A Westport company says livestock feed ingredients it shipped to nine states may have been contaminated with cattle remains in violation of a 1997 ban to protect against mad cow disease.

H. J. Baker and Bro., Inc., which has its corporate headquarters at 228 Saugatuck Ave., said it is recalling three livestock feed ingredients, including two used to supplement feed given to dairy cows. The company said a sample tested by the Food and Drug Administration was positive for cattle meat and bone meal.

Mark Hohnbaum, general manager of the company’s feed products group, said the matter is very concerning to the company, which he said is very serious about food safety.

Mad cow disease is only known to spread when cows eat feed containing brain and other nerve tissue from infected cattle. Protein from cattle was commonly added to cattle feed to speed growth until the ban largely outlawed the practice.

Three years after it opened, Brookstone Inc. is gone from 185 Main St., Westport. The building at the corner of Parker Harding Plaza, which long had been vacant until Brookstone’s opening in 2003, will become a branch of Commerce Bank. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com

The miniature train that Swezey Jeweler featured in its window for 40 years was auctioned off at noon today, the last day for the Main Street business of 50 years. The winning bid of $1,000 came from Michael and Donna Brody of Westport. Donna, shown spinning with joy, immediately announced that the train will be a gift to the Westport Historical Society, whose mission includes the preservation of Westport’s history. She is a new member of the organization’s board. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

A Westport man was among four former top executives of insurance companies General Re and American International Group (AIG) who pleaded not guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges Thursday in Alexandria, Va., and pledged $1 million in bond.

Their trial was set for May.

The Westporter, Robert D. Graham, 57, a former senior vice president and assistant general counsel of Stamford-based General Re, served as a Republican member of the Westport Planning and Zoning Commission from 1995 to 1999 and was on the Board of Finance from 1999 to 2003.

The Justice Department has accused the four of orchestrating an audacious fraud, putting together a sham reinsurance transaction that allowed AIG to falsely report some $500 million in reserves against losses and thereby mislead shareholders, Wall Street and regulators.

A Westport man who formerly served on two town boards was among four former insurance executives indicted today on charges of fraud and conspiracy, the Justice Department announced.

Robert D. Graham, 57, was one three former executives at Berkshire Hathaway’s Stamford-based General Re insurance unit indicted by a grand jury in Norfolk, Va., along with a former American International Group executive, department officials said.

Graham, a former General Re senior vice president and assistant general counsel, served as a Republican member of the Westport Planning and Zoning Commission from 1995 to 1999 and was on the Board of Finance from 1999 to 2003.

Alan Vinegrad, attorney for Graham, said his client “is an attorney of the highest integrity ... He looks forward to having his day in court and expects to be vindicated at trial,” Reuters reported.

Mark Shapiro: seeks to improve theme parks. ESPN photoWestporter Mark Shapiro, who took over last month as chief executive of Six Flags Inc. the world’s largest regional theme park company, says he wants to restore a family-friendly image to the firm.

In an interview Monday with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Shapiro said as a teenager, he loved riding the American Eagle roller coaster with his friends and eating pizza and hot dogs with his four siblings at Six Flags Great America outside Chicago.

“You could go one weekend with your friends and one with your family, and it was cool either way,” Shapiro said. “I want to bring that back.”

Under previous management—which was ousted in December after a proxy battle—Six Flags spent millions on new roller-coasters while cutting back on maintenance and in-park entertainment such as Looney Tunes characters that would roam the park, the newspaper reported.

The Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce had a large turn out for a networking event at Connections, which has an office on Post Road East. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By James Lomuscio

The change at Westport’s International House of Pancakes (IHOP) on Post Road East came overnight on Dec. 1. True, the time-honored blue roof, a town mainstay since the late 1960s, had been painted green a couple of weeks earlier, but only a few diehard customers raised eyebrows.
A Pancake By Any Other Name: IHOP, a mainstay for decades on Post Road East, was recently renamed the Westport Pancake House & Restaurant. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) James Lomuscio for WestportNow.com

“Some people asked me why I was painting the roof,” owner Noreen Thomes recalled in her signature Irish brogue today as customers waited in line for tables. “I just told them I liked the color green.”

But this past Thursday morning motorists spied more than a new roof to realize that change is inevitable. IHOP is now the Westport Pancake House & Restaurant.

“IHOP didn’t want to continue the lease here, so the landlord came to me,” said Thomes, who had been paying the rent as well as royalties to IHOP since she bought the franchaise 18 years ago.