Red Cross monitoring swine flu

Though it seems a little over the top, this was sent out this morning by the Connecticut chapter of the American Red Cross:

Good morning,

The American Red Cross is closely monitoring the swine flu national progress. We have been in contact with State and Federal Public Health and Emergency Management officials and will be ready to take action if necessary. As always, the American RedCross mission includes helping people prepare for emergencies. Attached, you will find a preparedness seasonal flu checklist. Please, stay tuned to local and state health official for future updates and information.

Also, here is some useful information when planning ahead. To contact your American

Red Cross, please visit www.ctredcross.org.

Planning Ahead

During a flu pandemic, government officials may be required to limit community movement or impose travel restrictions to help prevent the flu virus from spreading.

Things to keep in mind:
• You may be asked to stay home for an extended period of time even if you are not sick.
• Schools, workplaces and public gatherings such as sporting events or worship services may close temporarily.
• Mass transportation such as subways, buses, trains and air travel may be limited.

• You, your family and friends may need to rely on each other when you cannot depend on the service s you normally use. Think about how you handle stress and know your strengths. Take steps to plan for, get through and recover from a flu pandemic...

Planning at Home

Store a two-week supply of food. Select foods that do not require refrigeration, preparation or cooking. Ensure that formula for infants and any child's or older person's special nutritional needs are a part of your planning. Plan for your pets as well.

• Store a two-week supply of water, 1 gallon of water per person per day, in clean plastic containers. Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles.

• Store a supply of nonprescription drugs, such as pain relievers, cough and coldmedicines, stomach remedies and anti-diarrheal medication, as well as vitamins and fluids with electrolytes (such as sports drinks).

• Store health and cleaning supplies, such as bleach, tissues, a thermometer, disposable gloves, soap and alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

• Ask your health care provider and health insurance company if you can get an extra supply of your regular prescription drugs and medical supplies, such as glucose monitoring supplies.

• Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick.

Planning in Your Community

• Ask about plans to enable you to stay home if you are or a family member is sick.

• Find out your employer's plans to keep the business open if key staff can't come to work.

• Find out now about your child's school or daycare provider's plans for handling a flu pandemic.

• Ask if there are plans to encourage sick children to stay home to reduce the spread of the disease.

• Ask if there are plans to close during a pandemic that would require all the children to remain at home.

Finding out the answers ahead of time will have a significant impact on your plans and decisions during a flu pandemic.

Thank you

Mario

Mario J. Bruno

Chief Operating Officer
Connecticut State Relations Disaster Liaison

American Red Cross

Charter Oak Chapter 
209 Farmington Avenue
Farmington, CT 06032

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Bob Dylan's returning to New Britain

Bob Dylan is playing at the Rock Cats ballpark in New Britain on July 15. His concert there a couple of years ago was absolutely terrific.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
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McCauley is running again

Democratic city Councilor Kevin McCauley has written to leading party members that he plans to announce his reelection bid at Monday's town committee meeting.

When I asked him about it, he laughingly said they weren't supposed to tell me. But they did.

Also expected to announce on Monday is Terry Parker, a 3rd District Democrat.

There may be others.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City Hall to get new, efficient heating system by winter

The city plans to remove the boiler that blew up last month – as well as its aging twin – and to replace them with a high-efficiency burner that should cost considerably less to operate.
Public Works Director Walter Veselka said Thursday that natural gas would fuel the new burner rather than heating oil.
Officials plan to hire a design engineer in May and to bid out the project in July, with the goal of having the new heating system in place before winter.
Just in case, though, part of the deal will be to work out an alternative source of heat if the new system isn’t quite ready, Veselka said.
Mayor Art Ward said the city will be better off with a heating system that won’t break down and burns more efficiently. He said it’s possible that federal stimulus money may be available to pay for some of it.
Though officials have long eyed the possibility of replacing the aging boilers, they had put it off because of the expense.
But on March 20, one of the two heating boilers blew up, sending smoke and asbestos fibers through the ducts and knocking the door off the ground floor mechanical room.
City Hall itself had to be closed for a day, but since it happened over a weekend, it didn’t matter much.
The mechanical room remains sealed off as contractors continue to remove the asbestos.
Veselka said a request for engineering services has been published and a contract may be approved as soon as May’s City Council session.
The Building Committee plans to meet at 5 p.m., Monday, May 11 to endorse a contractor to the council the following day.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Cockayne blames mayor for overly generous contracts

