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The College Committee has voted to outlaw meals being brought in for pupil birthday party celebrations. The new policy adopted at the committee's Dec. 17 conference states: "Aside from the nutritional worries of all pupils, there are numerous members of our college area that have meals allergic reactions or are diabetics. To secure the health and health of all our pupils while they join our care, as well as to be comprehensive of all pupils in our events, birthday events held when on the school day may not feature meals. " Students can still acknowledge their birthdays in other ways, such as by bringing in pencils, stickers or donating a book to the class. This is already the practice at elementary schools, "and it was felt that making this practice concrete through policy was a good idea," said School Committee member Marcia Reni. At the same time, the board loosened some of its restrictions regarding food at events that occur outside the school day, because it does not have the staff to restrict what happens at concession stands on the weekends, for instance. "We felt that it is not the responsibility of the School Committee to dictate food choices to adults from the general community," Reni said. The full text of the policy has been posted online at www.ashland.k12.ma.us. - Rachel Lebeaux Bellingham PRESCHOOL FAIR - The Moms Club of Medway/Bellingham (which also includes mothers from Millis and Blackstone) invites the public to attend a free preschool fair on Jan. 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Bellingham Public Library's community room. Representatives from preschools in Bellingham, Medway, and surrounding towns will answer questions and provide information to parents seeking education options for the 2010-2011 school year. To learn more about the fair, call 508-966-1470. The Bellingham library is at 100 Blackstone St. - Rachel Lebeaux FRAMINGHAM TALK OF REORGANIZING SCHOOLS - A proposal to restructure Framingham's school system that is slated to be presented to the public next month could include creating new districts for the schools. In a memo recently sent to parents and posted on the district's website, www.framingham.k12.ma.us, Superintendent Steven A. Hiersche said the plan is the recommendation of a committee that set out to determine whether Framingham can "gain educational and financial advantages by shifting the way students are assigned to schools." A series of meetings to provide details of the proposal will start with the superintendent's presentation to the School Committee on Jan. 5, during the board's regular meeting at the high school. On Jan. 6 and 7, the superintendent will brief school district staff members. Forums for the public to go over the proposals are planned for 7 p.m. on Jan. 11 in the Fuller Middle School cafeteria, and on Jan. 14 in the Framingham High School auditorium. - Matt Rocheleau Franklin HELP MOVE MUSEUM - The Franklin Historical Commission is seeking the help of residents in preparing to move the town's history museum from its space on Washington Street to its new home. On Tuesday, the commission is planning a work session at the Washington Street location and is asking interested parties to help pack and label items for transfer to the new museum space on West Central Street, formerly the home of the town's senior center. Those who wish to participate can call commission member Alan Earls at 508-528-6930 or e-mail alan.earls@comcast.net, or member Del Arnold at 508-528-0867 or delarn@aol.com for more details. - Rachel Lebeaux HOLLISTON FLU VACCINE CLINICS - The Board of Health is holding a free seasonal flu vaccine clinic for all town residents age 18 and older in Town Hall tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Tuesday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. No appointment is necessary. Call 508-429-0605 for more information. - Megan McKee MEDFIELD STATE NOTES GAPS IN WATER REPORT - The state Department of Environmental Protection issued a notice of noncompliance to the town's Water Department this month in connection with information that was missing from its annual report on contaminant levels in drinking water. Ed Coletta, spokesman for the DEP, said last week that the department has confirmed that Medfield's water is safe, however. While the town's report covering 2008 did not submit detection levels for substances such as lead, coliform bacteria, chlorine, and trihalomethanes (a compound in solvents and refrigerants), among other potential contaminants, Coletta said the DEP has determined levels were below hazardous levels last year. "We don't consider this a gross inadequacy," Coletta said of the missing information. "We will allow them to put the combined detection- level data into their 2009 report." Town Administrator Michael Sullivan said Medfield switched its method of generating the report last year from an outside contractor to municipal staff. The omission, he said, was probably a result of the change. - James O'Brien Medway RED SOX TICKETS - The town's Community Education program is offering tickets to three Boston Red Sox games next season to local residents. Seats have been reserved for the May 30 game against the Kansas City Royals, for June 2 vs. the Oakland Athletics, and Aug. 19 vs. the Los Angeles Angels, with prices ranging from $50 to $70. Residents can order as many tickets as they like, and transportation between Medway Middle School and Fenway Park is included in the price. For more details, call 508-533-3222 ext. 2200 or visit www.medwayschools.org and click on "Community Ed." - Rachel Lebeaux MILFORD WALDEN WOODS CHANGE - Selectmen have agreed to endorse Eastland Partners/Stoneridge LLC's bid to change the age restriction for Walden Woods, a 165-unit residential development off Cedar Street. Stoneridge had originally received a special permit that included a restriction limiting sales to those 55 and older. At the Dec. 14 selectmen's meeting, Joseph Antonellis, a lawyer representing the developers, said his clients want to remove the age restriction from the special permit to promote speedier sale of the units. To compensate for the change, the developers proposed building new athletic fields on town-owned land on Cedar Street. The selectmen's approval provides some support for the developers' to application to the Planning Board to amend the special permit. - Kathleen E. Moore MILFORD ANOTHER TRY TO REVAMP FIRE STATION - The Board of Selectmen has decided to renew its efforts to convert an abandoned fire station at 3 South Main St. into a private residence, despite rejection of the proposal last month by the town's Zoning Board of Appeals. Selectmen voted