2001: A year in review - The events that shaped a corner of the world called Stoneham
Published on January 2nd, 2002
STONEHAM, MA - Everyone will remember 2001 for the terrorist attack, most vividly the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. The American people went to war, the economy into recession. But within the major events shaping the world, people went on with their lives. In every year in every life, there are ups and downs.
What follows is a recollection of those undulations felt by the Stoneham community in 2001.
JANUARY
Dead horses and bad blood
Two households, both alike in indignation, in fair Stoneham, where we lay our scene, a civil suit in federal court has made us all feel a bit unclean...
On Dec. 28, 2000, insurers for the Town of Stoneham paid the Donovan family of 20 Emery Court $320,000, and the Donovans released all claims in a pending lawsuit against the Town...
Nutting leaves town
Town Administrator Jeff Nutting has given Stoneham notice: he plans to be at the helm of Franklin, Mass. no later than March 5.
Nutting accepted the job of Franklin Town Administrator Tuesday night at a meeting of the Franklin Town Council.
“I used to argue with him, but I’ll miss him,” said Stoneham Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello.
“He was a strong fiscal manager; you can’t argue with that,” said Stoneham Selectman Chairman Pat Jordan...
MLK Day tradition
The Stoneham Against Racism and Hate group is planning what members hope will be the first annual Stoneham celebration of Martin Luther King Day for 7 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Stoneham Theatre.
“We are excited to have children from the Boys & Girls Club dancing as well as performances by children from Colonial Park School, Robin Hood School and Central School,” said Cheryl Sanders, the group member organizing the event.
FEBRUARY
Dairy Mart takes a stand
Robbers have held up all three Stoneham Dairy Marts in the past month. But Sadat Khen, owner of the 41 Main St. store, is no easy target.
Khen chased a gunman off his property on Tuesday night, Feb. 6, just like he did last June.
“Someone has to make a stand,” said Khen.
Stoneham Police Detective John Leccese said store clerks should cooperate with armed robbers to get them out of the store without violence as soon as possible.
“It’s not worth getting shot,” Leccese said.
“I tell my employees to just give up the money,” Khen said. “But when I’m there, I can’t do that.”
Stephen McMaster, 18, of 14 Monument Square in Charlestown was arrested just minutes after the attempted robbery after crashing his getaway car in North Reading...
Selectmen welcome Gutierrez
A joint session of the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board approved the Gutierrez Company’s plans to build an office park on the 42-acre former hospital site on Woodland Road.
All Selectmen were present at the Feb. 6 meeting, and they voted unanimously for site plan approval.
MARCH
Chapter 70 draws a crowd
A group of concerned citizens got together at Stoneham High Monday night to tell Stoneham parents and political leaders what the community must do to get more money from the state.
“We have to ask our Selectmen to fight for money this year and write to the Governor and go to public hearings for bills that could help Stoneham,” said Linda Corapi, the chief organizer of the Monday night forum...
Corapi, with the help of fellow Stonehamites Nina McGrath, Judy Katz and Shelly McNeil, organized a forum to discuss Chapter 70. Under the Education Reform Act of 1993 Chapter 70 provides general municipal relief to ease the property tax burden on communities struggling to pay for public education. The state did this in anticipation of education costs rising faster than the 2 1/2 percent property tax cap set by Proposition 2 1/2...
Helping our friends
“I can handle more problems, but I really don’t want anymore,” Kelly Conlon says.
Kelly’s had a double-lung transplant before, and she knows what can happen.
At age three doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital diagnosed Kelly with Bronchitis Obliterans, a degenerative lung disease. In 1992 at age five Kelly underwent a double-lung transplant, and it saved her life. But today Kelly faces the same ordeal, and her parents Sandy and Jeffrey are reaching out for help.
Stoneham residents Wendy Cayton at 438-5178 and Cindy DiRusso at 279-0788 are working with Mike Miller of the national Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) at 800-366-2682 to help organize a local effort to raise money to pay for the operation and care Kelly needs.
