obit pg 6 2-23-23
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Patricia Beckenhaupt, former NDDH director of health
BROOKLYN — It is with great sadness that the Northeast District Department of Health
(NDDH) shares the news of the passing of former NDDH Director of Health Patricia
Beckenhaupt, RN, MPH, MS. Pat died Jan. 26, 2023, after a brief illness.
Pat served NDDH with distinction as Director of Health from 2000 to 2009. She was instrumental in expanding the role of NDDH emergency preparedness services following the events of September 11, 2001. She was an early advocate of tele-health services, leading an initiative in 2007 long before it would become a necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That same year, as district services grew, she spearheaded agency relocation efforts to NDDH’s current location at 69 South Main Street in Brooklyn.
Pat provided strong leadership through a number of high-profile public health emergencies and events, including the InterRoyal Mill Fire in April 2005; a 2006 full scale Strategic National Stockpile exercise at Plainfield High School, conducted jointly by the State of Connecticut and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
Pat successfully procured grants that provided indoor asthma assessments, oral health screenings, CPR-AED trainings, and breast health screenings, and increased community awareness to food-borne illness, green cleaning, obesity prevention, cardiovascular health, Lyme disease, and a host of other public health priorities. Working with her team, she created the NDDH logo and brand that we continue to promote today.
Pat leaves her husband Ken of 28 years; two daughters Laura (Michael Haluch) and Kathleen (Jeff Enger); a son Raymond (Aubrey) and seven grandchildren; her brother Kevin Cordle; sister-in-law Janice Nicholl and four nieces. She was predeceased by her mother and father, Mary and Edgar Cordle.
Pat’s career in health care is expansive where she emerged early on as a leader in nursing, graduating in 1968 from Mary Immaculate Hospital School of Nursing in Jamaica, Queens, New York. She went on to serve for 11 years as Assistant Vice President and Director of Emergency Medical Services at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs. That experience paved the way for her role as Director of Health for the Northeast District Department of Health in Brooklyn CT for nine years and then on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta serving as a Public Health Analyst until her retirement in 2015.
Within a year of retirement Pat was back in the public health arena serving as an independent contractor for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Immunization Program. Pat rounded out her career by serving as a COVID Case Investigator and Contact Tracer for Partners in Health – University of Connecticut stationed in Boston.
In addition to her nursing degree, Pat obtained a Master of Public Health degree from UConn and a Master of Science in Education from ECSU.
Donations: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, https://gift.whoi.edu/page/7738/donate/1?locale=en-US. Please select the button labeled “in honor or memory of” at the bottom of the page and include Pat’s name.
Justin H. Corttis
N. GROSVENORDALE — Justin H. Corttis, 33, died peacefully at home Feb. 13, 2023. He was born in 1989.
Justin grew up in Thompson, graduating from Tourtellotte Memorial High School where he excelled in sports and academics. Justin loved to run, be it on the track or the football field.
He also enjoyed being a founding member of “The Jungle”.
Upon graduation, Justin studied engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. While attending WPI, Justin was active in the fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha where he was the social chair. In his spare time, Justin enjoyed spending time outside with his dog, Caesar, reading, cooking, and working out.
Justin leaves behind his father Herb Corttis of Thompson; and sister, Lydia Corttis of Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Caesar.
Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Feb. 22 at Valade Funeral Home, 23 Main St., North Grosvenordale.
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centaurs pg 7 2-23-23
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caption:
Senior Night
The six seniors on the Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team, from left: Austin Amlaw, Brandon Nagle, James D’Alleva-Bochain, Carter Morissette, Braiden Saucier and Jackson Gallagher, were honored on Senior Night prior to the game with Waterford. Photo by Greg Smith/Woodstock Academy.
It was a good week to have a pair of good efforts for the Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team.
Early last week, the six seniors on the Woodstock boys’ basketball team got a proper send off as Senior Night before a game against Waterford.
The Centaurs pulled off a 55-45 win.
They followed that up with a 58-51 victory over Griswold on Thursday in the final home game for the seniors and for the team as a whole this season.
“We just wanted to keep it rolling, win our last game here on this floor and we have one more game and just want to try and win out for the season,” said senior Brandon Nagle.
Woodstock had a final regular season game on the road at Old Lyme on Monday (the game ended too late for this edition) and will play in the ECC tournament when it begins later this week.
