Keeping Town Roads Safe This Winter

How Much Damage Does Salt Cause to Cars and the Environment? By Ruth Melville Everyone knows that salt is bad for cars, roads, and the environment, but living in a northern state, we need our roads to be clear and safe to drive on despite our often severe winters. For the past six years, the […]

State Grant Aims at Revitalizing Town Centers in the Northwest Corner

New Economic Development Professional to Advise Local Businesses By Kurt Steele A promising new chapter in Norfolk’s planning and development is about to open. The Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG), through its Northwest Connecticut Regional Planning Collaborative, has recently received a $249,000 grant from the state to fund “village center vitality” initiatives in the […]

New Director Appointed at Great Mountain Forest

Seeing the Forest and the Trees By Veronica Burns Newcomers to this rural town are often asked, “What brought you to Norfolk?” In the case of Hans Carlson, the recently appointed director of Great Mountain Forest (GMF), it was to work with local canoe builder Schuyler Thomson in 1987. Carlson, who was born and raised […]

Norfolk and Colebrook Selectmen Extend Life of Regionalization Study Group

State Department of Education to Propose Legislative Amendments By Wiley Wood The Norfolk-Colebrook Study Group, formed in the wake of town referendums in December 2012, is nearing its second anniversary. State statutes give the group two years to propose a plan for regionalizing the towns’ primary schools, renewable for a second two years. The boards […]

Center Cemetery: A Walk Through Time

New Columbarium Almost Finished   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo At the entrance to Center Cemetery off of Old Colony Road, a wood sign affixed to a towering maple tree invites “friends” to “take care how you walk and act, for you are walking on holy ground, the graves of beloved family and friends. Remember them, […]

Rosanna Trestman Retires from Norfolk Now

Co-founder bows out but the play goes on By Colleen Gundlach With the retirement of Rosanna Trestman from its editorial staff, the curtain falls on the opening act of Norfolk Now. The overture began when Lloyd Garrison, a retired foreign correspondent for the New York Times, met a freelance journalist and photographer and together they […]

Norfolk Awarded $500,000 to Enhance City Meadow

Plan Combines Water Quality and Recreation By Wiley Wood A plan to turn the five-acre wetland in the center of Norfolk into a storm-water park has been awarded a $500,000 state grant, Governor Dannell P. Malloy’s office announced on September 17. The projected City Meadow will offer paths, boardwalks and benches for strollers, as well […]

Fadhl Saleh Closes Corner Store

Last-Ditch Effort to Save Town Business Falls Short By Ruth Melville On his last day of business, Corner Store owner Fadhl Saleh is visibly upset as he looks around at the empty shelves of his store. “I tried, but it just didn’t work,” he says sadly. “In the end, the stress was terrible, unbearable.” Saleh, […]

FairWindCT Appeal Against Wind Turbines Is Denied

State Supreme Court sides with siting council and developer By Veronica Burns FairWindCT, the grassroots opposition group to BNE Energy’s wind turbine project in Colebrook, has just received the decision on its appeal to the Connecticut Supreme Court: rejection. The judges voted 6–0 that the New Britain Superior Court was correct in 2012 to dismiss […]

George Counter: Norfolk’s Retiring Superintendent of Schools

By Wiley Wood A gathering Sunday, September 14 honored Norfolk’s departing superintendent of schools, George Counter. As the guests spilled out over a sunny lawn with drinks in hand, a 70-pound pig was lifted from the bed of coals where it had roasted since dawn and was carved into portions. Counter retired as superintendent of […]