a 12 town accepting sealed bids for...
TRANSCRIPT
BY KEITH KENTCOURIER CORRESPONDENT
WINCHENDON — The most recent meeting of the School Committee was a very informa-tive as MMHS Principal Josh Romano explained the current 2016 high school MCAS scores, and district director of pupil services Kristina Mecelicaite updated members on the cur-rent assessment with the state.
Romano first provided com-mittee members with an MCAS presentation providing a four year spread representing both
English language arts and math, and a breakdown of each regarding advanced, proficient, needs improvement, and fail-ure.
Explaining there has been a consistent trend over the last four years, 95 percent of stu-dents passed with only two fail-ing in the 2016 ELA-MCAS, with number of Advanced in ELA slightly dropping to just two less than the previous year.
Romano emphasized, “As it is such a small pool of people, a small change can have a big
impact on the numbers.” Romano further explained
the big areas are advanced, pro-ficient, or total passed, and a total of 96 percent of students had passed.
For math, Romano was pleased to announce more than one-third of students who took the MCAS test placed in the advanced category. A total of four students failed to pass the test. The advanced and profi-cient portion of students togeth-er was up to 61 percent with the total passing at 93 percent.
In the category of MCAS biology, Romano was please to say scores were significant-ly improved, especially in advanced and the proficient areas.
“Our advanced and proficient areas combined went from 53 percent in 2015, to 62 percent in 2016, with the total passed increasing from 87 percent up to 90. Now there is still a big win-dow there to bring these kids from needs improvement up to proficient, and that’s where I think we are going to get a lot of
our improvement scores from,” explained Romano.
Romano then moved on to the “composite performance index.” Romano explained to committee members, “The school receives a score for each student based on their individu-al MCAS scores. A student who receives a proficient or advance receives a 100. A high needs improvement is worth 75 points, and a low needs improvement is worth 50, a high failing is worth 25 points, and a low failing score
(978) 297-0050 • www.winchendoncourier.com Newsstand: 75 cents Friday, december 9, 2016
6 56525 10431 2
LOCALLucy’s Love Bus makes
stop at Monty Tech
PAGE 2
SPORTSLady Devils fielding young
team on the boards
PAGE 8
BY JERRY CARTONCOURIER CORRESPONDENT
WINCHENDON — More than 80-percent of Murdock High School’s prospective grad-uating class of 2017 applied to college before Dec. 1 and that’s a number guidance counsel-ors Rachel Weinhold and Mary Ann Borsky can’t recall having been previously matched .
Last month, on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving vacation, Murdock joined other schools
in a nationwide drive to encour-age early applications and “the results speak for themselves,” said an encouraged Weinhold.
“Some of them had already sent applications in but we were happy to see others tak-ing advantage and doing it” that week, she added.
Plenty of students opted to apply to Mount Wachusett Community College.
“That’s a good place for a lot of them to start. Not everyone knows what they want to major
in right away and if they’re looking past undergraduate degrees to graduate school, the Mount can save them a lot of money,” Weinhold said.
“You realistically need a graduate degree in a lot of fields now,” added Borsky, not-ing, “it used to be you could do well with just an under-graduate degree but that’s not always the case anymore, so we understand why starting at the Mount makes financial
Turn To COLLEGE page A12
WINCHENDON — Two local businesses were targeted for problems by the Board of Health after receiving numer-ous complaints; though not every business located in the downtown plaza has been affected by the rodent prob-lems. Both the Family Dollar and the Central IGA have been targeted and were the topic of the public hearing, but two other active businesses, both Subway and Pattie’s Jewelry, have not any problems at all.
“It stinks to high heaven,” is how Winchendon resident Cindy Cloutier described her last visit to the Family Dollar store on Central Street during the public hearing Monday night. She expressed concern over the health of patrons and employees of the business. The Board of Health scheduled the hearing after receiving com-plaints about rodent droppings in the food aisles of the dis-count store.
There was no representative of Family Dollar in attendance at the public hearing.
Health agent Jim Abare said two pest control companies were at Family Dollar Monday, setting traps in the building and bait outside the store. Due to the lack of any rodents in traps that were recently set, the companies, according to Abare, determined there hadn’t been any rodent activity in the store for a couple of weeks. He also noted the company had hired
a sanitation company to try and track down the source of the odor.
Cloutier, an employee of Central Supermarket IGA, said some rodents had made into the grocery store, which occupies space next to Family Dollar in the same building.
“There’s no firewall between them and us,” she said, “so what affects them affects us.”
Cloutier recounted an incident when a rodent fell through a ceiling tile and onto another employee at Central Supermarket.
“She’s not there anymore. If that had happened to me I would have been out of there so fast. I hate rats.”
Cloutier and Abare both wondered if the rodents could be coming in on trucks bring-ing products from a central dis-tribution warehouse.
“I’ve heard of other Family Dollars being closed because of the same problem,” Cloutier said.
Board of Health Vice Chairman Jason Moury said a recent search on line revealed that numerous Family Dollars across the country had been shut down due to rodent prob-lems.
A Google search reveals nearly two dozen news reports of Family Dollar stores being closed, from Missouri to Florida, to Maryland and Massachusetts.
BY KEITH KENTCOURIER CORRESPONDENT
WINCHENDON — The DPW is currently accepting sealed bids on 15 surplus items rang-ing from a large 1993 Michigan loader to previously used vehi-cles and other miscellaneous pieces of equipment.
Items up for sealed bidding with a clear Massachusetts title are a 2003 Ford Windstar, 2000 Ford Explorer utility, 2003 Ford F-350 truck, 1998 Chevrolet K-1500 pickup, 2000 Ford Ranger pickup, and a 1987 sewer jet model 600 EMS tank.
Items for sale which do not have a title at this time and are listed as “bill of sale & parts only” are 1987 Ford E-350 minibus, a Chevrolet 3500
bucket truck, and a large 1993 Michigan loader.
All other miscellaneous items up for bid are two used 11-foot plows, one used 8-foot plow, 10 assorted sweeper brooms, an S-10 fiberglass cap, a tow behind broom, and a tow behind roller. All items are sold on an “as is” and “where is” basis with no warranties.
DPW Director Al Gallant explained, “If the money to originally purchase an time came from the enterprise fund, such as from sewer or water, the money from the sale of that item will go back to that fund. If it was purchased by the town, the funds raised from the sale would go back in to the general fund. The town
BY KEITH KENTCOURIER CORRESPONDENT
RINDGE — After expe-riencing a strong pub experience in the Pacific Northwest, Tera Miller and husband Clark have decid-ed to go all-in and take the plunge of going in to busi-ness for themselves. Enter Emma’s 321 Pub & Kitchen, a new area option for din-ing and eating out in a very familiar location.
Formerly, and most recent-ly know as J.P. Stevens, Emma’s 321 name is unique from the start. Named after the Miller’s late and much loved golden retriever Emma, who was well known for often visiting some of Seattle’s vibrant pubs, the name Emma’s 321 is a cre-ative combination including the combination of the two closest highway designa-tions: 202 and 119. Combine the totals of the two numbers with the name and you have Emma’s 321.
Clark Miller explained, “My wife Tera was a corpo-
rate manager for Red Robin and has had many years of managerial experience since her late teens mostly out in Seattle. While I am from here, we both lived out there for years, and we moved back to the east coast five years ago this past February.”
Both Tera and Clark have plenty of managerial and sales experience going into the creation of Emma’s 321. Clark Miller moved to Seattle in 1992, and previously was a sales manager for Malden Mills. Following up his expe-rience, Clark earn a graduate degree at the University of Washington, then worked as a specialty buyer for Whole Foods Corp for a number of years in area of cheese, beer, and wine purchasing and acquisition.
Clark said, “As Tera had worked as a general manager for Red Robin for many years, and my family is here, Tera took a position in Nashua, NH as the assistant GM and eventually became their GM. We were approached by the prior owner before the last
establishment closed here in Rindge, and Tera, wanting to work closer to home, we put together a business plan and here we are!”
The Millers quickly adding their own touch, brightened up the facility and changed the color; then opened things up; reducing the number of seats from 250 to roughly 125. There is now more floor space, the addition of some raised stand by side tables, six televisions, and even two pool tables. Clark happily said with a smile, “Tera han-dles the front end and other things, and I take care of the books and other duties on the back side.”
The menu offers plenty of diversity and choice. While being a pub style establish-ment, there is a selection of 10 small plates ranging from cornmeal crushed cal-amari, Mozzarella meatballs, nachos, and more. Other pub fare includes five kinds of salads with the addition of chicken, shrimp, salmon, or
Turn To EMMA’S 321 page A9
Turn To RATS page A9
Turn To SCHOOL page A12
Turn To SURPLUS page A9
District reviews MCAS and school assessment
Keith Kent photo
Emma’s 321 is now open and welcomes new diners
Area welcomes Emma’s 321 Pub & Kitchen
Town accepting sealed bids for
surplus
BOH: issues at two local businesses
College applications up at Murdock
Winchendon courier 2
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Friday, December 9, 2016
Lucy’s Love Bus makes stop at Monty TechFITCHBURG — According to health
professionals, childhood cancer is up 29 percent, and of the $5 billion the federal government spends annually on cancer research, only 3.8 percent is allocated to childhood cancer.
Beecher Grogan, whose daughter Lucy died at the age of 11 after a four-year struggle with cancer, was outraged by those bleak statistics, so she battled through her grief and sorrow to help change the lives of children living with and dying from the ravages of child-hood cancer.
Grogan now serves as co-founder and executive director of Lucy’s Love Bus, a nonprofit her daughter started in 2006 right before she died.
Grogan told the early childhood edu-cation students at Monty Tech recently, that by working to help other children with cancer, she was able to heal. “I couldn’t do anything else for Lucy, she was dead. But, there was a lot I could do to help other children battling the disease.”
Her powerful and moving presenta-tion included pictures of her late daugh-ter and other patients. Some have been cured and are living full and active lives, and some lost their battle against the disease.
The organization aims to deliver comfort and quality of life to children with cancer. Lucy’s Love Bus provides funding and referrals for any form of
integrative therapy to children in New England with cancer or children who are living with late effects of cancer treatment.
“Our mission is to improve the qual-ity of life for sick children through non-invasive, gentle therapies that sup-port the child’s emotional and physical well being,” Grogan said.
Lucy Grogan was eight when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leu-kemia. During her four years of treat-ment, Lucy was helped through the healing benefits of therapies, such as massage, yoga, art therapy, acupunc-ture, acupressure, chiropractic care, Reiki, swimming, therapeutic horse-back riding, meditation, gymnastics, Tai Chi, nutritional counseling and music therapy, Grogan explained.
Through donations, Lucy’s Love Bus is able to provide children, up to the age of 21, with $500 to $1,000 worth of free integrative therapies. To date, a total of 1,000 patients from throughout New England have benefitted from the services offered.
Grogan brings her message of hope and empowerment to schoolchildren in grades four through 12. She modi-fies her presentation for different age groups.
“Children know about cancer, and they are empowered when they are invited to work together through their school, place of worship or group, to
raise funds for a child in need. Our life-changing programs teach students about the power of activism, philan-thropy and community involvement,” said Grogan, who is a direct descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Connecticut abolitionist and author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
By selling lollipops and bracelets during school lunches and bubbles at
graduation, the early childhood educa-tion students have donated over $600 to the organization in the past two years. Last year, the students’ efforts made it possible from a Fitchburg boy to receive holistic therapies. They are continuing their fundraising efforts this year and plan to “adopt” another patient, accord-ing to their teacher, Karla Boudreau.
Courtesy photo
Beecher Grogan, co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Lucy’s Love Bus, speaks to students in the early childhood education program at Monty Tech.
The holidays will be brighter this year for local children in fos-ter care thanks to the efforts of a group of students at Monty Tech. Through the Youth Venture ini-tiative, students were awarded a grant from United Way to sponsor a run/walk last spring to raise funds for local foster children in the care of the North Central Area office of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, located in Leominster. The students’ efforts netted $2,548, which will be used to help bring cheer to about 300 local foster children who attended DCF’s annual Christmas party held Dec. 3 at Leominster High School. The
Monty Tech funds made it possible for each child to make their own stuffed animal. Jennifer Greene of DCF’s North Central Area Office (left) was at Monty Tech recently to accept the check and thank the stu-dents for their hard work and gen-erosity. Also in photo are Amanda Kelly, social studies teacher and former Youth Venture adviser, and juniors Kayli Hultman of Barre, and Julia Cormier of Ashburnham. Missing from photo are sophomore Samantha Adams of Winchendon and Isaiah Aponte of Gardner, who graduated last spring.
