By: Tom Duggan, September, 2007 Most Lawrence residents know Francisco Urena as the city’s Veterans’ Services Director, but long before Urena came to work for the city of Lawrence he was serving the United States Marines in the 1st Tank Battalion in Iraq. Urena was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in […]
By: Tom Duggan (09/05/07) An ethics complaint has been filed against Lawrence City Councilor Nunzio DiMarca for a trip he admittedly took to Italy last spring. DiMarca’s plane fare and expenses were all paid for by a local businessman whom he openly lobbied for at the city council table and behind the scenes with other elected […]
PAYING ATTENTION EXTRA! (video here) By: Tom Duggan – August 28, 2007 Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan marched into city hall Thursday night to a packed city council chambers. Hundreds of police and firefighters crowded the hall bearing signs that chastised the city council for trying to cut public safety in the city. Mayor Sullivan took […]
By: Tom Duggan – August, 2008 James Desrosiers does not like to talk about his troubled childhood growing up in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, but mentions that he had lacked any goals and had no real direction in school. At 17 years old, Desrosiers joined the military and was ordered to run two miles. “Two miles?” […]
AFFIRMS SUPPORT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION WEB EXTRA By Tom Duggan – August 21, 2007 State Representative and Congressional Candidate Barry Finegold condemned the national Anti-Defamation League’s firing of its New England regional director Andrew H. Tarsy. Tarsy was fired by the national ADL for his advocacy on behalf of Armenian genocide recognition. […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EXCLUSIVE Tom Duggan August August, 2007 Almost exactly one year after a gun was found at the home of Lawrence City Councilor Grisel Silva, the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission has cleared the district “B” councilor of allegations that she used her influence as an elected official to cover up the fact that […]
By: Tom Duggan – August,. 2007 When Methuen resident Mike Beshara tried to join the Navy in January of 1942, he was initially told that he could not join the service because of his age. “I was only 17 years old at the time,” Beshara recalled. “After December 7, 1941 I really wanted to enlist […]
Tom Duggan (07/03/07) Lawrence Superintendent of Schools Wilfredo Laboy has been under fire by critics over the last month for his decision to house newly arrived immigrant students with lack of English proficiency in the “old” high school building on Haverhill Street once the new $110 million campus is officially opened. Teacher’s union president Frank McLaughlin […]
June 5, 2007 NORTH ANDOVER – While property taxes in North Andover continue to rise each year, and with an override on the horizon, and the average taxpayer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts experiencing a property tax bill increase of 4.7% from fiscal year 2006 to 2007, some elected officials in North Andover actually saw […]
Local Hero Speaks on War on Terror Monday, May 28, 2007 Memorial Day Services were held all around the Merrimack Valley today in honor of those who lost their lives serving the United States Armed Forces. In North Andover, Massachusetts, Valley Patriot of the Month, Thomas Hudner, a Medal of Honor recipient, spoke […]
PAYING ATTENTION! with Tom Duggan Former Congressman Jim Shannon Endorses Tsongas By: Tom Duggan, May 16, 2007 Niki Tsongas, the front runner in the race for the 5th congressional district visited the city of Lawrence last night at the opening of her Essex Street headquarters only feet away from city hall. Tsongas is […]
PAYING ATTENTION! with Tom Duggan By: Tom Duggan -Monday, May 7, 2007 Last week Siglo 21, (a partially bilingual newspaper) printed the following paragraphs about the ACLU and our website posting about the meeting: (Siglo21) “Tommy Duggan, the director of The Valley Patriot, the only member of the Anglo-American press present at the gathering […]
Valley Patriot of the Month By: Ted Tripp – May, 2007 CONCORD/ANDOVER – Tom Hudner was sitting in the commons area after lunch at Phillips Academy in Andover when word spread that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. As with most young people of the era, he had no idea where Pearl Harbor was […]
Valley Patriot of the Month, Hero in Our Midst Captain Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. Ted Tripp – (May 7, 2007) CONCORD/ANDOVER – Tom Hudner was sitting in the commons area after lunch at Phillips Academy in Andover when word spread that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. As with most young people of the era, […]
How People Hear What They Want to Hear Paying Attention! With Tom Duggan By Tom Duggan – May, 2007 Last month the ACLU came to Lawrence for a meeting with citizens who had a beef with the Lawrence police. Packed in the large function room at “Casa Dominicana” on Essex St. were criminals, malcontents, racists […]