Using CTs New Voting Machines

This is a 90 second tutorial on using the new optical scan voting machines.

Tax return 2007

The town is getting $800,000 more of your tax dollars than was anticipated ($800k more than had been budgeted).

What should happen with the money?
	property tax relief
	spend it
	rainy day fund
	other
pollcode.com free polls

Tim White
Town Council, Budget Committee

3 Strikes on Dateline NBC

Joe and Marilyn Bartoli will be on Dateline NBC tonight at 10pm. The topic is CTs 3 Strikes law.

I also caught Cheshire's two state Senators (Sam Caligiuri & Tom Gaffey) on one of the CT Sunday morning talk shows yesterday. They were discussing changes in CTs parole system... and based on what I heard them say, they sounded very similar... talking about both administrative and statutory changes. Hopefully the two major parties can come together and make changes sooner, rather than later.

Tim White

Bell at St. Peter's

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church has received a nearly $50,000 grant from the state Commission on Culture and Tourism to help restore its bell tower. The $49,900 grant from the Historic Preservation and Museum Division of the commission will help pay for the $90,000 second phase of the restoration project, waterproofing the tower’s exterior masonry and installing a mechanism to make it ring, said Tom Peters, senior warden of the church....

The bell has hung in the tower for 125 years, donated by a group of parishioners in 1881. The church has been in its location at 59 Main St. since the mid-1700s. St. Peter’s is not the only house of worship in town with a bell: St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church and the First Congregational Church have working bells.

NHR, by Luther Turmelle

NHR on Sorghum Mill

A neighbor waters potted plants along the driveway as she and the rest of the neighborhood wait to see what becomes of what has now become an internationally known crime scene.The neighborhood is united in its grief over the death of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, who lived at 300 Sorghum Mill Drive, as well as its concern for the only surviving member of the family, Dr. William Petit Jr., who is recuperating in his father's home in Plainville.

But when it comes to what will become of the property in the months and years to come - whether the home will be rebuilt, demolished and a new dwelling put in its place, or be turned into a memorial park as some residents have suggested - neighborhood unity vanishes.

NHR, by Luther Turmelle

Oprah endorsed Obama

I'm guessing this may make the Democratic Presidential primary more interesting.

Tim White

Robert Newman's History of Oil

When I was recently knocking on doors, a resident recommended a video to me: Robert Newman's History of Oil. Both funny and fascinating, I now want to recommend it to you.

The basic idea is this... Robert Newman is a British comedian. In this video, he gives his view on 20th century geopolitics with a focus on oil.

I can't attest to the veracity of his claims, but I did check a few things against Wikipedia and he definitely has a basis for his story. I think most interesting to me was his claim that World War I began not as a result of the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand. Rather the genesis of WWI was control of the (Berlin to) Baghdad Railway.

The video is 45 minutes long, but if you find the time... I'm pretty sure you'll not only find it interesting, you'll also get a few laughs out of it.

Tim White

Fall festival

Don't forget the Chamber of Commerce's fall festival tomorrow. I'm not sure who all the vendors are, but the Energy & Environment Commissions will be there. And the Energy Commission will be giving away $500 worth of compact flourescent light bulbs (CFLs - the energy efficient ones) to people who sign up for clean energy. (Funding comes from a $5,000 grant used to promote clean energy.)

Thanks to Sheldon Dill, Joan Nardello, Donna Dubuck and all the Chamber volunteers for making this event happen.

And of course... fireworks in the evening!

Tim White
Town Council, Energy Commission liaison

Council agenda

There's not a lot of new business on the agenda for next week... only two items.

1) discussion and action re: bid waiver for the installation of water mains and hydrants on Radmere Road.

2) discussion and action re: Cheshire (schools) Administrative Personnel contract, possible executive session.

The meeting will probably be one of the shorter meetings of the year. And if you want to see it, you will need to attend. According to Channel 14, this meeting is not scheduled to be televised.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District

Waterbury Police Chief gives his version

The Waterbury Police Chief is talking giving his version of the events surrounding state Senator Lou DeLuca's misdemeanor guilty plea:

"After speaking with Senator DeLuca in the spring of 2005, I saw him at least 20 times over the course of the next two years," O'Leary wrote in a three-page letter. "During that time, Senator DeLuca never raised the issue of Casey Reilly Colella and her relationship with her family, and I did not feel it would be appropriate to bring the issue up because Senator DeLuca had been so distraught in discussing the matter on prior occasions." (Courant, by Christopher Keating)

Tim White

Proposed prison beds in CT

The MRJ and NHR are both reporting on new prison cells in Cheshire. The MRJ also mentions speculation that Meriden could get a prison. The NHR provides details on bed numbers across the state:

The prisons listed in the memo from Lena Ferguson, a legislative liaison with the corrections department, to Chris Reinhart of the state Office of Legislative Research are: the Cheshire Correctional Institution’s North Block, which could accommodate 504 beds; the J.B. Gates Correctional Institution in the Niantic section of East Lyme, which could accommodate 26 additional beds; and the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield, which could accommodate 228 more beds.

Of the three prisons named in the memo, only the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution has improvements currently under way. Work to refurbish two sections of the prison started in June, with one 114-bed section scheduled to be occupied by Sept. 15 and the second section scheduled to opened by late October or early November.

The Cheshire prison North Block was closed in the early 1990s amid security concerns after several inmates escaped that section of the facility, which was originally built as a boys reformatory in 1910. Corrections officials closed the North Block after it was determined it would be too costly to update it. (by Luther Turmelle)

Tim White

Performance contracting

For a while now, I've been concerned about the town considering all options for financing town projects. At the 8/30 Council meeting, I mentioned one alternative form of financing that the town may be able to use: performance contracting.

