Escape Fire: The Fight To Rescue American Healthcare will be screened at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Thursday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m.

A network of private medical practices known as n1Health is renting out The Ridgefield Playhouse and inviting the community to see the film free of charge. Dr. Thomas V. Cigno and Dr. Erin Martin, who are featured in the film, will answer questions from the audience.

To reserve free seats, call the box office at 203-438-5795, or visit online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Downtown Ridgefield and Ridgefield Library will host the Ridgefield premiere of Seasons Reading during this year’s Holiday Stroll. On Friday, Dec. 6, from 7 to 8 p.m., at the library, JIB Productions Inc, will present Play With Your Food, an irreverent and irresistible collection of short plays and stories read by professional actors, including the Broadway actress Susan Terry.

The program is free but please bring a donation of non-perishable food to the Ridgefield Food Pantry. There is no pre-registration and seats will be filled on a first come, first served basis. For more information visit www.ridgefieldlibrary.org or call 203-438-2282.

The Sunshine Road band will give a “Holiday Harmony” concert for families with children ages 8 on Friday, Dec. 6, in St. Stephen’s North Hall.

The concert, sponsored by the Ridgefield Library ans St. Stephen’s, is part of the Holiday Stroll celebration. Families may choose between two concerts at 6:30 or 7:30 p.m.

For more information visit www.thesunshineroad.com, or call the library at 203-438-2282.

The first weekend of December offers the annual Holiday Stroll, with its many activities, and there are several concerts planned.

• The Holiday Stroll runs Thursday through Saturday downtown.
• KISS Alive! will bring back a 70s sound Friday at the Playhouse..
• Sunshine Road will give two concerts for kids Friday evening.
• The Ridgefield Symphony will feature holiday music at a pops concert Saturday.
• The Living Nativity will be staged in front of the Methodist Church Sunday.
• The Ridgefield Chorale concert Sunday will help the hungry.
• Carols by Candlelight will be sung at St. Stephen’s Christmas Sunday.
• The Christmas Story will be the theme of a musical at First Congregational Sunday.
• Broadway star Linda Eder will sing seasonal songs Sunday.
• Festive Home continues at the Guild of Artists.

Details on all of these events will be found in this week’s Press. The basics on many are in the Datebook. For information on local and regional events, see Arts & Leisure’s This Weekend listings.

A cosy counterweight to single-family suburbia’s empty nests, accessory apartments can serve all sorts of needs.

“I love the notion that it’s so flexible,” said Rebecca Ciota, who has applied for an accessory apartment above the detached garage at her house on High Ridge. “So many different things can happen there, whether it be a tenant or a caregiver or a friend or a family member. If you build it, they will come.”

Accessory apartments may serve to accommodate parents or adult children, or to bring in some extra income.

The number of accessory apartments in town has been growing steadily since May 2003, when Ridgefield loosened a relatively stringent accessory apartment regulation that was on the books — but little used — for years.

“The change to the regulations was proposed by Bob Jewell back in 2002, and what they did was in fact make it easier for people to apply for accessory dwellings on single-family lots,” said Town Planner Betty Brosius.

“Since 2003, by my calculation, we have approved somewhere between 80 and 90 apartments under the new regulation,” Ms. Brosius said.

“It’s worked great,” said Mr. Jewell, an attorney who does a lot of zoning work in town. “I’ve done a couple of them, and I’ve seen them. It’s very un-controversial.”

Often, the accessory units are meant — at least initially — for family members.

“Many people are creating in-law apartments for their parents,” Ms. Brosius said. “We have had the opposite, as well, where the parents are creating an apartment for one of their children to live in.”

As the principal of Heritage Homes, builder Reed Whipple has made a good living putting up mostly big single-family houses in Ridgefield. But he supports the Planning and Zoning Commission’s more permissive approach to accessory units.

“I think the planning commission has done a great job being much more user-friendly when it comes to accessory apartments,” he said. “It’s helped out seniors and it’s also helped out our children, as well, that are looking for jobs and can’t find them, or are newly married. …

“If you think about how the real estate market got hit, it’s helped people stay in their homes,” he said. “The extra income has helped them. They’ve taken in family, relatives. It’s been a good thing, I think, for the town.

“I just did one for my in-laws. I did an accessory apartment on my own property,” Mr. Whipple said. “They were in an assisted-living place.”

Assisted living developments are an option that works well for many people, he said, but not everyone.

His in-laws were in one for three years, but are happier living with their daughter and her family.

“By putting this accessory apartment on our property, not only has it cut their expenses down, it’s changed their lives,” he said. “Being around family, the grandchildren, the pets — it makes an enormous difference.

“It’s what we did years ago, if you think about it,” Mr. Whipple said. “That’s how families always were.

“That’s how the unity of the family was so tight. They were all together. You saw your grandmother every day. You saw your grandkids. Holidays were big and very festive. It really built the closeness — those values, the roots, all the things you learn.”

The Whipples’ in-law apartment is in a detached outbuilding at their home off West Lane.

“It looks like it’s part of the property, like it’s always been there. It blends in beautifully,” Mr. Whipple said.

To help people interested in adding accessory units, a few years back the Affordable Housing Committee published a 24-page booklet, Accessory Success, with brief sections ranging from “What will it cost?” to “How do I find good tenants?”

