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 Eisenstadtler, Town correspondent

The Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce will hold a reception for business leaders and members of the public to speak to their legislators in Dedham.

The event will be held at the Endicott Estate from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 23.

The cost of attendance is $15 for members, $25 for non-members, and $10 for Facebook fans of the chamber.

There will be no formal speaking program; instead participants can mingle and network with one another and with legislative and business leaders in the community. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres, beer, wine, and other refreshments will be available.

Registration is required at nvcc.com or by calling 781-769-1126.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Norfolk County’s sheriff is looking for volunteers to mentor prisoners at Norfolk County House of Correction in Dedham.

Mentors are paired with inmates while they are in prison, and they continue to meet after the release from prison, according to Sheriff Michael G. Bellotti, who began the program in 2011.

“The idea is to help the inmates stay on a productive, law-abiding path after they leave our walls,” Bellotti said.

Prospective mentors are interviewed and screened by Norfolk County Sheriff’s office staff to determine how well they will fit the program, but Bellotti said people from all walks of life could make good mentors.

About 40 mentors have been paired with inmates since the program began.

Funding in 2011 came from a US Justice Department grant received by the non-profit organization Volunteers of America, which partnered with the sheriff’s office to administer the program.

Anyone interested in becoming a mentor can contact Assistant Superintendent Patty Spataro at 781-751-3416.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton will celebrate its 110th anniversary at its annual gala on May 15 at Lombardo’s in Randolph.

Proceeds from the event will support the hospital’s new Center for Orthopaedic Care, which includes a joint and sports medicine specialists providing surgical and non-surgical care.

The event will feature live auction items, including Red Sox luxury box tickets, yacht sailing, and vacation getaways. There will also be a Grono and Christie jewelry shopping spree raffle, a silent auction, and a dinner.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit bidmilton.org/gala or call 617-313-1194.

By David Nyhan, Globe Staff

The late Globe columnist David Nyhan wrote the following column in 1987. Since then, it has been reprinted in the newspaper and online many times around this time of year. Nyhan died in January 2005.

THE REJECTIONS arrive this time of year in thin, cheap envelopes, some with a crummy window for name and address, as if it were a bill, and none with the thick packet you'd hoped for.

''Dear So-and-so:

''The admissions committee gave full consideration . . . but I regret to inform you we will be unable to offer you a place in the Class of 2012." Lots of applicants, limited number of spaces, blah blah blah, good luck with your undergraduate career. Very truly yours, Assistant Dean Blowhard, rejection writer, Old Overshoe U.

This is the season of college acceptance letters. So it's also the time of rejection. You're in or you're out. Today is the day you learn how life is not like high school. To the Ins, who got where they wanted to go: Congrats, great, good luck, have a nice life, see you later. The rest of this is for the Outs.

You sort of felt it was coming. Your SAT scores weren't the greatest. Your transcript had some holes in it. You wondered what your teachers' recommendations would really say, or imply. And you can't help thinking about that essay you finished at 2 o'clock in the morning of the day you absolutely had to mail in your application, that essay which was, well, a little weird.

Maybe you could have pulled that C in sociology up to a B-minus. Maybe you shouldn't have quit soccer to get a job to pay for your gas. Maybe it was that down period during sophomore year when you had mono and didn't talk to your teachers for three months while you vegged out. What difference does it make what it was? It still hurts.

It hurts where you feel pain most: inside. It's not like the usual heartache that kids have, the kind other people can't see. An alcoholic parent, a secret shame, a gaping wound in the family fabric, these are things one can carry to school and mask with a grin, a wisecrack, a scowl, a just-don't-mess-with-me-today attitude.

But everybody knows where you got in and where you didn't. Sure, the letter comes to the house. But eventually you've still got to face your friends. ''Any mail for me?" is like asking for a knuckle sandwich. Thanks a lot for the kick in the teeth. What a bummer.

How do you tell kids at school? That's the hard part. The squeals in the corridor from the kids who got in someplace desirable. The supercilious puss on the ones who got early acceptance or the girl whose old man has an in at Old Ivy.

There's the class doofus who suddenly becomes the first nerd accepted at Princeton, the 125-pound wrestling jock who, surprise, surprise, got into MIT. But what about you?

You've heard about special treatment for this category or that category, alumni kids on a legacy ticket or affirmative action luckouts or rebounders or oboe players. Maybe they were trying to fill certain slots. But you're not a slot. You're you. They can look at your grades and weigh your scores and see how many years you were in French Club. But they can't look into your head, or into your heart. They can't check out the guts department.

This is the important thing: They didn't reject you. They rejected your resume. They gave some other kid the benefit of the doubt. Maybe that kid deserved a break. Don't you deserve a break? Sure. You'll get one. Maybe this is the reality check you needed. Maybe the school that does take you will be good. Maybe this is the day you start to grow up.

Look at some people who've accomplished a lot and see where they started. Ronald Reagan? Eureka College. Jesse Jackson? They wouldn't let him play quarterback in the Big Ten, so he quit Illinois for North Carolina A & T. Do you know that the recently retired chairmen and CEOs of both General Motors and General Electric graduated from UMass? Bob Dole? He went to Washburn Municipal University.

