Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up
to West Rocks Middle School Principal Lynne Moore for her Administrator of the Year Award from the Connecticut Association of School Administrators. One of only six to receive the inaugural award, the 20-year principal was selected for her “tireless” energy for all students. The award was presented at a banquet on Thursday.
Thumbs up
to the girls tennis team at Staples High School on their Class L state championship 4-3 win Friday. It was Staples second title in three years and marks the first time in the program’s history that the Wreckers won the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference and state titles in the same season.
Thumbs up
to Olivia Feeney, of Westport, a 13-yearold named a Junior Scientist winner of Genes in Space, a national STEM competition sponsored by Boeing and miniPCR. The Pierrepont School eighth-grader’s research-based project involved cardiac health and microgravity. Feeney was one of only five middle school winners in the country.
Thumbs down
to the handful of boorish Fairfield Prep lacrosse fans who took the opportunity to turn a high school sporting event into an ugly display of anti-Semitism during a Prep-Staples game last week. A Jewish player on the Staples team was the apparent target of offensive chanting tied to his religion. The “fans” behavior was particularly revolting considering the Jesuit commitment to social justice.
Thumbs up
to the observance of Gun Violence Awareness Day Saturday with events, such as a rally and march in Newtown attended by hundreds of people wearing orange, a color denoting safety. U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy introduced a resolution with 14 Senate colleagues and 25 representatives to recognize June as Gun Violence Awareness Month and a “time of national reckoning. An average of about 300 men, women, and children are shot, almost one-third fatally, every day in this country. “Let’s make this June be the month that we move past the countless thoughts and prayers and pass commonsense measures to end the scourge of gun violence,” Blumenthal and Murphy said in a joint statement.
Thumbs up
to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for signing the law that makes so-called bump stocks — devices that increase the fire power of already deadly semi-automatic rifles — illegal in Connecticut. Not that there was any doubt. Malloy has been a steadfast advocate for common-sense gun safety legislation. We hope the governor and his allies in the safety movement move next onto so-called “ghost guns,” which can be assembled at home by ordering parts on line. There’s no place for them in Connecticut.
Thumbs up
to the start of the weekly free live music series on the lawn of Norwalk Public Library hosted by the library and Building Community Through Music. The concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays through this month and July 5. As the name of the series aptly suggests — Hello Summer.