Anger builds over Ham Ave.
By Greenwich Time Cub Reporter Colin "King Of The BOE Press Release" Gustafson
Posted: 12/29/2008 07:45:20 AM EST
Teacher's aide Dawn Nethercott early last week had finished packing the last of her classroom supplies into cardboard boxes to be shipped to the Chickahominy school's new building over the holidays.
But instead of preparing to move those boxes, Nethercott spent the next day unpacking and reassembling her supplies in a temporary pre-kindergarten classroom at North Street School.
"I've basically been in tears all day," she said last Tuesday, one day after school officials abandoned a long-awaited relocation plan. "The frustration and disappointment is devastating."
Last Monday, Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg scrapped plans to move staff and equipment into the reconstructed school over the holiday break, after the school's building committee failed to secure the necessary safety approvals......
.....Building committee Chairman Frank Mazza said Monday that an order had been placed for replacement flue pipes, which would likely arrive by mid-January and could be installed in four to five days, with additional time needed for opening and resealing pipe enclosures.
"We are still moving forward, working every day to try to get this done," Mazza said.
Despite these reassurances, some town leaders said they were befuddled by the latest holdup in the project.
"I think we can all agree it's a mess," said Rep. Lile Gibbons. "I have spoken with many members of the building committee (and town officials), and it's still a total puzzlement as to how so many things could've gone wrong."
Board of Estimate and Taxation Chairman Steven Walko said the reconstruction efforts has been plagued by a lack of communication between the project's manager, architect, engineer, contractor and committee members, who typically meet once a week.
"From the beginning, I've been very disappointed with the level of communication," Walko said. "Many times, there have been instances where one party or another could have been much more aggressive" in tackling various problems that have arisen, he added.
Town Administrator John Crary said there were also inherent challenges in having a building committee of unpaid volunteers - as opposed to a single, paid administrator with centralized authority - overseeing school construction projects.
The state requires school construction projects receiving state aid to be supervised by a committee of residents, who often have a variety of professional backgrounds, selected by town officials to oversee work on the school board's behalf.
"These are people who may not be on the scene every day, and who, in some cases, may not be knowledgeable enough to build a building," said Crary.......
Family donates Torah to Chabad
When Greenwich resident Leon Gandelman grew up in Lvov in the Soviet Union in the 1940s and '50s, he was not allowed to practice his religion in public.
Work on the deficit must wait
Though Gov. M. Jodi Rell called for a special legislative session for Friday to tackle budget deficits, it won't happen.
Gun sales surge in state
Some gun owners soon may find they must wait in line at their favorite shooting ranges. At Forest & Field Outdoor Specialties, a Norwalk gun store and shooting range, demand among novices and experienced gun owners for more training is so great that "classes are now completely booked for the rest of December, way into January and beyond," said Scott Moss, a lifelong outdoorsman and competitive shooter.
Economy causes pet adoptions to drop
While the holiday season has traditionally been a time when many animals find a home, shelters say they're filled to the brim as adoptions decline and abandonments soar.
Magnetic bursts treating woman's depression
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
McClatchy Newspapers
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Once a week, Lucinda Smith tucks earplugs into both ears, flips her auburn hair over a neck rest and waits for a powerful magnetic burst to be aimed at her skull.
GREENWICH TIME'S LOCAL HARD HITTING EDITORIAL"Dodd's continuing lack of candor"
It was past time months ago for Connecticut U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd to come clean and release documents on two mortgages he received from Countrywide Financial Corp.
That it still has not happened is now approaching outrageousness.
Following a meeting in Westport last Monday with Fairfield County labor leaders, Connecticut's senior senator once again hedged on saying when he would release the documents. Mr. Dodd continues to say the information will be forthcoming but he refuses to say when.
The situation has kept an ethical cloud over the state's senior senator since the disclosure that he and a colleague appear to have received preferential treatment in 2003 on mortgages from Countrywide Financial, which was later implicated in the subprime mortgage scandals and eventually was taken over by Bank of America. For the mortgages, Mr. Dodd was placed into Countrywide's "VIP" program, which saved him some $2,700 in upfront costs on the loans and allowed his loan rates to decrease as rates dropped.
At the time the information became public, Mr. Dodd said he never sought special treatment from Countrywide, and he pledged to disclose information about the loans. Since then, it's been one dodge after another to repeated questions about the matter.
Full disclosure is key because Sen. Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and is at ground zero in the nation's Capitol in trying to put a stop to America's economic meltdown. Certainly, his efforts in the Senate to craft remedies for the crisis are appreciated, but this personal issue continues to be an unneeded distraction.
It may be true, as the senator has said repeatedly said in recent months, that there's little to be told about his deal with Countrywide for refinancing a Washington townhouse and his home here in Connecticut ...... BLAH ...... BLAH ...... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... BLAH ....... BLAH ....... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... BLAH .........
A need for education on cesarean births
To the editor:
Cesarean birth rates among healthy normal pregnancies is rising to a troubling rate. That is what the International Cesarean Awareness Network of Connecticut is aiming to help through education, information and support for women who have had cesarean sections.
Post-partum moms I've met who were recovering from major abdominal surgery have had an incredibly difficult time trying to breast feed. The baby not only has health disadvantages related to nutrition, but the lungs did not receive the natural preparation for out-of-womb breathing that being squeezed through the birth canal provides. This is why many cesarean-section babies need resuscitation in that first hour after birth.
I had a cesarean birth with my son, which is why I am so passionate about this subject.
I want to extend invites to all women across Connecticut to become more educated about birth and maternity care through films like "The Business of Being Born," which the International Cesarean Awareness Network of Connecticut is showing for free on Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe in West Haven.
In a state that has a 34.1-percent cesarean rate, education is drastically needed!
For more information about the International Cesarean Awareness Network of Connecticut, or "The Business of Being Born," please contact me at ICANConnecticut@aol.com
Danielle Elwood
The writer is chapter leader of the International Cesarean Awareness Network of Connecticut.
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