Archive for the ‘Wakefield’ Category
A hero in the family
By MARK SARDELLA The long July Fourth holiday weekend was a source of fun and enjoyment for most of us. For one local family, it also produced an authentic hero. Broadway resident and Wakefield High School teacher Erin Chrisos, her husband Steve and their two children, three and-a-half-year-old Noah and one-month-old Fiona were on vacation […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Profiles, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: 9/11, Batman, Biddeford, choking, Erin Chrisos, Family, first responders, hero, Maine, Mark Sardella, officer, Old Orchard Beach, police, Sgt. Thomas Flynn, vacation, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department
Parade of days
A thought occurred to me while anticipating the Wakefield July Fourth Parade. As important as Independence Day is, it overshadows other early summer observances that just don’t get the respect they deserve. It’s like having a birthday on Christmas. Nobody notices. Well, I’m here to right this wrong, because fighting injustice is what I’m all […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: air conditioning, Canada Day, Cinco de Mayo, Climate Change, CNN, dog days, fake news, Fourth of July, Global Warming, handshake, holidays, Humor, Independence Day, July 4th, nudism, Opinion, Parade, Politics, Tom Brady, US Constitution, voting, Wakefield MA. Massachusetts, Wikipedia
Name that board!
Right on the heels of the plastic bags crisis, the latest issue to rock Wakefield is what name we should use for the town’s executive body. For the past 370 years, “Board of Selectmen” has done quite nicely, but no more. The position contains the word “man” (and in the plural, “men”). In 2017, this […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: attorney, Board of Selectmen, Cyrus Wakefield, gender neutral, History, humpr, lawyers, man, Mark Sardella, men, Opinion, Politics, select board, selectboard, selectman, tradition, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Warriors, Xena Warrior Princess
Town Meeting highs and lows
Let me be the first to say it. Hot enough for you? I know, it’s barely 70 degrees, but after the February weather we had earlier this week, today feels like Death Valley. It doesn’t get reliably warm around here until the summer solstice. Then it’s summer until about the Fourth of July, and it’s […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: attendance, Bill Carroll, democracy, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Open Town Meeting, Opinion, Politics, Reading MA, Representative Town Meeting, solstice, Special interest, summer, sun, taxes, Town Moderator, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Running down the downtown
“Wakefield has such a pretty downtown,” my friend in the passenger seat said as we drove past The Rockery on the right, with its rows of bright red and white tulips leading up to the Hiker Statue. It was a few weeks ago and the fountain hadn’t been turned on yet. “That’s not what our […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Albion Cultural Exchancge, business development, business district, commercial, downtown, economic revitalization, economy, ghost town, Lake Quannapowitt, Main Street, MAPC, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, merchants, parking, real estate, restaurants, retail, stores, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Main Streets
Zoned out
I know some people don’t like me to write about marijuana, but the subject has been in the local news a lot lately and it’s kind of my job. So this constitutes a trigger warning for those delicate flowers of the Cannabis Community whose heads tend to explode when I write about pot. (Rest assured […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Board of Selectmen, business, cities, drugs, election, hemp, herb, Humor, legislature, maijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, Politics, pot, prohibition, Pulitzer Prize, Question 4, referendum, Town Meeiting, towns, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed, zoning
Long before it became part of my job, I would attend practically every Town Meeting. It wasn’t out of any sense of civic duty. I’ve always found Town Meeting to be great entertainment. That has led some to suggest that I seek professional help. Last week’s two-part episode did not disappoint. If you’re one of […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: budgets, bylaws prohibition, Cannabis Community sea turtles, Chamber of Commerce, Christine DeFelice, Galvin Middle School, herb, local government, Marianne Cohen, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, plastic bags, pot, Rada Boutique, schools, Town Meeting, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Walton School, weed, William Carroll
By MARK SARDELLA Wakefield Town Meeting last night overwhelmingly approved three articles intended to ban any recreational marijuana business from operating in the town of Wakefield. The measures included amendments to both the Zoning and General bylaws prohibiting recreational pot businesses in town as well as a moratorium calling for a moratorium on any pot […]
Filed under: News, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Anthony Longo, Bill Carroll, business, bylaws, Doug Butler, drugs, edibles, James Scott, Jim Scott, law, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, moratorium, News, Police Chief Rick Smith, pot, retail, Rown Counsel Thomas Mullen, Steve Maio, THC, Town Meeting, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed, zoning
Mark Sardella 