Volume 17, Issue 50
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Durham woman has new appreciation for life after teaching English in Laos
Lili Kinsman and Novice Monks by the waterfall in Laos. By Cheri Kelley Town Times Durham resident Lili Kinsman learned in a few months spent abroad that there are life lessons in
every new adventure. Kinsman recently returned home from a three-and-a-half month journey to Luang Prabang, Laos where she was a volunteer through Global Vision International (GVI).
GVI volunteers number in over 3,000 every year, which help aid-reliant projects world-wide. For Kinsman, teaching English to novice Buddhist monks and other Laos children was something that she thought about doing for a while. “I had been going through a rough time and wanted a change of pace. I wanted something that was totally different,” she said. “I was researching Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and the secret war in Laos. I thought I might feel like a foreigner in a place where I might not be accepted, and nothing could be farther from the truth.” The culture and traditions of Laos are different from those that Kinsman grew up knowing, so it was a bit of a culture shock when she first arrived in Luang Prabang. See Laos, page 24
School budget increase down to 4.58 percent, more cuts sought Mark Dionne Special to Town Times During the Wednesday, March 16, Board of Education (BOE) meeting, Superintendent Sue Viccaro and business manager Ron Melnik presented several changes to the proposed 201112 school budget that dropped the increase from 6.25 percent to 4.58 percent. The proposed capital expense line decreased by $165,000. This reflects delaying projects until future years. Board member Kerrie Flanagan said that these were projects that could not be done during the school year and “could be deferred until the following fiscal year.” This raised concerns about future expenses and debt manage-
ment. “We’re trying to be very careful about moving capital payments around,” said Flanagan. The other large change involved state grant money of $354,044. Although the grant was confirmed and the district has an award letter, board chairman Tom Hennick indicated that there were “real concerns about whether or not the governor was going to take it back” or ask for offsets. Despite the concerns, the figure was added. While the new expense side of the proposed 2011-12 budget increases by 1.21 percent, the end result is a 4.58 percent increase because of the decline on the income side. Throughout the two-hour meeting, board members sought nu-
merous other avenues to reduce that number. Members discussed custodial overtime, with Melnik noting that hiring cheaper part time workers has helped and that overtime hours haven’t gone up in three years. Board-member Merrill Adams asked about transportation costs. Board members will meet as a Transportation Committee with DATTCO to review route efficiency and to examine the policies, such as same-side pick up, busy roads and culde-sacs. Flanagan, who serves on the Long Range Planning Committee, reported that a “thorough review” of the opSee BOE, page 11
Friday, March 25, 2011
Two local students spend spring break helping others in Paraguay Celine Haeberly and Warren C. Hadley Jr., Durham residents who are students at Kingswood Oxford school in West Hartford, spent their spring break in Tobatí, Paraguay (population 21,000) in South America working on several community service projects. Nearly 75 percent of the population in this poor village is under 19 years old, 30 percent live beneath the international poverty line and 70 percent live in relative poverty. There is malnutrition, inadequate medical care and insufficient educational structures. Celine and Warren made bricks at a brick factory and used these to construct classrooms and medical outposts. They worked in the sugarcane fields, constructed playing fields and sidewalks and distributed clothing collected in the United States. Each mentored one of the children from the village. Harvard Medical School residents and UConn dentists and dental students joined the students on this trip. They left on March 7 for 10 days in Paraguay. For more info, visit www.teamtobati.org. Tobatí is both a town and a provincial district within the department (state) of Cordillera, Paraguay. Photos submitted by Gail Hadley
In this issue ... Calendar .............................4 Durham Briefs .................15 Libraries............................ 4
Middlefield Briefs ............16 Obituary...........................19 Sports ...........................20-24