You can’t vote if you’re not registered. Election Day is less than two weeks away, but there still is time to sign up.
Where and when to register
Residents have until Tues., Nov. 1, and those who recently moved to town have until Mon., Nov. 7, to do so in person at the registrars of voters office at Old Town Hall. The registrars extend office hours on Nov. 1 until 8:30 p.m. to accommodate new registrants.
To be a registered voter in Fairfield, you must be a U.S. citizen, age 18 or older by the next general election, reside in the town and never have been convicted of a disenfranchising felony, and if so, you must have completed confinement and parole.
Where to vote
Prior to Election Day, make sure you know your polling place. They are:
District 1: Fairfield Senior Center, 100 Mona Terrace
District 2: St. Pius X School, 824 Brookside Drive
District 3: Dwight Elementary School, 1600 Redding Road
District 4: Osborn Hill School, 760 Stillson Road
District 5: McKinley School, 60 Thompson Street
District 6: Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Avenye
District 7: North Stratfield School, 190 Putting Green Road
District 8: Holland Hill School, 200 Meadowcroft Road
District 9: Fairfield Ludlowe High School, 785 Unquowa Road
District 10: Sherman Elementary School, 250 Fern Street
Absentee ballots
If you cannot vote in person on Nov. 8, absentee ballots are available. Absentee voting is permitted for any of the following reasons: physical disability, absence from the town during all of the hours of voting, or religious tenets that forbid secular activity on Election Day. A signed application must be received by the town clerk before an absentee ballot can be issued. Applications are available in her office Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Applications also are available through the secretary of the state’s website
www.sots.ct.gov/sots/LIB/sots/ElectionServices/ElectForms/electforms/aabeng.pdf.
The town clerk’s office will be open on Sat., Nov. 5, between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon for absentee balloting.
Archive for October, 2011
Still time to register to vote
That pesky fall task
The town leaf collection will begin on Monday of the week of Nov. 14. Why am I telling you this now – almost three weeks before? Because if you are anything like me, raking, blowing and bagging leaves can be a chore.
I have numerous and huge trees surrounding my property and it takes me weeks to clean up the yard. Usually by the time the end of November comes, I have had enough and leave the remainder for the spring. Bad idea.
So here you go – the lowdown so you can prepare:
The leaf collection takes place over four weeks, ending the week of Dec. 5 for all neighborhoods except Greenfield Hill.
There is no specific daily pickup schedule, so each week biodegradable bags must be placed at curbside by 6 a.m. Monday to ensure pick-up some time that week. Do not seal the paper bags, and loose leaves, brush, branches, wood, grass or leaves in plastic bags will not be accepted. Bags placed outside of the town right-of-way, such as along driveways, inside stonewalls or fences, will not be picked up.
Also, residents should not rake or blow leaves into the gutter or street as they might block the catch basins, which should be clear at all times to prevent flooding problems.
As for Greenfield Hill residents, they should call the town garage at 203-256-3177 on Mon., Nov. 21, to
arrange for leaf pickup before Thanksgiving and may call the following week for one additional pick-up.
Of course, if you want to work at your own pace and not worry about the town’s pickup, you can bring leaves to the GreenCycle collection site at One Rod Highway. For information, visit www.fairfieldct.org/earthgro.htm
A Night of Music set for Nov. 12
The Second Annual “A Night of Music” will take place on Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Westport Country Playhouse.
The event is in memory of Keith Lebo and Jim DeSantie, both of Fairfield and both of whom died of pancreatic cancer. Their wives, Charlene Lebo and Suzanne DeSantie, who also are sisters, are the forces behind this musical extravaganza, which raises money to help patients and their families fighting pancreatic cancer and liver disease at St. Vincent’s Medical Center through the hospital’s SWIM Across the Sound program.
The show will feature The Christopher Robin Band, Jesse Terry, Still Got The Blues, To The Max, The Doug Wahlberg Band, Emcee Brian Smith and Sound by Thunder and Lighting.
The evening begins with the silent action at 6 p.m., followed by the live music from 7 to 10 p.m. Complimentary dessert will be offered from 10 to 11 p.m. A meet-and-greet Dessert and Coffee Party will take place at 9:30 p.m.
Tickets are $100, $75 or $50 and are available at the Westport Country Playhouse box office at 203-227-4177 or via www.westportplayhouse.org. Information about the event also can be viewed on its Facebook page.
Ready to serve
This message is simple – support your volunteer fire departments. Our career department is one of the best in the state, and it is supported by the volunteers in Southport and Stratfield.
To get to know your volunteer departments better, stop by and visit with the members. The Stratfield Volunteer Fire Department hosts a monthly can and bottle drive on the second Saturday – rain or shine. Bring your returnable cans and bottle to the firehouse at 400 Jackman Ave. during the hours of 9 a.m. and noon. Your donation will help the Stratfield Volunteer Fire Department and is tax deductible. The Southport Volunteer Fire Department, established in 1895, will host its annual Open House from 10 a.m. t o 4 p.m. Oct. 29.
For more information about either company, visit www.southportvfd.com or www.rescue15.com.
Absentee balloting applications available
Election Day is drawing near. Want to know how I know? Because Town Clerk Betsy Browne has issued the absentee ballot notice.
Absentee ballots for the Nov. 8 election are now available. Absentee voting is permitted for any of the following reasons: physical disability, absence from the town during all of the hours of voting, or religious tenets that forbid secular activity on Election Day.
A signed application must be received by the town clerk before an absentee ballot can be issued. Applications are available in her office Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Applications also are available through the secretary of the state’s website
www.sots.ct.gov/sots/LIB/sots/ElectionServices/ElectForms/electforms/aabeng.pdf.
