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PRESS
AVON • BURLINGTON • CANTON • FARMINGTON • GRANBY • SIMSBURY
In Sports
Farmington
snatches
victory from
Avon
PAGE 21
High ﬁve for Uniﬁed
Vol. 5, Edition 11
Thursday
March 14, 2013
In The Press
Town will spend
$25K on chemical
cleanup
At the Feb. 25 Simsbury Board of
Selectmen meeting, the board
agreed to spend $25,000 to clean
up chemicals and to secure an
out building on the Dewey Farm
property, which, according to
Sawitzke, tested positive for hazardous chemicals. PAGE 13.
New possible
garage site
chosen
At a special meeting March 6, the
Canton Board of Selectmen authorized Chief Administrative Ofﬁcer Robert Skinner to sign a
purchase and sale agreement for a
4.75-acre lot at 325 Commerce
Drive, a new possible location for a
highway garage. PAGE 13.
Simsbury High School was the site of the CIAC High School Unified Sports basketball tournament March 6. Farmington/Avon, Lewis Mills and host Simsbury were among the seven high school teams that played on four courts in two gymnasiums. Pictured above, Ashley Godin gives a fellow Unified
Sports player a high five. Read more on page 28.
Photo by David Heuschkel
This week
A&E
5
Health
8
Kids
9
The Buzz
11
Town News
13
Editorial
16
Business
18
Sports
21
Calendar
20
Classifieds
30
Quotes
of Note
Where is it?
News
“Why couldn’t there
be a berm on my
property? I mean
they’re digging out all
that hillside. Right
now I have the benefit
of a slope and the
buffers on top of that
and when they
excavate everything,
that’ll be taken
down.”
-Kathleen Woolam in “Track and
field project approved” on page 14
“I think the storm two
years ago was a run
through.”
6
Do you recognize what Valley landmark is partially pictured here? Send your guesses to Abigail at
[email protected]. Those who guess correctly will be named in next week’s edition.
Photo by Jennifer Senofonte
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2
The Valley
Press
March 14, 2013
-Avon Registrar Ann Clark in
“Contingency plan approved” on
page 15
NEWS & Notes
CHS presents ‘Bye Bye Birdie’
Canton High School Musical
Theater will present “Bye Bye
Birdie,” the satire on American life
set in 1958, March 22 and 23 at 7:30
p.m. and March 24 at 2 p.m.
The story follows rock-star
Conrad Birdie as he seeks “One
Last Kiss” for lucky fan Kim
MacAfee of Sweet Apple, Ohio, before he is drafted into the Army. It
includes such well-known hits as
“Put on a Happy Face,” “Rosie” and
“Kids.”
The production includes a
large study cast, crew, a 15-musician pit orchestra, and the work of
several adult directors and parent
volunteers.
Tickets are $12 for adults; $8
for students and seniors. To order,
call 860-693-7707 or online at
www.birdie.cantonmusic.org. The
show will be held at Canton High
School's auditorium, 76 Simonds
Ave., Canton. If they’re not sold
out, tickets will be available at the
door.
Read a full story on the production in next week’s edition of
The Valley Press.
Avon Taxpayers Association
to host public meeting with
superintendent
The Avon Taxpayers Association will host a public conversation
with Gary Mala, Avon superintendent of schools, and other members of the school district’s central
leadership team Thursday, March
28, 7 p.m., at the Avon Public Li-
brary Community Room. Under
discussion will be the proposed
2013-14 Avon education budget as
well as future developments and
costs of public education as we
know it.
The public is invited to become informed on issues related
to the public schools and the impact of expected costs on property
taxes. Residents’ concerns and
questions are welcomed.
Simsbury seeks volunteers
for technology task force
The town of Simsbury is seeking volunteers to serve on the
Simsbury Technology Task Force.
The purpose of the task force is to
review and provide input on the
town of Simsbury website, to determine potential uses of the town
website and to review short- and
long-term goals for the town’s
technology plan.
The task force will consist of
up to eight people, including individuals with technology backgrounds and residents who use the
town website.
Persons interested in serving
should contact the first selectman’s office no later than March
28. Information, including a description of why one is interested
in serving on the Technology Task
Force, can be sent to Mary A.
Glassman at 933 Hopmeadow St.,
Simsbury, 06070, or by e-mail to
[email protected]. If
one has questions, contact the
first selectman’s office at 860-6583230.
Emergency response:
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
It takes a village, or, in this case,
a team.
For EMS Division Capt. Gerry
Holland, of the Canton Volunteer
Fire and EMS Department, the concept of teamwork is like a mantra.
When on the scene of an emergency
with a patient in need of EMS care,
he expects his crew to act cohesively,
working together smoothly. “Work as
a team, watch out for each other,” he
said.
On Friday, March 1 when a call
came from the police dispatcher for a
“simulated call,” Holland went right
into action. e fact that the call was
a simulation had no apparent eﬀect
on his response.
Previously, Holland, as crew
leader, had checked Car 10, the ambulance he was planning to use for
any calls that came in that evening.
All the necessary medication and
equipment were in their proper place
on board.
e crew was set, too.
Fire Division Capt. Ryan Kerr
was set to drive the ambulance, and
this reporter was set to assume the
role of EMT 2 in any mock emergency that came in.
When the call came in for a simulation of an 18-year-old who had
fallen, the crew jumped into action.
Kerr drove the bus out of the garage
of the Collinsville ﬁre station. He
used lights as needed, but did not
turn on the sirens, save for crossing
intersections, or set oﬀ at a dangerously fast rate of speed.
As they headed closer to the
scene of the mock emergency, Holland tossed surgical gloves to EMT 2
and put on a pair himself. He also
prepared for what things they would
need to evaluate when they reached
the scene.
Observations that he said would
need to be made in the ﬁrst few min-
utes included from what the patient
had fallen. How far was the fall? Was
the surface soft or hard? On which
part of the body did the patient land?
After these questions spun from
his mouth, he went through a checklist of what he would likely need,
things like a collar and board.
Is the patient entangled in trees
or brush? If so, what will he need to
cut the patient free?
“We’re thinking about lots of different layers,” he said later. “What do
we have? What do we need?”
He was thinking about roles,
too. EMT 2 is support staﬀ – the person who, if needed, talks to patients –
assuring and calming them and taking orders from the team leader.
At some point, Holland veriﬁed
that EMT 2 was wearing the gloves
he had given her, looking silently at
her hands and making his observation without comment.
“As scene leader, I’m concerned
about your safety and [Kerr’s],” he
later explained.
Gloves are crucial because there
could be bodily ﬂuids or chemical
substances on the scene, he said.
As soon as the ambulance arrived, everyone jumped out, immediately assessing what the patient
looked like and getting a general impression of the scene as a whole.
e young man, who was later
identiﬁed as Fire Cadet Lt. Zach
Goeben acting as the injured party,
was lying on the cold cement ﬂoor of
a garage in a pool of fake blood. His
pant legs were ripped open revealing
the simulated broken bones of his left
femur. ere was a step ladder on the
ﬂoor beside him.
e patient was conscious but
disoriented, which was evidenced by
his inability to recall how he had
fallen or to answer some basic questions Holland posed – all of which,
again, was simulated.
He did, however, know his
name. “Ryan,” he said weakly.
A night on the job with Emergency Medical Services volunteers
Staff Writer Sloan Brewster went on a simulated call with the Canton Volunteer Fire & EMS Department. She is pictured here with EMS Division
Capt. Gerry Holland, Fire Division Capt. Ryan Kerr and Fire Cadet Lt. Zach
Goeben who portrayed the victim in the simulation.
Courtesy photo
Holland immediately started to
work on the leg, tossing a duﬄe bag
to EMT 2 and commanding her to
hook the patient to oxygen at 12 to 15
liters of ﬂow per minute.
Fumbling with the tank and unsure what she was doing, EMT 2 –
lacking the 180 hours of training the
other emergency responders on
scene had – turned the nozzle and
put the mask on the patient’s face,
missing a key element. Kerr quickly
recovered the situation, taking the
mask for a moment and ﬁlling the
bag attached to it with oxygen by
covering the valve with his ﬁnger. He
placed the mask back on the patient’s
face and immediately his breathing
was evident, the bag emptying and
ﬁlling as the oxygen spilled into his
lungs.
Working together, the three
EMTs strapped the patient’s leg to a
board, lifted him onto a gurney and
into the ambulance.
On the way back to the station
Holland and EMT 2 took the patient’s
vitals and noted that he was less disoriented as the oxygen restored some
of his vitality.
Once back at the station, everyone, including the patient, jumped
out of the ambulance, the simulation
being over. It was a learning experience for the crew and the reporter.
For the crew, it was a way to
practice and hone skills. For the reporter, it showed the intricacies of a
volunteer team on the scene of an
emergency, and how each person’s
work ﬂows directly from the person
next to him in a uniﬁed thread that
encircles the patient with care.
“If you think about what we do,
we need to try to bring order to other
people’s messes,” Holland later said.
“We’re trained to think rather methodically.”
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Come to an Italian Comedy Wedding
Dinner Theater Performance
Friday, April 5, 2013 7-10:30 pm
Farmington Gardens, 999 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT
Tickets $75 pp, includes dinner & entertainment
Visit www.fvva.com or call 860.676.8878 for tickets &
information. Reserve early for this hilarious comedy!
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The Valley Press
3
Riding - Horsemanship - Fun & Educational Activities
Give your child the equestrian experience of a lifetime this Summer
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Our program teaches riding, horse care, and leadership with fun and educational activities.
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315 Shrub Rd.,
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860-314-9514
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A photojournalist for the 2nd Marine Division, Simsbury native Cpl. Jeff Drew enlisted in 2009 and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. Earlier this month, he took time out to read to kids via Skype as part
of Read Across America Day.
Courtesy photo
Photojournalist Marine takes
time out to read to kids
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
A Marine from Simsbury,
who is based in North Carolina,
took advantage of Skype to read
to youngsters from Texas.
When Cpl. Jeﬀ Drew, a combat correspondent with the 2nd
Marine Division Public Aﬀairs Ofﬁce, heard about read Across
America Day, which occurred
March 1, he decided to take part.
e sister of a fellow Marine
on base at Camp Lejune in North
Carolina is a librarian and she
told her brother about the program, Drew said. e Marine, in
turn, decided participating would
be a great idea and told Drew.
In a short video in which he
spoke about the experience,
Drew said he had a good time
and was glad he had participated.
He read “e Fantastic Flying
Books of Mr. Mark Lessmore” by
William Joyce and said it was a
good story with great illustrations.
He picked the book he read
from a list sent to the base, most
of which were Dr. Seuss books, he
said in a phone interview March
11.
“Great book, great book,”
Drew said in the video. “It seemed
like they were having a great time.
ey were oohing and aahing over
all the pictures, and they seemed
to really enjoy the stories.”
One of the people who participated read to the children in
Spanish, he said.
“Ultimately, I think they had
a really good time,” he said.
According to an online press
release, Read Across America Day
is a nationwide observance that
coincides with the birthday of an
American legend in children’s
books, Dr. Suess. His birthday is
actually March 2, but since the
date fell on a Saturday this year,
the nationwide reading event
began one day early. On Read
Across America Day, many
schools, daycares, libraries and
community centers bring people
together to read books and promote literacy.
Drew read to kindergarten
students at an elementary school
in Austin, Texas, he said.
He was last home in Simsbury at Christmas and keeps in
touch with family and friends
from town. He will be returning
home in April, when he is discharged from the service. e
things he misses most about
home are the people and the
sense of community, he said.
“I miss the people a lot. I
think there is, especially in Simsbury, a great community, and I
miss being a part of that,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong, the Marine
Corps has its own sort of community, but I miss that.”
A photojournalist for the 2nd
Marine Division, Drew enlisted in
2009 and was deployed to
Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012.
“I’m happy that I don’t have
to deal with the snow,” he said
after he asked a few questions
about the weather on the local
front.
Drew said he hopes to attend the University of Connecticut and study journalism and
that he would be completing his
application this week.
Three two-week sessions
ons are offered
Session
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ons are available.
860.768.4
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4
The Valley
Press
March 14, 2013
Introducing Dr. Sheri M. Sparks, now
practicing Optometry at our location. Call us
today to make an appointment with Dr.
Sparks for a comprehensive eye examination.
Read more about Dr. Sparks and the eye
services she offers by visiting
www.farmingtonvalleyeyehealth.com.
PRESSARTS&ENTERTAINMENT
Music Together celebrates anniversary with local concert
By Alison Jalbert
Editorial Assistant
e internationally recognized
children’s music and movement program Music Together is celebrating
its 25th anniversary, to be acknowledged locally with a participatory
concert.
Music Together of West Hartford and the Farmington Valley will
be recognizing the program’s milestone by holding a concert Friday,
March 22 from 5-6 p.m. at the Elmwood Community Center in West
Hartford.
Catherine Madrak, director of
Music Together of West Hartford and
the Farmington Valley, explained that
the Music Together program consists
of early childhood music and movement curriculum. It was started in
1987, developed by experts in the
ﬁeld of early childhood education.
“[Music Together] pioneers the concept that a child’s parents or caregivers are their role models for
developing musical ability,” Madrak
said. Programs can be found in many
communities across the country and
around the globe.
While there is a class oﬀered for
babies 8 months and younger, the
quintessential Music Together class
is for children of mixed ages, from
birth through kindergarten along
with their parents and caregivers.
e classes are 45 minutes in length
and meet once a week. Madrak said
A photo taken during Music Together of West Hartford and the Farmington
Valley class.
Cheyney Barrieau Photography
three 10-week semesters are oﬀered
throughout the year, as well as a sixweek summer session.
Each semester focuses on a collection of nine songs that come from
collections published by Music Together. “Families together learn a
large repertoire of songs,” Madrak
said. “A child could do Music Together for three years before repeating songs. … By the time they cycle
back to the beginning, the children
will play with music in a much diﬀerent way.”
e activities in a Music Together class are developmentally appropriate and include a variety of
things, such as rhythmic chants, large
movement activities or the use of an
instrument or prop. Each class includes a play along and a free movement, which Madrak said is like a
family dance party. Parents are ac-
tively involved in Music Together
classes. ere are also rituals, such as
the hello and goodbye songs.
“Children start to learn the ﬂow
and format of the class over time
with experience,” Madrak said. “It allows them to transition with ease
and comfort through the musical activities we’re doing.”
Madrak thinks Music Together
has remained popular for 25 years
because the program and the class
end up being an integral part of a
family’s life. “It’s much more than an
activity that you might choose to do
with your child during the week. A lot
of parents will say that they look forward to class as much as, if not more
than, their children.”
Music Together works toward
the goal of making children lifelong
music-makers. Madrak said an unfortunate trend in American culture
is to farm out music making to those
who can do it well. “Rather than participating in it freely or comfortably,
we feel like we have to consume it.
e whole concept of the program is
to get people making music with
their children so we dispel that myth
and get back to where we used to be:
singing nursery rhymes, popular
songs, etc., with them.”
e anniversary concert, Music
Together Around the World Party,
will be a celebration of favorite Music
Together songs performed live. Local
modern folk band e Auburn Mode
will perform, as two of its members
are parents in the program. A Music
Together recording artist “Uncle”
Gerry Dignan will also be perform-
ing. Madrak said Dignan is on all
Music Together’s CDs and that the
children end up getting to know his
voice well. “Everyone knows who
Uncle Gerry is.” Several area Music
Together teachers will be involved in
the concert as well.
“It’s going to be really fun for the
general public as well,” Madrak said.
“Families will enjoy it even without
Music Together experience.”
Advance tickets are $7 per person or $25 per family. Tickets at the
door are $8 per person, or $30 per
family. Children under 1 are free. To
purchase tickets or for more information, contact Music Together of
West Hartford and the Farmington
Valley at 860-206-8962.
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Saturday, March 16: McLovins
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March 14, 2013
The Valley Press
5
PRESSARTS&ENTERTAINMENT
Local photographer does project on ‘beards of the Valley’
By Jennifer Senofonte
Staﬀ Writer
ey say there is a story
behind every beard.
Local
photographer
Matthew J. Wagner brought
those stories to life through
his latest personal project,
“Beards of the Farmington
Valley.”
Wagner said it’s important to do personal projects
for creative growth and to improve his craft, especially in
these competitive times.
Inspired by the historic
portrait of Ernest Hemingway,
he decided to do a focus on
men with beards.
“ey’re really unique. Everyone’s got a story and it seems to
give guys more character. e stories behind the beards made it
more interesting.”
Martin Herman holds a
photo of himself and his
daughters, Aimee and Jessica, when he grew his first
beard 33 years ago.
Photo by Matthew J. Wagner
He started soliciting locals in
November 2012 and by the end of
December had about 25 men
come forward – a couple of whom
were growing out their beards for
their annual role-playing of Santa
for the holidays.
Wagner worked with the
guys in his studio, 522 Hopmeadow St. in Simsbury, to
take black and white style
photos. “ere’s a certain
lighting that makes them look
very heroic in black and
white,” Wagner said.
He asked each subject to
write about their beards, asking them questions like how
long they had it, why they grew it
out and “if your beard could talk,
what would it say?”
e ﬁrst time Martin Herman grew a bread was 33 years
ago when his youngest daughter,
Aimee, was born and he didn’t
shave for the two weeks he took
oﬀ of work. “By the end of the two
weeks I had a full beard and liked
it. So did my wife and older
daughter, Jessica,” so much so that
he didn’t shave it upon returning
to work, Herman wrote.
When his boss ﬁxed his gaze
on him, Herman thought for sure
he would be reprimanded. “I see
Marty is wearing something new
today … a blue shirt,” Herman
quoted his boss. He then wrote,
“So, the beard and I survived to
see another day.”
“e Beards of the Farmington Valley” gallery unveiling took
place at Zinc Salon in Unionville
Feb. 27.
e portraits will remain on
display there until next month
and will be moved to the Hair
Gallery at the Mill in Tariﬀville.
FVAC seeks works for a Fisher Gallery April youth exhibit – ‘Aspiring Young Artist’
e Farmington Valley Arts
Center, 25 Arts Center Lane in
Avon Park North, Avon, will host a
community exhibit of youth artworks from greater Hartford area
schools representing ages/grades
K-12 including drawings, paintings, photography, prints, mixed
media and sculpture.
Aspiring Young Artist, will be
on display April 6-19, with an
opening reception April 6, 3-6
p.m. FVAC invites all area students exploring their creativity
with visual arts by oﬀering an exhibit with an open call for entries
to be delivered to the FVAC Fisher
Gallery March 29 and 30.
Details on acceptable works
are indicated on the prospectus
available at www.ARTSFVAC.org.
e exhibit oﬀers one People’s
Choice Award selected by patrons
and visitors to the exhibit. e
Pictured right is 2012 People’s
Choice Award “Field of Dreams”
oil by M. Parreira
Courtesy photo
cash award is announced at the
close of the exhibit accumulating
the most votes on each visitor’s
favorite piece.
For additional information,
call 860-678-1867 or visit
www.ARTSFVAC.org.
