People may support the non-profit Ridgefield Playhouse by guessing how many birdies will be made at the Travelers Championship Pro-Am River Highlands in Cromwell.
PGA Tour professionals are anticipated to make between 1,500 and 2,000 birdies from Wednesday to Sunday, June 18-22.
Supports may pledge an amount starting at two cents for each birdie by Tuesday, June 17, and guess how many birdies will be made.
The person who correctly guesses the exact number of birdies will win the Grand Prize of a two-year lease on a 2014 Ford Escape SE. Other prizes for guessing the correct number of birdies include a World Golf Hall of Fame vacation, a four-person trip to at TPC River Highlands, and a $1,000 cash gift card.
Donations help the Playhouse’s odds to receive an extra $500 to $5,000 in Birdies Bonus Bucks if it is among the top-10 collecting charities. The person who places the highest pledge per birdie will receive free tickets to the tournament, tickets to a show at the Ridgefield Playhouse and access to the Jefferson Starship show at the Open that week.
To make a per birdie pledge or flat rate donation, visit TravelersChampionship.com/birdies-for-charity and select The Ridgefield Playhouse. Printed pledge forms are also be available at the Playhouse.
Frank A. Rowella Jr., CPA of Ridgefield, has been elected treasurer for the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants for 2014-15.
Mr. Rowella is the managing partner of Reynolds & Rowella, CPAs, LLP, with offices in Ridgefield and New Canaan. He holds a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from Pace University.
Mr. Rowella has also served the CTCPA as a member of its Advisory Council.
Isabella Palmiotto, left, with Julia Palmiotto, Noah Burns and Erik DeGaray.
The Kids Care Club of Ridgebury Elementary School has donated activity kits to Danbury Hospital. The activity kits will be distributed to pediatric patients at the Danbury Hospital Emergency Department.
This is the first donation from the Kids Care Club of Ridgebury Elementary to support the Western Connecticut Health Network Kids Care Club.
Chief Foundation Officer Grace Linhard said, “It’s so gratifying to receive such meaningful, hands-on projects made by children to give to children who are waiting or being treated at the Danbury Hospital emergency department.”
The Kids Care Club is a philanthropic organization for children and young adults under the age of 18. For more information on the Kids Care Club, call the Western Connecticut Health Network Foundation office at 203-739-7227 or 860-210-5270.
Boehringer Ingelheim, a privately held pharmaceutical company with a campus in Ridgebury, announced a few highlights of the 2013 fiscal year: The firm increased operating income and return on net sales; net sales reached about €14.1 billion, which represents an increase of 1.4%, currency-adjusted (-4.3% in euro terms); there was a 2.4% improvement in the return on net sales to 15%; the company expects net sales in 2014 to remain at a comparable level to 2013; the firm now employs more than 47,400 people worldwide, a 3% increase over last year.
The full annual report is available on boehringer-ingelheim.com and as an app for iOS and android devices on the App Store and at Google Play.
The Ridgefield Republican Party will be honoring School Superintendent Deborah Low for her service to Ridgefield schools and community at its spring fund-raiser. The event will be held at the home of Nina and Selectman Andrew Bodner on Thursday, June 12, 7 to 9 p.m., at 18 Ivy Hill Road.
There will be an opportunity to meet gubernatorial and congressional candidates. The event will have fine food, wine tasting by Benzigers Family Winery and a silent auction. RSVP to june12gala@ridgefieldctgop.org or call Marshall Odeen at 914-672-1033.
With $280,000 projected to be left over at the end of the year, the Board of Education has approved a request for a $139,000 transfer to help upgrade libraries at all nine of the district’s schools.
“We want to get all of our libraries up to the next level,” said Superintendent Deborah Low at Tuesday night’s board meeting.
The money will come out of the health benefits account, which is projected to be $938,000 under budget at year-end, thanks to numerous changes made last year.
Paul Hendrickson, the district’s business manager, presented his April financial report to the board.
He said the transfer request stems from a review of the schools’ libraries, which was done after the budget was completed.