Courtesy photo
Making the season brighter
Kitty Korner
Colby is such a sweet, gentle cat that loves attention. He is very easy going and laid back.
Colby has been examined by a vet-erinarian, neutered, vaccinated and micro-chipped.
If you would like to meet him, A Better Tomorrow Shelter for Cats, 202 Central St., is open Wednesday 6-8 p.m., Saturday noon-2
p.m., and by appointment. For an adoption application, please visit www.shelterforcats.org or call (774) 641-1271.
Staff photo
HUZZAH AND HURRAYIt is always a good thing to get into the spirit of things. So when the turkeys,
the Native Americans, the Blue Devil AND the school’s favorite principal all joined in to salute the team on pep rally day, it was sure to be a winner when it was the day before Thanksgiving.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9NO TUMMY SHOULD BE
EMPTY: Cub Scout Pack 193 will be hosting our fifth annu-al Community Movie Night at Memorial Elementary’s cafete-ria on Friday, Dec. 9 beginning at 6 p.m. We will be showing the classic Home Alone and refreshments will be available for purchase. Bring a blan-ket and wear your jammies to enjoy a fun filled Movie Night and get a chance to visit with Santa himself after the movie! In place of admission, we ask that each person bring a non-perishable food item. All donations will benefit the Winchendon CAC Food Pantry.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10TEA AT THE MURDOCK-
WHITNEY HOUSE: take a break from the scurry of shop-ping for a bit of tea and nosh at the Winchendon History and Cultural Center’s two muse-ums from 1-4 p.m. The first floor of each house will be dec-orated, and tea will be served buffet style at the Murdock-Whitney House while the best of the best table settings from last weekend’s Winterfest will be on display at the Isaac Morse House. Enjoy both, visit the gift shop and stop for a few moments of music by the Monadnock Flutes.
FIRE DEPARTMENT TOY DRIVE: the final day of the Winchendon Fire Department toy drive is today. Bring an unwrapped new toy to the sta-tion on Central Street at 1 p.m. Boxes have been around town for the collection since last month, today marks the end of the drive. All toys collected will be part of a better Christmas in cooperation with local church-es and the CAC.
OPEN HOUSE: Join us for a festive Holiday Open House at A Better Tomorrow Shelter for Cats, 202 Central St. on Dec. 10, from noon-3 p.m. There will be refreshments and an opportunity for people to help
stuff their favorite shelter cat’s stocking with cash or toys. We will have a variety of items for sale including shelter calen-dars, sweatshirts and a raffle of all natural Perfectly Posh body care products valued at $200.
SKATE CLUBWinchendon Skate Club
invites all ice skaters to join our club. We skate from 8-10 a.m. every Saturday at the Winchendon School on Ash Street.The 2016-17 season is right around the corner. The Winchendon Skate Club pro-vides educational lessons that teach proper techniques. We offer learn to skate programs for beginners of ice skating and hockey. Find us on Facebook-Winchendon Skate Club or [email protected].
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13COOKIE DECORATING:
You are invited to the annual Winchendon SEPAC Holiday cookie swap and decorating party 6 p.m. at Ipswich Drive Community Center. Childcare is available for workshops but you must RSVP to [email protected] or call the Special Ed office at (978) 297-1850.
LEARN: Computer class-es for adults are offered on Tuesday afternoons from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at Beals Memorial Library and are open to adults ages 18 and older.
CRAFT FOR ADULTS: On Tuesday nights at 6:30 Beals Memorial Library has an adult craft hour providing a place to meet and do crafts. People bring in things they are work-ing on, and can get help on knitting, crocheting, quilting and discuss different ideas.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14
BINGO! Hyde Park residents hold bingo in the community hall every Wednesday night beginning at 6 p.m. It’s inex-pensive, just two cards for 5¢, and the community is invited!
Anyone over the age of 50 is welcome to join in. We’d love to have more players.
TOY TOWN CONCERT: the winter concert of the band and chorus at Toy Town Elementary School is sched-uled at 6 p.m. TTES will carol at Broadview on Dec. 13 and present the concert at the Old Murdock Senior Center on Dec. 15.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15GARDEN CLUB: The
Winchendon Garden Club meetings are held at 1 p.m. on the 3rd Thursday of the month from April to December at the Ipswich Drive communi-ty building. New members are always welcome. For more info please call Lorraine 978-297-1760.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17FREE GIFT WRAPPING:
The Murdock High School cheerleaders are planning a community service project Saturday, Dec. 17. The commu-nity can bring in their holiday gifts and have them wrapped for free by the cheerleaders at the Crafty Cauldron classroom, 89 Central St. It will be all day, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The event will have its own entrance, so it’s completely separate from the store. There will also be a small bake sale in which the proceeds will go towards buy-ing new uniforms.
CHRISTMAS CANTATA: presented by the United Parish is scheduled at Old Murdock Senior Center at 2 p.m. Free and open to the public.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18CHRISTMAS CANTATA:
at the United Parish, 35 Front St., followed by luncheon and a children’s party beginning at 10 a.m.
COMMUNITY CAROLING: meet at the United Parish Church, 35 Front St. beginning at 3 p.m.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20HOLIDAY CONCERT:
Murdock Middle-High School
winter choral concert at 6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21
HOLIDAY CONCERT: the Murdock Middle-High School winter band concert is at 6:30 p.m.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22OUR NEIGHBOR’S
KITCHEN: Our Neighbor’s Kitchen, Winchendon’s Community Supper, is served on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 5:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Winchendon, 126 Central St. The December meals for Our Neighbor’s Kitchen are:
Thursday, Dec. 22: Beef Burgundy Christmas Dinner with sides and dessert
Our Neighbor’s Kitchen meals are cooked homestyle from fresh ingredients. We’re supported by voluntary dona-tions at the door, contributions from Winchendon churches and organizations, and many hard-working volunteers.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24LIVING NATIVITY: at the
Clark Memorial YMCA, pre-sented by the United Parish beginning at 6:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31ROCKING NEW YEAR’S
EVE: the party is back at the American Legion Post 193, 295 School St. beginning at 8 p.m. Sponsored by the Knights of the Inferno, the band Rock House will provide music as Toy Town rocks in the new year. Raffles and surprises too. Tickets are already on sale at the Legion and at To Each His Own Design.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12OUR NEIGHBOR’S
KITCHEN: Our Neighbor’s Kitchen, Winchendon’s Community Supper, is served on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 5:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Winchendon, 126 Central St.
The December meals for Our Neighbor’s Kitchen are:
Our Neighbor’s Kitchen meals are cooked homestyle from fresh ingredients. We’re supported by voluntary dona-tions at the door, contributions from Winchendon churches and organizations, and many hard-working volunteers.
BOOK DISCUSSION: Beals Memorial Library has a book club that meets at 5:45 p.m. the second Thursday each month, the next meeting is Thursday Dec. 8. Books are available at the library.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14ANNUAL BONFIRE: the
American Legion will be the site of the bonfire of Christmas trees and wreathes beginning at 5 p.m. A chicken barbecue is planned as well. A drop off point for trees and decora-tions will be designated in the parking lot; leave yours after the holidays then come watch them go up in flames! More information will be forthcom-ing.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29OPEN MIC: at the American
Legion Post 193, 295 School St. Beginning at 9 p.m. Like to sing? Play an instrument? Willing to jam with a few other musicians? Then come on down and join us at the lower level. Always a good time. Open to everyone! Non-smoking venue.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3LIONS MEAT RAFFLE:
the annual breakout bash is planned with meat galore! Come take a chance on win-ning a nice roast, pork loin or roasting chicken for a long winter’s night. Fun starts at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post 193, 295 School St. Always other raffles and surprises too.
FRIDAY, MARCH 3GREASE IS THE WORD:
Murdock High School presents the musical Grease beginning tonight at 7 p.m.
Winchendon courier 3 Friday, December 9, 2016
The Winchendon Courier is commit-ted to accuracy in all its news reports. Although numerous safeguards are in place to ensure accurate reporting, mistakes can occur. Confirmed fact errors will be corrected at the top right hand corner of page three in a timely manner. If you find a mis-take, call (978) 297-0050 during normal business hours. During non-business hours, leave a message in the editor’s voice mailbox. The editor will return your phone call. Or contact the edi-tor at the following email: [email protected].
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CLYDE’S CORNER
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American Legion treasurer Scott Gauthier and his appointed partner former treasurer Dave Johnson were kept busy keeping track of the funds at a recent meat raffle. Who else would keep them on their toes but American Legion Commander Franco O’Malley, looking over their shoulders of course and making sure he got into the photo. The funds raised are used for scholarships and for helping Winchendon’s veteran population.
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Winchendon courier 4 Friday, December 9, 2016
The ‘real’ rigging
Perhaps you remember. During the campaign, Donald Trump, who presumably assumed he was losing, consis-tently, and I mean every day, assailed what he repeatedly called the “rigged” national electoral process and never mind that you can’t rig a national election because we don’t have a national election. Inconvenient fact but there it is.
Ironically, though, Trump had the right idea even though not in the way he meant. We do in fact, have a very rigged electoral system and it didn’t just happen on November 8, either and it affects everything from voting for President to
voting for local school boards. The worst part? It’s been forev-er woven into the fabric of our history, from the moment the Founders excluded everyone other than land-owning white men from the voting populace.
Prior to, and for a very long time after, the Civil War, the Democrats were the conser-vative, pro-slavery party. The Republicans were the progressive one. It was the Democrats, especially follow-ing Reconstruction, who were doing everything they could to suppress the vote by making it incredibly hard both to reg-ister and then to cast ballots. The KKK had its nasty hand in that. The “Solid South” was indeed solid on every level — very conservative and almost entirely white when it came to who could vote.
Gradually, of course, the par-ties began to shift ideologies. Women gained suffrage, less than a century ago I might add. A half century ago the Voting Rights Act, which grew out of the racial violence in the
South, paved the way for more people to be able to register and vote, a historic victory forged in blood and yes, death.
Then came this century. Progressive voters didn’t show up for mid-term elections so yes, to those who share my ide-ology, a lot of the blame for this is on you. The Republicans, now the conservative and all too often racist party, took con-trol of state legislatures and began passing onerous mea-sures explicitly designed to limit the vote — eliminating polling places, cutting voting hours, suddenly becoming re-enamored with voter ID (had they been able, I’m sure they’d have resurrected Jim Crow laws and poll taxes) and on top of that they had that one vote majority on the Supreme Court which eviscerated the key por-tions of the Voting Rights Act, especially the part about feder-al oversight.
Given these and the inexpli-cable failure of progressive/lib-erals to vote in mid-terms, this is now where we are. You’ll
notice it’s only, again, only, conservative Republican legis-latures who want to make it harder to register, harder to vote. Look at the states where this is happening. Since they can’t document actual voter fraud, mostly because it pretty much doesn’t exist, they’ll do whatever else they think they can get away with to manipu-late the outcomes of elections on every level.
This is because they are afraid. They are afraid of inclu-siveness. They are afraid of tolerance. They are afraid of a society that looks nothing like the way they want it to look. They are afraid of sci-ence and facts and logic and rationality and reason. True, they won the presidential elec-tion but that is because of the Electoral College, which was established only because the Founders didn’t have much use for direct democracy either and while the presidency is the only office whose occupant is decided that way, efforts to suppress voting reverberate up
and down the ballot. If there are barriers for an African-American or Latino living in, say, Amarillo, TX to easily reg-ister because they don’t have a driver’s license and if what used to be a polling place three blocks away has been shut-tered, therefore requiring them to travel an hour (not-so-hypo-thetically-either) which in turn makes it hard for them to vote for school committee, is that what we want in our supposed democracy? That is in fact exactly what a lot of these state legislators want. They want a white, “Christian” nation (just ask them or simply turn on the news these days) and you can bet the voting laws they’ve passed have impacted a hell of a lot of elections.
None of this is okay. All of this presents a direct threat to the legitimacy of our electoral system. When you’re making rules designed to make it hard to vote, you’re an electoral anarchist and that is one more reason to fear for the future. Holiday season indeed.
Giving season…No matter if it is the
Festival of Trees at the Gardner Museum, see-ing toy donation boxes fill up for children and families who are less fortunate at local estab-lishments, or donations being made to the local CAC or Salvation Army red kettle drives, if there is one thing which is for sure it is that the holidays truly bring out some of the best qualities in people.