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The Valley
Press
March 14, 2013
Society presents ‘e
Farmington Canal
through Historic Avon’
e Avon Historical Society
will explore traveling the Farmington Canal with a talk entitled “e
Farmington Canal in the Farmington Valley” by Carl Walter, local
leading expert on the 87-mile,
hand-dug canal, to coincide with
an exhibit about the waterway in
the front exhibit case of the Marian Hunter History Room of the
Avon Free Public Library, 281
Country Club Road, Avon.
e event will take place Saturday, March 16 at 2 p.m. in the
Community Room of the Library.
Walter will share some background about the canal and why it
was built and then focus on various canal sites between northern
Farmington and West Suﬃeld. He
will describe topographical problems that were encountered during the building of the canal
together with the engineering solutions that allowed the canal’s
completion. e public is invited
to attend and stay to view two
companion exhibits an Open
House at the History, with refreshments, from 3-5 p.m.
e Farmington Canal was a
hand-dug canal with horse-drawn
canal boats that ran from New
Haven to Northampton, Mass.,
from 1829-1847.
In Avon Center it ran north
and south behind houses on the
east side of Old Farms Road, crossing the Albany Turnpike (currently
Route 44/East Main Street) where
daCapo’s Restaurant stands,
through the grounds of the Avon
Post Oﬃce and from there ran approximately along Route 10 and at
times where the Rails-to-Trail is
now. ere was a large canal warehouse in Avon Center as well as
other buildings that served this
important transportation route.
Avon Center was busy with a
church, post oﬃce, businesses,
school, etc. Some of these buildings still exist today extending
north/south/east/west at the intersection of Route 10 (Simsbury
Road) and Route 44 (East and
West Main Street). Last summer,
to commemorate the crossing in
Avon, the Avon Historical Society
placed two identical bronze
plaques on red sandstone markers- one at the entrance to daCapo’s Restaurant on the south
side of Route 44 and one at the former Living Museum on the north
side.
e sandstone markers are
the same material used in the
Canal and many of the 19th century buildings in the area, including the old Climax Fuse Factory
buildings, which are today’s Avon
Town Hall complex.
Celebrate St. Patrick’s
Day at ‘Sundays at ree’
e Avon Public Library’s concert series, “Sundays at ree,” will
present a festive St. Patrick Day’s celebration, marked not with pipes and
pints, but with the percussive sound
of steel drums. On March 17 at 3 p.m.
at the library, 281 Country Club
Road, Murray Mast, Chelsea Tinsler
and James Waterman, known collectively as Steel Accent, will present
a perfect end-of-winter antidote and
hour-long paean to sunshine and
balmy breezes.
e trio of classically trained
musicians will be warming hearts
with a dozen selections from such
composers as Bob Marley, Neil Diamond, George Gershwin, and Brian
Wilson, a program that will please
audiences of all ages and musical
tastes. Refreshments will be served
after the concert.
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We’re bringing together five of
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Hartt String Quartet
debut in concert with
cellist Lynn Harrell
e Hartt School announces
two special events: a cello and
chamber music master class with
world-renowned cellist and pedagogue Lynn Harrell, and the debut of
the Hartt String Quartet in a chamber music concert, with Harrell as
special guest.
Music students from the Hartt
School will perform in the master
class Monday, March 18, at 7:30 p.m.,
in Wilde Auditorium at the University of Hartford. e master class is
open to the public for observation.
e chamber music concert, with a
program of Beethoven’s Quartet Op.
18, No. 4 and Schubert’s Cello Quintet, is Tuesday, March 19, at 7:30
p.m., in Lincoln eater at the University of Hartford. e newly
formed Hartt String Quartet is composed of Hartt faculty members
Anton Miller and Katherine Winterstein, violins; Rita Porﬁris, viola; and
Mihai Tetel, cello.
General admission to the concert is $25, admission for seniors is
$20. For tickets, call the University of
Hartford Box Oﬃce at 860-768-4228,
or visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.
Both the master class and the chamber music concert are part of
StringFest! 2013, which takes place
at e Hartt School March 17-24.
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March 14, 2013
The Valley Press
7
PRESSHEALTH
DentalstudentteacheslessonsasD.Kayinaward-winningPSA
By Alison Jalbert
Editorial Assistant
A fourth-year dental student
at the University of Connecticut
Health Center created a public
service announcement video that
won the Connecticut Coalition for
Oral Health’s ﬁrst video award.
Andrew Rosenstein’s “Frank
D. Kay, Professional Cavity” is a humorous PSA illustrating the importance of proper oral hygiene.
Rosenstein wrote, directed and
starred in the video as the suitwearing Frank D. Kay, who visits
various people throughout the
two-minute video and inﬂicts
them with cavities as they make
poor oral health choices.
CCOH’s contest was launched
in August 2012, challenging various dental programs to create a
video that captured the message,
“A healthy body starts with a
healthy mouth.”
Rosenstein said he is known
within the dental school for making videos, as some of his fake
movie trailers have appeared in
the dental school’s version of “e
Gong Show.”
“As soon as the contest came
out, the professors e-mailed us, but
one professor e-mailed me personally,” he said. “I started brainstorming and knew I wanted to
make it funny, because that
catches people’s attention.”
Inspiration for the video came
from an original episode of “e
Twilight Zone,” “One for the Angels,” in which a man is visited by
Death, which takes the form of a
man in a suit.
“I thought it was an interesting idea and thought it could be
applied to dentistry,” Rosenstein
explained. “I started writing and
wanted to cover a few things that
people did every day. I wanted to
make it for all age groups and
thought [the comedic element]
made it memorable.”
Pictured is a frame from fourth-year dental student Andrew Rosenstein’s
public service announcement video that won the Connecticut Coalition for
Oral Health’s first video award. Rosenstein is pictured, center, as “Frank D.
Kay, Professional Cavity.”
Courtesy photo
Although Rosenstein has aspirations to become a pediatric
dentist, acting has always been a
passion of his, so it was an easy decision to play the main character
in his PSA. “I started acting at a
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young age; the ﬁrst show I was in
was ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ Ever
since then I acted in middle school
and high school.” When the opportunity presented itself to allow
Rosenstein to act again, he
“jumped on it.”
It was Rosenstein’s personal
experience with patients that
made him want to participate in
the video contest.
“Sitting there talking at them,
[oral health] is not really a mind
racing subject. I had the opportunity to make it humorous and relevant; to put it in layman’s terms.”
He thought that by putting the
message in a comedic context,
people would respond to it better.
“I plan on going into pediatric
dentistry, where the underlying
theme is prevention,” Rosenstein
said. “I thought more of a preventative aspect came out a lot in the
video.”
February was the American
Dental Association’s National Children’s Dental Health Month, and
Rosenstein’s PSA was used as a
promotional video.
“I thought that was great.
at was another reason why I
jumped on participating,” he said.
“at was my ﬁrst big thing to do
in the area of pediatric health care.”
Next year, Rosenstein will be
participating in a pediatric dentistry residency at the UConn
School of Dental Medicine and the
Connecticut Children’s Medical
Center, but there are plans to
make more Frank D. Kay videos.
e professor who personally
sought out Rosenstein for the contest said that everyone at the dental school liked his video and that
they want videos for other dental
events, geared toward certain populations, ages and aspects of dental health. “I’m already starting to
make a couple of things,” Rosenstein said.
To see Rosenstein’s awardwinning
video,
go
to
youtu.be/UvJZt9DvAoQ.
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The Valley
Press
March 14, 2013
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SANDWICHES, WRAPS & QUESADILLAS:
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mussels, squid tentacles & chicken sauteed with capers, kalamata olives, garlic,
tomatoes & peppers, finished with white wine lemon & limes juice over pasta.
Swamp Medley: spicy Southwestern Sauté of shrimp, alligator, crawfish tails, frog’s
legs with shallot, garlic, onions, peppers, capers, tomatoes, ancho-chipotle & lemon
juice served over rice.
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PRESSKIDS
Canton student takes top prize in InvestWrite competition
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
A Canton ﬁfth-grader can talk
about the stock market and write
about it, too.
Allison Ann Tessman, a student at Canton Intermediate
School, was one of Connecticut’s
ﬁrst place winners in the SIFMA
Foundation’s InvestWrite essay
competition.
Hundreds of thousands of students across the country participated in an annual Stock Market
Game, at the end of which 20,000
fourth- through 12th-graders entered the writing competition.
e challenge, according to a
press release from the SIFMA
Foundation, which sponsored the
contest, was to analyze an investment scenario and write an essay
oﬀering investment advice. Students were to consider real-world
economic events and trends, conduct research online, develop investment recommendations and,
in the process, gain the skills to
prepare for their own ﬁnancial future.
Allison, who claimed the top
prize for the elementary school division in the fall 2012 competition,
took on the Disney Corporation.
She decided the company was a
safe bet for investors.
“After researching Walt Dis-
“She really did put
her time and eﬀort
into the competition,
and I think she was
just delighted that her
eﬀort was recognized.”
-Elisa Genovese
ney Company, I feel that this stock
is a good long-term investment because it is usually making money
even when the economy is poor,”
Allison wrote. “It is very unlikely
for Disney to fail because all of
their parks and resorts over the
last several years have done better
than what they predicted for each
quarter.”
She researched the Disney
brand and characters, and concluded it was these things that
have made the company successful, even through bad times.
“ere is no other company
that is well-known and loved by all
ages and people all over the world,”
she wrote. “If someone wants to
invest their money in a stock that
is always stable even in bad times,
then Walt Disney Company is
right for them.”
Elisa Genovese, Allison’s
teacher in her talented and gifted
class, said she was optimistic the
essay might be a winner.
“When I was submitting it, I
did think it was a very well-done
essay,” Genovese said. “But there’s a
lot of competition; so who knows.”
Genovese said Allison was
surprised when she learned she
had won.
“She was just thrilled,” she
said. “She was very excited about
actually participating in the competiton, and she really did put her
time and eﬀort into the competition and I think she was just de-
lighted that her eﬀort was recognized.”
Town administrators were
also pleased.
“Obviously, just from our perspective we’re both impressed and
proud,” said Canton Intermediate
School Principal Kevin Hanlon.
Allison, for her part, learned a
great deal.
“I learned what stocks were
all about. I learned that stocks go
up and down when a company
makes a new investment or cre-
ates a new brand,” she wrote in the
conclusion of her essay. “Now I can
understand what my family and
other people are saying when they
talk about stock prices. … I feel
that I can now join in on conversations when someone is talking
about stocks, company sales and
analysts,”
Allison was presented with
her awards and trophy Feb. 27 during a surprise reception with a representative from Investwrite at
Canton Intermediate School.
F R E E D E N TA L I M P L A N T L E C T U R E
You can have the
smile you want.
Tuesday, March 26
6 - 7 p.m.
Center for Implant and Reconstructive Dentistry,
Main Building, UConn Health Center
During this free lecture, learn about:
Q
Dental implant surgery – from simple to complex –
to help you replace missing teeth
Q
The benefits of dental implants
The program will include a presentation by Dr. Ajay Dhingra as
well as time for questions and answers.
To register, call 800-535-6232.
Learn more at dentalimplants.uchc.edu
Center for Implant and
Reconstructive Dentistry
263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington
March 14, 2013
The Valley Press
9
A portion of this story was inadvertently cut off in last week’s edition of the paper. The full article appears below. The Valley Press regrets the error.
Raw food frenzy: healthy eating trend popular in all age groups
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
Like so many other foods,
chocolate, too, is healthy when
eaten in its raw form.
Tia Battiston of West Hartford,
who works at Whole Foods on Raymond Road, sometimes puts raw
cacao in smoothies.
Timothy Smulders, the manager at Garden of Light in Avon, said
raw cacao is on the list of super
foods, a list that also includes goji
berries, goldenberries and maca –
an ancient Peruvian root that, according to Navitas Naturals, was
prized by Inca warriors.
“People love to make smoothies with all their superfoods,” Smulders said.
Battiston, “a big believer in a
plant-based diet” who said she is not
always “100 percent vegan,” certainly
does. She makes a green smoothie
for breakfast, and on Friday, March
1, she made a double batch – one for
the morning and one for later in the
day. e recipe included four to six
cups of baby spinach leaves, water,
two bananas, frozen strawberries,
two to three tablespoons of hemp
seeds, a “teenie bit of maca root
powder” and chia seeds, which, according to Navitas Naturals, are high
in protein, antioxidants and ﬁber
and were a key part of the diet and
medicine of ancient Central American cultures.
Battiston tries to give her body
the foods it needs, so her smoothie
recipes vary from day to day.
“I change it up. Some days I put
ginger, some days turmeric, some
days raw cacao,” she said. “I change
up the greens, I change up the fruit.”
Raw food is one of the current
trends in healthy eating, according
to several sources from health food
stores in the Farmington Valley and
West Hartford.
According to Lori Love, owner
of Granby Village Health, the trend
right now is going toward back to
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basics and raw foods. Raw food,
speciﬁcally, is one of the forms of nutrition on which she educates her
customers most.
Food is considered “raw” as
long as it has been heated to no
more than 119 degrees, she said.
“Living food means living bodies, processed food means dead food
bodies mostly,” Love said.
At many health food stores,
there is a section devoted entirely to
raw food. Love has one at her store,
and there is one at Garden of Light
and Whole Foods as well.
Food that has not been heated
has the beneﬁt of providing enzymes and probiotics, Smulders
said. “e movement is to get those
whole foods,” he said.
Another big thing at Garden of
Light is unpasteurized, fermented
foods such as Kimchi, a Korean dish
made of seasoned vegetables.
“We’re seeing a huge movement toward raw and raw fermented and unpasteurized,”
Smulders said. “I see young people
coming in for raw food; I see old people, I see middle-aged.”
Another fermented item at
Garden of Light is a beverage called
Kombucha, and it’s available on tap
at the store. According to Smulders,
it is also high in enzymes and probiotics.
On Friday, March 1, Jim Lussier
of Pleasant Valley purchased a bottle
of Kombucha from the tap. It’s for a
cleansing diet he is doing as part of
a program with the Collinsville Yoga
Center. Excluded from the diet are
wheat, dairy and nightshade vegetables. e diet gives participants a 12hour window to digest and cleanse
the toxins from their bodies.
Kombucha is a big seller at
Garden of Light, Smulders said.
Mothers give it to their children instead of soda.
“You’re going to feel like wonder
woman,” he said when this reporter
said she would stop by to taste it.
“Your liver is going to love you tomorrow.” He also admitted that it
would take “a little getting used to.”
It does. e ginger-ﬂavored
Kombucha from the tap actually
tasted pretty good, similar to fermented apple cider, but a few hours
later, the four women in e Valley
Press oﬃce who had tried it had
slightly upset stomachs.
Trending toward ‘free’ foods
Besides raw and fermented
foods, another current trend is specialty items for vegans and allergy
diets such as gluten-, dairy-, egg- or
soy-free diets.
In 1995, when Love ﬁrst
opened her store, the trend was low
carbohydrate diets, such as Atkin’s.
Gluten-free oﬀerings were just beginning to emerge, she said. Now
she estimates that about 85 percent
of her customers are looking for
foods to support allergy issues.
“[Allergy-free food] wasn’t on
the radar at all. It really is now because people are understanding
more and more that it really is what
you put in your body is how your
body’s going to be,” Love said, “so,
that’s been a big shift. … Over the
course of years, we’ve had an evolution.”
Smulders is also seeing a trend
toward gluten-free foods and Garden of Light has a “huge gluten-free
clientele.”
e store’s parent company,
Bakery on Main in East Hartford,
makes gluten-free products including bars and granolas.
Another trend is foods that are
free of genetically modiﬁed organisms [GMOs], but according to
Smulders that can be a challenge because they are not easy to ﬁnd.
“ere are not enough of
them,” Smulders said.
One way to assure foods are
GMO free is to get them from the
source, he said.
“Go to the farm,” Smulders said.
“We stock farm eggs, we stock farm
raw cheese.”
Love also works with farms at
her store, which is important not
only because the food is organic and
better, but for other reasons, too. “It’s
working with local farms, building a
sense of community,” she said.
Many people avoid the whole
organic health food craze because
they believe it costs more to eat that
way, but Kristin Arslan, the marketing team leader at Whole Foods on
Raymond Road in West Hartford,
said that is a myth.
She is participating in Rick Esselstyn’s Engine 2, a 28-day diet challenge.
“It’s a pretty strict diet; I’m trying,” she said. “As my co-worker
throws cookies on my desk ... I am
not eating those cookies.”
e detoxifying vegan diet excludes dairy products, oils and reﬁned sugars. On ursday, Feb. 28,
she went shopping and purchased
about a week’s worth of food for only
$50, she said.
It’s a plant-based diet – you’re
mainly eating plants, you’re eating
vegetables,” Arslan said. “ey’re actually less expensive than if you eat
the preprocessed food.”
e types of food she is eating
on the diet include vegetables such
as peas, sweet potatoes and kale and
grains such as quinoa, a grain that
can be cooked in water or vegetable
stock.
A plant-based diet high in leafy
vegetables such as collard greens
and kale increases energy, but it also
trains the body to want diﬀerent
food, Battiston said.
“A lot of times we’re such a
green light society, and we just go,
go, go,” she said. “Stop and think before you eat. … You don’t think about
what you’re eating.”
Celebrate Easter
Join us Sunday, March 31st
and bring the whole family.
Special Easter Menu &
Children’s Menu Available
Cugino’s Of Farmington
Reservations Recommended
1053 Farmington Ave., Farmington • 860-678-9366
Visit us at cuginosrestaurantfarmington.com
10
The
Valley Press
March 14, 2013
Pasta Supper
to beneﬁt fuel
banks
For the second year, Memorial United Methodist Church, 867
West Avon Road in Avon, will host
a Pasta Supper to beneﬁt the local
fuel banks of Avon and Farmington March 22, 5 to 7 p.m., in Fellowship Hall at the church.
Admission is by free will donation.
e dinner includes pasta, bread,
salad and desserts home made by
church members.
e fuel banks of Avon and
Farmington are available to residents who have exhausted their
beneﬁts through the Connecticut
Energy Assistance Program. According to Farmington Town Social Services, so far this heating
season, 2,546 gallons of heating
fuel have been provided to 72
households. In addition, help was
given toward electric costs for
those with electric heat. e town
of Avon reports its fuel bank assisting approximately 35 families
per year at a cost of $12,500. Alan
Rosenberg, director of Avon Social
Services, noted an increase in
need this year due to unemployment and the economy.
Pam Fleming, co-chair of the
church’s mission/outreach committee, said, “Last year’s dinner
made $2,200, which we split between the two fuel banks. We
hope this year we can make at
least that much because the need
has increased from 2012.”
For more information, contact the church oﬃce at 860-6732111.
