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PAIDGLASTONBURY CITIZEN, INC.

Volume 34, Number 30                                                  Published by The Glastonbury Citizen                                                                       October 16, 2009

RIVEREAST

See Scarecrow on Page 2

It’s Scarecrow TimeIn Colchester

The annual Scarecrow Decorating Contest is underway in Colchester. Among theentries is this display from Shattered Endz Hair Salon, advocating breast cancerawareness.

This “E.T. Phone Home” display, bythe Riley family of Colchester, showsthe alien with a cell phone as hisscarecrow friend wheels him around ona bicycle.

by Katy NallyA group of not-so-scary scarecrows are livin’

it up on Colchester’s town green both this weekand next, as part of the 10th annual ScarecrowDecorating Contest.

This year, figures with jack-o-lantern headsplay musical instruments and bust dance moves,while others read a book to learn “how to howl.”

There are 18 entries displayed on the towngreen and residents can go to a variety of localbusinesses to vote for their favorites. The eventis organized by the Colchester Business Asso-ciation (CBA) and the Parks and RecreationDepartment. The kickoff was last Friday whenpeople came out to craft their straw-stuffedfriends.

“I love it,” said Colchester Parks and Recre-ation supervisor Anita Pizzutiello, an organizerof the contest. “I think it’s a great idea so thatpeople can get excited about fall in New En-gland. It’s just a nice group activity.”

For the most part, Pizzutiello said the onlyqualification for the decorations is that they canwithstand any weather. She said in the past, thescarecrows were decorated with photographs,

props like tables, chairs and even a soccer goal.“It’s limitless,” she said. “It’s whatever people’simaginations and creativities will allow themto create.”

Out on the green this year, there is a diversemix of scarecrows. The senior center created“Modern Millie,” who wears bright purple leg-gings, a black cape and has huge painted lips.Next to Millie is the Riley family’s woodenscarecrow, who rides a bike with E.T. in thefront basket. The friendly alien looks a bit moremodern since his 1982 debut, as he totes a shinycell phone to “call home” with. The duo wasappropriately named “E.T. Phone Home.”

According to Pizzutiello, any Colchester or-ganization, business, youth group, individualor family can enter into the contest. There arewinners for each category, she said. Prizes aredonated from local businesses or are purchasedwith the money from the entry fees (which were$10 per display).

The business category had the most numberof entries, with eight, and includes the Shat-tered Endz Hair Salon’s scarecrow scene called“Ta-Ta.”

This scene features three women figuresdressed in hot pink sweatshirts and matchingsweatpants. The women wear florescent pinkwigs and white masks. They sit on bails of hayand are guarded by a clan of petit lawn flamin-gos. Written across the three figures is “SAVETHE TA-TAS,” and behind them is a large ban-ner advocating breast cancer awareness month.

Hebron Finance Director Placed on Leaveby Sarah McCoy

Hebron Director of Finance Jim Day hasbeen placed on paid administrative leave justeight months after beginning work – a movethat comes immediately following Day’s dis-tribution of a letter calling into question theorganization and transparency of town gov-ernment.

Day started in Hebron in mid-February. Asa new employee, he was placed on a six-monthprobation period, as is customary in Hebron.That period was extended for another threemonths over the summer.

Interim Town Manager Andy Tierney wouldnot comment on the reasons for the probationextension, but referred to the town’s EmployeeHandbook of Personnel Policies and Proce-dures. In that document, it is written that anextension of the probationary period may benecessary to “additionally evaluate theemployee’s performance.”

Day said he received no fewer than threeunsatisfactory reviews, thus the decision to ex-tend his probation didn’t come as a surpriseto him. That’s not saying he thinks the deci-sion was just.

Day said his evaluations were conductedby four town employees and the three mem-bers of the town’s Management Team –Tierney, Town Planner Mike O’Leary andExecutive Assistant Donna Lanza. However,Day said he didn’t get to see the individualevaluations but only the average of everyone’sresponse. He said he was told the individualevaluations were destroyed.

“I scored just low enough that they could keepme on probation,” Day said earlier this week.

He also said that he wasn’t given any goals,a customary piece of evaluation documents, hesaid, or specific guidance into what was beingasked of him. “Day One, I jumped right in thechair and started working,” Day said.

As to why he’s been placed on administra-tive leave, Day said he surmised that the deci-sion came as a response of a letter he distrib-uted to Board of Selectmen and Board of Fi-nance members over last weekend. In the let-ter, Day charges that he was asked, but refused,to illegally stalk a Hebron resident to determineif they were living in a residential home with-out a code of occupancy and hush up over abudgeting deficit.

The deficit was a $61,000 overspending inthe Village Green road that was completed in2007. According to Day, he found the error ear-lier this spring and was initially told a transferfrom the town’s undesignated fund balancecould be made by the auditor without BOS andBOF approval. Knowing that the town’s char-ter requires BOS and BOF approval for supple-mental appropriations, Day insisted that thematter be placed on the BOS agenda in the nameof transparency.

He reports that O’Leary was angry with himfor the handling of the situation.

Day also charges that the three members ofthe Management Team were paid extra whileformer Town Manager Jared Clark remained atthe helm.

Day closed his letter by writing, “The Man-agement Team and the Chairman of the Boardof Selectmen have tied my hands in perform-ing my duties as a Finance Director in having

an open, honest government where I can pro-tect the taxpayer’s assets.”

Contrary to Day’s belief, Tierney insists thatthe decision to place Day on administrativeleave was made prior to the letter. Because it’sa personnel issue, Tierney said he couldn’t com-ment on the matter other than to say that thetown is currently conducting an investigation.

Day responded that he doesn’t know whatTierney is looking for. “I haven’t done any-thing wrong,” he said.

Earlier this fall, the BOS held a workshopto discuss the organization of the town man-ager position if the duties were to be splitamongst three individuals. At that meeting,held on Sept. 3, Day voiced concerns overmany aspects of the plan including the day-to-day operation of the town and the checks andbalances system to safeguard the town’s as-sets.

Those comments, he believes, made him theenemy of the office. “They want me to be a‘team player’ by not reporting stuff that clearlyneeds to be,” Day said this week.

A personnel matter with Day was listed onthe agenda for the Board of Selectmen’s meet-ing yesterday, Oct. 15. While the discussionwas scheduled to be held in executive session,Day reported on Wednesday that he intendedto ask the BOS to speak about the matter inpublic.

He said he went into the meeting with a clearconscious, convinced he acted appropriatelyduring his time in Hebron. However, Day stilldoubts he will get an opportunity to return tohis post.

Scarecrow cont. from Front PageOwner of the hair salon, Debi Rushford, saidshe went with the pink theme this year to raiseawareness about the disease.

Rushford said she and Alice Tipton, who alsoworks at Shattered Endz, are both survivors ofbreast cancer. Rushford was diagnosed in 2006and Tipton, two years prior. She said she andTipton saw each other through chemotherapyand radiation. She said the scarecrow contestwas another way to raise awareness, and theflamingos, she said, “just add a little cutesytheme.”

Shattered Endz also participated last year,when the business constructed a politically-themed scene with scarecrows resemblingBarack Obama and John McCain. Rushfordsaid her business has won in the past, but forher, “it’s not about winning.” She said it’s moreabout “putting our name out there.”

Not only are businesses using the contest toget the word out, but organizations like the Re-publican and Democratic town committees bothhave scarecrows on the green. Along with thecandidate-crows, “Alive At Your Library,” sub-mitted by the Friends of Cragin Library, is also

in the organization category.In this scene, four cardboard figures sit

around books about mummies, witches and fair-ies. The middle scarecrow appears to be awerewolf dressed in red-flannel and sits near atall vampire with a black cape. Signs in thescene boast, “They live in books” and peoplecan “Check them out at the library.”

The scarecrows will be on the green untilSunday, Oct. 25, when the winners will be an-nounced. Pizzutiello said the prizes have notyet been determined.

To vote for a favorite scarecrow, you can goto: the Parks and Rec. Department at TownHall, 127 Norwich Ave.; Again! Again! KidsConsignment, 128 Mill St.; Apple Rehab Cen-ter, 36 Broadway; AT&T, 95B Linwood Ave.;Plotkin’s Jewelry & Gift Shop, 119 South MainSt.; Plum Tomato Restaurant, 275 South MainSt.; Shattered Endz Hair Salon, 75 NorwichAve.; Skin Deep, 11 Hayward Ave.; SkyviewRealty, 35 Hayward Ave.; and Subway Restau-rant, 31 Halls Hill Rd. You can also mail bal-lots to CBA at P.O. Box 453, Colchester, CT06415.

For their entry in the Scarecrow Decorating Contest, the Wyatt family created asmall scarecrow reeling in a big fish.

Hebron Schools ReceivesGrant for New Track

by Sarah McCoyThe Hebron school district recently re-

ceived a $3,000 grant to install a new track atHebron Elementary, as part of an effort by ad-ministrators to help curb bullying throughexercise.

Last spring, school officials noticed a trendof disciplinary referrals from recess time. Inan effort to promote more focused, positivebehavior, Hebron Elementary School (HES)Vice Principal Vonda Tencza and physical edu-cation teacher Mike Corona marked out a loopat Hebron Elementary School using spraypaint and cones for walking or running at re-cess.

“Our hope was that by targeting a specificbehavior we could engage students in ahealthy, fun activity,” Superintendent ofSchools Ellie Cruz said.

In May, to coincide with Physical FitnessMonth, school officials introduced the trackand asked students to log their loops. “Whatwe saw were students who were eager to par-ticipate,” Tencza said. “Even teachers got inon it.”

She added that every classroom in theschool participated with the fifth grade classeslogging over 1,500 miles. One staff member,fifth-grade teacher Jason Kearns, logged 41miles on his own.

But more than promote a healthy lifestyle,HES staff noticed a significant decrease in theamount of referrals from recess. “It was likenight and day,” Tencza said. “Prior to the trackwe were seeing about 17 disciplinary refer-rals from recess a week. While students hadaccess to the track that number went down totwo a week.”

With this data, Cruz prepared a grant ap-plication from the William Caspar GrausteinMemorial Fund Discovery Grant. This grantprovides funding to improve education by sup-

porting school change through personal de-velopment and leadership.

The school district received word in Sep-tember that their program had received the$3,000 grant, split evenly between this yearand next.

With that money, Cruz said the district willinstall a more formalized track with a gravelsurface and lanes for running.

School officials are currently partneringwith Town Planner Mike O’Leary, Parks andRecreation Director Rich Calarco and TownEngineer Tom Fenton to combine the trackproject with the scheduled installation of asoccer field at HES. Next summer, the townwill build a soccer field behind the fourthgrade portable classrooms at HES, as part ofthe town-wide park project that was approvedin 2007.

The track will likely be installed aroundthe soccer field.

And, since much of the work will behandled in house at a lower cost, Cruz andTencza are hoping to use the balance of thegrant to purchase pedometers for students totrack their distances.

Cruz said school officials plan to awardplastic bracelets, similar to the yellow onesfor Live Strong, to students once they cross acertain mile marker. This incentive, she hopes,will keep students focused and engaged in apositive activity.

“We have seen a real improvement in stu-dents working together collaboratively,” Cruzsaid. “Not only that but the exercise studentsare engaging in ties in with the district’swellness plan.”

While the track won’t be installed until nextsummer, Tencza did say the school would bemarking out another loop for students to usethis year. She said many students have beenasking about it this year.

Gains Made on CMTs, CAPTs in Colchesterby Katy Nally

The results of the Connecticut Mastery Testsand Connecticut Academic Performance Testsare in, and they show that three goals set forColchester students were achieved during the2008-09 school year.

All students surpassed the federal No ChildLeft Behind (NCLB) requirements for 2009,some district gaps were closed and boys madestrides in reading.

The Connecticut Mastery Tests (CMTs) wereadministered to students in grades three througheight in March. The Connecticut AcademicPerformance Tests (CAPTs) were given to 10thgrade students in March as well. Altogether,about 1,750 children in the Colchester schoolswere tested.

