By Jon Prestage
Editor
5/8/08
While Selectmen and the School Committee urged Town Meeting members at Tuesday’s meeting to vote against the Warrant Committee’s contingent budget proposals requiring an override ballot, the elected officials nonetheless presented financial cases that supported an override.
Elected officials expressed concerns that they are not ready to stage an override campaign and do not even have the approximately $30,000 in the budget it would take for one, according to Selectman Chair Kathryn Fagan.
(continued)

By Scott MacKeen
Contributor
5/8/08
After one year in office, the Selectmen voted Selectman Kathy Fagan as its new chair at its May 1 meeting, while one selectman complained that he had been cut out of decision-making on the governing body.
“I just want to say that I appreciate your confidence in me,” Fagan told fellow selectmen John Shields and Marion McEttrick.
McEttrick is bowing out as chairman after a year as she begins her fourth term.
“We have done a lot of good this year,” she said. “No doubt people are frustrated, and we’re looking forward to (Town Meeting) to discuss (the budget) openly. But I am confident that she (Fagan) is ready to lead us.”
Shields, who moved into Fagan’s prior position as secretary, voiced concerns about the recent direction of the board.
(continued)

By Dawn Aberg
Contributor
5/1/08
Budget frustrations flared up at the April 22 Warrant Committee meeting as town officials responded to the pressures of a rapidly approaching Town Meeting.
Attending the meeting at the Warrant Committee’s invitation were Selectmen and School Committee members. Much political backtracking took place, as leaders conceded an override probably wouldn’t pass this year and insisted that budget numbers previously submitted to the committee did not reflect actual operational realities.
(continued)

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
5/1/08
The work of building a budget this year lacks leadership at a time when the town faces serious budget shortfalls, according to two sources close to the town’s decision makers.
The inaction, they say, leaves the town in a precarious fiscal position as officials debate an override referendum. Additionally, certain closed meetings have raised questions in the minds of journalists as to whether the town is in conformance with the state’s open meeting law.
(continued)

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
5/1/08
The annual town election featured no surprises on April 29, and despite a last-minute write-in campaign for School Committee, all incumbents retained their town-wide offices.
Diane DiTullio Agostino threw her hat in the ring just days before the polls opened to compete against incumbent School Committee member Chris Huban and newcomer Kristan Bagley-Jones. Incumbent Laurie Stillman did not run for re-election.
DiTullio Agostino picked up 292 write-in votes, but Bagley-Jones and Huban prevailed with 1,529 and 1,088, respectively.
(continued)

By Daniela Caride
Contributor
4/24/08
The Sudanese couple with eight family members—four of them children—walks 10 miles to the nearest bus stop. The first bus to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, is full. They get on the next bus 24 hours later.
When they arrive, two days have passed without their eating or drinking any water, and some of them are sick. Peter Nhiany—the couple’s son who now lives and studies in Milton—is waiting for them in Kampala.
“Everybody was crying,” he remembers.
This happened in 2006 and was Nhiany’s first encounter with what was left of his family after a 19-year separation. He is one of the 3,800 orphaned Southern Sudanese known as “the Lost Boys of Sudan”—children brought to America after surviving a civil war that killed two million people since 1983. About 200 Lost Boys currently live in the Boston area.
Appalled by poverty and sickness in Africa, Nhiany decided to do something when he got back home. The Curry College junior gathered friends and founded the “One Curry Club,” which raises awareness about extreme world poverty. Its first goal is to build a well in Bor, Nhiany’s village.
“Our people are suffering,” says Nhiany. “[They] need clean water.” Bor villagers walk miles to get water and return with the water carried in buckets on their heads.
Nhiany has been writing letters, organizing parties and making presentations to raise money for the well, which will cost $5,000 to $13,000. Sudanese contractors constantly raise its price, he says.
Nhiany is hoping to get help from the Milton Rotary Club, whose members he met at a luncheon at Fuller Village recently. He also organized a recent fundraiser at Curry College.
Nhiany’s task list, though, goes on and on. When he’s not studying or raising funds for Africa, he is working to meet his family’s immediate needs.
He sends all the money he earns from temporary jobs to his three sisters and a brother, who have 12 children between them, and his parents, to pay for their food, housing and health care.
“There is virtually no medical care in South Sudan where they are from,” says Jeanette Cohan, medical research administrator at Harvard, who is Nhiany’s guardian. “And they are dependent upon him.”
Nhiany worked the overnight shift at the Marriott Hotel in Cambridge during the summer of 2006 and at the Lincoln Department of Public Works last summer. This winter, he shoveled the sidewalks at Curry College and helped the maintenance staff.
Cohan believes Peter’s responsibility is a huge burden on him.
“But he accepts it willingly,” she says. Nhiany is used to difficult times.
He was perhaps three years old in 1987, when he was separated from his family. He trekked 1,000 miles on foot through the wilderness of Sudan to escape a massive attack by northern Sudanese groups. At the time, Arab Muslims from the north were exterminating black Christians from the south.
Looking for a safer place, Nhiany walked for three months to Ethiopia along with 25,000 other refugees—most of them children. Many died from starvation, thirst and militia attacks.
Three years later, the refugee camp was attacked and the “Lost Boys” ran again, this time 1,000 miles back to Sudan. Many more died trying to get across rivers during the rainy season. Lions, hyenas and crocodiles attacked them.
“You could hear people crying at night. In the morning, they disappeared,” he remembers.
At the Sudanese border, the United Nations took survivors to the Kakuma refugee camp, in Kenya, where Nhiany lived with little food and education for 10 years.
He was resettled in the United States in 2001 and taken into Cohan’s family in Lincoln. He moved to Milton when he was accepted to Curry College, where he majors in communications.
While there he became convinced that the only way to provide a better life to the people of Sudan is to raise public awareness here and educate people there. So, after providing water to his village, education is the next step.
“Now in Africa, you see a huge number of people sick from HIV and malaria … because they’re not educated, they don’t know what they’re doing,” says Nhiany.
“We need to teach them … how to protect themselves against diseases. Education is everything.”

By Dawn Aberg
Contributor
4/24/08
Despite the grim economic choices, Selectmen can’t get residents excited about a local budget crisis. One factor, they conceded at their April 17 meeting, is state and national economic uncertainties. But the political exhaustion that has set in with the prospect of yet another override campaign looms even larger over local fiscal concerns.
Anne Comber, on hand at last week’s meeting to promote the town’s May 3 Green Day cleanup, had come to the meeting with time to spare, thinking there would be crowds to debate the override issue. She was surprised to find the room empty.
“I told my kids I had to go early to get a seat,” she says. But no residents showed up to address a potential override or budget shortfalls. By the time Selectmen addressed the budget, only reporters were present.
The eventual budget discussion focused on the stern specifics of the current situation. Selectmen began by looking at three-year budgetary projections they had requested from town departments. Even the School Committee had complied by submitting estimates of what costs would look like in FY 09–11.
Chair Marion McEttrick made a point of noting that the projection figures had been solicited for planning reasons.
“The purpose was not to ask for an override,” she stresses. But, as McEttrick admits, “the numbers were much bigger than we thought.”
Town Administrator Kevin Mearn revealed the specifics in handouts. Even with what he calls “very conservative” numbers, projections through FY 11 entail a need for $8.7 million of additional revenue over three years.
Mearn presented the stark realities of this year’s non-contingent budget (a budget without the override increase). Department by department, he marched through the attempts that have been made over the last few years at savings and describes the attrition of jobs and services. While the town has not yet resorted to layoffs to keep the budget in line, at least seven town positions have disappeared in recent years through attrition and consolidation.
Selectmen also worry that the budgets submitted by town departments do not accurately reflect what they actually need.
“We’ve been diligent in telling the departments that there would be no override this year,” Selectman John Shields notes. “Their budgets were submitted on a premise that there wouldn’t be any money.” At the same time, departments have been anticipating an eventual override to fund real costs. Without future overrides, Selectmen voiced fears of decreases in town services.
“If we do things that take apart our infrastructure, it makes Milton less attractive as a place to live,” she says, pointing out that infrastructure decay could decrease property values. Even as selectmen admit that an override is inevitable, they express pessimism that an override would succeed this year.
“I’m still very disturbed by the tepid response we’re getting,” McEttrick says regarding the lack of resident response. Shields worries about time constraints on achieving a successful override vote in the next two months.
“A non-contingent budget is unacceptable to me, I think,” he says. “But we’re not politically ready for an override. We need time to educate people about the need for an override and to possibly organize a volunteer campaign for it.”
“Time is definitely our enemy,” Selectman Kathy Fagan agrees. Fagan seconded McEttrick’s concern that no one seems truly committed to the issue. “I have yet to hear someone say ‘I’m going to lead this charge’.”
A tax override to meet basic services is not a new issue for the town. When costs rise at a steady six percent a year, but the town is only allowed a 2.5 percent increase, Fagan points out that continual override votes are inevitable.
“Unless costs go down,” she adds. “But no one thinks that is going to happen.”
“The fundamental problem,” says McEttrick, “is that local funding for mandated services is killing us. It’s made worse by the tax cap.”
The town has a limited ability to control its costs, she explains, and it’s not being given the revenue it needs to provide services. As to the ongoing need for override votes, she is clear: “I don’t want to just accept the idea that this system goes on and on.”
(More on the override possibility May 1)

By Chris Campbell
Contributor
4/24/08
The School Committee is proposing an override this year with enough money for three years to prevent layoffs, restore teacher cuts in the current budget, and prevent the closing of the Pierce Middle School library.
The library closing is the latest proposal made by the School Committee to avoid some teacher cuts and increased class sizes.
The override amount being considered by the School Committee is uncertain, though it is expected to be larger than the $1 million in additional funding proposed by the Warrant Committee’s $2.7 million override that is under consideration. However, the Warrant Committee was expected to meet with Selectmen and the School Committee earlier this week to discuss budget issues.
The additional funds would hire five new teachers per year for three or four years, according to School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely. Without an override, the schools could lose more than 25 teachers.
While an override funding more than one year is unusual, the School Committee discussed banking the additional money for use over the three to four years. Residents, however, would be hit with property tax increases in a single year following a successful vote on the School Committee proposal.
Meanwhile, the committee says it would be able to maintain the K–8 art and music program—previously earmarked for cuts without a successful override referendum—though it will be scaled back. The committee did not explain how they would cutback on the art and music program, which is a half hour a week for half a year for each student.
According to Lovely it was a discussion between school principals that led to a decision to consider closing the Pierce Middle School library next year instead of eliminating the K-8 art and music program.
A successful override vote this year would keep the art and music program at current levels and maintain library operations, Lovely says.
The committee has created more than 10 versions of the budget and is disappointed with the low base amount allocated to them.
“This is the ballpark we are playing in, here. We need to be clear about the magnitude of these cuts,” says member Glenn Pavlicek. “Maybe we can save one position here or there, but the magnitude is clear. It’s a very unsettling and unacceptable budget” without an override.
The School Committee is divided on whether this is the right year for an override.
“I don’t think this is the year for an override,” says member Mary Kelly. “We haven’t set ourselves up well.”
Committee members say there might not be enough community involvement and organization to successfully pass an override.
“It requires others to step up, inconvenience families and commit to leading the effort,” says Lovely. “If you think what we are dealing with is inadequate, and I personally suggest that it is, then you need to lead.”
One of the biggest concerns from parents who attended last week’s committee meeting was the effect cuts would have on Pierce Middle School. Besides closing the library, the non-override budget lays off five teachers.
“Pierce should not take a disproportionate amount of the cuts,” said one parent. “This is a systematic deconstruction of the educational system.”
There is debate on whether to increase class sizes to offset the impact on Pierce Middle School.
Lovely says maximum class sizes could need increasing, though other committee members are strongly opposed to such an increase.
The impact will be on all K–12 kids, says Kelly. The schools “cannot tolerate 26 or 27 kids in a class.”

