Tag Archives: Boy Scout Troop 39; Scout Troop 139

O Christmas Tree! Scouts Ready To Haul Yours Away.

Christmas is in the rear view mirror.

Your tree is still up. It still smells fresh. But pretty soon, it will meet its expiration date.

Getting rid of a Christmas tree is nowhere near as fun as getting one.

No problem!

As they do every year, Scout Troops 39 and 139 can help.

Their annual Christmas tree pickup is Saturday, January 4. Just fill out this form. (Do it ASAP – there are a limited number of spots!)

Put your tree by your mailbox by 6:30 a.m. that morning. The suggested donation is $20 per tree (of course, you can give more!). Put it in an envelope (cash or check made payable to “Troop 39”); tape it to you front door.

All trees will be mulched into wood chips, and donated to the town for landscaping projects. Funds raised help pay for Scout activities all year long, and for chipping expenses.

NOTE: Scouts cannot take wreaths or garlands. The wires ruin tree chippers.

The Scouts add: “We are not perfect. If we don’t pick up your tree by 5 p.m. Saturday, January 4, please send an email with your name, address and phone number to troop39westport@gmail.com by 8 p.m. We will pick up your tree Sunday morning January 5, before we return the rental trucks.

Scouts in action.

NOTE: If  you miss the Scout pick-up — or for some reason don’t want their help — you have a couple of other options.

You (or your trash hauler) can bring your tree to the yard waste facility (180 Bayberry Lane). Be sure to remove all tinsel and decorations (duh) first.

You may not take your tree to the Sherwood Island Connector transfer station. Christmas trees — even dead ones — are not trash. They cannot be recycled. (You can, of course, take your fake tree there.)

Another option is “Trees for Trout.” Donating a clean tree helps create new habitats in the Norwalk River. There is a $10 donation fee. Click here for details.

(Photo/Amy Schneider)

Roundup: Veterans’ Wreaths, Nicholas Britell, Senator Blumenthal …

Wreaths Across America is a national program, honoring fallen servicemembers, and all who serve. Over 2 million volunteers take part, in all 50 states and overseas.

This year, for the first time, Westport joined in.

On Saturday, Scouts from Troops 139 and 39 honored Westport veterans buried at Assumption Cemetery on Greens Farms Road.  They placed a remembrance wreath on each grave, after a short but moving ceremony.

Kudos to the Scouts, and local coordinator Patty Kondub. Among many other activities, she’s vice president of the VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399 Auxiliary.

Thanks too to all who donated, to help decorate our veterans’ graves. It sounds like the start of an important new Westport tradition.

Scouts who participated in Saturday’s Wreaths Across America event.

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Our “06880” Roundup often links to David Pogue’s “CBS Sunday Morning” segments. Our Westport neighbor frequently films his pieces here — at his home, on his street and in random spots around town.

Yesterday, he offered a double dose of Westport. He interviewed Nicholas Britell, The composer — who scoed “Succession,” “Moonlight,” “12 Years a Slave” and “The Underground Railroad,” among others — moved here at age 13. He graduated from Hopkins School in New Haven in 1998, then headed to Juilliard and Harvard.

Pogue — who has his own musical theater chops, including stints as a Broadway musical director, conductor and arranger, before wandering off to become a New York Times tech writer, PBS “Nova” personality and CBS “professional explainer,” among many other things — interviewed Britell.

They talked about how movie scores are written. Or not written. The Westport native noted that sometimes, it’s best to leave the music out altogether.

Click below to see. (Hat tip: Hedi Lieberman)

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An accident yesterday temporarily shut down Riverside Avenue, and sent one person to the hospital.

Westport Fire and Police Departments, and EMS, responded to the vehicle rollover. After stabilizing the vehicle and removing the occupant, firefighters used grip hoists to perform a controlled roll and put the car back on its wheels.

The scene on Riverside Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Westport Fire Department)

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Senator Richard Blumenthal worked Thursday night in Washington, until 10 p.m.

But he returned to Connecticut early Friday morning, and joined the Y’s Men of Westport and Weston for their 10 a.m. meeting at the Westport Library.

Click below to hear the Senator’s thoughts — and his responses to questions from former 1st Selectman Jim Marpe.

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Frank Sisson describes today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo:

“This magnificent tree spotlit by the late afternoon sun, and the stripes painted by its shadows and those of its fellow trees in the golden hour lighting around 3:30 p.m. at Winslow Park seemed particularly striking and photo-worthy.”

Agreed!

(Photo/Frank Sisson)

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And finally … as Adam Sandler notes, there are far more Christmas carols than Hanukkah songs.

He’s doing his part to narrow the gap. Oy!

(Feel free to send some Hanukkah gelt the “06880” way. Just click here — and thank you!)

We Remember …

In the years following the Civil War, Americans began a springtime ritual of decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags.

That was the start of Decoration Day. Today we call it Memorial Day.

On Saturday, Boy Scouts with Troop 39 — and Troop 139, Westport’s first female Scout troop — continued the tradition.

They decorated the headstones and markers of scores of military members at 5 cemeteries: Greens Farms Congregational Church upper and lower; Assumption; Christ & Holy Trinity, and Willowbrook.

I saw them, as they finished at Christ & Holy Trinity cemetery on Kings Highway North. After they left, I visited those graves.

Some honored men killed in action, as far back as the Civil War.

Others led long lives, after service in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam.

The Boy Scouts remember them.

All of Westport should too.

(Cemetery photos/Dan Woog)

Thank you, Troops 39 and 139!

(Photo/Laurie Cizek Brannigan)