special town meeting thrown into holiday mix · ings thursday night to discuss the situation....

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(978) 297-0050 • www.winchendoncourier.com Newsstand: 75 cents Friday, December 13, 2013

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LOCALGathering Toys

in Toy Town

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SPORTSGirls BBall

Action

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WEEKLY QUOTE“The art of life lies in a

constant readjustment to our surroundings.”

Okakura Kakuzo

BY BRIAN DICKENSCOURIER CORRESPONDENT

WINCHENDON — On the morn-ing after the town’s first substan-tial snowfall of the season, the Carriage House saw its restau-rant full of families who decid-ed to brave the slick roads, and come have breakfast with jolly, old St. Nick himself. But with such a packed parking lot, it begs the question: where was Santa able to park his reindeer?

For 10 years running, the Winchendon Kiwanis has joined forces with the Carriage House and Murdock High School’s Key Club (and more recently the Mahar Key Club) to host Breakfast With Santa, an event for the Kiwanis that boasts a meal of waffles, eggs, homefries and more. Santa’s elves met guests at the door, bearing gifts of dolls and toys for all the children in attendance. Santa sat under a garnished tree next to

the fireplace, taking photos with happy families throughout the morning.

Kiwanis members and members of both Key Clubs cleaned tables and helped organize the diners.

Behind the scenes, Key Club advisor Nicole Landry praised the students who showed up bright and early to wrap gifts, serve food, and clean tables.

“This is my first year running Key Club, and let me just say — I don’t know how teenagers at Murdock ever get a bad rap. They’re all super polite, dedicat-ed, and a joy to work with,” said Landry.

Murdock student Bethany Desilets was happy to share her reasons for joining Key Club. “My big sister Alyssa was in the pro-gram before me. I thought, who doesn’t want to go out, do fun stuff and help people out, too?”

BY BRIAN DICKENSCOURIER CORRESPONDENT

TEMPLETON — Ahimsa Haven Animal Rescue spent most of last Saturday shaking hands — and paws — with scores of guests at an open house it host-ed. Shelter volunteers, as well as friends old and new, set up a table with baked goods, candies and coffee in exchange for dona-tions of supplies to make these holiday months go smoother. It’s bound to get a little colder as winter approaches, and that means the heat bill will grow a little bigger. Thankfully, cit-izens of Winchendon, Gardner, Templeton and beyond showed up with gifts of cleaning supplies, pet foods and toys, with many even arriving early to play with the animals that much longer.

Since Ahimsa’s move from the animal control building of Winchendon to Templeton’s, things have sometimes been stretched thin. They have felt the pinch of budget cuts and gaps in funding. Luckily, they have been able to continue to care for those unfortunate, abandoned pets that need someone to cut them a break. A quick visit to the shelter should easily help one believe that this is the place that they will find it.

The troubled animals lucky enough to call Ahimsa home are able to settle down to sleep in spacious, tall kennels each night, and wake up each day to a warm, clean, sunlit room. Long time vol-unteers Marjorie Twiraga and Sarah Monfreda turn most of the

Old CentreChristmas on the Green at 4 p.m. at Old Centre

Church Saturday, Dec. 14. The Winchendon Singers present a program of holiday music followed by the traditional lighting of the tree at Old Centre with hot chocolate, cider and cookies. Free and open to the public.

IHMImmaculate Heart of Mary will be having an Organ

Benefit Concert on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. The Immaculate Heart of Mary choir will perform a musical concert, which will include music for both Advent, Christmas and beyond. All proceeds will go toward the restoration of the beautiful pipe organ at the church. Suggested donations: $6 per person, $4 for seniors and $10 for a family with young children. However, if funds are scarce for you and your family, please come anyway and enjoy the concert. All are welcome!

BY RUTH DEAMICISCOURIER EDITOR

WINCHENDON — Every two years the Winchendon Historical Society seeks out the owners of homes in town and convinces them to open their doors to the public for an afternoon. Each home is decorated for the holi-days, shined to an inch of its life and glowingly presented to any and all who care to take time out from their busy holiday schedule for a relaxing afternoon of explo-ration.

The homes range from elegant mansions to craftsmen’s post and beam. Some are still remi-niscent of colonial living, with exposed beams and milky paint; others are paneled in rich woods and heavy with elegant fabrics and furniture.

Everyone is unique and reflects the care and love of the families that call them home.

Six private homes and the Murdock Whitney Museum are part of this year’s tour, which begins at noon tomorrow, Dec. 14 and ends at 6 p.m. Cost for par-

ticipating is $20. You must stop at the Murdock Whitney House first to pay for your participa-tion and pick up your entrance ticket; a booklet describing the houses with a map to your des-tinations.

Murdock Whitney houseAs an example, the Murdock

Whitney House itself the orig-inal portion was built approxi-mately 1830. The smaller home was moved back on the property and greatly expanded in 1900 by

BY GREG VINECOURIER CORRESPONDENT

WINCHENDON — With gift buying, holiday entertaining, and new year preparations on their minds, Winchendon residents now have one more thing to think about at this busy time of year – a special town meeting. On Monday, the board of selectmen announced that the meeting would be held at 7:15 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 30. The meeting is necessary, Town Manager Jim Kreidler told the board, in order to balance the town’s books before the end of the year.

Kreidler said the state Department of Revenue informed the town the meeting needed to he held as soon “as can legally be scheduled to enable us to close our books in balance.”

Once the books are reconciled, the town’s tax rate for the current year can be set, he said.

The town’s snow and ice account is currently $160,000 in the red, according to Kreidler, and the account covering veterans’ bene-fits is running a $53,000 deficit.

On top of those shortfalls, Kreidler said the town learned that the state assessment for

School Choice and Charter “came in at $100,000 more than had been budgeted.”

He said if the state’s estimate of the number of Winchendon students who left town to attend school elsewhere is correct the school department will need to figure out how to cover the differ-ence.

“The school department covers the hit,” he said.

Kreidler said voters at the spe-cial town meeting face three choic-es: cutting the current budget for town government in order free up some funds, reallocating prior

year special articles that have money left in their accounts, and taking money out of the reserve and stabilization funds to erase the red ink.

“I would suggest that the last option is, by far, the least desirable option,” he said.

The warrant for the special town meeting was opened on Tuesday and closed Thursday evening. Selectmen will meet Monday, Dec. 16, to vote to approve the warrant in order to meet the requirement that it be posted 14 days before the town meeting, as required by law.

(A bit surprised by the sud-

denness of the of the scheduling of the town meeting, both the School Committee and Finance Committee hurriedly held meet-ings Thursday night to discuss the situation. Results of those meet-ings were not available by dead-line.)

Prior to discussions regarding the special town meeting, the board met with Harald Scheid, president and regional assessor of Regional Resource Group of Leominster, The firm was hired by the board to take over the job of assessing property values in the

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Special town meeting thrown into holiday mix

Courtesy photos

Orange Whitney House

Semi annual house tour ready for Saturday

Ahimsa Haven welcomes Santa’s many helpers

Christmas Concerts

Brian Dickens photos

Mary Clare Anderson of Gardner has found the purr-fect way to keep snowflakes from creeping down the back of her collar…and it keeps her neck very warm too. Her new found friend was very happy to stay right there.

Santa makes annual visit to have brunch


These two of a kind were very happy to spend a moment with Santa during the annual Kiwanis event.

Winchendon courier 2 Friday, December 13, 2013

GFA Federal Credit Union employees are ready for their People Helping People acts of kindness! Pictured left to right: David P. Cedrone, senior vice president of retail banking and lending; Donna Ditaranto, loan servicer; Joan Moran, vice president of lending; Amanda Lopez, consumer lending manag-er; Danielle Duval, collections manager; Margarita Gutierrez, residential loan processor; Jennifer Stone, loan administration manager; and Alison Ketola, loan administration specialist.

GFA employees given resources for kindness programGARDNER — As the well-known song goes, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!GFA Federal Credit Union has decided the best way to ensure this special time of year

is to resurrect the People Helping People program.Based on the international credit union philosophy of people helping people and as

part of the 75th anniversary celebration employees were given cash and a set of People Helping People cards. Employees use these resources to provide random acts of kind-ness for people in the communities GFA serves. With each act, a People Helping People helping card is delivered. The card asks the recipient to pay it forward as a random act

of kindness. The credit union also plans to include members of the Gardner High School Student Advisory Board in the program.

“GFA’s success is because of the trust and loyalty of our mem-bers. We want to extend that loyalty to helping make a difference in our communities. The anniversary celebration was the perfect time to give back,” said Tina M. Sbrega, GFA president and CEO.

The credit union has invested more than $4,000 for these deeds to help reach more than 1000 transactions of People Helping People. As part of the program, GFA is asking people to share their story via email to [email protected] noting either what they did to pay it forward or the nice deed they received. While respect-ing confidentiality, the credit union hopes to share some happy news stories this time of the year. In addition to giving away money, and performing random acts of kindness, GFA will donate one item to select local food pantries for each email received.

Since its 1938 founding, GFA Federal Credit Union has grown from serving members out of the living room of Linus and Valida Allain to a full service community financial institution. There are presently nine locations in central Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire including: Ashburnham, Gardner, Hubbardston, Leominster, Peterborough, Rindge, Rutland and Winchendon. Annually GFA Federal Credit Union donates time and talent to more than 68 community organizations and contributes on aver-age $60,000 to a variety of causes. For more information, call (978) 632-2542. Email [email protected] Visit www.gfafcu.com or Like us on Facebook!

ATHOL — Once again this year Athol Savings Bank has desig-nated all of its eight branches as drop off locations for the Toys for Tots program. This US Marines Corps Toys for Tots initiative was developed to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year. The toys collected are given to children within the communi-ty who are less fortunate. Athol Savings Bank is a supporter of this campaign and takes part in the Toys for Tots collection every year.

Each branch will be accepting donations for the Toys for Tots program through Saturday, Dec. 14. Branch locations are as fol-lows:

Main Office, 444 Main St., Athol

Convenience Center, 388 Main St. (Rear), Athol

Uptown Office, 1499 Main St., Athol

Ashburnham Office, 52 Main St., Ashburnham

Baldwinville Office, 50 Elm St., Baldwinville

Barre Office, 560 Summer St., Barre

Gardner Office, 196 Timpany Boulevard, Gardner

Winchendon Office, 112 Central St., Winchendon

“Helping those less fortunate is one of the true joys of the sea-son and we’re delighted to con-tinue to support the drive,” said ASB President and CEO Daniel Zona. “We encourage everyone to take part in this very special program.”

For more information, call (978) 249-3200.

Athol Savings Bank, with its headquarters located on Main Street in Athol is a 146 year old, full-service mutual savings bank and maintains an online presence at www.atholsb.com. The Bank has eight offices located in the communities of Ashburnham, Athol, Baldwinville, Barre, Gardner and Winchendon.

President & PublisherFrank G. Chilinski

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Athol Savings Bank is Toys for Tots drop off location

Courtesy photo

Holly Deveneau, ASB teller; Commandant George Willard of the Pequoig Detachment 1168 Marine Corps League; and Jennifer Richardson, community banking officer at the Convenience Center.

ATHOL — As part of its ongoing cam-paign and commitment to the greater Athol Area region Athol Savings Bank recently donated $20,000 to the United Way of North Central Massachusetts.

“ASB is dedicated to charitable givebacks that align with the bank’s mission of sup-porting the communities in which we live and work,” said ASB President and CEO, Daniel Zona.

