Norwood RecordThe

www.norwoodrecord.com

FREE

Volume 14, Issue 4 JanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Former Conservation Commission member Cheryl Doyle and former Conservation Administrative Assis-tant Ramanda Morgan installed water bags in 2019 for the fledgling orchard.

FILE PHOTO

ConCom hears appleorchard upgrade

proposalJefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

The Norwood Conserva-tion Commission (ConCom)met on Jan. 20 and dis-cussed with local residentMark Negron the idea ofplanting around thecommunity’s recently-planted orchard to improvegrowth and reduce mainte-nance.

The idea, according toNegron, is to place comple-mentary plants around each

of the Town’s 48 apple treesplanted in 2019 by the De-partment of Public Works andformer ConCom memberCheryl Doyle and formerConCom administrative as-sistant (but st i l l ZoningBoard of Appeals assistant)Ramanda Morgan at EndeanPark near the CommunityGarden.

“I’ve been working withthe Boston Food Forest for anumber of years and I’ve

ConComConComConComConComConComContinued on page 10

Alexandria will be taking over most of the design and construction duties for the intersection depictedabove at Route 1A.

COURTESY PHOTO

Campanelli transferring responsibilityfor traffic intersection on Route 1A

JefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

UUUUUpland Wpland Wpland Wpland Wpland WoodsoodsoodsoodsoodsContinued on page 6

Norwood Town PlannerPaul Halkiotis announced onMonday, Jan. 25 thatCampanelli Construction isgiving up the design and con-struction of the light for Route1A and Plantingfield Road(formerly Uland WoodsCircle) to property owner atUpland Woods, AlexandriaReal Estate Equities Inc. Theannouncement came at Mon-day night’s Planning Boardmeeting for which Campanellihad a continued public hear-ing on an apparent violation ofconditions for approval for theUpland Woods Subdivision it

built there about 15 years ago.The condition in question waskeeping an accurate trafficcounts and, if that count wentabove a certain level, to designand build a traffic light at thatintersection.

“(Campanelli and Alexan-dria) are in the process of offi-cially transferring that work andfollowing up with the Massa-chusetts Department of Trans-portation (MassDOT) and noti-fying them of who will be man-aging this project,” Halkiotissaid. “Campanelli is pullingaway, they don’t really ownmuch real estate there, and Al-exandria has stepped up and hasagreed to pay for the cost of de-signing and signalizing that in-

tersection.”Halkiotis said the hearing

on Monday was called becausehe and other members of thePlanning Department did notfeel Campanelli would “moveforward expeditiously” on theproject. The company’s ap-proved order of conditionsfrom 2004 stipulated it shouldstart design on the light after2018’s traffic numbers.

“We have continued towork with them and Alexan-dria and it now it looks likewe’re in pretty good shape toresolve this issue,” Halkiotissaid. “These two companieshave committed to doing this

Norwood remembersBernie Cooper

Bernie Cooper

Bernie CooperBernie CooperBernie CooperBernie CooperBernie CooperContinued on page 2

JefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

It was announced on Sundaynight that Norwood AssistantTown Manager Bernie Cooperhad passed away. The an-nouncement shocked the com-munity, and everyone whoknew Bernie Cooper were ef-fusive in his praise.

Former Town ManagerJohn Carroll said he workedwith Cooper for 39 years, andthat he’s never met someonelike him during that time.

“Bernie is the best husband,the best father and the best as-sistant town manager that thereis in the whole world,” he said.“I said that 20 years ago, and Istill said it up until yesterday.”

Carroll said he was afriendly and capable guy, andhe told The Record that youwould have to do a lot of dig-ging to find anyone who wouldsay a bad word about him, andeven then you might not findanyone.

“I was talking with a friendof mine and she said she didn’tknow anybody who had a badword about Bernie Cooper, andthat’s true,” he said.

Carroll said Cooper wassomeone who was alwaysworking to better the Town.

“I’m a really big lunch guyand I think he was too,” he said.“If we went to only 150 lunchesa year, over 40 years, that’s6,000 lunches. And they werealways working lunches orthere were always other peoplewith us, like Tom McQuaid,

and the late Steve Costello or afew other people and we alwayshad excellent times.”

Carroll added that if therewas a snow storm in Town andhe and the Department of Pub-lic Works were out plowing, re-moving downed trees or fixingpower lines, Cooper wouldhave some harsh words withhim if he didn’t call Cooper.

“He just wanted to go outand he didn’t care if it was eventwo o’clock in the morning,” hesaid with a laugh. “If there wasa snowstorm and for some rea-son I didn’t call him or what-ever, he would be so ticked off.That’s how much he cared.”

Board of Selectmen ChairWilliam Plasko said much thesame, that he was one of thenicest people on the planet andthe hardest worker in the Town.

“Bernie Cooper was Mr.

Page 2Page 2Page 2Page 2Page 2 The Norwood Record JanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Bernie Cooper continued from page 1

Cooper was called "Mr. Norwood" by colleagues and embodied someof the best aspects of the Town.

PHOTO BY ERNIE PACIORKOWSKI

Norwood,” he said. “Beyondbeing an extremely dedicatedemployee, almost nothing hap-pened in the life of our commu-nity did so without Bernie be-ing involved. Often, he was theforce that made these effortssuccessful. Bernie spent hun-dreds of hours over the last halfcentury beyond his workweekvolunteering to make this Towna wonderful place to live. Hehas been the driving force forthe Fourth of July Parade,Guardian of the Carillon,worked tirelessly behind thescenes for Concerts on theCommon, Hazardous WasteDay, Norwood Day and, as Isaid, almost every event inNorwood. I have known himsince he first started with theTown. Bernie Cooper was thekindest person I have everknown.

“We were all blessed byBernie in Norwood, even thosewho never knew his name,”Plasko said.

Selectman ThomasMaloney said Bernie was thereason many aspects of theTown government ran assmoothly as they did.

“Few people realize howimportant Bernie’s contributionto the Town was,” he said.“Town government ransmoothly in great part becauseof Bernie. Whether we werediscussing capital planning oremployee benefits or any oneof a dozen other areas of towngovernment, Bernie was al-

ways prepared for the conver-sation. His approach was per-sistent, butrespectful. Bernie understoodthe importance of collegiality inmunicipal management. I willmiss his counsel and his goodhumor.”

Town Moderator DavidHern said Bernie was the liv-ing memory of the Town.

“On a personal level, I al-ways enjoyed my interactionswith Bernie,” he said. “He heldmuch of the institutionalmemory of the Town and itspeople, and many of the storieshe told me were history lessonsabout why such-and-such isdone the way it is or why thisor that happened and who wasinvolved. He was kind, he sawthe humor in everyday life, andhe cared about people.”

Hern added that few peoplecould have been as adept as hewas in working with two townmanagers who had such differ-ing styles, Carroll and currentTown Manager TonyMazzucco.

“Though John and Tonyhave very different styles,Bernie was able to adapt tothose differences and to ensurethat what he did and what theydid benefited our community,”he said. “While Bernie willcertainly be greatly missed bythose who knew him andworked with him on so manyprojects and endeavors overthe years, perhaps more impor-tantly his absence will likely

be felt by those who did notknow him personally or knowof his role in our Town’s suc-cesses – the ordinary peoplewho have benefited fromBernie’s many years of quietand devoted service toNorwood.”

Norwood Record reporterMatthew MacDonald workedfor two years at the paper cov-ering Norwood full-time, andhe said he’ll never forget thefirst time he met Cooper. Hesaid he was at Town Hall look-ing for a few documents for astory he was working on andasked the Town receptionistwho might know where thosedocuments would be. She toldhim to go to Cooper’s office.

“I pivoted and took a stepinto the doorway of Cooper’soffice and my vision was im-mediately drawn to a desk witha solid wall of files and fold-ers that must have piled upabout two feet on top of it,” hesaid. “I looked back over at thereceptionist and said, ‘He’s notthere.’ ‘I’m here!’ My headsnapped around toward thevoice that had chirped from be-hind the folders, and – step-ping further into Cooper’s of-fice, I found this skinny littleguy hard at work behind thosefiles. It was kind of like some-thing out of a scene from aDickens story, and made suchan amusing impression to me.“Oh yeah,” he said. “Thosefiles.” And we both had apretty good chuckle over the

imagery. That day, Bernie (heinsisted that I call him Bernie)had indeed ‘known that’ and –subsequent to that first im-promptu meeting – he kept onknowing things and was will-ing to share them responsibly.”

