dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 9:04am  Local News   

By MIKE SYPHER
Chronicle Sports Editor
DETROIT – Six years ago, a man with a dream came to Storrs.
Six years later, that man who dared a number of student-athletes to join him on a journey of sacrifice, hard work and determination will watch as they all turn that dream into reality tonight at 5:30 p.m. (ESPN, WILI 1400-AM, WTIC 1080-AM).
That’s when their University of Connecticut football program takes on Toledo in the Motor City Bowl at Ford Field. It is UConn’s first-ever bowl game.
The Huskies (7-4) will enjoy yet another program first tonight when they match up against the Rockets (9-3) champion of the Mid-American Conference.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 9:01am  Local Sports   

By MIKE SYPHER
Chronicle Sports Editor
DETROIT — Get your calculators out.
Make sure your neck muscles are nice and limber.
Try to schedule all those dashes to the refrigerator and bathroom during commercial breaks.
Tonight’s Motor City Bowl gridiron match-up at 5:30 p.m. (ESPN, WILI 1400-AM, WTIC 1080-AM) between the University of Connecticut and Toledo at Ford Field should feature plenty of points, field-stretching action and an exciting finish as two potent offenses try to out-gun one another in front of a national television audience.
Senior quarterback Dan Orlovsky is poised to lead his UConn Huskies (7-4) in the program’s first-ever bowl game.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 9:00am  Local Sports   

By RICH ZALUSKY
Chronicle Sports Writer
STORRS — She sits just six points away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau for her career.
Who would have thought that was possible when Jessica Moore arrived at the University of Connecticut in the fall of 2001.
“I’m not sure when she got here I had a description of her offensively,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. “I don’t remember there being a description when we talked about recruiting her. We recruited her based on the fact she was very athletic, a quick learner and thought given how we wanted to play when we’d be running up and down the floor, pressuring people and her ability to block shots defensively.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 8:58am  Local Sports   

By Mike Sypher
I wondered what might possess any able-minded person to board a jet, endure two weather delays and fly across the not-so-friendly skies before landing in frigid Detroit in the wee hours of the morning one day after Christmas.
For me, it’s part of my job, covering the University of Connecticut football program’s first-ever bowl game as the Huskies prepare for tonight’s 5:30 p.m. (ESPN, WILI 1400-AM, WTIC 1080-AM) Motor City Bowl against Toledo at Ford Field.
I wasn’t exactly questioning my decision to alter my Christmas plans and spend 11 hours in two planes, two crowded airport terminals and then wait almost 45 minutes for a $48 taxi ride on icy roads to the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 8:54am  Local Sports   

By MIKE SYPHER
Chronicle Sports Editor
DETROIT — Win or lose in tonight’s 5:30 p.m. Motor City Bowl match-up (ESPN, WILI 1400-AM, WTIC 1080-AM) against Toledo at Ford Field, University of Connecticut senior quarterback Dan Orlovsky will be playing in his final game with the Huskies.
And win or lose, Orlovsky will go down in Husky history as the finest quarterback to ever wear a UConn uniform.
And yet it’s winning — Orlovsky does not wish to discuss the possibility of UConn losing tonight — that will serve as the only appropriate exclamation point on the final sentence in the story of a career that not only defines an individual’s progress, but the ascension of an entire program as well.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 8:53am  Opinion/Editorial   

Threads to recent graduates from area universities. More than 1,000 students received their degrees from Eastern Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut in recent weeks, earning either bachelor’s or more advanced degrees from their respective institutions. In an era when university education has become accessible to so many and unprecedented growth in the number of non-traditional and older students, we would be remiss in not giving the efforts and achievements of mid-year graduates the same applause that is given to May graduates.
Threads to Andover for looking to the needs of the town’s library. The board of selectmen recently recommended that the town’s capital improvement committee consider a library board request for $19,200. While that amount is not inconsequential for a town of Andover’s size, the money would be well spent on planned improvements: enlarging the inadequate parking lot, replacing carpet and the purchase of a new sign — an amenity the small library has gone without since the widening of Route 6 cause them to remove their old sign, which was basically destroyed by the process. The library is both a repository of knowledge and a promoter of curiosity, neither of which Andover, or any other town, should go without.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 8:50am  Local News   

By MATTHEW L. BROWN
Chronicle Staff Writer
WILLIMANTIC — Rate increases for the next three years would help the town’s water department sock away some cash and improve its treatment plant.
Michael Callahan, chairman of the town’s water commission, told selectmen last week the commission would like to raise rates by 7 percent in the spring.
Rates would then increase by 7 percent in 2006 and by 6 percent in 2007.
Currently, the average rate-payer pays about $244 per year for city water. The proposed increases would raise rates by $52 every three years.
Windham Water Works serves customers in Windham and part of Mansfield, with water coming from the system of reservoirs in Mansfield Hollow.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 8:48am  Local News   

By SEAN O’LEARY
Chronicle Staff Writer
COVENTRY — With its first year of operation behind them, the Coventry Farmers’ Market and its committee members are looking toward improving on a “successful” start.
The town council was updated on the market’s progress with a letter submitted for last week’s meeting.
On June 6, the Coventry Farmers’ Market — located on the grounds of the Museum of Connecticut Glass — opened at the intersection of Route 44 and North River Road.
Every Sunday from the opening date until Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the market and its 23 vendors sold products ranging from fresh produce, cheese, beef, bison, crafts, ice cream, baked goods and herbal products.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 8:47am  Local News   

By KIMBERLY WETZEL
Chronicle Staff Writer
Though many were hoping for a white Christmas, the snow didn’t start falling until late Sunday afternoon.
Still, schoolchildren on holiday vacation this week can now enjoy sledding and playing in the snow this afternoon.
This morning, though, the roads were not all fun and games for holiday travelers coming home.
State police trooper Donna Tadiello said the total number of accidents statewide were slightly lower than those reported last year until the snow started falling.
Then the number of accidents more than doubled, no thanks to the white stuff.

dlyon  Dec 27 2004 - 8:46am  Local News   

MANSFIELD — The Mansfield man who disappeared from his Foster Drive home Friday evening has not returned home, nor has he been located, police said this morning.
According to state police from Troop C in Tolland, the man, 51-year-old Robert Cavanaugh is white, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, has a shaved head and possibly a goatee.
He may be driving a 1996 black Mazda pickup truck with Connecticut plate number 681CZT. Police said this morning the vehicle has not been found.
Family members said Cavanaugh is in need of medical attention.
Anyone who has seen the pickup truck, or knows of his whereabouts, is asked to call state police at Troop C at 896-3200.