Fallen Firefighter

Watertown Firefighters Salute a Fallen Colleague, Lost 59 Years Ago

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Fifty-nine years ago, the Watertown Fire Department lost one of its own during an attic fire at the then-East Junior High School. On Friday afternoon, Watertown Firefighters paid tribute to Charles Morrill. 

More than a dozen members of the WFD lined up for a moment of silence on the field facing the former junior high on Mt. Auburn Street, which is now the Brigham House. They ended the brief ceremony by saluting their fallen colleague. Provisional Fire Chief Bob Quinn said the Fire Department wanted to remember its members lost while serving the Town of Watertown.

Sports

See the 39 Watertown Residents Running the 2018 Boston Marathon

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Watertown will be well represented in the 122nd Boston Marathon on Monday with 39 registered participants. The number of Watertown runners rose slightly from last year when 36 resident took part. The highpoint for local runners came in 2014, the year after the Boston Marathon Bombings, when Watertown had 72 entrants. The race will be broadcast on WBZ Channel 4 beginning at 7 a.m. and running until 7 p.m. A re-broadcast of the race will be shown on myTV Channel 38 beginning at 8 p.m. on Monday. For live streaming, a course guide and a finish line cam, go to CBSBoston.com.

Sports

Watertown Has 15 Middlesex League All-Stars and 4 MVPs This Winter

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Watertown High School’s athletic teams had a strong winter season, which resulted in 15 athletes named to the Middlesex League All-Stars and four named Most Valuable Player for their sport. The 2018 Winter All-Stars:

Girls Hockey: Jonna Kennedy (MVP), Olivia Lampasona, Sydney Poulin

Boys Swimming: Christopher Kerrigan, Kian Rice

Girls Basketball: Cali McMahon

Boys Basketball: Julio Fulcar, John Korte (MVP). Girls Track: Gabriella Cacia, Emily Koufos (MVP), Rose Muldrew, Abigael Peterson, Elizabeth Powderly. Boys Track: Mange Camara (MVP), Nathan Follett, Ben Landry

Around Town

Recycle Styrofoam, Shred Paper and Get Rid of Tires at DPW Event

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Watertown’s Department of Public Works will host a special recycling event where styrofoam will be collected, paper will be shredded and tires will be taken. The recycle event will be on Saturday, May 5, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is for Watertown residents only, ID will be required. Also, no commercial or business items.

Clean, white styrofoam will be accepted, including cups and trays, but no foam peanuts or colored styrofoam. Paper will also be shredded and tires will be accepted, but no rims.

The event will be at the DPW’s Recycling Center on Green River Way, off Waltham Street. Directions: West from Watertown Square on Pleasant Street, North (right) on Bridge Street, West (left) on Waltham Street and South (left) on Green River Way.

Real Estate

Dozens of Open Houses Around Watertown This Week

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The open houses in Watertown this week include a wide variety of properties. $1,100,000 – 32 Hillside Road, 9 room, 5 bed, 3.5 bath colonial, Open House: Sunday 12-2

$869,900 – 48 Barnard Ave. Unit 2, 7 room, 3 bed, 2.5 bath 2/3 family, Open Houses: Saturday 1:30-3 Sunday 2:30-4

$759,900 – 18-20 Adams Street, 2 unit, 10 total room, 4 total bedroom, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-2

$409,900 – 24 Palfrey St. Unit 24, 4 room, 2 bed, 1.5 bath townhouse, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-2

$649,900 – 21 Prescott St., 8 room, 3 bed, 1 bath colonial, Open Houses: Friday 1-3 Saturday 1-3 Sunday 1-3

$509,900 – 9 Westland Road Unit 1, 6 room, 2 bed, 1 bath 2/3 family, Open Houses: Saturday 11:30-1:30 Sunday 11:30-1:30

$444,000 – 22 Belmont St. Unit 4, 6 room, 3 bed, 1 bath 2/3 family, Open House: Saturday 12-3

Sponsored by:

$650,000 – 89 Watertown St.

Gun Control

Watertown Middle School Students Call for End of School Violence During Walkout

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While thousands of high schools around the United States joined the National Walkout movement to raise awareness of school safety in the wake of the deadly shootings in Parkland, Fla., few middle schools joined in. On Thursday morning, Watertown Middle School held its own walk out, which hundreds of students attended. 

The organizers, most of whom were eighth-graders, gathered on the steps of the old West Junior High School building on Bemis Street and addressed the students who joined the walk out. The group spoke about trying to stop the violence and read the names of all of those killed in Parkland, adding some details about each of their lives. Eighth-grader Alex Thuene, who co-founded Watertown Middle School’s Stop Gun Violence Committee with eighth-grader Adham Hussein, addressed the students during the Watertown Middle School Walkout. “Seventeen lives were lost.

Government

Town Council Approves Funding to Renovate North Fire Station

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The Town Council approved the funds needed to make some major renovations to the North Fire Station to modernize it for the firefighters who live and work there. 

The facility on Orchard Street, also known as Station 3, has five firefighters assigned to it, and runs the Watertown Fire Department’s Engine 1 an Rescue 1 ambulance. The Council approved $1.242 million for the renovations, which will replace or modernize the systems in the building, said Provisional Fire Chief Bob Quinn. “These are long overdue improvements to Station 3,” Quinn said. While there have been some work to the roof within the last couple years and to the floor in 1998, but Quinn said some of the systems are very old. “We will get rid of the old steam radiators and replace them with new heated fin tubes,” Quinn said.

Schools

SEPAC Awards Will Honor Those Who Work, Volunteer with Students with Special Needs

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The Watertown Special Education Parents Advisory Council (SEPAC) will once again honor those who have dedicated their time to help students with special needs in the Watertown Schools at the annual SEPAC Awards. The group formed in the late 1990s as a requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but it was always a challenge to get parents to come out to meetings, said Michelle Fallon, Hosmer Elementary School Evaluation Team Chair and parent of a student who received special education services from the Watertown Public Schools. The SEPAC awards began as a way to bring more attention to the people who dedicate their time to help students with special needs in Watertown, as well as to get more participation in SEPAC events, said Fallon, who had created a similar awards program when she was a member of the Watertown Historical Commission. “We came up with the idea to give some awareness for some of these wonderful people  working with kids,” Fallon said. The awards go to people who work in the district’s special education program, but they also are given to parents of students with special needs and even students who have volunteered to work with students in the special ed program.