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News BulletinServing Amston, Andover, Cobalt, Colchester, East Hampton, Hebron, Marlborough, Middle Haddam and Portland

PAIDGLASTONBURY CITIZEN, INC.

Volume 36, Number 26                                                 Published by The Glastonbury Citizen                                                                    September 30, 2011

RIVEREASTP.O. BOX 373, GLASTONBURY, CT, 06033

See Reimondo Page 2

Portland to Be Featured on National TVby Joshua Anusewicz

The work of Portland’s Clean Energy TaskForce has earned the town a spot on Eco Com-pany TV, a national television program that fea-tures various efforts of conserving energy and“going green.”

The episode, which airs this weekend, willhighlight the town’s inclusion in the Neighbor2 Neighbor Program, which helps residents savemoney and reduce energy within their homes.

According to Andy Bauer, chairman of theClean Energy Task Force, the episode will fea-ture the work Portland has done to become moreenergy efficient, and will even show a “lightretrofit” at a Portland home.

Bauer said the town was featured on the showbecause of its longstanding partnership withSterling Planet, a company that supplies cleanenergy products and has worked with Portlandsince 2005. Bob Maddox, a clean energy mar-keter for the company, made the arrangementfor the town to be featured on the show, whichis produced in California.

“We’ve been working on changing to cleanenergy for a lot longer than most [towns],”

Bauer said. But it’s the Neighbor 2 NeighborProgram, which looks to improve energy con-sumption in Connecticut, which got the townrecognized.

The Neighbor 2 Neighbor Program wasformed from a grant from the U.S. Departmentof Energy to run an energy efficiency programin the state. Since its inception, 16 townsthroughout the state have taken part in the pro-gram, which comes to homes and businessesto evaluate the building and inform you on howyou can save money by being more efficient.

A visit from Neighbor 2 Neighbor – or a“home energy solution,” as Bauer calls it – willbe featured on the show; the visit took place inAugust at the home of Brian and WendyThatcher, who volunteered to participate on theshow.

Wendy said Wednesday that she wanted “tolearn more” about the program, and was inter-ested in being featured. In the program, repre-sentatives from Neighbor 2 Neighbor visitedthe Thatcher’s home and changed out normallight bulbs for more efficient ones.

“It was a good experience,” Wendy said. Shealso said her children – a son, 16, and a daugh-ter, 10 – were able to see the process and learneda lot. “It was eye-opening for them to partici-pate. They learned more about how much en-ergy we use and how we can reduce that bymaking small changes.”

Thatcher said that since the change, she hasseen roughly a $10 reduction in her electric bill.She also said the program teaches people aboutother changes, like solar panels and newer in-sulation, that can reduce the electricity costseven more.

First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield, who hasalready participated in her own “home energysolution,” is also featured on the program. Shediscusses the work the town has done to becomemore energy-efficient and the effect it’s had onthe town.

“[The program] speaks to Portland being onthe forefront of the issue,” Bransfield saidWednesday. “And it’s great for the task forceand all those who’ve been involved throughoutthe town to be recognized.” She specifically

credited Bauer with being an “educator” for thetown on how small changes can make a big dif-ference.

Bauer said he hopes that the program willcontinue to “educate” and inform people inPortland that these programs are available. Hesaid that most of the time, when he speaks toresidents about the program, they have no ideait existed.

“Clean energy and energy efficiency…it’sjust not well-known yet,” Bauer said. He saidhe hopes that residents will take advantage ofhaving a “home energy solution” visit – whichonly costs $75 – to improve their efficiency. “Itpays for itself quickly,” he added.

Bauer said the goal of the task force is for10 percent of Portland to reduce its energy useby at least 20 percent, and he hopes that thetown being recognized will go a long way to-ward that goal.

The episode of Eco Company TV will be fea-tured this Saturday, Oct. 1, at 12:30 p.m., onWTIC-TV, Fox 61.

Union President, Council Critical of Reimondo

by Joshua AnusewiczThe East Hampton Police Department was

back under the microscope at Tuesday’s TownCouncil meeting, as the council and, unexpect-edly, the police union president took the depart-ment and Police Chief Matthew Reimondo totask.

Residents spilled out into the hallway duringthe meeting at Town Hall, as the council dis-cussed several different topics regarding thepolice, including several internal investigationsinto Sgt. Michael Green, who is currently onpaid administrative leave. The topic was set tobe discussed in executive session prior to theregular meeting, but Green requested the topicbe held in public session.

Those expecting to find out information onthe allegations levied against Green, however,remained in the dark. The allegations, whichwere sent to the Town Council in a 40-page draftdocument by Attorney Eric Daigle ofSouthington, were not discussed at the adviceof Lisa Lazarek, who was acting as the town’slabor attorney at the meeting.

Green, who said little at the meeting, has beenon paid administrative leave because of the in-ternal investigations since July 27. This hasdrawn the ire of members of the police depart-ment, nine of which signed a petition to getGreen back to work.

“We are stripped down in manpower as it is,”said Michael Salafia, the police union president.“Mike Green is a valuable member of our de-partment and he’s sitting at home.” Salafia, whois an East Hampton police officer and an Inter-national Brotherhood of Police Officers (IBPO)representative, added that deficiencies in thedepartment were being used as “ammunition”

against Green by Reimondo, who he believeshas a “vendetta” against the sergeant.

But he had even stronger words forReimondo following the meeting. “MattReimondo runs the department through fear andthreats,” Salafia exclaimed.

The draft document from Daigle is the re-sult of an internal affairs investigation thatReimondo originally began against Green overthree separate incidents that occurred last year.When Reimondo began the investigation inFebruary, he received a letter from Green’s at-torney, Richard Hayber, who claimed that theinvestigation was “baseless” and that it shouldbe handed over to outside counsel. Reimondotransferred the investigation to Daigle, whopresented the draft document to Interim TownManager John Weichsel and members of theTown Council in August.

The report from Daigle outlines, in pains-taking detail, three incidents where it was de-termined that Green had not performed his du-ties as a supervisor at the department. The re-port also contains testimonies from Green,Reimondo and other members of the depart-ment. From gathering this information, Daiglepresents his ruling on the incidents, which areincluded in the report.

Because the report had been provided to thetown, the council members had assumed thatthis was Daigle’s final decision; however,Reimondo and Lazarek told the council that thereport was only a “draft document,” and thatan “amended report” would be presented to thetown. Reimondo said that there had been “in-accuracies” in the draft document, and that he

Making the Climb...Rock wall climbing was one of many offerings at theColchester 57 Fest last Saturday, Sept. 24. The annual event celebrates Colchesterbeing named the 57th best town in America in a 2005 Money magazine poll. Seerelated story on page 35.

Reimondo cont. from Front Pagereceived the final results of the investigationjust a short while before the meeting.

Lazarek recommended that the report not bediscussed “for Sgt. Green’s protection,” stat-ing that, “If the whole thing ends up being abunch of smoke, this document would not beout there marring [Green’s] reputation.”

Green, however, seemed to show no issuewith discussing the report, at one point saying,“Bring it.”

But Lazarek stated that there is a pendingsettlement offer that the police union has pro-posed to the town, which she said would “af-fect [Green’s] employment.” During the execu-tive session prior to the meeting, the councildid discuss the proposed settlement, whichwould involve Green retiring, but the proposalwas tabled.

Members of the council also expressed theirdesire to discuss the issue; Vice Chairman JohnTuttle said plainly, “[Green’s] given the OK;let’s do it.” Tuttle later added that he feltReimondo was purposely delaying the processin an attempt to get Green to retire.

“Are you trying to force the settlement onthe man so we don’t have to talk about this?”Tuttle said tersely to Reimondo. “Because itsounds like it to me.”

Chairwoman Melissa Engel said she ex-pected to hear “results” from the investigation.“I have to say, I’m disappointed we can’t dis-cuss this,” she said.

Engel added that she was concerned that thetown had paid Green over $11,000 “not to beat work…wasting taxpayer money.”

This drew an interesting reaction from somein attendance – laughter. Whispers about a simi-lar issue “last year,” a reference to Reimondobeing paid not to be at work after he was laidoff by then-Town Manager Jeffery O’Keefe,could be heard throughout the room.

The laughter prompted Engel to utilize hergavel, admonishing the crowd by saying, “Ifyou want to talk, get elected.”

Reimondo interrupted the council regardingthe investigation, stating that there “is a pro-cess that has to be followed,” and that like in acriminal investigation, some of the details “areprivileged information.”

Finding that the discussion was not going totake place, the council scheduled a special meet-ing for Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 6 p.m. at the TownHall to discuss the results of the investigations.Lazarek and Reimondo said they expect to havethe results prepared for the meeting.

Engel said after the meeting that she “de-mands” that the results be presented, and thatshe expects some kind of motion to come fromthe Oct. 12 meeting. Although Green did notcomment on why he wanted the discussion tobe held in public session, Engel said, “Clearly,he feels strongly enough in his innocence.”

Reimondo and Green have had an eventfulyear; after Reimondo’s position was eliminatedby the Town Council, Green was promoted tolieutenant and ran the department untilReimondo was reinstated after a town referen-dum in November 2010.

After he was reinstated, Reimondo filed asuit against Engel, Tuttle, O’Keefe, and Green,for what he believed was retaliation and collu-sion against him. The suit was ultimately settledand Reimondo was awarded $275,000. Thecharges against Green were dismissed, per thesettlement agreement.

* * *Although the discussion over Green pro-

duced the most fireworks, the report fromDaigle also included training and policy rec-ommendations for the East Hampton PoliceDepartment, which the council discussed withReimondo.

Through the investigations of Green, Daiglehighlighted several issues that he found withthe department, which included such topics ascase management, supervising officers, hous-

ing prisoners and setting bonds. The specificsof the recommendations were not presented toresidents in attendance, but the council did ques-tioned Reimondo about some of the concernsthey had.

Regarding the case management system atthe department, Reimondo said there had been“some setbacks” in the upgrading of the sys-tem. According to Reimondo, the departmentreceived a $30,000 grant from the state last yearto upgrade its technology; however, he said thatin the past year, the department’s informationtechnology manager “passed away unexpect-edly,” and a “change in management” at thedepartment – Reimondo being laid off – hadpushed the upgrade back.

Reimondo said that currently, the system isexpected to be completed by the end of Octo-ber. He said that the system will allow officersto connect with dispatch while on the road, sothey won’t have to spend as much time in thestation. It will also allow for easier tracking ofthe cases that each officer is currently workingon.

Most of the other concerns that Daigle had,Reimondo said, fell under policies and proce-dures that the department uses, some of whichhe admitted were “outdated.” Reimondo saidthat he had contacted Daigle to aid in updatingthe department to “modern police practices,”and that he hoped to begin the process after theinternal affairs issues were settled. He said thatthe process, however, could take up to 20months to complete a total overhaul.

Reimondo explained that most of the con-cerns relate to the fact that officers handle acase “from soup to nuts” – the duration of thecase – and that the department can get “back-logged.” He said that although it’s not always“as efficient as it should be…it’s how we dothings.”

For example, officers will often not arrest asuspect immediately, as the department finds iteasier to arrest a suspect through a “warrantprocess.” This, Reimondo said, gives officers abetter opportunity to handle several cases atonce.

Councilor Barbara Moore questionedReimondo regarding all of the recommenda-tions, asking if he “helped out” or “intervened”while all of the issues were taking place, par-ticularly an issue about supervising officers.

Reimondo said that “sergeants should beaware of” the policies that are listed in thedepartment’s manual regarding supervision.Also, like the internal affairs investigation withGreen, Reimondo said that the report was onlya “draft document,” and that not all of the in-formation was “accurate.”

