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Thursday, August 4, 2011
Library News
7pm, Tuesdays
Attempted Robbery
On Wednesday, August 03, 2011 at approximately 1:50 PM, Middletown Police officers responded to an attempted bank robbery at the Citizen’s Bank located at #211 South Main Street. A heavy set, white female entered the bank lobby wearing a tan colored hat with a brim, large, dark colored sun glasses, a dark blue shirt, blue colored Capri type pants, white gloves, carrying a blue colored reusable grocery bag. She was described as being short, around 5”0” tall, with long reddish, brown hair. Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My Photo Collection
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Fall events include U.S. & New England Premieres, Navaratri Festival, Lucier Celebration
A post from the Center for the Arts blog by Director Pamela Tatge:
At a time when so many of us are turning to YouTube to see performances by our favorite artists, we can lose sight of what it’s like to experience live performance. This fall, the Center for the Arts offers you a wide range of performances and exhibitions that will connect you with some of the brightest minds in contemporary art-making, transport you to foreign lands, and inspire you to think about the world in new ways—and the performers will never be more than 69 feet away!
We recognize that it has become increasingly difficult to classify a work as strictly music, dance, theater, visual art, or film as more artists are blurring the boundaries among disciplines. So we have merged our visiting artist performances into a single Performing Arts Series. We hope this will lead you to cross the boundaries of your own comfort zone and discover new artists and art forms.
Highlights of the fall season include the American premiere of the ground-breaking Italian movement theater collective Dewey Dell and the return of Philadelphia’s Rennie Harris Puremovement, that has been a trailblazer in taking hip hop forms from the street to the concert stage for nearly twenty years. We’ll also host two New England premieres: the astoundingly brilliant throat-singers and musicians from Inner Mongolia, AnDa Union and, continuing our collaboration with the College of the Environment, we’ll welcome Water is Rising, a breathtaking performance by a group of 35 dancers and musicians from the Pacific Island atolls, the first islands predicted to be submerged due to climate change. In November, the Music Department and CFA join forces to celebrate Alvin Lucier, internationally renowned composer who has just retired after serving on our faculty for four decades. Alvin Lucier: A Celebration features a major symposium, concert series, film screenings and an exhibition curated by Andrea Miller-Keller.
With performances and exhibitions by visiting artists, students and faculty, there is an extraordinary amount of good work to see at Wesleyan this fall, with 60% offered free to the public or at ticket prices that make us one of the most affordable venues in the state. Tickets are on sale now online. Starting at 10am on Tuesday, August 16, you can call or visit the Wesleyan University Box Office at 860-685-3355 to receive a 10% discount on your purchase of four or more Performing Arts Series events (and if you buy six or more "Performing Arts Series" events, you'll save 15%!) Starting August 16, you will also be able to buy subscription packages for both the 35th annual Navaratri Festival (a 15% savings) as well as the Alvin Lucier Celebration (a 25% savings!)
Please join us. We appreciate that you believe, as we do, in the power of the arts to add meaning to our lives and to remind us of the capacity of the human spirit. Thanks for making Wesleyan’s CFA your center for the arts.
Vet's Swim Meet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VET’S POOL TO HOST CHAMPIONSHIP MEET
Middletown, CT) On Wednesday August 3, Middletown’s Vet’s Pool Summer Swim Team will host the Central Connecticut Summer Swim League (CCSL) Senior Championship at Middletown High School. More than 400 young swimmers from Berlin to Tolland and beyond will descend upon Middletown for the swim competition.
The event marks the first time the Middletown team will host the CCSL championship meet. “We are excited to welcome this group and host this event here in Middletown,” said Nick Dagenais, Founder and Program Director of the Vet’s Pool Summer Swim Team. “As a young team currently in our fifth season, I’m proud of how our program has grown and evolved into a truly competitive team,” said Dagenais.
The Vet’s swim team began in 2007 as an instructional and competitive program of the Middletown Parks and Recreation Department for the youth of Greater Middletown. Since its inception, the team has nearly doubled its membership and today has more than 100 swimmers.
Vet’s began competing in the CCSL in 2009, and finished last summer’s season in third place. In 2009, the seniors placed first in Division III, and just this week the junior group (swimmers younger than 13) clinched first place in the Division.
“The kids work hard at practice and it’s a pleasure to watch them improve week after week. Their efforts pay off as their performances improve and you see their confidence and enthusiasm spread,” said Dagenais. “It’s rewarding to watch the kids not only improve individually, but unite as a team. They support and rally around one another,” said Dagenais. “There’s a true team spirit and sense of camaraderie among our swimmers.”
