How to Vote in Massachusetts

This is the first of many guides to voting throughout the United States. Click here to find other states and their rules about voting.

This is a step by step guide to voting in Massachusetts. This is important for the US Senate race primary on December 8 as well as for next November.

Step 1 – Make sure you are registered to vote.

In Massachusetts, once you are registered, you will not be unregistered at any point unless you choose to do so. If you are not registered to vote, click here to do so. You must be 18 years old, a US citizen and a Massachusetts resident to do so. You must also send in a copy of identification with your completed registration form – or you must show such ID when you go to vote for the first time.

If you have moved to a new city or town, you must register again.

Step 2 -  Find out when the next election is.

For Massachusetts, the Special US Senate primary is on December 8, the Special general election is January 12.

Step 3 – Find out where to vote

Massachusetts allows you to type in your address to find this information out. To find your polling location, click here.

Step 4 – Decide who to vote for and study ballot questions

Sample ballots for general elections will be posted on this website. You can also find out who your current representatives are here by typing in your address.

Step 5 – Vote on Election Day or vote absentee before Election Day

Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm and the election is almost always held on a Tuesday. You are allowed to carry in a piece of paper or notes to help you remember who you decided to vote for or information about ballot questions.

If the poll worker does not have your name on the list, you may challenge this at town hall or cast a provisional ballot. These ballots are counted once your identity has been established and your registration confirmed.

If you are not going to be present for election day, you may vote via absentee ballot. Click here to request your absentee ballot. These requests must be mailed to your town or city clerk. These addresses can be found here.

Three Massachusetts middle school students were a bit too, uh, inspired by Heathers.  (Kids, it’s a movie. Fiction.)

Three McDevitt Middle School students in Waltham, MA have been charged with trying to poison their teacher.  Police allege that the students put cleaning solvent in the teacher’s water bottle on November 12, 2009.  [Gee, cleaning solvent.... Sound familiar?]  The teacher noticed the smell of the solvent and was unharmed.  A police investigation concluded that two thirteen year olds and one twelve year old had put the cleaning solution in the teacher’s water bottle.

The students have been suspended indefinitely.

The original article is posted at http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/students-try-poisoning-school-teacher-

Don’t call him “father of the year.”

Michael Monahan, 35, of Fall River, Massachusetts, is alleged to have locked his children, ages 3 and 6, in the trunk of his Pontiac Trans Am for several minutes while he ran an errand at a sailing shop on Tuesday morning.  Monahan told police that his sons enjoyed playing in the trunk of the car.

Nonethless, Monahan was charged with assault and child endangerment.  Monahan was arraigned on the charges on Wednesday, November 25.  He entered a plea of not guilty and was released on bond.

The boys are now in the custody of their mother.

The original article is posted at http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/massachusetts/fall-river-father-accused-of-putting-kids-in-trunk

Reader’s Digest has  a somewhat regular feature called ” Outrageous,” which is written by Michael Crowley. It features articles about actual events that are almost impossible to believe in their audacity. Of course, politicians are  a frequent subject. There is  another group that makes regular appearances. Theses are our good friends from the legal profession. There were 2 items in his year-end article involving those legal eagles that so irritated me that I could narrow it down and thus felt compelled to comment on both.

But first, a few numbers. There were, as of 2007 , almost 1.2 million attorneys in the Unite States. Depending on whose numbers one cites, we seem to have about 1/2 the world’s total. The legal profession is the #1 profession for members of Congress. And, good old Washington. D.C. has more lawyers than all but 6 states. But this next  one  caught me by surprise. Only slightly more than 1/2 of our Presidents have been attorneys.