It was not announced whether the recommen-dations would be on the agenda of a future coun-cil meeting.

* * *During the executive session, there was also

a discussion regarding the recent discipline is-sued against Sgt. Garritt Kelly, who was re-cently given a suspension for sending inappro-priate e-mails while at work.

Engel said there was “no further actiontaken,” but that the council simply “wanted abetter understanding of the action imposed”against Kelly.

On Aug. 24, Kelly admitted to sending thesexually explicit e-mails and reached a settle-ment agreement for a 10-day suspension – fivedays of suspension and the loss of five vaca-tion days. This came after an internal affairsinvestigation into the e-mails, which was per-formed by Reimondo.

Kelly was not present at the executive ses-sion.

* * *The next Town Council meeting is sched-

uled for Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m. at theEast Hampton Town Hall, 20 East High St.

From the Editor’s Desk

Observations & Ruminationsby Mike Thompson

Netflix has been in the news a goodbit in the last few months, and rarely hasit been good news.

Over the summer, you may recall, thepopular DVD rental company announcedit was splitting its offerings. Instead ofletting people pay one price to get DVDsin the mail and to stream movies/TVshows at home on their computer, Netflixwould, starting in September, split theservices. Subscribers could choose to getDVDs mailed to them or they couldchoose to stream them at home. But theycouldn’t do both. Well, they could doboth, but it’d cost nearly twice as muchas it did before.

Netflix said it needed to split the ser-vices to gain the extra revenue it needsto afford to purchase more streamingcontent from various studios. (Thestreaming library as it stands now ispretty lacking, at least when comparedwith Netflix’s DVD library.)

Analysts of the move, however, saidthis was Netflix’s way of gradually get-ting out of the DVD business, and put-ting its eggs in the streaming basket.

Last week came more evidence sug-gesting this in fact was the case. Netflixannounced that, to go with the new pric-ing models, the DVD-only service andthe streaming-only service will have dif-ferent names (and will in fact be run bydifferent people). The streaming servicewill retain the name Netflix. The DVD-only service will now carry the insipidname Qwickster. That the streaming ser-vice got to keep the Netflix name (andthe Netflix CEO), and the DVD servicegot saddled with a moniker that soundslike something a stoner came up with inabout 30 seconds, sort of gives you anidea of where Netflix unfortunatelythinks the future lies.

Netflix is not alone. There are a lot ofpeople out there who think DVDs will

eventually become extinct, replacedsolely by streaming video. And that, inmy opinion, would be a shame.

It’s not that I’m totally averse to newtechnology. I’d be fine with streamingvideo as a supplement to DVDs, not ameans to supplant them. I recognize theconvenience there. But DVD offers a lotthat streaming doesn’t. Mainly, the DVDspecial features. That’s one of the thingsI’ve always liked best about the format.I mean, of course the fact that thepicture’s so much better than that of aVHS tape is a big selling point. But awell-made DVD of a movie or a TVshow can offer a lot more than that: de-leted scenes, gag reels, alternate endings,making-of featurettes, and of coursecommentary tracks, which to students ofmovies can be absurdly informative.

Simply put: If you stream a movie, youget to watch the movie and that’s it. Butif you rent or buy a DVD of that samemovie, you can watch not just the filmitself but so much more.

I realize there are an awful lot ofpeople for which DVD special featuresdon’t mean a thing. And that’s fine. Butto take away the special features for thepeople that do enjoy them, that’s notright. And that’s what I fear will happenif DVDs go the way of the dodo bird.

The idea of sacrificing quality for con-venience is nothing new. Do you expecta hamburger you get from McDonald’sto be as good as the burger from yourfavorite steakhouse? Of course not. Butthe option for you go to your favoritesteakhouse is still there. If one day DVDs– and the special features therein – nolonger exist, well, like I said earlier,that’d be a shame.

Just how much are we as a society will-ing to sacrifice in the name of laziness?

* * *See you next week.

Abused Horses SeizedFrom Andover Home

by Geeta SchrayterSix abused horses were taken from a home

in Andover on Sept. 23 after a search-and-seizure warrant was executed at 330 HebronRd.

The Connecticut Department of Agricul-ture (DOAG) and the state police executedthe warrant after an investigation by DOAG’sAnimal Control Division discovered thehorses were not properly cared for. Officialssaid they were lacking proper feed, water, andshelter and were being kept in debris-filledpaddocks and pastures.

“They were just kept in run-down corralsthat were all busted up and standing in mud,”said Raymond Connors, supervisor of theAnimal Control Division with DOAG. Hestated they were not used for riding, showingor any other purpose.

“It was just a mess,” he said.“In cases such as these,” stated state Agri-

culture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky,“the priority is getting the animals the carethey need.”

Reviczky added, “The Department of Ag-riculture has an obligation to take custody ofthese animals to ensure their protection andsafety.”

All six horses – two Miniatures, twoPercherons, one Thoroughbred and one PaintStallion – are currently being treated by a vet-

erinarian at the Department of Agriculture’sSecond Chance large animal facility.

“One of the miniatures was infected withlice,” Connors stated, noting that some of themhad dental issues, and all six had hoof issues.He added that all of the horses were extremelyemaciated.

“They’re on a special diet under the instruc-tion of our veterinarian” Connors said.“They’re all eating a lot.”

Connors said that although his office is stillconducting an investigation, the horses’ owner,James Hemond, could face serious animal cru-elty charges.

The horses will remain at Second Chance,which is located on the grounds of the YorkCorrectional Facility in Niantic, until they’vebeen properly rehabilitated and are deemedhealthy enough for new homes. Connors ex-pects that to be next spring.

“We’re still working with them,” he said,but added that “they’re all very easy to handle,even the big ones.”

Individuals interested in supporting the on-going rescue work of the Department of Agri-culture can submit donations to the AnimalAbuse Recovery Account, c/o Connecticut De-partment of Agriculture, 165 Capitol Ave.,G8A, Hartford, CT 06106.

Andover Website Soon to be Official

Andover Pavement Preservation Scheduled For Route 6

by Geeta SchrayterAt a special meeting with the Board of Se-

lectmen on Sept. 26, members of the town’sWebsite Committee received the results they’dbeen hoping for.

Although it was first unveiled at a Board ofSelectmen’s meeting in December 2010,Andover’s town website, andoverconnecticut.org, has yet to be made “official.”According to changes made in the Freedom ofInformation statutes in 2008, meeting minutesmust be made available on a town’s websitewithin a week of the session. Selectman JayLinddy said making the website compliant withstate rules has been “a major stumbling blockin terms of getting the site together.”

Website Committee Chairwoman DebraToupence agreed. “As far as the committee, Ithink our main issue is the minutes and the agen-das being updated,” she said. She stated thatwhile committee member Jay Kamins, whodesigned the majority of the site, does a goodjob keeping everything up to date, posting theminutes on the site are the delay.

And this isn’t the first time Andover has hadwebsite dilemmas. In 2004, the town introducedan official website, but after the statute passedin 2008, the selectmen voted it unofficial, andit was later shut down due to the lack of meet-ing minutes as well as the fact that it was built

using old technology.Now, in order to solve the issue, those in at-

tendance stated they needed to designate anindividual who would be responsible for up-dating the site with minutes in a timely manner– one that falls within the required timeframe.While the topic of who to designate was one ofmuch discussion, it was eventually decided thatit should be the responsibility of the town clerkand the assistant town clerk. In addition to al-ready being in charge of stamping and filingthe minutes, they would now be responsible foruploading that information onto the site.

“I don’t have a problem doing that,” statedTown Clerk Carol Lee. Selectwoman ElaineBuchardt agreed with the outcome. “The pref-erence is to have it all come from one office,”she said.

With the issue of who to update the minutessolved, Kamins stated an appropriate pagewould be built for them, and offered his ser-vices for training. “I’d be happy to train her,”he said, “and come back in as many times asneeded until she feels comfortable.”

The next issues that needed discussing werewho should have website access for updates,and what information to place on it. In an at-tempt to limit the number of people who hadthe ability to update the site, giving certain de-

by Geeta SchrayterSections of Route 6 will be improved in the

spring of 2012 to extend the lifespan of the ex-isting road.

The sections, running through Manchester,Bolton, Coventry and Andover, will be treatedwith thin surface overlay, stated Kevin Nursickof the Department of Transportation. This pro-cedure involves filling any cracks present in theroad, and then putting a layer of special asphalton top of the existing roadway that can be spreadto a thin five-eighths of an inch, Nursick said.He noted that it involves minor prep work, isprobably the easiest regarding maintenance andis the most cost-effective for taxpayers.

More extensive repair options would be tomill and pave the roads, which entails remov-ing the old layer of asphalt and putting a newone on top, or a full-depth reconstruction, whichrequires pulling everything up, putting a newsubsurface down and redoing it all, Nursickexplained.

Infrastructure maintenance can be thought offrom a three-tier perspective, he said, with the

thin surface overlay on top as the easiest, and afull-depth reconstruction on the bottom.

“You have to constantly be in a state of main-taining your roads,” he said.

“At some point we’ll have to go back and doa milling and paving project,” Nursick said, butthe thin surface overlay could extend the life ofthe road on Route 6 for another five to 10 years,depending on traffic and weather conditions.

State Representative Pamela Sawyer said it’sthe appropriate time to improve the area for acouple of reasons.

“One is, the money is there for it,” she stated.Although the exact costs are yet to be deter-mined, as the plans are still in the design stage,Sawyer affirmed that the cost will be signifi-cantly less than if the roads had to be entirelyre-done. She provided a preliminary estimateof $2.5 million, but stated that figure can changeif bids come in lower than anticipated. Theproject will be paid for with 80 percent federalfunding and 20 percent state funds.

As for the second reason, the extensive useof Route 6 means the roads in that area need tobe kept in particularly good condition. As amajor thoroughfare between Hartford andProvidence, “it makes a lot of practical senseto keep the pavement in good shape,” Sawyerstated. “These overlays are like keeping a goodcoat of paint” so that you preserve the wood,Sawyer said. But “in this case, we’re trying topreserve the pavement.”

Sawyer added that every effort would bemade to prevent the construction from being asinconvenient as possible for residents alongRoute 6. While Sawyer admitted it will be noisy,nighttime work – “This will be the time to haveyour fans and your air conditioners on for thewhite noise,” she quipped – she said road crewswill be paving a quarter mile at a time on bothsides, in order to “get it done and then move ondown the road.”

Sawyer said she wants motorists to know“it’ll work down the road pretty quick.”

Nursick said the DOT tries to perform roadwork during off-peak travel times to keep traveldelays to a minimum and generally tries “tokeep traffic flowing and avoid detours, unlessthere’s no other option.”

He stated that the patience and cooperationof the residents is greatly appreciated.

“We know these jobs are inconvenient,”Nursick said, “and the last thing you want todo is be stuck in traffic or have to listen to theequipment, but we have to do this.”

He said the DOT does everything possibleto minimize the impact on motorists and resi-dents, and “if I had a silver bullet to take careof [the inconveniences] we’d do it in a second,but there’s always going to be some type of in-convenience for someone.”

Nursick added that the DOT will finish asquickly as possible “and not have to come againfor years.”

The construction is expected to take about amonth.

partment heads access was mentioned as wellas implementing a system that would allow oth-ers to have the ability in times of emergency.

“In emergency situations,” Buchardt said,“we will try to set up ways for Bob [Burbank,the town’s first selectman], Sylvia [Dake, thehead of Andover’s Community EmergencyResponse Team] and the fire department to havedirect access.”

“What the Board of Selectmen has to do,”Burbank said, “they have to set up a procedureto accept information with some administrativereview and some type of approval.”

