Connecticut Postings

Bridgeport Rescue Mission Head Chef Paul Byron will be an honored guest at the ribbon cutting ceremony that will mark the official season opening of the Westport Farmers’ Market at noon on Thursday, May 26.

 This will be the second year the market has partnered with the Mission to assist in its programs to ease the hunger of homeless and poverty-stricken individuals and families throughout Fairfield County.  Each week fresh produce that hasn’t been sold by the end of the day is donated to the Mission to be used by Byron in preparing the meals the Mission serves from their dining room and Mobile Kitchen. The fruits and vegetables are also included in the pantry boxes the Mission distributes to impoverished families.  Overall the Mission provides more than 1,500 meals per day. 

The Mission’s Mobile Kitchen will also be present at the market on opening day and Mission representatives will be on hand with information about the organization’s programs and services.  The market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday from May 26 to November 3 and is located in the Imperial Avenue parking lot in Westport.

For more information on the Bridgeport Rescue Mission’s programs and services for visit www.BridgeportRescueMission.org.

The injury law firm Carter Mario Injury Lawyers in Milford is pleased to announce the winning students in their 6th Annual “Arrive Alive” Scholarship Program. The law firm focuses the program on teen distracted driving prevention and awards $10,000 in scholarships to 10 high school seniors across the state who have shown academic excellence and demonstrated and understanding of the dangers of texting or using a cell phone while driving. 

Students were asked to submit presentations to the firm to help educate their friends and other teens on the grave dangers of texting behind the wheel. Each winning student received a $1,000 scholarship from Carter Mario and was honored at an event held at the fffices of Carter Mario Injury Lawyers in Milford on May 5 

The 2011 Carter Mario Injury Lawyers Arrive Alive Scholarship winners are:

•  Elise Uberti, Nonnewaug High School (Woodbury, CT)  
   
  •  Christine Pitino Watertown High School (Watertown, CT)  
  •  Krista Pregony Ellington High School (Ellington, CT)
  •  Alyssa Battipaglia Hamden High School (Hamden, CT)
  •  Gaelyn Etienne-Thompson Central High School (Bridgeport, CT)
  • Christian Broome Manchester High School (Manchester, CT)

   

   

   

  • William Ryan Hertler

    Xavier High School (Middletown, CT)

  •  Yue Jay Lin, Norwich Free Academy (Norwich, CT)
  •  Casey DelBasso Lauralton Hall (Milford, CT)
  •  Bailey Cornell Haddam-Killingworth High School (Killingworth, CT)

  Since the scholarship program’s inception in 2006, Carter Mario Injury Lawyers has awarded over $44,000.00 in scholarship money to graduating high school seniors in Connecticut. In 2010, the law firm introduced a series of advertising throughout Connecticut on busses and billboards, all aimed at drawing awareness to the epidemic of distracted driving in the state. This campaign became the catalyst to raising the awareness in Connecticut on the issue of teen distracted driving, and led to the unique shift in focus of the Arrive Alive Scholarship Program. This year, the firm launched an innovative anti-distracted driving mobile application for use on Blackberry mobile devices with CA-based appsFX. The firm proudly introduced 300 copies of the app free of charge to the people of Connecticut on its website GetCarter.com in May of 2011, as another way to combat driving while distracted in addition to the Arrive Alive scholarship.

  For more the Arrive Alive Scholarship Program or Carter Mario Injury Lawyers, visit www.getcarter.com.

    

Press release:

The Wayne’s Walk Foundation, a Stratford non-profit organization, will hold a 5K Walk fundraiser and dedication of the Wayne’s Walk Memorial on Saturday, June 11, 2011. The event honors Stratford native Wayne Nicholas Lecardo, who was killed by a teen drunk driver in 2007 while on his way home from his job at Foxwoods Resort Casino, two days before his 34^th birthday. Wayne, his co-worker, and the teen were all killed in the crash. On the night before his funeral shortly after leaving Wayne’s home, three of Wayne’s close friends were nearly killed when their vehicle was rear-ended by another drunk driver.

The Wayne’s Walk Foundation plans to raise awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving, support activities and educational programs which inform the public about the impact of drinking and driving, and financially support victims and families of drunk driving crashes. The organization will also help to support Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD) by contributing at least 50% of all proceeds collected within calendar year 2011 directly to MADD programs throughout Connecticut.

