Monthly archives: December 2008

 

 

More Thoughts

  • By: Cindy

I heard from a few of you about the Chesprocott Health District post and the closing of 16 newspapers by the Journal Register Company.

This Chesprocott issue is worth looking into further and hopefully I will be able to get a few questions answered this coming week.

I know from reading the minutes of the old Southington Town Council meeting in 1996 that the State of Connecticut had a matching per capita fee for towns over 5,000 population, I don’t know if the state still has this in effect, and if they do, I wonder if it will fall victim to a budget cut.

And as far as the newspapers are concerned, I am sure there will more closings.  In fact, to save expenses, and to try to stay afloat, one paper I know, let’s say, doesn’t have any “employees” so to speak.

I don’t know if any of you read the comments below the New Haven Independent article, but one of them hit the nail right on the head. The commenter basically said that the reason many newspapers are closing is because THEY DON’T REPORT THE NEWS!! I think many of these papers were started just for additional advertising revenues.

I know that is probably why the Post abandoned the “tabs” I used to write for around 1990, right before I left. The tabs were just filled with feature stories, not news. The paper wanted additional advertising money. That was the old Thomson thing-bottom line–revenue-not news!! It didn’t work and the Post abandoned that idea a few years later.

People want and deserve the truth-no matter how unpleasant or how unflattering it makes a community appear. People deserve to know what is going on in their communities. Of course the powers that be don’t want you to know. They want all the power for themselves. I just hope our local paper will get on the stick and be a NEWS paper. Go out and dig for stories and ask questions.

While I am on that topic of news, people can’t stop talking about the Madoff Ponzi Scheme. This is serious business. And, as many of you know, this Ponzi scheme has left Fairfield holding the bag for something like $40 million.

I just wonder how many other towns were affected by this tragic event. Was Cheshire? Probably not, but even if it were–I wonder if we would ever find out to be honest!!

Maybe Cheshire should float a Ponzi Scheme to fund the pool and the artificial turf. Sounds good to me!

Many people, like myself, have heard of the Ponzi Scheme, but really don’t understand exactly what it is. Here is an article to help clear the air.

What is a Ponzi Scheme

Hmm!! Why does a Ponzi Scheme sound like Social Security??

Impact of Ponzi Scheme on municipalities

Ok, I am making this short today because of the snow shoveling and snow blowing we had to do practically all day. To make matters worse, my spouse went out around 8 p.m. last night to try to stay ahead of the snow. He did fine until around 2 a.m. this morning when the PLOW came by, and deposited several inches of snow back onto the sidewalk he had cleared off a few hours earlier.

Isn’t that always the way? I told him to wait until after the plow comes by and not try to kill the same bird twice.

Some people complained to me that the roads were in bad shape and not plowed the way they used to be say like 20 years ago. Well, things were a lot different economically 20 years ago. I remember the plows used to come by several times during a storm. But, they also threw that awful red clay sand and salt that made ones car look like a dirt pile. Not withstanding you would track that crap into your house and spend the entire winter vacuuming it up.

I hated that. And God knows what all that salt did for your car and for the environment. I would rather have it the way it now. Plus, with the state of the economy the way it is, we are lucky to get plowed at all.

 

Some Info For Your Files

  • By: Cindy

NEWSFLASH: THE NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT IS REPORTING THE CLOSING OF ALL 16 OF THE SHORELINE PAPERS OWNED BY THE JOURNAL REGISTER COMPANY.

Talking about police logs, I just wanted to pass this along to my pals in the Cheshire Police Department–WE NEED TO BE DOING THIS!! New Hampshire doesn’t Play!!

Click here

Click here for story on Journal Register

Most of you who live in Cheshire, Wolcott or Prospect are familiar with Chesprocott Health District which serves the aforementioned communities.

But what most of you don’t know, including myself up until a few days ago, is that each of the three towns pay Chesprocott a certain amount of money each year for the privilege of having them serve our health needs.

Believe it or not, Cheshire, Prospect and Wolcott pay Chesprocott a per capita fee of $6.

So, for example, Cheshire, with a population of approximately 29, 187 would pay Chesprocott $178, 122 per year; Wolcott, with a population of approximately 15, 215 would pay Chesprocott $91,290 per year and Prospect, with a population of approximately 8,717, would pay $52,302 a year.

This adds up to a grand total of $321,714!!!

