Towns like solar, concerned about cost

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 31, 2008

With a task force’s recent recommendation that the Guilford school district build a new high school and eventually replace Elisabeth C. Adams Middle School, the town could be facing hundreds of millions of dollars in construction in coming years.

And with town residents footing much of the bill, every dollar counts. That fact can make it difficult for towns to go forward with projects that have alternative energy systems, which include significant up-front costs.

But with energy prices making a larger dent in town budgets, alternative energy is figuring more prominently in discussions for new building projects and retrofitting existing facilities. The state’s Clean Energy Fund offers incentives that can cover up to half the cost of purchasing and installing solar power systems, and officials said they are seeing more towns taking advantage of the assistance.

Guilford Board of Education Chairman William Bloss said energy efficiency has been an important part of discussions about the possible replacement or renovation of the high school and middle school.

“Everyone understands the problem of the large up-front costs versus the long-term savings,” Bloss said. “It depends on whether we’re as a community and as a society going to look at the future in one-year slices, or are we going to look at it in decades-long slices, and long-term planning requires a recognition that there is something beyond 2009.”

As the Board of Education prepares for a decision on how to proceed — which it is scheduled to make Sept. 15 — members have been holding item-by-item discussions on how to prioritize resources. The project will eventually go before voters as a bond resolution.

“I’m sure there are people who would be much more likely to support a project if it was green and there are some people who couldn’t care less probably, they just want a decent room and the green aspects of it are not that important,” Bloss said. “Ultimately what happens is going to be the will of the people, so I guess we’ll find out how important it is.”

A recent policy from the Board of Selectmen requires town agencies and commissions to consider green building for new projects. The policy, passed this month, “endorses the principle that long-term cost/benefit considerations shall be considered over short-term budgetary goals in municipal decision-making” and directs officials to include energy efficiency and renewable energy measures in their planning.

North Branford Town Manager Richard Branigan said it seems that such measures have become increasingly important in the past year. While the plans for the renovate-as-new project at North Branford Intermediate School, which is under construction, do not include renewable energy sources, Branigan said the town is seriously considering solar and geothermal energy for replacing Atwater Memorial Library, scheduled to begin next spring.

Branigan said that incentives from the state, as well as the United Illuminating Co., may make it economically feasible to pursue alternative energy sources.

“Energy costs in general have skyrocketed over the last year or so beyond what people would have predicted safely a couple of years ago, so there’s definitely an incentive to look at it now more than a couple of years ago,” he said.

But the Town Council, while directing the architects to look into alternative-energy options, has stressed the importance of sticking to the project’s $4.7 million budget. The town is rebuilding Edward Smith Library in Northford, which does not use alternative energy.

“That is the challenge to try and keep it within the budget and to look at the alternatives, and there isn’t a lot of money to go around for these types of things,” he said. “Fortunately, for solar at least, there are some funds available at the state level and between that and the incentives potentially that may be offered by UI, it may make it worth our while to go forward with it.”

Branigan said that, based on early estimates, the up-front costs of the renewable energy sources could take anywhere from two to 10 years to pay back the investment.

Bob Wall, director of energy market initiatives with the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, said that many schools are now installing solar panels on existing buildings. The Clean Energy Fund, which was set up by the General Assembly, can cover about 50 percent of the cost of such projects.

Wall said that solar panels typically cost from $7,000 to $8,500 per kilowatt, depending on the size of the project. For a school’s energy needs, that can translate to an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“A typical commercial user might not get payback for nine to 12 years or so, but by combining our incentives with the Department of Education (which also offers some incentives), you can really reduce that to something in the three to seven years or less,” he said.

He added that 83 out of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns are now participating in the fund’s Clean Energy Communities program, meaning that they have made a pledge to obtain at least 20 percent of their electricity from “clean, renewable sources” by 2010. In addition, starting in January, any school project receiving money from the state will need to conform to certain energy efficiency standards.

“We certainly live in a time where energy costs are putting a lot of pressure on municipal governments,” he said. “It may be that there are some districts that decide that this is unfortunately not an option they can pursue at this time, but those taking a longer view recognize this is an important symbol of a school’s commitment to sustainability. ... Ultimately we’d like to see all the new school construction have at least some renewable systems.”

Dems loving some Langston Hughes

I was pretty (dorkishly) excited by all the references to "A Dream Deferred" at the DNC this week - Obama's Thursday night was the third I saw just during the prime-time speeches. It's funny because all through this election I've kept thinking of another Hughes poem, which I find even more heartbreaking than the more famous one:

"Children's Rhymes"

By what sends
The white kids
I ain't sent:
I know I can't
Be President.
What don't bug
Them white kids
Sure bugs me:
We know everybody
Ain't free.

Lies written down
For white folks
Ain't for us a-tall:
Liberty And Justice;
Huh! For All?

Police probing man's death in Old Saybrook

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 28, 2008

OLD SAYBROOK — Police Wednesday were continuing to investigate the death of a man found in a Bliss Street home Tuesday, although the chief medical examiner’s office has found the man died of natural causes.

The police department received a call at about 2 p.m. Tuesday about an unconscious and unresponsive person in a house at 14 Bliss St., near the Old Saybrook shoreline, Deputy Chief Michael Spera said. Officers found Pelino Diloreto, 73, dead.

Police ruled the death as untimely and suspicious, and put out a request to other police departments for assistance in locating the man’s car, a tan Honda from the late 1980s. The car was found Tuesday night.

Spera said he could not release details of why the incident aroused suspicion or whether anyone else was in the home at the time. He said that Diloreto, of Wethersfield, was visiting his sister in Old Saybrook.

Diloreto died of heart disease, according to a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office. “The state medical examiner’s office has ruled the death natural, however the investigation remains open and active,” Spera said. State police assisted in the investigation, he added.

Business owners buck Guilford's sign regulation revisions

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 27, 2008

GUILFORD — A plan to revise the town’s sign regulations that has raised concerns among some business owners will be tabled for further study and changes, the Planning and Zoning Commission said this week.

The draft rules would have limited the amount of window space businesses could cover with signs and require them to switch off many lighted signs at night.

Chairwoman Shirley Girioni said the proposals, along with new rules for temporary signs, will be further scrutinized in coming months.

A public hearing Monday was the third on the topic this summer. A Sign Review Committee and town staff have been working to revise the current sign regulations for more than two years.

Several business owners said at the hearing that they think the town should be supporting local businesses in a time of economic hardship. In particular, they worried that the proposed regulations — especially the rules for lighted signs and the elimination of many temporary signs — would make it more difficult for customers to locate their businesses.

