Issues of
Concern in Webster
 The
following letter was sent to the Webster Board of Selectmen regarding
issues that the town faces. The letter was written by Nancy French of
Webster.
Dear Board Members:
Being a Webster resident and a downtown business-owner (I am the
proprietor of Nancy’s House of Beauty which is located across the street
from the Webster Library), I have several great concerns which are
continuously brought to my attention by my customers who are also
Webster residents. I would like to present these concerns to the Board’s
attention as follows:
1. Town Hall Plaza Extension - The new Main Street sidewalk extension in
front of our Town Hall that suddenly juts out into the line of traffic
driving from Main Lake Street has all of us wondering where and when the
decision was made to modify this? This modification appears to be the
most accident-provoking construction we have ever seen. Once the Webster
squad car is removed as a visible marker near the new extension, it
appears that this may become known as Webster’s major pedestrian/auto
accident area. Just recently I have personally seen a vehicle run into
the new extension curbing. When the snow flies, it should be very
interesting to see how our Town’s snowplowing vehicles maneuver around
this new curbing detail.
2. Streetlights - People want to know what is going on with the
streetlights. I, for one, am paying for the streetlight in front of my
business on Lake Street as well as a streetlight in front of my own
residence. Surely you must realize that with the increased usage of our
Library we need extra light at this location! The Park nearby with all
the homeless and drug addicts located there requires More Light Not
Less.
3. Downtown Revitalization - In today’s bad economy, with Webster being
especially hard hit, why weren’t Webster contractors used to perform our
Town’s new sidewalk brick additions, paving and street light
installations? Why did out-of-town contractors get this work? Webster
needs help, our people need work - please give something to our
Webster’s contractors!
Why are we installing new downtown streetlights? We can’t even afford to
pay for the electricity to light them.
4. South Main Street - What a blight and genuine eyesore this area is.
These vermin-infested and empty fire-traps need to be torn down. The
homeless and/or drug addicts are attracted to these eyesores making them
even more dangerous. The block across from Town Hall (that used to
proudly house Vel’s Jewelers/Kerry’s/Charniak Insurance/Main Lunch)
should be torn down as quickly as possible. Again, these places are
major attractions for people who live on the dark edges of our society.
Webster does not need its own Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse tragedy.
Why can’t we build playgrounds or skateboard parks for our children
there? It would be nice to have a pleasant place with views and park
benches for our Senior Citizens to visit that is not part of a back
alley.
All of these abandoned buildings are a true disgrace to our Town. My
customers tell me that “we business-people should do something.” Well,
what can we do?
5. French River Park - Please, leave the mussels there! They don’t need
to be moved, they have been part of our ecosystem before and will always
be part of it. Why get a diver to move them? Do you want to swim in the
French River? As for putting picnic tables in that area? Who will use
them? Will you? Why would you want to go there? To get mugged by the
drug addicts who already hang out there? The junkies will just use the
picnic tables for sleeping. I would never expect to bring my family
there.
My own granddaughter visited White Hen Pantry (on Main Street near
Pleasant) two weeks ago and a man in the parking lot kicked the back end
of her car. He claimed he was upset at his friend. She didn’t call the
police but did write down the license plate number of his car. She just
wanted to leave the place right away so she wouldn’t be harmed further.
These are the types of people who will frequent the French River Park,
make no mistake about it.
I have been at my business location for 48 years and have seen it all.
The parking situation is just horrible. Less and less parking slots for
our townspeople to park. Where are they supposed to park when it snows?
This town needs Help. Who is approving all of these construction
details? Isn’t there a Town vote on any of this? We need muscle from our
Board of Selectmen NOT the mussels in the French River.
Thank you for reading this hopefully something can be taken care of.
Sincerely, Nancy French
Oxford Senior Leauge State Champs Honored by State
Reps. & Selectmen; to be Honored at Fenway
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Team
members, manager and coaches are pictured in the middle of State
Rep. Paul Frost, State Rep. Paul Kujawski, Town Manager Joe
Zaneski, Selectman Jen Caissie, Selectman Hank LaMountain,
Selectman Sue Gallant, Selectman Dennis LaMarche, Selectman John
Saad and State Rep. Geraldo Alicia. Members of the team are
Tyler Barrie, Tyler Bostek, Nicholas Bruzios, Nicholas Cardoni,
Michael Cicero, Evan Cosentino, Michael Daigneault, Michael
A’Alio, Mykal Diaz, Ryan Deviney, Nicholas Lemay, Sean O’Leary,
Cody Stone, Jeffrey Yetter, Manager Gregory Gray and coaches
Richard Daigneault and John Cosentino. |
The Oxford 15-16 year old Senior League All Star team who captured the
Massachusetts State championship, was honored by the town’s selectmen at
their weekly meeting last Tuesday and also by members of the House of
Representatives. The squad who played brilliantly in the Bay State,
traveled to New Jersey for the National tournament.
State Reps. Paul Kujawski, Geraldo Alicia and Paul Frost presented
citations from the Mass House of Representatives for each of the
players, managers and coaches. Rep. Kujawski congratulated the team by
saying, “Every team in the state began the tournament with one goal in
mind and only one team could achieve that goal. You are that team. You
are our State Champs. We are all very proud of you.”
