Case in Point

Wilton's City Hall undergoes quite a transformation

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Over the past few weeks, there have been countless community happenings in Wilton and Durant. I often find myself telling our staff that we only get the front page of the paper once each week. Sadly, the last couple weeks there has been so much front page news going on, it's tough to attend and decipher it all.

We ask for your patience and understanding when it comes to reporting the news. I alluded to this last week when telling the tale of constantly trying to be two places (or more) at once.

For instance, last week we had an important school board meeting and two school pep rallies going on the same night. Thankfully, the Wilton school board was on point and got done right as the Wilton pep rally got started. And I had great help in Durant with getting me photos from their rally. You can see the homecoming kings and queens on page 1 this week. You'll be able to see more photos in this paper (pages 7, 17) and online. Perhaps more will be printed in the future.

Another wonderful, breathtaking event that happened was the Scott County 9/11 memorial parade that made it's way to Durant last Saturday, stopping in front of the fire department. Please bear with us as we will come to you with that photo display and coverage next week. It deserves prominent placement in this publication.

As we go through life, there are a few "Remember where you were when" moments that occur. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 certainly qualify. For me, it was a work day at Rural Housing Institute in Wilton. I was an interior wall builder there, wet behind the ears having just previously graduated from high school.

It was commonplace for employees to listen to the radio. Slowly but surely, one by one, all the radios in the shop began telling the tragic news of planes hitting the World Trade Center buildings.

At one point, all our employees gathered in the break room and crowded around one radio, hanging on every word as we listened from halfway across the nation.

Where were you? What was your story?

This newspaper even received letters to the editor from area residents who were in New York at the time.

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Wilton City Hall quite a sight!—On Labor Day, Sept. 6, the city of Wilton held an open house at City Hall prior to the Freedom Rock event held later that afternoon.

Tours were given of the council chambers, offices, police department and community room, all of which were recently renovated.

This was a big wow! For a reporter like myself who's spent several hours in every area of the building over the years, from sitting in council meetings, to meeting with police officers, to attending events in the community room, I must say the transformation is quite amazing.

The other thing I loved about it was the familiar faces that came back to visit. We had former mayors, council members, and city employees show up throughout the day.

I was there early on, and snapped a picture of former employees and elected officials in attendance. I'm adding it here and again, hope to print more in a future issue. There are just so many wonderful things going on right now, my camera (and body) is having a hard time keeping up.

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