In the News: road rage incident, no parade on the 4th

A 46-year-old Waltham man spat in a woman's face and threatened her with a metal pipe during a case of road rage Sunday in the area of Constitution Boulevard, police said. 

James M. Foley was arrested Sunday on West Central Street and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, disorderly conduct and negligent operation of a motor vehicle. 

Foley was held on $250 bail Monday at his Wrentham District Court arraignment.

Continue reading the article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150617/NEWS/150616881/1994/NEWS

There is a glaring absence in the schedule of events for the Fourth of July celebration: The parade. 

Organizers have cancelled this year's parade in response to concerns about the condition of the roads along the route. They also cited road construction in the downtown area and the safety of parade participants and spectators. 

“Suppose a horse breaks a foot, someone in the band trips in a pothole or an antique car breaks an axle,” said Warren Revell, long-time co-chairman of the Franklin 4th of July Coalition. 

Revell said the coalition did not discuss its plans to nix the parade with town officials.

Continue reading the article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150616/NEWS/150616906/1994/NEWS

Franklin Downtown Partnership says "THANK YOU"

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Thank You For a Great Strawberry Stroll Posted: 12 Jun 2015 10:43 AM PDT Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Thursday's 13th annual Strawberry Stroll was a sweet success! Nearly one thousand people came to downtown Franklin to enjoy the warmth (89 degrees F), good company, delicious treats, toe-tapping entertainment, sidewalk sales and the Partnership's Famous Strawberry Shortcakes! Thank you everyone for spending time in downtown Franklin. Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Many thanks to our sponsors who helped us make this all possible. Platinum Sponsor: Dean Bank (special thanks to Nicole and Jen for co-chairing the event!) Gold Sponsors: Dean College, SolarFlair Energy Silver Sponsor: Digital Credit Union Bronze Sponsors: Chestnut Dental Associates, Franklin Ford, Franklin Health & Rehabilitation Center, Keefe Insurance Agency, Middlesex Savings Bank and The Estate at Franklin. Friends of the Festival Sponsors: Garelick Farms, Jane's Frames, LeafFilter Gutter Protection, Nexamp and Simon's Furniture. Thanks to Dean College for donating the sliced strawberries and shortcakes, and to all our volunteers who handled the setup and cleanup. Last but not least, thank you Franklin DPW and the Franklin Police Department for your help.   Here are a sampling of photos from the event. There are many more photos on our Facebook page. More photos will be posted here on our website in the days to come. Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) Strawberry Stroll - 2015 (FDP Photo) This was shared from the Franklin Downtown Partnership page http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/2015/06/thank-you-for-great-strawberry-stroll.html

#ShopFranklin: Kooky Critters

Via Kiernan Reed:

For this week’s #ShopFranklin Spotlight, I sat down with Holly Ricker Sennott of Kooky Critters! 

Arts and crafts are in Holly’s blood. Her grandmother painted and fired china, her other grandmother was a seamstress who taught her to crochet and sew, her great-grandma was a tailor, her mother sews, and her father enjoyed woodworking. “It definitely came down through the genes,” says Holly.  

Kooky Critters

The Kooky Critters themselves were born on a rainy summer day several years ago, when Holly and her three kids had gone through all of their craft supplies, watched every movie they had, and exhausted every other possible activity. Holly finally brought her family to the bookstore, where they found a book on how to make your own stuffed animals. While the kids loved the book’s ideas, Holly told them, “Guys, we can do better than this! You draw what you would want me to make.” 

The result was the first Kooky Critter, an adorable monster with crooked teeth and crazy eyes, but Holly didn’t stop there. “I was ready for something other than just being Mom,” Holly says, but she wanted to find something to do that would still allow her to be at home with her kids. When the monster t-shirt she made for her neighbor’s son was a huge hit with his friends, Holly’s neighbor suggested she turn it into a business, and the rest is history. 

Holly tries to “make items that are functional and helpful – they’re not just toys.” Holly makes several varieties of customizable Critters, including ones that keep kids’ lost teeth safe for the Tooth Fairy, but she’s most proud of her Worry Critters, Wilson and Willow. The Worry Critters grew out of Holly’s feeling of helplessness when one of her children experienced crippling anxiety. 

Several years later, a friend of Holly’s asked for a customized Critter that would help her child deal with his own anxiety issues, and the Worry Critters were the “culmination of her idea and my design.” The concept is simple: parent and child can work together to write down the worry on a slip of paper, which they put into the Worry Critter’s mouth and the Critter eats it. The worry is safe with the Critter, and the child can “be free of it for a little bit” and return to it when they’re ready to deal with it. “I call it my million-dollar idea that’ll never make me a million dollars, and I’m OK with that,” says Holly. 

Kooky Critters can also produce custom items based on kids’ drawings, which Holly says is a huge gift idea around the holidays. Even the #ShopFranklin community is getting into the fun, with a custom Kooky Critter now gracing the bagel rack at Elizabeth’s Bagels, and more in the works for other businesses around town. As a long-time resident of Franklin, community giving and support is important to Holly, and Kooky Critters gives away at least one Critter per month to school auctions, local foster children, families dealing with serious medical issues, and more. 