One of the draft rules would require that shopping plazas replace freestanding temporary signs with a permanently affixed holder. Dale Lehman, the executive director of the Guilford Chamber of Commerce, suggested that the commission implement a “phase-out” process for the temporary signs.

“I think a lot of the fear with the tenants of these plazas is that it’s going to be all or nothing, and they’re going to have to wait until the landlords build the permanent temporary-sign holders,” Lehman said.

Randy Kaoud, the owner of Kaoud Brothers Oriental Rugs on Route 1, said he thinks a distinction should be made between the commercialized thoroughfare and other areas of town.

“I see separate and distinct trading areas,” he said. “The Post Road is a tax workhorse for the town, and we can’t see the logic of shutting the lights partially when other signs will stay on sometimes all night.”

Tony Fappiano, a Guilford real estate agent, said he disagrees with the draft provisions that would regulate signage inside of stores that can be seen from the street.

“This really becomes an infringement on the ability of the tenant who’s paying rent in the space to use all the space,” he said.

No one in the audience at the hearing spoke in favor of the regulations, but Girioni read two letters into the record expressing support, one from a town resident, and one from the Guilford Preservation Alliance.

Girioni and other commissioners said that one of the main questions they will have to answer is whether they want to regulate the interior of businesses and what owners can put in their windows. The draft regulations would extend the definition of sign to include writing visible from the street and require that only 25 percent of a window’s glass area be covered with signs.

The commission unanimously voted to have the Zoning Committee, a subcommittee of the main body, continue studying the regulations.

“I don’t think the motivation of the Sign Review (Committee) was necessarily misplaced when it said we don’t want to have a Post Road that’s lit up so you can see it from space,” Commissioner David Grigsby said.

Commissioner Robert Richard also said he thinks the draft regulations have good components.

“I don’t know what to do to keep the business people, but also keep what I feel to be the character of Guilford,” he said.

The Zoning Committee and members of the Planning Department will now revise the proposed regulations, after which there will be another round of public hearings.

“This is going to take another two years,” Girioni said. “I can tell.”

Orchard cultivating wind turbine

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 25, 2008

GUILFORD — The town’s first wind turbine could be coming to one of its best known businesses.

The owners of Bishop’s Orchards are researching the feasibility of installing a wind turbine in their orchards off Long Hill Road. The Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved the company’s request to install a temporary, 197-foot-tall tower to measure wind at the site.

The temporary tower, which could stand for up to 18 months, is a necessary first step before installing a wind turbine, Bill Green of Green Machine Bio told the commission. The steel structure will taper from 10 inches in diameter at the base to about 8 inches at the top, and have a series of cables extending from its sides to the ground.

“It really would be set into the property quite a way, so it’s really not going to affect (views),” Green said.

The tower will measure the speed and direction of the wind in that location to see if a wind turbine would generate enough power, Green said.

Jonathan Bishop, co-owner of Bishop’s Orchards and a member of the commission, did not participate in the discussion or decision. Bishop said that the plan, if the conditions are appropriate, is to install a single turbine and continue farming on the land around it.

“What we’re looking to do right now is not looking at a wind farm, although not ruling that out down the road,” he said. “If it was feasible and it worked out well and there wasn’t a lot of uproar in the community about it, we have other sites that might also lend themselves to wind, but that’s not anything that we’ve done any planning for or have in the works.”

With rising energy costs, the farm’s owners have been looking into alternative energy sources for several months, Bishop said. They researched solar power but found that the roof of the farmer’s market was not appropriate for solar panels.

The company currently purchases 750,000 kilowatts of energy per year — at a cost of about $150,000 to $200,000 — and the turbine could cover all of that need. Bishop said it is not clear what size turbine would be necessary, but he has been told it could cost between $1.5 million and $2 million.

He added that he is hoping the temporary tower will be up in the next few weeks, but it would be at least two years before a permanent facility would be in place.

“With where the power costs and everything seem to be going, it seemed like it was maybe a good time to start,” he said. “It’s a fairly long process, so we’ve got probably almost a year of data collection to assess the feasibility.”

Bishop’s currently uses biodiesel in its farm equipment, but otherwise this is its first foray into alternative energy.

Town planners are now moving to set up its first regulations for wind turbines.

Town Planner George Kral said at the meeting that the state Siting Council regulates wind turbines above a certain size, but this plan would probably fall under that threshold, making it the town’s responsibility to regulate.

Kral said the Planning Department will consult regulations in other states and towns and most likely create a special permit process to deal with wind turbines. He added that the commission’s decision this week to allow the temporary tower will not affect future decisions.

“This should not imply any kind of predisposition to approve a permanent facility,” he said.

Commissioner David Grigsby said he thinks the public should have a say in the process.

“I feel like this is a brave new world and I’d like more input than the several of us,” Grigsby said.

“I think it’s a laudable goal. I think there are just lots of people that have strong opinions about tall structures that impede view sheds.”

Blumenthal tells feds: Plum Island wrong site

Aug. 22, 2008
By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has filed a formal opposition to a possible expansion of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, saying the facility poses “monstrous risks.”

The comments refer to a draft environmental impact statement for the site prepared by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that analyzes the feasibility and effect of building the proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in one of six locations nationwide.

Plum Island, in Long Island Sound, now handles biosafety level 3 work, which deals with diseases that affect animals, such as foot-and-mouth disease. It is the only facility of its kind in the country. The new facility would be designed to handle biosafety level 4, including diseases that can move from animals to humans.

The other five sites under consideration are Athens, Ga.; Manhattan, Kan.; Flora, Miss.; Butner, N.C.; and San Antonio.

Plum Island is off the eastern tip of the north fork of Long Island, N.Y., about 10 miles from Connecticut.

Blumenthal said the environmental impact statement “fails to fully consider” several factors, including the island’s proximity to New York City, the nuclear submarine base in Groton and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London. It also does not address the security risks of an island and difficulty for emergency responders, he said.

“Other proposed sites are so clearly preferable in terms of environmental or security standards,” he said. “The law requires that feasible alternatives be chosen when they do less damage to environmental resources, particularly when those environmental concerns are linked to security and public safety issues.”

Blumenthal called for Plum Island to be withdrawn immediately from consideration for the facility. All of the sites under consideration applied to be part of the process, although Plum Island is the only one with an existing center.

According to the Homeland Security Department, the new facility would have “the latest advances in security and technology,” including electronic access control, the purification of all water and air leaving the building and the use of full-body air-supply suits for researchers handling level 4 materials. Animals used in the laboratories would not be kept outside or have contact with other animals in the area, according to the department.

