Susan K. Barnes, 65, aka Susie Q” of Bristol, Misquamicut, RI, and Wellington, FL, passed away on Sunday, June 5, 2022 …
Susan is survived by her siblings Mark Barnes (Jean) of Old Lyme, Jimmy Barnes (Pam) of Bristol, Holly LeDuc (Kevin) of Plainville, Lisa Barnes of Bristol, …
Visit this link to read the full obituary published June 8, 2022 by The Bristol Press.
Editor’s Note: The Old Lyme DTC sent us this statement, which is also published on their website at this link.
OLD LYME — The Town of Old Lyme Democratic Town Committee (DTC) supports the statement below from Attorney Colin Heffernan, Democratic-endorsed candidate for the 23rd House District. We urge the public to take these issues most seriously and to vote for legislators who will adopt sensible gun legislation and increased access to behavioral healthcare.
The DTC’s support for reasonable gun regulation does not mean we fail to support citizens’ rights under the Second Amendment. Like the vast majority of Americans, we support both. But we challenge this majority to hold our elected officials accountable for implementing measures to reduce these intolerable daily mass-casualty events.
As noted by Colin [Heffernan], inconsistent and ineffective gun restrictions have led to easy access to military-style weapons. Uvalde demonstrated that even trained law enforcement officers may be hesitant or unwilling to confront assailants so armed, even if the lives of 4th graders are at stake. The data show that in places that have implemented sensible gun restrictions, such as minimum age limits and red flag laws, lives are saved.
The DTC seeks your support for legislators and candidates who, like Colin [Heffernan], will promulgate reasonable gun safety measures and public health measures, including mental health.
We have gotten to “enough.”
Statement from Colin Heffernan:
As the news of yet another shooting came out of Uvalde, on the heels of the shooting in Buffalo, I’m reminded of how little progress we’ve made since Sandy Hook.
We still have craven politicians blaming everything but guns for the massacres that steal our children and threaten our lives in every corner of public space.
We still have talking heads fantasizing that a “good guy with a gun” can stop monsters, even when we just saw that they can’t.
I’d like to say “enough” but that won’t do. It will never be “enough” until we demand that lawmakers denounce the culture of death that values an AR15 over a child. It’s far too easy to get a weapon of mass carnage in this country, and no amount of bad faith whataboutism will change that fact.
Oh, and here’s the thing: I’m a gun owner. I bought a shotgun while I was living in post-Katrina New Orleans where there were precious few police and the National Guard was patrolling the street under a state of emergency. It was a scary time and I know first-hand that there are legitimate reasons to purchase and keep a gun.
But what we have now is madness. When a kid can go and buy two assault rifles for his eighteenth birthday and then murder 19 children a week later, the issue could not be starker. It is far too easy to obtain assault weapons and the results are horrific. We passed good laws in Connecticut after Sandy Hook, but rifles and madmen don’t respect state lines and the easy access to assault weapons in the USA threatens all of us and all of our children.
Let’s get to “enough” and demand that every one of our lawmakers commit to using every tool at their disposal to enact nationwide comprehensive gun reform. If they refuse to do that, they shouldn’t represent us … because they never will.
Colin Heffernan
Democratic-endorsed candidate for House District 23
This map, updated June 9, 2022 shows the average daily rate of new cases of COVID-19 by town during the past two weeks. Both Lyme and Old Lyme remain in the Red (highest) Zone. One hundred and forty nine towns (representing a total of 88.2% of the state) remain in the Red Zone. Only cases among persons living in community settings are included in this map; the map does not include cases among people who reside in nursing home, assisted living, or correctional facilities. Map: Ver 12.1.2020 Source: CT Department of Public Health Get the data Created with Datawrapper.
No New Cases in Either Town Thursday; One in Each Town Friday Take Cumulative Totals to 1308 (OL), 317 (Lyme)
LYME/OLD LYME — The Daily Data Reports issued Thursday, June 9, and Friday, June 10, by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) show a total of one new, confirmed COVID-19 case in Old Lyme and one in Lyme compared with June 8 numbers.
These cases raise Old Lyme’s cumulative case total to 1308 from 1307 on June 8 and Lyme’s to 317 from 316 on the same date.
The cases by day were:
June 9: L–0, OL–0
June 10: L–1, OL–1
This makes June 9 the first day since April 5, 2022 on which no new cases were reported in either town.
