Monthly Archives: January 2014

Connecticut Jury Service

I received my notice for Jury Duty- again. I receive a State of Connecticut Summons for Jury Service every two or three years without fail. I mentioned the summons to a friend who considered it to be an invitation to be a part of the system and a part of the solution. She had always wanted to be asked but did  not even know how to get on the eligibility list.

I looked up and this is what I learned. The jury administrator creates a jury pool list from voter, licensed driver, unemployment compensation recipient, and state personal income taxpayer lists. People called for jury service must be excused, at their request, if they were called and not excused from service during the preceding three years  but a person is not credited with service if he was excused or if his service was canceled before he actually came into court. But he is given credit if he was in court and available for service for as little as one day and did not ask to be excused.

If you are interested in serving on a jury please contact the Jury Administration toll-free at 1.800.842.8175, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or visit www.jud.ct.gov/jury

 

Unassembled Snowmen

Unassembled snowmen have been delivered to our homes. Hundreds of millions of pieces that can be fit together in multiple millions of ways to create freeform sculptures and works of art that can be anything an individuals mind can imagine.

On our lawns, parks, and street corners is everything to build an airplane, a dinosaur, a family of ducks, a traditional snowman and a race car. It is ok for it not to be perfect.

Lets have some fun in our city and help make one another smile as we make use of the free supplies of creative materials that have fallen from the skies.

By the end of June this will all be a distant memory unless we choose to take advantage of his opportunity to return to one of the joys of childhood. The use of our imaginations and creativity.

 

A tag-line for Norwich

I want to see Norwich be a home to lots and lots of new tax paying businesses. Businesses that are small to medium sized so that there is plenty of room for them to grow and expand in the future.

The term being thrown around now is for “cities to develop their brand.” The individual city needs to put their essence, their character, their spirit – into a single word or phrase that explains their city when a representative is not around to do it.

A city’s brand is developed over years by its policies and its amenities. ”small-town charm with big-city amenities,” or “One Norwich” may be extremely relevant about a place, but it is not the least bit distinct  or self-explanatory.

The tag-line or brand is a statement about the product. It should tell what the product does or is. A tag line should also arouse curiosity as well as pride. An example of brand marketing is what makes you curious about a place to visit, or what advertising do you find reassuring when you decide to purchase a product.

What does Norwich do or have that makes it unique from other cities across Connecticut that would be of interest to businesses? Norwich has both a technical high school and a technical community college. Schools that might be convinced to create programs specific to a specific industry. Norwich is also located to several other technical schools and universities. Norwich has its own power company. The city that managed to keep its lights on when almost a third of the United States was in the dark.

If you were a business owner what tag-line or brand would bring you to Norwich to look around?

Boundless Play

Creating parks and playgrounds is important to the heart of any community. I thought I would toss a few thoughts about what I would like to see at one or more areas of the city. Killingly and New London have convenient Boundless Playgrounds open to visit for the curious to explore.

Boundless Playgrounds® is a Connecticut based company founded in 1997 as the first national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities create extraordinary playgrounds where children, with and without disabilities, can develop essential skills for life as they learn together through play. There are more than 100 Boundless™ playgrounds in over 20 states and Canada, and dozens more are currently in development. Connecticut is currently home to twenty Boundless Playgrounds.

High back and seatbelt-equipped swings allow children with physical disabilities to swing next to children on typical swings. Bright colors, wheelchair accessible bridges and ramps, and tube slides make the playground a fun place for any everyone. Perhaps a garden with mazes, games, and themed spaces.

These same parks may also have an adult component for those that would like the freedom to be outdoors but need additional support. The Boundless Playground at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, provides a place for Wounded Warriors to engage in physical therapy while reconnecting with their families and finding their way to recovery.

Maybe it is time for Norwich to reach out and stretch beyond the usual to the new and innovative.

Tale of J. Lewis Spalding

It was on the pages of the New York Times of February 3, 2012 that I learned this bit of juicy historical gossip from  Ronald S. Coddington, author of “Faces of the Civil War” and “Faces of the Confederacy.” His forthcoming book profiles the lives of men of color who participated in the Civil War. He writes “Faces of War,” a column for the Civil War News.

In April 1861, 22-year-old  J. Lewis  Spalding joined the First Connecticut Infantry.  Moving from his family and clerical job in the bustling manufacturing hub of Norwich, Conn., to a whirlwind of promotions marking  his first week in uniform.

On Friday, April 19, 1861 he entered military service as a private; received his corporal’s stripes on Saturday and his sergeant’s chevrons on Sunday and on the next Thursday, April 25, he was made a sergeant major.

He was a Sergeant Major at the First Battle of Bull Run. When the regiment disbanded Spalding returned to Norwich and immediately accepted a captaincy in the 18th Massachusetts Infantry.

In September 1861, he floated above the defenses of Washington in Prof. Thaddeus S.C. Lowe’s military balloon. In 1862 about a month after the second battle loss of Bull Run, Spalding was supposed to escort some soldiers from area hospitals to the regiment for active duty.  When he did not return an arrest order was issued by Major General Ambrose Burnside, Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Spalding resigned his commission rather than face charges  and officially left the regiment with a disability discharge. Within ten days he returned   to Connecticut  and  married Lucy “Lu” Billings in Norwich.

“Lu” Billings was  a  Cooper Institute educated  poet , who  “possessed rare literary ability and artistic talent,” noted a writer of a biographical sketch.