The town clerk’s office will be open on Saturday, Nov. 5, between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon for absentee balloting.
For more information, call 203-256-3090.
Enchanting
I’m not and never have been a Halloween person. Maybe it was all those years as a youngster when some illness struck me in late October, keeping me from traveling the streets of my neighborhood with my friends in search of candy.
But Halloween can be a magical time. It’s fun for the kids (some adults too, who go out of their way to make the day special for their kids and others). Such is the case with the Enchanted Castle, one of the premier Halloween events in Fairfield.
The Ahlbin Rehabilitation Centers Auxiliary will present “The Enchanted Castle: A Magical Storybook Experience” from Oct. 21 to 30 at the Burr Homestead, 739 Old Post Road. With colorful storybook-theme rooms and friendly costumed characters, the castle will aim to provide a non-threatening, entertaining Halloween experience for children ages 2 to 9 accompanied by an adult. This year’s theme rooms include Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Wizard of Oz.
The castle’s hours will be 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 21, 26, 27 and 28 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 22, 23, 29 and 30.
Admission is $5 per person. For information, call 203-336-7364 or visit www.enchantedcastle.org.
The auxiliary seeks volunteers to fill more than 250 storybook characters roles for the castle. For information, adults and students in the eighth grade and up may e-mail characters@enchantedcastle.org. Also, businesses interested in helping to underwrite some of the costs of this year’s castle by becoming a sponsor may e-mail info@enchantedcastle.org.
Ahlbin Centers provides inpatient rehabilitation services at Bridgeport Hospital and outpatient services in Bridgeport, Shelton, Southport, Stratford and Trumbull. Services include physical, occupational and speech therapy as well as early childhood and geriatric programs.
Proceeds from “The Enhanted Castle,” started in 1992, will support the centers’ Fit Kids program to reduce childhood obesity.
Mark your calendars now so you don’t miss the fun.
Deserved recognition
We’re big on handing out awards here in our town. And why not? Sometimes municipal employees and others deserve to be recognized for their efforts, especially when they go above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities. Other times, a particular action just needs to be highlighted.
Earlier this week, members of the Police and Fire departments were honored, as well as public safety-minded civilians, in the first-ever Public Safety Awards Night.
The Fire Department presented citations to personnel in the following categories: Fire Chief’s Awards, Exceptional Medical Service Awards, Unit Citations of Valor and Honorable Service Medals. The Police Department presented Chief’s Letters of Recognition, Letters of Commendation for Honorable Service and Unit Citations. The agencies then joined in putting the spotlight on several members of the community with Civilian Public Safety Awards for what the uniformed-services officials considered “extraordinary actions” over the past year.
Yet to come are the Board of Selectmen’s eighth annual Town of Fairfield Employee of the Year and the Fairfielder of the Year awards. All residents and town employees are invited to submit applications to the first selectman’s office by noon Oct. 24. Criteria descriptions and nomination forms are available online. Nomination criteria and forms also are available from the first selectman’s office at Independence Hall.
An independent committee will review all submitted applications and then recommend three finalists for each award to the Board of Selectmen, which will select the two final winners. The Board of Selectmen will present both awards to the two outstanding individuals – one Fairfield resident and one Town Employee – in November.
A different world in early morning
Sometimes you should go where you’ve gone before and get a difference perspective. That’s what I did this morning – not by design but because it just happened.
Early this morning, I dropped my car off at my mechanic’s, Tunxis Hill Service Center, to be repaired and thought I would wait for it. So I headed over to Stop & Shop on Villa Avenue, grabbed a cup of joe from Starbuck’s and sat in the little cafeteria-like area to read a book and wait. It took me a while before I opened the book because I was fascinated by the activity and people entering and exiting the store. I am at a Stop & Shop supermarket – in Fairfield, Bridgeport, Shelton – several times a week, but I am so focused on getting my (or my mother’s) groceries that I never really look at my surroundings. This morning was a big departure. I had the time so I soaked in the surroundings.
Since I retired from the day-to-day grind of being a newspaper editor and launched a free-lance writing career, I don’t move too fast in the morning any more. So getting up and getting out before 8 a.m. was hard, to say the least. But I quickly learned that it’s a different world at that hour.
Despite the high unemployment statistics, there were lots of people in cars rushing about. As I walked (and walking is not completely accurate; sprinting was more like it in order to dodge the cars) past Dunkin Donuts at the corner of Villa Avenue and Tunxis Hill Road, I saw it was packed with people. And then there was Stop & Shop, the parking lot of which was fairly devoid of cars but that soon changed.
Once settled in my seat in the cafeteria, I watched the steady stream of humanity. I was really surprised at the number of people who grocery shop that early in the morning. I am not talking about people with 12 items or less (there were plenty of those too), but women with carts full of food and such. The majority of the people there, however, were senior citizen men. One man was reading The New York Times, another was checking his lottery numbers. Another came and just sat for a while, he too reading a newspaper – his choice being The Daily News. An older woman sat for a short time and organized her belongings. A younger woman came into the store accompanied by what appeared to be a service dog and an adult son and his senior father arrived together to do dad’s shopping after dad had a little breakfast. A couple of female customers, obviously acquaintances, spent a good bit of time catching up. One elderly gentleman was very careful about what he bought – several cans of soup and some miscellaneous items – and was slowly counting his money. Was he counting to make sure he had enough or did he want close to the exact amount so he could check out and go? I wondered which.
So after an hour and a half, I was done observing and ready to get my car. (Interestingly, I needed to buy some cat food, but opted to go to another Stop & Shop. Go figure.) But I have to tell you – that 90 minutes was the most interesting time I’ve spent doing, well, absolutely nothing in a long time.
I have to get out more often.
