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FOR SALE - Southbridge Evening News

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10 • THE WEBSTER TIMES • Friday, March 18, 2011<br />

www.webstertimes.net<br />

VIEWPOINT<br />

THE DEADLINE to submit letters to the editor and commentaries for next week’s newspaper is Friday at noon.<br />

SEND ALL ITEMS to Editor Adam Minor at THE WEBSTER TIMES — aminor@stonebridgepress.com<br />

A STONEBRIDGE PRESS WEEKLY<br />

NEWSPAPER<br />

25 ELM STREET, SOUTHBRIDGE MA 01550<br />

TEL. (508) 764-4325• FAX (508) 764-8015<br />

www.webstertimes.net<br />

FRANK G. CHILINSKI<br />

STONEBRIDGE PRESS PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER<br />

ADAM MINOR<br />

EDITOR<br />

THE WEBSTER TIMES<br />

EDITORIAL<br />

Up for<br />

auction<br />

Starting this week, our faithful readers<br />

can expect a little something<br />

extra from the Webster Times, and<br />

it’s all for a good cause.<br />

In conjunction with the <strong>Southbridge</strong> Relay<br />

for Life and the American Cancer Society,<br />

this newspaper (as well as our weekly sister<br />

publications, the Sturbridge Villager,<br />

Charlton Villager, Spencer New Leader and<br />

our daily <strong>Southbridge</strong> <strong>Evening</strong> <strong>News</strong>) will<br />

conduct the fourth annual silent auction for<br />

the Relay, running through Thursday April<br />

7.<br />

Some great auction items will be up for<br />

grabs, including annual favorites as well as<br />

some new items — such as a hot air balloon<br />

ride for two; two Red Sox tickets, a gift certificate<br />

for a one year subscription to the<br />

<strong>Southbridge</strong> <strong>Evening</strong> <strong>News</strong>, a Kinect system<br />