Upon visiting the recent Festival of
Trees, there was nearly no end to the bountiful donations to help raise funds for such a great cause, a local museum. People brought them all, trees big and small. Green trees, white trees, thin and fat, trees full of everything from Red Sox memorabilia, gift certif-
icates, and even scratch cards, to this and that. You could pretty much name it and it could have been found, hanging on dozens of trees, both upstairs and
down. Back home in Winchendon, toy boxes
for the less fortunate, providing us with a chance to find a way to give back and make a positive difference in the life of a young person, are scattered all over town. Currently they are at CVS, Smith’s Country Cheese, Family Dollar, Not Just Produced and the Broadview Assisted Living Center. Our ever vigi-lant members of the WFD and the Boy Scouts place the boxes and will then pick them up and deliver their con-tents to the local CAC. Get your dona-tions in this weekend if you can, as the
ones for the WFD are being picked up and delivered to the CAC on Monday, Dec. 12. Please remember, even some-thing as simple as a $1 Hot Wheels car which may not seem like much to us, can mean the world to a child when wrapped under the tree.
How about the CAC. Lots of good people donating time to try to help peo-ple such as those who may be on fixed incomes, of poor health, or just lost a job. There are countless reasons why any person could be down on their luck. Donating food or money to the local
VIEWSOpinion and commentary from Winchendon and beyond
Editorial
Don’t throw the baby out...
WinchEndon couriErPresident/Publisher: Frank Chilinski
editor: ruth deamiCis
“We Americans are the ultimate inno-cents. We are forever desperate to believe that this time the gov-ernment is telling us the truth.”—Former New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg
Let’s talk about fake news stories, shall we?
There’s the garden variety fake news that is not really “news” so much as it is titillating, tabloid-worthy materi-al peddled by anyone with a Twitter account, a Facebook page and an active imagination.
Anyone with an ounce of sense and access to the Internet should be able to ferret out the truth and lies in these stories with some basic research. That these stories flourish is largely owing to the general gullibility, laziness and media illiteracy of the general public, which through its learned compliance rarely questions, challenges or con-fronts.
Then there’s the more devious kind of news stories circulated by one of the biggest propagators of fake news: the U.S. government.
In the midst of the media’s sudden headline-blaring apoplexy over fake news, you won’t hear much about the government’s role in producing, plant-ing and peddling propaganda-driven fake news — often with the help of the corporate news media — because that’s not how the game works.
Why?Because the powers-that-be don’t
want us skeptical of the government’s message or its corporate accomplices in the mainstream media. They don’t want us to be more discerning when it comes to what information we digest online. They just want us to be leery of indepen-dent or alternative news sources while trusting them — and their corporate colleagues — to vet the news for us.
Indeed, the New York Times has sug-gested Facebook and Google appoint themselves the arbiters of truth on the internet in order to screen out what is blatantly false, spam or click-baity.
Not only would this establish a dan-gerous precedent for all-out censor-ship but it’s also a slick sleight-of-hand maneuver that diverts attention from what we should really be talking about: the fact the government has grown dan-gerously out-of-control, all the while
the so-called main-stream news media, which is supposed to act as a bulwark against government propagan-da, has instead become the mouthpiece of the world’s largest corpora-tion — the U.S. govern-ment.
Veteran journalist Carl Bernstein, who along with Bob Woodward blew the lid off the Watergate scandal, exposed the media’s collusion with the government in his expansive 1977 Rolling Stone piece, “The CIA and the Media.”
As part of the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird, started in the 1950s, intel-ligence reports were planted among reporters at more than 25 major news-papers and wire agencies, who would then regurgitate them for a public obliv-ious to the fact they were being fed gov-ernment propaganda.
In some instances, as Bernstein shows, members of the media also served as extensions of the surveillance state, with reporters actually carrying out assignments for the CIA. Executives with most of the major news outlets including CBS, the New York Times and Time magazine also worked closely with the CIA to vet the news.
For example, in August 1964, the nation’s leading newspapers — includ-ing the Washington Post and New York Times — echoed Lyndon Johnson’s claim that North Vietnam had launched a second round of attacks against American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. No such attacks had taken place, and yet the damage was done. As Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon report for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, “By reporting official claims as absolute truths, American journal-ism opened the floodgates for the bloody Vietnam War.”
If such collusion happened in the past, you can bet it’s still happening today, only it’s been reclassified, renamed and hidden behind layers of government secrecy, obfuscation and spin.
Thus, whether you’re talking about the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the government’s invasion of Iraq based upon absolute fabrica-tions, or the government’s so-called war on terror, privacy and whistleblowers, you can bet it’s being driven by propa-ganda churned out by one corporate
When it comes to ‘Fake News’... check your government
Yuck.Raats....We had a bit of shiver over that
ourselves. Though we aren’t afraid of rodents, and understand the live and let live philosophy, please, not in our food and not in our homes.
We understand the corporate mind-set too. Family Dollar isn’t going to be forthcoming with any problems they are facing. That’s all internal and not for public consumption as far as they are concerned. No, they aren’t going to show up for our public hearings. The local managerial staff will have been told not to talk to anyone.
And whatever they do, they will do from the corporate level down, not the local level up.
As for the other store involved, that is a more local problem. The owner needs to be put on notice and held to a stan-dard. It’s individually owned and while we understand the shelving was becom-ing less stocked because attempts were being made to sell the business, that is no excuse for letting health issues, cleanliness or required parameters go. So the owner lost interest in the busi-ness. So what. Close the doors then and stop trying to make a dime with no effort.
As for the other food business in the plaza, we are so very, very happy to say they are not affected at all and the town should rally around the Subway with all its heart. Nancy Monette and her crew keep an outstanding busi-ness. It is clean, it is well stocked, the employees are well trained and there has never been even one incident of any sort of nature. None. This has not in any way affected that business, and people should not ostracize the Subway because other businesses have not done due diligence.
Nor should Pattie’s Jewelry suffer, or Dunkin’ Donuts. These other business-es should thrive despite problems at the others.
We wish those unhappy businesses good luck and hope they manage to get things under control. We have met the management at Family Dollar, and the employees there all seem like good peo-ple; we aren’t pointing fingers specifi-
cally at the people involved. This seems like it may indeed be a bigger problem, and at the corporate level perhaps. The issue may need to be one of clearing the building entirely, down to bare walls, and a revamp done after a through cleaning. Then, as stock is replaced, it needs to be vetted more carefully too. The “stench” may be old coolers with mold or spoiled milk; replacement of such equipment could solve problems.
As for the IGA, it has been allowed to go downhill for several years. While we understand the very real need for a good grocery in Winchendon, this isn’t it under the circumstances. It is obvi-ous the only potential buyers would be someone willing to do Winchendon a good deed; not someone actually inter-ested in making money with this busi-ness in its current condition.
We aren’t happy with this scenario, and as long as Rite Aid, and CVS are carrying some groceries, Cumberland Farms and Mr. Mikes have a few; and now we have the wonderful Not Just Produced right on Central Street with locally grown organics (including meat) we might suggest it’s time for this place to be shuddered as well until something different can be done.
Clean it out. Leave it empty. Get rid of everything rodents might be interested in; and perhaps they will leave of their own volition.
Should someone want to revamp it and refurbish it at a later date, it would be in a better state left empty and secure then in its current dilapidated and unhealthy way.
So please, keep the good businesses in mind, the Subway, Not Just Produced, Dunks and the others who do take good care; just let the others find their way back to the light.
One final note, Mylec never owned the mill known as Whites Mill in Winchendon Springs, and Brandywine Farms did not purchase it from them. The mill was owned by MillWin Inc., and was sold by that corporation, con-trolled by descendants of the LeClerc family. Mylec were tenants of the build-ing, but did not own it; and did main-tain the dam while there.
KEITH KENT
anything
nEar &
Far
JERRY CARTON
JournEy oF thE hEart
Turn To KENT page A12
JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
FrEEdom Watch
Turn To FREEDOM page A9
Winchendon courier 5 Friday, December 9, 2016
Happy holidays in Toy TownFrom a breakfast featuring Santa Claus
to a tree lighting in a park, last weekend included a bevy of events to welcome in the holiday season. Just a few of the events included a holiday bazaar at the United Parish, the Breakfast with Santa by the Kiwanis at the Carriage House and the annual Winterfest celebration at Old Murdock Senior Center. To wrap up the day, the town’s tree was lit in the park on Pleasant Street. Happy Holidays everyone!
Staff photos
Danielle Sroczynski has been decorating a table for sev-eral years at the festival. This year, the event included a chance for those visiting to vote on favorite tables, and Danielle’s was chosen as the best. The table, and two others, will be featured this weekend at the Isaac Morse house during the Winchendon Historic and Cultural Center open house from 1-4 p.m.
At the annual United Parish Holly Bazaar, the festive luncheon is a specialty, and it wouldn’t be the same without John Walker in the kitchen!
The Crafty Cauldron, the newest hobby and craft shop in downtown Winchendon, was well represented by Rebecca Robillard at the United Parish event, as she displayed a variety of the wares and kits available at the store, just in time for a handy person to get cracking on a last minute handmade gift.
The combined efforts of both the Murdock and Mahar Key Clubs were in evidence at the Breakfast with Santa last weekend. The Kiwanis of Winchendon sponsors both Key Clubs.
One of the highlights each year of the Winterfest tables is seeing the creation of tal-ented decorator Peggy Corbosiero. This year, it was a mannequin sporting a tree dress in festive attire.
Bianca Porter, age 4, and her grandfather Rick Graves, shared a moment with Santa at the event at the Carriage House last weekend. Breakfast with Santa, sponsored by the Kiwanis, makes certain every child sees Santa and receives a gift.
Speaking of the Crafty Cauldron, its classroom was filled last week with a bunch of winers...no winners, the ones who chose to paint on wine glasses (or in some cases beer glasses or coffee mugs) with tiny celebratory snow people. The results were amazing, and the class, proceeds of which helped support the Kiwanis backpack program, were well received. Another one is already planned with a different theme soon.
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SCOUTS PROGRAMCub Scout Pack 193 is participating
in the Scouting For Food Program during this holiday season. We have placed marked Rubbermaid collec-tion bins at the following local busi-nesses: Market Basket, The Crafty Cauldron, Beals Memorial Library, Not Just Produced, The Town Barber, The River’s Edge, Dugan’s Wild Cuts, and United Parish Church. The pro-gram began on Nov 27 and is running through Dec 18. Your non-perishable food donation is greatly appreciated and will be donated to the Winchendon CAC at the close of the program.
The Cub Scout program is open to boys from kindergarten age through
11 years old. The boys meet in dens with other boys their same age. This program prepares young boys to enter the Boy Scout program after age 11. When they are not busy camp-ing, hiking, and honing wilderness skills, they are learning life skills that help them become better sons and citizens. For more information about this great program for boys please contact Cubmaster Kevin Fuller at [email protected].
BETTER TOMORROW OPEN HOUSE
Join us for a festive Holiday Open House at A Better Tomorrow Shelter for Cats on Dec. 10, from noon-3 p.m. There will be refreshments and an
opportunity for people to help stuff their favorite shelter cat’s stocking with cash or toys. We will have a vari-ety of items for sale including shelter calendars, sweatshirts and a raffle of all natural Perfectly Posh body care products valued at $200.
In the spirit of giving back, we will be collecting donations of a game or craft kit for Youth Opportunities Upheld, Inc. (www.youinc.org). This private, non-profit child welfare and behavior-al health organization serves at-risk children, adolescents and families. Mentors from Youth Opportunities, with degrees in social work, bring kids to the Cat Shelter each week during off hours. The cats have an amazing
ability to open a child up socially and emotionally. We are happy to help support this great organization. The shelter is located at 202 Central St. in Winchendon. For more information visit www.shelterforcats.org
WINNERS ALL The winners of the baskets at the
Old Murdock Senior Center over the weekend were: Fern Casavant, Kathy Chencharik, Peg Corbosiero, Blanche Davis, Armand Dube, Jackie Flynn, Kathy Jalbert, Cathy LeRay, Viola Lowell, Tricia McConnell,Peter Newton, Jessie Nonni, Mimi Overman, Gail Paradise, Nancy Richard, Phyllis Roy, Luanne Royer, Cathy Sevigny, Lori Smith, Jenelle Sroczynski, Dick Strausser, Theresa Turner, Judy Uguccioni, Bonnie Veilleux, John Walker, Rick Ward, Kathy Williams. Winners of the wreathes were: Rita Amenta, Sheila Bettro, Kathy Bogaurd, Tricia Bulger, Karen Clement, Janet Corbosiero, Lexi Doody, Priscilla Johnson, Jean Joyal, Viola Lowell, Tricia McConnell, Judy Philbrook, Sandy Raymond, Steven Smith, Sherrie Spooner, Marilyn Wilber, Kate Zebrowski.
