Hyper Local News Pages

Friday, January 9, 2009

1/9/09 An Update On The Lawsuit Against Walter Noel And Fairfield Greenwich Group




Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff admitted to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. A lawsuit claims Fairfield Greenwich Group benefited from and participated in the scheme.



It is not just the Madoff investors who were responsible but the companies like Fairfield Greenwich that took investors' money and passed it along without researching where it would end up must be held accountable.



This is an instance of a wolf guarding the henhouse !!!!


A class-action lawsuit against Fairfield Greenwich is necessary, because Walter Noel's family can't police themselves.

Fairfield Greenwich Group and Walter Noel are at the center of a federal class-action lawsuit accusing them of steering millions of dollars from investors to Bernard Madoff.

Greenwich resident Walter Noel Lost $7.5 Billion from investors by funnelling the money into Madoff's failed fraudulent brokerage firm.

The investors had placed their money in Fairfield Greenwich Group., a Manhattan-based investment company, as well as Walter Noel's Fairfield Sentry Fund.

Not all of Walter Noel's Family Members, who were officers in the Fairfield Greenwich Group were named in the original class action suit. But the lawsuit is expected to be amended to include brokers and others from Greenwich Fairfield who were involved in the Madoff investments.

Walter "feeder Fund Noel Has tried to take the position that He and his family members are like tens of thousands of investors swindled by Bernard Madoff. Walter Noel argues that the Fairfield Greenwich Group is totally shocked by the circumstances and unprecedented scope of the Madoff situation.

Walter "Feeder Fund" Noel claims that Fairfield Greenwich Group is exploring any and all available legal remedies available resulting from Madoff's conduct. But do you see Greenwich Fairfield lawyer pushing to have Madoff's bail revoked.

Fairfield Greenwich attorneys should be writing to the Federal Judge overseeing the Madoff Ponzie Scheme Case saying,"Mr. Madoff should be placed in jail. He is using funds that rightfully belong to Fairfield Greenwich investors to pay for a 24 Hour - 7 Day / Week team of court ordered security guards at his luxury penthouse."

Madoff, 70, was arrested Dec. 11 and Fairfield Greenwich investor money has been paying for his very expensive security detail ever since.

This week, federal prosecutors moved to have Madoff jailed while awaiting trial. Investigators contend that Madoff violated a court order freezing his assets when he sent more than $1 million worth of jewelry to relatives. Once again this is jewelry that could be sold to help pay Fairfield Greenwich investors.

Madoff never got a chance to send the checks because he was arrested. The checks were later discovered in his office desk by federal investigators.

Besides Walter "feeder Fund Noel's investors, victims of the scheme include major U.S. philanthropies and universities, celebrities and individual investors around the world. One French financier who lived in nearby New Rochelle, NY, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, committed suicide in his Manhattan office after realizing he had lost more than $1 billion of his clients' money to Madoff.

Yesterday, Federal Investigators revealed in court papers that Madoff had written more than 100 checks worth $173 million to friends and relatives, part of a plan to protect $200 to $300 million in the event his scheme unraveled. This is money that should be going to pay Fairfield Greenwich investors.

Walter "Feeder Fund" Noel has repeated failed to give his clients a full accounting of where all of Fairfield Greenwich's supposedly remaining $6.5 Billion is located.



According to the class-action lawsuit against Fairfield Greenwich Group, says the neither Walter Noel. nor his hedge funds put in place adequate controls or management that could have protected investors' money.

The lawsuit also accuses Fairfield Greenwich Group of misleading clients by dumping as much as 60 percent of the money they invested into the Madoff Ponzie scheme.

One Fairfield Greenwich client told Greenwich Roundup that he had been promised that no more than 25 percent of the money would be funneled into any one "investment vehicle."

Fairfield Greenwich has hired a lawyer, suposedly , to pursue potential litigation against Madoff's companies, but Walter Noel's clients have not seen any legal action to date.

Other "Feeder Fund" Lawsuits have been filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, charges that nearby White Plains, NY Hedge Funds, Beacon Associates LLC I, Beacon Associates Management Corp., Beacon/Andover Group and Andover Associates LLC with simular investment magagement failurers.

