Category: Worcester

Gary Rosen wants to run for D5 City Council

From an email:

As my column in Thursday’s Worcester Mag stated, I am considering running for the District 5 city council seat held by Bill Eddy.

Here’s the link to that column: http://www.worcestermag.com/speak-out/columnists/Running-for-city-council-could-make-me-a-big-loser-207470751.html

I have only a few days to gather 100 signatures of registered voters and to submit my nomination papers on Tuesday, May 21.

Although I’ll be knocking on doors the next few days to get those signatures, I also would like people that I know in D-5, their spouses and children of voting age, to sign my papers.

If you are willing to help me, please call me ASAP and let you know at what time I can drive over to your house to get the signatures of you and your spouse. It will take only seconds for you to sign and I’ll be on my way.

If you know of other D-5 voters who would sign, please let me know. And I have many extra nomination papers so even if you obatined 10 signatures for me this weekend, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your help!

Gary Rosen

508 #219: Fair Lending

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is School Committee member Tracy Novick and Emily Jones and Maureen St. Cyr from Community Legal Aid. (For legal help, you can contact CLA at 508-752-3718, ot you can contact a private attorney.)

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Worcester panhandling update: city gets sued

My summary of local ACLU head Chris Robarge’s testimony on Anti-Panhandling Plan #3, from Jan 3 of this year:

Stop hating on the Constitution. Nice city you got there, shame if it got sued.

Today: ACLU sues over Worcester panhandling ordinances

The civil suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Worcester, by lawyer Kevin P. Martin claims the ordinances are unconstitutional, violate free speech and the right for people to peacefully solicit donations in public.

Mr. Martin, a volunteer lawyer from the Boston firm of Goodwin Procter LLP, also said in the suit that the ordinances target the poor and homeless. The plaintiffs are listed as Robert Thayer and Sharon Brownson, two people described as homeless city residents; and Tracy O’Connell Novick, a member of the school committee here.

508 #518: A terrible week

508 is a show about Worcester. This week we mostly talk about ‘s body at the Graham Putnam and Mahoney funeral home in Worcester. We talk a little about a drawing of the proposed Worcester slots parlor. We have an interview from the final Dive Bar Thursday Music Night. And we talk about other awful stories you will have to google yourself.

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Crazy weekend in Worcester

Two items from the weekend.

The body of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been at the Graham Putnam & Mahoney funeral home for the past few days. There have been small protests outside from time to time, and a visible police presence. I was shocked when I first heard about this, much less so when I heard that the saintly/cranky Peter Stefan was behind it. The Catholic Worker community is organizing a vigil Tuesday in support of burial of the dead (one of the Christian works of mercy.) More at the end of this post.

T&G:

For some 25 years, Mr. Stefan said, the Main South funeral home has dealt with burying the poor, the unwanted and even murderers. Because of that, Mr. Stefan said he’s even been involved in burials that took place well into the night.

Charles Pierce, Esquire: “Stop making jackasses of yourself in front of the entire nation.”

Dianne Williamson: Innocence, terror lay side-by-side at Worcester funeral home

Also, it’s being reported today that Worcester Bishop McManus “was arrested Saturday night in Narragansett, R.I., charged with drunken driving and refusing a chemical test”.

Bishop McManus released a statement this morning: “On Saturday evening, May 4, I made a terrible error in judgment by driving after having consumed alcohol with dinner. There is no excuse for the mistake I made, only a commitment to make amends and accept the consequences of my action. More importantly, I ask forgiveness from the good people whom I serve, as well as my family and friends, in the Diocese of Worcester and the Diocese of Providence.”

Initial reaction in the diocese appeared supportive.

“Like any brother in our family that this could happen to, I would support him,” said the Rev. John Madden, pastor of St. John’s Church in downtown Worcester. “All of us have made mistakes in judgment. Like he’s said, we can only apologize and make amends.”

Update: In RI court, Bishop McManus pleads not guilty to DUI

Continue reading “Crazy weekend in Worcester”

Marathon Vigil in Worcester today, 4-5pm, Lincoln Square

Updates:

Worcester in solidarity with its Boston brothers & sister... on Twitpic
(Brian Goslow photo)

T&G: Vigil unites local runners in grief and strength:

If not for [Scott Schaeffer-Duffy’s] 18-year-old son Aiden S. Duffy, who encouraged him to run toward the finish line after he pulled a muscle about 20 miles into the race, he said he would have been at the grandstand when the first bomb went off.

“If he had not been with me — 15 minutes slower and I would have been at the grandstand,” he said.

There will be a vigil in Lincoln Square in Worcester from 4-5pm today to remember those injured and killed in the marathon bombing.

We’ll be holding a large banner reading, “Pray for the Marathon Victims/Work for Victory Over Violence,” as well as signs reading “The Marathon Will Go On,” “Runners are Heartbroken,” and the like. If you are a runner and have a Boston shirt or medal, you are encouraged to wear it.

According to organizer Scott Schaeffer-Duffy of the Catholic Worker, “Parking is available behind the old Voke School. It says cars will be towed, but that has never happened.”

For more info call 508-753-3588 or 508-499-9638.

Palm Sunday, 2013

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The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
–Isaiah 50:4

Palm Sunday mass is complicated for a lector. Not only is there an initial entrance into the church with blessed palms, but the Gospel is read like a play, with parts played by the priest, various deacons and lectors, sometimes people selected from the congregation, and even the congregation itself (roaring “Crucify him! Crucify him!”).

When I was first learning to be a lector as a teen, Palm Sunday was my trial by fire. Fr. Ed Bell gave constant feedback in the form of smiles and dirty looks. He always presided over a great mass, and I think his priority was never individual excellence or self-expression, but universal competence. If the details are attended to, the mass will be not only worshipful but nourishing to the heart.

I was a lector tonight at St. Peter’s, and it went great. I appreciated that Deacon Reisinger, in his homily, drew out one of the lessons of Easter, that “hope springs forth,” and connected it to the wonderful event of the election of Pope Francis.

Continue reading “Palm Sunday, 2013”

508 #215: We’re #1!

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Brendan talks about how Worcester is “the snowiest city this winter in the United States”, and talks about his concerns over a possible slot machine casino and hotel in the city. Mike tries to avoid ranting by reading a brief statement on panhandling, then rants about how the city should encourage competition by easing restrictions on food carts.

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