Highland Avenue was lined with flag wavers of all ages on Sunday for the 2008 Memorial Day Parade. More than 40 marching bands, community and school groups, and more than 200 Aleppo Shriners, performed throughout the 2.3 mile route.

Also marching from Somerville High School to Teele Square were three distinguished Grand Marshals: attorney James A. O’Donovan, a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army and a former City Solicitor; Joseph M. Steen, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who served during the Korean conflict; and Captain James J. Galvin a retired US Navy officer and  SWIFT Boat commander during the Vietnam War.

By Mia Lamar

As rice prices around the world skyrocket, a new local business collective has begun to organize  Somerville restaurants in an attempt to increase buying power and secure lower rice prices for those hardest hit by the pinch.

The initiative is among the first to be made by the new Somerville Local First, a community agency launched three weeks ago to represent the interests of Somerville’s local businesses. Joe Grafton, Executive Director of SLF, said he decided to organize the initiative after a meeting late last week with Luis Morales, a pastor in East Somerville and owner of several restaurants in the neighborhood, including Taco Loco Mexican Grill and El Gaucho’s. Grafton said he and Morales discussed concerns about the "drastic" increase in rice prices and its effect on ethnic businesses to whom rice is a staple item.

Sciortino lawyer: Nomination papers were stolen
By George P. Hassett

State Rep. Carl Sciortino says he noticed his nomination papers were missing on May 6. And after he spent the next week, including one entire day, searching without success for the elusive documents, his lawyer is arguing they were stolen from his State House office.

By Jack Nicas

Tony Pierantozzi is wrapping up his third year as superintendent of the Somerville School District, a tenure marked by many highs and one fiery low — the devastating blaze that destroyed the East Somerville Community School last winter.

Pierantozzi was the guest at the May 16 Somerville News contributors meeting and said he wants to continue improving Somerville’s educational reputation.

He said Somerville public schools are much better than people believe: “Reality and perception have a five-year gap, and with education that may be even longer.”

By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

When I ran for mayor back in 2003, one of my campaign pledges was to establish a 311 constituent service line. I’d seen 311 at work in Baltimore, New York and Chicago. I knew how useful it could be, both as tool for tracking performance and productivity in city government and – even more important – as a way to empower residents doing business with the city. But despite my enthusiasm, many of my fellow residents approached 311 with caution. Some people liked the idea and said so, but almost as many didn’t think it would make much difference – or that it would end up being a costly gimmick.

Off The Shelf By Doug Holder

Way Opens: A Spiritual Journey. Patricia Wild. (Warwick House Publishers 72 Court St. Lynchburg, Virginia 24504) $15.

Some people live with blinders on. They are afflicted with tunnel vision. They block out the light of the plight of others and are members of the cult of “me” or their immediate circle of friends and family. Now these are not necessarily bad people. It is hard enough to keep one’s own head above water in these troubled times. And, if one is living in the envious environs of middleclass white America, then it is easy to be blinded to what’s happening behind their sheltered gates.

By George P. Hassett

In 1984 Cynthia Snow left Suffolk University with a 2.2 grade point average. In the next two decades she overcame many challenges – bankruptcy, divorce, single motherhood and a new career as a Somerville firefighter, where she was the third female on a force of 165 men – but still, something was missing.

“I longed to get myself back to where I thought I was meant to be: to finish my education,” she said.

On Sunday, May 18, 26 years after first entering Suffolk, Snow walked across the graduation stage to receive her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. And that grade point average? After two years of almost straight A’s, it rose to a 3.3.

On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Drums beating, horns blaring, fire engine sirens screeching – parades are great! This year’s Somerville Memorial Day Parade is supposed to be the biggest ever, but let’s not forget that the main purpose of the parade is to pay tribute – it is to remember all those brave men and women who gave their lives, as well as those who continue to fight today – so we can continue to enjoy our basic American freedoms. We stand and clap with proud yet mournful hearts as members of Veterans units march by us – we say a special prayer as those matriarchs of the parade – the Gold Star Mothers – pass us.

We must never forget the reason we celebrate Memorial Day, we cannot.

Somerville is no stranger to greedy developers running through its neighborhoods grabbing all the cash and land they can. That is why residents and elected officials should always approach developments that affect our neighborhoods carefully and with a healthy dose of skepticism, maybe even paranoia.

But the dispute on College Avenue between Dr. Mouhab Rizkallah and his West Somerville neighbors does not fit the profile of some moneyed intruder here to make a buck and ruin the property value of all abutters.

Rizkallah must build a stairwell and an elevator by law to satisfy the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. By law. That means he has to. Get it? And because his property is zoned for commercial use he can. By law. That means he can. In fact he could build another multi-story building there if he wanted to. But he’s not. Just a stairwell.