Around the Clock Coverage Returns to Troop D
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Mailed free to requesting homes in Brooklyn, the borough of Danielson, Killingly & its villages Vol. VII, No. 21 Complimentary home delivery (860) 928-1818/email:[email protected] Friday, April 4, 2014 THIS WEEK’S QUOTE Around the clock coverage “Well done is returns to Troop D better than well said.” LOCAL, STATE LEADERS PRAISE DECISION OF NEW COMMISSIONER Benjamin Franklin BY JASON BLEAU VILLAGER STAFF WRITER “This is a well-deserved In late 2013, the Connecticut State Police officially initiated a consolidation effort shot in the arm for INSIDE that would house all civilian dispatchers Jason Bleau photos in one location at the Troop C Barracks northeastern Connecticut — A8 — OPINION in Tolland. Putnam Town Administrator Doug Cutler discusses the plans for First touted as a cost-cutting measure, the Regional Technology Park. PORTS and it’s about time.” B1-4 — S the exact motivation of the consolida- B3 — LEGALS tions has created controversy through- -Putnam Mayor Tony Falzarano B5 — REAL ESTATE out eastern Connecticut and interrupted 24/7 coverage of many towns statewide. in Danielson. Sparks fly over B7-8— OBITS The consolidation was a continuation of Department of Emergency Services and B9 — CLASSIFIEDS similar efforts in the western portion of Public Protection (DESPP) Commissioner the state and was reportedly the brain- Dora Schriro announced the restoration regional tech park child of current Deputy Commissioner of on Monday, March 24, after outcry from the Department of Emergency Services the public about the limited business LOCAL and Public Protections Colonel Danny hours of police barracks across the state UTNAM CONTINUES PUSH Stebbins. and its impact on public safety were heard P After months of persuasions and out- loud and clear. FOR INVESTMENTS FROM cry, local elected officials and many on “After careful review, I have deter- the state level are partially getting their mined that our State Police barracks need NEIGHBOR TOWNS wishes granted with the return to 24/7 to be open and accessible to the public trooper coverage at all State Police bar- BY JASON BLEAU better understanding of racks in Connecticut, including Troop D Please Read TROOP D, page A12 VILLAGER STAFF WRITER the benefits included with Officials from the town of investing in the park, and Putnam made a pitch before received mixed reactions the member towns of the from peers, as some thought DANIELSON — Northeastern Connecticut the investment might be HEALTHY Quinebaug Valley Council of Governments worth exploring, while oth- Community College was (NECCOG) on Friday, ers felt like Putnam was filled with activity on March 28, hoping to gain simply looking for a way to KIDS Saturday, March 29, as support and investments pay for a park that would, it hosted the Regional for the town’s new regional in the end, essentially be A passion for Community YMCA technology park set to be theirs and nobody else’s. planning and zoning Healthy Kids Day. The erected in the next couple Cutler laid out the details event put a focus on of years. of Phase 1 of the Regional Page A3 healthy living options to Less than a month after Technology Park, explain- educate children in how securing a land deal with ing that this phase would to be happy, healthy and Wheelabrator, officials have include the Regional YMCA. active in their everyday amped up their push for “Right now the entire FINANCIAL FOCUS lives. Pictured, Danielson support as both excitement proposed Tech Park is com- Martial Arts students and animosity towards posed of 267 acres,” Cutler PAGE A16 showed off the skills they the project grows through- said. “We expect to be able have learned in their out the region. Putnam to have 20 lots carved out ON THE GO training. This young boy Selectman Scott Pempek of that space. We are going showed his skills with a to do this on the basis of at PAGE A16 and Town Administrator bow staff during a demon- Doug Cutler took time out least two phases. Phase 1, stration. For more pho- of their schedules to present the initial phase, involved tos, turn to page A5! the full details of the project the land the Putnam recently received from Jason Bleau photos to representatives of other NECCOG towns to give a Please Read TECH PARK, page A17 Recreating history Visit our website with your smart phone or tablet device! OSV SEES EARLY BENEFITS OF Just scan the “QR code” below with your device and RELATIONSHIP WITH KILLINGLY HIGH instantly be linked to our website, www.villagernews- BY JASON BLEAU between the school and the VILLAGER STAFF WRITER papers.com, where you can Village and also drew attention read the PDF versions of KILLINGLY — It’s a part- to the hard work Killingly stu- our newspapers! It’s as easy nership that has become one