The Southington
Cit itii zen
Volume 7, Number 7
Southington’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Pink Zone initiative unites rivals on court By Julie Sopchak The Southington Citizen
Kennedy and DePaolo Middle Schools clashed again for their traditional rivalry match. But this time around, the fight wasn’t centered around two middle school girls’ basketball teams, but rather the fight against breast cancer. The game was carried on as a Pink Zone event, which are part of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Pink Zone initiative. Teams hold fundraisers and wear pink for a scheduled game and donate the funds to breast cancer research. This particular Pink Zone event on Feb. 4 was held to benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, which is part of the Jimmy V Fund and the WBCA.
DePaolo girls basketball coach Val DePaolo is a member of the WBCA, and also played basketball at the collegiate level, so she is familiar with this type of event. She said she thought it would be a great idea for the middle school to take part in this. “I played at Boston University, and all the colleges tend to do a ‘pink game,’ usually in February, and you see them they’re wearing pink,” she said. “Obviously we can’t do that, but we kind of do it on our own scale.” Her team sported pink shoelaces and pink hair ribbons, since pink jerseys weren’t really an option. In addition, the girls decorated and customized their own pink T-shirts with their names and numbers and othSee Pink, page 8
Snowy visitor
All aboard at The Summit
Photo by Deb Mikan
A wide variety of train layouts at The Summit of Plantsville has visitors young and old amazed at the variety during the display on Sunday.
Coach's dedication made life better for youth through sports By Michael Guerrera The Southington Citizen
Photo courtesy of John Notar-Francesco
Winding Ridge resident John Notar-Francesco snapped this photo of a bobcat that has visited his yard numerous times. Story on page 2.
Friday, Februar y 18, 2011
What people will remember when reflecting on the life of Dominic “Dom” D’Angelo, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 87, won’t be the number of wins he had as the head Southington High football coach for 21 seasons — 113 — or his tenure as the athletic director at the high school from 1962-1987, helping bring the school from tiny farm town to suburban metropolis, and it won’t be the fact that he was a standout athlete at then Lewis High and in college at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. No, what they will remember first, before all else, is
that he was simply a terrific guy, with great character, who tried to make everyone around him a better person — no more, no less. “Dom was a unique guy. Easy going, nice guy who loved the kids and loved being around them,” said long-
time friend John Fontana, who also coached baseball during the same era D’Angelo was roaming the football sidelines. D’Angelo began to leave his mark as a mentor in the
See Mentor, page 11
Legislators predict higher taxes in future By Julie Sopchak The Southington Citizen At the Southington Board of Education’s annual Legislative Breakfast last Friday, the board met with three of the state’s legislators that represent Southington. State
Rep. Bruce “Zeke” Zalaski of the 81st District, state Rep. Robert Sampson, 80th District, and state Sen. Joe Markley, 18th District, were in attendance to discuss several prominent issues facing
See Taxes, page 19