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A free class in emergency preparedness is being offered in May by the Westport Community Emergency Response Team, a division of Westport Emergency Management.

The class take place from Friday, May 3, through Sunday, May 5, at the headquarters of the Westport Fire and Police departments. The training will consist of 20 hours of classes, and participants must be at least 18 years old and a resident of Westport or another Fairfield County community. Class is limited to 25 people. There is no charge for the training or materials.

The training is designed to prepare participants to assist Westport’s emergency services during emergencies, such as snow storms, hurricanes, floods or natural and man-made disasters.

Fire Chief Andrew Kingsbury, Westport’s emergency management director, said in a statement: “CERT volunteers provide valuable assistance to our first responders because they are trained and ready to help Westport fire, police, emergency medical services and Red Cross personnel, as well as residents and neighbors when a disaster strikes. CERT provided excellent help at the shelters during storms Irene and Sandy.”

The CERT volunteers’ training will include skills such as disaster psychology, first aid, AED, CPR, fire safety, traffic control, hazardous materials awareness, emergency shelters, light search and rescue, disaster scenarios and terrorism.

People interested in the CERT training should send an email to info@westportcert.org; call 203-226-0780 or visit www.westportcert.org

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Calling voters registered in District 3 of Westport’s Representative Town Meeting.

You, too, have a shot at joining the delegation that represents fellow neighborhood residents on the town’s legislative body. The vacancy in the four-person District 3 delegation was created by the recent resignation of Hadley Rose, who also had served as the body’s moderator.

Under Town Charter guidelines, the vacancy must be filled by a registered voter residing within the district. To determine the district boundaries, check the map on the town’s website HERE.

No party affiliation is required since Westport’s RTM is non-partisan. Rose’s unexpired term expires in November, when all RTM seats will be in play in the municipal election.

Residents of RTM District 3 interested in being considered to fill the vacancy are invited to send a resume, on or before Wednesday, April 17, to the Town Clerk’s Office, attention Patricia Strauss, 110 Myrtle Ave., Westport, or via e-mail to pstrauss@westportct.gov.

Questions regarding the open seat also can be directed to Eileen Flug, the new RTM moderator, or the remaining district members, Jimmy Izzo, Melissa Kane or William F. Meyer III. Their contact information can also can be found on the town website, http://www.westportct.gov

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This statement was released by the Weston school district:

Dear Colleagues,

As we continue to investigate the incident at the high school today, the Weston
Police Department has released further details that it now feels can be shared
publicly. Two juveniles were arrested today at our high school for reckless
endangerment. The students were in possession of two pellet guns (considered
firearms under law) stored in a vehicle on campus belonging to one of the
students. During the school day, the students went outside to the vehicle and
removed at least one of the pellet guns and aimed it our high school from the
parking lot. This action was observed by some of our students and staff, which
prompted notification to school officials and the WPD.

The two students have been suspended out-of-school and are not permitted on any
school grounds during the period of suspension. Per state statue, the
possession of a firearm on school grounds warrants a mandatory expulsion from
school. The district will be proceeding with appropriate disciplinary action as
a result of the events caused by the actions of these students today.

We thank the quick response of the Weston Police Department in assisting the
district with these critical safety issues. In the aftermath of Newtown, the
district cannot be too cautious or tolerate any actions that undermine the
safety of our school community.

Sincerely,
Colleen

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The next time you pass through the Saugatuck Metro-North train station, you may notice new signs on the platforms that read “Ride The Shuttle To The Train. Take advantage of Westport’s commuter bus service.”

The 10-foot by 4-foot placards are displayed in frames facing the commuter lots and adjacent streets. Two of them stand on the westbound platform, while another hangs on the eastbound side. Another will also be erected at the Green’s Farms station. Designed by the Stamford-based firm Vertex Marketing Communications, the small billboards show a green-silhouetted shuttle bus next to a blue-silhouetted train. They also include a Quick Response code, which links to the Transit District’s home page when it is scanned.

As part of the same campaign, Transit District posters will go up soon in the waiting rooms of the Saugatuck and Green’s Farms stations. Handouts with Transit District route maps will also be available in the waiting rooms.

A $3,000 town appropriation funded the signs and posters.

A look at one of the new Westport Transit District signs at the Saugatuck Metro-North train station. From left, are: Manny Rodriguez, a custodian in the Railroad Parking division; Cathy Talmadge, chairwoman of the Representative Town Meeting's Transit Committee, Carl Lindahl, a member of the Citizens Transit Committee; Transit District Director Jennifer Johnson; Evan Barr, Johnson's husband; Eliza and Simone Barr, Johnson's daughters; Transit District Director Gene Cederbaum; and Citizens Transit Committee Chairman Jim Ross

Westport Transit District directors Gene Cederbaum and Jennifer Johnson, who serve as the chief policymakers for the town’s public-bus system, conceived of the signs and handouts. Raising the public profile of the town’s commuter-shuttle network is a top objective for Cederbaum and Johnson, who were both voted into their posts in August 2012 by the Representative Town Meeting.

“Commuters need to know they have an alternative to driving their cars to the station,” Cederbaum said Saturday, when the signs at the Saugatuck station were installed.  “One of the ways you do that is through increasing public awareness. This is the first step.”

