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PAGE 12 A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, February 9, 2012 – education – OSV to hold February vacation week STURBRIDGE - Keep the kids busy during February school vacation week at Old Sturbridge Village with a mix of invigorating outdoor fun and cozy indoor activities and handson crafts. Visitors can enjoy a winter scavenger hunt, sleigh rides, ice skating (bring your skates), and sledding on 1830s-style reproduction sleds (all weather permitting). Indoor activities include candle-making, making a Washington cake and paper George Washington militia hat, marbling paper, and writing with a quill pen. Children can make and take a “thaumatrope” – a 19th-century toy that fools the eye. For all times and details: 800-733-1830; www. osv.org . Everyone named “George” or “Martha” gets free admission to the Village during Presidents’ Day Weekend, Feb. 18-20. Visitors can take part in traditional toasts to George Washington and other famous American Patriots, and learn more about the country’s fi rst president during presentations of “I Cannot Tell a Lie: Celebrating the Life and Accomplishments of George Washington in Story and Song.” Skirts will swirl on Sunday, Feb. 19, as the Old Sturbridge Village dancers present a Washington Birthday Ball. Beforehand, OSV historians will discuss 19th-century hairdressing techniques (including bear grease and sausage curls) in “Her Crowning Glory”; etiquette for the ball in “Please Take Hands”; and 1830s ball accessories in “Frills and Furbelows.” Visitors can learn various dances of the time, including contra dances and cotillions, forerunners of today’s line dancing and square dancing. According to Old Sturbridge Village historians, George Washington’s birthday was one of only a few holidays celebrated in 19th-century rural New England, and CLUES ACROSS 1. Permanently disfi gure 5. Demilitarize 10. Flat-bottom crater 14. 6th Jewish month 15. “l836 siege” of U.S. 16. For in Spanish 17. Bunco games 18. Musical world for the iPhone 19. Smile 20. Charlotte’s Web’s White 21. His wife became salt 22. For example 23. Perceived 27. Violet-red color 30. Prizefi ghter Muhammed 31. Dentist’s group 32. Lowest feudal class 35. Passover feast and ceremony 38. Netherlands river 42. College teacher 43. Associated press 44. Exist 45. Wyatt __, OK Corral 46. Antlered cervid 47. Church announcement of a proposed marriage 49. Dried leaves of Catha edulis 50. Anoint 52. ___ Lilly, drug company 54. Red plus yellow 56. Holy places 59. Exclamation of surprise 60. Million barrels per day (abbr.) 62. Farm state 63. Hold onto 66. 79504 TX 68. Speed of sound 70. Condition of comfort 71. Blemished skin 72. Wingloke structures 73. Nanosecond (abbr.) 74. Herd of unsheared sheep 75. Castrate a horse Dipping candles at Old Sturbridge Village the man was elevated to mythic status by a young nation struggling to fi nd a sense of unity. Washington became a larger-thanlife fi gure who the entire nation could rally around, exemplifying all of the virtues that the citizens were coming to value. Many of the well-known stories about Washington were not really true, including the famous tale of the cherry tree chopped down by Washington as a boy. This story was fabricated by the president’s fi rst biographer, Mason Locke Weems, an itinerant bookseller who had likely never even met Washington. In fact, nearly all of the anecdotes in the fi rst edition of Weems’ book about Washington were fi ctional, but the biography was wildly popular and future editions included even more madeup tales. George Washington was, however, one of the best athletes of his day, a physically imposing man of great strength and endurance. A fact not well known by his contemporaries is that he frequently fell ill. Instead, his biographers focused on the fact that Washington was never wounded during the Revolutionary War, though he had several near misses. CLUES DOWN 1. Ceremonial staffs 2. Sun-dried brick 3. 007’s creator 4. Married woman 5. Obstruct 6. 12th Jewish month 7. Opposite of minored 8. Leave out 9. Twice Pres. of Harvard, Derek 10. Gas usage measurement 11. Swiss river 12. Spirit in The Tempest 13. Kitchen stove 24. Crocus spice 25. Raised railroad track 26. Injure permanently 27. Partial paralysis (pl.) 28. School in Newark, DE 29. Individual baking dish 32. Democratic Party of Germany 33. Poetic word for before ANSWERS APPEAR ON PAGE 19 34. Eggs of a fi sh 36. Environmental Protec. Agency 37. One point N of due E 39. Express pleasure 40. Macaws 41. Seaport (abbr.) 48. Tagging the base runner 51. Inspector General 53. City of Angels 54. Made from an Oak tree 55. So. Am. ratites 57. Thai money in 1928 58. Expressed pleasure 60. Nutmeg seed covering spice 61. Small indefi nite quantity 64. Between E and SE 65. Chest muscle (slang) 66. Used for hitting the ball 67. Tooth caregiver 68. Military Aircraft Group 69. Brew Tornado poster fundraiser catches public interest HEALTHY I FROM PAGE 11 statistically, this is the fi rst generation of children that may not live as long as their parents.” King said the purpose of the school nutrition bill is to create a healthier environment and a healthier culture in schools. “A small component of it is competitive foods, which means we can’t be having bake sales while school lunch