for XBox 360, a 22” LCD TV with DVD player<br />

and about 100 other items including gift certificates<br />

to various businesses and many<br />

more items — all donated by supporters of<br />

the American Cancer Society Relay For Life<br />

of the Greater <strong>Southbridge</strong> Area.<br />

All money raised will go to the 2011<br />

American Cancer Society Relay For Life of<br />

the Greater <strong>Southbridge</strong> Area to benefit cancer<br />

research, education, advocacy and<br />

patient support services.<br />

Perhaps the greatest thing about this<br />

fundraiser is that you can do it from the comfort<br />

of your own home! Peruse the various<br />

items that will grace these pages next week,<br />

find yourself something you like and support<br />

a great cause by making a purchase.<br />

It’s no secret that times are tough right<br />

now for many area residents. But it’s also no<br />

secret that cancer has not been affected by<br />

the economy. It is still a threat, and the<br />

American Cancer Society needs every cent<br />

available to fund important cancer research<br />

that can (and someday will) save lives.<br />

So if you think you may have a few extra<br />

bucks that can help out the Relay, take look a<br />

the Times, make a bid, and support the Relay<br />

for Life. You won’t be sorry you did!<br />

For more information on the auction, call<br />

us at (508) 909-4130, or call Realy for Life Co-<br />

Chairman Ron Ravenelle at 508-347-3826 or e-<br />

mail ronrave@charter.net.<br />

Proposed salary increases ‘alarming’<br />

SOUND OFF:<br />

The town of Webster’s school<br />

budget for fiscal 2012 has a proposed<br />

increase of $470,000, which<br />

is a 3-percent increase over the<br />

previous year’s budget. Some<br />

proposed increases are as follows:<br />

Position Proposed Salary<br />

Increase<br />

Superintendent, 8.7 percent<br />

Asst. Supt for Business, 9.0 percent<br />

Asst. Business Admin., 8.4 percent<br />

Principal-Middle School, 6.0<br />

percent<br />

Asst. Prin.-Middle School, 7.7<br />

percent<br />

Principal-High School, 6.5 percent<br />

2 Asst. Prin.-High School, 5.9<br />

percent<br />

At a time when people are losing<br />

their jobs and some have not<br />

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR<br />

To the Editor:<br />

I would like to congratulate the citizens of<br />

Webster for their overwhelming support of<br />

the proposed new police station on Main<br />

Street.<br />

A project like this one is what the town<br />

needs in order for it to attract new businesses<br />

and new residents. For as long as I can<br />

remember, the majority of Main Street stores<br />

were vacant with the few exceptions of rooted<br />

businesses and new businesses coming<br />

but quickly vanishing. Hopefully new businesses<br />

will feel comfortable settling into<br />

empty Main Street stores with the presence<br />

of a new police station, and the eyesore, that<br />

is the Vito block, gone.<br />

Sometimes communities such as ours need<br />

to make investments for the future of the<br />

town. Without these investments, future generations<br />

will often decide to live and raise<br />

their families elsewhere. Webster needs to<br />

make tremendous strides in cleaning up the<br />

vacant and dilapidated buildings that are<br />

scattered around this town. As a lifelong resident<br />

of Webster, I am proud of the steps our<br />

town has taken to address these issues in the<br />

last few years. As a community, let us work<br />

together and continue to make these investments<br />

to improve it. Perhaps, these improvements<br />

will make our young people proud of<br />

where they grew up, and make them want to<br />

raise our families here just like their parents.<br />

In this section last week, there were three<br />

Police project moves the town forward<br />

Police station OK ‘long overdue’<br />

To the Editor:<br />

It’s wonderful good news that they pass the<br />

town article for the new police station and<br />

fire station renovation project — it’s been<br />

long overdue in Webster.<br />

It’s wonderful to see good people like the<br />

Fels Foundation, Randy and Donna Becker to<br />

donate to a good worthy causes such as this<br />

one coming up money and land to build the<br />

much needed new police station, on Main<br />

Street Vito Block.<br />

Everyone that worked on this committee<br />

did an excellent, wonderful job at it. What<br />

I’ve been hearing around town, the voters<br />

will be getting a nice building that in the long<br />

run, they will appreciate it more once it is<br />

finally built and the eyesore of the Vito Block<br />

is torn down.<br />

I can remember all this when I worked<br />

before as a sub-patrolman on the police force,<br />

EMT-A on the Webster Ambulance Squad<br />

and Fire Department.<br />

And for the Fire and Rescue Department its<br />

a terrible shame to see town vehicles being<br />

stored outside that is use for saving lives and<br />

property while it should be stored in a warm<br />

SOUND OFF<br />

The future is at stake<br />

anonymously written articles that warn us of<br />

prospective debt that the town will incur<br />

from not only the new police station project,<br />

but other projects that are in the pipeline,<br />

such as the library and elementary school. To<br />

this anonymous writer I say first, do not be<br />

afraid to publish your name with your<br />

thoughts, and second, this town has sat idle<br />

for too long on each of these projects. I am not<br />

questioning your devotion to this town, or<br />

disregarding your concerns because there<br />

are indeed valid. But I sincerely ask you to<br />

imagine for a moment the future of Webster.<br />

Do you want Main Street to look like it does<br />

in the next 10, 20, or 30 years? Or would you<br />

rather have a Main Street bustling with<br />

young families shopping at the numerous<br />

stores that will occupy the current empty<br />

stores? Let’s not stand in the way of people<br />

who are simply interested in making this<br />

town better for those who inhabit it now and<br />

in the future.<br />

We find our country at an economic crossroads.<br />

We can stall and sit patiently while we<br />

wait for the economy to fix itself. Or we make<br />

sacrifices by investing in projects that will<br />

inevitably help the community in the future.<br />

Do we play it safe, or sacrifice? The future is<br />

at stake.<br />

SETH NADEAU<br />

WEBSTER<br />

To the Editor:<br />

The Webster Public Safety officials would like to thank all our residents who attended the<br />

Town Meeting on March 7.<br />

The overwhelming majority voted in favor of the proposed new police station/fire station<br />

rehabilitation project. It is obvious that the majority of voters understood how important this<br />

