www.southingtoncitizen.com
Volume 18, Number 9
Friday, February 26, 2021
Artist couple navigated race issues
Sciota seeks 2.81% more
Jocelyn Pannell is an art teacher in the Southington Public School system, working at Hatton and Thalberg elementary schools.
By Jesse Buchanan Record-Journal staff
By Joy VanderLek Special to The Citizen
Town Manager Mark Sciota is looking for a budget increase of just under 3 percent for the upcoming fiscal year in a spending plan that cuts three positions and adds a corporation counsel to the town’s payroll.
Pannell said she loves working with young children and adds that they’re generally open and honest. She grew up in Cheshire, the child of a white mother and Black father. During the time of the Black Lives Matter protests last spring, one second grader asked Pannell if she was “sad about what was happening on TV.” See Couple, A4
Black History Month See more stories from the Record-Journal’s coverage of Black History Month online at https://www.myrecord journal.com/bhm
U.S. Army WWII Veteran Henry Sklarski, of Southington, is moved to tears on Monday, Feb. 22, as he waves to a motorcade of police vehicles, veterans, active duty members and Mission BBQ staff passing by his residence in celebration of his 100th birthday. Dave Zajac, Record-Journal
Neighbors hold 100th birthday motorcade for World War II vet By Devin Leith-Yessian Record-Journal staff
home and sharing stories of his three years serving in the Army, where he was deployed to France and Germany and Dozens of cars paraded by the home of a rose to the rank of staff sergeant. World War II veteran on Monday to celeOne of those stories reveals how Sklarski brate his 100th birthday. met his wife while stationed in France. “I never expected all of this,” said Henry While Sklarski and his future wife were Sklarski, as neighbors brought presents separated when he was sent to Germany and glasses of champagne to his Stony for five months, by happenstance he was Creek Road home. He’s known in the moved back to the same town where neighborhood for sitting outside his
Sciota’s proposed budget totals nearly $55 million for the 2021-22 fiscal year, an increase of $1.5 million or 2.81 percent over the current spending plan. Sciota plans to eliminate two administrative positions and one clerical position. He’s hoping to add a corporation counsel/town manager’s assistant and two Public Works laborers. The town could also gain three firefighters next year if a federal grant is approved. “This budget also realizes the need to maintain our infrastructure and contains
See Veteran, A10
See Budget, A2
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