Lately, I have been getting a good dose of behavioral do’s and don’ts. I am becoming quite an expert at it, ever since I rattled the authorities tail. So let’s see where you fall. Are you a Type A or Type B. After you take the quiz, see if you can guess where I fit in.

You know all of us are like cans in a supermarket, we just have to be labeled. I just want to remind the folks in the middle of town that class is not dismissed. You soon will be having your “history” lesson.

Click here for quiz

I liked the question that asked do you look at your watch when you have nothing to do or are bored. That reminds me of someone that has a pre occupation with time.

Ok, time to go. I have to run down the Hall to answer my phone.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND AGAIN!!!

New photos of Pleasure Beach. Taken in March 2008. It is quite different now. I actually went down there with someone and you can see the difference.

As I have stated before, many of the cottages shown in the Michael Raleigh photos from 2006 were destroyed by vandals.

I am including a narrative of events as well so you can understand the tragedy of this. It is weird to go there. I and my friend saw our lives come and go when we were there. Sometimes I feel like Pleasure Beach, once vibrant and new, and now old and fading.

Here is a perfect example of beach front property that is worth NOTHING!!!

Pleasure Beach March 2008

Narrative from LYNOLSOFFICE

The last residents lost their long battle with the town of Stratford and finally left after Memorial Day 2007. Since then, the power and utilities have been cut and the peninsula has been vacant. The town had officially evicted them in 1997; a year after the Pleasure Beach Bridge went up in flames, cutting off all vehicular access. (It’s an almost two mile walk down the beach to get there now). Even before the bridge burned Stratford said they would no longer lease the land to the cottage owners because they could not provide emergency services as it took them such a long time to reach the remote area. Unfortunately, a week before my trip, a fire was set and three cottages were destroyed, and one more was demolished to stop the spread of the fire to the other forty something vacant cottages on Stratford’s section of the peninsula. You can tell from the state of the cottages that some were abandoned in 1996-1997, and others stayed on till the very end hoping for a court ruling in their favor, which was not to be. Moving day 2007 was like an emergency evacuation; there was no vehicle access to the peninsula, so owners took only what they felt they needed and left everything else when the barge came back to collect the moving vans that had been brought over across Lewis Gut earlier in the day. Pictures cannot capture the weirdness of actually being out there; in what were once a cozy summer beach community, and a beautiful city park and beach, now a deteriorating piece of land in total silence and isolation surrounded by a busy city and its crowded suburbs.

This is a short post tonight. But, I want to thank all my friends and supporters who are giving me support in this difficult time. I had to make a choice and do something I knew would have consequences. And I found out about it today. TOO BAD!!

My children are the most important thing in the world and I will DO ANYTHING to help them.

Thank God it worked. I don’t care what the consequences are. I am very patient, but the authority knows what happens when I have to take action. Now the ball is rolling.

Never mind Cheshire F School “when is he 16 ” so we can wash our hands of it.

How about addressing the issue. Now I was forced to take action and it is SOLVED. ISN’T IT? All these resources and look what it took to solve the problem.

Three years begging for help. It is true, if he wore a football helmet you would have gotten whiplash looking at them running so fast to help.

Maybe we should have been like some people I know in this town, just run off to work. Or this classic that I heard from an administrator “Just let it pass, it will work out.” Yeah, when the kid is 16!! NO!!

I raised four children in this town and they are good and respectful. Just ask anyone. Or as that moron wrote on you know who’s blog “just ask the cops” Yeah, ask them about my children. Ask any schoolteacher. They will tell you.

My daughter knows at least three Cheshire F School students that are dropping out. How many more are. It is disgusting. No one should be leaving high school in this town. But you can see why. I will NEVER support education in this town AGAIN!!!

P.S. The Ambulance issue is continuing. My family will be making a statement in front of a state agency within the next two weeks. YES!! They are not getting away with what they did and neither are the other ones in the middle of Highland Avenue. You have to fight to the end in this town. I will. And I will never waiver when it comes to peoples rights, especially my children. Whatever they do, I will fight right back.

Michael Jackson wrote a song years ago entitled “They Don’t Care About Us.” They don’t. The authority does not care about the average person, especially women or children. And if you are a parent, it is even worse.

Michael Jackson-You Are Not Alone

I have had this property in Bridgeportfor many many years.  And now I am fixing it up. That is no secret. It is not in the best of neighborhoods, but years ago it was. I just kept it. A person needs to have options and needs to remember where they came from.

