Milford Musings

State of the Sound Report

Read the entire State of the Sound Report, issued by the Connecticut Fund for the Environment.

A message from Tim Chaucer of the Milford Historical Society:

On Monday, January 16 Governor William Buckingham, Connecticut’s Civil War Governor, and his wife Eliza Buckingham will be visiting the Milford Historical Society in the Dodd Hall of the Mary Taylor Memorial Church. A relative of the Governor’s is a minister in Milford, Conn. and it is through this connection that the Governor will be able to meet with the good people of Milford on his way to Washington, D.C.

The Governor will be portrayed by Mr. Richard Silocka, who has over 45 years experience as a re-enactor. Mr. and Mrs Silocka are well known educators in the New Haven area.

We are still enjoying the 150 year anniversary of the American Civil War; Find out why this Governor was so important to President Lincoln and the Union cause.

The program is free and begins at 7 p.m.

High school and middle school students here made the holiday mail call a lot happier for more than 3,000 active-duty military personnel through a letter-writing campaign organized by VFW Post 7788 in Devon.

Teacher Shannan Carlson adopted the VFW’s “Hugs From Home” campaign, writing a lesson plan for the students. The district’s new advisory program, begun in Septmeber in grades 6-12 seeks to foster meaningful connections between students and responsible adults in the community. The program also urges students to ‘look beyond themselves’ in all things.

Robert Swan, an assistant principal at Jonathan Law High, helped get administrators on board and by Dec. 16 the 3,068 letters were turned over to the VFW for delivery. Students who knew of an active-duty member of the military were encouraged to write to that person; others wrote a letter of encouragement and thanks to any solider.

“This was a great exercise – for everyone involved,” Swan said. “We believe our students benefitted from thinking about fellow Americans serving our country far from home. We believe our local VFW post benefitted from partnering with the school district on this wonderful project. And, the best part, we believe our troops will benefit from knowing there are thousands of us here who appreciate their efforts overseas.”

Students at Jonathan Law High and members of the Carter Mario Law Firm teamed up for a successful holiday cost drive to help The Clothes Closet of the First Baptist Church. The church program supplies warm winter clothing to area residents.

Students in a business class at Jonny Law chose this as their community service project and worked closely with Carter Mario. “We were so blessed to have Carter and the law firm adopt this project with us, and help the students to understand the importance of always striving to give back to the community you serve,” said teacher Louise Goldbeck.

Quoting Mark Twain, Mayor Ben Blake on Thursday said that reports of a population drop in Milford “have been greatly exaggerated.”

The city actually grew slightly in population from 2000 to 2010, according to the U.S. Census, to 52,759, the mayor said.

He directed city officials to use the correct number on all grant applications and federal reimbursement forms.

He said that initial numbers released in August showing a slight drop in population were incorrect, and instructed the city’s legislative delegation to ensure that the correct population figure is used for district reapportionment.

Rober Gregory, the city’s community development director who oversaw the Census here, said Woodmont and Milford appeared to have been counted separately.

When the borough, which is entirely within Milford, is added to the city’s totals, the number of Milford residents actually grew by more than 450 over the past 10 years, Gregory said.

The Milford Library will be open only from 1 to 5 p.m. on Fridays this winter and spring, in response to a reduction in the library’s budget request for the current 2011-12 fiscal year.

The budget cut resulted in the loss of a full-time position, Librarian Jean Tsang said in the recent Friends of the Milford Library newsletter.

“The library apologize for any inconvenience to our patrons and it looks forward to the time when it can resume normal hours,” Tsang wrote.

Mayor Ben Blake said that the impact of the cut to the library’s budget request was discussed last spring, while he was an alderman and his Democratic party was in the minority.

Now that the cavorting cow has been captured and carted off to Oxford, officials released the name of the Milford family whose property the 800-pound heifer hid out on.

Wilhemina had spent most of time on the lam on property owned by Tom and Kathy Ferrara, near their home on Briarwood Lane.

Det. Frank Gall of the Milford police made his most unusual collar Wednesday evening (and for Frank that’s saying something) along with former Milford resident and animal-rights activist Kathleen Schurmann of Locket’s Meadow Farm, the animal control officers of several area towns, a representative from the state and a veterinarian from Bethany.

Rick George, the animal control officer for Milford and Orange, planned the dragnet that brought the bashful bovine into custody.
(Photo courtesy of Frank Gall)