By: Chuck Ormsby – March, 2005 NORTH ANDOVER-The Eaton family has a proud history of serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. When Ted Eaton was in his early teens, he had three brothers who signed up for duty in WW II (John and Lindy in the Army, and Frank in the Navy). In the summer […]
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 […]
By: Tom Duggan – January, 2005 LAWRENCE – Wild nights of cocaine parties and binge drinking were not isolated to the Lawrence 911 Emergency Call Center at the Bodwell Street Fire Station (Fire Alarm), according to former civilian dispatcher Judy Brito. Brito showed up at the front door of The Valley Patriot just days […]
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 […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – January, 2005 You may be familiar with Sir Ernest Shackleton’s disastrous expedition to the Antarctic that spanned 22 months from 1914 to 1916. It has been retold numerous times in books, newspaper/magazine articles, and even a PBS Nova special. After considerable hardship, all members of Shackleton’s expedition survived the […]
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 […]
Lisa Beamer was recently interviewed on Good Morning America. If you remember, she is the wife of Todd Beamer who said, “Let’s Roll!” and helped take down the plane that was heading for Washington, DC on that terrible morning of 9/11. She said it’s the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – January, 2005 A boyhood attraction to trains, electronic gadgets, and Morse code earned Jeremiah (Jerry) Sullivan a ticket to see Europe by air. Actually, it was numerous tickets; they were for a B-17, and the reception wasn’t very friendly. Jerry was born and grew up in Lawrence. He graduated from […]
By: Jim Cassidy – December, 2004 Late at night, as I gaze out the front window, with the snow softly falling and the holiday lights starting to appear on the surrounding houses, my thoughts often drift back to former times when we were much younger and Christmas was — and still is — a […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – December, 2004 I became hooked on politics in High School in the early ‘60s. My favorite bumper sticker was in support of Communist China. It read: “Admit Red China to the U.N. – Give Them Our Seat”. I’d suggest such a trade today, but I think every despotic regime is […]
By: Mark Palermo – December 2004 Have you gotten your flu shot yet? I’ve never gotten one and never will- for two reasons. First, I think they are a crock of bull, and secondly, I don’t trust the people who manufacture and promote them. As a result, I almost never get colds or flu […]
By: Hartley Pleshaw – December, 2004 Columbus Day, 1967, was a very important day in my life. It was the day that I learned, for the first time, about life’s disappointments, and how reality can shatter dreams. It was the day I learned that there was no Santa Claus, no Never- Never Land, no […]
By: Kathleen Corey Rahme – December, 2004 Who are those individuals who have answered the Call to Serve? Do we know our veterans? If you watch MCTV, Methuen Community Access Television, Channel 22 Call to Serve, a show dedicated to recording the oral histories of World War II veterans you would recognize some of them […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – December 2004 Meeting North Andover resident George Henderson for the first time, you wouldn’t guess what he did during his first three years after college. Born in 1921, he graduated from St. Michaels College in 1942, approximately six months after Pearl Harbor. George immediately signed up for duty in […]