Horsy News,
Views and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number 34 March 10-16, 2008
|
Going for a ride --- Photo courtesy of http://cavaliersdelafrontiere.com |
Wiggins Winter
Weather Won't Wander Downtown Businesses
Feel the Chill Winter in Wiggins
often offers challenges to local residents. But this year, so much snow,
rain, ice and sleet have built up frozen layers on the ground that some
village streets have snow banks along them. Sidewalks are mostly covered up. Village businesses are
concerned that customers have trouble reaching their stores. When
residents walk along plowed streets in downtown Wiggins, they must be careful
to watch for cars. If they drive, they face other problems. "Both walking and
parking a car are now hard to do" said Mr. Kline, owner of Kline's
hardware.
Plowing
the road -- photo courtesy of http://www.plowsunlimited.com/snowayST.htm Winter Weather continued on page 2 |
|
NEW -- Wiggins Weekly Survey -- Mt. Morris Ski Resort
Commemorative Monument
Three young Wiggins residents have started a campaign to build a
concrete monument commemorating the site of the old Ski Resort on Mt.
Morris.
According to the New England Lost Ski Areas Project, almost 600 smaller
family-run ski areas have closed in the past two decades, Mt. Morris among
them.
This week, the Wiggins Weekly will sponsor a survey. Do you think that
the Connecticut Department of National Resources should find the money for a
monument? Vote at
http://www.clubponypals.com. Survey results will be published next
week. |
Pony Pals Power thought
for the day - -
Spread happiness
where you go, not when.
Page 2
Horsy News,
Views and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number
34 March 10-16,
2008
|
Wiggins
Winter Weather Continued from on page 1 "Our
village streets have been plowed and that is good, people need to drive. But
with the snow heaped up along our streets, drivers don't really have any
place to leave their cars while they come in to shop," Kline continued. The owner of
Folger's Feed and Tack, located behind Kline's Hardware faces even more
difficulty. "People who buy feed from us often have to carry heavy bags.
When there is not this much snow, they can park their car behind our store,
or we can help them move feed bags out to their cars with our two wheel
cart," said Ms. Folger. "But now, our cart gets stuck in snow so it
is not much use. And our parking area behind our store is covered in snow so
deep nobody can park there." Wiggins Town Clerk Milton Shapiro has
gotten many calls from villagers. "Right now, all we can do is hope that
spring will start sooner than later" he stated. "Our town budget
just can't pay for clearing our sidewalks as well as our streets." Volunteer
Fire Chief Roger Edwards agrees. "All we have for the whole village is a
four wheel drive pickup truck that has a snow blade on the front of it. Our
main street is plowed by the county snowplow. So we have all we can do just
to keep our side streets clear." "Our first job
is to make sure that our fire truck can get near any home that needs fire
department help," he said. "After that, we do our best to keep open
rural roads, like the Mudge Road extension.
Plowing the road --
photo courtesy of http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=After+33+years+with+state%2c+77-year-old+now+plows+out+his+neighbors&articleId=0bb5e64c-eb09-44d2-907e-5d9a8c30d9ce |
Pony Pals Letters Dear Pony Pals, My
name is Sophie and I am almost 7 years old! I have a sister who is 5.
Her name is Isabelle. We love your books!! We are already
on number 9, and we love Lightning, Acorn, and Snow White!! We even
named two of our stuffed animal horses "Lightning" and
"Acorn"! We love the books because they have friends who are
always together, and they always stick together, and their ponies do, too!!
We also love how they always work together, too!! We love how
they find missions and solve them in the books! My favorite book in
Pony Pals is...ALL OF THEM! The books are nice because it's really cool
to have mysteries, and then they solve them! When we read them, we want to
read more and more!! Dear Pony Pals Sophie and Isabelle It so great that you like the Pony Pals
books. I really like the books, too. My favorites are; number 28, where
Beauty has a foal and the Pony Pals and Mike watch it all night to make sure
it is OK; Super Special number 5, where Acorn and Snow White start fighting
and the Pony Pals have to figure out what's wrong; and number 29 is pretty
scary, too, when Rosalie and Mimi get lost. Those books are hard to find. You
have to buy them from a used bookstore because they are not for sale from
Scholastic right now. On the Club Pony Pals website I have a link to the
Reading Well, where you can buy lots of Pony Pals books. Thanks for writing! Your letter made me
wonder --which books are favorites of other readers?
Editor __________________ i love ponys they are my fave animals donna Dear Pony Pal Donna Me, too.
8-)
Editor Read
a letter from Lulu! Pony Pals Letters are continued on page 3 |
Page 3
Horsy News,
Views and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number
34 March 10-16,
2008
|
Pony
Pals Letters Continued from Page 2 Dear Pony Pals,
Lulu here. Two weeks ago
we talked Mrs. Eastman about the Mt. Morris ski resort that she used to run
with her family. When Mr. Eastman died, Mrs. Eastman gave the land and
buildings to Mt. Morris Park.
