Jennifer Wolff writes: “Once again, hostage poster thieves have taken to the Ruth Steinklaus Cohen Bridge and ripped down posters.
“And once again, the Westport chapter of RunForTheirLives printed new ones and replaced all that was stolen.
“We have an amazing community of caring people who take it upon themselves to keep reminding Westport and beyond that these innocent folks need to come home. The RunForTheirLifers who replaced the posters include Maya Rotem, Relly Coleman, Hagar Moshe, Ana White, Lynn Rabinovici Park, Julie Podziba and Nitsan Greif.
“We are tired of this cat-and-mouse game. Whatever anyone’s opinion about the conflict in the Middle East, we all can agree that the innocent hostages — many of whom on the morning of October 7 were either dancing, making breakfast for their kids, or still asleep — need to come home. Especially now that we have seen the conditions they are living and dying in.”
Hostage posters on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge.
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Got an idea for downtown?
The Downtown Plan Implementation Committee invites all stakeholders to a public charette next Wednesday October 23 (6 p.m., Westport Library).
Attendees can learn about current plans for Jesup Green, the Imperial Avenue parking lot, and a possible parking deck, with time for questions and feedback.
Maps and displays will help guide discussions.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Ben Casparius secured last night’s 8-0 win over the New York Mets, in game 3 of the National League Championship Series.
It’s getting routine for the 2017 Staples High School graduate — called up to the majors only in August — to come on and succeed, in relief.
But there was another local twist to yesterday’s contest.
Mets’ public address announcer Marysol Castro has lived in Westport for 19 years. The first Latina to hold the job in Major League Baseball, she had the honor of announcing her fellow resident’s name to the CitiField crowd.
And her words were heard, presumably, by millions of Americans watching too. (Hat tip: Isa Didio)
(Instagram courtesy of Dave Briggs)
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If you weren’t watching the Mets and Dodgers last night, maybe you were at Compo Beach for the comet show.
Franco Fellah was.
He captured this great image of Comet C-2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas.
Check out the bright dust tail on one side, and opposite the rare, faint anti-tail, pointing at the sun.
(Photo/Franco Fellah)
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Survivor Rowing Network connects breast cancer survivors to bond and support each other through their love of rowing.
The Saugatuck Survive-Oars are proud members of the Network. Yesterday, they were part of the story on the Kelly Clarkson Show. Click below for the fascinating segment. (Hat tip: Dave Briggs)
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Among the 100-plus Republican officials appearing with Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday, at a Pennsylvania rally: Westport’s former Congressman, Chris Shays.
Shays won a special election to replace Stewart McKinney, after the Republican’s death in 1987. He was elected to a full term in 1988, then re-elected 9 times.
Shays lost to Jim Himes in 2008. He was the most senior member of the House of Representatives to be defeated that year.
Other Republicans who joined Shays and Harris in Bucks County were former Representatives Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, and former Governor Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey.
Former Congressman Chris Shays
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Remember the Maxytaxy?
The Westport Transit District is looking for color photos of the 1970s-era Mercedes bus that traveled throughout town, picking up and depositing riders. (Its cousin, the Minnybus, did the same, but on fixed routes.)
If anyone has a piece of an old Maxytaxy — hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask! — that would be even better.
Email pgoldrtm3@gmail.com with photos or actual bus parts.
In lieu of photos of a Maxytaxy, here’s one of a Minnybus. The transfer point was Jesup Green.
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Westport Police made 2 custodial arrests between October 9 and 16.
A 34-year-old Stamford man was charged with interfering with an officer and breach of peace, following an investigation into a September domestic violence altercation in the Saugatuck railroad station parking lot.
A 36-year-old Bridgeport woman was arrested for larceny, and conspiracy to commit larceny, after an investigation into a September theft of $850 worth of merchandise from Stop & Shop.
