A message from our First Selectman regarding COVID-19 and honoring our veterans.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

In Flanders Fields -- John McCrae   

In the spring of 1915, bright red flowers began poking through the battle-ravaged land across northern France and Flanders (northern Belgium). The sight of the bright red flowers against the backdrop of war inspired Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae to pen this poem.  The poppy has subsequently become a symbol of remembrance around the western world. 

Despite the increasing celebration of the holiday as a summer rite of passage, there are some formal rituals still on the books: The American flag should be hung at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day, then raised to the top of the staff.  And for the past twenty years all Americans are encouraged to pause for a National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. local time.

Just a bit more history, though, regarding Memorial Day.  In May 1868, General John A. Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Union veterans’ group known as the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a decree that May 30 should become a nationwide day of commemoration for the more than 620,000 soldiers killed in the recently ended Civil War.  On Decoration Day, as Logan dubbed it, Americans should lay flowers and decorate the graves of the war dead “whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.” 

By 1890, every former state of the Union had adopted it as an official holiday. But for more than 50 years, the holiday was used to commemorate those killed just in the Civil War, not in any other American conflict. It wasn’t until America’s entry into World War I that the tradition was expanded to include those killed in all wars, and Memorial Day was not officially recognized nationwide until the 1970s, with America deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War.

DMV Extends Deadlines Again for Credentials:

The state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is further extending deadlines for some credentials that may be expiring. Anything with an expiration date (including licenses, registrations, emissions tests and boat registrations) will be given a another 90-day extension, adding on to a previous 90-day extension. To qualify, they had to expire between March 10 and June 30.  In addition to extending the expiration date of DMV credentials, late fees associated with eligible expired credentials will be waived during the time period of the extension for qualifying credentials.

June 1 Deadline Reminder to Apply for Home Heating Assistance

Governor Lamont is reminding Connecticut residents who need help paying last winter’s home heating bills that there is still time to apply to the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP). The extended application deadline of June 1 gives families and individuals who are eligible, including those impacted by COVID-19, more time to apply.

Connecticut residents are welcome to apply, regardless of whether their home is heated through electricity, natural gas, or a deliverable fuel. Home heating benefits are available for households with incomes up to 60 percent of the state median income (currently $36,171 for a single person and $69,559 for a household of four). For more information on applying for home heating assistance, you can click here: https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2020/05-2020/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Connecticut-Residents-of-June-1-Deadline-to-Apply-for-Home-Heating and to find the nearest application site, you can visit www.ct.gov/staywarm: https://portal.ct.gov/dss/Economic-Security/Winter-Heating-Assistance/Energy-Assistance---Winter-Heating.

While we celebrate the beginning of our summer season, together with the beginning of Reopen CT, please keep in mind that the day that has become a holiday was begun as a day of remembrance.  Let us first remember our men and women from the armed services and their sacrifices, made for the ideals that are our Nation’s founding ideals:  freedom, liberty and justice. 

We need to pause, again, in recognition of the tens of thousands lost thus far to COVID-19’s relentless onslaught.  Let honoring all we have lost, military and civilian, remind us of the continuing sacrifice that is our responsibility to ourselves and future generations.  Burdensome though it may seem at this moment, our stoicism thus far will go for naught if we are unable to maintain our six-foot distances, to wear our masks, to wash our hands.  Do we need to re-open?  Absolutely.  Should we continue to hold the course and “do the five?”  Absolutely.  Are we at the end of this road?  Definitely not.  Can we imagine a time when our continuing efforts will lead us to a way of life that is in some aspects, recognizable.  Yes.  In the meanwhile, be patient and call your friends, both far and wide. Check in with your family.  Check in with your neighbors. We are Deep River.  We are Connecticut.  We are the United States of America.

Be well, be safe, be kind.

Peace,

Angus