On to the patently outrageous. his event took place in  Salem, Ma. A young man driving a Ford Mustang ran head on into  a Honda van. The driver of the Mustang( who w as driving way over the posted speed limit ) was  injured . His passenger was severely injured as was the driver of the other vehicle. Pay close attention to this next. The father of the passenger who was injured filed  a lawsuit against the driver of the van, who, according to authorities, had done nothing amiss. The lawsuit said that she carelessly and negilently failed to avoid the  vehicle which hit her. The attorney’s  explanation, ” Under Massachusetts law, I’m trying to get compensation for my client anywhere I can.”  From an untrained perspective, it seems to view that the point being made was that the driver of the van was somehow at fault, wrong place, wrong time, or maybe just had more insurance. Outcome, don’t know.

Example #2  and this outcome, we know. The even in question took place a few years ago and was settled this year. It took place in State Island, NY and involved Little League baseball.This one on some level actually made some sense, at least as  compared to example#1. A young man incurred serious knee damage sliding into second base. The base was detachable and thus designed to prevent injury. The manager said he had taught the young man to slide properly. However, his mom sued the manager, the coach who told  him o  go to second and the state and national Little League. She ultimately  settled   for $125,000. Probably the saddest part of the story is the attorney telling ESPN The Magazine that he had been flooded with calls about other parents desiring representation. Ahhhh!!

So, too many lawyers, too many laws or what? Wish I could say. But do you e remember any news articles bemoaning the shortage of attorneys in a given area in the way there is  a shortage of physicians? Me neither.

I have to ask this. Wonder if either of the above cases would have been settled differently under Obamacare? Just kidding, a little.

Boston pics will be posted tomorrow! Stay tuned In the meantime, check out this amazing church on Newberry Street : Boston, Massachusetts

From POLITICO:

By all public estimations, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is a pretty good golfer.

He should be, given the $82,998 his political action committee has spent on golf outings so far this year, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Original DVD cover

(In the golf cart, left to right:  Joseph Bruno, Jack Abramoff, Steve Buyer, Salvatore DiMasi)

The golf events this year sponsored by Boehner’s Freedom Project political action committee have stretched from April until October, from Florida to Ohio. And the minority leader doesn’t hold his events at worn-out municipal courses.

…snip…

The highest expenditure was a September event at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The Freedom Project spent $29,501.20 for an event on the course, which hosts the annual PGA Memorial Tournament.

…snip…

The FEC reports don’t list the attendees at these golf events, the cost per person or any other details. Don Seymour, a spokesman for the PAC, said the expenditures are “related to events that have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the Freedom Project support Republican candidates for Congress.”

What is it about those dimpled balls? From The New York Times:

ALBANY — For Joseph L. Bruno, once one of the most powerful politicians in New York, the road to trouble was soft, grassy and green.

It was on the rolling fairways of his suburban country club that Mr. Bruno, the former State Senate majority leader, pitched labor officials on investing pension money with a firm called Wright Investors’ Service, usually without telling them that Wright was paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars for his efforts.

It was on a golf junket to Florida that Mr. Bruno first sold an Albany-area entrepreneur on the idea of paying him generous fees to help drum up investment, including earmarks that were arranged by the senator himself.

Golf was so central to Mr. Bruno’s intertwined business and political careers, in fact, that he ordered a Senate ethics lawyer to determine whether a lobbyist could pay his greens fee if the game was part of a charity tournament.

…snip…

For Mr. Bruno, who federal prosecutors say improperly mixed his political and business interests and sought to deceive the public about it, golf provided more than just exercise and a chance to unwind. It also assured privacy, hours at a stretch to bond with clients, and the occasional vacation on someone else’s dime.

With hardly a day of Mr. Bruno’s corruption trial here passing without some mention of golf, his name can now be added to a list of politicians whose taste for the tees led them to trouble.

In June, Salvatore F. DiMasi, a former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was indicted on charges that during rounds of golf, he plotted to rig state computer software contracts. This fall, an Indiana congressman, Steve Buyer, came under scrutiny when it was revealed that a charity he established to help teenagers pay for college had spent nothing on scholarships but $260,000 on lavish golf junkets.