The point is to get information on the website“that is a value to the residents,” Burbank said,without making a political statement or adver-tising.

General town information, such as officehours, events, information about the needs ofthe town, and information from organizationswith no political motivation were all mentionedas acceptable types of data. “Pure informationis what keeps the site useful,” stated Kamins.

Appreciation was also expressed to Kaminsfor his efforts. “I can see how much work youput into it,” Burbank said. “We appreciate whatyou’re doing. This is something that we felt wasnecessary, and when it isn’t working correctlyit’s one big headache.”

Those in attendance admitted the importanceof having a town website, despite the frustra-tion that came with it. “We have to be into theyear 2012,” Linddy said, “and this brings us upto it, but along with it comes headaches.”

Apart from the benefit of having the major-ity of the town’s information in one place, theimportance of the website in emergency situa-tions was mentioned. “The best example wasduring the hurricane [Irene],” noted Kamins.“We were able to post some information up thatcame via the pipeline.” Residents with Internetaccess were then able to quickly and easily viewthat information.

With the issues thoroughly discussed,Burbank stated the website was “pretty muchthere.” But he added that it might take another60-90 days before it became official. “Techni-cally,” he said, “it needs to be an agenda itemon a regularly scheduled meeting, and then theBoard of Selectmen would vote ‘this is nowthe official website of the town.’”

Eager for a resolution, Toupence was quickto add they’d be ready in time for the Nov. boardmeeting. “That’s our date to come here and say‘Carol Lee is trained, and minutes from this pastyear are up there,’” she said. And, hopefully,get Andover’s website the “official” stamp ofapproval.

RHAM School Board Reviews Goals for Upcoming Yearby Geeta Schrayter

The RHAM Board of Education talked aboutits goals for the 2011-12 year at its meeting lastMonday, Sept. 21.

The list of five goals focused on student per-formance and preparation for life after highschool in the 21st century. The first looked to“preserve the quality programming and main-tain facilities” that currently exist in the regionalschool district, particularly during times of fi-nancial difficulty. RHAM Superintendent ofSchools Robert Siminski said the success of thisgoal would require that the staff work to be “ascreative as they can” in maintaining the cur-rent programs and facilities.

The second and third goals aim to improveperformance in areas such as graduation rate,gender performance and reading skills, and toexpand the elective opportunities that are avail-able in Region 8. To achieve the first, the schooldistrict has an alternate education program inconjunction with EASTCONN, one ofConnecticut’s Regional Educational Service

Centers, that runs in the afternoon. Siminskisaid this gives students who learn better in anenvironment outside of the typical school daythe opportunity to receive their diploma.

RHAM has also implemented a clinical daytreatment program that serves special educa-tion students in grades seven to 12 who mightotherwise be placed in tuition schools. “Herethey ride regular buses and attend school so theyhave the opportunity to integrate with theirpeers,” Siminski said. At the same time, theyreceive the attention they need and save theschool district a significant amount of moneythat would otherwise be spent on an outsideschool and transportation. Siminski stated thatthey have “hopefully put things in place” forimproved performance in the upcoming year.

For the latter goal, Siminski said it’s impor-tant to “maintain a diversity of programmingwithin the school.” While they’d like to imple-ment some new things, he admits scheduling,student capacity and the budget can prevent the

school from having much flexibility in that re-gard or the ability to do so. Still, he added, it’sabout having opportunities for the kids. If theabove obstacles weren’t in the way, Siminskinoted some additional electives to add wouldbe in the areas of social studies, language artsand science, depending on the interests of thestudents and discussions with guidance coun-selors. “It’s a goal because when students leavehere, they need to have a diverse education,”he said.

And part of that diversity ties into the fourthgoal, which looks to revise curriculum “to in-clude 21st Century Skills,” as well as “alterna-tive methods of instruction, assessment and re-porting.” Siminski stated that “the notion ofpeople working together, group problem solv-ing, respect for the sciences” and other suchabilities are what he considers “21st CenturySkills.” He noted that it’s important for studentsto be able to look at information in the media

and be able to “acquire it, evaluate it and useit.” While the schools already have whatSiminski calls “a good deal” of technology, hesaid their goal is to expand upon it and be surestudents are capable of using it “in an appro-priate manner.”

Ultimately, Siminski stated the school districtwants students to be innovative. “We want themto have good technology skills,” he said. “Wewant them to be able to work independently andcollaboratively, communicate clearly, demon-strate innovation and flexibility, to analyze andto value personal responsibility.”

The success of this goal, as well as the firstthree, would then aid in the achievement of thefinal RHAM board goal for the 2011-12 year,which is to improve student preparation for thetransition to life after high school, to, asSiminski stated, “continued education and ca-reers.” All of the goals were accepted at theSept. 19 meeting.

Former Probate Judge Named ActingInterim East Hampton Town Manager

Volunteers were hard at work on Wednesday morning installing a “Born LearningTrail” at Seamster Park. The project was part of the Middlesex United Way’s Dayof Caring.

Volunteers Install Trail atSeamster Park in East Hampton

by Joshua AnusewiczOn Tuesday, the Town Council unanimously

approved resident Anne McKinney to serve as“acting assistant interim town manager,” a de-cision made after Interim Town Manager JohnWeichsel announced last week he would bestepping aside, due to a medical issue.

According to the council, Weichsel had sur-gery on Tuesday, but the nature of the illnesshas not been announced.

Town Council Chairwoman Melissa Engelsaid that Weichsel had originally appointed thetown’s finance director, Jeff Jylkka, to the po-sition. Jylkka had served as the acting interimtown manager after Tropical Storm Irene, asWeichsel was out of the office receiving treat-ment for his illness.

Engel, however, said that Weichsel wouldneed “about three months” to recover from thesurgery, and that Jylkka would be working onthe town budget and an upcoming town auditduring this time.

After several candidates were discussed,councilor Barbara Moore recommendedMcKinney, who council Vice Chairman JohnTuttle said is “well-known and respected” inthe town.

McKinney served as East Hampton’s probatejudge beginning in 1995, but retired this Janu-ary from the position. She has also been em-ployed as an elementary school teacher in EastHampton and currently works in real estate.

McKinney said that before she was “ap-

proached” by the council for the position, shewas “enjoying her retirement,” but is now pre-pared to serve the town.

“I think I can be impartial and look at all ofthe facts,” McKinney said about her decision-making. “That’s how I always do my job.” Shesaid that her first actions in office will be tomeet with the town’s department heads and in-dividual town employees to “work together andhelp the situations the town is facing.”

McKinney will be the fourth person to servein the town manager capacity in the past year.Former Town Manager Jeffery O’Keefe re-signed last September amid pressure from resi-dents, which stemmed from his controversiallayoff of Police Chief Matthew Reimondo. Af-ter O’Keefe resigned, former Public WorksDirector Robert Drewry was named interimtown manager.

Weichsel replaced Drewry in April, and wasappointed as interim town manager. The townplanned to have Weichsel serve for at least oneyear, as it is expected that a new town councilthat will be elected in November will choose apermanent town manager.

Engel said that McKinney will receive $50an hour for the position, but will receive nobenefits or vacation time. She said that Weichselhas used his allotted sick time, and will not bepaid while he recovers from the surgery.

McKinney is expected to begin on Tuesday,Oct. 4.

by Joshua AnusewiczA group of roughly a dozen volunteers were

at Seamster Park on Wednesday morning toinstall the “Born Learning Trail” for theMiddlesex United Way’s Day of Caring, whichmatches volunteers from local businesses withprojects for non-profit organizations.

This year’s Day of Caring project was in-stalling the trails throughout Middlesex County.The trails are described as “an early learningtool featuring a series of signs on posts withfun, physical activities for parents andcaregivers to do with their children.” The in-structions on the signs promote positive inter-action between the parents and children, liketalking, smiling, and laughing.

There are also letters, numbers and shapesthat have been painted on the path leading to

the Seamster Park playground that will be partof the trail.

Lauren Kasperowski, Early Links Coordina-tor for the town’s Early Childhood Council, saidthe United Way received a grant for the projectand was installing similar trails in Haddam-Killingworth, Westbrook, Clinton and OldSaybrook. She said the park was chosen for itsproximity to Memorial School, as the trail helpschildren prepare for going to school.

“They can interact and learn, all while see-ing the school they will be attending soon,”Kasperowski said. Memorial School housesstudents from pre-K through third grade.

The park is located next to Memorial Schoolat 20 Smith St.

Two Thefts in Three DaysNet Four Arrests in Portland

by Joshua AnusewiczPortland Police arrested four people in two

separate incidents this week, both involvingthefts.

According to Sgt. James Kelly, several lar-cenies had been reported in the area aroundthe industrial park near the Arrigoni Bridgeand lower Main Street in recent weeks. Thelarcenies included materials such as indus-trial wiring, copper and batteries at “outsidebusiness lots.”

On Monday, Sept. 26, at roughly 11:30p.m., Officer Dan Knapp located two woodenspools of electrical wire that had been re-moved from a fenced area surrounding a busi-ness at 310 Airline Ave. Kelly said the fencehad been cut, and that Knapp knew it had beenremoved recently because of recent patrolsof the business.

Knapp notified Kelly of the fence beingremoved, and Kelly took a “hidden position”across the street from the property, assumingsomeone would return for the electrical wire.Kelly said that within 20 minutes, a white se-dan drove to the location with no headlightsand one occupant began to load the wire intothe vehicle.

Kelly stopped the vehicle as it left thescene; in plain view, Kelly said, was the wire,copper tubing and other spools of wire.

Scott Weidt, 37, and Debra O’Shea, 44,both of 135 Broad St., Hartford, were arrestedand charged with fourth-degree larceny andthird-degree criminal trespassing. They willappear in Middletown Superior Court onTuesday, Oct. 11. Weidt was also arrested inGlastonbury in August 2010 for fifth-degreelarceny, and pled not guilty. Those charges

are still pending.On Wednesday, Sept. 28, at around 3 a.m.,

Portland Police responded to a report of twosuspicious persons walking on FairviewStreet, near High Street. Officer Jim Capelloand Kelly arrived on the scene and canvassedthe area.

Within several minutes, Kelly said, hestopped a white Honda Accord on Sunset Ter-race that was leaving the area at “a high rateof speed.” Kelly said that there were two maleoccupants and that the passenger was “sweat-ing profusely.”

Both males gave different accounts of whythey were in the area, Kelly said, and afterfurther investigation, a backpack was locatedthat contained numerous GPS units, cameras,iPods, money, flashlights and small handtools. The items, Kelly said, had been stolenfrom several vehicles that were parked in thearea.

Thomas Freeman, 21, of Silver Street,Middletown, and Nelson Garcia-Rawlins, 20,of Saybrook Road, Middletown, were both ar-rested and charged with seven counts of third-degree burglary and fourth-degree larceny.Kelly said more charges could be pendingfrom the theft of the items, which were val-ued at over $1,000.

Both are due in Middletown Superior CourtTuesday, Oct. 11.

Portland has experienced a large numberof thefts from motor vehicles throughout thesummer, with several prior arrests being made.Lt. Ron Milardo has asked residents to locktheir vehicles at all times and keep from leav-ing valuable items in their vehicles withinview.

Burglaries High inMarlborough for September

by Bailey SeddonIn the past month, there have been five

home break-ins, a pretty high number com-pared to the rest of the year, Resident StateTrooper Jeff Dunshee said this week, and resi-dents are urged to be vigilant.

