While I sat in my office on January 6th, diligently working on my assignments required by my PhD in developmental psychology, I decided to take a quick break and put on MSNBC so that I could watch one of our country’s time honored processes; the certification of the electoral college vote for our new president. I do not need to recount what happened next …
I spent the better part of the day and well into the early morning hours of the next, ignoring my school-work and watching the TV so that I could: 1. Confirm that the violence ended and 2. See what measures would be taken by our elected officials to ensure that THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! Unfortunately, as I write this column, I am still watching my TV, unsure that either of the above, has actually been resolved.
I am in my 5th decade of life, with financial and personal stability. And yet, I chose to enter an expensive, time-consuming and very challenging long-term academic program in order to attain a degree which would effectively allow me to meld my experience with the critical knowledge necessary so that I could be better qualified to offer advice, care and help, to others.
I have lost a child and persevered, living every day with a sadness that will never ease. I am intensely studying psychology now, so that when people ask me how I moved forward, I can answer in a real and qualified way. Simply put, I decided to go back to school to earn my degree not because it was easy, but because it was right.
As I am training my brain to consistently access what I know and feel in comparison to what I can prove, I am wondering, why, given what just happened in our fragile democracy, some of our law makers and legislators, are not? There is no disputing that an incited rally of protesting extremists stormed into the Capitol building uninvited and unscreened, destroying property and directly causing the death of 5 human beings.
And because of the forced audit and critical evaluation of procedural accountings, there is also no disputing that the recent presidential election was the safest and fairest election of modern times. Whether you, personally, liked the result or not, bears NO factor on the evidential proof. If I wrote a paper, citing no credible resources and proliferating only opinionated rhetoric, I would fail. If I continued to approach every paper I write in the same manner, I would be removed from my program of study. It is … that simple.
As I continue to watch the news, waiting for a resolution to the end of the violence, clinging to a hope that it cannot happen again, I remind myself that I must balance what I know and feel with what I can prove. In the end, this leaves little room for hearsay, rhetoric, opinion and lies. Today, I offer my personal wishes for continued safety to our elected officials who found themselves in peril last week and a sentence for consideration: Words, whether or not they are based in truth or on lies, can be powerful and, ultimately, lead to actions which write history. ENOUGH. ENOUGH.
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
.
captions, clockwise from top left:
Trusses. Linda Lemmon photos.
Front entry waits for staircase
Above: Venting, waiting. Right: Massive switchgear box.
Temporary window, sill and brickwork
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Municipal Complex committee members and town officials seemed pleased with the progress on the project during a walkthrough last week.
The project is on time and under budget. Thus far, the anticipated opening is August.
Town Administrator Elaine Sistare said the reason the project is under budget is that most of the budget set aside for possible soil cleanup and replacement were not needed. The town had put aside “six figures,” she said, and very little was actually needed. The budget was completed before the soil was tested around the 4-acre site. Formerly, the property was home to the Putnam Trade School and Putnam High School and was hit hard by the Flood of 1955.
Thomas Sheard, Downes Construction Company LLC superintendent, said the brickwork is moving along very quickly on the three sides of the building. Masons started Jan. 4 and by Jan. 7, tour time, the bricks were higher on the walls than a committee member could reach, arms upstretched.
The tour through the entire building showed metal studs everywhere, the installation of major electrical equipment, the vault and much more. The front entrance of the complex is still waiting for its elegant stairway but the two plain stairways, one at each end of the building, are already in and being used.
The expansive library section, with its wing-like roof offers all the room the library needs, according to library director Priscilla Colwell. A huge adult section is balanced by a large children’s section. There are teen rooms, kids’ rooms and glass everywhere. The children’s library “won’t have to take her stuff out of the one room we have now when she leaves for the day. She’ll have her own room.”
..
captions, page 2
Woodstock Academy team photo after last week's practice. Right: Showing off the new speed suit is Zach Brody. Photos by Kevin Brody.
The high school winter athletic season, for most, is still scheduled to begin with preseason practices on Jan. 19.
The final decision on that start date has yet to be made by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference as it awaits guidance from the Connecticut Department of Health.
But one team at The Woodstock Academy is already getting ready for its season.
The alpine ski team began practice at Mt. Southington last week and will have three practices before opening its five-race regular season on Jan. 28.
Skiing is not sponsored by the CIAC but rather the Connecticut Interscholastic Ski League.
Because the sport is held outside and all competitors are socially distanced and required to wear masks, the league felt comfortable moving forward and schools such as Woodstock Academy have chosen to participate.
“We definitely have a season,” said Centaurs coach Kevin Brody. “We are taking our own personal precautions but some schools strictly follow CIAC rules so some are still questionable. Some of the larger schools will have their numbers limited (by Mt. Southington). We’re not in that boat. Thankfully, Woodstock Academy is very accommodating. It definitely supports us and wants to see this happen.”
It’s the second ski season for Woodstock Academy which remains the only school in Eastern Connecticut to field an alpine ski team.
The team will, at least, start with four boys and four girls participating.