This should make you wonder what all this money each year is used for: is it to pay for salaries, fees for services, i.e. inspecting leach fields, providing flu shots and sponsoring the various health programs they conduct each year? I don’t know–do you?? Chesprocott provides a lot of services, but damn, this three town subsidy is no chump change either!!

And I bet, most of this $321,714 is going for salaries.

Money is getting tighter and tighter. Municipalities are looking to become as lean and efficient as possible, so I think this is an area for consideration.

I will try to find out within the next few days. Hopefully, I will get some answers. This sort of reminds me of the pool. Whatever costs are not covered by user fees, the town of Cheshire taxpayers have to foot the rest.

Interestingly enough, approximately 12 years ago, Southington was considering joining Chesprocott. In fact, their Town Council had a special meeting and Chesprocott Health Director Thomas Wegrzyn gave a presentation about what the Health District duties are.

I know it is old, but it is interesting reading.

Click here for the minutes of the meeting

Also, click here for the Chesprocott website

IN OTHER NEWS:

I guess Bridgeport is also going through the mandatory five year reval.

According to a Ct Post article, property values in Bridgeport have skyrocketed!! So you are not alone in Cheshire, feeling the way you do about your home values increasing at a time when we are being constantly told by the media that housing values are at their lowest in years.

Click here for CtPost article

 

The Story Behind The Story

  • By: Cindy

On Wednesday, I went down to the Cheshire Police Department and to paraphrase an old Rolling Stone song-”to get my fair share of abuse.” But guess what?? It didn’t happen!!

All kidding aside, last week, I attended a Public Safety Commission meeting because an item on the agenda caught my eye-a discussion of the monthly Police and Fire Reports.

Now as I have stated previously, I have no problems with the Cheshire Fire Department. They are very open about disclosing information. They list all the calls they go on and provide a detailed report that is in the Cheshire Herald every month.

I know Fire Reports and Police Reports are a bit different, but in a way they are not. It always piqued my interest when I would look at the Police News in the Herald and just see what I believed to be a “skimming” of information. I mean look, the public isn’t entitled to EVERY detail of a police investigation-I know this. But there is information the public IS allowed to see and know–i.e. mug shots, who got arrested, where they live, what they did, what their charge is and court date.

Remember, when the police are called, most of the time it becomes public information.

The local paper is getting a lot better at relaying this information to the public, but I believe they still “skimp” ON  SOME OF THE DETAILS!!

And I think my putting the Monthly Reports on my blog every month is helping to move things along a bit. But that was my intention. Getting the Town Government used to seeing these details out in the open. It is part of life and the sky won’t fall because Cheshire is reporting some crime incidents.

Just like every picture tells a story, well guess what?? Every story tells a story DON’T IT??

And you know what, when I went to the station on Wednesday and Lt. Markella gave me the police reports to read, I really saw what type of work the CPD does. I have said this before, the CPD is very good-WHEN THEY ARE ALLOWED TO DO THEIR JOBS!!  Believe it or not, they do a LOT MORE than just hand out tickets.

That is another reason I wanted to see the reports. These men and women do a lot of investigating and make good solid arrests.

I also got a lot nicer reception than when I tried this a few years ago. I actually looked at the log book, this is the book of all the tickets that are given out and arrests that are made. This is akin to the call log.

Things are getting more open and I think, I know this is how I feel, I can’t speak for the other side, that I came away with a different opinion of the CPD.  They do their jobs and they do REAL POLICE WORK. I hope they see that I am interested in putting out as much information to the public as possible. This is something I believe in. I always believed in the peoples right to know.

That is why I was a reporter many years ago. I still carry that in my heart and I always will.

This is why I spend as many hours as possible on this blog. I love doing it. I love researching information and passing it on to my readers. I make no money from UTH. I have no political ambitions. I am just a private citizen.

Recently, the local paper has been running press releases of criminal activity and arrests the CPD have been making over the past several months. This is good.

BUT, (see yet another BUT), most of the Police News just involves the name of the accused, their address and what they are charged with. THIS IS ALL LEGAL, but I know many of you want to know the STORY BEHIND THE STORY.

When I was a reporter, that really made the difference of whether or not I would report a crime log incident or not.

As you are well aware, there is just not enough space in a newspaper or even on this blog to print every single incident. It just isn’t practical. I always tried to focus on items that would interest a person: i.e. a major criminal incident, a murder an assault, etc.

Dicky Doo motor vehicle stops DO NOT INTEREST ME.

