Colin Holliday and Four Seasons Limousine are keeping a blog of the Bridgewater and surrounding area .
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| Alex with Four Seasons Limousine in Bridgewater CT |
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| Remo with four Seasons Limousine in Bridgewater CT |
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| Lake Lillinonah in Bridgewater CT |
Stuart's link to raffle led to fire chief's resignation
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Former Bridgewater Fire Chief Justin Planz acknowledged this week that his resignation from the department in July was in response to First Selectman Bill Stuart remaining on the fair's raffle committee.
Planz said he resigned because of the response he received from fellow officers when he raised concerns about how raffles had been conducted.
He said the department gives too much deference to Stuart, who chairs the raffle committee, given the FBI raid on Bridgewater Town Hall in early July.
Fire Department President Neil Cable said Monday that Planz's recent comments to the press were the first time officers in the department had heard his allegations.
"We take these allegations very seriously and will look into them," Cable said.
Cable declined to comment on Planz's assertions that the department defers to Stuart, saying that Fire Chief Eric Gsell is the official spokesperson for the department.
Gsell was out of town and unavailable for comment.
The state Department of Consumer Protection is conducting an audit on the raffle held at the 2012 Bridgewater Country Fair. The result of the audit are expected by March.
"We welcome the audit," Cable said. "Anything that can better the operation of our department is welcomed."
Last week, Gsell said that, to his knowledge, the annual raffle had never previously been audited. The raffle brought in $16,000 in 2012, offering a grand prize of a Chevrolet Equinox.
Stuart last week dismissed the complaint about his involvement on the raffle committee.
"It's all about revenge, and the people involved don't seem to care what organization in town they hurt," he said.
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| Rosebeth Holliday With Sotheby's Internation Realty in Danbury CT |
FEMA and SBA deadline is Feb. 12
Homeowners, renters, nonprofits and businesses of all sizes have until Tuesday, Feb. 12 to register for FEMA disaster assistance or apply for disaster loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced today.
Residents of Fairfield, Middlesex, New Haven and New London counties, as well as the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribal Nations within New London County, are eligible to apply for assistance with Hurricane Sandy-related losses.
Survivors can register online anytime day or night athttp://www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or with a smartphone or other Web-enabled device at m.fema.gov. Survivors can also register, check status of applications or receive other assistance by calling FEMA at 800-621-3362, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Seven days a week. The TTY number is 800-462-7585. Multilingual operators are available.
Registering for disaster assistance with other agencies or organizations does not register survivors for FEMA disaster assistance. Having FEMA flood insurance does not register policyholders for FEMA disaster assistance, nor does it disqualify anyone from applying for assistance. Flood insurance claims are handled separately.
More SBA disaster loan information may be obtained by calling SBA's Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (TTY users, call 800-877-8339) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Apply online at SBA's secure website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/. For more information about the SBA disaster loan program, visit the SBA website at www.sba.gov/sandy.
So far, more than 12,000 Connecticut residents have registered for state and federal assistance and assistance approved is more than $41.5 million. Of that total is nearly $30 million in low-interest disaster loans through the SBA.
Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362. For TTY, call 800-462-7585.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is the federal government's primary source of money for the long-term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA helps homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private, nonprofit organizations fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and covers the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property. These disaster loans cover losses not fully compensated by insurance or other recoveries and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations.
FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
Bridgewater stays dry, for now
The last dry town in the state will stay statutorily sober for at least another two years.
First Selectman Curtis Read announced Thursday that the referendum on the town's ban on the sale of alcohol, scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed. It likely will be rescheduled for November 2015, when the issue can be placed on the ballot at a town election.
"I'm saying it's postponed," Read said Thursday, explaining that certain state requirements had to be met before it could take place.
Asked if there will be a vote in 2015, he said, :We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
The change won't affect the plans of one resident, Bill Holland, who wants to open a restaurant on Route 67 at the site of the vacant Webster Bank.
"We're already interviewing the best area chefs about the dishes we might serve," Holland said Thursday. His plan, he said, is to open the place, and wait until the town changes its mind on the issue.
"I still think we can run a nice restaurant to serve Bridgewater and the surrounding communities," he said.
But the delay will affect Peter May, who had hoped to expand the delicatessen he owns in theBridgewater Village Store into a sit-down restaurant.
"'It's definitely disappointing to find this out," said May's spokesman, Greg Bollard. Without a liquor license, Bollard said, the expansion would be "too much of a risk."
Asked if May would continue to run the general store as is, Bollard said that's yet to be decided.
"I hope so," he said. "I don't know."
The town voted in 1935 to carry on Prohibitionist ways, even though the United States repealed the national ban two years earlier.
However, to call the town "dry" is a bit of a stretch. There are package stores in neighboring municipalities where residents stock up and informal watering holes in town where thirsts are regularly quenched.
But at the bidding of May and Holland, there was a town meeting on the issue in 2013. It seemed then that residents might be ready to let liquor be sold in town restaurants, by the sip and chug, if not in bulk.
Read said the Tuesday referendum had to be canceled when he learned there are specific state laws governing how a town can change its own liquor laws.
First, there has to be a petition signed by at least 10 percent of town residents asking for a change.
That petition has to be delivered to the Town Hall at least 60 days before a regular town election. The issue can then go on the ballot.
Read said the state law is very exact. It doesn't allow the issue to be decided by voice vote in a special meeting or in a referendum. It must be at a regular town election. November's election in 2014, which will have state and national candidates on the ballot, won't work.
At least one town resident -- Laszlo Pinter -- was pleased.
Pinter, Danbury's deputy corporation counsel, had admitted he likes his hometown the way it is now.
"There are certain powerful traditions that make Bridgewater Bridgewater," Pinter said. "It's quiet. It's unobtrusive.
"It's the only dry town in the state."
