Dog Day Halloween

Louise Elizabeth puts on the last bits of her pumpkin costume with a little help from her companion, Gloria Lipman of Hamden.

Words and pictures by Betsy Driebeek

On any given sunny Sunday afternoon, you might find 20-25 dogs enjoying themselves in the Hamden Dog Park at Bassett. Chances are they would not be wearing any clothing.

But this past Sunday was different. Canines were in their Halloween best. They came to party at the park to raise funds for the Hamden Responsible Dog Owner's Group via contributions and the sale of bandanas, dog biscuits and T-shirts. Dawn Tiedemann, coordinator of the RDOG, said about 35 pups showed up.

You want mustard on that? Peanut (the hotdog) belongs to Lisa Rohner of Wallingford.

RDOG member Kathy Tessier said the town doesn't pay for the poop bags provided at the park, which cost $1,000 a year. The money raised will also go to signage and gating.

Volunteers get together for town-dumped gravel spreading, mulch and weed work and general cleaning. "If people picked up after themselves and their dogs, the upkeep of the park would not be so dependent on volunteers," Tessier said.

Aurora (sheriff) and Rosie (her prisoner), pets of Kathleen Charest of Meriden.

Although the park’s in Hamden, there were plenty of dogs visiting from out of town. According to Dog Fun Directory, only 26 Connecticut towns have dog parks.
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SIT Seizes Narcs

From Capt. Ron Smith:

On Oct. 27, the Hamden police Street Interdiction Team investigated an anonymous tip that narcotics were being delivered to 2297 Whitney Ave., Apt. 38. Furthermore, officers received information that a wanted felon was involved.

While conducting surveillance in the parking lot of 2297 Whitney Ave., police spotted a man leaving Apt. 38 and walking towards a parked vehicle. Information was developed about the activity going on inside the apartment. When the occupants opened the door, officers observed crack cocaine packaged in small Baggies and drug paraphernalia in plain view. Heroin and $1,125 were found nearby. The SIT seized 3.2 grams of heroin and 2.2 grams of crack cocaine. The estimated street value of the narcotics is $350.

Yes, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont’s platform is about much more than the Iraq War, Sharkey said. Universal health care, corporate responsibility, environmental protection, fiscal responsibility, education reform -- critical domestic stuff the Bush Administration has either eroded or ignored while pouring billions into a no-win war.

Words and pictures by Betsy Driebeek

If you were a kid with a costume, Hamden's Halloween party at the Keefe
Center was the place to be last night. The annual event usually draws
about 200, but high school resource officer Robert Dunham estimated many more.

Nine-year-old Ridge Hill School friends Leniko Huggins (left)
and Evans Genece with Evans' sister Ashliegh, 5.

There was also quite a police presence at the party as the force is the main sponsor. "It is a very good thing for the community and we look forward to it each year," said Detective Stephen Rossacci of the department’s youth division. "Kids see us in a different way here when we can tell them how nice their costumes are."

West Woods School sisters Veneise, 9, and Jaylexia, 5, work on a
Halloween craft. Their mother bills them as the "Heavenly Devils."

Kids from infancy to about 12 were entertained by a haunted hall, a magician, arts and crafts and illuminated ghouls, ghosts and goblins from the Eli Whitney Museum. There was a costume contest and food.

Volunteers galore ran the activities: 18 Hamden High cheerleaders, folks from Parks & Rec and Southern Connecticut State University students. The event was also sponsored by Hamden Youth Services.

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Closing Shop

Manager Alexis Brown poses among the last flowers. Photo/Sharon Bass

By Sharon Bass

Sixty years ago, the Hamden Garden Center was born in a Thornton Street garage. Then it moved to Skiff Street. In 1950, it reopened at 2415 Dixwell Ave. And stayed put.

“It’s tragic. It’s too bad for the town and everyone else,” said Jeff Allard, who bought the garden shop eight years ago. “It’s a town institution. Believe me, I don’t want to be the guy who closes it. But at the end of the day, you do what you have to do.”

It’s not that the center is raking in fewer bucks. In fact, Allard said, sales are up this year. But there’s no place to grow -- and for a plant and tree business that’s imperative, he said. Especially when competing with the likes of Home Depot. While the corporate chain, which opened earlier this year down Dixwell Avenue, has not eaten into Allard’s plant sales, it has made a dent in his hard goods, such as tools and chemicals.

In order for him to thrive, he’d need to expand to accommodate more live green stuff and parking. And he said he can’t.

