How about this one…The First Lego League Robotics Team of Nathan Hale Middle School, East Haddam, took home both the Champions Award and the Team Award qualifying them for entry into the State Competition.  The robo champs earned double awards at the State level.  Meet ‘em here.

Another first…The First Beautification Award developed by the Montville Economic Development Council (EDC) was given to Jim Radgowski and Paul Botchis, co-owners of Radgowski’s Deli and Best Wash Laundromat.  Meet ‘em on here.

Here is the first of a series of updates on Norwich’s big 350th Birthday Celebration-Semiseptcentennial-scheduled to begin on June 6th with a re-enactment of the deed signing when colonists obtained land from the Mohegan Indians.  Theater, concerts and historic tours will be held at various locations throughout Norwich.  Fireworks, Tall Ships and more is what you’ll enjoy during this five-week schedule of festivities.  Find out how you can get involved.

Lady Falcons Pay It Forward. Find out how this basketball team worked on and off the court in an effort to make a family’s Christmas special.  Catch the Team Spirit here.

The Capano Family re-defines FRESH at their ShopRite Supermarkets in New London and Norwich.  Founded by Ken Capano, Sr., the stores are a natural next step for the entrepreneurial spirit that is a hallmark of the family.  The parents of Ken Sr., Helen and Henry Capano, instilled in him two valuable traits:  To look for solutions to problems rather than finding fault and to help those who want to help themselves.  Meet their success here.

Thanks for reading the Resident, the Good News that Rocks! Please remember to patronize our advertisers as they’re helping to make the “good news”  happen.

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by Tony Schillaci and Don Church

Today’s average American is more health conscious and increasingly interested in ethnic foods than ever before according to the mass media. It gives new meaning to America as a ‘melting pot.’

These trends are not lost on Ken Capano, Jr. who is in charge of operations for the Capano Family business, the ShopRite Supermarkets of Norwich and New London.

Founded by his father, Ken Capano, Sr., the stores are a natural next step for the entrepreneurial spirit that is a hallmark of the family.  Ken Sr.’s mother and father, Helen and Henry Capano, instilled in him two valuable traits: to look for solutions to problems rather than finding fault, and to help those who want to help themselves.

A native of West Paterson, NJ, Ken Sr. has lived in Southeastern CT a little more than a dozen years.  He started working in the grocery business part-time while he was a junior in high school. For many years he was an executive with Wakefern, NJ, the primary supplier to the ShopRite chain of supermarkets.

Ken Sr.’s business experience and instincts led him to open ShopRite stores of his own: Norwich in 1996 and New London in 2000.

Now stepping back a bit from the day to day routine, but still keeping his hand in with both Wakefern and ShopRite, Ken Sr. watches trends, demographics, and participates in many local civic and charitable works.

Ken Jr. oversees the vast operations end of the business. Ken Sr.’s other son, Scott Capano, handles the accounting, human resources and advertising. To keep it a generational family business, Scott’s children, Aris and Jashira work after school and on weekends in the New London store. Another family member, Jennifer, involves herself with the perishable departments.

Good health and well-being is part of the Capano Family credo, so natural foods and organic produce of all types occupy a good percentage of each store’s floor space.

On a recent visit to the New London ShopRite, The Resident found an abundant variety in the produce section – the cornucopia included thick leaves of a giant aloe plant (used for burns, health drinks and skin irritation relief), pesticide-free fruits and vegetables, organically grown salad fixings, pomegranate juices, and additive-free soybean tofu….all in one department!

Exotic root vegetables associated with the Caribbean and Asia take up an entire display, while plantains, mangoes and other, once unknown exotic fruits and vegetables are now part of the American table, and are all readily obtainable at ShopRite.

Turning the corner we found freezer and refrigerator cases brimming with veggie burgers, lactose-free milk, soy cheeses, and nearby, a non-refrigerated natural-foods grocery section that would rival any health food store in the region.

A good choice of vitamins, minerals, natural herbal remedies, anti-aging remedies of all kinds, as well as supplements for bodybuilders, are alphabetically displayed and easily found in this part of the store.

Add to this array an excellent variety of cereals, grains, Irish oatmeal, juices, power bars, soy milk drinks, additive-free muffin, cake mixes – even “green” cleaning materials – to please the most discriminating shoppers who live a healthy lifestyle.

Recently Ken Jr., arranged for us to talk with his father about current and future plans for the family business.  Ken Sr. started by saying, “the defining difference between our food stores and our competitors is a fresher, larger produce and meat department.  Our produce managers, Ray and Bill have 30 combined years of professional experience and are continually improving the quality and variety of produce offered to the public.”

