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*MLS PIN 1/1/18 - 12/31/2018

LYNNFIELD

FEBRUARY 4, 2021 • VOL. 65, NO. 5

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Newly-named Interim Police Chief Nick Secatore

has amassed a well-rounded public safety career.

By Anne Marie Tobin

LYNNFIELD — For the

second time in the last six

months, the Lynnfield Police

Department’s Nick Secatore has

a new title.

Promoted to captain last

summer after recording the

highest score on the captain’s

exam, Secatore is now the department’s

interim police chief,

stepping in for Chief David

Breen, who was scheduled to

retire on Feb. 1.

The appointment was announced

at last Tuesday night’s

Select Board meeting.

“I thank the chair and the

board for this opportunity,”

Secatore said. “This signal

of promoting from within is

a morale booster from the

highest-ranking to the lowest-ranking

in the department

and is a sign of the leadership

of the board and a team we have

built together.”

Board members welcomed

Secatore into the interim job.

“It’s great to see people like

Nick, who grew up in town, be

a part of the department, especially

in these times to be able

to understand the community,”

said Select Board member

Dick Dalton. “I’ve made many

motions over my career, but

this one is truly and incredibly

special.”

Fellow board member Phil

Crawford thanked Secatore for

stepping up after Breen officially

announced his retirement

in October.

“I am a big fan of yours after

seeing you come up the ranks,

and I thank you for stepping up

when the transition from Chief

Breen began,” Crawford said.

“There could not be a better

choice than Nick to be our interim

chief.”

SECATORE, PAGE 2

IN THE NEWS

Page 2:

Town resident is bank’s

new manager

Page 3:

Lights, camera...maybe

not

By Anne Marie tobin

LYNNFIELD — Patience

may be a virtue, but not

when it comes to getting the

COVID-19 vaccination.

So says Town

Administrator Rob Dolan,

whose best advice to residents

seeking to secure vaccination

appointments is,

“don’t wait.”

Time to take a shot

“We will have clinics in

Lynnfield as soon as we

have doses, but don’t wait

— get your vaccination elsewhere,”

Dolan said during

last Thursday’s COVID-19

update. “What we are telling

people is what other municipalities

are also saying, and

that is, don’t wait for your

town to have clinics. Be a

self-advocate, make some

phone calls and utilize all

of the choices that are out

there. We’re only getting

100 doses a week at best, so

do not wait.”

Fire Chief and Emergency

Management Director Glenn

Davis outlined the options

for Lynnfield residents.

He said the sites nearest to

Lynnfield are the Doubletree

Hotel in Danvers, Walgreens

at 166 Walnut St. in Saugus,

Walgreens at 107 High St. in

Danvers, and Stop and Shop

in Woburn.

“Beginning Monday,

people aged 75 and over are

eligible, so go to the state

website, find a site near you

and schedule an appointment.

Have a family member

SHOT, PAGE 2

Page 4:

Fire Department offers

healthy home tips

Page 5:

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2

LYNNFIELD — Wakefield Cooperative

Bank Vice President of

Retail Branch Administration and

Business Development Officer

Mohammed Bezzat is pleased to

announce the addition of Lynnfield

resident Bob Clattenburg as assistant

vice president and manager of

the bank’s 596 Main St. branch in

Lynnfield.

Clattenburg has worked in the financial

industry for 29 years, most

recently with North Shore Bank in

downtown Beverly.

His years of experience also

include Salem Five Bank and

Santander (formerly Sovereign

Bank).

“Bob’s extensive background

encompasses a blend of business

development, consultative sales,

staff development, budgeting and

team building,” said Bezzat.

As branch manager, Clattenburg

will cultivate loyal, existing customer

relationships and develop

the bank’s customer base and

connection within the Lynnfield

community.

“Bob’s leadership strengths and

friendly demeanor are welcoming

to customers who have been with

the bank for many years, and to

those we invite to visit us for the

first time,” said Bezzat, adding,

“Bob’s knack for connecting with

people and dedication to his customers’

happiness are an added

bonus to our wonderful Lynnfield

branch.”

Before

Town resident

is bank’s new

manager

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Clattenburg lives in Lynnfield

with his son, Colby, and his local

volunteerism includes 12 years as

a religious education teacher at Our

Lady of Assumption Parish plus

years of coaching Lynnfield youth

sports.

He has served as a board

member of Lynnfield Little League

and both Lynnfield Girls and Boys

Basketball. He is past president of

Peabody Rotary Club where he

served on the Board of Directors,

and past vice president and board

member of the Saugus Chamber of

Commerce.

Clattenberg is a past member

of Greater Beverly Chamber

of Commerce and Peabody

Chamber of Commerce. He holds

a Bachelor’s degree in Mass

Communications with a minor

in Business Development from

Westfield State College.

He can be reached at rclattenburg@wcbbank.com

or

781-334-4050.

Wakefield Co-operative Bank

(WCB) is a more than 130-year-old

mutual institution headquartered in

Wakefield and operating under a

co-operative bank structure.

Being a mutual means that it

has no stockholders and issues no

public offerings. Wakefield Cooperative

Bank’s main office is located

at 342 Main St. in Wakefield

and it has two other branch locations

— one in Lynnfield and 526

Main St. in Melrose.

It is the bank’s mission to provide

exceptional service and innovative

products, with the vision of

seeing every one of its customers

achieve their personal financial

goals and success. Learn more at

wakefieldcoop.com.

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

help you. I heard earlier today

that many appointments have

opened up. We know the state

is overwhelmed, but keep

trying,” he said, reminding

people that many persons eligible

under Phase 1 (first responders,

front-facing health

care workers and school

nurses) still have not gotten

the vaccine and will also be

seeking appointments.

Davis said that the community

is “actually seeing some

good trending,” with 43 cases

in the last seven days and 88

in the last 14 days.

“That’s down considerably

from what we have seen

during the holiday period,”

Davis said. “We hope this is

good news moving forward as

people seem to be following

the state guidelines — maskwearing,

social distancing,

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Secatore is a 1997 graduate

of Lynnfield High School,

where he was a standout Hall of

Fame wrestler. A Marine Corps

veteran with national-security

clearance, he majored in mathematics

at Merrimack College

and worked as a financial analyst

at Fidelity Investments.

He joined the department

in 2007 where he became a

jack-of-all-trades, serving as

an Internet technology officer,

court prosecutor, detective supervisor,

training supervisor

and the town’s deputy emergency

management director,

among other duties.

A former veterans service officer

for the town of Lynnfield

(2009-2014), Secatore is a

member of the Lynnfield War

Memorial Committee. He

was promoted to captain last

summer after recording the

highest score on the captain’s

exam.

Secatore said one of the most

pressing issues on his agenda is

the new police reform bill that

was passed late last year and

he will be working with Sgt.

Christopher DeCarlo to implement

the necessary changes in

policy and procedures.

“Times ahead are going to be

challenging,” he said. “We have

the new police reform bill that

has been passed so we have to

move forward and implement

those things within a six-month

period and within the year.

“Chris and I have spoken

about this bill. Not only is he an

attorney, he’s our investigation

supervisor, so it’s going to be

exciting to work every day with

him to make sure that Lynnfield

maintains its integrity and conforms

with the new bill in this

interim period and beyond.”

Dolan said that Secatore has

made significant contributions

to town government behind the

scenes, including a total redesign

and rebuild of the town’s

public safety information

technology system. He called

Secatore’s and DeCarlo’s experience

a “one-two punch.”

“This is the beginning of a

great new chapter in Lynnfield,”

Dolan said.

Breen’s retirement capped a

37-year career in law enforcement,

the final 10 years serving

as police chief.

Board Chair Chris Barrett

thanked Breen for his 24 years

Time to take a shot

washing of hands — all the

good stuff, so keep doing

what we’re doing.”

Approximately 70 first

responders have been vaccinated

during Phase 1, according

to Davis.

“That includes fire personnel,

police personnel and

dispatchers and associated

support staff and all school

nurses,” Davis said.

Dolan outlined the details

of the state’s regional plan,

adding that Lynnfield falls

into the district that includes

Wilmington, Andover, North

Reading and Reading.

“Even though there will

be clinics here in Lynnfield,

Lynnfield residents can also

utilize the services provided

by the other communities in

the region,” Dolan said. “We

can do joint services or do

smaller individual Lynnfield

clinics, but the capping on the

number of vaccines is making

it very difficult.”

Dolan noted that anyone

watching local or national

news knows that availability

of the vaccine and the ability

to distribute it has been a

“massive crisis” and that “we

simply are not getting the vaccine

that we need, not even to

the point where we have 10

percent of what we need.”

of “exemplary service” to the

Lynnfield Police Department.

“He has been a wonderful

public servant and been there

at all times to serve, protect and

defend our community,” Barrett

said. “We have great confidence

in his legacy for many, many

years to come as he has put together

a wonderful team.”

Dalton said Breen is “a great

citizen and a great chief,” while

Crawford said Breen has been

“a tremendous role model, not

only for the police force but for

the community,” and also commended

him for performing his

job with integrity.”

Town Administrator Rob

Dolan said the search for a permanent

replacement for Breen

will be a “fair and open process”

and will take approximately

three months, commending

Breen for his leadership.

“There has never been a

harder year to be a police officer

than 2020 with the level of incidents,

and some very emotional

incidents you just wouldn’t expect

both in a small town and

across the nation,” Dolan said.

“The professionalism and dignity

displayed by our police is

a reflection of Chief Breen and

his leadership.”

“That’s a national issue,

not a Lynnfield issue, but

we’ve gotten several calls

from people asking when and

where they can get (their)

vaccine,” he said.

The town will continue to

issue COVID updates via

online video presentations,

posts on the town website and

reverse-911 calls in emergency

situations. The fire department

has already ordered

special distribution equipment,

including refrigerators.

“We want you to know

that we are ready to go, we

have a plan in place, we have

nurses, we have volunteers,

we just need doses,” Dolan

said, adding that the town is

actively working with Senior

Housing, the Council on

Aging and GLSS (Greater

Lynn Senior Services).

“Again, don’t wait as the

amount (of the vaccine) we

get is so minimal you need

to take a multi-faceted approach,”

Dolan said. “I know

it’s difficult, but we can help

work with you. We know

there’s a lot of frustration

as people want to get vaccinated

and we share that. We

are frustrated but hopeful at

the same time. We are desperately

waiting for our federal

and state partners.”


FEBRUARY 4, 2021

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 3

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Lights, camera...maybe not

By Anne Marie Tobin

LYNNFIELD — Powerful.

That’s how Lynnfield

Superintendent of Schools

Kristen Vogel described the

message delivered by students

concerning whether or not students

should have their cameras

on during remote Zoom classes.

The issue? A growing

number of students at the high

school and middle school who

are turning off their computer

cameras during remote learning

sessions, and whether or not

the district should be requiring

that students have their cameras

turned on.

“The voices of the students

during the discussion were

powerful,” said Vogel. “They

were clear about their belief

that students should be able to

choose whether or not to have

their cameras on during Zoom

class for reasons of equity and

the social and emotional wellbeing

of the students.

“We also recognize that it is

exhausting and disheartening to

be teaching to a mostly black

screen and have empowered

our teachers to hold students

accountable for their learning.”

Student Council President

Ava O’Brien got the discussion

going early, addressing

the issue in the council report

she presents regularly at school

committee meetings.

“I know that many students

and parents are discouraged by

the hybrid schedule currently

in place,” she said. “I speak for

many students who feel that

students should not be forced

to turn their cameras on during

Zoom classes as it is a personal

choice.

“Many people have different

learning setups and are uncomfortable

learning at home

anyway. Forcing students to

have their cameras on can

create anxiety.”

A few members of the committee

visited the schools this

week to observe how classrooms

are functioning.

Stacy Dahlstedt said she was

blown away by the level of enthusiasm

from the teachers.

“Their energy was phenomenal,

but that being said, we did

see several dark screens at the

middle and high schools,” she

said. “I’d be interested to understand

from a teacher’s perspective

— with so much energy

they are staring at 10 or 2 blank

screens.”

Middle School Assistant

Principal Thomas Sallee

said the effect on teachers is

“terrible.”

