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November 17, 2007
MILLIS
The town will hold its annual holiday tree lighting next Saturday at 5 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Building. The event will feature carols, hot chocolate and cookies, and visits with Santa.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:49 AM
November 17, 2007
UPTON
Representatives from various departments last week agreed that the town should prioritize the replacement of water pipes on Main Street.
Town Meeting voters Dec. 3 will decide whether to spend roughly $80,000 on an engineering study for the new pipes. Marsha Paul, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said the town sorely needs to update its infrastructure.
"These same issues were discussed 10 years ago," she said. "What we need to do is start to chip away at some of these needs."
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:59 AM
November 16, 2007
Recently-defeated town councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney has demanded a recount.
(Globe staff photo)
WATERTOWN
With minutes to spare before the deadline, town councilors Marilyn Petitto Devaney and John Donohue today both filed requests for a recount of the Nov. 6 town election.
Devaney's 1,816-vote tally placed her fifth in a race for four at-large seats, a stunning reversal of fortunes for the 69-year-old, who had outpaced challengers by wide margins in previous elections. Donohue, her closest competitor, grabbed the fourth and final seat with 1,821 votes, a slim five-vote margin.
Both are asking for a town-wide recount, as opposed to singling out any specific precincts. If Devaney -- who faces felony charges in a recent confrontation at a Waltham beauty supply store and has been an aggressive critic of town administration -- does not prevail, her 26-year run as a councilor-at-large will come to an end.
Town Clerk John Flynn said that once the paperwork has been certified on Monday, the Board of Election Commissioners will meet at 5:30 that evening to set a date for the recount. The earliest date for a recount would be Nov. 27, Flynn said.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 05:14 PM
November 16, 2007
City Councilor Maura Navin Webster (far right) has resigned her seat less that two weeks after being elected.
(Globe staff photo by Bill Polo)
MARLBOROUGH
Less than two weeks after being re-elected in an uncontested race, Marlborough City Councilor Maura Navin Webster has resigned her seat to take a job with the American Heart Association in Framingham.
Webster said she is excited about her new post as senior director of communications for the Worcester market but that she has mixed feelings about leaving politics. Both her father and grandfather served as state representatives.
"Public service is what my family does," she said in a telephone interview today. "That's how I was raised. I know nothing else."
The American Heart Association, which has a strong public and government lobbying program, requires that employees like Webster leave elected office as a qualification for employment. Webster, who has been a councilor for four years, said she got the job offer on election night.
The City Council will now have to call a special election to fill her Ward 5 seat. Webster said she said she hopes it can be held in conjunction with the presidential primary early next year to save money for the city. Her resignation takes effect Jan. 6.
-- Lisa Kocian
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:57 PM
November 16, 2007
MEDFIELD
Private donations will pay for all or almost all of the cost of nine new flagpoles at Baxter Park, Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said.
The cost of one 50-foot flag pole, and eight 15-footers for flags representing the town, the state, and the branches of the military, was about $16,000, Sullivan said. The flags were dedicated
on Veterans Day.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:09 AM
November 16, 2007
HOLLISTON
Representatives from various town departments will meet Nov. 28 to brainstorm ways to shore up a projected budget gap of between $1.2 million and $1.5 million for the 2009 fiscal year, which begins in July.
Town Administrator Paul LeBeau said he expects the Finance Committee to issue
financial guidelines at the meeting for department heads to follow when drafting their budgets. To shore up the budget gap, LeBeau said, departments will likely have to cut their budgets by 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:04 AM
November 15, 2007
WESTBOROUGH
Westborough High School officials are looking for anyone who may remember the melody to the old school song, "Happy Years" (Not to be confused with the song of the same name by Dave Somerville and the Diamonds or "Happy New Years Baby," by Johny Otis).
The words to the song were recently rediscovered in a yearbook from 1950, but they do not indicate how the melody was sung. The song was composed in 1936 by Gordon Aldrich, and the lyrics were written by Susan Beardslee and Shirley Lawrence.
Anyone with information should contact David Jost in the Fine Arts Office at Westborough High School by calling 508-836-7716 or via e-mail.
-- Denise Taylor
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:40 PM
November 15, 2007
Rachel Carson in 1951
(Globe archive photo)
WELLESLEY
The Wellesley Natural Resources Commission will celebrate the 100th anniversary of a pioneer conservationist who was once named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People.
