04.15.2026 - Volume 4, Issue 21

FAMILY AFFAIR

CURRENT EVENTS

Mom and two sons are lacing up for Boston Marathon

IN THIS ISSUE

AHOY

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APRIL 15, 2026

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VOLUME 4, ISSUE NO. 21

FIRST WAVE 1 Five facts from this week’s Marblehead Current.

Town Meeting kicks off in fewer than three weeks with zoning and tax hike questions. Coverage begins on page 1.

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MARBLEHEADCURRENT.ORG

‘No smoke and mirrors.’ School Committee member makes a case for override. Page 4.

Arts Festival 3 The launches literary

speed dating. Page 11.

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ON SOCIAL @MHDCURRENT

JCC’s 13th more about a 5 Learn 4 The annual Jewish Book pre-prom meeting

Month features a reallife matchmaker. Page 12.

for students, parents at MHS in this week’s Headlight. Page 15.

DOLLARS & SENSE

Voters to face override tiers from $9M to 15M out the Current’s annual Town Memorandum would offer pledge to give the Select Board approval »Check Meeting Guide at MarbleheadCurrent.org. to place an override of up to $15 not to ask for more until 2030 million on the June 9 election May 4, voters will decide whether

BY LEIGH BLANDER AND AKANKSHA GOYAL The Select Board is expected to meet Wednesday, April 15, to review a more detailed presentation of a tiered proposal to override Proposition 2 1/2 — $9 million, $12 million and $15 million — and what cuts each tier would restore.

Marblehead faces a $7.7 million deficit for fiscal year 2027.

The Select Board and Finance Committee have approved a proposed $123 million budget that includes program cuts and about 40 layoffs.

The override, which would permanently increase Marblehead’s tax base, includes funding for both town departments and schools.

It’s about tiers

At Town Meeting, beginning

ballot. The override would be presented to voters in three tiers.

At the June election, the most expensive tier that receives a majority vote — if any — would prevail.

This is the first time Marblehead has proposed a tiered override. Several residents spoke at an April 8 meeting, asking questions and expressing concerns.

“I’m the average citizen, and I look at that and this thing, and I

think it’s confusing,” said Ginny O’Brien.

To illustrate the potential tax impact of each of the three tiers, Kezer and Benjamin used the average single-family home value in Marblehead ($1.3 million).

Tier 1 Tier 1 would restore many of the cuts in the town’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, including some staff positions at Abbot Library, the Council on Aging, Planning and Community

Woman reflects on century of family, change and hometown memories

BY LEIGH BLANDER When Elizabeth LaLonde was born at the Mary Alley Hospital in 1926, Calvin Coolidge was president, Prohibition was in full swing, and the first national radio network had just started broadcasting. In Marblehead, fishing boats still filled the harbor, and the town’s yacht clubs were already drawing summer sailors to the North Shore.

Celebrating her 100th birthday on Friday, April 10, LaLonde reflected back over the last century. The biggest change she has seen is simple.

“Everybody used to know everybody,” she said of the Marblehead in which she grew up.

“You could let your kids go out to play and not worry.”

LaLonde, a lifelong Marblehead resident, is now living at Devereux Nursing Skilled Rehab and Nursing Center. Her family is planning a gathering a little later so relatives traveling from out of state can join the celebration.

Her only birthday wish?

“I just want everybody to be well,” she said.

Born April 10, 1926, LaLonde spent nearly her entire life in Marblehead, watching the town transform from a close-knit community surrounded by ocean, farms and open fields into the busy place it is today.

She grew up in what she calls “old Marblehead,” near High Street. Her family roots in town stretch back generations.

As a child, LaLonde attended the Gerry School before continuing on through Marblehead High.

Like many local children, her favorite memories revolve around summers by the water.

“We’d go to the beach,” she said with a smile. “We have a lot of them.”

Her favorite was Gas House Beach.

College — and a wartime world After graduating from MHS, LaLonde headed south to attend college in Kentucky, where her father’s work had taken him. He traveled extensively for Sheepman

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BUDGET, P. 7

COMMUNITY

BIG BIRTHDAY

Growing up in “old Marblehead”

Development, and Recreation and Parks.

The estimated annual impact on the tax bill for the owner of a $1.3 million home would be: » Year 1: $167.90 » Year 2: $804.93 » Year 3: $1,186.68 Tier 2 Tier 2 would build on Tier 1 by restoring additional cuts and reinvesting in programs that

Plans revealed for Reynolds Playground

BY ALEKA KROITZSH

“There were rations,” she said. “You couldn’t buy certain things.”

Even so, she remembers those years as an adventure far from home.

At an April 7 meeting, Recreation and Parks Vice Chair Shelly Bedroissian presented updated plans to renovate Reynolds playground. The plan includes building an ice rink, sports deck, community green space and softball field.

“We want the space to serve as many people as possible, and we want to get it done,” Bedroissan said.

Currently, the park is home to a dilapidated street hockey rink built in the early 2000s. Though once skatable, Bedroissian said it is now a “known dump” with holes that make it unable to hold ice.

The project is funded by a $2.3 million bequest left by Marblehead resident Larz Anderson in 2018. The bequest, now worth $3.3 million, was intended to go towards a public winter sports facility and also recommended that other sports be supported.

After consulting with town departments, experts and Marblehead’s sports leaders to decide the major elements of the project, Bedroissian laid out a three-phase plan for these renovations.

Phase 1 entails building a sports deck that is 85% of the size of a regulation hockey rink.

The rink would be complete with dasher boards, shielding, benches, safety netting and a chilling system to sustain ice throughout the winter. During the spring, the sports deck could be covered by modular turf to host soccer and lacrosse. Over the rink, the department plans to build a pavilion-style airnasium that could allow winter and spring sports to practice rain or shine.

Adjacent to the sports deck, the department hopes to build a 41-space parking lot. Bedroissian said they are investigating the possibility of a geothermal ice and snow melting system, creating space for emergency parking in the winter.

Bedroissan said that meticulous planning went into designing this space to stay within budget, including opting for a smaller-sized rink and an open air facility.

Amid concerns around the town’s budget, Bedroissian emphasized that the facility would be self-sustaining in cost.

Currently, Marblehead youth hockey rents

BIRTHDAY, P. 3

RINK, P. 3

COURTESY PHOTOS

Elizabeth LaLonde celebrates her 100th birthday with granddaughter Nicole Hayes.

Elizabeth LaLonde, far right, is with her mother and sister in this old photo on her wall at the Devereux Nursing Skilled Rehab and Nursing Center.

magazine, a publication connected to the sheep industry that had long been part of his family’s work.

The country was in the midst of World War II during her college years, and daily life reflected the war.

marbleheadcurrent.org

2 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

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OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS

Costs are outpacing the cap: Town’s challenge under Prop. 2½

NEWS FOR PEOPLE, NOT FOR PROFIT. CHAIR AND PRESIDENT

Bob Peck NEWSROOM Editor - Leigh Blander

lblander@marbleheadnews.org

BY AKANKSHA GOYAL

Consulting Editor - Kris Olson kolson@marbleheadnews.org

In 1980, a tax revolt that reshaped how every city and town in Massachusetts raises revenue was driven in part by Barbara Anderson, a Marblehead resident and one of the leading figures behind the campaign.

More than four decades later, in the town closely associated with Proposition 2 1/2, local officials say the law is increasingly at odds with the financial reality facing the town today.

The law limits how much a community can raise in property taxes each year, generally capping annual increases at 2.5% plus new growth.

But the cost of running a town no longer follows that same trajectory — and hasn’t for years.

A constraint that compounds over time In Marblehead, where new development has remained limited, that formula has produced a steady but constrained increase in revenue.

For much of the period from 2008 through 2017, the town’s levy limit — the maximum amount it can raise in property taxes — and overall spending remained closely aligned, with revenue growth modestly outpacing spending in the earlier years before the two converged by the mid-2010s.

Indexed to a common baseline, both rose from 100 in 2008 to the mid-130s by 2017, reflecting a period when the constraints of Proposition 2 1/2 were more manageable within the town’s budget.

In recent years, however, that balance has begun to shift. While the levy limit has continued to grow steadily, the town’s operating budget, driven by rising costs, has increased at a faster pace, creating a gap that has widened over time.

That trend has persisted even as the municipal workforce has not increased in size. The number of full-time employees has hovered around 190 since 2023 and is down by nine full-time equivalent positions since 2018, according to data presented by Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer at a March 11 Select Board meeting.

For a brief stretch after 2017, the two tracked closely. But beginning around 2021 — particularly following the pandemic — that alignment began to break down, with spending growth outpacing the town’s ability to raise revenue under the law.

Since 2017, the town’s levy limit has risen from about $57.8 million to $75.7 million in fiscal 2026.

Over the same period, the town’s operating budget has grown more quickly, climbing from about $82.2 million to $112.6 million.

Indexed data shows the divergence more clearly: by 2026, the levy limit reaches about 178 on a 2008 baseline, or roughly 78% above its starting point, while the town’s operating budget rises to roughly 186, or about 86% above 2008.

The same pattern is visible in school spending, which tends to grow faster than the overall budget and remains one of the town’s largest cost drivers.

Even as the number of full-time equivalent teaching positions has declined over the past decade, overall school spending has continued to rise, driven in part by salary obligations and other fixed costs.

State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data shows that staffing levels dropped by the

Sports Reporter Joe McConnell

jmcconnell@marbleheadnews.org

CONTRIBUTORS

Lizzie Assa Stephen Bach Linda Bassett Virginia Buckingham Cheryl Byrne Julie Flynn Laurie Fullerton James (Seamus) Hourihan Dr. Tom Massaro Maggie Mulvihill Eyal Oren Pam Peterson Emily Promise Chris Stevens FREELANCE REPORTERS

Grey Collins Aleka Kroitzsh Luca Tedesco Akanksha Goyal

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

equivalent of 36.2 full-time positions between 2018 and 2026.

“We can’t stay within inflation” Finance Director Aleesha Benjamin said the limits imposed

by Proposition 2 1/2 have become increasingly difficult to manage in recent years, particularly as inflation and cost pressures have accelerated and new development remains limited.

“We can only raise taxes by 2.5% of the prior year levy, and that plus new growth — and our new growth is pretty stagnant,” she said in a November interview with the Current. “Marblehead’s property tax revenue is 80% of the [total] revenue, so that being restricted at 2.5% is a major problem when we have inflation at 3% or more.”

In recent years, new growth has hovered around $300,000 annually, signaling a relatively small addition to a budget of more than $100 million.

At the same time, costs are rising faster.

“We can’t stay within inflation with 2.5%,” Benjamin said. “It’s impossible, especially with our low and very limited new growth — absolutely not.”

In earlier years, she said, the system was manageable. But in recent years, particularly following the pandemic, expenses across nearly every category have accelerated.

Health insurance, pensions, contractual salary increases and service demands have all contributed to upward pressure on budgets.

“In those low-inflation environments, we were able to survive,” she said. “But now, there’s no way. COVID really changed the landscape.”

And for schools, the growth rate is often higher.

“Schools grow, on average, 4% to 5% by themselves,” Benjamin said.

A system relying on a single lever As previously reported by the Current, the pressures facing Marblehead mirror a broader pattern across the state, where municipal leaders say it has become increasingly difficult to maintain services under the current system.

Communities across Massachusetts rely heavily on property taxes to fund essential services, and Proposition 2 1/2 governs how quickly that revenue can grow.

That reliance has increased over time, particularly as other sources of funding have become more limited, leaving communities with few alternatives for raising revenue.

Overrides — the primary

mechanism for exceeding the levy limit — were originally intended as exceptions to the rule. In recent years, however, data shows they have become a more routine budgeting tool in municipal finance.

Built during a different era

Proposition 2 1/2 was approved by voters in 1980 and emerged from a broader tax revolt that swept the country in the late 1970s, when homeowners pushed back against rapidly rising property taxes driven by inflation and increasing property values.

In Massachusetts, the movement was closely tied to Marblehead. Barbara Anderson, a longtime resident often referred to as the “mother of Proposition 2 1/2,” became one of its foremost advocates, helping lead the campaign that brought the measure to voters.

It was designed as a taxpayer protection measure, limiting how quickly tax bills could grow, and give voters direct control over any increases beyond that cap.

Over 45 years later, that framework remains unchanged, even as the economic conditions that shaped its creation have shifted.

“A lot of towns are finding the constraints of Proposition 2 1/2 really difficult these days,” said Phineas Baxandall of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, adding that the override process “is onerous and creates uncertainty.”

Over time, he said, the law has become familiar and reassuring to many residents, but has not been meaningfully revisited in decades.

He also pointed to broader changes in municipal cost pressures since the law was adopted, including rising health care costs, expanding infrastructure, higher expectations for public services and increased demands on school systems.

“Most of these things are completely out of control of towns, but all of which create cost pressures,” he said.

The case for reform

Municipal leaders and advocacy groups are not calling for Proposition 2 1/2 to be repealed.

But many say the framework needs to be updated to reflect current economic conditions.

Benjamin said one approach would be to raise the cap beyond 2.5% to better reflect rising costs.

At the state level, the Massachusetts Municipal Association has raised similar concerns, arguing that the fixed cap does not account for inflation or the rising cost of delivering services.

The group has pointed to potential changes such as tying

the levy limit to inflation and expanding flexibility in property classification and exemptions.

“Proposition 2 1/2 has been around for two generations,” said John Ouellete, senior executive at the MMA. “That’s a long time for something that is a statewide restriction without revisiting it.”

He said the organization is not advocating for eliminating the law but for reconsidering how much flexibility communities should have under it.

“We’re concerned, ultimately, about how much pressure there is on the property tax to deliver these essential services,” he said.

The argument against change Supporters, on the other hand, argue that the law has fulfilled its purpose.

Massachusetts continues to rank among the states with relatively high property tax collections, both per capita and as a share of income, according to the Tax Foundation, an international think tank.

Advocates say the law has prevented those burdens from rising even faster.

Groups such as the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance have described the law as “the single most important taxpayer protection ever adopted in Massachusetts,” arguing that weakening it would shift more costs onto residents rather than addressing underlying spending pressures.

In a recent statement, the group said the solution is not to raise the cap but to control costs, pointing to rising state revenues and arguing that Beacon Hill has underfunded local aid while prioritizing other spending.

Legislative outlook Despite growing debate over potential reforms, any changes to Proposition 2 1/2 are uncertain at the State House.

State Sen. Brendan Crighton said municipalities across the Commonwealth are facing similar challenges, driven by rising costs and limited revenue options.

“We’re seeing more and more debt exclusions and more and more overrides,” he said, while acknowledging the limits set by Proposition 2 1/2 in municipal budgets. “It’s a pretty rigid system, so it doesn’t take into account many of the outside factors that we’re dealing with now.”

However, he said, changes to the law remain unlikely.

“We want to make sure that our municipalities have the resources they need, but … with this being in place for as long as it has been, I don’t know that in the near future we will be making those reforms,” Crighton said.

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Marblehead Current Wednesday, April 15, 2026 3

Rink From P. 1

practice time at facilities in other towns, including at hockey rinks in Salem, Lynn and Revere.

