Hyper Local News Pages

Friday, July 11, 2008

07/11/08 Breaking News - Wiffleballers Challenged By Proffessional Baseball Team

Home of the Brockton Rox

Via: WNLK, CT

The Brockton Rox, a baseball team in a Massachusetts independent league, wants to show the people of Greenwich how to be a good neighbor. The Rox, of the Canadian-American League in Broxton, Massachusetts are inviting the Greenwich wiffleballers to take them on, by challenging the 14 wiffleball players to a wiffleball game at Campanelli Stadium.

When the Massachusetts team became aware of the controvesial field situation surrounding the Greenwich youths, they immediately wanted to show their support.

"We are all about family fun," said Rox General Manager Brian Voelkel. "Wiffle ball is great way to spend a summer's day and we want to encourage these kids for their desire to not sit at home and play video games," Voelkel added.

The Rox have not received word whether the kids will accept their offer to play. The Rox are also inviting the kids for a cookout and giving the youths tickets to their game following the wiffleball showdown.

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07/11/08 Obama's Cash Flows From Hedge Funds


Hedge fund managers throw weight behind Obama
guardian.co.uk, UK

Hedge fund managers are famous for betting against conventional wisdom, and this year many are doing just that by backing Democrat Barack Obama's White House bid and defying Wall Street's usual embrace of Republicans.

New figures show the Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has drawn $822,375 in campaign contributions from employees of hedge funds, compared to $348,300 for his Republican rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain...

....Part of the reason may be what one New York hedge fund manager called deep frustration with Bush's Republican administration.

"People want to throw this party out and so you are seeing even people whose financial interests might be elsewhere line up behind the Democrats," said the manager, who also declined to be identified.

Another draw for Obama could be more elusive -- his star power. Many hedge fund managers, who have proven their mettle in forcing change at some of the biggest U.S. corporations, may identify with a young, charismatic candidate who they see as a bit like themselves.

"They clearly want to be with other stars" and Obama is considered to be that right now, said Philip Duff, a hedge fund industry veteran who launched Duff Capital Advisors in Greenwich, Connecticut, in March.

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07/10/09 So Far There Are No New News Links From The Greenwich Citizen - Maybe They Will Update Later This Afternoon


Veterans gather around for the unfurling of a 1,500-square-foot American flag during the 17th annual Salute to Veterans Saturday at Havemeyer Field. (GREENWICH CITIZEN photo / Amy Mortensen)

Note To Greenwich Citizen Editor:

Please update your web site!!!!


The lead story on the Greenwich Citizen is still Talking about an event that occured 13 days ago !!!!


Fireballs Explode Over Havemeyer Field

Two 10-story-high churning fireballs gave 5,000 Greenwich spectators the fright of their lives Saturday during the 17th annual Salute to Veterans at Havemeyer field behind Town Hall.

Update 2 pm Finally The Greenwich Citizen

Website Puts Up Some News Links

Families Gather on Green to See Shakespeare

Families, friends and fellow Shakespearians took their spot of turf on the green swards of Roger Sherman Baldwin ...

Helping Hands, Warm Hearts Knit Safety Net for Byram Man

The Greenwich Citizen crew and Nicholas Barille, of York Construction and Development, and Mindy Chanaud of Coldwell Banker, were in Ecklund's front yard to...

Gas Prices Re-Shaping Consumer Conduct

In a ride around the pumps in Fairfield County Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Greenwich Citizen found the dual pricing system in effect at a ...

Don't Whiff! Let Kids Have Their FIeld of Dreams

Maybe that's what makes Greenwich different. These kids have not only the resources, but the resourcefulness to do something about making their dreams come ...

NORWALK - Federal, state, and local officials reassured Fairfield Country residents last Tuesday evening at Norwalk City Hall that they would do everything possible to prevent detrimental changes to state airspace, as proposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), from taking effect as early as January 2009.

A replica of the Betsy Ross Flag - the one with 13 stars in a circle -was reverentially hoisted atop the main flag pole at Town Hall last Friday by the Greenwich Boys & Girls Club's white-gloved honor guard.

Thumbs up to the Veterans Appreciation Council and the Manhattan-based Intrepid Museum Foundation for their sponsorship of the 17th annual Salute to Veterans.

Exploring Great Captain's Island in Search of Herons
There's a whole lot of parenting activity of some of America's most beautiful birds not far offshore on Great Captain's Island, where there is one of the largest heron nesting sites in Long Island Sound.

