The Rev. Janice Ford, Rector
The Church of the Reconciliation (Episcopal)
5 North Main Street, Webster, MA  01570
www.reconciliationweb.org

On June 7^th I will have been the Pastor in our parish for five years.  I think I was only in Webster for less than six months before I realized how much addiction plagues this small town.  Whether we are talking about drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, cigarettes or food, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of addiction for a town this size.  I realize that what I am writing here is not going to make me very popular.  However, if I continue to be silent regarding the addiction problems in Webster, I would hardly deserve to be called pastor.

I recall initially trying to figure out why there was so much addiction here.  How did it begin?  I talked to some of the “townies” and people in public positions.  No real answers emerged.  Granted, almost every town and city has trouble with such things “downtown.”  However, I soon realized that it wasn’t just a “downtown” problem.  Good people, living in good homes, with good jobs and good families were also living in the shadows of addiction.  In fact, many of them don’t even realize they are addicted.  Drinking to the point of drunkenness on a regular basis is considered the norm, right?  Smoking a little pot is harmless, right?  Going to the casino every weekend is entertainment, right?  Cigarette smoking and over-eating aren’t really addictions, right? And, as for sex, well, everybody’s doing it…right?

The truth about addiction involves more than just a spin on our moral compass.  It’s not about what makes one person more righteous than another.  It’s about the fact that addiction steals people’s lives—and sometimes, their souls.  I am the daughter of a man addicted to gambling, cigarettes and sex.  My father’s addictions ruined our family life, left us in poverty, and cost him his life at age 59.  My father was not a bad man, but his addictions led to a bad life—for our whole family.

Some addictions are physical—like drugs, alcohol, and nicotine.  Others are psychological like gambling, overeating, and sex.  Some are eventually both.  The feature all addictions share in common is that they stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain.  Addictions feel good.  Because they feel good, we use them to “self-medicate” when we are feeling stressed, or life seems out of control.  The trouble is that the addiction eventually steals our ability to have control over anything—mostly ourselves.  That’s why the first step of the AA Twelve Step Program is, “We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.”  We can substitute the word drugs, gambling, sex, cigarettes and overeating for the word alcohol, and the idea is still very true. 

There are volumes written about addiction by people more notable than I, and there is only so much I can fit in this column.  The point, however, is that the level of addiction in this town is stealing the lives of its citizenry, and it is long past time for us to take a serious look at it.  Because I am a priest and pastor, I suggest we start with the second step of the AA program; namely, “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”  Whatever each of us perceives as the “Power greater than ourselves,” I suggest we reach out and make that connection.

by Barbara Van Reed 

“I think there are a lot of people who'd like to write a book and get published,  and would like to know how to do it.” says Ken Amidon, who himself has just published his first novel. Ken, who lives in Northbridge, is now making the rounds of libraries and book clubs to talk about “Stray Threads,” a mystery/romance set in Maine, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in 1977. His next personal appearance will be at the Oxford Public Library on February 7.

Ken’s career has been that of a freelance business writer for corporations and trade journals and he continues to do that. He has also written some short stories and memoir pieces, as well as a play adaptation. Writing a novel had been in his plans for ten years, but a plausible plot line eluded him. Finally he decided to set aside the time do it, following writer Ann Lamott’s advice to just “create the characters, and they will tell the story. It sounds silly, but that's what I did and it worked,” he said.

He patterned the protagonist Tim Roper after himself at age 27, and lets that character and the others tell their story. He wrote the book using the third-person voice or point of view, which he says forced him to write a lot of conversation, intended to show, not tell, how things happen. “The characters rule,” he says. “They drive everything. I stay out of their heads, and let them talk.”

In his library presentations Ken talks about the writing aspect, creating the characters, and the process of actually producing a finished work. His audience may grill him on one or both, again, he said, because they want to know how it’s done.

His writing process included two friends, neither of them a writer, who read the chapters three or four behind as he was writing them. They would tell him if the characters were true or not, and whether the story line compelled them to continue reading.

One of them, his neighbor, a bartender, actually became a character in the story. Others of his friends and family may recognize themselves in the book as well, he said.