Youth lacrosse currently rents the high school field for practice, but does not have their own facility. Bedroissian proposed charging an hourly rate of $216 for sports teams to rent the space, which would cover the cost of the facility’s maintenance and operations.

Phase 2, which would begin two years after Phase 1 is complete, entails building an adjacent turf field for softball and soccer. Phase 3 entails neighborhood improvement plans including redesigning Winslow Square, building

COURTESY IMAGE / SHELLY BEDROSSIAN

sidewalks on Green Street and putting in benches and trees.

The space could be a game changer for Marblehead youth sports teams.

A high school hockey player

spoke at the meeting about travel time and late night practices leaving her with “no time” to finish her homework.

President of Marblehead Youth Hockey

Birthday

After three years, she sold the business.

Following the death of her husband when she was just 48 years old, LaLonde began what would become one of the longest chapters of her working life. She spent about 30 years working in the office of pediatrician Dr. Theodore Dushan in Swampscott.

From P. 1

Marriage and family

LaLonde eventually returned to Marblehead, where she met her future husband, Harold, through social gatherings around town.

“Parties,” she said.

“Summertime in town.”

The couple married and raised three children together. LaLonde now has five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Her children grew up in the same neighborhood where she had lived as a child, and today one of her sons even owns a home on High Street.

A life of work — and reinvention Like many women of her generation, LaLonde’s early career options were limited.

“At that time, you couldn’t be a teacher if you were married,” she said.

Instead, she worked as a substitute teacher in Marblehead schools for nearly a decade, stepping into classrooms wherever she was needed.

Mike Calabrese said families have had to travel “long distances” for practice for years.

For many student athletes, practice ends at 10 pm and weekend practices begin as early as 6:30 a.m., he said.

“For these kids to get to bed late and wake up early takes away time from their families and school work… It’s an investment in our community,” he said.

Calabrese said the space could bring in patronage for local businesses from out of town and could be a “gathering place for the community to come together.”

Bedroissian said Rec & Parks would focus on completing this first phase of the plan on time and within their budget to earn the trust of the community. She

A century of memories

COURTESY PHOTO

Elizabeth LaLonde is surrounded by just some of her grandchildren at The Landing.

Later, she took on a completely different challenge — buying a small restaurant called the BideA-Wee, a lunchtime and dinner spot she purchased from Doris Bartlett.

Running the restaurant was rewarding but demanding.

“It wasn’t good for married people,” she said with a laugh. “Working 5

[a.m.] to 8 [p.m.] — your social life is out the door.”

Over the years, LaLonde witnessed events that reshaped the world, from wartime rationing to dramatic changes in technology and society.

She even had a brush with fame as a teenager, when she met singing cowboy star Roy Rogers backstage at Madison Square Garden while accompanying her father

said she hoped that the first phase would be completed by winter 2026-27.

Pete Jaffe spoke at the meeting on behalf of the Marblehead men’s softball league, advocating that Phase 1 be completed as quickly as possible so that they could continue their use of the current Reynolds park softball field. Bedroissian said the department would work to ensure the softball team is not displaced while waiting for Phase 2.

After the plans for these renovations are finalized, Bedroissian said Rec & Parks would direct CHA Solutions, an architectural firm they hired, to create a formalized plan.

“Everyone’s got an ore in the water to move this along and make it work,” Bedroissian said.

to a livestock event.

Her sister, a horse lover, was especially excited to see Rogers’ famous horse, Trigger.

Life today

LaLonde moved to the Devereux nursing home a little over a year ago, after living independently in her Pleasant Street home well into her late 90s.

These days, she keeps busy with reading and puzzles.

She enjoys romance novels — especially those

by Danielle Steel — and spends time working on Sudoku puzzles to keep her mind sharp.

Family visits remain a highlight, including trips around town and occasional lobster dinners brought to her by her son.

Her secret?

Asked about her secret to living a long and healthy life, LaLonde said she didn’t have one.

“It certainly wasn’t exercise,” she said. “I never did that.”

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4 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

Opinion EDITORIAL

GUEST COLUMN

The digital walls No smoke and mirrors: Instead, a sensible shift in strategy between us for Marblehead Public Schools Consider two Marblehead residents walking into Town Meeting.

One has spent the past several months following a local elected official’s detailed dispatches in a private Facebook group — long, passionate posts about the budget, the proposed override, increased fees and what’s going on behind the scenes. The other doesn’t use Facebook and has no idea those posts exist.

Both residents will cast votes that impact the town. One of them recognizes some of the names, has followed some of the arguments and thinks they know which way the wind blows. The other has been spared the noise. Both have been living their lives — down the street from each other, but in different worlds.

A recent post about town finances in one of Marblehead’s largest community Facebook groups drew 37 comments. The group has roughly 4,100 members in a town of 20,000. The post was detailed, passionate and named elected officials — grading their performance, challenging their motives and calling on them to respond publicly. Some of the officials may not have seen it. Many of their constituents probably didn’t either. Too often, this is what civic discourse has come to look like.

When residents get their local information primarily from Facebook groups, Instagram posts or neighborhood apps like Nextdoor, they’re mostly getting someone’s interpretation of events, with no editorial filter, no obligation to present competing views and no mechanism for correction except another opinion.

These are good neighbors with good intentions — nobody’s trying to mislead anyone. But caring deeply about something and reporting it accurately are different skills, governed by different standards. A passionate post about a school budget decision is not the same as a story that sought comment from the School Committee, verified the numbers and presented the range of perspectives in play.

One is an opinion shared among friends. The other is journalism.

When journalism is absent, opinion fills the space — and the packaging looks identical. The Marblehead Current aims, as it noted in this space last week, “not to advocate but to inform” — a distinction that is increasingly important.

The voices that dominate online conversation are often the most motivated — which can make them the loudest, or at least the most persistent. As Desmond Tutu suggested, raising your voice and improving your argument are not the same thing.

Elected officials posting lengthy updates about town business may be sincere — but that doesn’t mean it’s fair and balanced.

There’s nothing wrong with posting — the First Amendment is not the issue. The issue is mistaking it for transparency. A post that reaches a fraction of registered voters isn’t transparent. It’s visible — to some.

The feedback loop isn’t really a loop. People who disagree are less likely to be in the group to begin with — and less likely to comment publicly even if they are. What an official sees in the comments isn’t the town’s response. It’s the response of whoever the algorithm decided to show it to and who felt the urge to comment.

It runs the other way, too. A resident reading a passionate post from an elected official may (reasonably) assume it represents the official position of the town — even when it doesn’t, and even when the official says so. The post may feel authoritative, but it isn’t.

Residents arrive at Town Meeting with (potentially wildly) different versions of many of the issues — some steeped in weeks of online debate, some having caught a headline or two, some coming in cold. Increasingly, the ones coming in cold aren’t disengaged. They are people who looked at social media and made a deliberate choice to step back. They read. They talk to neighbors.

They show up. They just didn’t get some of the memos — because the memos were posted in a Facebook group.

The people most embedded in online conversation have enormous informal power over how issues get framed — which concerns feel urgent, which officials seem trustworthy, which proposals seem reasonable before they ever reach a public meeting.

In aggregate, a self-selected group of digitally engaged residents has quietly become a de facto editorial board of local public opinion, without accountability, without editorial standards and without any obligation to reach the people who aren’t in the room. This is what can happen when shared information infrastructure erodes and social media moves in to fill the space.

Social media has real value in the speed and reach it offers — connecting people, spreading urgent information and helping communities form, mobilize and stay in touch. But it was never built to function as a civic information system. We have those — government websites, official meeting minutes, public notices, and yes, newspapers like the Marblehead Current. They don’t get to choose their audience. They serve the town — all of it. In a spring when Town Meeting may take up one of the most consequential fiscal votes in recent memory, that’s not a small thing.

The digital divides in Marblehead are real. But they are not insurmountable. If you live online, remember there’s more out there than your feed reflects. If you’ve stepped back from all of it, your voice belongs in this conversation as much as anyone’s. And if you’re somewhere in the middle, unsure what to make of any of it — that’s probably how most of us feel anyway.

Talk to a neighbor. Show up to a meeting. The conversations that matter most still happen in person. Staying informed about your own town shouldn’t require a Facebook account. It shouldn’t require knowing which group to join or which official to follow.

It should require nothing more than living here.

BY KATE SCHMECKPEPER The School Committee just approved an additional $1.5 million reduction to the Marblehead Public Schools FY27 budget without any staffing or programmatic reductions. Smoke and mirrors? No. This was achieved through a deliberate shift in how the district will manage out-of-district special education costs. It is not the result of a windfall or a shortcut nor a sign that MPS suddenly has money to spare. Rather, it is a thoughtful revision of a strategy that protected Marblehead during the pandemic’s period of deep uncertainty, now adapted to meet the town’s fiscal reality.

Federal and state law requires Marblehead to provide students with disabilities a free and appropriate public education that meets the unique needs of each child. Sometimes this can be done through specially designed instruction, services and accommodations that are provided in Marblehead’s public schools. When a student’s needs cannot be met in the district, Marblehead pays the tuition and transportation costs for the student to attend an out-of-district program that can meet their needs. Budgeting for these costs is challenging for districts across Massachusetts, including Marblehead.

The tuition for out-of-district placements can vary significantly from program to program, making it difficult to project the costs for hypothetical future placements. In the past several years, there have been steep increases in tuition and transportation costs. For example, in FY24, the state approved a 14% increase in tuition for out-of-district placements, citing rising costs; the approved increase was 5% in FY25.

A percentage of out-of-district expenses are reimbursable through a state program called Circuit Breaker. However, reimbursement occurs in the subsequent fiscal year and is contingent upon the state legislature fully funding the Circuit Breaker program. Only 75% of incurred expenses over $52,000 per student are eligible for Circuit Breaker reimbursement in the subsequent fiscal year. For example, if Marblehead incurs a total of $100,000 in out-ofdistrict costs for a student in FY26, the district may receive $36,000 in reimbursement in FY27 if the Circuit Breaker program is fully funded. In addition to managing cost volatility, the district must be able to accommodate new placements during the school year. In F19, MPS experienced a significant budget crisis that stemmed from unexpected out-of-district placements and a lack of dedicated reserve funds. Since that time, three distinct steps have been taken to address this issue: Special Education Stabilization Fund: Marblehead established and currently funds a $250,000 reserve fund to cover unexpected special education costs. Utilizing the fund requires a majority vote of both the School Committee and Town Meeting.

Circuit Breaker Reserves: The district has worked to build Marblehead’s Circuit Breaker reserves to a full year of reimbursement, which is considered best practice. This gives MPS

It’s critical to remember that as a result of the second round of reductions, the schools anticipate needing more funding for out-of-district tuition in FY28.

considerable protection against unexpected outof-district placements and fluctuations in the funding appropriated for the Circuit Breaker program.

Prepay Tuition: When prolonged school closures at the start of the COVID pandemic led to a surplus in the FY20 school budget, MPS used those funds to prepay eligible out-of-district tuition for FY21. That practice of prepayment has continued since 2020, with the effect of the surplus becoming embedded in the budget and carried forward year over year to prepay tuition expenses.

To reach a $47.6 million district budget for FY27 (before any override request), the School Committee worked with school administrators to make two rounds of budget reductions.

First, the schools proposed $1.7 million in operational efficiencies and staff reductions.

With those reductions, Marblehead will have reduced staffing by 19% since the 2016-17 school year; student enrollment has declined by 23% over the same period. The superintendent has been very clear that further staff reductions would impact class sizes, program offerings and safety. To make a second round of reductions to the FY27 budget, the district is reducing the FY27 out- of-district budget line $1.5 million by prepaying this amount of tuition with a surplus from the FY26 budget. However, this is not without impact.

MPS can operate with a budget of $47.6 for FY27 and does not need to ask for any override funds for FY27.

But, it’s critical to remember that as a result of the second round of reductions, the schools anticipate needing more funding for out-ofdistrict tuition in FY28 because the surplus that has been used for prepayments has been removed from the school budget.

MPS has achieved the best practice of carrying a full year of Circuit Breaker reimbursement in reserves and has the added security of the Special Education Stabilization Fund. With these safeguards in place, a shift away from prepayment saves taxpayer money while maintaining appropriate staffing levels in the schools, which is vital for student success. No smoke and mirrors.

It’s essential to understand that this budget strategy is a one-time adjustment, not a permanent fix. The School Committee will continue to use every available tool to balance fiscal discipline with educational priorities, while maintaining transparency about the road ahead. This decision reflects careful stewardship today, but the future strength of our schools and our community as a whole, will depend on the choices we make together in the coming weeks.

Kate Schmeckpeper is a member of the Marblehead School Committee.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The question at Town Meeting is ‘yes’ or ‘no’ To the editor: When I heard that the current budget crisis might result in decertifying the library, I knew I had to get involved somehow, but everything I had heard about the override with its “three tiers” had only left me more confused.

I’ve read and listened as the Current, the Finance Committee and the Select

Board have valiantly tried to explain these complicated concepts, and I’ve finally been able to clear up one confusion — the three tiers are not three separate appropriations overrides – they are inclusive.

The second tier includes the appropriations for the first tier, plus more, and the third tier includes the appropriations for the two lower tiers, plus more.

And I had another big breakthrough thanks to a Zoom Q&A with the group For Marblehead. We won’t be voting for any specific tier at

Town Meeting on May 4. We’ll simply be asked to vote “yes” or “no” on whether to send this override proposal with its three tiers, to the ballot for town-wide voting on June 9 — a simple, black-and-white, easy to understand article. Surely Town Meeting participants, a tiny subset of the registered voters in town, would agree that the democratic thing to do is to bring these important questions to the full town for a vote.

LETTERS, P. 5

marbleheadcurrent.org

AI: Friend or foe?

BY STEPHEN BACH I know I’ve written about AI before, but things are changing SO quickly, it’s time for an update. The Docs use AI every day, mostly for marketing, advertising and social media (and some fun). It saves many hours and produces some pretty great stuff, even short video commercials for the business.

So, let’s jump in: There’s a small moment happening more and more these days. You might notice it when your phone finishes your sentence before you do. Or when you ask a question online and get a full answer in seconds. Maybe it’s when an email shows up that sounds like a real person wrote it… but no one actually did.

That’s your first real experience with artificial intelligence, or AI. And like it or not, it’s already

Letters From P. 4

That leaves those who can be counted on at Town Meeting to claim “waste, mismanagement, unnecessary spending.” I certainly hope those protesters will investigate the very impressive system for transparency which has been implemented by Marblehead for budget management and financial decisions, replacing outdated, fragmented and manual financial systems. The ClearGov user portal allows anyone to see at a glance the financial workings of any department in town. Go to marblehead.org/select-board, and click on ClearGov in the right-hand column.

I fail to see how anyone could look at the data itself and not see the issue staring us in the face.

And I would certainly expect gratitude for the tremendous amount of work which all the department heads and town boards have contributed in trying to solve this painful budget crisis.

Numbers are not yet finalized, and explanations for the items within the tiers, assuming the override reaches the town-wide ballot in June, can be saved for another day. The choice before us at Town Meeting is simple: do we agree that we have a problem that our town budget, despite years of cuts across the board, can no longer solve? Will we be willing to provide voters with the opportunity to consider tax overrides in our June general election? I hope we can all agree on those simple points, knowing that a fair and free election is still the best tool we have for decision-making.

