Westport on Alert: Object Found Near Greens Farms Railroad Station
Westport police, like their counterparts across the country, have been told to look for suspicious people or objects near strategic targets as a war with Iraq breaks out.

Shortly after reports of a U.S. surgical strike on a Baghdad ғtarget of opportunity Wednesday night, one Westport police officer spotted some suspicious activity near the GreenԒs Farms Railroad Station.

Westports train stations have long gotten high-profile police coverage to protect against car thieves or other criminal activity near the important Northeast transportation link. But now that has been stepped up.

Upon investigating, the officer found that instead of a terrorist situation on WestportҒs doorstep, the problem was much more mundane. He radioed it in as a dumping complaintӔ meaning someone had illegally dumped something near the station. It turned out to be a toilet.

Hours later, a cardboard box on the Post Road Bridge (to be known as the Ruth Steinkraus-Cohen Memorial Bridge?) also brought investigation. It was found to be harmless.

Meanwhile, a number of Westporters said they heard a low-flying helicopter overhead in the early morning hours. There was no word on its identity, but Gov. John Rowland announced Wednesday that National Guard helicopters would be patrolling the state’s skies, especially near strategic installations.

03/20/2003 11:48 am Comments (0) • Permalink

Westports Tauck Watching Iraq Developments Closely
As the airline and travel industry battens down the hatches with bombs flying in Iraq, WestportҒs nationally known travel operator, Tauck World Discovery, says it is conducting business normally but with a watchful eye.

֓We have been preparing for many weeks to meet any challenges which may arise as a result of war in Iraq, said Robin Tauck, head of the 78-year-old family-run travel company, in a statement issued before the war got underway.

ԓAll of our tours and cruises are running as scheduled, since we do not operate trips anywhere in the vicinity of the impending conflict.

We will continue to work closely with our trained crisis management team and appropriate authorities to determine if any alterations are warranted.Ӕ

The company said it continues to monitor news reports and information from its network of employees and partners around the world and will provide updated information through its Web site and media contacts.

Tauck, which has more than 100 tours and small ship cruises to all seven continents, was recently named WorldӒs Best Tour Operator & Safari Outfitter” for the third time by readers of Travel and Leisure Magazine.

03/20/2003 03:51 am Comments (0) • Permalink

Spotlight on Westports Freighter Travel Specialist
Ask a Westporter about a well known travel name in town, and youҒre likely to hear the name Tauck. After all, Westport-based Tauck World Discovery (once known as Tauck Tours) has been around for more than 30 years. (But not much longer. See update below,)

But those truly in the know might also mention Maris Frieghter Cruises, at 215 Main St., MSNBCs travel column spotlights the local agency as a good source for those interested in meandering freighter cruises.

ғRanko Zunic, a retired Croatian freighter captain is the owner, and he puts out a monthly magazine detailing the itineraries and onboard life of one freighter in each 10-page issue., MSNBC reports.

ԓThe cost for a years subscription is $27, but Zunic will give subscribers a $45 refund on any cruise booked within that year.Ҕ

Visitors to the agencys Web site, find that not only is Westport home to 10-year-old Maris and its Maris Magazine, but also that Maris, since last year, is allied with the 45-year-old Freighter Travel Club of America.

Another example of a niche Westport-based business that many Westporters may not know shares their hometown.

Update: Tauck announced April 2 it would be consolidating its three Westport locations into one office in Norwalk.

03/20/2003 03:22 am Comments (0) • Permalink

Quinton White worked in Westport for many years in a dry-cleaning shop. Now retired and living in Bridgeport, the 77-year-old is a central figure in a Wall Street Journal story of how U.S. hospitals use aggressive collection tactics.

According to the Journal, White owes Yale-New Haven Hospital $40,000 for treatment his wife, Jeanette, received 20 years ago.

Jeanette White died in 1993, but it says, her debt lives on, growing like her cancer because of the 10 percent interest charged on her original $18,740 bill.

