Government/Town

First Responders Offer Family Fun

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The Family Fun Day & Fireworks on August 4 was presented by Suffield’s first responders: Fire, Police, Ambulance, and Highway, coordinated by the Department of Emergency Management. The event was a new mix of the National Night Out observed here for the last three years and the traditional Firemen’s Carnival. 

On the Spaulding School parking lot were the various interesting machines of the first responders: fire trucks, ambulances, off-road rescue vehicles, and more. Kids also enjoyed playing “patient” in the Ambulance Association’s power-elevated gurney or trying to manage that hefty nozzle firing a major stream of water into the Fire Department’s portable pond. On the grass field, there was an abundance of bounce houses, a dunking tank, the challenging climbing tower, and the Roaming Railroad, along with face painting and balloon sculpting and plenty of food trucks. And the helicopter rides introduced with the National Nights Out were back again, and still popular.

Library

Leonard Bernstein’s 100th Year

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Leonard Bernstein was widely known as a flamboyant and intuitive conductor although he considered himself a composer first. He left us with many enduring compositions, well-known musicals such as West Side Story, Candide and On the Town but also sacred music, Chichester Psalms and his Mass. With the use of television, he was able to widely promote classical music appreciation in his Young People’s Concerts. The critics loved the series. It, along with being the handsome, stylish conductor of the New York Philharmonic, elevated Bernstein to star status.

Library

Library Book Sale

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The Friends of Kent Memorial Library are putting the finishing touches on this year’s book sale. Happily, it will once again be held in Father Ted Hall at Sacred Heart Church at 446 Mountain Road. Ample free parking will be available adjacent to the air-conditioned, handicapped-accessible big room in which the sale will take place. The book sale will take place on the weekend of September 7-9, beginning with a preview sale from 6-8 p.m. on Friday. For that event only, there is an admission fee of $5, but Friends of KML members get in free.

Library

Correction

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In the Observer’s July-August issue, the knowledgeable enthusiast who was to lead the baseball trivia contest on August 9 was misidentified. He was Karl Cicitto, not Karl Cicotte. (Demonstrating his expertise, Mr. Cicitto advises that Ed Cicotte was one of the eight Chicago White Sox ballplayers banned permanently from Major League Baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series.)

Director’s Corner

Racists

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Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” and other unpalatably racist comments. For this, the American Library Association dropped her name from their children’s award, which was begun in 1954. Theodor Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, depicted a Chinese man in a derogatory stereotypical fashion in, I Heard It on Mulberry Street. For this, the Springfield Museum removed a mural with the image from its wall. There are countless authors who have written and said offensive things.

Organizations

An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe

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The Suffield Historical Society will meet on Wednesday, September 19 at 7 p.m. at the Suffield Senior Center. 

Guest speaker, Campbell Harmon, will perform in character The Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven. 

He will also talk about Edgar Allen Poe’s life and the profound influences his work had on American literature. 

Join us to learn about Poe’s life. Come and be enthralled!

History

100 Years Ago in Suffield

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Selected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Town Historian Lester Smith.  September 6

A new laundry is being established at the Suffield School and electric washing machines and mangles have been installed. This is along the line of economy and good business practiced by the school. The school has besides its herd of cows, about forty pigs and five hundred pullets and are assured of fresh farm products. .

Library

Library Project Nears Completion

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Two months ago it seemed that signing the PCB abatement contract was imminent, but at the Observer’s current mid-month deadline, the contract had been signed only by AAIS, the contractor. It was soon signed for the Town. Facilities Director Julie Oakes explained that the delay had nothing to do with contract problems – both parties were ready – but the Public Works Department had just been too busy with other matters, like concepts for a new Town Hall and putting a new roof on Spaulding School. Start of work now awaits EPA approval of a work plan to be written by AAIS. In the meantime, problems with the new HVAC equipment have been repaired and the system has been subjected to extensive testing, including repetitive cycles of reversing valve operation, all under the watchful eye of a separate contractor functioning as a commissioning agent.

Through the Looking Glass

Managing Those Annoying Passwords

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Not long ago television news reported on high school students who had invented a password storage device and were setting up a business to sell it. The device stored passwords and allowed the user to access them by displaying a fingerprint. The whole password situation is very annoying. It is often tempting to decide against visiting a site or doing anything on it, simply to avoid adding yet another password to your collection. Many people use the same password over and over, a practice the experts strongly disparage.

Churches

Old Church Saved

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The cherished old building really was in danger of collapse. Glenn Neilson, an experienced construction manager and the member responsible for the care of the First Baptist Church up on Hasting’s Hill at the end of Russell Avenue, had seen some pieces of the ceiling on the floor of the sanctuary and realized there was a problem. And when he climbed into the attic, he found that several key connections in the old post-and-beam framework, built in 1846, were rotted away and the structure was coming apart. So, with the help of Building Inspector Ted Flanders and Tom DiBlasi, a professional structural engineer, he planned the repairs. Brian Doyon, a much-respected local carpenter, agreed to tackle the job.

Now and Then

School Lore

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When Suffield’s economy was primarily agricultural and the top crop was tobacco, there were occasional years when Suffield schools did not open until tobacco was harvested. Children in tobacco-growing families and neighborhoods participated in the harvesting. And school could not start until their work was done. Weather set the opening date of school. Browsing through old town reports, diaries and scrapbooks one finds glimpses into the history of Suffield education.

Churches

Vendors Wanted

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We are seeking Vendors for our Christmas Bazaar held at Sacred Heart Church, 446 Mountain Road, Suffield, CT to be held on Saturday, November 3rd from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All proceeds go to the Sacred Heart Women’s Guild Scholarship Fund. For details call Elizabeth at 860-668-4246 or email sheart.church@sbcglobal.net. 

Churches

Fall Tag & Bake Sale

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Saturday, September 22, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Copper Hill United Methodist Church
27 Copper Hill Road, East Granby
Baked goods, “Treasures”
Come early for best selection. Donation drop off
Saturday, September 15, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Call Susan at 860-668-1031 for more information