10 years of excellence in water quality monitoring

By Barbara Van Reed

As with the founding of most organizations, there’s usually a triggering event, and for the Webster Lake Association it happened ten years ago, when the town enacted a bylaw to register and charge dock owners on the lake, with the money going into the general fund.

Dock owner Richard Cazeault had a basic problem with that and confronted the town’s selectmen, telling them the funds should be used to maintain the lake. Mr. Cazeault chuckles as he recounts the story. “They asked me to leave the meeting and not say another word. But it was on cable TV and people who watched it thought I had been treated shabbily.”

The next time he was on the agenda to complain about the bylaw he had 25 people with him, and the selectmen had them escorted out of the meeting, again. “They really didn’t want to hear it,” he says.

One of Mr. Cazeault’s supporters was Jane Hill, who had the idea to form a lake management organization. A hundred people met at Point Breeze Restaurant that summer and on July 4, 2002 established the Webster Lake Association (WLA) as a non-profit corporation. They voted Mr. Cazeault its president, a post he held until 2010. Scott Goulet became the vice president, Jane Hill (since deceased) the secretary, Robin Wade, treasurer, and  Arlen Johnson, clerk. Gloria Ricker is the current president.

The purpose of the Corporation was to “address dock registration issues, identify problems facing the lake, and to develop a funding plan.”  The WLA began working with the state representatives and various state agencies to address sediment control issues that contributed to the invasive weed problem that threatened the lake.  According to WLA history notes, the ”effort included obtaining the $4.5 million grant promised to the town five years before for a comprehensive sediment control program for the Lake. At the end of the summer, Governor Swift’s office promised to fund the project. By the end of the year, the incoming Governor (Romney) cut the appropriation.”

“We had a great bunch of people who said, ’let’s do something about the lake,’ but we had no clue about lake management, no money, and no expertise,” said Mr. Cazeault. The group made many phone calls and visited with other lake associations to get some ideas as to how to approach their water quality management task.

The first problem they wanted to tackle was the visible overabundance of invasive weeds that were clogging parts of the lake. They concluded they’d be waiting in vain for the town, state, or federal government to come up with any money, and so to get things rolling they formed three committees, to manage membership, funding, and environmental issues.

Another immediate WLA goal was to amend the dock bylaw so that any money collected would go to into a weed treatment fund. They succeeded, “and once that amendment passed, interest in dock registration disappeared,” said Mr. Cazeault.

The fundraising committee raised enough money, $25,000, to hire a consultant to evaluate the Lake and look at the weed population and water quality, setting a benchmark with which to start the cleanup.

Over the years, the group became water quality management experts. In 2005, the WLA Water Quality Monitoring Program was officially recognized by the State and Federal Governments, and they have trained other groups, including the French River Connection, how to do water testing as well. “We have some really smart people in the organization.”  The water quality committee is headed up by Paul Laframboisse.

“Jane used to say ‘no lake is an island,’ and so we looked at expanding our role to include lake inflows and outflows, the entire watershed area. There was some controversy over that,” said Mr. Cazeault, explaining that water quality does affect the entire community, and so they went ahead with it.

They funded some basic research showing the devastating impact of phosphates on the Lake, feeding the most invasive weed species:  Eurasian milfoil, variable milfoil and fanwort. In another round of activism, the group lobbied for a ban on phosphate fertilizers and in 2007 Webster became the first community in the state to ban their use. However, the State Attorney General denied the bylaw, claiming that it violated state and federal constitutions. The WLA wrote back: phosphates are a clear and present danger, and the constitution also states that if the government will not protect a community, we can do it ourselves. The Attorney General retracted its denial, allowing a ban on the use of phosphates, but not their sale.

The WLA looked into stormwater issues as well. A study was done in the 90s that showed Webster Lake had 40 drain pipes pouring stormwater into the water, carrying pollutants like phosphates and oils. The group didn’t have the resources to address the stormwater runoff, but found a way to begin the process when then-State Representative Paul Kujawski arranged a meeting with the EPA in Boston. That resulted in a grant of $168,000 a year for five years, a total of $840,000, until 2008, when the economy took its nosedive. The WLA was able to clean up the three most serious inflows from large pipes at Union Point (runoff from I-395), Colonial Park and Memorial Beach.

Lake management is a new science, taught in colleges, encompassing water quality, weed management, and stormwater runoff. The WLA has experts in all three areas, said Mr. Cazeault.  A registered professional engineer by education and trade, he jokes he has also earned a Masters in Lake Management from the Webster Lake Association.

How well has the WLA succeeded in its lake management efforts?  Mr. Cazeault illustrated it this way.  He’s a swimmer and snorkeler, and when he bought his property in 1983 he saw very little in the way of invasive species in his cove, and found just 2-3 inches of sediment at the bottom. By 2002, the cove was filled with invasive species, right to the surface, and he could no longer swim there. There was 18 inches of sediment.

Treatment of that cove began in 2005 and continued to 2012. Today, the cove is clear of invasives and the sediment level has dropped to 4 or 5 inches, a reduction he attributes to the natural lake water flow.