I will be honest, and this is is probably no secret either, I never liked Cheshire from day one I came here and Cheshire never liked me.

I lived here because my husband had a house here BEFORE we were married. That house is NOT in my name. Check the deed in Town Hall.

I outright own NOTHING in this town and I never did.

I must pay about, actually, I don’t pay ANY property tax in Cheshire at all!! My husband pays the cars and the house. So, if I, who live here for free practically, can get this involved in town where technically I shouldn’t care if the mill rate goes up 300 percent, I can’t even imagine most of the people in this town not caring one iota about ANYTHING THAT GOES ON HERE as far as town business goes.

It is your money, you would think you would care?

Is it a sign of the times? Maybe. But I have lived in towns or even covered towns where I was a reporter where people did and still do care. I don’t know what is wrong here–well, I really shouldn’t say that because until recently, our Town Government did not encourage people to participate in town affairs.

Recently at a budget hearing for the Police Department, where only one other resident besides myself and my husband showed up, the Police Chief spoke briefly about the extended office hours that I encouraged. He said he was lonely in the office. Well, guess why? YOU DON’T ADVERTISE IT!!! HELLO!!! I know the extended hours, which takes place the first Thursday of each month, is on the CPD website, but why isn’t it on the TOWN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE OR ON THAT WASTE OF TIME CHANNEL 14?

Then they want to do live video streaming of the Town Council meetings? For whom? The five people that are really interested in watching? And what is this $16,000 for a consultant to get everything started. Now I am not a web genius, but the town has the server at the Board of Education, get a webcam, purchase some software and for under $1,000 you have it.

Now as far as the pool goes, why is this town hesitating? Get with it. Milford has already cleared the path by putting up the retractable polycarbonate glass enclosure. Follow their lead. I know it is costly, but bite the bullet, get rid of the dragged through the mud bubble and just do it. We will save energy and save a lot of money when we no longer have to take this gigantic bubble up and down twice a year. Energy costs are NOT GOING DOWN.

My hus and I were talking about the pool and a good idea was brought forth. The DOT does traffic studies; let the town keep track of how many people use the pool each month.

The month with the lowest amount of users should result in the pool being closed for that period of time. For example, if the lowest amount of usage occurs in February, then close the pool for that month. Any swim classes or whatever else goes on there, can take place at another location, i.e. the Academy pool or Southington YMCA.

I know many of you are still talking to me about this car usage. Why does it bother me? It should bother you too. Why? Because my husband is a revenue examiner for the Connecticut Dept. of Labor has to drive his OWN PERSONAL VEHICLE on field audits which is all day and half of the night. He has been doing this for 30 years. The state does not issue him or others in his department a car. He gets re-imbursed for gas mileage, so many cents a mile, but BIG DEAL!! This does not even begin to cover the daily wear and tear.

When he gets into an accident, whether it is his fault or not, WE PAY. When he needs an oil change, WE PAY. When the car needs new tires or a new battery or engine work or whatever maintenance, WE PAY. I can’t even tell you how many cars he has been through in 30 years. A LOT!!

So I don’t have any sympathy for these people who are municipal employees, ANYWHERE, who think they can use taxpayer money to suit themselves. Absolutely not!!

For the couple who called me the other night about some town employees over at the coffee shop across from St. Bridget’s Church. Right!! Take your own car. If you are not on town business or on patrol, meaning that is your shift and your right to take a break, then TAKE YOUR OWN CAR. No more “I am at the office AT THE OFFICE, so I will take a town car to Stop and Shop or the deli or wherever for lunch.”

TAKE YOUR OWN CAR. My husband has to–so can you.

And as far as this Town Council goes, I really was disappointed, especially with the Republicans, for not backing up Tim White with this municipal gas use issue. Why are you on this Council?? Please.

You see I ran another story about yet another member of the Bridgeport Fire Department being fired for town vehicle misuse. GOOD!! You take on a municipal position to serve your constituents. Not take advantage of them.

Did someone here take a town car to Vermont? We will probably never know. But I do know a person that works at a local landscaping company in town. What stories will he tell me?

Now I told all of you who support UTH on Members Only to wait. You have concerns, you have information. WAIT. I will hopefully be able to straighten a lot of things out with our Town Government in a few weeks. I am going in there alone, but I know I have your support.

Now let us to to WTNH for the latest on that tragic incident involving Officer Morelli of the Norwalk Police Department.

Apparently, it is being said that Officer Morelli might have taken his own life. It is so sad. If this is true, I really feel sorry for his family.