Others named in the Madoff Ponzie scheme lawsuits include Family Management Corp., (FMC) a Manhattan-based investment company.

Seymour Zises and Andrea Tessler, FMC's top two officials, as well as, the FMC fund's auditors, Fulvio & Associates.

Five miles west of Greenwich Darien, CT., hedge fund, Maxam Capital Management has also been named in class-action lawsuits.



Two miles west of Greenwich Tremont Group Holdings Inc., a Rye, NY -based investment manager that invested heavily with Madoff is also involved in a class-action lawsuit.

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1/9/09 Greenwich Resident Mark "I Am Going To Send My Daddy To Jail" Madoof Has Millions In Assets To Help Pay Off Fairfield Greenwich Investors



THE O'JAYS - FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY

The King James Bible Says....

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:10

YOU WONT READ THIS IN THE GREENWICH TIME


A GREENWICH RESIDENT MADE MILLIONS ON MADOFF PONZIE SCHEME AND IT WAS NOT WALTER "FEEDER FUND" NOEL


OY VEY, MARK MADOFF IS A JEWISH MOTHER'S WORST NIGHTMARE


MARK MADOFF TELLS DADDY, "TAKE YOUR FANCY NANCY WATCH AND SHOVE IT WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE !!!!"



Madoff Son Mark Had $8.3 Million Net Worth in 1999, Divorce Records Show

Bloomberg Business News

GREENWICH - Mark Madoff, the 44-year-old son of alleged Ponzi-scheme operator Bernard Madoff, accumulated a net worth of $8.3 million in his father’s employ by the time he filed for divorce in 1999, public records show.

Madoff joined his father’s brokerage in 1986 and rose to become director of listed trading, according to Bloomberg data. Currently he has 15 properties, including a $6 million New York apartment and a $2.3 million home in Greenwich, Connecticut, according to public records. He divorced his wife, Suzanne, in Stamford, Connecticut, in 2000, when he was earning about $770,000 a year and had just bought a second home.

Mark Madoff and his brother, Andrew, 42, turned in their father to the U.S. government after he told them he was operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. They also reported their father for allegedly violating a court order by giving away watches and jewelry worth $1 million.

Mark Madoff is now married to Stephanie Mikesell. A call to their Manhattan apartment wasn’t immediately returned today. Together, they have $2 million in a foundation, according to a public filing in 2007. A Greenwich home Mark Madoff bought for $1.6 million in 1994 was sold for $5.8 million in 2001, according to deed records.

Madoff’s financial affidavit in the divorce case casts light on his status at the business where, according to Bloomberg data, at least seven family members have worked.

His list of assets included $5 million in deferred compensation and a $5 million stake in his father’s London operation, Madoff Securities International Ltd. That stake was offset by a $5 million loan from his father. Dividends from the U.K. unit served to pay interest on the loan.

Comparable data for Mark Madoff’s finances today isn’t publicly available.
Mark and Andrew Madoff haven’t been charged with any wrongdoing. Their lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The case is U.S. v. Madoff, 08-mag-2735, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporters on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net; Jane Mills in Hartford, Connecticutt .
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1/9/09 Is This A Walter "Feeder Fund" Noel Wanna Be. Could Ms.Ajana's Scheme Be Used To Replace The Bernard Madoff Investment Opportunity

Invest Now And Start Making Big Bucks!!!!

TO YOUR KIND ATTENTION

From Linda Ajana,

Dearest Respected One,


I am Miss Linda Ajana 20 years old and the only daughter of my late parents Mr and Mrs Laurent Ajana, my father was a highly reputable business magnet(a cocoa merchant dealer) who operated in Abidjan the capital of Ivory coast during his days, it is sad to say that he passed away mysteriously in France during one of his business trips abroad year 12th Febuary 2002, though his sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded by an uncle of his who travelled with him at that time.

God knows the best for me, my mother died when i was just 4 years old, and since then my father took me so special, before death came and steal him away from me, may his gentle soul rest in perfect peace.


When he was alive he told me that he deposited a trunk box in the custody of one famous security company here in Abidjan Cote Divoire that contents the sum of Twenty five Million United State Dollars.(USD$25.000,000)for safe keeping in a metalic trunk box, which he said that he did not disclose the content of the box to the security company as money but it was registered as family valuables for security reasons.

