NOW THAT WAS A BASH!!! Each year the Valley Patriot celebrates our anniversary with a charity BASH scholarship and award night. This year we raised and gave away almost $10,000 in scholarships to local students, raised money for Veterans Northeast Outreach in Haverhill, and were able to give out 8 different awards to community heroes. […]
March, 2019 There is no question that the City of Lawrence is the hub of the opioid epidemic in New England. There is also no question that while violent crime is drastically down over the last year, Lawrence is still a crime riddled city and a destination for heroin and other drug traffickers, users, and […]
VALLEY PATRIOT BASH! – Put April 5th in your calendar now! The Valley Patriot will be holding our 15th Anniversary BASH scholarship and award night at the Firefighter’s Relief In, 1 Market Street in Lawrence. Each year we honor police officers, firefighters, veterans, and give out college scholarships to local students trying to get to […]
HEROES AND BOZOS OF 2018 While we normally reserve the word “hero” for our brave veterans, police officers, and firefighters, the use of the word hero in this yearly notebook feature “HEROES and BOZOS” is to denote community heroes who go above and beyond to make our lives better. BOZO – METHUEN SCHOOL COMMITTEEMAN […]
THE DISASTER Sitting in my office listening to the police scanner it was obvious from the time the first call went out that the explosion on Chickering Road in Lawrence was not a routine call. Not long after that call went out I was jarred out of my seat by the urgency and bewilderment in […]
WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT WRONG BUT YOU DON’T On two occasions last month we reported a story on line that we thought we got wrong after it was posted. In one story we reported that a shooting victim from East Haverhill Street had died. Minutes after we reported the victim’s death we were […]
VOTE SEPT. 4TH, DAY AFTER LABOR DAY… IT’S IMPORTANT! Secretary of State Bill Galvin has scheduled this year’s state primary elections for the day after Labor Day when a lot of people are not even back from summer vacation. That means a very low turnout is expected and as anyone who has ever studied elections […]
HELP THE HOMELESS Every Wednesday night a volunteer group called “The Movement Family” serves a family style meal for the homeless at the Buckley Garage on Common Street in Lawrence. In the last five weeks The Valley Patriot has put out a call on Facebook looking for local business in the community to help with […]
July, 2018 With all the lies and misinformation in the so called “news” industry, it’s important to keep focus on what is real and what is true when it comes to the immigration debate. Sure, we all have opinions on immigration and illegal aliens, but before we can even approach a solution we have to […]
MAY, 2018 Driving through the City of Lawrence it’s almost impossible not to notice the homeless population, whether they are pan-handling on the corners of the busiest intersections, or hassling people for a cigarette or a dollar outside local establishments. Unfortunately, most people turn their heads and pretend not to see the human carnage […]
The Firefighter’s Relief’s In at 1 Market Street in Lawrence is celebrating yet another anniversary and as one of their biggest cheerleaders I couldn’t be more thrilled. Next month we will be highlighting some of the great things the Lawrence Firefighters Relief does in the community. There’s a reason we prefer to have our annual […]
Last month, the state legislature approved giving Lawrence another $1.5M for … get this … improvements to the “rail trail”. For those who don’t know what the “rail trail” is, check this out. Your local and state officials have been spending millions of your tax dollars every year to create pretty walking areas along dead […]
Nov. 2017 Since the late ’80s or early ’90s Willie Lantigua has been involved in every city election in Lawrence in some capacity or another. Whether as a candidate, adviser, campaign manager, or as someone who recruited candidates, Lantigua has always been a force to be reckoned with in Lawrence elections. He has been […]
WHISTLER HOUSE “HOLIDAY” ART AUCTION & PARTY In what is their biggest fundraising event of the year, the Whistler House Museum of Art will host their annual Whistler Holiday Party on Friday, December 1 starting at 6:30 p.m. The festivities will be held at the historic house on 243 Worthen Street in Lowell. The live […]
HEROES IN OUR MIDST CHRISTMAS BOOK SIGNING Join me at Mann Orchards in Methuen on Saturday, December 9th, from 10-2pm for a book signing for “Heroes in Our Midst, From the Pages of The Valley Patriot”. What a great gift for the veteran on your Christmas list. I will sign each book with a personal […]