Three men arrested for trying to steal $15,000 of scrap metal

By George P. Hassett

Three men were arrested Friday in connection with an attempted heist of $15,000 worth of scrap metal.

By Chloe Lutts

A statewide policy requiring all residents to have health insurance took effect on July 1. Under the new law, companies with 10 or more employees must offer coverage to employees working more than 35 hours per week.  But for some young people like Megan Anderson, the thought of being forced to by into healthcare is troublesome.

“It’s good that everyone has insurance,” she said, “(but) it makes it difficult for people that are trying to afford rent.”

Anderson, who was waiting for a bus at the Davis Square stop, said the health plan her employer offers is too expensive for her. She said she’ll purchase health insurance eventually” but right now it is too much on top of rent. She said the benefit just doesn’t justify the cost. Even though Anderson said she believes the new law makes life more difficult for her, she agrees with the concept in theory. She said ideally, “Everyone should be able to get it for free.”

By Andrea Gregory

The city has announced the top three picks for the high-ranking job of running the Somerville Police Department. The city has been without a permanent police chief for more than two years. Robert R. Bradley has been filling the vacancy, serving as acting chief. Now, he will need to convince the mayor he is a better choice than two Florida-based candidates who join Bradley as finalists.

In addition to Bradley, Miami-Dade Police Maj. Ruben Galindo and Clearwater, Fla. Police Capt. Anthony Holloway are in the running.

Galindo has a 20-year history with the Miami-Dade Police Department. He is a graduate of the University of Miami with a Masters in Public Administration. He is also fluent in Spanish. He did not return a phone call before The Somerville News presstime this week.

Holloway has served in Clearwater for 21 years. Holloway was on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.

 
By Doug Holder

The Ibbetson Street Press Poetry Award is presented at the annual Somerville News Writers Festival  (http://somervillenewswritersfestival.com/ ) every year at the Jimmy Tingle Off-Broadway Theatre in Davis Square.

The festival will be held November 11 this year. In past years poets and writers such as Pulitzer Prize winner Franz Wright, Robert Olen Butler, Oscar-nominated novelist Tom Perotta, Iowa Writer’s Workshop head Lan Samantha Chang, Sue Miller ( author of “The Good Mother”), Steve Almond, Boston Globe Columnist Alex Beam, poet Nick Flynn, and many others have read in this event. This year former poet laureate Robert Pinsky will be receiving the Ibbetson Street Lifetime Achievement Award, the other award presented at the festival.

The undocumented illegal immigrant issue is coming to a head here in the city and there doesn’t seem to be a compromise available to solve everyone’s concerns.

There are valid arguments from city leaders, taxpayers and both the legal and illegal immigrant communities, which makes the issue itself all the more sticky, because it’s hard when there are just two segments of the population who disagree, never mind three or four segments.

Ward 1 Alderman Bill Roche was right that we can’t just blindly pass resolutions welcoming illegal immigrants who don’t pay for the resources that the taxpayers carry the burden for.

Local group to lobby aldermen to reaffirm city’s sanctuary status

By George P. Hassett

As Congress continues to fail to come up with an effective immigration reform plan, Somerville officials are also being forced to address the contentious issue. Centro Presente, an immigrant rights advocacy group based in Somerville and Cambridge, will lobby the Board of Aldermen to pass a resolution recognizing the rights of all immigrants to city services and support, regardless of documentation status, according to the organization’s executive director Elena Letona.

According to Letona, the group will also revive a controversial debate begun two decades ago when they ask aldermen to renew Somerville’s status as a sanctuary city. However, Centro Presente may be facing an uphill battle as anti-immigrant sentiment rises nationwide, and locally a similar resolution proposed last year was never passed.

At the May 11, 2006 Board of Aldermen meeting, nine aldermen and Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone sponsored a resolution stating, “That the city hereby reaffirms its long standing policies in support of all immigrants, and expresses its support for comprehensive immigration reform that combines a path to permanent status for immigrants already here with the humane enforcement of our nation’s borders.”

Reality Bites By James Norton

There was dancin‚Äô at the fireworks last week ‚Äì literally and figuratively.  I myself  opted to stay home, but my father took my kids to see the show.  He told me there were plenty of candidates, pod people and pod people wannabes floating about and I wasn‚Äôt surprised in the least.

The interesting interaction on our website regarding the event ranged from people saying it was great for the community to those who wanted to speculate as to why waste the money and how much it cost the taxpayers for the overtime for DPW workers, police details, etc ‚Äì you know what?  Who gives a crap?  The cost benefit of increasing community pride far outweighs whatever the final actual costs become and it‚Äôs clearly just another case of online bitchers and moaners who have nothing better to do than hate the administration for everything it does.

Looks like the Progressives are at it already‚Ķand so soon after the crushing defeat of Marty‚Ķseems like they have sent out a questionnaire for this year‚Äôs endorsements of candidates here in the city, asking that they be completed within five days.  One candidate even got a call we hear from someone who identified himself as a  ‚ÄúProgressive‚Äù and intimated after being questioned about receiving an endorsement, the candidate was told that an endorsement was very unlikely because the Princess Rebekah was a founding member of the PDS.      

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Rumor has it that one of Princess Rebekah‚Äôs ‚Äúknights‚Äù has been investigating candidate and life long Somerville resident Charlie Chisholm‚Äôs home address as well as his employment.  We heard that a well known sort of Attorney was himself seen in the neighborhood of College Avenue knocking on doors asking questions about Mr. Chisholm ‚Äì if it‚Äôs true it wouldn‚Äôt surprise us‚Ķwe now know that the ‚ÄúProgressives‚Äù like to do the same stuff they accuse others of doing, don‚Äôt we?

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By George P. Hassett

Rachael Heller wants to make a difference. And that, she said, is the reason she is running  against Ward 7 Alderman Robert C. Trane.

‚ÄúI’m running because we have real challenges in the city and in this ward,‚Äù she said.  ‚ÄúI‚Äôm committed to addressing these concerns and bringing accountability to City Hall.‚Äù

Heller moved to Somerville three years ago and bought a home in Ward 7 shortly after. She said she often hears neighbors express anxiety about the direction Somerville is headed. “I hear all these different concerns and I want to do something about them,” she said.