Bee IntellIgencerBee IntellIgencerInforming the towns of Middlebury, Southbury, Woodbury, Naugatuck, Oxford and Watertown

Volume VIII, No. 3 Friday, January 20, 2012A FREE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

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Prst. Std. U.S. Postage PaidNaugatuck, CT

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“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Adoptable pets.................8Book Review ....................2Career Coach ...................3Classifieds ........................7Community Calendar ........2Computer Tip ...................8Fire Log ............................2Frugal Mummy .................5

Legal Notices ...................7Library Happenings ...........2Obituaries ........................5Opinion ............................4Parks & Rec ......................6Puzzles.............................7Reg. 15 School Calendar ..3Senior Center News ..........3

Inside this Issue

Published weekly by The Middlebury Bee Intelligencer Society, LLC - 2030 Straits Turnpike, Middlebury, CT 06762 - Copyright 2012

Editorial Office:Email: mbisubmit@gmail.com

Phone: 203-577-6800Mail: P.O. Box 10, Middlebury, CT 06762

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Quo Vadis moves to Washington Depot

page 8

mondayJan. 13

Red cross Blood DriveWhen: 1:30 to 6:15 p.m.What: All donors will receive a coupon for a free pound of Dunkin’ Donuts coffeeWhere: Jewish Federation at 444 Main St. North in Southbury

Region 15 community Budget Workshop (snow date Wednesday, Feb. 1)When: 7 to 9 p.m.What: A roundtable budget workshop for the community to help set budget prioritiesWhere: Pomperaug High School All-Purpose Room

thursdayJan. 26

Middlebury Troop 444 Boy Scout Ryan Gobstein stands by a community bulletin board he and a group of volunteers built for his Eagle Scout project. The public can post upcoming town events on the bulletin board, which is outside the entrance to the Parks and Rec office at Shepardson Community Center. See story on page 6. (Evelyn Gobstein photo)

tax ReminderMiddlebury Tax Collector Jean Dawes reminds taxpayers real estate and motor vehicle

supplemental tax bills are due this month. Original bills mailed in July for real estate taxes had three parts – one for the homeowner and separate payment stubs for July and January.  If you need a receipt, please bring or mail both copies. The tax office will stamp one for you and keep the other with your payment. The last day to pay without paying delinquent interest is Feb. 1. There is a 50-cent fee for duplicate bills.

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Middlebury’s Board of Finance re-elected chairman Michael McCormack, a Democrat, at its Jan. 11 meeting after he was challenged for the position by member Vincent Cipriano, a Republican. Cipriano lost in a 4 to 2 vote that did not follow Middlebury’s usual voting along party lines. Votes were cast by Republicans Ed Asselin, David Cappelletti, Cipriano and Michael Kenausis and Democrats Stephen Ruccio and Michael McCormack. In atten-dance, but not voting, was alter-nate Richard Spierto, a Republican.

Preceding the vote on a chair, members agreed the person who got the lesser number of votes would become a vice chairman,

who would serve as chair if the chairman were absent but would otherwise have no duties. During the discussion about a vice-chairman, Asselin said he didn’t like hearing about the idea at the meeting. He said some people must have heard about it beforehand.

Taking up the night’s business, McCormack said he heard First Selectman Edward B. St. John had asked Chief Financial Officer Larry Hutvagner to tell the de-partment heads to go to their respective BoF liaisons and get them to approve their budgets. McCormack said that is not the budget process outlined in the Town Charter. He said liaisons can look at the budgets, but they are not to approve them. “I think Ed wants to move things up a bit,” he said.

McCormack said collection of back taxes is at $88,000 of a pro-jected $120,000. He said the av-erage cost to audit accounts before collection is $500, so if the town collects $100,000, the audit cost will be $54,000. He said a consultant had estimated the town could collect $275,000 and he would like to know why the consultant was so far off in his estimate.

McCormack cited the zoning enforcement officer situation and the police department as problem areas. Police depart-ment liaison Kenausis said the department is dealing with a lot more home and car break-ins and vandalism. McCormack said the police department doesn’t seem to have taken steps to do

By JONATHAN “CHIP” LONGO

The Board of Selectman (BoS) met Tuesday night due to the Monday Martin Luther King Day holiday. The main topic of dis-cussion was having the first se-lectman appoint town attorneys on a case-by-case basis instead of appointing a town counsel.

Attorney Robert Smith, who handles some of the town’s legal matters, attended the meeting. Attorney Stephen Savarese, who worked as town counsel on a retainer under former First Se-lectman Thomas Gormley the past four years, did not attend the meeting.

Citing the need to contain costs, and noting the Board of Finance (BoF) has cut funding, Selectman Elaine Strobel made a motion “that the Board of Se-lectmen approve the appoint-ment, by the First Selectman, of attorneys on a case-by-case as-needed basis for legal matters, retroactive to the date of the commencement of the First Se-lectman’s term.” The motion unanimously passed.

St. John said he will be free to choose anyone, but would like to use attorneys who have worked for the town in the past, including Savarese in cases that continue from the previous ad-ministration. He said there is no set pool to choose from and no

set rate attorneys have to charge. When asked if the Town Char-

ter requires appointment of a town attorney, St. John said, “We have very little funds in our bud-get. Why would we want to be appointing a town attorney? This is a much more effective way to do it.”

St. John said the charter is un-clear on the matter.  He said he hoped the town would have the funds to return to the retainer system during the next budget process. He also said boards or commissions needing the ser-vices of an attorney would have to go through him.

In Chapter VI, Section 602, the Town Charter says the town’s administrative employees shall include a town counsel ap-pointed by the selectmen for a term to be determined by them. After the meeting, St. John and Smith said that doesn’t mean the selectmen have to appoint a town counsel.

Attorneys’ bills for the first month of St. John’s term (De-cember 2011) total $7,950. Dana D’Angelo’s bill was $1,230, Smith’s bill was $2,205, and Sava-rese’s bill was $4,515, with $3,000 of that amount being his monthly retainer. He charged an addi-tional $1,515 for general litiga-tion, Straw Pond litigation, and Middlebury Land Associates collections.

During public comment, Jim Crocicchia asked why Planning and Zoning Chairman Curt Bo-sco was not on the agenda to discuss furloughing Zoning En-forcement Officer Jean Donegan. He said the Bee-Intelligencer reported Bosco would appear. (The Jan. 13 issue reported P&Z members voted at their Jan. 5 meeting to have Bosco present the ZEO issue at the Jan. 17 BoS meeting.)

St. John told Crocicchia the BoS has no say in the hiring, firing or discipline of the ZEO. “It’s solely up to the Zoning Board. The charter is very clear on this,” and added, “I had to read it twice.” When asked if a paid town em-ployee should be reporting to an appointed commission, he said this is an issue the Charter Revi-sion Commission is looking into.

Bosco said Wednesday he was not at liberty to discuss the issue because it pertains to personnel matters. Asked why he wasn’t on the agenda, he said he doesn’t make the agenda; the BoS does.

Asked about the town’s mem-bership in the Torrington Health District (THD), St. John said he asked Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Hutvagner to get some more numbers, but what the town pays now is very competi-tive.  St. John said he has heard

st. John to hire case-by-case attorneys

– See St. John on page 4

By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE

The Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) at a Jan. 12 special meeting workshop continued updating the 2001 Plan of Conservation and Devel-opment (PoCD) with an empha-sis on Middlebury Center. State Statutes require the PoCD be revised every 10 years, but recent legislation allows a slip to 2013. P&Z Chairman Curtis Bosco said last June the commission would get it done by year end 2011 be-cause funds had been appropri-ated and partially spent, but work slowed, and planned public input sessions did not occur.

Town Planning Consultant Brian Miller leads the workshops and at the latest one addressed plans for a Middlebury Center district between Bristol Park and Ledgewood Park on Rte. 64. Miller told commissioners the many different types of city and town centers include traditional downtowns of “mill towns” such as Naugatuck, rural town centers such as Woodbury, suburban automobile-oriented town cen-ters such as Southbury, pedes-trian downtowns such as West Hartford and urban downtowns such as New Haven. He said Mid-dlebury had an historic non-commercial node where town hall is located, and he cautioned against trying to use other towns as a model for Middlebury’s unique requirements or trying to “Disneyfy” the center into an un-realistic Main Street USA.

Miller said development of the Middlebury Center area should

be consistent with the following overall concepts:• Theareashouldbeefficiently

used in accordance with the overall rural character of the community.

• Theretailcomponentshouldbe of a scale to serve the resi-dents of Middlebury.

• The area alongMiddleburyRoad centered on the intersec-tion of Glenwood Avenue and Regan Road should become the commercial core of the town.

• Newdevelopmentalongthecore corridor should follow high architectural and site de-sign standards.

• Thecentral corridor shouldretain a primary automobile orientation, as most town res-idents and other customers need to drive to the area. How-ever, the pedestrian system should be improved to increase comfort and convenience.

• The area should include arange of small retail and service businesses primarily for local residents to use on a regular basis.Miller recommended making

the center a state-statute-defined “Village District” to allow archi-tectural control of buildings and views with requirements for side-walks and streetscape landscap-ing. It should have reduced set-back requirements and other zoning relaxations to promote development in the core and not “ooze out” into residential areas such as Clearview Knoll and Mid-dlebury Terrace. Commissioner Matthew Robison said he was against having retail buildings,

professional buildings, and mul-ti-use residential/commercial buildings with apartments on Rte. 64 because it would destroy the sleepy semi-rural town he found so attractive.

Land use will be the next work-shop topic. Miller said land use maps were necessary for that work, and he knew the Council of Governments of the Central Naugatuck Valley was working on one for Middlebury, so he de-cided to wait for that map to save the cost of creating one himself. It will be used along with maps of water supplies, sewers, traffic circulation and open space. By projecting population and devel-opment potential, it will highlight the need for additional town fa-cilities that might be required to serve new residents or develop-ments.

The plan itself does not di-rectly make changes but instead is used by boards and commis-sions to guide revisions to the zoning regulations or the pro-gramming of capital improve-ments within the Town budget. Additional work on the plan will include joint meetings with the Water Pollution Control Author-ity and the Economic and Indus-trial Development Commission and a “Visioning Workshop” public meeting to gather input on streetscape and access control for the Middlebury Center and Four Corners area of Rte. 64.

