In the News: club lacrosse, meals tax

Kristin Igoe, the girls lacrosse coach at Franklin High school and Tanner Guarino, the incoming lacrosse coach of Holliston High are in a joint venture.

"That’s late by today’s standards," says Igoe. "A lot of kids start in fourth grade, some even younger." 

To give girls the opportunity they didn’t have, Igoe and Guarino this year launched Gold Star Lacrosse, a Medway-based club lacrosse team for girls in fourth through eighth grade. 

"A lot of girls play lacrosse, but there’s not a club in this area so we wanted to bring a quality youth program here," says Igoe.

Continue reading the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140811/NEWS/140819848/2000/NEWS


The Milford Daily News has an article on the local implementations of the meals tax and makes reference to Franklin..

Slightly larger than Milford, Franklin adopted the meals tax in 2010 and has received an average of $465,000 in added annual revenue over the last two years. 

Administrator Jeffrey Nutting said he recommended passage to Town Council in 2010 because Franklin was "desperate’’ at a time of fluctuating state aid. 

With many non-residents staying in Franklin’s three hotels and patronizing local restaurants, he said the extra 75 cents charge on a $100 meal was barely felt but brought significant revenues that were put to good use. 

"We used it to save jobs,’’ said Nutting. "We kept people working."

Continue reading the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140811/NEWS/140819738

Saturday's photo walk around Franklin

On my Saturday walk around Franklin I found lots of opportunity to take some good photos. The sky was so blue, the air so clean and the weather overall a delight. Here are some of the highlights of my 'reporting by walking around.'

siding at the new Franklin TV studio

flags flying in the breeze over the World War I memorial

flowers in full bloom on the Town Common

bus entrance looking towards Oak St

bus entrance to Horace Mann/Oak St being redone to provide access to the new FHS cafeteria and service area

sidewalks and entrance to cafeteria and service area

entrance to the new FHS is level with the ground for easy handicap access

the entrance to the old building had steps to the front and steps to the fieldhouse

a different and closer view of the fieldhouse remains

Franklin Kids Hiking Group

Franklin parents and grandparents who want to be out and about enjoying the wonders of a nature hike have a group to join and participate in. Leah Christina has organized such a group for Franklin. It started this summer and has gathered a following already.

You may have seen the article by Marjorie Turner Hallman in the August issue of the Franklin Town News.

Franklin, MA Kids Group

A PDF version of the article can be found here (look on page 12)
http://www.localtownpages.com/sites/default/files/newspaperpdf/2014_08_franklin.pdf

from their Facebook page:

This group is a work in progress and I will continue to update on the group as well as any planned events and activities coming forward. 

The rules are very simple:

• Please act like adults. Be kind, courteous, and respectful.

• Please be careful of info you are posting that you may not want to share with others.

• Feel free to share your adventures and experience while on a hike.

• You may share negative comments and let the group know of disappointment in a hike but please do so in a well respectful manner.

• Enjoy the site, the trails, and the new friends you will meet along the way.

Please feel free to invite those you feel would benefit from the group and please remember the group is open to any and all feedback to help us continue to grow!!

August hikes

The calendar for August shows hikes at Foxboro State Forest on the 12th and Franklin's SNETT Trail on the 13th. Some activities are age specific. Some also have size limits, others are open to all.

August calendar for hiking group

The August calendar can be found on Facebook here
https://www.facebook.com/groups/830232910335361/835869489771703/

Contact Info

For more information visit their Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/830232910335361/

If not on Facebook, you can contact them via email at FranklinKidsHike@yahoo.com

Franklin Library: "Reading is Magic"

Ed the Wizard will bring his "Reading is Magic" performance to the Franklin Library on Tuesday at 3:00 PM

"Reading is Magic" is a 45 minute interactive magic performance using many volunteers
with reading as the emphasis behind the program. Suitable for all grades, PreK-12, as the message, routines, and understanding levels increase with each grade level. What are the goals of Reading is Magic? The message of each performance is to emphasize upon your students the importance and power of reading; how reading and comprehension are tools that they will use everyday, how I taught myself the art of prestidigitation, how each and every student can use their reading skills to learn anything that they choose to learn, and how reading encourages independent thought.

Magic books from your library's collection will be put on display as I briefly discuss some of them and perform a routine from one. I also highlight the new book that I donate to your collection and perform a routine from that book. Now your students have seen the magic and have been pointed to the resources; the rest is up to them! And of course how I mention the fact that I was inspired by Albus Dumbledore from "Harry Potter" into becoming a fully fledged wizard!

