18-month-old Sean Rice shrieks in delight after running through a water fountain in Chase Park, in the Town Plot neighborhood of Waterbury. Photo by John Murray

Front row (from left): Coach Linda Brown, Jessica Lovejoy, Gianna Polzella, Shimera Estes, Marykate Bunce, Coach Kerry Doty. Back row: Coach Michelle Rinaldi, Denize Torres, Alia Te, Jaydeh Rivers, Mia Giordano, Mattea Polzella.

    The Girls Inc. of Southwestern Connecticut gymnastics team was victorious at the American Athletic Union’s 2011 Northeast Region Gymnastics Competition at Paramount Gymnastics in Swansea, MA. Competing against 180 girls from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the Girls Inc. of SWCT’s Prep Gymnast team won First place, with the Girls Inc. Novice Gymnast team placing Second in that category. Coached by Linda Brown, Kerry Doty and Michelle Rinaldi, the Girls Inc. gymnasts placed near the top of their divisions in the individual events and all-around.

   After three years of ongoing vocal medical issues, Bob Sagendorf retired from the broadcast business in May for vocal rest, also to continue treatment, and work in a related career.  WATR management has scheduled a casual gathering to thank Bob for his many years of service to the sports and news broadcast community on Thursday July 28th at the Ancient Order of Hibernians Hall, 91 Golden Hill Street in Waterbury.   

Bataan Death March in 1942

    Dr. Albert Brown was a 32-year-old  practicing dentist with a wife, three children, a pilot’s license and a small air transport business  when he was called up for military service in the Philippines  in 1937 as the United States geared up for war four years before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The godchild of Buffalo Bill Cody, he is now, at 105 years-of-age, the oldest living American World War II veteran despite the fact that army doctors didn’t expect him to live beyond 50 as a result of his wartime injuries and illnesses. A robust athlete whose basketball team had defeated the famous Harlem Globetrotters, “Doc” Brown, was reduced to less than 90 pounds at war’s end. He spent two years in veterans’ hospitals and did not see to his family again for ten years.

   Spend a little time sampling the tasty barbeque that the Waterbury Firefighters Union will be serving up at the 2nd Annual Waterbury Firefighters Unions Summertime Brews Beer Festival, and you are sure to be impressed by their grilling prowess and award winning chili.

Column by Don Coppock  (July 2011)

   When I made the decision to retire in Thailand , that decision was based on the information I had at the time. The dollar had hovered around 40 baht for as long as I’d been coming here, and I foresaw no cataclysmic change in the stock market.

   Ignoring the grim economic news across Connecticut, an enthusiastic band of entrepreneurs launched a lemonade stand on Southwest Road in Waterbury on July 2nd. From left to right is D'Archer Bartlett, 8, Nolan Gustafson and Sincere Bartlett, 11. The stand was set up across the street from Post University in the West End of Waterbury, and the kids would explode into a marketing frenzy with each passing car. At 25 cents a drink, the young entrepreneurs were offering up refreshments at a cost difficult to compete with. Photo by John Murray

Devon Williams, left, and Kevin Smythe, rap for Jesus on the Green in downtown Waterbury June 18th during the Greater Waterbury Youth Network summer concert.

Story and Photographs By John Murray

   The music was loud and powerful and had hundred of people on and around the Green craning their heads for a glimpse. Young basketball players leaving the YMCA stopped to listen from across the street, and Russian immigrants, senior citizens and drunks on park benches tapped their feet to the pulsating sounds coming from Waterbury youth.