Those numbers will be led by senior Zach Brody on the boys’ side and junior Eliza Simpson on the girls.
Zach Brody was instrumental in getting the program off the ground.
He spent his first two years at the Academy proposing the idea before seeing it come to fruition last year.
“I was really the one who wanted to create this whole thing from the get-go. I saw my friends really get into racing at their high school so I was like, ‘Why can’t we do that here’?,” said Zach Brody.
Zach Brody and Simpson were the experienced skiers on the team, both having been on skis since, in Simpson’s case, she was 2-years-old when her father picked her up and took her down the hill at Mt. Snow in Vermont.
She was skiing regularly on her own about a year later.
“Mount Southington is a lot easier to ski,” Simpson said with a laugh. “In Vermont, I participate on race courses that are over a minute long which is an endurance (race). It’s like 25-second races at Mt. Southington.”
In other words, a sprint opposed to a marathon.
“I like sprinting better. Racing distance, you can make a mistake and come back from it. In sprinting, it’s how perfect can you get everything and I’m a perfectionist,” she added.
Last season, Simpson earned Team Connecticut honors and competed on a team that vied for the Eastern Region championship.
“The season, overall, went really well for everybody including myself. It was a great year because everyone’s skill level got progressively better,” Simpson said.
Kevin Brody said he is happy to have Simpson who is a United States Ski and Snowboard Association member at Mt. Snow as is Zach Brody at Wachusett Mountain.
“They are two established athletes within the sport of alpine ski racing and to have them in this program means we can field a nice, viable team led by two high-caliber athletes. We’re lucking out,” Kevin Brody said.
The only detractor for Simpson last season.
She raced alone.
“I want to see more girls get involved this year,” Simpson said. “It was just a case where girls are saying, ‘I’m just not a good skier. I don’t think I can do that.’ As long as you have a little skill, even if you have never raced before, you can join this team. Everybody gets better.”
Simpson will have teammates this season.
Jillian Marcotte and Ksenija Martinovic have signed on to the team this season as has eighth grader Emma Brody who can compete since the sport is not CIAC sanctioned.
In addition to Zach Brody, Davis Simpson and Anthony Listro are back on the boys team. Listro was injured almost all of last season.
Neil Camara is a newcomer to the squad this season.
“We have the same outlook as last year. We do have challenges with the pandemic and working around those regulations,” Kevin Brody said.
Ski slopes do have capacity restrictions, due to the virus, thus the team will have practice sessions on Mondays and races on Thursdays. There will be three 1-hour sessions from 4-7 p.m. on Thursdays for CSIL small division programs and when the Centaurs session is over, they must vacate the mountain. There will be no make-up dates.
If all goes well, the Centaurs will be on the powder for 13 days this winter which is down only a couple of days from a year ago.
The lodge is also closed meaning the Centaurs bus will be their locker room.
“We’re hoping for a fairly normal season It’s an outdoor sport. Fresh air is a good thing,” Kevin Brody said.
“I definitely want to qualify for the postseason races as well as bringing the team even further,” Zach Brody said. “We have a lot of kids from last year and they can only get better. We have a lot of progression from last year as well which I like to see because I’m working on my coaching (skills).”
Zach Brody said he plans to be a ski instructor and coach in his post high school life.
One change for the Centaurs this year. New racing uniforms.
“We’re official. Last year, when we were becoming more successful, the school wanted us to become a bit more branded. We ended up getting jackets last year and this year, we have new giant slalom or speed suits which are very sharp and cool looking for the races this year. We’re going to look good on the mountain,” Kevin Brody said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Alpine Ski Team
The Woodstock Academy 2021 alpine ski team after their first practice of the season last week.
Woodstock Academy senior Zach Brody models the new speed suits that the Woodstock Academy alpine ski team will be competing in.
...
Putnam hires
2 officers
PUTNAM — Last week the Putnam Police Department hired two new police officer candidates.
Police Chief Christopher D. Ferace said Nicholas E. Ustin and Roy D. Hicks were sworn in as the 15th and 16th officers in the department, filling two existing vacancies. Both officers started the 371St Training Session of the POSTC Connecticut Police Academy Jan. 8.
The two new officers will train for approximately 24 weeks with a projected graduation date of mid-June 2021. Then each new officer will undergo a minimum of an additional 400 hours of Field Training towards acquiring their Police Officer Certification. After the successful completion of their Field Training program, they will be assigned to the department’s Patrol Division.
Nicholas E. Ustin, a Putnam resident who grew up in Carmel, N.Y., graduated from Carmel High School. He comes from a law enforcement family as his father is a retired police officer from the White Plains (N.Y.) Police Department. Nicholas holds an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Columbia Greene College and is recently engaged to his fiancée Lisa.
Roy D. Hicks was raised in Pomfret and graduated from the Woodstock Academy. He lives in Eastford with his wife Tori. Hicks was most recently employed as a Public Safety Officer at Day Kimball Hospital and a part-time dispatcher at the Putnam Police Department. He holds an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Manchester CC.
..