Lyme Times

East Lyme Gears up for Annual Events: Holiday Stroll and Home for Holidays

2008-11-26T19:57:43Z

Dreading the traditional start of the holiday shopping season this year? Looking for more charm and family fun after Thanksgiving?

Downtown Niantic and Flanders again promise to offer the more Currier and Ives approach with the fifth annual Holiday Stroll on Saturday, Nov. 29, from 3 to 8 p.m.

The family-friendly day features horse-drawn carriage rides, carolers, sips of hot cider and cocoa, and the arrival of Santa on a shiny red fire truck to the town green in time for a tree lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. on Liberty Green in the heart of Niantic Village.

The event, organized by Main Street Niantic, is designed by volunteers and local merchants who join forces each year to capture the spirit of the season in a picturesque small-town celebration, while still encouraging holiday shopping.

Businesses from all over East Lyme, including the Flanders corridor, are involved in this year’s stroll, according to Rachel Rinoski, co-chair of the Holiday Stroll promotions committee with Brandy Kolmer, both board members of Niantic Main Street.

Close to 30 businesses have signed up to participate, from local merchants and restaurants offering specials and discounts, to companies sponsoring the horse-drawn carriage rides provided by Foxglove Farm in Lyme.

“All of the businesses stay open that night,” Rinowski said. “Some serve refreshments, offer special discounts, some have enter-to-win gift baskets, others have entertainment.”

Thanks to sponsorship by Boats, Inc., Santa will give presents to more than 200 children, assisted by Mrs. Claus and their entourage of elves.

Back by popular demand is the “snowball drop,” which started last year. After the East Lyme Lions light the tree and Santa arrives, a blizzard of 1,000 ping-pong balls will be dropped from the top of the fire truck ladder.

Each ball will have a number that corresponds with a local participating merchant. Shoppers will find out what their snowball special is once they go to the store.

“The snowballs were very successful last year,” Rinoski said. “It’s a rare occasion when almost everyone gets to be a ‘winner’ and
it’s just a lot of fun for the strollers and the retailers.”

There will be a few prized red “Rudolph Noses” in the mix. This year’s grand prizes are a surprise until right before the event, she said, but last year’s included $25 gift certificates from Guy’s Oil. Some of the snowballs won a free gift at a shop, or an additional discount.

“People really got into it last year, with a count-down to the snowball drop,” Rinoski said. Her husband, Kyle, is again donating his DJ services this year to provide a musical backdrop and entertainment on the town green. The Rotary Club also will serve hot chocolate.

There will be children’s activities of the non-commercial kind at the police station, coordinated by East Lyme Youth Services. The Friends of the Smith-Harris House, dressed in 19th-century garb, will be singing carols with live musical accompaniment and serving cider and cookies to revelers who want to step inside, warm up, and join in the songs.

Each year the stroll gives away two prize packages. People can register to win at participating merchants. This year the awards are a romance package based around a two-night stay at the Inn at Harbor Hill and a family package with local entertainment and activities. A drawing will be held and winners announced after the event.

Rinoski thanked 38 Hope Street, which signed on as an initial sponsor of this year’s stroll. Guy’s Oil, Niantic Plumbing, HESCO, and East Lyme Economic Development Commission contributed to the horse carriage rides.

“We all are very passionate about making our downtown successful,” Rinoski said of the Niantic Main Street board. “It’s a lot of hours of coordination and hard work, but this event is really fun, too.”

Niantic Main Street is a not-for-profit group with the goal of revitalizing the downtown area. Its other big effort, launched earlier this year with the Town of East Lyme, is the ongoing streetscape project that aims to bring a more inviting pedestrian experience along the heart of the Niantic business district.

The town has been granted a $400,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant for hardscape changes that address public safety in the downtown commercial zone, including better crosswalks and curbing.

A local capital campaign is underway to provide for lamp posts, appropriate urban trees, planters, trash receptacles, and street furniture that are outlined in master streetscape plan developed by a professional landscape architecture design firm and approved by the Planning Commission and endorsed by the East Lyme Board of Selectmen.

Continue the Holiday Spirit
at the Smith-Harris House

Niantic Village festivities continue throughout the following week at the Smith-Harris House, East Lyme’s historic 19th-century museum home at 33 Society Road.

On Sunday, Nov. 30, it kicks off its third annual Home for the Holidays decorated tree and wreath display. The house is open all week, filled with holiday trees decorated by local businesses and patrons, some in historical themes, others fanciful whimsy.

All are on display for the entire family to view. Visitors can vote for their favorite tree throughout the week, as well as place bids on the trees as part of this year’s silent auction.

This year’s tree auctioning is a daytime event from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, with activities for children and adults, according to Carol Marelli, chairman of the Smith-Harris House Commission, and co-chair of the event with Mary Cutillo, president of the Friends of Smith-Harris House.

Members of the Friends of Smith-Harris House also start their annual wreath and greens sale that day, running through Saturday, Dec. 6.

An assortment of wreaths, swags, centerpieces, and arrangements of live and permanent greens will be on sale all week at the barn. Friends members are collecting the fresh greens from the house grounds, as well as their own back yards, and will continually update the offerings all week. Hot cider and cookies also will be available.

All proceeds from the tree and wreath sale go to Friends of Smith-Harris House and Niantic Main Street, in support of community programming.

The Smith-Harris House is open Sunday, Nov. 30, from noon to 4 p.m., and Monday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Sunday Wassail Celebration and Auction from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, call 739-2688.

By Suzanne Thompson
Special to the Times

Additional information about both events is at www.discovereastlyme.com.

Salem Town Hall 2.0: Town Web site is up and running and better than ever

2008-11-26T19:55:35Z

SALEM — For six weeks, Salem went dark—at least online.

“Welcome to Salem, Connecticut” read the message on the town’s Web site. It was followed by another, less inviting message, “The Town of Salem Web site is temporarily unavailable.”

Now, after remaining shut down for nearly two months, the town’s new, made-over site features rotating, resident-shot photographs of picturesque Salem scenes including old barns, animals grazing in fields, and a snow-covered town hall.

“I love the fact that it kind of links the Web site—the virtual town hall—to the real town hall, where we have all of these great photographs up on the wall,” said First Selectman Bob Ross.

Besides the prominently featured slide-show of town pictures, the site now offers up-to-date event and meeting calendars. There are tabs Web surfers can click on for information that suits them, whether they are visitors, residents, or business owners. Now, each board and commission has its own section where members can post meeting agendas and minutes—a feature that wasn’t available on the previous, volunteer-operated site. The town’s Web site was pulled offline by Ross in October after recent state legislation required municipalities with sites to regularly post those documents.

Users can now also download forms, including license applications, building permits, and marriage certificates.

“This Web site is going to do such a good job of getting information out there for people,” said Robyn McKenney, a selectwoman who oversaw the design of the site. “It’s just one more way people can access information and be a part of things. It’s a real service.”

The site debuted Nov. 17 and it has been so far so good, town officials said.

The site will be updated by town hall employees who were trained by the site’s host and design company, Virtual Town Hall.

A user-friendly, updated town Web site is important for the community, which is making great strides technologically. Earlier this fall, the town has been experimenting with having town meeting participants vote through e-mail. The experiment, called Virtual Town Meeting, is the idea of former First Selectman Peter Sielman, who is developing the project as part of his doctoral work at the University of Connecticut.

A day after the site was taken down, the town held its first real virtual town meeting. Sixteen people voted to approve three issues by e-mailing their votes.

“It’s too bad we had to take the site down for a while,” McKenney said, “but for a little town, I think we have a pretty good commitment to technology.”

By MICHAEL NAUGHTON
Staff Writer

East Lyme High School Honor Roll

2008-11-26T19:53:52Z

Grade 12

High Honors: Alexandra Addabbo, Brianna Agnew, Stefan Aleo, Ryan Baldassario, Vincent Barone, Moira Bence, Christopher Brown, Melissa Chmielewski, Matthew Cohen, Sarah Favalora, Kathryn Gage, Alexa Gardner, Caitlin Gebhard, Shannon Glenn, Neal Jawadekar, Eleanor Kleinhans, Kelsey Lucas, Jiake Luo, Jenna Lussier, RamonA Ostrowski, Tanya Radics, Keri Ramsey, Kevin Santa Maria, Sara Schwartz, Sarah Showalter, Carly Thibault, Stephanie Van Alsten, Alex Verdini, Brendan Welch, Katie Yoest.

