Bill Walbert

Town To Unveil Potential Locations for New Police Station July 8

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Officials say a group that’s been meeting out of the public eye to identify sites around New Canaan where a new Police Department could go will unveil its findings next month. Assigned to the task by First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, the group of municipal employees, including representatives from the Department of Public Works, is expected to present to the town-appointed Police Department Building Committee on July 8. While Moynihan’s staff group has studied possible new sites, the Committee has been working on a possible renovation of the existing Police Department building on South Avenue. 

Committee member Jim Beall asked during the Committee’s regular meeting Thursday whether the Moynihan group might share its findings even before the next scheduled meeting on July 8. “Does it even have to wait until July?” Beall said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “Stuart, what is our expectation?

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Unlocked Mercedes, Keys and $150,000 of Items Inside, Stolen from New Canaan Driveway

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A Mercedes and BMW were reported stolen last week from driveways on a short dead-end street opposite the Country Club of New Canaan, police said. At about 11:33 a.m. on June 2, officers were dispatched to a Brookwood Lane home to investigate a report of a stolen BMW X5, Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said in a press release. The vehicle was locked, according to the owner, who was unsure whether the keys were in the vehicle, the release said. Inside the vehicle were car seats, dry cleaning, kid’s toys, a tool kit and a pair of sneakers, it said. The BMW was recovered at 3:39 p.m. that day at an Interstate 95 rest area in Fairfield, according to Krolikowski.

Around Town

After Year-Plus Hiatus, ‘Coffee with a Cop’ Returns To Downtown New Canaan

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The New Canaan Police Department on Tuesday morning held its first open public meet-and-greet downtown since the COVID-19 pandemic set in early last year. Created in 2016, ‘Coffee with A Cop’ is designed to give residents a chance to sit down and form positive relationships with local police officers. “It’s great that we’re able to do it again and feel safe to interact with everyone,” Police Chief Leon Krolikowski told NewCanaanite.com outside of Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee on Pine Street, a regular host of the event. 

“I think obviously we like to get out into the community and interact with everybody, so it’s really important to have these kinds of things,” Krolikowski said. Prior to this week’s gathering, “Coffee with a Cop” last was held in February 2020 at Zumbach’s. Last week, the state relaxed many mask-wearing requirements, including that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people don’t need to wear them outdoors.

Around Town

Op-Ed: Poppies To Be Distributed in New Canaan To Honor War Dead

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The weekend before Memorial Day finds many war veterans distributing poppies in order to honor the ultimate sacrifice of our nation’s veterans. In New Canaan, members of our local Veterans of Foreign War Post 653 will distribute poppies in front of Walter Stewart’s Market, ACME Market and Dunkin Donuts. The significance of the poppy in honoring our nation’s war dead is traced to World War I.

From the battlefields of World War I, weary soldiers brought home the memory of a barren landscape transformed by wild poppies, red as the blood that had soaked the soil. By that miracle poppy became a symbol of the sacrifice of lives in war and represented the hope that none had died in vain. The poppy has continued to bloom for the casualties wars, its petals of paper bound together for veterans by veterans, reminding America each year that the men and women who have served and died for their country deserve to be remembered. 

Although poppies have a long history of being used to honor the dead in both Greek and Roman mythology, the poppy, as a memorial flower to the war dead, can be traced to a single individual, Moina Michael.

Around Town

Police Chief: Beware Bogus Veterans Organizations

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On May 31, Memorial Day, we honor those veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for our great county. Memorial Day honors their service and sacrifice. Nearly 850 Veterans are buried in Lakeview Cemetery. 

As Memorial Day approaches, it’s a good time to remind the patriotic citizens of New Canaan to be aware of phony organizations who “solicit” on behalf of Veterans. Several years ago, the late Col. Peter Langenus, U.S. Army (ret.), the then-Commander of New Canaan’s Veterans of Foreign War Post 653 received a telephone call from a shopper who had been approached for a monetary donation in front of a store in New Canaan. 

The shopper thought that the solicitor’s military uniform seemed to be a mismatch of different uniforms and different branches of the service.