Craig Tunks, the district’s technology director, will discuss the review’s recommendations and present a more detailed report of the upgrades at a meeting on Monday, June 23.
In addition to the health benefits budget, the teachers’ salaries and transportation budget contributed to the district’s projected surplus.
Mr. Hendrickson called the transportation budget “a pleasant surprise.”
He explained that the account — under budget by $120,000 — has been boosted because the new bus company, First Student, charges on actual hours run, instead of specific day rates, as Baumann & Sons, the district’s former bus company charged.
“The results are very positive,” Mr. Hendrickson said.
Despite the energy account being over budget by $185,000, he was pleased with fuel and electricity expenses.
“It’s getting better as the weather improves,” he said.
Some of the other overages included technology, $231,000; facilities, $183,000; and special education, $580,000.
“We anticipate that overrun in special education expenses will be offset by the benefits underrun,” he said.
With a boat out on the water, Rainbow Lake’s scenic qualities are evident in this view from Clearview Drive, one of nine Ridgefield Lakes roads adopted Wednesday. —Macklin Reid photo
Nine narrow winding Ridgefield Lakes roads were officially adopted as scenic town roads Wednesday night.
The roads were adopted on an overwhelming voice vote at a standing-room-only town meeting.
There was a little discussion.
“It seems completely reasonable,” said Jeffrey Miller of Mountain Road. “We’re taxpayers. We want to maintain safe roads.”
But the meeting was pretty quick — maybe half a dozen speakers — and the outcome never appeared in doubt. Some voices could be heard calling for a vote before anyone spoke for or against the proposition.
The nine roads adopted as scenic town roads by Wednesday’s meeting are: Lakeside Drive, Mountain Road, Shady Lane, Lake Road, Clearview Drive, Clearview Terrace; Lakeside Drive Extension, Rainbow Drive, Woody Place.
Lakeside Drive and Mountain Road are about a mile each, but most of the roads are short — a tenth of mile, some of them. Altogether the nine roads amount to a little over three miles.
While the roads are now expected to get more paving and other maintenance work from the town, their new status under the town’s scenic road ordinance means they will not have to be widened and brought up to the usual standards of new roads being accepted by the town.
The scenic status avoids that. It will help preserve the scenic quality of the Ridgefield Lakes area, and save the town millions of dollars in road improvement costs, First Selectman Rudy Marconi told the meeting.
The town may do work such as widening, or drainage improvements, if its determined the work is needed for public safety.
Now officially adopted by the town, the nine roads will be put into the town’s regular paving and maintenance schedule, Mr. Marconi said — although he warned residents not to expect to see town trucks out there tomorrow. There are a lot of roads in need of work after the last harsh winter, and some of the roads accepted got work last year.
Traditionally, the private Lakes roads got some maintenance work from the town if there was money left at the end of the summer paving season. But they weren’t part of the regular schedule.
The roads should also start getting more traffic enforcement attention from the Ridgefield Police.
“Police will have jurisdiction up there,” Mr. Marconi told the meeting. “You’ll probably see stop signs and speed limit signs.”
The crowd responded with applause.
There are numerous other private or unofficially public roads in the Ridgefield Lakes area that were not the subject of the homeowners’ petition that called Wednesday night’s town meeting, and the status of those roads remains unchanged.
The status of Lakes area roads has long been legally ambiguous, Selectman Andy Bodner told the meeting, since they were created as private and never accepted by the town but have traditionally gotten plowing, some paving and other maintenance by the town. That could potentially support a legal claim that they’re town roads because they have long been treated as such.
This, Mr. Bodner said, distinguishes the Lakes roads from many other clearly private roads in town, which are plowed and paved at the expense of the homeowers that own them.
Residents leaving the meeting could be heard thanking the selectmen: “Thank you, board.” “Thank you.” “Thank you guys.”
I hear there was once quite a controversy about the standpipe that the water company is removing on Peaceable Ridge Road. What’s the story?
The controversy was not over the existence of the standpipe, but the word “standpipe.”
