Woodstock CT Café

For Immediate Release, Contact: Joe Gresko
June 8, 2011 (860) 240-0071

The Bill clears way for lower rates, promotes clean energy and grows energy industry.

Read a fact sheet on Senate Bill 1243.

State Representative Danny Rovero (D-Putnam,, Killingly, Thompson) joined with a bipartisan group of legislators who voiced their support and passed Senate Bill 1243, An Act Concerning the Establishment of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Planning for Connecticut’s Energy Future, formerly Senate Bill 1. The bill received overwhelming support in the House of Representatives and passed 139 to 8. This legislation will chart a new course in energy policy, making Connecticut a national leader in embracing clean energy, lowering energy costs, and developing energy jobs, industries and businesses.

“We are taking responsibility for Connecticut’s energy future with this legislation,” said Rep. Rovero. “We are clearly moving to cleaner energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy, and have successfully balanced our energy needs in a way that recognizes the impact on rate payers. We have included goals for lowering rates in all aspects of our planning process.” Read the rest of this entry »

Voters have passed Arlington’s nearly $6.5 million tax override proposed by the Board of Selectmen, town officials confirmed Tuesday.

The Arlington patch article.

The proposed override, of $6,490,000, increases property taxes by 7.5 percent and the property tax rate by 94 cents per every $1,000 of assessed value, according to town officials. The median home value in Arlington of $480,000 will see a $450 increase on its property tax bill.

According to the Arlington Town Clerk’s Office, 13,593 votes were cast at this election—7,226 supporting the override and 6,366 against it. The numbers represent abotu 53 percent voted “yes” and 47 percent voted “no.” Official results will be posted by the end of Wednesday, officials said.

At Yes For Arlington, the campaign for the override, folks gathered to hear the results cheered and hugged when they heard the results. The Board of Selectmen gathered and Chair Clarissa Rowe thanked volunteers.

“This is one of the best campaigns that we have ever been a party to,” Rowe told the group, thanking each team within the campaign individually.

The Board of Selectmen had said the override allows Arlington to maintain services for at least three years, restore the public schools’ core services and spend money on “much needed” road improvements.

Proponents of the override, Yes For Arlington, said the override is needed to maintain basic levels of service expected in Arlington—such as public safety, schools staffing and libraries.

Those opposed, organized into the group No Override Arlington, questioned the necessity to increase Arlington’s property tax bill in a time when Arlington Public Schools are dealing with a lack of trust coming from a $1.5 million deficit—among other financial woes.

For Immediate Release, Contact: Joe Gresko
June 7, 2011 (860) 240-0071

State Representative Danny Rovero (D-Putnam, Killingly, Thompson) announced House passage of the most comprehensive jobs bill of the 2011 legislative session. An Act Concerning the Continuance of The Majority Leaders’ Job Growth Roundtable, (HB 6525) is now headed to the Senate for consideration.

“This is one of the most important pieces of legislation this year. The fact that it received unanimous bipartisan support shows that we can work together and achieve concrete results that will help create and retain manufacturing and technology-based jobs for the long-term,” said Rep. Rovero, a co-sponsor of the bill. “Incentives and a strong network between investors, academics and the state can transform Connecticut into a center of innovation that can be a magnet for entrepreneurs, talented people and great ideas to take root.” Read the rest of this entry »

From Sarah: “To learn more about these and other pieces of legislation, visit http://www.cga.ct.gov/

Simply type the bill number in at the top. I find Joint Favorable Reports very helpful.

Today is the last day of the 2011 Legislative Session so it should prove interesting.”

Hello Everybody in Café-Land! I have a friend looking for an apartment to rent… 2 bedroom in one of the ‘sending towns’. They already reside in one of the ‘sending towns’… so, there won’t be any impact on the WA student population. Thanks – Becki

In case you’ve forgotten the history of this problem, read “Giant Fart“.

Perhaps this is fitting before and after our politicians’ news releases. To give equal time we will post a news release by Rep. Mike Alberts next.

Shades of the Miller Farm problem – a laboratory team has created and trapped “antifart” atoms for a record 1,000 seconds, the Journal of Gastrology reports, raising hopes for study of the famously elusive physics of antifart. The obvious benefit of antifart might mean a revolutionary solution to bad smells wherever they are found. We could can it, or perhaps contain it in large pressured storage tanks for immediate release in a time of need.

Antifart is a reverse-charged form of normal fart molecules seen in some high-energy physics particle collisions. Antifart famously annihilates itself when brought into contact with normal fart matter, making observation of antifart molecules of the stuff quite tricky.

Astrocomposters cannot explain why the amount of fart created in the Big Barroom some 13.7 billion years ago, predominated over the amount of antifart created, making study of the stuff intriguing to gastrologists. The goal of trapping antifart atoms is to explore their properties to see how they differ from normal ones, with the hope of explaining this mystery. Read the rest of this entry »

For Immediate Release
Contact: Joe Gresko
June 3, 2011 (860) 240-0071

DNA BILL PASSES HOUSE 

State Representative Danny Rovero (D-Putnam, Killingly, Thompson) hailed the House of Representatives’ approval of legislation he co-sponsored requiring the collection of DNA evidence from convicted felons upon a subsequent felony arrest.