Ruth Sigler Front Street

The impact of staff reduction at the Marblehead Council on Aging To the editor: When I was a younger person and gainfully employed, I drove by the Council on Aging daily.

Like most of us, I never really thought about what went on in there until I retired.

Well folks, it is a very impressive place! The depth and breadth of the programming is exemplary! The lobby is always filled with people coming and going to fitness classes, bocce, chair volleyball, curling, knitting, arts and crafts, Book Club, mahjong, cribbage, movies, lectures, Medicare counseling

part of everyday life.

So what is AI? In simple terms, it’s computer software that learns from information and makes decisions. Instead of following a strict set of instructions, it studies patterns and figures things out. You can think of it like a super-fast learner with a great memory, but not much common sense. It can sound very smart, but it doesn’t truly understand things the way people do.

There are a lot of good things about AI. It’s already helping doctors find diseases earlier. It helps students when they get stuck on homework. For small businesses, it can save time and handle tasks that used to take hours. Even in daily life, it’s useful. It can help write emails, fix spelling, organize photos, and answer questions any time of day.

It’s kind of like having a helper that never sleeps and never gets tired.

And if it ever starts asking for a vacation, we might be in trouble.

But AI isn’t perfect. One big problem is that it doesn’t always know when it’s wrong.

and educational programming. I could go on and on.

More important than programming is the joy and friendship that fill the air. Many seniors live alone. Loneliness and isolation are a huge concern for the older population. The COA is a place where they can socialize, and they can even get picked up by one of the COA vans. Every Tuesday, a hot lunch is provided for only $5.00, not to mention the $2 Grab and Go Meals on the other days of the week. For some, these offerings are their main meal of the day.

One-third of Marblehead’s population is 60 plus. There is one social worker on the staff who serves the entire town. She works very hard to access resources for the sick, homeless and struggling. With the reduction in federal and state funding, her job is even harder these days. She also runs group programs targeting bereavement, living alone, caregiving and dementia, just to name a few.

Reducing the very limited staff at the COA will be a critical mistake. It could impact the lunch program, the coordination of activities and increase the workload of the few remaining staff members.

The Marblehead Council on Aging is a place for all Marblehead residents 55 and older … and there is no membership fee! Please take this into consideration at the ballot box.

Respectfully, Meredith Reardon Stone Terrace Member of the COA Board of Directors

Library should be separate vote To the editor: We finally have a library we can be proud of. Under the leadership of Kim Grad and her amazing staff, usage and circulation are up by 50% since the renovation, and it’s FREE! If you have not been, I urge you to go for a visit. However, Marblehead taxpayers, perhaps under the current proposed cuts, will continue paying for a library they are not being allowed to fully use.

I was one of the team of 17 volunteer members who was on the Abbot Library advocacy team in 2019. We did our due diligence by doing a lot of research. As a team, we fanned out and visited many towns in the Commonwealth to compare and get intel on how other libraries operated. We interviewed library staff, followed their history of

It can give answers that sound confident, even if they’re not true. That can be dangerous.

There have been over 800 cases of lawyers using AI when filing briefs, citing completely made up cases! AI can also be used to create fake pictures, fake voices, and even fake news. The Docs USED to be able to tell the difference just a few months ago, but now, it’s almost impossible!

It can make scams harder to spot. That means we have to be more careful than ever. Just because something looks real doesn’t mean it is. I have been in the habit of copying social media “news” posts, dropping

renovations, how they were funded, their usage etc… before we came to the town to ask for the funds to renovate our library.

I have always believed firmly that a library is an indicator of a healthy engaged community that serves as a backbone to foster learning and engagement among the young and old. It’s one way a town communicates what they value. Marblehead is an educated community. I believe that there is significant interest in keeping a thriving library. This is evident from the nearly 70% of the voters who passed the library override.

Town voters approved an $8.5 million override which amounts to approximately $50 per year for the life of the debt exclusion of 20 years. So, think of it this way; each household continues to be responsible for the $50 for the next 17 years regardless of whether the library is open or closed or partly closed.

It would be a disservice to betray the trust of 70% of the voters who supported the library renovation in 2021 to now dismantle that promise. If you lose your library, your town loses part of its vibrancy and its value.

Marblehead is a proud, and yes, opinionated bunch of citizens.

Show us the value for our money and we will vote affirmatively.

We all want transparency, and trust in transparency has been frayed in recent years. Please don’t lump the closing of the library with all the other line items. It would be more than a shame to lose a full functioning vibrant library and staff.

Lolli D. Leeson Beacon Street

‘The only way out … is through’ To the editor: As Democrats’ odds of retaking both houses of Congress rise, the temptation to impeach Donald Trump will rise with them.

Rank-and-file Democrats should firmly resist such temptations.

Instead, ask primary candidates and elected officials to commit to three things: constrain the President wherever possible, investigate and hold his Cabinet accountable, and above all, focus ruthlessly on affordability.

For nearly 70 years, America’s brand of liberalism, which made this country the greatest nation on earth, has faced relentless onslaught from rightwing populism. Long before Donald Trump there was Barry Goldwater, the retail chain prince who sold himself as a self-made, rugged individualist possessed of preternatural “common sense”. Ever since,

Marblehead Current Wednesday, April 15, 2026 5

into an AI and asking to “vet” the post for accuracy. OVER 90% OF WHAT I’VE CHECKED IN THE LAST 30 DAYS IS EITHER EXAGGERATED OR FALSE!!!

This is a real problem.

A lot of people are also wondering about jobs. Will AI take them away? The answer is most likely yes and a little bit no. Some jobs will change, and some might disappear. But new jobs will be created too. This has happened before. When cars replaced horses, people found new kinds of work. When computers became common, jobs changed, but new ones appeared.

AI is just the next step. But you can be sure this is as big a change as when everyone had access to the internet. My personal opinion is that it will be as impactful as the Industrial Revolution!

Jobs that are simple and repeat the same tasks are more likely to be done by machines. Jobs that involve creativity, helping people, and solving problems are more likely to grow. The people who do best won’t be the ones

who avoid AI. They’ll be the ones who learn how to use it.

The biggest danger isn’t robots taking over. It’s people trusting AI too much without thinking.

AI is a tool, and it works best when people are still in charge.

It’s important to stop and ask, “Does this make sense?” or “Should I check this?” If we don’t, mistakes can happen.

So where does this leave us?

Right where we’ve always been when something new comes along. Learning, adjusting, and figuring things out step by step.

AI isn’t the end of jobs. It’s just a new way of working.

The good news is you don’t need to be an expert. You just need to stay curious. Try it out, especially if you’re a small business owner. Don’t be afraid.

Let it help you. Just don’t stop thinking for yourself. That’s one thing AI can’t replace.

Until next time: it can be a little scary out there. Be safe!

Stephen Bach is the owner and chief of surgery at The Digital Docs.

liberals have had to confront his ideological descendants pushing ideas that have a certain hokey appeal, but are completely divorced from reality.

These ideas poison our politics by telling people what they want to hear or by selling them a fantasy. Lower taxes pay for themselves. Immigrants are stealing low wage jobs but also buying all the million-dollar homes. Don’t let the government get its hands on Medicare. Or here, in Marblehead, where our own spin is that building housing will lead to higher property taxes (how is that working out, by the way?).

President Trump is the logical end point of this worldview.

Now, by forcing the noses of all Americans to the glass for as long as possible, we have an opportunity to discredit for a generation this strain of rightwing populism and its appeals to our lowest instincts and its contempt for our Constitutional freedoms.

And as Americans’ revulsion deepens, it will not be Democrats who are most motivated to move on from President Trump, but Republicans. Will Marco Rubio or JD Vance want to campaign in 2028 under President Trump’s shadow? Democrats should not make their lives easier by spending political capital to attempt a *third* impeachment.

If Rubio or Vance want to campaign free of Trump’s legacy, let them be the ones to end it.

The 25th Amendment is right there.

If this were to come to pass, if we were to see the fire of right-wing populism completely consume itself, those who stood on its periphery for warmth will need a new fire with which to warm themselves. That is when we, Democrats, ought to practice the tolerance we so eagerly preach and make space for our fellow Americans to stand alongside us.

America does not heal, let alone return to greatness, on the back of a narrow Democratic 2028 presidential victory and a thin margin in the Senate.

Reform, real reform, like reintroducing the fairness doctrine, ending Citizens United, and eliminating partisan gerrymandering requires a victory like 1964, or dare I whisper its name, 1932.

The arch Yankee patrician, FDR, stood on the shoulders of virulent Southern segregationists, the sons of slaveowners, to bring about the New Deal. We need only stand beside Americans whose faith, as they understand it, preaches a

culture of life.

We need only stand beside Americans who genuinely fear the prospect of a tyrannical government and want to arm themselves in defense of such an outcome (honestly, I can understand why the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti would convince them they’re right on the merits).

Is this the strategy that feels good? Maybe not. But it is the strategy that does good. No impeachment: the only way out is through.

Nick Ward Rolleston Road

It would be ‘devastating’ to lose library services To the edito:, It is difficult to put into words what the Abbot Public Library means to Marblehead, but “devastating” is the only way to describe the possible loss of services. Recently, Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said that budget priorities must focus on departments that “protect life and property.” I believe this view overlooks the fundamental role the library plays in protecting the quality of life for our residents. As a library employee, everyday I see how the library acts as a vital community hub. It is a safe place for students to gather after school and a home base for parents and nannies seeking connection. It is the Scully Salon on a Friday morning, where neighbors share coffee and conversation. It is the cookbook book club, where food and company bridge the gap between strangers.

For many, the library is critical for productivity. Our private study rooms are a lifeline for local tutors and a necessary office space for those who work from home but lack a quiet, reliable space. Our larger rooms offer local organizations a place to gather and meet regularly. For many, we are the only source of technology, providing the computers and internet access necessary to navigate modern life.

Abbot Library offers residents protection from isolation, offering a place to go for those who might otherwise be alone.

The staff is always there to be a helping hand for those struggling with technology. Abbot Public Library is so much more than a building full of books. The Abbot Public Library isn’t a luxury; LETTERS, P. 8

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6 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

DOLLARS & SENSE

TOWN GOVERNMENT

Department heads outline impacts of potential budget cuts at forum

BY LEIGH BLANDER Marblehead department heads fielded questions about their budgets and the potential impact of service cuts during a public panel discussion organized by the Select Board on April 9 at the Council on Aging.

The forum gave residents a chance to hear directly from town officials about department services, major projects and how different override scenarios could affect staffing and operations. (Read more about the three proposed override tiers on Page 1.)

Select Board Chair Dan Fox read the first submitted question: “It feels like every road going in and out of town is being dug up at the same time.

For example, Pleasant, Atlantic, West Shore Drive some places.

Is it possible to coordinate so at least one route would be clear?”

Department of Public Works Director Amy McHugh said the town tries to coordinate infrastructure work among utilities before paving streets.

“Water and Sewer has continually updated their infrastructure. National Grid, which is our gas company, has infrastructure just as old as Water and Sewer. They both date back to the 1800s,” McHugh said. “What we want to do is a holistic approach. Before we pave a street, we want to make sure there’s no gas company ready to rebuild or rehabilitate; Water and Sewer projects are done on that street so that we’re not tearing the street up.

We’re also hoping that the gas company will come and upgrade their utility.”

She said efforts to align work schedules across utilities can create the appearance of multiple projects happening at once.

meeting.

“We were able to get a roof recoating on this and get another 20 years out of it, for half the money that they were going to spend initially,” he said. “So, I love stretching a buck.”

But Cummings warned that limited funding could create maintenance challenges.

“Just like maintaining your own home, the buildings need to be maintained,” he said. “What we lack on them now is only going to cost us money later.”

CURRENT PHOTO / LEIGH BLANDER

Select Board member Erin Noonan introduces Marblehead’s town department heads at a public forum Thursday morning.

Public Works Committee debate

“To be able to do that, we have to have a multi-phase approach to getting these upgraded, and so that’s why you see multiple roads at the same time,” McHugh said. “And unfortunately, our main roads in are the ones where we started, because those are the ones we wanted to get upgraded the quickest.”

Most department heads at the event spoke in favor of keeping a newly revived Public Works Committee that meets monthly.

Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer, who is not on the committee, and the Select Board have proposed Article 34 to eliminate the committee, saying it creates another layer of governance outside their purview and makes it harder to get things done.

Department heads proposed their own Article 35 to modify the committee while keeping it active. They said it helps department leaders coordinate projects and share resources.

“Every department has a different project going on, and sometimes you don’t know what other department can help you out,” said Harbormaster Mark Souza. “There may be a missed cost that you pay, where another department may say ‘No, do this, or we can help you with that’ that would save the town some money. So, communication is vital and important to streamline many projects that we all have in realizing how we all work together, how each of us can help each other in a project that you can lean on as long as you can. I highly support it.”

Budget cuts and overrides The Select Board and Finance Committee have recommended a $123 million balanced town budget that cuts programs and 35 to 40 staff positions.

Wednesday night, the Select Board reviewed three override tiers — $9 million, $12 million and $15 million — that would restore and reinvest in town services.

Department heads discussed the extent to which a $9 million override would restore their budgets.

Police Chief Dennis King said the $9 million override would restore one patrol officer position currently slated to be cut. That position is a school resource officer who works with students.

King said with 31 officers, the

Marblehead Police Department is one of the leanest on the North Shore.

“So, our neighbors, Swampscott, with a smaller population, they run with 32 full-time officers,” he said.

“Newburyport runs at 33.”

Health Director Andrew Petty said the proposed budget does not include curbside trash and recycling. The Board of Health is set to vote April 27 on a fee for that service. (It has been estimated at about $280 per household.)

There is also a $2 million override question that, if passed, would restore curbside pickup and negate the need for the new fee.

Library Director Kimberly Grad said the $9 million override scenario would still mean reduced hours and services.

“The materials budget would still be eliminated,” she said.

“It’s still 45 hours, no evenings or Saturdays. Your (library) card would work in other towns. We’d have some programming. We’d still have to figure out how we pay for books and materials.”

Resident Sarah Fox urged Grad to consider adjusting hours to maintain some evening or weekend access. Grad said that decision is up to the library’s

board of trustees.

‘Most challenging budget’

Finance Director Aleesha Benjamin said the budget process has been “brutal.”

“This has been the most challenging budget of my career, and that’s 20 years,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin said personnel costs make up the majority of the town’s budget, meaning layoffs are unavoidable when revenues fall short.

“We don’t want to do that, and that’s why we’re asking the community for an override, like many other communities are, because we’re in such a tight position,” she said.

Town officials said they plan to release a detailed list of potential cuts and impacts across departments as discussions about a possible override continue.

Building commissioner

Building Commissioner Steve Cummings described ongoing efforts to stretch limited capital resources.

He said the town has used cost-effective repairs to extend the life of facilities, including the building hosting Thursday’s

Proposed cuts at Council on Aging would ripple across services

BY LEIGH BLANDER The Marblehead Council on Aging faces a $76,000 cut in the town’s proposed fiscal 2027 budget — a reduction that would eliminate one full-time position, or 20% of the center’s full-time staff, and force the scaling back of popular programs.

