SPECIAL NOTE
I AM
PARTICULARLY PLEASED TO BE PROVIDING A MONTHLY PRESENTATON OF ESSEX
HAPPENING. I AM HAPPY TO BE ONCE AGAIN
PROVIDING MY OPINIONS ON HAPPENINGS IN THIS REGION. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT MY THOUGHTS AS
PRESENTED DO NOT REFLECT THE PRESENTATION OF AN EMPLOYEE OR A MANAGER OF ANY OF
THE ORGANIZATIONS COMMENTED ON IN THESE REPORTS. I INTEND TO CONTINUE REPORTS ON THE
SUCCESSES AND THE MISSION OF ESSEX HERITAGE THAT I HELPED TO CREATE AND LABORED
AT FOR OVER TWO DECADES. I WILL HOWEVER
REPORT ON OTHER ORGANIZATIONS WHERE I AM I ALSO INVOLVED AS A BOARD
MEMBER.
HERITAGE HERO EVENT
Last month
Essex Heritage faced a very pleasant problem with their annual Heritage Hero
Event. The tribute scheduled to honor
Joanne Patton and the federal, state and local commitments made by the entire
Patton Family of Wenham was scheduled to be held at the Willowdale banquet
facility in Topsfield. It had to be
transferred to a more spacious local facility due to an overwhelming demand for
tickets to the event. For the event,
over 450 area participants have signed up to come to the new location at
Danversport Yacht Club for the dinner to honor the famous military and
philanthropic family from the center of this great region. In addition to the strong attendance,
sponsorships are also quite high and that will be most beneficial for ENHC.
My Personal
Tribute since I am unable to attend offered to the most admired Joanne Patton
during her event:
I want to offer my heartiest
congratulations on the presentation of the annual Heritage Hero Award to you
and your entire family. The work and the
importance of the Patton family to this region and to the entire country have
been extraordinary for many decades.
This award is a result of substantial discussion by the leadership of
both Essex Heritage and the National Park Service. This is a wonderful
reflection of the importance of the Patton Family and particularly you Joanne
to the 35 communities that make up the Essex National Heritage Area. You have joined a most distinguished
group of previous winners including past and present community Mayors and
Managers, College Presidents and regional committed activists.
As a former much honored winner of
this valued and prestigious award, I am incredibly disappointed that I cannot
be with you this evening in spite of my almost three year old disability. We were planning to be at the event to share
your excitement about being identified as an outstanding community leader, but
a fractured ankle suffered by my wife Marge a couple of weeks ago made our
presence and participation impossible and has rendered us house bound. Once again our congratulations on the most
well deserved award as the Essex Heritage, National Park Service Heritage Hero
for 2013.
I am particularly pleased to welcome
you as a fellow Heritage Hero in this region that we know means so much to you
and your family. Your participation as
a valued business member of this region and your continuation as a committed
activist of Essex County are welcomed.
We look forward to visiting with you in the future as you continue your
ongoing participation in the affairs of this spectacular section of this
country that you love and have served so well.
Thomas M Leonard
President Emeritus
Essex Heritage
Commission
Election Results in the City of Boston
After a two
decade period of leadership in the states capital city by Mayor Tom Menino, he
is retiring due to health issues and has decided to step down from this role in
2013. A wide variety of a dozen
candidates stepped forward to run in a special election to choose a successor
CEO for Boston on the first Tuesday in November and the field was prospective
mayors was reduced to two final candidates.
City councilor John Connelly and State representative and labor advocate
Martin Walsh were the winners of the run off election and will square off on
the first Tuesday of this month. After
two decades of leadership by an most committed Italian American, the Mayor’s
post in the short term future will be held once again by a Boston Irishman.
More Local Election Results
Even with
all of the troubles and innuendo that are flying around in the community of
Lawrence, the incumbent Mayor of the City William Lantiqua topped the primary
election in that community and will stand for re-election as the City of
Lawrence Chief Executive in November 2013 against three others. If he wins that race, Mayor Lantiqua will
confirm that he has as many lives as a cat.
More Walking Trails Open - in and around this
region
In a
previous edition of this presentation, I outlined many of the recreational
assets in this region and their importance to both Essex Heritage and to me
personally. I presented a number of
locations that can be easily accessed and enjoyed. Following are a number of additional area
recreational the assets both within Essex county and adjacent to this region.
The City of Gloucester’s Newell
Stadium: Gloucester has unveiled a $5
million dollar rehabilitation of Newell Stadium in that coastal community. The New Balance Corporation contributed a fee
for the naming right for a ten year period.
The stadium seats 2,500 people and has many scholastic as well as
recreational uses.
City of Medford Opens Walking
Trail: Medford has completed a 1.7 mile
walking trail called “Over the Mystic.” It has been open and is well signed.
Oceanfront Trail Opened in
Revere: The City of Revere has invited
residents and neighbors to use the new Beachmont Urban Trail. The two mile
trail starts and ends at the N School and runs through the neighborhood and is
well marked with signage. Some of the
urban landscape runs along the ocean.
Bishop Fenwick High School Names New
Principal
The Peabody
Catholic co-educational High School where I spent some time as a Trustee
recently named Brother Thomas Zoppo as its ninth Principal. Brother Zoppo is
originally from this region and until just recently served as the President of
a High School in Baltimore. He has replaced a sister of Notre Dame order that
has led the school in recent years.