The CMTs test students in three areas – read-ing, writing and math – while the CAPTs testthem in four – reading, writing, math and sci-ence. Scores for both the CMTs and the CAPTsfall in to five categories: below basic, basic,proficient, goal and advanced.

In five grade levels, the number of boys whoscored at goal or above on the reading portionsof the tests increased from last year. The great-est jump was in 10th and fourth grades, whicheach saw a 16 percent increase. In third grade,there was a 10.5 percent increase, in fifth a 9.2percent increase and in sixth a 7.3 percent in-crease.

Curriculum director Barbara Gilbert said shewas excited to see growth from the boys be-cause “we worked on that.” She said last yearthe English curriculum was changed to addmore non-fiction, which boys respond to better

than fiction. Other subjects taught more vocabu-lary and incorporated “more interesting” text-books, Gilbert said.

Yet, according to the CAPT test scores, girlsare still performing better than boys in read-ing. In reading, 58.7 percent of girls scored atgoal or above while only 43.9 percent of boysscored at the same level.

Like the boys, special education students alsomade improvements in the area of reading.Looking at a cohort of data (where the samestudents are analyzed over a period of time – inthis case, three years), special education stu-dents who moved from third to sixth grade hada greater increase in their vertical scores (a sys-tem designed to track students’ scores from thirdthrough eighth grade) in reading than regulareducation students.

The overall cohort of data for students’progress from third to fifth grade also showedgreat improvement. “Math, reading and writ-ing all went up significantly for the three years,”Gilbert said. In math, there was a 27.7 percentincrease in the number of students who scoredat goal or above. In 2007, as third-graders, only65 percent of the students scored at goal orabove, while 83 percent of the same studentsachieved the same mark in 2009.

However, Gilbert said the cohort showingstudents’ progress from sixth to eighth gradedid not show the same growth. “There was alittle decline with the eight grade cohort,” shesaid. Students in this cohort, who were sixth-graders in 2007, did not show improvement aseighth-graders.

There was a steady decline in writing overthe three years. Only 64 percent of eighth-grad-ers scored at or above goal, while, as sixth-grad-ers two years ago, 67 percent of these studentsscored at the same level. Reading saw the steep-est decline of students who scored at or abovegoal. Only 72 percent of eighth-graders scoredat or above goal, compared to when the stu-dents were in seventh grade last year, when 82percent of them scored at the same level.

This year, students in all grade levels inColchester met the federal NCLB proficiencystandards in reading and math.

For 10th grade, the nationwide standard wasfor 81 percent of them to score proficient orhigher in math and 80 percent to score at thesame level in reading. At Bacon, 92 percent of10th-graders scored proficient or better in mathand 91.2 percent scored the same level in read-ing.

Students at William J. Johnston MiddleSchool and Jack Jackter Intermediate Schoolhad similar scores in math. The national profi-ciency standard was 82 percent for students inthird through eighth grade and an average of94 percent of Colchester students scored at pro-ficient or better in math. For the most part, thesestudents completely surpassed the national stan-dard of 79 percent scoring proficient or betterin reading, with and average of 86.18 percentof students achieving that score. However, therewas one close call, where only 79.3 percent ofthird-graders scored proficient or better.

Compared to the district, Gilbert said, “We’re

seeing that gap shrinking a little bit.” In 10thgrade, students surpassed the district in all ar-eas: reading, writing, math and science. Stu-dents in grades four and five also scored abovethe district average in all three areas: readingwriting and math. The latter group ranked fourthout of 24 schools in the district in math.

In seventh grade, students scored above orthe same as the district and were ranked fifth inreading out of the 24 district schools. However,in grades three, six and eight, students werebelow the district average. The largest gap wasin writing, where there was an average differ-ence of 15.23 percent between Colchester stu-dents in these three grades and the district av-erage. In eighth grade, only 64 percent of stu-dents scored goal or above, while 76 percent ofthe district scored at the same level. Yet, Gil-bert said this was a good year for Colchesterstudents compared to the district.

For this school year, Gilbert said the targetis to have 90 percent of students at all threeschools scoring goal or better. “If you have 90percent making goal, you’re doing pretty good,”she said.

This year, with the addition of a few newprograms, that goal could be achieved. Accord-ing to a presentation about the scores that wasgiven on Sept. 8, these new programs include acore-based reading program and Scientific Re-search Based Instruction (SRBI), which is state-mandated. Through SRBI more vocabulary in-struction and programs to monitor progress willbe implemented.

Meet the Portland Board of Education Hopefulsby Michael McCoy

When Portland candidates ran for the Boardof Education two years ago, they probablydidn’t expect to face three hot-button issues allin 2009, namely curriculum alignment, theNichols Bus Service contract, and Open Choice.And let’s not forget the unprecedented budgetprocess.

Who knows what the future holds for thisyear’s Election Day winners?

There are seven candidates running for fourslots on the Board of Education: DemocratsAndrea Alfano, Rosemary Murphy-Woitowitzand Ben Srb, and Republicans Joseph Dinegar,Jennifer Godwin, Brenna Kosicki and Christo-pher Orcutt.

If the BOE were a career, Alfano, 49, gotplenty of on-the-job training over the last year.Alfano has filled a va-cancy since 2008. Onfilling the vacancy, shesaid, “It was nice tohave the opportunity…to see if it was some-thing I wanted to pur-sue.”

Clearly it was, be-cause Alfano is run-ning this fall. This is inspite of the fact that lastyear was not quiterookie-friendly. Alfanolisted the school busbid and eventual waiver, the Open Choice de-cision, and the unprecedented budget processas challenges, and she has come out on the otherside.

Pleased with the way the board handled allthree, she said, “Generally speaking, we workwell together,” and specifically credited Super-intendent of Schools Sally Doyen for her partin the budget process.

Alfano said that, in the upcoming years, shehopes to retain more students in the system, fig-uring that a somewhat inordinate numberchoose other options, especially at the highschool. However, this is where Alfano notedparticular strengths, such as Advanced Place-ment Courses, the Water and People Program,and the science curriculum’s Project Lead theWay. Alfano said the school “offers an awfullot for a small town.”

Alfano is also proud of the recent strides thedistrict has made with technology and said shehopes to push that forward. She also said fa-cility improvements continue to be a priority.

“Quality education and student achievementare first and foremost,” Alfano concluded.

Alfano has lived in town for 13 years. Sheand her husband, Ralph, have a son attendingBrownstone Intermediate School.

Prior to coming aboard the BOE, Alfano hadbeen part of the Junior Women’s Club, as wellas the PTO, at every level of her son’s educa-tion. She also teaches Sunday school at the FirstCongregational Church, and was part of theeffort to build new playscapes at both

Gildersleeve and Valley View Schools.Professionally, Alfano has logged over 20

years in social services. She currently worksfor the University of Connecticut School ofSocial Work as a trainer for the Department ofSocial Services.

As for Dinegar,while he was not avail-able for comment, theRepublicans had previ-ously furnished theRivereast with somebiographical informa-tion.

Dinegar grew up a“Marine Brat,” accord-ing to the Republicans,and eventually gradu-ated form the Univer-sity of New Haven. Hemoved town in 2004 and lives with his com-panion Sharon Paddock.

He has been active in local organizationssuch as the Middlesex Hospital Vocal Chords,and currently teaches high school chemistry inHartford. Through his career, Dinegar is “im-passioned to help his students achieve successthrough positive goal setting strategies, aca-demic diligence, and community awareness”and understands “it takes a village to raise achild.”

Though Godwin,like Dinegar, was notavailable for comment,the Republicans hadpreviously furnishedthe Rivereast withsome biographical in-formation.

Godwin has lived intown her whole life,and is days away formmarrying her fiancéSteven Lohmayer. Agraduate of MercyHigh School and UConn, she currently worksat Liberty Bank in Portland.

Kosicki, 38, has filled a vacancy on the BOEfor the past year, but she’s racked up 15 yearsin education professionally. During that time,she said, “I’ve experienced a tremendousamount of progress in the way we educate ourchildren.”

“I’ve had an amazing experience,” she saidof her time on the BOE, saying it has left her“enlightened” and “very excited about the fu-ture.”

One of the pleasures of serving on the boardshe mentioned was working with Superinten-dent of School Sally Doyen, pointing out “howstrong she is as a leader in this district.”

Kosicki credited Doyen and the BOE for“thinking outside of the box.” She said an ex-ample of this was the new Water and Peoplecourse. She also praised the school board forthe early 2009 decision to align the middleschool and high school schedules.

When asked aboutthe arduous 2009 bud-get process, she said, “Ithought it was fabu-lous,” explaining that itwas somewhat lesscomplicated than theHebron school districtprocess. (Kosicki re-cently resigned fromher position as Director of Special Educationat in Hebron, and on Monday will start a newjob, as Director of Pupil Personnel and Instruc-tional Support at Hartford Public Schools.)

Kosicki promoted a somewhat defensivestrategy for the next couple years, saying, “I’dlike to move forward with what we have inplace. Our focus needs to be not to loseprogress, not to lose staff.” She said the “statusquo” was not such a bad word at a time likethis.

Kosicki and her husband, Brian, have twoyoung children, the older of which attends Val-ley View School. They’ve lived in town since2004.

Lifelong Portlandresident Murphy-Woitowitz, 41, has saton the BOE since2005. When askedwhat made her run inthe first place, shenoted having kids inthe school system and“her long family his-tory of public service”starting with her grand-father, William.

Murphy-Woitowitzsaid she’s spent the last four years on the board“trying to ensure the kids are getting the besteducation they can for the buck.”

Pointing to facilities as stated priority, shevouched for the BOE’s past actions toward this,and felt the town was ahead of the game withtechnology, citing “SmartBoards in almost ev-ery classroom.” She also counted Project Leadthe Way and the new Water and People courseas forward thinking initiatives.

She also expressed pleasure over the stu-dents’ performances on standardized tests, of-fering, “We’re making some advances there.”

Murphy-Woitowitz also stood behind theBOE’s decisions during this year’s budget pro-cess. “Did we make everybody happy? Prob-ably not,” she mused. “We did the best we couldwith what we have.” She said she expected thecoming budget cycle to be just as challengingif not more so.

Murphy-Woitowitz has two children (one atBrownstone Intermediate School and one atGildersleeve) and a husband named Fred. Sheis currently a nurse at Wesleyan University’sStudent Health Services.

Orcutt said that, if elected, he will “makesure they listen to all involved while they’remaking policy.” He added that right now, “I

don’t think it’s happening all the time,” whileadding, “My goal is not to bash the presentboard.”

Orcutt also said he wants to ensure policy isnot rushed. He cited last winter’s Open Choicedecision as an exampleof this, commenting, “Iwould have liked tosee some more timeand thought” devotedto that issue.

“I think the board’smade some tough de-cisions,” he said. “Ithink that’s going tohave to continue tohappen.”

Orcutt, 44, sits onthe board of directorson the Irish Red and White Setter Association,a part of the American Kennel Club. Just aftermoving to town, Orcutt was active as an EMTand firefighter in town for eight years. He andhis wife, Tami, have two sons, one at PortlandHigh School, and one is a graduate there of.The family has live din town since 1995.

He is currently the associate director for ex-pedited safety reports for a large pharmaceuti-cal company.

Lifelong resident Srb, 34, has filled a vacancyon the BOE since early this year. “I love givingto the community,” Srb said about his accept-ing the seat

Srb said he’s proud of the varied curriculumPortland offers, including Project Lead theWay’s pre-engineeringcurriculum, and thenew Water and Peoplecourse. “We have a tonof courses with collegecredit,” he said.

He figured, “Themore things you ex-pose a child to, themore options, the bet-ter.” However, he rec-ognized this isn’t freeand counted his prior-ity as providing thebest education “with the funds that we have.”This is, of course, never easy, and, through anervous chuckle, said of the upcoming budgetcycle, “The next one’s gonna be tough.”

