Taft bridge replacement starts April 1
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — Most of the prep work is finished and the first of three bridge projects, the Taft Pond Road Bridge, will get underway April 1.
According to the contract, NJR Construction LLC of Torrington has 244 days to complete the work. First Selectman Maureen Nicholson said if they hit that number, the bridge will be finished before winter.
Much of the prep work is finished; however, she said a biologist will check for any signs of fresh water white mussels. She said it’s unlikely any of those mussels are this far north but a biologist will check.
Around April 1 the road will be closed and there will be a 6-mile detour.
The state Department of Transportation declared that bridge “in poor condition” and ordered it replaced. Scour is a critical problem around the bridge abutments. Scour results when vicious storm water washes away some of the soil at the base of the bridge supports.
Prep work has involved the removal of dozens of trees on both sides of Taft Pond Road. The clearing is required because the road and the bridge are being raised slightly and the bridge will be slightly wider and longer. This will allow solid abutments to be tied into bedrock — no longer victim to scour.
“Major storms had eroded the support behind the abutments,” she said.
The bridge crosses Nightingale Brook. The wetlands have already been delineated.
A few years ago, the state stopped doing inspections on bridges shorter than 20 feet and ordered the towns to have them inspected. The new bridge will be slightly longer than 20 feet. The Danco bridge in Putnam is also being replaced (also by NJR Construction) and that new bridge is also being lengthened 20 feet plus.
Nicholson said the Bosworth Road Bridge will be done in 2027 and the Day Road Bridge will be done in 2028. All the bridge projects are 100 percent covered, 80 percent by federal funds and 20 percent in state funds. Originally the total grant coverage was 80 percent, she said, but towns could not afford the 20 percent so the grant formula was changed.
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Sidewalk funds nearly in hand
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Now we wait for the state Bond Commission to officially award the town’s $1,579,791 for the renovation of the sidewalks between Grove and South Main streets.
Last week town was notified that the project’s state funding was approved. The Bond Commission meetings are usually held once a month. Should the grant be officially OK’d soon Economic and Community Development Director Mary Ann Chinatti said the town hopes to put the project out to bid in June and award the project in the fall. That would mean starting construction in the spring. She believes it would be a one-construction season project.
The grant comes from the state Department of Economic and Community Development. The town submitted its request in December.
The total cost of the project is $1,610,403. The balance of $30,612 would be the town’s share, surveys and plans. Those were done by the engineer on the NECCOG staff. Towns contribute each year for the regional services.
Plans call for a complete replacement of the sidewalks on seven streets between Grove and South Main streets: Bradley, Center, Chapman, Fremont, King, Pleasant and Seward streets.
The project will involve removing concrete and bituminous sidewalks. There will be 5-foot wide sidewalks poured with curbs, plus sidewalk ramps, catch basin top replacements, patching driveways, warning strips, topsoil and turf, resetting mail boxes and more.
“This is such a great project,” Chinatti said. “This will greatly enhance foot traffic and address so many issues.”
Sidewalks are dangerously cracked and heaved and there are areas where there are no sidewalks, so safety is an issue. When the roadsides are filled with snow banks, residents end up walking on the street.
Chinatti said the town debated between this sidewalk project and sidewalks for Pomfret Street. This Grove-South Main project was chosen because “more people will use these sidewalks than Pomfret Street. Pomfret Street is on this list but this took priority.”
These new safe sidewalks connect to the new sidewalks on Grove and South Main. That allows a short safe walk to downtown and the Municipal Complex and everything in between.
The town is also putting together a proposal for sidewalks to extend from South Main down Rt. 44 toward Walmart.
Safety is a priority.
And so is walkability — it builds a healthier, tighter, friendlier community.
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Hometown Heroes
Petty Officer 3rd Class Alfred Bonosconi, U.S. Navy
By Michael Rocchetti
By the end of 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was running out of fuel to operate their ships, and decided to convert one of their older battleships, the IJNS Nagato, into a floating anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) platform. The IJNS Nagato was assigned to coastal AAA defense duties. In the closing weeks of the war, the Nagato was attacked on July 18, 1945, as part of the American campaign to destroy Japan’s last remaining capital ships. Alfred Bonosconi served on this mission. He was a radio operator and gunner (the backseater) on a Curtis Helldiver SB2C dive bomber, from Bombing Squadron VB-85, the “Sky Pirates” attached to the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La CV-38. During this mission, Alfred Bonosconi was mortally wounded after being hit by shrapnel from antiaircraft artillery fire. His plane made it back to the carrier, but it was too late - he bled to death in the cockpit on the way back to the carrier.