And the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now serving four years in prison for bribery, fraud and tax evasion, routinely flew members of Congress and other officials to exclusive golf resorts in Scotland, California or the Mariana Islands.

From TALKING POINTS MEMO (October 22, 2009):

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) has long been a passionate golfer. Last year, Golf Digest ranked the lawmaker 32nd, with a handicap of 5.6, on its list of the top 200 golfers in Washington.

Like many members of Congress, Buyer has a history of mixing business and pleasure on the golf course. Now, it looks like the financial dealings of a questionable foundation created by Buyer were even more golf-driven than previously known.

It’s been reported that the Frontier Foundation, which has been criticized for raising hundreds of thousands from industry groups seeking to influence Buyer while giving out nothing for its stated purpose of helping Indiana students pay for college, raised virtually all of its money on posh golf junkets. Those included trips with Buyer and groups of lobbyists to deluxe courses at Disney World and the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.

Buyer also found himself in trouble in the mid-1990s after he didn’t report a golfing trip to Lake Tahoe paid for by a telecom lobbying group.

He has claimed the Frontier golf trips are “not fun for me” because travel is a lot of work.

…snip…

[...] it’s telling that $4,500 of the $10,500 given out by Frontier over six years may have been paying for the golf-enthusiast lawmaker to get his fix. (Remember, though, Buyer doesn’t even enjoy playing.) And all this while the foundation wasn’t giving out a cent in scholarships.

From TALKING POINTS MEMO (November 12, 2009):

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) sat down for an interview with CBS Evening News about his charity, but struggled to answer basic questions about the Frontier Foundation, which collects big donations from industry sources trying to influence Buyer but gives out no money for its putative mission of supporting Indiana students.

Buyer abruptly ended the interview with CBS, which aired last night, literally rushing out of his seat to make a meeting.

Among the questions he couldn’t answer: why the foundation, which as recently as last month shared space with Buyer’s campaign office in Monticello, Indiana, no longer has a physical address.

…snip…

Asked by reporter Sharyl Attkisson about legislation he has introduced or supported that helps donors to Frontier, Buyer says at one point: “Trying to match up legislation like that is erroneous. You shouldn’t do that Sharyl. I think that it’s, I think it’s wrong.”

Check out one key exchange, where CBS asks Buyer about the fact that all of the donations to the foundation come from lobbyists and corporate sources with interests that Buyer has supported:

Attkisson: From what I can tell, all of the donors have interests before committees that you sit on in Congress.

Buyer: Well, the committees in which were, uh, the committees, the corporations in which provided support, like I said, were those original companies. Please do not assume that if a company contributes to the foundation that that’s somehow some type of influence upon what I’m about to do.

CBS also uncovers the fact that the $25,000 in seed money that started the foundation came from PhRMA. We’ve previously noted that PhRMA is the single biggest donor to the foundation, giving at least $200,000 over the past several years. TPMmuckraker reported late last month that PhRMA also hired Buyer’s son — who is on the board of the foundation — to work at its Washington headquarters. Buyer is a member of the House Energy Subcommittee on Health, which regulates drugs.

(Video at TALKING POINTS MEMO link, and, seriously, you really have to watch it, kids! )

Our Thanksgiving was great. We hope yours was too.

We had too much to eat, as planned. We visited and the children played.

Here I am with Sal Jr as he’s checking out the bird. He did a great job!

Here’s the guest of honor. He didn’t look like that for long.

Here’s Zoey enjoying our Thanksgiving toast. (The children toasted with sparkling cider so no one was left out of the toast)

We had a wonderful day!
K

Methuen woman sees Jesus on bottom of her clothes iron

There is one thing that Mary Jo Coady wants to make clear to anyone who hears about her, reads about her, or tries to dismiss her – she is not trying to convince anyone that the bottom of her steam iron truly carries the face of Jesus Christ.

But the image, which bears a striking likeness to popular depictions of Jesus Christ, has had a profound affect on Coady. After a challenging past two years in which her faith waned, Coady, who was raised Catholic, said she feels spiritually uplifted by the startling depiction.

