Volume 17, Issue 28
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Another political forum for the community By Cheri Kelley Town Times The Durham Firehouse was buzzing on Thursday, Oct. 14. A large crowd came for the election candidate forum sponsored by the Durham/Middlefield Exchange Club, yet another chance for the candidates to reach out and get to know the voters and for the voters to have a chance to ask questions. Senatorial candidates for District 12, which includes Durham, and candidates running for the State House of Representatives for the 100th District, which includes Durham, Middlefield, and Rockfall, were participating in the presentation. Each candidate was given five minutes to speak, and there were question and answer session after both the State Senate and House of Representatives portion. Lisa Davenport (R), the challenger for State Senate District 12, started by talking about her background of growing up in Durham, her business experience, community volunteerism and
family. Davenport discussed two major issues in the state of Connecticut: the deficit and job loss. She talked about unemployment being at 9.1 percent and stated, “Political classes failed us.” She went on to say that the youth of Connecticut are growing up, moving out and not coming back, which she considers a major loss for the state. Davenport commented on her strengths as a business owner; She knows how to work on a budget and feels that it is extremely important to make Connecticut more attractive to businesses. Ed Meyer (D), the State Senate incumbent for District 12, introduced himself and spoke of his time working as a federal prosecutor, and how he later became Senator in 2004. Meyer talks about the two main reasons he is looking to be re-elected. Meyers says, “The first is the challenge of downsizing the government to make it more effective, and the other is to help create jobs.” He feels that the state has been
Friday, October 22, 2010
Grand openings and dedications Right, former D13 Superintendent Bill Breck at the dedication of the Strong School library in his name, Sunday. Below, skateboarders at the new skate park’s grand opening Saturday. Story on page 3. Photos by Karen Kean and Cheri Kelley
See Forum, page 10
Middlefield selectmen talk pumpkins, parks and Powder Ridge By Cheri Kelley Town Times An e-mail concerning “bleak” initial budget indications from Joseph Geruch, Middlefield’s finance director, was read into the record during the Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on Oct.20. In this e-mail Geruch urges all members of town government and employees to, “Make ‘Value Judgment’ decisions when considering and approving expenditures,
keeping in mind we have a limited amount of only 2,000 taxpayers. The impact on the individual taxpayer should become a component of all decisions made.” He speaks of the loss of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds and says those losses combined with the “stagnation of state funds will more than offset any cost saving efforts in the upcoming year.” During public comment, Marianne Corona encour-
aged the BOS to sit down with the Board of Education(BOE) as she said, “The BOE doesn’t think about future costs.” Durham-Middlefield Interlocal Agreement Advisory Board DMIAAB met with a guest from Cheshire who spoke about what the town of Cheshire has gone through with their recycling program. First Selectman Jon Brayshaw said the AD-HOC committee had about a
month of a learning curve and are now “into the meat and potatoes.” Powder Ridge update Attorney Corona and Brayshaw met with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to discuss the diversion permit. Brayshaw thought the DEP was cooperative. They discussed the fact that the buyer is not going to wait a year for the permit paperwork to go through. Brayshaw was very optomistic and ques-
tioned if it was possible for the new buyer to use Middlefield’s permit temporarily in order to expedite it.
See BOS, page 3
In this issue ... Calendar............................4 Durham Briefs................17 Middlefield Briefs...........18 Sports ..........................29-31 Election question......11-15