The Centaurs have a quarterfinal contest against Fitch in Groton on Thursday.
But this past Thursday was the last time that the Centaur seniors wore the home jerseys.
“It was great to get the win and I truly believe they deserved it,” coach Donte Adams said of the win over Griswold. “At the end of the day, those guys are our leaders. They’re buying in, taking accountability every day. I’m definitely glad that for the past two games, they have come in here and put on a show for the fans and, most importantly, got a ‘W’.”
Griswold, outside of an opening basket by Carter Morissette, jumped out to the quick lead in the first half and held it throughout the majority of the first 16 minutes. The visitors went into the locker room with a 26-23 advantage.
But Woodstock took control in the third quarter. A 3-pointer by Hunter Larson (nine points) put the Centaurs up, 35-32.
Griswold could have tied it from the free throw line but missed all three of their opportunities.
Woodstock took advantage by scoring nine of the next 14 points to take a seven-point lead into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter has not been kind recently to the Centaurs but they held their own against Griswold, built a double-digit lead and withstood the expected rally, never letting the visitors get closer than five points.
“I don’t get nervous but I certainly remember the past games where we have messed it up,” Nagle said about the fourth quarter woes. “We just had to key in, make smart moves and keep everyone thinking smart.”
Nagle finished with 15 points to lead Woodstock while sophomore Garrett Bushey added 12 including a pair of second half 3-pointers. Another sophomore, Brady Ericson, contributed a double-double; 11 points and 10 rebounds and threw in five blocks for good measure.
Prior to the game with Waterford earlier in the week, Jackson Gallagher, Morissette, Braiden Saucier, James D’Alleva-Bochain, Nagle and Austin Amlaw were honored on Senior Night for their participation over the years.
“It was so special. We had a great crowd come out (Tuesday). The pep band had a huge section with a lot of energy and we worked hard and pulled it off,” Saucier said.
It was also the first crop of seniors to finish their high school career under Adams’ guidance.
“Even though this season was a roller coaster, I’m going to miss them a lot,” the coach said. “All of them brought a different aspect to the team and to the game. I wish I had the same group another year but it’s all about building and rebuilding and the guys who are juniors and so forth are going to have to be ready to play and to take after our seniors.”
The Centaurs treated the home crowd to the win over the Lancers.
Waterford played with plenty of intensity early. The Lancers were able to get the ball into 6-foot-8 center Juan Morel Jr. early and he capitalized with a couple of buckets to help the Lancers pull out to an 8-3 advantage.
But Woodstock fought back.
It trailed by only three by the end of the quarter and then pulled ahead just 2 minutes, 9 seconds into the second quarter when Bushey sank a 3-pointer to make it 13-11 in favor of the host team.
The Centaurs would not trail again.
Six points by Nagle, who finished with a team-high 16 points, helped Woodstock build a 26-18 halftime lead.
Waterford got close fast in the third quarter when it scored seven unanswered points out of the locker room.
“It’s a game of runs,” Morissette said. “We got out ahead but we knew they would eventually come back. We just had to get it back and we did that well in the fourth quarter which felt great.”
The most important piece being that Woodstock never let Waterford get ahead.
Thanks, in part to Nagle, who scored seven third-quarter points.
“I felt like I was ‘on’ (Tuesday) so I felt like I had to keep shooting. I haven’t been shooting great but since they were falling, I just kept shooting,” Nagle said.
The Lancers tied the game at 35 on a three-point play by Logan Peabody (19 points) just 11 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Woodstock responded by scoring the next 13 points. Larson scored four of his eight points in that run and Bushey, who finished with nine points, added another 3-pointer.
The offense was good, the defense may have been better.
Saucier said a key part to the victory was the energy on the floor which he thought started on the defensive end as the Centaurs were able to get “stop-after-stop.”
But at the end of the night, it being Senior Night has a way of bringing reality close to home.
The high school career is just about over.
“I’m going to miss this so much,” Nagle said. “Playing with my boys every single day, it’s going to be very interesting for me next year not being out here every single day. I’m going to miss it a lot.”
The Centaurs took a 6-13 record into their final regular season game against Old Lyme.
“I know our record doesn’t look great but I don’t think it represents our season. We’ve lost three games in overtime, we had a bunch of close games and we’ve been in every game except maybe two so it felt good to get this one,” Saucier said of the Waterford victory.