The fact that a  person got stopped for only one operating headlight, is what it is. But in reality, if this is all that happened, if there were no other incidents related to this motor vehicle stop, say for instance, drugs found in the vehicle or God forbid, a dead body or a weapon, then I could care less.

And honestly, I just think publishing crap like “traveling unreasonably fast” or not wearing the seat belt WHEN NO INJURIES RESULTED FROM IT–is just plain tawdy gossip.

We need to put REAL CRIMINAL NEWS into the paper not race sheet results!!

And speaking of headlights-when I left the CPD and went to my office, I got out of my car and GUESS WHAT AGAIN?? One of my headlights was OUT!! Can you believe it!!

Luckily I was able to make a quick trip to the autoparts store and replace the bulb. I never let anything go on my car anyway, so the headlight probably went out the very same day. So problem averted.

As I alluded to above, it makes a real difference when you read the details behind a charge.  I also believe in putting in the court date of the accused person and when possible, the disposition. REMEMBER ALL ACCUSED ARE INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.

Just running name, address and charge of the person in the police log, is really unfair. And not putting the item in before the court date, if at all possible, sometimes it isn’t or at least finding out what came of the charges, to me is also unfair.

When I was a reporter, I tried to run recent arrests, before the person’s court date. This ensures the public knows that person is still innocent. An arrest is an accusation. It is not etched in stone-it is NOT  an admission of guilt.

So when I was down at the CPD, the discussion ensued of what “can be released to the public” in a police report and what can’t.

Of course. I have touched on this subject many times. In fact, in one of my previous posts, I ran the FOI (Freedom of Information ) regulations on this subject.

The reader is entitled to  know the name of the accused, the address, WHAT HAPPENED and WHERE!!. We have a little problem with this in Cheshire. Some of the locations where the alleged criminal activity took place are sometimes missing.

And I am tired of the excuse, “details of the arrest are limited because of an ongoing investigation”

Come on!! EVERY crime, unless it is solved is usually still under investigation. I am sure not saying the police should release forensic details or evidence if it will endanger the case or prejudice it. But I believe the CPD carries that excuse a little too far.

Or “we can’t release the name of the arrested person because there were others involved and they might flee.”

HELLO!! IF I broke into your house with two other persons, I got caught and the other two didn’t, wouldn’t the other two THINK THE COPS WOULD BE AFTER THEM?? OF COURSE!!

Informant names, if we knew who they were in the first place. Why would we release them?

And victims names or ADDRESSES SHOULD NEVER BE RELEASED!!

Bottom line: If the CPD is going to  release the arrest of a person or persons or if they are going to release information on a criminal activity, RELEASE AS MUCH INFO THE PUBLIC IS ENTITLED TO.

When I was a reporter and information was withheld for whatever reason, I always said, “police refused to release details” or “details are sketchy.”

Well it was the truth!! That is how I worded it.

Lt. Markella, who was very gracious to me, provided me with the state statutes regarding what can or can’t be released to the public.

He also stated that some of the newer officers sometimes leave out details. Well hopefully, these new officers will take a look at a report that was filed by Officer Pichnarcik. This man’s report was ON POINT.

The details are all there-the time, THE PLACE and by place I mean not an incident ocurred “at a business” he actually had the name. In all fairness, I only saw a few of the reports because most of them were too old and I like to put the disposition or court dates in. But I am sure the other veteran officers are just as thorough.

The arrest report by Officer Pichnarcik was in the Herald. But just the names of the juveniles, their addresses and the charges. So I am not going to rehash that.  What was missing were the details that led up to the arrest.

I accidentally shredded that report, can you believe it. I thought I was shredding my IRS Notice of Audit letter, but I grabbed the wrong paper.

From what I remember, this involved possession of alcohol by minors. The incident took place behind Staples. Several teens were seen in a vehicle. When the police approached to speak to them about having too many passengers, alcohol was detected. The teens were charged and were remanded to appear in court with their parents.

You see the difference? Not just name, address age and charge. THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY.

I told Lt. Markella to make Officer Pichnarcik’s report a model for the rookies.

Before I run the police news, here are the FOI rules on “Law Enforcement Exceptions to the Freedom of Information Act:

Police Records EXEMPT from mandatory disclosure:

“Records of law enforcement agencies not otherwise available to the public which records were compiled in Connecticut with the detection or investigation of a crime, if the disclosure of said records would not be in the public interest because it would result in the disclosure of:

(A) the identity of informants not otherwise known or the identity of witnesses not otherwise known whose safety would be endangered or who would be subject to threat or intimidation if their identity was made known.

