If Mother
Nature
would just
let up ...
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — If Mother Nature would be more cooperative, the town’s downtown road projects would be closer to finished.
Highway Superintendent Travis Sirrine said “The weather has been kicking us back.”
The sidewalks on both sides of Canal Street will be completed this week. From there, the crews intend to start on the parking lot off Main Street, next to the Congregational Church of Putnam.
The parking lot will be ground down, graded and paved. The start date for that is April 29.
Weather permitting, he said the town intends to have the parking lot done before the first First Fridays on May 3.
Town crews have already removed the scrub trees and bushes from Main Street to Livery Street. Sirrine said the lot was squared off at the church’s rear parking lot. The lot will be recurbed and replanted and new stripes will be added. He expects that the lot will gain three to five parking spaces.
The lot will be closed during construction.
Around May 6, after First Fridays, crews will — again weather permitting — start a repaving project for the whole downtown block.
The following streets will be milled down and paved: Main Street, Bundy Street, Livery Street, Lee Street and Canal Street.
Sirrine was not sure whether the crews would start on the side streets or Main Street first.
He said crews will be grinding at night and paving during the day. “The whole square will be done,” he said.
Any drainage issues will be addressed, for example replacing catch basins as needed.
He hopes it will take just a few days.
“If Mother Nature would smile on us, we’d have it done a lot quicker,” Sirrine said. “It seems to rain every couple days.”
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caption, page 2:
Carrying the Ball
Peyton Saracina carries the ball for Woodstock Academy in a girls’ lacrosse match against Fitch last week at the Bentley Athletic Complex. Photo by Marc Allard.
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Lacrosse
team likely
to be in the
ECC mix
The Woodstock Academy girls’ lacrosse team proved something last week.
It will likely be in the mix when it comes time to start thinking about who qualifies for the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament.
The Centaurs did weather a tough, 15-14, overtime loss to Fitch early last week but followed up with a 12-3 win over Norwich Free Academy April 18 at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
It raised the Centaurs record to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in Division I of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
“That Fitch game was a tough loss,” said Woodstock Academy coach Kathleen Johnson. “What’s so great is that years ago as a lacrosse program, we were never a contender. Now, we’re contenders. Kudos to Fitch, they played a great game and came back but our season is far from over.”
The Centaurs proved that against the Wildcats.
Woodstock Academy took 22 shots at NFA goalie Lily George in the first half and while she turned away nine of them and a few more went above and around her, six did find their mark.
Although it took a little bit for that to happen.
“At the beginning of the game, we weren’t really scoring, so I really wanted to step up and get something for the team,” said senior captain Emma Ciquera.
The Centaurs took six shots without success before Ciquera began the scoring party.
Ciquera scored the first two of her six goals within 37 seconds of one another, both coming off free position calls.
“I needed the leadership (Thursday),” Johnson said of Ciquera. “We talked about that before the game that I wanted her to be a key part of the offense because we can rely on her and her experience to run the offense. I needed the ball to be in her hands whether it was to score, which she did, or also just to run the offense and keep the possession. In girls’ lacrosse, having possession is half the battle.”
The Centaurs did that well as they only allowed three shots by the Wildcats, all of those coming inside the 10-minute mark in the half.
Emma Redfield scored her only goal of the game 30 seconds after Ciquera’s second tally. Ivy Gelhaus followed up with two of her three goals within 11 seconds of one another.
The senior scored with 14:06 left in the first half, won the face off and put another into the net to make it 5-0 in favor of the Centaurs.
Ciquera completed her first half hat trick with a goal with 6:58 left before Mackenzie Shrewsbury scored a pair of goals for the Wildcats to knock the deficit down to 6-2 at the break.
The Centaurs sealed the deal early in the second half.
Ciquera scored just 21 seconds into the half, Aislin Tracey followed with a goal 10 seconds later and Woodstock Academy would add two more goals before five minutes had elapsed to take the insurmountable, 10-2, lead.
The Centaurs also must have thought they owned an insurmountable lead against the Falcons,
Woodstock Academy fought back from an early 3-2 deficit in the first half to build a 7-5 lead at the half.
Gelhaus had the first half hat trick and Redfield added a pair.
Ciquera scored a goal top open the second half and both Tracey and Gelhaus added a pair of goals each in the first 5 ½ minutes to put the Centaurs up, 12-5.
Someone forgot to tell Fitch that the game was over.
“We were winning the draw and then, we couldn’t win the draw. We couldn’t get possession, rarely had it, and that can cost you,” Johnson said.
Fitch took advantage. It scored two quick goals in the next four minutes to cut the deficit to five.
Bridget O’Leary, Zoe Pearse and Jessica Russo then all scored within the next five minutes for the Falcons to make it a two-goal game, 12-10, with 9:58 left.
The onslaught was not over. Maddie Catlett scored her first goal of the game and Rita Sefransky tied the contest with 4:41 to play. Catlett then scored again with 3:48 left to put the Falcons up, 13-12.
The Centaurs finally broke the eight-goal Fitch run when Peyton Saracina scored with 2:35 to play.
Ciquera put the Centaurs back on top, 14-13, just 19 seconds later but Catlett tied the game with 1:19 to play and forced the overtime.
Catlett scored the game winner 46 seconds into the extra period.
The game with Montville set for April 20 was moved to May 15 due to the weather.
girls were scheduled to play a game on Saturday but inclement weather pushed the match
Boys’ Lacrosse
The Centaurs boys’ team had only one game during the spring break week.
The Centaurs lost to Waterford, 18-5, on a chilly Thursday.
Guerin Favreau scored four of the goals for the Centaurs (3-3, 0-2 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I).
Seth Libby scored the other goal while Gabe Geyer had an assist.
The Centaurs boys, like the girls, were supposed to play April 20 but their game with the Rockville-Stafford cooperative was rained out and rescheduled to May 8.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
PUTNAM — A Putnam woman was arrested on various drug charges after a narcotics-related search and seizure warrant was executed April 11.
Melissa Carroll, 30, 175 School St., was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, possession of heroin, possession of heroin with intent to sell, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, operating a drug factory, possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Putnam Police Department, the State Police Troop D Quality of Life Task Force, and the Danielson Office of Adult Probation served the warrant. They seized more than 500 bags of heroin, approximately 71 grams of crack cocaine, controlled prescription medications, $530 in currency.
Putnam Police said Carroll was out on bond for previous narcotics violations.
The Putnam Police Department encourages the public to report ongoing or suspected criminal activity @ (860) 928-6565, by utilizing the Putnam Police Department Anonymous Tip Line @ (860) 963-0000 or by accessing on the Police Department website www.putanmpolice.com. All information will be kept confidential
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The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs. The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 963-0000.
April 5
Rebecca Lee, 23, Ventura Drive, Brooklyn; failure to drive right, operating under the influence of alcohol/drugs.
April 6
Dustin Curtis, 32, Powhattan Street, Putnam; operating under the influence, failure to drive right, possession of less than 4 ounces marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.
Bryce Clarke, 18, Grove Street, Wauregan; violation of state traffic commission.
Jeffrey Levesque, 33, Chapman Street, Putnam; disorderly conduct, third-degree assault.
April 8
Nicole Hunter, 27, Meetinghouse Lane, Ledyard; disorderly conduct, third-degree assault.
April 11
Tara Aiken, 33, Marshall Street, Putnam; operating without a license.
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