On Thursday, March 1, 2012 warrants were issued out of the Dudley District Court for the arrest of Jason Fontaine 06/06/77 of L/K/A 151 School Street, Webster, Mass, Cindy Carpenter 01/30/59 of L/K/A 6 May Street, Webster, Mass. Deborah Anderson 12/3/51 of 2294 Providence Rd., Northbridge, Mass for 151 counts each of larceny as well as one charge of conspiracy to commit a crime. The Dudley District Court also issued warrants for both Andersons for over forty additional counts of larceny as well as charges of utilizing an organizational name without authorization for profit.

Both Jason Fontaine and Cindy Carpenter were arraigned in Dudley District Court today on the new charges. Fontaine and Carpenter were originally charged back in November with over forty counts of larceny as well as additional charges of utilizing an organizational name without authorization for profit. Additional investigation since November revealed additional bank accounts used by the suspects.

In a fundraising solicitation scam, Jason Fontaine, Cindy Carpenter, Deborah Anderson and Christopher Anderson opened multiple accounts at two banks for business accounts in the name of M.S.P.A. These individuals then solicited funds from individuals by representing themselves as the Massachusetts State Police Association (MSPA) and the DARE Program. These individuals stated that they were soliciting funds specifically for local DARE programs as well as for tornado victims in the state.

During the investigation Sgt. Thomas Ralph applied for and received four search warrants which were executed on the Hometown Bank, the Sovereign Bank and 6 May Street, Webster. As a result of these search warrants evidence was obtained to indicate that over eleven thousand dollars was donated by individuals to this organization believing it to be a legitimate organization working on behalf of the Massachusetts State Police Association and the DARE Program. All of these funds were then utilized by Jason Fontaine and Christopher Carpenter for their own use and were never donated.

All individuals that donated by check and whose information was obtained from records recovered as a result of the search warrants were listed as victims in the complaint. According to the information obtained the victims are from a number of areas in Massachusetts including Ashland, Cherry Valley, Douglas, Dudley, Franklin, Leicester, Northborough, Medway, Needham, Norwood, Oxford, Rochdale, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Walpole, Westborough, Webster and Worcester.

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass., March 2, 2012 -- Harrington is expanding its access to health care by offering a Spanish speaking financial counselor two evenings per week.

A bi-lingual counselor will be available Tuesday and Thursday from 4-7 p.m. Those needing assistance can stop in, or call 508-765-6493 during those hours. Go to the reception desk at the main entrance of Harrington Hospital (100 South Street, Southbridge) and ask to see a financial counselor.

“There are many residents in this community who have lost their health insurance coverage or need assistance filling out paperwork,” said Kathleen Foley, Credit Manager at Harrington. “As a regional healthcare system, we wanted to provide the tools to help them obtain that coverage.”

Harrington’s Credit Department has access to the Virtual Gateway – an online portal through the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services that assists in applying for health insurance and health assistance programs.

Residents are invited to come and sit with a bi-lingual financial counselor to apply for Mass Health, Commonwealth Care or Health Safety Net Trust Fund. Harrington’s financial counselors can assist with the application online and send it directly to the Enrollment Center for processing.

Applications will require backup information submitted either with your application or mailed or faxed at a later date. You are welcome to call in advance on Tuesday or Thursday, to find out what would be needed to bring along. Paper applications in Spanish are also available outside the financial counselor’s office. Paper applications may take up to six-to-eight weeks to process.

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass., March 1, 2012 – In an effort to raise awareness and encourage the engagement of patients, families, health care providers, and the public, Harrington HealthCare System is participating in the 2012 Patient Safety Awareness Week campaign, Be Aware for Safe Care. Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 4-10, 2012, is an annual education and awareness campaign for health care safety led by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF).

This year’s theme: “Be Aware for Safe Care” focuses on the need for everyone to understand the importance of patient safety and to recognize the range of efforts being made to improve health safety in the US and worldwide.

Harrington will engage staff, patients and the community through educational and awareness-building activities specific to patient safety. The campaign seeks to make patients, providers, and the public aware of the ways they can participate in these efforts and partner to improve patient safety. While efforts of the past decade have brought improvements, recent studies indicate that much work remains to be done—and can be done most effectively through the involvement of all parties.

“Be Aware for Safe Care” emphasizes the fact that safety issues impact everyone. “We work together to promote patient safety everyday at Harrington, but this week will give as an opportunity to showcase some of our initiatives throughout the three campuses,” said Kathleen Davis, Vice-President of Quality and Patient Safety. “We will have story board displays of our patient safety initiatives, an educational screen saver, buttons to wear, and a contest related to safety with prizes for staff.”

