caption:
Firefighters at the debriefing after the water supply training hosted by the East Putnam Fire Department April 21. More photos on page 6 and expanded photo array on Wed. night on our FB page: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger. Linda Lemmon photo.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — One of the many challenges for fire departments in small/rural towns is water: Where are our water sources and how do we get it to the fire expeditiously.
April 21 the East Putnam Fire Department hosted a training session for shuttling water. The East Thompson Volunteer Fire Department set up at the bridge on Five Mile River Road, transferring water into tanker trucks that were rotating through. The tanker trucks went to the “fire” on the property across from Ross Recycling and transferred the water into “dump tanks.” From there water was pumped to the Putnam Fire Department ladder truck which was pumping water.
East Putnam Fire Department Chief Abe Walker said the planning for this training started last year after the Elmwood Hill Road fire in East Putnam last December. Finding water and getting it to the fire site proved challenging. When a fire department is called out, once it’s ascertained there is a structure fire, the water supply task force is activated with mutual aid departments.
Walker said that 1,000 gallons per minutes was pumped onto the “fire” for two hours.
He added that the next water supply training would be for "what would happen if the fire was on Liberty Highway." That would involve more trucks as the water would have to be shuttled from the hydrant at the DOT garage on Rt. 12, up Hurry Hill and then to the fire. “We’d probably need eight trucks for that,” he said.
Atwood Hose Fire Company Chief Robert Duval said each participating company made three trips. The supply was only lost for five minutes, due to a navigation error.
He made several suggestions to the firefighters gathered around for the debriefing including buying a soccer ball to find the vortex in the dump tank, putting a tarp to protect the dump tank, to protect against rips and creating signs with numbers on them so the tanks can be numbered, to make the filling process quick and smooth. He also recommended “know where your exhaust is.” “You saw how labor intensive this was,” he said. “I’d recommend there is one person assigned to guide tankers.”
Departments taking part included: East Putnam Fire Department, Putnam Fire Department, Thompson Fire Engine Company, Attawaugan Fire Department, East Thompson Volunteer Fire Department, Central Village Fire Company.
“This is the world of rural water supply,” he added.
captions, page 6, clockwise from top left:
Leona Stark, 4, has a unicorn painted on her face by Simone Germaine. More photos on our FB page Wed.: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger.
Reptile Shows of New England brought some "guests".
Arabella Hevy of Killingly got a duck at the Pluck-a-Duck booth.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — International Day April 20 was a great success, according to organizers.
The event, offered by the Putnam Business Association and the Town of Putnam, is designed to encourage visitors and residents to visit Putnam businesses.
Anne Miller of TEEG, co-chair of the event, said the goal is to push people into businesses. A “Passport” system was implemented: visitors picked up a “passport” that was then stamped by each business they visited. Prizes were offered. Miller said when she was gathering passports at the end of the day she asked people where they had visited and many said they had visited a new place.
Miller serves with co-chair Melissa Cozza of The Broken Crust. They are in their second year as chairs.
Willie Bousquet, director of the town’s Park and Recreation Department, said he thought the event went well this year.
Reptile Shows of New England was a big draw, Miller said.
Also popular was the half-hour bus tour of the downtown area conducted by the Aspinock Historical Society.
“We wanted to highlight businesses and get people in to see what we have here,” Miller said. “It was pretty busy.”
.
Trash:
Nothing
changes
until May 1
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Casella Waste Inc. said April 17 that there have been a “couple hiccups” in the changeover to the town’s new trash program, a frustrating one with the app moving trash pickup days to this week.
Casella’s Marc Morgan, Strategic Account Manager, Municipal Services, said the schedule in the app was not supposed to change until May 1.
“Nothing changes until May 1,” he said.
Understandably, with any new program, there are hiccups and glitches that need to be ironed out.
The company managing the Casella app knows about the “too early” problem and is fixing it. Morgan anticipated it will be fixed by the end of last week.
There was even confusion with the folks at the other end of the phone number for service: 860-423-4527. It will all get ironed out, Morgan said.
In the meantime, “nothing changes until May 1”.
A particular app “hiccup” is a Friday schedule.
Morgan said that currently the collection schedule in Putnam is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
In an effort to keep Fridays clear for schedule changes due to holidays/weather, the schedule will change, May 1, to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This way, if an additional day is needed for pickups, due to holidays or weather, it would be on Friday, not Saturday as it is now. Recycling pickup will be every other week.
The customers who ordinarily have trash picked up on Friday will see their pick-up day moved to Wednesday or Thursday. Check the app later.
“There are a couple hiccups,” Morgan said. “These are huge changes, big changes and we recognize that.” All will be corrected by May 1.
In the meantime, nothing changes until May 1.
Waste Support Systems distributed approximately 5,000 trash and recycle carts (they are carts, not bins) last week.
Morgan, asked what people should do if they didn’t get their cart, etc., suggested using the functional email button on the app to connect with Casella for answers. The service phone number is 860-423-4527.
Cart Details
Same ole. Same ole trash routine until May 1. Put your trash in a bag, put a sticker on the bag and put the bag in your usual trash can.