“It’s hard enough that they

don’t have students in front of

them, but it’s draining,” he said.

“That same week, there were

teachers in tears as it was so

frustrating. They would love

to see cameras on. The correlation

between students with their

camera on and their achievement

level is that at the middle

school, those kids are doing

better. Teachers are doing their

best to incentivize students to

turn them on, but what happens

is a few drop off and it’s contagious.

You don’t want to be

the last one standing. That’s just

suicide. You don’t want to be

the lone wolf. It’s scary, as there

is a lot of pressure from peers to

turn the cameras off.”

In response to a request from

committee Chair Jamie Hayman

to hear what the students think

and if there is a different level

of engagement when cameras

are turned off, O’Brien said

there are other ways to get engaged

without a camera being

on.

“Things like the chat feature,

we can still do that, so there are

other ways for students to get

and stay engaged,” she said.

“Forcing students to put their

cameras on is more like reprimanding

them, rather than

giving them a choice.”

Sophomore Genna Gioloso

said she agrees that the decision

to turn off cameras is personal.

“I personally don’t mind putting

my camera on but I don’t

know everyone’s situation, so I

think it should be a choice,” she

said.

Committee member Phil

McQueen compared being on

screen during Zoom classes to

being in front of a class for 45

minutes.

“People are staring at you and

that’s not a comfortable feeling,

particularly at the higher

levels,” he said. “It’s a much

more complicated issue.”

Lynnfield High Assistant

Principal Brian Bates agreed.

“Kids aren’t comfortable

seeing themselves on camera.

It’s really a social and emotional

situation,” he said. “But

that doesn’t mean they aren’t

paying attention.”

Committee member Rich

Sjoberg said one thing he took

away from the committee’s

visit to the schools was, “it

showed us the teachers know

how engaged students are and

if they are participating (and)

we should listen to the students’

voices.”

Fellow committee member

Tim Doyle questioned if the

district is doing students a disservice

by not mandating that

cameras be turned on in terms

of being prepared for college or

work situations.

“You cannot draw those analogies

as we are talking about

children,” said High School

Principal Bob Cleary. “Forcing

them is not preparing them for

anything. There is a big difference

between a business

meeting for your job and expecting

the same from the 12,

13, 14-year-olds. Tim’s point is

a good one as we want them to

be prepared, but that’s apples

and oranges. We are encouraging

them to use their video

and that’s where we need to

go.”

“We are challenging them as

it is and, obviously, we want

cameras one, but we can’t mandate

it,” said Bates.

Director of Teaching and

Learning Kevin Cyr said his

primary concern is with heightened

anxiety levels in students

but he is also concerned about

equity issues.

“Families are conscious

about what we see in the backgrounds

of their homes when

cameras are on,” he said. “I’ve

talked to students about the

consequences of not having

cameras on, but how do we enforce

that?”

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4

LYNNFIELD

WEEKLY NEWS

(USPS Permit #168)

Telephone: 781-593-7700 • Fax: 781-581-3178

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 5, Lynn, MA 01903

News and Advertising Offices: 110 Munroe St., Lynn, MA 01901

Office Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday

www.weeklynews.net

Editor: Thor Jourgensen tjourgensen@essexmediagroup.com

Reporter: Anne Marie Tobin atobin@essexmediagroup.com

Sports Editor: Mike Alongi malongi@essexmediagroup.com

Advertising Reps: Ralph Mitchell rmitchell@essexmediagroup.com

Patricia Whalen pwhalen@essexmediagroup.com

Ernie Carpenter ecarpenter@essexmediagroup.com

Retail Price: $1.00

Deadlines: News: Monday, noon; Display Ads: Monday, noon;

Classified Ads: Monday, noon;

No cancellations accepted after deadline.

The Lynnfield Weekly News is published 52 times per year on Thursday by Essex

Media Group, Inc. No issue is printed during the week of Christmas. The Lynnfield

Weekly News is delivered via US Mail to all homes in Lynnfield. It is also

available in several locations throughout Lynnfield. The Lynnfield Weekly News

will not be responsible for typographical or other errors in advertisements, but will

reprint that part of an advertisement in which a typographical error occurs if notified

immediately. Advertisers must notify the Lynnfield Weekly News of any errors in

advertisements on the FIRST day of insertion. The publisher reserves the right to

reject, omit or edit any copy offered for publication. POSTMASTER: Send address

changes to Lynnfield Weekly News, P.O. Box 5, Lynn, MA 01903. © 2016 Essex

Media Group, Inc.

Can’t get to

the store?

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delivery.

Subscribe for half the

newsstand price.

Subscriptions include

full online access.

www.itemlive.com/subscribe

or call 781-593-7700, ext. 1239

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Tuesday, Jan. 26

Accidents

Police responded on Tuesday

at 6:58 p.m. to a motor vehicle

accident reported on Route 1

northbound with transport to

Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. A

Walnut Street resident called

police on Tuesday at 8:53 p.m.

to report a vehicle drove off the

roadway into his yard.

Wednesday, Jan. 27

Complaint

Police responded to Whole

Foods on Wednesday at 1:03

p.m. to take a report of a counterfeit

bill.

Enforcement

Police issued a motor vehicle

citation on Wednesday at 10:05

p.m. to a Peabody driver on

Main Street.

Thursday, Jan. 28

Accident

Police received a report on

Thursday at 6:40 p.m. about a

motor vehicle hitting a pole on

Chestnut Street; received a report

on Thursday at 8:24 a.m.

about a vehicle hitting a tree

on Wildewood Drive with injury

reported.

Police Log

Friday, Jan. 29

Medical

Police assisted with medical

transport from Partridge Lane to

Melrose-Wakefield Hospital on

Friday at 12:51 p.m.

Fraud

Police received a fraud report

from a Westover Drive resident

on Friday at 2:36 p.m.

Complaint

Police spoke to a Main Street

resident about a loud noise complaint

on Friday at 10:11 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 30

Accident

Police responded to a motor

vehicle accident reported at Main

and Lowell streets on Saturday

at 11:29 a.m. and involving a

Peabody and a Milton driver.

Medical

Police assisted with medical

transport from Pillings Pond

Road to Massachusetts General

Hospital on Saturday at 2:04

p.m.; assisted with transport

to Salem Hospital from Main

Street on Saturday at 10:02

p.m. and assisted with transport

from Locksley Road to Beverly

Hospital on Saturday at 11:23

p.m.

Assist

Police received a report of a

broken pipe in a Saunders Road

residence on Sunday at 8:34

a.m. The Fire Department rendered

assistance.

Medical

Police aided with medical

transport on Sunday at 5:42 p.m.

from Elliot Road to Melrose-

Wakefield Hospital.

Fire Department offers

healthy home tips

LYNNFIELD — The

Lynnfield Fire Department

(LFD), in conjunction with

A Healthy Lynnfield, the

town’s Council on Aging,

and the Lynnfield Rotary

Club, has expanded its

safety services for the town’s

seniors.

The program consists of

five components:

The already successful

Lockbox program will continue

to be offered in conjunction

with the Lynnfield

Senior Center and Lynnfield

Rotary Club. This is an excellent

way to provide first

responders fast access to

your home in the case of an

emergency.

To apply for a lockbox,

contact Ron Block with the

Lynnfield Rotary at 781-

334-2036 or by email at

Ronblock1@verizon.net.

Mr. Block will take your application

and forward it to

LFD for installation.

While at your home, members

of the Lynnfield Fire

Department will, if you

choose, conduct a home

safety survey. This is not an

inspection and will have no

negative impact on you. We

will simply walk through

the house and look for items

such as: trip hazards, poor

lighting, extension cord

usage, medications left out,

smoke detector test and batteries,

etc. Our members

will then discuss with you

what they found and make

recommendations.

File of life cards can

be picked up at both the

Lynnfield Fire Department

as well as the Senior Center.

These cards let you fill in

patient information such as

medical history, allergies and

medications as well as other

pertinent information EMTs

and paramedics may need in

the event of an emergency,

and if the patient is unable to

communicate with us. This

card is left in an identifiable

red sleeve that is put on the

refrigerator, and first responders

know to look there.

Disposing of medications

is now easier and safer

with our disposable bagging

system. These can be

picked up at the fire department

headquarters as well as

through A Healthy Lynnfield.

Simply dispose of unwanted

medications (not sharps) into

the bag and seal and shake. It

is then safe to dispose of in

the trash.

Unattended medications

can be inviting to unwanted

eyes. Small children are especially

likely to be curious.

Keep your medications safe

and secure in one of our

lockable medication storage

boxes. With the efforts of A

Healthy Lynnfield, who secured

the funding and boxes,

these can now be picked up

at the fire headquarters.

Residents can utilize any

individual component, or

all five. There are no fees

for these services, with the

exception of the lockboxes.

The lockbox fee will be determined

at the time of application

and may range from

free to $35.


FEBRUARY 4, 2021

J Barrett & Company

welcomes Steve Graczyk

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 5

PHOTO | COURTESY

Steven “Graz” Graczyk recently joined J Barrett & Company

For the Weekly News

BEVERLY — J Barrett &

Company is pleased to announce

that Realtor® Steven

“Graz” Graczyk has joined the

agency in the Cummings Center

office.

A well-respected real estate

professional, Graczyk has

a successful record helping

clients buy and sell property

throughout the North Shore.

“I’m looking forward to

being associated with a real estate

firm that so closely mirrors

my own client-centric business

philosophy. My clients often

hear me say: ‘My goal for each

client is simple — your goal,’”

Graczyk said.

Tech savvy with exceptional

networking and relationship

building skills, Steve is known

for his integrity and determination

to make certain his clients

achieve the best possible

outcomes.

Graczyk has 20 years of experience

managing large ($1

billion) and small ($1 million)

institutional financial accounts

PHOTO | COURTESY

The water trough in Lynnfield town center is decorated with

hearts and flowers for Valentine’s Day.

on Wall Street.

He has strong ties to the area

as a lifelong Danvers resident

and he is the youngest of three

St. John’s Prep graduates and is

also a graduate of the University

of Rhode Island.

“As a company one of our

goals is to constantly expand

the depth of our in-house expertise

so having yet another real

estate professional of Steve’s

caliber is very exciting for our

firm,” said J Barrett President

Jon Gray. “In addition, Steve’s

ability to help people understand

the entire real estate process

is a critical skill that will

benefit every client who works

with him.”

Established in January 2007,

J Barrett & Company is a service-oriented

company that has

quickly become the premier

privately-owned real estate firm

on the North Shore. The company

serves the North Shore and

Cape Ann areas from offices in

Beverly, Gloucester, Ipswich,

Manchester, Marblehead, and

in Prides Crossing.

“J Barrett & Company’s reputation

for white glove collaboration

with both agents and

clients is certainly one reason

I wanted to work with the

agency,” Graczyk said.

PHOTO | COURTESY

Yoga instructor Sharon Marrama leads two students through a

mindfulness exercise.

Ten mindful minutes

Sharon Marrama

Want to start living more

mindfully? Well, you can

begin with just 10 minutes a

day. I have selected five areas

of focus: Kindness, Empathy,

Gratitude, Happiness and

Optimism.

Kindness is the quality or

state of being gentle and considerate.

Encourage a culture

of “Random Acts of Kindness.”

Expand your kindness practice

by beginning small with

your family, neighbors and coworkers.

Once you have mastered

that you can think bigger

donations, sponsorships, work

in a soup kitchen. The possibilities

are endless and doing good

makes us feel good.

Empathy is the ability to

share someone else’s feelings.

Create a list of mindful family

rules showing respect for others

time and space. Place it where

everyone can see it. You might

want to write things like; Treat

everyone as you want to be

treated! When Johnny is practicing

guitarbe sure to respect

his space! Help others when

they need it!

Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation.

Each person at the

dinner table has a turn to speak

of something they are thankful

for. At bedtime, when you are

tucking in your children, take a

minute to tell them something

great about them. Ask your kids

to share one thing that happened

that day that made them feel

great.

Happiness is a state of wellbeing

and contentment. Have

a happiness box and place

random notes inside. You can

read them at the dinner table.

