Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Volume 15, Issue 51
Lesser, Donovan address budget concerns in forum By Stephanie Wilcox Town Times
“We’re in a bit of a mess this year, but that’s the hand that we’ve been dealt,” State Rep. Matt Lesser said during a March 30 public forum at the Middlefield Community Center, referring to the current state budget deficit that is the largest in state history. Lesser was joined by Speaker of the House Chris Donovan to talk about the state budget and address questions and concerns. “We want to know what’s important to you, what do you care about,” Donovan said to the room of nearly 50 people. “That’s why we came to you.” What was important to Middlefield Board of Finance member Paul Pizzo was keeping Educational Cost Sharing funds where they are.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Hometown March Madness
“If you can do one thing for us, keep ECS funding where it is,” he said, stressing that cutting ECS money hurts Middlefield because $11 million of Middlefield’s $15 million budget funds District 13. Lesser and Donovan assured him that keeping ECS funds where they are is a top priority. Another priority is making cuts, but a cuts-only budget is not a good idea, Lesser said, because it would close things like state parks, a UConn regional campus, health care services and school funding. In response to a question from Coginchaug student Bill Neidhardt, Lesser and Donovan said they are also looking at areas in the state budget where duplicate spending by different agencies could be See Lesser, page 15
Jim Veronick – UConn walk-on – NCAA tournament star By Alan Pease Special to the Town Times
I went to the Coginchaug winter sports banquet last Monday night, and during his opening remarks, athletic director Ted Lombardo commented on Jim Veronick’s success as a walk-on player during the NCAA tournament with UConn.
Jim had a defensive rebound in the waning seconds of UConn’s first round game against Chattanooga. Then against Texas A&M, Jim grabbed an offensive board, faced the basket and hit the short jumper. This is where things stood when Lombardo made his remarks. It got a nice round of applause – local folks seem to be really
happy about Jim’s success – I know I am. Then, to top it off, in the game after the banquet, with only seconds left against Purdue, Jim got in and blocked a shot, so now he has a block, two points and two rebounds, in less than three minutes of NCAA tournament play. So I dashed off a quick note to Jim, saying, “How about a couple of quotes about how it felt to have coach call you to get in the game, what it’s like to be out there, even when you know your team has the game won, and how it felt to grab those rebounds, hit that jumper, block that shot?” This is See Veronick, page 36
Associated Press
This is not your typical Town Times front page photo, but then it’s not often we have a Coginchaug graduate scoring points for a number one-seeded team during March Madness, the annual NCAA basketball tournament. Above, Jim Veronick, of Durham, celebrates with center Hasheem Thabeet after Jim blocked a shot in the third round game. See story at left.