Police have told an out-of-town man to keep his 5-year-old female golden-doodle out of the dog park at Waveny until he gets the animal spayed.
The dog (her name is Amber) is in heat and on a recent weekday evening her owner upset other Spencer’s Run users when he got angry about male dogs in the park trying to mount her. We’re hearing that the man grabbed the male dogs and yanked them off of his fetching female, as though it was their fault. Officials say that if the out-of-towner returns with the dog un-spayed, he’ll be ticketed and his PIN number to enter Spencer’s Run revoked.
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Though the property owner at the Bank of America building on Elm Street could not be reached for comment after town officials blasted the condition of the planters out front, he appears to have taken at least one major step toward addressing the problem. Within days of a meeting of the Plan of Conservation & Development Implementation Committee that saw some members refer to the area as a “non-garden,” a crew appeared in the morning to install new flowers, topsoil, gravel and plants there.
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Please consider joining VFW Post 653, which will be replacing the flags on veterans’ graves at Lakeview Cemetery at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 23. Volunteers are welcome.
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According to a sign in its window, Sara Campbell women’s clothing and accessories shop at 137 Elm St. is moving a few doors up, to number 143—a space formerly occupied by menswear store Jack Spade.
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We’re hearing that the fate of the Norway maple tree out front of Town Hall is once again up in the air. As indicated weeks ago, a town resident apparently has asked for a public hearing regarding the tree, a non-native species that’s breaking up and which the town’s tree warden had tagged for removal. Tree Warden Bruce Pauley’s idea had been to replace it with a sugar maple tree on either side of the main path up to the renovated Town Hall. But faced with the prospect of a determined resident opposing him, and the likelihood that nobody would attend a public hearing to speak in favor of his own plan, Pauley relented. After residents vowed to support his plan, and some soul-searching, the tree warden re-posted the Norway maple for removal. The exact time, date and location of the hearing hasn’t yet been set.
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Joan Guzzetti, for many years a volunteer on the Park & Recreation Commission, will resign from the group following next month’s meeting. Guzzetti, whose current committee roles include Spencer’s Run and who is a strong champion for and steward of New Canaan’s parks, on May 13 said the commission is in great shape right now and that it has been “really great” working on the group. “It has been a real pleasure and I am really going to miss it, but I decided that the time has come,” she said.
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“We are off to a big start”—that’s Realtor Jeanne Rozel’s read in the early-going of the spring market as she looks at condominium sales (a specialty). Rozel broke the news in January that New Canaan’s 79 condo sales in 2014, including nine above asking price, topped figures going back at least as far as 25 years. “At the beginning of 2015 there were only 9 condominiums on the market, now there are 26,” she said in a recent newsletter. “The best selling months in 2014 were June, August, September. The average selling price for the 1st quarter of 2015 is $906,550.”
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We’re hearing that three Hidden Meadow Lane dachshunds at about 7:42 p.m. on Sunday night killed a raccoon on their property, and the deceased animal has been sent to a state lab for rabies testing.
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A teacher and coach in New Canaan Public Schools since 2004, Steven R. Bedard has been appointed assistant principal at Saxe Middle School. A two-time FCIAC coach of the year who has taught health and physical education, Bedard since 2012 has served as the Director of Alternative Learning Programs for NCHS, where he was responsible for leading both the summer school and Alternative Instructional Program for high school students.
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We’re hearing that the Don Julio Margarita truck will come to the “Books, Blues & BBQ” fundraiser at New Canaan Library on Friday, May 29.
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The Parking Commission at its regular meeting last Thursday decided to void a $40 ticket assessed to a Fairfield woman who works downtown while upholding a $20 ticket issued the same day (for the first ‘overtime parking’ offense). The woman told the commission that she, a Center School lot permit holder who hasn’t been ticketed before, had taken the rare step of parking up against the cosmetic shop where she works at Morse Court, in a 15-minute spot, with the idea that she’d tell a co-worker she wasn’t feeling well, and would leave immediately. But that co-worker ended up calling in sick, and the woman was stuck, she said, serving customers who came in during the morning while she was working solo. Asked by Parking Commission Chairman Keith Richey for her argument as to why she didn’t deserve the tickets, she said: “Letting you know that I have worked here for two years and never got a ticket. I’m not sure if you take that into consideration.”
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New Canaan High School Squash Team is holding a community-wide fundraiser from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at Vineyard Vines on Elm Street: All patrons will receive a discount and a portion of each purchase will go toward the team. Prospective shoppers are encouraged to call the store if they cannot come in, as shipping will be free.
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An estimated 75-plus locals turned out at Waveny on Sunday to watch a great-horned owl released by Wildlife in Crisis volunteers. The owl’s release was sponsored by the New Canaan Community Foundation, which made it possible to give the owl the medication, food and housing required to save her life.