Volume 20, Number 18
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, August 22, 2014
Progress made toward safety complex By Charles Kreutzkamp Town Times
Ray Kalinowski, pictured at a Memorial Day parade, was an iconic figure in the community.
Two historic buildings, one on each side of the fire house in Durham, are one step closer to being renovated to serve the town’s emergency services personnel after the Board of Selectmen met Aug. 11. The town has come up with a conceptual schematic plan of how to create a public safety complex using these properties located at 31 and 57 Main St. The town previously obtained a grant for $20,000 for state-reimbursed matching funds to help preserve the historic buildings. The town has owned the properties for 20 years and the buildings have been empty for
Remembering Ray
See Complex / Page 18
The town has a plan for this building, and another, located next to the Durham Fire House. | Charles Kreutzkamp / Town Times
Kalinowski sought to bring people together
Fun and responsibility at the 4-H Fair
By Sue VanDerzee
By Mark Dionne
It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing last weekend of Ray Kalinowski of Durham. He had recently returned home from California to spend his remaining time where he was born, where his three children largely grew up and where he contributed so much in the way of public service. Ray was an iconic figure in Durham and Middlefield. Growing up in the Rockfall section of Middlefield, he left for an eventual decades-long career in the Secret Service which led to an assignment to accompany then-President Richard Nixon on a ground-breaking visit to China. This made him something of a local celebrity, a distinction which came totally from outside, as one of the hallmarks of Ray’s character was a sincere humility. My contact with Ray, however, began afterwards – after he had retired from the Secret Service and returned fulltime to Durham, where in November 1997 he was elected to the first of his two terms as first selectman. At the time, I was editor of Town Times, and as is usual, I spent much time in the company of the first
When you have held 88 fairs, the weather is bound to be uncooperative for some of them. The 88 annual 4-H Fair, combining the 4-H communities of Middlesex and New Haven counties and held at the Durham Fairgrounds the weekend of Aug. 3, opened with drizzly and overcast weather, but the people who came managed to enjoy exhibits, fair food, animal displays, and other attractions. “There’s a misunderstanding that 4-H is just animals,” said Bernadette Basiel of Durham, a 4-H parent and volunteer. “They do a variety of things that aren’t animal-related.” There are 4-H clubs oriented around archery, wildlife adventures like hiking and kayaking, Geocaching, and civic volunteering. Visitors to the 4-H Fair in Durham expecting only farm an-
Special to Town Times
Town Times
See Ray / Page 19
Bailey Basiel of Durham, who served as President of the Fair for the 88 annual 4-H Fair, also participated in the animal shows. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
imals may have been surprised Mercy High School. Both teams received their to see robots zooming around the commercial building. A ro- challenge in January and had six botics team from Guilford called weeks to build a remote control Apple Pi competed against the Tech Tigers from Middletown’s See Fair / Page 18