Groton Utilities was one of sixty of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities to earn Reliable Public Power Provider™ (RP3) recognition from the American Public Power Association (APPA) for providing consumers with the highest degree of reliable and safe electric service. Groton Utilities was one of nineteen utilities to receive a Gold Level Award.
This is the second time in three years that Groton Utilities received this recognition. In 2007, Groton Utilities was the only New England public power system to receive the Platinum Level Award.
Paul Allen, Vice President of Engineering, Electric Service, Nashville, TN, and Chair, APPA’s RP3 Review Panel, presented the designees, during the association’s annual Engineering & Operations Technical Conference, held in Austin, TX. Randy S. Surprenant, General Manager of Electric Operations, Groton Utilities, was present to receive the award on behalf of Groton Utilities.
Tommy John, former MLB southpaw pitcher, spoke during the Connecticut Dugout Club’s monthly event at the Groton Inn and Suites on March 30th. Also presenting that night was Dr. William Morgan, former Boston Red Sox physician.
Both urged the importance of how exercise and rest is crucial to a baseball players training and the effects of neglect during ones career. “The most important thing you can do for yourself if you are a pitcher is prepare yourself. The more your on the mound the better you get, during your off days keep conditioning your body and when game day comes physically it should be the easiest day for you,” said Tommy. “Maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine. And most important love to want to play the game, the secrete to my success is I would do anything to play the game.”
Tommy also discussed his years with the Dodgers and how a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm nearly ended his career. Miraculously, an experimental operation replaced the ligament in his throwing arm with a tendon from his right forearm. Now called the “Tommy John Surgery,” it was named for Tommy, the first professional athlete to successfully undergo the operation.
The season after the surgery, he amazed fans by returning to the line-up and ending the season with a 3.09 ERA. Later in 1976, he was given the National League Comeback Player of the Year by Sporting News.
Tommy had an extended career due to the surgery, but most of his milestones can be attributed to his love for the game. Over his 26 year career, which began in 1963 with the Indians and finished with the Yankees in 1989, Tommy accomplished 288 career victories, 2,245 strike-outs, four all star appearances, a 3.34 ERA, and numerous awards for his efforts on the field.
Currently, Tommy is the manager of the Bridgeport Bluefish, a minor league ball club. He predicts growth in attendance for the minor league teams this season, “Not many people are going to want to pay a huge amount of money to go see a ball game, when they can see one in their local communities. The teams are just as talented and play with more passion. And in other ways they will be stimulating their local economy.”
The next Connecticut Dugout Club event will feature Rico Petrocelli. former Red Sox short stop, and Jim Longborg, 1967 Impossible Dream Team pitcher. Both will speak at the Groton Inn and Suites on April 27th. For more information visit www.ctdugoutclub.com.
When it comes to finding exciting people who are adding to the quality of life in Southeastern CT, it’s as easy as humming do-re-me. And here are two that hit just the right notes! We talked with John Metz, Waterford about Piano Works’ new chamber music series showcasing world-class musicians in New London.
John is its founder and artistic director, and he told the Resident, “Two summers ago I found myself lamenting that there was not a good place for chamber music in downtown New London. You need a mid-size room (seating maybe about 250), good acoustics, good sight lines, parking, handicap access and a really good piano. Well — All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 19 Jay Street, met all those criteria except the piano.”
John, a Julliard graduate and Professor Emeritus of Harpsichord, Arizona State College (ASU), added “I had at home a nice seven-foot grand, only two years old. Then in the fall of ‘07 I fell in love with another seven-foot grand and bought it – a Schimmel. I donated the first grand to All Souls and formed a board of directors, arranged the non-profit status, got my son-in-law to do the web site, selected the artists, and voila!” John, a member of All Souls, mentioned, “Piano Works is a separate entity both fiscally and organizationally.”
John and his wife, Barbara Bailey-Metz, a distinguished cellist and retired ASU educator, make music together for the past 28 years. As a duo, they perform throughout the country, record, teach piano, cello, and viola da Gamba to young people who are genuinely interested in music from their home in Waterford.
The Resident interviewers listened to superb romantic Baroque music with Barbara playing on her cello dating from 1886, and John on his new Schimmel piano, which was sent from Germany in several parts and assembled by Caruso’s Music, State Street in New London.
The Metz duo tour the country when they are not teaching, and performed in Tucson and Los Angeles. They will be playing later this year in Charleston, SC.
Even though it is near the end of this season’s series of recitals, the Transcontinental Piano Duo – piano for four hands – will be performing at All Souls on April 19th at 4 p.m.
John also reported, “Piano Works is going to try to include art exhibits at the time of the concerts. Celebrated CT artist, Ruth Sussler, is going to mount a little show of some of her paintings and sculpture just for the next concert. Something for the eyes and ears!”
Visit the Piano Works website at www.pianoworks.org regularly for updates, schedule of performance and bios of the gifted musicians for the new season, which begins in September. Mark your calendars and you might even get a chance to hear Barbara on the cello and John on piano. They make beautiful music together!
Here are some vitals about the upcoming “Runners in Support of Education…and Walkers, too!” The North Stonington Grange Fairgrounds, Wyassup Road, is where the 5K road race, the two mile fitness walk, and the children’s races begin and end. Pickup is also held at the Grange from 8:30-9:45 a.m. on May 23rd. Proceeds from the event go to the North Stonington Education Foundation. For pre-registered runners and walkers, ages three and up, there will be free T-shirts, while available. After the race, it’s chow time, so be ready for hamburgers, hot dogs, home baked goodies, soda, and bottled water. For more information, call Bob Lohmann, Race Director, at 860.889.5543.
The North Stonington resident pointed out that “last year’s overall winners were Spenser Rogers, Quaker Hill, for the men, and Allison Gallerani, Uncasville, for the women. The course is the same scenic one as in past years. It’s moderately rolling. There’s nothing excessive about it.” As for overall participation, “Well, it’s not as much as I thought I would get,” Bob commented. “Last year 57 ran the race, and we had a few more runners the year before.” But the last two years are an improvement over the first year when “we had slightly over forty runners. In truth, I’d like to see eighty to one-hundred participants this year.”
Brace yourself: over a 15-year period, Bob competed in 58 triathlons. “I do typically four a year,” he said. “Two are sprints. Another is the Olympic distance, (0.9 mile swim, 24 mile bike, and a 6.2 mile run), and another’s the Half-Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run).”
Bob started running, swimming, and biking about 15 years ago, when he was 50. He said, “I was working at Electric Boat at the time, and I was working out at the fitness center. I was getting bored on the machines, and I asked the woman in charge, Donna Kay Ness, if she thought I could do a triathlon. Donna is a successful triathlete. In fact, she won the Hawaiian Ironman twice in her age group. I think she’s working at Springfield College now. I told her I knew how to swim but running and biking I haven’t done in years. She said, ‘Sure, you can do it.’ So she gave me a lot of ideas, and I trained, and I did the Mystic Sprint Triathlon and finished and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Final points: First, running is the most difficult event for Bob, swimming the easiest, and biking somewhere in between. Second, he has advice for anyone interested in an exercise program. “You can start at any age,” he said. “You just have to start slowly and sensibly. If it’s running or jogging, go from one telephone pole to the next. Then walk a few. And you’ll gradually build up strength and stamina.”
Groton Utilities was one of sixty of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities to earn Reliable Public Power Provider™ (RP3) recognition from the American Public Power Association (APPA) for providing consumers with the highest degree of reliable and safe electric service. Groton Utilities was one of nineteen utilities to receive a Gold Level Award.