He was born in Putnam on Jan. 19, 1924, the son of Paul and Blanche Bonosconi. He was buried at sea. He is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Court 5, at the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii. The following article was published in the Windham County Observer on Aug. 8, 1945:
“Alfred Bonosconi In Supreme Sacrifice In Pacific Area: Alfred Paul Bonosconi, 21, ARM3/c, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bonosconi of 6 Middle Street, was killed while serving in the Navy with units operating in the Pacific combat area, according to a telegram received by his parents from the Navy Department in Washington. Details concerning the circumstances surrounding his supreme sacrifice have not as yet been received locally. He was a graduate of St. Mary’s School in the Class of 1937. A native of Putnam, where he was born Jan. 19, 1924, he had lived here all of his life until he joined the Navy two and a half years ago. He was assigned on a dive bomber operating from a Navy carrier. In addition to his parents, he is survived by a sister, Rita, and a brother, Paul A. Bonosconi, both of Putnam.
Hometown Heroes books can be purchased online at: https://hometown-heroes-of-the-quiet-corner.myshopify.com/ - all proceeds benefit the local American Legion Post. Hometown Heroes is a series published in the Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger with this mission: We owe it to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines to make sure that they are never forgotten, and that the memory of their service and sacrifice will forever live on in the hearts and minds of the grateful people of Putnam.
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Centaurs U19 capture
NEFC Showcase championship
One of the first tests of the spring for the Woodstock Academy prep soccer team resulted in a better than passing grade.
The Centaurs Prep 1 U19 team captured all three of its matches, all by the same 5-0 score, in the New England Football Club Showcase event over the weekend.
The Centaurs won the tournament March 15 with a solid victory over the host NEFC South club.
Arthur Masson picked up a pair of goals in the victory while Mack Gallagher, Leo Chu and Reed Pickett also scored for the Centaurs.
Nico Ochoa contributed two assists in the win with Alex Tevez, Richard Sarpong, and Ozzie Pearman getting one apiece.
The Centaurs opened the tournament against another Eastern Connecticut-based program, St. Thomas More Friday, and rolled to a similar shutout victory in that match.
Pickett had a pair of goals for the Centaurs. Ochoa and Jaehee Kim each had a pair of assists and Masson had a goal and an assist in the win. Jeongbin Lee also scored for the Centaurs.
In between those two matches, Woodstock produced a 5-0 victory over the Upstate Elite Soccer Academy March 14.
Five players scored for the Centaurs with Obama Ngarambe, Lee, Sarpong, Tevez and Alexavier Gooden putting the ball into the net. Ngarambe, Ochoa and Jack Buyers added assists.
Prep 2 soccer
The Prep 2 U17 soccer team also produced three wins, two of those coming on the same day, but finished second in the tournament standings due to goal differential.
Like the U19 team. The Centaurs also pitched three shutouts in the NEFC Spring Showcase event.
The Centaurs opened on Saturday morning with Luca Passinha scoring twice and Alfredo Tiffon adding another in a 3-0 victory over IFA MLS Next. Tom Arnado, Deari Trott and Desmond Naawu had the assists in the contest.
Then the Centaurs were back on the field. Tiffon and Haesung Kim scored in the nightcap as the Centaurs blanked NEFC 2-0. Mateo Alonso had an assist in that contest.
To make matters a little more interesting, the U17 team had to take to the field again at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning and still produced another win.
Jorge Castellanos and Passinha scored in a 2-0 win over the Western New York Flash and the Centaurs went home undefeated.
Indoor Track
The indoor track season officially came to an end over the weekend with individuals competing in both New York City and Boston.
Two school records fell in the process.
Senior Emma Weitknecht bettered a Woodstock record by .41 seconds March 14y in the 60m hurdles final at the New Balance Nationals in Boston. Her 9.25 second finish was good for 97th overall in the competition.
March 13 freshman Emme Langevin placed 53rd overall in the freshman mile race at the New Balance Nationals in 5 minutes, 20.3 seconds which bettered a school record already held by Langevin by four seconds.
Avery Plouffe competed in both Boston and New York for the Centaurs.