He furtherly told me that he deposited the trunk box in my name,which i am with the deposit certificate that the security company issued to him the day he deposited the trunk box in their custody.


I am just 20 years old and a university undergraduate which i stoped furthering my studies because of my uncles wickedness,really i don't know what to do now, i want a realable and a trustworthy person overseas who will assist me financially and morally to get this trunk box from the security company because it is the only hope of my furture surviving, this is because i have suffered a lot of set backs in my studies as a result of incessant political crisis here in Ivory coast,conbined with the humulations and sufferings that i oftenly received from my uncles, honestly the death of my father actually brought sorrow to my life up to this date.

I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance in this regards, your suggestions and ideas will be highly regarded, now permit me to ask these few questions:

1 Can you honestly help me as your daughter or sister?


2 What percentage of the total amount in question will be good for you after the trunk box is delivered to your country?

3 Can you help me come over there in your country to live once you secure the trunk box so that i can further my studies?

Please consider this and get back to me as soon as possible thruogh this email addrees below for more details: linda_ajana0059@yahoo.co.jp


Thank you so much and may the Almighty God be with you for coming to rescue me from this urgly situation,


My sincere regards,
Miss Linda Ajana.
If Greenwich Resident Walter Noel Can Avoid Prosecution Will He Have A Future In The Investment World?

Maybe Walter " I Don't Do Due Diligence" Noel Can Team Up With Ms. Linda Ajana To Get Massive Amounts Monies Flowing Back Into The Greenwich Fairfield Group.

It Is A Shame That Walter Noel's Very Effective Sales Machine Known At Greenwich Fairfield Can't Be Put To Use To Get Investors Exceptional Returns From Ms Ajana In This Down Market.

Ms. Ajana says seems to be more than willing to be Walter Noel's new adopted "daughter or sister".

Ms. Ajana just might be the perfect addition to Walter Noel's stable of hot daughters who helped hustle international clients into investing into Greenwich Fairfield.

Plus Ms. Ajana seems very negotiable about how much of a fee would be kicked back, when she asks,"What percentage of the total amount in question will be good for you ..."
HERE IS THE WALTER NOEL NEWS ROUNDUP FOR TODAY:

The Boston Globe

... in Manhattan sought to recover all economic losses to investors, including more than $1 billion in fees, from the Greenwich, Conn.-based investment firm Fairfield Greenwich Group for its Madoff-related losses. The firm had said it invested $7.5 with Madoff and last month asked investors for patience, saying it will ......



Please send your comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com or click on the comments link at the end of this post.

1/9/09 More Results From Failed Greenwich School Administrators: middle school writing results hit 5 year low.

The Board Of Education Is Still Letting Failed Greenwich School Administrators Are Still Hurting Our Children

PTA Council President Continues To Support The Failed School Administrators "Portfolio" Program That Requires Little Work, Because It Doesn't Require Many Changes In The Schools Weak And Inadequate Curriculum.

Julie Faryniarz Lacks The Understanding To Realize That Board Of education Needs To Set A Policy That Causes School Administrators To Get Back To Basics.

Greenwich Students Need Reading Writing And Arithmetic Not Failed Educratic "Mumbo Jumbo".

QUOTE:

"It's important that there's strong a portfolio" program at the middle schools, PTA Council President Julie Faryniarz said. At the same time, "it's unfortunate that it doesn't come out on the CMT."



By Colin Gustafson

The number of high school students proficient in writing is on the rise, but middle-school writing scores have dropped to a five-year low, and the traditional gender gap in writing skills between boys and girls persists.

Those are the findings of public school officials, who presented the findings of their annual "monitoring" report for writing at a Board of Education work session Thursday.

The report assesses third- through eighth-graders' performances on the Connecticut Mastery Test and 10th-graders' results on the Connecticut Academic Achievement Test. Both tests are taken in the spring.

This year, results were cause for concern in some areas, school officials said.

At the session, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Chris Winters said he was frustrated by middle school writing results, which showed the percentage of students scoring at the higher "goal" and "advanced" levels at five-year lows, 77 percent and 33 percent, respectively.......

