Someone burned a display this week on the Colchester Town Green of Democratic candidates, erected by local Democrats, and some here are not pleased with Republican First Selectman Gregg Schuster's response.
Deputy Fire Chief Don Lee said the Colchester-Hayward Fire Department got a call at 8:21 p.m. Tuesday night about the a fire on the green. The department responded with two fire trucks and were on scene for roughly 25 minutes putting the blaze out.
The scene was later turned over to the Colchester Police Department and the Connecticut State Police for further investigation.
State police said the fire is still under investigation.
Lee said it was fortunate the fire didn't spread, as the display was sizable.
"The way the wind was blowing that niight it could have definitely been worse," he said.
In a story this week in the Norwich Bulletin, some local Democrats said they were angry by Schuster's initial response to the crime. In a Facebook posting Schuster quipped that "I was in a meeting with over a dozen people that will confirm it wasn’t me!” the Bulletin reported.
That raised the ire of Rosemary Coyle and James Ford, Democrats who serve on the Board of Selectmen with Schuster and who told the Bulletin the post was “an example of the lack of sensitivity and understanding of the seriousness of this issue.”
The scarecrow display including likenesses of State Rep. Linda Orange, D-Colchester, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, Vice President Joe Biden, along with state senate candidates Jim Crawford and Chris Murphy.
