The Ridgefield Press

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“I’m not going to throw away perfectly good rubber hands!” Bill Franzen, retiring Halloween maestro

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©Hersam Acorn Newspapers

Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

134th year, No. 43

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Voters get their say

Festival Saturday

Pomp for the pompion

Tuesday election has five contests by Macklin Reid Press Staff

by Kate Czaplinski Press Staff

R

ow upon row of orange jack-o-lanterns lining and covering the lawn of the Community Center, hand carved or decorated by children, adults and local merchants, is the picture Chamber of Commerce Director Marion Roth had in her mind when she started planning the first town pumpkin festival. The “Pompion Festival” will take place this Saturday, Oct. 31 — “pompion” is an old word for pumpkin. The festivities will include the Halloween walk in the morning — which closes Main Street for a couple hours — and the police party for kids at night. While there may not be enough pumpkins to cover the Community Center lawn this

See Pompion on page 15

This Weekend No surprise: Halloween dominates the weekend activities in Ridgefield. The Pompion Festival will offer a variety of activities in the village Saturday. This page. Halloween Walk Saturday morning will provide treats for kids. Page 1C. The Halloween Party, sponsored by police, will offer spooky fun Saturday night. Page 1C. A choral evensong for All Saints Day will be sung Sunday at St. Stephen’s. Page 5C. A Jewish-Christian dialogue will take place Sunday at First Congregational Church. Page 5C. How artists look at the world will be described Sunday at the library. Page 9A. Pete Yorn will be in concert at the Playhouse on Sunday. Page 2C.

Inside The Press Halloween events

For a rundown on Halloween events in town, see page 1C.

House sales up

Recent real estate activity has been on the upswing, says our columnist. Page 12C.

Future enrollments

How can the school board know what to expect five or more years from now? Page 3A.

Fall backward

Don’t forget to turn your clocks back one hour Saturday night; daylight saving time ends early Sunday morning.

Index After Dark....................2B Bill of Fairs ..................3B Bird Notes ...................5B Births ........................18C Bridge ..........................4B Business ................12-13C Classified .....................7B Community Center .......4C Crossword .................10B DateBook................. 2-4C Election .......... 4-5A,8-11C Entertainment .......... 2-4C Founders Hall ...............5C Giving Thanks .........16-17C Happenings .............8-10A History....................... 12A Legal Notices ..... 20A, 14C

Library .........................5C Obituaries .................. 14A Opinions ..........4-7A,8-11C On Exhibit ....................1B People .........................1C Playhouse ....................2C Police ........................ 10A Recreation news ........ 18C Reel Dad ......................4B Religion........................5C ROARings ...................18C Schools .................... 6-7C Sound of Music ............4B Sports .................. 16-19A Thrift Shop...................5C This Weekend ...............1B Weddings .....................1C

16 Bailey Avenue Ridgefield, CT 06877

(203) 438-6544 newsroom@acorn-online.com sports@acorn-online.com www.TheRidgefieldPress.com

Macklin Reid

Whoa! New Street’s Halloween maestro Bill Franzen eyed a rubber snake Sunday as he worked behind the hillbilly shack scene in the yard display that has grown progressively crazier over the years.

Boo on New!

For Bill Franzen, the final time to go crazy

G

by Macklin Reid Press Staff

uillotine Man’s headless vigil will end. Bird Cage Girl’s flightless wings will cease their mute testimony to the agony of confinement. The Dolls’ Tea Party will share its last mad cup. And the pirate crew will tend their smoking cannon on one last dark and scary night... Bill Franzen says this will be his last Halloween — his last, anyway, as master of madness, king of rubber-rat creepiness, lord of feigned mayhem and staged psychosis at Ridgefield’s most out-of-control, plain-damncrazy Halloween yard display. “It’s going to be my last big extravaganza — at this house,” he said. Mr. Franzen has been creating progres-

sively large, complex and bizarre Halloween displays at his home on New Street for 15 or 16 years. “When did I really start it?” he said. “I had two characters and some dry ice and a thunderstorm on a loop-tape. Then I started to have this witches’ pot, and severed heads...” He’s hoping to pass on his collection. “If other people in Ridgefield want to do a Halloween, I’d love to give them stuff,” he said. “I’m not going to throw away perfectly good rubber hands!” “If a certain neighborhood, or a couple of neighbors, or an enclave or a dead-end street, a few families were interested in throwing a good Halloween next year, I’d be glad to give them tubs of things, and just say ‘start early.’ ”

