Free pollinator program

Press Release

The Kensington Garden Club and the Berlin Land Trust are co-sponsoring a program at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 16, called “Succession of Bloom in Your Pollinator Garden.” Join us for this free program, open to the public, at the Berlin Peck Library, 234 Kensington Road, in The Delaney Room.

Nancy DuBrule-Clemente will explain the Pollinator Pathway movement and dis- cuss how your town can join. She will then walk you through the entire growing season, featuring her favorite pollinator plants for each month, including trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, herbs, grasses – even “weeds."

DuBrule-Clemente is founder of Natureworks, started in 1983 with a goal of providing organic gardening services to the community.

(natureworksgardencenter.com)

Letters Policy

Email Letters to the Editor to news@theberlincitizen.com. Letters are limited to 300 words. The Citizen will print only one letter per person each month. We reserve the right to edit letters. Letters must be signed and names will appear in print. Include a phone number so The Citizen can contact you for verification. Letters must be submitted by 5 p.m. Friday to be considered for publication the following Thursday.

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Singers sought

The Hartford Yard Goats Baseball Club, the Double-A Eastern League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, announced National Anthem auditions will be held Saturday, March 4, 9 a.m. to noon, at Dunkin’ Park, 1214 Main St., Hartford. Singers of all ages are welcome to audition for the opportunity to perform at a Yard Goats home game or event. Singers must register at yardgoatsbaseball.com. A time slot will be assigned.

Crisis prep

Masonicare will host the program "Planning Before a Crisis" Wednesday, March 15, 3 to 4 p.m., in the Knapp Auditorium at Masonicare at Ashlar Village, 74 Cheshire Road, Wallingford. Attorney Steven L. Rubin will share his expertise on the legal aspects of having a plan for your future care vs. making decisions at the time of a health crisis. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP by calling 203-679-6460.

Wellness expo

Exhibitors and speakers are sought for the 10th Bi-Annual Passport to Health & Wellness Expo, which will be held April 23, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at The Bristol DoubleTree by Hilton. Also, vendors are sought for expos taking place May 21 and Sept. 17 at the VFW in Plainville. Contact Shirley Bloethe at 860-989-0033 or yourholisticevents@ gmail.com, or visit yourholisticevents.com.

By the time the veteran lawmaker got home, she had counted 39 along the way.

It’s an issue every city and town faces, and in response, the state legislature in 2021 passed a bill placing a fivecent surcharge on each 50 mL bottle, with the money going to municipalities to help pay for environmental cleanups, including efforts to remove nips from public places.

The funds are released to cities and towns in April and October of each year, and payments are based on the number of nips sold in the municipality.

“The money is supposed to go to picking up things like this,” said Mushinsky, a member of the Environment Committee. But lawmakers have doubts that is actually happening.

“Just today, we sent a slight adjustment to the bottle law and it has language in it to have the Council on Environmental Quality find out what happened to the money sent to each town, so hopefully we will get a report on that,” she said. “I don’t think it works, to be honest, I don’t think the money does anything. It was the liquor industry’s idea but it’s not effective.”

The program is administered by the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut, which collects the money and distributes it to municipalities.

“They put an extra fee on themselves so they wouldn’t have a deposit,” Mushinsky said. “They take five cents per bottle and give it to the town to clean up the environment, but clearly it does not work well and their product is all over the streets anyway.

“I personally am unhappy with how it’s playing out and feel we need to put them in the deposit law along with the other liquor containing beverages,” she said.

In the last round of payments sent to cities and towns in October, Meriden received $47,069 for the period of April 1 to Sept. 30, 2022, and received a total of $82,592 for the year the program has existed. Cheshire received $9,766 for the sixmonth period and has received a total of $17,360 in the last year. Southington has received a total of $53,825 in the last year, including $31,307 for the sixmonth period, and Wallingford received $59,442 in the last year, of which $32,443 is for the six-month period. Cheshire hasn’t decided yet what to with the money, according to Assistant Town Manager Arnett Talbot.

“The Solid Waste Committee of the Town Council is considering a combination of programs and some cleanup events,” said Talbot. “They are in the process of planning how to spend this money and any future money we might get. Hopefully within the next month or so we will have that in place.”

In Wallingford, the issue came up recently when Long Hill Road resident Bob Gross asked the Town Council and Mayor William Dickinson Jr. how the town would be spending its share of the money.

“We have received the money, ” Dickinson said. “It hasn’t been appropriated yet. My chief concern now is the 2023-24 budget, so that’s occupying time and concerns. ”

“It’s a shame it’s just sitting there,” Gross said. “It could be used to fix parks.”

According to the State Office of Legislative Research, “the law requires municipalities receiving the funds to use them for environmental efforts to reduce the amount of solid waste generated in the municipality or impact of litter. These efforts can include such things as hiring a recycling coordinator; installing storm drain filters to block debris or buying a mechanical street sweeper, vacuum, or broom to remove litter from streets, sidewalks, and abutting lawn and turf areas. ”

“It’s not working,” Mushinsky said.

“They’re all over the streets and people like me and volunteers, we clean them up every year, but I get tired of cleaning up the liquor in the streets. I really get tired of it.”

“They’re all over the place. My personal preference would be either to put a deposit on them as soon as possible or if we can’t do that, to ban them. But they’re here now and they’re all over the streets of Wallingford, I can tell you that,” she said.

It’s a problem that is costing taxpayers money because municipalities and the state have to devote time and staff to cleaning them up, Mushinsky said.

While the payouts are supposed to fund those efforts, Mushinsky hasn’t yet seen any results, she said.

“When the stuff is left along the roads and parks, the public volunteers, the Department of Public Works, the Parks Department and the Department of Transportation, they all have to clean up this stuff,” Mushinsky said.

“And it’s every year, and in some of these neighborhoods it’s every week depending on how close you are to the liquor store, and it’s pretty bad. So I don’t think this fund works very well. I’m not a fan of this fund because it doesn’t make a dent in the problem.”

The Berlin High School Athletic Hall of Fame has announced its 2023 inductees. The honorees are Meagan Guy (Class of 2008; basketball, softball, volleyball), Anthony Marzi (Class of 2010; baseball), Brad Olson (Class of 1975; track & field), Roger Pulito (Class of 1968; football, track & field) and Aldo Zovich (Class of 1979; football, track & field, wrestling). Adela Sarra McLaughlin, a staunch advocate for girls' sports, will be inducted as a contributor. Also, the 1999 BHS Class L state championship baseball team will be recognized, as will coach Nick Pepe (Class of 1967), who is being honored posthumously.

1999 BHS baseball team

Early in the 1999 baseball season the team was demolishing the opposition. The Redcoats needed a motto. And soon “You hang ‘ em, we bang ‘ em, ” T-shirts were seen in and around the school.

Their high-powered offense consumed nearly everything in sight throughout the season, easily winning the Class L state championship, 5-1 over Seymour, to finish 21-3.

Feast on these numbers: won 10 games by 10 runs or more, outscored opponents 221-45 including 43-11 in the four state tournament games and had a .353 team batting average.

Opposing pitchers could face these four batters at the top of the order: center fielder Dan Silva, who made the T-shirts, batted .413; third baseman Tom Duong (.364); shortstop Bill Robinson (team-high .568) and catcher Josh Greco (.356).

See 1999, A8