plainvillejan2

Volume 13, Number 1 Plainville’s Only Weekly Newspaper www.plainvillecitizen.com Thursday, January 2, 2014

JanuaryA committee formed to try and

save the old Linden Street School convened on Jan. 17 to gauge the pub-lic’s input on options for the build-ing’s future.

Formed about seven months ago, the committee has invited the pub-lic to its meetings twice for input to listen to ideas on how the building could be saved.

The structure currently sits as an

unoccupied appendage to the current Linden Street School, which makes saving it difficult because of secu-rity issues to the current school and other logistical concerns like a lack of parking.

***Charlotte Koskoff set the bar

pretty high on the Plainville Board of Education.

Koskoff, a member of the board for two and a half years, has officially re-signed in order to undertake other projects that she deemed would be too time consuming to be able to de-vote the amount of time she wanted

to the BOE. FebruaryPlainville Community Schools will

be implementing a breathalyzer pol-icy for school-sanctioned events like prom.

Plainville High School Principal Steven LePage approached the Board of Education at the Jan. 14 meet-ing with a preliminary mention of a breathalyzer policy. He said students had come to him, curious about such a policy, and they were concerned

that fellow classmates were engag-ing in alcohol abuse for school social events, like the previous homecom-ing dance.

“Our interest is the safety and well-being of our students,” LePage said. “So this is another step in that process.”

At the Feb. 11 meeting, LePage and Assistant Superintendent Maureen

I’m always amazed how quickly years fly by these days.

Even so, look at all of the things that happened in Plainville in 2013.

Plainville was busy from the very start of the year, with citizens searching for ways to save the Old Linden Street School building.

Since no one can seem to find any use for it, demolition has been recommended. Bummer.

But hey, that’s only a recom-mendation – taxpayers will have the final say in a referendum vote.

Plainville High School de-

ployed a new breathalyzer policy in March for events like prom and homecoming. So far the program appears to be a success, except for the part where Principal Steven LePage has to have a bunch of kids breathe in his face – oof. Just kidding.

Of course, there’s the budget season, that time-honored and cherished part of the year for journalists, when we attempt to process numbers regardless of the fact that we failed basic math courses in college and had to be tutored by our 16-year-old cous-ins. Well, maybe that’s just me.

Breathalyzers, turtles, and DeVoe’s switcheroo

By Julie Sopchak The Plainville Citizen

Commentary

See Switcheroo / 2

Plainville in 2013: A look backBy Julie Sopchak and Nick CarrollThe Plainville Citizen

Tree-lighting night in Plainville. | (Photo by Patrick Matthews)

See 2013 / Page 5

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A2 Thursday, January 2, 2014 The Plainville Citizen | plainvillecitizen.com

The former superintendent of the town’s Water Pollution Control Facility was sen-tenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to 20 felonies.

Kenneth Michelson, 54, of 227 Chestnut Hill Ave., Waterbury, pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine in October to 20 felony charges including two counts of first-degree larceny, tamper-ing with physical evidence, falsifying statements, tamper-ing with witnesses and forg-ery. A plea under the Alford Doctrine means the defen-dant does not admit guilt, but concedes that the prose-cution probably has enough evidence to convict.

Michelson was sentenced in New Britain Superior Court Dec. 23. During the hearing, at least five victims had statements read into the record, including Plainville Town Manager Robert E. Lee and representatives from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

According to the arrest warrant, an anonymous letter concerning Michelson was

sent to Lee in November 2012 and a lengthy police investi-gation followed. Michelson began working for the town in 2002 and became superin-tendent of the water pollution control facility in 2008. He was placed on administrative leave during the investigation and resigned in December 2011. Over a two-year period, Michelson is accused of tak-ing materials purchased with town money for his own personal use, police said. Michelson ordered extra ma-terials for replacing the roof at the treatment plant then used the extra roofing ma-terials to replace the roof at his home in Waterbury, po-lice said.

Michelson is also accused of forging invoices, procur-ing town funds for personal use, stealing a town-owned computer and later attempt-ing to hide and destroy evi-dence, according to police. The investigation also indi-cates Michelson filed several false nutrient analysis reports with the DEEP during 2010 and 2011, police said. Once he became aware of the po-lice investigation, Michelson tried to influence what po-tential witnesses would tell

investigators, police said. According to the arrest war-rant, Michelson told water pollution control employees that, if they had anything to do with the anonymous letter, they would be fired. He also threatened to sue the writer for defamation of character and “take them for every-thing,” the warrant said.

During the sentenc-ing hearing, DEEP Deputy Co m m i s s i o n e r M a c k y McCleary had a statement read into the record detail-ing the environmental dam-age from Michelson’s actions. There were spills of raw sew-age into the Pequabuck River, which runs through Plainville, and the effects of the spills reached all the way to the Long Island Sound, McCleary said in the statement. The spills created a danger to resi-dents due to the pathogens in the sewage and to aquatic life from the chemicals released, McCleary said. McCleary de-scribed Michelson’s actions as being in blatant disregard for public safety and said the judge should sentence him to show that “such behavior will not be tolerated.” Several employees of the facility also spoke and said Michelson

Former water supervisor sentenced to four yearsBy Lauren SievertSpecial to The Citizen

was an “arrogant” boss and would threaten them to the point of affecting their personal lives. Family and friends of Michelson also spoke at the hearing and de-scribed him as a “compas-sionate,” church-going man. Michelson’s brother and sis-ter both asked for leniency for Michelson.

Michelson spoke at the hearing, saying he accepted the plea deal to end the case, but he pleaded under the Alford Doctrine because he does not agree with the al-legations by the state attor-ney. Michelson maintained his innocence, and said that Plainville was a hostile work-ing environment, and the town was “notorious.”

Judge Arthur Hadden said during sentencing that he could not come to a clear

picture of who Michelson was due to the great dispar-ity between what the victims described and Michelson’s family said. Hadden said Michelson violated the pub-lic trust placed on his posi-tion as the superintendent. Hadden said Michelson’s maintaining of his innocence explains his lack of remorse in the pre-sentencing report.

H a d d e n s e n t e n c e d Michelson to a total of 10 years suspended after four years to serve and five years probation. He is prohibited from working in the waste treatment field or seeking certification during the pro-bation, and a no contact or-der was put in place for all the victims named in the ar-rest warrant. Michelson was also ordered to make $6,700 in restitution to Plainville.

Trying to find ways to oc-cupy time during the cold winter months can be diffi-cult, but local library direc-tors have compiled a list of what they believe to be the season’s top picks for curling up and diving into a story.

Plainville Public Library Director Peter Chase said there are some best-sellers that are quite popular, but also some not on the best-seller list that are worthy of attention.

The Burgess Boys by Pulitzer Prize-winning au-thor Elizabeth Strout is an adult fiction about siblings from a small town in Maine that run into some trouble. Readers soon discover a

deep, dark secret within the family as the story unfolds.

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann is about voyagers who flew across the Atlantic Ocean. The flights are based on true events, but Chase ex-plained the author fictionally ties all of the pilots together through a family that was in the inner-workings somehow of each trip.

Untethered Soul by Michael Singer, Chase said, is a book that is part of a grow-ing trend of mindfulness and meditation. He said this par-ticular book helps readers to get in touch with their inner selves and discover true inner peace.

“There’s a lot of interest in mindfulness and mediation,” Chase said.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin puts a dif-

Libraries offer hefty selection for winter reading

By Julie Sopchak The Plainville Citizen

ferent spin on the Civil War era by examining Abraham

See Reading / Page 14

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When it comes to New Year resolutions, Cheryl Monaco knows exactly what hers will be for 2014.

Simple. It’s the same one she’s made for the past five years.

“Eat better. Live better,” the Berlin native said matter-of-factly. “Now if only I can resolve to have better will power. Maybe that’s what I should really shoot for.”

As we reach that annual cel-ebration of the holidays with an eye on a fresh new start in the new year, Monaco and millions of others just like her will soon think of their own personal resolutions of mak-ing better, healthier choices for their body, mind and soul.

“I’ve been making New Year’s resolutions since I was a kid,” said Gary Schneider, a self-described “proud senior” living in Durham. “Making them’s the easy part, keeping them is the hard part.”

To help stay on track with your annual New Year’s res-olution, and not store it away

with holiday decorations in early January, registered di-etician-nutritionist Betsy Crisafulli has two words: think small.

“Small changes will add up in the long run,” she said. “So many people start the new year with big ideas that just aren’t realistic when done all at one time. Choose one or two things to focus on, and things that are measurable.”

Betsy Crisafulli Nutrition, of Southington, provides in-dividual nutrition counseling for clients looking to man-age their weight or any nutri-tion-related concerns due to chronic disease, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes.

In order to stick to any res-olution, Crisafulli suggests developing a clearly defined plan, and then work towards meeting your small initial goal before setting another.

“Changing a lot of things at one time can be overwhelm-ing and lead to feelings of failure when you aren’t able to do everything,” she said. “By making goals realistic and measurable, you’re more

New year nourishment for the body and mindBy Keith HagartySpecial to The Citizen

A meditation class at Vital Life Center in Plainville.| (Photo by Keith Hagarty)

likely to succeed.”Hurrying through her hol-

iday shopping list, Brenda Dillon, of New Britain, said she would just like time to relax and catch her breath in 2014.

“Can I make a resolution to slow down the world, even for maybe an hour?” said the mother of three, all under the age of six.

Relax. Take a deep breath. “Live. Laugh. Love” is the motto of the Vital Life Center, located on West Main Street in Plainville, a comprehen-sive wellness center offering yoga, meditation, massage, nutrition, wellness and life coaching.

“Anyone can meditate,” said Jayaprabha Mare DiBenigno, owner and director of the center. “One of the common misconceptions is thinking you don’t have the kind of personality that can medi-tate or relax. A lot of people think meditation means mak-

ing their mind stop, which is not the case, and in fact, would be impossible to main-tain and not what we’re after. One doesn’t need to make their mind stop. We pull at-

tention away from thinking, but thinking will still occur.”

Wearing multiple hats at the center as a medita-

See Nourishment / Page 7

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2013

Brummett presented a pro-posal to the BOE of a new policy that would allow the use of breathalyzers to de-termine if a student had been drinking prior to attending a school event.

MarchPlainville Town Council

unanimously approved to recommend the proposed budget for fiscal year 2014, which has the lowest increase since 1991 at 1.21 percent.

Counci l Chairwoman Kathy Pugliese said with all hopes, the budget will pass on the first round of voting, set for Tuesday, April 30, at the Plainville Firehouse.

“In the days I’ve done this, I don’t remember seeing any-thing coming in at this level and maintain our services and with schools getting a lot of things done,” Pugliese said.

From Page 1

Plainville Block Party. | (File photo)

The Board of Education budget was proposed at an increase of .987 percent.

***The Board of Education

unanimously approved the proposed breathalyzer pol-icy at its meeting on Monday, March 11. The policy will go into effect immediately for the upcoming prom season.

