AUG. 19, 1985 -- Thirteen towns and cities in Fairfield County are given until Aug. 31 to join the Connecticut Re-sources Recovery Authority in the collection of refuse and its conversion to an energy product. The muncipalities will pay CRRA, an entity formed 13 years ago without success, $39.45 per ton for the privilege. Members of the Society to Ad-vance the Retarded are given a boat ride around the Norwalk islands by members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 603, and the Interclub Flounder Fishing tournament leadership with a flyover by private pilots Morgan Kaolian, Seymour Brandman and Donald Henderson. Norwalk Police Officer Joseph Jensen is commended in a letter to The Hour Public Forum for removing a bat from a home. Weston Fire Chief Frederick Moore is shown to be a skilled horticulturist as well as an expert at raising pheasants before releasing them into Ordway Preserve next to his property for which he is also the official caretaker. Cardinal John J. O'Connor visits metalsmith J. Kenneth Lynch in Wilton during the sale of such Lynch artifacts as the boatswain's chair used to repair the Statue of Liberty in 1928 and the Baptistry Gates made for St. Patrick's Cathe-dral in 1930. Maestro Jesse Levine is signed for a sixth year as conductor of the Norwalk Symphony, it is announced by President Susan Weinberger. Nurse Janice Overton of Norwalk graduates second in her class of 56 at Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing.
AUG. 20 -- A committee of the Norwalk Common Council approves the sale of condominiums in Prospect Gardens after the building's owner agrees to put up an escrow account of $31,700 to correct fire code violations that had been delaying approval. The city begins construction of the $170,000 aluminum and steel stands at the Brien McMahon High School football field replacing the 25-year-old wooden stands. Ciro and Josephine Taccone reopen the Italia Restaurant at 285 Main St. after a complete renovation. PRIMO, a new lighting and design center opened at 114 Washington Street by John Tremaine, features several European products. Dr. Katherine P. Holden joins Dr. Norman Weinberger and Dr. Bertram Grossman at Pediatrics Associates, 149 East Ave. Dr. Ernest Atlas, chief of infectious diseases at Norwalk Hospital, says the institution has been treating symptoms of AIDS in patients for five years and that there is no fear of contagion from casual handling.
AUG. 21 -- With the mayoral nomination of Council-man John J. Lombardi of William Street by the Conser-vative Party, Norwalk will have a four-way race for the position in November. A four-hour wait in line is required at the Vista (N.Y.) Market as Nutmeggers flock to the New York Lottery seeking tickets in the $41 million Lotto jackpot, largest in North Amer-ican history. Dr. Leonardo Martinez, former chairman of the Norwalk Hospital Depart-ment of Anesthesiology, sues the hospital for breach of contract and Anesthesiology Associates for defamation of character, claiming he was fired in the second year of a five-year contract to lead the department. Elderhouse, a senior day care facility that has been using space in Old Well Lodge, Gregory Boule-vard, is granted a 40-year lease on land in Lewis Street owned by the First Congregational Church on the Green and will build its own facility there. Thirteen Norwalk women vie for six finalist positions in the 1985 Miss Norwalk Seaport to be chosen at the Oyster Festival. Gregory Allen Kniffen, formerly of Wilton, is shot to death at 18 in Berkeley, Calif.
AUG. 22 -- Norwalk Redevelopment Director Jan Hannert believes she has a plan for convincing federal housing officials to release money to the city for additional housing development. The Recreation & Parks Committee of the Common Council tables once again a proposal to lower to $2 the admission fee to watch baseball and softball games at Calf Pasture Beach. A team of four Norwalk Policemen issues 19 traffic violations in three hours at the intersection of Connecticut and Richards avenues under a new local program of selective enforcement by such teams. Citing long response times to reach the northern limits of the city, the Norwalk Fire Commission approves the creation of a sixth firehouse in the Merritt 7 Complex which has been offered free of charge. Katherine Smith Pallesen, a 60-year resident of Darien and co-founder with her late husband, Robert, of the Darien Guild of the Seven Arts which flourished in the 1930s and 40s, dies at 91.
