A Mad Scientist, Police Dogs at Waterford High and Pardoned Witches

It was another busy week of news in Waterford, with a wide variety of stories.

It began with our profile of the Patch-proclaimed “mad scientist of Waterford,” Derek Shepard, a man whose Boston Post Road home is the draw of the neighborhood every Halloween and Christmas. Shepard decorates his house for both holidays with his own creative theme, with it always featuring a different Volkswagen as the centerpiece.

Then, there was a bunch of news about the alleged Crystal Mall peeping Tom. On Monday, Rhode Island’s Christopher Gribble was arrested for voyeurism after allegedly spying on people while they changed at the Crystal Mall. And on Saturday we had the full story on Gribble, with him allegedly admitting to police that he covertly takes pictures of approximately three people a month and then downloads the photos to his computer.

The two most discussed stories of the week both ran Friday. The first was about the first-ever planned although unannounced a new method approved by the Board of Education to discourage students from bringing in drugs to school. Waterford Patch users had mixed feelings about it, with some saying it was a good deterrent and others saying it was turning the town into a police state.

The second talker that day was about what the Waterford High School signs should look like. Unlike the previous story, Waterford Patch users seemed unified, agreeing they preferred the blue lettering with the Waterford on top and High School on bottom.

On Thursday, we had a story about the Utility Commission saying it would no longer need a 6.28 percent sewer rate increase for this year. That came jut two weeks after the sewer commission tried to get a rate increase approved by the Waterford Representative Town Meeting.

In other news, East Lyme sent a letter complaining about Waterford’s nuclear waste, congressional candidate Paul Formica campaigned through Waterford, we had a photo tour of Waterford High School’s new addition and activists are looking for Connecticut to pardon witches. And most importantly, if you didn’t see this video yet and vote for it, do both. It is great.