Tying the knot
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Sarah Wolfe to marry Damien Balazs
Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Wolfe
of Simsbury announce the engagement of their daughter, Sarah Alecia Wolfe, to Damien Denes
Balazs, son of Dr. and Mrs. Denes
Balazs of Farmington.
e bride-to-be graduated
from Simsbury High School in
2002 and went on to earn a B.A. in
creative writing from the University of Hartford. She is currently
completing her M.S. in industrial
and organizational psychology at
Springﬁeld College and is a senior
marketing communications specialist in individual retirement at
ING.
e future groom earned a
B.A. in anthropology at Hartwick
College in Oneonta, N.Y. He then
completed his M.B.A. at the University of Connecticut. Currently,
he is an assistant director in group
beneﬁts at e Hartford.
e couple will marry in August 2013 at the Simsbury Inn.
in the historic Collins Axe Factory
10 Depot Street (at Rte. 179)
Collinsville, CT 06022 • (860) 693-0615
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Furniture • Art • Pottery • China • Glass • Jewelry
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All invited to
Homeland Security
presentation
e Simsbury Republican
Women’s Club invites all to a
presentation on counter terrorism today and situational awareness, presented by James L.
Triﬁro, CAS. is program will be
held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March
23 at the Simsbury Library Program Room, 725 Hopmeadow St.,
Simsbury. For more information
contact Mary Turner at 860-6587794 or [email protected].
Triﬁro brings his extensive credentials to this presentation, including: certiﬁed antiterrorism
specialist; international law enforcement educator and trainer
ILEETA; International Association of Law Enforcement
Firearms Instructors; senior advanced instructor trainer Monadnock Defensive Tactics
System; Israeli Hostage Rescue
Level 1 instructor; National Tactical Oﬃcers Association; advanced tactical marksman,
observer, instructor; Suicide
Bomber Immediate Interdiction
instructor; EOD devices instructor and several others.
Torrington Main 129 Main Street (860) 496-2152
Torrington North 635 Main Street (860) 482-5421
Torringford 235 Dibble Street (860) 482-2664
Burlington 260 Spielman Hwy., Route 4 (860) 675-2601
www.torringtonsavings.com
* A $1,000 minimum required to open all accounts and earn the stated Annual Percentage Yield (APY).
Penalty for early CD withdrawal will be imposed. APY is accurate as of March 1, 2013. Rates subject to
change. Limited to our deposit area. See www.torringtonsavings.com or contact a Customer Service
Representative at (860) 496-2152 for more information.
Goshen 55 Sharon Turnpike, Route 4 (860) 491-2122
Falls Village Routes 7 & 126 (860) 824-3000
New Hartford 518 Main Street (860) 738-0200
March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
11
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The
Valley Press
March 14, 2013
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PRESSNews
Town will
spend $25K
on chemical
cleanup
New possible
highway
garage site
chosen
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
Company will be hired
for work on Dewey Farm
tion. As of press time, the budgets
were to be presented to the Town
Council for consideration March
12.
“Next year’s tax rate will have
to increase by at least 1.71 mills to
make up for the grand list decline,
plus it will have to increase to fund
any proposed increase in the
budget and for any non-tax
CANTON – Canton oﬃcials have a new possible location for a highway garage.
At a special meeting
March 6, the Board of Selectmen authorized Chief Administrative Oﬃcer Robert Skinner
to sign a purchase and sale
agreement for a 4.75-acre lot at
325 Commerce Drive.
e estimated prize for
the lot is $225,000, Skinner
said. Site work would cost
about $1.3 million compared
with the $3 million it was estimated it would cost on the
Cherry Brook Road site that
voters denied purchasing in
2010.
Commerce Road has
hookups for natural gas and
water, as well as a sewer line,
Skinner said.
He also said the layout of
the lot had beneﬁts.
“What’s nice is that there’s
a slight slope, which will screen
the garage,” he said.
Preliminary plans for the
garage were drafted by Weston
& Sampson of Foxborough,
Mass., but Skinner said they
could change.
“ese are preliminary
plans that were developed to
indicate the feasibility of the
site,” he wrote in a memo. “e
ﬁnal plans may vary based on a
number of considerations, including citizen comments,
land use regulatory process
and
the
design/build
See GRAND LIST on page 26
See GARAGE on page 26
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
SIMSBURY – e town of
Simsbury will spend $25,000 to
clean up a farm it owns.
When Carleton Dewey of
Dewey Farm on Terry’s Plain
Road passed away last year, the
town took over his farm. Dewey
sold the farm to the town about
12 to 14 years ago under an
agreement that gave him tenancy of the place for the rest of
his life, said Rich Sawitzke,
town engineer and director of
capital projects.
At the Feb. 25 Board of Selectmen meeting, the board
agreed to spend $25,000 to
clean up chemicals and to secure an outbuilding on the
property, which, according to
Sawitzke, tested positive for
hazardous chemicals.
He asked for the funds to
hire a company to perform the
cleanup.
“At this point we do not
feel the staﬀ should do it,” he
said, adding that the funds for
the project were not included
in last year’s operating budget
because oﬃcials did not realize
the town would take ownership
of the property.
Selectmen agreed to the
expense.
In 2010, at age 74, Dewey
and his wife, Charlene Dewey,
spoke to e Valley Press about
See CLEANUP on page 26
Checkmate
On Saturday, March 2 at the Simsbury Public Library, 81 Chess and six Go players between the ages of 5
and 18 competed at the second Simsbury Open Scholastic Chess and Go Championship. The Simsbury 2013
chess champion was Leo Stolov (above, left). Second place went to Jonathan Aiyathurai (above, right) of
Simsbury, and third place went to Eric Hilhorst (above, center) of Simsbury. In the elementary school section, Ruthvik Ayyagari of Rocky Hill took first place. Local children Gautham Rajeshkumar of Farmington
and Jade Logan of Avon placed ninth and 13th, respectively. Simsbury resident Nicholas Beckius of Simsbury is the 2013 Go Champion. Aresh Pourkavoos of Avon also placed in the Go tournament.
Courtesy photo
Farmington officials ‘pleasantly surprised’ with
smaller grand list decline than projected
By Jennifer Senofonte
Staﬀ Writer
FARMINGTON – With completion of Farmington’s most recent revaluation, residential
property values declined by 10.2
percent, contributing to the overall decrease in the grand list by
$271.6 million.
Total real estate declined by
8.04 percent including residential,
commercial – which went down
1.7 percent – personal property
and motor vehicle.
e tax rate would need to increase by 7.8 percent, or 1.71 mills,
to fund the current year’s budget.
In order to limit the overall increase, the Town Council set a
budget target for the 2013-14 ﬁscal
year of a spending increase between 2 and 3 percent for the town
manager and the Board of Educa-
March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
13
After a presentation and public hearing March 6, the Zoning Commission passed the application by Cheshire’s
Milone & MacBroom to put an artificial turf field and new track at the school.
File photo
Track and field project approved
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
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By Sloan Brewster
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SIMSBURY – e Simsbury
Fish & Game Club will continue its
tradition of stewardship of Stoddard Reservoir.
At the Feb. 25 Board of Select-
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The
Valley Press
ﬂattened and the ﬁeld would be
raised, making it easier for her to
see and hear.
“Why couldn’t there be a
berm on my property? I mean,
they’re digging out all that hillside,”
she said. “Right now, I have the
beneﬁt of a slope and the buﬀers
on top of that and when they excavate everything, that’ll be taken
down.”
Tom Daly of Milone & MacBroom said that, while it was feasible to put in a berm, to do so
would require taking out even
more vegetation.
Steve Bemis said he lives 30
feet from where the ﬁeld will
See TRACK on page 27
Town extends license agreement
for Stoddard Reservoir with Fish & Game Club
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14
CANTON – e Canton Zoning Commission has approved the
track and ﬁeld at the high school.
After a presentation and public hearing March 6, the commission passed the application by
Cheshire’s Milone & MacBroom to
put an artiﬁcial turf ﬁeld and new
track at the school.
In November 2012, voters agreed
to spend $3.6 million on the project.
After a lengthy presentation
by Milone & MacBroom, a handful
of residents spoke on the proposal.
Kathleen Woolam, who lives
next door to the school on property where she has resided her en-
tire life and which her family has
owned for 150 years, has opposed
the project from its inception.
“For me, this ﬁeld is a disaster,”
she said. “ere is only a single line
of trees as a buffer and from my
experience trees do nothing.”
Woolam remonstrated that,
visually, trees are a beneﬁt, “but for
lights and noise they do nothing.”
Lighting was not included in
the application, but the plan includes putting in foundations and
conduits so it could be added in
the future, assuming it is approved
at that time.
Woolam was also concerned
that the slope, which she said currently acts as a barrier between her
property and the school, would be
March 14, 2013
men meeting, the board extended
the town’s license agreement with
the club for another four years.
e license gives the club the
right to use the pond at the base of
Onion Mountain and help with its
upkeep.
“ey’ve been wonderful part-
ners and great stewards of that
property,” said Gerald Toner, director of Culture, Parks & Recreation,
at the meeting. “It’s certainly afforded our residents the opportunity to ﬁsh in a beautiful, pristine
area.”
e club keeps the area clean,
stocks ﬁsh in the pond and sells a
limited number of ﬁshing permits,
Toner said. It also holds a youth
ﬁshing derby every year.
Fish & Game Club former
President Ned Kendall said the
club, which was established in
1938, has a history with a few local
properties.
e club used to stock pheasants and hunt behind Iron Horse
Boulevard on what he referred to
as the old Baker property. When it
went up for sale, the members
were split on whether to buy it or
not and it went to the town instead. e club also did a lot of
See STODDARD on page 27
Selectmen approve
3.9% increase budget
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
CANTON – e Canton
Board of Selectmen has approved a budget to pass on to the
Board of Finance.
After making some tweaks
to Chief Administrative Oﬃcer
Robert Skinner’s proposal, selectmen agreed on a $9.6 million
budget for the next ﬁscal year, a
3.9 percent increase over last
year.
Among the changes selectmen made was an increase to
the capital budget, bringing the
total to $965,831 from Skinner’s
proposed $929,500.
As he made a motion to add
the additional funds to the capital budget, First Selectman
Richard Barlow said the amount
was more than they had hoped
to spend, but was necessary.
“Any further discussion,
parting words, moments of sorrow?” he asked before the vote.
Selectman
Lowell
Humphrey said the board was
taking a diﬀerent approach to
spending in this budget than it
had last year, but also agreed it
was necessary.
“It’s important to show that
we are trying to address some
shortcomings in our operation,”
Humphrey said. “Unfortunately,
it takes money.”
Stephen Roberto agreed.
“A lot of things have happened in the last year, decisions
that were made in referendum
that I disagreed with,” he said.
“But a lot of residents have been
telling us that they want things
and they’re aware of the price
tag.”
During a budget workshop
before approving the budget, selectmen mulled over what to cut
and prepared to face the question of further reductions from
the board of ﬁnance.
“e other thing we’ve got
to face is that, with the new
charter, the Board of Finance has
the option to tell us where the
cuts are going to come from,
whether it’s going to be in operating or CIP,” Barlow said, adding
that last year the ﬁnance board
asked him, at the spur of the moment, to prioritize. “I want to
have a consensus from you guys.”
Roberto suggested cutting
new expenses that had been
made to the budget, including a
The plan for Avon outlines steps for the moderators and poll workers to take in an emergency event.
File photo
Council approves election contingency plan
By Jennifer Senofonte
Staﬀ Writer
AVON – e Avon Town Council approved an emergency contingency plan for elections created by
Registrar Ann Clark and staﬀ.
e secretary of the state
mandated for all municipalities to
create an emergency contingency
plan that aligned with the a speciﬁc plan for towns and cities in
the wake of recent weather-related
issues during the last couple of
elections.
“Because of what we’ve gone
through in the last two years when
we’ve had these 100-year storms,
they decided that the registrars
See BUDGET on page 27
better have an emergency contingency plan,” Clark said at the
March 7 council meeting.
She noted that some of what
was required has been done in
town in the past and that the tabulators have backup battery power
for up to 16 hours already.
Additionally, elections are held
at the high school and Firehouse
Company 1, which both have generators.
“e ﬁrst storm we had we
had to move our polling place,”
Clark said, noting that they had a
backup plan in place already for
this circumstance.
e oﬃcial plan for Avon outlines steps for the moderators and
!"
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Central School
Days
MWF
T TH
T TH F
Age
3’s
3’s
3’s
Times
8:55 – 11:25 am
8:55 – 11:25 am
8:55 – 11:25 am
Tuition
$2217
$1500
$2217
M - TH
4’s
11:55 – 2:25 pm
$3024
2 days/week
3 days/week
4 days/week
5 days/week
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
8:45 – 11:15 am
8:45 – 11:15 am
8:45 – 11:15 am
8:45 – 11:15 am
$1500
$2230
$2975
$3718
2 days/week
3 days/week
4 days/week
5 days/week
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
8:45 am – 12:45 pm
8:45 am – 12:45 pm
8:45 am – 12:45 pm
8:45 am – 12:45 pm
$2186
$3278
$4371
$5464
2 days/week
3 days/week
4 days/week
5 days/week
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
3’s & 4’s
8:45 am – 2:45 pm
8:45 am – 2:45 pm
8:45 am – 2:45 pm
8:45 am – 2:45 pm
$3278
$4918
$6557
$8196
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, poll workers to take in an emergency event like evacuation. It also
states that if a polling place is unavailable, the Avon Senior/Community Room can be used as an
alternate and, like two years ago,
the public will be notiﬁed as such
through the website, radio, Everbridge emergency system and signage.
“I think the storm two years
ago was a run-through,” Clark said.
She added that Avon is fortunate to
have a Public Works Department
that transfers all the election equipment.
The plan must be submitted
to the secretary of the state by
April 1.
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,
Squadron Line School
formerly located at
Tootin’ Hills School
Days
2 days/week
3 days/week
4 days/week
5 days/week
Times
8:15 – 10:45 am
8:15 – 10:45 am
8:15 – 10:45 am
8:15 – 10:45 am
Tuition
$1500
$2230
$2975
$3718
2 days/week
3 days/week
4 days/week
5 days/week
8:15 – 11:15 am
8:15 – 11:15 am
8:15 – 11:15 am
8:15 – 11:15 am
$1640
$2460
$3280
$4099
2 days/week
3 days/week
4 days/week
5 days/week
8:15 am – 2:15 pm
8:15 am – 2:15 pm
8:15 am – 2:15 pm
8:15 am – 2:15 pm
$3278
$4918
$6557
$8196
All classes are for 3- and 4-year olds!
March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
15
PRESSOPINION
EDITORIAL
Salute our
senior citizen
volunteers
Take time out and consider
nominating an outstanding senior
volunteer.
Especially as spring approaches, many organizations recognize excellent students for their
volunteer eﬀorts.
Adults are often honored during their careers for various achievements and dedication to the
community.
It is also important to recognize senior citizens who volunteer
their time to various causes for all
the work they do.
Nominations of Connecticut
residents as outstanding senior volunteers are currently open as part of
the Salute to Senior Service program.
e program, sponsored by
Home Instead, Inc., honors the contributions of adults 65 and older
who give at least 15 hours a month
of volunteer service.
Nominations will be accepted
until March 31 and state winners
will then be selected by popular vote
at SalutetoSeniorService.com between April 15 and 30, according to
a press release. From those winners,
a panel of senior care experts will
pick the national Salute to Senior
Service honoree.
Each of the state winners will
receive $500 for their favorite nonproﬁt organization and their story
will be posted on the Salute to Senior Service Wall of Fame.
e volunteer eﬀorts of our
local senior citizens beneﬁt the
community in so many ways. Most
groups include participants that
range in age, but senior citizen
members are often some of the
most dedicated members.
ey help to raise funds for
charity via church groups and other
organizations. ey keep our towns
beautiful as part of various groups,
such as the Old Drake Hill Flower
Bridge Committee in Simsbury.
ey work to support our libraries
and plan community events.
ey serve on committees for
local museums, food banks and
other non-proﬁt organizations.
Volunteerism often starts at a
young age, is prevalent through
one’s aging and continues well into
one’s so-called “golden years.”
It is important to recognize the
lifelong eﬀorts of our local senior citizens. If you know someone who has
provided excellent service to the
community, take a moment and
salute a senior.
To complete and submit a nomination form online and to view the
contest’s oﬃcial rules, visit SalutetoSeniorService.com. Completed
nomination forms also can be
mailed to Salute to Senior Service,
P.O. Box 285, Bellevue, Neb., 68005.
16
The
Valley Press
540 Hopmeadow St.
Simsbury, CT 06070
Phone 860-651-4700
Fax 860-606-9599
Letter to the editor
Another white elephant
To the editor:
Four weeks ago, the Collinsville Renewable
Energy Promotion Act, known locally as the
Collinsville White Elephant Act, was passed by
the U.S. House of Representatives almost unnoticed and without any comment, which really is
too bad since it deserves a much closer look.
e bill was sponsored by Connecticut’s 5th
District freshman representative Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty and has been long championed by Canton’s First Selectman Richard
Barlow. It would enable the town of Canton to
assume a dormant license to operate a long defunct hydroelectric power generating facility on
the Farmington River. On the surface, this legislation and idea seems noble and good. However,
there are some serious issues with the entire
concept.
We, in the state of Connecticut, pay the second highest all sectors price for electricity in the
nation, according to a recent study conducted
by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
is is just another sad metric on a growing list
of woes for the state of Connecticut.
A Collinsville hydroelectric facility does
nothing at all to help the residents and businesses in the state pay less. In fact, it actually
adds to our burden through a scheme called Virtual Net Metering and through the potential use
of renewable energy credits, known in the electricity underworld by several innocent acronyms
such as IRECs CRECs and ZRECs. ese little
beauties are subsidies plain as day and you as the
ratepayer fund them all through a collection
mechanism called your electric bill.
Of course, there will be by necessity the use
of a now ubiquitous tool called a government
grant. Grants, for the uninitiated, are free money
handed out by various government agencies to
entities hither and yon without any expectation
of repayment.
Here is how all this works. e town operates the dam and generates electricity. e excess amount of power it is not able to use in
certain town buildings would be sold back to the
grid.
Fair enough, right?
Here’s the rub. e price Canton would get
for the excess power sold to the grid would be at
the full boat retail price you pay on your bill for
generation, not the wholesale cost that any other
private beaver who owns a dam would get for
the power they make.
You, the ratepayer, pick up the tab on the
diﬀerence via your electric bill and those little
charges on the back page that no one reads. e
worst part about all this is that the extra cash the
dam might generate goes directly to the Canton
General Fund for Mr. Barlow to spend or misspend as the case may be.
It’s not over yet. We need to cover those actually not-so-little renewable energy credits. If
you ran a business that made donuts, wouldn’t
you love to get paid by your customers for your
donuts and then again by someone else just because you make nice low calorie donuts?
is is the concept behind renewable energy credits; the producer gets paid twice. Guess
who picks up the bill on both payments? Right,
the Connecticut electricity ratepayer. Here again,
people throughout the Farmington River Valley
are sending cash to the town of Canton simply
because it makes a certain class of low calorie
donut, which is already overpriced.
is project can not stand on its own economic merits without a complex subsidy
scheme, which may help us become numero
uno in the electricity cost top 50. How all this
helps the already overburdened ratepayer or the
state of Connecticut as a whole create new jobs
is a mystery.
