Branford Eagle

Branford Eagle Wins 16 SPJ Awards

by marcia chambers | May 24, 2013 9:09 am

The Branford Eagle won 16 awards, including first place awards for its coverage of Superstorm Sandy, at the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) annual excellence awards contest Thursday night.

Veteran reporters Marcia Chambers and Sally E. Bahner and photographer Mary Johnson took first-place honors for their stories and photos about Superstorm Sandy and Sandy Hook among others. Chambers won for her court coverage of a dog named Desmond who was strangled to death.

Entries of all contestants were judged by professional journalists from other states.

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Superstorm Fear: How Long Will Our Homes Survive?

by Diana Stricker | May 23, 2013 6:10 am

Residents who travel Linden Avenue along the Branford shoreline know about natural hazards. Now they want to learn about mitigation.

Battered by super storms, blizzards and flooding from high tides, residents from Beckett Avenue to Meadow Street to Hotchkiss Grove to Linden Avenue are looking for answers. 

So the majority of people attending a Hazard Mitigation Workshop in Branford Monday were Linden Avenue area residents who were nearly stranded by Tropical Storm Irene. The massive storm surge severely damaged the only road to the peninsula where 400 families live in the Indian Neck and Pawson Park neighborhoods.

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Cell Phone Service Fast-Tracked

by Diana Stricker | May 22, 2013 9:02 am | Comments (1)

Another hurricane season will come and go before Short Beach residents have cell phone service. But the good news is that the new tower is slated to be operational before the blizzard season.

This was not originally the case. The Eagle contacted AT&T spokesman Chuck Coursey, who said the start-up date for the new tower will be April 1, 2014.

The Eagle wondered why it would take so long, since the 120-foot monopole is already towering above 171 Short Beach Road where Air Inc. is located.

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Get This Man A Laptop!

by marcia chambers | May 21, 2013 1:45 pm | Comments (1)

Dr. Lishan Wang was transported early yesterday from the MacDougall Correctional Institution in Suffield to New Haven Superior Court on Church Street so that he could evaluate evidence on a laptop before a scheduled 2 p.m. court appearance.

Dr. Wang represents himself in a murder case. Getting him a laptop, a necessity to move the three-year-old case along, is now a major issue.

So Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford devised a plan. Or so he thought. 

Dr. Wang is accused of shooting to death Dr. Vanjindeer Toor (pictured), a former colleague of his at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York. The murder took place outside Dr. Toor’s Branford condo on April 26, 2010. Dr. Toor, 34, was a post doctoral fellow at Yale when he was killed. Dr. Wang has alleged Dr. Toor and other Kingsbrook doctors and officials caused his firing in 2008 and ended his medical career.

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Branford Board of Finance Sets $99.3 Million Budget

by marcia chambers | May 19, 2013 9:10 pm

UPDATE: The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) last week adopted a $99.317 million school and town budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year, after the Republican side of the aisle raised last-minute objections.  Today the Board of Finance (BOF)  reviewed and approved the budget and set the mill rate at 25.59, a 2.6 percent increase over last year.   

The BOF final budget meeting took place at Branford High School where Finance Director Jim Finch provided the BOF with an overview. At the meeting, the BOF learned that the town is expected to lose about $163,000 in expected state funds. Finch offered various adjustments to offset the loss, which if the BOF accepts “will allow the mill rate to fall to a level pursuant to the RTM reductions.” 

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Quest Sped Up For New Public Works Building

by Diana Stricker | May 17, 2013 8:07 am | Comments (1)

Third Selectman James Cosgrove (pictured right) presented a 7-point plan to speed up the site selection process for a new public works building, and First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos said he is close to finalizing a deal on a new property.

The proposals for Branford’s public works building were discussed at Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, but no decisions were made.

Discussions have been ongoing for two years about where to locate the new public works building. The Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted 2-1 in November to approve the town-owned Tabor property. However, Tabor neighbors were adamantly opposed to the plan, and the proposal has been stalled.

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Branford Explores 2 School Renovations

by Diana Stricker | May 17, 2013 7:47 am

Branford’s Board of Education (BOE) voted unanimously to recommend major renovations at both Walsh Intermediate School and the former Branford Hills Elementary School. The board is asking town officials to form a building committee as one of the first formal steps in the process.

Two options for the elementary school involved either renovating the aging Sliney school, or renovating and expanding the former Branford Hills School to serve as the new Sliney School. The board on Wednesday chose the Branford Hills option.

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DTC Chair Steps Aside

by marcia chambers | May 16, 2013 4:03 pm

Chris Sullivan will temporarily step aside as chairman of the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) while he campaigns for the first selectman spot on the Democratic ticket.

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2nd Dem Joins Branford Campaign

by marcia chambers | May 14, 2013 8:04 am | Comments (7)

Chris Sullivan, the moderator of Branford’s Representative Town Meeting ( RTM), wants to be the town’s first selectman. And he plans to ask the Democratic Town Committee (DTC), which he chairs, to endorse him.

Sullivan’s decision follows the announcement that First Selectman Unk DaRos will not seek reelection.  Sullivan, 36, then decided he would enter the race, he said in an interview Monday.

Sullivan became the second Democratic candidate in recent days to publicly announce that he wants the town’s top job. Second Selectman Andy Campbell, an attorney and a former RTM member, told the Eagle he has submitted his application to the DTC for the top post. Campbell, 47, is a former chair of the DTC.

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“Unk” Won’t Seek Reelection

by marcia chambers | May 13, 2013 8:26 am | Comments (1)

Anthony “Unk” DaRos is ending an overall 12-year run as the town’s full-time chief executive and administrative officer. But don’t expect him to slow down.

“You are going to see the most active lame duck you have ever seen,” he declared.

In an exclusive interview, he publicly confirmed for the first time that he will retire from government life when his term ends this November.

He reflected on his years in office during a 50-minute interview Friday. DaRos, who is 70, plans to tell his Town Hall staff, department heads and other employees at their weekly Monday morning meeting that he will not seek a fourth two-year term in the upcoming November election.

As first selectman he oversees the day-to-day operation of town government and all town departments.  Overall he has served 12 years as first selectman, beginning with his first six year stint in 1997 when he ran for the town’s top job on the Democratic ticket. 

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