Daniel Bussy is being assisted by Melissa (25 yards freestyle and 15 yards freestyle both gold medal)

Qualifying trials for the upcoming Special Olympics swimming competition was held at the J. F. Kennedy Elementary School pool in Somerville on Saturday, April 23. This was the 2nd year that the annual event was held there.

Assisted and unassisted events were arranged for swimmers hoping to take part in the Special Olympics to be held at Harvard University Blogette Pool June 18-19.

The GBL freshman-sophmore girls track meet held on Thursday, April 21, at Cambridge, saw freshman Melissa Baptista having a great day with three first places in the high jump, 400m hurdles, and relay.

Alison Kaba took first in the 100m, while Meghan Lynch led in the mile.

What is this thing called  love?  Poet Julian Gallitano has the answer, at least for him.

Lisa D. Kaufman is a visual artist whose works have been presented at the Kali Aso Studio in Boston and at the Cambridge Center of Adult Education. She is a Yoga teacher-in-training and an emerging poet. Her poetry has appeared in The Somerville News, Bagel Bards Anthology, and the Wilderness House Literary Review. She has performed her poetry at open micas in the Boston area including the Lizard Lounge, Dire Literary Series, The Cantab Lounge, Atomic Bean Café, and The Tapestry of Voices Poetry Series. She has a B.S. in Occupational Therapy with a minor in Studio Art from the University of New Hampshire and a M.S. in O.T. from Boston University.

Somerville residents Yani Batteau and Olga Solomita started a poetry and music series at the Precinct Bar in Union Square, Somerville for the month of April (2011)–every Monday night. Such Spoken Word Artists as Angela Counts, Betraz Alba Del Rio, Lisa Kaufman, Judah LeBlang and others have or will read in this new venue. This series will also include musicians of various genres. They hope it will continue at the Precinct or in some form at another venue in the near future. I have interviewed Batteau before, and found she is a multi-talented artist, and musician. Recently I connected with her partner in this venture:

Doug Holder: What was the germ of the idea for the series?
Olga Solomita: Yani Batteau has been working with her band, ‘The Styles’, for just about one year. Within this year she has worked very hard to establish herself, specifically, as a professional musician. I have been along side her throughout this process. During this process, as Yani has found her voice, I, in turn, after a long hiatus, have begun to find mine again, and in more ways than one. Hence, without knowing exactly what I was looking for, I was searching through Craigslist looking for opportunities for myself as well as Yani.

Arrests

Oscar Garcia, 25, of 38 Oliver St., April 18, 3:53 p.m., arrested at Dell St. on a warrant charge.

Mauricio Zepada, 28, of 180 Bennington St., Boston, April 18, 4:52 p.m., arrested at Franklin St. on a warrant charge.

Joseph Estralle, 18, of 133 Rock Glen Road, Medford, April 18, 5:35 p.m., arrested at 1 Davis Sq. on a charge of receiving stolen property.

Edwin Lopez, 27, of 36 Franklin St., April 19, 12:20 a.m., arrested at 77 Cross St. on a charge of assault and battery and attempted murder.

Bob Woodward will be coming to Tufts as the speaker in the Richard E. Snyder President’s Lecture Series. The lecture is set to take place April 25 at 4:30 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium, Aidekman Arts Center on Tufts University ‘s Medford/Somerville campus.

Woodard has been described by The Wall Street Journal as “the most celebrated journalist of our age.” Winner with Carl Bernstein of a 1973 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Watergate scandal, Woodward has received almost every prestigious award in journalism. His role as the main reporter for the Post’s coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks helped the newspaper win the National Affairs Pulitzer Prize in 2002.

New locations added for 2011; Community BBQ to be held at Blessing of the Bay Boat House
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The annual Somerville Spring Clean-Up will be held on Saturday, April 30  from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at locations throughout the City.  The annual cleanup, sponsored by Xfinity, will be held in partnership with Groundwork Somerville. A rain date has been set for Sunday, May 1.

Additionally, the community BBQ following the Cleanup will be held at the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse on Shore Drive, instead of at Nunziato Field and the Community Growing Center as in recent years.

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.)

I would like to dedicate this story to my friend Brian Spingel. When we lost Brian, we lost a great father, friend and coach.

I have baseball cards with my two sons pictures on them, glossy photographs, and refrigerator magnets. It shows the boys smiling in their little league uniforms just like little major leaguers.

By Andrew Firestone

A Somerville man is now in custody after precipitating an early morning car-crash, Friday, April 22, that left one person dead.

21-year-old Kenneth Belew of Somerville along with five others had left a house party, and were on their way back to Somerville on McGrath Highway when operator Kenneth Brelew of 11 Fiske Ave. lost control of the vehicle and smashed into a concrete barrier.

By George P. Hassett

A Medford man was arrested three times in three days last week in Somerville, police said.

John Gogos, 47, of 81 Magoun Ave., was charged with assault and battery April 14, destruction of property over $250 April 15 and carrying a dangerous weapon and failure to stop for police April 16.