In this photo,October 2008, Blake Lewis, American Idol Season 6 runner-up, shares the good news of the 2008 Idols Live Tour at Mohegan Sun with Alexis Ann, editor & publisher, the Resident.

Exciting news for reality television fans! The American Idol Live Tour 2010 stopped in at Mohegan Sun Arena on July 13th. In a backstage interview, Resident reporter, Jessica Warzeniak, spoke to the American Idol Season 9 top 10 contestants:  Tim Urban, Casey James, Crystal Bowersox, Didi Benami, Aaron Kelly, and Connecticut’s own Katie Stevens.  Later that night, Resident photographer Christopher Annino, snapped their pictures during the concert. See more here.

Hats off to the new officers of the Groton Rotary Club! R.B. Kent was installed as the president of the club by out-going president, John Silsby at the Mystic Marriott Hotel. Lian Obrey was the recipient of the prestigious Jerry Scarano Award. Visiting Rotarian and former Groton Rotary Club member Jerry Scarano, who sponsors the award, was at the meeting to congratulate Lian and to present the club with a $1,000 donation to continue the award. More here.

Congratulations to the Town of Groton for their 32nd Annual Fourth of July Parade. Grand Marshall Barbara Tarbox led the parade along Route 1 from Poquonnock Plains Park to the Groton Shopping Center. The theme was “Serving Your Country” and floats and marchers were decked out in red, white and blue. See it here and a photo slideshow.

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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(l-r, back row) Chelsea Groton Bank associates, Kleo Curis, Lauren Ackley, Pat Leonard, Josephine Pai, Rebecca Harms (front row) Jennifer Seuferling and Anne Ogden honor all those that are or have been serving our country. On Friday, July 2, they joined all the Waterford Banks and Credit Unions together with the Town of Waterford to wear Red,White and Blue, jeans and a special ribbon for the recent death of SSG. Edwin Rivera of Waterford.  The ribbon donations went to the SSG Edwin Rivera Children’s Fund.

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by Alexa Jaccarino

Most people don’t realize that between the urban towns of Monroe, Trumbull and Bridgeport, runs the Pequonnock River, an amazing ecosystem that is an essential pathway for herring and other fish to migrate throughout their lives.  River herring are migratory fish; they are born in the fresh water of the river, they migrate to Long Island Sound, and once they are mature and ready to spawn new fish, they must return to the Pequonnock.

Unfortunately, when the CT Department of Transportation (DOT) was realigning Routes 1 and 8 in Bridgeport, they installed a concrete apron in the river to prevent erosion.  This now leaves a very shallow path of water for the herring to swim through which can lead to fatal damage of the fishes scales and fins, as well as expose them as easy prey for waiting birds such as Black-Crowned Night Herons and even eagles.   Continuing to lose the herring this way would have a serious effect on the ecosystem of the Pequonnock River.

Save the Sound’s new initiative to “Protect the Pequonnock” is attempting to rehab the entire waterway as well as create a passageway in the concrete apron that will allow the fish to travel safely upstream.

The plans to create this passageway are completed and in cooperation with several organizations, including the National Fish and Wildlife Organization, almost all of the necessary funding was raised. The Pequonnock River Initiative is hoping to install a step pool fish ladder “comprised of a series of weirs and concrete pools through the center of the apron.”

The step pool and weir structure would also maintain the DOT’s initial intention to prevent erosion.  The structure will take only a few months of construction to complete and if full funding is reached this fall, the Initiative is hoping to begin construction the summer of 2011.

Save the Sound and the Pequonnock River Initiative offer many opportunities for involvement from the community.  Opportunities include directly becoming involved by heading up or joining a committee of the Initiative, or simply attending some of the awareness activities the organization presents; such as “river walks” where a guide will teach you about the river and identify areas to improve, river clean-ups and general public meetings to discuss the progress of the project.

Other ways to help protect our environment that these groups have created include, helping in invasive species (non-native plant) removal from the river, as well as storm drain stenciling (you’ve probably seen “No Dumping, Drains to the Sound” painted onto a storm drain or two–you can thank Save the Sound).