Unfortunately, it is one loss too many to make the state tournament.
There is the ECC tournament still to shoot for. Woodstock goes in as the sixth seed and will have to go to Groton on Thursday to play the third-seeded Falcons.
But the Centaurs did take Fitch to overtime in their first meeting of the season at the Alumni Fieldhouse before falling, 61-55. The game in Groton did not go as well as the Falcons prevailed, 52-33.
“We get to play another day. We’ve lost to Fitch two times but I like our chances with the way we’re playing and with how we’re handling pressure. If we defend how we’re supposed to and how we’ve been doing, we will be fine,” Adams said.
With the basketball season winding down, it means the final sports season for high school seniors, spring, is right around the corner and the baseball field is calling for Morissette.
“I can’t wait. We’re going to be really good this year so I’m really looking forward to it,” Morissette said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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prep pg 7 2-23-23
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Putnam Science Academy has a well-known identity of basketball excellence, fostered by the talented players who give the small school a chance to help them develop on and off the court.
Two of those student-athletes – Mouhamed Dioubate and Darryl Simmons – last week moved closer to etching their names into PSA lore as the Mustangs’ Prep team won three games.
Dioubate scored a career-high 33 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a 110-80 win over Notre Dame-West Haven, then finished his week with 17 more points and another 10 boards in a 104-83 victory over Brimmer & May. Though Dioubate sat out a 110-86 win over Reason Prep, his two game totals pushed him closer to major milestones.
He ended the week just 115 points shy of 1,000 for his career, a total only three other PSA players have amassed. Dioubate may be better known for his rebounding prowess however, and at the end of the week needed just 61 more rebounds to break Mamadou Diarra’s career mark of 647, and 106 more to top Rundell Mauge’s single-season record of 408.
Meanwhile Simmons, who played in only the Brimmer & May game because of a nagging injury, made one 3-pointer in finishing with seven points. That gives him 140 3-pointers for his career, tying him with Hassan Diarra for the most in program history. And the seven points leave Simmons with 133 to go to reach 1,000 for his career.
PSA had three more regular-season games, plus at least two postseason games with the possibility of having seven, giving both players time to hit their marks.
In the win over Brimmer & May, Ben Ahmed had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Baye Ndongo added 15 points and 12 rebounds in just 15 minutes, and Oswin Erhunmwunse finished with 15 points for PSA (30-3).
Miles Rose scored a career-high 20 points, and Ahmed added 21 points and 13 rebounds in the win over Reason Prep. Duane Thompson also scored 20 and pulled down eight rebounds for PSA.
And against Note Dame-West Haven, Will Lovings-Watts had 15 points and five rebounds, Rose added 13 points and six assists, and Tarique Foster finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Thompson also scored 10 points, while Muazibini Adamu and Blake Barkley both grabbed nine rebounds.
The boys’ Varsity team split a pair of games last week.
Erick Aponte had 14 points but PSA felt the effects of being down seven players to illness in a 53-31 loss to CATS Academy.
Max Shepel added eight points in his return to the floor for the Mustangs, who trailed 22-21 at halftime but simply ran out of gas to stay in the game after that.
Shepel then led the Mustangs’ with 16 points in a 49-46 win over local rival St. Thomas More Thursday.
Aponte (12 points), Martyn Poliuchovic (seven points), Hugo Bolumar (six points) and Andre Vlasic (five points) all played well for PSA (13-8).
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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accused pg 8 2-23-23
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Accused kidnapper
is arrested
PUTNAM — The Putnam Police Department Feb. 16 arrested an accused kidnapper.
Megan Klingensmith (aka Megan Johnson), 39 of no certain address was taken into custody by Putnam Police Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and extradited back to Connecticut.
Klingensmith was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Danielson Superior Court related to an investigation initiated Nov. 29, 2015 and conducted by Putnam Police Department with assistance of the CT State Police Major Crimes Unit. This is the fifth arrest related to that incident.
Klingensmith was charged with: first-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping, cruelty to persons, second-degree threatening, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree conspiracy to commit assault and first-degree conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
The victim, a male who was 29 years old at the time, said he was assaulted by several people and forcibly transported from Putnam to the area of Pulaski State Park in Rhode Island where he was left. The victim suffered significant injuries and was hospitalized.
More arrests related to this incident are expected.
All accused are innocent until proven guilty
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