NewCanaanite.com (https://newcanaanite.com/author/charlie-hobbs/page/3)
It’s 9:30 am, and 100 middle school girls are gathered in the auditorium at New Canaan High School. Each wears a lime green T-shirt emblazoned with the affirmation, “I am smart. I am strong. I am special.”
At Camp LiveGirl, these are the words to live by. The campers, girls going into grades 6 through 9, enjoy a full week of bonding and leadership training.
A dredge of one of the ponds at Lakeview Cemetery is wrapping up, a project designed to improve aesthetics and to clear out muck that could lead to green algal blooms.
Launched in response to findings of excessive sedimentation and invasive species in the pond, the dredge represents an eco-friendly investment by the Cemetery Association itself in a property that is deeply important to residents. “Overall, the whole process was very smooth,” Lakeview Cemetery Superintendent Peter Passaro said. “It was a good experience.”
Approved by the town’s Inland Wetlands officials, the project saw in its first stage “suction dredging,” which involves pumping out sediment from the pond and now involves “geotextile tubes,” which replaces water that had been removed. According to the project proposal from Ridgefield-based Pristine Waters LLC: “We believe that [the Lakeview Cemetery] pond is a very good candidate for suction draining … to prevent the buildup of decomposed organic sediment (muck), which would overload the pond with phosphates that lead to greater algae growth. The pond that underwent dredging is in the southeast part of the property—past the veterans’ gravesite area.
The free-standing garage on Richmond Hill Road—widely considered an eyesore—recently was broken into, according to town officials. Addressing the Parks & Recreation Commission at the group’s most recent meeting, Public Works Director Tiger Mann said as the building is unoccupied and empty, no theft took place. However, the break-in resulted in a broken window, and the site attracts illegal activity, he said. “It’s becoming that type of nuisance,” Mann said at the July 13 meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. Though the town had looked into demolishing the building, officials found that lead paint had fused to the brick, meaning that it all had to be disposed of as a unit—an expensive proposition.
About five years ago, Ann Depuy was close to earning her master’s degree in library science, happily married with two kids, when she began struggling to pronounce certain words. Soon, she was having trouble swallowing. Within one year, the 64-year-old New Canaan resident received a frightening diagnosis: progressive bulbar palsy. A form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, it attacks the nerves in the head and neck areas before affecting the rest of the body. In the years since, Depuy has lost the ability to speak and eat with her mouth, as well as almost all motor function, according to her husband, Warner.
Teams from New Canaan High School and youth sports groups will be affected by a $5 million construction project now underway and that will begin in full-force in mid-August, parks officials said last week. The project, which will bring turf to what are now grass fields at NCHS, will restrict or prevent access to athletes, mostly football and field hockey teams, through the first week of October, members of the Parks & Recreation Commission said during a special meeting on Thursday. While addressing the commission, Recreation Director Steve Benko said, “We are looking at how to accommodate this issue with some of our fields at Waveny.”
“[Sports teams] have to understand that, through the end of September, there are going to be times when fields have to be shared,” he said at the meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “They might not have all the space that they had… it’s not staged, it’s all going to happen at once.”
Benko warned residents to take heed of signs announcing field closings. “Please be careful if you see that a field is closed,” he said.