ttimesdec19

Volume 19, Number 33 Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall www.TownTimes.com Friday, December 19, 2014

SANTA CAME TO TOWN

Santa Claus visited the 4-year-old class holiday party at The Durham Co-op Nursery School, making sure they are all on his nice list this year.

The long awaited school building report, which details recommenda-tions for future use and potential closings of school buildings, has been presented to District 13’s Board of Education.

The district commissioned the architecture and planning firm of Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc. to evaluate the usage of the six school buildings in the face of declining enrollment.

The DRA report contains multiple plans and recommends four options, without giving them a ranking.

At the Dec. 10 BOE meeting, Build-ing Utilization Committee chair Bob Fulton emphasized that the report was “a working document” and “a framework,” not the final opinion of the board.

One of the four recommended op-tions, referred to as “Option B,” pro-poses to keep all six schools open with renovations to the buildings’ facilities.

The other three recommended op-tions all close one or more schools.

The plan referred to as “Option C3” closes Korn and Lyman and con-verts Brewster and Memorial into “parallel K-5 elementary schools.” Strong School, under Option C3, converts to a traditional 6-8 grade middle school.

This option involves building four additional classrooms and a gymna-sium at Brewster.

“Option C6” closes Lyman and converts Korn to a pre-K to Kin-dergarten school. Brewster and Me-morial would house grades 1-5 and Strong 6-8.

“Option C6.1” closes Memorial instead of Lyman, uses Brewster as a Pre-K-3 building, Korn as a 4-5

School building report turned in to districtBy Mark DionneTown Times

See Report / Page 8

Cold War relics continue to fascinate

Though the Cold War era is over, rel-ics from the past still slumber in the area around Durham and Middlefield. Durham itself itself is home to a ma-jor communication complex that was part of the military’s emergency com-munication network. This site featured two large microwave towers, 240 and 365 feet tall. The towers were serviced by a reinforced concrete building de-signed to withstand a nuclear attack on Hartford or Bridgeport.

One can still see the remains of the Nike missile base lookout on Pinna-cle Rock in Plainville, and in Crom-well many of the original buildings from this Nike missile base still stand, though they are substantially over-grown and some have been vandalized.

The Nike missile bases housed Nike

Hercules missiles armed with nuclear warheads intended to be able to shoot entire squadrons of Russian bombers out of the sky before they could attack America’s shores.

The secret of nuclear missiles “right in our back yards (was) one of the best kept secrets of the Cold War,” accord-ing to history buff John Ramsey. Ram-sey said he has been fascinated by the Cold War era since growing up as part of the “duck and cover generation, meaning I was probably 7-years-old when the Cuban Missile Crisis took place.” Ramsey is the webmaster of

By Charles KreutzkampTown Times

This site on the Durham/Higganum line utilized two large microwave towers, one about 240-feet tall and the other about 365-feet tall. The towers were serviced by a surprisingly large concrete building which was semi-hardened against a distant nuclear detonation. | coldwar-ct.com

See Relics / Page 9

A2 Friday, December 19, 2014 Town Times | towntimes.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

November birthdays were celebrated recently at Durham Activity center. From left: Henry Coe, Gwen Clark, Erv Barker, Elba Caruso and David Hopewell.

Everybody likes to receive gifts, and at this time of year, it is not unusual for a deliv-ery company to show up at your door with a package. However, Connecticut Better Business Bureau is reminding consumers to be wary of un-solicited delivery company emails.

In a typical case, an email will say that the company made one or more unsuccess-ful attempts to deliver a pack-

age, and will contain a link to what is supposed to be an in-voice or shipping document. By clicking the link, you will download a virus that can sniff around your computer for personal and financial information.

The scammers often im-personate well-known ship-pers or steal the identities of popular retailers to appear more legitimate. With the chaos of the holidays, con artists know that people may be more likely to ignore the warning signs of a fake pack-age notice, especially if they are getting a head start on holiday shopping and expect-ing an actual delivery.

Consumers should keep in mind that in the event of a missed delivery, the driver will leave a ticket at the door to arrange for a subsequent delivery or pickup at the de-pot. Better Business Bureau suggests the following tips if you receive package delivery notice in an email:

Watch for poor spelling or grammatical errors. Fraudu-lent email is often filled with typos and misspellings be-cause many of them originate in countries where the scam-

mers’ knowledge of English is limited.

Ignore calls for “immedi-ate action,” The con artists of-ten claim that they have made multiple attempts to contact you and that if you don’t act immediately, you will no lon-ger be able to retrieve your package. Scammers create a false sense of urgency in an effort to get their victims to react on an emotional basis and let their guard down.

Just because an email may display a well-known compa-ny’s logo or appear to come from a reputable source, it doesn’t always mean that it’s legitimate. Fake email ad-dresses may vary somewhat from the real ones and it’s easy for a scammer to copy and paste a company’s logo or text into their message.

A good rule of thumb is to never click on any links or download files from unfamil-iar email addresses. Remem-ber that a hyperlink may not actually lead to where it’s claiming to go. By right click-ing on it and selecting “copy link address,” you can paste the link in a text document to

Fake package can deliver holiday humbug

See Scam / Page 9

HELO Haiti is collecting donations of new or gently used Converse sneakers, all sizes, soccer balls and com-pact umbrellas.

HELO is an orphanage that is home to 54 children in a rural community out-side Les Cayes.

Donat ions may be dropped off in bins at 89 South End Ave., Durham;

320 Jackson Hill Road, Middlefield or arrange for pick up by emailing Claudia White at [email protected] or Cloe Pois-son at [email protected].

Monetary donations may be to HELO, Inc., and mailed to 43 Lakeshore Drive, Middlefield, CT 06455. Donation deadline is Dec. 20.

HELO Haiti

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Periodicals Postage Paidat Meriden, CT and at

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P O S T M A S T E R:Send address changes toRecord-Journal, P.O. Box915, Meriden CT 06450

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Town Times | towntimes.com Friday, December 19, 2014 A3

Community Round-Up checks deliveredFunds raised during the

ninth annual Community Round-Up on Dec. 6 were delivered to the towns of Durham and Middlefield.

Student volunteers Kaitlyn Finnerty (on left) and Serena Fournier (right) presented a check to Middlefield So-cial Worker Joan Lombardo. The students also delivered

a check to Durham Social Worker Amanda Pedersen. Each town received $1,183 in cash and gift cards. The funds were collected during Durham and Middlefield’s door to door charitable event along with 13,266 food and household items to help those in need locally.

– Mark Dionne

| Kathy Bottini / Submitted

Durham Recreation has started its third successful year with a growing number of people playing or learn-ing how to play bridge at the Durham-Middlefield com-munity center every Friday at 6:15 p.m. Classes can adapt to any person’s needs or concerns. Call Jim Martinelli at (860) 346-6611.

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Body Temple Fitness opens in Middlefield

Lucy Petrella, a 68-year-old retired teacher, had never imagined that she would one day be awaiting exam results on a personal training course.

“It’s never too late to start on your fitness journey,” Pe-trella said. Over the past two years Petrella has gone from someone who has done some sporadic aerobics but “never liked gyms or weights” to, as she described it, “a trans-formed woman.”

“After all these year’s I’ve gone back to college for a course and I’m moving to-ward a whole new career,” Petrella said.

Petrella plans to intern at a newly arrived business in Middlefield, Body Temple Fitness. Owner Terry John-son said that it was Petrella who told him about Mid-dlefield, and he thought the town would be a “prime loca-tion” for a personal training fitness center.

Johnson has been a per-

sonal trainer for more than 20 years. He said that the loss of his parents was part of what inspired him to become interested in fitness.

“It comes from me wanting to stay healthy for my kids,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the commu-nity has been very welcom-ing. Other businesses in the area have been very friendly, including the nearby pizza shops and karate studio. “I like it, it’s kind of laid back and it reminds me of my hometown of Florence, South Carolina,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the work for him is about “transform-ing lives,” a desire that has proved infectious, as Petrella is not the only former client to go on to become a trainer.

“I just have to share with as many people as I can the amazing benefits of exercis-ing and reclaiming your body, especially as you get older,” Petrella said. She hopes to in-form others that age doesn’t have to get in the way of fit-

ness. Petrella said she suffers from arthritis, hip bursitis, knee pain and major rota-tor cuff tendinitis, “yet here I am, gaining muscles, lifting weights, kickboxing, doing Tae Bo, and I feel great.”

Johnson and his wife, Di-

ane, said they were happy to open Body Temple Fit-ness in Middlefield. Terry Johnson took the career full time eight years ago when Body Temple Fitness was established in Meriden. The business then moved to Wall-

ingford, and the Middlefield location will be a second lo-cation where clients can re-ceive personalized training as well as having access to group classes at the larger facility in Wallingford.

By Charles KreutzkampTown Times

Terry Johnson, owner of Body Temple Fitness, and his wife, Diane, are pictured at the fitness center’s new location, in Middlefield. | Charles Kreutzkamp / Town Times

980 New Haven Road, Durham(860)788-7870

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Friday, Dec. 19Tot Time - MOMS Club

of Durham/Middlefield has scheduled Tot Times for Fridays, 10 a.m., at the Mid-dlefield Community Center, 405 Main St. Durham and Middlefield babies, toddlers and children are welcome. No registration required. For more information, email [email protected].

Sunday, Dec. 21Rally for Roslyn - A

Rally for Roslyn fundraiser is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 21, 5 to 8 p.m., at San-dra James Boutique, 100 Main St., Middletown.

The event features wine tasting and door prizes. A portion of the proceeds benefit CRHS student Ro-

slyn Helmedach in her fight against Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

Sunday, Dec. 24Living Nativity - The

Church of the Epiphany, 196 Main St., has scheduled a Living Nativity for Dec. 24, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event is presented by Epiphany’s Church School students and families and includes Christ-mas carols and live animals and actors in the life-size crèche. All are welcome.

Christmas Eve worship - The Church of the Epiph-any, 196 Main St., is sched-uled to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity with the Fes-tival Holy Eucharist at 7:30 p.m. The service includes Blessing of the Crèche, Epiphany’s choir and Christ-mas carols. All welcome.

CalendarSenior Services for Durham and Mid-

dlefield and St. Luke’s Community Ser-vices of Middletown are partnering in recruiting volunteers who would like to help local elderly individuals remain at home and maintain a good quality of life by providing visitation, grocery shopping

or transportation to out-of-town medical appointments. Volunteers can choose to help one or more individuals for just a few hours a month, as there is no mini-mum time requirement. To register, call Cassandra Aronson at (860) 999-1683 or [email protected].

Volunteers sought

Terry Oakes Bourret of Durham received the Gold Medal at the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society Ex-hibition. Painted on location, the scene is the sidewalk area on the east side of Main Street, looking south toward Brenda’s Main Street Feed.

Art teacher wins gold

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When holiday music is piped into malls and festive themes accompany some hard-to-miss sales, it’s no wonder people are com-

pelled to overspend during the holidays. Here are six helpful tips to keep help keep your holiday spending in check this

season. 1. Start with a list. Even

Santa knows it’s wise to make a list (and check it twice!) in preparation for the gift-giv-ing season. Make a list with everyone you plan to buy for. Be sure to include family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and anyone else in your life you would like to remem-ber with a gift. Next, set a budget to guide your pur-chases. If the math doesn’t

add up — you have too many gifts to buy and not enough money to go around — pare down your list or reduce the amount you can spend on each person.

