Around Town

Watertown Students Attend Anti-Susbstance Abuse Confrerence in Las Vegas

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Four high school peer leaders and their Wayside Youth & Family Support Network Advisors, Shanesha Christmas and Dawn Graham, from the Watertown Youth Coalition (WYC) and Waltham Youth & Community Coalition (WYACC) joined approximately 2,000 substance abuse prevention and treatment specialists from across the country in Las Vegas from July 17-21 for CADCA’s (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) 2016 Mid-Year Training Institute. The week-long training, held at The Mirage, taught participants how to address one of our nation’s biggest public health challenges – youth substance use. CADCA’s Mid-Year Training Institute was a one-of-a-kind intensive training opportunity, offering more than 70 half-day and two-day courses geared towards helping participants find solutions to their community’s toughest substance abuse problems.

“The Mid-Year is a unique professional development opportunity for anyone trying to prevent and reduce drug abuse, and its related problems, in their community,” said General Arthur T. Dean, CADCA’s Chairman and CEO. “After four days of intensive training, participants will return to their communities with new skills and strategies, and a clearer roadmap to create environments where young people can thrive.”

This year’s Mid-Year featured a number of renowned experts in the field of substance abuse and prevention, with keynote remarks by Dr. Moira O’Neil, senior researcher and director of interpretation at the Frameworks Institute. The training event covered a wide range of topics – everything from how to prevent prescription drug abuse and reduce heroin use to how to create tobacco-free environments, reduce impaired driving and develop policies to reduce marijuana use, synthetic drug use and underage drinking.

Around Town

Free Youth Mental Health First Aid Training Available to Watertown Residents

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Watertown residents can participate in a FREE Youth Mental Health First Aid Training on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The training will take place from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Brookline Department of Public Health, 11 Pierce St., Brookline, in the Denny Room

Learn an action plan to help. The training is free for those who live or work in Belmont, Brookline, Waltham and Watertown. INFO: Registration is required. Must attend full day of training. Lunch and snacks will be provided. Course book included.

Around Town

Watch Out for Invasive Pods in Watertown Which Can Harm Birds & Butterflies

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An invasive weed known as Black Swallow-wort has been spotted in Watertown, with its telltale pods. This weed threatens monarch butterflies, songbird by displacing native plants vital to them. 

The problem has become pervasive in neighboring Cambridge, which started an effort to control the invasive plants. Now they plants have been spotted in parts of Watertown, said Councilor Angeline Kounelis. “Through the years, so many residents unknowingly have thought, and continue to think, the vine with pods, should be enjoyed as an ornamental plant; absolutely not true,” Kounelis said. “The East End of Watertown has already been invaded.”

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Watertown Group Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Sunday

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On Sunday, Aug. 7, Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice & the Environment will host a ceremony Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  

The group sent out the following announcement:

Please join us for a commemoration of the nuclear attack on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in 1945 – the first use of nuclear weapons by any country – that caused over 210,000 deaths and years of misery and suffering for thousand of survivors. In May, President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site of the 1945 attack on Hiroshima. At that historic site he met with the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and spoke eloquently of the horrors of the atomic age and the scourge of using war as an instrument of policy.

Around Town

Improved Riverside Park a World Class Example of Accessibility for the Blind

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The recently refurbished section of the Charles River Path east of Watertown Square not only replaced crumbling paths with smooth and clean new ones, but added new features so that the blind and visually impaired can get more out of their visit to the area. 

State officials joined local supporters at the ribbon cutting for the Watertown Riverfront Park and Braille Trail on Thursday morning. The celebration came many years after the idea of improving the area first surfaced. “This is my first time here, and I am shocked how beautiful it turned out,” said Matt Beaton, Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. “It is truly a gem along the gem we have in our Charles River.” New sand-cover paths wind along about 5,000 feet of the riverfront near the intersection of Charles River Road and Irving Street, with features such as overlooks and areas to view the river, similar to other sections of the Charles River.

Around Town

Kids Can Hang Out With Cops at Watertown Boys & Girls Club Event

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Watertown Boys & Girls Club and the Watertown Police Department are teaming up to encourage youth in the community to get to know their local police officers. Join them Thursday, July 28 from 5-7 p.m. at the Club for a night of fun with the Watertown police force, including dodgeball games, swimming, and a pizza party. Let’s show the youth of Watertown that police officers are here to support them! The event is free for all. Ages 7 to 18 are welcome and Boys & Girls Club membership is not required.

Around Town

Event Will Show Progress Renovation of Athletic Complex Across the River

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Watertown residents are invited to find out about the progress of the major renovations of Daly Field, the athletic complex across the river from Watertown that is owned by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Located on Nonantum Road near North Beacon Street, the complex will have synthetic turf for football, soccer, field hockey, along with tennis courts. The Allston-Brighton Friends of Daly Field Event will be held on Thursday, July 28 beginning from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Community Rowing, Inc., located at 20 Nonantum Road in Brighton adjacent Daly Field. The complex will not only host Allst0n-Brighton sports events but also Simmons College. Attending the event will be State Sen. William Brownsberger, Rep. Michael Moran, Rep. Kevin Honan and Boston City Councillor Mark Ciommo.

Around Town

America’s First Treaty, Signed in Watertown, Still Has Impact Today

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Descendants of the original signers of the Treaty of Watertown came to celebrate the 240th anniversary of the signing of the first treaty made with a foreign power by the United States. Members of the Mi’kmaq and the Maliseet (then known as the St. John’s) Indians signed a treaty with the U.S. on July 19, 1776, agreeing to support the new nation in its fight against the British. The signing occurred at the Edmund Fowle House. The house now sits on Marshal Street, just a short distance from where it sat at the time, on Mt.