Westport Police also issued these citations:
- Traveling unreasonably fast: 7 citations
- Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 3
- Distracted driving: 2
- Failure to drive in the proper lane: 2
- Failure to grant right of way: 2
- Failure to obey traffic control signals: 2
- Failure to comply with state traffic control regulations: 2
- Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 2
- Failure to renew registration: 2
- Traveling unreasonably fast in a school zone: 1
- Failure to yield to a pedestrian: 1
- Following too closely: 1
- Failure to obey stop sign: 1
- Improper turn: 1
- Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 1
- Failure to reinstate license: 1
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Too many Westporters — and folks everywhere else — have been affected by ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
ALS United Connecticut is sponsoring a walk this Saturday (October 19) at Sherwood Island State Park. Registration begins at 10 a.m.; the walk starts at 11.
The walk draws people together to honor all those affected by ALS, and remember those who have died. Click here for details, and registration.
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Noted artist Ruth Kalla Ungerer died Tuesday in her home on Bayberry Lane, surrounded by her family. She was 76.
The Pittsburgh native earned a bachelor of fine arts magna cum laude in sculpture from Drew University.
After years of artistic practice and raising 2 children, Ruth began a new career as director of the 1990 census operations for municipalities in New Jersey. She then spent more than 10 years at the Committee for Economic Development.
She continued her career in development leadership with non-profit organizations, including Literacy Volunteers of America, Montclair State University, the New School University and the Population Council. Her expertise was in strategic planning, corporate and foundation grantsmanship, and major individual donor solicitation.
After retiring, Ruth resumed her artistic career with a focus on printmaking. She worked independently and with fellow artists at the Center for Contemporary Printing in Norwalk and Milestone Graphics in Bridgeport.
Accompanying her husband Richard on business trips to China, Ruth worked with Zhang Dongmin and met Fan Li Jun, one of China’s most renowned artists.
In particular, Ruth pursued her love of the line and a feminist approach to the female form. Her work was shown in galleries and exhibitions across Connecticut and in Brooklyn.
Ruth received numerous awards and honors. She was active in the Artists Collective of Westport and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, as a board member.
In addition, Ruth and husband became advocates for Montessori education around the world.
Ruth tried through her nonprofit work and arts engagement to underscore the importance of the creative spirit in enhancing the understanding of life’s complexities, as well as its wonders.
She is survived by her husband Richard, children Erika Grossman (Claire Psarouthakis) of Minneapolis, and Heather Grossman, of Urbana, Illinois, and older brother Ronald Kalla. She was predeceased by her younger brother, Alec Kalla.
Her family is grateful for the medical staff at Whittingham Cancer Center at Norwalk Hospital and elsewhere, and the many dedicated caregivers who supported her.
A graveside funeral service will be held tomorrow (Friday, October 18, 10 a.m., Willowbrook Cemetery). Shiva will be observed in her home that day, from noon to 6 p.m. .
To share online condolences, click here. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Artists Collective of Westport.
Ruth Ungerer
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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature shows a suburban intersection of nature and the man-made environment.
Susan Garment spotted this bobcat mother, and 2 of her 3 kittens, frolicking by Susan’s back yard pool.
(Photo/Susan Garment)
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And finally … today is Forgive an Ex Day. Enjoy!
(From Citi Field to Kelly Clarkson to comets in the sky, “06880” is where Westport meets the world. We couldn’t do it without you, though. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
While these shouldn’t have been removed without permission from the town, these flyers have been up for months and they are an eyesore. If the content of the flyers was anything else, they would have been removed long ago.
Israel is 5,668 miles away – this is like putting up a flyer for a missing Westport person in Tokyo, Japan. It’s a political statement and they have no place on the Bridge.
We all know what’s going on, we all have We Stand With Israel Lawn Signs in our neighborhoods.
Maybe find an area along the river where the signs can be placed in a more appealing way and where candles can be lit.
The holidays are coming…we are all saying prayers for the safe return of those being held hostage anywhere in the world…and for leaders to use reason instead of rage & revenge.
