Cheshire Police Spokesman Lt. James Fasano said that fewer than a half dozen residents used the town's emergency shelter at the Youth Center on South Main Street during Hurricane Sandy. The shelter will be closing Tuesday morning.

"We fared pretty well," Fasano said, when asked how the town had weathered the storm.

Fasano said there are no road closures in town.  But he said trees are blocking parts of two lightly-traveled roads:

-Rice Avenue near the intersection with Vanessa Court in the northwest corner of town.

- Bradford Drive at Chantil Circle in the town's South End..

Outage levels for Connecticut Light and Power customers overnight in Cheshire were above 1,700.  But as of 10:15 a.m., there were 390 outages in town, mostly in the area of Marion Road, Fasano said.

All town offices and facilities in Cheshire will reopen at noon. There will be no trash collection on Tuedsay and pick up of garbage for the remainder of the week will pushed back a day.

Schools in Cheshire are closed Tuesday. There is no word yet on whether they will remain closed on Wednesday,

The Cheshire High School Young Democrats will hold a rally Friday starting at 6 p.m. at the Funky Monkey Cafe and Gallery in the Watch Factory Shoppes Complex, 130 Elm Street in Cheshire.

 Fifth District Congressional Candidate Elizabeth Esty is scheduled to be there along with 13th District State Senate Candidate Dante´ Bartolomeo. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal may also be attending, I'm told.

The rally will also feature music from Roy Zimmerman (shown in video above).

Wallingford residents may have done a double take watching Cable News Network Thursday at around 9:30 a.m.

 Usually the only television screens that Democratic Councilman Jason Zandri turns up on are local cable access and government channels. But there was Zandri in all his early morning glory, less than 12 hours after having hosted a debate watching party at his family's catering hall, Zandri's Stillwood Inn.



Zandri said producers contacted him about appearing on CNN Newsroom with host Carol Costello after reading blog posts he had made promoting the viewing party in the days leading up to the event. Zandri said that about 78 people attended the event. "I told them, 'Sure, I think I can make time to be on CNN," Zandri joked Tuesday night.

Personally, I believe that politics is something very personal.

 But if you view it as a group activity, then head on over to Wallingford and Zandri's Stillwood Inn Wednesday night to watch the debate between President Obama and Republican Challenger Mitt Romney

Jason Zandri, a Democratic councilman in Wallingford and a member of the family that owns the catering hall, will host the free viewing party. The event begins at 7 p.m. and lasts through 11 p.m.

Zandri's Stillwood Inn is located at 1074 South Colony Road in Wallingford

Craig Fishbein, a Republican councilman from Wallingford, took a brave step politically this week.

He went public with a criticism of the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Wallingford, claiming leaders of the parish went too far when they began distributing fliers urging that resident not sign a petition that's being circulated. The petition is part of an effort to overturn a decision by the Town Council to apply for a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Small Cities Community Development Program that would be used to make improvements to private parking areas that are adjacent to the parish's Holy Trinity School.

Fisbein doesn't think that the church should be stifling the public's right to initiative and referendum.

On the hand, the church and the school have more than a passing interest in the outcome of this issue. Fixing the wall on its own could cost the Holy Trinity community a significant amount of money if the church was forced to pay for the repair or go to court to force someone else to do it

. A large portion of the money being sought in the grant - $100,000 according to Fishbein - would be used to repair a deteriorating retaining wall that separates the parking area from the school and fix drainage problems that caused the deterioration in the first place.

All of this begs the question: What should the role of churches be in the political process?  Consider this issue further as you look through the links I've included in this post.