2. Comparison shop. Your holiday dollars will go further if you do your home-work before pulling out your wallet. Online price compar-ison engines can help you identify where to find the best deals. Shopping online can be a real time-saver, too, but be mindful of shipping charges. You’ll also want to watch for upcoming holiday sales and plan your shopping excursions accordingly. Black Friday is not the only time you can find deals during the season.

3. Avoid overspending on a credit card. Natu-rally, credit cards offer the convenience of buying now and paying later. The “pay later” scenario only works in your favor if you’re able to

zero out your balance before the next billing cycle. If you don’t pay down your charges for months on end, interest accrues and suddenly that $30 gift has snowballed into an unwieldy sum. If you need to rely on credit to spread the cost of holiday purchases over a few months, factor in estimated interest charges when you make your budget. Or better yet, avoid the credit trap altogether by spending within your means.

4. Keep your savings on track. Saving should be a regular part of your monthly budget. If you’ve worked with a financial advisor be-fore, stick to your savings plan instead of putting your financial future on hold. If you haven’t worked with a financial professional before and don’t yet have a plan for growing your nest egg, give yourself the gift of financial advice this year. A qualified financial advisor can identify strategies to help you achieve your financial goals.

5. Give sentimental gifts

that don’t cost much. When you’re in stores, it’s easy to get distracted and start to ignore your budget. Don’t buy into the notion that the price tag of a gift indicates its ultimate value. The best gifts are not necessarily the most expensive. In many cases, a thoughtful, sentimental gift can mean as much or more than an expensive object.

6. Remember to put people first. In our consum-er-centric society, it’s easy to get carried away with mate-rial things. It’s important to stay focused on what truly matters about the season — spending time with the peo-ple who mean the most to you. It doesn’t cost anything to take some time away from the hustle and bustle and sa-vor the special moments that come with the holidays.

Jeff Jolly is a Financial Advi-sor and Senior Vice President of Root, Borajkiewicz, Lucarelli Wealth Management, with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. in North Haven.

Tips for spending wisely this holiday season

Jeff Jolly

Library Programs

Levi E. Coe Library

Library hours: Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Fridays.

The Levi E. Coe is sched-uled to close Wednesday, Dec. 24 at 1 p.m. and Wednes-day, Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. The library will be closed Thurs-day, Dec. 25 and Thursday, Jan. 1.

ProgramsSaturday, Dec. 20 - Craft

program “Make a PVC Vase” at 11 a.m.

Passes, ZinioLevi E. Coe Library has

museum passes. Multiple state parks and forests are available.

The Levi E. Coe Library subscribes to Zinio. Patrons may access over a dozen dif-ferent magazines online.

Durham Public Library

Library hours: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Programs for Children

Saturday Science Club - Saturday, Dec. 20, 2 p.m. for ages 8 to 11 years old. Regis-tration required.

Programs for young adults

Teen Holiday Party Mur-der Mystery (ages 12 to 18). Friday, Dec. 19, 3:30 p.m. Bring a $5 - $10 wrapped gift. Registration is required.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tournament (ages 12 to 18). Saturday, Dec. 27, 2 to 4 p.m. Registration is required.

Programs for adultsMovie Matinees - Thurs-

days at 1:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Jan. 8 - “Calvary” R.Jan. 15 - “The Hundred-Foot Journey” PG.Jan. 22 - “The One I Love” R.Jan. 29 - “The Skeleton Twins” R.

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New Patients Always Welcome!

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General & Pediatric Dentistry: Cleanings • Emergencies • Fillings Crowns • Implants • Dentures • Root Canals • & More!


PATIENT APPRECIATION DAY

Sykes Family Chiropractic celebrated its first Patient Appreciation Day recently with food, fun, and a raffle. Dr. Sykes and staff extended their gratitude towards their patients for entrusting them with their healthcare needs. Pictured: Dr. Trevor Sykes with patient Nancy Schultz.

Senior Happenings

Durham Senior Board activities

Monday, Dec. 22Senior Hot Lunch, noon, at the Durham

Activity Center, 350 Main St., for ages 60 and over with spouses. A donation is welcome. For reservations, call Amanda Pedersen at (860) 349-3153. Dial-A-Ride is available for transpor-tation, call Albert at (860) 347-3313.

Art courseThe Durham Senior Citizens Board has

scheduled an art course in colored pencil techniques for seniors and adults. Local art-ist, Aleta Gudelski, is scheduled to teach the class. Classes are scheduled for Fridays, 10 a.m. to noon at the Durham Activity Center, for five weeks, beginning Jan. 9 to Feb. 6. A fee is charged. For more information, call Sherry

Hill at (860) 343-6724 or (860) 788-3337.

Middlefield Senior CenterHoliday hoursWednesday, Dec. 24 - Lunch served at noon.

The center is scheduled to close at 1:30 p.m.Friday, Dec. 26 - Senior Center closed.Wednesday, Dec. 31 - Lunch served at noon.

The center is scheduled to close at 1:30 p.m.Friday, Jan. 2 - Lunch served at noon.

Volunteers neededThe Middlefield Senior center is looking for

volunteer meal servers. Time commitment is approximately two hours each month on Mon-day, Wednesday or Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Training is provided.

For more information, call Joan at (860) 349-7121.

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Report

building, and Lyman as a K-5, with Strong again becoming a traditional 6-8 middle school.

All of the options recom-mend demolishing the porta-ble structures.

All of the options also al-low for the separate housing of the ID and Contemporary

programs. DRA conducted three pub-

lic workshops as part of their investigation of the district. At those workshops and sub-sequent BOE meetings, mem-bers of the public voiced strong support for maintain-ing both Integrated Day and Contemporary programs and housing the programs in sep-

arate elementary schools.“All of the elementary

school options currently un-der consideration by the Uti-lization Committee provide for both the Integrated Day and the Contemporary pro-grams in separate buildings,” Fulton said.

The section on cost is one of the more eye-catch-ing parts of the thick report, with potential costs for differ-ent projects running into the tens of millions of dollars. Fulton cautioned against fo-cusing too intently on those numbers at this stage.

“I would caution the read-ers, these costs were de-veloped by DRA based on national estimates of costs ... [and] are not associated

with any specific project that may be contemplated here in the district. These are broad based estimates and I would suggest time would be bet-ter spent reviewing the costs when the board and commit-tee come forward with a spe-cific proposal,” Fulton said at the BOE’s Dec. 10 meeting.

BOE chair Kerrie Flanagan also said, “Clearly, this com-mittee absolutely has to get our arms around a more spe-cific cost of each option be-fore we can make an option. When you look at the num-bers that are in here, they’re kind of astronomical.”

The costs are projected for each option before and after likely state reimbursement. Option C3, closing Lyman

and Korn, has a projected cost of $32-36 million after state reimbursement. After state reimbursement, Options C6 and C6.1, one closing Ly-man and the other Memorial, have projected costs of $30-33 million and $28-31 million, respectively.

The figures before state re-imbursement run as high as $83 million.

The DRA report contains an extensive examination of systems within the build-ings and all projected costs include the maintenance, re-pair, or replacement of older systems, which adds to the estimate of all the options.

For example, Option B, the option referred to as “Do Nothing and Demo” for main-taining all six buildings and demolishing the portables, has a projected cost of $42-46 million for keeping all the buildings.

According to the report, “Some of the major building systems are at or near the end of their useful life expec-tancy. If not addressed as part of any future use plans for these buildings, breakdowns of these systems can be ex-pected on an ongoing basis.”

The report also contains a recommended time line that includes making a decision in early 2016, a “Town Meeting Vote” in early 2017, construc-tion from 2018 to 2021, and a “Move In and Open” date of Sept. 2021.

The report contains no dis-cussion of alternative uses of closed buildings, saying they “can be returned to town use if desired.”

An executive summary of the report along with an e-mail address for feedback has been posted to the rsd13.org web site.

From Page 1

Tax preparation volunteers soughtVolunteers are needed for

the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program to help low-to moderate-income households prepare and file their taxes to ensure they get back the money they have earned.

VITA is a national pro-gram of the IRS, and vol-unteers are trained and

certif ied to ensure that working families and indi-viduals are filing for all of the appropriate tax credits. The program also helps peo-ple avoid costly fees associ-ated with tax preparation and rapid refund loans.

The program is looking for volunteers for two VITA sites located in downtown

Middletown to provide free tax preparation assistance for eligible taxpayers. Tax preparation assistance is of-fered Jan. 24–April 11, 2015 at the offices of Middlesex United Way and the North End Action Team. No prior experience is necessary. Volunteers complete train-ing and are certified by the

IRS. Training will be held from Jan. 5-8 or Jan. 12-15. Volunteers must attend con-secutive evening sessions. Volunteers will be trained to let filers know if they qual-ify for additional tax cred-its, such as the federal and the state Earned Income Tax Credits and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

VITA volunteers must com-plete a minimum of one four-hour shift per week during tax season in the late afternoons and evenings or on Saturdays; maintain con-fidentiality of all client in-formation; and interact with the public in a helpful and

See Tax / Page 12

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Relics

Coldwar-CT.com, a site that seeks to share some surpris-ing facts about the Cold War in Connecticut.

Some of the most surpris-ing? Hartford was considered a strategic target for nuclear attack, with nearby missile sites under 24-hour alert to shoot down incoming Rus-sian bombers. Underground communication sites for the now-defunct U.S. AUTOVON network remain in Cheshire, Durham, and Meriden. The AUTOVON Network sites were operated by AT&T and existed to keep communica-tions online in the event of a domestic attack. “Sites like the Durham site were placed where they were because Hartford and Bridgeport were targets, and in the event of an attack on (one of those towns) communication would continue,” Ramsey said. The Cheshire communication site was smaller than the Durham site, but helped to serve the same function.

The Nike missile sites were

eventually rendered obsolete, and the local missile bases now stand abandoned. “They were outmoded when we saw we can’t have missiles shoot down other missiles,” Ram-sey said, adding that “even 50 years later, it’s hard (to do)… like shooting a bullet with a bullet.”

Ramsey said he recalls that, as a 7-year-old, the Cuban Mis-sile Crisis was the first time he had ever really thought about the president or the Cold War. “I saw the reaction my par-ents had and it was pretty pro-found,” Ramsey said. When his parents started to set aside food storage for an emer-gency and when he learned that those who lived farther than 15 minutes from school were to remain in the building

during an emergency, it left an impression. “Being 7-years-old and being told you’re going to be stuck in school for the end of the world was pretty so-bering,” Ramsey said. “I dealt with it by learning as much as I could.”

Ramsey later went on to become an engineer, and amassed a collection of sto-ries and photographs that he shares with the world through his websites, including an-other site for Massachusetts, coldwar-ma.com.

“I also wanted to try to commemorate the veterans of the Cold War,” Ramsey said, “…There’s a lot of men and women who served in very unusual duties or unusual lo-cations during the cold war that are really unsung heroes.”

From Page 1

ABOVE: Although abandoned for more than four decades, and extensively vandalized, many of the Cromwell Nike Missile site buildings are still standing. | coldwar-ct.com

RIGHT: A two-story underground facility underneath this Cheshire communication tower in Cheshire reportedly held an AUTOVON 4-wire switch for military communications during the cold war.

| coldwar-ct.com

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ery and concerned that there may be a legitimate delivery problem, contact the com-pany directly using verifiable contact information .