The final environmental impact statements will include potential disaster scenarios and risk assessments, according to a spokeswoman for the department. The government plans to make a decision on the location by the end of this year. Right now, the department does not have a preferred site, according to the spokeswoman.

Community input will play a role in the decision, and residents have until Monday to file comments. The draft environmental impact statements are online at www.dhs.gov/nbaf.

Blumenthal said he is talking to officials in New York state and members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation about opposing the plan.

5 charged in armed robbery outside home

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 22, 2008

NORTH BRANFORD — Five people are under arrest following an armed robbery in front of a Sea Hill Road home Wednesday night.

Later that night, police dogs from the West Haven and East Haven police departments and state police helped to locate the gun believed used in the crime, police said.

Police received a call at about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday from a man saying two people held him up at gunpoint and stole $500. Five people left the scene in a vehicle together, he said.

The Police Department did not identify the alleged victim.

According to police, Christopher Spellen, 20, and James Rusnack, 19, both of New Haven, approached the man in front of a house where he was staying and demanded money. Rusnack allegedly threatened the man with a gun while three other people waited in a car.

The man was “known to carry a large amount of money,” police said, not elaborating on the reason for that.

Shortly after the 911 call, North Branford Officer Sean Anderson saw a car on Route 80 that matched the description the man gave police. After Anderson stopped the car, one of the occupants said they had thrown the gun out the window while driving, according to police.

K-9 units from the three other departments assisted North Branford in the search, and West Haven Officer Matthew Haynes and his dog, Tex, found the gun along Route 80, police said.

Police arrested all five occupants of the vehicle.

Spellen and Rusnack were charged with one count each of carrying a gun without a permit, fourth-degree larceny, first-degree robbery, fourth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny and first-degree conspiracy to commit robbery.

Rusnack allegedly took the gun used in the crime from his brother-in-law’s East Haven home, according to police.

The two men were arraigned Thursday and were being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, police said.

John Kennedy, 23, Bonnie Colburn, 18, both of Branford, and a 17-year-old from New Haven each face charges of second-degree breach of peace, fourth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny and first-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, according to police.

Colburn was driving the car involved, according to police. Kennedy, Colburn and the teen were released on $5,000 bond and are due in court Sept. 2, according to police.

Burglary suspect left his calling card behind

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 21, 2008

NORTH BRANFORD — The second suspect in the burglary of a retired police chief’s house was caught after police said the suspect left behind a briefcase containing his and his parole officer’s business cards.

Joseph Anastasio, 31, of East Haven faces a variety of burglary and larceny charges related to a break-in last week at the home of retired Groton, Mass., Police Chief Robert Mulhern.

Anastasio’s cousin, Michael Anastasio, 20, was charged last week for his alleged role in the same crime.

Mulhern’s wife, Ruth, said last week she returned home Aug. 12 to find a gray truck parked in her Mill Road driveway. A man, who police later identified as Michael Anastasio, approached her from around the side of the house and said he was “measuring or surveying” the property.

As Mulhern went inside to call police, the man drove off in the truck. She was able to record the license plate number.

Police said Michael Anastasio had warned his cousin, who was inside the house, by walkie-talkie that Mulhern had returned home. Joseph Anastasio then left by a rear door and dumped a safe he was attempting to steal in the backyard, according to police.

The safe, which was attached to a shelf, contained cash, police badges and a handgun. Police found the safe after Mulhern called 911. They also found a briefcase containing a measuring tape and the two business cards near a window they believe was used to enter the house.

Both cousins have now been charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief, third-degree larceny, theft of a firearm, third-degree conspiracy to commit burglary and third-degree conspiracy to commit larceny. Michael Anastasio was released on $100,000 bail and is next due in court Wednesday, according to police.

Joseph Anastasio was arraigned Wednesday morning and also had his bail set at $100,000, but is being held on a parole violation, North Branford police said. He has been arrested 13 times in the past for burglary and larceny, according to police.

High school fitness center takes step forward

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 21, 2008

GUILFORD — The Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday night approved one step in the process toward building a new fitness center at Guilford High School.

A group of parents is working to convert an old portable classroom at the school into a new weight room. The outbuilding is used for storage for the theater department, and space for some maintenance staff.

Cliff Gurnham, the school district’s facilities director, told the Planning and Zoning Commission that the plan is to move the maintenance space to a new 500-square-foot storage shed near the high school’s science wing.

“We couldn’t find any more space in the building,” Gurnham said.

He noted that the storage shed will be installed with a foundation and drainage, but could be moved in the future.

The Board of Education is discussing whether to renovate or replace Guilford High School.

“The hope is that later if something happens at that site, we can pick (the shed) up and move it,” he said.

The commission unanimously approved the application. The parents involved, who are donating their time, have already begun cleaning out the portable classroom and plan to install tens of thousands of dollars worth of fitness equipment.

The theater storage in the building will be accommodated in new lockers inside the high school.

Also at Wednesday’s regular meeting, the commission approved two changes to the site plan for Guilford Commons, the approved shopping center development on the “rock pile” site.

The controversial development is under construction at 1919 Boston Post Road.

John Knuff, an attorney for the developers, said that the two “very minor modifications” involve reconfiguring space in some of the buildings and adding two kiosks that would include information about other Guilford businesses.

“That kiosk will, as you enter the site, have just a way-finding sign for our own development, but on the back side, so as people leave, it will have information about downtown merchants,” Knuff said. “It would encourage and direct people who visit Guilford Commons to also visit merchants on the Green.”

The changes to the buildings were the result of a new plan for relocating a cell tower on the site, and do not affect the approved total square footage.

The revision to the site plan involved moving square footage from the second floor of a building and mezzanines of two other buildings to the first floor of the building. The commission approved the original site plan in January.

“We found a location (for the cell tower) in very close proximity to the existing tower,” Knuff said. “It will have no visual change to anybody.”

Now open for commenting

It's kind of exciting to see the commenting feature starting to take off on the Register's Web site, even though we are so depressingly behind the curve in terms of Web-based news. And the comments on a story this week about a prostitution sting - in which we, amazingly, did the police department's bidding and ran the names and photos of 12 men charged with patronizing a prostitute, a misdemeanor - actually included a viable debate on the issue. I've never been able to totally figure out my feelings on how papers report on crimes in general, but I definitely draw the line at front-page stories about a misdemeanor crime. There's always a balance between what's news and what's mere sensationalism - and how we report the news without violating the "innocent until proven guilty" principle - and this one jumped right over that line. By comparison, the New Haven Independent covered the story without the names and photos. As one commenter said, albeit ungrammatically, "prostitution is the least of new havens worries."