Honors: Mary Katherine Achor, Rachel Adams, Thomas Adams, Alyssa Andres, Benjamin Andress, Stephanie Appleton, Brianna Ayers, Matthew Baer, Rebecca Banker, Amanda Barbeau, Dana Bennink, Molly Berry, Jacqueline Blodgett, Jessica Blodgett, Elliot Brake, Alexis Breen, Eden Brevik, Ronald Brewster, Barrett Brooks, Laura Brooks, Jennifer Burnett, Kathyna Butcher, Catherine Cameron, Andrea Chrunyk, Kate Citron, Ryan Clarke, Mason Clarkson, Leann Cobble, James Compton, Austin Connaughty, Thomas C. Cook, Anne Cullen, Jennifer Cushing, Michael Davies, Rebecca Davis, Samantha Deabay, Elizabeth DeConto, Christopher Diener, Gregory DiLullo, Evan Ehrlich Kathryn England Alexandra Facchini Tamara Faircloth Timothy Falvey, Angeline Fergione, Nina Fiorillo, Olivia Formica, Julia Foster Ryann Foulke Daniel Fryburg Nicole Fulinello Danielle Furlani, Cashel Gaffey, Crystal Ghrist, Deric Godfrey, Lakia Godfrey, James Gordy, Meghan Griffiths, Alex Grimotes, Joy Harriman, Meredith Hedden, Claire Herbig, Alexa Houston, Grace Hubbard, Rachel Hutchins, Jing Jiao, Derek Johnson, Saichaitanya Kalidindi, Amber Kalolo, Jennifer Kay, Robin Keller, David Kennon, Pradeep Keshary, Claire Keville, Patrick Kmiecik, Thomas Krasner, Kyle Kuchta, Danielle Laffargue, Jessica Lakeman, Julie Lalonde, Amber Lamha, Marco Laufer, Jacob Leeser, Zachary Lemmon, Kirby Lessard, Amy Li, Dan Li, Ellen Little, Susan Long, Rachel Lyon, Kimberley Mackay, Rachel MacLellan, Max Madore, Ryan Marotti, Rebecca Mascaro, Alyson Mason, Reed McFarland, Katherine McKenna, Rashelle McLellan, Max Meyer, Christine Miao, Emma Miller, Jayna Miller, Charles Modzelewski, Sarah Mooradian, Leah Mosier, Anna Natoli, Hadlai Neff, Emily Newton, Kelsey Ninteau, Meghann Nunes, Kelsey Oleynek, Megan Papp, Nil Patel, Taylor Price, Sara Pudimat, Leona Purvis, Priya Ranade, Chelsea Rea, Autumn Revoir, Jillian Rix, Alyssa Roscover, Ashley Rotchford, Bryan Rowe, Michael Said, Surav Sakya, Matthew Sangster, Katie Sasso, Michael Scheyder, Oliver Schunemann, Peter Scott, Mark Sheehan, Anthony Shumbo, Rachel Sievers, Karie Simmons, Elizabeth Sistare, Daniel Smith, Katelyn Spalding, Samantha Sproul, Ryan Steele, Erin Sturgeon,
Laura Sullivan, Hanfa Sultan, Courtland Swan, Taylor Szupiany, Alexa Tabares, Vivek Thanabal, Shelby Thompson, Preston Tischer, Harry Traystman, Abigail VanLuvanee, Jessica Varady, Casey Veitch, Stephanie Waidler, Emily Walker, Dean Walston, Brittany Watts, Joseph Wawrzynski, Gregory Weston, Hillary Wierbicki, Lianne Wong, Suzanne Xie, James Young, Joseph Zona.

Grade 11

High Honors: Joshua Brown, Szuhong Chen, Jesse DeLucca, Melanie Feder, Maria Gregor, Courtney Hart, Gihan Hewage, Natalie Kazierad, Robert Langan, Rachel Likar, Nathaniel Lyon, Elizabeth McLoughlin, Morgan McShane, Brianne Mirecki, Catherine Reid, Gabrielle Robertson, Timothy Shaw, MacKenzie Sherman, Carson Shook, Andrew Somps, Hilary Sullivan, Manya Swick, William Van Alsten, Andrea Walens, Huayi Wang, Derek Werner, Abigail Weston.

Honors: Katlyn Addison, Colleen Ahern, Jared Allen, Zachary Allen-Silvia, Rebecca Anderson, Kyle Anthony, Jeffrey Arenson, Anthony Arias, Cody Aylward, Michael Babcock, Kate Beebe, Nicholas Bialowas, Hallie Bidwell, Adam Bobrowski, Monica Brodeur, Sarah Brousseau, Danielle Brown, Michael Brunetti, Ainsley Bryce, Alexandra Buckingham, Bridget Buckley, Heather Burdick, Jon Burke, Timothy Calcagni, William Calkins, Alexandra Cameron, Anna Carey, Ian Carey, Grace Carver, Rose Carver, Alexis Castelli, Brendan Cavanaugh, Isabelle Celentano, Karen Chen, Christine Choi, Alec Christian, Leah Citron, Stephen Clement, Ethan Closius, Kelly Connell, Taylor Cyr, William Dahm, Samik Das, Ariel DeLaura, Joshua DiGiovanna, Kevin Dolan, Jordan Doucette, Cole Dubord, Kelly Duda, Joshua Duerr, Tyler Egner, Max Engel, Lauren Ennis, Torrin Ewers, Taylor Falvey, Michael Fiorillo, Chelsea Fox, Heidi Freudenthal, Kevin Frisch, Diana Garofalo, Cameron Gebhard, Emily Gentile, Alexandra Gildart, Moriah Gildart, Matthew Gionet, Alana Gonzalez, Caleb Gulovsen, Katherine Hansen, Cameron Hatch, Nicole Hubbs, Taylor Hubbs, Michael Jacobs, Christopher Joy, Nathan Kastner, Charlotte Kenyon, Tasmia Khan, Mitchell Kiah, Andrew King, Annie King, Jessica Kronberg, Melanie Krotsis, Kate Larkin, Elizabeth LaRose, Antonio Lecce, Amanda Libby, Brittany LoPriore, Alison Madole,, Kelsey Maher, Special Marks, Jacob Mauthe, Samuel Maxfield, Hillary McCurdy, Kelson McDaniel, Brendan McDermott, Emily McDonald, Chad McDonnell, Brianna McGlone, Maeve McHugh, Timothy McKinney, Hayley McNutt, Kevin Miao, Stephanie Miller, Zachary Mongillo, Heather Muir, Jonathan Nazarko, Theresa Nguyen, Kelsey Nickerson, Chelsea O’Neill, Sarah Osterberg, David Ostrander, Ashley Paczowski, Jessica Perkins, Kara Peterson, Kathleen Pierce, Matthew Pierce, Jessica Pivirotto, Gary Power, Amanda Raynes, Thomas Redden, Kathryn Ritz, Nathan Rodgers, Basil Roosli, Raquel Salas, Ross Sanfilippo, Victoria Santoro, Nicole Schneider, Ysabel Schrod, Kourtney Sein, Andrea Seitz, Brooke Sheridan, Ryan Shettles, Rex Shiao, Heather Siebert, Richard Simpson, Michael Sinko, Katherine Sisson, Spencer Sloane, Christopher Smith, Javahn Smith, Rebecca Smith, Dominique Soldato, Morgan Solinsky, Catherine Stoddard, Katharine Stone, Kelsey Subiono, Rebecca Teeter, Kelsey Thomas, Ashley Tougas, Dana Tricarico, Apryl Trout, Taylor Unwin, Raymond Updyke, Winston Vargo, Gretchen Volberg, Alexander Waites, Philip Waterman, Abigail Weiss, Jordan Wells, Emily Weston, Brendan Wilcox, Alexandra Wuyke, Gabriella Wuyke, Daniel Zack, Philip Ziegler, Katherine Ziskind, Asa Zorn, Kelly Zrenda, Sierra Zrenda.

Grade 10

High Honors: Austin Begin, Brenna Closius, Brynna Cooke, Jennifer Cordero, Shanelle D’Alessio, Shyam Desai, Molly Giannattasio, Alisha Herrick, Kate Kielty, Jennifer Kimble, Christopher Kohanski, Carmen Ladipo, Michele Lalonde, Teresa Lan, Elizabeth Maloney, Rachel Merry, Kelly O’Toole, Kiersten Sinko, Alexandra Sloss, Max Tan, Claire Tocheny, Nora Tocheny, Elizabeth Tripp, Hannah Tripp, Kristen Whewell, Xu-Feng Zheng.