On Sept. 5, 8, 10, 20 and 21, burglaries tookplace at various homes in town. The streetsaffected were Blish, Dickinson and Floodroads, Walnut Drive and Laurel Lane. Thepolice are not positive, but said it appears thatthere are some similarities between the bur-glaries. For instance, there were forced entriesthrough windows, rear doors, and even oneunlocked front door, at several of the break-ins.

While there has not been any damage done,with the exception of a broken back patio door,people have taken such things as cash, loosechange, small televisions, jewelry and othersuch valuables.

“Anything easily accessible,” Dunshee said.He mentioned that gold and silver are easy tosteal and are at a high right now, making thiskind of jewelry a prime target.

One of the hardest parts, Dunshee said, isthat people often see suspicious behavior butdo not always report it right away. This oftenleaves the potential suspect with the ability towalk away. One instance of this was when aperson’s home was burglarized and soon aftera neighbor came home this month and sawwhat she thought was a white or Hispanic malewith tattoos on his hands and a baseball hatcutting through a backyard. Had the womanreported this right away, police dogs couldhave been used to try to track down the man’sscent.

“If there is a scent available” the dogs canusually pick it up, Dunshee said. Unfortu-nately in this particular case, the neighbor re-ported her sighting too late.

Dunshee said one of the most importantthings is to be vigilant, for residents to make

sure they are paying attention to what is go-ing on in their neighborhood. An example ofthis would be when a woman came home thismonth and saw two young Hispanic maleswalking up her yard to the road. She saw themwalking to a red SUV in the neighborhoodwhich she had never seen before.

When she got in her house, her husbandtold her that they had been trying to sell cou-pons. Dunshee said this is common. Crimi-nals ring the doorbell before breaking in and,if someone is home, they pretend to be sell-ing something, if not they break in. Had thewoman gotten the license plate number orreported the strange behavior right away, thepolice could potentially be further in their in-vestigation.

This is why it is important to lock yourdoors, and be aware of not only what is goingon around your own home, but your neigh-bors as well, said Dunshee.

“Be aware of what is going on in town,” hesaid.

While this is a high number of break-insfor such a small town, this is not the most thetown has seen. Last year, before he started asthe town’s resident trooper, Dunshee said therewere 27 burglaries in the spring and summerof 2010. Fortunately, several people werecaught in relation to the crimes. He is hopingthat evidence will turn up in the current Sep-tember robberies to help lead them to the per-petrator.

“These are all active cases,” he said. “Some-times one small little lead will break the wholething open.” Were anyone to be caught, hesaid, they would be charged with third-degreeburglary, a felony. If something was stolen,the perpetrator would also be charged withlarceny.

“It is something that is taken very seri-ously,” said Dunshee.

Anyone with information regarding the re-cent string of burglaries can call Dunshee at860-537-7555 ext. 4019.

Academy Café a Success at Bacon in Colchesterby Bailey Seddon

Donna Kaik was a chef long before she wasa teacher at Bacon Academy. Luckily, as theteacher of Academy Café, she gets the best ofboth worlds.

Six years ago, Kaik came to Bacon and ayear after that she started two cooking classes;Bake Shop and Food Service. In these classes,students are not only cooking for a grade in aclass, they are cooking in a licensed restaurant.Kaik applied and got all the necessary docu-mentation that classifies her kitchen as a res-taurant, called Academy Café. As long as sheand her students keep up with all the healthcodes and other such rules then it will alwaysbe considered such.

“It’s more of a business here we are run-ning, not a class,” Kaik said. “It’s wonderful. Ilove it.”

Kaik was proud to share that the restaurantinside Bacon was also recognized by the Culi-nary Institute of America. This means that anystudent who is in the class for six months willget the work experience that is required of themto go to a culinary school.

Kaik was originally a chef at the MilfordYacht Club and the Mercy Center at Madison,among other places. However, after years ofbeing a chef, she decided it was time to dosomething different and went to the Universityof Branford to get her master’s degree in edu-cation.

“I got too old to be in the kitchen,” she joked.Now, her students are the chefs.

Every Wednesday the classroom’s restaurantis in full swing. Residents and teachers pop inand out, either to sit at tables where they will

be waited on or to grab food to go. When therestaurant first opened there were only sevenstudents in the class, said Kaik. That numberhas grown to 24 in the last two years.

“As the amount of students went up, so didthe amount of customers,” said Kaik.

To purchase a lunch from Academy Café, aresident signs up by sending an e-mail to Kaik,then once a week they will get a menu; they e-mail orders to Kaik by Monday of the follow-ing week, and then, come Wednesday, whoeversigned up comes to Bacon around 10:45 a.m.to eat there or get take-out. The kitchen staysopen to customers until about 12:15 p.m., giv-ing people plenty of time to eat.

While Kaik is the head of the kitchen it is thestudents who choose the menu each week. Thestudents’ jobs are also rotated so that one day astudent will be in the back preparing the foodand another day they will be out front serving it.

“I just stand up here and take the money,”said Kaik, laughing.

When the Rivereast visited the kitchen onWednesday the menu was classified an “Ital-ian Party” with Italian wedding soup and anti-pasto salad as an appetizer, eggplant rollatinifor the main course and a cannoli for dessert.Prices are very reasonable too, the soup was$2.50 for a bowl or $6 a quart, the salad andeggplant were $3.50 each and the cannolis were$2.50 apiece. There was also free bread with ared pepper, garlic, jalapeño pepper and oliveoil mix, to dip it in.

“We are not out to make money, but we arenot out to lose it either,” said Kaik.

Every week, students in the Bake Shop and Food Service classes at Bacon Academy prepare meals for school staff, as well as members of the public. At left, Baconteachers are shown dining, while at right, recent Bacon graduate Rachel Harlow gets take-out from student Brooke Rafala.

Wednesday also marked a special event forthe restaurant and its students. There was a freelunch for town maintenance workers whohelped during Tropical Storm Irene. Kaik saidthe students just wanted “to say thank you verymuch” for all their hard work.

Before the workers came in residents of thetown and teachers were coming in to purchasethe delicious-smelling food. An employee fromColchester Veterinary Hospital came in as wellas an employee from S&S Worldwide to bringfood back to their fellow employees.

“Huge numbers going out today,” Kaik toldher students, who were hurrying to get the to-go orders ready.

The students enjoyed making the menu andfood as much as the people enjoyed eating it.

“It’s really fun,” said Brooke Rafala, whowould like to go to culinary school some day.

Kassy Morency agreed with Rafala, sayingthat she gets nervous but overall the experienceis “fun and entertaining.”

“I love it,” said Kaitlyn Palmer, who is inher first semester of the class. “It’s really, re-ally hectic, but fun,” she said.

A graduate of Bacon Academy, RachelHarlow, was also there, buying food from herold classmates and the program she used to bea part of. She is currently going to ManchesterCommunity College for her culinary associate’sdegree. Harlow said she was glad for the timeshe got in the kitchen at Bacon.

“It gives you the whole culinary experience,”she said.

Many of the teachers at Bacon also love to

come and eat the food. For many of them, it isa nice break in the day.

“I was curious at first but then the food wasso good,” said Elizabeth Rusconi, who is aninth- and 10th-grade History and Geographyteacher.

Angie Parkinson likes to come because ofthe vegetarian options. Parkinson, who teachessocial studies, said if there is not an option forher on the menu Kaik will often make some-thing special for her.

“Everything is always really good,” she said.“It’s a great place to come,” said Maurice

Hebb. “The motivation you see here” is out-standing. Hebb has been a teacher at Bacon for19 years and is currently the transition servicesspecialist.

“The kids learn a whole lot,” Hebb said, thenlaughed, saying, “Not only that, but I get to eatgreat food once a week!”

Hebb said the class was great because thestudents have to work on a deadline to makesure the menu is prepared and the food is readyto go on Wednesday.

“I love it,” said co-senior advisor MartyPagnozzi. He said the atmosphere is very pro-fessional and is a great work environment, es-pecially for students that want to move on tothe culinary arts.

“The kids really work very, very hard to dothis,” he said.

For more information, or to be on the e-mail list for weekly menus from AcademyCafé e-mail Donna Kaik at dkaik814@colchesterct.org.

Colchester Democrats, GOP Reach Sign Agreementby Bailey Seddon

Each election season, the town green hastypically been littered with signs urging resi-dents to vote for particular candidates. How-ever, this year the green is going to look a littledifferent, as Republicans and Democrats haveagreed to limit the signs to one per candidate.

Republican Town Committee ChairmanBrenden Healy said the idea of reducing thenumber of signs came about from committeemember Steve Schuster, father of First Select-man Gregg Schuster. Steve Schuster, Healysaid, opined that the cost to print the signs ishigh and the value the candidates were gettingfrom them might not be worth it. Another rea-son the elder Schuster offered, Healy said, isthat there is a lot of work that goes into puttingall the signs out at different locations on thegreen and then they have to be collected againafter elections.

“Our whole philosophy was to just managethat a little better,” said Healy. “We are goingto try it out, see how it works.”

Healy said that, if the idea is well-receivedby the townspeople and the political parties, theRTC would like to do it every year and maybeeven expand to town roads to limit the signseven further. Healy said the parties cannot con-trol national elections, but can do their best withlocal ones.

“What we can control, we are experiment-ing with,” said Healy.

Former Democratic Town Committee Chair-man Tim Gilman said the subject of lesseningthe signs on the town green was brought up tohim by Healy shortly before Gilman steppeddown as chair in August.

“We work pretty well together” and there-fore could both agree that this was best for thetown, Gilman said. They both determined thatit was a good idea and brought it back to theircommittees to vote.

“He brought it up to me, and we both de-cided to bring it up to our respective commit-tees,” said Gilman.

Gilman said there is no town mandate againstputting up signs on the green, but said eachcommittee was “just to try to keep the greenclean.”

There are independent candidates who peti-tioned themselves onto the ballot this year –such as First Selectman candidate JamesMcNair and Board of Finance candidate LindaHodge – and Gilman said if these petitioningcandidates “saturate” the green with signs, theRepublicans and Democrats may have to re-consider their agreement.

Current Democratic Town Committee Chair-woman Dorothy Mrowka said that she wanted

to continue what Gilman had started in termsof the signs.

“Brenden and I decided it was a good thing,”she said. Mrowka mentioned that if it worksout well the committees will likely continuewith lower sign usage in following elections.

The first selectman was also happy with theagreement between the two parties.

“I think it’s a great thing,” Schuster said. “Itwill certainly help keep the center of town look-ing good.” Schuster was glad when he heardabout the proposal. He said that, while therehas never been a huge outcry, he has alwaysheard complaints during election season, whenthere can be signs every two to three feet onthe green.

“It just gets a little overwhelming at electiontime,” he said.

While Schuster doesn’t have a Democratopposing him – First Selectman candidate JohnBogush recently withdrew from the race due towork commitments – he is facing off againstan independent candidate, James McNair, whopetitioned himself onto the ballot. And, Schustersaid, “I only hope my opponent will abide bythis as well,” said Schuster.

Even though he is an independent, McNairstill feels he should have been involved in the

discussions revolving around the limiting ofsigns.

McNair said he was never approached byeither party. He said Steve Schuster asked himif anyone had called him about the agreement.When McNair said no, Schuster asked if hewould follow it. McNair said he replied, “I don’tknow what the agreement is and nobody hascontacted me about it.”

McNair also decided against contacting anyparty members, because he felt the agreementwas evidently not something they wanted himinvolved in.

“I guess if they want me included in the con-versation, they will give me a call,” McNair said.

McNair said he had indeed heard that if hechose not to follow the agreement, then the otherparties said they would have to go back on it.However, he said he does not plan on overload-ing the green with his signs.

McNair also said he found it interesting thatwith the country in a recession, and with thehigh taxes Colchester has seen in recent years,both the Republican and Democrats are moreconcerned with election signs.