In a related move, Cederbaum and Johnson are seeking town approval of $20,000 to create and implement a marketing plan for the Transit District. That funding request was cut March 19 by the Board of Finance from the Transit District’s proposed 2013-14 budget, but Cederbaum and Johnson say they will seek a $20,000 restoration at the board’s April 10 meeting.

In the meantime, Cederbaum and Johnson, as well as other Transit District supporters, say they are optimistic about the new marketing’s potential.

“This is the culmination of the community’s efforts to get the word out about the public service of public transit,” said Jim Ross, chairman of the town’s Citizens Transit Committee. “We hope more people will hear about it and take advantage of it. This is the beginning of a public awareness campaign for the citizens of Westport.”

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This is no gobbledygook: Wild turkeys like to roam in Westport.

They are often seen in the Greens Farms section of town, and a “rafter” of them was spotted Thursday afternoon trekking through a wooded area next to Nyala Farms Road.

This is a busy time of year for wild turkeys. Their breeding season starts in late March and early April when male turkeys, known as “toms,” start gobbling and displaying for “hens,” their female counterparts. Toms will breed with many hens and hens may breed with more than one tom, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Wildlife Division. Male turkeys establish a pecking order of dominance, and the most powerful tom may breed with most of the hens in the area, according to the Wildlife Division.

This rafter of turkeys appeared to be enjoying the early-spring climes Thursday in a wooded area next to Nyala Farms Road

Toms weigh between 15 and 25 pounds and measure 4 feet; hens weigh between eight and 12 pounds and measure 3 feet, according to the Wildlife Division.

Toms have a dark coloration with iridescent feathers. Their head is fleshy, unfeathered and colored red, white and blue, especially during the mating season, according to the Wildlife Division. They also have spurs on their legs and a hair-like beard, which sticks out from their breast.

Hens have a lighter coloration, lack spurs and have a pale blue head. A small number of hens will also have a beard.

Wild turkeys live in mature hardwood forests and open fields. They often forage in fields bordering forestland.

Their diet includes acorns, fleshy fruits, corn, seeds and invertebrates. Young turkeys, known as poults, eat a lot of insects.

Although they are not renowned for their aerial prowess, turkeys do fly.  A wild turkey may cover several square miles in one day, according to the Wildlife Division.

After an absence, wild turkeys have been successfully restored to Connecticut during the last few decades, and they now constitute a “healthy” population in the state, according to the Wildlife Division.

And here’s a recommendation from the Wildlife Division for the next time you see a gang of gobblers: Do NOT feed them. Doing so encourages the spread of disease and the loss of their wild instincts.

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  Westport Public Library will hold an exhibit of paintings and drawings by late folk and blues guitarist Eric von Schmidt from Friday, March 29, to Wednesday, June 26, in the library’s Great Hall, 20 Jesup Road. An opening reception for the exhibit, titled “Eric von Schmidt—A Life in Art,” will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, in the hall and is free and open to the public.

The exhibit’s over 30 works, curated by von Schmidt’s daughters Caitlin and Megan von Schmidt, both of Greenfield, Mass., are drawn from paintings and drawings he created over the span of his lifetime.

When Eric von Schmidt died in 2007 at 75, he was remembered for his large historical paintings and for helping pioneer the music explosion of the late 1950s and early 1960s with his spirited style of folk and blues guitar. He grew up in Westport and spent much of his time as a child in the Evergreen Avenue studio of his father, Harold von Schmidt, an illustrator and one of the founders of the Famous Artists School, the release states. Eric von Schmidt was selling his own work by the time he was a teenager.

For information, call the library at 203-291-4800 or visit www.westportlibrary.org.

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No foolin’. As of Monday, April 1, animals are prohibited from Westport’s beaches until October,

Parks and Recreation Director Stuart McCarthy, in a statement, said the traditional ban on animals at the beaches will be in effect at Compo, Burying Hill and Old Mill beaches.

“Animals will not be permitted on any beach property, which includes all grass, sand, and the parking areas, except Soundview parking lot at Compo Beach, as well as the roads within the beach area,” McCarthy said in the statement.  “This regulation will be in effect until Oct. 1.”

Parking stickers will be required on all vehicles entering town beaches beginning Tuesday, May 1, he added.

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RIVE Bistro, a new French restaurant, announced it would open on Wednesday, March 27, at the former Riverhouse Tavern at 299 Riverside Ave.

The owner, Eric Sierra, operated another French restaurant in Westport, Bistro des Amis in Sconset Square, for a decade before it closed in 2001.

RIVE will feature “hearty French fare,” and dinner entrees ranging from $18 to $32, the restaurant said. Lunches will range from $12 to $20 and brunch $10 to $20.

The 72-seat dining room will be supplemented in warm weather by up to 50 seats on a patio overlooking the Saugatuck River.

Sierra grew up in Biarritz in southwestern France, RIVE said in a news release, and he currently operates Il Palio, a Mediterranean restaurant in Shelton.

RIVE will accept reservations for the dining room, the restaurant said, but seating on the patio will be first come first served.

Hours will be:

Lunch: Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dinner: Monday through Thursday and Sunday, 4 to 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m.

Sunday brunch: 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

RIVE Bistro, 299 Riverside Ave., 203-557-8049. www.rivebistro.com