If you spend any time at Compo Beach, you know how great the maintenance staff is.
All day long — and into the night — they empty trash, move benches, and do whatever else is needed to keep the place clean. They are hard-working, polite, and eager to please.
Most faces change over time. But one is constant. Scott Smith writes:
I visit the beach to swim or walk most every day during summer (all year-round, really). For as long as I can recall, I’ve noticed the remarkable work of a Parks & Rec staffer making the rounds to empty the garbage/recycling receptables up and down the roadways and sidewalks.
Michael Johnson is. hands down, the most hard-working employee of any organization, company or place I’ve seen. Driving his golf cart utility vehicle from bin to bin, he’s the reason Compo’s notorious seagulls (basically racoons with wings) haven’t completely taken over the beach.
I’m in awe of his energy.
Today I happened to park alongside a garbage cans he was pulling up to. I asked to take his picture.
He took a moment to oblige. He said he has worked at Compo for 18 years, and was on duty until the end of the season.
Michael Johnson (Photo/Scott Smith)
He’s a cheery guy. But soon he was on his way. Duty calls.
If Michael isn’t an Unsung Hero of 06880, I don’t know who is.
He is! Thanks, Scott, for recognizing Michael Johnson. As all of us who go to Compo do — our Unsung Hero of the Week.
(Do you know an Unsung Hero? Email 06880blog@gmail.com. “06880” is proud to honor them — and tell many other tales of town too. Please click here to help us do that, by supporting this hyper-local blog.)
The Staples High School boys basketball team reached the end of the line yesterday.
#1 ranked St. Bernard-Uncasville topped the #7 Wreckers, 63-50 in the state Division II finals, at Mohegan Sun.
But Staples’ heads are high. First-year coach Dave Goldshore’s squad enjoyed a storybook season. They reached the FCIAC championship game, then electrified everyone with a stunning 4th-quarter comeback from 18 points down in the state semifinal to advance to the title game for the first time in 86 years.
And they did it all with talent, teamwork, tenacity, passion, poise — and plenty of class.
Thanks, Wreckers, for entertaining and inspiring an entire town, all season long!
The 2023 Staples High School boys basketball team.
High on a Bayberry Ridge hill, the mid-century home (designed by noted Broadway set designer Ralph Alswang) and bountiful gardens (inspired by the Villa Ephrussi de Rotshchild) were developed over more than half a century by advertising entrepreneur Barry Blau.
Blau House & Gardens.
It’s a special property. A recent visitor called it “spectacular! Soothing, cool and wonderful to experience the calm and peacefulness of this environment.” Another described it as “nirvana in Westport.”
BHG is a public charity. Its mission is to acquire and transform the intimate, beautiful midcentury building and space into a public asset for arts, horticulture and garden enjoyment.
Blau house, designed by Ralph Alswang.
Pilot programming has included a book reading by a New York Times best- selling author, a college horticulture field trip, a garden lecture for the Garden Conservancy, and several garden tours.
But Blau’s widow Eileen died last week. The future of the property is uncertain. The estate will have to sell the property to meet mortgage and property expenses.
BHG has the opportunity to acquire it — essential to supporting their mission. They need to raise funds now.
$3 million would include:
$1.5 million for the house and gardens
$1 million for adjacent property on Fairview Drive, for parking and support facilities
$500,000 to start an endowment for operations and maintenance, for 5 years.
The minimum needed is $1.5 million, for the Bayberry Ridge property and gardens.
To help, or for more information, email r@blauhouseandgardens.org, or call 203-952-3335. For a PowerPoint presentation on the project, click here. For the Blau House & Gardens website, click here.
With March Madness in full swing, this event tonight seems quite timely:
Positive Directions sends news of a Region I Gambling Awareness Team webinar tonight called “Betting on Your Future: What Parents, Teens and Young Adults Need to Know About Sports Betting.”
The Zoom session covers, among other topics, the import of sports betting on youth and the developing brain, and its correlation to mental health.
The webinar is tonight (Monday, March 20, 7 p.m.). To register, click here.
Long-time Westporter, watercolorist and Save Westport Now board member Matthew Levine has one more passion: healthy vision.
Having worked in eye research grant-making for the past 20 years, he knows that 80% of vision loss is preventable — if people practice healthy habits.
“I wish I’d known years ago what I know about eye health,” he says. “I might have been able to help my father (renowned caricaturist David Levine) from losing his career to macular degeneration.”
But Matthew Levine is helping many others. He appears in a new documentary, “Losing Sight, Finding Hope: Loving with Macular Degeneration,” created by the American Macular Degeneration Foundation.
It premieres tonight (Monday, March 20), at 8 p.m. on YouTube. Click here to see.
If you miss it, no problem. The film will be available afterward, at the same link.
For over 45 years, Our Vision has provided recreational and social activities for people with disabilities.
Among the most popular activities: Special Olympics competitions in bowling, track and swimming.
On April 15, nearly 2 dozen Our Vision members and friends will take part in a Penguin Plunge at Fairfield’s Jennings Beach in Fairfield to raise money for Special Olympics.
As of this morning, Westporter Michael Johnson led, with the most number of donors. Click here to contribute to his campaign, or the team in general.
And finally … Bobby Caldwell died last week, of long-term complications of a toxic reaction to antibiotics. He was 71.
The New York Times called him “a singer-songwriter whose sultry R&B hit “What You Won’t Do for Love” propelled his debut album to double-platinum status in 1978 and was later covered by chart-toppers like Boyz II Men and Michael Bolton….
“Over his 4-decade career Mr. Caldwell swerved freely among genres, exploring R&B, reggae, soft rock and smooth jazz, as well as standards from the Great American Songbook.” Click here for a full obituary.
(From basketball to beauty, “06880” covers Westport. As a non-profit, we rely on readers’ contributions. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
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