The three men vying to be elected mayor of Waterbury on November 5th are from left to right, Independent Party candidate Larry De Pillo, Democrat incumbent Neil O'Leary, and Republican candidate Jason Van Stone.

                                            Column by John Murray

   Trying to understand the 2013 municipal election in Waterbury is as slippery as black ice on an early morning in February. It’s the most low-key mayoral campaign the Observer has covered in 20 years, but trying to dig out the reasons is as elusive as trying to catch the Loch Ness Monster. Why? Because perspectives change from one political camp to another, and grasping reality in politics is like snatching a fistful of fog, they both leave you empty handed.

   Is it a foregone conclusion that Neil O’Leary will be re-elected on November 5th? Is that why it’s so quiet?

   “Nothing is guaranteed in politics,” O’Leary said. “There has been very little excitement in the campaign so far, and that may translate into low voter turnout. We’ve worked very hard and I’d like to think the citizens of Waterbury like the job we’ve been doing, but does a lack of excitement worry me? You bet it does.”

                                               By John Murray 

     For the past 18 months Larry De Pillo, middle, has unleashed a blistering attack on every proposal and action initiated by Waterbury Mayor Neil O'Leary (D). At hundreds of events and programs De Pillo, the Independent Party candidate for mayor, has blasted O'Leary as a dictator and a man out of touch with the Waterbury taxpayers.

   Earlier in the day the two men clawed at each during a mayoral debate on WATR while Republican Jason Van Stone, left, seized the middle ground. Tonight, during the second debate of the day, this one in the NOW Building, and conducted by the Waterbury Chapter of the National Conference of Black Women, one of the questions asked each candidate to name one thing O'Leary has done right in the past two years.

   When De Pillo said O'Leary was right in bringing economic development into the Mayor's Office, O'Leary crossed himself, and gave a quick thanks to God. It was the first positive thing Larry De Pillo had said about his administration in nearly two years, and O'Leary fully embraced the moment. 

You don't have to travel into the wilds of Vermont and New Hampshire to marvel at autumn in New England. This photograph was taken Sunday afternoon, looking north from the Freight Street Bridge in downtown Waterbury, Connecticut. Photograph by John Murray

   Chase Collegiate School in Waterbury is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Polly A. Peterson, PhD, MSW as its new Head of School. The appointment is the exciting culmination of an intensive nationwide search launched to identify a successor to Mr. John Fixx, who stepped down last June.

   In celebration of Manufacturing Month in Connecticut, Naugatuck Valley Community College and the Smaller Manufacturers Association (SMA) invite the public to two viewings of “American Made Movie,” a documentary showing the positive economic impact of domestic manufacturing, at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tues., Oct. 10 in the College’s Mainstage Theater.

   Deputy police chief Chris Corbett issued the following press release this afternoon...

   Waterbury Police have completed the investigation into last night’s suspicious items/ explosive devices investigation that occurred right outside the PD. At around 7:45 pm a male complainant came to the front desk saying that he had found two possible pipe bombs in a backpack left behind by one of his employees and that the backpack was on the sidewalk outside the PD.