Legal Notice

Town of Pomfret

Inland Wetlands

And Watercourses

Commission

The following application was approved by jurisdictional ruling:

 

1. Steve Gilman, 198 Covell Road, new home, septic, sewer, and minor grading.  Site plan is further away from wetlands than the IWWC permit granted November 3, 2016.

 

Town of Pomfret

Inland Wetlands and 

Watercourses Commission

Dated this 21st day of December 2016

 

Lynn L. Krajewski, 

Clerk

 

Dec. 28, 2016

 

 

By Ron P. Coderre

The long-awaited high school boys’ basketball season got underway last week with a flourish of games featuring all six local entries.

Although there’s no longer a Greyhound Park in Plainfield, the Plainfield High School Panthers broke from the gate as though they were chasing the “rabbit” or the more politically correct “bone.”  The Panthers of coach Bob Arremony enjoyed a perfect week, picking three wins in their first three games.

The Putnam Clippers were victorious in their only game, while Tourtellotte and Killingly were 1-1.  Woodstock lost its lone game to Killingly.  Ellis Tech, which went through the previous season without a win, appears ready to duplicate that dubious feat, losing its initial two games of the season.

Meanwhile, down in sunny Florida, the Putnam Science Academy Mustangs won 2-of-3 in the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers.  The bigger news coming out of Florida was about Hamidou Diallo.  

The rumors surrounding Diallo are running rampant and are being reported in Hartford, Norwich and beyond.  Speculation is that he may depart the Maple Street, Putnam campus and play for UConn beginning in January.  It’s also possible he may end up at Kentucky.  Or is it Arizona?  Or maybe Kansas?

Will the 6-foot, 5-inch much sought after guard forego college entirely, finish the year at PSA and enter the NBA draft?  Your guess is as good as mine.  As the rumors run rampant and speculation is coming from everywhere, Diallo is quietly showing up behind the UConn bench at the XL Center or headed off to visit one of the other schools.

Stay tuned.  Meanwhile the other student/athletes have games to play.

Plainfield Panthers Run Off 

with Three Opening Wins

Plainfield carried the momentum of its big football win on Thanksgiving Day over Griswold into the start of the basketball season by winning its first three games in convincing fashion.  The first Panther victim was their Turkey Day rival Griswold.  They posted a 10-point 56-46 victory over the Wolverines.

Marcus Robinson, the Plainfield quarterback who scored four touchdowns against Griswold on Thanksgiving, continued his mastery over the Wolverines with a 17-point performance, as he played every minute of the game in the win.  Plainfield also placed two other players in double figures.  Chris Peasley tossed in 14 big points and Markeith Conyers had 10.  Eli Malboeuf who was strong under the boards, chipped in eight points.

The Panthers then beat two teams from Windham.  They pulled off another 10-point win, beating Windham Tech 51-41 as Robinson led a balanced scoring attack again with 11 points as seven Panthers hit the scoring column.

Plainfield then turned the tables on the Windham Whippets 55-39.  The big guys, Malboeuf and Peasley, controlled the boards and led the scoring parade.  Malboeuf was game high scorer with 21 points, followed by Peasley with 13.  The Panthers are 3-0 and 2-0 in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.

Killingly opened the season at home, beating Woodstock Academy 40-39 in a come-from-behind victory.  Dommoy Ennis, with eight points and an equal number of rebounds, dropped in two free throws with less than a minute remaining for the difference in the contest.  Luke Desaulnier with a dozen and Shawn Johndrow with 11 points were in double digits for the Redmen.

Sam Majek paced the Centaurs, who led 25-20 at intermission, with 16 points.

Coach Jim Crabtree’s troops were next beaten by a good Stonington team 72-56.  Jared Gosper had 18 and Desaulnier 16 for the 1-1 Redmen.