Nothing changes until May 1.
After May 1, Casella will be using automated side arm trash trucks to pick up Casella trash carts and recycle carts. Therefore there will be no pickups of trash or recycle for residents not in the new program, nor for trash in a bag with a sticker on it placed on the ground.
The stickers will no longer be used after June 30. Town officials said there is no “definitive date yet”, but they anticipate the town will probably stop selling stickers to the vendors June 1.
Cart Placement:
Carts should be placed on a flat surface at least 3 feet apart, with the front facing the road. For the arm to swing the trash can to the top of the truck there should be 10 to 12 feet of clearance from tree branches, etc. Morgan said many people put the trash cart on one side of the driveway and the recycle cart on the other side of the driveway. The carts should be clear of snow, landscaping, mail boxes and utility poles.
The carts delivered this week have a serial number printed on them and an RFID tag. The trash truck driver will have a tablet that shows his stops. If the wrong cart or too many carts are out — not in line with what the tablet says — the driver will notify dispatch and a cart crew will be sent out.
What About the Trash Workers?
Casella is switching to automated side arm trucks for trash pickup. There will be no more workers hanging off the back of the trucks. Asked what will happen to all those workers, Morgan said “No one is losing their job. They will shift to other duties or other locations.”
What About Bulky Waste?
Bulky waste had been handled with stickers for decades. You put a sticker on a bed frame and put it out for collection, said Highway Superintendent Travis Sirrine.
Beginning May 1 bulky waste will no longer be picked up curbside. The town’s Bulky Waste Collection will be May 18 at the Putnam Armory; and Aug. 17and Oct. 26 at the Putnam Middle School. No charge — you just need to show residency. Sirrine had said in January the town is looking into a transfer station that would take all waste except household garbage, but that’s sometime, perhaps, in the future. He said he has advised folks with some types of waste (he gave the example of chunks of drywall) to call the towns of Brooklyn, Killingly or Woodstock to inquire about using their transfer station. Ask if a temporary permit is possible.
Morgan’s advice to residents is “just take a deep breath. It’s all centered on May 1.” Nothing changes until May 1.
.
Roundup
Centaurs
finally play a
home game
and post win
It certainly took a while.
The Woodstock Academy baseball team had to wait until the sixth game of the season to finally get on friendly turf at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
“It was amazing,” said coach Connor Elliott. “(The team) put a lot of work into it this spring and the maintenance department has done a great job working on it. It’s been a battle with the elements and, finally, the field is awesome.”
Fortunately, the Centaurs got to play on it early in the week.
That’s because Spring Break week was typical of spring, some warmth and sunshine and some cold, raw and wet.
The Centaurs took advantage of the sun and warmth to post an 11-4 win over Ellis Tech.
“You learn to appreciate those days because we don’t know how many times we’re going to get them,” Elliott said with a laugh.
Then they got to sit for the rest of the week as their game with East Lyme on Thursday was postponed by rain and their game with Norwich Free Academy on Saturday had to be pushed back because the fields in Norwich were unplayable on Saturday.
Woodstock (5-1) jumped into the lead against the Eagles with five runs crossing the plate in the first inning.
Maxx Corradi drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first inning and was doubled home by Eric Mathewson.
Mathewson advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a Riley O’Brien single to make it 2-0 but the Centaurs were not done yet.
A walk and a hit batter loaded the bases and Noah Sampson knocked in two with a hard ground ball that resulted in an error.
After a couple of stolen bases, the Centaurs had 14 in the game, a Tanner Graham ground out pushed another run across for the Centaurs.
And then, they rested.
“We had a good first inning and then, we just let (Ellis Tech) back in the game. It’s something we’ve been fighting early on this year. It’s a lesson we learned against Coventry. We’ve done a good job of getting ahead but we need to continue to grow the lead which we did eventually. We just don’t want it to get to 5-4, like it did, when it was 5-0,” Elliott said.
The Eagles pulled close in the third against Woodstock ace Brady Ericson who did not have a Brady Ericson outing.
He gave up two singles and a walk to Ellis Tech and then a pair of bases-loaded walks pushed the first two runs across. A ground out allowed the third run to score before Ericson got out of trouble.
He only pitched three innings, however.
“He had a lot of pitches in that third inning and had a little arm tightness which kind of altered his mechanics a bit and he struggled to find himself. But he got through the third inning and I can’t say enough good things about Bradley Blair coming in. He has come on in two big spots this year and he’s two-for-two. I’m definitely developing a lot of trust in him and when he pounds the zone, he has really good stuff,” Elliott said.
Blair would allow a run in the fourth as Ellis Tech cut the Centaurs advantage to a slim one run but Woodstock got one back in the bottom of the inning.
Corradi and Mathewson singled to lead off the inning with both advancing on a stolen base and Corradi scored on a passed ball to make it 6-4.
The Centaurs took over in the fifth when three walks loaded the bases and Mathewson followed with his second double of the game to clear the bases.
The senior second baseman finished four-for-five at the plate with four runs driven in.