In other business, the board also approved the ad-dition of two new courses to the PHS curriculum, which were discussed at a special joint meeting on Feb. 12 with the BOE and Library Board. The courses, Introduction to Oceanography and Topics in History, are one semester, and will be available in the fall of this year.

AprilRosa Perez has been named

Plainville High School’s as-sistant principal after an extensive process that eval-uated more than 100 candi-dates. Perez, currently the

assistant principal at Suffield High School, will replace cur-rent PHS Assistant Principal Kathy Carter, who will retire at the end of this year.

“Mrs. Perez has a wealth of knowledge and experi-ence that will perfectly com-plement the Plainville High School administrative team and the school community,” stated PHS Principal Steven LePage. “Her current and former colleagues and super-visors all expressed the deep-est respect for Rosa’s abilities and attributes as an adminis-trator, as an educator, and as a person.”

Perez was named the can-didate of choice April 9 at a special Board of Education

See 2013 / Page 6

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Barton-CraneGary and Nancy Barton of Plain-ville, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Lindsay Barton, to Corey Crane, son of Martin and Sallyann Crane of Plainville.

The bride-to-be is a 2004 graduate of Plainville High School, and 2012 graduate of Central Connecti-cut State University with a bachelors degree in English. She currently attends the University of Bridgeport for a Masters in Education and Teacher Certification. She is also a teacher intern for the 2013-14 school year at an elementary school in her hometown.

Her fiance is a 2000 graduate of Plainville High School, and just celebrated his 10 year anniversary with Aetna Insurance Company. He also currently attends Charter Oak State College.

The future bride is the granddaughter of Claire Kear, of Orlan-do, FL. The future groom is the grandson of Biagio and Lucy Ciotto of Plainville, CT.

The couple will appear this March on an episode of “I Found The Dress” on the TLC Network. A spring wedding is planned for May of 2015.

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2013

meeting. ***Hangar 1 at Robertson

Airport will have a new tenant and opportunity for revenue beginning in June.

At its April 15 meeting, Town Council approved leas-ing the hangar to Interstate Aviation, which will pay $54,000 for one year and use the large, heated hangar to store jets.

“There’s not a large jet population out there, but there is one,” said Aviation Commission Vice Chairman Richard Piotrowski.

Piotrowski added that somewhere within a year, the

From Page 5

Plainville Balloon Festival. | (File photo) The PHS band performs at graduation. | (File photo)

commission will look into other options and see how revenue can be improved. Councilor Scott Saunders said the commission has been anticipating for a long

time to bring the hangar “un-der the umbrella.”

Council Chairwoman Kathy Pugliese also brought up items in the Connecticut Council of Small Towns

that she thought may impact Plainville. Town Manager Robert E. Lee, also a board member for COST, gave a brief summary of the items to the council, including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s pro-posal to eliminate the car tax, which could take away an es-timated $3 million from the town’s revenue.

Lee said legislators have given assurance that Malloy’s proposal is pretty much “dead in the water” and other ways to address the car tax are be-ing evaluated. Other items included the elimination of grants.

***Lying dormant and out

of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for the past two years, the Paderewski Park wading pool will have a chance to splash some fun into summer for Plainville residents. On April 26, the Town of Plainville was awarded a grant for $151,285 from the state to fund im-provements to the pool that will bring it up to code with the ADA.

MayTown Council approved

unanimously Monday to set the mill rate for fiscal year 2014 at 31.38 -.49 mills higher than the rate for the current year.

The rate is calculated based on what anticipated revenues will be. The recommendation to raise the rate by.49 is the same estimate given back in April.

The council also heard a presentation from Chief of Police Matthew Catania re-garding the implementation of a school resource officer in Plainville High School and Middle School of Plainville. There is a state grant avail-able for Community Oriented Policing Services in the Department of Justice.

***United Way of Central

Connecticut’s 22nd Day of Caring offered volunteers a chance to go out in their communities and help or-ganizations and businesses with some housekeeping on a warm, sunny Friday.

Wheeler Regional YMCA, Plainville Day Care Center, and PARC all got help from a few extra hands May 17.

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See 2013 / Page 9

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Nourishment

tion teacher, yoga instruc-tor and spiritual life coach, DiBenigno champions the benefits of meditation, claim-ing it vastly improves rela-tionships with ourselves and the world around us.

“Meditation def initely benefits our mind, body and soul. It increases our creativ-ity, empathy and compassion for ourselves and others,” she said. “There are many, many studies on the benefits of meditation now because of the use of MRI technology, where they’re now seeing ex-actly how meditation works in the brain and its positive effects.”

One recent study has even compared the significant pain relieving effects of medita-tion to that of morphine.

“Meditation is shown to re-duce physical pain by increas-ing our threshold to pain, as well as the ability to reduce and eradicate our emotional pain,” DiBenigno added. “When we meditate, we learn how to activate our parasym-pathetic nervous system—which is the opposite mode

From Page 4

of our stress response—it immediately relives and eradicates stress, improves digestion and boosts the im-mune system, increasing our physical health.”

Other contributing phys-ical and emotional benefits discovered through medita-tion, according to DiBenigno, include an increased ability to focus, improved memory, anxiety reduction, positive emotional stabilization, and helping curb the decline in cognitive functioning asso-ciated with aging.

“It opens us up into deeper insight which can transform us in the way we relate,” she said. “It helps us to look at and shift our perspective in a positive way that can change

some of the patterns of mind that causes us to suffer.”

An avid yoga enthusiast for more than a decade, Karen Tedesco, of New Britain, firmly believes in the power of meditation, but doesn’t plan to make any resolutions this year.

“I never do, because they mean nothing to me by February,” she said. “I would like to know how to resolve to stay away from snacking, especially during the holi-days when it’s just too easy and accessible. Too hard to ignore.”

For a deliciously festive alternative to holiday cook-ies and high-caloric, fatten-ing treats, Crisafulli suggests serving a veggie plate with

red and green items like broc-coli and radishes, or red and green peppers, to dip into a white yogurt-based dip.

“Include protein at meals and snacks to promote most lasting fullness,” Crisafulli advises, offering additional sensible snacking options, such as reduced fat cheese with whole grain crackers a side of fruit and a serving size of nuts.

“By eating meals and small snacks with protein every

three to five hours, you can keep hunger at bay and be less tempted to splurge on holiday goodies,” she said, noting the high fiber bene-fits of plant proteins, such as those found in bean and nuts. In fact, the American Heart Association recom-mends having a serving of nuts most days of the week. Although nuts are high in fat, it’s a healthy fat. However, if not limited to one serving

See Nourishment / Page 9

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StatePoint – Math is of-ten a student’s most chal-lenging subject. And if your kids aren’t keen on it, it may not have anything to do with their natural aptitude, but that they could simply be lacking the tools they need to succeed.

There are many ways par-ents can help children do better in the classroom and unleash their math potential. After all, today’s crowded classrooms don’t always allow teachers the time to deliver a personalized ap-proach to math instruction

Help sharpen your children’s math skills

Whether your children are gifted math students looking to go above and beyond their grade level and school curriculum, or need extra help with their school work, parents can play a key role in sharpening the skills they need to achieve their goals.

-- a subject where it is espe-cially needed.

Reinforcing math con-cepts at home goes be-yond improving grades, as elementary math skills are essential for success in the real world and are the basis for more advanced concepts. As more jobs require a solid math foundation, getting kids excited early is more important than ever.

Math in the Real WorldEducation does not just

need to happen inside the classroom. Draw on the connections between math, which is all around us, and your children’s interests.

For example, if you’re at the ballpark, use the time be-tween hot dogs and cracker jacks to calculate batting av-erages and other vital statis-tics. Go bowling and let your children work out the score. Or take a trip to the park to reinforce the concepts of percentages and ratio. For example, have your children determine the percentage of people in the park walking dogs, or the ratio of boys to girls on the playground.

Go DigitalIf you’re looking to

squeeze extra math instruc-tion and practice into a busy

schedule, think about cap-italizing on your children’s love for mobile technology. Kids can use digital math worksheets on iPads to solve problems just as they would on paper, at home or on-the-go.

Programs like Tabtor for example, an iPad-based e-learning program with personalized math tutoring uses highly visual and inter-active worksheets to keep kids engaged and can help pinpoint where students are struggling, not just whether they got the correct answer.

Such technologies are be-ing used in the classroom to unburden teachers of manually tracking student progress. And now, parents are catching on at home, using Tabtor as a unique, affordable and convenient math tutor service that pro-vides personalized attention, feedback from a dedicated instructor and a reward system that makes learning fun. More information and access to a free trial can be found at www.Tabtor.com.

Be VigilantOnce a student falls

behind in math, playing catch-up is tough, as math concepts are not stand alone facts, but ideas that build off one another. Stay vigilant by regularly reviewing test scores. This is a good way to determine where students need extra help. An at-home digital tutoring program that delivers regular reports on student progress can help you effectively monitor the situation.

Send us your news:The Plainville Citizen

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Obituary

Find us on the Web: www.plainvillecitizen.com

Nourishment

size, even healthy fats con-tain calories which can add up quickly.

Whether it’s the holidays or any day of the calendar year, our daily diet, accord-ing to Crisafulli, should al-ways include: two to four servings of fruit per day, three to five servings of vegetables, three servings of lower fat dairy products, and at least

From Page 7

three servings daily of whole grains.

“Make sure these items make it onto your grocery list, and have a backup plan for when you don’t have fresh produce,” Crisafulli said. “Maybe keep raisins or fruit canned in juice (not syrup) in your cabinet to pack when you run out of bananas for the week … make half your plate vegetables at lunch and din-ner—they’re low calorie, fill-ing, and nutritious.”

2013

cause she’s a teacher and the kids are students. She goes because she believes she and her students are a team.

Teaching special educa-tion reading at Middle School of Plainville for 10 years, Gmeindl was recognized as the district’s 2012-13 Teacher of the Year.

MSP Principal Matthew Guarino said he wasn’t sur-prised when he found out Gmeindl had won, saying he couldn’t think of a better can-didate for the award.

***As clouds loomed and

the threat of rain hung over Plainville High School, grad-uates celebrated their gradu-ation inside the gymnasium June 27.

One hundred and eighty-six graduates walked down the aisle in pairs.

Principal Steven LePage touched upon several les-sons, weaving in elements that graduates can relate to. He touched upon triumphs of the PHS sports programs, but also noted the shortcomings, saying each experience has takeaway value.

“Remember, trophies can tarnish over time,” LePage said, “but memories and les-sons learned from these ex-periences never go away.”

JulyAfter five and a half years

as Plainville’s director of planning and economic de-velopment, Mark DeVoe will try his hand as director of planning and community de-velopment for Southington.

(DeVoe would resign af-ter eight days on the job in Southington and return to his original post in Plainville.)

