News Talk for the week of Dec. 27

Christmas is over and it was an enjoyable and quiet three-day weekend – very peaceful – isn‚Äôt that what it is supposed to be?  We want to wish a healthy and prosperous New Year to everyone‚Ķwe here at News Talk want to say ‚Äúthank you‚Äù for all the gossip this past year.  Although we found it hard to believe some of the things we heard, apparently some of the readers believed them – after all, this is among other things a gossip column.  We want to thank the thousands of readers every week that read The Somerville News, both the print and online editions – we appreciate everyone.  2006 has been a long year and we look forward to 2007 with some fresh new ideas for our readers and our advertisers.

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January 1st of the New Year will be a busy day here in Somerville with the Annual Flag Ceremony at Prospect Hill beginning at City Hall at 11:30a.m.  The procession will be in period clothing and lead by George Washington to the monument where the ceremony will be held at noon.  This year marks the 231st anniversary of the raising of the Great Union Flag by Gen. Washington.    
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Also on New Years Day (that evening), the elected officials of the city will be sworn in and the Mayor will give the 2007 mid-term address of the city speech along with the new Presidents of the Board of Alderman and School Committee.  The ceremony will be at City Hall and will begin at 6:00p.m. with a reception immediately after.      
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One rumor flying around this past week is that Alderman At Large Dennis Sullivan may be taking a role in the new movie that‚Äôs being made about the famous comic book character ‚ÄúArchie‚Äù!  Dennis is trying out for the role of ‚ÄúJug Head‚Äù – the hippy beat-nick sidekick of Archie!  Dennis was also in a carbon monoxide television commercial that had aired about a month ago.  We say go for it Dennis – it couldn‚Äôt happen to a nicer guy.
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The rumor mill was buzzing last week over Alderman at Large candidate Marty Martinez ‚Äì it seems he‚Äôs so sure he‚Äôs going to win this special election that he‚Äôs is going around introducing himself as ‚ÄúAlderman Martinez‚Äù and he has had printed out business cards with his name on it.  Now we hear that he already ordered a vanity plate for himself that reads ‚ÄúI won it‚Äù, an old Chinese proverb once said ‚ÄúHe who count his chickens before they hatch will have much paper to line bird cage with, at least we think its Chinese, maybe its Irish, nah that‚Äôs not it.
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Here‚Äôs hoping that with all the Dunkin Donuts in this city, that in 2007 they can actually get your order correct when you want your coffee prepared a certain way and that they won‚Äôt argue with you when they got it wrong in the first place!  There is something to be said for the local coffee shops in the city, isn‚Äôt there.  It‚Äôs hard to believe there are 9 Dunkin Donuts here in Somerville ‚Äì we definitely need more Starbucks and local coffee shops.
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We‚Äôre hearing that the election department has submitted some dates for the Special Election and properly most likely the same schedule as when Mike Capuano stepped down back a few years ago, which is February for a Primary and April for Final Election.   
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A good friend of ours here at The News has sadly passed on this past Christmas Week‚ĶMary Percoco of East Cambridge was a good friend of ours and a good friend to many that have grown to know her through the years here in Somerville – she will be sadly missed.