An Unsubstantiated Allegation, Gary Batch, the Historical Cohanzie School

This was a busy, busy week, with everything from the community coming together to help a fallen firefighter and a devastated family to political shenanigans where party trumped dignity or integrity.

First, will start with some uplifting news. Patch went to the Waterford Youth Services Bureau Sunday, which was completely packed with donated items from the community for the Adams family. The family’s rented home burnt down last Friday, and they had no renter’s insurance, so they were left with nothing.

That brings us to our Friday story, which was about the importance of renter’s insurance. The Adams family’s story is hardly an isolated incident, as much more often than not people do not have renter’s insurance, according to the Red Cross’s Sue Bolen, who responds to about 200 fires a year. Renter’s insurance is cheap, and makes a devastating situation much, much easier to handle, she said.

“It is one of those things you have to have,” Bolen said. “You can’t not have it.”

The most well read story of the week was about a lawsuit filed against the town. a town employee driving a town vehicle allegedly hit a local woman, which put her in the hospital for a month and left her with permanent injuries. The woman has since sued the town, and the town is working out a compromise with her.

On Tuesday, we had the story about the first ever Gary Batch 5k, which took place Saturday. Gary Batch was a longtime Waterford resident and longtime New London firefighter who died last year of Mesothelioma. His family held the 5k at Waterford Beach to honor their late father and husband, with all the money going to Mesothelioma research. Right now, there is no cure for Mesothelioma.

On Thursday, we had a story about an accusation made by the chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party that State Sen. Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford, was planning to move to Florida soon, which Stillman said is completely not true. We asked the GOP for any evidence to support it. Patch is still waiting that evidence.

In other news, the state explained its plans for Cohanzie School Wednesday, with the neighbors saying they would like low-traffic housing to be put there. We covered a ground-breaking on Thursday for Charter Oak Federal Credit Union’s new headquarters at the intersection of Route 85 and Industrial Drive and then a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a GEICO office on Friday, also on Route 85.

On Tuesday, the Waterford Utility Commission explained the reasons behind its proposed 6.28 tax increase, a man who is already serving time for a Waterford burglary was charged with another, the Waterford Representative Town Meeting approved a new sewer line at B Lane and a Waterford man is now teaching music in Montville. And o yea, we had that story about America’s rice being infested with arsenic…