What is now Peaceable Ridge Road had been known as Standpipe Road starting soon after the Ridgefield Water Supply Company erected the pressure-building standpipe around 1900. However, in 1960, 22 residents of the road decided Standpipe Road was unattractive. All but one resident of the road petitioned the selectmen for a change.
This attracted the attention of Harry Golden, a humorist, author and nationally syndicated columnist. In his column of June 30, 1960, in The New York World Telegram, headlined “A Case of Economy on Standpipe Road,” Mr. Golden reported the petitioners wanted the “some allusion to the natural characteristics of the road rather than one descriptive of an artificial utility.’”
The dissenting resident felt “Standpipe Road is not only a distinctive name, and accurate, but also very New Englandy,” Golden wrote.
The columnist felt this was a sign of a sububuran attitude about labels. “In the suburbs, people are very interested in the right name, or in the right word,” he wrote. “No one in the suburbs ever says, ‘We’re broke’ or ‘We have no money.’ They say, ‘We are economizing.’
He said he had talked to a seven-year-old suburban girl who had a bright red lunchbox because her parents could no longer afford school lunches. “I told her it was very pretty and she said it was brand new. I told her she must have been a good girl to have received such a pretty present and she said, no, she got it because her family was ‘economizing.’
“All those economizers out on Peaceable Ridge are getting more and more exact in inventing new words to describe where they live and what they do,” the columnist concluded. “But they do it all by code.”
The selectmen didn’t care about codes and approved the new name — from something distinctive to something confusingly similar to three other road names. Ridgefield already had Peaceable Hill and two Peaceable Streets (the second being a small portion of a Redding road that enters Ridgefield in Branchville). In an emergency, such as a fire, auto accident or heart attack, the response might be to western Peaceable Street or Peaceable Hill instead of Peaceable Ridge. Confusion could take a fire truck or ambulance nearly two miles and several long minutes in the wrong direction.
If a new name were necessary — and we side with the lone dissenter who found Standpipe Road distinctive, accurate, and New Englandy — something less confusing should have been chosen. —J.S.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy today issued the following statement regarding the release of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 100-Day Action Plan:
“During a meeting in my office in February, I asked the MTA to pull together this plan so that riders can get a clear sense of what they’re doing to restore confidence in the railroad. While it’s taken longer than I would have liked, I think they are taking a number of steps that will enhance the daily operations and make the railroad safer. But even with these changes, the MTA has much work to do to improve their performance.
“Even though the MTA held direct commuter forums in the state as I asked them to do, there is much more to do to implement a comprehensive and enhanced communications protocol with their customers and local officials. My administration will continue to work with them and to provide resources when appropriate so that riders can get the service they deserve.
“It’s my hope that this report will hold the railroad accountable to the commuters they serve.”
Along with Ridgefield’s Aldrich and Keeler Tavern and the Watershed Gallery, Suzanne Benton’s Studio & Art Showcase is open to the art-loving public on Saturday, June 14, from 1 to 4 at 22 Donnelly Drive. It’s her seventh year participating in the Connecticut CT Commission on Culture and Tourism’s Open House Day.
She will exhibit From Paintings in Proust II, artworks originally inspired by Ridgefield Library’s lecture and book discussion on Swann’s Way, Volume I of Marcel Proust’s famed lengthy novel À la recherche du temps perdu.
Ms. Benton has spent more than a year on this series, traveling to Paris, the Giverny Monet Gardens, to Rome and Assisi to see and draw upon the paintings and classical artists referenced in the novel. PMW Gallery, 530 Roxbury Road, Stamford CT 06802 is exhibiting From Paintings in Proust I through June 29 with the artist’s Walk &Talk on Sunday, June 15, noon.
Refreshments will be served. Visitors are asked to please park on the right side of the road.
Ridgefielder Bob Eick has decided not to take his quest for the Republican nomination for state treasurer to a primary.
“I respect the right of all candidates who qualify to seek a primary but, especially for an underticket race, primaries just tend to reduce our chances to win in November,” Mr. Eick said Monday as he announced that he was ending his bid for the office of Connecticut state treasurer.
