The Editor's Notepod, Mon., Feb. 13, 2012

It is strange to make such an observation, but the recent homicide on Olive Street, Meriden, seems to underline the city’s low homicide rate during the last decade and under community policing’s influence. With such small numbers, of course, a single death makes a statistical difference as well as an impact on the community.

Twenty hardy souls accompanied wildlife biologist Peter Picone on a tramp through Quinnipiac River State Park along Route 15 on Sunday afternoon. It was blustery and cold, but nature, walkers could attest, persists.

The fact that more men than women are arrested for using cell-phones or texting while driving in Connecticut doesn’t necessarily mean that more men than women use their phones while driving. Whoever uses them, though, we don’t believe they are not distracted and we wish they’d stop.