Woodstock CT Café

click to enlarge pages 2 through 5

The DTC website

The mission of the Woodstock Democratic Town Committee is to build and maintain a community of Democrats, in order to define priorities for our town, recruit candidates for elective and appointed offices, and support the campaigns of local, state, and national Democratic representatives.

Still no listing of candidates.

Officers 2010 – 2012
Charles M. Super, Chairman
Suzanne Woodward, Vice Chairman
Glen Lessig, Treasurer
Trish Dehis, Secretary

Members 2010 – 2012
Saul Ahola
Bill Brower
Lois Brower
Sarah Jo Burke
Richard Canavan
Richard Cass
Cliff Davis
Gail Dickinson
Richard Fontaine
Sara Harkness
Christine Lessig
Linda Simons
Kent Weaver
Lee Wesler
Margaret Wholean
Peg Wilson

Becki and I bought the book last Sunday. It’s a treasure. JL

This year is Woodstock’s 365th anniversary year. The Woodstock Historical Society has been holding various events about Woodstock. I bought their recently published book From the Roxbury Fells to the Eastward Vale: A Journey Through Woodstock, 1686-2011″, A Special 325th Anniversary Publication. It has lots of wonderful pictures and loads of interesting information.

This Sunday there is an event.

Jeff Gordon, MD

The above represent my own personal comments and do not in any manner reflect official statements or positions of the PZC.

Award-winning author Salman Rushdie will visit campus on Tuesday, October 4th as part of the University’s 11th season of the Arts and Lecture Series.

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is the author of 10 novels: “Grimus,” “Midnight’s Children” (which was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981), “Shame,” “The Satanic Verses,” “Haroun and the Sea of Stories,” “The Moor’s Last Sigh,” “The Ground Beneath Her Feet,” “Fury,” “Shalimar the Clown,” and “The Enchantress of Florence.”

Much of Rushdie’s fiction is set on the Indian subcontinent where he was born. Rushdie is also the author of a book of stories, “East, West,” and three works of nonfiction — “Imaginary Homelands,” “The Jaguar Smile,” and “Step Across This Line.” He is the co-editor of “Mirrorwork,” an anthology of contemporary Indian writing and winner of the prize as the 2008 Best American Short Stories anthology.

The lecture takes place in the Geissler Gym, and begins at 7p.m. Tickets are going very quickly!

Tickets for Arts and Lecture Series events are free for alumni, students, Eastern faculty and staff; $10 for the general public, and can be reserved by calling (860) 465-0036, or e-mailing tickets@easternct.edu.

Regards from Willimantic!,  Michael J. Stenko

Interim Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Director of Alumni Affairs
Eastern Connecticut State University
83 Windham Street
Willimantic, CT 06226

860.465.5169 (Athletics Office)  860.465.4509 (Alumni Office)stenkom@easternct.edu  and http://www.easternct.edu/

See WJam’s interesting comment below.

from Con

(From comments under “Allan Walker’s Letter…”)

Part I

Regarding CL&P, I wrote to our Congressional Rep; Governor’s Office and CL&P directly. So far, only Joe Courtney responded (see his email to me below).

My complaints focused on matters CL&P seemed to bungle AND which would not have required more crews, faster restoration or the like. For example, CL&P had the exact same Recording on it’s phone information line for 4 days, and I first heard the recording On Sunday at 9 am when power first went out and before CL&P even knew what the situation truly was.

That recording promised ‘continued, timely status updates’ and also referred me to their Automated System for information on my specific region. That Automated System for my region was a bad joke: it was boilerplate, ‘corporate speak’ and Spin AND it literally referred back to the main recording for ‘more specific information and status updates’. Huh!?!

The main recording was changed on Wednesday afternoon, but the changes were simply to polish the corporate-speak Spin of the ‘Restoration Effort’ and did NOT contain any promised Status Updates or localized information.

Providing customers with as much specific, detailed information as possible would not have burdened CL&P AND would have benefited all of us greatly. Instead, CL&P DOUBLY ‘left us in the dark’.

Second, the manner in which CL&P deployed crews was not as described to Mr. Walker (I don’t doubt him or his letter, but the information he was fed by CL&P). See Mr. Courtney’s letter regarding the fact that Northeast CT was LAST in line (is the entire region ‘small branches and leaves’ of the tree described?).

Third, How many individuals qualified with Chain Saws and Arborist-type work live in Woodstock alone AND would have been more than willing to cut and clear all those trees that were left across roads, across wires, on top of houses, etc. for over 6 days? WHY didn’t CL&P and Woodstock consider using local available, qualified labor? I spoke to several such individuals and to a person they all expressed frustration that they were NOT allowed to ‘dig in’ and get the work done.

