The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs.  The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 860-963-0000.
April 21
Kathy Donovan, 74, Church Street, Putnam; creating a public disturbance.

.
 

caption:

Senior Jared Eaton sets a school record in the shotput on this throw last week at East Lyme. The record had stood since 1997.  Photo by Gerry LaMontagne.



Woodstock Academy was clinging to a three-point lead over host East Lyme going into the final event of their season-opening girls’ track meet, the 4x400-meter relay, last week.
The tale of the finish was going to rely on four young student-athletes.
The quartet of Reegan Reynolds, Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain, Isabella Selmecki and Talia Tremblay got the job done with Tremblay winning the anchor leg in a true photo finish, giving the Centaurs a 79-71 victory over the Vikings.
The Centaurs were seeded lower than East Lyme’s relay squad going in and knew they had to push.
One of the team members was feeling under the weather and the Centaurs went on a hunt to find an athlete who could fill in.
D’Alleva-Bochain, a freshman, who already finished first in both the 800 and 1600m races, was available for another event. D’Alleva-Bochain had just finished high jump when Welch sought her out.
The race was close throughout.
Tremblay was running the anchor leg.
It may have been the finishing touch, but there were more highlights during the Centaurs opening meet of the season.
Senior Bella Sorrentino qualified for state competition in both the 100m hurdles and shotput, finishing first in both.
Fellow senior Magdalena Myslenski was first in both the javelin and pole vault while Sophia Quinn won the discus, Tremblay the 400m, Julia Coyle the 3200m and Juliet Allard the 300m hurdles. Allard also took second in the 100 and 200-meter races while Coyle was third in the 1600-meter.
In all, the Centaurs qualified someone in just about every event for state competition
“First meet out and we have all but four events qualified for states – that’s fantastic,” Welch said. “I’m sure we will fill out the rest of them in the next week or so, we will have a full bill going into the states. We came close last year, but this will be the first time for me. This is the batch of kids who came up around Bella and Talia as freshmen and sophomores, and are juniors and seniors now. It’s the strongest version of this team that we’ve had in several years.”
Boys’ track
Jared Eaton had one goal in mind prior to the boys’ outdoor track season. He wanted to put his name in the Woodstock Academy record book. If he didn’t, he wasn’t going to be happy. He didn’t have to wait long.
Eaton eclipsed a Woodstock outdoor boys' track school record that had stood since 1997 with a throw of 52-feet, 7-inches in the shotput in the first meet of the season last week at East Lyme.
 “I was not expecting that at all,” Eaton said. “I thought I was really going to have to fight for it this season but to get it done in the first meet now allows me to set my goals a lot higher.” He broke the record held by Bill Chaput which had stood for 26 years.
“He’s my neighbor,” Eaton said with a smile. “I haven’t talked to him yet, I probably have to reach out to him.”
Coach Gerry LaMontagne said the discussion about the outdoor record started in indoor track.
“We changed his technique. He was a glider last year. He switched to rotational in indoor and was gung-ho about that. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of progress until later in the spring but he’s really picked up on it and worked hard,” LaMontagne said.
It was a major change for Eaton.
“I changed 100 percent of my throw. I went from a simple glide which is beginner to a spin which is one of the most advanced techniques in throwing,” Eaton said.
He still has some work to do as his effort earned him a second place against East Lyme. He would add a first.
In just his second-ever competition in the event, he finished first in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 154-feet, 6-inches.
Both of those efforts qualified him for the Nationals competition later in the season.
The Centaurs did come up short in the meet as they fell to the Vikings 106 ½- 43 ½.
There were some other highlights.
Sophomore Christian Menounos was first in the 800m in just over two minutes, a personal-best for him and just a few seconds off the outdoor school record.
Menounos also joined Vincente Bastura, Charles Caggiano and Owen Tracy on the winning 4x400m relay team. Liam Wilcox finished second in the 110m hurdles, pole vault and high jump for the Centaurs.
Colton Sallum captured second in the 1600m and Mateusz Chojnicki and Aidan Kane placed second and third, respectively, in the long jump.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

..
 

A Putnam
playscape: The
cherry on top
   By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Before the town’s Summer Lunch program begins June 12, a playscape will be in place next to the Putnam Public Library.
April 21 Gerber Construction Services of Ellington laid the groundwork for the 40 by 80 foot playscape area. The area was dug out and process gravel was placed.
According to Library Director Priscilla Colwell, on Monday the fence posts will be installed. Following that the play equipment will be installed.
Town Administrator Elaine Sistare said, last fall, that after the equipment is in, a pour-in-place rubber material “ground” will be poured around the equipment, locking it in. That material will last decades and is ADA compliant, she said. The rubber material is tinged in “Putnam Blue.”
The cost for the equipment and the rubber “ground” is about $175,000. The project is funded through the Municipal Complex construction budget.
Colwell said the fence that will surround the area is a black chain link and is 4 feet tall. Two backless black metal benches will hug the edge of the oval-shaped area
There is a piece with four swings (two for tots) and another piece with a pod hopper, slides, a bridge, a lookout tower, ADA stairs and an interactive panel.
June 12 through around Aug. 11 the town’s Summer Lunch program is held at the complex. Colwell said the town offers free meals for kids 18 and younger weekdays. It is funded by a federal program. The public school meals are also offered at the Hale YMCA.
In addition through the IHPS, the accompanying adult receives a free lunch.
Colwell said the program averages 30 to 60 attendees each weekday. The town qualified for the free summer lunch program in 2009, she said, when it hit an “economic threshold” and more than 50 percent qualified for free or reduced lunches.
“We try to schedule programs before and after the summer lunches,” she said. Miniature horses, goats, singers, games and more are being scheduled.
Colwell said they are “very excited” about the programs that bring people into the library in the summertime.
“This playscape is the icing — no — the cherry on top.”

.