Citizen petitions for Bike Path $; Plant case may jury; New Rte. 93 interchange opens; Gutierrez articles to be revisited
Published on October 4th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Tri-Community Bike Path Committee Chairman Cameron Bin will ask Selectmen to hear his citizen's petition for bike path funding in a Special Town Meeting within the Oct. 23 Special Town Meeting.
Bin wants the town to put up around $62,000 to jumpstart work on the path. This money will be the first request of many all reimbursed along the way by the state.
The proposed path would travel along the railroad right of way in Stoneham, connecting to a path in Woburn.
Selectmen must hold a Town Meeting if Bain gets 250 signatures, but they do not have to schedule it within the Oct. 23 Special.
"It would make sense and save money," Bain said. "But who knows what they'll do."
Sister Plante
Under oath and after avoiding deposition for five years, former Fall River Sister of Mercy, Sister Rosemary Laliberte, admitted that a mysterious Winchester family exists.
The Church had originally questioned whether Sister Michaelinda (ne Beverly) Plante was telling a tall tale.
Plante quit her job as an administrator in the Fall River parochial schools in 1994 after being locked out of her office and intimidated by superiors. She and many of her supporters, including a pack of devotees from Stoneham, allege that the nun was chased out because of her involvement with the Winchester family and a related church scandal.
At the Sept. 22 depositions Plante's attorneys were barred from asking questions about the Winchester family; the Fall River Diocese convinced the judge to exclude the issue.
Plante was upset because she believes that the family is at the heart of why she was forced from her job.
The facts are muddled. The most sensational allegation is that the Winchester mother had an affair with a member of the clergy. As the story goes, the son knew, and the nun either knew or was asking the wrong questions. The boy has since allegedly died from injuries sustained in a suicide attempt.
Spokespeople for the church have questioned the existence of the boy and the family. On Sept. 22 in a Salem courtroom, Laliberte acknowledged that "the boy" died. Also deposed that day, Father Richard Beaulieu said all matters surrounding the boy and his family were "internal to the Church."
People close to the case, which is now alive as a legal malpractice case against the attorney Robert George who handled the original suit (he failed to get depositions of key players like Laliberte and Beaulieu), say the matter could end up before a jury.
New highway ramp
A new traffic ramp north of the Route 128 / Interstate 93 junction in Woburn opened Tuesday.
The ramp cost the state 15.7 million and is intended to "take some of the congestion that exists at 128 and 93 and break it up," as Mass Highway Commissioner Matthew Amorello told the Globe.
Whoops
The town posted the warrant articles for zoning changes at the Gutierrez property on the former BRMC site one day too late for the Special Town meeting last June, so the done deal isn't kosher.
The town has placed the articles on the agenda again for the Oct. 23 Special Town Meeting.
"Haste made waste," said political watchdog John DeGeorge, who said he noticed the mistake when he saw the articles posted last week.
Kraft forum
Frank Pignone of Gigante Drive wants to talk publicly about pollution from the Atlantic Gelatin factory.
After a spill of sulfuric acid last week, Pignone has written to Stoneham Police and Fire, Town Administrator Nutting, Selectmen and the Board of Health. Pignone wants the town to host a public discussion in which citizens can learn about potential dangers from the site and how to avoid harm.
Pignone is awaiting a response.
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