Srb praised the board’s effectiveness as awhole, specifying he felt both parties were apart of this.

Since 2003, Srb has sat on the Zoning Boardof appeals as well, and he also volunteers withthe Portland Exchange Club. Srb runs PrimaryLandscaping in town. He and his wife, Holly,have a two-year-old son.

Alfano

Murphy-Woitowitz

Srb

Dinegar

Godwin

Kosicki

Orcutt

East Hampton Caregiver ChargedWith Defrauding Elderly Patient

by Michael McCoyA local visiting nurses’ aid could face prison

time after taking a 74-year-old woman forclose to $25,000, East Hampton Police saidlast week.

On Oct. 6, East Hampton Police chargedMichelle Cherry, 29, of East Hampton andMiddletown, with first-degree larceny, first-degree identity theft, criminal impersonation,fraudulent use of ATMs, credit card fraud, andmisapplication of property. (As for her resi-dence, Sgt. Garritt Kelly explained she livedin Middletown during the crime, and movedto East Hampton quite recently.)

The arrest came after a five-month investi-gation by Officer Mark Pekar. According topolice, Cherry, working through MiddlesexHome Health Care, began working at thehome of the victim in November 2008. Be-fore long, Cherry began running errands forher patient, using the patient’s debit card topurchase incidentals such as groceries. How-ever, in no time, Cherry “had her way withit,” according to Kelly.

Kelly mentioned that even if Cherry hadnever misused the card, she should never havebeen running such errands in the first place,as that did not fall under the purview of herjob as caregiver. Instead, Kelly said, “Shechose to help herself out primarily.”

Personal purchases by Cherry included gro-ceries, electronics, “you name it,” Kelly said.Virtually all the purchases happened in thearea: East Hampton (Food Bag, Rite Aid),Portland, Haddam and Cromwell (Stop andShop and K-mart), but Kelly said Cherrywould take the card home with her “for daysat a time” to make purchases even when she

was off the clock.All the purchases were either by way of

debit or by making ATM cash withdrawals,Kelly said.

Kelly said Cherry even took the initiativeto intercept the mail and destroy bank state-ments before anyone could be the wiser. De-spite this, by May of 2009, the patient’sdaughter noticed excessive withdrawals, Kellysaid.

Kelly said that when questioned, Cherrysaid she “began by taking a chance at” usingthe debit card and before long, “it spiraledout of control.” This actually affected her vis-its to the patient as well. Though she was as-signed to come by twice a week, once the habitstarted, Cherry “started showing up more thanshe was required to,” Kelly said.

According to Kelly, part of the tedious in-vestigation involved Pekar visiting many ofthe businesses where purchases were made,as well as sifting through all the purchases toseparate the legitimate from the fraudulent.

Though Kelly said Cherry was immediatelyfired from her job when police were contactedin May, he mentioned that in December 2008,another family of a patient under Cherry’s carelobbied a complaint with her employer overan alleged missing $900. Kelly said Cherrywas never charged with anything over itthough, and retained her employment.

Cherry was released on a $20,000 bond,Kelly said, and is scheduled to appear in courton Oct. 20.

Kelly singled out the larceny charge andcalled it “a serious felony charge,” with amaximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Kids at the Enchanted Jungle Learning Center review where their mouths arewith staff member Meghan McDowell. Pictured from left are Laurelin Boyer, 2,McDowell, Jared Pierce, 2, and Samantha Renninger, 2.

New Colchester DaycareOff to Strong Start

by Katy NallyThree playrooms, 2-year-olds and a jungle

in a daycare is just what you’ll find at the En-chanted Jungle Learning Center. Filled withgiggling children, multitudes of toys and anattentive staff, the center is off to a good startsince it opened on Sept. 8.

Last week on Oct. 7, after naptime, kidscould play with toys in the tub full of greenwater (dyed with food coloring), have story timeor decorate a paper pumpkin. There wereshrieks of laughter coming for the water tub,where 3-year-old Bryan Sowell played withplastic fishes, but it was just business as usualfor owner Kim Anderson.

Anderson is a first-time business owner andsaid she was happy with the progress the En-chanted Jungle has made.

Anderson worked at KinderCare in Oxfordfor nine years and took classes in early child-hood education at Western Connecticut StateUniversity. She graduated with a bachelor’sdegree in liberal arts after switching from theteaching program, when she realized a careerin daycare would “be more fun.”

“I didn’t want to test them,” Anderson said,“I wanted to play with them.” Since then, sheopened the Enchanted Jungle Learning Centerwhere she oversees a staff of six. “I think it’sgreat so far,” she said. “I’m in charge, but I canstill go in and play with the kids.”

Unlike other daycares, Anderson said thereare unique activities offered at her center likepiano lessons. Anderson assumes the role ofpiano teacher, sharing her 12 years of knowl-edge with the kids. She said there are other ad-ditions to the center’s curriculum, but wouldnot divulge, so parents and kids will just have

to come and find out.The center is in the same building where

former daycare center First Step, was, at 67Hayward Ave. After Anderson leased the build-ing, she did intensive renovations to the insideand out. She painted the inside with bright col-ors and pictures of jungle animals to appeal tokids’ sensory nature. She said the painting wasthe hardest part about the renovations, but itwas worth it because Anderson said she “cre-ated a really great center.”

Anderson said the center is equipped withmanipulatives like blocks, books, art projectsand sensory objects like the animals on thewalls. Last week, three 2-year olds sat quietlyand listened to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, WhatDo You See? by Eric Carle. The kids excitedlypointed out a blue heron and a mountain goatas the book was read. Then staff memberMeghan McDowell led the three in a song aboutbears. Later, the group reviewed where theirears, eyes and nose were.

On the opposite side, three other kids hap-pily played with toys floating in a tub full ofgreen water. Four-year old Anthony Brandweinplayed with a watering can and sang a songabout fish with his friend Bryan.

The Enchanted Jungle Learning Center isopen to children ages six weeks to 12 years,Anderson said. Because the daycare is on thebus route, kids can get dropped off at the cen-ter after school and parents can pick them upafter work. The center is open from 6:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, call the center at 531-3211.

Marlborough Vet SuingTown Over Ordinance

by Katy NallyWillie Hodge, a disabled veteran in

Marlborough, is suing the Board of Select-men (BOS) for allegedly violating the towncharter.

The lawsuit asks for an injunction to stopthe BOS from adopting a controversial ordi-nance. Hodge’s attorney, Pasquale Amodeo,said the lawsuit is not asking for money, butonly to recover court fees, which he said wouldbe $300 or less. The lawsuit was filed last Fri-day and the board was served Tuesday.

Amodeo is representing Hodge and his wifeRobin, who have been trying to become prop-erty tax-exempt since May. Hodge is entitledto be property tax exempt in Connecticut be-cause of state statute 12-81 § 21(C). Accord-ing to the statute, if a veteran has received aspecial adaptive housing grant from the fed-eral government and is 100 percent disabled,they are eligible for property tax exemption.The Veterans Association deemed Hodge 100percent disabled, because he has very limiteduse of his legs and uses a wheelchair or a caneto get around, and he received this grant in2008. Robin Hodge asked the BOS in May toadopt this state statute, so she and her hus-band could become tax-exempt.

On Sept. 15, the selectmen voted to havethe town attorney draft an ordinance thatwould adopt the state statute. The board pre-sented a draft of the proposed ordinance atthe Oct. 6 meeting. It included a “sunsetclause,” which gives the ordinance an expira-tion date. In this case, the ordinance will con-tinue to be effective for the grand list of 2010,but it will expire on Oct. 1, 2011. It also ex-cludes the surviving spouse from property taxexemption in the event of the veteran’s death.The selectmen decided to bring this draft to apublic hearing on Oct. 27, where residentscould voice concerns.

For the most part, the lawsuit revolvesaround one phrase of the state statute. The stat-ute reads the “legislative body” of the townmust decide to adopt this tax exemption andmust also decide to extend it to the survivingspouse.

The Marlborough charter defines the “leg-islative body” as both a town meeting and theBOS. The duties of the BOS are defined insections 3.3 to 3.6 and chapter four of the towncharter. According to these sections, the BOShas the authority to appoint and overseeboards, handle day-to-day matters and enactordinances.

Although the BOS has the power to enact

ordinances, according to the lawsuit, a townmeeting should be held to decide this tax ex-emption. The charter states a town meetinghandles matters that are “deemed of sufficientimportance.”

Also, the lawsuit states, statute 12-81 §21(C) does not require the town to enact anordinance to make a resident property tax ex-empt.

Part of the lawsuit asks for a temporary in-junction that would stop the BOS from adopt-ing this proposed ordinance. The selectmenwould vote to adopt it after the public hearingon Oct. 27. This injunction, Amodeo said,would halt their vote.

The BOS has been ordered to appear be-fore the Hartford Superior Court on Monday,Oct. 26, the day before the scheduled publichearing.

Amodeo referred to this lawsuit as “a lastresort.” He said the BOS had already heardthe same complaints made in the lawsuit atseveral past board meetings. On Oct. 6, veter-ans from neighboring towns came out to theBOS meeting to rally against the selectmen.

Amodeo even wrote a letter to the boarddated Oct. 2 telling them if there wasn’t a townmeeting to decide on the tax exemption, theBOS could face litigation. The board read theletter into the record at the Oct. 6 meeting.

Amodeo said a town meeting should havebeen held by now, so people in town couldvote on the tax exemption. He said it’s “anti-American” to deny residents the chance to voteon something that would affect their taxes.Robin Hodge agreed, saying, “I understandthe town meeting to be the legislative body ofthe town, so we want the town to decide.”

According to the tax assessor, Marie Hall,the tax exemption works out to about .42 perperson per year. The Hodges’ property tax is$4,416 and there are roughly 10,000 taxpayeraccounts in Marlborough.

Robin Hodge and Amodeo said it’s unfor-tunate the conflict has resulted in a lawsuit.Hodge said “it’s a shame” to spend money onlawyer fees, just to receive something she andher husband are entitled to. Amodeo said he’snot receiving much from the Hodges, but he’sdoing the work because “it’s the right thing todo.”

First Selectman Bill Black declined to com-ment on the lawsuit because of pending liti-gation, but he did say on Wednesday, “It’s un-fortunate.”

School Board Candidates Talk About Issuesby Michael McCoy

How can you get blood from a stone duringthe budget season? Can East Hampton gradu-ates excel in the 21st century’s world economy?And just how does the town update that darnhigh school building?

These are just a few of the issues the dozenBoard of Education candidates are thinkingabout this fall. The 12 are running for five seats.

Chatham Party candidates are Molly-KateHall, Scott Minnick, Democratic candidates areJoanne Barmasse, Glenn Gemma, ChrisHetrick, Mark Laraia and Rich Leone. Repub-licans are Carol Lane, Karen Lee, Sal Nucifora,Josh Piteo and Gina Ritchie.

Barmasse is seekingre-election to theschool board. She saidthat when she ran forthe BOE four yearsago, she thought it wastime to “volunteer myefforts where it was re-ally important.” Whenasked to point outsome of the board’swisest decisions duringher tenure, she men-tioned hiring Superin-tendent of Schools Judy Golden, shifting to-ward full-day kindergarten and hiring languagearts and math coordinators, people she said whodo “a tremendous amount of work.” Further-more, Barmasse, 50, said she quite often at-tended meetings for the eight years prior tobeing elected, and said she pushed for thosecoordinators during that time in the audience.

She also pointed to the opening of the ca-reer-based Learning Center, which the schoolshares with East Haddam.

Barmasse said that, on the school board, sheconsiders herself to be the “knowledge seeker.”She is the district’s representative on LEARN’sexecutive board and frequents Connecticut As-sociation of Boards of Education (CABE) work-shops and conferences. In April, she attendedthe National School Board Association Con-ference in San Diego.

As for the future, Barmasse said the schoolboard needs to develop a “new vision statementand strategic plan.” She explained, “We’re inthe 21st century now…We don’t really knowwhere our point B is.”

