CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

 Two guys came down my driveway this afternoon (McCue was one of them) "measuring the performance" of the new communications system. It's on the air, and their testing consists of a sophmoric "can you hear me now" protocol. Recall we had to look at countless coverage maps demonstrating a very specific level of signal strength and told that any alternatives did not meet those very critical levels of signal strength. So here they are now driving the system just like the Verizon Guy. This method of system performance is unacceptable in any cellular hearing process (numerous case law decisions) and I never accept such in any application I review. The system should be measured by scanning receivers coupled to computers logging thousands of data points, the points then reduced to coverage pixels on a base map.....just like the nonsence we saw at the hearings. So if, as the song goes "Is that all there is?" then they will have no problem with 95% or maybe 98%. The vendor will be off the hook.

Recall, after the 175 foot monopole was built and I put the FD and Police on top, we also did such drive tests with hand helds and identified coverage and non coverage areas. At that time, as there was no 1.5 MM contract for a new system, the sophmoric method was pretty good, and the FD was pleased....better than they ever had. Wonder what this system will sound like in 5 years? I know, we'll need a digital system with more sites.

I'm afraid, no matter how it goes from now on the the court, the deed is done and it is probably irreversible.

Sorry for all the good news.

ANOTHER FAIRY TALE ... PERHAPS A HOUSE OF CARDS HORROR SHOW?

From the Opinions page of the News-Times. 

 

IN A RELATED STORY ... OR PERHAPS THE REAL STORY:

Two months ago Senator Blumenthal and Congressman Murphy made public a survey regarding manufacturers in Connecticut. It determined we have 5,003 different manufacturing businesses that employ 171,207 in all levels of manufacturing and have an average annual income of $70,238.

This report offers an opportunity to focus on the P.E.A. (Region 15) teachers' union's perpetual outstanding negotiating expertise that dominates our inadequate, amateur board of education.

This situation is exacerbated by state statutes that allow regional school districts to bypass our other elected selectmen and finance boards and go directly to referendum with budgets.The teachers contract parameters further marginalize the voter. Done in secrecy, the voter is deaf, dumb and blind until the contract is already signed and becomes a three-year taxpayer obligation.

Exactly what has the teachers union managed to accomplish when negotiating with our inept Board of Education?

Here are the parameters comparing the private sector employee with the P.E.A. public-sector employee.

Private sector: 40 plus hours per week, 2,000 plus hours per year, spread over 250 work days. Average salary $70,238.

Public sector: 25 hours per week teaching, 900 hours per year, spread over 180 school days. Average salary $81,693.

How about justifying this aberration! Will somebody on the boards of education, selectmen or finance please explain the rationale that justifies a P.E.A. teacher working 28 percent less time annually and getting 20 percent more salary than the equivalent private-sector employee?

Shouldn't a teacher be paid proportionately? Isn't the teacher working 70 fewer days at $454 per day getting paid $31,780 ($454 times 70) too much?

If not, why not? I expect our elected officials, having a fiduciary responsibility, to respond to these legitimate questions.

Frank Pellegrini

Southbury

FAIRY TALES ... AN ENDLESS SOURCE OF LESSONS ... NEXT LESSON

New Fairfield schools honored for property management

NEW FAIRFIELD -- The New Fairfield public schools were honored by the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency for their exceptional property management at its Risk Management Achievement Award ceremony May 26 at the Rocky Hill Marriott. School superintendent Alicia Roy, building and grounds superintendent Phil Ross and the school staff were praised for their ongoing dedication to preventive maintenance. The school system has used the Environmental Protection Agency's "Tools for Schools" indoor air quality program since 2001 and in 2009 implemented a "Green Clean" initiative with Green-Seal certified paper, soap and commercial cleaning products. The New Fairfield public schools have had no school facility property losses in six years.

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Fairfield-schools-honored-for-property-1424231.php#ixzz1PLzrFuMn

THE ROAD TO THE PROMISE LAND OR JAY LENO'S WALK OF THE ALL STARS?

Students Stumble Again on the Basics of History

(the title of the article sums up the take-away)


HERE'S MY QUESTION: JUST WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOL?

Fewer than a quarter of American 12th-graders knew China was North Korea's ally during the Korean War, and only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, according to national history-test scores released Tuesday.

Don't Know Much About History?

Try your hand at some of the questions on the NAEP history tests.

