News will be posted as it happens, previous press clippings posted below.

Dec 29, 2020

Connecticut's Tom Callinan bids an unfond farewell to 2020 with new song

By Christopher Arnott
A year that many of us would like to forget has been immortalized in song by veteran Connecticut folksinger Tom Callinan. Fittingly, the tune is titled “Good Riddance to 2020.”

The song, which the 73-year-old singer has introduced via a laidback video of him performing in his Norwich home, is more philosophical than whimsical.

“Good Riddance to 2020? begins: “I'm bidding adieu to this horrible year, I'm tipping my glass upside down/ My hopes have been raised by that shot in the arm/ That I hear is making the rounds ... So good riddance to 2020, we can't wait ‘til you're done/ We're setting our sights on the future – and 2021!”

The lyrics recall a year of COVID, Zoom and Facebook Live, masks and social distancing,

While his repertoire can run to sea shanties, folk standards, Irish ditties and patriotic songs dating back to the Civil War, Callinan is no stranger to topical songs. He's written songs for charitable causes such as Save the Whales and written whole albums of songs about Connecticut. His 1987 album “Topical Heatwave — Tom Callinan Tunes in the News” (still available on cassette tape) included such titles as “LOTTO Tonite,” “The National Debt,” “The Coastal Conspiracy” and “Gorbachev.”

The coronavirus shutdown has hurt Callinan professionally. He's worked full-time as a musician for the past 43 years, averaging around 200 shows a year — until this year.

He was able to escape the bar circuit fairly early in his long career and largely plays what he calls “clean shows” at assisted living centers, libraries, schools and hospitals. In 1991 he was named the first-ever Connecticut State Troubadour. The title is fitting since he has written over 100 songs specifically about Connecticut, from “Connecticut: More Than Just a Corridor” to “Connecticut Day at the Old Big E.”

Other than recording demos of new songs he's written so that he can remember them, Callinan hasn't been working on any new albums during the shutdown. His wife, Ann Shapiro, who runs the Connecticut Storytelling Center in New London, helps him post his work online and perform his virtual gigs.

Having bid good riddance to a bad year, Callinan looks forward to performing live again. “It'll make me feel alive again.”

Link to "The Home Sick Blues" You Tube

Home Grown Articles - U.S.S. Connecticut 

USS Connecticut song written and recorded by troubadours

Anthony Castagno, Contributing Editor, From The Bridge

STATE TROUBADOURS Tom Callinan (left) and Bill Pere.

Troubadours first emerged, singing their lyrical poems, just after the turn of the last millennium in the midst of the Middle Ages. Starting in France, they soon were everywhere throughout Europe, singing songs of heroism and love, bringing news of great deeds and accomplishments. The troubadours became a vital part of the arts and cultures of the times, passing these songs and stories from generation to generation.

It is fitting, then, that two of Connecticut's own troubadours have composed a song to honor the USS Connecticut.

    Tom Callinan and Bill Pere, two of Connecticut's official state troubadours appointed by the state Commission on the Arts, have put the finishing touches on a recording of their song, "USS Connecticut".

    The song pays homage to technology, but reminds us that it is people who have built the USS Connecticut and people who will guide her for the generation to come.

    When the idea of a song was introduced at a USS Connecticut Commissioning Committee meeting last June, committee member John Stratton immediately thought of recruiting his friend and Pfizer coworker, Bill Pere, to help. Pere contacted Tom Callinan, and the process was underway. Pere and Callinan met several times over the summer and into the fall to compose lyrics and music for the song.

    Although as troubadours they share certain common interests and philosophies, the differences in their, styles would make this collaboration all the more interesting: Pere is technologically and orchestrally oriented while Callinan prefers a more acoustic, traditional folk approach.

    The song was ready for its initial public performance in February 1998 at the Nautilus Museum reception for USS Connecticut crew and many other naval officers and area business leaders.

    Just before they began, a klaxon sounded, calling everyone's attention. Both Pere and Callinan knew then that this exact klaxon sound would make an effective addition to the song when they recorded later in the year. They also knew they needed a realistic but reasonably melodic sonar sound to punctuate the mention of sonar in the first verse.

