Auburn Animal Hospital Now Seeing Dogs! FREE First Exam Spring Packages Available New Evening Hours 209 Southbridge St., Auburn, MA 01501 (508) 832-0022 • www.AuburnAnimal.com (508) 943-4800 Newsstand: 75 cents www.auburnnews.net Friday, April 25, 2014 THIS WEEK’S QUOTE “Charity sees ‘All of us have a part in this’ the need, not the cause.” German Proverb INSIDE CALENDAR ..............A13 OPINION ................... A6 SENIORS .............A2, 13 OBITUARIES .............A13 SPORTS ...............A9-10 LOCAL Pupils take part in the ceremonial groundbreaking. David Dore photos Trout fishing and getting ready for ROUND BROKEN FOR NEW UBURN IDDLE CHOOL turkey season G A M S Page A2 BY DAVID DORE said, there will be something she fire station and superintendent’s Joining Alexis as student essay STONEBRIDGE PRESS STAFF WRITER can sink her teeth into next door. office. contest winners at the ground- AUBURN — For second-grader “I will go to Crystal Caves and As trucks worked behind them breaking were kindergartners Alexis Nordman, it’s not just the get ice cream,” Alexis said. and the wind whipped around Griffin Nashold and Beckham SPORTS things she will learn, the instru- That got a big laugh from the them, the pupils and some adults Chouinard, first-graders Julia ment she hopes to play (the clar- people who gathered Thursday, donned hard hats and dug com- Rocheford and Elijah Lampano, inet) and the new, shiny lockers April 17 to hear her and other memorative shovels into the second-grader Samuel Soloperto, that will make the new Auburn pupils read essays at the ground- ground to mark the symbolic third-graders Lily-Ann C’Miel Middle School great. breaking for the new middle start to a project several years in When classes are over, she school on West Street, next to the the making. Turn To SCHOOL, page A12 Exchange Auburn earns consolation Shepherd Hill program prize in Rocket Classic softball topples Rockets, 7-5 seeking local ROCKETS BASE- Page A10x host families BALL OUTLASTS NORTHBRIDGE, 3-2 LEARNING BY AMANDA COLLINS BY NICK ETHIER STONEBRIDGE PRESS STAFF WRITER SPORTS STAFF WRITER Of course to locals, the towns AUBURN — Although the conso- of Southbridge, Charlton, Dudley, lation game of the Rocket Classic Oxford, Spencer, Auburn and baseball tournament was on nei- the like don’t seem like an exotic ther team’s radar, either Auburn High or Northbridge High had the opportunity to earn a victory and improve to 1-1 on the day. Behind strong pitching and an important sixth inning triple from Ryan Kozlowski, and a safe- ty squeeze by Conor Scully, the Rockets edged the Rams, 3-2, to take A new era begins third place in the four-team tourna- for Auburn ment played April 22. “Luckily things bounced our way Middle School today because Northbridge could Courtesy photos have won that game, too,” Auburn Page A4 A foreign exchange student who stayed head coach Eric Swedberg said. last summer with a local host family Over at Auburn High, Whitman- feeds ducks in Boston’s Public Garden. Hanson won the tournament Nick Ethier photos OPINION Ryan Kozlowski of Auburn delivers a pitch to the plate in the Rockets’ 3-2 victory over Turn To EXCHANGE, A15 Turn To CLASSIC, A9 page page Northbridge in the consolation game of the Rocket Classic played April 22. GET YOUR POINT ACROSS PAGE A6 Group seeks to preserve ‘one of the last great highways’ BY AMANDA COLLINS founded the Historic US Route 20 ders through small-town America Their mission will be delivered STONEBRIDGE PRESS STAFF WRITER Association, with a mission to pre- just as it did in 1926 right here in through promotion, preservation, serve and promote the highway’s our backyards. Yet, Route 20 has and education, such as the upcom- Nat King Cole may have gotten history and significance. He’ll be in always played second fiddle to its ing presentation in Sturbridge. his kicks on Route 66, but Bryan Sturbridge on Tuesday, May 13, to more famous cousin.” They hope to establish branches in Farr spent some of the best times of present the organization’s goals to Farr, along with a board of four each of the 12 states Route 20 runs his life driving through small-town the Planning Board. other members, is working to iden- through to work on a local level and America on Route 20. Farr says what’s special about tify and preserve the cultural impor- to tie it all together with the place- A few years ago, the Boston res- Route 20, which is America’s longest tance of, and