4/9/09

4/2/09

4/2/09

3/26/09

3/26/09

3/19/09

3/19/09

3/12/09

3/5/09
The Milton Animal League recently sent out invitations not inviting people to its annual party.
That wasn’t a typographical error; the league is NOT inviting anyone. Its cleverly written and designed piece of literature reads, in part: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Milton Animal League was forced to cancel our silent auction. One of the dogs ate the guest list. And we thought they only liked homework!”
(continued)

2/26/09
We all have people in our lives who played a significant role in getting us to where we are today. In my case, Henry Bosworth was one of those people.
Henry was the founder and publisher of The Quincy Sun, a weekly community newspaper in the blue-collar city that borders Milton. A veteran journalist, his reporting career had included stints at The Patriot Ledger and The Boston Traveler. He covered the Brinks Robbery trial in 1956 and JFK’s presidential election in 1960. One of his Traveler columns actually inspired a Jerry Lewis television program that led to the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. His was quite a career, and that was before he launched the Sun in 1968.
(continued)

2/19/09
In a day and age when the nation’s largest automakers, and others, are looking for a handout to bail them out of problems that are their own doing, it’s absolutely amazing to see the residents of Milton going all-out to tackle a problem whose causes lie elsewhere.
(continued)

2/12/09
Of all the days celebrated in this great country of ours, St. Valentine’s Day has perhaps one of the most obscure histories. Everyone knows that it’s a day during which Hallmark, restaurants and flower shops make a killing, but you don’t generally hear folks talking about why we take the time to
observe it.
(continued)

2/5/09
As a community newspaper, the Milton Times depends largely on editorial contributions from, well, the community. And in my first few weeks here, it’s been easy to see that the residents truly care about the town, as well as our publication.
We’ve received so many press releases, letters and photos from our readers that at times it’s been hard to keep up. In some respects, that’s a positive thing; the busier you are, the faster the day goes by.
Also, as I mentioned above, it’s inspiring to witness the people’s passion.
It’s probably safe to say that we print better than three-quarters of the submissions we receive from Miltonians. We’d like to guarantee that every single one is going to run in the newspaper, but that would be virtually impossible. Whenever we can, we’ll hold something for a week if it’s about an event that’s already happened or one that’s not scheduled to take place in the immediate future. Still, try though we might, we can’t publish everything that’s sent to us, even if it makes the Friday-at-noon deadline. The only thing for which we can guarantee inclusion in the Times is a paid advertisement.
That said, we want to print as many items as space allows, and ask you to be patient with us if we happen to miss one of yours. Hopefully we’ll be able to accommodate you the next time around.
A few suggestions: Submit items to editor@miltontimes.com whenever possible; in this day and age, electronic submissions must take priority. Feel free to include as many photographs as you’d like, provided they have a resolution of at least 300 DPI (essentially, that means they shouldn’t be pulled from the Web).
Longer items are better than shorter ones, as they take up more space and can always be trimmed down if necessary. And if your item is about something that occurred in the past, please make sure it’s not obviously dated. Someone sent us a Christmas-related item for inclusion in the Jan. 22 issue, and by late January, Christmas is (please pardon the pun) yesterday’s newspapers.
We look forward to printing many more of your contributions and truly appreciate your support.

2/5/09
Speaking of your support, Cate Cosgrave sure could use it, as well.
Cate is a 4-year-old girl suffering from a brain tumor. Regular readers may recall that her photo appeared on the front page of our Jan. 15 issue, along with a story and second image on Page 2. Her condition is caused by a form of histiocytosis known as Langerhans cell histiocytosis, or LCH. Without getting too technical or even pretending I’m able to do so, the guess here is that LCH isn’t a good thing, especially considering it’s caused this child to undergo a half-dozen rounds of chemotherapy.
The good news for Cate is that she clearly has a lot of people pulling for her. In addition to contributing the wonderfully written and researched article that ran in the Times last month, her friends and family have organized a fund-raiser to benefit LCH research. Called “Hearts for Histio,” the event will be held Sunday, Feb.15, from 6 to 11 p.m. in Dorchester’s Florian Hall. Tickets are $20 in advance (they’ll be $30 at the door) and can be purchased online at www.histio.org/heartsforhistio.
For those who can’t attend, donations may be sent to Histiocytosis Association of America, Hearts for Histio, 332 North Broadway, Pitman, NJ 08071. But hopefully, on the day after Valentine’s Day, your presence at the event will show Cate how strongly the heart beats in Milton.

J. Michael Whalen
Editor

1/29/09
Super Bowl Sunday is rapidly approaching. The Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers will square off in Super Bowl XLIII to see who will be crowned champion – and own a year’s worth of bragging rights – in the NFL.
For many people, the experience borders on religious. Parties are thrown, bets are made and the television network that happens to be broadcasting the event enjoys its best Nielsen ratings of the year. Additionally, the league has done a fantastic job in recent years of trying to attract viewers who don’t even care about football by filling time with increasingly creative commercials from various sponsors, as well as big-name musical guests such as Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, U2 and Janet Jackson.
Sadly, the day isn’t a celebration for everyone. In fact, for some women, it could turn out to be a traumatic experience – or worse.
Since the early 1990s, it’s been reported that Super Bowl Sunday is the worst day of the year for domestic violence against women. Now, depending on where you do your research, that claim may or may not be true. For example, the site Snopes.com, which attempts to debunk so-called urban myths, indicates that well-meaning folks have falsely tied domestic abuse to the day of the big game, in an attempt to shine a spotlight on what is clearly a legitimate social epidemic.
Other sources on the World Wide Web, however, suggest there is at least some evidence that such a connection exists.
The idea really doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. The holiday/winter season, with its flurry of activity, increased family pressures, depressing weather and considerable alcohol consumption, probably doesn’t do much for the mindset of a man who’s already prepared to hit a woman if he feels the need. Throw in today’s rising jobless rate and struggling economy, and you’ve got a real recipe for disaster.
Even if there is only a minimal spike in such violence on the day of football’s greatest spectacle – or, for that matter, even if there’s not – the thought certainly provides us with an opportunity to remember what has for too long been an extremely disturbing problem in our society.
Most of us can’t relate to the thought process that prompts a man to physically strike his significant other. Such individuals certainly require counseling, jail time or both. Sometimes the abusers themselves are former child victims, although to say they never had a chance would be providing them with too easy an excuse.
In any event, the people who need our attention in cases of domestic violence are the victims: the women and children whose lives are shattered by such abuse. Fortunately, there are places where they can go for help. And one of them is little more than a stone’s throw away from Milton.
Domestic Violence Ended, or DOVE, is a Quincy-based agency that helps abused women and their children. The organization, founded in 1978, provides emergency shelter, children’s programs, counseling and other services. DOVE, which could always use additional financial support, is a beacon for those lost in the darkness of domestic violence.
If you’re in need of help, know someone who is, or simply want to make a difference in the lives of abuse victims, Super Bowl Sunday might provide the perfect opportunity for you to make a call or write a check.
DOVE’s 24-hour crisis hotline can be reached at 617-471-1234 or 888-314-3683. The phone number for its Outreach and Family Services Center is 617-770-4065. Donations may be sent to P.O. Box 690267, Quincy, MA 02269.

J. Michael Whalen
Editor

1/22/09
Few people would argue with the premise that drunken driving is not a good thing. It’s a bad habit that results in too many senseless deaths each year, which is why it’s against the law.
But as this is written, it’s still not illegal to drive while talking on your cell phone. People routinely barrel down the street at full speed while exchanging their life stories. And teenagers actually text-message when they’re driving. It’s absolute madness.
I’m not the first person to raise this issue and certainly won’t be the last. But unlike some, I can offer a firsthand account of what can happen when someone chooses phone conversation over car navigation. And only by the grace of God am I here to talk about it.
It was June 2004, less than two weeks after my father died following an absolutely brutal battle with cancer. It had been a rough stretch for my wife and me; my mother-in-law had died of the same disease in September 2002, Dad was diagnosed in August 2003, and my own mother (who died in January 2005) had constant health problems. But on this bright, sunny afternoon, Dad’s ordeal was finally over, and I was relieved that he was no longer in pain.
Running early for an appointment, I decided to pull over to review some reading materials. I was driving down a well-traveled roadway in Quincy, but there are numerous parking spots on the southbound side and it was nowhere near rush hour. I pulled into a spot and began reading.
I hadn’t been idling there five minutes when I glanced up into my rearview mirror and saw a single vehicle racing up behind me. “Wow,” I thought. “That car almost looks like it’s going to…”
WHAM.
It was that fast. The impact was positively jarring. I don’t recall whether I had unfastened my seat belt prior to the accident, but as soon as I realized my legs still worked, I turned off the ignition (my car had begun making a hideous shrieking sound), pulled out the key and ran out onto the sidewalk.
The company-owned PT Cruiser that had slammed into my left rear came to a stop several yards ahead of me. I’m probably lucky it wasn’t a Mack truck, but the thing was an absolutely tank in comparison to my Saturn sedan, which was a total loss. In retrospect, when I remember how the car looked, it was a miracle I’d escaped unscathed.
Meanwhile, a young man from Hull had pulled up behind me. He approached and asked if I was OK. Still shaken, I nodded slowly. He said, “Don’t worry; I saw the whole thing. She was talking on her cell phone.” And that’s exactly what he told the police a short while later.
An older woman arrived at the scene to comfort the 30-something female who’d almost killed me. When I eventually approached them to discuss what had happened, the driver’s friend snapped, “She needs a few minutes. She’s very upset.” Oh, I’m sorry.
The driver never apologized. In fact, she didn’t speak to me at all.
Needless to say, the incident confirmed what I’d already suspected: Cell-phone use is too disruptive to one’s concentration to be allowed to occur on the road. The National Safety Council coincidentally said so earlier this month when it urged states to ban the practice entirely. Locally, the Legislature already has considered making it illegal in Massachusetts, and our lawmakers should do so immediately, before it results in more accidents and – God forbid – lives lost.

J. Michael Whalen
Editor

1/15/09
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
“…When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!’”
Stirring words, to say the least. And obviously, they’re not something for which the Milton Times can take credit. The above quotes, of course, are excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous
“I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
King was a courageous man, a visionary, and his impact on our society cannot be understated. The Civil Rights Movement, which lasted roughly from 1955 to 1968, aimed to gain equality for blacks throughout the United States. King was at the forefront of that battle before an assassin’s bullet
cut his life short on April 4, 1968. He was only
39 years old.
Although the tragedy sparked rioting in a number of U.S. cities, Boston enjoyed a relatively benign atmosphere. Mayor Kevin White worked with legendary singer James Brown, another hero of the black community, to ensure that Brown’s scheduled performance at the Boston Garden the following evening not only went on as scheduled but was televised for those who didn’t have tickets.
King’s death, while heartbreaking, provided a reminder that when a dreamer dies, the dream usually lives on. His supporters, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, continued to push for the rights of minorities. In the years that have followed his passing, racism still exists – and, unfortunately, probably always will to some degree – but things have improved dramatically for men and women of color. People with darker skin no longer have to degrade themselves by using bathrooms and eating facilities that are separated from those reserved for whites. They can no longer be banned from certain businesses or churches. They can come and
go as they please, speak freely, and hold any job they desire.
And as Election Day proved two months ago, that means literally any job. Next week, Barack Obama – who, fittingly, accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination on the 45th anniversary of King’s most famous speech – will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the first black man to hold the office. While his election sparked outrage in some conservative circles, it was because of his left-leaning politics, not the color of his skin. Mostly, the day simply inspired hope and an overwhelming sense of joy. Many people, from billionaire Oprah Winfrey to the average Joe on the street, were moved to tears.
May it never be forgotten that Obama, Winfrey and so many others owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for where they are today.
Here in Milton, a town that accepts anyone
regardless of color or creed, the students in the
public and parochial schools are among those who want you to remember. Some of their tributes to King can be found elsewhere in this week’s issue of the Times. We commend the students for their creativity, but more importantly, for their recognition of King’s place in history.