Honors: Kayla Aamoth, Kaitrin Acuna, Matthew Adams, Luca Addabbo, Kristi Albright, Dominic Aleo, Whitney Allen, Lily Appleton, Chelsea Aquino, Michael Atamanuk, Summer Atkinson, Connor Balon, Alexandra Banker, Nellie Barnett, Zachary Bartlett, Kacie Bayreuther, Alina Beebe, Amanda Beers, Kaitlyn Bell, Alexander Bentley, Andrew Bi, Jessica Boggs, Sara Boike, Katherine Boucher, Samuel Boyer, Julia Bradley, Michael Brousseau, Thomas Brubaker, Kyle Burke, Bryan Byrnes-Jacobsen, Katelyn Cannamela, Zoe Capozza, Ryan Christian, Victoria Christiansen, Katherine Chrunyk, Daniel Connaughty, Katherine Cook, Thomas A. Cook, Shannon Craddock, James Cranston, Sarah Cunningham, Katherine Dana, Katherine Daneault, Michael DeFaria, Steven Deveaux, Megan Disch, Craig Domingo, Megan Donahue, William Dowd, Adam Duong, Christine Durkee, Kelly Eberle, Kaitlin Ensulo, Paul Esposito, Mariah Fairley, Taylor Farley, Elena Felitto, Jake Ferguson, Brittany Ferreira, Michael Florie, Lauren Flower,
Elijah Fortin, Christopher Foster, William Fritz, Lily Fryburg, Graziella Fulchiero, Marisa Glynn, Amy Gonsalves, Camden Gould, Alexis Hadcock, John Hadcock, Kai Hansen, Theodore Hansen, Tasnia Hasan, Karen Hays, Deanna Heller, Steven Hinkle, Erin Holle, Erin Holt, Teresa Horan, Lucinda Horspool, Ryan Hughes, Tyler Imbriaco, Steven Jablonski, Lauren Karanovich, Rebecca Keenan, Paige Kerpen, Lauren Kirschblum, Hannah Knight, Madeline Kobar, Alexander Kopchik, Rebecca Kosakowski, Nicholas Kuvalanka, Rachel Kwon, Crystal Lack, Alexander Lattanzi, Sarah Lento, Timothy Lesick, Drew Lewis, Casey Li, Xiao Li, Allison Lillquist, Jessica Lillquist, Rebecca Lillquist, Alexander Lloyd, Patrick Loftus, Hanyue Lu, Victoria Luce, Joseph Lussier, Samantha Lyall, James Lyons, Rachel Markow, Joshua Martin, Joseph McCaffery, Tucker McCrabb, Zachary McNiece, Paige Mebus, Jordan Miele, Elizabeth J Miller, Jonathan Miller, Kelsey Miller, Emily Mooradian, Kristin Morgan, Christopher Neal, Matthew Neborsky, Anh Nguyen, Bradley Nixon, Victoria Nortz, Neal O’Connell, Steven Orton, Garret Page, Brandon Palmer, Alexandria Pappas, Evan Perron, Dennis Ping, Katherine Powers, Evan Punsalan, Kevin Reutenauer, Rebecca Ringer, Michael Roos, Megan Sargent, Daniel Scheyder, Brandon Schlaff, Danielle Shen, Svitlana Shevchenko, Lillijane Shigematsu, Joseph Silva, Natasha Sistare, Rachel Skelton, Zachary Skelton, Alexander Smola, Brittany Somes, Heather Steele, Nicole Stevens, Kevin Subramanian, Amy Sullivan, Colleen Sullivan, Ryan Sullivan, Bryan Swenson, Shayna Swick, Rajesh Thanabal, Ellen Thiede, Rebecca Thompson, Pratik Ubba, Vitaly Van Deusen, Nikolas Vidakovic,
Iris Wang, Jennifer Ward, Sarah Wawrzynski, Justin Welker, Nathan Whipple,
Amy Whitehouse, Bonny Wilkinson,
Katy Williams, Kaylee Williams, Corydon Wisniewski, Sarah Woods, Quentin Wysopal, Brianna Young, Kaitlyn Young, Rebecca Ziskind, Samuel Zorn.

Grade 9

High Honors: Rubiyat Alam, Sarah Chan, Katherine Cummins, Emily Dees, Erin Delucca, Victoria Dye Lauren, Favalora, Trini Gao, Spencer Godbout, Ryan Jablon, Casey Johnson, Jillian Johnston, Shaan Kamal, Andy King, Grace Lada, Alexandra Leen, Madeline McDermott, Marissa Mirecki, Glenn Murphy, Paige Palmieri, Noelene Power, John Ricci, Joshua Robbins, Sagune Sakya, Jeffrey Schumacher, Kelly Sheehan, Jessica Sitko, Leigh Soderberg, Frank Soldato, Hrishikesh Somayaji, Ashley Stephenson, Sarah Sweney, Arushi Tripathy, Clarissa Verish, Daniel Weiner, Nathan Zhao, Yu Zhou, Elaine Zimnoski.

Honors: Nathan Aleo Amanda Apicelli, Carolyn Baremore, Marilyn Baremore, David Beaulieu, Will Belke, Alanna Bence, Chad Berry, Gabriella Bigos, Matthew Binaco, Kendall Blackmon, Samantha Bobrowski, Kayla Bohonowicz, Kyle Bohonowicz, Nicole Bohonowicz, Jacob Bond, John Bonelli, Justin Briasco, Ashleigh Bridges, Mccarthy Brodaski, Michael Burke, Alden Burns, Caroline Carini, Ivan Carlson, Dominic Caruso, Carlos Casillas, Aaron Christian, Johnathan Clark, William Clement, Conrad Clewell, Madison Cohen, Lauren Cooper, Erick Coyle, Robert Dees, Olivia DeLea, Dominic Dilizia, Amanda Doak, Ashley Doak, Sydney Dubreuil, Connor Eller, John England, Timothy Farina,
Anthony Favalora, Olivia Ferdon, Stephanie Florie, Kyle Fortin, Sarah Frick, Erin Fritz, Daniel Gaffey, Michelle Galindo, Alexander Gerber, Beverly Goff, Abigail Hancock, Samantha Hart, Madeline Hebbel, Tara Hughes, Rafeed Hussain, Courtney Janovic, Nicole Kaplan, Allison Katilius, Amber Kirchner, Matthew Kittleman, Colin Kmiecik, Travis Kohl, Sarah Kukich, Micaela LaBonte, Ashley Lacerte, Sean Lambert, Erin Larkin, Allyson LaRose, Joseph Leonard, Annabel Lettelleir, Michael Li, Chase Livingston, Anthony Lockhart, Madison Loe, Nicole LoPriore, Edwin Lorah, Kathleen Loubier, Aaron Maddux, Jane Martinez, Jessica McDaniel, Elizabeth Miller, Ethan Miller, Megan Minucci, Angela Modzelewski, Miranda Mugovero, Robert Muir, Allison Mulcrone, Brianne Munch, Raeann Nesta, Kennedy Nickerson, Anika Pallan, Emily Passman, Anthony Patrone, Richard Perron, Zoe Pettit, Nicholas Picard, Joshua Plantz, Parker Preston, Kassandra Quan, Taylor Rasie, Adam Salafia, Anna Salvatore, Melissa Sanchez, Emily Seifert, Anthony Sena, Benjamin Shaw, Ian Shukis, Kaitlin Simpson, Kara Sinko, Allyssa Skelton, Patrick Smith, Benjamin Somps, Nina Somps, Niki Song, Matthew Stajduhar, Joyce Swenson, Erika Tabares, Harrison Thiede, Heather Thompson, Janelle Timmons, Alexander Vidakovic, Cody Waites, Josephine Walker, Meredith Walker, Lauren Ward, Samuel Watson, Christina Watts, Avery Whittaker, Liam Williams, Barbara Wilson, Fallon Wilson, Dillon Winkler, Stephanie Wisner, Raquel Woodmansee, Aleene Woronik, Perry Wu, Gowtham Yenduri, Xu Feng Yu.

Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School Honor Roll

2008-11-26T19:53:05Z

Grade 8

High Honors: Maria Awwa, Amanda Burke, Kayla Carberry, Lauren Colburn, Ruby Feng, Agatha Forstein, Tyler Franco, Michelle Gao, Richard Gaudet, Slater Gregory, Lily Hartmann, Marjorie Holcombe, Lindsey Knepshield, Jennifer Kowalski, Veronica Lee, Michael Mann, Allyson McCarthy, Elliott Mueller, Elizabeth Pepin, Andrew Pitman, Taylor Saunders, Shannon Sulmasy, Sarah Talcott, Brooke Tinnerello, and Hannah Wright.

Honors: Erik Abrahamsson, Vincent Angeli, Jordan Bartlett, Molly Bowers, Alex Brault, Paul Burdick, Devin Byrne, Nathan Carabello, Patricia Celone, James Cromarty, Katherine Espinoza, Keegan Fecher, Frederick Harrison, Matthew Harty, Audra Inglis, Alex Kashtan, Carter Levin, George Logan, Agatha Magalhaes, Georgia Male, Tanya Malik, Meghan Nosal, Paige Palenski, Kelly Patel, Shawn Pelissier, Samuel Stadnick, Cynthia Tan, Taylor Teixeira, Zachary Thomas, Andrew Tyrol, Amber Vernacatola, Lucille Welles, and Morgan White.

Grade 7

High Honors: Benjamin Abraham, Megan Astley, Fiona Barrett, Hannah Behringer, Mikayla Bellaria, Taylor Bourne, Lucy Brainard, Meredith Britton, Allison Buckley, Tucker Burr, Kristina Cain, Jack Castonguay, Daniel Chapman, Noah Christiano, Mercedes Crespo, Emily Czarnecki, Dillon Dean Frazier, Hanna DeBruyn, Cameron DeLosSantos, Jennifer Dill, John FairfieldSonn, Paige Flagge, Isabelle Foster, Trent Garbati, Carly Gibson, Madelyne Grabowski, Abigail Guitar, Olivia Hack, Collyn Herel, Cooper Kendall, Gia Kingston, Kaetlin Kolar, Sarah Konishesky, Emily Kramm, Joshua Krasney, Erin Kroes, Kaete Kuhn, David Lahm, Jessica Lee, Anthony Lynch, Kelly Mastrianna, Nicholas McKnight, Robert Melchreit, Morgan Merrick, David Muckle, Kyle O’Neil, EmilyRose, Ogland, Jeffrey Paine, Dimitri Papasian, David Peck, Ella Pilgrim, Kaleigh Reynolds, Graham Richartz, Kaylin Riggs, Isabel Ritrovato, Lauren Romeo, LeighAna Rossitto, Machlan Sawden, Elizabeth Scott, William Sherer, Elena Sloan, Emma Stanton, Meghan Trausch, Cole Turner, Christian Valli, Jacob Watt St. Germain, Lisa Weigle, Kaylyn Wiese, Madalyn Williams, Brian Wolfe, Laura Yee.

Honors: Samantha Beers, Sydney Brown, John Carter, Charles Clark, Kylie Dorothy, Jackson Driscoll, Jenna Duxbury, Chelsea Evankow, Russell Faircloth, Sierra Frascarelli, Sarah Golden, Corina Goodson, Philip Hallwood, Olivia Henderson, Samuel Holcombe, Gavin McCarthy, Nicholas Milazzo, Adam Muhsin, Sean Robertson, Seth Rohrberg, Stuart Ross, Alison Schott, Williams Scott, Alexis Sibley, Haley Silcio, Sierra Sunshine, and David Tiffany.

Grade 6

High Honors: Alexa Agostine, Meredith Aird, Olivia Angeli, Veronika Azzara, Jacob Ballachino, Brendan Basler, Jordan Bourne, Noel Brown, Max Castonguay, Alex Clippinger, Megan Cole, Liam Corrigan, Thomas Crisp, Alida Dahlke, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Detuzzi, Mary Devlin, Jared DiCarlo, Thomas Fader, Jacob Fenton, Holly Fiscus, Rande Gearing, Harry Godfrey Fogg, Rowan Hallahan, Tess Hamilton Ward, Zachary Harrison, Mayana Holland, Ian James, Cooper Kotzan, Madeline Lahm, Mae Lucey, Owen Mesham, Diana Mignott, John Moyer, Hannah O’Brien, Erin Pan, Hannah Paynter, John Pettersen, Jeffrey Poirier, Catherine Quaratella, Daniel Rockwell, Veronica Rollins, Thomas Roth, Emma Rountree, Cameron Spragg, Jared Stanland, Kathleen Stedman, Julia Strycharz, Joshua Swanski, Salvatore Tinnerello, Alix Turner, Hannah Wilczewski, Isobel Wilkie, and Samuel Winter.

Honors: Zachary Abrahamsson, John Berger, Anais Bolduc, James Bolles, Nicholas Bozenhard, Megan Burns, Jessica Bush, John Darcy, Jake Dare, Derek Fischer, Ross Golebiewski, Luke Grabowski, Brandon Green, Taylor Hamparian, Diana LeRoi, Aidan Liefeld, Colin McGrath, Samuel Miller, Jonathan Morris, Owen O’Donnell, Matthew Przybysz, Hunter Sheffield, Colby Smith, Nicholas Todaro, Issak Todd, Liam Tresnan, Matthew Urbowicz, and Thomas Ward.

Art for Show and Sale at LACFA

2008-11-26T19:51:03Z

Lots of special events are slated for Friday, Dec. 5, at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts to kick off the holiday season and to engage the public in learning more about what the art school has to offer.

The day will begin with an admissions open house and tour of the studio facilities from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those interested in applying to the college are invited to bring their portfolios, and faculty and admissions representatives will be available to answer questions.

A community reception for Debra Petke, the newly appointed third president of the college will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the lobby, concurrently with the dedication of the administration building in honor of the college’s founder, Elisabeth Gordon Chandler.

The day will culminate with the opening receptions (from 5 to 7 p.m.) of two art shows: the Alumni Exhibition in the Chauncey Stillman Gallery and Student Holiday Art Sale in the Sill House.

Alumni Exhibit Fine Arts

For the seventh year, alumni works will be exhibited in this juried show. The jurors for this year’s exhibition were Randy Melick, the college’s associate professor of drawing and anatomy, whose work has been exhibited internationally; Lisa Simonds, an alumna of the college, who received a BFA in sculpture in 2007; and Dr. Eric M. Zafran, curator of European painting and sculpture at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.

The judges reviewed 140 entries and chose 31 works from 22 artists from the Northeast and as far as Georgia, in a wide range of media, including oils, graphite, acrylic, prints, and sculpture.

“We looked at a lot of work, and all three judges were quite happy with the final selections,” says Melick. “The [exhibit] broadly represents work done by students who’ve been here over the past 15 years.”

Melick observes that the very recent work in the show reflects what’s happening right now in the college’s classrooms.

“In sculpture, there’s an emphasis on multi-dimensional work that includes not only the figure, but [puts it] in a context with various other elements.”

For example, a sculpture by Bonnie Allen of Waterford (Class of 2006), places a human figure within an intricately designed wheel perched on an elaborate base.

In painting, Melick says, the human figure is the constant, but the artists are concerned with making all the elements of the painting as interesting as the human figure. He cites a work by Elvira Ormaechea of New London (Class of 2007) for “creating a striking and unifying effect” by attempting to paint the figure and the interior surrounding her in the same way.

Other new works in the show that Melick finds exceptional are several silver point drawings by Ellen Gaube of Woodstock (Class of 2007).

“She has some beautifully observed, very well-composed drawings of tree branches, and the design behind the image is a very subtle but striking configuration.”

The works by older graduates, Melick notes, reflect a decades-long involvement in oil painting—especially in plein air painting and the tradition of the American Impressionists.

“There’s a real kind of freshness, a bravura execution,” he says. “I think we selected some very nice examples in these swift, unstudied pictures.”

The artwork in the show is for sale and starts at about $1,000.

“These are professional working artists in a juried show,” Melick points out. “It’s not an amateur crew. The level of work is commiserate with gallery work.”

The show runs through Jan. 17. The gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Student Show and Sale

Every year in December, the Student Holiday Art Sale gives the public the opportunity to invest in affordable art from emerging artists, buy unique holiday gifts, and directly support the students, who receive all proceeds from sales of their work.

The art sale is entirely run by Lyme Academy College students. As a result, they experience all aspects of managing an exhibit, from the installation of artwork to the sale of the pieces.

This year’s sale includes about 150 works including sculpture and paintings in various media, drawings, and prints. Prices range from $20 to $1,000.

