Led by 7-1 center Pascal Chukwu, the Connecticut Basketball Club (CBC) out of Bridgeport won the Ct DI U-17 Championship this past weekend in Hartford.

The Connecticut Basketball Club (CBC) AAU boys basketball team won the CT DI U-17 Division Championship this past weekend in Hartford.

Pictured (front row l-r) Mike Jones, Levy Gillespie (Capital Prep Magnet), Ryan Foley of Monroe (Fairfield Prep), David Zielinski (Fairfield Prep), Eric Rankin (Stratford HS), Chauncy Dunbar (Windsor HS), coach Dan Donnelly; (back row l-r) Obi Momah (Farmington HS), Paschal Chukwu (Fairfield Prep) and Ajou Deng (St. Thomas More).

One in four people are affected by mental health problems annually, so it’s important to eliminate the stigma attached to mental illness so effective healing can take place, said Dawn Roy, a licensed clinical social worker and approved clinical supervisor.

Roy, a resident of Trumbull, with a private practice as an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)-certified trauma specialist, will share insights about two major disorders — depression and anxiety — during this week’s workshop at the Edith Wheeler Memorial Library.

On Wednesday, May 22, at 6:30 p.m., Roy will present an overview of “Mental Health First Aid Workshop,” a 12-hour interactive course founded by the National Council on Community Relations Health Care.

Monroe Senior and Social Services Director Barbara Yeager said she took the comprehensive two-day workshop and found its information valuable.

For the first time, the social services department received funding to offer counseling services in the lower level of 980 Monroe Tpk., where the Monroe Food Pantry is located. She said families would pay for these services on a sliding scale. Yeager said, “There is a very real need in Monroe and all communities to have readily available counseling for anyone. I am pleased that Monroe has made the commitment to offer mental health services within our community.”

In a letter to the Board of Finance during the budget review process, Yeager said the requested $25,000 would be used to finance professionals to offer counseling services. This would include family interventions relating to behavioral issues, parent-child conflicts, adolescent issues, juvenile court referrals, divorce, and depression.

In partnership with Monroe’s schools, law enforcement officials, clergy, Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership (RYASAP), Alcohol and Drug Awareness in Monroe (ADAM) and other town boards, long and short terms goals will be established.

“Discussions have already been held with the Police Department to incorporate a Youth Bureau and a Juvenile Review Board within the scope of the project,” Yeager said. “The Youth Commission is involved in planning a town-wide Community Coalition which will incorporate all related programs together to fill a need currently lacking in Monroe.”

Plans also include hiring a full-time professional with a master’s degree in social work and additional staff, as needed.

“This is a fluid process and the department expects changes in the plan depending on available funding,” Yeager said. “However, the need to establish the program in Monroe is critical.”

During the library’s workshop, Roy will emphasize the need for people to feel comfortable about contacting mental health practitioners for help.

“People have to be as okay about visiting a mental health practitioner as they are with calling a doctor for a physical ailment,” Roy said.

They also have to know where to go when mental health problems occur.

“If you were diagnosed with a special kind of cancer, you would go to a doctor that had a lot of experience in treating that particular cancer,” Roy said. “In the same way, people who have been traumatized need to go to trauma specialists. Unfortunately, people don’t always know where to go to access licensed people with expertise in their area.”

Roy also pointed out that when people have a bad experience with a counselor, they are likely to think that all counselors are bad.

“My message is that you need to keep going to different therapists until you find the right fit,” Roy said.

Unfortunately, family and friends don’t readily offer recommendations for mental health practitioners as they do for primary care doctors, dentists and pediatricians.

“This secrecy gets in the way of people acknowledging that something is going on with them,” she said. “A CEO is more likely to talk about his diabetes or cancer diagnosis than about his depression. He would never admit to that.”

Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, State Rep. DebraLee Hovey has worked hard to make changes to Connecticut’s gun and mental health legislation to prevent another tragedy.

Hovey said, “Finding ways to help those with mental health issues, including anti-social behavior and significant unresolved anger and aggression, is important if we want to maintain a tolerant and respectful community. We must learn to respond proactively to both children and adults who need help instead of ignoring warning signs and hoping things will be different tomorrow. One of the ways to do this is to properly fund existing programs that work, refining those programs to make them better and cutting ineffective ones.”

Like Yeager, Lorna Ryhins, Edith Wheeler Memorial Library’s Adult/Teen Services Librarian, also attended a 12-hour Mental Health First Aid Workshop, which was led by Roy this winter.

“I was very impressed,” Rhyins said. “I feel that anyone who attends will find something of value. Everyone either has someone in their life who deals with mental illness or they have issues of their own. This program was a real eye-opener for me and I wanted to give others the benefit of Dawn’s wisdom.”