Did your package disap-pear? At this time of year, mil-lions of people ship packages to friends and family across the country. Unfortunately, theft of parcels delivered to businesses and individu-als also increases during the holidays. Thieves have even been known to follow trucks to steal packages as soon as they are delivered.

If you place an order on-line, BBB recommends keep-ing a copy of the order form and tracking number, and fol-lowing the shipment until its final destination. Here is a checklist to help make sure your package is received by your intended recipients:

• Insure all packages• Require a signature for

delivery• Have packages deliv-

ered to a post office, UPS,

FEDEX, or other carrier’s facility

• Ask a friend or neigh-bor to accept or pick up your packages

• If allowed, ship pack-ages to your office

• Let recipients know that a package is on the way and when to expect it to arrive. Follow up to make sure it was received

If you think a package was lost or stolen:

• Make sure that it’s not a simple mistake such as the driver leaving the package out of sight

• Ask a neighbor if they saw the delivery

• Contact the shipper to verify the items were sent

• If you believe your package was stolen, file a po-lice report. If there have been numerous such thefts in your area, the police can be on watch to deter thieves.

Additional tips and warn-ings can be found in the “Get Consumer Help” section at bbb.org/Connecticut.

– Connecticut Better Business Bureau

From Page 2

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Opinion

P.O. Box 265, Middlefield, CT 06455www.towntimes.com

News (860) 349-8000 [email protected] (203) 317-2313 [email protected] (203) 639-0210Marketplace (877) 238-1953 (toll-free)

Town Times is published every Friday by the Record-Journal Publishing Co. and delivered to all homes and businesses in Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall.

Executive Vice President and Assistant Publisher – Liz WhiteSenior Vice President and

Chief Revenue Officer – Shawn E. PalmerSenior Vice President and Editor – Ralph TomaselliNews Editor – Nick CarrollAssistant News Editor – Olivia L. LawrenceReporter – Mark DionneAdvertising Sales – Joy BooneMultimedia Sales Manager – Jim MizenerOffice Assistant, Press Releases – Marsha Pomponio

Chain store boldly stops selling tobacco

The decision by the na-tion’s second-largest phar-macy chain to stop selling tobacco products is a bold move that will cost it money in the short term, but in the long run may succeed in re-branding CVS (now known as CVS Health) as the go-to place for health-care and wellness needs.

Several factors speak in favor of this change. For one thing, the smoking rate among U.S. adults has been declining by about five per-centage points per decade, and is now below 18 percent. Then there are the millions of people who are expected to gain some kind of health insurance through the Af-fordable Care Act; even if their policies don’t include prescription coverage, a heightened level of health awareness might steer them toward CVS, with its 850 in-store MinuteClinics, its flu-shot programs and its smoking-cessation plan.

And there are millions of baby boomers with some kind of prescription coverage who have already quit smoking, or who will sooner or later see the wisdom of doing so. They, too, might be attracted by the smoke-free ethos at CVS.

On the other hand, the

modern pharmacy has long since become more like a general store, growing in size in order to carry everything from Cheetos to Clorox, from toys to talcum powder and from medicine to motor oil. It’s hard to imagine that ded-icated smokers will quit sim-ply because CVS no longer offers them one-stop shop-ping; after all, every gas sta-tion and convenience store will still be selling cigarettes.

So will the other chain drugstores, as far as we know (Walgreens is the biggest by number of stores, although CVS says it does the greatest

dollar volume of prescrip-tions), along with whatever independents have managed to survive the onslaught of Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and the in-store pharmacies at supermarkets and big-box retailers. While this move by CVS — which started out in 1963 in Lowell, Mass., as Con-sumer Value Stores — may or may not inspire many people to give up the evil weed to-bacco, every little bit helps. And no doubt this action will go down in the marketing textbooks of the future.

— A Record-Journal editorial

CVS’s move to stop selling tobacco should have future benefits. | AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File

State Sen. Len Fasano (R-North Haven), incom-ing Senate Minority Leader, and State Senator Kevin Witkos (R-Canton), incom-ing Senate Minority Leader Pro Tem-pore, announced the Senate Repub-licans’ legislative committee assign-ments for the up-coming legislative session, which be-gins Jan. 7.

Fasano will now serve in the po-sition of Ranking Member of the Legislative Management Committee, and will hold membership roles in the Executive & Legislative Nominations, Internship, and Planning & Development committees.

Fasano previously served as a member of the Legisla-tive Management Commit-tee and a Ranking Member of the Executive & Leg-islative Nominations, In-ternship, and Planning & Development committees.

The Joint Committee on Legislative Management

conducts the business af-fairs of the General As-sembly. As a new Ranking Member of this committee, Fasano, along with fellow

members, will be responsible for the operation of the General Assem-bly, coordination and supervision of committee work, improvement of legislative opera-tions and decid-ing on matters of organization, pro-cedures, facilities

and working conditions of the General Assembly and compensation of employees of the legislative branch.

State Senator Len Fasano, incoming Senate Minority Leader, represents the 34th District towns of Durham, East Haven, North Haven, Wallingford. For more in-formation visit: www.sen-atorfasano.com. Follow the senator on Twitter @Sena-torFasano or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/senatorfasano.

– Press Release

Committee assignments announced

State Sen. Len Fasano

Letters to the Editor

Generous communityTo the editor:As expected, the cold morning drizzle of

Saturday, Dec. 6, didn't seem to sway the vol-unteers of the annual Community Round-Up. They were covering every street in our dis-trict bearing smiles, hot cocoa, and warm holiday wishes to all. What is sometimes un-expected is the extreme generosity shown anonymously by our neighbors looking for nothing in return. While some had bags of food waiting on their doorsteps, countless others were emptying out their cupboards or reaching into their wallets as children waited on their doorsteps.

The route assigned to my group only cov-ered a few streets near Stage Coach Road —

Barbara Lane and Buckboard Road. As we emptied our car, we were all impressed by the amount of food that had been donated. Then, while handing in the donations, my son peeked in an envelope handed to him by a gentleman from somewhere on our route. The envelope held $70. The pride on my son’s face as he handed in the donation said it all.

This has become an annual tradition for my family and a wonderful way for children of our community to see firsthand how generous their neighbors are. I would like to thank the anonymous person who not only gave gener-ously to a local food pantry, but also demon-strated to my child the importance of giving without reward —the true meaning of com-munity. Thank you.

Vicki Climie


Commentary: Use this as wrapping paperEvery year, most folks go

out and buy wrapping paper that is seldom admired and

immediately discarded seconds after gifts are opened. There are some weir-dos, of course, who force every member of their family to carefully

slide their fingernails under-neath Scotch tape to surgi-cally extract presents from the same wrappings that have been carefully used and re-used since the Great

Depression, but that route removes the pleasure of some good paper-tearing.

I’m certain many fami-lies keep every copy of the Town Times that has ever been delivered to their home in acid-free glass cases, so of course hav-ing a practical use for old newspapers is a huge disad-vantage to newspaper-wrap-ping. For those few who don’t save every copy of our illustrious paper, newspa-per is readily available, often colorful, and a great choice for wrapping up presents. If you don’t want to allow your precious copies of the Times to be torn apart, use one of the advertising in-

serts. What better way to embrace the over-commer-cialization of the season than wrapping presents in ads? Plus, I’m sure our ad-vertisers would appreciate the exposure.

I haven’t spent a dime on wrapping paper for years. It may cause my younger sis-ter to roll her eyes, but cost is just one of many perks to the practice. Newspa-per wrapping is a great way for parents of disaffected college students to show how hip and environmen-tally conscious they are, for example.

Though some families practice free-for-all gift opening – also known as

“the piranha method” – newspaper wrappings have great advantages for families who open gifts round-robin style. Now, if the attention span of your family is any-thing like mine, opening even a modest number of gifts can take well over an hour with all the distrac-tions, the calls to family members, and the insistence some gift-givers always have on taking pictures so we never forget these precious moments. When all else fails, newspaper wrappings provide crucial reading material while your father opens his fourth pair of new socks and explains to all who will listen (see also

“nobody”) how much he loves argyle.

One complication when dealing with newspaper wrapping is that the size of the sheets are too small for some gifts. A truly deter-mined news-wrapper, how-ever, can utilize multiple sheets to accomplish virtu-ally any wrapping task.

Just one word of cau-tion before you embrace news-wrapping, though – make sure you take a glance at both sides of the page you’re using, and avoid acci-dentally giving your mother a thoughtful gift wrapped in a tragic obituary – seriously, learn from my mistake. Happy holidays!

Charles Kreutzkamp

Two separate incidents were reported to state police in Middlefield on Tuesday, Dec. 9, where an individual approached a resident and requested access for the purpose of photographing the residence for insurance purposes, according to the state police. When asked for identification, the individual who is described as a white or olive colored male would leave.

The individual was described as driving a blue col-ored Dodge Neon or Chevy style vehicle.

Any company conducting legitimate business will have proper identification and should be able to pro-duce the identification upon request.

There has been an increase in “distraction tactic” burglaries where an individual distracts the home-owner while a second individual gains access to the house.

Residents are reminded to be vigilant during this holiday time and law enforcement stress the impor-tance of reporting suspicious people or vehicles right away. Residents can call the office at (860) 349-2325 or 911.

Suspicious activity reported

Boy Scout Troop 270 has scheduled its fourth annual Christmas tree pick-up fundraiser for Dec. 27, Jan. 3 and Jan. 10.

Residents should contact Troop 270 at [email protected] or call (850) 349-2370 for pick-up and disposal of used Christmas trees. Emails and voicemails should include name, address, phone number, preferred weekend, an indication of where the tree may be and any special instructions. A troop member will confirm your pick-up request.

A donation is requested and greatly appreciated.All donations benefit annual troop activities.

Christmas tree pickup fundraiser

At the Dec. 10 Board of Ed-ucation meeting, the board voted to accept the previ-ously negotiated contract for administrators of Regional School District 13.

Presenting a “brief sum-mary,” BOE chair Kerrie Fla-nagan said, “We had a really productive and, I think, very efficient meeting process. We came to what I think is a very fair agreement and we all worked very hard on it.”

The contracts include a gross wage increase of 1.5, 1.9, and 1.8 percent in the three years. The step salary, which is the base salary that increases depending on lon-gevity, was also increased. In-cluding the step movement, the annual salary increases over the next three years will be 2.85, 2.80, and 2.47 percent.

The agreement is for three years, but the insurance por-tion can be re-opened in the third year. “We just don’t know where insurance is go-ing and what’s going to hap-pen. It was very difficult to craft an insurance agree-ment in the third year know-ing there’s a lot of legislation and regulation that’s com-ing down the pike,” Flanagan said.

The final contract was rat-ified by the negotiating team

on Dec. 9, the day before the BOE meeting.

As it was not on the origi-nal meeting agenda, voting on the contract had to be added to be officially considered. BOE member Jeremy Ren-ninghoff objected to the ad-dition and voted against both the addition and the contract, the only no vote for either motion.

Flanagan later described the process for the Town Times, stating “The Board and Administrators were very watchful of what was happening with contracts across the state and we set-tled with an agreement that we all believe is fair to both the communities and the ad-ministrators while allowing us to remain competitive in terms of compensation.”

Flanagan also praised the administrative team for adapting to multiple new re-quirements such as teacher evaluations, school evalu-ations, and Common Core

implementation.Superintendent of Schools

Kathryn Veronesi’s salary was addressed individually at a Sept. 17 BOE meeting. According to minutes, that meeting, which lasted over two and a half hours, took place almost entirely in ex-ecutive session concerning Veronesi’s “midyear informal evaluation” and salary review.

