noankjail

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

Here are some ideas, from various sources, for fixing Congress….feel free to pass these ideas along if you agree.

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office, receives no pay when out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security System immediately.

All future funds flow into the Social Security System, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.

Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void.

The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career.

Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. Congressional representatives shall serve no more than 2 terms, the same as the
President and Vice President.

Basic Fire Safety for the Home

The following info, excerpted from a recent New London, CT PATCH article submitted by Mr. Wayne Wildermuth is a good summary and should be helpful for all of us. Not surprisingly, it was written as a follow up to the horrifying recent tragedy in Stamford, CT.

I would also like to add some additional comments, as a long-time member of a local volunteer Fire Dept & EMS response team. I have seen some homes, including older, wooden structures as well as NYC apartments, that have NO SMOKE DETECTORS AT ALL in the residence areas. On the occasions when I have had the opportunity to ask why not, there seems to be some resistance to the appearance of these devices…to the effect that they might detract from the decor of the residence and/or detract from the historic nature of the house.

The other item is that some folks prefer not to have their street address numbers in prominent view, either on the house or their mailbox. For those that live in small villages, they may be under the assumption that “everyone knows who they are.” Wrong!. We don’t always know. And when we are awakened at 3:AM out of a sound sleep by a dispatch center requesting a medical response for someone having a heart attack, or for a house that’s on fire with people possibly trapped inside, and we’re responding in the dead of night, shining our flashlights at houses to read the numbers, and we’ve got an ambulance and/or fire engine responding from another district to help us…and they don’t know our area that well…even though they may have GPS…it is really nice if we know which house has the problem. Time is critical.

Here is the excerpted article by Mr.Wildermuth…. Ed Johnson, Noank, CT

Time is of the essence after a smoke alarm indicates a fire Credit US CPSC
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Recommendations for smoke detectors Credit US CPSC

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A sample escape plan Credit US CPSC

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I’m sure you were as horrified as I was when you heard about the Christmas morning fire in Stamford. There are some hard lessons to be learned here.

The first is that fire can strike anyone – whether you’re careful or not, whether you’re rich or poor, whether you rent or own, whether you smoke or don’t, etc. No one is immune. Statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tell us that about 3000 people a year die in the U.S. in residential fires. Most die of smoke inhalation (inhaling toxic gases) – not burns. Most deaths and injuries occur in fires that happen at night, and most of these begin as smoldering fires.

The best protection you can have is a smoke detector/alarm. Compare the fire in Stamford ( which did not appear to have working smoke alarms) to the fire two days later in Woodstock. The fire in Woodstock also occurred in the early morning hours, but in that fire, the home’s smoke alarms sounded and woke the mom. She had enough time to get out of bed, verify that the house was on fire, and get her four children outside to safety – with no loss of life.

Smoke detectors are designed to warn you in the event of fire or smoke, so that you and your family have enough time to get out. See illustration – it shows that there are only minutes from the time your smoke alarm goes off until the environment inside the home becomes deadly. If you don’t have an alarm, you may not be able to escape in time.

The next illustration shows where smoke alarms should be placed in the home. They should be located in every bedroom, outside every sleeping area, and on every level of the home.

There are different types of alarms. There are talking smoke alarms. There are personalized alarms that call out in your own voice (to wake children). There are some that include a carbon monoxide detector. There are some that are hardwired, and some battery operated and some of both. Some have 10 year batteries so you never have to change the battery for the life of the dectector.

With regard to fire/smoke detection, an ionization type alarm is better at detecting flaming fires, and a photoelectric type is better at detecting smoldering fires. It is a good idea to have one of each. You can even get an alarm that includes both technologies. If you can’t afford the fancy ones with all the bells and whistles, then just GET A SMOKE DETECTOR. Change the battery once a year, and test it once a week. Change the detector out after 10 years. I don’t know about you, but after the Stamford fire I went around to all my smoke alarms and changed the batteries – whether they needed to be changed or not!

