This Thursday evening from 5-7 p.m., the Chamber of Commerce monthly Business After Hours event takes place at Redbones in Davis Square, 55 Chester Street. It’s a great networking event featuring free appetizers and a free business card drawing with cash bar. Sponsored by Rockland Trust and hosted by Somerville Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours Co-Chair Dana Iacopucci, of Cubby Oil & Energy.

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I’m writing this to tell Jax’s story so that others don’t have to learn this lesson the same way I did … the worst way imaginable.

Jax was a happy and rambunctious puppy like most but like most owners would say, he was far from common. Just ask all the people he would meet on his 2 daily walks where he marched proudly down Broadway and Medford St wagging his tail wildly the entire time and he would pull with all his might to meet everybody like he was running for Mayor. He would go from bouncing off the walls and tearing up shoes to crawling up on your lap for a nice cuddle and nap. Like all crazy pups he would get into things he shouldn’t … like the dead rat in the bushes that resembled his toy squirrel. When he emerged from the bushes with his new plaything I did what anybody would do, I yelled for him to drop it, which he did after his getaway attempt was quickly thwarted. I was grossed out and carried him inside to brush his teeth because he certainly wasn’t kissing me with that tongue anytime soon. It’s too bad toothpaste was least of my worries.

By Jim Clark

Police responded to a reported case of shoplifting at the Home Depot last week.

Investigating officers were told by store loss prevention personnel that a man, Nelson Teixiera, 30, of Dorchester, had been spotted leaving the store without paying for merchandise, a router.

It’s that time of year again. The Mayor’s Annual Senior Picnic is happening today, and it is always a fun and heartwarming event in the city.

Local seniors gather and rub shoulders with city officials, staffers, and the general public in what has become a much-anticipated highlight of the summer season.

Eagle Feathers #58 – The Last Highwayman

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

The northern border of Somerville is unique in the fact that, at one time, four rivers were related to it. The section today is called Mystic Avenue, but originally was called the Medford Turnpike. It was built in 1803 as a trade route shortcut from Medford Square to Boston. The Mystic River was and still is on its north side. The former Middlesex Canal, connecting the Merrimack River with the Charles River and using the Concord River water as its source, flowed on Mystic Avenue’s south. It was a remote area, part of the Elias Haskett Derby Ten Hills Estate. Canal Lane and River Road, which are near the former Saint Polycarp’s Church, suggest its former location.

Jennifer Matthews doesn’t walk into a room; it is more like she drifts in like some stray, haunting riff from a distant, deep, deep blue guitar. Matthews, formerly a Somerville resident is an accomplished musician who defies categorization. She told me at the Sherman Cafe as we consumed some tea and scones that she considers herself “A singer, songwriter and roots/ rock&roll musician.” By “roots” Matthews means she use an acoustic mandolin, foot stomps, hand claps, and her signature acoustic blue guitar. She and her guitar are in a committed and monogamous relationship for the past 12 years. She was shown the guitar at a music store and was not impressed with it at first. She told the clerk, “But it is a Blue guitar!” He told her: “Play it.” And like many affairs of the heart, she reluctantly, but hopelessly fell in love. And this guitar is a perfect conduit for her brand of music.

We all answer to some higher power. Poet Elizabeth McCormack wrote a poem to him, her, or it.

Arrests:
*

Nelson Teixiera, 30, of 7 Hamlet St., Dorchester, July 28, 4:46 p.m., arrested at 75 Mystic Ave. on charges of larceny over $250 and larceny under $250.

A juvenile, July 29, 10:51 a.m., arrested on a warrant charge of assault and battery.

Somerville’s Annual “Old Time” Senior Picnic will take place Wednesday, August 6, 2014 (Rain Date: Friday, August 8) at Powderhouse Park. It’s a great day filled with lunch, dancing, music, entertainment and prizes galore.