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
4/17/08
A daytime fire in a three-story multi-family home on Sheldon Street that killed a 43-year-old man on April 14 was the fifth multi-alarm fire in town. It was the second fatal blaze since January.
“Fire prevention could have eliminated this type of fire,” says Fire Chief Malcolm Larson. “If you look at just about any of the fires, they stem from maintenance.”
A dryer on the second floor of the home apparently sparked this fire. The victim, Richard Shannon, was the only person at the 58 Sheldon St. dwelling when firefighters arrived at noon. Engine 2 from the East Milton station attacked the blaze immediately, according to Larson, but found the man in his third-floor bedroom without a pulse. He was transported to Milton Hospital but did not survive.
Larson says the situation might have been even worse had the fire occurred when one of the town’s fire engines was out of service because of budget shortfalls, which is the case one-third of the time. However, the increased danger, he says, would have been to firefighters.
A joint investigation by the fire and police departments, as well as the state Fire Marshal, determined this fire was likely caused by lint that ignited in the dryer vent pipe. The flames damaged the second floor, where the dryer was located, but heat and smoke traveled to the third floor.
In February, Robert Kane, 59, died in a fire that gutted a home on Mathaurs Street.
Careless smoking destroyed a Brush Hill Road mansion earlier this month, although no one was injured. A cooking fire caused more than $100,000 in damages to a Canton Avenue home in March. The fatal fire on Mathaurs Street was complicated by clutter in the house and on the property, according to fire officials.
According to the state Fire Marshal, 97 dryer fires in 2006 in Massachusetts resulted in one death, two resident injuries, two firefighter injuries and millions of dollars in damages.
The Sheldon Street home was recently renovated, had working smoke detectors and a fire escape, Larson says, adding that the fatality is something of a mystery.
“It wasn’t a house you could identify as a problem,” he says. “It’s really tragic and difficult to understand how it happened.”
All three Milton engines and the ladder truck responded. The three-alarm blaze brought in aid from Quincy and Randolph.
More firefighters would not have saved the victim, according to Larson, however fewer would have been dangerous for those tackling the blaze.
“Had Engine 1 been out of service, then the crew from East Milton station would have been very deep into this house and you wouldn’t have had any backup for quite a while,” he says. “It’s very frustrating for me and all the Milton firefighters going day-to-day depending on luck. We should be able to depend on sound, safe, firefighting practices.”
Last year, the fire department absorbed $100,000 in un-budgeted raises. As a result, one engine was taken out of service one-third of the time. Larson says next year’s budget situation also remains uncertain.
“Firefighters aren’t good at waiting. They’re going to show up to a fire and go in and try to make rescues. They’re assuming that there’s help coming. When you don’t have enough people, you don’t have enough to address all the tasks. That equals an unsafe fire ground,” the chief says.

By Jon Prestage
Editor
4/17/08
For many thousands of years scholars and scribes known as “sofers,” in Hebrew, have painstakingly repaired the sometimes-ancient Torah scrolls that stand at the heart of the Jewish faith and the cornerstone of every congregation of Jews.
No synagogue could exist without at least one scroll. Temple Shalom has eight, several of them more than 100 years old, and all of them deemed sacred.
The sofer’s tools are simple, a special ink made from an ancient brew of oils and dyes, a quill made from a kosher fowl and an exquisitely steady hand. Using monumental patience derived from centuries of tradition, the sofer studies every symbol and mark on a scroll, which could unroll to the height of an 18-story building or about 180 feet, and corrects each chipped character and flaw.
A noted sofer, Rabbi Gedaliah Druin, recently spent several days at Temple Shalom repairing one of the temple’s oldest and most revered Torah scrolls. A former university professor, head of a children’s museum and farmer, Druin, originally from Brooklyn, approaches a scroll as though it were a living thing, and, in this sense, he is a physician on a house call healing an ailing patient.
He sits hunched over the partially unrolled scroll, which is made from the skin of ritually killed animals, and scans row after row of Hebrew symbols. He makes a careful mark from time to time with his quill.
“I bring the letters back to life,” he says, as he continues his work. “We sing it (the Torah). We chant it. Because of it, we are known as the people of the book.”
Having a sofer at the synagogue is a special and rare occasion, Rabbi Alfred Benjamin explains, because of the importance of the Torah scroll, the exactness of the repairs and the requirement that it be in absolutely perfect condition. He reads from it during the Sabbath, as does his congregation, and if he sees broken or faded characters or other imperfections, it can no longer be used. When not in use the scrolls are stored in the holiest part of the synagogue.
Jews see these scrolls, known as Sefer Torah as the literal word of God as told to Moses. It contains more than 600 laws or commandments that Jews follow from moral dictates to dietary restrictions, and the five books of Moses, which would be familiar to others as the Old Testament.
Sefer Torah’s have been produced in exactly the same manner with precisely the same Hebrew symbols for thousands of years. Modern scrolls are unchanged from copies made millennia ago, although Druin can pick out small differences in the portrayal of the Hebrew symbols, enabling him to identify the Temple Shalom Torah he’s working on as having been made in Northern Europe more than 150 years ago. According to Jewish tradition, the text of the Torah was given to Moses on Mount Sinai with no vowels or punctuation and the Sefer Torahs carry on that tradition even today.
Benjamin explains that the reason for such care is because it is believed that every word, every mark, has a divine meaning, and if one mark is inadvertently changed or obscured with age, misinterpretations of the text are possible.
“Most of the information is in the letters. The meaning is made from the letters,” Druin says of the Torah scroll. “We do not read it. The surface is just the tip of the iceberg. We interpret it and study it. Everyone sees it with his or her own eyes, and there is so much yet to learn from it.”
The Torah scroll being repaired was given to the temple nearly 60 years ago and was dedicated to a congregant, a woman whose son, Joe Levitan, is sponsoring the repairs in her honor.
Rabbi Benjamin says synagogues are generally presented with the Torah scrolls as loans or gifts. His congregation currently has two out on loan and is considering giving away another.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
4/17/08
Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick is proposing a government reorganization that includes a town manager, and she may have the support to start a study of the idea.
McEttrick says switching from a town administrator to a manager would speed up response in day-to-day operations, as Selectmen usually meet only twice a month to make decisions.
Selectman Kathy Fagan backs the concept, which would transfer some decision-making to the manager.
“Selectmen don’t necessarily need to make all the decisions,” McEttrick says. “A manager can be held responsible.”
After Town Meeting in May, the chair says she will consider forming a new committee to study the idea. A change in government structure would require Town Meeting to pass a charter, followed by state legislative approval of a home-rule petition.
McEttrick says hiring decisions would be one task of a manager.
“Interviews are done by our staff, and recommendations by staff, and most of the time we follow them,” she says.
Budgeting could also be improved, according to McEttrick.
“Selectmen want to see the town doing a little more long-term financial planning, but we don’t have the authority to impose that on other departments,” she says. “The manager could have more authority over budgets.”
According to the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA), of 298 state municipalities with a town form of government, 147 have a town administrator and 57 have a town manager. Thirteen have executive secretaries, a title that many towns—including Milton—changed to town administrator after a 1996 legislative amendment.
The rest have different titles for the position.
State law defines neither position, though the MMA says town administrators generally serve as an agent of the selectmen. Town managers are often given budgetary, hiring, collective bargaining and purchasing powers.
McEttrick sees a potential conflict with other elected department officials, who could oppose a reorganization of power. “It’s hard,” she says. “We have a lot of separately elected boards. Usually a town manager system has fewer. That’s something fraught with political peril.”
Selectman John Shields opposes the proposal and is wary about a manager having too much power. “I feel that the people elected by the people should have the authority,” he says. “I think they are more responsive.
Using the three heads of Selectmen to address issues along with qualified staff as support is better, according to Shields.
Selectman Fagan says to avoid conflicts of authority, the respective powers of Selectmen and the manager would need to be ironed out.
“If everyone understood what their roles are, and how the mechanisms of a town manager would work, I think it is at least something we should take a look at,” she says.
Whatever direction the town takes, however, it will not be a quick switch.
“It’s a long-term discussion and would probably take several years,” says McEttrick.

Dawn Aberg
Contributing Writer
4/10/08

With Town Meeting less than one month away, Selectmen remain troubled by the prospect of a budget override.
Facing them at their April 1 meeting was an unpleasant choice between a so-called balanced budget that would reduce town services and a budget contingent on a tax override that would simply maintain the status quo.
Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick calls the decision a matter of identifying “the least bad of two bad alternatives.”

(continued)

By Chris Campbell
Contributing Writer
4/10/08

Art and music programs for children in kindergarten through eighth grades could be cut unless the School Committee can find funds to keep the programs, school officials say.
The School Committee, at its April 1 meeting, made it clear that the programs would be cut if the town did not approve an override and allow for further property tax increases.
Most of the approximately 30 parents attending the meeting strongly objected to the potential cuts. Some expressed anger and frustration about the budget situation, and students who attended spoke about the importance of the programs to them.