Working Families Party cross-endorses Shays opponent

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 17, 2008

WALLINGFORD — With the national party conventions and Election Day fast approaching, much of the political focus has been on the divisions between the two major parties.

But in Connecticut, the small Working Families Party is continuing to make inroads in local politics. On Saturday, the group held its own convention at the Carpenters Local 24 Hall in Wallingford.

The event included elected officials from the Working Families Party — which now holds two of Hartford’s nine City Council seats — and Democrats whom the party has endorsed in the November races.

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5, and Jim Himes, who is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays in the fourth Congressional district, both addressed the group, saying that they support its goals of affordable health care, good public education and well-paying jobs.

The party has cross-endorsed Murphy, Himes and many other candidates, whose names will appear twice on each ballot — once for one of the two major parties and once on the Working Family Parties line.

Murphy said the party “is about returning power to the people.”

“We have everything in front of us this year. We have the ability to grow not just our majorities in the House and Senate ... (but) we have the ability to grow our progressive majorities in the House and Senate,” he said. “We have the chance to get a president who’s going to work with us on the issues.”

Himes, who will face incumbent Shays in November, said the goals of the party represent those of the American dream. The race in the fourth district is expected to be a close one, as Shays narrowly won re-election two years ago.

“I have been a Democrat all my life but for me this race goes beyond that old fight between the Democrats and Republicans,” Himes said.

He added: “We will go (to Washington) to fight for the things that are so important to working families.”

Hartford City Councilman Luis Cotto said that having two members of the Working Families Party on the council has allowed them to raise questions that might not have been addressed otherwise.

“With the two of us, it’s just so much more potent on a City Council of nine people because of the ability to second a motion,” Cotto said. “I’m even just as proud of the votes that we’ve lost as the votes that we’ve won because it shows where we’re coming from.”

Organizers also read a letter from Attorney General Richard Blumenthal expressing his support for the coalition.

The party’s last convention was in 2006, Communications Director Joe Dinkin said. This November, he said, the Working Families Party will appear on every ballot in the state for the first time.

Two candidates are running as Working Families candidates, but for the most part the group has endorsed people running with other parties.

“Running Working Families Party candidates is really the exception and not the rule,” Dinkin said. “The core of the strategy is to do our best to help candidates, predominately Democrats, but to help candidates that are with us on core economic justice issues like affordable health care and living wage jobs.”

Blumenthal to fight Plum Island upgrade

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 16, 2008

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal plans to formally oppose a possible upgrade of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center that could include work with dangerous animal and human pathogens.

Blumenthal said his office will file comments next week with the federal Department of Homeland Security, which operates the center and would build the new $450 million facility, saying that the new National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility should not be located on Plum Island.

The island is one of six sites in contention to be the location of the new facility.

“We have very serious concerns about the potentially huge environmental impact in an area that is densely populated, heavily used for recreational purposes as well as commercial navigation, and possibly a very vulnerable terrorist target,” Blumenthal said. “Our concerns are about leaks from the facility if it goes to a threat level that involves animal diseases transmitted from animal to humans that have no known cures or vaccines.”

Blumenthal is calling on Connecticut and New York officials to work together against the facility, as they did in opposing Broadwater Energy’s proposed liquefied natural gas facility. Plum Island, which is in New York waters, lies in Long Island Sound about 10 miles off the Connecticut shoreline and just off Orient Point on the north fork of Long Island.

“We’re going to seek to coordinate with New York because obviously they have a stake in this as much as we do,” he said, adding that his staff has had some preliminary discussions with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office.

Plum Island is the location of the country’s only major facility for studying contagious animal pathogens like foot and mouth disease. The 50-year-old center is “nearing the end of its life cycle,” according to Homeland Security, and the department is planning to replace it with the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility that may or may not be on Plum Island.

As part of the upgrade, the government plans to add the capacity for Biolevel Safety 4 research, which would allow scientists to study diseases that can transfer from animals to humans. Right now, Plum Island handles only Biolevel 3 diseases, those that affect animals.

Level 4 diseases include “dangerous and exotic agents that pose a high individual risk of aerosol-transmitted laboratory infections and life-threatening disease,” according to the department.

Five locations on the U.S. mainland are also in the running to be the site of the new facility, which would not be operational until 2015. They are Athens, Ga.; Manhattan, Kan.; Flora, Miss.; Butner, N.C., and San Antonio, Texas. DHS is planning to make a final decision on the location by the end of this year.

Some Connecticut residents became concerned this week after an informational session in Old Saybrook. Nancy and James Czarzasty of Old Saybrook contacted Gov. M. Jodi Rell and U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., asking for their input on the project.

In some states being considered for the facility, officials like Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius have expressed support for the project, according to local news reports. Each of the sites in contention applied to build the facility.

However, some federal lawmakers have raised concerns about the selection of the Mississippi site as a finalist, citing government scientist reports that ranked it almost at the bottom of a list of more than a dozen candidates, according to the Associate Press. That has led to charges that Homeland Security has politicized the process.

Department Spokesman Russ Knocke said that no decisions have been made on the location of the new facility or “whether to build one at all.”

“It’s not been ruled out, but Plum at present is really not capable of making that transition to a Level 4,” Knocke said.

The department recently released draft environmental impact statements for each of the locations, which residents can submit comments on until Aug. 25. Blumenthal’s comments will be a formal response to the statement for the Plum Island location.

Blumenthal said that, if necessary, he will file a lawsuit to block the new facility.

“The decision-making process seems very much in flux, so we’re hopeful that our comments will have an impact,” he said. “I am always open to new information or facts but the present plans for research ... seem better located elsewhere.”

DNA links driver to N. Branford break-in

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 15, 2008

NORTH BRANFORD — DNA evidence has linked the driver in a high-speed chase in Clinton to a 5-year-old convenience store break-in on Route 80, police said.

Detective Sgt. Ken McNamara said David Schoendorf, 33, of East Haven, was arrested Thursday and charged with third-degree burglary and third-degree larceny.

Police said Schoendorf crashed a stolen Jeep Cherokee into the front of the Cumberland Farms on Route 80 early in the morning of Aug. 17, 2003. He then filled a trash can with cartons of cigarettes and drove away, police said.

The statute of limitations for the crime would have run out in three days, McNamara said.

“We would have had to arrest him before the 17th, so we just got him in,” he said.

