Straw man
PREDICTION: On or about June 30, 2021, someone will post on one of the local Facebook groups the following tale of woe:
Tonight, I picked up takeout for the family at [local restaurant.] Imagine my frustration when I got home and there were no utensils and no straws in any of the paper bags! I called [local restaurant] and was told that due to a new local regulation they can’t give out plastic straws or utensils unless the customer specifically requests them. Is this true? When did this happen?
In the comments, I will helpfully post a link to my story in the Nov. 9, 2020 Wakefield Daily Item, headlined, Town Meeting OKs banning more plastics.
You’re welcome, in advance.
Continue reading ‘Straw man’
Filed under: Humor, Opinion, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Arlington, ban, businesses, Chamber of Commerce, Climate Change, composting, consumers, containers, dolphins, elections, environment, Environmental Sustainability Committee, Facebook, Global Warming, globalism, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, packaging, plastic, plastic bags, Politics, pollution, polystyrene, recycling, restaurants, sea turtles, storesCambridge, straws, styrofoam, Town Meeting, utensils, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Sustainability theater
Good things, as they say, come to those who wait. Unfortunately, so do bad things.
You may recall that on last spring’s Annual Town Meeting warrant, there were a couple of articles aimed at expanding the town’s plastic bag ban and prohibiting certain types of food packaging.
These measures were sponsored by the same folks who successfully pushed through the original plastic bag ban a few years ago.
Continue reading ‘Sustainability theater’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: ban, businesses, Climate Change, compost, consumer, containers, economy, environmentalism, food, Global Warming, Humor, lockdown, Mark Sardella, merchants, Opinion, plastic bags, plastics, Politics, polystyrene, prohibition, recycling, restaurants, shopkeepers, stores, styrofoam, sustainable, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
A simple choice
Out-of-state donors are pouring millions into an effort to forever alter the outcomes of Massachusetts elections.
Unfortunately for them, the concept of ranked choice voting is so convoluted that it can’t be convincingly explained in a one-minute TV ad or even with an oversized, glossy, two-sided mailer.
Continue reading ‘A simple choice’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Feature stories, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: ballot question, ballots, candidates, carpetbaggers, elections, Humor, John Arnold, Laura Arnold, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, money, Opinion, Politics, ranked-choice voting, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Shauna Hamilton, Texas, vote, voting, Wakefield Daily Item
Happy Columbus Day!
Let me be the first to wish you and yours a happy Columbus Day.
This year’s holiday is doubly special because it’s not just the second Monday in October. Monday also happens to be Oct. 12, which is traditional Columbus Day. It will be exactly 528 years ago to the day that the great Italian explorer landed in the New World.
Continue reading ‘Happy Columbus Day!’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 5 Comments
Tags: cancel culture, China, Christopher Columbus, Columbus Day, COVID-19, Elia Sardella, explorer, genealogy, History, human rights, Humor, immigration, Indians, Indiginous Peoples Day, Italian, Italian-Americans, Italy, Luisa Padellaro, Mark Sardella, masculinity, Massachusettts, Native Americans, Nina, Opinion, Palermo, Pinta, Politics, Santa Maria, ship, Sicily, Steve Sardella, Wakefield MA, woke
Mailing it in
It’s adorable how people still refer to Nov. 3 as “Election Day.”
We’ve had “early voting” for a couple of years, which began the process of diluting the meaning of Election Day. Now, with the totally unnecessary concept of “mail-in voting,” we’re told that we may not even know the result of the presidential election for days or even weeks after “Election Day.”
Continue reading ‘Mailing it in’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: 2020, Anthony Fauci, ballots, cash, COVID-19, early voting, Election Day, elections, Franklin MA, Humor, lottery, mail, mail-in voting, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, November 3, Opinion, post office, presidential election, Teresa Burr, USPS, voter fraud, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
The worst summer
Monday is Labor Day, meaning that the Summer of 2020 will finally, mercifully, be over.
