Monthly Archives: January 2021

Ruth Ann Heller Music Foundation Announces Lyme-Old Lyme Schools’ Scholarship Recipients

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Photo by Marius Masalar on Unsplash.

LYME/OLD LYME — The Ruth Ann Heller Music Foundation Board of Trustees has announced that it has awarded private study music scholarships for 2020-21 to students from Lyme-Old Lyme High School and Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School.

Award recipients from the High School are:  Natalie Buckley, Delaney Nelson, Whitney Barbour, William Barry, Jacob Derynioski, Alexis Fenton, Karissa Huang, Phoebe Lampos, Marielle Mather, Eli Ryan, Austin Halsey, Quinn Kegley, Avery Wyman and Riley Nelson.

Award recipients from the Middle School are:  Ceciley Buckley, Zoe Brunza, Luca Signora, Warren Volles, Oliver Wyman, CJ Zapatka, Ava Gilbert, and Andrew Liu.

As a supporting organization for Region #18 schools, the Ruth Ann Heller Music Foundation awards scholarships to be used for private music instruction to students participating in Lyme-Old Middle and High Schools band programs.  

The 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation was formed in 1999 after the retirement of Ruth Ann (King) Heller from Lyme-Old Lyme High School, with a mission to strengthen and improve the instrumental music program in our schools.  

Donations to the foundation in any amount are gratefully accepted.  The mailing address is the Ruth Ann Heller Music Foundation, PO Box 298, Old Lyme, CT 06371, or folks may donate through Paypal @http://www.rahmf.org/#donate.

Death of Ronald “Ronnie” E. Hedspeth Announced, Father of Jeannie Goldberg of Lyme

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Ronald “Ronnie” E. Hedspeth

Ronald “Ronnie” E. Hedspeth, 81, passed away peacefully with family at his side on January 20th, 2021 from COVID complications. He was born on February 16, 1939 to Vera (Hedspeth) Foster in Clinton, SC. Ronnie spent his childhood in Clinton, SC, and joined the Navy after high school graduation.

Following the Navy, Ronnie settled in Springfield, MA where he initially worked as a bartender at the Chessman Lounge. A dance is where he met his future wife, Patricia Ducharme. They married in May of 1966, and thereafter raised their three children.

Many of Ronnie’s favorite days were spent watching his children play sports, coaching their teams, having the house filled with neighborhood kids and visiting his family in South Carolina. He loved all Boston sports teams and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Ronnie thought being a parent was the best job in the world until his grandchildren were born. He spent the last twenty-plus years of his life attending their sporting events, playing games with them, listening to their stories, telling his own stories, watching any movie they wanted (even those they were not allowed to watch). Ronnie even tried to ride scooters with them; however, that did not end well. Dunkin’ coffee was his favorite. Events or circumstances that embarrassed his children were his device to entertain his grandchildren.

He truly would do anything to make his grandchildren laugh. He enjoyed cutting the line at concession stands because he was “too old” to wait, and would demand his admission fee be refunded if his grandson’s team lost because he didn’t pay to watch the other team win. He would typically yell that even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then when the other team scored. Needless to say, his witty, crazy and many times inappropriate humor will be missed forever.

Ronnie leaves behind his loving wife of 54 years, Patricia (Ducharme) Hedspeth, his son Ron Hedspeth and his wife Mary (Murphy) of Monson, daughter Jeannie Goldberg and her husband Jim of Lyme, CT, his daughter Mary Blanchette and her husband Robert of Springfield, his ten grandchildren, Emily, Tim, Luke and Liam Hedspeth, Seth, Meyer and Elias Goldberg,  Caitlin, Lauren and Bobby Blanchette.

He was predeceased by his brother Gerald Foster and sister-in-law Sue Ducharme. He also leaves behind his sister Freida Spoone, brothers Stan Foster and Tony Foster, sister Gail Blackwell and her husband Brian, and sister-in-law Kathy Foster, all of South Carolina, and his brother-in-law Gerald Ducharme of Springfield, as well as several nieces and nephews.

Services and burial will be private and for immediate family only at the Massachusetts Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery. A celebration of his life will be held later when groups are safe to congregate.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation in Ronnie’s name to Curable, 818 Saratoga Drive, Suite 100, Pittsburgh, PA 15237, an organization always dear to Ronnie’s heart which works to cure rare diseases.

