and a thank you to our staff and contributors

by Barbara Van Reed, Editor

This is the very last issue of the Patriot, which has been covering the local news in Webster, Dudley, and Oxford for nearly 40 years. Although I have been associated with the paper for just the last two years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of you, readers and newsmakers, the people who live and work in these communities, and know how much the paper has meant to many of you. I and all the Patriot staff will miss you.  

In this final “Letter from the Editor” I will talk about some of the people who have made the Patriot a newspaper that people wanted to read: our production staff, writers, columnists, drivers, and contributors, some of them operating behind the scenes.

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

WEBSTER – Never could I have imagined that moving back to my hometown and writing for The Patriot could have been as rewarding as it has been the last couple years, and it has been this column that has been the best part of this journey.

Covering high school sports and getting to know the kids and their parents and the coaches has been an amazing experience for me, one I will never forget.  That is why I will continue to write this column as a blog on line and continue to show my support to high school sports. 

Before I thank some people that have helped me immensely with my job, there is one more bit of business to take care and that is paying tribute to the View from the Sidelines 2012-13 Athlete of the Year, Oxford High School senior Emily “The Sweet Assassin” Dawidczyk.

I guess there’s a hundred different ways I could start this final column for The Patriot newspaper. However, I can’t think of one that doesn’t make me feel saddened that after 40 years another small town weekly publication must call it quits and take down the masthead.

We could make this a eulogy and talk about all the good times we’ve had together and how we made a difference in the lives of our readers and our subscribers. We could even take a walk down memory lane and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done when together we fought a good battle against the proposed dump site or any of the other “great ideas” that somehow only served to quicken the bitter end of yet another small American community. A local newspaper that honestly and accurately presents the news is the true lifeblood of an area.

None of us can argue that the owner Chris Robert could have or should have tried any harder or editor Barbara Van Reed could have worked harder to make the newspaper turn around and reach the potential we all could see and hoped to attain.

There is a litany of reasons why the paper couldn’t pull itself out of the red and go forward so we could be back into the list of profitable papers that are publishing in the black. But pointing the ugly finger of blame won’t change what has happened… it is what it is and will only serve to underscore the deep loss we’ll all feel the next time one of us tries to find out what is really going on in town.

So what I will do is thank the many readers and fans that have called or written me in the past sharing how much they’ve enjoyed reading my columns and articles. Some of you even shared which was your favorite column.

I will also thank all the people who let me into your life to share your story so that another person could find inspiration, humor or be called to action. Many of you helped me to spread my journalistic wings and build upon my craft making me a more confident writer and polished story teller.

In closing I want to share with all of you that I am going to have the Bariatric Surgery in August after I come home from Colorado Springs and visiting with the grandchildren. I will be using the next three months to strengthen my coping skills so that I learn a better way to handle my emotions than eating food. I will also be working on my exercise plan to help tighten up miles and miles of sagging skin.

by Henry Lane, Attorney
Lane & Hamer, Whitinsville, MA

The ongoing saga of the recently constructed billboard on the Long Subaru property along Route 395, has moved a step closer to resolution.  On March 18, 2013, Judge Tucker of the Worcester Superior Court entered a judgment on the billboard company's appeal of the Building Inspector's determination that the billboard violated the height restriction in the Town's zoning bylaws.  Although Judge Tucker determined that the billboard did in fact violate the height restriction, he did not order the sign demolished or reduced in height.  Instead he ruled that the billboard could remain until it is damaged or destroyed by weather or accident or the ownership of the property on which it is located changes.

