i didn't read the story

there is NO need to. just get a load of the headline:

Search For Monkey Called Off

i just want to say those peeps at sonic

are genius. for (what seems to me at least) a couple of years they've been running commercials on local tv stations. i know i've asked 'is there a sonic around here?' every time i've seen the commercial.

it's a good way to get it in people's minds. no sonics (yet) BUT commercials. get the fine citizens of connecticut thinking about it and they will have NO CHOICE but to get in their cars and drive on over (once it's actually built and open that is)

(on another note, my parents used to bring me to the yankee silversmith and i have fond memories of it)



Ground-Breaking Today For Sonic Restaurant In Wallingford

by Mara Lee

Usually it's chain-restaurant-deprived folks who start a Facebook page begging for a company to open a location locally.

But Robert Mesite, who grew up working in his father's Villa Capri restaurant in Wallingford, turned that notion on its head when he asked Facebook users in November where they'd like to see a Sonic restaurant.

Mesite, who breaks ground on the state's first Sonic location in Wallingford today, has plans for several more Sonic outlets in Connecticut. He didn't take the Facebook users' advice — the No. 1 choice was the Berlin Turnpike, which has a moratorium on drive-throughs — but it's all part of the buzz as a fast-food chain expands into the state.......

ok, let's help mo get home

ok, adam wakefield is in the military and he's deployed. the LEAST his fellow citizens of the great state of connecticut can do is HELP HIM GET HIS PUP HOME (from afghanistan)!

wait a sec, wait a sec, i just went to donate AND THEY'VE REACHED THEIR GOAL! that is such joyous news! thanks peeps o' connecticut. even though you elected da liebs, you done me proud with this one!







Conn. Army Sniper On Mission To Send Puppy Home From Afghanistan

A Connecticut Army sniper is on a mission to send Mo, the puppy he adopted in Afghanistan, to his home in Clinton. The Army has told Adam Wakefield, 24, that the dog cannot stay with him at the Army base. A website, sendmohome.bbnow.org, is raising money to help bring Mo to Connecticut and pay for quarantine and vaccinations...........

pic:

Adam and Mo

(Photos courtesy Brian Wakefield)

Connecticut Army sniper Adam Wakefield wants to get his four-legged friend Mo on a flight back to the States.

i don't have a dog right now but

i still would love a dog park. i think they're great. well all the one's i've visited are

i hope the money can be raised. of course zoning is a dog horse of a different color. west hartford is NOT the easiest town to get something passed in. don't know if people are aware of that, but it's NOT

Site Found For West Hartford Dog Park; Hurdles Remain

By BILL LEUKHARDT The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD —

The town's first dog park — a fenced place where canines can run free under owner supervision — will be in Fernridge Park if the citizens group seeking the plot can win zoning approval and raise money to pay for site improvements.

A town council subcommittee working with the 300-member West Hartford Dog Park Coalition decided Wednesday night that a small section of Fernridge could be used for the park. It was one of five spots under review by the town and the coalition.

"It's a huge milestone we've passed," coalition President Mandy Pike said Thursday of the group's two-year search for land for the dog park. That search sped up last December, when the town council voted to help the coalition find a site.

Nothing can be done until the proposal wins town planning and zoning approval, which is required for any new use of parkland, Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle said..........

park street, king eddie and (alleged) corruption

sort of sounds good together, no? only time will tell oh and hartford needs it's OWN buddy cianci doesn't it?

Perez Trial: City Official Testifies About Developer's Shoddy Work
By JOSH KOVNER The Hartford Courant

