A Mouth-Watering Fatboy
By Alba Cid

     ‚ÄúEveryone loves a Fatboy!‚Äù That is the slogan for a new product in Somerville,  Fatboy marinade.  Karl Dias, a local resident, gave the Somerville News a flavor of what he and his partner, Anthony Mello, have gone through to start the new company at the April 7 Somerville News contributors meeting.
      Dias said the marinade is best when added to beef, pork, chicken or fish, and allowed to sit for several hours (or a few days), before cooking. 
      Dias said he and his partner, who was trained as a chef, cooked together informally for friends and family for years before coming up with the marinade two years ago.

Controversy concerning condo conversions
By George P. Hassett

   Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone has submitted a proposal to the Board of Aldermen to enhance tenants‚Äô rights under the city‚Äôs condominium conversion ordinance. Supporters of the proposal say it will add greater predictability and clarity to the current condo conversion process, while opponents contend it will give tenants more rights than homeowners, while weakening the city‚Äôs tax base.
  Under Curtatone‚Äôs proposal, conversion permits would now be issued simultaneously for all units in one property. The ordinance would require owners to submit proof of tenant notification when applying for a conversion permit, and they would have to provide more notice and response time to elderly, handicapped and low-income tenants before converting rental properties into condominiums. Tenants would be granted more opportunities to purchase their converted condominium as well as increased relocation costs. The ordinance also proposes a permit fee increase to $750 ‚Äì a figure negotiated by attorneys who regularly practice before the Condo Review Board.
       Bart Foster, a Somerville real estate agent, said the ordinance could be unfair to Somerville homeowners.

News Talk for the week of April 19

Have you driven down Broadway after 5 a.m. lately? Around Foss Park in front of the Dunkin Donuts, have you noticed there is usually over one hundred men, some say ‚Äúillegal immigrants,‚Äù looking for cheap day work? Watch all the contractors pull in and quickly pull off with two or three, and sometimes even more, day workers who will work for extremely low rates. Well, we‚Äôre not the only ones that noticed, apparently the IRS has been noticing along with us. We heard from reliable sources that there is going to be a sting operation which will not just invovoled the workers but the contractors who illegally hire the day workers. You don‚Äôt have to be a rocket scientist to know that strange men sitting in vans taking pictures day after day is not a good sign.         
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We heard some interesting items this week about the Anthony Galluccio ‚Äì Jarrett Barrios state Senate race. A source inside Congressman Mike Capuano‚Äôs camp said Capuano is going to support Galluccio. We also heard ultra-liberal (and expected Barrios supporters) state Rep. Carl Sciortino and state Rep. Alice Wolf are staying neutral. In February, Dan Cohen, progressive pollster for Sciortino and Senator Pat Jehlen campaigns, spoke on Galluccio‚Äôs behalf at a Progressive Democrats of Cambridge meeting (By the way, does Cambridge really need more whacko liberals? Just a thought). Could the progressives be losing interest in Barrios? Could Galluccio actually have a chance to beat his old nemesis?   News talk has been told the local progressive posse has become disillusioned with Barrios and wouldn‚Äôt mind seeing him struggle against Galluccio. Tune in to the state-wide elections in November for the exciting conclusion.

To the Editor:

In a recent story ("Resident: ‘Crooks without guns’ hiking water bills,
avoiding questions," April 5), the News quoted one Somerville resident as
saying he had been told by a Water Department employee that his higher bill
reflected higher MWRA rates.  The News then implied that this could not be
true because rates hadn’t been raised since last July.

In fact, the  2.8 percent increase in Somerville’s MWRA combined water/sewer
assessment for FY2006 (which went into effect in July) is one, but not the
only, significant contributor to the fact that current Somerville water
bills are running higher than in prior years.

Fire chief urges residents to comply with “Nicole’s Law”
Kelleher: think of the little girl the law’s named after

By Benjamin Witte

  Nicole‚Äôs Law is now officially on the books, meaning that in Somerville and elsewhere in Massachusetts, property owners are legally required to install carbon monoxide (CO) detectors in all residential dwellings. But with only partial enforcement to back it up, the head of the Somerville Fire Dept. doesn‚Äôt expect everyone here to comply with the law ‚Äì at least not in the short term.
As of March 31, owners planning to sell or transfer residential property must first obtain certification from the Somerville Fire Dept. showing that they’ve complied with the new CO detector law. Compliance in this case means installing detectors on every level of a residence except for basements or attics that do not have habitable living spaces. On levels with sleeping areas, the alarms must be placed within 10 feet of the bedroom doors.

News Talk for the week of April 12

DPW rumor mill alert‚ĶWho is that female DPW worker who keeps taking off for Florida every time the police show up to question her about the missing ‚ÄúVietnam firing pin‚Äù that was either stolen or borrowed out of the DPW offices about a few months ago?    Seems every time the police show up it‚Äôs time for this city worker to take a mini vacation, what‚Äôs up with that? Maybe, the police are as interested in her psychic ability to elude them as in the firing pin.

Bomb threats called in to City Hall and high school

   Somerville High School and Somerville City Hall each received phone calls today from a person who stated a bomb had been placed inside the high school.

   The first call was received at the Main Office of Somerville High School at 7:20 AM. The caller stated a bomb placed inside the building would explode at 8:00 AM. Vice- Headmaster, Anthony Ciccariello, immediately called the Somerville Police Department, the Somerville Fire Department, and the Superintendent of Schools, who responded immediately. The building was ordered evacuated at 7:22 AM.