The position slated for elimination is nutrition coordinator and special laborer, now held by Doug Laing, 62, of Marblehead. The loss could reverberate across meal service, transportation and other programs that hundreds of seniors rely on each year.

Laing prepares nearly 4,000 freshly cooked meals annually in the Council on Aging’s kitchen, serving about 100 people each week at the center’s popular Tuesday lunch program.

“I don’t know if I’d have to cancel lunch entirely or maybe offer it once or twice a month,” said Lisa Hooper, the COA’s director. “I need somebody to cook.”

The program depends on a network of volunteers, but

BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW

Laing keeps it running smoothly.

About 15 volunteers help serve meals, while others assist in the kitchen.

“Doug provides such a wonderful experience with these lunches,” said Sheila Varrell, a COA volunteer. “You don’t know what people’s circumstances are. This might be the only big meal of the day they have. You just look at their faces — they’re having a good time. We just can’t lose Doug.”

Beyond coordinating the weekly lunches, Laing serves as a backup driver for the COA’s transportation program, helps maintain the fleet of vans and handles setup and breakdown for fitness classes and other programs.

Shrinking staff, growing programs The proposed cut comes amid a decade-long decline in staffing levels — even as participation in COA programs has grown steadily.

“I’ve had a 26% decrease in employees over the last 11 years,” Hooper said.

CURRENT PHOTOS / LEIGH BLANDER

COA employee Doug Laing coordinates more than 4,000 freshly cooked lunches every year.

free, one-hour Medicare consultations

‘A unique Marblehead model’

Doug Laing, center, serves as nutrition coordinator and a special laborer at the Council on Aging. His position is cut in the town’s proposed balanced budget. Also shown are volunteer Marie Breen, left, and COA Director Lisa Hooper.

The COA provides a wide range of services for Marblehead residents aged 60 and older, serving about 2,500 people each year. On a typical day, between 190 and 230 residents visit the center.

By the numbers (2025 snapshot): » 6,100 van rides provided

for 303 seniors (90% funded through private donations) » 929 members participated in 6,779 recreation programs (from bocce and knitting to bridge and canasta) » 18,834 fitness class visits, a 16% increase from 2024 » 1,027 seniors attended 290 educational events » 587 seniors received

Under the proposed fiscal 2027 budget, the town would cover 62% of COA salaries and about 32% of daily expenses. The rest would come from grants and private donations.

“The Marblehead COA is unique because it has private funding sources other cities and towns don’t have,” Hooper said. “For example, the Harold & Elizabeth Shattuck Memorial Fund, the Marblehead Female Humane Society — established in 1816 — and we have a solid Friends group. Combined, these sources have provided about $1.3 million during my 11-year tenure.”

Still, even that generous support can’t fully protect the COA from tough budget decisions, Hooper said.

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Marblehead Current Wednesday, April 15, 2026 7

COMMUNITY

Locals film video urging support for override

BY LEIGH BLANDER On a recent blustery Saturday morning, cameras rolled as residents gathered around town to film a short video encouraging voters to support a Proposition 2 1⁄2 override and preserve town services.

The effort is organized by the citizen group For Marblehead, which is producing a 60-second video highlighting what supporters describe as the community’s shared commitment to its schools, infrastructure and civic institutions.

Among those volunteering their time behind the camera are TV commercial director Tom Foley and his sons, Wyatt and Beckett.

“A bunch of people got together and thought that by getting more money into our town it might help with schools and services — and we’re behind this idea,” said Tom Foley. “So we donated time. I’m a TV commercial director, a video director, and both my boys are talented with cameras, and we’re just kind of all doing it together.”

Override From P. 1

have seen reductions in recent years. Its impact on the same homeowner would be: » Year 1: $361.62 » Year 2: $1,132.65 » Year 3: $1,587.37 Tier 3 Tier 3 would build on the first two tiers and include additional investments in reserves and capital funds. Its impact would be: » Year 1: $555.35 » Year 2: $1,369.97 » Year 3: $1,985.39 A second override for trash The Select Board is also asking voters to consider a second override to cover rising trash costs. Voters will be asked to approve a $2,298,575 override spread over three years. If the override fails, residents would instead be charged an annual trash fee.

School cuts

On April 9, the School Committee approved a $47.6 million budget that includes about $3.1 million in cuts.

Across the schools, adjustments include reductions in teaching and support staff,

Beckett Foley, a freshman at Marblehead High School, said the outcome of the override vote will directly affect him and his friends.

“I still have three years left in the Marblehead school system,” he said. “So if we were able to keep services, then it would be really beneficial for me and my peers.”

Twins Claire and Mary Kate Connerty also took part in recording the video.

“I don’t want my teachers to lose their jobs. I want them to feel happy at school, because they make me feel happy,” said

Claire.

Mary Kate added: “The firefighters came to my class to talk about their job. I hope they can still come.”

The girls’ mother, Nora Connerty, strongly supports an override to prevent deep cuts.

“Everyone will feel it,” she said. “We all need to do our part to invest in the community we all love so much so it stays strong for not only current residents but future generations.”

Kate Thomson, co-chair of For Marblehead, attended the shoot and said the project came

together quickly after residents began discussing ways to communicate the stakes of the override vote in a more personal way.

About a dozen residents — including students, parents and School Committee member Melissa Clucas — appear in the video, each delivering portions of a written statement Thomson refers to as a “manifesto.”

The script emphasizes Marblehead’s shared identity and the financial pressures facing the town.

“Marbleheaders are bound together by a fierce love of place, a durable thread connecting us to those who came before us, a shared pride in our storied history, majestic harbor, neighborhood schools and the traditions that make Marblehead home,” the statement reads in part.

It continues: “But the cost of maintaining a town like ours has steadily risen, and now fiscal pressure threatens our core institutions, our infrastructure, schools, library, senior center and more.”

changes to clerical roles, elimination of certain stipends and part-time positions, and removal of vacant positions, totaling 22 positions districtwide. In some cases, positions are being shifted to grant funding or reallocated across schools to preserve services.

“When we talk about 22 positions, 11 of them are vacant… so it may not be a total reduction in force,” Pfifflering said.

Superintendent John Robidoux emphasized that many of the staffing changes remain in flux as administrators work to minimize layoffs through reassignment and attrition.

“It’s not as simple as just cutting these positions,” he said, noting that staffing changes depend on licensing, grade levels and contractual requirements.

The reductions also include holding several spending categories flat, such as classroom supplies, along with smaller savings in areas such as equipment, professional development and contract services.

Robidoux said principals and district leaders had been involved throughout the budget process and helped identify where reductions would have the

least impact.

“We’ve had them give us feedback as to where those reductions would be least impactful in their buildings,” he said.

He added that the district has also been in regular communication with union leadership as the reductions have taken shape.

“I’ve been meeting with the union presidents every other week,” Robidoux said. “I don’t think most of this is a surprise to them.”

While some details may continue to shift as discussions continue with principals and staff, he said school leaders are driving core decisions.

“The principals have been very involved, and they are the ones driving a lot of the discussions at the school-based level,” Robidoux said. “I’m very comfortable with how this process has unfolded.”

Despite the scale of the cuts, officials said the goal has been to preserve core instructional services while responding to rising fixed costs and the town’s broader budget constraints.

Following the budget vote, the committee approved three school-specific override tiers, which would be combined with

the town’s broader override proposal and ultimately presented to voters.

The tiers total $6.2 million, $7.2 million and $8.5 million over three years, with each level building on the previous one. These amounts had already been incorporated into the $9 million, $12 million and $15 million override tiers announced at the Select Board meeting.

All three tiers are designed to take effect beginning in fiscal year 2028, with no additional school funding proposed for fiscal year 2027.

Tier 1: $6.2 million over three years The first tier focuses on maintaining existing obligations and preventing further cuts: • fund contractual salary increases for all staff • restore special education out-of-district tuition to required levels • shift positions currently funded through revolving accounts back into the general fund Tier 2: $7.2 million over three years The second tier builds on Tier 1 and adds: • a multi-year technology lease to fund student devices

COURTESY PHOTO / HAYLEY MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY

School Committee member Melissa Clucas appears in the For Marblehead video.

Thomson said the video aims to complement ongoing budget discussions by focusing on community values rather than financial details.

“I think the big thing for us is that so much of this conversation about overrides and taxes and what we will or won’t lose is very practical,” she said. “It’s very numbers driven, and it can get very heady. But at the core and root of all of it is this idea that, one thing we can all be, one thing we can all agree on, is that we’re all bragging about Marblehead to our friends, we’re all inviting people here for the Fourth. Everybody has this fierce love of the town, and we all want to do the right thing for it.”

Thomson added that the goal is “lifting ourselves out of that very detailed numbers conversation and reminding ourselves of our dedication to the place.”

The finished video is expected to be shared on social media, through the group’s newsletter and website, and possibly on Marblehead TV. It can also be viewed at formarblehead.org.

and software • elimination of the full-day kindergarten fee Tier 3: $8.5 million over three years The third tier includes Tiers 1 and 2 and adds longer-term investments: • restoration of curriculum and professional development funding • creation of an in-district special education program for students ages 18 to 22 • establishment of a dedicated capital fund for school buildings Throughout the discussion, administrators stressed that the override is intended to stabilize the district’s finances and maintain existing services rather than expand programming.

The school funding levels were developed through a working group that included the Finance Committee, Select Board and town administration and were brought forward by district officials as part of that process.

The School Committee also approved a memorandum of understanding committing to not proposing another general override until fiscal year 2030 if any override tier passes in June. The Select Board is expected to vote on the MOU on April 15.

CIVIL DISCOURSE

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Shribman to speak about tolerance

BY LEIGH BLANDER Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David M. Shribman, who grew up in Swampscott, will return to the North Shore next month to speak in Marblehead about tolerance, civil discourse and antisemitism in modern America.

Shribman will appear at Marblehead High School on May 6 for a presentation called “Portrayals of Antisemitism,” where he’ll be joined in conversation by David Meyer.

The program, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the MHS auditorium, is sponsored by the Marblehead Task Force Against Discrimination, Marblehead Public Schools, the Marblehead Ministerial Association and the Marblehead Police Department.

For decades, Shribman has covered American politics and public life for some of the country’s leading newspapers.

He served as executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 2003 to 2019 and writes a nationally syndicated column in the United States while also contributing a column on American affairs for Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail.

He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his coverage of Washington and the American political scene. As executive editor, he also led the PostGazette’s coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre, which was later recognized with a Pulitzer Prize.

Though the topic of his remarks is still evolving, Shribman said he plans to reflect on the changing tone of American public life since he began reporting 50 years ago.

“When I started reporting, there were codes of civility that were unwritten but devoutly followed,” Shribman said. “You

COURTESY PHOTO

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Shribman is coming to Marblehead.

didn’t swear in public. You didn’t demean your opponent.”

He noted that even fierce political rivals often adhered to those norms.

“Even the biggest partisans Tip O’Neill and Gerald Ford hewed to that code, unwritten but unviolated,” he said.

Today, he said, that restraint has largely disappeared.

“And now, it’s no holds barred. We hear threats about destroying another civilization,” Shribman said.

Shribman, who lived in Swampscott from 1955 to 1972 and graduated from Swampscott High, said the erosion of civility has also affected how Americans discuss religion.

“The restraint that people have about talking about other people’s religion has been severed,” he said.

Reflecting on the rise in antisemitism, Shribman said the issue has become both more visible and more openly expressed.

“The coarseness of dialogue has made things that were unacceptable to be said — or thought — to be thought,” he said.

He said the increase in incidents has made the topic urgent for many communities.

“There’s been an astonishing

increase in incidents,” he said.

Shribman believes open discussion remains essential.

“The more people see this phenomenon, the more they will deplore it,” he said. “That’s the hope.”

Shribman framed the moment as part of a long pattern in American history, in which the country repeatedly faces tests of its ideals.

“A country like ours is always in danger of abandoning its founding ideas and fondest hopes,” he said. We are always at a turning point. I’m hoping that 21st-century America is at a turning point and won’t turn toward hatred.”

Shribman said returning to the North Shore also brings personal memories. Growing up in Swampscott, he has attended more than 60 Thanksgiving football games between Swampscott and Marblehead.

“I’m always rooting on the wrong side,” he said.

marbleheadcurrent.org

8 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

Letters From P. 5

it is an essential service that sustains the spirit of Marblehead.

Kelly Szalewicz Devereux Street Senior library assistant, Abbot Public Library

In support of the Council on Aging To the editor: Every day more than 11,000 Americans turn 65. We all have a right to age strong. The Marblehead Council on Aging is an integral part of empowering the older adults of our community to age well and enrich their lives.

One-third of the

Marblehead population is over 60 and our center provides local outreach, social and health services, advocacy and assistance for older adults, their families and caregivers.

Transportation, meals, fitness and recreational activities are offered on a daily basis. A dedicated volunteer network is the backbone behind the scenes.

After reviewing all of the town budget scenarios, I am appalled to see some of the cuts proposed regarding the COA. How does a town with an active aging community justify threatening those most vulnerable?

We are better than this.

We should be focusing on how to improve the well-being of our over 65 community. Those that are

lucky enough to be part of the mature audience are depending upon us.

Keep Marblehead Strong.

Marcy Schwam Garden Road Chairperson, Marblehead Council on Aging

Threats to constitutional rights are real To the editor: A letter in the Marblehead Current of March 25 stated that Article 40 and affirmation of basic rights “are built less on genuine threats to constitutional rights and more on political opposition to the current administration.” I share the “No Kings” philosophy and fears of threats to our basic rights. For me, the

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source of these fears lies with Mr. Trump. So, please indulge me as I review my knowledge of him.

During his involvement with building in Atlantic City during the ‘80s and ‘90s, he was reported to have often cheated his subcontractors. He did this because of his power over them.

Then there is the quotation (published in 2016) where he said something about “being able to grab them by …”

Power. Next is his TV series, “The Apprentice.”

Power. His favorite foreign leaders are Putin (Russia), Orban (Hungary), Duterte (former of the Philippines) and Kim Jong Un (North Korea). Power.

In the 2024 campaign, in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in December 2023, he said he wanted to be king, later clarifying for only one day. Power. In June 2020 in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church parish house, he was seen holding a bible. Spiritual power. Last week, he made remarks that invoked or paralleled the suffering of Jesus. Messianic power. It is also reported that Trump referenced the biblical story of Palm Sunday and said: “They call me king now. Do you believe it?”

Messianic power.

Adding his name to the Kennedy Center.

Power. Flourishes of gold frescoes in and about the White House. Power.

And on Sunday, April 5, he threatened to jail the reporter who first revealed that one of the two U.S. airmen from a downed F15 in Iran was still missing. Power.

Can such manifestations of inherent power mania be Freudian slips? Do they betray his inner desire to be an authoritarian or a dictator like some of the aforementioned world

leaders?

Adding to the foregoing power trips, we must add his psychopathic, demented behavior, his obsession with selfaggrandizement and his deteriorating health. We ignore such signs at our own peril.

Respectfully yours, Walter Haug Highland Terrace

Garden club urges support of library To the editor: The Driftwood Garden Club wishes to express its sincere disappointment that closing or partially closing the Abbot Public Library is even being considered as an option to balance the town budget.