Improper disposal of fireplace ashes is not an uncommon cause of fires. Some people place the hot ashes in paper bags (no, I’m not kidding) or plastic containers. It’s best to leave the hot ashes right where they are and let them cool down until the following morning. Even then you’ll sometimes find a hot coal amongst the cool ashes, so use a metal bucket. And have your fireplace/chimney inspected to help prevent a chimney fire.

Another lesson that came out of the Stamford fire is that it’s very important to work out and practice an emergency exit strategy (see illustration), especially if you have children. Children (and sometimes adults, too) tend to panic and hide in a fire. A child will hide in the closet, under the bed, or under the covers. They may run from someone trying to help them, like firefighters, who with their gear on may appear to be a monster or an alien coming for them. If they’ve practiced the emergency exit plan, they will know what to do and they will be less likely to panic and run off. Plan for two exits out of each room.

The Stamford fire floored me, as I’m sure it did you. We don’t even know those people, but we feel terribly for them. We wonder how could this happen? Nothing can make sense of it, and nothing short of a time machine can make it better. The best thing anyone can do is learn from this tragedy and do everything we possibly can to make sure that it doesn’t happen again – ever.

Our democracy is sorely lacking

Ed Johnson Noank

Publication: The Day
Published 12/27/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 12/26/2011 11:30 PM

This is in response to the article, “Mexico disbands entire police force in Port of Veracruz,” (Dec. 22).

The state government laid off 1,100 officers and administrators in an effort to root out police corruption and start from zero. The Navy was sent in to patrol the area.

One cannot help thinking, in light of problems here in the United States, that similar action would be appropriate if applied to some existing members of Congress.

Our system of government appears to have become dysfunctional and corrupted by special interests while no longer representing the majority of U.S. citizens.

In recent games of congressional “poker” and “brinkmanship,” tax cuts were previously in danger of being eliminated for needy citizens while existing tax cuts for the wealthy minority appeared to be in no danger and apparently will still be continued.

This is our democracy?

Really?

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

Howard Davis remembered

by Ed Johnson

When Howard Davis of Noank passed away December 7th, he left behind a legacy of what it really meant to be a man of simple pleasures, with loyalty to his family and proud craftsmanship with his work. In his earlier Noank years, he had worked as a boat builder and “caulker” and later brought those skills to the shops at Mystic Seaport. When advanced age made it difficult for him to work with his hands, the Seaport utilized him until recently as a walking historian and storyteller. As luck would have it, the day Howard was to be honored at a special Seaport ceremony, he fell down, broke his hip and was hospitalized. On December 7th, we received the following message from Dr. Paul Hayes, Minister of Noank Baptist Church:

“This morning Howard Davis passed away after a long and storied life. He died peacefully as a man of great faith and anticipation of being reunited with his beloved wife, Mary. He leaves us with innumerable memories of living in Noank and with tales he told at the Seaport. He will be missed as a dear man and as a vital part of our local village. Please remember his daughter, Sue Roselund, and other family members in your thoughts and prayers.”

My wife and I moved to Noank back in the seventies after having met both Mary and Howard Davis initially through friends living nearby and they lost no time in helping us get oriented as new members with the Noank Baptist Church. Howard sensed correctly that we needed to establish roots, especially as we now had a young child to raise.

We noticed immediately that Mary and Howard had sharp eyes and rarely missed details. They were protective of their neighbor’s children, one of whom was constantly getting into mischief, but were forgiving of their mistakes. Mary also gave Howard considerable support with his work at the Mystic Seaport and always patiently encouraged his home projects (boats, naturally), which were considerable distractions.

Mary and Howard truly enjoyed doing the simple things in life together. Going to a SUNL luncheon or having a Sunday fish dinner at Howard Johnson’s were noteworthy events for both of them. Howard would frequently wax eloquent about the specific menu of the SUNL luncheons when reporting back in our church business meetings, much to the amusement of Mary and the other church members. The actual subjects of the meetings themselves were usually glossed over as a result. We just wanted Howard to ramble on in his sharp, “down east” New England accent…describing the menu…and keeping us in stitches. He had a wonderful, dry sense of humor that could frequently catch people off guard.

