Cow on the Loose? Did Anyone Check Stew Leonard’s?
Westport police late today checked out a report of a cow on the loose in the area of Partrick Road and Cranbury Road near the town line with Norwalk.

But an officer sent to the area said he found no sign of a wandering cow, spotted or otherwise.

“It was probably a deer,” said another patrol officer.

Heavy Rains, High Winds Hit Area
Heavy rains and high winds pushed through the Westport area Monday afternoon, causing some minor flooding, downed tree branches, and scattered power outages.

Traffic on the I-95 Saugatuck River Bridge slows during a late afternoon rain storm. DOT photo

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning shortly after 5 p.m. for eastern Fairfield County and southern New Haven County.
The weather station at Bedford Middle School on North Avenue registered wind gusts up to 29 miles per hour with rain falling at the rate of 1.6 inches an hour.
The rain had slowed by 5:25 p.m. but the Bedford station measured 1.82 inches of rain for the day—an amount not seen in a month in recent years.
The station at the Longshore Sailing School recorded gusts up to 36 miles per hour.
Minor flooding was reported on Post Road East near Shaw’s Supermarket, Cross Highway near Punch Bowl, North Main Street near Canal, Compo Road South near the railroad overpass, Colony Road near Pumpkin Hill, Riverside Avenue near Burr Road, and Post Road East near Morningside Drive.
Connecticut Light & Power Co. at midnight reported no Westport customers without power. At 7 p.m., the total was 158. At 7 a.m. today it said two customers had their power out but reported no customers without power as of 8 a.m.
The National Weather Service reported a tornado warning from the same storm cell for areas east of Westport near the New Haven line, but it canceled the warning at about 5:50 p.m.
Forecasters said more bad weather was on the way. They said low pressure developing over the Gulf of Mexico today will move northeast tonight, then pass through the area Wednesday morning. Rain in association with the low will develop tonight, becomng heavy at times mainly after midnight and continuing into early Wednesday afternoon.
THey said total rainfall of one to two inches can be expected in some areas.

Westport Firm Named Rising Star in Connecticut Technology Fast 50 Program
Chalk another one up for a Westport e-business marketing company. CentrPort Inc., headquartered on Post Road East, has been named a rising starӔ in the Connecticut Technology Fast 50.

The program is a joint effort by Deloitte, one of the nations leading professional services firms, and the CT Technology Council.

CentrPort Inc. is a leading provider of outsourced e-business marketing solutions to Fortune 500 companies. It has about 40 employees and moved to its Westport location three years ago from Norwalk, according to spokesman Jon Diorio.

Getting more power to the people of energy-hungry southwestern Connecticut drew Westporters interest and concern today.
The occasion was a sparsely attended Planning and Zoning Commission hearing at Town Hall.
Up for discussion was a $604 million plan by Connecticut Light & Power Co. (CL&P) and The United Illuminating Company (UI) to extend the stateҒs existing 345-kV transmission system from Middletown to Norwalk.
Part of the planned 69-mile route runs through Westport, mostly along the Post Road, and all of its Westport portion underground.  But still undecided and controversial—is exactly where it should cross the Saugatuck River and how it will connect back to the Post Road.
Anne Bartosewicz, project director, told the hearing that the cheapest option for the power company was to have the line follow exactly along the Post Road.
But anticipating concerns about disruption of the heavily trafficked downtown area, initially CL&P proposed the line instead divert north up Myrtle Avenue, cross the river on Canal Street, and then follow Kings Highway North back to the Post Road.

Anne Bartosewicz, project director of a planned new power line through Westport, answers questions today from members of the Planning and Zoning Commission. WestportNow.com photo

That drew protests from residents of the Kings Highway historic district area.  So CL&P adopted an alternate plan suggested last June by Barlow Cutler-Wotton, a member of the Historic District Commission. (See WestportNow Sept. 3, 2003)
That plan ֖ which has now been submitted to state regulators takes the line south on Imperial Avenue and crosses the river using town-owned land adjacent to the Imperial parking lot. It would then go up Lincoln Street back to the Post Road.
Deborah Yasinsky, a resident of Lincoln Street, told the hearing she was concerned about possible health hazards from the lines buried under her street and asked whether the town had investigated that.
First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell said the town had not looked into the issue.  Bartosewicz said there have been many scientific reports and that the health community has not made a definitive link between health problems and transmission lines.
David Yasinsky did not address the hearing but told WestportNow he thought Lincoln Street had been unfairly singled out for the line because it was a ֓less affluent area of Westport with many residents who were renters, as he and his wife are.
ԓIt seems awfully peculiar that the best route just happens to be up our street, he said.
Several questioners asked about the line crossing the river at alternate places above or below the Post Road and then snaking along Wilton Road or Riverside Avenue back to the Route 33 intersection and then going south on the Post Road.
Deputy Police Chief Al Fiore quickly said such a scenario would be a traffic and parking nightmare. ԓThats the busiest intersection in town and one of the busiest in Fairfield County,Ҕ he said.
Steve Edwards, Public Works director, cautioned that any refuse disturbed by a tunneling operation through the Imperial lot, a former landfill, would have to be properly taken care of. Anything that comes out canӒt go back in, he said.
Bartosewicz told the hearing the power company could continue to look a better alternatives for Westport as the plan is considered by the Connecticut Siting Council over the next six to nine months.
Construction will begin in 2005 with completion scheduled before the end of 2007, she said.