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Luke Warner soared over the Amherst offense to swat down a pass during the Ultimate Mini-Tourney at The Hotchkiss School Saturday, April 20.
Patrick L. Sullivan
LAKEVILLE — On a soggy Saturday, April 20, eight teams competed in an Ultimate Frisbee mini tournament hosted by The Hotchkiss School.
There were teams from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Two middle schools competed against high school junior varsity squads.
A Lakeville Journal reporter watched as Hotchkiss played Amherst High School in the first round. Hotchkiss moved the disc with confidence, especially off turnovers, and prevailed 11-2.
In the end, Hotchkiss finished second at 2-1 in both the varsity and JV pools. Wooster School won Pool A (varsity) 3-0, and Columbia High School from New Jersey won Pool B (JV and middle school) 3-0.
Hotchkiss coach David Thompson said, “We were lucky with clear weather and lots of great Ultimate. Both Hotchkiss teams had a good day, each going 2-1 against solid competition. We all appreciated the mutual respect amongst the teams, and good, fair play. The Hotchkiss varsity team had 11 different people score points, and 9 different people throw assists; a true team effort.”
For the uninitiated, Ultimate is a non-contact team sport involving squads of seven. Players cannot run with the disc. Players pass the disc to each other to ultimately wind up in the end zone for a score. A turnover occurs when a pass is dropped, missed, intercepted, or goes out of bounds. Defenders call a “stall” when guarding an offensive player with the disc, and start counting aloud, usually 10 seconds. The offensive player must throw the disc in that time, or a turnover is called.
Ultimate is unusual in that there are no referees. The players are self-regulating, and there is a spirit of the game” ethos that pervades the sport.
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Josiah and Everett Newton with Aunt Kathy learned the importance of sorting and separating food scraps recycleables, and trash at Kent Memorial Library as part of a composting class for Earth Day.
Lans Christensen
KENT — The Kent Memorial Library and Kent Conservation Commission joined forces to bring a meaningful and educational program concerning nutrients, recycling and trash April 18.
Carol Franken of the Conservation Commission, the presenter, said one of her main composting concerns was, “How to make it meaningful to preschoolers.”
This was not a “drop off” event for the kids, and all attendees were accompanied by parents and adults. Franken added, “The most important words for the day are ‘food scraps, decompose, and compost’.”
Lots of visual aids and props turned the event into a hands-on class for the kids. Large, tied plastic bags full of mystery material were given to all participants. The bags were then weighed and opened, revealing a big assortment of food scraps, recyclables and plain old trash.
Kids were then asked to sort the three types of contents, and with the food scraps removed, the bags were weighed again. No surprise, the bags were much lighter.
Another of Franken’s displays featured three bins of compost: one was new food scraps and leaves, the second was a 6-month-old compost bin, and the third was a year old -- now completely decomposed down to pure, nutritious, compost.
The program highlighted the importance of separating food scraps from trash and stressed the benefits of creating compost at home. Kids were then given biodegradable seed pots and plant seeds to take home, nurture, and learn by watching them grow.
Kent Transfer station has added a food scrap bin to aid the composting cause.
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FALLS VILLAGE — The Board of Finance will hold a special meeting Wednesday, April 24, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall and on Zoom to discuss how to find some $80,000 in spending cuts from the proposed spending for 2024-25 from the Board of Selectmen.
The finance board requested $130,000 in cuts from the selectmen at their meeting on April 8.
The selectmen met on April 11 and “respectfully” declined to make any changes in their spending plan, which has a bottom line increase of $124,593.
At a special meeting Tuesday, April 16, the finance board agreed to “impose additional cuts to the Municipal Spending Plan (revised plan dated April 16, 2024) up to $80,000.”
The board also agreed “to not use the General Fund for budget relief in an amount that would reduce the General Fund Balance below 12.5% of the combined annual expenditures” (“combined annual expenditures” means municipal and education spending).
Both actions were taken on motions from member John Steines.
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Cornwall budget heads to town vote
Apr 24, 2024
CORNWALL — Following a short public hearing for the 2024-25 budget Friday, April 19, Cornwall’s combined spending plan has been sent to Town Meeting.
The meeting to vote on the budget will be held at Cornwall Consolidated School Friday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m.
Cornwall’s total proposed expenditure for next year is up to $8,061,110, an increase of $292,537 (3.77%) compared to 2023-24.
“It looks like the mill rate could go up from 14.7 to 15.44, which would be about a 5% tax increase,” said First Selectman Gordon Ridgway.
Costs went up in several areas this year, primarily driven by inflation, education and weather damage. A notable addition to the budget this year is $100,000 in a new line item for storm damage. A four-part town meeting was held on April 19 to reassign unused funds from last year to be used for repairs in town.
Each of the following transfers passed unanimously: Transfer capital projects account interest $50,000 to capital projects road improvements for spring resurfacing of roads; Transfer $50,000 from Town general funds balance to capital road improvements to complete summer storm damage repairs; Authorize repairs to Essex Hill Road of $147,000 be paid out of capital projects road improvement; Increase capital projects fund road improvement by $17,000 to be reimbursed by state grant for hazardous tree removal.
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