The former minority leader of the United States Senate, Tom Daschle, went to South Dakota State. The former speaker of the US House of Representatives, J. Dennis Hastert, went to Northern Illinois University. Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, took a bachelor's degree from Jamestown College. Winston Churchill? He was so slow a learner that they used to write to his mother to come take this boy off our hands.

I know what you think: Spare me the sympathy. It still hurts. But let's keep this in perspective. What did Magic Johnson say to the little boy who also tested HIV positive? ''You've got to have a positive attitude." What happens when you don't keep a positive attitude? Don't ask.

This college thing? What happened is that you rubbed up against the reality of big-time, maybe big-name, institutions. Some they pick, some they don't. You lost. It'll happen again, but let's hope it won't have the awful kick. You'll get tossed by a girlfriend or boyfriend. You won't get the job or the promotion you think you deserve. Some disease may pluck you from life's fast lane and pin you to a bed, a wheelchair, a coffin. That happens.

Bad habits you can change; bad luck is nothing you can do anything about.

Does it mean you're not a good person? People like you, if not your resume. There's no one else that can be you. Plenty of people think you're special now, or will think that, once they get to know you. Because you are.

And the admissions department that said no? Screw them. You've got a life to lead.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Norfolk County’s register of deeds will host a free informational seminar about using computers to research property records.

William P. O’Donnell will hold the seminar at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds at 649 High St. in Dedham on Thursday, May 9, at 4:30 p.m.

The seminar is intended for both real estate professionals and the general public, and will include a presentation, written handouts, and hands-on exercises.

Computer assisted land records research is currently available both at the registry and on the Internet at www.norfolkdeeds.org.

The seminar is free, but anyone planning to attend should register by contacting Alicia Gardner at 781-461-6104 or agardner@norfolkdeeds.org, and providing name, address, e-mail, and a daytime phone number.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Keeping pace with an expected increase in knee and hip replacement surgeries, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton is opening an orthopedic center Monday.

The new Center for Orthopaedic Care will have 16 private treatment rooms and will house specialists in sports medicine, joint replacement, feet, ankles, hands, and wrists.

“There are more people trying to stay active longer because that is the way they lived their life,” Sports Medicine Doctor Joseph DeAngelis said in an interview. Even as other invasive surgeries have been on the decline as medical procedures become more sophisticated, demand for joint surgeries that help elderly people stay active continues to increase, he said.

The Baby Boom generation reaching the 60s is one of the major causes of growth for such surgeries, according to DeAngelis.

Previously, orthopedic doctors had been divided into different areas of the hospital, but the new center will provide a combined area for five of them, allowing for more efficient care, DeAngelis said.

A further advantage is that the center is adjacent to the radiology center, meaning that patients experiencing joint pain will only have a few steps to go to get X-rays, according to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton spokesman Jason Bouffard.

“The last thing they want to do is walk around a lot,” Bouffard said.

The space that will open Monday consists of 6,000 square feet, but that is just Phase 1 of the project, Bouffard said. Phase 2 consists of 3,000 square feet to be used for rehabilitation services, he said.

When Phase 2 is completed depends on fund-raising, he added. In the mean time, rehabilitation services are located on the Brooks Wing on the second floor.

DeAngelis said he is looking forward to the center opening.

“Monday is a big day for all of us,” he said.

The Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce has announced the participants of the 14th annual Flavors of Neponset Valley tasting event.

The event will take place on Wednesday, March 20, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Patriot Place in Foxborough. Tickets are $40 or $375 for 10.

For more information, visit www.nvcc.com or call 781-769-1126.

Restaurants and beverage companies include:

Angry Cookie
Aquitaine Bar a Vin Bistrot
Atlantic Coffee
Bertucci's – Norwood/Canton
Off the Vine Catering
British Beer Company
Burke Distributors
CBS Scene
Chili's-Walpole
Dave & Busters
Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse
Dancing Deer Bakery
Easton Country Club
Edible Arrangements of Foxboro
Ever So Humble Pie Company
Harrow's
Harpoon Brewery
HESSCO Elder Services
J&L Catering
Jalapenos Grill
JP Licks at Legacy Place
Kendall Jackson/M S Walker, Inc.
Kings at Legacy Place
Konditor-Meister
Lemate Cocktail Mix
Mayflower Brewery
Mai Pearl
Meat House
Narragansett Brewing Co./Colonial Wholesale Bev.
Norton Country Club
Olivadi
One Bistro
Quality Beverage
Raes Fresh
Raven's Nest
Salem Food Market
Showcase
Skipjack's Seafood Emporium
Summer Shack
Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro
Tavolino Resturant
Texas Road House
Twenty8 Food & Spirits
Twist Bakery

Snow fall totals for communities in Norfolk County cleared 30 inches in Quincy and hit 26 in Weymouth, according to a list of reports from the National Weather Service.

Here is a chart with the community name, the number of inches, when it was recorded and by whom.