HARTFORD

On May 8, 2006, a top city official wrote to a bonding company about major, long-standing problems with city contractor Carlos Costa on the multimillion-dollar restoration of Park Street. Assistant Public Works Director John McGrane asked the company to pull Costa's performance bond and meet with city officials about terminating Costa's contract for the project. The project was woefully behind schedule, plagued by shoddy work, and inflated by claims for extra payments by Costa that threatened to drive up the cost of the $5.3 million job, according to city records. Eight days later, on May 16, 2006, Charles Crocini, director of capital projects for the city and a man who reported directly to Mayor Eddie A. Perez, wrote a letter to the bonding company rescinding McGrane's call for action. The letter kept Costa on the job, which was eventually finished 2½ years late and with $2 million in additional claims from Costa still pending. .............
Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez listens to his lawyer, Hubert Santos, left, talk to the judge during the opening minutes of his corruption trial Wed. morning, the first day of his trial, a trial that is expected to last 6 weeks. At right is defense atty. Hope Seeley. (STEPHEN DUNN, Hartford Courant / May 12, 2010)

man i'm pissed

i live in a 3 family in west hartford. i've lived here for YEARS AND YEARS. i have been getting mail (which i've left in my box with a note that the addressee is NOT me) and NOW phone calls from creditors for someone who used to live below me. she must have given them MY phone number. i just called back one of the creditors and told them i'm not who they're looking for and to knock it off

i am so effing pissed someone would do that to someone else. anyway, i'm not going to go after her (as in contact her and tell her i think she's an asshole, NOT physical by any means). she's got some issues (and i'm being kind here) and she has two teenage sons.

i just wanted to vent. you know.

i'm done now

i'm just asking...........

i'm wondering why king eddie (and almost everyone else) is concentrating on park street so much and LEAVING ALL THE OTHER HARTFORD AREAS IN DIRE STRAIGHTS. how about concentrating on let's say the WEST end or the NORTH end. they too are vibrant but can be more so. i found out what the mill rate is in hartford and was shocked off of my chair. i thought west hartford was bad. NOPE, hartford is almost TWICE that of west hartford. it's 70 something, the HIGHEST in the state i believe. what's up with that king eddie (who by the way wants to raise it). what are the businesses going to do? what are the homeowners going to do? hartford must have change in order for it to thrive.

don't get me wrong. i'm HAPPY for park street (i just drove down on friday so i've seen the brick walks and the new street lights and the new curbs and the like). i'd just be happier if king eddie SPREAD THE WEALTH

Park Street Life: Hartford's Hispanic Thoroughfare Has Retail Vibrancy Downtown Longs For

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN The Hartford Courant
It's been well known for years that Park Street has the retail vibrancy missing from downtown Hartford since the heyday of the department stores in the 1950s.

But what's surprising is how much more vibrant it is.

A recent, first-ever study of the Park Street retail corridor by the city showed a storefront vacancy rate in the single digits, compared with 43 percent for retail spaces downtown. Both have approximately the same amount of total space — about 500,000 square feet.

So why the difference?

The 2-mile-plus Park Street retail corridor — running from Main Street to Prospect Avenue — has an enviable mix of restaurants, clothing boutiques, bodegas, jewelry shops and grocery stores, partly the result of planning and support by the local merchants association.

"Mostly, it just happens," said Marisol Monserrate, small business coordinator for the Spanish American Merchants Association. "It's just the way the street is. There is a lot of energy on Park Street. People see empty properties, get interested and get right on it."

Some of the success has to do with the smaller retail spaces and far lower rents on Park Street. Most of the storefronts have apartments above them, with well-populated neighborhoods close by, providing crucial, ready-made foot traffic of the sort that downtown still lacks.

Then there are the shoppers like Edith Rivera, who live nowhere near Park Street.

Once a month, Rivera drives 45 minutes from New London to visit La Plaza del Mercado grocery store and a Spanish bakery on the section of the street that runs through Frog Hollow.................

From A Friend: 'Actress Lynn Redgrave Has Died At Age 67 - Entertainment News Story - WFSB Hartford'

me has sent you a link: "Actress Lynn Redgrave Has Died At Age 67 - Entertainment News Story - WFSB Hartford"

The link:
http://www.wfsb.com/entertainment/23433214/detail.html?taf=hart

there's a pet adoption through sunday

at the ct expo center in hartford

go check it OUT

By

Bonnie Phillips
Look at that face -- isn't it adorable?
That's Gus, and he's my rescue dog.

pic from the link above

ALPHAVILLE reminds us what

the 14th amendment says

this isn't a woman's issue

it's a HUMAN issue. if this is true, if she was fired for being ill (and/or carrying the breast cancer gene) then i'm sure men could be fired just as easily for carrying a let's say, prostate cancer gene (although i don't know if that exists yet)

because the bishops corner office

isn't crowded ENOUGH (that's sarcasm in case you didn't know). i'll just stop in the windsor or bloomfield offices instead.

