Monthly Archives: September 2022

Letter to the Editor: Lyme-Old Lyme Schools BOE Apparently Did Not Care What Residents Thought About Armed Guards, Will They Behave Same on Proposed $57.6 Million Building Plan? Will Residents Speak Up?

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To the Editor:

The Reticent Residents of this town have nothing to say about paying $57,555,000 for the planning, design, demolition, construction, and renovation of our public schools.

Let me break the silence. That is a hell of a lot of money.

We have 1362 children attending our schools. That comes out to about $42,000 per student, OK?

Yet the people in our community, as with the issue of arming security officers in these same schools, remain mostly silent.

I don’t get it.

I certainly didn’t understand why, if someone has a child in these schools, they didn’t feel it was important to offer an opinion on putting guns into the schools. There is no evidence that arming guards protects students and school personnel. Most people who took time to offer an opinion spoke against the idea, yet, it was ramrodded through. I have yet to see how much that will cost, what training these guards will undertake, what rules will govern their use of weapons, or what kind of guns we will be buying.

Do parents feel that our schools are falling apart?

I know there will be a hearing this week but, is there any point? Has the Board already decided to go ahead? It has only set aside 30 minutes [Wednesday, Sept. 7] to discuss the issue. (That works out to dealing with $1.918,500 per minute.) What effect will the Board’s disrespect for the opinions of people who spoke against arming guards have on this and future proposals?

Sincerely,

Charlotte Scot,
Old Lyme.

A la Carte: Tomatoes Times Two: One Recipe (Tomato Ginger Salad), One Tip

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Lee White

When I received my Food Network Magazine, I was, as always, taken by the cover: The Secret to a Perfect Pesto.

But in the Editor’s Letter, I was even more taken with words: “… In looking back at all the September covers in this magazine, about half of them show some variations of corn, basil and tomatoes. … So why should we question putting the farmers’ market trifecta on there every September?” says editor Maile Carpenter (whose husband, brilliant chef, Wylie Dufresne, “hates tomatoes and passed that rare and terrible trait onto our children.”)

Aha, I thought. When national food editors see no reason to not bet on a full-bore reason, neither will I. For this week and the next two, I will give you two recipes. One will include a recipe for the ingredient du jour (today, tomatoes) and the second a ‘how to’ piece with a way to save each of these this so-local and so-delicious ingredients for many winterish dishes.

So, here we go with tomatoes, and it begins with note from friend Steve Setless, a friend from high school who asks quizzically: ‘If most of us know that tomatoes are a fruit and not a vegetable, and we all know not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad, then do we assume that Bloody Mary is actually a heathy smoothie?!’

Tomato Ginger Salad
From Food Network Magazine, September, 2002

For the dressing:
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar (light brown will do, though)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly ground ginger

For the salad:
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
Kosher salt
¼ cup fresh basil
8 inner celery stalks with leaves, thinly sliced
Grilled crusty bread slices, for serving

In a medium bowl, whisk vinegars, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in olive oil and ginger. Taste for seasoning.

Arrange tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and season with salt. Using a scissors, snip basil into smaller pieces and sprinkle over tomatoes. Transfer to a bowl, then toss tomatoes with dressing and celery, Spoon over grilled bread.

Today’s Tomatoes for Next Winter

I wrote about roasting tomatoes three years ago, but maybe you forgot. Just in case, we have less than a month before delicious tomatoes are merely a memory. The best tomatoes for roasting are the plum, or sauce, tomatoes. And they might be less expensive by mid-September.

Here is what to do:

In a large baking sheet(s) lined with foil (for easy cleanup), place cored tomatoes (cut in half vertically if using plum tomatoes, horizontally if using regular tomatoes) cut side up. Lightly salt and then drizzle with just a little oil. Place sheets in preheated 275 degree oven and roast for around 3 to 4 hours. When cool, place about half a pound of tomatoes into plastic bags for the freezer. Next winter, when you decide to make stews, pasta sauce, meat loaves or side dishes, add some of those summer tomatoes to other recipes and pretend it is still summer.

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. Contact Lee at leeawhite@aol.com.

Stephen Hackett Sworn In as Member of Old Lyme PD, Graduated From LOL High School in 2007

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Old Lyme First Selectman Timothy Griswold swears in Stephen Hackett as the newest member of the Old Lyme Police Department.

OLD LYME — On Thursday morning, Stephen Hackett was sworn in as the newest member of the Old Lyme Police Department by First Selectman Timothy Griswold. His official title will be Officer Hackett, FC36.

From left to right, two members of the OLPD, First Selectman Timothy Griswold, Officer Hackett FC36, Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and Selectman Matt Ward.

The other members of the board of selectmen and some current members of the OLPD were on hand for the ceremony. Griswold explained to LymeLine in a text message that Hackett becomes the sixth member of the OLPD, adding that Officer Roche had resigned in July and Officer Milardo has returned to work.

Applause was given for the newest member of the Old Lyme Police Department.

