The successful New Canaan Beautification League fundraising event supports league plantings and programs. Brotherhood & Higley Real Estate; Ali Guardi, Morgan Stanley; Amy Gildea, People's Bank; D. Palladino & Son Septic Co., Inc.; HTG Investment Advisors, Inc.; Hoyt Livery; L'Armoire; New Canaan Board of Realtors; Odd Job Landscaping; Outreach for Pets in Need; Potterbuilt Construction; Rosie, New Canaan; Sillo Construction LLC; Tom Turrentine, RBC; and Wadia Associates. Bon Fleur; Chocolate Rain Shop; Copia Home & Garden; Couleur Provence; Country Design; Donald Rich Antiques; Earth Garden; Goldenberry; Hoagland's of Greenwich; The Linen Shop; Marvin Gardens; M Milestones; Nielsen's Florist & Garden Shop; Pottery Barn; Roger Sherman Inn; Rosie; Sallea Antiques; Severed Ties; The Silk Touch; Simon Pearce and Miriam Landsman; The Summer House; Terrain; Village Critter Outfitter; West Elm; The Whitney Shop; Wild Birds Unlimited; and Yvonne Design Team.

The comments are those of our Town Council chairman, who resided as chairman while the material weaknesses, material non-compliance and other accounting irregularities cited were prevalent. Bad internal control is not caused by a change in accounting system(s) or a change in financial management. All firms report pursuant to Generally Accepted Auditing Standards and Generally Accepted Governmental Accounting standards. [...] the legislative branch (7/8ths) is rampant with individuals who have served too long, have no financial expertise and are elected based on popularity.

I would like to thank the first selectman of the town of New Canaan, the Department of Social Services and the New Canaan community for their strong support for the TeenTalk program at New Canaan High School. Thank you all for recognizing the need for mental health and support services in our public schools; in this post-Newtown era, our children need resources such as TeenTalk Outreach Counselor Ed Milton in their schools, each and every day. You understand this, and we thank you for putting children first. Shari Shapiro, executive director Kids in Crisis

After perusing the 112-page audit report of the Town of New Canaan fiscal year June 30, 2012, released by the town's new independent auditors, O'Connor Davies, I am alarmed that past budget processes inclusive of the recently adopted 2013-14 budget and financial reporting were based on inadequate financial data and shoot-from-the-hip review. [...] the report is a scathing indictment of the financial practices under the Walker Administration. The most scathing issue is the reference to the yet-to-be-issued management letter that sights a "material weakness," stating: "Management does not have adequate financial reporting to make decisions or comply with budgeting rules and regulations in the Town Charter" and a "material non-compliance" stating: "The Town could not properly manage the budget, there were no checklists."

Both ladies are members of the New Canaan Beautification League, a dedicated group of volunteers who perform civic beautification throughout our little town. While I drove to an AAUW board meeting, I thought of some places in town that are designed, planted and maintained by NCBL members: our downtown train station; God's Acre monument; the Vine Cottage; the Center School Bell area; the post office "mail drop;" Morse Court parking area; and 40 or so "triangles" throughout New Canaan. When I arrived home from my meeting I searched www.newcanaanbeautification.org and discovered that from spring into fall, NCBL members plant and maintain the hanging baskets in the downtown area. [...] NCBL offers horticultural lectures, floral demonstrations, plant sales, garden tours and field trips.

Maybe so, but that's not how it looks to me, working at Norwalk Hospital where we have more than 400 dedicated, caring, outstanding volunteers. Volunteers like the ones I interact with daily at the hospital consistently demonstrate a spirit of giving without expecting anything in return. There are countless examples of people who volunteer; those who do so for their communities, churches, health and social organizations. [...] one of our best sources for recruiting new volunteers comes from former patients and their families who experienced the impact of a volunteer firsthand. The Norwalk Hospital volunteers are a family and they help to make our patients feel like family, too.

Two weeks ago, the New Canaan News printed a letter to the editor from me highlighting concerns about Attorney Thomas O'Dea's "conflicts of interests" as an attorney, conflicting with Rep. Thomas O'Dea's oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States in his duties as an elected public official. Rep. O'Dea was asked to engage me in a public debate at a location of his choosing to properly address his legal basis for denying a parent a "due process and equal protection right" of a fundamental "liberty interest" of "familial association." The reason that the founders of the Connecticut Constitution provided for "self-representation" as a specific right provided in all legal matters in Connecticut was attributable by Justice Flynn in the dissenting opinion in Flanagan v. Flanagan, because in 1818 the legal profession was considered so "corrupt."

On March 4, our elected representative who serves on the Joint Committee on Judiciary, Thomas O'Dea, cast a vote in favor of an "omnibus" bill for revisions in court operations, labeled HB6387. HB6387, as proposed and docketed for vote in the General Assembly in April, would provide the "discretionary powers" to a Superior Court judge in Connecticut to remove a parent's custody rights during a divorce proceeding or in a post judgment proceeding, without a hearing. At the New Canaan Advertiser's hosted coffee, attended by about 40 citizens, I brought to the attention of these "influencers" that Thomas O'Dea joined 23 other lawyers turned legislators to engage in a vote at the Joint Committee on Judiciary, to endorse this legislation in a 39-1 vote.

Honor, loyalty, respect and dedication, these are just a few choice words that best define our dear friend, Fred Pickering. Fred is committed to our community and giving back to others.

Carol Walter, who served as executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, was a champion in the fight to end homelessness in the state of Connecticut. Because to Carol, providing temporary shelter was only a stop-gap measure. [...] her oversight of the CCEH annual statewide Point-in-Time census, which enumerated homelessness in shelters and on the street, provided us all with a better understanding of the causes of homelessness, enabled us to design more effective interventions to help homeless people rebuild their lives, evaluated the impact of programs serving homeless people and tracked the overall progress toward ending homelessness in Connecticut.