***Resident Dan Spisak

earned some internet praise recently after a photo of him holding two large snap-ping turtles, which he pulled from the Norton Park canal, was posted on The Plainville Citizen’s Facebook page. But the situation also raised con-cern from residents, includ-ing Town Council members.

Spisak claimed he moved the turtles - weighing in at 40 and 55 pounds - to an “un-disclosed location” 25 miles away because they were “try-ing to eat ducks.” He said he was worried that a turtle

From Page 6

might come out and attack a child, as children occa-sionally play near the canal. While Spisak’s intentions may have been good, resi-dents Joanne Edmund and Mark Swanson said the tur-tles should not have been removed from their natural dwelling.

August The weather stayed dry for

the Plainville Fire Company’s 29th annual Hot Air Balloon Festival, drawing in thou-sands of people and about 24 balloons to Norton Park Aug. 23-25.

***For the second year in a

row, Norton and Veterans parks are playing host to the CT No Kid Hungry cam-paign. The campaign is a joint effort between End Hunger Connecticut! and Share Our Strength.

The program provides free, nutritious meals to kids 18 and under in qualifying areas. Eligibility is based on the income of an area - deter-mined by U.S. Census Bureau - or if an adequate amount of students (50 percent or more) are enrolled in the reduced lunch program at school. Mike Koch, food ser-vice director for Bristol, said the program has been run-ning in New Britain for about 17 years, and for five years in Bristol. Plainville was added

last year, Southington this year.

“Bottom line is they knew the area qualifies because of the surrounding neighbor-hood,” Koch said.

The program has been run-ning since July 8, but Aug. 1 was a day set aside for cele-bration and fun.

Koch said this summer some 900 meals have been distributed in Plainville.

September With Plainville in its sec-

ond year of a full-day kin-dergarten program, students who “graduated” in 2012 have moved on to first grade with noticeable results.

Linden Street School first grade teacher Norma Olson-Bartley tells her students they are “making history” in Plainville Community Schools’ district.

“They seem to learn rou-tines quickly - I would nor-mally spend a lot of time explicitly teaching just the routines of the classroom in the first month of school,” Olson-Bartley said.

Wheeler Elementary School first grade teacher Reggie McConachie said improvements have been noted both socially and academically.

“We’re finding, in general, the transitions into first grade

See 2013 / Page 13

Craft, tag sale

Inside Craft/Vendor & Tag Sale sponsored by Celebrate Recovery at Bethel Christian Church, 750 Stevens St., Bristol, will take place Saturday, Jan. 18. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Crafters, vendors and qual-ity tag sale items will be sold.

Call Sharon at (860) 585-1578 or (860) 202-3876 to rent an indoor booth. Tables must be reserved and paid for by Jan. 3.

Pasta supperCelebrate Recovery at Bethel Christian Church, 750

Stevens St., Bristol will hold a Pasta Fundraiser Dinner Friday, Jan. 31, 4 to 7 p.m. Join us for pasta, homemade sauce and meatballs, Italian sausage, garlic bread, garden salad, beverages and delicious desserts.

The fundraiser benefits families that have loved ones incarcerated.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, contact Sharon at (860) 202-3876.

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Francis M. Listro PLAINVILLE — Francis M. “Frank” Listro, 89, of

Pla in-v i l l e , beloved hus-band of Mar-jorie (Stuart) Listro, passed away on Sat-urday, Dec. 21, 2013, at

the Connecticut Hospice in Branford. Born in New Britain on April 24, 1924, Frank was the son of the late Paul and Vincen-za (Pagliaro) Listro. Raised in New Britain, he attended local schools, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943. He proudly served his coun-try during World War II, and was honorably discharged in 1946. He married the love of his life, Margie, shortly after, sharing 59 years of marriage. They settled in Plainville where they raised their fam-ily, and were both longtime members of the VFW Post 574 and American Legion Post 33. He was employed at Stanley Works for over 40 years, spending most of his retirement years traveling with Margie, fulfilling his love

for the ocean going boating or clamming, and enjoying his proudest role, being a grandfather. He will be great-ly missed by his beloved fam-ily, leaving them with many laughs and cherished mem-ories. In addition to his wife, he leaves his sons, Paul and his wife, Joanne, of Southington, David and his fiancé, Carmel Gondek, of South Glaston-bury, and Willard Rivenburg and his wife, Doris, of Round-top, N.Y.; his many grand-children and great-grand-children; his sister, Gwen Kelleher; and several nieces and nephews. He was prede-ceased by his brothers, A.J., Carl, Joe, and Ernie; and his sisters, Anne and Rosemarie. Funeral services in cele-bration of Frank’s life will be held on Saturday, Dec. 28, at Bailey Funeral Home, 48 Broad St, Plainville. Commit-tal services with military hon-ors will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, Frank may be remembered with contributions to VFW, 7 Northwest Dr., Plainville, CT 06062. For online expres-sions of sympathy, please visitwww.Bailey-FuneralHome.com


Opinion

www.plainvillecitizen.comP.O. Box 57

Plainville, CT 06062

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News Editor – Olivia L. LawrenceAssistant News Editor – Nick Carroll

Executive Vice President and Assistant Publisher – Liz White

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Published every Thursday by the Record-Journal Publishing Co. Delivered by mail to all of the homes and businesses in Plainville – 06062.

I’m declaring Dec. 26 to Feb. 2 the first annual Season of Taking.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas, we’ve all en-joyed a season of grat-itude and giving. Food pantries have been filled, charities have received donations, and gifts have been exchanged. Those who aren’t religious often participate in gift-giving

too, and although the time frames differ, gifts also are exchanged for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Eid. Even strangers on the street are friendlier during the most won-derful time of the year.

For most Americans, the Season of Giving starts on Thanksgiving, when we celebrate the peaceful union of pilgrims and Native Americans. But that season of harmony didn’t last long, and neither does our annual Season of Giving.

The Season of Taking really isn’t a radical proposal if you think about it. Throughout the holiday shopping season, gifts are purchased for others, but on Dec. 26, shoppers flock to spend gift cards and attempt to return singing wall fish and horrifying sweaters.

The Season of Taking really starts to shine on New Year’s Eve, a delightfully self-centered holiday which is celebrated not with a family meal that includes yams and stuffing, but by staying up late par-tying, usually with alcohol, usually with friends.

Both of the most popular New Year’s

traditions are totally self-involved. Many people kiss their significant other at mid-night — if they have one; those that don’t are left in the literal cold. Even the most benevolent New Year’s Resolutions focus on changing the self and “Losing Weight” is the most popular resolution of all, ac-cording to the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology’s 2012 sta-tistics. Vanity, vanity.

Another one of the top five resolutions is to “Enjoy life to the fullest.” After all that exhausting generosity, people just want to focus on themselves. So why not extend the Season of Taking out another month to match the Season of Giving?

Celebrants of the Season of Taking can forgive themselves if they forget about their New Year’s resolutions — that’s the first perk to enjoy. Participants can fol-low it up by giving themselves a break on cooking and ordering take-out, or buying themselves that shiny new whatsit that no one gave them for Christmas. It’ll be good for the economy. Businesses can promote some revenue-raising self-in-dulgence with special offers on dinners for one —tis the season!

Food banks and charities will weather the storm of selfishness with the well-stocked shelves and savings from the holidays.

The best part of the Season of Taking, however, is that it ends. On Feb. 2, ev-eryone celebrating the season wakes up, confronts their shadow in the mirror, and realizes that it isn’t good to be selfish for-ever. We already set aside just one month of the year for giving — if we don’t have a season for taking, isn’t that just our de-fault attitude?

Give and take of the season By Charles KreutzkampSpecial to The Citizen

Kreutzkamp

To advertise: Call (203) 317-2327

Ron Burgundy inspired me to be a journalist.

That’s not true, but as a journalist, I did feel some kind of intrinsic moral obli-gation to go see Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

That’s not entirely true ei-ther. Like millions of people, I just really love the movie Anchorman.

I went to see the sequel Dec. 19, and excited as I was, there was that nagging little apprehension in the back of my head. You know, when-ever you’re going to see a sequel to a really popular movie, you’re afraid it’s go-ing to be absolutely terrible. In this case, I was seriously concerned that it was going to feel like the writers tried way too hard to be funny in an attempt to live up to the comedic genius of the first film.

Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. The film actu-ally lived up to the wild ex-pectations and ridiculously high bar set by the first one. It had the humor and the same style of quotable dia-logue of the first movie that had you and your friends sit-ting around blurting out ran-dom lines from the script.

I will say I was a little concerned for the welfare of Anchorman 2 when, within the first two minutes, celeb-rity rapper Drake made a cameo appearance and de-livered his lines, so terribly. But the movie was resilient and moved on. Not only was Drake not seen again, but the swarm of celebrity cameos that occur throughout the rest of the film more than make up for his appearance (albeit the majority of them happen in one fantastic, glo-rious scene). The cameos include Harrison Ford, Jim Carrey, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, John C. Reilly, Liam Neeson, Kirsten Dunst, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kanye West, Vince Vaughn, and Will Smith. My head was

spinning, to say the least.But nevertheless, this is a

movie about an anchorman, and as a journalist, I fully ap-preciated the storyline.

Without trying to give too much away, the film begins with Burgundy and wife, Veronica Corningstone, as co-anchors for a news broadcast in New York City. In a quick turn of events, Burgundy finds himself fired, while Corningstone gets promoted to nightly news anchor, hitting Burgundy straight in the pride, causing him to leave Corningstone and his 6-year-old son, Walter.

Eventually, Burgundy gets offered a job as an anchor on the Global News Network, a new network that will air 24 hours of straight news. He accepts, and takes off to re-assemble his beloved news team. Seeing what they’ve all been up to was certainly an interesting part of the movie.

Over at GNN, Burgundy and his crew find them-selves at the bottom of the food chain and have been given the graveyard shift broadcast slot from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. They need to find a way to get more ratings than the primetime slot (a bet Burgundy makes with GNN’s top personality), so Burgundy essentially rev-olutionizes the journalism industry.

At the height of his fame, Burgundy takes a horrific fall from grace, goes blind, and moves to a secluded

Movie review

Burgundy is backBy Julie Sopchak The Plainville Citizen

Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy.

See Movie/ Page 14


State

NEW HAVEN (AP) — For 22,000 Connecticut residents, this holiday sea-son has been filled with anxiety over the expected end to long-term unemploy-ment insurance benefits.

On Dec. 28, 1.3 million people across the country were expected to stop col-lecting federal unemployment benefits.

“What this means to me is, basically, Christmas is postponed,” said Felix Pagan, 29, of Middletown, a new father and husband who expected his benefits to end last week. “It’s a difficult time.”

Pagan lost his job last summer at a Subaru dealership. He is one of 22,000 Connecticut residents who expected to lose their extended unemployment ben-efits at the end of last week.

