An award-winning journalist/filmmaker with extensive experience covering Gaza, and a former head of the Israeli Prison Service Intelligence Division will take the stage at The Westport Library next Tuesday (April 16, 7 p.m.).
Shlomi Eldar and Dr. Yuval Biton will discuss the impact of Yahya Sinwar’s leadership on Hamas. He is widely believed to have helped mastermind the October 7 terror attack in Israel.
Eldar has spent more than 30 years covering Gaza, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for Israeli television. He has been awarded Israel’s most important media award, the Sokolov Prize, and 2 Ophir Awards (Israel’s Oscar equivalent) for his documentaries.
Dr. Biton was on the medical team that removed Sinwar’s brain tumor as he served a 20-plus-year sentence in an Israeli prison. He spent many hours with the Hamas leader during his prison term. Hamas kidnapped and killed Dr. Biton’s nephew on October 7.
The conversation is presented in partnership with the Bennett Center at Fairfield University and the Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County.
There is no charge for admission, but pre-registration is required.
Shlomi Eldar and Dr. Yuval Biton.
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Cabry Lueker became perhaps the youngest person to deliver a Representative Town Meeting invocation, at Tuesday’s meeting.
The Staples High School senior — and co-chair of the Wesetport Youth Commission — thanked the Westport Public Schools for the close relationships he’s forged with teachers and peers, and the academics and clubs he’s been exposed to.
Cabry also described his fulfilling work on the Youth Commission. Noting past projects like the Compo Skate Park, Toquet Hall, Dodge-a-Cop and iMentor, he said the Commission “symbolizes the power and importance of the youth in our town.”
He concluded, “I hope we can all keep legacy and leadership in mind as we navigate issues, especially contentious ones, in our town.”
Cabry Lueker offers the RTM invocation. (Photo/Andrew Colabella)
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Westport Police made 3 custodial arrests between April 3 and 10.
Two Waterbury men, ages 22 and 20, were arrested for larceny, and criminal attempt to commit larceny, following an investigation into a September motor vehicle theft of an unlocked vehicle, with the key fob inside, near Church Lane. The vehicle was used the next day during a home invasion in Westport. Both men had previously been arrested for their involvement in that crime.
A 36-year-old Stamford man was charged with illegal operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended license, traveling unreasonably fast, engaging police in pursuit and violation of traffic control signals, after an officer with radar on Riverside Avenue clocked the vehicle traveling 51 miles an hour in a 30 mph zone, at 12:15 a.m. The driver went through a red light at Post Road West before eventually stopping on Wilton Road.
A 27-year-old Greenwich man was charged with larceny, and criminal attempt to commit larceny, after a fraudulent check was deposit at First County Bank, and funds were then withdrawn from it.
Westport Police also issued these citations:
- Traveling unreasonably fast: 4 citations
- Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 3
- Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 3
- Driving while texting: 2
- Speeding: 2
- Failure to obey traffic control signals: 2
- Failure to register a commercial vehicle: 2
- Disorderly conduct: 1
- Interfering with an emergency call: 1
- Creating a public disturbance: 1
- Reckless driving: 1
- Evading responsibility: 1
- Distracted driving: 1
- Following too closely: 1
- Improper passing: 1
- Failure to drive in the proper lane: 1
- Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 1
- Failure to renew registration: 1
- Failure to insure a motor vehicle: 1
- Failure to return plates: 1
- Improper use of markers: 1
- Failure to carry a license: 1
Misuse of license plates is no laughing matter. It can result in up to 30 days in jail, a fine up to $500, and possible license suspension.
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Kammy Maxfeldt — the longtime and much-loved Birchwood Country Club golf pro — died April 4. She was 63, and had battled cancer.
Her obituary says, “Family and faith were most important to Kammy. She took love seriously, and sacrificed her time and talent to do anything for her family and friends. Her Birchwood family, and Norwalk/Port St. Lucie network of friends meant the world to her. Kammy was a faithful Christian, with a strong connection to the Jewish community as well.”
She fell in love with golf at a young age, playing with her father in Holdrege, Nebraska. She competed in her first tournament when she was 10, and played on the Holdrege High School team.
Kammy then played at the University of Oklahoma
She played 84 of the top 100 golf courses in the US, and had 13 holes-in-one.
Kammy worked at golf courses in Oklahoma, Tennesse, Texas, Florida and New York. She spent her final 21 years as head pro at Birchwood.
She enjoyed teaching golf, especially to children (to whom she also taught life lessons).
