By Donald Norton

A good sized crowd was present at Somerville High School’s Highlander Café last Friday, hoping to not just win the grand prize of $10K but to raise a lot of money for the SHS Scholarship Foundation.

Eagle Feathers #129 – Everett

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Edward Everett’s political rise began in 1825 while living in his mansion-like home on the summit of Winter Hill. From this elevation, he enjoyed a panoramic view of South Malden.

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Somerville Bagel Bard Lawrence Kessenich reviews a new book of poetry…

Before We Were Birds

Susan Richmond (Adastra Press, 2017)

A sentence from the blurb by Fred Marchant on the back of Before We Were Birds is a good jumping off point for this review: “Richmond’s poems … continually ask us to imagine the natural world as rife with spirits, ones that for a moment in the ongoing metamorphoses have taken on the form of dolphin or snowy owl … or a fox that stops and stares right back.” Nature, spirits, and metamorphoses are the common threads that run through this collection – and there’s a quality of nature staring right back at us that lends it power as well.

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Scott Ruescher’s book of poems, Waiting for the Light to Change, has just been published by Prolific Press. It is available at https://prolificpress.com/bookstore/.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority will be replacing a gate valve on Boston Ave. in Medford on either Wednesday, May 17 or Thursday, May 18. There is no expected interruption of water service, and the potential for discolored water is minimal for Somerville residents in the Ball Square area.

However, if water is discolored it is safe to drink, but it is advisable to avoid washing clothes, especially white fabrics. If any rust stains appear on wet laundry, it should not be dried, and residents can call 311 or 617-666-3311 from cell phones or outside the city for a free bottle of rust remover.

Arrests:
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Deanne Fronduto, of 121 Central Ave., Medford, May 9, 6:43 p.m., arrested at Assembly Row on a charge of larceny over $250.

Shawn Francey, of 75 Myrtle St., May 10, 12:34 p.m., arrested at Broadway on a warrant charge of larceny over $250.

The City of Somerville invites all interested vendors to participate in the Somerville Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration on Thursday, June 29, 2017 (rain date Thursday, July 6, 2017). The City plans to have up to six (6) concession stands and vendors selling items such as balloons, toys (no toy guns permitted), food and beverage at the event. The fee for toy/novelty vendors is $50 and for food/drink $100. Food vendors must also get a City temporary food permit if they’re don’t already have a mobile food vendor license for the City of Somerville.

Dollars disappear into thin air as natural gas seeps through our streets

Massachusetts consumers pay for wasted, harmful methane gas that leaks from pipes beneath our streets. The amount of gas seeping out in Greater Boston alone could heat 200,000 homes. Meanwhile, leaking gas boosts the Commonwealth’s climate-changing emissions by as much as 10 percent since methane is far more damaging than CO2 in its first 20 years in the atmosphere.

By Maryann Heuston
Ward 2 Alderman

Every year as spring comes into full bloom, I can’t help think about Mom digging in her garden. She prided herself on tending to the Rose of Sharon bushes and seeing the early gladiolas and crocuses arrive in abundance, but trees were her true passion.

I suppose this stems from Mom growing up a city girl in a 3-decker apartment in East Boston, where the only open space for her Italian immigrant parents and 7 younger siblings was the front stoop.  Trees and green open space were scarce where she grew up, and so became important to her wherever she could seek them out.