Voting Made Easy
Whenever the government says it is taking steps to make life easier for me, my BS detector goes off.
The latest example is the Massachusetts Legislature’s effort to “reform” elections and voting. The House and Senate bills are currently in conference committee where they are negotiating a version that both branches can agree upon.
The bills include such provisions as online voter registration, election-day registration, early voting, “pre-registration” for those as young as 16 and “permanent registration.”
Advocates say that these reforms are needed in order to increase participation by making voting easier.
In order to fully appreciate the need for these reforms, let’s examine the punishingly arduous process that voters are currently forced to endure.
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Tags: ballot, early voting, elections, MA, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, polls, reform, registration, vote, voter, voting, Wakefield Daily Item
“I’ve been very lucky to do 10 of Mr. Sondheim’s works,” says Leigh Barrett, a 1983 Wakefield High School graduate who has gone on to an award-winning professional career as one of the top leading ladies of Boston’s musical theater scene.
Barrett has won two Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Actress (in 2004 and 2007), a 2004 Independent Reviewers of New England (INRE) Award for Best Supporting Actress and a 2006 INRE Award for Outstanding Actress.
She is currently starring in Moonbox Productions‘ presentation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” at the Nancy and Edward Roberts Studio Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts.
Set in Manhattan, Company revolves around the handsome and successful Bobby and his social circle of married and soon-to-be married couples. As his 35th birthday celebration approaches, his three very different girlfriends join the rest of his inner circle in wondering why Bobby hasn’t yet settled into one serious relationship. What emerges is a touching and often hilarious meditation on love, marriage and the role of “company” in our lives.
Continue reading ‘For Leigh Barrett, Sondheim is good “Company”’
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Tags: actor, actress, Boston, Company, Leigh Barrett, Massachusetts, Moonbox Productions, stage, Stephen Sondheim, theater, theatre, Wakefield MA
Early in 2014, Massachusetts issued its first 20 “Medical Marijuana Licenses.” By summer, as you’re out driving with your kids, you’ll be seeing signs for such establishments as Garden Remedies of Newton, Greeneway Wellness Foundation in Cambridge, Green Heart Holistic Health & Pharmaceuticals of Boston and Good Chemistry of Worcester.
Because they’re just getting established at this point, they all have semi-respectable sounding names in order to perpetuate the scam. But in a couple of years, after the charade ends and we have legal recreational pot stores like they do in Colorado and Washington, we’ll be seeing more creative, and accurate, signage for places like “Herb’s Haven,” “Bud’s Bakery” “The Pot Hole” and “Wasted Management.”
Continue reading ‘Mr. Green, your prescription is ready’
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Tags: cannabis, CVS, drugs, herb, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, medical marijuana, medicine, pot, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed
In formally announcing his candidacy yesterday for the 6th Congressional District seat currently held by Rep. John F. Tierney, Wakefield, MA resident Richard Tisei promised the crowd that packed the Heritage Room at the Americal Center two things.
“I will work hard for the people of this district,” Tisei vowed, “and I won’t disappoint you.”
Republican Tisei narrowly lost a 2012 bid to unseat longtime Democratic incumbent Tierney. Tisei said yesterday that he decided to run again due to the encouragement of people in the district and because “our country is in even worse shape and in greater danger at this moment than it was just two years ago.”
Continue reading ‘Tisei Vows to Be an Independent Congressman’
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Tags: Americal Civic Center, campaign, Congress, election, Erin Calvo-Bacci, John Tierney, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mike Buetow, Richard Tisei, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Date Set for Burbine Trial
Court OKs defense request for mental evaluation of accused child sexual abuser
By Mark Sardella (Wakefield Daily Item 1/7/2014)
A date has been set for the much-anticipated trial of John Burbine, the Wakefield,Massachusetts man accused of over 100 counts raping and sexually abusing more than a dozen children.
In a status hearing yesterday before Judge Kimberly Budd at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, a date of Thursday, May 1 has been set for the start of jury selection with opening arguments anticipated to begin as soon as Monday, May 5. The court also set a date of April 17 for a pre-trial conference to finalize such issues as juror questions and for the court to rule on any motions to eliminate evidence.
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Tags: attorney, child abuse, child sex abuse, children, crime, Distric Attorney, John Burbine, Judge Kimberly Budd, Katherine Folger, Mark Sardella, Middlesex Superior Court, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, William Barabino
Ten Bold Predictions for 2014
As we enter the New Year, the time has come to make some bold predictions for 2014. So let’s dust off the old crystal ball, shall we? Come to think of it, the whole house could use a good dusting. I’ll begin by predicting that that will not happen in 2014.
