Boys Varsity Basketball: Fairfield Edges Staples 54-51

Fairfield edged Staples 54-51 Friday night as a last-second attempt by Wrecker senior John Baumann for a three-pointer failed.

Staples (8-3 overall, 5-4 FCIAC) was down 52-45 with 50 seconds left but managed to pull to 52-50 with 40 seconds left thanks to a pair of free throws by Brian Levine.

But the Wreckers comeback attempt fell short as Baumann rimmed his try for a three-pointer, disappointing the packed crowd in the Staples gymnasium.

Westport First Selectwoman Outlines Regional Legislative Goals

Westport First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell and mayors and selectmen from neighboring communities met today to outline the region's legislative goals.

Farrell, who is chair of the South Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, held a breakfast session with the municipal leaders at Norwalk City Hall.

Among the goals cited by Farrell and Daniel Wilder, chair of the South Western Regional Planning Agency (SWRPA), was continued investment in commuter rail equipment, infrastructure and services, especially for Metro-North's New Haven Line and its 92,000 daily riders.

The local leaders also asked that state lawmakers integrate funding for critical transit services into the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s operating budget.

They also wanted $402,000 in state funding to offset lost federal funding for transit services for the elderly and disabled.

Other requests included asking that a “build-out analysis” be undertaken to understand how Connecticut will look in 25, 35 and 50 years from now under current patterns of development.

They asked that the Department of Public Health be given authority to protect reservoirs and their watershed lands.

This should include the right to reject applications for reservoir abandonment by private water companies or water authorities when the agency determines that the reservoir may be needed for future statewide water supply, they said.

Also on the list was a request to maintain sustained state funding for critical local aid programs and a suggestion to move toward stronger regional cooperation by providing incentives for conversion of all Regional Planning Organizations to Councils of Governments (COGs).

The local leaders said lawmakers should develop a framework for strengthening COGs so that they have greater authority to foster regional cooperation.

Another request was asking for legislative support of reform proposed by the Connecticut Bar Association in the controversial Poirer v. Wilton Zoning Board of Appeals case.

They said unless this is done, there will be new burdens on municipal planning officials who must not only apply and enforce different sets of regulations within a single municipality but who must also determine what set of regulations apply.

Finally, the chief elected officials of the region said they strongly urged the General Assembly and governor to avoid imposing additional burdens on the state’s 169 municipalities in developing the budget.

Survey: Parents Negative or Mixed About Early Start Times, Teachers Mostly Favor It

A survey about the controversial Westport school start time issue released today shows that parents with children at two schools initiating earlier start times this year either have negative or mixed feelings about it, but staff members at the schools mostly favor it.

In addition, a district-wide survey found that parents mostly support a 15-minute later shift in start and ending times while staff members mostly oppose it.

The results were released at an afternoon meeting of the School Start Time Committee. Asked his reaction to the survey, Schools Supt. Elliott Landon had a one-word response: "interesting."

At a December meeting of the Board of Education, several board members suggested the panel consider a compromise 15-minute change – something that also had been raised earlier this year but rejected.

The board was scheduled to hear the Start Time Committee's report at its Feb. 4 meeting.

Two schools – Coleytown Middle School and Coleytown Elementary School – started classes a half-hour earlier beginning in September to save money on transportation costs.

The move sparked an outcry from parents who said the decision meant their children would get less sleep and also suffer academically.

The issue was hotly debated during the November election for three board seats.

The results as released by the committee:

Martha Stewart Trial Judge Postpones Star Witness Testimony

The judge in the stock fraud trial of Westport's Martha Stewart today postponed the testimony of the government's star witness against her after defense attorneys accused prosecutors of withholding vital information about his story.

The delay came on the second day of testimony of Stewart, 62, in a Manhattan courtroom.

The postponement was ordered after doubts were raised about what the former lawyer for star witness Douglas Faneuil recalled about the circumstances of the stock sale that triggered the case against Stewart.