    "One thing I've learned is that there's no such thing as a dead end," said Callinan, who undertook the "sonar" search. He contacted friends who had USS Connecticut song written and recorded by troubadours worked at the former Underwater Sound Lab, which led him to other friends at Sonalysts in Waterford, and they had the perfect sound. Pere and Callinan held a contest for a prospective cover design and selected the one painted by Ledyard artist Amy Francis-Renaldi. The cover art is a dramatic portrait of the submarine surfacing in the middle of a stylized U.S. flag shaped like the State of Connecticut.

    About the Troubadours

    Both Pere and Callinan have a "no dead ends" philosophy when it comes to their art. And both are committed to using their own talents, and tapping the musical and artistic talents of others, to promote social and environmental improvement. In fact, these beliefs have characterized much of what both of these troubadours have already accomplished in their lives.

    Callinan was named Connecticut's first official state troubadour when the program was created by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts in 1991. He has been a full-time creative artist and performer since leaving junior-high-school teaching in 1977 and currently gives more than 200 concerts a year all along the East Coast. He has received several awards from the Connecticut Songwriters Association and has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Theatre in Washington, DC and has been featured on ABC TV's "Good Morning, America," Peter Jennings retrospective "Images of the 80s," PBS's "Shining Time Station," CNN's "Earth Matters," and many others. As part of his work with the nonprofit group, National Week of the Ocean, he received a grant to present programs to more than 6,000 middle school students in Florida. When named state troubadour, he decided to use his one-year tenure to promote environmental causes, particularly those involving Long Island Sound and the oceans. He also established an archive of songs about Connecticut, a project he continues with the Connecticut Historical Society. He and his wife, Ann Shapiro, manage Crackerbarrel Entertainments in Clinton; he has produced a total of 16 recordings: six solo albums and 10 with groups with which he performs. Collaborating on the creation, performance and recording of "USS Connecticut" has been "a tremendous experience," he says.

Pere was named the official state troubadour for 1995. He decided to use his tenure to bridge art and science and to demonstrate that the two are powerful complements of each other. Pere, a senior research scientist at Pfizer, gives several dozen performances a year and donates all proceeds to local organizations that fight poverty and hunger, including the one he founded in 1989: Local United Network to Combat Hunger (L.U.N.C.H.) . L.U.N.C.H.'s fund-raising events and their eight recordings have raised well over $150,000, all of which has been donated to help hundreds of thousands of people at area shelters, soup kitchens and group homes. The power behind Pere's all­volunteer program is the involvement of children, showing them how music can be used to help others. To date, more than 750 children have participated in his programs. A musician and songwriter since he was a teenager, Pere has received many awards and honors including being named Connecticut Songwriter of the Year in 1983 and 1993, the first recipient of the Connecticut Renaissance Award and the recipient of a citation from the Connecticut General Assembly in 1997 for his work with L.U.N.C.H. Pere, too, was honored to participate in the creation of the "USS Connecticut" song and considers it another way, "to use power of popular song to bring interesting events to public awareness."

The recorded version of "USS Connecticut," complete with klaxon sounds from the Nautilus , is available on cassette or compact disc. For more information, contact Tom Callinan at Crackerbarrel Entertainments, 860-669-6648, Email: crackerbrl@aol.com; or Bill Pere at Local United Network to Email: WDPSongs@aol.com .

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1998, NEW LONDON  SERVING EASTERN CONNECTICUT SINCE 1881  VOL.117, No. 204 36 PAGES 50 CENTS

'The ships that bear our name'

will be something to sing about

By ROBERT A. HAMILTON

Day Staff Writer

Connecticut salutes you

you slip beneath the foam,

Our name and hearts go with you

Until you're safely home.

In this "Land of Steady Habits,"

Some things stay the same;

The pride of folks who build and sail

The ships that bear our name...

Groton - So Goes the refrain to "U.S.S. Connecticut," the song troubadours Bill Pere of Mystic and Tom Callinan of Clinton have composed for the submarine of the same name that is under construction at Electric Boat.

"It's important to commemorate important events in our state, both past and present," Pere said. "And with all the focus that is going to be on the ship, I wanted something that would place the emphasis on the people who designed it, the people who built it, and the people who will sail it. It's a very people-oriented song."

The two songwriters have also begun a contest to come up with cover art for the cassette tape they expect to issue after the tune is recorded next month, Callinan said. The contest is seen as a way to get more people interested, and involved, in the commissioning of the Connecticut, the second of the Seawolf-class submarines EB is building.