HARRINGTON HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, www.harringtonhospital.org, is a comprehensive regional healthcare system serving the needs of Southern Worcester County and Northern Connecticut through our 114-bed acute-care Harrington Hospital in Southbridge that provides medical and surgical inpatient care; our satellite medical facilities across South Central Massachusetts; and a free-standing treatment center, The Cancer Center at Harrington, in Southbridge.

SERVPRO of South Worcester
explains how to keep your
house safe this winter.

Worcester, MA, February 21, 2012—Although New England has experienced relatively mild weather this season, it’s important to remember that winter is not over yet. In March of last year, a massive snowstorm barreled through the North East, extending the winter season longer than anyone had expected. After witnessing the disastrous effects of the storm last year, SERVPRO of South Worcester wants to make sure that you are prepared for whatever Mother Nature may throw our way.

When cold weather hits, it is critical that proper care be taken to ensure your pipes don’t freeze and burst. A frozen pipe can burst when the ice builds up inside the pipe, but it’s more commonly caused from the backflow pressure between the water source and the ice blockage.

There are a number of steps that can be taken to avoid having a pipe burst in your house. SERVPRO of South Worcester recommends you keep cabinet doors open during cold spells. This allows the warm air to circulate around the pipes. If there are pipes that run through unheated or uninsulated parts of your house, make sure to keep a slow trickle of water flowing through the faucets. You can also consider shutting off outdoor faucets that you won’t be using in the winter. If you choose to do so, first open the outdoor faucet to ensure that it is completely drained, then find the shut-off valve in your basement or crawl space and turn it off.

Another common winter weather disaster your house could experience is ice dams. Ice dams form when ice prevents melted snow from flowing into the gutter system, causing backflow under the roof’s shingles and into the structure’s interior areas.

“The easiest way to prevent ice dams from forming is to make sure that your gutters are clean and secure,” says Donny McKendall, owner of SERVPRO of South Worcester. “While the weather is nice, it’s a good idea to make sure that your gutters are clear and can provide an unobstructed water path. An accumulation of leaves and debris in your gutters greatly increases your chances of falling victim to ice dams.”

If you don’t take these precautions and steps to avoid frozen pipes and ice dams, you’re putting your house in risk of severe water damage. If you find yourself the victim of water damage, contact a professional immediately to mitigate your losses. SERVPRO of South Worcester is prepared with the knowledge and equipment to quickly return your home to it pre-damaged condition.

Founded in 1967, the SERVPRO franchise system is a national leader and provider of fire, water, mold and other specialty cleanup and restoration services. SERVPRO's professional services network of more than 1,600 individually owned and operated franchises responds to property damage emergencies ranging from small individual disasters to multi-million dollar large-loss situations. SERVPRO has recently mobilized its elite Storm Response Team to the 2011 North Dakota Floods, 2010 Tennessee Floods, the 2010 New England Floods, the 2009 California Wildfires and 2008 Hurricane Ike. Contact: www.serveprosouthworcester.com.

BOSTON- Jen Caissie, Governor’s Councillor for the 7th District, took out her nomination papers earlier this month at the Secretary of State’s Office for re-election to the Governor’s Council.

Caissie, a Republican from Oxford, represents most of Worcester County in her 65 city and town District.   She was elected in 2010 and has been an active force on the Council.  Caissie initiated a new policy at the Council that requires all judicial nominees and their witnesses be administered a truth telling Oath prior to testifying at the Governor’s Council at confirmation hearings. Caissie said the policy was “over 200 years past due.”  Caissie’s Motion to administer the Oath was passed by the Council and a majority plan on enforcing it.

Recently, Caissie was voted as the point person by her colleagues on the Council to select a law firm from throughout the Commonwealth to represent the Council on important Constitutional issues.  Caissie selected the local law firm of Seder & Chandler, LLC and retired Appeals Court Judge Mel Greenberg to lead the legal team.

 
At the confirmation hearings on judicial nominees and candidates to the Massachusetts Parole Board, Caissie has been a vocal proponent of public safety and victims’ rights.  In reflecting on her first year Caissie said, “I am proud of the work that has been done.  I have voted for judges who make public safety a priority, who apply the law, not make it and who are qualified to serve.” 

Charlton Selectwoman Kathleen Walker last week announced her candidacy as a Democrat for State Representative in the 6th Worcester District. Walker, a nine-year member of the Board of Selectmen, pulled nomination papers with the Secretary of State to begin the process of running for the seat.

