Friday, June 05, 2015
News To Know April 30, 2015
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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
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For current news
look for "Berlin , Vermont
For historical
news look for "Berlin , Vermont
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Notes:
I realize
the article regarding the referee is long (see below, last item) ... it is so
refreshing to read a positive story on a basketball official... and even
better, it's one of our kids!! Clark was the
official at several games at various schools here in Vermont
Below you will find:
GREEN UP DAY ALWAYS FIRST
SATURDAY IN MAY
SATURDAY MAY 2nd ONLY - FREE COMICS AT WONDER
CARDS AND COMICS
THUNDER ROAD OPENING
SUPER SENIOR STELLA LAFOUNTAIN
OPEN MIC STAND UP COMEDY
HELP FOR YOUR OUTDOOR CLEAN-UP PROJECTS
SMART TRIP
CHALLENGE - CUT CARBON POLLUTION
ENJOY SOME BERLIN
PROJECT
PREPARES FOR UVM EXTENSION MOVE
JUNIOR QUALIFIES FOR
NATIONAL REFEREEING TOURNAMENT
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I'm researching Davis Bros. which was located in Riverton. My
great-grandfather Daniel Davis was one of the three Davis
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Did you know there is an enormous amount of information that is
available regarding Norwich University
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GREEN UP DAY ALWAYS
FIRST SATURDAY IN MAY
Green Up Day 2015 is Saturday, May 2nd! Your help to Green Up Berlin
would be appreciated. An official sponsor of the event, Twin City Subaru is Central Vermont 's dedicated bag
pick-up and trash drop-off location for Green Up Day 2015. And they're making a
party out of it! Volunteers will enjoy free food, drinks, and Green Up Day
goodies on Green Up Day. Twin City Subaru staff will also be joining in to do
their part to Green Up Vermont!
Twin City 142 Mall Road Berlin
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Used bike sale outdoors at Onion River Sports on Langdon Street noon Saturday, May 2nd only.
If you have a bike to sell it needs to be brought in no later than May
1st.
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SATURDAY MAY 2nd ONLY
- FREE COMICS AT WONDER CARDS AND COMICS
As part of the 10th annual National Free Comic Day, Saturday, May 2nd
from 11am-5pm at Wonder Cards and
Comics on the Barre - Montpelier Road
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THUNDER ROAD
OPENING
The Thunder Road Car Show is on Saturday, May 2nd from 9am - noon , followed by
practice. The season opener for Thunder Road 1pm , this is the 56th season of
competition. All the details are at:
www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com
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SUPER SENIOR STELLA LAFOUNTAIN
WCAX Super Senior featured Stella LaFountain who turns 90 in May 2015. Stella lived in Weston Mobile Home Park here
in Berlin
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OPEN MIC STAND UP COMEDY
Laugh Local VT Comedy has an Open Mic every month at the American Legion
in Montpelier 8pm . You don't have to be a Legion member to attend. There is no
set admission charge, the comedy folks ask that you make a donation.
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HELP FOR YOUR OUTDOOR CLEAN-UP
PROJECTS
From Jeff Young "Spring
is here and along with it comes a lot of yard clean up. I am Scoutmaster of our
church BSA Troop #748 located in Berlin , VT.
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Sue Kingman of Central Vermont Academy (located on Vine Street here in
Berlin) tell me that their high school was not able to be open this year
because of low numbers, however, elementary school is holding on and she would
love to speak with you if you may want to enroll your child. Their website is cva-sda.net. Their mission statement: “We honor God
by providing a Christ-centered, quality education that prepares our students
for service today and for eternity.”
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SMART TRIP CHALLENGE - CUT CARBON POLLUTION
Join the 2 week smart trip
challenge from May 4th-15th. Lets cut carbon and reclaim our rides! Have you
signed up for Way to Go! Challenge? Fire up your coworkers, friends, and
classmates to ditch their car and help us cut carbon pollution in Vermont
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Larry Perry was awarded a Blue Ribbon up in St. Albans at the Maple
Festival for his maple syrup. We've purchased some of his syrup previously and
know it's delicious but I didn't know when or how he got started sugaring.
Larry's also a good photographer and his photos have been on the cover of the
Town Report. I emailed Larry and asked for photos for the "Berlin , Vermont Berlin
"Here’s a picture of how many ribbons we have won. In 2011&12 we did not enter. We have always entered in the maple festival inSt. Albans . This is our sixth year doing it. In 2009 I tapped a maple
tree up front of the house and hung a milk jug. I eventually filled a big pot
on the grill out on the deck. Well I thought why not boil this down and see
what we can get. Well it took all day, not a good place to boil sap you loose
to much heat around the bottom of the pan so I wrapped flashing around it to
keep the heat in. Well I ended up with a very small amount in a glass jar but
it tasted very good. That’s when I said we need a small hobby sugar house. Now
we tap some where around 200 trees and have a lot of fun doing it. This was a
tough year getting started, lot’s of snow but we did it and when the sap
finally started flowing it all came at once for us. First part of April we
boiled every afternoon for about a week but it really filled things up with
sap. When all was said and done we made
just shy of 20 gallons of syrup. Most all of it was Grade A “dark robust
taste”. Everybody so far loves the taste, even the judges in St. A. I put most everything in quarts, I do have a
few pints. 18.00 for qts and 12.00 for Pts.
