Page 6 | Greenwich Sentinel
PUBLISHER Beth@GreenwichSentinel.com Elizabeth Barhydt
Editorial Page
EDITORS & COPY EDITORS Editor@GreenwichSentinel.com Peter Barhydt, Daniel FitzPatrick, Stapley Russell, Anne W. Semmes
Welcome Back! Greenwich repopulated itself this past week, with friends and neighbors returning from the August vacations. Judging from the pictures we have seen on social media; people have taken the opportunity to travel across the country. From what we can see, islands and mountains were popular destinations. We are back, as well from taking our annual twoweek summer hiatus. While we did not go anywhere, it was nice to have a less hectic schedule for a bit. We used the time to revamp the paper and our back-office operations. Most exciting, we launched our app. If you download the app and send us a message through it, you will automatically be entered into a contest to win neighbor tickets to this year’s Greenwich Town Party. So far, nearly 300 people have entered. Speaking of the Greenwich Town Party (GTP), we are a week away and we cannot wait. When COVID caused it to be cancelled last year, and then postponed it this spring it was a blow to our moral. But with it just a week away we are keeping our fingers crossed for an amazing experience.
Most exciting, we launched our app. If you download the app and send us a message through it, you will automatically be entered into a contest to win neighbor tickets to this year’s Greenwich Town Party. Ray Dalio, Ray Rivers, Scot Weicker and their entire team are doing an amazing job creating a community experience that is unparalleled. We are certain that this year’s logistics have created tremendous obstacles. From all reports, we understand they have been dealt with professionalism and grace. We want to send a special shout-out to Ray, Ray and Scot for not giving up on this event in the face of COVID and limited tickets. We are looking forward to Sunday evening when The Eagles take the stage - they will be the “New Kid in Town.” After a day of live music and listening to The Zac Brown Band and Caroline Jones, we are certain we will all have a “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” And then when it is all over the entire GTP can “Take It Easy” after all the work they have done to make the event a success. Even though the GTP falls on Labor Day, let’s not let that be the end of summer. Let’s let September be a thirty-days long goodbye to summer, to a season that left everyone both happy and weary of the warm humid weather (especially this week) and the exhausting but thrilling vacation adventures. Let’s enjoy all that Greenwich has to offer before the weather turns and we again find ourselves indoors. There will be no shortage of beautiful days to enjoy Tod’s Point, or Elizabeth’s Neck as it was long ago known. There are more events coming up at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, including Adopt-A-Dog’s “Puttin’ on the Dog” on Sunday, September 26. This is a great family event where you can see all different types of dogs and friendly dog competitions (best kisser?). This year they are honoring First Selectman Fred Camillo. Many of our non-profits are holding fundraising events this fall. They have been uniquely challenged throughout COVID as they were unable to hold their traditional in-person events. Many improvised and held virtual gatherings, but it still hampered their ability to raise money. We encourage you to look through our calendar of events and find worthy causes to support. As we begin to get our kids ready for the upcoming school year, and perhaps the uncertainty of what the fall may hold, we should not look back at this past summer with nostalgia, but fondness. There is too much that lays ahead that is exciting. We are reminded of a quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.: “Yet in opinions look not always back, Your wake is nothing, mind the coming track; Leave what you've done for what you have to do; Don't be ‘consistent,’ but be simply true.” See you around town this fall.
LETTERS
Letter to Anne W. Semmes By Chuck Spann Ms Semmes- I want to thank you for the wonderful article you wrote in the Greenwich Sentinel dated May 28 of this year "Finding the Lost – and Found – to Honor on Memorial Day". Among other subjects of the article, you told a bit of the story of my grandmother Alexandra Clark Spann. I had been visiting my sisters and my dad, who celebrated his 91st birthday on July 4 at their home in Stamford. On a bookshelf I found Oral History Project interview, which I had never seen before, and read with fascination the things I never knew about her or my dad or his sister, or my grandfather, who I hardly knew. Having had my curiosity piqued, I googled Alexandra and found your recent article
referring to the very book I had just read! I remember Grandma Dee, as she was known to me and my sisters, mostly from my grade school days. She was an odd duck by most family accounts, but I found her to be delightful, interesting, and a font of information and history that I retain to this day. Walks around Tod's Point and the Holly Grove identifying f lora and fauna. Making charcoal rubbings on newsprint of ancient gravestones. Tales of her ancestors who helped settle the town. Many tours of the Bush Holley House. I remember all that fondly but I wish I had thought to ask more questions of her. Alas, there's only so much a school kid can absorb. But as I got older, much older, I found myself appreciating history a lot more. Probably because I AM history now. Alexandra may have been a
geek or a nerd, and I certainly have proudly inherited that gene. I hope I can delve into the Oral History Project to see what other gems I can unearth. It's been decades, and I don't get back to Connecticut very often. When I do, it is so different now that my GPS doesn't even know where we are. I am a stranger there now, but here and there I can recognize bits and pieces of what I once knew well. I am glad I was able to talk about this book and article with my dad, who is still very viable and has pretty much all of the marbles he was born with. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane for both of us and I'm sure for him it was a nice light to shine in his twilight years. Thank you! Chuck Spann, Sherwood WI
