One of the two men charged in stabbing death Ryan Sullivan pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

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by Christopher S. Pineo

The 27th Middlesex district state representative spoke at the weekly contributors meeting of The Somerville News Jan. 11 at The Somerville News office at 21A College Ave.

State Rep. Denise M. Provost, D, Somerville

“I thought to myself, who’s going to represent me? Who’s going to represent the values of the community,” said State Rep. Denise M. Provost, D, Somerville. “I thought I could do as good a job as anyone and better than most.”

In 1993, Provost, formerly an assistant city solicitor of Somerville, ran for the city’s aldermen, but was not elected, she
said.

In the 1993 elections, there were voting irregularities, similar to those in Florida, said Provost. “I may have won that election. It’s impossible to determine at this time.”

by Siobhan McIntyre

The representative of Mass. 8th congressional district filed legislation Jan. 11 to extend the national program which currently ensures the mandatory inspection of all highway bridges to include minimum inspection standards for all highway tunnels as well.

Rep. Michael E. Capuano, D, Somerville

“There is no question that national standards should exist for the inspection of all highway tunnels. My legislation simply takes the Nationwide Bridge Inspection program and adds highway tunnels. It is a simple yet effective method of ensuring the safety of highway tunnels nationwide,” said Representative Michael E. Capuano, D, Somerville of the proposed amendment to the National Bridge Inspection Program.

The proposal calls for the establishment, by the Secretary of Transportation, of minimum inspection requirements, including the manner in which inspections are carried out and the maximum amount of time between inspections. In conjunction, the amendment also calls for the establishment of funding for a national certification program for highway tunnel inspectors. This program would establish and ensure the qualification standards of acting inspectors and implement training for future inspectors, he said.

“We currently subject our nation’s bridges to all of these requirements, it is critical that our highway tunnels also receive the same careful scrutiny,” said Capuano.

We were pleased to hear that State Rep. Carl M. Sciortino Jr., D, Somerville plans to propose a five-year moratorium on prison construction funding throughout Massachusetts.

This legislation would effectively put an end to the ill-conceived, ill-fated and unanimously unwanted proposition for a new jail in southeast Somerville put forth earlier this year by Mayor Joseph A Curatone and Middlesex Sheriff James V. Diapola.

The overcrowded, antiquated jail at the Middlesex County courthouse certainly requires attention, and the recently initiated renovations are long overdue.

However, a new, larger jail will not provide an effective solution to a greater problem, a problem that will not abate with the construction of new
facilities alone.

In addition, the plan disparagingly singles out Somerville, as alternative sites have yet to be suggested, and further underscores the distressing disconnect which continues to surface between Mayor Curatone and the Beacon Hill delegation.

Regardless of the outcome, we welcome this debate as an opportunity to finally put the real issue on the table, the continually rising rate of incarceration within Middlesex County.

Moreover, even with increasing construction delays, we doubt that the suspension of funding will stymie the plan long enough that neighboring communities such as Cambridge and Bedford might threaten to appropriate the prize.

by Neil W. Mc Cabe

The purveyor of French crepes and Belgium sugar waffles absent from Davis Square for two years returned Jan. 6 now at the corner of Holland and Dover streets.

In May, when it became clear the Someday Café would not continue at that location, the owner of the building, which also houses the Somerville Theatre, called the owners of Mr. Crepe to see if they would be interested in taking over the space, said Ingrid M. Heyrman, who with her husband Richard S. Adkins run the new Mr. Crepe.

Heyrman said after she lost the lease on her old location, she never gave up on coming back to Davis Square. The current shop is owned by Peter E. Creyf, with Heyrman and her husband as managers. The couple will have equity participation in future locations.

The three are partners in another business called the Waffle haus, she said. The Waffle haus has 18 locations on ski slopes in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. ‚ÄúThe skiers pull right up to the window on their way to the lift–they call it ‘mountain crack.’"

In addition to the full crepe menu, the restaurant offers the haus’ signature item, the Belgium sugar waffle, she said.

The yeast-based batter for the waffle is made with pearl sugar, a specially refined beet sugar that caramelizes outside the waffle, so it produces its own topping, she said. “We import 10 tons of pearl sugar from Belgium every year.”

The shop’s menu is not all about treats, she said. “We offer heathly alternatives. We use fresh vegetables and fruits—everything healthy,” she said.

Joining former Alderman Jack Connelly and Progressive candidate Marty Martinez in the special election to fill the vacant Alderman at Large seat this past week was popular East Somerville resident Elio LoRusso, who ran once before. But yet another interesting name surfaced this weekend – that of Erin Mackey – the daughter of recently departed and very popular former State Rep. Joe Mackey, who is throwing her hat in the race for the special election. That would mean, according to our count, four people as of now running for the special seat vacated seat by State Rep. Denise Provost.
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Speaking of the special election, seems like it’s taking forever to set a date, but we’ve been told that he Board of Aldermen are very close to setting up the time frame for the primary and then the election final. Since this is a city election year, the person that wins the special election will have to turn around and run all over again in 8 or 9 months.
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We hear that there are some serious inquires and people considering running in some of the wards this year. We hear, but he can’t confirm, that local activist in Magoun Square, Joe Lynch, is seriously considering a run against current Ward 5 Alderman Sean O’Donovan…we hear that another person is also considering a run for this seat as well. We have heard in Wards 3 and 4 there are some people thinking about running for ward seats as well.

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Rumors were running all over last Friday regarding the “resignation”,
or was it a gentle shove out the door, for James G. Kostaras, the
Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Community Development.
Does this mean that long time favorite local guy Phil Erocllini will be
making the move into that position as “Acting”…sure it does…seems that
Mr. Kostaras didn’t make too many friends in the city here including on
the Board of Aldermen, never mind in his own department. 
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As far as the Mayor Joe is concerned, we’re thinking he should be just fine, but someone will probably run against him – the question is whether it will be a known name or not. We haven’t seen or heard too much about former mayoral candidate Tony LaFuente other than he had a fundraiser of sorts at his house for Progressive Marty Martinez for his Alderman at Large special election race…at least that’s what we heard, but nobody from News Talk was invited Рwe think the invitation was sent to the wrong address.
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Congratulations to the following Somerville Police Officers on their recent promotions to Sergeants–Rico Isidoro, Michael Mulcahy, William Rymill, Jr. and John Gobiel–they are all good guys and deserve it…we wish everyone one of them the best.
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Congratulations goes out to Somerville High School student, Jessica Diaz for being the winning participant in the Somerville Lions Club speech contest that was hosted recently by Lion Gene Brune last week with her winning essay. Ms. Dias will move on to the “Zone in Belmont”, where she will compete against other area district zone champions all hoping to move up to the next level to become the Champion and the Lions Mid Winter Conference is being held this coming February in Braintree.
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State Rep. Carl M. Sciortino Jr., D, Somerville has prepared legislation that would freeze new prison and jail construction across the Commonwealth for five years.

The bill proposes a study of the state’s current and future inmate capacity and would produce a report recomending a comprehensive approach to the problem.

If the bill becomes law, it would have a direct impact on Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone’s plan to have a new Middlesex County jail in Somerville.

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