9-18-2009TownTimes

Page 1

Only 7 more days to the Durham Fair!

Volume 16, Issue 23

Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall

Remembering friends and loved ones in a garden

Friday, September 18, 2009

Looking forward to ‘home for the fair’ By Kathy Meyering Special to the Town Times When I first moved to Middlefield in 1980, I had never heard of the Durham Fair. A year later, after working long but happy hours at our church grinder booth, I couldn’t believe anyone living within 20 miles of town could not have known about it.

Town Times photo by Sue VanDerzee

Several dozen library supporters and friends and relatives of the late Alma Hinman came out to celebrate her life and dedication to both gardening and the Durham Library at the Sept. 13 dedication of new landscaping at the front of the library. The project was started in memory of Alma, but grew to include gifts on behalf and in memory of many other local people. Seated at far right above is Lew Hinman, Alma’s husband. More on page 15.

Ethics Code gets public airing in Durham By Sue VanDerzee Town Times

It’s been three years since Durham voters approved a changed town charter. One facet of that changed charter was the establishment of a new commission – an Ethics Commission. The first job of the new Ethics Commission, which was appointed in 2008, was to develop a Code of Ethics for town employees, contractors and members of boards and commissions.

That code was the subject of a public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The questions in boxes in this story are the kinds of ques-

So what do you do when a resident offers you money to plow their end of the road first?

Can a contractor who does business for the town attend your wedding and write a check for $500 if you’re on the board that hired him? tions posed to the commission at the hearing by the dozen or so members of the public present. According to chair Bob Fulton, who ran the meeting, the commission first gathered examples and advice from CCM (Connecticut Council of Municipalities) and other small towns in the state who already had a Code of Ethics. Then they decided on four principles that would guide their construction of a code for Durham: 1. There should be no quid pro quo dealings by officials, employees, members of

boards and commissions or contractors who do business with the town. In other words, no “If I do this for you, you’ll do that for me.” 2. Officials, employees, commission/board members and contractors should not have any goods or services available to them by virtue of their positions that would not be available to random members of the public. For example, if the town were to

For the next 20-something years, my family’s last weekend of September was sacrosanct — those three days were saved for “the fair.” But as the kids grew up and moved on to college and beyond, our experience of fair days changed in concert with our lives. The fair no longer involves hiding from the mob behind various counters serving up fair food to friends and strangers alike. Now we walk among the crowd, scanning the sea of faces for familiar smiles and much-missed former

Durhamites and Middlefielders who have traveled miles to eat fried dough and sit on “the hill.” “Home for Christmas” is standard fare, but “home for the Durham Fair” is ours alone. With this in mind, I asked around to see which grown offspring were making the trek home this year. The person traveling the farthest by far is Ryan Mackey, formerly of Middlefield, who is flying halfway round the world to bring his Japanese girlfriend to town in time for the fair. His timing was related to airline prices and scheduling, but the fact his homecoming coincides with the fair weekend is a happy coincidence. “I was planning on coming back at Christmas time,” he said in an email, “but between the cheap tickets now, the fact that my girlfriend has

See Home, page 23

Remembering Sept. 11 in the rain

See Ethics, page 3

In this issue ... Calendar...........................4 Durham Briefs ..........14-15 Durham Fair .............19-26 Durham Fair map..........25 Middlefield Briefs .....12-13 Obituaries..................28-29 Sports .........................30-31

Town Times photos by Stephanie Wilcox

Karen Kean leads a remembrance on the Durham Green honoring the victims of 9-11. With her are Bill Currlin and Laura Francis. More photos on page 27.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.