Windfarm Agreement Proposed for Mount Higby and Traprock Ridges

The Middletown Eye received this Middlefield Board of Selectmen agenda and draft agreement for the development of a windfarm (windmills), on the traprock ridge between Middlefield, Middletown and Berlin, North and South of Route 66.

At the time of this publication we were not able to confirm any action taken by the Middlefield Board of Selectman on the proposal, or of any action taken by Middletown officials.

Army Corps Press Conference: In which the story gets buried by the story

The Army Corp of Engineers held a press conference today at the Inn at Middletown in which they laid out their reasoning for wanting to build an Army Reserve Training Center on Boardman Lane in Westfield. Only press were allowed at the meeting. The Eye will have a full report on that meeting later this evening.

In declaring "press only" the Army Corps of Engineers unintentionally created a secondary story which will be the lead when this "package" is aired on the suppertime news this evening.

The Corps refused to allow Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, State Senator Paul Doyle, residents of the affected are and other political leaders into the room (though they allowed entry to Attorney General Dick Blumenthal), creating a story in which the Army appeared to be keeping something from the local government, and simultaneously angering the local politicians.

I arrived at the meeting just in time to hear Doyle and Giuliano complaining to the assembled press corps.

As I was leaving, Diane McCartin, who has been the public face of the Corps in these meeting climbed the spiral staircase to the hotel mezzanine to find Mayor Giuliano standing at the top.

"I'm sorry I had to keep you out of the meeting," McCartin said to the mayor.

"It's unfortunate," the mayor replied. "Because no one will hear anything about the facts of the meeting. All they'll hear is that you locked us out of the room."

McCartin then invited the mayor to join her, and some Boardman Lane neighbors to view the presentation she had made to the press. Giuliano followed McCartin and the group of residents into the hotel conference room.

Round Hill

Today's hill in my quest for "7 hills in 7 days" was Round Hill, on the Southern edge of Middletown, near the borders with Middlefield and Durham. It is in many ways the opposite from my previous two hills, Higby Mountain and Lamentation Mountain; Round Hill seems to be privately owned and completely surrounded by relatively small lots with homes, farms, and a nature preserve.  In fact, Round Hill Road passes within about 200 yards of the summit, and I was able to bicycle all the way to the top.

I rode the very beautiful Coleman Road away from the heart of Middletown. Coleman is a small country road seemingly from another era; throughout the U.S. these beautiful and exquisitely local roads are frequently parallel to, and barely separated from, a more modern, faster, commuter-full and expressly non-local highway (in this case Route 17).  Coleman Road ends at Round Hill Road. At this intersection is the Guida Farms Conservation Area, with the Cassa Preserve established and maintained by the Middlesex Land Trust.  I turned uphill (east) to climb Round Hill Road, which is blessed with one of the steepest grades of any street in Middletown.  As the grade leveled off, I turned off the street onto a trail heading into the woods to the south, towards what seemed to be the highest point of land around.  The trail led to a large clearing with a heavily secured radio transmission towers and DANGER!!! HIGH VOLTAGE!!! GO AWAY OR YOU WILL FRY!!! signs.  Duly petrified, I wandered around the summit (512') for awhile, listening to the sounds of the radio station. It turned out to be WIHS, the Christian station broadcasting from Middletown to all of Central Connecticut.  While loitering, I learned from a visitor being interviewed at the station about an upcoming event at one of the beautiful churches on Main Street:

2nd Annual Joyful Noise in Downtown Middletown--Saturday June 28--Doors open 6:00pm -- Joyful Noise Ministry is having their "2nd Annual Joyful Noise in Downtown Middletown Concert" at Church of the Holy Trinity, 381 Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457 -- The concert will feature Unspoken and the Joyful Noise Praise Band---Tickets are $5 in advance or $7 at the door-- For more information email joyfulnoise@holytrinityct.org or call 860-347-2591

After lingering and listening for a while, I concluded that while Round Hill may not have the most spectacular view in Middletown, it must boast the only radio broadcasting 24/7.   I headed back the dirt trail through the forest, down the very steep Round Hill Road and then through Middlefield on Laurel Grove, Cherry Hill, Strickland, and Jackson Hill Roads.  Round Hill itself may have been disappointing, but the journey to and from carried me through some of the most beautiful farmland of Middletown and Middlefield.