The newly redrawn 6th Worcester district includes the towns of Dudley and Southbridge, three precincts in Charlton, and one precinct in Spencer. She will be facing the current 6^th District representative, Peter J. Durant (R-Spencer), who plans to officially announce his re-election bid in March.

"I decided to run for this office because I have a strong commitment to the 6th Worcester District and beyond," said Walker. "I believe that I can bring a voice to Beacon Hill that represents both my democratic values and the wide range of experience I have as a local official, a Retired Postal Service worker, and as an active member of my community."

In her work on the Charlton Selectboard, Walker recently led an endeavor to reinstate the Fay Mountain Farm Committee to support local farming and has also proposed acquisition of a plot for a Habitat for Humanity house. In a continued effort to help seniors combat increasing costs of living, she has proposed changes to the Senior Tax Write-off Program and as a committee member of the Residential Energy Assistance for Seniors foundation raised funds to assist seniors with rising heating costs.

Walker serves on the Patrick Administration's Local Government Advisory Commission, the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and as one of eight Selectmen in the state on the Massachusetts Selectman's Association Board for District 5. She is a member of the Charlton Recycling and the Municipal Building Committees, as well as the Old Home Day and Earth Day Festival Committees.

"I look forward to spending the next several months talking to voters in the 6th Worcester District about the issues that matter most to them, as well as what I feel I bring to the table," said Walker. "We need to be talking about how to create jobs for our neighbors, improve education for our children, and build a better future for our community."

Kathleen Walker is a 19-year resident of Charlton, She and husband Mike Lally have eight grandchildren.

One of few in region that provides vaccinations.

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass., February 20, 2012 -- Harrington HealthCare System has opened the Harrington Travel Clinic, which provides high-quality travel consultation and travel medicine-related services.

The Harrington Travel Clinic, at 164 South Street in Southbridge, one block from Harrington Hospital, serves the needs of individuals who require vaccinations and other travel-related health advice and information before traveling. The Harrington Travel Clinic can be reached at 508-765-8196 or by visiting www.harringtonhospital.org. Visits are by appointment only.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to offer a vital service that is very much needed and not currently available in this area,” said Debra Vescera, R.N., B.S.N., who is Director of the Harrington Travel Clinic as well as Harrington’s Preventive Health Coordinator. “For several years, Harrington has received a number of calls every week by individuals looking for travel advice and vaccinations.”

The Clinic will not only provide immunizations, but can also provide the traveler with information regarding food and water safety, insect repellent or other necessary pieces of travel information based on their destination.

The closest travel clinics are in Springfield and Worcester, Vescera said.

The Harrington Travel Clinic is staffed by Vescera and Nancy Johndrow, both of whom have been certified as Travel Vaccine Specialists by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the International Association of Travel Medicine. The clinic provides services for individuals age 2 and over. Children under the age of two should see their pediatrician for any recommended travel vaccinations.

Worcester Sheriff Lew Evangelidis. More photos follow.

By Steev Riccardo

When you first see and hear Lew Evangelidis speak to an audience of school kids, your immediate impression will be that you are not listening to an average sheriff giving an ordinary speech.

Sheriff Evangelidis has a certain hipness and down- to-earth feel about him that makes him approachable and someone you want to listen to. To make his points, he uses stories about musicians and celebrities, examples which kids can understand. The approach appears to be working. 

The Worcester County Sheriff is making time to visit at least two high school and middle schools per week to present his anti-drug and alcohol Face2Face program directly to kids. The program is an ongoing part of the Sheriff’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Education Initiative for Worcester County Schools.

Last week he spoke to both Oxford Middle School and Oxford High School students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol use.

“Part of the reason I wanted to run for sheriff was to make an impact on the community. I grew up in Worcester County, it’s my home community,” said the 6’ 7” Evangelidis, who won the job in November 2010.

“I knew before I ran for sheriff that the most important impacts on what created crime were two-fold. There were people in prison and we wanted to make them less likely to repeat, and there were people who would be future prisoners, our young people.”  

Once elected sheriff, Evangelidis listened to the stories the inmates told him, and he felt that he needed “to bring these stories to the young people because they think they are different, but they are not.”

“I have teenagers, and what you try and do is find a way to reach young people, and how you reach young people these days is through celebrities, through videos. We try and find examples which everyone is aware of, where drugs and alcohol have taken the wheels off of folks.

“These people are pretty famous for having died from drugs and alcohol, or their life is going down the tubes because of drugs and alcohol. Young people know it and although they find humor in it, I think it sends the message that they get it, and that’s the important thing.”

The audio and visual techniques that Evangelidis and his team use have been working effectively to get the kids’ attention. Kids are interested in seeing and hearing stories about celebrities whom they know and admire.