The WLA strategy of treating weeds in trouble spots and high traffic, high density areas has worked very well. Testing is done in the same GPS locations by biologists using polarized glasses with which they can see the bottom of the lake, TV cameras, and rakes dropped down to take samples.

The Webster Lake Association today has 600 individual members and 100 business supporters. Anyone may join, you do not have to own not lakefront property, and all meetings are open to the public.  Five years after its founding, the WLA was declared a public charity because of its involvement with education, including the Webster Education Foundation.  Half of the $100,000 annual budget goes to lake water testing and management, the balance to fundraising, operating expenses, and educational programs.

Mr. Cazeault is a wonderful storyteller. If you have the opportunity, ask him to tell you the history of the WLA in his own words. The public is invited to the official celebration at Point Breeze Restaurant on August 14 at 7 p.m. Perhaps you can catch up with him there.

Barbara Van Reed

The Guild of St. Agnes of Worcester was in the Webster news last month when it took over the Mapfre/Commerce Insurance Early Learning Center on Bigelow St. The child care center had been designed exclusively for the company’s employees since its opening 26 years ago.  Commerce Insurance had notified parents that they intended to sell the facility, as it had become economically unsustainable, and had issued a request for proposals from area child care organizations.

Diane Boss, director of the center, had worked there as a Commerce Insurance employee for 25 of those years. “It was emotional for all of us,” she said of the change.  The number of children enrolled in the center had been falling in recent years, which Diane attributes to a combination of a poor economy, Mapfre/Commerce Insurance parents’ aging, and moms or dads dropping out of the work force, negating the need for fulltime child care.

While the number of children had grown smaller, the staff had not. Mapfre had kept them all on. Now, however, the staff has been reduced by nine people, including three of the four management staff.

All the teachers at the center have college degrees in early childhood development. That focus on teacher education and experience will continue with the Guild of St. Agnes. All its teachers have a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education or related field, and all its centers are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Ed Madaus, Executive Director of the Guild of St. Agnes, is enthused about the child care center’s future. The first change will be that it will be open to the public, providing Webster and nearby communities with another child care options.

The transition was very smooth, he said, with little disruption, and credits both parties. “The staff has been wonderful.”  Mapfre had planned to make the change in December, but decided not to wait, and implemented the transition on July 2.

Mr. Madaus described the center as fabulous, a “state-of-the-art” facility. “Commerce Insurance obviously spared no expense when they built it,” he said.

Diane gave us a tour of the facility, and it is indeed, state-of-the-art. The rooms are very large and light, and filled with colorful activity stations and cupboards full of things to do. Each room has a child-size bathroom with child-level seats and child-height sink, where they are taught to hand wash, encouraging good hygiene from the start, said Diane, with a smile. One room has been set up as a library. Another has been set up for moms to have some privacy when they come to nurse their infants. It’s complete with comfortable rocking chairs.

Each of the toddler and preschool rooms along one side of the building opens up into its own age-appropriate outside playground area.  Each has different size jungle gyms and playground equipment, as well as a permanent shade structure. In winter, when there is too much snow to go outside, the play activity moves inside to the 60-foot long indoor gym.

Currently the center is licensed for 94 children. On any given day there may be a total of 80 children, but many of them are part time, so there is room for growth.  The facility can be licensed for as many as 130 children, and the Guild plans to apply for the expanded license. The configuration of the rooms is flexible, and can be adjusted for more or fewer infants, toddlers, and preschool rooms, explained Ann Flynn, Director of Advancement for the Guild.

Sharon MacDonald, Director of Programs for the Guild, said that they plan to expand enrollment and hours, and hope to start up an after school program as well.

The Guild of St. Agnes will celebrate the 100^th year of its founding next year.  The Guild started on Vernon Street in Worcester at the Ascension Parish with the goal of providing job training for girls at Union Station.  They soon discovered that if the women were going to work, they would need child care, and so the Guild became a child care provider early on. It provided many other social services as well.

The Guild belonged to the Diocese of Springfield, and became part of the Worcester Diocese when it was established in 1950. In 1973 the Guild split from the diocese and became a separate legal entity, a 501 ( c ) 3 non-profit, so that it could accept children from the state. Although it severed all legal and financial ties with the church, the separation was amicable, said Mr. Madaus, and they kept the name. Catholic Charities took over many ofits other social services functions.

“We’ve been around a hundred years,” said Mr. Madaus, “and we plan to be around for another 100.”

The Guild of St. Agnes is the largest provider of child care in Worcester County, with programs from Bellingham to Athol. In addition to facilities in Worcester and Charlton, the Guild contracts with about 125 outside providers, private homes licensed with the state. Ms. MacDonald emphasized that the Guild is responsible for case management of the children.

The Guild of St Agnes won the bid for the Mapfre Early Learning Center because “we’re just good guys,”

said Mr. Madaus, in good humor. For the children, parents, and staff of the center, we hope so, because they certainly deserve as much.

