Tuesday, July 15, 2014
News to Know July 14, 2014
*
This
communication is put together and distributed on a volunteer basis by resident
Corinne Stridsberg simply in an effort to share information and build
community, it is not from the town of Berlin
Please share this
with your Berlin
*
Check out the "Berlin , Vermont
***********************
NOTE: Bee Balm - who knew?! I thought it was simply good for attracting
hummingbirds - be sure to check out the Front Porch Forum listing below!
Below you will find:
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
BOARD MEETING POSTPONED
QUARRYWORKS IN ADAMANT
"TABLE MANNERS" AT UNADILLA THEATHER IN MARSHFIELD
BRIGADOON AUDITIONS
NO ACCIDENT: GOWANS NAMED TOP TRACK AND FIELD STAR
LEGISLATIVE WEBSITE REDESIGN (INPUT BEFORE JULY 25)
IN MAINE
PROFILES IN COURAGE: AN
OLYMPIAN'S BIGGEST CHALLENGE
FROM BERLIN
***********************
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
BOARD MEETING POSTPONED
The DRB meeting scheduled for July 15th has been postponed
to August 5th, 7pm at the town office.
The two applications are the continuation of Hooker's Redevelopment
Project 856 Route 302 and the review of Maplewood
***
QUARRYWORKS IN
ADAMANT
One more week left to see the rousing QuarryWorks musical
"110 in the Shade"! For free
tickets call 802-229-6978. July 17, 18,
19, & 20 Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30pm and matinees Saturday and Sunday
at 2pm .
Make your reservations for great fun in the QuarryWorks
production of "Jack and the Beanstalk"! July 26 & 27 and August 2
& 3 Saturdays at 2pm and 5pm and Sundays at 2pm .
www.quarryworks.org
***
"TABLE MANNERS"
AT UNADILLA THEATHER IN MARSHFIELD
Performances of Table Manners are coming up on July 15,
19, 23, 25, 31st and August 1. Curtain
time 7:30pm . Reservations 456-8968. Tickets $20.
501 Blachly Road , Marshfield
***
BRIGADOON AUDITIONS
“Come ye from the hills! Come ye from the mills!” Singers,
dancers, and actors are invited to audition for Lerner
& Loewe’s timeless musical, Brigadoon, the story of a magical village in
the Highlands of Scotland and the miracle of love. Performances will be October
16-19 at The Old Meeting House in East Montpelier . Auditions at the Old Meeting
House on Sunday, July 20 from 11:30 to 3:00 . Callbacks will be Wednesday,
July 23, 6:00 to 9:00 . Questions? Contact Marcia Clark, 229-4889.
***
***
NO ACCIDENT: GOWANS
NAMED TOP TRACK AND FIELD STAR
Pub 7/12/14 Times Argus by James Biggam
Almost.
Just about anything that could go wrong did go wrong for the highly favored Raiders, but despite a bizarre series of obstacles they rallied to capture their second consecutive Division II state championship. Gowans nearly missed the whole thing after being involved in a car accident, which landed him in the emergency room the morning of the competition. After finally being cleared to compete, he made the 84-mile trek from
“Adam just dominated the throws this year,” said 40-year veteran U-32 coach Mark Chaplin. “He had a rough state meet because of his car accident, but virtually every meet all season he was winning three throwing events and placing fairly high in the long jump as well.”
Gowans joined the track and field team as a sophomore, specializing in sprinting and jumping while packing in plenty of time in the weight room. A mid-season injury forced him to shift his focus from sprinting to throwing events, and the following year he emerged as a rare triple-threat to win shot put, javelin and discus at every meet.
“As a junior he really picked up the shot, and he was an instant success,” Chaplin said. “A lot of times kids will have a good throw early and then just plateau, and he kept getting better and better toward the end of the season.”
For decades U-32 had routinely settled for the bridesmaid role in D-II, but 2013 was truly a breakthrough season with state crowns for both the boys and girls. Gowans was the definition of a coach’s dream, single-handedly supplying 28 of his team’s 111 points at states to fuel a dramatic eight-point victory over runner-up Harwood. In addition to winning the javelin (152 feet, 11 inches), he was second in shot put (41 feet, 1.75 inches), second in discus (123 feet) and fifth in long jump (18 feet, 8.25 inches).
For a school with such a rich track and field history, last year’s championship was undeniably cathartic. But it was also the product of years and years of building a complete program despite up-and-down interest from student-athletes.
