Daily Five: Ongoing Investigations, Clarity, and Victory

1. It’s going to be mostly cloudy today, according to the National Weather Service, with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures will be cooler, with a high of 74 and an overnight low of around 64. Don’t forget your umbrella, because there’s a 30 percent chance of rain during the day and a 50 percent chance tonight, and it could be heavy at times.

2. As a steady stream of people flowed into the Tax Collector’s office yesterday, those with credit cards in hand were surprised to see signs posted saying that taxes had to be paid either in cash or with checks. To clarify the issue, if you go to Town Hall to pay in person, you can’t use credit cards. You can only use credit cards if you pay taxes online or over the phone.  

“We use a service called official payments,” says Waterford Tax Collector Mark Burnham. “You can pay online [and] credit cards can also be used over the phone but there’s an additional fee for that service. That’s not the cheapest way to go.”

If you’re struggling to pay taxes you owe, you might consider trying to work out a payment plan with the town instead of going into deeper debt with a credit card.

“I’m sure there are any number of reasons [why taxpayers] may be having financial issues and, when it comes to real estate, can’t pay it when it’s due. In many cases, they’ll make partial payments. As long as they keep doing that, we won’t take any enforcement action,” says Burnham. “We have a very good working relationship with the taxpayers.”

3. Because inquiring minds want to know, here’s an update on a number of ongoing investigations that some of you had asked about. Don’t get too excited, however. Frankly, there’s not much to report.

Let’s start with the Waterford police officer who was allegedly involved in a physical incident with a woman in April that led to an investigation by Connecticut State Police.

Connecticut State Police Department spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance says that the investigation “is not quite done yet.” That’s all he could say, however, because “we don’t speak about an open case. It’s still an open case, still under investigation.”

That’s not the only ongoing investigation in Waterford, however. Insurance investigators and the Waterford fire marshal are still trying to determine the cause of the fire that broke out at the convenience store attached to BestWay gas station, located at 76 Post Road, on June 9.

The gas station remains closed and the store is boarded up. A sign pasted to the plywood cautions people not to enter the premises, because insurance investigators are trying to preserve the scene. The cause of the more recent fire that destroyed the house at 6 Fourth Avenue last week also remains a mystery.

“At this time, they’re both under investigation,” says Waterford Fire Marshal Peter Schlink.    

Sometimes the only news is no news.  

4. On a happier note, the Waterford North Little League Girls Softball 9/10 All-Stars were celebrating last night after besting Pawcatuck to win the District 10 Championship. (There's more about that in this morning's sports story.) Once again, you go girls!

5. On this day in 1881, Edward Berner, a drug store owner in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, took the chocolate syrup that until then had been used only to make ice-cream sodas, and poured it over a dish of ice cream. I think we all owe him a debt of thanks for that!

Quote of the Day

“Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything.”

- Vince Lombardi

Trivia of the Day

From where does Friday get its name?

Answer to yesterday’s trivia: Although more than a few places claim to be the hottest place on Earth and many of them may have seen temperatures that topped 136 degrees, that remains the highest temperature recorded by a meteorological station. The year was 1922. The place was El Azizia, Libya. In the immortal words of Paris Hilton, that’s hot!