Remembering Sandy Hook 11 years later
State Representative Maria Horn (D-64) spoke at the vigil in rememberance of the victims of Sandy Hook 11 years after the incident.
Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan
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A hearty ‘Welcome Home’ to our veterans
I think most of us know that Veterans Day originated to commemorate the end of WWI on November 11, 1918.It was changed to honor veterans from all wars in 1954, but who are these folks?Some join the military to honor family tradition. Some are looking for order out of backgrounds that were ‘less than ideal’.I know two generals who joined the military to go to medical school, and they did.Whatever the reason, all knew that they were also serving something beyond their own ambitions.
Having come to know many of these men and women I now understand that beneath the medals and uniforms of each is a human being who signed an oath to the Constitution, was willing to go anywhere in the world and agreed to follow orders, from the Commander in Chief to whoever was above them in rank, no quitting, no discussion. And, when they finally come home, the journey of returning to civilian life is a long one.
One other thing I’ve learned is that when you meet a veteran who has come back from any post or any era, give them a hearty, ‘Welcome home.’ I find that to be warmer and more personal than, ‘Thank you for your service’.
So, WELCOME HOME to all of you who signed a blank check that included your own lives to Uncle Sam.
Jane Strong
The Equus Effect
Sharon
Celebrating Lynne Stanton
Two weeks ago, when Lynne Stanton passed away, Salisbury lost a remarkable member of our town and our family lost a dear friend. Lynne created The Hills to help people find items or services, but her readers found in its pages our community and its history as well.Through photos and postcards we discovered that blizzards of legend actually happened, that “gas stations” provided fuel and fixed cars, and that our lakes had the same view we enjoy today.
Lynne’s “community” was more than a publication.She and her husband Bill shared three decades with our mother, Ann Scoville, and helped her live the life of independence and creativity so essential to her spirit.They laughed; they let her be; but they were always nearby.I see, with awe, this personal support aspect of “community” in Salisbury and in family after family. As I celebrate Lynne Stanton, I celebrate our community.
Tom Scoville
Taconic
Ghosting Republicans
The letter (Oct. 30) from Tom Shachtman demonstrates all that is destructive in the views of our so-called “Progressives”.
Mr. Shachtman writes: [N]ow is not the time to trust any local Republican, no matter how qualified a candidate, in public office. Every vote for a local Republican is an affirmation of the national Republican Party’s undermining of our democracy and our way of life.”
Putting aside the fact that over 77 million Americans — including 580 voters in Salisbury, at least 250 of whom were not Republicans — voted for the president and that he is doing pretty much what he told everyone he would do if elected, Mr. Shachtman’s desire to freeze Republicans out of participation in local government raises troublesome issues.
If Salisbury Republicans are to be banned from participating in local government, should we also be banned from holding leadership positions in local organizations such as the Salisbury Association, the Rotary Club, the Ambulance Corps, Music Mountain and countless other organizations where we work alongside Democrats and Unaffiliateds for the good of the community?
And perhaps our participation in the work of various service groups, such as the Lakeville Hose Company, the Ambulance Corps, the Salisbury Winter Sports Authority and Youth Hockey – should also be banned. After all, who wants to have a Republican show up to help put out a fire that threatens to burn down their house? Or provide emergency CPR while you are on your way to Sharon Hospital?
And what about our donations to the dozens of worthwhile organizations that we routinely support?
If Republican money is “tainted” because of the national administration, why would the Lakeville Journal, the Scoville Library, the Visiting Nurse Association, the fire and ambulance corps, and the various Affordable Housing organizations want to accept our donations?
Perhaps the solution to this “progressive” anger is for all Republicans to be required to pin a scarlet “R” on their outerwear whenever they appear in public. That way enlightened Progressives could cross the street whenever they see us coming. And they could avoid sitting next to us in our churches and synagogues and at local restaurants, concerts and school events
Mr. Shachtman, a historian, should be aware of the slippery slope he wishes to lead the citizens of Salisbury down.
