January 1, 2005
After a very unscientific poll, here are the top ten stories:
10) The CVS saga in Bridgewater. Still plodding along, discussing paint tones and brick patterns
9) After a break in 2003, Bridgewater had a fireworks show on the 4th of July.
8) Talk all year about dire finances at Bridgewater-Raynham, teacher layoffs and lost programs. But, there are fewer students, and more than $2M additional in revenue in fy05 than fy04. So, what SHOULD be lost?
7) After a very heated race - mailings from GOP challenger Jane McLaughlin of Raynham and rebuttals from Democrat incumbent David Flynn of Bridgewater - Rep. Flynn took Bridgewater by several thousand votes and retained his House seat... and, his title of "Dean of the House".
6) Four "gifts" from Bridgewater and Raynham to the B-R School District have pumped $2,036,697 into the school year budget.
5) A number of retirements from local boards have put citizens (most new) into new roles. Raynham Selectmen Gordon Luciano stepped down to fill a seat at the Assessors Office after the death of a long-time resident of the town. Raynham's John Donahue then won the open Selectmen's seat. B-R's Mark Sanderson stepped down, opening the seat for Raynham's Lou Pacheco. B-R's Patti Roland steps down, Raynham's Melanie DeSantis fills a partial term.
In Bridgewater, Selectmen James Nihan does not seek re-election opening the door for six candidates for two seats. Herb Lemon won re-election of his seat and newcomer MaryBeth Lawton takes the other seat. B-R's Tim Fitzgibbons does not seek re-election, and Joseph Gillis Jr wins the seat.
4) Joseph Gillis Jr. wins B-R School seat for Bridgewater. A two-vote margin that held up even with a recount. As many have said, the race was a civics lesson in campaigns and voting - every vote matters.
3) New teacher contracts for B-R. The new contract does not address the sky-rocketing healthcare costs of insurance (yea, yea.. a study committee; you really think the contract will be re-opened?) which was on everyone's minds. And, what was Don DeLutis doing negotiating the contract?
2) Mining Organics is still working to put a garbage recycling facility in Bridgewater. Even pro-business people like Nick Palmieri and myself cannot see any good in the proposal.
1) The July 31st ballot question for $2.2M over-ride is soundly defeated. Six thousand voters, and defeated by more than two-to-one. The vote was not any one person, but more than 4000 saying they were not convinced that simply raising taxes was the answer to the situation.
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
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