Westport figured prominently in 2 recent Connecticut Lottery wins.
A Milford resident won $1 million with a “$1,000,ooo Extreme Cash” scratch-off ticket sold at the Wheels gas station on Post Road East. The odds, the Lottery website says, are one in a million.
In addition, a Westporter won $300,000 in the same contest. The ticket was bought at B.J.’s Wholesale Club in Wallingford.
A third connection: Westport resident Rob Simmelkjaer is chair of the Connecticut Lottery board of directors.
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Among Westport’s many ESPN connections, Jeremy Schaap is one of the best known.
The 1988 Staples High School graduate has been with the network since 1994. He hosts E:60 and Outside the Lines, ESPN’s showcase journalism shows, and the award-winning weekly radio show and podcast The Sporting Life.
Schaap has covered the Summer and Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Tour de France, World Series, Super Bowl, tennis and golf US Opens, Wimbledon, Final Four .. you get the idea.
He won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for his story exposing the plight of World Cup migrant laborers in Qatar, as well as the Dick Schaap Sports Emmy — named for his father — for a profile of chess champion Bobby Fischer.
He interviewed Bobby Knight after he was fired by Indiana, and Darryl Strawberry after his colon cancer diagnosis.
This Thursday (September 21, 7 p.m.), Schaap joins fellow Westport journalist Dave Briggs in a conversation at the Westport Library. They’ll take about his long career, including sports, the media and much more.
Click here to register, and for more information.
Jeremy Schaap
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Westport Sunrise Rotary Club’s early morning speakers are always interesting.
This week’s guest is particularly note-worthy. And the public is welcome to attend.
On Friday (September 22, 7:45 a.m., Green’s Farms Congregational Church), Tony Award-winning actor and Weston resident James Naughton will talk.
But not about his career. Naughton’s topic is the Medical Assistance in Dying Act. He’s a powerful advocate for state legislation that would allow adults with a terminal illness to submit written requests for lethal medication. Under the proposed bill, adults who have been residents of Connecticut for at least a year and have been given less than 6 months to live can submit 2 written requests for lethal medication, at least 15 days apart.
Naughton is to help people at the end of life, for whom hospice palliative care is not enough, because his late wife Pamela was in that same situation.
Email president Liz Wong at info@WestportSunriseRotary.org if you plan to attend, or have questions. Coffee, bagels and muffins are served starting at 7 a.m.
James Naughton
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Have a heart!
That’s the suggestion of Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Services — and the theme of their fundraising gala.
“The Heart of Westport” will raise money to replace our first responders’ Automated Electronic Defibrillator (AED) machines. The event is October 21 (Christ & Holy Trinity Church, 6 p.m.).
Hosts include WVEMS president Michael Burns, celebrity stylist Jeni Bianco, and Westport Moms Megan Rutstein and Melissa Post.
The $75,000 goal will ensure that every Westport emergency vehicle — EMS, Police and Fire — to have life-saving machines. Current machines are becoming outmoded.
The event includes food, drinks, entertainment, and auction items donated by well-known Westporters.
Click here for tickets and more information. For questions and sponsorship opportunities, email jenielizabeth@gmail.com.
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Aztec Two-Step 2.0’s “Simon & Garfunkel Songbook” show has drawn raves everywhere.
This Saturday, area residents can see it in (almost) their back yard.
Rex Fowler and Dodie Pettit bring their show to the SHU Community Theatre, in the heart of Fairfield. Show time is 8 p.m. Click here for tickets, and more information.
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Speaking of music: The October 1 “First Folk Sunday” is special. It’s the release party of Suzanne Sheridan’s “Standing Ovation” CD. It includes the country hit “90 Pound Suburban Housewife Driving in Her SUV.” (Yes, Westport — Sheridan’s longtime home — was her inspiration.)
Every audience member gets a free copy of the CD — and a slice of cake.
At First Folk Sunday (VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399, 12:30 p.m.; $10 cover charge), Sheridan (vocals and guitar) will be accompanied by Bob Cooper (keyboards).
Musicians on the CD include Chris Coogan, Beth Styles, Andy Gundell, Ed Thompson, Scarlett Lee Moore, John Lathan, Mary Bond Davis, Leslie Miller, Jeff Gomard, the late Giff Foster and Matt Nozzolio, John Moses, Mike Mills and “Children of the Sun” Drumming Circle, and The Studebakers of Austin, Texas.
The songs were recorded over several years, in studios in various towns and cities.
Click here for tickets to Sheridan’s release party. For more information, email info@firstfolksunday.com, or call 203-222-1441.
Suzanne Sheridan
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For a while, the Post Road East wood pile at the corner of Roseville Road looked a little less haphazard and dangerous than before.
No longer.
Here was the scene yesterday:
(Photo/Molly Alger)
A word to the crew working on the Route 1 renovation project: “Be careful out there.”
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One of the joys of Compo Beach’s South Beach is scrambling up the trees near the kayak launch.
Kids do it all the time.
Yesterday, Ken Schwarz did it too.
Why is this “06880”-worthy?
Because he’s 87 years old.
There’s a saying: “Once a kid, always a kid.”
No kidding!
(Photo/June Rose Whittaker)
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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” image is not a banana.
Or a banana slug.
It is, Steve Halstead assures us, a spicebush swallowtail larva.
And, he says, it will eventually morph into a beautiful adult butterfly.
We’ll take it over a spotted lanternfly any day.
(Photo/Steve Halstead)
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And finally … in honor of our Westport-related Connecticut Lottery winners (story above):
(“06880” could buy lottery tickets. But we prefer to rely on the support of our readers. Please click here to donate. It’s a sure bet. Thank you!)
I vigorously support James Naughton’s efforts to promote CT legislation that will provide for medical assistance in dying to those who seek it. The matter has come up in the past, but does not get sufficient votes. Rep. Steinberg has been very supportive, but, so far, unsuccessful. One problem with legislation is those concerned or opposed insist upon many restrictive provisions that almost make the legislation worse than the present reality of how our doctors and their patients interact. If I confront a medical situation in which I want my life to end our laws should not preclude a doctor from addressing that and providing support to me or any patient.