North End voter shows special support for Angel Fernandez

A special sign made by a supporter for  Candidate Angel Fernandez (R) 100th District

Candidate and retired Navy Veteran Angel Fernandez met a special friend at NEAT's meet the candidate forum held last week at the Green Street Arts Center. The supporter made Fernandez a special sign then posted on Fernandez's page. Fernandez says he learned about many different cultures during his tours in Iraq, and gained an unique understanding of the universal human struggle he hopes to bring to office if elected. 

https://www.facebook.com/AngelforMiddletown2013

Below is what the North End group Muslim Mothers Against Abuse posted about Fernandez: 

Umm Junaid MuslimMothers AgainstAbuse Praise Allah, last week I had the good fortune of meeting this gentlemen. I want to tell you all that I was taken a back by how much he knew about Islam. Up until that night, I had been thinking about Mr. Doyl & Mathew Lesser, while I respect what Mr. Lesser has done and is trying to do. Sometimes change is good and Allah knows best. Since meeting this gentlemen, hearing where he came from, where he is coming from, what he intends to do and how much he respects Muslims. I am in his corner, I have never ever voted in my entire life. I am 40 years old. I will be voting for him, supporting him and helping him with his future campaigns Insha Allah. No one is without faults but what I have seen of this gentlemen in one night is enough for me to make an educated decision. He was brutally honest with me about he once felt about Muslims. I give it to him for doing such, if we had more people like this in the world, more LEADERS like this in the world, it would be a much better place. Thanks for sharing this James McGovern Allah is Great, change is gonna come people, trust me ... it takes time.

North End Farmers' Market Opens Friday

Friday: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
June 19 to  end of October

Corner of Liberty St. and Main St.
575 Main Street, Middletown

CThttps://www.facebook.com/north.end.farmers.market

NEAT's North End Farmer's Market is open to the public and runs Fridays thru the end of October. WIC, EBT, and SNAP will accepted starting June 27th. 

Guestblog:Can't Get There From Here, The Preposterous Police Paradigm Middletown

Below is a essay by Fred Carrol. All opinions expressed are that of the author and not necessarily that of the Insider staff.

Fred Carrol affectionately know as "Dr. Carrol" is a frequent guest blogger of ours, so to read more of his essays type "Fred Carrol" into our search above, or click on his name in the tags below.
In his own words below:
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Can't Get There From Here, The Preposterous Police Paradigm Middletown- you, me, and forty five thousand of our closest friends. The Police-I don't know the total staff number but there are generally about one hundred gun toting, badge wearing Officer types, and their job, Ladies and Gentlemen, is, to make sure that the rest of us behave ourselves in a general kind of way and obey all the important laws, right? Do you know anyone other than a Lawyer who knows "The Law"? Do you think Cops are particularly well versed in "The Law"? And what, pray tell, is this "Law"? Is Law from God? Does God guide the hand of the Lawmaker, whether King, President, President For Life, Pharaoh or what have you? And to hasten an answer to my posited questions, no, of course not on all accounts. So what "motivates" any given Policy Enforcer? Well, from soup to nuts and varying from individual to individual, but of course there's the paycheck and the power, those would be constants. Would you do this if you weren't getting paid is a certain Litmus Test. Most "standing armies" for example won't fight if they don't get paid, as far as I understand, whereas Revolutionaries and Insurgents and Freedom Fighter types fight either for freedom, homeland, life itself, or obviously just cause they're crazy and like to fight in some cases, but it ain't about a Paycheck. If it is about a paycheck, then it's time to talk about money, and who controls money.....and we know who makes and owns "the money", though don't look to me for THAT story. But for example, if the Police where about Justice and What's Right, they would smash their way into every establishment which sells cigarettes, grab the proprietor, drag him out into the the street, and pistol whip him-"This is for Johnny, who's got Cancer!".

 Fred Carroll

Guest Blog: Thoughts on Homelessness from Fred Carrol

• 

  Fred Carroll is a Middletown  intellectual icon (we at the Insider certainly think so!), a humanitarian, artist, chess player, founder of the Bums with Brooms social movement to clean up the streets of the city,  secretary of the Realist Balance Party of Middletown, and by traditional definition a practitioner of the "nomadic" lifestyle and  has been at times what most would consider, and by his own definition as well homeless. Below is an essay by Carroll. Thank you Fred!
  
  At Risk Of Stating The Obvious; Thoughts on Homelessness from Fred Carroll......
  
  As NORA becomes ever more tangible and the Buttonwood Tree blossoms the contrast struck by the Old School Mentaltown Townies is all of a full blown mind muck to this author.....I don't so to speak "get it". What game are we playing here, is the most begged question to my mind. On the one hand we have many very serious people with everything in the world to lose who are putting blood, sweat, and tears into their respective avocations and ambitions....and on the "other" hand we have so many people in this City who "represent" on a daily basis the high pathos of addiction and dysfunction to the point of creating their very own "Dystopia" right in the midst of the larger paradigm. Or am I mistaken, is commerce the larger agenda? Or is whatever you call the other thing....."Services"? the bigger agenda......I'm not at all sure that this a question which has been definitively answered. So lets take a quick look here....the Services Crowd can stand around whacked and jacked on their combination of legal and illegal Dope, smoke cigarettes, and spit on the sidewalk absolutely ANYWHERE, but can "NORA" just pack up and shift North or South or East or West and "reinvent itself" at some other location? No, in a word....no. So why in the Hell are all these malevolent clowns still holding court on Main Street every goddamn day? Does somebody assume that this loose army of like minded idiots is incapable or not inclined to kill every good thing that has happened in the North End recently? Let's test it, after all....what have we got to lose?
• Addendum...."Homeless" or "homelessness" is surely the wrong word, though whatever the term or concept it surely overlaps and confluences with homelessness proper significantly. George Carlin uses the phrase "street people" and extend that to "street culture", or what I would I would call "Dirt Bag Culture"....and then the rest is history.

