Politics & Government

Wawruck Proposes Historical Commission Take On Heritage Day Proposal

Local historian Mickey Danyluk, who proposed Heritage Day, is none too pleased that the town's commission would oversee his idea.

 

Windsor Locks First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. has suggested that a proposal for a Heritage Day be taken up by the town’s historical commission.

Wawruck said at Tuesday’s board of selectmen meeting that after the event was proposed last month he spoke with Superintendent of Schools Wayne Sweeney about having a Heritage Day. He suggested to Sweeney that the Heritage Day proposal be forwarded to the commission.

“This would be under their purview,” Wawruck said.

Wawruck said he then spoke with town historian, Joseph Bonito, about the historical commission and asked him to reach out to other members of the commission to see if they would be interested in reviving the commission. Bonito said he is the town's officials historian.

The board of selectmen on Tuesday reappointed Bonito, Jim Anderson and Jim Pearce to the commission. Wawruck said he is hoping that the board can find two other people to appoint to bring the commission up to its normal five members.

Bonito, who was at Tuesday's meeting, said the commission would consider the merits of having a Heritage Day but Mickey Danyluk, who proposed the effort, has not approached them. Wawruck said he hopes Danyluk would work with the commission.

Danyluk, was not happy with the historical commission being given the task. Danyluk said he helped get the commission created but feels it has not filled its mission. He said the commission has three duties: creating histories; collecting artifacts; and observing historical anniversaries.

“I can’t believe that this board is not cognizant of the lack of focus and duty the last 13 years,” Danyluk, who was also at Tuesday's meeting, said. “Shame, shame, shame.”

Bonito said when Danyluk was on the commission he tried to “boss everything around” and that’s the reason he didn’t work out with the commission.

“One of the reasons we asked him to resign, he was following his own rules,” Bonito said.

Wawruck said the community has turned a page and it’s time to move on.

“Let’s work together for the town and put together a Heritage Day or Heritage Week,” Wawruck said. “I’d like to see this move forward. We all think this is a good idea.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here