Ken started writing just before Christmas in 2011 and finished the following March, averaging three or four hours of writing a day. That seems like a short time, but it wasn’t always straightforward. “Some days I would wake up and would have no idea what I would write.” The story evolved and changed too, as he went along. For example, he brought in a new character in chapter 13, introducing a parallel, unconnected story line that would eventually converge with the main story. Later he went back and inserted that character into chapter 3.

When he had written the ending, his reading neighbor, still three chapters behind, predicted the outcome. “My neighbor was right, it was predictable.” Ken changed the ending then, and thinks the book is better because of that.

The next step, editing, was painful, said Ken. “I had to cut a lot, had to have every action and conversation reveal something about a character or drive the plot. I ended up cutting out a lot of things.”

Publishing the book was the next challenge. Ken had joined the Worcester Writers Collaborative, a group which talks about book production, and he decided to self-publish as a result. “Going the traditional agent/publisher route requires two things: time and money. And who knows how long I’d be writing letters and getting rejections. I'd heard the horror stories.” He also didn’t want to pay to have it published by a “vanity press.”

Ken had initially thought he'd publish Stray Threads as an e-book, but after hearing about the print-on-demand option at the Collaborative, decided to explore that route. He used Create Space, an Amazon subsidiary, to produce the book as a paperback. The quality of the book is very good, he said. Stray Threads was published last November, just in time for Christmas gift giving. Amazon included it in its Black Friday special books sales program. He has sold some hundreds of copies already, primarily by word of mouth.

He’s had some good feedback from readers. The book has had 12 critical reviews; all but one gave it five stars. “I’m not looking to make a lot of money,” he says. “I just want to write something that people will like.”

He’s pleased to have learned about every aspect of writing and publishing a novel. He did everything himself, except for the cover illustration. That was done by artist Lindsay Ruane, also a Northbridge resident. “I told her what the story was about, and she just nailed it.”

Ken and his wife Suellen have been Northbridge residents for 22 years and have three adult sons. Ken grew up in Northboro and Worcester, went to high school in Pennsylvania, and graduated from Umass Amherst.

What’s next? Ken is well underway with a sequel, which will have the same cast of characters.              

Meanwhile, he will continue to make the rounds of libraries and book stores, talking to readers and would-be writers. He’s scheduled to be in Westboro and Clinton later on this month. “People have heard about the book and are calling me,” he said.

Ken will be at the Oxford Public Library on Thursday, February 7 at 7:00 p.m. Stray Threads can be purchased online at amazon.com and at Booklovers' Gourmet in Webster.

by Barbara Van Reed

Mark Marzeotti wears several different hats and his newest is president of the Webster-Dudley-Oxford Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Mark officially became the president on January 8, succeeding Cheri MacKinney, after serving as  its vice president.

This is a hat he will be wearing for the next two years and with it comes a mission to maintain the now-positive budget numbers and increase awareness of the Chamber's goals and functions. He hopes to increase the membership significantly.

Mark talked with us last week about the membership numbers. They have stayed basically the same in recent years, something he thinks is partly based on the economy. “If we had 200 members last year, we may have 200 this year, but 25 of them will be different: 12 may go out of business, five decide not to renew, three or four relocate, and so on.”

But there’s more to it.

By Ginger Costen

I don’t consider myself to be a very superstitious person. I’ve purposely walked under a ladder or two in my lifetime, laughed at Friday the 13th and have driven on down the road without a care in the world after a black cat went SAFELY across my path.

So why am I feeling so guilty over the Patriots losing the AFC conference game…because I didn’t wash my hair before it started. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe that one person could hold so much power, but it’s my fault. How did I come to this decision?

Well, I’m glad you asked. It’s a confusing turn of events for you see, football, in itself, is not the end-all sport for the Costen family. No, here the days are numbered by how many are left on the calendar before the trucks leave Fenway Park and head south to Florida. Summer is calibrated on the days left before the All Star game in July. And, finally how many days are left before the World Series.

No, for most of the Costen family, the world revolves around baseball. With every snow storm my husband Mike heads begrudgingly out the door, grabs the snow shovel and announces to the world, “there are only 62 days left before the pitchers arrive for Spring Training!” Like this was some sort of warning to Mother Nature that she has a very small window of opportunity to dump inches - or feet - of snow on New England (and his yard).