We are going to miss Howard a great deal now that he is gone. He was a part of the Noank community that we found attractive and made us decide to move here from New Jersey. Mary and Howard together represented an older, more stable lifestyle involving real community commitment, but without fanfare. They were calm, steady, quiet role models, never seeking recognition but always receiving respect. We will always be grateful to both of them for allowing us to share in their lives and the lessons we learned as a result. Howard has now rejoined Mary; may God bless both of them.

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

The past several weeks have been “noisy” for the Town of Groton due to conflicts involving the Council, the School Superintendent, the Board of Education and the Taxpayers. These have centered around Fitch baseball field upgrades for the new Mystic Schooners team and a controversial vote by the BOE to eliminate one middle school next year. These conflicts appear to be based primarily around financial as well as personality and communication issues.

The Fitch High School Ball Field improvements were to be financed by a generous private donation via the Schooner team at no cost to the taxpayers. When it later became clear that costs would exceed the private donation, neither the Council nor the taxpayers were properly informed of this change. The Superintendent apparently authorized construction in excess of the donated amount. Now, who pays for excess costs of $140,000 or more, for a ball field improvement that the High School baseball team itself never really needed?

Meanwhile, the decision by the BOE to close one Middle School next year met with resistance from many citizens who complained about lack of planning for such an undertaking. In addition, one long-time BOE member now feels that Groton should actually continue to have three middle schools as a better educational experience for the children. And although the Superintendent claims that keeping three middle schools open is not possible any longer due to costs, we question this because last year the BOE actually met the required budget figure after telling everyone they could not.

Common sense needs to quickly prevail here. The Schooner ball club is contractually responsible for the field improvements and the contractors still need to be paid for the extra costs. Perhaps a loan can be negotiated as an interim solution. And the BOE needs to retract their vote to close a middle school next year, allowing more time to effect necessary planning for smooth transition by the students. If necessary, the BOE should direct the Superintendent to cut costs at administrative levels, including Principals and Assistant Principals, to reduce redundancy and help achieve a goal with no budget increase.

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Open Letter – To the Honorable Mayor Streeter, Members of the newly elected Groton, CT Town Council, Town Manager and Town Clerk,

I call your attention to the following modified excerpts from a letter-to-editor by Jack Sebastian of the Groton RTM in today’s New London DAY:

“Groton extracted $80 million above inflation from Groton taxpayers over the last 10 years. These are numbers (that come) from the senior financial officer in the town, (and are) not (from) my imagination…
In an effort to change direction, I made a motion at this week’s Representative Town Meeting that the Town Manager and the Superintendent of Schools be given direction that no increase in taxes (should) come out of the next fiscal year’s budget.

(This) Motion (was) defeated.

A charter revision committee must be established and a change proposed to do away with the RTM, add a finance committee and let the taxpayers vote the budget (in Groton, the same) as they do in Stonington. If you concur, contact your elected officials.”

OK, folks…so here I am, contacting my elected officials. Welcome to your new year!

I do concur with Mr. Sebastian on this particular matter and have made public statements to this effect previously. But until we do actually re-write the Charter, provide better protection for the taxpayers, disband the RTM and go back to a Town Referendum system annually to deal with the budget, some other steps should be taken. (Incidentally, I assume you all noticed that Mr. Sebastian received the highest number of RTM votes from District # 8…so it appears that somebody is listening to what he has to say.)

Please note the following excerpts from a political summary, which I do appreciate, written by Councilor Antipas on his views in a recent PATCH Internet article. It is not my intent to embarrass Mr. Antipas. It is my intent to remind everyone that we need to treat this budget matter as a business would treat it….and not the way we have been treating it up until now.