Due to our long-term partnership with the library, we can provide a unique perspective.

Closing the doors of the APL would also close the doors for Marblehead residents to enjoy the gardens around the building. Views of the courtyard garden would be through the bars of two steel gates. Residents would lose the opportunity to bring children to story hour in the courtyard during summer months.

For 36 years, the Driftwood Garden has maintained the gardens around the library. We have a vested interest in keeping the library open and the gardens visually attractive for the community to enjoy.

As a nonprofit, we are filling a gap where town resources are limited, as in maintaining public properties.

Over the years, the DGC has participated in and responded to two major building renovations: the first in 1990 and the second and most recent in 2022-2024. The DGC

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Remembering Billy Bassett To the editor: A cheer to the sky but a sad toast raised, for Billy Bassett, a sparkling guy too soon gone.

Billy and brother Spike, two of the real-deal heartbeats of Marblehead I’ve had the great good luck to swap stories and share a few rowdy laughs with through the years.

There oughta be a statue of Billy on ‘his’ bench where he held court at the Landing.

Either that or strategically situated permanent tacks to save his place.

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provided funds for the construction budget earmarked for the new plantings around the building.

Our current library administration has been devoted to updating the library to provide residents with a vibrant modern interior space, complete with the latest technologies. The library administration has a vision to advance a long-term strategic plan that will best serve the community.

With the building renovations and the new landscape, the library has become more than a place to borrow books.

It is a popular, heavily used public facility that provides meeting locations inside and outside. During DGC member workdays at the library, patrons stop to chat with us while coming and going — carrying books, museum passes and small children. The library is one of the only places in town which is free for all and connects us with libraries throughout the state. We are fortunate to have a library that is wellmanaged, widely used and deserves to be properly funded for the benefit of all residents.

On behalf of the Driftwood Garden Club, Barbara Saraceno, Driftwood Road Kathy Bradford, Power Terrace

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To the editor: On behalf of the Friends of Marblehead’s Abandoned Animals and the animals rescued by the Marblehead Animal Shelter, I wanted to thank Robert Simonelli and the entire staff at The Landing Restaurant, for yet another spectacular charity dinner fundraiser on Tuesday, March 24.

New supporters, longtime friends, recent adopters and volunteers gathered to enjoy delicious dining, the best beverages and bidding on silent auction treasures. They welcomed spring, while enveloped in live music generously provided by The Melody Makers.

We are grateful for the efforts and generosity of those who donated, bid on items, dined or worked a shift during our annual charity dinner. It’s because of the collaboration and support of this great community, that we can continue helping local animals as much as we do.

Thank you!

Sue MacInnis Bayview Road F.O.M.A.A. volunteer

marbleheadcurrent.org

Marblehead Current Wednesday, April 15, 2026 9

Sports FOR A GOOD CAUSE

A family affair: ‘Team Sherf’ running Boston Marathon for Dana-Farber

BY LUCA TEDESCO

COURTESY PHOTO / LORI SHERF

Lori Sherf with her son Matthew at the top of Heartbreak Hill during the 2022 Boston Marathon. Lori will run her 12th Boston Marathon for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with Jacob and her other son, Adam, on Monday, April 20.

As thousands prepare to take on the Boston Marathon, Marblehead’s Lori Sherf is gearing up for her 12th run — driven not by time or placement, but by a long-standing commitment to cancer research and a new chance to share the experience with her sons.

“I started in 1997 when I was 25 years old,” says Sherf. “My grandfather was treated at DanaFarber and I had just started a teaching career and had some time and a friend suggested I run, and I thought it would be fun. I had never run more than five miles before, but it seemed like fun and a good cause, so I signed up!”

Over the course of the last 29 years and 11 marathons, Sherf has raised over $100,000 for Dana-Farber over $32,000 of which has been raised this year alone. This year, “Team Sherf” hopes to raise $45,000.

“Running is still a privilege to me,” said Sherf. “It’s a way to give back to society, and it was a way to contribute financially, You know, an amount of money

that I could never contribute on my own. I was working as a teacher, I still work in Swampscott part-time as a teacher, I would never have been able to donate a hundred thousand dollars without running.”

This year Sherf will be joined for the first time by two of her sons, Adam and Jacob. Adam, aged 25, was an athlete at MHS and became the student manager of the Connecticut College basketball team. Jacob, aged 23, walked on to the baseball team at Middlebury College.

“They were never really runners, but they just kind of embraced the challenge of running the marathon,” said Sherf.

Even though they have limited experience in distance running, Sherf says that the prospect of running the marathon with her sons is “surreal. It’s just been fun sharing our weekly runs and sending updates during the week on our mileage and how we’re doing with the fundraising. It’s definitely surreal.”

When it comes to athletic goals, Lori, who tore her ACL in

2016, simply hopes to continue her streak of finishing the whole race.

“We really won’t be running together per se,” said Sherf.

“They’re going to do their own race and I’m going to do my own race. They’ll probably be way ahead of me, but just sharing the whole training experience with them has been really special.”

So far, Team Sherf has raised over $38,000 for Dana-Farber and now sit close to their $45,000 goal. Donations can be made at http://danafarber. jimmyfund.org/goto/TeamSherf.

The Curent wishes the best of luck to all Marblehead runners.

They include: Zach Blatt, Tyler Callahan, Margaux Danforth, Daniel Donato, Matthew Duca, Kristin Gendron, Liam Hill, Richard Jordan, Montana Joyce, John Lequin, Ava Mahoney, Jenn Mangold, Ross Patterson, Emily Promise, Sally Reiley, Adam Sherf, Jacob Sherf, Lori Sherf, Thomas Smith, Scott Snyder, Sarah Strachan, Chloe Trudel, Brian Wishart and Bethany Zanrucha

HARBOR NEWS

Boston Yacht Club racing season opens with 27th annual Jackson Cup Sailors from some of the most prestigious yacht clubs across the United States and the United Kingdom will converge on Marblehead later this month as the Boston Yacht Club opens its racing season with the 27th annual Jackson Cup team race regatta.

A total of eight teams will compete in the event, which will take place in Marblehead Harbor on April 25 and 26, starting at 9:15 a.m.

Last year’s winners, the New York Yacht Club, will face challenges from the local Boston, Corinthian and Eastern

yacht club teams in Marblehead as well as from the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island, the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club of Long Island and the Larchmont Yacht Club.

The UK challengers are from the historic Royal Thames Yacht Club of London, winners of the event in 2010 and 2023.

“The Jackson Cup attracts the top talent from some of the finest yacht clubs in the world,” said BYC Rear Commodore Robert Bova. “It also makes for a compelling spectator event.”

An image from last year’s Jackson Cup regatta out of the BYC.

Team racing pits a team of three Sonar sailboats against another team of three Sonars, and there will be 56 races in the first two round-robin races over the weekend with the hope of

getting in a final four round to see who will become the 2026 champion.

The sailors representing the BYC this year are team captain Brad Wayne, James

COURTESY PHOTO / BRUCE DURKEE

Pinder, Cookie Greville, Ryan White, Sarah Brophy, Tyler Doyle, Andrew Reynolds, Eliza Genovese, Ned Breed, Ted Moore, Amy Drinker and Larry Rosenfeld.

Marblehead High track teams sweep past Danvers, Swampscott to begin new season

BY JOE MCCONNELL Two meets into the spring track season, and Coach Nolan Raimo’s Marblehead High boys and girls teams are undefeated after beating both Danvers and rival Swampscott at home on April 7. The girls took care of the Falcons, 87-40, while also dominating the Big Blue, 90-41.

The boys had similar results – 85-46 over Danvers and 90-46 versus the Blue.

Here are some highlights and achievements from both meets: On the boys side, high jumper extraordinaire Clark Roszell

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remains undefeated for the 2025-26 school year after clearing 5-10. He hasn’t lost a conference meet in this event since the indoor season began in December.

Elian Colon finished second in the long jump (18-6), and third in the triple jump (37-6).

Graham Firestone (115-11.5) and Logan McRae-Hughes (114-8) topped the ticket in the discus.

Alex Humphreys (137-2), Phineas Jakious (136.2) and Graham Firestone (134-11) swept the javelin. Colin Hart (1:00.8), Nate Jendrysik (1:00.9) and Noah Jackson (1:02.5) did the

same in the 400-meter hurdles.

Nate Jendrysik (15.6, personal best) bested the entire field in the 110-meter hurdles. Nate Selby (11.2) finished second in the 100. Eben Weed (53.2), Jack Franklin (54.1) and Voeuncenzo Vorn (55.0) completed the sweep in the 400.

Will Cruikshank (2:07) outkicked the competition to win the 800. Freshman Nate Bentley (2:09.7) came in third.

Henrik Adams (4:44.9), following an injury-filled indoor season, turned in an impressive second place finish in the mile.

The 4x100 relay team of

Dexter Wynn, Nate Selby, Noah Smerka and Slater Johnson (47.2) came in second overall.

In the girls meet, freshman Izzy Anaya Lanzillo (13-8) accounted for second place in the long jump. Classmate and gymnast Isabella Gonzalez (283), making her debut in the triple jump, earned points for the team with a third-place finish.

Naomi Goodwin (24-5) came in second in the shotput. Senior Lilah Greten (24-1) stepped up to throw the shot for the first time in her career, and ended up placing third.

Senior captain Liv Carlson

(63-7) participated in the discus for the first time, and was able to best the competition to come out on top, which also earned her a varsity letter.

Hailey Gilmore (63-.05) grabbed the silver in the javelin, as she continues to build an impressive throwing resume across multiple throwing disciplines. Norah Walsh (78.4) took second in the 400-meter hurdles. Arianna Leahy (18.7) broke the tape first in the 100-meter hurdles. Faith Apostolopoulos (20.0) captured third.

TRACK, P. 10

marbleheadcurrent.org

10 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

MHS sports weekly notebook featuring tennis, baseball, lacrosse, softball up close

BY JOE MCCONNELL

trend in second singles, beating Fenwick’s Will Rand 6-1, 6-0.

Boehning completed the singles sweep, when he upended Robert Bender, 6-1, 6-1.

Loughlin and Wabno lost to Jamie Aguilar and Christopher Connors in first doubles, 5-7, 6-4, 5-10. But Menzler and Sidman bounced back to beat Stephen Rizzo and Gisueppe Lepor in second doubles, 6-4, 6-4.

The Magicians wrapped up the first full week of action on the courts with a win over the Generals.

Cooper persevered to top Rory Taylor in a highly challenging first singles match, 0-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. Boehning moved up to second singles to take care of Alex Boardman, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6).

Loughlin took over the third spot, where he proceeded to beat Rowan McCoanauquery, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Wabno and Menzler survived their own three set match against Patrick Driscoll and William Gregory, 7-6, 4-6, 4-6. But Finn Bowen and Sidman lost to Jonas D’Arigo and Ryan Minnaar in second doubles, 2-6, 6-7 (3-7).

Boys tennis begins new era with three wins The Marblehead High boys tennis team, under the guidance of first-year coach Karl Tenenholtz, is off to a successful start with a 3-1 record. Seniors Adam Loughlin and T.J. Kelly, and juniors Ty Cooper and Alex Boehning are this year’s captains.

After dropping their first match of the year against non-league Andover, 3-2 at home on March 30, they were able to bounce back to defeat Northeastern Conference rival Masco by the exact same score on April 6. Non-league Bishop Fenwick followed the Chieftains to town two days later, only to lose to the Magicians, 4-1. They then closed out the homestand with a victory over HamiltonWenham, another non-league foe, 3-2 on April 10.

Cooper defeated Andover’s Sam Gomer in first singles, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 11-9. Kelly also came out on top in second singles after beating Kian Keyhan, 6-3, 7-5. But Boehning lost to Ryan Furlong in a competitive third singles match, 3-6, 2-6.

The first doubles team of junior Philip Wabno and Loughlin lost to Ricky Tran and Matt Wang, 6-3, 0-6, 3-6.

Senior Cordt Menzler and junior Caleb Sidman were shutdown in second doubles, 0-6, 0-6.

But the Magicians turned it all around against the Chieftains.

Cooper defeated Kai Hird, 6-2, 6-0 to win his second straight first singles match. Kelly did the same, beating his second singles opponent Arjun Shreyakar 6-3, 6-0. Boehning, however, dropped a three-set heartbreaking tiebreaker to Parker Kurtz in third singles, 6-2, 4-6, 6-7 (5-7).

Getting the team back on track, Loughlin and Wabno took care of Akash Mruon and Kartnir Nargul in first doubles. 7-5, 7-5, which ultimately secured the overall victory. Menzler and Sidman fell to Airy Raymrud and Arhil Deshpanek in second doubles, 6-4, 1-6, 4-6.

The Marblehead boys then made it two in a row after dominating the Crusaders from Peabody. Cooper shutout Nolan Tapp in first singles, 6-0, 6-0. Kelly maintained the

Girls tennis drops first two matches The MHS girls tennis team started its season on the short end of the scoreboard, losing to Masco in a heartbreaker, 3-2, before falling to non-league Hamiliton-Wenham, 4-1.

The season opener on April 6 for both host Masco and Marblehead did not disappoint, according to coach Tracy Ackerman. “It was another highly competitive match between these two NEC powerhouses,” she said.

The Chieftains first singles player Ria Kundalya topped Samara Dosch, her counterpart on the Magicians, 6-2, 6-4.

Marblehead senior captains Joy Meshulam and Caroline Bruett picked up a point in first doubles for their teammates, 6-2, 6-1, before Ava Zarineh, Masco’s third singles player, beat Lilly O’Keefe, 6-1, 6-1. But second singles player Callie Gilmore was then able to tie up the match at two with a hard-fought 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

It all came down to second doubles that went Masco’s way in another close encounter.

Sophie Li and Annie Tucker ended up dropping the match to

Masco’s Ella Mussey and Cyra Anvari, 6-7, 1-6.

“I was very curious as a coach to see how this first match would play out,” said Ackerman. “But I was super impressed with Sami Dosch, who played a competitive match against Masco’s No. 1 player. Sami was returning from a knee injury, and so to see her on the court in this match was a bonus (for me). Callie Gilmore continues to improve her tennis skills and acumen to pick up a huge win for us against Masco, (while) Joy and Caroline played well together in first doubles, which should be a strength for us this year.”

Against the Generals on April 10, Dosch secured Marblehead’s lone point of the match, when she defeated Emily McIntosh in first singles, 6-4, 6-1.

“I knew our first few matches of the season would be very tough against some of the strongest teams around,” said Ackerman. “(But it was compounded, when we learned) that Erin Wilder had season-ending knee surgery (before the Hamilton-Wenham match), and another starter was not (there, forcing me) to tinker with the lineup. The majority of this team haven’t had (much experience) in varsity matches, but I know they will improve this season.”

Ackerman added that they will learn from these two losses, while also mentioning after the Hamilton-Wenham match, “Samara had a terrific win against a formidable opponent, and our first doubles team (Meshulam and Bruett) also played great with lots of deuce points and long rallies.”

Baseball Magicians all even after four The baseball Magicians are 2-2 after splitting two more games last week. They lost to host Swampscott, 7-1 on April 8, but then defeated Peabody at home two days later, 15-5.