One issue that will be hashed out in the fu-ture is possible facilities improvements. On thistopic, she didn’t mince words: “I’m not will-ing to risk accreditation by not doing anything.I strongly believe we need to do something, andwe need to do it now.”

More specifically, she said these improve-ments were necessary to enhance learning inthe areas of science, technology, math and en-gineering. Along the line with this modern ap-proach, she promoted the teaching of criticalthinking and problem solving, and encouragedprojects that are “more real life based.”

“We’re in a new century here,” she summedup, and also pointed to foreign language assomething that needs to be taught earlier.

She also mentioned the addition of schoolpsychologists as a necessary step in recentyears, figuring if students “can’t concentrate onlearning, they’re not gonna learn.”

She and her husband Mark have two chil-dren who spent kindergarten through 12th gradein the East Hampton school system.

Prior to her election, Barmasse, who movedto town in 1986, racked up quite a public re-sume, including, the Junior Women’s Club,PTO, Playscape Committee, and high schoolsports boosters.

Though she said she stopped working whenher kids were young, her career has includedretail and the textile industry. She is currently“exploring opportunities” professionally.

Gemma, who is also seeking re-election, isa self-described “advocate for education,” whowants it to be “high quality.” He has been onthe school board since 2005, and also, morespecifically, is on the board’s Building,Grounds and Transportation Committee. Alongthat note, he pointed to the facilities critiquefrom New England Association of Schools andColleges (NEASC) several years ago, and said,“I think we need to move forward to meet theserequirements. We need to bring the schools intothe new millennium.”

Gemma said “our science labs are way outof date,” and described these as “tools for teach-ers.”

Gemma also counted the hiring of Goldentwo years ago as a great success, and also com-mended the board for passing “tight” budgets

that nonetheless “metthe needs of the stu-dents.”

But he wouldn’t goany further than callingthe 2009 process“okay,” explaining,“I’m not an advocateof cutting teachers.”Though no teacherswere laid off, hepointed to two posi-tions that were un-filled. Though he re-luctantly voted for the budget, he said of thoseunfilled positions, “I’m not proud of that.”

He said, ideally, he would like cuts to notadversely impact the students, but asserted,“There’s no way you can tell me that cutting ateacher didn’t do that.” Gemma said the dis-trict is making progress, but, “It’s a slooooowprocess.”

Gemma, 49, has spent over 20 years as asocial worker, and he now does so in a school.He has a wife named Deborah and a daughterin the high school. He moved to town in 1988.

When he first moved to town, Gemma was amember of the Ambulance Association. He iscurrently a member of the Connecticut CriticalIncident and Stress Management Team.

As for Hall, whileshe could not bereached for comment,the Chatham Party pre-viously furnished theRivereast with somebiographical informa-tion. The mother oftwo preschool-agedchildren has lived inEast Hampton fornearly 40 years. She iscurrently employed asan insurance writer, buthas a background in education.

Though new to town, Hetrick is a BOE vet-eran. He moved to East Hampton in March,shortly after wrapping up 13 years on Portland’sBOE last year. “I’m experienced, but this willalso be a very new experience,” Hetrick said ofhis candidacy. He recognized, “I know EastHampton is a different town,” going on to add“different school system, different people, dif-ferent needs.”

It seems that Hetrick, 51, is encouraged bythe current BOE. “I think things look prettygood,” he said. “I’m not necessarily coming into change anything.” Hetrick said he has al-ready been to “a number of” meetings.

As for future initiatives, Hetrick said he wasaware of the NEASC findings, specifically atthe high school. “I have been involved withmajor renovations,” Hetrick said, alluding to thePortland high/middle school complex.

Hetrick also said, “I’ve always enjoyed be-ing involved with contract negotiations.”

Speaking on thetopic of budgets he saidthat, given theeconomy, if elected hewould approach theprocess somewhat dif-ferently than in thepast. But he said of thecurrent board, “Theyseem to be doing theright things to balancethe budget.” As for hisown experience, hepointed to a year whenthe Portland BOE maintained a 1.2 percentbudget increase in the face of a four percentrise in fixed costs alone.

While in Portland, Hetrick coached littleleague, taught CCD, and served as Eucharisticminister at St. Mary’s Church. “I’m just get-ting involved with St. Patrick’s now,” he said.

On a larger scale, he has also served on theNortheast Quality Council and the StatisticalProcess Control Authority.

Hetrick and his wife, Colleen, have fourgrown children, all of whom attended the Port-land school system. Professionally, Hetrick isa Quality Insurance Manager, and works atAirex Rubber Products in Portland. His grand-father started the company in 1943.

Lane, 69, moved to East Hampton in 1967,and said she’s “really been involved in educa-tion ever since I moved here.”

“Being a teacher, I really think there’s a lotright happening in East Hampton,” Lane said.For instance, she called the district’s teachers“committing” and said they “work hard.”

However, speaking to a national level, shecriticized No Child Left Behind and standard-ized testing, saying, “There’s too much empha-sis on that right now.”

Lane said that, if elected, she would have alot of perspectives to offer. In addition to obvi-ously being a boardmember, she wouldalso have put time in asa parent, volunteer andteacher. She said,though, that as a new-comer, she expected to“sit there and listen fora while.”

However, not to bemistaken for a wall-flower, and noting thetough economy, shesaid, “I’m going tolook to push for education as the best invest-ment we can make.”

“I guess that’s what I bring is experience,”surmised Lane.

Both of Lane’s children graduated from EastHampton High School, and from 1972-78, Laneserved on the BOE. As a teacher, she racked up26 years in the district before retiring last year.

Lane has also been a member of the PTO,the East Hampton Library Board and MiddlesexVisiting Nurses Association. She is currently amember of the Joseph N. Goff House Board.

After filling a vacancy for the last year-and-a-half, Laraia, 44, is looking to retain his seatthis year. Laraia is no stranger to the town oreducation in general, having lived in EastHampton since 1997, and racking up 21 yearsas a teacher. (He currently teaches fourth gradein South Windsor.)

Speaking of his initial involvement with theBOE, he said, “A lot of it obviously stems fromwhat I do for a living.” He continued, “I reallyfelt that East Hampton was behind the time ina lot of areas.

However, contrary to disparaging the BOE,he said, “They’re so forward thinking. It kindof meshed with thethinking that I have aswell.”

Seemingly proud ofwhat the BOE has ac-complished during histenure, he made spe-cial mention of thespring’s budget chal-lenge, remarking,“Just being part of thebudget process is eyeopening,” he said. Headded that this particu-lar cycle highlightedthe importance of distinguishing needs fromwants, a challenge he said the board met, whileletting the constraints impact students as mini-mally as possible.

As for the future, Laraia said, “One of thebiggest things is the facilities,” alluding to theNew England Association of Schools and Col-leges’ (NEASC) report that stated, among otherconcerns, the high school science labs were in-adequate. However, as such a project of thisscope transcends the purview of the BOE,Laraia figured, “Really, it sits in the lap of thetown council.”

Though recognizing that now seems an in-opportune time financially to proceed, he asked,“When is ever a good time? If not now, when?”

Laraia said his other priority is streamliningcurriculum from grade to grade. However, hesaid the district is already making progress onsuch cohesion, thanks in large part to the su-perintendent. “Judy Golden has done a greatjob making sure we’re aligned.”

“In addition to his time on the BOE, Laraiahas also coached little league baseball and youthsoccer in town. Prior to this, he served in thetown he grew up, onRocky Hill’s BOEfrom 1991-4. He andhis wife Laura have ason at Center School.

As for Lee, afterbeing interviewed forthis story, she retractedher comments uponbeing told she couldnot review what shesaid before the storywent to print.

This seems an ap-propriate time forLeone to make a bid for the BOE, as he is in themiddle of making a career change to teaching.

“I just feel the townneeds qualified, strongleadership,” Leonesaid of his initiative torun, and said that helooked forward toserving on a board thathelps shape policy.

As for the currentBOE, he said, “You’vegot a lot of well-inten-tioned people for themost part,” but alsopointed to “some out-dated views.”

However, he resisted being too critical, rec-ognizing that at budget time, “Every year, theBoard of Education has the biggest bullseye ontheir back.”

If elected, Leone said he “hoped to bring amarketing flavor to the board” and encourage“better collaboration” with the Town Council,town manager and superintendent.

Looking at the high-profile facilities issue,he looked to “ensure we are pursuing any andevery opportunity for grants,” and figured any-one who thinks all these things can be accom-plished “without increasing our revenue stream”are kidding themselves.

Since 2007, Leone has been a part of theEconomic Development Commission, which hehas chaired since last year. He is also a part ofthe Middlesex County Revitalization Commis-sion, and has volunteered for YMCA Adven-ture Guides, East Hampton Youth Soccer, bas-ketball and Little League. He may also be spot-ted as the lead vocalist for Johnny 5, a regularmusical act at Old Home Days.

Leone, 47, is currently pursuing certificationas a secondary social studies teacher, and hasregularly been a substitute teacher in EastHampton. Prior to this, he racked up 20 yearsin the corporate arena, primarily working inmarketing and sales, most recently in the mort-gage industry.

Leone and his wife Kris Anne moved to townin 1997 and have two children in the EastHampton school system in Glastonbury.

Minnick, a French teacher at Smith MiddleSchool, these last 12 years, and said he hopesto use his educational insight on the BOE. “I’mhoping to make the Board of Education stron-ger than it is,” he said.

However, Minnick seemed to think highlyof the current BOE, but noted one criticism:“They’ve allowed the Town Council to controlit.” He cited an example of this as the TownCouncil prioritizing the moving of town hall toCenter School over thehigh school improve-ments. He said of theBOE, “They didn’t ad-vocate for students aswell as they could haveor should have.”

Minnick said thisspilled into the budgetprocess. While hecommended the bud-get they submitted, headmonished them forbeing content whenthe superintendent and town manager cut itbefore it reached the council. “They didn’t havethe right to do that,” he said.

A budget decision he opposed was the shiftto pay-to-play. “I would advocate for findingother options next year.”

“One thing that lacks is debate and honesttalk,” he said of the board

Minnick pointed to the high school renova-tion, specifically updating the science labs atthe top of his to-do list. He also said the BOEmeetings need to be recorded. Though min-utes are taken, he said there is no audio or videorecording, something he said the Freedom ofInformation Act requires. “You need trust,” saidMinnick.

Minnick (who is 40, but will turn 41 by Elec-tion Day) has lived in town his whole life. Heand his wife Lynn have two children.

As for Nucifora, he said he wants “to see animprovement in our schools,” and said his pri-mary focus was to provide more “acceleratedclasses” for students. He said the lack thereof“only encourages boredom and lack of inter-est” before leading to worse.

“We should be pushing our kids to do morein school,” he said.

“I think the current board is complacent,” hesaid, adding that he hopes the Democrats losecontrol of the BOE after this election. Nuciforaexplained that he felt all too often the BOE prac-

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Gemma

Lane

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Laraia

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Hetrick

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tices “rubberstamp-ing” of the superin-tendent’s decisions.

Nucifora noted thecurrent push “to ex-pand the schools a litbit,” promising, “I’ll beright on top of that.”However, he did notendorse the merging ofthe Memorial and Cen-ter Schools or the im-mediate updating ofthe high school sciencelabs. “I’d have to re-ally see a need,” he said of the latter, explain-ing the student’s education wasn’t “lackingbecause of it, not yet.”

Speaking on budgeting issues, Nucifora saidhe did not condone the decision to adopt pay-to-play, and hoped to save through other mea-sures this year, adding that teacher’s salarieswas another area he did not wish to cut.

He also expressed criticism over the BOE’sdepending on an auditor to look at items lineby line. “I’d like to see that myself,” he said, aprocess he said the Board of Finance alreadyemploys.

Nucifora, 41, who has previously served onthe Chatham Historical Society, has lived intown since 1972 as is currently a mechanicalengineer for Electric Boat.

