Posted by hardymum - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 11:09 P

still wondering

Thanks for letting me know that. There has definitely been a lot of activity in and near the school with the tracking dogs out as well. Would love to know what results.

Posted by Clark - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 11:05 P

still wondering

Any NEW information????

Posted by mark2 - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 9:45 P

still wondering

Looks like something happened at the school



MArk2

Posted by Kathie&Andy - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 9:33 P

still wondering

I stopped and asked one of the cops who was at the post office if there was something I needed to be concerned about. He said there was a break-in of sorts. I asked if I should make sure to lock my doors and he said, "It wasn't any kind of violent crime but if I saw some older teens walking around, to call the station and let them know.

That's all I got, but he didn't give me the impression that there is any general danger...

Posted by hardymum - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 9:08 P

still wondering

anyone reading? police station offers no information just extremely busy and can't talk...?? Asked if things are safe and told "you'll be safe in your house".???

Posted by hardymum - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 9:02 P

What’s up in Montague center

with the pollice cars zooming around with lights flashing?

Posted by cshep - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 11:28 A

looking for a wagon for 2 small kids

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a pull along type wagon that would fit two little kids. Radio Flyer, Little Tykes-that sort of thing. Free is great, but I would pay up to $25.00 too.

Thanks!

Posted by stash - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 11:14 A

prepaid phone

I have a Motorola 376g camera phone.. Prepaid tracfone with over 1320 mins (22hrs+) that is paid til 09/03/2010.....Phone was $40 and the time is worth over $200.. Shoots off of T-Mobile towers.. The one by Factory Hollow is one. Charger. books and case... $125. 413-512-3128 leave a message and I'll call you back..

Posted by mark2 - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 9:01 A

Stimulating China

http://abcnews.go.co...s-jobs-china-9791516

This will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Mark2

Posted by Jmpar - Wed, Mar 10, 2010, 8:58 A

Warming and Subscriptions

Usually buy the Montague reporter at Food city, I sent out my check this morning for
subscription for home delivery.
Indeed this is such a worthy cause.

Posted by mik - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 10:20 P

Charter vs public schools

From the NY Times:

Pressed by Charters, Public Schools Try Marketing

By JENNIFER MEDINA
Published: March 9, 2010
Rafaela Espinal held her first poolside chat last summer, offering cheese, crackers and apple cider to draw people to hear her pitch.
She keeps a handful of brochures in her purse, and also gives a few to her daughter before she leaves for school each morning. She painted signs on the windows of her Chrysler minivan, turning it into a mobile advertisement.
It is all an effort to build awareness for her product, which is not new, but is in need of an image makeover: a public school in Harlem.
As charter schools have grown around the country, both in number and in popularity, public school principals like Ms. Espinal are being forced to compete for bodies or risk having their schools closed. So among their many challenges, some of these principals, who had never given much thought to attracting students, have been spending considerable time toiling over ways to market their schools. They are revamping school logos, encouraging students and teachers to wear T-shirts emblazoned with the new designs. They emphasize their after-school programs as an alternative to the extended days at many charter schools. A few have worked with professional marketing firms to create sophisticated Web sites and blogs.
Brochures, fliers and open houses have become all but required in New York City neighborhoods like Harlem, where many schools have shown lagging academic performance. Where parents once simply sent their children to the nearby school, they now can enter lotteries for two dozen charters.
“We have to think about selling ourselves all the time, and it takes a concerted effort that none of us have ever done before,” said Ms. Espinal, who is in her first year as principal of Public School 125, also known as the Ralph Bunche School. “We have to get them in the door if we are even going to try to convince them to come here.”
Five years ago, P.S. 125, on West 123rd Street, had more than 460 students. Today, the school, with students in kindergarten through the fifth grade and an A on its last school report card, has fewer than half that, and now shares its building with the Columbia Secondary School, which serves students in grades 6 through 12.
During her open house last week, Ms. Espinal spent more than two hours channeling her enthusiasm to persuade half a dozen parents that P.S. 125 was the best place for their children. She walked quickly and spoke even faster as she led the parents through the school, proudly showing off a building with an ornate auditorium and a spotless gym.
And then there was the functioning pool, where she held the chat last summer. Few other public schools in Manhattan have one, she boasted.
Parents oohed and ahhed at the pool and ran through dozens of questions about which reading program the school used, how often students used the science lab and which students used the gym on rainy days. Several counted the children in each classroom and smiled contentedly when they did not get to 20.
“That’s key,” said Shoshana Haulley, whose 4-year-old son will enter kindergarten next year. After the tour, Ms. Haulley said she was impressed with Ms. Espinal’s assertiveness but was unsure where she would send her son.
Officials at Alain L. Locke Elementary School, on West 111th Street, spent months with a marketing firm, which worked free of charge to develop a blog and Web site to keep parents up to date. Since 2005, enrollment at the school has dropped by more than 25 percent, but has stabilized this year.
“Sometimes it’s just a matter of sharing what’s happening,” said Susan M. Green, the principal of the school. Like other school leaders in Harlem, Ms. Green said sometimes parents were “pleasantly surprised” when they visited open houses, which the schools now routinely hold.
River East Elementary, on East 120th Street, draws students throughout Harlem and typically has more applicants than seats. But at this time of year, staff members spend hours scurrying to day care centers, churches and apartment complexes to find prospective parents, said Katie Smith, the assistant principal. “We have to be out there constantly representing ourselves,” Ms. Smith said.
Keeping the classrooms full is not just a matter of pride. Dwindling enrollment is one of the criteria that the schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, uses when deciding which schools to close, saying that it shows parents are “voting with their feet.”
The prospect of being shut down has left educators in Harlem’s public schools anxious. Teachers from closed schools keep their salaries even if they cannot find new positions, though Mr. Klein has been seeking the power to lay them off after a certain time. In some cases, principals and other administrators can lose their jobs or be pushed out of the system.
Last year, the Education Department moved to shut down Public School 241 and replace it with a charter school run by the Harlem Success Academy network, but backed off after the teachers’ union filed a lawsuit. Still, Mr. Klein sent a letter home to parents at the school, encouraging them to “seriously consider” applying to Harlem Success, which now shares the building with P.S. 241.
This fall, 232 students enrolled at the traditional school, a drop from 299 the year before.
For most schools, the marketing amounts to less than $500, raised by parents and teachers to print up full color postcards or brochures. Typically, principals rely on staff members with a creative bent to draw up whatever they can.
Student recruitment has always been necessary for charter schools, which are privately run but receive public money based on their enrollment, supplemented by whatever private donations they can corral.
The Harlem Success Academy network, run by the former City Council member Eva Moskowitz, is widely regarded, with admiration by some and scorn by others, as having the biggest marketing effort. Their bright orange advertisements pepper the bus stops in the neighborhood, and prospective parents receive full color mailings almost monthly.
Ms. Moskowitz said the extensive outreach was necessary to make sure they were drawing from a broad spectrum of parents. Ms. Moskowitz said they spent roughly $90 per applicant for recruitment. With about 3,600 applicants last year for the four schools in the network, she said, the total amounted to $325,000.
As another example of the buzz that public schools are up against, the Oscars broadcast on Sunday night included a 60-second American Express advertisement featuring Harlem Children’s Zone, which runs two charter schools.
The regular schools are contending, most of all, with a perception that charter schools deliver a superior education. Many of Harlem’s regular schools, like its charter schools, received A’s last year from the city for showing progress on standardized tests. But, in general, they tend to have lower passing rates.
Even Ms. Green, of Alain Locke Elementary, said there was only so much a school could do to increase enrollment. “For me there are variables you can control and some that you can’t,” she said. “Our job is catering to the needs of the children who are here.”

Karen Zraick contributed reporting.