The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that U.S. schoolchildren have made little progress since 2006 in their understanding of key historical themes, including the basic principles of democracy and America's role in the world.

Only 20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were "proficient" or "advanced," unchanged since the test was last administered in 2006. Proficient means students have a solid understanding of the material.

The news was even more dire in high school, where 12% of 12th-graders were proficient, unchanged since 2006. More than half of all seniors posted scores at the lowest achievement level, "below basic." While the nation's fourth- and eighth-graders have seen a slight uptick in scores since the exam was first administered in 1994, 12th-graders haven't.

One bright spot in the data was the performance of African-American and Hispanic students in fourth and eighth grades. The average score of Hispanic fourth-graders jumped to 198 last year, versus 175 in 1994, which helped shrink the gap with their white counterparts. In eighth grade, black students improved to 250 points in 2010 from 238 in 1994. At the fourth-grade level, the gap between Hispanic and white students was 39 points in 1994 and 26 points in 2010. In eighth grade, the black-white gap narrowed to 23 points in 2010 from 28 in 1994.

Only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, according to national history-test scores released Tuesday.

The overall lackluster performance is certain to revive the debate about whether history and other subjects, such as science and art, are being pushed out of the curriculum because of the focus on math and reading demanded under the No Child Left Behind federal education law. The federal law mandates that students be tested in math and reading.

Sue Blanchette, president-elect of the National Council for Social Studies, a national association of K-12 and college social-studies teachers, called the results disheartening and said history education has been marginalized in the last decade.

"Everyone is going to participate in civic life by paying taxes, protesting against paying taxes, voting, and we must teach our children how to think critically about these issues," she said. "Clearly, we are not doing that."

Ms. Blanchette said her group wants the history test administered every two years, like the national math and reading exams, instead of every four years. "What gets measured, gets taught," she said.

The U.S. Department of Education administered the history exam to a representative sample of public and private schools, testing 7,000 fourth-graders, 11,800 eighth-graders and 12,400 high-school seniors. The test is scored on a 0-500 point scale, and those scores are broken into "below basic," "basic," "proficient" and "advanced."

In fourth grade, students who scored at or above basic are likely to know how to interpret a map about the Colonial economy. Fourth-grade students who scored proficient are likely to know that canals increased trade among states, and students scoring advanced probably would be able to explain how factories changed American work.

A THOUSAND CUTS ... NO NOT WHAT YOU "THIMK" ... JUST A SPRING THUNDERSTORM

THOUSANDS CUT OFF FROM GETTING HOME AFTER AN AFTERNOON THUNDER STORM LEAVES THE AREA IMPASSIBLE ... HERE'S MY QUESTION WHY WOULD YOU BURY A CRITICAL LINK OF YOUR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DEEP INTO THE FOREST ON A NARROW DIRT ROAD DEPENDENT UPON WIRES CONNECTED TO TELEPHONE POLES? 

Authorities in Danbury, Ridgefield, New Fairfield, Brookfield, New Milford and Southbury reported dozens of road closures after a line of thunderstorms struck the area yesterday, toppling trees and downing wires, and left thousands without power.

The storms hit during the late-afternoon rush hour, instantly turning day into night and felling trees and power lines, which blocked numerous area roadways.

School officials in Brookfield, New Milford, Newtown, New Fairfield and Sherman have announced that schools will be closed today.

Connecticut Light and Power Co. reported more than 60,000 households without power statewide at 5 a.m., including about 39 percent of homes in Bridgewater.

At 6:35 a.m., CL&P reported more than 1,300 homes in Danbury were still without power, and about 1,350 in Newtown, 4,580 in Brookfield, 2,670 in New Milford, 3,275 in Southbury and 1,260 in New Fairfield.

"We are working as quickly and safely as possible,'' CL&P spokeswoman Katie Flint said on Thursday. "But we know this will be a multi-day restoration effort. The damage was violent and widespread.'' -- AN EXAMPLE OF A SPRING/SUMMER/FALL EMERGENCY
Flint said CL&P is asking for out-of-state crews to help in the work.

According to fire officials in Danbury, there are about a dozen roads, mostly on the north end of town, that are closed due to storm-related damage or debris.

Several sections of New Fairfield were hit hard, with roads near the Sherman border with Wanzer Mountain are largely inaccessible due to downed trees. The storm also brought down many trees at the Candlewood Hills community near Squantz Pond.

