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CHIPS Halloween Bash a Smash

Aiden Hughes

Children of Hudson Interacting with Police Services held its annual Halloween party last Friday at the Community Center.  Before the doors opened, costumed youngsters with parents in tow were lined up outside anxiously awaiting the fun to come.

As children streamed into the hall, they were handed bright silver bags filled with a T-shirt and other goodies.   Once inside, they could enjoy the DJ, bounce in the bouncing hall, get their faces painted, play games, eat pizza and popcorn or paint a pumpkin or any combination of those activities.

The lights were dimmed.  Glowing necklaces passed out by Hudson Police personnel blinked as children moved.  Throughout the evening police officers, firefighters and the CHIPS kids enjoyed the party, including line dancing.

And as the costume contest kicked off the adorable horribles strutted their stuff.

Alex and Trish.

Mike Davis and Ella

Ashley Wright

First row: Tom and Laura Kelly, Travis Graham, Mathew Kelly
Back row: Jeannine Kelly, Jarod and Tracy Graham.

Jana El-Sayed, 10, as Mother Nature from the fifth grade at Hills Garrison.

Hudson Officer Honored for Hockey Career

by Doug Robinson

Police Lt. Bill Avery

Hudson Police Lt. Bill Avery has been inducted into the Norwich University Hockey Hall of Fame.

Avery, who was graduated from Norwich in 1992 with a criminal justice degree, was recognized as team captain  in his junior and senior years, as the school team’s third-highest scorer and as a leader on and off the ice.

College coach Tony Marino remembers Avery as a “great two-way player and a very good leader.”  High school coach John Fletcher remembers him as a “the kind of kid you like both on and off the ice.  While playing for Chelmsford (Massachusetts) High School, he did not make mistakes on the ice.  He studied the game, listened to the coaches, and became recognized by both his peers and his coaches for his level of confidence.”

“I always had a hockey stick or a baseball bat in my hand when I was a kid.” Avery said.  “And, being a little guy on the ice, I had to skate fast.  Speed was my friend, especially when I was being chased.  In high school, I could pretty much outskate most players, but when I got into college, I got beat up a lot.”

He has had two surgeries on his shoulders, sustained a broken wrist, broken left arm bone, and multiple concussions.  But, he added, “At least I still have all my teeth!”

“I remember Billy skating to the bench during a game and he had popped his shoulder out during his shift” Fletcher recalled.  “He came to the bench, popped his shoulder back in, and continued to skate.  The kid never missed a single shift during his entire career at Chelmsford High School.”

Avery began skating at age four on his family’s back yard rink.  “I will never forget the sacrifices my mom and dad made for me so that I could skate.  I can remember mom and dad carting me off to the rink early in the morning.  I’m talking 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. in the morning.  There was a time when it was not unusual for me to play four hockey games in one day.  Back then the cost for an hour of ice was cheap, not like today.  We were called rink rats back then.”

Avery joined his first hockey team by age five.  After the Pee Wees, he joined the Bantams, followed by traveling teams throughout New England and Canada, and then as a freshman at Chelmsford High, where he was noticed by Marino.

Avery at Norwich Univerisity.

“The guy was always there,” Avery said.  “He was not only interested in my hockey playing, he was also interested in my school work as well as interested with me as a person.  And that is the major reason I went to Norwich University.”

The values Marino taught him “I carry with me today.  He taught me to be nice to people and to respect everyone.  Being a cop is a people job,” Avery said.

Avery’s college career highlights include selection to All-Tournament teams, All-State teams, New England Sports writer’s All-Star teams, MVP selection for tournament play, and selection to the ECAC Eastern second team.  Massachusetts sports writers selected Avery as the “best kid in the conference during his high school years,” Fletcher said.

Avery joined the Hudson Police Department in 1993 and worked his way through the ranks to lieutenant. He leads a team of officers daily between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m.  “Playing hockey for all those years on all those teams has instilled in me the philosophy of teamwork, and as a police officer, being a team is very important,” he said.

He said he is proud of the police department because “we are a true team.  Like coach Marino taught me, we communicate, we are consistent, we care and we treat people right.”

25 Years of Scarecrows

by Lauren Danzi

Jessica Ball, Mike Richardson, and Robert Arsenault stand beside their first place winning scarecrow “Couch Potatoes.”

More than 100 scarecrows brightened the grounds of Litchfield’s Griffin Memorial School on Friday, October 26, during the 25th annual Scarecrow Jamboree.

The spooks were made by 175 third- and fourth-graders from recycled milk jugs, stockings, socks and clothes representing characters from the movies Happy Feet and Spiderman.  Sporty, the  “all-around sports guy,” held a baseball glove, football, hockey stick and wore skates.  “The Cabbage Patch” grew ghoulish figures such as “Dead Wed” and “I Want My Mummy.”

