PHOTO: HAMILTON AVE. SCHOOL @ WESTERN MIDDLE SCHOOL, Laura DiBella, a parent of 2 Hamilton Ave. School students, hugs Hamilton Ave. School student Shea Darling, 8, a 3rd grader at Hamilton Ave. School just after dismissal from the temporary Hamilton Ave. School on its last day of school in the temp building as the students will be moving into the new school at the old location after winter break. (Bob Luckey/Greenwich Time Photo)May the road rise up to meet the small children of Hamilton Avenue School, may the wind be ever at their backs. May the sun shine warm upon their little faces and may God hold them in the hollow of his hand as they continue their studies in the new $31 Million school.Please say a few prayers that these very bright and "resilient" children will make up the ground that they lost as they endured three school years in those mold infested modulars. Goodbye to the modulars- Greenwich TimeGreenwich Time Staff
Posted: 02/07/2009 12:06:55 AM ESTHamilton Avenue School parents, students and staff members carried boxes, exchanged hugs and even shed a few tears Friday as they celebrated their final day in the modular classrooms....
....After spending the past three years waiting for the completion of their school's reconstruction, students will attend classes there for the first time when they return from winter break on Feb. 17......
50 WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR MODULAR"The problem is all inside your head", she said to meThe answer is easy if you take it logicallyI'd like to help you in your struggle to be freeThere must be fifty ways to leave your modularShe said it's really not my habit to intrudeFurthermore, I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstruedBut I'll repeat myself, at the risk of being crudeThere must be fifty ways to leave your modularFifty ways to leave your modularYou just slip out the back, JackMake a new plan, StanYou don't need to be coy, RoyJust get yourself freeHop on the bus, GusYou don't need to discuss muchJust drop off the key, LeeAnd get yourself freeShe said it grieves me so to see you in such painI wish there was something I could do to make you smile againI said I appreciate that and would you please explainAbout the fifty ways to leave the modularsYou just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself freeMORE GREENWICH TIME NEWS LINKS:
Residents remain confused over digital transitionDon't jettison your clunker of an old television set just yet. Electronics stores are cautioning Greenwich residents that their existing sets may, in many cases, be more than adequately equipped to handle the upcoming switch from analog to digital television broadcasting
Judge denies drug education program to defendants in 2004 Greenwich overdose caseSTAMFORD -- A Superior Court judge on Friday denied two defendants' requests to enter a program that would have erased drug charges stemming from the 2004 overdose death of a town teenager.
Jason Cunningham, 24, and Savanna Jean Lamotte, 23, both Greenwich natives, submitted applications for the diversionary program after being charged late last year with possession of a narcotic, a felony that could result in up to seven years in prison......
....Assistant State's Attorney David Applegate said the case was too serious to grant the program.
Speaking about Cunningham, Applegate cited a prior drug conviction for possession of marijuana and pointed to questionable postings on his MySpace Web site involving drug use.....
....."They already received a break on the charge," said Seeger, noting that he felt police could have charged the two with manslaughter for having drugs at the party where Bria overdosed. ....
Tesei asks unions to help cut town's expensesBlack Friday it wasn't. On a day when many civil servants expected the town to announce layoffs, First Selectman Peter Tesei instead sat down with union leaders Friday to discuss potential concessions such as a wage freeze that he said could help save jobs.
Tesei met with representatives of Teamsters Local 456, the Greenwich Municipal Employees Association and the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 136 for just over an hour in his office to discuss his plan to eliminate up to 70 positions from the 1,020-person, non-school workforce.
Among the concessions town officials presented to the unions for consideration was a wage freeze, as well as a moratorium on "step increases" in salary that are based on years of service.....
HOW COOL IS THIS NEXT STORY?Residents submit cost-saving ideas onlineDon't plow as much, stop picking up leaves and charge more for the town dump are just some of the suggestions residents are giving town officials on how to cut the budget and increase revenues, according to John Crary, town administrator.
