Community Corner

Daily Five: Candidate Cleared; Forum Tonight

Five Things To Know For Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011

1. Today should be sunny, with a high near 60, according to the National Weather Service. Tonight should be cloudy, with a low around 42, according to the service.

2. Monday night, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously elected Edwin Maguire as their chairman again. The commission votes on its chairman every year. Maguire was not at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the commission is still looking for two people to fill out the roster, Town Planning Director Tom Wagner said.

Find out what's happening in Waterfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Also, there is no update on the proposed , Wagner said. No work has been done on the property, despite a site plan being approved for a new bar that promised to be “like Hooters, only classier,” .

3. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has cleared to run for the Representative Town Meeting, according to a post on his campaign’s Facebook page.

Find out what's happening in Waterfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Balestracci is a Waterford police officer, and in some cases government employees are forbidden to run because of the Hatch Act. Balestracci checked with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which said he was cleared to run, according to his Facebook page.

4. A public forum is being held tonight from 5 to 8 at Clark Lane Middle School by state Sen. Andrea Stillman to discuss Education Cost Sharing, and how it is distributed.

ECS funding is the largest form of state aid to municipalities. How much a town receives depends on a variety of factors, with . Stillman, who is co-chair of an ECS task force, is looking to find a better formula to make ECS funding more equitable, according to a press release.

What does this mean for local taxpayers? If the formula changed, and Waterford received closer to what other similar communities receive, either local taxes would go down or programs at the school would improve; or both.

Two of the four speakers at the forum are active in Waterford politics. One is Donald Blevins, chairman of the Waterford Board of Education, and the another is Sharon Palmer, moderator of the RTM and President of the American Federation of Teachers-Connecticut. 

5. On this date in 1938, the Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis Beckman, publically denounces swing music, saying it is a “path to Hell.” And on this date in 1940, Benjamin Davis, Sr. is named the first black general in the United States Army.

Quote of the Day

“Golf is a good walk spoiled.”

-Mark Twain

Trivia of the Day

Who was the Republican candidate for president in the 1964 election?

Yesterday’s Answer: Iraq used to be Mesopotamia, one of the oldest known civilizations in the world.


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