Topsfield Fair
I certainly
hope that during the first two weeks of last month that many of you had the
opportunity to visit the world famous Topsfield Fair. The fall is the period of New England
Country Fairs but none the offerings rivals the offering in Topsfield. The event is held near the geographic center
of Essex County and is managed by Jim O’Brien and his staff. Essex Heritage is proud of the long and
cooperative partnership between the two organizations. For my wife and I this event truly means the
end of the summer season but due to an injury suffered by Marge we were unable
to attend the 2013 edition of the Fair, but we are looking forward to next year
as we renew our participation.
Happy Thanksgiving
Even though
the most American of all holidays has yet to be celebrated as this entry is
being prepared, I want to offer all in this region, a most pleasant THANKSGING
DAY. It is a day for family, football
and pleasant times. With Marge now
having more capacity to move around more easily and our oldest grandson, home
from college in North Carolina, and the rest of our family home for dinner, all
is good with our family, and we hope that the day will be as enjoyable for all
of you as well.
Medical Changes in Danvers
The naming
of the medical facilities in Danvers are changing names as the locations are so
convenient. The Beverly Hospital
facility on the old State Hospital site has changed names in keeping with the
Beverly Hospital connection with the Lahey group.
On Endicott
Street The Massachusetts General facility has opened an Urgent Care function
that can be accessed during the day either by appointment or as a walk in. Both of these new name changes and functions
took place during the recent month of October
Disability
Matters
Disney Actions
We have
heard that the Disney Company has changed the rules to allow handicapped move
to the head of the line at their parks.
There is more to that story, as unscrupulous families were compensating
some with handicaps to be “USED” to move families with no need to the head of
lines. They are continuing to “tinker” with their policy for families with a
disabled party.
COPAA to Expand
The Cornell
Orthotics and Prosthetics Amputee Association is being upgraded to encourage
greater participation by the handicapped in this region that have amputee
issues. The group is also creating a
more efficient administrative structure and will be creating opportunities for
corporate and personal contributions to support these efforts
Personal
Observations
Government Shut Down
Ill Advised and Shows Unwillingness of the
Two Political Parties to Work To Achieve Success. For a most lengthy and unnecessary period
last month, the two political parties in Washington were unable to come
together to establish a working plan to keep this country “on track” and as a
result hundreds of workers were furloughed and critical Federal Government
services were discontinued. There are
numerous reasons for this difficult discontinuance of services and I will not
place blame on either political party but will simply urge all of the
participants that can impact the resolution to sit together, act like responsible
adults and craft a solution.
End of summer reading
In previous
presentations I spoke of several books read this summer. All of the reading choices focused on a
particular time of my life during World War ll where I had scant memories. In previous presentations I reported on
books about the lives and the activities of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Both men played significant roles in the war
effort and ultimately were Presidents of this Country. The final book was written by the famous
historian William Manchester and completed a triumvirate of War hero books
telling the tale of General of the Army Douglas Mac Arthur who was a most
famous five star general and who most likely aspirated to the US Presidency but
never completed that journey.
The life of
Douglas Mac Arthur began as the son of a famous US General and recounted his
journey through West Point where he began in 1899. The elder General Mac Arthur spent time in
the American West and spent substantial time in the American managed
Philippines. Later in the life of the
second General, his life focused on even more attention on that chain of
Islands.
I will not
attempt to outline the exploits of the General as he managed and helped to win
the war in the South Pacific, except to note the he was a sensational
strategist and an inspirational
leader. During an attack on Corregidor
he escaped from the Philippines and moved his base of operations to Australia
and then to fulfill a promise as part of his efforts he was driven from the
Island chain but triumphantly returned to drive away the Japanese. He made the phrase “I have returned” famous.
After the
end of hostilities and accepted Japan surrender on the battle ship Missouri, he
was assigned to oversee the restructuring of the vanquished Japanese and was
legendary in that role. When
hostilities broke out in Korea, he was again brought back at war to manage that
effort. He had numerous differences of
opinions about how that war should be pursued and after several disagreements
with the administration. He was recalled
back to the USA from that position by President Truman. His return was triumphant and he was lauded
with parades and great adulation in San Francisco, Washington and New
York. He provided appearances before
Congress and at West Point and made the comment “that old soldiers never die,
they just fade away.” This became one of
the most famous quotes of the war. He
provided testimony to the US Senate and made a triumph tour to American
cities. He died in 1964 in Walter Reed
Army Hospital and lay in state in several locations. He is buried in Norfolk, Virginia and his
burial location has become his final monument to his life.
Sports Report
The Red Sox
are hopefully on the road towards participation in the World Series after a
dramatic win in game two of he ALCS.
The Patriots continue to surprise us with their performance. They authored a big wins in Atlanta and an
improbable comeback against New Orleans, and they have positioned themselves in
the League standings. The Bruins have begun playing for real and the Celtics
start of the season cannot be far behind.
We are
missing viewing the games of our two granddaughters. But we have seen a couple
of tapes of their performances that have been very good. Kate in Danvers is on a goal scoring tear.
High School sports of all kinds are winding down as we get closer to the end of
November. Both girls are playing on
teams that have already qualified for the State Playoffs.
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