“We’re pretty much landlocked at this point and that’s how we made the decision,” said Allard. “We knew this from the first day we owned the place. It’s too small.” He’s got a third-acre while a full acre is needed but is not available. The land behind the center is now owned by LA Fitness. “So that’s spoken for,” he said. The former Duchess site next door is too expensive. “You only do business eight months a year,” he said of the garden business.

The property has been sold to “an unrelated business,” Allard said, not wanting to disclose its nature.

“It takes a certain kind of passion,” Alexis Brown, the manager for the past three years, said of running the garden center. “It becomes all of your life, 12 hours, seven days a week. And neither she nor Allard has that passion to dedicate their lives to the shop.

The landscape design end of the biz will continue. Allard said he also sells real estate for Calgani.

“Our mission is to liquidate the inventory,” he said. Trees, shrubs, perennials and pottery are now half-priced. As the end of December draws closer, Brown said more stuff will be discounted.

“I knew Jeff wanted out two years ago,” she said. “I said, ‘Let me try.’” But Brown said it became clear it was too much work to keep the place going. Still, she said, “there’s a lot of good that came of this garden center.

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Three-Day Seizure

Kids damage a Hideaway house and vehicles while owners are away

By Sharon Bass

Today, 10 Hamden teens are to appear in New Haven Juvenile Court for trashing a house while the owners were on vacation last summer. They were all arrested last week and are under 18, said Hamden police Capt. Ron Smith.

One of the arrested kids was paid $100 up front to walk the owners’ two dogs and was given a copy of the house key, said Susan Berton of 12 Hideaway Lane -- the house that was turned upside down while she and her family spent two weeks in Florida in mid-August. Apparently, the boy and his friends threw three consecutive parties from Aug. 17-19. The Bertons returned home Aug. 20. At 6:30 p.m., they called the police.

“I freaked out. I really did,” said Berton, who has three kids. “I went through the house because I heard that there were people living here. So I stripped everything. Lysol’d everything. I went nuts. I was just so upset. I had known the boy for years. I just never thought he would do something like this. Especially with his parents four houses down the street.” Plus, she said, he had taken care of the dogs before.

According to Berton, the dogs were traumatized. The family pickup was taken out for a joy ride and totaled: $8,800 in damages. The engine on Berton’s son’s dirt bike was cracked: $3,300 in damages. The home stereo speakers were destroyed. Two previously unopened bottles of liquor were nearly bone dry. The carpet was stained. Bathroom tiles were cracked.

“When we got home my son had taken off to the gym and someone had told him there were parties while we were gone,” she said. “My husband and I had found a couple of spots on the carpet. Like they spilled something and never tried to pick it up. They blew the engine [of the pickup]. They destroyed the front end. One of the stabilizing bars in the front end was completely twisted. How they did this, I’ll never know.”

Berton said she obtained some info from myspace.com, where the teens exchanged messages about the parties. Those posts have since been removed, she said. Also, she said neighbors told her they heard loud music and saw kids smoking cigarettes on her deck on those August nights.

Capt. Smith said police interviewed neighbors and the kids before making last week’s arrests. The teens were charged with criminal trespass in the second degree, "with intent to cause damage to property in an amount exceeding $200," he said.

Most disturbing to Berton, however, was the trauma to her dogs during the partying. Her next-door neighbor told her the dogs were “going crazy. Just crazy. They were barking and barking,” she said.

“There was a question about what happened to my dogs,” said Berton. Nobody interviewed said the dogs were abused, “but I can tell you that my female was not right when I got home. She was definitely traumatized. For two weeks, she just followed me. When I’d go to the door she would just sit there with her ears back. And my male dog [normally kept in a cage], when we got back [from vacation] I had my hands up in front of me to stop him from coming into the living room and he just cowered.”

And They're Off

Get started.

Words and pictures by Betsy Driebeek

Cub Scouts tested their driving skills and racing abilities at Brooksvale
Park Saturday morning during a Cubmobile Derby. The event for the 7- to 11-year-olds was sponsored by the Connecticut Yankee Council, Sleeping Giant District.

Keep going.

Twelve cubmobiles -- handmade by the boys -- were entered in the derby. Teams of two to four boys pushed their fellow seated Scout as he steered through six courses: the UPS Man, Mall Parking Lot, Race Day at Lime Rock, the Autoparts Store, Trip to the Big City and the Drag Race.

Faster, faster. Almost there.

While there may have been a little bit of competition in the air, the day was really a time for the Scouts to "do their best" and have fun.

Reaching the finish line.