Callinan was the state's first official troubadour, in 1991 and 1992. Pere was the fourth.

"Some people say I've written more songs about Connecticut than anyone in history," Callinan said. "I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm willing to accept the title."

The Connecticut, which is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy late this year, is the fourth warship to bear the state's name. Pfizer Chairman William C. Steere was appointed chairman of the Commissioning Committee by Gov. John G. Rowland, whose wife Patricia Rowland is the ship's sponsor.

Commissioning Committee member John Stratton, who works with Pere at Pfizer, said he knew Pere was a songwriter and approached him a few months ago about doing a song specifically for the commissioning. In the past, many ships have had their own commissioning songs.

Stratton said the committee has several projects in the works designed to promote awareness of the Connecticut commissioning.

Pere said he called Callinan, whom he has worked with in the past, "and we got together a few times and worked out the song."

"U.S.S. Connecticut," sung, to the tempo of a march, has three stanzas, with lines such as: "Her hand-picked crew was chosen for the task; With inner strength and well-honed high-tech skills; Together they have learned to work as one; They've trained to fight, but pray they never will." The song will go to the Commissioning Committee for approval in a couple of weeks, Stratton said.

Pere said until the committee officially approves the song, he's not sure what the recording arrange-ments will be, but he and Callinan would probably publish it themselves if they have to.

"Whether it makes a penny or not is not really important to me," Pere said. Any money he makes off music typically goes to local social service agencies or nonprofit groups, he said.

"I like to use music as an inclusive vehicle, allowing as many people as possible to participate," Pere said. "So this song, and the art contest, this gives people in the community chance to contribute."

Mail entries in the art contest to Pere at Mystic Music, 40 Bruggeman Place, Mystic 06355, or to Callinan at Crackerbarrel Entertainments, 168 Shore Road, Clinton, 06413.

SHORELINE REGION

Clinton, Middlesex County

By CASEY A. WALDRON, Harbor News Staff Writer
January 24, 2002 -Harbor News

A Connecticut Grown Musician - Tom Callinan Is Person Of The Week January 24, 2002

CLINTON -- He can play the guitar, banjo, spoons, bodhran (drum), penny whistle, bones, and various other instruments. He has entertained crowds up and down the eastern seaboard, in Canada, Barbados, and even at the University of Notre Dame. He is Connecticut's first official state troubadour and he lives right here on the shoreline. Tom Callinan has been performing music since he was 10 years old, when he first learned to play the clarinet. A couple of years later he picked up the saxophone, and the rest is history. He now has a lengthy laundry list of musical instruments that he is able to play, and he does so on a professional level.

But it wasn't always that way. Tom received his bachelor's degree in English, with a minor in music, from Central Connecticut State University. During his college years he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served as a stateside Marine during the Vietnam War. After graduating from college, Tom taught junior high school English and reading in East Hampton from 1973 to 1977, before leaving that position to attend Wesleyan University. There, he completed his Master's degree in Liberal Studies with a music concentration.

"It was great," he says. "My culminating project was a concert."

Tom grew up in Middletown and moved to Clinton in 1978. He says that his parents had a summer cottage in town and, upon visiting it one day, he saw that a house was for sale only a half of a mile away. He knew the owner, negotiated a deal, and moved in. He now lives close to the cottage and co-owns it with his siblings. Tom says that he loves living in Clinton.

"It's a great town," he says.

It has been 25 years since Tom left teaching to write and perform songs, making music his full-time profession. Tom's music is "folk music based" with Irish and British Isle traditions. He has self-produced seven albums, including two of Irish music, one of sea songs, one sing-a-long, and one with a political satire theme.

His most recent album commemorates the 10th anniversary of his designation as Connecticut's first "Official State Troubador." It is his second album with a Connecticut theme and is called "Connecticut Grown." It features 23 songs with names such as "Connecticut's Lifeline, I-91," "Christmas on the Shoreline," and "Thumbs Up For Connecticut."

Tom has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Theater in Washington, D.C. He has appeared on PBS's "Shining Time Station," ABC's "Good Morning America," CNN's "Earth Matters," and on public radio stations nationwide. Tom performs about 300 show per year.

"It's been an interesting career," Tom says.