LaSalle Road Post Office Branch Likely To Close
By BILL LEUKHARDT

WEST HARTFORD —

The LaSalle Road post office branch, the town center's spot for stamps, mail and conversation since 1952, likely will close this year, to be replaced by a smaller storefront facility elsewhere downtown.

The U.S. Postal Service is planning to sell its 0.79-acre parcel at 102 LaSalle Road, town officials said Monday. It is one of three branches that the USPS has in town.

Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle said the property to be sold is a rarity — developable land in the town center. Very few properties in the center ever come up for sale, he said. The parcel is assessed by the town at nearly $1 million, but likely would be sold for more.

The brick post office, built in 1952 and altered several times since, covers about a third of the property.
.............

this is a start.......

All Three Domestic Violence Bills Pass The House
By

Amanda Falcone

Members from both sides of the aisle came together Tuesday to combat domestic violence.

The House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that would establish a pilot program for the electronic monitoring of domestic violence offenders. It also unanimously voted in favor of a bill that would make sure school personnel learn about teen dating and domestic violence as part of their in-service training, and it approved, 125-19, a bill that would ensure that money promised to domestic violence victims' shelters and rape crisis centers is distributed promptly.

The bills are a direct result of a bipartisan task force formed last fall by House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden. After several domestic violence-related deaths in Connecticut, Donovan asked lawmakers to come up with ways that the state can improve its response to domestic violence incidents.

The domestic violence bill that has received the most attention deals with the judicial system......

west hartford tax rates GOING UP AGAIN

the story makes it sound like they're (the town) doing us a favor because it COULD have gone up more. now, i distinctly remember years ago being told if we let them build black and blue square (and gave them OUR money to do so), our taxes WOULD GO DOWN. someone has some 'splainin' to do.....................

West Hartford Approves $216.7 Million Budget

By BILL LEUKHARDT The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD

Last-minute adjustments to a proposed municipal budget totaled about $2.5 million in reductions, producing a $216.7 million budget that was passed Monday night by the town council.

The new budget will take effect July 1, unless a referendum is triggered by petitions. The budget requires a tax rate of 38.38 mills, a 2.24 percent increase.

The current tax rate is 37.54, which means that a taxpayer is charged $37.54 for every $1,000 of assessed taxable property. Prior to the final changes, the proposed 2010-11 budget was $219.1 million, which would have required a tax rate of 38.91 mills, a 3.7 percent increase.

The reduced budget is possible because of nearly two dozen adjustments to trim $922,000 from the general government budget for 2010-11 and $1.5 million in long-term debt. To make some of the adjustments, the town is using a portion of the money from its $4.5 million Blue Back Square settlement to pay for some items..........

the hartford courant

really HAS been doing a wonderful job of late, reporting on violence against women. i do have to salute them

this is one right on article by the way. i strongly urge you to click the link to read the WHOLE (it's short, just DO it) thing
note: in the right hand sidebar of the courant article there are all sorts of other links to similar stories you should read

Unmasking The Common College-Age Rapist
By JACLYN FRIEDMAN

I've been told it was my fault because I was drinking. Because I shouldn't have been hanging out with a group of guys who were drinking. I shouldn't have let him in. I must've been flirting. I must've been wearing something provocative. I obviously wanted it at the time and just changed my mind later.

Say whatever you want. It doesn't hurt me anymore. It used to, but now I understand. You want to feel safe. You want to feel like rape is avoidable and rare and only happens to foolish girls who don't follow the rules. Not to you, or to your daughter, or anyone you love. You want to believe that only monsters commit "real" rape, terrifying men who look nothing like you or your friends. You want to think that when nice-seeming boys get accused of rape, they were provoked, or are victims themselves of some kind of sexual misunderstanding. You want to feel in control. Who doesn't?

