Many targets
of bullying once felt when they left school the bullying stopped, but
now with technology, the bullying continues even after they arrive home
via cell phone and popular social media, like Facebook and MySpace.
This type of bullying is more commonly referred to as "cyber-bullying"
which include threatening emails, anonymous messages, and posting
insults on websites.

Bulling is often glorified in the media
with shows like "Gossip Girl" and the popular movie "Mean Girls." What
is not depicted are the lifelong emotional and social scars that are
endured by the targets of bullies. The constant stress and fear can
even cause physical conditions and can impact schoolwork. More
frightening, the constant onslaught of verbal or physical attacks can
cause the target to consider suicide as an option to escape the pain
and one to many students have taken that course.

The state of
Massachusetts defines bullying as occurring when a student is exposed,
repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or
more students. The difference between teasing and bullying is that
bullying is relentless. Targets are bullied for various reasons
including sexual orientation, race, social status, or physical
appearance.

The Somerville Cares About Prevention, S.C.A.P.,
held a community conversation about bullying last Thursday. Filling the
room were teachers, parents, and students all looking for advice, help
and some comfort knowing they weren't alone.

"As a parent, its
frightening to think that my daughters face this every day and I feel
helpless. It kills me to see my child in pain," said one mother. "I
just try to tell them to ignore it. I just don't understand the need of
bullies to put others down or the need for violence."

The
eclectic group discussed the positive and negative impacts of turning
to adults for help. For example, if a student turns to teachers or a
principal for help, bullying may increase as a form of revenge if the
bully is reprimanded. The Somerville public schools have programs
available including peer mediators that are available for youth. One
student encouraged the program, "I like it because it's confidential. I
don't have to worry about everyone finding out about my problems."

A
popular question parents had for the students was what they do if a
friend is being bullied and if they try to stop it. The students all
voiced the same feedback in which they would not intervene because they
did not want the attention placed on them. They would however say
something if they were friends with the bully in a non-confrontational
way.

One student explained her fear further, "When someone is
being bullied, its not just the target and bully involved, it's the
whole community. It impacts other students because we're afraid that
they'll turn on us. Also, no one wants to listen to someone being
picked on, and it hurts you too, to be to afraid to do anything. Your
fear makes you helpless."

Advice for targets included
avoidance, counseling and help from school administration. Working with
the school you can switch classes and lunches so that there is minimal
opportunity for confrontation. Targets of bullies should always travel
in a group and try joining a club or sports team that interests them.
This can help to increase the positive influences in their life.

Bullies
also face a series of challenges as they are often suffering from
depression and low self esteem. Many bully to focus the attention off
of themselves and their weaknesses onto another person. If your child
is a bully it is important to have a conversation with them about the
reason they are intentionally hurting someone else and how they would
like the same treatment directed towards them. It is also suggested
that the conversation be geared toward identifying why they bully, and
how to get them help. This may include seeking the help of a
professional psychiatrist or psychologist.

With much to talk
about and not enough time the meeting ended with parents, students and
teachers wanting more information and advice. Additional discussions
are being planned for the upcoming weeks. To join a discussion or for
more information, contact Cory Mashburn, Acting Director of SCAP at
cmashburn@somervillema.gov

The vaccine, which is currently in its inaugural
phase of testing, is expected to be available in mid-October, but
initially only to those considered at risk. Unlike seasonal flu, H1N1
targets young age groups with greater frequency than the elderly. Given
this tendency, Somerville will provide vaccines, on a voluntary basis,
to all of its school-age residents at no cost. "On the federal level,
it's been determined that it doesn't make sense to disperse the vaccine
here and there throughout the population," Paulette Renault Caragianes,
Director of the Somerville Department of Health, said. "Instead, it's
more functional to target a 'critical mass' of people, like the
students within a school."