The case was heard on cross motions for summary judgment and without the necessity of a trial since both parties agreed that the facts were not really in dispute and that the Judge could decide the case without the necessity of live testimony.  Both sides agreed that the billboard had been constructed pursuant to a building permit issued by Webster's Building Inspector and that the Webster Zoning Board of Appeals had previously decided that the sign was located in a zoning district in which billboards are permitted after an initial challenge to the construction of the billboard. It was also agreed that a third building inspector ultimately determined that although the sign is properly located, it was 85 feet high and exceeded the "four story" height limit in the zoning bylaws.  That determination was appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals which on a 3-1 vote failed to overturn the Building Inspector's determination because such decisions require a 4 vote majority of the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The primary issue before the Superior Court Judge was a question of whether or not the Building Inspector would be allowed to take a "second bite" at enforcing the bylaw after the first attempt was overturned by the Zoning Board of Appeals.  The billboard company argued that, since the legality of the billboard had once been challenged, and that the Zoning Board of Appeals' decision denying that challenge was not appealed by anybody, its decision was final and that no further challenge should be allowed.   The Town, on the other hand, argued that the initial challenge was limited to the question of whether or not the sign was located in an appropriate district and it did not deal with the height issue and, therefore, the Town should not be precluded from enforcing the height issue separately. 

In a 14-page decision, Judge Tucker addressed all of the issues and concluded that the sign did exceed the "four story" height restriction in the zoning bylaws. He also decided that since the first enforcement action only dealt with the location of the sign and not its height, the Town was not precluded from bringing a separate enforcement action related to the height issue. However, the Judge also found that the billboard company had obtained a building permit for the sign and had constructed the sign in good faith.  Furthermore, he noted that there was no challenge to the construction of the sign until it had been completed.

Under the circumstances, the Judge weighed the equities and determined that requiring the sign to be lowered would result in economic waste and a reduction in its usefulness.  Accordingly, Judge Tucker determined that as an equitable matter, the sign should be allowed to remain until it was damaged or destroyed or ownership of the property changed.  Despite Judge Tucker's efforts to resolve the case in a manner he judged to be fair to both sides, apparently neither side was satisfied and both parties have filed appeals from the decision. Assuming the trip to the Appeals Court follows the usual course, the billboard will remain for at least another year. 

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

WEBSTER – Greetings sports fans! This week we round off the 2012-13 View From The Sidelines Super Team. 

If you missed that last few columns, the following local athletes are already on board; Shepherd Hill soccer star and D1- bound Lauren Barton, Bartlett two-sport captain Akeem Belnavis, Oxford soccer and basketball star Donny Freeland, Shepherd Hill hard-nose soccer and basketball star Taylor Daniels, and Shepherd Hill football and track star Matt Petrelli.

The 2012-13 team was not easy to choose and there are many other athletes who have made their schools proud. Here are some of the other great athletes from our local schools that make my particular job so much fun, and are members of the Second Annual View Super Team.
 

Drew Ravenelle (shown above): senior, Shepherd Hill football, baseball.  If Drew Ravenelle never stepped one foot on a baseball field, he would still have made this team. He showed tremendous leadership as a member of the Rams’ outstanding 9-2 football team this year.

This is what his teammate Matt Petrelli had to say about Ravenelle. “Drew was a great quarterback and a great leader. He worked and got better every year; this past season he had a great season because he worked very hard. Having him running the offense and the way we worked together, I thought we did a really good job.”

Ravenelle is also an excellent pitcher for the Rams, which is simply the icing on the cake.
 

Tyler Barrie, senior, Oxford three-sport captain: There are so many good things you could say about Tyler Barrie’s accomplishments at Oxford this year that it could take up a whole column to write them all, and if you have been following us, we did just that a few weeks back.

If you are selected a captain in any sport, you are at the top of your class, if you are selected a captain in three sports, you probably have a lot of class.  Barrie was the real deal for the Pirates in all three seasons and when he leaves the school, there will be a huge void.

Alex Givins-Perry, junior, Bartlett football, basketball: If you know AGP, you love AGP, it’s that simple.  Only a junior, Givins-Perry has an opportunity to add to his resume and play college football and maybe even college basketball in years to come.  We are betting that it will be football.

Last season as the Indians’ number one option, AGP delivered the goods and rushed for over 1300 yards while scoring 16 touchdowns in his first season, which was pretty remarkable. If he even matches these numbers, which he should, there will be a lot of interest in him from a lot of scouts.

As far as hoop goes, AGP has an outside chance to become a member of the 1000-1000 club. I’ts going to be hard, but he could do it if he tops his numbers from this season, which is a reachable goal.
 

