The Daily Five: Changes at Patch, Holiday House Contest, Police Busy at Thanksgiving

1. Today will be sunny and bright, with a high temperature of 48 degrees and an overnight low of 32 degrees, according to weather.com. There's just a 10 percent chance of rain this evening. 

2. We've got big Patch news today. In mid-December, we're revamping our web site to make life even easier for you! The new site will be easy to personalize, so you'll be able to sign up to follow the news that most interests you, whether that be all things Lyme, or the latest police logs.

You'll also be able to start your own groups, so if you'd like to see Patch cover more sports, you could create your own group on the site and post scores, feature players, publish game schedules. We'll be telling you lots more about it in the weeks to come but you'll find a quick primer here at 4:55 a.m. 

3. State police beefed up patrols over the long holiday weekend, writing more speeding tickets this year than last year, although they made five fewer arrests this year for DUI than they did in 2011. There were slightly fewer accidents this year, about 350 compared to about 390 in 2011, but sadly, this year as last year, two of those accidents proved to be fatal.  

4. There's no shortage of people eager to set up businesses in East Lyme. Zoning Official William Mulholland says his phone is ringing off the hook these days. Unfortunately, the town is having less luck finding volunteers to sign up for the East Lyme Economic Development Commission, which is charged with guiding the overall economic development vision for the town.

The commission has three possibly four regular member vacancies. Its last scheduled meeting was cancelled because there weren't enough people available to make up a quorum. If you're interested in serving on this commission, please contact the First Selectmen's Office at 860-739-6931 extension 110 or email the First Selectmen's Executive Secretary at dstevens@eltownhall.com

5. Do you tend to go a little overboard with the holiday decorations? Do small planes mistake your house for a landing strip at Christmas? Then we want to hear from you! Patch's annual Deck the House contest is on a mission to find the most over the top holiday decor in the nation. The winner will receive $100,000, which will be donated to his or her local school district. We'll pay up to $500 to help with the electic bills for finalists.