Around Town

Postage Rate Hike Hindering Local Effort to Send Care Packages to the Troops

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For more than 15 years, Wendy Rocca has been shipping care packages to United States military personnel overseas with the group she founded – Operation American Soldier. When she went to the Post Office this week to pay for the latest shipment, however, she was shocked by the increase in rates for mailing packages to overseas military addresses. 

The U.S. Post Office raised rates on Jan. 21, 2018, which was not a surprise for Rocca, it was the amount that caught her off guard. “The rate went from $8.01 to $10.65,” Rocca said. “It is still the most cost effective way to ship – I can only ship through the Post Office.

Around Town

Group Hosting Dialogue About How Immigration Impacts Our Communities

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A discussion of how immigration into the U.S. impacts communities like Watertown will take place Sunday, hosted by the Watertown Citizens Refugee Support Group. WHEN: Sunday, January 28, 2018, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Watertown Free Public Library, Watertown Savings Bank Room, 123 Main St, Watertown

Featured Speakers:
Watertown Police Lt. Daniel Unsworth
Internationally renown scholar Dr. Yakir Englander
Watertown Middle School Student Kingian Non-violence Trainer Shivani Sharma
Immigration Attorney Elizabeth Goss
Come join an open, honest conversation about U.S. immigration – its impact on our communities, how to separate fact from fiction, and how to take responsibility for the discourse that surrounds us. Presented by Watertown Citizens Refugee Support Group. http://watertowncitizens.org/, https://www.facebook.com/groups/WatertownCitizensRefugeeSupport/about/

Around Town

Grant Information Session for Groups Providing Services for Older Adults in Watertown

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Groups that provide services to older adults in Watertown can get help applying for grants from the Marshall Home Fund. The Fund sent out the following information:

Do you provide services or programs for older adults living in Watertown?  If so, consider attending the Marshall Home Fund’s annual Grant Information Session on February 8, 12:30-2:00 p.m. in the WSB room, Watertown Public Library, 123 Main St., Watertown. (Snow date February 13). The Marshall Home Fund provides modest grants to public and non-profit organizations addressing the health, housing, transportation and well being of adults 55 and older. Come learn about our 2018 priorities and our revised grant application, which will be due March 16, 2018.

Around Town

Tour Life-Friendly Gardens at Homes Around Watertown

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Organizers of the Life-Friendly Garden Tour sent out the following announcement:

Imagine a Sunday afternoon in May, redbud and dogwood in blossom, tulips and late narcissus in bloom, where bees are buzzing, robins are singing, and either you are welcoming others to enjoy and learn from your chemical-free garden or yard, or you are the visitor, viewing flourishing plantings and learning from your host or hostess about healthy, earth-friendly gardens.On Sunday May 6 from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m., a chemical-free, admission-free garden tour will be sponsored by Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice, and the Environment. This will be the 20th Life-Friendly Garden Tour since the first one in 2007. Owners of the sites on the tour will share their growing spaces, large and small, where plants of all kinds thrive best without the use of synthetic chemicals – pesticides, fungicides, herbicides. “Cide” means kill and these products threaten the wellbeing of plants and animals, and of the planet. Synthetic fertilizers do indeed feed the plant, but at the expense of the soil, which it degrades.

Around Town

Watertown Community Foundation Co-President Emcees 18th Unity Breakfast

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Darshna Varia, Watertown Community Foundation Co-President, was selected as the Honorary Convener for the 18th Annual Unity Breakfast, held on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to celebrate Dr. King’s vision, the foundation announced. The Breakfast draws hundreds every year, and on January 15, 2018 over four hundred attendees were welcomed with Varia’s reflections of her own exposure to Kingian thought and action. Having grown up in Kenya, Varia described her own introduction to the power of resistance to oppression with the 1990 release from prison of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela. As many Americans may have recalled where they were when Dr. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, she recounted the sense of energy and possibility many in Africa felt when Mandela was freed. She noted that increasingly attendees would remember other visionary leaders, inspired by Dr. King, making it all the more important for each generation to recall King’s dream, to take stock of the work necessary to make it real, and to recommit itself to the task.

Around Town

Find Out How to Apply for Jobs With Watertown Recreation

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The Watertown Recreation Department announced it is now accepting applications for the following positions for the 2018 calendar year. This includes immediate employment as a part time member of the staff throughout the year or seasonal work during the summer months. Applicants must be entering the 9th grade (Fall 2018) or older to be considered. Positions Available: Program Directors, Program Supervisors, Program Staff, Program Counselors, Counselor in Training, Nurse, Specialists, Pequossette Staff, Park Instructors, Program Staff and Park Rangers. For all new applicants, the following documentation must be completed and returned to the Watertown Recreation Department as soon as employment is desired on or before Friday, April 20, 2018
• Cover Letter (Word Document)
• Current Resume (Word Document)
• Letter of Reference
• Application for Employment – Recreation Section Included
• All new candidates will be interviewed by the Director of Recreation
• All returning seasonal employees must provide documentation for First Aid, AED and CPR
• New hires will have 6 months from their date of employment to complete First Aid, AED and CPR Certification
• All applicants will also complete CORI and SORI forms, and other documents as part of the application process.

Around Town

BC Scientist from Watertown Helps Discover Oldest Known Butterfly

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While searching for the remains of plants and pollen in 200 million year old sediment, Boston College scientist and Watertown resident Paul Strother and a Dutch colleague discovered the remains of an ancient butterfly much older than ever found – a discovery that may change the understanding of prehistoric plants. While spending time in Germany in 2012, Strother examined some cores from Northern Germany with Bas van de Schootbrugge, a Dutch microfossil paleontologist who at the time had a lab in Germany. It took a few years, and collaboration with a number of other scientists, to find out just what they had found. “It sort of shows how sciences works, sometimes,” said Stother, a research professor in paleobotany in BC’s Department of Earth & Environmental Science. He lives in Watertown with his wife Ceclia Lenk, a former Town Councilor.

Around Town

Watertown Addiction Recovery Center Has Creative Approach to Getting Sober

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An addiction recovery center that started as a place for rock musicians to get sober has moved to Watertown and found success in treatment that includes art and music in the therapy. Right Turn, located on Arsenal Street, began in 2003 when Woody Giessmann – former drummer of The Del Fuegos – realized there was a need for recovery for musicians and other creative people. The center’s first offices were located in Arlington, but moved to Watertown a few years ago when it needed more space. In 1993 Giessmann became an addictions specialist after facing drug and alcohol addictions while he was a musician, said Gabrielle “Abby” Dean, clinical director for Right Turn, who has been working with Giessmann since 1995

“Musicians kept calling him saying ‘I need help,'” Dean said. Enough musicians or their agents called, Dean said, and they decided to start groups for people looking to get sober.