Posted onApril 21, 2025|Comments Off on Student Power: Youth Commission Seeks Members
Danya Herman writes: “Margaret Mead said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’
“As a sophomore at Greens Farms Academy who had recently moved from New York City to Westport, I never imaged I could have a voice in the governing of our town. That is, until I heard about the Westport Youth Commission.
“After attending my first general meeting and then, through getting involved in projects and sharing my voice, moving up the ranks to now be on the executive committee my junior year, I’ve seen how this quote defines the work we do.
“We are not just a group of students and adults; we are a rising tide, shaping the shores of our community bit by bit with every idea, conversation, and event.
“Whether through Dodge-A-Cop, where laughter and friendly competition fill the Staples fieldhouse and relationships are built one dodgeball throw at a time, or the iMentor Internet Safety Program, where we become guiding stars for elementary and middle school students navigating the vast digital and social sky, our work proves that youth are not just the future; we are the present.
Police and Staples students, before a Dodge-a-Cop dodgeball event.
“I love being part of the Westport Youth Commission because together, we are not just waiting for a better town. We are helping create it.”
Westport Youth Commission applications for the 2025-26 school year are available now. They’re looking for 9th-12th graders interested in discussing youth issues each month, while making a difference in the community.
The WYC includes 15 high school students and 15 adults), all recommended by the Board Development Committee and appointed by the First Selectwoman.
The application deadline is May 2. Click here for an application form, and more information.
A student discount program is another Youth Commission initiative.
Comments Off on Student Power: Youth Commission Seeks Members
Eric Freeman is a partner in a real estate investment firm. He and his wife are raising young sons. A former viola player, he sits on the board of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra.
That’s the organization that, for over 20 years, has provided educational opportunities — and much more — to young men of color, from communities less advantaged than Westport. It’s one of our town’s crown (and underpublicized) jewels.
A few days before ABC’s big fundraiser, the Dream Event — it’s Saturday, April 26 — Eric and I chatted for the “06880” podcast. Click below to learn more.
Just a few days after Passover, the Israeli flag that hung outside Mark Scheck’s house was torn down .
All that remains of the flag.
Mark says 2 new flags will go back up. Along with a security camera.
================================================
Another day, another rescue by Peter Reid.
Julie Loparo sends this latest story, about Westport’s animal control officer:
“At a time when local wildlife are dealing with the effect of habitat destruction due to rampant and unchecked clear cutting of trees and demolition of green space, it is not surprising that our wildlife mothers need to think outside of the box for safe lodging.
“Last week Peter (who wears another hat as intake director for Wildlife in Crisis) received a call from a resident. She calmly said there was an opossum residing in her home.
“Officer Reid responded quickly. He found the opossum — a mother with a full pouch of babies — taking a respite in the home owner’s cat tree.
“Officer Reid safely and humanely moved entire cat tree outside, and placed water and opossum nutrition near it.
“By the next morning, the mother opossum had found a new — hopefully safe — spot for shelter.
“We thank the local resident for not panicking, and instead of calling a ‘pest control’ service, contacting Animal Control Officer Reid. We also thank him too, for once again providing another wildlife rescue.
“Of course, we would be remiss not to thank our friend the opossum, who single-handedly (or single-pawedly) can devour 5,000 ticks a year, while acting as a natural pest controller in our yarda.
“Like mother opossum, we humans have to think outside the box sometimes, to live peacefully and humanely with our wildlife friends.”
Two follow-ups to yesterday’s Roundup item on the striking art print recently posted on the Compo Beach lifeguard shack.
Stacy Bass reports that the artist is Julie Headland.
It’s part of the Westporter’s “I’m Fine” project. Julie explains on her website:
“In early 2020 the world was succumbing to a pandemic, and my husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Friends and neighbors continually checked in and kindly asked: ‘How are you?’
“I was numb, and typically answered: ‘I’m fine.”
