By: Jim Rurak, Former Mayor of Haverhill – December, 2004 We had a great Thanksgiving visit with family in Kansas, but on the way back terror hit home. Tightened airport security is often a pain in the neck, but when they checked our bags for our return flight from Kansas to Boston via Chicago […]
By: Hanna, age 10 – September, 2004 Our new ace reporter, Hanna interviewed (Kathleen Kostan) the new principal of the Thomson School in North Andover. How do you feel about MCAS? “I wouldn’t just say it is just MCAS, because I think the Education Reform Bill which started MCAS is the best that has ever […]
September, 2004 One of the major problems with the Lawrence City Charter is that there’s no accountability clause when any mayor simply refuses to follow or enforce the law. This has been a problem since 1986 when the city charter first went into affect. Since then, the frustration of Lawrence residents and City Councilors […]
By: Ted Tripp – September, 2004 Since the 1960s, science has become increasingly politicized with large, well-organized groups using a particular scientific theory or research result to further their political agenda. In many cases, scare tactics are used to stir up citizens and the groups bringing you this news have a solution to the […]
By: Dr. Chuck Ormsby – September, 2004 The following is an exchange between John Stossel and Gilbert Casellas, the chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, on the topic of the Americans with Disabilities Act during a 1996 interview on ABC’s 20/20: Casellas: “The law’s fairly clear, it’s fairly simple.” Stossel: “If you come […]
By: Paul Murano – September, 2004 “What if we have a president who believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?” This was John Kerry’s provoking question near the end of his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL August, 2004 A brand new, multi-million dollar transportation center has broken ground in the City of Lawrence near the North Andover line. That’s the good news. The bad news, however, is that the new facility has been named in “honor” of former Lawrence State Senator, Patricia McGovern. She was not only a […]
By: Hanna, Age 10 – October, 2004 What is the difference between a teacher, a principal and a superintendent? Teachers work most directly with the students in the classroom. Principals run the schools and are in charge of everyone in the school building. Superintendents are in charge of all the schools. We make sure that […]
By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – August, 2004 Last month we discussed (The Valley Patriot, July 2004, Page 3, Freedom’s Laboratory) how free societies, by respecting the rights of property owners to keep their property and to dispose of it as they see fit, permit the maximum degree of rational experimentation and therefore maximize our rate […]
By: C. Zelman and Ethel Kamien – August, 2004 This column was prompted by a letter written by Mr. Andy Beresford, which appeared in the Letters to the Editor column in the July 2004 edition of The Valley Patriot. Mr. Beresford points his finger at Israel as the source of problems in the Middle East […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL July, 2004 Let’s start out with where we agree: We would all like everyone’s wages (in real terms) and standard of living to be higher. The question is not the objective, but how to achieve it. John Kerry thanks you can just pass a law and … Shazam!! – $7/hour minimum […]
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’ […]
Frederick Hess, Beacon Hill Institute – June, 2004 (Guest Columnist) A Measure of the Need for Reform America’s schools are in a state of crisis. Few of our schools are excellent, many are mediocre, and yet we, the adults responsible, are content to tinker and theorize. Demands for radical change are consistently met by protestations […]
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 […]