LEDYARD MAY DUMP AMBULANCE SERVICE
The Town of Ledyard may soon turn to a new ambulance company. After decades of service and amid growing concerns of missed calls and slow response times from the Ledyard Volunteer Emergency Squad, the town council directed Mayor Fred Allyn III to not renew the town’s contract with LVES at the end of the current fiscal year and instead authorized him to put out a request for proposals for ambulance service. A sampling of 85 calls that came in over the past several months, showed that 40 percent of the time the ambulance service’s response time exceeded 18 minutes. And there were frequently occasions where LVES was unable to respond to a call at all.
SPARE MONTVILLE
In a bipartisan letter dated March 26th, five state legislators representing Montville are asking the Connecticut State Board of Education to waive penalties the town could face for violating its minimum budget requirement. On Feb. 22nd, the Chief Financial Officer of the Connecticut State Department of Education sent letters to the superintendents of six municipalities, including Montville, informing them that they’re currently in non-compliance status with the 2017-18 minimum budget requirement. If the issue is not sorted out before the end of the fiscal year, the department would hold back $355,000 in Education Cost Sharing money from Montville in 2018-19. That is double the amount of which the town is under the minimum.
BRIDGE PLANS RELEASED
The state Department of Transportation presented their planned upgrades to the Niantic River Bridge last night, emphasizing that it would minimize the impact to the communities, especially in the summer months, during the two-year project. The $15 million dollar project, expected to be funded with 80 percent federal and 20 percent state funds, is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2020 and be completed by the fall of 2022.
LEE-SEALES SENTENCED
Shaquan Lee-Seales, who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter with a firearm for the shooting death of Gilberto Olivencia of New London was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday, suspended after 15 years served, followed by five years of probation. Lee-Seales accepted the offer to plead guilty to reduced charges in exchange for the 15-year prison sentence. On Wednesday, the day before his sentencing hearing, Lee-Seales notified the court that he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea but yesterday his attorney said Lee-Seales decided to withdraw the motion and accept the sentence. Had he been convicted of murder at trial, Lee-Seales would have faced a sentence of up to 65 years.
NUTMEG PAYS FOR POLICE K-9
Employees at the Nutmeg Companies in the Norwich Business Park yesterday received a demonstration of the city’s police K-9 unit. The denonstration was a thank-you from the police department to the building contracting firm after it donated 75-hundred dollars to buy a new police k-9. “Ozzie’, a german shepherd, has been with the force for eleven days, replacing “Keeto”, who retired in January. Co-owner of Nutmeg Companies, Jason Bugbee, says the donation is designed to motivate other companies to donate to similar causes. Ozzie, and officer Ken Wright are now in a 16-week training program at the state’s facility in Meriden. Norwich police have three k-9 units, two for tracking, and a third to detect narcotics.
