Simply Ledyard CT

Ledyard Election Day is Finally Here!

I've been involved in political campaigns for awhile. I worked in my first presidential campaign in 1956 as a 6 year old in the City of Pittsburgh. My family had deep roots in the Democratic party so I was given the task of licking stamps for the Adlai Stephenson mailings to our precinct. I privately was rooting for Eisenhower because I thought his “I LIKE IKE” buttons were really cute.

55 years later, I’m still a political junkie but I do tire of campaigns whether I’m running for office like this year, working for another candidate, or just watching the election unfold.

Even if you are not a political junkie, today is the day. 

Vote.

Those pesky Ledyard campaign signs

 

As a candidate for the Ledyard Town Council, I really dislike the whole sign thing. Signs are expensive, get stolen and litter the town for 3 weeks. Traditionally in Ledyard, Republicans post red signs and Democrats post blue signs although occasionally someone gets creative and selects green.

Two years ago, a letter to the editor in the New London Day accused Ledyard Republicans of stealing candidate signs. I’ve been involved in Ledyard politics almost 30 years and every year some whiner complains about sign stealing. Six years ago, I put up an extra large professionally printed sign at the Ledyard Middle School entrance, one of the more popular sign locations in town. It was gone within 45 minutes. I didn’t think it was politically motivated and assumed someone wanted the plywood.

It is a fact of life that signs will be run over, stolen or simply tossed in a heap somewhere. Pete Champagne, who isn’t running this year, always lost signs. I would bet there are a few teenagers with VOTE CHAMPAGNE signs in their bedrooms. In fact, I’ve long suspected that young people, Halloween tricks, and election season are all connected when it comes to sign trashing.

The only sign no-no’s are putting  your sign in a yard without asking permission and posting your signs along state highways like Route 12 and Route 14. This year, one candidate has his signs all up and down the state roads in Ledyard.

Is it taking advantage of the system? Yes.  Is it right?  No. But there are plenty of more important things to worry about in Ledyard.

Please vote on November 8th.

The Little Pink House

I wrote this blog post a little over a year ago…

It’s been 5 years since the historic Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London. It seems that New London won a round in the Supreme Court, lost in the court of public opinion, and then lost again when Pfizer decided to close its research and development headquarters.

It is ironic that almost 5 years to the day of the Supreme’s decision, New London came out on top again, when it was announced that General Dynamics had reached a preliminary agreement to purchase the Pfizer complex.

It is great news for the region even as feelings about the whole mess still simmer. I’ve been asked more than once for the use of my photo taken on Hamilton Street in New London, not far from the Fort Trumbell neighborhood that was the setting of the controversy. The book, The Little Pink House, has been written.  Can a movie be far behind?

Imagine my delight to hear that a movie is in the making!!  YES!

 

I Got By With A Little Help From My Friends

My husband knows I can tolerate the lack of electricity and even no running water as long as I can stay connected. It is important for my real estate business.  As a result, I was well prepared when Irene paid a visit and I managed to provide updates on my  Ledyard Facebook Page and the Ledyard Gales Ferry Community Forum throughout the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene.

It was really pretty simple. We have a 1,500 watt inverter connected to two deep cycle  batteries that I used with my iPad and a Verizon Wifi card. We ran our 1986 generator periodically and kept those batteries charged throughout our outage, which lasted for 5 full days.  I called it “Communications Central.” Of course, if Verizon had gone down so would have I, but I never had a glitch with that connection or my AT&T iPhone.

Although I was the facilitator, it was my Ledyard Facebook friends and local business owners who provided most of the updates. We shared articles from Bill Thorndike, our editor at Ledyard Patch, and together we were able to follow CL&P’s progress, share which local businesses were open, where to find water, and which roads were blocked. One resident said her power was restored after she offered to marry the CL&P lineman, so we had a few laughs as well. We cheered together when Groton Utilities came to town like Knights in Shining Armor.

via ledyard.patch.com

How I stayed connected during Hurricane Irene

Day 2 Without Power in Ledyard

I wanted to stop by and say hello! Access to my blog isn't quite as easy without an Internet connection or power. Fortunately, using my IPad with an inverter and my wifi card, I have the opportunity to pay a visit and leave a few words here.

