“Crisis in Kenya”

First in Syria, now in Kenya, there have been many tragedies recently. On September 22 in Kenya, there was a terrorist attack in the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The attack went on for four days with continuous shooting and violence. There were at least 61 casualties and 71 people still missing from the rubble of the collapsing building. Also, the verified leader of the terrorist attack is named Al-Shabab, who told everybody that there were 137 people dead, which couldn’t be verified so far. There were about 175 wounded people, and currently 62 people are in the hospital.

Some of my thoughts on the subject is that I think the attacks and tragedies will keep happening  throughout the world. Personally, all of this gets me a little bit frightened. Almost everyday I think about all of the attacks on the world, 9/11, d-day, etc. The world will never know when the next attack will happen, so we have to be prepared for the worst. Just thinking about it gets me worried about my family and friends, and I can’t imagine what all of the relatives and friends of the people that died or wounded are thinking about. I hope I never have to experience the excruciating pain inside that a lot of people are feeling right now.

~Franklin

What to do, What to do…

In the past few years, the bubble over the Cheshire Community Pool has collapsed twice as a result of heavy snow or blizzard conditions.  The pool facility was forced to shut down until warmer weather.  Community members, swim teams and all who used the pool had to swim elsewhere or not at all.  The pool committee did not want this to occur again, so after many months of research they held a town meeting on June 27, 2013 to present their ideas to the public.  The committee had come up with three top choices for construction:

1.) A new redesigned bubble

2.) A tension membrane

3.) A Polycarbonate structure

The Town Council decided on a tension membrane because it can be closed during the colder months, and then opened during the warmer months.  The pool’s best option, from what I learned in the meeting, was the polycarbonate structure, however it would cost $5-7 million.  I liked the tension membrane better, along with many other people.  The price for the tension membrane is $2.3 million.  It was my favorite because of the fact that it can be opened or closed, while the polycarbonate structure is a permanent structure.

Now the future of the Cheshire Community Pool rests in the hands of the Cheshire citizens who will vote in the upcoming election in November.  As a swimmer my hope is that the referendum will pass and my team can return to our home.  Having no home pool has had a huge impact on the daily lives of ALL Sea Dog swimmers and their families.  My teammates and I are currently traveling to Wesleyan University 5 days a week just to get practice time in!  Check out my swim team, The Sea Dogs, and don’t forget to vote YES on the pool!

~Ethan

 

New Pool Cover Could End Fireworks

Many people in Cheshire are getting genuinely excited about the new design for the local pool, but these people don’t realize that by building it, we might sacrifice the annual fireworks taking place in Bartlem Park. This new design will feature a 50 foot high permanent pool cover due to the collapse of the old cover. This weather resistant cover definitely sounds tempting, but it isn’t firework proof. The Cheshire pool is right next to  Bartlem, meaning that the white-hot embers of the traditional fireworks will float down to the cover and potentially melt through it.

In the eyes of some, this is a major setback, but in my opinion, it’s no big deal. This was never a problem before due to the retractable cover of the old pool, but there are many solutions to this so-called problem.  One of which is to hold the festival at another location. I would rather see this than see the fireworks cancelled, I feel like this would let everybody down. If another location cannot be found then it will it come to the fireworks being cancelled. I suggest this only as a last resort. If the fireworks were to end up cancelled, I would be able to see why. It would be ridiculous to sacrifice a 3 million dollar pool cover for a few minutes of a light show. Even so, I suggest the town do everything in it’s power to keep the fireworks going.

~Charles

ITS TIME TO BURST THE BUBBLE!

For a number of years the town pool of Cheshire, Connecticut has been a major issue. The “bubble” as it has been called has gone “POP” twice since the winter of the 2011 snow storm. With swim families all over town unhappy, closing the pool was a upsetting for the girls and boys high school swim team and the Cheshire team the Sea Dogs . In 2010 the Cheshire YMCA  asked to buy the pool from the town to put a facility in so that they could build a permanent structure but the town refused to give up the pool. As Cheshire is Such a big swim community not having a place to swim was a huge problem. There have been many meetings with town council members to see what can be done but they decided to put up another bubble. But as always when the time comes a bubble has to pop. And it did with the two big snow storms we have had in the past two years.

