“The donations help to save their lives”

"Pedro, a 4-year-old Chihuahua and terrier mix, was adopted when he was just nine 9 weeks old, but was turned over to Just a Touch Rescue after a year because he barked. 

Kikka, an 11-year-old Pomeranian who is blind in one eye, was turned over to the organization because her owners couldn’t afford to pay fix an infection that came from breeding. 

Split, a 12-year-old Australian Shepherd, was brought to a vet to be euthanized because the owner “didn’t want him anymore,” said Debbie Fahrenholtz, founder and president of the organization."

Continue reading the article in the Milford Daily News (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150815/NEWS/150817300/1994/NEWS

screen grab of The Big Biscuit webpage

For more about The Big Biscuit, visit their webpage here
http://www.thebigbiscuit.com/

Did you check out the new Lifelong Learning catalog of courses?

Fall/Winter Catalog - 2015

How about learning how to make wine?

How about "CSI - Franklin style"?

Maybe "Getting Paid to Talk"



These and other courses are in the Fall/Winter catalog that was delivered recently.

A copy of the catalog is shown below and also available on the Lifelong Learning webpage.
http://cfweb.smartedu.net/lll/forms/ADULT%20EDUCATION%20DOCS/mailing%20brochure%20July%2031.pdf


Registration for your choice can be done with this form
http://cfweb.smartedu.net/lll/forms/ADULT%20EDUCATION%20DOCS/registration%20form.pdf

New high school ball fields making progress

On the walk last weekend, I checked out the progress on the ball fields. The softball and baseball fields are coming along. The tennis courts are coming along. The new turf field is in the finishing stages also. 

Actually, it look like the turf was being delivered Friday morning so the next photos may include some green carpeting.

turf field retaining wall

turf field perspective

turf field sidelines

stone dust being laid out

with back to the school, another view of the stone dust work

with back to the school, more of an angle shot across the field

with back to the school, close up along the end line

bleacher position for baseball field

bleachers for baseball

access to fields

tennis courts, appears to be room for 4 sets

tennis courts, another view

Franklin Family Movie Night - Aug 21 - "Toy Story"

Via Tracie's Facebook posting:

Woody and Buzz in the original Toy Story

Bring your whole family and enjoy watching Toy Story on the big screen in a classic Franklin setting - Beaver Pond! 

The movie itself will start at dusk, but WOODY AND BUZZ ARRIVE AT 7:00!

Kids will get an opportunity to meet and play games with both characters. 

In addition to the characters arriving early, a whole host of local small businesses will be represented at booths offering treats, fun toys, and other retail offerings! The marketplace opens at 6:30. 

Toy Story will be the movie shown

Franklin Family Movie Night

August 21

Beaver Pond in Franklin, Massachusetts

Best wishes to Samantha and Kendra!

Samantha Moccia, Greater Norfolk’s 2016 Distinguished Young Woman, and Kendra Dombroski, Greater Franklin’s 2016 Distinguished Young Woman will travel to Holyoke for the week of Aug. 9 to participate in the Distinguished Young Women Massachusetts State Program. 

Both young women participated in the local DYW preliminary program in May and won their respective titles with accompanying scholarships and the opportunity to advance to the state level of the national scholarship program for high school girls.

Continue reading the article in WickedLocal Franklin
http://norfolk.wickedlocal.com/article/20150803/NEWS/150809379

Distinguished Young Woman - State Final - Aug 15

For additional info on all the participants, follow this link

http://distinguishedyw.org/programs/state_n_local_programs/massachusetts/participants/

MassBudget: Analyzing the State Budget for FY 2016

MassBudget    Information.    Participation.  Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center    Democracy. Analyzing the State Budget for FY 2016  With the House and Senate having overridden a number of the Governor's vetoes, the Fiscal Year 2016 (FY 2016) budget is now largely complete. This year's budget makes few major changes in overall funding provided to educate our children, keep our communities safe, protect our most vulnerable, strengthen our economy and improve the quality of life in our communities. Click HERE for our full analysis. The budget does include several significant new initiatives, including: Increasing the value of the state earned income tax credit from 15% of the federal credit to 23%. This will provide additional income to over 400,000 lower wage workers and their families (click HERE for town-by-town detail). Besides improving lives now by helping parents to pay for necessities like food and clothing for their children, this additional support is also likely to expand opportunity for these children over the long run: there is growing evidence that when the income of a lower income family increases, the children often do better in school and earn more as adults. Providing significant new tools for the administration to improve management at the MBTA. The budget creates a new MBTA Control Board and authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to appoint the Director of the MBTA. The budget also suspends for three years the Taxpayer Protection Act (commonly called the Pacheco Law) that regulates privatization. The law requires that privatization efforts achieve savings by efficiency improvements rather than by reducing pay and benefits for workers (click HERE for more detail). Addressing substance abuse with targeted investments throughout MassHealth, public health and mental health. In particular, new initiatives support first responders and others in the community struggling to address the challenge of opioid addiction. The final budget, like the budget proposed by the governor back in March, relies heavily on temporary strategies to balance the budget. It spends $300 million in capital gains tax revenue that would have gone into the Rainy Day Fund under current law. It also counts on $100 million from a tax amnesty and $116 million from putting off paying some of our FY 2016 MassHealth bills into FY 2017. As has been the case for many years, state budget choices are being shaped by fiscal challenges that date back to the late 1990s: after cutting the income tax by over $3 billion dollars between 1998 and 2002 our state has had to make deep cuts in areas like higher education, local aid, and public health. Meanwhile, the highest income residents in the Commonwealth are paying a substantially smaller share of their income in state and local taxes than do the other 99%. If our tax system were reformed so that the highest income 1% of taxpayers paid roughly the same share of their income in taxes as everyone else, that would raise about $2 billion that could be invested in things like making college affordable, improving our transportation systems, and providing all children with the supports they need to thrive. Please click HERE for our full analysis. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts. MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER 15 COURT SQUARE, SUITE 700 BOSTON, MA 02108

Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | 15 Court Square | Suite 700 | Boston | MA | 02108

MassBudget website screen grab

"they will need to raise the funds"

The town may soon see the return of a local celebration that had lit the skies each July. 

Town officials have said that Franklin's Independence Day fireworks display, which has been absent for the past several years, may make a comeback once work at the new high school ends. The school site was used because of its size. 

"We have not had fireworks for three or four years during the construction of the high school," Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting said in an email. "Now that it is nearly complete, we are told that the state fire marshal's office would permit fireworks at that location once they review proposed plans."

Continue reading the article in the Milford Daily News (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150814/NEWS/150817445/1994/NEWS

fireworks at Gillette Stadium for a NE Revolution game