Savvy Smoker was busted this week.
That’s as regular a headline as “New York Giants lose.”
Law enforcement has served 4 warrants since December 2023 — including twice in the past 2 months — after complaints of non-licensed cannabis sales, and selling to minors. Numerous marijuana and THC products were seized, and a sales associate arrested.
So why hasn’t the store been shut down?
“Its frustrating,” Westport Police Chief Foti Koskinas acknowledges.
“We report every incident to the state. But they, and the Department of Consumer Protection, say they can’t do anything.”
Koskinas will meet with Representative Town Meeting leaders next week. He hopes the RTM can draft an ordinance to take action against a store, after a certain number of violations.
The chief also spoke with the Aspetuck Health District. They were sympathetic, but could not find language to make repeated arrests a public health issue.
“They pay fines,” Koskinas says of the Savvy Smoker, which seems to be living up to its name. “But they keep on going.”
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Today is the beginning of Passover. Next Sunday is Easter.
And this past week marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
It’s a tholiday tradition to visit civil service offices, meet the executive officers, and give thanks and appreciation for the contributions and services they provide.
Members of the Ismaili Muslim community gave Eid al-Fitr gifts of appreciation to 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker, 2nd Selectwoman Andrea Moore, Police Chief Foti Koskinas and Fire Chief Nick Marsan, for their efforts on behalf of the Ismaili Muslim community and the people of Westport.
Town officials, with representatives of the Ismaili Muslim community.
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Happy 100th birthday, “Great Gatsby”!
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel — hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of American literature” — was published a century ago this week.
In its honor, the Boston Globe has looked back at the author, and his muse.
The path leads to Westport.
Taking note of the work of Robert Steven Williams and Richard Webb — Westporters who have written and made a film about the possible role our town played in inspired some of the characters and scenes — the Globe says:
When Fitzgerald arrived in Westport in May of 1920, both he and it were entering new eras. He was newly married and on honeymoon with Zelda, a vivacious 19-year-old Alabaman who later became a writer as well. Westport, meanwhile, was leaving its agricultural roots behind and becoming a more industrialized, suburban enclave that parades of wealthy New Yorkers, Bostonians, and other city dwellers took the train to visit. Artists like the Fitzgeralds, priced out of more established communities like Greenwich, came too.
At the time, Westport was practically lawless. The town’s police had little interest in enforcing Prohibition and bootleggers smuggling Canadian liquor criss-crossed Long Island Sound. The Fitzgeralds drank heavily at speakeasies, skinny dipped, and partied on the beach. “It was a bit like the Wild West,” said Robert Steven Williams, a Westport resident and one of the filmmakers behind “Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story,” a 2020 documentary.
Click here for the full Boston Globe article. (Hat tips: Fred Cantor, Gwen Tutun)
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Speaking of important novels: As a student at Staples High School, Shelley Fisher’s most memorable assignment came from English teacher Tony Arciola: a paper on how Mark Twain used irony to attack racism in “Huckleberry Finn.”
She became a member of Yale’s first graduating class to include women. She earned a doctorate in American studies, and — as a professor of English at Stanford — Shelley Fisher Fishkin is now one of the nation’s foremost Twain scholars.
Her newest book — to be published Tuesday — is “Jim: The Life and Afterlives of Huckleberry Finn’s Comrades.” It explores the influence of the enslaved made on his young white companion.
Press materials call Jim “a highly polarizing figure: hH is viewed as an emblem both of Twain’s alleged racism and of his opposition to racism; a diminished character inflected by minstrelsy and a powerful challenge to minstrel stereotypes; a reason for banning ‘Huckleberry Finn’ and a reason for teaching it; an embarrassment and a source of pride for Black readers.”
Fishkin explores Twain’s portrayal of him, as well as Jim’s “afterlife” in film, translation, and classrooms today. “The result is Jim as we have never seen him before — a fresh and compelling portrait of one of the most memorable Black characters in American fiction.” Click here to order, and for more information. (Hat tip: Dick Lowenstein)
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Speaking of Staples: Ben Casparius made his Major League Baseball debut last season.
Cooper Boardman made it Thursday night.
Casparius — a 2017 Wrecker grad — did it on the mound, for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Boardman’s achievement was in the broadcast booth.
The 2017 Staples and 2021 Syracuse University grad called his first major league game, for the Boston Red Sox’s WEEI radio network. He’s doing all 3 games of the series in Chicago, against the White Sox.
According to the Ruden Report, which broke the story, Boardman has been broadcasting Boston’s AAA Worcester games since 2021. He has also worked for Fox Sports and Westword One, working college basketball, softball and lacrosse.
Boardman began his career at Staples. He called a number of sports, and won several John Drury Awards. Click here for the WEEI Tweet.
Cooper Boardman
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Speaking still of Staples: Democracy is not dead.
Every spring and fall, Westport’s League of Women Voters registers new voters at Staples High School.
This week, they enrolled 39 seniors, in both parties. They handed out about 20 applications to others.
The new voters’ first chance will come this November, in local elections.
Westport’s newest voters, at Staples High School.
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Harbor Watch knows their people.
Every year, Earthplace’s water quality research program hosts a “Cocktails & Clams” fundraiser.
Every year, it sells out.
This year’s event is May 31 (5 to 7 p.m., Copps Island Oysters).
As always, the draw is an unlimited raw bar with fresh oysters and clams, canapés, drinks and live music, at the scenic Norwalk Harbor venue.
All proceeds support Harbor Watch’s science education programs. Faced with significant federal funding cuts, this year’s gala is crucial to empower local youth as future environmental stewards.
To purchase tickets, become a sponsor or make a tax-deductible donation, click here.
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Party planning is stressful.
Marinda Freeman can help. The former executive director of Martha Stewart Catering will discuss her new book, “Everything is an Event,” on May 2 (4 p.m., Westport Library).
A Q-and-A and signing session will follow. Registration is $5. Attendees receive a 25% book discount. Click here for more information.
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One of the joys of this time of year is the return of chirping birds.
This blue jay hung out at Richard Fogel’s feeder — and posed for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.
(Photo/Richard Fogel)
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And finally … you may have figured this one was coming, based on the photo above.
Or not.
(Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald — today, Westport meets the world AND some literary superstars. Just another “06880” day. If you enjoy Roundups like this, please click here to support us. Thanks!)