The Athol Area United Way and the United Way of North Central Massachusetts recently merged in November and, con-sequently, the UWNCM now services a total of 23 communities. Those communi-ties include the towns where Athol Savings Bank has branch locations: Athol, Gardner, Ashburnham, Templeton, Winchendon, and Barre.

“ASB is a major contributor of the United Way and this merger will enhance the sup-port that this community receives,” said Debra Vescovi, ASB senior vice president, real estate lending/compliance and CRA administrator.

Vescovi is also one of three local board members who will continue to serve on the board of UWNCM.

“The Athol Area United Way was run only by volunteers last year, with Deb Vescovi

leading the fundraising effort as chair,” said UWNCM President Phil Grzewinski. “We are extremely pleased to be servicing the greater Athol Area. Athol Savings Bank is a longstanding supporter of the region.”

In addition to commitment from the bank, ASB employees are equally committed to supporting the United Way through payroll deduction and personal annual donations. Last year ASB employees raised a total of $7,750 for the United Way by way of its annual in-house campaign. This year it is expected that this donation amount will be surpassed.

“Deb and our employees emulate our com-pany’s community-minded spirit. Their ded-ication and support of United Way is truly admirable,” Zona said.

For more information on the United Way of North Central Massachusetts, visit www.uwncm.org.

Athol Savings Bank, with its headquar-ters located on Main Street in Athol is a 146 year old, full-service mutual savings bank and maintains an online presence at www.atholsb.com. The Bank has eight offices located in the communities of Ashburnham, Athol, Baldwinville, Barre, Gardner and Winchendon.

Courtesy photo

Connie Hundt, director of resource development with United Way of North Central Massachusetts; Daniel Zona, ASB President/CEO; and Debra Vescovi, ASB senior vice president and board member of the United Way of North Central Massachusetts.

Bank and United Way make great team

Winchendon courier 3 Friday, December 13, 2013 3

GATHERING A FEW TOYS….

Courtesy photo

Ricci Ruschioni, president of Fire & Iron MC Station 857 of Winchendon, the motorcycle group consisting of fire and police depart-ment personnel and their supporters, have been holding an ongoing toy drive to support the local Winchendon Community Action Committee. Pictured with CAC Executive Director Colleen Laperriere, Ruschioni and his group delivered the van with more than 200 items to the CAC last week in prepara-tion for the upcoming holiday season. They aren’t finished, as the toy drive continues.

The Winchendon Courier is commit-ted to accuracy in all its news reports. Although numerous safeguards are in place to ensure accurate report-ing, mistakes can occur. Confirmed fact errors will be corrected at the top right hand corner of page three in a timely manner. If you find a mis-take, call (978) 297-0050 during normal business hours. During non-business hours, leave a message in the editor’s voice mailbox. The editor will return your phone call. Or contact the edi-tor at the following email: [email protected].

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Above left, Smaller children were in charge of placing decorations before the lights were officially turned on. Above right, And it was time for caroling led by Murdock music aficionados. At right, Santa took a little ribbing from those who had much better musical voices.

TOY TOWN KICKS OFF THE HOLIDAY SEASON The Winchendon Parks and Recreation Committee and carolers from Murdock Middle and High schools lit up Veterans’ Park last Saturday night. Under the direction of music teacher Ally Galipeau, chorus students from Murdock sang a series of hol-iday classics, accompanied by Parks and Rec committee member Noel Veilleux. Committee Chair Diana Gallant-Ringer hit the switch that illuminated a towering, beautifully decorated tree that will adorn the lawn outside town hall for the rest of the season. The trees in front of town hall are also lit, those bulbs part of a program by the 250th Anniversary Committee, whose organizers said sales were even better than expected this year.

Why read the Paper? Quite simply because you won’t

find a bigger concentration of local news — your news — anywhere else.


SOUND OFF POLICYIn addition to the Letters to the Editor section, the Winchendon Courier offers an anon-

ymous forum allowing callers to “Sound Off” about the hot-button issues and topics in their towns. The “Sound Off” line can be reached 24 hours a day, at 978-297-0050. Names may be omitted for “Sound Off” calls only, although you may leave a name or initials. All comments should be made clearly and concisely, to minimize the potential for mistakes. Please remember that libelous comments, personal attacks and material that cannot be verified will not be published. “Sound Offs” may be sent to [email protected], or The Winchendon Courier, 91 Central Street, Winchendon, MA 01475 with “Sound Off” in the subject line. All “Sound Off” submissions are due by noon onFridays. We look forward to hearing from you!

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VIEWSOpinion and commentary from Winchendon and beyond

Editorial lEttErs to thE Editor

How soon did we know?

WinchEndon couriErPresident/Publisher: Frank Chilinski

editor: ruth deamiCis

To the Editor:The editor of our local paper, The

Winchendon Courier, was named Employee of the Year by Stonebridge Press, the owner of the Courier and other papers.

I am aware of this honor and felt it should be acknowledged and recognized in the paper. Of course, Ruth DeAmicis would

never make a news story of this. So I hope this letter will get her recognition for this accomplishment.

JaCk blairWinChendon

Blair: news to know

Auditors and bookkeepers and town bud-get personnel keep in pretty close touch with one another at the end of budget sea-son. Trying to get those end of year numbers to balance is a tough enough job without having to wonder if some new procedure or state level change is going to mess up just how they must all be reported.

At least three months ago the school system was making statements about try-ing to straighten out some funding ques-tions on their end; that would have been…September. As school was beginning and the end of the budget year was a couple months in. The schools then knew they were attempting to clarify some “stuff” they had to get a handle on; that not everything was quite as it should be for their end of the year reports and they wanted to get it all straight too.

Anyone on the outside looking in may not understand how detrimental this can be; or how very different the bookkeeping is schoolside vs. townside. Because they truly are two different animals.

Some of it deals with grants. Some of it deals with Chapter 70 and how it is paid. Then there is payment in and out because of Charter schools and School Choice. We get money IN if a student chooses to come here from another school district; but we must pay money OUT if a Winchendon student chooses to go else where either to a charter school or another public school dis-trict. There is also a Monty Tech piece; paid differently but also affecting local coffers by the amount that student takes with them to pay for education over there.

So now, when all the reports are due from both the town and the schools, and the money isn’t in balance and a chunk of it has to do with this very money, it is obvious the schools were asking for this fall town meet-ing back in September for a reason.

It isn’t rocket science. It’s bookkeeping. And the shortfalls on the townside are expected. Ice and snow removal are the one line item ALLOWED to go into the red every year by state law. But it does eventu-ally have to be back filled.

As for veterans’ benefits it is an impos-sible number to predict, and that is why there has always been a buffer amount left in the Finance Committee’s budget to cover any shortfalls in such line items during the year. Apparently it wasn’t enough.

So while these were not, despite the fran-tic sound of the need to get this done by Dec. 30, unexpected and they were in fact antici-pated nearly three months ago. Indeed, the town meeting was requested three months ago. By dragging proverbial feet, now sev-eral people are left scrambling to get nec-essary steps done in time to meet required deadlines, the meeting must be held in the middle of holidays, creating havoc and most definitely anticipating a poor turn out; and several items such as those being developed by the Planning Board will need to wait even longer for inclusion in a later meeting.

There is a saying: Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

This is exactly where Winchendon stands with this meeting.

It should have been called months ago.

It is sad that the world has lost Nelson Mandela.

It is a tragedy of immense proportions that South Africa has lost Mandela.

How many men in histo-ry can you name who were treated shamefully, impris-oned, and put at hard labor who ultimately over a quarter of a century after imprisonment were freed and forgave their tormentors, torturers, political ene-mies and almost anyone else who sought that forgiveness.

And after all of that, the man went on to become president of his country when his long imprisonment contributed to the win-ning of the franchise for his people.

Madiba (some spell this Xhosa clan name as Mandiba), as South Africans affectionate-ly knew him, set an example in the way of Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and a small group of others throughout history.

The difference with Mandela is he did not do it as a religious leader but as a political leader.

He contracted pneumonia during his imprisonment and it was the source of most of his post-prison medical problems and probably ultimately the cause of his death. Having said that, with all that history, he lived into his 90s.

After all his sacrifice his wife Winnie Mandela disappointed him. She behaved badly while he was imprisoned and she embarrassed him after his release.

More recently his children were accused of taking advantage of the trust he estab-lished to care for his them and his grand-children. It seems they could not wait to get their hands on his money.

Some of his contemporaries failed to measure up in the early years of the new Republic of South Africa. He must have been sad to see them unwilling or unable to adapt to the new South Africa and instead cling to the tribal and political differences from the past.

Jealous compatriots tried to undermine his good work.

Through it all he remained a calm presence. He talked peace and forgiveness. He lived the talk. He walked his talk.

The world will long read of Nelson Mandela. History will honor him. The Nobel Peace Prize was well deserved, as were all the other awards and prizes that came his way.

The former prisoner who worked on rock piles on Robben Island counted among his friends presidents of many countries, roy-alty, outstanding authors, religious leaders and people of depth accomplishment and substance.

Most of my readers have probably not read Mandela’s speech accepting the Nobel Prize. I commend it to you as an example of what is important in life, an example of his commitment to peace and reconciliation and as a template for the forgiveness we should allow show to our fellow men. Here is a short portion of his remarks on that occasion:

“We stand here today as nothing more than a representative of the millions of our people who dared to rise up against a social system whose very essence is war, vio-lence, racism, oppression, repression and the impoverishment of an entire people.

I am also here today as a representative of the millions of people across the globe, the anti-apartheid movement, the governments and organizations that joined with us, not to fight against South Africa as a country or any of its peoples, but to oppose an inhuman system and sue for a speedy end to the apart-heid crime against humanity.

These countless human beings, both inside and outside our country, had the nobility of spirit to stand in the path of tyr-anny and injustice, without seeking selfish gain. They recognized that an injury to one is an injury to all and therefore acted together in defense of justice and a common human decency.”

His country honored and revered him. His last years were spent in the company of his current wife, Graca Machel, and it appears she brought him the love and com-

fort one hopes for in old age. News reports say that in the more than one month he spent in hospital during his last hospital-ization she never left his side for more than three hours.

Now that Madiba is gone, South Africa has an opportunity to demonstrate a com-mitment to his ideals. It will mean the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Xhosas and the Zulus will have to work at getting along without the glue, Madiba, who insisted they must.

They will have to work at it. It will not come easily.

Ambitious men who wouldn’t challenge Madiba while he lived will have to cool their ardor for fame and power and consider adopting the garb of a forgiver, an encourag-er and a penitent.

The qualities that allowed Nelson Mandela to escape the fate of most black revolution-aries in South Africa and to attract the support and friendship of whites who were former enemies is what will be required if South Africa is to continue the journey started at the end of the apartheid era.

My wife and I have been involved in work in South Africa for a couple of decades, work begun by our friend the philanthro-pist Charles P. Stetson.

With Stetson, my wife penned a short book titled “Pointing the Way-From Despair to Hope in South Africa.” And from these first steps we witnessed the changes occur-ring in that most beautiful of lands that harbored some of the ugliest hatreds and outrageous behaviors.

I had the privilege of chairing a founda-tion in South Africa for many years, started by Charlie Stetson, with a goal of encourag-ing young black and white children to inter-act with one another through the programs of Outward Bound.

While I cannot claim to be an authority on either the history or the future of South Africa I can claim to have been a witness, with feet on the ground, to much of that recent history.

