Volume 20, Number 20 Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall www.TownTimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014
As the second anniversary of the Newtown tragedy ap-proaches, many area schools are making security upgrades. A state grant that closes Sept. 15 has made additional fund-ing available to the schools that can help fund new and retroactive security upgrades in Connecticut schools.
In Regional School District 13, which serves Durham and Middlefield, Director of Busi-ness Operations Ron Melnik said that the school has done some upgrades “that we be-lieve we are going to get re-imbursed for” as well as other updates the district is unlikely to get reimbursed for, includ-ing trimming trees to im-prove visibility. The district is
also implementing a one-way traffic pattern in front of the high school, which improves both security and traffic flow. Region 13 schools are also be-ing fitted with cameras and electronic door devices, as are many other area schools.
“We continue to address the issues as they come up. We are always looking for ways to add safety and to im-prove our environment,” Mel-nik said.
The grant was created as part of the 2013 legislation on gun violence prevention, mental health and school safety. Connecticut has funded more than $43 million for school security since 2013.
“Providing safe learning environments for our stu-
State funds school security upgradesBy Charles KreutzkampSpecial to Town Times
See Security / Page 3
The potential construction of a solar farm on town-owned property was the focus of much debate at a recent public hearing in Durham. This property, south of Birch Mill Road and Route 17, was one of two discussed locations for a solar farm. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
Of the two topics, horse taxes and solar farms, on the agenda for an Aug. 25 public hearing in Durham, discus-sion of the latter proved to be both lengthier and more contentious.
Noting the success of the recent home solar panel ini-tiative, First Selectman Laura Francis said, “We learned a couple of things through that activity. One: we have a lot of residents who really care about how we impact our planet ... Two: we learned that we have a lot of people in the town of Durham who are in-terested in saving money.”
The regulation of solar power has changed recently.
Connecticut has made part-nerships with utility compa-nies that allow municipalities to put privately-installed so-lar farms on town-owned property and use the gen-erated electricity on other properties, such as town buildings. “[W]e can do this without any capital costs on the municipality’s part,” Fran-cis said.
Two companies bid on the project, with Green Skies of Middletown winning. Francis said Green Skies could com-plete the project and was fi-nanced well enough to last for the 20-year length of the agreement.
The electricity generated by the solar farms would be purchased by the town at a reduced rate of 9 cents per
kilowatt/hour with a 1 per-cent per year increase. Po-tential yearly savings was calculated at $25,000. After 20 years, the town could direct Green Skies to remove the so-lar farm, the town could buy the solar farm, or the agree-ment could be extended for five years.
Most of the town-owned property, according to Fran-cis, has either open space re-strictions or deed restrictions from purchases or donations. “We had very few options available to us,” Francis said.
One property being con-sidered as a solar farm, called solar site #1, is a 7.58 acre par-cel south of Haddam Quarter Road and west of Brick Lane. This property was suggested by a resident the first time so-
lar farms were discussed. Solar site #2 is a 3.5 acre
property south of New Haven Road/Route 17 and west of
Birch Mill Road, roughly op-posite the Time Out Taverne
Solar farm idea draws debateBy Mark DionneTown Times
TASTY FUNDRAISER
The United Churches of Durham held a food truck fundraiser Aug. 29 to raise money for the church’s building and grounds. Seven food trucks took part, including the NoRa cupcake truck, Amor Food Truck, and Perk on Wheels, allowing attendees to enjoy treats like mudslide cupcakes, vegan poutine, and Perk on Main crepes. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
See Solar / Page 3
A2 Friday, September 5, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com
FIRST DAY FOR DISTRICT 13 SCHOOLS
District 13 schools welcomed students for the first day of the 2014-2015 school year on Aug. 28. Students at John Lyman Elementary were greeted by school staff, including principal Tom Ford and kindergarten teachers Sharon Berndt, Kristen Blake, and Kerry Chernovetz. The last scheduled day of the school year is currently Monday, June 15. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
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Please join us for an amazing fundraising event. Renowned psychic medium, Lisa Lanno will connect with those who have crossed over - humans and animals alike. Bring an open mind and open heart and help Cat Tales continue our mission through this unique and unforgettable evening!*Random affirmations – attendance does not guarantee a reading
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A3
Solar
on the same side of Route 17.One property previously
considered on Tuttle Road had encumbrances on it making it unusable for this project.
The first property was do-nated to the town; the sec-ond was donated specifically to the Conservation Commis-sion but without open space restrictions.
The project grew out of Durham’s Clean Energy and Sustainability Task Force. Tom Kannam, the task force’s chair, said, “We have been specifically looking for ways ... without any cost to the town to essentially cut our electricity bill significantly, probably in half, by using re-newable energy.”
“This is a way for us to reduce our costs for an ex-tended period of time,” Kan-nam said.
Andrew Chester, an execu-tive vice-president of Green Skies, and Chris Palmer, Green Skies engineer, also spoke at the public hearing.
While solar farms were described as producing no physical pollution or smell, several residents objected to the projects as potential eye-sores. The solar farms would consist of 10 rows with 1,100 solar modules. Durham resi-dents on neighboring prop-erties asked what they would see when they looked out their windows and one resi-dent said that the tax savings would not offset the loss of property value for neighbor-ing homeowners.
According to Palmer of
Green Skies, the company would work with buffer zones and use fences and vegetation to reduce the visibility. Also according to Palmer, the so-lar modules have a coating to reduce reflectiveness.
Sue White objected to the potential use of solar site #2, saying that if the donors had intended it to be open space, that should be honored even if it was not transferred that way.
At the end of the discus-sion, Francis said the town
would have to re-group and investigate the visual impact.
“What we’re trying to do here is turn what is unpro-ductive property in terms of tax revenue into a piece of productive property that would yield us savings on our electric bill,” Francis said.
Middlefield First Select-man Jon Brayshaw has said recently that Middlefield is considering using the same program.
From Page 1
Security
dents and educators is a basic responsibility of state and lo-cal governments,” Gov. Dan-nel Malloy said. “Last year, we secured $21 million to sup-port grant requests for secu-rity upgrades at 604 schools in 111 districts – every school that applied. With this addi-tional funding, we will have made $43 million available to improve school security in just over a year. Connecticut has made significant strides in our effort to provide safe
learning environments for our students. This next round of funding will allow us to get the resources out to commu-nities that need to modernize their school security infra-structure to help keep stu-dents safe.”
Plainville School Superin-tendent Jeffrey Kitching said the town is exploring one school security project to fund using the grant: the Dis-cover Video system.
“This system would allow us to create and store emer-gency messages and proce-
dural announcements that could then be broadcast across our schools during emergency situations,” Kitch-ing explained. “We have not yet completed a full investi-gation into the viability of the system, but will prior to the grant deadline.”
Roman Czuchta, director of business operations for Ber-lin schools, said this grant will help Berlin pay for key card systems and video cam-eras installed near entrances.
“We are in the process right now of doing duress
alarms in the buildings prior to the opening of the school,” Czuchta said.
First Selectman of North Haven Mike Freda said that North Haven schools have added key card access to el-ementary school entrances and exits, and are developing a plan with walkie talkies to “facilitate communication” in the event of an emergency, Freda said.
Some of these upgrades are being reimbursed and the town is paying the difference of roughly $60,000.
From Page 1
A Remembrance Ceremony will be held to commemorate victims of 9/11 on the Durham Town Green Thursday, Sept. 11, 6 p.m., rain or shine.
9/11 remembrance ceremony in Durham
The Middlefield Volunteer Fire Department, 406 Jack-son Hill Road, has scheduled its annual ceremony for all of those who died on Sept. 11, 2001.
The ceremony, at 6 p.m., will be at the memorial con-structed from steel from the World Trade Center adjacent to the firehouse, rain or shine.
9/11 ceremony
The Entertainment Com-mittee of the Durham Fair has scheduled its 11th annual tal-ent show for Saturday, Sept. 27. Auditions are scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6 at the United Churches of Durham. Professional performers are excluded.