One or two students from each class helps to coordinate the event. Katie Fogg of Waterford, a junior at the college, is representing her class this year. A figure and landscape painter, her work is in the show.

“It’s a way for the students to be able to make some money and buy more art supplies or gifts for their families at the holidays,” Fogg says. “The students can [submit] as many pieces as they want—we hang as many as we can. Paintings are all framed; prints are matted.”

New to this year’s art sale are original, collectible, Artist Trading Cards. The cards represent a new national and international trend—artists creating miniature works of art on cards the same size as a typical baseball trading card, and collecting and trading them.

“The students buy these little packets of cards and do all different drawings on them. Students are having a lot of fun—it enables them to express themselves in a smaller way,” Fogg explains. “People who can’t afford much can buy these little cards [which will sell for $5 each]. It’s become a popular way to trade artwork among students.

“They also make cute little stocking stuffers,” she adds.

By Amy J. Barry
Special to the Times

The Student Holiday Art Show and Sale runs Dec. 5 to 13. The Lyme Academy College of Fine Art is at 84 Lyme Street in Old Lyme. For more information about these special events, call 860-434-5232 or visit www.lymeacademy.edu.

Dear Dog Lady: Tips on Trimming

2008-11-26T19:44:54Z

Dear Dog Lady,

Nail trimming had always been easy with Saint, my 5-month-old Saint Bernard. I accidentally cut one of his nails too short and it bled. Since then he has been fearful and I have been tentative when I try to cut his nails. Can we mend our ways?

Please advise,

Guilty Mom

Dear Guilty Mom,

Nail trimming accidents are a common problem with novice dog owners and their puppies. Follow these steps over the next six weeks to repair your confidence and his.

• Teach Saint to stay still in the down position. Scratch his throat and chest from time to time to show him you are pleased.

• Slide one hand down his front leg to his foot. Gently and briefly squeeze his foot, while you scratch his throat and chest with your other hand to show him he is doing well and to distract him.

• Repeat this three to five times and then move onto the other feet. Repeat this exercise until he is no longer anxious or attempts to pull his foot away (probably one to two weeks).

• Next, place your middle and forefinger on the pad of one of his toes and your thumb on top of his toe (the furry side). Press lightly so his nail extends. Release and repeat three to five times with each toe on that foot and then proceed to the other three feet. Repeat until he is relaxed while you do this.

• Follow the above steps again, but now hold the nail trimmers in your one hand. Open and squeeze them so he becomes used to the sound.

• Now, lightly tap each toe nail on one foot while you follow the above steps. Once he is used to this, tap each toe nail on the other feet three to five times. Repeat this until Saint is relaxed while you tap his toe nails with the trimmers.

• Now you are ready to clip one nail a day. Trim just a tiny bit of the nail to each time until you are both totally at ease while you do this. Scratch Saint’s throat and chest to reassure him that you are pleased with him.

• Play fetch, go for a walk, or do something else fun with Saint to reward him following each of your training sessions. He will look forward to nail trimming over time when he pairs these rewards with his training sessions.

These baby steps will lead you and Saint back to confidence and relaxation together in your relationship and while you trim his nails. Now is
a great time to further your and Saint’s education by joining a class or working with a private trainer.

TIPS: Two ways to help to keep your pet trim during the winter months.

• Use a measuring cup to provide the correct amount of food and try substituting carrots or apples for fatty doggie biscuits.

• Maintain regular exercise and play sessions. This is good for you too!

Gleanna Doyle has more than 20 years of experience in animal behavior and training and lives in Mystic with her three dogs and two cats. She has trained animals for television and movies for 16 years. She can answer your most pesky questions about getting your pet to behave. Send your inquiries to Doyle at her Web site, www.rhodescollar.com.

A La Carte: Leftovers Take Center Stage

2008-11-26T19:42:58Z

Can I tell you how much I love Faith Middleton? Especially when she hosts Food Schmooze on WNPR.

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, she invited two editors from Fine Cooking, my favorite magazine, to talk about how to make a turkey and all the trimmings. It was a fun show, because, of the three, two stuff their turkeys while one does not. But what was absolutely the best was how Faith herself spun a wonderful story of Thanksgiving dinner at the Middleton house. Faith says she so loves turkey dressing sandwiches that a platter of Arnold bread is also showcased on the bedecked table so no one has to wait hours after dinner before they can start devouring turkey sandwiches.

What I like the most about Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey skin and the second Thanksgiving dinner around six hours later, after everything has been refrigerated. I adore the sandwiches, piled high with turkey, dressing, warmed gravy (if there is any more), and some extra Brussels sprouts. The next week, I’ll use my column for my adapted Weight Watchers’ soup.

Between Turkey Day and Weight Watcher’s soup, there is still some extra bird, I hope. I really enjoy using it up with this recipe from The New Basics Cookbook.

Turkey Hash Salad

From Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, The New Basics Cookbook (Workman, New York, 1989)

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup light olive oil (or good vegetable oil)
12 small red potatoes
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
12 large cloves garlic
8 ounces bacon cut into one-half-inch pieces
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 cups coarsely shredded cooked turkey
1 bunch arugula, rinsed, trimmed, and patted dry
2 bunches watercress, rinsed, trimmed, and patted dry

Whisk mustard and vinegar together in a small bowl. Slowly pour in three quarters of the oil, whisking constantly. Set the vinaigrette aside.

*** the potatoes all over with a fork. Combine remaining quarter cup of oil, salt, and 1 teaspoon of the pepper in a bowl. Add potatoes and toss until well coated with the mixture. Place the potatoes in a shallow roasting pan and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Remove potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool. Then cut them into 1/2-inch slices and place in a large bowl.

Place the garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Cover with water, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain, allow to cool. Then peel.

Sauté bacon in a heavy skillet until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain, reserving the fat.

Add garlic cloves to bacon fat in the skillet and cook over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon. Discard the fat.

Add red onion, parsley, remaining teaspoon of black pepper, and the vinaigrette to the potatoes. Toss gently.

Add turkey, bacon, and garlic cloves. Gently fold all ingredients together.

Arrange the arugula and watercress on a large serving platter and place the salad on top. Serve immediately.

Nibbles: A Recommendation by Lee

Some months ago, my friend Steve Slosberg told me about Five Guys Burgers and Fries and said it was great. I sort of forgot about it, because Mystic is about 25 minutes from our home, but on a recent trip to the Hanes Outlet I remembered Five Guys.

Why did I wait so long? For ambience? There’s little. Reservations? Forget about it. Fast food? Not so much.

You give your order, you pay, you get a number, you wait about 5 or 10 minutes. Meanwhile, you look for a place to sit and eat.

That’s what I waited for: the moment when you eat, you’re transported to burger and fries heaven. Both are a la minute, as the chefs say: made while you wait. The burgers and fresh toppings are delicious but those fries...oh, those fries. Sliced with the skin on, the regular portion is very large, the fries are lightly salted, hot and crunchy on top, creamy on the bottom. But here’s the best part: they are terrific even when they are a bit cool. Honest.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
12 Coogan Boulevard
Mystic
860-572-1500

Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can e-mail her at Leeawhite@aol.com.

College 101: How to Win College Scholarships and Avoid Rip-Offs

2008-11-26T19:39:59Z

This is the time of year when high school seniors are likely to be approached by unscrupulous companies guaranteeing scholarships, grants, or financial aid packages that promise tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s legitimate for a company to charge a fee to compare a student’s profile with a database of scholarships that pay big. It’s not legitimate for a company to promise scholarships or grants it doesn’t own or control.

The cost of college since 1969 has risen more than 600 percent. The spiraling cost has long paved the way for financial aid scam artists to prey on college-bound students.

Aware of the escalating fraud in college education assistance, Congress passed the College Scholarship Fraud Prevention Act of 2000.

Project Scholarscam, headed by the Federal Trade Commisson (FTC), created a sharp list to help detect fraudulent marketing schemes. Project Scholarscam cautions students to look and listen for these telltale lines:

The scholarship is guaranteed or your money back.
You can’t get this information anywhere else.
I just need your credit card or bank account number to hold this scholarship.
We’ll do all the work.
You’ve been selected by a national foundation to receive a scholarship.
You’re a finalist in a contest you didn’t enter.
If you get invited to an out-of-town “no pressure” seminar on financial aid or scholarships, ask for local references before you make the drive.

