The battle of the political signs rages on with each side blaming the other in Ward 5. In Ward 6 the opponent to the incumbent is playing it smarter – he‚Äôs not trying to out sign Rebekah (again we‚Äôd say ‚ÄúPrincess‚Äù but her legions/minions/followers get so upset with us) of the Progressives. Speaking of which, next time the pledge of allegiance is on and the prayer is being said at the Board of Aldermen meeting, watch and see if the camera is on the Ward 6 Alderwoman.    

 
                                                                               **********

By the way, someone should tell Rick Scirocco that the primary is over and he can take down his signs – it would make the city look much better. Speaking of the mayors race, we‚Äôve heard nothing from the opponent – Ms. Bremer – has anyone else? We did hear about her reason for getting into the race ‚Äî- she was mad because of the way Marty Martinez was treated in the last special election against Jack Connolly – which by the way is an awesome reason to run for mayor. We have heard that Mayor Joe is having a fundraiser down in Union Square at The Independent tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. – he has virtually no opponent, yet he‚Äôs out there knocking on doors every day – he‚Äôs not taking any chances of getting below the 77 percent vote he got in the primary – we think the number could be close to 80 percent in the final.      

                                                                           **********

We hear that a member of a well known East Somerville family recently received a water bill of over $40,000 and when he tried to get the city to listen to reason, the argument fell on deaf ears. While still fighting the city on the water bill, we hear he is planning on having a private artesian well and disconnecting city water service. Should be an interesting story to follow up on this coming week.

                                                                               **********

We also think it‚Äôs possible and probable that Rick Scirocco got less votes then Mary Sogliero and wild Bill Raferty got when they ran against Mayor S. Lester Ralph in the 70s  ‚Äî- we are pretty sure Mary and Bill received more votes then Rick and possibly more than Ms. Bremer. Some of us thought that their record was going to be beaten. Now there are a couple of names from the past‚Ķwe bet everyone will go searching to find out about them. We‚Äôll be watching to see what the bloggers do with this one.    

                                                                                  ***********

Mary Kate Hart, born, raised and schooled here in Somerville, got married this past weekend to Jeff Drouin in Woburn ‚Äì the reception was at the Colonial afterwards and it was like old home week with Somerville people, never mind the Hart relatives (who were there by the dozen).   

 
                                                                             ************

Last Friday night at Tecce’s in the North End was the Annual Columbus Day dinner – it was a huge sell out crowd of several hundred in attendance. The night’s special guest of honor was House Speaker Sal DiMasi. Also in attendance was a small but vocal contingent from The Somerville News Рall had a great time, and everyone was Italian this past weekend.

                                                                              ************

Roland James Рhead of the Somerville Youth Department Рhas gotten lots of publicity around town and the nation Рrecently being featured on Chronicle and on ESPN during the game of the week as one of the former NFLers who puts his knowledge to work to help kids. Roland was the former New England Patriot who stayed when John Hannah left town. Good job Roland, we’re happy to have you here in Somerville.

                                                                               **********

Don’t miss the “Halloween Horrorville” at 300 Somerville Avenue in Union Square (the old Walnut Street Center) Starting October 19 and continuing on the 20, and also from October 26 to the 28. It looks like a “horrible” time for the whole family. Tickets are $10.00 for adults and $8.00 for kids under 12 – the hours are 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

                                                                                **********

Nick Halloran, standout offensive end and defensive tackle at BB&N, will be attending nationally ranked Boston College with great hopes to be a star on that football team.  ‚ÄúA perfect combination of great work ethics and great talent‚Äù says coach John Papas.

                                                                               **********

Candidate for Ward 5 Alderman Joe Lynch will be having a fundraiser this coming Monday, October 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Gargoyles on the Square – stop by and say hi to Joe.

                                                                               ***********

The SHS golf team continues to try harder, even though they have found it tough to win, including their recent loss to Medford. Cam Lynch, Eric O’Brien, Alex Mello and Matt Miller and the other team members beat Everett in September. But there is still hope, coach Jay Hart says they have some good “up and coming” freshman golfers.

                                                                                ************

Get ready for some brown water! The Somerville Fire Department will be testing all the city’s fire hydrants for two weeks! Inspections will be going on from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. if needed. And if that isn’t enough, the test dates will be from October 15 to October 27 Рso stock up on some clean water to brush your teeth!

                                                                               ************

Promotions again at the Somerville Police Department – Thursday October 11 in the Alderman‚Äôs Chambers, promotions will be awarded. Sergeant Steven Carabino is one of the police officers that is getting promoted to lieutenant and Officer Bruce Campbell will be moving up to sergeant. Congrats guys.   

                                                                               ************

Looks like there is going to be some movement in the empty Ward 4 School Committee seat coming up – we hear someone is getting ready to blast on to the scene with thousands of stickers. We still say the elected board should be done away with and a board similar to the makeup in Boston be set up – it would save the city thousands of dollars and remove the politics from the system.   

                                                                                ************

Former mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay got a new gig this week. We hear she is going to be named vice president of government at Hebrew Senior Life where she will put her political muscle to work advocating for senior issues. We wish Dorothy well.