I think there probably might be others from Berlin Berlin
"Here’s a picture of how many ribbons we have won. In 2011&12 we did not enter. We have always entered in the maple festival in
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VTrans Berlin-Barre City
NH SURF(44) project - includes roadway work along VT 62 between Berlin Barre City April 22, 2015 and continue through mid-July 2015. Traffic will be reduced to one-lane and detoured
around construction activities. The work will consist of patching, pot hole
repair, crack sealing, hot-in-place recycling and overlay of pavement, traffic
markings and other highway related items on Vermont Berlin Barre City
Note: Details including a
map are posted to the Berlin , Vermont
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ENJOY SOME BERLIN
Hoping that
the May 20th Berlin Pictures of the Past is on your calendar. 6pm is the
potluck (call Cheryl 223-5306), or just show up for the photo presentation that
starts at 7pm . This
Berlin Historical Society event will be held at the Congregational Church at 1808 Scott
Hill Road
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PROJECT PREPARES FOR UVM EXTENSION MOVE
Pub. 4/27/15
Times Argus David Delcore
More than half of the building that doesn’t yet exist has already been spoken for and will accommodate the planned relocation of the
According to Fred Connor, co-owner of Connor Contracting Inc., the family-owned company has pre-leased 4,800 square feet of the new building to the extension service, leaving roughly 2,500 square feet of commercial space yet to be committed.
The recently permitted $440,000 redevelopment project started earlier this month and, Connor said, the new building, complete with a 40-space parking lot, will be ready for occupancy in September.
Two neighboring commercial buildings were recently leveled and the two small lots — both roughly two-fifths of an acre — merged as part of a redevelopment plan that brings the property into compliance with the town’s zoning regulations and setback requirements.
One of the two razed buildings was most recently home to the Micro Business Development program run by Capstone Community Action. However, longtime residents remember it once housed an A&W restaurant, was later home to Fisherman’s Galley restaurant, and briefly served as an Army recruiting center.
The mixed-use building that until recently was located next door included both residential and commercial space and past tenants included Morel Electronics.
In two weeks’ time both buildings were torn down, the merged lot fenced in and construction preparation begun, prompting many — including some town officials — to wonder about the tenant that was referenced but not identified in the application submitted in January and reviewed in late-February, resulting in a permit that was issued on March 25.
Although the UVM Extension Service won’t be new to
Based on the application, the balance of the building could be used for anything from office to retail.
@Tagline:david.delcore@timesargus.com
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JUNIOR QUALIFIES FOR NATIONAL REFEREEING TOURNAMENT
Pub. 4/22/15 , The Ithacan, by Vinica Weiss, Staff Writer
Making sure to keep up
with the hustle of the players, junior Clark Stridsberg’s lanky 6-foot 2-inch
frame quickly moves up and down the basketball court. With intense
concentration and confidence, his eyes are locked on the ball and the
competitors’ every move. The sound of the rapid movement of feet resonates
across the court, but a whistle blows, and the high-pitched squeaks of
shuffling feet pause for a moment.
While Stridsberg may be
running across the court, he is not one of the 10 players competing. He is an
official. When he’s donning the black-and-white striped shirt, black pants,
black shoes and whistle around his neck — the attire that has come to define a
basketball referee — his job isn’t to score 3-pointers or block an opposing
player’s shot. Instead, he is one part of the triangle of officials maintaining
the rules, order and flow of the game.
Stridsberg said he has
played basketball since he was a kid, and having an abundance of experience
playing the game helped ease the transition from player to official.
“I’ve played basketball
every year for as long as I can remember … so that’s the one [sport] I
definitely feel the most comfortable reffing, too, because I feel like I have
the best understanding of it,” Stridsberg said.
As an official in the
Office of Recreational Sports at the college since he was a freshman,
Stridsberg has had the opportunity to learn and fine-tune his skills over his
college career.
But recently, Stridsberg
was able to take his abilities to a higher level of play when he received the
opportunity to be an official at the 2015 National Intramural-Recreational
Sports Association National Basketball Championships held at North Carolina State University Raleigh , North Carolina
The tournament is made up
of 96 club and intramural basketball teams from all over the nation, and
Stridsberg is the second Ithaca College
“It’s definitely another
level, not only for the participants competing, but for the officials because
it’s usually just the top couple officials from the regional tournaments plus
some at-large bids,” Stridsberg said. “So, as an official, it was a really good
experience because you’re working with a lot of people that really know what
they’re doing.”
A sport management major
from Berlin Corners, Vermont Tompkins County
Scott Flickinger, former
program coordinator of intramurals at the college who is now the assistant
manager of Intramural and Club Sports at Boston University, said as a
basketball player, Stridsberg came in with prior knowledge of the game, but
while that knowledge base is valuable, it did not necessarily help him become a
talented official. Rather, he said it was Stridsberg’s commitment to his craft
that has made him a strong official over the years.