As for Piteo, technology seemed to be first

PiteoNucifora Ritchie

on his mind, as far aseducation goes. Hesaid the BOE needs tokeep up with this, “es-pecially for the olderstudents.” He contin-ued, “I don’t know ifthat’s a priority to thisboard.”

He called the dis-trict “behind the ball”when it comes toteaching communica-tions, specifically tele-vision. He said there was a program at themiddle school, but added, “Then, it kind of dis-appeared at the high school.”

“You gotta be wired,” he asserted.Facilities is another issue that has been de-

bated a lot in town. “The high school is anti-quated,” he said, figuring it needs to be ad-dressed in one way or another. However, hewent on, “I’m not certain of this current plan atall,” holding that the demographics may notsupport such ambitious changes.

Piteo also mentioned concern over languageskills in the early grades, citing CMT scores asthe foundation of his worry. “They do tell astory,” he said of the scores. “If they don’t comeout well,” he continued, “the administration hasto answer to that.”

“If you can’t communicate, everything else

goes by the wayside,”he said, championinglanguage skills as thebedrock of success inall area.

“[The students]have to be ready for aworld economy,” hesaid, surmising that intoday’s world, EastHampton graduatesmay be competingwith people from5,000 miles away.

Since 1998, Piteo, 46, has served on thestate’s Commission on Children, and now,along with his wife, Karen, he has a son atMemorial School.

Piteo moved to town in 1990, though he hassummered on Lake Pocotopaug, since he wasa kid. His family has done likewise, dating backto the 1940’s.

Piteo served on the Board of Finance for fouryears at the beginning of the decade, and since1999, he has been a member of the Rotary Club.But he wears a number of hats. Professionally,he is a private equity management investor fora limited partnership. But, he is also a profes-sional videographer on the side. Playing to thatstrength, he has also hosted the Comcast pub-lic access show Get Real since 1996, whichaddresses local topics.

Ritchie said she thinks “education is highlyimportant,” which makes sense since it’s herbread and butter. An East Hampton residentsince 2006, Ritchie is currently a learning spe-cialist at Franklin Academy in East Haddam.

Because of this, Ritchie admitted she has nothad much time to immerse herself in the finerpoints of East Hampton BOE operations, butsaid that if elected, “That’s something I’m look-ing forward to.”

Similarly, Ritchie said she could not reallyweigh in on the recent performance of the cur-rent BOE, but acknowledged that they have tonegotiate a difficult, and somewhat ironic bal-ancing act as far as the economy. She figuredthat students need to get “the type of educationthat makes them competitive” once they leavehigh school. At the same time, she said this sameeconomy is “challenging taxpayers,” making ithard to fund everything the students need.

Ritchie, 36, figured it may behoove the BOEto explore what other districts do to find solu-tions that “may be underutilized” currently.

However, Ritchie was not critical of theBOE, and while not pointing out any deficien-cies on the board said curriculum was some-thing she was “strongly interested” in explor-ing.

For the past year, Ritchie has served on theMiddle Haddam Historic District Commission.She and her husband Steve live in MiddleHaddam

Five Running for Colclhester School Boardby Katy Nally

A mix of incum-bents and challengersare running for theBoard of Education(BOE) this year.

Five candidates arerunning for the schoolboard, but there areonly four seats open.

The five are Repub-licans Betsy Ciccone,Ron Goldstein andMitchell Koziol and democrats MonicaSwyden-Bolles and Donald Kennedy. MaryTomasi, a Democrat, is running unopposed tofill a two-year vacancy within the board.

Ciccone, Swyden-Bolles and Kennedy areincumbents. Current BOE chair WilliamHettrick and board member Mary Lynn Burkewill not run for another term, and after elec-tions, a new chairperson will be appointed.

Of the five candidates, Ciccone has spent thelongest time on the BOE, as she had been mem-ber for the past eight years. In 1984, Cicconemoved to town and since then all four of herchildren have attended Colchester publicschools. She has a son and a daughter who stillattend Bacon Academy.

Ciccone graduated from Churchland HighSchool in Portsmouth, VA. For a while she wasa stay-at-home mom, until she became a part-time hall monitor at East Haddam High School,then later a part-time secretary. This summer,Ciccone found a full-time position at MCCConstruction in Colchester where she works asa project coordinator. She is also the co-presi-dent of the PTO at Jack Jackter and William J.Johnston Middle School.

Ciccone said she decided to run again thisyear to “continue making a difference forColchester and its students.” She said, as a boardmember, “My first and foremost focus is doingthe best we can for our school district.” She

said much of the job is“common sense,”which, she said, comesnaturally to her. Sheadded that lately soci-ety as a whole seemsto be lacking commonsense, so this trait isquickly becoming aviable resource.

Running on the Re-publican slate withCiccone is Goldstein.As a Board of Finance member since 1995,Goldstein said he wanted to make the switch tothe BOE because, “I have a true passion foreducation and making sure students are pre-pared for their future.”

Goldstein, 41, was “born and raised” inColchester, where he went to Bacon Academy.From there he earned a Bachelor of Arts in eco-nomics and history at Brandeis University andwent on to Harvard University to earn his lawdegree. Goldstein re-turned to Colchester in1992. He works as anattorney in town.

In addition to beingthe vice president ofthe finance board,Goldstein is also a li-aison to the BOE andhas attended all thepast meetings. He saidhe is “very involved”with the school board.He said he would make an excellent boardmember because he has a “passion for everystudent and the school,” and the commitmentto “serve every student.”

Koziol is also running on the Republicanslate. He said his decision to run was largelydue to his two young daughters who will soon

enter the school sys-tem. “They’re basicallythe reason why I de-cided to run,” he said.“I wanted to make surethe education they gotwas a good one.”

Like Goldstein,Koziol is also a nativeof Colchester. Aftergraduating from Ba-con, Koziol earned anAssociate of Science incomputer and electrical engineering from Hart-ford Technical Institute.

Koziol said because he represents the viewsof many people in town and has “a vested in-terest” in the school system, he would make agood board member.

Like Koziol, Swyden-Bolles has a “vestedinterest” because her two children are enrolledin Colchester public schools. However,Swyden-Bolles said her kids are not the onlyreason why she decided to run for re-election.As the first person in her family to go to col-lege, she said she has “first-hand experience inthe importance of education.” Swyden-Bolles,35, graduated from Trinity College with a Bach-elor of Arts in bio-chemistry and chemistry. Shenow works at Pfizer doing analytical research.

Swyden-Bolles also works closely withschools in Colchester through two organizationsthat she founded. In 2003 she began ColchesterAdvocates for Public Schools, a political ac-tion committee that informs voters about refer-endum questions regarding schools. Then in2008 she founded the Colchester LearningFoundation, which brings “innovative learningexperience to Colchester schools and the com-munity,” she said.

During her past two years on the BOE,Swyden-Bolles said she has learned to “work

Ciccone Goldstein

very closely withteachers, the superin-tendent and with testscores to find, and tar-get those areas for im-provement.” She saidfor this year, she wantsthe board to work on“rigor” and “raising thebar” for students.

The other Democraton the slate isKennedy, another in-cumbent. Kennedy re-placed former board member John Mazzerellain December 2007.

Kennedy has lived in Colchester for 17 years.His three boys are all currently enrolled in theColchester school system. Kennedy has a Bach-elor of Science degree in business administra-tion from the University of Connecticut and hasworked for 24 years in the information and tech-nology department at Hartford Insurance Com-pany. Kennedy said his IT background wouldgive the board “a different view on things.” Asa board member, he said he would try and “bringin technology to reduce costs and increase effi-ciency.”

For this year, Kennedy said the board shouldfocus on “economic development.” He said thetax burden placed on residents should decrease,but school programs should be kept. “It’s go-ing to be a difficult budget year, but we have tokeep our ground,” he said.

Elections for these candidates will be heldTuesday, Nov. 2. There are three voting loca-tions, which will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.Residents in District One vote at Town Hall,127 Norwich Ave.; those in District Two voteat the Assembly of God, 16 Wall St.; and thosein District Three vote at Bacon Academy, 611Norwich Ave.

Swyden-Bolles

Koziol

Kennedy

by Sarah McCoyIn just two and a

half weeks Hebronvoters will cast theirballot for many of thetown’s municipalboards and commis-sions. Four candidatesare vying for three po-sitions on one ofHebron’s most power-ful boards – the Boardof Education (BOE).

Republican KathyShea is the lone in-cumbent seeking another term on the BOE. Shewas elected in 2005 and now, four years later,she’s throwing her name in the hat once again.Shea is joined on her party’s ticket by Tina Blinnand Will Moorcroft.

Moorcroft was appointed to the Board ofSelectmen (BOS) a year and a half ago but isnow opting to run for the BOE in an effort to,both, have a hand in one of Hebron’s most sig-nificant budget pieces and to “maintain the ex-cellent educational system” the town presentlyhas.

The Democratic Town Committee has en-dorsed Brett Monroe for a position on the BOE.

Monroe has been in Hebron for the last threeand a half years. Although his one-year old sonis still a few years away from formal educa-tion, Monroe decided the timing felt right torun for the BOE.

“When I heard that the town was looking forcandidates, I decided that that was something Iwanted to do,” Monroe said. “And the Board ofEducation made sense for me because I’m in-terested in schools and supporting the work thatneeds to be done.”

Monroe works as an IT consultant, and muchof his time is dedicated to helping schools andmunicipalities create networks and/or online in-frastructure. Monroe takes pride in the fact thathe has a role in equipping teachers and studentswith the tools needed to learn.

“My participation in schools enables teach-

ers to do their job bet-ter,” he said. “I hope Ican do the same thingas a Board of Ed mem-ber.”

As a rookie to thepolitical scene, Mon-roe is the first to admitthat he has a lot tolearn. But he’s also ea-ger to help. “I am thetype of person that lis-tens when they need tolisten but can alsomake the push towards making a decision,” hesaid.

Monroe grew up in Lyme. He lives with hiswife, Kathleen, and their son, Julian.

For Shea, the opportunity to seek re-electionto the BOE is an opportunity to continue theprogress she feels the board has made over thepast four years. “We’re pretty much out of thetumultuous time that Hebron experienced in thepast and we’re now able to focus on studentachievement,” she said this week.

Shea said she has been pleased to see thestrides the district has made on the Connecti-cut Mastery Test as well as the commitment tomaintaining a Challenge and Enrichment pro-gram despite the recent budgetary pressures.

In the near future, Shea said, she sees thedistrict’s full-day kindergarten program as apriority for the board to discuss and act on.

Full-day kindergarten started in two class-rooms at Gilead Hill Elementary School in thefall of 2008. At that time, the intention of Su-perintendent of Schools Ellie Cruz was to ex-pand the program to another two classroomsthe following year. However, due to budgetaryconstraints, the expansion didn’t happen.

Shea said that it’s time the district either gofor it or scrap the program. “A lot of parentsaren’t happy when their child isn’t selected,”she said. “I think we need to either make a com-mitment to the program as a town or pull out.There are tremendous pressures that the boardmembers will need to consider.”

Another commit-ment she feels theBOE needs to make ismaintaining the schoolfacilities. Whether it’spainting or generalmaintenance, Sheafeels that the townneeds to start fundingthe repairs that willkeep the facilities inshape. “It’s just like ahouse,” she said. “Ifyou don’t take care ofit, it will fall apart. I’m a common sense personand, I feel, this is a common sense approach toprotecting our assets.”

In her addition to her time on the BOE, Sheaalso served on the Zoning Board of Appealsfrom 2001-05. She was also Chair of the HebronRepublican Town Committee (RTC) from2002-06.

Shea lives with her husband, Brendan, andtheir two children, Liam and Katie.

Also endorsed by the RTC is Tina Blinn.Blinn moved to Hebron in 2008 after fallingin love with the town at the Maple Fest. Shesaid everything felt right for her, her husbandRoger and their two children, Meredith andDouglas.

Now, just a year later, Blinn is hoping to beable to give back to the town that she now callshome. She’s running for the BOE because ofher passion for working with young kids andsupport for a flourishing educational system.“I really, truly believe that a strong public schoolsystem benefits everyone in town,” she said. “Itattracts people and increases property values.”