“As local small businessmen,” Ken continued, “we believe in supporting other local small businessmen and women – that’s why you will now find many shelves stocked with CT grown and prepared products.

“In our meat department, for instance, you’ll find Orsini’s Sausages, a product identified with southeastern CT for years and years.”

“Ken (Jr.) is very enthusiastic and open to supporting CT products; when someone makes a quality one, he is willing to put it in the stores.”

During a second visit to the New London store, The Resident discovered an entire display shelf filled with CT cookies, salsas, chocolate goodies and other jarred and packaged goods, There is local honey from Preston displayed in the produce department and locally produced farm cheeses from Lyme that vie in quality and taste with the best of US and European cheeses.

And Lyme-made ice creams in a variety of exotic and imaginative flavors in small white packages are quickly being snapped up in the frozen dessert case.

A shopper who explores all the aisles will find a whole shopping cart of CT foods that will make each meal more appealing and delicious.

“In the seafood department, all fresh oysters, clams and other shellfish are CT-raised or harvested,” said Ken Sr.  “We pride ourselves in helping to bring back the prominence of the CT seafood industry – and in this way we are partners in helping local fishermen to earn a living again.” Amen!

One of the special perks about being a senior citizen is the generous five-percent discount of the total grocery bill every Tuesday. It’s available to anyone who at least 65 years old. And it pays big to get a free courtesy card for additional savings and special offers in the Norwich and New London stores.

When asked if this would be a continuing program in the stores, Ken Sr. said, “That’s certainly something that we will continue. It’s a good policy and it benefits both our senior citizens and our company’s involvement and interest in the community.”

He added that Ken Jr., is responsible for adding to and changing his grocery stock to meet new community demographics. Foods from India, Thailand, China, the Caribbean, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Spain, and other regions and countries.  These ethnically diverse foods have expanded the aisles at both stores because of customers’ recommendations and the Capanos’ good business sense.  They feel that being in touch with their customers is what helped to make both stores successful and very competitive.

Ken Sr. told us “We’re not the giant chain, we’re just two stores that we hope are making better and better all the time.  We do have plans for expansion, but we plan to take our time and grow sensibly and carefully.”

When The Resident told Ken Sr. that our publisher and editor wanted to know a trade secret -  how was ShopRite able to plan the sale fliers so far in advance with special prices – ‘leader items’ – he immediately revealed that,    “We work closely with Wakefern which does 95% of our procurement for us.  For instance, in mid-January we’ll start our annual Can-Can sale, which is always very popular.”

“Those canned goods were processed and prices were locked in around September,” he explained, and added, “With seasonable and perishable items, we have a pretty good idea in advance what they will cost, and because we buy at the right price we can pass savings along to our customers.”  We can’t wait!

In 2006, Ken Sr. became the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern CT’s Citizen of the Year. Tony Sheridan, president of the chamber is quoted as saying, “It’s easy to say good things about Ken. He sets a high benchmark for good citizenship for all of us.  He’s a truly nice person with a wonderful family.”

Testimony enough that if you’re shopping at a Capano Family supermarket, you’re shopping right!

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by Maren Schober

Few people have contributed more to the history of Waterford than Robert Leland Bachman.  As a  history teacher at Waterford High School, member of the Waterford Historical Society, founder of the annual Sheep to Shawl program in Waterford and author of “An Illustrated History of Waterford, CT” in 2000, Robert releases his passion for history by serving his Waterford community.  He is loved and respected by all who know him.

Do you have any questions about past events or personalities in Waterford?  Just ask Robert.  As he says in his book, “Waterford was the desired address of a Rhodes Scholar, has  Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners and boasts of the first black box (flight date recorder).  It was in Waterford that young actor Michael Douglas was hoisted to the lofty top of a former ship’s mast.”

It is a pleasure talking with Robert today.

“I was born in Decatur, MI in 1923 to Charles and Frances Bachman. My dad and mother worked for the telephone company and we moved around a lot with the company.  I grew up in Coloma, MI.”

A trip to Los Angeles when Robert was a boy also remains fresh in his memory.

“My father drove me and my grandfather out to Los Angeles to visit my great Uncle.  I remember seeing a Mary Pickford movie but most of all I remember this unusual restaurant.  All the food moved around on a carousel behind a large glass window pane.  When you saw what you wanted you opened a little glass door, pulled out the food dish and put it on your tray.  You had to do it fast because the food would keep on moving.  If you didn’t act quick enough the person next to you would get the food!”

Robert graduated from Coloma High School in 1941 and joined the Navy.