“No matter the need or wish, everything Groton does comes down to finances. Personal finances work themselves out simply: you can’t spend what you don’t have. Town finances are not similarly constrained. The budget cycle begins with a consideration of expenses, then moves on to identification of outside revenue sources (e.g., state and federal grants), and finally a consideration of what sum is to be raised from the Grand List to make up the roughly two thirds difference. Seemingly the only protection afforded the average taxpayer is a common desire on the part of Groton’s officials to “keep taxes down”. Does this work? Ask the average taxpayer.

As a councilor, I would advocate the adoption of (a) a revenue amount at the outset of the budget process against which expenses must be matched, and (b) a system, such as priority-based budgeting, for considering those expenses. This should be done in active cooperation with the RTM, Board of Education, and the town’s subdivisions. This is a sounder approach to making sure the desire of taxpayer protection is realized while providing an acceptable and affordable level of services, including education, for our citizens.”

“As a councilor, I would consider the following improvements: (a) adopt a revenue amount at the start of the budget cycle so that if the Council’s goal is to not raise taxes, the Town Manager, Board of Education, and subdivisions have a guide in crafting their respective budget components; (b) keep a tighter rein on matters delegated to subcommittees; and (c) formally consider new ideas from other jurisdictions on town finance and governance.”

In other words, by my interpretation, it would make more sense to first establish the estimated revenue coming in from taxpayers WITHOUT a raise in their current taxes, and THEN match the anticipated expenses with that income…rather than the other way around, which is the way it has been up until now. Mr. John Sutherland of GGGPAC has advocated this change for many years. You run the Town in the same fashion you would run a business…and you START by agreeing that you won’t raise taxes…at all. This becomes your budget figure. Then, you go back and determine your priorities, after making a reasonable estimate on the conservative side for what you can expect from the State of CT.

Groton School Recommendations

Posted By: ed j
Published 11/03/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 11/03/2011 08:08 PM

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

The following brief comments are directed to the Groton Town Council, the RTM, the FFAE and some BOE candidates. They are based on my recent suggestions in some local media, represent my personal opinions and not necessarily those of any group or association. No personal offense is meant towards anyone. Some of the ideas I present below are also based on suggestions by others who are not named here.

1) Keep 3 middle schools open next year (perhaps longer?), per the suggestion of Mr. Zezulka, a BOE member with an outstanding teaching career. Since the Fitch Senior High School has a student body of around 1500 but only one Principal and two assistant Principals, it makes sense to reduce the number of Middle School Principals to just one, keeping 3 assistant Principals for 3 middle schools. The same can be applied to the elementary school administration, reducing operating costs considerably. The focus needs to be on students and their teachers…and not administrative personnel.

2) Then, use this one (or 2?) year(s) to construct temporary classrooms at West Side and Cutler, the newer buildings which have more physical expansion space, especially Cutler. Make necessary repairs at Cutler and Westside. In the 2nd (or 3rd?) year, bus the kids from the central area (formally served by Fitch Middle) to the two expanded schools and thus address the racial balance issue accordingly. Remember that all three existing middle schools are nowhere near disrepair to the point that they have to be closed right now. This will allow the BOE to proceed in a steady approach with minimum disruption to the kids. By that time, you will have figured out the ultimate disposition of the Fitch Middle building.

3) Mr. Pasqualini, an RTM member, suggests “they look at all possible options… so far they have been trying to keep 6th, 7th and 8th grades in one of two schools. I have a problem with 6th graders being in middle school. Have they looked at moving 8th grade classes to the renovated high school or eliminating pre-K and freeing up classrooms to keep the 6th grade within the elementary school setting?…Everything should be on the table as a long term solution.”

And he’s right. It was therefore inappropriate for the present BOE to rush into a vote in favor of closing one middle school for next year. This action should be rescinded by the NEW BOE Board…while the baseball field mess gets straightened out right away by the OLD BOE Board….at no cost to the Groton Taxpayers.