Faneuil is the former brokerage assistant at Merrill Lynch & Co. who sold Stewart's 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems stock in 2001 on orders from Stewart.

The government says Stewart sold the shares because her stockbroker and co-defendant, Peter Bacanovic, sent a tip through Faneuil that ImClone Systems founder Sam Waksal was trying to dump his family's shares.

But Faneuil's former lawyer, Jeremiah Gutman, told the FBI in 2002 that he could not recall whether Faneuil said it was Bacanovic who ordered the tip or Waksal himself.

Prosecutors turned over Gutman's FBI statement late Wednesday night on orders from U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum. Lawyers for Stewart and Bacanovic said it should have been provided to them long ago.

Faneuil had been scheduled to testify later today. But Cedarbaum postponed the testimony until next week and asked prosecutors to come up with another witness who could testify this afternoon.

DeLauro Adds Voice to Plea for Another Oyster Hearing

Rep. Rosa DeLauro has joined efforts to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hold another public hearing on a controversial proposal to raise oysters in cages under the surface of Long Island Sound off of Westport and Milford.

The Democrat, who represents Connecticut's 3rd District which includes Milford, sent a letter to the New England regional office of the Army Corps on Tuesday requesting that it hold a hearing on Mariculture Unlimited’s revised proposal, according to today's New Haven Register.

The Army Corps is one of two entities that have final say on the permit to raise oysters. The state Department of Agriculture must also approve the proposal.

Last week, the Army Corps extended until Feb. 9 the period for the public to offer feedback on the revisions made to the plan. (See WestportNow Jan. 21, 2004).

A hearing by the state Department of Environmental Protection, which does fact-finding for the Army Corps, is already planned. Two hearings were held last summer before the application was revised.

"The original Mariculture application raised widespread concern throughout Milford about potential adverse impacts on existing recreational, navigational and commercial users," DeLauro wrote in her letter, according to the newspaper.

Mariculture submitted the revisions in December in an effort to eliminate public objections that its original plan, submitted early last year, was a threat to public safety and might reduce property values of homes on the Sound.

DeLauro acknowledged the revisions in her letter, but said an additional hearing by the Army Corps is warranted.

"I believe it is important that the public be given the opportunity to review and comment in the context of a public hearing so that they have a clear understanding of the project that is now being proposed," DeLauro said.

Matt Fritz, a DEP spokesman, said Wednesday that his agency’s hearing likely will be held in Milford, although the date and location are still being determined, the Register reported.

Whether the Army Corps of Engineers will convene a second hearing on the revised application is still uncertain.

Officials at the New England regional office in Concord, Mass., were unavailable for comment on Wednesday, the Register reported, but a Corps spokesman told WestportNow last week that his agency might join in a DEP hearing.

When the Corps held a hearing on Mariculture’s original permit application, officials from the DEP were also on hand, Fritz noted.

"It is possible that the Army Corps could piggyback their public hearing with ours," he said. "But whether or not they want to do that — or hold a hearing of their own — is really up to them."

Mariculture has made substantial modifications to its original proposal.

The company reduced the area it wants to use from 522 acres off Westport and Milford to 175 acres. The revised application also calls for installing cages over three years instead of all at once.

Westport First Selectwoman Urges Lieberman to Boost Highway Spending

Two days after campaigning for him in New Hampshire, Westport First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell has urged Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman to take time from his presidential aspirations to boost federal highway spending in the state.

Farrell, as chairwoman of the South Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, sent a letter to Lieberman Tuesday urging him to fight for more funding under a proposed spending bill.

Farrell was in New Hampshire Sunday campaigning for Lieberman in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. He came in fifth.

Under the proposed $311 billion highway spending bill, Connecticut, compared to other states, would get the lowest increase over the last transportation bill. Connecticut's funding increase would be just 10 percent.

Other New England states would see their funding increase by about 20 percent or more under the current proposed formula.