While the at-risk groups will be
guaranteed protection, it remains unclear what the impending dangers
might be to those who lie outside of these categories. Last week, a
White House advisory panel released a report that allowed for the
possibility of a catastrophic pandemic leading to 90,000 deaths and
nearly 2 million hospitalized. Days later, the Centers for Disease
Control tempered the alarm raised by the predictions and labeled them
very unlikely. The conflicting reports, both within the media and
within the government, seemingly reflect the ambivalence of the general
population. Ron Villareale, an Easton resident, was perplexed by what
he saw as widespread "fear and paranoia". "People are ready to rush out
full throttle when it seems to me that it's only been a mild strain of
the flu," he said. On the other hand, Kathy Dervin, a Boston resident
seated opposite from Villareale, expressed her concerns, saying "it's a
novel flu, meaning it is, by its nature, unpredictable." In the coming
months, as flu season begins and children return to school, the various
predictions will undergo the scrutiny of time. One thing is guaranteed,
regardless of the virus' severity: Somerville's most susceptible
populations will indeed have the ability to protect themselves.

***************

The
Governor is submitting legislation to change the rule and to appoint
temporarily an interim Senator until election time, if you are for it
or against it, make sure you let either our State Representatives
Denise Provost or Carl Sciortino know how you feel.

***************

Congratulations
to the Tauro family, owners of Pat's Tow, they have officially merged
with United Road Towing – making Pat's Tow, who service Cambridge and
Somerville and the surrounding area – part of the largest Tow company
in the country. More will follow in the weeks ahead, but we certainly
wish the Tauro's much success in their new venture. Look for major
changes down there in their tow yard over the next few weeks –
including a newly paved yard and new trucks.

***************

A
very good friend and life long resident of East Somerville passed away
last week, our deepest sympathy to Emille Parson and family on the
passing of her husband Barry. Barry was diagnosed a couple of months
ago with cancer, he came home last week to pass on and did later that
night. He was a good man, very well liked by many people and we will,
along with the others that he has touched, miss him. His wish was to
have no wake or funeral, just to be cremated.

***************

Well
it looks like someone affiliated with the movie production company that
is scheduled to film with Ben Affleck in the Twin City Mall parking lot
apparently read our last weeks mention about it in Newstalk and replied
with this email "Hello guys, hope all is well in Somerville News land.
FYI – that date for filming Ben's movie "The Town" was switched to
September 29th." It's nice to be the most widely read newspaper in
print and online in Somerville.

***************

If you
saw the School Committee meeting this past Monday, you saw an
uneventful meeting, until it came time for items from the board members
– and Mark the PDSer from Ward 5 started talking about running for
re-election and having an opponent. He was quickly gaveled out of
order, as it is was highly improper to speak about that subject in that
venue, and quite frankly he should have known better. Our jaw dropped
at home, we can only imagine the shock that swept through the chambers
that night. Doesn't surprise us – this is the same guy who thought the
Memorial Day Parade would be a good opportunity to get signatures for
re-election. The same one who wants to get rid of Good Friday and
called Bunker Hill Day an "annoying" holiday.

***************

Update
on Bob Publicover, he's doing good, treatment is good – must be
extremely good, because he took off for San Francisco this past week.
We hear he's back now at his favorite coffee shop on Highland Avenue.

***************

Good
news is we will be announcing shortly a new Asst. Editor here at The
Somerville News who will be on board in a couple of weeks in this
capacity. He's a local Somerville resident, again proving we are really
the only local paper with local news. An announcement will be made in
the next couple of weeks.

***************

Omar the
chef/co-owner with Mike at the Ball Square Café are celebrating their
2nd Anniversary of being partners. Two years fly by quickly when you're
busy and your business in this economy is booming. They're having a
party to celebrate on September 17th from 3pm to 6pm – stop by and say
hello and wish them many more years. Actually how anyone can resist
Omar's cooking we don't know, we're huge fans of Ball Square Café.

***************

The
Somerville Chamber of Commerce is holding its monthly Business After
Hours this Thursday the 3rd. Host is Redbones on Chester Street – the
time is from 5pm to 7pm. It is open to all businesses – both chamber
members and non-members alike and it is great for networking and
meeting your fellow businesses here in Somerville. This month's sponsor
is East Cambridge Saving Bank, hosted by Business After Hours Chair
Michelle Mulvena of Moschella & Winston.