Emergency unemployment insurance, a federal benefit that kicks in after state unemployment stops, was allowed to expire during the most recent budget deal, a bipartisan agreement cut before Congress was set to go on its holiday break. Extended unemployment bene-fits have helped keep millions of families afloat since 2008, when Congress first ap-proved federal money to extend benefits beyond the 26 weeks that the states pay. The weekly benefits are not a large sum of money, with the average Connecticut beneficiary receiving $327 per week, ac-cording to a study done by the National Employment Law Project.

And while the unemployment rate is dropping, the timing of the cut still stings for the Connecticut residents affected by the slashing of federal unemployment funding. The current seasonally adjusted employment rate in Connecticut is 7.6 percent, higher than the federal unem-ployment rate of 7 percent, according to the state Department of Labor.

“The rest of the country has regained 75 percent of the jobs it lost in the re-cession,” said Robert Fort, marketing director for Workforce Alliance, a job placement agency. “Connecticut has re-gained less than 50 percent of the jobs lost.”

The abrupt end to unemployment ben-efits comes as seasonal employment has nearly ground to a halt.

“When people are broke they try to quickly find a job in restaurants, and in January and February, restaurants are lay-ing people off; retail dies in January and

February; construction slows,” Fort said.After spending 15 years installing cable,

Michael Carlo of Meriden lost his job in June 2013.

“I enjoyed what I was doing and one day I was laid off,” Carlo said.

Two years ago, he bought a family home, and the elimination of unemploy-ment benefits comes as Carlo is barely able to pay his mortgage.

“It’s a family home and I worry about losing that home,” he said.

The deal cut in Congress that will elim-inate extended unemployment benefits was lauded as an example of bipartisan cooperation among a legislative body notorious for gridlock and public bick-ering. Connecticut U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both Democrats, didn’t support the elimina-tion of extended unemployment but sup-ported the budget deal that they hoped signaled an end to political gridlock and avoided harm to the broader economy.

“The budget agreement moves us for-ward to bipartisan cooperation as well as greater stability that is necessary for economic development and job growth,” Blumenthal said.

U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, was the lone federal lawmaker from Connecticut who voted against the budget deal.

“It was wrong to leave Washington without taking care of the people who needed their benefits extended,” DeLauro said.

A glimmer of hope for a separate deal on unemployment benefits remains. The Senate took up a bill last week that would extend federal unemployment bene-fits for three months. Blumenthal and Murphy support the proposal. However, it’s unlikely the Senate would pass the bill before the Dec. 28 deadline.

“I think the odds that we can pass something get better if there is an outcry from the public,” DeLauro said. “We have to raise the decibel level.”

Even if the bill passes the Senate after the break ends in early January, it faces an uphill battle in a Republican-controlled and fiscally conservative House of Representatives. Extending benefits for another year would cost $26 billion.

Meanwhile, Pagan continues to fill out applications and is studying to become an engineer in hopes that improving his education will better his job prospects.

“It’s not fair to those people... who are trying to move forward and do good for themselves,” Pagan said of the cuts.

Unemployment benefits end for 22,000

By Brian CharlesNew Haven Register

S T O R R S ( A P ) — Economists at the University of Connecticut see little to cheer in the state’s falling unemployment rate, saying it’s not due to job creation, but because workers are quitting the labor force.

The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis says in its forecast released Dec. 23 that lower unemploy-ment is misleading and is a “smoke screen.”

Connecticut’s unemploy-ment rate fell to 7.6 per-cent in November. The state

Labor Department said Dec. 19 it’s the third straight monthly decline with 4,200 private sector jobs added.

UConn’s Connecticut Economic Outlook says that if participation in the la-bor force were at the level of mid-2010, the unemploy-ment rate would be 10.7 percent.

A spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says that after years of stagnation, Connecticut is creating jobs in industries that are set to grow.

Economists see little cheer in

falling joblessness

NEW BRITAIN (AP) — Connecticut’s health insur-ance marketplace received a flood of interest Dec. 23 from people hoping to secure cov-erage by the first day of the new year.

Staff at Access Health CT’s New Britain insurance storefront expected to en-roll more than 100 people on the day, the last to sign up for coverage beginning Jan. 1. While the federal govern-ment extended the deadline for states using its website, Connecticut’s deadline was midnight.

Ronshelle McIntyre arrived around 9:30 a.m. at the insur-ance store, one of two Access Health CT has opened, and dozens like her were hoping to enroll in time to meet the deadline. As of noon, she was among about 40 people wait-ing to speak with a special-ist. Some were told the wait could be two hours or more.

“I don’t mind,” said the mother of three. “For health insurance, I think all it’s go-ing to cost me is a little bit

of time and patience to get it plugged up, you know?”

McIntyre said she was seeking coverage for her-self and her youngest two children because their state health care expired Friday.

John Tracz, of Plainville, has been without health cov-erage for about three years following a job layoff. The 59-year-old, who works two part-time jobs, said he de-cided to visit the store be-cause he isn’t computer savvy and was scared off by the news accounts about prob-lems plaguing the federal health care website.

Tracz said he knew about the Dec. 23 deadline to get coverage but didn’t take it seriously.

“I figured, how can they have it all done by then?” he asked. “The president is go-ing to have to extend it again, I think.”

Dec. 23, the federal govern-ment announced it was effec-tively extending the deadline for signing up for insurance by a day, giving people in 36 states more time to choose

Insurance shoppers pack store for deadlineBy Susan HaighAssociated Press

See Insurance / Page 15


Switcheroo

When I was done being cross-eyed after looking at charts and numbers, I came to the conclusion that Plainville is actually pretty good at budgeting (i.e., those low increases and stuff).

Roberston Airport got a new tenant in April to bring in some more money to the airport, which is cool. I’ve never been on a plane, but they look like they could be fun.

Paderewski Park got a boost back to life with a grant that would fix up the wading pool that has just been kind of, well, laying there.

At the end of June, PHS bid farewell and good luck to another graduating class. Nevermind how old I feel whenever I cover these things, but good for them, being youthful and ready to grab the world by the haunches and all.

Soon after that, Plainville also bid farewell to Mark DeVoe, who served the Town of Plainville as direc-tor of planning and eco-nomic development for roughly seven years. DeVoe accepted a town planner post in Southington.

Soon after he left, DeVoe came back. Eight days, to be precise.

Welcome back, Mark!Probably the most viral

story in Plainville – and when I say “viral,” I mean it got a bunch of likes and comments on Facebook – was when resident Dan Spisak pulled some gargan-tuan turtles out of Norton Park canal and moved them to a different location be-cause, I don’t know, he felt like it? I guess the turtles were trying to eat ducks. How silly and reckless of those turtles to try and feed themselves.

Turns out, Spisak didn’t break any laws. Still, some people were worried about upsetting the balance of nature. Others wondered whether the turtles were be-ing used for soup.

August is a popular month for the town, because that’s when the Plainville Fire Company holds its annual

From Page 1

See Switcheroo / Page 13

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The Plainville

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The Plainville

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2013

were easier,” McConachie said.

Allison Pascucci, f irst grade teacher at Toffolon Elementary School, echoed that. “They’re overall bet-ter prepared for first grade,” she said. Board of Education C h a i r p e r s o n A n d r e a Saunders said teachers are finding fewer students in need of extra help or moni-toring for reading or other ar-eas of study.

***A Plainville man pleaded

not guilty Tuesday, Sept. 10, to charges in a fatal hit-and-run accident on Queen Street in Southington after the February blizzard.

Edward Fascendini, 46, of 66 Whiting St., was arrested in May and charged with fel-ony misconduct with a mo-tor vehicle and three counts of evading responsibility.

October Administrators proposed

new policy changes to the Plainville school district to the Board of Education at its regular meeting Oct. 15.

Assistant Superintendent Maureen Brummett pre-sented the proposals that in-cluded school safety, health education, graduation, and student representative roles at BOE meetings.

**Plainville High School bi-

ology teacher John Girard was given the Outstanding Biology Teacher award by the Connecticut Association of Biology Teachers. Girard, a teacher of 15 years, 10 of them at PHS, teaches biology, anat-

From Page 9

omy, physiology, and anthro-pology at AP, honors, and UConn levels.

Last year, Girard was named runner-up for the award. But Sharon Gusky, CABT president, said there was an unusual circumstance where there were two “ex-tremely well-qualified nom-inees,” so Girard was told one year in advance that he would win this year’s award.

“That’s the first time I ever heard of that,” Girard said of the way he was selected. Nevertheless, he’s honored to receive the award. “Being recognized as an outstand-ing biology teacher honors not only John and his school district, but makes the entire state proud,” Gusky said. “He is a priceless member of the education community.”

Girard was nominated for the award by his colleagues, Ken Fusco and Cheryl Hathaway, both science teachers at PHS.

November Democrats regained a seat

on Town Council and there was no change in the Board of Education on Election Night, Nov. 5, which yielded a 26 percent voter turnout.

With a 4-3 majority, the Republicans still hold con-trol of the council.

***Town Council tabled an

item on the agenda Monday night that would allow the town to absorb adminis-trative responsibilities of

the Plainville Affordable Housing Corp.

The table came as a re-sult of a concerned resident, Nancy Corfiati, who lives in one of the affordable housing neighborhoods. Corfiati ap-proached the council during the Citizen’s Forum portion of the meeting. She said the housing situation has been a mess for a long time, and now would be a good time to sort things out and make changes.

DecemberWheeler Elementary

Schoo l second- g rader Lindsay Barbagallo flipped the switch to illuminate the giant Evergreen tree outside Plainville Fire Department, and then called for Santa Claus to come greet the kids gathered.

Sure enough, in a blaze of lights and sirens, jolly old St. Nick came scream-ing down West Main Street in a fire truck Dec. 5 at the Chamber of Commerce’s an-nual tree-lighting ceremony.

***The Southington Town

Council voted unanimously on Dec. 9 to join Plainville in hiring an engineering firm to design the rails to trails proj-ect running from Southington to the Farmington town line.

Happy New Year!

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Switcheroo

Hot Air Balloon Festival. This year was my first time attending the event, and af-ter making some attempts to get a pilot to let me fly through the air in one of those giant air bags, and fail-ing, I attended Friday night to see the balloon glow and fireworks. Who doesn’t like a bunch of pretty colors in the night sky?

Now, if you thought bud-get season was exciting for journalists, just wait until I tell you about Election Day. We drop everything for this day, and we stay late in the office eating pizza and wait-ing for results to come in.

I will say I’m proba-bly more excited about what happens politically in Plainville than in my own town. That’s because I know more about what’s going on here. And also pizza – I’m going to emphasize the pizza part of Election Day.

Not too long ago, the Plainville Affordable Housing Corp. came to the Town Council, asking if the town would absorb admin-istrative duties for the non-profit, which, apparently, is still in existence, but in a comatose state. Seems like the right thing to do, except the people living in the af-fordable housing units had no idea the housing corpo-ration wanted to transfer responsibilities.

From Page 12

Then there’s the part where, apparently, the res-idents had been neglected for the past 15 years or so.