(B) signed statements of witnesses.

(C) information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action if prejudicial to such action.

(D) investigatory techniques not otherwise known to the general public.

(E) arrest records of a juvenile, which shall also include any investigatory files, concerning the arrest of such juvenile, compiled for law enforcement purposes.

(F) if the name and address of a victim of a sexual assault under section 53a-70, 53a-72a, 531-72b or 53a-73a, or injury or risk of injury or impairing the morals under section 53-21 or of an attempt thereof.

(G) uncorroborated allegations subject to destruction pursuant to section 1-216.

Ok, enough of that.

POLICE LOG

Editors note: this incident did appear in last weeks Herald. However, here ARE THE DETAILS.

Cheshire Police charged Julio J. Wright, 18, of 283 South Brooksvale Road with disorderly conduct on November 6th.

According to Police, officers were dispatched to the above location on reports of Wright  allegedly being “out of control.”

Police said that according to the victim, Wright had allegedly broken windows in the residence.

Wright was charged with disorderly conduct. His bond was $1,000.

Wright appeared in Meriden Court on Nvember 7th. A hearing took place on December 16th. No further details were available.

ARMED ROBBERY

A West Haven man has been charged with robbery in the first degree, threatening and larceny 2 other, in connection with an armed robbery at an apartment complex.

According to reports, Cheshire Police received a complaint of an armed robbery at the apartment complex. Shortly after the complaint was received,  Cheshire Police said they observed  the alleged suspects’ vehicle southbound on Highland Avenue near the Maple Avenue intersection.

A motor vehicle stop ensued and after an on scene investigation, the operator, Tony F. Caramanica, 30 of 63 Sycaway Street,  was arrested.

Police said a 45 caliber handgun and cash was seized during the arrest. Caramanica was released on a $2000 bond.

Caramanica appeared in Meriden Superior Court on Dec. 11, 2008.  His next court date is scheduled for January 14, 2009. Status: awaiting plea.

NEED FOR SPEED

Cheshire Police arrested and charged a Wallingford man with DWI, Reckless Driving and operating an unregistered motor vehicle.

According to police reports, Patrick J. Heeran, 30, of 87 North Turnpike Road, was seen by police on Dec. 14th at approximately 11:38 p.m. allegedly traveling at a high rate of speed eastbound on Yalesville Road.

Police said Heeran’s vehicle speed was allegedly 100 miles per hour.  Police stopped the vehicle, conducted field sobriety tests and placed Heeran under arrest.

Heeran was transported to Cheshire Police Department where he was processed and released on bond.

He is scheduled to appear in Meriden Superior Court on Dec. 30th, 2008.

 

How Low Can It Go?

  • By: Cindy

BREAKING NEWS: MAJOR FLAW IN INTERNET EXPLORER-USERS URGED TO SWITCH

Click here for story

Click here for patch information

On Tuesday, the Connecticut Department of Labor’s website crashed. The site was inundated with hoards of people trying to file for the extension. TAKE NOTE: this is just for the 13 week EXTENSION, this does not count the people who are still collecting the regular 26 weeks or have not even filed for the extension yet.

Click here for details from WTNH.

Then to top it off, after people could not file on the Internet or had to wait to get on the site, the phone lines nearly crashed because people were concerned and were trying to phone in to get assurances from a LIVE PERSON, that their checks would be coming in the mail, so like maybe they could eat or put clothes on their backs. JUST LIVING EVERYONE-JUST EVERYDAY LIVING!!

Do the sand heads in this town realize what is going on? IT IS GETTING EPIC PEOPLE!!

Funds for Unemployment Compensation Drying Up

And what really got my goat was a comment made in a chat room that I go to once in a while where a moron, no, that is too complimentary, but anyway,  a halfwit commented that it was these peoples fault that they were unemployed, and had no money. “Why didn’t they save”? he asked.

Does this dimwit realize that some people live paycheck to paycheck?  Or maybe through NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN they lost their jobs?

How much money do you think is a cushion? $100,000, $500,000 a million? Not today. I knew a very prominent Fairfield County family that had hundreds of thousands of dollars saved. They were in their late 60′s all ready for retirement, cruises, the high life. The kids were grown and on their own. They had no mortgage.

Ideal? Maybe-but guess what happened? The wife had a STROKE. The husband could not take care of her-I saw their money gone in a heartbeat. HOW? A NURSING HOME!! ALL GONE.

