The Somerville News Person of the Week, Leigh Harkins Gerow.

Meet Leigh Harkins Gerow, our choice as The Somerville News Person of the Week this week, May 23, 2012. Leigh is a lifelong Somerville resident, grew up here, went to school here, and was recently married. Leigh grew up in the Berkeley Street section of Somerville where a lot of other families with kids lived. She attended Somerville schools, and while at Somerville High was part of the Drama Club and was in many plays over the years. After graduating in 1993, she went on to Northeastern University and while going to school she also worked at the Perkins School for the Blind.  There she met her husband, Christopher Gerow, and they married about a year ago. Leigh taught herself sign language and is now a self-employed sign language interpreter, working from her home here in Somerville.

Winning the GBL Championship Meet was a great way for the SHS seniors to finish their track careers at SHS. The seniors will graduate with a four-year indoor/outdoor record of 31-1 and eight consecutive GBL Championship Meet titles for Indoor and Outdoor.

One Saturday morning in March Lisa Doyle negotiated the riotous terrain of the Bagel Bards meeting at the Au Bon Pain in Davis Square to meet with me for an interview. Doyle, a longtime Somerville resident, has created along with her sister Lisa and her brother Mark a sophisticated collection of songs for children titled “Lion Face Song.”

Somerville poet Reza Tokaloo sent us this poem he wrote while he was away in the woods involved with a psychodrama retreat. Tokaloo is studying for his M.S. in Social Work at Simmons College in Boston.

Musicians and bands throughout Somerville celebrated and utilized an underused public venue: the porch.

~Photo by William Tauro

At 10:16 a.m. Somerville 911 received report of a hold up alarm from the Century Bank, 102 Fellsway West.  Simultaneous calls came from bank personnel.  The suspect reportedly passed a note demanding cash and fled the bank on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash, including bait money.

Residents are invited to help shape the meeting agendas by visiting the ResiStat Web site, www.somervilleresistat.blogspot.com, where they can take the Meeting Survey to propose topics for discussion. Residents may also call ResiStat Coordinator Denise Taylor at 617-625-6600 ext. 2103.

Somerville Parks, Now and Then is the 11th annual Historic Bike Tour, sponsored in cooperation  with the Somerville Bike Committee.  This year’s theme will take us from end of the City to the other, learning about Somerville’s wealth of parks and what they used to be.  Sunday, May 20, 2 p.m. gathering in the City Hall parking lot.  The tour will depart promptly at 2:15 p.m.

– Photo by William Tauro

By William Tauro

Early Friday evening Somerville Police officer Sal Fusco chased and apprehended an alleged shoplifter that fled from the scene of a store located in Twin City Plaza.

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.)

That was one of the phrases Johnny used to use when it was closing time at the Embassy Lounge at 524 Somerville Ave. “Drink ‘em up! Come on. Let’s go. I don’t care where ya go but ya can’t stay here, you follow me?” I am going to mention as many old bars and lounges as I can recall, with the help of my friends. This will not be an all inclusive list, just as many as we can recall. I am not including some current bars because they already get enough publicity but you know where they are. This is by no means a complete list. I wish I knew what all the old bar names were, but we have done our best. I am going on memory and hearsay!