The testing-time problems that stirred national controversy with SATs administered Saturday, June 6, were evident at the testing session in Ridgefield.

“On 6/6 during the SAT session, the test administrator was made aware of a time discrepancy on two literature and math sections,” said Ridgefield High School Principal Stacey Gross. “She immediately contacted the College Board and was informed that the printing error was widespread across the nation and not unique to RHS. Students completed their testing.

“On Tuesday the College Board sent an email to all students stating that the two aforementioned sections will not be used towards the calculation of students’ scores.  This way, scores will be valid and fair nationwide.”

Gross thought the RHS community seemed to have taken it all in stride.

“As for students and parents, all have been very understanding and patient waiting for an answer from the College Board,” she said. “They were aware that the College Board had made the mistake and even though there was some anxiety among students, they understood there would be a formal response.

“From what I have heard, students are comfortable with the resolution.

“The teachers administering the exam were fabulous,” she added. “Everyone understood the high-stakes surrounding this test and they just wanted to ensure that the kids received the right testing environment.”

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Ridgefield has so far escaped the grip of what the National Weather Service is calling a moderate drought for Connecticut.

It was so dry for the past three months of late winter into spring, according to the National Weather Service, that not even the drenching rainfall of the first several days of June could hold back a designation of abnormally dry for the state.

“We’re still in a moderate drought,” said David Miskus, a drought monitor for the weather service, based in New York City.

It’s unusual for Connecticut to have such a dry spring, he said.

“It’s been three to four months with lower than  normal precipitation,” Miskus said, but mitigated by the fact that the weather was generally cool in April.

Many rivers were noticed lower than normal by May, he said, and farmers, in particular, had to use irrigation to help along their season’s plantings.

Drought monitoring is essential in Ridgefield because roughly two-thirds of the homes in the town of nearly 26,000 people are on well water.

The conditions are normal, said Edward Briggs, director of health for the town.

“Nobody’s coming in with dry wells,” Briggs said. “It’s a good thing we don’t have that problem.”

Aquarion, the water company based in Bridgeport that serves many Ridgefield homes, has also dodged a bullet when it comes to the moderate drought. The system’s reservoirs are operating at normal capacity, said Peter Fazekas, spokesman for the water company.

“We currently have no voluntary or mandatory conservation requirements,” Fazekas said.

Aquarion has 10,300 customers in Ridgefield, he said.

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In rehearsal, from left to right, are Casey Wishna, Tyler Carey, Rico Froehlich and Aiden Meachem.

At the tender age of 15, Ridgefield High School sophomore Rico Froehlich is already somewhat of a theatrical impresario.

Froehlich is the young producer behind the Rico Ray Theatre, a troupe of Ridgefield High School students who will perform a Broadway Under the Stars show Friday, June 12, to benefit Scotts Ridge Middle School music department.

“I started performing when I was six years old, and started producing shows in eighth grade,” Rico said. “I love the creativity of the process of producing a show, and I love helping the community.”

The show will be an intimate Broadway review performed by an elite group of Ridgefield High School students: Rico, Olivia Basil, Rosie Staudt, Sarah Thorn, Aiden Meachem, Tyler Carey, Vivian Altopp, Casey Wishna, and Brianna Cacciola. Rico said they will perform songs from Tony Award winners and nominated musicals including Chicago, A Chorus Line and Avenue Q.

Songs from Alice in Wonderland will be performed by the students of Scotts Ridge’s Theatre department.

“I’m very proud of him, he’s really amazing,” said Rico’s mom, Grace Donofrio.

Rico Ray Theatre Production’s team is made up of RHS sophomores, Nicole Kiernan as assistant director and stage manager, and Sarah Ford as production manager.

It’s a show intended to fulfill the requirements of an English project. Rico said he researched funding for the arts, and found that funding for arts programs is usually the first to be cut when school districts are trimming their budgets.

“I decided to raise the funds for the middle school,” Rico said, “because it is better to introduce the students at a young age so they can have more opportunities when they reach the high school level.”

Scotts Ridge Middle Schools is at 750 North Salem Road. The curtain time Friday is 7 p.m.

Tickets are suggested at $20 per adult, and $15 for students and children under 12. There is a $50 cap on ticket costs per family.

Donations of more than that amount will also be accepted.

“This is a show not to be missed,” Rico said in a statement.

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This bear was seen Friday morning, June 12, wandering on Seth Low Mountain Road saw this bear wandering there. —Vittoria Quane photo

Matt Sekelsky passed this photo along to The Press Friday, June 12, that a Seth Low Mountain Road resident snapped. Police were notified there was a bear in the area.

Police recommend motorists be cautious since bears seem to have little fear of roads, and many are struck by cars in Connecticut.

There are usually a couple of bear sightings in Ridgefield each spring.

DEEP has these recommendations:

• Bears are attracted to the garbage, pet food, compost piles, fruit trees and birdfeeders around houses.
• Remove birdfeeders and bird food from late March through November.
• Eliminate food attractants by placing garbage cans inside a garage or shed. Add ammonia to trash to make it unpalatable.
• Clean and store grills away after use.
• Don’t intentionally feed bears. Bears that become accustomed to finding food near your home may become “problem” bears.
• Don’t leave pet food outside overnight.
• Don’t add meat or sweets to a compost pile.

If you see a bear, enjoy it from a distance, DEEP says. “Aggression by bears towards humans is exceptionally rare.”

However, the agency recommends:

• Make your presence known by making noise and waving your arms if you see a bear while hiking.
• Keep dogs on a leash and under control.  A roaming dog might be perceived as a threat to a bear or its cubs.
• Walk away slowly if you surprise a bear nearby.

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Organizers of the annual alcohol-free post graduation party say they need more volunteers and donations to get the event going.

The party is set for Friday, June 19, graduation night for Ridgefield High School, from 10 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. in the Ridgefield Recreation Center on Danbury Road.

The party includes foods from local businesses, beverages, games, activities, disc jockeyed music for dancing and prizes, all for free.

About 95% of the graduating class of 440 students is expected to show up, said Steve Scott, co-chairman of the event.

“We are looking for donations. Every year, we begin fund raising as soon as school starts in August, but this year it’s a little light,” Scott said.