For more information and an application, contact Bill Currlin at (860) 343-3414 or email [email protected].
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Levi E. Coe Library
Library hours: Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Fridays.
The library is scheduled to be closed Saturday, Sept. 27, for the Durham Fair.
Volunteers are need for the Levi E. Coe coffee booth at the fair. Stop by or call the library at (860) 349-3857 or sign up.
Museum passesLevi E. Coe Library has
museum passes. Multiple state parks and forests are available.
Zinio - The Levi E. Coe
Library subscribes to Zinio. Patrons may access over a dozen different magazines online.
Durham Public Library
Library hours: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Programs for Children
Preschool programs begin Sept. 15 - Drop in.
Bouncing Babies! (birth -crawlers). Mondays, 11 a.m.
Mother Goose Storytime (walkers - 30 months). Mon-
days, 10:15 a.m.Time for Tots (2 1/2 - 3 1/2
years). Wednesdays, 10:15 a.m.Preschool Storytime (3 1/2
- 5 years). Tuesdays, 10:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Bedtime Storytime (ages 1 to 5 years). Mondays, 6:30 p.m.
LEGO Club (6 to 12 years). Thursday, Sept. 18, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Drop in.
Visit www.durhamlibrary.org/kids/programs for a full schedule of events.
Programs for young adults
Teen Advisory Group (ages 12 to 18). Saturday, Sept. 6, 3 to 4 p.m. The group meets once a month to discuss how to im-
prove the library for young adults.
Teen Cuisine Apples (ages 12 to 18). Wednesday, Sept. 10, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The cooking class for teens will make fall classics with apples. Regis-tration is required by calling (860) 349-9544, email [email protected] or stop by the library.
Programs for adultsMystery Book Discussion
- Tuesday, Sept. 16, 7:30 p.m. “Mr. Churchill’s Secretary” by Susan Elia MacNeal.
Passport Program - The Connecticut Library Asso-ciation sponsors the first Passport to CT Libraries pro-gram, running in all partici-
pating public libraries in the month of September. Based on the Wine Trail Passport Program in CT, the program will run during “Library Card Sign-Up Month.” Libraries of-fer a “passport” to their pa-trons, who then can take it to any participating library to be stamped and receive a small gift.
At the end of the month, patrons can turn in passports to any participating library to be entered in two drawings: most libraries visited and one random drawing for all participants.
The drawing is for two adult prizes of $150 each and two children’s (under 18) of $100 each.
Library Briefs
Church of the Epiphany
Church of the Epiphany, 196 Main St., has scheduled Rally Sunday for Sept. 7 at the 9:30 a.m. service. Sun-day School registration is planned, children will meet their teachers and visit their rooms.
Blessing of the backpacks is also planned. Epiphany backpacks will be distrib-uted. Children may bring
their backpacks to be blessed for the new school year. Call (860) 349-9644.
Community supperThe Church of the Epiph-
any, 196 Main St., has sched-uled a free community supper for Sunday, Sept. 14, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Epiphany parishioners will prepare the meal. Mem-bers of Notre Dame Church will provide dessert. All are welcome.
Notre Dame ChurchNotre Dame Church, 280
Main St., has scheduled its monthly flea market and tag sale for the first Saturday of each month, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., through Oct. 4. The tag sale will be located in the church hall, rectory garage, parking lot and lawn, rain or shine. Breakfast and lunch will be available. Vendor space is available for purchase. For more information, call Bob Smith at (860) 349-0356.
Religious Briefs
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A5
Retirement seminarThinking of retiring? The
Middlefield Senior Center has scheduled an informa-tional retirement seminar for Thursday, Sept. 11, at 6 p.m., at the Senior Center, 405 Main Street, Middlefield.
The seminar is scheduled for two parts: Alison Perrin plans to discuss Social Secu-rity, and what is offers, how and when you are eligible to receive benefits, things to consider in deciding when to take income, strategies for collecting to help maximize your benefits.
Joe Fournier plans to dis-cuss estate planning. What is it? Who needs it? Why? When should you start? Is an attor-ney really necessary? Myths and pitfalls, common plan-ning strategies, the living trust, medical decision mak-ing, your action plan, etc.
The information presented will be general information, and no particular financial group will be endorsed. The presentation is expected to run 60-90 minutes with time for questions and discussion.
To make a reservation, or for more information, con-tact Alison Perrin at (860) 313-4858.
Senior center day trips
September trips:Tuesday, Sept. 8 - New Brit-
ain Museum of American Art.Wednesday, Sept. 10 - Rose-
land Cottage in Woodstock.Wednesday, Sept. 17 - The
William Benton Museum of Art in Storrs.
October trips:Wednesday, Oct. 8 - The
Quabbin Reservoir.Wednesday, Oct . 1 5
- Sturbridge.Tuesday, Oct. 28 - Quadran-
gle Museum.Wednesday, Oct. 29 -
Northampton, Massachusetts.Admission fee is charged
for some places. Transporta-tion is free for Durham and Middlefield residents.
For more information and to make reservations, call St. Luke’s at (860) 347-5661.
MILEThe Durham Senior Cen-
ter has scheduled an informa-tional meeting regarding MILE and what cultural opportuni-ties are offered for Friday, Sept. 5, noon, at the Durham Library.
Joe Soja is scheduled to speak. The meeting includes a soup and salad luncheon. The MILE’s fall program booklet will be available.
Reservations are required. Call Amanda at (860) 349-3153.
60+ ClubThe Durham 60+ Club
is scheduled to meet Mon-day, Sept. 8, 1:30 p.m., at the Durham Activity Center, 350 Main St. Dr. Tanya Feke plans a short talk on Medicare. The presentation will be followed by a produce and bake sale variety table. The nominating committee will be selected at the meeting. The public is welcome.
Attorney seriesThe Middlefield Senior Cen-
ter has scheduled a series of talks on topics that directly af-fect seniors. Middlefield attor-ney Edward Lang is scheduled to speak as follows:
Friday, Sept. 12 - Power of at-torney and living wills, 1 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 10 - Planning for Medicaid and use of trusts, 1 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 7 - The Probate Process, 1 p.m.
R.S.V.P. is not necessary, but appreciated. For more infor-mation, call (860) 349-7121.
ScrabbleThe Middlefield Senior
Center Scrabble Group meets Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. at the Middlefield Senior Center. The group is looking for more players. All are welcome. For more information, call (860) 349-7121.
Renter’s RebateApplications are being ac-
cepted for the Renter’s Rebate program.
Required documentation from 2013 includes: 2013 1099 income statement, a copy of the 2013 tax return (if filed); proof of rent paid; utility pay-ment history printouts; proof of interest or dividends from bank accounts, stocks, bonds.
Filing dates through Oct. 1.Income limits are: single,
$34,101 and married $41,600.For more information and to
schedule an appointment, call Amanda at (860) 349-3153.
60+ Club day tripsThe 60+ Club has scheduled
the following day trips. Sept. 19 - Scallop festival at
the cape.Oct. 14 - Oktoberfest.Nov. 6 - Costa Azzurra, all
about the 50s.For more information, call
(860) 346-0724.
Senior HappeningsFOCUS (Friends of Cogin-
chaug Unified Soccer), a booster club for the Cogin-chaug Regional High School girls and boys soccer teams, has eight-inch mums avail-able for purchase. Deadline to order is Wednesday, Sept. 10.
Order at www.coginchaug-soccer.org or from any CRHS soccer player.
Soccer mums
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PETS OF THE WEEKTrixie is a 1-year-old fe-
male kitten. Although pe-tite, she is full of energy. She loves to play and thrives on attention. She will pat the Cat Tales vol-unteers heads from her cage when she wants to play. Trixie is FELV+ (peo-ple cannot catch this). She would be a great as an only pet (or with other FELV+ cats), in a home with older children. A cat-experienced person or family who will be mindful of her health and well-being would be perfect. Sable is a dainty, 11-year old girl. She is shy at first, but quickly becomes friendly. She would be happy as the only cat in the family, but would be good with a cat-friendly dog. She needs a quite home as chil-dren and loud noise make her nervous. For more information, call (860) 344-9043 or email [email protected].