Fazio: Grateful Beyond Words By Ryan Fazio I am grateful beyond words to everyone across Greenwich, Stamford, and New Canaan for the trust you have placed in me to serve as your state Senator. Thank you. I will work hard every day to validate the faith of those who voted for me and to earn that of those who did not. I love this community and will give my all to serve it faithfully. I a lso wa nt to cong ratu late Joh n Blank ley, Alexis Gevanter, and their teams for their efforts and hard work. Campaigning is no easy task, but our democratic process is made stronger by their participation. Now that the campaign is over, it is
time to bring people together to solve the big challenges that face us and create hope for the future. I am committed to working across the aisle and f inding common ground. Listening and solving constituents’ problems. Reducing taxes, health care costs, and electricity bills. Stopping the rising crime and supporting local police. Protecting local control, improving schools, and creating hope in our state. This community has been my home for over two decades and I will always be an optimist because I know it is full of good people with big hearts. In the toughest of times, they always look out for one another in need and work hard to make their community a better place. It is for
this reason that I am so proud to have the opportunity to represent it and try to give it a state government equal to its caliber. Last and most importantly, I want to thank deeply our wonderful campaign team, which is the reason for our election victory. I was immensely lucky to have had the best volunteers and friends around to run this race with. They made it fun. Our community is lucky to have them. Their engagement and earnestness represent the best of our district and make me optimistic. I hope you will feel free to reach out and discuss about how we can best protect and improve our community. I am hopeful about what we can all accomplish together. Ryan Fazio
Blankley: Democracy At Work – Let Us Be Thankful By John Blankley After an intense (and blessedly short) ca mpa ig n now is t he ti me to t ha n k everyone who stepped up to make the recent special election for state senate a worthwhile and rewarding experience. I am especially grateful to my wife Vera who signed on as treasurer and to my old political friends who guided me through the shoals of running a minority party campaign, which I was forced to do by party rules. In a special election there are no primaries, so I had to petition onto the ballot as an independent candidate. To the nearly 700 signatories to my petition and to my friends who helped me get those signatures, I offer my humble thanks. Even
humbler I must be, to thank all my friends who contributed money to my campaign since the two-party system makes it impossible for a petitioning candidate to qualify for state funding. Printing ‘palm cards,’ mailers and producing lawn signs is a part of the political process and I salute the Alpha Graphics team in Stamford for their outstanding work. And thank you also to all those who in the election itself ignored the constraints of our two-party system and voted for the “petition candidate,” as I appeared on the ballot. I thank my opponents for the three lively debates we held and the organizers: respectively, My Voting Power (MVP), The League of Women Voters and The Round Hill Association.
The Fourth Estate should receive praise too for accurate reporting on the issues – and my name was misspelled only once! This entire effort was an exercise in small ‘d’ democracy. You seek public office with a purpose in mind and mine was to give regular voters a choice and I feel it was amply fulfilled. The people’s choice was Ryan Fazio and I congratulate him. “Democracy works, ok!” Finally, to all the voters of Greenwich and the 36th district, another political season is over, this time brief: thank you for putting up with all the lawn signs – they show our democracy is vibrant and for that we should all be grateful. John Blankley
Gevanter: My Commitment has Never Been Greater By Alexis Gevanter On behalf of my campaign for State Senate, I want to thank all of you who voted for me and volunteered by knocking on doors, making phone calls, writing letters to the editor, hosting a lawn sign, and spreading the word to your family, friends and neighbors. It has been a privilege to get to know all of you and I have been honored to have your support, energy and enthusiasm behind my candidacy for the past five weeks. I entered this race because Connecticut
is a great place to live, work and raise a family. I wanted to make it even better by doing what I have always done, which is to listen, bring people together to find common ground, and deliver results. We didn’t have much time to get our message out in this brief special election, but I am so proud of the campaign we built together and everything we accomplished. We knew from the very beginning that this was going to be a tough race, made even more difficult by the entry of a petition candidate and an August 17th election day. That we came as close as we
did to winning is a testament to all of you who worked so hard on our campaign. I want to congratulate Ryan Fazio on his election and wish him well. Despite the disappointing results, my commitment to the very values that make our community the thriving, inclusive, and caring place we are all proud to call home has never been greater. I encourage you to remain involved, hopeful, and determined to continue the work we started together to make our community and state even stronger. Alexis Gevanter
