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Immigration attorney Glenn Formica, left, and the Rev. John Carter, founder of Vecinos Seguros, speak before Formica’s presentation at Trinity Church Lime Rock Thursday.
SALISBURY — Attorney Glenn Formica put the issue of immigration in haunting human terms.
Speaking at a meeting sponsored by Vecinos Seguros 2 at Trinity Church of Lime Rock Thursday, Formica said “53% of the country is in favor of current immigration laws. I don’t know where you go with that. What’s missing in your life that you’ve lost any sense of love or human affection; that you feel good when others are suffering? That’s 53% of the population. What we’re dealing with is inhumane, dark.”
Formica is an immigration attorney who has a practice in New Haven. He is well known for taking pro bono cases for those undocumented persons facing detention or deportation.
In introducing Formica, the Rev. John Carter, the founder of Vecinos Seguros, which translated means “Safe Neighbors,” said he heard of the lawyer from New Haven who has “a smart head and warm heart.” Carter said while the country is going through crushing times now, “I thank God for people who stand up for justice and compassion.”
Formica began his talk with a bit about his personal life, noting that when he was in law school, he pictured himself as focusing on land use or real estate cases. A graduate of Catholic University, he has a religious background. So, after working in corporate law in Washington, D.C., he saw what he perceived as shallowness in certain aspects of the profession.
He moved back to Connecticut, where he’d been raised, and one day was approached by a Catholic monk who showed up at his office with a child from Ethiopia. The youngster could not go back for safety reasons, and Formica was able to allow him to remain in the United States. Then he was sent another child from the Congo, for whom Formica was able to get his first asylum win.
He eventually left the law firm with 30 immigration clients. The next firm didn’t appreciate his work in that area either.
“So, I quit and started my own firm with 30 pro bono cases,” he related. “I eventually grew enough of a practice that rewarded me. I’ve never suffered. It’s always worked out.” He began taking more complicated immigration cases, and realized if you’re doing something to help other people, the universe will balance itself out.
He recounted that he’s had many wild cases, but concluded his focus wasn’t on him, but about taking care of his clients. Speaking of President Trump, he said, “He’s coming for everybody I care about, so I have something to make my life meaningful. I’ll help everyone I can and leave nothing on the table.”
Formica put a positive spin on the current situation, saying, “We should all be grateful. We’re living in a time where we can do something.” He believes those in red districts will see in a couple of months that there is no one to work in their hospitals or daycare centers, or landscape their property or put roofs on their houses and that instead of jobs coming back they’ll be leaving.
He urged the audience to provide support for those who are terrified to go to events or ask for assistance with filling out necessary paperwork. “They need to feel you are there for them,” he said, recommending helping them get to food pantries or the ICE office. “Use your privilege to stand up for them.”
Formica lamented the dearth of immigration lawyers in the state and the need to get those in the profession trained to take on cases.
He spoke about an interfaith group that is starting to come together made up of community members to provide emotional and social support for immigrants in the region.
Alice Peck is the manager of Lakeville Books and Stationery at 329 Main St. in Lakeville, which opened on April 3.
LAKEVILLE — Lakeville Books and Stationery opened its doors April 3 after completing four months of renovations at 329 Main Street.
The Peck family — Darryl, his wife, Ann, and daughter, Alice — are not strangers to running a book store.
“We own a bookstore on St. Simons Island in Georgia that opened about six years ago.,” Darryl Peck said. “We had lived down there for a few years but returned home a couple of years ago and missed being in the store. Our youngest daughter also moved home, so this is something the whole family is involved in as she is our store manager.”
The Peck family searched for a venue for the store for nine months. “This building needed substantial renovations and originally we decided to pass on it. But after running through several other options, all of which fell through for one reason or another, we decided to just dig in and renovate after purchasing the building.”
Each Peck brings a favorite subject to the store. Darryl, who has an interest in cooking, “hand-picked the 600 cookbooks” in the store. Anne Lyndon Peck, with a degree in architecture and having worked as an interior designer, specializes in architecture and home books. Daughter Alice, with a background in design, loves Formula One cars and visiting Lime Rock Park and picks the automotive books for the store.
Darryl has a background of 53 years of retail. “I guess it’s safe to say that I have a thing for retail stores. I love the design phase of building a new store and then selecting the merchandise to open with.”
