A “Honey Bee Demonstration” will take place this Saturday at 1p.m. at Best Pest Control Services on Elm St. near Cedar. The one and only Rod Kreimeyer will be giving a demonstration on how our Villen Bees can help our community. Rod will be harvesting some honey and some samples should be available. He will be able to answer any questions you or your children might have about these busy little animals. It is an outdoor event and there will be lots of bees flying overhead. Their honey bees are very docile and calm but if you are interested in coming just know you are going to be around a lot of bees. They want everyone to BEE there and to BEE in a Honey mood.

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Happy Birthday this week to a few of our good friends here in the Ville. To Marsha Hamel McGlashing, the ever popular and big time Pop Warner VP here in Somerville, we wish her a great day for herself. Thanks from everyone here in the city for a great job organizing and putting Pop Warner out there. Also this week, local lady Helen Youtkins-Berry, a local Villen as well as a real estate agent. Another dedicated community person celebrating his birthday this week is Mark Alston Follansbee, Director of the Somerville Homeless Coalition and former Past President of Somerville Rotary. We hope Mark has a great day for himself as well. Our all time favorite CPA good guy is celebrating as well, Wayne Snow. We wish him the very best, he’s a great guy. Another guy – not from Somerville but often here on business – is Joe Bolognese, a recent new dad. We wish him HB. On 30 September, 1936 at the Somerville Hospital, Frank Gray, Jr., was born – a lifelong Villen. Happy 78th birthday Frank!

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By now everyone has heard our new Chief of Police Dave Fallon has sent former Dep. Chief Mike Cabral back to being Captain. We heard his two new Deputy Chiefs might be either Paul Trant, Stephen Carrabino, or James Donovan. Might we see some more shakeups in the Police Department? Everyone knows by now that temporary Chief Charles Femino is moving on to Security for Endicott College up in Beverly.

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Speaking about shakeups, again by now everyone knows that the Director of the Somerville Board of Health has resigned. We heard a rumor that it wasn’t an amicable split and we also heard that former Mayor Dot Gay might be a candidate for the position, even though she was just appointed to the Planning Board.

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If you are a Somerville homeowner and resided in your home since January 1 of this year, you need to know that the city is offering a 35% Residential Abatement. It turns out it is the largest abatement in the state offered by cities and towns. Call the Board of Assessors for a form at 617 625-6600 x 3100. Thanks to the Mayor Joe Curtatone, with the help of Governor Patrick.

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There was a proposal submitted by some of the more progressive members of the Board of Alderman – “Pay to Play” – which was voted on by the board with 7 Alderman in favor. We hear the mayor is vetoing the bill and it appears that the ordinance does not have sufficient votes to override his veto. Now, Pay to Play was an effort to reduce donations to politicians from $500 down to $250. This was the brainchild, like we said, of some of the progressive members of the Board of Alderman. Maybe they should have checked with our esteemed State Senator Pat Jehlen, who we heard voted to raise the level of donations (call it “Pay to Play” state level) from $500 to $1,000, a totally opposite direction from that of the Board of Alderman members. We heard it was a move by some to limit Mayor Joe’s efforts to have fundraisers. Could some of the members be jealous of the fundraising dollars that the mayor has attracted? We’ve been to some of the Alderman’s fundraisers that were not nearly as attractive as the mayor’s. Maybe it’s because he’s a good mayor and has our city on the move?

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Somerville High Adult Evening Courses are starting up again this fall, and registration is over the next two weeks Tuesday and Thursday nights at the High School main office. One class in particular being offered again this semester is the Real Estate course being offered for $165, which is more than half of what it would cost going anywhere else. Plus it is a live course with interaction with the teacher who has over 35 years of experience to offer. Register directly to the Principal, Sophia Carafotes, by emailing her at scarafotes@k12.somerville.ma.us or visit the high school at 6 p.m. and see how many great courses that they have to offer the public at real low prices you can’t find anywhere. Let Sophia know you saw it here. She’s one of Somerville’s finest teachers.

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We will be bestowing the “Best of Somerville” awards again this year. Started 30 years ago by one of our past owners, Bob Publicover, it continues to this day. This year we will have a different twist on it by adding popular food items to the categories. Best Hamburger, Mac & Cheese, Pastry, Donuts, etc. And if you have a suggestion, again, send it along to 617 666-4010. Leave a message for the category you’d like to see nominated. We will be rolling out the ballots shortly for the “Best of Somerville 2014”. A couple of our readers called this past week giving us suggestions and we thank them very much. We will ad them to our list.

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The Masonic Open House at 125 Highland Avenue is coming up Saturday, October 11. It’s open to the public for tours and Q&A. The only Somerville Masonic Lodge is King Solomon’s Lodge AF & AM, founded in 1783 in Charlestown and moved to Somerville in 1899.

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The Duhamel Education Initiative invites you to attend the The Duhamel Education Initiative 19th Annual Pasta & Meatball Supper (meatless entrees will be available) to support Somerville Public Schools which will take place on Saturday, September 27 at 6:00 p.m. at the First Church Congregational, 89 College Ave. Somerville. Ticket Donations are $30 per family, $12 adults, $9 seniors, $6 children. Paul Duhamel, a Somerville School Committee member, was a positive force in the community and an excellent leader in the area of dropout prevention. His untimely passing spurred his friends to establish an organization that would continue his work. Since 1995, the Duhamel Education Initiative has furthered Paul’s efforts by supporting the Somerville Public Schools and those students who are most in need. The Initiative has awarded over $50,000 in dropout prevention grants to Somerville teachers and also supports at-risk youth and innovative programs in the Somerville Public Schools. In 2011, the DEI was honored by the Somerville School Committee for its strong support of the public schools of Somerville. Please help serve the children of our community. Donations may be sent to: Duhamel Education Initiative, P.O. Box 440113, Somerville, MA 02144.

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Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and the Somerville Commission for Women announce the Annual Candlelight Vigil in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month on Wednesday, October 1 at 6 p.m. at the Somerville Public Safety Building, 220 Washington Street. The vigil walk begins at 6 p.m. through Union Square, concluding with a speaking agenda at the Public Safety Building at 6:30 p.m. City and local agencies will be available beginning at 5:30 p.m. with informational materials and to answer questions. The vigil is an annual event bringing the community together to remember those who have lost their lives over the last year to domestic violence. For more information about the Vigil, contact Director of Somerville Commissions, Sonja Darai, at 617-625-6600 x2406 or SDarai@somervillema.gov. For more information about domestic violence, contact RESPOND at their Hotline number (617) 623-5900 (TTY accessible for the hearing impaired) and for on-line information go to www.respondinc.org.

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Due to the overwhelming popularity and close-out of last Sunday’s Walking Tour entitled “Union Square: An Intermixing of Industry, Immigration and Innovation,” the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission expects to repeat the tour this Sunday, Sept. 28. Again it will be a free event co-sponsored with ArtsUnion. It will start at Somerville High School (91 Highland Ave.) at 2pm and end at 4:30pm. The route will include interior visits to the historic St. Anthony’s Church on Properzi Way and the new Greentown Labs off Dane St. There is no rain date if heavy rain or wind prevails. Prior registration is again required by contacting Brandon Wilson via bwilson@somervillema.govor 617-625-6600, ext. 2532.