.....In addition, North Mianus School fared well last year, as the only school in the district to see proficiency levels increase in the math, reading and writing sections of the 2008 CMT.

Also at the work session, school officials raised concerns about the long-standing gender gap in writing proficiency. On the 2008 CAPT, for instance, girls scored 15 percentage points higher on the advanced level than their male peers.

"It's a huge issue, something we need to pay attention to more," said Jennifer Mitchell, program coordinator for reading and language arts.
PLEASE SEE:
When Greenwich Roundup Typed....
PTA Council President Julie Faryniarz Should Have Listened
And Taken Immediate Action.....

PLEASE SEE THIS OLD
GREENWICH ROUNDUP REPORT
FROM 30 DAYS AGO:
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1/9/09 BREAKING NEWS: I-95 Shutdown Due To Accident - Box truck collides with bus (Updated)

UPDATE:


Scene of an accident just over the Byram River Bridge on I-95 on the Connecticut-New York state line. The northbound side of the highway was closed for nearly two hours. (Bob Luckey Jr./Greenwich Time photo)





BREAKING NEWS:


I-95 northbound shut down near NY state line - Greenwich Time


Posted: 01/09/2009 11:30:33 AM EST


Interstate 95 northbound is shut down at the New York-Connecticut state border after a box truck collided with a bus near Exit 2, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

A separate three-car accident near Exit 2 in Greenwich had shut down the left and center lanes of southbound traffic, but has since been cleared. Southbound traffic is still moving slowly and is backed up over a mile.

There is no information on possible injuries.

The first accident occurred at 11:09 a.m. and the second was reported at 11:26 a.m. No further information was immediately available,according to the DOT.

The accident will take one to two hours to clear, according to the DOT's estimate.





MORE FROM THE GREENWICH POST:



Written by Kristan Zimmer
Friday, January 09, 2009 12:19


Traffic alert

An accident involving a box truck and a bus on Interstate 95 this morning has caused traffic delays from Exit 2 to the state line.


COMMENTS:


As Porky Pig Wold Say, "Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That's all folks! .... That's All Folks!" That Is The Entire Greenwich Post Story !!!!!".
Seriuosly that is the entire 25 word Greenwich Post Story.


UPDATE:
2:08 PM






Staff Reports
Posted: 01/09/2009 01:02:32 PM EST


Interstate 95 northbound has been reopened at the New York-Connecticut state border after a after a tractor trailer crashed into the median barrier.

One person was taken to Stamford Hospital with minor injuries following the accident near Exit 2 in Byram.

A separate three-car accident near Exit 2 in Greenwich had shut down the left and center lanes of southbound traffic, but has since been cleared. Traffic is still moving slowly in both directions.
The first accident occurred at 11:09 a.m. and the second was reported at 11:26 a.m. No further information was immediately available,according to the DOT.


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1/9/09 Today's Press Realeases From The Greenwich Post



Council plans fiesta for Save the Children





The middle school council of Save the Children has planned a fund-raising event for students in sixth through eighth grade.





The middle school council of Save the Children has planned a fund-raising event for students in sixth through eighth grade.



The event "Fiesta for El Salvador" will take place on Saturday, Jan. 31 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich. Proceeds will benefit early childhood education in El Salvador.


The evening will include a DJ, dancing, karaoke and pizza donated by Planet Pizza in Greenwich.


Tickets may be purchased at the door for $10. For more information, e-mail Dana Courtenay at
dana17@optonline.net or Lisa Steinberg at lstein05@gmail.com.





Workout challenge helps Kids in Crisis

Greenwich’s Peak Physique at 50 Holly Hill Lane is kicking off the New Year with a new opportunity to get in shape while helping others in the community.

The first-ever Fitness Challenge will be held Saturday, Jan. 24, at 1 p.m.. Area residents to a one-hour comprehensive circuit training session with the help of several Peak Physique trainers.

The person who completes the circuit with the best time will receive a complimentary, personalized work-out (a $160 value). The cost of the Fitness Challenge is $50 per person, 100% of which will be donated to Kids in Crisis.

For further information or to sign up, call Peak Physique at 625-9595.