Tom says that he has had many great experiences during his performances. He has watched Alzheimer's patients perk up upon hearing certain songs and even watched as an elderly woman with two prosthetic hips threw aside her walker to dance to "This Land Is Your Land." Tom has performed for blind people who are able to better connect to the music by touching the instruments to feel their vibrations.

"It's really amazing when you see it touch people like that," he says. "It just feels really good to do that for people."

He also performs at schools, libraries, historical societies, park and recreation centers, community concerts, senior centers, and for AARP groups.

"It's fulfilling work," Tom says. "It's not boring."

Tom occasionally performs with his wife, Ann Shapiro. Ann is the executive director of the Connecticut Storytelling Center at Connecticut College in New London. Tom says that her demanding job only allows her to be his part-time musical partner, but that the two are equally devoted to their music.

"We're consumed with the arts," he says.

Tom and Ann have been married since 1980 and have one son together named Emmett, who is a junior at Syracuse University. The couple is proud of Eli, Ann's son and Tom's stepson, who is a successful chef in California. Eli and his wife are planning a move back to New England, which is music to Tom and Ann's ears. Other than the family's East Coast reunion, Tom says he looks forward to doing more shows, to writing new songs, and to kicking off his 19th annual tour in Florida. He will also keep performing with his band, The Morgans, which has been together for 31 years.

"I will continue with my shows and with writing new songs as I get the inspiration," he says. "I have more albums that I want to do but when you are self-produced you have to weigh that with the amount of money you have."

Tom's "Connecticut Grown" CD, which is sure to be a hit among Nutmeggers and lovers of Connecticut alike, is available for purchase through the mail or through his website, www.crackerbarrel-ents.com. For further information, visit the website or contact Crackerbarrel Entertainments, 168 Shore Road, Clinton 06413.

© HARBOR NEWS 2002

Musician is home-grown, Clinton Recorder Weekend by Susan Braden,
Features Editor

A Connecticut Grown Musician - Tom Callinan Is Person Of The Week January
24, 2002 By CASEY A. WALDRON, Harbor News Staff Writer

Front Page: The song that makes Portland sing The Middletown Press

From the Bridge article: USS Connecticut song written and recorded by
troubadours

New London Day article: 'The ships that bear our name' will be something
to sing about

Record-Journal, October 9, 2000 : A spooky town tour for Halloween
By Ethan D. Mitkowski, Record-Journal staff

Times Beacon Newspapers May 10, 2000 Tom's Tuckerton Seaport article

Tom Callinan-A Song To Elian

Photo by Ken Manwiller

A Song To Elian: It Was Inevitable, But What Rhymes With Gonzalez?
By PAT SEREMET
The Hartford Courant
April 13, 2000
Tom Callinan has been singing his whole life.
In 1991, Callinan, 53, of Clinton, was named the state's first official troubadour, a curious but heady distinction.
He sang about Iran-contra. He sang about Gorbachev. He sang about the Challenger explosion.
His newest song is about the boy Elian Gonzalez, caught in a tug-of-war between his father in Cuba and relatives in America.
The song is "Leave Elian Alone!'' and the sentiment is that Elian be with his dad.
"I'm a father,'' Callinan said. "I've got a stepson, 26, who's been with me since he was 5, and a 19-year-old son who's a freshman at Syracuse.
"I'm also a former Marine and have no love for Castro. Some people are political, but to me, this is clearly parental. He should go where his father wants him to go.
"I'd show up naked in shark-infested waters to get my son back."
When Callinan saw a video of Elian cavorting in Walt Disney World just days after his mother died at sea, he said: "It turned my stomach.'' Hence, he wrote the song. Callinan has sent it to "Send Elian Home'' Web sites and to radio stations. He said he heard it broadcast on New York's WABC-AM (770), on the Lynn Samuels show.
"I don't expect to make a dime,'' he said.
Here's the start of the song:
Elian Gonzalez left Cuba on a boat,
Three days later he was found clinging to a float.
His mother, stepfather, and 10 others lost their lives;
Elian and two more were all who had survived.
A boy of six, and motherless, his father did implore
The I.N.S. to send him back to Cuba's sunny shores,
But his family in Miami said the boy should stay with them,
Thinking only of themselves, not of him.
Refrain:
But Disney and doo-dads don't spell "Daddy."
E.T. even knew the call of home.
Dorothy had everything, but still clicked her heels
To forsake "The Emerald City'' and choose the Kansas fields.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
So, if you folks in Miami care about that little boy,
Butt out, and leave Elian alone

Critics call LNG plant unsafe and unsuitable

Robert Varley, Register Staff 09/22/2005

BRANFORD — A public hearing on a proposed liquefied natural gas plant in Long Island Sound had all the flavor of a political protest Wednesday night at Branford High School.