J. Michael Whalen
Editor

1/8/09
It’s not very often that the word “hate” comes out of my mouth.
As a Catholic Christian, I believe very strongly that we should all try to love as much as possible. We should love our families and friends, obviously, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Whenever possible, we also should take the time to love both the man-made and the natural things around us: our homes, our cars, the trees and flowers, the local beach. Mother Nature should be loved and appreciated for most of what she brings us, including the sunshine and rain, which bring warmth and life to all of the good things that grow out of the earth.
But as God as my witness, I purely hate the winter. I hate everything about it: the snow, the ice, the cold. There is very little that is positive about this harshest of seasons, and you could talk until you’re blue in the face (and you probably are, if you’ve spent any time outside lately) trying to convince me otherwise.
It wasn’t always this way, of course. When the Blizzard of ’78 hit New England, I thought it was one of the greatest events of all time. Nearly 30 inches of snow, on top of a storm the previous month that gave us about 21? No problem. School was canceled for at least a week – possibly two – and my friends and I had snow tunnels literally lining a good chunk of our road in Quincy, on BOTH SIDES. It was the best.
But I was 11 at the time, and 11-year-olds don’t have a tremendous amount of responsibility. School gets canceled; work doesn’t. Try telling your boss that you’re not coming into work today because it snowed. If you’re lucky, the response will be laughter.
Today, I feel as though I’m seeing the world through my father’s eyes. Dad, God rest his soul, was no fan of the New England weather. (And this was no fainting flower; an ironworker for Local 7 in South Boston, he was, in his prime, as tough as anyone.) He always longed to move to a warmer climate, but my New York-born mother was a Northeast girl through and through, and she wasn’t going anywhere. Whenever Dad and I would shovel snow together, he’d made up sarcastic songs like, “I love to grow old in the cold/Why should I have fun in the sun?” Meanwhile, Mom – who, to be fair, was a very hard-working person herself – would be inside our warm, cozy house.
Now I’m feeling my father’s pain. Last month, our area was blanketed by snow during one three-day period, which brought roughly 20 inches, and on the last day of 2008, when we received 8 inches more. The average annual snowfall in Greater Boston is nearly 42 inches, and we’re already about two-thirds of the way there. And did I mention that this is being written on New Year’s Day?
Snow traps you in your driveway and forces you to dig yourself out. Ice makes walkways so slippery you have to take baby-steps in order to avoid killing yourself. The cold is so bad on some days that you can’t force the key through the driver’s-side door of the car. And you just know that Punxsutawney Phil will predict another six weeks of winter on Groundhog Day, which means things aren’t likely to change much before mid-March.
“Winter Wonderland” may be a great song, but in all likelihood, it was written by a wide-eyed 11-year-old with too much time on his hands.

J. Michael Whalen
Editor

(Click here to see more on Mike)

1/1/09
A new year always begins with so much promise. For most of us, it’s a chance to begin again, to
make improvements in our lives, to better ourselves in some way. It’s an opportunity to make those resolutions and do our best to keep them. It’s always a very exciting time.
Personally, I’m very excited that publisher Pat Desmond recently made the decision to bring me on board as editor of the Milton Times. My goal is to make this newspaper the best it can be, which also largely depends on you, the readers. I’ll touch upon that thought later, but first I’d like to tell you a little bit about myself.
I’ve always lived within a stone’s throw (give or take) of the town. Born in Dorchester, I spent the first six years of my life there before moving to Quincy with my family in 1973. I resided in the City of Presidents until 1992 when my wife, Deirdre, and I bought a home in Weymouth. Coincidentally, we moved into the house on New Year’s Day.
Milton is a great community, one for which I’ve always had a strong affinity. For many years, my family – especially my late mother, who had numerous health problems – received tremendous medical care from physicians based in the town. In fact, until I entered high school, we saw a general practitioner who ran his business out of his Blue Hill Avenue home. We got to know his wife and family, and it was a far cry from today’s impersonal HMOs.
One of Milton’s most positive qualities is the obvious pride its citizens take in their community. The residents I’ve met over the years, including the handful I’ve encountered since starting my position at the Times on Dec. 15, clearly care about the town. It’s an important quality, and another reason I’m glad to be your new editor.
And make no mistake: I am your editor, much
like this is your publication. My philosophy is that
a community newspaper should live up that description by doing its best to serve the community. The public may not always agree with every word we
print, but that’s bound to happen in a town, and a country, where free speech is encouraged. As long as the reporting is fair and balanced, it’s always going to be a healthy discussion.
Community weeklies, including the Times, play an especially important role in a day and age that has seen the dailies employ a broader-based, more corporate attitude. As workforces have dwindled, those papers have been forced to scale back their coverage.
They can’t focus on neighborhoods, or even certain towns, like they used to. As a result, publications
such as the Times – which will give, say, a new Eagle Scout his due, in addition to focusing on budgetary matters, Town Meeting and other important municipal issues – are poised to strengthen their niche in the future. And contrary to what some naysayers might believe, dailies and weeklies alike will continue to survive for the foreseeable future despite the existence of the Internet.
But it won’t happen without our readers’ support. We need your e-mails, phone calls and personal
visits – and believe me, my door will always be open – for feedback on our coverage and suggestions on what we should be covering. I’m very much looking forward to the challenge, and hope that you will join our staff in helping to make 2009 a very productive, prosperous year for both the Milton Times and the community at large.

J. Michael Whalen
Editor

12/25/08
’Tis the season to be jolly.
And we have a few imaginary presents for the good people of this town.
We hope our gifts are taken with a smile as we care about you all.
First to our readers we promise another year of dedication. We will wrap the most important issue
in the town in a flutter of newsprint every week of
the year.
To our advertisers we promise to make your 2009 marketing as effective and clear as can be.
To the three Selectmen we send a book of Hebrew scripture so they will be ready for the Temple controversy that is brewing over.
To the Town Planner Bill Clark we send a copy of the open meeting law and our hope the new parking committee will take off in 2009.
To the school department we send a plan for balancing the budget. (The plan is actually an old idea and not a secret. It’s called zero-based budgeting.)
To the Park Commissioners we send a jolly Santa and a bag of magic field-growing food.
To the MPEG Access Board we send new cable leading live to Paul Yovino’s RCN channel.
To Danielle Hill we send a neat new Boutique Cosmetics sign that can fly through the sign committee into existence. (We know that’s probably not the real name of the shop. Send us the press release.)
To Nancy Jesson we send our thanks and appreciation. You’ve brought new life to the Milton Chamber of Commerce. We are looking forward to that second annual Lifestyle Show. (Sunday, March 29, we understand.)
To the real estate industry of Milton we send some hungry buyers with great credit and wads of cash. (Sorry this is a virtual reality.)
To Mellie we send a new set of matched dualing hair blowers.
To Mary Erwin we send Christmas roses.
To anyone who graduated from Archbishop Williams High School in 1964, we send you an electronic invitation to your 45th class reunion. Coming soon.
To Fire Chief Malcolm Larson we send a set of golf clubs for his retirement.
To Ken Quigley we send his commemorative plaque for being Milton’s top employer due to all the recent growth at Curry College. (By the way, he also deserves our thanks for putting the town on the map.)
To Maryann Sullivan we send another van driver.
To the 250 high school students who are planning to play spring sports at MHS, we send about 100
more donors.
To anyone thinking of shopping at a discount store or mall, we send a map of the parking spaces in East Milton Square.
To Judy McDonough, the Times office manager, we send a few ideas for a circulation drive and our thanks for endless efficiency.
To our writers and contributors we send a link to our web site. We know your work would look great on line. We only wish we had time in the week and the financial resources to make a place for you all.
To Police Chief Richard Wells we send a crime free new year.
To Nancy Bersani and the Friends of the Animal Shelter, we send you the ground work for your new pound at the DPW land.
To the clergy of Milton we send you the gift
of hope.
To the Warrant Committee we send you a batch of new calculators that are alarmed to prevent mistakes.

Pat Desmond
Publisher

12/18/08
The time has come for telling the difficult truth about subscription prices.
From time to time the price of a newspaper, like almost everything else in this world, needs to rise.
Now the price of the Milton Times on the newsstand has remained $1 per issue for the past five years. We have no need or intention to raise that price.
If you buy the Times at the newsstand each week, it costs you $52 a year.
Our subscription price has been $30 a year for far longer.
As our subscribers know, the Milton Times is delivered by the United States Postal Service. Delivery in Milton happens on Thursdays. (We publish early on holiday weeks.)
In the past year we have faced a dramatic increase in the cost of postage. Postage is the main component in the cost of a subscription.
Other costs have risen as well this year.
And unlike the federal government, we are not eligible for deficit financing. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just print more money like they do in Washington, DC? We could create new and fantastic programs. But we have always been a business that operated on budget.
Looking at the numbers we have decided to raise the price of a one-year subscription to $35.
At the same time, the price of a two-year subscription is going up from $55 to $60.
The new pricing takes effect Feb. 20. Anyone who wants to avoid the increase can send us their renewal before the new price goes into effect.
Subscription forms mailed out between now and Feb. 20 will have the new price on them.
But anyone paying in this eight week period can pay at our old prices.
Our office manager, Judy McDonough, who is also our circulation manager can help you out if you want to handle these transactions over the telephone. She can be reached at 617-696-7758, extension 101.
For the minority of readers who have an out-of-town subscription, the price remains at $45 a year. That price increased last year when the out-of-town postal rates skyrocketed.
Judy continues to field calls from people who don’t understand why mailing a paper to Dorchester costs so much more than mailing it to someone in this community.
We don’t understand it either but the postal rates allow a good discount for in town newspaper mailings.
We wish they took into account the fact that Dorchester is only across the river. The postal rates are based on in county and out of county pricing. Carrier routed mailings are eligible for a discount.
We wish the post office could deliver to the out of town spaces at something closer to the in town prices. But the mail remains the most economical way to send out printed newspapers.
A few years ago we experimented with a web subscription price. It didn’t meet our balanced budget test. We gave up the concept but we also stopped placing the whole newspaper on line.
Now we place a sampling from the paper online. That probably is the future of the newspaper industry but we know people don’t want to pay for an electronic issue.
We are waiting until one of the giants in our industry develops a model that succeeds.
In the meantime we want to thank all of our readers. You are the reason the Milton Times exists.

Pat Desmond
Publisher

12/11/08
Sometimes people tend to tune out when they hear the same scary warning year after year.
We all remember the fable of The Boy who Cried Wolf. We have to say that we do believe the current sports crisis is real.
School officials say that if money isn’t found in the next two months, they will pull the plug on spring sports. There are 250 students who play spring sports. Will these baseball players, softball players, lacrosse, track and tennis stars be disappointed by a school system that can’t field a budget?
Is there a way out? Of course. But who is working on a solution?
School Committee has been talking about the sports crisis this past month. That is a beginning.
Some high school parents are working hard to raise money. They ran a golf tournament in the fall. They are selling sweatshirts and other Milton paraphernalia at events all over town.
The high school kids have been running bottle and can drives. Most of the adults in East Milton Square have purchased a football card and the players were required to sell twice as many as last year.
People are doing what they can and they are contributing on a level that equals last year.
So what is the problem?
The athletics program costs about $550,000 per year. About $198,000 of the cost is found in the school budget. Another $190,000 is brought in from user fees (at $200 per sport) and $20,000 from gate fees. The student fee went up from $3 to $5 last year. The adult fee remains $5. Student/athletes who have paid the $200 charge are allowed into games for free.
The program depends on $142,000 from fundraising and gifts to maintain its teams. So far this year about $40,000 has been raised but the economy is slow.
Recently we heard that Superintendent Mary Gormley is working to sell advertising to major companies. Banners are for sale in the Copeland Field House, a first. There is some talk about the parents running a comedy night with donations going to the sports program.
But some people seem to be waiting for a major benefactor to come out of the woods.
Counting on an angel is never a good idea. There is an old saw that success is 90% hard work and 10% luck. This community has had more than its share of luck in the past few years.
If there is someone waiting on the sidelines thinking about giving, we hope they take a step into the sunlight now.
The high school students involved in the athletic programs have worked long and hard to raise funds for the programs. But then the students have been working to raise money year after year. Three years ago the community came together and raised nearly $120,000 in about six weeks. It was a miracle. Another miracle is needed.
The Boosters have scheduled meetings at the high school, 25 Gile Road on Monday Jan. 5, Feb. 2 and March 2. We wish them luck. We think they need more than luck. They need the strong support of all the parents of high school athletes.
In a letter sent out by three of the Booster officers people were asked to contribute to the Milton High Boosters, PO Box 375, Milton, MA 02186.
“While this is not our normal mission we are pleased to be able to help in this effort,” the letter by Jerry Cahalane, Booster president, Chris Sullivan, vice president and Marianne Giammarco, treasurer, said. For information e-mail miltonboosters@gmail.com.
Donations may be sent to the high school with checks made out to MHS Athletics. The high school is at 25 Gile Road.

