VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL August, 2o11 The number of underhanded tactics employed by Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua and his supporters against the efforts to gather signatures for his recall were staggering. And they weren’t shy about it. They even bragged about it on Facebook. On the pro- Lantigua webpage Yo No Firma (which means DO NOT SIGN), Lantigua supporters attacked […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2011 During the late 80’s, former Lawrence Mayor Kevin Sullivan tried to orchestrate a recall election against two members of the Lawrence School Committee who opposed his Emerson College relocation plan. That effort, backed with money, resources and the help of the daily newspaper, failed. In the early 90’s, former Lawrence Mayor Larry Lefebre lost a […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL July, 2012 Last month, The Valley Patriot criticized Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins for his failure to notify the public of an escape from the Lawrence jail on Marston Street (known as “the farm”). After our editorial was published, we were contacted by Paul Fleming, the sheriff’s press director, stating that we were “wrong” and that they […]
By: Tom Duggan – June, 2011 Lawrence City Councilor Mark LaPlante (District F) has been one of the more outspoken supporters of the Lawrence police. Last month LaPlante went on two police ride-alongs with Lawrence Police and it’s an experience he says all members of the city council could benefit from. “We are […]
By: Tom Duggan, June, 2011 With several law enforcement agencies investigating the finances and political dealings of Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua, and the Boston media finally waking up to his political shenanigans, the question most people are asking is: can Lantigua survive? Let me start by saying that I’ve known and studied the political genius […]
The following letter was sent to Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua from members of the Lawrence City Council The Honorable William Lantigua Mayor, City of Lawrence City Hall 200 Common Street Lawrence, MA 01840 Dear Mayor Lantigua, We are writing to emphasize that public safety is a core function of our government, and that the […]
By: Methuen Mayor Bill Manzi – April, 2011 Municipal health care continues to be a dominant political issue for localities, with both Governor Patrick and Speaker Deleo advocating reform that would allow savings of over $100 million per year statewide. The Legislature held a hearing on this subject a couple of weeks back, but as […]
By: Peter Larocque – April, 2011 According to Wikipedia, (meaning quick encyclopedia), a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia, Public Safety involves the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety of the general public from significant danger, injury/harm, crimes or disasters, (natural or man-made). In the United States we have the […]
Opponents of Secure Communities Come Out in Full Force By: Tom Duggan, Valley Patriot Publisher – April, 2011 A forum was held last month at Lawrence High School by the Deval Patrick administration. Governor Patrick wanted to get feedback from the public on a federal program that would allow police to […]
Valley Patriot Editorial ~ April, 2011 When will the people of Lawrence say “enough is enough” and start a recall petition against Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua? In the year and a half Lantigua has been mayor, he has not only laid off cops and firefighters but has publicly attacked them at every turn, calling them […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL March, 2011 Since Lawrence Police Chief John Romero formed the Auto Theft/Auto Fraud Task Force under Mayor Michael Sullivan, residents of Lawrence have seen a decrease in their auto insurance rates. But, according to numbers release by Lawrence City Councilor Mark LaPlante: auto thefts in Lawrence have increased 114% since Lawrence […]
Corruption, Law Breaking, And No Solutions for Troubled City PAYING ATTENTION WITH TOM DUGGAN By: TOM DUGGAN, FEBRUARY 8, 2011 Well, the Willie Lantigua administration celebrated it’s one year anniversary last month and a quick review of his first year in office has proven to be one of the most disastrous years for the […]
Fire Chief Resigns at Council Meeting, opposes taking job out of Civil Service… Council Backs Mayor By: Tom Duggan, February, 2011 After months of personal attacks and shoddy treatment by the Lantigua administration, Lawrence Fire Chief Murphy spoke out at a Lawrence City Council meeting last month saying he opposed taking the Chief’s job out […]
Valley Patriot Editorial Extra On December 26th, 2010 Woburn Police Office Jack Maguire was killed in the line of duty. On December 27th a tribute page on the social networking site Facebook was set up to honor Officer Maguire allowing people to post their comments of condolence to the family and fellow officers of […]
Baddour Calls on Parole Board to Resign By: Tom Duggan – January, 2011 Parole Board Must Resign State Senators Steve Baddour (D) Methuen and Bruce Tarr (R) Glocester, say that the killing of Woburn Police Officer Jack Maguire at the hands of Dominic Cinelli, a man set free by Governor Deval Patrick’s Parole Board […]