MacDonald echoed Hern’ssentiment about Cooper’s in-exhaustible knowledge of theTown.

“He was a tremendous re-source; I don’t think it’s an ex-aggeration when I write that hisdeath is roughly akin to an in-teractive library of very particu-lar, necessary, and easily ac-cessed Town information burn-ing all the way to the ground,”he said. “I sure as hell know thatI wouldn’t want to have to sortthrough those files. Beyond that

– and far more importantly – hestruck me as a very nice and de-cent man. I’m very sorry thathe’s gone.”

“It’s just a sad day,” said As-sistant Town Planner PatrickDeschenes.

“There’s only one Bernie,”said Planning Board MemberErnie Paciorkowski. “He was justone of the good guys. He will bemissed.”

“Bernie was the most dedi-cated public servant I’ve ever met,his dedication, nights, weekends,parades, concerts, Bernie was al-ways there to get the job done andhe was one of the nicest people Iever knew,” said Town PlannerPaul Halkiotis.

Bernie’s full obituary can befound in this week’s issue.

Page 3 Page 3 Page 3 Page 3 Page 3The Norwood RecordJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Town Meeting quorum lowered to 45for virtual meeting

MarMarMarMarMary Ellen Gambony Ellen Gambony Ellen Gambony Ellen Gambony Ellen GambonStaff Reporter

The Norwood Board of Se-lectmen on Tues. Jan. 26 ap-proved by a 4 to 1 vote to al-low the quorum for the Feb. 4Town Meeting to be loweredto 45 members because it willbe the first time it is held viathe Zoom virtual platform. Se-lectman Helen AbdallahDonohue, who voted against it,made a motion to reduce thequorum to 80 that failed.

Chairman William Plaskosaid at first he was unsure ifthe quorum would need to belowered, given that neighbor-ing towns have run successfulvirtual Town Meetings. How-ever, after a discussion withTown Moderator David Hern,he thought it would be wise tohave the reduced number as asafeguard.

“We’ve never done this be-fore, so we can’t be certain,”he said. “There’s also a provi-sion that, if Town Meetingmembers are uncomfortablewith it or they don’t like it,they can vote to not continuein the virtual meeting but goto a regular, in-person meet-ing.”

“The first order of businessfor the Town Meeting is to votewhether to hold the remoteTown Meeting,” Hern ex-plained. “I don’t think that willhappen, but if the body votednot to go forward with the re-mote, we would adjourn to thefollowing Monday for an in-person meeting. At that point,we might have some concernsabout reaching the usual quo-rum requirement. That’s whyI think it’s a useful fallback toconsider in regard to the quo-rum.”

Donohue asked about theprocedure for the substitutemoderator in a virtual meeting.Plasko explained that it wouldbe the same as at a regularmeeting in that the body wouldelect a Town Moderator protempore, which is usually theTown Clerk. Hern said that hewill recuse himself from fourarticles up for debate “to avoidany possible conflict of inter-est.” Then, a nominee can bechosen from the floor.

“I think that we need tomake that point clear to all the

Town Meeting members,”Donohue added. “Everyoneelse who wants to try is wel-come to try to get elected.”

“Mr. Chairman, that’s al-ways how we’ve ruled andthat’s always how we’ve oper-ated,” Hern clarified.

Hern said a typical quorumaverages 125. There have beenfour training meetings forTown Meeting members, withabout 90 people participatingso far. The last one is on Mon.Feb. 1 at 7 p.m., and the link ison the Town website. It is im-portant for members to attendto learn parliamentary proce-dure.

“It’s not the same as hav-ing a meeting with friends onZoom,” he said.

In other news, Mark Ryan,Department of Public WorksDirector and Town Engineer,spoke about the department’sactivity. Progress has beenmade on the traffic light designand reconstruction atPlantingfield, Brook and Up-land Rds. to accommodate theModerna facility as it works to“provide safe passage for thosepeople doing the wonderfuljob of providing the vaccinefor the country and the wholeworld.” The larger project atUpland Rd. and Prospect St.and Fulton St. will be done in2023, he added.

Ryan noted the holiday re-cycling at the landfill was ex-tremely successful, as was theChristmas tree pickup pro-gram.

Selectman ThomasMaloney spoke of his concernabout the rise in recyclingcosts. The fourth year of thefive-year contract will start inJuly.

“When we negotiated thiscontract, we made sure that re-cycling costs never exceededsolid waste costs,” Ryan said.“That has saved us thousandsand thousands of dollars.”

The C. Lothrop RichPocket Park proposal, broughtto the Board by outgoing As-sistant Town Planner PatrickDeschenes, raised some dis-cussion, as no sketches wereprovided. Donohue said shedidn’t see the need, and it isnear another park.

“This looks to make use ofthe Safe Street funding to help

kind of enhance the area byadding pathways as well as ad-ditional benching,” he ex-plained. “It is already a verybeautiful area, but we’re tryingto make use of the existing fund-ing to enhance this pocket park.”

Plasko termed whatDeschenes was trying to accom-plish with Norwood’s greenspaceas an “emerald necklace” alongthe Washington Street corridor.Safe Street funding is generallyused to enhance commercial dis-tricts.

Donohue asked if funds couldbe used to beautify the BalchSchool front lawn. Deschenessaid there was money availablefor improvements there as well,as the pocket park would costabout $35,000. There is close to$70,000 available, which must bespent by the end of the fiscal year.

She asked to postpone actionon the motion until the plan wassubmitted.

“We don’t know the site,”Donohue said. “We don’t knowhow big it is and we don’t knowwhat shape it is.”

“Yes, we do,” Maloney coun-tered. “Within a couple of feet,we do.”

The motion was approved 4-1, with Donohue opposed.

Plasko and General ManagerTony Mazzucco announced theymet with representatives fromNorwood Hospital regarding itsfuture.

“All I can say is they sworeus to secrecy,” Plasko said. “Theyhave corporate reasons why theydon’t feel they can’t say much atthis time.”

He added that they are “fullycommitted to coming back to theTown,” and that more informa-tion will be forthcoming in April.

Page 4Page 4Page 4Page 4Page 4 The Norwood Record JanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Recycling could be so much easierOPINION Letters to the Editor

BAD TIMING FOR NEW MIDDLE SCHOOLTo the Editor:Now is not the time for Norwood to build a new middle

school.For one thing, I have my doubts about what was reported

in your January 21st issue, in which the Middle School TaskForce claimed that a renovation of the existing buildingwould cost more than building a new school.

I suspect that a renovation (which may include buildingan addition) would cost taxpayers less than a new building.

Norwood taxpayers also are paying more in propertytaxes thanks to two Proposition 2-1/2 overrides (one forthe new high school, and more recently, an operational over-ride).

But the major reason that this is not the time to build anew middle school is the economic fallout from thecoronavirus epidemic. Most people, in Norwood and else-where, are suffering financially at the moment. The eco-nomic effects of COVID-19 may last for years to come.

There may be a time in the future when Norwood tax-payers can afford a new middle school. But the time isn’tnow.

Joseph GallantNorwood

LibrarLibrarLibrarLibrarLibrary Evy Evy Evy Evy EventsentsentsentsentsAUTHOR DISCUSSES HISTORYOF AMERICA’S HURRICANES

Join the Morrill Memorial Library, Progress Norwood, andTogetherYes for a very special program with author Eric JayDolin via Zoom on Tuesday, February 16 at 7:00 pm to learnabout his book, “A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year His-tory of America’s Hurricanes.” This book is a New York TimesEditor’s Choice for 2020, was named One of 50 Notable Worksof Nonfiction for 2020 by the Washington Post, and is one ofKirkus Review’s top 100 nonfiction books of 2020 (also a fi-nalist for the Kirkus Prize).

From the moment European colonists laid violent claim tothis land, hurricanes have had a profound and visceral impacton American history— yet, no one has attempted to write thedefinitive account of America’s entanglement with these me-teorological behemoths. Now, bestselling historian Eric JayDolin presents the five-hundred-year story of American hurri-canes, from the nameless storms that threatened Columbus’ NewWorld voyages, to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mariain Puerto Rico and the escalation of hurricane season as a resultof global warming. Weaving a story of shipwrecks and devas-tated cities, of heroism and folly, Dolin introduces a rich cast ofcharacters, including Benjamin Franklin, Ernest Hemingway,Katherine Hepburn, and Steven Spielberg, and puts us in themiddle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worsethan the Galveston hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American his-tory. A necessary work of environmental and cultural history,“A Furious Sky” will change the way we understand the stormson the horizon of America’s future. To learn more about thisbook, and its author, please visit www.ericjaydolin.com.