The next regular P&Z meeting is Thursday, Feb. 2. POCD update meetings have not yet been scheduled.

p&Z continues pocD work

Finance Board re-elects mccormack

– See McCormack on page 5

Eagle Scout Project

PAGE 2 Friday, January 20, 2012The Bee-Intelligencer

middleburySurround Sound GiftThe latest gift to the library

from the Friends of the Middle-bury Public Library is a surround sound system for the Larkin Room, where movies are shown. Bring your lunch, and enjoy the new sound system while you watch a movie Friday, Jan. 20, at 12:30 p.m.

Tuesday EveningsTuesday Bookworms will meet

Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss “Kensuke’s Kingdom” by Michael Morpugo.

No School DayThe library is offering two ac-

tivities Friday, Jan. 27, a day off from school for Region 15 stu-dents. At 11 a.m., see a movie for kids. At 2 p.m., boys in grades two and up can attend Lego Star Wars Day. Signup is required for Star Wars.

Book StrollJoin the library staff in a lei-

surely stroll through the stacks Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 6:30 p.m. You and the staff can point out favor-ite authors and discuss favorite books as you walk through the stacks – come with lots of ideas! Please register at the desk or call the library at 203-758-2634

Bird Feeder WorkshopFlanders Nature Center and

Land Trust will offer a workshop on making bird feeders Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 6 p.m. at the library. Each bird feeder will cost $20. Register at the library, or call 203-758-2634. Space is limited, so pre-registration is a must.

Puzzlemania in March The Sixth Annual Puzzlema-

nia Contest will be Tuesday, March 6, at 5:30 p.m. at the li-brary. Call the library at 203-758-2634 to register your team, or stop in and pick up a set of rules at the circulation desk. Pre-reg-istration is a must as entrants are limited to 10 teams.

The Middlebury Library is at 30 Crest Road in Middlebury.

naugatuck2011 Rotary Book Collection Display

A display featuring a collec-tion of books funded by the Ro-tary Club of Naugatuck during 2011 is on the Gallery Wall this month. Each year since 1955, the Rotary has given the library an annual stipend with which to

purchase books on a variety of subjects. Each book purchased with these funds is labeled with a special bookplate featuring the Rotary seal and a Rotarian’s name. Books are purchased based on the special interests of each Rotarian on the occasion of his/her birthday. To date, Ro-tary donations have added more than 3,772 books to the library’s permanent collection.

The Howard Whittemore Me-morial Library is at 243 Church St. in Naugatuck. For informa-tion, call 203-729-4591.

southburyWednesday Film

The Wednesday afternoon movie Jan. 25 at 1:30 p.m. in the Kingsley Meeting Room is set in China, past and present. Based on a novel by Lisa See, it connects the lives of two women from cen-turies ago and the lives of two women in present-day Shanghai. It portrays how, through Laotong, a type of relationship within Chi-nese culture that was practiced in Hunan, two girls are bonded together for eternity.

The room’s surround sound theater has an infrared listening system available. For more in-formation, call 203-262-0626.

Fiber Art ExhibitThe Connecticut Fiber Arts

Collective, a Connecticut-based group of artists dedicated to fiber

and mixed media art, fiber art show, “Identity and Other Things,” at the Gloria Cachion Art Gallery in the library will run through the end of February. The show challenges each partici-pant to use fiber art to create an image of the essence of her own singularity. Each artist also will display a collection of some of their favorite pieces.

Check www.southburylibrary.org for more information. The library is at 100 Poverty Road in Southbury (203-262-0626).

WoodburyFree PG Movie

See the movie “Dolphin Tale,” a story centered on the friend-ship between a boy and a dol-phin whose tail was lost in a crab trap, in the library’s gallery Thursday, Jan. 26, at 2:30 p.m. Directed by  Charles Martin Smith, the movie stars Morgan Freeman,  Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr. and Kris Kristoffer-son. The film is rated PG, and popcorn will be served!

Saturdays at the LibraryLEGOS

Children in grades K to five are welcome to drop in between 10 a.m. and noon Saturdays to use the library’s huge assortment of LEGO pieces to build their own creative creations

. 

Cocoa and CraftsSaturday afternoons in Janu-

ary, families are welcome to drop in between 1 and 4 p.m. to warm up with cocoa and get creative with crafts. Children can choose from a variety of wintry crafts to make and take home. No regis-tration is necessary.

 Programs are free and open to area residents.  For information, call the Children’s Department at  203-263-3502  or visit  www.woodburylibraryct.org.

Great Decisions Discussions

The library will host the Great Decisions Series starting Thurs-day, Jan. 26, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the library gallery and contin-uing on alternate Thursdays un-til all eight topics are addressed. Sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association, the Great Decisions program provides an opportu-nity for people to discuss with each other some of the foreign policy issues of the day. Basic reading materials are available at the library so participants can come prepared for the discus-sions.

 Don Giroux of Woodbury, a retired history and English teacher, will facilitate the discus-sions. Participation and materi-als are free, and refreshments are provided by the Friends of the Woodbury Library. Please stop in the library to pick up a briefing book. For more information and to register, call 203-263-3502 or visit www.woodburylibraryct.org.

Leroy Anderson ExhibitThe Gallery display this month

is “A Sleigh Ride Together With You,” an exhibit of the life and music of composer Leroy Ander-son. Anderson’s son, Rolf Ander-son, will share information about his famous father at a reception in the gallery Saturday, Jan. 21, at 2 p.m. The public is invited.

Woodbury’s world-renowned resident passed away in 1975, but  his music has taken on a timeless quality. Anderson com-posed and arranged orchestral pieces, the Broadway musical “Goldilocks,” and a piano con-certo. Some of the many works written in Woodbury are “Sleigh Ride,” “Bugler’s Holiday,” “Blue Tango,” “The Typewriter,” “Belle of the Ball,” “Fiddle-Faddle,” and “China Doll.”  The exhibit at the library includes four display cab-inets of Leroy Anderson memo-rabilia.

The library is at 269 Main St. South in Woodbury.

Library happenings

middlebury Community Calendar

“The Tiger’s Wife”By Tea Obreht

Reviewed by Mary Conseur

This stunning debut novel by Yugoslavian author Tea Obreht is an eye-opener for American readers unfamiliar with the cul-ture and lifestyle of the Balkans.

The book can be appreciated at many different levels. First, it is a testimony to the brutality, the inevitability and the futility of war. All wars. Though the au-thor doesn’t mention specific Balkan countries or actual towns, she demonstrates the magnitude of the effect of war, particularly on its most innocent victims, children and animals. She writes, “When your fight has purpose – to free you from something, to interfere on the behalf of an in-nocent – it has a hope of finality. But when your fight is about un-raveling – when it is about your name, the places to which your blood is anchored, the attach-ment of your name to some land-mark or event – there is nothing but hate, and the long, slow pro-gression of people who feed on it and are fed it, meticulously, by the ones who come before them. Then the fight is endless, and comes in waves and waves, but always retains its capacity to sur-prise those who hope against it.” (p. 283)

Obreht was a child of war growing up in Belgrade in the 1990s. For her, the word “peace” meant a temporary cessation of bombing. It did not mean a ces-sation of hatred. (Obviously the U.S. has been embroiled in many wars as well. The difference is, for the past 150 years, we have had the luxury of fighting on other people’s soil, not our own, and therefore have not experi-enced the full devastation of war.)

A second theme in “A Tiger’s

Wife” is the close relationship between the two main charac-ters, Natalia and her grandfather. Obreht was raised by her mater-nal grandparents, one of whom is Roman Catholic, the other Muslim. Though she now lives in the U.S., she returns often to Belgrade to visit them. In the book, Natalia’s grandfather takes her on outings to the zoo and inspires her to become a physi-cian like him. He also tells her folktales, such as “The Tiger’s Wife,” so important in the Balkan culture. Obreht explains, “In this culture, there is a knowledge that reality will eventually become myth. In ten or twenty years, you will be able to recount what hap-pened today with more and more embellishments, until you’ve completely altered that reality and funneled it into the world of myth.” (p. 351)

Much of the novel is devoted to a description of provincial Balkan culture, which, though connected to the modern world by cell phones, DVD players, and Walkmen, is still ruled by super-stition, hatred, and what Obreht calls “pagan sensibility.” (p. 352) As a physician, Natalia has been trained to save lives. She cannot understand the carnage around her; she cries out, “I am not with the other side. I have no side. I am all sides.” (p. 299)

In this novel, Obreht demon-strates a phenomenal command of English, especially considering it is not her native language. Since she is only 26 years old, we can hopefully look forward to many more novels by this tal-ented author.

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Tuesday, Jan. 24Mental Health Support Group6 p.m. ........................... Russell Place, 1F, 969 W. Main, Waterbury

Economic and Industrial Development Commission6:30 p.m. ............................................Town Hall Conference Room

Thursday, Jan. 26Region 15 Community Budget Workshop7 to 9 p.m. ................................................... PHS All-Purpose Room

Calendar dates/times are subject to changeIf your organization would like your event included in the community calendar, please e-mail the information to beeintelligencer@gmail.com

mary’s Book review

Date Time Address/Incident1/09/12   07:59 Rtes. 63/64. Transformer fire.1/09/12   21:03 76 North St. Electrical fire – Trouble with

electrical switch.1/11/12 12:07 Quassy Amusement Park. Fire alarm activa-

tion caused by dust from vacuum.1/11/12 18:06 1171 Straits Turnpike. Motor vehicle acci-

dent with injuries.1/12/12 18:22 83 Marney Drive. Smoke in the building

caused by fireplace ashes emptied into a plastic bucket and left in the building. The bucket began to burn.

1/13/12 10:33 950 Southford Road. Smell of propane in building. Propane tank was empty.

1/14/12 11:21 Westover School. Activated fire alarm.

middlebury volunteer Fire Department call Log

By MARY CONSEUR

Children’s book illustrations by Middlebury artist Sue Healy will be on display at the Middlebury Public Library through February. The illustrations will be included in a new book by Healy, “Twenty-four Crows and the Walking Tree.”

The book was inspired by a re-al-life experience of Healy’s. While she was walking her dog, Kia, she suddenly noticed a cor-tege of 24 crows following them and encircling them. She became fascinated with this testimony that even animals in the wild often seek to establish a connection with human beings, and she de-cided to write a children’s book about the experience.

The main characters in the book are a little girl, Eliza, and her dog, Kia. The model for Eliza is 8-year-old Middlebury resident Eliza Ford. Healy said, “I just saw Eliza for the first time at our tennis club and realized she would be the perfect model for the book. Luckily, she and her parents agreed to let me draw her in dif-ferent poses, with and without Kia. I think everything happens for a reason.”

