Week in Review: Lots to Celebrate This Week

Rachel Solomon, a third grader at J.W. Long School was selected to be published statewide in the Connecticut Student Writers Magazine. Only a select few are honored with this award and four writers in Ledyard were chosen. Patch will publish each writers entry. Rachel’s is titled “Our Kittens”.

The Ledyard Senior Center celebrated Mother’s Day a little bit ahead of time but boy do they know how to throw a party, here’s a clip.

Liz Stevens, one of Ledyard’s visiting nurses was selected for the Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing. The Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing is given to a select few who have been nominated by their supervisors and peers for exemplary work. Stevens’ career began decades ago and started because she’s interested in how things work and she’s interested in people. Here’s what else we learned.

In a letter addressed to Ledyard Mayor John Rodolico and the Ledyard Town Council,  the membership of Ledyard Volunteer Emergency Squad (LVES) strongly opposed the outsourcing of the Ledyard emergency dispatch service citing a "grave concern" for the safety and quality of service of the volunteer agency.

The letter states that the ambulance service is "extremely satisfied" with the current arrangement and although the letter is signed by members of LVES, it should be noted that many of those members are also the town's volunteer firefighters.

The letter says in part, "There is a general concern among the membership that a change in service may cause delays in dispatching calls for help, lack of knowledge or background about familiar addresses, and unfamiliarity with Ledyard Ambulance procedures. The ambulance maintains a good working relationship with Ledyard Dispatch and is able to request changes to our dispatch service in order to accommodate the volunteers and more efficiently serve citizens. Having multi-service dispatchers (Police, Fire and EMS) in the same room helps us ensure we receive police or fire help in a timely manner."

Approximately 25 residents attended the special town meeting on the proposed new police station, including police, elected town officials, employees and volunteers. Mayor John Rodolico conducted a presentation outlining the proposed building project and some people spoke in favor and opposed to the project. You can read about the highlights here.

Joe Courtney paid a visit to Gales Ferry this week to announce the relaunch of his push to get  legislation adopted for fire police. His intent is to give a death benefit to surviving family members of fire police (police officers and firefighters are already eligible) in the event that they are killed in the line of duty.

Patch originally reported that Gales Ferry Fire Chief Tony Saccone said an accident on Route 12 inspired him to contact Courtney’s office. At the accident scene, Larry Laflamme, a member of the Gales Ferry Fire Police, was directing traffic. Saccone said a motorist failed to heed officers at the scene and came close to hitting Laflamme.

“Larry, who was 70 at the time, had to jump over a guardrail to keep from getting killed,” Saccone said. “And that got me thinking. He’s down here doing the same job I’m doing. If I get run over in the line of duty, my family would get a benefit. He would get jack.”