project would be in moving the town forward on several levels.<br />

worked in over a year education<br />

at the administration level seems<br />

to be the profession to enter.<br />

Are these salary increases<br />

given at the expense of not buying<br />

books and school supplies.<br />

Another disturbing thing is the<br />

high school has been placed on<br />

“under performing” status by<br />

federal and state education<br />

authorities and the administration<br />

is getting hefty raises. Are<br />

we rewarding individuals for<br />

doing less than acceptable work?<br />

How do you explain the salary<br />

increases to someone who has<br />

been laid off or has to take less<br />

hours or go without an increase<br />

in pay and contribute more to<br />

their family insurance coverage.<br />

The taxpayers of Webster<br />

should be alarmed at the proposed<br />

salary increases during<br />

these hard and difficult times.<br />

SOUND OFF:<br />

I visited the Mt. Zion cemetery on Sunday to pray over family.<br />

Disgusted to find out that officials are letting someone tap maple<br />

sugar trees for a maple syrup business.<br />

If it’s a school project for the public school, it’s OK. But if it’s for a<br />

private person doing it to make some money, it’s not.<br />

I wonder if our Board of Selectmen knows of this taking place?<br />

Someone went in there, took a power drill few inches into the tree<br />

trunk inserted a copper tubing pipe, nailed 10 one-gallon jugs into five<br />

SOUND OFF:<br />

It is widely known throughout<br />

Town of Webster that the School<br />

Department asked for a more<br />

than 9 percent increase for its<br />

administration staff members.<br />

Our School Committee should<br />

be asking for resignations, not<br />

approving raises. Why should<br />

Webster taxpayers accept this?<br />

What are we getting in return?<br />

Where is the accountability<br />

here?<br />

Are we rewarding the school<br />

system for improving our state<br />

ranking? I don’t think so. Our<br />

school system still ranks at the<br />

bottom in the state and we are<br />

ranked 302 out of 335 schools on<br />

the school digger website too.<br />

That’s the bottom 10 percent of<br />

the public schools in<br />

Massachusetts. So once again,<br />

the school department wants to<br />

be rewarded for bad grades and<br />

Problems with maple syrup tapping<br />

TIMOTHY BENT,POLICE CHIEF<br />

BRIAN HICKEY,FIRE CHIEF<br />

CHRIS JOLDA,RESCUE CHIEF<br />

GARY MILLIARD, EMS CHIEF<br />

garage bay out of the weather elements, now<br />

with the future expansion of the station<br />

there will be plenty of room for this to happen.<br />

Maybe someday they can put an actual roof<br />

on top of the Fire and Rescue Station like<br />

they did in the Town of Dudley fire station —<br />

flat roof construction is terrible for bad winter<br />

climates with constant roofing problems<br />

leaks and roof cave ins.<br />

Once again congratulations to the Webster<br />

Police and Fire Departments and its committee<br />

of folks. You all did an outstanding job<br />

and will be commended for it once it is built<br />

and moved into for occupancy police and fire<br />

stations.<br />

Now I hope someday the town will make<br />

better use of the former National Guard<br />

Armory perhaps a new library location, that<br />

will be nice I just hate to see this town building<br />

just waste away, it hosted many town<br />

civic events.<br />

Taxpayers need to stand up<br />

ANTHONY HORANZY<br />

WEBSTER<br />

little improvement.<br />

How about taking action? A<br />

real school committee in Center<br />

Falls, R.I., voted 5-2 to eliminate<br />

more than 93 teachers and principal<br />

to clean house after years of<br />

underperforming. So what will<br />

our School Committee do? I am<br />

betting on nothing besides cracking<br />

a few jokes, and then they<br />

will approve those hefty increases<br />

(paid for by taxpayer of<br />

Webster).<br />

The taxpayers really need to<br />

stand up and say “We have had<br />

enough.” If the School<br />

Committee really wants a better<br />

school system, then it’s time to<br />

start cutting the budgets, cutting<br />

jobs and it’s time to clean house<br />

from the top down. The residents<br />

of Webster have waited years for<br />

the turnaround, it’s time to bring<br />

in new faces, new methods —<br />

now.<br />

trees — that’s about 10 gallons a day of sap if the weather conditions<br />

are good that day. Private landowners do offer the use of their property<br />

to maple syrup farmers. Most charge a fee for it — after all maple<br />

syrup does sell. Is Webster charging a fee?<br />

Out-of-town residents should be charged the same fee as they would<br />

charge at the town beach for usage. Someone is tapping our maple<br />

trees for free while in return, back taxpayer’s pockets are being<br />

tapped out? No bids were posted? St. Joseph, St. Anthony, Sacred<br />

Heart cemeteries — none of this is being done.<br />

I<br />

Out of place<br />

at a carnival<br />

parade<br />

could hear the sharp sound of whips hitting<br />

