News Talk for the week of Sept. 6

Not too much to talk about this week ‚Äì with Summer vacations coming to a close – the local politicians will be back and the rumors will start to fly around.  We managed to eek out a few things ‚Äì and others that were too over the top (even for us).  As a reminder again to all that are interested in the MaxPac development – zoning changes should be sometime this month – we will find out what we can and oh yeah, that Rent Control, oops, we mean the Condo Conversion Ordinance is supposed to be making a comeback as well ‚Äì we will get some dates so that the City won‚Äôt think we‚Äôre all asleep again.    

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It seems like those idiots ‚Äì the Divestment People – are back and actually got enough signatures (only 200 were needed) to be on the ballot in November here in the City.  They only got it on the ballot in one State Rep District, and you probably won‚Äôt be surprised either to find out that it‚Äôs Denise Provost‚Äôs district.  Although it is a ballot question that the City of Somerville should divest funds from Israel, hopefully the residents of the district send these whackos a firm and resounding no.  Speaking of whackos ‚Äì did you hear that major whacko ‚Äì the President of Iran – is going to be a guest speaker at Harvard this month?  The world as we know it has officially gone to‚Ķ                  
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Is anyone else offended by the free anatomy lesson the proprietor of Extreme Tanning is offering with his racy sidewalk advertisements? Somebody should remind this creep that children walk the streets too and may not be ready for the eyeful that he’s offering. And to anyone still willing to do business with this perv, we think he’s a deadbeat who doesn’t pay his bills. I mean come on, it’s one thing to be a creepy perv, but to go back on a deal? Come on buddy. We hear our favorite alderman Rebekah Gewirtz is going after this guy and we say good job Rebekah! Keep fighting the good fight.

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Some of us think there should be a boycott of Dunkin Donuts at McGrath & Broadway until such time that they clear out all those illegal aliens every morning out of the parking lot and even worse the contractors going in there to pick them up.  Reportedly the IRS and ICE are around but there seems to be more and more illegals out there every morning.  There will eventually be a serious accident and then maybe the owners of that Dunkin Donuts will smarten up when they have a lawsuit slapped on them ‚Äì or is there one already in the works maybe?  What we would like to know is why the Somerville Police are just sitting there in the lot doing nothing but watching, maybe they‚Äôre taking down license plate numbers, or not?         
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This past week the former Mayor Larry Bretta passed away – he was a popular Mayor back in the 60‚Äôs – some who knew him said he was a good guy and that he will be missed.         
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The primary is coming up real fast and hopefully the people that usually stay home (and end up bitching the most) will come out – there really is a healthy choice for the Democratic nominee for Governor and Lt. Governor, amongst other offices.  It is our firm hope that the majority of Democrats come out and don‚Äôt leave the primary victor to the left-wingers and Progressives so that another Republican waltzes into the corner office on Beacon Hill.  We have a choice – lets elect the one that can beat back the past 16 years of Republican rule in the Governorship.  While we‚Äôre on the subject, some of us here are hoping that Connecticut Senator Joe Liberman wins his re-election bid hands down ‚Äì he has a lot of support from Massachusetts residents (we like him) – funny how some of these PDS-type, so called Liberals eat their own isn‚Äôt it?         
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One election that we are very interested in is the race for Secretary of State – Bill Galvin has been a terrific Secretary of the Commonwealth – and his opponent, who is running on one issue, wants to register non-citizens to vote.  What is wrong with people?  Has everyone gone completely nuts?  We like Bill Galvin ‚Äì make sure you vote for him.
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Seems the Boston Globe has been watching our paper here in Somerville and the website as well – we understand that the Globe is doing a couple of stories on local news we have been reporting.  Seems that that we also found out that the Herald is doing the same thing – apparently they don‚Äôt think much of the farm team‚Äôs local coverage – or do they?  But hey we‚Äôre biased and we are proud of it.  We hear the editor of the Farm Team here in Somerville is also the editor of the Farm Team in Cambridge, guess their budget is as tight as ours.
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To that Remax agent who sent that email to the office, yeah we are biased and one of the owners of the paper is the owner of ERA The Norton Group, so what?  We aren‚Äôt the New York Times and you know what ‚Äì we‚Äôre proud of it – we are The Somerville News.  Apparently you must be a huge producer over there and your office is doing fine, that‚Äôs why you‚Äôre merging so you can pay the rent and other bills, or is it more than that?  We‚Äôve told you before ‚Äì we‚Äôre biased when it comes to Real Estate and Towing and we‚Äôre good at what we do – we don‚Äôt see a problem with it – when you‚Äôre good you‚Äôre good.  The best Real Estate company for 6 years now and the best Tow company for 3 years, great business sense to us – go ERA The Norton Group and Pat‚Äôs Tow – together they employ over 150 local residents – both new and old – can you say that?  We have ink by the barrels too – do you?      
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Congratulations to Billy Tauro for doing a great job as the head of King Solomon‚Äôs Lodge on Highland Avenue – Stephen Post will take over for next year this coming September 30th at his public installation.  At Somerville Lodge, another local favorite is Steve Dalrymple, who will be leaving office as well, with yet another local popular person – Donald Coutoumas – taking over for him on October 7th.  Together both Masonic lodges have a combined membership of almost 500 members here in Somerville – giving to various charities and to the local community each and every year.  If you want to find out more about what Masonry is, come to the Public Open House Saturday October 7th at 125 Highland Avenue.
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As we go to press this Tuesday (yesterday) our own Cam Toner is in MGH undergoing an operation that has been planned now for a few weeks – all our thoughts and prayers here at the paper are with her for a speedy recovery and hurry back to work, we need her here so that George is behaving himself along with the rest of the staff.    
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Neil McCabe – our favorite former Editor of The Somerville News – is doing well over there in Cambridge with his paper ‚ÄúThe Alewife.‚Äù  We‚Äôve missed him, so we asked him to come back and do some writing here in Somerville as well – hopefully you‚Äôll see him sometime soon – but in the meantime if you want to check him out online go to his paper‚Äôs website www.thealwife.com.