APRIL
Town election changes
One more vote was cast in 2001 than in 2000, but a lot has changed. The balance of power has shifted on the Board of Selectmen, and the School Committee will have two new members, eventually.
Pat Jordan first took the gavel to become Selectmen Chairman in 1981. As sitting Selectmen Chairman in 2001 Jordan was the only incumbent not to be re-elected.
“It’s been an honor to serve the town,” Jordan said. “But I have a lot more going on in my life than Stoneham politics.” The sound of a baby grandchild in the background is just one example.
“People were ready for a change,” newly elected Selectman Anthony Kennedy said.
But the 2001 Town Election was not a classic case of the new guard pushing out the old, but a revitalized group of longtime players uniting to take control during a period of discontent.
Winning back the Selectman seat he lost in 2000 after one term, Kennedy topped the 2001 ticket with 2,146 votes — the most votes for a candidate for Board of Selectmen since Mark Vaughan won with 2,525 in 1991. Sitting School Committee member Mary Pecoraro switched horses midstream without the slightest splash, taking the second Selectman seat with 2,018 votes...
Dramatic success
Dealing with life, death and high school gives the members of the Stoneham High Drama Club a vividly textured view of the world.
The club performed Jerome McDonough’s time transcending ode to family and memory, “Mirrors,” for the 2001 State Drama Festival, taking the show all the way to the finals.
Besides earning a spot in the finals for the first time in 12 years, many of the cast and crew won individual awards...
MAY
Cabjackers
Armed men carjacked four cabs in three days, beginning with a Saturday night ambush on Avon Street.
Gunmen robbed drivers in Peabody, Lynnfield and Saugus on Monday night, May 21.
Last month a cabby was carjacked in Wakefield.
In every instance the men hailed cabs in Boston, robbed the drivers after traveling to the suburbs and stole the cabs...
Malden Police arrested three men on Tuesday suspected of robbing cabs in Peabody and Lynnfield on Monday night...
Reprecincting
Seven precincts of votes will be tallied for the first time in Stoneham at the April 2, 2002, Town Election.
Selectmen approved a reprecincting plan proposed by Town Clerk John Hanright at their May 15 meeting. The plan calls for seven precincts, one more than the old layout.
Looking from north to south and splitting the town down the middle along Main Street, the new precincts run 3-1-2 down the left or east side and 4-5-7-6 down the west side. The Town Clerk’s Office is sending letters to all residents to inform them of their new precinct designations.
Big news
The Editor got married on May 27, 2001. So far, so good.
JUNE
Gutierrez woes
Stoneham will lose $600,000 for public safety and close to $2 million in annual property taxes if House Bill 4180 passes.
No one from Stoneham spoke in opposition to the bill at a State Senate Housing and Urban Development Commit-tee hearing last week.
Maybe this is because the leadership of Stoneham government is in flux, maybe it’s because people in the community don’t like what they must trade for the big bucks.
The Gutierrez Company of Burlington plans to build an office park on the 41-acre campus of the former Boston Regional Medical Center on Woodland Road. Bill 4180, introduced by Representative Paul Donato (D-Medford) would prohibit widening Woodland Road or adding traffic signals, essential steps in building an office park of the scope proposed by Gutierrez...
The Communities for Fells Preservation (CFFP) has been working for months “to raise awareness about the negative and irreparable damage that will be caused by the proposed development of the former BRMC site in Stoneham,” in the words of member Miriam Regan-Fiore of Ravine Road...
JULY
Sweetser stops moving
Richard Johnson is moving the Sweetser House today to his lot at the corner of Franklin Street and Dale Court.
Violent summer
Something’s wrong with Stoneham. Young people are doing horrible, hateful things to each other. Parents and the police need to take aggressive action to find out who beat another teenager with a baseball bat two weeks ago on Harrison Street and who spray-painted “Kill all the (racial obscenity)” all over the High School last Saturday.
