VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL July, 2005 In honor of the 4th of July and the birth of this great nation, we wave the American Flag high. We salute the flag and support the freedoms it stands for. It has been the practice of The Valley Patriot to honor our veterans each month with a feature […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL June, 2005 Teachers Union 10, Children and North Andover Taxpayers 0 Get ready for the hand wringing! Next spring you will hear about the massive cuts in services and the need to layoff approximately two-dozen of North Andover’s teaching staff. Intense pressure will be brought to bear on fire, police and public […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL May, 2005 It is time for a reality check as our Town and City leaders wring their hands over budgets that don’t stretch to meet everyone’s expressed needs, and citizens grind their teeth because some service is slightly diminished. But, we are not living in a time of deprivation. Quite the contrary, […]
By: Ralph Wilbur – May, 2005 During the “Public Participation” portion of the North Andover School Committee Meeting on April 12th, Ms. Cynthia Jalbert rose to complain about the brochure I distributed before North Andover’s recent town election. Specifically, she suggested that my praise for Dr. Ormsby’s efforts to improve the quality of education […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL April, 2005 Last month North Andover voters rejected another property tax override for a new police station. This means town officials will have to get creative if they want to find revenue for a new police station or any other capital project in the near future. The voters of North Andover […]
Ted Tripp, North Andover Taxpayers Association – April, 2005 That’s a fair question to ask. Just as recently as three years ago, North Andover voters showed up in huge numbers to overwhelmingly reject a $4 million tax increase by means of a Proposition 2 ½ Override. The School Committee, the Finance Committee and […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL March, 2005 Little more than a year ago, The Valley Patriot was just an idea. That idea was to provide an alternative voice for Merrimack Valley newsmakers and community leaders who were frustrated by the lack of adequate local coverage in other media outlets. We wanted to publish a newspaper that was different. […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL February, 2005 Why do we hire public employees? Is it to have them perform an important service that the public requires, or is it to provide the employees a guaranteed paycheck and great benefits? All too often, it seems that we are more concerned with providing employment than we are with ensuring […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL FEBRUARY, 2005 Arabs don’t value freedom. Western civilization shouldn’t try to impose itself on Arab societies. The Arab street prefers dictatorships and can’t be trusted to vote. The Iraqi people are not ready for Democracy. It’s all about oil. And on and on, ad nauseam, the Democrats, once supporters of human rights, […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL FEBRUARY 2005 The 2003 Youth Risk Survey found that 1 in 6 Haverhill High School students (17%) are using hard drugs. In response, Haverhill School Committee member Scott Wood, Jr. has proposed drug testing students. As a 2001 Haverhill High graduate himself, Wood has been close enough to see the seriousness of the problem. He believes […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL January, 2005 The attitude is pervasive. When North Andover was considering a $4 million override several years ago, a Finance Committee member publicly stated, “Our number one objective is to NOT cut any jobs.” Really? We thought that public safety and education might come in first? While that story is now old, […]
January, 2005 Looking back at some news stories of 2004 worthy of mention, there was the story about the Air Force locating a nuclear bomb they had “lost” back in 1958 when two jet planes, one of which was carrying the bomb, collided in midair. The pilot jettisoned it before bailing out, but the […]
January, 2005 Somewhere, in that vast horror of newspapers, magazines and books I call my apartment (“A library that vomited,” as I once described it to a friend), is my most valued possession. It doesn’t look or seem like much: an 8 X 10 white index card—no decorations, no fancy printing. Just a white index […]
By Hanna, Age 10 – January, 2005 What is your day like? My day is almost identical to your day; it is very structured. I wake up at six o’clock every morning. I get the kids ready to go and then I drive three of them to school. And then I check into the office […]
By: Hartley Pleshaw – January, 2005 If American radio can be said to have had a post-World War II Golden Age, it manifested itself in Boston from the mid-1960’s to December 9th, 2004. It was the age of Jerry Williams, Charles Laquidara, Danny Schechter, Eddie Andelman and Gene Burns, among others. These talents, and others like […]