Easton Police Officers Train For the Worst

Officers were in Oliver Ames High School this week to take part in "Active Shooter" training.

Jason Brennan of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council scrolled through slides Thursday morning at Oliver Ames High School to train Easton police officers for an "active shooter" scenario. The object was simple: mentally and physically prepare for the worst. "It [could be] just a horrific scene," Brennan said. "And, for us to go in there, if we're not mentally prepared for it, that's a bad situation." Brennan, who also serves as a Sergeant in Medway, led a training session along with Easton Police Officer Steve Hamilton to prepare Easton and Stonehill officers to face a potential gunman in a building. With February vacation in full swing, Easton School Administrators allowed for use of the high school. The sessions were held Tuesday, …

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Easton Residents Travel to Newtown to Bring 'Miles of Smiles'

An event was held in Newtown last week for the children of Newtown. Residents from Easton participated.

Submitted to Easton Patch by Miles of Smiles: The sun came out. The children flocked to the Valentine Children's Festival "Miles of Smiles" and there was more laughter and joy on the little face of the children, then had been seen since that terrible day of the school shooting. Laughter filled the great church hall of the Newtown Congregation Church on Saturday, February 16th. as  over thirty performers from New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts, gathered to entertain the children of Newtown. Small eyes opened wide at the sight of Elmo, Batman, Diego, Fairy Tale Princesses, Care Bears, Spider-man and many more costumed characters.  There were magic shows and jugglers, there were balloon artists making silly toys for the …

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Miles of Smiles For the Children of Newtown, Conn.

Volunteer to make a difference

Submitted to Easton Patch: Valentine’s Weekend – on Saturday, Feb. 16th, some of the top professional children’s entertainers from the northeast will perform in Newtown, CT for the children of the Sandy Hook School that were affected by the tragic shooting. The Cartoon Actors Network of Easton,MA is working with the Parks and Recreation Dept. of Newtown, CT. and GigMaster Talent Agency of Stamford, CT., to put on the Miles of Smiles show. In the line-up for Miles of Smiles are four of the top rated children’s magicians; Silly Billy, NYC, Margaret Steele, NY, Mike Bent, Boston and Arnie Kolodner, NYC. Also, there will be face painters, balloon artist and 25 costumed characters ranging from superheroes, story telling princesses, funny ducks…

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Muscato's Musings

Former Easton Resident Now Living in Newtown Reflects on Tragedy and Aftermath

Cheri (Lefort) Gillespie Talks About a Community in Unimaginable Pain, and also the Extraordinary Kindness and Love that has Flowed and Continues to Flow Its Way

  I saw this post, this powerful post.  The post appeared on Facebook, on Dec. 15; it was written by a woman who lives in Newtown, Conn., and who grew up in Easton. Here is her post: Please say some prayers for our town! We need them with the tragedies that have occurred here! This town is like Easton when we were growing up. Quaint and beautiful! Hard to believe this has happened!  The woman who made this post is Cheri (Lefort) Gillespie, a 1977 graduate of Oliver Ames High School. Cheri is one of four Lefort children who grew up on Baldwin Street. Cheri and her husband, Timothy, were married in 1980. They have three children, ages 25, 21, and 13.  Through Facebook, I got in touch with Cheri. She agreed to talk with me about living in …

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NRA: Put "Armed Security" Around Schools

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," the NRA's Wayne LaPierre said.

In an amazing Friday morning press conference, the National Rifle Association broke its weeklong silence following the horrific shooting of 26 people at a school in Newtown, Conn. and called for a surge of gun-carrying "good guys" around American schools. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called for a new kind of American domestic security revolving around armed civilians, arguing that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." "We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents," LaPierre said. "Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by Capitol Police officers. Yet, when it comes to our most beloved, innocent, and vulnerable members of the American family, our …

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