There’s a surplus?

Plan for the worst, hope for the best: It’s what most area boards and financial departments have been doing with their budgets this year. Cutting, carving out savings wherever they can and not stopping until there is no more they believe they can do.This approach has stood Region One Business Manager Sam Herrick in good stead. Rather than having to come back to the Region One school board with bad news, Herrick was able to come back with some very good news about additional savings, as reported in last week’s Lakeville Journal by Patrick Sullivan.Herrick told the regional school board at their Sept. 12 meeting that he could report a surplus of $282,350. This came primarily out of the budgets of Housatonic Valley Regional High School and the Pupil Services department, which includes special education funding. Just in case anyone decides to do the math, there was also a loss of $23,602 in the Regional Schools Services Center, or Central Office, which diminished the gains.Still, being able to give credits to the Region One town school boards must have felt pretty good for Herrick. The individual towns have struggled during the recession to continue programs while meeting tight budgets. The refund from Region One will mean something to those elementary school boards. While Herrick is able to announce this most years, it is not something to be taken for granted in these tough fiscal times.Even better is the fact that part of the surplus happened because a state grant kicked in for Pupil Services. And here we thought that state money had all but dried up.Kudos to Herrick, and to those who tightened their belts at the high school and Pupil Services, for not only keeping to their budgets and managing those budgets intelligently, but also for doing better than projected.

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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