Wilbraham Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

To view the Live Streaming funeral ceremony at MA Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, please click on the link with the video camera under the services information.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Ronald “Ronnie” E. Hedspeth, visit the Wilbraham Funeral Home’s floral store.

 

 

A la Carte: Something Different for Breakfast? Try These Savory Muffins

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Lee White

Hopefully, by the time you read this, I will have an appointment for my first (and maybe my second) COVID vaccine, although that may not be the case.

My last missive from VAMS (Vaccine Administration Management System) says, “Thank you for registering … If you have not gotten that notice … ” How in heaven’s sake would someone know that they had not gotten that note if they haven’t gotten it? In any case, everyone I know has gotten an appointment and has had their first inoculation … but not me.

I am probably fine, but I would like the vaccine.

I get tested every seven to 10 days and have been pretty isolated. I am reading two to three books a week and watch too much television (even the documentary about Tiger Woods!), and cook, cook and cook. I have been eating healthy, even though I haven’t lost much weight.

I miss terribly not going out to restaurants and have not gotten much take-out either. I give myself props for that because I do know that good restaurants (and I know we have lots of good restaurants) use good ingredients, including butter, cream and sugar. I use way less of those ingredients.

My daughter Darcy cooks a lot and we talk every day about what we ate for our meals. I like it when I have already eaten so that her dinners don’t make me hungrier. This recipe came from a friend of hers, who had found it in the Jan/Feb issue of Relish.

Darcy, as always, changes ingredients and amounts, too. I do not until I have made it more than once. Overall, the recipe is good, but it needed a bit of sugar, so the one you see has a tablespoon or so of sugar. I did add a bit more broccoli than it called for.

Each morning, I eat one and it holds me until noon or 1 p.m.

Photo by Isabella on Unsplash.

Savory Muffins

Slightly adapted from Relish magazine
Yield: 12 muffins

Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin and use vegetable spray into each. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 egg
1 cup milk (2 percent is fine)
¼ cup canola (or any vegetable) oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried mustard
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup frozen or fresh broccoli florets, cooked in boiling water for three minutes, drained and chopped
2 scallions, chopped 

Mix together egg, milk and canola oil. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and mustard. 

Add the egg mixture and fold into the dried ingredients. 

Using a rubber spatula, mix in the cheese and broccoli. 

Using a large tablespoon, fill each muffin cup with the batter; slightly flatten each muffin 

Bake about 18 to 22 minutes, until golden and toothpick comes out clean.

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn.

State Senators Needleman, Formica Discuss Energy, Technology Priorities on Lee Elci Show, Now Available on Demand

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Senators Norm Needleman, left, and Paul Formica from a 2019 television appearance. File photo submitted by Sen. Needleman’s office.

LYME/OLD LYME — This past Monday, Jan. 25, State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) and State Senator Paul Formica (R-East Lyme) joined Lee Elci’s talk show on Radio 94.9 News Now for an extended, detailed discussion of the Energy & Technology Committee’s 2021 priorities and focuses. The Senators came together in a bipartisan fashion to discuss pressing issues driving their decisions and thoughts as the 2021 legislative session begins in earnest.

“Thank you to Lee Elci for opening up an hour of his show to discuss energy issues in Connecticut with Senator Needleman and me,” said Sen. Formica. “The important and challenging work of the state’s Energy & Technology Committee continues to attempt to balance generation and supply in a bipartisan way to benefit the citizens and ratepayers of Connecticut. It was great to share part of that process with the listeners of the Lee Elci show. I look forward to further, in depth conversations on energy.”

“I’m glad I was able to join Senator Formica and Lee to discuss this session’s many focuses,” said Sen. Needleman. “From the cost of energy to pursuing renewable sources of generation to looking into company and corporate practices, the Energy & Technology Committee is dedicated to tackling a number of vital and important issues in the coming months. I think Monday’s conversation helped us ensure we’re focused on what matters most – what’s best for the people of Connecticut.”