“Tax relief is the biggest issue now in thistown, and we have Republicans bragging aboutthis agreement,” he said.

Another Day of Fun at 57 Fest in Colchesterby Bailey Seddon

The rain held off at the seventh annual 57Fest last Saturday, which meant plenty ofgames, entertainment and food for residents toenjoy.

For the past seven years, the Parks and Rec-reation Department has been putting on thepopular festival. The event was first held in2005, to celebrate Money magazine namingColchester the 57th best town in the country inwhich to live. Among this year’s offerings were:dance demonstrations, rock wall climbing,moon bounces, a live band and fireworks. Therewas also plenty of fair food including; frieddough, hot dogs, sandwiches, ice cream anddeep fried candy bars.

The Colchester Business Association (CBA)was at the event with a spinner that featuredthe names of different businesses in Colchester.Winners would receive pencils, cups, rulers,magnets and more such prizes with the namesof local businesses on them. Some of the busi-nesses on the spinner included: Reliable Oil,Copies Plus, Doreen’s Dance Center, OverHead Door and Northeast Family Credit.

“[57 Fest] shows people what businesses areout and about,” said CBA President FredBrown.

However, the companies on the wheel wereby no means the only businesses represented atthe event. There was the Dance Academy ofColchester, Hilltop BBQ, Funtastic Inflatables,Scotties Frozen Custard and Tim’s Bistro, toname a few.

Scotties Frozen Custard was there for thefourth year in a row, with several differentunique flavors such as cherry cheesecake,pumpkin pie and “sticky bunz.” Frozen custardis made with eggs, which makes it much denserand creamier than regular ice cream, said ownerKathy Steffens. Steffens said she enjoys com-ing out to the 57 Fest to give people the oppor-tunity to enjoy her product, of which she has30 different flavors in her store.

“It gives people in our community a chanceto check it out,” she said.

Tim’s Bistro was another local business sell-ing its wares at the fest. Tim’s Bistro was brandnew to Colchester two years ago and ownerKelly Damaj has been coming to the event sincethat time.

“It’s great,” said Damaj. “We wanted to get

our name out there” and 57 Fest was a goodplace to do that. Tim’s Bistro was offeringunique sandwiches, the most popular of whichwas “The Gobbler”, which is made up of ovenroasted turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, let-tuce and mayo.

However, there were also many booths at the57 Fest that were not business-related. Amongthese was the “57 Booth,” where anyone whocould do anything that incorporated the num-ber 57 could put their name on a raffle and po-tentially win a prize. For example, someonecould be born in the year 1957, or blink, clapor do jumping jacks 57 times.

“One girl just did 57 push-ups!” said KarenWheeler, who was helping to run the booth.

The raffle was for a $57 gift certificate goodtoward Parks and Rec. offerings, or a $25 giftcard to Wal-Mart, said Priscilla Clesowich,who was also helping run the booth and is theprogram assistant for the Colchester SeniorCenter.

The Bacon Academy Project Graduationcommittee also had a booth at the event. Mem-bers Don and Theresa Kennedy were sellingdrinks and trying to make people more awareof their cause – which is the annual drug- andalcohol-free post-graduation party. Also, DonKennedy said, the committee tries to raise “ba-sic alcohol awareness throughout the year.”

The Democrats and Republicans also hadbooths for representation. Democrat selectmanJames Ford said he likes coming out and en-joying the day with his town. This includesbeing at his booth to represent his party.

“It’s always good to get the community to-gether,” he said.

The Republicans also had a booth, with spinart for kids to make. First Selectman GreggSchuster has been coming to 57 Fest for thepast three years, he said.

“It’s always a great time…a great event,”Schuster said.

Republican selectman Stan Soby agreed.“You’ve got a lot of organizations in town

that get out,” he said. “It doesn’t get much bet-ter than that.”

Republican Board of Finance member RobEsteve was helping kids with the spin art.

“You’re a pro at this!” he told one girl, BaileyGilbert.

Fire Department Responds toPropane Leak in Colchester

by Bailey SeddonA propane leak led to the evacuation of

two homes on Cirillo Drive last Wednesday,Sept. 21.

According to Colchester-Hayward Fire De-partment Deputy Chief Don Lee, a contrac-tor accidentally backed over the top of the1,000 gallon in-ground propane tank, caus-ing damage to the valve assembly whichcaused the tank to leak. The contractor wasdoing work for one of the homes in the subdi-vision and realized what he had done as soonas it happened. He called in the leak andfirefighters were dispatched at 8 a.m., Leesaid.

The homeowner and a neighbor wereevacuated until the area could be deemed safe,said First Selectman Gregg Schuster, who waswith the department at the time, doing a ride-along.

During a leak like this, Lee said, “our bigconcern is to make sure the vapors comingoff the tank don’t reach any ignition sources.”This means the tank is kept wet, to avoid anypossible explosions.

However, the location of the leak was welloutside the hydrant district. So, firefightersused water from a dry hydrant on MelanieLane, as well as the hydrant from SouthMain Street, right next to St. Joseph’s Pol-ish Society.

At 11:41 a.m., the leak was declared under

control by Chief Walter Cox, and after assess-ing the scene, it was found the only damagecaused by the leak was to the tank itself. Theowner of the tank, the local companyAmeriGas, came out and set up burners “toget rid of the residual product in the tank,”said Lee.

Once the propane is safely burned off, thecompany can go in, excavate and either put ina new tank or new valve assembly. Lee saidhe is unsure which avenue Amerigas will take.Amerigas customer relations representativeEmilia Vespa said this week the company is“kind of up in the air.” She said the companywas checking on a new valve, but nothing hadbeen decided as of yet.

But, Vespa assured, “it will be taken careof.”

Other towns were called in to assist in theleak along with the Colchester firefighters.There was a “full response,” said Lee, fromthe Salem and Gardner Lake departments,Marlborough Fire Department sent two tank-ers to the scene, and Bozrah, Hebron and theOakdale Department’s sent one tanker. Therewere 28 members of the Colchester Depart-ment that responded to the leak, said Lee, whowas not sure how many firefighters from theother departments were at the scene.

“It was a sticky situation to begin with, butthe fire department handled it professionally,”said Schuster.

“Can I do another one?” Bailey asked as soonas she had finished.

While businesses were happy to get theirnames out there, residents were equally happyto be taking part in the activities.

“I like that it brings the town together,” saidresident Lauren Kasperowski who comes ev-ery year and whose three children were at vari-ous locations around the Rec Plex.

Kasperowski’s son, Kevin, said his favoritepart of the 57 Fest was “the bounce houses.”Kevin said he remembered going in them lastyear, and was looking forward to experiencingthem again.

This was Nicole and Ken Rauccio’s first yearcoming to the event. They wanted to come thisyear to bring their daughter, Nicole Raucciosaid.

“She likes it. ... She’s walking around, danc-ing to the music,” she said, laughing as her tod-dler, Gabriella, danced.

It was also Kris Patterson’s first year com-

ing.“I’ve heard great things about it,” she said.

This year she brought her stepchildren to theevent to take part in all the activities there wasto offer.

“I read in the paper there was a pumpkin carv-ing, face painting, food vendors and candy,”Patterson’s stepson, Shane, said excitedly.

Steve Williams was also enjoying 57 Festwith his children. His 7-year-old daughter,Kyra, was rock climbing for the second year ina row.

“She surprised me,” when she did it last year,he said.

“The kids really enjoy the rock wall!” saidresident Deanna Bouchard. “It’s the busiestactivity here.”

Overall, the 57 Fest is “a great family event,”said Colchester Rotary member Bob Hodge.

Parks and Rec. employee ShannonTamosaitis agreed. “It’s just so nice to celebrateit each year,” she said.

Cub Scout Pack 72 was one of the many organizations that had a booth lastweekend.

Two Arrested in East Hamptonfor Thefts at Cottages

by Joshua AnusewiczEast Hampton Po-

lice arrested two menWednesday night fortheir connection withbreak-ins and theftsfrom nine seasonalcottages on LakePocotopaug.

Kevin Owens, 29,of 2 Bevin Ct., andAndrew Bonertz, 21,of 100 ColchesterAve., were both ar-rested on nine counts of first-degree burglary,nine counts of third-degree criminal mischief,four counts of fifth-degree larceny and theftof a firearm. Additionally, Bonertz wascharged with criminal possession of a fire-arm by a felon.

According to Sgt. Garritt Kelly, the thefts

occurred Tuesdaynight and the policereceived a complaintfrom a resident of oneof the cottages. Afteran investigation,Kelly said, the twosuspects were seennearby and arrested.

Kelly said the twomen had stolen ahandgun and a ma-chete, as well as other“various householditems.” He said that all of the homes wereunoccupied at the time of the thefts.

Owens is currently being held on $50,000bond, while Bonertz was being held on$150,000 bond. Both men were scheduled toappear in Middletown Superior Court onThursday, Sept. 29.

Kevin Owens Andrew Bonertz

Capital Improvement Plan Moving Forward in Hebronby Geeta Schrayter

The Capital Improvement Plan was the topicof the night at a recent town meeting.

The Board of Selectmen, Board of Financeand Board of Education held a joint meetingon Sept. 22 to discuss an agenda that includedthe Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Policy,budget guidance for the upcoming year and useof the budget surplus for 2010-2011. However,it was CIP that took center stage.

The CIP committee is a group of people ap-pointed by the selectmen, whose task it is torecommend projects or purchases of a capitalnature to the selectmen for funding, said ViceChairman Malcolm Leichter. Traditionally,these items – which are paid for with the CIPbudget – have had to meet requirements suchas costing more than $5,000 and having a five-year lifespan, noted Leichter. But the proposedpolicy raises the minimum amount to $25,000,meaning smaller projects would instead befunded “out of the operating budget or a sepa-rate fund,” Leichter said.

There was much discussion over the approvalof the policy, which was drafted by the CIPcommittee and is the first official set of guide-lines that’s been done since the committee’sinception over 20 years ago, stated Kathy Shea,Board of Education and CIP committee mem-ber. Leichter stated that the committee wentback and examined the guidelines that had beenin place, looked at the program in surrounding

towns, and, after discovering Hebron’s mini-mum was the lowest, made the decision to rec-ommend the raise.

At the meeting, such a change was discussedas a way to take CIP out of the hole it’s been infor a number of years due to underfunding andcountless requests for smaller projects. Theirremoval would allow more significant tasks tobe taken care of, as well as others that havebeen on hold for years. Mentioned exampleswere the new public works garage and variousinfrastructures such as school roofs.

The change also requires the creation of sepa-rate funds for each department to pay for thesmaller items, as well as separate budgets. Al-though budget season is fast approaching, thisis something both the Board of Education andBoard of Selectmen said they’d commit to do-ing this year. Board of Education chairmanMark Allaben stated that while the school boardwouldn’t necessarily be comfortable with put-ting everything together in that time, it couldbe done.

“If we had to do it, we could to it,” he said.“I think we ought to give it a shot.”

Allaben admitted that it might take some timeto get everything right in regards to budgetingwith the smaller items, but now was the time todo it. “We have to start sometime,” he stated.“It might take us more than one year to kind ofget the whole thing right, but I think we can get

a lot of it right in the first year.”Board of Selectmen Chairman Jeff Watt was

in agreement. “I hear the Board of Ed sayingthey’d be willing to give it a shot, [to] create aseparate account and run through the process,”he said. “If the Board of Ed can do it, I don’tsee why we can’t.”

As far as funding those smaller projects, itwas stated that debt services would come intoplay. “As we reduce our debt, which we’ll bedoing next year,” Watt said, “part of the debtreductions would be offset by the accounts” andused for CIP.