Dec. 14 to resubmit a variance application to the Planning Board as well as the zoning panel, hoping to gain one more vote from the appeals board next time around. According to Town Counsel Gerry Moody, converting the property into a residential unit requires a formal variance, since the lot does not meet square footage standards. The previous bid was struck down last month when it failed to garner the four votes from the Zoning Board of Appeals required for a variance, Moody said. The tally was three in favor to one opposed, with the fifth member abstaining. The application seeks to allow a private developer, Seaside Builders Inc., to move forward with the conversion. Moody said he expects the Planning Board to hold a public hearing next month, while the zoning board's hearing is likely to take place in February. - Kathleen E. Moore MILLIS THEFTS AT FAMILY BUSINESS - A local police detective and members of a regional law enforcement consortium, the Norfolk County Police Anti-Crime Task Force, on Dec. 18 arrested the son and grandson of Collt Manufacturing Inc. owner Lottie Ward on charges they had stolen company equipment. Ward contacted the Millis officer, Detective Domenic Tiberi, a few months after determining that one of the company's dies, a tool weighing hundreds of pounds and worth tens of thousands of dollars, was missing. Tiberi said Ward suspected that her son, Thomas Cordell Sr., 56, and grandson Thomas Jr., 26, had stolen the tool after leaving their jobs at the company's Main Street factory several months ago. Tiberi obtained a search warrant to enter an Attleboro manufacturing facility and allegedly found the die as well as hundreds of thousands of the shoelace loops that it produces. The loops, which include versions used on military boots, make up the bulk of Collt's business. In addition, police searched a business the Cordell father and son had recently started in Woonsocket, R.I., and allegedly found another large quantity of the boot loops. Tiberi said he believes the Cordells were going into competition with the family operation. The two men were arraigned on Dec. 18 on multiple charges, including conspiracy, larceny of trade secrets, and larceny over $250. Tiberi reported that Ward "was thrilled" at the outcome of his investigation. "She's just glad to get that die back." - Megan McKee NATICK AMBULANCE CHANGES OPPOSED - Monday's Board of Selectmen meeting was standing room only when almost 40 Natick firefighters turned out to show their opposition to the possible privatization of the town's ambulance service, which is now run by the Fire Department. The assistant town administrator has been studying both privatization and regionalization of the service since March at the behest of the Board of Selectmen, though the report has not been finalized. "We have more people asking questions than we have people to answer them," Selectman Joshua Ostroff said after the meeting. Still, he said, "keeping things status quo sometimes requires as much research as changing things." A clearer picture should be ready for discussion at the Jan. 25 selectmen's meeting, Ostroff said. While some officials believe that privatizing the ambulance service could save the town money, the firefighters contend that the service actually adds money to the town's coffers, since ambulance runs are billable. Furthermore, they say, the medical care provided by firefighters with years of experience and training cannot be matched by employees of private companies. - Megan McKee NORFOLK BUDGET SHORTFALL ON WARRANT - A Special Town Meeting, tentatively planned for Jan. 12, will ask residents to shift $75,000 from some municipal accounts to cover an unexpected shortfall that occurred when the state recently cut prison mitigation funds. Norfolk was allotted $380,000 in past years as payment for hosting three correction facilities, and providing public safety services for them. Last year, the amount was cut in half, and the payment for this fiscal year was eliminated last month. The town has already spent some of the money it was expecting in reimbursement, selectmen have said. Norfolk hosts the state's largest prison, MCI-Norfolk, and two smaller Department of Correction facilities. - Michele Morgan Bolton PLAINVILLE HELP KEEP HYDRANTS CLEAR - As they concluded business for the year last week, selectmen issued a reminder about the importance of keeping fire hydrants free of snow so public safety personnel can reach them quickly, if needed. Officials asked residents to help by shoveling snow from the hydrants near their homes. Residents are also reminded that Plainville's winter overnight parking ban is in effect from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. through May. Here are some more findings on Lincoln Preschool. - Michele Morgan Bolton UPTON MAILBOXES STAYING PUT - The Board of Selectmen has opted not to take up the town postmaster's recommendation that freestanding mailboxes along a stretch of Main Street be replaced by permanent posts set in the sidewalks. The boxes were the subject of a proposed ban this spring, when Kenneth Glowacki, the town's treasurer and tax collector, suggested that the current boxes, typically on posts sunk into buckets of cement, were not only eyesores but a hindrance to handicapped accessibility, and a problem during wintertime plowing. Town Meeting members voted down the ban on May 7. Kenneth Picard, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said Postmaster Jonathan Graves's recommendation this month raised the possibility the town would have to dig up and cement the boxes in place again if they are damaged by plows during the winter. Mail carrier delivery, instead of mailboxes, is not an option, Picard said, because the stretch of Main Street is too small to warrant its own route. One possible solution, Picard said, would be a community mailbox instead of individual units. "There will have to be more discussion," Picard said. - James O'Brien WRENTHAM SCOUTS TO COLLECT TREES - Boy Scout Troop 131 will conduct its annual Christmas tree recycling drive as a service project again this year. To participate, place a $10 donation in a sealed envelope and attach it to the bottom of the tree with a rubber band; if paying by check, make it payable to Troop 131. The collection date is Jan. 9, when trees must be placed on the curb near the street before 8 a.m. The rain date is Jan. 10. For safety reasons, scouts cannot accept trees with tinsel, flocked trees, trees with nails, artificial trees, wreaths with metal shape wires, or trees with any other metal attached. For more information or questions, call Alan Plantamura at 508-384-0457 or e-mail him at Alan
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