A Bantam view.

Bagpiper Jonathan Henken plays "Amazing Grace" last Saturday at the Field of Flags in Bridgewater.

LITCHFIELD-July 10, 1989, began like any other summer day until an unusual set of meteorological conditions formed above, creating one of the biggest, most violent tornado outbreaks to ever hit Connecticut.

Gusty winds, torrential down­pours and extremely dark clouds swept through Litchfield County last Friday afternoon a little before rush-hour. But in parts of Bethlehem and Washington, summer turned into winter as hail covered the ground like snow.

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Stamford) said the legislation approved in the U.S. House last month to use a cap-and-trade system to curb global warming "is damn good" and would make America a leader on the issue when President Barack Obama meets with other world leaders in Denmark this December at an international conference on climate change.

SHARON-The surprise denial by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) of a variance needed for a substantial expansion of the Hotchkiss Memorial Library has left the library's Building Committee trying to figure out how to reconcile the ZBA's interest in a less ambitious project with its own vision of bringing the library into the 21st century. "Any addition we put on should really be an addition for the next generation, not an addition for the next five, 10 years," said Building Committee chairman Khurshed Bhumgara.

KENT-James Polk was the first president to be photographed, but Abraham Lincoln was the first to appreciate the political power the developing medium could wield. Lincoln, who could not be counted as physically vain, had his portrait taken within days of every momentous event in his political career. Presidents since then have used the photographic record with more or less success, but none, perhaps, with greater adroitness than Barack Obama.

BRIDGEWATER-A display of American patriotism was vandalized late Tuesday night when someone drove through the Field of Flags on the lawn outside the Bridgewater Congregational Church. Each small flag represents and honors an American killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

LITCHFIELD-Much con­cern has been expressed in recent years about the length of service 21st-century U.S. troops have experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan. Young men and women have been rotated repeatedly back into combat, suffering long separations from homes, families and jobs.