“We’d been second a number of times, and I think the difference comes down to a number of factors,” Chaplin said. “For one, the coaching is much more balanced. We have pretty strong coaching in all areas of track, as opposed to early years when we’d try to win it from the distance events. At the moment, we’re getting contributions from all areas of the team.
“Another major factor is lacrosse. When lacrosse started - and some schools had lacrosse, and other schools didn’t - it completely unleveled the playing field. We were one of the first schools to get lacrosse and it wiped us out: It took every kid who was a sprinter or jumper. Some years, I couldn’t even find four kids for a sprint relay team. There was a long time, at least 15 years, when it was very difficult to get sprinters and jumpers out for the team. But now lacrosse has sort of calmed down. They get kids just like other sports, but they don’t get all the kids. And at the same time, other schools that didn’t have lacrosse before are getting it now, so their numbers in track are coming down. It’s not the same as baseball, tennis and golf: They don’t take the same athletes. Lacrosse takes the same kids you need for a track team.”
Gowans is a prime example of that quintessential all-around athlete with all the tools to pick up a new sport like lacrosse. But strength-training for track and field events was a better fit in the spring, allowing him to bulk up in preparation for football in the fall.
“In football he was a star — and I think that’s his real love — so that provided the motivation for him year-round,” Chaplin said. “He wants to be strong for football, he wants to be fast for football — that’s what makes him get up and work hard in the morning. His long-range goal is in football, not track, so every day he was in the weight room for a portion of the practice - just getting strong. And what that translates into most directly is shot put.”
Last football season Gowans racked up 16 touchdowns, 1,171 rushing yards and a team-high 41 tackles to earn Times Argus Football Player of the Year honors. He helped the Raiders reach the D-II title game in basketball before kicking off the track and field season by sweeping all three throwing events at a home meet, including season-best efforts in both discus (123 feet, 9 inches) and long jump (19 feet, 4 inches). Three days later he won long jump, shot put and javelin during a
“I can’t remember anyone else who was quite as good as him at all three (throwing events),” Chaplin said. “Luke Hadden was better at javelin, and maybe better at the discus, but not as good at the shot. I think Adam is a little bit more of a natural athlete. He did it with strength more so than technique, and he was such a gamer. If someone in the javelin managed to throw it a foot or two farther than what he’d thrown, if he still had another throw, you could count on him to throw it farther. At least in the javelin and the shot, he would rise to the level of the competition and come through — especially this year.”
It was the same story at the 2014 Monster Meet, where
U-32’s chances of earning a repeat victory at states were sky-high during the final weeks of the season, despite the fact that a knee injury had sidelined star sprinter Andrew Danyew for the entire spring. On paper, the Raiders were seeded light years ahead of contenders Fair Haven, Lyndon, Harwood and Middlebury as Chaplin and the team boarded the bus to head down to states June 7.
Even after news arrived of Gowans’ accident, the Raiders were still clear-cut favorites to repeat as champions. But an early-morning injury to freshman Jalen Carter threw another wrench in U-32’s title plans, and suddenly the Raiders were in a dogfight with Fair Haven as both teams scrambled for points.
“Jalen slipped on the long-jump board and twisted his knee and he ended up not even being able to run the 100 and 200, and he was No. 2 seed in both and he was also the anchor in the 4x100 relay,” Chaplin said. “Another problem was that our best pole vaulter (Michael Dunkle) was entered in the pole vault and the 800 simultaneously. They were vaulting all day-long, but when they finally got to his height they had just started the 800. And when you just finish an 800 and try to pole vault, it usually doesn’t go so well. He wound up in a three-way tie for second, so that was OK, but he was a foot below what he was capable of.”
Unlike regular-season meets, coaches do not have the option of switching up their entrant lists during state championships. With Gowans locked in for all four of his signature events, Chaplin was forced to wait helplessly and prepared to take a complete loss.
“I knew we had a big cushion because we were pretty strong this year,” Chaplin said. “But I heard about Adam’s car accident, and he’s seeded for 38 points. And Jalen goes down early in the meet, and he’s seeded for close to 20 points. And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, there goes the cushion. It’s gone.’”
Gowans’ mother had called to update Chaplin of her son’s condition, though it was still unclear whether or not he’d be able to compete. Gowans had already been scratched in the long jump, where he was seeded second, by the time he finally arrived in Fair Haven.
