My Southborough — News and events in Southborough, MA

Southborough fire logs (4/15-4/21/14) Power line down and brush fire

by beth on April 23, 2014

Here’s what the Southborough Fire Department has been up to for the past week.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014:

00:01 – Smoke or odor removal Boston Road
06:37 – EMS call, Wildwood Drive
12:09 – Power line down, Woodland Road
12:16 – EMS call, Newton Street
15:42 – Rescue, EMS call, Main Street
16:48 – Vehicle accident with injuries, Richards Road and Woodland Road

Wednesday, April 16, 2014:

05:28 – Vehicle accident with injuries, Mass Pike East and Msp Barracks
08:53 – Unintentional smoke detector activation, no fire, Turnpike Road and Capital Group Properties
11:29 – EMS call, Newton Street
11:30 – Plan review – smoke detector Deerfoot Road
11:34 – EMS call, Parkerville Road
12:00 – High school student “shadow day” Main Street
12:00 – Plan review – smoke detector Southwood Drive
13:00 – Administrative meeting – Marathon emergency transportation planning Meeting HPD
13:30 – Smoke detector, resale, Latisquama Road Old
14:00 – Smoke detector, resale, Rockpoint Road
14:00 – Administrative meeting – marathon logistics meeting at Hopkinton State Park Main Street
15:33 – Training – other – WebEOC & ArchGIS training at MEMA HQ – 0900-1130 [click to keep reading…]

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Candidates’ Night – May 7

by beth on April 23, 2014

Above: The two candidates for Board of Selectmen answered questions from the public at the Library’s Candidates’ Night in 2012. This year, the field is crowded with seven candidates vying for 3 spots on the board. (Photo by Susan Fitzgerald)

Library Trustees have issued their public invitation to the annual town Candidate’s Night:

The Trustees of the Southborough Library will hold their annual “Candidates’ Night” at the Southborough Library on Wednesday evening, May 7, to give voters a chance to meet the candidates and get answers to issues of concern. All candidates running for election or re-election in May have been invited.

The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a “Meet & Greet” session with refreshments. A program with candidates in contested races only will begin promptly at 7:00 pm. Former Town Moderator John Wilson will serve as moderator for the evening.

Candidates’ Night is one of the Southborough Library’s civic programming events furthering its long-range mission to be “the center for life-long learning at the crossroads of our community.” The Library is located at 25 Main Street, Southborough. Handicap access is available through the elevator at the lower level entrance.

For a reminder of who is running for contested positions (Board of Selectmen and School Committee) and their position papers, check the blog’s Town Election page.

And make sure you mark your calendar to vote on May 12th.

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Student group achievements: Robotics team award, raising funds for education, and musician honors

by beth on April 23, 2014

Above: Trottier’s 7th & 8th grade band won top honors from Mass conductors and the right to perform at Mechanics Hall. (photo provided)

I can’t always post dedicated stories about student achievements as they come in. So, I rounded up a few noteworthy ones I missed. . .

Algonquin Robotics Team Wins Prestigious FIRST® Robotics Award - contributed:
The Algonquin Robotics Team “T-Hawks” has done it again! As they did in 2013, the T-Hawks have once again been recognized as a model for other teams with a prestigious “FIRST® Robotics Chairman’s Award.” They took home the award from the District Competition held at Rhode Island’s Bryant University on March 21-22, 2014. . .

The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award given by FIRST®. It honors the team that “best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purposes and goals of FIRST. ”

Team 1100 earned the award in recognition of its year-round efforts to inspire younger students to become interested in science and technology through a variety of community based activities. The team’s activities included: demonstrations in various locations, participating in Northborough’s Applefest and Southborough’s Heritage Day, providing visitors with hands-on experiences driving robots, mentoring younger FIRST® teams (the “FIRST® Lego League”), including hosting a FIRST® Lego League competition, organizing Algonquin’s first “Science Day” to showcase Algonquin’s STEM-related clubs (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) and holding a Build Your Own Robot event for students in Grades 3 through 6. (read more)

Algonquin students organize race for education - from Community Advocate:
In an effort to help improve education globally as well as locally, the former Algonquin Regional High School (ARHS) Girls Learn International Club has been renamed Global Learning Initiative (GLI) and is now partnered with Room to Read, an award-winning nonprofit organization which helps children pursue a quality education, reach their full potential, and contribute to their community and the world. . .

