NCPD

Interfering Charge for Man, 38

Police on Saturday arrested a 38-year-old Bridgeport man and charged him with interfering with an officer. At about 4:32 p.m. on May 4, an officer on patrol spotted a vehicle on Ponus Ridge with an illegible license plate. During a subsequent stop near Bennington Place, the officer found that there was no record of the license plate and the registration for it had been surrendered and had expired, according to a police report. Police identified the man and brought the misdemeanor charge. They also charged him with motor vehicle-related offenses.

Commission Approves New Parking Configuration for Morse Court

Saying it’ll make parking easier for large vehicles and improve traffic flow, town officials voted last week in favor of re-striping the Morse Court lot. The change will create spaces nine feet wide and at 90 degrees from the travel lane, as opposed to the current configuration where stall widths range from 7.5 to 8.5 feet wide and many are angled, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The new striping also will create wide enough traffic lanes within the lot to allow for two-way traffic all around, though it will bring a net loss of 10 spaces to Morse Court, officials said at the May 1 Parking Commission meeting. 

Though the town is “not being forced” to change the parking configuration when it re-stripes the lot, Mann said, the spaces as currently configured are not in compliance with the New Canaan Zoning Regulations or Village District Guidelines, Mann said. “The problem is you have spaces that are way undersized and the Commission was receiving complaints,” he said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “The first selectman’s office was receiving complaints.

Town Man, 78, Charged in Domestic Incident

Police late on a recent Saturday night arrested a 79-year-old New Canaan man and charged him with disorderly conduct. At about 9 p.m. on April 27, a victim came to police headquarters to report a dispute with the man earlier in the evening, officials said. Through an investigation, authorities established probable cause to bring the misdemeanor charge, according to a police report. Police withheld details of the arrest, saying it’s a domestic matter. Under state law, a person is guilty of disorderly conduct when he or she, “with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior; or by offensive or disorderly conduct, annoys or interferes with another person,” among other reasons.

‘We Share Our Love of Dogs’: Hundreds Attend ‘Dog Days New Canaan’ at the Nature Center

Town resident Arianne Kolb started coming to the Pet Pantry’s annual Dog Days New Canaan when she got Odie, her Shih Tzu, three years ago. 

She calls it one of New Canaan’s “best community events.”

“It’s so wonderful to see everyone come together,” Kolb said Saturday from an area near the popular lure course at Dog Days, held at the New Canaan Nature Center under clear, sunny skies. “We share our love of dogs and you meet the most wonderful people, wonderful dogs and everybody is so generous. I just love that my dog, who is extremely picky, gets all these freebies and samples.”

Hundreds of dog lovers leash-walked their four-legged family members during the five-hour event, picking up samples from vendors and free ice cream at the “Dog Pawlor” and participating in activities including the lure course, bobbing for tennis balls and cooling off in the new “Splash Park.” Dog Days is a fundraiser for Adopt-A-Dog, which currently is listing 23 adoptable dogs. Brothers Adam and Ari Jacobson of Pet Pantry were both in attendance for Dog Days, which has been running in New Canaan for at least a dozen years and has been comfortably held at the Nature Center for the past few. “The community we’re operating in, in New Canaan, is a very family-friendly, family-forward small feeling and we love to pay it forward a little bit,” Adam Jacobson said.

Quiet Heroes of New Canaan: Scarlett MacAllister

Though New Canaan’s Scarlett MacAllister, 13, was just three weeks old when she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis—a rare, genetic, life-threatening disease that makes it difficult to breathe—the condition has never defined her, according to those who know her best. Instead, said Sheena DiMatteo, head coach of MacAllister’s company team at New Canaan Dance Academy, the teen not only shines as a highly gifted dancer but also as a support to those around her, exuding qualities of ambition, leadership and generosity. “I feel Scarlett really is a well-rounded person in that she is very ambitious and she does have individual goals that she works very hard to achieve,” DiMatteo told NewCanaanite.com by way of nominating MacAllister for the “Quiet Heroes” series. “But in the same breath, she is the number one supporter of all the dancers around her. She will be the first one to show up at a competition early to make sure that she supports her teammates and doesn’t miss their performance and helps kids go on stage that have never even competed before.”

Those who know MacAllister from the Forest Street studio are “inspired by her talent, dedication, abilities and team spirit,” DiMatteo said.