PUB BANS NFL GAMES
In the wake of controversy over NFL players kneeling while the national anthem is played before each game, a local sports pub has decided to refuse to show football games on its large-screen televisions. The Harp and Dragon pub’s management said it’s not making a political or racial statement. In a post on its Facebook page, the downtown Norwich establishment said it would stop airing professional football games and end its football specials due to “respect for our country and all of those who serve.”
PUMP OUT GRANTS AWARDED
State officials say monies, from a nearly $1 million dollar federal grant, will be used by local boatyards and marinas to keep more than one million gallons of sewage from boats, out of Long Island Sound and state waterways each year. DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee said in a news release, the goal is to keep building on a successful program to keep our waters clean and healthy, and to continue providing excellent water-based recreational opportunities in Connecticut.
LOCAL REPUBLICANS PUSH FOR VETO OVERRIDE
Republican officials across the region are pleading with the General Assembly to override Governor Dannel Malloy’s decision to veto the GOP-crafted state budget that was recently approved by the legislature. North Stonington First Selectman Shawn Murphy says his town is losing 86-percent of its state aid under the Governor’s executive order that’s currently funding government and that’s “unacceptable.” Groton senator Heather Somers is taking issue with UConn President Susan Herbst, who stood next to Governor Malloy earlier this week, saying the Republican budget contains devastating cuts that would result in the closure of UConn’s Avery Point campus, calling it “morally negligent.” Somers is calling on her colleagues in the General Assembly to override Governor Malloy’s budget veto. She says the GOP spending plan increases municipal aid and restores funding to non-profit groups and critical social services.
FORUM FOCUSES ON MENTAL HEALTH
A forum on mental health and suicide prevention among veterans and law enforcement personnel was held in East Lyme last night. Speakers stressed the need to listen to others and ask for help. Statistically, 18 percent of all suicides by adults in the U.S. are veterans. It’s been found that 80 percent of the stress officers face over their careers is organizational stress, for example the officers’ relationship to their boss or whether or not they like their schedules, while the operational stress of seeing traumatic things on calls accounts for 20 percent. Thursday’s event was the fifth annual forum on suicide awareness and prevention in East Lyme.
ELDERLY PERV MOVES OUT
State police have arrested a 70-year-old Old Lyme man who they said repeatedly sexually assaulted two girls who were in his care. In separate interviews with licensed clinical social workers, the siblings described countless encounters with Pedro H. Ramos, who moved to Gretna, Louisiana when police began investigating the case. Police said the girls’ grandmother kicked Ramos out of the house immediately upon learning of the possible abuse. Charged with two counts of risk of injury to a minor and two counts of first-degree sexual assault, Ramos is being held on a $300,000 bond. He is due in New London Superior Court on Oct. 11th.
