By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
January 30, 2005
As long as she can remember, Deana Salerno has known that Officer Hubert "Herbie" Sala-mon ruled the intersection of Greenwich Avenue and Have-meyer Place.
Moving to East Elm Street at the age of 5 and now a Board of Education employee, the 33-year-old Pemberwick Road resident placed her earliest memories of Salamon to age 7.
"I remember my grandmother telling me, 'Wait to cross or you'll get yelled at,' " Salerno said.
Today Salerno watches from behind the wheel or standing on the corner and is amused when she sees unknowing pedestrians and drivers try to cross the intersection without Salamon's OK.
"I've just always remembered him since I was a little girl," she said. "It's kind of funny to watch because people get nervous when he stops them when they don't know the rules."
Salerno and others will now have to cross the road without Salamon's familiar face and experienced hands.
Yesterday Salamon, a Green-wich native, retired after 37 years with the Greenwich Police Department, the past 26 spent assigned to the same Greenwich Avenue intersection to direct traffic and safely cross pedestrians.
Salamon politely declined requests to be interviewed last week but pedestrians and his fellow police were happy to talk about his long tenure as a dedicated and helpful public servant, colleague and friend.
"Herbie has always enjoyed law enforcement and coming to work and going out and having contact with the people," said Lt. Daniel Allen, a spokesman and 31-year veteran of the department. "It's his love of his job which has kept him here for 37 years and I know he will sorely miss it when he leaves."
Salamon, 62, was sworn into the department on Jan. 25, 1968, and graduated from the police academy on Sept. 30 of that year, according to department records.
He was assigned to the patrol division, serving as a patrolman and walking street posts in Byram and central Greenwich. Since 1978 he has been assigned to direct traffic at Greenwich Avenue and Have-meyer Place.
Yesterday afternoon, Sala-mon ushered a final car through his intersection -- a red Jeep Grand Cherokee. Then he stood there stunned, as the distant whine of bagpipes erupted from up Greenwich Avenue and a crowd of more than 200 people began forming on the sidewalks around him.
Salamon shook his head and let his arms fall to his side, still holding his spot at a white circle at the center of the intersection. From up the avenue, the department's Honor Guard emerged, leading the Green-wich Pipe Band and dozens of active and retired officers in a surprise parade down toward Salamon.
Salamon's weathered face broke into a smile as the parade approached. He saluted the Honor Guard, then posed for pictures and shrugged humbly as First Selectman Jim Lash read a proclamation praising Salamon for his dedication, work ethic and service to the town.
After the ceremony, Salamon departed his post, following colleagues, relatives and friends into the police lounge in the Police/Fire Building for a reception. There, Salamon was presented with a shadow box containing mementos, a bronze figurine and a replica of his badge.
Salamon quietly thanked everyone for the ceremony and party. Several officers, active and retired, offered kind words to mark the occasion.
"The town is becoming so big it feels like a city," said retired Lt. Thomas Keegan, a town native who served on the force for 27 years. "But that (parade and ceremony) made it feel like my old home town again."
Sgt. Brian Briggs and Lt. James Heavey, two police officers who are town natives, said they remember walking to school when they were young boys under the watchful eyes of Salamon.
Heavey said that last year when Salamon was gone for two weeks on vacation, a resident came in worried about where he was.
"He must have crossed me hundreds of times when I went to St. Mary's Grammar School," said Heavey, who grew up on Lewis Street. "He is an institution in the department but also in the town."
Retired Lt. Thomas Keegan, director of the Silver Shield Association, said that Sala-mon's long tenure as a traffic officer on the Avenue was a personal choice, one that offers steady daytime hours but that some officers balk at because of bad weather.
"He's very competent and that's his preference," Keegan said. "Because Herbie wanted to be out there, I didn't have
to be."
Last week at the Greenwich Senior/Arts Center just adjacent to Salamon's post, Charlie Prete, 83, said Salamon always gives people plenty of time to cross the street and answers questions out-of-towners have about Greenwich.
Prete said he has seen Salamon almost daily for the 20 years he has lived at Agnes Morley Heights.
"I love everything about Herbie, the way he directs traffic and helps people cross the street," Prete said. "He's fantastic."
Rose Marzullo, 75, said she became friendly with Salamon, whom she calls "Soli," when Salamon would regularly eat at the long-gone Village Lunch-eonette on Greenwich Avenue, where she worked.
Marzullo said she and Salamon would often talk about his trips to Aruba and Atlantic City, N.J.
"He's one of the nicest people in the world," Marzullo said. "He's my buddy. Soli is just about one of the greatest guys."
Greenwich Schools Assistant Superintendent John Curtin said he passes Salamon daily when he crosses from the Board of Education at the Havemeyer Building to get coffee on Greenwich Avenue.
Curtin said he has often felt bad watching Salamon and other officers direct traffic on Greenwich Avenue in terrible weather, and said he would make sure to introduce himself and thank Salamon for his daily service before he leaves.
"He really has performed what I think is a sometimes unappreciated service," Curtin said. "He was always very attentive and on the ball and I appreciate the job he's done."
Salamon lives in Darien with his wife Janet Blois Salamon, and has three children. He will join the Greenwich Special Police, a unit made up of former officers and citizens who perform traffic direction and other duties during parades and other major events as well as provide backup during emergencies, Allen said.
Capt. Michael DeAngelo, a 27-year veteran, said it will
be strange when Salamon is not
on the Avenue greeting his many longtime friends, giving directions and keeping traffic flowing.
"In Herbie's case, I think he has always really enjoyed what he was doing," DeAngelo said. "He's been just kind of a mainstay out there on the Avenue. It's kind of his corner."
DeAngelo said while Salamon could display an authoritative street persona directing traffic, he can't recall a single time when Salamon was reported as being less than professional, much less rude.
"The initial impression out there is that people see this gruff policeman telling people to get back on the corner," DeAngelo said. "But if you talk to the people on the Avenue they'll tell you he's probably one of the more friendly and outgoing guys out there."
Copyright © 2005, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.