Regionalization Plan Update

State Board of Education Agrees to Recommend a 10-Year Waiver By Ruth Melville The plan to create a new regional school district for Norfolk and Colebrook got over a major obstacle on the road to referendum when the State Board of Education, rejecting the recommendation of a subcommittee, agreed to support the Regional School Study Committee’s […]

Board of Finance Aims at Tax Decrease

Town Budget Will Wait on State Decisions By Wiley Wood At a budget meeting of Norfolk’s Board of Finance, Chairman Michael Sconyers reviewed the town’s spending projections for 2015-2016, snipping away a few thousand here and a few thousand there, in the end reducing the selectmen’s proposal by $70,000. “I’m desperate to do a tax […]

Foundation for Norfolk Living Gets Big Affordable Housing Grant

New Units May Be Ready Next Spring By Nina Ritson The Foundation for Norfolk Living has been working and planning for several years to secure space in which to provide affordable housing in Norfolk.  On March 26, their efforts received a huge boost when Governor Malloy and the Connecticut Department of Housing (DOH) announced funding […]

Drones Over Norfolk, at Work and at Play

By Wiley Wood You can’t just fly one straight out of the box, says drone hobbyist Christopher Little, you have to expect to crash a few times when you start out. But the technology to send a guided, camera-carrying drone into the airspace above your backyard is firmly within reach of the civilian consumer. Little, […]

Local Roasters Think Globally

Giv Coffee Blends Profits and Philanthropy By Ruth Melville You may have noticed a new stand at the winter farmers markets in Town Hall. Since February, Emily and Jeff Brooks, of Giv Coffee in Torrington, have begun bringing their colorful bags of freshly roasted coffee to sell at the market. The Brookses are passionate about […]

Changes at the Susan B. Anthony Project in Torrington

Barbara Spiegel Retiring After 20 Years as Executive Director By Jude Mead Barbara Spiegel, the executive director of the Susan B. Anthony Project (SBAP), has lived by the organization’s mission to “[promote] safety, healing, and growth for all survivors of domestic and sexual abuse and [advocate] for the autonomy of women and the end of […]

It Takes a Lot of Dedicated People to Care for a Village

Jonathan Barbagallo wears a lot of hats in emergency services By Colleen Gundlach The fire at the Norfolk Curling Club on December 18, 2011, was devastating for Norfolk as a whole, but was beyond description for the first responders that night. Since Norfolk’s volunteer base is a small group of people who wear many hats, […]

Hartford Balks at Norfolk-Colebrook Regional Plan

By Wiley Wood The current legislative session in Hartford lasts until June 3, but it seems unlikely that the State Department of Education will endorse a proposal between now and then that will allow the Norfolk-Colebrook regionalization plan to proceed. The two towns have worked for three years on an agreement that would allow them […]

Botelle School’s Annual Drama Production

Bruce Connelly Enters His 13th Year as Writer and Director By Anne Frieze On March 27, the Botelle School’s fourth, fifth and sixth graders put on two performances of their annual drama production, “The Wind in the Willows.” Each year the New York-based actor and director Bruce Connelly writes an original script based on a […]

The Importance of Climate Resiliency in Land Preservation

Recent Lecture Highlights the Crucial Role of Land Trusts By Veronica Burns On March 7, Libby Borden, president of the Norfolk Land Trust, welcomed two speakers from the Open Space Institute (OSI) to talk about land conservation at the Norfolk Curling Club. The event was focused on climate change and novel strategies for land protection. […]