(continued)

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
4/3/08
As the warrant for Town Meeting is printed this week, it appears the town will weather another year of tight budgets because officials fear the climate is unsuitable for an override.
Despite an infusion of $517,000 more in state aid into the budget last week, many departments may only be funded the same amount in FY 09 as last year, and others will take hits. A $3.2 million Proposition 2 1/2 override was tentatively proposed by the Warrant Committee to maintain service levels, however Selectmen say this may not be the year to raise taxes but the issue is fluid at this time.
“It’s not appealing to anybody,” says Selectman Kathy Fagan. “It’s a hard sell when [the override] is not going to save some of the programs they want and will only be for a year. I prefer waiting until next year to do an override that would carry us through the next couple years.”
Fagan says department heads tell her they can hold the line for another year without an override. In addition, she says school building project costs kicking in this year are already raising taxes a significant amount.
“Do I think we need an override? Yes,” says Selectman John Shields. “Do I think that one is doable? I think it would be hard to pass one given the grim economic situation. Is that a time to go out and ask people to raise their taxes? I don’t think so.”
Shields says he spoke with a number of school parents recently, people he says are more apt to push for an override and who are cautious about the prospect.
“The indications show there is no will for it,” he says. “I think we have to batten down the hatches and use the revenue that we have.”
New Appropriations
The state Senate and House recently agreed to distribute aid to municipalities equal to the governor’s budgeted amount. The move gives the town $517,000 more than was originally estimated.
The Warrant Committee wants to appropriate $200,000 to the schools; $63,000 to the fire department to help cover salary increases that were absorbed into its budget this year; and $21,000 to the library to ensure it stays certified by the state and retains its construction grants.
Another $50,000 could go to the DPW to restore an engineering position that was cut a few years ago. The position will enable the town to complete plans for the renovation of Central Avenue from Brook Road to Eliot Street, which includes a bike path, qualifying it for a state grant to cover $1.7 million in construction costs. A warrant article had been submitted requesting a one-time allocation of $150,000 to hire a consultant to draft the design.
With the increase in state aid, the Warrant Committee adjusted the $3.2 million override budget. The school department may receive an additional $256,000, and the police department may receive $169,000 to bring the force closer to its 55-officer maximum and purchase another cruiser.
Shields questions whether an override should even be on the warrant. To have a referendum, an override budget must be approved by Town Meeting and then placed on a ballot by Selectmen.
“We’re going to get Town Meeting members who will vote for it,” he says. But in terms of a ballot question he adds, “You only want to go out for an override if you think you can get it.”
A Tough Decision
It could be the School Committee that tips the balance and determines if there will be an override possibility or not.
Before the new money, the school department was facing the elimination of 35 positions, including the art and music program for kindergarten through eighth grade. The teacher reductions could force the transfer of up to 100 elementary students to different schools, and send K–8 students home early two out of three days.
School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely says the additional $200,000 will likely go toward classroom teachers, not into saving art and music. He says elementary school principals agree.
“If they had to make a choice between the potential movement of children between schools and [art and music teachers], they would pick classroom teachers,” he says. “The absolute priority is teachers.”
An override budget would leave the schools about $310,000 short of its original request, instead of the $1.3 million cut it faces.
It is unclear if the School Committee will push for the override.
“Everyone is just waiting with baited breath to what happens with the School Committee,” says Fagan.
Fagan has not decided if she would vote to put an override on a ballot, but if it did go to the residents she would like to see it “phased in.”
“Is it possible to vote this year for an override that would be incremental over the next couple years?” she asks. “Maybe a million this year and a million next year?”
Town counsel is currently researching this possibility, as it could be illegal since there are different members in Town Meeting each year when the budget is approved.
Shields says he would feel obligated to put an override on the ballot if Town Meeting votes for it.

By William Curry
Times Staff
4/3/08
About 1,000 people gathered at Florian Hall in Dorchester last weekend in a show of support for recovering firefighter Tony Pickens.
It was called “A Night for Tony.” It was a night he will remember.
“The Milton Fire Department Local 1116 firefighters and wives did a great job organizing with all the time and effort and deserve all the credit,” says Fire Chief Malcolm Larson. Bob McCarthy, the president of the Massachusetts firefighters union attended, as well as chiefs and firemen from all over the state, including Brockton and Randolph.
Firefighter Nancy Monroe says she felt great about the event. “The turnout has matched the effort, and it is terrific. As a union and as a department, I couldn’t be more proud.”
Another key organizer, firefighter Joe Garrity adds, “This has been phenomenal. Fantastic support has been shown from the town of Milton, the city of Brockton and all communities. The brothers stick together and have rallied around the Pickens family. The locals did a tremendous job.”
The event raised tens of thousands of dollars towards Pickens’ medical costs. A series of donated items were raffled and awarded throughout the night from a five-day Caribbean cruise, a Sony surround-sound TV to a Toro snow blower and an iPod.
Pickens arrived escorted by his engine company with sirens ablaze, while friends and brother firefighters lined the entry way and guided him and his family into the hall. It was a hero’s welcome, a showering of support.
“The event was great. It was great. I thank everyone. It was a great feeling to be accepted. I’ve worked there (Milton) for 11 years, and I really felt like a Miltonian,” says Pickens.
Pickens was struck by a vehicle while responding to a call last summer. His injuries were extensive, and there was some doubt as to whether he would recover. His recovery has been called miraculous by some people.
The night was full of stories about Pickens by the people who have worked with him. Larson presented him with a special award.
“He is doing remarkably well and recovering tremendously,” says Pickens’ cousin Michael Elgin. “His wife, Charisse, has stood tall and proven what love can do, assuring him that it was going to be alright. Whatever doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.”
The Chicken Slacks band provided entertainment and played into the night as attendees celebrated. Though Pickens was not among those who stood and danced to the music, his heart and spirit seemed elevated to a higher tune.

By Kathy Kurtz Ferrari
Contributing Writer
4/3/08
Innovative young engineers have found a new use for those old vinyl record albums collecting dust in basements: they make great wheels for the latest design in cars built from mousetraps.
The records were just one of the materials high school students in physics classes used to build cars powered by a standard-sized mousetrap. For two-and-a-half weeks, the juniors and seniors worked on designing aerodynamic mousetrap-powered miniature vehicles for what became known around the school as the “Mousetrap Car Olympics.” Students worked in teams of two to three and used things like CDs, drawer knobs, checkers, jar lids, aspirin bottles, wood blocks, boxes, and pencils to fashion cars that would be fast, powerful and travel the longest distance. Legos, rubber bands and powered motors were not allowed as students were challenged to be as creative as possible by their teachers, Tom Shaw and Paul Damiani.
The “Mousetrap Car Olympics” were held on March 26 and 27 outside the physics classroom and spectators, young and old, lined the corridor as each competing vehicle wound its engine at the starting line. Points were tallied for maximum average velocity, strength in climbing an inclined plane of 3.5 degrees and longest distance traveled. Grades were awarded depending on how the vehicle fared during the competition.
“This project is a real-world assessment. It’s a test for the real world,” says Shaw. “If they go to work for an engineering firm, they have to work with other co-workers on a project. We put the kids in groups that normally wouldn’t work together. That’s a skill that we don’t always teach.”
The students went through countless redesigns, often working late into the night to get things perfect. One group found that they needed more weight, so they mounted a saltshaker to the body, which made it look almost like a little driver was operating the vehicle.
Jacky Wan and Julia Hanna needed to find the right fit for the wheels.
“At first we used bigger wheels because we thought it would be better, but then we found it wasn’t,” says Wan.
“In theory it should have worked,” laughs Hanna.
Their vehicle, using cabinet drawer knobs as wheels, did fairly well.
In total, 140 students designed cars for the challenge and no two cars looked quite the same. The only thing they had in common was that a mousetrap powered them.