A National Book Award winner and contributor to the New Yorker magazine, Rachel Carson won acclaim for drawing attention to the dangers of DDT and other chemical pesticides in the 1950s, when the federal government was endorsing their widespread use.
The commission celebration will include a short talk and documentary film about her life, as well as a discussion of how to reduce pesticide use on lawns today. The presentation will take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Wellesley Free Library.
Coffee and (pesticide-free) refreshments will be served.
-- Lisa Keen
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:09 AM
November 15, 2007
HOLLISTON
Based on "conservative" revenue estimates, Holliston faces a budget shortfall of between $1.2 million and $1.5 million for the 2009 fiscal year which begins in July, Town Administrator Paul LeBeau said recently.
To close the gap town departments would have to reduce their budgets by about 2 to 2.5 percent, LeBeau said. The town has not ruled out the possibility of asking voters to raise taxes through a Proposition 2 1/2 override, he said.
"This early in the process, I think all possibilities will be on the table," LeBeau said.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:36 AM
November 15, 2007
WESTON
Concerned that one of the items on the warrant for the Nov. 28 Special Town Meeting has created confusion for residents, officials have scheduled a public meeting to explain it.
Article 7 proposes changing the process for dealing with violations of town bylaws so that town officials, such as the Fire Chief, Dog Officer, Building Inspector and others, can directly issue a citation to an offender.
The current procedure requires the town to file a criminal complaint in district court, which can be a time-consuming and expensive process, according to a draft information sheet provided by the town.
The proposed replacedment process is called non-criminal disposition. It would apply to things like littering, violations of Board of Health and Planning Board rules, violations of dog bylaws, and failure to obtain a street opening permit. Alleged violators would be able to appeal by requesting a hearing in district court within 21 days.
The Board of Selectmen will hold an informational meeting for the public about the proposed bylaw on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
-- Stephanie V. Siek
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:41 AM
November 15, 2007
WELLESLEY
An 11th-hour agreement has headed off a conflict over the future of Wellesley's senior center, a controversy that many people expected would be the most contentious issue at last week's Special Town Meeting.
One group of senior advocates wanted to consider building a new center, while others wanted to renovate the Wellesley Community Center to improve upon space already in use by seniors. Selectmen Harriett Warshaw announced during the town meeting that the selectmen and the trustees of a bequest to provide $825,000 for a new senior center agreed to work together on a plan to renovate the existing community center space to meet program needs of the town's senior population.
If they come up with a plan that both sides agree upon, Warshaw and bequest trustee Gail Kingsley said, the selectmen will decline the bequest and the money will be used for the renovation. If they are not able to agree upon a plan, the selectmen will accept the bequest and return to town meeting next spring for permission to proceed with a study for turning the current American Legion hall on Washington Street into a new senior center.
The $825,000 bequest was made by long-time resident Mary Esther Tolles, who died in July 2005 at the age of 94.
-- Lisa Keen
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:08 AM
November 15, 2007
PLAINVILLE
Members of the Plainville Redevelopment Authority will update selectmen tomorrow on their progress in creating a plan to revitalize the downtown area.
Town Meeting voters approved the creation of the five-member board in the spring of 2006. Members have been meeting since last December.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:02 AM
November 14, 2007
NEWTON
Gov. Deval Patrick has nominated Peter J. Rubin, a 44-year-old Newton resident, constitutional scholar, and Georgetown University law professor to fill one of three vacancies on the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the administration announced today.
Rubin, former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, represented, with others, Vice President Albert Gore Jr. in the two Florida election cases heard by the Supreme Court, Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board.
Rubin, who is a counsel at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, teaches constitutional and criminal law, and focuses his writing on equal protection, due process and voting rights. In 2001, he founded the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, a national legal organization with chapters at 155 law schools in the United States and in 26 cities around the country.
"Peter Rubin is a dynamic collaborator whose brilliance as both a constitutional scholar and appellate counsel will be appreciated fully by his fellow jurists at the Appeals Court and all of the citizens of the Commonwealth," said Patrick. Rubin will replace Associate Justice Gordon L. Doerfer, who retired in September.