"Of particular concern to the chief elected officials of the southwestern region is the fact that in the bill's present form, Connecticut will receive the least amount of funding and is considered to be the 'biggest loser' of all the states," wrote Farrell.

"Many of our transportation projects -- critical to the continued improvement of the state's transportation infrastructure -- are in jeopardy. Our citizens' safety, economic vitality and quality of life depend on sustained funding provided by federal transportation funding programs."

Farrell said members of the planning group are prepared to do whatever Lieberman thinks is necessary to get more funding for Connecticut in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Reauthorization Bill.

Lieberman is a member of the committee. His office Wednesday said he received Farrell's letter and has contacted Sen. Christopher Dodd and the state's five House members to begin organizing a strategy for increasing Connecticut funding, The Advocate of Stamford reported.

"These highway funding levels are disappointing -- but not surprising," Lieberman said Wednesday in a statement.

"Historically, Connecticut has done better than expected, but with shifts in population and shifts in control of key Senate committees to Sun Belt states, those states are asserting their interests in the funding formula.

"We've succeeded in defeating an earlier plan to cut Connecticut's highway funding by 18 percent. But this fight is far from over, and working with the state and regional delegations, I am committed to increase our share and secure the transportation funding Connecticut deserves."

The Senate plans to take up the bill early next month. Lieberman's office said the bill likely will see action in at least two other committees before it is voted on, and the process could take several months, The Advocate reported.

The House has not acted on the legislation.

NY Post: Martha Stewart's Westport Friend Battling Financial and Legal Problems

The New York Post reports that the Westport real estate agent described as Martha Stewart's best friend, who has been called to testify against her in her stock fraud trial resuming today in Manhattan, is a "mercurial" Connecticut real-estate agent battling her own financial and legal problems.

Mariana Pasternak, 50, who the Post said "lives in a tony beach house in Westport," has known Stewart for more than 20 years.

The newspaper said its research into her background included a check of records at the Westport Town Clerk's office.

Stewart is the godmother of two of Pasternak's daughters, Monica, 20, and Lara, 17, and once took them on an exotic trip to the Galapagos Islands, the newspaper said.

"They've been close for a long, long time, so I don't know how they're going to handle this can of worms," said one acquaintance quoted by the Post.

Government prosecutors told jurors Tuesday that Pasternak would deliver important testimony about Stewart's sale of almost 4,000 ImClone shares while the pair were flying to Mexico for a vacation in December 2001.

Apart from the stress of having to testify against her pal, Pasternak is knee-deep in financial problems, according to records filed at the Westport Town Clerk's office, the newspaper said.

Two federal tax liens have been filed against her property for a total of $380,000.

Another two liens show Pasternak hasn't paid more than $12,000 in taxes to Westport. the Post said.

A local builder, Juno Filho, of Southern New England Renovations, is also suing Pasternak for an unpaid $83,000 for renovations, the files say.

One acquaintance said Pasternak has recently put her Westport property on the market for $1.7 million.

She bought the property for $908,000 just over three years ago, around the time she split with her husband, surgeon Bart Pasternak.

"Mariana is a mercurial type of person. She's demanding and she looks after herself first," one acquaintance said.

Sources told The Post last year that Stewart stepped in to pay tens of thousands of dollars of legal bills for Pasternak just before she began speaking with the government in 2002 about Stewart's ImClone sale.

The fees arrangement could raise problems with witness credibility, but the government hopes Pasternak will back up the testimony of star witness Douglas Faneuil, the rookie broker who handled Stewart's ImClone stock sale, the newspaper said.

Faneuil, who begins his testimony today, will say Stewart sold the shares after he told her ImClone founder Sam Waksal was trying desperately to dump all of his family's shares, the government says.

Pasternak will testify that Stewart told her Waksal was selling, the feds say, according to the newspaper.

Pasternak did not return calls for comment, the Post said.

