Off the Shelf by Doug Holder for the week of Feb. 15

“Inside The Outside” gets inside avant-garde American poets

     I just received my contributor‚Äôs copy of ‚ÄúInside the Outside‚Ķ‚Äù from the folks at the Presa Press. Roseanne Ritzema, the editor of this collection of avant-garde poets writes in her introduction: ‚ÄúEvery year or so, an anthology is produced which marks an epoch. ‚ÄòThe New American Poetry,‚Äô (ed. Donald Allen) appeared in 1960. The poets gathered in this volume represent the major schools of the American literary avant-garde as it has developed over the past 50 years.

      ‚ÄúIf a poetry reader seeks the avant-garde, he will have difficulty finding it on bookstore shelves, which are filled with the old boys of the upper class New England literary mafia, imitators of their parents‚Äô generation of post-war poets… The establishment turns a cold shoulder toward the children of Whitman, Dickinson, and Poe, but the joke is on them‚Ķ.

News talk for the week of Feb. 15

Seems like the SHA Director Joe Macaluso, former board member Herb Foster and  a couple of employees recently traveled to Paradise Island in the Bahamas.  We hear it was a quick getaway, but also a fact finding mission. They brought along Warren Chalie and Alex Capobianco, two of Somerville‚Äôs finest, as body guards. Why would they need bodyguards? Maybe Joe was thinking he was going to win a lot of money. What we can‚Äôt understand is why Rob McWaters (clerk of committee for the Board of Alderman) went along. Was it to spy on the SHA guys for his bosses back at the Board of Alderman? We don‚Äôt know but we know it was on their own time, and the bar tender at the pool was well tipped, what does that mean?   
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Yes, its true former Ward 6 Alderman Jack Connolly was recently appointed as the City of Somerville’s Hearing Officer. He will hear appeals from the various departments in the city. The state mandated this position for all cities and towns in the commonwealth. We wish him luck at it…he certainly has the experience.

Crook tries to cash in lottery ticket at bank
By George P. Hassett

  Somerville police are looking for a man wanted in connection with a Feb. 10 armed robbery at a Davis Square bank.
  A man dressed in dark sunglasses and a black skull cap walked into Middlesex Federal Savings Bank at 3:41 p.m. Friday and showed a black handgun to the teller and demanded money. He also allegedly passed a note written on the back of a lottery ticket to the teller. Lt. Paul Upton said the robber made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
  The lottery ticket used in the heist was probably a losing one, said Upton.
  ‚ÄúIf he had a winner he probably would not have committed the crime he did,‚Äù said Upton.
   Police continue to look for the bank robber and ask that anyone with information regarding the incident contact Det. Ross O‚ÄôMeara at 617-625-1600 ext. 7239.

Snow emergency declared

  A snow emergency was declared for Saturday, Feb. 11today at 4 p.m. Residents have four hours after the snow declaration to move their cars. Ticketing and towing will begin four hours after the declaration. Towing before the snow actually hits the ground is necessary to ensure clear streets for the plows.
  It is strongly advised that residents move their cars as soon as an emergency is declared in order to avoid any confusion about timelines.

Be wise, weatherize
By Catherine Rogers

   While there‚Äôs no escaping the rising cost of fuel, some Massachusetts agencies are joining forces to offer Somerville residents relief from the burden.
    And for some beneficiaries, qualifying to receive assistance comes as a surprise.
   ‚ÄúI wish I had known about it years ago. I had a lot of incorrect assumptions,‚Äù said Maria Nicolau, who lives on the top floor of her mother‚Äôs three-family home on Broadway. ‚ÄúI thought owning a home would make a person ineligible,‚Äù she said.

The View From Prospect Hill

           In this week‚Äôs edition of The Somerville News, two very different stories came out of the Winter Hill/East Somerville community. In one, 40 school age children from the Mystic Ave. Housing Development gleefully went to a Winchester dentist for a free cleaning.

In the other, four young men were arrested on Gilman St. for possessing cocaine, marijuana and a .380 caliber semiautomatic pistol. The men are believed by police to be connected with the street gang H-Block, which has roots in the Mystic Ave. homes.

Each incident provides insight into the daily life of Somerville and, in particular, its largest public housing facility.

Gilman St. allegedly home to guns, thugs and drugs
By George P. Hassett

    Four men believed to be connected to a local street gang were arrested Friday evening following an investigation by Somerville Police detectives and narcotics investigators. Drugs, firearms and ammunition were recovered when the Somerville police, assisted by a tactical entry team from the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms executed a search warrant for the second floor of 104 Gilman St.

News talk for February 8, 2006

There was a good crowd at Good Times on Sunday for ‚ÄúThe Shannon Super Bowl Sunday Breakfast‚Äù held this year to establish a scholarship fund in the last senator‚Äôs name. A large crowd was on hand to see and be seen, and is reported to have raised a substantial amount of money.   It was a good turnout and a pleasant opportunity to see all the political faces in the crowd.  Dorothy Shannon was very pleased, but if you didn‚Äôt go you can call 781-729-5534 for details on how to help the fund or go online to www.charlieshannon.net      
   
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Well the Democratic Caucuses were held on Saturday and there were basically no fights in the various wards. It looks like Deval Patrick did well, the mood and talk was that Reilly shot himself in the foot one too many times, especially when it came to his disastrous choice for Lt. Governor. The caucuses at Ward 4 went smoothly and everyone was out of there in short time. Interesting new rules at this year’s caucuses though – the people who make the rules can’t have an IQ higher than 80. These people must see the meaning of life when they sit down to design guidelines for a simple political gathering.