Stella Worters, junior, Shepherd Hill cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track:  Its hard to believe that Stella is only a junior but she is and her leadership is what gives the Rams such an edge against their opposition. She is constantly praised by her coaches and is the consummate team player.

With a year left, there is little question that she will go down as one of the greatest long distance runners in the school’s history based on what she has already accomplished.

Worters is also repeat offender on the View Super Team as she was selected to the 2011-2012 squad.

Evan Anderson, junior, Bartlett soccer, basketball, baseball: Evan Anderson is always going to be the guy that does the dirty work in soccer and basketball.  He plays great defense in both sports and more than often comes up with a key play that does not always involve scoring but does involve winning. 

As the ace pitcher for the Indians baseball team, he continues to get better and better and next season he could be setting himself up for a college career.

He will also dominate next season on both the soccer field and the basketball court, and last but certainly not least, he is a great kid.
 

Chris Dutting, senior, Shepherd Hill football:Chris Dutting, like Lauren Barton, is the only other athlete on the super team, who plays one sport and there is a very good reason why they both are on our team. 

The same way that Barton excelled in soccer, Dutting did in football. Simply put, Dutting was a great, not just good, but a great high school football player this season, one of the best in Central Mass. There were several occasions this past season when Dutting simply took games over and completely dominated and his role was one of the primary reasons the Rams were in the super bowl.

Huberdault the sharp shooter: Bartlett seniorMatt Huberdault was a finalist at the Boston Celtics free throw championship for the second time in three years. Check out the photo of Matt hanging out with a couple of Boston Celtics cheerleaders on this page.

The Sweet Assassin: Next week we feature in our final View From The Sidelines column in The Patriot, our 2012-13 super team captain and repeat Athlete of the Year, Oxford’s Emily Dawidczyk.  You didn’t think we forgot about “The Sweet Assassin” did you? Not a chance.

Until next week, see you on the sidelines! Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any sports news and check out the new View From The Sidelines Facebook page with exclusive photos and news at https://www.facebook.com/ViewFromTheSidelines

This Letter from the Editor will be harder to write than any I've written in the last two years. I want our readers to know that we are as sad and disappointed as they are: The Patriot newspaper will be closing with a final issue next week. 

The Patriot newspaper was bought by a new owner on April 1 of 2011 to keep the weekly community newspaper alive—even though it had fallen on hard times financially. The Patriot competed with the Webster Times, which, once a subscription-based publication like The Patriot, switched some years ago to a requester model, distributing it free to anyone on request.

The Patriot kept the subscription model, allowing publishing to continue. However, it was now competing with “free,” and that is hard to do in a world in which many newspapers are struggling for survival. In addition, The Patriot had some issues with content published by the previous owner which contributed to the near-demise of the paper at that time as well.

Advertisers chose the Webster Times, with its larger circulation in Webster, Dudley, and Oxford and its much greater regional clout.

Two years ago, when I joined the paper, we began work on a new Patriot, one that would focus on the hard news of town boards and meetings, as well as news of the schools, society, sports, and the myriad of events the three towns hold every year. To do this right, we had to hire people, reporters and photographers to cover the meetings and events. We also built a website so that we could post stories as they happened, and hundreds of you checked it out every day.

Gradually, we started hearing from readers and residents that The Patriot had again become a newspaper that they looked forward to reading every week and that we were doing a great job of covering the towns’ news. We were proud of our work and expected the subscription numbers to increase and the advertising to follow.  But, it didn’t.  And so it has become economically unfeasible for us to continue.

There have been other factors at work too. The economy has been in a recession. Many advertisers have switched to other forms of communication with their customers: online display ads, websites, social media, emails, “groupons.” There is also the general trend that more and more readers are going online for their news.

We will publish the last issue of The Patriot next week, May 8, 2013. We will talk with you more then about all the people who made The Patriot a credible newspaper the last two years.

We believe that there can be synergy between a print publication and its online version. We plan to explore that possibility with our sister publication, the Yankee Shopper, which we will continue to publish.