The Middlesex Hospital Vocal Chords is seeking new members. No auditions are required but basic choral ca-pabilities are necessary. New members will be accepted until Tuesday, Sept. 23.
The group rehearses Tues-days, 6:45 p.m., at the St. Fran-cis Msgr. Fox Hall, 10 Elm St., Middletown. Call (860) 342-3120 or visit www.vocalcho-rds20.org.
Vocal chords
The Middlefield Food Bank is in need of specific food items. Donations of the following would be appre-ciated: Peanut butter, grape jelly, macaroni and cheese (or other boxed, dry mac and cheese), tuna, chicken noo-dle soup, gluten free canned soups, canned fruit (15 oz. cans, peaches and pears), and Campbell’s Chunky Beef soups.
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A7
Durham(Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are held at the Durham Library. Check the town website at www.townofdur-hamct.org for updates.)Monday, Sept. 8Board of Selectmen, Town Hall, 7 p.m. Inland/Wetlands, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.Tuesday, Sept. 9Conservation Commission, Li-brary, 7 p.m.Library Board of Trustees, Library, 7:30 p.m.Durham Volunteer Fire Company, Durham Firehouse, 8 p.m.Wednesday, Sept. 10Board of Education, Memorial School, 7:30 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 11Public Safety Renovations Plan-ning Committee, Durham Volun-teer Firehouse, 7 p.m.
Zoning Board of Appeals, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.Tuesday, Sept. 16Board of Finance, Town Hall, 7 p.m.Agriculture Commission, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.Wednesday, Sept. 17Board of Education, Korn School, 7:30 p.m.Planning and Zoning, Library, 7:30 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 18DMIAAB, Library, 7:30 p.m.Monday, Sept. 22Board of Selectmen, Town Hall, 7 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 25Public Safety Facility Planning Committee, Durham Vol. Fire-house, 7 p.m.Tuesday, Sept. 30Ethic’s Commission, Town Hall, 7 p.m.
Middlefield(Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are held in the Commu-nity Center.)Tuesday, Sept. 16Board of Selectmen, 7 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 18Board of Finance, 7 p.m.
Government Meetings
Failure to register assault weapons a misdemeanor
HARTFORD — Under Connecticut’s new gun con-trol law, gun owners who failed to register their now-banned assault weapons by a January deadline could face a misdemeanor charge
if caught, not a felony as de-scribed by Republican guber-natorial candidate Tom Foley during a debate.
The law, enacted after the 2012 Newtown school shoot-ing, has become a major is-sue in the governor’s race between Foley, Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and
conservative petitioning can-didate Joe Visconti, a gun rights advocate.
At a Aug. 27 debate be-tween Foley and Malloy, Fo-ley called the legislation “overreaching” and claimed it turns “perfectly good law-abiding citizens” into “a felon” for something they did
in the past — legally purchas-ing a weapon that now can-not be sold or purchased in Connecticut.
“It was grandstanding and it was unnecessary,” Foley said during the debate at Nor-wich Free Academy.
“I don’t think you turn per-fectly good law-abiding cit-izens, who are responsible people, who believe in the Constitution of the United States, and flip something on them so that something they did in the past turns them
into a felon,” said Foley, add-ing how he “would make sure they are not prosecuted.”
Michael Lawlor, Malloy’s criminal justice adviser, said the new law essentially mir-rors language in the state’s 1993 assault weapons ban, which makes it a Class A misdemeanor for first-time violators who failed to regis-ter their now banned weapon — or in the case of the new law, also large-capacity am-
By Susan HaighAssociated Press
See Weapons / Page 9
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A8 Friday, September 5, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com
P.O. Box 265, Middlefield, CT 06455www.towntimes.com
News (860) 349-8000 [email protected] (203) 317-2313 [email protected] (203) 639-0210Marketplace (877) 238-1953 (toll-free)
Town Times is published every Friday by the Record-Journal Publishing Co. and delivered to all homes and businesses in Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall.
Executive Vice President and Assistant Publisher – Liz WhiteSenior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer – Shawn E. PalmerSenior Vice President and Editor – Ralph TomaselliNews Editor – Nick CarrollAssistant News Editor – Olivia L. Lawrence Reporter – Mark DionneAdvertising Sales – Joy BooneAdvertising Director – Kimberley E. Boath Office Assistant, Press Releases – Marsha Pomponio
Op-Ed
Honoring Ray’s legacy
To the editor: Durham has certainly lost
a wonderful town leader and a man who was an im-portant part of this special community.
Ray Kalinowski was some-one we both respected and admired. We are honored to be currently represent-ing Durham in the House of Representatives in Hartford. But we are doubly honored to follow in the footsteps of former State Rep. Ray Ka-linowski. He is, and will
always be, a tough act to fol-low. Ray leaves us a legacy of always putting Durham and its citizens first in every decision.
After the 2012 redistrict-ing, he quickly welcomed both of us to Durham. In his quiet way Ray let us know that he was there to help if we needed it, we both knew how much he loved Durham and how he wanted to make sure that we did a good job.
To Ray’s wife Sandy, his family, and friends and to the people of Durham, we prom-ise to do our best to honor Ray’s legacy.
State Rep. Vincent Can-delora, 86th District
State Rep. Noreen Koko-ruda, 101st District
CorrectionIn a recent Letter to the
Editor by Durham Republi-can Registrar of Voters Pam Lucashu thanking all who made the recent Republican primary a success, one of the lines should have read “But especially, thanks to our fel-low citizens employed as poll workers. Our poll workers constantly improve our pro-cesses for better elections and referenda.”
Letters to the Editor
Four Facts:1. Older children naturally
go to sleep later and wake up later than younger children for reasons that are chem-ical/hormonal, physical, social/behavioral, circadian, etc.
2. More sleep is healthier than less.
3. Because of No. 1 and No. 2, schools are changing start times to better align with natural sleep rhythms by having younger students start school earlier and older students start school later, or having the school day start later for both.
4. No. 3 has produced sig-nificantly positive results in public health (less depres-sion, caffeine/substance abuse, obesity), public safety (better driving), and aca-demic (test scores, atten-dance, tardiness).
Support is listed on some-thingtosleepon.weebly.com and includes studies by Brookings Institution, National Sleep Foundation, University of Minnesota, American Academy of Pe-diatrics – all recommending older students start school later.
What about athletics?Wilton, CT public schools
changed their school sched-ules 11 years ago, so older students started school latest, and maintained top-ranked athletic, extra-cur-ricular, and academic programs. I talked with the principal of Wilton High, who said there was no change in extra-curricular participation rates and no question of being dropped from their athletic confer-ence, which sent a letter of support to competitor schools asking for cooper-ation in scheduling games. Having lit fields and a cen-tral location helps. Occa-sionally athletes will miss a school period for an away game, but this has never been problematic. Logically, more sleep benefits ath-letes, and later pick-up/game times might work well for some families.
Is there a cost?Studies report cost-neu-
trality if bus routes aren’t changed; only the schedule is flipped.
“Younger children shouldn’t be waiting for the bus in the dark.” Frankly
Something to sleep onBy Julienne Cassarino
See Sleep / Page 9
On Aug. 30 I completed my quest to snag a geo-cache in every one of the seven towns served by the Record-Journal week-lies – a graveyard cache in Berlin, tramping through poison ivy in North Ha-
ven, a matchstick hanging from a tree in Plainville, an ammo can behind Water Control in Southington, a cleverly named “Park and Find” at the Park and Ride in Cheshire, and a magnetic nano on a bench in Durham. I’ve captured 21 caches since I began little more than a month ago. I saved Middle-
field for last.The Town Times is the
oddball of the weeklies. The Times has our smallest cir-culation, but the most active Facebook page, and is our only paper not named The Something Citizen. It’s also our only weekly paper serv-
Caching out: Seven towns downBy Charles KreutzkampTown Times
The Big Falls is at one of its lowest points of the season, but remains impressive. | Charles Kreutzkamp / Town Times
See Caching / Page 9
Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A9
Weapons
munition magazines — with the state.