Board of Finance Chairman Michael Hazelwas in agreement that things should “move for-ward” with the CIP policy, stating the financeboard would hold a future meeting to settle thefunding details.

“We’re going to have a later discussion as tothe best way to find it,” he said. “Part of it is todo some debt management.”

At one point, it seemed as though the issuemight be tabled for another year, to allow formore budget preparations and education for thegeneral public in regards to CIP’s purpose andthe changes. But various board members in at-tendance expressed frustration at the idea.

“We cannot spend another year jamming upthe CIP process with these tiny little requests,”Shea said. “There are major projects this townneeds to have funded.”

Board of Finance member Donna Ferree, alsoa member of the CIP committee, agreed. “Wekeep saying ‘we can wait another year, we canwait another year,’” she said. If action isn’ttaken, Ferree expressed concern that whatshould be maintenance jobs could becomemuch more.

“If you don’t catch up,” she said, “there’sgoing to be no building to fix up.”

But the conclusion appeared to meet with thesatisfaction of many present. “I think the meet-ing ended up in a good spot,” said Watt.

Shea agreed. “It ended how I wanted,” shesaid. “A decision was made to raise the thresh-old.” But, she added, “the process of getting tothat decision being made has been very frus-trating.” She said the issue of the CIP processhas been going on for a couple of years, on andoff, and at one point she was worried it mightcontinue. “I was a little fearful,” she said, be-cause the conversations were the same she’dalready heard at countless meetings.

But this time, the ending was different. Afterthe boards of selectmen and finance review thepolicy in order to determine if there are anylast minute changes they’d like to see made,“the anticipation” said Watt, “is that it will bevoted upon” at the selectmen’s next meetingon Oct 6. Watt stated they were making a com-mitment, saying Hebron, as a town, would fundthe projects in the $5,000-25,000 range.

Opinions Split on Hebron School Administrators Contractby Geeta Schrayter

Elected officials’ opinions are split on therecently-approved salary increases for schooladministrators.

The employment contract with the HebronAdministrators Association passed 3-2 at theBoard of Selectmen’s Sept. 15 meeting. Thecontract, which was approved by the Board ofEducation in August, will give Hebron schooladministrators salary raises over the next threeyears of 3.5 percent, 3.0 percent and 3.0 per-cent. The new contract takes effect with the2012-13 fiscal year.

Along with the increases, the administratorswill also receive a cell phone stipend of $80per month. This is the only new benefit includedin the agreement.

Selectmen Mark Stuart and Brian O’Connellsaid they consider the contract to be a fair one.

“The leadership of our schools is very im-portant. It’s helped our system have one of thetop schools in the nation,” Stuart stated. In 2010,Hebron Elementary was recognized nationallyas a Blue Ribbon school by the Department ofEducation and Stuart feels such accomplish-ment deserves to be rewarded.

“We’re doing something right in town, and Ithink you reward where you can,” he said.

While acknowledging the current state of theeconomy, Stuart stated that Hebron is a placewhich can afford such reward. “Hebron, as acommunity, is in the top surge in regards to ourability to pay, but in the bottom in regards towhat we do pay,” he said.

The administrators’ contract is not only fairin Stuart’s opinion, but a positive venture.“Hebron’s industry is education. That’s one ofthe reasons people move to Hebron,” he stated.If the nation wants to lead, Stuart feels invest-ment is necessary. Similarly, if Hebron wantsto lead as a town, they need to invest as well.

“Education is a good investment,” he added.“That’s the future.”

Brian O’Connell shared similar feelings.“When we look at our community and the typeof employees that we want to have on board,we want to attract the best that we can givenour financial situation,” he stated. “We’ve gota Blue Ribbon school, which speaks extremelyhighly for the administration and teachers in

the system, and that is something that’s an as-set within the community.”

O’Connell feels the administration brings alot of “quality and enthusiasm” to the town andas such, they deserve the imposed raises. “Giventheir track record, I think they earned whateverthey got,” he stated.

O’Connell admitted that while there will bea cost, it’s worthwhile. “I know there’s an ex-pense,” he stated, “but I look at it from the big-ger picture.” O’Connell said it would have costmore in the long run to say “no,” because itwould have meant another round of negotia-tions and a slew of attorneys’ fees. In the end,he stands firm in his vote. “Approving it wasthe way to go,” he stated. “That’s my decision.”

However, Board of Selectmen Chairman JeffWatt and selectman Dan Larson had a differentview. Watt expressed concern over the lengthof the contract and the cell phone stipend, aswell as frustration with the entire arbitrationprocess. As stated in article IV, section 3 of thecontract, “the arbitrator shall have no power toadd to, delete from, or modify in any way theprovisions of [the] agreement.” So “even if thecontract was not approved, we don’t get to goback and negotiate different terms,” Watt said.

Watt was firm in announcing that “eventhough from a Board of Education standpointDan Larson and myself voted against [the con-tract], we collectively, as a board, are going tolive with the decision that it’s approved. We con-sider ourselves uniform as a team, but the partthat we’re most frustrated with is that it cameto us to begin with.”

Larson’s disapproval focused on theeconomy.

“I feel the contract was completely and to-tally irresponsible,” he said.

He noted the current financial situation in thestate and said he considers the salary raisesunfair to the residents of Hebron. “I’m not say-ing that [the administrators] may not deservethat type of money,” he said, “but economicallyit’s not good, I feel, for the town of Hebron.”

Larson also expressed concern that in futurenegotiations, the administrators’ contract couldbe used as a bargaining tool. He said he’d be

“very surprised” if other unions don’t use thecontract “as a basis for demanding their ownincrease” when they head into negotiations inthe next couple of years. The passing of theadministrators’ contract will, he stated, “havea very far-reaching effect.”

Proponents of the contract have stated thatHebron’s administrators came from higher-pay-ing positions and therefore deserved the raises,but Larson said Hebron is a great place to work,and added that the education system receives alot of support from parents within the commu-nity.

“It was not for the money that [the adminis-trators] came. It turned into a money issue.”Larson mentioned a recent instance when, whileout to breakfast, some of the town’s seniorsapproached him to ask what was going on.“These people are on fixed incomes living onless and less every year,” he said, “and we’retaking more and more every year.” Larson statedit was almost as though they were being pushedout of their homes and said that statewide, resi-dents are “point blank” done.

“There’s just nothing left to give,” he stated,“And I just find that terrible.”

Along with his opposition to the rate of theincrease, Larson feels the length of the contractis also irresponsible. “We are not opposed togiving raises,” he said, “but we are opposed togiving raises for literally years down the roadwhen we have no idea what our economic stateis going to be.”

But Board of Education Chairman MarkAllaben stated that the majority of contracts inthe education world tend to be three years, andmaking it such can help save money. By “pro-jecting what we think the world will look likea couple years down the road,” he said, moneycan be saved by avoiding yearly negotiations.

“If you have to negotiate every year, media-tion and arbitration can be a very expensiveprocess,” he said, adding the contract’s lengthwas a kind of compromise.

As for the cell phone stipend, Allaben statedit was included because Hebron’s administra-tors are essentially on call 24/7, and “most busi-nesses in the private sector as well as some

positions on the town side” provide cell phonesor offer some kind of cell phone stipend.

In addition, Allaben noted that the adminis-trators took a voluntary zero-percent increasefor an additional year on their previous con-tract, saved the town money by only holdingtwo negotiation sessions, have a higher studentper administrator ratio than many other townsand, even after the third year, will still havesalaries that are below state average.

In Connecticut, “the average salary wassomewhere around $123,000 for a principal,”he stated, mentioning that Hebron’s principalsearned around $113,000.

“Our principals aren’t overpaid relative toother parts of the state” Allaben said, addingthat the “number of students per administratorin our schools were significantly higher thansurrounding towns.”

In a chart compiled by Allaben with infor-mation from the state Department of Education,it was shown that Hebron Elementary has 342students per administrator and Gilead has 489,compared to towns such as Glastonbury, at 298students per administrator and Colchester at300. “So when we look at workload and thesalaries relative to other principals,” he stated,“said salaries were a little bit lower and theworkloads were higher.”

It was those factors along with the school’sperformance which the Board of Education usedto determine the salary increases.

Allaben added that the school board “abso-lutely agrees” with the concerns the selectmenraised regarding the current economy, and feelsthe two boards are on the same page. He agreedthat cost increases can’t automatically be passedon to the taxpayers, and said the Board of Edu-cation tries to keep the cost of education as closeto zero as possible.

“If we have increases in one area, we canhave savings in another,” he said, adding thatthe board utilizes the “creativity of the teach-ers, paraprofessionals and administrators” tohelp make this happen.

“While the issue is big,” Allaben added, “theactual cost increase in the contract is small rela-tive to the overall educational budget.”

After School Program Moves to Marlborough Congregational Churchby Bailey Seddon

Robin Green has been the owner of Discov-ery Zone Afterschool Program, or DZone, for10 years and is very happy to be expanding herbusiness to the Congregational Church ofMarlborough in November.

DZone is an after-school program for kin-dergarten children and kids ages five through12. In the morning kids can play while theywait for the bus and in the afternoon, they havea quiet place to do their homework and playwhen they are done.

When she was pregnant with her son andher daughter was two, Green found that shewas not satisfied with the childcare that wasavailable. She had previously subcontracted forthe Department of Developmental Serviceswhen she worked for the Capital RegionalEducation Council. However, she decided thiswas a good opportunity to open her own busi-ness and provide the childcare that was neveravailable to her. Since then her business hasthrived and grown, and she has remained anactive part of it.

“I’m a very involved owner,” said Green.Green already has two locations for her pro-

gram – one in Colombia, where she is the ex-ecutive director, and another one inMarlborough on 152 Hebron Avenue. Theselocations are called Discovery Zone LearningCenter, because they house infants, toddlers andpreschoolers, as well as kindergarten andschool-aged children.

Green decided to add an extra building forthe after-school program children, she said,because there were too many children in theHebron Avenue building. The Hebron Avenuecenter is licensed for 65 children, including allage groups, and the new center will hold 76kids. Once the Hebron Avenue center splits itwill hold the younger children, while the churchprogram will hold kindergarten through fifthgrade. This will give both centers space andallow for more enrollments.

So when the Children’s Workshop, anotherchild-care program which was located in thebasement of the Congregational Church ofMarlborough closed this summer, Green sawthis as an opportunity.

“When this became available we jumped onit,” she said, because, “It’s very hard to findspace.”

Green said the church was happy about themtaking the rooms as they had a vacancy afterthe Children’s Workshop closed, which hadbeen there for 30 years, according to Green.

“The church was very supportive…and ex-cited we are moving in,” she said. Green evensaid that the Pastor, Bob Faulhaber, and othermembers of the church have gone so far as tohelp them paint the rooms.

“We were overjoyed” that DZone was com-ing in, said Faulhaber. Especially consideringthe large deficit the church was going to be look-ing at after Children’s Workshop left, he said.

Faulhaber, who is the senior pastor of the600-member church, said he heard that Greenwas looking for a space to rent from a memberof his church. He e-mailed her and “within ahalf-hour of e-mailing her she e-mailed me rightback,” Faulhaber said. Soon Green came to visitand realized this was the place she could haveher daycare.

“We came up with a good agreement that isreally keeping everybody happy,” saidFaulhaber.

After the quiet summer Faulhaber said he isglad to have kids back in the church.

“It was getting a little too quiet down there,”he laughed.

