Posts Tagged ‘News’
2020, we hardly knew ye
We couldn’t wait to kick 2020 to the curb, and indeed it was a rotten year in many respects. The pandemic brought illness and worse to the old and vulnerable. For the rest of us, it was a year of prohibitions: on going out to eat, on walking around the Lake, on attending church, on […]
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Tags: 2020, business, court, COVID coronavirus, DPW, Fire Department, flags, Humor, lockdowns, Mark Sardella, Memorial Day, News, Opinion, pandemic, plastic, police, Politics, prohibition, social media, straws, Town Meeting, Veterans' Day, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Warrior logo, Winship Mansion, wreaths, Youth Council, Zoom
March into madness
Out of an abundance of misanthropy, I have decided to self-quarantine until further notice. No, I’m not reacting to the coronavirus. I’m responding to the sheer panic that has overtaken the human population in the last week, including some normally level-headed leaders. I’m in Stop & Shop about every other day under normal circumstances. But […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Boston Marathon, bottled water, cancelations, Charlie Baker, closings, colleges, coronavirus, COVID-19, disease, economy, epidemic, hand-sanitizer, hoarding, Humor, hysteria, illness, Mark Sardella, misanthropy, News, Opinion, pandemic, panic, parks, Politics, quarantine, restaurants, schools, sickness, social distancing, Stop & Shop, supermarket, toilet paper, Town Meeting, virus, WakefieldMA
The vaping lot
It’s been an open secret for some time that vaping is a serious problem at Wakefield High School and at high schools everywhere. Vaping, if you don’t already know, is short for “vaporizing,” in which cartridges containing nicotine or even THC concentrate from marijuana, are vaporized rather than smoked. This is what e-cigarettes do. There […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: addiction, coyotes, drugs, e-cigarette, election, environmentalism, Facebook, Humor, Juul, Landrigan Field, lawn signs, litter, littering, marijuana, Mark Sardella, News, nicotine, Opinion, parking lot, Paul DiNocco, Politics, seagulls, smoking, students, teenagers, THC, tobacco, Town Council, trash, vape, vaping, vapor, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, WHS
Local media matters
Being a panelist on two local candidates’ debates last week got me thinking about the role that local media plays in town. Televised debates for political office in Wakefield go back to the days before WCAT, to what I call the Dark Ages of public access TV. That was my first brush with local media […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Television, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Board of Selectmen, Boston Globe, cable TV, debates, election, gender, History, historym politics, Internet, League of Women Voters, LVW, media, News, newspapers, press, public access, Television, Town Council, town hall, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, WCAT, women
By MARK SARDELLA Wakefield Town Meeting last night overwhelmingly approved three articles intended to ban any recreational marijuana business from operating in the town of Wakefield. The measures included amendments to both the Zoning and General bylaws prohibiting recreational pot businesses in town as well as a moratorium calling for a moratorium on any pot […]
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Tags: Anthony Longo, Bill Carroll, business, bylaws, Doug Butler, drugs, edibles, James Scott, Jim Scott, law, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, moratorium, News, Police Chief Rick Smith, pot, retail, Rown Counsel Thomas Mullen, Steve Maio, THC, Town Meeting, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed, zoning
Gone to pot
How things have changed. Not so long ago, it was a given that drugs were bad, the police were good and American soldiers protected freedom and liberty at home and around the world. These were universal values that served us well for generation after generation. Nowadays, expressing ideas that wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow a […]
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Tags: Colorado, COPS, crime, drugs, high, Human Rights Commission, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, medicine, money, music, News, opiates, Opinion, opioids, painkiller, paranoia, pharmaceutical industry, police, Politics, pot, Question 4, recreational, stoned, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, weed
Let’s be clear
To paraphrase the late, great Dan Hicks, “How can we miss them when they won’t go away?” Just when you thought it was safe to go to the Post Office on Saturday morning, they’re back like a bad penny – or three or four of them. The Wakefield Civic League, those guardians of our local […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Albion Cultural Exchange, Board of Selectmen, Boston Globe Spotlight Team, correspondence, Dan Hicks, Gov. Charlie Baker, government, Hallmark Health, Humor, information, Jean Nicholson, KENO, letters, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Lottery Commission, News, Opinion, Paul DiNocco, Politics, post office, Rep. Donald Wong, Rep. Paul Brodeur, town hall, Town of Wakefield, transparency, Wakefield Civic League, Zoning Board of Appeals
Fine print
Lately, I don’t feel like my week is complete until I’ve been lectured by a millennial about one thing or another. Usually it’s about the evil of plastic bags or how many genders there are or how the Founding Fathers all smoked hemp, dude. The usual venue for these sermons is social media, where I’m […]
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Tags: Baby Boomers, citizenship, civics, education, Facebook, First Amendment, Founding Fathers, Freedom of the Press, Great Depression, Greatest Generation, hippies, Invasion of Normandy, Mark Sardella, media, millenials, mosquito, News, newspapers, Olympics, peace movement, Politics, press, schools, social media, Stephen Colbert, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Zika
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 […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 4 Comments
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
