And I'm surprised the AG or Worcester Telegram or some ethics committee hasn't picked up on this yet!!!! Maybe they need a "head's up"!! View Comment

You have GOT to be kidding! This sounds like it borders on corruption!! Aren't those supposed to be SEALED bids? Why on earth would someone in an office SHOW the COMPETITION the prices on the bid is so totally beyond me and WRONG, unless they have a friend or family member in West Brookfield they wanted to get the job! We live in town and firmly believe in supporting town business and contractors whenever possible. Throw out the current bid and re-advertize the job with new stipulations meant for locals first!!! Just a suggestion! View Comment

AWESOME!!!!!! Something GREAT for Holden!! Can't wait to try!!!!! And BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!! View Comment

And then there's (from what I hear only) the Zottoli family in town with unrented property just sitting there.........take it from there Zottolis....... View Comment

Absolutely, in Jefferson! We were watching TV....felt the couch/house seem to shake sideways, a rumbling noise and water bouncing all around in a water bottle! Clock by the TV said 7:14 pm......about 5 to 10 minutes later it came on the news........but already knew it was an earthquake.....just HAD to have been! Funny tho.....NO reaction from the dogs....and they're usually so hyper! View Comment

Re: previous comment: Other than Mark Ferguson and Jim Jumonville!!! View Comment

"The fixed fee is designed to pay for the constant cost that the system incurs when anybody turns on the tap or flushes the toilet," said John Woodsmall, director of Public Works The commodity fee is set into an ascending rate clock, "where the more water you use, the more that you pay," said Woodsmall. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I FOR ONE DO NOT SEE A HECK OF A LOT OF DIFFERENCE IN THE BOTTOM LINE BETWEEN THOSE TWO SENTENCES BY MR. WOODSMALL!!!!! SAME END RESULT!!!! HELLO!!!! Holden taxpayers can't afford to keep paying continually escalating costs!!!!! Someone has to learn somewhere how to put some brakes on........I'm just not sure we've elected anyone yet!!! View Comment

We moved to Holden/Jefferson some thirty years ago because it was a nice, quiet town in easy access of highways and country, and most importantly......a town that was NOT trying to be one of those YUPPIE towns! My, how it has changed over the years! Yes, growth is inevitable, and desirable, but in some cases, not always good!! Remembering one issue....."the pool".......it is heavily used for a VERY few weeks and then sits idle......it was voted DOWN many, many times, until finally it was slipped through somehow..... and the powers that be got what they wanted. That is only ONE instance, and I'm sure it's not just "our" town this happens in! Now we look at the amount of money spent to form a committee to "LOOK" at forming the group that might develop an addition that might questionably be too large?? After reading the article it very much sounded like creating a study to study the study to study who might be on the committee..... and then somewhere near the end twenty million dollars is being thrown out - like it's pocket money - in an economy that is maybe just THINKING ABOUT a mild turnaround, (much too soon to tell!) ! I may not have children in the school system, but have never been against improving education!!! However, in my humble opinion, the powers that spend the taxpayers money of this town, have never been reluctant to either spend it "today" or "spend it tomorrow with an override." 'Nuff said.....I pretty much agree with what "Name Withheld" had to say..... View Comment

From what I just read, these are not Vanity Plates, they are GENERAL ISSUE plates! However, if they come to fruition, I do hope if a symbol is added, a number is dropped......they are already too long to remember!!! View Comment

How about we all take a VERY deep breath and let it out SLOWLY.......instead of rushing to spend at LEAST an initial MILLION dollars that is going to come from .... guess where!!! Why not, since there are a few other communities out there, with an iPad initiative started, see how well it has worked for them in six to nine months, and only THEN - possibly reconsider re-presenting the program town-wide..........and not in the summer when half of the residents are away on vacation. Besides, by then APPLE will have a newer version of the iPad out.....another bonus!! Win-win! At the moment, every article I read, Mr. Pandiscio is sounding more desperate to keep that million dollars within the school program's grasp, and I'm not even sure it belongs there! All of this still does not change the state of our still-distressed current economy. Take a breath people......it's not like there aren't online computers already in the schools!!!!! View Comment

WOW Mr. Gettens!!!! If all you say is true, I'm shocked!!! However, I am in FULL agreement with you regarding the potential iPad program and seriously hope it does NOT get quietly pushed through on we the taxpayers in some quiet meeting. I believe if the PARENTS fork over the money for the iPads (IF it were to become a feasible program) there might be some responsibility on the students parts. The other towns in the WRSD don't sound like they are getting much consideration.........being HEARD, yes, but sounding in the news article like they don't have much choice! AGAIN, in my opinion, it it just NOT a healthy or stable enough economy to consider this right now for most taxpayers. By the way, I think WRSD is a fine school, but I do NOT think it is in the same playing field as BANCROFT SCHOOL!!!! Again, Holden is NOT Wellsley, Sudbury, Harvard or Lexington!!! View Comment

I believe school oriented LAPTOPS are a WHOLE DIFFERENT ballgame than hot off the line iPads that you can't even have two applications open at once on!!!!! Laptops would be MUCH more of a USEFUL educational tool, when used in an adventitious context! I don't think you would have much disagreement there! That being said, I don't care what kind of HYPE the news is trying to pull us into, the economy has NOT suddenly reversed itself over the weekend!!!! We are still in a major economic downturn, which may still take years to fully recover from, so Holden would be prudent to invest wisely and think of the long term returns when considering educational hardware for the high school students. We are NOT Sudbury or Wellsley!!!!! I would probably vote for laptops eventually, but NOT for iPads.......they are just too new to the market and get too old too quickly......that's APPLE for ya!!! View Comment

Here we go again! How many times was the pool voted down before it got slipped in!!!??? Yes, it's a lovely pool now. How many times did the voters say we just couldn't afford the new police/fire station right now?? Yes, it's a lovely new facility now, that, yes, we needed, but the voters don't seem to have much of a say in this town. Oh, but our taxes manage to keep on rising, don't they!!!! My feeling is that the iPad is just too expensive a "TOY" for the high school to have......too much potential for things to go wrong with it at too high a cost! There are MANY SAVY HI-TECH kids out there that will have a field day with getting into changing the settings, no matter how solid APPLE thinks they can LOCK them out!!! Yes, the iPad will benefit SOME..........but will it be enough to off-set the cost for the whole??? What responsibilities do the students have to see that they do not break them? There should be some...........since it IS a major investment that the taxpayers of this town will be asked to pay for! View Comment