Place a smiley face on the

bathroommirror. Write a happy

quote a day on the door that

leads out…ex: Make Someone

Smile Today!

Optimism is a feeling or belief

that good things will happen

in the future. Talk to your kids

about the jar being half empty

or half full. Share with them the

view of seeing things in a positive

manner.

Sharon Marrama, owner

of Here Comes the Sun Yoga

for Kids, a children’s yoga

instructor at several local

schools and studios. She holds

a certificate in Teen Coaching

and writes children’s books

spreading sunshine along the

way.

Call 781-593-7700 ext. 2

to subscribe today.

home delivery rate is

50% off

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Sales are strong, let me list your home!

Safe • Clean • Quick

John C. Olimpio CPA

Certified Public Accountant • Attorney at Law

161 South Main Street Suite 307 • Middleton, MA 01949

• INCOME TAX RETURN PREPARATION

• Estate Planning• Wills and Trust Preparation•

Business Planning and Consulting

•Financial Statements Preparation• Real Estate Transactions and Closings

• Internal Revenue Service and Massachusetts Department of Revenue Matters

978-750-6699

• jcolimpio@verizon.net • www.olimpiolaw.com

All Services Provided for Businesses and Individuals

(Located across from Richardson’s Ice Cream)


6

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

How scammers are using vaccine to steal money, info

By Kristen Jordan

Shamus

Detroit Free Press

DETROIT – Scammers

are using people’s desperation

for COVID-19 vaccines

in the midst of a pandemic

as a bargaining chip

to steal money and personal

information.

Though it doesn’t appear to

be a widespread problem in

Michigan, the state Attorney

General’s Office told the

Free Press last Thursday that

it has gotten one report of a

fraudster offering a coronavirus

vaccine in exchange

for money.

“I hope that can be seen as

a good sign that people are

contacting the proper sources

for the vaccine and being

cautious about who they

provide their personal information

to,” said Ryan Jarvi,

a spokesperson for Attorney

General Dana Nessel.

Eligible for COVID-19

vaccines right now in

Michigan are health care

workers, residents and employees

of long-term care

facilities, people ages 65 and

older, teachers, child care

workers, first-responders,

law enforcement and corrections

officers.

Anybody offering a chance

to jump ahead on the statewide

priority list for a vaccination

in exchange for

money is a scammer, the

Federal Trade Commission

warns.

“You can’t pay to get your

name on a list to get the vaccine,”

the agency said in a

consumer blog post. “That’s

a scam. You can’t pay to

get early access to the vaccine.

That’s a scam. Nobody

legit will call about the vaccine

and ask for your Social

Security, bank account or

credit card number. That’s a

scam.”

An FTC spokesman said

Thursday that because the

COVID-19 vaccines are so

new — both Pfizer’s and

Moderna’s vaccines were

approved in mid-December

— data about the prevalence

of these scams isn’t available

yet. Still, the agency

issued preemptive warnings

about the possibility for

fraud around the vaccines,

which are in high demand

in a nation that has reported

25.3 million coronavirus

cases and more than 423,000

deaths, according to the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control

PHOTO | DETROIT FREE PRESS

People stand in line outside in 25-degree weather 30 minutes before the doors open to receive the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination

from the Oakland County Health Division at Suburban Showplace in Novi, Mich.

and Prevention.

So did the Henry Ford

Health System.

Bob Riney, the Detroitbased

health system’s president

of health care operations

and COO, made this

statement Thursday: “People

should be extremely vigilant

and wary of vaccination offers

that don’t come from

trusted sources like their

doctor, health care provider

or local health department.

“The plain fact is that there

is no charge to receive the

COVID-19 vaccine, which is

being paid for by the federal

government. You can’t pay to

put your name on a list to get

the vaccine, or to get early

access, and you don’t need

to provide sensitive personal

information over the phone.

Anyone promising that is

trying to steal your personal

or financial information, and

very likely, your money.”

A Henry Ford spokesman

said Thursday that the health

system isn’t aware of any

specific claims of fraud

around COVID-19 vaccines

in Michigan, but “we wanted

to get this message out to

let people know that these

scams are out there and to be

aware.”

Riney cautioned people to

be wary of any the following:

Offers for early access to

a vaccine upon payment of

a deposit or fee. Requests

asking for a payment to get a

shot or to put your name on a

COVID-19 vaccine waiting

list. Unsolicited emails, telephone

calls, or texts from

someone claiming to be

from a medical office, insurance

company or COVID-19

vaccine center requesting

personal, financial and/or

medical information to determine

your eligibility to

participate in clinical vaccine

trials or obtain the vaccine.

Claims of Food and Drug

Administration approval

for a vaccine that cannot be

verified. Ads for vaccines

through social media platforms,

email, telephone calls,

online, or from unsolicited/

unknown sources. A phone

call or email telling you the

government or government

officials require you to receive

a COVID-19 vaccine.

People also should be

aware that some tricksters

may pretend to be health

care workers to try to get

access to valuable information,

calling, texting or even

knocking on doors to try to

fool people who are eager to

get a vaccine that’s in short

supply, he said.

“Our team members would

never call to ask for your

sensitive personal and financial

information,” Riney

said. “Anyone who receives

a call like this from someone

who identifies themselves

as being from Henry Ford

should just hang up.”

Complaints of fraud can

be reported to the FTC at

ReportFraud.ftc.gov or

through the state Attorney

General’s Office at www.

michigan.gov/ag.

The FTC offers these tips:

1.) Contact a trusted source

for information. Check with

state or local health departments,

your health care provider

or pharmacist to learn

when and how to get the

COVID-19 vaccine. 2.)

Don’t pay to sign up for the

vaccine. Anyone who asks

for a payment to put you on a

list, to make an appointment

for you, or reserve a spot in

line is a scammer. 3.) Ignore

sales ads for the COVID-19

vaccine. You can’t buy a vaccine.

It is only available at

federal- and state-approved

locations. 4.) Watch for unexpected

or unusual texts.

If your health care provider

or pharmacist has used text

messages to contact you in

the past, you might get a text

message about a COVID-19

vaccine. If you get a text, call

your healthcare provider or

pharmacist directly to make

sure the message is legitimate.

Scammers are texting,

too. So don’t click on links in

text messages — especially

messages you didn’t expect.

5.) Don’t open emails,

attachments, or links from

people you don’t know or

that come unexpectedly. You

could download dangerous

malware onto your computer

or phone. 6.) Don’t share information

with people you

don’t know. No one from

a vaccine distribution site,

health care provider’s office,

pharmacy, insurance company

or Medicare, will call,

text, or email you asking

for your Social Security,

credit card, or bank account

number to sign you up to get

the vaccine.

In Michigan, there are several

ways to register to get

a coronavirus vaccine when

you are eligible.

A federal pharmacy partnership

with CVS and

Walgreens pharmacies are

handling immunizations for

living and working in longterm

care facilities.

For senior citizens ages

65 and older, health officials

suggest the best way to register

for a vaccine is to sign

up through your local hospital

system using an online

patient portal, such as My

Chart, through a Meijer or

Kroger pharmacy, or through

your local health department.

Hospitals are handling

COVID-19 immunizations

for their employees and

county health departments

and hospitals are also vaccinating

people who work in

private practice or offices independent

of hospitals.

Vaccines for teachers, law

enforcement officers and

other first-responders are

being handled by their employers

in conjunction with

local health departments.


FEBRUARY 4, 2021

By Riley Beggin

Detroit News

WASHINGTON —

General Motors Co.’s plan

to become carbon-neutral

by 2040 and drop gas and

diesel engines in all new

light-duty vehicles by 2035

reflects a newly Democraticcontrolled

capital pivoting

to an aggressive climate

agenda.

The automaker’s leadership

was emboldened by

changes in Washington,

where President Joe Biden

is touting a similar pledge

— net-zero emissions nationwide

by 2050 — as he

promised significant help to

businesses and consumers

to advance the technology

needed to get there.

Achieving the automaker’s

goal will span several

administrations, Dane

Parker, GM’s sustainability

officer, said Thursday. But

the company leaders have

been talking with the Biden

administration and are encouraged

by its commitment

to advancing emissions-free

vehicles.

“We are excited about the

things that the new administration

is doing to enable this

future,” Parker said. “Their

enthusiasm for electric vehicles

and for an all-electric future

has been something that

has created with us a greater

sense of optimism for where

we’re going and the support

to get there.”

It marks a “huge step” in

a changing auto industry in

Detroit and globally, said

Barry Rabe, a political science

professor at the University

of Michigan. “Is this the beginning

of a larger transition

that could actually accelerate

the whole policy shift toward

electric vehicles?”

That optimism is tempered

by concern within the

industry that workers —

especially hourly workers

staffing engine and transmission

plants — will be

left behind because electric

vehicles require fewer parts

and fewer employees on the

shop floor to assemble them.

Biden and other leaders have

maintained that millions of

new jobs will be created by

green industries, but the transition

between them remains

unclear.

Since taking office just

over a week ago, Biden has

brought the United States

back into the Paris Climate

Accords — an international

agreement to work toward

limiting global warming to

below 2 degrees Celsius —

paused oil and gas drilling

leases on federal lands, introduced

plans to double

offshore wind production,

directed the administration

to begin replacing the federal

fleet with electric vehicles

and more.

He’s calling for additional

sweeping policies that

would require Congressional

approval and significant

spending to the tune of $2

trillion. He says he hopes

to eliminate greenhouse gas

emissions from the energy

and power sector by 2035

and nationwide by 2050.

“In my view, we’ve already

waited too long to deal

with this climate crisis and

we can’t wait any longer,”

Biden said Wednesday. “We

see it with our own eyes. We

feel it. We know it in our

bones. And it’s time to act.”

Securing that $2 trillion

may prove challenging

due to tight majorities for

Democrats in both the House

and Senate. But if the administration

is successful,

portions of it would go to

help the auto industry with

research and development of

zero-emissions technology,

installing 500,000 charging

stations nationwide, and providing

consumer incentives

to purchase EVs.

U.S. Rep. Brenda

Lawrence, D-Southfield,

whose district includes GM’s

downtown headquarters, said

we’re witnessing “transformational”

change and is confident

Congress will find the

funding. “We cannot allow

the innovation and the technology

that we’re so proud

of as a country be held hostage.

We’re going to have to

figure it out.”

Those incentives will be an

important part of consumer

adoption, said Parker of GM,

adding that Biden’s commitment

to federal aid is an “important

part” of the company’s

ability to announce their

bold carbon neutrality goal.

Michigan Democrats

praised GM’s decision

Thursday. Gov. Gretchen

Whitmer’s office said she

is “hopeful that other companies

will follow suit and

reduce climate change’s

harmful impacts.”

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib,

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 7

GM bets on carbon neutrality

PHOTO | BILL PUGLIANO

Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, is shown at the reveals of the new 2021

Chevrolet Suburban and 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs at Little Caesars Arena.

D-Detroit, said any air quality

improvement brought on by

the change is a good thing:

“This is the right move. I do

hope they are much more

aggressive” than the timeline

they laid out, she added.

“This kind of move toward

reductions in emissions is

critically important.”

GM is the first major automaker

to set a public deadline

to transition fully to

EVs, exerting immense pressure

on its rivals across the

industry. Ford Motor Co. has

also expressed interest and

invested billions in rapidly

developing electric vehicles,

but it remains committed

at least in the near term to

gas-electric hybrid versions

of such iconic models as the

F-150 pickup.

Still, the threat to bluecollar

workers from the

move to electrification

cannot be under-estimated,

as the United Auto Workers’

research department detailed

in a 2019 White Paper. The

Biden administration argues

that transformational change

is possible without hurting

auto workers, and has promised

to create 10 million

clean energy jobs and more

than double the amount of

jobs in the auto industry as

it transitions to a greener

future.

Former Michigan Gov.

Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s

nominee to lead the

Department of Energy, testified

before a Senate panel

earlier this week. Senators on

the committee from oil, gas

and coal-producing states

expressed concern that their

communities would be left

jobless in a turn to renewable

energy sources. Sen.

Joe Manchin, a Democrat

from West Virginia, begged

Granholm: “Don’t just leave

them in a barren wasteland.”

