The Connecticut Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society would like to send out a big thank you to all those who helped make the Hawaiian-themed Pineapple Classic 5k with obstacles such a huge success this year. [...] the Pineapple Classic just wouldn't be the same without pineapples -- so we would like to send a big thank you to Fairway Market of Stamford for coming through and donating 300 pineapples, and another to Davenport Contracting for making and donating most of the obstacles. Thank you to the Greenwich Polo Club, Smilow Cancer Hospital Greenwich Campus, Connecticut Information Security, Interstate Lumber, the Noble family, Pepsico, Creative Catering, Aurora Photography, The TD Band, Serendipity Magazine, Greenwich Track Club, GreenwichGirl Blog, 95.9 The Fox, Star 99.9, WSHU Public Radio, Hearst Media, The Daily Voice, The Banksville Fire Department, Ceci Brothers, Independent Refuse, Banksville Lawn Equipment, Mavis Tires, REI of Norwalk, and Pinkberry on Greenwich Avenue. Over one million Americans are living with, or are in remission from, leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma.

Impact of Wind on Forests, I was heartened by the recognition of our group's dedication to this understanding in a column by Dr. Gina C. Gould (Greenwich Citizen, 06/07; Are state, CL&P not seeing the forest for the trees?). While it is accurate that if you begin with a dense (closely packed), mature forest and remove nearly all of the trees, those that remain are more likely to fail (snap or uproot). Trees (actually most any plant) exposed to more wind will quickly acclimate to increase their strength and ability to survive the increased wind. Nearly all research on tree response to removing neighbors was done on coniferous forests (needled trees like pine, spruce, hemlock, etc.). While we are certain our trees do acclimate, unfortunately there is little research of how quickly and to what extent our broadleaved forests and trees can respond to wind loads to increase their strength and stability. Not coincidentally, my research at the University of Connecticut -- focused on how broadleaved tree stability is effected by removing neighbors -- is currently ongoing.

Because of this, children are not walking (to school) because their parents are concerned. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter -- we ask you to strongly consider implementing stop signs and crossing throughout our community in Riverside and Greenwich. Like the Town of Greenwich's current plan, the Bank's plan was a defined benefit plan to which both the Bank and its employees contributed. [...] how the Bank's plan was managed may be helpful in the current discussions of the Greenwich plan's management. The plan was the No. 1 ranked plan in the United States over the three years in terms of investment performance, and employees had greater confidence that the plan was administered fairly by people who understood the plan and had benefits expertise. Residents turned out for 19 different events -- readings, expert panels, storytimes, crafts, music, book discussions and historical events sponsored by many town-based organizations. In the schools, more than 2,700 people (students, parents and faculty) participated in Greenwich Reads Together with 21 programs across the district -- more than a thousand more than last year. Two companion books were selected, enabling younger children at the elementary and middle school level to participate as well, and the Greenwich Rotary Club received three times the number of essay contest submissions over last year.

In February 2012, the administration of the Retirement Board was transferred to the Human Resources Department under the able leadership of Alison Graham and Melissa Crowther. Together, they have corrected numerous errors in benefits and beneficiaries while at the same time converting the Defined Benefit administration from an in-house system to Transamerica.

The current Capital Improvement Plan doesn't have any real money allocated to New Lebanon until 2021 ($1M) and even then it is not for capital improvement but only for maintenance upgrades. Per the Superintendant's overview of options, a reasonable $400,000 to enclose the courtyard area for new administration space would enable two classrooms to be remodeled from the current administration space. The budget the Superintendant submits in Fall 2013 must have money allocated to add a second floor addition of some size onto the school to address the long-standing and long-term needs. The taxpayers and voters of this community pay the same mill rate as any other part of Town and deserve the local infrastructure to educate our children here in Byram. Byram has paid the taxes and deserves to have a school facility comparable to the other Town elementary schools. By creating the proper physical space needed many things will be achieved, most important of which is giving our children the right learning environment. On Wednesday evening, Dr. William McKersie, Superintendant of Greenwich Public Schools, addressed the New Lebanon School PTA regarding our school's severe overcrowding. For too long our various superintendants, the Board of Education, and the BET and RTM have denied our pleas for a logical and thoughtful solution to this problem, which negatively affects the ability of our children to learn. Additionally, unless emergency reserve funds are available (and they SHOULD be made available for this emergency) there is no funding available from the district or the town, nor is there time to do any construction or site work that could permanently alleviate the pressures on our children. If parents had been informed then of the possible outcomes, we would have had time to consider other magnet schools or private and parochial schools and would have had more time to seek out alternative solutions, lobby the BET and RTM and better advocate for our children. The proposal to move our current fourth grade students to Western Middle School next year, which seems to be Dr. McKersie's favored solution despite his claims otherwise, was clearly and forcefully rejected by the parents at New Lebanon at Wednesday's meeting. Options that would have been available to us if Dr. Lulow, our previous superintendent who was also made aware of our overcrowding, had included them in the budget for this year are modular classrooms at $275k or constructing new administrative offices, which is unlikely to occur in four months and is also unbudgeted $400k. Another option, allowing families to have the choice to transfer their children to other, less crowded schools in the district and to cap enrollment, sending new families to other schools are yet more options that don't appear to have been considered. By fall of 2014, the town will need to address the racial imbalance that particularly affects our school. Because our school is one of those at the heart of the racial imbalance issue, it is hard to believe that any temporary solution being proffered by Dr. McKersie isn't taking into consideration the not-yet-public plans for solving this problem. Any and all Greenwich residents should consider how they would feel if this was happening to their own children and speak up on behalf of New Lebanon School, which is a vital part of our larger community. On behalf of the Greenwich Historical Society's Landmark Recognition program, I want to thank Greenwich Citizen, and particularly Anne Semmes and Jim Wolfe, for its coverage of the 25th anniversary of the society's program of recording architectural and ownership documents of the town's landmark properties and presenting owners with a plaque that shows the name of the original owner and the date of construction.