GLI has helped raise money for Room to Read through their Krispy Kreme donut sale earlier this year and will be doing so again with the upcoming third annual Algonquin 5K road race Sunday, May 4. (read more)

MICCA Gold Medal Showcase – contributed

Trottier Middle School’s 7th and 8th Grade Band earned a gold medal from MICCA (the Massachusetts Instrumental & Choral Conductors Association). This entitled them to play in the Gold Medal Showcase at Mechanics Hall in Worcester this month. [click to keep reading…]

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Video: Connections – Main Street area history

by beth on April 23, 2014

Last week, Southborough Access Media produced a new interview show for Southborough viewers, “Connections with Karen Connell”.

Why “Connections”? Within the show Connell seemingly explains, “History really is just a bunch of different connections.”

SAM’s website lists the video as Episode I. Executive Director Katelyn Willis confirms their hope is to produce more episodes as a new ongoing series, possibly monthly or quarterly.

As for what these “connections” are in the premeire episode, Connell’s interviews touch on some of the history around the Southborough Common and Main Street. (A timely topic given the amount of focus around the planned future Main Street reconstruction project.)

The first interview is with David Falconi, President of the Southborough Historical Society. Falconi walks Connell and viewers through some of what the society has learned about the common area’s old burial ground.

Later, Connell interviews author and Framingham University Associate Professor Dr. Jon R. Huibregtse. The discussion includes background on Henry Knox and the signficance of the Henry Knox trail.

Click below to view the episode or check it out directly on youtube.

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Turn in prescription drugs – April 26

by beth on April 23, 2014

The Southborough Police Department will be collecting expired, unused, and/or unwanted prescription drugs on Saturday April 26. They asked me to share the following statement:

On April 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Southborough Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public its eighth opportunity in three years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your pills for disposal to Southborough P.D. located at 19 Main Street. (The DEA cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches.) The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Last October, Americans turned in 324 tons (over 647,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 4,114 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. When those results are combined with what was collected in its seven previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 3.4 million poundsmore than 1,700 tonsof pills.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicinesflushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trashboth pose potential safety and health hazards.

DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an ultimate user (that is, a patient or their family member or pet owner) of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents controlled substances in certain instances.

(Image posted to Flickr by somegeekintn)

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Earth Day Clean Up – April 26

by beth on April 22, 2014

Above: This Saturday, you can volunteer to rid Southborough of litter (Image cropped from photo posted to Flickr by M. Dolly)

If you took advantage of the warm weather to walk around town lately, you may have been irked to see litter lining some of our streets.

This weekend, the Rotary Club is sponsoring it’s 24th Annual Earth Day Clean Up. (I guess it’s a tribute to Earth Day-week, since it doesn’t take place today.)

On Saturday, April 26th community members are encouraged to volunteer time cleaning our streets. The starting time is 8:30 am at Southborough DPW Building. There will be coffee, pastries and T-shirts available at sign up. (First come first served.)

Volunteers are welcomed to celebrate their efforts at the Town Gazebo at 11:30 am. Pizza, soda and ice cream will be served.

In between, you’ll be helping to clean up the streets in town. Remember to BYOG – Bring Your Own Work Gloves!!

Have a favorite spot that needs TLC? To adopt a favorite street in advance, call Southborough’s Department of Public Works at 508-485-1210.

Otherwise, you can sign up that morning at DPW’s location next to the Transfer Station.

The rain date for clean up is Sunday, April 27th.

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This week in sports (4/22-4/26/14)

April 22, 2014 02:30:00 PM

Here’s what’s on tap this week in high school sports.

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The week in government (4/23-4/-27/14): Park Central 40B and Mooney field lights

April 22, 2014 11:30:04 AM

A list of department and committee meetings for the week.

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Events this week (4/22-4/27/14): Gardening, movie, senior conference, animals, puppets and much more

April 22, 2014 10:00:00 AM

Here are some highlights of events in and around Southborough this week.

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Southborough residents show they’re Boston Strong

April 22, 2014 08:56:40 AM

Southborough historically has a good showing in the Boston Marathon, and this year there is an especially large contingent. Thirty-five Southborough residents will cross the starting line in Hopkinton Monday morning.

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