By Ken Willette, August, 2012 I have known Bill Manzi since the mid-90s through our volunteer efforts affiliated with the Methuen Arlington Neighborhood and through our respective stints on the Methuen City Council and the Methuen School Committee, where he served as Chairman. I recognize him to be a dedicated family man and generally […]
By; Eva Montabello – July, 2012 For more than a decade several pieces of child protection legislation have been in front of Massachusetts’s leadership, typically dying in the Judiciary Committee. Finally, many pieces of legislation are progressing through the process with help from Merrimack Valley advocates Laurie Myers, Founder and President of VOICES, Joseph […]
Police Chief Joe Solomon Talks of Drugs, Politics and all those Lawsuits By: Tom Duggan, August 8, 2012 Methuen Police Chief, Joe Solomon, appeared on 980AM WCAP’s Paying Attention! Radio Program with Tom Duggan last month where he revealed details about Methuen’s increasing crime problems, his recent court battles with the city, and the direction […]
By: Eric Fisher – August, 2011 If it can happen to Newburyport, it can happen to YOU. Notice it says, “to Newburyport” because Electrician’s Union IBEW Local 103 has decided that since it lost a bid to work on Newburyport’s Anna Jaques Hospital, that it’s going to make not only the hospital but also […]
The State Ethics Commission has fined a salesman from CBE Holdings for paying bribes to an official at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to gain state funded contracts through the Transportation agency. According to the Ethics Commission, salesman John Dunnet of CBE, admitted violating Mass General Law 268A, (the conflict of interest law) by illegally […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2012 Lawrence Teachers Union President Frank McLaughin says that Receiver Jeff Riley has mandated a new contract for teachers in the now state run Lawrence School System. In a confidential letter obtained by the Valley Patriot that McLaughlin sent to members of the now powerless union, McLaughin told teachers: “We […]
The Massachusetts State Ethics Commission approved a Disposition Agreement in with former Lawrence Public School Department Graphic Designer John Laurenza today. Laurenza admitted to violating conflict of interest laws, (specifically MGL. c. 268A), by accepting bribes from a vendor, Wellington House Publishing to rig bids on two LPS contracts so that Wellington could be awarded […]
By: Paul Murano Now that the Supreme Court has struck down the individual mandate as unconstitutional and in effect declared Obamacare to be the largest tax is U.S. History, the court may next focus on the related issue of whether or not religious institutions must violate their consciences to provide contraception and abortifacient drugs and […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2012 The race to fill the 2d Essex House District being left vacant by Harriet Stanley has three Republicans vying for the nomination in the September state primary election. The three Republicans are Bob Cronin of Boxford, Gary Fowler from Georgetown and Lenny Mirra from West Newbury. Here is where […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2012 Several readers of The Valley Patriot who also read the Bi-Lingual newspaper in Lawrence called “Rumbo” contacted the Valley Patriot last month complaining that the paper was not only targeting people based on their race (racism by definition) they were printing falsehoods in order to do it. The […]
By: Joe D’Amore – July, 2012 As part of a new public access TV program called Groveland Chronicles I devoted a portion of the first episode to the building of the new bridge. I had the opportunity to interview Vince DeAngelo the Resident Engineer of the project and his supervisor David Conroy of the Mass. […]
Magazine Shoot of Sexy Models at Lawrence Fire Station By: Tom Duggan, July, 2012 The city of Lawrence was featured on the front page of a national magazine last month where beautiful women were shown posing at the Lawrence Fire Stations Engine 5 on Lowell Street. The models were photographed with a Lawrence fire truck, […]
By: Jeff Katz As I sit down to write this, it is a little more than one week since the Supreme Court of the United States handed down their decision on President Barack Obama’s “health care” law. It really is essential to place the words health care in quotes, since Obamacare has precious little to […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL July, 2012 This month we had written a 500 word editorial on our views concerning the Haverhill Board of Health’s move to ban smoking in private clubs. But when Dracut Editorial Cartoonist David Sullivan submitted his work, we took one look at it and realized it made our point far better than […]
By, Dani Langevin, Lesbian Columnist – July, 2012 This month, as we do every July here in America, we celebrate Independence Day. It is on this day over 230 years ago we declared our independence from an unjust government stating that we, as Americans, have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of […]