HOLIDAY POPSThe New England Symphony
Orchestra will present its annu-al Holiday Pops concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17 at the Dukakis Performing Arts Center at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School on route 2A in Fitchburg.
Our Maestro, Roderick MacDonald, has prepared a wonderful and unique program of music of the season rang-ing from Tchaikovsky and Handel to John Williams and Leroy Anderson. Joining us once again will be the cho-rus of Quabbin Valley Pro Musica. Included in the program will be a suite of music by Dimitri Tiomkin from the well-known movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart.
This annual program is always one of the NESO’s most popular events. Tickets are now available online at NewEnglandSymphony.org or by phone at (978) 466-1800. Ticket prices range from $28 to $35 for adults, $25 to $32 for seniors, and $12 for children (ages 11+) and students.
For more information, log on to our website at http://newenglandsympho-ny.org.
Winchendon courier 6 Friday, December 9, 2016
Winchendon Police DepartmentEditor’s Note: The information con-
tained in this police log was obtained through public documents kept by the police department, and is considered to be the account of the police. All subjects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2812:53-4:03 a.m.: building checks &
extra patrols, secure; 4:31 a.m.: bur-glar alarm (Veterans Cemetery) secure; 4:46 a.m.: MV stop (Maple Street) traf-fic citation; 6:03 a.m.: MV stop (School Street) written warning; 9:32 a.m.: ille-gal dumping (Central Street) refer to DPW; 9:36 a.m.: assist other PD (Main Street) unable to locate; 10:35 a.m.: offi-cer wanted (Glenallan Street) assisted; 10:59 a.m.: ambulance (Central Street) transport; 11:12 a.m.: officer want-ed (Duval Court) report taken; 12:45 p.m.: tree down on wires (Alger Street) refer to DPW; 1:20 p.m.: extra patrols, advised officer; 1:35 p.m.: general info (Ash Street) spoken to; 3:45 p.m.: prop-erty found (Glenallan Street) returned to owner; 4:22 p.m.: accident (Gardner Road) report taken; 4:42 p.m.: vandal-ism (Lincoln Avenue Extension) report taken; 5:37 p.m.: ambulance (Hyde Park Drive) transport; 7:44 p.m.: officer want-ed (Main Street) spoken to; 7:48 p.m.: officer wanted (Juniper Street) report taken; 8:30 p.m.: MV stop (Central Street) verbal warning; 9:41 p.m.: sus-picious MV (Eagle Road) spoken to; 9:48-11:34 p.m.: extra patrols & building checks, secure; 10:02 p.m.: suspicious MV (Memorial School) spoken to; 10:16 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) written warning.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2912:28-12:54 a.m.: building checks,
secure; 12:35 a.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) verbal warning; 12:38 a.m.: inves-tigation (Gardner Road) spoken to; 12:48 a.m.: ambulance (School Street) trans-port; 1:32 a.m.: investigation (Rite Aid) spoken to; 3:31 a.m.: animal complaint (Glenallan Street) advised officer; 8:06 a.m.: DPW call (River Street) referred; 10:10 a.m.: assist citizen (Juniper Street) assisted; 10:40 a.m.: B&E MV (Lincoln Avenue) report taken; 11:21 a.m.: fire alarm (Central Street) false alarm; 1:06 p.m.: MV operating errati-cally (Gardner Road) refer to other PD; 3:42 p.m.: summons service (Mechanic Street) unable to serve; 5:56 p.m.: offi-
cer wanted (Juniper Street) spoken to; 7:45 p.m.: officer wanted (Glenallan Street) assisted; 9:20 p.m.: officer want-ed (phone) referred to court; 9:38 p.m.: ambulance (Chestnut Street) transport; 11:50 p.m.: building check, secure.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3012:05-6:30 a.m.: extra patrols & build-
ing checks, secure; 12:25 a.m.: burglar alarm (Mathieu Ford) secure; 7:13 a.m.: accident (Glenallan Street) refer to other agency; 11:36 a.m.: investigation (Water Street) no PD service required; 12:16 p.m.: summons service (Central Street) served; 12:16 p.m.: summons service (Gardner Road) served; 12:27 p.m.: summons service (Central Street) served; 12:29 p.m.: lift assist (Lincoln Avenue) services rendered; 1:10 p.m.: ambulance (Cardinal Lane) transport; 2:23 p.m.: mental health issue (Spruce Street) removed to hospital; 3:03 p.m.: harassment (Mill Glen Road) spoken to; 4:43 p.m.: summons service (Glenallan Street) served; 5:26 p.m.: investigation (Goodrich Drive) unfounded; 9:42 p.m.: transport (Cornerstone Church); 9:50 p.m.: burglar alarm (Central Street) secure; 10:59 p.m.: repossession of MV (Maple Street) unable to locate.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 112:15-1:39 a.m.: building checks,
secure; 12:20 a.m.: ambulance (Pearl Drive) transport; 1:47 a.m.: accident (Central Street) report taken; 7:15 a.m.: animal complaint (Academy Street) refer to ACO; 7:45 a.m.: animal com-plaint (Court Street) refer to ACO; 8:32 a.m.: MV theft (Duval Court) refer to other PD; 9:18 a.m.: MV stop (Maple Street) verbal warning; 9:56 a.m.: FD call (Royalston Road South) refer to other agency; 10:30 a.m.: gunshots heard (Royalston Road North) spoken to; 12:19 p.m.: MV stop (Central Street) verbal warning; 1:32 p.m.: parking violation (Glenallan Street) assisted; 2:05 p.m.: MV stop (Front Street) traffic citation; 2:22 p.m.: disabled MV (Cross Street) assisted; 2:29 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) traffic citation; 2:46 p.m.: harass-ment order service (Mathieu Ford) unable to serve; 3:03 p.m.: MV operating erratically (Glenallan Street) info taken; 3:52 p.m.: summons service (Juniper Street) served; 3:56 p.m.: summons ser-vice (Maple Street) unable to serve; 4:02 p.m.: summons service (Maple Street) unable to serve; 4:07 p.m.: summons service (Glenallan Street) served; 6:16
p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) verbal warning; 6:54 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) verbal warning; 10:36 p.m.: offi-cer wanted (Central Street) spoken to; 10:44 p.m.: MV operating erratically (Forristall Road) advised officer; 11:23-11:45 p.m.: building checks, secure; 11:29 p.m.: annoying phone calls (Alger Street) report taken.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 212:10-3:31 a.m.: building checks,
secure; 2:27 a.m.: ambulance (Front Street) transport; 2:52 a.m.: reposses-sion of MV (Elm Street) impounded; 7 a.m.: accident (Gardner Road) report taken; 7:09 a.m.: animal complaint (Old Gardner Road) unable to locate; 9:11 a.m.: general info (Maple Street) info taken; 10 a.m.: assist citizen (Harvard Street) assisted; 10:40 a.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) spoken to; 11:25 a.m.: sex offender registration (Teel Road) assisted; 11:58 a.m.: MV stop (Front Street) spoken to; 12:26 p.m.: reposses-sion of MV (Pearl Drive) info taken; 12:35 p.m.: warrant of apprehension (Murdock High School) transport; 12:49 p.m.: general info (Central Street) no PD service required; 1:08 p.m.: larceny (Countryside Motel) report taken; 1:35 p.m.: investigation (Glenallan Street) spoken to; 3:44 p.m.: officer wanted (Maple Street) spoken to; 4:19 p.m.: MV stop (River Street) verbal warn-ing; 4:24 p.m.: officer wanted (walk in) spoken to; 4:47 p.m.: mV stop (Gardner Road) verbal warning; 4:56 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) verbal warning; 6:11 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) ver-bal warning; 6:26 p.m.: FD call (Front Street) services rendered; 6:53 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) verbal warning; 6:59 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) writ-ten warning; 8:32 p.m.: suspicious per-son (Goodrich Street) unable to locate; 9:04 p.m.: animal complaint (Madison Avenue) spoken to; 9:29 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) report taken; 11:51 p.m.: building check, secure; 11:58 p.m.: ambulance (High Street) transport.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 312:29 a.m.: suspicious MV (Lake
Denison) assisted; 12:52 a.m.: ambu-lance (Ipswich Drive) unable to locate; 1:25-2:31 a.m.: building checks, secure; 1:35 a.m.: MV stop (River Street) traf-fic citation; 2:30 a.m.: assist other PD (Sibley Road) assisted; 7:16 a.m.: ambulance (School Street) transport; 7:43 a.m.: DPW call (Baldwinville State
Road) refer to state DPW; 9:20 a.m.: assist citizen (Juniper Street) assisted; 11:07 a.m.: animal complaint (Sibley Road) spoken to; 12:28 p.m.: MV stop (Central Street) traffic citation; 12:38 p.m.: MV stop (Maple Street) spoken to; 3:31 p.m.: ambulance (Countryside Motel) transport; 4:48 p.m.: trans-port (Pleasant Street); 5:15 p.m.: fight (Glenallan Street) report taken; 5:50 p.m.: unwanted party (Mill Glen Road) removed to hospital; 6:20 p.m.: be on the lookout (Central Street) info given; 6:50 p.m.: ambulance (Second Street) accidental; 8:03 p.m.: officer wanted (Whitney Street) report taken; 8:13 p.m.: investigation (High Street) 209A refus-al; 10:27 a.m.: animal complaint (Mill Glen Road) refer to ACO; 10:30 p.m.: ATV complaint (Ready Drive) unable to locate; 11:25 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) verbal warning; 11:33 p.m.: ambu-lance (Spruce Street) transport.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 412:35 a.m.: MV stop (Grove Street)
transport; 1:37 a.m.: suspicious MV (American Legion) secure; 1:56-3:59 a.m.: building checks, secure; 2:31 a.m.: suspicious person (Front Street) spo-ken to; 2:34 a.m.: loitering (GFA) spo-ken to; 6:24 a.m.: ambulance (Central Street) transport; 8:42 a.m.: general info (Cumberland Farms) advised officer; 11:40 a.m.: assist citizen (walk in) assist-ed; 12:08 p.m.: general info (Webster Street) referred to court; 2:33 p.m.: offi-cer wanted (Chestnut Street) spoken to; 2:44 p.m.: vandalism (Glenallan Street) report taken; 2:50 p.m.: fraud (Maple Street) spoken to; 3:10 p.m.: proper-ty found (GFA) returned to owner; 3:39 p.m.: property found (bike path) returned to owner; 3:58 p.m.: abandoned 911 call (Laurel Street) spoken to; 4:11 p.m.: illegal dumping (Lincoln Avenue Extension) report taken; 4:56 p.m.: fight (Clark YMCA) spoken to; 6:39 p.m.: property damage (United Parish) report taken; 7:42 p.m.: MV operating errati-cally (Mill Glen Road) unable to locate; 8:20 p.m.: repossession of MV (Maple Street) unable to locate; 8:29 p.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) traffic citation; 9:19 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) written warning; 9:39 p.m.: animal complaint (Lakeshore Drive) spoken to; 10:39 p.m.: extra patrols (Glenallan Street) services rendered.
Police log
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Winchendon courier 7 Friday, December 9, 2016
SEND OBITUARIES at no charge to Editor Ruth DeAmicis, by faxing (978) 297-2177, or by e-mail-ing the editor at [email protected].
We also invite funeral directors and families to e-mail us a JPEG photograph to print, at no cost, alongside the obituary.
OBITUARIES
STONE-LADEAU FUNERAL HOME 343 Central Street
Winchendon, MA 01475
Tel: 978-297-0077 • Fax: 978-297-0075
Alvina BlakeJanuary 1, 1909
November 6, 2004
You are the beautiful angel
atop our Christmas trees. Always in
our hearts with wonderful memories. Love and miss you.
Love, All the Family
Ingwald P. ‘Inky’ Rogstad, 88CHESTER VT — Ingwald P. “Inky”
Rogstad, age 88, died Nov. 18, 2016, at his home, with his family close by.
He was born March 17, 1928, in Winchendon, the son of Osmund J. and Elida Dotterud Rogstad.
He graduated in 1947 from Chester High School and attended Randolph Agricultural School for farm manage-ment before enlisting in the Army in 1950. He served in the Korean conflict and was discharged in 1952.
Mr. Rogstad married Dorothy H. “Dotty” Mattson on July 5, 1952.
He worked at Fellows Gear Shaper as a machinist for more than 30 years. He developed and managed Hidden Valley
Campground and enjoyed the company of campers.
Survivors include his wife; his children Kathleen Stasheski, Syver Rogstad, Andrew Rogstad and Susan Currie; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
He was predeceased by all five of his siblings.
The memorial service will be announced at a later date.
