The hurricane season ends in mid-November, which only means that winter soon follows. We are still enjoying some nice weather as we approach October. The devastation left by Tropical Storm Irene is continuing to be cleaned up and the visions of winter 2010-11 are still fresh in our minds.
So why do I bring up all this unpleasant weather news? Because some of us still don’t know how to be prepared for Mother Nature’s fury. Fairfield’s Emergency Management Team wants to help give us all the tools we need to make it through those days when disaster strikes.
A public informational meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Penfield Pavilion on Fairfield Beach Road. The town’s emergency preparedness policies and programs will be reviewed and personal measures we can follow to ensure our safety will be detailed.
The Fairfield Citizen Corps also will be there to offer its input. After the officials’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session.
For more information, contact the Fire Department 203-254-4715.
Archive for September, 2011
Hurricane season still here, and winter’s coming
Good riddance
We all have it. Tucked away in drawers, closets, cabinets and boxes. What is it? A mountain of outdated, no-longer-useful personal paper, like tax returns, bank statements, canceled checks (who even gets a canceled check anymore?) and other information that we hold onto for too long. Who knows why.
I remember when I moved from my condo into my house in 1998 and dragged with me two huge boxes of bank statements and the like. And even more baffling was that I had lived in several apartments before the condo and carried this stuff (and added to it over the years) from one place to another.
A couple of years ago I decided to do myself a favor and buy a cross shredder. It was one of the best investments, and has been loaned out to a friend on several occasions. Now I try to keep up with the stuff instead of letting it pile up.
If you don’t have or don’t want to buy your own shredder, you can take advantage of the Police Department’s “Shred Day,” which takes place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 1, at headquarters, 100 Reef Road. Shred Day happens rain or shine.
You will be able to bring all that accumulated stuff to the site, where it will be shredded for $10 per banker or copy paper-size box. Doing so will provide an opportunity to prevent identity theft while ensuring that unwanted paper documents get destroyed and recycled for other uses instead of ending up in a landfill.
Proceeds will go to the department’s Police Explorer Youth Program, a very worthwhile organization.
For more information, call 203-254-4840. For information about the explorers program, visit the Police Department’s website.
Happy Anniversary
The Fairfield Elks Lodge No. 2220 has celebrated an anniversary. Fifty years, as told in a recent Fairfield Citizen article that can be viewed here. That’s a long time for a civic and organization. But the Elks Lodge, like many other organizations, has weathered the ups and downs of the economy, membership highs and lows and a changing society.
Now, when so many of us turn to social networking sites to keep connected, organizations like the Elks stay true to their roots. Of course, the groups, like the Elks, have caught on to the changing times and have their own Facebook pages and websites.
The groups’ survival is a testament to the people who join and pursue their charitable deeds. In addition to the Elks, Fairfield has a Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club and Lions Club, all doing good deeds. And there are a host of others in town. A list of the organizations, to which Fairfielders might want to belong, can be found on the Fairfield Public Library’s website.
Happy Anniversary, Fairfield Elks, and keep up the good work.
Residents unite
A small blurb on the Fairfield Citizen website caught my eye this morning. It can be viewed here.
It announces that several citizens’ groups have established a coalition to ask the candidates for first selectman to consider issues important to the new organization, which is called Fairfielders for Good Government. The release noted that the coalition “wants to identify common ground, but did not identify any specific issues it wants the candidates to address.”
Fairfielders for Good Government was created by Kate Daniello, who gained local fame as the founder of We the People, which has been after the town and school administrations over the last few years to reduce spending and become more efficient, and Laura Incerto. Ten community groups were invited to join and eight have signed on. They are: Concerned Citizens of Fairfield, Fairfield Beach Association, Fairfielders for Charter Revision, Fairfielders for Open Space, Old Post Road Association, Pension Group, Pine Creek Association and We the People of Fairfield.
While the release said the coalition did not specify topics of interest, it is a little obvious merely by their names what the groups’ interests will be when they approach the candidates, who are Democrat Michael Tetreau, who currently is serving as the interim first selectman; Republican Robert B. Bellitto, the vice chairman of the Board of Finance; and the Independent Party’s Hugh Dolan, who is a Fairfield firefighter.
Without knowing much more than this, it is difficult to say what the coalition has in store for the candidates or us, the voting public. That aside, I’m all for residents availing themselves of the process and making their voices heard. This reminds me of the Coalition of Neighborhood Associations of the late 1980s, early 1990s that tackled zoning issues during the campaigns for municipal office.
Meetings of the coalition, which are open to the public, will take place at the Fairfield Public Library, 1080 Old Post Road. For the date and time of the next meeting, e-mail Incerto at lincerto@truenorthpromotions.com. I might stop in to see for myself what the group has in mind.