Healy holds a bachelor’s degree in fine art from Christopher New-port University in Virginia. She worked for the U.S. military in Gieblestadt, Germany, running a crafts program for the soldiers and doing illustrations for the Wurz-burg Army Hospital. After her husband retired from the military, she returned to the states and taught art in Bridgeport and Dan-bury. She currently gives private art lessons in her Middlebury studio.

For more information, visit suehealyart.com or e-mail her at healyart@mac.com.

This illustration and others from Sue Healy’s children’s book, “Twenty-four Crows and the Walking Tree,” are on exhibit at Middlebury Public Library through February. The model for the illustration is Eliza Ford of Middlebury. (Submitted photo)

Library displays children’s book illustrations

FInd The Bee-InTeLLIgenCer on

Friday, January 20, 2012 The Bee-Intelligencer PAGE 3

Question: What’s worse than being admitted to the hospital? Answer: Being readmitted quickly after being released. Far too often, just when we’re out of the hospital, something hap-pens, and we’re right back where we started.

It’s expensive, and those who study these things have looked at the reasons for frequent hos-pital readmissions.

Here are some of the statistics from the Center for Studying Health System Change:• About8percentofadultsgo

back into the hospital within a month and one-third within a year.

• One-thirdofusdon’tseeadoc-tor, nurse or anyone else within a month of being released from the hospital. After 90 days, 17 percent of us still haven’t seen a doctor.

• Thoseofuswhodon’tseeadoctor are at a higher risk for going back into the hospital, especially those who also have other medical conditions. The sicker the patient, the higher the rate of return.

• Itdoesn’tmatterwhatkindofinsurance we have.Researchers say new ways

must be found to bridge the gap between the doctors and hospi-tals. At this point, even where there are programs and coordi-nators to manage the discharge process, it hasn’t changed the rate of readmissions.

There’s one additional, poten-tially serious glitch: One-third of

doctors did not have the final hospital report on patients who did come in. And if they did have them, the reports were incom-plete, and new medications might not be listed.

Here’s a suggestion to keep from being readmitted: When you leave the hospital, ask a nurse to write down your prescriptions and instructions for aftercare. The minute you get home, call your doctor. Make the earliest appoint-ment possible, and take your in-structions with you.

Matilda Charles regrets she cannot personally answer reader questions, but she will incorpo-rate them into her column when-ever possible. Write to her in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send email to columnreply@gmail.com.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.

Avoiding hospital readmissions

senior Center news

region 15 school Calendar

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MBInewS

StAy inFOrmEd ALL WEEk LOng!

keeP uP To daTe wITh BreakIng newS, weaTher aLerTS, TraFFIC advISorIeS and More.

grad school an option for the unemployedShould I consider go-ing to graduate school since I am unem-ployed?

If it is going to get you a new skill, a new trade and help you find a

new career then you should con-sider going to graduate school. However, I would like you to ask yourself the following questions:

What are my long- and short-term goals?

Will an advanced degree help me advance my career goals?

Am I choosing graduate school because I have no other options to consider?

Am I willing to invest time, effort and a considerable amount of money for graduate study?

How will my going to school affect my family life? Is my fam-ily supportive of me doing this?

Why should you go to gradu-ate school?• Toattainyourpersonalgoals• Employers require an ad-

vanced degree in your profes-sion

• Toachieveyourownpersonalgrowth and advancement

• Youwanttobecomeanexpertor attain a specialization in a particular area

• You are passionate aboutlearning new thingsGraduate school provides an

in-depth specialized training that requires commitment and passion, and you must be driven to develop intellectual relation-ships that enable you to conduct research or do scholarly work that impacts society in relevant ways.

When considering graduate school you should do the follow-ing:

Find out about programsHow many nights per week

are classes offered? Are classes offered weekends,

at night, online? How long will it take you to

complete the program? What is the employment rate

of the graduating students? Does the program offer a the-

sis, capstone, practicum or sem-inar as the last course?

Does the school have corpo-rate partnerships that allow grad-

uate students to do internships?Financial Aid

Are you eligible for any grants you do not have to pay back?

Does the school offer any graduate assistantships for about 10 to 20 hours worth of work weekly? Usually, if they do, these are highly competitive.

Are you eligible for any schol-arships from the school?

Do they offer loans? Have they provided any schol-

arship websites to you? Do you belong to any local,

civic or professional organiza-tions that offer scholarships for going back to school?

If you are on unemployment, you may be eligible for a retrain-ing grant from the government to learn a new career.

Tuition CostWhat is the per credit hour

cost? How many credits will it take to complete the program?

Does your employer offer tu-ition reimbursement?

Will you need to have graduate housing in addition to the tuition cost?

How much will your books and student fees cost?

Are there any lab fees you need to consider?

You also need to consider at

least a 4-percent annual tuition increase and factor this in until you finish the program.

Are there application dead-lines or rolling admissions? Rolling admissions means you can apply any time and you will start at the beginning of the next semester.

What is the class size? Student to faculty ratio?

What types of degrees do they offer? Not all schools offer the same types of master’s or doc-torate’s programs.

Do you have a career question you would like answered? If so, send your question to Papoutsis at ca-reercoach2011@yahoo.com.

Q:A: By MYRSINI

PAPOUTSIS

career coach

Monday, Jan. 23 Board of Education ......................... PHS AP Room No. 103, 7:30 p.m.Enrollment and Facilities Task Force ........ PHS Cafeteria, 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 24Middle School .......................................... Second marking term ends

Wednesday, Jan. 25BoE Finance Committee ........... PHS Conference Room B, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 26Kindergarten ...................................................... Marking period endsBudget Priorities Workshop ......................PHS AP Room, 7 to 9 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 27In-service Full Day ................ Schools are not in session for students

Saturday, Jan. 28PHS .................................................................................................... SAT

Region 15 website: www.region15.org

Probate InformationMiddlebury Social and Elderly

Services offers an opportunity to learn more about probate mat-ters the last Thursday of each month beginning at 2 p.m. (Jan. 26). Probate Judge Hon. Peter Mariano will meet with you on a one-to-one basis to discuss mat-ters of concern or probate issues. To make an appointment, call 203-720-7046, and speak only to Patty Aleggi.

Among the many functions of the probate court in addition to distribution of a person’s prop-erty after death are dealing with matters concerning custody, guardianship and adoption of minors; the appointment of con-servators for adults who no lon-ger can manage their affairs; applications for change of name and processing of passport ap-plications.

Zumba GoldNew Zumba Gold classes will

begin Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 10 a.m. The cost is $30 for six classes.

AARP Driver Safety Program

The next AARP Driver Safety course will be Monday, Feb. 6, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Senior Center. The nation’s first and largest driver refresher course uses new materials and new videos to present new de-fensive driving techniques, a refresher in laws and regulations, new laws and regulations, how to deal with aggressive drivers, and how aging affects reaction time, vision and hearing.

Drivers who complete this class get a certificate that may entitle them to a discount on au-tomobile insurance (contact your insurance company for de-

tails). AARP membership is not required, and drivers of all ages are invited to attend. The fee is $12 for AARP members and $14 for nonmembers. Make checks out to “AARP.” You must register before the class begins by calling 203-577-4166 or going to the Se-nior Center Office in the Shep-ardson Community Center at 1172 Whittemore Road in Mid-dlebury.

Trips

Stew Leonard’sThe Middlebury Senior Center

minibus will leave the center Thursday, Jan. 26, at around 11 a.m. to travel to Stew Leonard’s in Danbury, Conn., for a morning of shopping fun followed by a stop for lunch at the Blue Colony Diner. The price is $6 per person for transportation. Call 203-577-4166 to reserve a seat.

West Point Dress ParadeTravel to West Point Academy

in New York to view its famous dress parade Saturday, April 28. With great pomp and circum-stance, the cadets march in full uniform in cadence with military music, presenting arms in uni-son. Enjoy a bountiful buffet at the Hotel Thayer, which offers an assortment of salads, hot and cold entrees and an extensive sweets table. Also included in the excursion are guided tours of West Point’s highlights: the Cadet Chapel, Trophy Point and the Hudson River Lookout.

A Friendship Tours luxury coach will depart from Shepard-son Community Center at 8 a.m. and return to the lot at 6 p.m. The cost is $83 per person. Call Mid-dlebury Parks and Recreation at 203-758-2520 to reserve a seat.

Above: Middlebury Elementary School (MES) students dress as their favorite literary characters during the school’s annual Character Day Jan. 13. MES Principal Jack Zamary said the event, which is in its second year, is a fun way for students to connect what they’ve learned in class. At right: Middlebury Elementary School Secretary Diane Barnard, dressed as Amelia Bedelia, dusts faculty mailboxes during last Friday’s Character Day at MES.(Cristina Commendatore photos)

Character Day

PAGE 4 Friday, January 20, 2012The Bee-Intelligencer

no complaints about the health district from anyone in town. He cited the professionalism of the THD and said there would be financial incentives for the town to sign a contract by May first.

Also during public comment, this newspaper asked Strobel if she thought she should resign from the Middlebury Republican Town Committee (MRTC) due to conflict of interest in light of Selectman Ralph Barra’s decision

at the last meeting to step down from the Property Maintenance Ordinance Committee (PMOC) for that reason. She said “No.” Barra resigned because, as a se-lectman, he will vote on the PMOC recommendations, so would be voting on his own rec-ommendations.

As an MRTC member, Strobel votes on people the MRTC en-dorses for appointed positions. Selectman Barra, who is a mem-ber of the Middlebury Demo-cratic Town Committee (MDTC), does the same. When town-com-mittee-endorsed names come

before the BoS, Strobel and Barra vote on them again.

After the meeting, Strobel said she thought it was good to have a selectman on the MRTC in or-der to avoid MRTC endorse-ments of unqualified people. The newspaper, however, failed to ask Barra if he thought serving on both the MDTC and as a se-lectman is a conflict of interest.

In other matters, the board postponed giving a service award to Bob Bean, because he was unable to attend the meeting. St. John lauded Bean for his 25 years of work on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The BoS also passed a resolu-tion endorsing a regional animal control facility feasibility study and a resolution of compliance for new IRS regulations regarding the town’s 457 deferred compen-sation plan.

After amending the agenda, the BoS voted to apply for fund-ing under the Department of Energy & Environmental Protec-tion Municipal Quick Spend En-ergy & Efficiency Conservation Program Competitive Grant pro-gram. St. John said the money would be used for LED lighting in town parking lots, bike racks for Parks and Rec and to help pay for a new stove at Shepardson Community Center. The grant application is due today, Friday.