No matter what the design, every Kooky Critter is completely handmade, and it’s important to Holly to “be able to put my hands on every piece.” In order to grow her business without sacrificing that personal attention to each Critter, Holly is working on expanding her offerings to include patterns so that other people can sew their own Critters based on Holly’s designs. Holly’s family also helps out with the business, with her son handling website maintenance and her daughter creating custom graphics for the Kooky Critters Facebook page. 

While Holly and her husband originally settled in Franklin because of its easy accessibility to their jobs and families, Franklin’s support for the visual and performing arts has also been a plus for Holly’s family, particularly the music program in the Franklin schools. “If you have children, get them involved at some level. You will not regret it,” Holly says. As a business owner, Holly also appreciates the “tremendous support” Franklin offers for local businesses. “I love that sense of community that Franklin has,” says Holly.

Kooky Critters are sold through Holly’s website and Etsy store. Check out the Kooky Critters Facebook page for the latest on what’s happening in Holly’s workshop!

This was shared from Living In Franklin
http://livinginfranklin.com/2015/03/28/shopfranklin-spotlight-kooky-critters/

Franklin TV Broadcast: It Takes A Village: Drug Panel

The panel discussion lead by Dr Anne Bergen and Franklin's town leaders on the crisis around opiate use and misuse will be aired on Verizon (channel 26) and Comcast (channel 8) on the following days this week:

• Tuesday, June 16th - 9:00 am
• Wednesday, June 17th at 7:00 am



Franklin TV

• Saturday, June 20 at 8:30 pm

The interview with Norfolk Country District Attorney on the same issue will be aired on Thursday evening, June 18 at 6:30 pm.



For the full listing of shows on the broadcast schedule for this week, check here
http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf

Hockomock 2015 Track and Field All Stars

Congratulations to the Franklin High School representatives on the Hockomock Track & Field All Stars as voted on by the coaches in the league.

Girls Track

Jess Kroushl

Honorable Mention - Beth Neal

FHS Panthers

Boys Track

Logan Mitchell

Honorable Mention - Ryan Spelman


For the full listing of girls on the Hockomock All Stars
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/2015-hockomock-league-girls-track-field-all-stars

For the full listing of boys on the Hockomock All Stars
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/2015-hockomock-league-boys-track-field-all-stars

"Holliston close to owning entire rail trail property"

For fans of rail trails, the news out of Holliston is good.

Officials expect the town will own all of roughly 7-mile section of the Upper Charles Rail Trail that passes through Holliston by the end of the year, as the town has received the money to purchase two remaining segments of the trail from CSX Transportation. 

The town is ready to close on a 1.9-mile section from Hopping Brook Road to Cross Street. According to Upper Charles Rail Trail Committee Chairman Robert Weidknecht, the land will be purchased using $660,000 of Community Preservation Act money that was approved by Special Town Meeting in October. A purchase and sale agreement between selectmen and CSX was signed earlier this year. Town counsel is in the process of closing on the property.

Continue reading the article here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150616/NEWS/150617410/1994/NEWS

MassBike image

For more on the Upper Charles River Trail -> http://www.uppercharlestrail.org/ 

or here ->  http://www.milfordtrail.org/

or from the MassBike site here  http://massbike.org/resourcesnew/pathstrails/

Additional trail maps can be found here  http://www.arrtinc.org/index.asp

Solid Waste fee reduction approved

The Town Council meeting on Wednesday, June 10 was the first of two budget hearings as well as a 'regular' meeting agenda.

The budget hearing attempted to take a short cut by not having departmental presentations, to just read the budget voting doc, let the individual councilors put a hold on the item to come back to it for a question (or two) and possible discussion.

Several items resulted in a 'hold' and the discussion was focused on specific questions. This method worked better on Wednesday than it did on Thursday in the second of the two budget hearings. We'll cover the discussion Thursday in a separate posting.

In the legislation portion of the agenda, the Council approved the creation of several revolving accounts. This is an annual action. The accounts provide for proper record keeping for the funds coming in as fees and going out to pay for the services rendered.

The Council approved the rate reduction for solid waste (i.e. trash and recycling) from the current $216/year to $200/year. This is a result of improved collections and a renegotiation of the contract for the tipping fees. There will be additional communications coming on how to ensure that what is in recycling is really recyclable and that no trash gets mixed in.

The first reading of a sewer connection was held and the Council was upset that the beneficiaries (i.e property owners) did not come to the meeting. They have a chance at the second reading scheduled for June 24th.

The bylaw on door-to-door solicitation is up for a change to restrict the hours to basically daylight hours. This is the result of a private vendor making solicitations without having been properly permitted.

Franklin Municipal Building

My notes reported live from the meeting can be found here

• Live reporting: Closing
• Live reporting: Legislation
• Live reporting: Budget Hearing #1