Registration for this program is required. Please sign up byvisiting our online events calendar, norwoodlibrary.org/morrillcalendar, or by calling the Reference Desk at 781-769-0200 x2. Zoom access details will be sent out the day beforeand the day of the program.

This program is part of Norwood’s Civic Hub, a year-longseries of LSTA grant programs brought to you with federal fundsprovided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services andadministered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commis-sioners. This program is also the latest installment in ProgressNorwood and TogetherYes’ Spring 2021 Sustainability Series.

Letter ToThe Editor

Please write to:Norwood Record

661 Washington St,Suite 202

Norwood, MA 02062 Tel: (617) 361-8400Fax: (617) 361-1933

e-mail us atnews@norwoodrecord.com

Tell ‘emwhat you

think with a

Please include your name,address & telephone number.

Unsigned letters will not bepublished.

Recycling is a big issue in theTown of Norwood, as it shouldbe. As was detailed in a Letterto the Editor in last week’s pa-per, Dame Judith Howard rightlydeclared it is one of the best ser-vices Norwood offers its resi-dents. She went on to explainthere are a myriad of ways torecycle, including using foodscrap bins, available at the DPWat a reduced cost through a grant,which perhaps many peoplehadn’t previously considered.

On Tuesday’s selectmen’smeeting, Selectman ThomasMaloney spoke of his concernabout the rise in recycling costs.The fourth year of the five-yearcontract will start in July.

“When we negotiated thiscontract, we made sure that re-cycling costs never exceededsolid waste costs,” Director ofthe DPW Mark Ryan said. “Thathas saved us thousands and thou-sands of dollars.”

So it is clear that in the Townof Norwood both residents andpublic officials are on board withmaximizing recycling efforts.Well, here’s wishing productmanufacturers and federal agen-cies would step up efforts toproperly label containers to as-sist in efforts. This writer triesto do the best he can to recycle,but I, like I’m guessing most ev-eryone else, spend ridiculousamounts of time reviewing itemsto determine if they belong in thetrash bin or the recycling bin.Couldn’t the feds require, say bya certain date, that ALL packag-ing, whether recyclable or not,be clearly labeled on the pack-age as “RECYCLE” or “DO

NOT RECYCLE” in big let-ters? The little triangular sym-bol they use now is familiar tomost people and to most it sig-nifies that the package can berecycled. Well, guess again. Itdoesn’t even always mean that!For example, on baby foodpouches the symbol appears,not because you can place it inthe recycle bin, but because itis eligible to be mailed in to alocation where it will then berecycled. I’m not making thisup. And even if a package doesdisplay the symbol it is usuallysurrounded by bigger words andgraphics making it very hard tosee. And if most don’t see itright away, we assume it goesin the trash bin when, in fact,it’s recyclable. For such an im-portant national commitmenthow can packaging remain soobtuse?

There are all kinds of newpackaging being developed andshipped every day. Styrofoam,for example, historically has notbeen recyclable. However, newpackaging that looks exactlylike the old foam can now berecycled, but most people don’tknow this because the productmessage doesn’t jump out atfolks at the time they are choos-ing which bin to put it in.

Packaging for items like po-tato chips and other loosesnacks are far more colorful andcreative than in the past, but halfthe time I can’t tell what bin itshould go in, and looking for thelittle triangle amidst all the glitzand glamour on the bag justmakes me want to say ‘the hellwith it’ and toss it in the trash

bin. It shouldn’t be this way.How hard is it to place in bigletters on a pizza box to not re-cycle it? Sure, most people whokeep up with recycling knowthat a used pizza box should notbe recycled, but too many don’tand think they are being respon-sible citizens by recycling it,costing the rest of us a lot ofmoney. It really is a nationaldisgrace.

Okay, now that my recyclerant is out of the way, it wouldbe remiss not to comment thateveryone here at the NorwoodRecord Newspaper, and prior tothat, the Norwood BulletinNewspaper, are broken heartedover the loss of Bernie Cooper.In 1992 when my partner Pauland I started this newspaperthere were a lot of people hop-ing we would fail because oftheir loyalty to another newspa-per securely entrenched inNorwood’s history. We knewgoing in there would be someanimosities, but were hoping wewould get a fair shake fromthose we needed to do businesswith to succeed. Bernie Coo-per, among others, gave us thatfair shake. Since then over theyears all of us here were alwaysassisted in our efforts by Bernie,his knowledge of Norwood un-paralleled, his commitment to itsresidents unequaled. Always agentleman, always at the fore-front of helping those in need,this Town is a special placemade so in great part by thiswonderful person. Bernie Coo-per was truly a son of Norwood.Requiescat in pace.

Dennis Cawley

Page 5 Page 5 Page 5 Page 5 Page 5The Norwood RecordJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Board of Health looks forward tomoving into vaccine response stage

Vaccines are on the mind of people all over the world right now.FILE PHOTO

JefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

The Norwood Board ofHealth met last week on Jan.19 and discussed the ongoingresponse to the COVID-19pandemic.

Norwood Health Depart-ment Superintendent SigalleReiss said she is excited to bemoving on to the vaccinationportion of the response,which she said is where mostof the department’s resourcesare going.

“We are very excited to bemoving on to the vaccinephase of the pandemic re-sponse,” she said. “We havereally allocated most of ourresources to that effort ,which on a side note meansthat with contract tracing, amajority of our cases are go-ing to the Community Trac-ing Collaborative, which isthe state contact tracing en-tity. I think if we had unlim-ited resources we’d be able todo that, but I think focusingon the vaccine is really go-ing to lead us to the end ofthe pandemic. We’re reallyexcited and we think that’s agood allocation of re-sources.”

Reiss said the departmentwill continue to hold vaccineclinics for those eligible ac-

cording to the MassachusettsPhases of vaccination. Rightnow, the state is in Phase 1,which is planned to be ongo-ing unti l February 2021.Those included in Phase 1 areCOVID-19 testers, staff oftest sites, vaccine administra-tors and support staff, schoolnurses, public health nurses,first responders, long-termcare facil i ty and nursinghome staff, federal law en-forcement, corrections andshelter staff, front-facingCOVID-19 response staff,most medical professionalsand chiropractors and acu-puncturists (for a full list, goto https://bit.ly/3pexKtL).

“There are st i l l somepopulations in Phase 1 thathaven’t been reached yet, butwe expect those to open inthe next few weeks,” Reisssaid. “Really by the begin-ning of February, all of Phase1 should be open.”

Reiss also said there aresearchable maps on the statewebsite (https: / /bi t . ly/2MeSvXP) where one canfind the closest or largest vac-cination stations in the area.She said the largest local siteis Gil let te Stadium, butNorwood is also hosting vac-cinations for local residents

VVVVVaccine Raccine Raccine Raccine Raccine ResponseesponseesponseesponseesponseContinued on page 6

Page 6Page 6Page 6Page 6Page 6 The Norwood Record JanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

LEGAL NOTICE

Upland Woodscontinued from page 1

work and they have this work under contract with VHD rightnow.”

Alexandria Senior Director of Asset Services John Pauly saidthey have the 25 percent design schematics right now and theyare expecting the 50 percent design schematic draft this week.

“We’ll take a quick one or two days just to turn it around withthe expectation of being able to deliver the documents that wecan submit to MassDOT and to the Town by this week, which Ibelieve meets the continuity going on with the Prospect Streetproject as well,” he said, referencing the nearby Prospect Streetsignalization project. “We’re working with the Planning Depart-ment to make sure we’re supporting both projects in a timelymanner.”

Campanelli Partner Daniel DeMarco echoed Pauly’s senti-ment.

“Although we’re very much done with that project we’d verymuch like to work with Norwood in the future, thank you,” hesaid.

The Board voted unanimously to close the public hearing onthe issue.

In other news, Halkiotis expressed his recent concern aboutthe fact that this year’s Town Meeting Warrant Articles for theRoute 1 Rezoning Article and the Medical Services Overlay Dis-trict (for the hospital) will not have full explanations on them.He said, instead, there is a summary he wrote that goes throughthe meat of the articles but not their full details. The PlanningDepartment has posted its full articles with all those articles’ de-tails on the Planning Department page of the Town’s website atn o r w o o d m a . g o v / g o v e r n m e n t / c o m m i t t e e s _ b o a r d s /planning_board/fall_special_town_meeting_articles_-_2020.php.