People ask how I am able to foresee the future with such uncanny accuracy. I can only say that it is a gift.
So let us begin. Here are my 10 predictions for 2014.
• I predict that a new educational facility will open in Wakefield, Massachusetts in 2014 and it will bear the name of a great military leader.
• I foresee that former State Senator Richard Tisei will challenge Congressman See-No-Evil John Tierney. The Tierney campaign will insist that pro-choice, pro-gay marriage Tisei is nothing but a Tea Party Republican out to advance an extreme GOP agenda.
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Tags: 2014, forecast, Galvin Middle School, Independence Day Parade, John Tierney, July 4th, Lake Quannapowitt, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, parking, Politics, predictions, Richard Tisei, Scott Brown, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Remembering K9 Leo
My first and only encounter with the Wakefield Police Department‘s K9 Officer Leo was a memorable one. It was five years ago – almost to the day. On Dec. 18, 2008 I was covering a Board of Selectmen’s meeting at which K9 Leo and his partner, Officer Brett Rossicone, were being recognized for the heroic rescue of an 11 year-old boy in the Town Forest on a frigid December night.
When Leo was brought into Town Hall for his photo that night, the selectmen and the press were cautioned by Officer Rossicone that Leo was a working dog and we should not try to approach him as we would a pet.
Leo was constantly in motion, and I knew that getting him to stay still for a photo might require patience. Fortunately, after taking several photos in rapid succession, I managed to get one where Leo was looking almost directly at the camera.
When the selectmen’s meeting got underway, Police Chief Rick Smith described the heroic rescue.
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Tags: cop, dog, K9 Leo, K9 officer, MA, police, police dog, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield Police Department
A Fun Ride in “Becky’s New Car”
Entertaining romantic comedy at Quannapowitt Players
“When a woman says she wants a new car, she really wants a whole new life,” middle-aged Becky Foster (played by Barbara Douglass) muses in the opening scene of “Becky’s New Car.” The highly entertaining romantic comedy by Steven Dietz is currently on stage at Quannapowitt Players in Reading and is directed by Wakefield resident J. Mark Baumhardt.
But is Becky’s current life really all that bad?
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Tags: Becky's New Car, comedy, drama, J. Mark Baumhardt, Mark Sardella, play, Quannapowitt Players, Reading MA, stage, Steven Dietz, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Honoring Veterans
2013 Veterans’ Day Ceremonies in Wakefield, Massachusetts
“I’m a kid from Roxbury who grew up to become a soldier and a lawyer,” keynote speaker US Air Force Lt. Col. Enoch Woodhouse told the Veterans’ Day crowd assembled at the Galvin Middle School Auditorium. Yesterday’s ceremonies were presented by Wakefield’s Veterans’ Advisory Board and local American Legion Post 63.
Lt. Col. Woodhouse is past president of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black servicemen to serve as military aviators in the U.S. armed forces, flying with distinction during World War II. He was one of the first black graduates of Yale in the 1950s, one of the first black Judge Advocates General in the U.S. Air Force, and the first black member of the 371-year-old Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts.
“People say, ‘I want to thank you for your service,’” the 87 year-old veteran said. “I appreciate that very much, but sincerely – don’t thank me. That was my job. That was my responsibility as an American.”
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Tags: American Legion, Brian Falvey, Donald Wong, Enoch Woodhouse, Galvin Middle School, Katherine Clark, Kristina Valenza, Paul Brodeur, veterans, Veterans' Day, Wakefield Choral Society, Wakefield High School Wind Ensemble, Wakefield Massachusetts
Point of Order
In defense of Open Town Meeting
Wakefield‘s Regular Town Meeting opens on Monday, Nov. 18, and it seems like a good time to reflect on the institution of Open Town Meeting.
While some towns have gone to a watered-down “Representative Town Meeting,” with voting members elected from each precinct, Open Town Meeting remains a New England tradition. It has been called the purest form of democracy because it’s open to every registered voter, who is welcome speak, vote and even propose amendments to any measure on the warrant.
There’s only one catch: You have to actually show up.
In an October 17, 2013 op-ed column in The Boston Globe, Edward L. Glaeser, a Harvard economist and director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, argues that requiring people to show up at Town Meeting in order to hear arguments, voice opinions and vote on how their town is run is just too much to ask of busy people for whom “time is a scarce and precious commodity.” Continue reading ‘Point of Order’
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Tags: Boston Globe, Edward L. Glaeser, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Open Town Meeting, town government, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 