Monday’s discussion on the Lee Elci Show is available on-demand in recorded format on Elci’s SoundCloud page, located here. On the January 25, 2021 broadcast, available here, the discussion between the Senators and Elci begins at around roughly the 2-hour 58-minute mark.

Editor’s Note: The 20th Senatorial District, which State Sen. Formica represents, includes Old Lyme. The 33rd Senatorial District, which State Sen. Needleman represents, includes Lyme.

Jan. 27 COVID-19 Update: Cumulative Cases in Old Lyme Jump Six to 250, Lyme’s Rise by One to 73

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LYME/OLD LYME — The report issued Wednesday, Jan. 27, by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) showed that Old Lyme’s COVID-19 cumulative case numbers since the pandemic began increased by six to 250 over Tuesday’s number of 244.

Lyme’s cumulative total increased by one to 73 over Tuesday’s number of 72.

The two-week case rate per 100,000 population in Old Lyme announced Thursday, Jan. 21, continues to rise going from 51.4 to 58.2 while the same statistic in Lyme has fallen from 78.3 to 55.0.

The state issues a COVID-19 metric report daily around 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, which includes current data up to the previous evening. The Monday reports include data for the weekend as well as the previous Friday.

The Daily Data Report for Connecticut issued Wednesday, Jan. 27, by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) for data as at 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 26, shows the following:

Both Lyme and Old Lyme are still in the state-identified ‘Red Zone;’ where they have been for the past several weeks.

As of the Jan. 26 report, five towns in the state — Canaan, Cornwall, Colebrook, Norfolk and Warren — are now in the ‘Gray Zone.’

  • The red category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town exceeds 15.
  • The gray category is defined as when the Average Daily Rate of COVID-19 Cases Among Persons Living in Community Settings per 100,000 Population By Town is less than five or less than five reported cases.

In all cases, this rate does not include cases or tests among residents of nursing home, assisted living, or correctional facilities.

Old Lyme

Old Lyme now has a cumulative total (since the outbreak began) of 245 confirmed COVID-19 cases and FIVE probable cases, making a TOTAL of 250 cases.

This represents an INCREASE of SIX in the cumulative number of confirmed cases over the number reported Tuesday, Jan. 26, (239) and NO CHANGE in the number of probable cases over the number reported the same day.

The total number of Old Lyme residents tested is 4,355.

There have been two fatalities in Old Lyme.

CT DPH Two-Weekly Report

The Jan. 25 report issued by CT DPH shows that during the two-week reporting period from 01/03/21 through 01/16/21, Old Lyme had 33 cases in Week 1 and 27 in Week 2. This data was updated Jan. 21, 2021.

The case rate in Old Lyme for 100,000 population is 58.2, reflecting an increase from the previously reported two-week rate of 51.4. A case rate of 15 or more cases per 100,000 population places a town in the state’s ‘Red Zone.’

Lyme

Lyme has a cumulative total (since the outbreak began) of 68 confirmed cases and FIVE probable cases, making a TOTAL of 73 cases.

This represents an INCREASE of ONE in the number of confirmed cases from the numbers reported Tuesday, Jan. 26 and NO CHANGE in the number of probable cases reported the same day.

There have been no fatalities in Lyme.

The total number of Lyme residents tested is 1,169.

Connecticut Hospital Occupancy

At the request of several readers, we are adding a new report today showing the respective rates of hospital occupancy at local hospitals. The data for this report is obtained from the Connecticut Hospital Occupancy Report published weekly by the CT DPH and extracted from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) facility-level data for hospital utilization aggregated on a weekly basis (Friday to Thursday).

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CT DPH Two-Weekly Report

The Jan. 21 report issued by CT DPH shows that during the two-week reporting period from 01/03 through 01/16/21, Lyme had 14 cases in Week 1 and 4 in Week 2. This data was updated Jan. 21, 2021.

The case rate in Lyme for 100,000 population is 55.0 reflecting a decrease from the previously reported two-week-rate of 78.3. A case rate of 15 or more cases per 100,000 population places a town in the state’s ‘Red Zone.’

Editor’s Note: In light of the serious rise in Coronavirus cases, we have started a new weekday update reporting confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Lyme and Old Lyme. The next CT DPH Daily Data Report for Connecticut will be issued Thursday, Jan. 28.