Connecticut Postings

State police report that an accident on Route 8 near exits 10 and 11 has the left lane closed. At least one party has been transported to a nearby hospital. More information to come.

From the Desk of Chief Richard Felner
Office of Emergency Management

As the East Coast enters the 2010 hurricane season, which runs from June through November, the Fairfield Fire Department Emergency Management Team are urging residents to be prepared for the possibility of a hurricane striking in this area by taking the following precautions.

• Know what the hurricane evacuation plan entails, including designated safe areas, areas to be evacuated during a hurricane and safe evacuation routes.  Contact Fire Chief Richard Felner at 203-254-4713 for more information about the town’s emergency plans.
• Whenever severe weather strikes Fairfield, residents should call the town’s Emergency Management Information Line at 203-254-4899.
• Enter hurricane season prepared and have flood insurance, which is not normally included in most homeowner’s policies.  Contact your insurance agent to find out whether you qualify for the National Flood Insurance Program.
• Understand the terminology of storms. A “hurricane watch” means that hurricane conditions are possible for an area while a “hurricane warning” means that a hurricane is expected within 24 hours and residents should begin emergency preparations.
• When a hurricane warning is issued:
  • Listen for weather updates on a portable radio.
  • Keep a flashlight, as well as extra batteries, on hand.
  • Remove loose objects from your yard that could become projectiles if high winds strike.
  • If you own a boat, move it to a safe harbor and moor it.
  • Store drinking water in clean containers.
  • Have on hand plywood and other materials.  Board windows and secure double doors.
  • Remove diseased and damaged limbs from trees and prune branches strategically so that the wind can blow through.
  • Plan your evacuation route, know where to go and fill your vehicle’s gas tank.

• If you are ordered to evacuate, do so immediately.  Bring your hurricane evacuation kit, turn off water, gas and electricity but only if time permits.  Avoid flood waters and stay away from downed utility wires.  FEMA advises inclusion of a supply of non-perishable food; a fire extinguisher; a first-aid kit; extra batteries for the flashlight and radio; a two-week supply of medicine; blankets or sleeping bags; extra clothing; lightweight folding chairs/cots; personal items such as books, toys and snacks; infant necessities; and important personal papers, including a valid identification card and money.
• Do not enter evacuated areas until an all-clear message is issued.

STRATFORD — Elevated bacteria levels have forced the closure of Short Beach at the playground. The site will be retested Sept. 1.

The tip jar at Jerry’s Shakespeare Pizza on Stratford Avenue in Stratford was swiped by an unindentified man around 8:09 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 27, according to police.

Restaurant owner Robin Baggeas said the jar contained about $4, according to police.

Police said a security camera at the restaurant caught the theft in action.

Stratford police recieved a similar report that day of a stolen tip jar at Goody Bassett’s Olde Fashioned Ice Cream Shoppe on Main Street.

Most roads in the White Hills area that were closed due to a gas leak have been reopened, according to police. The only road still closed to traffic is Maple Avenue between Route 110 and East Village Road.
The White Hills shopping center has also reopened, police said.
The gas leak was in a six-inch gas pipe. Yankee Gas crews were able to fix the gas leak, which was first noticed around 3 p.m.
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That’s the distance between Bridgeport and Hurricane Earl, which you can track yourself.

Nick Nunno, 12, can’t drive a car, but about once a month he buckles into the pilot’s seat of a Grumman Tiger airplane and takes flight.

Though he is too young to earn a pilot’s license or fly solo, the Milford resident takes flying lessons for enjoyment about once a month, on weekends or after school, at Blue Sky Flight, a flight school at Sikorsky Memorial Airport.

The FAA mandates a person be at least 17 to test for a pilot license, but does not designate a minimum age requirement for flight school enrollment.

Nunno said he has always been fascinated by airplanes. At age eight, he joined an after-school model airplane club where he and other club members constructed rubber airplanes. He celebrated his 10th birthday with an airplane ride at Sikorsky Memorial Airport. By age 11, he was taking flying lessons at Blue Sky Flight.

“My house is right in the landing route of this airport, so planes are always flying around me,” he said. “That’s how it started.”

With an instructor at his side, Nunno recently navigated his longest flight to the New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport.

Nunno said he aspires to be an airline pilot. But for now, landing is his favorite part of his lessons, though he said he can’t wait to learn how to fly in inclement weather.

BRIDGEPORT — The three suspects in the shooting death of a store clerk in July were in court today.
Luis Torres, 25, Vanessa “Cutie” Ortiz, 21, and Marisol Malave, 31, all waived hearings on probable cause and pleaded not guilty to felony murder, first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. They elected jury trials.
If convicted of the charges, each could face life in prison.
According to police, Narote Arun Kamur, a college student from India, had been manning the cash register at Norman’s Grocery and Deli on Maplewood Avenue when Ortiz and Torres, wearing masks and hooded sweat shirts, entered the store on the evening of July 12.
Malave waited outside for them in her Hyundai sedan. Police said she had already switched the license plates on the car in anticipation of what was to come.
Police said Ortiz, who goes by the nickname “Cutie,” pointed a loaded shotgun at Kamur, who stood behind a plexiglass enclosure, as Torres squeezed through a slot to stand beside the cash register.
As Kamur “fumbled with the drawer” and Ortiz apparently had enough. Police said she then blasted Kamur in the head with the shotgun.
They said Torres then grabbed the cash register and the two of them ran from the store to Malave’s waiting car.
When police arrived at the store a short time later they found Kamur lying face down on the floor behind the counter in a pool of blood. A wire hung from where the cash register had been.
Meanwhile, Ortiz, Torres and Malave were out bragging about what they had done, police said.