The power company says we might have power by Saturday. That seems a long time from now.

One thing I've learned about people during these first two days without power is that most people will put up with most anything as long as they are kept informed. Unfortunately, CL&P our electric company, isn't doing a great job of that. I don't think I am being too hard on them. We would just like a few more details about progress and priorities so we can deal with it. And we will deal with it. We are New Englanders.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ledyard Photo Friday - Sandy Hollow Road

There is an interesting discussion going on over at the Ledyard Patch about a simple request from the Tri-Town Trail Committee to meet with the Groton City council. The committee would like to give a presentation about their proposed 14 mile recreational trail which would need approval from the council to use land at the Groton Reservoir. The Groton Council is not interested.

I’m from Pennsylvania where many of the reservoir lands are used for swimming, boating and camping.  Seems that the Groton City Council should at least hear the committee's presentation.

Ledyard News in Print

Before Al Gore invented the Internet, the best source for Ledyard news was The Day which was delivered right before dinner.  The Day became a morning newspaper in 1987 and during the 1990’s, according to the book  “The Day Paper”,  the newsroom staff numbered 70. Reporters had a presence in all the small communities that surrounded New London and there was a time that the delivery of the paper included two or three Ledyard stories. Recently, Ledyard shared a reporter with Groton but that reporter has since left,  leaving Ledyard with no dedicated reporter.

The Home News, a weekly newspaper, made an appearance in the 1980’s and combined Ledyard and Montville news.  It was about as close as Ledyard ever came to having its own newspaper.  It thrived on good political stories and had a young Ledyard reporter, Steve Adams, with a nose for political news.  Although popular with readers, it couldn’t support itself financially, and went out of business after a few years.

In recent years, The Day started distributing The Thames River Times, a weekly paper which according to its banner is supposed to cover Ledyard, Preston and Gales Ferry.  One of the most recent issues featured the Norwich area probate court and a Groton pawn shop plus a whole lot of advertising and no Ledyard news.  Occasionally they regurgitate news from The Day. Call me confused.

I never considered the Norwich Bulletin to be a major player in Ledyard news. In recent years, the Norwich Bulletin rarely covered Ledyard and having a reporter from the Norwich Bulletin at a Town Council meeting was an unusual occurrence. Lately the Norwich Bulletin has been reporting more Ledyard stories  but not for the reasons you might think.  Our current mayor prefers not to communicate with The Day. If he wants a story reported, he calls the Norwich Bulletin, his print media of choice. Unfortunately, this doesn’t serve the residents of Ledyard well. The mayor wins his battle but the town residents suffer for it. 

Online news sources like Patch are making it harder for print media to stay competitive. Despite reading most of my news online and having my own Ledyard blog and Ledyard Facebook Page,  I still like the idea of good solid news coverage reported in print. The Day has a long history dating back to the 1800’s.  I hope they can find a way to continue bringing Ledyard news to my door.

Wes Johnson and Ledyard Patch

Wes Johnson, former Mayor of Ledyard, died in November 2008.  In a blog post that I’m sharing again below, I recalled how real estate brought us together and politics cemented our friendship.  One thing that I didn’t share but found myself thinking of lately, was our desire to start up a Ledyard Newspaper.  We were half serious about the idea but our busy lives never allowed us to do more than think about it.  A few years later,  “The Home News” was published which combined Ledyard and Montville news.  It was about as close as Ledyard ever came to having its own newspaper.  It thrived on good political stories and we had a young Ledyard reporter, Steve Adams, with a nose for political news.  Although popular, it couldn’t support itself, and was only around for a few years. Wes and I enjoyed it while it lasted.

