Volume 20, Number 46
www.TownTimes.com
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Friday, Februar y 28, 2014
Exchange Club is there for the community By Diana Carr
Special to Town Times
Brenda Eddy displays the badges earned by the Durham/Middlefield Exchange Club for their civic service. | (Diana Carr/Town Times)
Few people may know that when they are batting a ball around the tennis courts at Allyn Brook Park, in Durham, or their children are swinging from the playground equipment, or playing “Four Square” under the pavilion, that it is due in large part to funds raised by the Durham/ Middlefield Exchange Club. “We have 50 members from Durham and Middlefield,” said club President Brenda Eddy. “The Exchange Club is a national civic organization, and we’re a branch of it in Connecticut.” The purpose of Exchange Clubs is to raise money for civic and charitable causes on the local, state, and national levels, with an emphasis on Americanism, the prevention of child abuse (the national project),
the promotion of youth development, and responding to the needs of the community. Badges are given by the National Exchange Club for work in these categories. Some of the Durham/Middlefield Exchange Club’s local projects are: handing out flags before the Memorial Day parade; giving the Proudly We Hail award to people who meet the criteria of properly flying their flag; the annual giving of the Book of Golden Deeds award to someone who gives a lot back to the community; honoring firefighters and police in both towns (who have gone above and beyond the call of duty) with the Salute to Connecticut’s Finest and Connecticut’s Bravest awards; the Adopt-A-Road project, which involves picking up litter off our streets; giving the ACE award to a high school senior who has surmounted extraordinary challenges,
whether they be emotional, physical, or circumstantial; sponsorship of the Child Abuse Prevention Centers in Rockville and Stamford; and raising money for scholarships, fuel assistance, the Giving Trees in the town halls, the food banks, the District 13 music and athletic departments, and the Boy Scouts (Troop 27). There are four major fundraisers a year: a spaghetti dinner in March at Coginchaug Regional High School (this year March 9); an Easter flower sale on Easter weekend, in front of Strong School; the Washington 10K race on Memorial Day (the money comes from the runners’ fees); and the French Fries booth at the Durham Fair. “Almost 90 percent of the money we raise from these events goes to the two towns,” Eddy said, “with the rest going toward the national goal of the See Exchange / Page 2
District 13 sees school Helmet mandate contributes to closing options long wait times at Powder Ridge By Mark Dionne Town Times
At Coginchaug Regional High School on Feb. 19, well over 100 community members from Durham and Middlefield heard a presentation on declining enrollment followed by multiple options for school reconfiguration. As they have in past workshops, representatives from the architectural and education planning firm Drummey Rosane Anderson, Inc. presented what they characterized as two extremes — doing nothing on one end and re-building all the schools on the other —and then focused on options in the middle of that range. The three main options presented had one thing in
common. They each made space to close an elementary school by changing Strong Middle School from a 7-8 grade school to a 6-8 grade school. The option called “C1” closed Korn Elementary School and changed Lyman Elementary School and Brewster Elementary School to K-3 schools and changed Memorial Middle School from a 5-6 to a 4-5 school. The option called “C3” (“C2” was never presented) closed Lyman and Korn and created two K-5 elementary schools at Brewster and Memorial. Jim Barrett of DRA characterized this plan as “not practical” because it would require building almost the equivalent of a new See School / Page 2
By Molly Callahan Special to Town Times
(This is the first installment of a series on Powder Ridge ski area that will run in Town Times over the next several weeks. The recently re-opened facility has attracted attention across the state and the region as it brings new winter recreation opportunities to the area.) A typically busy day on the slopes was even more hectic at Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort because of its recent reopening and helmet requirement. The park reopened at the Charlie Herman, 9, of Essex, adjusts his helmet next to end of November for the mother, Jessie, while in the busy equipment rental area first time since 2007 with a of Powder Ridge in Middlefield on Monday. Helmets are mandatory at the newly restored ski area. | (Dave Zajac/ See Helmets / Page 15
Special to The Citizen)