Thursday, January 29, 2004

11:30 a.m. - Town Hall Room 201 - Westport Historic District Commission
3 p.m. - Town Hall Room 307/09 - School Start Time Committee
6:30 p.m . Norwalk City Hall Community Room - Hearing by Connecticut Blue Ribbon Commission on Property Tax Burdens and Smart Growth Incentives
7 p.m - Town Hall Auditorium - Board of Selectmen
7:30 p.m. - Town Hall Room 201 - Planning & Zoning Commission Work Session
7:30 p.m. - Town Hall Room 309 - RTM, Environment Committee

Westport Public Schools Closed Due to Snow

Westport public schools will be closed today due to the snowstorm, Schools Supt. Elliott Landon announced.

Snow Causes Break in Martha Stewart Trial, Westport Friend to Testify

The snowstorm that rolled into New York and Westport forced a one-day postponement today in the stock fraud trial of Westport's Martha Stewart.

During opening arguments Tuesday in a packed courtroom in Manhattan, Stewart was branded a liar by federal prosecutors.

But her lawyer defended her as a self-made businesswoman facing criminal charges based on nothing more than speculation and guesswork.

Stewart was seated at the front of a packed courtroom and, wearing an olive-colored pantsuit, listened intently as federal prosecutor Karen Patton Seymour and defense attorney Robert Morvillo delivered their opening statements.

The initial salvos from both sides featured detailed descriptions of Stewart's financial situation, from her three brokerage accounts to her need to sell some stock at a loss in late 2001 to offset the capital gains from other trades.

There were also mentions of witnesses who will testify, including Mariana Pasternak, a Westport real estate agent and estranged wife of Westport vascular surgeon Bart Pasternak.

Mariana Pasternak was a passenger on Stewart's plane during a refueling stop in Texas when Stewart called in her order to sell ImClone stock – the transaction that led to her legal troubles -- and whom Seymour described as "her best friend."

Seymour, who addressed the jury of eight women and four men first, said Stewart's reputation and the stock price of her multimedia company would have been severely damaged if the truth surfaced about an illegal inside tip from her broker.

The prosecutor said Stewart and Peter Bacanovic, her former Merrill Lynch broker and a co-defendant in the case, chose "to lie to investigators and come up with a cover up, a false story" about the sale of shares in ImClone Systems Inc.

"Martha Stewart was central to the success of her company," Seymour said, telling jurors that Stewart stood to lose some $30 million if the stock price collapsed.

The prosecutor said Stewart tried to mislead investors about the trade in order to halt the growing storm of negative publicity.

"All of this was designed to lift that dark cloud hanging over her reputation ... she was determined to put her own interest in front of investors."

Stewart's attorney, Morvillo, responded by telling jurors in his opening statement that prosecutors based their case on "speculation, surmise and guesswork" drawn from circumstantial evidence.

"There will be no direct evidence introduced by the government that Martha Stewart conspired to obstruct anything," Morvillo said as Stewart's mother, daughter, sister and friends watched from the first few rows of the courtroom.

"No witness will appear in this courtroom during the trial to say 'Martha told me to do something unlawful."'

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

10:30 a.m. - Town Hall Room 102 - International Hospitality Committee
8 p.m. - Town Hall Room 309 - Board of Education

Westport Property Transfers Jan. 19-23, 2004

Property transfers as reported by the Westport Town Clerk's office for the period Jan. 19-13, 2004:

Westport Home and Land Co. LLC to Aash M. and Angela G. Shah, 38 Terra Nova Circle, $926,102.

Robert P. and Carolyn B. Scholl to 29-31 Imperial Ave. LLC, 29 and 31 Imperial Ave., $1,700,000.
William E. and Julia E. Banzhof to Gilbertie Building LLC, 62 Gorham Ave., $495,000.
Estate of Dorothy Mcguire to Dimitrios Pendarakis and Anastasia Kouparo, 9 Ambler Road West, $575,000.
Estate of Joanne Lesko Gindek to Christopher Cocco, 8 Long Lots Lane, $515,000.
Estate of Julia K. Miller to 4 Woodhill Road LLC, 4 Woodhill Road, $799,000.
Peter F. and Susanne Hall Armstrong to Peter Nigel Hurst and Janice Ellen Waterman, 9 Norwalk Ave., $1,155,000.

