Neighborhood Roundup

Print out and take this Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 6. … THIS IS THE LAW. (We have made bold some sentences.) – R. Tirella

Massachusetts Voters’ Bill of Rights

Your voting rights are protected. These rights are guaranteed to qualified registered voters.

You have the right to vote if you are a qualified registered voter.

You have the right to cast your ballot in a manner that ensures privacy. You have the right to vote without any person trying to influence your vote and to vote in a booth that prevents others from watching you mark your ballot.

You have the right to remain in the voting booth for five (5) minutes if there are other voters waiting and for ten (10) minutes if there are no other voters waiting.

You have the right to receive up to two (2) replacement ballots if you make a mistake and spoil your ballot.

You have the right to request assistance when voting from anyone of your choice. If you do not bring someone with you, you have the right to have two (2) poll workers assist you.

You have the right to vote if you are disabled. The polling place must be accessible, and there must be an accessible voting booth.

You have the right to vote if you cannot read or write or cannot read or write English.

You have the right to vote but must show identification if: you are a first-time voter who registered to vote by mail and did not submit identification with the voter registration form; or your name is on the inactive voter list; or your vote is being challenged; or if requested by a poll worker. Acceptable forms of identification are: Massachusetts driver’s license, other printed documentation containing your name and address such as a recent utility bill, rent receipt on landlord’s letterhead, lease, or a copy of a voter registration acknowledgment or receipt.

You have the right to vote by absentee ballot if: you will be absent from your city or town on Election Day; or if you have a physical disability that prevents your voting at the polling place; or if you cannot vote at the polls due to religious belief.

You have the right to cast a provisional ballot if you believe you are a qualified registered voter but a poll worker tells you that you are ineligible to vote. You have the right to follow up any challenge to your right to vote through the complaint process.

You have the right to vote if you are not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction and have registered as a voter after your release.

You have the right to take this Voters’ Bill of Rights or any other papers, including a sample ballot, voter guide or campaign material into the voting booth with you. Please remember to remove all papers when you leave the booth.

You have the right to vote at your polling place any time between 7am and 8pm for state and federal elections – hours may vary for local elections. If you are in line at your polling place when the polls close at 8 pm, you have the right to vote.

You have the right to bring your children into the voting booth with you.

If you feel that your right to vote has been violated in any way, call the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Elections Division at 1-800-462-VOTE (8683). This call is free within Massachusetts.

Public Information:

Worcester Public Schools 2011 – 2012 School Year and Days Off/Holidays
STUDENTS REPORT FOR SCHOOL AS FOLLOWS:

PRE-SCHOOLS
PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS will report on September 6, 2011, as stated in the individual notification letter sent to parents.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS will begin school on September 6, 2011. The Worcester Public Schools will be screening Kindergarten children by appointment on August 31st, September 1st and September 2nd. If your child does not have an appointment for screening, contact the school your child is registered at after August 22nd.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
STARTING DATE: August 31, 2011 – Grades 1-6
(all students)

MIDDLE SCHOOLS
STARTING DATE: August 31, 2011 – Grades 7 &8
(all students)

HIGH SCHOOLS
STARTING DATE: August 31, 2011 – Grades 9-12 (all students) Click to continue »

By Worcester District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller

Last September, neighbors stood shoulder-to-shoulder at a press conference at the corner of Main and Hitchcock streets to acknowledge that prostitution was embedded along Main Street from Madison to Webster Square: “Our children, our spouses, and ourselves are being victimized every day by prostitution.

It is not just seeing the prostitutes ply their trade or the johns stalking in their cars and trucks. It is not only the ugly and physical domination of pimps, the unwanted solicitations to our youth and young women, the frequent foul language, and the painful addiction behaviors.

Nor is it solely the fear of our apartment buildings being invaded by desperate individuals. It is all of this for sure. But the real cry comes from the sense of hopelessness that is descending on us that says ‘This is how it is and this is how will be.’”

The group was made up of myself, members of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety, the Main South CDC, Clark University, each of the six crime watches in Main South, St. Peter’s Parish, and local business owners.

After a particularly bad summer of constant prostitution activity we were calling for resources to truly end this blight on our present and future. At the community meeting that followed, Bill Breault (Main South Alliance for Public Safety), Casey Starr (Main South CDC), and myself committed ourselves to form a Curbing Prostitution Task Force to develop a strategy to be implemented by April 2011. Various community members, staff from the YWCA’s Daybreak Program, Worcester Police Department, District Attorney’s Office, and Probation Department met throughout the fall and winter where we rolled up our collective sleeves and produced a consensus community policing strategy.

The key parts of the strategy:

1. Make curbing prostitution a city public safety priority.

2. Continue monthly task force meeting or the next year to assess success/failure and to make the strategy more robust.

3. Active reporting of prostitution behaviors by the community.

4. Decrease demand (males buying sex for a fee).

5. Decrease supply (females selling sex for a fee).

6. Collect and evaluate data on where prostitution is happening.

I am pleased to report that the strategy is now being implemented. You may have recently read about or seen some police stings. These will continue, with particular emphasis on arresting the johns. Probation and the District Attorney’s Office will increase their work to have both female and male offenders sent to the DAWN and CARD programs as a condition of their sentences.