“Maybe because it’s because I’m just so into the game, I don’t want to say it was a quiet four-for-five for him but he just swung it the way we kind of expected him to. Maybe that’s a little unfair, but it’s the type of player he is and the kind of young man he is. We go as he goes,” Elliott said.
No one else had more than one hit in the game for the Centaurs.
Now comes the fun part. The rain meant an easy spring break week.
It will not be the same story for the coming week provided the weather cooperates.
The Centaurs are now scheduled to play ECC Div. I foes East Lyme and Waterford on Monday and Tuesday, both at home. They host another Div. I opponent, Fitch, on Thursday before traveling on Saturday the 27th to play at Stonington.
“We’re going to need all of our pitching to be ready. That’s three games in four days and four games in six days. Hopefully, if the weather holds, there will be a lot more playing than practicing. We’re going to need everyone once these games start rolling,” Elliott said.
Track
Junior Christian Menounos owns another Woodstock school record.
He and fellow junior Colton Sallum competed in the Connecticut Distance Festival Friday.
Menounos finished 19th out of 340 competitors in the mile, crossing the line in 4 minutes, 29.6 seconds to break the old record held since 2005 by Kevin Graham.
Sallum placed 43rd in 4:36.
On Saturday, the boys’ and girls’ track teams braved the rain to compete in the Patriot Games in Coventry where another Woodstock Academy school record fell.
The quartet of Olivia Tracy, Juliet Allard, Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain and Julia Coyle finished in 13 minutes, 31.78 seconds to set a new Centaur standard in the Distance Medley Relay. The time was also good enough for third overall at the event.
Allard also placed first in the 100-meter competition in 13.22 seconds while Lilly Morgis was best in the field in the discus where she finished just a couple of feet short for qualifying for Nationals with a throw of 104-feet, 4-inches.
Avery Plouffe finished third in the hammer with a throw of 96-8, good enough to qualify for state competition and Menounos was second in the 400-meter in 52.54 seconds.
Boys’ Lacrosse
Things started well for the boys’ lacrosse team on Thursday. They didn’t end that way.
The Centaurs, playing in their only match of the Spring Break week, lost to the Fitch Falcons in Groton, 15-4.
The loss dropped Woodstock back to the .500 mark at 3-3. The Centaurs, 0-3, are still looking for their first ECC Div. I victory.
Henry Wotton tied the game early in the first quarter for the Centaurs and Gunnar Basak put them ahead, 2-1.
The Falcons (5-1, 2-1) went ahead, however, by the end of the first quarter, 3-2, and scored all five of the second quarter goals to own an 8-2 halftime advantage.
Jared Neilsen had his 17th goal early in the third quarter to give the Centaurs a glimmer of hope.
It was quickly snuffed out by the host team as Fitch scored four unanswered goals in the remainder of the quarter.
The Falcons added three more tallies in the fourth before Basak scored his second goal of the match, and 14th of the season, to account for the final.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The girls’ lacrosse team continues to work.
They just aren’t getting much in the way of reward.
The Centaurs lost a pair of matches on the road to ECC foes during Spring Break week.
Woodstock traveled to Norwich for a game against Norwich Free Academy, but came back on the short end of a 19-1 score.
Kaelyn Tremblay had the only goal for the Centaurs.
“Our defense held strong, but just couldn’t hold them for four quarters,” said coach Heather Miller. The score may not show it but the girls worked really hard and never gave up.”
Miller said the effort was also there in a game against Ledyard.
The Centaurs came up short there as well, 16-2, to the Colonels.
Abby Converse and Caroline Harris scored for Woodstock while Abby Houle had 13 saves in goal.
Girls’ Tennis
Woodstock took three of the four singles matches against the Windham-Windham Tech co-op but spring break absences took their toll and the Whippets posted the 4-3 victory.
The loss was the first of the season for the Centaurs in three matches.
Gianna Musumeci, filling in at first singles, took a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tiffany Tellez to get Woodstock off on the right foot against the co-op team in a match played on a neutral court in Killingly.
Kerrigan Reynolds played well at second singles but lost a 6-1, 7-5 decision to Idalia Lopez.
The Centaurs rallied at third and fourth singles with Margaux Reck posting a 6-4, 7-6 win over Naisha Rios and Katherine Trudeau downed Karla Alegron 7-5, 6-2.
The Whippets pulled out the victory by sweeping the three doubles matches, two out of the three matches went the three-set difference.
Kate McArthur and Delilah Kesselman fell 7-6 (12-2), 6-0 at first doubles.
Maeve Lusignan and Madilyn Ead were nipped 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 at second doubles and the third doubles duo of Abby Budd and Linaea Barlow won the first set, 6-4, but lost the next two by the same score.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
6505- Brady Ericson throws against Ellis Tech.
6684- Second baseman Eric Mathewson makes the diving grab of a pop up in front of sliding teammate Matt Hernandez, the rightfielder. First baseman Riley O’Brien (15) looks on for the Centaurs.
6695 – Shortstop Maxx Corradi legs out a hit for the Centaurs against Ellis Tech. Photos by Gavin Grant/Woodstock Academy.
..