The Editor's Notepod, Thursday, October 23, 2008

Southington: more about the selection of the new police captain. Looks to me like they’re going to duke it out, which seems a pity.

Region: those Asian longhorned beetles, discovered in Worcester, Mass, seem pretty bad. They arrived in a shipping crate, probably from China. Is this one of the blessings of a one-world economy?

Southington: considerable elbowing to demonstrate which party can save the most cash in the budget. A curious process.

Southington: discovery of arsenic at the former water department site. Something else expensive to be cleaned and removed. Are there more of these places in Southington, or is it just that they make more of a stir in Southington because they become expense items?

Meriden: Health survey. Apparently 400 persons were surveyed. Nearly 40 percent say they’ve got high blood pressure. Reading the report, I’m interested to note that nearly 25.7 percent of the participants were over age 65, another 26.8 were from 55 and 64, while 21.7 percent were from 45 to 54. That nets that 74.2 percent of the survey were over 45. Is that reflective of the city’s demographics? Which could certainly account for the elevated blood pressure findings (pardon the pun).