She was sad that no one remembered the resort. We thought Mrs. Eastman
would be happier if people visiting the Park knew about the ski resort. We
had a Pony Pal meeting and decided to ask Ranger Stranton about how to get a
sign put up telling people about it. Anna
drew a picture of the sign.
Monday Anna, Pam and I saddled up right after school. There is so much
snow in Wiggins our secret trail to the Ranger Station at Mt. Morris Park was
blocked. We took our ponies up Mudge Road Extension along Morristown trail, then
on to the Ranger Station. Once we got there, we tied
our ponies to a hitching post outside. Because of the snow, Acorn was really
tired. Lightning and Snow White were glad to rest while we went in to talk to
Ranger Stranton. The Ranger remembered
us asking about the big metal wheels on Mt. Morris. He told us they were on
land donated by the Simpson family. We then told him how we visited Mrs.
Lydia Simpson Eastman.
|
When we finished telling the Ranger how sad Mrs. Eastman was about
nobody remembering her ski resort, he asked us what we wanted him to do.
Pam went first. She said we want the Park to put up a special sign on
a trail leading east towards the first wheel we saw. That way people would
know that there was something special to go look at along that trail and what
the metal wheels were. I said that maybe it could
even have a picture of what the resort used to look like, with photos from
Mrs. Eastman's album. Anna said she could draw a
map showing where the sign should be and what it should look like. The Ranger was
quiet when we finished talking. We
all looked out the window and it was starting to snow. When Ranger Stranton turned
back to us, he seemed almost as sad as Mrs. Eastman. He said that our idea for a sign and
a trail was good, that he thought a monument would be even better. Then he told us even if he
thinks it is a good idea, there was no money in the Mt. Morris Park budget
for a monument or to build a trail to the old wheels. He thought we were sweet to want to
make an old lady happy but without a lot of interest, he did not think he
could get his boss to spend the money. By now the snow
was really falling hard outside. We had to go so we could get our ponies home
before our saddles got too wet. It was a long,
quiet, cold, snowy ride back to Crandal's. Pam and Anna and I decided we
won't give up. The Pony Pals are now also the "Mt. Morris Ski Resort
Monument Committee!" It was getting
dark when Anna and I finished putting Acorn and Snow White up in their
paddock. We made sure that they each got two handfuls of oats because the
ponies had worked so hard. Lulu's Pony Pal Letter is continued on page 4 |
Page 4
Horsy News,
Views and Attitudes Vol. 1 Number
34 March 10-16,
2008
|
Pony
Pals Letters Continued from Page 3 Whether or not
we are a committee, Monday night it seemed to me that we were not making
anything better at all. Just because we were curious about the metal wheels,
we visited Mrs. Eastman. That reminded her of the Mt. Morris Ski resort,
which made her sad. To make Mrs. Eastman
happier, our Pony Pal idea was for a sign so she would be remembered for
giving her ski resort to Mt. Morris Park. When we
talked to Ranger Stranton he was sad there was no money for a sign. He said
the only way to get a sign is if a lot of people tell him they want it. He was the one who said what we
needed was a big concrete statue with a sign on it, called a monument. I kept thinking, what
could we possibly do to make lots of people want a monument about how Mrs.
Eastman gave the land where her ski resort was to the Park? Just before I fell asleep I suddenly
had an idea. I turned my light
back on and wrote it down.
The next day Pam, Anna and I went outside at morning recess. There
were little flakes coming down and we all stood under a tree and started to
talk about how to change the Ranger's mind. Anna showed us a copy
of some posters she drew.
|
Anna said if lots of people know about how Mrs. Eastman gave the land
to Mt. Morris, they would tell the Ranger they wanted a trail monument. She told us her Mom already put a
poster up at the Off-Main Diner.
Pam said we can put up a poster on the wall at City Hall. If there is
enough support, maybe Mr. Shapiro he might find money for a monument from the
Wiggins city budget.
Then I told them about my idea.
I said that we know the lady who publishes the Wiggins Weekly and maybe she would
help us. All three ideas seemed good.
Anna and I made some more posters on Wednesday. We put them up in Folgers
Feed, Kline's Hardware, the Green Market, the Library and Pam took one to Mr.
Shapiro in City Hall. Then we called the editor at
the Wiggins Weekly. She said that the
paper had to remain impartial, but she would be glad to run a survey and find
out what Wiggins Weekly readers thought.
Pam, Anna and I
know that too get this monument built, we need lots of votes on the
survey. So help us out. Go to http://www.clubponypals.com and vote for whether or not you think Ranger Stranton should
find the money for the Park to build a monument thanking Mrs. Eastman for the
ski resort land. Every vote
counts! You can join the Pony Pals to make a difference. More adventures next
week – write and tell us about yours! Pony Pals, Lulu P.S. Anna had me
put a copy of the poster in so you can print it out and take it to
school. Get your friends to
vote, too! |