Sadly though, she must not be listening, because with every storm he announces the newest tally with greater volume and annoyance in his voice.

Then, after the teams have all arrived in their training places with sun shining faces, he then announces the days and sometimes hours, before the first ball will be officially and ceremoniously thrown across home plate.

“Just so you know,” he politely tells me, “there are only four more days left for you to get spring cleaning out of your system before it’s game time.” He knows that yelling at me like he does Mother Nature might be far worse than anything she could shower down on him.

So let’s get back to football.

As most of you probably know, I was born, raised and lived 44 of my 62 years on the West Coast where the Sprague/Lengenfelder family shared equal enthusiasm for football. We counted the days before the teams reported for training camp. Life revolved around what game was on television on any given day and for that occasional rare treat, what kind of gastronomical culinary delight would be served while tailgating at a real live game. 

I never thought I’d emotionally get past the betrayal I felt when my LA RAMS left southern California. So I poured my loyalty upon the humbled San Fransisco 49ers. Then, suddenly I found myself in New England and right in the heart of Patriots country. I tried to stay true to my team but there’s something contagious about being a Patriots fan.

So, a few years ago I silently and singly waited for the men of winter to arrive for training camp while trying to be a good Costen wife and cheer on for the boys of summer. I loved having a team that knew football was a real man’s sport and it was meant to be played in a way that, well more than one little plastic cup and batting helmet where all one needed for protection.

I’ve liked Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady from the first play-by-play action I covertly watched on our neighbor’s television. Occasionally, I’d stop on a game or two while changing the channel at home only to feel the eyes of consternation burning my way. Then, three years ago I came out of the closet with my own television no less and turned the game on while proudly announcing, “Yep! It’s game day and it’s time for Monday Night Football.”

So I’m not sure when the superstitious side of being a Patriots fan emerged but it did and this year I found myself wearing the same team t-shirt and blue jeans on game day. They were always washed and clean; ready for combat. I also started wearing my lucky Pats socks and watching the game from the same chair and serving the same snacks or refreshments.

I’d watch the commentaries and defend any occasional mistake by blaming the other side or the refs who clearly always favored any team but the Patriots.  So why did I break tradition and not wash my hair that morning like I always do? I don’t know, but it’s the only thing that I did differently on Sunday, January 20, 2013. I had the same breakfast (spinach, bacon, tomato and cheese omelet) with our same best friends and neighbors (Pete and Carol Klocek) at the same restaurant (Talk of the Town). I wore the same clothes (the only thing I’ll list is the jeans, Pat’s t-shirt and socks), watched the game on the same television (Vizio) and fixed the same dinner (spaghetti and meatballs). We had the same snacks (crackers, cheese and a veggie tray) and I drank the same drink (sorry… only ice water).  I just didn’t wash my hair on Sunday and waited until Monday. So, you see, it’s all my fault.

On Sunday I’ll be watching Super Bowl XLVII. I don’t have to worry about what game shirt I’ll be wearing because there’ll be people here with The Saints, Broncos, Bills, Pats and… the 49ers. But since both the Raven and the 49ers beat my Pats, I’ll be counting the days on the calendar until the trucks leave Fenway Park and the boys of summer head down to Florida. I just might have a separate piece of paper for when I’m not watching the commercials and count the days until the men of winter once again report for training camp next to Gillette Stadium.

Oh, and by the way. In case you’re wondering off all the sports and all the athletes in the world, baseball and baseball players just may be the most superstitious of them all.

Why baseball? Author and Connecticut College psychology professor Stuart Vyse explained that it’s all about waiting. “One reason,” he said on the CBS Morning Show, “is that the game involves so much waiting around and if they're waiting, they have time to perform these rituals.”

According to Vyse these rituals often involve:

The foul line:Players and coaches consistently and stubbornly refuse to step on the foul line on trips to and from the dugout.

Rally caps:If a team is down, all the players in the dugout will wear their caps inside-out or in some other funny way so as to bring about a rally for the team.