dents have done to take origi- as that! of Killingly High School’s most nal artifacts and create exact recent crowning achievements, duplicates that will be used for and on Thursday, March 27, hands-on activities throughout students of the high school’s the museum’s grounds. Technology and Engineering Debra Friedman, vice presi- Department were praised for dent of Public Programs at Old their work reproducing pieces Sturbridge Village, explained of history for Old Sturbridge that the growing relationship Village. between the living museum The school hosted officials and the school expands well from the living museum who beyond reproductions of arti- Jason Bleau photos discussed the relationship This wheelbarrow proved to be one of the most challenging projects the students were Please Read HISTORY, page A16 faced with in reproducing original artifacts from Old Sturbridge Village. A2 • Friday, April 4, 2014 KILLINGLY VILLAGER The amazing life of John Brewster Jr. One of my favorite weekly pro- Windham County.” (p. 6-4) nating and thought you might also “The three-vehicle caravan that grams on television is “Antiques Apparently, John Jr. learned to enjoy the story. set out to do just that was bare- Road Show.” KILLINGLY paint from an “accomplished por- “Trucking’s Pioneer - The ly to the Akron outskirts when it Much to my surprise, when I was trait artist,” Rev. Joseph Steward, Wingfoot Express Story. One became mired in the mud. So began watching the program on March 24, AT 300 who substituted for Rev. Mosley, April morning in 1917, a group of an agonizing odyssey of muddy a folk art portrait by a man who was who was ill. Goodyear workers gathered in the ditches, broken bridges, blown out born in northeastern Connecticut “Junior used family members chilly dawn at the company garage tires and engine failures. was one of the items being shown MARGARET and friends in the village as his in Akron, Ohio. Before them stood “‘Every place we stopped we (and was valued at $8,000-$12,000). WEAVER models, in the process challenging an ungainly new truck, motor tick- attracted a crowd,’” Harry Smeltzer The artist, John Brewster Jr., was and enhancing his ability to com- ing quietly. The truck was a 5-ton later recalled. ‘People would come born in what is now Hampton in municate in his deafness.” (6-21) Packard, but the 10-foot-high, spe- around, kick the tires and want to 1766. A Google search brought forth in American Homespun, 1567-2000” John Brewster Jr.’s younger cially built body had been designed know if they were solid or pumped photos of his paintings and wealth did. I thought I’d include a few brother, Royal, had followed in by Goodyear. up.’” of information about him, includ- extracts. their father’s footsteps and had The plan was to establish the The Goodyear team pushed on, ing the startling fact that he was “Special efforts with little John become a doctor. In the 1790’s, first interstate trucking route across the Gettysburg battlefield deaf. I was intrigued and was anx- saw no season. The child knew he Royal moved to Buxton, Maine, by making regular nonstop runs and the farmlands of New Jersey, ious to see what I could unearth at was loved, for his parents’ arms and married. About a year later, from the Akron tire factory to through historic Trenton to New the Killingly Historical Society. were often around him, and as his John Jr. followed, living with his the company’s tire fabric mill in York and along the roads that bor- Now, Hampton was not incor- eyes gradually brought to him the brother and sister-in-law. Connecticut and return, a distance dered Long Island Sound. porated until 1786 (from Brooklyn, meaning of touch, hand motions, “There, he painted portraits of of 740 miles. Across the width of the “Finally, 21 days overdue, Canterbury, Mansfield, Pomfret facial expressions, and body lan- Royal, Rev. Coffin (and) … he paint- truck, behind the driver’s seat, was the bone-weary men in their and Windham) so I started check- guage, he began to use his own ed numerous portraits in nearby an enclosed sleeping compartment. mud-splattered truck entered the ing vitals in those “parent” towns form of communication. Little Portland, then launched his career Using a two-man crew, they would bucolic streets of Killingly, Conn. in The Barbour Collection of John’s direct eye contact with his down eastern seaboard cities.” alternate driving chores while one To their astonishment, they were Connecticut Town Vital Records. I mother, for example, was the signal (6-31) rested in what was to become the greeted by a crowd of hundreds of found nothing in several towns, but to her that he wanted to ‘talk,’ and More than 200 of his portraits first sleeper cab in the trucking Goodyear fabric mill girls and a then I was lucky! The Windham they then together could work out have been identified.