On the surface it would appear the town’s absorp-tion of responsibilities could be a good thing. But that re-mains to be seen.

Christmas season offi-cially began in Plainville with the Chamber of Commerce’s annual tree-lighting Dec. 5. My fa-vorite part is when Santa Claus comes ripping down the street in a firetruck, making as much noise and commotion as possible. Rock on, Santa.

And that’s some of the bigger stuff that happened in town this year.

What was your favorite story?

The Plainville Public Library will add Sunday af-ternoon hours to its schedule starting Jan. 5, running through April 27. The hours are 1 to 5 p.m.

The additional Sunday afternoon hours were very pop-ular last year. On average, more than 160 people visited the library each Sunday afternoon.

All the regular services will be available, including in-ternet computers, reference and children’s room service and the entire collection of more than 88,000 volumes.

One of the most used services is just providing a quiet place with a desk and chair for study and reading.

The library’s regular winter hours starting in January will be: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. (the children’s room closes at 8 p.m.), Friday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m.

Call the library at (860) 793-1446 for additional information.

Sunday library hours to resume

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For more information contact:Central CT: 860.793.7277 • Western CT: 203.755.4963

E-mail us: [email protected] Visit our website: www.wheelerclinic.org/become-a-foster-parent

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Movie

lighthouse. He is nursed back to functionality by Corningstone, and they raise a shark together, Doby. All vague details in the hilarious journey the legend of Ron Burgundy entails.

Of course, being that the

From Page 10

standards were so high, there are already plenty of negative reviews. Thankfully, I’m not that picky and not exactly looking for an artful masterpiece when I watch this movie. It’s meant for laughs, so just appreciate the humor.

Oh, and Baxter sips a drink from a straw. It’s abso-lutely adorable.

CENTER EARNS GRANTThe Plainville Family Resource Center was the recent beneficiary of a $600 grant from the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain in support of its nationally- recognized Raising Readers Parent Club family literacy program. The club provides parents with the opportunity to practice storytelling, reading aloud and writing in a nurturing environment, and also provides children’s books that parents can take home after each weekly session. The grant provides funding for enough books for program participants for two seven-week sessions. Celebrating the program funding are Jim Williamson, president of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain; Donna Cavallaro, coordinator of the Plainville Family Resource Center; Paula Eshoo, principal, Linden Street School; and Community Foundation board member Paul Zagorsky of Plainville-based Zagorsky, Zagorsky & Galske, P.C., a member of the Community Foundation’s Grants Committee. For information about the Raising Readers Parent Club, contact Donna Cavallaro at [email protected].

Find us on the Web: www.plainvillecitizen.com

Reading

Lincoln’s cabinet members, which Chase said had a great rivalry amongst them.

In Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini, readers might be able to at least pretend they’re in warmer climates as the main character gets an opportunity to go to Hawaii and teach quilting rather than facing the winter months alone after a divorce.

But, if you want to stay in the cold, there’s Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Obed, which is a series of vignettes written entirely about, you guessed it, ice. Chase said the book pro-gresses about the different types of ice seen throughout the winter, with the twelfth kind actually being the kind dreamt about in the summer when you wish you had ice to skate on.

Chase also noted some good reads for the younger audience, like First Light by Rebecca Stead, a young adult fiction about an expedition to a glacier, only to discover an entire civilization has been living underneath it.

From Page 2

Southington L ibrary Director Susan Smayda gave a list of some of her picks for the season.

“Winter is a great time to start reading a nice, long se-ries,” she said.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, made popular by HBO series Game of Thrones. Originally planned as a trilogy, there are now five volumes with two more in the works.

The Archy McNally se-ries by Lawrence Sanders and Vincent Lardo follows Archibald “Archy” McNally through a series of light-

hearted mysteries in Palm Beach.

The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson includes three books that follow Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. The series is recommended for a mature audience.

Of course, this is just a small sample of what local libraries have to offer, and perhaps browsing through the shelves might be a good way to find a hidden gem.

The Plainville Board of Education is seeking a com-munity representative to attend Plainville Area Cable Television Advisory Council Meetings. PACTAC is the Advisory Council for the cable television operators in this area. This individual will represent the cultural, edu-cational, ethnic and economic make-up of the population inhabiting the town.

PACTAC members meet nine Mondays during the year from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The meetings take place on the last Monday of each month and take place at Nutmeg TV in Farmington.

Interested citizens are asked to contact the superinten-dent’s office at (860) 793-3210 ext. 202.

BOE seeks PACTAC rep

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Insurance

plans, anticipating heavy traf-fic on the federal health care website. But Access Health CT stressed that the 24-hour extension applied only to the federally facilitated market-place and the Dec. 23 dead-line remained in place for Connecticut’s marketplace.

Connecticut residents who sign on to the federal site, healthcare.gov, are directed to accesshealthct.com.

Access Health CT spokes-woman Kathleen Tallarita said the insurance market-place’s second storefront, in New Haven, also had a lot of foot traffic. Additionally, the website consistently av-eraged 600 to 700 visitors at a time throughout the day, reaching more than 900 in late afternoon.

“That’s the most we’ve ever seen at one time,” she said.

A c c e s s H e a l t h C T

From Page 11

CEO Kevin Counihan ac-knowledged Dec. 20 that Connecticut officials un-derestimated the volume of calls that would be made to the marketplace’s call center during the days leading up to this first deadline. Maximus Inc., the company hired to run the call center, expanded its staff and was staying open until midnight.

Access Health Dec. 20 sent almost 26,000 letters by overnight mail and made phone calls to people who started but didn’t complete their applications for insur-ance. Counihan said the mar-ketplace wanted to remind them of the Dec. 23 dead-line. Tallarita said she be-lieved those letters and calls prompted some of the activ-ity Dec. 23.

“Obviously people are kind of in a panicked state,” she said, adding how a lot of people are contacting Access Health CT to say they haven’t received anything from their

new insurance carrier.Tallarita said Access

Health was checking to make sure customers have enrolled and to make sure their infor-mation was sent to the car-riers. She said most of the participating insurers were expected to send out letters to new enrollees by early this week. She said new enrollees have until Jan. 10 to pay their insurance premiums.

As of Dec. 20, 47,000 peo-ple in Connecticut have en-rolled in health plans. About half have signed up for pri-vate insurance and about half in government-funded Medicaid. After the flood of enrollments over the week-end and on Dec. 23, Tallarita said Access Health expected the marketplace could hit its internal enrollment goal of 60,000 by the end of the year. Access Health has a goal of enrolling 100,000 during the open enrollment period, which began Oct. 1 and ends March 31.

StatePoint – Are you liv-ing a happy life? Most of us face daily routines filled with the stresses of jobs and busy family schedules. And bad news seemingly is all around us, in an increasingly violent world filled with strife and scandal.

Yet there are many small changes that can help you and your family live happier, productive lives and improve your community, say experts.

“All over the world, people are finding that there really is a way to live happily. They trust life and believe things will turn out well and, if not, they cope. Life tends to prove us right, which is why a posi-tive attitude is so important,” says J. R. Lankford, author of “The Covert Messiah,” which poses interesting questions regarding society, religion and science, as part of a fast-paced mystery thriller series.

“Even at the worst of times, people are usually won-derful. We saw teachers in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting give their lives with-out thought to protect their young pupils. We saw people at the Boston Marathon run toward the danger when the

bombs went off,” she adds.It is this observation about

the profound and positive as-pect of humanity that drives

Lankford’s latest novel in her series, which is full of self-less characters willing to risk injury or death for a greater

Tips for finding happiness

The world may not be a perfect place yet, but there are many ways to celebrate the positive things in your life and find happiness.

cause. Her novel addresses what would happen if Jesus were cloned and interacted with the modern world today.

In a deeply flawed world,

Lankford offers some time-less advice for people looking to find serenity and happiness in their daily routines:

• Let the things of tomor-row worry about themselves. Yes, keep up with important events, but a steady diet of bad news isn’t good for you.

• Teach your children that they have the power to make the world a better one and it starts with belief in oneself.

• Take time each day to fo-cus on the good in the pres-ent moment rather than being lost in worrisome and often pointless thought. Meditating even 15 minutes a day can change your life.

• If your children are in-volved in their own strife with fellow classmates and friends, help them identify common ground. Teach them to forgive and not retaliate.

• Set a good example by choosing to notice the good and being happy yourself. Volunteer. Demonstrate that an average person can touch the lives of others.

More information about “The Covert Messiah,” which can be read alone or along with Lankford’s other novels, can be found at www.jrlank-ford.com.

On Thursday, Jan. 9, 7 p.m., a caucus for all regis-tered Democrats in Plainville will be held in the Council Chambers at the Municipal Center, 1 Central Square. The purpose is to endorse candidates for the Democratic Town Committee. For more information, interested persons can contact local party chairperson Rosemary Morante at (860) 402-3873.

Democratic caucus

There will be a caucus of all enrolled Republican elec-tors of the Town of Plainville Wednesday, Jan. 8, 7 p.m. at the Plainville Municipal Center, 1 Central Square, in the Council Chambers to endorse candidates for the Republican Town Committee.

For more information, call RTC Chairman Robert Pugliese at (860) 747-2583.

Republican caucus

To help combat slick surfaces, the town has sand available for residential use, at no cost. There are three locations at which residents can pick up sand: Norton Park in the parking area near Castle Apartments, Paderewski Park in the parking area by Cooke Street, and Toffolon Elementary School in the driveway entrance to the school.

Free sand available


StatePoint – As more of our correspondence takes place electronically -- from shopping to banking state-ments to love letters -- it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the influx of email re-ceived on a daily basis.

Experts say that an orga-nized inbox can save you time and keep you produc-tive, both personally and professionally.

“An organized inbox rep-resents an organized life,” says Josh Rosenwald, CEO of Unroll.me, a tool for consoli-dating email.

To help, Rosenwald is of-fering a few tricks to make email work better for you:

KeywordsWhen sending emails, pay

attention to your subject line – it will help you in the long run. Don’t just use a generic greeting as a subject. Get spe-

cific instead.By being specific in the

subject line of your email and in the body of the text, you can make your emails and threads more searchable later when you need them. Referencing past emails is

a great way to find informa-tion you need quickly, such as phone numbers or the de-tails of an upcoming event or appointment. Just be sure to always spell your keywords correctly and consistently.

Declutter“Purchase a few things on-

line; sign up for a few news-letters and before you know it, your inbox will be clut-tered with mass marketing emails, many of which will be totally irrelevant to you,” says Rosenwald.

Instead of sorting through the mess, consider using a service like Unroll.me, which can help you streamline your messages. Unroll.me works by searching your inbox for marketing emails, compiling them daily and giving you the option of automatically unsubscribing with a single click or adding the email to your “Daily Rollup,” a single email that functions like an electronic catalog organized by categories, such as travel, shopping, health and beauty. You can even choose what time of day the “Daily Rollup” arrives.

Unroll.me supports Gmail, Google apps and Yahoo Mail. More information can be found at www.unroll.me.