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

UPDATE

3 p.m. - Town Hall Room 201/201A - School Start Time Committee CANCELED
7:30 p.m. - Town Hall Auditorium - Zoning Board of Appeals CANCELED
7:30 p.m. - Room 201 - Architectural Review Board
8 p.m. - Staples High School Library - Board of Education - CANCELED

Westport's Hotel Data Systems Signs With International Travel

Westport's Hotel Data Systems (HDS) announced today that its Magellan Reservation Services group had signed a comprehensive multi-year partnership agreement with Ft. Lauderdale-based International Travel Services (ITS).

The company is an outbound reservations provider for more than 400 hotels and 20 car rental companies throughout Europe, Australia, the Caribbean and Africa.

The agreement calls for ITS to use the Magellan ERS for providing a wide range of reservation services.

HDS launched the Magellan ERS product as a platform that provides reservation services to hotels, car rental companies, tour operators and cruise line operators.

ITS will use Magellan ERS to provide voice reservations, seamless connectivity to the global distribution systems (GDS) and Internet distribution through third-party sites such as Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz., an announcement said.

Hotel Data Systems, Inc., founded four years ago and based at 1175 Post Road East, is a supplier of enterprise reservation services. It has 12 employees.

Westport Reval Snapshot: $oundview Drive Residents Take Hit

They might as well change the street signs from Soundview Drive to $oundview Drive.

The picturesque street with to-die-for views along Westport's Compo Beach -- to the surprise of few -- is one of the hardest hit by the new 2003 property assessments. Residents of Soundview Drive are seeing some of the largest assessment increases. (CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO) WestportNow.com photo

Of the 14 homes on the street, the largest valuation increase was 219 percent -- No. 19, which was given a $2.32 million market value.

The smallest was 137 percent -- No. 25, which was given a $2.8 million market value.

The increases occurred in the four years since the last property assessment.

For the owner of No. 19, that's equivalent to a 54.75 percent annual jump. For No. 25, a relatively paltry 34.25 percent annual increase.

This means based on the 2003 tax rates, taxes would increase by $12,830 to $23,061, or 80 percent, for No. 19 and by $11,673 to $27,804, or 138 percent, for No. 25.

And neither home was the most valued among those on Soundview Drive. That honor went to No. 39 with a $3.38 million market value.

Its assessed value increased 192 percent, translating to a more than doubling in taxes on 2003 rates -- up $18,618 to $36,167.

Note -- some of these Soundview Drive homes may have undergone alterations or renovations since the last assessment which may have contributed to their valuation increase.

The new assessment list does not indicate which homes had building activity that affected their value.

A former member of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) who lives in the Compo Beach area has crunched numbers on the reval and doesn't like what he found.

While acknowledging that homes closer to the water are more valuable, George Franciscovich of Burnham Hill said there is a flaw in the way the assessment was carried out.

"It appears that the methodology of this assessment undervalues the house and ancillary structures on a lot and overvalues the land -- meaning if you put up the big house you pay proportionally less," he told WestportNow.

For Franciscovich, the new assessment resulted in an almost 94 percent jump in his home's assessed value.

"I can tell you the value of my house has not doubled since 1999," he wrote in a letter to local newspapers.

"In fact, the value of the house itself has probably gone down since, in these days of McMansions sprouting on postage-size lots, my 1950’s vintage split level is nothing but bulldozer bait.

"The entire value of my property is in the lot -- minus the cost to actually knock the house down."

Franciscovich told WestportNow: "I can pay the increase in taxes, but I think this will put an additional burden on those with smaller houses -- just the kind of people I think we want to keep around town."