I visited and watched pre-Mandela South Africa. And it was exciting to witness post-apartheid South Africa. The day blacks had their first opportunity to actually vote,

they dressed in their finest clothes and stood in line for hours on all the streets leading to polling places. It was historic. It was social for them. They had waited and suffered so long. It was an honor and they treated it as such.

Living in a country, the United States, where so few people actually turn out on voting day, it was wonderful to see how the people of South Africa, who were so long denied the opportunity to have a voice, cele-brated the day that all changed.

And no reasonable person could doubt that it was the person of Nelson Mandela who brought this about.

Working with Charlie Stetson, Ambassador William Lacy Swing, the US Agency for International Development, Outward Bound International, the U.S. Fund for Leadership Training and so many other people and organizations who bought into Mandela’s dream, it is my fervent hope that the people of South Africa will honor Mandela by continuing the forward march.

Unemployment is still a problem in the RSA.

Hunger is still a problem.Qualifying young men and women for job

advancement is still a problem.And yes, sadly, racism is still a problem.

Beyond racism, tribal loyalties and enmi-ties still prevail.

Madiba was the glue that held this fragile new country together.

The glue is gone.Hopefully it had enough time to “set.”If not, we will witness the coming apart of

all the pieces.And that, my readers, would be a very

real national and international tragedy.But for now we honor the life and the

accomplishments and the historical impor-tance of Nelson Mandela.

And we are grateful for the example he set.

The writer welcomes your comments, ideas

and suggestions. Please take a moment to share your views on the topic by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on his blog at www.blair-notes.blogspot.com.

JACK BLAIR

notEs of concErn

The world has lost a hero…Rest in Peace

Broad topics: Mandela and Francis to musicOf all the many tributes

that have been pub-lished in the week since the death of Nelson

Mandela, the one that, to me, seemed to fit the most appro-priately was this: “conscience of the world.” Those four words summed up the man who, along with perhaps Franklin D. Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill, impacted the globe in positive ways more than any other politicians over the last century. Mandela’s steadfast refusal to fall prey to bitterness and hatred represent virtues that serve as examples that con-temporary politicians would be well advised to follow. It’s hard to believe that it’s been less

than 30 years since the US gov-ernment considered Mandela a terrorist. It’s a good thing we changed our mind. What were our policy-makers thinking any-way? One shudders to consider the possibilities.

Speaking of being impactful, most people would agree that Pope John Paul II was a difference-mak-

er, and, if the early months of his papacy are legitimate hints of what’s to come, and there’s no reason to think otherwise, so will be Pope Francis. The Catholic Church’s first South American leader has not been shy about emphatically and repeatedly cas-tigating money grubbers and oth-ers he deems neither sensitive nor understanding enough about the plight of the less fortunate. I can imagine pretty easily what he must think of the American politicians who think cutting taxes for really rich people while slashing social service budgets is a good idea. I wonder what the pols who advocate this and who are Catholic think of Francis’ unre-lenting message. You can probably

guess. As I write this, Congress, in the few days it’s actually going to be “working” this month, is trying to figure out how to reconcile the hotly-debated farm bill. It would be very cool if Pope Francis were able to sit in on the House Republican caucus. Think that would make a few extremists squirm a bit? Alas, these things don’t even happen in the movies. And I can certain-ly imagine what Francis would think about the remark someone made to me that the reason kids are hungry is because of parental irresponsibility. No doubt there are situations where that’s true, but to make such a blanket, unfil-tered statement? I imagine the Pope would be appalled. I sure was. Pathetic.

Let’s change gears to a signifi-cantly less weighty subject. Last Thursday night, NBC brought back theatrical television with “The Sound of Music, Live.” In a cynical society where snarkiness and criticism are almost pre-req-uisites for tweets and other social media, I nonetheless contend the network deserves praise rath-er than condemnation for trying something different for our age. No, Carrie Underwood wasn’t Julie Andrews. So what? That’s an impossible standard to have expected her to meet. The story and the music are timeless and just maybe it introduced “The Sound of Music” to some members

JERRY CARTON

JournEy of thE hEart

Please Read JOTH, page A5


of a generation who aren’t familiar with it, assuming, of course, they looked up from their IPads and tweets long enough to glance at the screen. (As an aside, when we were in Baltimore over Thanksgiving, I was pleasantly surprised when I showed my children one of my par-ents’ old albums — Steve Lawrence no less — and while they obviously had never heard of him, they did know that what I was holding was a record. But when I began to explain 33 v 45 v 78, I got the blank look.) I digress. Anyway, kudos to NBC for the effort. I for one would love to see more of this. Perhaps “Camelot” or “The Music Man” next?

Speaking of live TV, the President was on the road last week, rebranding himself, I suppose, after a rocky month. When they get in trouble, and they all do because that’s an occupational hazard, Presidents go to friendly venues — for example, in his tumultuous last couple years LBJ hardly went anywhere other than military bases; and so Barack Obama headed for college campus-es. One of those stops was at my alma mater, American University, where he did a live “Hardball” interview with Chris Matthews. AU was a natural choice since it

was there where Obama first received the endorsement of Ted and Caroline Kennedy, and it was there where John F. Kennedy delivered his famous commencement address about peace. The student-audience was as expected, supportive, aside of course from the ballet students who’d gotten kicked out of the building they normally use for rehearsals, but as I watched I couldn’t help but remember that we never had a President visit campus. We had a thriving guest lecture series under the auspices of the Kennedy Political Union and such luminaries of the era such as Moshe’ Dayan and George McGovern and others came, but nary a President. Maybe Richard Nixon was never invited? And then Jerry Ford was too busy cleaning up after Watergate. Those kids, even the ones whose parents voted for Hillary in 2008, had a pretty impressive experi-ence last week, one of the perks of matriculating in DC for sure. I just wonder if any of them are living in my dorm room, which I understand is now carpeted! See you next week.

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Avoiding next generation buyer remorse

Some consumers this holi-day season may be still on the fence when it comes to buying a shiny new video

game system for the holidays. It could be the Xbox One or the Playstation 4. It could be a present for yourself or for your child.

In short, don’t purchase either. The reasons for this being pri-

marily the price of these consoles are $500 (Xbox) and $400 (PS4) respectively. This does not include the cost of extra controllers and games, provided that there are no holiday bundles that do so. Granted, these consoles are mul-

timedia devices. They don’t just play video game but can also play Blu-Rays, stream Netflix, Hulu Plus, music, sports etc. However there are cheaper alternatives that have most of these features, if not

all of them, and a larger software library which will give you more bang for your buck. For example, the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, which have holiday bundles priced at $250 on Amazon. Not to mention that the price of the games for these consoles can be found at a much cheaper price on Amazon, new and used.

If you or your child already owns these two consoles then perhaps consider getting them a Kindle ($69), a Kindle Fire HD ($169), or a Kindle Fire HDX ($229); with a multitude of features and apps to keep you occupied. The features and the apps available allow at

least for the Kindle Fire HD and HDX to have the same features as these new expensive consoles, with the exception of not being able to play Blu-Rays, at a cheaper price.

Cheaper even than the older consoles and these devices are por-table tablets. Certain apps provide endless gaming entertainment such as the nefariously addict-ing game, Candy Crush Saga. It shows that a game doesn’t need flashy graphics or the latest, most advanced hardware to have play-ers dump hundreds of hours into them.

With thought to the parents, if

you don’t want your child wast-ing time on such things, then I’d recommend just getting them a regular Kindle, the cheapest alter-native. The Kindle has been first and foremost, a device to read books electronically. E-Books are typically cheaper than buying the physical copy and some even allow you to rent them for a certain amount of time at a reasonable price.

The temptation to buy the “lat-est and greatest” piece of tech-nology during this time of year is strong, but you can be strong willed and make the smartest pur-chase instead.

NICHOLAS CREAMER

The Technical

Middle Ground

No Bias. Just Advice.


WINCHENDON — Janet Corbosiero and Cindy Darcy of the Winchendon 250th Anniversary Committee met with select-men Monday night to discuss plans for a number of celebratory events.

Corbosiero announced residents would have an opportunity to memorialize their families, friends, or loved ones by purchas-ing Legacy bricks, which replace the bricks in front of town hall on Front Street. The

bricks are selling for $50 each.“Every home in Winchendon will be

receiving a form in the mail in the next week or so,” she said.

As part of the committee’s Winchendon Remembers event, Corbosiero said the Christmas Lights in front of town hall have been put up to remember or honor “people past and present.” To submit names, forms are available online at townofwinchen-don.com or on the Winchendon 250th Anniversary Faeebook page. Paper forms may be picked up at the Town Manager’s

office. She said the list of memories and honors would be printed in the Courier in January.

A 250th Anniversary Christmas Tree Bonfire and Pig Roast Kick-off has been scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18 at the American Legion. The bonfire, which is free to the public, starts at 6 p.m. Corbosiero said anyone wishing to dispose of their Christmas tree at the bonfire should drop them of “near the wood pallets” at the Legion. Selectmen did approve the neces-sary permit for the bonfire.

The pig roast following the bonfire is open to anyone for a $5 donation. There will also be dancing and an ugly sweater contest.

Many other events are being planned for 2014 in celebration of the 250th anniver-sary of the town’s incorporation. Updated information is available on the town’s web-site and the 250th Anniversary Facebook page. Information and forms can also be found at the Clark Memorial YMCA, Beals Memorial Library, and the Old Murdock Senior Center.

250th Committee plans more events

JOTHcontinued from page A4


WINCHENDON — Trying to instill a love of reading in the young-est students has prompted Memorial School to adopt a new literacy program. The School Committee received an up date on “Daily 5” at its last meeting, Dec. 5.

School Principal Nina Schlikin told the committee it became obvi-ous “change was called for in the wake of our MCAS scores. We iden-tified where we thought students were lacking and decided we needed a way to fill those voids. We were determined to make changes.”

Teacher Rhonda Robichaud said, “we’re already seeing tremendous results” from the program, which was implemented at the beginning of the school year.

Daily 5 is described as a “student driven management structure…that provides students the opportunity to work on five areas of literacy while

building their stamina and indepen-dence.”

The five tasks students under-take each day include: reading to themselves, reading with a part-ner, working on writing skills, doing “word work,” and listening to reading via technology. In addi-tion, teachers have more time to meet with students individually or in small groups to provide instruc-tion outside the traditional literacy block. Meetings include reading and writing conferences, individual or group spelling assessments, higher order thinking lessons, small group reading and grammatical lessons.

“Daily 5 isn’t so much a program unto itself,” said educator Joanne Forsythe, “It’s a way to manage our existing program. It helps develop skills designed to last a lifetime.

Robichaud also said it provides students an opportunity to read to one another and discuss a book with others.

“It also includes writing,” said Forsythe. “Students are writing poetry, creative stories, even letters. And we keep writing journals. It allows students to see the writing of their classmates.”

“We didn’t toss out what’s been done in the past,” Schlikin added. “This provides a management approach to teaching. What was done in the past just wasn’t rigor-ous enough. Students now become actively involved in their own learn-ing.”

Second grade teachers were the first to start using Daily 5, and oth-ers have picked it up along the way, according to Schlikin.

“Some first grade teachers are using this system,” she said, “We didn’t want to force it on all teach-ers.

In response to a question, Schlikin said there have been no discussions, yet, about expanding the program to Toy Town Elementary School.