For more information or answers to any questions you may have regarding these issues, check out the Save the Sound or CT Fund for the Environment websites: www.savethesound.org, www.ctenvironment.org.

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Kate Davis turned eight on July 1, this year and when Kate was only 3 - 1/2 years old they discovered that Kate had cancer.

story & photo
by Angela Olsen

I stumbled upon the most robust, playful & feminine little girl on the waterfront in Noank on July 4^th.  She was in a tremendous hurry, sporting an adorable pink cotton dress, running to join her playmates to thoroughly examine the fruits of their labor from an afternoon of crabbing off of Morgan Point Lighthouse.  As we discussed the species of crabs, I suggested the blue crabs as a tasty snack for dinner!  Aghast, she looked at me with a furrow in her brow and shouted, “No!!  You can’t eat them!  I don’t want to kill them!”  I realized where I stood in this conversation and returned, with my escort, to the container of rum punch.

Later in the evening, after the sun set, and the elaborate displays of fireworks, up and down the Mystic River wrapped, we met again.  I asked little Kate if she returned the crabs to safety, and she said “yes,” clearly forgiving me for my twisted ideas about devouring the sea creatures.  In passing, someone mentioned that Kate just wrapped her last bone marrow treatment, and is such a trooper.

At this point, Kate and I were getting on like old buddies, so I asked her about the ‘bone marrow treatment.”  She said, “Yes, I just got my last treatment and here are my scars,” as she slid the straps to her sweet dress to the side to reveal one tiny white scar on the left, above her chest, and another scar to the right, which her mother, Jessica Davis later tells me are referred to as her badges of courage.

My heart sank as I looked into her beautiful eyes, thinking first and foremost about my own niece Haley, who is nine years old, and secondly, about my best buddy Joey Lawrence of New London, who essentially lived at my childhood home with me growing up.  We shared every childhood and adolescent right of passage together, like first crushes, first kisses, sporting events, you name it.

The last time I went to visit him I will never forget the feeling.  I was told that his Leukemia was getting the best of him, and that I better get to Yale-New Haven Hospital to visit.  En route, I stopped to enlarge a photograph of us together and bumped into a tear-stained, red-eyed mutual friend Mike Serluca, who told me that I was too late.  My heart stopped and I will never forget that moment.  I think of my best buddy, my brother from another mother, Joey, every single day.

My new friend Kate turned eight on July 1, this year.  Her mother, Jessica was extremely generous in chatting with me about her journey, which started when Kate was only 3 1/2 years old.  Her little girl kept bruising badly and she couldn’t figure out why.  She brought her to NYU Medical Center and she was admitted immediately and awaiting blood within 2 ½ hours.  They discovered that Kate had the “good kind of cancer,” meaning that she had a 91% chance of survival, but it was no cakewalk.

Kate almost died on her fourth birthday because she had a high fever, 105 degrees and no immune system.  This, according to Jessica was the absolute worst moment, having to place Kate in ice baths for 12 straight days in the hospital trying to break the deadly fever.  The fifty bone marrow procedures and over 28 rounds of chemotherapy daily or living for four months in-patient in the hospital weren’t as tough.

Jessica details a moment where she was stripped-down in bra and panties, with a garbage bag over Kate to cover her ports, with her in the bathtub trying to get her to hold down her medication and Kate kept rejecting it.  Finally Kate asks, “Mommy, If I don’t take this medication, am I going to die?”

“Yes, you will,” said Jessica, and “We are going to keep trying until you can keep it down.”

It’s this vigilance on the part of Jessica and the community combine that keeps Kate alive and well.  Whether at home, or in the hospital, bacteria can be a matter of life or death.  Doorknobs were Cloroxed at least twice a day, parents at Kate’s day school would not send their children to school sick ever, out of respect for her well-being.

Their household went from an organic kitchen to a ‘processed’ home, because Kate was so sensitive, for example, to the germs which spread if one person’s hands reached into a bag of crackers.  Rather than eating a strawberry, which would be a healthy option, a prepackaged processed snack was safer, because of the bacteria lurking on the stem of the berry!

