Hanukkah starts tonight at sundown.
All set to celebrate is Jolantha, Weston’s favorite pig.
But where’s her gelt and dreidel?
(Photo/Hans Wilhelm)
==================================================
Speaking of the Festival of Lights: The Schneerson Center for Jewish Life sponsors community menorah lighting celebrations in Westport and Weston.
The “original Westport menorah” at Compo Acres Shopping Center (Trader Joe’s/Wells Fargo parking lot) — now in its 16th year — will be lit Monday (December 11, 7 p.m.).
The day before (Sunday, December 10, 5:30 p.m.), a menorah will be lit at the Weston Shopping Center. It continues a tradition begun 20 years ago.
Both ceremonies include music, cookies, gelt and dreidels.
==================================================
Now, on to Christmas:
Westport Scout Troop is selling wreaths as a fundraiser this weekend (Saturday and Sunday, December 9-10, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., while supplies last; Saugatuck Congregational Church).
Wreaths are $30 and $45. Baked goods and hot cocoa are available too.
Funds will help projects, like the recent construction of lanternfly traps for Sherwood Island State Park. The troop also partners with Sustainable Westport each year, for a mattress recycling drive.
==================================================
There are just 18 days left until Christmas.
Everyone should be mailing gifts and cards like crazy.
But — astonishingly — this was the scene at noon yesterday, in the post office lobby:
(Photo/Dan Woog)
Come on, Westport! This is show time for our postal clerks.
It’s when they shine: helping with packages, dispensing advice, tossing all your stuff into the back to be whisked away — all with the efficiency of a thousand Rudolphs.
Our great US Postal Service men and women are ready to serve you. Give ’em the business!
==================================================
With leaves off the trees, and leaf pick-up by the town almost complete, the trash that litters our town has become quite visible.
Andrew Colabella, and his faithful crew of garbage pickers, come to the rescue.
And anyone can join.
After a successful spring, they’re starting again this Sunday. Everyone is invited to meet at 10 a.m. this Sunday (December 10), at the transfer station on the Sherwood Island Connector. They’ll work throughout the Greens Farms neighborhood.
Volunteers should wear boots, bring gloves and trash bags — and dress warmly.
For questions, or to be added to the email list, write acolabellartm4@gmail.com.
Andrew Colabella (center, front) and friends, picking up trash at the Westport train station last winter.
==================================================
Westport Police made 1 custodial arrest between November 29 and December 6.
A man was charged with assault, unlawful restraint, interfering with an emergency call, larceny, sale of narcotics, possession of cannabis greater than 1.5 ounces, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, and criminal possession of a firearm.
The charges came after police responded to a report of domestic violence in a vehicle on the Sherwood Island Connector. After the assault, the man refused to let the victim leave, and prevented a 911 call.
The suspect left the area on foot. Officers located him in a vehicle traveling the wrong way on the I-95 northbound exit ramp, and initiated a traffic stop.
Westport Police also issues these citations:
- Traveling unreasonably fast: 12 citations
- Failure to obey stop sign: 4
- Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 3
- Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 2
- Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 2
- Failure to comply with state traffic commission regulations: 2
- Distracted driving: 1
- Following too closely: 1
- Failure to obey traffic control signals: 1
- Failure to renew registration: 1
- Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 1.
A handgun was found, following a report of domestic violence.
=================================================
Speaking of crime:
Scooter Swanson — editor, and nephew of the TV dinner magnate — says his mail carrier tells him that leaving cash in the mailbox as a holiday gift (whether in an envelope or not) is subject to theft.
The carrier claims that UPS, FedEx and Amazon drivers yank out the cash cards intended for him and other US Postal Service colleagues. (This has not been verified.)
Swanson was ripped off of a $10,000 check for his credit card when it was robbed by a “correctional officer” making his nightly tour of mailboxes through neighborhoods.
Fortunately, People’s Bank reimbursed him for his loss. The Hartford also considered it personal property, and reimbursed him another $10,000.
PS: Swanson was once a federal attorney.
Think twice about leaving holiday cash for your mail carrier inside your mailbox.
==================================================
Tickets are on sale now for Saturday’s state “LL” (extra large schools) football championship game, between Staples and West Haven.
Kickoff on December 9 is 5 p.m., at Central Connecticut State University’s Arute Field.
Tickets ($10 each) will not be sold on site; they can only be purchased by clicking this website.
Go Wreckers!
The 2023 Staples High School football program.
==================================================
Music is everywhere — including, often, the Westport Library.
On December 12 (7 p.m.), a multi-media presentation tracks the impact of music on a variety of art forms, in a range of venues.
Speaker John Brandt — a dancer, singer, actor, percussionist, PR consultant and lifelong Westporter — will highlight how music is “the soundtrack of our lives.”