The Pecks enjoy welcoming customers. Darryl said, “On an ongoing basis, I love interacting with our customers, especially in a small-town environment.”
Alice added, “As a native of the Northwest Corner, I am thrilled to be seeing friends and neighbors every day as we bring some much-needed retail back to Lakeville. We have received such a warm welcome since our opening in early April and I am looking forward to a very busy summer season.”
A grand opening for Lakeville Books and Stationery will be held on May 16 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information and a glimpse of their tempting inventory, which includes a wonderful selection of stationery items, go to www.lakevillebooks.com
Hours are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Construction is nearing completion for two affordable homes on Perry Street.
LAKEVILLE — Two new affordable houses on Perry Street are nearly ready.
Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity Director Jocelyn Ayer was joined by representatives of local affordable housing coalitions for an informational session on April 10 to offer an update on the project and several other near-complete projects across the county.
The Perry Street homes, modular units which were placed atop their foundations on April 2, are part of a regional effort from the LCCHO called the Litchfield County Affordable Homeownership Program.
A total of nine 3-bedroom homes — all modular and Cape-style — across five Northwest Corner towns will be the product of the project, built on land owned and managed by the Salisbury Housing Trust, Cornwall Housing Corporation, Foundation for Norfolk Living, and Washington Community Housing Trust.
The Perry Street houses are the first to be delivered — and “they look amazing,” Ayer said.
The project is expected to be ready for residents in May. The deadline for pre-application was April 15.
Two homes on Town Street in Cornwall are next in line, with a pre-application deadline of April 30 and a prospective move-in date this summer.
The LCCHO is also now accepting pre-application forms, which may be received by emailing Lindsay Larson at LindsayL@thehousingcollective.org, for the rest of the properties, although has yet to set deadlines.
Ayer said that the rest of the homes — two more in Salisbury, one more in Cornwall, one in Washington and one in Norfolk — will likely be finished in the fall and winter.
Applicants must be first-time homebuyers and must have an income at or below 100% of the county’s Area Median Income, which is approximately $80,000 for one-person and rises by about $11,400 per additional household member. Strong preference will be given to households of three or more.
The homes are valued between $255,000 and $290,000, but with a down payment assistance loan that will cut $25,000 from that total.
Ayer explained each housing non-profit that owns the properties will continue ownership over the actual land parcel, while the homeowner will own just the actual building and its footprint.
When Ayer opened the floor to questions, several audience members in the Zoom room asked about the unique ownership paradigm, which Ayer explained is a “shared-equity” model that is designed to keep costs down.
The cost of constructing and installing each unit is approximately $500,000 dollars, Ayer said, but the homeowner is only responsible for the taxes of the property directly beneath the house. Karen Sunnarborg, secretary of the Salisbury Housing Trust, maintained that taxes will be based on the purchase price, not construction costs.
Attendees also asked about property improvements and how such projects would fit into the shared equity model, to which Ayer replied that they are possible, but anything substantial, such as a perimeter fence, would have to be reviewed by the non-profit that owns the parcel.
The idea is to keep the property value low enough that the house remains affordable for future buyers — i.e. no pools, she said.
The final question came from Melissa Wagner, who asked whether a chicken coop may be approved to be built on the property. “With this economy, eggs are important,” she said, though Ayer said zoning regulations may have the final say, not to mention bears, foxes and bobcats, added Town Street resident Susan Francisco (TK last name check).
Fun at Scoville’s egg hunt
Young egg hunters scurried across the lawn at Scoville Memorial Library the afternoon of Sunday, April 13.
SALISBURY — At 1 p.m. on the dot Kyla DeRisi called the children to order outside the Scoville Memorial Library Sunday, April 13.
DeRisi, the children’s coordinator at the library, explained the Easter Egg Hunt rules.
There were 61 wooden eggs hidden with varying degrees of cunning around the library grounds. Each wooden egg was worth four pieces of candy.
There were pieces of candy scattered around as well.
And the big prize was the “sparkly golden egg.” That was worth 10 pieces of candy.
About 25 youngsters from middle school age down to toddlers surged about the grounds. Cries of triumph abounded as the searchers found their eggs.