Letters to the Editor

Shays Asked to Explain Comments

The following letter to U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, was shared with the Greenwich Citizen. -Ed.

Dear Representative Shays,

On behalf of our membership, I am writing to express our deep disappointment and profound concern regarding your attitude toward the rising price of gas. This is a critical issue for our members - not an abstract policy debate.

Every day we struggle to provide for our families, a challenge that has grown increasingly difficult in recent months. Every time gas goes up it gets harder for families in our district to pay our bills on time. Against this stark background, I hope you will understand how troubling it is to hear our own representative in Congress - the person charged with advocating for our welfare - suggest that when it comes to the high price of gas, "a lot of good things will come from it."

For families in Fairfield County, there is nothing good about having to devote more money to gas from a household budget that is already stretched thin. Connecticut has among the highest gas prices in the nation - $4.37 per gallon on average. If a family drives 12,000 miles per year, the rise in gas prices will cost...

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07/11/08 You Wont See This In The Greenwich Time - Failed Board Of Educaion Gives Our Children Facilities like this - Glenville School Bathroom Pics

Look at these reader submitted pictures of a Glenville School restroom.

How can Greenwich Time school reporter Hoa Nguyen ignore these school conditions?

Hoa Nguyen and the Greenwich Time are always ignoring the conditions that small inocent children of Western Greenwich must endure.

For over a year the parents of Hamilton Avenue school complained bitterly to the Greenwich media and to school officials about the deplorable conditions at Hamilton Avenue School modular classrooms.

For over one year the complacent mainstream media failed listen to the parents concerns about their children's substandard school facilities.

  • There was nothing from the Greenwich Citizen
  • There was nothing from the Greenwich Post
  • There was nothing from WGCH

Reporter Hoa Nguyen and the Greenwich Time repeatedly failed to report about the Hamilton Avenue School parents complaints about substandard facilities and how it was affecting their children.

Form March off 2007 until the Greenwich Board

of Education March 2008 press release there was

not one Greenwich Time story on the conditions

inside the Hamilton Avenue modular classrooms.

In February of 2008, when a Hamilton Avenue parent complained to Greenwich Roundup about the poorly maintained modular Hamilton Avenue classrooms their story was up on the internet with in 24 hours.

Week after week Greenwich Roundup, with the help of Hamilton Avenue Parents, exposed the misdeeds of school officials until the Hamilton Avenue School classrooms were closed on March 2. 2008.

Please see:


02/27/08 - School Board Coverup? - Are Displaced Hamilton Avenue Students Getting Rained On?


02/14/08 - Which High Paid School Administrator Is Responsible For Maintaing The Temporary Classrooms At Western Middle School?


02/07/08 - School Parents Are Having To Suffer Incompetent School Administration Fools



The board of education was forced to close the contaminated modular classrooms on March 2nd of this year, because Hamilton Avenue School parents came to Greenwich Roundup.


Please see:

03/02/08 - Another Administrative Screw Up - "They let it happen again. Shame on them. They should be fired," said Laura Dibella past PTA president.


Unfortunately, it appears that Hoa Nguyen and the Greenwich Time doesn't care that....

The heartless Greenwich Board Of Education wants to take the Glenville school children out of the Hell hole, known as Glenville School, and put them into the contaminated modular classrooms.

Why wont the failed Greenwich Board of Education stop torturing the poor children of Glenville and Hamilton Avenue Schools?

Because mainstream reporters like Hoa Nguyen need to get a pair of journalistic balls and start reporting on conditions in Western Greenwich schools.

First the children of Hamilton Avenue School were in a mold infested school building. Then the Ham Ave children were put in cramped contaminated modular classrooms. Currently the Hamilton Avenue school community is split up and dispersed all over town.

Now they what they want to send Hamilton Avenue School Children to the Hell hole known as Glenville school.

Why Aren't Failed School Administrators Losing Thier High Paid Jobs?

There is a special place in Hell for Greenwich Board of Education members who look the other way as incompetent school school administrators like Susan Wallerstein cause the children of Western Greenwich to suffer.

In the one of the wealthiest towns in the richest nation on the face of the earth the Greenwich Board Of Education forces the small children of Western Greenwich to suffer in unequal and substandard school facilities.

Shame Shame Shame

No wonder the Justice Department is currently investigating the Greenwich Board of Education over it's treatment of the children of Western Greenwich.

