Summer Solstice Fair - Saturday, June 18
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Summer Lawn Fair on the Unitarian Universalist Church of Winchendon lawns, 126 Central St.
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Summer Solstice Celebration at the Clark Memorial YMCA, 155 Central St.
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Winchendon Winds Band Concert in the UU Church sanctary, 126 Central St.
Winchendon's summer party is back! Vendors, food, children's activities, music, local organizations, something for everyone!
Occupants Walk Away from Two Vehicle Accident; Both Vehicles Towed
A two car motor vehicle accident just before 8:00 p.m. on the evening of Tuesday, June 14 resulted in both vehicles being towed from the intersection of Grove and Spruce Streets. The impact could heard as far away as the bridge on the local bike path a quarter mile east of the accident location.
The operator of a red Ford sedan told the Courier what he reported to police after the accident: that he was driving down Grove Street in the direction of Central Street, when he claims the operator of the other vehicle ran a stop sign at the intersection of Spruce and Grove Streets and collided with his vehicle, spinning him around 180 degrees, leaving his vehicle facing uphill and in the wrong lane. His vehicle was disabled and undriveable. The other vehicle also could not be driven away from the scene after the impact. The intersection is adjacent to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. Brooks Automotive towed both vehicles from the scene.
Two Winchendon Police Patrolmen and a Winchendon Police Sergeant on duty attended the scene of the MV accident, as did the Winchendon Fire Department. A right to refuse medical treatment was exercised by the occupants of both vehicles. As the accident scene was being cleaned up, Sgt. Ray Anair, a long time member of the WPD who has seen more than his share of MVAs, put it best when he simply said, "Thankfully everybody was able to walk away, and in the end that's what was important here."
It was a bad week for MV accidents in Toy Town; the police logs note five accidents on June 14 and June 15 alone.
Photos by Keith Kent
Amphitheatre Project Stakeholders Hold Ceremonial Ground Breaking at Winchendon Community Park
On Monday morning, June 14, the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation Committee and Advisory Committees, town officials, contractors and members of the Winchendon Community Park Committee gathered at 10:30 a.m. for an official "ground-breaking" ceremony to celebrate the start of construction of the amphitheater in the Winchendon Community Park.
In recent weeks, crews have been clearing the area where the amphitheater stage, tiers, walks and steps will be built, as well as the space for the parking lot above the amphitheater. Now five brand new shovels painted gold stood waiting for the ceremony next to an "honorary" pile of earth symbolizing the project. A sample of the pre-constructed stone walls which will form the tiers was available to view. Visitors could look into a surveyor's viewscreen and see a diagram of the planned site superimposed on the actual landscape before them.
The site of the immediate-future amphitheater is ready to go.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Informational sign board listing major contributors to the project.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
"Our Foundation wanted to do something much larger for each of the 3 communities we represent. 'A Project that would be for the betterment of the community and its citizens, and something that would benefit many.' When our Board was presented with the Park Committee's idea of the Community Park & Amphitheater, the Board loved the idea and wanted to help bring this to the Winchendon Community.
"It has taken a lot of time and effort to bring this project to light and our Foundation is extremely proud and enthusiastic to be part of such an exciting time for Winchendon.
"I would like to thank Former Foundation President Charles 'Lad' McKenzie for initiating this project prior to his retirement, and the Winchendon Park Committee for working with the Foundation and for your willingness to take on this large project. Your years of commitment, time and efforts have paid off."
From left, Vice Chair of the Winchendon Board of Selectmen Rick Ward, Town Manager Justin Sultzbach, Town Manager's Executive Assistant Linda Daigle and Chair of the Winchendon Board of Selectmen Audrey LaBrie
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Digging in, from left, are Don VanEtten and Glenn Hunt of the Robinson Broadhurst Committee, Vice Chair of the Winchendon Board of Selectmen Rick Ward, Town Manager Justin Sultzbach, Chair of the Winchendon Board of Selectmen Audrey LaBrie and Ernest Fletcher of the Robinson Broadhurst Committee.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
"Next is the Winchendon town officials and residents for their patience, support and trust that someday we would be where we are today. Thank you.
"Thank you to the contractors that are now working on this project. You're showing us that you understand what our dream is.
"A very very, very special thank you to Robinson Broadburst Foundation for financial contributions, and your faith in our town and this project have been unbelievable. Thank you.
