The high road to hell
There will very likely be a ballot question in 2016 seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts. We know this because the activists who in 2012 successfully perpetrated the “medical” marijuana scam are the same people who are now working on the 2016 ballot question to make pot available for recreational use.
So much for their deep concern for the sick.
You’d have to be very naïve to believe that medical marijuana was anything but a foot in the door toward full legalization.
Thankfully, to date not a single medical marijuana “dispensary” has opened in Massachusetts. We can only hope that the recreational pot business meets with a similar level of success.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 30 Comments
Tags: addiction, alcohol, Colorado, drugs, high, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, medical marijuana, opiates, pot, recreational marijuana, Wakefield Daily Item, weed
Winter Parking Ban Revisited
Wakefield, MA eliminates winter ban on overnight on-street parking
Last December, I wrote about a storm brewing on Wakefield social media related to the winter parking ban. The ban, which has been in effect so long no one can remember when it started, prohibits overnight parking on the street from Dec. 1 to April 1 in order to facilitate snow plowing and ensure public safety.
It appears that the Board of Selectmen heard the calls to do away with the winter-long parking ban. On March 23, 2015 the Selectmen voted 5-1 to abolish the ban after one of the worst winters in living memory and despite the strong objections of Public Works Director Richard Stinson.
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Tags: Betsy Sheeran, DPW, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, parking, plowing, Public Works, Richard Stinson, snow, snowplow, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, winter, winter parking ban
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 pm at the Savings Bank Theater – Wakefield, MA
Those who attend Wednesday’s opening lecture of the 2015 Sweetser Lecture Series at The Savings Bank Theater are in for a treat.
Speaker Casey Sherman is not just an author and journalist. He is a born storyteller, entertainer and showman who can hold an audience spellbound with true stories about the Boston Strangler, the Boston mob, the Marathon bombings and one of the most daring naval rescues of all time.
Continue reading ‘Author Casey Sherman promises suspenseful Sweester Lecture’
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Tags: Albert DeSalvo, author, books, Boston Strangler, Boston Strong, Casey Sherman, crime, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, speaker, Sweetser Lecture, The Finest Hours, The Savings Bank Theater, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, writer
Wakefield (MA) Police Chief Rick Smith was at Monday night’s meeting of the Board of Selectmen for the presentation of his department’s budget. But in light of what he called “a tough year for law enforcement,” Smith also took the opportunity to correct some misconceptions regarding police work in general and to highlight some positives about Wakefield’s Police Department.
Contrary to the impression one might get from following the news, violent crime in the United States is down, according to Smith.
“America in 2015 is a far safer place than America in 1985,” Smith said. “In fact, violent crime in the United States is at the lowest number since 1978.”
Smith said that there was a key reason for this reduction in crime, not only nationwide but right here in Wakefield.
Continue reading ‘Chief Rick Smith: Police are guardians of society’
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Tags: Chief Rick Smith, COPS, crime, law enforcement, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, police, violence, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department
Alicia Reddin is the new VSO for Wakefield & Saugus, MA
“When I really feel strongly about something, I don’t give up,” says Wakefield’s new Veterans Services Officer Alicia Reddin.
That’s good news for veterans in the district that includes Reddin’s territory of Wakefield and Saugus. Reddin is replacing former VSO Andrew Biggio who has moved on to join the MBTA Police.
Herself a U.S. Navy veteran, Reddin operated heavy equipment with the Navy SeaBees, using bulldozers and cranes to build roads and work the quarries in places as far away as Guam.
How she enlisted in the Navy is further evidence of her decisiveness and determination.
After she graduated from high school at age 17, Reddin didn’t feel that she was academically ready for college. So she walked into a recruiter’s office in Malden Square on a Friday afternoon before Memorial Day.
“I left for boot camp the next day,” she recalls. “It was a great decision. I was glad I kind of dove in head first.”
Continue reading ‘Local veterans have a strong new ally’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Feature stories, News, Profiles, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Alicia Reddin, Civil War Monmument, Lesley University, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melrose, military, Saugus MA, SeaBees, Somerville, Uunited States Navy, veterans, Veterans Sevices Officer, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Not the Time
Normally, I give topics like Global Warming and Climate Change a good leaving alone. It’s a slippery slope that can quickly trigger an avalanche of supercilious lectures from the Reality-Based Community.