Memorial contributions may be made to Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire, PO Box 881, Brattleboro, VT 05302 or at VNHCARE.ORG.
Germaine Barton, 90“Precious (valuable) in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints.” Ps 116:15.
GARDNER — Germaine Barton went home to her Heavenly Father, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016, at the age of 90.
She was born in Winchendon Springs on Sept. 5, 1926, the daughter of the late George and Georgianna (LaPrise) LaPointe.
Germaine worked as a seamstress for the former Winchendon
Fashions, and as an assembler at New Hampshire Ball Bearings in Peterborough, NH. But her greatest joy was her lifelong occupation as wife, mother, grandmother, great grand-mother and great-great grandmother. She was a strong woman of God, quiet-ly praying family and friends through some very dark times. (Proverbs 31:28). She was an avid reader and artist, skill-fully creating beautiful needlepoint, quilts and crochet. Germaine also had
a beautiful singing voice, her inspira-tional music was featured on a local radio program DJ’d/produced by her husband.
She leaves two daughters, Linda Murphy of Winchendon, Nancy Lovly and her husband Adra of Owls Head, ME and one son, Kevin and his wife Pam of Murfreesboro, TN; nine grand-children, 19 great grandchildren, four great-great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She is survived by one sister, Adrienne Alber of Newport, RI. She was predeceased by her hus-band, John Barton, a son-in-law, Bill Murphy and 14 sisters and brothers.
“Her children arise and call her bless-ed...” prov 31:28
There will be no calling hours. Private memorial services and inter-ment will be in Massachusetts Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, 111 Glenallan St., Winchendon.
In lieu of flowers, memorial dona-tions may be made to Wounded Warrior Project.
Stone-Ladeau Funeral Home (stone-ladeau.com), 343 Central St., Winchendon is directing arrangements.
Mary I. (Field) Delaney, 85WINCHENDON — Mary I. (Field)
Delaney, age 85. of 70 Mill St., died peacefully Tuesday evening, Nov. 29, 2016 in Baldwinville Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, with her family at her side.
She was born in Jaffrey on Sept. 28, 1931, daughter of the late John W. and Agnes M. (Baldwin) Field, and lived in Winchendon for many years.
Mary was a a lov-ing wife, mother and
grandmother to her family. She was a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and loved spending time with her family.
Her husband of 26 years, Edward M. Delaney, died in 2001. She leaves her children, Susan M. Vaillancourt and her husband Raymond of Winchendon, Frederick C. Field and his wife Nancy of Winchendon, Michael J. Field of Lunenburg, Edward C. Robidoux and his wife Diane of Westminster, Neil
A. Robidoux Sr. of Winchendon, Alan R. Robidoux and his wife Carrie of Leominster and Brian K. Robidoux and his wife Luba of Marlboro; her brothers and sisters, John Field and his wife Ing of Jaffrey, Daniel Field and his wife Sherry of Fitzwilliam, Alice Kymalainen and her husband Tom of Gardner, and Agnes Hautenen and her husband William of Jaffrey, a sister-in-law Betty Field of Bedford, NH; 13 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Her brother, Francis Field and younger sis-ter, Philomena Labarge, predeceased her.
A Mass of Christian burial was held Monday, Dec. 5, 2016 in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 52 Spruce St., Winchendon. Burial was in the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to charity of one’s choice.
Stone-Ladeau Funeral Home (stone-ladeau.com), 343 Central St., Winchendon was entrusted with arrangements.
OFFICIALLY CUTTING THE RED TAPE
Staff photo
Beth Hunt, with her mother Lorraine, Rep. Jon Zlotnik and Town Manager Keith Hickey, stand ready to cut the ribbon officially opening the new venture Hunt has created on Central Street: Not Just Produced. Though she has been open a few months, she was excited to have the opening with the Community and Economic Development Steering Committee giving the business a boost. Hunt specializes in providing a space for locally grown produce, organic foods, New England based products, crafts and an antique and collectible venue.
A NEW VENTURE
Staff photo
William Kulisanski and Lucky Belcamino juggle the giant scissors to christen their new business Holistic Mystic on Central as the Town Manager Keith Hickey is distracted by someone else. Holistic Mystic is only the latest of several new businesses in downtown Winchendon, as the Community and Economic Development Steering Committee have taken on the duty of recognizing the efforts of new development. Kulisanski and Belcamino are counselors and Reiki masters; and intend to offer their services in other spaces including the CAC, through the Senior Center and to veterans.
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I’m betting the name Ian McCaw probably doesn’t mean much to most of you. The name didn’t ring a bell for me at first either until I read he was hired last week as athletic director at Liberty University, the ultra-pious and oh-so-morally judgmental Christian col-lege founded by the late Jerry Falwell and now run by his son. Then I remem-bered exactly who he was/is, and the bile began rising.
McCaw used to be the AD at Baylor, another evangelical university, but six months ago left that job after a scandal which also brought down the school’s football coach and president, the latter a guy by the name of Ken Starr. Yes, THAT Ken Starr. The aforementioned scandal ? All three knew about at least one allegation of gang rape, though oth-ers were reported as well, and did noth-ing about what they knew. They didn’t call the police. They didn’t do anything. Actually, now that I think about it, well, it’s not true they did nothing. They did everything they could to sweep it under the proverbial rug and now here we are with McCaw pictured, smiling-ly shaking hands with Junior Falwell. Scummy filth with scummy filth.
The folks in Waco, TX, where Baylor is located, were quoted in a Liberty press release showering effusive praise on McCaw and Fallwell Jr. Falwell said he’s hoping McCaw does as well in Virginia as in Texas. Really, he did. “Ian’s success really speaks for itself. You look at what Baylor was able to do during his tenure. It fits perfectly with
where our sports pro-gram is going.” Quote, unquote. I kid you not, though I certainly believe he meant it.
I can’t find the right words to fully articu-late just how despica-ble all this really is. The overwhelming hypocrisy of these sup-posed-Christians is pathetic. Not par-ticularly surprising mind you, not in a million years surprising, but nauseat-ingly pathetic for sure.
The South is different. The head coach at Clemson was quoted a few years back in an “Outside the Lines” story on ESPN as saying he prefers to recruit Christian players because of their alleged values. Later of course, he said he was “somewhat misinterpret-
ed.” Somewhat. There’s a bit of a pattern here though to be fair, Clemson hasn’t had any scandals of that magnitude. Still....
Sports and religion have always had a symbiotic relationship, especially in the South and especially revolving around high school and college foot-
ball. “Friday Night Lights” sometimes caught it perfectly. Pre-game Christian prayers are part of the ritual. And the mindset expands beyond sports. Accomack County in Virginia last week pulled ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ and ‘The Adventures of Huck Finn’ off its school library shelves after a parent, yes, one parent, filed a complaint about those two classics.
Look, not every Southerner is a racist
or religious bigot and there are plen-ty of those regardless of geography. But I sure can’t possibly imagine Ian McCaw being hired as an assistant AD in charge of paper clips at, say, Stanford or Yale, can you?
The “values” clearly shared by Liberty and Baylor, i.e. the deification of football coaches, the mantra that women are at best second-class citizens are, sadly, exactly those I’d expect from places like that. Sports and politics don’t mix? Please. There are fundamental societal right and wrongs. Sometimes, many, many times, our games bring out the best in our characters. But some-times they reveal the ugliness of who some of us truly are. Given that,try telling me you’re not repulsed by what you see at Liberty University. You are, right?
Winchendon courier 8 Friday, December 9, 2016
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AD upbeat at mid-year
Local athlete part of playoff team
Lady Devils fielding young team on the boards
BY JERRY CARTONCOURIER CORRESPONDENT
WINCHENDON — The cal-endar year is drawing to a close and the school year is approaching the mid-way point so as she looks across the months, Murdock Athletic Director Jenna Whitaker likes what she sees.
Whitaker pointed to increas-ing numbers of athletes in vari-ous programs, a fact she says is starting to offset the exodus of others through school choice, adding that’s a problem which plagues every public school system.
“Boys soccer was a strug-gle. I don’t know what’s going on there. The kids love Nate (coach Schulz) and like playing for him but there just doesn’t seem to be enough of them. I don’t know why,” she conced-
ed, “but aside from that the numbers on most teams are pretty strong. Middle school football — we had great num-bers. There’s no Pop Warner anymore. Maybe that had an effect. Girls soccer had more kids than ever. They had enough for two whole teams. That’s never happened before and it says really good things about the program Jason (coach Marshall) is running and about the commitment the kids have to the game. Track and softball do their thing.”
“Our numbers for middle school basketball, and even for varsity and junior varsity, they’re better than they have been,” she said, noting sever-al dozen boys and girls have turned out though Whitaker acknowledged the girls varsity program will likely be includ-
ing eighth graders in the line-up rotation.
Whitaker said she thinks the top-notch coaches on board have made a difference, too.
“When you have some alum-ni coaching there’s a special kind of commitment that goes along with that, a special kind of loyalty and I think that mat-ters a lot. It’s not to say that not alumni aren’t committed, of course but when you coach at the school you went to, it’s special.”
She likes some of the success-es she’s seen, too. Last spring, the softball team qualified for Districts for the eighth time in the last nine years and this fall the field hockey squad advanced to the post-season for the first time in more than a decade and the middle school football team had a perfect reg-
ular season.A one-time MHS field hockey
player herself, Whitaker credit-ed Coach Amanda Lawlor with changing the culture around the program.
“She has a pretty specific way of approaching things but she has fun with them too, like practicing around Halloween in costumes. It’s a balance and Amanda makes it work. Making districts this year was just the first step for us.”
Whitaker stressed the mid-dle school football coaches are focusing on things other than winning, especially safety.
“If kids don’t learn the right way to play the game on this level, there’s a chance they might get really hurt when they play on the next level. The coaches are teaching how to tackle the right way, how to
play the game as safely as pos-sible,” she said.
She added coaches take com-munity service seriously too. The middle school football team participated in last month’s Operation Winchendon Cares drive. Cheerleaders will be doing gift wrapping next week-end. The girls hoopsters deliver Christmas cards to Broadview and most teams are active in ‘Coaches v Cancer’ activities.
“We like winning. Everyone does, but our athletic program is about being part of the town, not just the field,” she stressed.
“That said, on the fields, num-bers are better and some teams are getting better, too. Boys basketball this winter should be a lot of fun. Overall,I’m really enthused and optimistic about our athletic program,” she said.
WORCESTER — For the second consecutive year, the Assumption College football team advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs. Jake Shetrawski, of Winchendon, competed on the team in the Greyhounds’ historic season.
Assumption was nation-ally ranked entering the 2016 season after finishing the 2015 regular season 9-1, winning the Northeast-10 Championship, and advanc-ing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Hounds finished this season 9-3.
“When these student-ath-letes signed on to join our team, they were signing on to make a difference in our community on and off the field,” said fourth-year Head Coach Bob Chesney. “To be able to see that plan through and earn a spot in back-to-back NCAA playoff appear-ances is testament to all of their hard work. Regardless of their individual roles, they all contributed in some way to this season’s success. To have Assumption recognized as a national power is what we had hoped to accomplish
when we brought these young men into this program, and it is very humbling to be able to work side by side with each of them as we continue to see this plan through.”
Shetrawski’s grandfa-ther, Jim Abare, who serves as a member of the School Committee in Gardner and as the varsity girls basketball coach at Murdock, is pleased with his progress.
“He has three years of eli-gibility left,”Abare, “He’s been on the nationally ranked Greyhounds team for two years and these are
the top two ranked teams in Greyhounds history.”
“He’s looking forward to the next three years. I am too, not just because he’s my grandson, but he’s a local kid playing big-time football. I’m proud of him for that, too. The area should be too,” said Abare.
Assumption’s 23 seniors finish their careers as the winningest class in pro-gram history, accumulating a record of 33-14. It is six wins more than any other program in school history.
BY JERRY CARTONCOURIER CORRESPONDENT
WINCHENDON — If you’re looking for a single word to describe Murdock’s varsity girls basketball team this win-ter, you could do a lot worse than using ‘young’.
As the Lady Devils prepare to open their 2016-17 season Monday when they host Sizer, Coach Jim Abare’s fourth Murdock team has one senior, Gloryanne Andino, one junior, Molly Murphy, and a whole slew of youngsters.
“We’ve had two weeks” to prepare for the lid-lift-er, noted Abare. “I’ve gone in there (to prac-tice), roll the balls out and let them play, let them scrimmage against each other. We have a few plays but we’ve just let them go out there and play. We’re hoping other teams aren’t too far ahead of us. We’ll get bet-ter as the season goes on but right now we’re going to try and get by the first few games without, we hope, having to make too many adjustments.”