After the executive session discussion, BOE members voted to increase Verone-si’s base salary by 3 percent and increase the doctor-ate stipend to $4,000. Those changes were retroactive to July 1, 2014, six months after Veronesi’s start in January.

Superintendents are typ-ically on a review schedule timed for July and the con-clusion of a school year.

Those changes passed by a vote of 8-1. BOE member Raf-faela Fronc voted no, while Renninghoff was among the eight members voting in fa-vor of the increases.

D13 administrators’ contracts approvedBy Mark DionneTown Times

Deadline for news submissions to Town Times is Mon-day, by 5 p.m., for consideration for the following edition.

Email submissions to [email protected] or by mail to: Town Times, 11 Crown St., Meriden, CT 06450.

For more information, call (203) 317-2256.

News deadline

Tax

supportive manner. Oppor-tunities to become certified as an advanced tax preparer for the VITA program are also available. In 2014, the two VITA sites in Middle-town helped more than 530 Middlesex County area resi-dents file their taxes for free and returned $767,781 back to taxpayers. Those who filed

with Middletown VITA sites had an average Adjusted Gross Income of $19,676 and received an average refund of $1,706, money they have earned. This impacts not only those who filed their taxes, but also their families and the local economy.

For more information, contact David Morgan at [email protected] or (860) 346-1522.

From Page 8

Government Meetings

Durham(Unless otherwise indicated, all meet-ings are held at the Durham Library. Check the town website at www.town-ofdurhamct.org for updates.)Monday, Dec. 22Durham Volunteer Fire Company, Durham Volunteer Firehouse, 7 p.m.Tuesday, Dec. 30Ethic’s Commission, Town Hall, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6Compensation Review/Person-nel Policy Board, Town Hall, 7 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 7Planning & Zoning, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.Monday, Jan. 12Board of Selectmen, Town Hall,

Cat Tales, a nonprofit rescue, is seeking foster care volunteers to provide temporary housing for cats and kittens. Volun-teers will prepare the cats for adoption and prevent overcrowding in the shel-ter. Cat Tales will provide food, supplies, and med-ications, and all vet care. Volunteers will be respon-sible for daily feeding, play and attention, administer-ing medications, follow-ing special dietary plans, handling the cat into and out of a carrier, and trans-porting cats to veterinary appointments. Cat Tales is also in need of feral hous-ing for managed feral col-onies. Anyone willing to donate or construct feral housing should contact Cat Tales. For more infor-mation: (860) 344-9043 or [email protected].

Seeking feline foster care volunteers

7 p.m.Inland/Wetlands, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 14Board of Wetlands, Memorial School, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 15Water Commission, Town Hall, 7 p.m.Tuesday, Jan. 20Town Hall, 6:30 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 21Planning & Zoning, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.Monday, Jan. 20Board of Selectmen, Town Hall, 7 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 28Senior Citizen Board, Durham Activity Center, 1 p.m.Board of Education, Korn Ele-

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crhsnews.com December 19, 2014 Volume 21, Issue 2

Inside This IssueDC Overview --------Bright Lights in DC -Veteran Features ----Teacher Features ----Winter Driving ------Sports Preview ------

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Shopaholic’s Guide - 6 Powder Puff - 7

Coginchaug Regional High School Student News

Seniors:King- Josh SmithQueen- Mikayla WyskielJuniors:Prince- Westley BenjunasPrincess- Sadie LeilerSophomores:Prince- Sam VelazquezPrincess- Paige LarkinFreshmen:Prince- Danny TurecekPrincess- Colleen Coogen

Over the past few months, the phrase “Keep Calm and Nina Strong” has spread over the Internet and so-cial media sites, referring to the battle against cancer one Seymour teen faced for just over a year. On Sunday Nov. 1, 2014, Seymour High School lost one of its beloved students, seventeen-year-old Nina Poeta. Nina fought the can-cer hard. She underwent radiation, chemotherapy, and several experimental clinical trials. Her fight and will to live is inspiring and touching to students and adults alike. “She passed peacefully with her loving family all around her. It was approxi-

mately 11 p.m. on Nov. 1.,” family friend Eliza-beth Pisano told the New Haven Independent. Nina is survived by her parents Dorie and John Poeta and her sister Cara Poeta. Nina was diagnosed with a rare and inoperable brain tumor in November 2013 after complaining of intense headaches. This diagnosis did not break the exuberant cheerlead-er’s spirit. In fact, the two-time All-State cheer-leader continued cheering throughout her radiation treatments. She contin-ued attending school and practice as normally as she could for as long as possible. She even won her second State Cham-pionship, but over the summer, she got worse and more medical issues arose, confining her to a wheelchair and limiting her communication. Last November, Pisano started a GoFundMe cam-paign hoping to help with the family’s medi-cal expenses, raising over $100,000 so far. All of the money that is raised goes to paying the medical bills and other expenses brought on by Nina’s dis-ease. Our own cheerleading team has participated in NinaStrong activities and fundraising. See crhsnews.

Marshall in the 43rd An-nual Seymour Christmas Parade. “About a year ago, Nina and her family received the worst news possible (with her cancer diagnosis), but as Nina faced the most adverse conditions, she stayed strong. ... So, please, be Nina Strong forever,” Seymour High School Prin-cipal James Freund told the New Haven Register.

For more information on Nina’s story, go to: www.facebook.com/PoetaStrong

For more information on how to donate, go to: www.gofundme.com/NinaStrong

You can follow @PoetaS-trong on Twitter and on Instagram.

com for the full story. CRHS graduate Abby Eis-ner and her cheer team at Bentley University had a Poeta Strong Spirit Day and raised over $180 for the cause. Nina’s family was be-yond grateful when a local auto group donated a fully equipped, handicapped ac-cessible van to help their daughter get around. The van had the message “Keep Calm and Nina Strong” on it. The van allowed her to go to Seymour’s home-coming game where she was honored by both her school and the opposing school’s cheerleaders. Her football star boyfriend ran out and gave her a kiss on the cheek before the start of the game. Towards the end, she didn’t look like the Nina that everyone had come to know and love, but on the inside she was still there. Nina’s family, friends, fel-low cheer squad members, and boyfriend Jake Bleau stuck by her throughout the duration of her dis-ease. On Nov. 5, 2014, more than 2,000 people gath-ered in Seymour to con-duct a “Walk of Light” vigil at the high school in mem-ory of Nina. The Poeta family was honored as the Grand

Keep CalmNinaStrongBy Caroline Gervais

If you looked out your window on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 6, it’s high-ly possible that you saw small groups of kids and adults running and driving from door to door, carrying heavy plastics bags full of cans and bags. This year, in the annual tradition known as Community Round Up, residents of Durham and Middlefield collected over 13,000 food donations and $2541.25. Community Round Up draws almost 300 volunteers a year to collect food which will then be used to feed families in need during the holidays. This event began nine years ago when Beth Gal-ligan, a then guidance counselor at Coginchaug, brought the idea from North Branford to Durham. The plan was to ask kids and adults of all ages to form teams and gather at Coginchaug Regional High School on a brisk Saturday morning. From there, each team would be assigned a street in Durham or Mid-dlefield. The designated driver would chauffer the team members to each door, where they would knock and ask for any do-nation of food or money to help Amazing Grace Food Pantry. Teams would then gather back at the high school where the foods would be sorted, packaged,

13,000 Items ‘Rounded Up’By Ivy Linden-Dionne

By Caroline Gervais HC Court

King and Queen Photo by Principal Falcone

Continued on Page 4

2 December 19, 2014 Volume 21, Issue 2

DC from the Editor’s Point of View As a senior, I attended the annual DC trip along with half of my class. We de-parted for the class trip on Nov. 19 and returned Nov. 22. The first official stop of the trip, not including any rest stops, was Phila-delphia, Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, we went to the Independence Mall for lunch. Students ate at vari-ous venders in the Bourse Building, which was origi-nally America’s first ma-terial exchange market; the word bourse means a place of exchange. If we still had time after eating, we could choose to head over and look at the Liber-ty Bell, Benjamin Franklin’s gravesite, Franklin Court,

or the US Mint. After sightseeing for half an hour or so, everyone met up at the National Con-stitution Center to watch “Freedom Rising”, a narrat-ed overview of why Amer-ica created the Constitu-tion. After the multimedia show, we were allowed to explore the rest of the ex-hibits in the center. There were mock voting booths, interactive quizzes, stat-ues, and articles from the Constitution time period. Then, everyone hopped back on the bus for an-other length of our trip. Later, we stopped to eat at an Italian restaurant That’s Amore in Maryland. After that, we visited the US Ma-rine Corps War Memorial before heading over to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, everyone was ex-hausted from the long day of traveling and sightsee-ing. The next morning, we departed for the Vietnam War, Lincoln, and Korean War memorials. Then we all headed over to the MLK, Jr. and FDR memorials. After walking around the memorials, we went over to Capitol Hill to take our official Washington class

By Dena Branciforte

Devil’s Advocate Staff:

Editor-in-Chief: Dena Branciforte

Managing Editor & Social Media Coordinator: Caroline Gervais

Design Editor: Cory Hassmann

News/A&E Editor: Emma Ackerman

Contributing Reporters: Ava Altschuler John MormileRicki Barton Tim McDermottSamantha Kinell Miranda CroninIvy Linden-Dionne Brooke Troutman

picture. Rosa DeLauro also came to talk to us and an-swer any questions we had. Then, we all headed over to the US Capitol Visitor Cen-ter for a tour. Before the tour started, we watched a video called, Out of Many, One. On the tour, we saw the Crypt, the Rotunda, and National Statuary Hall. After our tour, we were allowed to go explore Capi-tol Hill, visit the Supreme Court, or see the Botanical Gardens. After dinner on Thursday, we all walked over to the White House and then visited the World War II Memorial and Jef-ferson Memorial. Friday morning we visited Arling-ton National Cemetery. We saw the Kennedy grave site, the Memorial Amphi-theater, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We watched the changing of the guards ceremony and

our class officers partici-pated in the placing of a wreath to honor the un-known men. After lunch at Union Sta-tion, we were allowed to walk around The National

The senior class huddles together in front of the National Constitution Center.Photo By Mrs. Kate Germond

Olivia Tubis, Monica LaRosa, Jennie Smith, and Jessica Hendley jump in front of Lincoln’s Memorial.

Photo by Dena Branciforte

Kacie Halligan, Amy Choplick-Ward, and Maria DeLuca stand in front of the Reflection Pool, with the Washington

Monument in the background.Photo by Dena BranciforteThe Liberty Bell

in PhiladelphiaPhoto by Cory Hassmann Mall to look at the numer-

ous sites. We were allowed to look at the Smithsonian Museums, the National Gal-lery of Art, the Holocaust Museum, the International Spy Museum, the News-eum, and the National Ar-chives. Everyone also re-ceived tickets to visit the Washington Monument. After this, we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and our evening out at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. We watched Shear Madness which is the longest-run-ning play in America. On our last day, we saw Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865.

crhsnews.com December 19, 2014 3

Bright Lights in the Big CityBy Caroline Gervais Ever since freshman year, I have been excited to go on the senior trip to DC. Washington, DC is one place that my family and I have always wanted to visit but have yet to explore. When the trip was intro-duced last year, I could barely contain my excite-ment. As the trip neared, all I could think about was how much fun it was going to be and how much there would be to see and do. Af-ter carefully planning my outfits and re-checking to

make sure I had everything I needed, the moment I was waiting for was finally here. When we got home, I couldn’t stop talking about how much fun I had and all of the amazing things I saw. Throughout the trip, I sent my parents and friends back home pictures of the best parts of each day. The trip was jam-packed with all of the exciting features of DC, and despite the sleep deprivation, I had a wonderful time.

