People/Business

Connecticut High School Principal of the Year

By |

Joe Blake is a winner, in many ways. To begin with, the Suffield resident has recently received the Principal of the Year Award from the Connecticut Association of Schools. You might assume that such an award is given for curriculum advances, or for program development, or for the supervision of a building plan; for high-test scores or for winning athletic teams, or for some combination of those. Joe’s tenure was cited for many of those accomplishments, but the major factor that distinguished him from other candidates was the strength of his relationships with students at Coventry High School. Doesn’t every high school principal have relationships with students, one might ask?

People/Business

New Brewery in Home Stretch

By |

In late May the proprietors of the Broad Brook Brewery hung a big banner in front of the long-delayed construction project on South Street, announcing BROAD BROOK BREWERY COMING SOON. The foundation, steel framework, and exterior sheathing had been largely completed by April 2018, when the stop-work order was issued. As the Observer reported in May 2019, work resumed after a year’s delay. Arguments about how to satisfy questions about the foundation’s stability had been settled with a plan including exterior backfill with expanded polystyrene foam to reduce earth pressure on the foundation walls, along with exterior buttresses. In the first week of June, many large slabs of the designated foam, one foot thick by four feet wide and up to ten feet long, were carefully stacked up along about 100 feet of foundation wall, with a total thickness of four feet.

People/Business

CT Masters’ Games Track and Field Meet

By |

Three West Suffield competitors had perfect weather on May 18 for the Connecticut Masters’ Games Track and Field Meet at Veterans Stadium (Willowbrook Park) in New Britain. Sarah Seger competed in the 1500-meter race walk with a time of 17:55. Because she was the only 90+ female competitor, she finished first in her age division. Her next oldest competitor was age 67. Martha Oppenheimer (female 75-79) competed in four events.

People/Business

Rock’s Last Ride

By |

Rockwell Rookey, who died in West Suffield on May 18 at age 95, is carried past the Soldier’s Monument in Suffield Center at the head of his funeral procession to St. Joseph’s cemetery on Hill Street.

People/Business

An Inspirational Trip to Nepal

By |

Last year I embarked on what I had envisioned to be a trip of a lifetime – a trip to Nepal. Nepal had always been in the back of my mind as a place to see to experience the culture, the beauty and, of course, the Himalayan Mountains. A friend and I embarked on a trek to do the Annapurna Circuit in March of 2018 and loved every minute of it. We traveled through Nepalese villages, encountered numerous kind and loving people and trekked over the Thorung La Pass, one of the highest navigable passes in the world. Now, fast forward to January of 2019, when I saw an ad in Backpacker magazine to help rebuild schools ravaged by the 2015 Nepal earthquake, and, as a plus, hike to the very remote Nar Phu Valley region.