News Talk for the week of October 4

The paper received a Letter to the Editor (see page 2 September 20th) regarding our ‚Äúshort obituary‚Äù on Former Mayor Larry Bretta and his tenure as Mayor.  The guy who wrote the letter – a Senior Attorney at Cambridge/Somerville Legal Offices – chastising us for not mentioning the bad things Larry did when he was Mayor in the obituary.  Mr. Kaplan we all know what happened ‚Äì apparently you don‚Äôt – you might want to check your facts first before you talk bullshit about a dead man ‚Äì you‚Äôre a good reason there are a million lawyer jokes.  Mr. Kaplan, the man is dead ‚Äì you weren‚Äôt around when he was Mayor or when he was indicted, maybe you should find out how your agency got funded in the first place – so you could have a job‚Ķbetter yet, check your facts like a good lawyer should – it was Mayor Ralph who did the building and rebuilding of the schools and was known as the ‚Äúreformer‚Äù in the City, which was long before Mayor Brune – who built the Police Station over the old MTA Car Barn.  Speaking ill of the dead is easy because they can‚Äôt defend themselves – be nice and maybe someone will say a prayer for you when your time comes.  Your statements in that letter are typical third hand bullshit ‚Äì but just like everyone else on the planet who jumps to conclusions ‚Äì you weren‚Äôt there and your opinion is a waste of time to even read.  Regardless of what you might think about Former Mayor Bretta, he paid his dues and he is in a better place now ‚Äì leave him be and move onto something of substance.

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That Rent Control Ordinance, damn we mean the Condo Review Ordinance Hearing was supposed to be Tuesday October 10th, but then we heard that it was being withdrawn ‚Äì and it may or may not be rewritten and resubmitted.  We still say there is no need to have the current ordinance rewritten ‚Äì it‚Äôs fine as it is.  Hopefully the city gets better legal advice than they got from that staff attorney at City Hall and that attorney from Legal Services ‚Äì you know, the one that speaks ill of the dead.
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Now we hear there is a report on pay raises for our City Officials that was submitted to committee for hearings, we have a suggestion – maybe the City can save money by doing away with the current School Board and its elections – there is money they can use for there raises.
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The Aldermen are also working on a new Rubbish Ordinance ‚Äì is it possible that they‚Äôre going to try to regulate what kind of barrels we‚Äôre going to have to buy instead of using plastic bags?  When did the name of the City change to Weston or Marblehead?  Talk about costing us more money on top of the property taxes we already pay.
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Picture this – not to long ago, after a Board of Alderman meeting, the Aldermen go out to talk about events going on and end up at Orleans ‚Äì there they were – sitting in two groups‚Ķthe so-called ‚ÄúProgressives‚Äù headed by none other then Alderperson Rebekah Gewirtz and over at the bar was the Mayors group – both groups not talking to each other and trying to avoid even eye contact.  Must have been a hairy meeting that night.  A casual observer at Orleans thought the whole scene was comical to see the two groups act like children‚Ķnot very progressive behavior is it?         

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We were wondering how the Mayor and Alderman Rebekah are doing these days – it seems like they’re doing okay…after the board meeting on Thursday, the Mayor and Rebekah had a private meeting for a very long time Рsome say the Mayor was upset with her, but who knows Рthe doors were closed.

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It was nice to see Bob Publicover at his Annual Aids Fundraiser Bar-B-Que last week – a nice small crowd showed up‚Ķafter so many years of having this event, it seems less and less show their support‚Ķwhich is too bad.  Besides his close friends, it was nice to see State Senator Pat Jehlen and State Representative Denise Provost there to show their support for Bob.

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It was told to a News talker that the paper was treating Rebekah unfairly and showing her in a negative light – heck, we can’t take ALL the credit for it Рsince she does what she does…but we thank the School Committee member from Ward 5 for his comments