Organizers are hoping publicity attracts the volunteers they need, and the donations they need, to properly host the event.

Volunteers are needed particularly for the 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. shift, Scott said.

“It’s actually a fun time because it’s when the real big raffles happen and there’s a lot more dancing, and we have the grand prize raffle,” Scott said.

Volunteers must be at least 21 years old, according to the event’s website, rhspostgrad.com. There, donors can find tabs to press to make credit card donations, as well as to sign up to volunteer.

Donations may also be mailed to Steve Scott at his home of 46 Continental Drive, Ridgefield, CT 06877. His e-mail is steve.scott@kw.com.

The party is to keep young graduates safe from the dangers of alcohol parties. It began after graduation night of 1983, when a graduate was struck by a car driven by another graduate, outside a private home where a party for the graduates was held. Alcohol was served at the party.

The driver of the car later took his own life, making it a double tragedy.

“So it’s our goal to keep kids safe in an alcohol-free environment,” Scott said. “It’s been growing every year.”

Each party has a theme, which is not publicized or announced until the night of the event, as a surprise.

The party helps prevent underage drinking on graduation night, said Capt. Jeffery Kreitz, spokesman for the police department.

“The party provides a guaranteed safe place for graduates to hang out with their peers in a drug and alcohol free environment,” Kreitz said.

The department takes underage drinking parties very seriously, he said.

“We have zero tolerance on underage drinking,” Kreitz said.

Volunteers may also contact Stephanie Wheeler at her e-mail, msamnw@aol.com.

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Writer and songwriter Drew Mazur released his first book of poems, Drewisms: Poems, Lyrics and Reveries last month.

Composed of sketches from Mazur’s notebook, 35 mm photography and song lyrics, Drewisms is a celebration of daydreams and more than three years of poetics.

Mazur graduated from Western Connecticut State University in 2013 with a bachelor of arts degree in professional writing. He is a Ridgefield resident.

Drewisms was self-published by Mazur through CreateSpace. It is available for order on Amazon or through the CreateSpace eStore. The paperback version is $10. The Kindle version is $5.

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I hear a body was once found buried in Farmingville. What’s the story?

The gruesome discovery Aug. 28, 1940, gave rise to one of Ridgefield’s greatest mysteries.

That day, workmen for Outpost Nurseries had begun digging up a four-year-old tree that was to be used for a landscaping project when a shovel uncovered a skull. Two weeks later, The Ridgefield Press reported the skull was part of the “the skeletonic remains of a woman who apparently met a violent death a decade or so ago.”
The bones in a shallow grave brought back recollections of strange events years earlier, but a man who probed those skeletal secrets was soon dead himself.

Back then, Ridgefield’s limited criminal activity was handled by the Connecticut State Police, whose barracks on East Ridge are now the headquarters of the Ridgefield police. Led by the colorful Lt. Leo F. Carroll, investigators descended on the scene and began scores of interviews with people in the Farmingville neighborhood and elsewhere that lasted months.

The site was atop a ridge on former farmland of the Stolle and Jones families. Outpost Nurseries, a huge operation covering nearly 2,000 acres in northeastern Ridgefield, had bought this farmland to plant nursery stock a few years earlier.

“News of the discovery was withheld at the request of the police until the bones had been examined by an anthropologist,” The Press reported. That expert was Dr. Harry B. Ferris, retired member of the anatomical department of Yale University, to whom Lt. Carroll had turned in the past for advice.

Dr. Ferris said the bones belonged to a woman between the ages of 26 and 40, who was five feet four and one-half inches tall. “It is estimated that the skeleton had been in the ground for 10 years,” the news story said.
The skull had been fractured, violently, he said.

“We have some interesting clues and are progressing slowly, steadily and surely,” said a confident Lt. Carroll.
The state police’s own records may have offered a clue as to the date of the crime. Back on June 30, 1930, several people in Farmingville “were aroused in the night by the screams of a woman,” the Press account said. “Some insisted the woman was being murdered.”

Perhaps with a tad of understatement, The Press added, “This incident may have had something to do with the skeleton just found.”

Three weeks after the discovery, the state police were also checking a report that “a couple who formerly lived not far from the spot where the skeleton was found mysteriously disappeared several years ago.”

Then, on Oct. 12, Carroll learned that Dr. Ferris, his key expert in the investigation, had himself died — of natural causes.

By late October, investigators were claiming “many important clues have yet to be checked.” But three-quarters of a century later, the case of the Farmingville bones remains unsolved. And like the victim and the archaeologist, everyone involved in the investigation has died. No doubt, so has the killer.—J.S.

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The month of October may soon be Dwarfism Awareness Month in Connecticut. An amendment proposing this legislation was introduced by Rep. John Frey and was approved by both the House of Representatives and the state Senate. Both chambers passed the bill unanimously.

The amendment states that the month of October will be Dwarfism Awareness Month in order to increase public awareness and improve available treatments for dwarfism, and for suitable exercises to be held in the state Capitol.

“In declaring Dwarfism Awareness Month, the hope is to raise awareness around dwarfism, address common misconceptions, and increase opportunities for people with dwarfism around the state,” Frey said while speaking in favor of the amendment in the House chamber.

“We’re talking about regular people who have jobs, families and responsibilities. We want to increase awareness about dwarfism, so that they can live even fuller lives in our state,” said Frey.

“I was first approached last fall by Ridgefield High School student Natalie Whitton, who has dwarfism. Natalie made a compelling case in asking why Connecticut couldn’t recognize Dwarfism Awareness Month, as many other states do currently. I told her that we are going to do our best to get this changed,” he said.

Many other states have established October as Dwarfism Awareness Month, including Delaware, Puerto Rico, Missouri, Indiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, Massachusetts, Kansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Rhode Island, Maryland, South Carolina, Maine, New Hampshire, and Ohio.

Frey’s amendment is attached to House Bill, 6100, An Act Designated Spinal Muscular Atrophy With Respiratory Distress Awareness Day. HB 6100 was signed by the governor May 28.

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Governor Malloy’s dissembling about the new state budget got worse this week, making him ridiculous.

