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The Amity Star
A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Best Interests of Bethany and Woodbridge
Editor & Publisher
George D. Vaill
Litchfield Turnpike, Bethany, Conn.
Subscription Rates
Full year - 52 issues - $4.75
6 months - 26 issues - 2.40
3 months - 13 issues - 1.20
Single copy - .10
Vol. I No. 5 Thursday, December 28, 1950

New Third Selectman
The death of Charles C. Booth has removed from our midst a man whose personal qualities and unselfish public service won for him the affection and respect of all. In offering congratulations to his successor in the position of Third Selectman, Edward H. Hinman, we also commend the action of the other members of the Board in making a choice which, we are sure, would have had the complete approval and support of Mr. Booth. This, in itself, is a high commendation.

Card of Thanks
Mrs. Mary A. Booth and Mrs. Frank L. Fowler, widow and duaghter, respectively, of the late Charles C. Booth, wish to thank their friends and fellow townspeople for the many kindnesses and expressions of sympathy extended to them in their bereavement.

Preparedness
Nature helped us rehearse. Coming at a moment when new civil defense committees are organizing to meet the new threats of war, the recent wind storm tested our responses. As the rain and the gale lashed our houses and our countryside, uprooting and pruning trees, tearing loose power and telephone lines, scattering shingles, toppling television antennae, ripping apart cinderblocks, we found ourselves obliged to do what we will ahve to do if and when any larger disaster strikes.
We found ourselves obliged to help ourselves and to help each other. We found ourselves forced to improvise and to do without. We found ourselves reminded once more of the complete dependence of a modern community on its public utilities -- as the Connecticut Light and Power and the Southern New England Telephone struggled to resore our heat, our light, our water, our refrigeration, and our communications. Then life got back to normal, we picked up the pieces, and polished up the stories of our individual experiences.
If New Haven is on the obvious enemy bomb run from Boston to Washington, as the experts now say, then communities like ours stand to be put to some real tests if and when peace efforts fail. The wind storm was a reminder, and a mighty mild one by comparison, that we'll do well to prepare for any eventuality.

Bethany Notes
Continued from page 1
Amity Road. Stationed at Washington, D.C., he will return here for a week's liberty beginning on December 29. "The Amity Star," having previously listed Buster as with the Army, is happy at this time to return him to his rightful place in the Navy.
Mr. James Warburton has announced with regret that Henry Fiengo, teacher of the seventh and eighth grades at the Bethany Community School, has been called to active duty with his National Guard unit. Lieutenant Fiengo will join the 118th Fighter Squadron of the Connecticut National Guard Air Force at Brainard Field on the first of February.
Mr. and Mrs. Harris Hoppe of Amity Road announce the birth of their second daughter, Carol Ann, on Friday, Dec. 22. Mrs. Hoppe is the former Margaret Patterson of New Haven.
Peter Ould, son of Mr. and Mrs. Barnard P. Ould of Beacon Road, a sophomore at Hillhouse High School, has been made a member of the Varsity Swimming Team. The first meet of the season will take place Jan. 6 at the Crosby Pool.
The regular monthly meeting of the Ladies Aid of the First Church of Christ, Congregational, in Bethany will take place Jan. 3 at 1:30 P.M. at the home of Mrs. Harold Beecher on Munson Road.
Russell Jackson, son of Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Jackson of Sperry Road, is on the Safety Patrol at Troup Junior High
Mrs. Thelma E. Andersen of the Naugatuck chapter of the American Red
Continued on page 3

Special Luncheon and Dinners Daily
Steaks     Chops
Cape Codder Restaurant
Westville
Chicken     Sea Food
Sandwiches and Your Favorite Cocktail

Happy New Year from the Whitlock Farm
Sperry Road, Bethany, Conn.

Communications
To the Editor:
May I presume upon the columns of your newspaper to discuss my motion, made at the last Town Meeting, to have the Selectmen appoint a committee to consider a new community center or town hall for Bethany.
The need here should be obvious to all. The present quarters are not only inadequate but positively dangerous. As one who has pounded his own thumb and many yards of scenery on to its hallowed walls, I bow to no one in my affection for our present town hall. Yet it is a fire trap, quite unsuited to town meetings at their present size, and much too small to house the many community activities which Bethany now has, or requires.
All have recognized the need for a new hall. At least six organizations, who make use of the present hall as a center for their activities, are discussing and planning separate quarters of their own. It would be tragic for the town as a whole to have these plans materialize, to have a series of small halls or rooms built, each of them inadequate for communi9ty gatherings on any scale. As we all know, the cost of these separate facilities would actually fall on essentially the same group -- the citizens of Bethany, who can hardly affort more than one such building. Let us, by all means, combine our efforts and concentrate our resources; so that we can acquire one community center, centrally located and suitable for all the different nees of our citizens.
These needs, I realize, are different. The Grange, the churches, the young people, and the town officials -- each group in town has its particular d'rathers in a building of this sort. That is why my motion suggested a committee, representing these various interests and organizations, to search for a common solution, satisfactory to all. This should not be too difficult; public meeting rooms, kitchen facilities, a stage, and possibly a bowling alley are items on which most of these groups could agree quickly.
If the new building be concerned of as a community center as well as a town hall, there is every reason to consider carefully its relation to the community school. The latter must be again enlarged within the next two yers. The school will need an auditorium and both the care and heating of a community center would be most conveniently operated in conjunction with the school.
This is just one possibility. The com-
Continued on page 3

Complete line of New Year's decorations, hats, noise makers
Sachs Dept. Store
Tel. 3-2625     906 Whalley Avenue

Prescriptions     1325 Whalley Ave.
Whalley Pharmacy
Hallmark Cards
Whitman Candy
Drive-in Parking
We deliver      Tel. 3-0453

1297 Whalley Ave.     Near Davis St.
Parkway Self-Service Launderette
Shirts - Dry Cleaning - Shoe Repair
Hosiery - Toys - Jewelry

Customers and Friends
Please come to office for your 1951 Calendar
We regret that we cannot mail
Harry Merwin
Real Estate and Insurance
895 Whalley, Westville
Dial 3-0895

D'Andrea's Pharmacy
Rexall Drugs
Famous for prescriptions
911 Whalley Ave, New Haven, Conn.
We deliver     Phone 3-0642
Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes for The New Year

Prospect Store
Union City Road, Prspect
J. Fusco, Prop.
Telephone orders (call Waterbury 5-0791, collect)
Complete line of fancy foods, meats, and groceries
Delivered in Bethany
Every Friday
Open Sundays, 9:30-12:30

BETHANY FUEL RANGE AND FUEL OIL
Your Neighborhood Dealer Serving Bethany and Woodbridge
Telephones: 3-0956
3-1362
Merritt Russell
Bethany, Connecticut