Past Issues of the Putnam Town Crier
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caption, page 7:
Winner
Cailyn Gallerani, left, takes part in the Pace for a Purpose. She won best costume. R. Jakowski photo.
Pace raises funds
POMFRET --- The recent annual Pace for a Purpose fund-raiser put the event's three-year total at $15,000.
Amy Jakowski said this year "We raised as much as the first two years combined and our goal next year is to match our three-year total of $15,000
The 8-mile cross country course with 38 optional fences raises money to benefit the local community. The money stays local, she said.
Tyrone Farm held the 29th annual Pomfret Hunter Pace and sponsors the Pace for a Purpose as an auxiliary event. The event supports Pace for a Purpose and the DKH Deary Memorial Fund.
New this year were fence sponsors and Jakowski said Cailyn Gallerani of Pomfret was instrumental in getting the 2013 fence sponsorships off the ground.
Jakowski said that $975 in donations were collected from the sales of door prize gifts and that will be given to the cancer fund in memory of Marie Sherman. She lost her battle to cancer this year. Marie was a familiar face at
the Putnam Farmers Co-Op. She supported many of our local equestrian events.
Jakowski said she retired in 2009 after 30 years in pharmaceutical research. "I decided I wanted to to start an equestrian fund raising event, where all the funds would go directly to benefit the local community. I met with Peter and Gene Deary. It is their passion for helping people and remembering those they lost that makes you compassionate and want to help too. "
She added that Helen Scanlon, equestrian artist and author, from Hampton has donated her talents to provide portrait of your horse and a copy of her book, My, Horse, My Heart as door prizes. Her business name is Sound the Bugle Studio
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Leaf collections
PUTNAM — The Town of Putnam leaf collection will begin Oct. 28.
All leaves are to be piled on the lawn or edge of the property. Do not bag leaves.
Do not put leaves in the road, road gutter or on public sidewalks. This creates a safety hazard and road flooding during rain storms.
One leaf vacuum will canvas all roads west of the Quinebaug River and one vacuum will canvas all roads east of the Quinebaug River.
If you have questions, please call 963-6813.
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Then
Rowing in front of the old AT&T building during the Flood of 1955. A second floor was added after the flood. Putnam Town Crier file photos.
& Now
This is the same section of Main Street in downtown Putnam today.
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captions:
First Place
Diane Doyle, Jennifer McKay, Marcia Williams from The Citizens National Bank accept the First Prize trophy.
Second Place
Putnam Bank's Tom Borner, Katie Kovacik, and Brandy Hapgood accept the Second Prize trophy. Courtesy photos.
PUTNAM — Banks took top prizes in the Putnam Business Association’s 5th Annual Scarecrow Contest.
The PBA’s Scarecrow Contest this year featured more than 30 entries spread throughout the town for the Oct. 19 Pumpkin Festival. First place with an extraterrestrial theme went to The Citizens National Bank. Committee members Jo-Ann Chenail, Jennifer McKay, Dianne Doyle, Marion Lewis, Marcia Williams and Mike Guimont worked together to create their entry. If you visit after dark the display even features a green glow.
Second-place entry artistically designed and constructed by Katie Kovacik at Putnam Bank featured “Cat”astrophy. This cat was going after its Halloween prey!
Third place went to Beverly Brazeal who created Pretty Polly Picking Putnam Pears. Her entry is located near the Putnam Post Office.
“Many thanks to all who participated and to Karen Osbrey and Romeo Blackmar who helped serve as judges for this year’s contest which adds so much atmosphere and fun to the Pumpkin Festival,” said Linda Lamoureux, chairperson of the contest. “There were so many great entries with a lot of work put into each of them. Congratulations to the winners!”
The displays are located throughout downtown, on Providence St. and on Route 44.
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PUTNAM --- The Putnam Public Library Exploratory Building Committee has recommended to the Board of Selectmen that the town build a new two-story library on Church Street on the Quinebaug River.
Selectmen unanimously voted to apply for a state library building grant and to buy the property, pending a referendum, expected to be scheduled in early December.
“We have developed a plan that we believe will serve the library for decades, as well as provide community space in a central riverfront location,” said committee Chairman George Tsanjoures. “And this site will offer everyone an opportunity to enjoy this beautiful location on the Quinebaug River in downtown Putnam.”
Library Director Priscilla Colwell said the present library has been unable to meet all the increasing demands for library space and services in recent years. She also said the library needs to respond to evolving demands of the 21st century.
“”The Library has a real need for handicapped accessible space for our community to use for multiple purposes. Events such as library programs for all ages, literacy classes, community meetings, and tutoring have been vying for very limited space. We are looking forward to having more space to offer even more programs and services to our customers," said Colwell.The proposed library would include meeting space for 150 people that would be accessible after library hours, quiet rooms for tutoring and study, a computer lab, a local history room for collections, research and meetings and a dedicated area for teens, all not available at the present library. The entire second floor would house the children’s library, ensuring a safe and inviting space for our children. It would include the children’s collection, computers and a separate story hour and craft room. If voters approve the proposal, selectmen would appoint a building committee, which would hire a project architect and oversee the project.
The town has applied for a $1 million state library building grant. Should the referendum be approved, the town would seek other state assistance funds and a private donation campaign would be started. The exploratory building committee was appointed by selectmen in January 2012 to hire an architect to look at available sites to find a solution to the needs of the town’s busy 58-year-old library building. The current building has accessibility, space and utility problems.
The committee first looked at renovating or rebuilding at the popular current Kennedy Drive location. However, the site is not big enough to adequately solve the library’s problems, according to Tsanjoures.
A study of the armory site on Wicker Street found that it would cost the same to renovate the old armory or build new. The committee felt the site was too far outside the core downtown area and too isolated, especially for weekend or evening use.
The committee also investigated building at the north end of the shopping plaza, but there was not an appropriate combination of town and private land for a site.
The exploratory building committee also discussed two sites not currently available that the town’s facilities committee has suggested. Committee members felt the Owen Tarr recreation complex on School Street, a popular athletic field, was outside the core downtown area. Members also were concerned that with the current town-owned library building to become vacant and the School Department slated to leave Town Hall with completion of the high school building project, a large community building complex at Tarr field would not be needed.
The committee was advised by its architect that it would be difficult to renovate part of the Provencial House on Church Street, currently for sale, for use as a library. He said the building offers little appropriate open space area and it might not be appropriate for the weight bearing requirements of a library.