12/13/08 Greenwich ime News Links

THE PICTURE:

A worker removes debris from the back of the Jeep dealership on West Putnam Avenue where a flat roof was blown off the building. (Bob Luckey/Greenwich Time photo)

THE HEADLINES:

More Than 200 Outages Reported By Connecticut Light And Power

THE QUOTE:

"We knew there was going to be significant winds and potential impact," said Town Of Greenwich director of emergency management, Dan Warzoha,

THE TOP GREENWICH TIME STORY:

Strong winds damage parts of Greenwich
Wind gusts that topped 50 mph downed power lines and trees, ripped off part of a roof and were even to blame for a small fire Thursday in town, officials said.

"The gusts were really high this morning, causing a lot of problems," said Police Sgt. John Slusarz, who was patroling through town Thursday morning when police received word that winds had partially ripped off the roof of the Chrysler Jeep Dodge Service Parts Center, 468 W. Putnam Ave.

Full Story

Greenwich independent booksellers look to broaden customer base
Independent bookstores have become an endangered species across the country, following the advent of Internet booksellers and the proliferation of large national chains.....

.....With the Borders Books on Greenwich Avenue shuttering its doors last month, Greenwich's two remaining booksellers, both independents, say they're proud of their longevity and viewing the closure as an opportunity to broaden the loyal customer bases that have kept them in business through the years.

Diane Garrett, owner of Diane's Books, a 3,000-square-foot family bookstore just off Greenwich Avenue at 8A Grigg St., said she's sorry to see any establishment that supports reading leave town. She's ready to absorb its customers, however, taking out a recent newspaper ad welcoming Borders customers and hiring an extra salesperson.

Full Story

No Town Layoofs Here:

The Fire Department Is Now Fully Staffed With 95 Full-Time Firefighters.....

Greenwich Fire recruits begin training upstate

Four new firefighter recruits have begun an intensive 14-week training course at the state's fire academy in Windsor Locks, as they prepare to officially join the force this summer.....

....The four men, who come from as far as West Cornwall in the state's Northwest Corner and as close as Greenwich, were selected out of a pool of 300 people who took the written firefighter's test in spring 2008.

Lt. Richard Funck, of the department's training division, said 45 of the highest scorers on the written test went through to preliminary interviews, and the field was narrowed to 15 for final interviews with Fire Chief Peter Siecienski and Assistant Fire Chief Robert Kick.

Full Story

Will The Greenwich Police Department Accept An Application From A Cranky One Eyed Blogger From Greenwich?

Due to the high demand of the Citizens Police Academy a lottery drawing will determine the final class roster.........

Applications available for citizen police course
Greenwich residents interested in learning more about law enforcement are invited to submit applications for the 2009 Citizens Police Academy.

The 12-week program, run by the Greenwich Police Department, will begin March 26 and concludes with a graduation ceremony June 11, according to police.

The Citizen Police Academy provides residents with a first-hand overview of law enforcement and the department's community-related functions, including accident investigation, motor vehicle stops, crimes scenes, police canines and criminal investigations, police said.

Full Story

Eagle Hill students learn Brazilian dance moves

The performer ducked his head just in time to avoid getting hit by a spin kick before crouching to the floor to deliver a leg sweep that his opponent dodged by cart-wheeling away from him.

Full Story

Child care director to retire
Child care director to retire Children's Day School Executive Director Maryann O'Rourke is retiring from the post she has held for 21 years.

Full Story

Good news, bad news for booze

HARTFORD -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell is skeptical about part of a budget-fix proposal from minority Republicans in the General Assembly that would allow package stores to open Sundays. Full Story

Easton raccoon tests positive for rabies
EASTON -- The raccoon that attacked and bit a real estate agent and one of her clients over the weekend has tested positive for rabies.

Full Story

Children brush up on tooth skills
Chocolate may be better than sticky fruit-flavored snacks, but both can create cavities. These were the hard truths that Sabrina Romero, 6, learned at the town Health Department's "Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth" program held Wednesday at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich on Horseneck Road.

Full Story

Board of Estimate and Taxation looks for savings in budget ......

Quote:

"We want to see a judicious use" of consultants, said BET budget committee member Robert Stone.

Board of Ed contractors reviewed

Budget officials have asked the school district to take a closer look at how it spends money on consultants and private contractors to identify potential savings in the education budget.

The move comes as members of the town's finance board are concerned about the reliance of some departments on often-costly independent contractors when funds are expected to grow increasingly scarce.

Faced with declining revenues from conveyance taxes, building permit issuance and bank interest, the town must come up with $5 million in savings for 2009-10 -- and curtailing the use of some contractors in education and other areas may help, these officials say......