Last week the governor said he “fought” for the budget he proposed, the budget that pretended to fulfill his campaign pledge last year not to raise taxes but mistakenly exceeded the state spending cap. He never bothered to correct it.

This week the governor said the budget passed by the General Assembly, the one with those big and now controversial tax increases, was better than his proposal, since it provided more for various programs he supports.

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Chris Powell

That is, while during the campaign last year the governor stressed his intention to avoid tax increases, today he is stressing the need for state government to spend more. So the governor will sign the budget legislation.

Malloy’s performance here should be compared with that of a predecessor, Lowell P. Weicker Jr., in 1991. In his campaign for governor the previous year, Weicker struck a similarly adamant pose against raising taxes, opposing a state income tax, likening its imposition to “pouring gasoline on a fire.” Soon after his inauguration Weicker appointed as budget director a former legislator who long had advocated an income tax and soon after that proposed the tax himself, breaking his anti-tax pledge faster than Malloy just did.

But at least from that point onward Weicker was forthright. He would take responsibility for the tax increase. Indeed, he would demand the tax increase and settle for nothing less, vetoing three budgets that didn’t contain the income tax and thereby exhausting the legislature through a temporary shutdown of state government and a special session that lasted until late August.

With his budget vetoes Weicker, while elected as an independent, gradually herded the legislature’s Democratic majority behind the income tax, which was what most Democratic legislators privately preferred but what they felt they could not survive politically unless the governor took most of the blame.

Malloy has escaped his anti-tax pledge not through forthright repudiation, as Weicker did, but through awkward dissembling. The tax increases in the budget he proposed were hidden behind changes in subsidy policies. Now Malloy claims that the legislature made him go along with raising taxes outright, as if the legislature, not the governor, holds the veto power and controls the vast patronage of government, and as if the legislature really had to pressure him even as he says the budget he negotiated with Democratic legislative leaders is better than the one he proposed.

Weicker deceived the voters, got what he wanted, took responsibility, and paid for it with his political career, becoming unelectable, though nearly all the Democratic legislators who went along with him on the income tax and sought re-election the following year were successful. (Despite the turmoil of 1991, the political majority in the legislature resulting from the 1992 election was exactly the same as before, as if nothing had happened.)

Malloy similarly deceived the voters but is trying to evade responsibility, trying to portray the breaking of his campaign pledge as a triumph for the state and for him. If it is, then what he really wanted all along was just someone else to take responsibility for taxes.

It is hard to imagine that Malloy now can have any more of a political future than Weicker did after his own betrayal, hard to imagine voters giving Malloy a third term, easier to imagine him accepting an appointment from the national Democratic administration, leaving the public’s resentments to Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman.

But the governor can be tenacious when he wants to be, and, just as important to Connecticut’s political future, it’s not clear if the state’s Republican Party, when it again pursues candidates for major office, will ever run out of rich, self-absorbed, and clueless dilettantes who own yachts with sexually suggestive names.

Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Conn.

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Local media are reporting that paving scammers have been spotted in Meriden and Middletown recently and the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) is reminding consumers to avoid their offers and to notify local police of their whereabouts, if spotted.

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Clik here to view.“We’ve learned of a case in which workers reportedly began paving a driveway without being hired and even without permission from the homeowner,” Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris said today. “If proven to be true, it’s an outrageous practice. Reportedly, after completing the unauthorized work the pavers allegedly asked to be paid, then left. I urge consumers to watch out for workers offering jobs in your neighborhood, and don’t accept any door to door offers. In fact, let local law enforcement know where these workers are.”

Traveling pavers visit the Northeast most years, pushing underpriced, inferior driveway paving and sealing services.  Some consumers are taken in by these smooth-talking scammers, losing their money, and often being left with a pile of rubble where their driveways used to be.

These unregistered, traveling crews often drive unmarked utility trucks and vans. Their salespersons go door to door, offering “leftover” asphalt from a nearby job that’s available immediately, at a bargain price.  Other signs of a paving scam include high pressure sales tactics, haphazard contracts and a request for payment in cash or personal check made out to cash. 

Known for striking quickly and then disappearing, traveling pavers surface days later in a different area, making them difficult to catch. Local police departments and DCP share information and often collaborate in tracking leads called in by savvy consumers.

“If you need work done to your home, don’t take any door to door offers,” Harris said.  “Plan in advance, and do the planning and pricing needed to get the job done right.”

Harris offered the following tips.

• Find a local paving contractor if your driveway needs repair. Don’t fall for pitches delivered door to door. 
• Because impostor scams are also a growing problem, check identification, such as a driver’s license, and compare this with the name on the DCP Home Improvement Registration card for anyone who offers to make home improvements, such as paving. Make sure they are who they say they are!
• Get the contractor’s certificates of insurance liability and workman’s compensation coverage from the contractor’s insurance provider.
• Check with your town for any required permits and have them in place before work begins.
• Have your contractor provide all warranties in writing.
• Always get a signed and dated contract for paving work, since it will protect you from potential damages or misunderstandings. According to state law, the following must be included in writing:
  • the date the contract was signed
  • a start date and end date for the job
  • the price–you can request that labor and materials be broken out separately
  • the contractor’s name, address and home improvement contractor number 
  • a 3-day Notice of Cancellation that allows you to change your mind by midnight of the 3^rdbusiness day (which includes Saturday).  If you choose to cancel, follow the instructions on how to contact the company to cancel that contract and keep proof that you cancelled.  Proof could include the return card from certified mail. 

“By law, you have three days to change your mind on any home improvement contract you sign, so no work should start until at least three days have passed,” Harris said. “Don’t be pressured by anyone who needs to start right away.”

To verify a contractor’s registration, please call the Department of Consumer Protection at (860) 713-6110, toll-free at 1-800-842-2649, or visit the agency website at www.ct.gov/dcp.

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Dawn Hettrich a ther plot at the community garden. —Macklin Reid photo

“Growing, I’ve got four different varieties of tomatoes, strawberries, winter squash, cucumbers, snap peas, kale, Swiss chard, and a freebie — the rhubarb is a freebie,” said Dawn Hettrich, who digs and weeds in Ridgefield’s community garden.