The pitcher:If no one gets a hit off a pitcher over the course of the game, it's considered bad luck to talk to the pitcher in the dugout.

Spitting:Spitting into a baseball glove is considered good luck for the player and team.

I knew there was a reason I NEVER wanted to touch a baseball. Go Pats!

“No,” My husband Mike said as I finished reading this column to him, “It’s PLAY BALL!” 

“You’re both wrong,” our daughter Joscilyn Lengenfelder added, “It’s the Niners because I’m wearing my lucky red and gold sweatshirt on Sunday!”

The Rev. Janice Ford, Rector
The Church of the Reconciliation (Episcopal)
5 North Main Street, Webster, MA
www.reconciliationweb.org

Several years ago I saw a woman on TV talking about the death of her 14-year- old daughter who had been riding in a car with the woman’s best friend and daughter.  The woman was apparently distracted by the radio and the chatter of the girls in the car.  She ran a stop sign.  There was a terrible collision, and the woman’s daughter was killed.  Though injured, the driver and her daughter survived. 

As we can all imagine, the mother’s grief was overwhelming at the loss of her daughter.  Her friend was also inconsolable, and she accepted complete responsibility for what happened.  She tried to apologize countless times, but the mother would not take her calls or see her.  She barred the friend from her daughter’s funeral.  She gave interviews on the TV news and other media saying that her now former friend was careless, irresponsible, and “a murderer.”
 

by Steev Riccardo

Greetings sports fans! 

The highly anticipated Shepherd Hill-Holy Name girls basketball match-up didn’t quite live up to its hype (mostly hype created right here in this column), but Gigi Guenther certainly that proved that she is the real deal.

The Webster native, who attended Saint Ann’s school, did, however, live up to her advance billing, scoring 17 points while grabbing eight rebounds in the Naps 46-22 win over the Rams.

Only a sophomore, Gigi already looks like a big time high school player.  She leads her team in scoring and has been playing like a veteran all season coming off the bench. Can you say best sixth man in Central Mass?

“Gigi is dynamite; she is someone who every coach would want on their team,” said Naps coach Barry Finneron. “From the time she gets out there she is giving you 100% all the time.”

Finneron talked about the vast improvement in Gigi from last year to this year. “She has more confidence, playing every day, playing with good players, I think that is part of it.  The increase in speed that she has to play with the kids around her has helped too. She is a worker, whatever you ask her to work on, she works on.”

As far as getting up for the match with Shepherd Hill, Finneron said, “She was all excited; we had to tie her down to get her here, she was jumping off the bus.” 

“Gigi is a great kid to work with, an athlete, a great soccer player, a great basketball player. I’m sure if she wanted to play softball she could do that as well.”

One of her good friends and opponents, Rams senior co-captain Taylor Daniels, has tremendous respect for Guenther. “Playing against Gigi is always so much fun. You kind of push the friends thing aside once you step on the court but it's good clean friendly competition with Holy Name. I've been playing against her my entire life. We grew up together playing sports and it’s been competitive ever since. Gigi is a terrific player and only will continue to improve.”

The View’s Top 5 of the week:

1. Gigi Guenther, Holy Name girls basketball:  It’s all about Gigi. 17 points and eight rebounds in a big game and only a sophomore. That is hard to top.

2. Alex Givins-Perry, Bartlett boy’ basketball:  “AGP” played a strong game in the Douglas loss, scoring 25 points.

3. Taylor Daniels, Shepherd Hill girls basketball:  Like she is on the soccer field, Daniels is one tough hard-nosed player who gives 100% all the time. Her 12 points against Holy Name accounted for more than half of her teams 22 total points.

4. Justin Terlizzi, Shepherd Hill boys basketball:  Justin Terlizzi has been the picture of consistency for the Rams this year.  He led his team with 21 in a win over East Longmeadow this week.

5. Tyler Barrie, Oxford boys basketball: Tyler Barrie had 19 points in the Pirates loss against Quaboag last week.

Ryan Renauld: Rumor has it that Ryan Renauld will be stepping in as the Bartlett girls softball coach. Stay tuned for more info on that.

