By Jim Clark 

Members of the Somerville Police Department Drug Control Unit took action last week against a suspected crack cocaine distribution ring. Investigators reportedly learned of the operation from information offered by a confidential source. The source reportedly named Denwich Bastien, 26, as the primary operator of the drug ring.

The Somerville News Person of the week, Bob "Monty" Doherty

Meet our pick for Person of the Week here in Somerville, Bob “Monty” Doherty, a retired Somerville Fire Fighter. He was assigned to the Fire Prevention Department as an Inspector, where he would go into many homes over the years and ask questions about the houses and the people who occupied them and learn the history of everywhere he went. Monty has been working since retirement with the Somerville Historical Society.

(L to R) Father Dennis Dever, Pastor of St. Clement's, Mrs. Ida Azzolino and her daughter, Mrs. Diane Blouin. Ida Azzolino was chosen to present the gifts during a special Mass celebrated by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston. Ida Azzolino, who will be 100 years old in September, represented all 100 years of St. Clement's, as she knew all four Pastors who presided over the parish for the past 100 years. – Photo by Ross Blouin

Hundreds of parishioners attended the 100th anniversary of St. Clement Parish, Warner St., Medford/Somerville. The 100th anniversary was celebrated at a special Mass on Sunday April 29 with Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, and many of the former priests of St. Clement church.  St. Clement’s has had four pastors in 100 years.  The first Mass was celebrated by Father Thomas McCarthy in April 1912, in a tent at the same location on Warner Street. Father McCarthy was the founder of St. Clement Parish.  He built a stucco church, on the same site.  Monsignor Robert Barry dedicated the present church, on Warner Street, in 1942.  He was replaced by Monsignor Peter Hart who was replaced in 1984 by Father Dennis Dever, the current Pastor of St. Clement Parish.

– Photo by Bobbie Toner

Friends came together to celebrate Maryann Heuston’s campaign for Middlesex South Register of Deeds at the Dante Club Tuesday night. The rain was not enough to stop the “Friend Raiser” from having a great turnout and give Maryann a great base to build her campaign on.

Former Somerville High School basketball star Franklin Salvador is heading to Europe as part of the D3hoops.com All-Star Team.

Thomas College sophomore guard, former Somerville High School boys’ basketball star, Franklin Salvador  has been named to the D3hoops.com All-Star Team and will head to Europe from May 21-31 and is scheduled to visit and play against opponents in Paris, Amsterdam, and Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Community volunteerism is an uplifting thing to observe and, especially, to participate in. When the efforts involved result in making the community a bit cleaner and a more comfortable place to live then it is all to the better.

– Photo by George Proakis.

When actress Amy Poehler briefly flashed a budget during an episode of NBC’s hit show Parks & Recreation this week, the city’s eagle-eyed Director of Planning, George Proakis, recognized it. After stopping the recording and zooming in, Proakis confirmed his hunch. Yes, it was the Somerville FY2011 Budget in all its municipal glory—open to page 18. Proakis snapped a few photos, others confirmed the evidence, the city posted it to Facebook and it went viral. To date, more than 33,000 individuals have looked at the city’s main Facebook page www.facebook.com/SomervilleCity this month for a total of more than 250,000 hits.

Martha Collins is well known to Somerville poets. She taught at UMass Boston for many years and started their undergraduate Creative Writing Program. I had the privilege to have her as a featured reader in the Somerville News Writers Festival, and I interviewed her on my Somerville Community Access TV show ” Poet to Poet: Writer to Writer.” Well Bagel Bard Irene Koronas got her hot little hands on her latest collection ” White Papers” and wrote a review/ just for you.

Well Poetry Month has just passed, so here is a post poetry month poem by Jennifer Matthews. Matthews is an accomplished singer/songwriter, and also a fine poet and writer. Find out more about this gal at http:/www./jennifermatthews.com.

City Calls For Responses To On-Line Viewer Survey For Local Public Affairs, Education and Community Cable TV

 The City of Somerville, with the participation of Somerville Community Access Television (SCAT), has issued a request for residents to participate in a brief on-line survey about their viewing habits and preferences for the City’s public access cable television channels and SCAT’s Channel 3.  The City of Somerville provides an Education Channel (Channel 15 on local cable service) that offers schools-related programming and a City Cable public affairs channel (Channel 16 on Comcast; Channel 13 on RCN).