Woodstock CT Café

See the Norwich Bull article.

“I want to invite to you to the new Killingly High School,” Killinley Superintendent Farr said. “I would love to be able to host a joint board meeting and spend some social time and professional time talking about our affiliation.”

As this partnership progresses, will enrollment at Woodstock Academy continue to decline?

There is an article in the NYTimes this morning describing how to cook wheat berries: “The method I use to cook almost every grain — bulgur, couscous and wild rice are exceptions — is simple: Put 2 cups of the grain in a small to medium saucepan with a large pinch of salt and water to cover by about an inch. Bring it to a boil, then adjust the heat so that the mixture bubbles gently. Cook, stirring occasionally and adding boiling water if necessary to keep the grains covered; when they’re tender, they’re done. Depending on the grain you’ve chosen, this could take anywhere from 15 minutes (pearled barley) to an hour (wheat berries). If there is water remaining in the pot when you’re done, strain it. Remember that even after you toss the salad, the warm grains will continue to cook, so err slightly on the side of undercooking. Overcooked grains become gummy.” Sixteen minutes for pressure cooking. Chef Leavitt

From John

Clean Hard Red Wheat (Berries) can be purchased at this link.

In the fall of 1974, I built my own house while I was a lowly postdoctoral fellow at John Hopkins University. I purchased a pre-cut house and arranged for the foundation to be dug and two guys to build the cement block foundation. I used a 50-foot steel beam to support the house in the center and l left six feet hanging out for several years to support a significant deck (click to enlarge the pictures). My first wife, Jean, and I had no money after purchasing 15 acres in the Maryland wilderness west of Baltimore and north of Bethesda and then the wood, windows, and everything else including an in-ground pool on the first loan I ever took.

So when spring came, we had to budget everything and scrap for food in dumpsters. I planted a significant vegetable garden which produced lots of zucchini and crookneck squash, corn, peppers hot and cold, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, swiss chard, and tomatoes.  We ended up having a flood of tomatoes as most veggie gardeners do. What to do with all those red and yellow over-ripe tomatoes???

I can’t remember how we discovered wheat berries, but we ended up purchasing a 50 pound sack of wheat berries from a local farmer for $3. We had to take a close look at the berries to remove pebbles before cooking. Since I used a pressure cooker for blanching veggies, I found that if I pressure-cooked wheat berries for about 16 minutes – one part berries to one part (plus) water – the berries were edible. Then I mixed the berries with lots of cooked over-ripe tomatoes that would otherwise rot. I added butter to the mix and salted with ground pepper and seasoned salt. This was a delicious meal that we ate for years and we discovered that we could add onions, peppers, and other things that were lying around.

In Palo Alto CA, I introduced wheat berries to Becki but we did not eat them for long because the health food store was selling wheat berries at the ridiculous price of pure gold. Some time soon after, Becki proposed marriage.

A few weeks ago Becki discovered a source of a 45-pound 6-gallon pail of very clean hard red wheat (berries) for $45 ($6 for shipping). We cooked some up as shown in the picture and also took some over to George McCoy and Jackie for further evaluation. For George and Jackie, we added a bottle of Taylor Brooke peach wine. Will someone go over to George’s house and check for dead bodies because we haven’t heard from them since.

Other pet friendly articles: Animal Control and Pet of the Week.

Canterbury, Conn. May 31, 2013— The Friends of the Canterbury Lidoggery received a barking and hissing challenge from an anonymous member and asks the community to donate.

The donor has agreed to match, dollar-for-dollar up to $1,000, any donation made to the Friends in honor the dogs and cats and their fathers. The matching challenge will fetch until Father’s Day, June 16, otherwise known as Fido’s Day.

Contributions may be dropped off at the Lidoggery, delivered by carrier pigeon, made online at canterburylidoggery.org or mailed to The Friends of the Canterbury Lidoggery, P.O. Box 453, Canterbury, CT 06331, with a note identifying the honored father and his dog or cat. Caskets of whiskey will also be appreciated. Proceeds will help to improve the food collections, milk bones, catnip, and training programs offered by the Canterbury Lidoggery.

For more information, call Steve Otterhound, Friends of the Canterbury Lidoggery president, at (860) 546-6669.