Granholm assured him and

others that it will be a top priority,

and they’ll use “placebased”

solutions to leverage

existing skills in traditional

energy to grow jobs in new

industries.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg,

R-Tipton, struck a similar

chord in a statement: “As the

auto industry makes technological

advancements,

my focus is on making sure

those investments are taking

place in Michigan. At the end

of the day, the autoworkers

in my district want access

to good-paying jobs where

they can manufacture quality

products.”

The UAW released a statement

saying it’s members

“have never shied away from

working with new technology.

Even with these new

product goals, it will be some

time before the transition occurs.

But the important thing

is that President Biden agrees

with our position that any

new jobs replacing (internal

combustion) engines are

union wage and benefit jobs.”

It’s incumbent upon policymakers

to use procurement,

tax credits and other

tools to help companies and

communities retain whatever

domestic jobs they can under

the new industry, said Paul

Bledsoe, a strategic adviser

for the Progressive Policy

Institute who served as a

climate adviser to President

Bill Clinton.

“The alternative is to not

help the industry and see

more jobs and production go

overseas,” he said. “Because

the industry is moving toward

EVs whether you like

it or not.”

Financial planning is

more important than ever…

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ANTONIO SORDILLO, CFP®, CRPC®, CPFA

Vice President, Investments

antonio.sordillo@raymondjames.com

20 Burlington Mall Road, Suite 130 // Burlington, MA 01803

781.313.8403 // evergreenfinpartners.com

© 2021 Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. 21-BRNAO-0003 TA 1/21


8

Soup to soothe the soul

By Addie Broyles

Austin

American-Statesman

Chicken soup won’t cure

COVID-19, but it might ease

your sniffles.

After so many months of

pandemic life, we’re getting

better at making ourselves feel

as good as we can, even with

the coronavirus knocking at the

door. (Or maybe even coming

right in the house.)

January is usually a time

when we’re brimming with

excitement for the year ahead,

but with COVID-19 hitting its

predicted peaks just as we experience

our annual cedar fever

season, many of us are digging

deep for extra comfort and

nourishment.

Thanks to the vaccine — and

countless “Chicken Soup for the

Soul”-worthy stories of kindness

that have come out of the past

10 months — many of us are

still finding some hopefulness as

we look toward the year ahead.

Maybe a few new chicken soup

recipes will fuel some of that

feel-betterness, too.

For the best chicken soup,

start with the whole bird and

simmer gently.

———

CHICKEN PARMESAN

SOUP WITH CRUMBLED

CROUTONS

When you need a quick, easy

meal and don’t want to deal

with a pile of dishes, this soup

fits the bill perfectly. It takes

less than 30 minutes to prepare,

from start to finish, and it all

takes place in one pot. Dry pasta

is simmered right along with the

other ingredients and cooks up

perfectly al dente. Crumbled,

store-bought croutons sprinkled

on top add great flavor and texture

and drive home the chicken

Parmesan theme. This is a wonderful

no-fuss, busy-day meal.

— Valerie Brunmeier

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless

chicken breast, cut into

bite-size pieces

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more

to taste

Freshly ground black pepper,

to taste

2 teaspoons minced garlic

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon red pepper

flakes

1 (14.5-ounce) can fireroasted

diced tomatoes,

undrained

6 cups low-sodium chicken

broth (I like Better Than

Bouillon)

8 ounces dry short pasta (fusilli,

penne and elbow macaroni

all make good choices)

1/2 cup finely grated

Parmesan cheese, plus more for

garnish

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian

parsley

1 cup shredded mozzarella

cheese

1 cup cheese and garlic-flavored

croutons, lightly crushed

Pour the olive oil into a large

pot or Dutch oven and place it

over medium heat. When the

oil is hot, add the chicken and

onion. Season the mixture with

salt and pepper, and sauté until

the chicken is cooked through

and the onion is tender, about

5 to 6 minutes. Add the garlic

and cook for an additional 1 to

2 minutes, until fragrant. Add

the tomato paste and red pepper

flakes and stir to combine well.

Add the diced tomatoes, broth

and dry pasta.

Bring the mixture to a boil

over medium-high heat, then

reduce the heat to low and

simmer, covered, until the

pasta is al dente, about 8 to 10

minutes.

Remove the pot from the

heat, then stir in the Parmesan

cheese and parsley and season

with additional salt and pepper.

Garnish individual servings

with the mozzarella cheese,

crushed croutons and a little

Parmesan cheese. Serves 6.

— From “The Foolproof

Family Slow Cooker and

Other One-Pot Solutions” by

Valerie Brunmeier (Page Street

Taiwan Boy Earns Academic High Honors

at Northfield Mount Hermon

Sheng Chun (Angus) Chang achieved Academic High

Honors has been named to the Head of School’s List

for work completed during the fall 2020 term at

Northfield Mount Hermon. A recipient of Academic

High Honors has earned a GPA of 3.67 or above, with

no grade less than A-.

Angus, 15, a sophomore, is a member of the varsity

swim and golf team at NMH. Angus, who comes from

Taiwan, is the son of Mao Sung Chang and Hsiang Ju

Wang of Lynnfield.

Northfield Mount Hermon is a coeducational boarding

and day school for students in

grades 9–12 and a postgraduate

year. Founded in 1879, NMH

engages the intellect, compassion,

and talents of its students, empowering

them to act with humanity

and purpose. NMH currently enrolls

655 students from 31 states and 53

countries.

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Publishing, $21.99)

CHICKEN SOUP WITH

BOK CHOY AND GINGER

We got the idea for this

light, clean-tasting yet aromatic

chicken soup from classic

Chinese poached chicken,

sometimes referred to as “whitecooked”

chicken. The addition

of baby bok choy, simmered

in the broth until the stems are

tender, gives the soup verdant

color and turns it into a meal in

a bowl. The bok choy, scallions

and cilantro are added at the end

of cooking, so prep these ingredients

while the chicken cooks.

Fragrant steamed jasmine rice

would be a welcome accompaniment,

either spooned directly

into the bowl or offered on the

side.

Don’t use cooking sherry

for this recipe; it usually has

added sodium and little, if any,

actual sherry flavor. And don’t

use boneless, skinless chicken

for this soup. Bones give the

broth body as well as flavor. -

Christopher Kimball

1 tablespoon grapeseed or

other neutral oil

1 (4-inch) piece fresh ginger

(about 3 ounces), peeled and cut

into 4 pieces

5 medium garlic cloves,

smashed and peeled

1/2 cup dry sherry

2 teaspoons white

peppercorns

Kosher salt

2 pounds bone-in, skin-on

chicken thighs, skin removed

1 pound baby bok choy,

trimmed and cut crosswise into

½-inch pieces

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons unseasoned

rice vinegar

Kosher salt and ground white

pepper

Chile oil or toasted sesame

oil, to serve

On a 6-quart Instant Pot, select

More/High Sauté. Add the

oil and heat until shimmering.

Add the ginger and garlic and

cook, stirring, until fragrant,

about 30 seconds. Pour in the

sherry and bring to a boil. Stir

in 6 cups water, the peppercorns

and 2 teaspoons salt. Add the

chicken thighs, arranging them

in an even layer.

To cook in a pressure cooker:

Press Cancel, lock the lid in

place and move the pressure

valve to Sealing. Select Pressure

Cook or Manual; make sure the

pressure level is set to High. Set

the cooking time for 20 minutes.

When pressure cooking

is complete, let the pressure

reduce naturally for 15 minutes,

then release the remaining

steam by moving the pressure

valve to Venting. Press Cancel,

then carefully open the pot.

To cook using the slowcooker

setting: With the pot still

on More/High Sauté, bring the

mixture to a boil. Press Cancel,

lock the lid in place and move

the pressure valve to Venting.

Select Slow Cook and set the

temperature to Less/Low. Set the

cooking time for 5 to 6 hours; the

chicken is done when a skewer

inserted into a piece meets no

resistance. Press Cancel, then

carefully open the pot.

To finish: Using a slotted

spoon, transfer the chicken to

a plate and set aside to cool

slightly. Meanwhile, pour the

broth through a fine-mesh

strainer set over a large bowl;

discard the solids in the strainer.

Let the broth settle for about

5 minutes, then, using a large

spoon, skim off and discard

the fat from the surface. Return

the broth to the pot. Remove

and discard any bones from the

chicken and shred or chop the

meat into bite-size pieces.

Select Normal/Medium

Sauté and bring the broth to a

simmer. Stir in the bok choy

and cook, stirring occasionally,

until the stems are tender, about

3 minutes. Stir in the chicken,

scallions, cilantro and vinegar.

Taste and season with salt and

ground white pepper. Serve

drizzled with chile oil or sesame

oil. Serves 6.

— From “Milk Street

Fast and Slow: Instant Pot

Cooking at the Speed You

Need” by Christopher Kimball

(Voracious, $30)

CHICKEN POT PIE

SOUP WITH PUFF PASTRY

CROUTONS

Roasted chicken breasts and

stock provide the foundation for

this beyond-comforting dish.

It’s all the richness of savory pot

pie in soup form, created by the

queen herself. You may already

have most of the ingredients in

this recipe — which is featured

in Ina Garten’s new pandemic-minded

“Modern Comfort

Food” (Clarkson Potter; $35)

— though you may need to

pick up the sherry and fresh tarragon.

Oh, and the Pepperidge

Farm frozen puff pastry to make

those darling croutons.

A few notes: First, wet leeks

will steam, rather than sauté,

Garten says. So chop the white

and light green parts, wash them

well in a bowl of water and then

spin them dry in a salad spinner.

Wondra, if you’re unfamiliar

with it, is basically an instant

flour. It’s precooked, dried and

so finely ground, it’s often used

to thicken sauces and gravies

because it dissolves so easily,

without clumping. You’ll find

it in a bright blue can on the

supermarket flour aisle. If you

don’t have Wondra on hand,

mix a similar amount of all-purpose

flour with a little water

or stock, and add the resulting

paste to the broth to thicken it.

And the key to using puff

pastry is to keep it very cold

until it goes into the hot oven.

Defrost frozen puff pastry overnight

in the refrigerator, then

roll it, cut it and bake it just before

serving.

— Jessica Yadegaran, The

Mercury News

3 chicken breasts, skin-on,

bone-in (2 1/2 to 3 pounds total)

Good olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly

ground black pepper

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted

butter

5 cups chopped leeks, white

and light green parts (3 leeks)

4 cups chopped fennel, tops

and cores removed (2 bulbs)

3 cups (1/2-inch) diced

scrubbed carrots (5 medium)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3

cloves)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh

tarragon leaves

1/4 cup Wondra flour

3/4 cup cream sherry, divided

use

7 cups good chicken stock,

preferably homemade

1 (2-by-3-inch) piece of

Italian Parmesan rind

10-ounce package frozen

peas

1 cup frozen whole pearl

onions

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Heat your oven to 350

degrees.


FEBRUARY 4, 2021

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 9

When will you feel safe to travel?

Five epidemiologists share hopes, fears, data, guess

BY CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS

LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES — How do

you measure the risks of pandemic

travel, and when will the

time be right to go again?

We asked five infectious

disease experts, including one

who hadn’t left home in four

days, one who has taken two

Mexican vacations since March

and one who recently awakened

from a COVID-19/Disneyland

nightmare.

The first thing we must

do, they agreed, is stay close

to home for at least several

more months, get vaccinated,

and watch virus transmission

and ICU numbers closely.

Putting down the pandemic in

California and elsewhere, they

said, will depend on how faithfully

we use masks, keep our

distance and wash our hands

— habits that will remain vital

as authorities strive to vaccinate

300 million or more Americans

by summer.

“I will never get on an airplane

again without a mask,”

said Dr. Kimberly Shriner, an

infectious disease specialist

at Huntington Hospital in

Pasadena.

“Now is not the time to be

traveling. For leisure or business,”

said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, a

professor of infectious diseases

at McGovern Medical School at

UTHealth in Houston.

If you fly now, said Dr.

Krutika Kuppalli in Charleston,

South Carolina, “you can almost

guarantee that there are going to

be people on the airplane with

you who have COVID.”

