Of plastic and pot
The town recently held an event called “Wakefield 101,” an orientation session for new residents to give them a chance to talk to representatives of town departments, community organizations and local businesses.
The idea was to help new residents get the lay of the land and to give them a heads up on how we do things here in Wakefield. The first such session was by all accounts an unqualified success.
So successful, in fact, that the state might want to consider stealing the idea, and not just offer it to new residents of the Commonwealth. Things are changing so fast that even lifelong Massachusetts residents may soon need an orientation to figure out what’s going on in the new Bay State.
Continue reading ‘Of plastic and pot’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: Bay State, business, fossil fuels, herb, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella Wakefield Daily Item, Massachusetts, petroleum, plastic bags, pot, Wakefield 101, Wakefield Massachusetts, weed
Hot fun in the summertime
As of this writing, we have eight people (and counting) running for Selectman in the July 19 Special Election to fill the nine months left on former selectman Betsy Sheeran’s term.
This sudden surge of interest in public service is truly a wonderful thing to behold.
My only question is, where were some of these people last month when we didn’t have enough candidates for all of the positions on the Town Election ballot? Walter Schofield had to mount a write-in campaign after nobody could be bothered getting on the ballot for an open slot on the Board of Assessors.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Betsy Sheeran, Board of Selectmen, candidates, election, July, Mark Sardella, Mass., Massachusetts, Phyllis Hull, Politics, selectman, special election, summer, Town Election, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Walter Schofield
By MARK SARDELLA
It was a shotgun blast to the face as she answered the door of her posh New York City Apartment. The only question was who killed the beautiful and successful advertising executive – and why?
In Stoneham Theatre’s production of Laura, answering that question falls to NYC Police detective Mark McPherson (played by Alexander Cook), as hardboiled a gumshoe as there ever was. Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade have nothing on this dick.
Continue reading ‘Stoneham Theatre’s ‘Laura’ an intriguing noir’
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Tags: Alexander Cook, Chris Larson, cope, Dashiell hammett, Deb Sullivan, detective, dick, Dominique D. Burford, drama, Eliot Purcell, Erica Desautels, gumshoe, James Tolman, Jasmine Rush, Laura, Liana Asim, Mark Sardella, Misaki Nishimiya, Molly Kimmerling, murder, mystery, Philip Marlowe, play, Raymond Chandler, Sam Spade, Sarah Gazdowicz, stage, Steven Barkhimer, Stoneham, Stoneham Theatre, theater, Wakefield Daily Item
By MARK SARDELLA
It all started when he purchased nine Pleasure Island postcards at a local church antiques show.
Since then, Wakefield’s Robert McLaughlin has written five books and turned himself into one of the country’s leading experts on American theme parks. His latest book, Magic Mountain was published last week and tells the story of the park of the same name that was once nestled in the hills of Golden, Colorado, just outside of Denver.
Magic Mountain was the first of three knockoff theme parks designed by Disney deserter C.V. Wood and his firm, Marco Engineering. The other two were Pleasure Island in Wakefield and Freedomland in New York City.
Continue reading ‘Wakefield author Bob McLaughlin publishes history of ‘Magic Mountain’’
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Tags: amusement parks, Arcadia Publishing, Baby Boomers, Bob McLaughlin, C.V. Wood, Colorado, Disneyland, Freedomland, Golden Colorado, Heritage Square, Magic Mountain, Marco Engineering, Mark Sardella, New York City, Pleasure Island, Robert McLaughlin, theme parks, trolly parks, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Walt Disney, Walter F. Cobb, westerns
Special effects
If you are one of those who thought last week’s election meant that you could finally count Phyllis Hull out, a) You don’t know Phyllis Hull very well and, b) you might want to cork the Champagne, at least for now.
Hull was defeated in her bid to be re-elected to the Board of Selectmen in the April 26 Town Election, but within 48 hours she was preparing a petition for the town to call a Special Election to fill the vacancy left on the board by the election of Selectman Betsy Sheeran as Town Clerk.
And if you thought she wouldn’t get the 200 signatures necessary to call a Special Election, then you really don’t know Phyllis Hull.
Continue reading ‘Special effects’
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, campaign, candidate, debt exclusion, dissent, election, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, money, Opinion, override, Phyllis Hull, politicians, Politics, Proposition 2 1/2, special election, taxes, taxpayers, veterans, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, World War II
Directed by Nancy Curran Willis
By MARK SARDELLA
Israel Horovitz’s play “My Old Lady” is set in Paris but in Quannapowitt Players upcoming production there are Wakefield connections galore.
