Monthly Archives: July 2015

Grass Routes Bluegrass Band Gives Sound View Concert This Evening

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The Grass Routes Bluegrass Band will perform at Sound View on Thursday evening.

The Grass Routes Bluegrass Band will perform at Sound View on Thursday evening.

The Town of Old Lyme and the Sound View Commission are sponsoring family-friendly concerts at Sound View Beach this summer.

The second concert  of the 2015 series will be held Thursday, July 9, and features the Grass Routes Bluegrass Band.  The free outdoor concerts will take place from 7 through 8.30 p.m., near the flag pole at the end of Hartford Avenue at Sound View Beach.

Bring a blanket or a lawn chair, and settle in for a lovely evening of sunset music.  Everyone is welcome to attend these family-friendly events.

There is no rain location for this concert.  Should a weather cancellation be necessary it will be posted on LymeLine.com and the Town website under “News & Announcements.”

The original Old Lyme Town Band existed from 1886 to 1910. The band members practiced in the “Band Room,” a building on the corner of Shore and Ferry Roads that has since been converted to a residence.

In the summer of 1975, Michele Smith Dickey, a granddaughter of one of the original band members, re-formed the band in anticipation of the US bicentennial celebration. Dickey took lessons on a trombone which reputedly belonged to a member of the original Old Lyme Town Band. Donald Janse, then director of cadet musical activities at the US Coast Guard Academy and past director of the Coast Guard Band, was the first conductor of the modern band.

Since 1975, the band, whose members represent many area towns, has presented concerts from Guilford to Mystic, and from Old Lyme to Middletown, particularly during the summer.

Rehearsals are held Monday evenings from 7  to 9 p.m. at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme. New members of all ages are welcome with no auditions.

For further information, contact the band at this link.

Old Lyme’s Zoe Eastman-Grossel (Age 8) Qualifies for Two Junior Olympic Track & Field Events

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Zoe Eastman-Grossel leaps to victory in the Junior Olympics qualifying event.

Zoe Eastman-Grossel leaps to victory in the AAU Junior Olympics qualifying event.

Eight-year-old Zoe Eastman-Grossel of Old Lyme has qualified for the 2015 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympic Games after competing in the regional qualifying meet in New Britain, Conn., held over June 26-28.  The AAU Junior Olympics will be held in Norfolk, Va. from July 29 through Aug. 8

Zoe Eastman-Grossel finishes in sixth place in the AAU Regional 100 meter final, qualifying her for a spot on the Junior Olympics team.

Zoe Eastman-Grossel (second from left) finishes in sixth place in the AAU Regional 100 meter final, qualifying her for a spot at the AAU Junior Olympics.

Zoe competed in the long jump, 100 meter dash and 400 meter dash.  She qualified in the long jump by taking first place and also in the 100 meter dash with a sixth place finish in the finals.

Zoe attends the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London and trains with the Connecticut Hawks Track Club located in New Haven.  Her parents are Martha Grossel and Deborah Eastman.

Old Lyme’s Lian Rows at Henley with Philips Academy Crew Team

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The Phillips Academy team from Andover, mass., competes in the historic Henley Royal Regatta in England.

The Phillips Academy rowing team, with Old Lyme’s Tyler Lian aboard, competes in the historic Henley Royal Regatta in England.

Tyler Lian of Old Lyme, a former intern for LymeLine.com who is currently a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., was selected to be a member of the school’s rowing team, which competed last week at the Henley Royal Regatta in England.

Philips Academy, one of the nation’s oldest private secondary schools, accomplished a historic first by fielding both a male and a female team at the Henley Royal Regatta rowing competition. While Andover has sent girls’ and boys’ teams to Henley during separate years, the program has reached new levels this year fielding both full boys’ and girls’ teams at the same time.

The Andover crew team was poised to cap off an already strong season, with the girls’ team having won the New England Interscholastic Rowing Championship earlier this year and the boys’ team taking second (missing the top spot by 0.25 seconds). Andover sent two boats of eight and two boats of four from each gender, a show of strength for a program already regarded as one of the nation’s strongest (… along with Lyme-Old Lyme High School!)

The 28 students and two coaches qualified by proving the fastest crews in New England who met the Henley requirements. “I could not be more proud of how well the Andover girls performed at Henley Women’s Regatta. They came over here held their own against some of the best secondary schools in the world finishing in the semi-finals in both the 8 and the 4,” said Dale Hurley, coach of Andover girls’ crew.

The Henley Royal Regatta has been one of world’s leading races since 1839 and attracts high school, university, and professional teams from all over the world.

Andover has had a historic presence at the races, with the most recent woman’s team competing in 2007 and the most recent boys team competing in 2006. The boys team made it to the semifinals of the Princess Cup at Henley in 2006 and the girls team made it to the finals of the same cup in 2007.