“I’m fufilling my dreams of a cliché tourist picture.”

– Caroline GervaisPhoto by Tim McDermott

Nine seniors pose on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.Photo by Dena Branciforte

–...taking pictures with the Constitution signers in Phila-delphia.This is an annual highlight of the trip for us se-niors. Everyone makes sure to take as many pictures as they can while they pose in silly positions and attempt to imitate the statues. My friends and I had a lot of fun do-ing this, as well as exploring the exhibits in the National Constitution Center. One really cool thing was partici-pating in a mock vote. –...going to see the Air Force Memorial, Iwo Jima Memo-rial, World War II Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial at night. These monuments are amazing works of archi-tecture in daylight, but they are even more amazing at night. Each monument symbolizes a different aspect of American History, and seeing them all in a short time period shows the connections and differences between each aspect. –...going to see the White House. I have always wanted to see the White House. It just mesmerizes me. Although we did not get to go on a tour, it was still a great experi-ence taking pictures in front of the gates and viewing it from the outside. –...going up in the Washington Monument. This was an unexpected delight. I did not know that we were going to be going up in the actual monument, but when we were handed the tickets, I could barely handle my excitement. The wait was a little long, but the views were worth the wait. It felt like I could see the whole city. I really liked that as we went back down in the elevator, we saw pieces

of stone and marble that were donated by various states. –...visiting the Lincoln Me-morial and the Martin Lu-ther King Jr. Monument. I have always loved the history surrounding both Abraham Lincoln and Mar-tin Luther King, Jr. When visiting the Lincoln Memo-rial, I was fascinated by its enormosity and by the en-gravings of his two famous speeches on the wall. I also fulfilled my dream of tak-ing a “typical tourist pic-ture” with the Washington Monument. The MLK, Jr. Monument was particularly intriguing as well, as there was a long wall with his famous quotes engraved on them and a large stone statue of MLK, Jr.-...seeing the 9/11 Memo-rial at the Pentagon. This was a spectacular tribute. The fact that the memo-rial consists of benches that are meant for people to sit on and reflect what happened that tragic day is such a cool idea. The benches sort of come out of the ground so that when you read the name and look up, you either see the sky or the pentagon. The direction you are look-ing designates where the person perished.

-...observing a vote in the Senate. Although the tour of the Capitol was a bit uneventful, seeing the Sen-ate in action made the trip worthwhile. The Senate was voting on judicial ap-pointments in a chaotic yet organized way. Being in the Capitol was fascinating yet intimidating. It felt very of-ficial and grown up to be ushered into the viewing balconies of the Senate and House.-...going to the Smithson-ian Art Archives. This was a task that was assigned to the French 5 students. If we went to the Art Archives and took a selfie with a piece of impressionist art, we would get extra credit. So, a bunch of us went and took pictures, and it was amazing to see the paint-ings in person.–...seeing Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center. This is another annual highlight of the trip. Shear Madness is the longest-running play and is essentially a “who dunnit” where the culprit of the crime depends on the votes from the audi-ence. It was highly inter-active and especially hi-larious when they included our principal, Mr. Falcone, in their antics. The Kenne-dy Center was spectacular

in itself, and the play was even better.-...the 30-foot tower of books written about Lin-coln in the House Where Lincoln Died. This was particularly interesting be-cause Lincoln is one of the most written about people in history. Although the tower was not actually made of real books, it still looked really cool. Overall, our senior trip to DC was everything that I hoped it would be. I hope that I can go back and vis-it all of the things that I didn’t end up seeing. I also hope that the DC trip con-tinues to be a successful balance of history and fun.

A fabulous view of DC from the top of the Washington Monument.

Photo by Caroline Gervais

My favorite parts of the trip included...


Bob Peterson, US Marines

Bob Peterson, US Marines Holiday Mail for Heroes

During Vietnam, Bob Pe-terson of Durham, Con-necticut was an infantry soldier in the Marine Corps. He was stationed south of a de-militarized zone and close to Khe Sanh which was a monumental battle. He describes his surround-ings as “hot”; he didn’t have housing but rather a tent, a poncho, and a dug hole. This was his home for the four years he was there. “We were constantly on the move, which was prob-ably the hardest thing,” Pe-terson said. He spent the majority of the time from when he was 19 (when he enlisted) to the time he was 21 in Vietnam; how-ever, he did get a couple weeks of leave during that span. During one of those weeks, he traveled to Aus-tralia. “They spoke English. Everyone else was going to Thailand and not to say they didn’t speak English there, but Australia felt more like home.” In the late 1980s, Mr. Pe-terson became the Com-mander of VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars). Prior to the late 1980s, Mr. Peter-son had not been involved in the organization even though he had been home

By Emma Ackerman By Brooke Troutman

Radio City Holiday Spectacular By Morgan Cunningham During the holiday season, it is a popular tradition for many families to take a day trip to New York City. Several attractions during this time include tree light-ings, skating at Rockefeller Center, concerts/shows, and endless stores to shop in for the holidays. Many families visit the Radio City Music Hall to attend the Christmas Spectacular, fea-turing the Radio City Rock-ettes. This show debuted in 1933 and runs for about eight weeks annually.

for years. “Not a lot of people want-ed to do anything ‘Veteran’ related right after Viet-nam,” Peterson said. The VFW helps not only Veterans but the commu-nity as a whole. The organi-zation has installed a flag-pole on the football field and an electronic score-board at the little league field; they help countless other families throughout our community by donat-ing time and money. To support the VFW orga-nization along with the Boy Scouts, they held their an-nual Veterans Day Celebra-tion on the green on Veter-ans Day. Bob Peterson is a resident of Durham.

Local Veterans Honored

With many veterans and servicemembers being away from their families during the holidays, The American Red Cross set up a program called Holiday Mail For He-roes, encouraging people to create cards of thanks for vet-erans and their families. Ms. Bowman, CRHS Family and Consumer Science teacher, encouraged her classes and the CRHS community to get involved in this program and together they created 150 holiday cards for veterans and wounded warriors. The cards were sent to American Red Cross in Bridgeport that would soon be delivered to local veterans.

See photo spreads by Morgan Cunningham and Caroline Gervais online at www.crhsnews.com.

Visit our online newspaper to read about:

- Fall Sports - Veteran’s Day Interviews- Events leading up to homecoming (Spirit week, bonfire, etc.)- CRHS Senior DC Trip Videos- DIY Holiday Recipes/Gifts

www.CRHSnews.com

If you would like to get involved and create a card for a vet-eran, visit http://www.redcross.org/support/get-involved/holiday-mail-for-heroes.

Continued from Page 1

packaged, and delivered. “It was so successful the first year that it just took off,” said Strong Middle School guidance counsel-or Mrs. Rebecca Sinusas, one of the three co-chairs of Community Round Up, along with Mrs. Kathy Bot-tini and Mrs. Melissa Cook. Last year, there were 12,905 food items and $2,600 collected. These items were then used to help families in need dur-

ing the holiday season. After the food is sorted by item and loaded into the trucks of volunteers, it is brought to the food banks of Durham and Middle-field. Some food is also given to families in town who work with social ser-vices. Some food is donat-ed to the DMYFS backpack program, which “supplies kids who are on free and reduced lunch with food for the weekends,” accord-ing to Mrs. Sinusas. The leftover food is donated to

Amazing Grace Food Pan-try. Community Round Up doesn’t just provide food; it also raises awareness. Before this event became a tradition, Middlefield did not have a food bank, according to the chairs of this event. As Commu-nity Round Up picked up steam, they formed an of-ficial food pantry, located at 405 Main Street which is now filled every year with the goods collected during CRU.


Teacher Feature: Ms. Scandariato By Ricki Barton

Teacher Feature: Mrs. ZygmontBy Caroline Gervais

Coginchaug’s new Eng-lish teacher is Ms. Nicole Scandariato. As an undergrad, Scan-dariato went to Eastern and majored in Second-ary English Education. To earn her Masters, she went to the University of St. Joseph in West Hart-ford, majoring in Cur-riculum and Instruction. Scandariato worked at Windsor High School for six years as an English teacher before coming to Coginchaug. She said that Windsor High was much larger, had many more students, and a more diverse commu-nity. Another difference is the X block period. “I didn’t know what X block was; it was like an uncontrolled recess!” she laughed. Scandariato teaches ninth and eleventh grade and a senior elective class.

She said, “I prefer teach-ing ninth graders because of the curriculum but also because freshman year is tough, and I like to help and support them throughout the year.” Scandariato said that she has a passion for reading and writing that she want-ed to share with students, so she became an English teacher. Scandariato said she loves Coginchaug for many reasons. “The community is great because everyone knows each other, so the school is like a family.” She also said that the students are respectful, and all the teachers have their students’ best interest in learning. In her free time, Scandar-iato likes watching sports and biking and is currently planning her wedding.

What is your favor-ite part about being a teacher?I love the kids. My favorite part is when a kid who is struggling finally gets it or when we have an “a-ha” moment as a group. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Why?When I was younger, on Christmas morning we had to wait to go down-stairs until our parent were awake because they had to turn the Christmas tree lights on. See, we did not decorate our tree as a family, Santa did. It was magical [coming down the stairs] in the morn-ing. Now, with grown up kids, Christmas Day is a very relaxed day. We just hang out and play games, especially Scrabble. What is your favorite thing about Coginchaug?I love the people here; the people I work with, the

kids I teach, and even the students I don’t teach. The friends I do things with outside of school work here. This is a family. My children accuse me of lov-ing my students more than them… Do you have any words of advice for Seniors currently applying to, or deciding on college?Wherever you go, get involved in something so that your college experi-ence is more than just going to class. There are tons of groups to join so choose one. It will give you a stronger connection to the school and you will enjoy it more. If there was one place that you could travel to, where would it be and why would you want to go there?I want to go to the Middle East, especially Jerusalem. I am fascinated by the enormity of the Pyramids and how they were built. I really want to see the

What is your favorite winter holiday and why? What are some of your favorite traditions or activities to do during the holidays?

Mr. Bajoros: His favorite winter holiday is February break because the snow is typically great during that time…Traditionally, he travels with students to ski/snowboard during the break. The trip has gone to Colorado and Utah in the past, and is going to Quebec, Canada this year). His birthday also falls during Feb. break as well, (Feb. 16)

Mr. Falcone: His favorite winter holiday is Christmas. His whole family gets together, and his kids are so excited. He said just to see their faces when they’re open-ing presents makes Christ-mas the best holiday.“I like to spend time with my girls. We go to the Yankee

Candle store, and we go to New York. With the time off we try to get to lots of different places.”

Mrs. Milardo: Her favorite winter holi-day is Christmas because she loves the decorations, having all the family together, and presents. Some traditions that Mrs. Milardo has are cutting the Christmas tree with her family, then decorat-ing it together. She spends Christmas Eve with her husband’s family and Christmas Day with her family.

