City police are investigating a string of commercial burglaries and vehicle break-ins over the past two weeks.

According to a police release, the robberies occurred predominantly in the evening hours.

Danbury police are looking for leads into a sexual assault that took place on Town Hill Avenue near Stillman on Nov. 20.

Police said a Hispanic male, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, wearing a black sweater and T-shirt attacked a woman walking on Town Hill Avenue from South Street toward Stillman.

Police said the victim was able to fight off the man, who had thrown her against a car and began to sexually assault her. She struck him with her camera tripod and knocked him down. The man ran away toward South Street.

Disgraced former youth counselor Troy Grant will have find another lawyer to defend him against sexual assault charges if a judge allows his current attorney to quit.

James Diamond, of Danbury, who has represented the 41-year-old Grant since shortly after his arrest, filed a motion in state Superior Court in Danbury seeking permission to withdraw from the case.

In the two-page document, Diamond said the "attorney-client relationship has broken down irretrievably," and Grant "failed to honor the retainer agreement" signed when Grant hired him in early February.

The [library drop] box will be on a median near the bank's drive-up window, and will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by motorists who want to drop off library materials without leaving their cars.

Voting on a town referendum is no different from voting for public office, however along with registered voters, Bethel property owners may also vote for the Road Renewal Plan. Below are simple guidelines to vote on the referendum:

- Voters will vote "yes" or "no" on the following question: "Shall the Town of Bethel appropriate the sum of Two Million ($2,000,000.00) Dollars to fund and approve the Road Renewal Plan Project and to finance the same through borrowing, the issuance of bonds and/or notes, including those of a temporary nature."

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Polls will be open today from 6 a.m to 8 p.m.

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For each district, there is a specific polling location:

District 1: Clifford J. Hurgin Municipal Center, 1 School Street
District 2: Stony Hill Fire House, 59 Stony Hill Road
District 3: Frank A. Berry School, 200 Whittlesey Drive
District 4: Clifford J. Hurgin Municipal Center, 1 School Street
District 5: Frank A. Berry School, 200 Whittlesey Drive

City officials are working on a solution to bring the library's drop box -- historically located on West Street -- back to its original location.

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"We are working on a plan that will involve having someone empty out the drop boxes," Boughton said. "It will probably be a part-time person who would be responsible for that. Hopefully, we can have it all worked out in the next couple of weeks."

The councilman said he suggested one of the city's crossing guards be hired to empty the box in the morning and again in the afternoon at a cost of about $100 a week, or $5,000 a year.

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Library director Mark Hasskarl said he also would like to see the box placed in its original spot, and he has asked the union representative whether employees can take on the responsibility of emptying it.

Hasskarl added that about $20,000 saved when the library revamped its website and -- eliminating the web master position -- could be used to pay for a new part-time employee to work at the circulation desk and empty the box.

"The library's management team is still trying to find a way to get the drop box back on West Street," he said. "Everyone was happy before we moved it."

Council member Colleen Stanley, who serves on the ad hoc committee, rejected the notion that another worker needs to be hired to perform the job.

"The drop box was a convenience, and we are looking at hard times right now," she said. "The library already has 57 employees. I can't see spending another dollar of taxpayer money to hire someone else to do it."

Boughton agreed.

"We are definitely not hiring anyone to empty the drop box," he said. "That's not going to happen. We are trying to save money right now, not create more expenses."