So long, COVID Summer.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
It was the summer of face coverings, cancellations and quarantines, as opposed to concerts, camp and cookouts.
Everything was canceled, including local favorites like the Fourth of July Parade and fireworks, Festival Italia, Festival by the Lake and Movies by the Lake.
But at least it was warm, unlike the summer of 1816, “The Year There Was No Summer.” Snow fell in Massachusetts on June 7. People referred to 1816 as “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death.”
So stop your whining, put on your mask and listen to how good you have it.
Continue reading ‘The worst summer’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: 1816, arctic, August, cancellations, climate, Climate Change, COCID-19, cold, concerts, Connecticut, coronavirus, crops, fireworks, fossil fuels, frost, Global Warming, heat, Humor, July, June, Mark Sardella, masks, Massachusetts, Mother Nature, New England, New Hampshire, Opinion, Parade, Politics, Red Sox, snow, summer, Vermont, volcano, Wakefield cold, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Waltham, weather
A cry for change
It’s taken far too long, but I now see the light. Change is needed. Now.
In the words of the old hymn, “I once was lost, but now am found / Was blind but now I see.”
Like many, I’ve resisted change. Change is hard. It forces you to think.
Continue reading ‘A cry for change’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 4 Comments
Tags: Amazing Grace, businaess, change, coin shortage, coins, dimes, epiphany, Federal Reserve, Humor, Lynnfield, Lynnfield MA, Mark Sardella, MarketStreet, money, nickels, Opinion, Panera Bread, pennies, Politics, quarters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Warriors forever
The writing has been on the wall for some time.
The space on the Wakefield High School field house facade where the Wakefield Warrior logo was once proudly displayed has been conspicuously empty now for at least five years. Ever since an ill wind supposedly blew the Warrior off the building, the School Department has been in no hurry to replace it.
And now, unless normal people suddenly find the will to stand up to the woke mob, I fear that we will soon be bidding a permanent farewell to the Wakefield Warrior name and logo in all of its iterations.
Continue reading ‘Warriors forever’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 7 Comments
Tags: American Indians, cancel culture, Dick Bayrd, Galvin Middle School, Humor, Jack Galvin, John Rogers Galvin, Leonard Bayard, logo, Mark Sardella, mascot, Massachusetts, Native Americans, NATO, Opinion, Politics, racist, Richard Bayrd, Saugus Sachems, U.S. Army, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warriors, warrior
Big bang theory
When is a firecracker just a firecracker?
If you were in Wakefield — or anywhere else in the country — on July 4 weekend, you probably noticed a dramatic uptick in the volume of amateur fireworks compared to other years. You were not alone. “Fireworks complaint” was far and away the dominant entry in the local police log over the holiday weekend. On social media, residents who have never come within a continent of military combat insisted that their neighborhoods were “just like a war zone” once darkness fell on Independence Day.
There has been much speculation, and a few conspiracy theories, over the reasons for this year’s nationwide pyrotechnic explosion.
Continue reading ‘Big bang theory’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Abe Lincoln, America, Christopher Columbus, conspiracy theories, coronavirus, COVID-19, explosions, fireworks, Founding Fathers, Fourth of July, George Washington, government, holiday, Humor, Independence Day, July 4th, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, patriotism, Politics, shutdown, United States, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Reasons to be cheerful
If you approached the 2020 Annual Town Meeting with a touch of trepidation, you certainly weren’t alone.
There were several articles on the warrant that had the potential to make Wakefield a less safe and more restrictive community.
Continue reading ‘Reasons to be cheerful’
Filed under: Columns & Essays | 1 Comment
Tags: bias, Black Lives Matter, BLM, businesses, coronavirus, COVID-19, Humor, Mark Sardella, merchants, Opinion, plastic bags, plastic straws, police, Politics, prejudice, School Resource Officer, Town Meeting, transparency, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department, WHRC, woke, WPD