By Dawn Aberg
Contributing Writer
4/3/08
The fire department awarded its first annual Citation of Merit for exemplary performance of duty March 20 to members of the East Milton station, Engine 2. The recipients are Lt. Mitch Sumner, Steve Mattaliano and William Murphy.
The 2007 Citation of Merit recognizes the engine company’s response to an incident last summer that saved a 12-year-old boy’s life.
On July 2, the three firefighters were in Randolph checking out the compatibility of the department’s equipment with the neighboring town’s hydrants when the call came in. The men responded immediately to the Randolph Holiday Inn where they threw a ladder to gain entry to the pool area. An unresponsive boy, Anthony Sanders, had just been pulled from the water.
The firefighters could not detect a heartbeat. Accompanied by Capt. James Hurley of the Randolph fire department, the men applied a defibrillator, used CPR, and were able to re-establish normal heart rhythm. The young visitor from Birmingham, AL, was taken by ambulance to Milton Hospital, and then transferred to Children’s Hospital in Boston where he made a full recovery.
“There’s no question that these men saved the boy’s life,” Fire Chief Malcolm Larson says of the teamwork, emergency medical training and professionalism that led to the 12 year old’s survival.
Randolph Fire Chief Charles Foley, on hand at the ceremony to honor Hurley of his department, seconds the appreciation.
“It was a great chain of events,” the Randolph chief notes.
Larson has inaugurated the annual Citation of Merit to honor fire department members whose outstanding performance brings a positive result to a situation that would have otherwise ended in tragedy. The special recognition goes to an engine company, not individuals. The chief calls creation of the annual honor “long overdue.”
Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick applauds
the town ethic that recognizes the high quality of
its employees. She says she is continually impressed by the quality of person Milton attracts to work
for the town, adding, “We really do have great
employees.”
As further evidence of this ethic, during the ceremony at the Selectmen meeting, Larson announced two major promotions. A large and happy crowd cheered Brian Doherty’s promotion to lieutenant, and John Grant Jr.’s rise to deputy chief. The promotions were effective Feb. 1.
Both Doherty and Grant are second-generation firefighters. The new deputy chief’s father, John Grant, had himself been Milton fire chief in the 1970s. Grant Jr.’s sister, Maura, is also a member of the department. The former Chief Grant, who died while on active duty in 1979, would be proud of his children, Larson says.
“This is the first time in the 30 years I’ve been here that we’ve done this,” Larson says.
McEttrick approves of the acknowledgment. Even though the board doesn’t vote on the promotions, she says, “it’s important to recognize people.”
Many community members turned out for the citation awards and the promotion announcements. Some actively applauded their own favorites. Front and center in the audience were long-time residents George Thompson—who was recently awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal—and his wife, Anne, their smiling faces fresh from gracing the cover of the town’s new annual report.
“We’re here for Brian,” Anne Thompson beamed, looking over at the new Lt. Doherty.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/27/08
Faced with the possibility of a $2 million shortfall, the school district is reviewing options for cuts that could reduce nearly 35 positions and eliminate art and music for kindergarten through eighth grade students.
Teacher reductions could force the transfer of up to 100 elementary school students to different schools and send K–8 students home early on two-thirds of school days, although how this would be done is uncertain.
In the Warrant Committee’s draft FY 09 budget, the school department is funded at the same level as this year. However, School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely says it would take as much as $700,000 in budget increases just to cover yearly raises for staff, and this figure does not include salary increases resulting from current union contract negotiations.
The School Committee discussed one proposed budget that would cut $2 million but factors in increases for raises. Though this budget option slashes seven art and music teachers—eliminating the programs in kindergarten through eighth grade—the teachers would be the last to go. School Committee Member Glenn Pavlicek says there is a possibility that once the Warrant Committee includes additional state aid in the budget, the schools could receive another $300,000. The appropriation could maintain art and music.
Loss of Arts Unconscionable
Karen Friedman-Hanna, co-president of Friends and Advocates of Music Education (FAME), says she understands the difficulty the district has in formulating the budget, but she considers music and art as important as other subjects.
“(My children’s) academics wouldn’t be nearly what they are without music,” she says. “It makes them poised, creative and focused individuals.”
She says research shows tapping into a child’s creativity enhances a variety of skills.
“Reducing it is unconscionable,” she adds.
If art and music classes were cut, contractual teacher “prep time” would be scheduled at the end of some days, forcing early dismissal.
“The MFA (Master’s of Fine Arts) is the new MBA (Master’s of Business Administration),” says parent Amy Flanagan in opposition to the music and art cuts. “You have to be creative, you have to be able to think outside the box.”
Further Reductions
With teacher cuts, about 20 elementary students per grade—in both the French and English tracts—would be moved to different schools to even out class sizes.
It is not clear how students would be chosen for transfer, though where siblings attend school would not be considered, according to Assistant Superintendent Mary Gormley.
“Disruptive does not even begin to describe it,” says Pavlicek.
The reductions include five middle school teachers, eliminating the team system, and five elementary school teachers. Three positions cut from the high school last year would not be restored and six more would be slashed.
The high school reductions would be reported to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and could jeopardize the school’s accreditation, according to Superintendent Magdalene Giffune. A few years ago the high school was on probation.
The draft budget maintains the assistant superintendent for personnel and curriculum, facilities director and middle school assistant principal positions that were proposed for elimination under one budget scenario proposed by Giffune.
Other Options
The Warrant Committee also drafted a budget proposal requiring an override referendum, which would collect $3.27 million more in taxes from the town. It leaves the school department $566,000 short of its requests.
Lovely says he believes the town may not be ready for an override this year, which must be approved by Town Meeting and then placed on a ballot by Selectmen before it goes to the voters.
“It may not be advanced unless everyone expresses their view to as many decision makers as possible,” he says.
Member Mary Kelly suggests cutting back on the number of professional days for teachers, which cost about $100,000 each. Giffune says the four scheduled days are contractual and could only be addressed in negotiations.
Kelly also questions the viability of foreign language instruction, both Spanish and French in the elementary schools. She notes that Spanish was recently eliminated in grades one and two.
“Can we afford to offer a foreign language program while cutting art and music?” she asks. “I think we have to put it on the table at some point.”
Member Chris Huban points out that athletics and full-day kindergarten were spared in the proposed reductions.
Huban suggests reviewing the “school choice” policy that would allow out-of-town students to attend Milton schools for around $6,000 each year. The School Committee has routinely rejected this potential revenue-raising policy.
Giffune says the policy is a slippery slope and depending on its revenue for budgeting could be problematic, if out-of-town enrollment fluctuates.

By Dawn Aberg
Contributing Writer
3/27/08
The nation’s economic woes cast a long shadow on local decisions at last week’s Selectmen meeting. Of immediate concern was the town’s $2.7 million budgetary shortfall, a result of rising costs and falling revenues.
The problem will come squarely before residents at May’s Town Meeting when they will be forced to grapple with the prospect of an override and potential tax increases.
“My priority is the operating budget,” says Chair Marion McEttrick. “This is a tough year. We’re looking at a contingent budget.”
McEttrick requested input from residents on the override possibility over the next two weeks to inform the board’s recommendation to Town Meeting.
“We really want to know what residents are willing to do,” says McEttrick.
Selectmen struggled with what their recommendation should be.
“This is our responsibility,” says Selectman John Shields. “Town Meeting is looking to us to tell them what they ought to do. We’re $3 million out—that’s a lot of money, and that’s a lot of cuts.”
Selectman Kathy Fagan says she is not categorically opposed to putting the override issue to voters. But she wants more detail about the School Committee’s budget, which is still being finalized, and more input from Town Meeting before she takes a specific position. On the one hand, she notes, the town is spending over its revenue. On the other, residents already feel the pinch of a dismal economic environment.
“People are on the edge of losing their homes,” Fagan says. “Talk of tax increases throws them into a panic.”
Shields says he sees an override this year as inevitable.
“People in town expect certain services, and we don’t have the revenue to provide those services this year,” he says, adding, if the town doesn’t tackle the override now, residents need to be aware that the situation will be even worse next year.
Fagan says she would consider support for an override that could be phased-in over a two- or three-year period. The board recognized, however, that there are legal restrictions on the town’s authority to implement such long-range plans. The matter would need to be submitted to town counsel for review.
Community Preservation Act
The override possibility affected the board’s consideration of several specific matters beyond the budget. Selectmen are reluctant to send complicated issues to Town Meeting in an already complicated budgetary year.
For example, Wallace Sisson and Meredith Hall of the town’s Historic Preservation Committee saw the board deny their request to bring the Community Preservation Act (CPA) to voters this year. Local enactment of the law would make state matching funds available to the town for open space, historic preservation and affordable housing projects. But it would also require a property tax increase for residents, with an estimated annual $69 hit to the average homeowner.
Selectmen voted unanimously to keep the issue off the warrant, even for discussion purposes.
“The intent is laudable,” Shields says, but notes because 80 percent of the town’s budget deals with personnel costs, state monies available under a CPA enactment would not address the budget shortfalls in a meaningful way.
McEttrick says discussion of the issue could confuse voters, who might see a CPA property tax and a budget override as an either/or situation. She did, however, promise to revisit the CPA issue next year. She suggests that the Historic Preservation Committee return with specific project proposals that could benefit from CPA funding.
Snow Removal Bylaw
Regarding a proposed article less obviously connected to belt-tightening measures, the board voted to retract the snow removal bylaw article from the Town Meeting warrant. They agreed unanimously to send the matter out for further study.
McEttrick reported negative community response to the proposed requirement that residents clear snow in front of their properties. She says “What right do you have to tell me to remove the snow?” is a common reaction to the bylaw.
Fagan, after a meeting with seniors, reported specific concerns related to enforcement, exemptions and fines, as well as broader safety concerns. The board agreed it would be best to tackle the matter after Town Meeting in May.
Milton Residents’ Fund
Not all the economic news was bleak, however. Diane Ferrari of the Milton Residents’ Fund reports that her organization had given out more than $200,000 over the last year to residents struggling with limited incomes and rising costs, particularly the rising expense of heating oil.
Ferrari, with the board’s support, encourages any resident facing these issues to contact her at 617-696-1214 for a completely confidential assessment. She notes that donations to the fund, which is exclusively for residents, can be sent to the Fund’s offices at 535 Canton Ave.
“Anybody who thinks they might qualify shouldn’t hesitate to call,” she says. “We’ll discuss it privately and help with resources and referrals.”