I remember them scrambling to get stocks and bonds cashed out. Just to be able to secure a place in the nursing facility. A decent place. A place where the wife would be safe and well cared for.

These people were devastated.

It doesn’t take a bad economy to see one’s life savings gone in an instant. NO ONE IS TO BLAME FOR BEING LAID OFF. IT IS NOT THE WORKERS FAULT.

Our government over the years sold this country down the drain. Deserted its own people. Pathetic. And then the sand heads in Cheshire government act like this is a phase? They keep pouring more and more money into the money-pit pool? They keep tolerated F-UPS yes I am sorry, there is NO OTHER WORD FOR IT-F-UPS, like the Norton Boiler and NOW LILAC RD PUMP STATION??
If I were on the Town Council or if I were the Town Manager, you know what I would say to this person or persons responsible, and they know who they are–”203-596-4140.”

Call it-the people responsible for Norton School Boiler and Lilac Rd Pump Station-THEN FIND OUT WHAT IT IS LIKE TO PANIC-TO NOT KNOW WHERE YOUR NEXT DOLLAR IS COMING FROM!! LEARN WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE HUNG UP ON OR BOOTED OFF THE COMPUTER. LEARN WHAT IT IS LIKE TO STAND HOURS ON END WAITING TO FILL OUT A FORM. LEARN WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE TO TELL YOUR FAMILY NO HOLIDAY GIFTS THIS YEAR!!

How can this town continue to tolerate this? They are throwing thousands and thousands of dollars away to cover ineptness, The town needs to take action now and not worry that it will be getting on ACTION NEWS!! That is the bottom line as I have said many many times before–SHH BE QUIET!! DON’T MAKE WAVES!! DON’T ASK TOO MANY QUESTIONS OR QUESTIONS THAT ARE NOT SCRIPTED!!

I happened to see several minutes of Tuesday nights Town Council Meeting where Sheldon Dill was voted in to replace Elizabeth Esty. Sheldon Dill is a good person. I like him. He is a good writer and someone who cares for the Town.

He will bring some clarity to a clouded situation on this Town Council.

This town is pissing away money like a racehorse to cover their tracks, and on the other side, I see a city like Bridgeport on the edge. Now I did not see what type of discussion took place between the Board of Education and the Town Council, but one thing is for sure–there had better be concessions and givebacks.

Some Bridgeport City employees are giving up a weeks pay to help prevent massive layoffs. Mayor Bill Finch is also giving up some of his pay.

Will the Board of Ed give up some things? I know it is hard but they have to try. There are some expenditures they cannot reduce, like Special Education, but A LOT of soul searching needs to be done.

I hope the Board and Town Council can come to some agreements. Not like New Haven, where apparently  some of the unions are balking at wage concessions

That is why the City of Bridgeport workers are so honorable.

THAT IS A LABOR OF LOVE-THAT IS DEDICATION. GOOD FOR YOU!! BE PROUD!!

Click here for New Haven union story

Speaking of Bridgeport, besides Police concessions involving a zero wage increase over the next two years and as I mentioned above, some city workers giving up a weeks pay, Bridgeport is preparing to auction off several abandoned buildings.

Maybe if Peerless Screw in Cheshire leaves town, the owner could relocate to Bridgeport and give the city a financial boost. I am dead serious.

Click here for more Bridgeport budget woes

I don’t blame these business owners for being upset. They are also on the brink. Commercial property is really being hit hard. I feel sorry for all of these people, I really do. It is VERY UPSETTING AND DEMORALIZING.

This reval is causing problems ALL OVER CONNECTICUT. This state needs to do what New Hampshire does, reval EVERY YEAR AT 100 percent. It causes less of a sticker shock I believe.

Now speaking of reval, my significant other went to the Cheshire Town Hall the other day to protest his assessment.

HE WASN’T ALONE.

I have already stated in previous posts how I feel about piss money down the toilet Cheshire hiring this totalvaluation.com to  hear the  informal reval complaints when all they had to do was have the Board of Assessment appeals hear it in the first place.

The town could have put in a link to Zillow.com and avoided the middle man.

My spouse said this totalvaluation is more accurate than Zillow. He said he believes totalvaluation looks at recent home sales in town and the condition of the property which is important.

Curiously, both totalvaluation and Zillow value in your basement as part of the overall assessment,  if it is finished off, as mine is.

I don’t blame people for being disgusted with these revals. Not when you see headlines like the one I just read the other day from a major news organization stating that home values fell a total of $2 TRILLION this past year 2008.

