Wow, what a two weeks this has been. From mild weather to auctioning off the City vehicles, this city saw its share of craziness in the last 14 days.

Last year we commented on the towing of vehicles for street cleaning. This year looks like the year of the outstanding parking violations. According to someone at Traffic and Parking, they will (with the help of the Police Department) be going out on the streets and finding hundreds of cars belonging to people who have been lucky enough until now to dodge the yellow “Denver Boot.” So far, tens of thousands of needed dollars have been recovered and put into the City’s accounts. We have said it before – you want to get the ticket by parking illegally – pay the fine – or go through the misery of having your car booted one day.

We understand that the Mayor’s Office is looking into an “Adopt an Island Program” for the city’s drabby looking islands. This is an excellent program which has worked fabulously in other local communities – funded by private business – and at no cost to the taxpayer. We need more programs like this in this city.

Mayor Joe had a large crowd at a fundraiser that was thrown in his honor at Good Times last week. It’s good to see so many people getting behind Mayor Joe and letting him know he has our support. His vision of the future and the progress he has made in this short time he has been mayor is a testament to his hard work and the team of professional people he has working with him. Keep up the good work Mayor Joe

Local political activist Herb Vargas, affectionately referred to as “secret squirrel” by some people we talked to, announced in an exclusive interview with this very newspaper that he will be taking a serious look at seeking the Ward Three Alderman seat. Does he stand a chance against Tom Taylor? Do we have to actually answer that? Herb also mentioned that he heard a rumor about John L. Sullivan running against Denise Provost in Ward Five. Good luck to him beating her – although he’s got a better chance at that one than the other guy. We will look into this and keep you informed if we hear anything else.

Yes it’s true – the one and only Kevin Tarpley is back in the city. The former Alderman may have an announcement to make very soon, or so we hear. Could he be interested in having his seat back? It wouldn’t be the first time someone left the city only to come back home and get right back into politics. We will keep an eye on this situation as it develops.

Did you know that Somerville is just about the only city around without a D.A.R.E. program? The reason is that there’s no money to fund the program. This is an important program that really works with kids and is very effective in urban settings in deterring drug use. Everyone who picks this paper up should call our local leaders – on the City as well as the State levels – and let them know this city needs this program. We talked to State Rep. Vincent Ciampa recently about this very issue, and he’s all for it, but he can’t do it alone. So let’s all reach out to Rep. Ciampa and our local leaders and tell them we need this program – let’s give them our support so they can support our community by securing the funding required to pull D.A.R.E. off and make it successful here. Pat’s Tow is planning on building a D.A.R.E. vehicle, so that’s a start. If you need a name or a number to call or write to – you can call us or email us and we are happy to point you in the right direction.

Spring is just around the corner and so is Little League season. We hear the Somerville Little League is looking for baseball players to sign up this year. Major/minor baseball and major/senior softball try-outs will be held on Sunday, March 21st from 1:00 pm until 3:30 pm and also on Saturday, March 27th from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm at Tufts University’s Cousin’s Gym. You can get more information by checking out thier web site at www.somervillelittleleague.org

We thought the best line at the recent city vehicle auction was “Wasn’t that car driven by a little old lady back and forth from her house to the Independent?” Very unfair – funny as hell – but unfair.

Send the Somerville News your little league, basketball, football, soccer etc. stories and photos. We are looking for contributing writers to send us all the local sports information on all of the city leagues, so if you know someone out there from one of these leagues, please have them give us a call and ask for Billy or e-mail him directly at somervillenewsco@aol.com

If you have heard any rumors or have any stories that you would like to share with us, you can call and leave an anonymous (if you want) message on the “News Talk Hot Line” at 617-666-4010 or you can e-mail it to us at somervillenewsco@aol.com and it might be printed.