The League of Women Voters of Connecticut would like to thank our local legislators, the leadership of the General Assembly and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for their commitment to achieving meaningful legislation on gun violence prevention -- and to do so in a bipartisan fashion. Guns used in crimes may start out as legal guns -- but then are diverted into criminal activities, most frequently through "straw purchases" where someone buys a firearm on behalf of a convicted felon, a juvenile or other person prohibited from gun ownership. [...] gun owners who store loaded firearms in their homes will be held responsible for locking up or otherwise securing their firearms if they should know that someone else in the household is not eligible to have a gun for any reason (under age 21 for a pistol, 18 for a rifle, a criminal record, etc.), or that person poses an imminent risk of harm to himself or others. The League of Women Voters of Connecticut has long supported measures to protect the health and safety of citizens through regulating the ownership of firearms.

With my daughter on the verge of obtaining a learner's permit, the dangers of driving are on my mind. With car accidents the leading cause of death among teens, we owe it to our children to treat distracted driving with the same vigilance we did with drunk driving starting a generation ago. Through increased public awareness, coupled with tougher penalties, the percentage of fatalities attributed to DUI has declined substantially since the 1980s. Half of young drivers have seen their parents driving while talking on a cellphone; one-quarter of adults have sent or received a text while driving.

The Republicans have been in disarray, since Obama's re-election; conservatives & libertarians divided by their conflict with the RINO's and "establishment Republicans," it seems Paul's filibuster has caused a line to be drawn in the sand from which to distinguish the sheep from the goats. Another sudden phenomena is President Obama's public relations attempt to reach out to Republicans in a non-partisan way. Reminiscent of the democrats getting George Bush senior to compromise against his promise; "Read my lips; I will not raise taxes, " and then using the betrayal by his own words to defeat him in the next election.

Dr. Kareem Adeeb, Imam, The American Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies, Stamford,; and Rev. Dr. Heather Wright, Greenwich Center for Hope and Renewal. The moderator of the panel, Alexis Bedos, noted the respect and friendship shown by the speakers for each other and their respective faith traditions. [...] Alex observed that the good attendance seemed to point toward a latent desire for people of faith to be able to understand and interact constructively with other faith traditions. Elizabeth Parker, chair of the St. Catherine's Social Justice Committee, attended a meeting of the American Muslim Women's Association as a guest of Farzana Habib Levy shortly after the event. An invitation was extended to participate in the Sholom Center for Interfaith Learning's weekend of study on the "Torah of Reconciliation."

CL&P has just announced plans to cut down trees on private and public property along the New Haven railroad line. The Tree Conservancy is very sensitive to the community-wide need to keep trees healthy so they may withstand the ravages of future storms and not succumb to heavy winds, again witnessed this week, that can lead to downed power lines. Trees are vital in reducing air pollutant particulates, minimizing radiant heat from the sun, inhibiting soil erosion, sequestering carbon dioxide, and providing a habitat for a plethora of diverse species. The Tree Conservancy does support the removal of sick and unhealthy trees that we deem "hazardous," which is why we submitted testimony at the recent budget hearing in support of funding the town's "At Risk Tree Program." Removal of a large number of trees along a corridor such as this can result in increasing wind velocity vectors enough to increase the collateral damage of nearby trees.