When investigating the crime five years ago, McNamara and Detective Ron Onofrio found a red Jeep with front-end damage matching the description of the car involved parked in New Haven.

The car had been stolen in East Haven, according to police, and the detectives found blood on the driver’s seat and door.

McNamara took a DNA sample and sent it to the State Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Meriden, where it remained on file.

McNamara said they suspected Schoendorf at the time, but were not able to solve the case.

The Jeep was found parked in front of a pawnshop owned by Schoendorf’s father, he said.

In May, Clinton police arrested Schoendorf after a high-speed chase that began on Interstate 95 and ended when he crashed his car at the Route 80/81 traffic circle in Killingworth. During the incident, he allegedly rammed two police cruisers, injuring an officer.

Police found cartons of cigarettes in his car that may have been taken in another burglary.

Schoendorf faces several charges in that incident as well as larceny charges from Orange and North Haven police, according to court records.

McNamara said North Branford police received a letter in June from state police saying Schoendorf’s DNA — obtained after his Clinton arrest — matched the 2003 sample.

Onofrio obtained a search warrant to confirm the DNA match, and North Branford police charged him Thursday.

Schoendorf was already being held in lieu of $100,000 bail in the Clinton incident.

He was arraigned Thursday on the new charges and held in lieu of another $15,000 bail, according to the Superior Court clerk’s office.

McNamara said DNA is becoming a more common tool for town police.

“We’re starting to see more of our crimes being solved in this manner, so we’re looking at other ways to obtain the evidence from scenes to get DNA,” he said.

Police report poetry

8/9/08 12:56
Skunk stuck inside dry pool
Died inside dry pool

8/10/08 16:36
Comp lives on Leetes Island Rd Can hear a dog barking
Over Marsh from Sachem Head Rd Would like area checked
For the barking dog.. Area checked nothing heard

8/11/08 17:36
Bee Residence
Rear motion
Home secure, red tag left

8/12/08 8:28
Inj bird in back yard
Bird flew away

Retired police chief’s wife foils N. Branford burglary

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 14, 2008

NORTH BRANFORD — The wife of a retired police chief thwarted a burglary this week when she arrived home and confronted a man police said was trying to steal a safe from the house.

The man and another suspect fled, but a New Haven man was later charged in connection with the crime, police said.

Michael Anastasio, 20, faces several charges after the incident, in which two men allegedly entered the home and took the safe, which was later found in the back yard, police said.

The Mill Road house is owned by Ruth and Robert Mulhern, the retired chief of the Groton, Mass., police department and the father of police officers in North Haven, Madison and East Haven. Robert Mulhern was also previously a captain in the Hamden Police Department.

“The guy really picked the wrong house,” Ruth Mulhern said Wednesday.

Police said the department received a 911 call at about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday about a suspicious person in a gray pickup truck leaving the home. Ruth Mulhern said she returned home to find the truck, which she though was her son’s, in the driveway. Her husband was not home at the time.

As she approached the empty truck, she realized it was not her son’s, and she saw a man walking from the side of the residence toward her. The man told her he was “measuring or surveying” the house and that his cousin was with him, but she did not believe him and walked inside to call police.

She also noticed that her dog was not at the door, which made her suspect another person was inside the house with the dog. That person apparently left through a rear sliding door and then met up with the driver of the truck, according to police.

As Mulhern was calling police, the man drove off in the pickup truck, whose license plate she was able to record. Later that day, police arrested Anastasio, who was driving. They anticipate another arrest in the case.

After police arrived, they discovered that a shelf with a safe bolted to it was missing. The safe contained cash, police badges and identification, and a handgun. The shelf and safe were later found in a dry river bed in the house’s back yard. A watch from the house is still missing, police said.

Anastasio was charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief, third-degree larceny, theft of a firearm, third-degree conspiracy to commit burglary and third-degree conspiracy to commit larceny. He was released on $100,000 bond and is due in court Aug. 27, police said.

Deputy Police Chief Michael Doody said it appears that the alleged burglars did not know a police official lived in the house.

“I think they were going around in the guise that they were doing estimates. Anytime anybody sees something suspicious like that they should definitely call police right away,” Doody said. “It appeared to be totally random.”

Plum Island on feds’ list for deadly disease lab

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 13, 2008

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking at Plum Island as one of six potential sites for a new livestock laboratory to study contagious animal and human diseases.

The island, located off the eastern tip of the north fork of Long Island, N.Y., is just miles from the Connecticut shoreline. It is the site of the country’s Animal Disease Center. Scientists there study foot and mouth disease and other foreign animal diseases with the goal of developing vaccines and antiviral treatments, according to the Homeland Security Department.

But the facility is old and undersized, and the department is planning to build a new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility that would handle Biosafety Levels 3 and 4, the highest research designations.

In addition to Plum Island, the department is considering locations in Athens, Ga.; Manhattan, Kan.; Flora, Miss.; Butner, N.C.; and San Antonio, Texas.

All of the other locations are on the U.S. mainland.

The Plum Island Animal Disease Center is a Level 3 facility. The higher level involves “work with dangerous and exotic agents that pose a high individual risk of aerosol-transmitted laboratory infections and life-threatening disease,” according to the department. A Level 4 center — which would comprise about 10 percent of the total site — would allow scientists to study diseases that can transfer from animals to humans.

Department spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the new facility would build on Plum Island’s work with livestock. Other Biosafety Level 4 research facilities exist in the country, she said, but not with the space for handling large animals.

“Basically the kind of research that we do at Plum Island, it’s the only facility like it,” Kudwa said. “The proposed (National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility) would expand upon and move into the 21st century our research currently conducted at Plum Island.”

The new facility would study diseases including foot and mouth disease, classical and African swine fever, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and the Nipah and Hendra viruses, according to the department.

Of the six locations under consideration, Kudwa said, Plum Island is the only one with an existing facility. The department is compiling environmental-impact statements for the sites and is planning to make a final decision about the facility’s location by the end of the year.

The department has been holding public input sessions in recent weeks near the proposed sites. There were meetings this week in Old Saybrook and Greenport, N.Y. The department’s draft impact statements are open for public comment until Aug. 25.

“We’ll incorporate the comments we receive during the comment period, finalize the environmental-impact statement and anticipate a final decision on how best to proceed by the end of this year,” Kudwa said. “We’re also looking at a number of other things (like) cost of construction and site characterization.”

Old Saybrook resident Nancy Czarzasty said she is concerned that not enough local people are aware of the possible changes at the island. She said she has not made up her mind about whether she supports the choice of Plum Island as the site of the new facility.

