The Middletown Press will have a booth at the indoor kids Halloween event today that the city Elks are hosting.

The event will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. at 44 Maynard St. in Middletown. Last year, hundreds of children came to trick-or-treat in a safe environment.

Please stop by to say hello and get some candy! Bring your little ghouls or goblins.

We look forward to seeing you there!

For other Halloween events today, click here.

The Middletown Press finally has its name on an awning on Main Street. We will now be easier to find than we have been in the past, since the only signage before this one was the marquee on the back of the building that can be seen from Route 9.

We are right inside the Main Street Market, 386 Main St., on the 4th floor. Hopefully this new sign will make it easier for everyone to find our entrance from Main Street, right next to the New England Food Emporium!

Go to the back of the building and take the elevator outside It's Only Natural Restaurant up to the fourth floor.

Stop by and see us between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Advertising and billing representatives are available in the mornings and early afternoons, and newsroom representatives are available in the afternoons and evenings.

You can always reach us at (860) 347-3331 and don't forget to visit www.middletownpress.com for your local news, sports and obits.

Today, we have two stories related to bullying in The Middletown Press.

MIDDLETOWN BOE HEARS BULLYING COMPLAINTS shares how a grandmother got up at this week's school board meeting to let the officials now her granddaughter is being bullied and that the school district hasn't done much to stop it.

We also offer tips on WHAT PARENTS SHOULD DO if they think their child is being bullied.

This is not a new topic for The Middletown Press. In mid-September we ran an Associated Press story about a father in Florida who threatened children on a school bus that had bullied his daughter, and at the beginning of October we published another story online about THE INCIDENT AT RUTGERS.

We've also covered CYBER-BULLYING and written stories about how LOCAL STUDENTS MAKE YOUTUBE VIDEOS to help prevent bullying.

Now we're asking you - the people who live in Middletown and have children in Middletown schools - is there a problem locally with bullies? And if there is, do you feel that your child is safe, or could the school district be doing more to help protect children?

Tell us in the comment field below or by e-mailing us at editor@middletownpress.com. You can remain anonymous if you wish, but if you want us to follow up on specific events, it would help to know the details and to be able to contact you.

If I had enough time in the day, I'd write a local editorial every day on topics that concern the community. Unfortunately, we have a daily newspaper and a weekly newspaper to put out with only 10 people in our newsroom, and two websites to run. The time for writing is limited.

However, we as a staff feel strongly about the police chief situation after meeting with several of the key players. So in case you haven't already seen it, here's our editorial for today on the topic:

Stop playing politics with top cop spot

Citing a flawed selection process and a failure to meet residency requirements, the Middletown Common Council on Monday rejected the city mayor’s nomination for police chief.

The rejection is ironic and somewhat hypocritical since Democrats have complained that the flaw in the selection process was that the mayor wasted everyone’s time with his community and assessment panels when he had already made up his mind that Acting Chief Patrick McMahon was his candidate.

At Monday’s council meeting, however, it was clear that the seven Democrats on the council had already made up their minds long before the meeting, where they spent hours questioning the candidate and listening to 20 people from the community speak on the acting chief’s behalf.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL EDITORIAL

Green Party candidate Ken Krayeske stopped by The Middletown Press last week for a chat. Krayeske is running against incumbent Democrat John Larson and Republican candidate Ann Brickley for the 1st District congressional seat.

Barely seated at our conference room table, Krayeske expressed his frustration with local traffic and said he wants to eliminate single-occupant vehicles and instead focus on improving public transportation.

"I hate sitting in traffic!" he exclaimed.

Other things he wants to accomplish are Medicare for all, free college tuition (a cap on college prices) and changing the state and nation's drug laws to empty out prisons of non-violent offenders.

"We need to stop being hard on crime," he said. "We have the world's largest prison population - is that the land of the free?"

Krayeske himself spent a brief stint behind bars. While reporting for his Web site, The 40-Year Plan, about Gov. Jodi Rell’s inauguration in 2007, Krayeske was arrested by state police due to comments he made on a message board that were considered to be threatening. Krayeske — who worked on Cliff Thornton’s campaign for Rell’s seat — says the comments were not intended as a threat.

Although Krayeske was cleared of the charges, he still alleges being singled out and says his bond in the trial — $75,000 — was exceedingly high compared to similar cases.

The former newspaper reporter is not opposed to controversy and speaking up on issues he cares about.

While a law student at the University of Connecticut, Krayeske questioned men’s basketball head coach Jim Calhoun about his salary, among the highest for Connecticut employees, prompting Calhoun to say that he would give “not a dime back.”

Krayeske's main goal is to change the electoral system to allow for third-party candidates to easier run for election.

"We need to create a multi-party Democracy without a negative feedback loop," he said, referring to people's willingness to say "I don't want this candidate, so I will vote for his opponent."

"Ballot access in Connecticut is a nightmare," Krayeske said. "We have people wanting to run for office, but they can't even get into a debate."

Krayeske also wants to see more voter participation.

"We also need to create a system where if you're a citizen, you vote," he said. "You perpetuate self-governance by growing voters."

For more information on Krayeske, CLICK HERE.

For a story and videos of Krayeske from our sister publication, The Register Citizen, CLICK HERE.

The Middletown Press will meet with John Larson on Tuesday, and we are in the process of scheduling a meeting with Ann Brickley.