The Republican convention on May 17 endorsed Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst for treasurer, but Mr. Eick claimed 29% of the vote, almost twice the 15% required to qualify for a primary if he wanted to continue the contest.
It took a few weeks, but he decided against extending the battle.
“I have been encouraged and gratified by the support I received from all corners of the state in such a short time but I will not pursue a primary,” said Mr. Eick, who had announced his candidacy in January.
Mr. Herbst now faces Democrat Denise Nappier, a four-term incumbent state treasurer.
Mr. Eick felt that race shouldn’t overshadow Republicans’ effort to take the state’s top job.
“When it comes to the race for governor, I think Boughton, McKinney or Foley would all do a better job than Dan Malloy,” Mr. Eick said.
“They also will have several million dollars to put into their respective races to get their messages out.
“It just isn’t the same for an underticket race — particularly for state treasurer, when running against a four-term incumbent, even one who has a terrible record of performance, like Denise Nappier,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate we have a career politician as our state treasurer when what our state really needs is someone with financial expertise.”
Mr. Eick, a partner in CRT Capital of Stamford, had run on his years of experience in the financial field.
“This has been a thrilling, humbling and gratifying experience,” he said, “and I want to thank everyone who has given me their support — from my campaign manager, Diane Generous, and treasurer, Eva Maldonado, to volunteers like Chris DePino and all the team members and donors and friends I have made along the campaign trail.
“I am glad I participated in the process and got to meet and work with such a great group of people.”
New RSO Executive Director Larry Kopp, with Music Director Jerry Steichen, Gina Wilson, retiring executive director; Donna Case, outgoing Board President; Chris Bennett, new board president.
A seasoned manager of non-profits and leader of symphony orchestras is taking over as head of the Ridgefield Symphon Orchestra.
His hiring was announced at the orchestra’s annual meeting Monday, June 9, at the Keeler Tavern Garden House.
Larry Kopp, a native of Northeastern Pennsylvania, will be the new executive director.
He has 25 years of leadership experience, including top-level positions of non-profit organizations and service as executive director for four other symphony orchestras, the RSO reports.
“I’m extremely excited to be joining the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra during their 50th Anniversary Season,” Mr. Kopp said. “The RSO has a proud history of artistic excellence and community support as well as an extraordinary board, staff, musicians and patrons, and I am greatly looking forward to working with all of the constituencies to help make the RSO the finest orchestra possible.”
Before his career in non-profits, Mr. Kopp served in the U.S. Army on airborne, air assault and special operation units. music at the undergraduate and graduate levels at Temple University in Philadelphia. During that time, Larry worked as a free-lance musician performing with numerous musical organizations throughout Philadelphia, Southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.
New board
Also at the meeting, Chris Bennett was elected the new President of the Board of Directors succeeding Donna Case who served as president for the past five years. Mr. Bennett was most recently Vice President of the RSO. Scott Edwardson was elected Vice President
3:23 — Sean Flanagan reports his wife saw what appeared to be a young bear in the area of New Road and Farmingville Road about 20 minutes earlier, around 3 p.m.
Original story — Police have been getting reports of a bear sighted in the area of Branchville Road and Nod Road late Thursday morning.
The bear, reportedly a cub, was seen by several people. In one instance, some dogs apparently chased it into nearby woods — the dogs were stopped by their electronic fence.
Police recommend motorists be cautious since bears seem to have little fear of roads, and many are struck by cars in Connecticut.
Police notified the State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which indicated it would not come to town to investigate.
The next date for dropping off items to be sold at the St. Stephen’s Nutmeg Festival is this Saturday, June 14, from 9 to 1. Nutmeg volunteers are accepting tax-deductible donations behind the church, at 351 Main Street.
“We are especially looking for bicycles, bicycles, bicycles,” said Claire Simard. She and her husband, Nick, are chairmen of this year’s Nutmeg Festival, which takes place Saturday, July 26.
Call the church office, 203-438-3789, for more information.
As of this writing, the Dana Carvey show at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Thursday, June 19, at 8 p.m. is just about sold-out.