Chris Budnick
Canton resident
Letters to the editor should be 400 words or less in length. Guest columns
will be published at the discretion of the editor and should be no more
than 650 words in length. No unsigned or anonymous opinions will be published. We require that the person submitting the opinion also include his or her town of residence and phone number. We authenticate authorship prior
to publication. We reserve the right to edit or withold any submissions deemed to be libelous, unsubstantiated allegations, personal attacks or defamation of character. Send opinions to: [email protected] or 540 Hopmeadow
St., Simsbury, 06070. Deadline for submissions is Friday at noon for the following week’s edition. Call the oﬃce, 860651-4700, with questions.
LETTERS POLICY
March 14, 2013
The Valley Press is a publication of
Valley Press Publishing Inc.
Delivered to homes in
Avon, Burlington, Canton,
Farmington, Granby and Simsbury
Abigail Albair
Editor
[email protected]
David Heuschkel
Sports Editor
[email protected]
Melissa Friedman
Advertising Director
860-978-1345
[email protected]
Chris Melnyk
Advertising representative
[email protected]
Barbara Ouellette
Classified Sales
[email protected]
FOLLOW US ON
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:
“To live is the rarest thing in the world.
Most people exist, that is all.”
― Oscar Wilde
PRESSOPINION
Beyond the desk of the editor
Mermaid for a day: my experience swimming with dolphins
By Abigail Albair
Editor
Doesn’t every little girl at one time or
another imagine herself as a mermaid,
swimming with the dolphins?
CLUES ACROSS
1. Something curved in shape
4. Tattoo (slang)
7. Therapeutic resort
10. His ark
12. Organized crime heads
14. Actor Connery
15. Free from danger
16. Honey badger
17. Part of a deck
18. Cause to run off the tracks
20. Classical music form
22. Defensive nuclear weapon
23. Volt-ampere
24. "Socrate" composer Erik
26. Keep up
29. Foot raced
30. The 44th President
35. Aboriginal (abbr.)
36. Wedding vow
37. 21st Hebrew letter
38. "Little Man Tate" director
44. Teletype (Computers)
45. Discovered alternating current
46. Tears down (alt. sp.)
48. Resinlike substance in shellac
Maybe not, but then I suppose my confession of the day is that I did imagine myself
as such.
As a young child, I fancied myself a future marine biologist until I realized I was
more of a Walt Whitman than a Jacques
49. Military mailbox
50. Smoothed wood
53. Old Testament book
56. Japanese lake with marimo
57. Card, dining or coffee
59. Checks
61. Telephone exchange (abbr.)
62. Greek covered walks or
colonnades
63. Pigmented eye membrane
64. No. French river
65. Airborne (abbr.)
66. Shock therapy
CLUES DOWN
1. Autonomic nervous system
2. Highway
3. Eating house
4. Afrikaans
5. Likely
6. Foot digits
7. Place to sit
8. For in Spanish
9. Also or including
11. N W Afghan city
12. Black Sea peninsula
13. Language of Slovakia
14. Divine Egyptian beetle
See answers on page 30
19. What a baby wears to eat
21. River of NE Ecuador & N
Peru
24. European wooden shoe
25. Positive pole
27. Hereditary social class
(Hindu)
28. Utters
29. British rule over India
31. ___ de Janeiro
32. Promotional materials
33. Narrow collapsible bed
34. Whatsoever
39. Land surrounded by water
40. Ardor
41. Aspects
42. Removes writing
43. __ Nui, Easter Island
47. Conductor Sir Georg
50. Landscaped road (abbr.)
51. Research workplaces
52. Organized factual information
53. A scheme or program
54. Female horse or zebra
55. Invests in little enterprises
56. Signing
58. Robert's nickname
60. Very fast airplane
Cousteau. My grades in English far surpassed those in any of the sciences, but I did
have an undying love for certain creatures of
the sea.
For years I hung onto the dream of one
day swimming with the dolphins.
Given the fact that I cannot breathe
under water and thus stay submerged for
long periods of time while I ﬂip my nonexistent ﬁns, once I ﬁnally had the chance at
this swimming with ﬂipper experience, it
wasn’t quite the gliding underwater with
one hand gripping the dolphin’s dorsal ﬁn
that I had pictured.
But it was magical.
To begin with, I had imagined that dolphins would feel like rubber to the touch.
eir dark, gray skin seems as though it
must be so sturdy, but in reality, dolphins
feel more delicate that human adults.
As part of my swimming with the dolphins experience on Blue Lagoon Island in
the Bahamas, one of the two adult female
dolphins my group swam with passed in
front of us as we ﬂoated in a line donning life
jackets and allowed us to gently rub our
hand along ﬁrst its back and then it’s belly.
Its body was as soft as a baby’s and gave
to slight pressure as a down comforter or
pillow does.
e dolphins were playful. Each time
they accomplished a task their trainer commanded them to, they jumped in the air –
one reaching 25 feet in height – and clicked
and whistled at one another.
Each of the dolphins had a baby that
swam in the same cove as us, though as
these young ones were not fully trained, we
were not permitted to interact with them.
However, they would occasionally almost
tease us by swimming near us and brushing
against us.
On more than one occasion, one of the
babies – either feeling neglected or simply
bored – used its nose to toss a ball at the
trainers who were working with us and our
adult dolphin partners. At one point, the ball
caught a trainer oﬀ guard and bounced oﬀ
her shoulder.
She laughed. “Not right now, we’re
working,” she said to the baby.
After we became acquainted with our
dolphin friends, we ﬁrst were able to hug
them. Two at a time we came forward and
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Dr. Dawn Cooley was born and raised in a small town in the foothills of the Adirondack
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College in Oneonta, NY, she relocated to Connecticut to attend the University of
Connecticut School of Dental Medicine. She performed her General Practice Residency
at Hartford Hospital and has been in practice in the Greater Hartford Area for 10 years.
Dr. Cooley has attended a multitude of continuing education courses throughout the
years including extensive Cosmetic Dentistry courses. She is currently accepting new
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stretched out our arms toward them. Suddenly, they dove down and then popped out
of the water, resting their heads on our
shoulders.
As I wrapped my arms around my dolphin, I was startled by its size as it ﬂoated
vertically against me in the water. It’s tail extended below my toes and I reveled for a
moment in the full body hug.
Next, the dolphins retrieved a small ﬁsh
from their trainer and brought it to us. We
were meant to hold it up in the air and they
would jump to take it from us.
A bird dove at my husband and
snatched the ﬁsh from him, much to his dolphin partner’s dismay.
“Did he let your ﬁsh get stolen?” the
trainer said to the dolphin. “Tell him to get it
together.”
e dolphin eagerly turned and began
spitting water at Mike and clicking at him.
We then had the chance to dance with
the dolphins.
As we tapped our hands on the water’s
surface, they popped up and allowed as to
grab their ﬁns as they rapidly moved their
tails, bopping back and forth and occasionally doing a full spin.
e dolphins kissed us on the cheek
and “giggled” at us and let us touch their
teeth.
It was amazing, but nothing was as
thrilling as the grand ﬁnale.
Each one of us was sent out into the
middle of the cove where we ﬂoated on our
stomach with our arms stretched out in
front of us and our feet behind us, toes
pointing toward the ocean ﬂoor.
Suddenly, both dolphins in perfect synchronization each placed their nose on the
bottom of one of my feet and began to push
me forward.
For several yards I traveled this way, the
top half of my body curved up out of the
water as the dolphins carried me away.
I wasn’t quite a mermaid, but I felt like
King Triton in his chariot pulled by dolphins.
It was a feeling unlike anything I’ve ever
had before.
e intelligence and emotion of the dolphins that I experienced in a mere 45 minutes was overwhelming and incredible:
something I hope I have the chance to encounter again.
Your hometown newspaper
is now available online.
www.TheValleyPress.net
March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
17
PRESSBUSINESS
HomeGoods opens in Simsbury
By Sloan Brewster
Senior Staﬀ Writer
On a Monday afternoon, one
week following the grand opening
of HomeGoods in Simsbury, people
were piling into the store
e 25,000-square-foot store,
which opened for the ﬁrst time
bright and early Sunday, March 3,
occupies the building in Simsbury
Commons that, until 2011, held
Borders Books.
According to company
spokesman Phil Tracey, there was a
line of customers around the store
on opening day.
“ere’s a lot of home enthusiasts in the area. e turnout was
wonderful,” Tracey said. “ere’s literally something for everyone.”
e pattern continued Monday, March 11 when many customers wandered the store on the
hunt for treasure.
Many of the shoppers were
new to the store. at was the case
for Barbara Hopkins of West Simsbury, who was loading a couple of
bags into her car after her visit to
the new store. She said she had
never been to a HomeGoods before,
but went there in search of inspira-
The new world of estate planning:
Should you bypass your bypass trust?
As we entered
2013,
Congress
passed new legislation as a result of the
“ﬁscal cliﬀ” negotiations. Although the
outcome was a tax
increase for many
people, Congress John W. Eckel
displayed its sense of humor by naming it
“the American Taxpayer Relief Act of
2012.”
Good news
HomeGoods has opened in Simsbury Commons.
tion for colors and ideas for redoing
a bathroom in her home. She
bought some towels and a wicker
basket. “I think it’s going to be great
for the area, and I think we needed
it for the area,” she said.
Items for pets are one of
HomeGoods specialties, Tracey
said, who added that many of the
products in the store can be found
in New York boutiques.
Except at HomeGoods, they
are less pricey, he said.
HomeGoods, according to a
press release, oﬀers an exciting,
ever-changing selection of highquality home fashions at prices 20
Photo by Sloan Brewster
percent to 60 percent less than department and specialty store regular prices, every day. HomeGoods
provides consumers with extraordinary values on brand name and
designer merchandise and unique
ﬁnds for every room and in countless styles. HomeGoods merchandise oﬀerings include furniture,
rugs, lamps, kitchen and dining,
bedding and bath, kids décor, toys,
pet, storage and much more.
“We literally sell items for
everyone with a house,” Tracey said.
In addition, according to the
press release, HomeGoods will support the Simsbury community by
hiring store management and associates from the local area. e
Simsbury store is expected to ﬁll
approximately 60 full- and parttime positions.
HomeGoods operates more
than 400 stores across the country and is a division of e TJX
Companies, Inc. e TJX Companies, Inc. is the leading oﬀ-price
retailer of apparel and home fashions in the U.S. and worldwide.
One of the few good things coming out of the legislation is Congress
made the individual $5.25 million federal
estate tax exemption amount permanent (or as permanent as anything is in
Washington) rather than subjecting it to
a future sunset provision.
e exemption amount is indexed
for future inﬂation, and a surviving
spouse can also use their deceased
spouse’s unused exemption in addition
to their own exemption. is is sometimes referred to as portability and is a
key reason why marital bypass trusts, also
known as credit shelter trusts, have been
used.
Portability
Portability removes the possibility
that a spouse’s estate tax exemption may
not be fully utilized (which would result
in higher estate taxes for the surviving
spouse) and also removes some of the
advantages of a bypass trust.
Individuals with estates under $5.25
million and couples with estates under
$10.5 million will now not be subject to
federal estate taxes.
ose with estates above the exemption amount face a 40 percent tax.
However, families with estates less than
the federal exemption amount may still
be subject to estate taxes in the state of
their residence. Many states do not have
estate taxes, but some, especially in the
Northeast and Midwest, do.
“Would you like
to join us?”
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18
The
Valley Press
March 14, 2013
e state of Connecticut actually
lowered the exemption amount in 2011
from $3.5 million to $2 million with a top
rate of 12 percent. Unfortunately, the
Connecticut estate tax exemption does
not provide for portability of the unused
exemption to the surviving spouse.
Disadvantages of bypass
trusts
Bypass trusts have disadvantages
that should be considered when reviewing your estate plan:
- Assets in a bypass trust do not receive a second “step-up in basis” upon
the death of the second spouse, while
the second step-up in basis would be
available outside a bypass trust. is
could result in a higher capital gain tax
for your ultimate heirs.
- Undistributed income in a bypass
trust is subject to trust income tax brackets, making higher taxes a very real possibility, including possibly being subject to
the new 3.8 percent health care tax on
dividends and capital gains.
- Bypass trusts have administrative
costs.
Situations where bypass
trusts are advantageous
In spite of these disadvantages, bypass trusts still retain advantages in certain situations:
- Couples who live in a state with
no state estate tax whose estate value is
close to or above $10 million. e investments in the bypass trust from the death
of the ﬁrst spouse would not be subject
to future estate tax even if their value
grew to more than the $5.25 million exemption.
- Couples who live in a state with a
state estate tax and whose estate value is
in excess of their state’s exemption (e.g.,
$2 million in Connecticut and $1 million
in Massachusetts)
- Where asset protection from
creditors or others is especially important
- A need for control of spendthrifts
- When privacy, avoiding probate
and expediting distribution of the estate
is particularly important.
is may be a good time
to see your estate planning
attorney
e net result is that Congress has
changed the rules and these rules are
considered permanent by the standards
of Washington. If you have a bypass trust,
this is a good time to discuss it with your
estate planning attorney to see if it remains the best approach for you.
John W. Eckel, CFP, CFA
John W. Eckel, CFP, CFA is president
of Pinnacle Investment Management Inc.
of Simsbury. He has been included in BusinessWeek.com’s list of the Most Experienced Independent Financial Advisors, has
been named four times to Worth Magazine’s list of Top Financial Advisors, included twice in Medical Economics list of
Top Financial Advisors for Doctors and
named twice in JK Lasers list of Top Professional Advisors for Baby Boomers.
John Eckel can be reached in Simsbury at 860-651-1716 or at [email protected] for comments or questions. For
additional information about Pinnacle Investment Management Inc., you can visit
our website at www.Pinnacle-Investment.com.
PRESSEDUCATION
The
of the home!
Time to make it
yours!
5IF (MBEF t 4JNTCVSZ t We’ve
longway
way
since
inviting
you
to the
walk
the
Weʼve come
come aa long
since
inviting
you to
walk
propproperty
and view
the for
plans
this stunning
work
erty and view
the plans
thisfor
stunning
work of art
by of art
Maglieri
Development
. . . This
warmwarm
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eat-in kitchen
by
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. . . This
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& counters
out
kitchen
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Viking appliances
granite
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counters
the mainout
floor.
cherryfloor.
cabinet
study shares
a see-thru
fire-a
rounds
theA main
A huge
living room
shares
place with the living room. And thereʼs LOTS more.
see-thru
fireplace with the study. An there’s LOTS more.
Decorative chairs created by three Upper School students for The Master’s School upcoming gala and auction event
Courtesy photo
Students put ‘The Master’s Touch’ on gala event
By Abigail Albair
Editor
Children from The Master’s
School have put their own touches
on the school’s upcoming gala and
auction event, which will in turn
highlight the impact “The Master’s
Touch” has on the school’s students.
The annual event, which will
be held at The Riverview in Simsbury, is the school’s largest
fundraiser, scheduled for Friday,
March 22 this year.
Event Co-Chair Elissa O’Connor has said that the theme of the
event is “The Master’s Touch” because the school wanted to exemplify how students are touched by
their experience there, but the students have also left their mark on
the gala by creating pieces for the
auction.
Approximately 50 3- and 4year-old students in the early childcare program did splatter painting,
each choosing a color to splash
against a large canvas. The highest
bidder will receive the canvas, a
certificate for framing and a
framed picture of their child in
their smock with paint.
Students in the lower grades
and early kindergarten created a
fingerprint bench. Grade five students made a fingerprint piece to
decoupage onto the small, decorative bench. Students selected the
color for their fingerprint and used
markers to turn their prints into
HOD 0000962
images of butterflies, turtles, bats
and others.
“We selected Isaiah 64:8 [to
put] on the center of the piece,” explained O’Connor.
The verse reads: “We are the
clay, and you are our potter; we are
all the work of your hand.”
Three Upper School students
created works of art using chairs
that were donated to the senior
class tag sale last October.
Michaela Todd, Hannah Dunn
and Morgan Sharp, all of whom
O’Connor said are “very active in
the arts,” took the chairs home to
transform them into decorated
pieces.
In addition, a first-grade class
made its own chair artwork with
the Lower School art teacher Sylvia
Wallis.
Students also created special
touches for the gala event in other
ways.
Lower School students created watercolor butterflies to adorn
printed stationary cards as guest favors. Six hundred truffles were
handmade by Upper School students, also as favors for the event.
The National Honor Society
offered complimentary in-house
babysitting during the gala for
those in attendance as well.
“This event by far has ‘The
Master’s Touch’ and is seen from
our very youngest students all the
way to the senior class adults,”
O’Connor said. “It’s personalized
and personal in so many ways.”
S1-0300612
Brian Meek, headmaster of
The Master’s School, commented,
“Lives are touched and the world is
impacted at The Master’s School.
Delivering a comprehensive Christian education one life at a time intentionally prepares each student
for the world, which awaits them in
all of their fullness. The Master’s
Touch refers directly to transformation that occurs as students are
educated in an environment where
they are well-known and welltaught.”
The evening will include dinner,
a live and silent auction, speakers
and live music and dancing featuring the Valley Swing Shift Orchestra.
Event sponsors are Rockland
Bank Foundation, Ruark Consulting LLC and The Valley Press.
“The generosity and investment of those who have donated to
this event and who are supporting
this event in The Master’s School
will have impact that is lasting and
visible for years to come,” Meek
said.
The Master’s School is a private, co-educational, Christian day
school in West Simsbury, serving
students from a wide geographic
area. Parents, alumni and students
comprise a school community of
over 1,000 people.
Call me for your own personal tour. You’re gonna
Old Farms Road north to Wyngate to The Glade
© An independently operated member of BRER Affiliates, Inc. Equal Housing Opportunity.
it!
Erica K.
Maglieri
860.324.6842
prudentialCT.com
TRUST
expertise
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Robert S. Hensley*, President
Joseph F. Shiman, III*,Vice President
Margaret H. Jakubowski, Vice President
Jill Brandon, CLU, ChFC*, Financial Advisor
Robert B. Loomis, CLTC, Long-Term Care Advisor
10 Avon Meadow Lane | Avon, CT 06001 | Ph: (860) 678-1090 | (800) 875-1090 | Fax: (860) 678-0544
[email protected] | www.hensleyassociates.com
*Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through Registered Representatives and Financial Advisors of Tower Square Securities, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC.
