Before you can understand the purpose of this column, I feel that it is necessary for you to know the context from which it derived. I am currently (as I type) DEEPLY involved in completing my very last assignments for my doctoral studies.  
In a week’s time I will have ONLY my dissertation to complete.
But I digress because it is not the quantity of my degree pursuit which remains, but rather the quality of the work I feel I must produce, which serves as the impetus for this column. More simply, and perhaps directly stated, I looked back at all my prior columns to find the letters in the alphabet that I have not yet used in my initial description.
The letters that I noted were J, K, Q, V and X. I thought about using a V word but decided that Q would be the best and most challenging choice for a (slightly) burnt-out scholar…
Again, to further reiterate the context of derivation for this column, I have managed to effectively pair the Q letter with an appropriate descriptive word as I did, indeed, perform a query.
However, and upon further reflection, I am considering that the results of the query are not really the point of this column, but more so the action of performing the query.
 This is, ironically, a very academic thing to do, making the use of the word query only a fancier word for the action of investigate?
 But now I have just looked up synonyms for query and feel that the two words are not interchangeable as a query is really a less purposeful word for discovering information.
 Perhaps, dare I admit, that one could argue that a query is only a somewhat superficial and irrelevant inquiry rather than an investigation.
Upon further consideration, I will stand firm in my selection and use of the word query to describe the action performed but will now wholeheartedly recognize that the actual point of the query in the first place stemmed, perhaps, from too many hours of recent research.
Upon final reflection, I am led to that realization that in life, it is always best to remember that what people say and do are, typically, because of what they just or are currently experiencing.
In other words, it is often the context of the situation which elicits the response.
It is why we prefer eating more salads in January after the bevy of sweets we consume during the holidays. It is why we promote purchasing electric cars after paying an exorbitant amount for filling up a gas tank.
It is why we buy an alarm system after having been robbed. It is why I wrote this column…
In the end, I have decided that querying about what letters in the alphabet my previous columns have omitted was an unnecessary inquiry.
One might even describe it as…
 … Vexing. Vexing.

Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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Putnam Elementary/Middle: Mon.: Chicken strips, strawberry cup. Tues.: Cheese-filled twisted bread, marinara sauce, veg medley, fruit. Wed. - Wolf Meal: Cheeseburger, sherbet. Thurs.: Orange popcorn chicken rice bowl, broccoli. Fri.: Cheese pizza, salad.
Putnam High: Mon.: Waffle bar or spicy chicken sandwich. Tues.: Chicken bacon ranch panini or bacon cheeseburgers. Wed.: Chicken tenders or cheese quesadilla. Thurs.: Nachos Grande or pizza boli. Fri.: Pizza or cheese calzone, marinara sauce.
Woodstock Elementary/Middle: Everyday: Fruit. Monday: Cheeseburgers. Tuesday: Meatball grinders. Wed.: Popcorn chicken, green beans. Thurs.: Hamburger gravy/roll, mashed potatoes, green beans. Fri.: Pizza, broccoli.
Pomfret Community: Everyday: Fresh fruit and veggies, Alt. Sunbutter & Jelly. Mon.: Cheese quesadilla. Tues.: Orange chicken with brown rice. Wed.: Chicken and waffles. Thurs.ay: Macaroni & cheese. Friday: Pizza.