is going on,” she explained. “We can’t have cake and things like that in the classrooms and expect children to choose healthy foods. It’s an important bill and we are proud of the initiative that the state has taken. It’s taken 10 years and a lot of back and forth as to whom we were going to partner with.” She said when the competitive bill takes effect in September, the school will no longer have any products with artifi - cial sweeteners. “We feel that change is better when we do it in a step-by-step manner,” King said. “So, we’ve been slowly making the changes.” She said the Healthier U.S. School Challenge is a USDA program that benchmarks schools to make sure they are serving enough whole grains, fruits and vegetables, particularly the whole rainbow of vegetable colors. “We have always followed a traditional meal plan, and it’s only been since 1995 that the schools have had these standards to work from,” she said. “We’ve always opted for the traditional plan because we want to know how many servings of vegetables and how many servings of fruit and whole grains are available.” King said she is proud of the program at Quaboag. “Kids are eating better, they are getting better nutrition and they are used to eating whole grain pasta and rice, because we’ve been serving it to them for six years now.” She said in the fall, the school will be required to offer nutritional labeling for every single item they offer, whether it’s a packaged or prepared item. King said that one of her strategic planning goals is to continue to keep working on access to school meals, including breakfast. The schools offer breakfast for $1.45, which includes hot meals, grab and go items such as muffi ns and breakfast sandwiches and fruits. “For a whole year in our elementary schools, we served sandwiches with one slice of white bread and one slice of wheat to get the children accustomed to whole wheat bread. We called them ‘zebra sandwiches’ and now all of our breads are whole wheat.” She said it’s very important for students to eat breakfast before school, but TURLEY PUBLICATIONS COURTESY PHOTO STURBRIDGE – Tantasqua Senior High School student, Joel Kass with the help of Technical Division CAD teacher Larry LaBelle has created a photomosaic poster depicting the damage done by the tornado. The poster captures images of the initial devastation through the present rebuilding efforts. The images are arranged in such a way so the viewer can visualize the actual tornado. The poster is being sold as a fundraiser. Proceeds from the sale of the poster will go to area tornado relief. The price for the 24”x36” color photo poster is $22. If you are interested in purchasing a poster, contact the Tantasqua Regional Senior High School Technical Division Offi ce at 508-347-3045 ext. 5108 or email walshc@tantasqua.org. it can be a challenge due to lack of time and bus schedules. She said she has been working with Project Bread, which is a child nutrition outreach program funded through the Department of Education. The principals of the Warren and West Brookfi eld schools attended a meeting with representatives from the program. “We put together a process where kids in grades 4 – 6 will be able to pick up a to-go type breakfast, including milk, that they can take to their classroom. We want to try to increase nutrition for kids,” King said. “We have some studies from Project Bread that show that school breakfast is linked to academic achievement. The kids that eat breakfast more often are going to improve their academic performance.” A study conducted at a Denver, Colorado elementary school showed that tardiness dropped 15 percent and discipline referrals dropped by 50 percent after the implementation of a school breakfast program. “Children typically get up and get ready for school in 15 minutes and many don’t take the time to eat breakfast,” King said. “And we know that 70 – 75 percent of children don’t eat breakfast every day, so they are coming to school a little bit fatigued, their stomach isn’t feeling well and maybe they have a little bit of a headache going on, and they are expected to be alert and ready to learn.” She said approximately 15 – 20 percent of students are eating breakfast at school and she would like to see those numbers increase. “We have a 40 percent free and reduced lunch rate across the district and I’m feeling that we still have room to grow with the kids that are in those categories as well as the students that are not.” King not only wants to improve the students’ physical health, but their mental health as well. She will soon begin a “Zen” tea program. “I even bought some pretty tea cups,” she said. “I want to create a wellness environment for our juniors and seniors who are really stressed out because of college applications, SAT’s, AP courses and all the stuff of life.” Currently, the price of lunch is $2.50 and while the school does use some USDA foods, as the lunch prices would skyrocket if they didn’t, King said 75 percent of the food served is handmade. “We make our own pizza using whole-wheat dough, we make our own sauce, and we grate our own cheese. We use fresh basil and garlic. I feel sometimes that if kids aren’t complaining, they must be happy,” King laughed. “And we haven’t gotten many complaints. We love our kids and we want them to be healthy and happy.”