These experts all are wary

of new variants of the virus.

None is flying now. Three have

spent recent months within 120

miles of their home, as authorities

urge all Californians to do.

(That advisory remains in place,

despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s

loosening of many restrictions

on Jan. 25.) But their perspectives

vary:

The numbers he watches

Ostrosky, born in Mexico

City, has a lot of family there.

So when his grandmother died

recently, he thought about

making the trip south. Mexico

is one of the few countries

Americans can visit without a

mandated quarantine.

But after much talk, he stayed

put in the U.S. because of the

pandemic. Before he resumes

travel, he said, he’ll ask several

questions.

What’s the positivity rate? “I

would avoid traveling to any

place that has a positivity rate

over 5 percent,” he said. Above

that, “you dramatically increase

your chances of exposure.”

California’s seven-day average

positivity rate — the number of

COVID-19 tests that yield positive

results — was 12.4 percent

on Jan. 27.

How full and how capable are

the hospitals? Scores of U.S.

hospitals are at surge capacity,

with shortages of ICU beds.

Because most county governments

report COVID-19 information

daily, Ostrosky said,

“it’s actually pretty easy” to

find data. As for capability, any

hospital with a Level 1 trauma

center (the most comprehensive

trauma care) would satisfy him,

Ostrosky said. The American

College of Surgeons maintains

a database.

Does this destination require

testing to enter or leave? Many

travelers might hope for that,

but “I just don’t want to get

stuck somewhere,” Ostrosky

said. “People can test positive

for a long period of time

without being infectious.”

This is now a factor in any

flight to the U.S., including returning

round-trip flights. As

of Jan. 26, the U.S. Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention

requires all air travelers to show

a recent negative COVID-19

test result before they can board

any flight heading to the U.S.

What haunts a doctor’s

dreams?

Shriner, who also is a tropical

disease specialist and director of

the Pasadena Travel Medicine

clinic, has been vacationing in

Europe for years and has spent

more than 20 years making regular

visits to a medical project

in Tanzania.

But at Huntington Hospital,

ever since the holidays, “we’re

just absolutely getting hammered

with cases of people who

traveled,” she said.

Outside the hospital, Shriner

has done some driving around

California but hasn’t flown

since March. Like her colleagues,

she believes that

driving (especially if you bring

food and avoid public toilets)

is safer than flying and much

safer than cruise ships (most of

which are idle now).

Like Ostrosky, she wants to

see a positivity rate of 5% or

less at her departure point and

at her destination. For data, she

recommends the Johns Hopkins

University Coronavirus

Resource Center.

Shriner likes the idea of airlines

and destinations requiring

negative test results or vaccination.

Whether or not those are

required, Shriner said, people

should get vaccinated, wait at

least four weeks (to allow resistance

to strengthen), and consider

their age and immunity

history before making travel

plans.

In darker moments, she said,

she worries that “this could just

go on for another year or two

PHOTO | LOS ANGELES TIMES

How do you measure the risks of pandemic travel, and when

will the time be right to go again? Five experts weigh in.

if people don’t widely accept

the vaccine.” She also shared

a recent nightmare: She was

on the Pirates of the Caribbean

ride at Disneyland (which remains

closed) surrounded by

unmasked strangers.

On the brighter side, she’s

hopeful that travel might be safe

as soon as late summer or early

fall. “But it is all dependent on

human behavior,” Shriner said,

“and we know how unreliable

that is!”

What keeps Dr. Kuppalli

home

Kuppalli moved in August

from the San Francisco Bay

Area to Charleston, where she

is an assistant professor in the

division of infectious diseases

at the Medical University of

South Carolina. She grew up in

the Bay Area and had planned

to visit her parents there this

month.

Then the numbers surged. “I

decided not to travel,” she said

in mid-January. “I haven’t left

my house in the last four days.”

To assess risk, “you can’t

look at one particular piece of

information,” she said. “You

have to look at the entire thing.

... I totally get that this is hard

for everybody. But this is not

the time to travel. We all need

to be thinking not just about

ourselves, but everybody.”

Escaping the purple tier

Before Dr. Nancy Binkin

became a professor at the

Wertheim School of Public

Health and Human Longevity

Science at UC San Diego, she

lived for 12 years in Italy, doing

epidemiology training for the

Italian National Institute of

Health.

So when that country’s fatalities

soared in the early weeks

of the pandemic, followed by

escalating U.S. numbers, “it put

fear into me,” Binkin said. “I

have not been out of San Diego

County since March.”

One pandemic number she

watches closely is the adjusted

case rate. That count measures

the seven-day average of daily

new cases per 100,000 people

(jails and prisons excluded).

Any number above seven per

100,000 puts a county in the

state’s most dangerous category,

the purple tier. On Jan. 27,

California’s statewide rate was

71.6 per 100,000. Before she

travels, Binkin wants to see that

number below seven.

When it comes to flying, she

worries about jet cabins and tiny

bathrooms, but perhaps even

more, she worries about the

lines of people and gathering

points at airports, she said.

“Would I feel comfortable

going down to Mexico? No,”

she said. “I wouldn’t.”

About that second trip to

Mexico...

Dr. W. David Hardy, former

director of Cedars-Sinai

Medical Center’s infectious diseases

division and adjunct clinical

professor at USC’s Keck

School of Medicine, has mixed

feelings.

He’s angry about “rampant

disregard for science” and inconsistent

messaging under

the Trump administration. But

Hardy sees great hope in the

vaccines.

When he was treating HIV

patients during the grimmest

years of the 1980s, Hardy recalled,

there was no such cause

for encouragement.

“To have a vaccine [that prevents]

90-95 percent of people

from getting sick is amazing,”

Snow Removal

and

Tree Removal

and

Dog Waste

Removal

Hardy said. He suggests that the

vaccines are “going to be the

final answer,” especially if the

vaccines thwart transmission

of the virus as well as block

symptoms.

Yet “the metrics for measuring

transmission are ever changeable,

and it may be difficult

planning travel based on those,”

he said. “They are going to be

fluctuating for a while. I would

say from six months to a year.”

Since March, Hardy said, he

has scrubbed trips to Europe,

North Africa and Hawaii. But

in September, after California’s

first surge had passed, Hardy

and his partner flew to Los

Cabos, in Baja California,

Mexico, for a vacation. It went

well. So in December Hardy

and his partner flew again, this

time to Cancún and Playa del

Carmen on Mexico’s east coast,

where they found “the local

people there were using masks

religiously.”

The other visitors? Not so

much.

“I would say 50-60 percent of

the tourists were completely ignoring

the mask requirements.”

Most of them were

Americans, Hardy said, and he

began asking people to put on

their masks — or if they had no

mask, “to step away from where

I was standing.”

“The whole experience was

“confusing and disconcerting,”

he said. “When I got home from

my second trip to Mexico, I

turned to my partner and said,

‘This is not a good time to

travel.’ … People are not adhering

to what they should be

adhering to.”

In some respects, Hardy said,

that behavior reminds him of

the 1980s when HIV was new.

Then as now, he said, “until one

of your friends, family or work

associates dies of this disease,

you still look at it as a sort of

distant thing that doesn’t affect

you.”

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10

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Sports

FILE PHOTO | OLIVIA FALCIGNO

Reilly Ganter was one of five seniors honored by the Peabody/

Lynnfield girls hockey team tbefore Friday’s win.

Peabody/Lynnfield girls

hockey stays hot with

win on Senior Night

By Mike Alongi

The Peabody/Lynnfield girls

hockey team celebrated its

Senior Night in style Friday

evening, notching a 4-1 win

over Northeastern Hockey

League foe Beverly/Danvers

at McVann-O’Keefe Memorial

Rink.

Before the game, the Tanners

honored their group of five

seniors — Jen Flynn, Paige

Thibedeau, Reilly Ganter, Elise

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Staunton and Chloe Shapleigh

— for their contributions to the

program.

Staunton and Flynn scored

one goal each in the win, as

did sophomore Jenna DiNapoli

and freshman Catie Kampersal.

Junior Catherine Sweeney and

sophomore Hannah Gromko

each had one assist.

Peabody/Lynnfield (6-1-0)

plays on the road at Marblehead

Saturday afternoon (4).

PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK

Lynnfield senior Luke Martinho scored 22 points to lead the way for the Pioneers in a win over

Ipswich Friday.

Lynnfield boys basketball

pulls away late to win

By Mike Alongi

LYNNFIELD — In what was

a back-and-forth game through

three quarters, the Lynnfield

boys basketball team was able

to pull away late and cruise to

a 66-53 win over Cape Ann

League foe Ipswich at home

Friday evening. The Pioneers

caught fire in the first four

minutes of the fourth quarter,

extending a three-point lead to

a 12-point lead in a matter of

minutes.

“This win was a total team effort,”

said Lynnfield coach John

Bakopolus. “We really moved

the ball well and got great

shots, especially in the second

half. The guys really committed

to not allowing second-chance

points and they did a great job

of limiting Ipswich.”

Luke Martinho led the way

for Lynnfield with 22 points,

including five 3-pointers. Jack

Ford added 14 points in the

win, while Alex Gentile scored

11 points.

Despite Lynnfield getting

out to a 7-2 lead in the opening

minutes of the game, Ipswich

rallied back quickly and the

game was a track meet from

there. After three ties and four

lead changes, the score stood

knotted at 15-15 after the first

quarter.

The second quarter was much

of the same, with the two teams

battling through four ties and

seven lead changes throughout

the frame. After Martinho

knocked down a 3-pointer at the

buzzer, Lynnfield took a 36-34

lead into the halftime break.

The third quarter was still a

fight, but the Pioneers started

to pull away a bit. Lynnfield

managed to stretch its lead to

as many as six points in the

quarter, eventually taking a

49-43 lead into the fourth.

That’s when the Pioneers

turned it on. Behind some

timely shooting and solid defensive

play, Lynnfield got itself

on a run and never looked

back. In the blink of an eye,

the Pioneers opened up a 15-

point lead midway through

the quarter and took complete

control. Lynnfield was able to

cruise to victory from there,

holding its double-digit lead

until the final buzzer sounded.

“The guys responded well to

the challenge,” said Bakopolus.

“Ipswich made a run and got to

within two, but then our guys

really flipped the switch and

went on a run of their own.

We’ve been playing well lately

and it was nice to see us turn it

on like that when we needed it.”

Lynnfield (3-5) will play its

penultimate game of the season

Thursday evening (6) at home

against Pentucket.

“We have two games left in

the season and we’re happy

with how we’re playing, so

we’re ready to take on whatever

is put in front of us,” said

Bakopolus.


FEBRUARY 4, 2021

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 11

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS SCHEDULE

THURSDAY

Boys Basketball

Pentucket at Lynnfield (5:45)

Salem Academy at Bishop Fenwick (6:30)

Boys Hockey

Bishop Fenwick at Pope Francis (7:40)

FRIDAY

Boys Basketball

Peabody at Winthrop (6)

Bishop Fenwick at Austin Prep (6:30)

Girls Basketball

Winthrop at Peabody (7)

Boys Hockey

Danvers at Peabody (5:15)

SATURDAY

Boys Basketball

Salem Academy vs. Bishop Fenwick

(1:30)

Girls Basketball

Bishop Fenwick at Dexter Southfield

(2:30)

Boys Hockey

North Reading at Lynnfield (12)

Arlington Catholic at Bishop Fenwick (7)

Girls Hockey

Peabody/Lynnfield at Marblehead (4)

St. Mary’s at Bishop Fenwick (6:20)

Swimming

Salem, Swampscott at Peabody (4)

Gymnastics

Bishop Fenwick at Beverly (1:30)

Danvers at Peabody (5:30)

SUNDAY

Girls Hockey

Shawsheen Tech at Bishop Fenwick (9)

Gymnastics

Peabody at Gloucester (4)

MONDAY

Boys Basketball

Austin Prep at Bishop Fenwick (6:30)

Girls Basketball

Bishop Fenwick at Austin Prep (4:30)

Rockport at Lynnfield (5:45)

TUESDAY

Boys Basketball

Peabody at Beverly (6)

Girls Basketball

Beverly at Peabody (7)

Swampscott at Winthrop (7)

WEDNESDAY

Boys Basketball

Bishop Fenwick at Arlington Catholic

(6:30)

Girls Basketball

Arlington Catholic at Bishop Fenwick

(6:30)

Boys Hockey

Swampscott at Peabody (5:15)

Bishop Fenwick at Archbishop Williams

(7)

Triton at Lynnfield (8:15)

Girls Hockey

Peabody/Lynnfield at Winthrop (6:10)

Bishop Fenwick at St. Mary’s (7)

FILE PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK

Jack Ford (right) and the Lynnfield football team are looking forward to hopefully returning to

the field for practice starting Feb. 22.