“Be wary of success stories or testimonials of extraordinary success—the seminar operation may have paid shills to give glowing stories,” the FTC notes. Again, this pertains to out-of-town seminars offered by groups that you, your school or your friends know little about.

Project Scholarscam offers additional tips on how to avoid fraudulent marketing schemes at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/scholarship/index. So enough of the dark side of town; how to get the legitimate money and without paying a nickel up-front?

Students should go to their guidance counselors and ask for a list of local organizations that offer scholarships. Local organizations generally advise guidance departments of their scholarships.

Since many local service clubs belong to a national organization, inquire if the national organization also offers a scholarship. The local chapters of the American Legion, Rotary Club, Elks Club, Knights of Columbus, and Lions Club, all belong to national organizations, which offer scholarships, some of which have $25,000 awards.

Once you’ve exhausted local service organizations, then look at the scholarships offered by local religious organizations. A good person to contact is the cleric in charge of a local house of worship. If you belong to a house of worship, you have an edge. But if you don’t, that doesn’t count you out. Again, if you win locally look to see if that particular church, mosque, or synagogue has regional or national scholarships.

If a parent belongs to a union at work, or if a student is thinking of working in a field that has a union, go on-line and see if that union offers a scholarship. The Air Line Pilots Association, the American Federation of Teachers, The National Association of Letter Carriers, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers all offer scholarships. They all have Web sites, which list the funds available and the criteria necessary to apply for the money.

Students can win a scholarship if their parents or grandparents served in the military. The 25th Infantry Division Association sponsors the 25th Infantry Division Association Scholarship for children and grandchildren of the unit. This tip comes from Gen and Kelly Tanabe’s wonderful book, 1001 Ways to Pay for College. This is a good book to own, particularly since the price of college, according to the College Board, was up 6 percent in 2003-2004 in private institutions, and up 14.1 percent in public institutions from the previous school year.

The trick is to get into scholarship mode. They’re plentiful; you just have to start looking for them. According to the New York Times there are more than 700,000 scholarships available from more than 25,000 providers annually. The Web site SallieMae.com boasts that its database currently contains more than 2.9 million scholarships worth more than $16 billion. Meritaid.com says its site lists $11 billion in scholarship money. Since some deadlines are in the spring of junior year, the time to get rolling is now.

A smart way to start searching beyond the backyard for scholarships is to go to the Internet. Take a look at Free Scholarship Information, www.freschinfo.com; The College Board, www.collegeboard.com; Scholarships.com, www.scholarships.com; Petersons, www.petersons.com; CollegeNet, www.collegenet.com; and ScholarshipExperts, www. Scholarshipsexperts.com.

About 10 years ago, I won $24,000 from the U.S. Congress to pay for a master’s degree. The James Madison Fellowship is issued to one schoolteacher in the state of Connecticut annually. Sounds like big stuff, huh? Don’t be fooled. The competition wasn’t nearly as steep as you might think.

I called Todd Beckman, a program clerk, who works for the James Madison Fellowship, to ask how many people applied for the award I won in 2000. That year there were 18 applicants from Connecticut. Often, the competition isn’t very thick.

So get into search-mode and be aggressive. Start locally and remember, you don’t need to pay someone to help you find money for college.

Sam Rosensohn is the founder of College Planning Partnerships, which offers prep classes for the SAT, the ACT, and the SSAT. He helps students to prepare for college and to write college essays. He can be reached in Clinton at 860-664-9857. Visit www.satprepct.com for previously published “College 101” columns and SAT prep class times.

Looking Out for Seniors: East Lyme launches TRIAD program

2008-11-20T17:53:46Z

East Lyme has become the 55th Connecticut community to launch a local chapter of TRIAD, a national coalition that aims to reduce criminal victimization of the elderly.

The program brings together law enforcement, community senior services, and the private sector to work on ways that help aging Americans stay on their toes and avoid falling for increasingly common scams aimed at them. Under the TRIAD banner, communities may survey town residents to see what is needed, set up health and safety programs, and carry out other activities under the guidance of a volunteer board of directors, called a SALT Council, for Seniors and Law Enforcers working Together.

On Nov. 7, representatives of the East Lyme Police Department, East Lyme Senior Services, and People’s United Bank, the business sponsor of the program in
Connecticut, commemorated the town’s partnership with a solemn candle-lighting ceremony designed to depict unity and support of the program.

Although East Lyme hasn’t seen an isolated increase in crimes against elderly, Sgt. Wilfred Blanchette, East Lyme Resident Trooper, said it faces the same trends as the rest of the country. He views the local TRIAD program as a proactive approach.

“Every 2.7 minutes, one elderly person is victimized in the United States,” he said.

East Lyme Police Officer Jean Cavanaugh, who serves as the local TRIAD officer, said this assignment increases the amount of time she spends checking with seniors on crime prevention needs, either individually or through the town’s senior center.

Organizers wasted no time in kicking off the first TRIAD program. Yellow Dot is an identification plan for seniors in their automobiles. Seniors are to pencil in their personal health information—name, medical conditions, allergies, and medications, as well as emergency and medical contacts—and put a recent photo of themselves on designated yellow cards. A yellow dot posted on their car’s rear window alerts first responders and emergency personnel to look for the form in the car glove box.

The yellow forms don’t include Social Security numbers or any financial information, Officer Cavanaugh noted. Seniors will be responsible for keeping their health information updated on the cards.

Seniors who did not get their Yellow Dot cards completed and photos taken at an event on Nov. 17 can check in at the East Lyme Senior Center or the East Lyme Police Department.

A similar program, the File of Life, will be launched in early 2009. It alerts first responders that one or more of a home’s occupants are TRIAD participants and have documented similar personal health information on a card. A sticker on the front door alerts first responders that the information is posted in a designated spot in the residence.

First Selectman Paul Formica announced that the East Lyme Ambulance Foundation has purchased File of Life kits for 2,000 households.

Cavanaugh said the next push will be to help seniors to avoid telephone and Internet fraud, both growth areas.

“We are the age group of choice of most scam artists,” Angela DeLeon told the East Lyme seniors at their TRIAD ceremony. “They will be calling, telling you they can get you better rates on your CDs, your investments.”

DeLeon deserves the credit for starting the TRIAD concept and the File of Life program. She was working as a Senior Crime Prevention Specialist in the Bridgeport Police Department in 1992 when the first TRIAD in the northeastern United States was established there. Frustrated that first responders couldn’t find the medical emergency and contact information for an elderly woman who was beaten, DeLeon came up with the card.

DeLeon has since joined People’s Bank as an employee to organize its Masters Program for seniors and serves as TRIAD coordinator. The company points out that it is the only financial services organization in the country that provides crime prevention and awareness training to seniors.

With more than 300 branch offices in New England and New York, she said she gets a call a day from seniors who have been hit up by a scam artist.

“Scam artists aren’t going to tell you they are a criminal and want to get your money. They are going to befriend you first,” she said. “Do not continue talking to this person.”

She advised seniors not to sit on a secret or word of promised financial gain. Banks do not call and solicit on the phone in Connecticut, she said, so anyone who hears of a great offer needs to go visit their local bank office.

If they get offers of something that sounds too good to be true, particularly if it is from an overly friendly stranger, she also recommended seniors alert Officer Cavanaugh or report it to the East Lyme Senior Center.

Unfortunately, people have to watch out for scams from friends-of-friends, or extended family members, she said. She recounted how the granddaughter of a patron of the Shelton Senior Center had been very effective in convincing the woman’s friends to lend her money because she was in the middle of an embarrassing lawsuit. She reportedly got thousands of dollars this way, convincing multiple seniors to help her but not breathe a word of it to her grandmother. Someone finally told the town’s TRIAD officer. The young woman has been arrested.

Women who came to the East Lyme ceremony also were given a stretchy yellow wrist band and a whistle, with instructions to put their house keys on the band and wear it, instead of tossing these into their handbags. Otherwise, by the time a person recovers from the trauma of a purse-snatching or discovers that their handbag has been taken, she said, the perpetrator has already gotten access to the home.

DeLeon said not to assume what a purse-snatcher may look like, noting how a 16-year-old girl recently had been catching unsuspecting seniors off-guard in Milford and Seymour in Fairfield County.

Other area towns that have formed TRIADs include Waterford, Ledyard, and Stonington.

For more information or to report suspicious activities, call this non-emergency number for the East Lyme Police: 739-5900.