Kammy was the 2013 National LPGA Professional of the Year, and ranked the #1 instructor in Connecticut by Golf Digest for 2022-2023. She was the 2024 Metropolitan Section PGA Golf Professional of the Year.
She is survived by her mother, Emma June; sister Darcy Bomer (Gerard); brother Trent; niece Devri Penrod (Aaron); nephew Bryce Bomer; uncles Merle Nelson (Sherri) and Lonnie Nelson (Tricia); aunt Bettie Louise Murdoch; shih tzu “Little Man Bogiem”; and many friends.
Donations to the Cancer Research Institute can be made in her name.
There will be a gathering of family and friends, and a celebration of life, on April 19 (12 p.m.) at the Hermitage Funeral Home in Old Hickotry, Tennessee. Click here to share memories and expressions of sympathy for the family.
Kammy Maxfeldt
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Jesup Green has been all over the news lately.
We don’t know whether the trees at the top will remain, or be removed for parking spots.
Perhaps these pine cones were arranged in a message about its future. Perhaps someone randomly created this heart.
Whatever the reason, it makes a nice “Westport … Naturally” photo.
(Photo/Jalna Jaeger)
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And finally … Cabry Lueker’s RTM invocation (story above) is a reminder of the importance of youth voices. Sure, this song is from 1967. But it still resonates:
(Young or old; new resident, old-timer or long gone — no matter who you are, “06880” is your hyper-local blog. We rely on every one of you for support. Please click here to contribute. Thank you!)
There is no excuse for Israel ethnic, cleansing and genocide. This is not all about Hamas
I understand unfortunately, this collective identification with Israel.
it belies everything I’ve ever thought Judaism was and is.
I feel betrayed by this horrific collective identification, and the genocidal calls of never again.
There is no “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” in Israel. Jews and Arabs – of all faiths – live and work side by side. Israel is 20% Arab. The only ethnic cleansing has been in the Muslim world, where very few Jews exist today. Nearly 900,000 Jews were expelled from Muslim lands before and after 1948 (the ones who weren’t murdered, that is). They all wound up in Israel. And re: genocide – there is a very specific definition of genocide. In 1945, Allied forces firebombed Dresden, killing more than 25,000 people in one night. Was that genocide? No. Casualties of war are unfortunate, but it does not constitute genocide.
Gagerin. you went to staples ? did your education at staples tell you to kill Jews ?
So much to unpack with this ignorant comment, but Tracy does a good job of summarizing so I’ll just mention two points:
– Clear lack of understanding of Judaism and the importance of Israel as a Jewish homeland. “Next Year in Jerusalem” – while different Jews have different interpretations of this phrase, many of us will be saying this in couple of weeks during our Passover seders in support of the single country in the world that can be our homeland, amidst thousands of years of struggle and intolerance from others (even if many of us do not like the current administration and do support a Palestinian state).
– Another precious snowflake sitting in her Ivory tower, free to criticize a nation half a world away, free from the threats that Israel faces. How did she gain this security? By her logic, from “genocides” perpetrated by her own government against civilians in Dresden, Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Afghanistan. But I guess it’s ok when it’s protecting your freedom in this country?
Wow – Dr. Bilton treated Sinwar and Hamas killed Dr. Bilton’s nephew. Horrific.
Kammie , we miss you tremendously and thank you for being such a special mentor to Anelise. Your guidance and friendship has meant everything to her. Thank you for helping launch her.. You are always in our hearts and minds .. .The Brownes
who elected Hamas ? and what are the terms in The Hamas Doctrine/charter? What are Pakestiiian children learning about Jews in textbooks and from their teachers ?
Cabry Lueker spoke with such confidence, ease, and institutional knowledge and he’s only 18!
I am so happy to see Youth Commission empower the youthful voice of our town. There are SO many projects and gifted students on this board. It has come a long way since I served 2003-2007.
Excited to see where Cabry will go in life. No doubt in my mind, extremely successful.
As for the “LMFAO” license plate, that’s my friends 🤣 shes an amazing mother and attorney and a burst of energy lighting up every place she enters.
My life in Westport was better having known Kammy and it’s sad to learn of her passing. She was not only a top CT instructor, she had a certain compassion, warmth and smarts that made for a quick friend. Her stories were amazing, especially the one about a teenage student of the past. I hope her family knows how special she made all our lives here through the years. Forever missed.
Casualties are unfortunate derp. How many dead under the rubble? How many dying of starvation and cholera? But Israel!