Click here for story

Now as far as my Cheshire home assessment goes-the letter from the Cheshire Assessor’s Office stated that “based on 70 % of the 10/01/2008  Market Value for the above listed property has changed  as follows:

Total Old Assessment

10/01/2007

$252,410

Total New Assessment

10/01/2008

$263,710.

At 100 percent, the house would be worth $376, 729 This results in a 4.5 % increase over five years.

Interestingly enough, we had an assessment  on our home done by Peoples Bank in July 2008 which listed the value of our house at $400,000 at 100 percent assessment.

And banks are usually conservative, especially Peoples Bank.

So based on the above, our home value went DOWN according to the Town of Cheshire. GO FIGURE!!

 

More Pork Projects

  • By: Cindy

I wanted to make a few points about spending.

I don’t think some government officials, local and state, get it YET!!

When will they?

The first news item that struck me was the plan by Southington to make a recreation area out of the old Southington Drive In. I really miss that drive in. I conceived all my children there.

HA!! I just wanted to see if you are reading or skimming!!

Anyway, it looks like the ghost of old artificial turf Amann has resurfaced yet again. Yep, it looks like the town of Southington  will be getting $200,000 to convert that old drive in into a sort of souped up playground. Nice idea-but STEEP price tag!!

Again, it never ceases to amaze me how much of a HUGE cost difference there seems to be between a public and private sector project.

Boy, I am proud to say that I am not affiliated with that private sector!!

Here is the link to the Southington Playground story and other Pork

Then, click below to read what some people in Connecticut have to say about this and other pork barrel spending in Connecticut.

Topix

I guess spending is on the minds of some West Hartford residents who have a Tax Association. I know Cheshire had one years ago, in fact, I vaguely remember reading about it in the local papers when I first moved into town. I guess the Cheshire Taxpayers Association fizzled out like just about every worthwhile idea does in this town.

Click here for West Hartford Tax Association story

The only thing that will never fizzle away is ME!!

As the Eagles said in their song Hotel California: “They stab it with their steely knives but they just can’t kill the beast!! That is why I have had to resort to my dirty deeds done dirt cheap to keep things going!! OOPS!!

People in Cheshire need to attend as many Town Council meetings as possible. What happened last week with the reval questions and Strathmore dam is an anomaly in this town–IT SHOULD HAPPEN ALL THE TIME!! CONSTANT QUESTIONING AND KEEPING THE TOWN GOVERNMENT ON THEIR TOES AND ACCOUNTABLE IS WHAT WORKS.

But it takes time, it takes work and dedication–a commitment. You see, most people start out with good intentions, but as time passes, most lose interest and the idea fades away. That is what Cheshire Government wants. They want you to fade away. They will play the waiting game.

Hey Cheshire-I’ve something to say-better to burn out than FADE AWAY!!

Here is a list of the highest property tax states in the nation. Note: New Hampshire is third BUT, (see another “but”} they have NO INCOME TAX AND NO SALES TAX.

Click here for story

Also, here is a commentary on the State Budget process by Bill Generous.

Click here

And for more interesting reading, click below to find out why property taxes are highest in the “Blue States”

Click here

Finally, I am planning on meeting with the Cheshire Police Department on Wednesday to discuss this police log issue.  Specifically, what should be included in their press releases and what type of information should be given out.

I did e-mail Lt. Markella examples of how some of my love papers like the CtPost writes these reports.

I also included some press releases from the Gilford (New Hampshire) Police Department which does an excellent job of releasing information to the public.

Now remember, as I have told you in the past, Gilford is a very small town, somewhere in the area of 6,000 residents and it is upper middle class like Cheshire–BUT LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCE.

To me, the more open and forthcoming the better. Remember approximately 70 percent of all crimes are solved with public cooperation.

The other night I had a nightmare that I went to the CPD and they threw me down into the basement  of the building and did the water board torture. Oh no, maybe I should bring someone with me! I am starting to scare myself. MOMMIE!!!

PHEW!! ONLY A DREAM!! (for now).

Click here for “Crime Roundup” from the Laconia New Hampshire Times.

A GREAT PAPER!!  CHOCK FULL OF NEWS.

READ IT AND TAKE NOTICE CHESHIRE HERALD, ESPECIALLY THE CRIME NEWS.

Look what tactic they use-THIS DOES PUT A DAMPER ON CRIME.

P.S. It looks like some Norwich residents are also questioning the re-val figures on their homes.

Click here to read