By Mike Rubin

For the Somerville Alibrandis Yawkey League squad, the regular season couldn’t have ended on a higher note. Finishing the regular season with an impressive five game winning streak, the Alibrandis compiled an impressive 25-7-1 mark, while recording 51 points en route to a second place in the Bill Stewart Division. The Alibrandis couldn’t overtake the Malden Bulldogs, who earned the regular season title, with 52 points (26-7).

By George P.  Hassett

Somerville police found 16 grams of cocaine hidden in the hair spray canister of a 63-year-old Somerville man they say was selling cocaine from his apartment on lower Broadway.

Drug unit cops developed information that Samuel Bernard, 63, of 188 Broadway, was selling cocaine in East Somerville, police said.

By George P. Hassett

A Somerville real estate broker was arrested at her Peabody home Monday and charged with embezzling $7,200 from a client trying to buy an Everett home.

Kandy Farkhanda Shah, of 13 Abby Ellen Lane, Peabody, was arrested on a Somerville warrant Monday and charged with broker embezzlement, larceny over $250 by false pretense and larceny over $250.

By Lauren C. Ostberg

Three generations of Greek family dine behind a posing Steve Petsalia (L) and Costas Hatzis by Lauren Ostberg

What’s in a name? A festival, for one. This past Sunday, Somerville’s Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church celebrated its “name day” with vespers, fanfare, and, naturally, delicious food.

Mary’s “dormition” is, following Greek Orthodox scripture, the day “she fell asleep in the Lord.”  It is the last of 12 major feasts on the faith’s calendar. According to Father Panteleimon Klostri, who has headed the church since October, Mary is considered the most honorable of the saints, and her story serves as a reminder to parishioners to be “faithful until the end.”

Photos by William Rogers

By William Tauro

Sixty-five sailors from the Italian warship “San Giusto” visited Somerville’s Winter Hill Yacht Club this past Friday  for an old fashion barbecue luncheon.

The ship’s Captain C. V. Edoardo Giacomini and it’s sailors were bused in by motor coach from the ship which was docked at the Black Falcon pier in Boston to the Somerville Yacht club where they were greeted by Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Winter Hill Yacht Club Commodore James Tatosky along with executive members of the club.

(from the City of Somerville’s Web site)

A second neighborhood meeting will be held Tuesday August 17 from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Elizabeth Peabody House, 277 Broadway.

The purpose of the meeting will be to follow up on the prior meeting and address issued that were raised regarding Ocean State Job Lot becoming a potential tenant at 299 Broadway (former Star Market site).

Interview with Doug Holder

After serving in the US Air Force as an aircraft crew chief, Michael Mack worked a variety of factory and labor jobs before returning to school and graduating from the writing program at MIT.

Mack has performed at the US Library of Congress, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Columbia Festival of the Arts, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Austin International Poetry Festival, and Off-Off-Broadway at the Times Square Arts Center.

His work has aired on NPR, and has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), America, the Beloit Poetry Journal, Cumberland Poetry Review, and is featured in Best Catholic Writing 2005.

By Cathleen Twardzik

Somerville is becoming greener by the year. At Stop and Shop on McGrath Highway new solar panels were installed earlier this summer.

The supermarket chain recently announced that it has finished the panels’ installation on eight of its stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.

In 2008, the installation of the first photo voltaic system occurred in a branch in Fairfield, CT. The remaining seven locations followed.

By Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Amidst all the attention (rightfully) being paid to the selection of DEA Police Regional Director Thomas Pasquarello as the City’s new Police Chief, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the Police Department itself.

Somerville’s crime statistics have been moving in the right direction for a number of years, in no small part because the city implemented many of the recommendations made in 2005 by the Somerville Police Advisory Group (SPAG). The Police Department has provided firearm and first responder training, supplied officers with modern equipment, and removed the Chief from the civil service rolls in order to improve executive accountability. By following those recommendations, we have a safer city and a better organized and prepared force. Yet the department still must implement the rest of the SPAG recommendations.