In the church, DZone will get three roomsall to themselves; one for the first- and second-graders, one for the third-, fourth- and fifth-graders and one for kindergarten children. Theprogram will also have a playground, which isto the right side of the church, and a gatheringhall where kids can play tag, dodgeball or justget some space to play and talk. Children getoff the bus about 3:30 p.m., have a snack, whichthe center provides, then do their homeworkuntil 5 p.m. There will also be an open spacearea in each room for kids who have finishedhomework early.

Green said she was happy not only that herbusiness was successful, but that she is provid-ing parents daycare they need.

“There’s such a need for it in the commu-nity,” said Green. “It is challenging when youhave two working parents.”

While DZone offers much to parents duringthe school year, it has just as much to offer dur-ing the summer months. In the summer DZoneis known as Camp Discovery, where childrenget to go on field trips almost every day. Theprogram owns six vehicles, four vans and twobusses, to ensure there is plenty of room to takeall the children on the trips. The camp goes tosuch places as the Boston Science Museum,Brownstone Quarry, Lake Compounce, andmany other fun visits.

“They want to get out and play, I’m a bigbeliever in that,” Green said, and “Parents love

it,” knowing their kids are having fun and notjust sitting inside.

Amanda Strong, director of the Marlboroughcenter, said she is looking forward to offeringmore space for children and allowing more kidsto come to the daycare. She said there are par-ents that have been on a waiting list for over ayear.

“It has just been very difficult for parents tofind anything,” she said.

Strong has been with the daycare since itstarted and is looking forward to being the di-rector of the second Marlborough site. Strongwill bounce back and forth between both cen-ters and a site supervisor, who is an employeefor the Colombia site, will be coming over tothe new location.

“I am very excited about it,” Strong said.Strong said they are hoping to have the pro-

gram at the church go from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.,but it all depends on how many kids need toget on the morning bus with them. However,said Strong, DZone will definitely be open from11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the after school program.

Green said the center is just waiting for the li-censing to go through, once that is done thecenter will be able to open. Hopefully withinthe first week of November, she said.

The employees are not the only ones look-ing forward to the move. The children and par-ents are also looking forward to the change.

“[The children] are very excited to be mov-ing over,” said Green.

Strong agreed, laughing while she said onechild told her that her mom was excited aboutthe move because it was closer to DunkinDoughnuts.

“We look forward to all the phone calls com-ing,” for more enrollment, said Strong.

The program costs $9 an hour or $90 a weekfor the before- and after-school program. Thisincludes early dismissals and delays. Vacationdays, also known as “fun days” at DZone, are$35 a day, plus the cost of the field trip.

For more information call the Marlboroughcenter at 860-295-8003 or visit the website atdiscoveryzone.info.

Robin Green, owner of Discovery Zone Afterschool Program, is expanding herbusiness to the Congregational Church of Marlborough in November.

Marlborough School Officials Pleased with CMT Scoresby Bailey Seddon

Connecticut Mastery Test scores are in andwere the big talk of last Thursday’s Board ofEducation meeting.

The scores showed how children did fromgrades three through six at Elmer Thienes-MaryHall Elementary School.

In grade three, 78.3 percent of studentsscored at or above goal for math, 82.4 percentin reading and 74.5 percent in writing. In gradefour, 80.2 percent scored at or above goal inmath, 84.3 percent in reading and 88.5 percentin writing. In grade five, 88.7 percent scored ator above goal in math, 82 percent in reading,86.6 percent in writing and 84.5 percent in sci-ence. Lastly, in grade six, 96.5 scored at orabove goal in math, 95.3 percent in reading and87.5 percent in writing.

Fifth grade science was a source of pride tothe school as it has seen a three-year growth inpercentage of students scoring at or above goal.In 2009, 72 percent of students scored at orabove goal in this category. The percentagejumped to 81 percent in 2010 and 84.5 percentthis year.

Elmer Thienes-Mary Hall ElementarySchool Principal Scott Nierendorf said theschool was very happy with how much betterthe fifth-graders were doing in science.

“It’s a trend in the right direction for us,”Nierendorf said. He said that the school wants“to see results continue to improve” because ofthe new “STEAM room” that is now availableto help students improve in science. It is opento all grades and so far, kids from third, fifthand sixth grades have used it. In the next coupleof months the whole school likely will be us-ing the new science lab, said Nierendorf.

The presentation also showed that writing ingrade three was a concern for teachers and stafflast year, as only 78 percent of the students wereat or above goal. This year, though, the kids,now in fourth grade, got 88.5 percent.

The presentation next talked about the dis-trict goal for the CMTs, which is at least 85percent at or above goal in all subjects. Chil-dren met this goal in fifth and six grade math,sixth grade reading, and fourth, fifth and sixthgrade writing.

The power point next moved on to bench-mark comparisons. This is how a school com-pares its scores with that of other towns. Ad-ministrators found that Marlborough did betterthan Farmington, Hebron and Simsbury inmath, reading and writing overall.

Elmer Thienes-Mary Hall also did studiesof cohorts and found that there was improve-ment with students in many areas. A cohort iswhen the same group of children is tested overseveral years to see if the same students aremaking improvements as they go through theschool system. This is a way for schools to seeif they are improving.

In 2008, 85 percent of students in grade threescored at or above goal in math, 82.7 in read-ing and 79.5 in writing. In 2011, these samestudents now in grade six had scores at or abovegoal of 96.3 in math, 95.1 in reading and 86.7in writing.

“We are happy about the CMT scores,” saidBoard of Education Chairwoman BettyO’Brien. O’Brien said Marlborough’s sixthgrade students’ scored at or near the top in thestate in math, along with the town of Bolton,

said O’Brien.“Overall, we were very pleased,” Nierendorf

said. He said that the strong results of the sixthgraders reflect that the school is doing very welloverall because these are the students that havegone through the system.

When it comes to improvements, saidNierendorf, there are a few areas the schoolneeds to work on. One of these was the writingresults between the boys and girls on theCMT’s.

“When we dug a little deeper we found therewas a discrepancy between our girl writers andour boy writers,” said Nierendorf. The schoolwill try to focus on special development forareas such as this, he said. This includes hav-ing teachers look at data and seeing what theycan do to fix any of the areas that need workingon.

“We want to make sure that they are strongacross the board,” Nierendorf said.

* * *Another subject of interest discussed at the

meeting was the expansion of the enrichmentprogram for math students.

Elmer Thienes-Mary Hall has had a mathenrichment program for the past few years. Itis designed to give students in fourth, fifth andsixth grade who excel in math more of a chal-lenge. As of now, these students work with mathspecialist Patti Hahn, half an hour three timesa week, in a pull-out program to give them moreof a challenge. However, since some of the sixthgraders at the elementary school had such ad-vanced scores on the CMTs, administrators feltthey had to expand the program to five days a

week and a regular-length class, for the sixthgraders, called “Math Explorers.”

The pull-out program currently has about 10students; the new program will have around 22,said Nierendorf.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Hahn. “Weare excited about it.” Hahn said the schoolstarted looking at the possibility last spring andshe was very happy that it became a reality.

Hahn said she and Karen Craig, a sixth-grade math teacher, are doing the math ex-plorer program together. They plan all the les-sons and activities. Craig, said Hahn, will bewith the sixth graders every day and she willstop in about twice a week, while also stilldoing her pull-out program for the fourth- andfifth-graders.

“They are going to go a little bit further, alittle bit faster and a little bit deeper” in theirmath program, said Nierendorf. Administratorsdecided who was going to be in the programnot just because of CMT results but also be-cause of teacher recommendations for whichstudents were not being challenged enough. Inthe new program, students will be in their newmath classes five days a week.

“We thought we could make the programeven better,” said O’Brien. “With the other pro-gram we saw these needs were not being met,”but with the new program these students willget the challenge they need, she said.

O’Brien was very pleased that not only werethese students excelling so much but that theschool is accommodating them.

“They are creating a really rich program” foracceleration at the school, she said.

New Pastor in Marlborough Making Progressby Bailey Seddon

“God brought me here,” Fellowship Com-munity Church’s new pastor, Dan Earhart, saidin an interview last week.

Earhart has been with the church since May,after serving as senior pastor at Bethany Evan-gelical Free Church in Canby, IN, for 15 years.He said he felt Bethany Evangelical had gottenwhat it needed from him, and that he was re-quired elsewhere. When he learned of the open-ing at Fellowship Community Church inMarlborough, he decided this was the rightplace to go

Before Earhart, there was an interim pastorat the church, who was retired and helping outthe church while they were seeing a new leader.

The move from Indiana to Connecticut seemslike a trek – but Earhart is no stranger to travel.Born and bred in Long Beach, Santiago, CA,Earhart said he always knew he would want towork for the church.

“I love the organism” of the church, he said.After high school, he joined the Army and

was stationed on the Czechoslovakia border(which is now split into two countries, theCzech Republic and Slovakia), with the ThirdArmored Division. The climate was tense, tosay the least, Earhart said.

On Nov 9, 1989, Earhart was traveling onthe Autobahn 66 in Germany, between the cit-ies of Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, when the traf-fic came to a stop. When he got out of the car,he was overcome with shouts of joy and em-braces from German citizens, who had justlearned of the falling that day of the Berlin Wall.

“It was phenomenal,” he said. There was an“absolute party and mayhem on the street.”Earhart even managed to get a piece of the wallto bring home with him.

In addition to seeing the fall of the BerlinWall, Earhart was happy to be part of the Armyfor four years because the G.I. Bill allowed himto finish college debt-free. Earhart attendedMultnomah University in Portland, OR, for fouryears, where he specialized in Biblical theol-ogy. Earhart said Multnomah was the “best

Bible college in the country.” He also said heliked the difference between Biblical theologyversus systematic theology.

“Biblical theology brings the Bible to life;systematic theology brings life to the Bible,”he said. He added that, in studying Biblical the-ology, he read scriptures and had to try to fig-ure out what the author was trying to say.

While at school, Earhart became a youthpastor and then after school became a co-pas-tor of an inner-city Evangelical Free church inOregon for four years. After this, he moved toIndiana where he became the pastor of BethanyEvangelical Free Church. He enjoyed his timethere, and the people he met.

They were “some of the greatest people ever,”he said.

When he came to the Indiana church, Earhartsaid, it was a “hurting place,” as membershiphad declined greatly over the years. Earhart feltit was important for him to focus on the basicsas a pastor – “loving God and loving people” –because he felt it was important for people toknow they were cared about.

One of Earhart’s favorite parts of the job, hesaid, is being a youth pastor; trying to get kidsto join and then teaching them about God andreligion. This shows in some of the new pro-grams he has installed into the Fellowship Com-munity Church. Before coming to Fellowship,Earhart said, there were no Bible youth pro-grams. Now there are two: the Dead ProphetsSociety and the Approved Workmen Are NotAshamed (AWANA) program.

The Dead Prophets Society is a service formiddle and high school students. Every Sun-day night, church youth gathers at Earhart’shouse and are taught how to make a differencein society.

AWANA, meanwhile, started Sept. 14 andis a mid-week program for kids in kindergar-ten through eighth grade. Earhart is the gamesdirector of the program. The program has threecomponents, said Earhart: teaching the kidsgood sportsmanship, helping them understandthe Bible and teaching them how to apply what

Dan Earhart has been pastor of Fellowship Community Church since May, andhe very much enjoys being a part of the Marlborough community. “The folks herehave just been amazing,” he said recently.they learned in the Bible in their lives.

Another goal of Earhart’s is getting out intothe community, to let people know the churchis there. For so long, Earhart said, churches havealways taken the stance of “here we are; cometo us,” but Earhart wants to change this. One ofthe ways the church is getting out in the townis with a 5K race on Saturday, Oct. 22. Therace is to help rebuild Joplin, MO, which wasdamaged earlier in the summer due to a mas-sive tornado.