While the regulations have been made less stringent, there are still a lot of requirements an accessory apartment in Ridgefield has to meet.

• Accessory apartments must be “designed to preserve and maintain the single-family residential appearance of the subject lot and be consistent with the single-family character of the neighborhood.”

• The owner must live on the property, either in the main house or the secondary unit.

• Accessory apartments may be added only to lots that have a single principal dwelling, and only one accessory unit may be added.

• Properties with accessory units must either conform to the lot size of the zone they’re in or be “legal non-conforming.”

• Accessory apartments can be no more than 900 square feet, and may have only one bedroom.

• At least four off-street parking spaces or garage spaces must be provided to serve both the main and accessory units.

• No additional driveway may be added for the apartment.

Accessory units may be created to be rented at market rates, but a special permit is needed — which requires a public hearing, and a majority vote of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Ms. Brosius said the town has two options, an “affordable incentive” and also a “senior occupant incentive,” that allow accessory apartments through an easier process — site plan approval, which can be done administratively in the planning office, without a hearing or commission vote.

For the affordable incentive, the accessory apartment must be deed-restricted to meet the state’s “affordable” guidelines for 10 years.

The senior occupant incentive requires that either the accessory unit or the home’s main dwelling be occupied by someone 55 years or older.

The senior option was used on many of the 90-odd apartments approved since 2003.

“By my rough calculation, about 80% of those are senior incentive apartments,” Ms. Brosius said.

The affordable incentive is less popular.

“They don’t count unless they’re deed-restricted as affordable for 10 years, and most people don’t want to encumber the property with a deed restriction like that,” Ms. Brosius said.

Ms. Ciota said she considered the affordable incentive, but opted to go through the full process and have no restriction on the apartment.

“I’ve got this detached garage that is two stories, and my plan is to turn it into a one-bedroom apartment up there, and have it an option of being a rental property or a caregiver property.

“It’s a good opportunity to do something simple, without changing the footprint, put in a really nice accessory apartment up there and have a live-in kind of property keeper.”

She has a sister, Hope, who is developmentally disabled and lives with her father, Don Ciota, on Main Street, next to her other sister, Valerie Jensen.

Eventually, she thinks, the apartment might work for her.

“Hope is really willing and able to become more independent,” she said. “One day it might be awesome to have my sister Hope living there.”

(Ms. Ciota’s plan for 125 High Ridge is one of two applications for accessory dwelling units scheduled for public hearings by Planning and Zoning Tuesday night. The other is at 593 North Salem Road. See story elsewhere.)

Accessory units are an option worth exploring, according to Mr. Whipple.

“The regs are right over the counter at P&Z,” he said. “I’d encourage people to take a look at doing that. It’s a nice alternative to take care of your mom and dad, or one parent, or one of the children.”

As a veteran of the construction business, Mr. Whipple thinks the growth of accessory apartments might reflect market trends.

“Housing’s gotten so crazy, with the sizes of them, now. People are now thinking, ‘We don’t need all this space now.’

“The funny thing about this, it’s like cars: Cars get big then cars get small. We don’t set the market, we satisfy the market. The market tells us what it wants.

“I’m the late end of the baby boom, I’m mid-50s,” he said. “Our parents are at this age now, we need to help them. This offers an opportunity to keep together, and give them a quality of life for the balance of their life.”

Organizations such as the Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association can play an important role in helping keep the older generation living in accessory units, with their children and grandchildren.

“The RVNA, I can’t say enough about what that organization does for people,” he said. “Having an accessory apartment for your parent, the RVNA is an organization that comes in and helps you, and it’s a wonderful alternative.”

Mary and Ryan Kallmeyer

Mary Margaret Schneider, daughter of David and Geraldine Schneider of Ridgefield, was married to Ryan William Kallmeyer, son of Ellen Kallmeyer of Westerly, R.I., and the late Richard Kallmeyer, on Sunday, Nov. 24.

Tom Reynolds performed the double-ring ceremony at the Schneiders’ family home in Ridgefield.

Given in marriage by her father, the bride wore an elegant white chiffon layered gown, accented with delicate lace around the neckline, topped with capped sleeves, and accompanied with a long white veil. She carried a simple bouquet of white daisies and tulips, wrapped in a white taffeta bow.

The procession was led by the flower girl, the couple’s 3-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Mae Kallmeyer. She wore a tea-length white silk bubbled dress and threw small daisies onto the aisle.

Angela Bridget McDonagh of Carmel, N.Y., was the matron of honor. The bridesmaids were the bride’s sisters, Amanda Schneider and Caitlin Schneider of Ridgefield. They both wore black knee-length cocktail dresses accented by white flower bouquets.

The best man was Kraig Kallmeyer of Hyde Park, N.Y.

The wedding was intimate and special, shared by the couple’s closest friends and immediate family. The day was filled with celebration and laughter, the couple said.

Cricket went lost on the south end of town.

UPDATE 4:10 p.m. — Cricket has been found and is being returned to her owner, reports Steph Pagano at ROAR.

ROAR had reported earlier today  that Cricket, a seven-year-old mix breed dog, went lost Tuesday Dec. 3 while walking in Weir Farm with her new adopter.