Daybreak and Probation will drive these education programs and collect data on the number of people attending and track recidivism.

The City Manager and the task force will work to find resources for an outreach worker and resources to help women exit prostitution. The Main South Alliance, the Main South CDC and I will soon distribute information to Main South neighbors on how to effectively report prostitution activity.

How you can help:

 · OBSERVE prostitution trolling by females and males, · CALL 508 799 8606 and say, “I am reporting prostitution activity,” · REPORT street locations (corner of …, in front of …), activity (female soliciting, male soliciting, etc.), and descriptions (female with white jacket, male in green sedan, etc.), and · JOIN a neighborhood/business association.

Do not expect the police to show up. I repeat, DO NOT EXPECT THE POLICE TO SHOW UP. While this may happen, the purpose of Observe, Call, Report, and Join is to gather data on where and when prostitution is happening. This data will be used to set up stings, increase public safety and community presence in an area, track where the prostitution traffic is moving, and track increases/decreases in prostitution activity along the corridor.

If you want to join the task force, learn when and where a neighborhood association is meeting, need more info, or have some ideas about how we can make a difference, call/email me.

Stay in touch.

This from today’s Boston Globe (Boston.com). We wholeheartedly agree with the Feds! Let’s get something started, Worcester!

- R. T.

By Boston Globe Staff:

“Federal transportation safety experts say Massachusetts is among the eight states that have done the least to stop hardcore drunken driving.

“The National Transportation Safety Board, which is holding a news conference Thursday on the measures that states can take, has made 11 recommendations intended to stop what the agency calls “hard core drinking driving,” which is defined as either driving with a prior DWI arrest or a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or more.

“Six states have implemented eight or more of the recommendations; 36 have implemented five or more. Eight, including Massachusetts, have implemented four or fewer, the NTSB said in a statement.

“The feds would like the state to enact, among other proposals, laws requiring convicted DWI offenders to maintain a zero blood alcohol level while driving; restricting the plea bargaining of a DWI offense to a lesser, non-alcohol-related offense; and eliminating diversion programs that would erase a DWI offense record or allow the offender to avoid license suspension.

“The agency said that in 2009, 7,607 of the of the 10,839 people killed in alcohol-related crashes were killed in accidents involving hardcore drunken drivers.”

Local Middle School-aged Girls Developed Solutions to Shelter’s Landscaping, Handicapped Accessibility Needs!

What: Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) summer program for middle school-aged girls, Camp Reach, will be honored by the Friendly House community shelter and city and state leaders. Two groups of alumni from the 2006 and 2010 programs will be thanked for their work in improving the shelter’s landscaping and handicapped accessibility.

Now celebrating its 15th anniversary, Camp Reach is part of WPI’s K-12 outreach program, which is focused on introducing young people to the exciting world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Students are divided into teams and work with teachers to tackle meaningful and real problems around Worcester. Through their project, the students learn about the engineering design process in the context of a social or humanitarian problem or need.

Who: Among those attending the ceremony will be WPI Professor and Camp Reach coordinator Chrysanthe Demetry, Friendly House Executive Director Gordon Hargrove, State Rep. Vincent Pedone, D-Worcester; Worcester Mayor Joseph O’Brien, and Worcester City Councilor Barbara G. Haller. Members of the 2006 and 2010 Camp Reach teams that worked on the Friendly House projects will also be on hand to help with the ceremonial planting of a tree in the shelter’s yard.

When: Thursday, June 23, 2011, 3:30-5:30 p.m., rain or shine

Where: Friendly House Shelter: 87 Elm St., Worcester

Be there!

Worcester – Great news! Sure the city of Worcester is swimming pool needy, but City Manager Mike O’Brien has tried to accommodate all with yet another summer of Wheels to Water. Kids will be bused to their favorite city swimming facilities for free, courtesy of City of Worcester/Friendly House. The program is for kids 7 to 17. It runs from July 5 to August 14 (Mondays through Fridays).

Coordinated by Gordon Hargrove and the fantastic Friendly House crew, this great program entails swimming, arts and crafts programs and summer lunches/snacks. This is a fantastic way for city kids to stay healthy and active/stimulated during the summer months.

Children will be taken (by bus) to the following swimming sites: the Boys & Girls Club, YWCA of Central Massachusetts, YMCA — Central Branch (Main South), Girls, Inc, WPI, Holy Cross college, Shore Park, Indian Lake, Coes Pond and Bell Pond.

The new Crompton Park pool and Greenwood Spray Park open July 1! To anyone who can make it there on their own steam!

For more info, go to the city’s website.

Worcester – Did you know that 1 in every 50 children in the U.S will go to sleep without a home this year? Horizons for Homeless Children is seeking fun-loving, dependable people to interact and play with children living in family homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters throughout Central Massachusetts. A commitment of 2 hours a week is required for at least 6 months. Day and evening hours are available. Trainings are held regularly and are listed on our website. Our next training in the Central Region is scheduled for July 20 and 21, 2011 from 6-9 pm (both evenings) in Leominster.