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS PHOTO BY JENNIFER GRYBOWSKI Just some of the fi tness equipment available at Everybody’s Fitness Center. New fi tness center opens at Sturbridge Plaza By Jennifer Grybowski Turley Publications Reporter -STURBRIDGE- If the instant success of Everybody’s Fitness Center (EFC) in Sturbridge Plaza (between Shaw’s and Ocean State Job Lot) is any indication, people in Sturbridge are looking to get fi t. Renovations on the building have been ongoing for more than a month and EFC opened Feb. 6. EFC is a family-owned business, owned by Jason Cook, founder and co-owner, and his father Bob Cook, co-owner. Jason refers to his business as a hybrid fi tness center. A hybrid club is a combination of a fi tness center with a cutting edge training center, offering all types of training from one on one to semi-private training to boot camp programs. The club is equipped with TVs and IPOD docs on cardio machines, functional training circuit, free weights and more and is designed for functional fi tness. EFC is open 24 hours, seven days a week. “The 24/7 access has been well received,” Jason said. “It is a big draw to people.” EFC is staffed during the busy hours but in the off hours, people need to swipe their membership to enter the facility. There are security cameras set up throughout the gym, and there is a life alert button available for emergencies. Jason said personal attention is another thing that sets his business apart from others. “We have a smaller membership base, so we know our members by name,” he said. “You’re not just a number here.” While EFC offers one-on-one coaching and training, EFC’s main focus is semi-private coaching, with groups of two to fi ve people. “That model works well for us and for the members,” Jason said. “It lowers the cost for the members but they are still getting attention, a workout plan and motivation. Plus people like groups; they like to feel the camaraderie.” EFC opened its fi rst location in Auburn in October 2009. Jason said he A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, February 9, 2012 PAGE 13 – business – eyed Sturbridge for his second location for a few reasons. “There was a need in the community for a smaller, more community-based fi tness center,” Jason said. “We are different than other gyms – we’re not just a fi tness center but a training center.” He also said he feels the local location’s distance from the Auburn location will be an asset for his customers. “A lot of people from the Sturbridge/ Southbridge area work in Worcester,” he said. “This way, they can use both gyms: They can work out in Auburn on their way to work and work out in Sturbridge on the weekends.” He has not come to regret that decision. “The response from the community has been awesome,” Jason said. “The presales interest level is so much higher than it was in Auburn.” Some of those presales have been made through walk-ins and telephone inquiries, but most of them have been made through word of mouth. “I’ve learned that Sturbridge is such a close-knit group,” Jason said. “Everyone knows everyone.” Sturbridge Coffee House owner Pia Rogers let Jason set up a table in her establishment last month to accept memberships. “That was very successful,” Jason said. “Pia’s awesome.” Other membership inquiries have come from Facebook. “We’ve done very little advertising,” Jason said. But it is not just the community that has been supportive: The town has also been incredibly helpful as well. “The town’s been great,” Jason said. “I’ve had no issues with the town. They have encouraged me and been very supportive from day one.” Something Jason said he is looking forward to in Sturbridge is supporting the community. “Work with community involvement is very important to me,” Jason said. “I love to give back to the community.” In Auburn, EFC sponsors little league teams and hosts food drives and Toys for Tots drives. Election nomination papers now available in Warren, West Brookfi eld REGION – Town Clerks’ of Warren (Nancy J. Lowell) and West Brookfi eld (Sarah J. Allen) announce that nomination papers are now available for the Annual Town Election, to be held on Tuesday, May 1. Offi ce Hours - Warren: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Thursday, 1 to 6 p.m. West Brookfi eld: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Tuesday Evening 6 to 