The Needham Times
Thursday, December 29, 2005
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It was an eventful year for Needhamites and people around the world, with natural disasters striking, anniversaries celebrated, taxes rising and longtime town employees announcing they are retiring. Some events, though, stood out more than others.
The following, in no particular order, were the top newsmakers of the past year.
1. The voters.
It took guts, but in April, voters approved yet another tax override for the Needham High School renovation and addition project.
About 65 percent of 5,000 voters said "yes"
to the ballot question, increasing the total tax impact of the project on each voter by $1,600.
In November 2003, 65 percent of almost 9,000 voters who took to the polls, approved the initial Proposition 2 1/2 tax override for $51.3 million. Under old School Building Assistance regulations, the plan would have had the average homeowner contributing $4,355 toward the project over the course of25 years.
So when officials announced that the lowest construction bid that came in was millions of dollars higher than they had anticipated, largely due to an increase in the cost of building materials, most notably steel, it was a tough pill to swallow. Even harder to swallow was the ensuing request for an additional $10.7 million.
But the voters did it. They took a deep breath, and approved that, too.
2. Cabot, Cabot and Forbes and Needham Interfaith Habitat for Humanity.
Cabot, Cabot and Forbes brought to Needham this year the largest affordable housing
project the town has seen, and the first to receive the official support of the selectmen and move forward as a Local Initiative Project.
Twenty-five percent of the 350 units the developer has proposed for the office park near the Newton border would rent at state-designated affordable prices, and the project, officials have said, would likely help Needham make huge strides in meeting its statemandated affordable housing quotas.
Needham Interfaith Habitat for Humanity has addressed the affordable housing issue on a much smaller scale. The group is affiliated with Greater Boston Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that builds homes for low-income families that otherwise could not afford to buy one. The local group fought for three years to acquire a piece of Needham land on which to build a home, and this month fmally bought one on the comer of Bancroft and Brookline streets from the town for $20,000.
3. First Baptist Church and Temple Beth Shalom.
The two houses of worship both celebrated milestones this year, with the church marking its I 50th anniversary and the temple its 50th.
The church, whose congregation numbers had declined over the past several decades, looks to revitalize and grow again under the leadership of its new pastor, Rev.Debora Jackson.
The temple, as it celebrated, also began a new era under the leadership of Rabbi Jay Perlman who took over its helm just two years ago when he was 35 years old, replacing Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, who served for 23 years and was the temples longest-serving leader.
4. School Committee member Gary Crossen.
Crossen decided to stay on the school board, even after a hearing officer for the state Board of Bar Overseers recommended in May that he and two other lawyers, Kevin Curry and Richard Donahue, be disbarred as a result of actions they allegedly took while working on a legal battle between family members over the inheritance associated with the Demoulas supermarket chain.
The hearing officer found Crossen, Curry and Donahue guilty of unethical practices when they allegedly hired private investigators to pose as headhunters interested in hiring Paul Walsh, the former law clerk in the Demoulas case to Judge Maria Lopez, in order to
try to extort information from Walsh to show that Lopez was biased against their clients.
The three attorneys appealed the findings and the recommendation, and Crossen, who has denied any wrongdoing in the case from the start, said it would not affect his credibility or his service on a major town board. The full Board of Bar Overseers is expected to hear the case in January.
5. Needham Public Schools Superintendent Steve Theall, Hillside Elementary School Principal Andrea Wong, Newman Elementary School Principal Robert Abbey, Pollard Middle School Principal Joe Bames, School Personnel Director Millie Beane, METCO director Val Davis and NPS Special Education Director Phyllis UbI.
Theall and the other six administrators all announced they would be leaving the
system at the end of the 2005-6 school year, prompting a massive personnel search.
The superintendent search took up a substantial chunk of the School Committee's time
this fall, resulting in the naming of three finalists this month.
Theall was slated to hire the three principals and the personnel director before February vacation and the METCO director and the director of Special Education by
March.
6. Kate Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick in May became Needham's first town manager.
Fitzpatrick had served as town administrator since 2001, but the town decided in 2004 to officially change its form of government, because years of study had shown a town manager system would help it run its operations more efficiently. A town manager has significantly more decision-making authority than a town administrator does, and independently compiles the town budget.
Selectmen interviewed two other finalists for the position but decided that Fitzpatrick's resume, concept of the local budget process and management ideas were supenor.
7. Fire Chief Paul Buckley and Police Chief Tom Leary.
Both men have just completed their first full year at the head of their respective departments, both having been appointed at the end of 2004.
Buckley replaced retiring Fire Chief Robert DiPoli, who left to complete a one-year term as president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Buckley, whose father served in the Needham Fire Department for 33 years, joined it himself in 1986. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1990.
Leary, previously a lieutenant, was first hired by the Needham Police Department in 1975. With his new appointment, he replaced retiring Police Chief William Slowe.
8. The Needham Junior Rocket Cheerleaders
Seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders from Needham and surrounding towns took home the Division 14 National Cheerleading title from Tucson, Ariz., in early December. The championship was the culmination of a year of hard work on the part of the 30 girls, 11 coaches and one choreographer.
The team went undefeated through the season. They beat Newton North over Halloween weekend, won the Bay Sate Conference title, beating 20 other teams, then traveled to the A YF Regional competition in Providence, R.I., over Thanksgiving. There, they took the highest score of the 56 teams in their field, earning them a shot at the nationals - a shot they took and won.
Head coach Carol Stento said, "When they finally called our name [at Nationals], to see the joy on these kids' faces, it was just phenomenal."
9. Melissa Aponte
The police officer, 30, was arrested this month after allegedly stealing two all-terrain vehicles from an Evelyn Road home. She was also a suspect in a recent spate of break-ins in Needham Square.
Aponte, who has been with the department for seven years, was on leave from the department at the time of the incident.
She was held in jail over Thanksgiving then released on personal recognizance with orders to stay away from the victim's home and report to a probation officer to set up substance abuse counseling.
Aponte is due back in court on Jan. 4.
10. All those Needhamites who helped provide relief to victims of the tsunami that hit southern Asia in December 2004 and to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Among them are Olin assistant professor Caitrin Lynth, who worked to bring solar energy to Sri Lankan communities affected by the tsunami; Broadmeadow elementary schoolers who raised money for tsunami relief by holding a "coins for a cause" drive and a bake sale; high schoolers who donated money themselves as well as sought donations from businesses; the local hospital that partnered with the Sri Lanka Association of New England to conduct a drive for myriad goods, including tents and blankets; and many others who helped with tsunami relief.
Among them are also Needham resident Jen DeLisi, a psychiatric nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, who worked on a floating hospital ship in the Navy shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., helping with the psychiatric needs of survivors; Fire Captain William Bymes and Inspector Paramedic Arthur Skip Hopkins of the Needham Fire Department, who traveled to coastal Mississippi to help with Katrina relief; Needham Cares, a townwide consortium of businesses, organizations and individuals who are helping hurricane-ravaged communities in Mississippi; and many others who worked hard to better the lives of the victims of this most devastating of hurricanes.
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