Patrick nominated Superior Court Judge Francis R. Fecteau, 60, a Holy Cross graduate and longtime Worcester resident, and Gabrielle R. Wolohojian, a 46-year-old Boston resident who is a senior partner at the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, for the other two slots.
-- Ralph Ranalli
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 03:01 PM
November 14, 2007
WRENTHAM
Town Meeting voters this week approved spending $60,000 to erect a communications tower
on town-owned land off of Rhodes Drive.
Town officials say the tower will help to eliminate dead spots in the western part of
town for handheld radios used by police officers and firefighters and fix a longstanding public safety hazard.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 02:39 PM
November 14, 2007
MEDFIELD
The town will not pay the builder of the town's new senior center extra money for delays that were a result of weather last winter, Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said.
Braintree-based Northeast Interiors had asked the town to pay unspecified amounts of money to compensate for costs incurred during the delays. Sullivan said the town's contract with the developer clearly states that Northeast Interiors assumed the risk of weather delays.
The $3.1 million project was originally scheduled to be finished last July, but is now slated to be complete on Dec. 20.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:50 PM
November 14, 2007
NEEDHAM
Needham began adding fluoride to its water supply again last week after a period of several weeks when the town could not get any of the chemical through its supplier, officials said.
The town had not expected not to receive any fluoride until January 2008, water treatment manager William Wanberg said, but officials were able to purchase an emergency 800-gallon supply of the substance from another chemical company.
-- Laura Colarusso
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:00 AM
November 13, 2007
SHREWSBURY
Turkey, shmurkey. The folks in Shrewsbury are already thinking tinsel and canned snow.
The Shrewsbury Garden Club and Shrewsbury Historical Society have announced that they are co-sponsoring a "Home for the Holidays" door decorating contest for both businesses and residences. Entry forms, due Dec. 8, are available online and at Town Hall and the library.
All decorating must be complete by Dec. 10 for judging. There are no theme requirements and no entry fee, but only the door entrance will be judged.
So don't think that giant inflatable snow globe on your lawn gets you extra credit.
-- Lisa Kocian
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 03:41 PM
November 13, 2007
WELLESLEY
New York Daily News sports columnist Mike Lupica will visit the Wellesley Free Library on Friday to introduce to introduce his latest two novels for teenagers: "Two-Minute Drill" and "Hot Hand." The reading will begin at 4 p.m.
On Sunday, author Walter Carter Ford will discuss his book, "No Greater Love, No Greater Sacrifice: A Son's Journey to Normandy."
The work is a collection of reflections upon a journal and letters written by his farther, an Army surgeon, about his experiences at Omaha Beach in Normandy in 1944.
-- Lisa Keen
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 09:49 AM
November 12, 2007
NEWTON
After fighting for a decade with an Italian company that MBTA officials once accused of supplying defective Green Line trolleys, the T said yesterday that it has solved past problems and will take an additional 10 cars from the company.
For riders on the T's most-crowded line, that will mean more trains available for service, resulting in fewer delays, said Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the MBTA, Globe transportation reporter Noah Bierman reports in today's City & Region section.
"It's easily the largest fleet size in the last 25 years, maybe ever," Grabauskas said.
The first of the new trains went into service last week. Once the T gets the last of 10 new cars, by the middle of next year, it will have a total of 209 cars to carry the 200,000 passengers who ride the Green Line each weekday.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 02:18 PM
November 12, 2007
MARLBOROUGH
The accidental release of 6,000 gallons of magnesium hydroxide into the Assabet River in May from Marlborough's Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant will cost the city $1,000 in administrative fees, in addition to the cost of repairs, the Worcester Business Journal is reporting.
On May 7, workers accidentally allowed the chemical to overflow from a storage tank, resulting in elevated pH levels in the river several miles downstream from the plant, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the newspaper reported.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:07 PM
November 12, 2007
NORFOLK
Steven Puleo, the author of "Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919," is scheduled to appear at the Norfolk Public Library tomorrow night to share the story of a collapsed molasses tank that flooded Boston's North End and killed 21 people.
The event, which lasts from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., is the last in a series of three lectures
on historical disasters in Massachusetts. Puleo will also sign copies of his books, including his latest, "The Boston Italians."