“I love music and I know young people love music and musicians like Eminem have a way to reach them. He is trying to reach young people through his own story because he almost died from drugs and alcohol. He glorified the usage in his lyrics, but the reality was totally different.” 

Ironically, some of the celebrities who have been part of these presentations have died from drug- and alcohol- related causes, so that Evangelidis has had to alter his presentation.

“It’s powerful for us, putting these presentations together, and seeing that we just lost Whitney Houston and we lost Amy Winehouse last year.”

Oxford High School Principal Kevin Wells was impressed and grateful to have Evangelidis speak at the high school. “Basically, what we always have to do is expose kids to the reality of life. I thought the Sheriff did an outstanding job today of bringing that and highlighting what’s really out there. This is the real world, these are real choices and they can have a very negative impact. They call them the great removers, drugs and alcohol, they remove life, they remove self-esteem, so I thought he did an outstanding job of bringing that across today.”

Oxford Superintendent of Schools Allen Himmelberger was also on hand to hear the presentation. “We were glad to have Sheriff Evangelidis here today to speak to our seventh and eight graders at the middle school and our nine and tenth grade students at the high school. He does a terrific job of sending the message on how drugs and alcohol are the reason why 90% of the people at the house of correction are there. The presentation is just terrific, it’s timely and it’s well done. We hope that our students get the message.”

“It seems to be very positively received and I hope to reach people before they make bad choices,” said Evangelidis. Judging by the reaction he received from Oxford kids and even us adults on hand, the message is coming through loud and clear.

Evangelidis is booked through April and will be speaking to kids in Webster in the spring.

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L to R: Oxford Superintendent Of Schools Allen Himmelberger,
Worcester Sherrif Lew Evangelides, Oxford High School Assistant
Principal David Nugent, Oxford High School Principal Kevin Wells.

By Steev Riccardo

Local police authorities are working with FBI agents to solve the problem of who stole photos of teenage girls from more than a dozen high schools in Massachusetts and posted them on a website which contains pornographic material.

"Two weeks ago the district attorney’s office was proactive and they sent out an e-mail to everyone giving us a heads-up that this was transpiring, that people were taking pictures off of Facebook and they didn’t know if they were cropping bodies on the faces of kids," said Oxford High School Principal Kevin Wells.

Wells and his staff have been doing everything they can to alert parents and educate the kids. "Consequently whatever you put on Facebook is not private. Kids may think it is, but nothing is private once you put it on the World Wide Web. Kids are being exposed in a negative way by these people, and certainly not necessarily because they are."

Webster police officer Cindy Johnson, who works mostly with Bartlett High School and has an office at the school said, "The site is getting the photos from Facebook, putting them on its site and requesting pictures or nude pictures of the girls they are putting up on that site."

Everyone you talk to at the schools all say the same thing. It’s up to parents essentially to monitor what their children are doing on Facebook and on the Internet in general. Teachers and law enforcement can only do so much.

Oxford’s Principal Wells said, "Our Superintendent of Schools, Allen Himmelberger, sent out a bulletin for every kid, Pre-K to 12, to take home to his/her parents, warning them about what is happening and how important it is for parents to keep track of their kids’ activity on the Internet.

"We plan on reiterating the message to kids in the spring, the weaknesses and exposures that you have with Facebook and other forms of social media."

Interim Bartlett High School Principal Stephen Dlott addressed the students last week by intercom about the matter and also instructed teachers to explain to students what you post on Facebook can easily be copied and used by others.

Officer Johnson has personally spoken to parents about the risks that come with what you post on Facebook.

 "Some of the kids’ dressing is very risqué. A lot of parents who I checked with say that they do monitor their children’s Facebook. However, some of the pictures that I see there are very alarming in the fact that they are walking around like that."

At this point authorities only know that the site in question is being operated from overseas. The case is being handled by a higher authority said Johnson, "The FBI is involved so they will have a better chance of getting something done faster then local police would."

In the meantime, parents should make sure that kids have their privacy settings in place on the social network site and also be aware of what kind of photographs they are posting on line.

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Family fun and good food, too!

Isador’s Fruit and Deli hosted a “Local Businesses Chili Cook-Off” this past Sunday, drawing chili lovers from all walks of life. The event was held in conjunction with The Webster Dudley Business Alliance and benefited the “Hand Fruit Program” which brings organic fruit to local schools that might not otherwise be able to afford it.



Left to right: Paula Denoncourt, Deb Horan, Debbie Rousseau, Selectman Bourque.

Isador's Heather Day

Deb Horan and Senator Richard Moore

Young chili lovers