Retiring Old Glory: Scout, Veterans Agent Initiate Flag Ceremony in Belmont

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Photo: Flag retiring ceremony in Belmont.

The mound of more than 2,000 flags of the United States  – much which were planted over the graves of veterans and war dead, others large and once flying stately over homes and offices – all worn and threadbare, some mere remnants of Old Glory, laid piled neatly near the edge of Belmont’s Clay Pit Pond.

While disrespectful to allow the Star Spangle Banner to lay on the ground, it was instead a show of great honor and reverence that these flags were brought to the site near the Belmont High School parking lot on Saturday morning, Oct. 14.

The banners would soon be retired in the only manner prescribed by law: burned.

Before Saturday, Belmont residents were required to be resourceful to retire a flag properly; some would perform the act themselves or store the weathered stars and stripes away in a corner, forgotten.

But through the effort of a local scout seeking a project to perform and the town’s Veterans’ Agent, Belmont now has its own town-wide flag retirement ceremony, one that they intend will be held annually.

“We needed something like this in Belmont for a while,” said Veterans Agent Bob Upton.

Boy Scout Robert Mountain,  a 17-year-old who attends the Chapel Hill – Chauncy Hall School in Waltham, was seeking out a unique community project to satisfy his Eagle Scout service requirement. He contacted Upton who informed Mountain the town had recently set up boxes in two locations around town to collect old flags. 

“Immediately I thought it would be perfect that we retire them here in town,” said the Orchard Street resident.

Mountain worked with Upton to secure material from local businesses – Hillside Gardens, Winters Hardware and Roche Bros. in Lowell – such as the two barrels used to contain the fires and cinder blocks as foundations.

“It’s a big process to retire 2,000 flags,” said Mountain, who is expecting his Eagle Scout designation before June of next year.

Before the event began, Selectmen Chair Jim Williams discovered one of the largest flags was a hand stitched 49-star banner with the 50th star sewn on when Hawai’i joined the US nearly 60 years ago. Williams – a Vietnam-era Navy veteran – rescued the flag and was going to have it dry cleaned an then displayed. 

The ceremony included readings from Mountain and three fellow scouts – Boy Scouts Will Thomas and Alden Barnes and Cub Scout Owen Thomas – before an audience that included Gold Star mother Pamela Curtis, Williams, Belmont VFW Post Commander Kip Gaudet and numerous veterans and residents. “Taps” was played, and the first flag placed into the flames. 

“I couldn’t be prouder than to have the Boy Scouts lead this ceremony,” said Upton. 

Mass AG Reviewing Alleged Open Meeting Violation By Planning Board

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Photo: The web page of the Attorney General’s Open Meeting Law web page.

The Concord Avenue resident who fired a shot across the Planning Board’s bow a month ago concerning possible violations of the state’s Open Meeting Law is now training his aim at the board’s waterline after submitting his complaint to the Commonwealth late last month.

Tim Duncan filed his 40-page accusation with the Office of the Attorney General on Sept. 29 relative to the meetings of “working groups” in connection with the Belmont Day School project which the Planning Board OKd a site and design plan in September.

(A copy of the filing can be obtained through the Belmont Town Clerk’s office, and its new Public Records Request web page.)

“The Attorney General’s office has an enormous amount of experience in dealing with open government and meeting law issues,” Duncan told the Belmontonian last week. “I am confident that they will consider the facts, make a wise decision and determine an appropriate remedy,” said Duncan.

Duncan filed his complaint initially with the Town’s Clerk in August alleging the Board employed small “working groups” to supersede critical discussion on issues including landscaping, parking and a proposed “driveway” that he believed should have been held during the public hearing process. Also, he said there were no minutes to the meetings which is contrary to the public’s “need to know” as part of the Open Meeting Law.

In response to his earlier complaint filed with the Town Clerk’s Office, Belmont Town Counsel George Hall believes the Planning Board was within its legal right to have working groups take up specific technical issues that helped move on the review process. The Planning Board will  briefly discuss the Open Meeting challenge at its Oct. 17 meeting.