By Emily Abysinnian (Dec. 6 2008)

Canterbury, Conn. — Many of the 35 fat cats, Swamp Yankee mutts and several pure bred hounds from Canterbury’s more fashionable district showed up at the Canterbury town bark and meow fest Thursday night to howl and yowl in favor or against a proposed dog pound ordinance that would reopen the town’s facility. The mutts and hounds are the same pack that has spoken out against more funding for the local liddogery.

The dogs have been peeing all around Canterbury to have a say on the pound since July, when the town switched to a regional service provided by the Northeast Connecticut Council of Governments to save taxpayer money by cutting the budget. However, six separate paw print petitions on the matter were submitted to town officials.

This canine pack and a dissenting group of felines will vote on the proposed ordinance, which could reopen the local dog pound, effective July 1, 2009, at a Dec. 16 referendum. Approval of the proposed ordinance would mandate that the town keep the local pound open and require a new ordinance should the town decide to switch to a regional service in the future.

First Selectman Maine Coon said “local jailbird curs don’t deserve to have local digs when we can house them outside at a state pen. They can howl at the moon from anywhere.” A group of calicos chimed in and started questioning comparative costs and services.

“If we’re talking about a budget crunch, why are we going to get involved with spending money needlessly?” resident Kitty Korat asked. Other residents noted that the regional service is less expensive than a town-run facility now.

“The cost every year is only going to rise,” former First Selectman Bulldog Santoro said. “And it will probably rise a lot faster than the local pound we used to have.”

Then the dogs at the meeting started chanting “Let them eat Alpo! Let them eat Alpo!’ and cats meowed “Dry food! Dry food!” At this point the meeting deteriorated into a real dog and cat fight and the dogs hightailed it home with scratched noses.

Meow!

By Jessica Heifer, Cafe ace reporter

Canterbury, Conn. (Aug. 3, 2008) — As town officials prepare to send their proposed $13.9 million budget to taxpayers for the third time, they are facing opposition in two line items: (1) spending more money by adding more open hours for the public library and (2) spending less money by shifting to the NECCOG dog pound service while closing down the local dog pound.

These two contradictory forms of opposition to spend more on dogs while reducing library services to humans only proves that you can’t please all of the people all of the time … and ‘you can’t fix stupid!’

The library is closed from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, and Library Director Minnie Poodle says the public wants it open during those hours. The $4,900 to cover that cost is in the proposed budget.

Discussion for and against the additional hours has dominated recent public meetings. Larry Pomerainian tells us “Many residents have characterized it as one of the contentious issues within the budget. A real dog fight.”

Library supporters, such as Minnie Poodle and First Selectman Bernie Kromfohrlander, say the additional hours are necessary to keep up with the demand from residents. “It’s a vital service that the town is providing, and it’s a service that is ever increasing,” Kromfohrlander said…. And Ms. Poodle has the numbers to back that up. Read the rest of this entry »

From Marylou Davis

With blow-by-blow justification, Jeffrey Gordon explains why zoning regulation is not a “good thing” in his May 17, Villager Newspaper Guest Commentary. This strikes as an odd perspective for a Chair of a local Planning and Zoning Commission. I know Jeff Gordon as a very fine physician. One who practices at the top of his game within a top region of our country for the treatment of serious illness. His profession is highly regulated. Anyone who is seriously ill would want and expect it to be so.

Every morning we send a child off on a school bus, they are picked up by a licensed driver who carries the child safely to school while licensed automobile drivers stop exactly where, when, and for a duration the law requires to ensure that child’s safety. Regulation in general, is vitally necessary to our lives of civility. Regulation, in fact, does far more good than harm. Without strong zoning regulation – the stewardship of our environment, our own safety, our property values and the natural beauty of our community – are threatened.

In his essay, Gordon effectively summarizes the work completed by Woodstock’s Planning and Zoning commission over these last few years. They’ve taken a current set of vague, open regulations and made them more open and vague.

While I understand the need to attract commercial business to Woodstock, weak zoning can turn away the very type of business desired. Smaller businesses understand they have no assurance regarding what may eventually reside next to them after building costly brick and mortar shops. Vague zoning sets a tone of no guarantee, thus has no sure prospect for what the future holds.

The “needed flexibility” Gordon champions gives the Commission great power in deciding (by Special Permit) who wins approval on applications and who, does not. With no clear zoning, decisions are arbitrary. While this control device works well in denying smaller companies with no cash reserves, the town is powerless in the face of corporations who wish to operate businesses here. Corporations, holding ample purses along with demographics and projected profit margins, will simply take the town to court after application denial. We watched aspects of this recently when citizens in Brooklyn worked long and hard to prevent the building of a Super Wall Mart. They lost.