***************

The
Somerville Chamber of Commerce will be holding its Fall Golf Classic on
Monday, September 21st starting at 11am at The Georgetown Club.
Registration goes from 11am to Noon, then Shotgun Start. Lunch, 18
holes of golf, golf cart, bag drop, contests/prizes, professional
scoring. Dinner & Awards Ceremony immediately following.

Given
the scale and complexity of the ongoing construction across the city,
that makes it even more difficult for everyday drivers to focus on
their surroundings. Crossing guards help, police details help, but, we
need to be more aware of our surroundings.

Kids don't know any
different – they're just trying to get to school to learn, see their
friends, be social, whatever their specific motivation – they don't
drive, so they typically have little concept of what kind of damage can
be done by just one vehicle, even traveling at the posted speed limit,
when a child darts out from between two cars.

We at The
Somerville News have had other jobs in our past (and present) that have
required us to drive a considerable amount of miles over the years, in
fact, more than most people. One of us averaged well over 40k miles per
year for a number of years, actually. This kind of excessive driving
allows for someone to make observations about traffic patterns and how
different cities and towns handle construction projects and other
situations that require re-routing of traffic.

That's what makes
living in one of the most densely populated cities in the country even
more amazing. The complexity of dealing with traffic issues because of
the sheer number of vehicles that travel our roads is staggering. Then
toss in a sewer/water line break, a gas line replacement, the
reconstruction of a street after utility work, anything remotely
dangerous in the mix, and still traffic moves along.

These are
some of the things we take for granted – an why sometimes we are
regular every day traveling folk need to take it upon ourselves to keep
an eye out when driving – that means no texting, no applying make-up,
no reading the paper. Pay attention and watch out for children crossing
the street, playing near traffic, riding their bikes – do your part to
make sure we live in the safest environment possible for our children,
even if you don't have any.

After
slashing state aid earlier this year, the State House gave
municipalities the ability to raise taxes on meals and hotel stays. The
aldermen increased the meals tax from 6.25 to 7 percent and the hotel
tax from 4 to 6 percent, following recommendations made by Mayor Joseph
Curtatone during the June FY2010 budget proceedings.

According
to the mayor's office, the meals tax increase would give the city an
additional $480,311 in FY 2010, while the new hotel tax rate would give
the city an additional $140,404. The new rates will take effect Oct. 1.

Though the board largely supported the measures, Ward 1 Alderman Bill Roche spoke out against raising the meals tax.

"It's a small amount of money. I'm just saying, when is enough enough?" Roche said. "I think it's a perception thing."

Roche
also balked when Alderman-at-Large Bill White pointed out the meals tax
increase would mean a 75-cent increase on a $100 tab.

"Every
time we're looking for money, I don't think we should go to the
residents of this city and increase taxes on them," Roche said before
the vote. "75 cents on a $100 bill? I wouldn't mind having that in my
pocket."

Ward 5 Alderman Sean O'Donovan joined Roche in voting against the new meals tax.

The
new hotel tax rate passed unanimously, with the board agreeing that
given the prices in Cambridge and Boston visitors would likely not
notice the increase.

"Nobody chooses a hotel on the basis of
what the tax is, and I'll stake my house on this," Ward 2 Alderman
Maryann Heuston said.

It's
that time of year again. Reading and writing and 'arithmetic. This time
of year used to make me sick. When I heard those commercials like
"before you go back to school, go to Zayres," my stomach cringed. It
also seemed that we always discovered something really cool right at
the end of the summer that was now cut short by school. One year it was
extending the forks on our bikes, another year it was hanging out with
a new group of girls on the next street. Sometimes it was playing
football or Frisbee, but school always goofed it up. I spoke to a few
of my friends who, like me, still get a nervous ache in their stomach
whenever the beginning of the school year starts.