Ed the Wizard - "Reading is Magic"

For more about Ed the Wizard, you can check out his website here
http://www.edthewizard.com/

Ed the Wizard

Some of this was shared from the Franklin Library site (and some from Ed the Wizard's site)
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2014/08/reading-is-magic.html

Ladybugs on parade

The Town Common has an infestation of ladybugs but not the kind you'll call an exterminator for. These are works of art showcasing all things Franklin.

The ladybugs will be on the Town Common again Sunday from noon to 4:00 PM.

Ladybug spots

 A couple of the ladybugs are shown here.

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home - detail 1

Home Sweet Home - detail 2

Franklin Art Bug

Franklin Art Bug - detail 1

Franklin Art Bug - detail 2

Franklin Art Bug - detail 3

Franklin Cultural Council

Thanks to the Franklin Cultural Council for pulling this together and to all the sponsors and artists for their contributions.

Megan Washington - overcoming her stutter

There are all kinds of disabilities, some are more visible than others. Megan Washington candidly talks bout her stuttering in this recent TED Talk

Megan Washington is one of Australia's premier singer/songwriters. And, since childhood, she has had a stutter. In this bold and personal talk, she reveals how she copes with this speech impediment—from avoiding the letter combination “st” to tricking her brain by changing her words at the last minute to, yes, singing the things she has to say rather than speaking them.

You can find more about her music on her website
http://www.meganwashington.com/

on wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Washington

or on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kztAvgm4CNE

Megan Washington's webpage

FHS Boys Basketball Coach - CJ Neely

From HockomockSports.Com we find that FHS has a new boys basketball coach.

Franklin High has hired their new boys basketball coach – and they didn’t have to go very far to find him. 

CJ Neely, who has been the head coach of the Foxboro Warriors for the past seven years, has been selected to lead the Panthers and replace Dean O'Connor, who was relieved of his duties near the end of the school year.

"I’ve been in the league for a long time as a player and a coach and Franklin is one of those places that is really committed to winning," Neely said. "They have a strong foundation at the youth program and obviously the new school is exciting. New gym, new school, new feeling and all that good stuff. It’s a new challenge for me with a Division 1 school that has proven they can go far in the tournament and I look forward to hopefully leading them back to where they went and hopefully further." 

Neely has been apart of the Hockomock League for many years, including a standout playing career at Oliver Ames. He was named a Hockomock League All Star twice during his three years on varsity. OA is the same school he served as an assistant coach from 2005-2007. Neely took over head coaching duties at Foxboro in 2007.

You can continue reading the full article at HockomockSports.Com here
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/franklin-picks-neely-as-new-boys-basketball-coach

the gymnasium at the new FHS

Franklin Library: Space Adventures

"Space Adventures" with Ms Marsha will be held at the Franklin Library Tuesday, Aug 12 at 2:00 PM. Ideally for toddlers and youth ages 2 to 6. Registration can be done at the Circulation Desk.

Space Adventures with Ms Marsha

This was shared from the Library posting
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2014/08/space-adventures-with-ms-marsha.html

In the News: candidates night, St Rocco's

September will bring a primary election to select who the party candidates will be for the November election.

NORFOLK – Democratic town committees from Norfolk, Plainville and Wrentham are sponsoring a candidates’ night Tuesday for the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex state senate seat. 

Democratic primary candidates Sara-Lynn Reynolds and Dylan Hayre will participate in the 6:30 p.m. forum. 

They are vying to challenge incumbent Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, in the general election. 

Rick Holmes of the MetroWest Daily News will moderate the forum. The event will be held at the Norfolk library, 139 Main St., Norfolk.

From the Milford Daily News
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140809/NEWS/140807006/1994/NEWS

Asked how day three of the 36th annual Feast of St. Rocco was going, Peter Brunelli looked weary. 

"You really want to know?" Brunelli said Saturday. "I don’t know whether I’m coming or going." 

Brunelli has been organizing the feast with Frank Fiorillo, Mickey DeGrazia and Thomas Olsen since the beginning. It’s a hectic four days, but the longtime friends look forward to it each year. 

The Feast of St. Rocco is a celebration of family and food to benefit St. Mary’s Parish. Some 60,000 people were expected to flock to the four-day festival for the cannolis, meatballs, music and rides, among other draws.

You can continue to read the article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140809/NEWS/140806867/1994/NEWS

the Ferris wheel at St Rocco's

Did you see Franklin's new website?

With little fanfare, Franklin has introduced a re-design of the town website.  http://town.franklin.ma.us/

re-designed Franklin website

The new layout is clean and better than before. Most of the common items are more visible and easier to get to. However, there is still room for improvement. The 'Town News' section is shorter and revealing less info than before.

The 'Contacts Directory' and the 'Hours of Operation' go to the same page. Considering that the 'Departments' tab on the top navigation bar also takes you to the same page, that is effectively a waste of prime real estate.