The four-scarecrow ensembe of “Couch Potatoes” by Mike Richardson, Robert Arsenault and Jessica Ball took first place.  The potatoes sat on a cardboard couch with blanket, pillows, TV remote control and bag of popcorn in front of a of a Styrofoam television set.

Prizes also were awarded for second through sixth place as well as honorable mention.  Pupils received ribbons, candy and gift certificates.  None of the students’ teachers votes but as many as 40 judges — other faculty, teachers, staff and former teachers — make up the jury.

Paula Cullenkent, a fourth-grade teacher who started the program and has run it for the past 25 years, said the large number of judges makes for many ties.  In addition, all who create scarecrows get certificates for ice cream sundaes and have their names in a raffle for toys.

The Scarecrow Jamboree, a title suggested by a student in 1983, traditionally is held on the Friday before Halloween.  The first jamboree had about 50 scarecrows.

    Cullenkent said that another tradition of the jamboree is that “we have never had rain,” but she added that one year the scarecrows were brought into the gym as hurricane-force winds howled. However, in every other year the scarecrows have been outside.

When Cullenkent came to Litchfield she wanted to create an event to celebrate the town’s history and dedication to agriculture and to include recyling and problem-solving projects and thus the jamboree was born.

“It’s a great way to celebrate Litchfield’s heritage,” she said.

Cullenkent remembers the challenges in the early years of the jamboree when shee had to get permission from the administration and bought prizes and certificates for the children herself.  Since then she yearly involves the administration, staff and faculty.

“What I enjoy most is how it brings the school together,” she said.

Principal Bo Schlichter recognized Cullenkent with a plaque for her work in creating and running the Scarecrow Jamboree.  “She really has worked very hard to make this what it is.”  Schlichter told the students and faculty and led the children in a cheer: “Go!  Go!  Mrs. Cullenkent!”

Winners of the Scarecrow Jamboree:

First place: 

Couch Potatoes by Robert Arsenault, Jessica Ball, Mike Richardson

Second place: 

The Apple Tree Who Could Not Find A Friend by Evan Mun

Cabbage Patch by Delaney Odum

Third place:

The Garden Mum by Rachel Anderson

Best Friends Forever by Veronica Nordyke and Nicole Snyder

I Want My Mummy by Sarena Dyac and Jocelyn Hutchinson

Fourth place:

The Exhausted Dog Walker by Amy Damphouse and Samantha Parzych

The Mixed Up Horseman by Ryan Coyne and Payton Musco

Fifth place:

Moss Makes the Grab by D.J. Simoneau

Halloween Hair Scare by Talia Hardy and Sophie Scafidi

Bone Jovi by Sara Kierstead and Savannah Reinitzer

Gloria by Vanessa Pucillo

Major Schlichter by Brandon Falcone

Sixth place:

Frosty the Scareman by Erin Ottman and Sara Dampolo

Smelly Cat by Amy Anderson and Courtney Bradish

Trick or Tree by Nathan Cooke and Hayden Stagnone

M4L1 by Michael Gray and Luke Orlando

Honorable Mention:

Glamour Girl by Mackenzie Young and Valerie Boucher

America’s Next Top Scarecrow by Taylor Capobianco

Rocking Ruby by Jessica Manning and Bridget Soraghan

Phantom of the Opera by Amber Krane

Gangster Guppy by Ethan Quigley

Dice Mice by Cole Ryan

Super Travelocity Gnome by Harrison Hidalgo

Jack and Annie by Jacob Roy

Super Smiley by Harrison Tremblay

Bob Round Pants and His Friends by Elizabeth Graveline, Kimberly Martin, and Kylie Carlson

Bruins Pack Girl by Ann Margaret DiSciscio

Baby M and M by Victoria Webber and Adam Hayward

Wild Man Band by Brandon Mason Annie Paquin, and Michael Keane

Dead Wed by Hannah Fabiano and Alyssa Waldman

Big Puppy 34 by Colin Dyer

Dead Buddies by Benjamin LaBatt and Christian Peguri 

VFW to Donate Memorial

by Tom Tollefson

The Hudson Memorial Post 5791 will be donating a new flagpole and a memorial granite stone in memory of World War II veteran Claude Charbonneau. The stone will be purchased from Granite City Monuments in Nashua, and installed at Hudson’s Town Hall.

The granite stone will measure 12” by 24” with a height somewhere between 18” to 24”.  The following will be engraved in the stone: “In memory of Claude M. Charbonneau, U.S. Navy, WWII, Life Member VFW Post 5791.”

Originally, the VFW wanted to dedicate a park bench in the town common in memory of Charbonneau; however, Road Agent Kevin Burns suggested a granite plaque and replacement of the current flag pole in front of town hall instead.

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