"I hope I believe that we can all look back on this day as one that opens new doors for our town that gives us all sense of pride in what we can do as a community and helps bring more visitors, businesses and residents to Winchendon."
Members of the Robinson Broadhurst Board of Directors and Advisory Boards, from left: Larry Bobnick (Worcester, NY Advisory Board), President and Director Don VanEtten, Director Patty Callagy, James Empie (Worcester, NY Advisory Board), Ken LaBrack (Winchendon, MA Advistory Board), Vice President and Director Glenn Hunt, James O'Connor Jr. (Worcester, NY Advisory Board), Secretary and Director Heather Clark, John Hubbard (Stamford, NY Advisory Board), Treasurer and Director Ernest "Bud" Fletcher
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Project contributors who helped manifest the vision, including representatives from the Town of Winchendon, ABACUS Architects, Beals + Thomas, City Enterprise, Inc., Atlantic Construction & Management Inc. and the Winchendon Community Park Committee.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Plans for the amphitheater's debut performances are not finalized, but many ideas are being discussed. The amphitheater should be finished by this November, if weather and other conditions are favorable. For updates, watch the Winchendon Community Park web page or Facebook page.
BOS Discuss Ongoing Problem of Illegal Dumping and Littering Throughout Town
At the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Monday, June 14, Town Manager Justin Sultzbach raised the issue of the continuous problem with illegal dumping and littering on roadways and property throughout the town of Winchendon.
"One of the first priorities when I got to town was trying to chip away at this issue," Mr. Sultzbach began. "The removal of blight is a priority that's listed in our Master Plan...our staff boards and committees have made what I would best describe as a surgical effort to clear out some of these items. One of the major concerns or obstacles that we have on our end is limited resources. And I think that goes for most issues that we have in the community. And I think if we had endless staff hours and endless pots of money, this is something that we could probably tackle more effectively. But in the present moment, I would probably put it in the category of where we're doing the best that we can with the resources that we have."
As reported in last week's Courier, Mr. Sultzbach also pointed out that "beyond illegal dumping and littering, we've also had an increased issue with graffiti and tagging in high traffic areas. So we've been regularly painting that over as a policy, usually within a few days or at most a week of when it appears, we try to cover it up. Especially anything that's particularly egregious. Just try to disincentivize people from going out and doing this." He added that Chief Walsh and the Winchendon Police Department are logging and investigating graffiti that includes racist or derogatory language or messages.
Mr. Sultzbach added that residents in town do turn out for the Earth Day cleanup and at other times to volunteer and pick up trash and litter, "but I think a lot of the individuals that we see volunteering are pretty consistently the same ones and I think they're getting kind of tired and burned out and just looking for some type of help or support in this initiative."
Mr. Sultzbach stated that he wanted to "open it up to the Board and any other members of the community that may have input to provide any suggestions or tips or requests, examples from other communities where they've seen success in trying to address this ongoing issue."
Board Chair Audrey LaBrie asked if the town could afford to support more frequent cleanups than just Earth Day, perhaps quarterly, so "the stuff doesn't pile up for a year." She also suggested a town hazardous waste collection day.
Selectman Barbara Anderson responded that she participates in the Earth Day cleanup every year, and she's not encountering hazardous waste, but rather "bags full" of empty alcoholic nip bottles and beer cans, "which frightens me to think somebody's clearly driving and whipping them out the window." She added that two months after the Earth Day cleanup, the Tannery Hill and Front Street roadsides are filled with empty nips. "You wouldn't know that I'd been by two months ago" picking them all up, Ms. Anderson said.
Ms. Anderson suggested that people take pictures and report anyone they see throwing litter and trash out of their cars onto the roads. "Don't ever confront them," she warned.
Board Vice Chair Rick Ward made a number of suggestions, including more frequent volunteer clean up days, trash bins along the Bike Path (which currently has only recepticles for dog waste), and an "adopt a highway" program in which businesses or town organizations would "adopt" and be responsible for picking up stretches of roads. Mr. Ward described the Knights of Columbus adopting a highway when he lived in Arizona, and they would go out "every couple of months" and pick up the trash. "I thank those folks who are out there" cleaning up their streets "because this problem is a very small minority of the town, but they really make a mess and they have no respect or pride in the town. And it's really sad," Mr. Ward said.
