"You don’t want to see them fail"

The Milford Daily News writes about the State and Federal grants that sponsor the underage drinking stings conducted regularly by some MetroWest area community police departments. Franklin is one that conducts the stings twice a year when covered by the grant. The article includes this from one of the sting participants:

"At first, I was a little nervous," he said. "But you know you aren’t going to get in trouble: You’re helping the police. You just have to be confident and levelheaded." 

Teenagers aren’t responsible enough to drink alcohol, he said, and his peers usually never think of the tragedies that can result from binge drinking or drunk driving until one hits home. 

"People don’t see that it’s bad until they lose a friend, or it’s life changing," he said.

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x719497693/Selling-booze-to-minors-Busted#ixzz2DEjCA1El


Recent suspensions:
Franklin Wine and Spirits (in the plaza with Dunkin Dounts on King St)
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/10/live-reporting-license-hearing.html

Bamboo House
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/05/live-reporting-license-hearing.html

And in 2011
DaVita's Market, Joe's American Bar and Grill, Tedeschi Food Shop, and Uptowne Pub
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2011/09/live-reporting-liquor-license-failures.html

"not counted as part of a formula"

The Milford Daily News writes about unaccepted roads. According to the MassDOT inventory in 2011 Franklin has 28.7 miles of unaccepted roads and 170.4 miles of accepted roads.

Franklin, whose Town Council accepts roads, sought help from the state Legislature. Lawmakers last year approved a simplified acceptance policy that eliminates some of the legal work. 

Department of Public Works Director Robert Cantoreggi said the town has been working in recent years to accept streets. State data shows the town has about 29 miles of unaccepted roads. 

Franklin will plow a road, fix potholes and perform other limited maintenance once it has three homes on it. 

"People kind of forget about it," Cantoreggi said. "No one really knows (it is unaccepted) until a road falls apart."

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x35743936/Unaccepted-roads-pose-challenges-for-residents-and-towns#ixzz2DEeFA7cR

The MassDOT report for 2011 can be found here
http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/17/docs/RoadInventory/2011_ye_rpt.pdf

What is an unaccepted road? MassDOT defines this as "unaccepted roads consist of roads open to public travel but not formally accepted by a city or town, as well as some private ways." A road that is not legally owned by the local community. It was put in by a developer in order to complete the development of some number of residences. It may not have been built to the local community standard by the developer. The community may have a process to bring a road up to standard and then "accept" it as part of the community maintenance. Bringing roads up to standard can be a costly proposition and the question of who contributes to the delay in accepting the road.

Tickets on sale; "A Christmas Carol Times Two"

"A Christmas Carol Times Two!", a dramatic reading performance of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" combined with traditional 19th century English Christmas carols will happen on Thursday, Dec. 13 at 7:00 PM at the Franklin United Methodist Church, 82 West Central Street in Franklin, Massachusetts.

Actor Al LePage will become "Englishman Thomas Hutchinson, Traveling Thespian" complete with English accent, clothing of the period and other accoutrements for the dramatic reading part. Organist and local minister Rev. Dr. Dianne Carpenter will weave piano music between various scenes to set the tone for what's to come and entertain.

This is a special benefit performance sponsored by the Franklin Historical Commission and hosted by the Franklin United Methodist Church with all proceeds to benefit the Franklin Food Pantry. 


Tickets are on sale at the Franklin Historical Museum 

• today from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
• Sunday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
• Thursday from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (also the Holiday Stroll - Nov 29th!)

For more about the show 
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/10/a-christmas-carol-times-two-dec-13.html

Construction update

Some of the side roads downtown are newly paved now. You may recall that they had their water and sewer mains worked on earlier this year.

What streets are they? East St, West St, Church Ave, Walnut Ave and Nason St.

A view down West St

A view up East St (from Union St)

The Google map for this area:


View Larger Map

This is one of my favorite spots because East does meet West!




Post and photos from October 2012
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/10/east-st-construction.html

From the Franklin DPW page we find this status
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_DPW/Construction_Projects/construction_projects_index

Dressing up for the holidays

Thanks to the Franklin Downtown Partnership, Franklin is now dressed up for the holidays.

Greens and wreaths were added down at the Main St/West Central St triangle

Ready for the Holiday Stroll!

For more about the Franklin Downtown Partnership, visit their web page here
http://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/

Note: I am proud to be an individual member of the Partnership as well as a member through the Franklin Food Pantry

Foggy morning

Muted colors this foggy morning. The sun will break through the cloud cover. Have a good day!

Turkey Trot Family 5K Fun Run - photo essay

The Turkey Trot Family 5K Fun Run held by Feed the Need drew over 300 participants on Thursday morning. The event benefited the Franklin Food Pantry filling the van with food and a donation of about $5,000.

The entry fee was 20 cans or $20. Part of the entry fees collected:

At the end, the Franklin Food Pantry van was filled with all the contributions:

The view of the group before the Start

One happy group running in costume on the course:

On behalf of the Franklin Food Pantry, Many thanks to Hayden Whitmore, the Eagle Scout who organized this event. Thanks to his family and the many volunteers who helped. The contributions to the Food Pantry are deeply appreciated.