Sentimental journey
A majority of the Wakefield Town Council gets to define what “Official Town Sentiment” is.
The Council voted earlier this month to give itself the power to determine what constitutes Official Town Sentiment, at least in terms of which flags can be flown from town flagpoles as an expression of such sentiment. (As of now, the American flag is still allowed.)
The impetus for the new Flag Policy dates back to April, when the Wakefield Human Rights Commission approached the Town Council about flying the “Pride” and “Juneteenth” flags from various town-owned flagpoles.
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Tags: American Flag, Boston, Christian Flag, election, First Amendment, flag, flagpoles, flags, Humor, Juneteenth, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mehreen Butt, News, Official Town Sentiment, Old Glory, Opinion, Politics, POW-MIA, Pride flag, Stars and Stripes, Supreme Court, symbol, Tom Mullen, US Supreme Court, veterans, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Town Council, Wakefield Veterans Advisory Board, Wakefield Warrior, Warrior logo, WHRC
High school math
Let’s start by stipulating that there will be a new Wakefield Memorial High School.
And it will be fabulous.
We know this because the local education lobby is very motivated and highly coordinated. We saw it in the recent Town Election. The three School Committee winners were all educators or former educators. And all three finished within 72 votes of each other. That’s not a coincidence. The top two had almost identical vote counts.
When the time comes to vote for the debt exclusion or override for the new high school, the same forces will again marshal the vote and overwhelm any feeble pushback from the taxpayers, assuming the taxpayers mount any pushback at all. Phyllis Hull and Mike Conley are no longer here to lead the resistance.
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Tags: ageism, debt exclusion, Douglas Lyons, economy, education, electric, energy, environment, fossil fuels, Galvin Middle School, gasoline, groceries, Humor, inflation, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts School Building Authority, Mike Conley, MSBA, Opinion, override, Phyllis Hull, Politics, schools, sustainability, taxes, taxpayers, townies, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, WMHS
Flagging allegiance
There aren’t a lot of human rights violations in Wakefield, Massachusetts. So, to justify its existence, the Wakefield Human Rights Commission has to find things to do.
I just wish they’d stick to discussing their favorite Girl Scout Cookies and leave our country’s flag, holidays and traditions alone.
The Wakefield Human Rights Commission (WHRC) recently convinced the Town Council to amend the town’s Flag Policy to allow flags other than the U.S. flag to be flown from public flagpoles. Specifically, they would like the “Pride” flag and the “Juneteenth” flag to share space with Old Glory on various town-owned poles.
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Tags: America, Americal Civic Center, Edward Dombroski Jr., flagpoles, flags US flag, genocide, Girl Scout Cookies, History, Humor, immigrants, inclusive, Indians, Indigenous People, Juneteenth, land acknowledgement, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Native Americans, Old Glory, Opinion, oppression, patriotism, Politics, POW-MIA flag, Pride flag, School Committee, Stars & Stripes, Thomas A. Mullen, Town Council, United States, veterans, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield Town Council, Wakefield Warrior Logo, welcoming, WHRC, woke, wokeism, wokism, Youth Council
Brave New World
Less than a year after dumping the Warrior logo, the Wakefield School Committee continues to demonstrate that they are more in tune with global causes than they are with the local taxpayers who pay the freight.
Last week, they quietly changed Columbus Day to “Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day.”
And nobody said a word.
The 2022-2023 School Calendar approved by the School Committee last week lists Monday, Oct. 10, 2022 as “Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day.” I’m shocked that they gave Columbus top billing.
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The naked and the masked
With COVID on the wane, last week everyone in Wakefield was finally liberated from the imperative to cover their faces. Everyone, that is, except those least at risk from the virus: school children. That’s what’s known as “following the science.”
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) lifted the state’s indoor mask mandate last week, and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has said that masks no longer need to be worn in public schools as of Feb. 28. When two of the most alarmist state agencies are saying masks can go, you know that everybody is done.
Everybody, that is, except certain overwrought local officials, who can’t seem to let it go.
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Magic bus
Like most of you, I had never heard of “transportation equity” until a week or so ago. It’s one of those terms that members of the Woke Community toss around in casual conversation believing everybody knows what it means, because everybody they know does.
You probably thought “equity” was the value of your home minus what you still owe on the mortgage.
How quaint. Turn off Fox Business and put down the Wall Street Journal, insurrectionist.
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Ethos, pathos and logos
Having endured two previous School Department “forums” on the Wakefield Warrior logo, my expectations were not high for last week’s “Warrior Logo Community Forum.”
Somehow, it still managed to disappoint.
For one thing, it was held via Zoom, which hinders participation by the less technically adept while favoring a demographic more comfortable with technology. If you don’t believe Zoom presents a technical roadblock for many people, consider that the forum started almost 15 minutes late because those in charge of running it encountered – you guessed it – technical problems.
Last week’s forum was billed as an opportunity for members of the Wakefield community to offer their input regarding a new logo to replace the old Warrior logo.
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Santa is coming!
The Daily Item has obtained, through a Freedom of Information Act request, a partial copy of Santa’s Christmas list. As journalists, we believe in the public’s Constitutional right to know what our local officials and others will be receiving in their stockings and under their trees on Christmas morning.
The North Pole Information Agency has grudgingly complied with our request. (Like they had a choice.)
Through its press office, the North Pole released a statement calling the release “a regrettable breach of the trust that Santa Claus has worked hundreds of years to establish. After this, how can anyone speak freely while sitting on the lap of a bearded stranger in a red suit?”
That’s the price of transparency, Big Guy. Ho, ho, ho.
As our gift to our readers, the Daily Item has decided to publish the unedited list. Don’t blame us. We’re just the messengers.
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