“If you fail to register a banned assault weapon and you can prove that you legally owned it before the ban took effect, the maximum penalty is a misdemeanor, not a fel-ony,” Lawlor said.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in prison and/or up to $2,000 in fines. Lawlor said the of-fending gun owners would be eligible to apply for the special program known as Accelerated Rehabilitation. Assuming the offender has never been in trouble before, Lawlor said it would be very likely that program would be granted and the charges ulti-mately dropped.
A March 14 news release
from the Department of Emergency Services and Pub-lic Protection said a convic-tion for charges related to the possession of an unregistered assault weapon or undeclared large capacity magazines could also jeopardize a gun owner’s ability to possess a valid state permit or eligible certificate.
State officials are aware of about 66 assault weapons that were not registered in time by their owners, Law-lor said. Those owners were notified that if the weapon is no longer in Connecticut, they are complying with the law. They also were given the option of relinquishing the weapons and high-capacity magazines to the police or rendering the items perma-nently inoperable.
From Page 7
Sleep
no one should. Wilton moved its entire schedule later so no stu-dent got on a bus before 7 a.m. But if logistics demand that some-one has to get on a bus in the six o’clock hour, then might it be safer for younger students accompanied by parents and likely waiting pro-tected in a car rather than for pre-teens/teenagers waiting alone on a likely sidewalk-less public street in semi-darkness?
What about after-school jobs, like babysitting younger siblings?
A matter of priorities. If a stu-dent’s priority is to be the best student he/she can be, then more
sleep is probably more valuable than babysitting. Studies have shown no changes in after-school job partici-pation rates.
Won’t kids just go to bed later?Studies have shown not.Will teachers/parents like it?A zero-sum game. For every
teacher/parent who is inconve-nienced there can be one who ben-efits. Even the same person may feel both impacts: the parent who loses an after-school babysitter can leave home earlier if their younger student starts earlier. If the focus is on the students, namely trying to advantage the older students with-out disadvantaging the younger students, and if the focus is on the
community’s health and safety as a whole, then maybe it’s worth some instances of inconvenience?
I can’t take any more changeI hear you. But more change is
coming regardless and we could consider this one at the same time. When there is a nationwide move-ment that has proven results in public health, public safety, and academics in addition to being low-cost, logical, and recommended by respected institutions, then might it be worth discussing?
At least “sleep on it”Wilton High School principal Bob
O’Donnell reviewed this and com-mented “I think you can add that anecdotal observations from Wilton
staff after the change indicated that students were better rested, less irritable, and more ready to en-gage in the school day. Also, survey feedback from students indicated that they were indeed getting more sleep and accumulating less sleep debt throughout the week after the change to a later start.”
Julienne Cassarino is a mother of school-age children and lives in Durham.
For more on this topic, and to read a response from Dr. Kathryn Veronesi, superintendent of Regional School District 13, and others, or to leave a comment, visit somethingtosleepon.weebly.com.
From Page 8
Caching
ing two towns, Middlefield and Durham, and it’s the first Record-Journal publica-tion I ever laid my hands on. I moved to the Rockfall area of Middlefield from Ken-tucky at age 10.
So to officially capture a geocache in each and every town, I knew exactly where I wanted to go to complete my mission: Wadsworth Falls State Park, within walking distance of the house I grew up in. It’s a truly great park to hike in, with a tame, level main trail and a few more challenging paths as well.
The park boasts not one, but two water-falls, the short but impressively volu-minous Big Falls and the impressively tall Little Falls, a trickle by comparison.
Even better is that both water-falls change significantly throughout the seasons, a reward to frequent return-ers. Melting snows give the most impressive sprays of water at both falls in spring. The water retreats signifi-cantly during summer, and depending on rainfall, the river beyond Big Falls may
be covered in algae. Other times, water levels become so low that you can walk out into the mid-dle of the river on the rocks and reach grassy islands. Some winters, enormous gleaming icicles
form beside the waterfalls, and river water past Big Falls churns underneath a sheet of ice.
“It’s beautiful,” Kate said the first time I brought her to the area, the winter of 2012.
When we went trea-sure-hunting in the park,
the biggest complication we ran into was the large amount of “muggle activity,” as Geocachers call it when there are people around. It’s important not to been seen finding a cache, because someone may mistake it for trash and attempt to throw it away, or otherwise interfere with it.
We completely abandoned searching for a cache near Little Falls, as a huge group of people were sitting in the area talking. We did, how-ever, find two more, includ-ing one with perhaps the greatest terrain challenge we’ve ever sought after, re-
quiring a hike up a steep incline.
“I clung as close to the hill as I could,” my Indi-ana-native fiancée, Kate said, recalling her nervousness about the steep descent to-ward the river below. She comes from a land where the only ways to go up in el-evation are stairs, elevators, escalators, airplanes, and the odd ladder.
“But in retrospect? If you were going to do it again?” I asked.
“Oh, sure,” Kate said sar-castically, “We didn’t die last
From Page 8
Kreutzkamp
See Caching / Page 10
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A10 Friday, September 5, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com
Caching
time, so we probably won’t die next time.”
My fiancée is not a thrill-seeker.
Another cache brought us past one of the most inter-esting features of the park: the old stone walls that lay overgrown between some of the trees. The walls give the forest the air of an an-cient civilization. Unlike the famous stone bridge that was built during the Great Depression, story has it that the walls have stood since before the area was refor-ested. Or at least, these are the thoughts I had while hik-ing on my own through the woods as a kid.
And now that I’ve seized a cache in all seven Re-cord-Journal weekly towns, there’s only one thing left to do: hide one of my own.
Game on, newspaper fans.
From Page 9
Saturday, Sept. 6Farmer’s Market - The
Dudley Farm Farmer’s Mar-ket is scheduled every Satur-day through October, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 2351 Durham Road, North Guilford. Local and organic fruits and veg-etables, flowers and plants, baked goods, eggs, naturally raised meats, arts and crafts, maple syrup, jams and jellies, pickles and more. Subject to cancellation due to inclement weather. For more informa-tion, call (860) 349-3917 or www.dudleyfarm.com.
Artist event - Colors of the Wind Artists’ Emporium & Consignments, 360 Main St., has scheduled a series of trunk show/meet the art-ist event for Saturday, Sept. 6, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Meet artisans Lou and Vanessa Russo. Call (860) 788-2514.
Tuesday, Sept. 9
Get Stitchy - Durham Recreation, 350 Main St., has scheduled Get Stitchy,
an open sew event for quil-ters and sewers, for Tuesday, Sept. 9, 7 to 9 p.m. For more information, call (860) 349-0453 or (860) 343-0879.
Cross country - CRHS at Mercy Invitational at Mercy, 3:45 p.m.
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. Morgan at Indian River Com-plex, 3:45 p.m.
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. East Hampton at East Hampton, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 10
Girls soccer - CRHS vs. Morgan at Indian River Com-plex, 4 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 11Ceremony - The Middlefield
Volunteer Fire Department, 406 Jackson Hill Road, has sched-uled its annual ceremony for all died on Sept. 11, 2001. The ceremony, at 6 p.m., will be at the memorial constructed from steel from the World Trade Cen-ter adjacent to the firehouse, rain or shine.
Durham Farmer’s Market
- The final Durham Farmer’s Market of the season is sched-uled for Thursday, Sept. 11, 3 to 6 p.m., on the Durham Town Green.
