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IN THIS ISSUE
SENIORS
OPINION
SPORTS
Spotlight pivoted on retired MHD officer
A wonderful flying life
Before they bounce
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MARBLEHEAD, MA PERMIT NO. 25
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February 15, 2023
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE NO. 12
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MARBLEHEADCURRENT.ORG
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ON SOCIAL @MHDCURRENT
TOWN MEETING
Firehouse needs $2.3M worth of work Select Board seeks to fund Franklin Street project through a private-public model BY WILLIAM J. DOWD The Marblehead Select Board’s 2023 warrant articles will include a request to override Proposition 2 1/2 to finance the restoration of the Franklin Street firehouse. The Select Board took its vote on Feb. 8 after architects Ryan Foster and Erik Christensen summarized an assessment of
the condition of the historic building that the town commissioned last year. “The firehouse is a wood structure built in 1886, and it has been continuously used as a fire station since its construction,” Foster told the Select Board. “It is one of the oldest continuously operated fire stations in the commonwealth.”
Today, the firehouse at 3 Franklin St. complements the Central Station at 1 Ocean Ave., providing coverage in the town’s Old and Historic District. Fire Chief Jason Gilliland said a dozen firefighters work out of the Old Town location. “Franklin Street has played a key role in keeping downtown safe for many, many years,”
Gilliland said. “Fire grows twice in size every minute. We’ll do everything we can to make sure that the building stays there for a long time to come.” Christensen projected photos detailing the breadth of work required. There are bricks that need to be repointed, wood trim that is rotting, shingles that are cupping, gutters that need to be
SUPPORTING EACH OTHER
repaired and accessibility issues that need to be addressed. The project aims to not just make the wooden building functional but restore the wooden building to its original state or, as the fire chief put it, “its former glory.” Work on this front would include bringing FRANKLIN, P. A4
TOWN MEETING
Select Board debuts slate of warrant articles
Adding to cupid’s quiver
Proposals range from setting up HR dept. to public shade trees BY WILLIAM J. DOWD
CURRENT PHOTOS / NICOLE GOODHUE BOYD
Volunteers arrange flowers into beautiful bouquets on Monday, Feb. 13 in the SPUR office.The arrangements were anonymously delivered on Valentine’s Day to deserving individuals in Marblehead and neighboring communities.
SPUR volunteers spread Valentine’s love to those in need BY LEIGH BLANDER A mom battling cancer. A man in his 90s living alone. A Ukrainian refugee family. A family that just survived a house fire. These are just a few of the people who received special Valentine’s Day bouquets created by volunteers at SPUR, the nonprofit based in Marblehead. “It brings me joy,” said Julie Marquis, who works at Marblehead
Bank and joined volunteers at SPUR’s office on Anderson Street the morning before Valentine’s Day to arrange flowers. “We’re doing something nice for other people.” This is SPUR’s ninth Valentine’s Day campaign. More than 100 volunteers participated in three different projects. First, they arranged and delivered 35 bouquets to people in Marblehead, Swampscott, Salem and Lynn who were anonymously nominated by
someone in the community. Kim Nothnagel from SPUR started to cry as she read one of the nominations — for a woman whose grandmother just died. “She is one of the most generous humans I’ve ever met,” Nothnagel read. “She’s spent the last several years caretaking for her grandmother. Her grandma passed away this past week, and she is adjusting to a new
Marblehead Select Board recently debuted the warrant articles that it will sponsor for Town Meeting’s consideration in May. The eight-article lineup is eclectic, from expanding the setback for public shade trees to setting up a proper human resources outfit. Marblehead Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer introduced the slate of articles, starting with a proposal to amend professional, nonunion town employees’ benefits. Unlike union benefits that are generally revised every three years as part of the collective bargaining process, benefits for non-unionized employees are not, Kezer said. “Some of the concern … is their benefits have not changed in a significant amount of time,” he said, adding that the article would make non-unionized employees’ benefits “somewhat comparable” to union benefits. Kezer said the proposal that will ultimately be presented to Town Meeting targets benefits like longevity pay, sick-time bonuses, vacation time, bereavement and personal leave, and floating holidays, among others. For example, under one possible change, non-unionized employees could earn additional
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ADVERSITY AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Black History Month being observed at schools across town BY LEIGH BLANDER Black History Month is being celebrated in Marblehead Public Schools with THE LAW OFFICES OF
HORRIGAN & NORMAN
daily student announcements, readings, displays, videos and a visit from Keith Jones, a Black activist, educator and hiphop artist with cerebral palsy.
FIGHTING FOR OUR COMMUNITY
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“We have a lot of commonalities,” Jones told the Marblehead Current, explaining his message to students. “We all like to eat, we all like to breathe, and we all like to laugh. And we all need to have a foundational respect for other people’s humanity and who they are. Jones will also be speaking to educators. “The climate for acceptance is set by adults,” he added. At the Lucretia and Joseph Brown School, which is named after a Black couple who lived in town at the turn of the 19th-century, there are daily announcements about famous Black Americans, including Zalia Avante-Garde, the first Black winner of the National Spelling Bee; Robby Novak, who started a YouTube channel for kids about kindness, HISTORY, P. A5
BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW
Activist and artist Keith Jones will speak to Marblehead students as the schools mark Black History Month.