Robert Hensley & Associates, LLC is not a broker/dealer or registered investment advisor, and is not an affiliate of Tower Square Securities, Inc. L0213308205[exp0315][CT]
Cell: 860-558-5948
Office: 860-728-5431
Fax: 860-528-4321
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Retail Fuel Distributor • HVAC Sales & Service
March 14, 2013
The Valley Press
19
To submit an event for the calendar, e-mail Sally at [email protected]
Avon calendar
The Avon Senior Center, 635 West Avon
Road, 860-675-4355:
• SNAP presentation Thursday, March 14,
12:30 p.m., with Sherry Suber from End
Hunger CT, sign up
• Cooking with Nicole Wednesday, March 20,
noon, $5, sign up
• Taking Charge Thursday, March 21, 12:30
p.m., providing tips and tools for looking out
for oneself
Senior Citizens Organization of Avon, 635
West Avon Road, Monday, March 18, lunch
at noon, program at 12:30 p.m. with Jay Kaplan of Roaring Brook Nature Center on
Snakes Alive! including live snakes
Breakfast with the Easter Bunny March 23,
beginning at 9 a.m., at Avon Health Center,
652 West Avon Road, register online at avonhealthcenter.com
Talcott Mountain Science Center presents
Dr. Henry Lee, forensic scientist, Thursday,
April 4, 7-9 p.m., $8/$10, 860-677-8571
AVFD annual Citizens’ Fire Academy
course Thursdays beginning April 4-May 23,
6:30-9 p.m., to request application, call 860677-2644, application deadline March 21
Burlington
Congregational Church of Burlington tag
sale Saturday, March 16, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., at
Town Hall
Park and Rec’s Eggstravaganza Saturday,
March 23, 10 a.m., Town Hall auditorium, preregister by March 14 – magic show, refreshments, outdoor egg hunt
Parks & Rec spring programs: Kickbox
Combo Session II, March 25-June 12, 6:307:30 p.m., $66 one class, $100 two classes per
week; Junior Golf Camp Session II, April 3, 10
and 17, 4-6 p.m., register by March 29; Get
Golf Ready Wednesdays, April 3, 10 and 27, 67:45 p.m., register by March 29
Canton calendar
Canton Historical Museum lecture of Feb.
10, “The Roots of John B rown: His Canton
Connection,” cancelled because of the snowstorm rescheduled for Sunday, March 17 at
2 p.m. at the Canton Library/Community
Center, 40 Dyer Ave., Collinsville (rear entrance, lower level)
At Gallery on the Green thru Sunday,
March 17: Members show “Dreams” in the
Main Gallery; Upstairs Gallery: “A Wild and
Scenic River,” waterscapes of Tom Cameron;
Spotlight Gallery: “In the Mind’s Eye,” work of
Diane Wright; gallery hours Fridays-Sundays,
1-5 p.m.
at the library
Avon Public Library
281 Country Club Road, 860-673-9712,
www.avonctlibrary.info
• Thursday Matinee Movies, 1:30 p.m.: March
14, “The Quiet Man” and March 21, “Vertigo”
• Candy Pixel Art Thursday, March 14, 3:15-4:15
p.m., grades 7-12, sign up
• Nutmeg Book Discussion Thursday, March
14, 4-5 p.m., “The Mostly True Adventures of
Homer P. Figg,” grades 4-6
• Teen DrawSomething Friday, March 15, 3-4
p.m., drop in
• St. Patrick’s Day program Friday, March 15, 44:45 p.m., grades K-2, wear green
• Daddy and Me Storytime Saturday, March 16,
10:30-11:30 a.m.
• Bookmates Reading Club Saturday, March 16,
4-5 p.m., grades 1-3, “The Dragon in the Sock
Drawer” by Kate Klimo
• Morning Book Group Wednesday, March 20,
10 a.m.-noon, “Emily Alone” by Stewart O’Nan
Burlington Public Library
1 Library Lane, 860-673-3331,
www.burlingtonctlibrary.info
• TAC meeting Thursday, March 14, 6:30 p.m.
20
The
Valley Press
Canton High School’s “Bye Bye Birdie”
spring musical March 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m.
and March 24 at 2 p.m., tickets $8/$12 at
birdiecanton.brownpapertickets.com or at
860-693-7707
tickets door to door for $5 for duck race
(May 5) and collecting non-perishable food
items, six prizes; also selling tickets and collecting food at Stop & Shop March 16, 24
and 30
Ukrainian Egg Decorating Workshops presented by Canton Senior/Social Services
Monday, March 18, 1-3 p.m.; Thursday March
28, 3-5 p.m.; Tuesday, April 16, 1:30-3:30 p.m.,
in the multipurpose room of the Canton
Community & Senior Center, registration and
payment due two days prior to each session,
call 860-693-5811
Pysanky (egg decorating) workshop
Tuesday, March 19, 6:30-9:30 p.m., at Our
Lady of Calvary Retreat Center, 31 Colton
St., $25 offering, advance registration at 860677-8519
Farmington calendar
Author Amy Bloom to speak about her
writing experiences Thursday, March 14, 7
p.m., in Founder’s Hall at Tunxis Community
College, free, book signing
At the UConn Health Center, 263 Farmington Ave.:
• Free workshop: “Spiritual Conclave: Mind,
Matter and Consciousness” Friday, March 15,
Conference Room EG-013 ([email protected])
• Free talk: “How Your Heart Works When
You Have Heart Disease” Tuesday, March 19,
1:30-3 p.m., HR training room, 16 Munson
Road, register, 860-679-3633
East Farmington Volunteer Fire Department 40th annual Pancake Breakfast Sunday, March 17, 7 a.m.-noon, at the fire station,
94 South Road, tickets available at the door
– all-you-can-eat blueberry, chocolate chip
or regular pancakes, sausage, orange juice and
choice of coffee, tea or milk,
Persona Poems: The Truth Behind the Mask,
a writing workshop with Jim Kelleher Sunday, March 17, 1:30-5 p.m., at the Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Road, $30/$35, contact
Sarah Wadsworth at 860-677-4787, ext. 134 to
register – study famous persona poems by
Browning, Hughes, Machan, Shakespeare, Yeats;
use workshop writing prompts to build a character and story; create a unique persona poem
Farmington, 1652 Wellness Program, Caring for Body, Mind and Spirit, Session 4,
Embodying Holiness: A Scriptural View of
Body, Mind and Spirit Wednesday, March
20, 7-8:30 p.m., in Porter Memorial Hall, 75
Main St., 860-677-2601, no registration, free
will offering, all welcome.
“Diverse Collections in Retrospect,” a collection of oil paintings, drawings and handcolored photographs of landscapes and still
lifes by Laurie Tavino, thru April 4 in the Wallace Barnes and Barbara Hackman Franklin
Art Gallery at Tunxis Community College
Granby/East Granby
calendar
Barn Fun at Maple View Farm, 192 Salmon
Brook St., Saturdays, March 16 and April 13,
3-5 p.m., $15 per child, limited to 10 per session, 860-655-2036 – grooming horses, stall
cleaning, feeding animals and learning about
seasonal activities on the farm
Copper Hill United Methodist Church
corned beef dinner Saturday, March 16, one
seating at 5:30 p.m., 27 Copper Hill Road, East
Granby, $12/$6, menu: corned beef, cabbage,
potato, carrots, rolls and butter, hot and cold
beverages, homemade cakes and ice cream,
call Susan at 860-668-1031 for reservations
Granby Education Foundation’s Gran-Bee
trivia night fundraiser Friday, March 22, 6:30
p.m., granbyeducationfoundation.org
Simsbury calendar
At Village Gate, 88 Scott Swamp Road,
R.S.V.P. 860-676-8626:
• Nutrition Tips for Seniors Thursday, March
14, 2 p.m.
• Lucky Leprechaun Card Party Sunday,
March 17, 2 p.m. – set back, bridge, rummy
or any other variety
Simsbury Free Library, 749 Hopmeadow
St., hosting hosting the Connecticut
Women’s Hall of Fame “We Fight for Roses,
Too” exhibit Thursday, March 14, 11 a.m.-5
p.m., with a special event at 3 p.m., a speech
entitled “Powerful Voices: Connecticut
Women Changing Democracy” with Mickey
Orkin
Farmington Police Department hosting
Women’s Personal Safety Program Thursdays, March 14 and 21, 6-9 p.m. for females
over age 16, to reserve a seat contact Detective Susan DiVenere at 860-675-2462
Meditation for Modern Life Thursday,
March 14, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Valley Yoga, 730
Hopmeadow
St.,
register
at
[email protected], 860-268-7251
Ducks for Crew – Food for the Pantry,
Farmington High School crew team canvassing the town Saturday, March 16 selling raffle
Senior Center at Eno Memorial Hall, 860658-3273:
• Introduction to Meditation Thursday,
• Musical Movies Friday, March 15, 1 p.m.,
“Brigadoon”
• Play Wii on the big screen Tuesday, March 19,
4:30 p.m., grades 2 and up, register
• Spring Story Times, ages 2-3 with caregivers,
Wednesdays, March 20-May 15, 10:30 a.m.,
register
• Lego Lit Story Time Thursdays, March 21May 16, 1 p.m., for 4-6 year olds, register
• Cuddles & Smiles Baby Group Thursdays,
March 21-May 15, 10:30 a.m., register
• Rhythm & Rhyme Story Time Mondays,
March 18-May 13, 10:30 a.m., ages 9 months35 months with caregivers, register
• T(w)een Craft Group Thursday, March 21, 6
p.m., decoupaged flower pots, register
Canton Public Library
40 Dyer Ave., 860-693-5800,
www.cantonpubliclibrary.org
• Pajama Story Time: “Get Dressed” Thursday,
March 14, 6:30-7:30 p.m., ages 3 and up, register
• Winter Music Series, Kaleidos, the duo of Yovianna Garcia on guitar and vocals and Sayun
Chang on percussion and vocals Sunday,
March 17, 2 p.m., registration requested
• Movies on the Big Screen Wednesday, March
20, 2 p.m., “Wreck-It Ralph,” ages 6 and up, free
popcorn
March 14, 2013
Farmington Library
6 Monteith Drive, 860-673-6791, www.farmingtonlibraries.org
• Afternoon at the Bijou Thursdays, 2-4 p.m.:
March 14, “Action in the North Atlantic”
(World War II – 1943); March 21, “Father Is a
Bachelor”
• Investment Group with Hal Brent Saturday,
March 16, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m., register
• Director’s College event: author talk and
book signing with former U.S. Congressman
Bob Steele, author of “The Curse: Big-Time
Gambling’s Seduction of a Small New England
Town,” Wednesday, March 20, 10:30-11:30 a.m.,
register
• Bound by Distance: Italian Migration Across
Time Wednesday, March 20, 7:30-9 p.m., by
Joshua King, Ph.D., student at Trinity College,
register
• Free workshop, Creativity in the Community,
Thursday, March 21, 9 a.m., presented by Marilyn Price, educator, author, puppeteer, storyteller, learning opportunity for librarians
Granby Library
15 North Granby Road, 860-844-5275
• 2 programs at Cossitt Library, 388 North
Granby Road, 860-653-8958, Sunday, March 17:
From Stuttgart to Springfield: The German Immigrant at 1:30 p.m. and A Mason’s Toolchest
check it out
March 14, 1-2 p.m., free
• Friday Lunch Café March 15, 11:30 a.m.-1
p.m., minestrone soup, seafood salad or
chicken salad sandwich, $2 per sandwich, $2
per soup, call in order
• Massages Wednesday, March 20, appts.
starting at 10 a.m., sign up
• Lunch at Eno Wednesday, March 20, noon,
pineapple glazed ham, reservations by noon
on Friday the week before
• Wii bowling Thursday, March 21, 10 a.m.,
with members of Bloomfield Senior Center,
free, sign up
• Bereavement Support Group Thursday,
March 21, 2:30-4 p.m., call to register
• Cribbage every Tuesday, 1-3 p.m., drop in
Mah Jong Thursdays, 10 a.m.-noon, drop in
• Duplicate bridge Fridays, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., $2
per week/per player, register at 860-6519663
Simsbury Lions Club and Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfast Sunday, March 17,
7:30-11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Parish Center, 946
Hopmeadow St., adults $6, children under 3
$3, family of 4 $15
Simsbury Community Band March concert, “Let Me Tell You a Story,” Sunday, March
17, 3 p.m., at Covenant Presbyterian Church,
124 Old Farms Road, free – music of John
Williams, Rodgers and Hammerstein, The
Beatles and more
Simsbury Garden Club meeting and program, “Naturescape Your Yard,” Monday,
March 18, 11:30 a.m., at the Apple Barn, 60
Old Farms Road, speaker: Karen Bussolini,
garden photographer, speaker, writer, NOFAaccredited organic land care professional and
eco-friendly garden coach
Senior Wisdom Series at the Village at
McLean Monday, March 18, 1-2:30 p.m., in
Burkholder Community Center, 100 Sarah
Lane, R.S.V.P. to 860-658-3906, Financial Planning When You Are Retired
Mondays with the Rabbi weekly discussion
based on Jewish texts March 18, 1:30-2:30
p.m., at the Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation, 55 Bushy Hill Road
Caregiver lecture presented by The Atwater
at McLean, 75 Great Pond Road, Wednesday,
March 20, 5 p.m., “How to Engage Your Loved
One with Dementia in Important Conversations” presented by Sheri Morris, LCSW, care
consultant
Simsbury Land Trust’s “Green Scenes”
Documentary Film and Discussion Series
Thursday, March 21, 6:30 p.m. at the Simsbury Farms Apple Barn, “Queen of the Sun”
about the disappearance of bees and the
mysterious world of the beehive, admission
$5/$10, call 860-651-8773 to register
on stonework at 3 p.m.
Simsbury Library
725 Hopmeadow St., 860-658-7663,
www.simsburylibrary.info
• Adult Book Discussion Group Thursday,
March 14, 7-8:30 p.m., “The Earth” by Emile Zola
• Free ACT/SAT Combo Practice Test Saturday,
March 16, 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m., pre-register
• Business programs, pre-register: Microsoft
Excel for Business-New Excel Data Table Feature
March 18, 6:30-8 p.m.; Facebook for BusinessGetting Started March 19, 6-8 p.m.; Investor’s
Program: Using Investor’s Business Daily to
Maximize Your Profits Tuesday, 19, 7-8:30 p.m.
• Free Business Assistance & Mentoring with a
SCORE counselor Thursday, March 21, 10 a.m.2 p.m., Barnes Room, registration required
• Preventing and Reacting to a Home Invasion
Thursday, March 21, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Children’s/teen programs
• Crafty Kids: St. Patrick’s Day Thursday, March
14, 1:30 p.m., ages 3 and up, register
• Make Green Pretzels Thursday, March 14, 45:15 p.m., grades 3-6, register
• Lego Mania Saturday, March 16, 10 a.m.-2
p.m., ages 5 and up, drop in
• Mittens Visits the Library Saturday, March 16,
10:30 a.m., ages 3 and up, drop in
Coming
Attractions
At Bridge Street Live, 41 Bridge St.,
Collinsville, 860-693-9763: March 14, 9
p.m., Charlie Musselwhite; March 15, 9
p.m., John Mulroony & Chris Roach,
comedy; March 16, 9 p.m., Mike
Doughty.; March 21, 9 p.m., Johnny A.
At e Mark Twain House & Museum,
351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, 860-2470998, www.marktwainhouse.org
• “e Guilded Age of Hartford” opening
Friday, March 15 – explores major cultural,
social and economic trends of the era and
Hartford’s role in those trends
• “Celtic Echoes: Myths & Stories from Ancient Ireland” Sunday, March 17, 2 p.m.,
reservations
• “Henry Ward Beecher: Seizing Liberty,” free
conversation and book signing Wednesday,
March 20, 7-8:30 p.m., with Debby Applegate,
author of “e Most Famous Man in America: e Biography of Henry Ward Beecher”
Farmington Valley Stage Company’s
“e Price” by Arthur Miller Fridays and
Saturdays, March 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. at
4 Market St., Collinsville, tickets $25/$22
at FVStage.org, cast includes Eric Litsky
of Simsbury and Ginny Wolf of Avon
At Hartt School, 200 Bloomﬁeld Ave.,
West Hartford: Evening with Guitar
ursday, March 14, 8 p.m., Berkman
Recital Hall; “On the Twentieth Century”
musical comedy March 14-16, 7:30 p.m.,
and Sunday, March 17, 3 p.m., Millard
Auditorium; Faculty Recital Series featuring Robert Black, double bass Sunday,
March 17, 2 p.m., Berkman Recital Hall;
Chamber Choir Concert Sunday, March 17, 3
p.m., St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church, 285 Church
St., Hartford; Foot in the Door Wednesday, March 20, 7:30 p.m., Lincoln eater
At Inﬁnity Hall, Rte. 44, Norfolk, toll free
1-866-666-6306: March 14, 8 p.m., Jeﬀerson Starship; March 15, 8 p.m., New Riders of the Purple Sage; March 16, 8 p.m.,
Kenny Vance and the Planotones; March
17, 7:30 p.m., Shemekia Copeland; March
20, 7 p.m., Open Mic Night; March 21, 8
p.m., Paul orn and Band
At Maple Tree Tavern, 781 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury, 860-651-1297, 8:30
p.m.: March 15, Eight to the Bar; March 16,
e McLovins (ages 18 and older only)
Singer-ﬁddler-songwriter Joyce Andersen at Roaring Brook Nature Center,
70 Gracey Road, Canton, Saturday,
March 16, 7:30 p.m., $18/$20
e Pipes and Drums of the Black
Watch at the Warner eatre, 68 Main
St., Torrington, Saturday, March 16, 8
p.m., call 860-489-7180 for tickets
Mick & e Kippster at the Sounding
Board Coﬀeehouse Saturday, March 16, 8
p.m., at the Universalist Church of West
Hartford, 433 Fern St., West Hartford, [email protected] or 860-635-7685
Artist reception for Mary CottleSmeallie of West Hartford and her master’s exhibit of recent paintings Sunday,
March 17, 1-4 p.m., at the Stanley-Whitman House, 37 High St., Farmington, running thru the month of March
(860-677-9222)
“Play It Again, Sam” at Playhouse on Park,
244 Park Road, West Hartford, thru Sunday,
March 24, tickets $22.50-$32.50,
www.PlayhouseOnPark.org,
PRESSSports
That’s entertainment!
Matters
Farmington snatches victory
from Avon in triple OT thriller
By David Heuschkel
Sports Editor
After his team went 9-11
in the regular season, Farmington basketball coach Duane
Witter told his players they
didn’t deserve to play a home
game in the Class L state tournament, but playing its ﬁrstround game in the next town
over was the next best thing.
“e bus ride was nice,”
Witter said.
Compared to the 3 and a
half-mile trip to Avon, the
game was a marathon. e
third matchup between the
Falcons and Indians this season was historic. According to
Witter, it was the ﬁrst time the
teams met in the state tournament. e participants made it
one to remember.
Farmington emerged victorious in triple overtime, 5756 on March 5 at a packed
gymnasium at Avon High.
“Speechless,” said Farmington junior Colin Cheesman,
who scored a game-high 22
points.
Avon coach Chris Vozzolo used the same word in
his post-game comments. Six
nights earlier, his team beat
Enﬁeld in triple overtime in
the NCCC tournament semiﬁnals. e following night,
the Falcons cruised to a 36point victory over Granby in
the championship.
“We had a roller coaster
week,” Vozzolo said. “I’m very
proud of our guys. I thought
we did a lot of good things
during that week. I’m proud
of what they did in the conference tournament. I’m
proud of the way we came
back and we started a new
season. Knowing we had to
Colin Cheesman, right, celebrates with teammate Vasil Borisevich after
go into Class L, we practiced
the final horn sounded in Farmington’s 57-56 win in triple overtime
hard for three straight days.”
against Avon in the first round of the Class L state tournament on
Witter said the atmosMarch 5.
