We heard this week marks the 42nd Anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam War. To all those that served, we thank you for and appreciate your service.

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The “A Ball for Squares” event in Ball Square on Sunday was quite a success, with hundreds of people attending. Many businesses had tables out to show what they offer or to give away items. We thank Lauren S. Drago, the Urban Revitalization Specialist from the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. Mayor Joe was seen out and about at the event and lots of people thanked him. Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang and Alderman At-Large Mary Jo Rossetti were also in attendance. We think the event was a huge success. Maybe another one should be done?

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If you would like to subscribe to receive a digital edition of our paper, go directly online to our website – www.thesomervilletimes.com – over to the right side and fill out your email address to receive a free, full PDF copy of the paper. By the way, if you scroll further down, a link to former editions of the paper are online as well, and all recent legal ads have been online for anyone who needs the legal ad they just ran.

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Happy birthday this week to several locals: Happy birthday to AnnMarie Carey-Browne. We hope she has a great birthday for herself with her great family. Happy birthday to Karen F. McWatters, who celebrates this week. We hope she has a great birthday. Happy birthday to John Rogan, who is celebrating this week as well. Happy birthday to former Somerville guy Sal DiDomenico, who is also celebrating this week. Happy birthday as well to Mike Capuano. We wish him a great birthday as well. To all former locals who are celebrating this week, we wish every one of them a very happy birthday.

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Congratulations to the Little Sisters of the Poor on Highland Ave., who are celebrating their 150-year Anniversary on Sunday, October 28.

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Masonic Open House is Saturday, October 20, 9:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. at the Masonic property located at 125 Highland Avenue (rear) building. Drive up the driveway to the open parking lot at the rear building. King Solomon’s Lodge AF & AM, chartered in 1783, is one of the oldest Masonic lodges, now celebrating 235 years. It’s a very active lodge and one of the oldest in North America. Some of its historical regalia will be on display, tours will be given, questions answered and light refreshments served. Come meet the officers of the lodge who will be present to answer any questions you might have.

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Adele Keohan, a Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association will talk about the use of daylilies in our gardens at the Somerville Garden Club meeting on Wednesday, October 10 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. How about adding a “spider,” “double,” or “eyed” daylily to your garden bed? Adele will talk about how to select daylilies for your garden, and how to care for and propagate these hardy perennial plants. Keohan is a regional officer in the American Hemerocallis Society (AHS), the national daylily society. She edits the award-winning regional daylily society publication, Daylilies in the Great Northeast. Adele is a past president of the New England Daylily Society, a non-profit organization created for the purpose of promoting the daylily and educating the gardening public as to the care and cultivation of this beautiful and hardy perennial. Adele is a member as well of five other daylily organizations in the northeast, including the Association des amateurs d’hémérocalles du Québec (AAHQ), and of the Wisconsin Daylily Society. In Adele’s own perennial plot she gardens as organically as possible. All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. Meetings are held at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop. For additional information please visit www.somervillegardenclub.org.

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The Rotary Club of Somerville will hold a food drive on Saturday, October 13 from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at the Porter Square Star Market. Beneficiaries are local food banks and shelters. The wish list includes: hygiene products, diapers, shampoo, bath soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, food items, canned meats and vegetables, coffee and tea, olive and/or vegetable oil, pasta, peanut butter, cereal, gift cards. Your donations will be greatly appreciated and will help those who are in need.

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The next phase of the Somerville Ave. Utilities and Streetscape Improvements project is set to begin in early November. To accommodate construction, a major work zone will be set up in the middle of Union Square for about six months. Through traffic will be detoured off of Somerville Ave. around the work zone. Some stops on MBTA bus routes 85 and 87 between Dane Street and Union Square will also be temporarily closed and relocated during this time. To learn more about the upcoming work and associated detours, please join Ward 2 Alderman J.T. Scott, Ward 3 Alderman Ben Ewen-Campen, City of Somerville staff, and representatives from the project team for a community meeting on Wednesday, October 10, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be held in the Academy Room at the Somerville Public Safety building, 220 Washington St. For more information, including maps of the detours described above, please visit somervillema.gov/somervilleave, email construction@somervillema.gov, or call the Engineering department at 617-625-6600 ext. 5400.

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Miss watching the Board of Alderman meetings on TV? You can view them in their entirety on Comcast channel 22, as well as on YouTube. Watch your city at work and see how these dedicated members of our community are serving you, the public. We can’t say this enough, watch the meetings on either cable broadcast live, or go online to YouTube to watch them. You will find some pretty hysterical information there about what’s happening in the city. This should be required viewing for everyone who cares about what is happening here. Even the committee meetings are online. After all, the Board of Aldermen is voting to spend your money. Wow, the raises some department heads are getting. Of course, those friendly with the mayor are the ones that are getting huge ones. Ask yourself, if you own property has your taxes gone down or stayed the same over the past 14 years? And do you remember what they kept telling us what the benefit of Assembly Square would be to our tax base? Watch and remember. Don’t let a small minority of a certain group run our city, be aware of what is going on, and VOTE.

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The Somerville City Club is looking to increase its membership. For the time being membership is open to any resident here in the city It’s a great organization that has been around a long time, with lots of activities that support local charitable groups here. Contact the club on Innerbelt Road across from Holiday Inn for more details.

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We’re still reading the lease on the Winter Hill Yacht Club, which has about 2 years left. We found something about there is not supposed to be a fence. We’ll get back to you on this. We’re reading it and we think if the city presses hard enough, along with the state delegation, the city can turn this is into a community place for the citizens of Somerville. Someone sent us some documents – about 40 pages or so – about the Club, their lease and membership list. We’re going over it and will update next few weeks. But again, we think it’s a shame all that beautiful land and docks, and most especially the clubhouse, is being used by those that don’t even live here in the city. A vast majority – we hear 80%. maybe more – live outside of the city. It’s state own land (belongs to the people) and they pay rent, but are they current? What is the amount they pay to the state? What benefit does Somerville get from it now? We know that some former criminals are members there. Actually we heard someone say the other day, “If you’re indicted, your invited.” Go by and check it out.

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Are you retired and looking for part time work, and you’re experienced in sales? Give us a call here at The Somerville Times at 617-666-4010. We are looking for advertising telemarketers.

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