Don’t WaitWhile you won’t be able to

tend to every item in your in-box instantaneously, there are plenty of emails that require no more than a one-sentence response.

“There’s no sense in letting these quick action items pile up to the point where they eventually feel unmanage-able,” advises Rosenwald. “It will help you feel productive to take care of these smaller tasks right away.”

Whether you use a “to-do” folder in your inbox or a flag-ging system, be sure to stay organized with those emails you are putting off for later. It can be all too easy to forget they exist.

Time to organize your email

Just as you wouldn’t let your physical mail pile up, so too should you handle your emails promptly and efficiently.

When Gov. Dannel P. Malloy visited the NPR-affiliate radio station Dec. 23 to appear on its news show “Where We Live,” the station did not feed him.

“I have to bring my own coffee,” Malloy said.

This is not the case when he appeared on the air at the Spanish-speaking ra-dio station 1120 WPRX, La Puertorriqueñisima, in Berlin. After he finished talking with radio host Félix Viera, he paused at the table laid out with aluminum trays of Puerto Rican food.

It was not the first time that the governor visited the sta-tion and tasted its food after his interview. He said over the air that he would come back anytime to eat the pork, chicken and rice.

When Station Owner Oscar Nieves learned the governor was going to visit the station the day before Christmas Eve, he decided to push the sta-tion’s holiday party ahead one day to include the governor. After all, it’s not every day that the governor can attend

your Christmas party. On Dec. 23, Malloy first

stopped into the studio of WNPR. Just before noon, he appeared with translator Lourdes Montalvo on the ra-dio program Hablando En Serio, translated as “Speaking Seriously.”

Host of the program Félix Viera asked the governor what his priorities are going to be in the coming year.

“Job, jobs, job,” Malloy said.

“We need to grow the econ-omy. We need to get things going.”

“ Traba jos , Traba jos , Trabajos” Montalvo trans-lated for the spanish-speak-ing listeners. This visit was the second time that she translated for Malloy at the station.

The challenge in trans-lating on air, Montalvo said, was to make the message un-derstandable for all Spanish-

speakers. While the station is Puerto Rican-owned, the station wants to reach all Latinos, whether they speak a Mexican, Columbian or Puerto Rican dialect of Spanish.

Viera pressed Malloy on whether or not he would run for reelection. Malloy danced around the issue.

Viera asked what percent-age of chance the governor would run again.

More than one, less than 100, Malloy replied.

Malloy eventually said he liked the job, and peo-ple stopped him while he was Christmas shopping to ask him to run, but said he needed to sit down and talk to his wife.

This was not the treatment Malloy received at WNPR that morning.

“He (Viera) was beating me up on whether I was run-ning for reelection,” Malloy said afterwards. “Dankosky (The host of WNPR’s radio show), he let me get around that pretty easily.”

Nieves said the station brings many officials from lo-cal, state and federal levels on air to inform Latino listeners

about the government, to “ex-plain what they do and how they go about getting” the services it provides.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Christopher Murphy have been guests on the span-ish radio.

At the end of the interview, Malloy told Viera that he was working for his audience, who “I don’t think has been particularly well served by their state government.”

He said later that the lis-teners of the radio station are some of the hardest working people in the state.

“You currently have peo-ple working at nursing homes and hospitals so their chil-dren can be doctors, he said.

As he closed, Malloy wished the listeners a “Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad.”

“I ask that you pray for me and I will say a prayer for you all as well, that the next year will make us wiser and make life better for all of us.”

After posing for a few pic-tures, Malloy went down the hall to a table laid out with food from El Criollisimo, a restaurant in New Britain and

Malloy wishes Spanish listeners ‘Feliz Navidad’By Daniel Jackson Special to The Citizen

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy eats lunch at WPRX 1120 Dec. 23. | (Daniel Jackson / The Citizen)

See Malloy/ Page 20


Sports

It’s time for all the sports figures and organizations to proclaim their New Year’s resolutions to the world. I’m happy to oblige and take it on faith, they all told me these. Honest.

Well, maybe not, but I figured if they did, this is what they would pledge. So with tongue sometimes firmly planted in cheek ....

I (we) hereby resolve:

Ed McCarthy, West Haven High football coach and winnin-gest coach in state history: To re-tire. In about 15 years.

Joe Carbone, SCC Commissioner: Not to knock the Central Connecticut Conference for not being as good a football league as the FCIAC and the SCC, espe-cially in a year when my league won no (as in zero) titles and the CCC won the LL championship and had three teams in the writers’ Top 10 and four in the coaches Top 10 -- and my league had two in both polls.

CIAC: To never approve an open football division -- the dumbest idea since the Ford Edsel -- and work to shorten the ridiculously long foot-ball season.

State high school basketball officials’ organizations: To insist

that a woman -- at least one woman -- be assigned to officiate a boys championship game at the Mohegan Sun this March. Two reasons: 1. If a woman can do a girls title game -- and they can and have -- then a woman can do a boys game. 2. It will be 2014, not 1914.

Bob Diaco, new UConn football coach: To recruit better players and get out of this league -- the AAC, pronounced AAAAAAKKKKKK -- ASAP.

CIAC (It gets two!): To upgrade the qualifying record for teams in the postseason (soccer, baseball, basketball, etc.) to 50 percent, in-stead of the current 40 percent. At 50 percent, a team is at least medi-ocre. At 40 percent, well, that’s not so good.

Friday Night Football on WFSB-TV: To continue what we’re doing. It’s the best high school sports show ever.

High school PA announcers: To stop being cheerleaders. Just tell the ball carrier/passer/receiver, yards gained, down and distance. Then be quiet. Oh yeah, and we all resolve to be fair to both teams, ‘cause last time we checked, the money paid to go to the game by the visiting moms, dads and students is as good as the home town folks’ cash.

High school students: To con-tinue to paint our faces, wear cheer-

ing section shirts, and yell and holler like crazy for our teams. Not only does all of that add so much to games, but it’s great fun, too. The Berlin High Red Sea and the Xavier Black Hole are wonderful.

Parents of players: To support coaches and other kids on the team and never, never, never denigrate other players and the coach in front of my child.

To those who “recruit” kids to leave their high school and play at prep schools: To stop whis-pering in kids’ ears that they will not “be seen” at Berlin, Plainville, Middletown, Xavier or any other high school. That’s utter nonsense, given that the CCC, the SCC and the FCIAC -- and all the other leagues -- are smack in the middle of one of the most media intensive areas in the world. If you play, you’ll be seen.

Coaches who insist that kids have to play “their” sport year ‘round: To shut up. Why? Because it’s not true.

Kids who feel pressured to play year ‘round: To go to the beach and be a teenager. I’ll be a kid just once.

School boards that have pay-for-play programs: To stop it. If we can’t afford the program, we shouldn’t have it. And not to pres-sure parents and supporters to hold never-ending fund-raisers for their sport. It’s up to the taxpayers -- all

of them.High school concession stands:

To make better hot dogs. Some are great (like Middletown High, West Haven, Palmer Field in Middletown, Simsbury, Ellington). But some are pre-boiled, stuffed in a cheap roll, wrapped in foil, and allowed to get soggy for what tastes like four days.

Taxpayers: To pay for schools and sports. Stop pinching pennies. These are our kids, our future, our country.

The vast majority of coaches, athletic directors and game offi-cials: To keep doing the wonderful things we do for kids, despite some occasionally unfair and brutal crit-icism. Yeah, we’re embarrassingly underpaid, but we keep doing it for the love of the game and especially for the love of the kids.

New York Yankees: To find pitchers. And hope ARod goes away.

Boston Red Sox: To hope Father Time doesn’t catch up with Big Papi and to find a replacement for Jacoby Ellsbury.

New York Mets: To realize that Curtis Granderson and Bartolo Colon are not enough.

The NFL: To pray for a bliz-zard-free Super Bowl Sunday. (Actually, let’s all root for one;i t would be great fun).

Happy New Year!

Sports resolutions for 2014By Jim BransfieldSpecial to The Citizen

SCENES FROM THE 2013 PLAINVILLE INVITATIONAL

The Blue Devils hosted the annual event Dec. 21. | (Photos by Matt Leidemer)


Skiers and snowboarders at Powder Ridge in Middlefield will have to wear helmets while on the newly reopened slopes, making it possibly the only ski area in the country to have that requirement.

While many skiers al-ready wear helmets, Powder Ridge’s announcement online was met with a flurry of com-ments both for and against.

Tom Loring, director of Powder Ridge’s ski and snow-board school, said the policy is meant in part to put parents at ease about their children’s safety. Rather than parents having to argue with children about wearing a helmet, the policy “saves mom the trou-ble of having that conversa-tion,” Loring said.

“We’re trying to appeal to that family demographic,” he said.

Loring expects more ski areas to require headgear as people realize the safety benefits. Helmets can also be warm, comfortable and personalized.

“When you fall down with-out a helmet and get your bell rung, you know it,” Loring said. “(Our ski patrol) will give you hundreds of exam-ples of where it would have helped.”

Helmets aren’t required for adult skiers at Mount Southington, although snow-boarders in the terrain park must wear a helmet.

Owner Ed Beckley said about half of his skiers wear helmets.

“We like to have people make their own minds up whether they want to wear one,” he said. “I think it’s a personal preference.”

However, helmets aren’t likely to help in accidents at higher speeds, Beckley said.

Powder Ridge makes wearing helmets mandatory on newly opened slopes

By Jesse BuchananSpecial to The Citizen

Tom Loring, director of Ski & Snowboard School, talks about mandatory helmets for skiers and snowboarders at Powder Ridge in Middlefield. | (Photos by Dave Zajac / Special to

The Citizen)

Helmets available for skiers and snowboarders at Powder Ridge in Middlefield. Helmets are mandatory and patrons can rent, purchase or bring their own to the revamped ski area.

“Most people would agree that helmets would help pre-vent injuries that aren’t sub-stantial,” he said. “If you run into a tree at 30 miles per hour, a helmet isn’t going to help you.”

The confidence that comes from wearing a helmet can also cause some to ski faster, according to Beckley.

“All of a sudden he feels a little less careful,” Beckley said. “He’ll be skiing four to five miles per hour faster.”

Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, said ski fatali-ties have been steady over the past years despite an increase in the use of helmets. The as-sociation does help promote helmet use, however, partic-ularly for young skiers and snowboarders.

Berry also pointed to stud-ies that show helmet-wearing skiers went faster.

“Wear a helmet, but ski or snowboard as if you did not,” he said.

In the 2012-13 ski season, 70 percent of skiers and snow-boarders wore a helmet, ac-cording to association data. That’s increased from 25 percent in the 2002-03 ski season.

The association doesn’t make recommendations for rules on helmet use, but does provide help such as posters for those ski areas trying to promote helmet use.

“We don’t tell ski areas how to run their ski areas,” Berry said.

He wasn’t aware of any ski areas that require helmets for adults on the slopes.