Mrs. McClintick: Mrs. McClintick’s fa-vorite winter holiday is Christmas because she loves having the family all together. Every Christmas Eve, Mrs. McClintick’s fam-ily has a soup stew dinner, and on Christmas Day

Holiday TraditionsBy Ricki Barton and Ivy Linden-Dionne

Photo By: John Mormile

Photo By: Morgan Cunningham

she opens gifts with her family.

Mrs. Mattei: Mrs. Mattei loves Christ-mas because it’s a very important family holiday. She has Italian traditions such as making a very special lasagna for Christ-mas dinner which she only has twice a year, and other traditions like going to church with her whole family on Christmas.

Ms. Wagemaker: Ms. Wagemaker likes Christmas Day because it’s a time to relax and spend time with the family. Her Christmas tradition is put-ting on her fuzzy Rudolph

places that I grew up hear-ing about during church. How do you spend the holidays?On Christmas Eve, we get together with our extend-ed family. On Christmas Day, its just my parents, my kids, and my brother. On New Years, we get to-gether for a big dinner and watch movies at my house. What are you looking forward to most about 2015?I am looking forward to my daughters graduation from college and that she is going to live with me until she starts her stint with the peace corps. My son is going back to college so I am looking forward to helping him with his trig homework. And who knows, maybe I will get married in 2015… we’ve been engaged for 6 years now.What is your favorite class to teach? Least favorite?AP calc is my favorite class to teach. I used to teach Geometry and that is my least favorite. I am an al-gebra gal, not a geometry gal.

socks after Christmas Eve dinner!

Happy Holidays from the Devil’s Advocate Staff!


There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love shopping and those who don’t. I happen to be one of those who do, especially during the holi-day season. The satisfac-tion of finding the perfect gift is high up there on my list of favorite feelings. The following are 10 tips on how to successfully attack holiday shopping. My ad-vice might just make shop-ping tolerable… dare I say, enjoyable?

1. Before even thinking about going shopping, make a list of the people for whom you need to buy gifts. Then, brainstorm some ideas of what to get them so that you have somewhere to start look-ing.

2. Before venturing out into the Great Unknown of the shopping mall or plaza, create a plan of attack. Fig-ure out which stores you want or need to shop at and roam the mall in an or-ganized fashion.

3. If there are certain things you know that you absolutely have to buy, for instance a new cat sweater for Aunt Susan, buy those items first. Don’t wait un-til the last minute because they may be gone. Leave the smaller items or un-known gifts in order to give yourself some time to find inspiration.

Shopaholic’s Holiday GuideBy Caroline Gervais

As the new year ap-proaches, we look back on the year, reminisce, and consider how we could im-prove ourselves and our lives. We may want to truly improve our ways of being but tend to become carried away with setting unrea-sonable goals or become stumped on how to actu-ally follow through with them. Everyone has the de-sire to cleanse himself by creating a new start along with the new year, but how do we actually succeed in reinventing ourselves? The first step to success is to plan out and think about the future. In order to get a head start, when you catch a break from busy holiday shopping, sit down with a cup of tea on your lap, with a PEN and a notebook. Your writing utensil must and most importantly be a pen rather than pencil be-cause this way, you won’t be tempted to erase a reso-lution or change it to make it too easy for yourself. Think about what is really important to you that you want to accomplish in the year to come.

While writing a list of goals, split the list into two separate sections: short-term goals and long-term goals. Instead of just jot-ting down the main idea of a goal, list bullet points underneath it containing the elaborate steps you can take in order to work towards the goal. Make sure to not write down three pages of resolutions. You are much more likely to balance and complete goals if you keep them to a minimum; quality over quantity. Lastly, at the end of your list of ways to make yourself a better you, write down five things for which you are already proud of yourself or things that you admire about yourself. Be-cause you are writing all of these ways to improve yourself, it is crucial to re-member and recognize all of the admirable charac-teristics that you already have. This list is meant to be something that will pos-itively affect you, not nega-tively. After you are done writing your list, make sure to hang it somewhere that you will always see. You can even tape the list to your mirror to emphasis the idea that you will see yourself as you aspire to be in your reflection if you complete your goals. The second half of New Year’s Resolutions is acting on them. It’s easy to start these resolutions with a kick of fresh motivation, but it is much more difficult to actually follow through

with them. You may find yourself overwhelmed with a list of objectives, which is why you should focus on completing one task at a time. Remember, it takes 21 days to form or break a habit! With taking one goal at a time, allow yourself a break after each goal com-pleted and reward yourself. If you attempt to finish all of your goals nonstop then you will drain yourself of desire and incentive. You have a whole 365 days to make these resolutions happen, so there is no point in rushing. Another way of forming a good habit is to convince one of your friends or fam-ily members to work at a goal along with you! You can inspire someone who you care about and work together to obtain a goal. If you have a partner, you will have another source of motivation and encourage-ment. As time passes, you may push your resolutions to the side and ignore them. In these times of coming close to giving up, remind yourself why you started in the first place and how im-portant they once were to you in order to pick your-self up again. New Year’s Resolutions may be hard to create and stick to, but they are as possible as you make them for yourself. You can’t ex-pect yourself to achieve a yearly goal without a game plan, organization, and de-termination. So, up and at

New Goals for the New YearHow to Conquer your ResolutionsBy Ava Altschuler

4. Gift cards are your best friend. Don’t know what to get your second cousin Hannah from Michigan who comes home once a year for the holidays? Buy her a Starbucks gift card! They’re everywhere.

5. Shoppers run on Dunkin. Caffeine and sugar are es-sential to keep you on track and efficient.

6. Don’t get caught up in the coupons and the BOGO mumbo-jumbo. If you think that a certain item is the perfect gift for some-one, buy it! Take a lesson from Nike and Just Do It. (That is unless it costs $3 million … then get them something else…)

7. Start your shopping ear-ly! Don’t wait until Christ-mas Eve because you will end up buying your grand-mother a package of gum and some candy from the gas station. Some people start their shopping in June… you should at least start thinking about it no later than Dec. 1.

8. Put some thought into it. Gifts are a lot more mean-ingful to the person receiv-ing it when the gifts have a special meaning or are a perfect match to the re-ceiver. For example, don’t get your best friend who loves the Red Sox more than life itself a Yankees hat. That’s just cruel... fun-ny, but cruel.

9. Wrap your gifts early and be creative. Absolutely do NOT just stuff every-thing into a gift bag and call it a day (unless the gift has a super irregular shape and is unwrappable). It is a fact that it is a lot more fun to tear off the wrapping paper and bows than it is to pull some tissue out of a bag. Be sure to take advan-tage of free gift wrap of-fers and splurge a little on some cute wrapping paper.

10. Let the gift find you. Don’t freak out and buy the first item you see. The perfect gift will quite liter-ally pop up in front of you as you roam the stores or scour the Internet.

Happy Shopping!


Candy Cane BlossomsBy Morgan Cunningham

Preheat oven to 350° F Re-move wrappers from can-dies (approximately 35). Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blend-ed. Add flour mixture al-ternately with milk to but-ter mixture, beating until well blended. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and cookies are set. (The cook-ies will look somewhat undercooked. That is sup-posed to happen.) Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 min-utes before pressing candy piece into the center of each cookie. Remove from

Start by peeling 5 pounds of potatoes and placing them aside. Using either a food processor or a large-cut cheese grater, shred the potatoes into a large bowl. Finely slice the on-ion, measure the remain-ing ingredients and add them to the mixture. Us-ing your hand, mix the in-gredients into a consistent

Makes about one dozen

pancakes:

5 lbs of white potatoes4 eggs2 tbsp Maggi seasoning1 onion½ cup white flour2 tsp salt½ tsp pepper

German Potato PancakesBy Cory Hassmann

Makes approx.

35 cookies:

1 bag of Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses½ cup of butter (soft-ened)1 cup granulated sugar1½ teaspoons vanilla extract1 egg2 cups all purpose flour¼ teaspoon salt¼ teaspoon baking soda2 tablespoons milk, red or green colored sugar (or any type of sprin-kles you would like)

mixture being careful not to mash the potato shav-ings. Place the mixture into a large strainer and begin to form handfuls of potato into medium-sized balls. Fill a medium sized frying pan with canola oil and place on medium heat. Place the patties in the pan, making sure to leave space between each patty. Using

cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

a slotted spatula, flatten the pancakes individually. Frying each side for ap-prox. 5 minutes until gold-en brown. After browning both sides, place the pan-cakes on paper towels, and pad down each side to re-move the excess oil. Enjoy plain or with applesauce, served hot.

Winter Driving

Winter is approaching rapidly, and for drivers that means taking extra precaution. There are over 1.5 million weather-related accidents each year. Ac-cording to the US Depart-ment of Transportation, 220,000 accidents are caused annually because of snow sleet, 190,000 be-

cause of icy pavement and 170,000 because of slushy roads. Accidents can hap-pen suddenly and unex-pectedly. Many upperclass-men in high school drive themselves to school every day, and weather condi-tions in the morning can be

very dangerous.

By Sam Kinell

Here are the top 5 tips for keeping safe on the road this winter:

1. Plan your driving in ad-vance- doing this can help you know if there are any accidents, fallen trees, etc., on the route you will be taking, and you can avoid these problems.2. Wear sunglasses on bright, sunny days- The snow can be blinding, even more so on sunny days.3. Know the weather,

know if it will be bad or too dangerous to drive. If so, the best option is to wait it out, but if you can’t, it’s better to know the detailed forecast and be prepared. 4. Know how to recover from skids- Don’t touch your brakes when starting to skid; gently steer the ve-hicle in the direction you want the vehicle to go.

5. Warm up your vehicle before driving- It isn’t good to drive when the engine is freezing after sitting overnight; this will help warm it up and create less chance of something going wrong in the engine. Take about 15 minutes to let your vehicle run, but do not let it run in an en-closed area like a garage.

To the right, senior Naomi Rinaldo jukes by the juniors in a memorable offensive performance in the annual Pow-der Puff game. Photo by Cory Hassmann

On Tuesday Dec. 2, CRHS held their annual Powder Puff game in which some of the girls from the senior class competed against girls from the junior class. The game was rescheduled from Wednesday Nov. 26 because of the unexpected snow storm. Both teams tried their best even though the weather wasn’t pleasant. Junior Christina Rizzo said, “A last-minute touchdown put the seniors ahead 26 to 21, but we still had a lot of fun.” The juniors and seniors prepared for the game over a course of a couple weeks

Powder Puff in the SnowBy Miranda Cronin

“The practices were even more fun than the game,” said junior Bella Coviello. The game cost $3 to at-tend, and many people came to show support for the two teams.

“I was really rooting for the juniors, but both teams tried their best,” said ju-nior Michael O’Keefe. Juniors wore gray and blue while the seniors sported bright pink.

For Advice on Safe Winter Driving by John Mormile go to CRHSNEWS.com


8 December 19, 2014 crhsnews.com

For full sports schedules, go to CIACsports.com.

For articles this season, visitCRHSnews.com.

CRHS SPORTS REVIEWSContributing Reporters Samantha Kinell, John Mormile, and Timothy McDermott

Blue and White teams cheered the girls basket-ball season opener at Cromwell High School Wednesday, Dec. 10.

Cheerleading

Coginchaug has many sports for all the different athletes that come through this school; however, there have been many hockey players who have come through RSD 13 who nev-er got to play high school hockey. This year, from the work of the students and the new Coginchaug Athletic Director Mr. Nick Barbieri, the school was able to cre-ate a co-op hockey team for Coginchaug. Mr. Barbieri, along with five students and their parents, worked all spring and summer to explore the co-op opportunity. They went to meetings, includ-ing meetings with coaches from other schools and the Board of Education.

