Legal Notice
Public Hearing Notice
Town of Pomfret
Planning and
Zoning Commission

The Pomfret Planning & Zoning Commission will hold the following Public Hearings at its meeting on December 18, 2024, starting at 7:00 PM.

1. Jason Allard, 12 Putnam Road, special permit for mixed use; residential on second floor, business on the first floor, and addition of office in barn.

Town of Pomfret
Dated 25th day 
of November 2024

Lynn L. Krajewski, 
Clerk
Planning & Zoning Commission

Dec. 11, 2024

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Because I Had To   …   Temperature?
This time of year, I am not sure if it is better for my health to sit in a cooler room or a warmer one. This is an easier question to answer when I am in the car. I think of the car as an extension of outside, of sorts. If it is hot outside, I like to keep my air conditioning on the warm side. If it is cold outside, I prefer to keep the car heat on the low side. This helps keep me comfortable while I drive as I, typically, dress for the temperature outside. If the temperature outside is such that a T-shirt and shorts keep me comfortable, then why would I want to fabricate a temperature that necessitates a sweater? Likewise, if I need a heavy sweater, hat and gloves to retrieve the mail, why would I create an inside temperature that makes me sweat with my extra layers? In my rather short-term past, these questions feel slightly rhetorical. But in my immediate past (as in yesterday), these questions are starting to feel a bit more significant.
Of course, being the innate researcher that I am, I googled this question on the internet. Consensus concludes that an ideal inside temperature for your health when it is cold outside is 68 degrees. Sleeping temperatures should be somewhere between 62 and 66 degrees with an emphasis placed on the lower end of the range. Conversely, the recommended cooling temperature for a house, and in turn my health, in the warmer months is 78 degrees. In considering this information, I can attest that these are the guidelines I have been following for most of my adult, home-owning, life. And although I find myself more willing to keep my a/c thermostat set at 79 degrees in the warm summers, I am finding it harder to adhere to the 68 degrees in the winter. The truth is, I feel cold.  
As the temperature has quite quickly plummeted recently, I am finding that 68 degrees for an inside temperature feels too cold. I am preferring 70 degrees. In the past, I would simply throw on a heavier sweater and enjoy the slightly cool air. I was warm but I could breathe easy, and I felt like the slightly cooler temperature was better for my health. Now, my nose feels cool at 68 and I wonder if this will lead to a cold. I am questioning, has my external thermostat changed or, perhaps, my internal one? Which temperature is, indeed, better for my health?
There is no doubt that the change is me. Even my hot flashes have diminished significantly over this past year… My house temperature preference seems to be, just like everything else in life, mirroring the cyclic changes that are associated with my age. And now, I like it a wee bit warmer. I know that I am not old. But I am also not young, either. I am somewhere in the middle. And so, when I feel a bit chilly, I won’t worry and will simply press a button. Oh, if it were all that simple…
Up? Down? 
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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1st History Makers awards given
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Quiet as a mouse in the background? No more.
Last week the Aspinock Historical Society stepped into the spotlight and recognized its first two History Makers. The annual award is made to a “resident or non-resident of Putnam, living or deceased, who has made or is still making honorable and positive impact through works, deeds and service in Putnam and/or globally with ties to Putnam.”
The inaugural awards went to Tom Borner and the late Fred Hedenberg. 
John Miller, MC of the event and president of the society, said the honors went to one past and one present History Maker helping the society preserve Putnam’s history “whether in the spotlight or done quietly behind the scenes.”
Town historian Bill Pearsall said he would attend the Putnam Business Association meetings and report on what was happening with the society. “And it seemed within a couple weeks, there’s Tom with a check.” 
Borner’s Putnam Area Foundation has helped the society with many donations. Miller said in addition to the help to the society, Borner was a member of the Putnam Area Industrial Corporation which was formed in the wake of the Flood of 1955. Miller added “His love for his community is rivaled only by the love for his family.”
In accepting the award, Borner said he was “humbled and touched” by the recognition. He came to Putnam 45 years ago, began working as an attorney and his business grew. “I have been thankful of all the support Putnam has given me throughout the years.”
He added: “I have done my best over the years to collaborate with community members, supporting the town of Putnam for one simple reason and that is that I love the town of Putnam.” He said he’s proud to see what’s next for the community.
To that end, Borner announced a $10,000 PAF donation to the society in honor of Fred Hedenberg. He said it could go toward the boxcar projects or to the Cady Copp Cottage project. Miller said later that the society would discuss where it should go but he was leaning toward it going to the Cady Copp Cottage project. 
The Spirol Foundation is making a “substantial” grant to the boxcar museum for the construction of a pavilion near the boxcar. Miller said later that foundation has already given $5,000. The total cost of the Frederick C. Hedenberg Boxcar Pavilion/donation “has yet to be determined.” The pavilion is needed to expand the teaching capacity of the museum. “Because not too many fit inside the boxcar,” Miller said. Since it opened in 2004 there have been 10,871 visitors from around the world. The boxcar was closed in 2019, 2020 and 2021 for COVID and for renovations.
Miller said Hedenberg was involved in many organizations from Hospice to the Cub Scouts to soccer coaching to being a selectman. He was one of the catalysts who pressed the “go” button on the Aspinock Historical Society. Hedenberg procured the boxcar that became the Gertrude Warner boxcar museum. Miller said “That started with the vision of Fred.” He also started the town on the long road to transforming the Cady Copp Cottage in East Putnam into an educational facility. 
Pat Hedenberg, Fred’s wife, spoke about the “content” of Fred. There were all the public things, like working in radio and being in politics, she said, but there were also the little known sides of him. He was a self-taught artist and was a writer. He loved tennis. He coached soccer and would take the kids out for ice cream, whether they won or lost. What was most important was good sportsmanship. “And I really think it was the ice cream that helped,” she said. 
He really believed, she said, that with the Cady Copp and Boxcar “that maybe he could help in some small way.”
Mayor Barney Seney said the citizens of Putnam “took it upon themselves to protect our history of Putnam.”
Librarian Nicole Nichols spoke about the collaboration between the free programs at the library and the society. “As a member of both the Aspinock Historical Society and Gertrude C. Warner Boxcar Children’s Museum Committee, it is my pleasure and a top priority of the library to support local historians and authors through public programs.” The collaboration helps preserve Putnam’s history.

caption, page 3:

Award Winners
Above: The family of the late Fred Hedenberg. Left: The family of Thomas Borner. Additional photos Wed. night on our FB page: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger. Linda Lemmon photos.