The 40 pound dog was described as timid and shy.

She was found two houses away from where her owner had parked a car to go for a walk.

The family who found the dog had seen a Lost Dog flyer the owner had distributed in the area.

Christmas Luncheons at the Keeler Tavern Museum have become a Ridgefield holiday tradition, started more than four decades ago.

Guests enjoy a lunch in the classically beautiful Garden House. “Seasonal decorations and a warm glow from the fireplace add to the special ambiance,” the tavern said.

The luncheons are Tuesday, Dec. 10, though Saturday, Dec. 14, with seatings each day at 11:30 and 1:15 p.m. Luncheon is $25 per person. Contact the museum office at keelertavernmuseum.org or call 203-438-5485 to make a prepaid reservation.

At the same time, the Holiday Boutique in the Cass Gilbert dining room of the museum building will offer many gifts and decorations. The boutique will be open from 10:30 to 3:30 p.m. the days of the luncheons, plus Sunday, Dec. 15, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Tina Sturges, Ridgefield artist, will have her paintings on display in the Cass Gilbert Carriage Barn Gallery.

The Discovery Center at Ridgefield, in conjunction with the New Pond Farm Observatory, 101 Marchant Road, West Redding, is hosting a public astronomy program Saturday, Dec. 7, starting at 5 a.m.

The group will look for Comet ISON and there guided tour of the late fall constellations, and good views of Jupiter and Mars.

Comet ISON created a buzz when it was discovered more than two years ago as it was relatively large compared to most comets. Some press reports have called it the “Comet of the Century,” meaning it might be very bright and have an impressive long tail. However, comets can be unpredictable and have disappointed on occasion. The central ice core of ISON is warming and melting as the comet is getting closer to the sun, which has provided some early morning viewing in the past few weeks.

Participants should dress warmly and bring a flashlight for the walk from the parking area to the observatory, and binoculars. The program is $4 members, maximum of $16 per family, and $6/$24 non members. Registration is required at www.ridgefielddiscovery.org or 203-438-1063.

I am indifferent about the start time for high school. The children in our household have and will continue to succeed because they and their parents manage their time responsibility under any schedule.

I strongly object, however, to spending my money for social engineering of the start times based on junk science. The proposed change will cost a half million dollars – that’s $250 per high school student and the equivalent of the total annual income of four average Ridgefield households. Of course, only a government bureaucracy would come up with a plan to move exactly the same students from exactly the same addresses to exactly the same schools but at a cost an additional half-million dollars.

Professionally, I teach and advise researchers globally on efficient and effective experimental designs. The research offered to support the proposed time change might well be the case study for one of my favorite examination questions: “Identify ten fatal flaws in the following research study.” Here are a few of those flaws:

1. The Rhode Island study is totally irrelevant since this boarding school provided in loco parentis lights-out enforcement that could likely be the real reason for the improvement.
2. The Edina study made multiple changes at the same time. Not only were the start times changed, but there was also wide community education on sleep deprivation and schools promoted the notion. We have no idea which of the interventions produced any observed outcomes.
3. The Edina study moved the start time by 65 minutes, but Ridgefield proposes 35 minutes, so even if the study were otherwise valid, there is no evidence that 35 minutes would have any effect.
4. The reported improvements are selective: fewer accidents in Lexington, more hot breakfasts in Rhode Island, and fewer visits to the nurse in Edina. Unless they are all measured on the same metrics, it is entirely possible that the selected benefits are the result of random noise.
5. The data showing that teens have more accidents than older people in the category “fall asleep” proves absolutely nothing. Teens are higher in all categories of driver-related accidents.
6. Of all the reported “improvements,” there is nothing about the actual performance in school. Did test scores, for example, improve? The fact that educational performance is not cited, suggests it was not affected.
7. The case for sleep deprivation of teens is based on old national averages. We have no idea what the actual data are for Ridgefield in 2013.
8. The whole argument depends on the hypothesis that teens fall asleep late because their biology requires it. If that is true, then where is the evidence that teens go to bed earlier but simply lie there awake until 11:30? There is none. The critical piece of evidence is missing. Without any evidence, it is more plausible that teens go to bed late because they lack the discipline, incentive, or desire to go to bed timely.
9. The biological studies in combination imply that teens have no choice but to sleep from 11:30 pm to 8:45 am – hardly possible with the proposed 8:00 start time. If one believes the studies, why ignore the full implication?
10. The timing of melatonin release is based strictly on averages. What is the variation? Even if changing the time helped the “average” student, how many will be disadvantaged, and by how much. We have no idea.
11. The claim of different circadian rhythms for teens is suspect. (a) There is no evidence that the study desensitized the subjects to external cues. (b) There is no control or evaluation of entrainment factors. (c) The circadian conclusions fly in the face of two million years of evolutionary natural selection. Teens have been rising before the sun to hunt prey, do the farm chores, or open the family business far longer than they have been going to school. Those who didn’t would be selected out.
12. There is one and only one relevant example cited. Even it were an otherwise valid study, this is equivalent of saying that if a single coin toss were to result in heads then the coin must have two heads.
13.  The Edina study claims that students slept more because they said so. We are to believe this because some other study of sleep reporting in general said the method was accurate. But even if the general study were correct, the responses would likely be biased in a non-neutral setting where specific interventions had been taken and expectations were promoted for more sleep.
14. More generally, we do not have all the data needed to assess sample sizes, sampling variation, and non-response bias.

