Around Town

Watertown Boys & Girls Club Celebrates With Field Day and Cookout

By |

Members of the Watertown Boys & Girls Club celebrated the end of the year by playing games, and grabbing a bite to eat at a cookout. 

The members have had a quite a year, said Executive Director Renee Gaudette, as she cooked hot dogs for the kids. “It is a special end of the year event to get kids excited about what they accomplished this year and to get excited for summer,” Gaudette said. Along with activities at the club, the Boys and Girls Club members went to Central Rock Gym to climb walls, visited HATCH – the Watertown Free Public Library’s maker space, and Kimura Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Members also put on events such as a Hawaiian Night, put on a Thanksgiving meal, held movie nights and had a car wash, said Izzy, a sixth-grader at Watertown Middle School and president of the Torch Club – a leadership group at the the club. Club staff had a wide range of activities planned, including seeing which team can carry water in cups across the basketball court to fill a bucket, moving an Oreo cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands and picking up Skittles with a straw and moving them into a cup.

Around Town

DCR Looking for Lifeguards for Watertown’s Dealtry Pool

By |

 

Lifeguard positions are available at Dealtry Pool in Watertown this summer. 

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation sent out the following announcement:

With the opening of pools across the state this weekend, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is currently seeking applicants for lifeguard positions for many of the state’s pools and beaches, including Dealtry Memorial Pool in the City of Watertown. DCR lifeguards are professional rescuers who are trained to both prevent injuries from occurring, and to respond in an emergency to help save a life. “The Department of Conservation and Recreation works hard to ensure that our state’s pools and beaches are as safe as can be, and that starts with the training of our lifeguards, who are certified in lifesaving practices and procedures,” said DCR Commissioner Carol Sanchez. “I encourage anyone interested, especially someone in the Watertown area, to apply to become a lifeguard for the state this summer.”

The current wage for a lifeguard position is $13.26 an hour. The agency also provides CPR and lifeguard certification at no cost to trainees.

Around Town

Watertown Boys & Girls Club Director Named Executive of the Year

By |

Watertown Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Renee Gaudette received an honor from her fellow directors – the”Executive of the Year.” 

Gaudette received the award at the Association of Boys & Girls Club Professionals Yankee Chapter at a ceremony in Middleborough. “It is really nice to be recognized by your peers,” Gaudette said. She went to the meeting thinking that her co-worker – Club Project Director Chris Chrombie – was going to get an award. “He nominated me for the award,” Gaudette said. Gaudette took over as executive director of the Watertown Boys and Girls Club in 2013.

Around Town

Free Film Showing Features Author Speaking About ‘The End of America’

By |

A film documenting a speech made by a best-selling author in which makes the case that the U.S. government has eroded Americans’ Constitutional rights will be shown in Watertown. The Boston 911 Truth organization sent out the following announcement:
The End of America
In an indictment of the Bush & Obama administrations and Congress, best-selling author Naomi Wolf revisits her case for saving American democracy. In authoritative research & documentation Wolf explains how events of the last 11 years parallel steps taken in the early years of the 20th century’s worst dictatorships. She describes the 10 steps being implemented in the U.S. to install a political structure significantly different to that outlined in the Constitution. Wolf stresses the importance of becoming informed about these changes.

Around Town

Marshall Home Fund Celebrates 10 Years, Awards $50K in Grants

By |

The Marshall Home Fund celebrated 10 years of supporting the needs of Watertown residents age 55 and older and handed out $50,000 in grants. 

The annual Program Grant Awards Ceremony was held Wednesday, May 20. Over the past decade, MHF has given out $450,000 in program and individual grants to benefit Watertown older adults, according to the announcement from Marshall Home Fund. Co-President Susan Flint expressed appreciation to this year grantees, adding that “the Marshall Home Fund is proud to be able to support the important work that all of you do.”

Outgoing Co-President Will Twombly who ushered the fund into existence in 2005 was duly recognized for his many years of service and leadership by Representative Jonathan Hecht. Rep. Hecht offered congratulatory remarks and presented Citations from the Senate and House of Representatives. Town Councilor Tony Palomba read a proclamation from the Town in honor of the Fund’s 10th Anniversary on behalf of Council President Mark Sideris.

Around Town

Watertown Police Lend a Hand at the Special Olympics

By |

Four Watertown Police officers gave Special Olympics athletes the VIP treatment by giving them a police convoy and handing out awards. 
On June 6, the Watertown Police joined the Special Olympics Cruiser Convey that ended at Harvard University, said Capt. Raymond DuPuis, one of the participating officers. Once they got there, the group headed to the aquatics center to hand out medals to the athletes in the swimming competition, and the Lavietes Pavilion for they gymnastics.  

Around Town

Author to Speak About Book Chronicling Her Father’s Lynching

By |

Author Josephine Bolling McCall will speak about her book she wrote about the  true story Of her father’s lynching in the 1947, and what she learned when researching the book. The event will be on Wednesday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at First Parish Church, 35 Church Street, Watertown. Event organizers sent out the following information:
Just weeks before Christmas, 1947, Josephine Bolling was five years old and learned that her father, Elmore Bolling, just 39 and the father of seven was dead. Elmore Bolling was a leader in Lowndes County’s black community, had established himself as a man who volunteered to serve the less fortunate and had worked hard to build a small trucking business and provide for his family and others. In this moving and important book, THE PENALTY FOR SUCCESS: My Father Was Lynched In Lowndes County Alabama, the author tells the story of the murder of a black man in 1940s Lowndes County, Alabama.  It is a story that reveals the scheme to cover up a “lynching”.  Josephine Bolling McCall’s story of her father’s murder presents convincing evidence that he was lynched, although he was  not hanged, mutilated, or burned before a crowd of people.  Elmore Bolling was shot six times in the front of his body with a pistol and once in the back with a shotgun.

Around Town

See Video of an Overdose Prevention Workshop Held in Watertown

By |

Wayside Youth & Family Services recently held a workshop for those interested in learning how to prevent drug overdoses from heroin and opiates, and how to administer and anti-overdose medication. During the event held on May 19, attendees learned ways to help friends and loved ones avoid overdoses. They also were trained on how to use Narcan, a drug that can stop a person from overdosing. The workshop follows a panel discussion about opioid addiction and how to get people into treatment, held at Watertown Middle School. (See more here).