“It was a long time between when I first heard he was going to come to the state meet and when he actually arrived - it must have been at least four hours,” Chaplin said. “He got there and he couldn’t compete in the long jump because all the preliminaries were done by that point. And they actually held the discus for him. We convinced them to allow him to throw because I’d talked to the meet director and explained the situation. The discus was essentially over, so he warmed up and took his three throws. He’s always had sector problems and he threw three fouls, so he went from being top seed to getting nothing in the discus.”
Just as prospects of a stunning meltdown began to seep into reality, the Raiders began to turn things around. Senior David Koonz leapt to a surprise victory in the triple jump, Henry John picked up another 10 points by winning the high jump and Gowans came through with victories in javelin (157 feet, 3 inches) and shot put (45 feet, 5 inches). He beat his closest javelin competitor by nearly 13 feet and won shot put by almost 4 feet.
“Adam had an inauspicious start but then he pulled it together in the shot put and the javelin, and he just dominated those events,” Chaplin said. “And the other guys started to step up too.”
During Chaplin’s four decades of coaching, there have only been a small handful of athletes to make an impact like Gowans. He graduated last month ranking third all-time at U-32 in shot put behind Jeff Guilmette and Jon Pagel, and he stands fourth all-time in javelin behind Hadden, Anthony Miller and Ben Cole.
“We’ve had some pretty outstanding throwers over the years, but they’re mostly either javelin throwers or discus throwers or shot-putters,” Chaplin said. “Maybe some do two of the three, but they usually never even compete in the third. It’s very unusual — boys or girls — to be good in all three.”
***
***
LEGISLATIVE
WEBSITE REDESIGN (INPUT BEFORE JULY 25)
Hello folks,
If
you have an interest in improving user-friendly and accessible access to the
legislative web site, here is your opportunity!
It
has grown in leaps and bounds in the past two years, with the handouts received
by the members of a committee all posted on each committee page, for example,
but there are plenty of avenues to improve.
If
you have ever tried to track a bill, look up a statute, or follow legislative
action, and have been frustrated, send in your input.
Anne Donahue
From: Luke Martland
Sent:Monday, July 14, 2014 9:20 AM
To:ALL _HOUSE; ALL _SENATE
Subject: We are redesigning the website, and need your help!
Sent:
To:
Subject: We are redesigning the website, and need your help!
Dear
Representatives and Senators,
We
have hired Bluehouse Group (a Vermont
Please
respond by Friday, July 25th. We need to get
feedback as quickly as possible so that Bluehouse can incorporate everyone’s
input into their proposed redesign.
Thank you,
Luke Martland and Duncan Goss
***
***
IN MAINE
Wouldn't it be awesome if
this old tradition could return! It
would seem that a delivery fee would be worth the savings in time and gas.
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/13/in-maine-the-milkman-returns/
***
***
PROFILES IN COURAGE: AN OLYMPIAN'S BIGGEST CHALLENGE
On the CBS News tonight was
this is a story about an Olympic gold swimming champion who had life changing
injuries in an ATV accident - her attitude is amazing
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-van-dyken-remains-positive-after-severe-spinal-injury/
***
***
FROM BERLIN
Below are a couple of recent posts .... there have been many more
about a variety of topics, looking for services, garage sales, meeting
announcements, events, etc. Membership is free - to join go to: http://frontporchforum.com
Bee Sting Cure...Bee Balm!
Bee Sting Cure...Bee Balm! (Hence the Name)
Hello neighbors,
I was walking across my yard yesterday and stepped on a bee. He
stung me right between my toes. OUCH! (actually I said something a little
different... but I was alone :)
I looked up how to deal with bee stings and found the suggestion
of "Bee Balm" leaves. Bee Balm is a most often red flower that looks
like a space alien or some underwater creature... anyway... it's everywhere in
my yard...
I took off two leaves, chewed them lightly and slapped them onto
the sting. (bee balm is related to mint and is not unpleasant to taste) By the
time I counted to 5 the stinging had stopped. Left on for 15 minutes, my toes
were fine. No swelling, no problem walking, nothing.
I thought that was news worth spreading. :) I sure love summer!
***
Full Time Home Care Giver Needed
Posted to: Berlin
Looking
for a live in caretaker for our elderly mother in Northfield Vermont
Please call Patty at 223-8959 for details
Please call Patty at 223-8959 for details
# posted by Corinne's blog of Berlin and area happenings @ 2:09 PM 