Photo by David Heuschkel
phere made it feel like a state
tournament semiﬁnal. e
prises in this game. Just a lot of biggest play in the closing secteams played twice in the regu- kids making great plays on onds, grabbing an oﬀensive
lar season and split.
both sides,” Witter said.
“ere really were no surCheesman made the
See FARMINGTON on page 24
Boys hockey: Simsbury wins tournament opener
By David Heuschkel
Sports Editor
Simsbury’s top line of
Ryan Carpenter, Connor Rice
and David Olechna accounted
for the majority of goals scored
by the Trojans this season.
Once again, that was the case
in a 3-0 win over Notre Dame
of Fairﬁeld in the ﬁrst round of
the Division I state tournament
at the International Skating
Center last week.
Carpenter scored the ﬁrst
goal and Rice got the second
one. But the third goal, which
shifted the momentum back in
Simsbury’s favor, was scored by
a player who is usually more focused on shutting down the
opposing team’s top line.
ere was a scrum in front
of the Notre Dame net when
junior Nolan ompson
knocked a loose puck past
goalie Stone Denbok just 32
seconds into the third period,
giving the Trojans and goalie
John Ryan a three-goal cushion.
“I was really happy for
Nolan ompson,” Simsbury
coach Tom Cross said. “He’s
played really well all season but
hasn’t scored. at was his ﬁrst
goal. What a time to get it.”
ompson’s goal and
Ryan’s goaltending (32 saves)
helped Simsbury win its ﬁrst
state tournament game in ﬁve
years. But the Trojans would
not advance past the quarterﬁnals, losing 6-1 to Notre Dame
of West Haven on March 9 at
Yale’s Ingalls Rinks.
As a sophomore last season, ompson scored a handful of goals but said he’s been
“pretty much snake-bitten” this
year. Skating on the third line,
By Scott Gray
It is oﬃcial. Hopefully, this
ends our chronicling of the death
of the old Big East.
On ursday, Mike Aresco,
who is not likely to retain the oﬃce
of commissioner of the Big East, announced that an agreement had
been worked out with the league's seven non-football
playing Catholic schools to break away from the existing conference on July 1. ose seven schools will
then add Creighton and Butler and begin play next
season as, at least, a nine institution league. ere are
talks reportedly ongoing with Dayton that could make
it a 10-team league in the fall, with its greatest focus
on basketball. e new league already has a lucrative
basketball television contract with the new FS1 cable
sports arm of the FOX network.
Under the terms of the agreement, the new
league will keep the name Big East and the rights to
Madison Square Garden for its annual basketball tournament. In return, the remnants of the old Big East will
keep the majority of a $110 million television revenue
pool, the departing Catholic schools taking about $10
million, $100 million to be divided up by the holdover
Big East schools, the majority of that going to the three
Big East football schools committed to staying in place
beyond next season, UConn, Cincinnati and South
Florida expected to receive between $25 and $30 million apiece.
With the new Big East announcing that a search
is already under way for a commissioner, Aresco is likely
to stay on as commissioner of a new league made up
of the Big East remnants, UConn, Cincinnati, South
Florida and Temple, with the additions of SMU, Houston, Tulane, Memphis, East Carolina and Central
Florida. Navy had been committed to join the Big East
in 2015. e new league will work to not only retain
that commitment, but hopes to expedite Navy's arrival to 2014, while negotiating with Tulsa to become
the 12th member. Reportedly, this league, to begin
play after Louisville and Rutgers play out their old Big
East commitments next season, will be known as the
America 12.
While UConn and Memphis bring basketball
credibility to the new league, the America 12 has little
of the sizzle of a league that features programs that
have spent the last 34 years among the most overexposed in the nation. Houston hasn't been a nationally
recognized basketball power since the days of Hakeem
See SIMSBURY on page 24
See GRAY MATTERS on page 23
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March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
21
Farmington girls
headed to Mohegan
By Gregory A. Scibelli
Correspondent
A balanced attack was more
eﬀective than one large contribution as the Farmington High School
girls basketball team defeated
RHAM, 62-51, in the semiﬁnals of
the Class L state tournament Saturday night at Bulkeley High School
in Hartford.
Farmington had four players
score in double ﬁgures. Jamie Bartucca and Bridget Kelly each had 11
points. Courtney Hofer and Sophie
Borg scored 10 apiece. Sarah
Veilleux led RHAM with 27 points.
e Indians, the No. 10 seed in
the tournament, play top seed and
defending L champion Bacon Academy in the ﬁnal at Mohegan Sun
Arena this weekend. (e time and
day were not announced as of press
time.) It is Farmington’s ﬁrst appearance in a ﬁnal since losing to
Bulkeley in 2006.
Farmington coach Russ Crist
said they were aware of what
RHAM brought to the table and
were ready.
“We were excited to play
RHAM,” said Crist. “We knew they
had one of the best players in the
state. Sarah showed that tonight.”
Farmington did a good job
containing Veilleux, holding her to
eight points the ﬁrst three quarters.
She scored 19 in the fourth, but the
Indians were able to hang on and
sealed the win at the free throw line
in the closing minutes.
Farmington led 43-25 after
three quarters before RHAM began
to make a push at a comeback. But
ﬁrst, Cally Lombardi would sink a
three-pointer to start the fourth for
Farmington. Cameron Rishell
would match that trey for RHAM.
Veilleux would then score a threepoint play after being fouled on a
shot.
Rishell would score another
three and Veilleux made two free
throws to close the gap to 46-39
with 4:34 remaining in the game. Finally, Alyssa Hansen would make a
layup to cut the deﬁcit to ﬁve
points.
A three-pointer by freshman
Cheray Saunders pushed Farmington’s lead to 49-41. Later, Kelly
made a layup and was fouled. She
made the free throw.
“I emphasized to them that we
needed to keep playing,” said Crist.
“We had to ﬁnish the game.”
With their hopes ﬂeeting,
RHAM resorted to sending Farm-
Driving to the basket for a layup, Bridget Kelly and the Farmington girls basketball team have their eyes on a
state championship after beating RHAM in the Class L semifinals, 61-52, on March 9. The No. 10 seed Indians play
top seed Bacon Academy, the defending L champion, on either March 15 or 16 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Photo by Gregory A. Scibelli
ington to the line in the ﬁnal two
minutes. Bartucca helped out
Farmington with four made free
throws. Borg and Brittany Belisle
also contributed free throws during
the ﬁnal two minutes and Farmington kept their nine-point lead to the
buzzer.
“I was really proud of how they
responded to Sarah and how they
ﬁnished this game,” said Crist. “We
scored the free throws when we
needed them.”
Kelly said the team knew they
could defeat RHAM and the early
lead helped. Farmington lost to
RHAM by a point in the season
opener.
“We have played them before
and we knew we needed to get up
in the game early,” Kelly said.
Farmington got some clutch
shooting from the outside with ﬁve
three-pointers in the game. Two of
them came from Lombardi oﬀ the
bench in the second half.
Crist said the team’s depth really helped against a team like
RHAM and being able to rotate
eight diﬀerent players helped keep
everyone in the lineup fresh.
Farmington led 8-1 nearing the
end of the ﬁrst quarter and RHAM
came back within two. Farmington
would play better in the second
quarter and led 33-15 at halftime.
Boys basketball: Upsetting ending for Simsbury
By David Heuschkel
Sports Editor
ere wasn’t much that Greg
Stillman could say to his team following its ﬁrst-round exit in the
Class LL state tournament last
week.
ere weren’t any words the
Simsbury boys basketball coach
could use to ease the pain following
a heartbreaking loss to Cheshire,
59-58, that abruptly ended a great
season on March 4.
“It wasn’t like I was planning to
have that speech,” Stillman said. “I
basically said I was proud of them.
We’ll have a banquet to celebrate
the success of the season. At that
point, they’re not hearing much of
what I’m saying. ey just hear that
I was proud of them. at’s all they
need to hear tonight.”
Simsbury, the No. 7 seed in the
29-team tournament, wasn’t able to
close out No. 26 Cheshire the same
way the Trojans closed out victories over New Britain, Northwest,
Southington and Farmington, the
last two weeks of the regular season
to win the CCC West championship.
Cheshire wasn’t able to stop
Simsbury’s E.J. Crawford, who had
34 points, until the closing seconds
when the Rams bottled him up on
the perimeter, forcing him to take a
three-point shot with the clock
winding down.
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The
Valley Press
March 14, 2013
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Pat Abrahamsen, who was
fouled going for the rebound, failed
to convert the front end of a 1-and1 at the line with less than a second
remaining. As the ball bounced
high oﬀ the rim and the horn
sounded, Abrahamson dropped to
the ﬂoor as the Cheshire players
celebrated.
Moments earlier, Abrahamson
had fallen to the ﬂoor in pain after
hurting his left knee under the
Cheshire basket with 1:24 left. After
a few minutes, he rose to his feet,
limped to the bench and took a
seat, but not for long.
“He came oﬀ and said, ‘One
play and I’m going back in, coach,’”
Stillman said. “He’s a warrior. He’s
the heart and soul of our team. I
don’t think anybody wanted to end
that game with Pat sitting on the
bench.”
Simsbury’s biggest lead was
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UPSETTING
from page 22
eight points after Crawford fed
Karon Beckford for a basket as he
was fouled. Beckford, one of six
seniors, made the free throw to
make it 36-38 with 5:58 left in the
third quarter.
Cheshire roared back, though,
as junior guard Collin Jordan used
his quickness to spark the Rams,
who outscored Simsbury 21-8 the
rest of the quarter. Jordan scored
eight points and upped the tempo.
He dribbled through defenders and
around them. He went around the
back and penetrated the lane.
“We’ve had to come back from
a lot of deﬁcits this year and we’re
able to play at a pretty quick speed,”
Cheshire coach Dan Lee said. “We
get up and down the ﬂoor pretty
quick.”
“Collin Jordan kind of raised
his game to another level. For that
GRAY MATTERS
from page 21
Alojuwon and the other schools do
nothing to excite college basketball
fans nationally. From a football perspective, the new league will proceed
without Syracuse, Louisville, Rutgers,
Pittsburgh and West Virginia, whose
departure had already relegated the
league to also-ran status with the Bowl
Championship Series, forced back into
a pool with four other leagues competing to get one team into one BCS
bowl game.
It didn't take long for the old Big
East to become recognized as the nation's top basketball conference, but
that league was made up of recognized
power teams whose only reason for
giving up their independent status was
an edict from the NCAA that future
NCAA tournament eligibility would re-
third quarter, it seemed like
he was dominating,” Stillman said. “en we made
some adjustments. E.J. actually stepped up and said he’ll
take him in the fourth quarter. at slowed him down a
little bit. E.J. kind of took
over himself.”
Crawford scored Simsbury’s last 22 points. He had
14 in the fourth quarter,
helping the Trojans erase an
early ﬁve-point deﬁcit. ere
were six lead changes in the
ﬁnal 6:03.
“All year we’ve been in Simsbury sophomore E.J. Crawford was the
these tight games and the focal point of the Trojans’ offense, espefourth quarter is kind of cially in the second half when he scored 22
when we start pulling away of his game-high 34 points in a 59-58 loss
and make a couple baskets, to Cheshire in the Class LL first round last
make a couple stops and week.
Photo by David Heuschkel
then hit our free throws at
the end,” Stillman said. “We were Cheshire didn’t go away. We couldsetting up for that again today. n’t get that key stop.”
quire league membership. At the time
the league was formed, Georgetown,
Syracuse, St. John's, Villanova and Providence were at the top of their basketball games. UConn was the weak sister.
UConn's new league comes with
no recognized powers established over
decades, not just years. UConn will
now be the only basketball school in
the new league that has that distinction.
When UConn was trying to catch
up with everyone else in the league, it
was easy for the Big East to establish itself.
With everyone else trying to
catch up with UConn, it could be years
before this league earns any respect, if
ever.
e ACC is likely to lose two or
more members in the near future, with
the Big Ten courting North Carolina
and the SEC casting envious glances at
Florida State.
While UConn has a landing place
for now, it comes without a major
spotlight and their best hope for retaining a proﬁle on the national sports
stage is to make itself attractive to the
ACC when the next opening comes.
at means acknowledging the one
thing the Big East refused to acknowledge, eﬀectively committing conference- wide suicide.
e University of Connecticut
should take that $30 million from the
Big East buyout and put it to work expanding the seating capacity at
Rentschler ﬁeld, then increase the annual football recruiting budget.
Football has to become king in
Storrs right now and UConn oﬃcials
have to make sure everyone in the ACC
is aware of it.
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Boys basketball: Crawford takes charge
By David Heuschkel
Sports Editor
Unable to stop E.J. Crawford
the entire game, Cheshire coach
Dan Lee was not going to let the
Simsbury sophomore beat his team
in the closing seconds of a Class LL
tournament ﬁrst-round game last
week.
“It’s the ultimate compliment
to him that we had to try so many
things,” Lee said. “As a player, it’s
tough to have all those things
thrown at you. But I guess it’s a
compliment to try a lot of diﬀerent
things. To his credit he defeated it.”
Lee asked Andrew Yamin, a 5foot-10-inch guard, to stick with
Crawford (6-feet-4-inches) and give
him little space to move. When that
didn’t work, Lee put a bigger player
on Crawford, but 6-foot-2-inch forward Erik Pettit didn’t fare any better. It didn’t matter what defense
the Rams deployed to stop Crawford.
“I’m sure he was close to 20.
How may did he have tonight?” Lee
asked.
Crawford scored 22 points –
just in the second half – and ﬁnished with 34. He had 14 in the
fourth quarter and scored the last
22 points by Simsbury.
Crawford made outside
jumpers and scored on drives to the
basket. He hit pull-ups in the paint
and ﬂoaters in the lane. He grabbed
his own miss and scored on a putback. He was perfect from the line,
going 10-for-10.
“He was feeling it and we felt
he had good matchups and was
able to get to the hole,” Simsbury
coach Greg Stillman said. “We were
just riding the hot hand at that
point.”
When Simsbury called a timeout with 19.3 seconds left and down
by one, Stillman wanted the ball in
Crawford’s hands. When Crawford
wasn’t able to drive to the basket
with the clock winding down, Stillman called another timeout with 9
seconds left and drew up a play to
get Crawford a shot.
Crawford launched a threepointer just to the left of the key.
e shot clanged oﬀ the rim and
Simsbury wound up losing 59-58 in
the ﬁrst-round of the Class LL state
tournament.
“No, it was good D [by
Cheshire],” Stillman said. “We were
trying to get E.J. the ball and get him
going to the hole. ey were double
teaming him and he wasn’t able to
turn the corner and get into the
lane like he wanted to. He felt the
clock running down and just shot
the three.”
TIP OF
THE WEEK
Seven Ways for Homeowners to Save
While economists and investors can debate whether buying a home is still part of the
American dream, it’s undeniable that the tax code remains highly favorable to people who
own instead of rent.
Here are seven important tax tips for homeowners to ease the process:
• Mortgage interest is your best friend: Taxpayers collectively get roughly $100 billion
annually in mortgage interest breaks. If you just bought a home or refinanced in the last few
years, the savings are even more significant, since more than half your monthly payment
goes towards interest.
• Mortgage insurance is still deductible: There were fears that the deduction for personal
mortgage insurance would fall victim to fiscal fights in Washington. However, Congress
thankfully left it in place.
• Taxes are tax deductible: It sounds odd and is frequently overlooked, but homeowners
can deduct their local and state property taxes on federal tax returns. There also may be
special property tax benefits for lower-income homeowners based on your state or
municipality of residence, so look into further breaks specific to your community.
• Qualified renovations count: Fixing a leaky faucet or putting crown molding in the living
room is not tax deductible. But there are a number of items in the tax code that allow for tax
breaks and credits. A host of items covered under residential energy efficiency can provide
tax relief, including new solar panels or certain hot water heaters. There are also deductions
that can be made for home office improvements, as well as for medically necessary
changes, such as an entry ramp or a handicap-accessible bathtub.
• Unqualified renovations can count later: While that new addition might not be
“necessary,” the expense could be an important part of reducing your tax burden when you
sell. This is especially noteworthy in hot real estate markets or for homeowners sitting on big
property appreciation. The IRS allows you only $250,000 of profit when you sell a primary
residence, but you can deduct any renovations that boosted your home’s value from any
total profit to get under that threshold. Find those receipts if you’re sitting on a big profit and
planning to sell.
• Claim selling costs: If you sold a home in the past year, costs including title insurance,
advertising and real estate broker fees can also be claimed on your return. You can claim
certain repairs to reduce your capital gains on the sale, presuming they were made within 90
days of the sale and clearly for the intent of marketing the property.
• Don’t forget moving expenses: If you bought a home in 2012, there’s a chance that you
did so because of a job-related move. If this is the case, you may be able to deduct some
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March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
23
SIMSBURY
from page 21
his primary focus was to keep the puck out of the net.
“Coach usually threw me out against their top
line to play good defense,” ompson said.
Carpenter gave Simsbury a 1-0 lead when he slid
a rebound past Denbok (26 saves) with 2:24 left in the
ﬁrst period. Curt Eustis assisted on the goal. Seconds
later, Notre Dame nearly tied it when a shot by Christian Lacroix clanked oﬀ the post. Less than two minutes into the second period, Carpenter set up Rice on
a 2-on-1 to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead.
Midway through the second with Simsbury on
the power player, Ryan stopped Jonathan Suporn on
a breakaway. After the penalty expired, the Lancers
continued to pressure but couldn’t score.
“If they score one, the momentum swings their
way,” Ryan said. “We score one and the momentum
goes our way.”
Notre Dame pulled its goalie with 2:30 left, but
the Lancers weren’t able to get one past Ryan.
“John Ryan played really, really well,” Cross said.
“ere’s an old saying, all he needs to do is make the
saves he’s supposed to and make three or four he has Even though Simsbury goalie John Ryan stopped the puck from going in the net, teammates
no business making. I thought that’s what he did P.J. Sullivan (20) and Jeff Lowndes (21) had his back during the second period of a state tournament game against Notre Dame of Fairfield last week.
Photo by David Heuschkel
tonight.”
FARMINGTON
from page 21
rebound and scoring as he was
fouled to tie it with 2.3 seconds on
the clock. He proceeded to make
the biggest shot, sinking the free
throw.
Avon junior Patrick McKearney scored a team-high 18 points,
driving to the basket three times in
the opening minutes of the third
quarter to tie it at 34. e score was
tied seven times in the second half.
Avon junior Sean Hermann
had 15 points and senior Brandon
Feinberg added 12. Feinberg’s last
ﬁeld goal gave the Falcons a 51-47
lead with 3:50 left in the fourth
quarter. e Indians tied it on baskets by Cheeesman and Richie
Freckleton, who made a scoop shot
on the baseline with 1:20 left. Avon
had a chance to win it, but Ryan
Marioni’s shot in the lane bounced
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throws. On the ensuing possession,
oﬀ the rim.