Putnam opened its season with a close 52-50 Constitution State Conference –East win over Cheney Tech.  Putnam built up a seven-point halftime advantage and held on in the final 16 minutes for the two-point victory.  Lucas Basillio was Putnam’s leading scorer with 16 points while sophomore guard Sebastian Ramos contributed 13 points.

After dropping their opener 66-47 to Parish Hill, Tourtellotte rebounded with a 64-57 win over Wheeler on the road.  Jackson Padula with a game-high 26 points was the big reason for coach Neil Bernier’s team’s victory over the Lions.  Evan Ware and Simon Sylvia each tossed in a dozen points for the Tigers in the victory.

Against Parish Hill, Padula with 13 points was the lone Tiger in double figures.  Tourtellotte is 1-1 in the early going.

Ellis Tech was competitive in both of its losses, falling 55-48 to Achievement First and 49-45 to Vinal Tech.  Darius Deveny had 22 points in the loss to Achievement First and 17 against Vinal Tech.

  Brennan Young with 12 points was also in double digits for the 0-2 Golden Eagles.

Mustangs Fare Well in Sunshine State

Following a victory over St. Anthony’s of Texas in the City of Palm Classic, Putnam Science Academy split a pair of games in the Sunshine State.  Westtown of Pennsylvania came from behind to beat the Mustangs 55-52, handing PSA its third loss of the season.  

The Scientists led 27-22 in the low scoring affair as they let victory slip away.  Diallo with 21 points and Eric Ayala with 13 were in double figures for coach Tom Espinosa’s charges.

Putnam Science Academy, ranked 4th nationally in the latest poll, rebounded with a 77-62 victory over a very good IMG Academy of Florida team.  Three Mustangs were in double figures, led by Ayala with 20 markers.  He was joined in double digits by Jaheam Cornwall with 14 and Parisian Alexis Yetna with 13.  

The Mustangs are 13-3 on the year.  They return to action on Saturday, Jan. 7 against Lee Academy in the Hoops Dreams Magazine Classic in Boston.

 

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By Ron P. Coderre

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 38 years.  It all started with an innocent telephone call in November 1978 from the Evans family, the owners of the Windham County Observer - Putnam Patriot.  Of course, if you haven’t figured it out I’m referring to how I got started with my avocation as a sports writer.

“Can you do a preview of the Killingly – Putnam football game?” was the question.  Once the preview hit the presses it was a natural to do a game story.  Prowling the sidelines at Murphy Park (prior to the building of the St. Marie-Greenhalgh Sports Complex) opened the door.  People automatically assumed it was appropriate to feed me sports stories, which were gladly turned into local sports news highlighting local folks and young athletes.

The pay was outstanding, gratis for months before being offered $5 per week.  New owners came along that included more pages in the paper and more sports.  Then one day the phone rang.  It was the late Don Bond the longtime Norwich Bulletin ace reporter who was doubling as the editor of the Journal Transcript in Danielson, which had recently been purchased by Norwich.  And so we moved on to the Transcript.

Suddenly one day out of the blue an editor in the Rose City read the Journal Transcript, an unusual event, and another call came.  “Your column should be in the Norwich Bulletin.”

“Oh really?  That’s fine with me.”

So it was Ramblings, Points and Comments hit the big time, the Sunday Norwich Bulletin.  Wow! 

Writing about people and events from the Massachusetts line to the shoreline of Groton-New London, greater New England and everywhere the news came from, opened the door to expanding our offerings.  We were even rewarded with some carrots, covering and reporting on local high school football games.  It was a great gig for a guy who was working more than 60 hours a week as the vice president of philanthropy and marketing at the local hospital.  It certainly helped to fill the empty hours in the schedule.

The response to Ramblings, Points and Comments was overwhelming with calls and leads coming from everywhere.  That is until my good friend Doc Cody came along.  Doc and I are really close.  I love the guy.  He’s like a brother to me.

