Although both Newtown Police Officer William Chapman and Newtown High School Athletic Director Matt Memoli only laced up ice skates for the first time this winter, these men suited up in hockey gear on March 12 and pushed themselves with a skills competition on the ice for a good cause at Danbury Ice Arena.
The Newtown-New Fairfield hockey team, coming off a win and tie this past week, will take on the Barlow co-op in the conference playoffs Saturday, March 20, for an afternoon tilt.
After missing out on a trio of games canceled due to coronavirus protocol, Newtown High School’s girls’ basketball team returned just in time for a morning practice the day of a makeup game with Bunnell of Stratford on the last date of the regular season.
Newtown High School’s gymnastics team scored 124.950 points to defeat New Milford, which had 122.400, in a meet at Vasi’s International Gymnastics on March 10. The conference championships will be Saturday, March 20.
Spring sports in Connecticut are slated to roll on, full steam ahead. One year after the entire campaign got wiped out by decisions surrounding the unknowns of the coronavirus, the plan is for all of the state’s teams to play full seasons with conference and state playoffs.
After winning two of its first seven games, then having a scheduled tilt with Joel Barlow of Redding canceled due to coronavirus protocol, Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team was just happy (and hopeful, for that matter) to have four more regular season tilts.
The Newtown-New Fairfield high school hockey team edged Masuk of Monroe 3-2 on March 6, then fell 3-2 to Immaculate of Danbury on March 8 — both at Danbury Ice Arena.
Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ indoor track teams had their first competition of the abbreviated winter season when the Nighthawks and four New Milford team representatives went to Bethel High School’s Track and Field Center on March 5.
Newtown High School’s boys’ basketball team, assuming all goes as planned, will finish off the truncated regular season with three games in as many days due to makeups forced by coronavirus protocol.
Snapshot: Jason LynchThis week's Snapshot features Jason Lynch.Family: My wife Robin, and our daughter Charly.How did you meet your wife? I met her on the subway in Brooklyn. I was helping someone with their stroller, and she saw me and handed me her business card.Pets: Two dogs, Jet and Utah.How long have you lived in Newtown? About five years. We used to live in Norwalk, and I used to drive the back roads home all the time. I’d see the antique houses and their plaques, and we’d talk about how unique each one looked and how great it would be to have a house like that someday. We were here for the corn maze, for my brother-in-law’s birthday, and we saw one of the houses on Main Street was for sale so we took a look and fell in love with it.Work: I work at IBM Research, where I am primarily a brand designer — so thinking about the Research brand, different applications, how it appears in digital at events, and also working with some of the emergent technologies as well. It’s incredibly hard but also interesting and fulfilling.Do you have a favorite podcast? I love podcasts. I like StarTalk, which is really interesting, about cosmic queries; The Illustration Department, about different illustrators and designers, which I like to listen to a lot; and I enjoy Freakonomics.What did you want to be when you grew up? A truck driver. I still think it would be an awesome job. We take a lot of road trips to Ohio, and I think about it quite a bit when we’re going through Pennsylvania. When I was a little kid they had that show, BJ and The Bear, and I loved it.What do you enjoy doing in your free time? I really enjoy cooking. I find recipes all the time, so I try to find new and interesting things. It’s hard to find the time to do it, but I enjoy it. During the summer we like to hang out on Lake Zoar. It’s our favorite place to be. It’s peaceful out there. We have a pontoon boat that we dock at Eichler’s Cove, and it’s nice because we can go down there, sometimes after work we’ll go out with dinner or go swimming for just an hour or so.What is the most recent book you’ve read? At home I don’t have a lot of downtime to read, but I love audio books. Right now I’m going through A World of Peers by Michael Pollan, which explores what is consciousness. It was really interesting. Before that it was Sammy Hagar’s autobiography. It varies quite a bit. My commute can be lengthy, so I enjoy audio books and podcasts when I’m going back and forth.What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? You’re not entitled to the results, you’re entitled to the work.Do you have any pet peeves? It’s silly and it’s a little thing, and I know this, but I cannot stand how paper towels or tape never tear cleanly. It drives me insane.What is something you cannot live without? Family, of course. And dogs. I have to have dogs.What is your favorite thing about Newtown? I like the sense of community we’ve experienced here. I enjoy walking, and I love being able to get groceries everyday — the walkability in the center of town, and seeing people all the time, I really enjoy that. And the homes, of course, which was primarily what drew us here. Do you have a personal credo? The work advice from earlier.
Tom, I appreciate you sharing your perspective. My advocacy isn't about a personal 'vested interest' in a single field; it is about the Standard of Newtown.
While you categorize the salt shed and library parking as 'essential' and the turf as an 'upgrade,' I would argue they all fall under the same umbrella of maintaining town assets.
The Turf Field ($1.4M): This was a replacement project for a facility used by thousands of youth athletes, not a new 'luxury' add-on.
The Salt Shed ($1.2M) & Library Parking ($1.4M): These were passed at almost identical price points.
The point isn't to say these items aren't important; it’s to ask why we find the money for infrastructure that serves one demographic while claiming we are too 'fiscally strained' to fund infrastructure for another. When we categorize things we use as 'essential' and things our neighbors' children use as 'extras,' we aren't having an honest discussion about priorities, we are picking winners and losers.
The goal of my letter wasn't to be 'unproductive,' but to sound the alarm for the 82% of residents who didn't show up to the polls. We cannot be a community that only thrives in parts. If we want Newtown to remain a place where people want to move and raise families, we have to invest in the next generation with the same urgency we use to fix our parking lots.
Michelle, I am sorry to see that you are also a victim of fabrications. All those rumors that go round that seem so convincing. All so often, those rumors are little more than convenient lies. This has been happening for several years and hopefully we can come together to stop them.
Until then, I ask that those of you who have heard disparaging remarks about the candidates take the time to meet with them to ask them directly what you are concerned about. Get to know them better rather than assume. We all will have better representation both locally and state-wide if you do so.
This is disappointing because it frames voters who rejected the Treadwell turf replacement as selfish or anti-youth. When I suspect that Katherine's motives were likely because she has some vested interest in those turf fields, which makes it exceptionally selfish.
There is a clear difference between maintaining basic town infrastructure and approving an athletic facility upgrade. Library sidewalks, parking access, and a salt storage facility support safety and essential town operations. The turf field may be worthwhile, but it is still a different type of request.
Residents can support youth sports and still question the cost, timing, or priority of a specific project. Calling that selfish, or turning it into a generational argument is unfair and unproductive.
Newtown is better served by honest discussion about priorities, not by accusing voters of lacking community spirit because they disagreed on one ballot item.
