Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Volume 16, Issue 44
A reporter’s notebook
Deal for Powder Ridge withdrawn By Sue VanDerzee The weather outside was blowing snow as Middlefield First Selectman Jon Brayshaw sat in the Town Times office and explained the proposal for Powder Ridge that would be presented at a public hearing next Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. in the Memorial School gym. Brayshaw kept cautioning, “Don’t forget; nobody has signed off on this,” as he explored the status of the deal “at this point in time.” Less than an hour after leaving our office, Brayshaw called back and said, “I just received a letter announcing the withdrawal of the proposal from Dan Frank. I’m sending it along.”
Friday, Februar y 12, 2010
Welcome, Winter Olympics!
While the snow continued to blow, the prospects of fun on Powder Ridge receded again. Before Wednesday afternoon, this was the deal: CDF and Associates, LLC, whose principal is Dan Frank, and Snow Time Inc., Frank’s partner for this deal, would be asked for $500,000 for the 113+/- acres of the ski area portion of the 250-acre total town-owned property at Powder Ridge. In light of a state economic development grant of $500,000 announced last week, the deal would hopefully have been structured as a one- or two-year lease with a deposit of $250,000 at the outset and then $50,000 a year for the next five years after Frank See Ridge, page 7
New friends
Korn School kicked off the Winter Olympics in a celebration that recognized the students who achieved the highest status in the STARR (Students Acting Respectfully and Responsibly) program. In honor of the Olympics, students earned bronze, silver or gold stars marking the points they acquired for doing good deeds. Above, Ms. Holland, P.E. and health teacher, stands with some of the gold star students. See Photo by Kim Aparo more pictures and information on page 5.
Emergency notification system reduced 911 calls after energy plant blast By Stephanie Wilcox Town Times Shortly after the explosion occurred at the Kleen Energy
In this issue ...
Dr. Brad Wilkinson of Durham with a new friend from the batays of the Dominican Republic. See story on page 6 and more photos at www.towntimes.com.
Calendar............................4 Durham Briefs ...........15-16 Middlefield Briefs ......13-14 Obituary..........................22 Puzzles....................16 & 25 Sports..........................23-26 Valentine’s Day.......10-11, 27
plant in Middletown Sunday, Feb. 7, a notification was sent to Durham residents via the Emergency Notification System announcing that the town was not in danger. At the Feb. 8 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, First Selectman Laura Francis and emergency management director Francis Willett proudly announced that the system was successful in that residents were notified even before the news was broadcast — early enough so that the number of calls to 911 and the firehouse
were significantly reduced. Francis was pleased also to receive phone calls and emails from residents after the fact who were thankful for the immediate notification. In terms of the explosion itself, Francis reported that one unit from Durham Fire Company was deployed to South District in Middletown who then deployed them to the scene. Plans for Activity Center While working on the 2010 See BOS, page 15