New literacy program getting high grades

www.TheHeartOfMassachusetts.com


Editor’s Note: The information contained in this police log was obtained through pub-lic documents kept by the police department, and is considered to be the account of the police. All subjects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 2

12:03-4:09 a.m.: 14 building checks, secure; 5:07 a.m.: larceny (Ash Street) report taken; 7:08 a.m.: officer wanted (Main Street) spo-ken to; 7:20 a.m.: illegal dumping (Hall Road) report taken; 8:56 a.m.: vandalism (Glenallen Street) spoken to; 9:17 a.m.: MV operating erratically (Gardner Road) unable to locate; 9:59 a.m.: ambulance (Ipswich Drive) trans-port; 10:03 a.m.: welfare check (addresses will not be printed) info taken; 10:34 a.m.: general info (Alger Street) info taken; 11:08 a.m.: FD (Brown Street) assisted; 1:34 p.m.: general info (Front Street) info taken; 1:59 p.m.: MV stop (Front Street) assisted; 2:16 p.m.: animal complaint (South Royalston Road) referred to ACO; 2:44 p.m.: officer wanted (Brown Street) assisted; 3:03 p.m.: general info (Elm Street) unable to locate; 4:20 p.m.: domestic (Glenallen Street) spo-ken to; 4:32 p.m.: officer wanted (Willoughby Avenue) spoken to; 5:24 p.m.: summons service (Mill Street) served; 7:05 p.m.: offi-cer wanted (East Street) spoken to; 7:58 p.m.: noise complaint (Front Street) spoken to; 10:34 p.m.: suspicious MV (High Street) unable to locate; 11:01 p.m.: unknown type fire (Baldwinville State Road) services rendered; 11:43 p.m.: one building check, secure.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3

12:05-3:36 a.m.: 21 building checks, secure; 12:15 a.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) ver-bal warning; 1:34 a.m.: parking violation (Glenallen Street) traffic citation issued; 2:37 a.m.: parking violation (Pleasant Street) traffic citation issued; 2:42 a.m.: parking vio-lation (Linden Street) traffic citation issued; 2:44 a.m.: parking violation (Highland Street) traffic citation issued; 2:51 a.m.: parking violation (Washington Avenue) traffic citation issued; 2:59 a.m.: parking vio-lation (Front Street) traffic citation issued; 3:05 a.m.: parking violation (Monadnock Avenue) traffic citation issued; 3:06 a.m.: parking violation (Mason Street) traffic citation issued; 3:11 a.m.: parking viola-tion (Juniper Street) traffic citation issued; 5:27 a.m.: ambulance (Front Street) trans-port; 6:06 a.m.: ambulance (Maple Street) transport; 8:24 a.m.: officer wanted (Spruce Street) spoken to; 8:41 a.m.: officer wanted (Benjamin Street) unable to locate; 10:06 a.m.: officer wanted (East Street) report taken; 10:32 a.m.: ambulance (East Street) transport; 11:33 a.m.: burglar alarm (Island Road) secure; 1:27 p.m.: officer wanted (Glenallen Street) spoken to; 1:52 p.m.: MV stop (Maple Street) traffic citation issued; 2:11 p.m.: officer wanted (Lebreton Circle) spoken to; 2:38 p.m.: MV stop (Myrtle Street) arrest, no further info provided by PD; 2:59 p.m.: summons service (Mellen Road) served; 3:28 p.m.: fraud (walk in) report taken; 3:43 p.m.: suspicious person (South Royalston Road) unable to locate; 4:20 p.m.: animal complaint (Sibley Road) info given; 4:24 p.m.: attempt to serve warrant (Mill Street) arrest: Eben C. Bartlett age 25 of 163 Mill St., Winchendon: received firearm with defaced number, two counts of receiving stolen property over $250, two counts of possession of firearm without FID card, two

counts of improper storing of firearms, and possession of heroin; 7:36 p.m.: general info (Hale Street) advised officer; 7:40 p.m.: offi-cer wanted (Hillside Terrace) spoken to; 8:15 p.m.: general info (Poland Avenue) spoken to; 11:18 p.m.: fight (Spring Street) spoken to.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4

1:01-3:32 a.m.: 12 building checks, secure; 1:06 a.m.: registration check (Spring Street) secure; 2:55 a.m.: parking violation (Grove Street) traffic citation issued; 2:58 a.m.: parking violation (Spruce Street) traffic citation issued; 3:04 a.m.: parking violation (Murdock Avenue) traffic citation issued; 3:18 a.m.: parking violation (Juniper Street) traffic citation issued; 3:20 a.m.: parking violation (Juniper Street) traffic citation issued; 3:22 a.m.: parking violation (Juniper Street) traffic citation issued; 3:24 a.m.: parking violation (Academy Street) traffic citation issued; 3:42 a.m.: parking viola-tion (Elm Street) traffic citation issued; 4:01 a.m.: parking violation (East Street) traffic citation issued; 4:02 a.m.: parking viola-tion (East Street) traffic citation issued; 9:24 a.m.: investigation (Gardner Road) spoken to; 9:32 a.m.: MV stop (Gardner Road) ver-bal warning; 9:35 a.m.: ambulance (West Monomonac Road) transport; 9:57 a.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) traffic citation issued; 10:53 a.m.: MV stop (Baldwinville Road) traffic citation issued; 11:09 a.m.: MV stop (Baldwinville Road) traffic citation issued; 11:38 a.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) traffic citation issued; 11:54 a.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) verbal warning; 12:21 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) verbal warning; 12:36 p.m.: MV stop (Front Street) summons: Glenn M. LeBlanc age 40 of 10 Nutting Road #2, Rindge: operating MV with suspended reg-istration, uninsured MV, and no inspec-tion sticker; 12:44 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) traffic citation issued; 1:00 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) traffic citation issued; 2:00 p.m.: MV stop (Central Street) traf-fic citation issued; 2:07 p.m.: extra patrols (Elmwood Road) services rendered; 2:22 p.m.: MV stop (Elmwood Road) verbal warn-ing; 2:24 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) traffic citation issued; 2:58 p.m.: animal complaint (School Street) services rendered; 4:00 p.m.: general info (Ash Street) assisted; 4:01 p.m.: general info (Robbins Road) spoken to; 4:04 p.m.: suspicious MV (Murdock Avenue) unable to locate; 4:30 p.m.: officer wanted (West Street) report taken; 4:37 p.m.: FD call (Brown Street) services rendered; 6:01 p.m.: be on the look out (Route 119) info taken; 6:19 p.m.: one building check, secure; 6:42 p.m.: FD call (Front Street) assisted; 6:54 p.m.: officer wanted (Washington Avenue) report taken; 7:44 p.m.: ambulance (Pleasant Street) transport; 8:19 p.m.: keep the peace (Goodrich Drive) assisted; 9:43 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) spoken to; 11:47-11:56 p.m.: three building checks, secure; 11:48 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) verbal warn-ing.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5

12:05-1:39 a.m.: 11 building checks, secure; 12:59 a.m.: parking violation (East Street) traffic citation issued; 2:32 a.m.: parking violation (Juniper Street) traffic citation issued; 4:48 a.m.: harassment (walk in) spo-ken to; 7:16 a.m.: ambulance (Cummings Road) transport; 7:33 a.m.: officer wanted (Central Street) advised officer; 8:00 a.m.: disturbance (Lincoln Avenue) report taken; 8:27 a.m.: ambulance (Doyle Avenue) trans-

port; 9:11 a.m.: neighbor dispute (Mechanic Street) spoken to; 9:57 MV stop (School Street) traffic citation issued; 10:51 a.m.: welfare check (addresses will not be print-ed) report taken; 11:43 a.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) verbal warning; 11:54 a.m.: suspi-cious MV (Mill Glen Road) spoken to; 12:23 p.m.: MV stop (Murdock Avenue) spoken to; 2:04 p.m.: MV stop (Lake Street) verbal warn-ing; 2:20 p.m.: ambulance (Central Street) transport; 2:32 p.m.: missing person (Alger Street) spoken to; 3:11 p.m.: illegal dump-ing (Mill Glen Road) unable to locate; 3:29 p.m.: disabled MV (Elmwood Road) assisted; 3:35 p.m.: assist other agency (Willoughby Avenue) assisted; 3:45 p.m.: traffic hazard (Spring Street) info taken; 4:00 p.m.: assist citizen (walk in) assisted; 5:12 p.m.: larceny (Lincoln Avenue Extension) report taken; 5:34 p.m.: general info (walk in) info taken; 6:30 p.m.: general info (Central Street) spo-ken to; 6:45 p.m.: officer wanted (Goodrich Drive) assisted; 7:03 p.m.: shoplifting (Central Street) assisted; 7:47 p.m.: officer wanted (Poland Avenue) spoken to; 9:53 p.m.: animal abuse (Pond Street) no cause for complaint; 8:27 p.m.: warrant of appre-hension (River Street) unable to locate; 8:45 p.m.: officer wanted (River Street) trans-port; 9:15 p.m.: assist other agency (phone) report taken; 9:29 p.m.: fire alarm (Hatch Lane) services rendered; 10:09 p.m.: assist citizen (River Street) assisted.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6

12:59-2:07 a.m.: 19 building checks, secure; 1:11 a.m.: disabled MV (Gardner Road) spo-ken to; 2:09 a.m.: parking violation (Front Street) traffic citation issued; 2:15 a.m.: parking violation (Spruce Street) traffic citation issued; 2:22 a.m.: parking violation (Mill Street) traffic citation issued; 2:27 a.m.: parking violation (Monadnock Avenue) traffic citation issued; 5:38 a.m.: ambulance (Ready Drive) transport; 5:56 a.m.: accident (Neale Place) info taken; 7:00 a.m.: van-dalism (Baldwinville Road) report taken; 7:36 a.m.: vandalism (Main Street) report taken; 8:08 a.m.: investigation (Spring Street) spoken to; 8:58 a.m.: burglar alarm (Front Street) call cancelled; 9:41 a.m.: ani-mal complaint (Hyde Street) info taken; 9:54 a.m.: investigation (Pleasant Street) summons: Michael D. Gaspar age 32 of 241 Lakeshore Drive, Winchendon: improper storage of firearm; 11:15 a.m.: investigation (Ready Drive) info taken; 11:38 a.m.: investi-gation (Spring Street) spoken to; 12:09 p.m.: traffic hazard (Gardner Road) referred to other agency; 12:13 p.m.: assist other agency (Ready Drive) assisted; 12:25 p.m.: general info (Congress Road) info taken; 12:49 p.m.: officer wanted (Goodrich Drive) spoken to; 2:12 p.m.: accident (Central Street) report taken; 2:33 p.m.: officer wanted (Washington Avenue) spoken to; 2:59 p.m.: ambulance (Pearl Drive) transport; 3:20 p.m.: keep the peace (Fourth Street) assisted; 3:51 p.m.: offi-cer wanted (Mason Street) report taken; 4:13 p.m.: 209A request (Spruce Street) spoken to; 4:38 p.m.: burglar alarm (Spring Street) advised officer; 4:52 p.m.: animal complaint (Maple Street) referred to ACO; 7:01 p.m.: officer wanted (River Street) spoken to; 7:50 p.m.: investigation (Mason Street) no police service necessary; 8:27 p.m.: ambulance (Central Street) transport; 10:54 ambulance (Goodrich Drive) transport; 11:48 p.m.: acci-dent (Baldwinville Road) services rendered.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7