. . .

Coady said she was taken aback when she spotted the image last Sunday while straightening up around the house, but she thought she might be reading too much into it. During a difficult past two years, she has separated from her husband, moved out of the home they owned, and had her hours cutback at the medical facility where she works as a secretary.

Now living with her two college-age daughters, Coady turned to relatives and friends. She posted images of the iron on her Facebook account, and asked for input. Did they see what she saw in the residue on the bottom of her iron?

The answer from her relatives – including her daughters – was unanimous:They all saw Jesus Christ, Coady recalled today. Strengthened by their support, Coady decided to share her story with others, beginning with an article published in today’s edition of the Eagle-Tribune newspaper of Lawrence.

“For me I think it happened for a reason,’’ said Coady. “I think it’s good to share it with other people.

See also:
Mass. woman sees image of Jesus on her iron
Jesus iron smooths out woman’s ‘issues’
Mass. woman sees Jesus image on her iron
Mass. woman sees image of Jesus on iron bottom (w/ photo)
A spiritual boost

/I smell EBay!

Ein Update zu: Vor dem Mast und unter Segeln und: Mit Tschechow nach Marzahn

Vor dem Mast, ganz ohne schützende Kajüte, rackerte ich diesmal selber.

Vorletzten Dienstag, Berliner Tschechow-Theater in Marzahn.
Ich bin eingeladen. Ha, und Special Guest. Thema des Abends: siehe oben.

Vom Plattenbauhimmel regnet es Strippen. Wettermäßig also schonmal ein Minus für Feierabendkultur mitten in der Woche und für die Feuertaufe einer bestenfalls Backstage semibekannten Freizeit-Entertainerin. Ein Plus: die Reihe „Kultur der Welt“ ist etabliert und läuft regelmäßig, einmal im Monat. Noch ein Plus, das mindestens drei wert ist: weit und breit keine Konkurrenz.

Geplant ist… nun, sagen wir, eine literarische Reise durch Neuengland. Genau genommen geht’s eher an dessen Küste entlang: durch die einstigen Walfängerhäfen von Nantucket und New Bedford, ein bisschen Boston und Harvard, ein bisschen Geschichte der Indianer und der alten Pilgerväter; dann, wie es sich für eine Hexe gehört, rauf nach Salem zum ollen Nathaniel Hawthorne und zurück über Cape Cod mit einer Prise Seefahrerromantik. Im Gepäck Herman Melvilles dicken alten Wal und ein paar Bücher drumrum, zweidrei Rezepte zum Thanksgiving-Vogel und für das ungeschlagene chowderhafte Nationalgericht – das Ganze gut durchgerührt mit zwei Handvoll Walfängershantys.

Eine Stunde vorher da sein muss reichen für einen Schnelldurchlauf mit dem Techniker, der das Programm noch nicht kennt. Doch die Generalprobe fällt aus – meinen hergeborgten Laptop aus der Zeit der Erfindung des Morseapparates zum Pseudopowerpointpräsentieren zu überreden, kostet alles. Und der aufopferungsvolle Dompteur der Technik g i b t alles. Er umgarnt mich und und sich und die Bühne mit einem Gestrüpp aus Kabeln für Rechner, Beamer, Stereoanlage, zwei Leselampen und was weiß ich noch alles. Die Katastrophe scheint sich anzubahnen, als abenteuerliche Bildschirmzickereien mir meine im Akkord so wunderhübsch gebastelte Bilder- und Videoreihenfolge im Skript zerschießen und mein Helfer sich darin hoffnungslos verheddert. Na, das kann ja heiter werden!