“One day as the words left my mouth, I had an epiphany. My world was collapsing, but the brave little girl inside knew she must overcome and survive.
“Thus, the I’M FINE Project was born. The little girl in each piece inspires us to take heart and overcome the world.
“In time these playful parodies gave rise to both public and private comments by strangers expressing their own personal struggles. That is when I realized the I’M FINE Project was also a way to amuse and encourage others who were suffering.
“I am deeply aware of the pain and struggle in the world, and I do not wish to make light of suffering. But I have an optimistic aesthetic, which I am keen to convey with as much wit and whimsy as I can muster.”
Meanwhile, evidence that Headland’s work is truly Westport-based comes from a close-up photo, of the larger work.
Matt Murray’s image shows clearly something many viewers may have missed:
(Photo/Matt Murray)
================================================
Speaking of Compo Beach: A new memorial there honors Max Harper. The Staples High School senior died in September.
Visitors to the stone — located near the cannons, not far from where a memorial service drew hundreds of classmates and friends last fall — have left rocks, flowers, a baseball hat and more, as tributes.
(Photo/Pam Docters)
===============================================
Speaking still of Compo: There are plenty of less permanent sights on and offshore, too.
You might see a proposal or wedding. A pop-up water polo practice. Rupert Murdoch’s old yacht.
And, this past weekend, a guy shucking oysters for 2 women, at a working bar.
Lynda Bluestein’s legendary life has been captured in a documentary.
“Other Side” tells the story of the last months of her life. The longtime Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport member won a landmark legal case allowing her, as an out-of-state resident to take advantage of Vermont’s medical aid in dying law.
The film will be shown at the Westport Library on June 29 (1:30 p.m.). Seating is limited. Click here to register.
Pam Docters offers today’s “Westport … Naturally” image from Compo Road South, near Longshore, and writes: “While big bursts of color from the cherry trees, dogwoods and forsythias grab all the attention, I love the smaller flowers in all their glory.”
And finally … I had never heard of Mac Gayden before yesterday.
But the musician — who died on Wednesday in Nashville at 83, from complications of Parkinson’s — had an intriguing resume.
He co-wrote “Everlasting Love” — a Top 40 hit in 4 straight decades — and played guitar on Bob Dylan’s “Absolutely Sweet Marie.” Click here for his obituary.
(Please click here to support “06880” with a tax-deductible contribution. You’ll absolutely have our everlasting love. Thank you!)
A few years earlier she started a memory garden on her property, in honor of loved ones lost.
Daffodils were among the first to bloom, each spring. The yellow bulbs are beautiful — and a welcome sign that new life everywhere is about to explode.
Debra already had hundreds of the flowers. She knew and loved Willowbrook Cemetery’s display on Main Street too.
But she wanted to see thousands more, all over town. And fall was the right time to plant them.
She started a campaign, called “Paint the Town Yellow.” With support from “06880,” she asked residents, business owners and town officials to participate.
They did — in spades.
Every spring since, Westport has been awash in daffodils. Seeing them on roadsides, in front of businesses, and nearly everywhere else, we can’t help but smile.
Debra does too. And she thinks of her memory garden.
Last September, when Staples High School senior Max Harper died, Debra suggested that daffodils be planted in his memory.
Half a year later, we see the fruits of their labors. New daffodils are joining older perennials, to the joy of us all.
Near the Longshore golf course 1st tee.
In front of the Parks & Recreation office, also at Longshore.
Grace Salmon Park …
… and nearby, on Compo Road South.
North Avenue, across from Staples. (Photo/Jennifer Kobetitsch)
One view of Willowbrook Cemetery, off Main Street … (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
(As Debra Kandrak and many others paint the town yellow, please click here to send some green to “06880.” Your donation helps us spring ahead, in our daily coverage of Westport. Thank you!)
Judge Alan Nevas — member of a prominent Westport family, a towering presence in Connecticut legal circles for over half a century, and a 3-term member of the state House of Representatives — died yesterday at his home here surrounded by his family, after a brief struggle with lymphoma. He was 97.