For Duncan, who would live across Concord Avenue from the highly controversial “driveway” which will allow a second entry to the school, the board’s systemic violation of the law to ensure transparency in the deliberations on which public policy is based, requires state action.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that the current structure, process, and role of the Planning Board in Belmont is dysfunctional and needs to be changed,” said Duncan.

A week after filing his complaint, a citizens’ petition was submitted by three residents as an article in the Special Town Meeting Warrant which would change the Planning Board from an appointed to an elected body. Campaigners noted alleged violations of the Open Meeting process and abuses by a former board as their reason for the change.

Duncan decided to file his complaint with the Attorney General when it appeared to him that no movement was forthcoming by the town to answer his allegations.

“When I filed the original complaint on Aug. 11, the Attorney General’s office strongly suggested that the town initiate a dialogue with me and others in the community to address the issues that were identified,” said Duncan.

“The town made no effort to contact me, and the Planning Board hired town counsel [George Hall] to respond to the complaint without allowing any public comment or discussion whatsoever. Likewise, I have heard nothing from the town about my more recent filing,” he said.

“My guess is that the town is once again going to waste a significant amount of Belmont residents’ money on legal fees to have town counsel prepare a response, vote on it without public input instead of addressing the problems that need to be addressed,” said Duncan.

Duncan said he did not move recklessly in submitting his allegations to the state.

“Before filing the complaint with the AG’s office, I spent quite a bit of time reviewing dozens of emails and documents I received relative to the Planning Board’s process, discussing the issues with a significant number of people and thinking about the next steps,” he said.

“In addition, as you know, two of the board members themselves have recently spoken out on the working group/open meeting problems and the enormous problems at the Planning Board,” he said, speaking of Charles Clark who Duncan noted in his letter to the AG demanded then Chair Liz Allison to resign due to “improprieties.” Clark was recently elected the new Planning Board chair early in October.

While he is seeking remedies to the violations he contends happened, Duncan does not appear willing to re-hear the five-month-long site and design plan review which would come at considerable cost to the Day School which is currently seeking a building permit with the town’s Office of Community Development. 

“What’s important to me is fixing what is broken so that things are better in the future in Belmont and I think the AG’s office is guided by that motivation as well rather than being punitive,” he said.

 

“Belmont isn’t a small isolated ‘Town of Homes’ anymore. It is part of and tied to the economy of one of the fastest growing urban technology centers in the world,” said Duncan, an attorney who worked in government and currently in financial technology.

“We need a Planning Board and a town government that is up to the task at hand. It is even more concerning that at least two out of three Belmont Selectman will not acknowledge the problems at the Planning Board and that these are symptoms of larger problems with the town,” he said.

 

 

Belmont Field Hockey’s Big Week Taking On Lexington, Winchester

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Photo: Meri Power vs. Wakefield.

After a pair of victories last week, Belmont High Field Hockey play three games against the best the Middlesex League Liberty Division has to offer with a chance for a third consecutive division title … if they win the final five games of the season.

On Wednesday, Oct. 18, Belmont (10-1-1) will travel to Lexington to a game against the Minutemen (8-3-1) before coming back home to Harris Field on Friday, Oct. 20 for a clash with undefeated Winchester (12-0-1) whose only blemish is a 1-1 tie against the Marauders back in September. Lexington makes the return trip to Belmont on Monday, Oct. 23.

Last week saw Belmont host Wakefield on Columbus Day, Oct. 9, in a morning matinee and a struggling Woburn squad on Thursday, Oct. 12.

Wakefield, in the mix for a place in the postseason for the first time in recent history, came out fighting against Belmont. Falling behind 1-0 and 2-1, the Warriors struck back with two innovative penalty corners using give and go passing to find the goal. But four goals in the second half saw Belmont pull away with junior Mia Kaldenbaugh scoring the final tally.