“This is the first time this has been done, I’ve never seen itdone before and I have some concerns with it,” he said. “I feelwe will be open to criticism for not having published the full textof the articles on this warrant and I think the public deserves tosee the full detail of these articles. I think we’re going to need tohave a conversation with the Selectmen next year about this, par-ticularly if there’s any kind of backlash.”

Halkiotis was audibly and visibly frustrated at this move.“I don’t, you know, I mean they’re trying to save ink and pa-

per for the warrant?” he said. “I’m not a big supporter of theapproach we’re doing this year.”

Lastly, the Board wished outgoing Assistant Town PlannerPatrick Deschenes luck in his new role as Planner for the Townof Walpole.

“Every one of you has been amazing to work with and it’sdefinitely bittersweet,” he said. “I’m excited for the next step ofmy career, but working with Paul and all of you and coming into566 Washington Street, it’s definitely going to be different, but Iam excited.”

Planning Board Chair Al Porro gave Deschenes a New En-gland roast-like send off.

“You had a great mentor here in Town and he’s been carryingyou on his back for three-plus years and this is how you thankhim?” he said with a laugh. “That’s how it is I guess. But seri-ously, we do wish you well. It’s been as great an experience onyour side as it has been for us. You’ve done a real professionaljob.”

Vaccine Response continued from page 5of Norwood and other quali-fied persons.

“They’re hoping to rampup Gillette to 5,000 doses aday, and I think it will run24/7 and that’s happeningright now,” she said. “Wealso will be running smallclosed clinics targeted tospecific populations we canreach. An example of thatwould be at the beginningof Phase 2, which will hope-fully be in the middle ofFebruary, Housing Author-ity residents will be eli-gible. So that’s anothergreat target population towhom we can bring the vac-cine. Those are seniors whoare high-risk living in closequarters, which puts addi-t ional r isk on them, sowe’re happy to get themvaccinated soon.”

Reiss said the depart-ment requests numbers ofvaccines on a weekly basisand so far has been gettingabout half the doses thathave been requested. Assis-tant Health Department Su-perintendent Stacey Lanesaid they have been order-ing for a total of 10 othercommunities for the firstvaccinations of first re-sponders.

“We were the depot .They were coming here be-cause the state could onlyreally ship to one place andone town until they got ev-erything up and running,”she said.

Lane said that startingthis week, the vaccines will

be for Norwood residentsonly as the state’s distribu-tion infrastructure is moreconcrete.

“They don’t give us whatwe order, they’ll give us apercentage of it,” she said.

Reiss added that Phase 2also include Town staff, liketeachers and Town Hall em-ployees. Reiss said that theTown is not privy to any ad-ditional information thanwhat is posted on the statewebsite.

“We are getting a flood ofcalls asking questions and,unfortunately, we only knowwhatever ’s posted on thestate website, we don’t knowanything more,” she said.“For the majori ty of thepopulation I would really en-courage them to go lookthere for the answers.”

The Board also discussedthe progress, or more accu-rately lack of progress, re-garding the proposed bodyart regulations in Town.According to Massachu-setts State Law, each mu-n i c i p a l i t y c a n r e g u l a t ew h a t k i n d s o f b o d y a r t( t a t toos , p ie rc ing , bodymodification) it does anddoes not allow on the pre-mises.

The last time the Boarddiscussed this topic wasbecause upcoming zoningchanges may make bodyart an allowable use in thedowntown area (now it isonly allowed on Route 1)and l ight manufactur ingzones l ike the Winsmith

Mill. Currently, there are17 different types ofpiercings and tattoos theTown does not allow by or-der of the Health Depart-ment, a full list of whichcan be found in the Oct.15, 2020 issue of TheNorwood Record, availableat this newspaper's website atwww.norwoodrecord.com.For the most part they in-clude prohibi t ions onpiercings of the genitals,neck or other deep areasthat could result in seriousinjury if performed incor-rectly.

“There’s not much of anupdate on the body art regu-lations, but it’s still on our ra-dar,” Reiss said. “We arelooking at the MassachusettsAssociation of Health Boardsto see its draft regulationsand discussing with maybe acontractor to do the research.We just don’t have the capac-ity and we don’t want that tofall behind too much.”

Norwood Health DepartmentSuperintendent Sigalle Reiss

Page 7 Page 7 Page 7 Page 7 Page 7The Norwood RecordJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICEFour Points won approval for this sign to be replaced with a digital sign to help inform event attendees ofwhat's happening at the Tiffany Ballroom.

COURTESY PHOTO

ZBA approves Four Points Sheratonelectronic digital message sign

JefJefJefJefJeff Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf Sullivf SullivanananananStaff Reporter

Digital SignDigital SignDigital SignDigital SignDigital SignContinued on page 10

The Norwood ZoningBoard of Appeals (ZBA) met onJan. 19 for a short meeting andapproved an application fromFour Points Sheraton at 1125Boston Providence Turnpikefor a digital message sign infront of the hotel.

The existing sign is not thesign right on the highway, butrather the sign about 90 feet

into the parking lot advertisingthe Tiffany Ballroom. ProSignGraphics representative AnnaHaluch said the idea was to re-place the existing sign cabinetwith an electronic activatedchangeable message board.

“The reason we started withthis design and asking for thedigital message board is thatthis will be specifically used forthe Tiffany Ballroom,” she said.“They have many weddings,corporate events, proms, holi-

day parties, charity galas, andthis way when you pull in youknow what event is going on.It will not display anythingother than the event name, theevent time and maybe if there’sa Patriots game or if there is aTown event that can be dis-played, but if there is nothinggoing on that weekend, it won’tbe used for any advertising oranything like that.”

Page 8Page 8Page 8Page 8Page 8 The Norwood Record JanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

PolicePolicePolicePolicePoliceLogsLogsLogsLogsLogs

PPPPPolice Logsolice Logsolice Logsolice Logsolice LogsContinued on page 9

Monday, January 180749 Phone - Well Being Chk

Spoken To Location/Address:Plymouth Dr

0840 Initiated - Debris On RoadState DPW/Norwood DPWNotified Location/Address:Gazebo - Town Common -Washington St N664 reportsbroken glass on public benchon E. Cottage St. side of com-mon.

1255 911 - Disturbance ServicesRendered Location/Address:Tremont St Caller reports a ver-bal argument between a manand woman outside the build-ing. Units spoke to all partiesinvolved and matter was re-solved. Party advised of HPOrights.

1309 Phone - Assist OtherAgency Services Rendered Lo-cation/Address: Bos-Prov Hwy+ Sumner St N666 assists MADOT with traffic light.

1512 Phone - Fraud No ActionRequired Location/Address:6th St Report phone damagedand bank account compro-mised. N669 reports no answerat home. Message left on voicemail to call back police whenhe is in Norwood. 9-1-1 Mapput him in Boston.

1629 Phone - Civil Dispute Spo-ken To Location/Address:Lansdowne Way Verbal disputeover a trespass tow. All partiesadvised, front office confirmsvehicle does not have a park-ing permit.

1704 Phone - Malicious Damage*Report Filed Location/Ad-dress: Jack Madden ServiceDept - Bos-Prov Hwy Em-ployee reports window onBrookline PD transit van 554was smashed by an unknownparty. Brookline PD notified,report to be faxed.

1903 Walk-In - Lost And FoundServices Rendered Location/Address: Cvs Pharmacy -Nahatan St Found wallet.Owner notified.

2200 Phone - Animal ComplaintArea Search Negative Loca-tion/Address: Callahan School(Acct# 1380d) - Garfield AveUnattended dog.

Tuesday, January 190424 911 - Assist Citizen Services

Rendered Location/Address:Norwest Dr Caller asking if anofficer can assist him and speakwith his mother about familyissues taking place.N667,N669 responded and

spoke with her and her son. Sheis going back to bed. Matter re-solved for now. N667 willspeak with Resource Officerabout issue.

0730 911 - Power Outage FireDept Notified/Responded Lo-cation/Address: Washington St Caller reports a transformerblew by the dumpster. NFD re-sponded.

0911 Other - Be On The LookoutServices Rendered BOLO forMA DL 791 with unknown let-ter, 2007 Chevy Silverado P-upblack, from Canton St., and aKia Sorento black that was leftbehind is a stolen car out ofBoston.