The next regular meeting of the BoS will be Monday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. in the Town Hall Con-ference Room.

Marjorie Needham contrib-uted to this article.

mccormack denies requestTo the Editor:

The Middlebury budget is composed of town expenses (34 percent) and Region 15 expenses (66 percent). Our Board of Finance does a superb job of scrutinizing line by line the town side of the budget, but repeatedly remains mute on the region’s share.

In reality, we have no direct control over the region’s side. However, if our elected officials analyzed the region’s budget and publicly pointed out areas of ex-cess, there could be an impact in the court of public opinion. The opinions and positions of our elected officials also will be heard by Southbury voters. Therein lies the impact.

I recently asked the Board of Finance to address this issue by putting on the agenda a presen-tation by Frank Pellegrini and myself. At the last meeting, some members were very supportive and thought this should be con-sidered. However, Chairman Mike McCormack refused to let this be put on the agenda. When asked if there could be a vote on this matter, he unequivocally refused without consulting the other five members. This arro-gant behavior is reminiscent of our former first selectman.

So much for this elected offi-cial being fiscally responsible for that 66 percent of our budget. As the Region 15 budget annually increases, our percentage in-creases, and the Board of Finance keeps our taxes down by cutting the town side of the budget. Will they take notice when the school

side is 90 percent and the town side cut to 10 percent?

Earlier in the meeting, McCormack had been re-elected chairman, so this gives a whole new meaning to the word “chair-man.” So much for due process and for civility returning to our town.

Heidi Shea Middlebury

there is always a way ...To the Editor:

Our Middlebury town budget is one-third the size of our bloated Region 15 budget. The chair of our Finance Board has publicly stated that there is nothing the Finance Board can do about this gross inequity. Wow. Doesn’t his statement go against the grain of public service in America?

Come on, was there nothing we could do about civil rights, women’s rights, child labor, discrimination, minimum wage, 80-hour work weeks, etc., etc.? Public service is not as easy as giving an order in a corporate structure where subordinates quake.

In a democracy, people have rights and opinions. Mr. McCormack, chair of the Middlebury Board of Finance, would not allow a citizen to put the question of the Region 15 budget on the agenda of a Finance Board meeting. Why? Well, his response to that question was, “Because I’m the chairman.” Again, wow.

Maybe that’s the answer one can get away with in, as I’ve just

mentioned, the corporate world. A world, by the way, that hasn’t served this country all that well in the past few years. However, it’s not the correct response to taxpayers in a democracy. Citizens want to know why the Finance Board will not lift a finger to challenge the fact that over $60 million goes into a school budget that serves a mere 4,000 students.

If the Middlebury Finance Board can’t “do anything” about that, is it because the question hits too close to home for the Finance Board chairman, or is it because he doesn’t have the ability to act other than to muzzle citizens who wish to place items on the Finance Board agenda? Thirty-five years ago, 12 of us were told we could never get the State of Connecticut to agree to collective bargaining. It was difficult, it was time consuming, but we did it. There is always a way.

Pat deAngelisMiddlebury

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Editorial

Letters to the Editor

In Brief

In big cities like Houston, res-idents sign up in advance to ad-dress the governing body, the City Council. Each citizen is given two minutes to express his or her concern. They are not asked in advance to share the topic they will discuss.

We attended a city council meeting there one day when a citizen told city council members his internal organs had been taken over by aliens from space, and he had to shield his body with aluminum foil. Bizarre? You bet! But in a city that at that time had a population of more than 1.8 million, a citizen was given the right to be heard without having to justify his reasons for speaking.

You’d think it would be much easier to get town officials in Middlebury, population about 7,400, to listen to citizens’ con-cerns. But that is not the case.

At last week’s Board of Finance (BoF) meeting, resident Heidi Shea waited patiently for her let-ter to be opened and read to BoF members. In the letter, she po-litely asked that she and South-bury resident Frank Pellegrini be given a 10-minute slot at a future BoF meeting to make a presen-tation on the Region 15 School District budget. That budget cur-rently accounts for 66 cents of every tax dollar Middlebury res-idents pay.

Chairman Michael McCor-mack said the BoF was not the right forum for the discussion because it had no control over

the Region 15 budget. Shea acknowledged town of-

ficials have no control over the Region 15 budget, but said, “The only recourse we have is the court of public opinion.” She said statements from town officials about the need for fiscal respon-sibility in the Region 15 budget would bring the matter before the public.

After allowing some discus-sion and then noting the BoF had just spent 20 minutes on the mat-ter, McCormack said, “It’s not a Board of Finance responsibility. The Board of Selectmen should do this. We’re not going to put this on the agenda.”

Shea asked McCormack if he was going to let BoF members vote on whether or not to put it on the agenda. He said, “No. I’m the chairman, and I was just elected.”

The BoF may have spent 20 minutes on the matter, but Shea had taken the time to write her letter, made time in her schedule to attend the meeting, and then waited patiently for a turn to speak while a number of other agenda matters were discussed.

It seems the least McCormack could have done was agree to put Shea and Pellegrini on the agenda. Citizens who care deeply about issues affecting the town and its residents should be al-lowed to share their concerns with town officials, even when town officials can’t officially change matters.

citizens should be heard

Republican Candidates Meet and Greet

Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and Connecticut’s fifth Congressional district will introduce themselves to Con-necticut shooters and sportsmen Saturday, Jan. 21, from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Woodbury Senior/Com-munity Center at 265 Main St. South. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Brian Hill, Peter Lumaj, Kie Westby, Justin Bernier, Mike Clark, Mark Greenberg, Chris Shays, Lisa Wilson-Foley and Andrew Roraback confirmed they will attend.

This is an opportunity for voters to share their concerns with a potential senator or rep-resentative. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free and open to all without regard for party affiliation. For more information, visit www.mfeg.org.

Bereavement Support Group

Brownstein Jewish Family Ser-vice offers a free bereavement group for any adult who has ex-perienced a loss Thursdays through Feb. 9, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. at the Jewish Federation at 444 Main St. North in Southbury.

The group, facilitated by Jenny Casey, MSW of Regional Hos-pice, is supportive in nature and provides a safe environment for sharing with others who also have been touched by loss.

To register, call Debby Horow-itz, Brownstein Jewish Family Service director, at 203-267-3177, ext. 310.

Blood DriveThe Jewish Federation will

hold a Red Cross blood drive Monday, Jan. 23, from 1:30 to 6:15 p.m. in the social hall at 444 Main St. North in Southbury. All presenting donors this month will receive a coupon for a free pound of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.

For more information, contact Debby Horowitz at 203-267-3177, ext. 310. To schedule an appoint-ment, call 1-800-733-2767 or visit www.redcrossblood.org.

Social Service Screening Free social service one-hour

screenings for food stamps and other programs to help any Con-necticut resident facing difficult times will be Thursday, Jan. 26, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jew-ish Federation at 444 Main St. North in Southbury. Reserva-tions are required; call Debby

Horowitz, Brownstein Jewish Family Service director, at 203-267-3177, ext. 310. All calls are confidential.

Region 15 Budget Workshop

Region 15 will hold a commu-nity budget workshop Thursday, Jan. 26, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Pomperaug High School All-Pur-pose Room. To ensure adequate seating, pre-register by email at kkirk@region15.org or call 203-530-7158.

Diabetes Prevention Program

Area residents are invited to register for “Sugar Tips: Recog-nition and Prevention of Diabe-tes,” a free four-week series pre-sented by Sandra Micalizzi, APRN, CDE, the Heart Center of Greater Waterbury’s clinical nurse specialist, that will meet Thursdays, Feb. 2, 9, 16 and 23, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the library at the Jewish Federation at 444 Main St. North in South-bury.

Micalizzi’s goal is to help the public recognize symptoms and understand metabolic syndrome and factors associated with the

development of diabetes.  The series includes suggestions for lifestyle modifications to prevent diabetes with an emphasis on diet and exercise. “It is important for people to know that diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease,” she said. “By preventing diabetes you can help prevent heart disease.”

The program is free and open to the public. For more informa-tion or to register, call Debby Horowitz at 203-267-3177, ext. 310.

Gerald Raimo Scholarships Banquet

The Middlebury Democratic Town Committee will hold its Gerald M. Raimo scholarships banquet Friday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church at 937 Chase Parkway in Waterbury. The snow date will be Saturday, Feb. 4. Honorees are Edith Salisbury and Robert Desmarais.

The cost is $25 per ticket. Money raised will go toward scholarships given to two Mid-dlebury high school seniors. Tick-ets are available at the tax collec-tor’s office, Parks and Rec or www.middleburydemocrats.com.

st. John -Continued from page 1

FInd uS on

Friday, January 20, 2012 The Bee-Intelligencer PAGE 5

A new resource,  “Seeking Drug Abuse Treatment: Know What to Ask,” will help individu-als and families struggling with addiction ask the right questions before choosing a drug treatment program. It was developed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National In-stitutes of Health, and is available to the public free online or in hard copy through NIDA’s Drug-Pubs service (see information below).

“Treatment options can vary considerably, and families often don’t know where to begin,” said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. “This booklet highlights the treatment components that research has shown are critical for success, to help people make an informed choice during a very stressful time.” 

The new publication is based on a NIDA resource describing the principles of drug addiction treatment from a research-based perspective. It recommends five helpful questions people should

ask and explains what the re-search has found to be most ef-fective. Specifically, the booklet explores these themes:• Istheprogram’streatmentplan

backed by scientific evidence?• Isittailoredtotheindividual

needs of each patient?• Doestheprogramassessand

adapt treatment as the pa-tient’s needs change?

• Howlongshouldthetreatmenttake?

• Howdo12-stepprogramsfitinto drug addiction treatment?The 2010 National Survey on

Drug Use and Health estimated 22.1 million persons aged 12 years or older were classified with substance dependence or abuse in the previous year (8.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older). The goal of drug-abuse treatment is to stop drug use and help people return to productive functioning in the family, workplace, and commu-nity.

However, keeping patients in treatment long enough to achieve that goal can be difficult. Finding the right treatment for an individual’s specific needs is critical. The booklet describes available medications and evi-

dence-based behavioral thera-pies; the need for comprehen-sive, tailored, and sustained treatment; as well as the reality of relapse and the role of com-munity-level support.

Go to www.drugabuse.gov/publications/seeking-drug-abuse-treatment to download “Seeking Drug Abuse Treatment: Know What to Ask.” Order hard copies by calling 1-877-NIDA-NIH (1-877-643-2644) or by go-ing online to http://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov/.

“Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research Based Guide,” which is the basis of the new publication, can be found at www.drugabuse.gov/PODAT/PODATIndex.html.

Fact sheets on the health ef-fects of drugs of abuse and infor-mation on NIDA research and other activities are at www.dru-gabuse.gov. Order publications in English or Spanish by calling NIDA’s DrugPubs research dis-semination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or fax or email requests to 240-645-0227 or drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Order online at http://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov.

Somewhere in the middle of the falling costs of homes and the rising costs of rentals is the tipping point where it becomes more cost effective to buy. Those calculations will vary depending on your location and situation. Buying a home can be a positive step if 1) you are financially sta-ble, 2) you plan to stay in your home for at least five years, and 3) you do your homework first.

Look online at www.bankrate.com and search for the “rent ver-sus buy” calculator. Go through the dozen questions as a place to start to see if you’re a good candidate for buying.

Do a “rent ratio” calculation. Take the price of a home similar to one you’d like to buy, and di-

vide that by how much the rent would be for one year. A ratio of 15 or under indicates buying would be better. Higher than 20 indicates renting would be bet-ter. For example, if the home you’d like to buy is selling for $100,000 but would rent for $850 a month, the calculation be-comes $100,000 divided by $10,200, which comes to under 10, well within the range where it’s smarter to buy. Be sure to add the cost of renter’s insurance.

To get a broad-brush picture of whether it’s better to rent or buy in your area, check Trulia, the real-estate site that analyzes homes from the national level down to the neighborhood. Go online to Google and put this in the search box: Trulia Insights rent versus buy. The top four links in the list are the ones that will be most helpful. For exam-ple, Trulia’s research indicates in 72 percent of buying areas, it’s better to buy than rent.

If you buy, remember the standard caveats:

Only accept a fixed loan. Don’t be lulled by initial lower rates into taking on a mortgage that can increase to an unknown amount in the future.

Know in advance how much the taxes will cost.

Give yourself more of a monthly cushion than the lend-ers do. If the lender says you can afford a payment of $1,000 per month, give yourself some breathing room and cap it at $850. You might need to take on an additional expense down the road, perhaps a vehicle payment.

David Uffington regrets he can-not personally answer reader questions, but he will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Write to him in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send email to columnre-ply@gmail.com.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.

obituaries

Buying vs. renting

15 ways to save electricityFrugal mummy

Obituary PolicyThe Bee-Intelligencer runs obituaries and their accompanying

photos free of charge. We do this as a community service to honor the deceased and the family and friends who love them.

Please ask your funeral director to send obituaries and photos to us at beeintelligencer@gmail. For more information, call 203-577-6800.

By CLAIR BOONE

One year our electricity bill in the winter was HUGE! We’re talking $100 more than a few of our neighbors, so we were deter-mined to cut it down. We did this by using some of the tips below.

1) Put in some eco-friendly light bulbs that use 75 percent less energy than conventional bulbs.

2) Turn the thermostat down when you are not home and at night when you are under blan-kets. You also can program your thermostat to turn on for around the time you come home or wake up so you aren’t freezing. If you lower your thermostat for at least eight hours a day, you’ll save about 1 percent for every degree

you dial down.3) Install a wood-burning

stove insert into your fireplace. If you can find wood for free, even better, but if you have to pay, check out www.craigslist.com. You also can check Craigslist for a used insert.

4) Use space heaters in the bedroom and bathroom. This is what we do with our children’s room. We leave the heat on really low at night.

5) If you have pull-down attic stairs, make sure you add weather stripping and extra in-sulation to them.

6) Make sure your attic is in-sulated. If you increase attic in-sulation to around 12 inches, you will reduce the electricity con-sumption by 20 percent.

7) Ask for an electric com-pany inspector to come to your home for an energy analysis. This service, which is usually free, will bring someone to your residence who will inspect all your major appliances, including their volt-age, location and frequency of use, before offering ideas for cut-ting back on the amount of time family members use each appli-ance.

8) Save energy usage by doing fewer large loads of laundry and by waiting until the dishwasher is full before running it.

9) Be sure to check seals around all your entry doors and even use draft dodgers. Reducing drafts can cut your heating bill as much as 30 percent.

10) Hang heavier drapes in

the winter.11) Use your ceiling fans to

blow the warm air down.12) Unplug all your non-es-

sential appliances when you’re not using them.

13) Keep your furnace clean by replacing filters.

14) Always turn off lights when you leave a room.

15) Close blinds and curtains at night.

These ideas require a little money and time upfront, but they will save you so much in the long run they are well worth the investment!

Join Clair Boone and thou-sands of other savvy shoppers at www.facebook.com/mum-mydeals.org or read her other tips at www.mummydeals.org.

By MARY CONSEUR

This semester’s gourmet cook-ing classes offered at the Café at Whittemore Crossing include six that feature Continental cuisine. “A Taste of France” will be offered Thursday, Feb. 16; “A Rustic Tus-can Meal” Thursday, Feb. 23; “Winter in Bordeaux” Friday, Feb. 24; “Spanish Tapas” Satur-day, March 10; “Dining in Tus-cany” Friday, March 16; and “Easter Dinner in Tuscany” Sun-day, April 1.

In addition, a special “Valen-tine’s Dinner” cooking class will be Friday, Feb. 10; “Fresh Pasta: Winter Sauces” Friday, Feb. 17; “Slow Cooking” Sunday, Feb. 19; “Weeknight Meals for Moms” March 7; “Lenten Seafood Favor-ites” Friday, March 23; “Surf and Turf” Saturday, March 24; “The Best of Brunch” Wednesday, March 28; “Spring Entertaining” Friday, March 30; and “Spring Pasta” Saturday, April 21. The Café also will offer baking classes Wednesdays, Feb. 1 and 29, and Sunday, March 25.

Chefs for the cooking classes are Jeffrey Sherman, former ex-ecutive chef with Martha Stew-art, and Sherry Swanson, owner of A Culinary Experience. Chef for the baking classes is Maria Sanchez, owner of Sweet Maria’s Bakery in Waterbury.

When resident chefs Sherman and Swanson are not conducting cooking classes, they are prepar-

ing lunch at the café every day except Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The café opened in Oc-tober 2011 and is already serving between 80 and 120 customers a day, Sherman said. The menu includes a choice of soups, quiche in phyllo dough, salad, meat pies, and sandwiches, along with a selection of desserts and beverages.

“We have been trying to add some new soups to the menu, but our customers love the pumpkin soup so much that they

don’t want us to change,” Sher-man said. Though there are sev-eral small tables at which patrons can eat, they often prefer to sit at the open counter in the kitchen, where they can converse with the chefs and get some good tips on food preparation.

Marketing Director Rachel Sepelak said, “We opened the café because our customers wanted to enjoy something to eat while they were shopping here.”

The Shoppes at Whittemore Crossing now comprise some

20,000 square feet of floor space devoted to new and consignment furniture, interior decorating, art, home accessories, tableware and gifts. The Café at Whittemore Crossing is in The Shoppes at Whittemore Crossing building, also known as Middlebury Con-signment, at the intersection of Rtes. 64 and 188 (Whittemore Road). Cost for lunch is around $10 to $12. Cooking and baking classes range from $80 to $90. For information and reserva-tions, call 203-528-0130.

Jeffrey Sherman, Resident Chef at the Café at Whittemore Crossing, prepares quiche in phyllo dough for the luncheon menu. (Mary Conseur photo)

café at Whittemore crossing offers cooking classes

Henry P. Capozzi Jr.Brother of Michael Capozzi

Mr. Henry P. Ca-pozzi Jr., 55, of Wa-terbury died Jan. 12 at Waterbury Hos-pital in the pres-ence of his loving family. He was the husband of Robbie Kohl. His funeral

was Jan. 16.Henry was born in Waterbury

Feb. 6, 1956, a son of Jo-Ann (Mile) Capozzi of Waterbury and the late Henry P. Capozzi Sr. He graduated from Kennedy High School and at-tended several technical schools, where he earned certificates. He was a foreman for Johnson and Johnson, where he worked for 25 years until becoming disabled. He was an avid fisherman who especially enjoyed bass fishing. His greatest joy in life was spending quality time with his grandchildren.

Besides his wife of 12 years and his mother, he leaves two sons, Chris-topher Capozzi and Henry P. Capozzi III, both of Waterbury; two daugh-ters, Sarah Muccino and her hus-band, Jeff, and Amy Capozzi, all of Waterbury; a stepson, Joshua Waicu-nas and a stepdaughter, Mithrandir Waicunas, both of Waterbury; two brothers, Michael Capozzi of Mid-dlebury and Anthony Capozzi of Waterbury; a sister, Joann Sichau and her husband, Kenneth, of Waterbury; and nine grandchildren. He was pre-deceased by a grandson, Anthony Ryan Capozzi.

The Chase Parkway Memorial/The Albini Family Funeral Home handled the arrangements. Burial was in New Pine Grove Cemetery in Waterbury.

Contributions in Henry’s memory can be made to Muscular Dystrophy Association, MDA/ALC Center at Hospital for Special Care, 2150 Corbin Ave. New Britain, CT 06053.

Ethel E. CarlstromTimex Retiree

Ethel E. Carl-strom of Eugene, Ore., died Friday, Dec. 9, of age-re-lated causes. She was 97.

She was born Aug. 29, 1914, in Waterbury, to Alex-

ander and Alma Johnson Palmquist. She married George Carlstrom June 20, 1941, in Waterbury. He died April 24, 1989. Ethel resided in Waterbury until 1991, when she moved to Eu-gene with her older sister, Elsa, fol-lowing her husband’s death.

She graduated from Wilby High School in 1932. She worked for Timex as a keypunch operator for many years and was a homemaker.

Survivors include three sons, Donald of Mattapoisette, Mass., and David and Douglas, both of Eugene, Ore.; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned for Saturday, Jan. 21, at 11 a.m. at Mat-tapoisette Congregational Church on Church Street in Mattapoisette, Mass.

Memorial gifts may be made to Emmaus Lutheran Church, 1250 West 18th Ave., Eugene, OR 97402. Arrangements were by Poole-Larsen Funeral Home in Eugene.

Evelyn A. GrahamMother of Deborah Slight

Evelyn A. (Clif-ford) Graham, 92, of Middlebury, for-merly of Water-bury, died peace-fully Jan. 15 at the home of her daughter in Mid-dlebury. She was

the widow of William J. Graham.Mrs. Graham was born in Hart-

ford Sept. 2, 1919, a daughter of the late Edward and Alice (Shipman) Clifford. She had been a Waterbury resident most of her life and gradu-ated from Crosby High School and Post Junior College.

