Participants judge art at Abbot Hall

Photo: Dave Kinney

The following was submitted by the Marblehead Festival of Arts:

With Spring in the air, Essex County residents are making plans that include the upcoming Marblehead Festival of Arts, to be held on July 4-7. Once again, this summer Festival will feature juried art exhibits in Crafts, Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Plein aire Painting, Photography, Mixed Media and Sculpture; as well as special non-juried exhibits in Youth Art, Student Art and Senior Art. People who reside in, work in, or are members of an arts association in Essex County are eligible to enter their works.

Art Exhibits chair Steve Lickwar encourages both veteran and aspiring artists to “mark your calendars, and prepare your artwork for entry.”  Drop-off dates are Saturday morning, May 18 and Thursday evening, May 23. Artists should check the Festival Web site at marbleheadfestival.org for entry details, including times and locations of drop-offs. Downloadable exhibit entry forms are also available on the site. 

For most exhibits, entries are judged and juried under the direction of art exhibit chair people, who then oversee the setup of the exhibits, all of which will be open during the duration of the Festival. “We look forward enthusiastically to seeing all of this year’s art and to prepare it for this year’s Festival. There is lots of information on the Web site, so we encourage all to visit,” Lickwar added.

As the adventurous pirates yell 'Ship Ahoy', little do they know they are heading straight for the Sea Monster who captures all of them for littering. Left to Right: Alex Bull of Marblehead, Piper Hall of Swampscott, Carissa Myre of Salem, Phoebe Holz of Danvers, Eleanor Mancusi-Ungaro of Marblehead, Alex Diefenbach of Salem, and Margaret Mancusi-Ungaro of Marblehead

By Terri Ogan, Globe Correspondent

A Mattapan resident was arraigned Thursday at Lynn District Court after being charged as the driver in a Marblehead car crash that injured two passengers earlier this month.

Michael W. Johnson, 19, was sent to Middleton House of Correction, with a bail set at $5,000.

Johnson was charged on April 3 with three counts of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating alcohol causing serious bodily injury, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, minor in possession of alcohol and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license.

The crash occurred near 89 Humphrey Street at around 2:30 a.m. last Friday, according to the police log.

Maxwell Hill of Lynn and Cameron Sylvester of Marblehead were also in the vehicle.

Hill and Johnson were extricated, treated at the scene, then transported to Salem Hospital.

Sylvester, who is in high school, had more extensive injuries and was brought to Massachusetts General in Boston.

According to a hospital spokesperson, Sylvester was discharged on Monday April 15.

Johnson will be back in court for a pre-trial hearing on Monday June 3.

By Terri Ogan, Globe Correspondent

A month after announcing his surprising resignation, Superintendent Greg Maass said he stands by his decision to bring his tenure in Marblehead to a close.

Maass read a prepared statement Thursday night at a substantially more somber School Committee meeting than the last, which attracted over 100 residents and lasted more than two hours a few weeks ago.

“A month ago I made the most difficult decision of my career. It was an excruciating, gut-wrenching one: a resignation,” Maass said. “In my letter [of resignation] I made it clear that I could not lead given the lack of delineation of roles and responsibilities. Respectfully, I’d like the community to know, a month later, that I stand by my decision and my resignation. I’ve always believed and I’ve always coached individuals that you can’t go back. You must move forward.”

The superintendent, who has served for two years after relocating from Green Bay, Wisc., announced his departure at a School Committee meeting on March 21, stating that tension among committee members and personal reasons fueled his resignation. He had one year left in his contract.

With Maass leaving his post, the town will seek to hire its sixth superintendent since 2005.

School Committee Member Kathleen Leonardson said she had no idea what to expect when Maass read his statement, but was hoping that he would retract his resignation.

“I wasn’t sure,” Leonardson said. “The support of the community was pretty unprecedented, so I really didn’t know. I was hoping he would [retract his resignation] because there are a lot of transitions that are going to have to happen and I think his leadership was really important in getting us where we are.”