He said at the very least, he favored the RTM opting for a phase-in of the revaluation over four years, which it can do under state law.

While agreeing with First Selectman Diane Goss Farrell that implementing a phase-in would be unfair to those entitled to a reduction, Franciscovich said there is a larger consideration.

"The numbers and the methodology are not right so implementing the increase would be unfair because it will result in a discriminatory burden being put on those with less expensive and smaller homes," he said.

"In other words, the McMansions win."

The RTM will take up the 2003 property assessments as an informational item at its Feb. 3 meeting.

Editor's note: The editor of WestportNow also serves as RTM Moderator.

Jury Chosen in Martha Stewart Trial

A jury of eight women and four men was chosen today to hear the stock fraud trial of Westport's Martha Stewart.

Lawyers for the government and defense were expected to present their opening statements beginning Tuesday.

Six alternates -- four men and two women -- also were selected.

In a defeat for Stewart, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ruled that the defense may not argue that she is being prosecuted for asserting her innocence and exercising her right to free speech.

Cedarbaum also ruled that the defense may not ask jurors to speculate why Stewart was not charged with insider trading.

The day began with 53 potential jurors waiting to hear whether they would be chosen as lawyers for both sides met behind closed doors to select the final 12 plus alternates.

Westport First Selectwoman Campaigns in New Hampshire for Lieberman

Westport First Selectman Diane Goss Farrell, a Democrat who is challenging Republican Rep. Christopher Shays in November for his 4th District congressional seat, got a weekend taste of what it's like to campaign on the national level – she stumped New Hampshire for Sen. Joe Lieberman.

With the New Hampshire primary only two days away, Farrell was among several Connecticut Democrats called on by the Lieberman forces to help bolster the Connecticut senator's chances in the Democratic primary.

"I'm proud of Joe," Farrell told WestportNow today. "He's one of Connecticut's favorite sons and I was pleased to lend a hand."

Farrell said she made the three-hour drive early Sunday, arriving at the Lieberman campaign headquarters in Nashua for a 10 a.m. rally. Then it was on to Salem and Manchester before heading back to Westport in early evening.

"It is the Super Bowl of politics and it was exciting to be there," she said. "I brushed by (New York) Gov. (George) Pataki and (former New York City) Mayor (Rudolph) Giuliani while doing radio interviews."

Pataki and Giuliani were stumping for President Bush even though he faces only token opposition in the GOP primary.

Farrell said she did interviews and spoke one-on-one with New Hampshire voters about the Connecticut senator.

"I was constantly introduced as the mayor of Westport, Conn.," she said. "They can't get the First Selectman thing very easily in New Hampshire."

Also among those making the trip to New Hampshire from Connecticut Sunday were Democratic state Sen Bill Finch of Bridgeport and Ellen Camhi, chair of the Stamford Democratic City Committee and a Democratic National Committee member, Farrell said.

Lieberman today acknowledged that he needs a strong showing from New Hampshire voters but added that his campaign has only just begun, according to an AP report.

"I need to do better than expected," he said a coffee shop in Manchester. "This is a very fluid situation. A lot of voters remain undecided."

Lieberman, whose "Integrity One" bus has been touring New Hampshire, has made it out of single digits in two recent polls.

He wouldn't say how strong a showing he needs in Tuesday's primary, but predicted he will do better than expected.

"The polls are encouraging. I've said I'm going to do better than expected here. My campaign is going to begin in New Hampshire, not end here," he said.

At a later stop in Nashua, Lieberman said Democrats, and especially Independents, will be key to his performance on Tuesday.

Monday, January 26, 2004

8:30 a.m. - Town Hall Room 309 - Non-Union Non-Supervisory Pension Board
7:30 p.m. - Staples High School, Room 516 - Board of Education anticipated executive session
8 p.m. - Staples High School Library - Board of Education