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1/7/09 Kennedy cousin and convicted Greenwich murder Skake is asking a judge to get out on bail, becausel he claims key evidence withheld (Updated)


You Wont Read This At The Greenwich Time
Mickael Skakel's Lawyers Say The Greenwich Police Department Failed To Provide Them With Evidence They Had Pointing To Another Suspect.
Skakel Asks A Federal Judge To Let Him Out On Bail.


The Hartford Courant Scoops All 40
Hearst Newspapers In Fairfield County

Skakel Lawyers Say They've Uncovered Secret Evidence

Hartford Courant, United States -

BY EDMUND H. MAHONY

Convicted celebrity murderer Michael C. Skakel says he has uncovered secret evidence suggesting his innocence and is using it to support an unusual effort in federal court to obtain release from prison while his appeals proceed through a variety of courts .

In a federal motion filed late Thursday, Skakel's lawyers say state prosecutors improperly concealed two pieces of exculpatory evidence during his trial in the murder of Martha Moxley — an interview that discredits the star prosecution witness and police reports suggesting that a 15-year-old Greenwich boy, later convicted of another murder, had information concerning Moxley's death.

Skakel was 15 himself on Oct. 30, 1975, the night he is accused of beating his friend and neighbor Moxley to death with a golf club. He was arrested and charged with murder on Jan. 19, 2000, and convicted by a jury on June 7, 2002, after a monthlong trial.

Every turn in the case has been followed assiduously by a small army of reporters focused on Skakel's relation to the Kennedy family — he is a cousin — and sordid disclosures about life in the private Greenwich neighborhood of Belle Haven, where the two teens grew up.

Since his conviction, Skakel has served six years in state prison while a new legal team, Hartford lawyers Hope Seeley and Hubert Santos, have filed appeals in the state Superior Court, state Supreme Court and U.S. District Court. The appellate issues run from arcane legal questions to assertions of ineffective legal assistance and allegations of bias on the part of a prosecution investigator who was paid for information by an author......

......The federal motion filed Thursday argues that the cumulative weight of the two new evidentiary disclosures, combined with previously raised appellate issues, is so extraordinary that it justifies Skakel's release on bail while the appeals are sorted out.

Fairfield County State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict, who led the team that convicted Skakel, declined to discuss any aspect of the case Thursday, including what the Skakel lawyers assert are the two pieces of previously withheld evidence.

One of those pieces of evidence appears to further erode the credibility of Gregory Coleman, a now deceased drug addict and ex-convict, who said Skakel once bragged that he would get away with Moxley's murder because he is a Kennedy. The conversation was said to have taken place at the Elan School in Maine, an institution for teens with addiction problems.

Coleman died of a drug overdose before the trial, but prosecutors were allowed to read to jurors from transcripts of his testimony to the grand jury that indicted Skakel and at Skakel's probable cause hearing. Coleman admitted being high on heroin when he appeared before the grand jury, but stood by his assertion that Skakel boasted he would get away with murder.

In their federal motion, Skakel's defense team produced an affidavit from a Coleman family lawyer who said, in part, "It would be fair to say that no one in their right mind, knowing Gregory, would put the slightest confidence in his contentions concerning the supposed admissions by Michael Skakel."

The lawyer, John M. Regan Jr., said in his affidavit that he received a call at his Rochester, N.Y., office in 1998 from someone who identified himself as a Connecticut prosecutor and said he was trying to locate Coleman. The caller said he wanted Coleman to testify as a witness before a grand jury that was expected to indict Skakel.

Regan described Coleman as an "incorrigible drug addict" who "regularly engaged in dishonest, deceitful and criminal behavior in order to obtain money from his father."

I was incredulous and commented that I hoped he was not serious that he was going to use Gregory's testimony to accuse someone of murder," Regan said in the affidavit. "He responded by telling me not to worry, that they had plenty of evidence, and that they were going to 'get this guy.'"

Michael Sherman, Skakel's trial attorney, produced an affidavit for the appellate lawyers arguing that he may have been able to render Coleman's prosecution testimony ineffective if he had the Regan information.

