Around Town

Letter: Robin Bates-Mason for Town Council

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Robin Bates-Mason would make a fine member of the Town Council. Robin grew up in Darien and has lived in New Canaan for 20 years — she knows this area well. She has two sons at New Canaan High School. Robin organized and leads Planet New Canaan where I have observed firsthand her knowledge, caring and energy helping New Canaan to be more green, to deal with plastic bags, to pick up litter, to educate school kids and adults with speakers and films, along with many other efforts. New Canaan is recycling less of its waste and spending substantially more than nearby towns on waste disposal.

News

Letter: Preserve the ‘Brick Barn’ at Mead Park

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The Brick Barn at Mead Park is historically significant. Constructed in 1911, it was a stable for horses used to deliver kerosene to local residents. Standard Oil’s delivery wagon filled its tanks and five-gallon containers to deliver to farms and retail stores, to the town for street lighting, public building heat and lighting, and to residential customers for lighting their oil lamps and fueling their oil heaters and stoves. During World War II Red Cross ladies met at the barn and rolled bandages and knitted for the troops. During and after the war the Town Band and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Fife & Drum Corps practiced patriotic music at the Barn to play for residents.  

The Brick Barn at Mead Park is architecturally significant. “As probably the last remaining example of such a delivery stable in Connecticut, this barn has great historic, cultural and architectural significance” said Bruce Clouette PhD, an independent Industrial Archeologist who has for 40 years prepared National Register nominations all over the state.

News

Letter: High Praise for NCPD ‘Civilian Police Academy’

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I’ve just completed the New Canaan Police Department’s Civilian Police Academy, which I learned about in a New Canaanite article. We toured the Police Department building, saw the Dispatch Center, the holding cell in the basement, and the Special Response Team weapons. We learned about fingerprints and DNA, about traffic control, accident investigation, youth interaction, domestic violence, drugs and alcohol, DUI field sobriety tests, animal control, arrest warrants, probable cause, body cameras, Tasers and weapons, and we participated in a simulated use-of-force exercise that was an eye opener. We learned who does what, how he or she does it and why, and we had plenty of time for questions. We rode in a patrol car for several hours.