– Pat Desmond
Publisher

12/04/08
This is the season of giving and love.
On Nov. 30 a group of residents gathered on the M. Joseph Manning Deck in East Milton to watch Rep. Walter Timilty flip the switch on the holiday tree.
Santa Claus was there – having arrived in a massive DPW truck driven by Kim Casey. Judah Maccabee arrived to tell the Hannukah story for anyone who wanted to understand that religious tradition. And there was Frosty the Snowman, someone who fits in all our cultures.
Carollers from Milton High School sang songs of the season. They sang for hours under umbrellas that shielded them from the rain but not the cold.
The tree lighting took place despite the chilling and relentless rain.
Santa kept saying we were lucky, the weather could have been worse. He has a great attitude.
The event was sponsored by the Milton Chamber of Commerce, the town DPW and the Kiwanis Club of Milton. As usual Al Thomas contributed heavily to the organization.
Nancy Jesson, Chamber president, pulled together a party of massive proportions for the young and not so young who enjoy the lights and the spirit of community.
We want to thank every hardy soul who celebrated the day.
We also want to thank the businesses that added their gifts to the day including: Grono & Christie Jewelers, Dental 1, Corcoran Brokerage, At Home Elder Care, Gosule, Butkus and Jesson, Alfred D. Thomas Funeral Home, Milton Times, the town of Milton, Kelley & Rege, Starbucks Coffee, the Fruit Center, WROR and the police department.
And in this season of giving, we all need to remember to shop locally. When we support the merchants of our community, we are investing in a green tomorrow.

– Pat Desmond

12/04/08
The first issue of the Milton Times was published Dec. 6, 1995, and this week we are taking a small space to celebrate that beginning.
Back then the Times was published as a bimonthly paper because the business plan called for the operation to stay in black ink. It didn’t take too long for the paper to move to paid weekly circulation – just five months.
The growth of the paper was constant for the first 12 years of its existence. The economy has put growth on hold at the Times this year but we are already planning for the next step.
We want to thank our long-term advertisers who believed a good local newspaper could be an asset to the community and to the local economy.
We want to thank our readers who give us a reason to meet deadline 52 weeks a year.

– P.D.

11/13/08
The community we live in is a better place because of the sacrifices and dedication of the people who have served our nation in war and peace.
As Veterans Day passes, we all should take a few minutes to think about the price paid by the many veterans from Milton who served in the military.
Veterans Day marks the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. As Kevin Mearn pointed out in his address at the gazebo on the Town Green, this is the 90th anniversary of that day.
But Veterans Day is more than the commemoration of the peace that followed the first World War; it is a day to thank the many men and women who have put their own lives on hold to work to preserving the fabric of our society.
We thank them all.

Pat Desmond
Editor & Publisher

11/13/08
Just a week ago one of our regular advertisers called the Times office looking for somebody named Susan who had been trying to sell them on paying to print a column in the Milton Times.
We at the Times want the town to know that we have no affiliation with Syndicated Ad Features, nor do we approve their approach to advertising sales.
It does appear that the people from this Norwood-based company think that selling into the Milton Times is a good way to score sales.
We have a small sales staff.
Lita Muhammad is our advertising manager and she can be reached in our office for help getting an ad into the paper. She began working at the Times six months ago.
Lisa St. Fort has worked for the paper for four years as account executive and she devotes her time to a small group of our ongoing advertisers.
Both Lita and Lisa are available to help businesses in town get their marketing message to the community.
Buying advertising space is one way to shape a message. And there are many times when advertising space is the right decision. When you purchase advertising space, you control the look of the space as well as the message.
Yet the pages of the Times have always been open to the words of our readers and advertisers. That space, which is offered without charge, is subject to availability. We edit all submissions for style and relevance.
Anyone can submit information to the Times. We prefer to receive letters, stories and photos by e-mail because it makes our work easier. Send to editor@miltontimes.com. While the deadline is always Friday at noon for the next week’s issue, we make no promises that all the material will run or that it will run the very next week.
Often we run out of time and space before we run out of submissions.
Photos e-mailed to the Times should be in JPG format. They will be relatively large files. Smaller graphic files, especially those downloaded from a website or reduced in size for quick transmission, will not print well and probably won’t be used.
There are two staff writers at the Times. Scott MacKeen covers town government and writes other local stories. Kathy Kurtz Ferrari, who has been a freelancer for the past four years, is now on staff, working out of the East Milton office.
There are a number of other freelance writers who submit to the Times. The best way to be sure a story will appear in the paper is to telephone the office 617-696-7758 or e-mail a suggestion.
Anyone wondering whether a writer is working for the Times is more than welcome to call our office. We love hearing from our readers. We have limited resources and they are all dedicated to this community.

-– P.D.

11/6/08
This past week several schools in town decided to use the Presidential election as a civics lesson.
It’s what they call a teachable moment.
But maybe we older people were the ones learning something in all the hoopla of a mock election.
We learned that there are people everywhere who vote for people they know will have no chance of winning.
The results from Collicot are:
Barack Obama / Joe Biden (Democrat) percent of votes: 66.69%
John McCain / Sarah Palin (Republican) percent of votes: 28.89%
Ralph Nader / Matt Gonzalez (Independent) percent of votes: 1.75%
Cynthia McKinney / Rosa Clemente (Green-Rainbow) percent of votes: 0.65%
Bob Barr / Wayne A. Root (Libertarian) percent of votes: 0.41%
Chuck Baldwin / Darrell Castle (Constitution Party) percent of votes: 0.35%
Collicot wasn’t the only school to run a mock election before the nation went to the polls, students in the fifth grade at Cunningham organized an election for their school.
The Obama/Biden ticket won at Cunningham as well.
At St. Mary’s the vote happened on Nov. 4 when the rest of the town went to the polls. We will have more to say about that.
What we all can learn is that our young remain interested in political process. Their interest makes the world a better place.

Pat Desmond
Editor & Publisher

11/6/08
Town Administrator Kevin Mearn, a Vietnam veteran, will be the keynote speaker at the Veterans Day observance at the gazebo in front of town hall, 525 Canton Ave., about 11 a.m. on Veterans Day,
Nov. 11.
The Holiday Celebration Committee invites residents to participate in the parade.
All those marching should gather at the Town Yard, 629 Randolph Ave., by 10 a.m. The parade route is Randolph Avenue to Reedsdale Road to Canton Avenue where the observance will commence on the Town Green.
Service organizations, church organizations, boy scouts, and girl scouts will join town officials and American Legion members.
Kathryn A. Fagan, Selectmen chair, will deliver opening remarks. Legion Post Commander Paul Nephew will offer an introduction. The Rev. George H. Welles, Jr., Rector, Church of Our Saviour, and the Rev. Peter Casey, pastor of St. Agatha Church, will offer prayers.
The Final Orders of General Pershing will be read by Max Liberman, Milton High School senior.
An Armed Forces Medley will be played by Milton High School Band.
“The Star Spangled Banner” will be sung by Milton High School Girl’s Chorus.
Rep. Walter F. Timilty will say a few words.
“God Bless America” will be performed by the Milton High School Band.
The ceremony is traditional.
We honor the men and women who have given part of their lives to defend this country. They have paid a price for the well-being of all of us and we all need to show our support and appreciation.

10/30/08
Claire Herlihy, the owner of Frame It Studio & Gallery, moved away from Milton several years ago.
Her two sons were grown. Her husband, John, had retired from his law practice. She was working on expanding her small art gallery and framing business beyond its Milton walls.
She had a vision and was constantly working to bring that vision to life.
But Claire died Oct. 24 at her home in the Pinehills of Plymouth. Her sons, who live out of state, were with her.
This past year was a difficult one for Claire. She agonized over how to reorganize her shop at the Pinehills in the midst of an economy that was unkind to art dealers and most other retailers.
This summer she decided to close the shop in the Pinehills.
She wanted to concentrate on the shop on Randolph Avenue. Claire and her business have given much to the community in the past 18 years.
When her boys were small, Claire took up photography. Back then the family lived in the Columbines. She became noted for her flower photography and sold her work. She always wanted to do more.
The framing business began in her home as a way to display her own artwork. And then the business took shape.
Claire was always protective of her artists. She honored the work of many local photographers, painters, sculptors and jewelry makers.
She gave generously of her time, her talent and her cash to all sorts of good causes.
She puts her friends and family before her self-interest.
Now the business faces permanent closure. Claire was the soul of the operation.
Her good judgment and quiet courage will live in the memory of all who knew her.
(See Times Obituary)

Pat Desmond
Editor & Publisher

10/30/08
Hello, from the Circulation Desk at the Milton Times.
I want to inform our readers a bit about the process of subscribing to the Times to clarify any issues or questions you may have. I have been at the Milton Times for almost two years now doing circulation and a variety of other jobs as the office manager.
When I put on my Circulation hat everyday, I am processing renewal notices, setting up new subscriptions and handling subscriptions through our on-line system. I will send out our first renewal notice approximately eight weeks before your subscription expires. This gives you a heads up that at that specific time in eight weeks you will not be receiving the paper through the mail.
I will run a report approximately four weeks prior to your expiration date and send out another notice for those who have yet to renew. I send out a last “expired” notice that indicates your subscription has expired.
One of the most disturbing phone calls I ever receive is from you, our customers who have paid for your subscription and have not received your paper through the mail. If this does happen, please call me immediately 617-696-7758 ext.101 and I will get another copy out to you as soon as possible.
Please don’t go a week without reading the Milton Times!
The prices are $30 in-town rate for one year, $55 for a two-year, in-town rate and $45 for one-year out-of-town.
I also run some great promotional programs for nonprofits and businesses in town that give them some free advertising dollars. It is a win/win for both parties involved. If you are interested in finding out more about one of these programs don’t hesitate to give me a call.

