The Berlin
Cit itiz ize en
Volume 14, Number 42
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Open space grant will preserve Girl Scout property Rell in Berlin to announce $199,250 award
Citizen photo by Olivia L. Lawrence
At a podium set up at the Hatchery Brook Conservation area last week, Gov. M. Jodi Rell hands documents to Mayor Adam Salina. In the back row, officials watch the ceremony. From left: Deputy Mayor Steve Morelli, Rep. Catherine Abercrombie, Connecticut Girl Scouts CEO Jennifer Smith-Turner, Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, and Commissioner Amey Morella of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
By Olivia L. Lawrence The Berlin Citizen
Town, state and Girl Scout officials gathered at Hatchery Brook Conservation Area last week to hear Gov. M. Jodi Rell announce a state grant to support the preservation of the 44-acre Connecticut Girl Scout property as open space. The parcel provides a major “piece of the puzzle” in a greenway of open space, ac-
cording to Michael DeLorenzo, of the town’s Conservation Commission. The proposed greenway is described in the town’s Plan of Conser-
vation and Development and “we’re doing well,” he said, in terms of fulfilling that vision. “We hope in the future,
people will look at this and say ‘thank you for a job well done’,” Rell said. The governor was welcomed by Mayor Adam Salina, along with numerous local and state officials, at the Oct. 13 event. The Girl Scout property is
a link between Bicentennial Park, Hatchery Brook Conservation area, and Kensington Orchards. DeLorenzo said exisiting and planned trails, through the greenway,
See Grant, page 4
Famed trainer credits teacher with putting him on the right path By Nick Carroll The Berlin Citizen
Photo by Pamela Fuschino
Helen Aveline is the new director of the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library.
New director has a longstanding ‘love of libraries’ By Pamela Fuschino Special to The Citizen
Berlin-Peck Memorial Library has a new director. While she is not yet used to her “nice, new fancy office,” Helen Aveline seems to be settling in nicely. A huge basket of plants and purple flowers decorate her desk and a large bowl of chocolate kisses sit on a side table. That’s
all part of Aveline’s belief in an open door policy. “I hope people come in to meet me,” she said. Aveline came to Berlin from Newington’s Lucy Robbins Welles Library where she started in 1977 and was recently in charge of children’s services. She has a master’s degree from FairSee Director, page 9
He owns a gym, and has trained world champions in boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts. A Google search of his name generates nearly 96,000 results. Yeah, trainer Trevor Wittman certainly has come a long way since he walked through the doors of Berlin High School in 1989 an angry, isolated freshman. Nearly 20 years have past since Wittman left BHS, but he remembers those days, clearly, and still carries with him the lessons learned from his favorite teacher and coach, Jim Day. “He absolutely changed my life,” Wittman, now 36, said of Day. “If it was not for him, I do not think I would be where I am at. I owe my life to Jim. And my success in teaching is all
Google images
Trevor Wittman has trained a total of 11 world champions in boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts. Wittman, 36, said he owes all his success to his former teacher Jim Day. from how he taught me. “The most important thing he taught me was to treat everybody the same, whether they are born with natural gifts or with needs. I will never speak down to anybody, as that is what use to shut me down in the past. I believe if you speak to
everybody eye to eye and never feel you are above anybody; that is the key.” Another thing Wittman learned from Day, the current athletics director at BHS, is the power of posi-
See Trainer, page 31