Connecticut Postings

The Town Council has joined with community activists after waiting nearly two decades, and is demanding  the federal Environmental Protection Agency clean up most, or all, of the remaining Raymark toxic waste from Stratford.

 Tom Smith, a co-founder and president of the SaveStratford grass-roots group that has fought against consolidating Raymark waste — which includes asbestos, lead and PCB’s — at a single Stratford site, said residnets are getting ”very impatient” with any clean-up plans now at a virtual standstill. 

Smith made an impassioned plea Monday night to the council that it try and convince the EPA to come up with some kind of new remediation plan.

“This toxic waste is a serious health hazard and stigma that keeps families from moving here, and impacts property values,” Smith told the council. “We need your help in getting the federal government moving on a final (clean-up) plan.”

Later, the council voted unanimously to demand the EPA establish a fully-funded clean-up effort to remove most of the remaining Raymark waste from more that 20 private and commercial Stratford properties.

Laura Hoydick got the royal treatment when she was sworn in Monday as the General Assembly’s newest member.

The Stratford Republican, winner of a special election last week to fill the vacant seat in the 120th District of the state House of Representatives, took the oath of office at the Capitol as three of the state’s highest office holders looked on. The seat became vacant when its previous occupant, John Harkins, resigned to serve as Stratford’s mayor, a job he won last November.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, herself formerly a state representative from Brookfield, and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, both fellow Republicans, were on hand to congratulate Hoydick, as Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz formally administered the oath.

Also on hand for the ceremony were Hoydick’s husband, Paul, and daughters Brooke and Paige.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has announced that $5 million, which will allow the state to add hundreds of acres of working farmland to ongoing preservation efforts, is expected to be approved when the state Bond Commission meets March 16.
Today, she will be at the 62-acre Bomba Farm, a former dairy operation, in Seymour where owners are in the process of selling its development rights to the state for $865,000 or $13,956 an acre, according to information supplied by the governor’s office.
It is one of eight farms preserved in New Haven County and the first in the Town of Seymour. The farm currently raises beef cattle and hogs. Owned by siblings, Edward, Eugene and Anne Bomba, the farm has been a family operation since the early 1900s. The farm grows hay, flowers, herbs and a variety of vegetables including corn and gourds, according to information supplied by the governor’s office.
Connecticut has the second oldest farmland preservation program in the country, preserving development rights of its first farm in 1979. Rell said the state’s goal is to preserve 130,000 acres of farmland with 85,000 acres dedicated to growing crops. To date, about 268 farms totaling 35,518 acres have been preserved or approved for preservation.
“The farmland preservation program offers families, such as the Bombas, an opportunity to preserve their legacy as well as their land,” Rell said in a press release. “The lure of development has been all too keen over the past several decades especially for farmers struggling with high production costs. Sadly, that the trade-off has turned pastures into parking lots. That will not happen under this program.”

Members of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Black & Puerto Rican Caucus, including State Rep. Don Clemons, D-Bridgeport and State Sen. Edwin Gomes, D-Bridgeport, will tour Harding High School in Bridgeport Tuesday afternoon to view  “a normal day of activity.” The tour starts at 1:30, about an hour before school lets out for the day.

 The tour is meant to shape lawmaker debate as they work on legislation to close the achievement gap between white and minority students.  After the tour, lawmakers will host a round table discussion at the school with students and parents.

  Harding High School is located at 1734 Central Avenue, Bridgeport, CT

ANSONIA – A Bridgeport man was arrested today for allegedly holding up a Main Street service station at gunpoint.
Audelan Chassangne, 35, of Stoneridge Road, Bridgeport, was charged first-degree robbery, fourth-degree robbery and second-degree reckless endangerment.
About 6:20 a.m. this morning, police received a report of an armed robbery at Fuel First at 575 Main St., Lt. Andrew Cota said.
Two men allegedly entered the store and drew a gun on the clerk, he said. The pair took about $1,200 worth of cigarettes and $600 cash from the cash register and fled in a dark colored car, Cota said. No one was injured.
A short time later, officers spotted a car matching that car’s description in the parking lot of McDonalds on Division Street, Cota said. Both Ansonia and Derby officers responded to the scene.
A person who witnessed the robbery identified the car’s driver, Chassangne, as one of the men who robbed the station, Cota said.
Chassange was held in lieu of $150,000 bond and is due to appear in Derby Superior Court March 15.
The second men, described as wearing a black jacket and jeans, is still being sought, Cota said, and anyone with any information is asked to contact police at 203-735-1885.
—-By Kate Ramunni

NEW HAVEN – The prosecutor in the federal corruption trial against Shelton developer James Botti lifted the veil off “Public Official Number One” today in his opening remarks when he told the federal court jury that Shelton Mayor Mark A. Lauretti received $20,000 in lumber and construction work on his home in 2002.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Schechter said the bills were paid by James Botti, the Shelton developer on trial for bribery charges, and repaid by Lauretti after public reports appeared in the media that then-Gov. John G. Rowland was under investigation for a similar matter.
Schecther said that right after news about Rowland appeared, “James Botti and Mark Lauretti scrambled.” That was in December of 2003.
Schechter said Lauretti paid the bills in January of 2004 but Botti got the money back to the mayor in a number of ways, some of which came in the form of a $9,000 Christmas party that Botti held at a restaurant the mayor owned at that time.
The jury began hearing evidence this morning against Botti, 47, of Maple Avenue, Shelton. He’s charged with conspiracry, bribery and mail fraud.
——–By Michael P. Mayko

The UConn women’s basketball team was ready to take direct aim at another championship when they faced ninth-seeded Syracuse today.
Tina Charles tied her career-high with 34 points on 16-of-19 shooting and had six rebounds and five blocks to lead UConn to a 77-41 victory before XX at the XL Center. The Huskies tied their own NCAA record with their 70th straight win.

The Associated Press is reporting that three of five union locals in southern New England have ratified a contract with Stop & Shop, ending weeks of difficult negotiations over health benefits and wages.
Brian Petronella, president of Local 371 of the United Food and Commercial Workers in Connecticut, said about 500 members of his local approved the three-year contract on a voice vote Sunday, according to the AP.
Mark Espinosa, president of Local 919 in Connecticut, said members voted overwhelmingly Sunday to approve the agreement, which raises hourly wages for the supermarket workers and maintains pension and health benefits, according to the AP.
He said a Massachusetts local OK’d the agreement. Another Massachusetts local and a Rhode Island union were set to vote later in the day, according to the AP.
A spokeswoman for Stop & Shop said the company will comment after all the locals vote.