- Judy McDonough
Milton Times Office Manager

10/23/08
I admit it; I love to travel. It’s one of life’s great pleasures.
But it’s usually payback time when you come home and get back to the “real world.”
My husband, David, and I just returned from one of those postcard destination vacations, the kind that adds to that memory scrapbook in the back-reaches of the brain.
“Oh, remember how delicious that Tuscan chicken was at that little spot in Florence?” or “I wish we were sitting at the café watching the boats go by again in Venice.”
Yes, we took our first trip to Italy — the old country of my husband’s ancestors. (No, we aren’t related to Enzo or the sports car empire, unfortunately.)
The opportunity was really instigated by our 20-year-old son, Tyler, who is spending a semester in Florence. He has been abroad since August, calling home with tales of new lands, exciting adventures, and requests for more money.
(I want to come back in my next life as one of my kids.)
His friends’ parents were visiting over the Columbus Day weekend, and wouldn’t it be nice if we could come too?
This seemed to be our chance to visit the land of olive oil and grapevines, even though it would be a struggle to actually pull it off. We have two other children that would be staying home; the weak economy made this trip appear to be an extravagance; the dollar was taking a beating against the Euro.
We (David) had lots of excuses, but thanks to wonderful friends and family that helped with the kids, lots of air miles saved to cash in for airline tickets, and a leap of faith, off we went for an eight day whirlwind tour of Florence, Venice and Milan.
We saw so many things in such a short amount of time that I almost can’t keep them straight. Some of the highlights in Florence include seeing Michelangelo’s statue of David; climbing the 480-plus stairs to the top of the Duomo; and of course, the great shopping. Everything about Venice was spectacular — everyone should see it at some point in life. Imagine, a city with no cars. The only mode of transportation is by boat. And in Milan, viewing Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” will forever be etched in my mind. It is a breathtaking piece of art-history. And the importance of it is more profound when you realize that it was somehow spared damage from bombing during World War II. Many parts of the church it adorns were destroyed by allied forces.
Our trip will also be remembered for another fact. The week we were away was one of the worst weeks for Wall Street, and my stock broker husband cringed every time we glanced at an American newspaper or caught a segment of a CNN International broadcast. He worried that he might not have a job when we got home.
Ironically, I had some comfort in knowing that upon my return I would indeed have employment. There has been some reorganization going on at the Milton Times lately, and just before my trip, I was offered an expanded position with the paper. So the day after my return, with jet lag hanging over me, I started working in the office, editing copy and writing a little bit more.
So, yes, I have seen a new part of the world. I have eaten gelato and enjoyed chianti and visited museums, and had a wonderful time. But like my father used to say, there’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed.
I do love to travel. Coming home is sometimes
hard. But when this trip ended I could anticipate
a new chapter starting in my life. And after years of volunteering in the community, I’m looking forward to my new role in town. The paper is an important vehicle for Milton, and I’m anxious to see where this trip takes me.

- Kathy Kurtz Ferrari

10/16/08
A Special Town Meeting is planned for Oct. 20 to deal with several financial issues.
The Warrant Committee spent hours dealing with the possible ramifications of the town’s free cash. The town’s financial watchdog voted recommendations on the 10 article warrant.
But now town officials are rethinking their financial position. They was to wait until sometime this winter before they decide on how last year’s leftover money should be allocated.
We think they are using incredible foresight.
We applaud the wisdom.
The Selectmen held a special meeting for Oct. 13 to talk about the strategy. They met with Warrant Committee Chairman Tom Hurley to talk about the state of the economy.
After the meeting, Hurley sent out a letter to town department heads asking them to freeze all discretionary spending.
The Selectmen have authority over the budgets of police, fire, public works and town hall. Other departments, like the schools, have elected boards of their own with executive authority.
We hope this planning is the beginning of a trend.
Town Meeting will still convene at 7:30 Monday in the high school auditorium. And because it is the town’s legislative body, the group can ignore the recommendations of the Selectmen, the town’s executive board, if that is the will of the majority.
The Selectmen have set out a course that may result in adjourning the Special Town Meeting after transacting some simple housekeeping measures – including accepting a gift of land, re-voting the petition for a liquor license at 2 Adams St., and dealing with ways to simplify the retirement process for injured Firefighter Antonio Pickens.
That adjourned session, meeting at a date to be set next week, will have more information available.
Last week the lieutenant governor met with a group of municipal officials to talk about the financial condition of the state. It isn’t news to anyone that the economy is in a decline. State offices are already facing reduced budgets.
The governor and other state officials have said they do not want to reduce local aid, which was already promised and, for the most part, spent. But no one is making promises.
Most of the world is experiencing this economic storm. We are proud that the leaders of this community have the good sense to adjust to the current reality.
The reality is tax collections are down at the state level. We suspect they may be declining locally too.

Pat Desmond
Editor & Publisher

St. Michael’s Church was filled Saturday, Oct. 4, as the community gathered to remember Martha T. Curtis.
Mrs. Curtis died Sept. 26 after a lengthy illness.
Her column Conservationally Speaking set a tone of respect for the environment that was far in advance of the rest of the country.
The people who gathered to celebrate her life understood some parts of this amazing woman.
In his words about his mother, Benjamin Curtis, her eldest son, spoke of her adventurous spirit. He described a time in his childhood when she decided her children needed to learn what it was like to eat as poor people ate. A smile came to his face when he explained how his younger brother, Andrew, managed to subvert the plan by having the Hilltop Steak House delivering two cartons of hand cut steaks to their home.
The Rev. Sam Rodman began his own discussion of his memories of Mrs. Curtis by explaining that the altar cloths used for the service were green rather than the traditional white cloths because green suited her.
To say that green wasn’t just a color for Mrs. Curtis was to only scratch the surface of her commitment to recycling.
She was a woman recognized by the community for her generosity, commitment and dedication to the environment.
Her home on Gun Hill Street was one of the first in town to be declared a Backyard Habitat.
She was one of the founders of the Milton Farmers Market.
In 2004 the Kiwanis Club voted her the Special Community Recognition Award at the club’s annual Awards Night.
In 1999 the Town Club honored her as Citizen of the Year.
To say that Mrs. Curtis was an animal lover understates her reality. Many of her columns revolved around her relationship with her dog, whom she called the Motorized Cane.
Her own words reveal her gentle spirit best and so we reprint a column from 2002 on co-existing with spiders.
“Have you managed to get over your dislike of spiders since I wrote about Daddy Longlegs inhabiting one of our bathrooms?
“As of today, the two mature visitors have set up housekeeping in opposite corners of the ceiling. They don’t seem to move all day long nor get close enough to each other to talk about plans for the day. Sometimes I will check on them and they will have disappeared. I haven’t learned the knack of calling ‘Here Daddy, Daddy. Where are you?’ Maybe by the next day the missing one will have returned but in a different corner.
“Just to be pesty, I blew on the few strands of webbing which caused turmoil between the two of them. Apparently Daddy Longlegs show their concern by whirling themselves and their web in a dizzingly circular motion and sure enough they both were just a blur of motion while I annoyed them. They soon regained their composure after I stopped.
“Observing this reaction were two offspring spiders on another corner. They were just flimsy little leglings who weren’t involved in the whirling dervish shenanigans.
“According to my scant research on the Internet, the male Daddy Longlegs comes a-courting and taps on the female’s web to discuss his mission. He fertilizes her eggs which might include 20 or 30. She may get busy right away or prolong the hatching for a few days. She carries the eggs around in her mouth in a web silk sack and therefore can’t eat for the incubation period which might last two or three weeks. The hatchlings mature in several months. When the yolk from the egg has been eaten by the spiderlings, they are on their own. If times are hard and food is scarce, they are in jeopardy of being eaten by the mother. She may live on for three years but this life is way too much for the male and he dies after mating.
“I think my hospitality for Daddy Longlegs has been fulfilled and I shall move on to trying to grow some seeds in the little four foot square greenhouse which I indulged in. However, maybe I will have to re-establish the leftover Daddy Longlegs to take care of the insects in that new home.”

Pat Desmond
Milton Times staff

10/2/08
¡CelebrateMilton! honored two good people and a strong family this week.
The 2008 Community Builder Awards were presented to Rabbi Fred Benjamin of Temple Shalom, Judy Lieberman, co-founder of Brookwood Community Farm and Emma Russell and her parents, Chris and Vinita.
Rabbi Benjamin led his congregation and the
larger community through a sensitive situation last
year after vandals painted swastikas on the temple. Lieberman and her group work to produce nourishing organic vegetables – some of which is donated to the food pantry. Emma is the Muscular Dystrophy Poster Child who travels the state with her family promoting a good cause.
We applaud them all.

- Pat Desmond
Editor & Publisher

10/2/08
Are you eating out less in this tough economy?
Some of your Milton neighbors are eating less.
The Milton Community Food Pantry is supplying food to an unprecedented number of Milton families. To serve these increased numbers we need more volunteers.
There are several ways that you can help us help others.
• We need folks to commit to joining us at the food pantry on one Saturday morning (9:00 am until Noon) each month.
• We need volunteers who are available for a few hours twice per month to pick up food from the Boston Food Bank and other local sources and deliver it to our food pantry.
• We need people to be on call to assist in sorting food that comes in from food drives, especially during the holiday seasons.
We know how busy you are and we appreciate any volunteer commitment that you can make. For more information about ways to serve your less fortunate neighbors through the Milton Community Food Pantry, please call us at 617-696-0221.
Thanks for sharing your most valuable resource:
your time.

- Pat Brawley Morisse
Food Pantry Co-director

9/25/08
The world is a gentle place on the day of ¡CelebrateMilton!
Once a year the various political and social groups come together to celebrate what is good about this community.
For the past year a small group of people have been meeting to plan the day. They have also been meeting to discuss what they might do with the money they raised at the celebration last year. From time to time the group has argued amongst itself about the purpose of those grants. And in some years they have been stretched thin.
People who volunteer their time for community seem to be harder to find these days.
But then the day arrives. This year that day is Sunday, Sept. 28. And on that special day volunteers arrive seemingly out of the blue.
Last year all the money raised on the amusements went to the Milton High sports program. And last year the amusements were run by members of various high school teams. Last year the football team provided the muscle for the hot air balloon that soared on one of the fields throughout the morning.
The main event runs from noon to 4 p.m. and it happens rain or shine. Facilities director Lynn O’Sullivan refuses to think rain might be an option because she guards the floor of the new high school field house – the Copeland Field House – like a mother lion protecting her den.
But she did let us all into the school the year it rained.
Everyone knows the event is more fun in good weather. The generators for the amusements echo loudly when they move inside.
But the spirit is the same.
¡CelebrateMilton! is all about rejoicing over who we are. Milton is a community that has its roots in the industrial energy the colonists brought to Massachusetts in the 1600s. The Baker Chocolate mill on the banks of the Neponset grew out of an industry that was planted in 1765 when John Hannon began processing cocoa beans.
The town was long famous for its chocolate but the very first mill in Milton was constructed in 1634 by Israel Stoughton to grind corn. It wasn’t the first mill in New England, according historian Edward Pierce Hamilton. His book suggests the first corn mill was located in Roxbury the year before.
The community has grown and changed. It seems to us that a community’s ability to process growth is the prime indicator of future vitality.
We know this community continues to value hard work.
We see it in the faces of the volunteers.
Just about everyone involved in the day of celebration does this out of a love of community and a spirit of generosity. (We think there may be a few paid employees wandering around the fields but we know the committee isn’t paying them.)
From time to time there have been a few professional entertainers paid for their services. Perhaps a steel band or a DJ came to the party because they were booked as professionals. But the quality of our young performers has amazed all of us.
This year the entertainers come for the love of performance. They entertainers include: Boston Community Gospel Choir (which includes many Milton people), Fontbonne Academy Select Chorus, InSync Dance Studio, Milton Academy Jazz Band, Milton High School musicians, Riverside Theater, O’Dwyer School of Irish Dancing and Boston Academy Jukebox Dancers.
The Masons will be on hand to help with the Child Identification Program (CHIP), more than 70 community organizations are setting up tables so they can talk about who they are (and maybe recruit help), the official day for ¡CelebrateMilton! will end when the RE/MAX balloon begins its tethered rides at 4 p.m.
Come and enjoy the event. Meet more members of this amazing community.

