The Mayotte-Viens American Legion Post #13 of Putnam will once again remember Veterans Day by recognizing three local U.S. Army veterans at its annual “Veterans Tribute and Celebrity Bartender Night” Nov. 9 at The Black Dog Bar and Grille in Putnam. The evening’s events begin at 5 p.m. with the special veterans’ tribute taking place about 7.
The honorees this year are WWII Army paratrooper Victor Lippiello of Putnam, Korean war Army vet Paul Martell Sr. also a Putnam resident, and Tom Pandolfi of Woodstock, a Green Beret who served during the Vietnam war.
According to Post #13 Commander Ronald P. Coderre, the evening begins at 5 when three presidents of the Putnam Business Association, Matt Desaulnier, Jeff Rawson and Earl Rosebrooks join with local radio celebrity Gary “O” of WINY for the first hour behind the bar.. They will be joined by former Connecticut Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Sean Connolly, who is making a guest appearance.
The group will be followed by Putnam Bank President Tom Borner, Craig Gates owner of The Black Dog, Sarah Bentley of Body by Design and Chuck Bentley of Woodstock. From 7 to 8 group greeting friends behind the bar includes local music and stage stars Linda Colangelo and Laura Crosetti who’ll be joined by WTIC Television Channel 3 anchor Kevin Hogan and one of Connecticut’s top chefs James Martin of 85 Main. The final hour of the evening will see the husband/wife team of Mary Jane and Jack Burke of Killingly, Woodstock Academy Headmaster Chris Sandford and Sean Hendricks, Killingly town manager, serving libations.
“This promises to be a spectacular evening filled with spirit and emotion. It’s an honor to recognize our veterans every year. It’s recognition that’s long overdue,” said Coderre.
The evening will also include the singing of the National Anthem by U.S. Air Force veteran Maurice “Moe” Coderre, and God Bless the USA and a tribute to the five branches of the service by Linda Colangelo.
Lippiello was a paratrooper who made two jumps behind enemy lines in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1946 during WWII. During his time in the Army he made a total of 29 jumps. Martell served in what is often referred to as “America’s Forgotten War,” the Korean Conflict, from 1949 to 1952. He was a machine gunner in the 113th Ordnance Company. Pandolfi was one of the first American troops to set foot in southeast Asia as one of President Kennedy’s original 5,000 elite Green Berets. He entered the country as a military advisor to the people of Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, serving from 1961 to 1964.
There is no admission and the program is open to the public. The proceeds from the evening, which include tips for the bartenders, a super drawing and auction, benefit the Post #13 charity efforts and programs. The Post provides Americanism programs in the Putnam Elementary School, an oratorical contest in the high school, sponsors young men to Boys’ State, supports the TriTown American Legion Baseball Program, provides a scholarship to a high school senior and a veteran at Quinebaug Valley Community College and offers assistance during the holidays to a veterans family and the homeless veterans in Jewett City. The “Hometown Hero” banner project and the flags on the World War I Veterans Memorial Bridge are also part of the Post’s funding programs.
“Our Post is an integral part of the Putnam community. We accept our responsibility of being a good citizen and helping others. Or theme this year is, “Together for Veterans, Community and Country,” which we try to live every day,” said Coderre. In addition to Coderre, the committee includes Dee and Rick Carnahan, Alan and Jo-Anne Joslin, Brian Maynard, Michael Vassar, Victor Kratz, Donald Steinbrick, Eric Quinn.
Then
This is a steam engine and caboose on the spur track in front of Union Block and Chickering Hotel around 1890. The Union Block is at left and burned in 1966. Putnam Town Crier file photos.
& Now
This is the same area today.
Prescription
drug
collection
nets 120
pounds
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
The work continues in making the community safer from drugs, including prescription drugs.
Romeo Blackmar, coordinator of the Putnam PRIDE, called the 15th overall Prescription Drug Take Back event Oct. 28 a success.
"Anything that we can do to help stop the misuse of prescription medications is a plus for the entire community," he said. "Our efforts to collect unused, unwanted and expired medications has been tremendously successful, in that we are providing a public service to the community for safe disposal of possibly lethal medications.," he added.
It is the eighth fall version of the drug collection and took place at the Farmers Market parking lot.
He said that about 120 pounds were collected at this Take Back event. He added that even with lock boxes installed at most police stations and the State Police barracks, the Putnam collection never drops below 100 pounds.
The Putnam Police Department's lock box, located in the lobby of the police station on Church Street, is averaging 35 to 40 pounds every four to six weeks, according to Deputy Chief Lee Konicki. That works out to 400 to 500 pounds a year.
Blackmar said that once the drugs are collected they are brought to a central collection point by a member of the Statewide Drug Task Force ( a police officer from another local department who is assigned to work with the Task Force) and incinerated at the Lisbon Incinerator. The drugs collected at the lock box at the Putnam Police Department are also incinerated in Lisbon.
Since every State Police barracks and other local communities have put in Prescription Lock Boxes in their police departments, Blackmar said, the amounts collected have leveled off a bit for Putnam.
"We need to keep educating the public that proper disposal of unwanted medications can and does save lives," said Blackmar
Keeping home fires burning
POMFRET — The Windham County 4-H Foundation was recently awarded a $2,000 grant from the Last Green Valley’s small grants program for sharing and preserving our heritage. This award joins a $5,325 grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and the 1772 Foundation which we received in March of 2017.
These two grants allowed us to go forward with contracting repairs to the historic fireplace on the main floor of the lodge and to the chimney which were originally built in 1954 by famed local masons, the Wilcox brothers. The need for flue, ventilation and other repairs have prevented us in recent years from using the fireplaces for 4-H traditions that go back to the start of the camp program. Don Armstrong and his crew from Armstrong Chimney and Stoves company in Taftville, arrived on Oct. 16 to do the necessary repairs. They were completed around noon on the 20th, just in time to welcome 40 teens to the lodge later that afternoon.