Posted by MCTV - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 6:17 P

MCTV Program Schedule 3/12/10 thru 3/18/10

Friday, March 12
8:00 AM Gill Select Board 3_1_10
9:00 AM Bridge Project Informational Meeting 2_26_10
10:00 AM Select Board 3/8/10
10:30 AM Finance Committee 3/10/10
2:00 PM Rhema Word#270
3:00 PM Meltdown:Voices from Chernobyl
4:00 PM Naturalist Laurie Sanders
5:00 PM On The Ridge:Fall Turkey Hunting Tactics
6:00 PM Physician Focus March 2010
7:00 PM GMRSD 3_9_10
10:30 PM Gill Select Board 3_1_10

Saturday, March 13
8:00 AM Women Girls & HIV:Role Models
8:30 AM Gill Select Board 3_1_10
9:30 AM BFMC Healthbeat March 2010
10:00 AM GMRSD 3_9_10
1:00 PM The LaRouche Connection#733
2:00 PM World's Largest Concert 2010
3:00 PM Bridge Project Informational Meeting 2_26_10
4:00 PM Select Board 3/8/10
4:30 PM Gill Select Board 3_1_10
5:30 PM Chainsaw Massacre
6:30 PM White House Chronicle#2006
7:00 PM Under The Patchwork Quilt Chapter One
8:00 PM GMRSD 3_9_10
11:00 PM TWB Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Sunday, March 14
8:00 AM Local Bias#61
8:30 AM MCTV Video Camp 2009
9:00 AM Gill Select Board 3_1_10
10:00 AM Finance Committee 3/10/10
1:00 PM Independent Voices#50
1:30 PM Inside The Artists Studio: Ted Graveline
2:00 PM Select Board 3/8/10
2:30 PM History of Gill Congregational Church
3:00 PM GMRSD 3_9_10
6:00 PM Meltdown:Voices from Chernobyl
7:00 PM Gill Select Board 3_1_10
8:00 PM Mark Beaubian: Biomass Plant
9:00 PM GMRSD 3_9_10

Monday, March 15
8:00 AM On The Ridge:Springfield Sportsman Show
8:30 AM Rhema Word#270
9:30 AM BFMC Healthbeat March 2010
10:00 AM Gill Select Board 3_1_10
11:00 AM Rep Patty ODonnell
12:30 PM GMRSD 3_9_10
4:00 PM Rosner Car Show
5:00 PM Seabrook 1977.
7:00 PM Select Board 3/15/10
9:00 PM Finance Committee 3/10/10

Tuesday, March 16
8:00 AM Bridge Project Informational Meeting 2_26_10
9:00 AM All About Bats
9:30 AM GMRSD 3_9_10
12:30 PM Common Man Concert-Tim Van Egmond
2:00 PM Beacon Hill Update
3:00 PM Both Sides of the Bridge
4:00 PM Finance Committee 3/10/10
7:00 PM GMRSD 3/16/10
10:30 PM Meltdown:Voices from Chernobyl

Wednesday, March 17
8:00 AM Select Board 3/15/10
10:30 AM Finance Committee 3/10/10
1:30 PM Allagash 2007
2:00 PM An Afternoon of Music with Daniel Clarke
4:00 PM The LaRouche Connection#733
5:00 PM The Soap Box Seth Glier
5:30 PM Thomas Jefferson
6:00 PM Finance Committee 3/17/10
9:00 PM Gill Select Board 3/15/10
11:00 PM Tom Carroll Holiday Concert 2009

Thursday, March 18
8:00 AM Gill Select Board 3/15/10
10:00 AM Select Board 3/15/10
12:00 PM On The Ridge: New England Brush Wolf
12:30 PM GMRSD 3/16/10
3:30 PM Over The Falls Solar Installation
4:00 PM Gill Select Board 3/15/10
6:00 PM Rhema Word#270
7:00 PM Select Board 3/15/10
9:00 PM Falls Table: Seared Duck Breast
9:30 PM GMRSD 3/16/10

Posted by SlowTurtle - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 5:24 P

Listen,

Wilhelm Reich:

You're a "little man," a "common man." Consider the double meaning of these words "little" and "common"...

Don't run away! Have the courage to look at yourself!