Dagenais captained the Middletown High boys swim team from 2006-2007, and swam for Boston College’s NCAA Division I varsity swim team, serving as captain his senior year. Dagenais coaches the Vet’s Summer Swim team along with four assistants who bring extensive experience to the team as former high school and collegiate swimmers.
The CCSL Senior Championship will feature swimmers ages 13-18 from the towns of Berlin, Bloomfield, East Hartford, Enfield, Middletown, Rocky Hill, Simsbury, South Windsor, Tolland, Vernon, Wethersfield, Windsor, and Windsor Locks. The meet will begin at 5:00 p.m. at Middletown High School, 200 LaRosa Lane.
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Program Director
Middletown, Vet’s Swim Team
Media Contact: Lynn Higgs
(860) 659-7666
A Day With CATALES
It’s nearly 1:00 pm on a perfect summer Saturday.
Three volunteers for Catales, Inc. sit in the shade outside the eastern entrance to the Cromwell Stop & Shop. They are here for what Catales calls a “Sit and Beg.”
Margery May, Sandra Reynolds and Reid Smalley at the Catales Inc. Sit and Beg
Catales, which stands for Connecticut Association To Assure Love & End Suffering, is a non-profit no-kill cat shelter located in Middletown. Catales is run completely by volunteers dedicated to making life better for the over-abundance of cats in and around Middlesex county.
As I approach their table I see one volunteer saying “Thank you thank you, would you like a hug?” as she embraces a patron who just dropped some supplies in the cart. That’s Sandra Reynolds. She’s been volunteering for Catales for about 2 months now. Bubbly and enthusiastic, Reynolds is a seasoned volunteer and has worked with everyone from Habitat for Humanity, The American Heart Association and Special Olympics, to the Middletown Lion’s Club, the USO and the Salvation Army. She looks to her nametag lanyard at a giant collection of pins to try to remember and rattle off all the places she has volunteered, and then turns from me quickly to greet an incoming shopper.
The friendly crew asks shoppers if they would like to contribute to the Cat Shelter by buying and donating anything on Catales shopping list. The list includes expected items like wet and dry cat food, but it also contains some items you might not immediately think of. They need lots of Clorox and/or Lysol wipes. Paper towels, dryer sheets and bleach round out today’s shopping list.
Shari Dupuis and her daughters Autumn and Isabel drop a few cans of cat food in one of the carts. I ask if they’ve ever heard of Catales before today. Isabel tells me they know all about Catales because a friend volunteers there feeding cats and cleaning litter boxes. Isabel hopes to become a volunteer next year so she can do the same.
A man comes out of the store and drops a few cans on the table. Shamus Slominski has never heard of Catales before but he’s a cat lover. He has a cat at home and says “I know their cats need food and I wanted to do what I can to help.”
Margery May is here working too. She’s been working with Catales since 1999 doing things like caring for the cats, cleaning litter boxes (an ever important duty in a cat shelter!) and helping with various fund raisers. This is her first Sit and Beg. She resonates sincere and grateful thanks as she takes donations from Tracy Ritter of Middletown. Ritter has 3 cats at home and has called Catales for advice about the colony of homeless cats that she sometimes feeds out in back of her condo. Along with her donation of food she thought to pick up a scratching post for the cats.
Margery May and Tracy Ritter 
The line of shoppers adding goods to the Catales shopping carts is nonstop. Eva Bonhwicz has two dogs and no cats, but she gave because she loves all animals. Laura Dowd of Higganum doesn’t currently have any cats but she used to have two that she adopted from Forgotten Felines in Clinton. She appreciates the work that no-kill cat shelters do. Sue Desorbo got a kitten from Catales 8 or 10 years ago. Sadly, she lost that cat to cancer when it was 5. She has three cats now, all adopted from various local shelters. Carolyn Garofoli always contributes when she sees Catales. Usually she gives food but today she decided to buy a huge package of paper towels. Another woman didn’t have any supplies when she came out of the store but she opened her purse and put some money in the donation jar as she told us about her 15 year old cat at home with kidney problems.
Feline health problems are something Catales is quite familiar with. Many of their residents are special needs cats waiting for their special owners. Some have diabetes, or asthma or thyroid problems or any number of other health issues, but that doesn’t stop Catales from loving them and trying to find them forever homes. All cats deserve a good life.