Prior to April 5, the previous day on which no new cases were reported in either Lyme or Old Lyme was March 24. There were also no new cases on March 9 and 4, and Feb. 24. The previous date prior to Feb. 24 when no new cases were reported in either town was Dec. 12, 2021.
Prior to March 25, the Town of Lyme had gone for 23 consecutive days with no new cases being reported. Two new cases were reported in Lyme on March 25
On Thursday, June 9, the CT DPH also released its latest weekly COVID-19 Alert Map (pictured above), which indicates that 149 municipalities remain in the Red (highest of four) Zone for case rates. These towns in the Red Zone include both Lyme and Old Lyme.
Eleven towns are in the Orange Zone, one in the Yellow Zone and eight in the Gray Zone.
This number for the Red Zone is 10 less than for the previous week meaning the number of towns in the Red Zone represents 88.2% of the state.
As a reminder, the number of towns in the Red Zone on Jan. 27, 2022 was 168 out of 169 towns.
As of June 9, 2022, all nine towns in the Ledge Light Health District (LLHD) remain in the Red Zone. The LLHD is no longer issuing reports with updated Case Rates and other metrics.
The CT DPH will issue an updated map of the zones Thursday, June 16 — the map is updated weekly on Thursdays.
The color-coded zones on the map above are:
Red: Indicates case rates over the last two weeks of greater than 15 per 100,000 population
Orange: Indicates case rates between 10 to 14 cases per 100,000 population
Yellow: Indicates case rates between 5 and 9 per 100,000 population
Gray: Indicates case rates lower than five per 100,000 population
CDC Maintains ‘Community Level’ at Low for New London County, Fairfield County Also Low; All Other CT Counties are ‘Medium’
June 9 Community Transmission levels. Map courtesy of CDC.
The map above shows that on June 9, both New London and Fairfield Counties are now categorized as ‘Low’ for Community Level, while all other Towns are ‘Medium.’ These levels are updated weekly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursdays.
The most recent email sent out by Ledge Light Health District regarding COVID data, which was sent out Friday, May 27, said, “Community members are advised to stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, get tested if they have symptoms, and wear a mask when they are around others if they have symptoms, are positive or have had an exposure.”
It added, “People with symptoms should be tested and people with a positive test should isolate per guidelines. Masking remains an effective method for reducing the spread of COVID-19 and people may choose to mask even though our region is not designated as “High.””
The email concluded, “You can find the latest CDC Community Level, schedules of vaccination clinics and community testing events, and isolation/quarantine guidance on our website and, as always, we are here to answer any questions or provide support for community members.
Community Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID cases in a specific geographical area. CDC recommends taking precautions to protect yourself and others from COVID based on Community Levels in your area.
You can view the new tool by following this link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/covid-by-county.html
LLHD continues to focus its vaccination efforts on homebound populations and providing initial vaccinations and boosters to individuals who were vaccinated previously. Information about vaccination opportunities can be found at https://llhd.org/coronavirus-covid-19-situation/covid-19-vaccine/.
COVID testing opportunities can be found at COVID-19 Testing | Ledge Light Health District (llhd.org)
The following link provides centralized access to Connecticut COVID data: https://data.ct.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-data/wa3g-tfvc/.
An explanation of the CDC Community Levels tool by Thomas Gotowka can be found at this link.
The state’s COVID-19 Daily Positivity Rate broke the 10% watershed on May 4 at 10.32%. It went through the 14% mark with the May 20 Rate of 14.19%, but the June 10 Positivity Rate fell to to 8.79%.
On June 10, the number of COVID-related hospitalizations decreased to 259 from the 276 recorded on June 8.
In contrast, on Jan. 12, 2022, the number of COVID-related hospitalizations was 1,939.
Of those hospitalized on June 10, the number not fully vaccinated was 78 (representing 30.12%).
The total number of COVID-related deaths in Connecticut held at 10,998 on June 10, according to The New York Times.
The next Daily Data Report will be issued by CT DPH Monday, June 13, around 4 p.m.
The cumulative total of confirmed cases for Old Lyme has now increased by 865 since Wednesday, Nov. 10, when the total stood at 443 — that number had stood unchanged for a week since the previous Thursday, Nov. 4.