Boys & Girls Indoor Track

Coginchaug Takes the IceBy Timothy McDermott

The team credits Mr. Bar-bieri for his hard work in creating this opportunity for students: “He did all the communicating with the other schools,” said CRHS sophomore Kaylie LeMere. This year’s co-op is formed with Lyman Hall and Haddam-Killingworth high schools. Lyman Hall had a good record last year and made the state tourna-ment. It also seemed like the program that would be a good fit for our school. Coach Rich Minnix also talked about how all the players get along well and formed bonds on and off the ice. “It seemed like a better team, a team that wanted to win games,” said CRHS

junior Jacob Martinez. “It should be fun and chal-lenging,” said LeMere. The team is excited for the opportunity to help out and play for the co-op team. “It’s a great feeling know-ing that I will be able to play for a high school team,” Martinez said. So far the Lyman Hall, Haddam-Killingworth and Coginchaug hockey team has been a success. “The team has been work-ing hard every day at prac-tice getting ready for the games,” said LeMere. The players think that the team is going to be suc-cessful, and they hope that the relationship between the schools will last for a long time.

The boys and girls indoor track team had a strong performance at the devel-oping meet at Hillhouse High School in New Ha-ven on Dec. 10. Third-year head coach Mr. David Bel-lemere is accompanied by Mr. Jack McShane and Mr. Mike Ford. The boys team hopes to win Shorelines this year.

Senior Connor Stewart said, “We are going to have a great season despite only having 51 members, which is fewer than years in the past.” The girls coach is Mrs. Kate Germond. Their sea-son is looking promis-ing. Junior Taylor Marino placed first in the 55-meter dash at Hillhouse.

Blue Team cheerleading will cheer for many boys and girls basketball games this season. With a small team of twelve this year, they are elevating their skills from past seasons to become the most competitive cheer team Coginchaug has had to date. They are preparing for their competition sea-son, which starts in Janu-ary. The girls will compete in the first Shoreline competition in addition to States and several other local events.

White Team cheerleading is full of energy for the girls and boys basketball teams this year. They are a small but dedicated group and plan to work closely with our new Blue Devil mascots this season.

Boys BBall Girls BBall With the start of their season underway, the girls were defeated by Cromwell on Dec. 10 but hope to im-prove moving forward. “We just needed to get out our jitters,” said Coginchaug junior guard Larissa Cade. “The season is going to turn around and be a very successful one for us.”

The boys basketball team kicked off their season against Windsor Locks Dec. 17 at home pre-publi-cation. Junior point guard Cam Powers said, “We are going to have an awesome season. Nothing beats starting it off at home.” The boys went 12-11 last year and look to improve their record under veteran Head Coach Todd Salva.

Gymnastics: Flipping DeFilippos CRHS Gymnastics is looking forward to another excit-ing season. Juniors Karen and Michelle DeFilippo con-tinue to set their bars high with a goal of making First Team All-State. Working with H-K, Old Saybrook, and Hale Ray, they hope to medal as a team. Their season starts at the end of Dec., but the girls are already in training. “I think we have a different type of training than most sports,” said Karen DeFilippo of the 20-hour training weeks endured by the gymnasts.


Sandy Hook rememberedHonor with Action

NEW BRITAIN (AP) — Two U.S. lawmakers from Connecticut helped launch a week long remembrance of the 20 children and six adults fatally shot at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Rep. Eliz-abeth Esty and Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined Newtown Action Alliance in launching HonorWithAction Week to remember those who were killed on Dec. 14, 2012.

Immediately following a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 8, at the YWCA in New Britain, Esty and Blumenthal volunteered with children and partici-pated in classroom activities. Throughout the week, Esty, Blumenthal, and their staff volunteered in Connecticut and Washington, D.C.

Newtown Action Alliance has coordinated more than 180 vigils and events across the country to commemorate

the anniversary and honor victims of gun violence. A national vigil in Washington, D.C. was held Thursday, Dec. 11.

Play recalls tragic day, benefits Newtown

NEW YORK (AP) — A new play about the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elemen-tary School held a benefit reading in December in New York City to commemorate the second anniversary of the tragedy. Eric Ulloa’s “26 Pebbles,” which was adapted from transcripts of inter-views with people touched by the shootings, held a staged reading Dec. 15 at the Culture Project’s The Lynn Redgrave Theater under the direction of Igor Goldin.

Proceeds from the event will benefit a collection of charities chosen by residents of Newtown. The shooting,

which left 20 first graders and six educators dead, occurred there on Dec. 14, 2012.

The play’s producers are R. Erin Craig, La Vie Pro-ductions, James E. Cleveland, Randy Donaldson and Wolf-stone Productions.

Beautiful Life debuts

Saxophonist Jimmy Green recently released his first al-bum since his six-year-old daughter Ana was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School two years ago. “Beau-tiful Life” is a tribute to his child with compositions such as “Ana’s Way” and “Ana’s Grace.” Her voice can be heard singing on “Come Thou Almighty King”.

Green and his wife, Nelba Márquez-Greene, also have a son, Isaiah.

The disc includes various musical styles and instru-mental and vocal numbers. A string ensemble from the

Hartford Symphony Orches-tra is among the guests fea-tured on a “Beautiful Life” as is a children’s chorus that Isa-iah and Ana used to perform with when the family lived in Winnipeg, Canada.

In the liner notes, Green writes: “Much attention has been paid to the way in which my precious Ana died, but this album attempts to paint the picture of how she lived - lovingly, faithfully and joyfully.”

Faith Briefs

First Church of ChristFirst Church of Christ,

Scientist, Middletown, has scheduled a lecture program “Living in Harmony” for Sat-urday, Dec. 20, at Russell Library, 123 Broad St., Middle-town. Josh Niles, a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship, is scheduled to give the presentation.

For more information, visit www.christiansciencect.org/church-middletown/

United Churches of Durham

The United Churches of Durham, 228 Main St., has scheduled Family Christmas Eve services for Wednesday, Dec. 24 at 7 p.m., and Candle-light Communion service at 10 p.m.

See Faith / Page 27

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School News

CRHS honor roll corrections

High honors:Grade 12 - Katrena

MacFarlene.Grade 10 - Seth Azevedo,

Dawson Hettrick, Ashlyn Lower.

Grade 9 - Daanyal Akhtar, Caitlyn Casey-Leonard, Col-leen Coogan, Lydia D’Amato, Kaitlin Gossart, Carly Lane, Ivy Linden-Dionne, Made-line Montz, Adriana Wimler.

College Admissions Forum

The Guidance Depart-ment at Coginchaug Re-gional High School has scheduled its annual Col-lege Admissions Forum on Thursday, Jan. 8, 7 p.m., in the high school audito-rium for juniors students and their parents/guard-ians. College admissions officers from Central Con-

Kindergarten registrationDurham and Middlefield

children who will be five (5) years old, on or before Jan 1, 2016, must be registered to attend kindergarten in Sep-tember 2015 or apply for a waiver of attendance. In Re-

gional District 13, children may attend kindergarten in either the Contemporary Program or the Integrated Day Program. Parents need to choose the program for their child prior to kindergarten

registration. The Contemporary Pro-

gram serves children in grades K-4 and is housed at Brewster School for grades K-2 and at Korn School for grades 3 and 4. The Inte-

grated Day program serves students in grades K-4 at John Lyman School. While the two programs share many simi-larities, they also have differ-ences that must be considered when deciding which pro-

gram is best.Parents are urged to visit

all three schools and to ob-serve at least one classroom at every grade level. Parental visits may be scheduled Jan. 7 through Jan. 30. Appoint-ments may be made by call-ing Lyman School at (860) 349-7240 to visit the Inte-grated Day Program. To visit the Contemporary Program, call Brewster School at (860) 349-7227 and Korn School at (860) 349-7210.

Decisions about which pro-gram to register their child must be made by Feb. 1, ac-cording to Regional District 13 Board of Education policy. Children not registered in a specific program by that date may not be able to attend the program chosen by parents. Scheduling an appointment for kindergarten registration confirms program choice.

Schools

See Kindergarten / Page 24

See School / Page 24

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Durham resident Kevin C. Leahy, CFP, CIMA, CPA, is one of three Advisers for Connecticut Wealth Manage-ment, LLC, a greater Hartford area Registered Investment Advisor, to be recognized by Medical Economics and named to their exclusive list of “Best Financial Advisers for Doctors.” Editors select star financial advisors based on their knowledge and experience, selecting those who have been in the industry for more than 10 years. Editors also examine advisors’ fee structures, minimum invest-ment requirements, geography, and good standing with compliance, favoring those who do not rely completely on a commission-based structure. Leahy, Denis Horrigan and Patricia Kane work with physicians, retirees, families, business owners and executives and offer personalized strategies designed to help their clients identify, plan, and work toward their unique financial goals.

Local a star financial advisorStateState’s performing arts groups win grants

HARTFORD (AP) — The National Endowment for the Arts has announced 11 grants totaling $290,000 for a range of performing arts and literary publications in Connecticut.

The state’s congressional delegation announced Dec. 9 that recipients include: per-forming arts in Litchfield, a Hartford acting ensemble, de-velopment of new plays and a musical theater in Waterford, New Haven’s Arts and Ideas festival and other produc-tions and events.

Connecticut College in New London will receive $10,000 to present produc-tions in contemporary and classical dance and music from southeast Connecti-cut and southwestern Rhode Island.

Wesleyan University will receive $25,000 to publish poets and Yale University received $40,000 for a play commissioned by Yale Rep-ertory Theater.

The grants were among 1,118 awarded nationwide and selected from 3,455 applicants.

Court: Arbitrators outside Freedom of Info law

HARTFORD (AP) — The state Supreme Court has ruled that arbitrators are not covered by the state’s Free-dom of Information laws, denying the public’s right to know what evidence is pre-sented in arbitration hearings between teacher unions and school boards.

The Republican-Amer-ican reports that the case

stems from a 2010 arbitration hearing between the Tor-rington Education Associa-tion and Torrington Board of Education.

The Republican-Ameri-can filed a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission after arbitrators barred a reporter from at-tending a portion of an arbi-tration hearing.

Justice Dennis Eveleigh wrote that arbitration pan-

els are not committees of the Education Department un-der the Freedom of Informa-tion law.

Justice Carmen Elisa Es-pinosa disagreed, saying ar-bitration panels were not designated for administrative purposes only, which would keep them outside the juris-diction of the Freedom of In-formation law.

See State / Page 25

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School

necticut State University and Quinnipiac University plan an overview of the en-tire admissions process. The Guidance Department will also discuss the procedures for students regarding the application process. In the event of inclement weather, the program will be resched-uled for Wednesday, Jan. 14.

For more information, call the Guidance Office at (860) 349-7221.

Scholastic achievements

Josef Danczuk of Durham was inducted into the Sigma Circle of Omicrom Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society at the University of Maryland. ODK recognizes those who attained the high-est standard of leadership in scholarship, athletics, cam-pus or community service, social religious activities or campus government.

Elle Rose Rinaldi of Durham was named to the fall dean’s list at Choate Rosemary Hall.

Michael Mastroianni of Durham, a football stu-dent-athlete, has been named to the 2014 Liberty League All-Academic Team at Springfield College.

Julia Davis and Lauren Davis of Middlefield were named to the first marking period high honor roll at Sa-cred Heart Academy.