Neither team scored in the Farmington senior Vasil Borisevich
ﬁrst two overtimes. Both had missed a long jumper and
chances to take the lead in the clos- Cheesman swooped in for the rebound
and
ing seconds
scored the winbut couldn’t
ning points.
convert.
Farmington’s season ended
Cheesman
In
the
third overtime, March 9 with a 67-62 loss to RHAM i m m e d i a t e ly
and
M c K e a r n e y in the second round of the Class L turned
headed
up
scored in the boys basketball tournament.
Farmington led 36-28 at half- court as Mariopening seconds and made time, but RHAM erased the deﬁcit oni’s half-court
two
free by outscoring the Indians 24-13 in heave went oﬀ
throws to give the third quarter. Colin Cheesman the backboard
the Falcons a led Farmington with 25 points. e as time expired.
Fa r m i n g t o n
55-51 lead with Indians ﬁnished 10-12 overall.
players cele2:12 left. He
also drew the ﬁfth foul on Obi brated and its fans rushed onto the
Momah (13 points), forcing the court.
“I’m proud of the way we came
Farmington junior to watch the
out in the second half, started
ﬁnal 2:53 from the bench.
Cheesman stepped up, scoring doing what we needed to do to put
six points in the ﬁnal 1:37. He made ourselves in position to win that
a free throw with 1:37 left and hit a game. Unfortunately, Farmington
short baseline jumper, making it came up on top,” Vozzolo said.
55-54 with 30 seconds left. With 11 “ere were a couple plays that
seconds on the clock, Feinberg could have gone either way, and the
made the second of two free last one ended up going their way.”
FHS boys eliminated
Congratulations
Simsbury High School
Basketball Team
Great Season!
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The
Valley Press
March 14, 2013
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Boys basketball:
Cheesy does it
By David Heuschkel
Sports Editor
AVON – Farmington basketball coach Duane Witter wasn’t brimming with conﬁdence as
Colin Cheesman stepped to the
line with a ﬁrst-round state tournament game against Avon on
the line.
It didn’t matter to Witter
that Cheesman is a 75 percent
free-throw shooter who wears a
poker face 100 percent of the
time. Nor did it matter that
Cheesman is the picture of calm,
never showing emotion and always exhibiting a cool demeanor
regardless of the circumstance
or environment. Or that the 6foot-1-inch junior forward has a
history of putting the ball in the
net in the big game against Avon,
doing so twice last fall to lead the
Indians over the Falcons in a
state championship soccer
game.
With 2.3 seconds remaining
in the third overtime period,
Witter didn’t assume Cheesman
would knock down the free
throw that would sink Avon.
“No, because he was exhausted,” Witter said. “I mean,
anybody can miss a free throw
after playing that many minutes.”
Farmington guard Vasil
Borisevich, another soccer
player, was slightly more conﬁdent than his coach. Just to be
certain, though, the senior captain had a request for his teammate.
“I came up to him and said,
‘Can you make the shot for me?’”
Borisevich said. “He nodded and
said ‘Yes.’ And then he made the
shot.”
Seconds earlier, after Borisevich missed a jumper,
Cheesman grabbed the rebound
and scored the tying basket as he
was fouled. He then made the
free throw, giving the Indians a
57-56 win over Avon.
Cheesman led the Indians
with 22 points, his highest total
of the season and more than
double his average (9.7 ppg). He
scored all of his team’s six points
in the third OT, including a baseline jumper with 30 seconds left.
“You always try to give it
your all. But with a rivalry you always want to give it your all, especially in the playoﬀs,”
Cheesman said.
In his last ﬁve games, including the win over Avon,
Cheesman averaged 18.2 points.
“e kid plays his heart out.
He plays every second as hard as
he can. at’s why some times I
got to get him a little rest in the
game,” Witter said. “I don’t like
taking him out of a game, but he
plays so hard he’s got to rest once
in a while.”
Athletes of the Week
John Ryan
Hockey
Simsbury High School
Simsbury goalie John Ryan
made 32 saves as the Trojans shut
out Notre Dame of Fairﬁeld, 3-0,
in a ﬁrst round game of the Division I state tournament.
John Ryan
Hockey
Good showing for Granby cheerleaders
Nickname: J.R.
e key to success: “My team.”
Other sports: Lacrosse, badminton
Favorite pizza topping: Bacon
Favorite pro team: Boston Bruins
Last book read: “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare
Best hockey movie: “Miracle”
Dream vacation: African safari
Dream job: NHL player
Jamie Bartucca
The Granby Memorial cheerleading squad finished second in the NCCC Cheerleading Championships on March
2 at Ellington High School. Bottom row, L to R: Gabby Gilhooly, Sabrina Smith, Aubrey Tigno, Renee Loreau,
Megan Lira, Ricky Chamrene; Middle row: Liz Needham, Amanda Zyzdorf, Samantha Dunham, Natalie Muller,
Lindsay Hurlbert, Kendall Vujs, Nicole Patrick; Top row: Coach Shannon Lira, Kat Champagne, Samantha Hampson, Olivia Papa, Carly Perron, Cassia Shoas. Missing: Chloe Shoas
Courtesy photo
Basketball
Farmington High School
Farmington senior guard Jamie
Bartucca scored 11 points to help
the Indians beat RHAM 61-52 in a
Class L semiﬁnal March 9.
Boys basketball: Granby to the semis
By David Heuschkel
Sports Editor
It was the ﬁnal time the six
seniors on Granby played a high
school basketball game in the high
school’s gymnasium. So it was ﬁtting that one of them, Jacob
Yankauskas, stepped to the free
throw line in the closing seconds
and made two free throws, putting
the ﬁnishing touch on a 58-45 win
over Old Saybrook that sent the
Bears to the Class S semiﬁnals.
According to Granby coach
Wally Hansen, it is the ﬁrst time in
school history that a basketball
team – boys or girls – has made it
that far in the state tournament.
So no, he wasn’t planning to shave
his week-old beard until the season was over.
“My wife and my brother-inlaw, they love hockey,” Hansen
said, explaining the hair on his
face, best known as a “playoﬀ
beard” and grown by hockey players during their postseason.
It had the feel of a hockey
game, as both teams engaged in a
low-scoring defensive battle in the
ﬁrst half. Midway through the second quarter, there was some afterthe-whistle jawing when one
player shoved another. No technical fouls were called.
Sophomore Tanner Gibson
led the Bears with 15 points. Seniors Mike Noyes and Brett Buser
each had 14. Granby was 17 of 23
from the free throw line, Old Saybrook 10 of 18.
“You got to play like it’s the
last game you’ll ever play in your
life,” Buser said.
In the second round of the
tournament, Buser had the game
of his life in a 77-72 win over No.
East Hampton. He scored a careerhigh 38 points, eclipsing his previous mark of 37 against Ellington in
January.
“My shots were falling. I was
driving to the basket. Everything
was going in for me,” Buser said. “It
was just a good day.”
Old Saybrook advanced to the
quarterﬁnals by beating two
higher-seeded teams – No. 6
Coventry and No. 11 Westbrook –
in close games. And with a trip to
the semiﬁnals at stake, facing No.
27 was a potential “trap game” for
No. 3 Granby.
“It was a concern and we
talked about it,” Hansen said. “But
we’re the home team and this is
the quarterﬁnals of the state tournament. Really, the opponent
doesn’t matter. We focused on the
game, doing what we do. We
played with emotion, intensity.
We’re playing hard. I think we
guarded well tonight.”
Both teams played tight de-
fense in the ﬁrst half. Granby led
19-15 at the break, but Old Saybrook tied it at 22 early in the third
quarter. e Bears answered with
a 9-2 spurt, triggered Gibson by
making consecutive baskets.
Early in the fourth quarter,
Granby took its ﬁrst double-digit
lead when David Eke grabbed an
oﬀensive rebound and scored as he
was fouled. He sunk the free throw
to make it 42-30.
Old Saybrook cut the deﬁcit
to seven with 5:00 left, but Granby
answered. Noyes made a behindthe-back pass to Buser on a 2-on-1
to make it 44-35. After a threepoint play by Old Saybrook, the
Bears pushed the lead back to double digits.
Gibson scored on a feed from
Buser. On Old Saybrook’s ensuring
possession, Noyes stole the ball
and Gibson made two free throws,
pushing the lead to 48-38 with 2:45
left. Granby made 10 of 14 free
throws down the stretch to secure
the win.
Need a tow?
We’re available 24 hours a day.
Jamie Bartucca
Basketball
e key to my success: “Practice”
Words to live by: “Go hard or go home."
Favorite pre-game snack: Fruit and Gatorade chews
Song that pumps me up for a game: “Started from the Bottom” by Drake
Favorite TV show: “Pretty Little Liars”
Favorite pro team: New York Yankees
Dream vacation: Bora Bora
Dream job: Physical therapist
My three dinner guests: President Obama, Tom Brady and Mia Hamm
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March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
25
CLEANUP
from page 13
their experience during that
summer’s diﬃcult weather conditions. A three-month-long
drought was parching their
ﬂowers and vegetables, while
giving weeds the chance to
wreak havoc on the 13-acre
farm.
ey spoke of the ﬂowers
and vegetables that were surviving the lack of rain, those that
were thriving and those that
were doing poorly. “Asters are
drying up on the ﬁeld looking at
me,” Carleton Dewey said.
ey also boasted about
their recipe for old-fashioned relish, which a customer stopped
by to purchase and which was a
draw for many of his customers.
“He’s got a big steel safe for
the recipes,” the customer, who
did not give his name, quipped.
Now the old house where
the Deweys sat selling ﬂowers,
veggies and secret recipes is vacant and the town is considering
how to utilize it and the property once the cleanup is done.
At the March 11 selectmen
meeting, resident Joan Coe
brought up the farm again, stating that barrels containing toxic
chemicals were found on the
property.
GRAND LIST
from page 13
revenue losses that may occur,”
Farmington Finance Director Joe
Swetcky said.
For residential taxpayers,
there will not be a shift in tax burden as normally occurs when
there is a revaluation, he said.
“It also means that any property whose value declined by 7.8
percent or greater will actually experience a tax decrease based on
The rendering of the southeast view of the possible highway garage that is part of the preliminary plans for locating the highway garage at 325 Commerce Drive. Preliminary plans were developed to indicate the feasibility of the site. According to Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner, the final
plans will vary based on a number of considerations, including citizen comments, land use regulatory process and the design/build competitive selecCourtesy image
tion process.
competitive selection process.”
e purchase and sale agreement is only the ﬁrst step in the
process, Skinner said. Selectmen
must approve the actual purchase,
then it must go to the Board of Fi-
nance and, ultimately, voters must
agree when the proposal goes to a
townwide referendum.
Since the February 2010 Town
Meeting when residents said no to a
referendum question that the town
buy the nine-acre lot on Cherry
Brook Road for $900,000, oﬃcials
have been looking for properties
on which to locate a new garage.
From poor working conditions, tight quarters and improper
lighting to a lack of space to park
expensive equipment and leaving
trucks outside exposed to the elements 24 hours a day, oﬃcials
have long argued the need for a
new garage.
Among other details, the preliminary plans indicate the new
garage would have an approximately 11,000-square-foot vehicle
and equipment storage area with
14 bays.
the current budget. In general,
about 60 percent of residential
property owners would have a tax
decrease and the majority of commercial property owners would
have a tax increase.”
e decline was not unexpected, as it had been talked about
in past Town Council meetings
since the town undertook the
revaluation last year.
“We expected to see a decline
in the grand list, however, we were
pleasantly surprised that it was
not as large a decline as we had
originally projected,” Swetcky said.
“Property values, especially commercial property values, in Farmington held up pretty well over the
past ﬁve years.”
As stated in a press release
from the town, Town Council
Chairman Jeﬀ Hogan was pleased
that the commercial tax base remained strong and had less of a
decrease in comparison to the res-
idential property.
“In light of the uncertainty of
revaluation, the Town Council directed the town manager to limit
the spending increase in next
year’s budget with the interest of
reducing the tax impact on Farmington property owners,” Hogan
said in the release.
e top 10 taxpayers remained the same from the previous year including Westfarms Mall
Associates, which continues to be
the largest taxpayer with an assessed property value of $122.8
million.
e total Westfarms complex
includes Westfarms Mall Associates, other anchor stores and
smaller stores that have an assessed value of $170.7 million, representing 4.91 percent of the grand
list. e second highest taxpayer is
United Technologies and the third
is Dunn-Sager Aﬃliates followed
by CL&P.
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from page 13
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The
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March 14, 2013
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TRACK
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be and that, while he is not opposed, he does have some concerns.
“My biggest concern is the potential of lights in the future,” he
said.
He asked that the neighbors
be brought into the discussion
when that happens.
Ann Bonini rose and pointed
out that most of the sports would
be over before dark or by early
evening.
“So, I don’t know if lights are a
huge issue,” she said.
e track and ﬁeld project
will also include an expanded and
redesigned parking lot with 26 additional parking spaces.
“It’s much more eﬃcient,”
Daly said. “It really just became a
reconﬁguration and more eﬃcient
use.”
e approval was contingent
upon certain conditions, including
that local emergency services be
included in planning the emergency entrance.
BUDGET
from page 15
teen librarian that Library Director Robert Simon has requested
for several years.
“I’m been trying to make this
librarian work for years,” Roberto
said. “I can’t see any more coming
from CIP, the operational. We
shaked it down as much as we can
shake it.”
Humphrey thought it would
be best to hold back on buying a
new dispatch communications
console for the police department,
which Skinner, in his proposal, had
opted not to fund.
Police asked for $145,000 for
the console, which has not been
upgraded since 2001, but still
works, Skinner wrote in the draft
budget.
Humphrey said that since the
console works, the board could
hold oﬀ on funding the new one
and use money from savings if it
breaks down.
“Fund balance exists for
emergencies,” he said.
Skinner thought it would be
better to ax a new generator and
put it in next year.
“Even if [the generator] goes
down, we still have some alternatives,” he said, adding they would
not be so fortunate if the dispatch
console were to break.
In the end, they slashed
amounts allocated to some items
and reduced the requests for the
generator and dispatch console.
Capture the Moments!
Canton
March 3
Nicole Chase, 22, of 50 East
Hill Road, Apt. 3B, was arrested
for disorderly conduct.
Farmington
March 1
Christopher Lonardo, 26, of
27 South Ridge Road was arrested for third degree assault,
second degree breach of peace
and interfering with 911.
Skylar Grant, 22, of 64
Mansﬁeld St., Hartford, was arrested for criminal impersonation and interfering with an
oﬃcer.
March 2
James Bonilla, 22, of 12
Bragg St., East Hartford, was arrested for operation while under
the inﬂuence.
Nicholas Climan, 25, of 17
Bridgehampton
Crossing,
Unionville, was arrested for operation while under the inﬂuence.
March 4
Grzegorz Kuzniar, 31, of 63
Caesar Drive, Bristol, was arrested for operation while under
the inﬂuence.
Simsbury
Feb. 17
Abigail Fontana, 24, of 6
Morgan St., Granby, was arrested for operation while under
the inﬂuence.
March 2
Ashley Foy, 23, of 12
Meadow Crossing was arrested
for operation while under the
inﬂuence.
PRESSOBITUARIES
Barbara Franklin, 85
Barbara “Bobbie” Franklin, 85, of
Avon, and wife of the late Martin
Franklin, passed away Feb. 18, 2013. She
was born on July 8, 1927 in Denver,
Colo. Before residing in Avon, she lived
in Simsbury, East Dorset, Vt., and
Darien.
Bobbie was an accomplished
equestrian. As a child, she won numerous riding championships in her home
state of Colorado. Later in life, she enjoyed passing on her love of horses and
riding expertise to the children of East
Dorset, Vt. One of her most cherished
memories was a week-long riding excursion through the countryside of Ireland, which she undertook while in her
late 60s.
Bobbie was a proud mother of
three sons and a great supporter of their
activities. From Darien High School
hockey games and tennis matches to
sailing regattas all over Long Island
Sound, she was always there and always
leading the cheers.
While her horses and her sons
were a huge part of her life, her marriage
with Marty was remarkable and remained strong for the 40 years of their
life together. ey did not hide their af-
fection for each other and everyone
who saw them knew they had something special.
Fifteen years after Marty’s death,
Bobbie found love again with her friend
Rich Rooney. ey cared deeply for
each other and were constant companions over her last seven years.
Bobbie's personality was responsible for her widespread popularity with
all those fortunate enough to come in
contact with her. She genuinely cared
about others more than herself and
made people feel better about themselves through their engagement with
her.
She leaves three sons, Philip
Franklin and his wife, Melissa, of Lake
Forest, Ill., Lindley Franklin and his wife,
Daryl, of Darien, Steven Franklin and his
wife, Claudia, of West Simsbury; and
seven grandchildren, Andrew, Matthew,
Whitney, Ryan, Sydney, Kevin and Amy.
Besides her husband and parents, she
was predeceased by two sisters, Gigi
Dunklee and Margo Robinson.
Memorial donations, in Bobbie’s
memory, may be made to Second
Chance Animal Shelter, Second Chance
Animal Center, P.O Box 620, Shaftsbury,
Vt. 05262. For online condolences, visit
www.carmonfuneralhome.com.
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ﬁshing in a pond oﬀ Great Pond
Road, which is now gone.
Another spot was a brook behind the high school.
e club has ﬁshed in Stoddard Reservoir for about 40 years,
since it was owned by the Village
Water Company and supplied
water to the town.
When it was sold to the town
between 1998 and 2000, the club
signed the license agreement and
has been stocking and overseeing
the care of the pond since then,
Kendall said.
Four times a year, club members stock the pond with between
300 and 400 rainbow, brook and
brown trout, which they get from
the hatchery at Rowledge Pond in
Sandy Hook.
e number of ﬁsh they put in
is based on how much money the
club has at the time. Most of the
ﬁsh are between12 and 14 inches,
Kendall said, though the club
tosses in four or ﬁve bigger ones
per year, too. “We’re looking for
members,” Kendall said. “e more
members we’ve got, the more ﬁsh
we can put in.”
“I’d rather see the kids
out there ﬁshing than
sitting in front of the
TV. My grandkids even
say to me, ‘Grandpa,
when are you taking us
to your pond?’”
-Fish & Game Club former
President Ned Kendall
Individuals with permits are
allowed four ﬁsh per day and up to
12 per week.
For Kendall, joining the club
was all about children. “I’d rather
see the kids out there ﬁshing than
sitting in front of the TV,” he said.
“My grandkids even say to me,
‘Grandpa, when are you taking us
to your pond?’”
e derby is free and is open
to children 14 and under. It is for
members and their children,
grandchildren and their guests.
Prizes, including ﬁshing poles,
reels, tackle boxes and tackle, are
awarded based on the measurements of ﬁsh caught. “Everybody
gets a prize,” Kendall said.
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March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
27
Budget proposals under 3% increase target
By Jennifer Senofonte
Staﬀ Writer
GRANBY – Granby Town
Manager Bill Smith presented the
proposed 2013-14 town budget at
last week’s Board of Selectmen
meeting at a 2.96 percent increase
over the current year.