The idea of an online newspaper wouldn’t have even been on our radar back then. Heck, the internet as we know it wasn’t even invented yet. Which brings me back to the point of this blog post;  I think Wes would have loved Ledyard Patch. I do say that with some hesitation because Wes hated computers. There are lots of stories about Wes as Mayor and his computer at Ledyard Town Hall.  He growled at it a lot.  I do think though that Wes would have come to appreciate Ledyard Patch for what it might become for Ledyard -  the place to go for real Ledyard news.  And I can’t help but think that Wes and I would have been the very best political reporters for Ledyard Patch in our old age; Wes, the Democrat and me, the Republican. If I could have just gotten him to use his computer.

I wrote about Wes in the blog post below in November 2008, just a few days after his death.

Wes Johnson and I worked together at Boyer Real Estate in Gales Ferry back in the early 1980’s.  We instantly became friends when we realized we had something in common; our passion for politics.  Wes encouraged me to get involved in the Ledyard community. He put my name forward as an appointment to the Parks and Recreation Commission, and then as a member of the Ledyard Republican Town Committee.  Yes, he was a good Republican back then.  Turns out he wasn’t such a good real estate agent, and years later joked about how he would take the bus to the office so he wouldn’t have to show houses.

With just a little nudge from Wes, I decided to run for a seat on the Ledyard Board of Education. He served on the Town Council during my tenure. Wes and I loved talking politics; local, state and national. We analyzed every race and poured over post election statistics. In fact, for many years, our tradition was to meet for breakfast the day after the election. I was his campaign manager the first time he ran for mayor, and despite a disappointing loss, we met for breakfast to analyze the results. It was tradition, win or lose.

In the early 90’s, Wes and I become disillusioned with the leadership of the local Republican party and we made the front page of the New London Day newspaper when we ceremonially went to town hall together to change our party affiliation. Wes became a Democrat. I really wanted him to remain unaffiliated but he needed to contribute his time and efforts to a political party.  I became unaffiliated for a few years and then went home to the Republican Party when the leadership changed. It was awkward to find myself campaigning against Wes but I know he understood. It was politics and no one understood that better than he did. Being political opponents ended the days of discussing strategy and analyzing election returns. Years later, we found ourselves on the opposite sides of the aisle as members of the Ledyard Town Council. During his last term of office, we’d often reminisce about the “good old days”.  No one could tell a story or a joke better than Wes. When we were on opposite sides of an issue, I’d see a twinkle in his eye.  He was pretty easy on me but he wasn’t so kind to my fellow Republicans.  No one knew Robert’s Rules as well as he did, and he often used them to his advantage. .

Despite his illness, Wes was recently appointed to the Ledyard Charter Revision Commission. We had served on a previous Charter Revision Commission together in 1985.  Several weeks ago, I sent him a card and mentioned our past service together. His most recent appointment was just one of a very very long list of contributions to the Town of Ledyard. 

Wes Johnson died Sunday morning.  I can’t help but think of all those “a politician went to heaven” jokes.

Political Junkie

For this political junkie, being out of town on election day is particularly frustrating. I'm not sure why the National Association of Realtors chooses election day week to hold their annual convention but as a result, I usually need to vote by absentee ballot. No problem.

Leaving behind a candidate I've campaigned for on election day is the hard part. After months of phone calls and planning meetings, we'll know tonight who the winner is. I'll miss the victory party and "the day after" dissection of the race.

Although I'm an elected official myself, I prefer working on the campaign of others. I love the strategy and the analysis. Tonight I'll spend my time in front of a TV in New Orleans watching the results from around the country and waiting for someone to call me with the local results.

It promises to be way more exciting than Bourbon Street.

(sent from my IPAD from New Orleans)

From my seat on the Ledyard Town Council

I wrote a blog post on June 3oth about town budgets.  My main point was this:

“ How towns deal with reduced services will say a lot about a town, its leadership, and its citizens. Ledyard can make the worst of a crappy budget or the best of it.

I hope Ledyard gets it right.”

Posted on the door of the building department, is a hand written note that reads “The Town Council cut the Building Officials hours to 20 hours per week.  If you are unhappy with services being performed contact the Town Council!”

Ledyard is not getting it right.  Sad.

 

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