They have been up long enough, the statement has been made, people know to remember – now let’s stop using tax payer property for political ends.
Could the groups choose to honor the hostages and their cause by placing the posters on private property? Why must they be on the state bridge?
On July 8, I saw a woman who had removed hostage posters from the bridge. I was alerted to this event by a man shouting in her face at the east end of the bridge, blocking her path, then following her on foot for a block up the hill past the public library, yelling that she was a “terrorist.” I turned on my cell phone to video. He shouted at her, “Go back to Iran. Or Russia. Gaza. There’s lots of places … but you’re not welcome here.”
When I stopped the car to ask the man as a bystander why he was harassing this woman, following her and shouting at her, he turned on me, calling me a “terrorist supporter.” He told me, seeing that I was filming, “You can go to Iran. Or Russia. You can go to China, too.”
He and I may have sat in the same row at temple services in Westport.
What has happened to any sense of decency or proportion?
The police interviewed the woman. She acknowledged removing the signs, according to the public police report. She was not charged. Why was she not charged? Because placing signs on the bridge isn’t legal in the first place.
Here’s a compendium of Connecticut laws forbidding or limiting placement of signs alongside state highways:
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-r-0369.htm. Other state laws prohibits signs on state bridges and on utility poles. The state-owned bridge in Westport carries a federal highway (US 1). Federal highways have similar restrictions.
Why not place posters and ribbons on private property?
Dear Alexis, “The signs have been up long enough”…Perhaps you’d feel differently if your loved one was being held in a dark tunnel thousands of miles away by murderous terrorists.
I would feel the same, and I wouldn’t place a sign 6000 miles away thinking it would do anything.
Dear Alexis and Bill (and other like minded people),
I truly hope you don’t own a dog or cat because I shudder to think that you would take down a “Missing” poster before the were returned alive(or worse, found dead).
Am Yisrael Chai
Robert, no one spoke against posters. We spoke against where they are placed. Anyone can see that.
Why not place them where it’s legal to do so?
Dear Am Yisreal Chai, I wouldn’t take down a missing poster anywhere, but if I had a missing relative, cat, or dog I wouldn’t be putting up a poster 6000 miles away. Best Regards, Alexis
Feels like there’s a pretty myopic view of the purpose of these posters. Similar to other groups protesting international events, the goal is to draw enough awareness from world leaders (particularly our own) to influence the major geopolitical players to figure out a way to get the hostages freed. Not much different than protest movements against, say, Russia’s war against Ukraine or even Pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war with Hamas. Both events are happening many miles away from home.
You can certainly argue with the effectiveness of such a campaign, but I find it interesting that a quick scan of 06880 archives reveals no such argument presented by these same folks when there were protests on the bridge against Russia’s incursion into Ukraine a few years ago.
Matt, I agree with the first part of your comment about the universal nature of protest and advocacy. How far away Israel is, is irrelevant. People should feel free to post all the advocacy they desire, on any topic, near and far — on their own property.
I’m for taking down all the illegally placed signs, whatever the content, from our federal and state and local roads, bridges, and utility poles. They make our communities look trashy. (Halloween decorations affixed to street signs, too. Decorate your yard for your holidays, not our streets. It’s daft, like assuming that everyone else must be having a birthday if it’s your birthday.)
I’m also for not labeling good samaritans who take down illegal signs as “vandals” (on this blog in the headline) or “terrorists” (in the harassment incident I happened upon and videotaped at the Cohen bridge and Jesup Green), an incident that none of the commenters has condemned. Where is a sense of decency?
People disagreeing with you about Middle East politics and solutions and emphasis, or agreeing with you but thinking the well-meaning signs are misplaced, doesn’t make them “vandals” or “terrorists” or “terrorism supporters.”
Can we at least agree on that part?