 Over this past summer,  the town has come up with the idea to build a tension rod structure that can hold up to 40 lbs of snow per square foot. This will only cost each household about $2.60 per year,  that’s  the price of one cup of coffee. Last school year the town spent $70,000 out of the education budget to transport the swimmers to different venues for practice. The girl’s swim team had a hard time finding a place to swim because when they tried to use the Cheshire Academy it was always being used, so finding a venue was difficult.  The new idea for the tension rod will probably be our best idea we can get without building a permanent structure. And as many hope that maybe it will be our best bet for the snow. We do live in Connecticut, it does snow. If there is as much snow this year as last let’s hope we don’t have to build something else.

~Gabby

Civil War

Watch this video

President Bashar al-Assad has been involved in an on going civil war against rebels from his country for political and religious reasons. He thinks that the rebels from his country are being supported and told to attack the Syrian Government from other countries. President Assad is being accused of using chemical weapons, to attack his people. President Assad used a chemical called “Nerve Gas”. Nerve gas attacks the central nervous system causing death or severe injury. However Russia and Syria think the rebels used the chemical weapons to try and get other countries such as the United States involved. If the rebels did use the chemical weapons killing Syrian citizens, they probably blamed it on the government, so other countries would help the rebels defeat the Syrian Government.

I think that this is a very serious and dangerous situation. The United States should think of a diplomatic solution before we commit to using violence, because we don’t need to start another war. The U.S should sit down with the Syrian leaders and talk in a friendly way to take away the chemical weapons and destroy them, so the world will be safe. But you never know, because the rebels could be the ones who used the chemical weapons, and if they take over the government the United States could be in a lot of danger. Some of the rebels could be terrorists or supported by terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, who are the terrorists who flew the planes into the Twin Towers on September 11,2001. It’s very hard to decide to be on one’s side because you never know which side is telling the truth.

~Aliya

Color in the Phone

Did you say color? Well that is exactly what the iphone 5c is. Not only is it colorful, but it’s even better than the new iphone 5. The 5c is now made of tough plastic that not only has a smooth feel to it, but will protect your phone as well. It will seem like you are holding a diamond in your hand because it is so shiny, with its polycarbonate coat, it will gleam in the bright sun! You can also buy a new iphone 5c case. The soft silicone case creates even more popping, fun, and color contrasting greatness! The case has holes in it so you can see the phone color and the case color all at the same time!

Not all the new updates are on the outside, they are on the inside too! Now with a four inch retina display and an eight megapixel camera, you can now take amazing high definition pictures. The 5c now has the most LTE bands than any smartphone in the world, giving you fast and awesome usage. The now improved battery life gives you hours of fun whether its browsing the internet or playing fast performance games with outstanding graphics! The iphone 5c comes with the new ios7 update with the latest and greatest features to the Apple software, giving you more great features like itunes radio and airdrop.

The iphone 5c is really a great phone. A lot of people think it’s just a colorful plastic phone, but really it has a lot more than that. The 5c has great game quality, long battery life, LTE, and of course bright, fun colors. I would love to get this phone because I think that it is better than the iphone 5. Even though the iphone 5s just came out, the 5c still brings unique features to the iphone family. I truly believe this is a great phone, what do you think about it?

~Joe

IOS 7, Is It Worth It?

As I’m sure many of you know, Apple recently released the newest software upgrade, ios 7. Now, I’m normally not someone who would write about something as “in” as the newest Apple update, but for some reason, I had a lot to say on this topic. For those of you who don’t know, ios is the Apple operating system. It’s like the brain of the entire Apple device. The ios is the base software that allows other apps to run. It also changes the way your device looks and works. The ios 7 update includes: more backgrounds, some of which move, easier access to previously used apps, a newer more contemporary style, easy accessibility to all the major social networks, and much more.

I have an ipad and have downloaded ios 7. The newest upgrade has definitely made it easier to navigate through your device. Many tasks that required lots of work can now be done quickly and efficiently. The look has also improved. The new style looks more advanced and sleek. However, the update has its downsides. The format has changed a lot and it took me awhile to figure out where many things were. Also, my ipad is now functioning slower. I will sometimes have to press the home button multiple times before it works. And once you download it, there’s no going back. You have to keep the update.  If you’re one of the borderline people deciding if you want the update or not, I would recommend getting it, so long as you don’t mind being a little patient.

~Seneca