“They were so much better than I expected from the last few times we played,” said Belmont Head Coach Jessica Smith. She credited her team’s penalty corners – scoring twice – with the win.

“They were not missing the pass out and really striking the ball hard to the net,” she said.

Many of Belmont’s bench players got into the game against winless Woburn who despite its record has the most reliable goalie in the league in senior Nora Newman. She kept Belmont at bay for the first half, allowing only three goals. But Belmont broke through with five more in the 8-0 home win. Junior forward Morgan Chase added to her top goals total with two more joined by junior Hannah Power with her own brace. 

Looking towards the next three games, Smith was pleased with the team’s collective speed and passing “which was so much better. They are using each other so much more, and we are working on using the long ball drive.” 

The team has taken to knocking the ball deep downfield after seeing their former teammate AnnMarie Habelow as her college team, the Louisville Cardinals, played Boston College in Newton. 

“I’m trying to get them to take longer passes, but it didn’t seem to them like it was necessary until they actually watched another team do it,” said Smith.

“And now they saw that they were successful using it in our games and hopefully that helps them get used to it,” she said.

Manjikian Blasts New Planning Board Chair in Resignation Letter: ‘Hostile Work Environment’

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Photo: Planning Board Chair Charles Clark (left) and former member Raffi Manjikian.

In a tempestuous letter sent to the Belmont Board of Selectmen on Friday, Oct. 13, Raffi Manjikian abruptly resigned as an associate member of the Belmont Planning Board, eight days after fellow board member Charles Clark was named the body’s new chair.

Manjikian said he could not support the selection of Clark to lead the board after he treated him and then Planning Board Chair Liz Allison in “a hostile and threatening manner” and “creating a ‘hostile’ work environment” for future Planning Board meetings. 

“I have lost all confidence that I can make any meaningful contribution to our community as your appointee to the Planning Board,” he told the Selectmen.

Clark’s response to Manjikian’s attack was short and concise. 

“I wish him the best,” Clark told the Belmontonian.

Clark was elected chair in a 3-2 vote on Thursday, Oct. 5 with newly-appointed Stephen Pinkerton selected as vice chair.

Manjikian’s resignation came less than three weeks after the Selectmen reappointed him to the board for a term ending in 2019.

The bad blood between Manjikian and Clark goes back to a Sept. 5 Planning Board meeting where Clark accused Manjikian and Allison of an abuse of power in presenting a controversial proposal dubbed the “Big Idea” moving the Belmont Public Library from its current home on Concord Avenue to Waverley Square as part of a public/private revitalization of the business center.

“It’s not a ‘Big Idea.’ It’s a big lie,” Clark said at the Sept. 5 meeting. “I also think as a result [of] the actions that you’ve taken, you should resign as chair of the Planning Board and remove yourself from this process because I think you violated your responsibilities,” Clarks said to Allison. 

“[T]he manner in which Charles Clark, took upon himself to use our public meeting to attack a colleague [Allison]; to air his ill-tempered rant, for the public to watch, was deliberate and calibrated,” said Manjikian.

He noted the Sept. 5 incident was the second – the first at the Beech Street Center in August – “attacking this same colleague in an affect-laden outburst” then quoting Clark as saying “‘… you have not heard the last from me …’ [(W]hile pointing his finger towards [Allison’s] face.[)]

“In a work setting, this behavior would likely result in a terminiation of employment,” Manjikian wrote.

Manjikian is calling on the Selectmen to “take clear decisive action to address this misconduct.” 

“My volunteer service has long been guided by a principle ‘with each other, for each other,'” Manjikian stated. “I fail to see that I can uphold that principle in the face of such disregard for some people with whom you do not agree.”

Sold in Belmont: Three Properties With The Dreaded One Bathroom

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Photo: One bathroom didn’t hamper the sale of these three properties.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 32 Skahan Rd., Condo (1920). Sold for $589,000. Living area: 1,101 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 36 days. Last sold: Dec. 2008, $369,000.