In the past year, the Commission effectively demonstrated its aversion to “rules” by overlooking the state mandated revision of the POCD (Plan for Open Space and Development) due in 2012. Instead, they took up work in revising the current regulations. The POCD serves as a leading document for the purpose of planning thus it requires updating with community input. While public POCD meetings were telegraphed and attended and a survey was filled out by citizens – that information was never analyzed, collated, publicized, or incorporated into this new set of regulations. And Gordon brings up proper order of cart to horse?

Although Dr. Gordon states a need to “update regulations” – when I read through the revised regulations, very few of the Attorney’s advisory comments were accepted then inserted. The revised regulations can be found on the town web site soon. They should include both strike-throughs of current language with the newly revised.

If you care about the future of your property along with that of your community – you may want to closely read the proposed regulations on line. The public hearing for approval of the new regulations will be held on July 18, 2013. At that time citizens will have opportunity to question, comment and express concerns.

From Joyce and Roland Parent

From John

Any sightings should be reported to Patty @ 860-942-6292 from Devon Point Farm

Naturally when I heard about this, my first inclination was to jump on Sparta and go after the cows. I thought that I could use the help of Diane on PeekaBoo also. There are still two steers missing so if you see any dark brown cows with yellow eartags and short horns, they’re the ones! They were last reported seen on Child Hill Road and Roseland Park Road so Sparta and I are headed in that direction. They may be in the woods and fields between Roseland Park and Rt. 169. I have been cautioned NOT TO APPROACH them and don’t even make eye contact! They will run away and be even harder to locate.

From John

Woodstock budget referendum passed by a 3 to 1 vote. The 2013-14 budget is $21.2 million budget.

The combined town and school spending passed 279-93, with 7.4 percent of the town’s 5,006 registered voters coming out. The budget represents a 0.5 mill increase to the tax rate.

The following votes come from the Cafe archives (a historical record fro October 2005 to the present):

2012
Yes votes = 333
No votes = 155
approx. 9.8% voter turnout

2011
YES votes = 352
NO votes = 286
12.6% voter turnout

2010
As predicted in the article below “Those days are over in Woodstock…” meaning the tumultuous years before 2010.
YES = 342
NO = 152
9.8% voter turnout

2009
YES – 675 (85%)
NO – 123 (15%)

2008
Voting on June 24th, 2008:

Ballots Cast Voting YES …680
Ballots Cast Voting NO …646
A 27.6% TURNOUT

Voting on June 3rd, 2008:
Ballots Cast Voting YES … 530
Ballots Cast Voting NO … 864
a 29% turnout

2007
YES … 693
Vulgarians … 560

2006
YES … 920
NO … 200

What was happening then:

“The Ahmadinejads of Woodstock” published June 21, 2009

From John

What Mr. Powers, Mr. Rosendahl, and Mr. Shultz lacked for the June 9th referendum (when the populous rose up and defeated their attempt to recall the Board of Education) was Ahmadinejad’s approach. Simply deny the ballots and declare victory by a 2/3rds margin. Those days are over in Woodstock just like they are in Iran. Never again will things be the same in Woodstock.

Why do I say this? The Democratic Town Committee played their hand and lost. I don’t mean the Woodstock Democrats lost (that includes me), it was the DTC that lost. DTC Chairman, James Kaeding, played his hand with a last minute Letter to the Editor in the Villager advocating repeal of the Board of Education while Mr. Powers, the instigator of the petition, and Ms. Wholean (DTC Secretary) soon to be DTC candidate for First Selectman signed the petition together, possibly while holding hands.

Mr. Kaeding decided not to sign the petition because it looked bad as he is Chairman of the DTC. How disingenuous.

The contrast between Allan Walker and Ms. Wholean is remarkable. For example, Mr. Walker turned back a raise this year while Ms. Wholean awarded herself a 9% raise in her final last 7 months as First Selectman. She went on to lie on WINY saying that the purpose of this raise was to guarantee that ‘there would be enough money in the budget to support hiring of a Town Manager’ (gag me with a spoon ). Ms. Wholean handed over FOI information that she requested from the BOE, while she was First Selectman, to CPS litigator, Mr. Shultz, so that he could pursue his FOI litigation at the FOIA Commission on behalf of the Citizens for Prudent Spending, forcing the BOE to defend themselves incuring more lawyer costs.