1211 Phone - Citizens ComplaintServices Rendered Location/Address: Montessori School -Walpole St Report of a helicop-ter flying around above schoolarea. Call to the tower- flightschool just practicing.

1316 Phone - Well Being ChkArea Search Negative Loca-tion/Address: Bos-Prov HwyReport of a man and childwalking in breakdown lane onhighway.

1404 Phone - Animal ComplaintNACO/WACO notified Loca-tion/Address: Arcadia Rd Ap-pears of a baby parakeet in area.

1406 Phone - Well Being ChkSpoken To Location/Address:Worcester Dr Report have nothad any contact with a friendfor a week. N677 confirmedshe is still in hospital since lastweek’s incident.

1419 Phone - Trespassing SpokenTo Location/Address: MeadowSt Report someone on a ride-on mower went into woods.

1704 911 - Susp Activity SpokenTo Location/Address:Brookview Cir Caller reportsseeing a vehicle last night thatshe does not believe belongs inthe complex. Advised.

1900 Phone - Auto Theft *ReportFiled Location/Address: Vil-lage Rd W CT PC AZ06688 be-ing used without authority.BOLO to the cars and sur-rounding cities and towns. Ve-hicle returned prior to NCICentry. Matter remains under in-vestigation.

1916 Phone - Phone HarassmentSpoken To Location/Address:Dominos Pizza -Washington St Party reports heis receiving annoying phonecalls at work. Advised of op-tions.

2211 911 - Disturbance *Report

Filed Location/Address:Lansdowne Way Caller reportsa group of males outside of thebuilding, one possibly with afirearm. Westwood PD K9 andMSP K9 responded.

Wednesday, January 200101 911 - Unwanted Party Ser-

vices Rendered Location/Ad-dress: Courtyard By Mariott -River Ridge Dr Desk clerk re-ports large party going on inRm#174 and would like themremoved. N667,N669,N679 re-sponded. Group removed with-out incident.

0919 Phone - Phone HarassmentSpoken To Location/Address:Washington St Harassing textmessages. N663 spoke to bothparties, advised of HarassmentPrevention Order if it contin-ues.

0949 Phone - Sex Offenses Un-der Investigation Location/Ad-dress: Norwood High School -Nichols St Millis School prin-cipal reports to Millis PD thatthey received an e-mail aboutpossible assaults that took placein Norwood this past summer.N468 to conduct an investiga-tion.

1056 Phone - Assist Citizen Spo-ken To Location/Address:Norwest Dr Female resident,language barrier, reports she isupset over child visitationagreement, could not tell if shemeant it was happening now.N677 reports it was not hap-pening now, and she is just up-set over the Brockton ProbateCourt’s decision.

1100 Phone - Assist Citizen Ser-vices Rendered Location/Ad-dress: Washington St Unitsstand-by and keep the peacewhile a landlord/tenant issue isresolved by the landlord.

1219 Phone - Hit And Run*Arrest(S)Made Location/Ad-dress: Washington St +Tremont St Caller reports hisvehicle and a second car hit intraffic on Washington St nearTremont. Driver of MA1KGS46 fled and is outside at112 Cedar ST . The operatorcame out of his car with a sixpack and a child. As a resultN670 transports one under ar-

rest . Negoshians tows . ReferTo Arrest: 21-21-AR Arrest:Reyes, Ever Alexander Ad-dress: 112 Cedar St Apt. #3Norwood, Ma Age: 31Charges: Child EndangermentWhile Oui Leave Scene OfProperty Damage Leave SceneOf Property Damage Negli-gent Operation Of Motor Ve-hicle Unlicensed Operation OfMv Oui-Liquor Or .08%

1340 Other - Well Being ChkServices Rendered Location/Address: Norwest DrN407,N435 check on a student.

1417 Walk-In - Larceny *ReportFiled Location/Address: Ac-cess Rd Report 2 catalytic con-verters stolen.

1434 Phone - Civil Dispute CivilMatter Location/Address:Elliot St Report family argu-ment over a piece of property’sownership. N667 reports civilmatter, resolved for now.

1611 Phone - Mischief (Kids)Spoken To Location/Address:Margaret St Caller reports agroup of twelve year olds play-ing with a pellet gun. N678states that was a squirt gun,advised.

21-1439 2337 911 - NeighborDisturbance Spoken To Loca-tion/Address: David TerraceApts. - David Ter Caller reportsher neighbor knocked on herdoor while carrying an axe.N666 spoke to both parties andthey are satisfied, party wasalso apologized to and allchecks out ok.

Thursday, January 210035 911 - Assist Citizen Services

Rendered Location/Address:Washington St + Nahatan StParty Reports She Is LockedOut Of Her Vehicle And Can’topen it with spare key. NFD re-sponded and handled same.

0331 911 - Susp Activity ServicesRendered Location/Address:Highview St Caller believes herhusband is spying on her andcoming into her home when shesleeps. She believes he is alsobugging her home. She doesn’twant to speak with officer butwould like an officer to go bythe house throughout the night.N666 notified and will makechecks.

1149 Phone - Assist Citizen *Re-port Filed Location/Address:CCS National Llc- Credit Col-lection Services - Canton St.Caller reports a threatening let-ter his company received in themail.

1235 911 - Assist Citizen *ReportFiled Location/Address:Warthin Cir Caller reports a fe-male party is walking up to thehouse trying to get in. Callerdoes not know this party. Mat-ter resolved and mental healthservices offered but refused.

21-1495 1445 Phone - Well Be-ing Chk Services RenderedLocation/Address: Fulton StOfficer attempts to locate a sub-ject for a Warrant Of Apprehen-sion .Officer reports she is outof town and the order will ex-pire today. Family contactedand advised .

1618 Phone - Larceny *ReportFiled Location/Address: MillPond Ln Caller reports a fam-

ily member is cashing his So-cial Security disability checks.

1652 911 - Assist Citizen *ReportFiled Location/Address:Highview St Caller believessomeone may have been in herresidence and moved itemsaround.

21-1504 1729 Phone - Civil Dis-pute Assisted Party Location/Address: Norwest Dr N667 as-sists with a Family Court order.

21-1507 1815 Phone - Susp Ac-tivity *Report Filed Location/Address: Norwest Dr Caller re-ports an individual who appearsto be going through resident’smail.

21-1511 1855 Phone - Susp Ve-hicle *Arrest(S)Made Loca-tion/Address: Coventry LnCaller reports MA PC 316X70has been parked for 20 minutesand was seen earlier acting sus-piciously. N668 stopped thatvehicle Walpole Street andBerwick Place. As a result,N668 placed one party underarrest, N667 transported him tothe station. N678 provided acourtesy transport for a passen-ger to the station S/M 38270 at1925 E/M 38271 at 1930. Re-fer To Arrest: 21-22-AR Arrest:Carr, Brandon M Address: 17Saunders Rd Norwood, MaAge: 22 Charges: Drug, Pos-sess To Distrib Class D Drug,Possess To Distrib Class CDrug, Possess To Distrib ClassC Drug, Possess To DistribClass C Drug, Possess ToDistrib Class C Window Ob-structed/Nontransparent

2102 Phone - Assist Fire Dept FireDept Notified/Responded Lo-cation/Address: Charwell -Walpole St Report of smokefrom the basement.

Friday, January 220101 Phone - Susp Vehicle Build-

ing Checked/Secured Loca-tion/Address: Dan O’brien Kia- Bos-Prov Hwy Security re-ports 2 silver vehicles in rearlot on west side of building.Both are now heading to Rt. 1s/b. N677,N665 responded andchecked outside lot and doors.All is secure. Service vehiclesare parked on west side of lot.Everything appears to be se-cure. No breaks.

0351 Radio - Assist Fire DeptTransported To Hospital Loca-tion/Address: NorwoodHealthcare - Washington St Re-quest for Police from NFD fora party who is continually set-ting off the fire alarms. N679responded. As a result, NFDtransported party to the BethIsrael Hospital, Needham for aSection 12.. N679 followed.

1125 Phone - Disturbance Ser-vices Rendered Location/Ad-dress: Nahatan St Caller reportspast verbal argument regardinga face mask. Parties separatedand caller satisfied.

1218 Phone - Warrant Of Appre-hension *Arrest(S)Made Loca-tion/Address: Norwood PoliceDept. - Nahatan St With the as-sistance of Walpole PD, Offic-ers place a subject under arrestat the Fairfield Inn inWalpole.ST MI 33160.5 1249HRS EN MI 33168.8 1311HRS to Dedham Court ReferTo Arrest: 21-24-AR

1237 Phone - Mischief (Kids)Spoken To Location/Address:Fr Mac’s - Vernon St Kids ad-vised as they were riding dirtbikes on the field. DPW Super-intendent on scene and reportsthe lawn is not damaged.