Department of Public Works Director Brian Croteau rose to explain that "in my budget, we budget for roadside trash. We use it when my guys pick up TVs, mattresses and so on and so forth. But we also use it, there's probably five or six different residents that pick up trash on a regular basis. Some of them do it for the cans, some of them do it because they don't want Winchendon to look like a trash bin. It's all appreciated, and I usually get a text or a phone call and say, 'Hey, I'm going to dispose of it.' We take it out to the DPW, we take it at the transfer station, we charge appropriately. It's not really taken advantage of in the fullest respect. So if we wanted to try something like two or three days a year I can fund another Earth Day through my budget." Mr. Croteau said the Earth Day dumpster cost about $1,200, "but that's a pretty large cleanup."
Mr. Croteau said that they're actually seeing fewer big items like mattresses, DVDs and so on being dumped. He explained that when people picked up trash on Glenallen Street, they left the filled trash bags along the verge of the road and the DPW went out and collected them. "Just call the office and we'll send the guys out. So we're more than willing to work with anybody in the community that wants to help out in that respect," he promised.
In response to questions from Ms. Anderson, Mr. Croteau clarified that residents do not have to have a resident sticker to bring things to the transfer station; they will need to pay the non-sticker fee to leave items at the transfer station. "We don't turn anybody away...I don't want to pick stuff up off both sides of the road, so we generally try to work with people," he said. Ms. Anderson commented that the town should make residents aware of this so that people won't dump trash thinking they can't take it to the transfer station without a $70 sticker. The problem with trash collection companies leaving the area for lack of customers, and the comparative costs of hiring a collection service versus bringing your trash to the transfer station (taking it yourself is cheaper) were discussed.
Resident and member of the Recreation Commission Tiffany Newton rose to mention "other towns who do recreational programming around town cleanups. So as you guys are saying they do it like four times a year. And it's not necessarily like a specific day. It's over a couple of days. And anybody who wants to participate can stop and then get trash bags and all that and then bring it back to the town or wherever the location is that they do that. And that's something that I had been considering bringing up to our Recreation Commission because obviously it's a problem in town." She referred to the trails in the Winchendon Community Park being plagued with litter and trash, and plans to start a Friends of the Park group to help maintain it. An "adopt a trail" program is being discussed.
The Board agreed to revisit the topic at regular intervals. Mr. Sultzbach suggested every two months, to "give us enough time to implement some things."
No longer on Forristall Road.
Photo credit on file
Within 48 hours, someone had thrown a full bag of medical waste including used medical gloves onto the side of Forristall Road, which the citizen went out and picked up. A few days later, a carton of trash had been thrown on the roadside, scattering its contents. This same volunteer citizen has repeatedly collected many bags of trash from the Bike Path, River Street from Tannery Hill (where they have picked up soiled diapers thrown by the roadside) and other areas of town.
The owners of Lickity Splitz on Main Street (Rte 202) have had a chronic problem with illegal trash being dumped next to the yellow donation bins in their parking area. On June 12, according to posts on social media, they called Winchendon PD to help them identify the perpetrators who had left trash and junk by the bins. The Courier would like to remind residents that nothing should ever be left outside of a donation bin, and only the items identified on the bin should ever be put inside (this usually means books and clean clothing, period). Try the Epilepsy Foundation if you have other things to donate.
This reporter recently walked from Belletete's on Central Street to the Winchendon CAC and found four empty nip bottles on that short stretch of sidewalk. The Unitarian Universalist Church is constantly picking up empty nip bottles, food wrappers and discarded plastic and Styrofoam drink cups from its lawns. Visibility does not appear to hinder the people who are trashing Winchendon.
According to national news reports, many cities and towns are experiencing a critical level of illegal dumping and littering in their communities at this time, for reasons that can only be conjectured and are probably multifaceted (post-pandemic low public morale, increased addiction and homelessness, municipal financial cutbacks, difficulty filling jobs in maintenance and trash collection crews, all are possible factors depending on the community).
Any Winchendon resident who has creative solutions for the littering and illegal dumping epidemic is invited to contact the Town Manager's office or the Board of Selectmen with your suggestions.
MMS Holds First Annual "Expo" of Students' Work
A science display explains the "water cycle" in an ecosystem.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Students examine some of the artwork displayed in the front lobby of the Middle School.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
On Tuesday, June 15, Murdock Middle School held its first "Expo" showcasing the academic work of middle school students in visual art, science and English/Language Arts. Parents, the School Committee and students were all invited to attend, and there was a fairly good turnout--parking spaces took some finding!