On the other hand, Mr. Walker has been careful to show no bias as First Selectman to any party although he is a Republican. This is perhaps the exemplary role that a First Selectman should play. He has stabilized Town management while Ms. Wholean commanded in her last six months in office that no communications would be sent from the Town Hall without her approval (Yuk!).

Ms. Wholean’s smoking gun handed to Mr. Shultz turned out to be loaded with hydrogen sulfide (e.g. rotten eggs). The silly nature of this smoking gun and the Wholean/Shultz collaboration was revealed at the FOIA commission hearing last June 5th in Hartford, so it’s a matter of public record (see the article on this hearing published at the Cafe on June 6th 2008 ).

We’ve talked about CPS a lot at the Café and Joe Klusek has complained about our characterization of CPS as a proponent of the latest petition from Misters Powers, Shultz, and Rosendahl. I think Joe is correct to complain about the correctness of this association because it has become clear that Powers and Shultz have hijacked the CPS name in pursuit of their own personal agenda – their relentless attacks on the school system and the BOE for personal gain (readers need to try and figure this out yourselves). For example, Powers claimed that he was acting on behalf of the CPS organization in the weeks leading up to the June 9th referendum and all of Shultz FOIA complaints have been on behalf of … you guessed it, Citizens for Prudent Spending. No wonder Café’ers are confused about CPS. The CPS organization has allowed Powers and Shultz to get away with this.

In Powers case the petition was his last ditch effort to … (well, if you can’t figure this out, giving you the answer is a waist of time).

The rise of Facebook:

Cafe Activity over the years – The main change is that about the same number of visitors visit the Cafe less often:

From Steve Smock at Fix46

Tomorrow is the referendum vote for the 2013-14 Town budget.  This will take place from noon-8PM @ Town Hall.

Documents related to the budget can be found @  

http://www.woodstockct.gov/documentsforms/category/73-annual-budget-material.html

Please take a couple of moments tomorrow to vote.  If the budget gets voted down, the Board of Finance has no recourse but to bring a budget back to the town at a future referendum vote with additional cuts to personnel or services.

Thanks, Steve

Your voices have been heard! Governor Malloy will be signing formal notification that the DESPP proposal for the Firearms Facility Relocation to Glastonbury has been withdrawn. We thank everyone for their support in helping us conserve the Meshomasic State Forest. We will continue to work with the CFPA to protect our forests and trails. We will also continue to work with CT State Police Dept to ensure our officers have a training facility. We will be updating and utilizing our website: GlastonburyMatters.com for conservation efforts. Thank you all! Melissa Pericolosi

State Drops Plans For State Police Gun Range In Glastonbury

From John

“Do you know the State is proposing to put a 55,000 sq foot firearms training facility in Glastonbury? More than 200 families and two elementary schools in Glastonbury would be directly affected.”

Two years ago a visitor to the Annual Woodstock Fair was hit by a bullet from the Putnam Firearms Training Facility. Now the State wants to take over a park in a school zone in Glastonbury for a new 30-acre training facility rather than simply improve the one currently in Simsbury. I’ve already signed the petition. Woodstockers and persons in surrounding towns should support Glastonbury residents. Soon the state will be coming to our towns to take over properties, and we will need Glastonbury’s support at that time.

GO TO Glastonbury Matters and sign the petition.

The state proposal offers no alternative sites in their proposal.

From John

In 1989 I called the IRS in Fresno CA to tell them that they had made a simple mistake in reviewing my tax return. I had received a brief statement from them telling me that I owed $1000-$2000 because of a mistake in my return. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the IRS had misread my return by one line on page 2. So I called Fresno to straighten it out without complaint. The agent that answered my call listened to me for a minute or less and then lit into me in a rage. ‘Pay your damn taxes you good-for-nothing laggard.’ I hung up and went to H&R Block to show them what had happened. We ended up writing a letter and the matter was dropped by the IRS with no apology.

In the summer of 1995 I received a letter of audit from the IRS. This came about because my ex-wife had attended a free IRS advice session at Sears in Odessa Texas. She showed them her tax returns and their advice to her was that I had cheated her tax-wize on alimony. It turns out that Texas has no alimony requirement. My former wife, I’m sure befuddled by the IRS advice, forgot to tell them that I had supported the family, paid H&R Block to fill out her tax return, and then paid her taxes with a personal check. I had done this for the previous eight years since our divorce. Becki and I were supporting two families.