promote the economic ment of historic signage from coast ident drove from his hometown highway, is that it “has not been lost development of inner cities, small to coast. to Newport, Ore., in a 3,365-mile to history, cut up, or rerouted to towns and rural communities along “We aim to work the leaders of cross-country journey along what the other interstates. Everybody’s the more than 3,000-mile stretch the communities and states as well he calls “one of the last great high- obsessed with or romanticizes of road that locally runs through as with other organizations to place ways,” Route 20. Route 66 when they think American Brimfield, Sturbridge, Charlton, signage on sections of Route 20 des- During his trek, Farr became so highways, that I kept thinking to Oxford, Auburn, and Millbury. ignating them as ‘Historic Routes,’” myself, we have the longest intact Long ago, it was known in this area 6 5652510391 9 smitten with the road and the land- scape it snakes through, that he highway in the country, that mean- as the Boston Post Road. Turn To ROUTE 20, page A15 2 • THE AUBURN NEWS • Friday, April 25, 2014 Trout fishing and getting ready for turkey season Making sure that your gear is ready for Fresh water trout fishing is steadily the April 28 opening of turkey season is improving locally with trout feeding best extremely important. Mouth calls need a during early morning and early evening shot of cleaning solution to insure that hours. they have no contaminants before placing Anglers fishing with power baits are them in your mouth. Box calls need to be doing well, but anglers trolling streamer chalked and slates need to be roughed up flies are also starting to catch many fish. to insure that they make a realistic call. Steve Mercure, Kirt Salvas and his two Turkey decoys need to be checked and if sons fished Wallum Lake on Sunday, April they need a touch up of paint now is a good 13, and had fast action trolling lures just time to do it. under the surface. More than 30 trout were This past month, this writer has been brought to watching numerous turkey hunting shows the net and on television. On one program, a hunter THE GREAT released. It was using a real beat up decoy and I thought is great to he may be on to something. After thinking UTDOORS O see adults about ways to dress up one of my decoys, I encourag- thought that just maybe I could fasten a cou- RALPH ing young ple of old turkey wings to a beat up decoy. fishermen to TRUE Placing one on each side of the decoy and release trout they pretty much covered up the body. Next, back into the I took a tail that was dried from last year’s water. bird and placed it onto a stick. Perfect. The The only complaint from anglers fish- dried fan tail was set up in back of the bird’s ing Wallum Lake was that the trout were body and there it was — I had a new decoy small, with many brown trout measuring — and I bet it is going to work just great. 10 to 12 inches. I guess they will need to go Purchasing an imitation fan tail at any to Comet Pond or the Cape to catch a few sporting goods store can run you $50 or big fish, or you could fish rod and gun club more. Make sure your camo clothing is ponds and land a lunker rainbow trout like ready, or if you are hunting from a blind as Ken Mercer’s grandson did last week at the I do, that the unit is ready to set up quickly Uxbridge Club. See this week’s picture for Courtesy photos and the stakes to hold the tent in place are more. Caiden Bernard, 8, landed a huge, 6-pound-plus rainbow trout on a small ultra light rod and 4-pound included. A windy day can have your blind Fishing for lake trout at Wachusett test line with a rough rider lure for bait last week at the Uxbridge Rod & Gun Club. The huge rainbow sailing across an open field at the most inop- Reservoir last week was great for shore had a girth of 15 inches and measured 25 inches long. His grandfather, Ken Mercer, is having the fish portune time. fishermen casting lures and fishing live mounted for him. Congratulations, young man. Trout fishing should only get better in the coming weeks Cleaning your bird can be done in two bait. The Quabbin Reservoir was post- as Mass Fish & Wildlife trucks expand their stocking schedules. ways. Breasting out the bird and removing poned again last week but is slated to open the legs is the fastest way to clean them. this Saturday, April 26, to boat fishermen. Saltwater fishing was still slow as of this in a few weeks.