About 250 people turned out to voice their concerns. The $700 million Broadwater Energy plant would be 10 stories tall, four football fields long and 180 feet wide, and float in New York waters about 10 miles south of Branford Harbor.
Critics of the proposal say it's unsafe and unsuitable for the Sound. Broadwater Energy, a partnership formed by the TransCanada Corp. and Shell U.S. Gas and Power, says it will help provide much-needed energy in the region.

The public hearing was held by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The proposal is in the preliminary stage of a multiple-year review process.

Before the meeting, a crowd rallied in front of the school.

Natasha Proctor, 8, of Orange, dressed in a blue crab costume, was among the crowd protesting the proposed liquefied natural gas plant in Long Island Sound at a hearing at Branford High School Wednesday. Jeff Holt / Register galleries

In addition to speakers protesting the project, Clinton's Tom Callinan sang "Our Water, Not Broadwater."

"And what if something goes awry with Broadwater in our water?" he sang as the generally upbeat tune took an ominous turn. "How many innocent souls will die with Broadwater in our water?"

Natasha Proctor, 8, of Orange, who came with her father and others from the New Haven Yacht Club, danced in a blue crab costume.

"I haven't felt this kind of spirit since the late '60s and Vietnam," said state Sen. J. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford.

The New York-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment produced 50,000 signatures opposed to the Broadwater plant.

"I don't get why we have to entertain every crazy proposal that comes along," said CCE executive director Adrienne Esposito.

She said Broadwater was not a public need, but corporate greed.

John Hritcko Jr., a Broadwater regional project director, said the project was driven by necessity.

"They don't want the visual of the facility, but all you have to look at is the energy prices in Connecticut," he said, saying 25 percent of the gas would be pegged for the state.

He said the size of the project made sense because of the need for volume.

"LNGs are large-scale projects. They're difficult to design and justify on a small scale," he said.

He said they've worked to ensure the project will be safe from any terrorist threats.

"It's too difficult to hit and it will not provide a spectacular event," he said, referring to any casualties in a terrorist raid.

Much of the comment period before the panel was taken up by politicians.

"I'm not a knee-jerk, energy industry demonizer," said Branford Representative Town Meeting member Lonnie Reed, D-5. But she said it was wrong to "test drive" the LNG plant in the Sound.

She said she worries about potential collisions, diesel fuel spills and "catastrophic mooring failure."

While earlier fears about the safety of Broadwater were linked to a terrorist attack, the shock of Hurricane Katrina pushed natural disasters to the forefront.

"It could make the Sound look like the Gulf," said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. "I'm haunted by the hulks of platforms on (the Gulf of Mexico) shore that were supposed to be impregnable."

Blumenthal quoted a Coast Guard report that called the Sound "fragile and stressed."

"We ought to keep in mind what doctors have as their professional motto: First do no harm," he said.

Meyer pushed the Katrina connection further. He said the federal government had not proven its mettle in responding to that crisis.

"I ask you to make your responsibility in this hearing the avoidance of risk, not the management of risk," he said.

He told the panel that a University of Connecticut marine biologist said ecology would be ruined for a generation by a major accident.

Featured in Health
Singing Out Against Broadwater

By JUDY BENSON
Health/Science/Environment Reporter
Published on 11/20/2005

With its bouncing beat and bluesy melody, it's the kind of song that might replay in your head after only one hearing.

“And it's...our water, not...Broad-water.”

Even John Hritcko Jr., senior vice president of the company behind the controversial plan to park a liquefied natural gas barge in Long Island Sound, admits the song has a catchy quality.

“If it weren't for the fact that it's against the Broadwater project,” he said, “I'd probably be singing it, too.”