8 p.m. TURLEY PUBLICATIONS COURTESY PHOTO L to R: Laurel Wilber, owner The Fabric Stash, Linda Bradley, Janet Lavallee, Liz Sheldon, and Cheryl Miranda of Quabaug Corporation put fi nishing touches on blankets for Veteran’s Inc. Volunteers at The Fabric Stash in Charlton, Mass., create fl eece blankets for donation to Veteran’s Inc. Quabaug Corp. donates bedding NORTH BROOKFIELD – Less than four months ago, Quabaug Corporation was introduced to the Worcester-based non-profi t Veterans Inc. The two organizations joined forces to develop a safe outdoor play area at the Little Patriots Early Learning Center. It was through this project that Quabaug learned of the extensive outreach programs of Veteran’s Inc. and has since committed to fi nding ways to make additional contributions – most recently initiating “The Big Blanket Sew” to create and donate 125 fl eece blankets. Veteran’s Inc. is the largest provider of services to veterans and their families in New England. The organization offers seven shelters and well over 200 beds in Massachusetts and Vermont, housing and transitioning more than 45,000 veterans throughout the past two decades. Quabaug Corporation delivered large Lifelong Learning Center at the Palmer Public Library (413) 283-2329 Website: www.topfloorlearning.org ADULT LITERACY PROGRAMS English as a Second Language One to One Tutoring for learners of English who are at a beginning level, speak NO English or very little English. English as a Second Language Conversation Classes For learners at an Intermediate or Advanced level who would like more opportunities to converse in English. Citizenship For learners of a Second Language who would like to become U.S. Citizens. Reading, Writing, Math One to One Tutoring This individualized program centers on the needs and goals of learners in reading writing, spelling, and math. GED Preparation and GED Half Length Practice Test Call Gail at 413-283-2329 to make an appointment. COMPUTER COURSES Mail Merge Powerpoint Internet Basics Microsoft Word Clean Your Computer Introduction to Social Media Call for a detailed course description, fees, and dates. BRIDGE TO COLLEGE Transition to college program offered by TFL and Holyoke Community College. Off-campus education saves you time, travel, and money. 3 college credits awarded. All dates TBA. A minimum of 10 participants is required. Once this minimum has been reached, classes will be scheduled. All classes take place at Top Floor Learning, 3rd floor level, Palmer Public Library. Call Gail at 413-283-2329 to learn more. SURVIVOR’S BRIDGE This group is for women who are or have been affected by domestic violence. Our grant enables Survivors’ Bridge members to take FREE classes in computer instruction, math, reading, and journal writing. A therapeutic support group is also offered. Call Gail at 413-283-2329 for details. bolts of fl eece fabric to the Fabric Stash, a quilt and fabric supply shop in Charlton. The Fabric Stash is the largest independently owned and operated fabric store in Worcester County. With nine sewing machines running, employees, friends and family members of Quabaug Corporation and the Fabric Stash donated their time and talent to create 125 colorful fl eece blankets. This effort was an arduous and inspiring one-day affair declared “The Big Blanket Sew”. “We are grateful to the volunteers of Quabaug Corporation and the Fabric Stash for their efforts and this donation,” said Amanda Riik, public relations and outreach service manager, Veterans Inc. “We know that our veterans and their families will be warmed and comforted by these beautiful fl eece blankets.” See DONATES I PAGE 14 GAME NIGHT The 2nd Tuesday of every month 6:00 to 7:45 p.m. FREE TOP FLOOR LEARNING is in need of tutors in math, reading, writing, and English-as-a Second Language. Call Gail at 283-2329.
Page 1 and 2: The ONLY local coverage in Brookfie
Page 3 and 4: ConCom eyes Cooley Hill Reservoir s
Page 5 and 6: Letters to the Editor Generous dono
Page 7 and 8: Michael White Local author Michael
Page 9 and 10: ki tower mpse n history e chance to
Page 11: WCES Teacher of the Week Karen Bys
Page 15 and 16: TOWN REPORT I FROM PAGE 6 Brookfi e
Page 17 and 18: Your BUYLINE CONNECTION DON’T BUY
Page 19 and 20: Spencer K of C sponsors youth free
Page 21 and 22: The Week Ahead A Turley Publication
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