For more information about the program, or to register for training, please visit www.horizonsforhomelesschildren.org, email us at central@horizonsforhomelesschildren.org or contact our office directly at (508) 755-2615. This is a fantastic experience that benefits everyone involved!

editor’s note: This “side bar” by Steve Baer ran in an ICT cover story (also by Steve Baer). We repost it today in light of what’s happening in Worcester today. – R. Tirella

Elephants and Circuses

By Steve Baer

In June 2000, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, The Fund for Animals, the Animal Protection Institute, and Tom Rider, a former employee of Ringling Brothers, filed a lawsuit against Ringling Brothers in Federal District court under the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit charges that the circus uses a stick with a sharpened metal hook on the end (called a “bullhook” or “ankus”) to repeatedly beat, pull, push, torment and threaten elephants. This type of aggression should be illegal, and is, but only because the recipients of the beatings were highly endangered Asian Elephants. Other animals in the circus, unfortunately, are not given the same level of protection. The intention of the lawsuit was to immediately stop Ringling’s inhumane mistreatment of animals in the circus.

It wasn’t, however, until October 2006, a year after a September 2005 court order by a Federal District judge who announced that he will incarcerate Ringling’s lawyers and executives if they do not turn over critical veterinary documents that Ringling disclosed their internal veterinary records. The records revealed Ringling Brothers severe abuse of the elephants.“[We] hope the spotlight continues to shine on the use of inhumane chains and bullhooks and Ringling’s cruel behind-the-scenes treatment of elephants,” said Nicole Paquette, G e n e r a l C o u n s e l a n d Director of L e g a l Affairs at the Animal Protection Institute.

“ T h e Court has run out of patience for R i n g l i n g Bro t h e r s ’ s t a l l i n g ploys,” added M i c h a e l Markarian, president of The Fund for A n i m a l s . ” This trial will come not a moment too soon, as R i n g l i n g ’s e l e p h a n t s continue to suffer every day from abusive discipline and prolonged chaining.”

Training

Elephants are not domestic pets. They are wild animals. The same is true of lions, tigers, and bears. To be trained for the circus, an elephant had to have been chained down and had the spirit repeatedly beaten out of him or her by a team of “animal trainers.” The “trainers” use baseball bats, metal pipes, ax handles, metal prods, and sticks. The intention of the “trainers” is to show the elephant who is boss. The elephant, being an emotionally sensitive creature, Click to continue »

(Southwick’s Zoo urged to publicly release Dondi the elephant’s veterinary records)

editor’s note: For years Southwick’s has been nothing but an exotic animal death camp PRETENDING to care for animals. 15 or 20 years ago, they made the news (they have made the news several times) for their shitty wild animal housing. I went down there and saw: a chimp in a fake circus train car sitting on a bale of hay! That was it! That was its home! Their lion? In a fenced in bit of concrete sitting in the middle of the dump – all ribs, all hip joints. No shade – no “habitat.”

A crime! A crime they had to pay for: they were ordered to build more suitable habitats for the poor animals that “live” tragic lives at the Southwick “zoo.” Do not kid yourself! There are no real vets/experts there. There is no one who is a true biologist/scientest caring for the animals. This place is strictly a money maker – no better than Barnum and Bailey’s.

Let’s work to free Dondi’s “vet” records. I bet they did little for that poor creature!

Boycott Southwick’s in Mendon, Massachusetts!

- Rosalie Tirella

now the article:

San Rafael, Calif. – In Defense of Animals (IDA) today filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), urging an investigation into the death of Dondi, an Asian elephant held at the Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, Massachusetts. Dondi died on Wednesday, after suffering an unidentified illness.

“Dondi’s unexpected death raises a red flag because at age 36 she should have been in the prime of life,” said Catherine Doyle, IDA Elephant Campaign director. “We are asking the USDA to investigate the circumstances surrounding Dondi’s death as a matter of public interest and public safety.”

In a separate letter sent to Southwick’s Zoo president Justine Brewer, IDA urged the zoo to publicly release Dondi’s veterinary records and necropsy reports, saying, “The public has a right to know the cause of Dondi’s death.”

Dondi was in direct contact with the public at the Southwick’s Zoo, where she gave rides during the summer months; she performed circus tricks and gave rides during the winter at various locations in Florida. Elephants can harbor diseases transmissible to humans, including tuberculosis, which can be difficult to detect. Release of the records would hopefully allay any public health concerns. Click to continue »

The Worcester Public Library’s board members speak out!

Our Library performs an essential city service welcoming thousands of visitors and promoting lifelong learning. It is a microcosm of our community, the very young and the elderly; readers and researchers; internet users and genealogy searchers; new Americans; citizens attending public meetings; and filmgoers. Given the economy, the library is the place to come, lending books, helping people find information they need, hosting community meetings, supporting literacy, assisting the blind and disabled, in essence, having a major impact on the community’s social, cultural, and economic fabric. The library is a significant marketing tool that shows the city’s strength, while also playing an essential role in our democracy.
I assume that you are going to include the facts about the library used for the legislative breakfast. Click to continue »