Here is the letter (NOTE: I will Copy & Paste the Letter TO CL&P referenced below in another post directly following this one):

“Dear [Con],

Thank you for contacting me regarding Connecticut Light and Power’s response to the widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Irene.

There is no doubt about it – Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) was simply not prepared for the magnitude of the damage to eastern Connecticut’s power grid. While the state as a whole experienced massive outages for several days, our region faced the longest delay in restoring power. While a number of factors contributed to this, including the condition of trees in the days before the storm and the makeup of the grid that feeds power to eastern Connecticut, the bottom line is that the response in our area was simply not adequate for the severity of the outages.

As I have travelled across the district this week, I have heard firsthand the frustration that households, businesses, and local leaders have had in getting up to date and reliable communications from CL&P. To this end, I arranged two conference calls with town leaders from across eastern Connecticut and officials from Connecticut Light & Power. These sessions were useful in breaking through some of the communications challenges that kept local leaders from getting their most urgent power-related needs addressed, from clearing downed trees to prioritizing power restoration at water treatment plants, senior centers and other critical areas.

During these calls and in my visits around the district, several recurring themes emerged about the source of many of the challenges that towns faced as power outages dragged on through most of the week. First and foremost, there are significant communications issues that must be addressed – both between towns and CL&P, and within CL&P itself. Further, the company must do more to directly engage town leaders and customers in the recovery process – and do more to establish a working relationship with towns before a major storm hits, not after. Read the rest of this entry »

from Con

(In response to comments under “The Putnam or Killingly Option”)

First, “only because Putnam had a football team” doesn’t seem like a compelling or even a good reason on which to base such an important decision as where Students attend High School; all Student’s must be taken into account equally. Just a thought.

Regarding the attitude that Woodstock Academy is superior to Putnam High and that even the town is better by comparison, this is a deep-seated bias that has it’s roots in the real differences between the two Towns, most especially as they were manifested 20 – 30 years ago. There was a time when Putnam didn’t have any Antiques stores, good restaurants, viable Parks, public spaces or green spaces or even decent occupancy of commercial buildings.

Recall the days when Putnam was not even yet in transition, it was a Town whose main employers had abandoned it and left derelict buildings behind. The very character of that town at that time was not great. It left much to be desired, created a negative impression on strangers passing through and appeared to have a questionable future.

If your with me so far you’ll notice that none of this has a thing to do with the People of Putnam. I don’t condone the attitude, but I think this description goes a long way in explaining it. Read the rest of this entry »

You can’t make this up. Putnam’s idea for an Industrial Park business – a Crematorium. We’re not talking about milk processing here. Someone said “a crematory is not an industrial business” . At the Stanford Industrial Park, businesses include Varian, The Wall Street Journal, Alza Corp., Roche, Xerox….

See Putnam Industrial Park.

Click to enlarge. Left, the front of the Park; Right, the back of the Park.

See Killingly’s new football stadium used for the first time on Friday. The Redmen’s next home game, is on Sept. 30 against Woodstock Academy.

from Romeo

Several years ago as Chairman of the Woodstock BOE the then Supt. Dr. Linda Galton and I were invited by Killingly BOE members to discuss the possibility of having Woodstock students attend KHS when the new school was completed. Of course these discussions took place in 1999 or 2000. It has taken many years to finally complete the building of the new Killingly facility so nothing ever came of our discussions. Dr. Galton and I were almost “burned in effigy” for even considering the option of Woodstock students attending KHS. A couple years after that proposal, it was mentioned that Woodstock students might want to attend Putnam High School (only because Putnam had a football team and Woodstock didn’t at the time.) I can recall one gentleman’s comments at the time when the BOE had to meet in the gym because of the number of parents in attendance. His words still ring in my ears, “Do you want your kids to go to school with Putnam kids?” The remark was meant to be demeaning and degrading to the Putnam School system, and the town in general.

I guess he didn’t realize that two of the then members of the Woodstock BOE were graduates of Putnam High School.

I see some residents still suffer from the same kind of elitism that has existed over the past 22 years I have lived in Woodstock.

Over the last 3 years I have worked out of an office at Putnam High School as part of my duties as the substance abuse prevention coordinator, and I can tell you that I have seen some dramatic and positive changes over the past couple of years in Putnam, especially at the high school level.

If “Sonny” chooses to no longer substitute in Putnam, all well good, but don’t think that the students of Eastford, Woodstock or Pomfret for that matter are any better or worse than the students of Putnam.