The event — sponsored by the Y’s Men of Westport and Weston — is free, but registration is required (click here). For further information, email jkbrandt@aol.com or call 203-246-6280.
John Brandt
==========================================
Speaking of the Library:
The second of 3 “Short Cuts Film Festival” showings is next Thursday (December 14, 7 p.m.).
Documentaries selected from the Tribeca Film Festival include:
- “Then Comes the Body” by Jacob Krupnick: An unlikely ballet school outside Lagos, Nigeria, gains national attention after a video of students dancing in the rain goes viral.
- “In Her Element” by Idil Ibrahim: Hip-hop artist Daisha McBride takes the traditional rock and country audience in New Orleans by storm.
- “Team Dream” by Luchina Fisher: Determined friends and competitive swimmers journey to the National Senior Games.
- “Deciding Vote” by Jeremy Workman & Robert J. Lyons: Fifty years ago, a now-forgotten New York assemblyman cast single tiebreaking vote that legalized abortion in New York, and la the groundwork for Roe v. Wade.
After the screenings, “Team Dream” director Fisher will discuss her film, and documentary filmmaking in general.
Short Cuts Film Festival concludes on January 18, with a program of narrative shorts.
Tickets are $26.50; click here to purchase. Films are suitable for ages 12 and up. Refreshments and popcorn will be provided.
=================================================
Mark Yurkiw — whose work has lately been heavily influenced by his Ukrainian heritage — is December’s guest exhibitor, at the Westport Book Shop.
His exhibit — “Art is Always of Its Time” — includes 12 illuminated works using large-format film transparencies of 3-D images of the 1980s and ’90s.
Yurkiw is an artist, sculptor, filmmaker, scientist, designer, creative director and consultant. His work appears in magazines, advertising, television, feature films, exhibitions and public art. It has been exhibited globally, including most recently as part of a 2-man United Nations exhibit.
A reception for Yurkiw will be held December 14 (6 to 7:30 p.m.). Reserve a spot by phone (203-349-5141) or email: bookshop@westportbooksaleventures.org.
Yurkiw’s art is on exhibit through December 31. All work is available for purchase.
Mark Yurkiw, at the Westport Book Shop.
==================================================
The Weston Weston Family YMCA’s Bedford Family Social Responsibility Fund honors its 2023 grant recipients at 5 p.m. next Tuesday (December 12) at the Y.
This year, the Fund will award $315,000 in grants to 31 organizations throughout Fairfield County. Their programs support equitable educational programs for students.
Recipients will be announced then.
==================================================
In her 80s, Ruth Sherman is still an indefatigable walker.
At Compo Beach yesterday morning, she spotted this:
(Photo/Ruth Sherman)
Other walkers told her it reminded them of a dog, lizard, rabbit, even a parrot looking sideways with its fist up.
What do you see?
We’ll ask that question, for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature. Click “Comments” below.
==================================================
And finally … It wouldn’t be Hanukkah without 5-part harmony from “South Park”:
(Oy! Time to celebrate the holidays with a donation to “06880.” Please click here. תודה!)
Wait – am I understanding this correctly? The $10,000 check was successfully cashed by the thief, even though it was made out to a credit card company? And then Mr. Swanson made a $10,000 profit because both his bank and his insurance company reimbursed him the full amount of his loss?
I get the first part – I gather checks can be “washed” and the payee changed. But agree with your question on the second part. How do you end up legally collecting from both the bank and the insurer? I mean, since his bank reimbursed him, how did he have a loss to claim on his insurance?
That is correct. The thief, a correctional officer who had been taking classes at Staples, took the check out of our mail box at night and night deposited it in his TD Bank in Norwalk. We did not catch it until we ordered a copy of the check, both sides, to tell Chase we had paid the credit card and it had cleared. Only then did we see the forgery as well as the deposit in his account. Postal inspectors quickly caught the thief. People’s Bank was slow to reimburse but The Hartford, our homeowners carrier, deemed it “stolen personal property” upon my insistence and paid 10K$. Under the law, this is not “profit” but reimbursement for stolen goods, much the same as if a piece of jewelry was stolen from your home. P.S. I have lived here since 1952 and always put my outgoing mail, with flag up, at night. No problems. But now I pay the dang credit card in person and all mail goes to the Post Office, Greens Farms.
I get the concept – but “the jewelry” was returned to you when People’s Bank reimbursed you. Are you saying that when an insurance company reimburses you for stolen personal property and that personal property is returned to you, you get to keep the reimbursement? Isn’t that insurance fraud? (Not an accusation … just a question. I’m trying to understand how this works in case I’m in the same situation in the future.)
What’s the alternative if one wants to give a card to one’s mail carrier?
Put a note in your mailbox asking your mailman to ring your doorbell.
And remember, please, the postman only rings twice.