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The Amity Star
A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Best Interests of Bethany and Woodbridge
Editor and Publisher
George D. Vaill
Business Manager
Alice M. Vaill
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Litchfield Turnpike, Bethany, Conn.
Vol. I, No. 11     Thursday, February 8, 1951

Editorial Comment
Bethany's Registrars of Voters have just held a public session to allow electors to change from one party list to another, or to register with a party if they have been on the "Independent" roster. The 639 voters now line up as follows: Republicans, 467; Democrats, 90; Independents (or Unregistered), 82.
The 82 who are on the third list are so enrolled for a variety of reasons. We wonder, however, how many are there because of a mistaken idea that Republicans and Democrats, at this local-politics level, differ in some way from one another, or that being registered with one or another stamps a voter as irretrievably devoted to this or that cause or philosophy of government.
In actual practice, to remain "unregistered" in a town such as this deprives the voter of all political activity except for the final act - the casting of his ballot - since no one may take part in caucus activities unless he is registered with a party. It is obvious to anyone who has observed the local scene for any length of time, that the voter's chief field for activity, and his only chance to be heard publicly, lies in the caucus - and here (for better or for worse) is where the ultimate election winners are chosen. If he wishes to have any voice in choosing candidates, he must be registered. His only other recourse is the "write-in" column on the ballot.
Perhaps a more serious fault of "Independent" registration is that it deprives the electorate of some good potential candidates for elective office in the town. Again, the only way of electing an unregistered voter is by way of the "write-in" - and this is seldom successful in the face of overwhelming odds.
Voters should think twice before they sign up among the "lost" electors. Every intelligent vote is needed in the preliminaries at the caucuses - and it ought not to be wasted through a misunderstanding of the party-label system or through a stubborn refusal to surrender a small element of "independence."

Communications
(Last week the STAR printed an unusual picture and offered prizes for the best descriptive letters from Bethany and Woodbridge schoolchildren. Entries received up to press time include the following. Ed.)
Once there was a miracle of a bird called the "Hayeyeabula." He was walking along a hill one day far, far away when he met some shrunken heads called the "Cumacomagogs," so they all walked down the hill together until they met a private eye who walked along with them. He was trying to solve the mystery of the silken hats. The cat said, "It's time to go fishing." Suddenly heat and smoke and flame rose from the chimney and they all melted into the picture which was called "The Thing."
Robin Newhall Haeseler
Amity Road, Woodbridge
What I saw after I watched my Aunts television.
Giacint Storlazzi
Grade I, Center School
Woodbridge
(Since no other entries have been received, we hereby award the prizes to these two contestants: the Woodbridge dollar to Robin Haeseler and the Bethany dollar -- by transposition -- to Chickie Storlazzi. Ed.)

Bethany Notes --
(Continued from Page 1)
evening, February 21. So that the members attending the meetings of this group will have access to factual material about the subject under discussion, Mrs. James Howell, the Chairman, has placed copies of the "Report of the Commission on State Government Reorganization" and of a pamphlet called "Government Pattern - Connecticut Style" on a special shelf in the Clark Memorial Library.
The Discussion Group, a unit of the League of Women Voters, is working to promote awareness of our responsibility for effecting desirable changes in The Connecticut State Constitution during the current term of the General Assembly. Local Leagues throughout the state sent out questionnaires and received statements from some sixty-four of 313 members elected to the Assembly. Of these, fifteen are senators and forty-nine are representatives. Forty-three of the replies came from elected Republicans and twenty-one from elected Democrats. The candidates were asked the following questions: first, whether they favored any constitutional changes and, if so, what changes they thought the state government most needed; second, whether they believed a state constitutional convention should be called, and, if it were called, how representation to it should be determined; and third, what statutory changes would help make our state government more efficient, responsible, and economical. Thirty-seven representatives and fifteen senators thought some form of revision was desirable. There was less general agreement on how to effect such changes. Eagerness for an increase in home rule to towns was indicated in both houses.
(Continued on page 3)

