PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID DANBURY CT PERMIT NO. 254
OCTOBER 19, 2023
Eversource to present report and replanting plan after tree removal error
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REDDING, CONNECTICUT
Volume 2 / Issue 20
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The Planning Commission continues to review the matter of Eversource wrongly removing four black locust trees along Cross Highway on September 27, an error made as the utility began tree removals under their Resiliency Program to protect its power lines. Discussion was held over the cause of the error and Eversource presented its proposed remediation efforts at the Commission’s October 10 meeting. The meeting agenda included a Notice of Violation issued to the utility for the unauthorized removal of four black locust trees on September 27. The trees were not included in the utility’s revised application the Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve on July 11 for tree removals along Hill Road and Cross Highway. The revised application had included 65 trees slated for removal, and then was the subject of an appeal process and discussed at an August 8 public hearing held by Tree Warden Charles Hyatt. Eleven trees were successfully appealed as part of that public hearing. Since the September 27 error, tree cutting has been halted on Town property along Hill Road and Cross Highway. “Our arborists discussed the issue of the miscommunication between the contractor and their tree crew that mistakenly removed the four locust trees on Town property along Cross Highway instead of trimming them as planned,” Jamie Ratliff Eversource Senior Media Relations Specialist told the Sentinel. “We again apologized for the error and are working with our contractor on a replanting plan. We will present that plan to the Commission with the goal of completing the replanting before the end of the year. We’re taking several steps to avoid any more miscommunication, including maintaining a presence and overseeing all work being done along Cross Highway.” Since the October 10 meeting, Planning Chairman Dan Barrett said the group will provide feedback on the plan to Eversource and request alterations if needed at its next meeting which is October 24. “While we remain angered by Eversource’s irreversible mistake, we were able to have a productive
of dead and changing leaves on a rainy morning, stone walls emerge, come into focus, and intersect. We pause at the corner, where the trail bends, and Gordon gestures to the woods over the walls: Aquarion land that Redding Land Trust and Connecticut Forest and Parks Association had thought would make a good link to the nearby Aspetuck Trail. Not happening anytime soon, though. We follow Buzz’s Trail in the opposite direction. I look to my feet and notice a single spore-stem of the clubmoss called ground pine, or princess pine, though it looks more like a baby spruce or fir than pine. Beside the trail, delicate ferns have turned mostly brown, concealing the still-green leaves of greenbrier vines. A light-filled gap behind the trees indicates the Aspetuck River. As we draw closer, the colors of trees on the opposite bank remind me of the trees I saw across Bogus Brook Swamp in spring.
The opioid crisis has been front-and-center in the news for more than a decade. While the toll in human suffering continues to mount from these painkillers gone amuck, the war on drugs has since shifted to the courts. Redding resident Irve Goldman is deep in the trenches of what may become one of the biggest opioid settlements to date, which was reached after Connecticut, seven other states, and the District of Columbia opposed and ultimately settled their opposition to the bankruptcy plan of Purdue Pharma. The bankruptcy plan sought to release members of the Sackler family, Purdue Pharma’s owners, from any liability they might have for the trillions of dollars of opioid claims that were asserted in Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy. The case now hinges on a Supreme Court ruling that will address the legality of these socalled third-party releases. The releases were a predominate feature of the bankruptcy plan filed by the Stamford-based drug maker. Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019, and in August 2021, a federal bankruptcy judge approved its reorganization plan with third-party releases in favor of the Sacklers. In exchange for the releases, the Sackler family agreed to contribute $4.3 billion to creditors of Purdue Pharma, including states, over several years. “Connecticut, seven other states and the District of Columbia got the bankruptcy court’s ruling reversed on appeal to an intermediate federal appeals court,” said Goldman, who has lived in Redding for 30 years and heads the bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, and financial restructuring practice at the Bridgeport-based law firm Pullman & Comley. “And while Purdue’s appeal of that reversal to an even higher appeals court was pending, Connecticut and the other opposition states reached a settlement with the Sacklers – which required them to contribute an additional $1.7 billion to the plan in exchange for the releases they wanted.” A substantial part of that additional funding would go directly to the opposition states. “In a turn of events, the higher appeals court which heard Purdue’s appeal ended up ruling that the third-party releases were legal,” said Goldman. “That court effectively reinstituted Purdue’s bankruptcy plan with the settlement achieved by the opposition states.” Goldman said. The plan called for Purdue to restructure itself under a new name and to devote its profits to fighting the opioid epidemic. The additional $6 billion from the
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Photo by Donna DeMusis Dekle
Ducks swim against a backdrop of autumn foliage at Topstone Pond this month. If you have a photo you’d like to see featured here, with credit of course, e-mail editor@reddingsentinel.org
Notice of November 7 Election Enrollment Sessions The Office of the Registrar of Voters will be holding the last voter registration session on Tuesday, October 31 from 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. for the purpose of registration and/or enrollment of electors entitled to vote in the election. We will be holding this registration session in person at Town Hall in the Hearing Room at 100 Hill Road. For people who qualify as to age, citizenship, or residence after the last session for the admission of elections prior to this election, we will be holding a limited registration session on Monday, No-
vember 6 from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. We will be holding this registration session in person at Town Hall in the Hearing Room. When registering to vote for the first time, you must have a valid photo ID that shows name and address. If your ID does not show your current address (i.e. you recently moved here from a different town or state) please also bring a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or government document that shows your name and address. If you have any questions,
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please call our office at 203-9385012 or email registrar@townofreddingct.org To check your registration: https://portaldir.ct.gov/sots/lookup.aspx To register or change your registration: https://voterregistration. ct.gov/OLVR Dated at Redding, Connecticut, this 10th day of October, 2023. g Meghan Ely, Democratic Registrar of Voters Michele Meschi, Republican Registrar of Voters
Redding’s Big Outdoors The Mahony Gifts and Ground Pine Sanctuary l
Photo by Cole Tucker-Walton
Saturday morning, my week’s forecast-checking is finally answered with rain. Still, when I pull up to the Mahony Gifts kiosk at the end of Ledgeway Road, on the Easton border, a small crowd is standing in hats, jackets, and hoods, two dogs sniffing around at shoes. Eighteen people gather, and Redding Land Trust Co-president Gordon Loery tells us that neighbor Brian Mahony donated
Election 2023 Sports Movie Series Business Spotlight
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By Cole Tucker-Walton
the Preserve’s 38-ish acres over three decades, in 17 separate parcels. The last five acres came in a few years ago, and trustee Henry “Buzz” Merritt, who died May 12, 2020, was the shepherd of these gifts from the start. Buzz’s wife, Jane Hamilton-Merritt, and son, Schuyler Merritt, say a few words about his love for the woods. Schuyler recalls hanging out the window of his dad’s single-engine Cessna, taking photos for an aerial survey of the region. Our group takes a photo together, and then we’re off on the newly named “Buzz’s Trail,” mostly single file; from the back, I watch a single, yellow umbrella bob down the line. The trail underfoot is duller yellow with fallen birch leaves. The birch trees’ old, plated bark turns black in the rain as we walk downhill among thick old oaks and tall but slender young maples. Yards back from the trail, hemlocks darken the view. From the visual confusion
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Big Outdoors Editorial Legal Notice Letters to the Editor
Redding attorney plays key role in opioid case By Rob Sample
By Donna Christopher
Index
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Book Review Library Corner The Natural World Calendar of Events
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