Andino came to MHS last season and developed into “a decent rebounder and someone who gave us some size inside,” said Abare. “It helped she came at the end of the summer.”
From the day she stepped onto the floor,
no one doubted Molly Murphy’s abilities and no one doubts Abare when he said, “she’s the focal point of our offense. She was our leading scor-er. She has the most expe-rience. It runs through her.”
Murphy is expected to average double-digits on the offensive end of the floor but Abare also likes her energy and enthusi-asm. “She gives every-thing she has,” he noted.
Behind Molly are younger players like her sister Kelly.
“She can shoot. She’s going to have to. She’s going to play a big role on this team,” assured Abare, adding, “these kids who play in summer league — that makes a difference. The more minutes they get - the bet-ter prepared they’ll be.”
Both Murphys played summer ball.
Jocelyn Garner “is one of our better athletes. She’s a grinder. She runs the floor the right way,” remarked Abare, “and she plays good defense.”
As for the younger players, after a quarter century on the bench, Abare knows game con-ditions aren’t practice conditions, so it’s hard to know what to expect from Jaelynn Stetson, Julia Lafrennie, Becca Graves, Kaliegh Lauziere, Raylynne Diamond, Shae
Dupuis, Hannah Lowe, and Jasmine Larosa. Playing on the varsity level as an eighth grad-er will be an obvious challenge, but Abare has always insisted pro-grams need to be built before specific teams are. Stetson “has athletic skills.” Lafrennie, “also has some athleticism but the game is new to her.”
“It’s a big jump” for Larosa, “but she went to the (Bob) Bigelow camp
so she’s committed to get-ting better,” he opined. Lowe “has basketball skills but the physical part of the game will be a step up.”
Lauziere “has as much (basketball) experience as anyone,” said Abare. Diamond “is still learn-ing the game but she’s quick and athletic.”
Graves “has a good foundation from playing summer league,” and Dupuis “is strong and
works hard.”The common thread
running through Abare’s pre-season reflection is that he has a very young, inexperienced squad. That wasn’t necessarily what was anticipated, but, “there’s an ‘E’ divi-sion now and we won’t have to play a school like Littleton. Numbers are down across the league,” he remarked, “so we’ll see. I still love to coach.”
That’s a good thing
because in the three seasons since Abare returned to his alma mater after a highly suc-cessful coaching career at Gardner, wins have been hard to come by and more than one potential difference-maker opted out of the local school system.
“You don’t worry about who’s not here,” shrugged the veteran coach. “You just focus on who is.”
Ethics in college sports
JERRY CARTON
Talking SporTS
Morgan St. Pierre photo
Murdock’s varsity hoopsters practiced all week for Monday’s season opener v Sizer
Winchendon courier 9 Friday, December 9, 2016
machine (the corporate-con-trolled government) and fed to the American people by way of yet another corporate machine (the corporate-controlled media).
“For the first time in human history, there is a concerted strategy to manipulate glob-al perception. And the mass media are operating as its com-pliant assistants, failing both to resist it and to expose it,” writes investigative journalist Nick Davies. “The sheer ease with which this machinery has been able to do its work reflects a creeping structural weakness which now afflicts the produc-tion of our news.”
This use of propaganda dis-
guised as journalism is what journalist John Pilger refers to as “invisible government…the true ruling power of our country.”
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we no longer have a Fourth Estate.
Not when the “news” we receive is routinely manu-factured, manipulated and made-to-order by government agents. Not when six corpora-tions control 90% of the media in America. And not when, as Davies laments, “news organi-zations which might otherwise have exposed the truth were themselves part of the abuse, and so they kept silent, indulg-ing in a comic parody of misre-porting, hiding the emerging scandal from their readers like a Victorian nanny covering the
children’s eyes from an acci-dent in the street.”
So let’s have no more of this handwringing, heart-wrench-ing, morally offended talk about fake news by media outlets that have become propagandists for the false reality created by the American government.
After all, as Glenn Greenwald points out, “The term propa-ganda rings melodramatic and exaggerated, but a press that — whether from fear, career-ism, or conviction — uncriti-cally recites false government claims and reports them as fact, or treats elected officials with a reverence reserved for royalty, cannot be accurately described as engaged in any other function.”
So where does that leave us?What should — or can — we
do?
I’ll close with John Pilger’s words of warning and advice:
Real information, subversive information, remains the most potent power of all — and I believe that we must not fall into the trap of believing that the media speaks for the pub-lic… [The public] need[s] truth, and journalists ought to be agents of truth, not the court-iers of power. I believe a fifth estate is possible, the product of a people’s movement, that monitors, deconstructs, and counters the corporate media…In the United States wonderful-ly free rebellious spirits popu-late the web...the best report-ing…appears on the web…and citizen reporters.
The challenge for the rest of us is to lift this subjugat-ed knowledge from out of the underground and take
it to ordinary people. We need to make haste. Liberal Democracy is moving toward a form of corporate dictatorship. This is an historic shift, and the media must not be allowed to be its façade, but itself made into a popular, burning issue, and subjected to direct action. That great whistleblower Tom Paine warned that if the major-ity of the people were denied the truth and the ideas of truth, it was time to storm what he called the Bastille of words. That time is now.
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at [email protected].
FREEDOMcontinued from page A4
is not looking to replace any of the equipment or items up for bid.”
Any items which do not receive required minimum bids, the town could either consider trying to place for bid again in the spring time, or dispose of at scrap value.
As for vehicles or equipment which do not have clear titles, “The mini bus, loader, and bucket truck,” Gallant added, “While we do not want to spend money on obtaining dupli-cate titles if we don’t have to, if some-one bids on one of them and wins, and does want a title, we will obtain a duplicate title for the item if they need one and request it.”
All items up for sealed bid are able to be viewed at the town garage at 105 Glenallan St. during normal hours of Monday through Thursday, 7a.m.-3 p.m. Any questions about items for bid can be either referred to or answered by DPW mechanic Pat McCarthy at the garage, or Gallant at the town hall office, 109 Front St. on the first floor. Gallant can be reached at the office by phone at (978)-297-0170.
An item list and bid submission form is available at the DPW office at the town hall, with a deadline for sub-mission of sealed bids on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at noon at the same office.
SURPLUScontinued from page A1
steak tips if desired. Being a pub, burgers and sandwiches are their specialty with some 11 in total on demand, rang-ing from the tank, Wally, Emma, build your own, and zesty black bean burgers; to sandwiches such as grilled salmon, veggie melts, and others.
Fish n’ chips is also a favorite.
Running the gamut for dinner fare are pastas, along with entrees such as pan seared salmon, pan seared haddock, grilled steak tips, and a variety of other tasty creations sure to please your
palate. Prime rib is a week-end special.
A Happy Hour menu runs Sunday-Thursdays from 2-5 p.m. in the pub, with $2 off select appetizers, and $1 off signature cocktails, well drinks, Bud Light, drafts, and and house wine.
Emma’s 321 offers the abil-ity to host parties, having just hosted a party of 40 only a few days ago. Clark Miller explained, “We are more than happy to host parties, private parties, and all func-tions, and will offer special menus and buffets if they like. All we ask is for a cou-ple weeks’ notice so we can prepare.”
Motivation for opening
the new pub was, as Clark Miller explained, “I think it was more for her than for me. She has been working for somebody else her entire life doing what she is doing now, and she really wanted to do it on her own, and loves doing what she is doing. We settled on the business in the end of May, and opened the first week in August with all the time in between spent between cleaning and making it our own. The last eight weeks have gone really good.”
In closing Miller added, “Everyone is welcome here and we are here to please all the people in the area. We provide very approachable
food, homemade food, and strive to put out a menu that everybody wants.”
Emma’s 321 Pub & Kitchen is located at 377 U.S. Route 202, just past the junction of Routes 202 & 119 in Rindge. Their hours are weekdays Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.-ish, depending on cus-tomer attendance, and closed on Mondays. Weekends are noon-10 p.m. with clos-ing hour based again on attendance. If calling with any questions, they can be reached at (603) 899-3322, or emailed with any questions at [email protected] and viewed on the internet at www.emmas321.com
EMMA’S 321continued from page A1
The board instructed Abare to inform the company that it wanted a report on what is being done to address the prob-lem before it’s next meeting, which, according to the town’s website, is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 6.
The board also instructed Abare to conduct unannounced inspections of Central Supermarket IGA every other month for the next six months. The move was taken after the health agent’s
report of his last visit to the store was read during the board’s consideration of the store’s application for renewal of its food permit.
Abare’s report indicated he had found out of date yogurt, mayonnaise,and baby food on the shelves. He also said the store had missing ceiling tiles and a walk-in freezer that needed to be defrost-ed. Employee restrooms also needed to be cleaned up and the sinks repaired.
Moury said the board needed to pay more attention to any problems that may arise at the store because “it serves a population in town that has very few
options.”He said a lot of people go there because
they lack transportation to other near-by stores.
Moury also said he had received com-plaints about people purchasing meat with an acceptable expiration date, “but when it was opened, it had a strong odor.”
“It’s becoming more frequent and I’m starting to get worried.”
The board voted unanimous-ly to approve renewal of Central Supermarket’s food permit, but only on condition of stepped up inspections.
RATScontinued from page A1
HELP WANTEDWAIT STAFF
Wait Staff: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, approximately 25 hours per week, morning to afternoon shift. Apply during business hours at Lisa’s Central Diner, 60 Central St. or call (978) 514-1043 for more information. TFN
CNA/LNABroadview is seeking enthusiastic, motivated, and caring individuals to join our staff. Looking for CNA/LNA candidates to fill part time positions on our 3-11 shift and our 11-7 shift. We have a very unique, employee friendly environment that includes free meals during every shift! If interested email Lindsey at [email protected].
JOB SEEKERSJob Seekers Networking Group hosted by North Central Career Center and Greater Gardner Chamber of Commerce. Meetings are open to all job seekers and are held on Wednesdays from 1-2 p.m. at the Chamber conference room, 29 Parker St. 2nd floor, Gardner. Contact the Chamber at (978) 632-1780.
EMPLOYERSThese help wanted ads are FREE! Contact the Courier to find out how to get help for your business by calling (978) 297-0050 x 100 or email
[email protected] RENT
ROOMS FOR RENTDowntown Winchendon, immediate occupancy: located on second floor in secured, peaceful, friendly, well maintained, quiet & drug
free building. Independent group of older gentlemen to co-habitat, hallway & bath facilities are shared. 1 parking space, dumpster use, heat/HW included, electric included (except AC in summer). $475 per month. References, income verification, first & last to move in. Applications available: Dick’s Place Barbershop, 298 Central St. (978) 297-2281.
GOODRICH APARTMENTSNow taking applications. Call for guidelines. (978) 297-0231. TFN
PETSFOUR LEGGED COMPANION
WANTEDBenjamin Street area – Sparky, a 58 pound Golden-doodle, seeks compatible playmate after loss of roommate in October. Let’s walk first then play in large/fenced-in yard. Days/time TBD. 978-297-1057.
TFNSERVICES
All in One Painting: interior, exterior, power washing, decks. More than 25 years experience, fully insured, free estimates. (603) 305-4974 or [email protected] TFN
OUTSIDE BOAT STORAGESunset Lake, $400 for the winter; willing to barter. (978) 827-6645. 11/11
WANTEDWANTED
Motorcycles, ATVs, scooters. Cash paid for good deals. (978) 297-1800. 11.1.16
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSDrum teacher Leon LaPlante seeks used instruments and drum stands to help out high school students. (978) 297-1250.
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Winchendon courier 10 Friday, December 9, 2016
Holidays
(NAPS)During the busy holi-
day season, many fami-lies find they’re looking for quick and easy meals that are both comforting and festive. Fortunately, following these four hints can help.
1. Cook once—eat twice. Find creative ways to repurpose your left-overs. Make stews, casse-roles and frittatas. Have leftovers for lunch. When you “brown-bag it” this way instead of going out, you can save an average $1,500 over the year. That can buy a lot of holiday presents—including for yourself—and help you have the time to go shop for them.
