Archive for the ‘Community’ Category

While Wakefield Police Officer Michael Pietrantonio was deployed last year with the United States Air Force in Iraq, he was very appreciative of the local support he received and the efforts made by the Wakefield Police Department and his fellow WPD officers to stay in touch while he was away serving in the 332nd Expeditionary […]


Note to 89 percent of the registered voters in Wakefield, Massachusetts: There was a Town Election on April 26, 2011. Sorry you couldn’t make it. Two selectmen, two School Committee Members and an Assessor were elected. And those were just the contested races. It’s been noted that the 2011 Wakefield Town Election may have seen […]


Sound Advice

12Apr11

We’ve all heard the expression “political echo chamber,” but until the recent debates who knew that the term referred to Wakefield‘s own Galvin Middle School Auditorium? I don’t know what it sounded like to the live audience of a dozen people who packed the hall, but for those of us on stage there was more […]


Nativity Seen

10Dec10

Being a Wakefield native isn’t what it used to be. Not so very long ago, being able to say that you were born and raised here was seen as something special – a distinction that one could lord over those who moved here, for example, a mere 20 years ago (tourists). Of course, it’s always […]


Old School

18Nov10

The town is preparing to accept bids from developers that will determine the future of the Franklin School, and if things go as expected, another of a generation of nine schools that the town built around the turn of the 20th century will enter a new phase in its long existence.


Memorialize a veteran With Veterans’ Day approaching, Wakefield Selectman John Encarnacao wanted to remind people that they have available to them a unique and permanent way to memorialize the veterans in their family – by contributing for a memorial paver for the “Veterans’ Walk of Remembrance,” which will encircle the new World War II Memorial […]


When I tuned in to Fox 25’s morning news on Friday, August 27, I wondered why it had been pre-empted by an episode of the Phantom Gourmet. Seriously, I understand that Wakefield wanted to grab the opportunity to showcase itself as a “dining destination,” but Friday’s “Zip Trip” show from Wakefield Common featured enough food […]


On August 19, 2010, a crowd gathered at the First Parish Congregational Church in Wakefield, Massachusetts to say a final goodbye to a woman who spent decades looking out for the weakest of God’s creatures. Esther P. Nowell died August 8, 2010 at the age of 92. She was the founder, prime mover and force […]


Parade of Pols

09Jul10

Maybe I’m the only one, but I like seeing the politicians in the Wakefield (MA) July 4th Parade. The marching bands are great, and they provide an element of entertainment relief in what would otherwise be an endless stream of pols. But the main reason I go to the parade every July 4th is to […]


“You too?”

24Jun10

“You too?” That may have been the most frequently uttered greeting among survivors at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life held last weekend at the Beasley Oval behind Wakefield High School. Survivors were easy to identify at the Relay by their purple t-shirts. All other Relay participants got white t-shirts when they checked in. […]