End-of-summer ritual
When it comes to the Assumption Church SeptemberFest, I am a bit of a curmudgeon. But that doesn’t mean everyone else can’t have a good time. I’m only a curmudgeon about it because it inundates my neighborhood with cars, which are parked up and down Stratfield Road and on every side road in the church’s immediate vicinity. Traveling on any of these roads can be a nightmare.
But I am fascinated by one thing about the fair – the amusement rides get delivered to the church grounds, but I never see them erected. And when the fest is over, the rides such seem to disappear. It’s like magic.
That said, it’s a wonderful end-of-summer activity and a tradition for the church and our community. It also is a major fundraiser for the church and school. And, don’t get me wrong, I do go over to the fair to get a beer and a pizza fritte and visit for a while with some friends who work one of the booths. I also take a chance on the raffle, which could bring the winner several hundreds of dollars. And these days, that money could come in handy.
The 19th annual SeptemberFest started on Friday night and continues through tomorrow. It is open today from 1 to 11 p.m. and tomorrow from 1 to 6 p.m. In addition to the rides and the raffle, there are arcade games, a white elephant sale and plenty of food. Very enticing and delicious food, I might add. The atmosphere is electric and fun and admission is free. For more information, call 203-333-9065.
Go and have a good time. Just be careful where you park.
Eat your vegetables
A really unique and novel idea has emerged from the Fairfield PTA Council – the Veggie Pledge. I found this item on, of all places, the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce website and I was intrigued.
I’m an avid vegetable eater so taking a pledge would not be a hardship or out of the ordinary for me. But for the children – and their parents – of Fairfield, this is a welcomed program.
Fuel for Learning Partnership, a program of the PTA Council, wants to “make eating veggies a delicious habit for Fairfielders. We are asking everyone to pledge to eat their veggies from Sept. 1 to June 30,” according to its website, www.veggiepledge.org.
“We all know that vegetables are good for us but that doesn’t mean we eat them. We’re fewer than 30% of us eat all of our recommended servings of vegetables. Children eat even fewer vegetables with only 13% getting their daily amounts. Fuel for Learning Partnership would like to change those statistics for Fairfield with the Veggie Pledge!” proclaims the partnership.
On the website, you can make your pledge as well as post recipes, ideas and events. As of this morning, 37 pledge posts were recorded, five recipes and 13 events. Among those upcoming events are a movie at 10 a.m. and 2 and 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Fairfield Public Library about Frank Ferrante, who was overweight, addicted to drugs and fighting hepatitis-C and who went on a 42-day regimen of nothing but raw, organic, vegan food and a gallon of water each day; and Real Food for Real Life with Tara Cook-Littman, who will talk about learning what real food is and how to easily incorporate it into your everyday life, at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 at the main library.
The reason this item was on the chamber website is obvious – it is a partner of the programs. Others are Bloom Massage & Fitness, Fairfield Public Library, GourGanics, GreenGourmetToGo, Maione’s Brick Over Pizza, Mama Manna Organic Buying Club, The Pantry, Pediatric Healthcare Associates and Whole Foods.
There is a whole list of ideas on how to incorporate healthier choices into your diet and can be viewed here.
For more information, visit www.veggiepledge.org or its Facebook page.
A patriotic ride
I had every intention of writing about 9/11/01 and where I was on that day and how it has affected my life. 
But I couldn’t think of anything new and different to say than what already has been documented. I posted a photo of the American flag on this blog as my offering to mark the day and headed off to spend Grandparents Day at my mother assisted living facility with my sister, my niece and her two sons and my nephew and his two sons.
What better way to spend an afternoon than with four adorable, smart and comical boys – all under the age of 10 and all born in the years after that day in September 2001. But before I even got there (or even left Fairfield, for that matter), I was sidetracked by the CT United Bike Ride in honor of 9/11.
On my way to the Merritt Parkway via Park Avenue, I got no farther than Geduldig Avenue, where a Trumbull police car and officer blocked the road. I pulled over to the side of the road to wait until it went by, but after 15 minutes I decided to turn off the car and walk to the corner and watch the parade.
And what a parade it was. Large American flags were strung between several ladder trucks supplied by area departments, including Fairfield, over Park Avenue near Sacred Heart University. Traveling underneath the flags was a convoy of motorcyclists – some riding alone, others with passengers, men, women, municipal police officers, state police; some carrying large flags attached to their bikes, others carrying them on their helmets and yet others waving them as they passed by. One passenger wore a flag shirt.
The noise of the bike engines and horns blowing and cheers from the crowd was deafening. I watched with a smile on my face as the Trumbull police officer stationed at Geduldig Avenue flashed the peace sign, jumped up and down and offered her hand for the riders to slap.
More than 4,000 motorcyclists roared down the road toward Seaside Park in Bridgeport. It was an incredible display of patriotism.
I am glad I got out of the car.