Contact Directory and Hours of Operation links go to the same place

The biggest drawback for me is that there still is no RSS feed. Yes, that maybe a little techie for some but it is a feature of most websites and enables an easy notification if something changes. Without such notification, if you want to find out when the agenda for a committee meeting is posted, you need to go to the site, click through to the page and view if there is an update or not. The website software could tell you via the RSS notification automatically.

Franklin just implemented Twitter to help with their notifications. Do you think the webpage has the info on how to follow Franklin on Twitter? It should but I couldn't find it. The page could also display the Twitter feed in a widget (tech term for a small window) to help showcase what is being sent out via Twitter.

BTW - if you do want to follow Franklin on Twitter you can find their profile page here  https://twitter.com/TOFranklinMA

Check out the new Franklin website here  http://town.franklin.ma.us/  or here http://franklin.ma.us/

What else would you like to see on the page?

Town Council meeting summary - Aug 6, 2014

So what happened at the Town Council meeting on Wednesday?

Announcements

• The override of the $60K for school street crossing signs (similar to those for Parmenter school on King St) was announced.  http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/08/state-funding-for-traffic-signals-for.html
• The ribbon cutting for the new Sculpture Park is scheduled for Weds Aug 27th at 5:00 PM
• A friendly reminder of the Ladybug Spots appearing on the Town Common Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4:00 PM

License Transactions

There were two normal license transactions. Soco Rose changed its name and there was an personnel change in the interest of the 99 Restaurant. owner.

GBU - formerly called Soco Rose

Presentations

1 - Gateway Committee
They made a brief presentation formally introducing their proposal already published here and presented to the Economic Development Committee. It seemed to be very successful as the proposal to reserve some space on the lot for the recognition of Horace Mann was referenced as well in the Economic development update.

The three letters that were the responses to the 'Request for Expression of Interest' can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/08/responses-for-emmons-st-building.html

2 - Collection containers
The containers for Salvation Army and other organizations are not covered by bylaws. The discussion was to introduce the concept, gather feedback and if desired, continue to work on the development of a bylaw. The consensus was this would be a good thing so work will proceed and we'll see a draft at a future meeting.

3 - Downtown parking
What should be done with the downtown parking? When Main St is under construction, the parking meters will be taken out. Do they go back, or is there another way to manage parking. The proposal reviewed was not put parking meters back in. There would be some sort of pole arrangement to still have the flags placed for holidays and veterans funerals. There would still be some monitoring of the parking and ticketing where necessary to enforce it. The proposal would also include a minor increase in the parking rates for the reserved spots. The timing of when the rates would be effective would be determined after the construction is complete.

Town Administrator Jeff Nutting presenting the parking proposal

Additional details on the meeting can be found in this collection of posts reported live during the Town Council meeting on Wednesday:

• Live reporting - Closing items

• Live reporting: collection boxes and parking discu...

• Live reporting: Gateway Committee

• Live reporting: License transactions

• Live reporting: Town Council - Aug 6, 2014

WMRC Live and Local Weekend Programming

	WMRC Weekends! Live and Local Programming!
	The Neighborhood - Saturdays at 7:30am Host - Wendy English Helping buyers, sellers and agents navigate the ever changing real estate arena. What's happening in the real estate market is the favorite subject of this upbeat real estate program. Learn More » Saturdays With Sally - Saturdays at 8am Host - Sally Alexander Window fashions and decor for the home and soul! New and exciting products that are available, the history of products, how to hang them and interviews with experts in the decorating industry. Learn More » Under the Gun - Saturdays at 8:30am Host - Harry Jarvis Keeping you informed on the latest gun related news, laws and safety. Learn More » Money and the Law - Saturdays at 9am Hosts - Jay Marsden and John Drohan Money, law and a beer review!  The important issues that you need to know from a fun point of view. Learn More » The Sports Buzz - Saturdays at 10am Hosts - Matt Romeling and Dennis Alves Covering local high school sports, local professional sports and local college sports.  Plus Milford Legion Baseball Regionals updates. Learn More » The Paul Parent Garden Club - Sundays at 6am Host - Paul Parent All things gardening... no matter what the season! Paul Parent is a New England staple when it comes to gardening expertise! Learn More » The Voice of Portugal - Sundays at 8am Host - Sandra Caldas Silva The Greater Milford Area is home to a large Portuguese community.  VOP keeps you up to date with events and news and entertains with great Portuguese music! Learn More » Listen to these shows and more LIVE and ON DEMAND in the WMRC Media Center! SAVE Up To 50% or more! Steals and Deals Marketplace Save on Local Products From Local Businesses!  Click Here
	Copyright © 20XX. All Rights Reserved.

Forward this email WMRC Daily News | 258 Main Street | Milford | MA | 01757