Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Municipal officials on Thursday denied a request to view a legal opinion rendered by the town attorney’s firm regarding New Canaan’s volunteer firefighters. The following line items and billing hours appear in a legal bill approved Feb. 11 by the Board of Selectmen, detailing what are described as professional tasks achieved by Berchem & Moses lawyers Christopher Hodgson, Kyle Roseman, Meredith Diette and Rebecca Goldberg, between Jan. 6 and 24 (New Canaan taxpayers fund an $8,5000 monthly retainer with the firm): 

“Follow up re: volunteer firefighters (.5 hours);
“Discussed strategy for payment of volunteer firefighters advice letter (.3 hours);
“Drafting advice letter re: payment of volunteer firefighters (.6 hours);
“Research volunteer firefighter issue (1 hour);
“Drafting advice letter re: payment of volunteer firefighters (2 hours);
“Review volunteer opinion memo; forward first draft to [Town Human Resources Director Cheryl Pickering-Jones] (.7 hours);
“Drafted advice letter re: use of volunteer firefighters to cover for career firefighter shifts (4 hours);
“Edited advice letter (1 hour);
“Emailed letter along with summary and additional memos of law for review (.4 hours);
“Research, review and revision of opinion letter re: volunteer firefighters (2 hours);
“Interoffice communication re: volunteer firefighter issue; research recent law re: same and draft language for opinion letter re: same (1.1 hours); 
“Research re: definition of volunteer firefighter; interoffice conference re: same (1.5 hours);
“Continued research for volunteer firefighter opinion; revise draft letter (1.7 hours);
“Interoffice communication re: volunteer firefighter issue (1.3 hours);
“Research, review and revision of opinion letter re: volunteer firefighters (1.3 hours);
“Interoffice discussions re: volunteer firefighters; review and analyze DOL opinion letters re: same (.7 hours);
“Final revisions to opinion letter re: volunteer firefighters (.8 hours);
“Interoffice communication re: volunteer firefighters (.7 hours);
“Conference with C. Jones to follow up re: volunteer firefighter issue (.3 hours);
“Reviewed final draft of letter re: compensation of unpaid firefighters (.5 hours);
“Draft memo re: volunteers; telephone conference with C. Jones.”

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The Town Clerk’s office on Feb. 20 recorded a notice of a $13,398.51 state real estate tax lien for the White Oak Shade Road home whose owners include a husband and wife who pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with a health care fraud scheme. 

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The Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting for March 2 to conduct a “student disciplinary hearing” in executive session.

Stewart's Spirits

Discover New Canaan Fall/Winter Launch

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Join us at Stewart’s Spirits to celebrate the Fall/Winter launch of Discover New Canaan, Connecticut. These independent guides to downtown contain interesting facts and information for residents and visitors. Discover Brochures are independently created to encourage residents and visitors to walk, rediscover, shop and eat in any downtown district. They are suitable for children and adults and come out bi annually to ensure everything is up-to-date.

Around Town

Kiwanis Club of New Canaan’s St. Patrick’s Day Dinner To Be Held March 17 at St. A’s

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The Kiwanis Club of New Canaan’s popular St. Patrick’s Day dinner is around the corner, scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 17 in the St. Aloysius School’s dining hall. A community staple for years, the event features Irish dancing and traditional fare. Its sponsors include Hoyt Funeral Home, First County Bank, New Canaan Pediatric Dentistry, Hawthorne, Ackerly & Dorrance, Karl Chevrolet, Sperry DeCew, Karp Associates, New Canaan Eye Associates, New Canaan Dance Academy, Walter Stewart’s Market, Stewart’s Spirits, Baskin-Robbins, Nurenu Brand Marketing and NewCanaanite.com. 

All proceeds from the event go toward the Kiwanis Club’s scholarship program for local high school graduates. 

The club’s president, Jenny Esposito, said the food and Irish dancing are major draws, as well as attendees’ desire to support the Kiwanis Club’s scholarship fund. 

“It’s the whole atmosphere,” Esposito said.

Around Town

Touched by Tragedy, Local Band Creates Music Event Benefitting ‘Sandy Hook Promise’

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New Canaan resident Sloan Alexander will never forget the morning his daughter entered his bedroom a few days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, telling him and his wife, Sara Bakker, that she feared getting shot. “We were both just very taken aback,” he recalled on a recent afternoon. “She knew what was going on and she knew what had happened. That moment has always struck me. I start to tear up when I think about it.”

Since that morning in December 2012, Alexander has seen his children come up through local schools practicing lockdown drills that he never had to, and has searched for ways to support an organization to which he feels profoundly connected, Sandy Hook Promise.

News

Stewarts Spirits, Mackenzie’s Among Local Businesses Compliant with Tobacco, E-Cigarette Laws Regarding Minors

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Nine New Canaan businesses refused to sell tobacco or electronic cigarettes to a minor sent into them Tuesday by local and state enforcement agencies, officials said. Stewarts Spirits and Mackenzie’s were among the business that complied with the state laws forbidding the sale of tobacco or e-cigarettes to minors, according to a press release issued following a Tobacco Prevention and Enforcement Program effort run jointly by the New Canaan Police Department and Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. “A supervised minor deployed by the TPEP inspection team entered retail establishments around town to conduct tobacco and electronic cigarette inspections to ensure compliance with state law,” according to the release. Businesses that break the law are subject to an infraction summons and $200 fine for the first offense, it said. Other businesses found to be in compliance were the Mobil Marts on South Avenue and both sides of the Merritt Parkway by Exit 37, Walgreens, Gulf station downtown, Acme and A1 Cellars.