By Pat Desmond
Times Staff
3/27/08
Kurt Ladner lived through the time when six million Jews perished in Europe.
Shipped out of his native Vienna in 1942 on a train to the death camps with his mother, father, brothers and friends, he spent the war years at Terazin, Dachau and Auschwitz.
He entered these places as a strong teenager with job skills and athletic ability. He left a near skeleton.
For 60 years following World War II, he tried to heal and live. He coped. He moved to America—found work—married—fathered two children—and moved through a simple life.
Now Ladner is sharing his story about the Holocaust with the world. He has written a manuscript he hopes will make a difference.
He lives in a bright, spacious apartment in Fuller Village with his second wife, Betty. They love their life together in this community only a few miles from the place where Betty was born and raised in Boston. They say they can’t believe what Fuller has to offer them.
Ladner says writing the story of his life was “a cleansing of repressed feelings.”
“It was especially hard remembering my parents, brothers and sister, who so cruelly lost their lives, taken by the Hitler regime and his murderous underlings.”
But while he wrote the story for himself and his family, he hopes a book publisher will see value in this story of hardship and survival.
He spent years working to help other countrymen who were victims of the Nazis gain compensation from Austria. His work resulted in an agreement more than a dozen years ago. Ladner still has a newspaper clipping of a story about the agreement that includes a photo of himself with the Austrian chancellor.
He does not consider the money Austria paid to the survivors enough. He wants to be sure people remember the story. But he knows that each survivor’s story is different.
There were many people who helped him survive. He acknowledges unexpected acts of kindness but also many betrayals and acts of cruelty.
The book is painful to read. The images are clear and often dark.
Until last year Ladner believed he was the only member of his family to live through the concentration camps. He discovered that one brother also survived but lived the rest of his life on Russian soil. His brother died six months before Ladner uncovered the truth.
The manuscript he has written begins with a Jewish boy filled with joy over getting a bicycle for his 11th birthday. The scene is set with loyalty and love. Both his parents work hard outside the home to provide for the family. The boy, young Ladner, is talented enough to earn money singing in his community’s temple. He is an agile soccer player whose athletic skill later becomes a negotiating point during his imprisonment.
Here’s a excerpt from his manuscript about the time of the Austrian occupation, the Krystalnacht.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/20/08
As an educator, Superintendent Magdalene Giffune is sticking to her principles.
In the face of what she sees as staggering budget cuts, she says she will advocate for children in the district despite any conflict it creates between her and the School Committee.
She says she understands the rules that guide her administration of the district: she will follow the dictates of the elected School Committee. She is nonetheless determined, she says, that the reasons behind her recommendations be understood by parents and the possible consequences of the School Committee’s decisions be widely known.
She says the committee’s mandate that she draft a budget with “drastic” funding caps that maintains the current administrative structure of the district and leaves the neighborhood school model intact, will have a detrimental effect on the education of children through increased class size and the reshuffling of elementary students.
Instead, the budget she presented earlier this month to the School Committee cut administrative positions and eliminated an assistant superintendent position scheduled to be filled by John Phelan, once Giffune’s tenure is up in June. In addition, it consolidated the elementary schools by grade level, thus eliminating the “neighborhood” model.
‘Adversarial’ and ‘Rude’
The School Committee strongly rejected the recommendations, with Chair Beirne Lovely referring to the superintendent as “adversarial” and “rude.”
“You try to (build budgets) in a way that causes the least amount of damage to the least amount of kids,” she says. “Regardless of how others choose to characterize it, I had to make a difficult recommendation based on difficult decisions. I think that if you look closely at my recommendation and not get stuck on some of the more controversial issues, it’s a drastic recommendation, made in response to a drastic cut in funding that maintains programs and spreads resources in a way that class sizes would be virtually untouched.”
During last year’s student assignment plan debate, Giffune backed a plan that would have consolidated the elementary schools, which she believes is best for student achievement with the district’s tight finances. She was opposed by School Committee members who wanted to maintain the district’s “neighborhood schools.”
“My issue is all around kids,” she says. “A lot of time when you have to make a decision that’s best for kids, it doesn’t resonate well with adults. But my job is to give the best recommendation I can give. So you can spread your resources a lot farther if you have a different structure in elementary.”
‘Who is Going to Go?’
Giffune says the chosen assignment plan built on a neighborhood school concept limits opportunities to “smooth out the bumps” that occur with funding shortages and is having an impact on budgeting this year.
She says the prospect of cutting teachers and eliminating classes will likely force the transfer of some students to different schools to even out class sizes.
“If they were all in one building, you just divide them all by one less,” Giffune says. “Who’s going to go? How do you pick (the student) who goes? Is it the right thing to do? I don’t think it is. You could reduce (the number of classes) if they were consolidated without disrupting kids.”
Accepting change is necessary, according to Giffune, because financial situations and educational strategies never stay the same.
“Sometimes when you look at these terrible reductions, you can’t maintain what you have,” she says. “You need to organize your human, financial and physical resources in a way that allows for the greatest opportunity for all kids. That’s really the premise.
“You’re never going to get very far driving a car if your focus is on the rear view mirror and not the road in front of you. When you say ‘keep the same structures,’ then you’re going to take some resources that could be used in a different way—to maintain some programming—to maintain your physical shape. I disagree with that.”
Though she says all budgets are frustrating, Giffune admits this year has been especially tough.
“I think the distressing thing is that there is no discussion about the merits of one proposal versus another proposal,” she says, adding that it’s important for everyone making decisions to understand the ramifications of each cut.
‘Absolute’ to ‘Realistic’
“Its not as simple as ‘I don’t want,’” the superintendent says, in reference to the guidelines the School Committee gave her for the budget.
As a solution, she suggests moving from the “absolute” to the “realistic.” However, she is frank about other realities the school department faces, such as political considerations.
“I don’t stand for election,” Giffune says with a laugh. “It doesn’t impact me in the way it impacts an elected official… So I always err on the side of giving kids the best program I can and an environment that will promote their achievement and growth.”
Despite her convictions, Giffune acknowledges that the budget is reached through School Committee deliberations, not the superintendent’s recommendations.
“The School Committee has to have a budget. I’m not going to stand in the way of that process. I’m not supposed to. I’m supposed to give my best recommendations and then you go from there. When you’re a superintendent you get used to people not taking your recommendations. That’s the nature of it. And that’s OK. It is what it is.
“Everybody stakes out a position based on his or her own philosophy. My philosophy is rooted in 34 years of good experience and an understanding about children and human development, and teaching and learning, and how it happens best.”
The current conflict is nothing new for a superintendent, according to Giffune, and she says she will not let it affect her.
“I keep it away from my heart strings,” she says. “You have to learn to separate it from yourself, which oddly does not decrease your passion.”

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/20/08
Although a plan to upgrade the trail around Turners Pond for people with handicaps is near final approval, concerns from residents has forced officials to defend it.
The proposed new path—paid for by a $50,000 state grant and an anonymous foundation donation of more than $200,000—would follow the current path and would retain the natural setting, according to Peter Jackson, the project’s designer and member of the Planning Board. Jackson began work on the project before taking office.
The Park Commissioners approved the project last year. It is now in the final hearing stage for Conservation Commission approval—necessary because of its proximity to wetlands—and is scheduled for construction this summer.
Portions of the current path are frequently water-soaked and the upgrade will address ongoing drainage issues.
The improved path would be approximately four-feet wide. The section near Central Avenue and Brook Road would be made of crushed gravel and the remainder would be covered by stone-dust. The surface will be solid enough for wheelchairs and baby carriages, according to Park Commissioner Barbara Brown.
Brown says a recent site walk of the area with park commissioners and the Conservation Commission was disrupted by some neighbors, who say they were unaware of the project until recently and expressed concerns about it. A number of homes on Central Avenue and Brook Road abut the path.
Brown says there was a public hearing for the project in 2006.
“It got a little bit rambunctious,” she says. “They’re concerned about cleanliness and the amount of people using the pathway.”
Brown does not believe the new trail will increase traffic at the park, which is frequently used by students walking to the Glover School and dog-walkers. She says it will require no more maintenance than parks department employees handle now.
“We’re just trying to make it safer and more accessible for more people,” she says. “It will enhance, not detract from the natural surroundings. We’re hoping we can come to a consensus that it’s a good project. I do think it’s a plus for the town.”
A meeting with neighbors will be held soon to address concerns. The Conservation Commission will deal with environmental regulations at its Monday, April 7, meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the senior center, 10 Walnut St.

