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Earthbound Friday, January 18, 2013
Resident aims to organize formal ceremony in honor of Earth Day; pay tribute to the holiday’s founder By ERICA SCHMITT STAFF WRITER
One Newington resident is asking that the death of a noble peacemaker this past October doesn’t go unnoticed, and that town residents renew the sense of harmony they gained back on Feb. 25, 1997. That was the day when Newington became — and still remains — the only town in New England to be named an “Earth Trustee Town.” This designation was coined by the late John Saunders McConnell, the founder of Earth Day. McConnell chose longtime Newington resident Lila Wachtel as the Regional Manager of the Earth Trustee Commitment. Wachtel, 82, has been espousing and preaching the cause of environmentalism for many years. Her next mission is to have a formal ceremony organized for Earth Day this year, a tribute to McConnell, held at the State Capitol. “Very few people are visionaries in the way he was,” Wachtel said recently. “I think all the things he’s accomplished shouldn’t be forgotten. It was former Mayor Robert Randich who actually signed the proclamation designating the town with this honor — and responsibility. “I’d like people to be conscious of this and be proud of their town,” Wachtel said. “Newington could eventually be a role model for the high standards they maintain.”
An emergency moratorium is pending to block the eviction of six residents from the Hartford Regional Center on North Mountain Road, a dependent living facility run by the state Department of Social Services.
Families of Regional Center residents worry about facility’s fate By ERICA SCHMITT
Services that they have to leave. According to state officials, this It’s not like a foreclosure or an is because the home wasn’t running eviction, where people are being at full capacity. kicked out of their home because “That’s what happens in this they didn’t pay their bills or have See HARTFORD, Page 8 been trashing the place. This is different. Free Volume 53, No. 3 The six mentally-challenged people who reside in one of the homes at the Hartford Regional Center on North Mountain Road didn’t do anything wrong, but they’re being told by the State Department of Developmental STAFF WRITER
John Saunders McConnell, Earth Day founder, designated Newington resident Lila Wachtel as the regional manager of the Earth Trustee Commitment in 1997. On that day, Newington became — and remains — the only Earth Trustee town in New England.
Newington began an annual clean-up day every April the same year it became an Earth Trustee Town. Since then, the town has embraced many Earth Trustee principles and turned them into actions. This includes everything from a commitment to use all “green” cleaning products in Newington See RESIDENT, Page 9
INSIDE:
Residents warned Newington Fair center after rabid raccoon sold for $17.5M, Page 3 attack, Page 9 Town gun shop tightens assault rifle rules, Page 2
Officials announce 103-unit veterans housing facility, Page 4