"By what right are you lecturing me?" I see the question in your frightened eyes. I hear it on your insolent tongue. You're afraid to look at yourself, little man, you're afraid of criticism, and afraid of the power that is promised you. What use will you make of your power? You don't know. You're afraid to think that your self--the man you feel yourself to be--might someday be different from what it is now: free rather than cowed, candid rather than scheming; capable of loving, not like a thief in the night but in broad daylight. You despise yourself, little man. You say "Who am I that I should have an opinion, govern my life, and call the world mine?" You're right: who are you to lay claim to your life? I will tell you who you are.

You differ from a great man in only one respect: the great man was once a very little man, but he developed one important quality: he recognized the smallness and narrowness of his thoughts and actions. Under the pressure of some task which meant a great deal to him, he learned to see how his smallness, his pettiness, endangered his happiness. In other words, a great man knows when and in what way he is a little man. A little man does not know he is little and is afraid to know. He hides his pettiness and narrowness behind illusions of strength and greatness, someone else's strength and greatness. He's proud of his great generals but not of himself. He admires an idea he has not had, not one he has had. The less he understands something, the more firmly he believes in it. And the better he understands an idea, the less he believes in it.

Let me begin with the little man in myself.

For twenty-five years I've been speaking and writing in defense of your right to happiness in this world, condemning your inability to take what is your due, to secure what you won in bloody battles on the barricades of Paris and Vienna, in the American Civil War, in the Russian Revolution. Your Paris ended with Petain and Laval, your Vienna with Hitler, your Russia with Stalin, and your America may well end in the rule of the Ku Klux Klan! You've been more successful in winning your freedom than in securing it for yourself and others. This I knew long ago. What I did not understand was why time and again, after fighting your way out of a swamp, you sank into a worse one. Then groping and cautiously looking about me, I gradually found out what has enslaved you: YOUR SLAVE DRIVER IS YOU YOURSELF. No one is to blame for your slavery but you yourself. No one else, I say!

http://www.listenlittleman.com/

Posted by mik - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 3:41 P

Montague SoapBox Classic

Ok. The Downhill Soapbox Classic is moving forward. I found an organization willing to do it if a full-scope package were put together. This means writing down everything involved in making it happen -- and getting prices on any costs (insurance, materials, etc).

There seemed to be great excitement about it on this corkboard. Let's have some people step up and help make it happen.


September 18th is only six months away. We have to start now.

Call me at 413 430 5336 or click my name on the website. I'm hoping for at least five people to join the group.

For the Glory!

Posted by mik - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 2:39 P

Warming and Subscriptions

Dear Friends of the Montague Reporter:

As you may be aware, the Montague Reporter currently has an effort to gain 100 new subscribers for the by the end of winter - March 19th - and to bring in needed funds for the homelessness prevention program and new warming shelter of the Interfaith Council of Franklin County at the same time.

Certainly a worthy cause.

Many people have helped in various ways, by reaching out to their circles and inviting friends to subscribe to the paper. Most notably, Patrick Pezzati has generously offered to match dollar for dollar all funds they raise during this drive for the Interfaith Council's homelessness prevention programs from Turn It Up! CDs and Movies at the Montague Book Mill.

Also of note is Jonathan Ransom, a founding member of the Montague Reporter's board of directors, who went above and beyond by suggesting to 50 of his friends try to find two new community members to subscribe during the Warm Up Franklin County sub drive. He found three! (effectively increasing the subscription list in his home town of Wendell by 5% in the process).

It is very hard for a small paper like the Montague Reporter to weather the recession in our part of Western Massachusetts, particularly in the dreary end of winter, especially when advertising dollars are few and far between. The influx of new subscribers you can help them drum up will not only provide them with a much needed boost in revenue in March, but will stand them in very good stead as they approach new advertisers (with an expanded subscriber list) in April.

So, thanks for helping out how you can, in whatever way you can, to make their subscription drive a success!

We are so lucky to have a local paper like this in town. Let's support them however we can.

Posted by prakashlaufer - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 2:19 P

In Transition Film Showing at The Brick House April 5th

When: 7 PM Monday April 5th
Where: The Brick House Community Resource Center 24 Third St Turners Falls
Cost: By Donation – but no-one will be turned away!