Nevas was born in Norwalk. He was a 1945 graduate of Stamford High School, and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame.
He received a BA from Syracuse University in 1949, and a Bachelor of Laws from New York University School 2 years later.
He was in private practice in Westport from 1951 to 1981, except for 3 years in the Army as a sergeant first class (1952 to ’54).
Judge Alan Nevas
Inspired by a visit to Westport by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the summer of 1964, Nevas traveled to Mississippi to represent, pro bono, civil rights activists who had been arrested.
He was elected to the Westport Board of Finance, serving one term as chair. He was elected 3 times to the Connecticut House of Representatives. He served from 1971 to 1977, including 2 terms as a deputy leader.
Nevas was also a justice of the peace in Westport from 1976 to 1981. He served on the boards of numerous organizations that were important to him, including Norwalk Hospital and the Jewish Home for the Elderly in Fairfield.
In 1981, President Reagan appointed Nevas as US Attorney for the District of Connecticut. He served until 1985, when Reagan named him to the US District Court for the District of Connecticut.
After confirmation by the US Senate he served until his retirement in 2009, having assumed senior status in 1997. During his tenure, his colleagues elected him as president of the Federal Judges Association.
Following retirement from the federal bench, Judge Nevas once again entered private practice, primarily as a highly sought after arbitrator and mediator.
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell selected him to chair the state’s investigation into causes of the deadly 2010 explosion at the Kleen Energy power plant in Middletown, and to chair the committee that allocated $7.7 million in funds to families impacted by the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown.
Judge Nevas was a lifelong fan of the New York Giants, through good and mostly bad times. He and his wife Janet were world travelers, visiting all 7 continents. They enjoyed socializing with their many friends, trips to Manhattan for dining and culture, and summers on Martha’s Vineyard with their extended family.
In 2021, at 93, he was the oldest runner among nearly 1,200 in the traditional Chilmark Road Race on Martha’s Vineyard. He completed the hilly 3.1-mile course, in hot weather, in 1:08.37.6.
Judge Alan Nevas (Photo courtesy of WestportNow)
Nevas was married to Janet for nearly 66 years. They met in 1958 when he saw her across the room at a resort in New Hampshire, and asked her to dance.
She survives him, as do their children, Andrew (Jodie) Nevas of Westport, Debra Nevas (Jonathan Abrams) of Short Hills, New Jersey, and Nathaniel (Leslie Radel) of Wilton. He is also survived by grandchildren Zachary, Chloe, Maxwell and Adam Nevas, and Alexa and Seth Abrams; sister Dorothy Freedman of Westport, sister-in-law Judith Broudy; nieces and nephews Janet Freedman, Susan Filan, Ellen Wilner, Joshua Broudy and Matthew Broudy, and numerous cousins. He was predeceased by his brothers-in-law Charles Broudy and Frederick Freedman.
Funeral services will take place at Temple Israel on Tuesday (April 22, 10 a.m. (livestreamed at tiwestport.org), followed by burial at the Independent Hebrew Cemetery in Norwalk. For more information and to share a condolence message, click here.
Not all of them fly from nautical-looking masts, though.
One that does is at Sconset Square. I guess the “sea” theme comes from its Nantucket-sounding name, a replacement for the original Sherwood Square (which honored one of Westport’s more notable seafaring families, who may or may not have once sailed to Sconset).
Morley Boyd, Andrew Colabella, Tom Feeley and Sal Liccione were the readers who got last week’s Photo Challenge — a shot of that flag — correct. (Click here to see.)
Morley and Sal live nearby. They see it every day.
Andrew is everywhere in Westport. He sees it every day too, I’m sure.
Tom Feeley lives in Florida. But he knows his onions. And his Sherwoods, and Sconsets.
Congratulations to all.