These small little children should not be treated this way, just because they are some of the less fortunate members of Greenwich society.

Shame on the Greenwich Time for it's repeated failure for not publishing pictures of actual conditions in Western Greenwich Schools.

It is time for David Warner, the new editor and chief, of the Greenwich Time to put an end to complacent reporting at his paper.

Please click on this link to see more pictures:

05/02/08 - First Amendment - Freedom Of The Press - You can not copyright a public document paid for with the tax dollars of single family home owners


Also Shame on the Greenwich Building Department and the Greenwich Department of Health for allowing these deplorable school conditions to exist !!!!

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07/11/08 Reader Submitted Comments - The BOE Needs To Be More Transparent - They Should either confirm or deny the rumor


Dear Members of the Board, etc.

There is a very solid rumor circulating that under current consideration is moving Hamilton Avenue School students to the Glenville School and moving Glenville School students to the modulars because the construction will not be complete on the new Hamilton Avenue School building.

To remind everyone,

Glenville School has been found to be educationally unsound with poor air quality by TWO Boards of Education and TWO superintendents;

At a meeting of the current Board of Education, this option was removed from the list of options devised by the "facilities" committee that was formed to look into options;

At a meeting of the Board of Education, a member stated that it would be unfair to have Glenville staff move more than once in a given year, yet for the second year in a row, it is again an "option" for Hamilton Avenue Staff.

This Board needs to listen to the community, in total, not just those that will agree with them. There are many parents of Hamilton Avenue students that DO NOT AGREE with this option.

Not only is Glenville School educationally unsound, it has leaked, unchecked, for years, thereby a virtual petri dish for mold. Our children and staff and parents have had to contend with mold for far too long. It is criminal to expect them to do so yet again.

Put more effort into getting our new school completed and Glenville construction started. Do WHATEVER it takes to get this done, but DO NOT put our children in a building that has been deemed educationally unsound.


Laura J. DiBella

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07/11/08 Greenwich Starbucks Outlets To Survive Cuts


Grounds for worry?
Fans wonder if chain will make cuts here


Norwalk Advocate

The three Starbucks in Greenwich most likely will survive because they draw lots of customers, said Mary Ann Morrison, president and chief executive officer ...

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07/11/08 NECN.com - Greenwich 'Mean' Time: No Wiffle ball allowed



Brian Burnell, NECN: Greenwich, CT


It's a wiffle ball field that's become a political football in Greenwich, Connecticut. A group of teenagers decided to turn a vacant lot into their own version of Fenway Park. They scrounged plywood, bought paint, erected outfield walls, including their own version of the green monster, and shouted "play ball".

Tim Bellantoni, Greenwich CT: “Our field is our field. I mean, anyone is welcome to play but just the best in my eyes.”

That's the problem. A lot of people wanted to play. Things started to get out of hand.

This is very bucolic, very Norman Rockwell. But not always and not if you live in one of the houses who's backyards border onto this whiffle ball field. Picture this. Last Sunday these kids tell me that had between 40 and 50 people here playing wiffle ball. That's a little different than a couple of kids knocking it around.

Those neighbors have complained to the town so there is something of a split in Greenwich with some people siding with the homeowners and their right to enjoy their property and others siding with the kids and saying "let 'em play". In the middle is selectwoman Lin Lavery who says no one is saying these are bad kids.

Lin Lavery, Greenwich CT Selectwoman: I've gone over and met some of the kids and they're great kids. They took leadership. They went off and did something creative. They've gone into the woods and created something and they're to be applauded for it. They've done something creative.

At a meeting between the kids who built the field, town recreation officials and the police a framework of a compromise was forged.

Justin Currytto, Greenwich CT: They're going to try to find alternative fields we can play at if the town decides to take down the field and they're organizing a tournament sometime in mid august for everyone around the town to play.

The town owns the lot so considering liability issues and adjacent property owner complaints not to mention zoning it is unlikely the field will stay. It comes down really to the fact that it just isn't 1957 any more.

Play video

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07/11/08 Where Wiffle Ball’sa Crime There May Be No Child Left Outside - Peter Tesei Is Going to Try And Help These Kids



GREENWICH - A group of Greenwich teenagers, who caused a stir earlier this summer when they built a Wiffle ball field in a residential neighborhood, were stunned to discover their story on the front page of the New York Times Thursday.

It all started when the teens came upon an empty, weed-overgrown plot of land on Riverside Lane and transformed it into a Wiffle ball stadium. But town officials said it has to come down because the lot is not zoned as a playground.