Let me explain, Doc Cody’s a great guy, a very close associate of mine, a soul mate if you would.  Like me, he enjoyed writing about local schoolboy and girl athletes and the athletes of the past, the hasbeens who deserved having their name in the paper for their previous exploits on the fields, gridiron and courts of eastern Connecticut.  You remember, “From the Where Are They Files,” and a “Tip of the Sports Fedora.”

An anonymous caller to the Bulletin office said that RPC was plagiarizing Doc’s material and RPC’s column in the Sunday Bulletin ended. 

Writing sports and the column in the Putnam Town Crier was a labor of love. 

Since 1978 until today RPC, where ever it’s appeared, Putnam, Danielson or Norwich, has never missed a week.  Like the proverbial mail carrier, “neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow,” vacations or emergencies has stopped RPC from coming out in print every week.  

Call it dedication or call it guilt or maybe it’s just not wanting to disappoint the readers.  Whatever it is, every week for 38 years, it’s been there.  An obsession.

But don’t get me wrong, this planned hiatus is long overdue.  Sitting down at the keyboard, burning the midnight oil, or writing while wiping the sandman from the eyes in the early morning hours, meeting the weekly deadline has been a driving force.  It’s also been an obsession that I guess has to dissolve at some point in time.  And it appears that the time is now.

Yes, there will be a gap in my time.  I know I’ll miss writing.  Covering the little guy with the RPC’s sporty shoutout, to the guys in the “big leagues, all have received equal billing from RPC.  If it vaguely relates to sports, whether it be the Elks pitch league, a polo match in Rhode Island, a trip to Marco Island and fishing — which is a sport I don’t understand — to talking to Little Leaguers, it’s found its way into RPC.  Extended sports news fit for print, has always found its way into Ramblings, Points and Comments.  That was our motto.

It’s been great to write about the big boys I’ve met through this avocation.  Telling stories about Rico Petrocelli, coach Jim Calhoun, Roger LaFrancois, the late Johnny Pesky and Walt Dropo, WTIC newsman Kevin Hogan, Olympian Butch Johnson, Pete Walker, The Spaceman Bill Lee, coach Tom Moore and many others has been a most enjoyable labor of love.

We’ve taken time to memorialize individuals, going beyond the words in the person’s obituary.  Telling the story behind the person.  Giving them their final due before the final repose of their souls. 

It’s been my wish and desire to accommodate anyone and everyone who has requested space in RPC.  It’s been done more for the little guy than the big guy.  Receiving the occasional email, handwritten note, the whispered complimentary comment or the reference to something that’s in print, has been worth much more than the millions of dollars (sic) we’ve accumulated over the 38 years.  

And by the way, I’ve never stopped to calculate how many millions of words have gone from the keyboard to the presses from RPC.  That could be a contest for another day with the money going to a local non-profit, an area we’ve always supported.        

It’s been fun.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.  It’s with heavy heart and heavy fingers that we pound out these last few words.  It’s like breaking up with your longtime girl friend.  You always wonder if it’s the right thing to do but you simply move on.

As Gen. Douglas MacArthur is attributed as saying, “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”  I guess I can say, “Old sports columnists never stop writing; they just push away from the keyboard.”

I’ll close with a quote from a former college friend who’s been reading the column online from Florida, Baltimore and most recently from Kingsmill, Va. — “Your final column will be sad for me.  A passage in life.  Ron —— you are the Jimmy Stewart of Putnam —— the Mr. Potter if you will and he is going away.  I don’t look forward to reading your final column.  It was a fixture in my life.  I probably know the names of more people in the Putnam area than here in Kingsmill.  May the wind be always at your back, my man….”

May other readers feel as deeply of RPC as my college friend does.  Good bye. Adios.  Adieu.  Ciao. Addio.  Adeus.  Aloha.  Arrivederci.  Auf Wiedersehen.  Au Revoir.  Bon Voyage.  Sayonara.  Shalom.  Vale. Totsiens.  Zaijian.  Love. Peace.

RPC’s Final Thought For The Day: “You’ll find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”  Henry Drummond .

 

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