• Metro-North service is suspended between South Norwalk and New Haven until further notice. Reduced, hourly service will operate between South Norwalk station (departing 39 minutes after the hour) and Grand Central Terminal (departing 7 minutes after the hour).
• Regular service will operate between Stamford and Grand Central Terminal. Regular service will be in effect on the New Canaan and Danbury branches

Many were still in critical condition Saturday morning after the collision between a derailed train and an on-coming train on the Bridgeport-Fairfield Line.

The Courier’s sister paper, The Fairfield Sun, is providing ongoing coverage of the train crash aftermath. Follow @FairfieldSun on Twitter for updates.

Being a gentleman farmer myself, with about 80 blueberry bushes, I was about to solicit his professional advice until I realized he wasn’t into farming or fresh produce or animal husbandry. There was something different, something unusual.

As he watched me write my notes, I wondered if he was an undercover agent, an identity thief, or perhaps a Staples salesman.

One flight delay led to another and we struck up a conversation. He told me he was headed to Nebraska to give a presentation.

It turned out he was a handwriting expert, which, he explained, has nothing to do with fortune telling or Tarot cards, but is rather a respected and scientific profession used by the FBI, the CIA and other operations that probe the criminal mind. Then, he offered to give me a demonstration and took out a piece of loose-leaf paper.

“I’m always up for new and exciting adventures,” I said. He wouldn’t let me use my Italian fountain pen and instead handed me a Bic ball-point and began dictating a crazy sentence: “The purple people eater said, ‘You and your silly monkey don’t go home to the zoo.’ I said, ‘Instead, go to the supermarket.’”

As I wrote down the words, I crafted my cursive letters as conscientiously and ornately as possible, recalling the countless times Sister Immaculata hovered over us in penmanship class with her 16-inch ruler, threatening us when our writing didn’t exactly mirror the Palmer letters displayed above the blackboard.

“I learned by the Palmer method,” I explained, “So my handwriting is the same as every other Catholic school kid who got whacked by a ruler.”

“Not so,” he said. “No two styles are alike.”

When I handed him my paper, he started scrutinizing the sentences, letter by letter, and making notes like a forensic expert on CSI. He probably had suspicions I was an ax murderer or a member of the Taliban or an undercover insurance salesman.

I hate revelations about myself, which is why I’ve steered clear of psychics and psychotherapists. My personal motto, with apologies to Socrates, has always been “Don’t know thyself.”

“This tells me,” he said, “you put yourself down.” (I already knew that — the Catholic guilt trip.)

“If I don’t do it, my kids will,” I said defensively.

“And you don’t like to be told to do anything.” (Was he talking to my wife?)

“And you want to do things your own way.” (Or was he talking to my boss?)

Then, he started to get really personal.

He suggested I didn’t have a strong relationship with my father, that I was a jealous guy and that I have leg problems. Leg problems? Impossible, I thought, until I remembered my knees act up when there’s rain in the forecast. This guy was such a genius I decided to send him writing samples from my wife, my kids, my coworkers and my dog.

“Two sentences told you all that?”

“Yes,” he said, and explained the significance of the way I wrote certain letters, the breaks in the script, and other revealing patterns in my descenders and upstrokes. So that’s what good penmanship gets you.

Then, the discussion got tense as he lowered his voice and said I was “secretive.” He also muttered the word “sex,” at which point they announced it was time to board the plane.

As I always say, too much self-knowledge isn’t a good thing. The less we know, the better. Besides, what would Sister Immaculata say?

Joe Pisani can be reached at joefpisani@yahoo.com.

Last June, the Department of Consumer Protection investigated the practices of a company that sent bogus invoices to government agencies, municipalities, schools, and businesses for technology maintenance services that were neither ordered nor provided.

In September, the Department issued a cease and desist order, barring the company — UST-US Telecom — from doing business of any kind in Connecticut, and securing restitution for victims of its scam.

Now, a new UST invoice has been received in Danbury and the Department is taking immediate interest.

“A non-profit organization shared with us the invoice they received from UST last month for a service that they didn’t order and that was not provided,” Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein said. “UST agreed in writing last fall to never again do business of any type in Connecticut. While the company assures us that this invoice is an error, we are interested in hearing from any other Connecticut organization that received such an invoice since September 2012.”

The invoice UST invoice provides no product information and no indication that a contract is being offered; it gives the impression that service was already rendered and payment is now due.

The invoice UST invoice provides no product information and no indication that a contract is being offered; it gives the impression that service was already rendered and payment is now due.

“Organizations should be wise to bogus invoices from UST, US Telecom or any other vendor, and should not send payment,” Rubenstein said.

