Decisions will be made by people putting their heads together and coming up with answers

Jewett City Party backs Ward for Warden
by Carol Davidge - published by Reminder Newspapers on February 16, 2007

JEWETT CITY -- In addition to the Republican and Democratic candidates for election as borough warden on May 7, Ron Ward, a third party candidate has been nominated by the Jewett City Party.

Ward, a graduate of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri, is currently a science educator with Mad Science of Southeastern Connecticut based in the Slater Mill Mall, an organization that has afterschool programs and also takes innovative hands-on learning activities to classrooms. "Our motto is Sparking Imaginative Learning," he said.

He founded the Jewett City Party to provide a new way for town and borough residents to participate in local affairs.

"Before the holidays, I started thinking of doing something to make a difference, to make a change, a new way to engage voters, something that was not about a party but was simply about Jewett City," said Ward.

The former clerk to the General Assembly's Education Committee has listed a number of goals on the Jewett City Party's Web site: www.jewettcityparty.com.

"The highest priorities are the utility rates, roads and sidewalks, and public safety," said Ward.

"There are so many issues -- it takes time to unravel complicated issues. I'm not into government speak -- I'm into plain talk. What I'm trying to do is translate concerns so that people can communicate about them over coffee and donuts at Arremony's," said Ward.

His highest priority is to set up a public utilities consumer board. He thinks it's good that the borough owns its electric, water, and sewer provided, but feels that the rate increases are unjustified.

"As owners, the residents can do what we want about rates. The first priority is to get a consumer board set up to give people access to the process, to have a way for people to be listened to, and for us to have an impact on what happens. Right now we have three gentlemen serving as commissioners who decide what happens, and they won't be re-appointed if the people vote for me and the two burgess candidates running with the Jewett City Party," said Ward, pointing out that there is an unused fund of more than $5 million that could be tapped, and that not only did the rates go up by 44 percent last summer or sewer use, they were retroactive to Jan 1, 2006, which caused undue burdens to residents, and some businesses had to pay $4,000 in order to continue to receive service.

"People are outraged," he said.

He also plans to set up a new Public Safety Commission for the borough to oversee and coordinate fire, police, and medical services, as well as civil preparedness and emergency management for the borough. "If a gas tanker truck turns over or there's a hurricane, we need emergency management," he said.

He says he was misquoted about wishing to dissolve the borough. "I will stand up to preserve the borough," he said. One important reason to keep the borough is socio-economic demographics which allows Jewett City to qualify for federal assistance.

"Forty percent of borough residents are below the federal poverty level, while about 30 percent in the town of Griswold have incomes of more than $100,000. If we merged, we would no longer qualify for federal assistance to our low-income families," he said.

Ward was recently inducted into the A. A. Young Fire Department, and he spends two weekends a month training to serve, which he considers an honor.

Recently he was interviewed for the Daily Show with John Steward about the controversy surrounding the playing of bells with secular and religiouss music on a town-purchased sound system at the Jewett City Baptist Church.

"I told them 99.9 percent of us want the bells, it's a mater of local pride. In 10 years, not a single person has objected, and we're not going to allow somebody from outside the borough to come in and tell us what to do," he said.

"Although I've only lived in Jewett City a year, I consider myself a son of Connecticut who has come home," said Ward. Recently through historical and genealogical research at the Slater Library and other places, Ward discovered that he is a direct descendant of colonists John Mason and the Reverend James Fitch. Mason settled Windsor, one of Connecticut's oldest English communities. Fitch and Mason were original grantees of the land where Jewett City and Griswold are now.

Ward has been part of an amateur sail racing team, ensign class. He attends the Jewett City Baptist Church where, out of homage to his grandmother, he sits in the on the far left of the fourth row in the church. He grew up in the midwest and in 1990, he moved to Connecticut because his folks had moved to Norwich. He has lived in several towns to be near work.

"I think Jewett City's a wonderful place to live. There's a lot of tradition here. Coming from a place that's really flat, I like the topography here with the rivers and the hills. People here are respectful and courteous, and you can make friends for the rest of your life," he said.

"Whether you're Republican, Democrat or unaffiliated, most people want to make Jewett City a better place to live. If the Jewett City Party is elected, decisions will be made by people putting their heads together and coming up with answers," he said.