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Dog Stories – A Life Filled With Dogs

HARWINTON, CT – Some dog stories… It happens regularly, especially if I’ve been away from home for an extended period of time. I pull into the driveway, turn off the ignition, and instantly think that I need to hurry inside, snap on a leash and walk Cosette. You’d think that …

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New Attitude in 2018, Nah…

HARWINTON, CT – I’d love to say that I’m starting 2018 with a new attitude. A fresh, optimistic outlook filled with generosity and cheerfulness would make the next 12 months so much more enjoyable, but with a milestone 65th birthday later this year and some body part always aching, it’s not …

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CPTV Shortchanges Cable Cutters

HARWINTON, CT – Sorry, CPTV. You can spin it any way you want, but I feel betrayed and ripped off by the shutdown of CPTV4U, and the rebranding of CPTV Sports to CPTV Spirit on Monday. For those who watch TV via cable and have hundreds of choices, CPTV’s closure …

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What’s The Penalty For An Overdue Book?

HARWINTON, CT – What’s the penalty for an overdue book? Is there a statute of limitations on a purloined tome? The first question is one that I asked more than a week ago in a Facebook post after finding a copy of the book “Stories for Children” by Elise Reid Boylston …

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Sources Are Lifeblood Of News Business

THOMASTON, CT – It was while visiting the Railroad Museum of New England recently that a volunteer conductor grumbled to me about the use of unnamed sources by those of us who work in news. He’d seen my reporter’s notebook and camera, and knew my profession. I was there looking …

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Bucket List Checked Off

HARWINTON, CT – There comes a time of reflection when one reaches and passes the age where the hair turns gray. For some folks, realizing that time on earth is fast running out, that provides an incentive to compile a “bucket list” of goals yet to accomplish; of places to visit; …

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“Cars For Sight” Show Gold Mine For “My Ride”

HARWINTON – Finding suitable cars and owners to profile in the weekly “My Ride” feature that appears each Saturday in the “Republican-American” newspaper normally isn’t a problem. When managing editor Anne Karolyi proposed the feature late last summer, I admittedly wondered how difficult it might be to find interesting vehicles …

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Remembering Florence Henderson

HARWINTON, CT – There’s no disputing that Florence Henderson, who died yesterday of heart failure in Los Angeles at age 82, was best known for playing cheerful family matriarch Carol Brady on the ABC comedy “The Brady Bunch” between 1969 and 1974.

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Ethical Lapses Caused By Cow’s Tale

HARWINTON, CT – Charlotte the jersey cow who wandered into a swimming pool here on Sunday evening and had to be rescued by volunteer firefighters may be the most talked about cow in the country today. News of her unexpected plunge into the deep end of an in-ground pool in …

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Rooting For Crystal Palace

HARWINTON, Conn. – It was hard to tell if the kit-wearing Crystal Palace fan inside the Tir Na Nog pub in downtown Philadelphia was inebriated, merely enthused or both in offering his earnest assessment that what makes the Eagles so appealing is that it’s

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Former Roomie Gretzky Gets NHL Promotion

It’s always satisfying to see an old friend or colleague do well. Yesterday’s announcement that Keith Gretzky is becoming assistant general general manager of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers after spending five seasons as director of amateur scouting for the Boston Bruins put a smile on my face. Keith and I worked …

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Remembering Marni Nixon

By Bud Wilkinson “The American cinema’s most unsung singer” is what “The New York Times” calls Marni Nixon in an obituary posted today.  Like other obits, the newspaper’s story notes that it was Nixon who did the singing in some celebrated movie musicals from

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