Der Countdown läuft. Noch eine Viertelstunde… für angemessenes Hyperventilieren und Lampenfieber bleibt keine Zeit. Im Blick des braven Technikus die blanke Panik – als sei Moby Dick hinter ihm her. Das ist der Augenblick, in dem mich die Ruhe vor dem Sturm überkommt. Ich schenke dem Ärmsten mein schönstes Lächeln und mir den fälligen Herzkasper… setze mich hin und numeriere unsere zwei Achtseiten-Skripte per Hand neu durch.

Unser Theaterchen hat sich inzwischen gemächlich gefüllt. Nun ja, man will ja nicht grad behaupten, dass die Leut’ sich um die Tickets balgten an diesem verregneten Abend, doch das Publikum ist klein, fein und erlesen und die Stimmung an den Cafehaustischchen erwartungsvoll. Eine Dame wedelt aufgeregt mit dem Programm: sie wollte sich heute eigentlich irgendwohin „Flussabwärts“ treiben lassen, bleibt aber trotzdem. Im Parkett links (also von mir aus rechts) hat sich, wie mir von Frau Intendantin gerade gesteckt, als besondere Herausforderung eine Vertretung der Marzahner schreibenden Arbeiter oder wie die heißen niedergelassen. Ja, schlürft nur euren Schoppen, das macht gute Laune, und die kann ich heut wie nix anderes brauchen. Ich selber hab bloß ‘ne Kaffeeüberdosis und mein Hals ist ganz trocken.

Und dann geht’s los und es beginnt… nanu, nicht der Super-GAU? Wer hätte das gedacht. Dabei weiß doch jedes Kind, womit verhunzte Generalproben enden. Alles läuft super. Und das sogar trotz des alles entscheidenden Geständnisses gleich als Einstieg: Moby Dick kam nicht bis Massachusetts – schlimmer, die Reiseveranstalterin auch noch nie. Wenn man mal vom Schwimmen durch einen dicken Melville-Roman und das Internet absieht. Die geneigte Anwesenheit quittiert meinen Vorschlag, für einen derart riskanten Trip lieber das Eintrittsgeld zurückzufordern, mit einem Lacher statt allgemeinem Aufbruch. Na also, geht doch! Die Stimme räuspert sich frei und bei ihrem forschen Befehl zum Segelsetzen klettert das seefeste Publikum munter in die Wanten der Pequod und mitten hinein in den alten John-Huston-Schinken von 1956, den ich ja immer noch für den Moby-Film aller Filme halte…

Ungefähr anderthalb Stunden später gehen wir von Bord. Aufgekratzt schwatzend, vom Seewind gegerbt, mit schwankendem Matrosengang. Schütteln uns eine Zeitreise auf der alten “Mayflower” aus den zerzausten Haaren und jede Menge Seesand aus den Schuhen. Haben kichernd von Herrn Melville höchstpersönlich erfahren, dass die Nantucketer die Ostfriesen Neuenglands sind und wie wohlig Ismael und Queequeg beim Chowderlöffeln in Mrs. Husseys Kaschemme schmatzen. Wir mussten mitansehen, wie übel die ach so gottesfürchtigen Pilgerväter den gastfreundlichen Ureinwohnern mitgespielt haben. Durften den eigenen staunenden Augen trauen, dass ein unzufriedenes Filmvolk imstande ist, Father Orson Welles’ Mapples von der Regie erfundene Schiffsbugkanzel in eine reale Seemannskirche zu klagen. Wir wissen jetzt, warum dereinst hungrige Iren gen Amerika segelten, und dank einem schiffbrüchigen Seemann und einem seetüchtigen Literaten auch, wie ein echter Pottwal echte Schiffe versenkt. Wir haben uns in einem brodelnden Hafenbecken unter die Akteure der Boston Tea Party gemischt. Sind am Haus mit den sieben Giebeln des neuenglischen Schreibergottes vorbeigeschlendert, das immer noch steht in Salem. Und haben mit den daselbst ansässigen barfüßigen Hexen getanzt, die sowieso keiner vergisst, der das einschlägige Stückchen Kult-Zelluloid von anno dunnemals noch irgendwo im Hinterkopf hat.