By Julie Fay
Contributing Writer
3/20/08
Sunday, March 23, is the holiest time of the year for many Christians: Maundy (or Holy) Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. Clergy and laypeople from four faith communities in town talk about how they celebrate these holy days commemorating the final hours, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
“Easter is a reminder that God, and God’s love, through the resurrection and new life of Jesus Christ, has the final word over evil, death and destruction,” says the Rev. Jeffrey Johnson, pastor of First Congregational Church. He adds that the best way to understand the importance of Easter is to attend Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.
The Rev. Parisa Parsa, of First Parish, agrees. “You can’t really embrace Easter if you haven’t embraced the shadows of human existence that led to Good Friday,” she says.
Both First Parish and First Congregational commemorate Maundy Thursday with Tenebrae (shadows) services. The service at First Congregational includes seven readings that tell the story of Jesus’ betrayal and delivery into the hands of the Roman authorities. As each reading is completed, a candle is extinguished. The service concludes in darkness and silence, a solemn observance of the dark final hours of Jesus’ life.
At First Parish, the Tenebrae service contains seven contemporary readings. Past sources have included excerpts from memoirs and the New York Times Magazine. The service concludes with the account of the crucifixion from the gospel of Mark and the extinguishing of candles as well.
The Rev. Parsa says the modern readings emphasize that “the circumstances that led to the crucifixion still exist in our world.”
While Christians commemorate the crucifixion and death of Jesus on Good Friday, this year the day has special significance for members of the Earth Centered Spirituality Group (ECSG) at First Parish. ECSG will celebrate Ostara, a Celtic word from which the modern Easter derives.
“It’s a celebration of the spring equinox,” says Pam Dorsey, leader of ECSG and a member of First Parish.
ECSG members mark the return of spring with readings, chants and a ritual rune planting. Runes, an ancient symbolic writing system, stand for ideas rather than sounds (unlike the letters of our modern alphabet). ECSG members plant seeds in the shape of the rune that represent what it is they wish to grow in their own lives, such as enlightenment, patience, renewal, protection or joy.
On Saturday evening, St. Mary of the Hills Catholic church begins its Easter Vigil mass in total darkness. Outside the church, Rev. Arthur F. Wright, the pastor, will light the immense Easter candle from the Easter fire, kindled to symbolize the light of everlasting life bestowed on believers through the resurrection of Jesus.
The Rev. Wright enters the church with the Easter candle, which illuminates the entire church as the flame is passed from believer to believer, shining from their individual, smaller candles.
According to the Rev. Wright, the service of light reminds Catholics of the faith first bestowed upon them at an early age. “It goes back to [our] baptism,” he says. During the baptismal ceremony, a child’s godparents receive a lighted candle. “That candle represents our faith in Jesus,” he says, and the godparents are charged to keep that faith alive throughout the child’s life.
The Easter Vigil is also the time when new adult Catholics are baptized and welcomed into the church. Baptism by water signifies a sharing in Jesus’ death and resurrection. “Baptism means plunging or immersion,” says the Rev. Wright, “and we are immersed into the life of Jesus Christ and his paschal (Easter) mystery of dying and rising again.”
While Catholics and Protestants are celebrating Easter, Orthodox Christians have just begun the penitential season of Lent. Orthodox Easter falls on April 27 this year, more than a month after “Western” Easter celebrated by Catholics and Protestants. Milton resident Cindy Kavaltzis says that Easter—or “Greekster,” as her children’s non-Greek friends call it—is the biggest holiday of the year.
After attending the Resurrection service held at midnight on Easter Sunday, Cindy and her family will break their Lenten fast with mayeritsa, a traditional soup. “You’re supposed to have been fasting for 40 days, with no olive oil, no wine, no meat, milk or eggs,” she says. “The mayeritsa is an egg-lemon broth, with sweetbreads and a lot of vegetables. It’s really good.”
And the celebration continues on Easter Sunday afternoon. “We roast a lamb outside on a spit,” says Cindy. “There’s a lot of food, a lot of people, a lot of music. It’s a big barbecue.”
It’s a Greek custom to break dishes at joyful celebrations, but fortunately for the Kavaltzis’ china closet, it doesn’t happen too often at their Easter feasts.
“That was just the one year they broke the dishes,” laughs Cindy.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/13/08
The Warrant Committee released an initial draft budget last week that includes a $3.27 million override budget option intended to keep departments operating at the same levels as last fiscal year.
Town officials are still considering whether to add more money to the budget, which would enlarge an override, or to force cuts in departments in an attempt to avoid bringing an override to voters.
The $72 million non-override budget option cuts $129,000 from the police department, $38,000 from the DPW, and leave the fire, school and most other departments at the same levels as last year.
“We’re having trouble getting the budget balanced,” says Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick, who has not decided if she will support an override. “We need some other sources of funding, if we’re going to get through this year without an override, and I don’t know of any.”
Proposition 2 1/2 regulations limit yearly tax levy increases to 2.5 percent. Increases above 2.5 percent require bringing the matter to voters for a decision, called an override referendum.
“The 2.5 is an arbitrary number and it doesn’t seem to be enough, and it’s the same for many other communities,” says McEttrick.
A number of factors contributed to the budget situation, according to Warrant Committee Chair Katie Conlon.
The town is still negotiating contracts with the police and fire unions for the current fiscal year and last fiscal year (note related story, page one) and a number of other union contracts, including teachers, will be up in July. Because the raise amounts are unknown, they are not included in department budgets. A set-aside of $1.9 million to help cover salary increases is included in the override budget.
McEttrick says a three percent figure was used as an estimate for the raises. Without a set-aside, departments must absorb the increase in their budgets.
Medical costs for injured Firefighter Tony Pickens totaling $320,000 are included, based on an initial estimate from insurance consultants. This number could end up being lower as figures solidify later in his rehabilitation.
In addition, legislation requesting
state help to cover these costs has been filed.
In addition, for the second year in a row, there will be no funds available from the previous year to help supplement the budget.
The override budget leaves the school department $500,000 short of its request. School Committee member Glenn Pavlicek says that eliminates the possibility of any new positions.
The non-override budget level funds the schools, however, Pavlicek says it will take about $1 million more just to cover staff salary increases.
Selectmen Kathy Fagan and John Shields are undecided about the override and its amount.
“I’m a resident, and I get the services of the DPW, and I recognize the importance of all those departments,” says Fagan. “You’re always thinking how it will affect you personally, but you have to think about the greater good. This is a tough year for people.”
Fagan says she hopes the money put aside for salary increases can be cut back through contract negotiations.
“I think you should present an honest evaluation to the town,” says Shields about not having an override this year. “My feeling is if it’s $2.7 million this year, next year that (override amount) is going to be $5 million. Can you sell a $5 million override?”
“I would not want to see an override that would only give us level service for one year,” Fagan says. “That makes the next year worse. An override for level service is a hard sell.”
Budget numbers will continue to change as revenue figures and state aid numbers become clear. The Warrant Committee is having biweekly meetings to discuss the impact of the draft budget on departments and potentially make adjustments.
Changes could continue until Annual Town Meeting in May.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/13/08
As the town moves into final rounds of budgeting for the new fiscal year, police patrol officer and firefighter unions are still without contracts for the old fiscal year.
Officials say this is not uncommon. Yet potential raises negotiated in future contracts for two years have not been factored into budgets.
The contracts of other town unions, such as DPW and clerical workers, will expire at the end of this fiscal year.
In the override budget prepared by the Warrant Committee for next year, $3.27 million if approved, $1.9 million would be added for salary increases (see story above).
The number is subject to revision.
“Without a contract, you don’t know what the increase will be,” says Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick. “We’ll wait and see what happens. If you get an agreement before Town Meeting you can put in a request for more money or try to absorb it in the regular budget.”
Last fall, the fire department reduced its shifts and occasionally takes one of three engines out of operation due to a lack of funds. Chief Malcolm Larson says the lack of a set-aside influenced the decision.
Warrant Committee Chair Katie Conlon says raises can also be covered through unappropriated cash from the previous fiscal year that becomes available in the fall, though there will be none available this year.
No unappropriated cash was available last fall, and Town Meeting earmarked $383,000 from the former landfill escrow account to cover unpaid school department bills.
The school department is currently negotiating its FY 09 contract with teachers. School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely says the department always attempts to have a new contract in place before the old one expires.
The town is currently negotiating new contracts with the police and fire unions, and McEttrick says officials are bargaining “very hard.”
“Sometimes it’s a very long, drawn-out process,” she says. “Sometimes it has to go to mediation, and it sometimes takes years. We don’t set a time frame. It’s an artificial constraint.”
McEttrick denies that negotiations are being stalled to hide increases in costs for the town, but says timing is sometimes a bargaining tactic.
“If you set an arbitrary date for scheduling, you can end up compromising some of your positions,” she says. “Sometimes one party or the other may delay because they feel it is advantageous to wait.”
Health insurance costs have not been determined at this time, and Firefighter Union President Jack Grant says both sides are waiting for the figures before moving forward.
“There’s no animosity involved,” he says about negotiations. “Though, the economic times are certainly a little different than during past contracts.”
Joe Fahey, president of the Patrol Officers’ Union, says talks have not stalled.
“It’s slow this year, but they’re moving along. It’s rare that it’s quick. I’m not overly disappointed at this time.”

