And Murphy seeks a seat in U.S. Senate In 2011, the Region One Board of Education continued to deal with the aftershocks of the August 2010 resignations of the principal and vice principal of Housatonic Valley Regional High School.A report on conditions at the school was made by attorney Jeffrey C. Pingpank. Board members voted in January of that year to direct Region One Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain to provide the board with a plan of action to address the concerns raised in the report. The report included allegations of retaliatory actions by administrators and the involvement of the Central Office in the daily operations of the high school. Concerns about the resignations and about the working environment seemed to settle down by the beginning of the 2011-12 school year. Ian Strever was hired as assistant principal, Matt Harnett is the new principal.Fallout from the controversy and the Pingpank report didn’t shoot down the Region One budget in spring. But in the referendum vote held in the six member towns — Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon — the budget passed by only 40 votes (345 in favor and 305 opposed).The $14,679,097 budget was an increase of 1.96 percent ($282,793) from the 2010-11 budget. The Region One budget has three component parts — Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Pupil Services (which includes special education), and the Regional School Services Center(RSSC).The cast of characters on the regional Board of Education changed in November, with longtime chairman and Sharon representative Judge Manning losing his seat to Marilyn Yerks. This was the first time Sharon elected its regional representative; until 2011, the regional board member had been chosen by members of the Sharon Board of Education. Salisbury’s Scooter Tedder replaced Jill Gibbons (who did not seek a second term). Cornwall’s Phil Hart, a longtime board member, was chosen by the board to be its new chairman.Jockeying for officesChris Murphy, the Democratic Congressman from the 5th District, decided to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Joseph Lieberman. In a phone interview last January, Murphy said he believes the Senate is the venue where he can be most effective at working on “what Connecticut cares about — jobs, the gains of health-care reform. “It’s a chance to elevate my voice and advocacy.”Asked if he is pleased by the prospect of not being in the eternal fundraising mode of the typical House member, Murphy laughed and said “Certainly the Senate has a less hectic political calendar. I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t an element in my thinking.”And another veteran pol announced his candidacy for the 5th District House seat. State Sen. Andrew Roraback (R-30) announced Oct. 20 that he is running for the seat, ending months of speculation over whether he would try for the Republican nomination for the 5th District. That district includes the Northwest Corner (including Torrington) and extends east to the cities of Waterbury, New Britain and Meriden, and south to Danbury.In a phone interview last fall, Roraback said, “If people are looking for a center-right person, whose record shows he is in step with the vast majority of people in the 5th District, then I am your candidate.”It’s a crowded field. Also running for the Republican nomination are Justin Bernier, Lisa Wilson-Foley, Mark Greenberg and Mike Clark.On the Democratic side, there are three candidates: Chris Donovan (speaker of the state House of Representatives), Elizabeth Esty (who visited Cornwall in November) and Mike Williams.Local elections were held in November. Most of the contests were quiet, and in many cases incumbents ran unopposed. In Salisbury, Republican Mark Lauretano, the town’s former longtime resident state trooper, was elected to the board.Heartbreaking weatherHeavy, wet snow was in the news in 2011. January was the fourth snowiest month since 1932 at the weather station at Great Mountain Forest, which is in Norfolk and Falls Village.Forester Russell Russ said “January 2011 may have broken records in other parts of Connecticut, but here in Norfolk it was our second snowiest January on record and our fourth snowiest of any month on record.”Region One schools scrambled to get the stuff off school roofs in February, when it was at least seasonally appropriate.But the October storm that began Saturday afternoon, Oct. 30, was another matter. That snowstorm knocked out power throughout the Northwest Corner, in some cases for more than a week. Towns mobilized, warming centers and shelters were set up, and volunteer fire departments and ambulance services were put to the test.Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) would have taken a lot of heat for its response to the storm, except the heat was out in a lot of places. First selectmen around the region were in touch with power company representatives and reported that the personnel in the field were hampered to some degree by poor decisions by top management.In the end, CL&P head Jeff Butler resigned in November, the company offered rebates to customers, and crews were made available to work with the towns and trim back trees from power lines in particularly vulnerable spots.War heroesSgt. Brian Ohler, 28, was wounded while out on patrol with his unit in Farah, Afghanistan, on Sept. 17. Farah is a city in western Afghanistan on the Farah River.His brother, Keith Ohler, who lives in North Canaan with his wife, Erin, owns and operates the Caddie Shack and Steppin’ Stone.“Brian’s unit was hit by an IED [Improvised Explosive Device], which blew up between two Humvees,” he said in an interview last fall.“He was in charge, and everyone got out, there were about 25 of them.”The unit fought its way through the Taliban attack, according to a local source.Keith said his brother suffered a head trauma and a shoulder separation.Vox populiThere was a dust-up over the management of public access cable station CATV-6 in North Canaan. A planned change from Tri-State Public Communications (TSPC) to Northwest Corner Public Access fell through in August when Tri-State withdrew its support.Tri-State, a nonprofit media company headed by Marshall Miles and Jill Goodman, runs the television station and the WHDD-Robin Hood Radio NPR station in Sharon.Northwest Corner Public Access Executive Director Mike Flint ran CATV-6 until the controversy, and vowed to contest the decision, possibly with the Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA), a new state agency that replaced the old Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) that, along with the Bureau of Energy and Technology Policy, is part of the Energy Branch of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).DEEP, in turn was created in July 2011 and brings together the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the DPUC)and an energy policy group that had been based at the Office of Policy and Management.RedistrictingThis was a redistricting year, and the entire six-town Region One school district is now in the 64th assembly district as the result of statewide redistricting.State Rep. Roberta Willis’ (D-64) office announced that the 64th now includes Canaan/Falls Village, Kentand North Canaan, plus Norfolk and parts of Goshen and Torrington. Cornwall, Salisbury and Sharon remain as is.The 63rd District, represented by Rep. John Rigby (R-63) is now a four-town district, with Winchester, Colebrook and parts of Goshen and Torrington. Canaan/Falls Village, Norfolk and North Canaan had been part of the 63rd (see story on Page A1).
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