Don Lowe First Selectman Column 06/03/24
I am pleased to announce a special Sherman event to put on your calendar: On Friday, June 14 at 2pm in front of Mallory Town Hall we will name the roadway in front of the building “Carol Havens Way”. We will have a ceremony (at 2pm) outside near the Sherman Playhouse and the public is invited to attend. Carol has been our steadfast Town Clerk for 49 years and this roadway naming will commemorate her amazing dedication to Sherman.
After the ceremony, refreshments will be served inside Mallory Town Hall. I have been fortunate to have worked with Carol and she is the consummate professional. She is not only profoundly helpful to mine and everyone’s work, but she is also good-natured about it all. This is a fitting tribute to a great person!
Summer, though not technically here, is indeed here. I can tell because the usual “summer problems” have arrived too. First, we are having problems once again with people not picking up after their dogs. This simply galls me. It’s lazy and it’s arrogant to think that someone else will pick up the filth that your pet leaves behind. Most of the time it’s a crew person from Public Works that has to do this. And it’s not their job; it’s the job of the pet’s owner. Period. Our Public Works guys, who work hard to keep Sherman beautiful, sometimes get splattered with dog doo-doo when their weed whacker hits a pile of it. Yuck.
Dogs are not allowed at the beach and at the beach park already. Do not bring them there. In the coming days we will make decisions on whether to ban dogs from the other parks. There are thousands of acres of open space in this Town to walk your dog on instead of the Town parks. There are also dog owners’ own yards and property. So maybe dogs just don’t belong in our parks where people have to step around (or in) the filthy dog doo-doo left behind. I love dogs (and miss ours dearly) and I love to see them around Town, but for goodness sakes, clean up after them.
Also, I fielded several complaints about garbage at the beach over the weekend. Our Public Works crew did a great job of cleaning that all up and on Monday morning the beach area was pristine. The gate guards begin on this weekend and they will be only admitting those who have beach passes (residents). Usually littering lessens significantly when it’s only Sherman residents at the beach. Littering is also an inexplicably arrogant and careless act. I have no patience for it.
The Sherman School 8th grade graduation ceremony is at 6pm on Wednesday, June 12. That date also marks the last day of school there and we wish all of the students a fun and safe summer vacation. Here in Town Hall we are proud of each and every one of our students and wish this year’s 8th grade class success as they make the big move into high school.
I also want to put it out there that I’ll be gone from Sherman from June 24 till July 3. I’m in my seventh year as First Selectman and I have never actually taken any significant time off save for a couple of weekends and a day here and a day there. I’ll be attending an “all-class” reunion in my hometown of McHenry, North Dakota (pop. 64) and also sneaking in about five days of world class fishing. Try to behave yourselves when I’m gone.