The only city councilor to oppose recent union contracts that the city is now trying to renogiate said Thursday his colleagues and Mayor Art Ward should have taken a harder line on the pay agreements.
Republican Ken Cockayne said the unions deserve kudos for returning to the bargaining table “when they don’t have to” in a bid to change terms to help taxpayers.
But, he said, “it’s unfortunate it had to come to this.”
Cockayne said the pay hikes negotiated by Ward and approved by the City Council during the past couple of years were too generous given “the writing was on the wall” about the economy.
“The mayor was giving out raises,” he said, when it was clear the city might have a hard time paying for them.“We gave out 4 percent raises” to the police, Cockayne said, “and now we’re asking for something back. It’s ridiculous.”
Note:
Here's the story about the police contract that Cockayne opposed. The four-year deal actually has 3.5 percent raises for each of its final two years, not 4 percent. Interestingly, Cockayne did say in that story, which ran last June, that he had no problem with the pay hikes granted to the police.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City, unions talk concessions, keep smiling

Emerging from a small meeting room after more than 90 minutes of closed-door discussions Thursday about possible concessions, both city and municipal union leaders were smiling.
Tom Bentivengo, a firefighter, called it “a very good meeting, very productive.”
Though no decisions were reached – and apparently no concrete measures were even put on the table – city leaders said they’re happy that union officials are willing to discuss possible change to existing contracts that might save taxpayers’ money.
Mayor Art Ward said that after the union officials have a chance to talk with their rank-and-file during the next week or so, more sessions will be held that will go into more depth about possible courses of action.
As an opening step, Ward and several city officials met with leaders of municipal unions to lay out the budget situation and explain why there’s a $1.8 million gap that needs to be covered by concessions or layoffs, unless unanticipated revenue arrives.
Without concessions, the city is eyeing as many as 30 layoffs to trim its costs, but Board of Finance and elected officials say they don't want to put anyone on the unemployment line if they can help it.
They also say, however, that they plan to freeze property taxes, which eliminates one source of securing the needed money to fund the expected budget.
The city plans to adopt its annual budget on June 4, assuming a legal change is approved next week to push back the budget adoption deadline.
Ward said that gives the city a few weeks to talk with each of its unions and see what, if anything, can be worked out.
Though participants didn’t want to talk about what they said behind closed doors, somebody left behind their notes.
One question, clearly written by a union official, asked, “When the economy improves, are you going to replace what you want from us now?”
That’s something Ward is sure to hear, if he didn’t hear it Thursday. The answer is one of many unknowns surrounding the talks.
Some cities around the state have laid off or furloughed workers. Some municipal unions in other communities have agreed to wage freezes and other measures that have helped stave off layoffs.
It isn’t clear what will happen in Bristol, but it was obvious after the initial meeting that both union and city officials are keen to cooperate.
“It’s pretty open right now,” Ward said.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Concession talks underway

Mayor Art Ward and a number of top city officials are meeting this afternoon with municipal union leaders about possible measures that could reduce costs and relieve the pressure to lay off workers to save money.
About two dozen officials jammed into a meeting room starting at 1:30. I have no idea how long they'll be there.
There probably won't be much accomplished today. It's mostly a chance to put some cards on the table and see what, if anything, might be worth pursuing in the days and weeks ahead.
The city is eyeing as many as 30 layoffs to trim its costs, but Board of Finance and elected officials say they don't want to put anyone on the unemployment line if they can help it.
Union officials have said they have some cost-saving steps they may propose.
I'll let you know what, if anything, I can find out about what gets said.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Bristol lawmakers split on gay marriage measure

City lawmakers split on a controversial measure to implement the state Supreme Court's ruling that gay marriage was legal in Connecticut.
Two legislators who represent the city backed the bill while three others opposed it, according to the vote tally sheets posted on the General Assembly's website.
Backing the bill, after it was amended to exempt religious organizations and their affiliates, were state Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat, and state Rep. Chris Wright, another Democrat.
Opposing it were state Reps. Bill Hamzy, a Plymouth Republican whose district includes northwestern Bristol; Betty Boukus, a Plainville Democrat whose district includes a piece of Forestville; and Frank Nicastro, a Bristol Democrat.
Hamzy said the measure “did more than just codify” the ruling last fall that mandated recognition of gay marriages in the state.
He said that “phones were literally ringing off the hooks” from constituents urging him to vote against the measure because it went too far.
Hamzy, who has represented the 78th District since 1994, said he wanted the bill to include a provision to let parents have their children opt out of any school discussions of gay marriage, as they can with sex education now.
He also said the wording of the final version “left an open door to litigation” that could have been closed with more careful writing of ambiguous language.
Moreover, Hamzy said, he didn’t appreciate that the Democratic majority gave him only 15 minutes warning that the much-debated proposal would be dealt with Wednesday evening.
Colapietro’s 31st District includes Bristol, Plymouth, Plainville and part of Harwinton.
From this legislative web page, you can read the text of the bill and who voted for what.
I wasn't able to reach any of the legislators except for Hamzy. That's my fault, though, since I was at City Hall and unreachable so they couldn't call me back. Hamzy, fortunately, was at his desk when I phoned.