If elected, Blinn said she intends to spend agood deal of time listening to concerns. Shesaid her past experience as vice president ofthe quality department at a machine shop hashoned her skills at keeping the peace and en-couraging cooperation for a common goal.Blinn has attended many of the most recentBOE meetings to get a feel for the district andsaid she would “be excited to be a part of it.”

MonroeShea Blinn Moorcroft

The fourth candi-date for the localschool board is currentselectman WillMoorcroft. Moorcroftwas appointed to hiscurrent post a year anda half ago to fill thespot vacated by DavidS c h o o l c r a f t .(Schoolcraft wasforced to resign fromthe BOS after accept-ing a job that prohib-ited serving in town government.)

Prior to his time on the BOS, Moorcroftwas on the Planning and Zoning Commissionfor eight years. He also served on the PetersHouse Use Study Committee.

Moorcroft said his decision to seek electionto the BOE rather than the BOS was due, inpart, to how the town approaches the budget-ing process each year. “Education is the largestpart of our budget,” he said. “There are signifi-cant challenges facing this town and I’d like tobe a part of maintaining the excellent educa-tional system we currently have.”

While the BOS reviews and can make rec-ommendations to the Board of Finance onthe town government’s budget, selectmenhave little say in the BOE budget. As a mem-ber of the BOE, Moorcroft said, he bringsexperience and a desire to advocate for edu-cation.

He moved to Hebron with his wife, Joyce,in 1998. They have three sons, two of whomare currently enrolled in the Hebron publicschools. Moorcroft grewup in Glastonbury and came to Hebron largelyfor its strong educational record.

Hebron voters will cast their vote for threeof the four candidates with the top three earn-ing a spot on the Board of Education. If elected,candidates will serve a four-year term.

Voting will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 3,from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. in the gymnasium at HebronElementary School, 92 Church St.

Four Candidates for Three Spots on Hebron School Board

Four Running Unopposed for Marlborough BOEby Katy Nally

Four candidates are in the running for thelocal Board of Education (BOE) – although it’snot much of a race, as all four of them are guar-anteed victories..

The four are Shannon Margaret Bielaczyc,Mimi LaPoint, Karen McKinney and CaroleShea. McKinney is the only incumbent. Theothers will be replacing board chair MariaGrove and board members James Angelo andChristine Brudz, none of whom are seeking re-election.

This year, candidates said working on theboard could present certain budgetary difficul-ties due to the nationwide economic downturn.One controversial result of school budget cutswas the changes made to the challenge and en-richment (C&E) program. The core ideas of theprogram were retained, but the teacher whoheaded the program for the past 12 years wentback to teach fifth grade.

On the Democratic slate there is Bielaczyc,37, and LaPoint, 47. Bielaczyc has lived inMarlborough since 2006 and all four of herchildren are enrolled at Elmer Thienes-MaryHall Elementary School. Bielaczyc, currentlya stay-at-home mom, said she is already veryinvolved with the school. She said she volun-teers in her kids’ classrooms at least once a weekif not more, and is member of the PTO as wellas the school advisoryboard.

Bielaczyc graduatedfrom George Wash-ington University witha Bachelor of Arts de-gree in sociology. Shethen went on to Cen-tral Connecticut StateUniversity where shecompleted all the sec-ondary social studiesteacher certificationcoursework, but didnot obtain her teachingcertificate due to family obligations.

Regarding this year’s budget and how thechallenge and enrichment (C&E) program wasaltered, Bielaczyc said in a written statement,“I think everyone did their best and they handledit the best they could given the amount of re-sources they had.” She said her children werenot affected by the changes made to C&E.

Bielaczyc said she is running because, “Iwanted to be involved in the decisions that af-fect my kids’ education.” Because her childrenare enrolled at Elmer Thienes-Mary Hall, shesaid she has a “vested interest in seeing theschool continue to grow and improve.” She saidshe would make a good board member because,“I know how to get things done. I’m very orga-nized and I’m experienced in making toughdecisions in our small little town. I’m verymotivated to see this school move forward.”

LaPoint, the otherDemocrat for BOE,has lived in Marlbor-ough for seven years.As the co-vice presi-dent of the PTO, shetoo is involved atElmer Thienes-MaryHall. She also has twingirls in fifth grade.

LaPoint graduatedfrom Wesleyan Uni-versity with a Bachelorof Arts in math and aBachelor of Fine Arts. She works part-time asa freelance graphic designer.

Concerning this year’s budget, LaPoint saidshe was “actively involved.” “I rallied my peersto come out and vote, because I wanted peopleto be aware as to what was happening with thebudget,” she said. She had similar sentiment toBielaczyc about the changes made to C&E, “Ithink it’s unfortunate when any program getscut, but I think [BOE members] did the bestthey could considering the circumstances,” shesaid.

LaPoint said she is running for the schoolboard not only because she has kids in the

school system, but because, “public educationis very important,” she said. “It’s one of thegreatest things we can give to our kids. It’s theidea that everybody has an equal opportunityto learn,” she said.

On the Republicanslate there isMcKinney and Shea.McKinney, 49, hasbeen on the BOE fornearly six years. Shehas lived in Marlbor-ough for 15 years dur-ing which time her twokids graduated fromElmer Thienes-MaryHall.

McKinney receivedher undergraduate de-gree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY,and her master’s in business administrationfrom New York University. She is currentlystudying landscape architecture at the Univer-sity of Connecticut.

She said part of the reason she decided torun for a second term was because of the diffi-culties the board faced with this year’s budget.“It is more important now than ever before tohave people on the board who have been in-volved in the school for many years, are famil-iar with the budget process, and will continueto advocate for sensible compromises,” she saidin a written statement.

This year’s BOE voted to change C&E. De-fending this decision, McKinney said in a writ-ten statement, “I believe that advocating forchildren requires careful examination of all ofthe options available for meeting educationalneed, and that we must examine all optionsthrough the lens of what is realisticallysustainable. We must be willing to see beyondwhat is ideal and secure what is essential.”

McKinney cites her years of experience onthe board as to why she would make a goodboard member.

Shea, the other Republican, is a relative new-

Bielaczyc

LaPoint

McKinney

Shea

comer to Marlbor-ough. She and her hus-band Richard, who isrunning for the Boardof Finance, have livedin town for two years.Shea graduated fromUConn with a Bach-elor of Fine Arts andthen went to the Uni-versity of Hartfordwhere she earned amaster’s in art educa-tion. She taught art atEllington High School, where she said she had“a full spectrum of students.”

After eight years of teaching in Ellington,Shea began designing and space planning com-mercial, healthcare and educational spaces forarchitectural firms. Shea is now an interior de-sign consultant for local architectural firmswhere she worked on a number of schoolprojects throughout Connecticut.

“I feel my school design experience bringsan added dimension to my teaching back-ground, and will be of value to the Board ofEducation, whether we are dealing with policy,curriculum, staff, budget or facilities relatedissues,” Shea said about her current job in awritten statement.

Like the other candidates, Shea said this yearcould be particularly tough for the board be-cause of town-wide budget concerns. Similarly,Shea said changing C&E was an example of“keeping spending under control while main-taining services.” “The gifted program is anexample of that process and I think they did agood job,” Shea said. “It’s a viable solution andthere’s always the option of adding in back inlater.”

Shea said she is running for the BOE be-cause she has experience in education and wantsto give back to the community.

Town-wide elections will be held Tuesday,Nov. 3, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Elmer Thienes-Mary Hall Elementary School, 25 School Dr.

New Faces Coming to RHAM School Boardby Sarah McCoy

There will be some new faces on the RHAMBoard of Education later this fall, as Hebronand Marlborough voters will elect members tothe regional school board next month.

In Marlborough the most noticeable changecomes not from a candidate but, rather, the ab-sence of a candidate. Dieter Zimmer has servedon the RHAM BOE for the past 20 years. He isstepping down from his post this fall, optinginstead to run for the Marlborough PlanningCommission.

Democrat Jim Cherry is seeking reelectionto his post on the board. Republican SandraSudduth will join him on the ballot.

Cherry taught science for 35 years before re-tiring six years ago. Though, for him, retire-ment has hardly meant slowing down. Fiveyears ago he was named as an Einstein Fellowand went down to Washington, DC, for a yearto work with the Senate on improving educa-tion. The following year he was back in theclassroom as a local school couldn’t find aqualified science teacher.

For the past fouryears, Cherry hasserved on the RHAMBoard of Education.Prior to that he was onthe MarlboroughBoard of Education forsix years. For him,education is a part oflife and Cherry wantsto keep devoting histime to today’s stu-dents.

He’s said he’s proudof the work the BOE has done over the pastfour years especially as it pertains to curricu-lum and policy rewriting. Cherry is also pleasedat the availability of challenging courses thatstudents can take. “It is so important that kidsare well-prepared,” he said earlier this week.“They’re going to be changing jobs and respon-sibilities. It’s vital that they are life-long learn-ers and are able to acquire new skills along theway.”

Cherry said that the biggest challenge fac-ing the board will be balancing the budget. “Thereality is we have to maintain a budget thatpeople can afford,” he said. “It’s a challenge toimprove our quality academics while beingmindful of the bottom line.”

The other Marlborough candidate is Sudduth.A newcomer to the political scene, Sudduthwrites on the Marlborough Republican websitethat while “a top notch education is foremost”she believes “we must find ways to do this with-

out draining taxpayer’spockets.

Sudduth writes thatshe intends to look atthe way the districtruns to see if there arecost saving measuresthat could be taken to“combine functions,improve existing pro-grams, eliminate un-necessary expendi-tures, or find othermeans of support.”

Marlborough voters will vote for two candi-dates for the two vacancies. Considering thereare only two candidates Cherry said he isn’ttoo nervous about the outcome.

Voting in Marlborough will take place onTuesday, Nov. 3, from 6 a.m.-8 p.m., in theCommunity Room at Elmer Thienes-Mary HallElementary School, 25 School Dr.

In Hebron there are five candidates vying forjust three spots on the RHAM Board of Educa-tion.

Two candidates – Debra Dee and T.J.Morelli-Wolfe – are seeking reelection. Thethird vacancy comes from BOE Chair SueGriffiths. Griffiths said earlier that she has de-cided to pursue different ways that she can servethe town.

Also running for the board are LorraineDavey, a Democrat who lost by one vote in2007, and Republicans Laura Steiner andBrenda Casoni.

Dee said she is running again because sheconsiders public service to be a vital thing forresidents. She said thatshe’s proud of the workdone by the BOE andconsiders RHAM to bea top-tier school withexcellent staff. How-ever, Dee believes, thechallenge will comefrom building on pastsuccesses in a waythat’s fiscally respon-sible.

Dee said she’s en-joyed her time on theboard thus far though admits there was a steeplearning curve on the outset. Now comfortablein her position Dee hopes to be able to servefor another four years.

For the past eight years, Dee has worked asa middle school teacher. She feels that perspec-tive has served her well on the board as she’sable to understand how actions the board takes

will translate to the classroom. Prior to teach-ing, Dee practiced law for 15 years.

Also running for the RHAM Board of Edu-cation is Laura Steiner. Steiner moved toHebron as a middleschool student in the1970s and went on tograduate from RHAMHigh School. Steinersaid she and her hus-band plan to live intheir house forever asthey have fallen in lovewith Hebron over theyears.

With her daughtersnow teenagers, Steineris looking to give backto the town she loves. She is a self-described“regular person” who hopes to bring an “un-cluttered” mind to the BOE. Steiner said that,if she’s elected, her actions will always be forthe betterment of students.

Over the past few months, Steiner has at-tended some of the board’s meetings and is ea-ger to learn more. She said she is impressed bythe participation of the student representativeson the board and hopes their perspective canbe utilized more.

Casoni, a Republican, ran for the RHAMBOE in 2007 but fellshort of being elected.She’s back this fall foranother go of it.