Barbara Van Reed

It's not gossip. This rumor is true. Webster's Michael Niemszyk (Nimzy) has been hard at work for the last four months readying his new restaurant at 595 South Main Street, and he's looking forward to being the talk of the town again.

He's referring to the gossip about his split from Michael's Place, also in Webster, earlier this year. “That had a lot of people talking,” he said. And that's how he came up with the name for the new place..

Talk of the Town Pub & Grub is hardly Nimzy's first or second restaurant; it's his twelfth, including four in Marlboro and one in Sturbridge. He had partners and co-owners in many of them. How they ended varied, sometimes the partnership fell apart, sometimes the rent went up, some closed because of a poor economy, and sometime it was just bad luck, he said.

He calls Talk of the Town his “next chapter.”

In his own words: “I have had countless numbers of restaurants of every size and style. And now, I've determined that I have it in me to do one more.

“I've been thinking about what I've learned over the years; I want to make this one my 'Last Hurrah,' and special.

“I've been fortunate to meet, work, and become friends with many of you, and you've seen me through thick and thin. My plan is to serve you the freshest food at market prices in a casual, unique vintage atmosphere. I will be changing 15 to 20 main entrees daily and hope you will enjoy them enough to frequent Talk of the Town Pub & Grub on a weekly, or even daily, basis.

“It will be a real joy for me to share my passion for and curiosity about food.”

The restaurant is in the location of the former Isabella's. Nimzy bought the building and has completely redone the interior, redecorating throughout, opening the wall to the adjacent diner to make a lounge, enlarging the bar and installing a new kitchen. The restaurant's seating capacity is 91 now, compared to approximately 50 previously.

The décor is pure vintage, with photos of Olde Webster, an antique porcelain doll collection, lovely old telephones, and celebrity photos everywhere. It’s clear he spent a lot of time searching for all the memorabilia. The floors are old-fashioned black and white tiles.

Parking has been enhanced as well; a new dedicated parking lot next to the building has space for 34 cars.

Talk of the Town will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week. Nimzy's goal is to make it so reasonably priced “that someone can afford to go there three or four times a week.”

The restaurant will open pending some permits and licenses, on August 6.

.

Barbara Van Reed

“I didn’t think she’d ever be here again,” said Joe Borowski of his wife Charlotte. “It’s miracle. We said lots of prayers.”

We’re sitting in the gazebo in the backyard of their home on Emerald Ave. in Webster as Charlotte recounts the story of her five years of being “hoyerized” in and out of bed at the Oakwood Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

For Charlotte, it’s the people at Oakwood who are the heroes and heroines of her story, and she wants to thank every one of them for being part of her miracle.

Mrs. Borowski initially called us because her friend Constance O’Grady, the lady in our Slater Street sidewalk story some weeks back, told her we were looking for stories from people who worked at Cranston Print Works. Both Joe and Charlotte Borowski spent many years at CPW and we’ll get to that later.  Charlotte really wanted to talk about Oakwood.

This is her story. Back in 2005, Charlotte fell down the stairs in her home and required surgery on her arm. After physical therapy at Hubbard's Transitional Care Unit, she was able to return home. Two weeks later, very tired, she passed out and went into a coma. She was brought to UMass Memorial Hospital, where she spent two months in the coma before coming out of it. Afterwards, she was unable to move her legs. She was transferred to the Meadows of Leicester Nursing Home, a Kendrick Healthcare facility, and was subsequently moved to the Kendrick facility in Webster, Oakwood, where Joe could visit her every day.

That was in November, and Charlotte began five years of just existing, being lifted out of bed into a wheelchair, and a couple of hours later, hoisted back into the bed.  She never got a good explanation for what happened, why she was unable walk.  She was told it might have been a virus.

But then the miracle began, in the form of Dr. Paula Carmichael, who came to Oakwood in 2010 as the Medical Director. “She was the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Charlotte. Dr. Carmichael put Charlotte on a diet and back into therapy. It wasn’t Dr. Carmichael alone who accomplished the miracle, however. Charlotte is quick to name all the people who were instrumental in her progress to walk again.

“It was Dr. Carmichael and God and the people at Oakwood,” she said. “Every one of the aides and nurses I had were wonderful to me.”

Charlotte’s physical and occupational therapy began with teaching her how to stand, first for just two or three minutes, working up to 15 minutes. Then it was time to take a step. “I will never forget the day the therapist said, ‘Tomorrow you are going to take two steps.’ I’m not ready, I said. ‘I think you are,’ she said. I was so scared I didn’t sleep all night long.” The next day they stood her by a walker. “The therapist said to me, ‘Don’t just stand there, you’re going to move your feet.’ And instead of two steps, I took five steps. Later I took five or six more.  Everybody who was there, my husband, the staff, the kitchen crew, they all clapped.”