  Fred Carroll

  
  

North End Meet the Candidate Night in Middletown

Kleckowski sitting councilwoman &candidate has an intimate chat with 

a voter. 

Last night residents had the chance to meet one on one no holds barred with local candidates at the Green Street Arts Center sponsored by North End Action Team. The event gathered about 20 locals, and included a casual dinner free to all. Potential voters were supplied with blank question sheets to fill in and take notes on. Questions focused on how candidates would solve North End issues.
Former Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, Councilman Ron Klattenberg (D), Middletown Republican Town Committee Chair William Wilson, Planning & Zoning Commissioner Molly Salafia (R) , former Councilman Earle Roberts (R), BOE Member Ryan Kennedy (R), and Mayor Dan Drew were among the crowd to show support for fellow candidates.

Winsley, candidate for Congress speaks with North End voters.

Wayne Winsley who is running against 11 year incumbent Rosa Delauro was on hand although  his opponent was a no show. Winsley has asked Delauro to publicly debate him and she has refused. Deborah Kleckowski current Middletown Councilwoman (R) is running against incumbent Matt Lesser to represent the 100th District. Kleckowski and Lesser both attended Wesleyan University, however Lesser dropped out to run for his office in 2008, and Kleckowski graduated with her masters and when on to work in social services and education. Kleckowski played a key role in defending special needs students and parents in the aftermath of the scream room scandal at Farm Hill earlier this year. She also opposes  the proposed Ct legislation being backed by Lesser  that would allow men and women to use the same public restrooms based on their perceived gender identity rather than biological; Kleckowski cites public safety issues.
     Lesser recently came back from a paddle down the CT River to observe foliage as part of a DEP tour with Mayor Drew Tuesday. Winsley & Kleckowski have both backed incumbent  Republican Candidate Len Suzio for gas tax reform and suspension of early release for violent criminals.

Event organizer &  Exec. Director of NEAT, Izzi Greenberg.

    Also in attendance were candidates Paul Doyle (D) and veteran incumbent Joseph Serra (D) who is defending his seat representing the 33rd District against Callie Grippo (R).

Young Dems & Young GOP Come Together for NEAT Pride Day!

NEAT North End Artist Cooperative has invited both  both Young Democrats & Young Republicans to Neighborhood Pride Day!!!! Come support Middletown and GO BIPARTISANSHIP LOVE!


Monumental Occasion & FIRST for BOTH groups to be invited by any group for any event EVER which the 
Insider thinks its pretty neat!

The Insider has tears in our eyes!  An invite goes along way in our book! GO Izzy!

Hear ye hear ye! Come out and play! Young D's, Young R's, Greens, Purples, Old D's, Old R's, Middle Age D's, Middle Age R's, Marxists, Communists, Totalitarians, Patriots, Ex-Patriots, Liberals, Libertarians, Lovers, Haters, Progressives, Socialists, Undecided, Independent, Working Family, Tea Party.... whoever else we forgot...... 
IT's Neighbordhood Pride Day in Middletown!!

Message from NEAT:

This Saturday April 21, from 9 am -1 pm, we will be celebrating our Pride with cleanup and beautification projects all over the North End.We hope that you have seen information about Pride Day in our emails and our newsletter. We are very excited about this years event. We have some exciting projects planned including breaking ground on two new community gardens!
Breaking Ground at the Ferry Street Garden
Waking up the Erin Street garden
Miller/Bridge street park clean up
Block by block clean up and trash pick up
NEAT will provide the work gloves, water, tools, and trash bags.We are excited to have volunteers from the neighborhood, Macdonough School, Comcast, The Young Dems, and Wesleyan University. We would love to have you join us as well!

Pride Day is about more than Spring cleaning. It is about getting our residents, our local businesses, and friends of the North End outside together working on common goals and building relationships. We love our neighborhood and want to take time to celebrate it.
As a friend of the North End we hope that you will join us on Saturday and spread the word in your organization. We have numerous projects that need volunteers. If you are a business or organization that is located in the North End you can also organize a project at your site. if you would like to sign up to work on a project, or are willing to join in on the project that needs you most you can call the NEAT office at 860-346-4845
Projects include:
Breaking ground at the Alondra Hernandez Memorial Garden
We hope to see you on Saturday!

Running for Rescues Animal Charity Fundraiser April 21

Running For Rescues is an animal advocacy non-profit located in Middletown, CT.
We help support animals in need in a unique way. We ask individual supporters to fund raise as
part of 5K’s, 10K’s, and marathons. We’re looking for runners & non-runners alike to JOIN THE
PACK! YOU pick the distance, YOU pick the race, then independently fund-raise for us! Ask friends to pledge donations to Running for Rescues for every mile that you run, every race that you complete or every step that you take! It is all up to you.
Here’s what we’re going to do with the money you raise: We’re going to give it to the small
grassroots organizations which are on the front lines – people who are pulling animals out of
shelters before they are euthanized, people who foster pets until permanent homes can be secured,
and people who transport animals hundreds of miles to fosters and new homes. The cost associated
with their efforts can be staggering! Your money might be used for shots, medical treatments, spay/
neuter surgeries, transport, boarding, or food while the animal is being cared for in a foster home.
We are currently working to provide free spay/neuter, vaccinations & transport for pets in the
North End of Middletown.

If you are interested in getting involved or making a donation:
Please visit our website @ www.runningforrescues.org or contact Jodi Dougherty @
Jodi@runningforrescues.org or call her @ 860 803 9025.