School Committee rejected first measure to explore changes

By George P. Hassett

What is a fence viewer? Wood and bark measurer? A grain weigher? For some, these leftover jobs from Somerville’s 1899 city charter are proof that the city’s political culture needs reform.

In his inaugural address last month Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone promised to convene a charter reform commission this year to examine possible changes to the structure of city departments, elected bodies and government procedures.

By George P. Hassett

One is from Egypt, the other Brazil. Neither has the proper documentation to be in the country but both, like millions of Americans, will be filing their income taxes with the IRS in the next few weeks.

The two illegal immigrants pay their taxes with Tax ID numbers instead of social security numbers and get them prepared at Carminati Tax on lower Broadway, where Charles Carminati said about 70 percent of his more than 1,000 clients pay their taxes despite being in the country illegally. 

The question Carminati has is, since illegal immigrants can not get refunds for the social security or Medicare taxes they pay, where is that money going?

This evening (Wednesday Feb. 13), Alderman Walter Pero is holding a meeting at the Mystic Activity Center at 5:30 p.m to discuss the updates on Assembly Sq. traffic planning, the wetlands along Shore Drive and the Winter Hill Market closing Рas well as other issues concerning Ward 4, along with Alderman Pero will be the new Police Chief РAnthony Holloway – they will both be there to answer any questions.

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The same evening (from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.) at the Cross Street Senior Center, Alderman Bill Roche will be hosting a “Community Meeting” to discuss the proposed new designs for lower Broadway in East Somerville – again, all residents are invited.

In New England’s densest city a coyote ran loose in the streets today. The prairie wolf eluded police and animal control officers as he ran through the Max Pak site, Highland Road and Boston Avenue. Their pursuit was fruitless as the coyote escaped capture and disappeared at the top of Powder House Park.

Photos by Donald F. Norton

By Keith Howard

Schoolyard bullies have graduated-to the internet. And unlike most playground scuffles, these rotten-apples can inflict permanent scars.

‚ÄúSome kids carry weapons to school after being victimized online because they’re scared or worried. It’s a tough issue and everyone is grappling with it,‚Äù said Brian Cavanaugh, deputy director of Middlesex Partnerships for Youth Inc.

Washington Street Art Center opens ‘Inappropriate Touching’

By Kimberly Geronimo

Artistic renderings of the most private of body parts and other sexual tidbits were strewn across the walls of the Washington Street Art Center on Friday as the gallery opened its newest exhibit “Inappropriate Touching.”

By William C. Shelton

(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’ve been writing about Somerville’s place on the bleeding edge of a growing societal trend. We increasingly substitute name calling for listening to each other, identifying what we have in common, and understanding our legitimate differences.

Among the names that we call each other are “liberal” and “conservative.” No longer terms that accurately describe any consistent or mutually understood political philosophy, these words are increasingly insults used by one group to dismiss the concerns of another.

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

Edited by Thom Schramm. (Eastern Washington University Press Spokane, Washington 2008) $24.

The “black dogs” of depression are never far outside our gate, as Winston Churchill once wrote. The euphoria of mania and the freefall of depression are known in the field as manic depression. This rapid cycling tornado of mental illness has affected (according to recent studies) poets and writers to a greater degree than the general population. In fact in the New York Times awhile back it was reported that poets and writers, but particularly poets, have a shorter lifespan than the rest of the masses. Could it be we are more prone to suicide or have we just forgotten to take our daily dose of statins?

By Jennifer Hirsch

“You stop liking candy, but you never stop liking chocolate," says Brendan Gannon, 28, owner, founder and sole employee of La Tène Chocolatier. Gannon, who grew up in Maine and now calls Somerville home, creates hand-crafted artisan chocolates with a contemporary touch.

He is self-taught in the art of chocolate. Trained as a stage actor, he spent a brief stint as a DJ and music writer before beginning to experiment with chocolate in his kitchen about five years ago. He worked as an assistant manager at the award-winning chocolate maker L.A. Burdick in Harvard Square for several years. During his tenure at Burdicks he said he was able to garner much chocolate knowledge and even spend a weekend at the New Hampshire location where the chocolates are made.