Best friends take the next step to build their business
By Linda Lemmon 
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Best friends since they were kids and they’re still side by side, opening the new location of their business, Flawless Beauty.
In 2021 Jill McCormick and lifelong friend Kaila Murphy started talking about going into business together. Murphy said McCormick was with another company that never really got started and Murphy was already in the business. “So we got to talking” and Flawless Beauty was born.
McCormick said they moved from Stonewall Commons in East Putnam to 93 Front St. because the Stonewall space was actually too large and not really set up for hair salon chairs. It was a lot of space to handle and didn’t really work for their plans to expand into a hair salon.
Currently the business handles spray tanning and eyelash extensions but within the next couple months, she said, Flawless Beauty will offer nails and hair. 
The move to Front Street was official Aug. 22 as they were welcomed enthusiastically by the Putnam Business Association (PBA) and the town of Putnam. 
At the ribbon cutting attorney Kate Cerrone, PBA president, said “This new space is a true reflection of their creativity and commitment.” She added, “We are so proud to see this business grow and thrive here in our community. Their energy and passion add not only beauty to our lives but also strength to our Putnam businesses.”
Deputy Mayor Roy Simmons, speaking for Mayor Barney Seney and the town, said: “It’s always exciting when we have a new business for local people running a local business and we hope your business thrives. You have a terrific support system in this town. You have one of the most awesome business associations I’ve ever seen, and you got a great staff at the Economic and Community and Redevelopment department. This is the place to do business.”

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Flawless Beauty's New Home
Top, from left: Amanda Bartlett, Steve Bartlett, Selectman Dave Pomes, Kaila Murphy, Jill McCormick, daughter, PBA President Attorney Kate Cerrone and Deputy Mayor Roy Simmons. Right: Kaila Murphy, left, and Jill McCormick with the plaque they received from the Putnam Business Association. Linda Lemmon photos.

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Hometown Heroes 
Putnam was named after famous general
By Michael Rocchetti
With our town being the namesake of the Great General Israel Putnam, it seems fitting that we should honor him as a Hometown Hero. Israel Putnam (1718-1790) was a military veteran of both the French & Indian War (1754-1763) and the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). In this article, we are going to focus on one notable incident during his service in the French & Indian War – because it reveals a lot about his character, his fortitude, and his inner strengths.
Putnam was born in 1718 in Danvers, Mass., the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Porter) Putnam. In 1739 he married Hannah Pope, and in 1740 they bought land in what is now Brooklyn, Connecticut and settled there. In 1755, at the age of 37 he enlisted in the Connecticut Militia as a Private during the French & Indian War. He distinguished himself in action on numerous occasions, and by the end of the war he had been promoted to Colonel. 
Putnam served in one of the most elite, legendary units of the war - Roger’s Rangers – a rapidly deployable light infantry force commanded by Robert Rogers. This unit was tasked mainly with reconnaissance and conducting special operations against distant targets. In 1757, Israel Putnam was assigned as a Captain, commanding a company of Rangers. However, he did not serve with Rogers during the St Francis (Quebec) raid immortalized in the epic 1940 Hollywood movie “Northwest Passage”.
The Rangers were strong, vigorous, hearty young men, able to make long marches carrying heavy loads, endure the hardships of a woodsman’s life, and ever be ready to outwit the enemy in the primeval forests of North America. They were men who had a love of adventure, a great capacity for physical endurance, and instinctive bravery. Israel Putnam fit right in. From a description by his grandson, Judge Judah Dana, we learn that Putnam was: “in his person, for height, about the middle size, very erect, thickset, muscular, and firm in every part. His countenance was open, strong, and animated; the features of his face large, well-proportioned to each other and to his whole frame; his teeth fair and sound till death. His organs and senses were all exactly fitted for a warrior; he heard quickly, saw to an immense distance, and though he sometimes stammered in conversation, his voice was remarkably heavy, strong, and commanding.”
In August of 1758, Major Israel Putnam was commanding a column of Rangers in search of a French & Indian raiding party near Lake George in New York, when his force was ambushed and overwhelmed by a numerically superior force. He was captured by the Indians on August 8th, then he was beaten, tortured, and tied to a tree to be burned to death. However, he was saved by the kind intervention of a large and powerful Caughnawaga chief, and a French officer named Joseph Marin de la Malgue, known as “Molang”. Afterwards, Major Putnam was marched to Montreal along with other prisoners, and was held in captivity there until November of 1758 when he was allowed to return home as part of a prisoner exchange.
Ordinary men would have resigned or retired from active service after enduring an ordeal such as this – but Israel Putnam was no ordinary man. He would continue to serve honorably and heroically till the end of the war, and to play a key role in the next war – the Revolutionary War.
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.
Note: The picture is the statue of General Israel Putnam that is in Bushnell Park near the State Capitol in Hartford CT.

