Power Outages

Thousands in Connecticut without power after Tuesday's storm, high winds

Wednesday, September 19, 2012
By The Associated Press

HARTFORD — A storm system with wind gusts clocked at over 50 mph knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses in Connecticut.

Heavy rain also led to some flooding. State police said they had to close Interstate 95 in Norwalk in both directions for a time Tuesday night because of the high water on the highway.

At the peak of the storm, more than 40,000 customers of Northeast Utilities and United Illuminating were without power, mostly due to falling tree limbs that took down power lines. More than 20,000 customers remained without electricity Wednesday morning.

No serious injuries were reported, though police in West Haven say they had to help two people get out of a car on Winslow Drive after a tree fell on it.

Occupy Wall Street Hopes for Change

By: Suli Rivera - Tamarez
The citizens of the United States seem to have had enough with the banks of the country. On September 17th, hundreds of people gathered to rally on the streets of Bowling Green New York otherwise known as, Wall Street. The protesters were mainly around the age of 20, some newly graduated from college and having a hard time finding a job in this economy.

"I have a master’s degree from a top university and $135,000 in student loans (and growing). I've lost 2 jobs in 3 months. I can't afford my antidepressants, but need them more than ever. I'm lucky enough to have friends that live with me, but that won’t last forever. What then,” asked a young woman on her Tumblr account. It seems that now more than ever, the world is pushing young people to get higher degrees for better jobs, but those jobs aren't what they expected and instead are laying off because they can't afford employees.

Facebook has again started a movement. We witnessed as Egyptians were brought together by the social media engine to revolt and demand a just government. In Libya, the citizens demanded the demise of Gaddafi. Facebook helped organize these protest, and once again, people were brought together to bring change by the social network.

"Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring Tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America", says the official Occupy Wall Street website. Many protesters are looking at what the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, once warned as fuel to their fire. "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. “

As for if the protest will actually bring about change, many believe it to be. Since the protest started in New York on September 17th, other rallies in major cities have begun to organize. A large number of Americans have lost hope in the system, and in cities such as Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C they are making it known. Most recently, Hartford has joined the band wagon of what sources are calling “Occupy Hartford” for all who are against economical inequality and greedy government. On October 11, over 100 people were arrested in Boston for participating in Occupy Boston.

Band Snags 1st Place @ North Adams

By: Amanda Welch, Co-Editor

After a hard lost to Lewis Mills High School at the Bristol Mum’s Parade, the Torrington Marching Band redeemed themselves with a grand come back, by winning last Sunday’s North Adams Fall Foliage Festival Parade in North Adams, Massachusetts.

THS was up against 7 other high schools from New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, including the Red Raider’s largest competitor, Lewis Mills. Torrington’s first place finish was their first since 2008, and their second for this parade. Mills, who was last year’s winner, took second place.

Bridget Bertoldi, drum major, believes that THS went in ready to win. “Looking in everyone’s eyes, I knew everyone wanted it.”

Senior Joe Kuleaza actually had tears in his eyes over the win. “It was so surreal, it was the biggest accomplishment, because we did something that past band members couldn’t do.”

Wayne Splettstoeszer, Band Director, shared in the enthusiasm. “It feels amazing to win! It was a difficult parade and the band has been working extremely hard.”

The Torrington Marching Band has changed their appearance and attitude this year. The marching band has recently purchased new uniforms. Splettstoeszer says “it was time.” The previous uniforms had been in use for 26 years.

“The new uniforms are much lighter than the last,” says Sophomore Devon Donovan. Along with the new uniforms is a new banner created by Sophomore Makenzie Welch. Welch felt that the “the old banner did not match the uniforms, so I was asked to create a banner that would match.”

Senior Krysten Zuffelatto believes the band has become more of a family this year. “It hasn’t felt like this since 2009.”

Band members feel this improved moral contributed to the weekend’s win. Senior Sarah Barrios summed up by saying, “Closer is better.”

Hey THS -- Learn to Walk!

By Alexis Turner, Reporter

Are the hallways your worst nightmare? Have a hard time getting from class to class without bumping into someone or walking behind someone unbearably slow? How about the people who just stand in the middle of the hallway?

Well listen up, because you’re not the only one. Walking through these hallways for the past four years opened my eyes to how inconsiderate we are on a regular basis.
Personal experience: first day of school this year, just walking with a couple friends, and this underclassman comes running through the halls and knocks me side to side. You would think he would turn around and say something along the lines of “I’m sorry” ha, no, he just keeps running through people. Honestly, you will get to class. Trust me.

