To the Editor:

At last night’s Planning & Zoning Commission hearing, Save Westport Now embellished its long-standing standing reputation in the community by showing flexibility and by suggesting modifications to proposed Amendment No. 672.

The amendment, put forward by the P&Z Commission itself, is designed to help preserve Westport’s small-town character—a goal that SWN supports. But SWN also recognized that some of the proposed language needed to be refined in order to avoid some illogical and unfair results.

By suggesting specific modifications that would allow for commercial development, while still protecting the scale and character of our Downtown, SWN once again demonstrated its integrity and commitment to doing what is best for Westport.

SWN’s proposed refinements will enable the Commission to move forward with the amendment to the satisfaction of both the public’s interests and the needs of downtown owners and tenants. We should applaud SWN for its proactive role and input on this important issue.

Janet and Howard Rubel
Westport

To the Editor:

I’m writing to encourage my neighbors and friends to join in supporting the first-ever Fairfield County Giving Day on Friday, March 7. Whether you give $10, or $100 or even $1,000, you’ll be helping to support the work of local nonprofits making a real difference in the community – and helping them compete for prizes and matching funds.

Giving is fast and easy through the secure website http://www.fcgives.org, and you may donate anytime between 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on March 7.

Our local nonprofits feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, strengthen our schools and arts and cultural programs, protect our environment, train the unemployed for new jobs, and more. But they need our support to continue strengthening the community we call home.

Whatever your favorite cause, I hope you’ll join in helping Fairfield Giving Day – presented by Fairfield County Community Foundation in cooperation with Bank of America – reach the goal of raising $1 million to benefit hundreds of local nonprofit organizations in only 24 hours! 

Michael Lubell
Westport
Mortgage Loan Specialist, Bank of America

To the Editor:

The members of the Westport Police Union and Westport Police Benevolent Association would like to extend our sincere gratitude for the generous contributions we received during our 2013 Holiday Toy Drive.

The toy drive which is held annually, sponsored and run by the members of the Westport Police Union and Benevolent Association, has historically been tremendously successful. This year, during the last weekend of our two weekend drive, we had a significant snowstorm which made donating difficult.

While we remained hopeful that the storm would not completely hamper the toy drive, we were definitely concerned that we would fall short in our donations this year. What we saw that weekend cannot be described as anything short of amazing. To say that we saw the true spirit of the season is an understatement.

We received as many donations that weekend, if not more, than in previous years without a storm! The roads were treacherous and the temperature was chilling, yet, our loyal donors made it a point, even a mission for some, to get to us and make sure their toys were donated.

To the Editor:

I am writing to publically thank Dan Woog for all that he does for the Westport community.  He is the thread that ties this Westport community together.  Through his brilliant writings, he weaves connections by sharing your community stories of history, politics, new and old businesses, stories from the elders in this community, as well as the energy, good deeds and passion of it’s young people.  He is the vessel in which you all are able to share the life of your vibrant community.  He is a gift.

I am lucky enough to live in Newtown and I know just how important these threads are to the health of a community and to individuals.  Last year at this time, my 87 year old father, a retired school principal, asked to pay his respects at the children’s memorials in Sandy Hook. With great difficulty he struggled to walk to the memorials.  One of your Westport policeman ,who was supporting our town by his service, came to assist my father.  Without speaking, this officer supported my father as he walked to the many tree memorials for the children.  As he returned to the car, my Father was overcome by grief.  This Wesport policeman just held my father and the two wept together.  In that moment my two worlds converged for I am a teacher in Westport.  At that point I have never felt more connected with community.

This is Dan’s gift to you all.  He builds connections within your community and creates that common thread of support. Whether he writes about Westport’s compassionate individuals or the more obscure unknown events , his message is always the same.  He loves this town and celebrates all of the uniqueness within its boundaries.

So please when you see Dan, please thank him for his many talents and gifts.  Most of all thank him caring enough about your town that he takes the threads of this community, and binds them together with love.

Linda McClary
Newtown, Conn.

To the Editor:

The Fairfield County and Hartford County Medical Societies are to be congratulated for bringing this critical issue to the public’s attention.

