Around Town

Boy Scout Project Improves Access to Land Trust Parcel

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By Mark Peiser

A Boy Scout Eagle Project, completed in October, now provides improved access to the New Canaan Land Trust’s Colhoun Parcel. The project includes a safer entrance gate and a designated parking area, making it easier for members of the community to access the parcel. Gifted in 1974 by Dick and Didi Colhoun, the parcel is located on Davenport Ridge Road, just west of Skyview Lane, and is the New Canaan Land Trust’s third largest with 21 acres of undisturbed woodlands and meadows. Chris Schipper, president of the Land Trust, said, “The Colhoun Parcel is a key part of the Land Trust’s ‘Gateways of New Canaan’ Stewardship Program. At the crossroads of New Canaan and Stamford, Colhoun is a lead parcel for our Gateways program.

Faces of New Canaan

Faces of New Canaan: Grayson Cordes

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Many locals will know Grayson Cordes, a 2011 New Canaan High School graduate, as the manager at Walgreens on Pine Street (he’s been there six years) who recently was honored by the New Canaan Police Department for his vigilance in the store, which helped authorities nab a fraud ring that had come into town. We at NewCanaanite.com first heard from Grayson—out of the blue—back in August, following the first report of a “reptile” sighting at Mill Pond that local police suspected was an alligator turtle (something like that would turn up about a month later on East Avenue). Grayson let us know that he’d seen the story of the reptile and that, soon after, a man came into Walgreens with what appeared to be a small alligator turtle and spoke to him for 20 minutes or so about the creature. More than that, Grayson had the man’s information and photos of the reptile. The NCPD issued its “Civilian Service Award” to him shortly after and Grayson reached out about the possibility of contributing to NewCanaanite.com—something we talk about in our conversation (transcribed in full below, for this our latest installment of Faces of New Canaan) and hope soon to showcase.

Local People

Say ‘Hi’ to Alex Hutchins, NewCanaanite.com Summer Intern

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A journalist receives no greater gift than to be granted an interview—town official, event organizer, man-on-the-street. It’s a gift of trust and, other than spelling people’s names correctly, there’s no more important job than respecting that trust. How scary to put your faith in some reporter, to believe that that person will convey just what you mean to say and not put words you never uttered into your mouth—or worse, to report accurately the words you said but take them out of context. So the first thing we asked New Canaan High School junior Alex Hutchins when he interviewed for our NewCanaanite.com summer internship program was for permission to publish our entire exchange online should he get the gig. He did, we’re very excited to say, and below we’ve transcribed our entire interview this month at Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee.