Only 21 more days to the Durham Fair!
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Volume 16, Issue 21
District 13 off to a smooth start By Stephanie Wilcox Town Times You probably can remember from your own childhood that the first day of school brings a change to the entire community. The weather seems to suddenly shift to cooler temperatures, things quiet down in town during the day and there’s a feeling of productivity all around. Before the first day is even over yet, you already felt back in sync with the school year routine. The first day of school for District 13 was on Thursday, Aug. 27, and it couldn’t have been more like this. Not only was the weather impeccable for a new start to the year — blue skies, calm, crisp air with a slight breeze, but by the looks of the filled buses making their way through town to school, everything seemed perfectly in place. And all across District 13, things got off to a good start. “This was probably the smoothest start to a school year we’ve ever had,” said Brewster School principal Nancy Heckler, though she’s
not exactly sure why that is. She noticed that the five, six and seven-year-olds were confident as to where they were going, and this is likely due to the Meet the Teacher Day just the day before school started. “It helps them get the first day jitters out,” said Heckler. “We had an extremely smooth, calm opening, and it seemed to pick up right where we left off.” At John Lyman School, principal Karen Brimecombe said it was a great start to the school year as well “Honesty, by 9:45 in the morning, it was quiet in the halls, and as I walked from class to class the kids were busy and productive,” she said. “This was great to see. It’s like nobody left.” John Lyman School has a tradition that some of the staff ride the kindergarten buses for the first five days of school. Brimecombe explains that this allows the staff to see how long the ride is and for the kids to know there is still a grownup there. The idea is to make as smooth a transition
See First day, page 16
First on the first day
Up, up and away over Middlefield
Reporter Stephanie Wilcox took this photo while flying over Middlefield accompanied by Bill Currlin, who annually takes aerial photos of the Lyman mazes for Town Times. At the bottom left is the presidential corn maze and center back are the green slopes of Powder Ridge. See more on the Lyman mazes and Stephanie’s flight on pages 3 and 9.
Durham town meeting approves money for phase one of emergency services project By Stephanie Wilcox Town Times
Photo by Betty Hadlock
Isabel Puziss, Sophie Molkenthin, Ben Molkenthin and Noon Kienle are among the first to arrive and walk through the courtyard to meet friends and teachers on the first day of school at John Lyman School.
Friday, September 4, 2009
At a special town meeting on Monday, Aug. 31, over 50 Durham residents voted on the transfer of $95,000 from reserve account #9480 Emergency Services Facility to fund phase one of the proposed public safety facility, which includes conceptual study/design phase and schematic design/development. In phase one, Silver Petrucelli and Associates, the chosen architects, will consult with the Public Safety Facility Renovation Committee and other representatives of the town to analyze the present structures and identify current realities, such as asbestos, lead and mold remediation, etc., that
may impact use of the buildings. If restoration and rehabilitation or demolition is required before a recommended approach can be implemented, the physical and economic feasibility of the recommended actions would be explained and justified. The proposed renovation entails consolidating the emergency services, including emergency management, fire, ambulance, the resident state trooper and fire marshal, on one site at the current firehouse plus the properties to the north and south. Resident Henry Coe had concerns that the renovation committee charged with this project had not checked with the Historic District Commission regarding some of the houses involved because “go-
ing from residencies to offices is a big change.” Duncan Milne, chair of the Historic District Commission, said what has been proposed for the project has been wellreceived, albeit unofficially. Milne also serves on the renovation committee.
See Town meeting, page 15
In this issue ... Calendar ...........................4 CRHS Sports Schedule.18-19 Durham Briefs ...........14-15 Faith News .................10-12 Libraries .........................22 Middlefield Briefs ..........13 Mini Pages..................27-28 Obituaries ..................24-25 Sports..........................18-21