Local football coaches looking

ahead to a season after all

By Mike Alongi

Following Friday afternoon’s

unanimous decision to approve

the safety modifications that

will allow for a football season

starting in late February, football

coaches across the North Shore

kicked their preparations into

high gear. With just 20 days until

practices are officially allowed

to begin, the time has come to

put the pedal to the medal. The

current plan is for football to

run during the “Fall Sports II”

season, which will take place

from Feb. 22 to April 25.

“Our guys couldn’t be more

excited,” said Bishop Fenwick

football coach David Woods,

who also serves as Fenwick’s

athletic director. “We’ve been

trying to prepare for this for

awhile now, but it was still uncertain

which way it was going

to go. Now that we know we

have a path forward, we’re ready

to hit the ground running.”

“The biggest positive in all

of this is that the kids are going

to get a chance to play, and for

that we’re all very grateful,” said

Peabody football coach Mark

Bettencourt. “It looks like we’ll

be able to play a seven- or eightweek

season, and as coaches

that’s everything we could’ve

asked for under the circumstances.

It’s going to be great

for the players, especially the

seniors.”

“This has been a long time

coming and everyone in our

community is so excited,” said

Lynnfield football coach Pat

Lamusta. “We’re fortunate that

here in Lynnfield, hockey and

basketball have gone really

smoothly and I think it’s giving

everyone confidence that we’ll

be able to safely have football as

well.”

While individual school districts

will still need to approve

football and other sports for

the “Fall Sports II” season, the

working theory is that schools

currently playing during the

winter season — including

schools in the Northeastern

Conference, Catholic Central

League and Cape Ann League

— will likely approve sports for

“Fall Sports II.”

Some programs, such as

Greater Boston League schools

Lynn English, Lynn Classical

and Revere, will have a delayed

start to football and other sports

due to the GBL’s adjusted sports

calendar. Those schools are

planning to start football practices

on March 1 at the earliest,

with games coming during a sixweek

season from April 12 to

May 15.

Unlike other fall sports such as

soccer and field hockey, football

won’t be seeing drastic changes

to its on-field rules. Many of the

modifications involve sideline

and bench procedures. Some of

the modifications that will be put

in place for this season are:

— Masks must be worn at all

times. Neck gaiter masks will

not be allowed for football.

— There will be no locker

room use for any teams.

— The “team box” on the

sideline will be extended to the

10-yard line to allow sufficient

space for social distancing.

— The maximum number of

players on a game-day roster

will be 45, and there will be six

coaches allowed per team.

— Timeouts will be held at

the 25-yard line.

— Indoor practices will not

be allowed under any circumstances,

including inside field

houses, bubbles or gyms.

“I think the biggest issue for

us as a team is going to be the

roster limits, because we anticipate

having 80 guys come

out for the team this year,” said

Woods. “But at the same time,

everyone has to deal with it and

we’ll adjust accordingly.”

At the end of the day, last

week’s news mostly just brought

relief and excitement that a football

season will be allowed to

happen after all.

“When I told my seniors, I

think some of them didn’t even

know whether to believe me or

not,” said Lamusta. “They were

strung along a bit in the summer

about the fall season and then

that was taken away, and I think

they really weren’t sure if they

were going to be able to play.

Now, our guys get a chance to go

out there and compete and leave

a legacy behind.”

“Now that we have this decision,

we can refocus ourselves

and really get moving on preparing

for the season,” said

Bettencourt. “You can deal with

snow or cold weather, but you

can’t deal with not being allowed

to play. Since we’ve gotten over

that hurdle, it’s time to get ready

to play again.”

“A lot of our guys have been

working out for football since

the day after the (2019 Division

6) Super Bowl, so it’s been

more than a year since we’ve

been on the field,” said Woods,

whose Crusaders finished as

the Division 6 runner-up that

year. “We have 18 seniors on

our team and a lot of them have

been playing since they were

freshmen, so to be able to give

them one final season of playing

with their brothers is a great

thing.”

FILE PHOTO | JOE BROWN

Grace Klonsky had nine points and four rebounds for the

Pioneers in a win over Manchester-Essex last Wednesday.

Lynnfield girls basketball

earns second straight victory

By Mike Alongi

MANCHESTER — The

Lynnfield girls basketball team

won its second game in as

many days Wednesday evening,

notching a 39-27 victory

over Cape Ann League foe

Manchester-Essex on the road.

With the win, the Pioneers move

back to an even .500 on the

season.

“It’s exciting that we’ve been

able to fight back to get to this

point where we can kind of reset

and take on the last part of the

season,” said Lynnfield coach

Jeannine Cavallaro. “We faced

a few powerhouses early in the

season and we weren’t playing

great, but lately we’ve really

started to come into our own.

We were a little flat at times

(Wednesday), but we came out

ready to play and we fought the

whole way.”

Senior captain Ava Buonfiglio

led the way for Lynnfield with

13 points and four rebounds,

while senior captain Grace

Klonsky had nine points and

four rebounds. Senior captain

Caroline Waisnor had eight

points and six rebounds, while

sophomore Isabella George had

seven points and three rebounds.

Juniors Abby Adamo and Riley

Hallahan each had six rebounds

in the win.

The Pioneers came out like

they were fired out of a cannon

in the first quarter, sprinting out

to a 13-0 lead in the opening

minutes of the game. After

taking a 15-2 lead into the start

of the second quarter, Lynnfield

looked to be in complete control.

While the Pioneers continued

to hold onto an eight-point lead

midway through the second

quarter, Manchester-Essex continued

to battle back. By halftime,

the Pioneers only led by

six points at 21-15.

But in the third quarter,

Lynnfield started to pull away

again. The Pioneers locked down

on defense and pushed their lead

back to 11 points, eventually

taking a 10-point lead into the

final quarter before coasting to

a victory.

“We showed a lot of grit in

this win,” Cavallaro said. “Even

though we led wire-to-wire, we

still had to battle to get out of a

rut and hold on to win the game.

I really liked the mentality that

we came with.”

Lynnfield (3-3) travels to

Ipswich Friday evening (5:45).

“We’re excited for what we

can do the rest of the way this

year,” said Cavallaro. “We’re

starting to hit our stride and I

think we’re starting to gain some

confidence, and hopefully we

can continue to ride this positive

wave.”


12

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

PHOTOS | SPENSER HASAK

Skull Cliff is a 30-foot cliff located in the abandoned Kallenberg

Quarry in Lynnfield. Rocks located around the cliif are covered

in graffiti and art including colorful skulls and bones that

have stood the test of time after being painted by an anonymous

artist, “Ichabod,” in 2001.

Where the

writing’s on

the wall

By Daniel Kane

Thousands of cars drive

by the Kelly Jeep dealership

on Route 1 in Lynnfield everyday,

but the lot isn’t just

filled with new cars. Almost

hidden in the back is a

parking spot only big enough

for several cars at a time,

spaces for those heading

into the long abandoned

Kallenberg Quarry.

Lynnfield nature enthusiasts

may think of other spots

when they want to get away

for a hike or a walk, but

Kallenberg, also known as

Bow Ridge Reservation, is a

backyard spot good enough

to scratch the itch.

The reservation is certainly

no secret to local mountain

bikers. The rocky trails

lining the woods have been

known as some of the best

around, including some interesting

names like “Awesome

Sauce,” “Chicken Soup” and

“Wicked Hard Trail.”

Filled with blocks of

granite, once harvested to

construct buildings in the

surrounding area, the vast

woods is also home to the

town’s highest point in a 30-

foot tall mound of rock.

That point is remarkable

for a different reason as well

and you’ll know it when you

see it. The rock is tiered with

worn-down graffiti depicting

blue, green and red skulls.

Fittingly named Skull Rock,

the graffiti has been there for

more almost two decades and

while it’s been the victim of

some unwelcome additions

in the form of spray-paint

over the years, it’s become

an unofficial monument for

hikers.

On the other side of the

rock, the artist responsible

for the macabre mural calls

his or herself Ichabod — although

the signature has been

covered with spray paint over

the years. A quote on the rock

reads, “Take the knowledge

that you will someday be

these bones and enjoy now

all that is precious.”

The wall of bones is even

featured in the book Weird

Massachusetts.

Taking a path to the top of

the rock provides a few unlike

any other in town where

on a clear day you can see

the Boston skyline and the

tops of the apartments at

Lynnfield Commons.


FEBRUARY 4, 2021

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 13

Cancer treatment crosses a frontier

Harold Brubaker

The Philadelphia

Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA – As she

fights cancer, Lisa Oney is not

shackled to a hospital bed for days

at a time, stuck there while she is

infused with chemotherapy drugs.

She’s undergoing chemo at

home — even on the move. At

times, the life-saving medicine is

flowing into her as she drives to

make curbside pickups at Target.

Thanks to a new program at

Penn Medicine, Oney, 33, carries

her chemotherapy medicine in a

backpack with a small pump that

feeds the drug into her body. “I’m

able to walk around, and take care

of my kids,” she said. “I can go

places.”

Typically, her particular regimen

of chemotherapy would require

several five-day stays in the hospital

spread over 18 weeks. The

trouble was, Oney needed to be

home in Souderton to care for her

3-month-old son and 3-year-old

daughter.

“I couldn’t do that,” she said,

referring to the hospital visits.

“My husband wouldn’t be able to

work.”

Because of COVID-19, Oney

and her husband, Kevin O’Driscoll,

also can’t accept help from friends

and coworkers. The risk of her

catching the coronavirus or something

else is too great.

Chemotherapy at home is a

rising trend, driven by patient convenience

and the widespread fear

of hospitals during the pandemic.

But as much as patients love it,

antiquated health-care billing systems,

especially in Medicare, remain

a formidable obstacle to the

practice.

Penn’s shift of some chemotherapy

treatments to home started

on a small scale before the pandemic,

but then took off, according

to Justin Bekelman, the radiation

oncologist who directs the Penn

Center for Cancer Care Innovation

Under the at-home process, Penn

nurses drive to patients’ residences

to set up the complex lines and

do the injections involved in the

cancer treatment, which in Oney’s

case continues for days. After that,

the backpack-wearing patients are

free to go about their lives.

Bekelman said that Penn had

good reasons to launch the effort.

“It’s obviously patient-centric and

will enhance patients’ experience

of cancer treatment,” he said, “but

also our infusion suites were all full

up.”

Most experts see the move as

positive for employers and taxpayers,

who pay much of the cost

of health care. Insurers pay less for

patients who choose an at-home

option as opposed to infusion at

their main facility or even a specialist’s

office.

Aetna, a major health insurer

in the Philadelphia region, said

last year that a single infusion of

a specialty drug in a hospital, even

on an outpatient basis, costs more

PHOTO | PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Lisa Oney juggles her chemotherapy treatment bag on her right shoulder and three-month-old

Jack O’Driscoll in her left arm while daughter Fiona O’Driscoll, 3, has a snack in the kitchen.

than $20,000. The savings from

moving it to an independent outpatient

center can exceed 50%, it

said. Home treatments save about

the same, experts said.

But chemo in the home means

much less money for hospitals,

Bekelman noted, making it harder

to expand the treatments.

“We need a payment model that

keeps health-care providers whole

irrespective of where we deliver

the treatment,” he said. “That’s a

crucial incentive for health systems

to invest in providing more care at

home and other less expensive locations

— a shift that should ultimately

save insurers money.”

