Mostly Middleboro Stuff

Life use to be Mary Ann or Ginger, Betty or Veronica and now it is Groupon or Living Social.

Auburn Street no longer belongs to anyone but the abutter who now uses in to store old vehicles or is that to just let them sit and rot? The street now has storage sheds, assorted old tools, tires, and other junk that is ready for the landfill or scrape yard. Now to some this is not a street? Who in the world determined that? I can remember running down Auburn Street when it had a bridge. You could run the trails that were behind the old brick yard now resurrected as a recycle plant and cross the bridge and run on the other side of the river. So what happened? How is this now open for discussion as a street? Why is the abutter - who from what I can gather - does not own the property allowed to use it for his business and erect a gate?

I have no idea if the BOS, the town manager and our town legal eagle can actually finally put an end to what amounts to trespass. Why does this issue linger on and on and why isn’t it on constant watch for what appears to be numerous violations? Even the various map sites have it listed as “Auburn Street.”

The Auburn Street side in Bridgewater has houses on it. Look up snow plow records for when it was a Middleboro street on the Middleboro side. Look up newspaper articles for when the bridge burned. What in the world are they looking for regarding proof? In fact just take the land. Grab it! If someone “claims” it let them sue.

While I am on the Auburn Street issue that bridge being completed as a pedestrian bridge would make a wonderful loop trail system of at least eight miles and a trail system of many more if developed and linked correctly. It could be done without a bridge but it would seriously impact the trail structure with a rather elongated system. In fact the Middleboro side of Auburn could be cleared of Mr. Trespass and a small parking lot built since there is already one on the Bridgewater side that is Wildlands Trust area. Well….I assume it is the Bridgewater side since the Taunton River is the divider between Bridgewater and Halifax.

Kathleen Brennan of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservatory has moved on to San Francisco. The Greenway is a joke. A quasi agency with six figure paychecks for managing space that passes as a back yard in many places in Middleboro. The 40% of the public money they received could have kept some state parks such as Franklin open.

There was actually a time in the distant past when the Discovery Channel had some legitimate programming but it has deteriorated faster than a Bumpkin column. Now they have on Zombie Apocalypse that focuses on folks who are prepping for a zombie takeover. I guess they have been watching too much legislative activity on CSPAN.

The Red Sox hired on J.D. Drew’s younger brother for a year. I’d like the deal if his last name was anything but Drew.

The flaws of the Patriots were clearly on display against the 49ers. The 49ers ran up 41 points and then did a rope a dope instead of keeping the pressure on. Almost cost them the game as the Patriots can certainly ring up the points.

“Are you a volunteer or a paid solicitor” is the question to ask any charity calls. According to my legal expert - currently serving a ten year term - they are suppose to answer which.

North Dakota is in an oil boom. Wages at McDonald’s in Minot can start in the mid 20s per hour. Midland Texas was a ghost town a few years ago but recovery technology and new sources have brought it back. Peak oil has now been moved well forward with new sources and technology in the United States and Canada.

The fiscal cliff is government’s answer to Y2K.

Anyways, the sides involved in the cliff BS are making progress with each side giving a little which will eventually resolve (temporarily) the issue. That allows both sides to claim they are conciliatory or they held the line or blame each other - plenty of options.

There has been some discussion connecting the Sandy Hook shooter and Autism since he was somewhere on the spectrum. Can someone with Autism be violent? Sure can. My daughter teaches autistic kids and she usually works with those with a pattern of explosive and aggressive behaviors. For years I worked with kids with explosive and aggressive behaviors and they were not Autistic or had Asperger’s. I have also worked extensively with Autistic kids that were as passive as could be found - too passive by our own societal standards.

In Middleboro a retired Middleboro teacher gets $100 a day to substitute while a retired teacher other than Middleboro gets $80 a day. Last year I asked the acting superintendent about this and his reaction was “other towns do it.” I asked “what towns?” The answer I got was “I’ll have to look it up.” I already knew the answer regarding that issue and our neighboring communities. None. I made the simple statement that this was merely a reward and is insulting to those who taught in other towns and those towns have had a superior MCAS performance to Middleboro. Amazing watching him turn beet red and sputter.