Pat Desmond
Editor and Publisher

9/18/08
We remember running a front page photo that showed Congressman Stephen Lynch handing over a $1 million check to town officials.
That was roughly three years ago.
The money – one of those earmarks the federal government grants from time to time – was supposed to be used to create a parking solution for East Milton Square.
Congressman Lynch did his part. And his office has continued to support the project – something that is absolutely necessary as most federal earmarks disappear if unspent.
Unfortunately the town has been slow to move to create a plan. And the burden is on the town to do just that. The money from the federal government flows to the state and then is allocated to the project.
The Selectmen are talking about appointing a committee to study the parking situation. In fact it is on the agenda for the meeting Thursday, Sept. 18.
We hope the board is ready to appoint the full committee. We also hope the board is ready to give the committee a charge with a simple and clear deadline.
Now once this committee is actually appointed, the group will need time to look over the series of plans that have been done. Within the past 10 years, the town actually set up a committee that worked without a budget and came up with several alternative plans to add 20 to 30 more parking spaces in the square.
We know the new committee will have to go over many old and recurring issues.
The parking study group will need to talk about whatever ideas they have and they will have to work through the various obstacles that always come up in this community. Often those obstacles prevent change from taking place.
Sometimes those obstacles slow the change to such an extent that it discourages people from continuing to try to improve this community.
We happen to think this is a great town. We believe the taxpayers here deserve a viable business community to help support the town’s infrastructure. We would like to see the business community grow and flourish because that is an answer to beginning to solve the reliance on the residential real estate tax.
The businesses in town give generously to the many worthy causes within the boundaries of the town. We would like to see more abundance for the business community. This is what leads to the circle of growth.
We know additional parking in the area of the square will enable new development to succeed.
We hope the fact that parking is still an issue will not get in the way of good projects being brought to the table in the meantime.
Over the past few months Vance Welch, the owner of Java Jo’s, has been working on creating a new restaurant in the square. The restaurant – to be known as Stone Park – would be located in what had been Video to Go.
We think the building that once was Video to Go has sat vacant for far too long.
As everyone in town knows, there was never a parking space attached to the old video shop. The building, which dates back to the 1920s, was once a 5 and 10¢ store.
The Planning Board has agreed that the project can move ahead. The next step is a hearing by the Selectmen on the liquor license. That hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18.
People in town have said again and again that they want a full service restaurant in this community. This is the opportunity many have been waiting for.

- Pat Desmond
Editor and Publisher

9/11/08
It’s the 15th anniversary of the first ¡CelebrateMilton!
This year’s event happens Sunday, Sept. 28, at Milton High School on Gile Road.
The point of the event is a celebration of community. It’s all about coming together to enjoy the spirit of this town – its rich history and diversity.
Of course, the event is all about fun. Watch for the four-page pullout in the Milton Times but we know from years past that there is some information about this particular party that only develops a few days before the event.
The event began at Cunningham Park back when Congressman William Delahunt was the Norfolk County District Attorney. His agency came up with the seed money for the first event.
The move from Cunningham Park to the west side of town was discussed by the “Working Group” for several years before rain made the discussion irrelevant.
The main advantage in having the celebration at Milton High School is that there is space to move the hundreds of exhibitors, most of the amusements and all the entertainers inside the school.
Rain or shine, ¡CelebrateMilton! will be one wonderful chance to share an afternoon of fun and friendship with a couple thousand fellow Miltonians.

- Pat Desmond

9/11/08
For more than a dozen years the Milton Times has been all about this community. That continues.
The newspaper, both online and in print, is by and for the residents of Milton. Actually we used that catch phrase as our motto for the first few years.
We have had some questions about our policy on letters last week.
While our goal is to focus on the positive aspects of community, we do not try to pretend there are no problems. We believe it is important to give all sides a voice.
We print letters from our residents – especially about local topics – but if a writer wants to form a letter about their opinion on national politics or global warming or whatever, we will try to find space for it.
The letters to the editor need to be just that. We don’t make it a habit to print a copy of a letter sent to the Selectmen or to another newspaper.
Our policy isn’t new. We solicit letters and opinions from our residents. We edit all letters. We suggest a 500 word maximum. But we will be happy to help you pare your letter down.
Letters are published as space permits. We will not print personal attacks or anonymous letters. From time to time we have printed a letter with the writer’s name withheld. Those exceptions have happened two or three times in the history of the paper because we believed publication of that name might cause repercussions for the writer or the writer’s family.
There is information each week on Page 2 that explains how to submit a letter and the deadlines involved. Briefly, the deadline for submission is Friday at noon for the next issue.
The best way to get an item to us is to send it by e-mail to editor@miltontimes.com.
We don’t print repetitious material. When a group of people sign a letter, we often publish only one or two names and we make an effort to find out which individual actually wrote the letter.
Our advertising department will accept letters for publication that might not otherwise be accepted. We don’t accept personal attacks in advertising.

- Pat Desmond
Editor and Publisher

9/4/08
This year it costs a family $200 for a student to participate in high school sports. That is per sport, per student.
Well it is about the same as the cost of filling up a moderate-sized gas tank four times.
Back in 1997 when the cost was $75 per student, per sport, the cost was about the same as filling up that same tank of gas five times.
Maybe that sounds like inflation is all balancing things out. But the truth is the families who struggle to pay for gas and pay for basic opportunities for their children have not seen their income triple in the same time period.
Does anyone have to make a case for the problems an average family faces in the world of 2008?
Obviously, most families who live in our community are able to handle the high cost of inflation. People continue to go about their lives, buying take-out food, enjoying a $4 coffee, gassing up their cars at the full service stations.
Most people who can afford the houses here don’t mind spending the $200 to sign their student up for soccer, field hockey, football, cheerleading, volleyball or cross country. And we understand the school system has some process in place to help students whose families really cannot afford the sports fee. We still are not sure what the process is. We hope the students involved know the process.
What we are sure of is that sports are an important part of many students worlds.
The School Committee has discussed reducing or eliminating the fees from time to time.
And every time the discussion comes up – the result ends in the same conundrum. The budget won’t allow the reduction.
Where might additional money come from?
Perhaps the way to find the money is to put all the programs on the table and work things through with a zero-based approach.
What the school system has done historically is to look to the parents and the community at large as a source of fundraising. We are an extremely fortunate community – rich in fundraising resources.
Once again this year the schools are hoping the entire cost of the sports program will be borne by the parents and other generous benefactors. This year the fundraising goal is $150,000.
There will be a golf tournament, a tennis tournament, advertising banners and “Cans for Cats,” which amounts to team recycling for dollars.
Curry College has stepped up to the plate to help sponsor the event. Wollaston Golf Course is another major sponsor.
We know the schools were able to raise a similar amount in the past. We also know it was a richer economy.
The need remains. Indeed, the need for the less affluent in the community has grown.
The athletic director understands the issue.
Athletic Director Steve Traister says on the school web page:
“Through participation in athletic programs, young people learn important lessons about self-control, sportsmanship, teamwork, leadership, and competition. They learn how to win gracefully, and how to lose with dignity. Finally, athletic competition can promote school pride and school spirit for participants and spectators. For these reasons, it is the intention of the Milton Public Schools to provide its students with a well-rounded athletic program,” Traister says.
Traister is the football coach as well as the athletic director.
We hope people pay attention and step up to the plate for the young athletes of town.
We hope people pay attention to the advertisement on Page 12 and help the students round out their lives.

- Pat Desmond
Times Staff

8/28/08
Milton Residences for the Elderly celebrated its second annual barbecue a few weeks ago.
The party brought out residents of both Unquity House and Winter Valley, their families, staff and friends.
It was a great party. Thank you Timothy Martin, MRE director, Bill Sullivan, president of the board and everyone else who worked on the party.
For anyone who doesn’t understand the history, Milton resisted building elderly housing back 50 or so years ago when other communities in the area began creating small pockets of housing for senior citizens who met certain income standards.
But in 1968 the clergy of Milton came together and created a nonprofit agency to provide housing for senior citizens. Unquity House, a 139-unit high-rise complex at 36 Curtis Avenue on the Mattapan line was opened in 1972.
Within 10 years MRE was expanding again, building what is now 160 units at Winter Valley, 600 Canton Ave.
The need for affordable housing continues.
We want to congratulate the people who have worked so long and hard to fill the need. We want them to know that the sense of community they create is both special and rare.
We thank the staff of MRE for their commitment and energy.
It was especially thrilling to see the Milton High School football team volunteering at the barbecue. Those young men provide strong role models for the community. We offer them our thanks.
There were other groups involved in making the event such a success. A story on Page 10 lists most of those groups.
Someone is almost always left out of a list of the good people who deserve thanks. Our policy is to print another list - or sometimes just a paragraph whenever it is brought to our attention that more thanks should be spread around.
The best way to let us know someone has been left out is to e-mail editor@miltontimes.com. - P.D.

8/28/08
The town is ready to modify a long-held past practice on plowing private ways. Some – but not all – private ways have been plowed by the town for many years. No one remembers when the current plowing practice came into being. But one resident says he knows the policy dates back before 1969.
Now there are other private ways that are not plowed by the town. Residents who live along those nonpublic ways have been paying private contractors to have the roads plowed.
We suspect that most of the roads that are plowed by the town are older. We hope someone will explain it all.
We can understand that the lack of an even hand in the existing policy does lead a logical mind to think something should change.
But the process that is being used to create this change is flawed.
The residents along the private ways involved have only discovered the plan because they read the local newspaper.
We believe in the public’s right to know and like the Selectmen, we have been trying get an official list of the private ways that are plowed and one of the private ways that are not plowed.
We think someone (besides the press) should be communicating with all those residents.

- Pat Desmond
Editor & Publisher

8/21/08
This week we heard from the office of District Attorney William Keating finding that town officials had indeed violated the Open Meeting Law when they met to discuss town finances.
Assistant District Attorney Varsha Kukafka did lengthy research on the issue before she issued a six-page finding that rules the “adhoc subcommittee will scrupulously abide by provisions of the Open Meeting Law in the future.”
She uncovered a history of the group – which included Selectman Marion McEttrick, plus several members of the Warrant Committee and School Committee – that involved six meetings beginning in August 2007 and continuing until last April. The meetings were closed to the public and all concerned the town’s financial condition.
“While this might be a close call,” Kukafka said. The informality of the group or the varying composition of attendees did not offset the fact that the Warrant Committee and the School Committee had functionally created a subcommittee that was conducting public business outside of public view.
That subcommittee had been trying to reach consensus on whether the town should ask for an override for the current budget year. The group never did reach consensus on that point. Both the School Committee and Selectmen went to Town Meeting asking for a balanced budget. The Warrant Committee recommended a Proposition 2 1/2 override. As we all know, Town Meeting decided against an override.
Already this year town officials have begun talking about the possibility of an operational override next spring.
We don’t believe the secrecy surrounding the override discussions is the reason Town Meeting took the advice of the Selectmen and School Committee on the topic. We know the economy played the key role.
Going forward we hope the people who we trust with the town’s finances will trust the public with all the information.
A PowerPoint presentation on the floor of Town Meeting should not be flowing with facts that were polished privately.
Details about the state of the community’s finances need to be released throughout the year as they are gathered by boards and committees.
Public officials need to come together to talk about all the issues in play and they need to do that in a way that residents can be part of the discussion.
We know the town officials who met privately last year and in the spring were doing the best they could to try to deal with a difficult budget year.
We also understand that no one wants to be accused of being the first to say the word override.
Budget deliberations should be just that – they are a back and forth conversation.
We thank the district attorney’s office and we hope the members of the Warrant Committee, School Committee and Selectmen will begin an open discussion.