By Jon Prestage
Editor
3/13/08
Six of the country’s 10 most Irish communities are located in Massachusetts, and Milton is the most Irish of them all. Thirty-eight percent of its 26,062 residents, according to the 2000 census, say they are of Irish descent, but that’s not what drew author Michael Quinlin, and his wife, Colette, a graphic designer, to town.
They came for other reasons, like the schools and the French Immersion program and an opportunity to escape urban life in Dorchester for their young child, but the couple founded the Boston Irish Tourism Association (BITA) a few years ago and Irish heritage is a key focus of their lives.
Quinlin, who, several years ago, authored a book called, Irish Boston: A Lively Look At Boston’s Colorful Irish Past, says his parents were born in Ireland, and Colette is from Ireland. As you might expect, March is a busy time of the year for both of them, primarily because of St. Patrick’s Day and the activities they plan around the event.
Quinlin says St. Patrick’s Day is changing. It is no longer just a matter of green beer, Irish pubs, rowdy parades and party hats, and the reason for the changes have a lot to do with changing demographics among people of Irish descent in this country and also on the fact that Ireland has an economy that buzzing with growth. No longer do Irish immigrants flock to America’s shores in large numbers in search of opportunities. They remain home for those opportunities now.
“It’s the marketplace that sustains the stereotypes about St. Patrick’s Day. But there is a larger context to all of this. Colette and I want to elevate and in some ways refute the superficiality of the marketplace,” he says.
“America’s Irish community is in transition,” he explains. “Irish people who have moved here over the decades are continuing to assimilate, and they are now redefining themselves in slightly different terms than before. They are not looking back toward Ireland anymore for their inspirations but to their Irish communities here and to an emerging Irish-American culture, which is both new and vibrant and different than traditional Irish culture.”
The two organized the Boston Irish Tourism Association as a way to promote what Quinlin terms as “cultural tourism” in the Boston region. BITA publishes three magazines each year aimed at tourists that highlight Irish cultural activities in the city but also in the small towns throughout the region, such as those scheduled in Milton, organized this year by Police Chief Richard Wells.
“This region is the Irish center of the country, and when people come here they often want to participate in something Irish. There are 40 million people in this country who call themselves Irish-Americans and who claim some Irish ancestry. So, let’s say 500 dentists come to town from across the country for a convention, we want them to know all the Irish cultural events that are going on in the region so that they can attend and share in this thriving Irish-American cultural center.”
Several years ago, BITA helped to establish what is now known as the “Irish Heritage Trail” that runs through 250 years of Irish history between Kenmore Square and Faneuil Hall. The original version of the trail was conceived in the 1950s.
Quinlin handles the communication and writing activities for BITA, while Colette, handles the organization’s four websites. Quinlin knows something about communications. He worked for former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn for eight years as deputy press secretary, and also worked for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), during the Boston Harbor cleanup, as communications director.
For more information about the Boston Irish Tourism Association visit the association’s website at www.irishmassachusetts.com or call 617-696-9880.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/6/08
The new animal shelter will likely be built at the DPW yard as a result of a letter from the state Attorney General’s office explaining its opposition to it remaining on the town farm, which was left to the community with certain stipulations many years ago.
Despite the letter, it is likely that controversy over the shelter’s location will continue not because people are opposed to it but because of other land-use concerns raised by neighbors as a result of the shelter’s relocation.
Town Administrator Kevin Mearn says he will report favorably to Selectmen that the shelter be located at the DPW yard on Randolph Avenue, after listening to residents at three public meetings that concluded last week.
The letter from David Spackman of the Attorney General’s office acknowledges that at a Nov. 15 meeting Assistant AG Johanna Soris advised town officials that her office could not support use of a portion of the land without a plan for the entire property. Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick and Town Counsel John Flynn attended the meeting.
The letter further states that an animal shelter would be inconsistent with the terms of the trust for the land and would limit other options for its use.
Gov. William Stoughton’s will requires the property be used to benefit “the poor” of Milton. Selectmen are the trustees of the property, and any use of the land must receive the blessing of the AG and approval in court.
The Milton Animal League’s new shelter will cost about $2.5 million. The current building, located on the farm, is deteriorating.
While there is little concern about building a new shelter, some residents question the proposed location.
Neighbors near the DPW yard fear development on Randolph Avenue due to the amount of property owned by a corporation in the area that unsuccessfully proposed a shopping center for the DPW yard almost three years ago.
Neighbors near the town farm and others are concerned that moving the animal shelter from there would clear the way for development of the more than 30-acre farm. A committee organized by Selectmen to study possibilities for the Gov. Stoughton trust land recently began meeting.
Bob Sweeney, Indian Cliffs Neighborhood Association president and cochair of the Gov. Stoughton Committee, criticized the letter from the AG as a “weak legal statement” that did not cite any laws.
Other residents have asked why the shelter must be moved now after being on the property for 30 years; if the Gov. Stoughton trust could donate a portion of the land to the town; or if the town could take a portion of the property by eminent domain.
Some residents say the town is set on the DPW site, regardless of comments at public meetings.
“(The meetings) weren’t held to see how the abutters feel about this,” says resident Richard Shea. “They were to tell us what is happening. This was a done deal.”
The possibility of using town-owned land off the old landfill access road was shot down after Police Chief Richard Wells wrote a letter to Mearn opposing the location. Wells says he is concerned about the isolation of the area, the lack of traffic, and its popularity as a hangout for underage drinking.
At the Feb. 27 meeting, Mearn announced the possibility of using land off Randolph Avenue owned by the Animal Rescue League (ARL) for the shelter.
However, Mearn says there has yet to be discussions with the ARL. The group recently proposed selling the property to the A. Thomas Nursery on Randolph Avenue, according to Mearn. The ARL land is located behind the nursery.
Residents at the meeting were favorable to the idea, though Mearn emphasized there was no proposal on the table.
The proposed 8,100 square-foot shelter, which will be paid for by donations, is about three times larger than the current building. It will hold the same amount of animals as the current building, is designed to suppress barking noise, and will have a ventilation system that eliminates the need to open windows.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/6/08
Long-simmering tensions between Superintendent Magdalene Giffune and the School Committee boiled over this week as Chair Beirne Lovely publicly reprimanded Giffune for actions and positions he referred to as “confrontational” and “rude.”
The scolding at the March 4 School Committee meeting was triggered by budget proposals Giffune recently presented that Lovely says contradicted instructions, and what he says are refusals by the superintendent to attend budget-planning meetings.
“I have to tell you that you work for us,” said Lovely, adding that at one point Giffune wanted to know the nature of his concerns before agreeing to meet. “This is absolutely unacceptable.”
Giffune will retire at the end of the school year and will be replaced by Assistant Superintendent Mary Gormley.
Lovely told Giffune there are “other alternatives” the School Committee could take to address the situation if Giffune did not comply, and called her “adversarial.”
“I’m not going to play this game the rest of the year,” Lovely says.
The undercurrent of tensions between the department and the committee, which have remained private until now, have already affected the budgeting process for the upcoming school year, which faces stringent budget cuts without a successful Proposition 2 1/2 override from voters. A Warrant Committee-proposed $3.27 million override would still leave the schools $560,000 short of its request.
Last week, Giffune presented potential budget cuts that included slashing the assistant superintendent for personnel and curriculum and the facilities director, as well as consolidating the elementary schools by grade level and eliminating the neighborhood schools model.
School Committee members had previously rejected the proposals, which Giffune says were intended to be the most favorable for students in the tough budgeting environment. Giffune was in favor of consolidating the schools when the student assignment plan was revamped last spring, saying it was best for maximizing student achievement, but the option was rejected by the committee and the subject of considerable public opposition.
Lovely says Giffune was unanimously instructed by the School Committee’s finance subcommittee to formulate new budget recommendations, though Giffune denies it. Lovely says her presentation “put it in our face.”
“I do have a right and a responsibility to give my best recommendation,” says Giffune. “We disagree and that’s fine…I want to make it clear that (the committee’s guidelines) are not my recommendations. I’m not intimidated.”
The disputed assistant superintendent position is set to be filled by Pierce Middle School Principal John Phelan when Giffune departs. Lovely says the superintendent refuses to attend meetings that include Phelan.
Giffune says the committee has “trampled on some of my rights as an employee” with regards to the situation with Phelan.
“To insist I attend certain meetings is not respective of human dignity,” she says, in light of the “personnel issues” the committee is aware of.
Giffune says she will attend the next finance committee meeting.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
3/6/08
As some Boston Archdiocese schools gear up to close and others find themselves in an ambitious reorganization and consolidation, the Catholic schools in town are thriving.
Principals from both St. Mary of the Hills and St. Agatha schools are optimistic about the future and say it is strong community support and commitment that keeps their students at desks and their schools open.
St. Mary’s
St. Mary’s Pam Vasta, principal of the 400-student St. Mary’s, says one of the reasons why parents seek out her school is because of its diversity.
“We pull students from over 20 communities, and we are 50 percent diverse,” she says. “We teach the Catholic religion, but we accept students of all faiths. I have children who are doctors’ kids and I have children who don’t have anything. I feel like I’m living in the real world.”
Many students come from Brockton, Stoughton and Canton, or from city neighborhoods like Hyde Park, Mattapan and Roslindale.
“I feel the climate in the school is very, very positive,” says Vasta. “It’s obvious, the sense of community. It’s a safe, warm environment.”
In addition, she says PTO support is outstanding and tuition costs are kept down through fundraising efforts.
Once a month, St. Mary’s students attend Mass. Vasta says the addition of a Christian rock band and liturgical dance makes kids “really look forward to going to church.”
St. Mary’s location on Brook Road near Boston is attractive for parents who commute, Vasta says. A before-school program starting at 7:15 a.m. and an after-school program lasting until 5:30 p.m. is another perk for parents and students alike.
Vasta says when the busing controversy hit Boston in the 1970s, enrollment in Catholic schools spiked. But the numbers in schools and parishes have recently been dwindling.
“I just think that there were so many schools (in the region) and resources are limited,” she says. “They want to build stronger, healthier schools and share resources. A lot of schools need repairs and you’re not going to fix up seven or eight schools if they’re not at capacity.”
Vasta says the Archdiocese’s goal of strength for the city schools can already be found at St. Mary’s.
Only 25 percent of the student body is from the parish, according to Assistant Principal Lisa Fasano, and enrollment has remained steady over her 12-year tenure.
“We’ve been stable as long as I’ve been here, and we’ve held onto those unique characteristics throughout those years.”
St. Agatha
In contrast, the St. Agatha School is close to 70 percent parishioners. While the demographics are different than St. Mary’s, Principal Maureen Simmons says the strong bond among the school’s community is the same.
“Not only are we supported by the prayers of our community,” she says. “We have a very strong leader in Father (Peter) Casey. He asked to be assigned to a parish with a school because he believes so much in Catholic education.”
Simmons says many resources that support city schools are not available in the suburbs, but the St. Agatha community steps up.
“As long as we have a parish supporting us, there is no reason to close or merge,” she says.
Enrollment at St. Agatha has been about 450 for the past three years, according to Simmons. She says some students move on—the recent addition of seventh and eighth grade to B.C. High and other schools is one example—but for each student lost, there is always someone new to take their place.
“The reconfiguration of the (Boston) parishes has created a situation where the schools are no longer supported by the parishes but by different communities,” she says. “We’re still very united with our parish.”

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
2/28/08
The School Committee is standing behind its proposed $33.2 million budget for next year despite a request by town officials to spend $1.7 million less.
“I think it’s our responsibility to advocate what we feel is necessary to educate our children,” says Chair Beirne Lovely. “Selectmen and the Warrant Committee can make recommendations until the cows come home, but the decision will be made right here.”
At the Feb. 26 School Committee meeting, Superintendent Magdalene Giffune presented two proposals for how $1.7 million in cuts could be made, but both were rejected by the committee as too severe.
“If we don’t have an override this year then we are going to have to make some extraordinary cuts,” says Lovely.
Giffune’s preferred option would have eliminated five new teaching positions, 12.8 existing department positions, and slashed $200,000 in supplies. The staff cuts included four teachers, two elementary school principals, the middle school assistant principal, the director of facilities, and the assistant superintendent for personnel and curriculum, which is set to be filled by Pierce Principal John Phelan, when Giffune retires at the end of the school year and Assistant Superintendent Mary Gormley becomes superintendent.
“It is my responsibility to present what I think is the best use of a paltry sum,” says Giffune. “My views are going to differ radically from yours…My recommendation is to err on the side of what’s best for kids and not adults.”
The proposal would have reorganized the elementary schools and used the Tucker School for pre-K and kindergarten, Glover for first and second grade, and Collicot/Cunningham for grades three through five.
Giffune says preserving class size and maintaining academic support were the primary goals of her proposal.
“If 1.7 is the margin to avoid an override, it won’t work,” says committee member Glenn Pavlicek.
Committee member Laurie Stillman says any decision on cuts must consider political realities. An override would have less chance of success, she says, if voters were presented an alternative involving cuts to administration and not teachers.
Giffune’s second proposal—at the request of the School Committee—did not reorganize the elementary schools but cut four new teachers, 19.9 existing staff members, and $100,000 in materials and supplies. The option retained the assistant superintendent position, but dropped approximately seven K–8 specialists.
Both options included $100,000 expected to be saved through retirements and an expected $200,000 increase in state aid.
At the request of the Warrant Committee, Giffune created other sets of possible cuts for a budget increase of $300,000, level funding and a five percent reduction.
The Warrant Committee was scheduled to meet on Feb. 27 with the School Committee, and then formulate an initial town budget on March 1 at its annual Saturday budget session.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
2/28/08
Last week’s accident involving an 82-year-old resident crashing through the senior center is once again bringing attention to the state’s lack of regulation for elderly drivers.
No one was injured during the Feb. 19 accident. According to police, the man’s foot slipped off the break and hit the gas pedal while he was pulling into a handicap spot, sending the front of his car through the wall of the building.
A three-foot hole was punched underneath the activity room windows of the building, and stacked chairs were sent flying.
The senior center has been patched up, but supports were damaged and the wall needs to be replaced. Council on Aging Director Mary Ann Sullivan says the damages could be as much as $15,000.
The man will not be charged but police have asked the state to suspend his license, they say.
The incident follows a set of other recent accidents in the region, including the pinning of an 8-year-old girl against her school in Randolph by an 86 year old; a 76-year-old woman who drove into the Hingham post office; and an 89-year-old Taunton man who was killed after driving into oncoming traffic.
In December, an 80-year-old Unquity House resident hit four parked cars from Curtis Road to Blue Hills Parkway. A 97-year-old passenger was taken to Milton Hospital, but was not seriously injured.
“It really hits home,” says Sullivan about the senior center incident. “The system is very flawed.”
Sullivan says she recently saw a RMV employee help a senior cheat on the eye exam, and knows another with Alzheimer’s who had a brand new car delivered after family members intervened and blocked access to her car.
“Driving is a subject no one wants to tackle,” says Sullivan. “Most seniors will say ‘you’re discriminating against us because we’re old.’ Nobody wants to be the bad guy.”
Massachusetts is one of only three states without regulations for senior drivers.
Last fall, Sen. Brian Joyce re-filed a bill introduced more than two years ago that would require drivers aged 85 and older to pass a vision and road test when renewing their driver’s license.
“To me it is common sense,” he says. “Statistics show that while teenage drivers are involved in a lot of accidents, drivers over 85 are almost four times as likely (as a teenager) to get into an accident. We really have a duty to take positive steps to make the roads safer for senior drivers.”
Recent studies by AAA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that as drivers age, their likelihood to be involved in accidents increases.
Some states have more stringent regulations than Joyce is proposing, testing more frequently and at earlier ages, or requiring the input of doctors.
The impact of potential vision problems and deteriorating cognitive and motor skills on the driving ability of seniors will remain an issue, as the number of drivers 65 and older continues to rise as life expectancy increases.
Some states have more stringent regulations than Joyce is proposing, testing more frequently and at earlier ages, or requiring the input of doctors.
The impact of potential vision problems and deteriorating cognitive and motor skills on the driving ability of seniors will remain an issue, as the number of drivers 65 and older continues to rise as life expectancy increases.
Sen. Joyce says his legislation would be “a very modest first step” in addressing these concerns.
“Some say that 85 is too late, but let’s do something,” he says.
Sullivan says she is an advocate for seniors, and that includes backing new driving regulations despite the heat she takes for her stance.
“If an 82-year-old man kills someone, he will have to live with it for the rest of his life,” she says. “It’s easier to adjust to not driving. It’s such a part of how you maintain your independence as you age, but we have to look at it with a more realistic approach.”
“I’m fully cognizant of the real concern of many seniors to remain independent, and the overwhelming number of drivers are safe, and can and should remain driving,” says Joyce. “Yet there is a group that shouldn’t. The reality is our skills diminish with age. Diabetes, strokes or medicine can slow reaction times.”
Parents and doctors should also be more responsible for senior drivers, says Sullivan, though she admits telling seniors to stop driving is almost as tough as placing them in an assisted living residence.
“Why not test?” says senior Natalie Albers. “Other states do. I think it’s a very good idea. We have so many accidents, it’s foolish not to.”
Mary-Ann Trupe, a senior, disagrees.
“A general, across-the-board testing is absolutely discriminating,” she says. “I think the laws should be more stringent for the teens. With their lack of experience, they need more training.”
Gov. Deval Patrick recently expressed support for new regulations, and Joyce hopes to get his bill out of the Joint Committee on Transportation—of which he recently became assistant chair—in the spring.
“When I have an opportunity to discuss it,” he says. “People come around.”