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:37 AM
November 12, 2007
WRENTHAM
Town Meeting voters will decide tommorow night whether to petition the state to allow the town's police chief to serve past the mandatory retirement age of 65.
Current Chief Joseph Collamati will retire November 17, and selectmen have named Lieutenant Richard Gillespie as his provisional replacement. Gillespie turns 65 next September.
-- Calvin Hennick
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:27 AM
November 12, 2007
MARLBOROUGH
The City Council could vote as soon as its next meeting Nov. 19 to restrict any casino development from coming to the city.
"I have not heard any opposition to it at this point from any of the councilors," said City Council President Arthur Vigeant, who initiated the measure. "It's basically allowing the city to make a choice. It's a little insurance policy for us. It gives us an option if someone wants to bring a casino to the city."
If the council approves the ordinance, which forbids any uses not explicitly allowed by law already, a casino would then have to request it be changed before a single card could be dealt.
Currently, there is no formal casino development proposal, but Marlborough is rumored to be a potential location if a recommendation by Governor Deval Patrick to allow such gaming is approved by the state Legislature.
-- Lisa Kocian
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 06:57 AM
November 12, 2007
WALTHAM
Babe Ruth's draft card, the original "I Want You" Uncle Sam army recruitment poster, and other military treasures will be on display at the National Archives and Records Administration in Waltham in honor of Veterans Day.
The National Archives will also be offering a Nov. 13 class for amateur genealogists and military families entitled "Records Related to the 18th, 19th, and 20th Century Military Service" from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Participants will learn how to glean information about ancestors dating back to the Revolutionary War era.
Besides helping family with genealogical research, archivists are also always available to help veterans and their relatives gather information needed to claim veteran's benefits.
The archives, located at 380 Trapelo Road, are open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and on Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. They're also open on the first Saturday of each month from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Nov. 13 class requires pre-registration, which can be done by either calling 866-406-2379 or 781-663-0144 or via e-mail.
-- Stephanie V. Siek
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 06:57 AM
November 11, 2007
Lt. Joshua Booth with his wife and young daughter while they were stationed in Hawaii, shortly before he was deployed to Iraq.
(Photo courtesy of the Booth family)
REGION
Before he was deployed to Iraq, Marine Lieutenant Joshua L. Booth made seven videos of himself reading bedtime stories, so that his daughter, Grace, could hear her father's voice before going to bed.
Booth was killed by a sniper on Oct. 17 of last year in Haditha. A graduate of St. John's High School in Shrewsbury who grew up in Sturbridge, he was 23.
The Booth family played the videos for Grace again recently, but her reaction wasn't what they expected. She had nightmares for days afterward.
Booth is one of 10 members of the military from communities west of Boston who have died since the United States responded to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Two others, Seth R. Michaud, a Hudson native, and Kyle A. Little of West Boylston, also left behind young children who will grow up without a father.
Read more about the sacrifices made by military families in the Globe West region as Veteran's Day approaches.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:42 PM
November 11, 2007
SHERBORN/DOVER
Sherborn officials say Dover owes their town $900,000.
The money is a result of a school bond that was mistakenly refunded to Dover by the state, said Board of Selectmen Chairman Christopher Peck, who added that he believes the two municipalities can resolve the issue amicably.
Peck, board vice chairman Paul R. DeRensis, and Selectman Ronald J. Fernandes earlier this month signed a letter accompanying a written presentation from town counsel Ray Miyares. The letter asked Dover town officials and the Regional School Committee to review the materials and figure out a way to return the money soon.
"We're interested in keeping a tight time line," Peck said. "We need to work quickly with Dover to resolve this."
-- Nadia Salomon
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:21 AM
November 11, 2007
DOVER
Dover's Board of Selectmen last week unanimously voted down a Hollywood production company's request to shoot a huge nighttime crash scene on four major roads.
Location scouts thought the town would be a perfect setting for the upcoming Cameron Diaz horror film, "The Box," from Director Richard Kelly, but the selectmen cite the potential curiosity factor as a reason to turn down the request.
Location scouts had stated in a letter that set up would have started during peak traffic time and the shoot would have been on Springdale Avenue, Farm Street, Main Street, and Pegan Lane. The crash scene would have involved over 60 people.
-- Nadia Salomon
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 06:11 AM
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