the pavement even before I’d untangled<br />

my feet from the cobblestones that<br />

lined the streets of the Slovenian town of<br />

Ptuj.<br />

A large crowd had gathered<br />

on both sides of the<br />

long, narrow road that<br />

wrapped around the outskirts<br />

of the town, and the<br />

surge of people seemed to<br />

move backwards in a wave<br />

as the first whip hit the<br />

ground.<br />

For a moment, the parade<br />

had stopped. Two men<br />

KRISTAL dressed in traditional<br />

Slovenian clothing —<br />

KLEAR embroidered vests, dark<br />

pants, and peasant hats —<br />

KRIS REARDON were flicking their wrists to<br />

show off traditional leather<br />

whips. Their movements<br />

seemed off-handed, but their choreography<br />

must have been carefully choreographed.<br />

Their whips never came close to touching<br />

anyone in the crowd as they made impressive<br />

swoops through the air.<br />

In a moment, after we reached the edge of<br />

the crowd, the men marched forward, and the<br />

traditional Kurentovanje — or, Carnival —<br />

parade continued.<br />

Musicians playing folk music on accordions<br />

passed by, as did marching bands from neighboring<br />

towns in Slovenia and nearby countries,<br />

including Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary,<br />

Austria and Croatia.<br />

Some groups were dressed in elaborate costumes<br />

— one homemade float featured more<br />

than a dozen adults and children dressed as<br />

giant squirrels. Another long float represented<br />

the Kulpa River, which runs along<br />

Slovenia’s border with Croatia. Poking<br />

through person-sized holes in a long band of<br />

blue fabric and paper at waist level, some of<br />

the participants were dressed as ducks, others<br />

as fish poking their heads up, and still others<br />

as kayakers paddling along.<br />

While neither Ptuj nor the crowd gathered<br />

could rival the size of an American Mardi<br />

Gras in New Orleans, the gathering was quite<br />

large for Slovenia’s standards. Each year it is<br />

estimated that around 70,000 people gather on<br />

the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, known as<br />

Shrove Sunday, to watch parades across<br />

Slovenia, with 9,000 or so people participating<br />

in them. For a country of roughly 2 million<br />

inhabitants, that’s a significant number.<br />

The most significant portion of the parade<br />

included the most traditional elements: close<br />

to 1,000 kurents, who look like bears with<br />

horns. While unmarried men traditionally<br />

played the role of kurents, nowadays married<br />

men, women, and even children can don pelts<br />

of sheep skin, covering their whole bodies,<br />

only their eyes peeking out through a wooden<br />

mask. With horns on their heads and bright<br />

red socks, they also carry several heavy cowbells<br />

on a rope or leather belt around their<br />

waists.<br />

The kurents jumped and shimmied down<br />

the streets of Ptuj as I looked on, letting their<br />

bells clang loudly in hopes of scaring away<br />

winter.<br />

All of a sudden, right out of the crowd, a<br />

large kurent approached me. Reaching out his<br />

hand, I wasn’t sure what he wanted. I wanted<br />

to sink into the ground or run away, never<br />

being one to eagerly answer the call: “Can we<br />

get a volunteer from the audience?” But the<br />

cobblestones were, well, hard as rocks, as the<br />

saying goes, and I was blocked up against a<br />

wall. There was no escape, and the kurent<br />

kept getting closer, until he was jumping<br />

around me in circles as the crowd laughed<br />

wildly.<br />

Only later did I learn that kurents approach<br />

unmarried women, who traditionally give the<br />

kurent a handkerchief to avoid my embarrassing<br />

fate.<br />

Next in line after the kurents was a group of<br />

young men dressed in traditional peasant<br />

clothing, running out into the crowd trying to<br />

kiss girls or earn kisses themselves, adding<br />

one more set of lipstick stained kisses to their<br />

faces. Traditionally, the single men who were<br />

on the market for a wife would parade around<br />

at the carnival, so that young women could<br />

identify potential mates for the coming year’s<br />

weddings.<br />

Carnival consists of 10 or more days of<br />

parades and masquerade parties all around<br />

the country. It’s not uncommon for children<br />

and adults alike to prepare as many as three<br />

different costumes for the celebration, which<br />

is a less commercial and more intense version<br />

of Halloween: children often go door to door<br />

asking for a mandarin or small change, reciting<br />

a phrase at the door that kind of resembles<br />

the concept of “trick or treat!” when<br />

translated.<br />

This year, Ptuj was celebrating the 50th<br />

anniversary of its modern carnival. It was<br />

elected to the European Federation of<br />

Carnival Cities in 1991, and it will serve as a<br />

European Capital of Culture in 2012.<br />

“Is this like parades in America?” my

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