Tom Callinan, a folk singer from Clinton who was named the first official Connecticut State Troubadour in 1991, wrote the song last spring, after talking about the Broadwater plan with some environmental activists at an Earth Day event.

“It just popped right out of me,” he said. “How can you not write a song about something so absurd?”

In September, Callinan recorded the song with his guitar, a bassist and a clarinetist accompanying his vocals. He donated the rights to it to the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, which has posted it on its Web site.

Later that month, he played the song for a large audience as his testimony at a public hearing on the Broadwater proposal. The hearing, at Branford High School, had been called by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will decide whether to grant the required permits for the project.

At a pre-hearing rally, Callinan accommodated five or six requests to play the song.

“It's staggering how many people are against this,” he said. “Energy is a necessity, but fossil fuels are a dead end. This is all just corporate greed and the environment be damned.”

For Callinan, writing songs about environmental issues and, in particular, Long Island Sound, is nothing new. He grew up in East Haven, not far from the Sound, and hasn't moved far from its shores. He said he's eager to use his songwriting for protecting the estuary.

As for the battle against the LNG project, he said he's confident public opposition has created a formidable obstacle for Broadwater.

“They don't have a song,” he noted.

www.cfenv.org

Sun, 19 Feb 2006

Dana Jensen photo

State Troubadour Tom Callinan has written a protest song against the LNG proposal that has become an anthem for environmentalists opposed to the project.

Our Water, Not Broadwater

By Tom Callinan

What do we see looking 'cross The Sound?
We see Our water, Not Broadwater!
When we're sailing 'round, no matter where we're bound,
We're seeing Our water, Not Broadwater!

Refrain: If you want to save the Sound for your sons and your daughters,
You've got to stand up and say No to Broadwater!

The Sound is called ‘The Urban Sea'
And it's Our Water, Not Broadwater!
With a web of life and ecology.
It's Our water, not Broadwater!

Refrain

Bridge: The Sound's got troubles all its own,
Without ever becoming an industrial zone,
We don't want a floating bomb, filled with LNG
Added to our homeland insecurity.
And what if something should go awry,
With Broadwater in Our water?
How many innocent souls will die
From Broadwater in Our water?

Refrain; Bridge

Tomorrow's children deserve to see
Our water, Not Broadwater!
So let's make 'em a gift from you and me
Of Our water, Not Broadwater!

Refrain

© The Day Publishing Co., 2005
For home delivery, please call 1-866-846-9099

Mothball Millstone

Millstone Foes Storm The Beach

•Beachgoers watch as protesters walk Sunday along Hole In The Wall Beach in Niantic calling for the closure of Millstone Power Station. The nuclear-power complex is visible across the water in Waterford.

Suzanne Ouellette
Day Staff Photographer
e-mail: Suzanne Ouellette
phone: (860) 701-4384

•DJ Middleton of Clinton, left, along with banner bearers Darryl Baker of Clinton and Nancy Burton, director of the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, march down Main Street in Niantic on Sunday.

Tim Martin
Day Staff Photographer
e-mail: Tim Martin
phone: (860) 701-4384

'I feel nuclear energy could be an important part of a national energy plan. It should be evaluated on facts.'
Stephen Packard of Guilford, who accepted protesters' challenge to drink “contaminated” goat's milk

Millstone Foes Storm The Beach
By Jenna Cho
Published on 7/3/2006

East Lyme — In an attempt to make a point, Nancy Burton, director of the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, squeezed a few drops of milk from a reluctant goat named Katie into a drinking glass Sunday afternoon.

Burton then asked anyone is they wanted to drink the milk. It was in jest, considering the coalition had brought its pet goat Katie to the rally, to emphasize that tests on milk of the region's goats have shown high levels of the radioactive isotope strontium 90, which can cause cancer in large amounts. The coalition, which tests Katie's milk for toxic radiation, charges that the high levels of strontium 90 is coming from Millstone Power Station in Waterford.

Nobody was supposed to actually drink the milk at Sunday's rally. But then, Stephen Packard of Guilford stepped forward and said he would do it. It was not part of the plan. Burton stalled, then declined to let Packard drink the milk.

“I think we'll save this for scientific testing,” she said.

Packard said afterward that he had come to the rally because he felt a lot of what the coalition was advertising was based on “junk science.”

