PROBLEMS MOUNT
Issues of response times and missed calls aside, the Ledyard Volunteer Ambulance Service is also dealing with an internal legal dispute. One of its members has filed a discrimination complaint based on gender, a bi-polar condition and a perception of post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s resulted in resignations, $4,600 in legal fees and a $1,500 settlement. The contract with the town was ended recently and proposals are being sought for other ambulance service options. Ledyard Volunteer Emergency Services will continue to serve the town until July 1st.
PARENTS SAY GOODBYE
Kirsten Fauquet and John Stratzman, the Groton couple whose parental rights have been legally terminated, saw their children for the last time yesterday. A judge cited the couple’s noncompliance with providers, untreated mental illness and chronic housing instability among his reasons for terminating their parental rights. Some viewed this case as a vengeance by the Dept. of Children and Families after it made mistakes and the couple’s son nearly died in an unlicensed foster home. Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform said he felt DCF wanted to send a message to any parents who dare to speak out about what the agency did to their children.
TRANSIT PETITIONS DELIVERED
Sprague State Sen. Cathy Osten was presented with nearly 4,000 signatures by the ATU Connecticut Legislative Council yesterday from people across the state who signed petitions opposing cuts to bus and rail service. People hope to see those cuts reversed. Right now, they’re delayed after Osten told local officials this week there may be a way to bolster the state’s Special Transportation Fund. Southeast Area Transit District and other transit districts had been notified that they could get a 15 percent cut in state funding starting July 1, while rail branch lines like Shore Line East could see a 50 percent cut.
BURGLARS SOUGHT
Waterford Police are tracking down video as they continue looking for two suspects involved in a string of burglaries that took place overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Two suspects smashed their way into four businesses, three at Waterfall Shopping Center and one in the shopping plaza at 860 Boston Post Road. It appears they smashed their way in through the front door of the businesses. About $250 was stolen. Police are looking for witnesses who may have seen the two individuals in either area around midnight and 1 a.m. Wednesday. One of the suspects was described as a man wearing a light-colored hoodie with pants, and another man wearing a dark-colored hoodie with sweatpants.
MOVIE DEBUTS TONIGHT
WASHINGTON (AP) – A Supreme Court case that involved a local woman and her little pink house is now a movie. When Susetto Kelo took her case to the high court in 2005, all the divorced mother of five grown sons wanted was to get to stay in her little pink house in New London. The city was trying to force her out to make way for development, and Kelo didn’t want to go. The court ruled against her.
Now, however, Kelo’s story has been turned into a movie. “Little Pink House” opens Friday in limited nationwide release. A sneek preview was held last weekend at the Garde Arts Center. It’s a movie she and others hope will get people to think about the government’s power to take private property for public use. Governments can use that power as long as they fairly compensate owners.