Neil Young, president of the Meriden Ski Club, said Powder Ridge’s requirement “wasn’t a bad idea.”

“It’s a good practice. Most people now wear helmets,” he said.

Ten or 15 years ago, very few skiers wore helmets, Young said, including him-self. He began about six years ago.

“I was requiring my kids to wear a helmet,” he said.

“I’m surprised the ski slopes haven’t required it and I’m surprised the insurance companies haven’t required it,” Young said. “I would think they would have saved people from concussions and severe head injuries.”

In addition to renting hel-mets, Powder Ridge has also partnered with helmet manufacturer Bern to of-fer discounted helmets for purchase.

“If we’re mandating hel-mets, we want to make it af-fordable,” Loring said.

Adult helmets sell for $60 and junior helmets sell for $40. Those helmets can also be used for biking and boat-ing, Loring said.

Some skiers might be put off by the requirement, but Loring doesn’t expect the policy to affect Powder Ridge substantially.

“We don’t want to take away anyone’s freedom, and we don’t want to tell any-one how to enjoy the sport,” he said. “Helmets just make sense.”

The Hartford Region Open Choice Program will hold a Regional School Choice Fairs feature booths and informa-tion about the wide array of programming options avail-able to Hartford and subur-ban students ages preschool to grade 12.

A list of RSCO school choice fairs is below. For more information on school fairs, information sessions and open houses, please visit www.choiceeducation.org or call RSCO’s Parent

Information Center at (860) 713-6990 weekdays (exclud-ing state holidays) between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 119 a.m. – 12 p.m.Great Path Academy60 Bidwell St.Manchester, CT 06040Snow Date and Time:

Saturday, Jan. 18, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 305 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

International Magnet School for Global Citizenship

625 Chapel RoadSouth Windsor, CT 06074Snow Date and Time:

Friday, Jan. 31, 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 89 a.m. – 12 p.m.S p o r t a n d Me d i c a l

Sciences Academy280 Huyshope Ave.Hartford, CT 06106Snow Date and Time:

Sunday, Feb. 9; 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Regional school choice fairs on tap

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Plainville Service Directory

One of the great things about hunting is some of the hunting partners you find along the way.

I have had some really great deer hunting partners over the years — guys like Mike Hanlon, Bill Schafrick, Al DiNicola, The Flanagans, Nelson and Wes, Sonny Lane and my newest hunt-ing buddy, my neighbor Dave Wetmore.

Hunting partners are al-ways great, but even more so when one of you tag a deer and need some help in get-ting it out of the woods. Over the past couple of years, Dave and I have had pretty good luck in that department.

On a recent archery hunt we had just pulled into the yard of a home where Wetmore and I bowhunt down in Wilton. As I started to get out of the truck to get my gear and head to my hunting stand, Dave said, “I don’t really feel that good. I think I’ll just stay in the truck this morning. You can call me if you need a hand with anything.”

As luck would have it, the morning hunt was unevent-ful, and after I returned to the truck Dave said he was feeling a little better, so we headed for our usual morning coffee break at a deli down in Wilton. We both had a coffee, egg and sausage sandwich, and a pastry, and then hit the highway home.

Dave remarked that he should have passed on the pastry because now he felt like he had eaten too much. We passed it off as a bit of in-digestion and let it go at that. I dropped Dave off and forgot about it — until a little after 1 p.m.

The phone rang and it was Dave and he had some news for me. He was down at the MidState ER and they were checking him out for a heart attack.

A short time later I re-ceived another call from Dave and this time he said, “I didn’t have a heart attack, but I am on my way to Hartford

Hospital in a Hunter’s Ambulance because they think I need bypass surgery.”

As it turned out, Dave did need the bypass surgery, and instead of having three blocked arteries they found six of them! He was in the operating room for an ex-tended period of time while his wife Lois and daughter Kristin anxiously waited for the outcome.

You could always find Dave walking in the a.m. at the Westfield Mall in Meriden, and he was always very con-scious of what he ate. So the fact that he had these clogged arteries really came as a sur-prise to all of us.

And while I miss him greatly as a hunting partner, especially when it comes time to haul a deer out of the woods, it pleases me to tell you that he is home and making great strides in his re-covery. In fact, you might just run into him at the Square as he has resumed his morning walks there.

Welcome back, Dave. Seeing you back home is a great Christmas present for everyone, Especially Lois and your little Bichon, Molly.

THE MAKING OF A HUNTER

One of the elements miss-ing from the sport of hunting these past years is the intro-duction of kids into the sport. It really gives me great plea-sure that there is a new fa-ther-son hunting team in our area named Kyle and Brayden Cooney.

If the Cooney name rings

a bell with you it should not come as any surprise. Kyle’s father Joel was well known as a local athlete and he also ex-celled in our great outdoors.

Kyle, in the meantime, was in the process of mak-ing a name for himself in the baseball world and, at one time, was in the L.A Dodgers farm system before an injury ended his playing days. I even have a baseball trading card with his photo and informa-tion on it.

But even with the intensity of trying to make it in the majors, Kyle always seemed to find time to get out in the woods for some archery deer hunting. For Kyle, hunt-ing deer with a bow and ar-row was a passion, and now it appears that he has passed this passion onto his son, Brayden.

For the past couple of years I have had the pleasure of fishing alongside Kyle, Brayden and, until he left us, Joel on opening day on the Quinnipiac River. It has be-come a yearly meeting that I really look forward to.

Kyle called me the other week and related a hunt that he and Brayden had experi-enced together on Veterans Day in the Salmon River State Forest.

“We went to a spot that we had hunted previously be-cause, for the most part, deer sign in our regular haunts has been rather sparse,” Kyle said. “I set Brayden up in the best spot I knew of, border-ing a swamp with lots of thick brush and hardwoods mixed in. We were about 85 yards apart from each other in our climbing treestands and we could see each other from our positions.

“Around 3:30 in the after-noon I looked over at him and noticed he was standing up with bow in hand. I grabbed my binoculars and saw a glimpse of a doe in front of him as he continued to stand still. I lost sight of the doe in the brush and my son was still not moving. I figured he was waiting on the biggest one for a shot or the best angle.

“After several tense min-utes he was still standing like

Hey, bud, we are partners for lifeBy Mike RobertsSpecial to The Citizen

Braydon Cooney and his first- ever buck deer harvested with bow and arrow.

Commentary

a statue, and then I saw him draw back his arrow, and on the release I heard the thump of a hit and the crashing of a deer going down. I gave him a minute and called him on his cell phone rather than text like we usually do in our tree stands. I asked him what happened?”

Brayden excitedly replied, “He’s dead!”

Kyle the asked, “What do you mean he’s dead?”

Brayden came back, “I saw him fall over, he’s dead! There was a doe that came out of the swamp and got within 15 yards of me. I was going to shoot her, but I heard twigs snapping and lots of grunting, so I waited and a buck came out of the

swamp grunting like crazy looking for the doe. I thought he was about 30 yards from me and when he looked away I ranged him at 33 yards. I drew back and put my 30-yard pin right on him and shot. My arrow did its job and he fell down and he’s an eight-point buck!”

Kyle said, “I think I was shaking more than Brayden, it was so exciting and I was so proud of him. The deer had only gone a short dis-tance before it expired. We took some photos and, of course, we shared the thrill of his taking his first buck with bow and arrow, and then be-gan the long drag back to our

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vehicle. We didn’t get out of the woods until after dark, and while we were dragging it out of the woods, Brayden smiled all the way and told me how excited he was.”

Kyle concluded, “This was his first buck and it was taken on state land with ar-chery equipment and that is no easy task. I’m sure that there will be many more deer and I hope we are always to-gether to share the moment, but nothing will replace the thrill of getting his first buck.”

Beside hunting and fishing with his dad, Brayden also plays competitive sports. I asked Kyle how they handled that.

He said, “Brayden plays baseball from January to October ( indoor prac-

From Page 19

tices) and basketball from November through the end of the year. His team activi-ties always come before the outdoor activities. If he has game/practice in the morn-ing, we go home when the game is over, shower, change and pack to hunt. If game/practice is in the afternoon, we get up in the morning for an archery hunt and many times pack his gear and uni-form in the car to go right from hunting to the game.

“We also have a deal that his schoolwork has to be completed and his grades acceptable before any sports, hunting or fishing can be par-ticipated in. I think that with-out the outdoor activities he wouldn’t put that much effort into his studies because he wouldn’t have a goal to shoot for. He has a much greater appreciation for these activ-ities now that he understands

the effort and money it takes to enjoy them.”

Kyle added, “We hunt, go to 3-D shoots, scout, hike and enjoy being around this stuff. He’s a good kid and he’s get-ting an education outside the classroom, both on the field and in the woods.”

It really does my heart good to see a father/son outdoor team like Kyle and Brayden Cooney in my world. And it sure does put a new meaning to the ques-tion, “Do you know where your kids are right now?”

Keep up the good work, guys. I’m proud calling you my friends.

See ya and God Bless America and watch over our troops wherever they may be, and a Merry Christmas to all from Edna, Daisy, Lilly (the girls a.k.a. Bichons) and of course, your ancient out-door writer.

Malloy

the best Puerto Rican food in Connecticut, according to Nieves.

The station’s staff brought their children and together, they ate a meal of Pernio, Arroz con gandules, pasteles and pupusa.

From Page 16

Nieves said the station started playing its Christmas songs after Thanksgiving, broadcasting renditions of “Silent Night” and “Jingle Bells” done with Latin rhythms like salsa and me-ringue. They won’t stop un-til Jan. 6, Three Kings Day, when many Latino families will give gifts once again.

StatePoint – If you ever work from home or plan to, there are many things you need to consider to make sure your home office is conducive to productivity. From preventing technolog-ical snafus to dealing with the social realities of work-ing where you live, preparing yourself for the home office experience is important:

Stay FocusedWorking from home pro-

vides flexibility and work-life balance. But the flip side of the coin is a risk of distraction.

Stay on task by planning your day in the morning, set-ting strict working hours, and sticking to the rules you create -- such as no television or personal calls during the day.

Make sure your family and friends know that work-ing from home is not syn-onymous with an extended vacation.

Protect Your WorkWhen you work in a cen-

tral office, you rely on your company’s tech support team to protect your work and data. But when you work from home, you may not have that luxury. Over half of all small business owners have had to redo work due to a lost

or deleted file, according to a research study conducted by Carbonite, a provider of au-tomatic data backup. Be sure your work is not in vain.

Protecting your work against data loss can be a challenge. And while many home-based workers and small business owners are concerned about data loss, most aren’t taking full ad-vantage of what is known as cloud computing. These days, you can back up all of your data securely on the Internet so you are covered if your personal computer

goes down.New technology is mak-

ing data protection an easy, affordable investment. For example, Carbonite offers cloud backup solutions that are robust enough for a me-dium-sized business and af-fordable for even very small ones. Because it backs up computer files automatically, you can set it and forget it, so you can concentrate on your bottom line. And if your work keeps you on the go, you’ll have access to your backed up data from any computer, smartphone or internet-con-

Working from home takes discipline

While you may not be dealing with traffic jams and chatty cubicle neighbors, working from home comes with its own set of challenges. Preparing for them can make the experience more productive, happy and fulfilling.

nected device.To learn more about auto-

matic data protection, visit www.Carbonite.com.