The Expo was set up in the front lobby/entrance of the Middle School side of the building, and in the gymnasium immediately adjacent. The projects represented specific assigned "prompts" or problems for which students created their own unique solutions, demonstrations or works of art. In some cases, students worked as teams.
The entire lobby area was filled with visual art--every wall and each side of every pillar was covered with 2-D artworks, while numerous tables held three-dimensional art, including representations of food.
Inside the gymnasium, visitors' eyes were immediately drawn to the ten-foot-tall "plant tower" filled with thriving garden plants, including cherry tomatoes with flowers and tiny tomato fruits. Also in the "biology" catagory were self-contained ecosystems in soda bottles, either land-based or aquatic.
Rows of displays fill the gymnasium. On the right, a "plant tower" with fruiting cherry tomato plants next to a display of soda bottle enclosed "microworld" ecosystems.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
This live-action science display used chemistry to demonstrate geology: an erupting volcano.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
The largest number of displays showed the creative solutions of 7th grade English/Language Arts students to an assignment in writing "realistic fiction." Using the book I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb as a starting point, students developed characters and wrote short stories from the perspective of a young person in Malala's culture, under the rule of the Taliban in Pakistan. Students worked in teams of two, with worksheets for each character and "plot pyramid" diagrams. Many of the stories showed excellent writing skills.
There was no competitive element to the displays (unlike an old style "science fair") and no organized presentation. Visitors were free to examine the work at their own pace. It was fascinating to see what Winchendon Middle School students are learning, and inspiring to see how creative and engaged they are!
Winchendon's Ten-Town Area Falls Below 5 Percent COVID Positivity
The ten-town area surrounding Winchendon has finally dropped below the five percent COVID-19 positivity barrier. While Winchendon has seen a slight increase over last week's 5.48 percent positivity to 5.64 percent, the area as a whole went down from 5.56 to 4.95 percent.
This places both Winchendon and its surrounding area below the Commonwealth of Massachusetts average of 6.56 percent positivity. Additionally, Massachusetts' three largest cities currently show Boston at 7.37 percent, Worcester at 4.43 percent, and Springfield at 7.52 percent positivity.
In Winchendon's ten-town area, four municipalities increased and six decreased. Those increasing were Winchendon, Ashby going up from 5.00 to 7.95 percent, Royalston moving from 4.76 to 6.25 percent, and Athol moving from 2.78 to a still low 3.60 percent positivity. Templeton dropped from 6.26 to 3.21 percent, and its school district partner Phillipston went from 5.48 to 3.17 percent positivity. In the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District, Ashburnham dropped from 5.65 to 3.95 percent, and Westminster from 7.80 to 6.55 percent. Gardner went down from 5.66 to 4.58 percent, and Hubbardston declined from 6.94 to 4.55 percent positivity.
Currently Massachusetts has 5,399,243 persons fully vaccinated, with just under 3.1 million residents fully vaccinated with at least one booster of one of the three major vaccines.
As of the Thursday, June 16, 2022 Massachusetts Department of Public Health updated report, Winchendon children are at the following vaccination totals. Children ages 5-11 are listed at 195 (23 percent) fully vaccinated, and 218 (26 percent) partially vaccinated. Ages 12-15 show 216 (43 percent) fully vaccinated, and and 235 (46 percent) partially vaccinated. Teenagers aged 16-19 years of age register at 339 (48 percent) fully vaccinated, and 388 (55 percent) partially vaccinated.
The Winchendon Board of Health recommends becoming vaccinated only if one is healthy enough to do so, especially if one is either immunocompromised or has preexisting conditions. We wish all students a safe and happy summer break, and please know various bodies of water, such as the Lake Dennison State Park, currently have bacterial swimming restrictions subject to change due to lack of rainfall and bird droppings.
Keith Kent
Chair
Board Of Health
Town of Winchendon
Vaccine Clinic at Templeton Senior Center, Wednesday June 22, 2022
There will be a Vaccine Clinic at the Templeton Senior Community Center on Wednesday June 22, 2022 from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. To register: Call the Montachusett Public Health Network COVID-19 Response Team at (978) 602-2356 Monday through Saturday between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. The Center is at 16 Senior Drive (for GPS search, 79 Bridge Street), Baldwinville, MA.
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Central Street Reconstruction crew members smooth out brand new sidewalks on Railroad Street on Monday, June 14.