The senior threw 38-feet, 7-inches at the Nike Nationals in New York March 13, good for 28th place. She followed that up with a 36-5 ¾ throw March 15 in Boston which netted her a 33rd place finish.
Max Ellenberg finished 11th in the Emerging Elite Division in the weight throw at the Nike Nationals March 15.
Eli Manning placed 16th in the Emerging Elite Division March 14 in New York with a 48-11 ¾ throw in the shotput competition.
Abraham McGregor competed on Friday in New York and placed 29th in the long jump, clearing 20-feet, 2 ½ inches.
Girls’ Basketball
Season Comes to an End
The goal was, obviously, a return to the Mohegan Sun to play in a CIAC Div. II state championship girls’ basketball team.
Unfortunately, only two teams get that honor.
Seventh-seeded Woodstock was denied the return trip by the No. 10 Bristol Central Rams March 10 as the visitors posted a 59-41 victory over the Centaurs in a second-round state tournament game.
Woodstock saw its season come to a close with a 19-6 overall record.
“We reached a couple of our goals, got to Mohegan Sun (for the ECC Div. 1 tournament championship game), didn’t end how we wanted but we still got there and that was important,” said Centaur senior Vivian Bibeau. “We wished we could have gone further (in the state tournament) but we accomplished a lot.”
The Centaurs knew the Rams (19-5) were going to be difficult but, having not seen nor played them in the recent past, it’s never easy to prepare for everything.
The Rams imposed their will on the Centaurs with a stifling 2-3 zone defense that dared the Centaurs to either shoot over the top of or try and penetrate.
Neither went well for the home team.
“They’re a good team,” said senior Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain. “That was a good zone. We haven’t played a zone in a while. They deserved the win (Tuesday), they were the better team (Tuesday).”
The Rams didn’t come out in a zone but quickly reverted to it when the Centaurs got six points from D’Alleva-Bochain and bolted to an 11-4 lead by the end of the first eight minutes.
But that is where the fun came to an end.
Bristol Central pulled back into the zone defensively in the second quarter and went from a 1-for-7 performance from the field in the first quarter to an 8-for-13 in the second, reeling off 16 straight points, to take a 22-14 lead at the half.
The Centaurs were only 1-for-8 from the field in the second quarter and made only one of 15 in the third.
“We couldn’t hit one and we weren’t taking a lot. It happens. Sometimes, shots don’t fall,” D’Alleva-Bochain said.
The Rams had little trouble finding the basket in the third quarter as they made nine two-point baskets, several coming on fast-break layups off outlet passes where Bristol Central was able to throw over the top of the Woodstock press.
The result was a 40-22 lead at the end of the third quarter.
“They were long and lanky and we were not able to get much. It was good when we got it inside; we just didn’t do it enough I don’t think,” said Bibeau. “We had some good looks, did our best and, at the end, we were in a rush to put up shots and were hoping they went in.”
The Centaurs did hit three 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter and gradually whittled the Bristol Central advantage down to 12 with 1 minute, 55 seconds left to play but the Rams scored eight of the last 10 points.
D’Alleva-Bochain led the Centaurs with 18 points while Kaylee Saucier added 12 and Bibeau tossed in seven.
Kamaria Bowens and Nicole Riemer each finished with 20 for Bristol Central.
The Centaurs will be a different group next season with seven seniors moving on.
“This was one of the best teams that I have ever been a part of, the relationships, the chemistry. You can see that from the season. We had such a great year. I never got sick of them. I never wanted it to end. I’m going to miss it a lot,” Bibeau said.
D’Alleva-Bochain agreed with those sentiments.
“It’s going to be a rough one,” D’Alleva-Bochain said of the season coming to a close. “I don’t know how to feel right now. It’s been a long ride but I was lucky enough to play with my best friends. We will all still see each other and it’s not like we’re going anywhere. I’m just grateful for our community and these four years would have never been the same at any other school so I’m just proud of my teammates, my community and my friends,” the senior said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
Allison Camara shoots a free throw against New London in the ECC Div. 1 girls‘ basketball championship game at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Photo by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media.
Vivian Bibeau, left, and Campbell Favreau leap in the air during opening introductions for the ECC Div. I girls’ basketball championship. Photo by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media.
Kaylee Saucier passes the ball down the floor in the ECC Div. I girls’ basketball championship game against New London at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Photo by Joshua Hernandez / actionframe_media.
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