Great Mountain Forest To Host Forest Health Sessions

Great Mountain Forest (GMF) has been chosen by the New England Forestry Foundation as a core Connecticut partner to host one-day workshops on practices that promote forest health and resilience.

The workshops, planned for May and September, are designed for landowners managing at least 25 acres of forest as well as land trusts and their forest managers.  As part of the NEFF collaboration, GMF will also demonstrate climate smart practices in the forest and work to have them embraced broadly through outreach programs. During the workshops, eligible landowner participants will learn how to receive incentive funds to implement climate smart practices. 

Mike Zarfos, executive director of GMF, said the broader goal of the collaboration is to help New England forests combat climate change, protect biodiversity and build ecosystem resilience. 

For further details interested attendees are welcome to email info@greatmountainforest.org. Application and registration forms will be available on the Great Mountain Forest website later this month: greatmountainforest.org.

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A WINning Proposition: Two Days of Fun and Frolic

February serves up several holidays—Groundhog Day for the winter weary, Valentine’s Day for lovers, President’s Day for the patriotic—but Norfolk goes one better by throwing a weekend-long party. Weekend in Norfolk, February 22-23, brings a town-wide mixture of music, dance, art, outdoor and indoor sports, history and food for all to enjoy.

This year’s schedule brings back many old favorites such as the fly-tying workshop, stained glass tours and a maple syrup operation at Great Mountain Forest’s sugarhouse, but there are also new events for the amusement and amazement of visitors.

Like to cook with mushrooms? Take in the mushroom inoculation workshop at Husky Meadows Farm on Saturday and learn to grow your own. A pickleball fan? There’s a tournament at Botelle School. Interested in the environment? There is a conservation talk on “Beaverland, How One Weird Rodent Made America” at the Norfolk Library and a nature hike to a beaver pond on the North Brook Trail.

Another special treat can be found in the return of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival with a concert Saturday morning, also at the library. Michael Cobb and Seth Hagymasi will provide live music at the Hub in the afternoon the same day. For kids, there will be movies and music at the Hub on Sunday afternoon. And both Saturday and Sunday, Garet&Co. returns to Battell Chapel for a dance performance.

A full schedule of events, with times and locations, can be found here. The WIN information center will be open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Hub, 2 Station Place.

The winter Weekend in Norfolk celebration brightens a dark, cold February, but it is not the end of the fun this year. The 10th anniversary summer Weekend in Norfolk (weekendinnorfolk.org) is scheduled for August 1, 2 and 3. 

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P&Z Gets 65 Manor House Letters and a Petition

For more than two hours Tuesday night, Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman Christopher Schaut read letters into the record during the continued public hearing on the Manor House Inn application.

Zoning enforcement officer Stacey Sefcik’s records show 37 letters clearly favored the application and 26 were in opposition, including a package of information from “Neighbors of the Manor House.” Two petition sheets with a total of 11 signatures supported Manor House. 

Two letters neither favored nor supported the application, but rather posed questions or offered suggestions. 

Three Stewards Real Estate, LLC, owner of the Manor House, which is operating as a country inn, has applied for a modification of an existing special permit and an associated site plan modification. The application has attracted strong public interest and the first part of the hearing, held in January, packed the Hall of Flags at Botelle School with people who wished to offer testimony or simply to learn more about the application.

No oral testimony was taken Tuesday. 

The application calls for an addition to the amenities offered by the inn. Before Tuesday’s session, the applicant granted a 21-day continuance via email so the commission could keep the public hearing open until the P&Z’s March 11 meeting.

To view all official documents associated with the application click here.

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Consolidation Effort To Be Discussed

A public forum has been set for Thursday, February 20, at 7:00 p.m., at Botelle School to discuss the possible consolidation of the Colebrook and Norfolk elementary schools, supplementing an informational meeting that was held in Colebrook last fall. 

Many from Norfolk were unaware of that meeting.

