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Year inReview
Residents and long-time friends from town gathered in a standing-room-only crowd at O'Toole's Coffee Shop to present Dawley with the Boston Post Cane in recognition of being the oldest resident in town after the cane was retuned to town after a more than 50-year absence. Dawley was born in 1908 and he still lives at his home on Leominster Street. The New Year also started with a variety of new businesses opening in Westminster, which have started a small business boom in the area. Many restaurants have opened in the new strip mall on Main Street, which now houses the Angler Fish Market, Joe's Bistro and a Chinese restaurant. In Ashburnham, the early part of the year was spent planning for the big projects that started and continued during the course of the year. Town officials had to find a home for Town Hall employees, and they debated between the Fredericks Piano and Study Center, the basement of the Ashburnham Hardware Store, and scattering the offices through other town-owned buildings.
The employees moved and construction began in May and continued through the year. At the end of April, the Cushing Academy donated additional money for the Public Safety Building, and voters approved additional money, so the Public Safety Building and construction started during the summer. Controversy at the beginning of the year wasn't limited to Ashburnham. Local developer and Westminster resident Robert Francis sued Westminster and 12 town officials, stating that changing zoning and not granting variances have decreased his property value. The case has moved from state court to the federal level. Francis is seeking $4 million in damages for what the lawsuit calls "an illegal taking of his private property." The case is still pending. As the town dealt with the lawsuit and other business, employees were treated to a move to their new home. Westminster Town Hall employees moved in the new Town Hall in February, amidst a small winter snowstorm. The move to 11 South St. marked the end of a 17-month, $5.2
February also marked the beginning of the Ashburnham Department of Public Works. The town hired Donald Ouellette as the director of the department and the town engineer. Ouellette is now overseeing the Highway, Water, Sewer, and Parks departments. The towns received mixed reviews for their Web sites. As Ashburnham received high marks from Common Cause of Massachusetts, while Westminster got failing marks.
Those honored were Rose Lawrence, the head of the nursing staff in the Ashburnham Westminster School District as well as the nurse at John R. Briggs Elemen- tary School in Ashburnham, and Sylvia Turcotte, the administrative assistant to the Ashburnham Town Administrator, and Betty Kazan, the town secretary in Westminster. Lawrence retired after 27 years in June. Also retiring from the school district this year was Jeffrey Lawrence, the principal of Oakmont Regional High School after working for 37 years in the district. David Uminski was promoted to sit in the leadership chair at the school, and Greg Smith, of Ashburnham, was hired to be the school's assistant principal. During his last year at Oakmont, Lawrence was honored as the Administrator of the Year by the Massachusetts Association of Student Councils, for his leadership excellence in the school system and 18 years of guidance as the Oakmont Regional High School Student Council Advisor.
Cris has spina bifida and hydrocephalus, and is confined to a wheelchair. The money raised went to help his family buy a new lift for the family car. The Annual Neighbors Helping Neighbors Benefit in Westminster celebrated its 20th year this summer. The organization, which helps local families in financial difficulties, has held the summer festival every year and it has grown. In sports, the Oakmont Pop Warner Midget Football team is Regional Champions for New England's Division II. The team traveled to Florida for the National Championship but struggled against the other teams. April brought political change in Westminster, with the departure of Lorraine Emerson from the Board of Selectmen after six years and the election of 26-year-old Nicholas Hay to the board.
Politics dominated the debate as the schools went for two overrides this summer to fund their budgets above the towns' appropriations. Both times the request for additional money failed, so the school district cut teachers and eliminated half of the sports and co-curricular budgets. Parents and community members have tried to fill the gap with fundraising through the fall. December was a busy month for the school system as they ended the year. The Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee, under the suggestion of Ellen Holmes, proposed an amendment to the state Constitution. The amendment would require the state to be required to pay for any mandates they set. The state also started the process of the rebuilding and renovation process for John R. Briggs, which is a project that has been in the discussion phase for many years. 2008 will bring this project back into the public view as a feasibility study is done for the building.
In May, the first local casualty of the Iraq war was suffered in Westminster, when First Lt. Ryan Patrick Jones was killed in action. The town gathered to honor the fallen 23-year-old hero during a candlelight ceremony on the Town Common and during his funeral the falling week.
In November, the town lost one of its long-time and
prominent businessmen with the death of 91-year-old William Aubuchon Jr. He will
be remembered as a pillar of the community, a smart businessman and a committed
family man.
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