Here is the story

Also, the Associated Press Article which ran in the Greenwich Time.

We are going to briefly get into the Step System that most employers, especially municipal and government employers have because of the Unions. I believe (90 percent) that the Town of Cheshire has a Step system, and my significant other had mentioned it at the Police Budget Workshop.

And no, you know who, my significant other is NOT advising you when union negotiations come up unless I GIVE HIM PERMISSION and right now and I not too happy!! So we will see.

Now my sig other has worked for the state for nearly 30 years and their step system is one of the best. My sig other told me the other night that he remembers all the town candidates, including me, (but I lied), who stated at the Candidates debate night that they all supported the Police Department. But, what have they really done to support them?

Sit there and not ask questions. No, that is not enough.

Now here is basically how the step system works with the State of Connecticut employees who have anywhere between a seven and a nine step system.

The Cheshire Police Department, I believe, has a five step system.

When a person gets hired to work at the Labor Department, the person can be at a different pay grade than another person who also just got hired, but there are seven to nine steps in the pay grade.

So this step system recognizes a persons experience and training.

For example, a supervisor in the Labor Department could make less money than one of its employees he or she is supervising only because that employee has been on the job longer than the supervisor.

So how is this fair? Only so many people can be promoted. Eventually, the supervisor will make more, because he or she can move up the ladder further, because his or her steps will eventually pay more money. The regular employee reaches a ceiling sooner than the supervisor.

With a five step system, employment and training ceases to be recognized after FIVE years unless you get promoted. So, technically, a patrol officer who is at the CPD for let’s say eight years, could be making the same money as a patrol officer working at CPD for five years. So, that is really not fair. There is a ceiling at five years for every officer unless you get promoted. If you don’t, that is the end of the line and that is where the disparity lies.

You would get better retention if even another step was added.

Now what about Longevity payments? The CPD has them, and they are given out twice a year as is the case with the Labor Department, but it doesn’t have enough recognition of experience and training, because it basically boils down to several hundred dollars a year.

So, we are advocating an additional pay step to be added to the Cheshire Police Department’s contract.

And we need to take action when action needs to be taken and not worry about whether or not it will get on the news, as I have stated before. That is part of the problem too. Police officers have to feel they can act like the police (within guidelines of the law of course), without 14 people having to be contacted before they can make a move. Police work involves split second decision making. Sometimes there is no time to contact certain people in Town Government for permission. I am not talking about immediate supervisors, you know who I mean.

If when we called the Montreal Police about my son several months back, when he was “pre-occupied” like a young man will be at times, and we had not heard from him in several weeks, and they acted like this town, he still would be sitting in his apartment.

Within 10 minutes after we contacted the MPD, it was over.

The MPD assumed the worst and went over to the apartment with a battering ram, mind you. They knocked on the door. When no one answered right away, the broke the door down, grabbed him, threw him out into the hallway of his apartment building, where several officers were waiting on the stairwell, searched the apartment and then had him contact us. Our son told us the MPD told him they assumed he was being held against his will or worse when he had not contacted us in several weeks, despite our attempts to contact him on a daily basis. I know Canada is not the U.S. but they have STRONG respect for human rights.

Oh, and btw, that did NOT get on the news. That was police work without interference from people who can’t make split second decisions because they are worried about their image.

One of the most, if not the most powerful word in the English language—TRUST.

Our very lives depend on it. Our society, in fact this entire world would probably grind to a halt without it.

Everyday we get in our cars to go to work or run errands and we trust the person driving on the other side of the road does not cross over the line. We trust they have full control of their motor vehicle.

We fly in airplanes and we trust the pilots, the mechanics that worked on the plane, the baggage handlers to put our luggage where it is supposed to be; we trust the air traffic controllers, (now that is real trust).

We go to a restaurant or a fast food place and we put our trust in the people who prepare our food. We go to the supermarket and bring food home to prepare ourselves, trusting the people who grew the food, picked it, packed it and then shipped it to its destination.

If we have surgery, we place our trust in our physician and their staff to keep us alive.

It is amazing how trust is a major part of our lives and for the most part we don’t really think about it.

The issue of trust came up this past week when one of our Town Councilors, Tim White asked our Town Manager if there was a policy on municipal gas use.

I really believe our town employees for the most part are honest and professional. But human behavior being what it is, safeguards have to be put into place. When I work, there are monitoring systems put on my computer by the company I am working for to guard against fraud and unauthorized usage. That doesn’t mean I or my fellow workers are engaging in unscrupulous behavior. Most people are not.