Both towns have been looking for residents to sit on a preliminary committee whose charge would be to determine if there is enough appetite for consolidation to go forward. If the answer is in the affirmative, a formal committee would then be appointed to explore ways and means.

Consolidation and regionalization efforts have failed in the past, but school populations have continued to fall in the years since.

“There are a lot of things to answer, a lot of questions,” First Selectman Matt Riiska said. 

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Trooper Now Posted at Construction Site

A State Trooper is now monitoring traffic on Route 44 Mondays through Fridays while crews work on new retaining walls west of the village center.

Traffic lights allow alternating travel over one lane, but some people have tried to run the light. 

“There have been all kinds of little mishaps” since the lights were installed, said First Selectman Matt Riiska.

Selectman Sandy Evans, ambulance service EMT, noted that if motorists jump the light, it is impossible to see if a car has entered from the other side. “It’s one thing to back up a car,” she said, “but it would be difficult if we had to back an ambulance out of that narrow, bumpy chute.”

Riiska said people who know the area also have been trying to avoid the light by using Ashpohtag and Old Colony Roads. “That will be a concern sooner rather than later,” he said. 

The DOT has altered its plans for reconstructing the section of road, cutting the disruption by more than two years, but it will still be two years more before the work is done. 

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Residents Needed to Fill Town Posts

Townspeople are needed to serve on various town boards and commissions.

In Norfolk, as with many small towns, a handful of elected and appointed officials charged with planning and administering town business are supplemented by a dedicated group of residents who donate their time to the important work required. Many times, the same persons serve on multiple municipal bodies, and it is often difficult to find replacements when they resign. 

For example, two members, Chairman Tom Fahsbender and alternate Lisa Read, recently resigned from the Planning & Zoning Commission, leaving two vacancies.

At its Wednesday meeting, the selectmen appointed alternate Steve Landes to full membership. One alternate position was already vacant, so with the loss of Read and the change for Landes, there are now three P&Z alternate vacancies. 

Alternates attend meetings, can listen and comment on issues, but, unlike full members, do not vote unless a regular member is absent and the chair appoints them to temporarily fill that seat. 

Normally, boards and commissions recruit individuals to fill vacancies and then ask the Board of Selectmen to appoint them. If they do not find a volunteer within a certain amount of time (officially 30 days) the task falls to the selectmen. 

First Selectman Matt Riiska recently appealed for Norfolk residents to serve on the many other boards and commissions that have vacancies, including:

Three alternates for the Board of Assessment Appeals

A full member for the Northwest Mental Health Catchment Area Council

A full member for the Comcast Advisory Board

Two full members and one alternate for the Economic Development Commission

A Republican Registrar of Voters 

A full member for the Farmers Market Committee

Three full members for the Energy Advisory Committee

One full member for the Friends of the Meadow Committee

One alternate for the Historic District Commission

One Municipal Agent for Children

One representative for the Northwest Transit District

One full member for the Public Access Initiative (Internet)

Two alternates for the Recreation Committee

One full member and one alternate for the Town Website Committee

Anyone interested in serving in any of these posts should contact the selectmen’s office at 860-542-5829.

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Norfolk to Norfolk: A Book’s 6,000-mile Journey

The story of a children’s book that took a 6,000-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean and back has created quite a stir, according to Norfolk Library Director Ann Havemeyer, who has been interviewed by both BBC radio and NBC-CT.

The book, a copy of “Animal Ark,” was checked out of a library in Swaffham, Norfolk County, England, and was turned in at the Norfolk, Connecticut, library this month. 

The book had been dropped off in the local library’s outside return box and Havemeyer told the BBC that the library staff had no idea who left it and was perplexed about what to do with it until a chance encounter with English visitors provided a solution.

According to Havemeyer, the library workers “almost couldn’t believe it” when only a week after the book was discovered two tourists from Norfolk, England, appeared in the library. After chatting with the librarian, they agreed to transport the little book back to its proper home. “We are very happy it is back in its rightful home,” Havemeyer said.