Hackett was a member of the Lyme-Old Lyme High School Class of 2007 and was most recently serving as a Patrol Sergeant in Old Saybrook.

Old Lyme’s Rowing Program Sees Three of Its Own Selected to US Team for 2022 World Championships in Czech Republic

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Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) graduate Hannah Paynter, seen here rowing in the 2021 Head of the Charles, has been selected as an Alternate for the US team at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Photo submitted.

OLD LYME — Three rowers with strong Old Lyme connections have been selected for the US roster for the 2022 World Rowing Championships, which are scheduled to be held Sept. 18-25 in Račice, 25 miles north of Prague in the Czech Republic.

Liam Corrigan, a 2014 LOLHS graduate, has been chosen as a member of the US Men’s Eight for the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Photo submitted.

Liam Corrigan, whose parents have now live in Lyme after spending many years in Old Lyme, has been selected for the US Men’s Eight boat. Corrigan is a Class of 2015 Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) graduate, who went on to Harvard University, and now rows with the California Rowing Club.

Hannah Paynter, who also graduated from LOLHS in 2015 and whose family lives in Lyme, has been selected as a US team Alternate. She attended Princeton University, where she received numerous rowing awards, and currently trains with the Advanced Rowing Initiative Of the Northeast (ARION) program based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The third rower, Dominique Williams, lives in Madison, Conn. but trained for four seasons with the Old Lyme-based Blood Street Skulls. He has been chosen to row in the US Men’s Quad boat. After graduating from Daniel Hand High School, he went to the University of Pennsylvania and now trains with the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia, Pa.

The 2021 Tokyo Olympics saw Corrigan along with Old Lyme native and 2010 LOLHS graduate Austin Hack row in the US Men’s Eight boat, which ultimately just missed out on a medal coming in fourth in the final.

Hack was the only returning member of the 2021 US Men’s Eight, having been part of the 2016 US Men’s Eight team, which came in fourth in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil. Hack, whose family still lives in Old Lyme, has now retired from competitive rowing.

Austin Hack (third from right) looks to his right at the end of Heat 1 in the US 8+ Olympic championship at  Tokyo.

And if you go back beyond Hack, there are several other Olympians, who came through the ranks of the Blood Street Sculls/Old Lyme Rowing Association. In 2008, Andrew Bolton was an Alternate for the Men’s Lightweight Four and in 2012, Sarah Trowbridge rowed in the Women’s Open Double Sculls.

In fact, since record-keeping was initiated in 1997, over 100 athletes in Old Lyme rowing programs have gone on to  represent their university in collegiate rowing competition

So how does a small rowing program in a tiny town continue to produce world-class rowers  on such a regular basis?

Paul Fuchs

We asked Paul Fuchs of Old Lyme that question. He was well-placed to respond since he is is a longtime board member of the Blood Street Sculls, Director of Rowing, and also the LOLHS Girls’ Varsity Rowing Coach. An accomplished rower himself, Fuchs holds the men’s lightweight course record for Head of the Charles, and competed on seven US World Championship teams. He has coached at both the Olympic and World Championship levels.

A nautical architect by profession, Fuchs is also Chairman of the US Rowing Equipment and Technology Committee and, in that capacity, will be traveling to Račice for the 2022 Rowing World Championships.

Coincidentally, Nobuhisa Ischizuka, who rows as an adult member of the Blood Street Skulls, is the President of US Rowing and also lives in Old Lyme. He too will be going to Račice.

To answer our question, Fuchs explains that, “Since we’re a small place and rarely have enough people to make a full boat of fast people,” the goal of the club is not only to teach the students to row well, but also, “to develop in them a love of the sport,” and [in some cases] a desire, “to go further with it”

Fuchs says evocatively, “We want them to get involved [with rowing], stay involved … and  evolve.”

He also commends the coaches for the program’s effectiveness, saying, “We’ve got a great group of coaches that know what they’re doing,” noting, “We all really pride ourselves on what the students are achieving.”

Another key part of the Blood Street Skulls philosophy, which helps students overcome tension and keeps them focused on enjoying the sport, relates to stress. “We don’t believe in burning them out,” emphasizes Fuchs, adding, “We want them to leave loving the sport … and if they happen to have have good high school scores, that’s good too.”

The latter point relates to the fact that several of the, ‘”Eight or nine rowers,” who started their rowing careers with Blood Street Sculls, went on from high school in 2022 to row at college with financial scholarships in hand. Four 2022 LOLHS graduates were planning to continue rowing at college.

Asked his personal feelings on the success of the Blood Street Sculls rowing program, Fuchs responded, “I just like that we’re producing something that a lot of people like. The kids are accomplishing stuff, they’re learning stuff, but most importantly, they’re having fun.”

Editor’s Note: i) Hearty congratulations to all three rowers!

ii) We have corrected the location of the World Championships thanks to a reader, who kindly pointed out they are taking place in Račice in the Czech Republic, and not Prague itself. We apologize for the error.