A private meeting was held Thursday between the town selectmen and Wiffle ball players. They agreed to try and search for a new space for the field that doesn't interfere with residents.

“They should look at us and say, ‘Wow, these kids are doing something great. They’re staying off the street [and] being normal kids,’” says Brett Atkinson.

Greenwich residents say they are shocked that the small-town Wiffle ball field story ended up on the front page of the Times, and some believe this kind of publicity is inappropriate.

But the Greenwich Wiffle ball players hope the national attention would help them in their fight for their small Field of Dreams.

Play the video


ALSO:


Greenwich teens strike out with town over field


First selectman to umpire Greenwich Wiffle ball dispute


Please also see:


Wiffle ball league backs Greenwich teen group
WTNH, CT
By News Channel 8's Annie Rourke Greenwich (WTNH) _ Earlier this week, News Channel 8 told you about a Wiffle Ball Battle in Greenwich. ...

Wiffle Ball Field Raises Concerns in Greenwich
1010 Wins

Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come
New York Times

The $1.25 Million Wiffle Ball Field
Flathead Beacon

• Greenwich mean time: Adults play hardball

Friday, July 11, 2008

A group of teen-aged boys in Greenwich, Conn., a chic-chic town outside of New York City, have attracted the wrath of an entire neighborhood of educated, upwardly mobile residents.

At least one has contacted an attorney, dropping the gauntlet, if you will, on a bunch of boys who apparently are causing trouble now that school no longer is in session.

Their supposed crime?

If you did not see the story in The New York Times, you did not see the accompanying photo, which gives their crime away. But you could only imagine, couldn't you, the havoc they're playing with a quiet neighborhood of work-stressed New Yorkers.

Racing hot rods up and down the streets, perhaps? Or, congregating at a children's playground, playing loud music, drinking and perhaps smoking some of the funny stuff? Perhaps, they've done much worse, terrorizing neighbors, destroying mailboxes, or smashing windows?

Nope. Nope. And nope.

These boys have drawn fire for playing Whiffle ball on some public land otherwise ignored by the local gentry.

Apparently, the boys played with the plastic bat and the holey, plastic ball one day on the lot and decided to turn it into a field of dreams, of sorts. They cleared some bushes, erected a small wall and painted it green to mimic Fenway Park's ''Green Monster,'' and put up a flagpole in left field, including an American flag.

Besides being a hugely fun game that I used to play for hours with friends in yards, driveways and parks all over the Detroit suburb in which I grew up, the game apparently has played on the nerves of Greenwich.

No permits to build a fence. No permission to touch vegetation. They're ruining a drainage area for their homes. They're ruining the peace and quiet for neighboring homes, whose occupants want to sit on the back porch after a long day in the Big Apple.

Now I bring you to Saginaw Township, a house in a quiet neighborhood. The boys and girl in this house have signed up for the summertime reading program at the local library. They ride their bikes. Play catch in the yard. They participate in Little League, a softball league, hockey at the local ice rink, soccer at the complex and school-sponsored sports.

And when they ask their dad -- that's me -- for something to do because they're a bit bored, I tell them to call a group of friends for a soccer/basketball/baseball/football game at the school yard. Get some guys together, make up the rules, and play.

I used to do it, I tell them until their eyes begin to roll.

Hey, when I watch Little League players, who are in their fifth and sixth years of organized ball and cannot catch a fly ball or know when to tag up at third, I wonder ''what's wrong with these kids?''

I've even told my son, ''you're generation stinks'' at baseball. He gives me the ''Yeah, sure, dad'' look.

The problem is not the lack of organized baseball, it's not equipment (they've got the best money can buy), and it's not from a lack of seeing the game played on television (there are games on every day and night).

They just don't play pick-up ball.

In poor neighborhoods, those with blight and indifference, those whose children are not given the best equipment, an organized league, or even a suitable field in which to play, community organizers constantly are trying to come up with ways to ''keep these kids off the streets.''

However, in Greenwich, Conn., they're looking for ways to squash pick-up games of Whiffle ball in a vacant lot -- the bunch of hoodlums.

Perhaps they should be studying for the SATs so they can get into an Ivy League school, lock down hugely lucrative salaries so they purchase a home in Greenwich, Conn., and harass these folks' grandkids.

I can only hope.

Greg Mancina is a sports writer for The Saginaw News.