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
01/31/08
A public meeting last week presenting plans to build the new animal shelter at the DPW yard brought more questions than answers as residents expressed concerns about the move and the future of the yard and the town farm.
Town Administrator Kevin Mearn, Planning Director Bill Clark and DPW Director Walter Heller presided over the tense meeting proposing the Randolph Avenue location for the Milton Animal League’s (MAL) new $2.5 million shelter. The current building on Gov. Stoughton Lane at the town farm is deteriorating.
There were few questions about the details of the new shelter, but many about the intention to move it and future possibilities for the DPW yard and the town farm.
Neighbors near the DPW yard fear development on Randolph Avenue due to property owned by Milton Centre LLC, which unsuccessfully proposed a shopping center for the area two years ago.
Mearn said Heller could soon start a feasibility study to fix up the DPW yard, and that the shelter would act as an “anchor” to help assure that the DPW yard remains a town facility.
“My sense is that the DPW yard will remain a DPW yard for a very long time,” he said.
“The (proposed animal shelter) land doesn’t involve any of the Milton Centre LLC land,” said resident Richard Shea.
“I think it enhances the opportunity for a mall to come in,” said resident Gene Irwin.
Residents of Indian Cliffs, which borders the town farm are wary of new development in their neighborhood, too.
The attendees supported a new animal shelter, but by a show of hands were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping it at its current location. Some questioned why Selectmen, who will make the decision on the shelter’s location, did not attend the meeting. Others were upset that additional locations, such as the access road to the old dump were not presented to the public for consideration.
“If you’re talking about the pros and cons of this property (DPW yard), you should talk about the pros and cons of other pieces of town property,” said resident Ella Welz.
“It’s difficult,” said MAL President Nancy Bersani. “Literally, the building will fall apart. I fought to stay there, but had to come to the realization that we don’t have the luxury of time to stay there.”
“As it is, we can’t stay where we are,” said Erica DeMarco of MAL. “If people want it to stay, they need to get the right people to make it happen.”
The 32-acre town farm—Gov. Stoughton trust property—must be used for “the poor” of Milton, according to Stoughton’s will. Selectmen are the trustees of the property, and any use of the land must receive the blessing of the attorney general and approval in court.
Officials have met with Assistant Attorney General Johanna Soris and say she will only support a new animal shelter at the site if the town presents a plan for using the rest of the property. Soris’ comments are not in writing.
Selectmen are in the process of forming a committee to study possibilities for the town farm.
“It sounds like something is afoot,” said resident Kevin Burke. “It’s suspicious. Please be careful. People are very, very wary.”
Bob Sweeney, Indian Cliffs Neighborhood Association president, questioned why a proposal for a new school at the town farm went through Town Meeting in 2000. (The plan was later dropped in favor of rehabilitating existing buildings.)
“We approved a plan with no legal questions asked,” he said. “Why can you build an 80,000 square-foot school, but not a new animal shelter?”
After residents requested, Mearn said he would ask for a written opinion from the attorney general’s office.
Others suggested the town take a portion of the town farm by eminent domain or that Selectmen, as trustees, donate part of it to the town.
“The trustees have let (MAL) stay there for 30 years, now all of a sudden things change?” asked Shea. “Selectmen want to kick (MAL) out because the value of the land is more without (the shelter) there…It’s all planned and its all connected. It’s the behind the scenes stuff that’s disappointing.”
The proposed 8,100 square foot shelter, which will be paid for by donations, is about three times larger than the current building. It will hold the same number of animals as the current building, is designed to suppress noise, and will have a ventilation system that eliminates the need to open windows.
The building will have separate spaces for new animals and sick animals, and room for training sessions. MAL will cover all construction costs, though the facility will be owned and maintained by the town.
The old shelter is too small, and has problems with cages, ventilation, heating and mice.
The next public meeting on the proposal will be Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. in the senior center.

By Nate Leskovic
Staff Writer
01/31/08
The ballots for the Tuesday, Feb. 5, presidential primary are ready for marking as Massachusetts takes part in the “Super-Duper Tuesday” battle.
Voters will get to weigh-in on their preferred candidate in either the Democratic, Green-Rainbow and Republican party. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (see page four).
The Democratic candidates are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The Republican candidates are John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
The Green-Rainbow candidates are Jared Ball, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, Ralph Nader and Kat Swift.
Some on the ballot have already left the race. For the Democrats, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson are no longer running.
Green-Rainbow candidate Elaine Brown and Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter have dropped out.
Independents can vote in any party’s primary. This is the first year they do not have to fill out a “change card” after voting to rescind a de-facto registration with the party whose primary they voted in.
In addition to the presidential race, voters will pick members of the Democratic and Republican Town and State Committees, which work to promote the interests of the parties and back candidates.
Alex Goldstein, communications director for the state’s Democratic Party, says the state committee meets five or six times a year. “They’re essentially the board for the Democratic Party,” he says. “They serve as activists for major party initiatives.” Twenty-five Democrats and 35 Republicans will be picked for their respective committees. There are an equal number of candidates for available slots. One man and one woman are chosen from each senatorial district in both parties for the state committees. The Republican State Committee has one candidate per slot—Mimi Sundstrom of Milton and James Aldred from Randolph. The Democratic State Committee has one woman candidate, Marilyn Sullivan of Milton. Donald Falvey of Milton, Steven Fradkin of Stoughton and Barnas Monteith of Randolph are running for Democrat ic State Committee Man from the Norfolk and Suffolk District.

By Jon Prestage
Editor
01/31/08
The group Sustainable Milton is immersed in an effort that it calls the “Milton Solar Challenge” that could net a four-kilowatt solar panel array worth nearly $50,000 to offset electricity costs of a town building or school.
The challenge requires that the group gather 300 families by April 30 willing to join the New England Wind Fund by donating either $5 a month for a year ($60) or providing a one-time $100 payment to the fund, which is a non-profit organization offering financial support for wind development projects throughout the region.
As part of the Sustainable Milton campaign, approximately 100 residents showed up on a recent Saturday to take a closer look at David DeSantis’ home, which, when it was built five years ago, was much like any other house in town. Since then, DeSantis, a real estate developer, has installed a range of cutting-edge “green” features that make the home one of the more energy-efficient in town. A 10-kilowatt voltaic solar panel system provides enough electricity to make the home electricity independent. The family’s two vehicles currently run on biodiesel or recycled vegetable oil. Compact fluorescent lighting is used throughout the home. The house is extensively insulated, and before the end of the year DeSantis plans to install a 3.7 kilowatt wind turbine to power two electric vehicles that he hopes to acquire when they become available.
DeSantis is serious about energy efficiency, and he thanks Al Gore and his film, An Inconvenient Truth for his commitment to dramatically cut his energy usage.
“It’s just good citizenship,” he says. “After seeing the film I had a long talk with my son and we figured the best way was to do these things was to do it ourselves and then try to share our knowledge with others.” He also visited Amazon.com and ordered numerous copies of the film, which he then sent to friends.
The renovations to his home have cost DeSantis approximately $48,000 but he expects them to pay for themselves in less than 10 years, especially if energy costs continue to skyrocket. “There are lots of large companies out there that don’t want people to know that there are things they can readily do to cut their energy use. We can save our planet and save ourselves money at the same time,” he says. “It’s just a matter of educating ourselves. We need to realize that other people in the world do not consume energy like we do.” The International Energy Agency, which monitors energy usage worldwide reports that the United States consumed nearly 25 percent of the world’s energy in 1999, a total of nearly two billion metric tons of oil equivalent, while the entire world consumed less than eight billion metric tons. Daryl Warner, a member of Sustainable Milton and an independent television producer explained that the Gore film influenced him greatly, along with the cost of heating oil. “The film had a huge impact on me. We have to change our ways, but people often don’t know what they can do or that they can do anything. We need to help them to realize that there’s a lot they can do.” Laurie Macintosh, who founded Sustainable Milton 15 months ago is leading the solar challenge. She says the time is right for Milton to join other towns involved in the challenge, including Boston, Cambridge, and Newton. She says that the 110 members of Sustainable Milton have begun a grassroots campaign to reach 300 families by the April 30 deadline. “We know we can do this,” she says. As an incentive, the organization is offering those who join by Feb. 15 a chance to win a free one-week vacation in Hawaii. The vacation includes a private condo on the island of Kauai that sleeps six, roundtrip airfare from Boston for two, limousine service to Logan Airport, and offsets from Mass Energy to defray the CO2 from the flights. For information on the challenge and the Hawaiian vacation, visit www.SustainableMilton.org.