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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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Legal Notices - November 13, 2025
Nov 12, 2025
Legal Notice
Pursuant to CT State Library, Office of Public Records, Form RC-075, regarding the disposition of public records, Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Falls Village, CT, announces plans to dispose of students’ cumulative records for the following years of graduation: 1997, 1998, 2000-2015. Please contact the Registrar at (860)824-5123x1170 to arrange a time if you wish to pick up records prior to the disposition. A government issued photo ID will be required for verification. All forementioned records will be disposed of no earlier than Friday Dec 19, 2025.
11-13-25
11-20-25
Legal Notice
The Planning & Zoning Commission of the Town of Salisbury will hold a Public Hearing on Special Permit Application #2025-0303 by owner Camp Sloane YMCA Inc to construct a detached apartment on a single family residential lot at 162 Indian Mountain Road, Lakeville, Map 06, Lot 01 per Section 208 of the Salisbury Zoning Regulations. The hearing will be held on Monday, November 17, 2025 at 5:45 PM. There is no physical location for this meeting. This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom where interested persons can listen to & speak on the matter. The application, agenda and meeting instructions will be listed at www.salisburyct.us/agendas/. The application materials will be listed at www.salisburyct.us/planning-zoning-meeting-documents/. Written comments may be submitted to the Land Use Office, Salisbury Town Hall, 27 Main Street, P.O. Box 548, Salisbury, CT or via email to landuse@salisburyct.us. Paper copies of the agenda, meeting instructions, and application materials may be reviewed Monday through Thursday between the hours of 8:00 AM and 3:30 PM at the Land Use Office, Salisbury Town Hall, 27 Main Street, Salisbury CT.
Salisbury Planning & Zoning Commission
Martin Whalen, Secretary
11-06-25
11-13-25
Notice of Decision
Town of Salisbury
Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission
Notice is hereby given that the following action was taken by the Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission of the Town of Salisbury, Connecticut on October 27, 2025:
Exempt - Application IWWC-25-75 by Elaine Watson for/to “Install a dock adjacent to the ordinary high-water mark of Lake Wononscopomuc. The proposed dock will be 4 feet wide and 45 feet long projecting into the lake, The dock will be assembled offsite and floated to the property location from the Town Grove where it will be secured by steel posts anchored into the lakebed. The dock will be positioned within one foot of the shoreline to provide stable and convenient access to the water”. The property is shown on Salisbury Assessor’s map and lot 47 11 and is known as O SHARON ROAD. The owner of the property is WATSON PAUL SURV & ELAINE SURV.
Any aggrieved person may appeal this decision to the Connecticut Superior Court in accordance with the provisions of Connecticut General Statutes §22a-43(a) & §8-8.
11-13-25
11-20-25
11-27-25
Notice of Decision
Town of Salisbury
Planning & Zoning Commission
Notice is hereby given that the following actions were taken by the Planning & Zoning Commission of the Town of Salisbury, Connecticut on November 3, 2025:
Approved - Site Plan Application #2025-0304 by Paul Bushey (Carraig Design Build LLC) for an attached accessory apartment on the second floor of an existing single family residence in accordance with section 208 of the regulations. The property is shown on Salisbury Assessor’s Map 54 as Lot 66 and is located at 46 Library Street in Salisbury. The property is owned by Bear Mountain Realty LLC.
Approved conditioned on proof of prior approval #2024-0264 being extinguished and the proposed lot line adjustment being filed - Site Plan Application #2025-0305 by Robert Stair for development activities in the Lake Protection Overlay District associated with an addition to a single family residence in accordance with section 404 of the regulations. The property is shown on Salisbury Assessor’s Map 67 as Lot 07 and is located at 300 Between the Lakes Road in Salisbury.
8-24 referral deemed consistent with the Plan of Conservation and Development - For the Relocation and Reconstruction of Multiuse Sport Courts at 6 Sharon Road (Community Field), Lakeville. The property is shown on Salisbury Assessor’s Map 49 as Lot 103.
Any aggrieved person may appeal these decisions to the Connecticut Superior Court in accordance with the provisions of Connecticut General Statutes §8-8.
Town of Salisbury
Planning &
Zoning Commission
Martin Whalen, Secretary
11-13-25
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
ESTATE OF
CAROL L. KASTENDIECK
Late of Salisbury
AKA Carol Kastendieck
(25-00400)
The Hon. Jordan M. Richards, Judge of the Court of Probate, District of Litchfield Hills Probate Court, by decree dated October 30, 2025, ordered that all claims must be presented to the fiduciary at the address below. Failure to promptly present any such claim may result in the loss of rights to recover on such claim.