-Pat Desmond

8/14/08
It’s not news that the police department works whether or not it is raining.
And so it should come as no surprise that the National Night Out celebration happened Thursday despite the showers.
In the name of the 500 or 600 people who enjoyed the police department’s party, we want to take the time to thank Police Chief Richard Wells and his entire department.
We know there would have been even larger crowds if the weather had been clear. But the people who showed up last week to talk with the officers and watch the demonstrations were appreciative and enthusiastic.
National Night Out began 25 years ago and this town has been part of the event in years past. In recent years the celebration was put on hold.
Chief Wells brought the celebration back to increase awareness of community policing.
Boston has traditionally held a National Night Out celebration.
There was much to see at the party at the police station. The front yard was set up for the RE/MAX balloon but the rain cancelled out that performance. Apparently, the hot air mixture doesn’t work if the fuel gets wet. But people kept hoping the weather would change.
Along the driveway, Mixed Emotions from Riverside Theatre kept the crowd entertained. The ensemble belted out one tune after another.
People dropped off canned goods for the Food Pantry as their entry fee. But no one was taking a stern view of the residents who forgot the donation. It was all about community service and not about score-keeping.
The men and women of the police department cooked up hamburgers and hot dogs for the crowd. Free soft drinks and ice cream were part of the package.
There was a robot used by the MBTA police to check suspicious packages, the Auxiliary Fire Department’s 1934 Maxim engine, the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council’s mobile command post and a special display created by Animal Control Officer Linda Kippenberger.
Someone from Sheriff Michael Bellotti’s office was on hand to give away trinkets and talk about county programs.
There were unloaded weapons available for the touching and neighborhood rides in the alternative police vehicles.
Several scheduled appearances had to be cancelled when the event was postponed due to the downpour Wednesday.
But the moonwalks were inflated and filled with young people.
People wandered through the lines holding umbrellas – or not.
At dusk the rain cleared and the two police dogs were trotted out to display their abilities for the crowd.
We got it – it’s all good when you bring people together in a friendly social encounter.
We want to thank the chief and the entire department for bringing back a successful event.
We know that a little rain cannot stop good people from connecting and celebrating what’s right in our community.

-Pat Desmond

Nearly a year ago Jon Prestage, an experienced journalist, became the editor of the Milton Times. He replaced Gail Osgood who had moved into a career in teaching.
This week we have made some major changes at the paper. The editor’s position has been eliminated on a temporary basis.
This is far from the first cost cutting measure at the Times. But it is certainly the most public.
It doesn’t come as news that the economy is slow this year. Newspapers all over the country have been trimming staff and looking for ways to raise revenue.
We know that the downward economic cycle that has been hitting this region will turn around in time. We just don’t know when that might happen.
Looking at the history of the Times, we expect that the local economy will remain relatively solid. One reason for our hope is a belief that small businesses can survive best in times of economic turmoil. Small businesses are able to react quickly to changes in their customer base.
The Milton Times was born in 1995 in a house on a side street near Blue Hills Parkway. Back then there was no advertising manager, no office manager, no photographer, no janitor. The present publisher, her daughter and mother created the first few editions using an ancient Apple computer and all their energy.
Over time the paper grew, helped by the well wishes of Milton’s business community.
So for the rest of this year (barring an economic miracle) the publisher will resume the role of editor.
Anyone hoping she’ll go back to playing with her zen garden soon should think about buying more merchandise from our local shops. Our advertisers make it possible for the paper to expand.
The growth of the Milton Times was nurtured by the real estate boom of the past decade. The paper sustained slow but consistent growth through its history. Yes, there was a downturn after Sept. 11, 2001. The entire economy took a hit that year and for a while so did we.
The mission of the Milton Times is to be the primary source of news and information, both in print and online, about the community and its residents. The paper mirrors the community, keeping in mind our collective search for truth, justice and compassion. Accuracy is the watchword.
We are the primary marketing vehicle in the community. And we enjoy that process.
So you may wonder who will be left in the office now that the publisher has taken over the duties of the editor.
Judy McDonough is the office manager. She handles our circulation, legal advertising, billing and purchasing. She does all that while working part time for the paper and full time as a mother.
Lita Muhammad is the advertising manager. She keeps track of material for most of our advertisers and helps organize the local market. Another part time worker, full time family engineer, she is still new to the position at the Times but is not new to the community. (We’ve been trying to find time and space for a story about her for the past two months.)
Lisa St. Fort is our account executive. She sells advertising space and can be found in our office on Thursday and Friday until 3 p.m. From time to time, she can be found taking photos for her clients at no extra charge.
William Curry III is our production manager. He not only creates all the ad designs for our paper, he lays out the pages and is responsible for all our graphic design. Curry is also the webmaster.
Nate Leskovic is a writer and copy editor. He is responsible for the Happenings section and the Neighbors spaces.
Scott MacKeen is the most recent addition to the staff of the Times. We have a story about him ready to run next week. He covers Selectmen and School Committee and manages to help the rest of the staff find a way to enjoy their various vacations.
Ed Baker is the sports editor. He can seldom be found in the office but we know how to reach him.
Mary Ann Sullivan, whose COA column appeared in the first issue of the Times, is, obviously, the COA director. She does the column from the goodness of her heart. There are others who contribute to the paper without even a token payment but we are running out of space.
Many of the other writers whose names appear with regularity in the pages of the paper are freelance journalists like Suzette Martinez Standring or Julie Fay.
The point is: the core of the paper remains solid.

- Pat Desmond
Editor and Publisher

7/31/08
The generosity of Milton residents and businesses is legend. There’s no doubt about it and no other way to look at it.
We published a story on July 17 by writer Daniela Caride about Diane Ferrari and her work in support of the Milton Residents Fund. The fund raises money for Milton folk who face financial difficulties.
Ferrari’s tireless efforts on behalf of the fund are legendary, but this year the work is even harder because increasing numbers of people, even in a town as affluent as Milton, are facing economic hardships because of the state of the national economy. Nearly everyone is feeling the pinch.
While Ferrari was working on behalf of an increasing number of people facing hard times, doing everything from raising money for the fund to trying to get someone a discounted price on a refrigerator, several other Milton folks came together to organize a raffle for a neighbor facing foreclosure.
These folks deserve credit for stepping up. They are Bernadette Abbott, Kristan Bagley Jones, Elaine Grassa and Ellen Mak. They epitomize generosity and community spirit.
“Charity starts at home,” Abbott, a realtor at Symphony Properties in Boston, told the Milton Times.
The women spent weeks collecting prizes for the raffle, such as wines, Red Sox tickets, and three hours of a professional cleaning service. They sold hundreds of raffle tickets and had to print more. Tickets sold for $20 each. Let’s not forget that merchants and businesses, as well as residents donate prizes to the raffle. Residents need to remember this commitment to the community when they shop.
“Tickets are selling like cupcakes,” Jones, a social worker and School Committee member told us.
Indeed, they did. The raffle raised more than $10,000 by the time the selling stopped.
“I was not expecting quite that much,” Ferrari told us, adding that it was amazing how mostly word of mouth and online communication raised the money. One resident, Wilhelmina Lord, donated her $600 government stimulus check to the fund after reading in the Milton Times about other residents donating their checks to the town and the schools. Lord is 95.
Part of the money raised by the raffle was earmarked for the Residents Fund and the remainder was given to the neighbor facing foreclosure.
To Ferrari, this is one of the good things about living in Milton. “It’s a very generous community. People are saying, ‘Thank God I live here because I would be struggling so much more if I lived in another community,’” she says.
She says she’s pleased that the fund is getting more attention and more donations. But even good will won’t cover all the coming months’ necessities unless more people step forward.
“We try to respond, but there’s a limit to what we can do. And that’s why the more donations we get in, the more we can assist people,” she says.
Ferrari says the quality of life in town has been affected on many levels by the economy: some homeowners are losing their property and landlords with no money to keep up their homes are evicting renters or just letting them live under worsening conditions.
“It’s really difficult to pull yourself out once the debt begins to mount,” she says.
Despite this wonderful work, the need continues. If you can help, now is a good time to step forward
to strengthen the fund in time for winter and
the increasing need that will cause. Residents looking to contribute to the fund can call Ferrari at 617-696-1214 or send a check to the Milton Residents Fund,
535 Canton Ave, Milton, MA 02131.

Jon Prestage
Editor

7/24/08
Selectmen and Planning Board members say the time has come for the town to begin the lengthy process of positioning the community to develop a new master plan. We agree.
The current plan was put together more than 30 years ago, in 1974, and was updated in 1977.
The useful lifespan of a master plan is approximately 10 to 20 years, so Milton is ready for a new plan, and town leaders seem to recognize this.
Nate Leskovic reminds us in a story in this week’s newspaper that both Selectmen Kathy Fagan and John Shields called for a new master plan when they ran for election, and a group of residents sought a new master plan in a warrant article at the last Town Meeting. The residents suggested a planning process involving resident volunteers instead of professional planners as a way of producing a plan that would not cost the town $100,000 to $150,000, which is the current estimate of a professionally produced plan. Selectmen oppose the “volunteer” option because of the complexities involved in developing a master plan and the credibility required of outside professionals to guide the process.
Emily Innes of the Planning Board reveals that she is researching master plan options and will present her findings to the full board in September. The Planning Board is a key player in developing a new master plan. Innes’ research could result in a warrant article being presented to the Town Meeting next year with an appropriation request.
We think the development of a new master plan is crucial for Milton. We concur with the sentiments of Ella Welz, one of the signers of the town meeting warrant that “It is a good time for a master plan discussion.”
There are reasons why this is so. First, as Shields explains, there is not much developable land left in town, and a plan might eliminate contentious development surprises in the future. Second, a new master plan will provide the community with an opportunity to look ahead and decide if or how it wants to broaden its tax base through the development of a more robust commercial sector. Nearly all town ratables now come from the residential sector, and, while this is not apt to change radically in Milton, some commercial growth could ease the residential burden without changing the rural character of the community so important to residents, but what would this commercial growth look like?
We support a professional and comprehensive planning process for Milton that seeks as much public involvement as possible. While discussions are at a very early stage and development of a plan is at least a year away, this is a good time to make sure that Milton approaches such a plan in the right way and recognizes the need to build a consensus among all of its residents as to where the town is going and what its future will look like.
We urge residents to stand up now to begin to make their voices heard about the process of developing a master plan and about their vision for the town’s future.
It’s never too early to be heard, and it is easy to be too late.

Jon Prestage
Editor

7/10/08
People say the future of communications is on the Internet.
We happen to agree, although we remain extraordinarily fond of our print newspaper. Anyway, 11 years ago we registered our name on the web and began what was a very static site.
We’ve gone through many changes with our website over the years. There was a time when the webmaster was a fifth grader related to the publisher. There was another time when we placed all the information from the weekly print edition on the web. Different outside companies have worked with us over the years to help us maintain the site.
Our latest site, which changes from week to week, is the design of Times production manager William Curry III. While we continue to work to refine the site, the material already posted is searchable. The website went live in late April, but the design had been under construction for more than six months. During the design phase, we listened to our readers’ feedback.
From our site, you can subscribe to the newspaper. We have tried several payment options in the past few years and, with increasing federal regulation of credit card transactions on the web, we have switched to Paypal for processing our forms.
There is a photo gallery that can be reached by double clicking the blue and yellow button on the lower right of the site that says “Photos are periodically removed.” We try to post photos there that didn’t find space in the paper, as well as those that did. The only photos posted on the site are those the Milton Times owns. Freelance photographers have their own sites.
From our website you can find information about advertising in the Times. You can even get a glimpse of our staff.
Our goal is to make the website easy to use.
We are planning to add more information. Perhaps more information about the history of the town. Perhaps more information about current events.
We are not planning to place all our news on the site. So if you want to find out what is happening in the area next weekend, keep buying the actual paper. It is where we place those details.
In response to our readers’ feedback, we have decided that the “With the Athletes” column will be included each week. The rest of the site is a sampling. We remain open to suggestions.
Our site is supported by a half dozen local businesses that pay for a link from our site to sites of their own. We expect the number of paid links from our news site will grow in time.
In the transition our old archives have been placed in storage.
We are working on developing a plan for a paid subscription website to hold our archives. We don’t think there is much interest in a paid site, but we expect this is within the realm of possibility at some future time.
The Milton Times also maintains another website, www.miltonconnection.com. A year ago we experimented with a free advertiser called the Milton Connection. It was mailed several times to all the homes in town that do not subscribe to the Times. But the economy slowed and we put the Connection on hold due to a lack of advertiser interest.
The website www.miltonconnection.com is a portal to the rest of Milton on the web. You can use it to find websites for churches, town government, schools, nonprofits and even a neighborhood group.
We expect we will find more information and add it to the portal. There are a few photos and stories from the Times on the Connection site because we want people to understand something about the community as they browse the site. We refer visitors back to the Times site for news.
One of the reasons behind the creation of the portal site came from a community focus group that identified the need for a community website. Town officials were part of the focus group and, having heard the feedback, the Selectmen directed an upgrading of the town’s website. We think the new town site is easier to navigate.
The town site moves a visitor through the various departments and adds much useful information, including the latest benchmark study of town finances developed by Municipal Benchmarking LLC.
We suggest browsing our sites and all the links that are available through both www.miltontimes.com and www.miltonconnection.com. They can make for an interesting evening.
If you have ideas for additions to the site, drop us an e-mail at miltonwebsite@comcast.net.

