Candidate for Alderman in Ward One Matt McLaughlin is having a rally tonight, Wednesday, October 23 at the Mt. Vernon Restaurant, lower Broadway, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Join Mayor Joe Curtatone, current Ward One Alderman Maureen Bastardi, incumbent Ward Six alderman Rebekah Gewirtz and many more as they make the final push to elect Matt McLaughlin for Ward One Alderman. Matt surprised everyone in Ward One with his more than easy win in the recent primary elections. He faces candidate Elio LoRusso on November 5, Election Day.

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This Saturday night, October 26, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Somerville Veterans Memorial Skating Rink on Somerville Avenue, the 2nd Annual LGBT Halloween Skate Night will take place. All ages are welcome. Costume prizes will be awarded. $10 covers admission, and skate rental is free. From those that attended last year’s event, the word is they really enjoyed themselves. Everyone is welcomed to come and have fun.

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A fundraiser will be held this Friday night, October 25 from 7 p.m.- midnight, for Patricia (Tricia) McCollem Pimentel at the Somerville City Club. As many people may or may not know, Tricia is fighting Breast Cancer for the third time. Her family and friends will be hosting a fundraiser to help her and her family with financial obligations and medical expenses. 500 tickets will be sold in advance at $20. These tickets will automatically be entered in a raffle where 50% goes to Tricia and 50% is divided in to prizes as follows: (2) $1,000 and (6) $500 prizes. You don’t need to be present to win. If tickets are not purchased in advance there is a $10 admission fee. Tickets purchased at the door will not be added to the raffle. There will be food, music and several different raffles. The organizer hopes to see as many faces as possible at an event aimed at supporting such a strong woman. If you or anyone you may know would like to donate anything for the event please contact Michelle DaSilva at michelledasilva720@hotmail.com.

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Last week we mentioned a rumor flying around about a disturbance down at the Police Station with one of the officers. Well, this week we heard more about the rumor and who was involved, and now we hear that the police officer involved is on leave pending an investigation. We heard that a city official came into the station and was simply asking for information at the booth out in the lobby when the officer came out from behind counter and immediately shouted at the official. We also heard that the official was stunned by this officer’s behavior. That would be interesting tape to rewind if it happened in the lobby of the station (we assume the station has cameras). Now, we only know this from various sources, but the question here is don’t the police work for the city residents, its taxpayers? And don’t residents deserve better than being verbally abused or harassed by our police officers? We think this kind of behavior from our Police Department is uncalled for, if this did happen. Don’t you agree?

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While we are at it about the Police Station and questionable officers, how about a certain officer who was fired for a drug situation under a previous administration, and after a long time of appealing he gets back on duty? For a few years now. Well, this officer (we’ll leave his name out for now) has a reputation of trying to intimidate certain residents here in the city. When actual proof was presented to the Police Department he was reprimanded (so the person was told), and that certain officer is still out there as of the other day, trying to intimidate and harass the same people. We were told here at Newstalk that the officer’s demeanor and history has been collected very carefully with dates and incidents and is going to be turned over to higher authorities if he doesn’t stop the harassment. What do you think about the actions of a police officer behaving this way? Better yet, should the Somerville Police Department’s many respectable and fine officers be subjected to these small few who give a black eye to the department as a whole?

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Caroline Shea-Rosas, who recently lost the primary race in the Ward Five School Committee, ran as a real trouper. Besides being a nice lady with a growing family here in the city, she is disappointed that she lost the primary, but she has moved on and has endorsed Ross Richmond in the final election. Ross is a good guy, a new comer to the city but he comes from a teaching family and in conversation with him, you’ll agree he’s a nice person that doesn’t sound like the usual politician. Caroline has made a wise choice here in her endorsement.

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This Saturday also is the St. Clements (4-1 record) vs. Marian (3-3) football game at Dilboy Field. Starting time is 4:30 p.m.

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Last week we congratulated Mike Browne and his lovely wife Annmarie on their anniversary, but we forgot to mention that two of their closest friends, Steve and Sheila MacEachern, also celebrated their wedding anniversary on same day. Also, a mistake was made last week with Mike Browne as well. The correct name for his new Facebook page is “Views of Historic Somerville.” So, if you’re on Facebook and are a true Villen at heart (EC residents that wannabe Villens excluded), you are encouraged to like the page and learn more about our fine city. Mike has a vast knowledge of historic points of interest and political facts regarding Somerville. Maybe we can convince him to write about some of them? Who knows, maybe?