One of the rising stars in Catales’ organization, helping to insure that the cats get the good life they deserve, is Reid Smalley. He’s the coordinator of the Sit and Beg events. Avuncular and smiling, Smalley hands out shopping lists, chats with the many people eager to be of some help, keeps track of the merchandise sales, and efficiently sorts through the donations. He doesn’t have a schedule that allows for a regular volunteer shift, so instead he takes time out of his summer weekends to make all this happen. He’s only been involved with Catales since last year but he’s pleased to be able to participate.
There’s a lot involved with coordinating such an event. Smalley first contacts the store managers to make arrangements for setting up the table. Then he networks with the volunteer coordinator to make sure the shifts can be covered. The morning of an event he gathers the table, the signs, the merchandise and brings it all to the site and sets up. Spending the next four hours informing people of Catales mission and the work they do seems to be the easy part. When it’s all done he’ll transport the contents of three bulging shopping carts back to the shelter for sorting and storing.
These events are very successful and extremely helpful in keeping Catales well stocked but the need never diminishes. If you’d like to help Catales, there are many ways to do so:
You could visit Catales.org and make a donation. Monetary donations go towards expenses such as veterinarian bills and the costs of medicine and transportation.
You could become a sponsor, or a foster, or a volunteer (info on the website.)
You could volunteer your skills as a carpenter, plumber, or electrician.
You could collect coupons for supplies they need and mail them to Catales Inc.
You could come to Walmart in Cromwell next Saturday, August 6th from 10a-2p and be part of a Sit and Beg.
Reid Smalley – Sit and Beg coordinator
Back at our Sit and Beg things are winding down. The volunteers aren’t handing out the lists any more for fear of being gone by the time shoppers come out of the store. A man comes rushing up to the table enthusiastically, “Am I too late? Where’s the list? I came to shop for you.” He’s told that the table will only be here until 2:00 and he says “I’ll be right back.”
His name is James Myrick. His wife told him Catales was here. Myrick has two cats at home – Moorea and Jasmine. He returns to the table a few short minutes later with four huge bags of dry cat food (all different brands and varieties), three large boxes of canned food and an extra large bag of cat toys. “All cats need toys” he told me. He wasn’t even here to shop for himself. It was a great addition to the bounty of the day.
The last person I saw before I left the volunteers to their packing up was Jean Dufrat who contributed a big bag of canned food. When I asked her why she chose to participate in the Sit and Beg she threw her hands in the air and practically shouted “Because I love animals!” Then she leaned in close to me and theatrically whispered “Sometimes more than people.”
Monday, August 1, 2011
Late Summer Council Meeting Avoids Storm
A potentially-contentious debate was avoided after the resolution to make improvements at the MAT bus station with federal transit funds was removed.
There was some debate on the funding of control amendments for an Emergency Operations Center in City Hall when Council member Bob Santangelo took strong exception to the room as the location for the center.
"When you make command decisions during an emergency you need quiet," Santangelo said, noting that the room was neither secure, nor quiet.
Council member Deborah Kleckowsky noted that the antenna was being sought now to take advantage of state grants.
The authorization to submit the application for the grants was approved by the Council.
The Council returned a resolution to grant free-parking for handicap permits back to committee for further study.
The Council also heaped praise on Middnight On Main organizers. The New Year's Eve celebration is the first town-wide, family-oriented New Year's event for the city. Council members voted unanimously to have the city partner in the event by promising $10,000 in city services.
Laugh Yourself Silly
Audiences of all ages will undoubtedly be in stitches during an evening of laughter when the improv touring troupe, Ever Chasing Alchemy takes the stage. The troupe, which has toured for the last two years, is under the direction of Peter Loffredo and consists of alumni’s from the Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) Educational Center for the Arts (ESCA). Actors will delight spectators through short form games heavily guided by audience participation and suggestions. The show is appropriate for teenagers and up.
Margery Dodge, a recent audience member at an Ever Chasing Alchemy show at the Whitney Center in Hamden, Connecticut exclaimed, “It was a treat to watch those young people and to enjoy all they communicated through body language and voice”. The first show launches on Thursday, August 4th at Oddfellows Playhouse; located at 128 Washington Street in Middletown, while the second will dazzle viewers on Friday, August 5th at the Arts Hall on 55 Audubon Street in New Haven. Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m and $10 tickets are available at the door.
ACES ECA is the oldest of the four magnet schools and serves students from a diversity of cultural backgrounds, experiences and interests in the arts. Proceeds from both performances will benefit Oddfellows Playhouse and the ACES ESCA Director’s Scholarship Fund.