“Many of us share our plants.”

She added, “This is my third season and I waited eight years to get my plot. Eight years I waited, and it’s worth every year. It was worth the wait, definitely worth the wait.”

There are 28 plots, 10 feet by 20 feet, in the small, fenced community garden tract off Halpin Lane.

“They have a list of people. There are people waiting for gardens,” said former Conservation Commission member Edith Meffley, who helped found the program more than four decades ago.

“The last I knew it was a couple of dozen people, which turns out to be like an eight-year wait,” commission member Kitsey Snow said of the list.

“The waiting list is up in the teens,” said Christopher Moomaw, who has a plot at the garden.

“The list built year over year. We usually have one or two plots that become available. So it does move, but not rapidly. There’s some attenuation in terms of people moving away or deciding they’re too old to garden any more.

“We’ve been trying to get another garden going in a couple of places.”

Flowers, no corn

The garden off Halpin Lane isn’t all vegetables.

“Anything they want, including flowers,” Moomaw said when asked what people grow in the Halpin Lane plots.

“Except we have three regulations. We don’t allow corn. We don’t allow cantaloupes. Or bamboo. Corn because it’s bait for raccoons. Raccoons will learn how to use a bolt cutter to get through fence to get a corn,” Moomaw said.

“Rodents of all sorts, especially woodchucks, will do the same thing to get at cantaloupes.”

“A lot of people grow not just vegetables, they have a cutting garden,” said Hettrich. “People have roses, peonies. This is lupine. This is bleeding heart. Yarrow…

“There’s a lot of zinnias. Zinnias and marigolds are planted to repel insects. They perform a function.”

Insecticides might do that job elsewhere, but not at the community gardens.

“The gardens are all organic. They have to be,” Hettrich said. “It’s part of the garden rules.

“We want to keep everything in here organic so we don’t have any pesticides.”

Though there are some nice flowers, at an organic community garden it’s really about vegetables.

“If I plant it correctly and plant it at the right time, we have continuous lettuce, from now until December,” Moomaw said. “By mid July the tomatoes will be coming through regularly.

“It’s wonderful,” he said.

Moomaw lives in the nearby Quail Ridge condominiums.

“Four of the plots, we are Quail Ridge II residents. I’d say there are other condo dwellers,” he said.

Hettrich has a house in the Ridgefield Lakes area,  but it’s so deeply shaded by trees that gardening doesn’t work.

“It’s very shady. I’m on the northwest side of Fox Hill Lake. Even on my deck, I barely get half a day’s sun. It’s not enough for tomatoes and kale and lettuces — and it’s late, afternoon sun.”

The gardeners, like their produce, come in a wide variety.

“It’s a mixture of all sorts of people all over town, basically,” said Moomaw.

“There’s no real demographic to the thing.”

There a wide range of ages.

“Senior citizens, like me, all the way down to people I guess in their 30s.”

“A lot of people use it for fresh lettuce,” Hettrich said. “Leeks, tomatoes, beets. There are peppers.”

Gardening is more than a food source, of course. It’s a pastime, a pleasure, a family tradition.

“The garden is my laboratory,” Moomaw said.

“I design my garden every year to rotate the crops, from different places, to keep the trace element balance in good shape,” he said.

“That’s why you rotate crops, so you don’t use up the soil,” he said.

“…What I’ve learned about gardening, I learned at my grandparents’ and parents’ knees.

Fenced, with plenty of sky and sun, the gardens have access to water from the nearby Marine Corps League building.

“The Marine Corps League lets us have access,” Hettrich said. “We all pay a fee, $40 apiece. I’m not sure if all of that goes to pay for the water.”

The lack of available water it is the main reason at least two spots scouted as locations for a second community garden didn’t work out.

“We haven’t found another place for the establishment of a new community garden,” Meffley said. “It’s too bad, when you have people that want one.”

“We have looked around,” she said. “You have to find a place where you can get water easily, bring water in easily or cheaply. And a place to park. And no place meets all the requirements.”

“It’s been for years and years,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said of the search for the right spot. “We got close over at the Farmingville School barn, and we had solicited prices for a well, which would be needed for irrigation, and fencing etc. And I think the cost got to the point where people lost interest. However, everyone felt that was a great location.”

McKeon farm

The location most recently explored is land at the former McKeon farm property between Ridgebury Road and Old Stagecoach Road, where the Conservation Commission holds 43 acres of town land.

“They came to us looking for plot of land for an additional community garden,” said Snow, the Conservation Commission member. “We offered up property at the McKeon farm. We’re happy to have them use the property.

“We’d have to work out water and a fence,” she said. “They’d have to have a fence to keep the deer out.

“It would be a good-sized garden, I think they wanted to put 20 plots in. It would be a fair amount of fence that would have to go in.”

The fencing would cost money, and putting in a well would likely cost even more.

“I think if they did a well and fencing it would probably come to $10,000. That’s a rough estimate. We had an estimate of $8,000 to $15,000 for both,” Snow said.

“The problem with water is you don’t know how far you’re going to go down. That’s why it’s hard to get a grant — you don’t know how much you’re going to have to ask for.”

Money to fix up a patch of land where 20 people can garden would be a tough sell as an item in the town budget.

“They’d have to get contributions,” Snow said. “Rudy made it clear he wasn’t going to put town money into a fence.

“We suggested they get an Anne Richardson grant,” Snow said.

So, a site at the former McKeon farm is still a possibility.

“That’s not dead, but it’s kind of dropped,” Snow said.

“We’re willing.”

Meffley thinks it’s still an idea worth pursuing.

“A lot of people would love to have a community garden,” she said.

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As many of you may have heard, General Electric announced that the Fairfield-headquartered company has put together an exploratory team to review their options to relocate out of Connecticut in the wake of the passage of the Democratic state budget.

GE employees roughly 6,000 people in our state. If the company moves the loss to Connecticut would be far greater than just those careers. The corporate giant has business relationships with hundreds of other companies in the state and it would cost Connecticut hundreds of millions over time in sacrificed tax revenues.

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State Rep. John Frey

It’s clear that numerous additional companies in Connecticut are currently mulling the same question: stay here as the ship sinks or leave for greener pastures?