NOTES FROM THE OLD NOANK JAIL

It is that time of year when some folks ask me who I plan to vote for in the local elections. The assumption is that I watch local politics pretty closely, am aware of most major issues and have reasonable intelligence. The last assumption can be argued, of course, especially by folks who don’t agree with me.

In any case, as of Saturday, 10/28/11 at 4:10 PM, here are my selections:

For Town Council – Republicans: Streeter, Obeirne, Somers, Watson, Antipas and Flax; Democrats Schmidt, Seminaro and Johnson

For Board of Ed – Democrats: Volkman; Republicans: Gardner and Gilly

For RTM – District 8 – Democrats: Cerf (I vote only in district 8 )

The above lists have some “holes” and omissions where I am still making up my mind. But I feel comfortable with these current choices at this point on the following issues:

1) We have a very big ongoing problem with property taxes and with loss of commercial business in Groton. The Groton Town Budget needs to actually be REDUCED in order not to increase the load on residential taxpayers. The best method will be to establish estimated income FIRST and THEN establish the necessary budgets AFTERWARDS. Up until now, the Town has not done this.

2) Connected to the above is the Groton School Budget. In previous years, the BOE and the present superintendent have primarily advocated for expansion, new construction and increased administrative salaries. Supposedly, they were advocating for the school children. In the process, it is safe to say that they were NOT advocating on behalf of the taxpayers.

3) Additionally, we have had recent, disturbing problems with money and construction project management. The Mystic Streetscape sidewalk expansion, under the auspices of the Groton Planning Department, has been a major disappointment for many people as well as being a contributing factor for at least one Mystic business failure thus far. And the Fitch H.S. Baseball Field construction project for the “Mystic Schooners” Ball Club, under the supervision of the School Superintendent, has gone from a “tax free” installation, with a generous donation of $500K to cover all costs, to a $650K mess with cost overruns never properly authorized by the Town Council or the Taxpayers…in fact, these have come as a complete surprise.

These, and similar issues, need to be addressed by elected representatives who will take responsibility for proper oversight and resolution, bearing in mind that THE TAXPAYERS ELECTED THEM TO PROPERLY REPRESENT THE TAXPAYERS…and not necessarily the employees of the Town or other parties.

In my opinion, the above personnel voting selection represents a group of people who will be sincere in their efforts to control costs, reign in the “elephant” that has been the school budget and encourage business interests in Groton.

I may have some additional selections within the next week and will post them accordingly. If any of you readers have specific questions regarding these choices, you can E-mail me at: Ed_Johnson@tvcconnect.net
and I will reply to you directly.

Thank you for your time and your interest.

Now we read stories in the local press that the Fitch H.S. Baseball Field project, under the supervision of the Groton Board of Education, is actually over budget by $150,000 and Vendors are still owed $140,000…

What appears to have been a “no brainer” project with very adequate capitalization in the amount of $500,000 from a private investor, has somehow become far more complicated and messed up than anyone could imagine….with cost overruns to boot…and, yes, I said COST OVERRUNS. What’s the matter, folks? Half a million dollars wasn’t enough money to upgrade a local high school BASEBALL FIELD?

It makes me wonder what might have happened if the BOE had been given $133 million for Phase II……

Incredible!

In today’s New London DAY, there is an article taken from the Washington Post which describes in detail the current financial system that gives major capitol gains benefits to the very wealthy as well as to their wealthy congressional representatives.

The system, combined with highly paid lobbyists, creates an unfair advantage to the wealthy with no incentive for our government representatives to make the change.

The only apparent recourse for the American Middle Class is to support organizations such as GOOOH (“Get Out Of Our House”) who advocate voting in new representatives and throwing out the existing ones.

This is easier said than done, but if the existing Congress fails to respond properly by taxing the wealthy, as Warren Buffet has suggested, then GOOOH (see description on Google) may be the best recourse to protect and properly represent the middle class.