Pat Desmond
Publisher

7/10/08
Two weeks ago we published a Readers’ Survey looking for information on what people are looking for in our newspaper.
We have to say we haven’t been deluged with responses. So far the responses have indicated people understand what the Milton Times should be and they do not want to see the direction of the paper changing.
People who have taken the time to reply want to see more town government coverage. And that fits with the vision we have of our newspaper.
The wonderful truth of a weekly newspaper is that everything changes. People working in our newspaper office are constantly working to make sure we gather information about the most important events in the community in a way that provides the most accurate possible information.
The less desirable side of that truth is that we
can only be as accurate as our sources and there
are times when details change more quickly than we can report.
We often wish we could wait until we found absolute truth. But absolutes are seldom found in this world. What we usually find is a version of the story that will change in a day or in a week.
At the Times we try to let our readers know where we found the information.
You can still find the survey at our website
www.miltontimes.com. We hope to gather more
information from our readers in our ongoing effort
to improve.
Admittedly the online survey has its problems. Some have had to print it out to be able to answer the questions. Technology is improving but not everyone has the ability to make all the bells and whistles work. We hoped the form could be downloaded, answered and e-mailed back to us.
So far the responses we have received have come in the mail.
When the results of the survey are tallied, we will talk about those results at some length.
We want our readers to know we constantly attempt to improve our product.

Pat Desmond
Publisher

7/3/08
Independence Day is said to be the only holiday that celebrates our nation. As all Americans know its observance goes back to our founding as a nation and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 by members of the Continental Congress that had convened in Philadelphia.
The first marking of Independence Day came in 1777, and the various communities and states celebrated the occasion in a similar fashion. There were 13 gun salutes, speeches, prayers, parades, music, fireworks and troop reviews.
More than 200 years later we celebrate the occasion in much the same way, although now we’ve added picnics, barbecues and baseball games.
In Milton the Kiwanis Club is conducting its Independence Day celebration at Kelly Field on Brook Road. The festivities are scheduled to last from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
Among the activities will be family foot races and free ice cream and flags.
The Kiwanis Club says that all children will receive a ribbon for participating in the family races.
Additionally, the Milton Fire Department will bring along its vintage fire truck, which is always a favorite for children.
While there are no official fireworks in Milton, many towns along the South Shore have scheduled them. The biggest among those is along the Charles River in Boston, which includes the Boston Pops and rousing and patriotic music. This event draws hundreds of thousands of people.
Please remember that fireworks are illegal in our state, and they are also dangerous.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/26/08
We publish a story on this week’s front page that is of particular concern to parents of children in the public schools, especially parents whose children are interested in high school sports.
The story by Nate Leskovic focuses on the struggles of school officials to maintain a viable sports program at a time of budget shortfalls, belt tightening and an uncertain national economy.
The story outlines the costs associated with operating an effective sports program, the need for an even higher level of community philanthropy to keep the program going at current levels and the impact of student fees that discourage some children from trying out for sports. Parents whose children are currently on one or more sports teams know how much this involvement can cost them as the fees and related expenses add up.
The story is not simply about sports, however, or about the growing number of young people whose families can’t afford the fees, which now stand at $200 per sport, but on how important sports are to helping to assure that students do well in academic programs.
This is why these sports programs are important. The programs are not a luxury for the schools or for student athletes. They are one more way to engage students.
We’ve argued the same can be said about art programs. We’ve published several stories on cuts to these programs recently and outlined studies that show the importance of the arts on academic achievement and success in life. The similarities between arts and sports are striking.
Incoming Superintendent Mary Gormley and incoming Assistant Superintendent John Phelan point out how students involved in high school sports are less likely to fall through the cracks and more likely to do better academically and to succeed educationally and in life.
Not mincing words, Gormley is convinced
that students are falling through the cracks, and
she calls the sports fees “abhorrent.” She worries
about losing the safety net provided by sports programming.
The entire sports program this coming school year will cost $540,000. Less than half of that total, or $191,000, will come from tax dollars. This is down from $350,000 a couple of years ago. The schools expect to raise approximately $190,000 in student fees, about the same level as comes from taxpayers. $20,000 is expected from gate receipts. Last year $46,000 was earmarked for sports from the Copeland Foundation’s land purchase, but that money may not be available this year. All of this means that nearly $150,000 may be needed from community philanthropy, about twice the level of the last school year. Last school year the Boosters raised a whopping $73,500 from the community for the sports programs and another $5,500 from efforts with student athletes. More will be required this year.
Boosters President Jerry Cahalane says the Boosters have no cushion of money this year as they did last year, but he is convinced that the organization will raise the money needed, although he admits it will take some creative thinking and a whole lot of work.
Meanwhile, Gormley says that sports fees, if they need to exist, should be no more than $75 or $100.
We believe it is time for an open and thorough debate on the part of school officials and residents about the matter of sports fees. These decisions should not be left to the whims of annual budgeting and budget cutting.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/19/08
We met recently with soon-to-be school Superintendent Mary Gormley. Current Superintendent Magdalene Giffune leaves the system at the end of the month and Gormley then takes over.
We welcome Gormley’s appointment as a step forward for the school system and for the people of Milton. We believe her appointment means a much more open school administration, and this will help everyone but especially parents and students.
We are convinced that Gormley will be a wonderful superintendent. We believe her time has come, although we do not envy her the immensely challenging task she faces in this era of budget cuts, increasing mandates and rising costs. But if anyone can pull the schools through it and rally support from the community, we think it is probably her.
She knows Milton well, and she understands what parents need from her. They are looking for a superintendent who will return their calls and who will engage them and interact with them. We think they want a superintendent who is willing to be flexible in those issues that arise on a daily basis and involve one child and a concerned or anxious parent.
There is every indication that Gormley is not “bureaucratic” in her approach to things. We’ll wager that she will seek solutions that are highlighted by their common sense.
It is clear that Gormley loves the Milton school system, the people who work there, the children who learn there and the community that has supported the system with both its tax money and its expansive philanthropic efforts on behalf of athletics, teachers and the arts.
Gormley will be a refreshing change.
She readily admits where things may have gone wrong. She understands that impressions are everything. If the schools are to put together a successful override effort, they need to show people that the district is spending money wisely. We think Gormley will get the word out and that we can rely on what she says.
She deserves the support of all residents in town and a helping hand when she needs one.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/12/08
We think the town has not communicated very well about the construction going on in East Milton Square. Even though we actively seek to keep on top of things, we are as confused as everyone else trying to figure out what’s going on.
Recently the town unveiled a plan to slow traffic down on Granite Avenue starting at Wood Avenue near the Fruit Center in order to protect pedestrians.
It is clear to us that the public process was incomplete. We were unaware about a recent public meeting held on the matter, as were many residents.
Residents are concerned that this attempt to slow traffic on Granite Avenue will force traffic into residential areas. DPW Director Walter Heller says there is no indication that this is happening.
We are struck by the basic wisdom of one of our readers, Christine Quinones, in a letter published today. Her description of what it takes to navigate the square by car at rush hour is very cogent. She says the lights are poorly timed and the pedestrian crossings are dangerous. We agree, and we do so based on first-hand knowledge.
But what delights us about Quinones’ letter is her challenge to the engineers in Milton to try to be a pedestrian for a few months during rush hour.
“When they have tried it for a few months they will understand the pedestrian problems, then we can seriously talk as a community about how to fix those problems,” she says.
She challenges those engineers to drive through the town during those same rush hours. She points out that people who actually live in Milton struggle with these problems daily.
“Where do these traffic engineers and consultants live,” she asks? “Are their lives affected by the recommendations and decisions they make for Milton?”
We support our reader’s challenges. She makes
a lot of sense. A look around East Milton Square reveals this.

Jon Prestage
Editor

6/5/08
We publish today approximately 240 photographs of Milton High School seniors who graduated
this past week. These photographs are more than just faces and names. Each one is an individual with
goals and aspirations. Some come from wealthy families and others from families that struggle to make ends meet. Some are white, while others are young people of color.
We ask that you take a look at them and imagine their individuality, their propensities. Some come out of the French Immersion program, while others do not. Some are musically inclined. Maybe they play musical instruments or have wonderful voices, while others found achievement in athletics or mathematics or with paint and an easel.
They are the reason why residents in town work
so hard to try to assure that the school system is
the best that it can be. It is why parents attend
School Committee meetings to complain about
the latest issue or debate the amount of money needed to fund the school system. It is why passions can run so high.
These young faces are why the School Committee, made up of volunteers, works so selflessly, to try to get it right, and why they’re willing to take the heat when some residents think they got it wrong.
These are the faces that move teachers and administrators alike who want to make sure that the children in their care have an opportunity, despite the setbacks, the quirky funding, to get an education that will serve them as a decent beginning in a world that is anything but forgiving and easy.
We wish these students well. We hope that if their plans are to go to college that they are going to the school of their choice. We hope they’ll come back someday to make Milton their homes, and that they, too, will continue the fight to assure a good education for their children.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/29/08
We asked for your Letters to the Editor and you sent us so many that we decided not to run an editorial and a cartoon this week, 5/29/08 but to run your letters instead. Your voices add immeasurably to the newspaper. We hope you enjoy them. Next week we’ll run an editorial and a cartoon