Some lowlifes trashed three yards en route to the High School Saturday night, smashing landscaping lights and kicking over plants before going to work on the High School.
Thanks to the effort of the parents and kids who care about their town and their fellow citizens, the High School was cleaned before nightfall on Saturday. But the damage, although expensive to repair in time and money, is not the point. The point is that young adults, teenagers, youths — whatever you want to call the people between childhood and adulthood — are full of hate and rage.
A Melrose youth, Eric Schille, turned 20 on July 4. To celebrate the end of his teenage years this all-American kid ran over another teen, breaking the boy’s pelvis. The police report said Schille was sitting in his parked car while the other boy stood in front of the car. According to the report, Schille started his car and ran the boy over with both right tires. What the report doesn’t mention is that one of the friends of the boy run over beat one of Schille’s friends so severely with a baseball bat that the boy had to be rushed to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston...
No one besides Schille has been charged with anything. His case is ongoing.
AUGUST
Out of the Fire and into...
Sean Fitzgerald is leaving the Stoneham Fire Department for six months of even more dangerous duty.
The 22-year-old Oak Ridge Road resident is heading to Bosnia in September as part of the Massachusetts Army National Guard 181st Light Infantry Regiment.
“I’m upset about the timing,” Fitzgerald says. He started at the Fire Department in April. “But I’m happy to go, to take my turn”...
Franklin Street work in progress
Town Engineer and DPW Director Bob Grover says the Franklin Street reconstruction project will be done by the spring of 2003.
The town has already replaced the water and sewer mains. Keyspan Energy, the gas company, is installing a new gas main along Franklin Street, and NStar Electric is moving its poles.
The gas company is working at the Perkins Street intersection this week. Keyspan plans to go all the way into Melrose and then begin installing new connections off the new line...
New man in charge
David Berry plans to take over as Stoneham Town Administrator on Sept. 4.
“I’m apprehensive but confident I’ll succeed,” Berry said.
After two of the four finalists dropped out in July, Selectmen voted unanimous approval of Berry. His contract is still under negotiation.
Berry exchanges the limited authority of the Town Coordinator position in Bolton, population 4,300, for the head honcho post in Stoneham, population 23,000...
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 11 terror
Everyone from President George Bush to Stoneham elementary school students is reacting to a terrorist attack on the United States.
Two flights from Logan Airport were hijacked and crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center towers Tuesday morning (American Flight 11 to Los Angeles LAX and a United Airlines flight). A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. A fourth plane crashed outside Pittsburgh. An explosion was reported at Camp David, all in a storm of news swirling violently Tuesday afternoon.
Anna Williams Allison, 48, of Pond Street was on American Airlines Flight 11. She had lived in Stoneham since 1990 and was married to Blake Allison. She lived previously in Cambridge and was born in Richmond, Va. as Anna S. Williams.
The couple had no children, according to Town Hall records. She listed “manager” as her occupation. No memorial service information was available as of press time...
Firefighters are heroes
Stoneham firefighters joined the all-American search effort in New York City last Wednesday.
Firefighters Bill Dockery and Scott Greenleaf left for New York City on Sept. 19, and returned this week. Stoneham Ford donated a van to get them there. Fire Captain Joe Rolli and Lt. Jim Marshall left on Sept. 24 with complementary Amtrak tickets.
The men are serving as part of a critical incident stress management team at “ground zero,” as the TV reporters say...
Stoneham Fire’s role in this American trauma is emblematic of the cooperative spirit of this country’s imminent recovery.
Good grades for Stoneham
A report published earlier this year by UMass Amherst Professor Robert Gaudet, PhD., ranks Stoneham as the most “effective” public school system in the state.
With a $20-plus million budget, the axiom, “You get what you pay for,” comes to mind.
