The Massachusetts State Ethics Commission approved a Disposition Agreement in with former Lawrence Public School Department Graphic Designer John Laurenza today. Laurenza admitted to violating conflict of interest laws, (specifically MGL. c. 268A), by accepting bribes from a vendor, Wellington House Publishing to rig bids on two LPS contracts so that Wellington could be awarded […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2012 The race to fill the 2d Essex House District being left vacant by Harriet Stanley has three Republicans vying for the nomination in the September state primary election. The three Republicans are Bob Cronin of Boxford, Gary Fowler from Georgetown and Lenny Mirra from West Newbury. Here is where […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2012 Several readers of The Valley Patriot who also read the Bi-Lingual newspaper in Lawrence called “Rumbo” contacted the Valley Patriot last month complaining that the paper was not only targeting people based on their race (racism by definition) they were printing falsehoods in order to do it. The […]
By: Joe D’Amore – July, 2012 As part of a new public access TV program called Groveland Chronicles I devoted a portion of the first episode to the building of the new bridge. I had the opportunity to interview Vince DeAngelo the Resident Engineer of the project and his supervisor David Conroy of the Mass. […]
Magazine Shoot of Sexy Models at Lawrence Fire Station By: Tom Duggan, July, 2012 The city of Lawrence was featured on the front page of a national magazine last month where beautiful women were shown posing at the Lawrence Fire Stations Engine 5 on Lowell Street. The models were photographed with a Lawrence fire truck, […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL July, 2012 This month we had written a 500 word editorial on our views concerning the Haverhill Board of Health’s move to ban smoking in private clubs. But when Dracut Editorial Cartoonist David Sullivan submitted his work, we took one look at it and realized it made our point far better than […]
By, Dani Langevin, Lesbian Columnist – July, 2012 This month, as we do every July here in America, we celebrate Independence Day. It is on this day over 230 years ago we declared our independence from an unjust government stating that we, as Americans, have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of […]
By: Kevin Cuff – July, 2012 Nearly forty years ago, my family taught me the values of civic RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. As a member of our hometown School Committee, my mother took positions that, at the time, were extremely controversial, challenging and polarizing. Her perseverance taught me that everyone including your established school systems […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2012 Last month, Colonel Sam Poulten of Chelmsford became majority shareholder of Merrimack Valley Radio Corporation which controls 980 WCAP radio in Lowell. The station’s former majority shareholder, Clark Smidt of Andover had filed a court action against Poulten to take full control of the operations of the station […]
By: Peter Larocque – July, 2012 In case you didn’t know, In God We Trust is the motto of the United States of America and it has been on our coins beginning as far back as 1864. At first it was just printed on the new two cent coin, but by 1909 it was […]
School is out, summer is here, and once again Project Bread is gearing up to award over $90,000 in incentive grants that serve 257 local Summer Food Service Programs across the state in 28 communities, including Methuen. These programs are part of the 877 sites that will provide free, nutritious meals to area children during […]
GEORGETOWN TODAY By: Lawrence “Lonnie” Brennan – July, 2012 Family matters have kept me consumed these past few months, and several folks either sent e-mails or called asking why my column, after many, many years, was missing from this August’s publication. Well, a topic for another day. But last week Tim and I […]
Lawrence Receives Federal Funds to Hire 6 Police Officers Lawrence Must Pay $125,000 and pick up full tab after 3 years. “This year all new officers hired under the grant must be military veterans that have served at least 180 days of active military service, any part of which occurred on or after September 11, 2001.” […]
By: Christine Morabito, Greater Boston Tea Party – June, 2012 Gone are the days when local newspapers did anything resembling in-depth investigative reporting. Whether the issue is lack of funding, under-staffing or in far too many cases, blatant political bias, it is the news-consuming, tax-paying citizens who are left unprotected. In essence, the mainstream media […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL June, 2012 Receiver Jeffrey Riley’s plan to improve the educational opportunities for the children of Lawrence contains a few ideas that, if fully exploited, may improve performance. That being said, the parents of Lawrence’s school children and the taxpayers that fund this educational debacle, were both left out of the process of creating this […]