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 […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL September, 2007 Thanks to Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan, police officers in Lawrence will not be laid off this year, a firehouse will not close and DPW workers will be able to continue maintaining Lawrence’s ball fields, streets and sewer system without political interference by the Lawrence City Council. Over the last three […]
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?” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
March, 2007 When Lawrence City Council President Patrick Blanchette first took office, he was honestly interested in making a positive difference in the city. He asked fair questions, exposed wasteful spending, looked at each issue objectively, advocated for better relations with both the mayor’s office and the public, and fought for his constituents regardless of […]
By: Atty. Robert O’Koniewski – February, 2007 Recently a local Latino publication bemoaned in inflammatory racist terms the development of the Wood Mill by Robert Ansin. The writer speculated that the development would lead to an influx of 500-600 white residents into Lawrence. The writer was rather upset that this anticipated white migration into […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL February – 2007 Here we go again in Lawrence where the victim is arrested and treated like the criminal, instead of focusing on the real criminals. Last year, hero Marine Dan Cotnoir was arrested and charged with attempted murder for defending himself and his family when kids outside his apartment on Broadway […]
By: Tom Duggan – January, 2007 While other communities are making cuts in their budgets and forcing some layoffs, Lawrence continues to spend on unnecessary items. Recently, DPW spent its time, resources and money to remodel and make improvements to the City Council chambers and the City Council office floors at […]
PAYING ATTENTION! WITH TOM DUGGAN By: Tom Duggan – January, 2007 Over the last several months, we have heard members of the Lawrence City Council complain about wasteful city spending while at the same time voicing strong opposition to raising property taxes up to the Proposition 2 1/2 levy limit. While I agree that […]
By: Tom Duggan – January 2007 Lawrence City Council President Patrick Blanchette has been on a mission for the last few months. His mission: create a firestorm around Budget and Finance Director John Griffin so that he either quits or gets fired, create a firestorm around Caroline Ganley (who has left) and Planning Director […]