Friday, Sept. 12
Cross country - CRHS at Blue Dragon Invitational at Veteran’s Park, Middletown, 3:30 p.m.
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. Westbrook at Westbrook, 3:45 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 13
Cat Tales benefit - “An evening with psychic me-dium Lisa Lanno,” is sched-uled for Saturday, Sept. 13, 6 to 9 p.m., at Arrigoni Winery, Portland. A fee is charged. Proceeds benefit Cat Tales Non-Profit Rescue. Seating is limited. For more information and tickets, call (860) 344-9043 or [email protected].
Farmer’s Market - Dudley Farm Farmer’s Market has scheduled a Fairy Festival for Saturday, Sept. 13, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Children, ac-companied by an adult, can follow the Fairy Trail, build a fairy house, decorate a wand or create a crown. For more information, call (860) 349-3917 or www.dudleyfarm.com.
Shredding event - Durham and Middlefield residents can participate in a free paper shredding event, Saturday, Sept. 13, 9 a.m. to noon, at Middletown Water and Sewer Department, 82 Berlin St. No businesses, ID required. Bring up to five boxes of papers to shred. For more information, call (860) 581-8554 or visit www.Rivercog.org.
Historical Society - The Durham Historical Society is scheduled to be open to the public, Saturday, Sept. 13, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Football - CRHS vs. Old Saybrook/Westbrook at CRHS, 1 p.m.
Girls soccer - CRHS vs. Westbrook at Westbrook, 10:30 a.m.
Sunday, Sept. 14
Community supper - The Church of the Epiphany, 196 Main St., has scheduled a free community supper for Sunday, Sept. 14, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Epiphany parish-ioners will prepare the meal. Members of Notre Dame Church will provide dessert.
Monday, Sept. 15Forum - Middlesex County
Chamber of Commerce,
with the Connecticut Small Business Development cen-ter, has scheduled a Small Business Lending Forum and Mini Expo for Monday, Sept. 15, 9:30 a.m. to noon, at the Crown Plaza Cromwell. For more information, visit www.middlesexchamber.com.
Girls soccer - CRHS vs. Cromwell at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. Hyde Leadership at Cle-mente Leadership Academy, 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 16
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. Cromwell at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 17
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. North Branford at CRHS, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 18
Cross country - CRHS at Run to the Sun Invitational at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Girls soccer - CRHS vs. East Hampton at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Calendar
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A11
Calendar
Friday, Sept. 19
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. East Hampton at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. Morgan at Morgan, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 20
Football - CRHS vs. Hyde Leadership at Wilbur Cross Athletic Complex, noon.
Monday, Sept. 22
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. Foran at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Girls soccer - CRHS vs. Haddam-Killingworth, away, 3:45 p.m.
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. Cromwell at Cromwell, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 23
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. Haddam-Killingworth, away, 3:45 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 24Girls soccer - CRHS vs.
Old Lyme at Old Lyme, 3:45 p.m.
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. Two Rivers Magnet at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 25
Cross country - CRHS vs. Morgan at Morgan, 3:45 p.m.
Girls soccer - CRHS vs. Windsor Locks at CRHS, 4 p.m.
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. Old Lyme at Old Lyme, 3:45 p.m.
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. Haddam-Killingworth at CRHS, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 26
Football - CRHS at Hadd-am-Killingworth, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 29
Boys soccer - CRHS vs. Hale Ray at CRHS, 3:45 p.m.
Girls volleyball - CRHS vs. Old Lyme at Old Lyme, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 30
Cross country - CRHS at Haddam-Killingworth, 3:45 p.m.
Girls soccer - CRHS vs. Hale Ray at CRHS, 4 p.m.
From Page 10
The Town Times charges $50 for an 8-inch obituary, and $5 for each additional inch.
To place an obituary, call (203) 317-2240.
Obituary fee
Bridge construction will close Route 17 starting Fri-day, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. until a scheduled reopening at 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8 between Wesleyan Hills Road and Route 155/Randolph Road, just past the Haveli India restaurant.
State Rep. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, said the proj-ect involves a rapid con-struction technique that will provide a passable new bridge in 68 hours.
“This technique is another type of accelerated bridge construction that requires the contractor to demolish and replace the entire bridge over a short duration,” Lesser said in a press release. “The key to its success is the amount of pre-planning that involves relocation of any utilities and having all necessary equip-ment on site; all materials are fabricated and available prior to the road closure.”
Final construction ele-ments of the bridge, such as permanent rails and drainage,
will take place after Sept. 8 and close a lane, but not the entire bridge.
According to Lesser, “Upon completion the bridge, which is currently 16 feet long and 28 feet wide, will be 31 feet long and support a 41 foot wide roadway with two 12’ travel lanes with shoulders that will be 8’-9’ wide.”
The detour will use Wes-leyan Hills Road, Long Hill Road and Randolph Road. The rain date for the project is Sept. 12.
The Middletown bridge construction, which will cost $1,652,051.35, is one of several area bridges and culverts under construction or con-sideration. Ongoing bridge construction has reduced a section of Route 147 in Mid-dlefield to alternating traf-fic since before last year’s Durham Fair. Culvert repair still has Pickett Lane closed in Durham. Middlefield has recently received two grants to repair the Miller’s Road bridge and the Durham Board of Selectman have discussed repairs to a Stage Coach Road bridge.
Route 17 bridge closed in Middletown Sept. 5-8By Mark DionneTown Times
At a public hearing on Aug. 25 at the Durham Public Li-brary, residents considered exempting horses from per-sonal property taxes.
Eliminating the horse tax, which would take the form of a town ordinance, is only recently allowed by state law.
“Ponies and horses are the
only remaining livestock ani-mal that is currently taxable under the Connecticut tax-ation code. It has proven to be quite a difficult tax to levy because it has been difficult to accurately place a value on horses and ponies,” Durham First Selectman Laura Francis said at the beginning of the hearing. Most speakers were opposed to the tax.
According to several own-ers of horse kennels who spoke at the hearing, the tax is a nuisance and has the po-tential to send horse owners to facilities in other towns. Horses are taxed according to where they are boarded, not where their owners live. If the tax is unpaid by the own-ers, who frequently live out of town, the facility becomes responsible.
Fred Mastele, president of the Connecticut Horse Council and chairman of the Agricultural Commis-sion in Durham said, “One of the problems you run into is it’s very difficult to assess the value of a horse.” Horses don’t have a Kelly Blue Book, Mastele noted.
One owner of a Durham
horse farm said that other towns were known to ignore the law, looking the other way and letting the horses go untaxed.
According to Francis, the Connecticut legislation rec-ognizes both boards of se-lectman and town meetings as authorities to pass the exemption. Days after the public hearing, the BOS scheduled a special meeting for Monday, Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. at the Town Hall. One of the items on the agenda is for a public vote to ask the BOS to pass the exemption.
The monetary value of a horse can vary wildly, from surprisingly expensive spe-cial breeds to horses of little monetary value. Currently, horses can get an exemption of up to $1,000 per horse, but it must be applied for.
According to Francis, there are 48 accounts with a total of 79 declared horses and a gross assessment of $103,990. After $65,460 of exemp-tions, the net assessment is $38,530. At the current mill rate, Durham collects almost
Property tax exemptions for Durham horses proposedBy Mark DionneTown Times
Durham First Selectman Laura Francis spoke at a public hearing on Aug. 25 about eliminating horses from the Durham property tax list. The issue will be one of the subjects of a special town meeting Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. at the Town Hall. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
See Horses / Page 12
A12 Friday, September 5, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com
Horses
$1,280 on those horses.“We probably pay more
than that to collect the tax,” Francis said.
The total amount of $1,280 spread out between 48 ac-counts amounts to less than
$27 per account. Although since the value of horses var-ies, the amount would not be an even split among those taxpayers. Roger Kleeman, of Durham, also noted that many horses were likely un-counted in Durham.
