Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone invites all to come help clean up our community!
Rake leaves! Plant flowers! April 30 from 10 a.m. to 1p.m.

Join us for a BBQ immediately following the clean up at Prospect Hill
Park. Meet your Ward Captain at one of the following locations: Ward 1: East
Somerville Community School; meet at school yard; Ward 2: Lincoln Park
Community School; meet at school yard; Ward 3: High School Concourse;
meet in front of City Hall; Ward 4: Healy School; meet at school yard; Ward
5: Magoun Square; meet at parking Parking Lot Plaza; Ward 6: Davis Square
Area; meet at Statue Park; Ward 7: Teele Square; meet at Fire Station.

For more information, please call Eileen Costa in the Communications Department at 617-625-6600, extension 2600, or visit www.ci.somerville.ma.us.

 Brad’s Pretzler’s photographs of the Shannon funeral are available on his Web site

Full story in Wednesday’s edition of The Somerville News

State Rep. Patricia D. Jehlen, D-Somerville, confirmed Sunday that she is running to succeed the late State Sen. Charles E. Shannon Jr.

The date of the special election has not been set.

Developing…

A spokeswoman for Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone today told The Somerville News that Stan Koty has not resigned as the city’s commissoner of public works and that Frank Santangelo has not been named as his replacement.

The office has received some phones calls about Koty’s resignation, but is simply a rumor, said Lucy A. Warsh, the mayor’s press secretary.

Curtatone out of the city on a trip to Israel sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, but he has called to check in three times this morning, she said.

by Julia C. Reischel

State Sen. Charles E. Shannon Jr., D-Somerville, lost his courageous battle with cancer early Tuesday, succumbing unexpectedly at 3:30 a.m. at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Shannon, 61, who had make strides towards recovering from his third bout with cancer, died from cardiac failure, caused by cumulative
stress experienced from an adverse reaction to the series of anti-rejection drugs he was taking, said Sean J. Fitzgerald, the senator’s chief of staff.

These drugs were prescribed as follow-up from a bone-marrow transplant. Reactions can cause or accelerate infection, fever, lethargy, internal fluid build-up, or a number of other non-cancer complications, he said.

“Friday, we really thought he would make it, but over the weekend the doctors told us it was going to be tough,” he said.

“I saw him yesterday and he didn’t know, but he knew,” Fitzgerald said.

The city alderman accused of sexual misconduct told The Somerville News he is pleased to learn that the Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley has closed her investigation no file charges.

"I maintained my innocence from day one," said Alderman Thomas F. Taylor, who represents Ward 3.

This paper reported that allegations that Taylor behaved inappropriately with a teenage boy who was living with his family surfaced in September.

The identity of a accuser is not made public.

Because Taylor was an elected official, the district attorney coordinated the investigation with the Massachusetts State Police instead of the city’s police department, in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

Taylor said Thursday’s statement from the district attorney ending her investigation ended the six-month ordeal for him and his family.

"It’s been a very difficult time—a very painful time for my family," said Taylor.  "I’m happy it’s over and I can go on with the business of the city. I hope I can run for reelection."

Taylor said that he wants to thank his constituents and supporters for their support and confidence during the investigation, and appreciates the public’s sensitivity to his family.  He also said that he was grateful to his colleagues in the city government for their understanding and support.

State Sen. Charles E. Shannon, D-Somerville, was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital his office announced today.

The senator experienced an adverse reaction to the series of anti-rejection drugs prescribed as follow-up from a bone-marrow transplant. Reactions can cause or accelerate infection, fever, lethargy, internal fluid build-up, or a number of other non-cancer complications, said Sean J. Fitzgerald, the senator’s chief of staff.

After Shannon was diagnosed in December with leukemia, he successfully completed a nine-day chemotherapy program at MGH and was discharged in January, he said.

In February, Shannon underwent a bone-marrow transplant, conducted at Dana-Farber. He returned to work part-time in March, while still maintaining regular outpatient appointments for monitoring and receiving platelets infusions, designed to gradually amass strength, he said.

Shannon is expected to remain at MGH for at least another week, Fitzgerald said.

Because Pope John Paul II was the world’s biggest peace activist, he was often at odds with American foreign policy, the current war in Iraq being just the latest example.

With the Terry Shivo case preceding the Pope’s death there had been a lot of talk lately especially from the Bush administration and the most conservative members of Congress about preserving the sanctity of life at every stage of human development, no matter what the cost.

I wonder where the term “collateral damage” would fall in the cultural conservative world view as it pertains to the sanctity of life.

I read an article recently that the US military is not required to count the number of Iraqis killed during the present war, which seemed odd.

We count so many other things, why not count Iraqis?

I mean we count calories, free throws, laps in the pool to make a mile,
test scores in grammar school, batting averages, marriages that end in divorce.

We count bombs dropped, money spent, overweight Americans, disabled veterans.
We count books, magazine and newspaper revenues.
We count taxes raises, services cut, taxi medallions in NY City.

We count goods imported,
Merchandise returned,
Miles per hour,
Miles per gallon.

With the help of Carbon 14,
We know exactly how old the Great Sphinx is.

So here’s a riddle:

If life is so important,
If it is the ultimate freedom for which we will fight,
For which we will kill,
For which we die,
For which we will spend our billions,
Then why don’t we count the lights extinguished in the eyes of the enemy?

More by Jimmy and information about upcoming performances at the Off-Broadway Theater

by Althea D. Chen

The lives of Hispanic immigrants will be in the spotlight Thursday at a film screening at the city’s Community Youth Center at on 165 Broadway.

The East Somerville Neighbors for Change is showing “El Norte (The North)” and “A Fronteira (The Border)” in order to jumpstart a conversation between neighbors about the issues that they and their friends deal with as immigrants, said Sebastian Chaskel, one of the event’s organizers.

The idea is to have neighbors who ordinarily can’t communicate share their thoughts on common problems, he said. “We thought hard about it and we decided to have everyone come to the same table and have one big discussion.”