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TOWN OF POMFRET – LEGAL NOTICE
 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING – MAY 19, 2022
The legal voters and citizens qualified to vote in Town Meeting of the Town of Pomfret are hereby warned to meet at the Pomfret Community School Cafeteria, 20 Pomfret Street, Pomfret, Connecticut, on Thursday, May 19, 2022, at 7:00 P.M. to act upon the following articles:
Opening remarks by First Selectman Maureen Nicholson
and presentation of Municipal Service Awards to staff and volunteers.
Article 1: To choose a Moderator for said meeting.
Article 2: To see if the Town will consider and act upon the following resolution:  “Resolved” that the Board of Selectmen is hereby authorized and empowered to enter into an agreement with the Commissioner of Transportation and the Office of Policy and Management, State of Connecticut, for the expenditure of all Highway funds under the provisions of Chapter 240 and the expenditure of all Local Capital Improvement Funds under the provisions of Chapter 7-536, CT General Statutes, for fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022.
Article 3: To see if the Town will consider and adopt the Five-Year Local Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal year 2022–2023 as proposed by the Board of Selectmen.
Article 4: To hear and act upon the report of the Selectmen, Town Treasurer, Treasurer of the Local School Fund, and Board of Education, as published by the Board of Finance, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.   
Article 5: To see if the Town will accept the following cemetery funds for perpetual care:
 Pomfret Cemetery Corporation:  Charlotte R. Berman, Yard 3, Lot #211, $100.00; Judith LaFreniere, Yard 3 Lots #98 & #99, $200.00; Lincoln & Paula Mayo, Yard 3 Lots #228 & #229, $200.00; Abington Cemetery Association:  Jan & Maryann Szela, Grave #459 deTallyrand Annex, $100.00; Alec Chvirko & Meghan Chvirko Stengel, Grave #460 deTallyrand Annex, $100.00; Susan Vacek, Grave #461 deTallyrand Annex, $100.00; Brian Trask & Aria Czajkowski, Graves #462 & #463 deTallyrand Annex, $200.00; Laurie Audette, Grave #464 deTallyrand Annex, $100.00; Celeste Bernards, Grave #458 deTallyrand Annex, $100.00; Helmut Eisele, Graves #1034 & #1035 deTallyrand Annex, $200.00; and Catherine Vollweiler, Graves #1036 & #1037 deTallyrand Annex, $200.00.
Article 6:  To see if the Town will approve to participate in, and serve as liaison for, the Neighborhood Assistance Act, and as such approve and support the application made by CT Audubon Society for Energy Conservation Modifications at the Pomfret facility as a viable project.  Said application is on file with the Pomfret Town Clerk, 5 Haven Road, Pomfret, CT.
Article 7:  To see if the Town will ratify and accept the following easements granted and to be granted to the Town in connection with the Town of Pomfret/Board of Selectmen Sanitary Sewer Extension Project: 1.) Easement Agreement Re – Sewer System Components from The Rectory School, Incorporated to the Town of Pomfret, dated September 23, 2020, and recorded in Pomfret Land Records, Volume 380, Pages 207-216. 2.) Easement Agreement Re – Sewer System Components from Pomfret School, Inc., to the Town of Pomfret, dated September 23, 2020, and recorded in Pomfret Land Records, Volume 380, Pages 194-206. 3.) Sewer Easement from the State of Connecticut, acting by Robert J. Klee, Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection to the Town of Pomfret, dated August 9, 2018, and recorded in Pomfret Land Records, Volume 375, Page 196-202. 4.) Sewer Line Easement from Sylvia Hankin as Trustee of the Sylvia Hankin Revocable Intervivos Trust, to the Town of Pomfret, dated August 14, 2018, and recorded in Putnam Land Records, Volume 823, Page 200. 5.) An easement to be granted by Joan T. Loos to the Town of Pomfret, as set forth and described in a certain Easement Agreement Re: Sewer System Components, by and between the Town of Pomfret; Joan T. Loos and Loos and Co., Inc., an unsigned copy of which is on file in the Pomfret Town Clerk’s Office.
Article 8: To see if the Town will approve an Ordinance Providing for the Appointment of the Town of Pomfret Town Clerk, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes 9-185, as amended, the office of the Town Clerk shall be filled by appointment by majority vote of the Board of Selectmen, commencing with the term beginning November 2025, or earlier upon a vacancy.  A copy of proposed Ordinance is on file with the Pomfret Town Clerk, 5 Haven Road, Pomfret Center.
Article 9: To see if the Town will approve an Ordinance Providing for the Appointment of the Town of Pomfret Treasurer, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes 9-185, as amended, the office of the Treasurer shall be filled by appointment by majority vote of the Board of Selectmen, commencing with the term beginning November 2025, or earlier upon a vacancy.  A copy of proposed Ordinance is on file with the Pomfret Town Clerk, 5 Haven Road, Pomfret Center.
Article 10: To see if the Town will approve a revision to the Ordinance extending the elected term of office for the Registrar of Voters and Town Treasurer, adopted at a Special Town Meeting dated February 24, 1987, to reference ‘Elected Term of Office for the Registrars of Voters’.  A copy of proposed revision is on file with the Pomfret Town Clerk, 5 Haven Road, Pomfret Center.  
Article  11: To see if the Town will adopt a total appropriation in the amount of $13,868,103 for the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget with $3,160,260 of said amount to be the General Government Appropriation and $10,707,843 of said amount to be the Board of Education Appropriation, the same to be funded by estimated revenues as recommended by the Board of Finance.     
Article 12: To do any other business proper to come before said meeting.
And to act upon the following non-binding questions as recommended by the Pomfret Planning and Zoning Commission:
1.) Should the Town permit/allow the retail sale of recreational Cannabis within the Town?
2.) Should the Town permit/allow the cultivation of Cannabis within the Town?
Dated at Pomfret, Connecticut, this 11th day of May, 2022
Maureen A. Nicholson
Patrick R. McCarthy
Ellsworth E. Chase Jr.
Its Board of Selectmen
Attest:  Cheryl A. Grist, Town Clerk
May 11, 2022

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