A more logical payment system

would promote changes such as inhome

chemotherapy. And there has

been some movement in that direction,

said Larry Levitt, a health

policy scholar at the Kaiser Family

Foundation. One approach would

be to uncouple insurance payments

from specific procedures, he said.

“The concept is to pay providers

a flat amount for certain patients or

conditions,” Levitt said, “and let

the providers figure out the best

way to deliver care, keeping any

savings they realize.”

He added: “The key is to build

in safeguards to prevent providers

from skimping on care.”

Not a new concept

Since at least the mid-1990s,

home health care companies have

talked about providing in-home

chemotherapy, but little has come

of it.

John Sprandio, an oncologist

with offices in Delaware and

Chester Counties, welcomes athome

chemotherapy, but cautions

that it is actually more costly to

provide than many realize.

“In terms of efficiency,”

Sprandio said, “it’s obviously more

cost-effective to administer these

drugs for the majority of patients in

a group setting where you have a

team of a dozen nurses and 28 or

30 treatment areas that’s equipped

to handle anything.”

Meanwhile, major trade associations

such as the American Society

of Clinical Oncology and the

Community Oncology Alliance

have formally opposed the practice.

In statements last year, they

cited a fear that patients might have

a bad drug reaction with no doctors

nearby.

Richard Snyder, chief medical

officer for the parent company of

Independent Blue Cross, said he

was convinced that the trend was

safe.

“Physicians and hospitals tend

to be creatures of habit,” Snyder

said. “We keep doing what seems

to work for us, and so we’re not inclined

to change our habit of giving

the medication in a hospital or a

higher-cost setting.”

Snyder described Penn as being

at the forefront of moving chemotherapy

to the home, where the patient

is probably as safe as possible

from exposure to COVID-19 and

other infections.

Penn’s Cancer Care at Home

program ramped up from 39 patients

in March to more than 300

within a month as patients were

eager to avoid hospitals. In all of

last year, nearly 1,500 Penn patients

received in-home chemo.

Currently, patients with breast

cancer, prostate cancer and lymphoma

are candidates for the program,

Bekelman said. Penn hopes

to add patients with lung cancer,

head and neck cancers, and others,

but that depends on higher reimbursements

and other changes to

insurance plans.

Bekelman said the goal wasn’t

to transfer all cancer care, but to

establish that it can be done safely

off premises.

He noted that there were some

limits because the risk of side effects

was too severe with some

chemo drugs.

Other Philadelphia-area providers

of cancer care are not as

active. Jefferson Health’s Sidney

Kimmel Cancer Center has helped

only 50 or so in-home patients in

recent years. Fox Chase Cancer

Center said it has no plans to join

the trend. Nor does MD Anderson

Cancer Center at Cooper hospital

in Camden.

Nationally, CVS Health has

joined Penn in trying to move

more chemotherapy treatments to

homes. This month, CVS, which

owns Aetna, announced that its

infusion unit, Coram, would work

with Cancer Treatment Centers

of America to do that, starting in

Atlanta.

The insurance problem

Limiting wider adoption of inhome

chemotherapy is a legacy

payment system that provides

much larger reimbursement

when the treatments are done at a

hospital.

Comparisons for such costs at

different sites are hard to find. But

a 2019 report showed that the average

claim for an injection of infliximab,

used to treat autoimmune

diseases, was about $3,100 in a

physician’s office, compared with

$5,800 in a hospital’s outpatient

department. Bekelman said that

the same pattern holds for chemotherapy

drugs and that reimbursement

at home is similar to in a physician’s

office.

Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel

Cancer Center has received widely

varying reimbursement rates for

home infusion. Some plans reimburse

“on par with on-site infusion,

Offer available to new subscribers only

while others reimburse at very

low levels or not at all,” Karen E.

Knudsen, a top oncology expert at

Jefferson, said in an email.

Timothy Kubal, an oncologist

who directs the infusion center

at the Moffit Cancer Center in

Tampa, Fla., predicted that much

more cancer care could be provided

in the home within a decade,

“but in between now and then,

there’s going to be a lot of conversation

about what’s the right rate.”

The patient’s perspective

The bulk of the cancer patients

Penn has been treating at home —

instead of at an infusion center —

are receiving injections for breast

and prostate cancer. Penn Home

Infusion nurses work around the

patients’ schedules to they don’t

have to lose time at jobs, Bekelman

said.

Avoiding a hospital stay, as

Oney, the patient from Souderton,

is doing, is an even bigger deal

during the pandemic.

“We have generally seen

that being in the hospital can be

tough, no family, food is different.

Depression can set in, so overall

I think this is a good trend if patients

can manage at home,” said

Kelly Harris, CEO of the nonprofit

Cancer Support Community

Greater Philadelphia.

Oney was diagnosed with lymphoma

in November, just two

weeks after her son was born.

Before she began receiving steady

treatment at home, she was given

her first round of chemo in the hospital

to ensure that she didn’t have

an adverse reaction.

There was none. But on one later

evening, Oney, a neonatal nurse

at Grand View Hospital in upper

Bucks County, got a headache as

soon as the infusion started — possibly

because she had forgotten to

take the medication out of the refrigerator

ahead of time.

Oney got a quick response from

Penn’s on-call oncologist, who told

her to take ibuprofen. “It’s all very

connected,” she said.

Although being home doesn’t

head off the miserable side effects

of chemotherapy, she considers it

a blessing to avoid those overnight

hospital says.

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WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK

State Sen. Brendan Crighton is a strong proponent for climate

change legislation.

Landmark

climate change

bill awaits

Baker’s approval

By Guthrie Scrimgeour

BOSTON – The

Massachusetts State Senate

and House of Representatives

has passed legislation that,

if approved by Governor

Charlie Baker, would overhaul

state climate laws, drive

down greenhouse gas emissions,

create clean-energy

jobs, and protect environmental

justice communities.

“I am proud to have contributed

meaningful language

to the new law and

hope that other states look

to what we are doing here as

a blueprint for meaningful

action,” said Representative

Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead,

after the measure was passed

Thursday. “We owe a livable

planet to future generations.”

The bill, An Act Creating

a Next-Generation Roadmap

for Massachusetts Climate

Policy, was passed by the

legislature but vetoed by

Baker at the end of the last

legislative session due to disagreements

about building

codes and the timeline for

emission reductions.

“I hope that he reconsiders

his position, and we’ll certainly

review what he sends

over to us,” said Senator

Brendan Crighton, D-Lynn.

“It’s a strong bill. We want to

lead the country in emissions

reduction, and we stand by

the goals that we set.”

Notably, the legislation

would set a statewide netzero

limit on greenhouse gas

emissions by 2050 and mandate

emissions limits every

five years, as well as limits

for specific sectors of the

economy like transport and

buildings.

The legislation would also

increase the requirements

for offshore wind energy

procurement, require emission

reduction goals for

MassSave, the state’s energy

efficiency program, establish

the criteria in statutes that

define environmental justice

populations, increase support

for clean-energy workforce

development programs, and

improve gas-pipeline safety.

The focus on gas-pipeline

safety comes after a series

of gas explosions rocked the

Merrimack Valley in 2018,

killing 18-year-old Leonel

Rondon.

The National Safety

Transportation Board reported

that the explosion

came as a result of inadequate

management and poor

oversight that led to a castiron

pipe being improperly

abandoned by Columbia Gas,

which owned the pipelines.

The measures in the bill

include increased fines for

safety violations and regulations

related to training and

certifying utility contractors.

“(I’m) proud to join my

legislative colleagues to reenact

the climate bill that

would take swift and substantive

action to protect

our planet,” said Senator

Joan B. Lovely, D-Salem.

“Thank you to Senate

President (Karen) Spilka,

House Speaker (Robert)

Mariano, Senator (Michael)

Barrett and Representative

(Thomas) Golden for their

LEGAL NOTICE

MORTGAGEE'S SALE OF REAL ESTATE

By virtue of and in execution of the Power of Sale contained in a certain mortgage

given by Senka Huskic and Nidzad Huskic to Mortgage Electronic Registration

Systems, Inc, as mortgagee, acting solely as nominee for Mortgage Master, Inc.,

dated February 27, 2004 and recorded in Essex County (Southern District)

Registry of Deeds in Book 22443, Page 495 (the "Mortgage") of which mortgage

U.S. Bank Trust National Association as trustee of Tiki Series IV Trust is the present

holder by Assignment from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. to Ixis

Real Estate Capital Inc. dated July 15, 2010 and recorded at said Registry of

Deeds in Book 29606, Page 359, and Corrective Assignment from Mortgage

Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. to Natixis Real Estate Capital, Inc. f/k/a Ixis

Real Estate Capital, Inc. dated May 16, 2018 and recorded at said Registry of

Deeds in Book 36766, Page 432, and Assignment from Ixis Real Estate Capital,

Inc. to Homeward Residential, Inc. dated August 14, 2012 and recorded at said

Registry of Deeds in Book 31755, Page 220, and Corrective Assignment from

Natixis Estate Holdings LLC, successor in interest by merger to Natixis Real Estate

Capital, Inc. f/k/a Ixis Real Estate Capital, Inc. to Homeward Residential, Inc.

dated August 8, 2018 and recorded at said Registry of Deeds in Book 36965,

Page 373, and Assignment from Bank of America, N.A., successor by merger to

BAC Home Loans Servicing LP f/k/a Countrywide Home Loans Servicing, LP to

American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. dated May 29, 2012 and recorded at

said Registry of Deeds in Book 31806, Page 86, and Assignment from Homeward

Residential, Inc., FKA American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. to Nationstar

Mortgage LLC dated November 3, 2015 and recorded at said Registry of Deeds in

Book 34792, Page 373, and Assignment from Nationstar Mortgage LLC to MTGLQ

Investors, L. P. dated January 18, 2017 and recorded at said Registry of Deeds in

Book 35812, Page 38, and Assignment from MTGLQ Investors, L. P. to U.S. Bank

Trust National Association as trustee of Tiki Series IV Trust dated February 11,

2020 and recorded at said Registry of Deeds in Book 38274, Page 173, and

Assignment from MTGLQ Investors, L. P. to U.S. Bank Trust National Association as

trustee of Tiki Series IV Trust dated April 28, 2020 and recorded at said Registry of

Deeds in Book 38618, Page 473, for breach of conditions of said mortgage and

for the purpose of foreclosing the same, the mortgaged premises located at 20

Beacon Boulevard, Peabody, MA 01960 will be sold at a Public Auction at 11:00

AM on February 17, 2021, at the mortgaged premises, more particularly described

below, all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, to wit:

The land in said Peabody, with the buildings thereon, being all of Lots 153 and a

ten foot strip of the southeast side of Lot 152 on Plan of Thomas Villa, C.A. Thayer,

Engr., May, 1907, recorded with Essex South District Registry of Deeds, Book of

Plans 16, Plan 7.

Said premises are more particularly bounded and described as follows:

Northeast by Beacon Boulevard, sixty (60) feet;

Southeast by Lot 154 on said plan, eighty seven and 14/100 (87.14) feet;

Southwest by Lot 174 and 175 on said plan, sixty (60) feet; and

Northwest by the remaining part of Lot 152, about eighty six and 72/100 (86.72)

feet.

Said premises are conveyed subject to and with the benefit of easements,

reservations, restrictions and rights of way of record so far as the same are now in

force and applicable.

For mortgagor's title see deed recorded with the Essex County (Southern District)

Registry of Deeds in Book 22443, Page 493.

The premises will be sold subject to any and all unpaid taxes and other municipal

assessments and liens, and subject to prior liens or other enforceable

encumbrances of record entitled to precedence over this mortgage, and subject to

and with the benefit of all easements, restrictions, reservations and conditions of

record and subject to all tenancies and/or rights of parties in possession.

Terms of the Sale: Cashier's or certified check in the sum of $5,000.00 as a

deposit must be shown at the time and place of the sale in order to qualify as a

bidder (the mortgage holder and its designee(s) are exempt from this

requirement); high bidder to sign written Memorandum of Sale upon acceptance of

bid; balance of purchase price payable by certified check in thirty (30) days from

the date of the sale at the offices of mortgagee's attorney, Korde & Associates,

P.C., 900 Chelmsford Street, Suite 3102, Lowell, MA 01851 or such other time as

may be designated by mortgagee. The description for the premises contained in

said mortgage shall control in the event of a typographical error in this publication.

