April 12, 2013 - Southbridge Evening News

Friday, April 12, 2013
• SPENCER NEW LEADER 5
Help sought with town’s Arbor Day celebration
BY DAVID DORE
NEW LEADER STAFF WRITER
WEST BROOKFIELD — Tree
Warden James DiMaio is looking
for people who might want to help
with West Brookfield’s annual
Arbor Day celebration.
The Board of Selectmen has proclaimed
April 26, the last Friday of
the month, as Arbor Day in West
Brookfield. In a press release distributed
last week, DiMaio said
plans are being “formulated” for a
townwide celebration.
Among the highlights of the
third annual event will be a tree
replacement program, which
DiMaio told selectmen Tuesday,
April 2 would include eight to 10
trees around downtown West
Brookfield; a tree planting with elementary
school pupils, as has been
done in previous years; and what
DiMaio called an “Arbor Day
Celebration Program with the
school children featuring local
elected officials, valuing of our
community shade trees and forests,
and service to the community.”
The proclamation from selectmen
traces the history of Arbor
Day back to J. Sterling Morton, a
journalist who became secretary of
the Nebraska Territory. He advocated
the planting of trees in articles
and editorials.
The first Arbor Day was held 141
years ago on April 10, 1872, when an
estimated 1 million trees were
planted in Nebraska. It was
declared a legal holiday in
Nebraska in 1885, with Morton’s
birthday of April 22 picked as the
day to observe it.
Other states passed bills in the
1870s to mark Arbor Day. The first
nationwide observance was held in
schools in 1882.
In Massachusetts, Arbor Day is
the last Friday in April.
“Trees are essential to West
Brookfield’s outstanding historical
and highly aesthetic setting and
landscape,” the press release from
DiMaio stated. “Trees also provide
for climate control, water quality,
and to some extent wildlife habitat.
In the last few years, wind, ice,
snow, insects, diseases, drought, old
age and safety considerations have
necessitated removing a number of
trees within the community. West
Brookfield is committed to replacing
these trees with native, diverse
trees that will not interfere with
An inside look at a hearing-impaired gymnastics class
BY SARA NELSON
SPECIAL TO THE NEW LEADER
Editor’s Note: In an effort to interact more
with our local schools, Stonebridge Press has
reached out to our area schools to feature content
contributed by students with an interest
in writing and photography. The following
article is written by Tantasqua Junior High
School seventh grader Sara Nelson. If you are
interested in submitting content from your
school for publication in the newspaper, contact
Editor Adam Minor at 508-909-4130, or by
e-mail at aminor@stonebridgepress.com.
STURBRIDGE — Kristen Morrissey
enjoys teaching gymnastics, but she loves to
teach hearing-impaired gymnasts, especially.
I went to observe my coach’s Hearing
Impaired Gymnastics class. The following
are my observations.
Using sign language and lip reading,
Kristen communicates well with the hearing
impaired children. There was a small group
of about 10 students and there were five to
six adults helping Kristen work with them.
To compare, my gymnastics team of 17
girls requires only one or two adults.
On the balance beam, the children
appeared to be a bit more wobbly than hearing
children. The hearing impaired children
definitely seemed to depend on looking at
the beam much more. They often looked
down at the beam rather than looking
straight ahead.
The children in the class were assigned
stations to practice. When it was time to
switch stations, Kristen would turn the
lights off and on. While Kristen tells my
team in detail what to do during class, she
needs to demonstrate and provide visual
aids to the hearing impaired class.
They did not appear to have any difficulties
running or jumping. More of those differences
came with the balancing aspects of
gymnastics.
I sat down with Kristen to get her thoughts
on the class.
Compared to our class, do you give the
deaf children a different set of instructions
or pointers when learning new
skills?
“The way I set up the deaf gymnastics
class is with color-coded groups, because it’s
so big. Also, since I can’t yell ‘Switch’ out
loud, I use the lights to get their attention.
When the lights flash they know it’s time to
switch stations. Another big difference is
explaining skills. Since a lot of gymnastics
words, such as ‘cartwheel,’ don’t exist in sign
language. I would have to fingerspell them,
which is spelling out words with my hands.
To make it easier, I wrote the words down on
paper and held them up. Eventually they
NEWS BRIEFS
remembered the positions.
When I teach regular gym I can be talking
while spotting, but for deaf gymnastics I
need to show a lot of things first, because I
can’t talk without my hands.”
Does their hearing loss seem to affect
their ability to balance? For example, do
they wobble more on balance beam or
doing handstands?
“Being deaf does not affect their balance.
However, if they are hard of hearing in one
ear, and not the other, it does have an effect.
It makes balancing a lot harder but not
impossible.”
Does their hearing loss seem to affect
their ability to run or jump?
“No. It does not affect their ability to run
or jump.”
Do you think that being hearing
impaired affects people’s ability to do
gymnastics and you notice a difference
between the deaf class and other classes
you teach?
“Being deaf does not affect their ability to
do gymnastics. I teach them just how I teach
regular classes, just with a lot more demonstrating.”
utility lines and service, infrastructure,
and safety considerations.”
DiMaio said most of the trees
planted around West Brookfield as
part of the tree replacement program
were donated. He urged residents,
organizations and businesses
that want more information or
wish to donate a tree or be part of
this year’s program to call him at
(774) 200-9726.
David Dore may be reached at
(508) 909-4140, or by email at
ddore@stonebridgepress.com.
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Leicester town clerk giving some reminders
LEICESTER — Leicester Town Clerk Deborah Davis
would like to remind Leicester residents the last day to
register to vote before the May 7 Annual Town Meeting is
Wednesday, April 17. The town clerk’s office will be open
from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Also, don’t forget to license your dogs. Owners must
bring a valid rabies certificate with them when seeking
licenses. The town clerk’s office is open Monday,
Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and
Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, call
(508) 892-7011.
Restrictions to be put
on outdoor water use
merely represent
good water conservation
practice,” said
Spencer Utilities and
F a c i l i t i e s
Superintendent
Steven Tyler. “They
are easy to comply
with and generally
should be practiced
by everyone all the
time whether or not
an enforceable water
conservation restriction
has been imposed.”
Anyone violating the bylaw can be punished with a
warning for the first offense, $100 for the second offense
and $250 for each subsequent offense.
A complete copy of the Town of Spencer Article 15
Water Conservation and Restriction Bylaw can be found
online at http://tinyurl.com/cmh5jcx.
For more information, call the Spencer Utilities and
Facilities Office at (508) 885-7525.
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SPENCER — A mandatory water use restriction for
Spencer public water supply users, which includes
mandatory water use restrictions effective May 1 until
Sept. 30, was announced March 30 by the Spencer Water
Department.
The conservation restriction prohibits the following
non-essential outdoor activities from occurring between
the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.: Irrigation of lawns via
automatic sprinkler systems (all types of above and
below ground sprinkler systems); washing of vehicles
except in a commercial car wash; and washing of exterior
building surfaces, parking lots, driveways or sidewalks,
except as necessary to apply paint, preservatives,
stucco, pavement or cement.
The restriction
does allow for lawns,
gardens and plants to
be watered by a handheld
hose or bucket
any time. The restriction
also allows for
irrigating newly
established lawns and
plantings in the
months of May and
September, and in
public parks or recreational
fields with
automatic sprinklers
before 9 a.m. or after 5
p.m.
The
state
Department of
Environmental
Protection requires
conservation conditions
related to the
town’s permitted
water withdrawals
under
the
Massachusetts Water
Management Act.
“The conservation
restrictions imposed
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