When Charlotte had come out of her coma five years before, her right hand, which had been totally normal, was clenched in a tight fist, and she was unable to use it. She was told she would never be able to write again. Last year, another doctor, Dr. David Kim, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at St. Vincent Hospital, disagreed and operated on her wrist to unclench her fingers.  He succeeded well enough so that Charlotte could once again hold a pen. “I do all the bills now,” she said proudly.

Over the course of a year she lost 100 pounds, learned how to climb stairs, and was finally ready to go home.

She tells how therapists Meghan and Michelle came to her house to make sure she would be able to maneuver. She has a chairlift for the stairs, and for a while, until the insurance ran out, she had a VNA nurse come. Charlotte can dress herself and take care of her insulin. Husband Joe does the cooking. “I do very well,” she says.

Here’s the CPW part of the story. Charlotte worked there for 25 years as an inspector, checking the manufactured cloth for defects.  One day she and a co-worker were in the Worcester Road crosswalk, coming out of work, when they were hit by an elderly man in a truck. Her friend suffered back injuries and Charlotte’s left arm was broken.

She was out of work from May until September of that year, she recalls, and also remembers that many of the workers were not happy to see her back.  They were jealous, she says, because it was an incentive job, compensated based on how many defects were found. It was a good job. Her supervisor reminded the workers that she had almost been killed.

Sometime later, Charlotte had to leave CPW. She had had two toes removed because of diabetes, and went on disability in 2002. “I would have stayed there until I was 65,” she said. “It was a great place to work.”

Joe worked at Cranston in the print room for 26 years until he retired at age 62. He’s now 71.

Also 71 now, Charlotte is thrilled to say that she is still making progress. Last week she was able to strip the bed for the first time, and dusted and cleaned the frig. She even made it to St. Joseph’s Church a few weeks ago for a special event.

Charlotte is grateful to all the people that helped her. She is especially thankful for the aides, Karen Leary, Danny Roache, Felicia Aponte, and all the rest of them. “They have it hard,” she says, “but they never lost their temper with me.”

She lists other people she wants to thank: Gail Jackson, John Lamb, Michelle Cove, Kim Nelson, Joan Avery, Donna Kelley, Chris Jacob, Sandy Germain, Meghan Lapierre, Dean Mazzarelli, and Gloria Veroneau.

I hope this story may give people a lift,” she says, “to know that you don’t have to be there forever, but can come home.” Charlotte hasn’t forgotten the people she lived with for so long at Oakwood,  92-year old Nellie,  for example, and goes back to visit her.

Barbara Van Reed

Free Fun Fridays are back this summer, expanding on the annual 10-week program that opens the doors to some of the state's best cultural institutions at no charge to visitors. This year the program offers free admission to 50 venues, and five of them will be open free-of-charge every Friday.

The program is sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation, a family foundation based in Newton.

The foundation began the program in 2009 because the cost of admission for many of these institutions and attractions is prohibitive for many families.

“The program was created to highlight some of Massachusetts's cultural resources, but also to provide people with access to activities they may have scaled back on during a challenging economy,” said Blake Jordan, executive director of the foundation. Last year 162,000 people visited one of 34 Free Fun Fridays venues, with many experiencing their largest ever single-day attendance, according to the foundation.

This weekend admission will be free at the Children's Museum at Holyoke, Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, and the 2 p.m. Reagle Music Theatre performance of Bye, Bye Birdie in Waltham.

Next weekend the attractions include the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, Hancock Shaker Village in Hancock, Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, Mass Audubon Center in Canton, Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum in Provincetown.

Some other notable institutions on the list include the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Battleship Cove in Fall River, Basketball Hall of  Fame in Springfield, Old Sturbridge Village, USS Constitution Museum in Charlestown, Mass MoCa in North Adams, JFK Library & Museum in Boston, and Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth. For the complete schedule, go to www.highlandstreet.org.

First Fridays of Putnam

On the first Friday evening of every month from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. downtown Street Putnam comes alive with special entertainment, interactive art making, dancing, live music, and street vendors. Main Street is blocked off from Rt. 44 to Canal Street and becomes a beer garden, allowing casual strolling by the businesses and entertainers with a glass of beer, wine, or sangria in hand..

Started last year, First Fridays was the brainchild of five local business people who wanted to promote Putnam as a destination: Dot Burnworth of Sawmill Pottery, Carly Martin of Silver Circle Gallery,  Nichola Johnson of The Complex Performing Arts, Karen Osbrey and husband Gary of WINY Radio, and Sean Condon and wife Stephanie of Glimpse of Gaia. Sean is the chairman of First Fridays.

First Fridays runs from May to December, May through October outside along Main Street, and November and December inside at various locations, including the Montgomery Ward building atrium and the hall between Bella's and 85 Main.

The next First Friday, August 3, will focus on the art of rhythm making. Community members will experience a drum circle, tap dancers, a “stomp” workshop, performances, and interactive rhythm explorations. The band “Sparkplug” will play on the stage on Main Street starting at 7:00. Look for more details on the Events Calendar page as we get closer to the date.

