09/08/10 Frustrated Pemberwick residents question officials over flooding

By the banks of the Byram River Wednesday morning, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes faced about 20 Pemberwick residents skeptical that anything will ever be done to alleviate flooding of their homes.

"I just want you to know that before anything is done I will be dead and buried," said John Stein, 79, who has lived at 101 Monica Road since 1955.

During a meeting with residents and town and federal officials, Himes told residents about the progress of a funding proposal in Congress that would provide the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with as much as $200,000 for a study on how to control flooding along the Byram River.

After the meeting, Stein said he wanted action, not a paper trail.

"How many damn studies do we have to have? Just come along and dig the river deeper and get the silt out of there," he said.

Himes was joined by First Selectman Peter Tesei, state Rep. Livvy Floren, R-149th District, and Eugene Brickman, deputy chief, planning division for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' New York District.

At one point in his comments to the group, which included members of the town's Flood and Erosion Control Board among about 20 officials, Brickman said that during floods water has risen to six inches above ground level and inundated homes.

That drew some heckling from Lee Frenz.

"Six inches? It was five feet high coming into my home," she said, interrupting Brickman.

Frenz lives at 32 Hollow Wood Lane, a street that runs parallel to the Byram River. Frenz said repeated promises of action have brought no help to residents.......

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09/08/10 Police searching for Byram robbery suspect

Police are asking for the public's help in finding a robber who attempted to steal numerous bottles of prescription drugs Saturday by threatening pharmacy employees in Byram with a large knife.

The incident occurred around 4 p.m., Saturday when a man entered Greenview Pharmacy at 13 N. Water St. and jumped the counter to get to a safe.

The robber began threatening employees while holding the knife until the safe was opened and the suspect filled a large plastic bag with OxyContin and other narcotics containers, according to police. However, police said before the man left, a male in his 20s struck the suspect in the face several times.

"There was a struggle in which numerous display shelves were knocked down," said Lt. Kraig Gray, spokesman for the Police Department. "The suspect possibly sustained facial injuries during the struggle with the witness." Police said the robber ran through the Henry Street municipal lot and continued south toward Mill Street.

No one in the store was injured during the altercation, police said. Scott Wong, manager of the Greenview Pharmacy, declined to comment further.

Police described the robber as a white male male in his late 20s to early 30s, six-feet tall and 170 pounds, black hair, tan skin and wearing an orange short-sleeve T-shirt and cargo pants. The man also had on a short brim tan hat and sunglasses, but those items fell off in the store during the struggle and were recovered by police.

Police do not believe the robber got away with any items from the pharmacy, items that had a street value worth several thousand dollars.

Gray said it is not uncommon for thieves to steal prescription drugs because of their ability to turn a quick profit....

http://www.greenwichtime.com/default/article/Police-searching-for-Byram-robbery-suspect-650195.php