Here is today’s Photo Challenge. If you know where in Westport you’d see this, click “Comments” below.
(Photo/Ed Simek)
(Every Sunday, “06880” hosts this Photo Challenge. We challenge you too to support your hyper-local blog. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
Meanwhile, nearby, Banksy — or someone like him — has come to Westport.
An intriguing bit of street art — more aptly, “boardwalk art” — appeared recently, at the Compo Beach lifeguard shack.
Print at the lifeguard shack. (Hat tip and photo/Andrew Colabella)
No one seems to know who is behind the print. But it sure adds color and interest, a few weeks before the guards arrive.
Meanwhile, a few yards away, a number of fence pickets — relics of the previous playground renovation — remain. They’ve been offered to families and organizations who bought them, to help fund the 2009 rebuild.
The 2025 re-do begins tomorrow. New pickets are part of the project. They may be available to donors in the 2040s.
But — on the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord — over 100 people gathered at the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge. As with the earlier demonstration, they held signs decrying a number of actions by the Trump administration.
Once again, many — but not all — drivers honked in support.
Another protest is planned next Saturday.
(Photos/Adam Stolpen)
=================================================
David Pogue left Westport last year, for Bedford, New York.
But he’s back (almost) for the 4th annual Norwalk Earth Day Festival.
The “CBS Sunday Morning”/PBS “Nova”/New York Times tech writer (and much more) returns on April 26 (11 a.m., Mill Hill Historic Park), for a talk on “Climate Hope.”
Organizers promise “10 surprising reasons for hope,” and 10 impactful actions anyone can take to help protect our planet. Click here for tickets.
The event, on the Norwalk Green, also includes vendors, healing arts, kids’ activities, a labyrinth, picnic grove, tree planting, “trashion” show and beer garden. Click here for more information.
Speaking of the environment: Weston’s EcoFest is set for May 4 (11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Lachat Town Farm).
The day of environmental service, celebration and education includes community members, local businesses and organizations, showcasing sustainable products and initiatives.
There’s live music by high school bands; food trucks and vendors; family-friendly games and activities; mini-speaking series on topics like pollinator planting, eco-gardening, electrified lawn care and recycling, plus a live animal presentation.
There’s also a bottle and can drive,with raffle (marking Weston’s collection of its millionth bottle and can). Every 25 redeemable containers offers a chance to win $250.
Speaking (still) of the environment: Westport’s Shellfish Commission takes care of the land, as well as the water.
The other day, members Jamie Walsh and Jesse Harte, plus former Conservation Department director Alicia Mozian and interested Westporter Heather Walklet collected 5 large bags of trash — plus assorted large sections of styrofoam — at Longshore’s Hendricks Point.
Jamie Walsh, Alicia Mozian and Heather Walklet, picking up our trash.
It’s an annual clean-up for them.
And an annual reminder to Westporters: Pick up your own trash, please! That’s not the Shellfish Commission’s job!
And speaking of environmental cleanups: Sustainable Westport invites volunteers to help along the Longshore waterfront and surrounding areas next Saturday (April 26, 2 to 4 p.m.; meet at the pavilion).
It’s part of the town-wide Earth Day clean-up, organized by the Parks & Recreation Department. Click here to volunteer.
Last year’s Longshore coastal cleanup. (Photo/Brandon Malin)
Camp season is creeping — okay, zooming — up on parents.
Some kids love sports. Others are passionate about arts.
For STEM-minded boys and girls in grades 1-8, there’s a week-long Daley Genius STEM Camp (June 25 to July 2, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Content Studio, 20 Saugatuck Avenue, next to the Goddard School).
There are several “free libraries” around town: small structures (and one “bookcycle”) that offer books to anyone who wants them. (Or, of course, wants to donate volumes to them.)
Most patrons are people walking or biking by.
There is one at the corner of Hillandale Road and Morningside Drive South. Neighbor Bob Weingarten sees plenty of pedestrians look at the kiosk. However, he says, until the other day he had never seen someone stop their car, and browse.