ScholarshipHigh School Heroes

Scholarship - Bob’s Dis-count Furniture with the American Red Cross have announced the annual Bob’s Discount Furniture $250,000 High School Heroes Schol-arship Program for the 2014-15 school year.

Students who host at least two high school blood drives throughout the year and achieve an annual par-ticipation rate of at least 30 percent of age-eligible stu-dents are qualified to win a base scholarship of $250, as well as an opportunity to win additional scholar-ships. For more information, visit mybobs.com/outreach/highschoolheroes.

From Page 22

Kindergarten

Kindergarten registration for the 2015-2016 school year is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 2 through Wednesday, Feb. 4, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with hours ex-tended to 6 p.m. on one eve-ning. Once the registration appointment has been made, the school will send a regis-tration information packet that includes a residency form and questionnaire, a stu-dent information/emergency form, a school entry health questionnaire and a parent questionnaire, which should be completed and brought to registration along with a copy of the child’s birth certif-icate. Children should attend the registration appointment with you.

Parents of an eligible kin-dergarten child who wish to hold his/her child out of school for another year must sign a form at the Office of the Superintendent of Schools.

From Page 22REMEMBERING THE WARRIORS

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State

Non profit health insurance steps up game

HARTFORD (AP) — Con-necticut’s nonprofit health insurance co-op is step-ping up activities to enroll participants.

HealthyCT will sponsor an 80-mile cycling tour Saturday by a pro-am team from the Connecticut Cycling Advance-ment Program.

The ride will stop at five enrollment centers intended to help consumers enroll for health insurance. It also will highlight the Monday deadline to sign up for coverage that be-gins Jan. 1.

The cycling tour departs at 8:30 a.m. from the Access Health CT Enrollment Center in New Britain and will visit enrollment centers in Wa-terbury, Bridgeport and New Haven.

During the first open en-rollment and the months after, Connecticut’s health insur-ance exchange signed up more than 280,000 residents for pri-vate insurance or Medicaid.

Voter turnout top towns

HARTFORD (AP) — Con-necticut election officials have announced this year’s winners of the “Democracy Cup” for towns and cities with the high-est voter turnout.

With 75 percent turnout in the November election, Corn-wall was the highest in the state for the November elec-tion and claimed the honor for small towns. Guilford had the best turnout among mid-size towns with 71 percent and Glastonbury topped the list for large towns at 69 percent. Fairfield led Connecticut cities with 57 percent turnout.

The awards were an-nounced by Secretary of the State Denise Merrill. While 56 percent of registered voters turnout to vote statewide, she said small towns set an exam-ple for all voters.

The Democracy Cup was created as a way to encourage voter participation. The hon-ors come with trophies and a ceremony to be planned later.

From Page 23COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY RECOGNIZED

The Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation awarded Durham Historical Society president Sarah Atwell its 2014 Howard Kelley award at a reception held in her honor recently. CVEF president Betsy White Booz noted that Atwell, who has been involved with the historical society for 21 of her 31 years, clearly values both the mission of CVEF, which is to support lifelong learning, and Kelley’s commitment to the importance of community involvement and spirit. From left, with previous awardees and Kelley’s widow, Christine Willett (2011), Sarah Atwell (2014), Renee Kelley, Robin Heath (2013) and Sue Michaels (2012).

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SportsChampionship Saturday the stuff of legend

Sometimes sport is more than a game. So it was Sat-urday when I saw two high school championship foot-ball games that were truly games for the ages.

Saturday morning I was witness to Valley Regional’s

stunning 21-20 comeback win over Ansonia. It was as good a game as I had seen in years. But that served as merely a warm-up for Xavier’s 28-27 overtime win over Shelton, a game that deserved the description “unbelievable.”

Oh, I know, eight state champions in this tiny state

is goofy and we end up with state champions that would have no chance had there been the traditional four classes. Think Xavier would have beaten Southington? Of course not.

Think Brookfield would have been a match for St. Joseph? Nonsense. Would Capital Prep have had any

chance against Valley Re-gional? Not much.

Only in Class L would there have been much in-trigue, but aside from South-ington, I can’t image anyone beating Windsor, which was the best team I saw all year.

But again, let’s put all that aside because in any sport, it’s the game that’s the thing.

And the Valley vs. Anso-nia game and the Xavier vs. Shelton game were extraor-dinary. By now you have to know what happened, but if not, here’s the Cliff Notes version.

Valley Regional did noth-ing against Ansonia for three and a half quarters. The Warriors trailed 8-0, then 14-0, then after finally getting on the scoreboard midway through the fourth quarter, immediately gave up a 93-yard TD and with five minutes left trailed 20-7.

Looking dead in the wa-ter, Valley instantly scored. Then it got a fumble.

The stuff of dreams.The Warriors drove to

the 4-yard line. Fourth and goal, 26 seconds on the clock. Quarterback Chris Jean-Pierre ran left. But he ran right into history as he scored and with the extra point by Jared Roche – made possible by a quick save on a bad snap by holder Matt Sa-pere – Valley stamped itself as a big-time team.

Could Valley play with the big teams? Yes. Could play with North Haven, could play with Shelton, could play with Middletown, could play with Wethers-field, could play with No-tre Dame, could play with Xavier. What a game, what a statement game for the school from Deep River.

Amazing.But the next one was

more amazing. I’m driv-ing to West Haven figuring nothing could top what I just saw. Silly me.

Xavier was 7-3 and noth-ing special in the regular season. The Falcons were lucky to be in the playoffs. Teams that had to lose on Thanksgiving for Xavier to make it, couldn’t wait to lose. Brien McMahon, Fair-field Prep, Greenwich all lost. Voila, Xavier lives.

For its reward, Xavier got Newtown. Now I’ll be bru-tally honest. The South West Conference – in terms of the

By Jim BransfieldSpecial to Town Times

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Faith

The Church of the Epiphany

Living Nativity - The Church of the Epiphany, 196 Main St., has scheduled a Living Nativity for Dec. 24, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event is presented by Epiphany’s Church School students and families and includes Christ-

mas carols and live animals and actors in the life size crèche. All are welcome.

Christmas Eve worship - The Church of the Epiph-any, 196 Main St., is sched-uled to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity with the Festival Holy Eucharist at 7:30 p.m. The service includes Bless-ing of the Crèche, Epiph-any’s choir and Christmas carols. All welcome.

From Page 21

Championship

elite teams in the state – is suspect. Newtown each year turns out terrific regular seasons. And each year the Nighthawks get bounced in the playoffs. It’s an LL team that plays an L and M sched-ule. Not the way to succeed.

This is the best Newtown team, said its coach. This year will be different came the slogan out of Newtown. Uhhh, nope. Xavier won, 13-7.

In the regular season the Falcons lost to Notre Dame 27-24. Xavier lost to Shel-ton 28-20 and fact is, it was worse than that in that the Falcons trailed 21-0. Some-how they managed to lose to a not-very-good Hand of Madison team.

But all that became irrele-vant in the postseason.

After Newtown, Xavier got a match with undefeated Shelton.

Xavier didn’t run the ball very well all year. Ran it down Shelton’s throats in the first half. Go figure. Led 14-6 at the break. The worm turned in the second half. Shelton got two long TDs to take a 21-14 lead.

Then Shelton got sloppy. Twice on a Xavier fourth quarter drive – the only Fal-cons’ drive of the second half – the Gaels committed penalties on fourth down. One a grabbing the face mask on fourth-and-12 at the 24-yard line. First down at the 12.

Thanks you very much, said the Falcons and promptly scored. 21-21.

No matter. Mark Picirillo, Shelton’s dual threat star quarterback, guided the Gaels to a first and goal in-side the 1-yard line. Warm up the bus Xavier, nice run, but see ya next year. Xavier coach Sean Marinan thought about letting Shelton score so there would be some time on the clock for his team to do something. He opted not to.

On the next play – with the Xavier student section praying the Hail Mary in unison, honest – Picirillo fumbled. At the 1-yard line. With less than 30 seconds to play.

Overtime. Shelton scored. Xavier sent in 6-5 Kaleb Lut-

ton and defensive coordina-tor Andy Guyon said: “Block the kick”.

Lutton said: “Yes, sir.”The kid blocked the kick.On its possession Xavier

scored. I knew, you knew, everyone in Strong Stadium knew, folks driving by on the Connecticut Turnpike knew, that Andrew Verre would not miss the kick. He didn’t. Xavier won 28-27.

Can’t make it up.The night before I wit-

nessed the Berlin vs. Brook-field game. The kids tried very hard, played very hard, but it wasn’t a particularly artistic game. The Redcoats couldn’t move the ball and, heck, neither could Brook-field. An interception of a Berlin pass – they threw 29 times; don’t the Redcoats usually run the ball? – was a pick six.

A sack late led to a short punt and another Brookfield touchdown. At 14-0, the line of red tail lights heading out

of Veterans Stadium and hanging a right back to Ber-lin began early.

My top 15 teams in the state? In a year of parity, of unbelievable parity, it actu-ally turned out to be a fairly easy top 15 for me.

1. Southington, of course. 2. Windsor, again of course. In its last four games, Wind-sor dispatched Glastonbury, Middletown, North Haven and Notre Dame and not one of them was close. 3. New Canaan (which beat Darien 21-20 in the L-Large final) 4. Darien (only loss was to New Canaan) 5. St. Joseph (which lost to Darien and New Canaan) 6. Xavier 7. Shelton 8. Valley Regional 9. Wethersfield (gave New Canaan very tough game in semifinals)10. Newtown 11. Notre Dame 12. Middletown 13. Ledyard 14. North Haven 15. Ansonia.

The undefeated big boys,

From Page 26

See Championship / Page 32

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Championship

Southington and Windsor, should be 1 and 2. But by the time this is printed, you will know how the polls came out. I can tell you that there is a continuing pro-SCC and FCIAC bias which, this year for sure, is silly. The CCC has taken its rightful place – at least the Class LL and L CCC teams – among the state’s elite.

But however it all comes out, I saw three state title games and two were mag-nificent. Next year, common sense prevails and the CIAC goes back to four classes and four state champions in LL, L, M and S. Like it oughta be.

It says here, however, that none of those games in 2015 will match the two beauties I saw on Saturday. All the kids in those games should take pride in what they did. That might be hard for An-sonia and Shelton kids, but guys, you were great. Ter-rific high school football, just terrific.

From Page 27

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Eighty senior citizens attended the recent holiday party at the Durham Activity Center. The event featured games, food, celebration of December birthdays and a visit from Santa Claus.

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(Near Powder Ridge Ski Area)William J. Lema, D.M.D.

William J. Lema, D.M.D.General Family Dentistry • Children & Adults

State of the Art Dentistry in a Caring, Small Office Atmosphere


6 Way Road, Middlefield (near Blackbird Tavern) 860-349-7006

ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS

• Cosmetic Bonding • Gum Therapy• Crowns & Bridges • Dentures & Repairs

• Emergencies• Fillings• Root Canals

General Family Dentistry • Children & AdultsState of the Art Dentistry in a Caring, Small Office Atmosphere




Regular Hours: Tues.-Fri. 9 am-6 pm

VISITING ANGELSPersonable & Compassionate

Live-in and Hourly Caregiversare needed for in-home

non-medical care for elderlyin the area.

Flexible schedules, supportive staff, one-on-one care

Call us at 860-349-7016

5033

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Our caregivers are as valuable as our customers

ttimesdec19

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