Volume 19, Number 46
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, March 27, 2015
Locals weigh in on ‘Aid in Dying’ bill By Charles Kreutzkamp Town Times
Local residents swarmed the Connecticut Legislature with testimony for a March 18 Public hearing on a house bill, “An Act Concerning Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Patients.” The law would allow mentally competent adults who re-
ceive a terminal diagnosis that will end their life within six months to be prescribed and to self-administer medication that will end their lives. Two doctors must determine that the patient is terminal, psychologically competent, and acting of their own volition. See Testimony / Page 4
Middlefield Children’s Center students Aiden Sinicrope and Cecelia Fenwick tally up plenty of hops during the school’s Hop-a-thon in support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
CRHS students, from left, Michael O’Keefe, Hailey McIntyre, Caitlyn Kranich, Patrick Holden, Paige Kobe and Kyle Farrell spoke to the Board of Education on March 11 about their school trip to Quebec. The students described the educational benefits of language emergence and travel. The BOE approves field trips. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
School budget moved to public hearing By Mark Dionne Town Times
Th e p ro p o s e d R S D 1 3 school budget for 2015-16 will be discussed at a public hearing Wednesday, April 8 at 8 p.m. at the Coginchaug Regional High School auditorium. The Board of Education, at
its March 18 meeting, voted to move the budget to public hearing, with a tentative referendum date of May 5. At the March 18 meeting, the BOE did not make any changes in the budget before voting for the public hearing. The proposed budSee Hearing / Page 5
Children hop for MDA By Mark Dionne Town Times
On different school days in March, the youngsters at the Middlefield Children’s Center participated in the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Hop-a-thon to raise money and awareness. Children at the Middlefield preschool received pledges to participate in what the MDA called “brief, high-energy hopping.” According to MCC Director Deb Dumont, the center set a goal of $275, but the families beat that, raising almost $400 with pledges still coming in. The Hop-a-thon is a national campaign of the MDA and Dumont said it
is made appropriate for younger students with simple lessons, coloring books, and stickers. “We talked about it here at school and we’ve been reading books about kids with disabilities,” Dumont said. Books read to the MCC students included simple lessons about disabilities. A passage from one of the books read, “Kids with muscular dystrophy can see and hear and smell and taste and talk very well. And they can think and dream and laugh and learn – just like you.” Donors were asked to contribute a set donation, or to pledge an amount, per hop, although counting the
number of hops made by an excited 3-year-old over a two-minute period would inevitably be an estimation. Na t i o n a l ly, c h i l d re n ages 2 to 7 participate in the Hop-a-thon. According to the MDA, of the 40 muscle diseases under its scope, more than half affect children. Dumont said that MCC participates in other charitable and civic activities. “We did an ‘adopt-a-family’ for Christmas time and in the fall we do Light Up Middlefield with Park and Rec,” Dumont said. MCC also participates in Scholastic Books “Pajama Drive” for book donations. See more photos from the MDA Hop-a-thon on Page 9.