Greener pastures may mean the absence of, or a decreased unitary tax – a particularly onerous tax that will require GE and other companies to pay for revenue they make out of state.  This is also called combined reporting. For example, sales from GE subsidiaries in Ohio or Texas, would now be subject to Connecticut taxes, simply because GE is headquartered here.

When added to reduced revenue, aggressive competitors, and shifting markets, unitary taxes can strike hard blows to corporations—many of who are still trying to stay afloat in the wake of the recent recession. The thing is, there are states in the U.S. that do not have a unitary tax, or require combined reporting.

The reality: Connecticut has to compete in a global economy for jobs and revenue sources. Our state has to offer comfortable climates for businesses so that they can conduct their operations here. Whether or not you think it’s fair, other states offer better business environments. Other states (perhaps nations) are actively pursuing GE, and unfortunately one or two of these offers may be too good to pass up.

When news circulated that GE put together the exploratory committee, Georgia stepped to the head of the line and said, “Come on down!”

This is the effect that raising taxes has on an economy. It’s very simple. When an individual’s taxes increase, that individual will spend less on goods and services. In some instances, that individual may move to towns where property taxes are lower, or to states, where taxes across the board are lower.

When business or corporation taxes increase, it also will spend less on goods and services. It may have to increase its product prices. It may have to lay people off. It may move. It may shut its doors.

This is not a good time for Connecticut to increase taxes on its largest employers. They will leave. They will take their jobs and revenue with them to greener pastures. Whether or not you think it’s fair, the reality is that the Connecticut ship will sink.

The budget which will increase taxes across the board in Connecticut is currently in Governor Malloy’s hands. Call his office and let him know your opinion: 860-566-4840

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Swimmers and volunteers are invited to take part in the annual Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford event in Long Island Sound being held June 27.

Janel Jorgensen McArdle, president of Swim Across America and the 1988 Olympic silver medalist and Pan American gold medalist, grew up in Ridgefield and spent her summers swimming in Long Island Sound.

Swimmers as well as boaters, kayakers, paddle boarders and land volunteers are welcome to join in the fight against cancer. Sign up to swim, volunteer or donate at swimacrossamerica.org/greenwich.

To date, more than 150 swimmers and volunteers have already signed up for this event with the goal of having 200+ swimmers in the water – all making waves in the fight against cancer.  Swimmers and volunteers this year range in age from a nine year old swimmer from New York City all they way up to swimmers and volunteers in their 80’s who are joining together to support this important cause. Swim Across America raises funds in the fight against cancer via swim events throughout the United States. Proceeds from the Greenwich-Stamford Swim go directly to the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT), the nation’s only foundation dedicated exclusively to funding cancer gene therapy research. ACGT is headquartered in Stamford on the shores of Long Island Sound where this swim is held each year.

Swim Across America to date has raised more than $60 million in the fight against cancer with swims throughout the United States since its founding in 1987. In Connecticut, the annual Swim Across America event is an open water swim with ?-mile, 1.5-mile and 3-mile options. Proceeds of the fundraising efforts will support cancer research grants administered by ACGT, which uses 100 percent of all funds raised to support the research grants.

Chairs for this year’s Swim are Michele Graham and Lorrie Lorenz, both mothers of teenage cancer survivors. Lorrie Lorenz’s daughter Brooke is a Lymphoma survivor and Michele Graham’s daughter Nicole is a Leukemia survivor.  Both were diagnosed in high school and went through treatment. Brooke Lorenz is now a graduate (May 2015) from the University of Colorado at Boulder and will be swimming in the event.  Nicole Graham is just finishing her freshman year at Dartmouth College and will be a land volunteer this year.

Honorary co-chairs of the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford event are Olympic Gold medalist Donna de Varona and her husband John Pinto, John and Cindy Sites, Mary Henry and Howard Rubin, and Arlene and Reuben Mark.

“Co-chairing the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford Swim was a natural fit for me,” said Lorrie Lorenz, Swim Across America co-chair.  “My family has been involved with Swim Across America as both volunteers and swimmers for six years.  After my daughter Brooke was diagnosed with Lymphoma as a senior in high school four years ago, and after two surgeries and many grueling rounds of chemotherapy, I’m happy to report that she is now cancer-free and back in the water raising money for cancer research.”

“Our introduction as a volunteer for Swim Across America came through our daughter Nicole, who at age 16, was diagnosed with ALL leukemia in 2012,” noted Michele Graham, Swim Across America co-chair. “After Nicole recovered from critical complications – including septic shock and strokes on both sides of her brain – she was the kickoff speaker for the Swim Across America event in 2013; in 2014 she was co-captain of the team Chemosabi as well as an intern for the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy.  Now today, after recently completing chemotherapy, she is once again dedicating her time to this inspiring event.”

While Swim Across America is a national organization and offers dozens of swims from Boston Harbor to under the Golden Gate Bridge, its roots are firmly anchored in Connecticut and along the shores of Long Island Sound. Darien resident Matt Vossler and his lifelong friend and college roommate Jeff Keith founded Swim Across America.

The 2015 Greenwich-Stamford Swim will unite recreational swimmers, competitive swimmers, Master swimmers, Olympians, kayakers, boaters and hundreds of volunteers all committed to pursuing a cure for this devastating disease.

“When my daughter was undergoing chemotherapy and struggled to recover from the devastating complications, I was overwhelmed by how much the community rallied to our side and supported us,” says Michele Graham. “Co-chairing Swim Across America is our chance to give back and support everyone whose life is touched by cancer. No one’s cancer is easy. Nicole and Brooke are fortunate. They are cancer survivors. Our goal is to raise funds for cancer treatment and prevention research so that everyone can be a survivor.”

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F. Scott Gray MD

F. Scott Gray MD of Ridgefield was elected to serve as president of the 250-member Connecticut Orthopaedic Society at its annual meeting, held at the Marriott Hotel in Farmington on May 8. His term runs from May 2015 to May 2017.

Gray is a founding partner of Connecticut Family Orthopedics in Danbury and is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon.