Ach ja, fast hätte ichs vergessen, spontan wird auch ein Publikumsliebling gekürt: Ranzo, der Chanteyman von Massachusetts, samt seinem natürlichen und für Walfängerlieder gemachten Klangkörper. Der steht laut seinem Youtube-Profil auf harmony, dissonance, music, noise, rum, truth, tea & cookies, singt mit sich selber im Duett oder gar im Trio und avanciert einhellig zum Kuschelseebären des Abends. (Der Verwendung seiner Tonbeispiele hat er beiläufig offiziell zugestimmt.) Meine aus Zeitgründen vorgesehene Kürzung seines zurechtselektierten Repertoires wird von der virtuellen Reisegruppe mit grummelndem Protest bedacht und muss als Zugabe nachgereicht werden. Ist das nicht das, wovon man immer mal geträumt hat?: mit Leuten in einem Boot sitzen, die eine Wahl hatten… für das Boot.

Die Frage des Abends (aus dem Parkett links): “Aber Sie sind doch gegen den Walfang?”

Und was das Beste ist: mein finaler Werbespot für eine Fortsetzung der Veranstaltung – die für nächstes Jahr einzufädelnde Moby-Dick-Bloglesung nämlich – wird ebenso gefeiert wie die Aussicht, als Soundtrack dazu die süddeutschen Folker What about Carson in der Hauptstadt mal live zu erleben. Deren wieder mal passende und frechfröhlich über den Küstenhaken von Cape Cod lärmende Sally Brown überaus gut ankommt.

Fazit: Moby Dick kam zwar nicht bis Massachusetts. Den Leuten vom “Tschechow” ins Blut aber schon.

Bilder: Moby Dick: Via, bearbeitet. Mayflower: Stuff from Room 311.
Video: Selber gebaut – zu: Der Hund Marie: Moby Dick. Aus: Hooligans & Tiny Hands. 2006.

Heißen Seemannsdank nochmal an den Wolf, für die Hilfe beim Soundtrack.

Earlier today Sarah Palin posted the following message on her Facebook page:

Happy Thanksgiving

Over three hundred years ago, a group of settlers fleeing religious persecution decided to set a new course for human history in a new frontier. Those early pioneers chose a rocky shoreline to establish their way of life. Centuries later, America continues to set the example of what can come from a free and hardworking people. We truly remain the shining city upon a hill that the colonial leader John Winthrop implored us to be.

What started as a small colony in the territory that would eventually become the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has progressed into the greatest and most prosperous nation in history. Americans remain the freest people on earth because of our cherished Constitution and the system of government it establishes.

We have so much to be thankful for. We should recognize especially the sacrifices made on our behalf by those in uniform. Thousands of Americans will be spending Thanksgiving overseas in combat zones in order to protect our liberty and way of life. We should give thanks to those who willingly put their lives on the line for the rest of us. Where would we be without them?

We are also thankful for what God has granted us. We are truly blessed in America with rich natural resources, plentiful energy sources, fertile land, beautiful cities, and the talented and industrious people we call “our fellow Americans.” We pray that God will continue to bless us.

In his farewell address to the nation, President Reagan reminded us that “all great change in America begins at the dinner table.” Thanksgiving is an opportunity to discuss where we are as a nation at this moment in our history and where we should be heading in order to remain prosperous and free. Take time to discuss these things with each other, and take time to teach the young people in your family about our nation’s history so that they may never forget all that we have to be proud of and thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

- Sarah Palin

Wakefield, Massachusetts votes itself a new tax

The 2009 Regular Town Meeting proved to be a taxing one – and not just for those who hung in for the entire three and a half hours. Town Meeting backed two new local taxes: one that will bring the tax on a restaurant meal in Wakefield to 7 percent and another that hikes the hotel occupancy tax from 4 to 6 percent. So it was a taxing Town Meeting even if you didn’t sit through it.