2. Focus on your favorites. Outsource the rest. If, say, you love roast turkey, baste that bird all you like but don’t devote a lot of time to the sides. Put the pota-to peeler down and pick up refrigerated Main St. Bistro Signature Mashed Potatoes at your local grocery store. Or for a sweet twist, dig into some Baked Mashed Sweet Potatoes with
sweet potatoes, real but-ter, brown sugar and can-died pecans. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sweet
potatoes are higher in beta-carotene than many other vegetables and are a source of potassium, fiber, and vitamins A and
C. Whether you like your spuds sweet or savory, both are great when host-ing holiday dinners or enjoying family meals.
3. Plan a potluck party. Invite the neigh-bors for dinner and have each family bring a different dish. For easy
and popular additions, look for the fully baked refrigerated sides from Reser’s Main St. Bistro. Baked Scalloped Potatoes combine tender sliced potatoes with a rich cream sauce topped with cheddar cheese. Baked Macaroni & Cheese is a rich, savory dish with real cheddar cheese and a golden-brown crust. To add a little heat, try Zesty Au Gratin Potatoes with diced jalapeños, cheddar cheese and crispy bacon. Look for these and other Main St Bistro side dish-es in your grocer’s Meat Dept.
4. Put a bow on the party. For more fun, make it a gift wrapping party, too. You simply supply the scissors and tape and everyone brings a different roll of holiday wrapping paper so you can all mix and match, swap and share.
Learn MoreFor further facts on
food, go to http://resers.com/products/main-st-bistro-classic-sides#over-view.
Time- And Money-Saving Tips
Easy-to-heat-and-eat hot sides can make life a lot simpler at holiday time.
Five Holiday Travel Tips from Les Schwab Tire Centers
(NAPS)—The holiday season is upon us—one of the busiest times of year to be on the road. Safe driving practices are critical for keeping you and yours pro-tected in heavy traffic. Now is a great time to get your vehicle winter-ready before road conditions become highly unpredictable. Consider these five safe-ty tips to help you travel safely to see loved ones this holiday season.
Inspect your tiresProperly inflated traction tires reduce
the risk of skidding and improve brak-ing. Your local tire experts can measure your tires’ air pressure and tread depth, and do a visual alignment check. Be sure to ask if they can also test your brakes, shocks and battery.
Understand your options The decision between studded and
winter tires comes down to personal needs based on your commute and driving habits. Winter traction tires are specifically designed to provide the extra grip, braking and handling you’ll need to confidently drive on slush and packed snow. Studded tires offer additional traction in more treacher-ous winter driving conditions, like ice. Chains can be important too—and are sometimes required—for traction when you’re traveling in the mountains or on icy roads. Visit https://www.lesschwab.com/resources/winter-driv-ing for a step-by-step tutorial on how to put on snow chains.
Know before you goBefore you go, we recommend check-
ing your local department of transpor-
tation’s website for road conditions. Listen to the radio for announcements about accidents, road closures and trav-el advisories. Also, let someone know your route, in case an accident occurs.
Allow extra timeSlow down, especially when travel-
ing over treacherous mountain passes. Whether you’re cornering, stopping, accelerating or driving on a straight-away, reducing speed is the key to safe winter driving. Allow more space between your car and other vehicles. Avoid sudden stops, abrupt downward gear shifts and quick changes in direc-tion. Brake gently to avoid skidding or sliding. If the wheels lock up, ease off the brakes.
Be ready for the unexpectedA winter accident could leave you
stuck on the side of the road in cold, wet weather. Packing your car with a few essentials will help keep you safe and ready for any weather conditions. It’s a good idea to store snacks, water bottles, an ice scraper, flares, chains, a flash-light, blankets and a roadside safety kit in your trunk. And, always carry a cell phone. If you must pull over because conditions are too bad to proceed, get as far off on the shoulder as is safely possi-ble, turn off your headlights and turn on your hazard lights.
Your local tire experts at Les Schwab Tire Centers can help ensure your vehi-cle is winter-ready. Before you hit the road, we’ll check your tires’ air pres-sure and tread depth and do a visu-al alignment to ensure the tires are wearing evenly. We’ll also check your brakes, shocks and battery. All for free
as part of our pre-trip safety check. Les Schwab has a full inventory of winter traction and studded tires, chains, and other devices to meet your needs. To find the store nearest you, visit https://www.lesschwab.com/about/store-loca-tor. Safe travels!
About Les Schwab Tire CentersLes Schwab Tire Centers (https://
www.lesschwab.com) is one of the leading independent tire dealers in the United States, with more than 7,000 employees and more than 475 loca-tions throughout Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. The company has been recognized for its business prac-tices through several awards, including a Milestone award from the Oregon Sustainability Board, Oregon Economic and Community Development Department honors, an Environmental Excellence award from the Association of Washington Business, an Integrity Counts award from the Northern Idaho Better Business Bureau, and The Oregonian 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Top Workplace recognition.
This Holiday, Give the Gift of Safe Driving
You can stay on the road to safety this holiday season and all through the year if you take a few simple precautions before you go.
(NAPS)At holiday time or any-
time, just about every-one enjoys ice cream. In fact, according to the International Dairy Foods Association, Americans consume some 22 pounds per per-son of the cool treat every year. So this year, your friends and family will likely love getting ice cream–themed accesso-ries such as these:
• Get the Real Scoop On Holiday Cheer and spread your love with a customized ice cream scoop. Choose an engraved message such as “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays” or “I Love You,” or design your own scoop with a message of up to 20 letters at www.ZerollCustom.com. It makes a great stocking stuffer for less than 20 dollars.
Here’s the real scoop on the Zeroll: The handle is filled with a permanent, safe defrosting fluid that responds to the warmth of a hand so ice cream is rolled smoothly into a ball. Patented in 1935, the
Zeroll scoop is still Made in the U.S.A. and is dis-played in the Museum of Modern Art’s Permanent Design Collection in New York City.
• Cone Home for Christmas: The whole family can enjoy deli-cious, rich cone flavors in a choice of cone or bowl with an almost infinite variety of fill-ings, from ice cream to sorbet to fresh fruit and whipped cream, with a waffle-cone maker. Your delicious cones can even
be dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, just as in the ice cream parlor. A box filled with home-made waffle cones makes a great present anytime of the year. Plus, there are many savory uses for your homemade cones—from salad bowls to taco shells. The Chef’sChoice WaffleCone Express Model 838 features an advanced professional baking system to ensure homemade, freshly baked sugar cones in just two minutes. It comes
equipped with a cone form to help make roll-ing uniformly shaped cones with ease, instant temperature recovery, nonstick surface, easy-to-clean overflow channels, color control dial and more.
• Holiday Delight Cone Holder: To accom-pany it, and help you create a great ice cream party, there’s an all-met-al, non-stain, easy-clean cone holder. It’s a fun, practical way to sup-port your freshly made
cones for filling and to present them for eating. The holder is great for maintaining cone shape after rolling. Place the cooling cones in the holder and fill them or store them after they’ve reached room tempera-ture. The Chef’sChoice International Ice Cream Cone Holder Model 838CH’s rotating support arms are designed to hold even heavy 3” or 4” diam-eter cones securely.
• Santa Loves His Sweets and Other Treats:
Serve up some shakes or make food prep eas-ier with the versatili-ty of the Omega M1000 Single Spindle Milkshake Maker. A delight all year round, this whipping wonder is great for mix-ing ice cream, bar drinks, eggs, pancake batter, waf-fle batter and more. The extra-large stainless steel blending cup clicks on and off for ease of use and serving. The power-ful motor and detachable spindle aerate mixtures into frothy, smooth tex-tures for superior whip-ping results. See it at www.OmegaJuicers .com.
Learn MoreFor further facts and a
look at other great gifts and kitchen equipment for yourself or others, visit www.Chefschoice.com, omegajuicers.com or zeroll.com. These brands of food service equipment, home appliances, kitchen tools and accessories are made to meet a set of core values that emphasize the people who use the prod-ucts.
Sweet, Sweeter And Sweetest Ideas For The Ice Cream Lover
Personalized ice cream scoops let you give a gift with both sentiment and quality.• For authentic ice cream fun at home, create your own cones. For fun with food, few things can shake things up like this milkshake maker.
Winchendon courier 11 Friday, December 9, 2016
art FaCt:
THIS CARTOONIST BROUGHT THE IMAGE
OF SANTA CLAUS TO LIFE WHEN HE ILLUSTRATED THE STORY, “A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS.”
ANSWER: THOMAS NAST
art FaCt:
THIS CARTOONIST BROUGHT THE IMAGE
OF SANTA CLAUS TO LIFE WHEN HE ILLUSTRATED THE STORY, “A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS.”
ANSWER: THOMAS NAST
DEC
10
THIS DAY IN...
HISTORY•1844: MARK TWAIN’S “HUCKLEBERRY FINN” IS PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME.
•1901: THE FIRST NOBLE PRIZES ARE AWARDED IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN.
•2004: A UNITED STATES PASSENGER JET LANDS IN VIETNAM. IT IS THE FIRST ONE TO DO SO SINCE THE VIETNAM WAS ENDED.
G E T T H E PICTURE?
CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THE BIGGER PICTURE IS?
ANSWER: CHRISTMAS WREATH
NewwordHUSTLE
move hurriedly
How they SAY that in...
ENGLISH: MerrySPANISH: AlegreITALIAN: AllegroFRENCH: JoyeuxGERMAN: Fröhlich
Winchendon courier 12 Friday, December 9, 2016
CAC is a great way to help fellow citi-zens, and feel good about your donation. Something as simple as canned vegeta-bles, a box of stuffing, loaf of bread, or others can go a long way to helping the less fortunate at not only this special time of year, but all year long with out breaking your bank.
Let us not forget our veterans. Many of whom are disabled. These are people who at one point in their life wrote a
blank check made out to the United States of America payable up to the cost of their lives. Many gave some, some gave all. There are many veterans who need a helping hand, especially those who sustained permanent injuries while serving and can no longer per-form even simple duties that you and I take for granted every day. I encourage any of you who may not be interest-ed in donating to the above causes, to contact the local VFW, or even town of Winchendon veterans agent Scott Gauthier to see if there is a veteran or family of a veteran who needs assis-
tance at Christmas time.There are many in need, many who
placed the needs of others before self, and many who simply fell upon hard times at no fault of their own. None of us knows what the future holds for us as we each watch our own personal movie of life unfold and play out. Yes, many of us got where we are because of hard work. However there are many who worked just as hard as others, and lost all due to illness, injury, or a host of other nearly endless possible reasons. I encourage you to donate a toy, maybe a box of food, or think about all the possi-
ble options.No matter how bad we may all have
it in some ways, remember at this spe-cial time of year that if you have your health, you are truly blessed. There are many who would have willingly accept-ed our worst days to have one more of their own. Others have lost some or all. Please and especially at this time of year no matter what religion you prac-tice, help out your fellow human beings and even if a just a little, please give at this special time of year. I promise you will feel better for it.
KENTcontinued from page A4
sense.” That said, numerous students have applied to
elite universities including Ivy League institu-tions including Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth as well as Tufts and other top-notch schools.
“We didn’t start the process that week,” Weinhold added.
“We met with seniors in English classes because that’s the course they all have to take so we know where to find them,” she laughed, adding, “then we’d meet with each of them individually and talk about their post-graduation plans. It wasn’t easy, either. Some of them are so busy with other things — sports, drama, work, it was hard to find everyone and get together with them.”
Borsky acknowledged not every student in the 65-member senior class has college plans.
“Some are going into the military and several are looking at trade careers and you always need electricians and plumbers and we have a couple kids looking at Monty Tech’s evening program but we always stress looking at every option,” she said.
Students Jay Pereria and junior Thomas Sutherland are already taking college courses as part of Murdock’s dual-enrollment program with the Mount. That collaboration has provided several MHS students with a head start on college and last year Lindsey Paul actually received her AA degree from MWCC two weeks before getting her high school diploma.
“It’s really benefits the students who are a part of it,” reflected Borsky.
Murdock’s college connection to the Mount doesn’t stop there. It includes participating in the TRIO program. Established more than a half-cen-tury ago, TRIO includes Upward Bound, Talent Search and Student Support Services, all of which are designed to help enable students to maximize their academic potential. The November event was part as well of GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), the latter funded through state grants aimed at helping students from targeted schools prepare for college.
Organizers did it up big too, with raffles and other prizes.
“The kids felt good about it and having 83-per-cent having already applied is a very good num-ber,” said Weinhold. “We’d like to do this again next year.”