Sherman asserts that he believes the person who called Regan was prosecution investigator Frank Garr. It is Garr, the appellate lawyers say, who was contributing to a book about the case.

"The information from Attorney Regan, together with Garr's 'book deal,' may very well have allowed the jury to conclude that this exculpatory evidence was being withheld from the defense in an effort to convict Michael Skakel, regardless of his possible guilt or innocence," the Sherman affidavit says.

The appellate lawyers also say the trial prosecutors improperly withheld from the defense police reports about a teenager named Andrew D. Wilson, who was 15 and living in Greenwich at the time of the Moxley murder.

In 1993, according to information Seeley and Santos say they have obtained, Wilson's sister called police to report her fear that her brother suffered from serious mental illness, was potentially dangerous and said he knew the identity of Moxley's killer. The lawyers say the information was transmitted to Greenwich police, who did not act on it.

About two months later, in August 1993, Wilson was charged with shooting to death the father of the man he said was Moxley's killer.

Seeley and Santos say the police reports generated by the call from Wilson's sister identified two potential suspects in the Moxley death — Wilson and the man Wilson said was the killer.

As was the case with the Regan information, the appellate lawyers say the Skakel prosecutors improperly withheld the Wilson police reports from Skakel's trial lawyers.In his affidavit,

Sherman contends that, had he been provided the Wilson police reports at trial, he could have argued persuasively to jurors that Wilson may have killed Moxley.


MORE ON THE STORY THAT THE GREENWICH TIME MISSED:





Skakel appeals Moxley murder conviction

NECN, MA

(NECN) - Lawyers for Michael Skakel, nephew of Ethel Kennedy, have filed a new appeal of his 2002 murder conviction, claiming that police and prosecutors failed to provide him with evidence pointing to another suspect and discrediting a key state witness.

The motion was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Connecticut. It seeks a hearing and the setting of bail.

Skakel was convicted of killing Martha Moxley, 15, in their Greenwich neighborhood in 1975 -- the conviction coming in 2002. He is currently serving 20 years to life in prison.

His new appeal alleges his lawyers were never given two crucial pieces of evidence - a report received by Greenwich police that implicates another suspect and statements by a lawyer who said a key prosecution witness had a history of lying.

Fairfield County State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict declined to comment Friday.





ALSO SEE THE NEWS 12 SKAKEL VIDEO THAT HAS BEEN PLAYING
ALL MORNING ON CABLEVISION:




UPDATE:

EVERYBODY BUT THE GREENWICH TIME IS COVERING THE SKAKEL WANTS OUT ON BAIL STORY !!!!!
UPDATE #2
12:22 PM
WHEN GREENWICH ROUNDUP TYPES
THE GREENWICH TIME LISTENS.....
BEHIND THE TIMES:
The Greenwich Time Trys To Catch Up
By Posting An Associated Press Wire Report
By Dave Collins
The Associated Press
Posted: 01/09/2009 11:59:16 AM EST

HARTFORD - Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel's lawyers have filed a new appeal of his murder conviction, claiming that police and prosecutors failed to provide them with evidence that pointed to another suspect and discredited a key state witness.

The motion filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New Haven seeks a hearing and the setting of bail. A judge has not ruled on the requests.......

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1/9/09 Greenwich Time News Links - TOP STORY: Residents Try To Save The Thomas Lyon House, located on the corner of Byram Road and West Putnam Avenue


Jo Conboy and Eric Brower stand in front of the Thomas Lyon House.

They would like to move and renovate the 17th century house.

When former First Selectman James Lash threatened to knock down the historic town-owned Thomas Lyon House more than two years ago because it was abandoned and in disrepair, a group of Byram Neighborhood Association members banded together with other town agencies to save it.


Now the group is trying to save other historic homes in danger of being demolished by forming a new organization called the Greenwich Preservation Trust.


The group's mission is to raise money to purchase historic homes or offer incentives to new owners to maintain them, according to Jo Conboy, one of the group's founders.


"We're very excited about this," she said. "Hopefully we will attract individuals dedicated to keeping the historic buildings in Greenwich."


The town has seen historic buildings demolished recently due to high renovation costs or new owners' plans to replace them. A trust could provide alternatives not currently available, Conboy said.


