Between the muddy river and the rusty railroad tracks

Middletown Common Council member David Bauer has issued a formal complaint against the city for what he calls "an illegal junkyard for trucks, cars and other items" at 297 Butternut St.

Here is the entire text of Bauer's complaint:

David P. Bauer, Member Common Council City of Middletown 245 deKoven Drive Middletown, CT 06457 May 12, 2008 To: Robert M. Ward, Commissioner of Department of Motor Vehicles Gina McCarthy, Commissioner of Department of Environmental Protection Lynn Baldoni, Chief of Middletown Police Department I wish to register a formal complaint about an illegal junkyard for trucks, cars, and other items located on Property owned by the City of Middletown. The property in question is: 297 Butternut Street ( MBL 23 23-10 12 ) – also known as Butternut Hollow Park Other private properties that may possibly be related are: 66 Thomas Street ( MBL 23 23-10 11C ) – also known as Jukonski Truck Sales & Services 221 Butternut Street ( MBL 23-10 12A ) – private residence of Henry Jukonski I believe that there is the strong likelihood of collusion between Public Officials of the City of Middletown and private individuals to operate an undocumented junkyard, not for the benefit of the Public. I ask you to investigate the possible civil and criminal infractions of this junkyard and I further request that the Middletown Police Department secure and document the junkyard sited at 297 Butternut Street until an appropriate investigation can be concluded.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has already responded with the following:

This has been logged as DEP/WEED complaint number 08-111. It will be assigned within the solid waste enforcement program for evaluation and follow-up pursuant to our standard procedures. Comments and/or additional information can be coordinated through Frank Gagliardo, supervisor for the solid waste enforcement program at (860) 424-3130.

- Robert Isner

More photos to follow. My apologies for relying on Google Earth twice this morning.

Twenty-five minutes on the Bauer hour

Middletown's media gadfly, and sometimes Common Council member David Bauer, invited me to be on his Bauer Hour TV show cablecast on the local Comcast cable access channel. It turned out to be a neighborhood show as Monica Belyea who lives down the street was also appearing to talk about the child nutrition program she helped create.

The show will be broadcast next Friday again in the Middletown area at 9pm.

Signs of the times

At that Halloween party last night I was talking to Rani about the pre-election signage going up in front yards around Middletown.

She noted that I had one in my front yard supporting Catherine Johnson for the Planning and Zoning Commission. True.

Rani noted that many folks who don't traditionally vote Republican had put up the sign, but somehow X'ed out the tag "Vote the Entire Giuliano Team."

Sure 'nuf, when I was out walking with the boys this morning, I saw two doctored signs. One which simply clipped off the "vote Republican" message, and one which had replaced it with a new slogan in Spanish which, loosely and badly translated (by me), says something like "She's great," referring to Catherine.

So, I got out the duct tape.

By the way, I plan to cross the dreaded Republican barrier to vote for Catherine Johnson, and Councilman Dave Bauer, and former deputy police chief Phil Pessina, and maybe even Earle Roberts, whom I rarely agree with politically, but whom I like a lot.