I have been in general practice in Bethel since 1975.  As I said at the Town Hall meeting on Nov. 9 (“Doctors protest United Healthcare cuts,” WestportNow, Nov. 9. 2013) ever since the early 1990s when large insurers began to intrude in the healthcare system, medicine has become dominated by their marketplace strategies as much or more than by medical science.

Rules regulating the ordering of CAT scans and blood tests and referrals to specialists and the steady decrease in the services and drugs that insurers will pay have slowly but surely diminished the ability of doctors to treat patients in a humane and compassionate way.

This sad state of affairs continues unabated and insurers emboldened by their freedom from the discipline they so rightly deserve unabashedly keep pushing the envelope As a result, the physician workforce is demoralized and many express burnout because of the excessive administrative and clerical drudgery that insurers force upon them.

To the Editor:

Thank you to the voters of Westport and Weston for putting your trust in me and electing me your new Probate Judge. I am scheduled to be sworn in this Wednesday morning at Westport Town Hall at 8:30 a.m. You are more than welcome to be there.

I have already attended four hours of judicial instruction; there are at least another 40 to come. My first matter on the calendar is a hearing for an involuntary commitment to a mental hospital- one of the most serious decisions any judge has to make. I am looking to my faith and my community for guidance and wisdom to do this job well.

On Tuesday nights from 7:30- 9:30 p.m., I will be at Probate Court to answer your general questions about estate planning and probate procedure. Please do not ask me questions or tell me facts about a particular case- I am not allowed to discuss anything involving a specific matter unless it is in front of all interested parties. Night hours will begin on Dec. 10 at Westport Town Hall.

Of course, I will be also be at Court during the day with the rest of the staff, so please stop by and say hello. 

Thank you again for the great honor you have given me. I will do my best not to let you down.

Lisa K. Wexler
Westport

To the Editor:

A week ago, the Parks and Recreation Commission met jointly with the Golf Advisory Committee to decide a single issue: whether to enter into serious negotiation to outsource maintenance of our Longshore golf course.  I attended this meeting to try to answer this question: “What is the problem we are trying to solve?”

In the business world, we define a problem, then look at all the ways we might solve it or live with it, consider the cost/benefit of the proposed courses of action, and decide.  But here, we Westporters are asked to choose sides on the issue of whether to outsource the maintenance of our golf course without the benefit of knowing exactly what is the problem that we’re trying to solve.

Certainly, the poor condition of Longshore makes it a public embarrassment.  Outsourcing is a possible solution.  But what’s the problem?

The discussion at the joint meeting was centered on the single topic for the evening: yes or no, basically, on the issue of “to outsource, or not to outsource”. Defining the problem to be solved was not part of the discussion.  However, from the presentations, and from the question/answer session, I gleaned the following non-exhaustive list of possible parts of the problem (potentially) to be solved by outsourcing.

To the Editor:

While it has always been a pleasure to play golf at Longshore in the past, I must say that my experience on Friday, August 23 were deplorable. The condition of the greens is the worst by far than at any time I have ever seen. The hierarchy at Westport town hall better wake up and see the glaring black eye that is situated off South Compo Road and Compo Beach.

Every green appears to have a fungus, or some one accidentally used “roundup” instead of “miracle grow” on all 18 holes. After bringing out of town guests to the course, I will think long and hard before doing that again. You get truer putts on the Compo Beach parking lots than you do on the Longshore greens.

Mark S. Graham
Fairfield

To the Editor:

To the residents of Westport. Right now the Board of Education is going through the process of doing a “security audit.”

While this is well and good, and instead of taking the advice of the excellent police and fire chiefs at no cost, the board will spend money asking retired police officers for the same answers we can get at no cost from our existing staff; this is business as usual for the Board of Education.

However, in the meantime we have to take logical action and use the advice and knowledge of the excellent police and fire officials we have on staff.

Cutting to the chase, the odds of a copycat attack from another mentally ill person are high. Therefore we have to protect the children now. Not wait a year for the results of a study done by outsiders.