Lawrence School Committee uses State Tax Dollars on Cell Phones…for Themselves By: Tom Duggan – July, 2004 LAWRENCE- In the first three parts of this series, The Valley Patriot reported that Lawrence School Committee members had: 1) wasted thousands of dollars on lavish meals at the One Mill Street restaurant at state taxpayers’ […]
By: Tom Duggan – May, 2004 While other communities in the Merrimack Valley are counting every penny and making difficult cuts to services and personnel, foregoing luxuries like out-of-state travel, and appealing to the state for more funding, the Lawrence School Committee appears not to have similar concerns. Last month, while no other superintendent […]
PAYING ATTENTION WITH TOM DUGGAN By: Tom Duggan – May, 2004 Recent headlines in Merrimack Valley newspapers have proven that the sacred cow ideologies of public education espoused by liberals are in fact, myths. Myth #1 Money equals education: Most people have bought into the myth that spending more money on education results in […]
Lawrence School Committee is All Talk, No Action Tom Duggan (April, 2004) Last month The Valley Patriot exposed an exclusive news story about former (and one current) Lawrence School Committee members misusing education dollars to feast at the most expensive restaurant in the area, One Mill Street. Of course, there were the usual denials as […]
Tom Duggan 03-08-04 For the past three years members of the Lawrence School Committee have been billing the taxpayers for plush dining at the city’s most expensive restaurant: One Mill Street. Then School Committeemen Noah Shannon, Pedro Arce, Suzanne Piscitello, Nancy Kennedy and current member George Gonzalez all dined with Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy and his […]
March, 2004 When Lawrence City Councilor Marcos Devers was council president (2001-2003) there were no limits on discussion. Members of the public and fellow councilors had no limit on debate as long as the topic was on the agenda. Devers had a basic philosophy that his fellow councilors would be wise to adopt; more […]
By: Tom Duggan – March, 2004 Lawrence – Mayor Michael Sullivan says that even if police investigations are capable of eliminating all auto insurance fraud in the City of Lawrence, “auto insurance rates still won’t go down.” Sullivan, touting the hard work of Police Chief John Romero and the Lawrence Police Department, said that […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – March, 2004 If you are a parent of elementary school children, you’ve probably seen it: elaborate make-work homework assignments, cutting and pasting extravaganzas, overly complex and roundabout procedures to add or multiply numbers, estimation exercises that won’t quit, and the use of calculators in place of traditional arithmetic […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL March, 2004 Mayor Sullivan wants the legislature to modify the formula for auto insurance rates. The solution lies not in tinkering with government regulations, but in eliminating them. Massachusetts’ legislators have been trying to engineer our auto insurance system for decades and they just can’t seem it get it right. But […]
Tom Duggan – 2004 WAKEFIELD – Lt. Governor Kerry Murphy Healey called for the resignation of Senator John Kerry yesterday before a packed room of Republican supporters at the Sheraton in Wakefield. Introducing former EPA Secretary (and former New Jersey Governor) Christie Todd Whitman to the group of GOP loyalists, Healey said that Kerry […]
(on Loan from Tom Duggan’s Private Archive) Text of Marcos Devers’ Speech 01/02/2004 Good evening: Mr. Mayor, City Councilors, current and past authorities, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we are saying farewell to two years of great achievements performed by the City Council that served during the term 2002-2004. Councilors Alvarez-Rodriguez, Blanchette, Dimarca, Frechette, Gosselin, Kolofoles, […]
Vote Latino Campaign still Sore Spot with Some By: Tom Duggan – January 2, 2004 Lawrence – District “A” (Prospect Hill) Councilor Patrick Blanchette was elected president of the Lawrence City Council Friday night after the swearing in of all new city officials. Blanchette faced opposition from Carlos Matos, a newcomer, who was nominated […]
By: Tom Duggan – December 3, 2003 (originally published on tommyduggan.com) LAWRENCE – After two successful years of reforming the City Council presidency and reshaping the decorum at Council meetings, Lawrence City Council President, Marcos Devers says he is taking himself out of the running for the spot in January and stepping aside “to […]
By: Tom Duggan – November 18, 2003 (on Loan from Tom Duggan’s Private Records – Published originally on tommyduggan.com) According to some current and soon-to-be City Councilors there is a move afoot to replace Council President, Marcos Devers in January with Council Vice-President Patrick Blanchette. Some on the Council have complained that President Devers created […]
Just Who or What is Meditrol Inc.? By: Tom Duggan (originally published in 2003, tommyduggan.com) The only people who seem to care about the answer to that question are the politicians and the men and women of the Lawrence Police Department. Meditrol Inc., is a billing and management company that contracts with the City […]