East Haddam Updating its Law Book

In East Haddam, you could go to jail for up to 20 days if the air siren sounds at night and you don’t turn off your lights.

That’s according to a World War II-era “blackout” ordinance that’s still on the books in town and one of many anachronistic and outdated measures town officials want stricken from East Haddam’s voluminous Ordinance Book.

The town has begun what officials believe will be a long and arduous task of updating that code book, work that hasn’t been undertaken in more than 200 years. The project started, in part, after officials sought to get the town’s ordinances put on the town’s website and quickly realized there were many local laws that no longer made sense, such as the “Blackout Ordinance.”

That law was enacted in March of 1942 and imposes a $25 fine (worth a lot more back then than now) and a jail sentence of up to 20 days to anyone who doesn’t turn off their house or car lights during an air raid warning. Such warning systems were enacted during World War II.

But many of the codified measures in the book aren’t laws at all, said Town Clerk Debra H. Denette.

The code book also includes many historic town meeting decisions and official resolutions that should be removed from the code book, Denette said.  Those meeting actions, some of which date back to the early 1800s, should be preserved elsewhere in town documents, she added.

“There’s a lot of cool history in there, but it’s not like it’s going to be lost.”

For instance, the book includes a May, 1811 resolution by the town to grant an easement to two local men allowing them to operate a ferry between Haddam and East Haddam and requiring them to keep the ferry in good repair so that it can transport “passengers, horses and carriages.”

The book also includes a 1903 resolution by selectmen transferring the town’s right to the ancient Cove Burying Ground to the Cove Burying Ground Association. Other entries include a 1911 decision by residents at a town meeting to create a “Bridge Commission” that was charged with the task of “construction of a bridge over the Connecticut River between the towns of Haddam and East Haddam.” That commission helped oversee the building of the Swing Bridge between the two towns.

Denette said she has sent a request to all department heads in town asking for their input on what should remain in the book and what should be removed. After that list is compiled officials will begin the task of reviewing the proposals and identifying those entries. The revisions would have to be voted on by residents at a town meeting before any changes in the code book are made, she added.

“It’s going to be a very long process.”