"I think it's going to be exciting for the town of Greenwich," said Mike Bocchino, president of the Byram Neighborhood Association and a trust founder.


Trust founders were inspired to organize their group following their efforts to maintain the Thomas Lyon House, he said.


"We really took to heart the challenge, and got together all that was needed to help save it," he said. "And we thought, 'Why not do this throughout the community?' .....


The trust approached First Selectman Peter Tesei about the idea and he said it sounded good, Bocchino said. .......


..... "It is such an important historic home," she said.


The Greenwich Preservation Trust temporary executive board has filed the paperwork for its new organization, but is still working on the bylaws and forming a board of directors, Bocchino said.



By Lisa Chamoff

Staff Writer

Connecticut and Fairfield County have high levels of adult literacy compared with other parts of the country, according to a national report released Thursday, but officials say there is still room for improvement.
Zoning board weighs location for Aquarion expansion
It's not a question of what, but where. That's how Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Donald Heller said he will evaluate Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut's longstanding proposal to expand its treatment facility at 10 Dekraft Road.

Cos Cob mail carriers return home
After 10 years on Greenwich Avenue, Cos Cob mail carriers have returned home.
There's no place like it, said Cos Cob Postmaster Jeffrey Salamon.
"The carriers seem to enjoy this," said Salamon Thursday, framed by mail hampers in the Cos Cob mailroom, "and I'm happy for the people of Cos Cob. I think it just gives them the sense of their own post office again."

Ten years ago, following damage to their mail dock, Cos Cob carriers were temporarily transferred from 152 E. Putnam Ave. to the post office on Greenwich Avenue. Cos Cob window and post office box service remained uninterrupted, but Cos Cob residents had to adjust to picking up held mail and attempted deliveries on the Avenue.

Though the dock was repaired within a month, Cos Cob mail carriers continued to work out of Greenwich Avenue for a decade.

The reason, Salamon said, is that by the time the United States Postal Service thought about moving the carriers back, Cos Cob's mail volume and the number of mail routes had grown too much for the relatively small mailroom to handle.

Over the years, however, electronic sorting was introduced and that, together with this summer's soaring gas prices, led the newly appointed postmaster and his superiors to bring their 11 mail carriers back home......
.....Mail carriers like the change.

"For me, it's great," said Cos Cob carrier of five years Byron Hernandez, 34. "There's less traffic."

Even mail carrier Gary Walker, who enjoyed Greenwich Avenue due to its proximity to express trains, said being in Cos Cob again makes sense.

"It's for the good of the masses," Walker said, adding that mail trucks should last longer now with less mileage per day - and they need the help.....
More than seven years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the town is just now beginning the task of deciding which victims to honor on a new memorial, a process that is fueling a debate.
Some say the memorial, which is being incorporated in a lighthouse renovation project on Great Captains Island that is nearing its completion, should be reserved for Greenwich residents who were killed in the attacks and those victims who grew up in town.

The head of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, which helped organize a fundraising campaign for the lighthouse renovation, said the town needs to draw the line on whose name is listed on the memorial.

"As soon as we start putting names on, then you have to set criteria because people will come forth and say, 'I want my son, daughter, close relative I lost in the attack also on that plaque.
That person may have had no connection other than through this relative," said Mary Ann Morrison, the chamber's president and CEO. "If you put one (name) on and someone else gets missed, then you have a whole other issue to deal with."

Others contend that the town should allow for exceptions, listing the names of victims born at Greenwich Hospital or who have relatives that live here.

"I definitely think it should be inclusive and not exclusive," said Susan Wohlforth, a town resident whose husband, Martin, was killed in the attacks.

The 47-year-old was a managing director at Sandler O'Neill & Partners, an investment banking firm in the World Trade Center.

Greenwich man nabbed on weapons charges
A 51-year-old Greenwich man faces multiple weapons charges following his arrest in Mount Laurel, N.J.
Jeffrey Richards, of 638 North St., was taken into custody by Mount Laurel police Sunday after he was stopped while traveling on Century Parkway, police said. Police did not specify why Richards was pulled over.

Police said during the motor-vehicle stop they found Richards to be in possession of a semi-automatic handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets and a folding knife.
Police said they also found a .25-caliber pistol in Richards' hotel room later while conducting an investigation.