Girls Basketball Tournament: St. Anne’s school in Webster will be holding a girls basketball tournament on February 15-18. More info to come.  The Route 395 basketball and cheerleading conference has a website that you can visit to get more info on upcoming games.

Until next week, see you on the sidelines! Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any sports news and check out the new View from the Sidelines Facebook page with exclusive photos and news at https://www.facebook.com/ViewFromTheSidelines

Craig Brouwer recently introduced me to the world of TROGS, the trolls Gesmine and Jasmine, whose world stretches from Putnam, Connecticut, where they were born, to their faraway planet Tile-Plex, where they plan to stay because of “all the violence and graphic nature of humans and the evil sins of people” on Earth.

When Craig talks about Gesmine and Jasmine you can tell he lives in their world with them, as well he should. He created them and has depicted their world both in books and in art.

Here’s how I came to meet Craig. His mother, Lianne Miller, called to tell us that they had just opened an in-home art gallery at their house on Woodstock Ave. in Putnam. Called Dakota Art Gallery, it exhibits all of Craig’s artwork: paintings, sculptures, woodcarvings, and mobiles.  I didn’t really know what to expect, not knowing a thing about Craig Brouwer or his art, and so I went to visit.

If the number of bullets in your gun safe is greater than your IQ, you may not want to read this

By Ginger Costen

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, last month I’ve struggled with what is the best answer to gun control in America. It wasn’t until I was watching the Alaskan Troopers on television Monday night that I was finally able to put those feelings into words.

So let me start by saying that if the number of bullets you have in your gun safe is greater  than your IQ, you’re probably not going to like this editorial. Furthermore, if you think owning an assault rifle is what our founding fathers had in mind when they gave us the right to bear arms, you probably won’t want to read any further.  I’ll even venture to say that if you think adding a marksmanship class to the required professional development courses for our teachers is a good idea, please let me know if you ever decide to run for the Webster School Committee because I want to be your opponent.

I think we can all agree that the shooting was a horrible and senseless tragedy that should never have happened.  But if every teacher in the Sandy Hook school had a loaded hand gun that morning could the shooting have been prevented?  No. Would it have stopped 20 year-old Adam Lanza from shooting through the locked doors of the school and killing 26 innocent people? Not unless there were armed teachers at every door prepared to shoot first and ask questions later.

We have trained professional law enforcement officers and military personnel that practice shooting their firearms on a monthly basis, and we still have innocent people accidently killed from friendly fire. Can you imagine what would have happened in the halls and classrooms if the teachers, custodians, office staff and principal were all shooting?

Giving everyone a loaded gun isn’t going to make us safer, it’s just going to help us all die sooner.

Do I believe in the right to bear arms? Yes! But I don’t believe that assault or semi-automatic weapons nor large magazines have any reason to be included in that thought process.  Guns are meant to be used for hunting or for protection. Unless you’re hunting in a herd of stampeding wild buffalo, you don’t need that many rounds of ammunition.  And, if you need an assault rifle for protection then you’d better be in the middle of a war zone or armed conflict.

I’m all for having a hobby and many of you see me engaging in one of my favorites all summer long as we plant flowers in the Veteran’s monuments. I also like to shoot guns and have even owned a hand gun or two in my lifetime. I’ve traveled all over this country during times of crisis and have been in a few places that I seriously wouldn’t have wanted my children or grandchildren to have been by my side.  But not once would having had an assault or semi automatic rifle made any difference in the outcome of the moment.

And speaking of children… I owned a daycare center with 55 children for 17 years. I’ve seen my share of children with emotional problems. I can’t think of one, including my own son, who would have gotten any benefit from learning how to shoot an assault rifle.  The last thing a rational adult and or parent would want to do is to give an emotionally volatile child a weapon that could kill anyone or anything.

We, as a country, have gone too far in protecting human rights.  We’ve protected the questionable few by giving away the safety of the rational masses. 

Maybe if all the money that the National Rifle Association has spent on lobbying against gun control would have been spent on providing mental health treatment for the hundreds of people turned away because of budget cuts, maybe families in Colorado and Connecticut would’ve had a much different Christmas. 

