On Monday, Nov. 29, The Town of Bethel will hold a special town meeting at the Bethel High School Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The meeting gives Bethel's legal voters the opportunity to vote the Road Renewal Plan, which would put it to a town-wide machine vote tentatively on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
The Road Renewal Plan was first proposed by the Board of Selectmen to the Board of Finance on June 1. The original plan proposed to bond $8.5 million over a ten year period to fix 31 of Bethel's 83 miles of road and three parking lots.
After the Board of Selectmen officially approved the plan, First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker presented several bonding scenarios to the Board of Finance at its September meeting, and after much discussion it was tabled till its October meeting. The vote on the plan was tabled yet again in October, mainly because only five of the seven board members were present.
On Nov. 9, the Board of Fiance voted 4-3 to send the plan back to the Board of Selectmen, with an advisory vote of 5-2 to reduce the bonding amount to $2 million. Several Board of Finance members cited the state of the economy as their main concern for the original $8.5 million plan.
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On Nov. 16, The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to bond $2 million as "Phase I" of the Road Renewal Plan. Knickerbocker said he has a list of top priority roads to be fixed in this first phase. That following Thursday in a special meeting, the Board of Fiance approved the new plan that is now in the hands of the Bethel voters.
The delay in the road repair proposal has angered many residents in Bethel who accused members of the Finance Board of being obstructionists and playing dirty politics.
Given the volatility over this issue, I'm sure tonight's meeting will be eventful.
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
