It's always a lot of fun to travel to a Patriots game on the road, especially when you are going with a bunch of guys and staying at a nice hotel. But when the Pats lose - especially unexpectedly - the ride home ends up being a lot longer than the ride to the game. As I write this, I am in the van traveling back from Buffalo. We make this trip almost every year. There were eight of us this time, including my two sons, but only five of us made the ride across Route 90. My son and his good friend flew in from Baltimore and we picked them up at the airport. That was much easier than dropping …

Regionalization – it is an interesting word.  It can be considered a good thing, a bad thing, a cost-efficient concept, a loss of control issue, and a service question all at the same time.  For many local cities and towns, it is a way of life.  For others, it is a dirty word. The concept behind it is basic and makes good common sense.  Neighboring communities pool their resources and share some services.  Regional schools like King Philip High and Dighton-Rehoboth High save both towns from having to deal with separate brick-and-mortar expenses.  In the Midwest part of the country (and in …

Well, they’re back.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen them, and in a strange sort of way I’ve almost missed them.  They remind me of my childhood and young adulthood, and the memories they prompt involve some of the most remarkable times and greatest disappointments of my life. Yes, the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox are back.  You remember them – the ones who would play like world-beaters from June through August, and then swoon like a smitten schoolgirl in September?  The team that was often good, but not when it counted?  The franchise that would tease you, titillate you, and eventually torture…

Norton selectmen recently expressed interest in possibly joining with neighboring communities to share in their municipal electric utilities.  Both Mansfield and Taunton have their own municipal light plants, and several selectmen have wondered if this might be an area where some cost-savings and better service might be found. Kudos to the board for thinking in the regionalization vein, even though they recently dumped all over the concept of regional public safety dispatching for reasons that were more parochial than practical.  It certainly hurts nothing and no one to look into the …

"We'd like you to have a cardiac catheterization." When the doctor said those words to me recently, it really didn't register at first. Sure, I had undergone a stress test for some shortness of breath and other symptoms - but I chalked that up to being an out-of-shape fat guy. The idea something might actually be wrong, or that someone might suggest sticking a tube up into my heart, just somehow never seemed a serious possibility. After all, I'm only 55, and only 35 in my own mind. That stuff only happens to old folks. But the doctor was serious, and soon, so was I. Before I knew it, there …

I am a huge sports fan.  Every time the season begins for one of our Boston area professional sports teams, it is a wonderful time.  But somehow, football season seems to be the best of them all.  And that’s why last weekend – and this one coming up – are particularly special. While nothing quite matches the pageantry of Opening Day for the Red Sox, the opening weekend of football season comes close.  Football is an all-day event at my house on Sunday, beginning with the pre-game shows on ESPN in the morning and ending with the Sunday night game late that evening.  That is unless the Patriots…

The last two sessions of Norton’s Town Meeting were pretty much polar opposites of each other.  We’re talking night and day, black and white, open and shut, Red Sox and Yankees kind of opposite.  Of course, it was pretty easy to understand why. In May, the spring session of the Annual Town Meeting convened with a small but intimate gathering on hand.  A total of 86 people were in the spacious high school gymnasium that night to vote on small issues like the town’s $40 million-plus budget.  That’s 86 people out of close to 12,000 registered voters.  It was short, with little discussion on any …

The fall session of Norton’s Annual Town Meeting will convene on Wednesday, Oct. 12th at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Norton Middle School. Voters should notice this is a change from the usual venue at the Yelle School gymnasium. That building is currently undergoing repairs and is unavailable. There are currently 22 articles scheduled to be presented for action by the voters. Some are routine, some are unusual, and all are important. But there are a few that can, and should, attract more than the usual amount of attention to our fall gathering. Chief among them are some articles concerning …

It’s a good thing Norton’s school system is now going to be serving healthier lunches.  I know it is for the best, will make for healthier kids, and is a smart thing to do.  I also understand it is part of following the new state and federal guidelines.  There are a lot of reasons why it is a good idea. But I can’t help shaking my head at how things have changed over the years.  A school lunch was never exactly a great culinary experience when I was a student in Norton, or when my sons roamed the school cafeterias in town.  However it seemed to be fairly nutritional, had a modicum of taste, …