“I don’t know enough yet to make that decision and that is my concern,” she said. “This has been on the table for years and no one seems to know about this and we’re supposed to be submitting input from our communities.”

The process for selecting the site of the new facility began in 2006, Kudwa said. From 29 initial submissions, officials whittled down the group to the six under discussion.

With the current Plum Island facility “aging” and “nearing the end of its life cycle,” according to the department, it may not be in operation much longer if another location is chosen for the new research center.

“We don’t anticipate the new (facility) would be operational until fiscal year 2015, so we are making investments in the (Plum Island) property so that it does meet our needs in the near term,” Kudwa said. “But we undertook this process with the understanding that it would not meet our research needs into the future.”

More information on the selection of the new site is available on the Department of Homeland Security’s Web site at www.dhs.gov/nbaf. Anyone with input on the process can contact the department through e-mail at nbafprogrammanager@dhs.gov; by fax at (866) 508-NBAF (6223); by phone at (866) 501-NBAF; or at U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, James V. Johnson, Mail Stop #2100, 245 Murray Lane, S.W., Building 410, Washington, D.C. 20528.

Guilford urged to replace school buildings

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 13, 2008

GUILFORD — A task force is recommending that the school district replace Guilford High School and Adams Middle School with new buildings.

Members of the Community Task Force on School Facilities, which has been meeting for about four years, told the Board of Education Monday night they have concluded that the most fiscally sound method for solving facilities problems at the two schools is to replace them.

But the task force is proposing that the board move ahead only with plans for the new high school and pressing health and safety improvements at the middle school. The board should also establish a Middle School Building Committee to address further questions for moving that school, members of the task force said.

Board members said that they hope to make a decision at the group’s next meeting Sept. 8, and to put a referendum before voters next spring.

In February, the task force presented the board with several options that put the price of a new high school at $112 million, and of a new middle school at $69.8 million, assuming work began in 2012.

For a house with an assessed value of $300,000, the presenters said at the time, those figures would translate into $426 for the middle school work in the 2012-13 fiscal year. The new high school could increase taxes by $687 for a homeowner with a $300,000 house.

But task force co-chairwoman Mary Jo Kestner said that the numbers will most likely be revised.

Co-chairman Mauro Rubbo told the board and an audience of about 30 people that the middle school and high school “are inadequate and ... in need of immediate attention.”

Both schools are decades-old, and have been expanded periodically as needs arose. They have problems with configuration, size, ventilation and security, officials say.

“We feel that the best long-term solution for the district is to build two new schools,” Rubbo said.

Rubbo and Kestner said that the task force has found the best proposal is to build a new high school next to the current building on New England Road, and to move Adams Middle School to a new site near Abraham Baldwin Middle School on Bullard Drive.

While the district proceeds with work on the new high school, they said, the goal of the Middle School Building Committee would be to resolve outstanding questions such as the configuration of the Baldwin/Adams campus and the future use of the current Adams building.

In the meantime, the task force is recommending that the Board of Education move ahead with work on ventilation, drainage and safety issues at the current school.

“Whatever we do, it’s three to five years before we start a construction project at the high school, and then Adams would come after that,” Rubbo said. “So you’re going to be in that building for a few years.”

Superintendent of Schools Thomas Forcella said at Monday’s meeting that he agrees with the task force’s recommendation to build two new schools.

The school board, which has not yet made a decision, will continue discussion on the facilities issue Aug. 25. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Emergency Services Meeting Room in the fire department.

Plagiarize this post

Jody Rosen's Slate article about The Bulletin (of Houston, not Bend, I should note), an almost entirely plagiarized newspaper Rosen discovered when tipped off that her own stories might have been fodder for it should be a real mind-bender for any journalist who's spent some time thinking about plagiarism and intellectual property. The questions it raises are really pretty fantastic -- what does it mean when an editor and reporter cobble together a free weekly in a mishmash of other people's writings? What should we call the product? It's not a "fake" paper like The Onion ... but it's not really a real paper either. Rosen sums it up best: "It seemed preposterous, and the longer I spent squinting into the mustard-and-magenta glow of the Bulletin's Web 0.0-quality Internet site, the more I began to suspect that I was the dupe of a conceptual art prank, a cheeky Borgesian commentary on the slipperiness of language and authorship. Or something."

We like to say that plagiarism matters for a few different reasons: it's stealing, it cheapens people's hard work, it makes the reader lose trust in journalism. To me, the last point is the main one that matters, as I don't think simplistic statements like "it's wrong" really get to the heart of the issue. But when an entire paper is a lie, do the readers even matter? To me, The Bulletin story is more funny than wrong -- it's so far beyond the pale that you can't use normal ideas of what plagiarism means to think about it.

Early bird ‘rock pile’ nets Guilford police fine

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff 08/11/2008
Aug. 11, 2008

GUILFORD — The construction under way at the “rock pile” site on Boston Post Road has raised some neighbors’ ire and led to a ticket for the construction company’s foreman.

Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Hutchinson said the police department has received several complaints in the past few weeks about loud dumping and other work starting at the site early in the morning. By town ordinance, the work can not start before 7 a.m., he said.

Construction at the site started about a month ago, after the controversial Guilford Commons shopping center development received its final regulatory approval from the town in January.

Many residents of the neighborhood — the site sits just off the Exit 57 interchange of Interstate 95 — opposed the development, which the Inland Wetlands Commission initially rejected over some concerns it would harm a nearby stream and wetlands.

Hutchinson said police spoke to the foreman of the project, who admitted that work had been starting before 7 a.m., and issued him a $75 ticket.

“We had received several complaints about the trucks over there starting to dump material prior to 7 a.m.,” Hutchinson said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations with the foreman over there. They’ve assured us that they’re going to keep the place locked up until 7 o’clock (in the morning).”

Hutchinson said that if violations of the ordinance continue, police could work with the Planning and Zoning Department to seek an injunction halting the construction.

“But I don’t think it’s going to happen — I’m sure there’s going to be cooperation,” Hutchinson said.

A representative for the developers could not be reached for comment.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Regina Reed said she has visited the site several times since construction started and has not seen any violations of zoning regulations or the conditions of approval the town placed on the development.

Reed said she received a call from one neighbor concerned about the lack of a chain-link fence along nearby Spinning Mill Brook, which she said is not due to be installed until the end of construction.

Until then, she said, a black mesh plastic fence has been set up to prevent rocks and dirt from flowing into the brook.