But what is performance contracting? Here's a relatively basic (if unlikely) example:

Say your house has no front door and your heating bill is $100/mo. Then Mr. Smith comes to you and offers to give you a door at no charge and install it at no charge. And Mr. Smith guarantees that your heating bill will drop to $30/mo. In turn, Mr. Smith would sign a one year contract with you that pays him $50/mo for one year. That leaves you saving money and energy from day one... and with a door after one year.

That's the basic concept that I want the town to consider.

Tim White
Town Council, Budget Committee

Mike Huckabee vs. Ron Paul

Here's their exchange from last night.

Tim White, CPA

Yes! I got it! It officially happened today... the CT State Board of Accountancy met and approved my application... until today I wasn't absolutely sure that I had completed all the requirements, but now I know... I'm a CPA. And it's been a while in the making. I graduated college (Bryant in Rhode Island) with my degree in accounting at age 21. I'm now 34. Regardless, I got it!

As a result of the good news, I completely forgot about tonight's debate. Did anyone catch it? I heard there was a lively exchange between Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee, but I didn't see it.

Tim White, CPA

Inland Wetlands 9/4

Last night's Inland Wetlands meeting got a writeup in today's NHR (by Luther Turmelle). It's not online, but did mention the proposal includes a 100ft setback from all waterways... does anyone happen to know more about this setback rule though? I could've sworn that this has been a point of contention within the IWWC for several years.

Cindy Kleist was also talking about this meeting over at Underground Town Hall:

Architects Milone and Macbroom said that the proposed plan will only disturb one tenth of an acre of wetlands and part of that would be the footings for the bridge that would be put into the water. This wooden bridge would be for pedestrians and cars with a railing that would separate the pedestrians from the cars–God I hope so! The bridge according to reports, would be going into previously disturbed agricultural dump property.

Apparently there was a slide show-the whole works and it went on for nearly two hours. Representatives from Westfield were also in attendance and will be returning Sept. 18th at the next scheduled meeting of IWC to give their side.

Finally, Cindy mentioned that a member of the IWWC has recused himself. Anyone know if Inland Wetlands has alternates? I'm pretty sure there's no such thing.

Tim White

Open forum 9/4

Here's a peak at the GAOs Iraq report card (click on image to enlarge): I got an offer for raffle tickets... the CHS band is selling 800 tickets for $100 each. The prize? A 2008 beemer Z4. Very nice. If you're interested, email gstmartin3atcoxdotnet. (Btw, if you're curious about why I "wrote out" the email address, it's because there are programs that scan the web for email addresses... so it helps to cut down on junk mail.)

There's a GOP Presidential debate coming up tomorrow night. I understand Fred Thompson will be getting into the race the following day, but will be kicking off his campaign with a commercial being aired during tomorrow's debate. I'm still curious to see if Newt jumps in the race. Besides Newt, my feeling is that Huckabee is the best speaker/presenter... and that means something to me as a voter. That's also one of the things that I like about Barack.

Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering if he will resign (Courant).

Anybody know what happened at the Inland Wetlands meeting tonight?

If you're a golf enthusiast, then you may be interested in the 4th annual (2007) Two Ball Cane Golf Classic. The event is to be held on Monday, September 17 at the Wallingford Country Club. Proceeds benefit the Connecticut Child Identification Program (CHIP). The event starts at 10:00 AM with a Shotgun start at Noon. It will be Scramble format. Entry: $175 per golfer / $700 per foursome. Entry Fee includes greens fees, cart, lunch, on-course beverages, dinner, and open bar. Register online at http://www.twoballcanegc.com

Last, but not least, word is that Diane Visconti has dropped out of the race for personal reasons and no one will replace her on the ballot.

Tim White

Open forum 9/3

Not a lot of Cheshire-related stuff in the news this weekend. There are some meetings coming up though that may be of interest...

1) Tuesday, Sept 4 @ 7:30pm - Inland Wetlands
2) Tuesday, Sept 11 @ 7:30pm - Council
3) Monday, Sept 10 @ 7:30pm - PZC... (I think they're having a meeting)

And of course, as soon as I decided to throw in the towel for the season... rookie Clay Buckholz threw a no-no.

Anything else happening?

Tim White

Home safety measures

The MRJ on some home safety measures (by Elisabeth Strillacci):

Install dead-bolt locks. Improving lighting outside the home. Lock windows. "A lot of homes and even commercial buildings aim their security or spotlights out, instead of at the buildings and points of entry," said Cirillo. "An officer responds to the scene, and coming up the sidewalk, the spot light is right in his eyes and he can't see anything. The light needs to be on the building." Dead-bolt locks are useful only if the bolt extends at least an inch into the strike plate and if the frame surrounding the door is stable. According to the National Crime Prevention Bureau, burglars who cannot gain entry within four minutes will move onto another target. Perhaps one of the best tools, Cirillo said, is "get to know your neighbors. I don't mean you have to go over for coffee or tea every day, but you should have a general idea about what cars belong in the neighborhood and what your neighbors' general schedules are."

The MRJ also offers a few lists that you may find useful:

Home Checklist
Apartment and Condo Checklist
Home Inventory Form

Tim White

Parole Review Task Force named

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has appointed 20 people to serve on a task force she created following a triple homicide in Cheshire that was committed, authorities charge, by two men out on parole.

Two Cheshire residents are among those on the Sentencing and Parole Review Task Force... Thomas Kirk and Barbara Quinn. (MRJ, by Elisabeth Strillacci)

Tim White

It's a long season

They got a late start this year... they held off until nearly September! Alas, I have feeling we're back into our 86-year cycle...Tim White
(image from library.thinkquest.org)