By Suzanne Thompson
Special to the Times

Safety Tips from Sgt. Blanchette,
East Lyme Resident Trooper

• Be aware of your surroundings at all times.

• Be street smart and stay away from dark allies

or parking lots.

• Walk with a friend.

• Keep car doors and windows closed and locked.

• Don’t open doors or roll down car windows if a stranger approaches you.

• Park in well-lit areas.

• Be safe at home by locking doors and windows when you are at home and away.

• Make sure the locks are strong. Check them often.

• Use home alarm systems.

• Make lists of your expensive belongings.

• Take photographs of your most valuable items.

• Store this information in a safe place.

• Don’t open your door to a stranger.

• Ask any stranger for proof of identity before opening

your door.

• Don’t keep large amounts of cash around your house.

• Join the East Lyme Police Neighborhood Watch program.

Lyme Unveils New Monument to Veterans: Town thanks ad hoc group and honors veterans

2008-11-20T17:40:19Z

The Town of Lyme has a new memorial to honor and recognize its veterans. The results, situated between the Lyme Town Hall and Lyme Public Library, were unveiled on Nov. 9, as about 200 people looked on.

First Selectman Ralph Eno officiated at the ceremonies, which continued the town’s tradition of recognizing its veterans who have passed on since the last Veterans Day. Seven men were honored by a one-gun salute, a rendition of “Taps,” and a moment of silence.

The memorial was unveiled by a group of Lyme veterans who all enlisted from Lyme, served in a foreign war, and returned to the community: World War II veterans Emil Ewankow, Paul Harper, Allen Plimpton, and John Yoemans; Korean Conflict veterans Donald Babcock, Lawrence Dayett, and Frederick Latham; Vietnam veterans John Giaconia and Bruce Stark; and David Lahm, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Eno and state Sen. Eileen Daily and state Rep. Marilyn Giuliano, both recently re-elected, acknowledged the need for the country and communities to not forget the needs of veterans returning from the ongoing wars and foreign assignments, as well as those of older veterans.

“There are more women veterans out there now than ever before,” stated American Legion State Commander Harvey Daggett, who also spoke at the ceremonies.

“Being a veteran requires a lot of sacrifice on our part,” said Lt. Col Lahm, a member of the Rhode Island National Guard, who spoke on behalf of town veterans. “But there’s one group of people who continue make sacrifices and are often left out or forgotten. That’s the wives and children. I think those are the ones who strive and have the commitment and suffer in silence, staying behind in support of their veterans.”

The ad hoc Lyme Veterans Committee was made up of Red Anderson, who served as a Navy fighter pilot in the 1950s; Don Babcock, who spent nine months on the front lines in Korea; submariner Rich Dominy; Army veterans Tom Davies and Ernie Lammer, whose son Josh has served in Iraq; and Jim Beers, a war re-enactor. He serves as the group’s secretary-treasurer.

Anderson credits Dominy for initiating the memorial effort in 2000. Dominy comes from a military family, with his father serving in WWI, two brothers in WWII, another in Korea, and two in Vietnam.

The group raised about $8,500, between its annual pig roast dinner and contributions from the groups, businesses, and individuals, ranging from the Lyme Fire Department and the Lyme Public Hall to Essex Savings Bank, and others that contributed equipment and work.

Eno thanked the ad hoc committee for its gumption and efforts.

“The Lyme Veterans Monument Committee saw a need, in true Lyme fashion, they tackled the project and brought it to successful completion without any muss and fuss,” he said. “I know they didn’t anticipate getting any special recognition for their efforts. It’s really a striking testament to their commitment, ongoing, to veterans, not only of the town of Lyme, but throughout the United States.”

This memorial complements the town’s existing monument, the eagle statue across the road from the Lyme Consolidated School, Anderson said. The group plans to add a night light pole and wrought-iron fencing around that memorial, which was erected in 1944. There also is a memorial to WWI veterans in front of the Lyme First Congregational Church.

By Suzanne Thompson
Special to the Times

The Lyme Veterans Memorial was officially dedicated at a smaller ceremony on Nov. 11. Anyone who wishes to support the memorial can contact Red Anderson at 961-2820.

East Lyme Coach Puts New Spin on Winless Foe

2008-11-20T17:38:41Z

East Lyme High football coach produced a classic oxymoron after Fitch beat his Vikings Nov. 7.

“Fitch was a very good 0-8 football team,” the Day quoted Tenaglia.

A good win-less team, Mr. Lou Holtz? Like a rich pauper or an ugly beauty or a well-conceived error.

Without becoming too sarcastic, Tenaglia had the right idea. Fitch was not your typically helpless win-less team. The Falcons, in many eyes, had Montville beat in Week 2, only to lose by a point when a sideline official ruled their runner short of the goal line on a potential game-winning two-point attempt in overtime. A good NFA team beat Fitch on a last-second field goal. So, Fitch knocking off East Lyme was far from an upset, especially since the Vikings have struggled to score points all season and are without their starting quarterback.

The Vikings appear headed to a second straight losing record. The following should be their groundwork for future rebuilding.

Keep East Lyme players in East Lyme. It’s got to be frustrating to see talent escape to St. Bernard and Ledyard, through its vo-ag program.

Huge ECC Game

The Ledyard High football team sat in fourth place in the CIAC Class M playoff point ratings with the hopes of returning to the post-season to defend its state championship.

The Colonels (7-2) will probably need to close out with two victories to land a spot. This much is certain: their next game at 6:30 on Nov. 20 against New London at Mignault Field will feature a playoff atmosphere. It’s the only game on Thursday and the place to be for ECC fans.

Already a rivalry with two of the best Eastern Connecticut Conference teams butting heads, Ledyard-New London’s intensity skyrockets this year. This marks the first meeting of Ledyard coach Jim Buonocore and New London’s Jack Cochran since their infamous 2006 incident at East Lyme that resulted in Cochran’s arrest and subsequent one-year hiatus from coaching the Whalers.

The game on the field rates enough of a story. New London is undefeated, ranked No. 2 in the state, and ticketed toward the Class SS playoffs. Ledyard could be the most physical team the Whalers face all season.

“New London is an extremely talented football team which I consider to be the best team in the state,” Buonocore said. “They are very impressive on film. Their size and speed and ability to get to the football is second to none. We are looking forward to the opportunity to compete against a great high school football team. The atmosphere should be exciting for the players on both teams, as it should be one of the best games in our league this year.”

New London All-State quarterback Jordan Reed could return for this game after missing three with an injured foot.

“Obviously Jordan Reed changes the complextion of the game and how you attack them.” Buonocore said. “He is a tremendous talent and a very nice young man. So, like everyone else, we wait and see if he will be healthy and make sure we plan accordingly for him to be on the field and maybe not. With that being said, Casey Cochran has done a nice job stepping in and making plays for New London. He is very impressive on film for a freshman. He runs their offense well and can get the ball down-field to their play-makers. He is going to be a very good quarterback.”

This game is so big, Ledyard quarterback J.J. Jablonski called it “the biggest game in our careers.” Funny, didn’t Ledyard win a state title last year with Jablonski playing a large role in the outcome?

“The game has big implications for us,” Buonocore said. “That is exciting. You want to be playing in big games in November. That means you’re doing something right as a team and program.”

Waterford’s Bickford Overlooked

The ECC is so stacked with football standouts this season, some monster seasons are being overlooked.

Waterford running back Donnie Bickford surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in the Lancers’ eighth game. One thousand yards is a big deal, but you rarely read about Bickford. Now you have.

Speaking of Waterford, the Lancers are quietly producing a winning season. We get so spoiled by teams striving for state titles, sometimes we forget a winning season is a measure of success.

By Larry Kelley
Special to the Times

Artful Trees Conjure Holiday Mood at Florence Griswold Museum

2008-11-20T17:32:36Z

Every year the Florence Griswold Museum celebrates the magic of the holiday season by transforming the Griswold House—Miss Florence’s turn-of-the-century boarding house for American Impressionist artists—into a Christmas wonderland decorated in traditional and contemporary art and crafts.

This year, for the first time, four Connecticut artists were invited to create handmade decorations, each for their own tree, displayed in the second floor galleries of the Griswold House. The artists selected for the new Handmade for the Holidays theme include paper cutter Dottie Netherton of Pawcatuck, woodworker Craig Nelson of Gales Ferry, illustrator/printmaker James Polisky of New Haven, and glass artist Jeffrey P’an of Stonington.

David Rau, the museum’s director of education, says he chose the artists based on their “fine craftsmanship and infectious eagerness to be pioneers for such a new program.”