The English library’s staff was equally delighted with the international odyssey the little volume had taken. “Quite how someone got confused and returned it to the wrong place, we have no idea,” they posted on Facebook. “Swaffham Library is very different to the Norfolk Library. Oh, and there’s the fact it’s literally thousands of miles away and across an entire ocean. But still, it made it there, and it has now made it back!”

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ICE Detains Norfolk Worker

A local man who works in Norfolk was detained this week by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), according to an attorney familiar with the incident.

He asked that neither his name, nor that of the person detained be revealed. 

A local group is forming “to help this individual and others unfortunately in similar circumstances,” he revealed.

“We’re just getting off the ground and we are not ready to put out a statement,” he said. “In today’s environment, [publicity] could be a two-edged sword.”

He explained that the man’s immigration case had been to court before but was closed with no determination of status made. “The immigration case was closed, but now, because of ICE’s arrest, it is reopened. He was not in danger of being deported and now he is,” said the attorney.

The man was taken from his home and later released.

The attorney said the man does not live in Norfolk but has been in the region for 12 or 13 years. He is gainfully employed, married, has a family, owns a home and has many friends in the community. 

“What they are doing is illegal, against the Constitution and morally wrong,” said the attorney.

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Library’s Long History Recounted in Book

The long history of Norfolk’s elegant library has been captured in a new book, “The Norfolk Library: History, Culture, Community,” that will be introduced at a celebratory reception on Sunday, February 23, at the library. 

The book is a fascinating glimpse into the legacy of Isabella Eldridge, a young woman who built the library in 1888 and who worked until her death in 1919 to turn it into a cultural center for the town. 

“She loved the library,” said executive director Ann Havemeyer. “She paid for everything—she even bought the books. She brought fresh flowers daily and personally welcomed visitors.”

So successful was Eldridge at making the library the core of the community that “Meet me at the libe” became a favorite town saying, according to the reminiscences of Karolina Kendall, daughter of 19th-century photographer Marie Kendall.

Havemeyer, who wrote the book, said the impetus to record the library’s history grew out of last year’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Library Associates. The Library Associates revitalized the institution after what Havemeyer calls “the quiet years” that followed Eldridge’s death, two world wars and a Great Depression. 

“Their vision was that the library should be again used for cultural enrichment,” said Havemeyer. “I wanted to write the history of the Associates, but when I started, I felt that should be part of a broader history of the library.”

She tells delicious tales such as the one about North Pole explorer Robert Peary, who was unable to visit Norfolk because of a snowstorm and another about the “missing librarian” Philemon Johnson, who absconded with $17,000 in town funds.

The book includes both historic pictures taken by Marie Kendall and modern ones taken by Christopher Little and Havemeyer. It was published by the Norfolk Historical Society and normally costs $45. It will be available at the reception, however, at a special discount price of $25.

The reception will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

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Library Celebrates Botelle’s Distinction Award

Enthralled children laughed and clapped Wednesday afternoon when Bryson Lang presented a high-energy, family-friendly comedy and juggling show during Wednesday’s Corner Club at the Norfolk Library.

The show was the library’s way of saying “well done” to the students and staff at Botelle School, whose combined efforts led to a “School of Distinction” award from the state Department of Education this winter.

“No one had planned a party after the school got the award,” said Eileen Fitzgibbons, children’s services/events coordinator at the library. “So, we said, ‘Let’s have one here.’”

The Corner Club represents the long-time collaboration between the library and Botelle. “We started the Corner Club in 1989 as an after-school enrichment program,” Fitzgibbons said. “With a note from a parent, the children can take a bus from the school to the library. And sometimes I go up to the school to read to the children, which I love. It is a relationship that we want to continue to foster.”

The party ended with light refreshments, including homemade cookies from the newly opened Ice Box Café.

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