Casoni was unableto be reached for thisarticle but on theHebron Republicanwebsite she writes thatshe’s a “kid” personand wants to see theschool board createnew extracurricularactivities for students.

Casoni moved to Hebron in 2003 and cur-rently serves as an alternate to the Planning andZoning Commission. Casoni writes on thewebsite that she is a team player and wants towork for the benefit of children. She’s runningfor the RHAM BOE because she believes sheand her family, “have been in town long enoughto learn where things are and how things work.

“I feel that I am ready to devote the timenecessary to assist our wonderful town in anyway that I can,” Casoni continued.

On the Democrat’s side, Morelli-Wolfe isseeking reelection. He is an attorney by tradeand has served on the board for the past four

Cherry

Morelli-WolfeSudduth

Dee

Steiner

Davey

Casoni

years.Morelli-Wolfe did

not return calls to theRivereast regarding hiscandidacy for the BOEpost.

Rounding out thefield for the RHAMBoard of Education isDavey. She is a formermember of the HebronBoard of Educationand ran for the RHAMBOE in 2007 only to see her bid fall short byjust one vote.

Davey has one son who is currently a fresh-man at RHAM. She said while he may be thereason for putting in late nights working onboard issues, her son is not the reason she’srunning. She’s running, Davey said, because shecares about the well-being of the entire schooldistrict.

Education is a part of life for Davey. She grewup in Middletown with a mother who served asboth a teacher and administrator. “I’ve alwaysbeen a huger supporter of public education andthe Board of Education is one way I can servethe district,” she said.

As much as she is passionate about promot-ing education, Davey knows it comes at a cost.“If you can justify spending money then maybeit’s a worthy cost. If you can’t then it’s just awish list,” she said.

Davey said her time on the local BOE gaveher experience working with budgets, a chanceto see how school dis-tricts work as well astime on search com-mittees for hiringschool administration.She feels these skillswill serve her well onthe RHAM board andis eager to serve. “Iknow how to work ona board,” she said. “It’snot about one person.You have to listen andkeep an open mind.”

Hebron voters will vote for three candidateswith the top three being elected to the RHAMBOE. Voting will take place at Hebron Elemen-tary School, 92 Church St., on Tuesday, Nov.3, from 6 a.m.-8 p.m.

There will be no changes made to theAndover contingent of the RHAM board nextmonth, as Andover holds its elections in May.

Police to Charge Middletown Manin Multiple Portland Robberies

by Michael McCoyPortland Police this

week said a Middle-town man committedtwo robberies, and at-tempted a third, withinjust 36 hours earlierthis week.

Robert Doucette,54, of Middletown,was arrested Oct. 13,just after reportedlytrying to break intoDunkin’ Donuts onMain Street by the Arrigoni Bridge. He wascharged with third-degree criminal attempt tocommit burglary, second degree criminal mis-chief, and possession of burglary tools. (He at-tempted to break in with a tire iron, police said.)

Though Doucette was charged for this inci-dent, Portland Police Sergeant ScottCunningham said Doucette actually confessedto two others as well.

Police responded to a call at 12:39 p.m. onOct. 11 at Main Street’s Super Moon Mart.According to store employees, a white male,later identified by police as Doucette, ap-proached the front counter “telling the clerk thathe had a gun and didn’t want to shoot anyone,”Cunningham said. Then the robber “grabbedthe money” from the cash register “before flee-ing out the front door” and headed east on foot,Cunningham said.

That same day at 9:10 p.m., Doucette report-edly knocked off the Super Moon Mart again,and ran in the same direction. He did not men-tion a gun this time, and Cunningham said itwas later determined he didn’t have one.

Robert Doucette

Doucette once again made off east on foot. Bothtimes, a canine track failed to locate him,Cunningham said.

Kelly said Doucette took just $100 duringthe first go-around, but came up with next tonothing during his encore performance.

Speaking to the double-header, Kelly said,“That’s pretty brazen. You’re only steps awayfrom the police department.”

Then, at 12:30 a.m., early in the morning onOct. 13, police were dispatched to the Dunkin’Donuts. Employees who were closing down thestore at the time said they saw what was laterdeemed Doucette trying to break in,Cunningham said. This caused all four to fleethe building, he said. According toCunningham, the burglar realized he was be-ing watched by the employees and fled towardsthe Arrigoni Bridge. When police arrived, theynoticed that the drive-through window had been“forced open” and a security plate on the reardoor had been tampered with, Cunninghamsaid.

But he didn’t slip through the police’s fin-gers this time. Minutes later, Officer Eric Grantand members of the Middletown Police Depart-ment caught up with Doucette on the north sideof the Arrigoni Bridge, walking towardMiddletown.

According to Cunningham, Doucette wastrying to fund a $400-a-day crack cocaine habit.

Cunningham said he expected to submit theother two arrest warrants, in connection withthe Super Moon Mart robberies, to MiddlesexSuperior Court by the end of the week. Bondwas initially set at $100,000, but Doucette isnow being held at Hartford Correctional Insti-tute on a $10,000 bond.

East Hampton Police News10/1 — Ashley R. Alling, 20, of 17 Ellis Rd.,

was issued a ticket for failure to obey a stopsign, East Hampton Police said.

10/2 — Ronald Albert, 57, of 496 South St.,New Britain, was issued a ticket for operatinga motor vehicle while using a cell phone, po-lice said.

10/2 — Kenneth L. Fountain, 31, of 103Bridge St., Middletown, and Maurizio Damico,49, of 91 Wopowog Rd., were arrested forspeeding, police said.

10/2 — Robert Maceachern, 54, of 7 CaffynDr., Marlborough, was arrested for towing anunregistered motor vehicle, misuse of plates,operating an unregistered motor vehicle andoperating without insurance, police said.

10/2 — Burke Bergman, 37, of 348 BayonettSt., New London, Robert Olzacki, 46, of 14Flanders Rd., and two parked vehicles ownedby Mathew Hickey, of 80 East High St., wereinvolved in a four-vehicle accident on Rt. 66,two tenths of mile east of Route 196, policesaid. Bergman was arrested for operating un-der suspension and having unsafe tires, policeadded.

10/3 — Brittany G. Rose, 18, of 67 FlandersRd., and Karen L. Pio, 59, of 240 Divinity St.,

Bristol, were both arrested for speeding, policesaid.

10/3 — Vanessa Y. Colello, 28, of 15Brentwood Rd., Newington, was issued a ticketfor failure to drive right, police said.

10/3 — Ryan L. Bartson, 19, of 451 JonesHollow Rd., Marlborough, was issued a ticketfor traveling unreasonably fast, police said.

10/4 — Robert Dickenson, 23, of 89 CollieBrooke Rd., was issued a ticket for failure towear a seatbelt, police said.

10/5 — Samuel Ruggiero, 25, of 423 SouthMain St., Torrington, was arrested for operat-ing under suspension, police said.

10/7 — Mark C. Ahearn, 34, of 160 SouthCherry St., Wallingford, was arrested for oper-ating under suspension, failure to display frontplate and failure to carry insurance, police said.

10/8 — Robert A. Dickenson, 48, of 4Wangonk Tr., was arrested pursuant to a war-rant on charges of first-degree criminal trespassand sixth-degree larceny, police said.

10/9 — Deborah C. Lanzi, 55, of 16 Dog-wood Dr., was arrested pursuant to a warrantfor possession of marijuana, use of drug para-phernalia and first-degree failure to appear,police said.

Portland Police News10/5 — Cody Sanford, 19, of 133 West High

St., East Hampton, was charged with posses-sion of narcotics and possession of less thanfour ounces of marijuana, Portland Police said.

10/8 — Kevin Darna, 33, of 177 WopowogRd., East Hampton, was charged with evadingresponsibility, police said.

10/9 — Kelly Randazzo, 38, of 17 WaverlyAve., was charged with failure to respond toinfraction, police said.

10/9 — Dean Randazzo, 35, also of 17Waverly Ave., was charged with second-degreefailure to appear, police said.

ObituariesEast Hampton

George W. Downey Jr.George W. Downey Jr., 75, of East Hampton

and formerly of Stratford, beloved husband ofDoris (Niemeyer) Downey, died Saturday, Oct.10, at Middlesex Medical Center in Marlborough.

Born Aug. 10, 1934, in West Haven, the son ofthe late George and Catherine (Finnan) Downey,he had lived in Stratford for most of his life hav-ing moved to East Hampton three years ago.George was an active member of the Moose Clubin Stratford.

Besides his wife, he is survived by his son,Tony Niemeyer and his girlfriend Dawn Siok ofWaterbury; three daughters and their husbands,Patricia and Michael Brogan of Bloomfield, Su-san and Bob Walton of East Hampton and Pearland Michael Pierangelo of Niantic; two brothers,Eddie and William Downey; eight grandchildren,and one great-grandchild.

He was predeceased by a sister, Joyce Downey,and a brother, John Downey.

Friends called at the Spencer Funeral Home,112 Main St., East Hampton, on Wednesday, Oct.14, from 7-9 p.m. A graveside service will be heldat a later date in Union Cemetery in Stratford.

To leave online condolences, visitwww.spencerfuneralhomeinc.com.

ColchesterMary Sawchuk

Mary (Holiman) Sawchuk, 87, of Colchester,widow of the late Alex W. Sawchuk, passed awayThursday, Oct. 8, in Norwichtown. Born Dec. 13,1921 in Poyen, AR, she was a daughter of thelate Benjamin and Ella (Reynolds) Holiman. OnMarch 4, 1944, she and Alex were married inLittle Rock, AR, and shared 50 years before hepredeceased her on Jan. 11, 1995.

She was ever devoted to her family and is sur-vived by her daughter and son-in-law, Doris andJames McTigue of Griswold; two grandchildrenand their spouses, Angela and Thomas Kneelandof Putnam and Michael and Ann Thompson ofNorwalk; three great-grandchildren, Emily, Alexand Andrew; and numerous extended familymembers and friends.

Care of private arrangements with burial in theSalem Green Cemetery has been entrusted to theAurora-McCarthy Funeral Home of Colchester.For online condolences, visit www.auroramccarthyfuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memorymay be made to the American Lung Assn., 45Ash St., East Hartford, CT 06108-3272.

ColchesterCharles R. Soulia

Charles R. Soulia, 84, of Colchester, passedaway peacefully Wednesday, Oct. 6, at Benning-ton Veterans Home in Bennington, VT. He wasthe beloved husband of Margaret (Maggie) AllenSoulia. Charles was born to the late Henry andEmma (Richard) Soulia.

Charles proudly served our country as a UnitedStates Marine in WWII. After the war he workedat Pratt & Whitney and retired after 35 years.Charles was a member of St.. Andrew’s RomanCatholic Church. He was an avid hunter and fish-erman. He enjoyed being a member of the Pratt& Whitney golfing league.

Charles was predeceased by two sisters, JoyceAnderson and Constance Argo, one brother, JamesSoulia, and a daughter, Shirley Gipson.

He leaves behind three sons and three daugh-ters, William Collins of Lebanon, Peter Soulia ofTaftville and Joseph Soulia of West Rutland, VT,and Mary Radway, Christine Lamprey andKathleen Petro of Colchester; 18 grandchildren;nine great-grandchildren; and one sister, NormaFish, of Fairhaven, VT.

There were no calling hours. A graveside ser-vice was held Saturday, Oct. 10, at St. Mary’sCemetery in Fairhaven, VT.

Memorial contributions may be sent to OurLady of Seven Dolors Catholic Church, 10 Wash-ington St., Fairhaven, VT 05743.

ColchesterDoris Williams

Doris Williams of Colchester, loving motherand grandmother, passed away Saturday after-noon, Oct. 10.

She is survived by two children, DonnaWetmore and Keith Williams, both of Colchester;four grandchildren, Michelle Harris of Califor-nia, Denise Falbowski of Colchester, Dustin Wil-liams of New Britain and Joshua Wetmore ofColchester; three great-grandchildren, ShawnFalbowski, Alyssa and Jacob Howard, all ofColchester; and numerous extended family mem-bers and friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memorymay be made to the Colchester Food Bank, 127Norwich Ave., Colchester, CT 06415. Care ofprivate arrangements, with burial in the PonemahCemetery, has been entrusted to the Aurora-McCarthy Funeral Home of Colchester.