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Local swimmer takes 15th at YMCA nationals

By Brian Riley, Riptide Coach
PUTNAM — The Horse Capital of the World is probably the last place you’d expect to find an incredible Riptide, but that’s exactly what folks were presented with as Mary Kate Barnwell of the Hale YMCA Riptides took the podium following her 15th-place finish in the evening finals session of the 50m Butterfly at the YMCA Nationals Long Course Championship in Ocala, Fla. This is her third time at the Long Course Championships.
At the beginning of the five- day meet Barnwell was merely hoping to reach the Top 30 in one event, so she would have the opportunity to swim in the evening finals session. During the first three days of competition, although Mary Kate swam well, she didn’t make the Top 30. But she didn’t get discouraged and continued to work out.
Aug. 1 officially, ranked 71st in the 50m Butterfly Barnwell was slotted in the very first heat, while the fastest swimmers were positioned in the 7th heat. Despite her ranking, Mary Kate thought that if she swam her race, she’d have an outside shot at making finals. She swam her best time in the 50m Butterfly (:29.34), but Mary Kate had to wait for all the other heats to swim to find out where her time had placed her.
Not only did Barnwell crack the top 30, she and a swimmer from New Jersey were tied for 10th place. Even though she had been ranked at #71, Mary Kate had leap-frogged over 61 swimmers into a tie for10th place. Because there was a tie for 10th place there would have to be a swim off to determine which swimmer would take the 10th spot
Before the swim-off, both girls would compete in the 100m Backstroke.  Ironically, earlier in the day, the girls had received random lane assignments - next to one another. Mary Kate won the 100m Backstroke battle against the competitor from Scotch Plains, N.J. Later, in the swim-off, the race was neck and neck between the two butterfliers and Barnwell dropped one-tenth of a second finishing in a best time of (:29.24). The swimmer from the Garden State, however, swam the 50m Butterfly just a little faster, turning in a time of :29.12.
In the evening Finals session for the 50m Butterfly, Mary Kate finished in :29.36, good enough for 15th place and a trip to the podium. Ironically, the swimmer from New Jersey also finished with a time of :29.36.  Mary Kate and the swimmer from the Garden State had tied twice in one day. There wouldn’t be another swim-off, because the swimmers in the Championship Final are locked into the Top 10 places. After beginning the day ranked 71st, Barnwell was ecstatic that she was able to stand on the podium and receive her 15th Place ribbon AND she had tied with the 10th-place finisher — twice.
Aug 2, with a time of :28.04 in the Preliminaries of the 50m Freestyle, however, it was clear that If Barnwell was tired, she wasn’t showing it.  She earned her second evening Finals swim of the week. With a 28th-place finish in the evening finals session of the 50m Freestyle (:28.05), Mary Kate had logged her second finals, Top 30 swim of the YMCA Nationals Championships meet.
Barnwell had qualified in six (6) events, but the rules only permit swimmers to compete in five (5) individual events.  So, at YMCA LC Nationals, Mary Kate competed in: 100 Free; 100 Butterfly; 100 Backstroke; 50 Butterfly; and 50 Freestyle.  On an off day, Barnwell competed in the 200 Backstroke as a Time Trial. Though happy with her accomplishments - as a rising junior at Marianapolis Preparatory School, Mary Kate is hungry for more podium finishes at Nationals meets in the future.

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Mary Kate Barnwell of the Hale YMCA Riptides in the Nationals, swimming butterfly. Courtesy photo.