New Fairfield First Selectman John Hodge said Thursday that 20 to 30 trees in town were down. HOW MANY TREES DOES IT TAKE TO CRITICALLY INCAPACITE A MICROWAVE TOWER BURIED A HALF-MILE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST THAT DEPENDS UPON WIRES CONNECTED TO TELEPHONE POLES TO A COUNTRY ROAD? QUICK ANSWER: 1

"I told the public works guys to come in with their chain saws,'' Hodge said. "They're going to be working all night.''  -- What a guy!

Route 25 in Brookfield is closed from Long Meadow Hill Road to Oak Grove Road, officials said. Federal Road is closed near the First Assembly of God Church. Long Meadow Road is also shut down from the New Milford town line to Brookfield High School.

Meanwhile, Route 133 is closed from North Obtuse Road to the Bridgewater Bridge. The section of Silvermine Road near the town police station is currently closed.

A "possible tornado" showed up on the Weather Center radar over the southern end of town of New Milford, Bill Jacquemin, chief meteorologist at the Connecticut Weather Center in Danbury, said Thursday.

"It's a very explosive situation," he said. "There were wind gusts of over 40 miles per hour at the Weather Center. For not even being the worst part of the storm, that's pretty impressive." -- a typical hurricane has much higher sustained winds along with soaking rain. 

At least two eyewitness reports on Twitter described possible funnel-cloud sightings in Newtown.

In Ridgefield, Regan Road remains closed, between Ridgebury Road and Mopus Ridge Road, officials said.

On Stadley Rough Road in Danbury, Katie Quinn huddled yesterday in the lower floor of her home with family and friends as the storm hit.

"It was crazy," Quinn said. "The sky was, like, green, and it was very windy."  -- Toto we're not in Kansas we're in New England!

The storm took down a large tree, completely blocking Stadley Rough Road and bringing down a power line transformer.

In Brookfield, a downed tree blocked Federal Road north of the Costco market, taking power lines down with it.

Suzanne McDonald and John Anderson were at Creative Bath on Federal Road when the storm hit.

Heavy winds came and then hail "like peas, then like cherries,'' McDonald said. -- Toto it was raining Fruit Loops!

"No wonder we couldn't get our computers up and running," she said after hearing about the downed tree. -- Electricity has a compelling effect on things electronic!
Next door at the Eurolux Salon and Day Spa, staff fretted about something else.

"Our main worry was to get the power back on so we could wash everyone's hair," said Laura Briganti. With power on, she said, every appointment was saved.

Thwarted by closed roads several times while trying to get from Bethel to the Four Corners in Brookfield, Chris Martoni, of Brookfield, made the best of the situation and stopped to eat at La Familia Pizza & Pasta on Federal Road.

In New Milford, police and firefighters were attempting to reach a home on Sherry Lane where a tree had crashed into a house and car as the family reportedly huddled in a basement.

At the same time, emergency crews were responding to numerous reports of trees and wires down on Route 7, with at least one lane closed near New Milford High School.

But as soon as the storm ended, people emerged, cell phone cameras in hand.

Alexandra Edwards was on Stadley Rough Road in Danbury, taking pictures of the downed tree. -- Its not nice to fool Mother Nature.

"This is fabulous,'' she said. "I'm definitely going to put this on Facebook."  -- I've almost got a life ... can't wait to see my friends on Facebook!

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Nearly-16-000-in-Greater-Danbury-still-without-1417562.php#ixzz1OxvGVirI 

WHAT IS THE ZIP CODE FOR DETROIT ... ? GOOGLE DETROIT.

Delinquent Homeowners to Get Mortgage Aid from Government - AGAIN!?

"IF A RAISING TIDE RAISES ALL BOATS ... WHAT DOES A FALLING TIDE DO?"

Published: Saturday, 4 Jun 2011 | 6:20 PM ET

The Obama administration wants to help more struggling Americans stay in their homes by reducing the amount they owe on their troubled mortgages, a top Treasury official said Saturday. GIVE A MAN A FISH FEED HIM FOR A DAY, TEACH HIM TO FISH FEED HIM FOR A LIFE TIME. THE LESSON IS SIMPLE, THE FAILURE IS PAINFUL. WITH 70% OF OUR DEBT NOW BEING BOUGHT (!) BY THE FED ... THE PAIN OF REPAYMENT EFFECTS MANY GENERATIONS AND THE LIBERTIES AND FREEDOM OF THOSE GENERATIONS YET UNBORN.  IS THAT RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT?  THE CURRENT HOUSING PROBLEM AND REDUCED VALUE WILL BE WITH US FOR AT LEAST A GENERATION (20 YEARS) ... IN EFFECT THOSE BABY BOOMERS WHO THINK THEY HAVE REACHED THE 'PROMISE LAND' OF RETIREMENT HAVE JUST COME FACE TO FACE WITH THE PAIN OF FAILURE.  GENERATIONS FEEDING ON GENERATIONS. 