Eleven friends of Kate’s succumbed to this disease.  Even though the adorable youngster lost her hair twice… every single strand, even her eyelashes, she tell me, “The only thing I hate about cancer is having friends who die.  One of my friends was six when I was four; she died.  Mommy and I were talking about rainbows and Mommy said, ‘Stella always loved rainbows and I knew she died and burst into tears!’”  Stella was Kate’s best friend and there was no match for her blood-type.  Jessica lied to Kate at first to protect her, but she caught on and was angry for a few weeks, but nothing keeps this miracle child down!

Even in the midst of becoming a 41-year old single-mother of four youngsters, Jessica says, “You don’t count your blessings until they’re almost taken away. at the end of the day, I  have a healthy kid!”

Kate’s twin Olivia wants people to know she is protective of her sister: “Don’t mess with Kate!”

To make donations for research, etc. go to  www.leukemia-lymphoma.org and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center at www.mskcc.org.

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Kathy Jones, Groton holds up her ponytails after getting her hair cut.

story & photo
by Crystal Harpstreit

Kiesha Murphy, the owner of Spoiled Salon in New London and her staff hosted a Wigs for Kids event. The organization collects hair and makes it into wigs for sick children, many of whom are cancer patients going through chemotherapy or have alopecia, a condition which causes hair to fall out.

Kiesha and her staff incorporated the event into Sailfest where they used their tent as an outdoor salon. They hoped to collect several, 13 inch long ponytails to donate to the organization ,”If I can collect ten ponytails, I’ll be happy,” said Kiesha.

She also stated that, “The hair needs to be in good condition and not bleached, if you want to donate.” Six, 12 inch long ponytails are needed in order to make one wig for a child who has lost their hair.

“This was going to be Locks of Love, but a client didn’t want to donate because they charge for the hairpieces.”

Kiesha learned about Wigs for Kids through a friend who was looking for a salon that would donate her hair. It turned out that Wigs for Kids was her friend’s favorite hair donation charity because every single hairpiece they make is given to a child and their family free of charge.
During the first day of the event, on Saturday, July 10, the salon was able to collect two ponytails.

The main event of the day was Wigs for Kids, but people interested in donating to a good cause were not turned away if they didn’t have extremely long hair. The staff gave trims and that hair was donated to Matter of Trust which is an organization that uses human hair, fleece, feathers and fur clippings to clean up oil spills.

Kiesha says, “I’ve been doing hair for almost 25 years.” She worked in different salons until she was given the chance to manage and decided that she wanted to open her own salon. She says, “I think it’s the happiest that I’ve been because I get to do stuff like this,” of holding events to help others

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(l-r) Cathy Lathrop, last year’s winner of the Scarano Award, Lian Obrey, this year’s recipient, Jerry Scarano, former Groton Rotary Club member who sponsors the award and outgoing President John Silsby.

R. B. Kent is the new president of the Groton Rotary Club.  He was installed as the club’s new leader along with other officers and the Board of Directors at the weekly meeting held at the Mystic Marriott Hotel. Other officers sworn in are:  Lian Obrey, President-Elect; Lea Doran, Vice President; Cathy Lathrop, Secretary; and John Scott, Treasurer. The Board of Directors includes all the officers plus Lee Vincent, Bruno Giulini, Hope Toelken, Diane Thomas, Mike Riegel, Frank Winkler, Nolan Nixon, and immediate Past President John Silsby.

During the annual installation meeting each year, the club presents the annual Jerry Scarano Award, given to a club member for outstanding service to the Groton Rotary.  Last year’s recipient, Cathy Lathrop, presented this year’s award to Lian Obrey, who spearheaded the club’s annual auction effort the past two years.

Visiting Rotarian and the award sponsor, Jerry Scarano, was present to congratulate Lian.  Jerry also presented the club with a $1,000 donation to continue the award which is in the form of a handsome wood plaque.

Jerry was a member of the club for some 37 years before he moved to Florida.  He is also a former Club President and a former Governor of Rotary International District 7980.

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