Gaudet’s report, A Study of School Student Performance Relative to District Demogra-phy, focuses on the ability of school systems to prepare students for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems (MCAS) tests. The report analyzes eighth and 10th grade MCAS scores from 1998 through 2001 using an equation Gaudet developed to control for the wealth and education of the community.
On a scale of one to five — one being a Dover-Sherborn and five being somewhere like Chelsea — Stoneham is a two. After running the numbers Gaudet found that from 1998 through 2001 Stoneham students exceeded the expectations of his calculations more than any other students. More than 300 school districts were studied.
OCTOBER
Chief O’Keefe
Stoneham’s new police chief needed only one weekend to decide that Stoneham was the place for him.
In 1974, two years after Gregory O’Keefe took his first police exam, he was accepted into the State Police and Stoneham Police Department on the same weekend. He had to make a choice.
“I told my wife, Virginia, that we’d take a look at Stoneham, and if we saw a house we liked — we were looking for a house at the time — we’d stay in Stoneham,” O’Keefe says.
The couple bought a house on Pleasant Street that weekend. Last night, Oct. 30, 2001, O’Keefe was sworn in as the Stoneham Chief of Police.
Shrinking Gutierrez
The Office of Environmental Affairs ordered the Gutierrez Co. to lessen the impact of the Stoneham Executive Park project on roadways and parkland or reduce the size of the entire development.
Secretary of Environmental Affairs Bob Durand rejected Gutierrez’s draft environmental report on Oct. 15.
Arsonist extinguished
Stoneham Police arrested a 64-year-old man with a history of mental problems in the act of setting a fire on Main Street last Wednesday.
Stoneham Police Detective George Sullivan was on a stakeout in the Nixon Lane area when he discovered Gary Tilden, 64, of 4 Nixon Lane, in Stoneham setting a fire behind 104 Main St., the exact site of two fires in the previous two weeks. There had been six fires in the general area during that time.
NOVEMBER
DelRossi back in action
Stoneham native and police veteran, Richard DelRossi, is headed overseas with the U.S. Air Force.
“I consider it an honor and a privilege,” DelRossi said.
DelRossi’s experience as a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War has put him in the odd but impressive position of leading a five-person air base security team into active duty.
Highway to protest
MassHighway may take Stoneham homes to make room for a reconstructed interchange at the 93/128 cloverleaf.
The project, still in the conceptual stage, will bring ridiculous traffic tie-ups to Stoneham, and the end result will place residents living near the highways even closer. But the interchange is one of the busiest and most dangerous in the state, according to Mass-Highway Public Affairs chief Doug Cope.
Golf pro off course
Town Administrator David Berry ended Paul Munro’s 21 year career as manager of the Unicorn and Oaks Golf Courses last week.
Berry, who was appointed by a 5-0 vote of the Selectmen this summer, said he wanted to extend the contract but the Selectmen didn’t. The TA has total authority to extend the contract, but he serves at the mercy of the Selectmen. They voted him in, and they can vote him out.
DECEMBER
Many voices in the darkness
The state plans to force NStar to return millions of dollars to angry customers, but money won’t change hands for months.
“It will probably be a springtime decision,” estimated Gene Sullivan, the Department of Energy and Telecommunications (DTE) Commissioner who ran the Nov. 26 public hearing in Stoneham.
The DTE has nearly $4 million on the table and a lot of hungry mouths to feed. NStar provides electrical service to 80 Massachusetts communities, and many of them have suffered frequent outages. Stoneham residents lost power 116 times between January 2000 and September 2001 and 21 more times since then, including Thanksgiving.
Stonehamites light the way
Two Stoneham residents were Olympic torch bearers on Dec. 27: Jessica Chiachio, a SHS sophomore, carried the torch in Plymouth, and Jim Fowler, 47, of North Street had the honor in Cambridge.
Good health and best wishes to all in 2002 from The Stoneham Independent.
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