The Big Blue jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. The Magicians threatened to take the lead in the second, when they loaded the bases, but to no avail, which pretty much summed up this game.

“We had a couple of big opportunities to score, but just couldn’t get that big hit when we needed it, said coach Mike

Giardi.

Against Peabody, it was a typical early season game. “(The play) on both sides was very ugly, as each team was still working out the rust,” said Giardi.

The Magicians were able to finally get the bats going in the fifth inning. They ended up with a total of 16 hits in the game, with junior shortstop Greyson Leventhal accounting for four of them that included two doubles.

Girls lacrosse loses two

The girls lacrosse team (1-3 overall, 0-2 in the NEC) lost to host Beverly, 18-2 on April 6.

Addy Co-Peeps was the team’s leading scorer with one goal and one assist. Zoe Dwyer chipped in with the other tally.

“We need to reset after this game,” said coach Annie Madden. “It’s time to focus on Swampscott.”

While the Marblehead offense picked up considerably two days later against the Big Blue, the results remained the same. The game was played in front of the home fans at Piper Field, but the visitors never lost control of the lead, winning the game, 15-9. The Magicians trailed by just one at halftime, 6-5.

Sammy Walker (1 goal), Avery Wysor (1 goal, 2 groundballs) and Sydney Moniz (1 goal, 1 caused turnover), Co-Peeps (2 goals, 1 assist) and Dwyer (4 goals 1 assist) contributed to the Marblehead offense against their longtime rivals. Goalie Molly Bullard made five saves to help keep her teammates close on the scoreboard.

“It was a fast-paced game, as our (confidence) continues to build up,” said Madden. “Every day we are getting better, and (at the same time) learning how to capitalize on our opportunities.”

Laxmen defeat Beverly, Swampscott to even record The boys lacrosse team is 2-2 after winning two last week against Beverly, 10-6 on April 7, and Swampscott, 6-5.

Sandwiched between those victories was a close loss to visiting Newburyport, 10-8 on April 9.

In the win against Beverly, Reid Weysor led the way on offense with three goals and two

assists. Captain Owen Dulac was credited with two and two.

Bailey Finkle scored twice to go along with one assist. Landon Dosch chipped in with one score and two assists. Tyler Forbes and Kyle Thibodeau each scored once. Freshman Alex Herman and sophomore Will Kinahan had one assist apiece.

Goalie Colin Maniaci, a senior captain, came up with 12 saves to help preserve the victory.

It was an evenly played game against the Clippers, who led at halftime, 5-4. Each side scored the same number of goals in the second half that resulted in a close loss by the home team.

Thibodeau and Forbes paced the offensive attack with three goals and one assist apiece.

Dosch collected one and one.

Dulac netted one marker.

Weysor setup two scores, and Kinahan had one. Maniaci made 10 saves to keep things close.

But the Magicians then bounced back to beat the Big Blue in another close matchup.

“It’s always tough playing (Swampscott),” said coach John Wilkens, “and coupled that with playing three games in four days made it even tougher. Near the end of that game, we just gutted out the win.”

Thibodeau, a midfielder, was the scoring leader with two goals. Kinahan was credited with one goal and one assist. Captain Grady Becker, Forbes and Finkle notched the other three goals.

Maniaci once again did his part to secure a win with 10 more saves between the pipes.

Besides Becker, Maniaci and Dulac, John Schieffer rounds out the senior leadership on the team among the captains.

There are nine seniors altogether on the roster, including three newcomers to the program – but not to MHS sports – and they include Rylan Golden, J.J. Downey and Miles Fontela-Tuttle.

Gold’s crew foiled by nemesis Peabody After winning its first two games, coach Johnny Gold’s softball team dominated visiting Swampscott last week on April 8, 12-0. But longtime Division 1 nemesis Peabody then snapped their three-game winning streak by the narrowest of margins, 4-2 in Tanner country on April 10.

VARSITY SCHEDULE Wednesday, April 15 3 p.m., co-ed sailing vs. Barrington High at Barrington Yacht Club, Rhode Island 4 p.m., boys baseball vs. Beverly at Beverly High 4:30 p.m., boys lacrosse vs.

Peabody at MHS Piper Field 4:30 p.m., girls softball vs. Beverly at Marblehead Veterans School 6:30 p.m., girls lacrosse vs.

Peabody at Peabody High Thursday, April 16 4 p.m., girls tennis vs. Peabody at Peabody High 4 p.m., boys tennis vs. Lynnfield at Lynnfield High

Friday, April 17 4 p.m., boys baseball vs. Saugus at Belmonte School World Series Park, Saugus 4 p.m., boys tennis vs. Beverly at Beverly High 4 p.m., girls tennis vs. Beverly at Marblehead High 4:15 p.m., girls softball vs.

Medford at Columbus Park, Medford Monday, April 20 10 a.m., girls softball vs. Saugus at Belmonte School softball field, Saugus 11 a.m., boys lacrosse vs. Central Catholic at MHS Piper Field 2:30 p.m., girls lacrosse vs. Saugus at MHS Piper Field

Wednesday, April 22 10 a.m., boys and girls track vs.

Saugus at NEC Dual Meets Spring Challenge, Gloucester High 10 a.m., boys baseball vs. Danvers at Twi Field Baseball Diamond, Danvers 10 a.m., girls lacrosse vs.

Masconomet at MHS Piper Field 2 p.m., girls tennis vs. Peabody at Marblehead High 4 p.m., boys lacrosse vs.

Masconomet at Masconomet turf, Boxford 4:30 p.m., girls softball vs.

Danvers at Marblehead Veterans School

VARSITY SCOREBOARD Monday, April 6 Girls softball: Marblehead 9, Bishop Fenwick 3 Girls tennis: Masconomet 3, Marblehead 2 Boys tennis: Marblehead 3, Masconomet 2 Girls lacrosse: Beverly 19, Marblehead 2 Tuesday, April 7 Boys lacrosse: Marblehead 10, Beverly 6 Wednesday, April 8 Boys tennis: Marblehead 4,

Bishop Fenwick 1 Boys baseball: Swampscott 7, Marblehead 1 Girls softball: Marblehead 12, Swampscott 0 Thursday, April 9 Boys lacrosse: Newburyport 10, Marblehead 8 Friday, April 10 Boys tennis: Marblehead 3, Hamilton-Wenham 2 Girls softball: Peabody 4, Marblehead 2 Girls tennis: Hamilton-Wenham

4, Marblehead 1 Boys baseball: Marblehead 15, Peabody 5 Girls lacrosse: Swampscott 15, Marblehead 9 Boys lacrosse: Marblehead 6, Swampscott 5 TEAM RECORDS (THROUGH APRIL 12) Boys baseball, 2-2 Girls softball, 3-1 Boys lacrosse, 2-2 Girls lacrosse, 1-3 Boys tennis, 3-1 Girls tennis, 0-2

FILE PHOTO

Marblehead High boys spring track senior Will Cruikshank, staying ahead of his Peabody counterpart in a meet last spring, is off to a great start this year after winning the 800 during a home tri-meet last week against Swampscott and Danvers.

Track From P. 9

Lucy Flynn, the fastest sprinter in school history, opened up this season with impressive times in the 100 (12.0) and 200 (25.5) to secure first place points. Sarah Munroe was credited with a second-place finish in the two-mile (11:52) after winning the 400 (62.69).

Marblehead’s outstanding distance tandem of Marri

O’Connell (11:41) and Munroe (11:52, 30-second personal best) topped the ticket in the aforementioned two-mile.

O’Connell (2:29.5, personal best) also won the 800. Walsh (2:34.3) ended up second.

Senior track rookie Courtney Hitscherich (6:02.5), who plays soccer, nailed down the victory in the mile. The 4x100 relay team of Cora Gerson, Lilah Greten, Madelyn Terry and Meghan O’Leary (55.1) chipped in with a second-place finish.

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Marblehead Current Wednesday, April 15, 2026 11

CURRENT EVENTS

Marblehead’s best bets Current Events spotlights notable happenings in the coming week. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email info@ marbleheadnews.org.

—By Julia Rockler

‘Harvey’ at Marblehead Little Theatre

Play games at the JCCNS Thursday, April 16, 12-2:45 p.m.

Through April 19, 2 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.

Bring your playing cards for the weekly canasta games at JCCNS. To attend, RSVP to Sara Ewing at sewing@jccns.com. The charge for the community is $5 that can be paid at the Welcome Center, and for members, it’s free.

“Harvey” remains a beloved classic that prompts reflection on the value of friendship and the fine line between fantasy and reality. Ticket fees range from $25-32. Visit mltlive.com or call 781- 6319697 with questions.

Want literary friends? Try speed dating Friday, April 17, 7 p.m.

Bring a book and join a literary speed-dating event sponsored by the Festival of Arts. Participants will have 10 minutes with a partner to share books, discuss favorite genres or explore other topics related to reading. When the bell rings, attendees rotate to meet another book lover.

The event is designed for those who want to connect with others who share an interest in literature. Tickets are $25. More information is available at marbleheadfestival.org.

Jazz Lunch for Seniors Wednesday, April 15, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Enjoy a complimentary lunch and a live performance by the Insight Band at the JCCNS. All seniors are welcome. Feel free to attend on your own or bring a frienQuestions? Call 857-285-7900. 4 Community Road

A Debut: Road to Independence Tour Friday, April 17, 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 18, 10 a.m.

Participate in a walking tour exploring Marblehead’s history in the early 1770s.

The Marblehead Museum tour highlights the town’s role in major events such as the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Boston Tea Party and resistance to British taxes.

It also examines attacks on local Loyalists and the contradictions in Marblehead’s views on enslavement.

The tour lasts one hour. Tickets are $16 for the general public. More information is available at marbleheadmuseum.org.

Free organ and violin recital Sunday, April 19, 3 p.m.

This Star of the Sea concert features Heinrich Christensen, the music director and organist at Boston’s King’s Chapel, and violinist Jodi Hagen of the Boston Ballet and Boston Pops.

The concert will include works by Jean Sibelius, Antonio Vivaldi and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Free-will offerings will be accepted.

Star of the Sea is located at 83 Atlantic Ave.

Artwork from across the country — Variations April 18, through June 13

Explore artwork from across the country at the Marblehead Art Association’s largest exhibition of the year. The show features a variety of styles and media, including two- and three-dimensional works.

An opening reception and award presentation will be held from 2 to 5 p.m.

Dance class for friends with special needs Sunday, April 19, 11 a.m.

Join a 45-minute dance class designed for individuals with autism and other special needs. The program, at Lighthouse Fitness on Front Street, offers a welcoming environment where participants can move, have fun and build connections through dance.

Participants are encouraged to attend with a supporting adult. The fee applies only to the young adult, not the caregiver. Registration is required, and space is limited. lighthousefitness.net

Look up! Stargazing program at Preston Beach Tuesday, April 21, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Explore the night sky using telescopes provided by the North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club. Attendees

The Mugford Street Players present ‘Confession of Love’

Earth Day with cardboard creations for kids Wednesday, April 22, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 19, through May 3, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The Mugford Street Players will perform a collection of three short dramas titled “Confession of Love” at the Unitarian Universalist Church.

The production features actors James Butterfield, Sue Brother and Stephen Cooper.

Founded in 1975, the group has presented more than 60 productions across North Shore venues. The play is directed by John Fogle, an award-winning

will be able to view stars, clusters and nebulae.

Tickets are $15 per person and can be purchased via Venmo or cash to support the Clifton Improvement Association. Register at https://loom.ly/jQTcV0U. For more information, email alexajaccarinocarr@gmail. com.

stage director with more than 45 years of experience.

Admission is pay-what-you-like, and seating is limited. To reserve a seat, email stagefog@gmail.com with the number of seats and preferred date. For more information, call 781-962-0409.

Celebrate Earth Day at Abbott Library by turning cardboard into creative projects. The program is designed for children ages 8 to 12.

Safe cutting tools will be provided, and each participant will take home their creation.

The event is free, but registration is required at abbotlibrary.org.

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12 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

AT THE MOVIES

JCC’s 13th annual international Jewish film festival spotlights independent movies

BY ALEKA KROITZSH The Jewish Community Center of North Shore will host its 13th annual International Jewish Film Festival from April 23 to May 14.

The festival features 10 films and five shorts inspired

by Jewish history, culture and values.

Marblehead’s very own Warwick Cinema will host three of the festival’s matinees and will open their café at 10 a.m. with a discounted menu to accommodate attendees. The remaining films and shorts will be shown at Cinema Salem.

“I hope audiences leave the Film Festival feeling a sense of connection and community and are entertained, inspired and enriched by new perspectives and thought-provoking stories,” JCC Director of Adult Program Sara Ewing said.

She added that this is an opportunity for the North Shore to see high-quality, independent films that would likely not go into theaters elsewhere.

Highlights of the festival include critically acclaimed coming-of-age film “Tell Me Everything,” which premiered at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and opening night film “Charles Grodin: A Rebel With a Cause,” a documentary about the life and activism of comedian and actor Charles Grodin.

JCC OF THE NORTH SHORE

INTERNATIONAL

13th Annual

JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY

Sharon and Howard Rich & Leslie and Bob Ogan

APRIL 23 to MAY 14, 2026 Night of SHORTS

VISIT JCCNS.ORG The JCC has also organized Nancy Harrowitz, who is a range of speakers for select the director of the Elie Wiesel FOR DETAILS AND TICKETS

About half of the featured films are in foreign languages, including Spanish, Hebrew,

French and German.

films.

Center for Jewish Studies at Boston University, will speak at the Warwick Cinema on May 11 for the showing of “The Frontier,” a film about Jews fleeing Nazi persecution during the Holocaust.

“Match Making 2” will bring in speaker Raysh Weiss, who is a rabbi at Temple Israel in Natick, and a matchmaker. For the night of shorts, where all five short films will be shown, tattoo artist Sayge Hesse will speak about the rise in tattoo art trends in the aftermath of October 7.

Writer Eileen Pollack, who grew up in the Jewish Catskills, will speak at closing night film “We Met at Grossinger’s,” a film about the iconic Catskills Grossinger’s Resort and Hotel which became a haven for many Jewish Americans.

Ewing said the J’s festival is important for many reasons, including that it “creates space to express the diversity, complexity and humanity of Jewish life and allow important voices and perspectives to be seen and heard.”

She added that many in the North Shore community are looking for opportunities for “Jewish connection and comfort,” and JCC believes that Jewish film festivals can provide that.

To learn more about the JCC Film Festival, visit jccns.org.

LITERATURE

Unexpected moment before heart surgery inspires local writer’s new novel

BY LEIGH BLANDER

When characters take over

The night before David Roper’s heart surgery several years ago, he could not fall asleep.

The operation — a quintuple bypass at Massachusetts General Hospital — was scheduled for 6 a.m. His wife suggested they stay overnight in Boston so they wouldn’t have to rush in the morning. She fell asleep quickly.

Roper lay awake staring at the ceiling.

“I wasn’t really scared or terrified for myself,” he said. “But my writer brain started going.”

He thought: What if a man scheduled for heart surgery suddenly ran away?