AUG. 23 -- Jane Bergere of Bluff Avenue obtains 400 signatures on a petition to the Norwalk Building Board of Appeals to halt the proposed addition to the Hewitt Associates facility at 40 Highland Ave. in Rowayton. Wheels bus fares will rise from 60 to 75 cents Sept. 1 and the cost of tokens will move up from 50 to 60 cents, the Norwalk Transit District announces. June Carroll, principal of Fox Run School, has been devoting considerable time to the Norwalk Labor Council as evidenced by their citation to her for 15 years of service, the last four as secretary-treasurer. Alter-ations to allow all-day kindergarten programs in the city's elementary schools should be finished by opening day, according to Michael L. Muro, assistant superintendent for administrative services.
AUG. 24 -- The six finalists for the Miss Norwalk Seaport title are Linda Herzberger, Peggy Tuozzoli, Suzanne Smith, Grace Moore, Metsie Lukach and Tracie Bell. Michele Orris of Gregory Boulevard loves her job as director of administrative and support operations for the Norwalk Seaport Asso-ciation, and believes Norwalk will realize its potential as a waterfront community. Nor-walk Police Chief Carl La-Bianca reports that an investigation into a March shooting at Meyers Manufacturing Company in High Street in which a felon was wounded, has found that the action taken by Officer Patrick Morris was justified. The felon was treated at Norwalk Hospital and has recovered. The Rev. Frank P. Salvato, a 1969 graduate of Brien McMahon High School and assistant pastor of Parkway Assembly of God, is the new principal of Parkway Chris-tian Academy. Michael Taylor of Allen Court is Hour Carrier for the Month of June. Ehrick Haight Jr. of 101 Highland Ave. and Jeanne Metropol of Columbia, S.C. marry in South Carolina.
50 YEARS AGO
AUG. 17, 1960 -- The Norwalk Police Commission announces the promotions of Capt. Joseph Beres to inspector and Lt. William Carpen-ter and Lt. James Ashbrook to captain. It also makes permanent earlier promotions of Deputy Chief David Campbell, Capt. Peter Babinski and Capt. Francis Virgulak. Com-missioners Maurice SanSouci and Dr. Edward Kelley Jr. report that Campbell will be second command after Chief Max Orlins and Beres will be third in command. Vincent F. Reynolds, a veteran of U.S. Navy service during World War II, is elected commander of Frank C. Godfrey Post 12, American Legion, in Norwalk. A fund drive launched in Summit and Allview avenues by Mrs. Eugene Sullivan of 10 Summit Ave. and Mrs. Harold Boutilier of 22 Sum-mit Ave., brings enough to purchase a new television set for the Preben Jensen family of 28 Allview Ave., recently arrived from Austria with a daughter suffering from leu-kemia. Norwalk Fire Capt. Edwin Bovi, a 12-year veteran, and Detective Jerry Lanick, a policeman 22 years, are The Hour featured public safety officers of the day. A son is born to Mr. and Mrs. Artwell Hebert of 27 West Rocks Road in Norwalk Hospital where daughters are delivered to Mr. and Mrs. Edward McArdle of Pennys Lane, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ameer of 44 Silvermine Ave. and Mr. and Mrs. John Patella of 16 Linden St. U.S. Army First Lt. Richard R. Jentoft of Darien, is killed as a crew member in the crash of a reconnaissance aircraft during maneuvers of the Fourth Infantry Division in Yakima, Wash.