Full Story

Greenwich boys hockey routs Wilton
Just in case anyone missed the special Senior Night ceremony prior to the Greenwich High School boys hockey team's game Thursday night, the seniors clearly showed it was their night once the game began.

Full Story

Sweet Destiny: Local couples tell how they met
Before there was Match.com and Facebook, couples met the old-fashioned way: through friends, relatives and sometimes by happy accident.

Full Story

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03/13/08 - Just How Much Are The Taxpayers Of Greenwich Paying Superintendent Betty Sternberg And Her Failed Administrators To Lie To The Public?

Betty "Pinocchio" Sternberg

HEADLINE:

An environmental consultant hired by the school district has said the ceiling of one of the classrooms affected by the roof leaks had mold growth.

LIE OF THE DAY:

Sternberg and other officials said design and construction flaws rather than maintenance shortcomings caused the mold problems at the modulars. They said roof leaks reported months earlier at the modulars were properly addressed and not connected to the mold found inside the walls and in the roof eaves.

STORY:

Schools didn't follow mold policy

By Hoa Nguyen
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

Five years ago, when mold problems began surfacing at the old Hamilton Avenue School and other buildings, school district officials implemented a program to help identify and prevent similar problems from occurring in the future.

But now they admit the program was not uniformly put into practice across the district....

Greenwich Roundup says.... But, school officials did identify the mold in the modular classrooms over one year ago. The problem is that they hid the mold from Glenville and Hamilton Avenue School parents.

Please read....

03/09/08 - Town Employees: Sternberg's Crew Knew - Mold Covered Tiles Replaced Over One Year Ago.

Soon school district Officials will admit they knew about the mold in the contaminated modular classrooms over one year ago. After that school district officials will admit that they replaced molded cieling tiles at the contaminated modular classroom. Then the school district officials will admit they hid the contamination from Glenville and Hamilton Avenue parents.

.... "Everyone was trained," Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg said of the program called Tools for Schools. "It was variably implemented from school to school."....

Greenwich Roundup says...... Obviously. But didn't Superintendent Betty Sternberg say, "I'll hold the staff accountable." Please read....

03/05/08 - The Joke Of The Day - "I'll hold the staff accountable," Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg promised. - Yeah Right.

... Tools for Schools is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program designed to raise awareness about air quality issues, including assembling committees of teachers, administrators, parents and custodians who work together to identify early indicators of mold and other problems.

School officials came under fire on Tuesday night from the Board of Estimate and Taxation Budget Committee, which questioned why mold problems discovered at the Hamilton Avenue School modular buildings were identified only a couple of weeks ago. They should have been more aggressive in scrutinizing possible mold situations, committee members said, because it was mold that forced the rebuilding of the old Hamilton Avenue School and the purchase of the $3 million modular buildings several years ago.....

Greenwich Roundup says.... The Board of Estimate and Taxation has a long history of suffering incompetent school district fools who are destroying the public schools and increasing the taxes on the single family home owner.

.... "I was frankly surprised," BET member Robert Stone said yesterday. "This is a lesson that clearly should have been learned four years ago."....

Greenwich Roundup says.... Why is Robert Stone "frankly surprised". Was he awake at the BET meetings when school district officials have repeatedly came asking for more and more tax money to pay for all the screw ups at Hamilton Avenue School.

.... Stone is calling on the district to implement a program to visually inspect classrooms and school space on a regular basis to ensure potential problems are caught early....

Greenwich Roundup says.... "Good Job Bob"

... BET members said that because taxpayers are going to have to shoulder the cost associated with this latest Hamilton Avenue School mold problem, the district must have a better prevention plan...

Greenwich Roupup says... If Betty Sternberg and her failed school administrators don't come clean the school district is going to need one hell of a litigation plan.

Eventually, this Board Of Education cover up is going to be exposed, when failed school administrators, architects, contractors, engineers and testing companies start getting sued by parents whose children were allowed to sit in a contaminated modular classroom for over one year.

A lot of school administrators and others knew about the contamination for more than a year.

Now these architects, contractors, engineers and testing companies had better make sure that Hamilton Avenue parents are getting full disclosure or they may find their butts in court face claims of substantial liability.

... "This is going to be something that we're going to have to prevent going forward," said Michael Mason, head of the BET budget committee....

JOKE OF THE DAY:

"People walked away with a general sense that progress is being made," said Mike Bodson, the Board of Education liaison for the school's building committee, as he spoke about a Hamilton Avenue School Building Tour led by the ever so efficient contractor, Worth Construction.

Shame on



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