Tom Morrison
Chair, Salisbury Republican Town Committee
Lakeville
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125 years ago — November 1900
Engineer George Austin, very well and favorably known here, died at Canaan last Friday night at ten o’clock. He was taken sick on his engine while running the train arriving here at 5:40; coming over the mountain from Winsted to Norfolk he did not feel well; at Norfolk he felt worse, but continued at his post; nearing West Norfolk he called his fireman, Fred Wooden, to take the engine. -- Wooden went to him; he fainted and fell upon the cab floor.
The last three days have furnished weather to suit the most fastidious. On Wednesday and Thursday nights severe thunderstorms occurred. On Thursday the day was fair and warm more like a day in May, and on Friday morning we were greeted with a hard sleet storm which later turned to snow. Surely no one can claim a lack of variety in the matter of weather.
The foundation for a large new dormitory at the Gilbert Home, Winsted, is done, and the bricklayers will begin work in a few days. There are now over 200 children in the home, and applications for admission are constantly coming in.
The other day at Canaan we saw a couple of hunters get on the eastbound train carrying a monstrous string of gray squirrels. Upon being questioned they replied that the string contained 56 squirrels. The men thought that he had done something smart, but the truth of the matter is this. They were pot hunters; they did not know when they had overreached the decency mark, and belonged to that class which by their wholesale slaughter are hastening the day when hunting of game will be prohibited by law and when that happens these same game hogs will be the highest kickers.
LIME ROCK — Sim. Sylvernale dropped his “roll” containg twelve or fifteen dollars last Thursday noon. Lost it in Barnum’s store o upon the street going home. He offers a reward.
LIME ROCK — The new reservoir for supplying the furnace with water is completed. It took some little time to build it, but it is evidently there to stay.
During the heavy thunder storm of Friday morning, lightning struck a large tree near Judge Jerome’s residence, and reduced it to matchwood.
100 years ago — November 1925
SALISBURY — Miss Lena Sartoris has gone to Hartford, where she will take a course in nursing.
This morning a mass of fire blackened ruins mark the spot that yesterday was the magnificent home of Walter S. Halliwell. Fire was discovered a little before 5 o’clock last night and spread with amazing speed throughout the upper story of the entire building. Considerable delay getting water on the blaze ensued, owing to the fact it had to be taken from the lake about 1800 feet distant. The pumper carries about 1100 feet of hose. The Millerton, Sharon and Canaan fire companies soon reached the spot and by combining hose, three lines were laid from the lake, and a stubborn fight followed.
LIME ROCK — Mrs. Lorch is visiting in Cornwall.
ORE HILL — A telephone has been installed at Michael Moore’s residence.
Did you know you must pay your personal tax of $2.00 by Nov. 15th. This has nothing to do with the tax you paid last spring, but is a tax for 1925.
The Spurr Co. saw mill has resumed operations. It is now operating by electric power.
50 years ago — November 1975
Police still have not been able to identify the man who carried off one of the biggest supermarket heists in Dutchess County history. An armed robber made off with over $30,000 in cash and checks Saturday night, Nov. 8, after holding up a female employee of the Millerton Super Inc. as she was about to deposit the weekend revenue in the bank. The amount stolen involved $26,000 in checks and $5,200 in cash.
More than 125 friends and relatives gathered last Friday night to honor retired State Police Lt. Stanley Szczesiul at a dinner at the White Hart Inn in Salisbury. Among those who paid tribute to Szczesiul for his 21 years of service to the people of Connecticut were former Gov. Thomas J. Meskill, whom Szczesiul served as an aide for 3½ years, and Mrs. Meskill.
The Canaan Volunteer Fire Company will move this Friday to its new firehouse on the intersection of routes 44 and 7. The company has been laboring for over a year to prepare the former Getty Oil garage for its new role as a firehouse. The company purchased the property last fall for $60,000 and has since spent an additional $70,000 to convert the building to its new use.