Heated school and finance board races top a ballot with five contests in next week’s municipal election. “It’s an opportunity for you to choose the people who handle the issues that affect everyday life,” said First Selectman Rudy Marconi, who isn’t on the ballot in a year with no selectmen’s races. Voting is next Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the three regular district polling stations: • District I, the south, at East Ridge Middle School; • District II, the north, at Scotts Ridge Middle School; • District III, central, at Yanity Gymnasium. People who’ll be out of town election day may cast absentee ballots at town hall from 8:30 to 4:30 today, Friday and Monday, or during Election inside the town clerk’s Ballot sample ............................ 20A special absen- Endorsement letters ...............8-11C tee voting hours Finance interview ........................9C Saturday morning Police interview ........................ 10C Press endorsements ................... 4A from 9 to noon. School interview, 4-year ..... Page 8C A week before the School interview, 2-year ..... Page 9C election, the regis- Why vote Republican................... 5A trars of voters said Why vote Democratic .................. 5A there were 16,107 Zoning appeals interview ............11C Ridgefielders eligible to cast ballots — 5,888 (37%) Republicans, 4,572 (28%) Democrats, 5,552 (34%) unaffiliated, and 95 (0.6%) members of smaller parties. Twenty-nine candidates are running for town offices, 17 of them in the five contested races. There are contests for finance board, four-year and two-year school board seats, Police Commission, and a two-year vacancy on the Zoning Board of Appeals. The election will again use the optical scan ballots on which voters color in ovals

See Halloween on page 11

See Election on back page

Lynch Brook rekindles deer debate by Kate Czaplinski Press Staff

Ridgefield’s overall count of deer killed since bow hunting opened this season is the highest in the state and while that may show some progress in deer management, the controlled town hunt is still raising objections from some Ridgefielders, specifically some residents living near the Lynch Brook Lane open space parcel, added to the hunt this year. The concerns prompted a letter from seven citizens to the Board of Selectmen. Controversy has followed the Lynch Brook Lane open space parcel for about a month. Selectman Barbara Manners strongly opposed adding the parcel to the hunt in September. The board’s majority decision to keep the parcel prompted Ms. Manners to consider resigning from the board — a decision she later withdrew. She has not, however, stopped being concerned about the Lynch Brook parcel and other parcels used for the hunt. Ms. Manners supports revisiting the town hunt issue, a possible ban on bow hunting, and allowing neighbors who live near hunted parcels to speak at public hearings. She wrote a letter to fellow board members Oct. 7 saying: “My distress over the extension of the hunt remains and I have found in recent weeks that a not insignificant number of people who supported the original vote to amend the ordinance to permit hunting for the purposes of deer management are now themselves alarmed by its widespread expansion.” In September, the board approved the Lynch Brook parcel contingent upon the Deer Committee contacting residents and getting a general consensus on the hunt there. Deer Committee Chair Tom Belote said residents were contacted and the majority agreed with the decision. Hunting See Deer on back page

Macklin Reid

Contract quarrel

School cafeteria workers protested in the rain Tuesday in front of school administration offices, frustrated by the pace of contract negotiations with their new employer, Chartwells. Story on page 2A.

Ethics board dismisses complaint, scores Cocco for partisan politics by Macklin Reid Press Staff

Unanimously dismissing all complaints against three town officials — John Palermo, Marty Heiser and Bob Cascella, all Republicans — the town Board of Ethics characterized Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Susan Cocco’s complaint against them as partisan politics. “...There is ample reason

to conclude that Ms. Cocco’s complaint is a transparent attempt to use this board for partisan political purposes shortly before a contested election,” the ethics board said in a written decision issued Friday. “I was completely exonerated,” said Mr. Palermo, a school board member. “...If you read the ethics report, they don’t think there’s any place for this.”

“After reading the response to the ethics complaint, it is about as overwhelming and complete a vindication of a false accusation that I’ve ever come across,” said Mr. Heiser, chairman of the finance board. “All you have to do is scratch the surface, here; erroneous charges filed by the chairman of the opposition party,” said See Ethics on page 13


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