News

Darien Police: New Canaan Girl, 16, Cited for Possession of Alcohol [CORRECTION]

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[Editor’s Note: This article, which originally appeared on the Darienite, has been corrected to reflect what Darien Police said in an incident report.]

Darien Police on Thursday night cited a 16-year-old New Canaan girl for possession of alcohol. At about 9:24 p.m. on April 12, officers responded to the area of Allwood Road on a report of youths throwing bottles from a vehicle, police said. There, officers found a vehicle occupied by four female juveniles from New Canaan, according to a police report. The vehicle belonged to one of the passengers in the car, the report said, but she could not drive because she’d been drinking alcohol. Following an investigation, police also found that the same passenger was in possession of a backpack containing several bottles of an alcoholic beverage, it said.

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Probation Agreement Reached for Two Darien Teens Charged After Assault on New Canaan Teen

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[Editor’s Note: This article has been updated by removing the name of at least one arrested teen whose charges were dismissed.]

A judge agreed Wednesday to grant probation to two Darien teenagers who were charged in November in connection with the assault on a New Canaan boy, and after community service is completed, there won’t be a record of the criminal case, the attorney for one of the teens said. Attorney Stephen Seeger of Stamford said his client, Brian Minicus, 18, “apologized to the victim and to his own family,” at the hearing in state Superior Court in Norwalk. Minicus had previously apologized to the victim. According to an article from Erin Kayata of Hearst’s Darien News, Minicus said at the court hearing:

“I want to apologize to the victim, my family, especially my mom and dad, and all of Darien. […] I feel like I left them down.

Around Town
Panel Resiliency 02-09-17

Expert Panel Offers Parents Tips on Building Resiliency, Respecting Kids While Holding Them to Standards

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Emotionally healthy kids can bounce back from failures, and parents should let them do so — it builds resiliency, an important ability that the child will need later in life. Parents can also be respectful and even show love to their children while enforcing rules, ask questions rather than make assumptions, and show sympathy while avoiding the temptation to fix problems that children are better off fixing themselves. Those were some of the many suggestions that a panel of experts gave in a discussion, and that a counselor and two New Canaan High School actors demonstrated in a series of skits toward the end of the panel presentation, “Building Family Resillience in a World of Booze, Bongs and Benzos,” Wednesday night at New Canaan Town Hall. It was presented by the League of Women Voters of New Canaan and town Department of Human Services. Kids and young adults who turn to substance abuse are often trying to self-medicate their way out of depressing or uncomfortable situations that, in many cases, they could react to if they had better resiliency skills, Carrie Bernier, moderator of the panel and director of the Community Fund of Darien.

Government

Officials: Talmadge Hill Railroad Station at ‘Top of List’ for Getting Canopies

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Talmadge Hill Railroad Station, the only station on the New Haven Line without canopies overhead to protect waiting passengers from rain, snow and sleet, is on the “top of my list” for a canopy, said a top official with the state Department of Transportation. John Bernick, assistant rail administrator for the department, said at the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council meeting held at Darien Town Hall on March 18 that he’s got to worry about keeping the line going safely, which includes replacing rails, ties and major bridge repair or even replacement projects. But Bernick sounded hopeful that money might be found for a canopy at the station, which he called “a basic need.”

“I’ve got to keep my mind on what’s the state of good repair on the line in general,” he said, but he added, “Certainly Talmadge Hill, you’re top of my list for canopies, so we’ll look into that.”

He continued: “We do have some Go CT money [a state transportation financing program] for the New Canaan Line. Maybe we can leverage some of that.”

Bernick’s comment was made in response to complaints from Rodney Chabot of New Canaan, a former chairman of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council and New Canaan First Selectman Rob Mallozzi about the station, which is only about 600 feet from the Darien-New Canaan border and where a number of Darien commuters take the train. Bernick did say a few minutes earlier in the meeting, however: “Right now I don’t have anything on the books for canopies at Talmadge Hill.

News

Door Removed Monday from New Canaan Man’s Honda Parked in Noroton Heights Train Station Lot

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The driver’s side rear door on a New Canaan man’s Honda went missing some time Monday from the Noroton Heights Railroad Station in Darien, officials said. The theft included removing the door from its hinges on a 2015 Honda Accord and appears to have been done in the open, between 6 a.m. and 3:07 p.m. on Feb. 15, Darien Police told Darienite.com. A DPW worker in Darien spotted the vandalized vehicle, according to police. Parked by its owner, a New Canaan man headed for New York City, the car was on the south side of the tracks, not far from Hollow Tree Ridge Road and near some stairs by the platform.