Those who act fast will be able to join the sold-out crowd to see this Emmy-award winning comedian, American Comedy Award recipient and Saturday Night Live alum whose brilliant comedic career spans 35 years.
He is especially known for his legendary impressions (Bob Dylan, Jay Leno, Suze Orman, Keith Richards, Sting, George H.W. Bush, Johnny Carson, Regis Philbin to name a few), and his role as Garth Algar from the blockbuster film Wayne’s World. Dana Carvey is indisputably one of the greatest comedians of all time.
Bissell House (378 Main St., Ridgefield) will pour a free glass of house wine or draught beer with dinner the night of this show when tickets/stubs are presented.
Ticket holders will learn about the non-profit Love Hope Strength (lovehopestrength.org), in the lobby before the show and during intermission.
This event is underwritten by M&T Bank and Cultec and is part of the Clark Construction Comedy Series. For tickets ($105 orchestra, $98 mezzanine/balcony), call the box office at 203-438-5795, or order online atridgefieldplayhouse.org.
The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.
Many of the Ridgefield students whose recycling posters were recognized in regional competition sponsored by the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authroity were given ribbons at the May 7 selectmen’s meeting. Shown are (back row, from left) local contest organizer Ellen Rossini, student winners Krista Panageas, Hannah Hadden, Gracie Girvalo, Bailey Harriott, Chris Cordano, and Curran Garaingo, and First Selectman Rudy Marconi. In front, from left, are Anaia Barnes, Alana Redrup, Katie Hoerdemann, and Corrie Vakil. —Amanda Cordano photo
Some 270 Ridgefield youngsters entered the Housatonic Resource Recovery Authority’s sixth annual HRRA Recycling Poster Contest, and many were honored for their work.
The recovery authority is a regional, governmental waste management and recycling authority that serves 11 Western Connecticut towns, including Ridgefield, with a combined population of more than 225,000 people.
The theme for the posters this year was “How to Recycle Organics (Food Scraps).”
Finalists from Ridgefield by grade and school are:
First place
Alana Redrup, kindergarten, Farmingville; Anaia Barnes, grade 1, Veterans Park; Katie Hoerdemann, grade 2, St. Mary’s; Corrie Vakil, grade 3, Ridgefield Boys & Girl’s Club; Curran Garaingo, grade 4, Ridgefield Boys & Girl’s Club; Christopher Cordano, grade 5, Farmingville; Bailey Harriot, grade 6, ERMS; Gracie Girvalo, grade 7, SRMS; Hannah Hadden and Krista Panageas, grade 8, ERMS; Toni Chadwell, grade 10, RHS; Shayla Morris, grade 11, RHS; Willow Hubsher, grade 12, RHS.
All regional first-place winners’ posters advanced to the regional judging in Brookfield March 13. Of those 12, 10 posters placed within the HRRA region. Ridgefield had the most from any of the 11 towns. The regional winners were honored on April 23 at a ceremony held at the Union Savings Bank’s main branch in Danbury.
The Grand Prize winner this year was Amanda Duffy, a sophomore from Redding. She received $150, and her school received $ 1,000 to further recycling education. In addition, her poster will be on a billboard on the corner of Moss and White streets in Danbury.
All regional first-place winners were awarded $75; second- and third-place winners received $50 and $25.
The regional winners from Ridgefield for first place were Gracie Girvalo, grade 7; Krista Panageas and Hannah Haden, grade 8; Toni Chadwell, grade 10; and Shayla Morris, grade 11.
Second place winners were Alana Redrup, kindergarten, Anaia Barnes, grade 1, and Christopher Cordano, grade 5, and for third place, Curran Garanigo, grade 4, and Willow Hubsher, grade 12. Honorable mention went to Katie Hoerdemann, grade 2.
In addition, each Ridgefield first-place winner received a first-place ribbon from First Selectman Rudy Marconi at the Board of Selectmen’s May 7 meeting in town hall.
The 2014 contest sponsors were Union Savings Bank, All American Waste, Wheelabrator Technologies, and Winters Brothers Waste Systems, Connecticut, along with the HRRA Regional Recycling Task Force.