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/22/08
The office of Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating is investigating whether certain closed-door “ad hoc” budget meetings in April involving then Selectmen Chair Marion McEttrick, School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely, Warrant Committee Chair Katie Conlon, and perhaps others, were a violation of the letter and spirit of the state’s open meeting law.
We asked for the investigation in a May 7 letter to Keating, who subsequently assigned Assistant District Attorney Varsha Kukafka to investigate the matter. Kukafka has sent letters to the town officials involved asking them to provide “all relevant information this Office might use to assess whether an Open Meeting Law violation occurred.”
We contend in our letter that, “a provision listed in Section 23B of Chapter 39 likely prohibits such ‘ad-hoc’ meetings of town officials, if they are held to discuss official town business and those discussions lead to public policy decisions...”
While we understand that no quorum of a particular governmental body was involved in these meetings, “we believe the ad-hoc meetings have shaped public policy decisions in closed and private sessions,” our letter says.
“While Selectman McEttrick told us on the record that no decisions were made at the meetings, she went on to explain the purpose of the gatherings: ‘It’s to get frank feedback. It might be better that it’s not in a public forum. We might be able to resolve a problem before it even becomes a problem. It could be harder to resolve once it gets out in public,’” according to our letter.
We go on to say that “This statement makes it clear that the meetings alter public policy.”
Our letter continues: “Additionally, these ad-hoc committee meetings have sparked the concern of one of the three selectmen, John Shields. He says that he is being left out of decision-making. He said on the record that the meetings are ‘setting up a quasi-official committee that no one asked to be set up. It’s a committee that meets outside the light of day...’”
We believe that the citizens of Milton have a right to know how decisions are reached, especially those that involve issues as complex and important as budgets. Budget development and the strategies that guide them are crucial to the future of the community.
Some public officials believe that the ad-hoc meetings were not a violation of the letter of the law because the law focuses on governmental bodies that meet where a quorum exists. No quorum existed for any of the governmental bodies represented by the officials involved in these meetings, namely the Warrant Committee, Selectmen and School Committee.
That seems like a parsing of the spirit of the law to us. The real issue, from our vantage, is whether the meetings had an impact on subsequent public decision-making, and the public comments of Selectman McEttrick strongly indicates that they did.
We’ll see.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/15/08
As a result of the School Committee’s threat a few weeks ago to eliminate art and music in the grammar schools, we thought we’d take a closer look at the current state of these programs.
We asked Contributor Julie Fay to look at the music program. Fay is a pianist with a passion for music and seemed perfect for the assignment. She has extensive contacts in the music community. Her report is published on page 1 of the newspaper today, and it is an eye-opener.
The music program in the public schools had already been cut and a latest round of cuts could well eliminate what remains of the program’s vitality. Music teachers had previously been slashed by 30 percent and more cuts are expected, according to Fay’s account.
We understand the town faces budget shortfalls, and we offer no solutions here as to how the town might fund the music program it once had, but we do believe that residents need to consider what it means to their children to gut such a program, especially in Milton.
What makes Milton so special? As a newspaper editor new to the community, the number of musically gifted students in town strikes me as extraordinary. Hardly a week goes by that we don’t publish an article about a public school student who has gone off to college somewhere and is giving a recital, performing in a quartet, an orchestra, or giving a solo performance at some musical event.
We published an account on March 27 by Pierce Principal John Phelan congratulating students at his school for a string of musical performances involving sixth, seventh and eighth graders. In this first-person account, Phelan spoke glowingly of three performances involving the school’s band, string orchestra and choral group. He listed the names of all the students involved to try to provide them with community recognition. By our quick count approximately 300 names of students were listed. Perhaps more. What an amazing statement and gauge of a community.
The principal told us that many parents attended these performances and, in fact, the students performed to standing-room-only crowds. He was very proud of them and perhaps awed by the creative impulses he saw gathered together.
Clearly many parents in town encourage and support their children’s interest in music.
And there are some good reasons why this makes sense.
Fay tells us that the No Child Left Behind Act defines the arts (including music) as a “core academic subject.” That means that it stands on the level of English, French, geography, or math, at least theoretically if not in reality.
Fay informs us of a range of studies that show the value of music to a student’s life and wellbeing. One of those students says that secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs).
Now that’s something to think about.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/8/08
So, the School Committee has decided for the moment that it doesn’t want an override this year. The committee says it doesn’t want to chance a defeat by voters in June. Instead, we’re now told, if the school system can find a mere $150,000 to $200,000 somewhere in its budget, the schools will survive intact until next year: tragedy would be averted. The sky will not fall.
Committee members have no idea where this money would come from. They say, however, if they can find the money somewhere in the budget, the system will only have to lay off 24 people, mostly teachers, rather than the projected 28.
Committee Chair Beirne Lovely blames a lack of community involvement for the committee’s decision not to seek an override (note news story on page 24 of our May 8 edition).
We have other thoughts on why things have gotten to this point, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with an apathetic community that shows little concern about its schools, which is the rationale beneath Lovely’s comment. In other words, you’re to blame for this debacle.
It was only about a month ago that the committee considered eliminating a program already decimated by previous cuts: art and music in the grammar schools to make up, in part, a so-called $2 million budget shortfall. At that March meeting, the committee also threatened to layoff 35 positions, mostly teachers.
A number of town residents attended that meeting and several others to speak out against the elimination of art and music programs and to express their concerns about their school system. We receive letters from residents nearly every edition of this newspaper offering their solutions to the budget shortfalls. To blame them for the dismal effort of the School Committee to put together a campaign for an override is a bit disingenuous, to say the least.
While all of this will have been worked out one way or the other by the Town Meeting this week, there’s one part of this issue, which meeting members and the Warrant Committee cannot do.
Maybe the problem is that the School Committee has lost its credibility with residents because of its shrill cries of catastrophe. Maybe the School Committee has done this one time too often.
The committee’s newest member, Kristan Bagley-Jones, who attended her first meeting last week, brought an outsider’s perspective to the override discussions.
She said a lack of transparency has garnered distrust from residents, and that the credibility of the committee is not where it needs to be to successfully pass an override.
There you go. We agree.

Jon Prestage
Editor

5/1/08
For many weeks now the School Committee, Selectmen and the Warrant Committee have tried to hammer out a town budget. If the budget process confuses you this year, you are not alone.
The people in town responsible for building the budget and determining whether to ask for an override petition also appear confused. Even reporting on this year’s effort has been a bit like grabbing smoke: just when you think you have a handful of it, you look and see nothing in your hand but air.
It was only several weeks ago that the School
Committee was telling us that without an override
and an influx of money teachers would be cut and programs would be curtailed. Neighborhood schools, we were told, were in jeopardy. The inference was
that your child could be bused to some distant school on the other side of town without an override.
Parents were told that the art and music programs would be eliminated. Parents rallied to the defense of these programs. Last week the school committee apparently decided an override might not be the answer, after all, which was a surprise to the Warrant Committee, and some of the cuts earlier predicted would not be necessary.
Meanwhile Selectmen instructed department heads to come up with draconian budgets, now there is rumbling among some of them that they may not be able to live within those self-imposed bounds.
We publish two stories on our front page today that report on the latest efforts to develop a budget in preparation for the Town Meeting, beginning on Monday, May 5. But as you can see these stories do not offer the kind of clarity we think you have a right to expect.
What is clear from the stories is that the budget process is frustrating town leaders, and this has led to some confusion.
We’ve said it before: it will take Town Meeting and its members to sort through this mess. We can’t wait.

Jon Prestage
Editor

4/24/08
Some of you will go to the polls next Tuesday to vote for certain of your neighbors to represent you at Town Meeting and on various town committees and commissions. Many of you, however, will stay home. Although there are only a handful of contested races, we urge you to vote.
We’d like to focus on why it’s so important for you to vote, even if you vote for candidates who are running unopposed: It’s crucial that all candidates know that you are watching what’s going on. Voting makes it clear that you’re paying attention and have a voice.
If you don’t vote you can’t really complain about what happens in town. Your stake in your community diminishes. Your views become invisible.
Consider this: In 1964 the Supreme Court ruled that, “Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests.” With this the concept of “one man, one vote” was born.
Before this case, disparities in the value of a vote existed, depending on where you lived. Urban counties were vastly underrepresented in state legislatures, for example. This case said that all votes should be equal and no votes should be devalued. If you don’t vote, you’ve tossed aside this most basic ideal.
It was less than 150 years ago that the 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave voting rights to all men, regardless of race, and only 90 years ago that women were given the right to vote. In 1925 Native Americans were given the right to vote, and in 1971 the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18.
Nearly every important change made to voting rights expanded those rights and made them more fair, and nearly all of these changes were preceded by battles and confrontations on the part of groups who felt excluded from our system.
Since our founding, Americans have fought for the right of their neighbors to represent them and for the right to vote. Many have died to affirm these rights. Voting is the only way to really honor them.
Let’s face it; voting is a thrill. Choosing who will run your town and who will represent you at Town Meeting, who will stand in for you in the commonwealth, and who will represent you in Washington is the true mark of a patriot.
Don’t let anyone tell you it doesn’t make a difference whether or not you vote. Bear in mind that there are forces in our nation that are better off when you don’t vote and when you don’t pay attention.

Jon Prestage
Editor

4/17/08
It is an odd world that requires parents to plea to their school committee to maintain art and music education, as though these subjects were frills and not cornerstones in the development of children.
We have watched this debate unfold in town now for several weeks as parents testify before the School Committee and write heartfelt letters to this newspaper in support of art and music education. School officials warn, however, that without a budget override art and music programs for children in kindergarten through eighth grade could be eliminated. We’re told that cutting art and music could save the schools approximately $350,000 by eliminating seven teaching positions.
Even if we accept the School Committee and school administrators at their word that cuts are needed without an override, we wonder if cuts in art and music are not shortsighted and don’t reveal just how uninspired school officials have been in finding solutions to these budget difficulties. While town residents have been generous in the past with their willingness to support overrides for the schools, and school officials are counting on that generosity again, this year may be different. Residents are concerned about a national economy seemingly in recession and hemorrhaging jobs. They are concerned about their homes. This is not a time for big increases in property taxes. A successful override this year may not be possible. We need town leaders to step up and find better and more innovative solutions.
We are reminded of a story we published in the March 27 edition of this newspaper that was sent
to us by John Phelan, principal of Pierce Middle School, that focused on musical performances at
his school that had gone unnoticed by everyone but the Pierce community. These performances included the school’s band, strings orchestra and chorus.
Hundreds of children were involved, and the principal sent us the name of every one of them with the
hopes that we’d publish them, so they could be recognized. He praised them for their achievements, and we did publish every name. Will the Pierce bands
be eliminated? Will the chorus of young voices
be silenced? Will the teachers who taught them
find themselves on an unemployment line? Will
these several hundred students have to do without something that is apparently profoundly meaningful in their lives?
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led our troops during the Gulf War is quoted as saying how what he learned from a third grade music appreciation course changed his life and better prepared him to face difficult and complex challenges.
“During the Gulf War, the few opportunities I had for relaxation I always listened to music, and it brought me great peace of mind,” he is quoted as saying. Perhaps it also made him a better general.
Arts are an essential part of public education. They provide children with a unique means of expression, and they pull from children their own creativity, their sense of uniqueness, individuality and humanity. The arts help students to understand the world around them as much as do language and mathematics. The arts integrate life and touch the development of the whole person.
Maybe it is time that parents, administrators and town leaders come together to look at other ways to come up with the money to assure that school children remain immersed in arts and music so that their futures can remain rich and their entire minds can be developed.

Jon Prestage
Editor

4/10/08
No matter how you slice it this is a difficult budget year for the town and for the school system. The one consolation is that Milton is not alone. Most towns throughout the region are considering overrides or dramatic cuts because of shortfalls. As many as 50 towns across the state are considering overrides this year, last we heard.
Selectmen report that residents seem split on whether there should be an override. An override would mean even higher property tax increases at a time when the national economy appears to have entered a recession, perhaps a bad one, and some people are losing their homes or might lose them in the future because of the mortgage meltdown.
Even without an override, the average property owner in town with a valuation of $549,313 is facing a tax increase of $230. An override would increase taxes on that same home by at least $537.
Milton faced its first budget override in 1989, approximately seven years after Proposition 2 1/2 came into being. Of the approximately seven budget overrides in town, voters have approved five of them, so town residents have been historically generous and understanding of the needs and mandates of the town and the school system.
Residents are generous and proud of their school system and of their town. They know how important it is for their children to receive a topnotch education. They have made this clear with their support of French Immersion and robust early language programs.
We learned recently that the national economy lost more than 80,000 jobs last month and more job losses are expected. Business sales are slumping and home values are dropping. William O’Donnell, Norfolk County Register of Deeds reports this week that the total dollar value of real estate sales countywide this past quarter has dropped by more than 38 percent. He also reports that the average sale price of residential and commercial properties has dropped by 12 percent over the same period last year. These sorts of figures spell trouble, although O’Donnell does report that there is some indication that the worst is over. We hope he’s right.
It appears that the Warrant Committee will present Town Meeting with two budgets, one requiring an override and the other avoiding one. Town Meeting Members, all 279 of them, will then make a decision as to whether to recommend Selectmen bring the matter to voters in the form of an override. We can’t think of a better group to make this determination about an override, especially this year, and the voter will have the final say.
While Selectmen have made an effort to determine the will of the community as to whether people are ready to support an override, we believe that Town Meeting Members are closest to the people and closer to their struggles than any other public officials.
The founders of this representational town-meeting form of government recognized this, and the governments they established reveal their wisdom.

Jon Prestage
Editor