TWO THUMBS UP FOR FIRST SELECTMAN PETER TESEI COMING UP WITH THIS IDEA TO GIVE CITIZENS A VOICE ON THE TOWN WEBSITE !!!HERE IS A SUGGESTION:HOW ABOUT CUTTING BACK ON THE NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS DELIVERED TO TOWN HALL EACH DAY. RIGHT NOW A TOWN EMPLOYEE OFTEN HAS TO USE A HAND TRUCK TO BRING THEM ALL INTO THE BUILDING.HERE ARE SOME MORE SUGGESTIONS:Have town manager foregoing a raise to help out with the town budget crunch .If the union members are foregoing a raise this year, then the managers should too.. Have the human resources department rewrite their policy manual rather than spending $60,000 for an outside firm to do so.Stop the various town vehicles from idling engines while employees are not in them.Stop sending town cars home with workers. Never ever put Fank Mazza on a building committee.Legislators seek president's help in flight path battleMore than 30 state legislators from Fairfield County this week signed a letter to President Barack Obama asking his help getting the Federal Aviation Administration to push back recently adopted flight paths over Fairfield County, which have raised noise and other environmental concerns.
Greenwich YWCA honors local womenThe YWCA of Greenwich honored eight local women extraordinary not only for their professional achievements in fields from law to lingerie but also their community involvement Friday at the organization's 32nd annual BRAVA Awards luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich.
THOSE HONORED WERE:
Greenwich Resident Velyna Morales, Victoria's Secret Direct
Stanford Resident Susan L. Johnson, Pitney Bowes Inc - Jack and Jill of America
Jennifer M. Daniels, Barnes And Noble - Greenwich Country Day School
STAMFORD -- Heated debate over a motion to set a trial date for the co-defendant charged in the 2006 slaying of a Greenwich real estate developer resulted in another delay of the 10-month-old case.....
....defense attorney Mark Sherman protested setting a trial date, calling it an attempt to "railroad" his client.....
The mere mention of a trip to the dentist is enough to send shivers up the spines of many youngsters -- but not for 7-year-old Luis Quisumbing.....
....Dr. Stacy Zarakiotis of Greenwich Pediatric Dental Group, 42 Sherwood Place, provided the services for free at the request of town health officials, who selected the students to receive the services during screenings at town schools this past fall.....
ALSO TWO THUMBS UP FOR DOCTOR STACY ZARAKIOTIS FOR HELPING MEMBERS OF GREENWICH SOCIETY WHO ARE A LITTLE LESS FORTUNATE
God has always had a special tenderly concern for
the widowed, orphans and the poor
Of course, God loves the poor; he loves everybody
But it's not so simple as that.
Some of us have attitudes toward the poor that are mostly disdain and fear.
"The poor are dangerous and different. Sometimes there's a suspicion that their condition is their own fault, that they're simply lazy or inferior."
Other are more kind-hearted, but prefer not to look at the poor too closely.
"Poverty is depressing, and the poor are not fun people to be with."
These attitudes are a world away from God's attitudes
Neediness arouses compassion and action in God
If God values the poor, we have to be more like Dr. Zarakiotis
and think about what that means for us.
If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. Deuteronomy 15:7
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. Proverbs 29:7
I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor. Psalms 140:12
A town man with years of experience as a conservationist has been elected to lead the board of directors for one of the nation's best-known nature and wildlife conservation groups.
Holt Thrasher, who works as managing director of a local financial advisory firm, was tapped last week to be chairman of the board of directors for The National Audubon Society.
HARTFORD -- Lower Fairfield County cities and towns stand to lose millions in state loans for projects ranging from flood control in Norwalk, mobile mamography in Stamford and museum expansion in Greenwich, under one of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's plans for closing the state budget gap.....
....In 2007 Greenwich's Republican legislators hailed the inclusion in the bond package of $1.5 million for a campaign to renovate the Bruce Museum.Rell released $750,000 of that last year but the balance is on her list of cancellations.....
Greenwich gymnasts vault past TrumbullPrior to the Greenwich High gymnastics team last home meet, coach Sue Knight and the the team honored their senior captains with flowers, presented by their respective parents, and captain's pins.
GREENWICH TIME EDITORIAL:
Town should wait on property revaluationMany homeowners are eager for the town to do a new revaluation this year, in hopes that the depressed housing economy will translate into lower property tax bills.
But Town Hall, which could put off doing a new revaluation until 2010, would be wise to wait. New assessments now could result in an artificially low Grand List that would exacerbate already considerable financial difficulties the town is experiencing. Greenwich is facing a projected budget gap of $5 million for the current fiscal year.....
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