East Hampton Today

VFW Memorial Day Planning meeting is Feb 6

Submitted Press Release — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:30:43 +0000

The meeting is open to anyone interested in assisting with preparations for the East Hampton Memorial Day Ceremonies and Parade. File photo of East Hampton Old Home Days flag bearers, copyright 2009 by Brenda Sullivan

The East Hampton Veterans Association will hold its first Memorial Day planning meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6 at the VFW Post Home on North Maple Street (across from the high school).

The meeting is open to anyone interested in assisting with preparations for the Memorial Day Ceremonies and Parade. You do not need to be a Veteran to attend.

Please contact Chuck Walton, President of the Veterans Association, at 860-267-6260 with any questions.

Posted Feb. 3, 2012

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CL&P says victims of October storm outages to get $140 credit

Brian Lockhart | Connecticut Post — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:16:30 +0000

The CL&P credit system was established with help from New York-based Atty Kenneth Feinberg who administered compensation funds to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2010 British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Approximately 192,000 Connecticut Light & Power customers who lost power for days in the wake of the freak snowstorm of Oct. 29 will receive a $140.22 credit in their February bills, the utility company announced Wednesday (Feb. 1).

In the face of intense criticism over its response to failure to restore power in some parts of the state for as much as 7 days and threats of more state regulation, CL&P parent company Northeast Utilities scrambled to improve public relations.

NU set aside $10 million for customers whose electricity had not been restored as of noon Nov. 5. When questions were raised about the appropriateness of the amount, the company upped it to $30 million.

Applications for the credit were accepted until 5 p.m. Jan. 31.

The utility company said 225,000 customers were eligible.

“Our goal was to reach every eligible customer and we made a concerted 10-week effort to meet that commitment,” Jim Muntz, CL&P’s chief operating officer, said in a Feb. 1, 2012 statement. “Many heard from us multiple times through letters and phone calls – it was our way of demonstrating that their opportunity to apply was a priority for us, too,” Muntz states.

The credit system was established with help from New York-based Atty Kenneth Feinberg who administered compensation funds to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2010 British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In Wednesday’s press release, Feinberg is quoted as praising the storm credit effort. “The claimants’ response is proof positive of the effectiveness of the company’s outreach,” Feinberg said.

He also states192,000 customers receiving the money represents more than 80 percent of those eligible. “In my experience, claim fund response rates are typically around 20 percent,” he states.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy issued his own statement in which he calls the credits “a good first step,” but also cites the continued need for longterm reforms that improve utility responses to severe storms, such as creating restoration benchmarks and establishing related fines.

“And later this year our Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection will conduct the largest statewide emergency preparedness drill in recent history, so that we know what to do when a real-time situation comes our way,” Malloy said.

Posted Feb. 2, 2012 – as edited by HTNP.com Editor Brenda Sullivan – reprinted through partnership with The Chronicle

Some DMV offices to close temporarily during computer system upgrade

Submitted Press Release — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:08:21 +0000

The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles is upgrading its computer systems to offer more online transactions.

Therefore, DMV offices will have temporary downtime – between Feb. 7 and March 21, 2012 – so staff can learn about developing features in the new system.

The multi-million dollar project, which is expected to produce new online services later this year and next, aims to make it easy for customers to conduct a number of online services with DMV.

It is also designed to streamline DMV’s electronic files so that customers can be served more quickly when doing business with the agency.

The temporary downtime – dates when an office will be closed only on a specific day – will affect offices statewide beginning next week according to the following schedule:

February 7 – Willimantic

February 8 – Willimantic and Putnam

February 14 – Norwich

February 15 – Norwich and Putnam

February 21 – 24 Old Saybrook

February 28 – March 2 – New Britain

March 6 and 7 – Bridgeport and the Milford Photo License Center

March 8 and 9 – Danbury

March 13 – Hamden Office

March 14 – Hamden and the Derby Photo License Center

March 15 and 16 – Norwalk

March 20 – 21 – Waterbury and the Winsted satellite office

With the exceptions of these temporary downtimes, other DMV and AAA offices will be open normal hours and serving customers. Remember, DMV offices are normally closed on Mondays and in observance of state and national holidays.

Customers should check the DMV website at http://ct.gov/dmv/ for hours and the most convenient locations.

The computer modernization project, which is underway, is divided into three phases that are expected to be completed during the next two years.

Some of the early work in phase 1 includes:

An online service for customers to cancel their marker plates when lost or stolen.

A registration verification system to check whether a vehicle is properly registered in the state.

Design of an improved process for issuing new dealer and repairer licenses that could someday lead to filing information online for these businesses that are also customers of DMV.

Customers to handle online issues surrounding compliance matters with state law.

Customers to renew any vehicle’s registration online (Now doing only passenger cars whose owners do not owe property taxes or have other violations that prevent the registration of the vehicle).

Customers to order vanity plates online (now customers can only check online whether a combination of letters or numbers are available, but they still need to mail-in the order).

DMV to give customers 8-character vanity plates. (The state now does only 6 characters.) This opens up the possibility of more vanity plates than currently produced.

Allow customers to do certain information research that might tell them whether they can obtain a license or registration, i.e. suspension records and driver history records that show violations that prevent someone from getting a license or registration.

Posted Feb. 3, 2012 as edited by HTNP.com Editor Brenda Sullivan