www.towntimes.com
Volume 27, Number 5
Friday, January 29, 2021
Activists call for rebel flag ban By Nick Sambides Jr. Record-Journal staff
DURHAM — A local activist group is calling on the state’s largest agricultural fair to ban the sale or display of Confederate flags, calling it “a symbol to intimidate and promote a hate agenda.” The Middlefield-Durham Racial Justice Team wants the Durham Fair to ban displays of the rebel flag and other Confederate memorabilia by vendors, performers and exhibitors at the Durham Fair — not necessarily those attending the fair, which runs this year from Sept. 23-26. The team’s public letter, issued via its social media homepage on Jan. 12, represents an increase in pressure upon the fair since flag sales and appearances at the fair began commanding attention five years ago.
Students pictured with bags of litter they collected around campus. Penny Wickwire said the mess was “shocking.”
CRHS campus clean-up complete By Bronwyn Commins Special to Town Times
As we celebrate presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, the admiration of wisdom obtained in youth, and the promise of a changed world told in verse, let us not forget that we do not have to watch the news or travel to our nation’s capital to be inspired by what young people can do. As Coginchaug Regional High School student Amanda Kowalczyk said, “One simple positive action can change everything.”
Our district’s latest inspiration is “[T]he littering that was happening borne from a concern that many of us gave our school and students a bad have seen on social media: trash bereputation,” she said. ing discarded near the CRHS campus. Shane Fitzpatrick believes those sulDo not make the mistake of thinking lying the land are “disrespectful” and that all students are indifferent to the “irresponsible.” situation. Jenna Deponte has this take on the situation. “I think it has become such Penny Wickwire describes the “mess of garbage in and around the school a problem because people are in a parking lot” as “shocking.” hurry, and they think that one little piece of trash won’t harm anything,” Katelyn Grenier is concerned that the she said. problem goes beyond the trash that is left on the ground.
See Clean-up, A16
DURHAM MEADOWS SUPERFUND SITE
The group submitted a petition carrying 3,700 signatures seeking a flag ban in September and received no response from fair organizers, according to the letter.
New water supply expected by spring
Team member Paul Bergenholtz compared the flag to the swastika as a symbol whose meaning was initially positive, used by many groups including the Boy Scouts of America and some U.S. Army troops, before it was corrupted by Nazi Party members in 1920s Germany.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently presented an update on the Durham-Middletown water project, which will provide a new drinking supply for the residences and businesses within the Durham Meadows Superfund Site.
See Flag, A16
By Nadya Korytnikova Town Times
The Superfund Site encompasses an area along Route 17 in Durham and includes 54 properties. The EPA com-
pleted removal of contamination in the soil at the former Merriam Manufacturing Company in 2012. Since the project commenced in September 2019, almost 30,000 feet of water main has been installed along Talcott Lane, Maple Avenue, Maiden Lane and Pickett Lane in Durham. Only one short section of Maiden Lane remains incomplete. The clean water will be stored and brought from a 790,000-gallon water
tank in Middletown that is projected to be fully operational by September. “All dates are estimates,” said EPA Project Manager Edward Hathaway. “Work sequencing and the actual dates for activities might be earlier or later depending on the construction progress, unanticipated conditions and potential COVID-19 restrictions.” See Water, A12