Around Town

PHOTOS, VIDEO: ‘New’ New Canaan Library Opens to the Public

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Some day soon—“it could even be today,” Town Council Chair Steve Karl said Tuesday morning, addressing a crowd of 300-plus people gathered outside the new New Canaan Library—a boy or girl “will walk through these doors and learn to read for the first time.”

“They’ll be holding their parents’ hands, and when they leave here they may leave with a book in the other hand,” Karl said. “Their eyes will be open and they will begin a journey of learning that will last a lifetime. It’s been a magical journey on the corner of Main and Cherry for 100 years now. I actually learned to read here, as well. When the ribbon is cut in a few short minutes, it will represent hundreds of thousands of hours in long-range planning, thoughtful design, hard work, gritty determination and literally a small army of people putting this together.”

More than three years after library officials unveiled a vision for a dramatically reimagined facility and campus, New Canaan Library opened its doors at 9 a.m. on Feb.

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Letter: Grace Farms Benefits Wider Community with Other Town Jewels

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Dear Editor:

Forty years ago, my husband and I moved to New Canaan to raise a family. We chose New Canaan for its beauty and charm. But in 40 years, we have seen a vocal minority that has time and again resisted embracing anything new even when that change offered a better quality of life for all. As I look at our town’s jewels, I find too many examples where a small group vehemently opposed their development and/or enhancement: The Glass House was decried by a few, but Philip Johnson persevered. Waveny Castle and grounds needed major repairs when they were gifted to the town, but a vocal minority opposed improvements; the swings at Mead Park were rusted derelicts until some brave moms resisted a vocal minority and installed new facilities; the forces-of-no protested lighting the high school athletic fields until parents and coaches overcame this resistance.

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Campus Sexual Assault Safety Tips Highlighted at New Canaan Briefing

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High school students set to leave for college in the fall on Monday received expert counsel on ways to stay safe in the face of sexual assault. At the second annual “Know Before You Go” press conference, New Canaan’s rising college freshman were advised on precautions that need to be taken as they set out on their own. Margie Hahn, a New Canaan resident and rising Junior at Villanova University, provided these important tips on what every college student should know at the briefing, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department:

Supportive friends that you feel safe approaching when you are in an uncomfortable situation. Easy access to the phone number of a school counselor, as well as your RA (Room Advisor). A safe word. Margie stated that she has a “safe word” with both her parents and her friends that acts as an “SOS” signal that she could discretely text to them if in trouble.

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New Canaan Marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month [VIDEO]

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Dede Bartlett-New Canaan Marks Domestic Violence Awareness Month
For a sweeping view of domestic violence’s prevalence here, our town may not need the 1,000 purple pinwheels now stuck into the knoll outside Vine Cottage, each representing a resident who called New Canaan Police in the past decade because of violence in their homes, according to one local expert. To know just what domestic violence looks like, New Canaan also doesn’t need to recognize October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Dede Bartlett, co-chair of the New Canaan Domestic Violence Partnership, said Wednesday morning. “I think Ray Rice has done that for us,” Bartlett told dozens of New Canaan High School students who gathered in the main lobby with teachers, faculty, administrators, SROs and town officials for a proclamation reading. “How many of you saw the video clip of the Baltimore Ravens football player punch his girlfriend, knock her out and drag her by the hair out of the elevator?” Bartlett said, prompting everyone to raise a hand. “Yes, you, me and about 50 million other Americans saw that tape, and maybe for a whole lot of folks, it was the first time that they saw what domestic violence looked like.