When I was younger and had small children, I did not even consider leaving my house without a packed bag of sorts which could virtually accommodate almost anything that I might need; even if we only left the house for a short stroll around the neighborhood.
If there was a fall and a scraped knee, I had a Band-Aid. If there was a bad fall requiring emergency services, I had a phone.  If there was an expressed “I’m thirsty” whine, I had a water bottle.  If the whine turned into a “Do you have anything to eat?”, I had a snack.  If there was an unexpected drippy nose, gooey bug squish or gum-and-shoe situation, I had a pack of tissues.  Bottom line, wherever I went, I was prepared.
Today, even though I no longer have small children and can, with my phone, buy virtually anything I might need, I still do not leave the house without making sure that I am fully prepared for any situation.  Over the past year and a half, these items have included facemasks, hand sanitizer, plastic gloves, spare facemasks, spare hand sanitizer and spare plastic gloves.  However, I am now wondering if it is appropriate to consider that it might be time to remove some of the clutter in my purse and, dare I say, venture out – and inside somewhere- without a facemask?
I am fully vaccinated. My family members are also all fully vaccinated and most people in our area are fully vaccinated.  Our governor has indicated that if I am fully vaccinated, I am no longer required to wear a facemask when I go out, unless the business establishment says that I must.  Honestly speaking, I think it is going to take me a minute before I feel comfortable NOT wearing my mask when I go out because I wonder if it will be safe? I’m so used to wearing a facemask, it now feels strange to NOT wear one.  I do not like wearing a facemask at the gym as it is harder to breathe when I am working out, but I also do not NOT like wearing one because I wonder if everyone who is mask-less around me, is fully vaccinated.  I do not like wearing a facemask when I get up from my seat in a busy restaurant to use the restroom because it is somewhat annoying to search for my facemask and put it on simply so I can walk 20 or 30 feet, but I also do not NOT like wearing one because I have to walk by a lot of mask-less people and wonder if they are feeling ill.
I now find myself stopping at the entrance to stores, restaurants and businesses so that I can scan all of their posted signs to see if they still require a facemask.  If a business still requires that I wear a facemask, I will gladly comply so that I do NOT have to wonder about anyone else.  As a result, I am still carrying around several in my purse (and car), both the disposable ones and some cute, colorful ones.  And if I happen to be with someone who doesn’t have a facemask, no worries because I have extra…
Prepared! Prepared!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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Junior Keenan LaMontagne finished third in discus. File photo.
 

