An alarm was received from the Stop & Shop at 779 McGrath Highway this weekend. Arriving firefighters found heavy smoke in the penthouse area of the building. The fire was confined to a natural gas powered generator and was extinguished using several fire extinguishers. The cause of the fire appears to be electrical wiring connected to the generator. A representative from the Board of Health and an electrical inspector were called to the scene.

— Photos by Claudia Ferro

Eagle Feathers #51 – The Packers

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

The John P. Squire Company was established in 1842, the year the Bunker Hill monument was capped and the year Somerville broke away from Charlestown. Along with the North Packing & Provision Company, and the New England Dressed Meat and Wool Company, they made up the “Big Three.” The first packing company specialized in beef products, the second in pork, and the third in lamb products. Their presence caused other spin-off companies to be born in the Union Square area which, when combined, made Somerville the undisputed meatpacking capital of New England. She was known as the Chicago of the east.

Union Square concerns

Concerned over the pace of the Union Square redevelopment process, organizations, residents and local businesses have been organizing: circulating talking points, a petition and lists of priorities.

Poems That Make Grown Men Cry:
100 Men On The Words That Move Them.
Edited by Anthony and Ben Holden.
( Simon and Schuster) $25.
Review by Doug Holder

Ben Holden, who along with his father Anthony Holden ( Both accomplished writers in their own right) are editors of the new poetry anthology Poems that Make Grown Men Cry… Ben Holder points out in the introduction to the book that Charles Darwin was at a loss to explain “crying,” describing it as that “special expression” attributed to humans. And this raw, mostly involuntary mode of expression is something we often try to hide—at least in public. But there is something blatantly honest about it in a world of artifice that makes us uncomfortable. We have all been at the oh-so polite poetry readings where people posture in poses of forced ecstasy and drone the perfunctory ah and um. Here, in this anthology, the readers of these poems unabashedly cry. And these aren’t just any readers. This collection is a survey of one hundred men of letters and the arts—poets, critics, authors, directors, artists, etc… who don’t cry at the first blush of cheap sentiment thrown at them. Their emotions cannot be bought for the price of salted peanuts and a cocktail. Such noted men as John Le Carre, Harold Bloom, Chris Cooper, Clive James, Jonathan Franzen, Billy Collins and many others shed a well-considered tear here.

Mary Rice, who died in 2011, was a Cambridge poet, Somerville Bagel Bard, and for several years, poetry editor for the Somerville-based Ibbetson Street magazine. A convert to Catholicism with a strong feminist bent, she was an admirer of the radical feminist “theologian” Mary Daly (d. 2010).  In Thoughts on the Death of Mary Daly, Rice speculates on Daly’s future in the life after this one, with her typically probing imagination and wit. Mary Rice’s poems are collected in her book Angels and Anarchists, published early this year; for more information, contact Dorian Brooks, dorianb@verizon.net.

Arrests:
*

Frantzcia Saintlouis, 25, of 40 Rock Valley Ave., Everett, April 22, 11:00 a.m., arrested at 640 Broadway on warrant charges of failure to stop or yield, unregistered motor vehicle, and uninsured motor vehicle or trailer.

Gregory Coughlin, 47, of 270 Ridge Ave., Waltham, April 22, 8:53 p.m., arrested at Highland Ave. on a charge of operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor.

The community is invited to a public meeting to provide feedback on a report that details how the city conducted its accessibility self-evaluation for streets and sidewalks, and the system used to develop the curb ramp schedule and reconstruction priorities for sidewalks.

The public meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 15 at 6 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chambers at City Hall will gather community feedback on the 2013 Pedestrian Accessibility Study available online at www.somervillema.gov/departments/personnel/ADA.

“Another Chance: Reversing the Effects of Opiate Overdoses”
*

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan sponsored a training for police officers and firefighters from across Middlesex County in how to use the drug Narcan for the treatment of opioid overdoses.

(L to R) Elizabeth Chaves, MAPS Board President; Paulo Pinto, MAPS Executive Director; Claire Andrade-Watkins; co-hosts Edna Monteiro Leith and Marcony Almeida.

Award recipients, staff and board members, along with volunteers, friends and supporters, of the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) raised a record $130,000 at the organization’s 2014 Awards Gala April 12 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

The highlight of the event, which drew over 400 guests, was the presentation of awards to six recipients who were honored for their significant contributions to the lives of Brazilians, Cape Verdeans, Portuguese and others in Massachusetts.

Grand Guacamole Winner Isaac Hendrickson with judges Jay McKenzie, Michelle Lahey and Jen Che.

The Painted Burro in Davis Square hosted its second annual “Guac Off” Sunday, April 13. The competition pit 12 local guac experts’ recipes against one another for the ultimate bragging rights. Judges included: Jay McKenizie, a Somerville firefighter and winner of The Painted Burro’s “Burro Churro Challenge”; Somerville Scout writer Michelle Lahey; and Jen Che of the popular local food blog Tiny Urban Kitchen. The judges put each guacamole recipe to the test while guests sampled and voted for their favorites.