New Section of Rail Trail to Be Opened for Winter WIN

  By Wiley Wood One of the groups hosting an event when the town celebrates Winter Weekend in Norfolk on Feb. 24 and 25 is the Norfolk Rails to Trails Committee, which has created a new trail on the north side of Haystack State Park and is inviting the public to come try it out. […]

Norfolk Knitting Group Delivers

Lucy Baldwin, supervisor of volunteers at the Gathering Place in downtown Torrington, accepts a delivery of hand-knitted items from the Norfolk Knitters. The Gathering Place is a drop-in day center for homeless individuals, families and veterans. Since December, the knitters have taken several bags of hats, scarves and mittens to the center. Thanks to the […]

School Costs Rise, but Board of Finance Unmoved

Plea for small increase meets with little sympathy   By Wiley Wood In an early skirmish of the town budget wars, the Board of Finance delivered strong messages to the Regional No. 7 Board of Education and to the Norfolk Board of Education that this was not a year for budget increases. School Superintendant Mary […]

Expansion of Transportation Service

The first selectman’s office has announced an expansion of the Rural Independent Transportation Service, a program that provides free transportation to the elderly and disabled for non-emergency medical trips. Anyone over 60, or of any age and disabled, who needs a ride from Norfolk to a medical facility for scheduled treatment (for example, dialysis, radiation, […]

Rep. Brian Ohler Looks Back on His First Year

After a bad session for the environment, Ohler gets thumbs up from League of Conservation Voters   By Susannah Wood State Representative Brian Ohler (R, 64th Dist.) was pleased, when we spoke in November, to have been recently named an Environmental Champion by the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. The League credits him with being […]

City Meadow Project Looks Forward to Next Phase

    The new park in the center of town, City Meadow, is shut down—for its annual closure from November to May. The looping boardwalks lie under a treacherous layer of ice and snow. A sign warns visitors away. An official ribbon cutting ceremony was held on Dec. 9 to celebrate the on-time completion of […]

Ice on Town Rink an On and Off Proposition

There is black ice on Wood Creek Pond, as these words are being written. There is black ice on Tobey Pond and Doolittle and Seldom Seen. But there is no skatable ice on the town rink by the ball field. This is due to a combination of factors, according to Schuyler Thomson, who agreed to […]

View From The Green

Food Scarcity Is a Reality in Our Communities   By Colleen Gundlach Gabby Nelson’s story about food justice in this issue of Norfolk Now highlights the incredible disparity in our country between those who have and those who have not. It’s an uncomfortable and disturbing fact that people are hungry or malnourished, not only in […]

Library Restoration Project Nears Completion

Landscaping work will be completed in the spring   Director Ann Havemeyer reports good news from the Norfolk Library:“We are in the homestretch of our restoration.” The parking lot pavers have been installed, and there is a now a designated handicapped parking space near the newly completed ramp, which was first utilized by a number […]

Norfolk Elects Matt Riiska as First Selectman

In a municipal election that drew 53 percent of Norfolk’s voters to the polls, Matthew Riiska (D) was elected first selectman over William Reudgen (R) by a commanding lead. At the polling station, where the results were announced shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., Reudgen congratulated Riiska in front of a small crowd […]