• 27 Irving St.#2, Condo (1880). Sold for $480,000. Listed at $460,000. Living area: 827 sq.-ft. 4 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. On the market: 36 days. Last sold: April 2006, $341,000.

• 69 South Cottage Rd.#2, Townhouse condo (2012). Sold for $1,298,000. Listed at $1,395,000. Living area: 2,481 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 153 days. Last sold: July 2012, $1,075,000.

• 209 Channing Rd., Brick ranch (1960). Sold for $695,000. Listed at $719,000. Living area: 1,428 sq.-ft. 5 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 87 days. Last sold: Oct. 1963, $20,800.

Letter to the Editor: Include Four Trash Options In RFP, Not Just One

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Photo: Waste contract in Bemont.

To the editor:

I am writing to express my concern and disappointment that Belmont’s Board of Selectmen has issued only a very limited RFP for Belmont’s new trash contract. Belmont’s Board of Selectmen has asked for quotes only for 65-gallon barrel pickup and has ignored the more environmentally-friendly 35-gallon barrel or pay-as-you-throw options. Belmont’s Board of Selectmen has also shirked their financial responsibility to the town by not comparing the costs between different trash pickup options after receiving bids to the RFP.

Massachusetts provides hundreds of thousands of dollars for communities to shift to more environmentally-friendly trash options. Refusing to request bids for both the 35-gallon barrel and pay-as-you-throw options means that we are leaving Commonwealth money on the table that we could use to offset the costs of these options and possibly even reduce our tax burden for trash disposal. The 35-gallon barrel and pay-as-you-throw options could incentivize residents to reduce, reuse, and recycle instead of throwing away.

The Board of Selectmen has not provided reasoning for focusing on only one trash collection type, instead of requesting a wider selection of options for the RFP, explicitly ignoring direct requests for more information about their thought process. The Board of Selectmen must make an educated comparison of the costs for these trash options. They must also act as fiduciaries for our town itself and all of our children by prioritizing more environmentally-friendly trash strategies. Why can they not make these assessments at the information gathering stage of an RFP?

Please join me in emailing Selectmen Paolillo and Williams to ask them to reevaluate their decision. Selectman Dash already supports including environmentally-friendly trash options in the RFP. Belmont should include all four options recommended by the Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Group in the RFP so that we can weigh the environmental costs and benefits, as well as the financial cost, of the various options after receiving competitive bids from trash contractors.

Rebecca McNeill

Belmont

Birthday Girl Allard Gifts Belmont 1-0 Payback Win Over Woburn

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Photo: Belmont’s Cary Allard (right) celebrating her goal as Woburn goalkeeper Kelsey Qualey (right) looking on.

The adage goes it’s better to give than receive. And Belmont High Girls’ Soccer senior co-captain Cary Allard who turned 18 Saturday, Oct. 14, decided to give her teammates a gift to celebrate her birthday: a game-winning goal.

Allard’s strike midway through first half was enough to give the Belmont (11-1-0) a 1-0 shutout victory over a physical Woburn (12-2-0) squad in a Saturday afternoon matinee to avenge a 1-0 defeat the Tanners put on a then-undefeated Marauders Thursday, Oct. 12.

“I don’t think you’ll see us play much better than this especially passing,” said Belmont’s long-time head coach Paul Graham.

Belmont’s goal was the result of a build up from the midfield with Allard picking up a through pass from sophomore midfielder Marina Karalis splitting a pair of defenders and tipping a right footed shot by Thursday’s hero Woburn goalkeeper Kelsey Qualey at the 20-minute mark. 

Belmont held the front foot for most of the first half with twice as many shots on goal, 4-2, during the first half hour. Woburn took advantage of its quickness to increase its presence in Belmont’s defensive end in the final 10 minutes with Belmont goalkeeper junior Chloe Tingos making a difficult save facing away from the field with five minutes remaining in the first half.