To help organizations avoid being defrauded by these or any bogus invoices, the Department of Consumer Protection advises fiscal staff to:

• Watch for solicitations disguised as bills. Fake invoices are sometimes marked with the notice “This is not a bill”;
• Review all bills and invoices carefully. Be especially wary of any from companies that you are unfamiliar with;
• Know the vendors you use regularly, and keep a list;
• Make sure you have effective internal controls in place for the payment of invoices;
• Verify all invoices with the person who authorized the purchase.

• Related: School roof repairs more urgent than once thought

The Board of Education, Town Council and Board of Finance meeting will be Monday, June 10 at 7 p.m. in Town Council Chambers in Town Hall, 7 Fan Hill Road.

Lockstep

Anticipating a costly project, Agostine has tried to get all three boards on the same page so there are no surprises as the plans work their way through the town’s bureaucracy.

At a recent Board of Education meeting, where Town Council and Board of Finance members were invited, a roofing contractor and likely bidder for the work, detailed problems with the the Masuk, Stepney and Fawn Hollow roofs.

Poor shape

The problem was measured in terms of how much of the insulation beneath the roof was saturated with water, indicating the severity of leaks. There were areas of water ponding on top of the roofs, large visible cracks.

The fix

The poor condition of the roofs doesn’t necessarily mean all three roofs have to be completely replaced. The consultant said three options are “restoring,” “re-roofing” (putting a new roof right over the old one) and “replacing,” and the repairs could be a combination of all three, determined section by section.

Another decision will be whether to seek state reimbursement for the project. While it could infuse cash into the project, the state standards are more rigorous than building codes, calling for a half-inch per foot pitch, compared to a quarter-inch building code, school officials said — significantly adding to the cost of the project.

Agostine said the legislature could conceivably reduce the half-inch pitch requirement.

Troesser replaced veteran coach John Murphy this spring, and he’s hoping that as the youth program in Monroe gets better more of those players will find themselves playing for the high school team.

It’s been a difficult season for the Panthers, who lost to Immaculate of Danbury, 16-6, on Monday.

The Mustangs (7-6), vying for a chance to qualify for state tournament play, got six goals from Jacelyn Dailey and five from Maeve Reilly, a pair of juniors, in recording their second win over Masuk in four days.

The two teams met last Friday in Danbury in a make-up game. Immaculate took that one, 12-4.

In the rematch, Briana Proudfoot scored three times for Masuk. Laura Cuseo scored twice and Sam Levinson once.

The Panthers are 2-11 and both of their wins came over North Haven, by scores of 14-7 and 6-4.

“We’ve got a nice group of girls here,” Troesser said. “We’ve been struggling some offensively. And defensively today, their deliberate style of play forced our kids out of position many times.

“I know as kids come along in our youth programs, it will help us here on the junior varsity and varsity levels.”

Proudfoot, Levinson and Kelsey Brown, the team’s three senior captains, all came from that program.

“Briana plays with a ton of heart,” Troesser said. “She’s always looking to score. She keeps her nose to the ground.”

It was Proudfoot, a midfielder along with Levinson and Brown, who got her team’s first two goals.

Immaculate took a 1-0 lead in the game’s first minute when Mitchell scored on Masuk’s junior keeper Molly O’Hara (six saves) after an infraction.

Proudfoot tied the game a little over a minute later, but the Mustangs rallied and took a 10-4 halftime lead.

Immaculate wound up taking 31 shots. Masuk had 14.

“Our passing and positioning was very good today,” Immaculate coach Tom Murtha said. “I was a little disappointed in our defense though. Defense should always come first.

“This team (Masuk) is tough to play on grass. The game was close early on before we were able to break it open.”

Levinson’s goal at 17:12 of the second half pulled the Panthers to within 11-5, before Immaculate scored the game’s next five goals.

“We lack a little experience right now,” said Troesser, whose team has dropped eight straight games.

Troesser used an assortment of players, including senior Olivia Johnson and Cuseo, a junior, on attack, along with senios Kasey Moraveck and Kelly Halloran on defense.

Masuk will host Notre Dame tonight at 7 and conclude its season Friday at 6 when Fairfield Warde visits.

Lyons & Lyons, a certified public accountant firm based in Ridgefield and Fairfield, is currently working with the U.S. Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service and the IRS’s Criminal Investigation unit on an ongoing “cyber breach” criminal investigation, and an arrest may be near.

David Lyons, a partner at Lyons & Lyons, confirmed the breach occurred at his company’s office, but offered few specifics.

“We did have a security incident that may have caused exposure of some personal information,” Lyons said.

He said he could not comment how many clients’ information had been compromised, exactly what information had been stolen, or when the breach took place, because the investigation is pending.

However, Jaclyn Falkowski, a spokesperson for the office of the attorney general, wrote to Hersam Acorn Newspapers that 900 people may have been impacted.

