How pg 1 11-10-22
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caption:
Fall's Last Hurrah
'Leave' it to high winds and rain --- beautiful autumn, with its bold primary colors, gets banished. More photos on page 4 and additional photos on our FB page, Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger, on Wednesday night. Linda Lemmon photo.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — A couple record temperatures, winds, rainstorms and finally finally most of the leaves are down.
After just finishing up Woodstock Avenue Highway Superintendent Travis Sirrine said the town is vacuuming leaves.
“We’re finishing up paving projects so we’re on top of it (leaf collection) until Dec. 1,” he said.
The town generally starts leaf collection the last Monday in October and continues through Dec. 1.
Leaves must be at the edge of the property, unbagged. The truck-mounted vacuum must be able to reach the leaf pile. Driveway and lawn collections are not provided.
According to the town’s Curbside program, leaf collection begins in the Special Services District and works out to the other districts. Vacuum collections are weather and volume dependent so specific days of collection cannot be provided.
Collections continue until Dec. 1 or until weather conditions (snow) cease efforts.
He added leaves are not collected in the spring and asks that sidewalks not be blocked with leaves.
Brush is not collected again until the last full work week of April. It is also collected the last full work week of September. He added that if there is a major damaging storm brush would be collected.
nddh pg 1 11-10-22
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BROOKLYN --- The Northeast District Department of Health (NDDH) hit a milestone Nov. 1 at its standing Tuesday vaccination clinic by administering its 15,000th dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The recipient was Pomfret resident Earl Semmelrock who is also a past board member of NDDH. “I recently learned that I was eligible for my booster dose, so I came right down to NDDH to receive it,” said Semmelrock. “The process here has always been quick and easy and I feel better knowing that I am better protected against COVID-19 as we head into the holiday season.”
NDDH Public Health Nurse Janine Vose, who delivered the booster shot to Semmelrock, said: “I remember the anticipation and excitement of the COVID-19 vaccines first arriving in December of 2020. After a year of battling COVID with prevention strategies like handwashing, social distancing, and wearing masks, we knew this would be the tool to help prevent hospitalizations and deaths from COVID. I was one of the first to be vaccinated and am grateful to have been part of a team that has delivered so many illness-reducing and life-saving vaccinations.”
NDDH worked closely with Day Kimball Healthcare and Generations Family Health Center throughout the pandemic to coordinate vaccination efforts in northeast Connecticut. In addition, they deployed volunteer members of their Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) and partnered with the Quinebaug Valley Senior Citizens Center to hold regular vaccination clinics. They also worked with town leaders, schools, and many other community partners to provide mobile vaccination clinics. “When it comes to vaccinations, our health department has always been seen as a gap-filler, catching those individuals who for any reason have been unable to access vaccination through traditional channels,” said NDDH Director of Health Sue Starkey. “The pandemic required an extraordinary effort, so our team and MRC stepped up in those early days, and where we are two years and 15,000 doses later, still providing this essential service to our populations. It’s also important to note that we have provided these doses at no charge and have not sought reimbursement for administering the vaccine.”
NDDH holds a standing vaccination clinic from 3 to 6 p.m. every Tuesday at the health department office, 69 South Main St., Brooklyn, offering Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax primary dose vaccines, and the updated bivalent booster doses from Pfizer for ages 5 and older, and Moderna for ages 6 and older.
The health department also offers seasonal flu vaccine at no charge for children ages 3 to 18. Adult seasonal flu vaccine is available to those over age 18 at a cost of $30, cash only, no insurances accepted.
For more information, visit: https://www.nddh.org/services/emergency-preparedness/covid-19-vaccination/
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psa pg 1 11-10-22
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PSA restarts baseball team
Putnam Science Academy is fielding a baseball team for the first time since 2014 and coach Bob Hetu couldn’t be more excited about it.
The Mustangs recently wrapped up their fall season, which consisted of a lot of practices and a lot of scrimmages with Springfield Commonwealth Academy, giving Hetu a much more comfortable feeling for when the games count come spring.
“It is an honor to have the first team back at PSA and the kids will be proud to represent PSA in its ground-breaking season,” Hetu said. “But I think it will really hit them at the end of the season.
“When the team is recruited you really don’t know what it’s going to look like. But I was pleasantly surprised in the athletic ability we have in each position. We have depth in every position. We have multiple players in each position competing for starting roles, which creates a very competitive culture every day.”
One of those positions is behind the plate where Alberto Cantalini, Omar Burgos, and David Batista have all impressed.
“They’ve caught my eye,” Hetu said. “Their skill sets are very strong but their leadership was tremendous.”
Said Cantalini: “There is a great opportunity to get better here. We have 6 a.m. lifts three times a week. We have practice right after school. We have the cage right outside our dorms. We can go out and hit or throw whenever we want. And all the guys want to get better so it’s easier to get better when you’re around guys like that.”
Cantalini is one of two Mustangs who have already committed to college; he is headed to Southern New Hampshire University next fall, while outfielder Enger Paulino just announced his commitment to Assumption College.
The Mustangs will spend the winter months training indoors at the Connecticut Baseball Academy in Hartford, which Hetu co-founded and will give players access to all of the latest technology and tools vital for their growth.
Hetu will continue to recruit some, as he hopes to bring in another top-tier pitcher for the second semester and spring season. That’s when the real fun begins. PSA will be a member of the Tri-State Wood Bat League with teams like Winchendon, Marianapolis, Pomfret, Springfield Commonwealth, St. Thomas More, and MacDuffie, and play roughly 30 games all together.
A week’s worth of those games will come over the school’s Spring Break in March, as the team will load up the vans and head for an event in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“I’m looking forward to that,” Hetu said, “because we will certainly come together on and off the field as a team.
“But I really can’t wait to see how we compete against the region’s best. How do we compete against ECSU and Mitchell? How do we do against the ranked teams on our schedule? I can’t wait. I really expect greatness from this team.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
because pg 2 11-10-22
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The weather forecast for this first weekend of November is calling for 70+ degrees, which is beautiful but rather confusing to me because I have a social event to attend and, quite frankly, I don’t know what to wear?
I mean November in New England is a time for boots and chunky knit sweaters and pretty scarves displaying warm autumnal colors of gold, burnt orange or rustic red. November means full length jeans paired with jackets which are more fashion than function and fun fuzzy hats which are less concerned about covering the ears and more so about being an accessory for the head.
As a (nearly) life-long New Englander, I am programmed to equate November as the cut-off month of making sure that my warm seasonal clothes are front and center in my closet and that my winter boots, jackets, hats, gloves/mittens, and scarves are inventoried and accessible. I do this because in New England, we typically have clothing for when it is mostly warm and when it is mostly cold because, in New England (typically) when it is mostly warm it is quite warm (think mid 60s to mid 80s) and when it is mostly cold it is quite cold (think teens to the 30s). Maybe it is because of the prominence of the holidays in November, but November, typically, is considered a cold month…?
My recent clothing conundrum has caused me to consider that perhaps I should reconsider my designation of a seasonal clothing.
Hot? Cold?
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
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