Franklin Matters

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Traffic Alert: Harvest Festival on Sunday

Be aware that Main St will be closed to traffic on Sunday, Sep 30 from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM for the Annual Harvest Festival.

For those traveling recently on RT 140, they may have seen the electric sign board put up by the Franklin Police Dept.

Come to downtown Franklin to enjoy the Harvest Festival on Sunday. Be prepared to park outside the downtown proper!

Enjoy the natural beauty

Leaves changing color. Rain.

What a combination!

Enjoy the natural beauty of Franklin this weekend. Don't let the rain stop you from coming on down to the Harvest Festival on Sunday.

The map of the Harvest Festival was posted yesterday
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/09/harvest-festival-know-where-good-things.html

Schedule for School Tours

As mentioned during the School Committee meeting on Sep 11, the schedule of school tours is now available. The first tour comes up Oct 4th at the JF Kennedy School.

The tours are open to the public and will be lead by School Committee members. This effort comes out of the positive feedback received during the tours of the high school before the debt exclusion vote to fund the new high school building in March.

The schedule of school tours will be added to the Franklin Matter's calendar.

"Annie Dookhan pleaded not guilty"

"We can’t speculate on the motive," Coakley said. "To date, we certainly do not have it. We have seen in other cases someone who has a drug habit or someone who is looking for monetary gain. We don’t have that evidence in this case."

Dookhan carried a heavy caseload at the lab, Coakley said, and at first glance appeared to be an "efficient, effective" chemist.

"She had a caseload and was able to effectuate two or three times what other workers were doing," Coakley said, adding that Dookhan appeared to be "proud" of her work.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Harvest Festival: Know where the good things are!

The Harvest Festival map!

See where

the music performances will be
the kids play area is located
the food tents are

Hoffman Farm at Farmers Market - today noon to 6:00 PM

The Farmer's Market is open today on the Town Common from noon to 6:00 PM. The Hoffman Farm is one of the local farms present. The Milford Daily News has a timely article on the growth of the Hoffman Farm here in Franklin.

"My father told me, ‘You’ll never make it,’ " Hoffmann said on Thursday morning as he strode through the 18-acre parcel off Daniels Street that he obtained in May for $100,000.

Preparing to start his second farm, Hoffmann has spent the last nine years proving those words wrong.

"I’ve redeemed this land from the woods," he said, standing in a field of gnarled roots and branches. "Minus the machinery, it’s exactly what the early settlers did."

Read more about the Hoffman Farm: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x264120541/Franklin-farmer-plows-new-ground#ixzz27kwcuN2t

Where in Franklin is the Town Common?

View Larger Map

Voters should ignore Question 1 on Election Day

Franklin voters should have received the November ballot information package put out by the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office. The familiar red pamphlet outlines the ballot text and background information for the three ballot questions we get to vote on November 6.

The first ballot question is one that can be skipped over.

The new law fulfills ballot Question 1’s requirement that car manufacturers make all repair codes and other diagnostic information available to independent mechanics.

The law also gives concessions to the automobile industry by extending the deadline of a mandate that all new cars sold in the state have an onboard diagnostic and repair information system to 2018 from the ballot question’s 2015 requirement.

The issue won a place on the ballot after advocates gathered 120,000 signatures earlier this year. By the time the Legislature passed its own version of the law, it was too late to legally remove the question from the November ballot.

Yes, timing is everything. The Legislature heard the voters and acted. Now the best thing we can do is get out to vote for everything else on the ballot and skip question 1.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x422900332/Former-opponents-agree-Right-to-Repair-ballot-question-is-moot#ixzz27krtjcYT

If you haven't already registered to vote, you can still do so by October 17th.
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Clerk/Voter%20Registration%20Information.pdf
If you are going to be out of town or can't make it to Franklin High School on Nov 6, you can get an absentee ballot. Information for that is available here
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleifv/howabs.htm