"You really almost have to ride it out, and whoever has the deepest pockets wins. The house of brick has got a better chance of standing, because the wind keeps on blowing."
— Andover Business Center Association President Betsy Powers, comparing the plight of struggling downtown merchants to the Three Little Pigs in the famous fairy tale. At least a dozen businesses have closed in the last two years.
Winter cleaning
North Andover town officials took a lot of flak for their recent decision to take down the Merry Christmas sign from the fire station — a decision they reversed last week.
As the sign was put back up Wednesday, one selectman was already working on damage control.
"They took it down for cleaning," Selectman Richard Nardella joked.
Worst year ever?
At Monday's Windham selectmen's meeting, Town Administrator Dave Sullivan told board members that in his 22 years of hammering out town budgets, this year has been "the worst process."
Instead of a logical approach to reviewing the spending, selectmen were jumping all over the place in their questions.
But Selectman Roger Hohenberger said the members' approach was based on the budget. It came in less than last year's and was already pared down considerably, therefore the members had already reviewed it.
Taken for a ride
Don't be surprised to see your grandmother in the back of Atkinson police Chief Philip Consentino's car. But it doesn't mean that she's breaking the law.
Consentino, who is also director of the town's Elderly Affairs Department, said the demand for the three elderly affairs vehicles has been so great that he's had to use his police car to transport seniors to medical appointments and social events.
There are five elderly affairs drivers, but Consentino is the only police officer and the only one who can transport using a vehicle with blue lights.
Bad timing
It was a promise that Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini firmly declared he would keep — especially since the city had recently missed by a few weeks its deadline for opening the new downtown boardwalk behind the Tap restaurant.
The mayor said he would make sure workers completed the cleanup of the Railroad Square parking lot in time to return it to public parking by Thanksgiving. And the day before that holiday, he announced the lot would re-open on time Nov. 27.
So why was it closed when a photographer from The Eagle-Tribune tried to take a picture of the property last Tuesday?
"No, no. It's been open since last week," mayor's aide Andrew Herlihy said when asked why the lot was closed. "They closed it for a few hours to re-stripe the lines. People were parking all over the place. We blocked it off this morning for a few hours, but it'll be back open around 4."
The joy of giving
The Methuen Exchange Club broke tradition last month in honoring one of its own with the Book of Golden Deeds Award.
"But this man's accomplishments could not go unnoticed," the club's treasurer, Ken Leone, said of this year's recipient, Arthur Hutton, a 25-year member and past president.
"We have been judged by our peers as having the best Exchange Club in New England. ... It all happened on his watch under his leadership," Leone told the crowd at the club's 15th annual recognition dinner, held at the Knights of Columbus.
He noted that the club experienced its highest growth and highest retention of members during Hutton's time as president.
Club member Jack Macleod added that it would take too long to read from the list of public service projects Hutton has been involved with over the years in his quest to make Methuen a better place to live.
Hutton helped build the new Methuen Arlington Neighborhood Center, in addition to the ball field at Veterans Field.
"He just continues to contribute for the love of his community, for the joy of giving," Macleod said.