During the April 4 meeting, School Committee Chair EuRim Chun announced that she would resign by the end of the school year, and her fellow committee member Richard Nohelty said he would also give up his seat.

Thus far Chun has formally resigned, effective June 30, by sending in a written letter to the town clerk. Nohelty has yet to do so.

Nohelty, who has one year left in his term, said that he stands by his word in stepping down, but he can’t give an exact date as to when he will.

“I said I would resign, but I also said that I wanted to see the transition through,” Nohelty said. “I want to see what the transition plans are so I can see what that means. What I said is that we should set up a transition plan but we haven’t heard what the transition plan is yet so I can’t commit to something that we haven’t discussed yet.”

Nohelty added that there are quite a few changes occurring within the district, including hiring a new business manager, a new high school principal, and addressing financial issues, among other things. He said he feels obligated to see those transformations through.

“We need to see how these things resolve,” Nohelty said. “I feel responsible to the town. The people elected me to help out the town. It was requested of the chair that we give a fresh start, and I agree, but we also have to complete this year’s job. It doesn’t end June 30. It flops over to next year. There’s a job to be done. It’s about the kids.”

Much of that transition time will be dictated by what happens after the May 13 town election.

Leonardson is the sole incumbent seeking reelection, and will be opposed by potential candidates Meredith Tedford, Eyal Oren, and Jennifer Williams.

Longtime School Committee Member Jonathan Lederman recently announced the withdrawal of his bid to run for reelection, citing a lack of unity and collaboration, among other things, as reasons for his decision.

The town election will fill the two vacant School Committee spots.

If Nohelty officially resigns, the third seat will be filled by an interim committee member appointed by the Board of Selectmen and the remaining School Committee Members.

The question of who will replace Maass also stands, and whether or not the newly organized School Committee will hire externally or from within the district.

“I think we have to look at all the options,” Leonardson said. “We have to look at people internally that might have the credentials and we have a number of them. One of the messages from the public and from people that have a lot of experience in the School Committee really was ‘Get your house in order before you get a new superintendent.’ That means, as a School Committee, we’re going to have to work really hard to make sure everybody’s on the same page in terms of roles and responsibilities because that’s where all the problems were.”

Terri Ogan can be reached at oganglobe@gmail.com, or follow her on Twitter.

By Terri Ogan, Globe Correspondent

In an effort to raise money for Marblehead's first synthetic turf athletic field, the Marblehead All Sports Foundation is hosting a fundraising event to boost the income in its "Turf's Up!" campaign.

The event will be held at Abbott Hall on Saturday April 27 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Attendees can enjoy live music from local band Better than Nothing, a cash bar and live auction items.

Money raised will go towards the construction for the new synthetic turf on Piper Field, located on Humphrey Street behind the high school.

"I think it [the fundraising] has gone remarkably well," said Steven Maxwell, a Massachusetts All Sports Foundation board member. "We had a very aggressive time schedule for this and to be where we are exceeds our expectations. We have a lot of work to do in the next two months but we're cautiously optimistic we're going to reach this goal."

The foundation, which was created last June, aims to provide privately raised funds for much needed improvements to the town's fields and related athletic infrastructure, according to an announcement submitted to the Globe by the Marblehead All Sports Foundation in December.

The committee's fundraising goal for the field was marked at $1.3 million. Thus far, the board, which is made up of members of the community including leaders of youth sport organizations, educators, and representatives of the local government, has raised a little under $600,000.

Maxwell said that the committee has yet to obtain an actual construction estimate, therefore might not need the entire $1.3 million.

But a new field, Maxwell said, is crucial.

"Conditions have gotten progressively worse," Maxwell said. "In general, there are huge benefits to turf fields. That field was used for games only at the high school. We'll now have a field to use any time, for any sport. You can do soccer, lacrosse and football even on the weekends, which was never able to be done on that field before."

Marblehead High School Athletic Director Mark Tarmey can attest to the poor condition of the field, which is partly caused by harsh weather conditions.

"We've had a lot of games that have been postponed and cancelled," Tarmey said. "We're swapping home games with other towns and it requires us to play too many games in one week and we have to reschedule, and reschedule, and reschedule, and it's not fair to the kids."

