Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category

Wakefield needs a hug. The town is struggling financially and its self-esteem may be shot, but help is on the way. The board of selectmen gave preliminary approval last week to a group that wants to stage a “farmers’ market” on Saturday mornings at Hall Park on North Ave starting next summer. I just hope […]


Wednesday, September 24 was a dark and chilly night at Fenway Park, as the Boston Red Sox prepared to play the Cleveland Indians in a meaningless game. The Red Sox had clinched a post-season berth the night before, assuring that there would be October baseball in Boston. Cleveland was going nowhere, achieving a .500 winning […]


Almost unnoticed, an era ended in Wakefield, Massachusetts this week. Or at least, an era’s final tangible symbol vanished with the razing of the bungalow at 93 Montrose Avenue that was home to Hope Dillaway’s Studio School for Children in the 1940’s and 1950s. The property is slated to be developed as a five-lot single-family […]


I recently reduced my carbon footprint. Did I buy a Prius? No. I could never afford the sticker price. Did I inflate my tires to the proper pressure? The answer is a flat no. Did I install a clothesline in my back yard? Sure – strung between my two windmills. Did I buy a bunch […]


For the town of Wakefield, Massachusetts, news that the dredging of Lake Quannapowitt’s Hartshorne Cove has been completed is certainly welcome. The recent cleanup was ordered following the discovery in 1999 that arsenic, lead and petroleum contaminants had seeped into the sand, mud, peat and gravel on the Lake’s bottom in the area behind the […]


In the wake of the May 27 Referendum Election that reversed the higher-than-recommended School Department budget passed by Annual Town Meeting, we’ve been hearing that there is a lack of information available to the residents of Wakefield, Massachusetts. The most recent of those assertions came at a June 17 public input forum of the Town […]


For those who had clamored since before April’s Annual Town Meeting for a three-way meeting of the Selectmen, Finance Committee and School Committee to look at the town’s finances, the first public meeting of the Tri-Board on June 11 must have been something of a disappointment. The residents of the town of Wakefield, Massachusetts who […]


Vote NO on Wakefield, MA school budget In next Tuesday’s referendum election on the $27.4 million School Department budget, the only vote that make sense is a “No” vote. This conclusion has nothing to do with the value of education, the needs of the Wakefield School Department or the sincerity of the School Committee. It […]


Sentimental comedy about seniors at Stoneham Theatre It doesn’t hurt that playwright/director Jack Neary’s sentimental comedy about senior citizens is set in a working-class eastern Massachusetts neighborhood and features five characters who, to those who grew up in this area, will be as familiar as their own neighbors. But “The Porch” is also a very […]


As far as the Zaccone family knew, the beautifully engraved watch was lost forever. It had been awarded to Guy Zaccone of Wakefield back in 1958 by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts – the oldest military organization in the Western Hemisphere. Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company members served on every battlefield from […]