Fuse | Getty Images

"We are very definitely trying to facilitate more principal reductions," said Timothy Massad, Treasury's acting assistant secretary for financial stability. "It is a very important piece of the overall solution," he said.

The administration is trying through taxpayer-funded programs to prevent homeowners from losing their homes. Nearly $50 billion has been set aside from the $700 billion bank bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to help distressed homeowners. NOW THE OTHER SHOE WILL BE DROPPING ... PROPERTY TAXES! HERE'S MY QUESTION, IF HOMEOWNERS ARE INTO THE MIRROR OF FAILURE WHERE'S THE MONEY GOING TO COME FROM TO PAY TAXES?

Persistently high unemployment and a weak housing market pose a threat to President Obama's re-election prospects next year. -- WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY ... STUPID?

So far, one of the programs has helped some 670,000 distressed homeowners win lower mortgage payments. But that has done very little to help the overall housing market, which remains depressed even as other parts of the economy have started to recover.

A glut of houses for sale, foreclosures, tight credit and little demand have impeded the housing recovery. Recent data showed that home prices dropped below the low seen in April 2009 during the financial crisis.  

RELATED LINKS

• Housing Doom Overdone?
• 20 Percent Mortgage Down Payment Under Fire
• Foreclosure Sales Centered in Few States, So Why Should We Care?

"This has been a very, very tough housing market as a result of the fact that we went through a horrible financial crisis," Massad told reporters on the sidelines of a foreclosure prevention event in Washington.

One of the administration's programs helps distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure by providing permanent loan modifications.

Another program, now ramping up, gives states that have been the hardest hit by falling home prices funding to help reduce the principal of a borrower's loan, among other things.

"I think those will make a big difference in terms of the problems of unemployed homeowners and falling house prices," said Massad. But he added the process was tricky.

"There are issues of how you do it, making sure it's fair, making sure you don't create the wrong incentives," Massad said.

At the event, dozens of homeowners seeking relief waited to talk to housing counselors and their mortgage servicers, who collect housing payments and negotiate new terms for troubled loans.

One housing counselor expressed frustration with the servicers, saying more people would still be in their homes if their principal was reduced. SURE AND I COULD BE IN THE OLYMPICS IF I HAD THE ABILITY! 

"Servicers are not required to do it," said Shaneece Hudson, a mortgage adviser with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. "Principal reduction is an option (for the servicers.) But they don't do it. They will do everything else first," she said.

More than 120 servicers are participating in the administration's program, including the largest such as Bank of America [BAC  11.28    -0.01  (-0.09%)   ], Wells Fargo[WFC  26.86    -0.30  (-1.1%)   ], JPMorgan Chase [JPM  41.57    -0.04  (-0.1%)   ] andGMAC.

"There is no silver bullet. But I think there are a lot of programs out there that are providing help to people," said Massad. "If anyone has specific ideas that haven't been tried, I am happy to hear about them." LET THE MARKET HANDLE THE PROBLEM!

HI FELLOW ... CAN'T YOU SPARE AN EXTRA $20 FOR AN APPLE

US house price fall 'beats Great Depression slide'

By Stephen Foley 

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

• • /us-house-price-fall-beats-great-depression-slide-2291491.html#font-xlarge

The ailing US housing market passed a grim milestone in the first quarter of this year, posting a further deterioration that means the fall in house prices is now greater than that suffered during the Great Depression.

The brief recovery in prices in 2009, spurred by government aid to first-time buyers, has now been entirely snuffed out, and the average American home now costs 33 per cent less than it did at the peak of the housing bubble in 2007. The peak-to-trough fall in house prices in the 1930s Depression was 31 per cent – and prices took 19 years to recover after that downturn.

The single largest investment most families make during a life-time was their home. The new runner up is their children's education. Downsizing the 'family home' after the nest was empty was a sure fire way to settling in to retirement often in a new part of the country where taxes were low and the weather warm, the retirement trifecta. Well, with a 19 year recovery during the great depression,  consider that 'Up In Smoke' as a popular movie title put it.