A shorter version of this piece appeared as a letter to the editors in the Dec. 5 Press.

Ridgefield remains a triple-A town. Both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s financial ratings agencies confirmed the Aaa status in advance of an $8-million bond issue on which the town will pay 3.29% interest over 20 years.

“We would have liked to have been lower, but the interest rate has been climbing over the last year,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said after the $8,170,000 bond sale Thursday, Dec. 5.

Standard & Poor’s issued a report Monday, Dec. 2.

“We consider Ridgefield’s economy to be very strong with access to the broad and diverse economies of Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk,” the agency said.

“Management reports that new construction activity (both residential and commercial) continues to increase with the most significant project being an expansion at Boehringer Ingelheim, the town’s top employer (1,500 employees) and taxpayer.”

A draft ratings report from Moody’s was also upbeat: “The Aaa rating reflects the town’s sizable tax base, very strong socioeconomic indices and above-average wealth levels, adequate financial position, and manageable debt position.”

Moody’s listed strengths: “Conservative financial management practices” and “stable underlying economy benefiting from above-average wealth levels.”

It also highlighted a couple of “challenges” the town faces, including a “declining equalized net grand list” — the hit property values took during the recession, and have yet to fully recover from — and “fund balance levels that are below national sector median for the Aaa rating category.” Most triple-A town have surplus funds equal to about 35% of their annual budgets; Ridgefield keeps to 8% to 9%.

Town officials had outlined the town’s fiscal strengths for analysts from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s in late November, with presentations that were emailed to the firms, accompanied by long conference calls.

They had plenty of positives to emphasize for the agencies.

Boehringer Ingelheim is in the midst of a $385-million expansion. Town officials say eight projects worth about $185 million have been completed or started, so far. As the 85% tax abatement the town granted Boehringer expires — it’s good for seven years on each new building that’s finished — an “estimated $5 million in additional revenues initially is expected to increase to approximately $10 million when completed.”

The $20-million library and $25-million Prospector Theater projects promise “significant changes to the downtown landscape” and are expected to provide benefits for the business community.

The real estate market is bouncing back — 11 months into the year, town officials say 2013 should see about $350 million in total real estate sales. That compares to $392 million in sales recorded in the pre-recession world of 2006, and a low of $223 million in 2009.

Officials say the town’s municipal finances are sound, with another year of both spending and tax increases below 2%, and the town’s long-term bonded debt continuing to be paid down — it’s about $96 million, down from a high of $148 million in 2003, at the height of borrowing for the “school bundle” construction projects.

Town officials defend the town against rating agencies’ mild concern about what they see as the relatively small amount of money kept as surplus in the “unassigned fund balance” that Finance Board Chairman Dave Ulmer describes as the town’s “rainy-day fund.”

The town has $11.7 million — about 9% of its $128-million annual budget — in the fund balance.

Nationwide, most triple-A towns keep more as a percentage of the annual budget.

“We’re between 8% and 9%. The national average is 35%,” said Town Controller Kevin Redmond.

The rating agency analysts were still comfortable with Ridgefield as a triple-A town for a few reasons, according to town officials:

• There’s “revenue flexibility,” meaning Ridgefield has enough wealth that the town could solve a fiscal problem with a supplemental tax assessment.

• The town has a history of “conservative budget management” practices.

• The town has “demonstrated adherence to its stated fund balance policy” of setting aside 8% to 9% of the annual budget.

“There are a couple of issues we’ll discuss with the Board of Finance, relative to fund balance. This is not the first time it’s come up,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said. “Other than that, it’s all good.”

The borrowing in the $8.17 million bond sale includes:

• $5 million to cover the town’s contribution to the library project, a $20-million public-private effort.

• $3.1 million for capital projects and purchases approved by voters in May with the 2013-14 budget, including road work, trucks and equipment, technology upgrades, renovating the women’s locker room at the police station, and a contribution to the Spray Bay sprinkler park.

• $100,000 for continuing legal costs of the Bennett’s Pond property — borrowing authorized by the original vote to pursue the property under eminent domain.

The town also did a one-year Bond Anticipation Note or “BAN” for $5 million and got an interest rate of 0.1988%.

The BAN is for the Schlumberger purchase, approved by voters in Dec. 2011 and closed in early 2012. The town had a $6.2 million one-year BAN for Schlumberger that is expiring, and got a new BAN for $5 million anticipating income from the contract to sell five acres of the Schlumberger land to Steve Zemo for $1.25 million. That proposed sale goes to a town meeting on Monday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 in town hall.

Backing claims that municipal finances are strong, town officials noted that the current 2013-14 budget of $128 million represents a 1.36% “overall increase.”  With the tax base growing 0.75% and use of money from the town’s fund balance as non-tax revenue declining from $3.2 million last year to $1.75 million this year, the tax rate is up 1.95% this year.