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07/11/08 No News Here - Today's Greenwich Post Press Release Links

Today's Press Releases From The Greenwich Post

Library sponsors genealogy trip

The Friends of the Cos Cob Library are sponsoring a genealogy bus trip on Tuesday, Sept. 23, to the National Archives facility in New York City.

Mofflys to celebrate 'best' of county

The fourth annual “Best of the Gold Coast Connecticut” is coming back to Greenwich from 6 to 10 p.m. on Aug. 6 at the Hyatt Regency. The event honors the best of everything that Fairfield County has to offer, from restaurants to retailers, spas, caterers, bands and more.

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07/11/08 Himes, Himes, Himes And More Himes


Congressional candidate Himes visits with voters this Saturday

Darien Times

The Greenwich businessman is hosting events in all 17 towns in the Fourth Congressional District in 17 days. “Himes invites residents to come and share ...

Update 12:43 pm:

AFL-CIO endorses Jim Himes

Redding Pilot

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07/11/08 Greenwich Time News Links For Friday


Terri Bernstein, a jewelry maker who specializes in Love Knots, shows a necklace to prospective customer, Dora Faugno. Bernstein was selling her pieces from Catherine Jewelers on Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich.
(Bob Luckey Jr./Greenwich Time photo)

Old Greenwich merchants put their wares on display


Kim-Marie Evans appraised a collection of decorative wreathes, scented candles, and other discounted household decorations at Quelques Choses for possible purchase yesterday afternoon...

Looking to bolster his credentials on Middle East policy, Democratic congressional hopeful Jim Himes spent three days in Israel this week meeting with government leaders, visiting the Yad Vashem national Holocaust memorial and touring a town on the Gaza border....

Summer sounds annoy residents

When Selectman Lin Lavery's 30-year-old son comes home to visit, he inevitably wakes up to a cacophony of sounds that has him begging for peace and quiet.

"He says, 'Mom, we're under siege,' " Lavery said. "It's like a war zone."

Whether it be leaf blowers, lawn mowers or after-hours construction work, the town is growing ever more noisy....

Woman's trip may block testimony at Golder hearing

A Round Hill Road woman allegedly tied up by Alan Golder, the man charged as the culprit in the "Dinnertime Bandit" burglaries 11 years ago, doesn't want to testify against the cat burglar, according to court papers.

In a motion filed in state Superior Court in Stamford yesterday, an attorney for the Round Hill Road resident is seeking to block a subpoena compelling her to testify at hearings in July and August. The paper she shouldn't be forced to be at the hearing because she had previously scheduled a trip to Italy....

She supplies the party; you provide the guests

Who doesn't enjoy throwing a good party, but dislikes the hassle that comes with putting one together?

Balancing economy, environment

Recent news reports - from national to local - suggest that financial pressures from high fuel prices and a troubled economy are affecting attitudes regarding environmental issues.

Nonresidents crowded island on Fourth of July

To the editor:

On the Fourth of July, our worst fears about opening the islands to nonresidents were realized.

I would estimate that there were at least five nonresidents to every resident on little Island Beach. I arrived on the 11:30 a.m. boat (the third boat of the day) and found that not one picnic table was available. The picnic grove itself was hard to maneuver through because people were not only at the tables, but on the ground.

I was told that people were lined up an hour before the first boat at 10 a.m. And this on a day that was not very sunny.

This problem never happened at Greenwich Point for several reasons. In order to use Greenwich Point, nonresidents must first obtain a day pass by going to Town Hall or to the Greenwich Civic Center. This is not so for Island Beach, where nonresident may purchase the day pass right at the ticket window. Everyone should have to go to the Town Hall or other facility to buy these passes. Why are the islands being treated differently?

In order to use Greenwich Point, nonresidents must pay $20 to park. At the island, they pay nothing! Of course, there is a public parking lot for those going to the islands, so a $20 parking fee could not imposed. However, since the town has estimated that it costs $20 a person to use the boats, charge $20 to nonresidents for the boat ride, since they do not pay our property taxes.

The location of the Island Beach boat dock makes it so easy for nonresidents, even those without a car, to get to the dock. They just have to take a train from any Westchester station, get off at Greenwich, and walk five minutes to the dock.

I ask our selectmen, each one of them, to come to the island on a sunny weekend day, stay an hour or two, and see what has happened. Mr. Lash did us a real disservice in this final administrative order.

Helene J. Griffin

Greenwich

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