Bill – I actually agree that if the signs are placed there illegally then they should be taken down. But, two things:
1. I don’t agree that the woman you reference was a “good samaritan.” This woman should be either a) escalating to local or state authorities to take the signs down or b) posting her own pro-Palestinian posters to force the issue with local or state authorities (honestly I don’t know why someone hasn’t done this already). Tearing down the posters herself is layering a second wrong onto a first wrong, and I frankly think she deserves to have been confronted, though not to the level you describe of the guy that did confront her.
2. There was a second argument made not by you, but by a couple of others, that the fact that the posters will likely have no impact on bringing the hostages home and the large distance between here and Israel are legitimate reasons they shouldn’t be posted. I completely reject this argument.
The posters are purely performative.
Nobody in Westport is in a position to return *anyone* now. And nobody who would be returned now, would be returned to Westport, Connecticut.
This seems to be about utilizing the tragic abduction of the innocent victims of 10/7 to push an agenda that has nothing to do with the safe return of the hostages.
How about actually doing some research on RunForTheirLives, the group that put up the posters, to understand their “agenda” before commenting? I think you’d find that their agenda is not quite what you’re implying.
In your rush to judgement, you’ve very clearly laid out your own one-sided and biased agenda.
So the main question raised is- “Are these signs on the bridge- legal or illegal?”
If legal they should remain on the bridge.
If illegal they should be removed when notified by the authorities with jurisdiction. Under no circumstance should they be removed by vigilante citizens deciding what is legal or illegal. Call the police and find out what can be done if you feel that strongly about it!
Imagine for a minute- on a per capita comparison of the USA to Israel- what would the USA do, and when would it stop, if the towns of Westport and Weston were slaughter and all the school children in those towns were take hostage. And then- the perpetrators were on a daily basis shooting rockets into Detroit, Buffalo, Albany and New York City. And continually calling for the destruction of the USA from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Posted below is most of the RunForTheir Lives website information- It is a peaceful movement trying to get strength in numbers by putting the innocent plight of the hostages in front of a larger audience.
“Run for Their Lives
Global run/walk events calling for the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas
What is the activity?
Local communities meet once a week in a designated location in the neighborhood, for a short 1km walk/run. It takes about 18 minutes end to end. These groups also:
Wear unified t-shirts
Carry flags of the countries whose citizens are among the hostages
Shoot videos saying: “Run for Their Lives (to) Bring Them Home, + the location, Then, spread this event on social media, and raise awareness for the release of the hostages still in Gaza.
What if I don’t run…
No worries—people of all physical abilities are welcome. Most of our groups actually prefer walking the 1km, which usually takes less than 18 minutes. The term ‘Run’ is symbolic, emphasizing that the hostages cannot run for their lives. We run or walk on their behalf, because they can’t—and to act before it’s too late.
What about my safety
That’s a valid concern these days. Make your best judgment to decide if it’s safe.
A couple of principles to make this safer:
Don’t protest!
Don’t disturb your neighbors. Do it quietly and don’t block roads. Be polite and peaceful.
Focus on humanity. This is about innocent children, women, the elderly, and other civilians being held by terrorists—not about the war.
We encourage carrying flags of all countries from which there are hostages (Amazon).
Can I bring kids?
Yes! This is a family-friendly event. It is non-violent and does not focus on the traumatic events that occurred during the hostages’ captivity. Our events are meant to be quiet and peaceful.
How does it help?
Making this a global movement shows world leaders that we all care, regardless of nationality or religion. You don’t need to be Jewish or Israeli to be disturbed by this crisis—all people around the world should be. We’ve seen locals, who are not directly related to the story, asking to join this movement because they feel for the hostages and believe in the cause.
Innocent children, women, the elderly, and young people should not be living in tunnels 20 meters underground for over a year—they should be in their homes with their families.
Until this crisis is resolved, the world risks normalizing this unbearable situation. Our focus is not on the “how” (whether to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu or Yahya Sinwar). We are solely focused on the “what”: doing everything possible to bring them home!
Brother Matt speaks the truth.
Let the signs remain.