The latest Case-Shiller house price index was just one of a slew of disappointing economic data from the US yesterday, which suggested ebbing confidence in the recovery of the world's largest economy. The Chicago PMI manufacturing index showed a sharp slowdown in the pace of expansion in May, missing Wall Street forecasts and sending the index to its lowest since November 2009.

And in the latest Conference Board consumer confidence survey more people expressed uncertainty over their future economic prospects. The confidence index fell unexpectedly to 60.8 from a revised 66.0, when economists had expected it to rise to 67.0. (SO MUCH FOR EXPERTISE FROM A TALKING HEAD) Falling house prices and negative equity combined with high petrol and food prices and a still-weak jobs market to raise consumers' fears for the future.

So that expensive Sheep Skin did what,
 other than saddle you with debt?

Thomas Di Galoma, the managing director of government securities at Oppenheimer & Co, said: "Based on the weakness in housing prices, Chicago PMI and consumer confidence, it appears as though the economy could be headed for a double dip, especially as federal and state spending slows rapidly over the next six months."

Economists warned not to expect any immediate relief to the gloom from the housing market. Banks continue to demand high deposits from potential buyers and are pressing on with foreclosures against those who have fallen behind on mortgages, adding to the glut of unsold homes on the market.

Prices are back to their 2002 levels, according to the Case-Shiller National House Price Index out yesterday. "The national index fell 4.2 per cent over the first quarter alone, and is down 5.1 per cent compared to its year-ago level," David Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices, said. "Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight."

D-DAY, JOHN HODGE, COURT JUNE 6, 2011 ... COMMUNICATIONS TOWER PURCHASE

All - FYI - court date is Monday.  Keatings request to delay was rejected.  Monday 9:30 Danbury Supreme Court. 

THIS DAY, JUNE 6, 1944, MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE LIBERATION OF WESTERN EUROPE FROM NAZI CONTROL DURING WORLD WAR II.

Although the term D-Day is used routinely as military lingo for the day an operation or event will take place, for many it is also synonymous with June 6, 1944, the day the Allied powers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control during World War II. Within three months, the northern part of France would be freed and the invasion force would be preparing to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet forces moving in from the east.

With Hitler's armies in control of most of mainland Europe, the Allies knew that a successful invasion of the continent was central to winning the war. Hitler knew this too, and was expecting an assault on northwestern Europe in the spring of 1944. He hoped to repel the Allies from the coast with a strong counterattack that would delay future invasion attempts, giving him time to throw the majority of his forces into defeating the Soviet Union in the east. Once that was accomplished, he believed an all-out victory would soon be his.

On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.

By dawn on June 6, 18,000 parachutists were already on the ground; the land invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture Gold, Juno and Sword beaches; so did the Americans at Utah. The task was much tougher at Omaha beach, however, where 2,000 troops were lost and it was only through the tenacity and quick-wittedness of troops on the ground that the objective was achieved. By day's end, 155,000 Allied troops--Americans, British and Canadians--had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches. 

For their part, the Germans suffered from confusion in the ranks and the absence of celebrated commander Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was away on leave. At first, Hitler, believing that the invasion was a feint designed to distract the Germans from a coming attack north of the Seine River, refused to release nearby divisions to join the counterattack and reinforcements had to be called from further afield, causing delays. He also hesitated in calling for armored divisions to help in the defense. In addition, the Germans were hampered by effective Allied air support, which took out many key bridges and forced the Germans to take long detours, as well as efficient Allied naval support, which helped protect advancing Allied troops. 

Though it did not go off exactly as planned, as later claimed by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery--for example, the Allies were able to land only fractions of the supplies and vehicles they had intended in France--D-Day was a decided success. By the end of June, the Allies had 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy and were poised to continue their march across Europe.

The heroism and bravery displayed by troops from the Allied countries on D-Day has served as inspiration for several films, most famously The Longest Day (1962) and Saving Private Ryan(1998). It was also depicted in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers (2001).

All - FYI - court date is Monday.  Keatings request to delay was rejected.  Monday 9:30 Danbury Supreme Court.  Parking is difficult, Car Pooling anyone?  

Regards,
Steve

Steven Roe, CEO
West Highland Support Services, LLC60 E. 42nd St.
Suite 401
New York, NY 10165
(0) 212 867 1848 x111
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