The Star Reporter
"Delici-" Apples
"...ous, Baldwin, and Greenings, which are a cooking apple." There. For the benefit of those who tried to find the continued line in last week's farming article by Miss Joyce A. Lockyer, we print it above, to give all readers full measure. At some point between 3:00 and 6:00 A.M., while the paper was being prepared for an early Wednesday printing, two Varityped lines disappeared, and the break-over read, somewhat disconcertingly: "Four principal varieties are raised: the MacIntosh, Delici- New Haven wholesalers receive the larger part. ...." Historians and archivists of the future will, no doubt, refer to that paper as "the Delici- edition" -- very rare. We're looking for a cornerstone to bury one in.
Bottles Again
Mrs. Max J. Hirsch, of Old Amity Road, Bethany, has shown us several interesting specimens, among them a square bottle designed to simulate a cabin, with log sides and shingles on the neck, and bearing the legend: "Drake's 1860 Plantation Bitters." It has been suggested that we sponsor a Bottle Show, which could be exhibited at the Library in each town. All those interested are urged to let us know.
Kickapoos Again
Gilbert Whitlock has sent us a most interesting item: "A Book of Dreams -- Fleeting Images of the Night" --printed "for the people by the Kickapoos and sent by them to you on receipt of your name and address." It was issued by the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company of Clintonville, Connecticut, apparently about 40 years ago. In addition to Kickapoo Interpretations of Dreams, it contains advertisements for all sorts of medicines which can cure any ailment suffered by man, as well as glowing testimonial letters from those who have been miraculously snatched from the grave by the use of this oil or that salve. One soap is advertised as good for "Babies, pimples, eczema, boils, and old sores." Do you want to compound a little Sagwa? It contains nothing but "soda bicarbonate, gentian root, mandrake root, cubebs, rhubarb root, senna leaves, aniseed, coriander seed, red cinchona bark, yellow dock root, burdock root, dandelion root, sacred bark, licorice root, aloes, alcohol, glycerine, and water." No wonder it is so powerful as to be a complete cure for "all diseases of the stomach, sick headache, heartburn, la grippe [one testimonial says "I was in bed 2 months with the la grippe..."], bad liver, kidney diseases, melancholia or 'the blues', neuralgia, rheumatism, blood poisoning, scrofula, ague, fever, malaria," and a host of other deadly distorders.
After taking a stiff shot of Sagwa or Kickapoo Oil or Worm Killer, you will probably drop off into a powerful sleep, featured by powerful dreams. Rather than leave you in the dark as to what these may foretell, the book offers interpretations covering every known ingredient of dreams. A few chosen at random will give you a rough idea of the typical Kickapoo Nightmare: Ape -- You will overcome your enemy; Barber -- You will have the gossips after you; Bass Viol -- Strife ; Bath -- You will be terribly angry; Beer -- Happy days; Elephant -- You will be overpaid; Fleas -- You wil be grieved over false tidings; Gutter -- You will live in a foreign land; Ireland -- Good luck in summer only; Jelly-Fish -- Warning to look before you leap; Jug -- You are too generous to the rich; Lice -- A sign that you will be very rich; Ninny -- You will take to gardening; Nudity -- Do not trust your dear friends; Ostrich -- You will have no use for doctors; Quicksilver -- You will be thrown from a horse; Rats -- Always many friends; Squirrel -- You will have a cross husband; Vinegar -- You will soon rest on your laurels; Vaccination -- You will receive wedding cards of an old sweetheart; Whiskey -- You are secretly loved; Warts -- You will be an old bachelor or maid as the case may be; Yellow Dog -- You will be president (or wife of); Yachting -- You will marry a clergyman; Zebra -- You will make the friendship of an unworthy.
Founding Fathers
Our story about the Bethany Fire Department, two weeks

Tel. 3-0842
Harriet Davies Mulhern
Marian Mulhern Albrecht
Style Beauty Salon
Specializing
Permanent Waves
Cold Waves -- Hair Styling
22 Fountain St.     New Haven, Conn.

Janice L. Harris
Sadye R. Abeshouse
Tel: 3-4811
House of Charm
at 1299 Whalley Ave.
Gifts -- Antiques
Greeting Cards -- Stationery

Actors Colony Inn
Connecticut's Finest Theatre Restaurant
Route 34 on the Housatonic River, Seymour, Conn.
*Dancing and N.Y. State Show Every Saturday 9 P.M. to 1 A.M.
No Cover Charge
Danbury
Waterbury
Route 34
Derby
Shelton
New Haven
Exit 62
Bridgeport
NYC
Telephone: Derby 4-9690

62 Dayton St.     Phone 3-2936
Corner Whalley
Reliable Food Market
Assortment of fresh fish for Lent
Shoulder of Lamb 55¢ lb.
Short Steak 89¢ lb.

Bond Cleaners and Dyers
914 Whalley Avenue
Repair Work Carefully Done
Three-day Shirt Service
Telephone 3-0475

Phone 3-0925
Shell
Dealer in Shell Products
Hicks Shell Station
29 Fountain St.
Westville, New Haven

906 Whalley Ave.     Tel. 3-2625
Sachs Dept. Store
Benjamin Moore Paints
Complete line of Valentine Novelties

Flowers For Your Valentine
S. H. Moore Co.
Florists
95 Whitney Ave.
New Haven
Tel. 6-4188

D'Andrea's Pharmacy
Famous for Prescriptions
M. S. D'Andrea, Reg. Pharm.
911 Whalley Ave.     New Haven, Conn.

The Clothesline
Marjorie Shutkin      Bethany, Conn.
Telephone 3-1171
Sample Wool Suits
Size 10 -- Black Broadcloth 29.95
Size 12 -- Green Tweed 27.95
Size 14 -- Light Grey Flannel 32.95
Size 16 -- Oxford Gray Flannel 39.95

Race Brook Road     Orange
Telephone: SYcamore 9-2288
Pyrofax Gas Service
Complete Gas Service for Homes Beyond the Gas Mains
New and Used Ranges, Refrigerators, Water Heaters, and Heating Equipment