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.
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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.
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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.
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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
Debatable questions
The recent candidates debates at WCAT once again proved to be a valuable tool in informing the voters about the candidates and issues in advance of the April 26 Town Election. I was happy once again to have had the privilege of serving on the press panel that posed questions, in two separate debates, to those running for the Board of Selectmen and Town Clerk.
I know how much hard work goes into putting televised debates on local cable. I produced and directed dozens of televised debates in the 1980s and early 1990s when the cable studio was on Water Street. It’s a time-consuming, labor-intensive and often thankless job for those involved in providing this invaluable public service, most of whom aren’t getting paid.
All those involved – the candidates, moderator Bill Carroll, producer David Watts, the WCAT staff and crew – pulled off the latest debates without a hitch. Everyone did themselves proud.
Well, almost everyone.
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Tags: Ann McGonigle Santos, Board of Selectmen, Bronwyn Della-Volpe, cable, candidates, Dan Benjamin, David Watts Jr., debate, election, Mark Sardella, Peter May, Phyllis Hull, Politics, Television, Tony Longo, Town Clerk, TV, Wakefield Civic League, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, WCAT, William Carroll
by MARK SARDELLA
For nearly two hours, Anthony Amore entertained the packed audience at The Savings Bank Theater with tales of art theft and the sometimes colorful but often inept characters that perpetrate such crimes. Amore was the opening speaker in the 2016 Sweetser Lecture Series in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
As head of security and chief investigator at the Isabella Stewart Garner Museum in Boston since 2005, one of his primary tasks is handling the ongoing investigation of the infamous 1990 heist in which 13 priceless works of art were stolen from the museum.
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Tags: Anthony Amore, Art, art crime, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, paintings, Rembrandt, Stealing Rembrandts, Sweetser Lecture Series, The Art of the Con, The Savings Bank Theater, Vermeer, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Worcester Art Museum
Thanks to ‘Wakefield Main Streets’ program
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — You’ve seen the flower barrels currently along Main Street in the downtown filled with colorful plantings from spring through summer. Starting in May, look for some new additions to that downtown beautification effort.
The Wakefield Main Streets program will be providing four new self-watering planters right in the center of the downtown. The new planters will be placed on the bump-outs on the corners of Main and Chestnut streets and Main and Centre streets.
John Ross, a member of the Wakefield Main Street Program board of directors recently appeared before the Board of Selectmen to pitch the idea.
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, downtown beautification, flower barrels, John Ross, Main Street USA, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Paul DiNocco, self-watering planters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Main Streets
Make Main Street one-way
Sometimes the solutions to our problems are so close we overlook them.
I am speaking of course of the new “Wakefield Walk” proposal that would make Main Street one-way heading north from the Melrose line to Lowell Street.
The northbound lane would remain open to vehicular traffic with no changes. The southbound lane would become a permanent pedestrian mall. Advocates insist that there would be little or no cost associated with the change.
Sure, there would be an adjustment period. But people are adaptable. They got used to Armory Street being one-way didn’t they?
Any minor inconvenience would be offset by a long list of benefits. Let’s take them one at a time.
Instant Rail Trail, minus the rail. No more endless, multi-million-dollar feasibility studies that serve only to enrich engineers and attorneys. No more NIMBY Lynnfield abutters going on and on about their “private property rights.” On day one we’ll have a 4-mile, paved, ready-made pedestrian and bike path running straight through the center of town.
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Tags: automobiles, bicycle path, bikes, business, carbon footprint, cars, Climate Change, earth, environment, Festival Italia, fossil fuels, Fred's Franks, Holliday Stroll, Lake Quannapowitt, Lynnfield, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Mother Earth, One-way, pedestrians, planet, rail trail, restaurants, sustainability, The Farmland, vendors, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Walk, walking trail
Identity crisis
Identity theft is big business – not only for the thieves but for a host of companies that have sprung up to help consumers thwart those who would steal the identities of others.
But increasingly, identity theft is being committed in connection with other crimes, like drug trafficking. Police are all too aware of this connection, in particular Officer James Scott, a veteran member of the Saugus Police Department.
Scott is a Wakefield native and a former Wakefield cop before joining the Saugus PD.
You may have seen Officer Scott on television last weekend if you happened to be watching the WCVB Channel 5 news. (I know that’s a big “IF.” If you watch TV news at all, you’re a rare breed, and if you watch any broadcast network affiliate, you may want to check for your name on the endangered species list.)
Fortunately, the video is still on the WCVB web site if you want to check it out.
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Tags: Americans, Boston, Channel 5, cocaine, drivers license, drugs, fake ID, fraud, heroin, identity theft, illiegal aliens, James Scott, Lakeside Inn, Lord Wakefield, Lowell, Luis De Jesus Castro, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, News, Puerto Rico, Saugus Police, social security number, TV, United States, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police, WCVB
by MARK SARDELLA
When it comes to larceny, people seem far more fascinated with art theft and fraud than with other types of robberies and scams. Part of the intrigue likely stems from the myth of the gentleman art thief, according to security expert Anthony Amore, who will kick off the 2016 Sweetser Lecture Series with a talk on art theft and art fraud at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29 at The Savings Bank Theater in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
Amore is currently Director of Security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, where one of his priority tasks is to continue efforts to recover the 13 priceless works of art stolen from the Museum in March of 1990. Those artworks include masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet among others.
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Tags: Anthony Amore, Art, Art of the Con, art theft, artist, Degas, fraud, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Manet, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Rembrandt, Stealing Rembrandts, Sweetser Lecture Series, The Savings Bank Theater, Vermeer, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Not hot for pot
It’s been a tough week for the Cannabis Community.
Last weekend, the Boston Globe published an op-ed piece opposing legalization of marijuana co-written by Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.
Then, adding insult to injury, on Tuesday the much anticipated Report of the Special Senate Committee on Marijuana was released.
The news was not good for herb enthusiasts.
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Tags: cannabis, Democrats, drugs, Gov. Charlie Baker, Hariette Chandler, hemp, herb, James T. Welch, John F. Keenan, legalization, Linda Dorcena Forry, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Marty Walsh, Massachusetts, Maura Healey, Michael O. Moore, Michael Rodrigues, opioids, pot, prohibition, recreational, Sen. Jason Lewis, Senate Special Committee on Marijuana, Wakefield Daily Item, weed
Mark Sardella 