On the evening of January 9, two Winsted men were brutally attacked in what iwas allegedly an unprovoked attack by five thugs, two of whom were from Winsted, one from Winchester, and two former Winsted residents. As of the writing of this article, all the details are not yet known, but the more serious injured of the two, James Fabiaschi of West Wakefield Boulevard, is an HLWA member. We wish James and the other Winsted resident hurt in the attack, Ruben Castillo, our best wishes for a speedy recovery.

We often take for granted Winsted and Highland Lake are free from these urban crimes and are not as wary as we might be of possible threats to our personal safety and that of our family’s. The Neighborhood Watch members, in conjunction with the Winsted Police Department, are learning methods to reduce the possibility of criminal incidents.

The members of the Neighborhood Watch last met at Town Hall on Saturday, December 1, at 9:00 a.m. to hear Officer Robert Varasconi provide an excellent presentation on how to protect your home and family from forced entry. Officer Varasconi, Winchester’s Community Relations Officer, provided the audience with some enlightening suggestions on what homeowners can do to lessen the chance of home invasion. In light of the terrifying headlines from Cheshire on this subject, the audience was anxious to listen to the presentation.

Our next meeting will be scheduled for late spring or early summer, and the main subject will be CPR training. We will notify the HLWA membership when we have a date scheduled for the meeting.

We do need volunteers for this program, and if you are interested, please attend one of our meetings or call me (860.738.0167) and I will try to answer any questions you might have.