12:11 a.m.: accident (Baldwinville Road) no police service necessary; 12:38 a.m.: ambulance (Elmwood Road) transport; 1:08 a.m.: fight (Pleasant Street) dispersed gathering; 2:48 a.m.: death notification (Glenallen Street) message delivered; 2:56 a.m.: unwanted party (River Street) arrest: Carlos Gustavo Salaverry age 34 of 510 River St., Winchendon: assault with danger-ous weapon, domestic assault, and warrant arrest; 3:06 a.m.: abandoned 911 call (Jackson Avenue) spoken to; 8:11 a.m.: assist citizen (River Street) property returned to owner; 9:10 a.m.: officer wanted (Mill Glen Road) spoken to; 9:17 a.m.: burglar alarm (Spring Street) accidental; 9:19 a.m.: property found (walk in) property returned to owner; 9:34 a.m.: summons service (Maple Street) unable to serve; 9:43 a.m.: summons service (Juniper Street) served; 9:47 a.m.: summons service (Grove Street) unable to serve; 9:52 a.m.: accident (Baldwinville Road) report taken; 10:15 a.m.: officer wanted (River Street) report taken; 10:19 a.m.: officer want-ed (First Street) assisted; 10:57 a.m.: officer wanted (Pond Street) spoken to; 1:00 p.m.: animal complaint (Main Street) referred to ACO; 1:07 p.m.: harassment order service (River Street) order served; 1:33 p.m.: miss-ing person (Spring Circle) spoken to; 3:27 p.m.: property found (School Square) prop-erty returned to owner; 3:43 p.m.: accident (Gardner Road) removed traffic hazard; 6:52 p.m.: MV stop (Spring Street) spoken to; 8:17 p.m.: fire alarm (Front Street) assisted; 8:34 p.m.: missing person (Front Street) assisted; 10:42 p.m.: threats (Front Street) spoken to.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8

12:40 a.m.: threats (Western Avenue) report taken; 3:02-3:38 a.m.: five building checks, secure; 3:34 a.m.: MV operating erratically (Chestnut Street) unable to locate; 3:51 a.m.: MV operating erratically (Gardner Road) unable to locate; 8:01 a.m.: burglar alarm (High Street) secure; 9:26 a.m.: MV viola-tion (Grove Street) traffic citation issued; 10:00 a.m.: larceny (Hyde Park Drive) report taken; 10:18 a.m.: assist citizen (West Street) spoken to; 10:32 a.m.: investigation (Front Street) spoken to; 10:52 a.m.: ambulance (Otter River Road) transport; 11:21 a.m.: vandalism (Spring Circle) report taken; 11:40 a.m.: deliver message (Main Street) gone on arrival; 11:55 a.m.: investigation (Glenallen Street) report taken; 2:26 p.m.: officer wanted (Front Street) spoken to; 2:36 p.m.: assist citizen (Central Street) proper-ty returned to owner; 2:53 p.m.: unknown type fire (Brown Street) fire extinguished; 3:20 p.m.: investigation (walk in) info taken; 4:02 p.m.: officer wanted (Pleasant Street) spoken to; 4:09 p.m.: disturbance/fight (Front Street) spoken to; 4:20 p.m.: mental health issue (Ready Drive) removed to hospital; 4:49 p.m.: domestic (Lincoln Avenue) arrest: Mallorie Day age 25 of 206 Lincoln Ave., Winchendon: domestic A&B; 5:52 p.m.: abandoned MV (Central Street) advised officer; 6:42 p.m.: animal complaint (Benjamin Street) returned to home or fami-ly; 7:35 p.m.: 209A request (Benjamin Street) assisted; 8:23 a.m.: ambulance (Ready Drive) harassment order served; 8:36 p.m.: inves-tigation (Main Street) property seized; 8:53 p.m.: harassment order service (Alger Street) order served; 9:01 p.m.: suspicious MV (South Royalston Road) advised offi-cer; 10:21 p.m.: ambulance (Webster Street) services rendered; 11:51 p.m.: ambulance (Brown Street) transport.

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Brewer chairs annual revenue review

BOSTON — Wednesday Senator

Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) co-chaired fiscal year 2015 (FY 2015) Consensus Revenue Hearing, the unofficial kick-off of next year’s budget process. The hear-ing allows Brewer, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, and other top policymak-ers to hear from economists and other experts on the fiscal condi-

tions likely to shape the state’s budget over the coming year. In his three years as chairman of the Senate’s budget writing com-mittee, Senator Brewer has been adept at using the testimony from this hearing to craft budgets that strengthen the fiscal condition of the Commonwealth while at the same time increasing support for the programs vital to his constit-uency in central Massachusetts.

“Each year the Consensus Revenue Hearing provides the information that my colleagues

and I use to create balanced state budgets that put our state in a stronger position to compete eco-nomically and confront future challenges,” said Brewer. “Those budgets have not only rebuilt our reserves and controlled costs, but they have also prioritized the issues that are most important to the people I talk to every-day issues like aid to cities and towns, education and public safety.”

Under Brewer’s leadership as chairman of Senate Ways and Means since January of 2011, the

state has seen its bond rating reach the highest level in its his-tory, while the state’s “rainy day” or reserve fund, has nearly tripled in size to one of the largest in the nation. Recent state budgets have also included a number of reforms to reduce municipal health care costs, improve the fairness of the state’s Chapter 70 local education funding formula, and ensure that volatile revenue sources like cap-ital gains are used to rebuild our reserves, not balance the budget.

Whether you look at the reduc-

tion in one time budget solutions or support for programs like elder home care that generate long-term savings, recent budgets with Brewer at the helm reflect a bal-anced approach.

“For me, the testimony we hear each year highlights the need for the state to demonstrate fiscal dis-cipline and preparedness. This is the same message I hear from my constituents,” Brewer continued. “The com

News Briefs

Winchendon courier 7 Friday, December 13, 2013 7

OBITUARIES

SEND OBITUARIES at no charge to Editor Ruth DeAmicis, by faxing (978) 297-2177, or by e-mailing the editor at [email protected].

We also invite funeral directors and families to e-mail us a JPEG photograph to print, at no cost, alongside the obituary.

David Irving Perry, 76ALEXANDRIA, LA — David Irving Perry,

age 76, of Alexandria, LA was born Feb. 14, 1937, in Fitchburg, to Dana and Dorothy (Gray) Perry, and died Nov. 20, 2013, in Alexandria.

He attended schools in Jaffrey, graduating in 1955.

He worked at several places in Jaffrey, and in Colorado Springs and Louisiana.

David was married to Katherine “Katie” Allord and divorced. He was married in January 1966, in Jaffrey to Elinore (Baker) Pelkey and later divorced.

He was preceded in death by his parents,

sister Nancy Perry, and brother Rodney Perry.

Survivors include: daughters Beverly (Pelkey/Perry) (Mrs. Gerald) Valliere of Winchendon, Angela (Pelkey/Perry) (Mrs. Russel Jr.) Jackson of Slidell, LA, and Ramona Jean (Pelkey/Perry) (Mrs. Gary) Sarver of Ball, LA; nine grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; six step-great-grand-children; nephews and nieces.

A memorial service was held Saturday, Nov. 23, at Hixson Funeral home, Alexandria. Inurnment will be next spring in Forest Hill Cemetery, Fitchburg.

Dorothy R. (Michelson) Moore, 79WESTMINSTER — Dorothy R. (Michelson)

Moore, age 79, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013 after a 2 year long battle with cancer.

She leaves her husband, Richard Moore, two daughters, Debra Leger, of Hubbardston and Linda Brodeur, and her husband, William, of Yarmouth, one son, Ken Sandell, of Manchester, NH a grandson, Nicholas Sandell, and a granddaughter, Sydney Sandell, both of Hampstead, NH, one broth-er, Frank Michelson, and his wife, Joan, of Fitchburg, one sister, Sylvia Baker, and her husband, Ed, of Maine, one sister-in-law, Beverly Michelson of Westminster, and sev-eral nieces and nephews.

She is predeceased by a brother, Kenneth W. Michelson who died in 1996.

Dorothy was born in Fitzwilliam a daugh-ter of the late Walter and Selma (Anderson) Michelson. She was a 1952 graduate of Ashby High School. Dorothy worked for Publisher Storage and Shipping in Fitchburg for 22 years. She enjoyed family outings at Sip Pond, in Fitzwilliam, NH. Dorothy also loved going to yard sales looking for a good bargain. She will be missed by all who loved her.

Funeral services was held Monday, Dec. 9 in the Westminster Chapel of the Sawyer-Miller-Masciarelli Funeral Homes, 123 Main Street, Westminster. Burial followed in the Woodside Cemetery, 9 Narrows Road, Westminster.

Eva Dionne, 86LANSDOWNE, VA —

Eva Dionne, of Lansdowne, VA died peacefully on Dec. 2, 2013, at the age of 86, fol-lowing a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

Eva Dionne, born on June 30, 1927 in Winchendon to Giovanni and Antonia Antognioni.

She married Roland Dionne in April 1948, and shortly after moved to Leominster, where they raised a family and established their careers.

She leaves behind her husband, Roland of 65 years; a daughter, Debra Coolack and her husband, John of Succasunna, NJ; a son,

Gary and his wife, Catherine of Potomac Falls, VA; and two granddaughters, Danielle Sullivan and her husband, John of Leesburg, VA, and Antonia Dionne of Annapolis, MD.

Eva worked numerous years for Sears Roebuck and Co. as a retail clerk. In retire-ment, she enjoyed camping, dancing, and all family functions.

There will be a memorial Mass held at Holy Family of Nazareth Parish in Leominster on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013 at 10:30 am. A pri-vate ceremony will subsequently be held for her interment at the Veterans Cemetery in Winchendon.

In lieu of flowers, contributions made in her name to the Alzheimer’s Association “alz.org” or call (800) 272-3900.

Lucille V. (Burgess) May, 101WINCHENDON —

Lucille V. (Burgess) May, age 101, of Winchendon, died peacefully Thursday morning Nov. 28, 2013 in Baldwinville Nursing Home, after an illness.

Lucille was born in Athol Jan. 14, 1912, and has lived in Winchendon

for many years. She married her beloved husband Alfred C. May, on June 25, 1935 and together they shared more than 56 years of marriage until Alfred died in 1992.

Lucille attended Athol schools, and worked for New Hampshire Ball Bearing Co, and Honeywell in Peterborough and Maynard until she retired. She was a life member of the Winchendon Rod and Gun Club, a member of the Winchendon Grange, and a member of the Winchendon Golden Age Club. She enjoyed taking trips to

Foxwoods with the Golden Agers. In her spare time, Lucile enjoyed playing cards, bingo, knitting and crocheting. Lucille was awarded the Boston Post Cane as the oldest living resident of Winchendon.

Lucille will be sadly missed by her son Alfred “Chuck” May Jr., of Winchendon, one daughter; Jean A. LaValley of Florida, one daughter-in-law; Jeanne May of Gardner, seven grandchildren, many great-grandchil-dren, and nieces and nephews. Lucille was predeceased by one son John E. May of Templeton, two brothers and three sisters.

At Lucille’s request funeral services will be private and at the convenience of the family. Should friends desire, donations in Lucille’s memory may be made to the chari-ty of one’s choice.

The Fletcher-Hebert Funeral Home (fletch-ercares.com), 70 Pleasant St., Winchendon is directing the arrangements.

Arthur Franklin Tucker Jr., 55LUNENBURG — Arthur

Franklin Tucker Jr., age 55, of Lunenburg, died Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013 in Health Alliance Leominster Hospital.