There's just one problem: Every time we spend our energy telling a girl not to have a beer or look at a guy in public lest she somehow "invites" him to commit a violent felony against her, every time we imagine rapists as hulking strangers in the bushes and not the charming guy down the street, we create the exact diversion rapists count on to keep raping with impunity............

counter quo

my new ink

s
e
o

as you may or may not know, when i got my knitting fairy tattoo, her shoes just would NOT heal. i eventually went to the doctor and he ended up having to make her shoe-less (check out her feet in the top picture). the fact i had just been tattooed was coincidental. it had NOTHING to do with the skin cancer. so it's been about a year and i got the go ahead from my doc to get her touched up. i made an appointment with pat macdonald (who did the original knitting fairy) and i told him i'd also like some stars around my lower arm (eventually the arm will be a sleeve). i'm not linking to pat's shop because he's going to a new one on may 5th. i believe he said he's going to west springfield (i know he said it's by the big e fairgrounds). when i get his new info, i'll post it.

anyway.................here's my NEW arm (and yeah, the knitting fairy as you can see if you look closely, is still shoeless. pat won't do it for at least another year. he said the skin had to heal even more. the ink would just spread around too much now and it would be a hot mess. so, i will just have to wait.)

i'm so very happy. i LOVE my pentagram. i love my stars, they're all different and i love my moon. thanks pat!

well i guess we can thank the goddess

she actually wasn't driving.............. (think about it)

New Haven Police To Woman: 911 Isn't A Taxi Service

it's an ap article so i can't print any of it BUT, let's just say one fine citizen of our fair state, called 911 SIX TIMES to request a ride home to meriden from a new haven club.

hmmmmmmmmmm

west hartford peeps, get ready for

new recycling bins (and recycling every TWO weeks instead of every week). it's actually a GOOD idea i think


http://courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-west-hartford-recycling-plas.artapr19,0,7939243.story">West Hartford Homes To Receive Bins For Single-Stream Recycling
By BILL LEUKHARDT The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD —

New 95-gallon recycling barrels, — more than five times the capacity of the 18-gallon bins now in use — will be delivered to 22,000 residences in the next few weeks as the town prepares to go to single-stream recycling.

That means people can cram glass, paper, plastics, etc. into the new blue bin, without separating. By increasing recycling town-wide, it should save the town money by reducing the weight of trash tossed out for disposal.

"We estimate we might save as much as $100,000 in tipping fees," Town Manager Ron Van Winkle said Monday. Officials expect the amount of trash disposed for $63-a-ton to decrease and the amount of revenue-generating recyclables to increase.

The new system is scheduled to start June 7. The private contractor that collects residential trash has new vehicles with robotic arms to quickly pick up and empty the larger recycling containers.
.................

MORE stupid connecticut crimes and/or criminals

helpful hints

when the police show up at your residence, do NOT and i repeat, DO NOT

tell them you are going to kill your son (no matter HOW drunk you are)
lead them to your car where you have a rifle (no matter HOW drunk you are)
lead them to your handbag which is chuck full o' ammunition (no matter HOW drunk you are)
lead them to your stash of pot (no matter HOW drunk you are)

geeze

Mother And Son Arrested Hours Apart

By DAVID OWENS The Hartford Courant
A mother and her son will have adjoining cells in the Vernon police lockup this weekend after their arrests Friday night.

Manchester police had taken 19-year-old Cort Hancock to stay with his mother and step-father at the Howard Johnson motel on Route 30 about 5:20 p.m. Hancock had been tossed out of the Manchester homeless shelter because he'd been drinking and was causing a disturbance, police said.

When Hancock and the two Manchester officers arrived at the motel, they were greeted by Hancock's mother, Vicky Domingue, who police said was highly intoxicated herself. When the Manchester officers explained why they were dropping her son at her motel room, she said she was going to shoot her son and announced she was going to get her .22-caliber rifle.
......................