The Journal says White worked as a spotter, or stain remover, for the dry-cleaning shop in Westport and notes, The occasional movie star would wander in, he recalls, including Westport’s most famous resident, Paul Newman, whom he laughingly describes as that short, blue-eyed guy.’

As I drove by Martha Stewarts house tonight, there was a shadowy figure next to her stone wall along Turkey Hill Road South.

As I got closer, my headlights picked up a deer carefully eyeing me as I went by. There was no sign of Ms. Stewart.

Nevertheless, Ms. Stewart has been metaphorically caught in the media headlights for months now ever since the insider trading scandal emerged over her sale of shares of ImClone.

And now it’s about to get worse, thanks to NBC and Cybill Shepherd.

NBC is rushing to finish shooting of a made-for-television movie about Ms. Stewart, starring Ms. Shepherd. The Stewart Westport home plays a central role in the scenes being shot in a studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A story on the MSNBC site says, The care taken in casting extends to nearly every other aspect of the production, especially the decoration for the set of Stewart’s famed Turkey Hill estate in Westport, Conn.

Many fans know the interior of her home as well as they know their own. So the set decorator spent an estimated $100,000 renting and buying antiques to fill the rooms.

The details range from the green Jadeite dinnerware in the cupboards of Stewarts television kitchen to an inexpensive replica of a $40,000 high-back double Queen Anne chair from the 1700s.

Not being as familiar as some with the intricacies of either her kitchen or her home (I was there once for a garden party tour sponsored by the Westport Historical Society), Im not sure whether NBC is duplicating Turkey Hill Road South or her made-for-television kitchen at her studio on Newtown Turnpike just over the town line in Norwalk.

In any case, it will be interesting to see if they attempt to duplicate any Westport exteriors in Nova Scotia as well.

If nothing else, the movie will remind millions of viewers that Westport is still StewartҒs home despite her now infamous New York Times Sunday Magazine article almost three years ago headlined ֓Martha Stewart Leaving.

The NBC project, set for May screening, is based on the biography Martha, Inc. by New York Post business columnist Christopher Byron, who lives in Weston.

The Westport Police Department has quietly realigned its ranks. With longtime Chief William Chiarenzelli temporarily sidelined for health reasons, the town has promoted three captains to the rank of deputy chief.

Getting the additional stripes: Don Brown, Al Fiore and David Heinmiller. All are veterans of the department and all are highly regarded law enforcement professionals.

Each will be acting chief on a rotating basis until Chiarenzelli’s return.

Brown is service commander in charge of the detective bureau and records division.

Fiore is support commander in charge of public safety and railroad parking.

Heinmiller is the line commander in charge of patrol units as well as director of the Emergency Medical Service unit.

All are seen as possible successors to the top job some day. The department has not had a deputy chief since John Anastasia retired 14 years ago.

The trials involving indicted mayors of two Connecticut cities Joseph Ganim of Bridgeport and (now former mayor) Philip Giordano of Waterbury ֖ both have Westport connections.

Ganim, now awaiting his fate on federal corruption charges in a New Haven court, made several trips to Westport where some of the activities under investigation occurred, jurors heard.

He dined at the Bridge Caf, where he discussed business deals, and he shopped at Mitchells, where he subsequently demanded cash refunds for several purchases.

Giordano is facing federal charges in a Bridgeport federal court that he arranged sexual meetings by telephone with two girls, ages 9 and 10 at the time, and violated their civil rights.

The Giordano Westport connection involves key players in the courtroom drama.

Giordano’s attorney, Andrew B. Bowman, has his office in Westport (but lives in Fairfield.) And U.S. Senior District Judge Alan H. Nevas is a longtime Westporter who once served as chair of the towns Board of Finance.

Waterbury’s Republican-American newspaper last week did a Westport-datelined profile of Bowman. It described him as the kind of attorney who is as good at researching the law as presenting his case to a jury.

Nevas, who maintains a low profile as a federal judge, is a native of Stamford who practiced law in Westport for many years before becoming a state legislator in 1970.

President Ronald Regan named him U.S. Attorney for Connecticut in 1981 and appointed him a U.S. District Judge in 1985.