By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Selectmen approved about $65,000 in spending from the police reserve fund Thursday, nearly half of which due to overtime from the week of the Marathon bombing.

“Something of this magnitude you don’t see,” Chief Richard Wells told selectmen Thursday. “This is money I really need.”

Police spent $28,665 on overtime and back pay the week of the April 15 Boston Marathon Bombing. The previous day, Milton police responded to a homicide on Hudson Street.

Wells called the week a “perfect storm” of police activity, and he told selectmen he was proud of the way the Milton police responded to the tragedies.

“It’s very humbling to be the chief of police at times like this,” Wells said.

Selectmen unanimously approved the fund transfer, which also included $25,000 for gasoline expenses, $6,233 for police overtime at the November presidential election, and $5,000 for overtime for the upcoming June special senate election.

Births per 1,000 residents in 2010

By Matt Carroll, Boston Globe | May 2, 2013

Click here to see a larger, interactive version of this chart.
Additional town-by-town snapshots.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Kathleen “Katie” Conlon’s landslide victory unseating Milton selectman Robert Sweeney came as a surprise to her, she said Wednesday.

Conlon received 4,086 votes to Sweeney’s 2,846 in Tuesday’s town elections.

“We thought we could be competitive and had a shot at winning,” Conlon said Wednesday. “It was a good result.”

Conlon will be sworn in Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall. Her first selectmen meeting will be Thursday.

“I’m looking forward to working with Tom Hurley and Denis Keohane,” Conlon said, naming the other selectmen. “I’m going to try to focus on some of the things I spoke about during the campaign, such as strategic financial planning.”

For the upcoming Town Meeting, which will take place Monday, Conlon said she hoped funding for the Master Plan process would be approved.

She said she also supported the East Milton Square improvement project, which would build a park and additional parking in that area of town, and for funding a housing production plan that could help fund off 40B developments in town.

“There are several 40Bs we need to deal with and we’ll be talking about that,” Conlon said. “If not tomorrow night, then we’ll discuss them in the next coming meetings.”

Conlon also hopes to reach out to other boards, including the Planning Board, to work collaboratively on town issues, she said.

Former selectman Sweeney could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Selectman Hurley said he looked forward to working with Conlon and said he appreciated working with Sweeney.

“Bob certainly had some positive things to add to the board; he cares a lot about the town of Milton,” Hurley said. “I think he did a good job overall.”

Hurley added he was surprised Conlon won by such a wide margin and speculated that the firing of former Town Administrator Kevin Mearn could have been a factor.

Conlon said she appreciated Sweeney’s long service to the town as a School Committee member, selectman, and the other volunteer positions he has held.

“I thank him for his service to the town and hope he’ll continue to serve in other ways as he’s done with the hockey and skating programs,” Conlon said.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

The following information was taken from the Milton police log. Suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.

Monday, April 22
Fraud: At 2:50 p.m., police received a report of identity theft from a Church Place resident.

Tuesday, April 23
Theft: At 7:38 a.m., police received a report of break-ins of two vehicles on Eaton Street.

Theft: At 8:49 a.m., police received a report of a break-in of a vehicle on Brierbrook Street.

Theft: At 10 a.m., police received a report of a stolen motorcycle on Blue Hills Parkway.

Missing person: At 4:42 p.m., police received a report of a missing 42-year-old from the VinFen group home on Kahler Avenue.

Theft: At 10:56 p.m., police received a report of the theft of an iPhone case valued at $50 from a Houston Avenue resident. The resident believes the item was stolen after it was delivered by UPS.

Wednesday, April 24
Theft: At 8:04 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Belvoir Road.

Theft: At 8:51 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Hinckley Road.

Theft: At 9:19 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Hudson Street.

Theft: At 10:18 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Brust Hill Road.

Theft: At 11:07 a.m., police received a report of a stolen vehicle from Gulliver Street.

Theft: At 11:41 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Hollingsworth Road.

Theft: At 6:39 p.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Meadowview Road. The vehicle was unlocked and $20 was reported missing.

Theft: At 6:42 p.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Blue Hill Terrace Street. The vehicle was unlocked and a GPS and a book of maps were reported missing.

Thursday, April 25
Attempted break-in: At 10:17 a.m., police received a report of an attempted break-in on Magnolia Road. The resident was home at the time and reported hearing the door bell ring and then hearing a load crash. When he looked down the stairs, he noticed someone quickly running out the front door.

Break-in: At 2:57 p.m., police received a report of a break-in on Standish Road.

Theft: At 10:22 p.m., police received a report of theft from a Collamore Street resident.

Friday, April 26
Theft: At 2:37 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on Berlin Avenue. A laptop computer was taken.

Accident: At 7:21 a.m., police responded to a three-vehicle accident at the intersection of Randolph Avenue and Highland Street. Four patients were transported to Beth Israel Deaconess-Milton.

Theft: At 11:50 a.m., police received a report of a theft from Centre Lane.

Theft: At 3:59 p.m., police received a report of theft from a Blue Hill Avenue resident. A DVD player was taken.