He is the former orthopaedic trauma coordinator at Danbury Hospital and is a member of various professional organizations, including the Connecticut State Medical Society and Fairfield County Medical Association.

Gray received his medical degree from Georgetown University Medical School and completed his orthopaedic residency at Tufts New England Medical Center in Massachusetts. Gray, a father of seven, resides in Ridgefield with his wife, Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray.

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Gillian Fennell

Ridgefield High School senior Gillian Fennell has been volunteering with SPHERE for several years now, and has just recently taken on a new position with the organization as intern.

Through the RHS Senior Intern program, Gillian is working on developing a life skills program curriculum for members, streamlining administrative and organizational tasks, and broadening the reach of SPHERE through social media.

“Gillian is a caring, responsible person who knows our mission and is applying her skills to benefit our organization. We couldn’t be happier that she chose to complete her internship with SPHERE,” said Lori Berisford, chairman of the SPHERE board of directors.

In addition to volunteering with SPHERE, Gillian is involved with Ridgefield and Beyond, a student-run chapter of BuildOn, traveling to Malawi this summer to build a school. Gillian also enjoys working at The Prospector Theater, golfing and baking.

SPHERE — Special People Housing Education Recreation and Employment — is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals with developmental disabilities. More information may be found at spherect.org

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First Place winner of the 2015-16 Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp Art Contest

In an extremely close contest, a panel of judges recently selected wildlife artist Jeffrey Klinefelter’s depiction of three Atlantic brant as the winner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (DEEP) 2015-16 Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation (Duck) Stamp Art Contest. Mr. Klinefelter,of Etna Green, Indiana, has entered a painting every year in the contest and finished third in last year’s contest.

Mr. Klinefelter’s painting was chosen out of 11 entries submitted by artists from across the country, including two from Connecticut. Paintings were judged in five categories: originality, artistic composition, anatomical correctness, general rendering, and suitability for reproduction. Mr. Klinefelter’s painting will be the image for the 2016 Connecticut Duck Stamp. A pair of Canada geese painted by Christine Clayton, of Sidney, Ohio, was voted a very close second and a painting of three bufflehead by Broderick Crawford, of Clayton, Georgia, placed third.

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Clik here to view.The DEEP Wildlife Division encourages local artists to submit paintings for this contest. So far, few local artists have entered the contest or won the top prize. The top three paintings are on display in the lobby of DEEP at 79 Elm Street, Hartford, and is open to the public Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Connecticut Duck Stamp Program was initiated in the early 1990s when concerned sportsmen worked with DEEP to develop legislation that would generate revenue for wetland conservation. Modeled after the federal Duck Stamp Program, Connecticut’s program requires the purchase of a state Duck Stamp, along with a hunting license, to legally hunt waterfowl. By state law, funds generated from the sale of Duck Stamps can only be used for the development, management, preservation, conservation, acquisition, purchase, and maintenance of waterfowl habitat and wetlands, as well as the purchase and acquisition of recreational rights or interests relating to migratory birds.

“The Duck Stamp Program is a great example of how the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation works – users of the resource pay into funds whose monies are solely dedicated to conservation,” said Rick Jacobson, DEEP Wildlife Division Director. The Connecticut Duck Stamp fund is a vital source of money for many of the wetland projects that are conducted in our state. Federal aid dollars from the hunter-funded Pittman-Robertson Program can also be used for wetland conservation.

The Duck Stamp Program has generated over $1,400,000 for the enhancement of wetland and associated upland habitats, as well as garnered additional monies for Connecticut through matching grants from federal conservation initiatives. By combining Duck Stamp funds with these additional monies, over $4 million dollars have been available to complete wildlife conservation projects. Thus, Connecticut has received a 4:1 return on Duck Stamp monies. Over 3,445 acres of wetlands in the state have been restored or enhanced using Duck Stamp funds, mostly on state-owned wildlife management areas. The funds also have been used to purchase 75 acres of critical wildlife habitat and conduct habitat projects at over 50 sites statewide. These efforts have benefitted many of the approximately 274 birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles of our state that rely upon clean, healthy wetlands.

Hunters are not the only ones who can purchase Connecticut Duck Stamps. Anyone who wishes to support wetland conservation and restoration in our state should buy a Duck Stamp. Stamps can be purchased for $13 each wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold: participating town clerks, participating retail agents, DEEP License and Revenue (79 Elm Street in Hartford), and through the online Sportsmen’s Licensing System (www.ct.gov/deep/sportsmenlicensing). Upon request, stamps can be sent through the mail. To learn more about the Connecticut Duck Stamp and the Art Contest, go towww.ct.gov/deep/ctduckstamp.

Reproduction prints of the winning Duck Stamps that are signed by the artists and suitable for framing and display are also available. Please contact the DEEP Wildlife Division’s Migratory Bird Program at 860-418-5959 for more information on purchasing reproductions.

Do your part for conservation. Buy a Connecticut Duck Stamp and contribute to habitat protection and restoration.

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The Department of Consumer Protection is alerting the public about a business that has sent bogus invoices to companies and organizations in Connecticut. Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris warns businesses and other organizations to avoid this, and similar schemes, by carefully verifying all invoices.

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Clik here to view.“We’ve received two complaints, and we’re confident that there are others in Connecticut who also received the invoice,” Harris said. “We’re aware that this solicitation has surfaced in other parts of the country as well. Businesses, and other organizations, should be on the lookout for ‘invoices’ from ‘Website Backup,’ and, unless you verify that you’re actually a customer of this business, don’t send any payment. This solicitation is not acceptable as a means of ‘marketing’ a service, and the company so far has been cooperating with the Department in its investigation.”

To avoid falling for this type of solicitation scheme, or a bogus invoice scam, the Department offers the following advice:

• As in this case, beware of solicitations or promotions disguised as bills. Fake invoices are sometimes marked with the notice, ‘This is not a bill,’ or in very small fine print will say, “This is a solicitation.”
• Review all bills and invoices carefully. Be especially wary of any from companies with whom you are unfamiliar.
• Know the vendors you use regularly, and keep a list.
• Have effective internal controls in place for the payment of invoices.
• Verify all invoices with the person who authorized the purchase.