For more photos, visit http://phillipsacademy.smugmug.com/Athletics/201415/Henley-Womens-Regatta/

For more information, visit http://www.andover.edu/About/Newsroom/Pages/HenleyRegatta2015.aspx

Talking Transportation: Transportation News Updates

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It’s time to update you on some of the hot topics we’ve discussed in recent weeks:

MALLOY’S TRANSIT LAND GRAB:
Remember the Governor’s stealth proposal for a “Transit Corridor Development Authority,” described by some as “eminent domain on steroids”? Well, the initial idea to allow the state to acquire any land within a half-mile of train stations was modified, then killed in the legislature. I predict it will be back.

BRIDGE WOES:
Just as planning begins to replace Norwalk’s 118-year-old railroad bridge, which opens but doesn’t close, another ancient bridge is suffering the same engineering arthritis. On July 1st the Devon Bridge in Stratford was raised but wouldn’t close, delaying every train that ran across it for days. Estimated replacement cost, $750 million.

STAMFORD GARAGE:
It has been two years since the CDOT tapped Darien developer John McClutchy as their choice to demolish the old rail station garage. (That announcement came 10 days after, just coincidentally, McClutchy’s wife donated $10,000 to the state Democrats.) But a final deal has yet to be signed for reasons unknown, so any work is still many months away. Meanwhile in April of this year the old garage was crumbling so badly that the CDOT closed it for safety inspections. Those inspections were completed, but the garage is still closed, displacing 700+ daily commuters.

THIS IS “SAFETY FIRST”?
On June 29, Metro-North allowed two trains to run toward each other on a single track just south of New Canaan. Fortunately they stopped before a collision and one of the trains backed up and out of the way. When reporters first asked Metro-North what happened, they insisted nothing was wrong. Later, they described the incident as “undesirable train routing”, an amazing euphemism for a near collision.

TAKEN TO COURT IN HANDCUFFS:
Is it reassuring to passengers to see MTA conductors and engineers on a “perp walk” for the news media? Thirteen current and former employees of the MTA were taken to court last week, indicted on charges of cheating on safety exams that were testing their knowledge of signals, speed limits and safe operation of trains. The cheating ring ran for more than two years in a period just before Metro-North was hit with a series of derailments and collisions. Eight different exam cycles were compromised before the MTA’s internal investigators started their probe.

HOW LATE WAS YOUR TRAIN?
When the 11:39 p.m. left Grand Central on the night of July 1, passengers settled in for a nap en route to Stamford and a 12:48 a.m. arrival. But instead of taking one hour, their journey took three. Near Woodlawn, the train entered a section with inoperative third-rail and coasted to a halt. The train sat there for 90 minutes before a rescue train arrived, taking 40 minutes to pull them to a station where passengers got on another train. To their credit, the crew did pass out water to the stranded passengers … never a good sign when you’re on a stranded train.

Jim Cameron

Jim Cameron

Jim Cameron is founder of The Commuter Action Group, and a member of the Darien RTM. The opinions expressed in this column are only his own. You can reach him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com For a full collection of “Talking Transportation” columns, see www.talkingtransportation.blogspot.com

Bargains Galore at White Elephant Sale Tomorrow, Saturday

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And they're off! The annual White Elephant Sale starts each year on the first strike of 9 a.m. on the designated Friday.

And they’re off! The annual White Elephant Sale starts each year on the first strike of 9 a.m. on the designated Friday.

WES-sticker-onlyIt’s once again time to start preparing for one of the biggest rummage sales in all of New England — the White Elephant Sale [WES] sponsored by the Ladies Benevolent Society of the First Congregational Church, which will take place this year at the church on Friday, July 10, and Saturday, July 11.

This popular sale raises money for missions and good works both locally and through out the world.  Some of the beneficiaries include food pantries, health organizations, family support centers, children’s programs, world relief, housing, along with many many more.

Donations are needed.  Look around in the attic for those treasures and bring them to the church starting Thursday, June 25, for eight days through Friday, July 3 [closed Sunday, June 28, and Saturday, July 4.]  Quality items will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day and on Thursday, June 25, Tuesday, June 30 and Thursday, July 2, there will be additional evening donation periods from 6 to 8 p.m.

Click this link for a full White Elephant Sale calendar and a list of donations that are (and are not) acceptable. 

For those new to the town or those who have never taken part, this is the 79th successive year and is one of the main events on both the town and church calendars.  Everyone has seen garage and rummage sales but few can match the size and color of this one.

The sale items are organized into more than 20 departments that fill the church buildings and every available space on the lawn.  It has grown so large, it has become a true “community event” as many of the donations and a number of volunteer workers are non-church members.  Many people plan their vacations or family visits to Old Lyme so as to attend or work at the WES.

Some 200+ volunteers pitch in for two weeks collecting, sorting, pricing and organizing items for the big day — Friday morning when the crowds anxiously gather outside the ropes surrounding the church grounds.  When the bell tower clock strikes 9 a.m., the ropes come down and the shoppers run for their favorite departments looking for those bargains.

And if that isn’t enough — there is lunch and soda to refresh the shoppers so they can repeat the same process again on Saturday morning when the prices are discounted by 50 percent.  Check out the pictures on the church website and a Youtube video link of a previous sale.

To donate or to volunteer, call the church office at 860-434-8686.