Mr. Redmond reviewed the numbers from the 2012-13 fiscal year — which ended June 30 but is still described as “unaudited,” as the report from the town’s auditors, BlumShapiro, isn’t in yet. (The report is due by end of the December, and Mr. Redmond said the town may have a complete enough draft for it to be discussed at the Dec. 17 finance board meeting.)

The $126.7-million 2012-13 budget ended the year about $1.9 million better than budgeted, Mr. Redmond said.

“On a budget basis we were $1.1 million favorable on revenues and $800,000 favorable on expenses, so that’s $1.9 million favorability on combined revenues and expenses,” he said.

He identified some major contributors to the good revenue picture. Tax collections came in about $800,000 above expectation, most due to the fall 2012 tax sale.

And the town fee income was ahead about $250,000, largely as a result of permit-related fees for the large library and Prospector projects, as well as increased conveyance taxes and recording fees at the town clerk’s office that come with the rebounding real estate market.

“We’re probably about $100,000 favorable in real estate conveyance tax,” Mr. Redmond said.

And there was the “under-spending” of the $126.7 million budgeted for 2012-13, the last fiscal year.

“On the expense side we were favorable by about $800,000,” Mr. Redmond said. “A lot of that was across-the-board savings by all departments, but some were noteworthy — the Police Department, primarily. It was favorable by $132,000 on a budget of $5 million. That was due to quite a bit of turnover there.”

The Board of Education’s $81-million budget for 2012-13 was “favorable” by  $102,000, Mr. Redmond said.

Ridgefield Boy Scout Troop 116 toured West Point in recently. The weekend trip included a special tour of West Point by Ridgefield Cadet Connor Findlay. In addition, the troop hiked Schunemunk Mountain in the Hudson Highlands in preparation of their November Adirondack trip. Shown standing left to right: Cadet Connor Findlay, James Sharp, Nick Clavi, Pablo Carmona, Aras Dapkus, Gehrig Daly, Kai Mahoney, Daniel Krista-Kelsey, Nielsen Gordon, Chance Eaton, Aedan Julian, Ryan Sierakowski, Ryan McIntire and Gunnar Thuss. Kneeling left to right: Grant Breslin, Anthony Krista-Kelsey, Nico Mantione, Ian Ferguson, Nathan Pereyra, Dylan Desmarais, Martin Wirth, Omkar Ratnaparkhi, Malcolm McGrath and Jonah Pereyra. For more information about Ridgefield Troop 116, visit www.ridgefieldtroop116.com.

More than 325 Keystone Club members from 35 Boys & Girls Clubs across the Northeast arrived in Ridgefield Friday, Nov. 8, for the Northeast Annual Regional Keystone Summit.

First Selectman Rudy Marconi, a club alumus, welcomed the attendees at the Friday evening Keystone Family Reunion. Mr. Marconi encouraged Club members to take advantage of the opportunities Keystone offers for leadership and personal growth.

Attending the three-day regional summit is a highlight of participating in the Keystone program. Young people meet others from different parts of the country.

“As the host organization we were able to showcase the great programming our Club offers, as well as draw others into the town of Ridgefield. We are honored to have this opportunity” said Kristin Goncalves, program director and Keystone Club advisor

The summit included small group sessions on self-esteem, depression, suicide awareness and drug and alcohol abuse. Other sessions dealt with career preparation, academic success, and community service and fundraising techniques. Admission advisors from Connecticut colleges and universities, plus the Armed Forces, were available for questions at a college fair lunch.

Scotts Ridge Middle School Principal Tim Salem, highlighted lessons from his movie, Put It Into Words, and Tim Hastings, member of the Ridgefield Prevention Council, moderated a Drug & Alcohol Panel.

Gabe Salazar, internationally recognized youth motivational speaker encouraged members to make positive choices in life by dreaming big.

Ms. Goncalves was named the Keystone Advisor of the Year by the Northeast Regional Committee. “Kristin has provided so many opportunities and opened so many doors for us. She truly deserves this award and we are so proud and excited for her. Kristin is our guiding light and an extraordinary example of what it takes to make a difference in the lives of young people,” said Lily Damron, high school senior and Keystone member.

Local vendors providing food included Planet Pizza, Genoa Deli, Chez Lenard, and Deborah Ann’s Sweet Shoppe. Pepsico Foodservice donated beverages and Keystoners also enjoyed the DJ talents of Sean “Big Daddy” McKee.

“As a staff we are continuously trying to raise the bar and create new opportunities for the club and our kids,” said Mike Flynn, director of operations at the club. “I could not be more proud of our team for hosting an outstanding Keystone Summit.”

For more information on the Keystone Club, contact Ms. Goncalves at kgoncalves@bgcridgefield.org, or at the club, 203-438-8821, ext. 17.

CLICK HERE

Here’s the flash mob at the Holiday Stroll today a little after 1 o’clock at Main Street and Bailey Avenue. (T.B. Nash video)

Were there ever slaves in Ridgefield?

Yes, but apparently relatively few.

The first official mention of slaves here occurred Feb. 13, 1740, when David Scott sold Vivus Dauchy “a certain Negro woman named Dinah and a Negro boy named Peter to be servants or slaves during the period of their natural lives.” The price was 200 pounds.