Anyone who receives an “invoice” from “Website Backup” or any other company for unordered, undelivered or unsolicited services is encouraged to file a complaint with the Department of Consumer Protection at dcp.frauds@ct.govand, if possible, include a copy of the “invoice.”

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Nick Coon of Aquacleaner Connecticut scooped muck out of the northwest end of Lake Mamanasco, where the company was finishing up five weeks of lake cleaning. Behind him at center is a boat used as a “refuse barge,” and at right is the “suction harvester” that cleans the lake bottom. —Macklin Reid photo

Sucking green gunk with a floating suction harvester, scooping out glop by hand, pulling out sticks, branches, tree trunks, even a dock, crews from Aquacleaner Connecticut have removed an estimated 30 tons of algae and organic debris from the north end of Lake Mamanasco.

“We will have removed at least 30 tons of filamentous algae in approximately five weeks of work ending on Friday,” Mark Amler, a partner in Aquacleaner Connecticut, said Tuesday.

Much of what was removed was in a thick algae mat that covered much of the north end of the lake.

“I threw a shovel on there, and it doesn’t move,” Amler said.

“We had maple saplings growing out of the mat. And grass.”

The job, expected to be finished up Friday, has for the last five weeks employed a crew that ranged from three to six men. They’ve been out there in diving suits with their suction harvester, and an old boat they use as a refuse barge, cleaning the lake.

“There is a huge difference in the before and after,” said Barbara Hartman of the Mamanasco Lake Improvement Fund, the neighborhood association that hired Aquacleaner.

“The progress is easily seen — clear water now, versus algae mats four to 12 inches thick, extending 100 feet from shore before,” she said.

It has already made the north end of the lake more useful for recreation — one of the $40,000 project’s goals.

“You can get boats in the area now, while that was impossible before,” said Hartman. “Fishermen are already fishing in the area; this was impossible before.

“We have reclaimed large areas of the lake that were turning into marsh with bushes growing on the mats.”

Still, it remains unlikely the north end of Mamanasco will have much attraction for swimmers.

“The water is fairly shallow here, and the bottom is very ‘mushy’ so I doubt there will be much swimming in this area,” Hartman said.

Water pump

The approach is simple.

“We suck it out with what’s called a suction harvester, which is essentially  a water pump, a heavy duty water pump, attached to an engine,” Amler said.

Workers in diving suits uproot plants that are attached to the bottom and feed them into the suction hose.

The water flows back into the lake, and bio-mass is retained in bags.

“It deposits the algae mat we take out, and the sticks and leaves and whatever else, into onion bags,” Amler said. “Fifty-pound onion bags, like you’d buy in grocery store.”

The bagged muck is dried out, and trucked away.

“And that’s pretty much the project,” Amler said.

There have been a few surprises on the lake bottom.

“We found a dock in the lake,” Amler said.

It was out about 20 feet from shore.

“It had to be in there a long time,” Amler said.

Amler’s estimate of 30 tons of gunk removed from the lake is based on truckloads carted off.

“Weight or mass is calculated by the cubic volume of material removed by truck,” he said. “One cubic yard is equal to one ton of weight. Three cubic yards per truck haul, eight trips so far, equals 24 or so tons,” he said Tuesday. “Another five to ten yards coming.”

The algae mat

Much of the material came from the algae mat — which was a substantial thing, a kind of eco-system, an organic being in a way.

“That mat’s a different animal. It’s solid,” Amler said. “Like I said, you could throw a shovel on it and it doesn’t even move.”

Still, 30 tons of gunk?

“The way we end up with that kind of tonnage, that mat has varied in depth or density anywhere from three inches to six or seven inches,” Amler said. “It basically took like a U shape, so we went up the shoreline at least a couple of hundred feet on the side closest to the high school, and on the other side just around the bend in the road, where Mamanasco Road bends around, and from the shoreline out I’d say — this varies based on where the mat was —  anywhere in width from say 100 feet to 65 or 70 feet out, at its thinnest.”

Lake Mamanasco may be slowly evolving toward becoming a swamp, as many lakes do. Amler says the problem was likely moved along by years of chemical treatments to kill weeds.

“When you do chemical applications you kill the plants but it’s not removed. It goes down to the bottom,” he said.

In Mamanasco, the north or northwest end is most plagued by algae and plants.

“The prevailing wind tends to sweep everything to the end of the lake,” Amler said.

“Everything kind of floats down to that end and it just becomes this giant mat of interwoven, thickening thatched organic debris,” he said.

That’s why the Mamanasco Lake Improvement Fund chose to have the northwest end suctioned out with its $40,000 investment.

Richardson Grant

The project was financed with a $30,000 grant from the Anne S. Richardson Fund — the late Ms. Richardson’s home, now Richardson Park, overlooks Mamanasco from above the cliffs — and members of the Mamanasco Lake Improvement Fund or MLIF added $10,000. No Town of Ridgefield money went into the project.

The project actually started late last fall, but most of what got done was accomplished this spring, according to Amler.

“We probably spent three and a half weeks there in the fall, but they weren’t fully productive weeks,” he said.

“A lot of that had to do with weather and environmental conditions  changing,” he said.

“The middle of November, the fall, we actually had ice on the lake. It got very cold very early. And then it actually warmed up in December,” he said.

“From my perspective it was kind of a lesson learned,” he said.

“Don’t start late in the fall.”

Hartman said the lake area residents like what they’re seeing — although people wonder how long the north end’s cleanup will last.

“We are very happy with the results. Aquacleaner has done everything they contracted for and more. As far as I am concerned, this is the best use of any money we have ever spent, assuming it stays algae clear,” Hartman said.

“If the results hold up, I would hope to apply for more grant money to work on other areas of the lake,” she added. “We started with the northwest corner because it was the worst by far. But the opposite end of the lake would certainly benefit from a similar project, as well as some of the coves in between.”

Amler said the suctioning out algae and organic sediment should improve the water immediately, and slow the process that’s mucking up the lake — but he isn’t promising there will be no more algae.

“In terms of what it does for the lake, for one thing that organic sediment is rich in nutrients which ultimately feed additional future algae blooms. So, by doing what we’re doing, we’re hoping to preserve whatever depth exists in that end of the lake, which at the same time eliminates or limits the food course for additional algae growth.

