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IN THIS ISSUE
FOOD 101
SPORTS
EARTH DAY
A home run during baseball season
Looking for consistency
Creating a pollinators’ paradise
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Page 7
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MARBLEHEAD, MA PERMIT NO. 25
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May 03, 2023
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RUNNING FOR OFFICE
June election takes shape Crowded contest for School Committee BY WILLIAM J. DOWD Marblehead’s town election on June 20 will feature seven contests, including for School Committee and Select Board. There is a five-way race for two open seats on the School Committee. Candidates include incumbent Sarah Gold, Paul Baker of Overlook Road, former Glover School principal Brian Ota of Merritt Street, Karen Tal-Makhluf of Trager Road and former School Committee member Jennifer Schaeffner of Casino Road. Six candidates for the Select Board will battle over five seats. All five incumbents are running: Jim Nye, Moses Grader, Alexa Singer, Jackie Belf-Becker and Erin Noonan. Former Select Board member Bret Murray of Abbot Street is hoping to unseat one of them. A Planning Board contest will not be on the June ballot after all. James Full of Cheever Avenue did not return papers before the deadline, leaving incumbent Robert Schaeffner and Marc J. Leibman of Orchard Circle uncontested for two, five-year terms. Others races to watch: Board of Health: Incumbent Todd Belfbecker’s three-year term expiresthis year. He tells the Current that he has decided to give up his seat after 15 years on the board, which he called “very bittersweet.” However, three non-incumbents have returned papers: Thomas McMahon of Gregory Street, Thomas Massaro of Lafayette Street and former Board of Health member David Becker (Todd’s father) of Nonantum Road. McMahon ran unsuccessfully against Helaine Hazlett in 2022. Municipal Light Commission: The Marblehead Municipal Light Commission has a three-year term and a one-year unexpired term that voters will need to fill. Incumbent Lisa Wolf will face former light commissioner Walter Homan of Haley Road for the three-year term. Homan lost to Light Commissioners Jean-Jacques Yarmoff and
VOLUME 1, ISSUE NO. 23
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ON SOCIAL @MHDCURRENT
TOWN MEETING
Reduced-services budget passes on first night BY WILLIAM J. DOWD Marblehead Town Meeting addressed 30 articles in four hours on Monday night, passing a $112.5 million municipal budget for the fiscal year 2024. The reduced-services spending plan includes two new positions: a sustainability coordinator and a human resources director. Town Meeting was expected to
reconvene Tuesday night with a vote on a proposed $2.5 million override that would add $252 to the tax bill for a median home of about $800,000. The override would restore many of the cuts in the budget, including 32 school staff. Article 30, which proposes the FY2024 budget, was just one of about two dozen financial articles that attendees cleared on Town Meeting’s
first night. The Town Meeting convened at a time when Marblehead faces a structural deficit, with recurring costs — primarily salaries and employee health insurance — outpacing recurring revenues within the constraints of Massachusetts Proposition 2 1/2. The town is also MEETING, P. A11
TRIBUTE
Community honors Dr. Elisha Story for his role in Boston Tea Party
CURRENT PHOTO / NICOLE GOODHUE BOYD
Eric Berg, worshipful master of the Masonic Temple, speaks during a ceremony on April 30 at the Green Street Cemetery honoring Dr. Elisha Story of Marblehead for his participation in the Boston Tea Party.
Green Street Cemetery resting place gets special marker BY WILLIAM J. DOWD On Sunday morning, the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum placed a brass marker next to the late Marblehead resident Dr. Elisha Story’s gravestone in Green Street Cemetery. The placement of the medallion was the culmination of a 30-minute ceremony attended by roughly 70 people who gathered near Story’s resting place in the rain to honor the 18th-century
patriot’s involvement in the Boston Tea Party, which took place 250 years ago on Dec. 16, 1773. Marblehead Town Historian Don Doliber and the museum’s creative manager, Evan O’Brien, spoke about Story’s life and his broader involvement in the Revolutionary War. “Many of us know the basic facts of the Boston Tea Party story,” O’Brien said. “But how much do we know about those who were involved in this brave
act?” Sunday’s commemoration was the latest in the museum’s plan to place similar commemorative markers next to the graves of all the Boston Tea Party participants throughout New England’s old burial grounds. So far over 110 have been commemorated in the lead-up to a big reenactment in December. STORY, P. A17
CANDIDATES, P. A3
THE MAGIC OF MUSIC
Life coach helps kids build confidence through singing BY CHRIS STEVENS
Molly: Molly Williams calls music the backdoor to her coaching and insists her real tools are the wise old owl and the gremlin.
BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW
Molly Williams never thought she could be a musician. The gremlins in her head kept her doubting herself but when the life coach managed to conquer those gremlins and beat back her anxiety, she knew she had a bigger mission than just music. Miss Molly’s Music Magic is a program aimed at helping young girls, ages 9 and up, find their voice, literally, and their confidence through music and live performances. It’s also about learning how to deal with anxiety, facing your gremlins head on and learning to listen to your wise old owl. “This program might be one of the greatest things I’ve done,” said Williams, who is a professional life coach with
an adult version of her tween program but prefers to think of herself as a Stress-Reduction Crusader and Ambassador of Joy. On a recent Monday, a handful of Shooting Stars, what Williams calls her gang of girl singers, let themselves into her apartment where mic stands were at the ready and the magic carpet was waiting. The girls were eager to sing but for Williams, the music is really just a tool. “I’m very clear with my parents, I’m not a music teacher, I’m not a theater director, I’m a life coach,” she said. “I’m going to help your girls build selfconfidence, I’m going to help them address their anxiety and their stresses. I’m going to help them see themselves for who they are.”
The music, the singing, is merely the backdoor to the coaching, she said. But for the girls, it’s everything.
The magic
Before the girls get to work on their signature song, the song they pick that represents them, that they will perform one day in public, “they have to do the process,” Williams said. Her most important tools, she said, are two stuffed creatures, a “wise-old owl” and a green gremlin, which represents grief, guilt, rotten, sticky thoughts and feelings of isolation. She calls the girls to stand on the magic carpet, a heart shaped pink shag rug in the middle MOLLY, P. A9