Canoe race raises $660 for World War II Memorial in Wakefield, MA
It was billed as the “War on the Water,” a contest where youth would challenge age in a canoe race on Lake Quannapowitt, with the more “seasoned” Wakefield Board of Selectmen taking on the relatively youthful School Committee members.
In the end, age triumphed over youth; experience prevailed over innocence, as the aging selectmen’s team handily defeated their fresh-faced school board rivals by several canoe lengths.
But the real winner yesterday was the World War II Memorial fund, as the event raised nearly $700 in donations toward the effort to build a new monument honoring the town’s veterans of the Second World War.
The much-hyped regatta had been the subject of a good deal of competitive “smack talk” in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s showdown, led primarily by the School Committee’s 23 year-old chairman, Anthony Guardia.
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Have We Forgotten 9/11?
In a column earlier this year, I apparently offended a few people when I offered the following observation. “For too many Americans the emotional memory of the horror and outrage of 9/11 has faded.” On the eighth anniversary of September 11, 2001, it seems an appropriate time to address the matter of how we remember 9/11.
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Tags: 9/11, American Airlines, New York City, September 11, terrorism, terrorist, terrorists, United 93, World Trade Center
Russell Nelson, Teacher
93 year-old WWII vet taught in Wakefield, Massachusetts for 30 years
The school calendar is so engrained in most of us that the arrival of September each year invariably evokes memories our own school days. It may only be a passing memory of a classroom, a classmate or a favorite teacher.
I took things a step further this year and decided to look up my 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Russell Nelson.
Mr. Nelson was born in 1916. He is a veteran of World War II and he taught in Wakefield (MA) public schools for over 30 years. He’s 93 years old, and I quickly realized that I was in the presence of the same sharp wit and playful sense of humor that I remembered from his classroom at Wakefield Junior High School in 1964.
“I was a pupil of yours?” he teased on the phone after I identified myself as a former student. He said he’d be happy to talk to me and invited me to come right over.
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Rating Summer’s Performance
Season Fails to Meet Expectations
Welcome, Summer. Thanks for finally putting in an appearance here in the northeastern United States. Now that you’ve deigned to show up, step into my office. As you know, it’s time for your annual performance review. And you might want to loosen that tie, because things are going to get a little hot, no thanks to you.
Sure, knowing that this review was scheduled, you’ve gone all out in the last few days. But we’re not falling for it. Despite your recent blaze of activity, your performance since June has frankly left us cold.
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Cool Squirrel on a Hot Day
They say you should take it easy when the summer heat gets unbearable. This black squirrel is cool in more ways than one. First of all, he has a blond tail, a very eyecatching trait. Second, he is apparently seeking relief from the summer heat by stretching out on the cool metal of this fence next to the Post Office in Wakefield, Massachusetts. I’ve seen him in the area a number of times, and this time I was no more than 15 feet away, but he seemed unconcerned about my presence as he relaxed in the heat. I theorize that that blond tail gets him a lot of positive attention from people, and while far from tame, he seems less nervous around humans than most squirrels.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Nature & Wildlife, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: black squirrel, blond, blonde tail, cool, heat, hot, nature, rodent, rodents, squirrel, squirrels, summer, tail, Wakefield, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, wildlife
Claim that Carabetta Management is unresponsive
Residents of the Colonial Point apartment building on Audubon Rd. in Wakefield are not happy. They say that the building is poorly maintained and that their concerns are ignored by the company that owns and manages the building. And they point out that many of these issues are not new and have been going on for years.
The tenants’ grievances include a main entry door that currently locks only intermittently, parking areas that are poorly lit or have no lighting at all, a swimming pool that’s been closed for months and a trash room smell that was so bad last month when the building’s air conditioning went out for four days that the Health Department had to be called in.
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Close Encounter
of the Unbearably Cute Kind
I was standing waist deep in water, about to go for a swim in the pond behind my house (Sluice Pond – Lynn, Massachusetts), when two tiny ducklings and their watchful mom swam up and approached me within an arms length. Obviously, since I was about to go for a swim, I didn’t have my camera. They eventually swam off, and I took my swim. As I was getting out of the water, I noticed them heading back in my direction. I grabbed my camera and got back in the water. Once again, they came within three feet of me and graciously posed for pictures.
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Tags: bird, birds, duck, duckling, ducklings, ducks, fowl, Lynn, Lynn MA, Lynn Massachusetts, mallard, mallards, nature, pond, ponds, Sluice Pond, waterfowl, wildlife
Peace Loving Criminals
Vandals Deface World War II Monument in Wakefield, Massachusetts
I considered ignoring the recent spate of vandalism that has seen the World War II Monument on the Common desecrated and the bandstand marred by graffiti. The pacifist criminals spray painted “War is not the answer,” and a peace symbol on the World War II monument. They also painted the word “LOVE” across the Bandstand, with the “O” turned into a peace symbol. How original.
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Tags: Daily Item, desecration, History, Item, Memorial Day, vandalism, vandals, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, war veterans, World War II, World War II Monument
Pleasure Island Remembered
Legendary Wakefield Amusement Park Opened 50 Years Ago
Writing about my recollections of Pleasure Island on the occasion of its 50th birthday forces me to acknowledge that I am at least as old as the park. So let me stipulate up front that I was but a wee lad, still wet behind the ears, when Pleasure Island first opened its gates in Wakefield, Massachusetts on Monday, June 22, 1959.
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Local Observances Honor War Dead
Hundreds of local residents attend ceremonies in Wakefield, Massachusetts
“I get to stand here today because of those who served before me,” Chief Master Sgt. Alfred Wilkes of the U.S. Air Force told the crowd assembled yesterday in front of the World War II Memorial, “and I’m damn proud of them.”
“Gathering here today is one way to show our appreciation and gratitude,” Wilkes told the hundreds of local residents who turned out to honor our nation’s war dead on a warm and sunny Memorial Day in Wakefield.
Wilkes delivered the keynote address at yesterday afternoon’s observance on the Upper Common sponsored by local American Legion Post 63.
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Tags: 2009, Alfred Wilkes, American Legion, Chief Master Sergeant Alfred Wilkes, Daily Item, John Carney, Julianne Russo, Katherine Clark, Kay Jognston, Mark Falzone, Memorial Day, Paul DiNocco, Phyllis Hull, Richard Tisei, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, West Side Social Club
Mark Sardella 