But in my reality I have eight feet of snow in my front yard and if the AccuWeather Boston forecast holds true, we’ll finish 
February with 26 of 28 days below normal temperatures, most of them well below normal.
So I’m a little cold right now and a little tired from shoveling. (I don’t own one of those carbon-spewing snow blowers.) And when I’m cold and tired, I’m cranky.
In general, Climate Change and Global Warming tend to poll very low in terms of issues that Americans are most concerned about. That’s especially true when icicles stretch the height of three story buildings and two-foot thick ice dams are causing water to gush into people’s dining rooms and kitchens.
So right about now, a little Global Warming doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to a lot of people.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, Opinion, Photography, Politics | 3 Comments
Tags: Climate Change, divestment, electric rates, electricity, fossil fuels, Global Warming, ice, Mark Sardella, Porter Fox, power, snow, solar, Wakefield Daily Item, wind, winter
After the town’s traffic consultant, John Kennedy, outlined his findings and recommendations with respect to the 130-unit Brightview Senior Living facility proposed on Crescent Street, Wakefield MA, Board of Appeals member Chip Tarbell had one question.
“Based on traffic and parking,” Tarbell asked, “if all of your comments and concerns are answered, would there be any reason you would recommend not building the project?”
“No, there is not,” Kennedy replied.
Kennedy is the International President of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Founded in 1930, ITE is an international educational and scientific association of transportation professionals. ITE is also a standards development organization designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT). Kennedy is also a senior principal at engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. (VHB), where he played a key role in keeping traffic moving throughout Boston’s Big Dig project.
Continue reading ‘Consultant: Brightview’s traffic & parking impact will be minimal’
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Tags: Assisted Living, Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, Brian McGrail, Brightview Senior Living, independent living, Institute of Transportation Engineers, ITE, John Kennedy, Lt. Steven Skory, Mark Sardella, parking, Shelter Development, TAC, traffic, Traffic Advisory Committee, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., VHB, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mixed Signals
This has been driving me crazy for years, so I was pleased when a member of the Board of Selectmen raised it at a recent meeting.
It relates to the intersection of Salem and Lowell streets (at the Prime Gas Station) as well as the intersection of Salem and New Salem streets. Both of these intersections have a fork-like configuration. West-bound vehicles at both intersections can either bear left or proceed straight. Vehicles waiting to proceed onto Salem Street have a stop sign.
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Tags: blinker, cars, directional, drivers, driving, Mark Sardella, roads, signal, streets, traffic, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Sign of the Times
The passing of another era has been marked with the removal of another landmark from Wakefield‘s downtown.
On Sunday, the giant projecting “Santoro’s” illuminated sign was removed from above what was one of the early submarine sandwich franchises in the Wakefield area.
Why didn’t the preservationists step in and protect this historic landmark? Were they not aware that George Washington’s tree surgeon once stopped there for a large Italian (hold the hot peppers) on his way to salvage a cherry tree?
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Tags: downtown, Israel Horovitz, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Santoro's, signs, sub, submarine sandwich, The Savings Bank, Thomas Wolfe, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
So…What?
The New Year is the time for lists: Lists of “Bests,” and “Worsts” for the year just gone by along with predictions for the coming year.
Among those of us who work with words, one of the popular year-end lists is Lake Superior State University‘s Annual List of Banished Words. It’s a compilation of “Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.”
This year’s entries include annoying words and expressions like “skill set,” “foodie” and “takeaway.” To me, the most irritating words are those that are used as pretentious ways to say something simple.
My favorite from this year’s list is “curate” as a fancy word for “select.” “Curating” used to be an activity that was confined mainly to museums. But now anything can be curated. This morning, for example, I curated my underwear and socks before jumping in the shower. And incidentally, have you ever actually “jumped” in shower?
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Tags: academia, Curate, educator, foodie, Harvard, language, Mark Sardella, NPR, rubric, skill set, so, stakeholder, takewaway, teacher, trends, vocabulary, Wakefield Daily Item, words
Mark Sardella 