1255 Phone - Drug Law Viola-tion Spoken To Location/Ad-

Conserve ourresources.

Recycle thisnewspaper.

Page 9 Page 9 Page 9 Page 9 Page 9The Norwood RecordJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Police Logs continued from page 8 Deathsdress: Washington St BCI and Patrol interact with a subject.

1404 Phone - Disturbance Services Rendered Location/Address: A&JAutomotive/ Also Atlantic Gas Station - Washington St. Callerreports an unwanted male party. Subject left the property, calleradvised on LOD. 1450 Phone - Well Being Chk Fire DeptNotified/Responded Location/Address: Walpole St.

1617 Walk-In - Assist Citizen Spoken To Location/Address:Lenox St Walk in seeking advice about a past motor vehicleaccident. N669 advised that party.

1916 Phone - Hit And Run *Arrest(S)Made Location/Address:Pleasant St + E Cross St Caller reports a Mustang hit the StopSign and fled towards Pam’s. Older Mustang Grey Coupe. Of-ficers locate the vehicle at 33 Rock ST .One under arrest .MADANSGT towed by Don&Wallys. Refer To Arrest: 21-25-ARArrest: Miller, Daniel Iii Address: 33 Rock St Norwood, MaAge: 57 Charges: Oui-Liquor Or .08%, 4th Or Greater Of-fense Leave Scene Of Property Damage Negligent OperationOf Motor Vehicle Marked Lanes Violation

2013 911 - Assist Citizen Area Search Negative Location/Ad-dress: Bos-Prov Hwy Caller reports MA PC was followingher vehicle very closely. N669 spoke to the calling party andshe was concerned about how the driver was operating his ve-hicle. N669,N679 searched the area.

2127 Initiated - Warrant Service *Arrest(S)Made Location/Ad-dress: Cottage St As a result of the warrent N670 returns backto the station with one under arrest. FD notified to check theprisoner, he is then transported to BI Boston. Refer To Arrest:21-26-AR Arrest: Bankowski, Steven Spiro Address: 24 Cot-tage St Apt. #6 Norwood, Ma Age: 33 Charges: Warrant Ar-rest Warrant Arrest

Saturday, January 230059 Phone - Noise Complaint Spoken To Location/Address: St

John Ave Caller reports neighbors being loud. N666 spoke tothose individuals and they will keep it down for the night.

0108 Phone - Assist Citizen *Report Filed Location/Address:Hoyle St Caller seeking advice about some past charges toher credit card.

0119 Phone - Noise Complaint Spoken To Location/Address:Melville Ave Caller reports neighbors being loud. N666 reportsresidents they are finishing up a birthday party and will be clear-ing out.

1439 911 - Susp Person Services Rendered Location/Address: Vil-lage Rd E Female believes she saw a male party involved in aBoston shooting from yesterday. Units spoke to the party in ques-tion and concluded he was not involved.

1558 Phone - Susp Activity Services Rendered Location/Address:Neponset St Motorist reports a W/M Tan coat and jeans tried tojump on the hood of his car. Canton advised. Norwood Officersreport Canton is off with him in Canton.

1942 Phone - Assist Citizen Spoken To Location/Address:Neponset St Property damaged in the house last night .Advisedon civil matter.

2146 Phone - Fireworks Area Search Negative Location/Address:Prospect St Caller reports fireworks in the area.

Sunday, January 240827 Phone - Well Being Chk Services Rendered Location/Ad-

dress: Sunnyside Rd Lifeworks requests a wellness check on aclient. Units confirm all is well at his home.

1037 Phone - Assist Citizen Services Rendered Location/Address:Ridgewood Dr Party advised on a possible scam. 1111 Phone -Well Being Chk Services Rendered Location/Address: HighviewSt Visiting nurse requests a wellness check for a patient whowill not open his front door. Units spoke with him, all is well.

1616 Phone - Assist Citizen Services Rendered Location/Address:Highview St N665 called the number that was provided and therewas no answer, he will try again later in the shift.

2235 Radio - ASSIST CITIZEN Services rendered Location/Ad-dress: NORWOOD PARK SOUTH III - NORWOOD PK S Of-ficers assist a dog owner chasing her puppy in the lot. Puppywas found and now with the owner.

BURKEWilliam P. 85, originally of

Norwood, MA passed away onJanuary 18, 2021 in Florida ofnatural causes. Bill was born onMay 20, 1935 to Jeremiah andJulia Burke in Norwood, MA. Heraised his family in Walpole andleaves six children - David Burke,Susan Haley, Elizabeth Burke,Paul Burke, Ann Shaw and Will-iam Burke, Jr.; 12 grandchildrenand 7 great-grandchildren. Hissiblings, Anna Verrochi, JeremiahBurke, Jane Mackie and EvelynSylvestri preceded him in death.William served in the Navy andwas a shoe salesman most of hisadult life. He enjoyed theater, golfand directed musical varietyshows. He loved an audience andgood humor. In lieu of flowers,donations may be made to Sea-sons Hospice at http://seasonsfoundation.org/donate/ orcall 847-692-1000. Services willbe held privately at Gillooly Fu-neral Home. A Funeral Mass willbe held at 11:00am on Saturday,January 30th at St. Catherine ofSiena Parish, Norwood with in-terment to follow at HighlandCemetery, Norwood. If youwould like to view the FuneralMass remotely, visits t c a t h e r i n e n o r w o o d . o r gGilloolyFuneralHome.com

CLIFFORDROBERT A. “Bob” of

Walpole and Falmouth, formerlyof Norwood, passed away fromcomplications of COVID-19 onJanuary 19, 2021 at the age of 72.Beloved husband of Marie M.(McCarville) Lawrie and the latePaula C. (Crook) Clifford. Sonof the late Thomas E. and DorisL. (Burrell) Clifford. Survived byhis own children Robert A.Clifford Jr. and his wife Allysonof South Boston and Katherine P.Clifford of Norwood, as well asMichael P. Lawrie and his wifeCristan of South Carolina, JohnR. Lawrie Jr. and his wifeCourtney of Walpole and MeghanE. (Lawrie) Jaeger and her hus-band Matthew of Walpole. De-voted brother of Thomas E.Clifford Jr. of Walpole, Anne C.Whitaker of Chelmsford, TheReverend Paul T. Clifford ofBraintree and the late John V.Clifford. Cherished Papa ofBobby, Patrick, Ciara, Brendan,Matthew and Jack. Loving uncleof Suzanne and RobertWhitaker.Born and raised inNorwood, Bob was a 1966 gradu-ate of Norwood High Schoolwhere he was a proud member ofthe Mustang hockey team. Hecontinued his playing career atBrown University from which hegraduated in 1970. Bob dedicatedhis working career to the studentsof Norwood High School wherehe taught for 38 years. He wasalso a familiar presence behindthe bar at Lewis’ Bar & Grille inNorwood and the Chart Room inCataumet. All services will beprivate with a celebration ofBob’s life to be held at a later date.Arrangements by the Kraw-Kornack Funeral Home,Norwood, MA. Bob’s familywould like to thank the nurses anddoctors at Falmouth Hospital forall their care and efforts over thelast few weeks. In lieu of flow-ers, donations may be made in hisname to The Friends of NorwoodHockey, 64 Jacobsen Drive,

Norwood, MA 02062 or TheFriends of St. Nick, PO Box 814,Norwood, MA 02062.

