Town's Financial Concerns Continue

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Jodi Rell, our governor, should give Winchester some help.

Town officials have mandates which are facing the town of Winchester and now the State Department of Environmental Protection is threatening the town with a daily fine of $25,000 on an issue involving an oil tank underground at the Pearson School.

These two problems are not confined to Winchester as I’m sure mandates are a problem for most towns in the state. At least towns which are not blessed with industrial help as some are.

The town is moving in the area of that oil tank removal, so why does the state have to pressure "us" with a threat of a stiff fine when removal action is in place? Sure, the town was slow in taking action on the tank and maybe the $25,000 daily fine was deserving, but once said and with the knowledge that the town is moving for its removal, that fine should be canceled and the town so notified.

The state Department of Environmental Protection’s Scott Deshefy, who manages the agency’s monitoring of buried tanks, said recently a fine will be issued.

Deshefy is quoted as saying "Winsted’s delays are not acceptable."

He is quoted as saying, "We’ve (or is it I’ve) taken action against other towns for other tank violations in recent years. We have to have a consistent enforcement."

There must be a reason why action in these circumstances is slow and it shouldn’t take a "rocket scientist" to figure that out.

State officials like Deshefy must realize that the ugly word "taxes" on local residents is the reason why funding for such projects is slow in coming.

He accomplished his directive since that $25,000 daily fine was announced so he should now be satisfied that his directive is being followed. Isn’t it enough that Winchester is threatened with mandates not only in the schools but in fire and police departments as well?

Recent newspaper reports tell us that the state takes pretty good financial care of its employees. In cases such as this, shouldn’t the state also realize that the good financial care they extend to their employees might be heaping difficult financial burdens as state aid for this and that is cut? I think so.

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A boy and his dad ventured into the woods to bring home a Christmas tree. They walked for hours in the snow, examining every tree they found. As darkness approached, and temperatures dropped, the boy spoke up: "Dad, I really think we’d better take the next tree we see, whether it has lights on it or not."

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That "one for the road" might not be worth it over the holidays. It’s been reported that state police are joining local police (not only Winchester) setting up sobriety checkpoints at various locations.

There’s no doubt that many of us will consume enough alcoholic beverages to put us over the that 0.08 level which says we are intoxicated.

Take New Year’s Eve for instance, at about 1 a.m.?

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Autograph hunters, and there are plenty of them, but not me. In my years in the newspaper business, and there are plenty of them, I’ve had the opportunity to obtain autographs of many, many big boys in the sports world.

One which comes quickly to mind is that of Willie Pep, who died recently, one of the greatest boxers in the history of the game. Willie appeared as a guest at the annual Gold Key Awards banquet, staged by the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance, at the Norwich-Sheraton Motor Inn in Norwich on Jan. 31, 1972.

I don’t mean to bore you with some of these autographs in my possession. Sports nuts, however, might be interested.

Here goes: Leo Durocher, Sparky Lyle, Jake LaMotta, Ralph Houk, Any Robustelli, Allie Sherman, Steve Blass, Dick McAuliffe, Jordan Olivar, Connie Donahue, wow Mickey Mantle, Weeb Eubank, Burr Carlson, Carmen Cozza, Mel Stottlemeyer, Dolph Shayes, Alex Webster — to name a few.

There are many more (Carl Yastrzemski) but of a lesser notoriety than the above.

Winsted sportsmen at my side at these banquets through the ’50s and ’60s are Buddy Balfe, the late Dick Beebe, the late Jim Walsh, the late Val Serafini, the late Ben Serafini, and others I have forgotten.

Forget? Yes, I did. We cannot mention these greats above and leave out Joe Cronin. After a great career as a player, he joined the Red Sox as manager in 1934 for a salary of $250,000.

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A man’s car stalled in the middle of Winsted’s busy Main Street, and a woman behind him honked continuously as he tried to restart it. Finally, the man (unknown) got out and walked to her car.

"I can’t seem to get my car started," he said. "If you’ll go and start it for me, I’ll stay here and lean on your horn."