Chairwoman of the Oxford Board of Selectmen, Jen Caissie, delivered
congratulations from the town. Ms. Caissie stated, “On behalf of the
town of Oxford, let me congratulate the players, manager, coaches and
parents for a job well done. Everyone in oxford is very proud of your
accomplishment.”
Then manager Gregory Gray explained “This team was a remarkable 9-0
during the state tournament. Nick Lemay was an amazing 5-0 pitching with
a 0.44 ERA striking out 63 batters in 35 innings pitched.”
He also broke the news that the team had been contacted by the Boston
Red Sox and will be honored at Fenway Park on September 5th before the
game against the Chicago White Sox.
The Patriot Newspaper would like to congratulate the team for a job well
done.
Dudley Fire
Teaches Fire Safety at Nichols College
 On
Wednesday afternoon August 25th, Dudley Fire Lieutenant Paul Konieczny
presented a fire safety program to about 40 “Resident Advisors” (RAs) at
Davis Hall on the Nichols College campus in Dudley. Resident advisors
are upperclassmen who live in the institution’s various dormitories, and
are in charge of the day to day activities within their dorms. They are
charged with upholding the rules and regulations of the school as they
pertain to students who reside in the various dormitories.
Lt. Konieczny presented a fire prevention program to these advisors that
dwelled on the various leading causes of fires in school dormitories,
the consequences of disregarding fire alarm activations, and what
actions to take in the event of an emergency. The students were shown a
couple of videos, the first concerning the tale of Dana Christmas. Dana
Christmas was a resident advisor at Seton Hall University on January
19th, 2000. Fire struck her dormitory, and she nearly lost her life.
Three freshmen weren’t so lucky and lost their lives in the fast moving
fire. The video is shot in a low reddish light, but it is easy to see
the physical scars that Dana must bear for the rest of her life. The
second video is put out by the National Fire Protection Association, and
depicts just how quickly a fire can fully involve a room and its
contents, under the right conditions. In the video, a smoldering
cigarette is left in an over-stuffed chair in the corner of an average
sized room. Inside of just two minutes, the fire is to floor level,
completely engulfing the room. If a person was unable to get out of that
particular room in the first minute following fire’s ignition, that
person would probably die from the smoke and heated gases spreading
ahead of the actual fire. This video visually drives home the point that
“Seconds Count!” When you hear that alarm, you need to get out of the
building.
The last portion of the program that was presented to the students was a
quick class on the types of fire extinguishers and a basic class on how
to use them. Lt. Konieczny taught the RAs the different classes that
fires are divided into (Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class
K), and which extinguisher is appropriate to combat a certain class of
fire. They were also taught the basics of using an extinguisher, the
PASS neumonic, which stands for P-pull pin, A-aim extinguisher at the
base of the fire, S-squeeze the handle, and S-sweep the hose from side
to side.
The class went over very well, and students had some interesting
question for Lt. Konieczny. This class was presented mainly to raise the
fire prevention awareness of those who minister to the needs of their
charges on a day to day basis.
by Chief Steven J. Wojnar
Dudley Chief of Police
http://www.dudleypolice.com
I was recently asked a question about the child passenger restraint law. The
state regulations address the use of so called “booster seats” for children
under 8 years old. The person asking the question has a child turning 7 and
they asked for further information on this subject.
Child passenger restraint laws are contained in Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 90 Section 7AA. This law has been in place for many years; however,
it was amended in 2008. The law regulates children under the age of eight
years old, with few exceptions, are required to be in a “child passenger
restraint.” For children under the age of five or under forty pounds, this
is a child safety seat. For children outside this category, the restraint is
more commonly known as a “booster seat.” These seats will elevate the height
of children while they are riding as passengers in vehicles and allow the
seat belts to fit properly. The law expands the use of booster seat for
older children. It states in part, “A passenger in a motor vehicle on any
way who is under the age of 8 shall be fastened and secured by a child
passenger restraint, unless such passenger measures more than 57 inches in
height.” This can be interpreted as all children under the age of eight are
required to be in some form of a child safety seat. For children 8 years and
older, the rule does not apply. Also, if a child was under the age of eight
and at least four feet nine inches in height, they are only required to be
seat belted. For example, if a child was seven years old and four feet ten
inches tall, he or she would not be required to be in a child seat.
Violations of this law carry a civil fine of $25 per violation.
The laws can be some what confusing and do require some level of
interpretation. The best practice is to always lean on the side of caution.
Use the height and weight of a child as a guide, not simply the age. If
children require the use of booster seats for a short time longer, there is
no problem with doing this. Many police departments have child safety seat
inspectors and we are fortunate to have our own in Sergeant Pamela Daniels.
Parents are encouraged to contact her if you have questions or need
assistance with the proper use of child safety seats.
Thanks again for your questions and
comments. Please send them to me at the Dudley Police Department, 71 West
Main Street, Dudley, MA 01571 or e-mail at
swojnar@dudleypolice.com.
(Opinions expressed
in this weekly column are those of Chief Wojnar only and unless clearly
noted, do not reflect ideas or opinions of any other organization or
citizen.)
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