Then, we have the people who walk at a 0.5 miles per hour pace in the hallway. The “I don’t care about being late to class because I’m so cool” attitude does not make you cool; it makes you look pretty bad. If you want to walk like you’re sleepwalking, stay home, because you annoy half the people in the school who are actually trying to get to class.

Lastly, my favorite, the people who just stand in the middle of the hallway to talk. It doesn’t matter if you talk, but please just do it near a locker or something, instead of being a nuisance and taking up half the hallway, so people have squeeze by you.

I think it’s time we set some ground rules for the hallway.

1. Do not run in the hallway. It’s sad that we need to tell people in high school not to do so. Honestly, if you’re worried about being late, manage your time a little differently.
2. Walk at a moderate pace. There is no reason to walk at a snail’s pace. Just because you may not want to get to class, and you do not care, does not give you the right to make anyone else around you late too.
3. If you want to talk in the hallway, stand by a locker. Stop getting in the way of other people, and holding up traffic.

Teen Wolf - Not Just a Twilight Remake

By: Andy Serven, Reporter

Teen Wolf is a new show that has recently ended its first season on MTV. The show premiered June 5th of 2011, and had 12 episodes throughout the season. Tyler Posey, who appeared in the movies Lincoln Heights and Maid in Manhattan, and also the show Smallville in 2006, plays the main character.

The show is about a teenager in high school named Scott, who plays lacrosse and is bullied by a peer named Jackson. One night, Scott and his best friend Stiles are searching the woods for a dead body reported on the news, when Scott is suddenly attacked by a wolf and later on finds out he has become a werewolf.

He finds a love interest named Allison, and then the trouble begins. Scott faces tons of problems in this show. His girlfriends father and aunt are werewolf hunters, alpha wolf is trying to kill him and his friends, and he is the new captain of the lacrosse team because of his newly acquired speed and strength, but has trouble keeping his temper down without killing an opposing player. A lot of more problems appear just as soon as they all seem to go away in the season finale, and leaves you off with a giant cliffhanger.

I watched every episode of this new show, and actually began to enjoy it. At first I thought, it was just going to be another stupid show like Twilight, and all the girls would be obsessed with it. For me, someone who watched the show rarely saw any resemblance to Twilight.

Unfortunately for Teen Wolf, they are facing the same problem the rest of the movie business is facing. Our generation has assumed any movie with a vampire or werewolf is automatically a spin-off of Twilight. What about a movie like Fright Night (released on August 19th 2011) that is a part horror movie? Is it a Twilight copy because it has a vampire in it?

The new season of Teen Wolf is expected to come out in the summer of 2012. I suggest you watch it because it truly is a great show. It captures romance, fear, suspense, and thrillers all in one episode.

End of School Year Now One Day Later

By: Molly Sczucka, Co-Editor
We’ve had no snow days yet, no power outage days yet (no matter how we hoped)… we have already added a day to the school year.

A new district calendar has been published, changing the last day of school from June 14 to June 15. In exchange, students will have October 11, the day after Columbus Day, off from school. Teachers will have to report for professional development.

According to Acting Superintendent Kloczko, the teacher day had been scheduled in August but “was lost to Hurricane Irene.” While in the past, such days have been split into two half days, preventing a change to the school year, Kloczko insisted that such a choice was unavailable.

“Many of the programs from that August day were full day workshops, some with outside presenters, and they had to be schedule when …. available.” She also explained that the information teachers will receive was too important to postpone.
This pushes the last day of school just a little closer to graduation. Should we use more than 5 snow days, underclassmen will have to return to THS after the seniors have graduated.

Mr. McSpiritt explained that the ends of the marking period and final exams will be pushed by a day, however, just like when we have a snow day. This means that students will be taking finals on those last days, whenever they end up being after winter has passed.

In addition to the student’s day off on Oct. 11, two school days have been made half days for students as well, for more teacher workshops. Kloczko says that these days have been requested by principals to cover important changes from the State Department of Education.

The half-days will be on December 13 and March 13. Furthermore, THS only is adding two half-days on November 16 and 17 for parent-teacher conferences. According to Creedon, these days were left off of the original calendar, which did have the half days marked for the spring conferences on March 28 and 29.

RESULTS ARE IN!

Following a request by Principal Creedon, the Raider Times organized a survey of students today concerning the color of lanyards. While many claim it is a small issue, students overall were bothered by the switch to maroon lanyards over class colors that was made this year (with seniors as the exception). Juniors particularly expressed disappointment over not being able to have the distinction of the blue lanyard. The majority of the school body does agree, the survey says! 90% of respondents voted for a return to the class colors for lanyards, and over 60% indicated that they would be willing to purchase one this year to have the distinction of their class. Check the Sept. 30 issue of the Raider Times for more details on what the administration plans to do with this information.