Norton is a town of about 20,000 residents. Almost 12,000 of them are registered voters. Over 4,400 of those folks showed up to cast ballots at the June override election, and close to 1,700 were at Town Meeting the week before that. So why has it become so incredibly difficult to find one or two citizens willing to serve on the town’s Finance Committee? As Town Moderator, one of my important jobs is to appoint the Finance Committee. This is a very crucial board, although it actually has little to no direct power or authority. It is a group of regular citizens who meet during various times of…

While I was definitely not a fan of the sham search process Norton employed in selecting a new fire chief, I am most definitely a fan of the choice himself. Norton native Paul Schleicher is the new chief, and it is a promotion richly deserved. Norton’s deputy chief for the last seven years, Schleicher was the obvious pick to head the department he has served for some 37 years. He has literally grown up in the department, and watched it grow with him. When the swearing-in ceremony is held for the new chief, selectmen had better make sure they hold it in big room.  If just Paul’s family members…

It’s that time of year again.  Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, the football fans back to Gillette Stadium, or the bulls once again running in Pamplona – the students have returned to Wheaton College. And once again, as it has for the last hundred plus years, Norton is welcoming those students with a collective sigh and a shrug of the town’s shoulders.  Unless you own a business near the college or take some classes at the fine institution, you may not even think about the change. Norton and Wheaton College peacefully coexist- that is about the best that can be said about “town-gown…

As this is written, we are into our third day without power in the wake of the first hurricane to hit New England in 20 years. And although I am pretty good at whining and complaining, I am amazed at how some in the area have brought that fine art to a whole new level. Throughout the greater Attleboro area there remains widespread outages. All you have to do is drive around and look at the downed trees and wires along the rural areas to figure out why. Add to that the damage we cannot see to the utility infrastructure and it is no surprise restoring power is taking longer than many (including…

In the aftermath of Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Pain in the Butt Irene buffeting us with high winds for a relatively short time, I am now entering my second full day without power at home. And I am not happy. Our power went out about 10:30 Sunday morning. It had flickered on and off quite a few times prior to actually shutting down, so it was hardly unexpected. But when it finally went off – and stayed off – the full impact of living without the modern miracle of electricity we so take for granted truly sunk in. Now, I know others are worse off. We are hardly Katrina-type victims here. We should…

It has been 20 years since a hurricane of any serious consequence hit our area of New England. As this is written, we face the possibility of a direct hit from a relatively weakened but still potentially dangerous Category 1 storm. Hurricane Irene is making her way up the East Coast as you read.  While her track is uncertain at deadline time, it appears she will pay a visit to the Carolinas and then take a casual stroll up here to Massachusetts. She may plan a bit of a vacation and take her center and high winds out over Cape Cod, or decide to stay a bit inland and wreak havoc closer to us in…

Most people in Norton probably don’t know who Robert Sullivan of West Bridgewater is. However, many may actually have voted for him last year when he was reelected to the Southeastern Regional Vocational School Committee as the representative from West Bridgewater. Due to the quirky nature of that committee, voters in all communities in the district elect all members. But when Sullivan was reelected last November he was being quite a bit less than honest with the public he represents.  A month before the election he gave the committee a one-sentence letter stating he was taking a leave of …

People often say they wish there was more to do in Norton. You know, more places to shop, more things for kids to do, that kind of thing. Yet it remains very difficult for businesses and venues that would fit that bill to locate here, so the problem seems to just worse as time goes by. Norton has gotten much better over the years at both welcoming and appreciating the value of businesses within our borders. The permitting process has gotten more streamlined and efficient, especially on the large projects. But our town continues to be a contradiction of wants and needs, a community that wants …

I am afflicted with a Travel Curse.  Almost nothing goes right when I set out on a trip of any great length or distance.  You may think I’m kidding or exaggerating, but a quick review of the facts proves otherwise. I have been to three Super Bowls, and had my tickets lost or stolen at two of them – including once with my wife during our 20th anniversary trip and once with a terminally ill close friend.  I was in Las Vegas when it snowed there for the first time in 100 years.  I once set up a work-related dinner in the desert community of Scottsdale, Arizona that had to be canceled when the …

The Norton Charter Review Committee is preparing to submit three separate articles for the October Town Meeting.  One article seeks to implement some long overdue and badly needed changes to the two-decade old charter.  The other two seek to change some elected positions to appointed ones. One of those two looks to change the currently elected position of Town Clerk to an appointed one, a move the townspeople rejected by a razor-thin margin at the ballot box just a couple years ago.  The other would expand the current Board of Water/Sewer Commissioners from three to five members, and at the …