“Not all of these artists make traditional ornaments, but each were willing to take on the project and use the Christmas tree as a new form to express their artistry,” Rau notes.

Netherton has been working for 25 years in the time-honored tradition of paper cutting, or scherenschnitte, which started in an area north of Philadelphia. She sells her framed cut paper designs and cards, professionally printed from her designs, in museum shops and at historic sites. For this event, Netherton, says she wanted to break out of the traditional mode she normally works in and come up with some imaginative and creative ornaments.

“I came up with mermaids with fishy scaly bodies using scraps of wallpaper samples for their tails,” she says. “I took brown paper and ran it through the shredder to make their hair. I also used shredded paper to make hair for angels and birds in nests.”

Netherton says one of her favorite ornaments is a garland made of colored paper mittens attached with brown paper clothespins to a string of raffia to simulate a clothesline.

“I don’t normally do ornaments, but it was fun to do,” Netherton says. “Our house has been in turmoil for months. There’s paper everywhere!”

Nelson is a woodworker whose company, Nelson Designs, LLC, of Gales Ferry does custom woodworking and makes furniture and built-ins. Nelson started a tradition making wooden snowflakes about 20 years ago to give to family members and friends at the holidays. He also started selling them about nine years ago. When the Amistad was being built at Mystic Seaport, he acquired a lot of the left-over scraps, and the snowflakes evolved from there. He mills his own wood and has even made special tools for creating the snowflakes.

“It’s wood, so every grain is different,” Nelson points out. “There are about 70 different shapes, colors, woods—African wood and local woods.”

Nelson says doing the tree at the Florence Griswold is “a great opportunity to give them something different and unique and a great opportunity for local craftsman to show their work.”

Nelson will also have snowflake trees on display at the Mystic Art Center and Hygienic Gallery in New London.

James Polisky’s background as a printmaker started when he blended his love of drawing and design, and combined it with his experience in graphic design and color separation in the textile and wall-covering field.

“I took a print-making course a few years back at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven and made the transition of making art and working as a freelance illustrator/designer along with keeping my day job in graphic arts,” Polisky says. “I show my work in galleries, cafes, city art shows, and wherever it has a chance to make a positive impact.”

Polisky has created hundreds of hand-screened pieces as ornaments to decorate his tree. Themes include snowmen, birds, reindeer, cats, dogs, little monsters, elves, candy canes, as well as wording, textures, and abstract lines and shapes, all in various color combinations.

Glass artist Jeffrey P’an owns Prescient Studios, a glassblowing studio and gallery in Stonington. He specializes in fusing and blowing glass mosaic into vessel forms, hand making all the elements of his designs. He describes his work as based on the “reinvention of Old World techniques in the design of modern objects.”

Rather than do individual glass blown ornaments, P’an decided to create a seven-foot-tall blown glass sculpture that resembles a tree.

“It’s all clear, white, gold, and silver glass,” P’an says. “I made it from individual plates of glass that are curved and hang on a tree-shaped frame. There are about 100 different plates—all hand blown—that make up the tree.”

Ornaments and other gift items by all four artists are on sale in the Florence Griswold Museum gift shop.

Painted Palettes

A mainstay of the holiday celebration for the past five years is a tree hung with one-of-a-kind palettes painted by fine artists. The tree is displayed on the main floor of the Griswold House, which is decorated for a festive 1910 Christmas in a boardinghouse for artists. A dozen or so new palettes have been added to this year’s Miss Florence Artist Tree, bringing the number to about 100 pieces of artwork donated by artists from all over the country.

Rau says the Artist Tree was conceived when the Florence Griswold was looking to create a tradition like “the incredible tree at New York’s Metropolitan Museum” that would draw people to the museum year after year. The idea of artists painting on palettes relates directly to the museum’s history as the center for the Lyme Art Colony and alludes to the doors and wooden wall panels the artists painted throughout Miss Florence’s house.

Rau originally sent 50 artists each a palette and asked them to paint their signature style, something appropriate for a tree dedicated to Miss Florence.

“There were no rules per se,” he says. “The palettes started rolling in. Sometimes the hole was at the top, sometimes at the bottom. Lots of artists have really knocked themselves out.”

Rau says subject matter ranges from a photographic realism of cardinals on a Christmas tree to abstract colors and swirls.

Among this year’s new palettes is one that’s painted by Paul Lipp of Old Lyme with a basket of cherries.

“It looks so real you want to take a bite out of the cherries.” Rau says.

A clever idea by Kat Murphy of New London was to use the hole in the palette like the opening of a birdhouse and paint it to resemble Miss Florence’s house with two birds on the outside looking in.

We’re looking for more artists each year,” Rau says. “Now people are waiting for our phone call.

“What’s so great about this project,” he adds, “is people come back each year to look at what’s new. We see people going around and around the tree, mesmerized. We even give out little binoculars so they can study the top of the tree...It’s a great way to work with contemporary artists in the area and a positive experience for everyone.”

A Festive Holiday Celebration opens Nov. 22 and continues through Jan. 4 at the Florence Griswold Museum on Lyme Street in Old Lyme. On Friday, Nov. 28, museum admission includes free horse-drawn carriage rides with Santa from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors can meet the four artists whose work decorates the Handmade for the Holidays trees in the Griswold House.

By Amy J. Barry
Special to the Times

For a complete list of holiday programming, call 860-434-5542 or visit www.florencegriswoldmuseum.org.

Go with the ‘FLOW’

2008-11-20T17:23:29Z

What is bringing together activist teens with such diverse interests as robotics, human rights, the environment, and global solutions? Water, the essence of life.

A number of individuals and groups, including the LOLHS FIRST Robotics team, better known as the Techno Ticks, Amnesty International, the Environmental Club, and the Hartford chapter of Engineers Without Borders, will join forces to raise awareness about the world’s water crisis and raise money to aid water projects in India and Africa. On Saturday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m., at the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School auditorium, they will present an exclusive screening of the award-winning documentary FLOW.

Bill Derry of LOLHS’s Technology Education Department said while he had not yet previewed the new documentary at the time of this writing, from his understanding, “it’s the Al Gore film [An Inconvenient Truth] but instead of talking about global warming we’re talking about water.” According to the film’s fact sheet, of the 6 billion people on earth, 1.1 billion do not have access to safe, clean drinking; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently does not regulate 51 known water contaminants; and while the average American uses 150 gallons of water per day, those in developing countries cannot find five.

“Our intent is to have an educational experience. We want students to understand that this is one producer’s view of the situation…this is not the only view of what’s going on. However, from what we understand, there is no doubt that there is a crisis,” says Derry.

“Whether a lot is caused by big business, which is one of the takes of this film, or whether more is caused by pollution or other global/environmental issues that are affecting the water supply…from our perspective it doesn’t matter who is at fault...We’re less about pointing fingers and more about awareness.”

LOLHS alumna Anna Smith will introduce the film and share information about past and present water-related projects involving Engineers Without Borders, a non-profit humanitarian organization that partners with developing communities worldwide to improve their quality of life.

Engineers Without Borders will benefit from the funds raised from the showing, “And ultimately folks around the world will benefit from the funds,” said Derry.

Smith, a geologist who has mentored students at the elementary, high school, and college levels, has found that math and science “is not explained as the cool thing to do. So, kids aren’t going into it.”

“I want to share with students the fact that you can be totally normal and have a career in math and science,” Smith says.

One of the goals of the event, explains Derry, is to inform the community “that we’ve got doers here, who are making a difference in the world.”

Tammy Noyes, one of the robotics team’s coaches, says the team is proud to claim Smith as one of its first alumna.

“She is making the world a better place for her having been in it,” says Noyes. “Anna graduated with a degree in geology, and while cleaning up the ground water around gas stations is her ‘day job,’ she volunteers for Engineers Without Borders on the side.”

The robotics team wanted to do something to support the chapter’s efforts.

“This is going to be bigger than any shortage of fossil fuels, as clean water is necessary for life itself,” says Noyes.

At the screening, Internet kiosks will be set up so that viewers can assemble, speak with Smith and student leaders, as well as sign an online petition to add a 31st article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishing access to clean water as a fundamental human right, if they wish.

By Susan Cornell
Special to the Times

FLOW can be viewed on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m., at the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School auditorium. Admission is $5; $2 for seniors and students. All are welcome. For additional information on the documentary, visit www.flowthefilm.com.