In 1730, Connecticut’s 38,000 people included about 700 slaves. By 1770, it had more than 6,400 slaves, the largest population of any New England state. Half of all the ministers, lawyers, and public officials owned slaves, and a third of all the doctors, says Connecticut historian Jackson Turner Main.

There was no official count until 1790, the first federal census, which found only five slaves in Ridgefield among the 1,947 residents. That was apparently a relatively small number; Newtown, for instance, had 55 slaves among its 2,764 residents. The low number may have reflected the town’s economy more than an anti-slavery philosophy; Ridgefield was nearly bankrupt in the late 18th Century.

By the 1770s Connecticut was beginning gradually to eliminate slavery. In 1774, a law stopped the importation of slaves. In 1784, a “gradual emancipation” law decreed  black and mulatto children born after March 1 that year would become free at age 25. In 1797 the age was reduced to 21.

Many slaves were already being freed by their owners, but the process wasn’t necessarily simple.

On Nov. 21, 1777, Ridgefield selectmen met with Cyphax to examine the 20-year-old slave of the Rev. Jonathan Ingersoll. Mr. Ingersoll wanted to free Cyphax, and under colony law, the selectmen had to make sure he wouldn’t be a burden on the community. Records reported the selectmen “do judge him an able-bodied man and as likely to get a living as men in common in his condition are, and do therefore approve of his being liberated or set free, according to an act of the Assembly.” Three days later, Mr. Ingersoll freed Cyphax.

In January 1782, Matthew Keeler freed his slave, Dick, citing his long and faithful service. However, he added a proviso, apparently required by law: “If at any time the above said Negro slave Dick should become dissolute and idle in spending his time and earnings, and thereby likely in case of any misfortune to become a charge to me or my heirs, then it shall be lawfull for me or my heirs to again take said Negro slave into my or their service during his natural life.”

In the 18th Century, blacks were assumed to be slaves. However, there were free blacks, and governments even made a point of noting this. On Nov. 14, 1789, Ridgefield received a notice from the town of Bedford, N.Y., that Peg Wilson, a former slave, was freed “from a state of slavery by the last will and testament of Isaac Miller” and “is desired to pass and repass unmolested.”

The 1800 census counted 951 Connecticut slaves; by 1830, the number had fallen to 25. Connecticut finally abolished slavery in 1848.

A map from the Norwalk River Valley Trail Routing Study submitted in September 2012 shows the plan for a proposed two-corridor multi-use path in town. The first stem will connect with the rail trail and Florida Hill Road and will go westerly into town. The second stem will travel north along Route 7, in Ridgefield and Redding.

With momentum building for a five-town, 38-mile multi-use path that would connect Norwalk to Danbury, town officials are anticipating a two-part project to break ground in Ridgefield in 2014.

The plan is to connect the rail trail that runs from Florida Hill Road to Halpin Lane near the village to the Recreation Center’s bike path on Danbury Road.

That would occur even before construction begins on a second trail that would run near the Route 7 corridor up to southwest Danbury.

“The rail trail comes first for us because the vision is that this path can connect Branchville to Main Street and then Main Street to Danbury Road and up to the Ridgebury part of town,” said Jacqui Dowd, who is the co-chairman of Ridgefield-based Leading Initiatives for New Connections (LINC)

LINC has partnered with the steering committee behind the Norwalk River Valley Trail, which is planning the Norwalk to Danbury trail.

“We’re working with the town on creating an accessway on the Schlumberger property that could make this all possible and we’re also working with the Norwalk River Valley Trail to get going on that bigger project that’s been 10 years in the making,” she said.

“We fully support their plan to promote a healthy lifestyle through easy accessibility and different modes of transportation.”

First Selectman Rudy Marconi said construction on the Recreation Center bike trail could begin as early as the spring.

The existing Recreation Center trail could cross by  by Fox Hill condominiums, or at the Copps Hill light, continue down Farmingville to Ligi’s Way.

“From there we have two options — create a boardwalk that would parallel Ligi’s Way and cut through the woods behind Old Quarry or cut through the Great Swamp area off of Farmingville and go behind the transfer station and Goodwill,” he said. “The later is the more preferred way of doing it.”

The aim is to connect to the existing rail trail, which does not now allow bicycles. Permission is being sought from CL&P, which owns the trail, to allow bikes. The trail would then reach southeasterly, close to Branchville center.

The Norwalk River Valley Trail  is planned to run by Branchville. A half-mile “demonstration section” — a part of an eight-mile Wilton loop — on Route 7 is poised to open in January.

“The half-mile piece in Wilton will be complete within a month and we expect to have a ribbon cutting ceremony in January,” said Pat Sesto, director of environmental affairs in Wilton and former member of the Ridgefield Conservation Commission. “The next step is to work with the people at Weir Farm, who have partnered with us on this project as part of the National Park Service, and incorporate their parcels of land to pick up the east end of the rail trail in Ridgefield.

“That connection would create easy access from the trail into the Ridgefield center and would make the project that much stronger,” she said. “What a gift it will be to have that in place as just another thing the town has to offer…

“We hope to break ground within in a year.”