Richards was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun, unlawful possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of hollow-point bullets.

Himes pays Paul Newman a tribute
WASHINGTON - On his first day in Congress, Rep. Jim Himes took a moment to honor one of Westport's own - Paul Newman.

Zoning board weighs location for Aquarion expansion
It's not a question of what, but where. That's how Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Donald Heller said he will evaluate Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut's longstanding proposal to expand its treatment facility at 10 Dekraft Road.
Towns face sharp cuts
NORWALK - Leaders of lower Fairfield County towns said yesterday they anticipate significant cuts in state aid for transportation planning, affordable housing and other initiatives as Connecticut wrangles with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.

Horseneck Tavern says goodbye
Cheers and tears flowed at a packed house at Horseneck Tavern Wednesday night, as the neighborhood staple celebrated the final night of its nearly 16-year history.


Greenwich High School boys swimming
Until Danbury came to town Thursday the Greenwich High School boys swimming team hadn't competed in a meet since it opened its season against Trumbull and Fairfield on Dec.


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Filling
As he works from room to room, Gene Burch looks for the usual suspects, the small, and sometimes not-so-small, cracks and crevices that allow cold air to sneak into, or, hot air to rush out of, the Stamford home of Michael and Regina Kirshbaum.


Market to worsen before recovery
Don't expect emergency federal spending to immediately kick-start the region's commercial real estate market, said Kenneth McCarthy, managing director of research for the New York region of Cushman & Wakefield



Wednesday morning's ice storm provided an omen for members of the 2009 General Assembly that opened its session later that day: Proceed with caution.


Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell reinforced Mother Nature's message in her "State of the State" address welcoming the lawmakers when, as expected, she sketched a grim general picture of the fiscal realities facing Connecticut and warned that the effects of the budget she will propose on Feb. 4 will be painful.


"The cuts that must be made will be deep and they will affect every agency, every program and every service provided by state government," Ms. Rell said. She also called for "a time of shared sacrifice."


The governor's somber speech set a proper tone for the 21-week legislative session. However, like all State of the State gubernatorial messages during the General Assembly's full sessions that take place in odd-numbered years, the speech focused on general themes and the governor did not tip her hand at just what her February budget recommendations will look like.


Not that any lawmaker - longtime incumbents or freshmen - has to be told just how dismal the state budget outlook is at this point in time. The shortfall for the current fiscal year's budget is estimated at $343 million despite several rounds of cost-cutting, and legislative fiscal experts project a shortfall during the next two fiscal years, beginning July 1, that could total a mind-boggling $6 billion, based on this year's $18.2 billion spending ...... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell Is Doing A Great Job .......BLAH ..... BLAH ....... BLAH ....... BLAH ......BLAH ....... BLAH ....... BLAH ...... Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell Is Doing A Great Job ....... BLAH ....... BLAH .......


To the editor:

For 25 years, my husband and I have been taking a walk around Greenwich Point every Sunday, rain, snow, wind, cold or hot. The weather never bothers me; I can dress for that. What does turn our otherwise peaceful, happy walk into a nightmare in the winter are the dogs. I know it comes as a shock to most dog lovers, but everyone does not like dogs. And in my case, I am extremely afraid of them.

I think it is unfair that, even after the town created a dog park at Grass Island, dogs have been allowed to take over Greenwich Point for four months of the year.

If anyone thinks I am exaggerating, just try walking around Greenwich Point and along the beach on any Sunday from Dec. 1 through March 31. Last Sunday, I must have seen 200 dogs within one hour. Even if I avoid the beach, which I do, dogs are everywhere, on and off the leash. It is simply impossible to enjoy Greenwich Point during the winter unless you're a dog lover or a dog.

Although I think itwould be difficult to close the Point to dogs all year long, I have a solution. Designate one day a week, preferably Saturday or Sunday, "dog free." This compromise would allow me and other people who feel the same as I do about dogs to peacefully walk around Greenwich Point without the fear of being jumped on, splashed with icy water, barked at and bit.
Patricia Kantorski
Greenwich
This Post Was Updated At 8:11 AM

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