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Charles Grady will speak on the opioid crisis in Connecticut. In his talk entitled “The FBI in Connecticut: an Overview and the Opioid Crisis in Our State,” he will focus on various programs and initiatives of the FBI and speak to the issues facing Connecticut relative to its opioid crisis. Charles, born in New Haven, became a police officer in 1982. He was the first African-American motorcycle officer in the Hamden Police Department and its first African-American detective. In 2002, he retired after a highly decorated career as a detective and federal task officer assigned to the Connecticut State Police Narcotics Unit, DEA and FBI joint task force, as well as being deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service. The primary focus of his career has been in narcotics violations and narcotics-related homicides. Charles also is a professional musician and an accomplished stage, television and film actor, appearing in shows such as “Guiding Light,” “All My Children” and “Law and Order.” After his retirement, he spent seven years as an internal audit investigator for a Fortune 500 company. In 2009, he returned to government service as the first ever internal investigator for the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office and, in 2012, helped launch the governor’s anti-gun violence program called “Project Longevity” in New Haven and subsequently in Bridgeport. In 2015, he was chosen as the first FBI Community Outreach specialist for Connecticut, in which capacity he educates community members, law enforcement and judicial members on ways to build a safer and more tolerant community.

Arranged by Sunil Saksena

Video “Chasing the Dragon”  https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/newss-chasing-the-dragon-the-life-of-an-opiate-addict/view

Kevin Gutzman will speak about Thomas Jefferson. Although remembered as the third president of the United States and chief author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson also was something more: the most successful constructive statesman in American history. He had radical plans to republicanize America and, working with remarkable success, to implement them.  Born into a monarchical society, Jefferson turned his great intellect and energy to making it highly egalitarian. Much of what we take for granted about America now was originally Jefferson’s idea.  It is a fascinating story. Kevin is The New York Times bestselling author of five books. He is professor and former chairman of the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University and a faculty member at LibertyClassroom.com. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Southern History, Journal of the Early Republic, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, The Review of Politics and Journal of the Historical Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree, a master of public affairs degree and a law degree from the University of Texas, Austin, as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia.

Arranged by Sunil Saksena

“In this lively and clearly written book, Kevin Gutzman makes a compelling case for the broad range and radical ambitions of Thomas Jefferson’s commitment to human equality.” – Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize winning author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804

Though remembered chiefly as author of the Declaration of Independence and the president under whom the Louisiana Purchase was effected, Thomas Jefferson was a true revolutionary in the way he thought about the size and reach of government, which Americans who were full citizens and the role of education in the new country. In his new book, Kevin Gutzman gives readers a new view of Jefferson―a revolutionary who effected radical change in a growing country.

Jefferson’s philosophy about the size and power of the federal system almost completely undergirded the Jeffersonian Republican Party. His forceful advocacy of religious freedom was not far behind, as were attempts to incorporate Native Americans into American society. His establishment of the University of Virginia might be one of the most important markers of the man’s abilities and character.

He was not without flaws. While he argued for the assimilation of Native Americans into society, he did not assume the same for Africans being held in slavery while―at the same time―insisting that slavery should cease to exist. Many still accuse Jefferson of hypocrisy on the ground that he both held that “all men are created equal” and held men as slaves. Jefferson’s true character, though, is more complex than that as Kevin Gutzman shows in his new book about Jefferson, a revolutionary whose accomplishments went far beyond the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

Video of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5HmTKBh8OE&t=123s

Howard Blackiston will speak on the vanishing honey bee. The sweet reward of fresh honey is not, by any means, the only reason folks are attracted to beekeeping. The value of bees as pollinators is immense: One-third of all the food we eat would suffer dire consequences if the honey bee vanished. Howard’s talk will introduce us to the multitude of benefits these creatures bring to our everyday lives, the pleasures of beekeeping and the amazing social structure of a colony of bees.  Discover what goes on inside a bee colony and understand why bees are vanishing and what you can do to reverse the situation. Howard is the author of Beekeeping for Dummies. This is the number one bestselling book on the subject and is one of the top titles in the For Dummies series of reference books. He has been a back yard beekeeper for 35 years and has written hundreds of articles and appeared in dozens of TV programs and radio shows, including the Discovery Channel, CNBC, Sirius XM Radio, Cablevision and NPR. His publications have been translated into 16 languages. He is past president of the Connecticut Back Yard Beekeepers Association.

Arranged by Sunil Saksena

Video of presentation:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjKCFk64SDg&t=4s