COLLEGEcontinued from page A1
LEGAL NOTICEMORTGAGEE’S SALE
OF REAL ESTATEBy virtue of and in execution of the Power of Sale contained in a cer-tain mortgage given by Richard S. Baum and Debra E. Baum to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. acting solely as nominee for Principal Residential Mortgage, Inc., dated January 27, 2004 and recorded in Worcester County (Worcester District) Registry of Deeds in Book 32866, Page 298 of which mortgage Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, d/b/a Christiana Trust, not individually but as trustee for Pretium Mortgage Acquisition Trust is the present hold-er by assignment from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as nominee for Principal Residential Mortgage, Inc. to CitiMortgage, Inc. dated March 6, 2012 record-ed at Worcester County (Worcester District) Registry of Deeds in Book 48661, Page 388; assignment from CitiMortgage, Inc. to Pretium Mortgage Credit Partners I Loan Acquisition, LP dated December 1, 2015 recorded at Worcester County (Worcester District) Registry of Deeds in Book 54641, Page 320 and assignment from Pretium Mortgage Credit Partners I Loan Acquisition, LP to Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, d/b/a Christiana Trust, not individually but as trustee for Pretium Mortgage Acquisition Trust dated December 17, 2015 recorded at Worcester County (Worcester District) Registry of Deeds in Book 54834, Page 70, for breach of conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same, the mortgaged premises located at 296 Ash Street, Winchendon, MA 01475 will be sold at a Public Auction at 2:00PM on January 3, 2017, at the mortgaged premises, more particularly described below, all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, to wit:A certain tract of land, with the build-ings thereon situated on the northeast-erly side of Ash Street in Winchendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts and being shown as Lot 6 containing 43,605 square feet on a plan enti-tled “Plan of Lots, prepared for D. M. Industries, Winchendon, MA., Scale 1 in = 60 ft., May 18, 1987” which plan is recorded with Worcester District Registry of Deeds in Plan Book 578, Page 40 and being more particularly
bounded and described as follows:Beginning at the Northwesterly corner thereof at point in the easterly sideline of Ash Street and at the southwesterly corner of Lot 7 as shown on said plan hereinabove referred to;Thence N. 74 Degrees 05’ 33” E. by Lot 7 as shown on said plan 291.30 feet to a point at land now or formerly of D. M. Industries, Inc.;Thence S. 15 Degrees 54’ 27” E. by last named land 150 feet to a point;Thence S. 74 Degrees 05’ 33” W. continuing by last named land, 291.30 feet to a point in the easterly sideline of Ash Street;Thence N. 15 Degrees 54’ 27” W. by the easterly sideline of Ash Street 150 feet to the point of beginning. For mortgagor’s title see deed recorded with the Worcester County (Worcester District) Registry of Deeds in Book 18178, Page 164.The premises will be sold subject to any and all unpaid taxes and other municipal assessments and liens, and subject to prior liens or other enforce-able encumbrances of record entitled to precedence over this mortgage, and subject to and with the benefit of all easements, restrictions, reservations and conditions of record and subject to all tenancies and/or rights of parties in possession.Terms of the Sale: Cash, cashier’s or certified check in the sum of $5,000.00 as a deposit must be shown at the time and place of the sale in order to qualify as a bidder (the mortgage holder and its designee(s) are exempt from this requirement); high bidder to sign writ-ten Memorandum of Sale upon accept-ance of bid; balance of purchase price payable in cash or by certified check in thirty (30) days from the date of the sale at the offices of mortgagee’s attor-ney, Korde & Associates, P.C., 900 Chelmsford Street, Suite 3102, Lowell, MA 01851 or such other time as may be designated by mortgagee. The description for the premises contained in said mortgage shall control in the event of a typographical error in this publication.Other terms to be announced at the sale.Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, d/b/a Christiana Trust, not indi-vidually but as trustee for Pretium Mortgage Acquisition TrustKorde & Associates, P.C.900 Chelmsford Street
Suite 3102Lowell, MA 01851(978) 256-1500Baum, Richard S. and Debra E., 14-018372, December 2, 2016, December 9, 2016, December 16, 2016December 2, 2016December 9, 2016December 16, 2016
(SEAL)COMMONWEALTH OF
MASSACHUSETTSLAND COURT
DEPARTMENT OF THE TRIAL COURT
16SM010516ORDER OF NOTICE
To:Mark Paoluccioand to all persons entitled to the ben-efit of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. 50 §3901 et seq.:Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. as Trustee for WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates Series 2006-PR2 Trustclaiming to have an interest in a Mortgage covering real property in Winchendon, numbered 8 Linden Street also known as 8 Linden Street, Number 10, given by Mark Paoluccio to Washington Mutual Bank, FA, dated January 12, 2006, and recorded in the Worcester County (Worcester District), Registry of Deeds in Book 38200, Page 362, and now held by the Plaintiff by assignment, has/have filed with this court a complaint for deter-mination of Defendant’s/Defendants’ Servicemembers status.If you now are, or recently have been, in the active military service of the United States of America, then you may be entitled to the benefits of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. If you object to a foreclosure of the above mentioned property on that basis, then you or your attorney must file a written appearance and answer in this court at Three Pemberton Square, Boston, MA 02108 on or before January 16, 2017 or you will be forever barred from claiming that you are entitled to the benefits of said Act.Witness, JUDITH C. CUTLER Chief Justice of said Court on November 30, 2016.Attest: Deborah J. PattersonRecorder200709-0296-PRPDecember 9, 2016
(SEAL)COMMONWEALTH OF
MASSACHUSETTSLAND COURT
DEPARTMENT OF THE TRIAL COURT
16SM010517ORDER OF NOTICE
To:John P. Murphyand to all persons entitled to the ben-efit of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. 50 §3901 et seq.:Lakeview Loan Servicing LLCclaiming to have an interest in a Mortgage covering real property in WINCHENDON, 108 ROYALSTON ROAD NORTH, given by John P. Murphy to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., dated August 19, 2010, and recorded in the Worcester County (Worcester District) Registry of Deeds in Book 46634, Page 302, and now held by the Plaintiff by assignment has/have filed with this court a complaint for deter-mination of Defendant’s/Defendants’ Servicemembers status.If you now are, or recently have been, in the active military service of the United States of America, then you may be entitled to the benefits of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. If you object to a foreclosure of the above mentioned property on that basis, then you or your attorney must file a written appearance and answer in this court at Three Pemberton Square, Boston, MA 02108 on or before January 16, 2017 or you will be forever barred from claiming that you are entitled to the benefits of said Act.Witness, JUDITH C. CUTLER Chief Justice of said Court on November 30, 2016.Attest: Deborah J. PattersonRecorder201609-0245December 9, 2016
LEGALS
is worth zero points. The state aver-ages those scores, and that gives you the schools CPI. The maximum score for a school is 100, which would mean 100 percent of students received a proficient on the MCAS test.”
In ELA Romano was please to say, “The CPI score was 93.9, and the tar-get was 75.
With ‘High Needs’ Roman explained the state took all the old sub groups once reported and com-bined them into one category. It now means any student who is labeled as an English language learner or a student with disabilities in a spe-cial education plan, or economically disadvantaged students, such as stu-dents with a reduced or free lunch is included in a high needs category. Of the 28 students in the ELA pool, the CPI was 90.2, with the CPI for math coming in at 83.9, with a target of 75. High Needs students were 76.8 representing 50 percent of students who took the test. In biology MCAS, 53 total students took the test, with 24 high needs students representing 45 percent of the testing pool. The CPI was 84.9, with all students combined equaling 82.3 for biology.
There are a total of nine CPI areas that count toward the accountabil-ity report. Romano informed mem-bers that the school is on target in seven of the nine, above target in one, and improved in below target in one; which was white students in the ELA MCAS.
Student growth percentile is a measure of how a student’s perfor-mance has changed from one year they took the MCAS, to the next year they took the MCAS, compared to students across the state who had a similar score the previous time. Romano said, “It is a score of one to 100, and the idea is if your SGP was a 76, you improved more than 76 per-cent of the students in the state with a similar scoring history.”
Romano then informed the mem-bers that students going from grade eight MCAS to grade 10 MCAS,
improved more than 32 percent of students around the state. School Committee Member Lawrence Murphy then informed fellow com-mittee members, “The reason for the SGP is because schools and teachers were not getting credit for the work that they were doing with their fail-ing students” who were behind, with Romano adding, “Yes, that is exactly it.”
Romano also said that while SGP for ELA was average, the SPG for math was very good.
In an extremely positive note, Romano informed members due to holding students accountable, the number of students parents that he needed to call to inform them their children were not on track to gradu-ate went from 22 in 2015, to just two in 2016.
“The message has gotten to the kids, I mean business, and they are going to have to perform if they want to get that diploma, they have to show it has to mean something,” he said. The committee congratulated Romano for the improvements, with Romano giving credit to all the teach-ers.
The second presentation, was pre-ceded by Mecelicaite being honored by Superintendent Steven Haddad with the Blue Devil Cool award for her dedication and work for the dis-trict and its students. Her presenta-tion provided an update to the School Committee on the status of the state assessment.
Thursday, Dec. 1 was the last day of the six professionals, combining for more than two centuries of experi-ence in various fields sent by the state department of education to do site visits in Winchendon. Mecelicaite said, “I believe their expertise was really deep, and that they are very good at doing this work. This entire process was quite positive for all of us.”
Focus groups worked on six dif-ferent categories of Leadership & Governance, Curriculum and Instruction, Assessment, Human Resources and Professional Development, Student Support, and Financial Management.
Committee members, students, parents, and teacher representatives were interviewed from all the schools, and town management. Mecelicaite also indicated many documents were examined, and all classes at both Toy Town and Memorial schools were visited, along with many middle and high school classes.
She said, “I would really call it a comprehensive review. They were asking questions in a way that we could talk about positive things, and they were not out to get us in any way. With all their accomplishments, I did not feel like I was below them in any way, and they treated us very well in that sense. They were very gracious and thanked us.”
School Committee member Janet Corbosiero said, “They pointed out that every person who they spoke to was friendly, made them feel wel-come, and it was lovely to hear they felt good about being here.”
On positive comment Mecelicaite sharing one comment by DESE rep-resentatives was, “We know that peo-ple have been looking at Winchendon in previous years, but we find a dif-ferent climate and atmosphere this time around.”
Mecelicaite in closing said, “This was just one great all around team effort.”
Haddad added, “The process start-ed in October. It wasn’t all good, but it was very eye opening. We have really had a chance to look at our district, what we did well, and what we need to do better. As hard as we all had to work, it pays off in great dividends down the road.”
The district assessment report could take between the next two and three months to finish and be sent back to the district.
In other news, the School Committee welcomed new member Felicia Nurmsen to the committee filling the position recently vacated by former and member Greg Vine who left for employment.
The will be a Red Cross blood drive at MMHS on Monday, Dec. 12, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.. To make an appointment, please email Stephanie Rondeau at [email protected].
SCHOOLcontinued from page A1
Winchendon courier 13 Friday, December 9, 2016
Winchendon courier 14 Friday, December 9, 2016
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Sherrie Homon Erlenmeyer, owner of Pattie’s Jewelry in the Central Plaza at 15 Central St., holds a diamond and pearl necklace from Galatea, one of her newest offerings.
Service you won’t find online; not in malls
“It’s a new time, a new generation,” says Sherrie Homon Erlenmeyer, owner of Pattie’s Jewelry. “Most people shop online these days. They’ve lost that personal touch.”
“I provide that,” she says with well-deserved pride.“I want to get to know my customers,” she says, “to help them without going
beyond their budget. If someone comes in and only has $90 to spend, I can help them find something nice.”
Pattie’s has been in business for 31 years. It was started by her mother, Pattie Homon, and father Albert. Sherrie took over the operation in 2005.
“I am so honored to have this business,” says Sherrie. “It’s the greatest feeling to know I’ll be keeping the family name alive. And I’m so blessed to be in Winchendon, so appreciative to still be here.”
“My mother was the driving force behind it,” she says, “and my father was the ‘fun guy.’ Without both it wouldn’t have been a success. I give all the credit to my parents.”
Sherrie says her mother still helps out at the store around the holidays.She prides herself on personal service.“We do repairs. I offer layaway. If someone wants something they don’t see in the
store, I can order it for them.”And Sherrie takes pride in what she carries.One of her newest items is a diamond and pearl combination by Galatea. She also
offers fingerprint jewelry, art deco items done in sterling, and stackable mother’s rings, and, of course, a wide array of items in silver and gold.
“The mall stores are owned by one owner,” says Sherrie. “We’re a family-owned business. They say they offer zero percent financing, but the fact is their markup is so high I can offer a better price.”
During the holidays, Sherrie offers a free gift to her customers, a little something for the kids, and free gift-wrapping.
“Before people head to the malls, I really want them to stop in here first,” says Sherrie. “They’ll see the quality of what we have to offer, and they’ll see I can, and will, provide a personal touch they won’t find at the mall stores, and certainly not online. I’ll talk to you, get to know you, and help you select the best item for the person you may be shopping for, or for yourself.”
Sherrie says she has customers she first met when they were children and now have children of their own.
“The people know me and trust me. I love Winchendon and the people here. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”