“I feel nuclear energy could be an important part of a national energy plan,” said Packard, a computer repairman who said he was unaffiliated with Millstone or any state agency. “It should be evaluated on facts.”

The milking came as the coalition Connecticut chapter of the Sierra Club held a rally opposing Millstone Power Station and its alleged radioactive contamination of the region at Liberty Park in Niantic. The rally drew about 20 people.

The coalition is urging the power station to convert its cooling system, which the coalition says regularly dumps radioactive waste into Long Island Sound, into a closed cooling system.

A closed cooling system would recycle the water instead of drawing it from and discharging it into the Sound. The coalition also wants the power station closed.

Liberty Park, at the corner of Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, was covered in signs that read “Capture the wind! Close Millstone!” and “Swim here at your own risk!” Identical stuffed-animal ducks had signs that read, “I am a sitting duck for Millstone terrorism.”

The coalition also displayed signs that it wants the town of East Lyme to post in beaches, warning swimmers of possible exposure to radioactive waste.

“Swim at your own risk: Your government is not protecting you,” it read.

Burton spoke about the dangers of radioactive waste coming from Millstone. She said the power station regularly dumps chemicals and radioactive waste into Long Island Sound and that residents exposed to the waste are developing cancer and other illnesses.

Cynthia Besade, whose late father Joseph H. Besade helped start the coalition with Burton 11 years ago, spoke passionately about family and friends who have contracted grave diseases that she said were associated with Millstone pollution.

“I've watched this community be poisoned,” she said.

Besade said her father passed away three years ago of lung cancer. He worked as a pipefitter at Millstone for 20 years and lived two miles away from the power station, she said.

Pete Hyde, the spokesman for Dominion, the owner of Millstone, said the coalition's claims about radioactive pollution were “not entirely true.”

“What we discharge, small amounts, (are) well within federal limits,” Hyde said. “The federal government sets limits on what we can discharge into the Sound. We do discharge minute amounts of chemicals and some radioactive materials, but a minute amount.”

He also disputed the coalition's belief that Millstone was causing illnesses in the area's residents. Hyde said that the strontium 90 found in goats' milk is a result of atomic weapons testing from the 1970s and 80s.

“There are a lot of studies that have proven that nuclear plants do not have an impact on the local population,” he said.

John Calandrelli, state director of the Connecticut Sierra Club, said the club wants to eliminate nuclear power and replace it with clean energy.

“It's doable,” Calandrelli said before his rally speech. “Not only technically, but financially. It's just the political will.”

The rally lasted two and a half hours and ended with a march down to Niantic's Hole-in-the-Wall beach, led by Clinton resident DJ Middleton on the snare drum. Middleton, who is in a metal band, said Burton asked him to play at the rally after seeing him drumming on a counter at a Dunkin' Donuts shop.

Scott Curtiss of Southington was bicycling by the rally on Sunday and stopped to listen. He said he fished in Niantic, and while he felt Millstone does contribute to “killing off a lot of fish,” he wanted to know how much of what the coalition was saying was true.

“There's two sides to every story,” Curtiss said.

Clinton resident Tom Callinan, who was the state's first “official state troubadour,” sang anti-Millstone songs on his banjo, guitar and bodhran (a drum) in the park's gazebo. He said he has been writing environmental songs since the '70s and wrote his latest song at 1:30 a.m. Sunday.

“We gotta mothball Millstone/It's the only choice to make/'Cause our lives are all at stake/I remember 9/11 and what solidarity can do/I don't want a Millstone meltdown/Do you?” sang Callinan.

Beachgoers enjoying the warm weather watched the rally proceed down to the edge of the water, where rally participants posed for a group photo with Millstone in the background. The rally, silent save for the constant beat of the snare drum, then continued to the far end of the beach and back. It exited with little fanfare save for a few grumbles from beachgoers.

“It's just rude,” said a man eating a bag of Cheetos.

j.cho@theday.com
East Lyme

I'll Stand With Joe By Tom Callinan - © 2006 CANNU YUSIC, LTD.

I'll stand with Joe, 'cause he stands for me,

In the "Home of the Brave" and the "Land of the Free".

When the going gets tough, it's good to know

That we can depend on a guy like Joe.

So I'll stand with Joe, 'cause he stands for me -

Speaking his mind independently.

Click HERE to play and download the .mp3 version of "I'll Stand By Joe"