worn dungaree shorts and began chattering enthusiastically about the past summer and the coming school year. Marcia was overwhelmed and had all sorts of strange ideas about American teenagers. She judged this girl to be very poor, because of the dungaree shorts, and, because of her enthusiasm, the girl talked too fast for Marcia to understand. The girl was Nancy Holmes who has turned out to be one of Marcia's closest friends. Marcia has been fascinated by pajama parties and especially the Ouija board that foretold her future and then told her that the prediction was all a joke!

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Louis Untermeyer, of Taunton District, will join the Suffield Writer-Reader Conference June 25-July 2 at Suffield Academy during the latter part of the week and will give his traditional Saturday evening lecture. Mr Untermeyer, poet, anthologist, member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress, has been associated with the Suffield conference from its early days.

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When the Girl Scout summer camping season opens in July, 100 Newtown girls will be preparing to attend one of the camps owned by the Southern Connecticut Girl Scout Council. Twenty-nine of these Scouts have received camperships from the Council! These Scouts were recommended by their leaders and selected on the basis of Scouting experience, troop participation, leadership potential, and financial need.

June 19, 1942

In the daze of special days with which the calendar is loaded, we now come to Father's Day on June 21. We don't suppose the observance of Father's Day was started by a father, or that the average father thinks much about it at all, until members of the family give him a new tie or approach him with unaccustomed felicitation on that one occasion. Fathers, after all, are not a sentimental lot, assuming their role in life in a very matter-of-fact way. That is, most of them do. Yet they are really important - moreso than is usually regarded. Especially in times of uncertainty, fathers' duties become complex. He has new problems to solve in his bread-winning occupation, and certainly he faces an indefinite future, particularly for his growing sons and daughters. But, he will still be that solid kind of fellow, whose shoulders are broad and can really "take it." Yes, dad is a swell guy, and it's a shame that his true worth is so generally taken for granted.

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Jack Leavy's Sandy Hook ball club, after traveling to Naugatuck on Sunday afternoon, was disappointed when the skies opened up and the descending rain washed out the game scheduled with the Naugatuck Grays. The team is hopeful that the sun will shine this coming Sunday afternoon when they play host to the Woodbury team at Pine Grove Park.

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The summer round up for children who will be six before January first next and who expect to enter school next fall, will be held at the Hawley School next Tuesday, June 23, from 9:30 to 11:30 am. The round up is an activity of the Connecticut Parent Teacher Association, in cooperation with the state Department of Health. Its purpose is to arouse the interest of parents in the health of children entering school for the first time, so they will be physically ready to take full advantage of the opportunities education has to offer.

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The office of the local Rationing Board is in the court room at the Edmond Town Hall. The office is open (except for sugar for home canning) every afternoon but Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 5 and every Tuesday evening from 7 to 8. Telephone 686. Applications for home canning sugar will be received only on Mondays and Fridays from 3 to 5 in the afternoon. Remember that the sugar coupon now valid in your War Ration Book is No. 4 which is usable until Midnight, June 27th.

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It is a course of satisfaction, especially to parents of young children, that there have been no further cases of scarlet fever in Newtown since Miss Maureen Maulick fell victim to the disease, the quarantine and protective measures set up by the health officer evidently proved effective.

June 22, 1917

Judging by the good work of canvassers for the Red Cross in the Middle District, it looks now like the amount subscribed in that district would total $2,000. Chairman Morris is very happy over the showing and is looking for fine returns from every district in town. In Sandy Hook the canvassers have been very active and nearly everyone is giving. Let us all have a part in this humane and noble undertaking. If the total should reach or exceed $4,000 it would be an achievement in which we all can rejoice.

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Tuesday night, June 26, will be Travel Night at Pootatuck Grange. Mrs H.N. Tiemann and Mrs Emma Mitchell will speak on "Interesting Trips I Have Taken." Miss Pearl Canfield will give instrumental music, Miss Anna May Betts will give a reading. At roll call the question to be answered will be "Where I was born and where I have been and what place I liked best." A box lunch will follow.

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This year of 1917 marks the 400 anniversary of the Reformation's beginning, or the Beginning of Modern History as it is sometimes called. The Congregational Church's Christian Endeavor Society are very fortunate in having secured an illustrated lecture on Martin Luther for next Sunday Evening, June 24. The service will begin at 7:30 in the lecture room.

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Judge Johnson in the Probate Court, Tuesday, committed William Leahey of Brushy Hill to the State Farm for Inebriates at Norwich. Sheriff Beers conveyed Leahey by auto to Norwich Tuesday afternoon, arriving in Sandy Hook on the return trip about 3 am Wednesday.

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Over 85 ladies were present, Tuesday, at the Town hall at the two sessions given to the canning demonstration. Miss Green presided and canned spinach, strawberries, asparagus, etc. The demonstration was held under the auspices of the local Grange and the Fairfield County Farm Bureau.

Please consider sharing your old photographs of people and places from Newtown or Sandy Hook with readers. Images can be e-mailed to kendra@thebee.com, or brought to the office at 5 Church Hill Road to be scanned. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date.