That late-night question became the seed for a short story published in 2019 and, eventually, Roper’s newest novel — his sixth book — which he will discuss during a talk at the Boston Yacht Club on April 23.

The novel, “Rosie: One Young Girl’s Hope, One Man’s Last Chance, One Summer That Changes Everything” follows Arthur Brock, a 41-yearold Vietnam veteran living alone aboard a sailboat in Boston Harbor. Facing surgery for a congenital heart defect, Arthur makes an unexpected choice: Instead of entering the operating room, he sails to Maine to confront a promise he never kept.

Roper said the story evolved naturally once the characters began to take shape.

“That’s how stories get started,” he said. “You ask: Where would he go? Why would he do that? And pretty soon, the characters begin to drive the story.”

Arthur’s journey brings him to Hawkins Cove, a fictional coastal village in Maine, where he meets Rosie Brown — a sharp, energetic 10-year-old who helps her mother run a waterfront café and has quietly begun searching for someone to fill the role

The Marblehead Board of Health will hold a public hearing on Monday April 27, 2026 7:00 PM to review the proposed Curbside Collection Regulations governing the storage, collection, and disposal of solid waste and recyclables in the Town of Marblehead.

The Board will also consider adoption of the proposed regulations, including the establishment of associated trash and recycling collection fees. The hearing will include a public comment period, followed by Board deliberation on the proposed Curbside Collection regulations and fees, consideration of any revisions, and a vote on adoption. The Board will also review transfer station fees associated with Bulk Items. The hearing is held in accordance with the provisions of G.L. c. 111, §31, Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A and applicable provisions of the Marblehead General Bylaws. Copies of the proposed regulations are available on the Town’s website at (https://marbleheadma.gov/trash-and-recycling/) and/or upon request by contacting Marblehead Health Department 781-631-0212. Details on how to access the hearing remotely via the internet will be posted on the meeting agenda at least 48-hours prior to the meeting. The agenda and Zoom link for the meeting can be found at: [https://marbleheadma.gov/].

COURTESY PHOTOS

David Roper, of Marblehead, is out with his newest novel, “Rosie,” named after his granddaughter.

of the father she never had.

Rosie quickly became the emotional center of the book.

“She’s 10 going on 11,” Roper said. “She’s very bright, very resourceful, very thoughtful and kind, but she’s a real character.”

The unlikely friendship between Rosie and Arthur — a broken man who always wanted children — drives the story toward themes of redemption, forgiveness and second chances.

A story born from survival

Inspired by family

Roper said Rosie was particularly fun to develop as a character. In fact, she was inspired in part by his 6-year-old granddaughter.

He even used a photograph of the real Rosie as a starting point for the book’s cover then

Roper’s writing career spans decades and several genres.

His first book, published

by Warner Books in the 1990s, was a nonfiction job-search guide. Over the years he has written essays, short stories and novels, including the popular “Watching for Mermaids.”

Alongside his own work, he has spent more than 40 years running a résuméwriting and career services business and coaching other authors through the publishing process.

“All of us have a story to tell,” he said.

Through his imprint, Roper Books, he helps writers decide whether to pursue traditional publishing or selfpublishing — and guides them through the skills needed to bring a manuscript to life.

He has worked with several authors on books ranging from memoirs to personal stories.

David Roper’s newest book, “Rosie,” is now available.

leaned on AI to imagine what she might look like as

a 10-year-old.

A long writing journey

Looking back, Roper says it still feels strange that a moment before major surgery ultimately led to a novel.

“They stop your heart and connect it to a machine,” he said of the procedure. “I had this very strange, bizarrely cavalier attitude about the whole thing.”

The surgery went well, and today he says he’s healthy.

“Knock on wood,” he added.

“Rosie” is available at roperbooks.com.

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Marblehead Current Wednesday, April 15, 2026 13

POLICE LOG

Lynn boy who said he was kidnapped shows up at woman’s door seeking ride home Friday, March 20

» Alarms: 0 » Building/property checks: 13 » Abandoned 911 calls: 4 » Vehicle stops, citations: 4 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 1 8:39 a.m. An officer investigated a report of an elderly man hitchhiking on Pitman Road and West Shore Drive.

12:03 p.m. Officers responded to the scene of a two-vehicle crash in the area of Smith Street.

Initially, they were unable to locate any accidents in the area.

A dispatcher called the person who had reported the accident and learned that both vehicles had already left the area. At approximately 12:39 p.m., the driver who had initially reported the accident came into the police station, and an officer spoke with him and took a report. The man explained that he had been driving on Smith Street towards Pleasant Street and was stopped in a long line of traffic when his vehicle was rear-ended by a pickup truck. The man reported feeling a great deal of pain in his left shoulder, explaining that he had been wearing his seatbelt and was jerked forward (whiplash) when his vehicle got rear-ended. An ambulance was then called to the station to evaluate the man. The man then showed the officer the damage to the rear bumper of his vehicle. The man believed the pickup truck had suffered “bad” front-end damage from the accident. The man stated that when he tried to speak with the other driver, he had a hard time communicating with the man as the man was hearing impaired and was “crying a lot.”

The driver then handed the man a phone with the vehicle’s registered owner on the other end of the line, who provided the vehicle and insurance information. The man in the police station had not gotten the other driver’s information before they both left the scene.

Once EMTs evaluated the man in the station, he was transported to the hospital for his left shoulder pain.

1:05 p.m. An officer spoke with a father and son regarding the purchase of a 2012 Jeep Liberty from a Salem man that had been arranged on Facebook Messenger. The parties agreed to meet in the parking lot of the Star of the Sea Church on Atlantic Avenue, where the son had been allowed to take possession of the vehicle with the understanding that he would be taking the vehicle to be inspected to ensure that it was safe. Prior to handing over the vehicle, the Salem man signed the title in what is believed to be the name of his father, a New Hampshire resident. No other information was filled out on the title. The Salem man was then given $6,250, the agreed-upon price of the vehicle. The father and son then took the vehicle to Precision Motor Werks, where mechanics found several things wrong, most notably that the fuel tank was secured by a cargo strap, which the father and son

believed the Salem man must have known about.. Unhappy with the revelation, they contacted the Salem man and requested their money back. In response, they were told that the money had already been spent, and the vehicle had been sold “as is.” The Salem man subsequently blocked the father and son from any further communication on social media. The father and son felt as though they were victims of a scam, both because the Salem man was not abiding by the state’s Lemon Law and because he had fraudulently signed the title in his father’s name. A dispatcher ran a search of the vehicle identification number and found that the vehicle had not been stolen. The officer planned to forward his report to detectives.

1:20 p.m. An officer met with a man at the police station who wanted to report some past harassment by a former employee.

The man explained that he is an electrician and had last worked with the former employee about two weeks earlier on Spring Street. He told the officer that, after speaking with other employees as well as the foreman for a construction company, they told him that the ex-employee’s behavior had been odd and that things were not working well. This led to the man in the station telling the employee that he no longer wanted him to work for him and that he had not promised anything about future jobs.

This caused the ex-employee to grow angry with his boss, and he threatened to leave bad reviews on Google about the man’s business and take some of his workers.

The ex-employee then randomly showed up to a job in Lynn on Thursday and started to cuss out his former boss to his entire crew. He also reportedly tried to steal some of his workers to join another company. The officer advised that he should file a report regarding this incident with Lynn Police as well. The man said he did not want to seek a protective order against his former worker at this time, but he wanted to report these incidents in case he came by again. The officer told him not to contact the worker at all anymore and to call the police if he were to show up to a job site.

2:17 p.m. A tree or branch was reported down on Vassar Road.

3:10 p.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Cornell Road.

3:19 p.m. An officer was approached in the police station lobby by a school crossing guard who had found an electrical soldering tool kit in an orange canvas bag on the ground unattended near the Veterans Middle School on Pleasant Street. He handed it over to the officer who placed a property tag on the tool kit and locked it into an evidence locker.

3:31 p.m. A complaint about a boat on Marblehead Harbor was reported.

4:07 p.m. Officers investigated a general complaint on West Shore Drive and Green Street.

investigated a general complaint on Lafayette Street.

2:46 p.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Tedesco Street.

9:11 p.m. A vehicle was towed after a traffic stop on Pleasant Street.

Sunday, March 22

4:26 p.m. Officers investigated a report of suspicious activity on Lincoln Park.

5:40 p.m. An officer responded to a report of a vehicle crash on Pleasant Street and Mohawk Road but could not locate it.

7:49 p.m. Officers were dispatched to Atlantic Avenue, where a homeowner who had been watching television heard a knock on the window and went out to find a boy who said he had been kidnapped and wanted a ride home. While en route, officers were advised that Lynn Police had requested the local police departments be on the lookout for a missing 10-year-old boy. An officer brought the boy to the station. Once the boy was in the police cruiser, one of the officers asked him if he needed any medical attention or if he was hurt. The boy said he was OK and did not need any medical assistance. Once they were back at the station, an officer brought the boy to an interview room and asked if he knew what town he was in or how he had gotten to his last location. The boy did not know what town he was in and said that he had been kidnapped.

The officer then asked if he was picked up in a vehicle and if it had been a man or a woman that he had been with. The boy told the officer that he was unsure how he got to where he was and said a man had taken him. The boy also was unable to describe what the man looked like or tell him if he was in a vehicle or not.

Other officers on the shift said they had seen the boy walking around in the area earlier, during daylight hours. The officer waited with the boy until a Lynn officer arrived and took custody of him.

11:16 p.m. An officer went to Doaks Lane to offer assistance with a disabled vehicle.

Saturday, March 21

» Alarms: 1 » Building/property checks: 16 » Abandoned 911 calls: 2 » Vehicle stops, citations: 3 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 3 9:40 a.m. An officer spoke with the president of the Marblehead Conservancy regarding an act of vandalism that had occurred in the Wyman Woods conservation area off West Shore Drive. The man had discovered approximately nine trees being cut down in order to make use for bicycle trails on the trail to the left of Camp Shore Lea. Several tools had been left on site, which the man had seized. The man just wanted the incident documented.

9:45 a.m. Officers investigated a general complaint on Pleasant Street.

1:14 p.m. An officer assisted a citizen on Bassett Street.

2:38 p.m. An officer

» Alarms: 0 » Building/property checks: 9 » Abandoned 911 calls: 0 » Vehicle stops, citations: 0 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 0 11:46 a.m. A wallet was found on Atlantic Avenue.

12:31 p.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Village Street.

5:43 p.m. An officer spoke at the police station with a woman who wanted to report being impersonated by fake accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

She explained that her sister has been getting harassed by somebody for months now, which she had reported to the police department in the town where she lived. The woman in the police station had recently learned that what she suspected was the same culprit had created fake accounts using her photograph and was saying nasty things in her native language.

The officer advised her to report the fraudulent accounts directly to the social media companies to have them taken down.

Monday, March 23

» Alarms: 2 » Building/property checks: 6 » Abandoned 911 calls: 0 » Vehicle stops, citations: 0 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 0 8:33 a.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Ocean Avenue and Pleasant Street.

9:26 a.m. An officer assisted a citizen on Manataug Trail.

(26-339-OF) 1:14 p.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Farrell Court.

2:59 p.m. Officers investigated a general complaint on Front Street.

Tuesday, March 24

» Alarms: 1 » Building/property checks: 7 » Abandoned 911 calls: 2 » Vehicle stops, citations: 1 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 1 11:02 a.m. An officer, firefighters and ambulance crew responded to the scene of a vehicle crash on Ocean Avenue.

12:38 p.m. Officers investigated general information provided on Arnold Terrace.

7:23 p.m. An officer investigated general information on Hobart Road.

9:24 p.m. Officers went to Hobart Road to speak with a woman and her father. The woman reported that she had just seen a group of kids with spray paint cans tagging their house. The woman also believed that the group of kids had been talking about her and her family.

The girl’s father told the officer that he had been there the whole time, and the incident never happened. The officer advised the woman the police would do some patrols of the

neighborhood.

11:51 p.m. Officers investigated the report of a disturbance on Hobart Road but could not locate it.

Wednesday, March 25

» Alarms: 0 » Building/property checks: 5 » Abandoned 911 calls: 2 » Vehicle stops, citations: 0 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 1 11:52 a.m. An officer investigated a report of larceny, forgery or fraud on Atlantic Avenue.

12:38 p.m. An officer spoke in the police station lobby with a woman who had been having ongoing problems with her neighbor for years. The woman said that earlier in the day she had gone outside to take pictures from the street of her property line and the curb area, where the neighbor with whom she had problems had planted things in the sidewalk nature strip. As she was attempting to take the photo, the neighbor had yelled at her to hurry up and take the picture, which she felt threatened by. The officer advised the woman that any property line issues were civil matters, and the planting in the nature strip area would be a question for the town highway department. While at the police station, the woman requested a copy of a report from a 2023 incident, which she was given.

1:48 p.m. An officer assisted a citizen on Pitman Road.

2:50 p.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Humphrey Street that proved to be unfounded.

7:31 p.m. An officer spoke at the station with a couple who had shipped two coins minted in 1995 and ones minted in 1907 and 1888, together valued at $6,800, to a man in California.

But when the package arrived, the man reported that the coins were not in the package.

The couple said they would be notifying the U.S. Postal Service postal inspector about the incident the following day.

9:25 p.m. An officer responded to the scene of a vehicle crash on Community Road.

10:49 p.m. A caller on Broughton Road was given help with a lost passport.

Thursday, March 26

» Alarms: 0 » Building/property checks: 15 » Abandoned 911 calls: 2 » Vehicle stops, citations: 0 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 2 12:19 p.m. A crash in which a bicyclist rode into a car was reported on Atlantic Avenue and Casino Road.

12:54 p.m. Officers were dispatched to Steer Swamp to investigate a report of someone doing target practice with a firearm in the area. The officers entered through the Barry Road entrance of the woods, and one of the officers stopped a passerby and asked if they had seen someone with a gun while he was walking the trail. The individual replied “yes” and said it appeared POLICE, P. 14

REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS Buyer(s)

Seller(s)

Address

Date

Price

Sam A. Parker and Saraj F Kaiser

172 Green St.

March 24

$189,872

Caroline and David Hybels

Trust Fbo Ann P. Huber and Todd R. Huber

21 Kenneth Road

March 27

$2,607,500

John D. Mcdonough and Laura J. Tamagno

John D. Mcdonough and Laura J. Tamagno

33 Washington St.

March 27

$1

Matthew Hawke and Jacqueline Fibbe

Kevin Scott Frary II

1 Bond St.

March 24

$857,000

Steven Pelletier and Pamela Correa

Raymond H. and Wanda E Pelletier

230 Windsor Ave.

March 27

$1

Ashleen Earl and C Corneille L and Ashlee Earl

32 Kings Beach Terrace

March 27

$937,000

Marblehead Sam A. Parker

Swampscott

Katherine Lee Gilligan and Peter Stefan Graham

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14 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

OBITUARIES

Sarah L. Stiles, 78 Sarah L. Stiles, 78, formerly of Beach Bluff Avenue, Swampscott, passed away on April 6 after a brief illness.

She was the daughter of the late A. Hall and Harriet F. Stiles.