AUG. 18 -- The Norwalk Republican Town Committee, in a spirited meeting, selects attorney John E. Vallerie Jr. and attorney Francis J. DiScala as candidates for the General Assembly in the fall election. In doing so, they by-pass incumbent four-term state Rep. Louis J. Padula, who withdraws after the first ballot in which he tied DiScala with 38 votes, four less than Vallerie's leading 42 votes. Padula promises a primary Sept. 27. Steven Hevesy, a former councilman, garners 36 votes. Mildred Frampton is nominated GOP Registrar of Voters. Kevin Gormley and Ken Kliban report they saw the new U.S. Satellite Echo I while at Calf Pasture Beach. Pamela Labouchere of Wilton is elected Queen of Jasmine at the annual Festival of Flowers in Grasse, France, where she has been visiting relatives. Graphics Designer H. Edward Oliver of Wilton is creator of the new four-cent U.S. postage stamp commemorating the Campfire Girls. Mrs. Frank Fitch, director of volunteers at Norwalk Hos-pital, wins a new automobile for writing a winning national jingle. Sister Maria Fran-ciska, FDC, first superior of St. Ladislaus Convent here, dies.
AUG. 19 -- A 10-year-old Norwalk girl, Diane Sherry of Shaw Avenue, has a promising future today a month after open-heart surgery performed at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Several volunteers were involved in the process beyond the medical professionals including donors of over 20 pints of blood -- Grace Ameden, Joseph Ashmore, Cary Chen, W.K. Chen, Raymond Cohen, Annette Fagan, Anita Fagan, Marian Kilbride, Dominic Lipira, Grace Littell, Shirley MacCallum, Harry Roway, Alberta Searles, Frank Smolak, Alexander Tatum, Donald Miller, John Murphy Jr. and Harold Tompkins, almost all taken to New Haven by Red Cross drivers Mrs. George Butcher, Mrs. Rose Dennis and Florence Howes. El Mundo, a daily newspaper in Puerto Rico, has high praise for the hospitality and support given last month by residents of Norwalk and New Canaan to a stranded Puerto Rican family found close to starvation in a disabled car next to the Merritt Parkway. Absent precise land maps in its records, Wilton First Selectman Vincent Tito asks Norwalk counterparts for a meeting at which a definitive boundary can be ascertained between the two municipalities. Isabel Rock of Kensett Avenue and state Rep. Morris Earl are nominated by Wilton Republicans for the General Assembly. Norwalk Post-master James J. Slattery, letter carrier Charles C. Stammel and clerk Edward J. Bass are each honored by the U. S. Postal Service for innovations they have initiated. Edwin and Marion Asplund purchase a home in Burlington Drive from Elsie Self. New 50-star American flags are being flown at the Bishop Building, 64 Wall St. and Fred Dunn's Glendinning Drug Store across the street. A daughter is born at Norwalk Hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Farrell of 27 Harstrom Place. James A. Green, 34, of 47 Lowe St. is jailed for 90 days by Judge Julius Groher in New Canaan Town Court for causing the motor vehicular death July 29 of a New York state woman visiting relatives here.
AUG. 20 -- James Walter Jennings of 33 Hayes Ave., a 1950 graduate of Norwalk High School and first blind person to obtain an engineering degree (Michigan State University) signs up for a Russian test which, if he passes, could qualify him as an interpreter. The second floor of Winifred Mallory's home at 16 Spring Hill Ave. is gutted by fire. Attorney John E. McDermott withdraws his candidacy from the Democratic candidates' list. Some 1,000 Westport boaters ask the U.S. Coast Guard to brighten Buoy No. 3 at the mouth of the Saugatuck River. Donald Yazgoor of New Haven is appointed reference librarian by Norwalk Librarian John Halahan. Westporter Wil-liam F. Leonard of 2 Rocky-field Road is named chairman for the second annual United Youth Fund campaign in that town. Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Groves, USA Ret., of Darien as president of the Army Distaff Foundation seeks $4.5 million to construct a 300-unit residence for widows of Army officers at Oregon and Nebraska avenues in the nation's capital. Galvin Gall of 27 Stuart Ave. a member of the NHS Class of 1949 and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bates College, is appointed an instructor at the University of Connecticut. Norwalk native Loring Smith, raised at 124 Main St. is appearing at the Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford. Dr. Donald E. Burke opens an office for the practice of dentistry at 142 Rowayton Ave. John H. Ryan of 12 Keith St. completes a special course in estate planning and business insurance for his position as a consultant with Metropolitan Life in Norwalk. Honora O'Connor, a teacher at Honeyhill School, and Charles McCullough of 52 Locust Hill Road, Darien, marry in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Jamaica Plain, Mass., Gertrude Hotchkiss Heyn of Westport, raised in Norwalk, the daughter of the founder of the Hotchkiss Company, a manufacturer of staples, dies at 69 while on a vacation trip.