Mrs. Graham worked for 20 years in the admitting office at Waterbury Hospital and continued to volunteer at the hospital until the time of her death. She also volunteered at Gay-lord Hospital and was a lifelong pa-rishioner of St. John’s Episcopal Church on the Green in Waterbury.

Mrs. Graham is survived by her two children, Dr. Edward “Ned” Gra-ham of Waterville and Augusta, Maine, and Deborah J. Slight and her husband, Dennis, of Middlebury; and two grandsons, Bryan and Shaun Slight. She was predeceased by her sister, Jean Saunders.

Her funeral will be Saturday, Jan. 21, at 10 a.m. at the Murphy Funeral Home at 115 Willow St. in Waterbury. Burial will follow in Calvary Ceme-tery. Friends may call at the funeral home Saturday from 9 a.m. until the time of the service.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, 5 Brookside Drive, Wall-ingford, CT 06492-1822 (www.heart.org) or Animal Rescue Foundation, 366 Main St., Terryville, CT 06786 (www.arft.org).

Visit www.murphyfuneral-homect.com for more information or to send an online condolence.

navigate addiction treatment optionsthings differently when it comes to their finances. Cappelletti sug-gested McCormack meet with Police Chief Richard Guisti, and McCormack said he tried to do that in the past and it didn’t hap-pen. He said he would try again to set up a meeting with Guisti.

McCormack said he attended a Connecticut Council of Municipalities conference on budgets and heard a lot of talk about looking at the revenue side of the budget. “We need to in-crease fees,” McCormack said. He encouraged members to look at revenues as they work on the 2012-2013 budget.

Among correspondence read by McCormack was a letter from Heidi Shea asking that she and Southbury resident Frank Pellegrini be given 10 minutes on the BoF agenda to discuss the Region 15 School District budget. McCormack said the BoF was not the right forum for discussion of that budget, and he thinks the Region 15 budget takes the spot-

light off the 50 percent more it costs to run the town of Middlebury compared to similar towns. “People spent money any way they wanted because they could blame it on the Region 15 budget,” McCormack said. “We’re not going to discuss this during budget season.”

Shea asked the BoF to go over the Region 15 budget and note where cuts could be made. Ruccio said “It’s Southbury that needs to hear this.” Spierto said he attends Region 15 meetings and suggests cuts, but Board of Education members won’t listen to him.

Cipriano said he was willing to take a half hour during a BoF meeting to discuss the matter and then make a public suggestion on cuts Region 15 could make. Kenausis said the BoF and select-men should support Middlebury BoE members with a letter asking Region 15 to be more fiscally re-sponsible.

Shea acknowledged town offi-cials have no control over the Region 15 budget, but said, “The only recourse we have is the court of public opinion.” She said state-

ments from town officials would bring the matter before the pub-lic.

McCormack responded, “It’s not a Board of Finance responsi-bility. The Board of Selectmen should do this. We’re not going to put this on the agenda.”

Shea asked McCormack if he was going to let BoF members vote on whether or not to put it on the agenda. He said, “No. I’m the chairman, and I was just elected.”

McCormack and members also discussed what to do when motions the BoF makes at a meeting don’t result in action. Kenausis asked, “For all we do for the taxpayers, we make mo-tions and nothing happens. Why?”

McCormack said matters are brought up at a meeting, but then a month passes before the next meeting. “We need to highlight things that need to happen and track them for the next meeting,” he said.

The next regular meeting of the BoF will be Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. in Room 26 at Shepardson Community Center.

mccormack -Continued from page 1

PAGE 6 Friday, January 20, 2012The Bee-Intelligencer

By CRISTINA COMMENDATORE

A few months back, Troop 444 Boy Scout Ryan Gobstein, 17, of Middlebury decided he wanted his Eagle Scout project to be something the community could use. Last week, he and his group of volunteers saw his idea through to fruition when they finished building a large wooden structure to hold a community bulletin board outside the Parks and Rec office at Shepardson Community Center.

“I wanted to do something to benefit the community in some way,” Gobstein said. “The town can post information, and it’s something that one day I could look back on.”

The idea to build a bulletin board came after the troop’s Committee Chairperson, Chris O’Donnell, got Gobstein in touch with the Parks and Rec Commis-sion, which approved the project. When Gobstein, a Holy Cross High School senior who loves sports, decided on the bulletin board, he sought out inspiration. He found a structure he liked at Hollow Park in Woodbury and began drawing sketches similar to it for his design. Joe Hine, whose son, Dustin, is in Troop 444, helped Gobstein finalize his drawings.

Then Gobstein began his hunt for materials. He submitted a letter to area businesses and re-ceived a $300 donation for ma-terials from the Home Depot Foundation. He also received donations from businesses in Middlebury and funded the rest out of pocket. Overall, the project cost $660.

Gobstein recruited volunteers, including his Scoutmaster, Lou Salerno; troop members Dustin Hine and Christian Kean; and his father, Michael Gobstein, to

help build the project. All parts of the 66-inch wide, 10-foot tall structure had to be measured and hand cut without power tools.

“It was like LEGO pieces,” Gobstein said. “People made the pieces, and I kind of put them together the way I envisioned them in my drawings.”

He said the project, which they built and completed in four days, took around 70 man hours and 20 hours of crafting the drawings. Gobstein completed all his merit badges, and now his Eagle proj-ect, but he still has to submit paperwork, take part in a Scout-master conference, and success-fully complete a board of review before he is awarded Eagle. Eagle is the highest attainable rank in Boy Scouting.

Gobstein, who has been in Scouts since he was 5 years old, said, “My uncle (Tom Salson) had been an Eagle in this troop, so it is something special in our family. I think the values I’ve learned in Scouting, especially the Scout Law, have taught me to be the mature and responsible person I am today. I’d like to thank my parents for all their support and for putting up with the headaches I’ve given them over the past 10 months.”

On behalf of he and his wife, Evelyn, Michael Gobstein said, “He took a project that was very sophisticated and saw it to com-pletion, and it came out beauti-fully, and it will last for decades. It has helped him learn time management and the logistics of getting material and gathering people at the right time and place – we couldn’t be prouder of him.”

Middlebury Parks and Recre-ation Commission Chairman Ron Clark said the community can post events pertaining only to the town on the bulletin board. “We don’t want people advertis-ing their businesses and stuff,” he said.

There is no encasement over the cork bulletin board; however, a roof shelters it. “It’s well done structurally, and it should last a while there,” Clark said. “We need to think about whether we need to protect the cork board, but for right now it should be pretty sheltered from the weather.”

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am 82 and in pretty good health except for a recent problem. During the day everything is fine, but when I lie down to go to sleep, the room starts to spin. It lasts about 10 seconds. Then if I turn my head to look at the clock, the dizziness returns. In the morning when I wake and turn my head again, the room spins.

Do I have an inner-ear infec-tion? How can this problem be fixed? – J.C. ANSWER: Although I can’t give you 100 percent assurance, I can say on solid ground that you have benign positional vertigo, BPH. Vertigo is dizziness. BPH is not an inner-ear infection. It comes on just as you have written, with a change in the position of the head – lying down, turning to the side or looking up to a cupboard shelf. The attacks are brief but disrupting.

Crystals normally found in one part of the inner ear have mi-grated to another part. Moving the head activates the displaced crystals, and they send a message to the brain that brings on dizzi-ness. The inner ear is not only for hearing; it’s also for balance.

You can bring the crystals back to their original site through a series of movements called the Epley repositioning maneuvers.

Sit on the side of a bed and bend your head to the shoulder on the side that triggers dizziness. Let’s make it the right side, so you can follow the instructions. If it’s the left, just change the direction. With the head turned to the right, lie down so your head projects off the other side of the bed. When dizziness stops, turn the head to the left side, with the left ear fac-ing down. Next, roll over on your left side so the head faces down for 10 to 15 seconds. Finally, re-turn to the sitting position with your head bent slightly down in front. You might have to repeat the procedure more than twice. If this is too confusing, have your family doctor or an ENT doctor put you through the motions.

The booklet on vertigo explains the common causes of it and their treatment. To obtain a copy, write to Dr. Donohue – No. 801W, Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Canada with the recipient’s printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery. DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Why doesn’t the heart ever get cancer? I’ve never seen this question asked or talked about on TV. Blood feeds tumors, so it makes sense the heart would be a target. – C.V.ANSWER: Tumors do arise in the heart. A somewhat-common be-nign tumor is a myxoma. It can disrupt the flow of blood through the heart. Malignant cancers, ones that spread and grow rap-idly, also arise in the heart. They are quite rare. A rhabdomyosar-coma is a malignant tumor of heart muscle. The blood con-tained in the heart doesn’t feed heart muscle. If it did, we’d never have heart attacks. Heart muscle is nourished by its own arteries. So are heart tumors.

Dr. Donohue regrets he is un-able to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

(c) 2012 North America Synd., Inc. All Rights Reserved

1. Who is the San Diego Padres’ all-time leader in career home runs?

2. How many times has a Texas Ranger been named the A.L. Most Valuable Player?

3. When was the last time before the 2010 season that Green Bay and Chicago faced off in an NFL playoff game?

4. How many NCAA men’s bas-ketball championships have the UConn Huskies won?

5. Name the first Eastern bloc player to skate in the NHL.

6. Which was the last team be-fore the L.A. Galaxy in 2011 to win the MLS Cup after being the No. 1 seed entering the playoffs?

7. In 2011, thoroughbred Rapid Redux won his 20th consec-utive race, topping the North American record held by two horses. Name either horse.

Answers:

1. Nate Colbert with 163.2. Six – Jeff Burroughs (1974),

Juan Gonzalez (‘96, ‘98), Ivan Rodriguez (‘99), Alex Rodri-guez (2003) and Josh Hamil-ton (‘10).

3. It was 1941.4. Three – 1999, 2004 and 2011.5. Jaroslav Jirik with St. Louis in

the 1969-70 season.6. The Columbus Crew in 2008.7. Zenyatta and Peppers Pride.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.

Inner ear often cause of dizziness

middlebury Parks & recreation

Middlebury Road (Opposite the Shell Station)Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily

Anthony Calabrese 203-758-2765

Local eggs. Fresh daily. $3 per dozen

Deer Corn • Livestock and Poultry Feed

Bird Seed Headquarters Black Oil, Premium Mix, Sunflower Hearts,

Niger Seed (thistle for finches)

(Kathleen Brown-Carrano cartoon)

Christmas Tree BurnThe annual Christmas tree

burn will be this Saturday, Jan. 21, at 6 p.m. at Shepardson Com-munity Center. Drop your trees off any time that day, and return to enjoy the community event sponsored by Parks and Rec and the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department.