Superintendent Alan Addley
also presented his proposed school
budget to the Board of Education
last week, which represents a 2.07
percent increase. Both budgets fall
under the guidelines set forth by
the Board of Finance to stay under
a 3 percent spending increase. e
school board and selectmen will
hold a series of budget workshops
and then present ﬁnalized proposals to the ﬁnance board March
25.
Proposed town budget
Smith said the new budget is
intended to provide municipal service, mainly those services that are
already in place. e net increase is
a 2.8 percent increase, which includes the town operations, debt
service and capital budget decrease
of 16.2 percent and anticipated revenues.
“It’s a rather steady comparison of services over the past 10
years,” he said at the March 4 selectmen’s meeting. “We were seriously
reduced back in the 2011 budget
and again in the 2013 budget.”
After revenue oﬀsets are applied, his proposed budget is
$271,000 over the current years.
Some highlights include an
$84,000 increase in insurance costs
with health plans and pensions, a
$52,000 increase in contingency and
anticipated contractual settlements, $120,000 increase in the police department and a $29,000
increase in the library services category.
e additions in the police department include $45,000 for overtime coverage and $75,000 for an
additional oﬃcer for investigative/youth services. “e library
services took a big hit in the reductions that were made in 2011,” Smith
said. e $29,000 will kick start participation in the Connecticut library
consortium, which he said will pay
for itself over the next few years.
Proposed school budget
Addley said the proposed increase is 2.07 percent, however, with
an expected $100,000 in reimbursement revenue anticipated, the
budget increase is 1.7 percent to the
taxpayer.
Some increases include
$111,000 in beneﬁts, $95,000 in
salaries, $30,000 for the gifted and
talented program, and $111,000 for
unfunded state mandates like
teacher and administrator evaluation plans, implementation of the
new Common Core State Standards
and Secondary School Reform.
“I don’t think any of these [unfunded mandates] are bad. ey’re
actually good for education in many
ways,” Addley said, however, they
are diﬃcult to do on deadlines that
are imposed by the state.
Some savings examples are
$30,000 in utilities, $38,000 in books
and $288,000 from the special education review, which resulted in the
reduction of 12.5 full-time equivalent positions that were allocated
elsewhere. “It allows us to do some
positive things with our highest
qualiﬁed people with our neediest
students,” he said of the special education review that was completed
last year.
e Quality and Diversity
Fund, a separate account that holds
Open Choice program revenues, is
slated to fund magnet school tuition, transportation and full-day
kindergarten for $297,000. Addley
also presented $600,000 in small
capital expenditures for items like
technology, building maintenance,
furniture and equipment purchases,
and a new school bus.
e proposed school budget
for ﬁscal year 2013-14 is for $29 million. As of press time, the school
board held a budget workshop on
March 13 and will vote on the
budget at its next regular meeting,
March 20.
With the charter revision, there
will be a public hearing on the
budget April 8 at 7 p.m. in the high
school auditorium. e referendum
vote will take place April 22 in the
Town Hall meeting room. First Selectman John Adams said it is a simple majority vote and to pass the
budget, you need one more than
half.
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28
The
Valley Press
March 14, 2013
Alyssa Marchetti of Lewis Mills shoots the ball. Photos by David Heuschkel
Evan Jiantoni of Farmington High School shoots.
SHS hosts Uniﬁed Sports
basketball tournament
Simsbury High School was
the site of the CIAC High School
Uniﬁed Sports Basketball tournament March 6.
Farmington/Avon, Lewis
Mills and host Simsbury were
among the seven high school
teams that played on four courts
in two gymnasiums.
Brooke Bulmer, one of the
Simsbury coaches, says the team
practices once a week, learning
basic skills and playing games.
Uniﬁed Sports partners studentathletes with special needs and
peer mentors in competitive
games.
“We love the kids, and the
experience for the athletes is invaluable, so rewarding and gratifying,” Bulmer said.
Presenting sponsors of the
event were Bob’s Stores, Campus
Customs, ConnectiCare, Hoﬀman Auto Group and Team
ESPN.
PRESSSENIORS
Senior
Signals
By Stephen Allaire
Never too late to save
When faced with the sudden
crisis of a loved one needing a nursing home or substantial care at
home, a logical worry is what will
happen to your home and other assets. e fear of losing everything
can be overwhelming. While it is far
better to have done pre-planning
before a crisis, it is never too late to
save some of your assets. Here is
why.
ere are rules set forth in federal and state law relating to Medicaid (Title 19), which are intended
to prevent a healthy spouse from
losing the home and certain other
assets. e idea is that the spouse
should not be impoverished, as in
some cases it may even be possible
to save everything for the healthy
spouse. at takes detailed knowledge of the rules for Medicaid eligibility and speedy action.
For example, the rule allowing
the home to be saved may not work
if the home is partially or wholly in
the sick spouse’s name. But there is
nothing to prevent putting that
home in the healthy one’s name,
even at the last minute. e ﬁveyear look-back rule does not apply
to transfers between spouses.
Another example is using unprotected funds to pay down debt.
If your funds exceed the amount
you are allowed to keep, and you
have a home mortgage or a car
loan, you could use the excess
funds to pay down the debt. at
also can be done at the last minute.
One expense we all have someday is funeral expense. Pre-payment of funeral expenses is allowed
at any time, whether a single person or a married couple, as long as
the Medicaid rules are followed in
the pre-payment contract.
An extremely beneﬁcial rule
allows a healthy spouse to purchase
an annuity with IRA funds so that
the funds will no longer count as an
asset. is can be done even if the
sick spouse is already in a nursing
home. But the rules have a catch in
them, because the state must be
named as the primary beneﬁciary.
Even so, it is better to keep the IRA
than lose it to nursing home payments.
As of last fall, an even more
beneﬁcial federal court case ruled
that a healthy spouse could purchase a special annuity with nonIRA money, at the last minute, and
protect the assets, as long as certain
very stringent requirements were
met. is can be a lifesaver for
someone who has done no pre-
planning, as it can be done at the
11th hour. It only works for a married couple, and the requirements
are complicated and strict, but if set
up properly can allow the healthy
spouse to avoid becoming impoverished.
ere are numerous other possibilities for crisis protection of assets that an experienced elder law
practitioner can advise you to use,
and those depend on the particular
family situation, the size and type of
assets, and the family income. It is
undoubtedly frightening to be faced
with the prospect of needing care
and losing assets. If your appendix
bursts, you would go to the nearest
hospital and have a surgeon solve
the problem. If you are faced with
expensive long-term care, get to an
experienced elder law attorney to
stop the ﬁnancial bleeding.
Attorney Stephen O. Allaire is a
member of the National Academy of
Elder Law Attorneys, and Executive
Committee member and past oﬃcer
of the Connecticut Bar Assn. Elder
Law Section, with oﬃces at 271
Farmington Ave. Bristol, 860-5842384), or on the web at www.rzalawyers.com. If you have a question,
send a written note to Attorney Allaire at Allaire Elder Law, LLC, 271
Farmington Ave., Bristol, 06010, and
he may use your question in a future
column.
‘It’s Good to Get Out’
Members of the “It’s Good to Get Out” group were at the Farmington Senior Center for a pizza party and
planning session for their upcoming spring trips. Pictured is the group of volunteers and participants,
which is coordinated by Marcie Shepard. The group is part of the Friendly Visiting Program of Services
for the Elderly and established last year by Shepard, who sponsors all the entertaining field trips to interesting places in the area. It’s Good to Get Out is looking for additional members – anyone 65 and older
who is looking for companionship, enjoys getting out of the house to have fun is welcome to join this
merry group. Call Services for the Elderly at 860-673-1441 to sign up.
Courtesy photo
Rep. Hampton says he is focused on helping seniors
State Rep. John K. Hampton
(D- Simsbury) has proposed a number of bills that promote the safety
and health of seniors and disabled
persons in Connecticut.
In the Aging Committee,
Hampton proposed H. B. No. 5453,
“an act concerning streamlining
approval for nursing homes to
shelter vulnerable residents,” which
hopes to ensure that nursing
homes can play a role in helping to
provide shelter and care to vulnerable elderly and ill residents in a
declared state of emergency.
Hampton, drafted this legislation
in response to the major weatherrelated emergencies that have occurred in the state over the last
couple of years.
Proposed H.B. No. 5546, “an
act concerning violations of handicapped parking laws,” is designed
to eliminate the discretion of police
to give a warning rather than a citation to violators of laws that are
intended to reserve parking spaces
for those with disabilities.
Also put forward by Hampton is proposed H.B. No. 5979, "an
act establishing a task force on
Alzheimer's disease." A Connecticut state government Alzheimer’s
disease plan would create the infrastructure and accountability
necessary to build dementia-capable programs in response to the
growing number of people with the
disease.
“I feel very passionately that
seniors and persons with disabilities should be cared for in our society and that our laws should
reﬂect that,” Hampton said in a
press release.
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March 14, 2013
The
Valley Press
29
Classifieds
Serving buyers and sellers
Call today for your free market analysis.
Mark DiChiara
Licensed Realtor and valley resident
36 LaSalle Rd,
West Hartford, CT 06107
Phone (860) 989-8556
email: [email protected]
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ELECTRICAL
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Tom Tribuzio, 860-673-1210.
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email: [email protected]
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Help Wanted
Full Time Driver
Drive box truck for small beverage
company to deliver soda. Good
people skills. Able to work independently. Capable of using
handheld device. Drug free environment. Drug test required. Fax
resume to 860-666-7876.
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Computer knowledge a must.
Good customer services skills phone and collections. Flexible
daytime hours. Fax resume to 860666-7876.
REGISTERED PHYSICAL
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The Farmington Valley VNA is seeking
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visits to clients throughout the Farmington Valley. Homecare experience is
a plus. This position offers competitive
per-visit rates and a flexible schedule.
Please contact Dyanne Hanelius,
OTR/L at 860-651-3539 or send resume to [email protected].
Farmington Valley VNA
8 Old Mill Lane,
Simsbury, CT 06070
EOE
www.farmingtonvalleyvna.org
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ELECTRICAL
Brannack Electric Inc.
Residential * Commercial * Industrial
Call today
for your
FREE, no
obligation
consultation
& estimate.
NEW CONSTRUCTION • REBUILDING • REPAIRS
CAPS • CHIMNEY LINERS • WATER PROOFING
HANDYMAN
Handyman Services
HOME IMPROVEMENT
!"#$$%"
&'$"($$)*$$) +,
HOME IMPROVEMENT
The TOOL CONSIGNMENT Store
560 NEW PARK AVE., WEST HARTFORD
We Buy & Sell Used Tools
Thousands of TOOLS in stock...at great prices
We SELL REBURBISHED TOOLS TOO!
NOW OFFERING
REPAIRS - DUMP RUNS
(860) 263-7908
Visit our web site for more information.
HOME IMPROVEMENT
I N C O R P O R AT E D
License #103858 & 103859 • Fully insured
HANDYMAN
24 Hour Emergency Service
• New home wiring
• Upgrading or rewiring
• Lighting work, interior & exterior
• Generator installation
• Telephone & cable TV wiring
• Service work
• Andmore!
860-242-6486 35 Peters Road • Bloomfield
HANDYMAN
www.A2ZToolConsignment.com
HOME IMPROVEMENT
29 Years In Business
LIC. #104659
Additions * New Homes
Service Up-grades * Service Calls
* Generator Hook Ups * Prompt Service
Insured • Prompt Service
STOVE
ELECTRICAL
CIZEK ELECTRIC INC.
SPRAY-TEX
CT License #557873
Add W est Hartford Press
for 1/2 Price!
John Carroll
860-658-0348
Since 1981
Kitchens & Bathrooms
Rot Repair & Prevention
Interior & Exterior Repairs
Portfolio & References Available
EPA Certified Renovator
All work guaranteed and insured.
CT registration #517767
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Foam Insulation
860-673-0747
GUTTERS & MORE
GUTTERS & MORE
5” & 6” Seamless Gutters
Siding • Roofing • Rubber Roofing• Power Washing
Interior-Exterior Repairs & Renovations
FREE SEAMLESS GUTTERS
with complete roof installation
Fully Insured
Lic. #00555658
14 years experience • Free Estimates
860-347-0509
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Home Repair & Home Improvement
TradesMaster LLC
Carpentry, Siding Restoration,
Roofing & Flashing Repairs,
Painting, Tile
David Lyman
860-651-8012
CT Reg #0619014
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Foundation damp proofing/Waterproofing
• ATTICS
• WALLS
• BASEMENT SILLS
• CRAWLSPACES
• NEW HOMES
• ADDITIONS
• 3 SEASON ROOMS
• MUCH MORE!
Green Energy Saver, LLC
www.greenenergysaver.com
860-693-8289
Recognized as a “GREEN and INNOVATIVE” Contractor.
Proudly Serving the New England Region over 35 years!
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Nieves Home
Improvements LLC
Quality Above The Rest
Carpentry • Roofing • Decks
Siding • Porches • Windows • Masonry
All Forms of Home Repairs • Snow Plowing Available
We Get The Job Done!
Lic #619073
Free Estimates!
860-379-4594 • 860-307-5592 Fully Insured
HOME IMPROVEMENT
BERKSHIRE
WOODSMITHS, LLC
[email protected]
COMPLETE MAINTENANCE & REPAIR
A+ Rating
• Siding
• Bathrooms
• Decks
• Remodeling
• Kitchens • Improvements
SMALL OR LARGE • WE DO IT ALL!
www.berkshirewoodsmiths.com
Licensed & Insured
Lic. # HIC0625936
March 14, 2013
860.738.4931 or 203.232.9114
The
Valley Press
31
$
A directory of
professional home
improvement contractors
Who Does It?
29
-1 week
HOME IMPROVEMENT
$
150
-6 weeks
HOME IMPROVEMENT
$
300
-13weeks
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Add W est Hartford Press
for 1/2 Price!
HOME IMPROVEMENT
BARRETT ENTERPRISES LLC
Home Improvement Contractor
So Many Amateurs . . . So Few Professionals!!
Office: (860) 426-1578 Fax: (860) 426-1676
Email: [email protected]
Bathrooms • Kitchens • Additions
Basements • Doors • Windows • Decks
Fire & Water Damage Restoration
Fully Insured.
CT License #0621224
LANDSCAPING
LANDSCAPE
CONTRACTORS
• Pool Patios
• Poolscapes
• Lawn Installation
• Tree & Shrub
HYDROSEEDING
Planting
EROSION CONTROL
• Pruning
Based In & Serving The Farmington Valley • Walkways
For Over 18 Years
& Patios
Fully Licensed & Insured
• Walls & Steps
• Yard Drains
• Excavating
• Grading
cell: 860-250-2908
• Snowplowing
• Bucket Loading
PAINTING
• Complete Basement Renovations
• Kitchen & Bathrooms Updated
• Windows/Doors Installed
• Pre-Finished Floorings • Custom Ceramic Tile
• Maintenance-Free Decks • Finish Carpentry
• Complete Painting Service • Custom Countertops
860-250-1715
[email protected]
CT. LIC. #602130 • Office (860) 796-0131
Jim Barrett, Owner
LANDSCAPING
Spring
Clean-ups
Mulching
& Mulch
Deliveries
Accepting new lawn mowing accounts for
the upcoming season. Schedule now!
• Brush Clearing • Plantings
• 3D Design
• Shrub Removal
• Lawn Maintenance and Organic Fertilization
CT Lic# 0630444
Fully Insured
860-906-6736
PAINTING
ROOF SNOW REMOVAL
PAINTING
KC MASONRY
Stonewalls • Brick Walls
Bluestone • Steps
Fireplaces • Chimneys
Patios • Sidewalks
We can also do all
Masonry Repairs!
Quality Workmanship
Free Estimates • Lic#0604514
Ken (203) 558-4951
PAINTING
PAINTING
DESIGN AND REMODEL YOUR HOME
PAINTING
PAINTING &
CEILING REPAIR
Small renovations,
home repair, carpentry
& painting.
Complete prep.
T.C. Home Improvement
Cell 860-916-6287
Free
Estimates Home 860-523-4151
PAINTING
BRECHUN PAINTING
Interior & Exterior Painting
PROFESSIONAL HOME
IMPROVEMENT-REMODELING
Power Washing,
Deck Staining, Light Carpentry
ZIBBY DRZAZGOWSKI
(860) 675-4025
25 years of experience
in Farmington Valley
Farmington
KITCHENS - BATHROOMS - WALLPAPER
TILES- BASEMENTS - ATTICS
ALUMINUM SIDING - CEILING REPAIR
P
PAINTING
[email protected]
CONN. LICENSE NO. 536406 COMPLETE INSURANCE
ROOFING
ANDY’S PAINTING &
REMODELING SERVICE
Commercial - Residential
Interior - Exterior Painting
Water & Fire Damage
Venetian Plaster & Faux Finish
Wallpaper and Renovations
Floor Epoxy • Powerwashing
SIDING
VINYL SIDING SPECIAL
SAVE 30% OFF regular prices.
Ranches/Capes, $7000.
Colonials, $8000.
Free estimates. Absolute lowest prices possible!
Deal direct with owner.
REPAIRS/ROOFING
Ct Lic. #547581. Fully licensed & Insured.
AVAILABLE FOR STORM REPAIRS AND GARAGES.
Hann’s On Home Improvement
860-563-2001
32
The
Valley Press
March 14, 2013
ROOFING • SIDING
• WINDOWS •& more...
Call now.
Roofing
& Siding
Sale!
Lic #:HIC0607969
HARMONY
Home Improvement (860) 645-8899
Free Estimates • Insured • Lic# 0619619
860-306-5539 (cell)
860-612-0509 (home)
ROOFING
SNOWPLOWING
SNOW REMOVAL
Plow it or Blow it
WE OFFER SNOW BLOWING
USE ONE TIME OR ALL THE TIME
SCHEDULIING OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE
0-6, 6-12 OR 12+ INCHES
Creating HARMONY
between customer,
contractor & community
Fully Insured
FREE Estimates
Lic. #604200
TREES
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EPA
CERTIFIED
860-673-7280
Reg #0562179
ROOFING
JP
Carroll
Roofing is our only business!
Call us for a Free Estimate at
860.586.8857
jpcarrollroofing.com
We specialize in:
Architectural Asphalt shingles • EPDM Rubber
Slate • Cedar • Copper fabrications • Gutters
Established Leak Response Team!
We have served Central CT for over 20 years
Fully Licensed and Insured; CT Reg # 544304
- No Dumpsters on-site -
WINDOWS
Join us in our efforts to go green...we recycle all tear-off materials.
Top Quality
VINYL WINDOWS
starting at $
199* installed
with the purchase of 5 or more
Fully Welded • Half Screen • Virgin Vinyl
Double Locks • Up to 101 U.I.
ALSO
• Entry & Storm Doors
• Bays, Bows & Garden Windows • Vinyl Siding
• We also Service Vinyl Windows - ALL MAKES!
Caron’s Connecticut
Home Improvement LLC
CT Reg 626375 860-738-1222