Barbara Van Reed

Note to subscribers: we will begin issuing refunds after May 8. Please send us a message to let us know if you would like to have a refund, or if you would like us to donate the remainder of your subscription to the Hubbard Emergency Room fund, where it will be matched by an anonymous donor.

Text and photos by Steev Riccardo

WEBSTER – Greeting sports fans! Now that the spring baseball season is a couple of weeks deep, we are getting a pretty good picture at who the contenders are.

The Shepherd Hill Rams are making a pretty good statement early in the baseball season.  Off to a 5-2 record with a plethora of good starting pitching, they could be a playoff-bound team.

by Ginger Costen

Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues in the United States, Earth Day is now a globally celebrated holiday. More than one billion people in 192 countries will observe the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day, according to the Earth Day Network.

Although Earth Day is a great reminder to be environmentally conscious, there are plenty of simple ways we can celebrate the earth all year long. Here are just 10 ways you can be eco-friendly long after Earth Day is over:

1. Plant a tree.

Planting a tree is perhaps the most common Earth Day activity, but you can plant a tree any day of the year. Trees produce oxygen and help reduce air pollution. A single tree can absorb 10 pounds of air pollutants a year, and produce nearly 260 pounds of oxygen, according to the nonprofit American Forests.org.

2. Recycle reusable materials.

The average person generates more than four pounds of trash every day and about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year, according to DoSomething.org and 75 percent of waste is recyclable, but only about 30 percent of it is recycled. Do your part by recycling glass, paper, plastic and other reusable materials at your local recycling centers.

3. Donate or recycle used electronics.

Electronic waste includes computers, cell phones, televisions and other electronic devices in working or non-working condition that are no longer used. About half of the states currently have laws on disposal and recycling of electronics and several other states are considering passing similar laws, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Working and non-working electronic devices may be acceptable for donation for reuse or repair. Check with your local e-waste recycling centers, charities and thrift stores for information regarding acceptable items. Many electronics manufacturers and retailers also offer take-back programs or sponsor recycling events.

4. Cut back on driving.

Use public transportation, organize a carpool, ride a bike or walk whenever possible. Leaving your car at home two days a week will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,600 pounds per year, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. It will also help you save money on gas and maintenance.

5. Reduce your energy use.

Reducing your energy use is good for the environment and can help you save money on your energy bill. Turn off or set office equipment to power down when they are not in use. Better yet, unplug electronics when you’re not using them. According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, in the average home, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off.

Other ways to reduce your energy use include: taking advantage of natural daylight to reduce lighting; adjusting your thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer; using the dishwasher and washing machine only when they are full; washing clothes in cooler water; replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps; and investing in energy-efficient equipment.

6. Use reusable bags.

Each year, Americans throw away about 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags and about 10 billion paper bags, according to Earth911. Help reduce plastic and paper bag waste by using reusable bags.

7. Buy locally.

Again according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, the average meal in the U.S. travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally can save fuel and keep money in your community.

8. Clean up the Earth.

The nonprofit group Keep America Beautiful states that more than 51 billion pieces of litter land on U.S. roadways each year, and cleaning up that litter costs the nation almost $11.5 billion. Help keep the Earth beautiful by participating in local cleanup events or organizing your own.

9. Explore the outdoors.

Get to know your community better and explore the beauty of nature. Go for a walk, run or hike with friends and family. Join or organize a walking or hiking group. 

10. Participate in eco-friendly activities.

Earth Day is April 22, but many people extend the celebration to make it Earth Week. From green expos to local farmers’ markets, a variety of eco-friendly activities take place during Earth Week and throughout the year.

In the big picture of things, I’d have to say that normally I’m a peaceful person who doesn’t search for nor enjoy conflict of any kind.  I can’t say though that I’m a true pacifist because when I’ve had enough, I’ll come out fighting. And this week - I’m fighting.

Coming from a big, barren, neonized place like Las Vegas, I loved the idea of living in peaceful harmony with all of the wildlife in our yard.  All year long we feed the birds, squirrels and whatever random critter that passes through the Costen compound.