“As far as I know, as presi-dent of the Horse Council, I don’t think any other towns have actually voted on ac-cepting this exemption. We may be the first to do that,” Mastele said.
Richard Porter, an alter-nate on Durham’s Agricul-tural commission, urged the exemption. “I really think we should adopt this ordi-nance and do away with the tax on horses. It’s an old law and like a lot of old laws in New England, it’s outlived its usefulness.”
From Page 11
The CT Thunder, a team of players and coaches from Durham and Middlefield, re-cently traveled to Cooper-stown, New York to play at the Cooperstown Dreams Park. The squad played during Week 9, from July 25 to Aug. 1, along with 103 other teams from across the country.
The Thunder got to ex-perience playing on profes-sionally groomed fields, 22
in total, all of which were equipped with lights. Mem-bers of the team along with the coaching staff were also enshrined in the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. The Thunder even had the opportunity to meet players from all over the country and were able to trade pins with one another.
The tournament began with its opening ceremonies and a skills competition on
Saturday, July 26, with pool play beginning on Sunday, July 27.
The Thunder, unfortu-nately, didn’t experience
any early tournament suc-cess, losing both games of a doubleheader; 9-7 (against Wayne Pal Wolfpack of New Jersey) and 11-8 (against Palos
Verdes Waves of California).On Monday, July 28, the
Connecticut boys dodged
Thunder compete at Cooperstown
The Connecticut Thunder recently competed at a tournament in Cooperstown, New York. Although the team only walked away with one win, the opportunity of a lifetime left them all smiling.
See Thunder / Page 13
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Dylan Edwin Notarangelo was born on, August 4, 2014, at 12:29 p.m., at Midstate Medical Center, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz, and measuring 20 inches, to Sarah (Hineline) and Richard Notarangelo of Rockfall, CT. His maternal grandparents are Janice and Edwin Hineline. His paternal grandparents are Mary Ann and Richard Notarangelo. He joins his brother Logan William.
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A13
Thunder
raindrops to compete in an-other doubleheader. The Thunder once again fell short in both contests, losing to the Edina Hornets (Minnesota) 6-5 and the Dover-Sherborn Raiders (Massachusetts) 9-5.
The Thunder’s outlook didn’t fare any better the fol-lowing day, as the team fin-ished pool play with two more games and two more losses. The Durham and Mid-dlefield representatives lost to the Deep Run Thunder Hawks (Pennsylvania) 10-2 and Northern Wells Impact (Indiana) 14-3.
Entering the tournament still looking for that elusive first win, the Thunder’s of-fense exploded to help bring home a victory, as the home-town nine walloped the Endless Mountain Bullets
(Pennsylvania) 15-3. The team couldn’t keep the offense go-ing, though, falling 3-2 to CoulOak Lightning (North Carolina) in the next round.
The CT Thunder was comprised of Adam Cope-land, Christopher Sokol, Jus-tin Penney, Nico Kulpik, Jake Woznyk, Chris Onofrio, Hugh Barrett, Joe Venables, Noah Kleczkowski, Ben Mariani, and Derek Grant, and was coached by Mike Copeland, Scott Penney, Jason Sokol, and John Kulpik.
The Thunder also brought along their beloved umpire, Robin “We Have a Ballgame” Watson, to Cooperstown. Along with various others, Watson was also enshrined into the AYB Hall of Fame, and umpired games for the tournament throughout the week.
— Submitted
From Page 12
The case of First & 8
The 2014 Connecticut high school football season kicks off in a week when Cheshire hosts Ridgefield in Round 2 of the SCC-FCIAC Challenge.
It will be the start of a sea-son unlike any that’s pre-ceded it and, perhaps, unlike any that will follow.
2014 will be the season when Connecticut crowns eight football champions. Traditionally, there have been four. During two stretches, when Class MM and SS were in place between 1981-94 and 2002-09, there were six.
This year — and this year alone — there will be eight.
The four traditional classes remain (LL, L, M, S), but the eight teams that qualify in each will be subdivided by enrollment (LL Large, LL Small, etc.) and they will play semifinal and championship games in the two weeks that follow Thanksgiving.
Next year, the format re-verts to four champs decided by three rounds of playoffs,
which has been the case since 2010. The difference is strict new contact limitations for practices which will be in place in an effort to reduce the physical pounding players take in those two-plus weeks between Thanksgiving and Championship Saturday, a 16-day span in which finalists play four games.
The driving force in all this, of course, is the issue that dominates the football land-scape from pros to Pee Wees: player safety. In particular: concussions.
The National Federation of High Schools has handed down new rules hoping to crack down on blows to the head.
A state law passed earlier this year requires schools to educate all parents and ath-letes on the signs and symp-toms of concussions and return-to-play protocols. Moreover, all parents and athletes must sign off that they’ve been so educated or else the athlete can’t play.
2014 football: Limits on contact, concerns for concussions and a one-time playoff format that will crown eight champions.
By Bryant CarpenterSpecial to Town Times
See Football / Page 14
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A14 Friday, September 5, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com
Football
That applies to all sports. What the CIAC has done in particular with football is en-act limitations on the amount of full person-to-person con-tact teams can engage in during practice.
The CIAC approved one set for 2014 at the end of last season and then, earlier this year, a more stringent set that goes into effect in 2015.
Here are the 2014 limits on full contact, which is defined as drills or game simulations conducted at game speed in full pads in which players are tackled to the ground:
• Preseason Weeks 2-4: Up to 120 minutes per week during practice plus one scrimmage. If a second scrim-mage is played in a week, the 120 practice minutes are re-duced to 60.
• Regular season: Up to 90 minutes per week.
• Postseason: Up to 60 min-utes per week.
Starting in 2015, no full contact will be allowed in practice after Week 9 of the regular season, which will be limited to 10 games with a built-in bye week.
There are no time restric-tions on “wrap” or “thud” contact in which players re-main on their feet. Nor are there restrictions on drills executed against bags or any other soft-contact surfaces.
To a man, area head coaches are fine with the new rules. With myriad reasons to protect their players, they al-ready winnow down contact as the season goes on.
It’s simple common sense. Preseason is the time to work the tackling and blocking hard, coaches say. As the sea-son goes on and bumps and bruises mount, the health of players dictates practices be-come less physical.
“Speaking for myself and a lot of the coaches I’ve spoken to, this is something we’ve al-ready been doing on our own for a long, long time,” said Lyman Hall coach Rob Ma-rone. “Very rarely do I talk to a coach in the area, or any-where else for that matter, who is tackling all week long ... If guys aren’t learning how to tackle or get tough or all that good stuff early on in the season, it’s not usually some-thing that starts happening on November first.”
Across town, Sheehan coach John Ferrazzi said, “We were pretty much in line, close to it already. We’re used to having low numbers, so we changed our practice philos-ophy within the last four-five
years. We don’t do as much full contact, going-to-the-ground type contact as we used to. There are times we have to do that — most are at this time of year — but we’ve really scaled that back and focus more on technique and player safety.”
At the same time, there is some chafing at the CIAC’s need to regulate. There is concern that, by limiting full contact in practice — espe-cially to nothing after Week 9 starting next year — play-ers will become more prone to injury on game night.
“I understand what they’re doing and I’m certainly going to play within the rules,” said Platt coach Jason Bruenn. “It doesn’t really complicate what we do because we’ve al-ways been a ‘thud’ team. For safety, we don’t tackle to the ground a lot. My fear is when you start limiting your ability to have contact ... you limit the ability to teach technique.
“In the college realm, in the NFL realm, those guys have had hundreds and hun-dreds of reps,” Bruenn added. “Many of these kids, ninth grade is their first year play-ing. Yeah, we do form tackle, we hit sleds and do all those other things, but if you go into a game and you don’t know how to live tackle somebody, that’s when you’re going to get even more hurt.”
“I don’t think any smart coach is beating his kids up; you just can’t do it any more,” echoed Xavier coach Sean Marinan. “What concerns me is we’re going to regulate so much of the contact out of practice that, when the kids get to the game, they’re going to be susceptible to injury.”