Tina Clarke, a trainer with the Transition Initiatives in the US and a Montague Resident will be presenting this film.

Come and meet with folks from Montague and surrounding communities who have been working to help our communities become more resilient and sustainable.

For more information - www.transitionus.org or www.brickhousecommunity.org

Posted by prakashlaufer - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 2:16 P

Come to a Film Showing of In-Transition at The Brick House

Concerned about Global Warming,
Peak Oil or Economic Insecurity?

Want to help build a more Resilient and Sustainable Local Community?

Come view and discuss the film: In Transition 1.0

When: 7 PM Monday April 5th
Where: The Brick House Community Resource Center
24 Third St Turners Falls

Cost: By Donation – but no-one will be turned away!

Tina Clarke, a trainer with the Transition Initiatives in the US and a Montague Resident will be presenting this film.

Come and meet with folks from Montague and surrounding communities who have been working to help our communities become more resilient and sustainable.

For more information - www.transitionus.org or www.brickhousecommunity.org

Posted by Laura - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 11:12 A

Memorial Service for Darien Turnage

Rest in peace, Darien.

Posted by karenwerner - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 10:23 A

Memorial Service for Darien Turnage

Very, very sad about this news. I didn't know him well, but I will miss Darien's playful, earthy sparkle. I'd run into him on walks and at the Killigrew and at Brooks Bend Farm. I know he loved Montague a lot. May you rest in peace, Darien of Montague.

Posted by kutter - Tue, Mar 9, 2010, 7:23 A

Attention all bands and booking agents

I'll see ya there!

Posted by mik - Mon, Mar 8, 2010, 11:30 P

Detroit wants to save itself by shrinking

Blighted city considers plan to turn large swaths of land back into fields

A burned out house is demolished in Detroit on Feb. 12. After decades of decline that has gutted many once-vibrant neighborhoods, Detroit is preparing a radical renewal effort on a scale never attempted in this country: returning a large swath of the city to fields or farmland, much like it was in the middle of the 19th century.

Associated Press
updated 4:45 p.m. ET, Mon., March. 8, 2010

DETROIT - Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.

Near downtown, fruit trees and vegetable farms would replace neighborhoods that are an eerie landscape of empty buildings and vacant lots. Suburban commuters heading into the city center might pass through what looks like the countryside to get there. Surviving neighborhoods in the birthplace of the auto industry would become pockets in expanses of green.

Detroit officials first raised the idea in the 1990s, when blight was spreading. Now, with the recession plunging the city deeper into ruin, a decision on how to move forward is approaching. Mayor Dave Bing, who took office last year, is expected to unveil some details in his state-of-the-city address this month.

"Things that were unthinkable are now becoming thinkable," said James W. Hughes, dean of the School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, who is among the urban experts watching the experiment with interest. "There is now a realization that past glories are never going to be recaptured. Some people probably don't accept that, but that is the reality."

‘People are afraid’

The meaning of what is afoot is now settling in across the city.

"People are afraid," said Deborah L. Younger, executive director of a group called Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corporation that is working to revitalize five areas of the city. "When you read that neighborhoods may no longer exist, that sends fear."

Though the will to downsize has arrived, the way to do it is unclear and fraught with problems.

Politically explosive decisions must be made about which neighborhoods should be bulldozed and which improved. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars will be needed to buy land, raze buildings and relocate residents, since this financially desperate city does not have the means to do it on its own. It isn't known how many people in the mostly black, blue-collar city might be uprooted, but it could be thousands. Some won't go willingly.

"I like the way things are right here," said David Hardin, 60, whose bungalow is one of three occupied homes on a block with dozens of empty lots near what is commonly known as City Airport. He has lived there since 1976, when every home on the street was occupied, and said he enjoys the peace and quiet.

For much of the 20th century, Detroit was an industrial powerhouse — the city that put the nation on wheels. Factory workers lived in neighborhoods of simple single- and two-story homes and walked to work. But then the plants began to close one by one. The riots of 1967 accelerated an exodus of whites to the suburbs, and many middle-class blacks followed.