Fireworks thank you

Dave Armstrong, a native of Webster now living in Florida, visited his family here last week and attended the fireworks. They were spectacular, he thought, and so on Thursday he and his mother Betty went right down to the Commerce Insurance office on Main Street  to tell the company how much they appreciated their underwriting the event. The receptionist said he was the first one to do that. Dave said he got emotional when he told her how much the fireworks have meant to his family all these years. Kudos to Dave for making sure Commerce got a thank you from a grateful resident.

Barbara Van Reed

Several months ago, during the height of the Cranston Print Works demolition work, Nancy French came into our office with a stack of old newspaper pages. She had been cleaning out her basement, getting ready for a yard sale. Nancy and her husband Bob bought the building at 3 Lake Street, across from the library, 46 years ago and renovated it to become Nancy’s House of Beauty. But they had never gone through the entire basement.

The newspaper pages she found had been put down by the previous owner to store things on. One of them, the one that had stopped her, was a full page ad by Cranston Print Works, dated June 21, 1945. The ad showed a shoeshine  man bemoaning what his life might have been like if he’d kept his war bonds and bought more of them.

Our first thought was, why would Cranston Print Works run an ad like that? The small print at the bottom of the ad reads “This is an official U. S. Treasury advertisement – prepared under the auspices of the Treasury Department and the War Advertising Council.” A little research revealed that this ad was just one in the most successful advertising campaign in the country’s history, the campaign to sell Series E War Bonds, or Victory Bonds as they were called.

I’m sure the older readers of this newspaper are familiar with war bonds, and very likely bought some. More than 85 million Americans, half the country’s population at war’s end, did, raising $185.7 billion.

Defense bonds were issued by the US government during World War II to raise money for the war effort. The name was changed to War Bonds after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt bought the first Series E Savings Bond from Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau.  The bonds sold for $18.75, 75% of their face value of $25, and matured in 10 years. Denominations up to $10,000 were available.

The War Finance Committee was in charge of supervising the sale of all bonds, and the War Advertising Council promoted it, producing the greatest volume of advertising in U.S. history.

An emotional appeal went out to citizens, assuring them that participation represented a moral and financial stake in the war effort, even though the rate of return was below the market. The advertisements started with radio and newspapers, and later magazines. The bond campaign was unique in that both the government and private companies created the advertisements.

The government recruited New York’s best advertising agencies, famous entertainers, and even used familiar comic strip characters to promote the bonds. Rallies were held throughout the country, free movie days were held in theaters nationwide with a bond purchase as the admission price. Norman Rockwell created a series of illustrations that became a centerpiece of war bond advertising.  Irving Berlin wrote a song entitled “Any Bonds Today?” which  became the theme song for the campaign.

The sports world participated as well, holding special football and baseball games with a war bond as the price of admission.  An unusual game took place in New York City with the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Each of the teams came to bat six times in the same nine-inning game. Their final score was the Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, and the Giants 0, and the U.S Government was $56,000.000 richer in war bond sales.

The Series E bonds were finally withdrawn from the market in 1980 when they were replaced with the Series EE bonds, and War Bonds became history.

A look at some of the other pages which Nancy brought in have ads underwritten by other     companies. The June 21, 1943, edition of The Christian Science Monitor, for example, ran an ad for International Business  Machines Corporation urging readers to BUY MORE WAR  BONDS . The ad invited readers to attend an exhibition of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings which were on display at Filene's department store in Boston.

Thank you, Nancy, for bringing in a little bit of history that shows how Cranston Print Works and its communities in Webster, Dudley, and Oxford supported the war effort in the 1940’s.

(Source for war bond facts: www.u-s-history.com)

More Patriot staff photos follow.

by Barbara Van Reed

Saturday was a perfect day for a sidewalk sale event, though the vendors who set up their tables on the shady side of Main Street in downtown Webster had an advantage; it was cooler there.

More than 40 vendors participated, including local banks, businesses, retailers, and organizations, along with individual craftspeople and food vendors.

We chatted with several of them.

Our first stop was with Krista and Peter Lewis, who were there to represent the newly formed Pirates Youth Football and Cheer Organization. The group was founded earlier this year by Oxford and Webster parents who wanted to have a local league based on age and grade rather than weight class, as does Pop Warner. The town of Oxford has been most supportive of their effort, Krista said. The group’s president is Oxford High School coach Tony Depiro, and all the practices and games will be held at the Oxford High School field.

Krista is the director of fundraising and was selling raffle tickets at the sidewalk sale to help pay the $40,000 bill they have for brand new equipment, uniforms, and pads. Fundraising has been going well, she said, with car washes, registration fees, and the sponsorship of local businesses.

The American Youth Football Conference allows kids to play with their classmates and go through their youth football careers together on the same team. So far, 140 kids have signed up, 90 for football and 50 for cheer. There will be four football teams, grades 2 and 3 combined, 4, 5, and 6 and 7 combined.  Practice starts July 30 and games start at the end of August.

