Community Corner

Week in Review

A summary of the week's events, July 19-25.

This week's big story: the Board of Selectman's Monday night meeting, where town officeholders and officials debated at length the precedence of Darien's forthcoming capital projects. First Selectman Dave Campbell's plan to prioritize the likely renovation of 35 Leroy—which would become the new headquarters for the Board of Education, thus clearing space for the beleaguered Darien Senior Activities Center at Town Hall—was greeted with sharp criticism by those seeking to jump-start overhauls of Weed Beach and Police Headquarters. (The conversation continues in the comments thread.)

Coming in a close second: the release of scores from the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test. Darien Public Schools' results remained strong compared to those of students statewide, even as a downtick was visible in most measures at the tenth grade level. Superintendent Stephen Falcone called attention to "cohort" trendlines, describing them as "very positive."

The weather continued to loom large this week, as waves of thunderstorms brought down trees and caused sporadic flooding Wednesday evening. But all that rain brought an upside, too, as Aquarion finally lifted its voluntary conservation measures after 16 days.

Find out what's happening in Darienwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If you're feeling the itch for politics, Patch spoke with Rep. Jim Himes this week about the economy, the deficit, and health care (though not everyone was having it). And the ongoing race for the consolidated Darien/New Canaan probate court? Some area judges think the whole exercise may be misguided.

Elsewhere in town government, the transfer station's truck scale is set for major repairs, police reported a DUI arrest of a man who zoomed by a cruiser with his high beams on, the fire log showed responders rushing to three accidents on I-95, and a $5.86 million sale on Long Neck Point Road topped the Town Clerk's list of property transfers.

Find out what's happening in Darienwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the world of sport, the Darien/New Canaan Junior Legion baseball team earned a spot in the state play-in tournament, where it was paired with Middletown. After rain pushed the opener back to Saturday, Darien/New Canaan defeated Middletown but fell to host Windsor Locks in the very next game.

And if all that reading has left you feeling hungry, Linda Kavanagh ran down some delicious recipe ideas for farmers market fare. (But be aware that local lobster may be hard to come by soon.)


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