But some are and temptations are many. Especially now with our economy tightening up, less money and higher food and fuel prices. The temptation to stretch things or “just take the town car I have for personal uses” is out there, especially with these gas prices.

Human nature is human nature and safeguards must be in place. I did read the article in the Herald, and I was happy to see it there, of course it was one sided, but we are getting somewhere with this paper. They did at least address the issue.

The article mentioned all the departments, police, fire, public works. I did call Mr. Michaelangelo who was nice enough to take time out of his day for a few minutes and speak to me. The DPW does have this two key system, one to unlock the gas pump and the other key, which is linked directly to the vehicle one is driving at the time. One key will not work the pumps which is good and the other key must match the vehicle.

I called because the Herald article stated in effect that the DPW employees do not have to put in the vehicle’s mileage because the system is so sensitive that if one number is entered in incorrectly, the system would shut down completely. It is almost like too much of a good thing. Besides, the Herald article stated, that the mechanics on duty at the DPW garage are right by the pumps so an unauthorized vehicle would be detected.

I called Mr. Michaelangelo to ask what happens after the mechanics go home for the day. I was told the gates are locked. If someone has to use the pumps to fill up let’s say a snowplow, the two key system is in effect. Remember, public works DOES have GPS on all snowplows.

Well my concern is what if someone took the two keys home and drove their own vehicle there one night. That is why the cameras and GPS at all municipal pumps, and apparently there are four of them according to the Herald article, must be put into place as soon as possible and most likely will.

Now I did get an email from Chief Cruess of the Police Department. Here is is reply.

Note: the Police Chief took it upon himself to expound on my post the other night. I did not solicit a response. Thank you to all who contacted me, I am starting to feel better.

And thanks to Chris for his thoughtful insights.

From UNDERGROUNDTOWNHALLPOST:

Lt. Markella said up to three cameras can monitor the pump if
 necessary. The gas ipump is old according to Markella but the recording system is
 adequate. What happens is that the two pumps are on a stand alone system
 with a gauge. The officer who needs to dispense gas into a police
 vehicle, marked or unmarked, records what the gauge says and these records are
 kept on a daily schedule.

CHIEF CRUESS RESPONSE

Hi Cindy, as to the above let me try to explain it better.  The gauge
 you refer to is the total amount in the fuel tank.  This is read each
 morning and recorded.  This allows us to monitor when we need fuel and to
 make sure that the number is not going up (ie: water getting into the
 tank, hasn't happened since we now have an above ground storage tank).
  When an officer fuels up he enters the vehicle code, mileage and that
 officers identification number.  This is all recorded on a computer
 inside the building that we check routinely and use to prepare our
 monthly gas reports.  I'll be glad to show it to you if you come on a First
 Thursday/Late hours" night.

FROM UNDERGROUNDTOWNHALL POST:
This is something because I swear this sounds like the Madison
 Wisconsin gas card system I spoke about in front of the Town Council last week.
 Go to Home Page "Featured Video" to hear my speech on the Municipal
 Gas Use Policy

CHIEF CRUESS RESPONSE:

Yes it does only ours is here at the PD and is on several cameras with
 the readings collected on a computer within our building

FROM UNDERGROUNDTOWNHALL:.

A resident had a question: how much does the Town pay for gasoline? Are
 they exempt from state gasoline tax? Is there a bid waiver? We will
 find out

CHIEF CRUESS.
I do not believe we pay taxes.  The town goes off of a regional
 consortium bid I believe but the Finance department would know better.

UNDERGROUNDTOWNHALL: 

Many of you are wondering if the town really did have a gas use policy
 in place or did they scramble. I don't know. As the Police Chief stated
 Monday night, there comes a point where you have to place your trust
 in the people that work with you

Chief Cruess: 

The policy has been the same here for as long as I can remember and I
 know it is the same as it was when I joined the administartion in 2002.
  As you know you can have every rule, policy, law etc in place but you
 can not watch everyone 24/7.  That is where integrity and trust must
 come in.  We monitor the gas closely, even prior to this price spike.
 Just an FYI, I was looking at some Toyota Camary today that were
 hybrids.  Another Department is purchasing them on a lease program which
 makes them somewhat more price available.  I will be looking into it with
 that department.  Remember if you have questions ask.  I will try to
 answer them even if we do not agree.

ANOTHER BRIDGEPORT FIRE OFFICIAL FIRED FOR ILLEGAL VEHICLE USE