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| Community Unity Art Event - Sat, Oct 17 at 67 Degrees |
From the Milford Daily News, an article of interest for Franklin:
"The D’Angelis Water Treatment plant is offline after the town found elevated levels of a group of state-regulated, man-made chemicals in its drinking water.
The chemicals - called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, regularly abbreviated to PFAS - are stain- and water-resistant, and used to coat everything from clothing and furniture to food packaging and non-stick cooking surfaces.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the chemical may cause a wide variety of health problems, from increased risk of kidney or testicular cancer to high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia in pregnant women. Studies are preliminary.
Millis residents should have received a booklet in the mail Friday, explaining when the testing took place and what the town has done. The booklet emphasizes that the town is not in violation of the state’s drinking water regulations."
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| Let’s Laugh Today is Free EVERY Wednesday at 7:30 PM on ZOOM! |
I’ve been thinking about Becca Rausch, the incumbent state senator from the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District, which includes the part of Franklin where I live.
I’m a registered Democrat, so I was inclined to vote for Rausch because she’s the Democrat in the race. But I realized that I was being a little unfair to Becca Rausch, so I thought about the times I’ve met her.
I met her at Franklin’s Harvest Festival and at the Strawberry Festival with her kids.
I met her at the Black Lives Matter demonstration on the Franklin Common.
I met her at three different sessions of the Franklin Democratic Town Committee, some in person, virtual.
I met her at the Democrats’ holiday party.
I met her at Franklin High when she spoke about higher education.
I watched her when she defended her legislation on vaccinations.
I realized that this state senator of mine has been a very hard-working office holder. She really puts in the time.
I have a friend who complains that she can never get her own senator to answer her letters. Becca Rausch, on the other hand, never fails to reply. That means something.
I read Rausch’s on-line bio. She seems focused mostly on issues that matter to me—elder affairs; problems of children, families, and people with disabilities; issues in social justice, equality before the law, election reform.
And no one can fail to see a great deal of competent work, done in the public interest, in the long series of COVID bulletins that Rausch has published.
Clearly, this is a hard-working, accessible, and capable woman.
So I’m glad I thought about her. Turns out, I have better reasons to vote for her than I realized.
Maria Lucier, Franklin
If you have something to submit for Voices of Franklin, follow the guidelines published here https://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/03/introducing-voices-of-franklin.html
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| couRAEgeous Pumpkin Festival - Oct 24, 2020 |
"Franklin High started its varsity boys soccer program 51 years ago. During that time, the Panthers have had only two coaches.
Gordon McClay, whose family was instrumental in the growth of the town’s youth soccer program and lobbied athletic director Jerry Leone and the Franklin school committee to offer soccer as a varsity sport, was in charge for the fall of 1970. The next year, Fran Bositis took over and, 50 years, nearly 500 wins, and nine Hockomock League titles later, he shows no signs of giving up his spot on the sidelines.
“I had hoped to coach football but Jerry Leone was coach and they were in the middle of a 32-game winning streak and he said he had nothing available on his staff,” Bositis explained. “He did say, ‘I do need a soccer coach. What do you know about soccer?’ I go, ‘Not a lot,’ and he said, ‘Well, if you want the job, it’s yours.’ And here I am 50 seasons later.”
Bositis was sitting at a table in front of the concession stand at Pisini Field, recalling how he started teaching phys ed at the middle school in the winter of 1971, how he was a standout lacrosse player who played for four years at UMass, and how his first season as soccer coach was less than perfect. “That first year, [Leone] had to talk me off the ledge a couple of times,” Bositis remembered. “He finally said to me one day, ‘You think you’re the only coach here who’s coaching a sport he’s never played before?"
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| Franklin boys soccer coach Fran Bositis is in his 50th season in charge of the program. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com) |