“They have all their erosion controls up ... They have permanently marked the wetland boundary and permanently marked the conservation easement,” Reed said.

“We’re been up there looking at it and I don’t see any zoning or wetland issues.”

She said the large piles of sand visible from Boston Post Road will be used in the sand filters for the septic system.

Northford Store, drive-through win approval

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff 08/08/2008
Aug. 8, 2008

NORTH BRANFORD — A plan to rebuild the Northford Store with a new drive-through won approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission Thursday night.

The proposal passed by a vote of 3-2. Commissioners Rose Angeloni and William Galdenzi voted against it, saying they did not agree with the drive-through concept.

Owner Nick Demos applied to build an 8,000-square-foot store with five, one-bedroom apartments on the second floor after the store at 1405 Middletown Ave. burned to the ground in March. The proposal includes a drive-through lane, which would be used primarily for coffee sales, he said.

After feedback from the commission at previous meetings, Demos revised the plans to create a more traditional architectural look. The original store dated from 1870 and was one of the best-known buildings in the area.

But some area residents had raised concerns about the drive-through proposal, saying it would bring more noise and traffic, at public hearings on the application.

At Thursday’s meeting, Angeloni said she agreed with that assessment.

“Anyone who has to drive on Route 17 during the peak hours of when people would use a drive-through, they would find that it would be impossible for anyone to get out of (the store’s parking lot) in a reasonable amount of time,” she said. “The flow of the drive-through, I do not feel, is conducive to the area.”

Commissioner Charles Gunn, who voted to approve the application, pointed out that the nearby Rite-Aid and Wachovia Bank both have drive-through windows.

“I have serious problems denying this applicant a drive-through when each of his neighbors has one,” Gunn said.

An engineer for the project, Jonathan Harriman of Nafis and Young, said he does not think the drive-through will bring more traffic.

“His customers that he’s looking to pick up are people on their way to work,” Harriman said. “This is not going to be a destination to go get coffee.”

Commissioners also discussed whether Demos will need a special-use permit to operate the coffee service, but went ahead with the vote on the assumption that he could later apply for the permit if necessary.

The commission had already granted a special-use permit to build five apartments on top of the store, creating a mixed-use development.

Teen arrested after confrontation in North Branford

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 7, 2008

NORTH BRANFORD — A teenager who tried to break into a stranger’s house last week and had to be doused in pepper spray and shocked with a Taser before police could subdue him was arrested Wednesday night, police said.

Officers used a Taser stun gun four times on the suspect, Greg Bryant, 19, of Rocky Hill. Police said he was apparently high on hallucinogenic drugs during the incident Friday night.

Homeowner Robert Ciambra Jr. said the suspect appeared at his Clintonville Road house late Friday, and began ringing the doorbell and demanding to be let in. Ciambra said the man punched the wooden front door, causing it to splinter, and broke a front window with his fist.

When a police officer arrived at 11:30 p.m., Bryant began walking toward him with shards of glass in his bloody hands, according to a police report. The officer “feared for (his) safety” and told Bryant to stop, but Bryant began screaming obscenities at the officer and said, “I’ll kill you,” police said.

After ignoring more warnings, police said the officer fired his Taser at Bryant, causing him to fall down.

Police said Bryant pulled the Taser prongs out of his body and got up again. Two officers eventually used a Taser gun four times in addition to pepper spray before they were able to handcuff him, police said.

He was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital Friday night, so police did not arrest the suspect immediately. After obtaining a warrant Wednesday, police arrested him.

The arrest warrant, which a judge signed Wednesday, charges Bryant with threatening, criminal mischief, criminal attempt to commit assault on a police officer, interfering with an officer, use and possession of drug paraphernalia and use and possession of a controlled substance. Ciambra said he found a bag of what appeared to be marijuana on his front step after the incident.

Ciambra said he feared for his life during the incident, during which he said the suspect rushed at his door several times. His wife and two teenage children were home at the time.

“The cops showed great restraint, in my opinion,” he said. “I’m just trying to let people know that this stuff actually does happen more than they think. ... I mean, I’ll never leave this house unlocked again.”

Police said Bryant did not know Ciambra. He was apparently visiting friends who also live in Northford. The friends said he became agitated while they were driving, and when the car stopped near the intersection of Clintonville Road and Village Street he got out of the car and ran off, police said.

Bryant is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in New Haven Wednesday.

Town makes saving energy a priority
By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 6, 2008

GUILFORD — Energy efficiency will play a greater role in town officials’ decisions in the future, according to a policy the Board of Selectmen approved Monday.

The policy, which passed unanimously, directs all town agencies and departments “to include in their planning and operational processes measures which can: conserve energy, increase efficiency and economy of energy resources, pursue utilization of renewable and clean energy resources and maximize the opportunity to secure external funding in pursuit of these objectives.”

The new directive arose out of conversations with the Standing Building Committee and Energy Committee, First Selectman Carl Balestracci said Tuesday.

Members of the Standing Building Committee, which oversees town building projects, wanted to clarify the importance of considering energy-efficient designs.

“Their authority is just to review the projects that have been proposed to them by different boards, but they thought it was a good idea ... that they begin to look at the possibility of renewable energy,” Balestracci said.

He added that the Energy Committee drew up the resolution for the selectmen’s consideration.

“It’s a policy statement from the Board of Selectmen, but it gives direction and authority to the Standing Building Committee and to all boards and commissions that they consider these things as they begin to plan for future projects,” he said.

Under the new policy, energy conservation should now be a topic of discussion for all projects and “long-term cost/benefit considerations shall be considered over short-term budgetary goals in municipal decision-making.”

Selectman Salvatore Catardi said at Monday’s meeting that he thinks the policy will serve as a good guideline for town officials.

“We’ve always had difficulty in our budget process when it comes down to what it costs us for energy,” Catardi said. “I think it’s a good idea to alert people to start thinking about this.”

But Catardi noted that the policy does not bind departments or commissions to take a certain course of action in building projects.

Energy Committee member Sid Gale said at the meeting that the goal of the policy is to allow agencies to consider the upfront costs that renewable sources of energy sometimes require.

“If we continue to hold these opportunities hostage to short-term budgetary needs, we will never take the capital investment steps necessary to pursue these goals,” Gale said.

Facility for elderly facing scrutiny

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 5, 2008

GUILFORD — Relatives of the former owners of the Marotta Manor residential care home are planning to open a new facility at the same Whitfield Street location.

Phillip “Butch” Marotta Jr. and his wife, Deborah Marotta, last week received approval from the state Department of Social Services to open a 20-bed facility for elderly residents.