Ms. Sesto added that once the river valley trail is successfully hooked up with the rail trail that her group can focus on constructing a path that would run through both Ridgefield and Redding along Route 7 in potential areas such as Hickory Lane, Bobby’s Court,  Martin  Park and Laurel Lane.

“We’re going to pick up several pieces of the Route 7 corridor to get the trail from Ridgefield into Danbury,” she explained. “It’s going to be a combination of state roads and town open space.”

She expects the project to affect several private property owners as well.

“In time, we’re going to need the cooperation of private property owners,” she said. “I think private property owners will prove to be our biggest obstacle and that’s why we have to do a lot of public outreach and work with people to help them understand the vision for this trail.”

Ms. Sesto said those who are interested can walk the first hundred or so feet of the Wilton Loop, which broke ground on Nov. 8.

She recommends people park in the commuter lot off Wolfpit Road and Route 7 in Wilton. The opening is right at the intersection of Wolfpit and Route 7.

A map of the complete system planned for the Norwalk River Valley Trail.

“We’re encouraging people to come see the trail and relate it to others they’ve seen around the country — I think people will be impressed to see everything it has to offer,” she added.

Mr. Marconi said the partnership formed between LINC and the Norwalk River Valley Trail was “crucial” to guiding the project forward in Ridgefield.

“It’s important that those two groups are on the same page with their vision,” he continued. “I am looking at both of them to get together and fundraise to make this possible.”

Ms. Sesto said that she is excited to have LINC on board and that the partnership will help spread awareness and raise funds in town.

“We’re looking forward to having public meetings and listening for feedback and questions concerned community members may have,” she said, but couldn’t confirm when the first meeting would be held.

She   said that the project would cost less than $1 million per mile — the amount projected by the planning firm Alta in routing study submitted in September 2012.

She added that the half mile “demo section” in Wilton cost roughly $300,000 and was funded through private donations and seed grants.

That section is part of larger, four-mile piece that will cost $1.6 million total, including a small bridge that will be built over a swamp area — similar to what Ridgefield would need to construct if the town decides to cut through the Great Swamp area off Farmingville Road.

“Every mile is different — it’s more expensive to go over railroads and it’s a big design challenge to cut through wetlands, but, on the flip side of that, it’s a lot cheaper to build on open space topography that has no wetlands, ” Ms. Sesto explained. “Each town has been cruising along with supporting this financially.

“I think we’ll see more hurdles without money being involved,” she continued. “I know all the towns involved with this are pursuing grants and donations, because the idea is not to be knocking on the door of taxpayers.”

As for the path, Ms. Sesto said the goal is to have a 10-feet wide multi-use path once its finally completed.

For now, she said that the trail would be divided in two sections — one for bikers and one for hikers and runners — and it could be as narrow as seven or eight feet wide in some areas.

“It will evolve once we have sufficient funding, but for the short term we will need to keep the uses separate from one another,” she said. “As time goes on, the intent is to bring all the uses together — we ascribe to the philosophy that something is better than nothing and we know it’s better to get people on this path and be active, than to deny them this chance.”

For Ms. Dowd, who also owns Ridgefield Bicycle Co., her first and top priority is making the rail trail safe for all users — hikers, bikers, runners and even skiers.

She stressed that she did not want construction to disturb the wetlands that surround the area or the protective environmental cap underneath the trail that protects users from arsenic and pesticides  left  by the railroad company, which used to own the property.

Ms. Dowd met with a few representatives from Northeast Utilities last month to address these problems and is waiting to hear back from there about their concerns.

“Once we get the OK from them it’s right into fundraising time,” she said.

“Can you imagine it?” she asked, rhetorically. “You could be walking or biking on Main Street and decide you want to get a cup of coffee at Tusk & Cup in Branchville and then come back through town to get to the Rec Center to watch your kids play — it’s going to be all access, all options, all the time.”

For people interested in donating, go to the website — www.nrvt-trail.com — or make a check out to PO Box 174, Georgetown, CT, 06829. In the comments section of the check, donors can designate which town they want their donation to go to — Ridgefield, Wilton, Norwalk, Redding or Danbury. For those with questions,   contact Ms. Sesto at Patricia.Sesto@wiltonct.org or info@nrvt-trail.com . 

Michael Keane and his 1957 Chevy in front of his new auto service business. The building dates from the 1920s and was once one of the town’s first auto service stations. —Reece Alvarez photo

Earlier this month Michael Keane, a 25-year-old lifelong resident of South Salem, N.Y., opened his second Keane’s Autoworks, this one in Ridgefield, just three years after starting his own business in Bedford Hills, N.Y.

A Western Connecticut State University graduate who studied justice and law, as well as business management, Mr. Keane had planned to follow relatives into the criminal justice field, but having worked in a range of mechanic shops since he was 16, he found himself in a unique position to invest in one of his former employer’s businesses.

“I graduated and I figured I would start sending my résumé out, and it just happened the same week I had this opportunity,” Mr. Keane said. “I started as the underdog.”

That first business opportunity was Benny’s Towing  in Bedford Hills, where he bought the property and built the mechanic shop from the ground up.

“It was just an empty building,” the John Jay graduate said. “We filled the whole thing. We bought all the diagnostic equipment for all these high-end cars. We have all the equipment to do these Audis and Range Rovers and everything.”