For the audit, I arranged for help with an agent from H&R Block who lived in Santa Cruz. Yes, there was a hippie side to this young agent, Alan, who impressed me as being very smart. By the way, don’t ever try to use a lawyer in a matter like this. We sat down and read the law together. We both concluded that I had followed the law. So we went together to the gold-windowed IRS building in San Jose for my meeting with the IRS.

The meeting at the beginning was cordial. We were meeting with an agent that we determined was in training. When we asked a tough question, he would get up and go into the next office to ask his supervisor how he should answer the question. He would uniformly come back with the wrong answer. After about an hour we ended the meeting and Alan said to the agent “There will be no fine, will there?” (because I hadn’t knowingly done something wrong). The agent suggested there would be no fine. I forgot to mention that after the first 15 minutes of this meeting, we all had to leave the building because of a bomb threat.

Then I received a letter from the IRS indicating that I owed the >$30,000 in back taxes, fines and penalties. When I received the letter we were two months from moving across country in a caravan of a large U-Haul truck towing my mustang and Becki, seven year-old Mariah, dog Lickety, cat Potsticker, and the goldfish in a bowl following in the Van. I quit my job at the end of December and went on unemployment compensation in January while I looked for a job.

Alan said to go ahead and he would handle this in California for me. We took the matter to a Judge arbitrator. When Alan presented my case, the Judge came down on my side. In March of 1996 I received a letter from the IRS saying ‘Never mind’ with no apology.

I was so relieved, I looked up H&R Block’s home office in St. Louis and wrote Henry and all of the executives of H&R Block about what Alan had done for me. I pointed out that everyone except Alan in the California office said I was going to lose. Then, I received a letter back from Henry thanking me for my feedback about Alan’s work. He said he would inform the California office of Alan’s work. Then I received an envelope in the mail which was virtually empty except for Alan’s new business card. He had been promoted to district manager.

End of story except for my visit to H&R Block in Putnam. Mark has been my agent since the spring of 1996. Every year we spend 15 to 20 friendly minutes together as he figures out my taxes. Last year was particularly complicated because of the liquidation of my parents messy estate.

In 1996 in my first meeting with Mark, I showed Mark my letter from Henry, his boss. We did the tax return and I picked it up a week later at the Putnam office. When I went to the receptionist to retreive my return, she pulled open the long drawer with hundreds of tax returns. Mine was the easiest to find because it was the only one that was leather-bound .

From Con

Obviously this is excellent news. While unrelated to the equipment mentioned, I have 2 important questions:

1) I’ve always wondered if Woodstock possess (or needs) one of those specialized Infra-Red devices that can determine if there is still a human alive inside a burning structure (viewing made possible through such a device)?

I don’t know much about it except from specialized articles on the subject, but such an article called it one of the most valuable tools existing to any Fire-Fighting efforts; one which has saved many lives while not endangering the lives of Fire-Fighters who otherwise may choose a risky search or the like.

I grew up with a nearby barn that had Alarm-horns mounted on it’s roof and so was woken many nights by that loud alarm notifying nearby volunteers that it was time to get up and risk their lives. As a child my imagination was keen and I always pictured off of the grim faces in that household while the Volunteer dressed quickly and hit the road. I’ve never stopped admiring Volunteers and the more I learn, the greater my admiration.

2) The West Texas disaster brought this home in an especially tragic way – “…confirmed dead included five West volunteer firefighters and four volunteer emergency medical technicians, according to the mayor.”

I know I’m ‘off-topic’, but what (if any) provisions were made for these first-responders and their families who volunteered to do as professional job as any organized, professional first-responders? This has been on my mind as this seemingly foreseeable and avoidable disaster was nearly fully-eclipsed because of the Boston Terror Bombings. Will their families be taken care of? Was/is there an actual Policy in place for this?

If so, does such a Policy apply to volunteers across America? I haven’t been able to find these answers anywhere, in any story describing the disaster and it truly haunts my thoughts and I doubt that I’m alone. Does anyone have truthful answers? Thanks for your patience.

Congrats to Muddy Brook!