Across the street, Dianne Hughes, who provides massage and reflexology services at Jeanne’s Hairloft, was ready to demonstrate the wonders of chair massage to willing participants. A licensed massage therapist and certified reflexoligist, she offered half price off on all services for new customers, “so you can see how good I am at my job,”she said. For reflexology novices, like me, it’s an alternative medicine that involves applying pressure to the feet, hands, or ears, which they say have zones that correspond to all other areas of the body, including glands and organs.

Nearby, the Daughters of Isabella was one of the charitable organizations attending the event. Janet Caouette of Oxford is the regent for the local chapter of the Catholic women’s organization. She was selling raffle tickets to raise money for sending “a couple of kids to summer camp.” This was the first year for the raffle, and Janet had been thrilled with the response of local merchants, who had donated over 115 prizes. “We’ve raised over $3500,” she said.

The Daughters are perhaps best known for the trips they sponsor, all to support their charitable mission. The trips are for everyone, said Janet, not just members. Brand new, young member Sarah McMahon said she was bringing her boyfriend and another friend on a trip. You can be any age to go, she said. This year’s tours range from a Newport Playhouse Lobster Fest to a “Myrtle Beach Spectacular.”

Webster resident Maggie Dougherty was one of the local crafters at the event. Her company is Maggie’s Restorations and Art, and she restores old statues, sanding them down and painting them.  She has restored a few Blessed Mother statues, and as a spiritual person, she said, they help her deepen her journey.

Maggie displayed decorative bottles with religious paintings, watercolors, and jewelry, a neat mix of handcrafted items. She’s just into her second year of doing craft shows. She attended the sidewalk sale event to “support the community.” She said she wasn’t doing it for the money, “though I could use it.”

Ben Dubois, a student at the University of New Haven, and Sarah, a senior at Tourtellotte High School, were selling a “mix of their stuff,” having a yard sale on the sidewalk. They had sold some of their collection of videos, books, clothes, dishes and stuffed animals, but said they “still have a lot left.”

Just down the block, another young man, Joe Gevry of Webster, was selling stuff belonging to ”me and my Mom.” He was selling an assortment of dragons, watches, shoes, and other miscellaneous items. He said sales were slow, but going, and admitted he was there just for something to do.

Board member Debbie Rousseau was “manning” the Webster Dudley Business Alliance table in the sun in front of the United Church of Christ. She had some words to say about the heat, but carried on despite that. If you know Debbie, you know she’s never at a loss for words.

One of the food vendors on Main Street was Denise Gambone, with a hotdog stand called Denise’s Roadside Lunch. She’s planning to set up her business on weekends on Joe Kunkel’s property next to Indian Ranch. She tried that six years ago, she said, but the selectmen had given her a really hard time and made her move because there wasn’t enough parking.

“There’s plenty of parking now, and this year everyone in the town hall has said it’s OK,“  she said. “It’s totally different this time.”

She’ll be at the Gore Road location on show days, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. She’s hoping people will grab a hot dog on their way into Indian Ranch. Her prices are lower, she said. “I don’t know if they (Indian Ranch) will have a problem with me,“ she admitted. But she’s going to give it a try.

Denise  serves Maple Leaf hot dogs, the best, she said, but they are very difficult to find anymore. She did an all out search for them, but wouldn’t reveal  her source.

Under a shade tree, Dan Anderson promoted the Rescom company, a distributor of replacement windows and doors, out of Auburn. Dan said he’s an “event promoter” for Rescom on the weekends. During the week he teaches eighth grade science in Framingham. His draw was a $36,000 window replacement sweepstakes. “Traffic has come in spurts,” he said of the event. It was slow at the beginning, 11 to 1 was good, now it’s slower again.

Seated on the sidewalk in front of her office, Hometown Bank’s Webster branch manager Tina Puzo greeted potential customers with a smile and $100 for opening a new checking account. The $100 promotion has a new twist now, she said. The bank has announced a new program, called Pay it Forward, which allows new customers to donate the $100 to a local school organization, booster club or other non-profit organization. In this way, the bank is actively supporting community programs, she said. Non-profits who would like to participate in this program for their fundraising efforts should call Tina at the bank.

Summing up the event was a happy shopper, Diana Komorowski. “I love it, she said. “It’s fabulous. There are lots of interesting booths.  I’m like a big kid here.”

by Barbara Van Reed

When press releases came from Governor Duval Patrick and Senator Richard T. Moore last week announcing that Webster had received a $900.000 federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) grant, we decided to find out how Webster had qualified it. Clearly, this doesn’t happen by magic.

But, there does seem to be a magician of sorts behind the scenes in the Webster Town Hall. Her name is Carol J. Cyr, and she’s the director of the Office of Community Development, and has been since 1995. And, magically, Webster has received a community block grant every year since then.

This year the money will be used to completely redo the section of Negus Street between Mechanic Street and Church Street. The aging water line will be replaced, the roadway rebuilt from the gravel up, and there will be new sidewalks with handicapped accessible crosswalks. “The street  is old,” Ms. Cyr said, “and everything will be brought into compliance with new codes and regulations.”