He was born Sept. 24, 1958 in Toms River, NJ the son of Arthur F. Tucker

and Helen M. (St Pierre) Tucker.He leaves his loving daughter, Jaclyn

Tucker of Chelmsford; his longtime compan-

ion, Jill Harrower of Lunenburg; his son, AJ and daughter, Lisa; four sisters, Linda and her husband, Robert of Virginia, Terry and her husband Thomas of Winchendon, Betty-Lou Tucker of Fitchburg, and Sarah of Whitinsville.

Art worked as an HVAC mechanic at various companies throughout the area. He loved all types of fishing, and was a Boston Red Sox Fan.

Memorial services were held Tuesday, Dec. 10 in the Silas F. Richardson & Son Funeral Home, 106 West St., Leominster.

SENDING A LITTLE HOME TO OTHERSGreg Vine photo

Jonie Gorecki and Kayla Maine get boxes ready for shipping to service personnel with ties to the Toy Town. According to Larry Sordoni, nearly three dozen “care packages” were put together to send to service members at home and overseas. Volunteers gathered at the American Legion Saturday morning to prepare packages designed to let active duty soldiers, sailors and marines know that they are not forgotten during the holidays.

Local musician Brian Dickens and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Winchendon will be hosting a concert on Friday, Dec. 20, featuring artists coming to town from far and wide.

Starting at 6 p.m. at the UU Dickens will kick off the evening. With just a voice and a guitar, Dickens will sing stories of his trav-els and adventures, as well as the friends he’s made on the road. Afterwards, home-town heroes Disowned are going to turn up the volume with their own mix of bluesy, metallic rock and roll. Fronted by guitar-ist and singer Justin Black, Disowned has played out of Winchendon since 2009, usual-ly with a roster full of Toy Town residents.

Third on the bill is Gregory McKillop, a songwriter and poet hailing from Portland, ME. Although McKillop got his start in Worcester, the past year has seen him trav-el the length of the United States twice. First, with his enormous 20+ member folk/punk/brass band called Speaker For The Dead, and the second trek being one he took to attend national-level poetry slams as far as Seattle, WA. On Dec. 20th however, McKillop plans to bring a more spare, subtle arrangement of piano and harp.

Rounding off the night is Little Brother, from both Amherst and Fitchburg areas. For only three members, every stage they grace is filled with an immense sound of

danceable beats and soaring vocal harmo-nies, topped with twinkling ukulele and fiery electric guitar riffs, too.

Music starts at 6 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Winchendon on 126 Central St., across the road from the Clark Memorial. For only a $5 door charge, Dickens and the UU Church sure do have a thrilling line up next week, in their monthly concert series that will continue through the winter. For more information on this show, call or text message (978) 503-2227 any time. All of the bands can be found on Facebook, and have free streams of their music online.

Greg Vine photo

The Board of Selectmen Monday night received a plaque recognizing the town as a Purple Heart Community. The plaque was presented to the board by Leo David Agnew, Commander, Department of Massachusetts Military Order of the Purple Heart. The Winchendon Highway Department is having signs made which note the town’s designation. They will posted at the entrances to the town.

Winchendon honored with military designation

Ready for some Toy Town Tunes?

WINTERFEST GIVES PAUSE IN FRANTIC SEASON

Greg Vine photos

People came and went all afternoon, sometimes filling the auditorium, at other times crowding around a table or two at a time. It is a large room and accommodate many people, but at times it was quite crowded as people filtered in to enjoy the table settings.

More photos on page 11


SPORTSSPORTSTwo travel teams successful over weekend

BY JERRY CARTONCOURIER CORRESPONDENT

WINCHENDON — Last Sunday was a successful one for Winchendon’s girls 5th, and com-bined 7/8th grade travel basket-ball teams, although the same couldn’t be said for the one boys’ team in action at Murdock High School, nor for the girls sixth grade squad.

The boys fell behind Acton/Boxboro 16-1 before launching a rally that fell a bit short despite a 10-point effort turned in by

Derrick Berlieu and six from Zander Torres-Pagan.

It was a different story for the girls teams. The 7/8 squad scored the first seven points of the contest about Fitchburg as Julia Shelly, Leah Pelkey, Molly Murphy and Cassie Skinner got things rolling. That was just the start of an outstanding afternoon for Murphy who wound up tal-lying 18 points in the 42-17 rout. The rest of the scoring was pretty evenly distributed. Megan Pierce had six points, Julia Niejadlik tal-

lied five, Pelkey had three while Shelly, Jess Niejadlik, Skinner, and Kelly Murphy scored as well. The outcome wasn’t in doubt from that first flurry as Winchendon opened a 23-12 lead at the half and turned up the defensive pres-sure in the second stanza, holding the visitors to just five points. Defense was the key even earlier after Fitchburg closed to within 11-8, but a couple steals sent the home team on a good run to effec-tively put the game in hand.

“We did a good job on defense,”

said coach Jeff Niejadlik. The sixth graders did fine defen-

sively as well, holding Quabbin to just 14 points and keeping the vis-itors scoreless until there were seven and a half minutes to go in the opening frame. The problem was offense as the locals could manage just six themselves and didn’t even get on the board until there were just a couple second remaining in the first half.

Coach Rob Allard’s undefeat-ed (3-0) fifth graders were far more impressive grabbing a

17-8 halftime lead over Maynard and coasted the rest of the way. Lexi Allard led the way but Izzy Stakely, Kaliegh Lauziere, and Cassie Zoldak all contributed as well.

“We’re beginning to find the open person which is key at this point of the season,” remarked Rob Allard. “It shows progress, which is all we can ask of the girls. I’m pleased with where we are but there’s always room for improvement.”

Clark Sharks swim into new

seasonBY JERRY CARTON

COURIER CORRESPONDENT

WINCHENDON — The Clark Sharks are moving up a competitive division this winter, but coach Julie Whittmore says she welcomes the challenge and cites, “a lot of positive energy” surrounding her program.

With a roster numbering in the mid-twenties (listed below), one reason Whittmore is excited about the future has been the creation of a “Pre-Team” program where the swim instructors recom-mend athletes for the Sharks.

“This way we’re also building for the future,” she said. “Right now we have a nice mix of veter-ans and new swimmers, about a 60-40 split, which works for us.”

The Pre-team, which holds sessions Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 6:15, is an eight week course and there are times when prospective Sharks swimmers take it twice. “We want to be fair to them and make sure they’re ready if they decide they’re interested in being part of a competitive team.

“For example, our 9-10 year-olds on the pre-team have to be able to swim 50 yards. It’s a great learn-ing environment and really prepares them for the competition when they come up to the Sharks,” said Whittmore.

Swimmers taking lessons certainly aren’t required to try out for the Sharks. “Definitely not, but the opportunity is there if they’re interested,” Whittmore emphasized.

Whittmore likes the atmosphere around the pro-gram. “Some of our older swimmers are willing to help out with the younger ones. For example, Brittany Boulerice gets in the water with them at pre-team. I have a great, experienced assistant coach in Deb Finch. She’s been around swimming forever so whenever I have a question, she’ll have the answer. She’s just a wealth of information,” Whittmore stressed.

Having hosted an Eastern Mass meet last Saturday and doing so again tomorrow gives the Sharks a respite from travel.

“There’s no appropriate league for us in the mid-dle of the state, so we’ve been put into the Eastern YMCA league and we have to usually travel a lot but that’s the way it goes. Geography is geography, so we like to host as many meets as we can. We’ve also been having to swim against teams that some-times have between 60 and 100 kids.

“But it’s going well. I can’t complain at all,” she noted.

The Sharks roster currently includes Arielle, Michaela, and Owen Benedict, Brittany and Briana Boulerice, Katie Burns, Olivia Crouteau, Cassie DeCarolis, Hannah Demanche, Piper Dienst, Alex Gusakov, Michael and Mikayla Johnson, Katie L’Ecuyer, Carly and Scott Labrecque, Alexandria Lajoie, Jessica Murphy, Ariel O’Quinn, Erica and Evan Schuster, Erin Scott, Jocelyn Touch, and Forrest Veilleux.

New era at Murdock in women’s roundballBY JERRY CARTON

COURIER CORRESPONDENT

WINCHENDON — The Murdock Lady Devils begin their 2013-14 basketball sea-son at 5:30 this afternoon when they host Narragansett, but new coach Jim Abare, while obviously hoping for a strong start, is looking beyond this first game and even beyond this season.

“We want to be as competitive as we can and we want to start to build a pro-gram that is sustainable,” Abare said in a recent pre-season interview. “I expect this group to lay the foundation for our future but at the same time, I expect them to go into every single game every night this year believing they can compete. If you don’t think you can compete, you won’t, in anything in life.”

He added, “Success breeds success.”The Lady Devils had a couple pre-sea-

son scrimmages, one in Fitchburg and one last Saturday in Wells, ME and Abare saw some things he liked a lot.

“We were playing good teams but we didn’t back off and we didn’t get dispirit-ed. Fitchburg plays D-1 teams and there were stretches we played them complete-ly even and we’re not going to see that kind of physical play in our league,” he said.

Murdock’s going to be led this winter by a trio of seniors, Amber and Autumn Brown and Morgan St. Pierre.

“I expect them to lead on and off the court. I’m a big believer in senior lead-ership, always have been. I expect them

to help bring along the younger players, not so much by anything they say but by how they act and how they prepare for games,” Abare remarked.

On the court, “I expect Amber and Autumn to score for us. Watching them during the summer league and during the scrimmages, they’re basketball players, you can see that, and they’re not afraid to put it up, so it’s reasonable to expect them to be big contributors offensively. In a perfect world, it’d be a great thing if they could average 15 or so points every night, but in any event, we’ll be counting on them for points and hustle.

“Morgan has a great basketball IQ — you can see the AAU travel experience because she has a great feel for the flow of the game and what should be going on out there. That’s important to have on a team. Our younger players can learn a lot from the three of them,” said Abare.

Deanna Polcari and Haley Jandris are likely to fill out the starting lineup most nights.

“I like the way Deanna approaches the game and Haley is going to be strong and solid for us,” Abare noted.

The Lady Devils’ roster also includes Chelsea Bussiere, Rachel Dickens, Nicole Eliason, Justice Gomez, MacKenzie Rushia, Phylicia Shippey, and Arielle Whittaker.

For Bussiere, Dickens, Rushia, and Shippey, this year represents a promo-tion to full-time varsity status, while

Eliason, Gomez and Whittaker are new to the Murdock hoops’ program.

“I’m disappointed we don’t have a JV team because these kids all need to play as many quarters as they can,” Abare lamented. “We know Rachel can come in and give us some important minutes. We know MacKenzie is capable, too. Phylicia and Chelsea and the girls who are just starting with us have real potential, but not having a junior varsity team hurts.

“That’s why we need to be able to sta-bilize the program. There should be a natural flow from youth basketball to junior varsity to varsity. We have teams on the fifth grade and sixth grade levels that play on the weekend, and we have a seventh and eighth grade travel team that is essentially our middle school team, but having that JV team would be a differ-ence maker for us,” Abare said.

The new coach brings a lot of experi-ence of his own to the Lady Devils’ bench. Abare spent 21 seasons at Gardner High, (282-192) and 17 of those girls’ teams qual-ified for the post season. Eight of them won league crowns and the 2003-04 edi-tion took the Central Mass D-1 title.

