Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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An estimated 1,000 New Canaan High School students joined in a nationwide, 17-minute “walkout” Wednesday to rally for what organizers call “federal gun reform legislation” following last month’s mass school shooting in Florida. Principal Bill Egan in a letter addressed to the ‘NCHS Family’ said that “every school district in the area allowed students to have their voice during this time.” His letter continued: “Our students honored the lives of people lost to gun violence and showed solidarity with students in Parkland, Florida. Our students’ efforts focused on their desire to keep schools safe in New Canaan and around the country.”

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The 1836-built Greek Revival at 63 Park St.—formerly the home of famed Scribners editor Maxwell Perkins (Hemingway, Wolfe, Fitzgerald)—is back on the market at about $2.9 million. Its owner since 1973 last summer had applied for a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals in order to gain more flexibility in the stately house’s home-office use, but after two continuances that application did not come before the ZBA again. Instead, the Planning & Zoning Commission in August voted in favor of a Special Permit for the same.

Around Town

‘Free the Shelters’: New Canaan Woman Steps Up To Pay All Adoption Fees at Stamford Animal Control Shelter through Jan. 14

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Cathy Kangas was at a wedding in Palm Beach, Fla. early last month when, after seeing a photo on Facebook, the New Canaan resident had what she calls “a complete meltdown.”

One of her friends had shared a photo of a beagle picked up as a stray at Stamford Animal Control that looked exactly like Ladybug, the little dog Kangas had rescued in 2016. “My god, we love and trust our dog sitter and I thought, how could Ladybug have gotten out?” Kangas recalled. “I quickly called everyone, including [New Canaan Animal Control Officer] Allyson Halm, asking could she have got out and walked to Stamford?”

Her fears soon were calmed, as Ladybug, Kangas’s babysitter assured her, was safe and happy at home. But the image of the roaming dog didn’t leave Kangas, who followed up on returning to New Canaan with Stamford Animal Control.

Animal 411

New Canaan Animal Control Officer Creates ‘Coyote Safety Kits’ for Residents

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Since starting as head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section nearly two years ago, Officer Allyson Halm has fielded and mapped daily calls of coyote sightings. In one-on-one conversations with concerned New Canaanites and as a panelist in larger events, Halm has preached about learning to co-exist with coyotes. Now, in select cases, she can offer those who deal regularly with coyotes on their properties a set of tools to take with them outside—for example, when letting out a dog in the yard. Underwritten by New Canaan resident and animal welfare advocate Cathy Kangas and her company, PRAI Beauty, the “Coyote Safety Kits” Halm has put together include “hazing” safety guidelines, reusable safety air blaster or air horn, mini-air blasters (for use while running or for kids), bear bell, whistle, reflective tape and “throw can” (a noisemaker that can be used to scare off coyotes from a distance). “They are available now and we are going to utilize them on a case-by-case basis” depending on the frequency of sightings and brazenness of the coyotes involved, Halm told NewCanaanite.com.

News

Letter: Preserve the Roger Sherman Inn

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The recent announcement that the Roger Sherman Inn and restaurant will operate through February and the builder, Andy Glazer, has said that there are no plans to raze the historic building is good news for the resident of New Canaan. However, this still means that after February we will lose the Roger Sherman Inn. Destroying the Roger Sherman Inn would rip out the heart of the town. We must support this iconic landmark. My family and I will continue to patronize the inn during the coming months and I would urge my neighbors to do the same.

Animal 411

‘She’s Eating Better Than My Husband’: Orphaned Beagle Finds Loving Home in New Canaan

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Ladybug, a twice-orphaned senior dog with a heart-wrenching history, appears finally to have found a loving home. According to New Canaan resident Cathy Kangas, it’s been a smooth adjustment for the sweet-tempered beagle, from whatever her living situation had been (nobody is really sure), to New York City streets and then a series of Animal Control centers—to her new home here in town. “She’s been getting nice and settled at home,” Kangas told NewCanaanite.com on Thursday afternoon from the Elm Street offices of her company, PRAI Beauty. “She’s being—knock on wood—the most amazing, easy little dog.”

The little dog, estimated to be about nine years old, came to the New Canaan Animal Control shelter about two weeks ago, transferred from a shelter in New York City after being picked up on a Manhattan street. Officials in the city determined that Ladybug (also called ‘Hannah’ and ‘Stacey’ at various points in the past, according to her paper work) originally had been found as a stray on the Stamford-New Canaan border in March 2011.