From the Norwich Bull:

“According to Superintendent William Hull, the option of regionalization, or sending Putnam students to other schools, was discussed, but would end up costing the town $700,000 more than the existing school budget.”

Putnam could offer to send high school students to Woodstock Academy. Do you think the Woodstock Academy would accept them?

Other options are Killingly HS and Ellis Tech.

See the article in the Norwich Bull.

Thanks to Ben for sending the list of Candidates for both parties that he obtained from the Town Hall. It now becomes clear why no signs have been put up. Essentially the Democrats are not contesting the election except for the fine, highly qualified candidate, Earl Brazeal, for the Planning & Zoning Commission.

Apparently the RTC wants nothing to do with the gaudy RTC website and the DTC has no pulse to post anything at their website.

The Cafe supports Earl Brazeal’s candidacy for PZC because of his extensive knowledge of zoning practices and zoning efficacy.

YES – 351 … The referendum passes with 7% of the registered voters’ voting yes.

NO -  101

I know that tennis is not football. But tennis was important in my life when I played #1 at Norwalk High and was on the all conference tennis team in college. But, of course, this is a very small issue when it comes to the importance of high school football. These pictures illustrate how the Woodstock Academy takes care of its athletic facilities…at least the ones they don’t care about. Touring the current fields that are in place, I was amazed at their shabby up-keep and their dis-repair. You only have to check it out for yourself. The tennis net will continue to slope and shread even though a few dollars of upkeep could prevent this. But the taxpayers will pay for it … no worries.

If I recall accurately it was Woodstock and Eastford that bailed out the Academy on the verge of closure with a bond in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brooklyn, Pomfret, Canterbury and Union were not a part of this. Why aren’t Woodstock and Eastford given a reduction in tuition for sponsoring the Academy for the last 20 years? You are asking Woodstock to secure the bond, not Eastford, Brooklyn, Pomfret, Canterbury and Union. Per your final statement in this letter, show your appreciation!

The Academy is prepared to move forward with the construction of the sewer line extension as originally approved.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has determined, however, that the project qualifies for grant funding of forty-five percent (45%) of the project cost if the sewer line were constructed by the Town of Woodstock. The USDA has also offered a low interest loan to cover the balance of the cost of the project up to a total of $1.4 million. An Agreement between the Town of Woodstock and Woodstock Academy is in place to insure that there will be no financial impact to the Town as this project is constructed.

As the cost of the project will be passed on to the sending towns through the per pupil tuition rate, the grant funding would reduce the overall pass thru cost and result in an approximate savings of $630,000 to the area towns. More specifically, approximate savings to the towns, based on current enrollment levels are as

follows:

Woodstock $245,700

Brooklyn $165,300

Pomfret $119,100

Canterbury $ 53,600

Eastford $ 41,500

Union $ 4,800

We truly believe there are mutual long-term benefits from this project for both parties.

For the past 210 years, Woodstock Academy has been proud to have provided the students of your town and the surrounding area with exceptional secondary educational opportunities and to have done so ever mindful of the economic impact on each of the towns in the area.

We are grateful that we have been able to do so from our campus located within your town. We recognize that the Town of Woodstock has supported the Academy in many ways over our long history and we are very appreciative of that support. (my emphasis)
Respectfully,

The Woodstock Academy Board of Trustees and Administration

submitted by A Student
From the Academy’s website:

http://woodstockacademy.org/letters/letter090611kimcaron.pdf

The town-wide referendum to fund the sewer extension to the Academy will be on Wednesday, September 14th (noon-8PM).

Read the rest of this entry »

See the design layout in the article below this one.

We noticed large dump trucks frequently entering the Woodstock Academy athletic fields on Saturday so we went to the back of the athletic fields to see where they were dumping dirt. It became clear that they are burying the wetlands stripped of trees with thousands of tons of dirt to prepare a surface for the new football ‘stadium’. It’s quite a scene. The wetlands have been buried with, who knows, 20-30 feet of dirt and the fill is being extended eastward as the pictures show. This is going to be their new ‘sunken’ football field when all is done. I’m not sure about the degree of sunkenness but it is definitely sunken.

While walking to and from this scene I could not help but notice the shabby appearence of the Track surrounding the current football field and the stands and structures used for the teams and fans. Left field of the current baseball field was flooded perhaps due to the lack of drainage caused by the huge dirt pile behind it. The tennis court nets were in disrepair and the posts holding up the nets were slanted inward so that they could never hold the net at the proper height and angle. But the new football field is far more urgent and important than maintaining current facilities.

The pictures show:

1. The eastern side of the football field being extended by dirt dumping;
2. The western end of the football field;
3. Looking north across the center of the football field; and
4. Looking east toward the east end of the football field.