Saturday, April 27
Accident: At 1:27 p.m., police responded to a three-vehicle accident on Blue Hill Avenue. One person was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton.

Sunday, April 28
Theft: At 4:41 p.m., police received a report of a stolen bicycle on Quarry Lane.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Challenger Kathleen M. Conlon unseated Robert C. Sweeney in the race for Milton selectmen while most other races went to incumbents.

Conlon, who was not available for comment Tuesday night, received 4,086 votes to Sweeney’s 2,846. Conlon ran touting her experience as an attorney and with the promise she would focus more on long-range budget planning.

In another contested race, incumbent Alexander Whiteside held onto his seat on the Planning Board with 3,439 votes compared to the 2,290 of his challenger, Todd John Hamilton.

Hamilton had accused Whiteside of abusing his position as a planning board member to block development in his own neighborhood. Whiteside had said he was simply offering his opinion on a way in which a development could move forward without litigation.

The seat on the Housing Authority went to Catherine A. Shea, with 3,635 votes compared to opponent Christopher Huban, who received 1,818 votes.

Rebecca M. Padera will continue to serve on the School Committee – she received the most number of votes in the field of three candidates with 3,812 votes. Michael F. Zullas will join her, having received 3,033 votes. Robert G. Hiss was defeated with only 2,580 votes.

Robert A. Mason won a seat on the Trustees of the Cemetery, besting James F. Stroud.

The four constables will be Tamara Berton, Stephen Freeman, Justin J. O’Shea, and Edward J. Villard.

Of Milton’s 18,743 voters, 7,232 cast ballots in the local races, for about a 38.6 percent turnout.

In the state US Senate primary, Milton selected Stephen Lynch in the Democratic primary and Gabriel E. Gomez in the Republican.

For full town results, click here.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

A Milton man was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme through his securities company and for defrauding customers of millions of dollars, according to a statement from US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.

Arnett L. Waters, 63, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal contempt last Oct. 2, 2012., and on Nov. 29 pleaded guilty to seven counts of securities fraud, six counts of mail fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of obstruction of justice, according to the statement.

US District Judge Denise J. Casper sentenced Waters to the 17 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release and $9 million in restitution.

“The personal nature of this fraud, the effort and calculation necessary to carry it out, and the defendant’s utter disregard for his victims and the law, makes this one of the most serious white collar cases in Massachusetts in recent memory,” Ortiz said in the statement.

According to the statement, from 2007 to 2012, Waters obtained about $839,000 from various investors by selling units in sham investment partnerships, which he spent mostly on personal and business expenses.

Waters had told investors their investments had generated substantial profits and would be paid to them in the near future, the statement said.

Between 2002 and 2012, Waters defrauded coin customers and obtained millions of dollars by selling coins at inflated prices, as much as a 600 percent markup from their value, the statement said.

Waters persuaded one victim, who had paid him more than $7 million for coins, to further pay him more than $500,000 for fees related to the coins' sale and storage. Waters had already sold most or all of the coins and had used the proceeds for his personal and business expenses, according to the statement.

Waters also engaged in criminal contempt when he maintained a hidden bank account in violation of the asset freeze order in a civil fraud case brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the statement said.

The Milton Historical Society will hold its annual dinner on May 15 with the theme of “A Stroll through History – Art and Symbolism in the Eternal Garden.”

The event will feature a lecture from The Gravestone Girls, who produce three-dimensional folk art derived from 17th-21st century gravestones found in New England cemeteries, including Milton’s.

Social hour will start at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m., followed by the lecture. Reservations are required and can be obtained at 617-698-0691.

The event will be held at the Neighborhood Club of Quincy at 17 Glendale Rd., Quincy. The cost is $40 for Milton Historical Society members and $45 for non-members.

Photo courtesy of Atlantic Symphony Orchestra

Conductor Jin Kim shakes the hand of Ethan Wood, concertmaster.

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent

With nearly 400 seats already sold, the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is preparing to wrap up a successful season with a finale concert on Saturday.

“It’s been probably one of the better seasons we’ve had,” said Nina Wellford, acting executive director for the orchestra. “… The overall program was a great mix of favorite classical music but [there were] some stimulating and challenging new pieces. The programming was great, we had outstanding soloists, attendance was up - for many reasons, it was a very successful year.”

Members of the regional orchestra started their season in August in Hingham with a smaller show, moving into their full season in October, with performances at Thayer Academy.

Though the orchestra typically splits its concert performances between the 500-seat Thayer and the 1,100-seat Duxbury Performing Arts Center, Thayer became the home base this season while the Duxbury site was under construction.

“People knew where to find us and it was in the middle of the North/South Shore. And it’s a great place to play. You can have receptions and preconcert parties, which you can’t do easily at Duxbury,” Wellford said.

Yet the venue hasn’t been the prime reason for the orchestra’s most recent successes. According to Wellford, the reputation of the orchestra has steadily grown, making the concerts a destination.

“I think each year, more and more people hear about us and make us part of their plans,” Wellford said. “At a certain point you reach a tipping point. Enough people know about us and know it will be a good night out. At this point, attendance is much more steadily up.”