Most obvious is the fact that Horovitz is a Wakefield native who grew up on Elm Street and graduated from Wakefield High School in 1956.
On top of that, the director of the production, Nancy Curran Willis, is also a Wakefield native and WHS grad. (Her son, Lt. Sean Curran is a Wakefield firefighter.)
Continue reading ‘QP brings Horovitz’s ‘My Old Lady’ home’
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Tags: comedy, David Kimmelman, drama, France, Gloucester Stage, Israel Horovitz, Kevin Kline, Kim Anton Myatt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lake Quannapowitt, Liz Robbins, Maggie Smith, Mark Sardella, My Old Lady, Nancy Curran Willis, play, playwright, Quannapowitt Players, theater, viager, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
By MARK SARDELLA
If you encounter a police officer, a firefighter, an EMT or a paramedic in your travels around town, you might want to say “thank you.”
The week of April 25, 2016 through May 1, 2016 was “First Responder Week” in Wakefield, as proclaimed by the Board of Selectmen. Many Wakefield Police officers, Wakefield Firefighters and emergency personnel from Action Ambulance were on hand at a recent selectmen’s meeting to be honored by the board and by the town.
Continue reading ‘Wakefield honors first responders’
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Tags: Action Ambulance, Ann Santos, Betsy Sheeran, Dave Rando. first responders, EMT, Fire Chief Michael Sullivan, firefighters, Lt. Lou Sardella, Mark Sardella, Mike Woronka, paramedic, Pat Glynn, police, Police Chief Rick Smith, selectmen, Tiz Doto, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Fire Department, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — The scenario is this: Wakefield Police receive a call reporting a disturbance at Acme Corp., a company of 50 employees located at the end of a cul-de-sac in Wakefield. The company is headquartered in Israel and has been threatened in the past by radical Islamic groups. The threats have come via emails to the company president, but have never been acted on. On a few recent occasions, protesters have shown up at the company carrying signs denouncing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Wakefield Police have responded to the company numerous times, mostly for accidental alarms, so they are familiar with the building.
Police dispatch initially sends two marked units to check on the disturbance.
That was the fictional scenario described by Sgt. Sean Beede of the Wakefield Police Department as he briefed 15 members of the Department in the parking lot of the Northeast Metro Tech High School shortly before they went through training for dealing with an active shooter situation at a business. The officers were split into three groups that went through the training separately. A portion of the Northeast Metro Tech High School on Hemlock Road served as the Acme Corp. building.
Continue reading ‘Wakefield Police officers train for “active shooter” situation’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Feature stories, News, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: active shooter, Detective Kenneth Silva, guns, hostage, Lt. Steve Skory, Mark Sardella, Northeast Metro Tech High School, Officer Clifford Perry, Officer David Rando, police, Sgt. Jonathan Burnham, Sgt. Sean Beede, Steve Maio, terrorism, training, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department
My Earth Day
Today is Earth Day, and observances are underway around the world and have been for several weeks because coincidentally, April also happens to be Earth Month!
I find it outrageous that in 2016 we are so earth-centric as to focus only on the planet that we happen to inhabit out of the eight (formerly nine) in our solar system and potentially billions in the cosmos.
When is Mars Day celebrated? When is Mercury Month? We even went so far a few years ago as to demote the celestial body on the outermost fringe of our solar system from planetary status.
How Plutophobic of us!
But back to Earth Day. I have a full day of activities scheduled for my own personal celebration of the Earth and all its wonders.
Continue reading ‘My Earth Day’
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Tags: Climate Change, Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, Earth Day, ecology, electricity, energy, environment, fossil fuels, fracking, gas, Global Warming, Holly Maddux, incandescent lightbulb, internal combustion, Ira Einhorn, Kenneth Watt, Mark Sardella, oil, Paul Ehrlich, Peter Gunter, planet, plastic bags, refrigeration, Steven Levy, sustainablity, The Unicorn's Secret, Wakefield Daily Itemcoal
Red and white blues
It’s happening everywhere.
The forces of political correctness have been picking off one innocent tradition after another.
It hit Wakefield this week.
The School Department announced that for this year’s High School graduation ceremonies, graduates will wear “gender neutral” gowns instead of the traditional red for boys and white for girls.
No, this is not a late April Fools’ Day column.
Continue reading ‘Red and white blues’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics | 4 Comments
Tags: commencement, Core Values, gender, gender neutral, gender neutral graduation gowns, graduates, graduation, learning, Mark Sardella, political correctness, Richard Metropolis, School Department, senior class, students, teaching, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warriors
Mark Sardella 