Previous owners Amelia Marotta and her son, John Marotta, closed the home in 2003 after state officials found that they had misused state money.

Amelia and John Marotta are Butch Marotta’s mother and brother.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his office has begun an investigation into the financial relationship, if any, between the former and current owners. He said he was not aware of the application until last week.

“We are investigating particularly whether family members involved in financing or operating the Marotta Manor residential care home previously are now involved in this application,” Blumenthal said.

Butch and Deborah Marotta said they were not involved with Marotta Manor and its former troubles. Deborah Marotta worked at Marotta Manor as a teenager, they said, but other than that, they were not employees.

“It’s not a reopening; it’s a whole new facility,” Deborah Marotta said.

She added: “We don’t want to get people up in arms thinking, ‘It’s going to be reopened by the same people.’ It’s not — that’s finished business.”

The Marottas said they are still awaiting final approval from the state Department of Public Health, but may be able to start accepting new residents as early as this week. They plan to call the new residential care facility Green Grove.

The building, at 148 Whitfield St., has been vacant since June 2003, when Blumenthal and then-Social Services Commissioner Patricia Wilson-Coker found the former owners had misused at least $500,000 in state money meant for residents’ care on personal expenses such as beer, cigarettes and diapers.

Under an agreement with the state, Amelia and John Marotta were required to repay $500,000 and were prohibited from owning or operating any state-financed facility for 10 years.

At the time Marotta Manor closed, Blumenthal said his office “would have serious and significant concerns if an immediate family member were to run the facility.”

Last week, he said DSS approval of a certificate of need for the facility raised new questions.

“We have reason to be concerned because the ban applied to family members of the individual now reopening the facility and that ban should be enforced vigorously,” he said.

The DSS certificate of need, which recognizes lack of a residential care facility in Guilford, includes several conditions of approval for the Marottas to open Green Grove.

Among them is the requirement the owners submit quarterly statements of their salaries and wages to DSS for three years after opening.

They also are barred from employing any other family members without specific consent from DSS.

Deborah Marotta said no one expressed opposition during their hearing for the DSS certificate of need in June. They received the certificate last week.

Butch Marotta said he has been taking care of the building physically and financially for a few years, when there were several proposals from different parties to buy the property and start a new residential care home.

Marotta, who now owns the building, said those plans fell through and he ultimately decided to start a business himself.

“They put us through all those hoops and hurdles,” Marotta said of the DSS application, which he submitted earlier this year.

Town Planner George Kral said Butch and Deborah Marotta do not need new town approval to open the home if they plan to use it for the same purposes as in the past.

Butch and Deborah Marotta owned and operated Corner House, a residential care facility in Meriden, until 2005, and Deborah Marotta recently worked for Tidelawn Manor Rest Home in Westbrook, according to their application.

Deborah Marotta said Green Grove will offer 24-hour supervision for elderly people, monitoring medications and meals, but no medical services.

“It’s like they were almost living at home — they can go out and go to the senior center,” she said. “That’s the level this is benefitting; it’s when they can’t stay home for whatever reason.”

According to the certificate-of-need approval, the DSS found the new facility “will contribute to the quality, accessibility and cost-effectiveness of health care delivery in the region by providing a less institutional and a less expensive alternative to nursing home care” and fill “the apparent need for additional residential care home beds in the Guilford area.”

Deborah Marotta said she has had several calls already from area hospitals and nursing homes about space for residents.

Interns get a taste of real-world workplace

By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff
Aug. 3, 2008

For many high school and college students, a typical summer job might be camp counselor or lifeguard for a local town.

Ashton Killilea, a recent Southern Connecticut State University graduate, has spent her summer overseeing camp counselors, lifeguards, and others as a program coordinator for the Guilford Parks and Recreation Department.

The job allows Killilea, who graduated in May, to earn the last credits needed for her recreation major, which requires students to complete 12-week internships. She interned in Guilford last summer as well, although this year, she has taken on more responsibilities.

Killilea, 22, said that the internships have afforded her real-world experience in the field she hopes to pursue. This summer, her duties include booking trips for the town's camps, organizing special events, coordinating swim lessons and overseeing lifeguards.

"This is hands-on, you're actually in it, you're living it," she said. "It's not just a mock presentation in class."

Guilford Parks and Recreation Director Rick Maynard said that the department has had one or two interns, usually from SCSU, almost every summer for the past decade. Former intern Tracy Guliani now works for the town as a program coordinator, and others have gone on to jobs in several Connecticut town's recreation departments.

While a job in town government may not seem like the usual summer internship - which have become common for students looking for a foot in the door in their desired industries - towns throughout the region hire students for jobs in City Hall.

This year, Guilford Parks and Recreation hired another SCSU student, Morgan Aery, who has been overseeing the town's camp for seventh- and eighth-graders.

Maynard said that he tries to give the interns a feel for many different aspects of working in a Parks and Recreation Department, from spending a day with maintenance workers to attending staff meetings and learning how to use the department's registration software. Interns have also completed special projects, he said, like a history of the department that it now uses in a brochure.

"They can get a pretty broad experience because we have the parks, we have the seniors as part of us - a lot of town's seniors are (a separate department)," Maynard said. "Our interns are not interns in our mind, they're part of the staff just like anyone else."

Other towns in the region employ students in recreation departments and other areas.

West Haven's Summer Youth Employment Program provides five-week-long jobs to 118 West Haven residents. The program is open to 14- through 18-year-olds who do maintenance at the city's schools, clerical work in City Hall, beach patrol cleanup and food preparation for local camps.

Jim Eagan, the director of the program, said that the goal is to keep kids occupied during summer, and offer them some job experience. About half of the positions are filled based on income guidelines, providing jobs for lower-income students.

"A lot of these kids are first-year employment, it's their first experience working," Eagan said. "The kids are taught to get to work on time, how to fill out a time sheet, how to follow directions, how to work with peers."

Eagan added that he strives to assign participants, who work 20 hours a week, to jobs in their area of interest. This year, he said, there were more than 130 people on the waiting list for the program.

"We try to employ as many kids as we can," he said. "Not every kid who applies gets a job, which is unfortunate, but that's the nature of the budget."

With her internship wrapping up in a few weeks, Killilea is now looking for a full-time job in local recreation departments. She said that her supervisors in Guilford have been very helpful in her job search.

"This is definitely what I want to do," she said. "I like event planning and coordinating and things like that. I don't really know where I see myself in five years, but I can probably almost say that it's in a recreation department."