AUG. 22 -- William P. Magrath of Cos Cob, brother of Norwalk's first Medal of Honor recipient, the late Pfc. John D. Magrath of East Nor-walk, attends the military re-view at Fort Riley, Kan., with his wife and two children, commemorating Magrath's heroic action of April 1945 in the Italian Alps that brought him the decoration, while rededicating the John D. Magrath field house and athletic field created in 1955 by the 10th Mountain Division. Glenn Nadin, Larry Frazier, Anthony Santagate, Rick Tavello, Doris Nagy and Rocco Castango collect $43.77 from a fair held 27 Silk St. and turn it over to Mrs. Elmer Eldridge, a volunteer at the American Cancer Society office in Norwalk. Carol Miller of Weston and Donald Shreyer of New Canaan are crowned king and queen of the Fairfield County 4H Club Fair in Bethel. Basil Burt, 21, a tree man of Danbury Road, Wilton, is knocked unconscious for 30 minutes after his bucket brushes a high tension wire on South Turkey Hill Road, Westport. Donald Byington of William Street, a relatively new Norwalk firefighter, and Julius Mangler, a 13-year Norwalk Police officer, are the featured pubic safety officers in today's Hour. John H. Yankee and his wife, actress Eileen Heckart, purchase a 1840 home on 3.5 acres in New Canaan after several years residence on Jarvis Street in Norwalk. Frank Laychak of Belden Hill Road, proprietor for several years of People's Market in South Norwalk, dies at 72. Morris Englander of 15 Prospect St., proprietor for several years of a shoe store in Washington Street, dies at 62.
AUG. 23 - Mrs. John B. Lewis of 34 Yarmouth Road, Bell Island, known for the past two decades as Dorothy Roe, women's editor of the Associated Press, retires after a long career that began at the newspaper in her hometown of El Dorado, Ark., after obtaining a journalism degree at the University of Missouri, including ghost writing stints for fashion designer Lily Dache and the aviatrix Ruth Nichols. Seventy Norwalk teachers attend a seminar at Center School on the new Norwalk Plan of team teaching. Aaron Lyons, proprietor of a Sunoco service station at 208 Westport Ave. since 1914, is cited by the oil company as the longest serving company man in New England. Joseph Stolin sells 16 acres in Norwalk's Seir Hill section to the Seir Hill Homes Corporation. Edith Smith will be manager and Robert Judson her assistant in the new Wilton branch of the Norwalk Savings Society. Gail Marie Olsen of 15 Ivy Place and John G. Santo of Alrowood Drive marry in St. Thomas the Apostle Church. Marilyn Cutler of 4 Maplewood Terrace and Elihu Katzman of Sandy Hook wed in Temple Beth El. Mr. and Mrs. James Leonard of Bermuda Road, Westport, and Mr. and Mrs. Dominic Lametta of 17 Barbara Drive welcome daughters at Norwalk Hospital where Mr. and Mrs. David Rosenau of 39 South Morningside Drive, Westport, and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Leonard of 3 Lone Pine Lane, Westport, are delivered sons. An empty tank car, 29th in a freight train of 108 cars, derails at Stamford Railroad Station and disrupts commuter and through train service for the entire day and night. Celebrated Broadway composer Oscar Hammerstein II dies at 65 in Doylestown, Pa.