“Clark has just worked extremely hard in taking a look at plays, analyzing
plays as they come to him and then making the right decision with each play,
and that comes with experience,” Flickinger said. “With every play he sees, he
gets better because he is consistently exposed to those plays. And when that happens
Clark ’s intelligence and his hard work really shine
because as he sees that, he catalogs that so he has that knowledge to fall back
on when he sees that again.”
Before qualifying for the
national competition, Stridsberg went to three regional tournaments. He
qualified to be an official at Boston University University of Dayton University
of Massachusetts Amherst
It was at the UMass
Amherst tournament that Stridsberg was recognized, as he was ranked as one of
the top-two officials at the tournament. At each regional tournament, there is
an official’s committee of about a dozen people, made up of mostly graduate
assistants and intramural coordinators.
Stridsberg said similar to
the elimination style tournament for the teams, referees are also competing to
go further, and as an all-tournament official, he received an automatic bid to
referee at the national tournament in North Carolina
The NIRSA basketball
tournaments are geared toward helping officials, as there is a big commitment
to professional development. Flickinger said the tournament serves as an
officiating camp of sorts and is an opportunity for Stridsberg to continue
refining his skills.
“It’s always nice that he
got this opportunity to go to nationals, but the one thing I do want to
emphasize is that it’s not about that, and Clark knows that,” Flickinger said. “Clark knows that it is about getting better as an official and doing the
game justice by improving his officiating so that everybody that experiences
the game he’s working experiences a fair and unbiased game.”
At both the regional and
national tournaments, each official has games videotaped with a voice over from
one of the clinicians. When this is done, Stridsberg is able to break down the
film with the official’s committee clinicians, and the videos are also posted
online so he can review them himself.
Similar to how players
watch game film, Stridsberg said watching film of himself during the game helps
him make adjustments because he is able to take the feedback and incorporate it
into his officiating.
“It’s super helpful to be
able to watch yourself because as you’re doing it, you don’t necessarily know
what you look like and what you might be missing,” Stridsberg said. “But it’s
super helpful to be able to go back through certain plays and look at what you
called, and your mechanics, so I think that helps the most.”
Stridsberg said the career
development component has been his favorite aspect of participating in the
tournaments because it gives him the opportunity to learn and to help other
students. He said he enjoys passing on what he’s learned from the tournaments,
even if that means telling people about the disagreement that comes from
players and coaches.
As seen at all levels of
play, referees are often remembered for the calls that they miss, but
Stridsberg said he cannot focus on this.
“Whether you’re a
[Division I] official or in the pros, you’re still not going to get everything,
and even when you do get it right there’s a lot of players and coaches who will
still disagree with you,” Stridsberg said. “When I’m telling the current
intramural referees, I’m always just like, ‘Don’t get discouraged from that,
just do what you’re doing because people always get upset, but you just have to
take it in stride.’”
Stridsberg also said being
an official for intramurals has actually helped when it comes to avoiding
impartiality because many of the players who he officiates are his friends.
Additionally, Stridsberg has had to officiate multiple games for the women’s
club basketball team this past year, including a regional tournament game, and
he said because of his intramurals experience, he has not had to face any
problems regarding impartiality.
“Some people might have a
problem calling a foul on a friend of theirs, but I think honestly officiating
intramurals helped with that because that’s a lot of my friends doing
intramurals, and I still have to officiate those games,” Stridsberg said. “In a
way, it actually helps because if there is a disagreement, you can talk to them
better, you already kind of have a relationship there, so you can explain it to
them and they’re usually very understanding whether or not it’s in their
favor.”
Chris Thomas, intramurals
program coordinator at the college, said it is evident Stridsberg is committed
to helping other officials and enjoys taking on a sort of teaching role. Thomas
also said now that Stridsberg has progressed to this national tournament, he thinks
other intramural officials will try to take that next step as well.
“He’s gone through a lot
of the clinics for the national tournaments and through his high school
certification, so he knows how to train refs, how to relate to them, give them
examples on how to improve their skills as well,” Thomas said. “He is just very
hands-on with them, and I’d say he is very good at relaying information to them
in a way that they understand.”
Stridsberg, who will be a
senior in the fall, said he is planning on officiating at the NIRSA tournament
next year, and he hopes other officials at the college will consider it as
well. When it comes to his future, Stridsberg said he certainly wants to
continue officiating after college.
“Of course, the higher
level, the better when it comes to officiating as far as currently doing high
school,” Stridsberg said. “Eventually I’d like to move on, hopefully do college
games at some point, whether that’s DI or DIII here at Ithaca
Added note: Becca Lewis
represented IC for two years at the national tournament. She went in 2013 and
2014. Clark represented IC in 2015. IC has had a
representative there for 3 straight years... and to have a school do that...
let alone a D3 school with a smaller rec program... is quite the
accomplishment! Way to go! - Scott Flickinger, Asst Mgr, IM & Sport Clubs
at Boston
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# posted by Corinne's blog of Berlin and area happenings @ 7:21 PM 
