Newstalk for October 5th 2005

Congrats to Pat Jehlen for winning the late Charlie Shannon’s Senate seat, Pat will finish out the present term and will have to run again next year for reelection to a full term of office.  We know she’s excited about being elected.  We hope for our sakes that she can bring home the money and services from the State to help Somerville and the rest of the district.  We know she must be really excited, because on Saturday evening she thought she was attending Alderman Tom Taylor’s fundraiser at the Dante Club (Tom has had functions there before, so it was an honest mistake), but she quickly realized when she entered the building that it was a wedding reception for the Skipper and his new bride.  We heard from various people in attendance that she looked around the room, saw the crowd that was there and got out of there real quick.  We hope she wished the Bride and Groom well on their big day.

The rumors are flying about the open State Rep seat with plenty of names being thrown around.  We have heard long time political activist Liz Maroney’s name, Alderman Sean O’Donovan (depending on his local election result), Alderwoman Denise Provost – we even heard former Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay’s name – and no, it wasn’t from our buddy Cathy either.  It would be nice to see Joe Mackey in that race and there are plenty of others mulling it over, we are sure.  Secretary of State Bill Galvin will announce the special election timeframe for that seat soon.

The Alderman at Large race is in full swing for Alderman Bill White – we have seen his signs going up in place of the senate race signs – and we wish him the best.  We have also seen a lot of activity from Alderman Bruce Desmond and Alderman Dennis Sullivan.  All three of them are looking good to retain their seats along with Alderwoman Denise Provost.  From the “outsiders”, expect a very strong showing, if not an upset, from candidates Steve Glines and Manny Martinez – both candidates have been working hard getting their messages out to the public every day.  Oh yeah, candidate Kim Foster-Hirsh and her father Herbie are also out there running hard.  Hey, we are trying to stay positive here and not get nasty – because we know how upset certain people get when we start with what we hear on the street.  There’s still plenty of time to spin those nasty rumors out there that keep popping up all over the city.  Just remember that this is a small city and hard to keep things quiet for very long.

We have heard that there are those in the “Democratic Party” here in Somerville that want to teach those so called “defectors” on the Board of Aldermen a lesson and try and remove them from the party.  This sounds a little “McCarthy-ish” doesn’t it?  Well we know that the Ward One Democratic Committee already voted 15 to 2 not to ask Alderman Bill Roache and Alderman Dennis Sullivan to leave the party or resign.  We would hope the same will hold true with Alderwoman Maryann Heuston and Alderman Walter Pero.  Maybe it’s time for people to cut back a little on the rhetoric and try to come together to make the party and the community stronger instead of trying to tear it apart all the time.

“Beware the Barracuda”.  When Prospect Hill Publishing, Inc. purchased The Somerville News in 2003, Sandra McGoldrick, of Winter Hill Federal Savings and Loan was absolutely furious that we took the back page away from her bank.  She immediately and then constantly berated the former Publisher of the paper, Bob Publicover, about this decision, even though he had nothing at all to do with the decision – he no longer owns the newspaper.  Well that wasn’t enough for her, and in a most unprofessional manner, Sandra just kept on coming at Bob.  So Bob asked the bank to give him a detailed list of outstanding late fees and charges he incurred during a time period that he was sick (Bob has been suffering for many years with AIDS).  The bank promptly demanded he pay an hourly rate to the bank for them to research the old charges.  When the charges were finally confirmed, Bob, a customer of the bank for many years, started getting the typical big bank letters demanding he pay the money owed now, which was a far cry from when the charges were initially applied.  We suspect it had something to do with the really low low rate Bob charged them to be on the back page of the paper – because coincidentally the shit hit the fan right after they were told by the new owners that their rate no longer existed for the back page.  There are a lot of us who know from past experiences and now from present experience even more that “The Barracuda” of Winter Hill gets what she wants and if not then watch out.  Here’s another example – earlier this year the paper paid for and received permits to place newspaper boxes throughout the city and one was installed in from of her bank – within hours of the box being placed there “The Barracuda” struck again and instructed an employee of the bank to move the box down the street.  When she was confronted, she quickly had the box moved back.  We would like to know how a local bank with local customer’s money at stake, go for years charging late fees with absolutely no explanation as to why they let it go on in the first place.  Maybe it was the rate the bank paid for their ad when Bob owned the paper and they don’t like the new owners?  We wonder if Sandra will try and take Bob’s home now – you know what, it wouldn’t surprise us at all.  We also heard that Bob is filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Banking Commissioner against the bank for charging late fees many years after the fact.  It could just be harassment, which would make it even worse – who knows for sure.  One thing is for sure – “The Barracuda” of Winter Hill is striking out at someone again.

A very Happy Birthday to one year old Anthony Capobianco, who had a big birthday party held in his honor this past Sunday afternoon with over 150 people in attendance at the Capobianco household on Cambria Street.  There was plenty of catered food and refreshment and a fun time was had by all who attended.  Anthony seemed pretty impressed at the turnout when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him.