On Aug. 26 — which was the day Lyme-Old Lyme Schools started the new academic year — Old Lyme’s cumulative case total stood at 372, meaning there have now been 936 new cases there since that date.
Meanwhile, Lyme’s cumulative total on Aug. 26 was 114 indicating 203 new cases have also been confirmed there during the same period.
There has been one COVID-related fatality of a Lyme resident: a 57-year-old male passed away Nov. 16, 2021. On Nov. 30, the state finally included this fatality in its data
Four COVID-related fatalities have now been reported in Old Lyme. The first two fatalities from Old Lyme, which were reported in 2020, were a 61-year-old female and an 82-year-old male.
Details of the third and fourth fatalities, which were reported respectively in 2021 and on Feb. 4, 2022, have not been made available.
Under new state protocols for schools, Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools are no longer required to carry out contact tracing.
LOL Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser explained the latest developments in LOL Schools COVID protocols in an email dated April 1 to the school community, saying, “As noted in my email of February 17, 2022, beginning April 1, 2022 we will no longer report daily COVID-19 cases in the schools.”
He then stated, “For the remainder of this school year, that information will be complied on a weekly basis and will be available on our website at the following link: https://www.region18.org/parents/covid-data.”
Details published to date show the following number of positive cases in LOL Schools by week.
April 3-9: 0
April 10-16: 0
April 17-23: Spring Break
April 24-30: 7
May 2-7: 27
May 8-14: 41
May 15-21: 30
May 22-28: 23
May 29-June 4: 55
June 5-June 11: 19
The total number of cases recorded by the CT DPH in Lyme and Old Lyme for the week June 5-June 11 was 18, indicating almost all reported cases are potentially associated with LOL Schools.
For a summary of cases in LOL Schools between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2022, visit this link.
View a full listing of cases in LOL Schools between 8/26/21 – 12/23/21 at this link.
OLD LYME — On Sunday, June 12, the newly-created ‘Welcome’ mural at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS) will be dedicated at a ceremony starting at 2:30 p.m. and running through 3:30 p.m.
The dedication will be preceded by a Community Talk and celebration of the mural from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Those attending will discuss what has been learned in the last two years of PARJE action and what can be done better in the future.
The talk will be held in the LOLMS Auditorium or if the weather is pleasant, then the group will meet in the adjacent courtyard.
All are welcome to attend at either or both events.
The mural is part of the Sister Murals Project sponsored by Public Art for Racial Justice Education (PARJE), which was officially launched March 1, 2021.
The primary mission of PARJE is to utilize the broad appeal of art and education to confront racial injustice.
The ‘Welcome’ mural at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, which will be dedicated today.
One mural has already been unveiled in Norwich and murals have now been completed in Old Lyme and New London.
The lead artists for the Old Lyme mural is Jasmine Oyola-Blumenthal, who is an alumna of Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
The Old Lyme Sister Mural has been installed inside Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, adjacent to the gymnasium.
In addition to her role as lead artist, Oyola-Blumenthal worked with school faculty to develop student workshops, which coordinated with the project.
Oyola-Blumenthal and her counterpart for the New London mural, Marvin Espy, were selected from a field of nearly 20 applicants.
In her application, Oyola-Blumenthal referred to the ability of art to inspire people to talk to one another, commenting, “Art is a neutral vessel that can bring forth conversations that can be uncomfortable and promote opportunities to open dialogue on racial justice and education.”
Elizabeth “Lee” Howard died on December 14, 2021 in Chester, CT. She was 90 years old.
Born on June 16, 1931 to Archibald Murray Howe and Margaret Allen Howe in North Andover, MA, Lee and her siblings Archie and Peggy grew up on Osgood Street, the former home of the first postmaster general of the US …
Lee graduated from Vassar College in 1952.
Working with local, state and national arts councils, Lee was a life-long leader in making access to the arts available to all …
She later worked with … Lyme (CT) Academy of Fine Arts.
In recognition of her 50 years promoting the arts from Chester to China, Lee was granted an award for “Lifetime Achievement in Arts Leadership.”
She was an active parishioner of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Old Lyme, serving on the Vestry (was Warden) …
A memorial service will be held at St. Ann’s Church in Old Lyme on Thursday, June 16th at 2pm. In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Ann’s Church can be made in Lee’s name.
Visit this link to read the full obituary published June 3, 2022 in the Hartford Courant.