Thousands of empty houses

Now, a city of nearly 2 million in the 1950s has declined to less than half that number. On some blocks, only one or two occupied houses remain, surrounded by trash-strewn lots and vacant, burned-out homes. Scavengers have stripped anything of value from empty buildings. According to one recent estimate, Detroit has 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant residential lots.

Several other declining industrial cities, such as Youngstown, Ohio, have also accepted downsizing. Since 2005, Youngstown has been tearing down a few hundred houses a year. But Detroit's plans dwarf that effort. The approximately 40 square miles of vacant property in Detroit is larger than the entire city of Youngstown.

Faced with a $300 million budget deficit and a dwindling tax base, Bing argues that the city can't continue to pay for police patrols, fire protection and other services for all areas.

Looking to Washington for support

The current plan would demolish about 10,000 houses and empty buildings in three years and pump new investment into stronger neighborhoods. In the neighborhoods that would be cleared, the city would offer to relocate residents or buy them out. The city could use tax foreclosure to claim abandoned property and invoke eminent domain for those who refuse to leave, much as cities now do for freeway projects.

The mayor has begun lobbying Washington for support, and last month Detroit was awarded $40.8 million for renewal work. The federally funded Detroit Housing Commission supports Bing's plan.

"It takes a true partnership, because we don't want to invest in a neighborhood that the city is not going to invest in," said Eugene E. Jones, executive director of the commission.

Recipe for disaster?

It is not known who might get the cleared land, but with prospects for recruiting industry slim, planners are considering agricultural uses. The city might offer larger tracts for sale or lease, or turn over smaller pieces to community organizations to use.

Maggie DeSantis, a board member of Community Development Advocates of Detroit, said she worries that shutting down neighborhoods without having new uses ready is a "recipe for disaster" that will invite crime and illegal dumping. The group recently proposed such things as the creation of suburban-style neighborhoods and nature parks.

Residents like Hardin want to keep their neighborhoods and eliminate the blight.

"We just try to keep it up," he said. "I've been doing it since I got it, so I don't look at nobody trying to help me do anything."

For others, Bing's plans could represent a way out.

Willie Mae Pickens has lived in her near east-side home since the 1960s and has watched as friends and neighbors left. Her house is the only one standing on her side of the street.

"They can buy it today. Any day," said Pickens, 87, referring to city officials. "I'll get whatever they'll give me for it, because I want to leave."

Posted by joshgoldman - Mon, Mar 8, 2010, 10:39 P

Memorial Service for Darien Turnage

Sadly, we are letting the community know of the death on March 5th 2010 of Darien Turnage. Calling hours will be on Wednesday March 10th at 6:00 PM, followed by a memorial Service at the Kidder Funeral Home in Northfield. In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Aidan O'Brien Turnage education fund c/o Thea Turnage 5411 Hildebrand Court, Colombia, MD 21044

Posted by mik - Mon, Mar 8, 2010, 5:07 P

Attention all bands and booking agents

Thursday. Montague Inn @ 7pm?

Posted by kutter - Mon, Mar 8, 2010, 3:53 P

Attention all bands and booking agents

Thursday or Friday eve, Mik?

Posted by FamilyCenter - Mon, Mar 8, 2010, 2:19 P

Greenfield Family Center Free Eve Event March 9, 2010 5:30pm - for families with young children

Greenfield Family Center Free Eve Event March 9, 2010 5:30pm - for families with young children

Let’s Talk About . . . Talking to Your Child about Personal Safety with Anne Kaplan, local early childhood psychologist and parent. Touch is important to children. Touch communicates love, comfort, nurturing, and acceptance. It is important for children to know that most touches are safe and caring. It is also important for children to know that some touches are not okay. How can you initiate this subject? What words to use? How to make everyone feel safe and nurtured.

All families are welcome! Free dinner, Free childcare, Free transportation if needed. For more information or registration, please call 413-475-1554 or email aflaherty@communityaction.us.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Greenfield Family Center
90 Federal Street
Greenfield, MA 01301