The winning regional posters as well as other information on the contest may be viewed at HRRA.org.
Zumba starts Monday, June 16, through Ridgefield Continuing Education. Zumba fuses Latin and international rhythms with easy to follow dance moves including samba, salsa, cumbia, reggaeton. No dance experience necessary.
Instructor Motoko Kuroda is a certified Zumba, Zumba Gold, and Zumba Toning instructor with a master of arts in fitness management who teaches in Westchester County.
Three sessions (June 16, 23 and 30) are $39, or eight sessions (June 16, 23, 30; July 21, 28; Aug. 4, 11 and 18) are $96; 6 to 6:55 p.m. Ridgefield senior discount available. Advanced registration is required.
Chef Forrest Pasternack of Bailey’s Backyard made an Asian-inspired almond-crusted red snapper for his Battle of the Chefs entrée to benefit Founders Hall. —Karen Rayda photo
Chef Matt Storch of Match Restaurant in Norwalk edged out competitors Forrest Pasternack of Bailey’s Backyard in Ridgefield and Jeff Taibe of The Whelk in Westport to win the Battle of the Chefs at Founders Hall.
During the battle, which was inspired by TV shows such as Iron Chef and Chopped, the three chefs had just 40 minutes to create a winning entrée from a basket of surprise ingredients. “My heart sank when I heard ‘Lemonheads’ and ‘black garlic’,” said Judge Denise Micklesen (Fine Cooking) of two of the more challenging surprise ingredients, which also included red snapper and collard greens. “And, fish is scary,” she noted. “It goes from raw to overdone in a flash.”
But the pros were up to the challenge, firing up their ovens and their imaginations to cook very different entrées while the audience cheered them on.
Ridgefield native Mr. Pasternack created an Asian-inspired almond-crusted red snapper with black garlic aioli in a Lemonhead and kale broth.
Mr. Taibe drew from his global cooking experiences to prepare a grilled snapper with tomato marmalade along with black garlic potato purée.
Mr. Storch wowed the judges with his Lemonhead and poppy seed-encrusted snapper.
“A shout-out to Matt,” said Judge Brendan Walsh (Culinary Institute of America) of the chef’s use of common penny candy with the fish. “I actually enjoyed it!” Walsh praised the other chefs, particularly Mr. Pasternack’s stock for its simplicity and freshness, and Mr. Taibe’s chiffonade of collard greens. “The food was really fabulous,” said Mr. Walsh. “I’m so impressed. We can all learn from them and what they can do in a small space in a short time.”
Mr. Walsh also praised sous chefs Jessica Shure, Jeff Spence and Jan Doernberger, whom he noted, “take a beating and keep on going.”
Appetizers
In addition to creating entrées, each of the chefs made appetizers using duck for all of the guests to eat and judge.
Mr. Storch’s duck banh-mi (a Vietnamese-style sandwich) won the popular vote, contributing to his overall win in the close contest.
Dessert
In addition to the chefs’ showdown, the battle featured a dessert competition among non-professional bakers, or as emcee Jane Stern (Roadfood) called them, “extremely talented civilians.”
Suzanne Berne won the dessert competition for her chocolate-vanilla-caramel mousse, which was judged for both taste and presentation by last year’s battle chefs Sarah Bouissou (Bernard’s, Sarah’s Wine Bar) and Art Michaelsen (Bartolo) along with referee Amy Kundrat (CTbites) and Ms. Stern. The four finalists’ desserts were auctioned off to raise money for Founders Hall.
Helping the hall
This year’s Battle of the Chefs raised more than $30,000 for Founders Hall, a donor-supported education and recreation center for people age 60 and older.
To see more pictures from Battle of the Chefs, go to Founders Hall Ridgefield on Facebook.
The broadcaster whose question to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade went viral this week will be a guest on HanRadio.com‘s Behind the News Friday at noon.
Bobby Ramos, a retired Stratford Police officer, who has hosted sports talk radio in Southern Connecticut for years, made national news earlier this week with questions he asked members of the Miami Heat. He currently runs Bottomline!!!, a sports news site, at bobbyramos.com.
