Opioid-related deaths, unintentional/undetermined January 2000 – December 2016.

By Charles Lane

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health released preliminary 2016 fourth quarter data for opioid-related deaths among Massachusetts residents last week.

The report shows death rates involving heroin continue to decline, however, those deaths have decreased at approximately the same rate that fentanyl-related deaths have increased. The report also shows a 15 percent decrease in 2016 in the number of prescriptions for schedule II and III opioids compared with 2015.

Local Rotarian Rod Laurenz took the Polar Plunge with some 250 brave volunteers in an effort to raise funding and awareness for polio eradication research.

By Rebecca Danvers

To raise awareness and critically needed funds to fight polio, Rod Laurenz from the Rotary Club of Somerville joined over 250 volunteers and Rotarians who plunged into the icy waters off of Gloucester as part of the Rotary District 7930’s 7th Annual Polar Plunge on February 4.

So far were correct on the re-election rally for Alderman At Large Mary Jo Rossetti on February 28 at Orleans Restaurant in Davis Square across from the parking lot on 65 Holland Street, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Alderman-Lady Mary Jo works very hard for the city, she is always thinking of us the residents. She’s running for re-election and is one of many of the present alderman that is dedicated and listens to the residents here in Somerville.

Newly-announced Alderman at Large candidate Will Mbah.

By William C. Shelton

Will Mbah, a Woods Avenue resident, has announced his candidacy for Alderman at Large. His background is unique among modern aldermanic candidates.

It involves a circuitous journey from a West African household of modest means to advocating for economic development and affordable housing in New England’s densest city. Yet its elements of hope, endurance, and determination are common among generations of immigrants who settled in Somerville over the past two centuries.

Eagle Feathers #123 – Happy Anniversaries

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

She’s 175 years old this year and counting. It’s not polite to ask a mature lady her age, but she doesn’t mind at all. Her roots as part of Charlestown, her maiden name, go back to July 4, 1629, the day Charlestown was founded. This makes her older than Boston and Cambridge. Thus, her history before becoming Somerville in 1842 is also Charlestown’s history.

Why is it that so many of us have to get in our cars or board public transportation each day when we go to work?

Is it just our bad luck that that the only job we can possibly work at happens to be 40 miles or more away from where live and shop and play and…well, live our lives?

Lady Highlanders Senior Night and the last home game was held Friday night, February 17. Best of luck to the two seniors on the team: Miranda Melanson #13 and Kiara Alejandro #21.

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Said Not Said
by Fred Marchant
(GRAYWOLF PRESS 2017)
Release Date: May 2, 2017

Fred Marchant, the author of the poetry collections, The Looking House and Full Moon Boat among other titles, has released a new collection Said Not Said from the Graywolf Press.

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Somerville resident Kirk Etherton writes: “I wrote this poem when one of my favorite neighbors was three years old. Last year, she helped to make the igloo. School Street is a fun place to live – in any season.”

Former Somerville resident and Bank of Boston CEO

Ira Stepanian died suddenly on February 13 in Bonita Springs, Florida. He is survived by the family he loved – his wife Jacquie, his son Philip, daughter Alisa, son Steven and his wife Kate, and his three granddaughters: Sophie, Charlotte and Elizabeth. Born in 1936 in Cambridge, MA to Armenian immigrant parents, Ira graduated from Somerville High School and received a B.A. in Economics from Tufts College and an M.B.A. from Boston College Graduate School of Business Administration.