For online condolences, visit www.auroramccarthyfuneralhome.com.

PortlandKatherine Lynn Guinn

Katherine Lynn (Davis) Guinn, 64, of Portland,formerly of Columbus, OH, died Tuesday, Oct.13, at home. She was the wife of the late CharlesGuinn. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, the daughter ofthe late James H. and Grace (Lynn) Davis shelived for many years in Ohio before moving toConnecticut a year ago.

She is survived by two sons and a daughter-in-law, Chase J. Guinn of Honolulu, HI, and Witt C.and Kathryn L.Guinn of Portland; a sister andbrother-in-law, Marianne Neill and Jay Lagemannof Massachusetts.

Funeral service will be Saturday, Oct. 17, at 1p.m., at South Congregational Church, corner ofMain and High streets, South Glastonbury. Burialwill be at a later date in Kingwood Cemetery,Delaware, OH. Family and friends may call atthe Mulryan Funeral Home, 725 Hebron Avenue,Glastonbury, today, Friday, Oct. 16, from 5:30-8:30 p.m., and again at the church on Saturdayfrom noon-1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may bemade to: ALS Association, 4 Oxford Road, UnitD4, Milford, CT 06460 or to South Congrega-tional Church, P.O. Box 187, South Glastonbury,CT 06073.

AndoverGeorge Downing

George Downing, 85, of Manchester, formerlyof Andover, beloved husband of the lateJacqueline May (Giroux) Downing, passed awaypeacefully at home Tuesday, Oct. 6. George wasborn April 26, 1924, in Manchester son of thelate Albert and Margaret (Turner) Downing andhad resided in Manchester until the mid 1950sbefore moving to Andover where he had lived forover 20 years.

He was a veteran of World War II, serving inthe Army Air Corps as a Gunnery Sergeant. Heflew in B-24 night missions over Denmark andFrance dropping supplies for the UndergroundResistance. After the war George worked as a let-ter carrier for over 31 years for the US PostalService, along with his two brothers and father.Upon his retirement he and his wife Jackie movedto Cape Cod and a few years later they moved toMaine where he truly enjoyed his retirement forover 20 years. He returned to Connecticut fouryears ago. George was especially fond of his dogsand had a passion for cars, as anyone who knewhim could tell.

He is survived by his son, George Scott Down-ing and his wife, Beverly of Manchester; fourgrandchildren and their spouses, Scott and PamelaDowning of Auburn, WA, Benjamin and DanyaelDowning of Cheshire, Sara and John Beggans ofWellesley, MA, and Julie and MichaelMcCormack of Darien; nine great-grandchildren;his brother, Albert Downing Jr. of Manchester;his sister, Margaret Dilworth of Warren, MA; andnumerous nieces and nephews.

Besides his wife and parents he was prede-ceased by his daughter, Linda May Downing, andhis brother, James E. Downing.

Private services and burial with military hon-ors will be in East Cemetery, Manchester. Thereare no calling hours.

Memorial contributions may be made to theVisiting Nurse & Health Services Inc. (NorthCentral Hospice) 8 Keynote Dr. Vernon, CT 06066or to the National Foundation for Cancer Research4600 East West Highway Suite 525, Bethesda,MD 20814 or to a charity of the donor’s choice.

Holmes Funeral Home, Manchester has careof the arrangements. To sign the online guestbook,visit www.holmes-watkinsfuneralhomes.com.

ColchesterGerald L. Plante

Gerald L. Plante, 93, of Windsor and Cobalt,beloved husband of the late Madeline (Heim)Plante, passed away peacefully Sunday, Oct. 11,of natural causes. Jerry was born in Fall River,MA, on Aug. 23, 1916, to the late Leopold andAlbina (Moreau) Plante and grew up in Berlin.

He attended business school at Hillyear Col-lege. He served in the U.S. Army during WorldWar II in the European Theater as a master ser-geant and was awarded the Bronze Star for hisservice. Jerry was a principal purchasing officerfor the State of Connecticut before his retirementafter 35 years. Jerry was a loving son, husband,father, father-in-law, and grandfather and will begreatly missed.

He is survived by two sons, Robert J. Planteand his Maria of New York City; Peter Plante andhis wife Marjorie of East Granby; a daughter,Anne Timko and her husband Thomas of EastHartford; five grandchildren, Lydia Plante of NewOrleans, LA, Sara, Matthew, Benjamin, andJonathan Plante of East Granby; a brother, Hec-tor Plante and his wife Carol of Russia Corners,NY; sisters-in-law, Anna Terhune of Manchester,Rose Heim of Westbrook; as well as many niecesand nephews.

In addition to his wife and parents, Jerry waspredeceased by his sister Jeanette Plante.

His family would like to express heartfelt grati-tude to the caring and compassionate staff of theCobalt Lodge, where he resided during his finalyears as well as the wonderful staff at theMiddlesex Hospital Hospice Unit.

Services will be private and at the family’s con-venience. Jerry’s interment will be at Mount St.Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield. For donationsin Jerry’s memory please donate to a charity ofyour choice.

For online condolences, visit www.carmonfuneralhome.com.

East HamptonGeorge W. Downey Jr.

George W. Downey Jr., 75, of East Hamptonand formerly of Stratford, beloved husband ofDoris (Niemeyer) Downey, died Saturday, Oct.10, at Middlesex Medical Center in Marlborough.Born Aug. 10, 1934, in West Haven, the son ofthe late George and Catherine (Finnan) Downeyhe had lived in Stratford for most of his life hav-ing moved to East Hampton three years ago.George was an active member of the Moose Clubin Stratford.

Besides his wife, he is survived by his son, TonyNiemeyer and his girlfriend Dawn Siok of Water-bury; three daughters and their husbands, Patriciaand Michael Brogan of Bloomfield, Susan andBob Walton of East Hampton and Pearl andMichael Pierangelo of Niantic; two brothers Eddieand William Downey, eight grandchildren and onegreat grandchild.

He was predeceased by a sister, Joyce Downeyand a brother John Downey. Friends called at theSpencer Funeral Home, 112 Main St., East Hamp-ton on Wednesday, Oct. 14. A graveside servicewill be held at a later date in Union Cemetery inStratford.

To leave online condolences, visitwww.spencerfuneralhomeinc.com.

PortlandAllen Francis Grover

Allen Francis Grover, beloved husband of RuthA. (Johnson) Grover, passed away peacefully sur-rounded by his loving family on Thursday, Oct.8. He was born in Rocky Hill on Feb. 1, 1928.

He grew up in Rocky Hill and later moved toPortland in 1949, when he married Ruth at adouble wedding ceremony with her twin sisterEvelyn at the Zion Lutheran Church. Allen re-tired from Cigna Insurance after 40 years of ser-vice in July of 1987. He enlisted in the UnitedStates Marine Corps in 1952 where he served asstaff sergeant at Quantico, VA.

Allen enjoyed chasing down the history of theGrover family and started documenting all of theinformation he could find over the last 50 years.This grew into many field trips throughout NewEngland, and many new friends and contactsthroughout the world. Allen grew this hobby intoa huge computer data bank that now contains over22,000 names and entries throughout the worldof the Grover family. Allen was a member of theConnecticut Genealogy Society and a member ofthe Middletown Godfrey Library. Allen also en-joyed his vegetable gardening and yard work.

He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years,Ruth A. Grover of Portland. He was the son ofthe late Roy and Isadora Grover of Rocky Hill.He also leaves behind two sons, Richard A. Groverand his longtime companion Peggy Grover ofMiddletown, their children Christina and Melissa,and three great-grandchildren; Mark Grover andhis wife Stephanie Heil-Grover of Portland, theirchildren Aaron and Nathan Grover and Michaela,Kerianne, and Madison Heil. He also leaves be-hind his grandson Carl Grover Jr. of Arizona andgranddaughter Amy Grover of Rhode Island; hissisters, Loraine George of Portland and DonnaHaddox and her husband David of Vernon; hissisters-in-law, Marion Anderson and her longtimecompanion Al Carlson of Portland and EvelynJohnson and her husband Robert of Cromwell;and many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by his son, Carl AllenGrover, and his brother, Leroy Grover.

Relatives and friends attended his funeral ser-vice Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Portland MemorialFuneral Home, 231 Main St., Portland. The Rev.James Reemts, Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church,officiated. Interment, with military honors, fol-lowed in the Swedish cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that giftsin Allen’s memory be sent to the Middlesex Hos-pital Hospice Unit, c/o Office of Philanthropy 28Crescent St., Middletown, CT 06457 or to theZion Lutheran Church 183 William St., Portland,CT 06480.

For directions, or to leave an online expres-sion of sympathy, visit www.portlandmemorialfh.net.

From the Editor’s Desk

Observations & Ruminationsby Mike Thompson

It’s not every day that my alma mater,Marist College, winds up in the nationalnews. But last week, it, or, more specifi-cally, the Marist College Institute of Pub-lic Opinion, found its way onto the newspages. And for a very good reason.

It seems people hate the word “what-ever.”

Apparently, the student pollsters at theMarist College Institute of Public Opinion(or MIPO, as they call it; and I ought toknow, seeing as how I used to be one oftheir student pollsters) surveyed peopleacross the country to see what the mostannoying word or phrase is. And, 47 per-cent of those polled chose “whatever.” Upnext, with 25 percent of the vote, was “youknow,” which seems, by my observation,to be used more by pro athletes than any-one else. (Watch a post-game interview ortwo on TV and you’ll know what I mean.)

Eleven percent of those responded se-lected the phrase, “It is what it is.” I cansee where they’re coming from, as it’s arather defeatist attitude to take, as well asa fairly dismissive one (as in, “I don’t needto explain this any more to you, or evenjustify it, really. It is what it is.”) Next inline, with 7 percent of the vote, was “any-way.” This is a word that’s never botheredme all that much. Perhaps it’s because Itend to use the word myself, but I can thinkof far more annoying choices of vocabu-lary.

And bringing up the rear, with 2 percentof the vote, was the phrase, “At the end ofthe day.” I have to admit, that phrase in-stantly brings me back to my days of cov-ering town meetings; the phrase seems tobe popular among town officials and poli-ticians. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve everheard anyone say it in casual conversation.Perhaps others feel the same way, and that’swhy it only got 2 percent of the vote.

Anyway – see, told you I used it – whenthe story about the MIPO poll broke, afterI finished getting nostalgic about my dayssitting at a cubicle calling people up andasking them things like, “If the presiden-tial election were held today, who wouldyou vote for if the candidates were…,” Istarted thinking about what, to me, is themost annoying word. Without question, I’dhave to say “guesstimate.” Come on, thisdoesn’t even sound like it should be a realword; stop using it as such. Something’seither a guess, or an estimate. And isn’t anestimate really just a fancy guess anyway?

When people say “guesstimate,” itsounds kinda like they think the word“guess” makes them sound uneducated, but“estimate” makes them sound too much likea financial director giving projections at aMonday morning meeting. So they com-bine the two. The result of said combina-tion makes me grate my teeth. People needto lose this word from their lexicon; theworld will be better for it.

A friend of mine has his own vocabularyword pet peeve: “literally.” And I can defi-nitely see where he’s coming from there.The word has become incredibly overusedand, as such, is used incorrectly far moreoften than not. I’m guilty of having used itin the past, in casual conversation, like say-ing, “It’ll take literally two seconds to dothis.” But perhaps the most egregious mis-use of the word is when people say, “I lit-erally died.” Uh, no, unless I have alsopassed on and the two of us are communi-cating as ghosts, I can say, quite assuredly,that you did not literally die.

But at least there is a time and a place tocorrectly use “literally.” In my opinion,there is never an adequate time and placefor “guesstimate.”

* * *See you next week.