“It is our understanding that about 900 Connecticut residents were notified that their information may have been compromised in this breach and that federal law enforcement authorities are also involved,” Falkowski wrote.

Falkowski added that companies that keep personal information, as defined by statute, are required to notify her agency of any security breaches, which Lyons & Lyons did.

“While we are still assessing the matter, our primary concern is for the security of those consumers affected, and we will work to ensure that the needs of those individuals are met and that the company takes adequate measures to prevent exposure of personal information in the future,” she wrote.

Lyons did not confirm whether tax return information was falsified or stolen, or whether the perpetrators got complete files.

However, Monroe police said in April that a Guinea Road man reported that he was notified by the IRS that his 2011 tax forms had been stolen from the firm’s computer system and used to file a phony report using his information.

Lyons said the Secret Service has identified a suspect and expects to make an arrest soon.

He added that the Secret Service has told him the suspect has no affiliation with Lyons & Lyons.

“The suspect is not a current or former employee and is not a current or former client — that has been confirmed to us by the Secret Service,” Lyons said. “I have no idea who the individual is at the time, but the suspect has no connection to the firm.”

Calls to the Secret Service and the IRS Criminal Investigation unit were not returned.

Lyons said his office is installing a new credit monitoring system to ensure a breach like this doesn’t happen again.

“We are working with all the agencies to bring this to a conclusion as soon as possible,” said Lyons. “We are obviously concerned about the security of our clients information and we are taking this very seriously.”

Additionally, he said, “we have arranged for clients to get identity theft protection.”

Falkowski said more details of the investigation would be made public as soon as it concludes.

“It’s a matter of time; the investigation is still open,” she said about disclosing more information on the breach.

The Lyons & Lyons Ridgefield office is located at 898 Ethan Allen Highway. Its Fairfield office is located at 75 Hillside Road.

Falkowski described how people can get help. “Affected consumers who have concerns about this matter are encouraged to contact ID Experts, the credit monitoring firm Lyons & Lyons has retained in this matter, at 1-888-760-4871. Consumers can also call our Consumer Protection unit at 860-808-5400 or email attorney.general@ct.gov.”

This won’t win me many friends among my neighbors in Darien, but I just don’t see that they should be asking the government to subsidize their peace and quiet. After all, most of them bought houses near the highway benefiting from speedy access to the roadway and should have known full well that being that close would subject them to noise.

Do you have sympathy for those who buy homes near airport runways, then complain about the jets? Neither do I.

The first sections of what became I-95 were built in Darien in 1954, long before most current residents came to town. Sure, traffic has increased on I-95 over the years. We are well over the planned capacity of this interstate highway. But thinking the solution to highway noise is to create a walled concrete canyon through our coastal communities paid for by others is just selfish and shortsighted.

I live about 1,500 feet from I-95. On a quiet summer’s night I can hear the trucks as they whiz by at 70 mph, especially when they’re “Jake braking” (illegal in many states). And yes, there is a wooden sound barrier between me and the road, which helps a bit. I try to think of the noise as like surf at the beach. But when shopping for my current home, I knew that highway noise was the price I would pay for being so near an on-ramp.

Some neighbors in my town, and many others, want the state or Uncle Sam to build miles and miles of new sound barriers to cushion their karmic calm. But why should the few benefit at the expense of so many?

Can we really argue that someone in Tolland or Torrington should pay for sound barriers in Westport or Greenwich?

Sound barriers seem to me to be wasted money. They don’t reduce accidents, improve safety or solve congestion. Two miles of sound barriers would buy a new M8 rail car on Metro-North, taking 100 passengers off the road. And sound barriers are often just sound-reflectors, not absorbers, only bouncing the sound off to bother others.

Consider these alternatives:

1) Sound-proof the homes. This has worked well for neighbors of big airports and is probably cheaper than sound-proofing entire neighborhoods. And insulation against noise also insulates against heat loss, saving energy.

2) Explore rubberized asphalt. Reduce the road noise at its source, literally where the “rubber meets the road.” Using this new road surface, some highways have seen a 12-decibel reduction in noise. Rubberized asphalt also reuses 12 million junked tires each year.

3) Pay for it yourself. Let neighborhood associations affected by road noise create special taxing zones to collect funds to build sound barriers they’ll benefit from, both with reduced noise and resulting increased home valuations.

I can think of any number of better places to spend federal tax dollars to improve mass transit than erecting sound barriers. Can’t you?

Jim Cameron has been a Darien resident for 22 years. He is chairman of the CT Metro-North/Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council, and a member of the Coastal Corridor TIA and the Darien RTM. The opinions expressed in this column are only his own. You can reach him at jim@mediatrainer.tv or trainweb.org/ct.