From Page 13
The Knights of Columbus of Southington, Cheshire, Pla-inville, Meriden and Bristol have announced their joint invitation to the public to get on board a Pride In America deluxe motor coach trip to Boston on Sunday, Oct. 19.
After the successful Pride in America coach trip to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Is-land and the 9/11 Memorial in New York City last spring, the group decided to extend the Pride in America patrio-tism theme to include a trip to Boston early this fall. The itinerary provides a visit to historically-important points of interest:
The John F. Kennedy Li-brary & Museum: Life & Leg-acy of the 35th President and the First Lady Exhibit; Bos-ton’s Shopping Showplace at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market; and an 80-minute narrated Land & Water Ex-perience with the famous amphibious Boston Duck Tours. On the way back home through Rhode Island there will be a family style, all-you-can-eat roast chicken dinner at Wright’s Farm Restaurant before returning to Plants-ville. For reservations, and for more information, call Dick Pillar at (860) 276-0633, Den-nis Kelly at (860) 276-0633 or Bill Shatas at (860) 302-4556 now as seating is going quickly.
Enjoy the early fall scen-ery en route along with fun and games on the way. This is a non-profit event with any proceeds going to charity.
Get on board the Pride in America tourBy E. Richard FortunatoSpecial to Town Times
The Durham Fair Associa-tion has launched an all-new website for the Durham Fair.
Completely redesigned, the site provides simpler naviga-tion and enhanced content. Listings for entertainment acts are organized by loca-tion and show time. Updates on announcements and park-ing are included. Visit www.durhamfair.com.
New website for Durham Fair
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A15
Grant proposals accepted through NovemberThe Rockfall Foundation
is accepting grant proposals from nonprofit organizations, towns, and schools to support environmental education, conservation and planning projects that will impact Mid-dlesex County. Deadline is in November. Awards will be announced in February, 2015.
Grants will be awarded for projects that contribute to the general environmen-tal education of the pub-lic, promote environmental planning, contribute to the preservation of the Connecti-cut River watershed, or fund
an internship with a non-profit organization for an en-vironmental project. Special consideration will be given to projects that engage youth (preschool through college) or are multi-generational.
Proposals must have ties to Middlesex County in or-der to be considered. This in-cludes projects or programs
based in Middlesex County as well as applicants based in Middlesex County. Proposals that focus on the Connecticut River corridor or Long Island Sound will also be considered as long as there is a demon-strated impact on Middlesex County.
An informal grants in-formational workshop, for
those interested in submit-ting a proposal, is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 5 p.m. at the deKoven House Community Center, 27 Wash-ington St., Middletown. Reg-istration is requested, but not necessary.
Detailed guidelines and el-igibility requirements as well as a grant application can be
obtained from the founda-tion’s website, www.rockfall-foundation.org, or by calling the foundation’s office at (860) 347-0340. To register for the workshop, or for ad-ditional information about Rockfall grants, contact Tony Marino, grants administrator: [email protected]; (860) 347-0340.
Advanced tickets for the Durham Fair are available at the Canfield Gate Ticket Booth only. Cash or checks only. No tickets will be sold at the schools. No students or exhibitor tickets will be sold after Sept. 24.
Tickets are available as follows: Saturday, Sept. 20 - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 21 - 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 23 - 12:30 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 24 - 3 to 9 p.m.
Exhibitor admission tickets are $20. (Only one ticket per exhibi-tor). Student admission tickets are $10, for four days, for students12 to 18 years old, from Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall only. College students admission tickets are $15, for four days, for stu-dents 18 to 25 only. Proof of college attendance is required.
Four day admission ticket is $32. Four day unlimited entry parking pass is $10. Wrist ride bracelet for Sept. 26 only (not including the roller coaster)is $20. Wrist ride bracelet for Sept. 26 only (including the roller coaster)is $30.
Durham Fair advanced ticket sales
Town Times Service Directory
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A16 Friday, September 5, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com
William W. MalcolmWilliam W. Malcolm, of Mid-
dlefield, is an Army ROTC cadet involved in Cadet Language and Cultural Immersion Training -- their first training deployment as a cadet. After a week-long train-ing session at Fort Knox, Ky., the selected cadets are deployed to partner nations where they are immersed in the local cultures and languages.
The selected cadets spend three weeks involved in assisting with current Army missions that range from community outreach projects to teaching English to local children or host country military personnel. They are not only getting a total immersion in another culture, but are also building positive relationships and helping the people of part-ner nations.
Malcolm, the son of James T. and Millicent M. Malcolm, is cur-rently a student at Eastern Con-necticut State University.
Jeff R. MazzettaAir Force Airman 1st Class
Jeff R. Mazzetta has graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lack-land, San Antonio. Texas.
The airman completed an in-tensive, eight-week program that included training in military disci-pline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and ba-sic warfare principles and skills.
Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.
Mazzetta is the son of Jeff Mazzetta of Rockfall.
Military News
Cat Tales, a nonprofit res-cue, is seeking foster care volunteers to provide tem-porary housing for cats and kittens. Volunteers will pre-pare the cats for adoption and prevent overcrowding in the shelter. Cat Tales will provide food, supplies, and medications, and all vet care.
Volunteers will be respon-sible for daily feeding, play and attention, administering medications, following spe-cial dietary plans, handling the cat into and out of a car-rier, and transporting cats to veterinary appointments.
For more information, call (860) 344-9043 or [email protected].
Seeking feline foster care volunteers
In Brief
Town Times Service Directory
Lawn Mowing860-663-3107
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A17
Senior Services for the Towns of Durham and Middlefield and St. Luke’s Community Services of Middletown are partnering in recruiting volunteers who would like to help local el-derly individuals remain at home and maintain a good quality of life by providing visitation, grocery shopping or transportation to out-of-town medical appointments.
Volunteers can choose to help one or more individ-uals for just a few hours a month, as there is no min-imum time requirement. Scheduling is flexible, but consistency and reliability is important. All volunteers are background checked, trained and bonded.
Orientations sessions (volunteers attend only one) are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 7, 9 a.m. to noon, at the Durham Activ-ity Center, 350 Main St. and Wednesday, Oct. 22, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Middlefield Senior Center, 405 Main St., Middlefield. Volunteer candidates must register at least one week in advance of orientation.
For more information and to register, contact Cas-sandra Aronson, St. Luke’s volunteer programs coor-dinator, at (860) 999-1683 or [email protected].
Volunteer opportunities
Middlesex County Cham-ber of Commerce, with the Connecticut Small Busi-ness Development center, has scheduled a Small Busi-ness Lending Forum and Mini Expo for Monday, Sept. 15, 9:30 a.m. to noon, at the Crown Plaza Cromwell.
The event features a panel discussion and mini expo representing lending sources, questions and answer pe-riod and networking session. Registration is required. For more information, visit www.middlesexchamber.com.
In Brief
Forum, mini expo planned for Sept. 15
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A18 Friday, September 5, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com
The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration continue to hear from taxpayers who have received unsolicited calls from individuals de-manding payment while fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS.
According to the IRS, warning signs that taxpayers should remember are that first contact from the IRS will not be a phone call, but through official correspon-dence through the mail and that these calls are from an-gry, threatening people who claim they are from the IRS and demand immediate pay-ment. The IRS will never ask for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the phone; never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations; never requests immediate payment over the phone and will not take enforcement action immedi-ately following a phone con-version. Taxpayers usually receive prior notification of IRS enforcement action involving IRS tax liens or levies.
Other characteristics of the scam include: scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They gen-erally use common names and surnames to identify themselves; scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Se-curity number; scammers may send bogus IRS email to victims to support the bo-gus calls; victims may hear background noise of other calls to mimic a call site; af-ter threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others will call back pretending to be from the lo-cal police or DMV. Caller ID supports the claim.