What was I watching on television? An episode of Alaska State Troopers as they loaded their assault weapons and prepared to take a known felon with mental health issues and more guns than Sparky’s  Gun Shop here in Webster, into custody for assault with a deadly weapon and burglary.     

Last week Bill Rafferty died much too soon at the young age of 59. "Raff" or Bill was what his friends called him and he was a friend among friends all the time. A north village kid from Webster and he was proud to say that he learned how to live life at the old little league field on Slater Street back in the 60s. The little league field was his home in the good weather.

When the seasons changed to cold weather Raff headed up to the old Boys’ club via the railroad tracks in Dudley. The gym at the old boys’ club was made for Raff. His push shot from just inside of half court was something he mastered into perfection over the years. Night after night he would launch that push shot that became his signature shot. All this happened before the 3 point shot, of course.Raff would tell anyone who would listen that his basketball career would have been prolonged if the 3 point shot existed during his prime in the 70s while he was firing away at Marianhill High School in Southbridge.

Bill Rafferty was proud to be a gunner in hoops and was never bashful when it came time to shoot the bomb. Layups were something Raff had to do in pre game warmups. He was interested in the 25-30 foot rainbows. He said "there is nothing like the sound of the swish of a 30 foot shot going through the rim." Anyone who saw Bill shoot a basketball knows that the arc and hangtime were world records. A 30 foot basketball shot by Bill Rafferty needed a high ceiling for sure. That right handed push shot of his was one of a kind.

By the way, offense was Bill’s game. His theory was to outscore his man when he played. Rest in peace, Bill Rafferty, you touched us along the way in a humble way and we all thank you. God speed.

The MIAA has proposed a realignment for the boys’ basketball season beginning in 2013-14. Shepherd Hill will be affected by the proposal in post season playoffs. The Rams are now in Division one in Central Mass. They will be moved down to Division two and play their post season in Western Mass against Western Mass opponents.

A scheduling nightmare is on the horizon for schools like Shepherd Hill. The Rams are in the SWCL. The move means that Shepherd Hill will have to obtain a waiver to compete in the Clark Tournament because Western Mass teams never participated in the Clark Tournament. I hope the Clark Tournament committee recognizes Shepherd Hill as a qualifying school. Schools coming to Central Mass are Natick, Acton-Boxboro, Framingham, Franklin, Concord-Carlisle, Westford, Holliston, Ashland, Hopkinton, Bellingham, Wayland, Medfield, and Medway. This is another power move by Eastern Mass and comes on the heels of Milford leaving Central Mass.

What this does to the landscape of Central Mass? It means that the above mentioned schools are looking for an easier way to the state final game in boys’ basketball. Those schools are just outside of the Route 495 and barely inside of Route 128. Some schools are way up north on 495. The only positive sentiment that comes out of this is that St. John’s can now schedule all those schools coming into Central Mass in 2013-14.

Let’s not forget that the football experience begins next fall and then the boys’ basketball realignment is in for next winter. I am looking into my crystal ball and I see Shepherd Hill traveling to Pittsfield for an opening post season game in 2014. All I can say is, bring your lunch. It is going to be a long day. By the way, if Shepherd Hill wins the Division 2 Western Mass tournament, their reward is now that they can come back to Central Mass to play the division 2 Central Mass champ.

by Barbara Van Reed

Connecticut author Chuck Miceli published his first novel last year and is on the road to do his most favorite thing: greeting and talking with his readers. The book is Amanda's Room and he will be at Dudley's Pearle L. Crawford Library for a reading and signing event next Monday.

Amanda's Room, a paranormal thriller, has had good reviews from readers. One called it “a real page turner.”  It takes place in the Catskills in upstate New York. Miceli describes it this way: “When death came for Amanda Reynolds, it could not pry her from the room. Katie Jarvis knows that Amanda is trying to communicate in the only way she knows how: by altering the weather. But Katie cannot decipher what Amanda is saying or why, and time is running out. Something is stalking Katie and her team. As the violence of the weather takes on monstrous proportions, they must unravel the meaning in the storms, or no one will be safe from the power of Amanda’s room.”

Miceli told us the story of how the book came to be, and how he became a novelist, a story equally intriguing.