Tarmey added that with the current standard grass field, high school athletes and other town programs as well can only use the field for roughly 160 hours out of the school year. With a new synthetic turf field, he said, the town could get 2,000 hours worth of use.

Right now Piper Field is only used for varsity sports games. All high school teams, including junior varsity and freshman teams, play on another field behind the high school, and fields at the Village School and Veterans Middle School, some of which are also in poor condition and not regulation size, according to national and state standards.

Benefits of having a turf field include an ability for sports teams to play much longer seasons, causing little to no wear and tear on the field.

It can also strengthen and increase the chances of athletes graduating from high school and playing on collegiate teams.

"Most college field hockey programs play on artificial surface," Tarmey said. "We've had a very strong field hockey team in the years, but they play on grass. When a college scout comes they need to recruit someone who plays on turf. It's two different games."

There is also far less maintenance on a turf field. Typically a machine sweeps the field every couple of weeks to bring the bristles back up right, Maxwell said. "It's going to be a huge benefit for the town."

Construction is estimated to start in June and will take up to three months, just in time for fall sports to start.

Thus far Maxwell, who checks the Event Brite application on his phone every 20 minutes, said 375 tickets have been sold so far for the fundraiser. The venue capacity is 600.

"We sold close to 50 tickets yesterday, about 20 today, and expect a lot of people to walk in," Maxwell said. "I think it's going to be a very well-attended event."

Tickets to Saturday's fundraising event are going for $25, and can be purchased at this website.

Terri Ogan can be reached at oganglobe@gmail.com, or follow her on Twitter.

By Terri Ogan, Globe Correspondent

Marblehead residents and brothers Keith and Mike Malament were standing at the end of Newbury Street across from the Boston Common watching the end of the 117th Boston Marathon when they heard two popping noises.

At first, Keith, 25, said they thought it could have been fireworks, but a few seconds later, it became clear that it was something far worse as they saw families running away from the noise.

Two bombs about 12 seconds apart, detonated near the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street shortly before 3 p.m. Pandemonium erupted in the area.

Within minutes they would be helping a woman injured in the blast get transportation away from the scene.

When they realized that there had been explosions, Keith and his brother Mike, 28, along with Keith's roommate and her friend, quickly began "b-lining" it back to his father's home on Staniford Street near Storrow Drive.

"I don’t think any of us fully knew what was going on," Keith said. "It was uncomfortable. We didn’t talk very much."

Keith who was tightly gripping the leash of his 2-year-old English golden retriever, Monty, was nervous that his dog would get trampled by the crowd of people trying to get away from the scene of the explosion.

As they got close to Storrow Drive, Keith's friend noticed a woman bleeding from her mid-section.

“She was bleeding profusely from the stomach," Keith said. "Not like she couldn’t stand up, but there was blood and it was clear like she was holding her stomach like it was messed up. She definitely got some shrapnel. There was a big wound.”

Keith added that she seemed very confused and said she just needed to "get home and rest."

Mike hopped in front of a cab driver that came their way, but said that he told them he was "trying to get out of here." They then hailed down a silver SUV that approached soon after, helping the woman into the back seat of the vehicle.

Throughout the chaos of getting to safety and helping a woman in need, Mike said they remained calm.

"It was all pretty surreal," Mike said. "We were just trying to help her and get on our way. I don’t really know what I felt."

The four finally reached their destination and it all sank in.

Although Keith and Mike were "in the moment" and trying to help a woman who sustained injuries from what President Obama is calling an "act of terrorism," they are saddened by the series of tragic events.

"It’s a horrible thing that happened and I feel incredibly saddened that people were directly injured themselves, or families injured and killed," Mike said. "It’s hard to believe. And it’s hard to believe that this happens on a regular basis in other parts of the world, that came to my mind too.

"Mostly I feel deeply saddened for people that were at the heart of the explosions and that were affected by it."

Terri Ogan can be reached at oganglobe@gmail.com, or follow her on Twitter.