Earhart and his wife Jayne, an accountant,have been married for more than 25 years. Thetwo have three children, ages 22, 15 and 8.

In addition to his work for the church, Earhart

is also involved in the community in other ca-pacities. He is a member of the Commissionon Aging – “Those guys are a hoot,” Earhartquipped – and he also assists in Bible study atthe Marlborough Care Center, where his wifealso volunteers, playing the piano.

Earhart does not regret his move, as he saidhe loves living in Connecticut and particularlyin Marlborough. The landscape reminds himof where he grew up, and the people in townhave been nothing but friendly and welcoming,he said.

“I have met the most gracious, amazingpeople in this town,” he said. “The folks herehave just been amazing.”

Colchester Police News9/20: Police are investigating an attempted

burglary and criminal mischief on River Road.At 4:45 p.m., the victim reported that asuspect(s) tried to force into the residencethrough a rear window, Colchester Police said.

9/20: Nicole Dzikiewicz, 35, of 210 Route66, Marlborough, was charged with second-degree failure to appear, State Police said.

9/23: Christopher L. Knighton, 20, of 60 ParkAve., was charged with carrying a dangerousweapon and breach of peace, Colchester Po-lice said.

9/23: Eric Schaus, 21, of 78 Jerry DanielsRd., Marlborough, was charged with improperpassing, DUI and traveling unreasonably fast,

State Police said.9/24: Wayne Mohrlein, 31, of 136 Elm St.,

was charged with interfering with an officer,Colchester Police said.

9/24: John Joseph Vonutter, 67, of 48 Har-bor Rd., was charged with third-degree assault,disorderly conduct and interfering with emer-gency calls, State Police said.

9/24: Sharon Moroch, 48, of 127 McDonaldRd., was charged with disorderly conduct andinterfering with emergency calls, State Policesaid.

9/26; James V. Adamo, 43, of 423 Kemp Rd.,Scotland, was charged with three counts of sec-ond-degree failure to appear, State Police said.

Hebron Police News9/25: Colleen Leary, 22, of 264 Millstream

Rd., Amston, was charged with first- and sec-ond-degree failure to appear, State Police said.

MarlboroughPolice News

9/25: Usama B. Mirza, 26, of 446 WestMiddle Tpk., Manchester, was charged withfailure to drive in the proper lane and DUI, StatePolice said.

9/26: David Vashalifski, 50, of 47 First St.,Lebanon, was charged with breach of peace,risk of injury to a minor, impersonation andreckless endangerment, State Police said.

Portland Police News9/25: Dean Clark, 25, of 76 Conestoga Way,

Glastonbury, was charged with operating un-der suspension, evading responsibility and fail-ure to drive right, Portland Police said.

East HamptonPolice News

9/15: Thomas H. Fournier, 53, of 87 FallsBashan Rd., Moodus, was arrested for failureto drive right and DUI, East Hampton Policesaid.

9/22: Jesse V. Bracken, 38, of 21 Brook Tr.,was arrested for DUI, police said.

ObituariesPortland

Marilyn H. KauczkaMarilyn H. Kauczka, 73, of Portland, formerly

of East Hampton, died Thursday, Sept. 22, atPortland Care and Rehab. She was the daughterof the late Anthony M. and Martha E. (Becker)Herrmann.

Born on Sept. 8, 1938, in Erie, PA, she grewup in Washington, PA, and moved to Connecticutin 1969. She was a graduate of Duquesne Uni-versity and worked as an airline reservationist forAmerican Airlines for 18 years.

She is survived by her former husband andlongtime friend, Daniel G. Kauczka of EastHampton; two sisters, Mary Weston and JeanHerrmann, both of Groton; and many other rela-tives and friends.

Relatives and friends called Monday, Sept. 26,at Portland Memorial Funeral Home, 231 MainSt., Portland.

Memorial donations may be made to the Ameri-can Parkinson’s Association, 27 Allendale Dr.,North Haven, CT 06473.

HebronBrian M. Wetherbee

Brian M. Wetherbee, 66, of Hebron lost hislong battle with diabetes on Thursday, Sept. 22,at Manchester Memorial Hospital.

Born Feb. 18, 1945, in East Hartford to AmeliaM and Melvin H Wetherbee, he is survived byhis wife of 40 years, Janice Wetherbee, alongwith his four children, Kevin and ScottWetherbee both of Hebron, Lisa and DanielWarren of Hebron, and David and ShelleyWetherbee, stationed at Hill Air Force Base inUtah. He also leaves behind his two wonderfulgranddaughters, Shelby Lynn and Tiffany MarieWarren, both of Hebron, and his brother RobertWetherbee of Seatac, WA.

Brian served in the Army during the Vietnamera, after which he entered into employment atPratt and Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford; heretired after 35 years. Shortly after retiring, Brianbegan working for Foxwoods Resort and Casinowhich he would retire from five years later.

Services are scheduled for today, Sept. 30, at9 a.m., with Mass at the Church of the Holy Fam-ily in Hebron, followed by burial services at 11a.m. at Rose Hill Cemetery in Rocky Hill.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation inBrian’s name to the American Diabetes Associa-tion at 1-800-DIABETES, or The Diabetes Re-search & Wellness Foundation at 1-866-293-3155.

East HamptonHelen Sladyk

Helen Sladyk, 93, of East Hampton, belovedwife of the late William Sladyk Sr. for 69 years,died Friday, Sept. 23, at Cobalt Lodge Health Careand Rehabilitation Center. Born Aug. 29, 1918,in Middletown, the daughter of the late Celestynand Eva (Kuchta) Kalman, she had lived in EastHampton for most of her life.

She worked at Pratt & Whitney as an adminis-trative professional and after decades of faithfulservice, she enjoyed her retirement traveling theworld with her husband William. She was verycreative, enjoying painting and quilting. An avidgolfer and bridge player, she loved spending timewith family and friends.

She is survived by a daughter, Diane of Cali-fornia, a daughter-in-law, Mary of Vermont,nephew Tom and his family, seven grandchildrenand six great grandchildren. We love you Gram!

A funeral liturgy will be celebrated Saturday,Oct. 1, at 10 a.m., in St. Patrick Church in EastHampton. Burial will follow in the family plot inCalvary Cemetery in Middletown. Friends maycall at the Spencer Funeral Home Saturday morn-ing from 8:45-9:45 a.m.

To leave online condolences, visitspencerfuneralhomeinc.com.

PortlandWilliam R. Hall

William R. Hall, 72,of Portland, died athome Saturday, Sept.24. Born Aug. 7, 1939,in Middletown, he wasa longtime Portland resi-dent and was the son ofthe late William andRose (Nolan) Hill.

He was employed byIKON Office Solutionsfor more than 35 years.A graduate of Dean Col-lege, he also attendedQuinnipiac College, the University of Hartfordand served in the Connecticut National Guard.Bill was an avid sports lover and was passionateabout his teams, especially the UConn women’sbasketball team.

He is survived by his son, Michael W. Hall,his special friend, Kathleen Robinson and grand-son, Kristopher Robinson of Wethersfield, hisdaughter, Christina M. Fazzino, husband, EdwardFazzino and grandson, Aaron of Portland, cous-ins, Jean Roscher and Anna Becker of New Yorkand several other relatives and countless friends.

Funeral services will be held today, Sept. 30,at 6 p.m., at Portland Memorial Funeral Home,231 Main St., Portland. Burial will be private.Relatives and friends may call today from 4 p.m.until the time of the service at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made tothe American Heart Association 5 Brookside Dr.,Wallingford, CT 06492 or to the ConnecticutHumane Society, 701 Russell Rd., Newington, CT06111.

To send an online expression of sympathy, visitportlandmemorialfh.net.

East HamptonMary Geysen

Mary (Kochuk) Geysen, 97, widow of the lateHarold Geysen, died Tuesday, Sept. 27, atMiddlesex Hospice. Born June 15, 1914, inBristol, she was the daughter of the late Ignaceand Sophie (Rudick) Kochuk.

She was a graduate of Middletown High Schooland had lived in East Hampton for most of herlife. Mary was a lifelong member of Christ Epis-copal Church in Middle Haddam and was a pastmember of the Alter Guild.

She leaves her two sons, Harold Geysen of EastHampton and John Geysen of East Hampton; herdaughter, May Breece of Middle Haddam; fivegrandchildren, Deborah Breece, Susan Denny,Kevin Geysen, Laurice Geysen and Janna Danco;six great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grand-daughter.

She was predeceased by a daughter, DorothyShearer.

Funeral services will be private at the conve-nience of the family.

The Spencer Funeral Home has care of arrange-ments. To leave online condolences, visitspencerfuneralhomeinc.com.

ColchesterSteve A. Achenbach Sr.

Steve A. Achenbach Sr., 56, of Colchester, suc-cumbed to a courageous battle with multiple scle-rosis. Born in New Britain, the son of A.J.Achenbach and the late Phyllis (Davey)Achenbach, he lived many years in East Haddamand the last three years in Colchester. He was awell-known avid fisherman and woodworker.

Steve is survived by his loving partner of 19years, Phyllis Usher; two sons, Steven and hiswife, Michele Achenbach of Rockland MA;Micheal Achenbach of Greenville, NH; two sis-ters, Sherry and her husband, Richard Lorch ofNew Britain, Donna and her husband James Bellof Plainville; a brother, Wayne Davey of EastHartford; two grandchildren, Alexandra andZachary; a sister-in-law, Lynn Klatt of Needham,MA; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services were held Sunday, Sept. 25,at the Farrell Funeral Home, 110 Franklin Sq.,New Britain. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made toColchester Hayward Volunteer Fire Department,52 Old Hartford Rd., Colchester, CT 06415.

Steve’s family would like to thank the BacchusHome Health Care and the Quality Care HomeCare for their kind care of Steve. They would alsolike to thank the wonderful staff at MiddlesexHospital for all their help.

To light a candle or send a condolence, visitFarrellFuneralHome.com.

ColchesterTraci Beth Hart

Traci Beth Hart, 39, of Jurach Road, wife ofDarryl A. Hart, died Thursday, Sept. 15, at herhome. On Nov. 27, 1971, she was born in Nor-wich, the daughter of Michael and Gloria(Maplesden) Stergio of Salem.

Traci was a graduate of Montville High SchoolClass of 1989. She received her bachelor’s de-gree from Central Connecticut State Universityand a master’s degree in education from SacredHeart University. After college she became a firstgrade teacher at the Charles E. Murphy School inOakdale; she loved being a teacher and treasuredall of her students. Traci touched countless younglives during her tenure at Murphy School.

In her spare time she enjoyed shopping andspending time with her dearest friends, but hergreatest joy was being a devoted mother to hertwo children and being involved in all the familyactivities. Traci married her high school sweet-heart, Darryl Hart, on June 29, 1996 in Montville.They enjoyed 15 years of unconditional love witheach other. She has been a resident of Colchestersince 2001 and was a parishioner of St. Andrew’sChurch.

In addition to her loving husband Darryl andparents Mike and Gloria Stergio, she is survivedby her children, Seth Michael Hart and RileyMadison Hart; sister, Kristin Taylor of Montville;and grandparents, Michael and Terry Stergio andJeanette Maplesden of Montville.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Sat-urday, Sept. 17, at St. Andrew’s Church, 128Norwich Ave., Colchester. Burial followed inMaplewood Cemetery. There were no callinghours.

Her family asks that donations in her memorybe directed to Darryl Hart, c/o Dime Bank, 290Salem Tpke., Norwich, CT 06360, to be used toestablish a trust fund for her children’s education.

The Woyasz and Son Funeral Home is in chargeof arrangements.