25 years ago — November 2000
The Northwest Corner voted Tuesday in huge numbers. The lines at the polls in Salisbury, for instance, went out the door of the upstairs voting room and down the stairs at one point and, when the polls closed, 84 percent of the voters in that town had pulled the levers of their choice. Cornwall, usually the town with the highest percentage of voters voting and proud of its record, had 87 percent for its tally this year, beaten, however, by Norfolk with its 89 percent. Local voters had definite preferences: Al Gore and Joe Lieberman who won in all the towns in the Corner; Andrew Roraback romping to the job of state senator by winning in 15 Connecticut towns; and Lakeville resident Roberta Willis, a newcomer to political office who captured the state representative seat being vacated by Mr. Roraback.
Shohreh Farzan of East Canaan has begun her first year at Mount Holyoke College, the oldest institution for women in the United States. She is the daughter of Pamela and Ali Farzan and is a 2000 graduate of Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible.
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‘Roundabouts’ help improve traffic
Nov 12, 2025
Back in my architectural student days I had two professors, both English and one a city planner, constantly talking about “roundabouts.”Roundabouts? I learned they were an English term for what we Americans called rotaries or traffic circles. In the U.S. hardly any had been built since before the War whereas in England they were rediscovered in the late 1950s and updated, improved variations were being designed and constructed by architects, landscape architects, city planners and traffic engineers throughout Great Britain. In addition to rebuilding war-torn urban areas, Britain had also embarked on a program of constructing a series of new towns, and designers tried to employ the most advanced techniques including roundabouts.
Within a few years other European countries started to follow suit; and several others began intensively rebuilding. France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and several other countries began major road building campaigns, all of which featured new roundabouts.
A roundabout (or rotary or traffic circle) is a type of traffic intersection in which traffic travels in one direction around a central island; priority is given to the circulating flow. Signs usually direct traffic entering the circle to slow and to give way to traffic already on it.
Roundabouts have several advantages over ordinary intersections. They are much safer with many fewer places where crashes might occur. A study of five roundabouts by the Connecticut Department of Transportation found an 81% reduction in severe crashes and a 44 % reduction in total crashes. Driving speeds are reduced and the basic geometry rules out the possibility of any head on or T-bone crashes. Vehicles (nearly always) enter and exit without completely stopping thus reducing noise, pollution, and fuel consumption. The cost of construction of a roundabout is balanced against that of installing and maintaining sophisticated traffic lights, signs and signals.
Roundabouts do have a few disadvantages. Large, high traffic installations may need a lot of space to function ideally and to look right in their place in the landscape. Some of the largest, multi-lane roundabouts may be confusing for some drivers leading to hesitation or incorrect lane use; however, this confusion is over after one or two encounters for most drivers.
Older traffic circles such as Columbus Circle in Manhattan (1904) are not considered by modern traffic designers as roundabouts (they’re just thought of as traffic circles) .
An older, small traffic circle with which readers are familiar is the one at the intersection of Routes 4 and 63 in Goshen.A precursor to the large modern roundabout, although much smaller, it functions much like its contemporary cousins moving traffic smoothly and efficiently. But plans are underway to convert the Goshen traffic circle into a much larger, carefully planted roundabout with a pedestrian crosswalk.
After years of community conflict, the intersection of Routes 7 and 41 at the south end of Great Barrington was finally converted into a roundabout. Construction faced political delay for years; only after it was built and local citizens got used to it did it become accepted, even popular.
Most estimates for the number of roundabouts in the U.S. today indicate there are more than 13,000.In Connecticut there are only about 30, but many more are in the works.Carmel, Indiana a city of roughly 100,000 people, has an astonishing record number of roundabouts, more than 150! Apparently, the city’s mayor and many of its citizens fell in love with roundabouts and kept converting more and more intersections.
Roundabouts have become popular all over the world, especially in Europe (which tends to be more congested than North America). France has the largest number: more than 43,000.And in poorer developing countries with fewer motor vehicles but exploding populations the roundabout boom is only just beginning.
More and more, architects, landscape architects and other artists are getting into the act, right from the beginning to turn these constructions into actual art works, something usually overlooked in the past. The center islands were often the obvious place to start with huge sculptures. But more attention is now being paid to all of the surrounding landscape. This could be a route to a really improved segment of our public space.
Architect and landscape designer Mac Gordon lives in Lakeville.
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