“Does that mean they’re not going to have additional algal growth? No. That means we’ve eliminated something that’s built up over time…

“I’ve lived in Ridgefield four and a half years, and I’m very familiar with Mamanasco Lake, and I can tell you that end of the lake hasn’t seen moving water during the spring or summer since I’ve lived here,” Amler said.

“Right now, it looks great. Is more algae going to accumulate there and grow there? Yes. But it won’t get like it did for some time.”

Lake association members are eager to have the results last.

“We hope, but can’t be sure, that this end of the lake will remain algae free,” Hartman said. “But with winds blowing algae and weeds to this end of the lake all the time, only time will tell.”

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Twenty-five years ago at least three Republicans tossed their hats into the ring to oppose Democratic State Rep. Barbara Ireland in the fall election, the May 31, 1990, Press reported.

Republican Town Committee candidate committee chairman Rex Gustafson revealed that at least six people had expressed interest in running, and that Joseph Dunworth, James Hastings and Elizabeth Sanden were definitely going to seek the nomination.

The first three A Better Chance (ABC) girls were about to graduate from Ridgefield High School. Deborah Lashley, Ferlin Charles and Valerie Shoy had been attending the school under the three-year-old program, aimed at giving inner-city minorities a chance to earn a better high school education.

Sylvia Latanzi, a feisty and outspoken participant in town government for four decades, died at the age of 95. The 59-year resident was a familiar figure at countless town meetings and remained active until well into her 80s, when she suffered a stroke. She was a member of the Republican Town Committee for 35 years, serving as its vice chairman for more than 15 years.

Also dead that week was Lt. Col. Michael P. Holik of Branchville Road, recipient of the Bronze Star for heroism in the Vietnam War. He was only 46 and succumbed after a long illness. He founded the Village Locksmith business in town.

A U.S. Senate committee approved a bill that would make Weir Farm a national park.

Arnold Finaldi announced he would retire that month as principal of Veterans Park School, a job he’d had for 17 years.

Frank Serfilippi, the town’s director of public services, was traveling west to participate in the Great American Pork Cookout competition.

Police Chief Thomas Rotunda received the Distinguished Service Award from the Police Commissions Association of Connecticut.

Ten-year-old Briggs Geddis, a fourth grader at Scotland School, could be seen around the village, riding his unicycle. “I just wanted to try something that not many people did,” said Briggs, explaining his hobby. “I wanted to do something that would be a challenge.”

Dirk Bollenback offered the homily that Sunday at St. Stephen’s Church, reflecting on the 250th anniversary of the congregation’s first church building.

Stonecrest Stables on North Street. added an indoor riding ring.

50 Years Ago

Francis D. Martin’s “worst-kept secret” came out that week as Ridgefielders officially learned the town might acquire the 17-acre Branchville Fresh Air Association property on Florida Road, the June 3, 1965, Press reported.

The land, worth $250,000 then ($1.8 million in today’s dollars), would either be given or sold to the town for “educational, recreational or athletic purposes.” Two years later, the Branchville Elementary School was standing on the site.

Francis Martin, who was president of the association, was also honored that week as the Rotary Club’s Citizen of the Year. Rotarian J. Mortimer Woodcock, later the town’s first selectman, called Martin “a man who has worked for Ridgefield all his life.” Martin Park at Great Pond is named for him — by Martin’s own request.
Speaking of Rotary awards, Thomas Belote, Robert Lewis, Karen Warren and Molly Nelson were winners of the “Service Above Self” award, presented by the club to outstanding high school students.

The town’s Democrats came out in opposition to a proposal by the Ballard estate to rezone land behind Ballard Park from residential to business use.

A. Raymond Bessette was pictured playing a piano in preparation for the Knights of Columbus’s coming “minstrel show” for the benefit of Little League baseball.

Brunetti’s Market was selling prime ribs of beef for 69 cents a pound.

In a letter responding to critics of the local John Birch Society, E. Stuart Savage said, “I know from personal experience that most society members are intelligent, loyal Americans who devote a portion of their lives to learning about and disseminating the truth about the Communist conspiracy and other blights that plague the American scene.”

Eagle Pencil Company in Danbury promoted Ridgefielder Allen O. Shafer to manager of operations planning.

Patrick Jr., son of Dr. and Mrs. Patrick Neligan of West Mountain, was born on May 25.

Rich Dingee and Brad Mortensen each homered in the Tigers’ 11-3 clubbing of New Milford the previous week.—J.S.

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Professor Louie & the Crowmatix

CHIRP presents Professor Louie & the Crowmatix in its first appearance at the free summer concert series Tuesday, June 16.

This Grammy-nominated quintet, hailing from the Woodstock area, was originally formed by Professor Louie for recordings with The Band. It went on to become the backing band for CDs by Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm and many other acclaimed musicians. It has an extensive and varied repertoire and averages 150 shows annually throughout the U.S. and internationally. This concert has been underwritten in part by Fairfield County Bank. In the event of inclement weather the alternative venue is East Ridge Middle School

Those who attended last summer’s performance of the wonderful blues artist, Guy Davis, will likely remember the very spirited performance of Aaron Louis Hurwitz, aka Professor Louie. Our audience responded so positively not only to Guy, but to the Professor’s playing, that he was booked then and there for CHIRP 2015. All the band members have impressive credentials and a love for live performance that shines through at every show. According to The Village Voice, “Professor Louie’s upstate ensemble is an old school Americana template that jams out timeless rock, country, blues and New Orleans influenced originals.”

The group’s CD, Whispering Pines, received five Grammy nominations and this summer, it has a new CD about to be released entitled Music from Hurley Mountain. This latest was recorded at the famed LRS recording studio located in a barn across from Hurley Mountain where famed artists such as The Band, The Fugs, Levon Helm, Jorma Kaukonen, Graham Parker, James Taylor, New Riders of the Purple Sage and many others recorded their greatest sounds. “All the best parts of great music are on display with Prof. Louie & The Crowmatix. It’s clear these folks are driven…” (Cash Box Magazine) www.thecrowmatix.com

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