The fiduciaries are:
Dorothea Naouai
c/o Linda M Patz
Drury, Patz & Citrin, LLP
7 Church Street, P.O. Box 101
Canaan, CT 06018
Paul Arcario
c/o Drury, Patz & Citrin, LLP
7 Church Street, P.O. Box 101
Canaan, CT 06018
Megan M. Foley
Clerk
11-13-25
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS Martin James Whalen (Marty) joined the Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission on December 13, 1993 as an Alternate Member;
WHEREAS Mr. Whalen became a Full Member on March 10, 1998;
WHEREAS Mr. Whalen has served as an officer of the Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission in the capacities of Vice Chair and Secretary, the latter a position which he currently holds;
WHEREAS Mr. Whalen has selflessly served the Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission for more than three decades;
WHEREAS his colleagues have greatly benefitted from his extensive local knowledge, as well as his wisdom and common sense approach to balancing the interests of individual citizens with the overall rights of the community, encouraging (in his own words) “orderly growth in the town”;
RESOLVED THEREFORE that his colleagues on the Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission wish to acknowledge and gratefully thank Mr. Whalen for his decades of dedicated service to the people of Salisbury, and to wish him well on all his future endeavors.
November 3, 2025.
Dr. Michael W. Klemens, Chair
Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission
11-13-25
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Norma DeMay, left, has retired as library director of the Douglas Library in North Canaan. She is with her successor, Laura Moran.
Ruth Epstein
NORTH CANAAN — The Douglas Library exudes a warm, cozy feeling — thanks in large part to Director Norma DeMay, who for 28 years has welcomed visitors to the Main Street building. DeMay recently retired and was succeeded by Laura Moran, another familiar face who plans to continue that tradition.
DeMay recently reflected on the many changes during her tenure, particularly in technology. She recalls when the library had just one computer with dial-up internet. Since then, high-speed access and other innovations have arrived, allowing patrons to enjoy the same resources offered at larger libraries.
The library’s inviting atmosphere, — with its armchairs found among the nooks and crannies, and its extensive collection of books, magazines and audio materials, numbering about 20,000 volumes— is a focal point of the town.
While smaller than many of its counterparts in the Northwest Corner, the Douglas Library operates on a tight budget. It receives $100,000 annually from the town, which is supplemented with grants and revenues from fundraising. DeMay said understanding that North Canaan is not a wealthy town, and the mill rate is high, there were years she didn’t ask for an increase.
“I like to be frugal,” she said.
But that doesn’t preclude the library’s ability to have many of the offerings of a modern-day media center. It has Bibliomation, which is a non-profit consortium in Connecticut that provides a wide range of technical and automated services to its member libraries, such as shared online cataloging for searching and borrowing materials, IT support and a unified computer network for libraries across the state. The Canaan Foundation helps to fund this service.
It has the use of the interlibrary loan system, which enables readers to get books from other libraries. There are children’s programs, events for adults, Scrabble evenings and a book group. There’s a plan to add mah jong to the offerings. The upstairs houses the Charlie H. Pease Museum of Natural History featuring examples of taxidermied birds and animals.
Asked about what types of books circulate well, DeMay said prolific author Robert Patterson’s are always a favorite. Mysteries, literary fiction, works by foreign authors, especially British, and graphic novels for the young are all popular.
DeMay was raised in Wethersfield and graduated from the University of Connecticut as an art and English major. She’s taken some online library courses over the years. She plans to stay on to do the book ordering.
“I’ve loved my job,” she said, full of praise for her staff and board members. “I love chatting with the people who come in. And you can’t beat a 9-minute commute.” The mother of three, with a young granddaughter, plans to spend time with her family, read, garden and hopefully do some traveling.
The beginnings of a North Canaan library can be traced back to William Douglas, a bookworm of sorts, who, when he died in 1821, bequeathed $800 to the town to establish a library. According to Kathryn Boughton, town historian, he split the money, with $400 going for the purchase of books and $400 for an endowment to build a future collection. At that time, the books were housed in the old town hall, a building close to the Douglas home, near the entrance to Geer today. The Douglas Library became a true library in 1895, when books circulated free.
There is much history involving the library when Falls Village and North Canaan split in 1858. In 1890, Mrs. Edmund Lawrence erected a small brick building on Railroad Street. When that space became too small, Samuel Eddy negotiated the purchase of Hattie Peet’s house on Main Street which was given to the town with the provision that the municipality maintain it. Since 1927, Douglas Library has stood at that site.
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