COOPERBernard S. of Norwood, MA,

passed on Sunday, Jan. 24th, atthe age of 72, after a brief jour-ney with cancer. Born Feb. 24,1948, to the late Otis and YettaCooper of Norwood. Survived byhis wife, Connie, of thirty-sevenyears; and his four children, Samand his companion Brinni, Alishaand her companion Sam, Josh,and Amelia and her husbandMichael. He is also survived byhis sister, Marianne and her hus-band David, and her children,Daniel and Sarah. Graduate ofNorwood High, class of 1965,and graduate of Tufts University,he went on to work for the townof Norwood for forty-nine yearswhere he served as assistant townmanager and civil defense direc-tor. He loved spending his sum-mers at Blueberry Hill whilespending his winters helpingother people shovel. You couldusually catch him driving aroundin his recognizable pickup truck,checking in on his neighbors andoffering a helping hand. A proudpatron of the Mug’n Muffin andthe Brookside Cafe, Bernie wasa regular and welcome face to lo-cal business all across town. Hewas known to allocate an extrahour whenever he left somewherejust so he could say goodbye toeveryone present. A staple ofNorwood, Bernie worked tire-lessly to the end and wouldn’thave wanted it any other way. Hisfamily is beyond humbled by theoutpouring of love and support.In lieu of flowers, the family isasking for donations in Bernie’sname to the Norwood Circle ofHope, P.O. Box 421, Norwood,MA 02062 or the Norwood FoodPantry, 150 Chapel St., Norwood.Schlossberg Chapel on the Hill“Family Owned” (781) 828-6990www.SchlossbergChapel.com

MUSTINHarun Joseph Age 89, of

Norwood, passed January 21,2021. Born December 5, 1931 toBenjamin and Bridget (Doona)Mustin. Harun is survived by hisbeloved wife Eleanor (Keady)Mustin, dad to Catherine Kempof Millis, and Joanne Gleason ofNorwood, cherished Grampy ofSamantha Kemp of Dedham, andBenjamin Kemp of Providence,RI, brother of the late JohnMustin, also survived by his sis-ter-in-law Ellen Mustin ofDaytona Beach Shores, FL andhis niece DeeDee Ybanez and herhusband Chris of Port Orange,FL. In lieu of flowers, memorialcontributions may be made inHarun’s honor to Neponset Val-ley Humane Society,www.neponsethumane.org/do-nate or Cops for Kids with Can-cer, copsforkidswithcancer.org/donation Services will be held atSt. Timothy Church, Norwood,with interment to follow at High-land Cemetery, Norwood.Gillooly Funeral Home NorwoodGilloolyFuneralHome.com

O’DONNELLWILLIAM F. of East Walpole

formerly of Norwood passedaway on January 20, 2021 at theage of 86. Beloved husband of thelate Barbara T. (Wenzel)

O’Donnell. Devoted father ofCarol Ann O’Donnell and Will-iam C. O’Donnell both of E.Walpole. Brother of the lateMarion, Theresa, Marie and Ruth.Also survived by many nieces,nephews, great nieces, greatnephews and great great niecesand nephews. William worked atPlympton Press and then went towork for Polaroid Corp for 22years until his retirement. He wasa US Army Veteran. Funeral fromthe Kraw-Kornack Funeral Home1248 Washington St. Norwood,MA. A funeral mass was held onWednesday, January 27, 2021 atSt. Mary’s Church, East Walpole,MA. Burial at Highland Cem-etery, Norwood, MA. In lieu offlowers donations may be madein his name to Boystown 14100Crawford Street Boys Town, NE68010 www.boystown.org

QUILESFrancisco Reverend Deacon

of Sacred Heart Parish,Roslindale passed away on Janu-ary 22, 2021. He resided inNorwood and was formerly ofRoslindale, Orlando, FL, andPonce, Puerto Rico. Beloved hus-band of the late Araminda(Llorens) Quiles for 67 years. De-voted father of Lucy Torrejon andher husband Alfredo of WestRoxbury, Francis Quiles ofNorwood, Caroline Quiles ofNorwood, Annette Quiles ofNorwood, and Juan A. Quiles andhis wife Rosa of Orlando, FL.Loving grandfather of Natalie,Jasmin, Alisha, Jacqueline, Juan,Jr., and Nirvana. Great-grandfa-ther of Aiden, Jaylen, and Alma.Brother of Sophie, Daisy, Martha,Deacon Jesus Quiles, EdwardQuiles, Luis Quiles, and the lateCarmen, Tomasita, James,Gladys, and Isabel. Also survivedby many nieces and nephews.Francisco was a Korean War Vet-eran, U.S. Army. He served formany years as a deacon at SacredHeart Church, Roslindale. Long-time member of the Knights ofColumbus. He was very involvedin the Cursillo Movement throughthe Archdiocese of Boston. Fran-cisco was a BA graduate of Pon-tifical Catholic University ofPuerto Rico. Back in the 70’s,worked as a social worker inPonce and helped the poorestcommunities in the town of Ponceand Guayanilla. In Massachusettsand Florida he dedicated his lifeto service the most needed andalways giving advice and guid-ance to all people that will ask forhelp. Always helping the immi-grants and opening the door athome for everyone. Treated ev-eryone with dignity and respect.He lived his life through his ser-vice to God. Funeral from the P.E.Murray - F.J. Higgins, George F.Doherty & Sons Funeral Home,2000 Centre St., WESTROXBURY. Interment Mt.Benedict Cemetery, WestRoxbury. In lieu of flowers, do-nations may be made inFrancisco’s memory to SacredHeart Church, 169 CumminsHighway, Roslindale, MA 02131or to St. Jude Children’s ResearchHospital, 501 St. Jude Pl., Mem-phis, TN 38105-1905. For direc-tions and guestbook,pemurrayfuneral.com P.E.Murray - F.J. Higgins George F.Doherty & Sons West Roxbury617 325 2000.

Page 10Page 10Page 10Page 10Page 10 The Norwood Record JanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Digital Sign continued from page 7Haluch said the sign will

replace the existing sign in theparking lot.

“The existing post will re-main and the actual display willbe four-feet-and-five-incheshigh by six-foot-and-three-inchwidth,” she said. “The actualdisplay of it is four-foot by five-foot.”

Haluch added that the signwill have a timer and be turnedoff during the late-night hoursor when there’s not an eventgoing on at the ballroom, andadded that it would be one-sided.

“And that timer can bechanged with a phone or a com-puter,” she said.

ZBA Chair Thomas Bradysaid one major concern theBoard has had in the past re-garding digital board signs isthe rate at which a message

changes. He said messages thatchange too rapidly can be dis-ruptive.

Haluch said you can changeit to re-display up to every 10seconds, but she said this usedoes not engender itself tochange at all.

“Maybe it would have twomessages in a day, but if anevent is going on I don’t seethem changing it,” she said. “Ifthere was more information,like maybe for a charity gala,maybe they would have thename and every 30 seconds toa minute they could change itto the time if there was moreinformation they wanted to puton there. But because they’renot using it for advertising, Idon’t think it would changefaster than every 30 seconds ifthey wanted to put two mes-sages up there.”

Selectman David Hajjarjoined the meeting and askedthat no other advertisement beallowed on the sign as a condi-tion of approval.

“I’m pretty much a capital-ist, but I also don’t want this toturn into the Las Vegas stripdown the road where people areflashing signs that are about notjust the building that it’s in frontof but also other places downRoute 1,” he said. “I wouldhope that the applicant agreesthat it’s not going to be for anyother advertisement except forevents that are at the hotel.”

Board member Philip Rileypointed out that the ZBA wouldonly allow what’s requested,and the request is dealing spe-cifically only with advertisingevents at the Tiffany BallRoom, and said that extra con-dition would not be necessary.

ELECTION NOMINATIONPAPERS NOW AVAILABLE

The Town Clerk’s Officewishes to inform the residentsof the Town of Norwood thatnomination papers for the An-nual Town Election to be heldon Monday, April 5, 2021 areavailable in the Town Clerk’sOffice. Please call (781-762-1240 Ext. 6026) or e-mail:clerk@norwoodma.gov to ob-tain Nomination Papers.

Requirements for filingnomination papers:

Major offices need 50 sig-natures of qualified voters.

Anyone wishing to run forTown Meeting Member who isnot a candidate for re-electionneeds to obtain 10 signaturesof qualified voters in their dis-trict.

The nomination papersmust be submitted to the Town

Clerk’s office by Tuesday,February 16, 2021 by 5:00 PM.

VIRTUAL TOUR OFBOSTON’S PREMIUMATTRACTIONS

Join popular Boston tourguide Jay Bazzinotti for an-other of his illustrated tours,“Boston’s Premium Attrac-tions,” on Tuesday, January19, at 7:00 pm over Zoom.Dressed in full uniform of theFirst N.H. Regiment of Revo-lutionary War re-enactors, Jaywill tell us about some high-end attractions in the Bostonarea that are well worth a visit.Registration is required. Tosign up, please go to our onlineevents page atn o r w o o d l i b r a r y . o r g /morrillcalendar or call 781-769-0200, x2. You will receivean email with the Zoom link a

day before the program andagain shortly before it begins.