Both my kids
are actually anxious to get back to school. Man have times changed. I
tried every trick in the book to get out of school, and I mean
everything. We were playing hooky at my friend Teddy's house when I was
a sophomore at Somerville High. My pal Danny called in to the office
disguising his voice, and saying he was Mr. Del Ponte. Whoever answered
the phone at the High school said, "My, Mr. DelPonte, you certainly
have a young voice!" I called back a second later and said, "James Del
Ponte will be right in." When I was still at St. Clements, I faked a
stomach ache to get out of school. There was actually nothing wrong
with my stomach at all. I lied about the pain. My parents took me up
Somerville High School where they removed my appendix. That will teach
me to fake an illness, right? Wrong. I invented a mysterious pain in my
leg to try to ditch a few classes. My hypochondriac mother dragged me
back to the same Doctor who found a mysterious "baker's cyst" in the
back of my leg and, voila, another operation. There was no leg pain
whatsoever, but "Dr. Invento," sold my parents two unnecessary
surgeries. Sure there is a chance that there really WAS something wrong
with my leg and appendix, but because of the reputation of this
nameless Doctor, I seriously doubt it. There is a still a small stitch
visible on the back of my leg that was "operated" on. The scar left by
Dr. Create-an-ailment was so bad, that I actually called Jim Sokolove.
They told me that too many years had gone by. It's a good thing I
didn't fake a headache. I would have ended up with a lobotomy. I
finally learned my lesson about creating imaginary illnesses in order
to stay out of school. Bottom line was, I really hated going to school.
I wanted to stay home and watch re-runs of Gomer Pyle and Yogi Bear
cartoons. Anything but school. But it was different then – there were
only a handful of nice teachers. I didn't say 'good' teachers mind you,
I said nice. Maybe it was difficult to be nice to a kid wearing bell
bottoms dungarees and sporting a David Cassidy haircut. Perhaps some
teachers didn't approve of our being in an organization called the
Committee of Concerned Students and publishing a newspaper called The
Inside Agitator. Teachers back then used threatening tactics to try to
get us to conform. It was like prison. It made us appreciate the really
good teachers all the more. Dick Gordinier, Julio Perno, Tony Fedele,
Mrs. Carafotes, Mr. De Angelis and Mr. Da Prato, to name a few. I could
rattle off a few of the meanies too, but you know who they were. One
former building master was partly responsible for my resigning as the
high school drama teacher. After making my four years of high school
miserable, this person was now going to be my "superior." No thanks. I
probably would have been close to retiring at this point in time.
Anyway, I didn't apply for the job, they came and asked me. It's now
all water under the Ball Square Bridge.

I still have
nightmares that I am in school, facing an exam, with no pencil, and in
my pajamas. I am glad my kids like school. For me it was a bad memory
except for the talent shows and drama performances. They tried to make
me repeat one class with the same blow-hard macho, head tripping idiot
that flunked me the first time. That's when I dropped the college
course. HA HA!! I still went to college anyway! And I still carry a
grudge against that jerk teacher. I never needed his jive class at all.
I have been counting on my fingers for years and it has worked out just
fine! I would like to give my thanks and gratitude for all the great
teachers I had over the years. I would also like to express my
thankfulness for all the awesome teachers my kids have. A lot of my
friends and former classmates are now teachers!

After working
very closely with the Somerville School Department over the past year,
I am happy to report that we are very lucky to have the best schools
possible. Times have changed for the best and any student in the
Somerville Public Schools can look forward to the best education they
can possibly get.

The
hearing began with the pledge of allegiance and a general welcome to
the Committee and public in attendance. Somerville's Superintendent
Tony Pierantozzi spoke first, explaining the Inter-District program and
its intentions.

The premise of the program is to allow children
from some school districts to opt into going to school in other
districts. Pierantozzi then explained why he supported suspending the
program within Somerville. He cited many arguments for stopping the
program including a concern for increased rates of student mobility
within the school system, its financial unpredictability, and the
necessary raise in costs for special education student's
transportation.

When put to the School Committee's vote there
was near unanimous support for opting out of the Inter-District program
for the 2009-2010 school year. Eight members of the committee voted in
the affirmative to opt out and one member was noted as absent.

Following
the hearing, the School Committee held a regular meeting where business
from the summer and the new school year were discussed at length.

Superintendent
Pierantozzi seemed especially happy with the status of the hiring
process within the school system this past summer. "We have a total of
40 new employees," he said, "and 22% of them report having a diverse,
minority status."