Roundup
2 Centaurs
stand out at
State Open
track meet
They each had their own burdens to bear.
Woodstock Academy junior Keenan LaMontagne was battling one of the best to ever throw a discus in the state and senior Adam Schimmelpfennig had to avoid a nasty incident in the 110-meter hurdles.
Both did very well considering the circumstances with LaMontagne bringing home a third-place finish and Schimmelpfennig a fourth from the CIAC State Open outdoor track championship.
Hillhouse High School junior Gary Moore Jr. easily broke a state record that had stood since 1969 with his throw of 188-feet, 7-inches in the discus championship, breaking the record by almost 6 feet.
LaMontagne threw a personal best 158-feet, 4-inches, which was 2 inches shy of Coventry’s Alex Krause for second place in the competition. It was also 9 feet better than his seeding mark coming into the Open.
Boys’ track coach Pete Lusa said LaMontagne knew what he was up against. “Keenan is a smart athlete. He scans sites like the CIAC performance pages to see what other athletes are posting. This allows him the time to plan and realize the level of performance needed to do well.”
LaMontagne was also bolstered by a good performance the week before at the Class MM state championship.
“It was fitting that Keenan had a great performance at the Open meet. He works very hard at his craft and to “play-up” like he did was terrific. Having been the No.1 seed at MM’s and winning helped to bridge the gap for performing well at a big meet like the Open,” Lusa said.
Schimmelpfennig was not the top seed like he was in the Class MM party. He came in seeded fifth and then had to overcome adversity soon after the gun sounded to start the event.
Lusa said: “I was told seconds afterward, that a lead athlete tripped and went down causing a couple of other athletes to fall. Adam was as cool as a cucumber and ran his race. I am thankful that his race was not interfered with and that he ran as well as he did.”
Schimmelpfennig finished in 15.54 seconds about four-tenths of a second more than his qualifying time but good enough for the fourth-place finish.
It was also one of three events on the day for Schimmelpfennig who also took part in the 300-meter hurdles where he finished 13th. He was also a member of the 4x100-meter relay team, along with Carter Saracina, Matt Marshall and Eric Phongsa, that finished 23rd. Phongsa also took part in the 100m and finished 22nd.
Ethan Aspiras was also on hand and the senior finished in 12th in the 3,200-meter event.
It wasn’t his best effort of the season. “Ethan was in the slower of two heats and he got too far behind the lead group before he made his move. I felt that he had a better race in him that day, but it just didn’t come together. He ran most of his race with one other athlete. That other athlete hung on his heel for most of the race, and Ethan fought him off to finish ahead,” Lusa said.
The State Open championship finished the outdoor track season as the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the New England Open championship for a second straight season.
“We had a season. That was great. All the rest was gravy,” Lusa said. “I am most pleased that we had success with our dual meet schedule and the (ECC) meet was a terrific accomplishment for the kids. We were so blessed with the number of state qualifiers and the success of so many of those athletes to make it to the State Open.”
Magdalena Myslenski was the only Centaurs female athlete to qualify for the State Open. The sophomore finished in 14th place in the discus.
Boys’ Golf -- Centaurs place 14th in CIAC Division II tournament
Adventurous may be too kind of a word to describe the experience the Woodstock Academy boys’ golf team had at the CIAC Div.  II golf championship.
The course wasn’t easy to get to. The conditions were hardly favorable. And there was even a losing battle with a wasp thrown in for good measure.
When all was said and done, the Centaurs finished tied for 14th place with Weston, well behind first-place finisher Daniel Hand.
Things did not go as planned from the start.
Coach Rich Garceau has a routine after 17 visits to a state championship golf tournament.
Get to the course, go to the putting green, take a few swings on the driving range and head to the tee.
The Centaurs bus left the North Campus parking lot at 6 a.m. and Garceau was worried the team may have too much down time prior to its tee times. But traffic in the Hartford area can be fickle and a traffic jam in E. Hartford made that a moot concern.
“Don (Sousa), literally, ran off of the bus and straight to the first tee.  Nerves always are a factor at a state championship and not knowing if we were going to miss our tee time and have to go home certainly added to it,” Garceau said.
Garceau had brought along a cooler of water with him which was a good thing since, due to pandemic concerns, Timberlin did not put out water jugs on the course on a 90-degree plus day.
“The hardest thing was keeping their hands dry as the day wore on.  Since there were no water filling stations on the course, I kept a cooler with me and distributed water the best I could, but it didn’t give me much opportunity to coach during the round,” Garceau said.
Oh and there were bees. Adam Thompson found them. “He got a nasty wasp sting early in his round with some significant localized swelling in the sting area and it was clear he was powering through the discomfort,” Garceau said.
But Garceau was hopeful it was a learning moment for his young team. “It was one of those days that builds character and teaches the kids how to focus on the task at hand.  I was really proud of the guys because with all of those obstacles, I didn’t hear anyone complaining or making excuses for a bad shot or score.  The just kept on playing and doing their best.  That is all I can ask for really.” Garceau said.
Team captain Kyle Brennan was best as he carded an 80 for the Centaurs, well behind Daniel Hand’s Matt Doyle who shot a 5-under par 67 to claim medalist honors. Davis Simpson added an 88.
But it was Sousa, the team’s only freshman, whom Garceau thought really showed some maturity when it came to dealing with stress. He finished with a 92.
“He was the one player who literally had to run to the first tee from the bus and hit his shot.  Not an easy task, and to be honest it was not a good first shot for him as it hardly cleared the tee box.  That said, Don shot a less than stellar 50 on his front nine.  It would have been easy for him to give up and just finish out the round but on the back he stepped it up and scored a very nice 42 to give himself a decent score.  I was expecting the heat to wear on all of the kids on the back 9 but they mostly played better on the back after dealing with all of the earlier problems.  I could not have been prouder of their “Cowboy Up” attitude all day.  I was happy to have witnessed it,” Garceau said.
There is also this caveat: Provided the Centaurs qualify, all of them will get another chance to do it all over again next year.
Baseball --- Barnes honored
Woodstock Academy junior Hamilton Barnes has been named a Connecticut High School Coaches Association Class L All-State player.
Barnes hit .417 for the Centaurs this season with four doubles and seven runs driven in.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

caption, page 1:

The Putnam Lodge of Elks  574 Flag Day Ceremony June 13. More photos on page 5. Linda Lemmon photo.


captions, page 5:
Flags
Above: The Antlers stand honoring the history of the American flag around the flagpole at Veterans Park in Putnam. Right: Dignified retirement of old flags. Linda Lemmon photos.



By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — As is their tradition and high honor, the Putnam Lodge of Elks 574 June 13 honored the American flag at the Veterans Park on Bridge Street.
In full regalia and step by solemn step, members of the Elks and guests ceremoniously recounted the history of the American flag from its beginning as the “Pine Tree” flag in 1775, through the flag’s variations during the American Revolution and then through the years to the present day with 13 red and white stripes and 50 stars, representing each state, on a field of blue. As each was described, young members of the Elks’ Antlers division solemnly placed each version of the American flag until the semicircle around the flag pole was filled with American history with flags.
Elks Exalted Ruled Jim Eccleston described the Elks’ special connection to Flag Day, saying that in 1907 the Grand Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in a resolution, designated June 14 as Flag Day and called for mandatory observance of the occasion by every lodge in 1911. In 1949 Flag Day was made official by President Harry Truman, a member of the Elks.
The flag’s colors are symbolic: Red symbolizes hardiness and valor; white symbolizes purity and innocence and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.
Veteran Fred Ruhlemann, president of the Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse, said “upon its folds is written the story of America.” The stars represented a new constellation in the west. He recounted how in each war and conflict, the flag — America — was “repurchased.”

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