REID AND HUGHES DEVELOPMENT APPROVED
Some ten months after Norwich aldermen voted to demolish the vacant Reid and Hughes building on Main Street, the City Council Monday night approves a development agreement that could renovate the property. Boston-based Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development plans to put in new retail space and apartments. The Women’s Institute has developed several vacant historic properties, including the former American Legion building in Jewett City into veterans housing. The Reid and Hughes agreement requires the developer to secure the funding needed to stabilize the building within 90 days, then do the stabilization over the next 120 days. The Institute would then have six years to obtain the necessary money and do the renovation. Local and state historic organizations had threatened legal action against the city, had the demolition proceeded without proper consideration of the Women’s Institute proposal.
TUESDAY VIGIL
Community groups in Norwich will be gathering in front of City Hall Tuesday night to respond to the violent while supremacist rally held August 12th in Charlottesville, Virginia. The 6 PM vigil is titled “A Community Gathering for Unity, Clarity, and Dispelling Darkness”, and is co-sponsored by the Norwich Area Clergy Association, the local NAACP, and other organizations.
DEFLATED TIRE-DRIVING
A Norwich woman is to appear in court September 7th after allegedly driving through Ledyard Friday night intoxicated in a car with two deflated tires. Police say 20-year old Jada Doreen Larkie was traveling northbound on the Colonel Ledyard Highway around 11:22 PM. Police also say Larkie’s vehicle had extensive damage on the driver’s side. She’s out on a 500-dollar bond.
TRIBAL ENCAMPMENT
BRISTOL, R.I. (AP) – Members of a Rhode Island tribe have set up what they say is a “long-term encampment” on Brown University land, which the tribe says was illegally taken from them hundreds of years ago. The Pokanoket Nation says it’s reclaiming the land in Bristol, which contains spiritually important sites. The encampment began Sunday. Brown says the land was donated and it owns the legal title. Dozens of tribe members and supporters were there Monday. They had set up a checkpoint and brought food and supplies. More than a dozen tents were erected. The land is about half an hour’s drive from the Ivy League university’s campus in Providence. Brown houses an extensive archaeology collection and environmental lab there. The university says it upholds the rights of people to assemble peacefully.
