www.towntimes.com
Volume 26, Number 35
Friday, November 27, 2020
$1M sidewalk project planned By Nadya Korytnikova Town Times
Traveling along Main Street in Durham will soon become a bit easier.
The contentious 2020 election ended with Joe Biden defeating President Donald Trump. While the election is over, for many in our deeply polarized country, bitter feelings remain. Pictured: Durham resident Tracy Ogrodnik said two of her Trump signs were vandalized in the lead-up to the Nov. 3 election.
The election’s over, but not the fighting By Nadya Korytnikova Town Times
The morning of the Nov. 3 election, the United States Postal Service disclosed that more than 300,000 mail-in ballots nationwide had not been scanned. Many on social media were rightfully alarmed by this news, believing it meant the ballots had gone missing. But did they?
“The assumption that there are unaccounted ballots within the Postal Service network is inaccurate,” the USPS said in a press release. “These ballots were delivered in advance of the election deadlines. We employed extraordinary measures to deliver ballots directly to local boards of elections. When this occurs, by design, these ballots bypass certain processing operations and do not receive a final scan. Instead, they are expedited directly to the boards of elections.”
Town officials and environmental engineering firm Nathan L. Jacobson & Associates met recently to discuss an upcoming sidewalk project which will “promote safe, healthy, enjoyable nonmotorized transportation options for the town residents,” according to the Durham First Selectman Laura Francis.
New grassed sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, street lights, and bike lanes will be added from 6 Main St. (intersection of Main Street and Route 79) to 360 Main St. (intersection of Main Street and Haddam Quarter Road). Each sidewalk will be fivefeet-wide, according to Aaron Mortensen, an environmental engineer from Nathan L. Jacobson & Associates. The estimated cost for the project, based on quotes from Nathan L. Jacobson & Associates, is about
$1,134,000. Part of it will be covered by a $400,000 Connectivity Grant the town received in 2019, and the balance will come from a LOTCIP grant administered through the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments which will be available in 2023. An undetermined number of trees will be removed during the construction process, although Mortensen said he will “keep as many of them as possible.” See Sidewalk, A6
Rumors regarding mail-in ballots have swirled since that voting option propelled Joe Biden to victory over Donald Trump. The President himself has said the election was stolen from him. Southington resident Alexandra Anderson said she “always fully trusted the election results until this year.” “There is a huge uncertainty in what actually happened. We really don’t have confidence in how the ballots were processed,” Anderson said.
Pandemic won’t stop food drive
Her husband, Mark Anderson, echoed that.
By Bronwyn Commins Special to Town Times
“The faith in the election system has been completely lost,” he said. “The election outcome cannot be decided by the media, it has to be decided by the legal electoral process.” Durham resident Matthew Pepe believes that different states having different voter identification See Election, A7
A trailer packed with goods is pictured during a past Community Round-Up. This year’s local food drive, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5, will be drop-off style.
The name is different, but the objective is the same: Bringing the community together to collect food for those in need during the holidays. Bringing people together to support their neighbors. Bringing people together? This is 2020, remember? We are supposed to be six feet apart, masked, steering clear of gatherings. Well, RSD13 social worker Kathy Bottini, pioneer of what was previously-known-as the Community Round-Up, is not going to let a
pandemic stop her from helping people and honoring the spirit of the community. With the pandemic in mind, this year, the roundup morped into the Community Drop-Off, and will be held Saturday, Dec. 5. Bottini and her team have worked tirelessly to guarantee that the collection continues. While teams of students and parents can no longer gather in cars, drop food off in a crowded gym, and support groups of volunteers who are boxing up non-perishable items for delivery, the dedication to community remains unchanged. See Drive, A6