This section of town was chosen for infrastructure improvement because of its proximity to the planned senior housing project at the A.J. Sitkowski building and the downtown area.

Ms. Cyr explained that the process for applying for the annual CDBG grant program starts in December, and the applications are due each April. The state has very tight timelines for spending the money once it's appropriated, she said. Work on a project has to be well underway before a community can apply for further grants.  In the case of Negus Street, the town had sufficient money to design and engineer the road, basically getting a head start on the project, making it “shovel-ready.”

Because of this planning ahead, bidding for the Negus Street improvements can be done in the next three or four weeks, she said.

Come December, Ms. Cyr will be getting ready for next year's application, which will be for Phase II of the Negus Street project, continuing the improvements from Church Street to Lake Street. She works with all town boards to identify the most needed projects each year, and also retains an outside consultant to ensure the application is complete, professional, and accurate.

The CDBG  program is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development (HUD), and funds are distributed by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)  to cities and towns in Massachusetts with populations of less than 50,000.Communities with populations greater than 50,000 receive the funds directly from HUD.  Ms. Cyr said the $900,000 received by Webster is the maximum allowed based on its size.

Kudos to Ms. Cyr for making these grants a reality for Webster year after year.

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A year and a half ago Webster made news headlines when selectmen decided that the town would post on the side of a building the name, address and phone number of the owner of a property that had been condemned or fallen into disrepair. The first 4 x 8 plywood sign went up in May of last year on Granite Street..

Several weeks ago a resident of Goddard Street called this newspaper wondering if we knew whether the town was still posting nuisance properties, as he hadn't seen any lately. He explained that a house in his neighborhood, #29 Goddard St, had been abandoned by its owner, who he said had also dumped garbage on the property after losing it to foreclosure.

The neighbor said the building was an eyesore and, worse, dangerous, because a garage on the back of the lot had caved in. He was worried that kids in the neighborhood might decide to play in the rubble, and more of the structure might collapse.

We called Health Agent Cathleen Liberty, who told us that her office and the building inspector were aware of the problem garage and that the inspector had been working on it with the bank that owns it to remove the structure for several months.

Ms. Liberty said she would inspect the house and lot periodically  to make sure it's secured and being maintained. The building is structurally sound, she said, even if it is an eyesore.

Usually the bank will hire a service company to maintain its foreclosed properties, she said. If  this house is not being maintained as required, she will add it to the town's nuisance properties list.

Now back to the initial question about the posting policy. “It's worked very well,” Ms. Liberty said. “We send letters and notices to the owners, and they don't want to be posted. We've had good cooperation. Just the threat of it is working.”

But, she continued, there is one owner who has defied all attempts to clean up his property. There's nothing more we can do before going to court, she said. And so, the building is scheduled to be posted this week.

Here again, we may not always see it, but town hall people are diligently working behind the scenes.

Next week Saturday downtown Webster will host the Second Annual Sidewalk Sale, an event sponsored by the Webster-Dudley Business Alliance (WDBA). It’s a chance for local businesses, crafters, artists, and food vendors, and non-profit groups to display their products and services, and an opportunity for residents to meet local business owners and artists who may not have a storefront.

Last year’s sidewalk sale was held in August, in conjunction with the opening of the French River Park and the Civil War 150^th year celebration. This year, there will again be activities at the park and a Civil War reenactment at the Town Hall. The  P&W Railfan Museum will be open too, and there are plans for an antique car show.

More than 60 vendors participated last year, and Deb Horan, president of the WDBA , hopes to have more take part this year. “We’ve switched the date to June, rather than August, hoping it will be a little cooler. It was brutally hot last year,” she said.

The Webster-Dudley-Oxford Chamber of Commerce has invited its members to participate in the Sidewalk Sale event as well. “We’re hoping to do more things together and promote each other’s events,” said Ms. Horan. Which begs the question, why are there two business organizations in the towns?

The Chamber of Commerce is, of course, known as the premier business organization for networking, community support, and advocacy, and the local Webster Dudley Oxford Chamber has been active for many years.

The Webster Dudley Business Alliance has a somewhat different focus.  The brainchild of Deb Horan, owner of Booklovers’ Gourmet in Webster, and Rebecca Leonard, a local artist who had her own gallery, the Alliance had its first meeting in October 2006. (Ms. Leonard has since moved to another state.)

“We saw a need for a group to specifically support smaller local businesses, home-based businesses, and individuals, to offer them some of the same benefits the Chamber provides; to give them a chance to network, share ideas, learn from each other, and work with town government in addressing business  issues,” Ms. Horan said. “We also wanted to make it affordable to be a member. Dues are just $50 per year.”

The group targets small businesses, but does have some large members as well. Membership has stabilized at around fifty. “Some business owners say ‘I don’t have time to get involved,’ but you can spend as much or as little time as you want. We communicate a lot with email and facebook,” said Ms. Horan.

“We’re all busy running our businesses,” she added, “but there is strength in numbers. The more people we have sharing information and solving mutual problems, the better.”

In addition to networking opportunities, the organization offers speaker meetings on topics such as marketing and financial planning.