Previous seasons ended with a pops concert, but this season, that was moved to the winter.

“Everyone could use a party in the middle of the year, and this way we could end the season with a similar feel to opening night,” Wellford said. “It’s a festival classical music night rather than a pops, and represents who we are as an orchestra.”

This weekend's program will exemplify Music Director Jin Kim's combination of familiar classics -- "Appalachian Spring" by Aaron Copland and Brahms's Symphony No. 1 -- with a lesser-known work, John Knowles Paine's Overture to Shakespeare’s "As You Like It."

Though the final piece may seem out of place, the composer was an American, like Copland, with German training, like Brahms.

According to program notes, Paine was the first professor of music at Harvard, and composed this piece in 1876, the same year that Brahms finished his first symphony.

“It’s a nice example of [Kim’s] programming,” Wellford said.

For more information on the pieces, visit the Atlantic Symphony’s website.

For tickets or concert information, click here, or call 781-331-3600.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

It was one of the worst days for an 83-year-old woman to take a fall – Feb. 8 – the day of winter storm Nemo.

But that is what happened to Ann T. Gillis of Milton. She knew she was in immense pain, but what she didn’t know was that she would have to cover thousands of dollars in medical bills on her own because of a question of “observation status” at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton.

“I was unknowingly on observation status the whole time,” Gillis said. “I was in such pain…. I was hard put to know what was going on sometimes.”

Gillis suffered two breaks in her pelvis, which had also become dislocated. At Beth Israel Deaconess, she was placed in a room like any other inpatient, but she was not a regular inpatient, she said. She was on observation status for four days.

Observation status was invented by Medicare and is used for short-term diagnosis, according to Anuj Goel, vice president of legal and regulatory affairs with the Massachusetts Hospital Association.

He added that Medicare officials often make the final decision which patients are on observation status.

“It should be the treating provider [that makes the decision],” Goel said. “The payers, Medicare and Mass Health and others, will often say we require you to call us for authorization and that should have been an outpatient.”

In Gillis’s case, she had been originally admitted as a normal inpatient, but a medical management company in Pennsylvania reviewed her status and overrode the Milton hospital’s staff decision, according to Gillis.

When it came time to be released, Gillis needed to go to a rehabilitation facility. A lung cancer survivor, Gillis had a new tracheostomy tube and wouldn’t be taken by some facilities. She wound up at Clark House in Westwood for four weeks.

Medicare covered her hospital stay, but because she had been on observation status, Medicare would not pay for room and meals at Clark House, and neither would her secondary insurance of Blue Cross Blue Shield. The bill was nearly $6,000 she had to pay out of pocket.

While Gillis is still weak from her recovery and her voice is strained from the tracheostomy tube, she is a formidable presence. She is outspoken, has spent a lifetime as a professional, and is resilient from her experience bringing up a son with Down syndrome.

Two of her other children are also helping to care for her as she recovers.

While she and her family are fighting and appealing the decision, she said she knows there are others who are less fortunate than she.

“How in the name of heaven do most people handle this?” Gillis asked.

In her monthly newsletter, Mary Ann Sullivan, director of Milton’s Council on Aging, wrote about Gillis’s situation and the potential danger of observation status. It is important for seniors to be aware of the issue, she said.

And with 20 percent of Milton’s population above the age of 60, this is a subject that will be relevant to the town.

While observation status has been around for decades, it is used more by hospitals to reduce penalties imposed by Medicare and other health insurance companies, Sullivan said.

“My question is why can’t he hospital, if they are on observation status, hand them a piece of paper they have to sign that says they are on observation status,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the generation being affected by this is particularly vulnerable because of their mindset. “They are the greatest generation; they were children in the ‘30s,” Sullivan said. “They always paid their way and never asked for help unless they absolutely need it.”

“Everyone thinks it’s unfair; all I can do is get the word out as best I can,” Sullivan said. “At some point, something has to be done to help these people.”

In response to Sullivan’s newsletter article and other media coverage of the issue, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton will hold an information session about observation status on Wednesday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m. There will be a second forum on June 5 for those who cannot attend the first.

To register, call 617-696-8810.

At the same time, Massachusetts Senator Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, has sponsored state legislation that would standardize the way observation status is determined favoring clinician assessments rather than payer assessments, according to the senator.

“I’m hopeful it is going to get done this session,” Moore said Thursday.

Moore originally filed the bill two years ago in the previous legislative session, but it never got to a vote.

The bill is currently awaiting a hearing date with the Health Care Finance Committee.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Milton’s final presentation and forum on its master plan will take place this evening at 7 p.m. at the Milton High School auditorium.

The forum will be focused on creating a vision and goals for the town of Milton. A consultant team will present the draft Community Vision, Goals, and Key Issues portion of the master plan and seek recommendations for any changes.

This forum represents the final forum of the first phase of the Master Plan process.

Attendance at previous forums is not necessary to participate in tonight’s forum. For more information, visit www.miltonmasterplan.org, email miltonmasterplan@gmail.com, or call the Town Planner at 617 898 4847.