The Muddy Brook Fire Department in East Woodstock won a grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) program of $157,415 to purchase and install a fixed base breathable air compressor. This equipment is used to refill the cylinders which are a part of the Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBAs) used by firefighters when entering a burning structure and during HAZMAT operations. The funding will also be used to replace 16 SCBAs that are no longer in compliance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines.

“This is about the safety of my firefighters,”said Muddy Brook Fire Department Chief Christopher Wootton to Congressman Courtney who helped support the application. “The grant will help bring us back into NFPA and OSHA compliance. This was the second year we applied, but we stuck with it and prevailed. It’s a project we clearly couldn’t have funded on our own.”

This was the second time they applied for this grant and persistence paid off.

From the Town Hall

From Fix46 (Steve)

It’s been some time since I sent out a note. Much has happened…and continues to. Most importantly, at the moment, is the current 2013-14 town budget process. There are only 3 opportunities remaining for you to have impact on the process.

1) the Board of Finance meeting tomorrow night (7PM, Town Hall) will include our (I am an alternate on the BoF) final discussion on the 2013-14 budget. The public comment portion of the meeting will be your opportunity to voice your concerns & wishes.

2) the Annual Town Meeting (Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 7:00PM @ Town Hall) where the budget will be discussed without a vote, but adjorned to

3) Referendum (Tuesday, May 21, 2013, 12:00pm – 08:00PM, Town Hall).

Of these 3 dates, the most important is the Referendum. Currently, unless the BoF makes a change to the budget (unlikely) tomorrow evening, the 2013-14 budget contains an increase of 0.5 mil. This is less than the 0.85 mil increase that would have funded the combined town/school budget requests. The BoF approved (4-2 with Lessig & Converse voting against….I was present, but not seated & voting) reduction from the requested budget includes the loss of school staff (1 life skills position/program) and other town & school cuts. The very important fact is this – if the current budget gets voted down at the Referendum on the 21st, the BoF has no recourse but to REDUCE the budget even more. In short, more programs & perhaps staff and town services will be cut.

Please make every effort to get yourself, family & friends to the polls on May 21st from noon-8PM to vote on the 2013-14 budget.

John Scaramone’s comment: “Where is the ‘pattern’ of abuse. It’s a sporting complex. Speakers, announcements, music, it’s all part of sporting events. The Academy is not breaking any law. The Academy has been in existence for over 200 years. Seems some one came afterwards and now demands that life plays according to their rules! I think not!”

From Marylou

With respect to your post (John Scaramone, Academy Lacrosse coach). We didn’t come afterwards. Although this is popularly if erroneously telegraphed through the Academy community. If you read former posts, you’ll see my repeated responses to the claimed WA history re: their long history is worthy of taking precedence in all things over the neighborhood in which they reside. I/we didn’t headline this post as “Pattern of Abuse,” the web master did. Please separate my post and the headline for accuracy.

During the public hearing of the WA’s application – one that was challenged by concerned citizens – there were repeated statements by Academy supporters that they ONLY wanted to play a PA system for 3 or 4 times during the fall for football games in the afternoon. Added to this was the refrain, “there will be NO lights.”

My understanding is that PZC now presents newly revise regs to allow the WA any type of tall lighting they wish to install while all other parts of Woodstock will remain, well, nicely and quietly in the dark .

Obviously, with recent loud PA along with fog horns for a Lacrosse games (with few spectators) on a rare warm April afternoon/evening, we know once again that nothing said by Academy supporters or our local PZC can be trusted face value. 

Who’s rules should we all follow? Ours? We’re not allowed any. Theirs? Always a moving target. Or maybe — a resulting, well-crafted listing of rules that both supports Academy sports events but also respects a quiet, residential neighborhood. Now, that would be novel. Stranger things have happened.

Loud PA’s, tall lights, and music may well be the norm in other towns but it isn’t here. Yet. Can you explain how grating PA’s, non-relevant music , or brash announcements, spur teams on to WIN games or even represent good sportsmanship? What lessons do we want to promote in young adults? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to instill respect for neighbors by not using loud PA’s or stadium lights? Woodstock Academy Seniors attend a Tea at Roseland Cottage each year when they graduate. They don jackets or dresses and do this because of history, because of respect they have for themselves, their school, and their community. Why can’t Academy teams win and be highly successful without PA’s and pole lights? This year’s Academy Basketball team surely did that in spades. And isn’t that just the best.