Sex Ed Reform

Sex Ed Reform

What Does Your Fifth Grader Know About AIDS? February, 2006 Does your fifth grader know about AIDS? Does your fifth grader know of the “myths of AIDS”? Do you want your fifth grader being taught about AIDS in school?  Many parents in North Andover this week are asking themselves these same questions after their children […]

“New” Faces in Methuen

November, 2005 The running joke before last week’s election was: “who is going to LOSE by a wider margin, Marcos Devers in Lawrence or Ellen Bahan in Methuen?”  Well, Ellen won that one, but not much else. She lost the mayoral race to Bill Manzi by a margin of 28% to 68%, a resounding victory […]

What Lawrence Doesn’t Need…. More Poverty Pimps!

By: Tom Duggan – November, 2005 With 80,000 plus people crammed into six square miles, Lawrence has been a very attractive (and profitable) place for poverty pimps to ply their trade: mainly, strong-arming local officials to give them government money for their so-called non profit organizations. Of course, these poverty pimps pretend that their goal […]

Hero in our Midst – Frank Shimko, E-4 Communications Specialist – Valley Patriot of the Month

  By: Charles Ormsby – October, 2005 Frank Shimko, E-4 Communications Specialist Frank Shimko didn’t think his future lay in Nebraska, so at 19 he enlisted in the Army. It was the summer of 1965. Not long afterwards, he found himself on the other side of the world and in harm’s way. Frank was born […]

Devers: I would Fire Laboy! Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy Under Fire

By: Tom Duggan – September 2005   LAWRENCE – Lawrence School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy is increasingly coming under fire by candidates for both mayor and school committee, as the city elections in November draw near. Embroiled in public scandal over the alleged assault on School Committeeman Amy McGovern, Laboy has become the subject of controversy […]

Hero in Our Midst – Jim Mulligan – Valley Pariot of the Month

By Dr. Charles Ormsby – August, 2005 Bound, blindfolded and badly injured, Captain Jim Mulligan was led through the angry crowd of Vietnamese peasants. They screamed in Vietnamese while striking him with sticks and pelting him with stones. He was then placed on a mound of freshly dug earth while a man made a loud and […]

Are North Andover Officials Out of Touch with the Citizens

  Ted Tripp, North Andover Taxpayers Association – April, 2005   That’s a fair question to ask.  Just as recently as three years ago, North Andover voters showed up in huge numbers to overwhelmingly reject a $4 million tax increase by means of a Proposition 2 ½ Override. The School Committee, the Finance Committee and […]

Valley Patriot of the Month! Sylvio “Sy” Uliano – Heroes in Our Midst

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 […]

H Y P O C R I S Y!

H Y P O C R I S Y!

    By: Tom Duggan – February, 2005 LAWRENCE – After years of complaining about Lawrence residents not being considered for top positions at City Hall, City Councilors rejected lifelong Lawrence resident David Camasso by a vote of 5-4 to be the city’s new Comptroller.  Nearly two dozen city residents and community activists turned out […]

It’s The Little Things That Count – SENIOR MOMENTS WITH JIM CASSIDY

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 […]

The Best Bang for Your Buck?

The Best Bang for Your Buck?

  By: Lawrence City Council President, Patrick Blanchette – December 2004  Unfortunately the City of Lawrence is dealing with tough financial problems this year. When I was first elected to the Lawrence City Council (over five years ago,) the annual operating budget was roughly $170 million, with a contingency reserve account of $3 million. The […]

Waste, Overruns & Mismanagement

By: Paula Porten & Tom Duggan – December 2004  For the last two years, residents of Lawrence have been calling the construction of a $110 million high school “The Big Dig of Lawrence,” because of its price tag. For months, School Committeeman Amy McGovern and Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy have been questioning the quality of work […]