DOG LICENSESNOW AVAILABLE

The Town Clerk’s Officewould like to inform the resi-dents of the Town of Norwoodthat the 2021 Dog Licenses arenow available. All dogs threemonths old or over must be li-censed. Licenses are issued ona calendar basis, January 1stthrough December 31st.

Fees are $20 for both Maleand Female dogs, $15 forSpayed Female and NeuteredMale. Certificate showing thedog was spayed or neuteredmust be shown. Rabies Cer-tificate must also be shown.

Due to the Town Hall be-ing closed all dog licenseshave to be registered throughthe mail.

ConCom continued from page 1worked on a number of food projects in Boston and around,and basically a food forest is an edible landscape that mim-ics a natural forest,” he said. “It’s really that simple. It’s agarden, but more like a natural environment and one of thebig advantages is all of the plants work together rather thanjust trying to independently grow.”

Negron said each “forest” would be made up of perenni-als and annuals that complement the natural life cycle ofthe apple tree they’re placed near. Similar food productionmethods are being employed by organic farmers and “or-ganic method” farmers (farmers who use organic methodsbut do not qualify for certified organic labels) to basi-cally use plants and organisms that naturally promote thehealth of the food producing plant and keep pests away.

“It’s got fruit bushes and trees, it’s got some veg-etables, but it can be almost anything really,” he said.

The idea is to build a fruit tree guild around the fruittree, which uses these complementary plants to providemaximum harvest, use of space, drought tolerance anddisease resistance.

“It’s mimicking a natural environment but it’s also ma-nipulated for efficiency,” he said.

Negron said there are plants that include pollinatorplants – plants to attract certain insects – but also plantsthat help to keep certain insects away.

“Lavender is a typical example of that,” he said.“There are also nitrogen fixers, which take nitrogen fromthe air and send it down into the soil. There’s mulchingplants, and there are several others. But those are sometypical plants in a fruit tree guild grouping.”

Negron said the idea of polyculturaling helps to notonly increase biodiversity and the yield of the fruit tree,the biodiversity also increases the ability of the area tosustain more wildlife. They also suppress grass growth,which he said is not a good plant for the local ecology(the use of lawns for example is a holdover from GreatBritain and is not indicative of what a real New Englandlandscape should look like, and this is why it’s so hardto maintain a lawn around here. That and the huge num-ber of rocks in the soil).

Negron said each tree guild costs usually around $600per tree, which comes in at just under $29,000 for thewhole orchard. He said the work involved could besupplemented by volunteers and members of the nearbyEndean Community Garden, of whom he said wouldlikely be interested in supporting the venture. The Com-munity Orchard is itself an instance of a public foodsource open to any Norwood resident when it begins toproduce fruit in a couple of years.

“This also provides fresh whole foods to the in-needcommunity where they would typical ly get cannedgoods,” he said, which are typically processed foods."This is a really important point, and I don’t want to getto into that, but it’s something that I believe is really im-portant.”

Negron added he’s s tar ted helping Father JohnBrockmann convert his apple orchard to a fruit guild sys-tem on the church grounds.

“The pandemic got in the way of that but the idea is toprovide food for the Food Pantry,” he said.

Negron also said that local students can use the area tolearn about the importance of biodiversity and how it worksin the local environment.

ConCom members said they see the value of this idea forthe Community Orchard, but pointed out that there wouldbe a need for volunteers to care for the area. Negron saidhe’s hopeful the local business community of Norwood –of which he’s a part – would want to pitch in and provide awork force to start the process of converting the orchard.But he added that after the basic network of plants and pol-linators is set up and running, there’s virtually no mainte-nance after that.

“Basically the best examples of how this works andworks well would be with volunteers,” he said. “We wouldhave to create a pool of volunteers and that could happenthrough the Boston Food Forest Coalition and/or my indi-vidual efforts. Some of them would be local volunteers,some of them would probably be community garden people.And most of them would be organized on Facebook, but itdoesn’t take a lot of people to start this project. As it goeson, more and more people are needed but then again themore it goes the more it generates interest. The other thingthat’s very important is that a system of corporate sponsor-ship really needs to be developed.”

For more information, go to BostonFoodForest.org.

For The Record

Page 11 Page 11 Page 11 Page 11 Page 11The Norwood RecordJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

iáÅK=@NQTTPP

Occupant rescued fromburning vehicle on 95

The Norwood Fire Department reported thaton the night of Jan. 21, Engine 5 andNorwood Ambulance 1 responded to a motorvehicle collision report from the Massachu-setts State Police on 95 North. Early reportsstated that one person was trapped inside avehicle while it was heavily on fire. Upon ar-rival, the NFD reported that the Massachu-setts State Police officers first on the scenewere able to remove the person from the en-gulfed vehicle. The NFD also reported find-ing the occupant of another vehicle involvedin the crash outside their vehicle and in criti-cal condition. Canton and Norwood ambu-lances transported three people from thescene to a local hospital.

PHOTO BY MASS STATE POLIOCE

Page 12Page 12Page 12Page 12Page 12 The Norwood Record JanuarJanuarJanuarJanuarJanuary 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 202y 28, 20211111

Claim Now and Invest it, or Wait to Claim?

This article is intended for in-formation purposes only and doesnot represent legal or financialguidance. It presents the opinionsand interpretations of the AMACFoundation’s staff, trained and ac-credited by the National Social Se-curity Association (NSSA). NSSAand the AMAC Foundation and itsstaff are not affiliated with or en-dorsed by the Social Security Ad-ministration or any other govern-mental entity. To submit a question,visit our website(amacfoundation.org/programs/social-security-advisory) or emailus atssadvisor@amacfoundation.org.

Russell GloorAMAC Certified Social

Security Advisor

Dear Rusty: I’m 66 now andwill be 67 in December and myquestion is this: Should I take So-cial Security now or wait? I’m stillworking full time and plan to workfor a few more years, at least untilI’m 70 but maybe longer. I wastold by a friend that I should takemy Social Security now and putthe money into savings, invest itor use it. And, since I’m still work-ing, I’m still contributing to So-cial Security, so that when I reach70 I should get the full amount.I’m not sure if this is accurate sowould like to hear your advice.

Signed: Uncertain Lady

Dear Uncertain Lady: Bytaking your Social Security ben-efit now you will be locking intoa benefit amount that is smallerthan it would otherwise be if youwait longer to claim. You’ve al-ready reached your Social Secu-rity full retirement age (FRA) of66 and, since then, have beenearning delayed retirement cred-its (DRCs) at the rate of .667%per month of delay past your FRA.You will continue to earn thoseDRCs – an 8% higher benefit foreach year you delay - until age 70when your benefit will be 32%more than it would have been at66 and 24% more than at age 67.Can you do better than that by tak-ing a smaller benefit now and in-vesting it? That depends uponwhat type of investing you intendto do. I cannot answer that for you,but a guaranteed 8% increase inyour benefit amount for each yearyou delay, resulting in a muchhigher benefit for the rest of yourlife, is pretty hard to beat.

It is true that continuing to worknow may help increase your SocialSecurity benefit, but that’s true re-gardless of when you claim. Yourbenefit will be based upon the 35highest earning years over your life-time (adjusted for inflation) at thetime you claim. If, after your ben-efits start, your current earnings arehigher than any of those used tooriginally compute your benefit,you will get credit for those higherearnings and your benefit will in-crease. Even after you claim ben-efits, Social Security examines yournew earnings every year to see ifyou’re entitled to a higher benefit.And you will get credit for yourcurrent earnings even if you waitand continue to earn those DRCsfor a much higher benefit later.

In the end, when to claim So-cial Security is a decision thatshould consider your current andfuture financial needs, and yourhealth and estimated longevity. Ifyou are working and don’t need theextra money right now, and like theidea of a higher benefit later, afteryou are done working, then wait-ing to claim makes sense, especiallyif you’re in good health and expectat least average longevity. Averagelife expectancy today for a womanyour age is about 87, and if you at-tain at least the average, you’ll col-lect much more in cumulative life-time benefits by waiting longer toclaim. Conversely, if your longev-ity outlook is less than average andyou need the money now, claimingearlier is a perfectly good strategy.

One last thing to consider: if youare married and your husband iscollecting benefits, you are eligibleto file a “restricted application for

spousal benefits only” whichwould let you collect a spousebenefit equal to half of yourhusband’s FRA benefit amount,while allowing your own benefitto continue to grow until age 70.You can do this because you wereborn in 1953, before the cutoffdate of January 2, 1954. The op-tion was eliminated for anyoneborn after that date.

LEGAL NOTICE