"Diagnosis Leads Survivor Down New Path" page 1, 04/30/16, The Chronicle.

1. By MICHELLE FIRESTONE
Chronicle Staff Writer
WILLIMANTIC— David Lubar
is a very unconventional author.
Before writing short stories and
books, Lubar was a video game
programmer.
“My entire career has been based
on mistakes, accidents and miscon-
ceptions,” the author told a group
of Windham High School students
during the fifth-annual “Lock-In
for Literacy and Culture” Friday
evening.
The event was started by Wind-
ham High School English teacher
Dara Bowling, who runs “The
Write Idea,” the writing center at
Windham High.
During the event, which began
Friday evening and was to end this
morning, students are not allowed
to leave the high school.
Bowling explained the purpose
of the event is to get the students to
“love to read and love to write.”
In order to participate in the
“lock-in,” students were required to
read one of three books by Lubar,
the featured author.
Their options were “Sophomores
and Other Oxymorons,” “Hidden
Talents” and “Sleeping Freshmen
Never Lie.”
Windham High senior Sydney
Crespo, who was participating in
the event for the third time, said
she enjoyed “Hidden Talents,” a
book about the talents of different
high school students.
“I thought it was a really good
book,” she said.
Before writing books, Lubar, who
was a philosophy major at Rutgers
University in New Jersey, said he
wrote jokes.
“One of my favorite shows as
a kid was the ‘Dick Van Dyke
Show,’” the 62 year-old said.
Eventually, he said, he sold a
story to a computer magazine even
though he knew “nothing about”
computers.
“I had never programmed a com-
puter,” he said.
But despite his lack of computer
training, Lubar eventually became
a video game designer and pro-
grammer.
Games he has worked on include
Home Alone and Frogger 2 for
Game Boy and Fantastic Voyage
and River Raid II for the Atari
2600.
Lubar told the students his path
to becoming an author was not
easy.
“My very first year of writing, I
made $8,” he said. “The next year,
I made $800.”
The third year, Lubar said, his
wife asked him to “find a job.”
One year, he said, he wrote 50
By KIMBERLY WETZEL
Chronicle Staff Writer
LEBANON — Farm officials confirmed Fri-
day that approximately 80,000 hens died in the
blazing inferno that destroyed an entire coop at
a Mack Road farm earlier this week.
The state Department of Agriculture inspect-
ed the facility Friday, a follow-up to one con-
ducted early Wednesday, and found “no adverse
effects on the other approximately 1.5 million
chickens at the Mack Road farm,” according
to a statement the department released Friday
afternoon.
Fire officials believe the fire in Coop 53 at
Hillandale Farms Conn LLC, which is more
commonly known in town as Kofkoff Egg
Farm, was caused by equipment failure — one
or possibly two motors that typically drive the
equipment ended up failing and overheating.
Agricultural officials confirmed Friday that
all of the birds in the coop perished in the fire,
but all remaining chickens appear healthy and
eggs from the plant are safe for human con-
sumption.
All water, electricity and feeding systems
were restored Wednesday and agricultural offi-
cials said production has returned to normal
levels.
This follows an attempt by a coalition of
animal liberation activists to gain access to
the farm to search for surviving hens, to get
answers as to how many birds perished in the
fire and to check on the health of the neighbor-
ing coops to assure those hens did not suffer
from smoke inhalation.
It is not clear if the two had any correlation
to each other. However, the half-dozen protest-
ers now have some of the answers they were
looking for.
The protesters were greeted Friday morning
with a male voice booming on the farm’s loud-
speaker saying, “Don’t come on the property.”
As the protesters tried to approach the secu-
rity guard, they were ordered to “Get out of the
driveway.You need to move,” as an Egg Express
truck from Bozrah attempted to get onto the
farm.
Signs, which lined the streets to deter the pub-
lic from entering farm property for almost half
a mile, said “no parking,” “private property”
and “unauthorized vehicles will be towed at
vehicle owner’s expense.” State police cruisers
were also at the scene.
“If 100,000 dogs burned to death on one day,
there would be a national outcry, yet 100,000
hens die and advocates are not even allowed
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Inside
State
Charter to keep its
name following merger.
See story on Page 2.
Sports
E.O. Smith baseball
wins in dramatic fash-
ion for second-straight
game. See roundups on
Page 7.
Around town
Lions Club’s
pancake
breakfast
and plant
sale from
7:30 a.m.
to 11 a.m.
