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Cornwall budget heads to town vote
Apr 24, 2024
CORNWALL — Following a short public hearing for the 2024-25 budget Friday, April 19, Cornwall’s combined spending plan has been sent to Town Meeting.
The meeting to vote on the budget will be held at Cornwall Consolidated School Friday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m.
Cornwall’s total proposed expenditure for next year is up to $8,061,110, an increase of $292,537 (3.77%) compared to 2023-24.
“It looks like the mill rate could go up from 14.7 to 15.44, which would be about a 5% tax increase,” said First Selectman Gordon Ridgway.
Costs went up in several areas this year, primarily driven by inflation, education and weather damage. A notable addition to the budget this year is $100,000 in a new line item for storm damage. A four-part town meeting was held on April 19 to reassign unused funds from last year to be used for repairs in town.
Each of the following transfers passed unanimously: Transfer capital projects account interest $50,000 to capital projects road improvements for spring resurfacing of roads; Transfer $50,000 from Town general funds balance to capital road improvements to complete summer storm damage repairs; Authorize repairs to Essex Hill Road of $147,000 be paid out of capital projects road improvement; Increase capital projects fund road improvement by $17,000 to be reimbursed by state grant for hazardous tree removal.
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Putting the fun in fungi
Apr 24, 2024
An example of a giant puffball mushroom found by Dave Paton.
Provided
SALISBURY — Dave Paton, a dedicated hunter of wild mushrooms, went through a list of some of his favorite fungi at the Scoville Memorial Library Saturday, April 20.
Paton’s talk was sponsored by the Salisbury Association Land Trust.
“All wild mushrooms are deadly. Don’t touch them,” he began, tongue firmly in cheek.
“But if you find any, my email is…”
Paton said most wild mushrooms are inedible, but not necessarily poisonous.
He first got interested in mushrooms as a youth, prowling around the grounds at the Sharon Audubon Center.
Someone pointed out a Destroying Angel mushroom, adding an admonition: “One bite could kill you.”
Young David’s reaction to this stern warning?
“Awesome.”
He mentioned Amanita muscaria as a mushroom with hallucinogenic effects.
Some people go to considerable lengths to tap into this.
“They feed it to reindeer, and then drink the reindeer urine” he announced, adding hastily, “I’ve never tried it because I don’t have a reindeer.”
Some of Paton’s more conventional favorites are King Bolete, or “porcini” in Italian. “Delicious.”
Chicken of the Woods, which Paton said is one of the “Foolproof Five.”
He amended that description.
“More like fool-resistant.”
Chicken of the Woods should be cooked, he continued, and specimens growing on hemlock trees should be avoided altogether. But samples growing on other hardwoods can be eaten if cooked.
He listed Fried Chicken of the Woods and Pulled Chicken of the Woods sandwiches as particular favorites.
Paton urged caution at several points during the talk. He said he consults multiple sources and other experts on a regular basis before ingesting any wild mushrooms.
Paton said he is always looking for the yellow morel. “It’s elusive, so hard to find.”
One to avoid is the Jack-O-Lantern. “It’s extremely toxic. Probably won’t kill you but for two or three days you’ll wish you were dead.”
The first wild mushroom he ever ate was a giant puffball. The photo showed a bulbous white object that was bigger than the woven collection basket next to it.
“I’m gonna need a bigger basket.”
He said he makes “puffball parmigiana” with them.
Paton’s remarks were accompanied by excellent color photographs on the library’s big screen television.
“My iPhone is filled up with pictures of grandchildren and mushrooms.”
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Homelessness on unsteady ground
Apr 24, 2024
Makeshift beds under the highway in the north end of Hartford.
Jose Vega
Occasionally, and perhaps even more frequently nowadays, we are forced to see the big picture. This happened a week or so ago, when the ground shook beneath us, sending many straight to Google, updating our knowledge of tectonic plates, the Richter scale and appropriate earthquake crisis response. It re-centered us, understanding that our day-to-day always relies on a greater stability, one which we are often denied.
I find the same to be true in our housing crisis. Currently, at a time in which homelessness has increased by 14% since 2021 in Connecticut and nearly 1,000 people are sleeping outside because our homeless response system does not have a bed, a chair or even standing room in a warming center or shelter to offer them, a case currently before the Supreme Court has the ability to set us back decades in the work to eradicate unsheltered homelessness and solve all forms of homelessness.
On Monday, April 22, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, the most significant Supreme Court case about the rights of people experiencing homelessness in decades.
In this case, the Supreme Court will determine whether a local government can arrest or fine people for sleeping outside when adequate shelter is not available. The rights of people experiencing homelessness have been protected under the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment (Martin v. Boise) since 2009. Our hope is that the Supreme Court will uphold the decision of lower courts and retain the rights of unhoused Americans.
However, if the alternative happens and the decision of the lower court is overturned, the case has the potential to make homelessness worse in our local communities.
To be clear, we all should be held accountable for any known and intentional violation of the law; however, expanding the definition of criminal activity to include deep poverty and homelessness does more damage to a community at-large than good.
Last year, the number of people that became homeless for the first time rose by 25% nationally. This is directly attributable to the lack of housing options for households at all income levels.
State research on just how many homes are needed in Connecticut to match the demand tallies the affordable housing shortage at 169,400 units for low-income residents and 101,600 homes for middle-income residents. Are the two out of three households who cannot live in a unit they can afford criminals? Certainly not.
Criminalization is not a solution to homelessness. Arrests, fines, jail time and criminal records make it more difficult for individuals experiencing homelessness to access the affordable housing, health services, and employment necessary to exit homelessness. To solve homelessness in our communities, we must invest in proven solutions, like affordable housing and supportive services, at the scale necessary. Decades of research have proven this — and it is my obligation as a homeless response provider to ensure that our community-wide interventions and tax-payer investments are data-driven and solution-oriented.
With oral arguments next week and an expected ruling by the end of June, we have time to support the outcomes we want to see for our state and local communities. Until then, you can also support bills currently in the Connecticut General Assembly that drive us closer to solving homelessness, including H.B. 5178: An Act Concerning Temporary Shelter Units for Persons Experiencing Homelessness Located on Real Property Owned by Religious Organizations and HB 5332: An Act Establishing The Interagency Council on Homelessness. Also, please continue to ask your elected officials on all levels to respond to the homeless and housing needs of our communities with robust and sustained funding.
Although disasters such as earthquakes are unpreventable, homelessness is anything but.
Jennifer Paradis is the Executive Director of Beth-El Center, Inc. in Milford.
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