VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL March, 2005 Little more than a year ago, The Valley Patriot was just an idea. That idea was to provide an alternative voice for Merrimack Valley newsmakers and community leaders who were frustrated by the lack of adequate local coverage in other media outlets. We wanted to publish a newspaper that was different. […]
By: Tom Duggan: February, 2005 Cpl. Uliano can still hear General George C. Patton telling the troops not to worry about going into combat. Patton told them, “First, the enemy fires and you duck. Then, you fire and the enemy ducks.” This quote seemed humorous when Sy Uliano relayed the story, but I’m sure it […]
By: Kathleen Corey Rahme – January, 2005 With the holiday upon us, the giving spirit is apparent. But some of us give of ourselves on a regular basis and it is not reserved for a special time of year. It is the gift of oneself that is the greatest gift. I am thinking specifically of […]
Kudos to Selectman Wendy Wakeman for defending free speech in North Andover. Wakeman supports an open door policy for political candidates who wish to campaign at the North Andover Senior Center. A belated three cheers for The Town of Methuen Council on aging as well as the Councils on Aging in Lawrence and Haverhill […]
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 […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL October, 2004 LAWRENCE – In the towns of Andover and North Andover, candidates running for office are not allowed into the senior centers to campaign. These are public facilities, paid for and operated with public funds. Seniors (usually the most active voters) go there to congregate, have fun, and get important information […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
PAYING ATTENTION WITH TOM DUGGAN Originally Published in the North Andover Citizen November 29, 2001 By TOM DUGGAN North Andover selectmen took a courageous stand this week when they approved the placement of a menorah on public property to celebrate the holidays. Surprisingly, there was no opposition to the selectmen’s vote. There was […]