The concert by pianists Dr. Liang-Fang Chang and Dr. Uriel Tsachor at Saugatuck Congregational Church — postponed earlier this month — has been rescheduled for April 27 (4 p.m.).
The Y’s Men of Westport & Weston co-sponsor the free event, on the church’s Steinway grand piano.
Longtime Westport resident Jeanne Nylen died April 15. She had suffered a stroke 2 weeks earlier.
The Fairfield native and Wheaton College graduate married Samuel Nylen in 1962. They moved here 2 years later.
Jeanne served as a Girl Scout leader, Nature Center docent, teacher’s assistant, and head of the Hillspoint Elementary School PTA.
Later, she pursued her passion for exploring by becoming a travel agent with Westport Travel, and visiting Hong Kong, Morocco, the Arctic Circle, and much of Europe.
After Sam died in 1999, Jeanne opened her home to visiting Chinese teachers. She hosted 8, through a Staples High School program.
In retirement Jeanne cared for her grandchildren, and enjoyed the theater, symphony and opera, her book group, and tennis. She was also a decades-long member of the Green’s Farms Congregational Church.
Jeanne is survived by her daughter Wendy (James Hopkins) of Bridgeport; step-grandson Samuel Hopkins (Krissy) and 2 great-grandchildren of South Glastonbury, and son Toby (Gail) of Sutton, Massachusetts, and grandchildren Dallas, Victoria and Sam Nylen.
A memorial service will be held later.
Jeanne Nylen
=============================================
It’s that time of year: American oystercatchers have returned to the eastern end of Compo’s South Beach, to nest.
Once again, that area has been roped off, to provide the shorebirds the space and quiet they need to breed.
Matt Murray spotted these important signs, for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.
And finally … well, you knew this was coming, right?
(Happy Easter, to all who celebrate! And whether you do or not, feel free to click here, to fill our basket with a joy. And also a contribution to “06880.” Thank you all!)
As has been done for 2 millennia, this sacred day is celebrated very close to Passover.
And this year, Ramadan ended just a few days ago.
Christianity, Judaism and Islam — along with nearly every other religion — share certain tenets.
All honor charity, justice, compassion and respect.
Followers are called to help their fellow human beings. They are commanded to live lives of kindness, seeking truth, love, mercy and forgiveness.
Many other people, with no religious affiliation, believe in these values too.
Today, our planet is in a precarious place. Our nation faces existential threats.
Even here in Westport — a place of beauty, wonder and privilege — we find ourselves fearful and argumentative.
At this holiday time, some may find inspiration or solace in the sermons of a pastor, rabbi or imam. Some may read with renewed interest the words in the Bible, Torah or Quran.
Some may simply revel in the changing of the seasons, finding hope in the daffodils, forsythia and willows bursting with new life all around us.
(Photo/Molly Alger)
No one knows what lies ahead. But each of us has something — religious teachings, the lessons of history, and/or a personal set of values and beliefs — to guide us.
We only have one town, one country, one Earth.
Whatever our religious beliefs — or even if we have none at all — let’s treat everyone, and everything, with charity, justice, compassion and respect.
Amen.
Good Friday sunrise, Saugatuck Shores (Photo/Matt Fortuna)
Click here to help support “06880” via credit card or PayPal. Any amount is welcome, appreciated — and tax-deductible! Reader contributions keep this blog going. (Alternate methods: Please send a check to “06880”: PO Box 744, Westport, CT 06881. Or use Venmo: @blog06880. Or Zelle: dwoog@optonline.net. Thanks!)
GET THE “06880” APP
The “06880” app (search for it on the Apple or Android store) is the easiest way to get “06880.” Choose notifications: whenever a new post is published, or once or twice a day. Click here for details.
Followers are called to help their fellow human beings. They are commanded to live lives of kindness, seeking truth, love, mercy and forgiveness.