Other terms to be announced at the sale.

U.S. Bank Trust National Association as trustee of Tiki Series IV Trust

Korde & Associates, P.C.

900 Chelmsford Street

Suite 3102

Lowell, MA 01851

(978) 256-1500

Huskic, Nidzad and Senka, 12-009570

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leadership in creating a path

to a greener and more sustainable

future.”

“As a member of the

House Green Recovery

Task Force, we heard the

demands of constituents,

businesses, and environmental

groups throughout

the Commonwealth to fight

climate change and create

much-needed green employment

opportunities in the

wake of Coronavirus,” said

Representative Daniel Cahill

(D-Lynn).

The bill would create new

jobs in renewable energy by

providing incentives to install

solar technology and

requiring additional wind

power.

“I was proud to vote with

the state delegation on a bill

that addresses the terrible

effects of climate change

we have been enduring,”

said Representative Peter

Capano, D-Lynn. “And that

also provides workforce

development provisions

for workers that will be

needed as these changes are

instituted.”

The bill now sits on

Governor Baker’s desk,

awaiting his approval.


FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Christopher Borrelli

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — “I still have

to face these people,” Christie

Tate says, tugging her pandemic

mask into place, then sinking

her head into the pillowy folds

of her long black parka. “Twice

a week!”

Wind runs off the lake and

across Hyde Park; it’s colder

than expected, grayer and flatter.

“The problem is,” she continues,

“I’m a people pleaser.

And I want everyone to always

like me, and when you write a

memoir, that’s just, uh — that’s

not the standard, I suppose. Then

again, this is a unique book,

about a unique process. So there

was no standard.”

We found a park bench near

her home, the chill ebbed.

Tate, a Chicago-based lawyer

for the federal government, and

now bestselling author, is casual,

easy to talk to, accommodating.

She feels like someone

you could confide in. She’s

far from the hot mess depicted

in her memoir, “Group: How

One Therapist and a Circle of

Strangers Saved My Life.” It’s

a portrait of Tate as a flailing

young lawyer, unsure if she deserves

love, eager to be loved,

self-pitying, haunted by imposter

syndrome, a loose canon

primed for bad decisions, going

from bad boyfriend to worse

boyfriend. Reese Witherspoon,

who picked “Group” for her online

book club, tweeted: “Have

you ever read a book that made

you want to hug the author?”

Tate’s only anchor in “Group”

is the ongoing group therapy

session she joins in the Loop,

run by a Dr. Jonathan Rosen.

Before joining, she imagines the

newly divorced doctor’s heart as

“a red grammar school cutout for

Valentine’s Day with hash marks

etched across the surface .... But

then a twist: a second chance

at love with a new wife.” Tate

comes off as needy, and even

pathetic at times, and the book,

at first, reads like a treatment for

a darkest ever Hallmark Channel

movie. But then, it gets darker.

By the end of “Group,” Tate is

phoning Rosen at all hours and

screaming messages into his

voicemail, lashing out at the

group — and slowly improving.

But here’s what doesn’t

happen: The expected moment

where Tate leaves the group,

healed.

In the book, Tate changed the

name of her therapist (his name

is not “Dr. Rosen”), and she

changed the names and some

of the details of the members of

her therapy session. But as ugly

as “Group” gets — and it gets

nakedly, frothing-at-the-mouth

uncomfortable — Tate is still a

part of this group. That therapist

she writes about — at times with

a slight sexual longing — is still

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 15

Christie Tate talks “Group”

her therapist. They all meet on

Zoom these days, but they are

still together, twice a week.

The literary memoir genre

— nay, the explosive-memoir

genre, the sort of tell-all that’s

full of revelations and unsightly

personal details, the kind where

every bridge behind the author is

burning — often comes with an

assumption of distance between

author and main characters.

Someone’s dead, someone’s

history, someone’s left, someone’s

never spoken to again.

Otherwise, how does an author

go on living?

The answer is, very carefully.

The great Chicago essayist

Megan Stielstra, who has written

extensively about her family

and friends, told me: “A lot of

memoirists live by that famous

Anne Lamott line that ‘If people

wanted you to write warmly

about them, they should have

behaved better,’ but for me at

least, there are relationships that

are sacred. And I am just not interested

in putting it all out there

into the world. The only thing

we owe anyone in the world is

to be a good person, and telling

every detail about my life isn’t

necessary to that goal.”

The group therapy sessions

Tate recounts in “Group” have

been going on a couple of decades

now. She’s a lifer, she said.

Despite having written about

them, she has no plans to leave

them.

Still, again, you have to

wonder: How do you write so

freely about the people with

whom you share your ugliest

self — and who share their

lowest points with you — when

you still have those relationships

and see each other all the

time? Tate’s answer was unusual

for a memoir writer: Soon after

starting “Group” in 2015, she

allowed everyone in her group

— including her therapist — to

read drafts and request changes.

Anything in those drafts they

didn’t want in, she took out.

Which cuts to the foundational

heart of a memoir:

Whose story is it anyway?

One group member asked not

to be included at all in Tate’s book

— disguised or otherwise — and

Tate agreed. “So other members

of the group confronted me:

‘She gets a pass and I have to

be in your book?’ Which is fair.”

In the end, none asked her to

change a thing — only the wife

of a member, who had access to

a draft and requested two details

come out. (Tate agreed.) It could

have been worse — the group

could have decided they didn’t

want to be written about after

all, and likely, Tate might have

pulled the book entirely. Before

publication, when she attended

writing conferences and workshops

and told teachers about

this deal, they mostly flinched.

Tate had, as she explained it herself,

“promised away my right to

tell my own story.”

“I made a lot of mistakes,” she

says now, “and I got lucky.”

Still, she adds, “I’ve talked to

so many writers who are like ‘I

can’t do this kind of writing — I

can’t write what I want to write

until my parents die.’ I understand,

I couldn’t do this if (the

members of the group) didn’t

have veto power. But a friend of

mine is writing a book about her

son’s suicide and she’s worried

about betraying him, and he’s

dead. It’s not that I think artists

should do whatever they want

whenever, but they should have

more choices. I could be wrong.”

Writers of memoirs, indeed,

rarely agree on questions of

privacy and propriety. Each

approaches writing about the

people in their lives somewhat

differently than the next.

“I don’t give people veto

power over my work,” said Kim

Brooks, a Chicago writer whose

2018 book, “Small Animals,”

recounted the fallout of a splitsecond

decision to leave her

4-year-old son alone in the car

while she ran into a store. “You

don’t have to try to be hated if

you write about your life, but depending

a situation, you do have

to be willing to be hated.”

Brooks teaches a memoir-writing

class for the

Ravenswood workshop

StoryStudio. “The most

common question I hear is,

‘How do I write this if I know

it will kill my mother?’ My answer

is, ‘It’s hard.’ When I was

writing ‘Small Animals,’ near

the end of the process, I went

through it with a lawyer. You

stop at every place you mention

someone: Is there anything they

might find objectionable? At one

point, she asked: ‘Are you sure

your mother won’t sue?’ And my

mother is one of the most fun

characters in the book! But see,

our stories are subjective experiences.

Your story interacts with

others, so you have an ethical

responsibility to consider how it

affects them.”

When a memoir upsets, the

result can rival whatever fireworks

are found in the book

itself.

Karl Ove Knausgaard, the

Norwegian bestselling author

of the six-part “My Struggle”

books (published as fiction,

but a thinner-than-thinly veiled

autobiography), was threatened

with lawsuits from family

members, many of whom refuse

to talk to him now. Augusten

Burroughs settled a $2 million

lawsuit brought by subjects in

his bestseller “Running With

Scissors.” Mary Karr, whose

1995 memoir “The Liars’ Club”

is often credited with popularizing

contemporary memoir, understands

so well the fickleness

of memory and perspective that

whenever she teaches memoir

writing at Syracuse University,

she stages a fight inside the

classroom between herself and

an instructor; then asks students

to write about what happened.

Karr sends drafts to anyone she

writes about; she’s doesn’t trust

her memory.

When Pulitzer Prize-winning

critic Margo Jefferson was

writing her acclaimed 2015

memoir “Negroland,” about

growing up as a member of

Chicago’s Black bourgeoisie, “I

made a decision that I would not

use the names of people who I

went to elementary school and

high school with. Their names

belong to them. But their stories,

those are part of my story.

I approached this question a

bit differently based on degree

of closeness and intimacy. My

mother, she knew she was a

character in it and would periodically

say she’s a private person

— she preferred the sanctity

of her Chicago life. She had

reservations, so I showed her

portions of the book where she

appeared, to set her at ease. You

have to consider with great care

what might be an emotional violation.

You do get some degree

of license with family, but it’s

tricky.”

“The Survivors: A Story of

War, Inheritance and Healing,”

the 2019 memoir by former

Barack Obama speechwriter

Adam Frankel, was partly about

Frankel’s discovery that his father

was not his biological father.

But he made a decision not to

publish while his grandparents

(whom he assumes did not know

this) were living. Other family

members ”expressed concern

about what I was writing about

and called and lobbied not to

include certain details and facts

of our family — things I thought

were important. I was grappling

with secrets, knowing they have

repercussions.”

He didn’t give them the option

of changing anything.

Gina Frangello, a Chicago

novelist whose infidelity to her

(now ex-) husband is the backbone

of the upcoming memoir

“Blow Your House Down,” said

circumstances helped: Her parents

are dead, she has no contact

with her former husband (a character

in the book), her children

“kind of don’t care” and her current

husband (a character in the

book) is a writer himself. She

offered her kids (”to the point of

annoyance”) a chance to weigh

in. Her husband, also given the

option, told her to tell the story

she intended to tell. “He understands

if you’re trying to please

everyone, it’s not an honest

book. At the same time, I was

willing to look just as harshly at

myself as at everyone. The one

person who should be cringing

the most because of a memoir is

the memoirist.” But just before

the divorce was finalized, her

ex-husband introduced a curveball

to the settlement: Frangello

could never write about him,

their marriage or children. She

refused.

“In the end,” she writes, “our

divorce went through without a

caveat.”

The irony of Christie Tate allowing

the subjects of “Group”

such significant veto power over

her writing is that, a couple of

years ago, for the Washington

Post, Tate wrote an essay about

her daughter, who had asked

her mother not to write about

her anymore. Tate expected this,

but she still didn’t know how to

respond. Eventually, she agreed

to show her daughter what she

was writing, but she refused to

avoid motherhood or having a

daughter as a subject itself. The

essay — partly because of subsequent

online anger towards

Tate’s decision — became a

viral smash.

Privacy, she says now, reflecting,

“is a conversation that

lacks nuance.”

And yet privacy — specifically,

invasion of privacy — was

the natural concern while writing

“Group.” According to Amy

Cook, a Chicago lawyer who

works often with writers, defamation

and invasion of privacy

lawsuits are the biggest fears of

memoirists. The latter, though, is

particularly hard to prove: Any

irritated character in a memoir

must show that the contested

material in a book is outside of

the “public concern,” and yet

judges have ruled that proof of

public concern can include publication

of the book itself. Cook

said it’s rare for anyone to win a

lawsuit against a memoir writer,

but still, the risk “makes a lot of

people not even want to try.”

Tate, however, was so cautious

and thoughtful about

privacy, she didn’t even ask

the group or her therapist to

sign waivers. (Her publisher,

Counterpoint, still had a lawyer

read it anyway.)

The outcome, Tate says, since

publication, the group is probably

closer than it has ever been.

Soon after the book came out

last fall, she got a phone call one

night from one of the women

in the group who told Tate that

she finally read the book. Tate

braced for bad news — she had

thought everyone had all read it

already? The woman said, no,

no, she hadn’t read it, because

she did not want to relive every

harrowing episode that Tate had

already gone though with them.

“She told me she couldn’t believe

how much I loved them

and how much of that came out

in the writing. And so I thought

to myself right then, I should

probably just show it more in

person.”


16

WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 FEBRUARY 4, 2021

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