Sunday
at the
Willimantic Elks Club. See
more calendar on Page 3.
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Mid-Day 3: 5-9-8
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Agriculture officials: Remaining
chickens healthy following fire
Editor’s note: The Windham Region Relay for Life will take place
at the Eastern Connecticut State University’s track in Mansfield on
Oct. 15. “Survivor Stories” will be an occasional series leading up
to the event profiling how area folks successfully beat cancer.
By COREY SIPE
Chronicle Staff Writer
MANSFIELD — Every
cancer survivor has his or her
own story, support system and
ways to cope, but for Julie
Kessler of Mansfield, it led
her to a full-time job with the
American Cancer Society so
she can help others.
She said after 23 years of
working for a Willimantic
employer and shortly after
recovering from cancer, she decided she wanted a job where
she could give back to her community. She serves the American
Cancer Society as a community manager.
She recently visited Eastern Connecticut State University’s out-
door track at the north campus athletic complex, which will again
be home to the Greater Windham County Relay for Life event
Oct. 15.
Kessler credited the university for allowing ACS to host its event
there and is thankful for preparation provided by facilities manage-
ment employees.
The event will run for 24 hours, but she said volunteer teams are
welcome to walk as much or as little as they would like and dona-
tions can be made via the ACS web site, www.cancer.org.
This year, the event will include a survivors lap, caregivers
lap and candlelight luminaria ceremony, featuring glow sticks in
numerous white bags.
While Kessler has volunteered for Relay for Life for the past 17
years, this is her third relay season as an American Cancer Society
employee.
Last year was her first year leading up volunteer efforts in
Willimantic but she also helps manage other Relay for Life events
in Windham, Tolland and Middlesex counties.
Kessler was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in May 2011.
“I was visiting my grandchildren and I felt something so I went
to the hospital. They determined I had two masses — one was
benign, which is the one I felt,” she said.
Kessler is glad she went to Windham Community Memorial
Hospital when she did, as she was diagnosed with having stage 1
cancer.
“Usually it’s found in stage 3 or 4, so I was very lucky,” she said,
Roxanne Pandolfi
Cancer survivor Julie Kessler of Mansfield walks the track
at Eastern Connecticut State University’s athletic com-
plex in Mansfield recently.
Diagnosis leads
survivor down
new path in life
RELAY FOR LIFE:
SURVIVOR STORIES
(Diagnosis, Page 4)
Roxanne Pandolfi photos
ABOVE: Animal rights activists walk past
Hillandale Farms Conn LLC, more com-
monly known as Kofkoff Egg Farm, in
Lebanon on Friday morning. A massive
fire killed 80,000 chickens Tuesday. From
left are Heather Davis of Lebanon, Jay
Shooster of New York, Zach Groff of New
Haven, Hanh Nguyen of New Haven,
Abioseh Cole of Windsor and Rockwell
Schwartz of Ridgewood, N.J. RIGHT:
Schwartz holds a protest sign in front of
the farm.
Activists denied
access to facility
A career of mistakes and humor
Trial of man accused of killing toddler set to begin
By MICHELLE FIRESTONE
Chronicle Staff Writer
DANIELSON — With the trial
of accused toddler killer Carroll
Bumgarner-Ramos scheduled to begin
Monday in Danielson Superior Court,
community members are advocating
on behalf of the 3-year-old victim of
the crime and other children who have
been abused.
Willimantic police arrested Bum-
garner-Ramos on June 28, 2013, in
connection with his involvement in
the death of the 3-year-old daughter
of his then-girlfriend, Kim Lam.
At the time of his arrest, Bumgarner-
Ramos was 29 years old and living at
11 Potter St. in Willimantic.
According to court records, he is
currently facing the following charges
in connection with that case: first-
degree manslaughter, risk of injury
to a child, first-degree assault and
first-degree sexual assault of a victim
under the age of 13 by a perpetrator
who is more than two years older.
Bumgarner-Ramos is currently in
custody on a $1 million bond.
“It’s the adults’ responsibility, all
of us, not to let this ever happen
again and to be on the lookout,”
North Windham School social worker
Catina Caban-Owen, one of the co-
founders of the Windham Taskforce
to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect,
Bumgarner-Ramos (Trial, Page 4)
Al Malpa
Young adult author David Lubar speaks to students during
Windham High School’s fifth-annual ‘Lock-In for Literacy and
Culture’ Friday evening.
Author shares his unconventional tale at ‘Lock-In’