Photos of tree damage in Franklin as we walked around on Monday
Susan's Way
Parmenter School
Wachusett St
Milliken Ave
King St
Being without electricity gives a new sense of what it is like to "have not".
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
"it doesn't show any sign of coming back"
Franklin Fire Chief Gary McCarraher said that as of this afternoon, 40 to 50 percent of Franklin is without power and his main concern has been ensuring residents have access to food and water.
"The sewer and water system is functioning as designed, which is a blessing," said McCarraher. "The downtown Franklin restaurants are all open for business...We're pretty confident our people can get access to food."
Residents without water can head to the Department of Public Works, at 257 Fisher St., or either fire station - 40 West Central St., or 600 King St. - with their own containers for water.
Most of the traffic lights along Rte. 140 in Franklin are out, and stop signs affixed to barrels are set up at the intersections instead. McCarraher said he is meeting with National Grid, but that the DPW has opened all roads that are free of debris and downed wires.
Although National Grid is working as fast as they can to restore power, it still is frustrating to some residents.
Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1688627525/Area-towns-still-without-power-after-Irene#ixzz1WVL6OXAC
Monday, August 29, 2011
Y Opens Doors to Residents Without Power
SUPPORTING
OUR
NEIGHBORS
FFFY OPENS DOORS TO RESIDENTS WITHOUT POWER
Dear Members,
Please help us spread the word to your neighbors, family and friends: We are opening our Franklin and North Attleboro Branches to area residents who have lost power.
According to YMCA President Ed Hurley, "We want to help our neighbors in our local communities who have been impacted by Sunday's storm. In this spirit, we are opening up our facilities for people to take a hot shower, charge their cell phones, or simply get out of the house. Our YMCA's doors will be open to all during this difficult period."
Please help us spread the word to your neighbors, family and friends: We are opening our Franklin and North Attleboro Branches to area residents who have lost power.
According to YMCA President Ed Hurley, "We want to help our neighbors in our local communities who have been impacted by Sunday's storm. In this spirit, we are opening up our facilities for people to take a hot shower, charge their cell phones, or simply get out of the house. Our YMCA's doors will be open to all during this difficult period."
The Hockomock Area YMCA's Foxboro Branch did not open today and will remain closed until commercial power is restored.
Those who wish to visit one of the Ys, must bring an ID and fill out a guest pass form in order to access the locker rooms. Individuals and families will be able to use Hockomock Area YMCA facilities free of charge as long as they are without power. The YMCA hours are 5:15 am – 9:30 pm. For additional information, please call the Member Service Desks at our Franklin Branch (508) 528-8708 or our North Attleboro Branch (508) 695-7001.
Sincerely,
Hockomock Area YMCA
Franklin Public Schools: Open House/Classroom Visits
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Franklin Public Schools: Professional Development Schedule 8/30/11
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Powerless and lucky
We're powerless but lucky to have escaped with little tree damage from what was left of Hurricane Irene. The power went out about 1:00. We were prepared with batteries, candles and the Coleman camping lantern provides a great deal of light.
When the rain stopped we picked up most of the small branches and twigs dropped by the wind from the trees. It didn't take long to cut up the one large branch that fell into the street. We'll have some good fire wood for the winter!
The cell phone batteries were the first to die away. Depending upon when the power returns (today?), we may need to run the car to re-charge them a bit. I have sparingly used my netbook and broadband card so I have several hours of connection remaining.
We did take a walk around the neighborhood last night. It was a rare event to see no lights anywhere. If there was a light (from a passing car, or a candle in a house) the little light was very noticeable in the darkness.
I hope you all survived with a story or two to pass along.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Franklin MAtters: Changes to be aware of
I spent some time at the Community Garden on Saturday talking with a few of the folks that came to tend their gardens. The better part of the time it was just Chris Clay and I chatting as we both took pictures and he explained this or that about the garden and plants. In the course of our conversation we got around to comparing notes and we found we have much in common.

With Irene providing the time, and the conversation with Chris providing the inspiration, I have done some clean up here on the website. You may notice that there are less navigation tabs. Yes, I removed a few.
The Welcome page has been updated to remove the audio option. The effort to produce that was not generating enough of an audience to continue. You can subscribe to receive updates as they are published via email daily or weekly. Your choice.
Why Franklin Matters - remains
I am resuming my Weekly Summary as a text only summary (no audio) so that tab remains.
I have combined all the Meeting Notes into one tab. On this page, the meetings for 2011 are at the top with those from 2010, 2009 and 2008 below as you continue to scroll down.
The Important Links tab provides easy access to some key pages. For example, I just added a link for Election 2011 to collect all the election information as it is published.

I hope these changes will be helpful. If you have suggestions for things I should do more (or less) of, please feel free to comment or send me an email.
With Irene providing the time, and the conversation with Chris providing the inspiration, I have done some clean up here on the website. You may notice that there are less navigation tabs. Yes, I removed a few.
The Welcome page has been updated to remove the audio option. The effort to produce that was not generating enough of an audience to continue. You can subscribe to receive updates as they are published via email daily or weekly. Your choice.
Why Franklin Matters - remains
I am resuming my Weekly Summary as a text only summary (no audio) so that tab remains.
I have combined all the Meeting Notes into one tab. On this page, the meetings for 2011 are at the top with those from 2010, 2009 and 2008 below as you continue to scroll down.
The Important Links tab provides easy access to some key pages. For example, I just added a link for Election 2011 to collect all the election information as it is published.
I hope these changes will be helpful. If you have suggestions for things I should do more (or less) of, please feel free to comment or send me an email.
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