Stay ConnectedMany people dream of

working from home to avoid long commutes, co-worker distractions and other office pitfalls, but once they start, they realize that it can be a lonesome prospect.

You can combat work-

from-home loneliness with a bit of structure, however. Make full use of your lunch hour by using the time to run errands, have a lunch date with a friend, hit the gym or otherwise break up the day with conversation and in-teraction. Also, don’t be shy about picking up the phone or using Skype to touch base with colleagues, versus sending an email.

PETS OF THE WEEK

Peggy is a lovely, Russian Blue mix with white boots and a bib. She was found with an injured paw. She is 10 months old, spunky, independent and affectionate on her own terms. Peggy plays well with other cats and is very social. Jada is an exotic beauty. She is white with unique markings on her ears. Jada is social, friendly and outgoing with a strong, one of kind personality. She doesn’t care for other cats but she does like our easygoing, brown tabby Spiderman and any dog. View all adoptable pets at www.fobac.org or call (860) 828-5287.

Scams targeting utility customers nationally continue to affect Connecticut Light & Power customers, with the most recent version targeting Spanish-speaking custom-ers. The scam involves prepaid “Green Dot” VISA credit cards.

Visit www.cl-p.com for more information on how to protect personal information. Visit ftc.gov/idtheft to learn what to do if identity is stolen or personal or fi-nancial information has been compromised.

CL&P warns of scam


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LEGAL NOTICEPLANNING AND

ZONING COMMISSIONPLAINVILLE,

CONNECTICUTThe Town of Plainville Planning and Zoning Commission will con-duct a Public Hearing Tuesday, January 14th at 7:30 p.m. at the Pla-inville Municipal Center, One Central Square, Plainville, CT to consid-er the following item:1. Zoning Regulation

Amendment – Town of Plainville - Adap-tive Reuse to re-strict eligible uses of buildings 50 years or older.

2. Subdivision Regulation Amendments – Town of Plainville - to keep pace with recent zon-ing regulation chang-es, new laws enacted by the State Legis-lature (PA11-79, 12-182), and clarify open space and engineer-ing and construction inspection standards.

The files are available for public inspection at the Department of Technical Services in the Plainville Municipal Center.At this hearing, inter-ested persons may ap-pear and be heard, and written communica-tions may be received.Any person requiring special assistance in order to attend and/or participate in this pub-lic hearing may call the Department of Technical Services at (860) 793-0221 before noon on Fri-day, January 10, 2014.Respectfully submitted,David Thompson, SecretaryPlanning and Zoning CommissionDated at Plainville, CTThis 23rd day of December, 2013

LEGAL NOTICE TOWN OF PLAINVILLETOWN COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING

January 6, 2014NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Plainville Town Council will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, January 6, 2014 in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Center, One Central Square in Plainville to hear public comment on the following:1. An additional appropriation of $50,000 for the Capital Projects Building Committee for architectural services and other professional services as determined by the Committee.Dated at Plainville, Connecticut this 2nd day of January, 2014.

Plainville Town Council By, Carol A. Skultety, Town Clerk & Clerk of the Town Council

Public / LegalNotices



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SMART FOR TWO 20082 Door CPE Pure

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Help Wanted

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Apartments For Rent

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1023 Old Colony Rd 2 BR Avail. Starting at $800. Heat & HW incl. Off St. Parking.

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MERIDEN 2BR,1.5 Bath Town-house West Side. Clean & qui-et small complex. Hookups, wall to wall, deck. No pets. $1000 + utils. 203 269-9755

Pets For Sale

ATTENTIONDog Owners!

Dog Obedience Classes Starting January 13 at Cheshire Park & Rec.

Bruce Giannetti,Phil Huntington & Kathy

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9am-4pm. After 6pm Call 203-235-4852.

YORKIES, Bulldogs, Chihua-huas, Boxers Bostons, Shih Tzus, Schnoodles, Mixed Breeds, Rescues Available. $250 plus. Call (860) 930-4001

SUVs

CHEVY UPLANDER LS 2007

Stock #14110SB $3,850Don’t Miss... Call Chris

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MERIDEN 2 BR Newly Paint-ed. LR, DR, Hdwd Flrs. Off st parking. 1st Fl. No pets. $800 per month. 203 464-3083

MERIDEN Large 3 BR, 2nd fl. Freshly painted. New refrig, WD hookup in unit. No pets, utils or smoking. $850. 1 yr lease. Credit ck & refs req. Sec, 1st mo rent. Available immed. (203) 608-8348

MERIDEN 1, 2, 3, & 4 BRStarting at $580.

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Find everything at our Marketplace.

Help WantedMERIDEN - East side 1 Br. All

Appliances, Deck. 8 units to-tal. Large Kitchen, white and modern. Parking, by Stop and Shop. $715. 203-269-0763.

MERIDEN Studio Apartment $595. Heat & HW Included. Security & Utilities. Available Immediately. 203-886-8808


Dirt bike/ATV Helmets, AFX Helmet Adult M color white freedom $60. Also a youth large red/white/black $40. Both in excellent cond. Barely used. 203-314-6393.

AFFORDABLEWashers, Dryers,

Refrigerators and Stoves.Appliance Repairs

Will Deliver(203) 284-8986

Mountain Bike. Special-ized Rock Hopper with RockShox, Purple/Blue with Speedometer. $250. Call 860 645-7245.

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1, 2 or 3 Items or an estate

$$$ CA$H $$$203-237-3025

ESTATE SALE SERVICECostume Jewelry,

Antiques, paintings,Meriden-made items,

toys, lamps

1-2 ITEMSSilverware, China, Glass.

Furniture, 50’s Items.Whole Estates203 238-3499

ALL CASH FORMILITARY ITEMS203-237-6575

DEE’S ANTIQUESBuying Collectibles,

Jewelry & Silver. China, Glass, Military, Musical. Anything old & unusual. Single item to an estate.

203-235-8431

OLD TOOLS WANTED, al-ways buying old, used hand tools, carpentry, machinist & engraving & workbench tools. If you have old or used tools that are no longer being used, call with confidence. Fair & friendly offers made in your home! Please call Cory 860-322-4367

WANTED: ALWAYS buying antiques, costume jewelry, old toys, military items anything old. Stop by, Frank’s open 6 days

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call 203-284-3786

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Roofing

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C&M ConstruCtion*The Roofing Specialist*And Roof Snow Removal

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A-1 HANDYMAN PLUSCT Reg #606277.

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C&M ConstruCtion*THE BATHROOM &

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cmconstructionct.com203-630-6459

CT Reg #608488

CHLOE’S Home Solutions High end remodeling needs at a fair price. Lic, Ins. HIC 631419

Call Mike 203 631-2991

Career placement assistance | Day & evening schedules | Financial aid available for those who qualify

Call or Click Today!800-959-7599

branfordhall.edu

For Branford Hall’s Student Consumer Information visit www.branfordhall.edu/info

One visit and you'll see why

students choose

Branford One Summit Place Southington 35 N. Main St. Windsor 995 Day Hill Rd.

Change Your Career Change Your LifeMake the Smart Career Move in 2014!Branford Hall continues to be a leader in career-focused education. A growing number of men and women are discovering career-focused education as one of the fastest and most effective ways to start a new high-growth career.

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CPI Home ImProvement

Highest Quality- Kitchens/Bath Siding, Roofing Win-dows, Remodeling, Decks, Gutters, Additions. Credit cards accepted 203-634-6550 CT Reg #0632415

JAZ Plumbing & Heating. Residential & comm. Boil-ers & water heaters our specialty. Call for best pric-ing. Tony (203) 537-1017

MEDINA Sewer & Drain Cleaning Services LLC

Quality work, affordable prices. 24hr Service.

Benny Medina 203 909-1099

Edwin CordEroPAINTING Int/Exterior. Lo-

cal, Established, Reliable Craftsman. Call (203) 537-2411 CT#614827

ALL Your Remodeling & Con-struction Needs! Kitchens, Baths, Painting, Decks, Windows, Doors. No job too small. We do it all! Free Est. 40 yrs in bus. Lic & Ins. #539493 203-530-1375

ALWAYS BUYINGCASH PAID

Vintage Electronics, Musical Instruments,

Amps, Ham Equipment, HiFi, Radios, CB, Guitars,

Audio Equipment.860 707-9350


Plumbing

FRONTLINE Plumbing & Fire Sprinklers, LLC

Top quality installs/repairs. Lic & ins. 203 213-0691

Handypersons

Wood / Fuel & Heating Equip

Landscaping

Siding

$1000 OFFYour Lowest Estimate

(203) 284-0137 CT Reg # 558927

CPI Home ImProvement

Highest Quality-Kitchen, Bath, Siding, Roofing,

Windows, Remodeling, Decks, Gutters, Additions,

Credit cards accepted 203-634-6550

CT Reg #0632415

Snow Plowing

Salt $130 Per Yard. Sand/Salt 7:2 DOT Mix, $65 per yard, picked up. 100% Calcium Chloride Icemelt - Safest for concrete! $18.00 per 50 lb bag. Pallet prices available 24/7. 203 238-9846

CHLOE’S Home Solutions Snow Removal. Comm/Res. Driveways, Walks,

Roofs Lic, Ins. HIC 631419 Call Mike 203 631-2991

CPI SNOW Cleanups including roofs & surroundings, drive-ways. Comm & resid. 203 634-6550; 203 494-2171

Tree Services

Gary Wodatch LLCTREE REMOVAL

All calls returned. CT#620397Quick courteous service.

Office 203-235-7723 Cell 860-558-5430

LAVIGNE’S Tree ServiceIn business 31 years

Tree removal. Stump grinding.Crane Service. Free Est. Fully insured.

203-294-1775lavignestreeservicellc.com

Wanted to Buy

BUSINESSES& SERVICES

Electronics


Stepping up to a bigger bike? Sell the smaller

one with a Marketplace ad.

MiscellaneousFor Sale

If you can’t find it in

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Find everything at our Market-place.

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Sporting Goods & Health

SKIS- Intelligence; BOOTS - Sa-lomon, Size 12 1/2; JACKET- Killy, Size 42; PANTS- Marker, Size Large. $200 For All. Only used 3 times. 860 349-8858


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Visit Our Other Locations in Unionville • East Windsor

SouthingtonPatten Brook Plaza

966 Queen St.860-793-1700

CheshireMaplecroft Plaza

187 Highland Ave.203-272-0005

New Location - Rocky Hill38 Town Line Road

Back of Wood-n-TapRocky Hill, CT 06067

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