The second 40 minutes was a rough and tumble affair with plenty of whistles and players on the field with a Belmont player earning a yellow card. Belmont found room down the wings with Courtney Gray working with Allard on the left. The Marauders also found success in the middle with junior center forward Ella Gagnon and senior center midfielder and co-captain Emma Sass forcing the Tanners to keep players in their defensive end.

“We were using a lot of one-touch passes to beat their speed, and that allowed us to control the game,” said Graham.

With time running out in the game, Woburn stepped up its push towards Belmont’s end which kept Mauraders’ defenders juniors Emily Dexter and Megan Tan and senior co-captain Natalie Marcus-Bauer busy. Tan was specifically active on the left side using her pace to win the majority of 50/50 challenges. 

Woburn had one final push in the last five minutes as sophomore Ashlyn Pacheco – who scored the Tanners ‘ goal on Thursday – came close to earning the tie just pushing a free header by the right post. 

“We had several players come off the bench,” said Graham. “[Senior forward Emily] Duffy played, [senior forward] Eliza [Filler] did a great job as did [junior forword] Drew [Bates]. They didn’t play 40 minutes, but when they came in, they did their jobs.” 

The victory gives Belmont a slim lead in the three-team race for the Middlesex League Liberty title with the Marauders facing a rematch with Winchester (10-1-2) away on Thursday, Oct. 19.

US Flag Retirement Ceremony at Clay Pit Pond Saturday at 10AM

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Photo: Retirement cermony Saturday

On Saturday, Oct. 14, at 10 a.m. the Belmont Veterans Service Office and Belmont Boy Scout Troop 66 will conduct a US Flag Retirement Ceremony at Clay Pit Pond, closest to the intersection of Underwood Street and Hittinger Street.  The public is invited to bring old, tired and or worn U.S. Flags to be properly disposed of by burning to this location beginning at

The public is invited to bring old, tired and or worn U.S. Flags to be properly disposed of by burning to this location beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday.  

In early September two U.S. Flag collection boxes were installed within Belmont; one at the Town Hall complex and another at the Grove Street Cemetery entrance to the right of the administrative office building. The boxes have been a great help to help us collect old, tattered and worn U.S. Flags so that they can properly be disposed of and retired.

Belmont Library’s Annual Fall Book Sale This Weekend, Oct. 14-15

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Photo: The sale runs this weekend.

If you love books but not looking to pay an arm and a leg, this is your weekend to stock up on fiction, non-fiction, children’s and every other sort of book as the Friends of the Belmont Public Library holds its annual Fall Book Sale this weekend.

The sale takes place on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 15 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Assembly and Flett rooms at the library, 336 Concord Ave.

A preview party for Friends members takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14. In addition, Belmont teachers will spend Friday picking out books for their classrooms, thanks to the Friends.

The sale’s proceeds allow the Friends to purchase museum memberships, bring authors and demonstrations to the library while adding to the technology available to all patrons.

 

Two Nights? Now Six Articles Before Special Town Meeting

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Photo: Moderator Mike Widmer at the February 2016 Special Town Meeting.

A citizens’ petition seeking to elect members of the Planning Board brings to six the number of articles in the warrant for the Special Town Meeting next month.

The warrant – which was open and closed on Tuesday, Oct. 10 – will likely take more than the traditional single night to vote on the measures before the 290-plus member legislative body.

“It looks like we’ll need to plan for two nights to complete the meeting,” said Town Clerk Ellen Cushman as she accepted the planning board petition on Tuesday. 

The articles are:

  • Reports from town departments and committees, residents.
  • Amendment to the General Bylaws: Revolving Funds,
  • Appropriation for modular classrooms at the Burbank School ($2.6 million),
  • Appropriation of funds ($370,000) for schematic design and authorization of a Building Committee for a Department of Public Works short-term option and a Police building short-term option,
  • Appropriation of schematic design ($150,000) and authorization of a Library Building Committee.
  • Citizens’ Petition to create an elected Planning Board. 

The first night of the Special Town Meeting will take place on Monday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School. If needed, an additional night will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 15.