“I was sent to the New London Submarine Base.  I thought the Navy Base was in New London.  You can imagine my surprise when the taxi driver picked me up at the New London train station and then drove me over the bridge to Groton.  I wondered where I was going!”

It was in Groton that Robert met his future wife, Claudia Stewart.

“Claudia was very musically talented and she was the church organist at my Huntington St. Baptist Church in New London.”

After his three years service in WW II, Robert and Claudia married and moved to Illinois where Robert attended the U. of Illinois earning his teaching degree.

“Then I went back to Coloma and taught one year in the same two room rural school house that my Grandma Bachman attended when she was a girl.  I taught the upper grades fifth to eighth.”

Robert then taught history four years at Coloma High School and  moved to Waterford to be closer Claudia’s family.

“I have traveled all over the world,” Robert shares, “but my favorite place is CT.”

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by Roger Zotti

Weighing in at 186 pages, Dr. Anthony G. Alessi’s  Healthy Sports: A Doctor’s Guide for a Winning Lifestyle (Backus Foundation) is a book that may well change the reader’s life. It’s divided into six sections (Sports as Exercise, Getting Started, Sports Injuries, Disorders and Diseases, Controversies, and Trends and Sidelines), and each chapter is informative, to the point, and extremely readable.  As ESPN broadcaster Joe Tessitore writes in his Forward, “Dr. Alessi’s knowledge stretches far beyond the field and arena to subjects that are wide and varied. Still, there is one common target: our health.”

One thing Dr. Alessi, Chief of Neurology at The William W. Backus Hospital, in Norwich, would like people to know before they begin reading his book, is, “If people are thinking of adapting a healthier life style, the book is for them.” Another thing is: “If they want to want to know more about health from a medical standpoint, it would interest them as well. The book should be  interesting to a wide variety of people.”

For the last two years, Dr. Alessi, a Norwich resident, has written a column for the “Norwich Bulletin.” For the most part, “Healthy Sports” is a compilation of those columns. Column and book consider sports and health from the viewpoint of parents, whose children might be participating in sports, and from the perspective of coaches and athletic trainers. Dr.  Alessi added, “We also consider health from the standpoint of  the athletes themselves. We look at it from afar, too – that is, at good and bad decisions famous and even not-so-famous  athletes have made with regard to their health.”

Writing “Healthy Sports” and his column has proved rewarding for Dr. Alessi. “Well, most rewarding about writing the column is that it can impact people’s lives in a very direct way, in our community,” he said.  He recalled an incident two years ago when a young woman, who thought she was having a stroke, “came to the emergency room. I was on call and asked her what made her get to the emergency room. She said she had read my article about the warning signs of stroke.” Equally rewarding is putting “the book together as a fund raising opportunity for the hospital – all the proceeds go to the Backus Hospital Foundation. It’s been fun. It’s an all-around winner. I’m very lucky because I’m not just a writer but I practice medicine here, so I get to see the full circle of things.”

Currently Dr. Alessi is working on a book titled Everybody Has a Health Question. When he has the opportunity,  he travels the country and gives people, he said,  “The opportunity to ask any health question they may have. It’s interesting to see the types of health questions based on the area. So, the next thing is to look at these regional health questions, because health is such a concern and popular topic from everyone’s standpoint.”

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by Christopher Annino

Several years ago, tragedy struck one of Fitch High School’s beloved girls basketball coach, Charles Hillman, when he was struck with cancer and later passed away. At that time senior star player Lauren Hunter witnessed it first hand. During that time, Lauren remembered the Shafman Family, who had very little themselves, generously raising money to help the coach and his family. Presently, Lauren has returned to Fitch to pass down knowledge as one of the assistant coaches for the girl’s basketball team. During the holidays Lauren got word that the Shafman Family was suffering financially. Lauren, led by good nature, quickly devised a plan that involved the girls from the Fitch Falcon Girls Basketball team to help the Shafman Family. Assistant Coach DJ Berger said, “Lauren did almost all of the work in organizing this, and the girls on the team really look up to her for what she showed them through the process.”

The Lady Falcons worked as a team on and off the court and managed to donate books and toys for the three children, pay for the family’s electric bill, donate clothes, and to top off the Shafman’s holiday, they gave them a tree so they could celebrate a proper Christmas.

“I was very proud of all the girls for sacrificing some of their Christmas money for others. They really worked as a team and bonded as individuals.  The Shafmans are always helping people and so we decided to pay it forward and help them,” said Lauren.

Point Guards Alivia Roal, Aunisha Dillon, and Nene Tenety agreed in saying, “Lauren really showed us how to take time to worry about people who don’t have much, and help them. We all love the town and the folks that live here and we would do anything to help them.”

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