Over the years, Wakefield voters have shown themselves to be reliably frugal when they go to the polls, handily voting down Prop. 2½ overrides and outsized budgets. Town Meeting, on the other hand, has tended to be looser with the public purse strings.

So this week, Town Meeting approved a .75 percent local option meals tax that will be added to the present 6.25 percent meals tax that was just increased from 5 percent last August 1. At the same time, the state hiked the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent.

The state also decided to give cities and towns the “option” to levy an additional .75 percent local meals tax, making it 7 percent in communities that approved it. Wakefield is now one of those communities. The state will collect the additional .75 percent along with its own meals tax and then return the local funds to the town on a quarterly basis.

But not everyone at Town Meeting was on board with the new tax.

“The state does not honor its commitments,” Former FinCom Chairman Marc Luca said, pointing to Chapter 70 local aid and the Quinn Bill as examples. He also noted that the state had just hiked alcohol and tobacco taxes. “The taxes just don’t end,” Luca observed, and most would be hard-pressed to prove him wrong.

Luca also pointed to the number of restaurants on Water St. alone that have failed recently, notably Toody’s and Dettorre’s. “I just don’t see the economic environment being able to sustain new businesses at a higher tax rate,” he said.

Several speakers in favor of the local option meals tax suggested that consumers “wouldn’t notice” an additional 37 cents on a $50 restaurant bill or even 75 cents on a $100 tab. But let’s not forget that just last August the state hiked its portion of the meals tax from 5 to 6.25 percent. It’s easy to say that you won’t notice one or the other, but these increases do not exist independent of each other.

Wakefield’s meals tax has now increased 2 percent since last August. That’s $2 on a $100 restaurant bill. Will people notice that? Maybe it won’t matter to the childless yuppie couple with the six-figure income, but what about the blue collar working class (assuming they’re still working in this economy) family of five? Will they miss the $2?

Grafton St. resident Dan Brown noted that the meals tax in Massachusetts had its genesis as a “temporary” tax. He also reviewed the history of other “temporary” taxes and fees in the state. On the question of whether a local option tax could be repealed if the state failed to give all the money back to Wakefield, Brown did not mince words.

“Hell will freeze over before this or any other tax is repealed,” he said.

When the Board of Selectmen held its public hearing on September 14 on the local option meals tax, no residents showed up, despite the fact that the hearing was well-publicized, including a front page story in the Wakefield Daily Item. Then, at Town Meeting, Wakefield citizens made a decision to vote themselves a new tax.

Will the day come when the residents of Wakefield, Massachusetts will decide that they are paying enough taxes? Maybe. But as of this week, that day has not yet arrived.

[This column originally appeared in the November 19, 2009 Wakefield Daily Item.]

Two years ago I knew very little about my ancestors.

I wanted to know the reasons that led my father to cut all ties with his immediate family and also with his children.

While I won’t go into this subject, I can say that I now understand why my father acted the way he did.

His father married Mary Landry in 1912.

I thought she had died and that he remarried with Juliette Métayer in on around 1926 since my father was born in August 1927.

I tried desperately to find this marriage in several data banks but to no avail…

Guess what?

They never married… And this was in 1927.

How did I came across this information?

I met the nephew of Maria Landry this spring.

How did I contact him?

Since I entered Maria Landry’s file and all her ancestors in my Heritage genealogy site, I got a Smart Match. Someone had the file of one of Maria’s family members. I wrote this person and she gave me a phone number to call.

I picked up the phone and talk to a 84 years old man.

This man wanted to see me so he could tell me what he knew of my grandfather though he never met him.

Next time, you will meet Antonio Landry, Maria Landry’s nephew.

Just to tease you, here is a picture of Antonio Landry.

Antonio Landry

Photo of the day:

Click on image to order note cards or prints on Redbubble.

Rock formations

In case you’ve ever wondered what the berries in your Thanksgiving cranberry sauce looked like before they got sauced, here’s your answer.