The entrance to Wayne’s Walk is located on Riverdale Drive where, as a child, Wayne would clean and maintain the pathway leading to Long Island Sound and Short Beach. Stratford’s Mayor John Harkins and State Senator Kevin Kelly (R-21) will be present at the dedication ceremony along with representatives from MADD. Several other local, state, and federal officials have been invited to the event. Event registration begins at 9:15 am and the dedication ceremony will take place at 10:00am, followed immediately by the 5K Walk. A beach party will take place after the walk with food, live music featuring The Chris D’Amato Band, and family friendly activities. 

For more information or to register online for the 5K Walk, please visit www.wayneswalk.org

To celebrate National Safe Boating Week, Bill Rock, chairman of the Stratford Waterfront and Harbor Management Commission and public affairs officer for the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, lead a ceremony to promote safe boating Monday in Stratford.

Here is an excerpt from his speech:

“Each year nationally there are nearly four thousand boating related accidents resulting in the loss of over 700 lives.  Last year in Connecticut there were nearly sixty boating accidents resulting in ten fatalities.Unfortunately many of these involved paddle craft. Paddle craft are small vessels propelled by human power through the use of paddles. They are neither motorized nor wind propelled. Most common are canoes and Kayaks. Three of last year’s boating deaths in Connecticut were Kayakers, one involved a canoe.

Over the past decade paddle boating has Increased by nearly 300%. Nationally, paddle-craft fatalities account for nearly 40% of all boating deaths. 80% of non motorized vessel fatalities are a result of capsizing or a fall overboard and sudden cold water immersion. 90% of these deaths occurred when people were not wearing life jackets.”

Luna Salon in Stratford last Sunday cut hair for free for all clients who donated their freshly chopped manes to Locks of Love.

The salon, located at 3563 Main St. in Paradise Green, collected 74 ponytails in four hours. The hair will be donated to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to children suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis, including cancer.

Lauren Lilly, 11, of Fairfield donated her hair Sunday at a Locks of Love fundraiser at Luna Salon in Stratford.

The Monroe Democratic Town Committee announced its candidate for first selectman in the November elections will be Phyllis Kansky.

Kansky is the grants administrator for the town of Bethel, according to LinkedIn. She previously served as director of human services for Monroe, according to the professional social networking site.

Kansky has served on the Town Council and was a liason to the Commission on Aging.

Aquarion Water Company announced Tuesday the purchase of a water system serving Dunham Pond Condominiums, off of Route 37 in New Fairfield.The system currently serves approximately 108 residents in New Fairfield.

Aquarion also recently acquired the Oakwood Acres and Fieldstone Ridge systems from Rural Water Company, Inc., serving 384 New Fairfield residents, and The Birches and Possum Ridge systems from Black Systems, serving 366 New Fairfield residents. Along with the Aquarion-owned Ball Pond system, which serves 626 New Fairfield residents, the company now provides water service to approximately 1,500 residents within the town.

The recent New Fairfield acquisitions are part of Aquarion’s strategic growth initiative, designed to improve the availability and quality of water in communities throughout the state, according to a press release.

“We are purchasing local water systems throughout Connecticut with the goal of unifying fragmented operations and providing a cohesive, long-term water solution to address future development in these communities,” said Charles V. Firlotte, Aquarion President and CEO. “Aquarion has the experience and resources needed to expand New Fairfield’s water supply, and we look forward to providing residents and businesses with safe and reliable water service for many years to come.”

Trumbull’s mill rate will increase from 24.54 to 25.00, a .46 increase, or a 1.87 percent tax increase.

“I want to thank the Board of Education, Board of Finance and Trumbull Town Council for all of their hard work throughout this budget process,” said First Selectman Tim Herbst said in a press release. “This was another tough budget year, but at the end of the day we should be very proud. For the second year in a row, we have been able to hold the tax increase to less than two percent. This was done while increasing funding for public education, public safety, infrastructure, addressing our beleaguered pension fund and maintaining a healthy fund balance and strong bond rating.”

The First Selectman pointed out that for fiscal year 2009-2010, the Town of Trumbull realized a 1.6 million dollar surplus through aggressive cost containment. In February, when the First Selectman proposed his budget for fiscal year 2011-2012, he proposed using a portion of the surplus to reduce the mill rate ($700,000). The Board of Finance a last night was  able to hold the tax increase to 1.87 percent without using the $700,000 of surplus.

“The last two years has yielded an average increase of 1.91% and we should be proud of that accomplishment,” Herbst said.