House Bill 6489 was modeled after “Katie’s Law”, in memory of Katie Sepich, a 22-year-old graduate student at New Mexico State University, who was brutally raped, strangled to death, set on fire and abandoned at a dumpsite in August 2003.

The legislation requires people arrested for any of 39 serious felony offenses to provide DNA sample before they are released from custody if they had previously been convicted of a felony.

“This measure has the potential to not only solve crimes, but to prevent crimes and save lives,” said Rep. Rovero. “if this bill saves the life of one person, then it will be worth all the time and effort the legislature devoted.”

The information gathered will be added to a federal DNA database. A provision in the bill allows for an individual that is exonerated to be allowed to have their DNA expunged from the system. The original bill called for DNA collection following any arrest for a serious felony, but this compromise received broad support needed in the House. The bill now moves to the State Senate for legislative action.

 The bill is here  - See 39 offenses listed below: Read the rest of this entry »

This was part of an Anonymous Sound-Off that showed up in the Villager yesterday. It’s well written but lacks detail that would either support the proposal or perhaps invalidate the idea. We are not putting this up because we support it, but rather to see how readers feel about the idea.

The author begins by saying that Taxpayers should just say no to tax increases and that both Thompson and Killingly’s budgets were rejected unlike Woodstock’s budget. But it seems that what the author is proposing is a shift of money in the school budget from sports to saving teachers positions.

“Both Thompson and Killingly school districts have implemented teacher layoffs, pay freezes, and reduction of support staff over the past few years. Any more cuts in these areas would be detrimental to the quality of education that our children need to survive in today’s world. What does that leave? How about the athletic programs?

Now, I already can hear the angry shouts and feel the politicians cringe at this radical idea, but I would ask voters to keep an open mind and to consider what is to be gained by doing away with the athletic programs. [Unfortunately the author provides no detail about how much taxpayer money could be saved and applied to more sholarly activities.] Most school districts spend more than $100,000 on coaching fees alone. Then there is the cost of transporting students in gas guzzling school buses to and from their games, not to mention the expense of paying the bus drivers. [Bus drivers make make $9-$14 an hour with no bennies. The author is apparantly unaware that the gas-guzzling buses and drivers also are used to transport students on field trips - for example, an overnight field trip for the Academy seniors is scheduled for June 17th] Let’s not forget the other added expenses, such as hiring referees, umpires, and security personnel. Those dollar signs are really starting to add up.

OK, I know that sports programs have always been the sacred cow of school budgets. People will argue that students need athletic programs to teach them about competition and fair play. Also, some will say that sports provide a means for students to further their education through athletic scholarships. [This is the argument that Richard Foye made as one of his main points in support for athletic expansionism.] Sports also promote physical fitness. All of these are valid arguments, but what about the counter arguments that we never hear? Can’t students learn fair play in a gym class? Shouldn’t all students be participating in four years of gym as a means to promote physical fitness? Finally, what good is an athletic scholarship if the students arrive at university without the academic preparation they need to succeed?”

eWASTE 2011 - JUNE 11thWe are continuing our eWaste Program this year and it will be held at the Town Hall June 11th from 9 AM to 1 PM. This will be open to Woodstock residents and the surrounding area, as well. There will be NO COST to anyone thanks to the new regulations set by the federal government. Now, manufacturers are responsible for the costs involved in recycling their products.

So, we look forward to a great turn-out and a community effort to keep these items out of our land-fills by recycling on June 11th. 

 Judy E. Walberg

Town Clerk & Secretary to the Green Energy Committee

The Cafe would like to have the rigorous methodology that Con suggests is needed. Five years ago I spent some time examining the 2004 tax return of the Ag Society (article below). Unfortunately our day jobs sometimes interfere with doing the research but I’m glad I still have that day job and several other taxing responsibilities. If someone would take the time to put together a rigorous thesis on the Ag Society’s finances, the Cafe will confer a doctorate of philosophy to this individual (if the thesis is meritorious). And, of course a YOU MORON cup and cap to boot. John

from Pro Ed

Rigorous methodology would be nice, but this is a blog, not a intelligence agency. While supporting one’s comments with fact certainly lends credibility, I think it is perfectly fine to opine, question, and bicker about issues-placing the responsibility onto the reader to discern the comments for validity.

While it might be nice, the take home message of the cafe bloggers may not always be a definitive conclusion based on sound research. Rather, simply, it may be a recognition that there exists a common concern about a certain issues. Certainly we have seen, over the years on the cafe, specific issues come up, over and over. The Fair, PA-490, Academy spending, education funding, are some examples. Unfortunately, very little organized, public, real-life conversations, inquiries, or investigations have taken place to address these issues. There are many reasons, perhaps speculative, why this has not occurred. We can blame our elected officials, but we should also blame ourselves for not holding them accountable and engaging them politically and legally.

This failure is made clear on the cafe. So while I commend your call for rigorous methodology, its lacking should not be used to undermine the concern or the thoughtfulness of its participants. Their questions and concerns may very well be as important as the answers because they provide an impetus for action that may extend beyond the cafe-and into boardrooms, meetings, town offices and schools-where the rigorous methodology that you are seeking most definitively should be taking place, but is not.