With the support and technical experience of mechanics with whom he worked for years and now employs, Mr. Keane said, the shop was quickly off to a good start and motivated him to open his Ridgefield location at the site of a former scooter and motorcycle shop on Ethan Allen Highway (Route 7).

The stone building just north of The Little Pub dates from the 1920s, when it was operated by the Shornick family as one of the town’s first service stations.

The shop has opened with a warm reception that Mr. Keane attributes to the word-of-mouth referrals that have fueled his business from the beginning.

“Everyone always says the stereotype of the mechanic shop is that you are getting taken advantage of,” he said, “but literally, from day one, honesty and trust go so far, that’s it. You treat people right, you fix the cars right and you treat them fair, that’s it. It is a very simple concept and they keep coming back. In the beginning it went slow to steady [at Bedford Hills]; now it is every day 35 to 40 cars, just chaos.”

Taking a risk

With the two new businesses at such a young age, Mr. Keane said, he has not been a stranger to criticism, saying that some have assumed he has been funded by family members. While he acknowledged his father has helped around the new shop, he is the sole owner of the shops and has realized the investments through the long-standing entrepreneurial tradition of risk-taking and debt.

“I borrowed $10,000 from my grandma,” he said. “I had $5,000 in my own bank account and I was 22 years old and $75,000 in debt. It was definitely a big risk.”

The new location has also been gutted and filled with new equipment, requiring an investment of almost all of his profits from the Bedford Hills shop, he said.

“Everyone said, ‘No, don’t do it.’ But  I figured if I was ever going to make a name for myself, I needed to expand,”  Mr. Keane said. “Everyone said, ‘You’re crazy, big is not better, it is just another headache,’ but that is what they all told me about the other place.”

While rents are high and require a lot of business just to break even, Mr. Keane said, the steady stream of cars needing work and consumers frustrated with unscrupulous repair jobs at outrageous prices have driven an abundance of work his way.

Mr. Keane acknowledged that many people are skeptical of the integrity of the auto repair industry and in many cases rightfully so.

“People get so fed up with going to the dealer and getting taken advantage of over and over,” he said. “Every time they go, it is a $1,000-plus bill for everything. It is the biggest ripoff 100%.”

His, he said, “is just a simple concept — honesty and trust goes a long way.”

Keane’s Autoworks services all makes and models of cars. The shop can be reached at 203-493 5045.

Average retail gasoline prices in Connecticut have risen 1.1 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.63 a gallon yesterday.

This compares with the national average that has fallen 0.7 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.24, according to gasoline price website ConnecticutGasPrices.com.

Ridgefield’s lowest price was $3.65 cash at Valero. Danbury’s bottom price was $3.53 at a Global on Newtown Road. Lowest in the state was $3.45 at Sam’s Club in West Haven and Costco in Milford.

Including the change in gas prices in Connecticut during the past week, prices yesterday were 7.4 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 6.4 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 3.9 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 10.4 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.

“The National Weather Service says this week begins with much of California under a ‘hard freeze warning’ and separate storm systems tracking across the Great Lakes region and from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Lower Mississippi River Valley northeastward to New England,’ said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst, GasBuddy.

“Under conditions like that, consumer demand usually declines and that often results in a nominal decrease in retail gas prices. That may be what lies ahead this week.”

GasBuddy operates GasBuddy.com, ConnecticutGasPrices.com, and over 225 other local gasoline price-tracking websites that follow prices at over 125,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada.

During a season overloaded with spending and giving, the school district is looking forward to talking about savings — health care savings, to be exact.

Paul Henrickson, the district’s business manager, told members of the Board of Education at a meeting Nov. 25 that health benefits’ savings are being analyzed and estimated to determine the impact of the district’s change in health care providers from CIGNA and Aetna earlier in the year.

He added that the district’s health care consultant, Rob Fitzpatrick, would be present for a preliminary discussion about next year’s health care budget at a meeting on Monday, Dec. 9.

“Rob and I had a very comprehensive meeting today,” Mr. Hendrickson said at a Board of Education meeting on Nov. 25. “We’re still determining changes in the retiree health plan, and some post-budget contract settlements, but there are some projections for next year’s benefits budget that are coming.”

Two months into the 2013-2014 school year, the district is operating about $67,864 under budget, according to an October financial report Mr. Hendrickson presented at the same meeting.

Board members voted unanimously to approve the financial report.

Teacher salaries provided the district $331,066, or 1.27%, in savings, while special education was $172,659 over budget.

In energy, fuel oil was a tad under budget, while electricity ran a bit over, for a net wash.

Mr. Hendrickson noted in his report that “virtually all the district’s fuel oil budget is under contract at an average price of $2.96 a gallon,” which means all nine schools are locked in for fuel costs as the cold winter months approach.

“This is 24 cents below the budgeted price of $3.20 a gallon, a savings of approximately $50,000 versus budget,” he wrote.

He said the district received the first half of its transportation bill in October and began to pay the $1.6-million account in November.

A majority of the transportation account is billed first in September and then in February.

Mr. Hendrickson added that the district would be receiving a pair of grants — one for technology, estimated at $94,000, and one for school security, estimated at $44,000 — in the next couple of months.