Stratford News

Monica Gereda 18, of Trumbull had the grades for college but not the cash. Her mom works paycheck to paycheck.

Gereda applied to Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and several four-year colleges but resigned herself to the possibility of taking a year off after graduating from Trumbull High School to save up enough money to go to Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport.

Then Sacred Heart's Fairfield County TuitionFree Plan for Low-Income Students came along.

"A full scholarship was like an amazing thing," said Gereda, who will commute to Sacred Heart as she earns an undergraduate degree in business.

Since as far back as May, the plastic jars at 33 business locations throughout Fairfield, Trumbull, Monroe, Bridgeport, Ansonia, Stratford and Westport told the story of Bacchiocchi’s small cell cancer that affects his brain, lungs, prostate, lymph nodes, legs and his liver. It also chronicles the loss of his home and his business ...

When a man claiming to be Bacchiocchi’s relative told store owners Bacchiocchi was a drug addict (Bacchiocchi said he’s been clean for nine years), and that it was a scam, some merchants became skeptical.

“We sent out a detective to investigate this guy based on several complaints,” Fairfield Police Spokesman James Perez said Tuesday. “But because of HIPAA laws and the privacy act, we cannot confirm or deny if his case is legitimate” ...

A Stratford Board of Education member is challenging incumbent state Sen. Dan Debicella in the race to represent the 21st District ...

Town council held a special session this week to vote on the sale of Long Beach West to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

However, the vote wasn't whether to approve or reject the sale, a decision they have been grappling with for the past year, but whether or not to put it to referendum for the people to vote on Nov. 4, Election Day.

Whether you're a bird watcher, hiker, mountain bike rider or even an "Indiana Jones" adventure lover, there's a sprawling wooded area in Stratford you may have missed ...

A city man, who choked and beat a Stratford woman unconscious last year, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

The annual Russian Festival at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Stratford has already been postponed due to Tropical Storm Hanna.

The festival will be held a 1 Honeyspot Road from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6.

Russian food and music, vendors, crafts, children's clothing will be featured, and a canned food drive will be conducted for the Sterling House food pantry ....

Republicans turned Tuesday to a lifelong Democrat, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, to undercut...Ben Proto, a delegate from Stratford, likened Lieberman to a gutsy poker player. "He's going all in with his chips," Proto said. "If it's not the right river card, it's going to be a long, lonely couple of years." Proto worked for Jerry Labriola, the Republican who opposed Lieberman's re-election in 1994. But that was then.

Two people were arrested in a speed trap in Bridgeport traveling double the speed limit Tuesday.

"It could be worse."That's what economist after economist said from podiums and tables Thursday at the... But that doesn't mean times won't be tough, especially for working families. One economist predicts the state(CT) will lose 20,000 more jobs in the next 12 months; another expert says those who want to keep their jobs may bid adieu to the 40-hour workweek. ROB VARNON-CT POST

A Bridgeport teen shot in the buttocks July 29 is charged with later robbing a town man of a cell phone and firing a gun as the man chased him.

Another twist in the court battle over control of Hollywood East/Area 51 could be the death knell for the company's efforts to renovate the former Army engine plant into an international film and multimedia production studio ...

After two months of trying to negotiate a resolution to the bitter dispute between the warring partners of Hollywood East, chosen in March by the General Services Administration to redevelop the highly contaminated, 78-acre Main Street property, the two factions recently said talks had "completely collapsed."

... Voters will get to decide after all whether the town should sell its prime piece of waterfront property, 35-acre Long Beach West, to the federal government for at least $10 million.

After months of heated debate and endless meetings that have divided the town and Town Council, and just weeks after a 6-3 motion to send the issue to voters was vetoed by Mayor James R. Miron, the council Tuesday unanimously approved a new resolution for a binding referendum. ...

Anti-war protesters assaulted Connecticut delegates to the Republican National Convention today as they approached the Xcel Energy Center, snatching a credential from an elderly delegate and tossing a diluted solution of bleach at others, including a former congressman, witnesses said.

No serious injuries were reported in the scuffle, though a hazardous materials team checked delegates who were doused with a solution that smelled of bleach. Paramedics examined 83-year-old Fred Biebel, who had trouble breathing. He was cleared and later entered the convention hall. ...

More than a dozen men have met for months at an East Broadway halfway house for daily 12-step meetings in the backyard ... In inclement weather they are forced to "scramble and try and find another location," said lawyer Jack Colleran, who represents the Harry Rosen House Inc. at 859 East Broadway.

That's because Zoning Enforcement Officer John Rusatsky decided last year to classify a rebuilt barn on the property for use as a ``storage-only'' structure where meetings are not permitted. Prior to that citation, the group had met in the barn.

Colleran, however, argues that Rusatsky made a mistake, and the two engaged in a heated confrontation during a Board of Zoning Appeals hearing in June.

Now, the BZA must decide the complex issue of whether the halfway house for about 15 recovering alcoholics and drug addicts can use the carriage house on the property for 12-step meetings ...

... Fairfield seems to be ahead of the curve among area communities in accommodating those commuters who don't drive a car to the train stations.

In Stratford, where there is about a six-year wait for a parking permit, there are bike racks, but no scooter racks.

The story is the same in Milford and Derby, though a few scooter riders in Milford lock their scooters up at the end of the bike rack.

The man and woman killed in a grisly motorcycle accident Saturday night were identified Monday as Stratford residents ...

... The issue has caused a firestorm in Stratford, which owns the 35-acre section of the barrier beach known as Long Beach West. Stratford's Town Council recently voted to hold its own referendum on the proposed sale, but Miron vetoed the ordinance. The issue remains before the Town Council, which may again try to force a public vote ...

... We elect people to serve on boards and make decisions on the understanding that most citizens don't have time to be as well-informed on every decision as they would need to be to properly consider their options. It would be inefficient to put every town decision up for a referendum — that's why we have a representative government.

But some decisions are bigger than others. When an issue reaches a level of such wide interest that it transcends typical town politics, calling a community referendum can be in order. Stratford's proposal to sell Long Beach West to the federal government rises to that level.

Three people were in custody Friday after police said they broke into the home of an elderly Stratford couple and were approaching their room with knives in their hands ...