1 September—The Litchfield Monitor, being a views medium, doesn’t ordinarily scoop the local news media, such as they may be, what with severely reduced reportorial resources. But when serendipity strikes, why not? And, in case you’ve forgotten, I’ve done it before.

So now the current scoop:

Last night, at a special meeting of the Borough of Litchfield Board of Warden and Burgesses, Warden Dirk Patterson announced his forthcoming resignation and well-deserved retirement. (Dirk’s surprise retirement announcement wasn’t on the agenda of the special meeting, but it’s the big news.)

Dirk had courageously volunteered to take on the unenviable task of guiding the borough through especially tough times—i.e., the Chabad aftermath—several years ago. And it’s due to his persistence in adversity and skillful negotiating that borough taxpayers aren’t paying Chabad of Litchfield County Inc’s predatory lawyers anything like they had originally tried to squeeze out of innocent taxpayers.

After Dirk Patterson’s departure, the acting warden will be Senior Burgess Gayle Carr, who, although only recently elected to the board, has demonstrated impressive familiarity with borough affairs. As well as equally impressive political skill, of course.

During the meeting, a visitor, who may well have been a Republican candidate for town office, popped in for a few minutes, probably to learn how a meeting should be conducted. Since masks were de rigueur, no one present could positively identify the shiny-headed anonymous visitor.