Volume 18, Number 18
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
www.berlincitizen.com
Thursday, June 5, 2014
‘Outstanding’ turnout at picnic By Charles Kreutzkamp The Berlin Citizen
A crowd gathered for a talk by retiring State Archaeologist Nick Bellantoni at the BerlinPeck Memorial Library. | (Charles Kreutzkamp / The Berlin Citizen)
The annual UpBeat Picnic had an “outstanding turnout, with weather like we haven’t had in three years,” according to UpBeat Coordinator Alice Mitchell. UpBeat members like Brandon Armetta, Calvin Johnson, and Lisa Greico dressed up in costumes that included ketchup and mustard bottles, a hot dog, and Spongebob Squarep-
ants to solicit UpBeat donations. “The picnic is a great event that brings the whole town together,” Mitchell said. “We’re grateful to the Lions Club for hosting us again this year.” Meanwhile, Berlin High School senior Karol Nawalaniec participated in a soak-the-staff booth where donations were solicited for the chance to throw wet See Picnic / Page 7
Crowd digs archaeologist By Charles Kreutzkamp
sarcophagus” (it turned out to be a similarly designed coffin from New Jersey), More than 50 people gath- and was even given a Lakota ered at the Berlin-Peck Me- name (Taku wan waste okile: morial Library May 28 to see He who finds good) after asNick Bellantoni, retiring Con- sisting in the repatriation of a necticut state archaeologist, buried Lakota tribesman. “It was awesome,” said reflect on his “greatest hits.” “I always enjoy coming to Donna Rudge, a member of the Historical Society who Berlin,” Bellantoni said. “You never know where attended the event. “He was archeology is going to take so engaging.” “He was here a couple years you,” Bellantoni said. The archaeologist has studied bones ago and it was very popular,” from colonial burials, investi- said Lorraine Stub, vice chair gated a suspected “Egyptian of Berlin’s Historic District The Berlin Citizen
Commission and secretary of the Historical Society. One of Bellantoni’s greatest hits involved recovering a time capsule from the New Haven Green. The state archaeologist was called in after a tree went down from Hurricane Sandy, exposing some buried remains. The case later led to the discovery of the nearby time capsule. The April 9, 1909 Time Capsule was placed in concrete to commemorate the See Archaeologist / Page 6
The UpBeat picnic featured free hot dogs and activities for all ages. For more photos, visit TheBerlinCitizen.com. | (Charles Kreutzkamp / The Berlin Citizen)
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