CorrectionsDue to an editing error, two

programs from 2011 were listed in the last issue: the kindergarten enrichment program and ball-room dancing classes. Neither will take place in Middlebury this winter.

However, Bill and Bev Hanna will teach six weeks of ballroom dancing in Woodbury starting Friday, Jan. 27, from 8:30 to 9:45 p.m. The first class will be at the Woodbury Senior Center; the other classes will be at Mitchell Elementary School. The class is for those with some experience in ballroom dancing. It is not for beginners. The fee for Woodbury residents is $65 per couple; non-residents pay $70 per couple.

Infant Toddler Playgroup

The infant/toddler playgroup for parents of children age new-born to 3 to meet and socialize will meet Monday to Thursday, Jan. 23 to May 10, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in Room 5 at Shepardson Center. Parents may choose to attend the program one or two of the four days each week. There will be no program Feb. 13 or 20. The fee is $20 for residents; $30 for nonresidents. You must reg-ister in person for playgroup. No

phone registrations will be taken.

Music and Me Class Open House

Instructor Marcia Nelken’s Music and Me program for ages 6 months to 5 years will meet Fridays, Jan. 27 to March 30 (no class Feb. 17), from 10 to 10:45 a.m. in Room 8 at Shepardson Center.

The class fee is $120 for resi-dents and $130 for nonresidents for the first child and $64 for res-idents and $74 for nonresidents for the second child. For more information, see www.marcias-musiccenter.com.

Youth KarateA number of youth karate

classes will begin Tuesday, Jan. 24. Those already enrolled have priority. Limited spots are avail-able, so register early.

First Aid Classes Instructor Terry Schmidt will

teach Adult CPR/AED Tuesday, Jan. 31, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; Infant/child CPR Thursday, Feb. 2, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; and Standard First Aid Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. All classes will be at Shepardson Center in Room 4. The per-class fee is $82 for residents; $92 for nonresidents.

Laughter YogaInstructor Kristin Barber will

teach laughter yoga for students age 21 and up alternating Sat-urdays starting Feb. 4 and end-ing April 14 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The fee is $50 for residents and $60 nonresidents for six classes. Please note: Classes meet EVERY OTHER Saturday.

Laughter Yoga combines yoga breathing exercises and simu-lated laughter in a group setting that provides health and psy-chological benefits to its partic-ipants.

Guitar LessonsWoodbury Music Shop co-

owner David Zemper will teach beginner/intermediate guitar lessons for youth and adults this winter. Classes for youth ages 8 to 13 will meet Saturdays, Feb. 4 to March 17, from 10 to 11 a.m. in Room 28 at Shepardson Com-munity Center (No class Feb. 25).

Classes for adults age 20 and up will meet Wednesdays, Feb. 8 to March 14, from 7 to 8 p.m. in Room 7 at Shepardson Com-munity Center.

The classes will cover tuning, scales, rhythm, chords and tech-niques. No experience is neces-sary, and guitars are available to rent for $35 per month. Class sizes are limited to four to 10 students, so please register early. The fee is $112 for resi-dents; $122 for nonresidents for six classes.

Youth Dance ProgramInstructor Linda Rice offers a

variety of dance classes (tap, ballet and jazz) on various days of the week starting Monday, Feb. 6, in Room 8 at Shepardson. Returning students please note: Payment is due prior to first class. No classes Feb. 13 and 20 and April 6 and 16 to 20.

community benefits from Eagle project

Pomperaug high school Varsity Games

We need sports reportersWe want to cover local sports! Our readers want us to cover

local sports. We just need reporters to attend games/matches/meets and write about them. Reporters can be students or adults.

Would you like to help us cover sports? We’ll help you learn newspaper style, you’ll get a byline so everyone will know what you have written, and you’ll have clips to show colleges/potential employers. If you write well, love sports and would like to report on them for this newspaper, please call us at 203-577-6800 or email us at beeintelligencer@gmail.com.

Jan. 21 to 28, 2012Boys BasketballTuesday, Jan. 24 .................. Bunnell (A) ........................................... 7 p.m.Friday, Jan. 27 ..................... Kolbe Cathedral (H) .............................. 7 p.m.

Girls BasketballTuesday, Jan. 24 .................. Bunnell (H) ........................................... 7 p.m.Friday, Jan. 27 ..................... Kolbe Cathedral (A) .............................. 7 p.m.

CheerleadingTuesday, Jan. 24 .................. Bunnell (H) ........................................... 7 p.m.Friday, Jan. 27 ..................... Kolbe Cathedral (H) .............................. 7 p.m.Saturday, Jan. 28 ................ SWC Cheer Championship (A) .............. 4 p.m.

GymnasticsTuesday, Jan. 24 ..................Weston, et al (H) .................................. 6 p.m.

Ice HockeySaturday, Jan. 21 ................ New Milford (H) ............................... 7:30 p.m.Saturday, Jan. 28 ................ New Fairfield-Immaculate (H) .......... 7:30 p.m.

Boys Indoor TrackSaturday, Jan. 21 ................ New Balance Games (A) ....................... 9 a.m.Thursday, Jan. 26 ................ SWC Meet (A) ................................. 3:30 p.m.Friday, Jan. 27 .....................Milrose Games Field Trip (A) ................. 4 p.m.

Girls Indoor TrackThursday, Jan. 26 ................ SWC JV & Varsity Meet (A) ............... 3:30 p.m.

Boys SwimmingTuesday, Jan. 24 ..................Masuk (H) ....................................... 4:30 p.m.Friday, Jan. 27 .....................Watertown (A) ...................................... 7 p.m.

WrestlingSaturday, Jan. 21 ................ Lyman Memorial Tournament (A) ........ 10 a.m.Wednesday, Jan. 25 ............. New Milford (H) .................................... 6 p.m.Saturday, Jan. 28 ................ Eastern Duals (A) ................................. 9 a.m.

(H) Home (A) Away

Left to right, Troop 444 Scoutmaster Lou Salerno, Scouts Ryan Gobstein and Dustin Hine, and Michael Gobstein place the roof over a community bulletin board they built last week for Ryan’s Eagle Scout project. The community can post upcoming town events and announcements on the bulletin board, which is out-side the Parks and Rec office at Shepardson Community Center.

(Karen Streeter photo)

We’d like to hear from you!Got a hot news tip for us? Please email it to:

mbisubmit@gmail.com

Please include your name and telephone number.

We also welcome your ideas for articles you’d like to see in the news-paper. If you don’t have email you can call us at 203-577-6800.

Friday, January 20, 2012 The Bee-Intelligencer PAGE 7

SouthburyFlat-pick guitarist/singer Willie Nininger will perform a solo show Friday, Jan. 27, from 6:30 to 9:30 at The Olive Tree at 137 East Hill Road. Make reservations at 203-263-4555.

WaterburyFlat-pick guitarist/singer Willie Nininger Sat-urday, Jan. 21, from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. at The Hills Restaurant (Western Hills Country Club) at 600 Park Road. Ken Melton on vocals and percussion and Jan Scruggs on vocals and guitar will join him. Reservations are suggested, 203-755-1331.

“That’s Life! Stories and Songs of Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra” Saturday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 5, at 2 p.m. at Seven Angels Theatre. TelArc recording artist Tony De-Sare’s and author Tom Santopietro’s new show that intersperses amusing and revelatory anec-dotes from Waterbury native Santopietro’s, author of “Sinatra in Hollywood,” and singer/pianist De-Sare’s new take on crooner classics.

Tickets are $27.50 at the box office on Plank Road, 203-757-4676 or SevenAngelsTheatre.org.

TorringtonBach: Counterpoint by pianist Timothy Alex-andre Wallace Saturday, Jan. 21, at Studio 59 at 59 Barber St. Hors d’oeuvres at 7:15 p.m.; perfor-mance at 7:30 p.m. Experience the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Tickets are $16.50 for adults and free for children younger than 12 (must be accom-panied by an adult). Seating is limited; RSVP at 860-482-6801.

BridgeportBluegrass group Too Blue benefit show for WPKN FM 89.5 Bridgeport Saturday, Jan. 21, from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. at Too Boots at 277 Fairfield Ave. “Five In the Chamber” will open the show. Admission is $15 with all the proceeds going di-rectly to benefit WPKN. For more information, visit www.wpkn.org/wp or www.twobootsbridge-port.com.

HartfordSunday Bluegrass Series with Too Blue Jan. 29 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at The Firebox Restaurant at 539 Broad St. No cover. Hosted by Nick Novia and Joe DeLillo. For more information, call 860-246-1222 or visit www.fireboxrestaurant.com. Fairfield

Fred Garbo Inflatable Theater Co. performance Sunday, Jan. 22, at 1 p.m. at Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The company will provide theatre experience that transcends the barriers of culture, age, language and gravity, with brilliant colors and movement.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children at 203-254-4010 or www.quickcenter.com. The Re-gina A. Quick Center for the Arts is on the Fairfield University campus at 1073 North Benson Road. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road.

This publication does not know-ingly accept advertising which is deceptive, fraudulent, or which might otherwise violate the law or accepted standards of taste. However, this publication does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of any advertisement, nor the quality of the goods or services advertised. Readers are cautioned to thoroughly investigate all claims made in any advertisements, and to use good judgment and reasonable care, particularly when dealing with persons unknown to you who ask for money in advance of delivery of the goods or ser-vices advertised.

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Contractors

HAS YOUR BUILDING SHIFT-ED? Contact Woodford Bros., Inc. for straightening, leveling, foundation and wood frame repairs at 1-800-OLD-BARN, www.woodfordbros.com, MAHIC# 155877; CTHIC# 571557; RICRB#22078

Classified Advertising Deadline: 5 p.m. Monday Classified Advertising Cost: $10 per week, up to 40 words. 25c each additional word.

Submit ad with your name, address, telephone number, and payment to: Mail: Bee-Intelligencer, P.O. Box 10, Middlebury, CT 06762

Email: mbisubmit@gmail.com Office: 2030 Straits Turnpike, Suite 1

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Entertainment Listings

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The last time I did an inspection of the out-side of my house, I noticed a tree branch

hanging over the roof gutter. My neighbor let me into his house upstairs to get a better look, and I saw it was a fairly large branch. I don’t think I can reach it safely as there is too much snow and ice around to climb up there. Should I just leave it until spring? – Chet C., Portland, Maine

It’s up to you, really. If it’s too dangerous to remove by yourself,

contact a professional tree ser-vice and get a written estimate of how much it will cost for them to remove the limb. If the cost is too steep, you have the option of

leaving it until the snow and ice thaw and then working with a friend to remove it.