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Happy Birthday this week here and around the Ville with some of our fans. First of all, a lovely lifelong resident celebrates this week, Hope August. As everyone knows, she is a nice lady who, by the way, teaches Zumba up at the high school. She’s also retired now from the city, but looks great. A big Happy Birthday to Hope. It’s a big week here. Well known real estate guy here in the city, Donald Norton, is celebrating, along with Marie Civello on the same day. A nice lady, always around Ball Square. Best wishes to our own Harry Kane, who is celebrating this week as well. Happy Birthday to Donny Ostler from the Ville. Also from the Ville is Corey McGlashing, who goes to SHS.

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“Introduction to Horror Make-up” is being offered this Saturday, the 26th, at the Arts at the Armory on Highland Avenue, from 2 to 5 p.m. Just in time for Halloween. Learn the expert art of monster making by turning yourself into a zombie! Great for Halloween costuming, haunted houses, and horror movies. This Halloween forget the cheap mask. Learn some of the tricks of special effects makeup to turn yourself into a monster. You’ll learn the various tools most commonly used in makeup design, the various types of makeup and how to use them to their best effects, shortcuts used by professional artist to make realistic scars, cheap and easy recipes for realistic blood you can actually eat, and techniques to make super realistic wounds, bruises, cuts and scars. For more information contact mtmartino@svgfilms.com. To buy tickets online go to: http://thezombiemaker.eventbrite.com.

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Endorsements are flying in for several of the candidates running for office (send them in, we will put it here). Mark Niedergang, candidate for Ward Five Alderman was endorsed by six local elected officials and eight organizations and unions recently. Some of them are Rep. Carl Sciortino, Alderman Rebeckah Gerwirtz, Alderman Tony Lafuente, School Board members Adam Sweeting, Christine Rafal and Paul Bokleman are the elected ones. Mark was also endorsed by several local organizations and unions.

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Courtney O’Keefe, the current Ward Five Alderman, is running and she’s endorsed by many local unions: Teamsters Local 25 and I.B.E.W. local 103, and more locally by the Somerville Police Employees Association and the Somerville Fire Local 76 as well.   Other unions include Laborers Union 222, and Courtney was recently endorsed by the City’s collective unions. Courtney was endorsed by Bill Roche, former Alderman of Ward One, and as well by former Wad Five Alderman Sean O’Donovan.

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Don’t forget the event “Weekend for Sean Collier at Lyndell’s Bakery” starting on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 25, 26, and 27. They will be selling individual custom half moon cakes dedicated to Sean Collier with his Somerville Police badge number on them. $1.00 for every half moon sold will be donated to the Somerville Auxiliary PD Sean Collier memorial scholarship fund.

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Our good friend Ricky Willette at DPW is recuperating from arm surgery. We wish him well and a speedy recovery. Rick is a great guy. He’s needed back at DPW.

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Another close friend of The Times is Paula Clark, who is going in for arm surgery this Friday. She says they are going to send her home the same day, but with what she says is being done we find that hard to believe. We certainly wish Paula a speedy recovery. Paula is a fairly new resident of Highland Gardens on Highland Avenue, and loves it there. She says the people are so nice. We know that particular building run by the SHA is well maintained like all the rest of them. Like we said, she’s a nice lady.

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Last week the citywide “Spelling Bee” was held at the Dante Club. Every year Sean Fitzgerald and the others work very hard putting this together. This year they had nine teams of three and the winner was none other than the teachers at the West Somerville Community School, a very impressive win for them. The master of ceremonies was Superintendent of Schools Tony Pieratozzi and the judge for the evening was John Roderick. Congratulations to all the participants. Hopefully next year more will join in on the fun.

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Tonight, Wednesday, October 23, is the annual Somerville Rotary Club “Comedy Night” on Rte. 1. Thanks to all the local businesses that helped to donate to make this yearly event a success. The club works very hard making sure it’s successful. Somerville Rotary is made up of local businesses and non-profits that meet weekly at the Mt. Vernon Restaurant at 12:15 p.m. every Tuesday. This year’s president is Nancy Kavanagh, and she’s doing a great job. If you’d like to find out what Rotary is all about and would like to talk to someone about joining, email Nancy at Nancy_Kavanagh@ccab.org or just go online to the Rotary web site, you’ll find online at our web site www.thesomervilletimes.com.