Charles Edward Shepard, 91, of Newtown, passed away quietly at his home on Sunday, August 18, 2019.
Charlie was a bulldozer operator with the international union of operating engineers local 478. Char...
Margo Jane Siemen Lopez-Cepero, 79, died peacefully on Sunday, August 11, 2019, at Newtown Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Newtown.
She is survived by her husband of almost 55 years, Henry; a...
Clement Richard Kopnicky passed away peacefully on August 16, 2019, in Ridgefield. Mr Kopnicky was born on April 3, 1937, in Stratford, to parents Joseph Andrew Kopnicky and Elizabeth Mary Dugas.
He a...
Richard L. Madden, 86, died peacefully surrounded by his family on August 18, 2019.
He is predeceased by his wife of 55 years, Mary Jane “Bunny” (Davidson) Madden; their son, George B. Madden; his bro...
Rosa Grieco, 82, of Sandy Hook, died unexpectedly Thursday, August 15, 2019, in Danbury Hospital. Mrs Grieco was the wife of Paolo Grieco. She was born in Corato, Bari, Italy, on June 7, 1937, a daugh...
Mary Elizabeth Keyte Moore, 87, of South Bend, Ind., formerly of Newtown, Conn., and Las Vegas, Nev., passed away on June 26, 2019, at Munson Hospice House in Traverse City, Mich.
Mary “Bibi” was born...
Kennedy “Guy” Cullen, 79, passed away on August 8, 2019, in Middletown. He leaves his wife of 60 years, Joan (Stevens) Cullen. He was born on July 9, 1940, in Island Park, N.Y. His parents were Willia...
Lyman Douglas "Doug" Rogers, 90, former resident of Newtown, died July 25, 2019, in hospice at the St John Paul II Center in Danbury from dementia and congestive heart failure. He was born October 11,...
Colin Julius Powell, age 87, of Fairfield entered into rest on Saturday, August 10, 2019, at Cambridge Health and Rehabilitation Center in Fairfield. He was the devoted husband of 63 years to Julia “C...
Lois Bray Heyde, 82, died peacefully on Saturday, August 3, 2019, with family by her side. Lois was born January 6, 1937, in Nashville, Tenn. She spent part of her childhood living in Germany and Japa...
CT primaries are closed to voters not registered with the party's designation. Dems can't vote in Rep. primaries and, vice versa. Unaffiliated and Independent voters cannot vote in them. Keep primaries closed!
Bruce, welcome to the conversation.
Your recent statement after the storm — admitting that you should have communicated “faster, more completely, and more personally” — was fine as far as it went. But this is not just about one storm. It is about a pattern. You ran on openness, responsiveness, and transparency, even saying that “evasive answers or silence are unacceptable in government.”
The problem is that Newtown residents have been dealing with exactly that silence from you since you were elected.
Newtown’s Emergency Management page says the town, together with the Office of the First Selectman, provides “critical public information and warning” during emergencies. The town also rolled out CodeRED cellphone registration on March 24, 2022 so residents could receive emergency information directly.
So where were you when police were searching for missing 23-year-old Kateri Doty in January? Where were you during the brush fires near the Newtown town line in April? Where were you on April 22, when state police and Newtown police were searching for two people who fled an I-84 crash and a canine search moved into the Church Hill Road area?
Residents should not be hearing about a missing person, wildfire conditions, or police tracking dogs moving through backyards from Facebook, neighbors, or kids in town. They should be hearing from their town government.
This is not really about whether you personally press the CodeRED button. Or how many task forces you have created. It is about leadership. You are the First Selectman. You are responsible for making sure the town communicates clearly, quickly, and visibly when public safety is involved.
So yes, it is nice that you have finally acknowledged the problem. But the public did not need this storm to figure it out. We have been saying it for a long time.
Bruce, you were missing when the town needed to hear from you. The question now is whether this storm finally woke you up, or whether this is just another late apology followed by more silence.
The topic may be the same but the narratives every other week differ and I appreciate the installments. Rebuttals on factual content rather than focusing on form would improve the discourse.
Congrats to all the 275 graduates.
For context...class of 2005 had 360 students, the number of graduating seniors seemed to cap out in the late 2000's in the low 400's.