That’s an impressive resume’ but Abare isn’t the kind to look backwards.

“We’re starting something new here and we’re not going to be a second-class program. I don’t want anyone thinking that way. I expect them to be ready every night,” he asserted.

Tammy St. Pierre photos

Taking a jumper from the outside edge.

BY JERRY CARTONCOURIER CORRESPONDENT

WINCHENDON — With one win in the last two seasons, the Murdock Blue Devils, at first glance wouldn’t seem to be a team that comes to mind when thinking about post-season seedings a few months from now.

But don’t tell that to coach Steve Ringer who believes his veteran team can, in fact, make a serious run at qualifying for Districts for the first time since 2011.

“I really believe that,” Ringer stressed earlier this week as the Blue Devils prepared for tonight’s 7 p.m. season opener when they host the Narragansett Warriors.

“This is my third year as coach, and the core of this team — this is our third year together. We should be much better now. We’re going to score plenty of points. I’m not worried about the offense at all. If we’re selfless, if we can get some consistency on defense, we have the potential to have a real good year,” Ringer asserted.

Three senior returnees are expected to produce plenty of offense. Jack Murphy averaged 19 points last year as a junior, and Kevin Suchocki and Austin Russell each contributed over eight points. Also back is junior

Hunter Russell as well as freshmen Jared Nelson and Ryan Kaminsky.

New this year are seniors Alex Emerson and Shane Girard, junior transfer Marcus Allen and soph-omore Jared Berube, the latter of whom will likely play both some varsity and junior varsity games.

“We have to commit to playing good defense,” Ringer pointed out. “Everything we can do on offense will be because of a stop on the other end. That’s how you win,” he said.

Ringer likes the composition of Murdock’s roster. “We’re flexible enough that we can go with more big guys in the lineup or we can turn around and go small. Having these options will make a big dif-ference. We know Jack and Kevin and the Russells are going to get their points. It’s going to be inter-esting to see how Marcus fits into the rotation. You saw him Friday (in a pre-season scrimmage). He and Kevin will probably alternate at the point, but we’re going to be able to move guys around.

“What we are going to have to do differently this year, and this comes back to what we have to do on defense, is not let other teams go on those 20-point runs we’ve given up in the past. It’s really hard to dig out of those kinds of

holes. But again, if you commit to defense, and the guys have really been working hard on the defen-sive end in practice, then you can usually prevent those kinds of runs.

“We’ve got to make that com-mitment as individuals and as a team,” Ringer remarked.

The coach didn’t hesi-tate to talk about goals. “Our goal is to make Districts. I know we won only one game last year but this group is really coming together. We’ve gone through a lot together

and they’ve gone through some rough times together, but this year I think we can turn the cor-ner,” he said.

Hands up! That’s how you guard even the tall-est especially inside the paint.

Boys aiming for return to districts

Tammy St. Pierre photos

ABOVE, During this scrimmage it looks a bit more like rugby than basketball. RIGHT, Kevin Suchocki takes the ball down the floor.


Toy Town ChristmasBe part of a shop local campaign.

Feature your store, crafts or serviceswhere Winchendon people will see them.

Contact Ruth at the Courier at(978) 297-0050 x 100

or at [email protected] be in the Dec. 20 SHOP LOCAL issue

Alvina BlakeJanuary 1, 1909 ~ November 6, 2004

To our beautiful angel during the holidays

You are in our hearts every day

Love and miss you

All the family

town.It was Scheid’s recommendation

that the board continue to tax res-idential and business properties at a single rate.

According to figures presented to the board, the new tax rate would be set at about $15.96 per $1,000 of assessed property value. This rep-resents an increase of about seven percent in the actual tax rate.

However, Scheid pointed out that the overall value of property in Winchendon has decreased “pret-ty much across the board” since the last assessment, meaning that tax bills should remain relatively stable.

“I’d be surprised if that number changes, he said.

In other action, selectmen approved the appointment of Ray Benoit as a full member of the Zoning Board of Appeals. Ronald Klash, Junior, was appointed a member of the Library Board of Trustees.

MEETINGcontinued from page A1

Sophia, a widow of William Webster Whitney. Engaging an architect from Fitchburg, the much larger house included central heating, electricity and running water. It is a beauti-ful home and has been gorgeously decorated for the holidays, every room well appoint-ed including tribute trees to members Janet Thomas and Theresa Sibley.

The Orange Whitney house, the picture at the beginning of the story, is known as a colo-nial revival style and was also built in 1900. Orange Whitney is not related to the same Whitneys who built the museum house; but is famous in his own right; being a furniture manufacturer and serving in the state legis-lature. He held fabulous parties in his well appointed home, to which many distinguished state and national guests made haste; eager to be part of the scene he created. The present owners have brought the home back to its stately good grace, it is no longer split up into multiple apartments; and is well taken care of at this point in its lifetime. Come admire its leather appointed dining room, its paneled library and the discovered niche in the parlor.

Stone LadeauOver the years the business of undertaking

changed but the honored firm of Stone Ladeau has been well respected since its beginning in

the late 1800s. The home and business has been renovated and expanded by present owners Merrily and Doug Stone, and they welcome visitors to their cozy home above the stairs and to see the many improvements to the busi-ness as well. The Victorian home and business is the product of hard work of many local craftsmen.

Eaton Sargeant HouseThe house at 518 Central St., a Queen Anne

style shingled confection with wide veran-da fronting the avenue is making its debut on the tour this year. Known as the Eaton Sargent home, it has been the home of manag-ers and treasurers of well known companies in Winchendon over the years: Alaska Freezer and Converse Toys; but now it houses scholars and educators as the home of Pam and Jack Blair. The house has seen renovation and modernization but continues to be an elegant reminder of grace and good living.

Robert MacDonald houseThe Robert MacDonald house at 15 Fairbank

St. is also new to the tour. It is a craftsman build home from the 1930s, so well built it has been held up as an example to others of good work. Now owned by Megan Mathieu, who intends to keep the handsome colonial style house in good repair and in her hands for years to come.

Kenneth White houseThe Italian Renaissance home known as

the Kenneth White estate on High Street now

owned by Charles and Kaarin Scanio has not been on the tour for a few years and is wel-comed back. The terrace and entrance alone are worth a view; and then take a peek across the back lawn to Mount Monadnock in its glory. The house has had only two owners; the Whites and the Scanios; and the European flavor of the place is palatable.

Daniel Henshaw houseContinue up High Street to Old Centre to

the Daniel Henshaw house on the left, now the home of Jay McCrohon. A Federal style house typical of its style, McCrohon is determined to keep the flavor of the home primitive and traditional. He heats mostly with the mul-tiple fireplaces and prefers candlelight; and his barebones décor with exposed beams and rough textured walls are reminiscent of the era.

If you time the visit right, McCrohon will also be opening the Old Centre Church at 4 p.m. for the Winchendon Singers to present a brief holiday concert and to light the tree before returning to his home for hot chocolate and cider.

More information on each house is included in the booklet provided by the WHS as part of the house tour this year. Be sure to stop at the Murdock Whitney House for your copy before beginning to visit, you must have a copy of the book in order to gain entrance to the homes. For more information contact the Winchendon Historical Society at (978) 297-2142.

TOURcontinued from page A1

gears at the developing animal sanctuary, but owe the majority of their success to philanthropic student volunteers, generous adoptees, and even strangers compassionate to the cause.

By the end of Ahimsa Haven’s open house, a considerable stack of paper towel rolls had appeared, as well as countless tins of cat and dog food. Sometimes, donors were in and out of the shelter in minutes, taking time out of their busy schedules to make a brief, but kind contribution. Others opted to take the day to snuggle with new furry friends, and share stories of past and pres-ent pets at home. Best of all, a few new adoption papers were taken home before the day drew to a close.

Monfreda noted with great gratitude, “Usually when we have these open houses, it gives us a fan-tastic opportunity give our pets a fun day where they can get the attention they want, and maybe even meet their next owner.”

All those interested in Ahimsa Haven and their work can find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AhimsaHaven, or email them at [email protected]. The local phone number is (978) 297-2673. New volunteers are always needed. Brian Dickens photos

This regal kitty is just waiting for a forever home.This one was poised and ready to make every know they were the right family if they were interested.

SHELTERcontinued from page A1

The Kiwanis and Key Clubs worked together to give out more than 200 gifts, and were left with very few extras upon the culmination of the event. Memorial School Principal Nina Schlikin glanced with a smile at the jovial tables of Key Club students, noting, “It’s the camaraderie that I love to see. Isn’t it great? Even outside of school, outside of their classes.”

The Kiwanis meets at the Carriage House every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., and would like to invite all those interested in serving the town of Winchendon to pay a visit and share their ideas.

They sponsor both Mahar and Murdock Key Clubs because the Orange Kiwanis Club is no longer in existence, though the Key Club is vibrant and needed a sponsor. Winchendon stepped in and adopted the second high school.


Santa took a moment with his elf Jess and her little guy, Lucas.

A whole family managed to squeeze in for a quick photo with the jolly elf.

BRUNCHcontinued from page A1

Photo Reprints AvailableCall for details 508-764-4325


HELP WANTEDCLEANINGWinchendon Furniture, 13 Railroad St.,

needs a cleaning person to work 1-2 days a week. Mother’s Hours; flexible hours. Call or stop in and ask for Glenn: (978) 297-0131.

MARKETING ASSISTANTAssist owner of company in listing items

for sale on EBay and Craig’s List. May include researching items to determine

pricing, preparing items for shipment and marketing. Include resume or list of expe-rience when contacting. Compensation includes: local to Winchendon, $8 plus 2% commission of next sales paid monthly. Contact Courier, attention JOB at [email protected]. (WILL FELLOW PLACED THIS AD CONTACT ME: RUTH)

EMPLOYERSThese help wanted ads are FREE! Contact

the Courier to find out how to get help for your business by calling (978) 297-0050 x 100 or email [email protected].

FOR RENTGOODRICH APARTMENTSNow taking applications. Call for guide-

lines. (978) 297-0231. TFN

WINCHENDON1 bedroom, heat H/W and electric: $189

weekly or $700 month. First & last. Clean, parking, laundry room, storage. Call (978) 943-6208 or 978 297-3149. ALSO: 3 bedroom apartment with heat/ HW.

SERVICES MOBILE PET SERVICE Nail clipping for cats and dogs. (774) 219-

3665 or www.MobileNailClipping.com.

WANTEDWE BUY GOLDPattie’s Jewelry, open 10 a.m.-5 p.m.: best

prices. Behind Dunkin’ Donuts. (978) 297-3536.

WANTEDMotorcycles, ATVs, scooters. Cash paid

for good deals. (978) 297-1800. 5.1.14

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSDrum teacher Leon LaPlante seeks used

instruments and drum stands to help out high school students. (978) 297-1250.

FREEWOOD 2 pine logs: need to be cut. On the ground

for one year, good for outdoor burning. You cut, you take. Contact Sharon at (978) 297-6454.

LOSTLOST DOGMissing from Sibley Road area, solid

black pug with pink collar. She is neutered and about eight years old. Very friendly. We miss her terribly. Reward for her return: $500. Please call (978) 297-3598 or (978) 340-2048.

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• a S t o n e b r i d g e P r e S S P u b l i c a t i o n •

Serving the communities of Winchendon, Ashburnham, Athol, Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, Westminster, Templeton, Phillipston and southern N.H.