Note: This piece is updated to reflect that Nicastro voted NO, not YES, I originally thought.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
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Crowley deal almost at hand as dealership building comes down

The former Crowley auto dealership on Pine Street lay in rubble Wednesday, torn apart by two massive cranes that smashed walls, crushed bricks and ground cinderblocks into dust.
Just a bit of a back wall remained standing, painted gray on one side, blue on the other, with a green stripe.
City officials said that razing the structure was the final step toward completion of a $2.25 million deal for taxpayers to buy the lot for one of two new schools Bristol hopes to open by 2015.
The sale agreement, which calls for Crowley to deliver a clean site, should be signed next week, according to city Councilor Mike Rimcoski, who serves on the Forestville School Building Committee.
“This thing has dragged on way too long,” Rimcoski said.
Mayor Art Ward said that Crowley had to demolish the former dealership before the city could take ownership of the land.
The city is pushing the $132 million plan to create two new kindergarten to eighth grade schools that would replace four older buildings. One would sit next door to the site of the existing Greene-Hills School, which would be knocked down once the new building is erected beside it.
The other school site, on the corner of Matthews Street and Clark Avenue, is likely to be purchased soon as well, officials said.
The state would pick up 74 percent of the purchase price for each site as long as the overall project isn’t derailed for failing to come in on time.
Unless Bristol can get exemption from existing rules, the city must have a construction contract in hand by June 13, 2010 in order to preserve the reimbursement rate for the project as a whole.
When the two new schools open, about half of the city’s students will attend K-8 schools and the rest will continue to follow the existing elementary to middle school track.
The Forestville school panel plans to recommend the hiring of a construction manager at a special meeting Monday, Rimcoski said.

Update on Thursday morning:

Dale Clift, the city attorney, told me this morning the deal with Crowley should be wrapped up within a week.

"It took awhile to hammer out the details," Clift said, because the city took a "super cautious" stance.

One complicating issue is the the "Crowley dealership" consisted of four parcels, each owned by some business entity controlled by Ken Crowley. It's harder to work everything out for four pieces of land than one.

In any case, the city has signed the contract. Crowley will soon. Then that property will be in the city's hands.

As for the West Bristol school site, Clift said that officials and the property owners are still negotiating about the price. That's the hangup there, but with Crowley out of the way, officials will focus on resolving it as soon as possible.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Pine Street fix is coming

Yeah, they know Pine Street is a mess.
Mayor Art Ward said the contractors working on the Route 72 extension have promised to try to patch up the road as much as possible.
It's not going to be anything beautiful or pristine because, of course, the new state road is going to go right along its path from Yarde Pond to Todd Street. There's no point in repaving something that's going to be rebuilt soon enough.
But officials are trying to do what they can to make it a bit better.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Cash snatched from Bristol veterans?

A financial scandal has rocked the state’s largest American Legion post in Bristol.
Police are investigating the alleged theft of more than $25,000 from the Seicheprey Post #2, where David Page was recently removed as finance director.
“It’s really a stab in the heart,” Mayor Art Ward said Tuesday.
Page, a 61-year-old Martin Road resident, said police have been probing the case “for a long time,” but he otherwise insisted he “can’t say anything” on the advice of his attorney.
The commander of the 728-member Legion post on Hooker Court, Jay Meisinger, said that officials of the veterans group discovered “some discrepancies” in the books.
They amounted to at least $25,000, according to several sources.
Meisinger said that Page served as the post’s finance director until November, when he was stripped of the position. An investigation began about the same time, he said.
Lt. Edward Spyros said Tuesday that police are actively probing a theft at the American Legion reported to them in early March.
“Unfortunately I cannot give any more information as it may jeopardize the investigation. I cannot release the name of the suspect,” Spyros added.
Meisinger said he couldn’t talk about the details until an arrest is made, which he expects soon.
“It’s in the police and court’s hands,” Meisinger said.
“It’s terrible. It really is,” said Ward, who has been active in the Legion since his return from service as a U.S. Marine in the jungles of Vietnam. He is a past commander of the Seicheprey post, named for a World War I battle in France that claimed eight Bristol natives.
Page serves as the chairman of the Boys Scouts Committee for the Connecticut Department of the American Legion, a 3-million member veterans organization formed in 1919 by soldiers returning from World War I.
He was actively involved in the Sea Scouts through the Bristol post.
Bristol has more veterans among its residents than any other city in Connecticut, with over 5,000 out of a city population of a little more than 60,000.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Teen writer tackles South African election

Though South Africa is a long, long way from Bristol, perhaps some of you would find it interesting to read Mariechen Puchert's story about the presidential election in South Africa this week. You can find it here, at www.ReadTheTattoo.com.

Puchert, a South African teen, wrote it for Youth Journalism International, the journalism education group that Jackie and I run..

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com