The Daily Five: A Blustery Day, Old Lyme Police Report, Special Ed Talk, and Give Blood for Mike G.

1. Today will be windy with showers likely to develop in the afternoon, according to weather.com. The high temperature could top out at 53 degrees and the overnight low could be a relatively balmy 45 degrees but you won't want to be outside tonight, as there's a 100 percent chance of heavy rain. 

2. The National Weather Service has issued a high wind alert for our area tomorrow starting at 6 p.m. Forecasters are predicting south winds blowing at 25 to 35 miles per hour, with gusts up to 60 mph., until 6 a.m. Thursday. Damaging wind gusts could pose a problem for powerlines and trees, so plan for a cosy night in. 

3. Among the many items of interest included in Old Lyme's Annual Report for 2011-2012 (copies of which are available at Town Hall, by the way) was the Old Lyme Police Report for calls for service for July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012. 

During that time period there were:

• 17,734 calls for service
• 155 investigations
• 206 motor vehicle accidents
• 45 DUI arrests
• 1,267 motor vehicle citations
• 1,156 motor vehicle warnings
• 14,961 miscellaneous service calls (responding to alarms, property checks, fingerprints, disabled motorists, etc.)

4. Tomorrow night, East Lyme Public Schools will offer a presentation by internationally-known Special Education expert Dr. Richard Villa at 6:30 p.m. at East Lyme High School. This event is open to all East Lyme School District parents and will focus on the future of special education. Villa will address the following topics: Why are we moving to an inclusive model? What does a quality inclusion model look like? And is an inclusive model right for my child?  

5. On Friday, February 1, the town of East Lyme will be holding a blood drive for the American Red Cross in memory of Mike Giannattasio, the town's much loved and much missed longtime director of Public Works who passed away on October 31, 2012. The blood drive will be held at the East Lyme Community Center, 39 Society Road, from 1 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. You can just show up on the day but if you'd like to schedule an appointment, you can do it online at the Red Cross web site.