QUINCY 30.0 104 PM 2/09 GENERAL PUBLIC
1 NW WEYMOUTH 26.0 800 AM 2/09 COCORAHS
WEYMOUTH 26.0 911 AM 2/09 HAM RADIO
WRENTHAM 26.0 702 AM 2/09 HAM RADIO
BROOKLINE 25.5 1125 AM 2/09 NWS EMPLOYEE
NORWOOD 25.4 1233 PM 2/09 NWS EMPLOYEE
FOXBORO 24.5 1200 PM 2/09 TRAINED SPOTTER
RANDOLPH 24.4 947 AM 2/09 TRAINED SPOTTER
BRAINTREE 24.1 951 AM 2/09 MEDIA
1 NW NORWOOD 24.0 700 AM 2/09 COCORAHS
WEST WALPOLE 23.8 1150 AM 2/09 HAM RADIO
WELLESLEY 23.5 746 AM 2/09 HAM RADIO
SOUTH WEYMOUTH 23.0 128 PM 2/09 MEDIA
WALPOLE 22.0 707 AM 2/09 HAM RADIO
DEDHAM 22.0 1000 AM 2/09 NONE
MILLIS 22.0 655 AM 2/09 TRAINED SPOTTER
HINGHAM 21.5 924 AM 2/09 NONE
FRANKLIN 20.9 704 AM 2/09 HAM RADIO

By Zach Mertz, Guest Columnist

Rock Salt is the most commonly used method for melting that pesky winter ice that builds up on our roads, driveways, and front stoops. It's cheap and easy to apply and, frankly, it does a darn good job. But before you go out and douse your driveway to keep Santa from taking a nasty spill this year, there’s a few things you should know. Rock salt is a very corrosive and concentrated substance, which can cause problems for your local plants, animals, and waterways. Not to mention it can do pretty serious number on your paintjob.

What’s that you say? It's just salt which exist in nature anyways, so what’s the big deal? Well...you're right. Rock salt is essentially just large chunks of sodium chloride minerals, the same stuff you used to salt those holiday cookies, but the danger comes in the amount, not from the chemical makeup.

In nature it's all over the place. It’s in the soil, the air, the ocean, heck humans are made of about 1% salt, but it always subscribes to a natural balance. When you dump a large input of salt into a system that is not equipped to deal with it, it can upset the balance and cause real problems for plants and animals.

So here’s where it becomes your problem. Salt is water soluble, meaning that it dissolves into water and becomes a component of the fluid. It then can flow with the water wherever it is headed and ends up wherever the topography flattens out. When you use it to melt ice in your driveway it does just that, and flows off of your impermeable driveway until it gets absorbed or pools somewhere flat.

Now this is troublesome because most often driveways are designed on a down slope to allow excess water to runoff of them. This means that the salty water will either runoff onto your lawn, or into the street where it will continue flowing into a storm drain, culvert, or water feature.

If it ends up in your lawn, its pretty much game over for your grass. The salty water is absorbed into the soil which lowers the PH, making the soil more acidic, which inhibits nutrient and water transfer to the plants that grow there. It’s just like if you eat too much salty popcorn and have to drink more fluids to balance yourself out. When excess salt is present plants need more water to compensate which they may not be able to get.

Additionally, the animals that depend on eating your lawn to survive also get the short end of the stick. They are left either with no food, or the food they do get is very high in salt which can cause health problems, namely salt poisoning. Salt is also an irritant, especially in high concentrations, which means pets and wildlife with pads on the bottoms may get superficial burns.

Let's say that your property is safe from salt damage and you’re one of those households whose excess water drains directly into the street, you’re off the hook right? Sorry, no such luck. When saline water flows onto an impermeable surface like the street it just keeps on trucking until it either gets absorbed and ruins some other poor sap's lawn, or it makes its way into some sort of storm water drainage infrastructure, be it a drain, culvert, drainage ditch, river, stream or something of the like.

As we know, many of these outlets feed directly into freshwater systems like the local river or stream in an effort to prevent flooding and dilute pollution inputs. The funny thing about salt and freshwater is that a very small concentration of sodium chloride can have an disproportionately large effect on water quality. It only takes a pinch to degrade water past the point where it is no longer safe for consumption. So when you get a whole community salting their driveways and the runoff is coagulating in the same drainage systems, it can really cause some serious damage. Come springtime when everything starts flowing again, plants and wildlife that use streams as drinking and food sources are heavily impacted.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Great now I feel bad, but I still don’t have a solution to my ice problem." Have no fear: there are a number of environmentally friendly ice melters that will do the trick. As this issue has gained more notoriety in recent years, people have developed all sorts of new commercial solutions to take care of the problem without angering the local raccoon population. Here at the New England Wildlife Center, we came up with our own home-brew to melt ice using things we found in our freezer, and it works pretty well. Check out this video link for our recipe, and have a good winter.

Note: For another resource for alternative ideas to road salt, click here.

Zach Mertz is a resource development associate at the New England Wildlife Center. This blog post is not written or edited by Boston.com or the Boston Globe. The author is solely responsible for the content.

View pictures here of some of the wild animals that the center has rescued.