Pierantozzi went on to explain that hiring a
diverse staff is very important in meeting the needs of Somerville's
ethnically diverse population. But he was quick to note that regardless
of minority status, "We continue to hire the best individual for the
job."

Also on the agenda was an update on the renovation of the
Somerville Public School website. According to Pierantozzi, Phase One
of the website renovations is wrapping up and Phases Two and Three are
still to come.

By the completion of Phase Three every
classroom in Somerville will have its own website where students will
be able to look up assignments, print homework, and read class
announcements.

"We're very excited for this new website," Said
Pierantozzi. "We did this for a mere $15,000 which is a fraction of
what something like this can cost."

Many members of the
committee expressed an even-tempered concern about the H1N1 flu, which
is predicted to return in full strength this fall. Pierantozzi was
quick to note that while children between 12 and 17 are most affected
by the swine flu, there have been no reported deaths from that age
group within the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

He assured everyone present that the Somerville School System is taking the possibility of an H1N1 outbreak seriously.

"Parents
always ask me 'have you scoured the buildings; have you cloroxed every
door and every desk," Pierantozzi said. "But we know that has no effect
on the virus. It can only live outside the human body for 20 minutes.
As soon as kids reenter the building all that work would be done for
nothing."

Pierantozzi explained that the Somerville School
system's main defense against the flu will be anti-bacterial hand wash
and encouraging students to sneeze into their elbows.

"We're ready. We're hoping its all for naught, but we're ready if it comes." Said Pierantozzi.

Towards
the end of the meeting there was brief talk of hiring more full time
nurses for all the schools and it was assured that more nurses are in
the process of being trained.

The meeting came to a close with a
moment of silence for the recently deceased former employees of the
School System, their families and for the late Senator Ted Kennedy.

The sandwich drive was organized by a
Tufts group called FOCUS (Freshmen Orientation CommUnity Service),
which sends small groups of students into the Boston area to volunteer
at soup kitchens, zoos, special needs programs, elderly homes, parks
and homeless shelters during the week before freshmen orientation.
FOCUS is one of five optional pre-orientation programs that allow
students to meet other incoming freshmen with similar interests. Other
pre-orientation programs include an interfaith program, a fitness and
development program, an international student program, and a wilderness
program.

The parent organization of FOCUS is the Leonard
Carmichael Society, the largest student-run organization at Tufts,
which consists of over 900 volunteers who participate in community
service at Tufts and in the surrounding Boston area. Now in its
thirteenth year as part of the Tufts pre-orientation, FOCUS attracted
an exciting 165 incoming freshmen, up 70 students from last year. These
students were led by 70 upper class leaders, many of whom participated
in the program their freshmen years and loved it enough to come back.

Barbara
Rubel, the director of Community Relations at Tufts, serves as the
faculty advisor to FOCUS and was very excited with the turnout and
enthusiasm with this year's group. She hopes that the program will
effectively "introduce incoming freshmen to Tufts while also getting
them involved in the surrounding community." The students involved have
worked all around the Greater Boston area, and many have even stayed in
local community centers and churches.

Julia Carlson, one of
three upper class coordinators of the program and a secretary with the
Leonard Carmichael Society, said she "fell in love with the program" as
a leader during her sophomore year and while she admits it has been
hard work as a coordinator she has "had a ball" during her time with
FOCUS. Thursday's sandwich marathon provided a good opportunity to
bring all students involved in the program together for one activity
after students had been working around the Boston area in groups of
eight to ten students.

The entire production was quite a sight
for cars passing by the Tufts campus on College Avenue as 235 students
scrambled around the Gantcher Center lawn trying to reach their
sandwich quota. Split into groups of ten or eleven per table, students
were given a few minutes to formulate a plan of attack before making
100 sandwiches per table in one hour. The teamwork-oriented task was
consistent with the program's theme of bringing students together over
a common goal or interest. All the sandwiches were shipped out at 7
o'clock the next morning to be served as lunch at the Greater Boston
Food Bank. As hoped for, the program proved to be a successful way to
familiarize incoming freshmen with one another while performing an
important public service for the surrounding community.