Winchendon CourierClassifiedsClassifiedsSNOWPLOWING

Snowplowing & Sanding20 years experience

Now accepting new customers

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SNOWPLOWINGSnowplowing & Sanding

20 years experienceNow accepting new customers

Call (978) 297-4670

ATTENTION ALL RENTERS:Olde English Village in Gardner

is now accepting applications for all 2 and 3bedroom qualified households.

Applications must meet resident screening criteria including HUD income requirements. Rents arebased on 30% of gross household income and

include heat.

For more information please contact (978) 632-6560.

Equal Housing Opportunity

Holiday Coloring Contest.The Winchendon Courier invites young artists to enter the holiday coloring contest. Three levels of entry: up to age three; four-six and six to 10 years of age. Write your name, age

and phone number on the back of your entry and deadline is December 17 at 5 p.m. If there is no one at the Courier office, items can be put through our mail slot at 44 Central St.


It’s the first Saturday in December. There are so few shopping days, so much to do, so many things to be accomplished. And of course things are tugging at you in all direc-tions, even stuff to do to celebrate, with the kids and with the family; Santa visits and fundraisers and just fun stuff.

One event that could give you a chance to pause was also on that first Saturday, and every first Saturday in December for the last several years is the Winterfest at Old Murdock Senior Center. It features several smaller events and one of the most popular is quietly held in the gorgeous second floor auditorium. Easily accessible by elevator, visitors are quietly carried up to a wonder-land. A small forest of dining tables is each set up with holiday settings.

Using heirlooms from families, unusual finds, color combinations to dazzle the eye. Live plants (and this year live fish), dried florals, found items…the array is endless.

And unique. While some people repeat the activity

from year to year, they do not repeat a table, finding it within themselves to create something new and different every time. The displays are created on Thursday and Friday, displayed on Saturday, and disman-tled again. A single day of beauty.

Downstairs, the Friends of Old Murdock have handcrafted wreaths to raffle and a wide variety of compiled baskets to raffle as well. Here is where a little money is request-ed to help with programming and events for the senior center. There is also a bake sale and refreshments available for a small donation. People mingle, chat and enjoy the company of one another. Glad for a short respite from hectic holiday hullabaloo; the wander upstairs and the genial company downstairs have made for a quiet interlude.

As soon as the new calendar goes up for 2014, flip to December and mark that first Saturday. Winterfest should definitely get

your hour or two of attention next time if you missed it this year. It will give you that

pause…that refreshes.

Service Directory ads offer sellers the fastest and most affordable wayto advertise. From apples to azaleas, Chryslers to condos, the directoryis the way to sell! Give Ruth a call today to place your ad: 978-297-0050

LAWTON Electric CompanyResidential & Commercial

John Goan48 Mason Street

Winchendon, MA 01475978-297-2170

NH #7766M • MA-Master #8941AMA-Journeyman #23302E

ROOFING, DECKS, PORCHES,WOOD-FLOORING, WINDOWS,

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Insured - References

George LeRay General Contracting Inc.978-939-5072

Made you look? Others do too. Keep your business in the public’s eye: advertise in the Courier

(978) 297-0050 x100 [email protected]

Dan the Real Estate ManDan Tenney

Agent with Keller Williams RealtyPart of the Maliska Group

(978) [email protected]

BRUCE’S BURNER SERVICEBruce W. Cloutier

978-297-1815Lic. #016828

YEARS OFSATISFIEDSERVICE

GIRARD’S Used Parts & Cars

Paying $300 each for unwanted trucks & cars

Why pay a fine to the town? Make a buck instead!Repairs $45 per hour

Also free dumping of all metal. Including car batteries.

311 Lincoln Avenue Extension Winchendon, MA

978-297-4883 • 978-790-7110

Remind WinchendonWhere You Are!

244 School St./Rte. 12 Winchendon(978) 297-0148 [email protected]

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49 Central Street, Suite 3 Winchendon, MA 01475Tel (978) 297-2390 Fax (978) 297-3673

[email protected] • www.attorneylapointe.com

Attorney David A. LaPointeDIVORCE & FAMILY LAW

OUI/CRIMINAL DEFENSE

WILLS & ESTATES • PERSONAL INJURY

So, what are your plans for late this afternoon and this evening? How about taking in a basketball

doubleheader? The Murdock Lady Devils open their 2013-14 season against Narragansett at 5:30 p.m. and the Blue Devils tip off their year at 7 p.m. What better way to celebrate the start of a new campaign than at home against your archrival?

There’s been a good deal of pre-season buzz surrounding transfer Marcus Allen and when you add veteran returnees like Austin and Hunter Russell, Kevin Suchocki, and Jack Murphy, it’s reasonable to expect the boys to begin to show significant improve-ment over the last two winters. Murdock hasn’t made the hoops post-season since 2011 and while no one’s predicting a playoff return a couple months hence, everyone’s anticipating a lot more “W”s this winter than we’ve seen the last two years. There are reportedly 20-some players on the middle school roster, so that means two teams, which in turn suggests

there’s a pipeline now if these kids stay at Murdock, but it’s no secret we’re talking a big “if”. We shall see, but for the short term, this season should be a lot more fun that recent ones have been.

The challenge facing new girls’ coach Jim Abare is daunting. His track record at Gardner speaks for itself: 17 post-season appear-ances and eight league titles in 21 seasons, but Murdock’s a whole different story. The program has been decimated by school choice in recent years and while there are fifth and sixth grade teams, as well as a combined seventh/eighth grade squad, it’ll be a while before even the best of those players are ready for high school ball. Abare gets it and he says he’s patient.

In the meantime, this year will be about laying a foundation. The three seniors, Amber and Autumn Brown and Morgan St. Pierre, Abare told me — he’s counting on that trio to set an example for those who will come after them, both on and off the floor. That gives them a chance to leave a leg-acy that will resonate far beyond basketball. Good kids and good for them. On the floor? No predictions here. Let’s see how it unfolds.

Not since 1940 has the fourth quarter of an NFL game unfold-ed the way the final 15 minutes did in Baltimore last Sunday. The defending Super Bowl champions and the woeful Vikings exchanged the lead a record six times during the quarter and scored five, count ‘em, five touchdowns in the last 2:03 before the Ravens kept their playoff hopes alive by escaping with a win. Afterwards, some rook-ie safety chirped, “we’re the best 7-6 team in the league.” Awesome.

The finishes in Foxboro and Pittsburgh were thrilling, too. Speaking of escapes, the Patriots managed to get past the crummy

Cleveland Browns but it likely came at a fearful price with Rob Gronkowski going down again, this time probably for a long time. The Steelers almost won with some trickeration but Antonio Brown stepped out of bounds on the Miami 12 yard line just as he was about to give the frozen snowy fans at Heinz Field the best highlight of the year. The Saints took temporary control of the NFC South but have to go to Charlotte for a rematch next week. The Redskins and coach Mike Shanahan appear to have quit on each other and, oh yes, Peyton Manning ran up 51 points. Who’s the AFC favorite again?

Why would Robinson Cano favor Seattle over New York? Money. That’s obvious, but there are rumors the Mariners are interested in trying to pry David Price from the budget conscious Rays. Price and King Felix — that would be about the best 1-2 start-ing duo you could hope for. Are the M’s actually going to make some noise in the AL West? The Yanks exchanged Curtis Granderson

(Mets) for Carlos Beltran and the Sox kept Mike Napoli. Stay tuned: the Hot Stove League is sizzling this week.

Few things in sports are more irritating than the people in Columbus, OH referencing themselves as THE Ohio State University and thus it was amus-ing and pleasing to see Urban Meyer’s team lose the Big Ten title game to Michigan State. That knocked OSU from the final-ev-er BCS championship game, sent the Spartans to the Rose Bowl and created an ACC-SEC title tilt between Florida State and Auburn. The SEC hasn’t lost since, I think, around 2007 or so. But the Seminoles have a legitimate shot at ending that streak.

Finally, the draw for the 2014 World Cup was held the other day. Did you notice at all? If not, the US team didn’t get any breaks, sug-gest the soccer aficionados. Maybe a deep run will help promote the game in this country, but isn’t that what we always say? It is indeed. See you next week.

Into a new sports season…

JERRY CARTON

Talking SporTS

Winterfest gives pause in frantic season

Greg Vine photos

Jane Galat’s pottery is Polish and has a story behind each piece. The pattern means some-thing in each case, and she is very pleased to describe the origins of the set.

Better Tomorrow cat rescue had a table, apparently set by the cats themselves, who also decorated the tree rather haphazardly.

Peggy Corbosiero focused on poinsettia and the color red this year for her table. Wrapping the small gifts, she said, was the most time consuming this year; as she wanted to make the table “perfect.”

Legal NoticeWinchendon Conservation Commission727 Spring Street; Assessor’s Map 9, Parcel 44 Pursuant to the provisions of M.G.L. Chapter 131, Section 40, and the Town of Winchendon Wetlands Protection Bylaw, the Winchendon Conservation Commission will hold a public hearing on Thursday, December 19th, 2013 at 7:10 pm to consider the Notice of Intent filed by property owner Bethany Bible Chapel for proposed work in the 200-foot Riverfront Area to the Miller’s River, the 100-foot Buffer Zone to Bordering Vegetated Wetlands, and Estimated/Priority Habitat at 727 Spring Street; Assessor’s Map 9, Parcel 44. The project entails the removal of trees, including stumps, and grading to create a playground. The hear-ing will be held in the 4th Floor Conference Room of the Winchendon Town Hall, 109 Front Street. The Notice of Intent is available for pub-lic review at the Land Use Office, Room 10 (first floor) of the Winchendon Town Hall on Mondays and Thursdays during the hours of 9am – 12noon, except for 3pm – 6pm on the fourth Thursday of the month (meeting night), or by calling the Conservation Agent for an appointment at 978-297-3537.

December 13, 2013

Commonwealth ofMassachusetts

County of WorcesterThe Superior Court

CIVIL DOCKET# WOCV2013-01942RE: Abare v McArthur et alORDER OF NOTICE BY PUBLICATION

TO: George E McArthur, Janet McArthur,George W. McArthur, James E. McArthur, Mary E. McArthur and Martha Zimmer RESIDENCES UNKNOWN,

GREETING: WHEREAS a civil action has been begun against you in our Superior Court by James Abare wherein it is seeking to remove a cloud on a title. We COMMAND YOU if you intend to make any defense, that on 01/20/2014 or within such further time as the law allows you do cause your written pleading to be filed in the office of the Clerk of Court at Worcester in the County of Worcester, in said Commonwealth, and further that you defend against said suit according to law if you intend any defense, and that you do and receive what the Court shall order and adjudge therein. Hereof fail not, at your peril, or as otherwise said suit may be adjudged and orders entered in your absence. It appearing to this Court that no per-sonal service of the Complaint has been made on the defendant a deputy sheriff having made a return on the summons that after diligent search he can find no one upon whom he can lawfully make service, a copy of which is hereto attached and made part of this notice, it is ORDERED that notice of this suit be given to them by publishing in the Winchendon Courier, a newspaper published in Massachusetts, once a week for three successive weeks, the last publication to be at least 20-days before said return day.Dated at Worcester this 21st day of November, 2013.

Robert B. Gordon, Justice

Dennis P. McManus, Esq.,Clerk of the Courts

By: Joanne C. Herring, Assistant Clerk

December 13, 2013December 20, 2013December 27, 2013

LEGALS

special town meeting thrown into holiday mix · ings thursday night to discuss the situation....

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