By George P. Hassett

A Middlesex County jury today found former Somerville police officer Keith Winfield guilty of raping a 23-month-old child with a hot object. While the verdict was still being read Winfield’s brother John Winfield, 23, of Somerville, stood and shouted threats to the jury. He was escorted out by security and later sentenced to 60 days in the Billerica House of Corrections. At the same time as John Winfield was being escorted out of the courtroom his mother Margaret A. Winfield, 56, of Somerville, ran to where the family of the victim was sitting, pointed at the victim’s mother and screamed "She did it! She did it!" As she screamed and pointed there was no security in the courtroom.

By George P. Hassett

The alderman for Ward 7 has pledged to oppose any plans city officials may have of selling the property where the Powder House Community School sits.

Alderman Robert C. Trane said the city has “a long history of selling off property every time a bill comes in” and he will not support any effort to do that with the Powder House Community School site. “I’m going to fight hard to keep this one,” he said.

He pointed to the city’s sale of the old Western Junior High School building to Tufts. Today, he said, city programs that use the building pay rent to the college.

We are asking everyone to please remember the Little Sisters on Highland Avenue – they do a great job and are in need of donations, especially during the holiday season. Also, the Somerville Housing Authority is collecting toys and donations to be given to needy families in the projects – please consider helping these and other fine charities that feel the pinch at this time of the year.

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Did everyone see or hear about the Channel 5 investigative report on the various yacht clubs around the state that are private to members only, but are located on STATE OWNED land? The very first one they brought up was our own Winter Hill Yacht Club and how they owe back rent to the state and refuse to pay it. The Governor is supposed to be on a mission to collect the rent due. We wonder if it’s in the way of the Proposed Assembly Square Development and if so, why is the City letting them? Former Alderman and State Rep. Vinny Ciampa was seen being interviewed by Channel 5 since he used to be in office and he also docks his boat there as a member. Channel 5 did a great job and now that it has brought this issue to the attention of everyone, maybe just maybe, the yacht club can pay the back rent due and either move or open its membership to all Somerville Residents. The days of private clubs residing on state-owned property is silly.

Somerville missing  youth was found in Cambridge in the area of the BU Bridge. He has been taken to the Somerville Police Station. Story to follow as more details are released.

Jack C. Kornfield-Shay Age 13

White male/5 feet 5 inches tall/80 lbs./thin build/Long black hair/brown eyes

Last seen wearing a dark blue hooded jacket, blue sweater, blue sweat pants, silver Assics sneakers, carrying a blue back pack and blue lunch bag.He was last seen immediately after leaving the Kennedy School at 2:30 p.m.

He is reported to have a slight learning disability and is very shy. He is not likely to seek assistance of law enforcement if he is lost or needs help.

He is known to take long walks after school, particularly through the Cambridge area from Porter Square to M.I.T.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Somerville Police at 617-625-1212

By George P. Hassett

Dr. Carol Allen, a pediatrician for 33 years, had to pause Thursday to maintain her composure when telling a jury about the injuries a 23-month-old girl allegedly received at the hands of a former Somerville police officer.

“I had never seen anything like it before. I was shocked, that’s what I recall about that day,” said Allen at the trial of Keith Winfield, a former Somerville police officer accused of rape of a child.

Middlesex County prosecutors allege Winfield sexually assaulted a 23-month-old relative he was babysitting in October 2005 with a hot object at his home in Melrose. The assault caused serious burns to the victim, which developed over the next 24 to 36 hours and forced her into the hospital for one month.

Math scores are up, language scores lag

By Elizabeth Bernardi   

Results for the 2007 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) examinations are in. By the numbers, Somerville’s results are mixed, reflecting successes in mathematics and continued struggles in English Language Arts, but the district remains positive about the changes it has made to comply with state standards.

The MCAS results are used by the state to determine a district’s progress toward 100 percent student proficiency in Math and English by the year of 2014, a goal set by the federal No Child Left Behind Law.

By Doug Holder

Somerville‚Äôs Ibbetson Street Press will be awarding former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky the Ibbetson Street Press Lifetime Achievement Award at the Somerville News Writers Festival, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. at the Dilboy VFW Hall, 371 Summer St. in Davis Square. The award, like the festival, is in its fifth year. It is awarded to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the poetry and or the small or alternative press world. Former recipients of the award have been Robert K. Johnson (poet and retired Suffolk University professor), Louisa Solano (former owner of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop), Jack Powers (founder of Stone Soup Poets), and David Godine (founder of David Godine publishing). Tickets for the Festival  are $15 and will be available at the door or by calling 617-666-4010.

Robert Pinsky was born on Oct. 20, 1940 in Long Branch, New Jersey. He received a B.A. from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and earned both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stanford University, where he was a Stegner Fellow in creative writing, and studied under the poet and critic Yvor Winters.

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 ended up graduating from College in 1977, even though I dropped the “College Course” at Somerville High School. You see, I flunked geometry, and when they put me back in the same teachers class the next year to suffer through it again, I freaked out. And it’s a shame because that Pythagorean Theorem would have come in real handy in my every day life РNOT!

Anyway, I went to see my guidance counselor and he put together a special course/schedule just for me: “The Jimmy Course.” After all, I didn’t need college since I was going to be a rock star (you see how that worked out). Mr. Perno devised a custom course list that looked something like this: music theory, music appreciation, boys choir, a cappella choir, dramatic arts and Dick Gordiniers’ Earth/Space Science. My senior year was a musical cakewalk Рyet I still graduated by the skin of my teeth.