Taxpayers who receive scam calls should report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484 or the Federal Trade Commission, “FTC Com-plaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of the complaint.
IRS phone scam rampant
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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, September 5, 2014 A19
Volunteer Horse Patrol fills a niche need
CHESHIRE — In the early 2000s, the state had a prob-lem. Budget shortfalls were extensive, resulting in crit-ical staff cutbacks at many state parks. The public faced a real threat of having recre-ational facilities close or op-erate with severely limited hours. Without fanfare, a spe-cific group of state residents, horse owners and riders with The Connecticut Horse Council, CHC, took the reins.
They offered to volun-teer to act as “auxiliary eyes and ears” in the understaffed parks and forest system for the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, DEEP. The formal creation of the CHC Volunteer Horse Patrol was complete in 2003.
DEEP supervises the group and VHP reports directly to them. Members of the pa-trol include local residents Christel Maturo and Cathy Clouse. Maturo is acting co-ordinator for the Sleeping Gi-ant VHP area, which includes Cheshire. Maturo and Clouse say the VHP program is one that benefits all involved.
The savings have made an real impact, according to Maturo and Clouse. Fig-ures provided by the CHC, show members logged more
than 29,000 hours of volun-teer time. In patrol hours and trail maintenance, the group has saved taxpayers roughly $585,000, according to CHC handouts spanning 2003-2013.
Now in 2014, the CHC Volunteer Horse Program has grown significantly. The CHC states it has more than 100 VHP members who patrol “more than 80 areas through-out the state, including state parks, forests, Greenways, land trusts, open spaces, and town parks.”
Christel Maturo and Cathy Clouse patrol routinely. For instance, they ride Cheshire’s DeDominicus town-owned property, and Sleeping Giant State Park, as well as travel to a number of state-owned parks and forests. When rid-ing as VHP members, they
can ride with other VHP groups, CHC members or ride with the Cheshire Horse Council, a local organization Maturo founded in 2005.
Easily recognizable on the trails in their VHP uniforms, they wear signature red shirts with VHP patches, black pants or jeans, helmet, and safety vest with VHP logos imprinted on the back.
When a hiker first encoun-ters the VHP, it can be a bit unnerving—perhaps daunt-ing. The riders and their horses seem to materialize out of nowhere on other-wise quiet, solitary paths and wooded parcels. There they are, sitting 14-to-17 hands high on steeds of bay, cream, chestnut, or white or black as they carefully and steadily follow the trail.
No need to worry. As Vol-unteer Horse Patrol mem-bers, they welcome any occasion to “meet and greet” those they encounter on the trails. In fact, talking with the public is one of their favorite things to do within their long list of assigned jobs.
As VHP representatives, Maturo and Clouse discount any idea of policing. “We’re not cops,” Maturo said assur-edly. “We just keep an eye on
things.” Maturo and Clouse, along with fellow VHP mem-bers are required to keep de-tailed logs to report weekly and monthly activity. They note the number of hikers and visitors, report problems with ATVs or off-road vehicles, il-legal fires, destruction of pub-lic property, trails in need of repair after storms, etc.
Helping hikers who might
By Joy VanderLekSpecial to Town Times
The Connecticut Horse Council estimates its VHP members have contributed close to 30,000 hours of patrol and maintenance service since the program began in 2003. VHP member Cathy Clouse of Cheshire is pictured.
Pictured: Christel Maturo, VHP member and VHP coordinator for the Sleeping Giant area, which includes Cheshire.
See Patrol / Page 20
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Patrol
get lost also falls within their duties. “Each member is also CPR trained,” said Maturo, “So we can assist if there is a medical emergency.” Additionally, VHP members have a direct line on their phones to DEEP to report instances in need of immediate assistance, she said.
To be a VHP you have to pass a num-ber of tests. “Not only do we have to pos-sess qualifications, the horse has to pass to be in the patrol horse and do a series of tests,” said Maturo.
“You can’t just get on a horse and patrol. The horse has to be certified,” Clouse added. “This is the horse’s job, and he has to take his job seriously. The horse must be rock solid. They must be in tune with their rider. Focused.”
Set behaviors must be demonstrated to qualify a horse for VHP duty. Maturo gives a few examples: If a VHP members meets a child on the trail, the horse has to behave and allow itself to be petted and stand quietly, she said. “They cannot be spooked easily, by say, loose dogs.”
In addition, they can’t let anything like a deer, or even a shooting in the woods spook them. As part of training, the VHP coordinator takes her horses to a trail near a local sporting range, to get the horses used to the sound of the shooting black powder. “They get used to it.”
In all it’s a volunteer position that both Maturo and Clouse enjoy. “We try to educate the people. We love it when someone stops us on the trail and asks us questions,” said Maturo. “We are pro-moting horsemanship and bringing the equestrian community to the people.”
From Page 19
HARTFORD — Con-sumer advocates and state officials are lining up against a request by Con-necticut’s largest utility to raise $232 million from a rate increase that would be used to upgrade equip-ment following destructive storms and toughen sys-tems to prevent outages in the future.
Customers would pay an average $150 more a year, up about 6 percent, if reg-ulators side with Connecti-cut Light & Power. The bulk of the increase would be higher monthly charges totaling $114 a year regard-less of how much electric-ity is used, which critics say would undermine en-ergy conservation.
William Dornbos, senior attorney at Environment Northeast, an advocacy
group, called the rate re-quest a “flawed proposal” that would make it harder for consumers to save elec-tricity and money with en-ergy-efficient appliances, rooftop solar panels and other flexible was to buy cheaper electricity.
“It conflicts with the many good things we’re trying to do here in Con-necticut to help electricity customers get control over their bills,” he said.
CL&P, a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities, said about $117 million would pay for new and stronger poles, wires, transformers and substation upgrades. It already has permission from the state to recover $89.5 million for costs re-lated to damage from storms in 2011 and 2012, and $25.3 million to protect equipment from storms in the future.
Mitch Gross, a spokes-
man for the utility, said the rate request is needed for capital improvements in equipment and systems. Electric reliability was bet-ter last year than in more than 10 years due to “tar-geted system improve-ments and replacements,” he said.
The utility, which serves 1.2 million customers, also has worked to control op-erating costs that have resulted in consumer sav-ings, Gross said.
Elin Swanson Katz, the state’s consumer counsel, is asking regulators to cut CL&P’s request by $109.2 million. Reducing the in-crease in the monthly charge would be more in line with what utility cus-tomers pay in neighboring states “and what seems merited by the facts,” she said.
Gov. Dannel P. Mal-loy said raising the fixed
monthly service fee on electric bills “is at odds” with Connecticut’s strat-egy of encouraging energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources.
Sen. Richard Blumen-thal, D-Conn., said CL&P is seeking to raise rates charged to customers to boost profit with a rate of return that would increase to 10.2 percent from 9.4 percent.
“Its only purpose is to increase CL&P’s rate of re-turn to make it one of the highest in the whole coun-try,” he said.
Robert B. Hevert, a con-sultant for CL&P who tes-tified before the Public Utilities Regulatory Au-thority in June, said a 10.2 percent return on equity for electric utilities “is a reasonable, if not conser-vative estimate.”
A draft decision by the state is expected Dec. 1.
Proposed new Connecticut utility rate draws fightBy Stephen SingerAssociated Press
More speeders cited by police on Labor Day weekendHARTFORD (AP) —
Connecticut State Police say speeding and other poor driving jumped during the Labor Day weekend over last year though arrests for drunken
driving and citations for failing to wear seat belts dropped.
On the weekend that began Friday and ended Monday night, police re-ported 1,727 citations for
speeding, a 14 percent jump from 1,513 last year. Police cited 200 motorists for seat belt violations, which was fewer than last year.
Thirty-five motorists
were arrested on charges of driving under the in-fluence, compared with 50 DUI arrests last year.
Police say 315 accidents were reported, up from 259 last year.
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