But safety should always be a consideration. Even without snow and ice, the limb could be too heavy to move safely, or elec-trical wires could be nearby, or you may not have a ladder tall enough to access that part of the roof. Also, if the tree limb caused roof damage and a leak, there’s

little time to lose to clear the roof and fix the leak before more se-rious damage occurs. In those cases, the tree service is your best option.

Send your questions or tips to ask@thisisahammer.com, or write This Is a Hammer, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.

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Legal Notice

TOWN OF MIDDLEBURYLEGAL NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that Motor Vehicle Supplemental tax bills on the Grand List of October 1, 2010 plus the second install-ment of Real Estate and Personal Property taxes become due and payable January 1, 2012. The last day to pay is February 1, 2012. After that date taxes draw interest at the rate of 1-1/2% per month from the due date. Minimum interest is $2.00. Failure to receive a bill does not invalidate the tax, interest or penalty.

Return one copy of the bill with payment. If a receipt is required return all copies plus a self-addressed stamped envelope. The Town Hall is open Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for legal holidays.

Jean Dawes, CCMC

Tax Collector, Middlebury

LEGAL NOTICE OF THE MIDDLEBURY PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION

The Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Middle-bury will hold a public hearing on February 2, 2012, 7:30 p.m. at the Auditorium, Shepardson Community Center, 1172 Whit-temore Road, Middlebury, Connecticut regarding the application submitted by 489 Middlebury Rd./Mark Gyolai – Application for Special Exception pursuant to Section 66.3 of the Mid-dlebury Zoning Regulations. The public is invited to attend and be heard. Written comments may be sent and will be read into the record. They should be addressed to the Zoning Office at 1212 Whittemore Road, Middlebury, CT 06762. A copy of the application is on file for public inspection during normal working hours of that office.

Dated this 17th day of January, 2012

Curtis Bosco, Chairman

LEGAL NOTICETOWN OF MIDDLEBURY

A certified list of 25 Democratic party-endorsed candidates for the Town of Middlebury for election as Members of the Town Committee At-Large is on file in my office at 1212 Whittemore Road, Middlebury, Connecticut 06762 and copies are available for public distribution. The number of Town Committee Members to be elected, under party rules, is twenty-five (25).

A Primary will be held March 6, 2012, if seven (7) candidacies (which is at least 25% of the number of town committee mem-bers to be elected by such party in the municipality) are filed in accordance with State Statute 9-382 to 9-450, inclusive, of the General Statutes, by persons other than party-endorsed candi-dates, not later than 4:00 p.m. of February 1, 2012, provided the number of such candidacies plus the number of endorsed can-didates, exceeds the number of town committee members to be elected. (If the number of opposing candidacies filed is reduced to less than such 25%, no primary will be held.). Petition forms, instructions and information concerning the procedure for filing opposing candidacies, may be obtained from Thomas McCor-mack, Democratic Registrar of Voters, 1212 Whittemore Road, Middlebury, Connecticut 06762.

Dated at Middlebury, Connecticut this 20th day of January 2012.

Edith Salisbury, CMCMunicipal Clerk of Middlebury

LEGAL NOTICETOWN OF MIDDLEBURY

A certified list of 21 Republican party-endorsed candidates for the Town of Middlebury for election as Members of the Town Committee At-Large is on file in my office at 1212 Whittemore Road, Middlebury, Connecticut 06762 and copies are available for public distribution. The number of Town Committee Members to be elected, under party rules, is twenty-one (21).

A Primary will be held March 6, 2012, if six (6) candidacies (which is at least 25% of the number of town committee mem-bers to be elected by such party in the municipality) are filed in accordance with State Statute 9-382 to 9-450, inclusive, of the General Statutes, by persons other than party-endorsed candi-dates, not later than 4:00 p.m. of February 1, 2012, provided the number of such candidacies plus the number of endorsed can-didates, exceeds the number of town committee members to be elected. (If the number of opposing candidacies filed is reduced to less than such 25%, no primary will be held.). Petition forms, instructions and information concerning the procedure for filing opposing candidacies, may be obtained from Nancy S. Robison, Republican Registrar of Voters, 1212 Whittemore Road, Middle-bury, Connecticut 06762.

Dated at Middlebury, Connecticut this 20th day of January 2012.

Edith Salisbury, CMCMunicipal Clerk of Middlebury

Recording artist Tony DeSare (Submitted photo)

Waterbury native and author Tom Santopietro(Submitted photo)

PAGE 8 Friday, January 20, 2012The Bee-Intelligencer

DEAR PAW’S CORNER: I re-cently read on your website about a North Carolina county board that wanted to disallow adoptions of certain dog breeds from its shelter. The proposal was defeated thanks to a huge public outcry, but what about other rul-ings that don’t get as much pub-licity? How do we find out about them, and how can we get enough public support to stop unfair pet laws? – Jane in Mis-souriDEAR JANE: It’s great that you’re concerned and want to be more active in the area of pet legisla-tion. The North Carolina case was a classic example of legisla-tors (or in this case, a county board) proposing pet laws based upon popular but often inaccu-rate information, particularly about “bully breeds” (pit bulls, Doberman pinschers, etc). The

county board shelved its pro-posal after receiving tens of thou-sands of emails and facing a packed house of dog owners, rescuers and other advocates at its board meeting.

Getting started can be as sim-ple as an Internet search. Major organizations such as the Hu-mane Society of the U.S., the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and grow-ing organizations like the No-Kill Advocacy Center are good web-sites to start with. You often can find local chapters or local ad-

vocacy organizations through larger nonprofits’ websites.

Facing down local legislators is just one facet of animal advo-cacy. If you want to learn more about protecting pets, pick up “Defending the Defenseless: A Guide to Protecting and Advo-cating for Pets” by Allie Phillips (Rowman and Littlefield). Phil-lips is an attorney and ani-mal-rights advocate, and her book is packed with information on ways you can become more active.

Send your questions or tips to ask@pawscorner.com, or write to Paw’s Corner, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. For more pet care-related advice and information, visit www.pawscorner.com.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.

Animal advocates

Sprint has an unlimited data plan that allows users to view movies, text, and play music, games, etc., on the phone with-out paying more when the plan cap is exceeded. Most compa-nies, however, have a data limit associated with their plan.

First, check your plan’s limit if you do not know what it is. Typically, 200 MB is the limit per user. If it is viable, bump that up to 2 GB to avoid additional fees. You can stop some activities to reduce the chance of being charged an overage fee.

Stop watching videos on your phone. They use up an average of 225 MB of data per feature length film (approx. 1.5 hours). Stop letting the music play and play and play on. If you are on Pandora, for example, you can use as much as 24 MB per hour. Use the GPS only when really necessary. Stop playing games online with friends, etc. It uses a lot of data. Do not share every-thing on the phone on sites like Facebook. Data use there is heavy.

Keep track of the data usage on your own phone so you can react when you are close to the cap. Most plans offer a tool to track data usage. It is worth the download.

For more tips, visit chapin-business.com. For answers to your technology questions, call us at 203-262-1869. We’re here to help.

Please tell our advertisers you saw their ads in the

Bee-Intelligencer!

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For more information on these pets, call 203-758-2933 or visit Animals For Life at the Middlebury Transfer Station on Rte. 63 at the corner of Woodside Ave. Adoption hours are Mondays and Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 12 to 3 p.m. For more about the adoption process, visit www.animalsforlifect.org.

Subscription Information

The Bee-Intelligencer is available by mail to those outside our de-livery area or in need of extra copies. Mail delivery costs $40 a year for each subscription. Send a check and the mailing address to Bee-Intelligencer, P.O. Box 10, Middlebury, CT 06762. Call 203-577-6800 for rates for shorter periods of time.

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STRETCHStretch was recently rescued along with his two

housemates, Smokey and Prince. This very un-fortunate trio found themselves suddenly living on the street after a fire consumed their home, and the only family they ever knew left them be-hind to fend for themselves. They sat day after day on the steps of their burnt-down home despite the glass and debris that lay all around them. Now they are at the Animals For Life shelter, where they await their new homes.

Stretch appears to be the oldest of the bunch, though all three are around age 10. He is identified as the one with the white whiskers, giving this black cat a unique little trait about him. Like the others, Stretch would be very happy to be in a warm home where he can be fed regularly. He loves attention and will give back tons of affection.

DIDIDidi is a 4-year-old female kitty who was aban-

doned recently. This very pretty cat loves attention and being petted and would be happiest as the only kitty in her new home. She would need to be tested with dogs prior to sharing her home with canines. Didi has an adorable little meow with a squeak that resembles a mouse more than a cat! If you would like to meet Didi, please call Animals For Life.

Data usage on smart phones

By MARY CONSEUR

“Quo Vadis,” a specialty gift shop featuring European im-ports, has relocated to Washing-ton Depot from Southbury. Owner Roberta Hawley said, “In Southbury we were in the midst of a lot of chain stores; when our lease expired in 2011, we decided to move to a location with other specialty shops.”

Quo Vadis first opened in 2008. It features Murano glass jewelry as well as handbags, belts, wallets, gloves and other handmade leather products from Italy. Because the value of the dollar has weakened against the euro, the store has added more affordable items, such as hand-painted ceramics, table décor, desk accessories, linens, and organic body-care products. Some of the products are made in France or England; some are made by U.S. artisans.

Hawley, who was born in Flo-rence, returns to Italy at least twice a year to make a personal visit to the artisans from whom she orders her inventory. The name of her store, “Quo Vadis,” means “Where are you going?”

in Latin. It was the title of a 1950s film about ancient Rome that inspired Hawley.

Quo Vadis is in downtown Washington Depot next to the Hickory Stick Book Store. From the Canfield Corner Pharmacy

in Woodbury, follow Rte. 47 North into Washington Depot. Quo Vadis is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 860-619-0022.

Quo vadis moves to Washington Depot

Hand-painted Tuscan ceramics are among the specialty items fea-tured at the Quo Vadis gift shop. Quo Vadis recently moved to Washington Depot from Southbury. (Mary Conseur photos)

Handmade Italian leather handbags and Murano glass necklaces are among the specialty items fea-tured at the Quo Vadis gift shop. The shop relocated to Washington Depot from Southbury.