She is survived by her devoted son, Hall Stiles Anthony of Swampscott, and her siblings, William F. Stiles of Darien, Connecticut, Linda S. Ferguson

Police From P. 13

to be a man in his early 20s using a BB gun. The officers proceeded further down the trail until they spotted the man standing off to the side of the trail. The officer then asked the man if he had been using a BB gun, and the man replied “yes.” The man then showed the officer the gun, which was a Ruger U-force break barrel pellet gun. The man had the pellet gun wrapped up in a blue blanket and said he was just doing target practice. The officer then had what he described as a lengthy conversation with the man about using pellet guns in public and suggested he find a safer area where there was no possibility of striking another person. The man said he understood and left the area.

12:56 p.m. A vehicle crash was reported on Pleasant Street and Devereux Terrace.

of Darien, Connecticut, and Elizabeth Stoner of Barrington,

3:26 p.m. Vandalism was reported on Humphrey Street.

5:27 p.m. An officer spoke with a man in the police station lobby who had discovered the night before that his passport was missing or lost. The man explained that he just needed that fact documented with police for his records.

6:05 p.m. Officers investigated a report of a possible burglary or breaking-and-entering on Casino Road.

Friday, March 27

» Alarms: 3 » Building/property checks: 14 » Abandoned 911 calls: 3 » Vehicle stops, citations: 1 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 1 6:05 a.m. Officers investigated a report of suspicious activity on Humphrey Street, which proved to be unfounded.

9:34 a.m. Officers responded to the scene of a minor vehicle

Rhode Island, along with her former husband, Jim Anthony of Marblehead, and many nieces and nephews.

Sarah was a graduate of Pingree School in South Hamilton and the University of Denver. She enjoyed a career in retailing, including assisting her father at the former T.W. Rogers Co. in Lynn.

Sarah was a lifelong member of The Beach Club in Swampscott where she loved to swim and walk the length of Preston Beach. As an adult, she often

hosted family gatherings at the beach. Sarah spent winters skiing in and around North Conway, New Hampshire, as well as hiking many trails in the White Mountains in the summer.

Sarah maintained close friendships throughout her life with neighbors from her youth, including the late Nelson Darling, who was an advisor and friend whom she thought of as a second father. She will be remembered by her many friends for her kindness, her sense of humor and her devotion to family.

A memorial service for Sarah will be held on Thursday, April 23 at 11 a.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 135 Lafayette St., Marblehead. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend.

Memorial gifts may be made in her name to the Pingree School Scholarship Fund, 537 Highland St., South Hamilton, MA 01982.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at eustisandcornellfuneralhome. com.

crash on Atlantic Avenue.

12:56 p.m. An officer and the police department’s mental health counselor rendered services on Atlantic Avenue.

4:36 p.m. Officers investigated a report of suspicious activity on Pinecliff Drive.

6:10 p.m. Officers investigated a report of shoplifting on Washington Street.

6:42 p.m. An officer responded to the scene of a vehicle crash on Atlantic Avenue.

9 p.m. An officer investigated the report of a disturbance on Seaview Avenue.

assistance on Broughton Road.

1:17 p.m. A complaint was made about a moving vehicle on Stramski Way. The vehicle could not be located.

3:43 p.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Gingerbread Hill Road.

4:36 p.m. Police received a general complaint from Broughton Road.

7:19 p.m. A complaint was made about a moving vehicle on West Shore Drive and Lafayette Street.

7:50 p.m. A complaint was made about a moving vehicle on Humphrey and Tedesco streets.

10:20 p.m. Officers investigated a general complaint on Pilgrim Road.

verbal warnings: 0 11:42 a.m. Officers investigated a report of suspicious activity on Waterside and Ramsay roads.

12:26 p.m. An officer spoke with a woman whose name and email address had been used to conduct business with Honeywell. She had already notified the company and had not lost any money but wanted to file a police report, as she had previously been a victim of identity fraud back in 2020.

1:56 p.m. Police received a general complaint from Nicholson Street.

4:48 p.m. An officer investigated a complaint about a moving vehicle on Adams Road and Atlantic Avenue. The vehicle could not be located.

4:51 p.m. An officer investigated a boat complaint on Marblehead Harbor.

6:20 p.m. An officer investigated a general complaint on Front Street.

Saturday, March 28

» Alarms: 0 » Building/property checks: 6 » Abandoned 911 calls: 0 » Vehicle stops, citations: 0 » Vehicle stops, verbal warnings: 1 9:23 a.m. A disturbance was reported on Broughton Road.

11:03 a.m. A citizen was given

Sunday, March 29

» Alarms: 1 » Building/property checks: 7 » Abandoned 911 calls: 1 » Vehicle stops, citations: 0 » Vehicle stops,

NEWS IN BRIEF

BY LEIGH BLANDER

survey to collect feedback and implement comments into the Site Reuse Assessment Report and Site Renderings. Please scan the provided QR code to learn more and to provide your input or visit https://tinyurl.com/2c5an42u to access the survey.

The Current welcomes 150– 200-word submissions to News in Brief. Send yours to info@ marbleheadnews.org.

Transfer Station fire

A small fire broke out April 7 inside the pit at the Transfer Station and quickly spread to a nearby truck, according to Fire Chief Jason Gilliland. A Transfer Station employee pulled the truck away from the pit, and crews put out the fire.

“This happens two-to-three times a year,” Gilliland said. “It might have started with ashes in the pit.”

Gilliland added: “This is a good reminder that people shouldn’t throw hot coals, flares, fireworks or anything that can spark into the pit.”

No one was hurt and damage was minimal, Gilliland said.

5 Corners input

The town is embarking on making improvements to the Five Corners intersection and wants your feedback. Check out a public input mapping tool through April 30 and share your thoughts. https://loom.ly/ Yt9rkqc. This part of the project is covered by a state grant.

For more project information

Green Homes Tour

Come to Sustainable Marblehead’s third Green Homes Tour, to take place on Saturday, May 2. Tour nine local homes and learn about air source heat pumps, solar panels, electric induction stoves and much more from people who are actually using the technology.

Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased in advance at sustainablemarblehead.org/ greenhomestour.

COURTESY PHOTO / FIRE CHIEF JASON GILLILAND

A small fire broke out at the Transfer Station pit on April 7.

please contact Brendan Callahan, director of community development & planning at 781-631-1529 or callahanb@ marbleheadma.gov.

Coffin reuse

The town also wants to hear your ideas for the former Coffin School property on Turner Road.

The site has been vacant since 2021

and is being evaluated for various reuse options.

Feedback from residents will help inform future planning and decision making. The Town’s consultant, UCONN TAB Program, has created a public

Marblehead Police want you Go behind the badge and learn about the Marblehead Police Department from the inside.

MPD is offering its eight-week course on Thursdays, 6-9 p.m., starting April 23. Attendees will meet local officers, detectives and staff and learn how operations work. They will observe a real trial and tour the Middleton House of Corrections.

The course is free. Learn more

and register at marbleheadma. gov/citizen-police-academy.

Rhythm and Clues

You can support the Marblehead Council on Aging at “Rhythm and Clues,” a fundraising event, April 30, 5:308:30 p.m. at the Masonic Hall, 62 Pleasant St. Enjoy hosted trivia, appetizers, a cash bar, live music and a silent auction.

Funds raised support the following: entertainment and special events, excursions and expanded nutrition programs.

Advance tickets can be purchased for $25 at the COA April 7, 8, 14 and 15, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.; or online at https://bit.ly/ fmcoa2026. Tickets will be $30 at the door.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of Marblehead Council on Aging. Contact fmcoa536@ gmail.com with questions.

Casino Night

The community is invited to Chai Stakes Casino Night at Temple Emanu-El on April 30, 6:30 p.m. Money raised will support Emanu-El programs and services.

Guests will enjoy classic casino games as well as food, drink and prizes. 393 Atlantic Ave. More info and tickets at emanu-el.org.

NEW FACE

MHTV names new executive director as station enters next chapter

BY LEIGH BLANDER Marblehead’s public access television station, MHTV, is entering a new era with the hiring of Executive Director Brian Hebert, who brings years of community media experience — and local ties — to the role.

Hebert, who started about two weeks ago, has taken the helm at MHTV following the retirement of longtime leader Joan Goloboy.

“Brian is the former executive director of Bedford’s public access cable television studio, and we look forward to a continuation of bringing coverage of local news and events to our subscribers’

televisions and video devices,” said MHTV Board President Bob Peck. “A new chapter begins for MHTV after 15 years of leadership under Joan Goloboy, who will be missed.”

Goloboy had led MHTV since 2011, during which time the station earned numerous prestigious honors, including Best Small Market Station in the Nation and Overall Excellence in the Northeast Region from the Alliance for Community Media.

What’s on?

MHTV provides coverage of local government meetings, sporting events and town happenings, and produces

COURTESY PHOTO

Brian Hebert has taken the helm at Marblehead’s public access television station.

feature stories highlighting programs and residents across Marblehead.

Hebert said he is focused first on learning the station’s

operations and building relationships in the community.

Because MHTV’s studio at Veterans School was severely damaged in a roof leak, Hebert is set up at the WorkLoft on Spring Street for now.

“I’m meeting people,” he said.

“I want to work with community partners and organizations.”

Hebert is looking forward to building on MHTV’s educational initiatives programs with local students, teaching them about cameras, editing and more.

He explained why he thinks community access TV is so important.

“It’s about freedom of speech,” he said. “If you want to make a

show about how great your dog is, come in and learn how to use the equipment. If your neighbor doesn’t like your dog, he can come in, too. All you have to do is walk through the door — once we have a door.”

A native of Hingham, Hebert lives in Beverly. He and his wife are expecting a baby soon. His in-laws live in Marblehead, and he’s glad to be closer.

Hebert acknowledged that he is stepping into a role shaped

by Goloboy’s long tenure and success.

“Joan did such a good job,” he said. “They are tough shoes to fill. She had a lot of success over the years.”

marbleheadcurrent.org

Shining a light on the news you care about!

Marblehead Current Wednesday, April 15, 2026 15

Headlight

Written by the students of Marblehead High School for our school and community 2025 - 2026 Issue

www.mhsheadlight.com

The All Strings Concert: A night to remember

April 15, 2026

Protests at Boston Common

Mary Prindiville, Freshman

Will Pelliciotti, Senior

On Tuesday, I attended the Marblehead All Strings concert as part of the high school orchestra. The event was held at Marblehead Veterans Middle School in the Performing Arts Center.

As an orchestra, we have been preparing our songs for this specific concert since January! During the concert, each grade plays one song. Also, the after school honors group, Fellowship of the String, plays a song. The concert’s theme this year was space!

Our piece for Fellowship was called "The Theory of Everything" about the story of Stephen Hawking.The larger orchestra played "Hyperdrive;" a piece about accelerating into another dimension at the speed of light.

On Saturday, March 28th, one of the largest protests in American history took place across the country with an estimated 8 million people taking to the streets on so-called “No Kings Day.” Protests occurred from the East to the West Coast, with demonstrations taking place in all 50 states and spreading to a handful of foreign countries as well, such as the UK and Germany. The protests were targeted at the recent and ongoing actions of the current Trump administration, aiming specifically at the events related to ICE in Minnesota, such as the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as well as the more recent war against Iran in the Middle East.

When we arrived, there was time for a high school warmup to tune our instruments. Then we had to look after the Village students. This concert is comprised of Village School through MHS musicians. The high school students are meant to mentor the younger students and inspire them to continue in the orchestra. The order of the concert was also organized by grade level, with Village going first and MHS as the finale. Before the last piece, some of our seniors provided speeches about their time as a musician. Then, they presented Mrs. Frias with a gift of a new metronome. This year, we had the most caring and talented senior class and included Andrew Niu, Emily Levine, Isabella Pricher, Jacob Soule, Katie Kee, and Lucas Rosen.

In Boston, one of the largest of these protests would take place. Centered around Boston Common, an estimated crowd of 200,000 demonstrated on the grass, many of them holding anti-Trump displays and symbols of protest, such as the inverted American flag. Joining the event was the famous local band The Dropkick Murphys, who spoke passionately against the administration, as well as the actions of ICE, and played a free concert to those present, performing songs such as "Who Will Stand With Us," "Citizen I.C.E.," and the classic "I'm Shipping Up To Boston."

After the concert ended, there was a reception in the cafeteria with food and drinks, which was a great way to meet up with family and friends. I love the wonderful group of students that the orchestra has connected me to! The community that the orchestra has built will set me up with friendships for years to come. The next concert is on May 18th and will combine band and orchestra students. This is the first year that the All Strings

A widespread demographic was present at the demonstration, with individuals of all ages, but, in particular, college students and older adults showing up in large numbers. These protests were the third of the organized No Kings Day protests, with the previous two being held in 2025, drawing millions of people to voice opposition to the Trump administration. This one, however, was the largest of the ones organized thus far, and it broke the record for the largest day of protest in American history with 8 million people attending across the country. Despite the demonstrations that have already taken place, more are being planned for the summer, with similar or potentially even larger numbers expected to take part.

Concert was packed with a full house audience. It would be amazing to see that many people support our next concert! As a musician, you feel very appreciated with a large audience to see and hear the work that you have put into your instrument. All in all, the All Strings Concert was an amazing success and thank you to everyone who came to watch and listen.

Attention: MHS Seniors!

Scholarship Application Deadline The Marblehead Dollars for Scholars application deadline is Sunday, April 19. High school seniors who demonstrate financial need based on the student aid index (SAI) on their FAFSA are encouraged to apply for a scholarship by visiting the following website and creating their online profile:

https://marblehead.dollarsforscholars.org Questions may be directed to: Mike Weed at (617) 823-9898 or mweed1973@gmail.com

Headlight Staff 2025 - 2026 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Grey Collins

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Evan Eisen, Anna Cruikshank, Georgia Marshall

REPORTERS: Piper Browning, Jack Buckley, Maximilian Kane, Sophie Li, Will Pelliciotti, London Perlow, Mary Prindiville SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER: Anna Baughman

FACULTY ADVISOR: Mr. Higgins

marbleheadcurrent.org

16 Wednesday, April 15, 2026 Marblehead Current

Spring!

Deck is open & heated.

Falling behind on rent and utilities?

Celebrate Spring with our $80 Dinner for Two with wine.

We're here to help p.

Sunday thru Wednesday for the entire month of April.

If you’re struggling to pay your biills or arre experiencing a sudden and unexpectted finan ncial hardship, we’re here to help p.

Individual requests for financial assistance m must be referred through a third party for co onsidera ation.

We urge you to contact our partners listed be elow, or speak to your local clergy to requesst assisttance from Marblehead Female Humane e Society y:

Marblehead Counseling Cen nter 781-631-8273

Join us and support the community at our Charity Nights

Marblehead Housing Autho ority 781-631-2580

• April 21st - Food Pantry • April 28th - Discover Marblehead

Marblehead Council on Agiing 781-631-6225

New Spring/Summer Menus coming April 29th.

Marblehead Food Pantry y

81 Front Street, Marblehead “On the Harbor” 781-639-1266

For over 200 years, Marblehead Female Hu umane So ociety has remained faithful to its original mission of quietlyy and respectfully helping Marblehead reside nts in ne eed.

www.marbleheadfemalehumanesociety..com scan to dona ate

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