A Great Day For The Powers Family

Political dignitaries from all over the state came to praise former 20-year Berlin Mayor Art Powers for his contributions to the town and state as he was honored by having the town hall complex named the Arthur B. Powers Municipal Complex.

Current Mayor Adam Salina joked that a deal with the state unions had to be done on Friday so that Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman could attend the ceremony on Saturday.

Wyman said that she and Powers have shared many experiences and all were positive. She wished him continued health to keep helping the town moving forward and then jumped in a car back to the state capitol.

The Powers children also had a chance to talk about "dear old dad."

"My dad told me to only say nice things so this will be short," Art Powers Jr. said with a laugh. "This makes up for all the negative comments we heard about you, for the time you spent away and the vacations we had to cut short because there was an emergency in Berlin, the town you love. This ia a great day for the Powers family."

Also there to praise Powers were State Reps. Cathy Abercrombie (D - Meriden), Joe Aresimowicz (D - Berlin) and new State Senator Terry Gerratana (D - New Britain.)

"I actually met Art on Cape Cod and even babysat some of his children," Gerratana said. "People would see me with him and they'd ask 'Do you know Art Powers, he is the Mayor of Berlin.' I would say I actually babysat for his children. He was and is held in high esteem wherever he goes."

Former Attorney General and now U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who has worked with the town in many endeavors including the VIP issue, was happy to be invited to speak.

"I can relate to Adam being the 'new guy' since in the ranking of seniority for senators I am number 96 or 97 out of 100," Blumenthal said. "So any time I get to talk in front of people I'm happy."

Powers took a walk down memory lane starting with his first elected office and ending with present day politics. He longed for the time when the two parties could argue all night and go have a drink later or have breakfast the next morning because they were all in it for the right reasons.

More to come on Art Powers.