In 1864 Spalding returned to the Army as adjutant of the 29th Connecticut Infantry, a new regiment composed of black troops and led by white officers. On Oct. 13, 1864 Spalding was shot in his foot near the frontline defenses of Richmond. He recovered from his injury and returned to duty before the end of the year and mustered  out of the army with the rest of the 29th in 1865.  

The 1866 he joined the regular Army as a staff officer to Col. Joseph Mower. Spalding was so good at his staff duties, Mower endorsed a recommendation for him to receive an honorary promotion to major in mid-1867.

That is when bounty hunter, Patrick Flannery, appeared with paperwork to be paid for two deserters he had apprehended. Spalding explained the army required several weeks to process the payment but if Flannery needed cash immediately, Spalding had a police officer friend who would buy Flannery’s papers at a reduced cost. Flannery agreed to the deal.

In the next weeks Flannery rounded up more deserters and sold the papers to Spalding’s friend. Spalding was soon arrested and charged with conduct unbecoming an officer. A four-day trial in August 1867 resulted in a guilty verdict and Spalding’s dismissal from the Army but he successfully appealed the verdict and was reinstated.

In March 1870, Spalding was an Indian agent in Northern California when an officer reported him “for running after” Indian women “to the neglect of his duty.” Spalding soon resigned and he and his wife divorced soon after. She had just published a volume of poetry, dedicated with affection to her husband.

Spalding returned to Norwich. In 1884, at age 46, he entered a Soldier’s Home in Virginia. He died there four years later, alone.

My Assessments Down!

Norwich’s residential property owners are learning by mail what their homes are worth, the result of a reassessment and in most cases, it’s a lot less than it was last year and that is o.k.

Assessors determine the market value of a property and do not determine property taxes.

Technically homes are considered an asset – not an investment so they do not necessarily go up in value. For those of us selling our homes in the next few years we need to remember that it’s the market and not the assessment that determines the listing price.

A high assessment can contribute to high property taxes, but the tax rate is what really determines the amount of tax on your property tax bill.  You can have a low assessment, but if that low assessment is subject to a high tax rate, you’re going to have a high property tax bill.

The lower assessed values will lead to higher tax rates – though not necessarily higher tax bills. When voters pass bonds for schools or police or roads, those bonds are for set dollar amounts. As assessed values fall, each property, on average, will have to chip in a higher percent of the home’s value to ensure the levy brings in what it’s supposed to.

The Norwich City Council will be responsible for adjusting the property tax rates, because the current rates will bring in less money. So the council will have to agree on how much they need to raise the tax rate to maintain the current levels of spending and then what how much they need to raise the tax rate for future spending and inflation.

The first six months of this new City Council will not be easy. This Council more than ever needs to hear the voices and concerns of the residents. What gives the residents pride and what are our growing fears. The actions of the Norwich City Council will be the burden of its residents.  Blessings on us all!

1965 WICH Recipe Collection

WICH 1310 coverIn 1965 WICH Radio was the AM station of the Norwich area responding directly to the interests of the listeners. This was especially true for a program called “Party Line.”

The discussions were frequently about the running of the household, recipes, bargains, how-to questions of sewing and cooking and what should I make, do or bring to the next social event as the person was certain the listeners would all be there.

They published the WICH recipe collection in a large white folder containing recipes and directions on loose white pages printed in black.

Opening the folder is a bit like opening a gift. There is a page “Dedicated To All Our Wonderful Party Line Listeners And To The Sponsors Who Make Party Line Possible! 1965 A.D.

Eleanor Dickinson, Editor & Art Work, Virginia MacAdie, Thomas Phalen, Program Director and Janet Shalkowski, Typist.” Then a page showing the connection from the home by phone 889-8361 and 889-8362 to the broadcasting tower of WICH.  

The Contents are simply Entrees, Seafood, Sauces and vegetables, breads, sandwiches, sweets, Festive Festivities, An Informative PotPourri and Green Thumb Tips.

The first recipe is how to cook a turkey while you sleep and how to stuff a turkey while awake. With a variety of stuffing recipes from the usual classics to the more exotic oyster, Brazil Nut and Chestnut stuffings.  

Seafood explains freezing clams is perfectly safe if you do it correctly.  Sauces and Vegetables is but a page of sauces mornay and piquant. Breads, rolls, muffins and dumplings oh my! Then there are Super Sandwich Suggestions, Tuna-Crabmeat deluxe and Diamond Jims. Yum! Miss Catharine Hasler of Norwich won first prize in the 1964 Three Diamond Brand Contest, Mrs. Leroy C. Parkhurst of Preston was 2nd and   Mr. Edwin S Carson of New London was 3rd.

The Sweets is easily the largest collection with names may confuse me but from the ingredients I am sure would delight me. There is the usual Apple-Dapple and carrot cake and then there is carrot pie, Colonel Goodbody’s Prune Cakes, Kroetz, Celia’s Fancy Dessert, Schlosser Buben, Krusciki, Golden Puffs and Raisin Drop Cookies.

Festive Festivities was written directly for me. How to plan and what to plan, which wine to serve when and how much whiskey should you buy. Directions for fresh salted walnuts and clothespin twists and even the French specialty Turinois. Josephine’s Christmas Rice Pudding was contributed by Mrs. George Jello. Teens can work together with a Tandem Party making Baked Bean Pies.

The Informative PotPourri  is just that with answers to questions you never thought to ask including which booklets to write for and where to obtain them, sewing with stretch fabric and invisible writing.

Green Thumb Tips made me smile. How to store green tomatoes, make an impromptu greenhouse and the proper way to raise a Depression Plant, a deep dish coal plant and a shallow dish coal plant.

Do you think we could talk WICH into republishing the collection? Please give them a call to voice your opinion!