Rookie of the Year Award: Barry Setayesh - (Lt. Mike Esposito, Firefighter Barry Setayesh, Assistant Chief Russ Kimes, Lt. Chris Isaacs). Courtesy of Candace Karl
Firefighter of the Year Award: Ben Stout - Left to right (Lt. Mike Esposito, Lt. Chris Isaacs, Firefighter Ben Stout, Assistant Chief Russ Kimes). Courtesy of Candace Karl
Special Presentation: Msgr. Sheyd - Left to right (Lt. Chris Isaacs, Assistant Chief Russ Kimes, Lt. Mike Esposito, Msgr. Sheyd, Commissioner DuPont, Chief Jack Hennessey). Courtesy of Candace Karl
Lifetime Achievement Award: Stephen Benko - (Lt. Chris Isaacs, Lt. Mike Esposito, Assistant Chief Russ Kimes, Commissioner DuPont, Former Chief Stephen Benko). Courtesy of Candace Karl
CERT was presented with the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce's "Volunteer of the Year" award during a ceremony held Wednesday at India restaurant on Main Street. Other awardees include "Business of the Year" Zumbach's Gourmet Coffee and Doug Zumbach for his Caffeine & Carburetors, and "Golden Shovel Award" for Earth Garden. Pictured here are (L-R): Chamber Executive Director Tucker Murphy, CERT's Lauren Cerretani and Steve Orteig, and Tom Stadler of the Chamber Board. Photo credit: Laura Budd
New Canaan residents Julia Portale, Executive Director, Nick Cognetta Jr. of Cognetta Funeral Home, Arnold Karp of Karp Associates, Colleen Harkey, Development Director, Robin Fryer of the New Canaan Community Foundation (not pictured), and Valerie Stryker (photographer) all participated in a ceremony on June 9 marking the halfway point of the construction of Fairfield County Hospice House. Photo credit: Valerie Stryker.
New Canaan Fire Company #1 recognized members of the volunteer company as well as career staff for excellence in service to their community at the 135th Annual Dinner, held Friday night at Waveny House. Scroll through the gallery above for photos of award recipients, and other photos, in this week’s DYH gallery.
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In opinions published this week in the Connecticut Law Journal, the state Supreme Court reinstated a second-degree breach of peace charge against Teri Buhl, a New Canaan woman who had been convicted of the misdemeanor offense (as well as a second-degree harassment charge), and later had it overturned in a state appellate court. Briefly, police arrested Buhl after determining that she had harassed a New Canaan teen—the daughter of a man she was dating at the time—in part through use of a fake Facebook account. An Appellate Court in initially overturning the breach of peace conviction “concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support her breach of the peace conviction because the state had not proven that the Facebook posts were publicly exhibited.” Yet the state Supreme Court disagreed with that assessment. Its opinion states: “We further conclude that the breach of the peace conviction must be reinstated because the trial court reasonably could have found that the state had met its burden of proving the other elements of the crime at trial, namely, that: (1) the defendant was the person who posted M’s diary entries on Facebook; and (2) the defendant intended to ‘inconvenience, [annoy] or alarm’ [the teenage girl] by posting her diary entries on Facebook.” See PDF below for the court’s full decision.
A vision for a future New Canaan Library. The corner at the bottom is at South Avenue and Maple Street, with South Avenue running to the left. Published with permission from the library
Citing news reports that the man who killed 49 people in Orlando early Sunday repeatedly had passed background checks in gaining and maintaining employment with a security firm, the chairman of the New Canaan Police Commission on Thursday called for the local authorities to give thought to the New Canaan Police Department’s own recruitment process. According to Stuart Sawabini, the security firm’s checklist including criminal history, physical fitness and psychological tests, educational and employment background “is awfully darn similar” to the police department’s own. “I only mention that because, as we go through our recruitment process, is there anything new we can learn from that?” Sawabini asked specifically about examination of social media accounts and re-checking on those employed periodically after hire.
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Police on 4:19 p.m. on June 11 received a report of a small dog at South Avenue and Colonial Court with no collar that appeared “to be foaming at the mouth.” Arriving, officers were unable to locate the animal, according to a police report.
Ali Reilly
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Congratulations to 2014 NCHS grad and Babson College rising junior Ali Reilly on being named captain of the school’s softball team for the 2017 season. The New Canaanite had a stellar sophomore campaign as the Beavers primary pitcher, going 18-10 with a 2.14 ERA, 104 strikeouts and six shutouts in 2016. Reilly also hit .313 with a homer, two doubles and five RBI in just 32 at bats and on April 25th was named NEWMAC (New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference) Player of the Week.
Town officials are deciding whether this sign would be appropriate for New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
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Finally, town officials are slated to take up again the question of whether and where New Canaan should install roadside signs that instruct motorists to give cyclists a 3-foot berth, as per state law. Though the Planning & Zoning Commission last summer had turned down the Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club’s signs—calling them ineffective and overly promotional—traffic officials said this week that the Police Commission as New Canaan’s traffic authority rightly should be making the decision. The matter should come before the Police Commission next month, according to Police Capt. John DiFederico, a member of the Traffic Calming Work Group.
Thank you for publishing the PDF of the court proceedings. People need to know the truth about Buhl. Not only did she harass and slander a high school girl she did it under the guise of being a journalist which she is certainly not.
Thank you for publishing the PDF of the court proceedings. People need to know the truth about Buhl. Not only did she harass and slander a high school girl she did it under the guise of being a journalist which she is certainly not.