When the WDBA obtained its non-profit status, it began working with Webster’s Community Development office and director Carol Cyr to support access  to commercial property development grants for façades and signage. “In talking with Carol, having an active business group in town improved the chances of getting the grants,” said Ms. Horan.

The WDBA will also get involved in local town issues that might come up again, such as a new sign bylaw. “While we have no official position on this, we want to be part of any  negotiations, to work for something that’s fair,” she said.

A key purpose of the group is to increase awareness of local businesses in the community by serving the community. One visible aspect of that was WDBA 's organization of this year's  Earth Day Cleanup in April, which included other groups as well, including the French River Connection and the Dudley Conservation Land Trust. They've also sponsored an annual Tree Lighting Event in Webster. The Sidewalk Sale is another.

And so, most immediately, the group is getting ready to make downtown Webster a destination for fun, food, and shopping again next weekend, June 23. Last year many people said “It was so nice to have all that activity in the downtown area.”

Come join us. We’ll be there along with lots of other locals. The rain date is June 30.

(For more information about the Webster Dudley Business  Alliance go to www.thewdba.org or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)

Barbara Van Reed

Constance O'Grady did not want this column to be about her.

Mrs. O'Grady called The Patriot recently to tell us about the poor condition of the sidewalks near where she lives, at Slater Estates, a 71-unit housing complex for the elderly at the intersection of Slater Street and North Main in Webster.

Mrs. O'Grady is 85 and said that she and her neighbors like to walk down Slater Street to go to the drugstore, or down North Main to do some banking. “But the sidewalks have so many holes and ruts in them that it's difficult for older people to maneuver, especially in spring when you can't see the holes because they're filled with water and ice. The doctors tell us old people to walk, but where can we walk to?”

Mrs. O'Grady said she and her neighbors talk about this problem, but they've never brought it up with the town's highway department. “What good would it do?” she asked. “They wouldn't listen.”

“I don't want to be the one that started all this trouble,” she said. “Some people would think it's terrible to cause trouble. But somebody has to say something.” And so she did.

We toured the sidewalks together, with Mrs. O'Grady on her electric mobility scooter. She avoids the sidewalks and rides on the road. “People driving by in their cars give me dirty looks, like I shouldn't be on the road, but the sidewalks are too rough.”

There are sections of the sidewalks where a scooter or wheelchair can't maneuver because there are no curb cuts. In one section the sidewalk is blocked by bushes.

So, we called Ken Pizzetti, Webster's highway superintendent. He hadn't received any complaints about the sidewalks on Slater Street and North Main, but said he would check out the brush blocking the sidewalk. “We fill any holes and address any serious problems right away when we hear about them,” he said. The sidewalks along North Main Street predate ADA regulations, he acknowledged, and might be hard for handicapped people to navigate.

Mr. Pizzetti voiced what we all know. Town budgets have been hard hit the last few years, and with state cutbacks, it's impossible to redo all the roads and sidewalks that need work. The town, he explained, follows a procedure for pavement management which emphasizes maintenance of the better roads first.

The highway department employs new, modern, cost effective techniques for road resurfacing, such as “hot-in-place resurfacing,” which actually regrinds existing asphalt in place. However, when they do this, the sidewalks are not included in the maintenance.

Later we talked with DPW Director J. T. Gaucher, who also said that sidewalks are budgeted for

temporary fixes only. But, he also said that he'd just attended a meeting in Boston on State grants. He said the town does have plans “down the road” to apply for funds to reconstruct North Main Street, sidewalks and all. To obtain state grants, the town would have to commit to paying for the engineering design, which could cost $40,000 to $80,000. And then it could take years to get approval. But it's definitely on his radar.

We also checked if Mrs. O'Grady and her scooter-bound friends are allowed to use the roadway. Yes, said Police Chief Bent's office. They should be sure to stay to the right, he said.

Now, back to Mrs. O'Grady. A Webster girl, Constance met and married Walter Gale. “Everybody knew him,” she said. Walter worked at Cranston Print Works all his life. “I was upset when I saw the demolition going on there...if he ever knew it was gone...to think of all the people that lost their jobs there. It's sad,” she said.

She herself worked at the CPW Sample Company for nine years, cutting material and filling out orders.

When Walter died, in 1988, after 42 years of marriage, she retired.

Mrs. Gale subsequently met Ronald O'Grady from Thompson, married, and with him traveled the country: California, Michigan, Florida, Nevada. “We went all over,” she said, and they settled in Omaha. She describes Mr. O'Grady as a happy, engaging man. “He was a mechanic and all the wives would take their cars to him.”

“But he got sick, and we lost him.” So last year she moved back to Webster to be near her children. She has sons in Webster and Auburn, a daughter in Rhode Island, and another son in Reno.

“I've had an interesting life, and now I'm happy to be by my children,” she concluded.

Mrs. O'Grady will continue to ride her scooter on the road to run errands. Drivers, instead of giving her a dirty look when you see her, why not wave to her instead?