Former Revere man earns Bronze Star

Saved fellow soldiers during first firefight



Boston Globe - December 11, 2009

Army Specialist Marc Silvestri was pinned behind a bush in the mountains of Afghanistan, about 2 miles from the Pakistani border. Dozens of Taliban insurgents fired at him from three sides.

“I looked down and saw my foot exposed,’’ the Revere native said in a recent interview. “As I pulled it in, a round immediately cracked off the rock.

“At that point I thought, ‘I could die right now.’ It brought back thoughts of my daughter, my family.’’

In his first firefight, Silvestri sprang into action on that August morning last year, killing three attackers and saving 31 fellow soldiers in an act of bravery that would later earn him the Bronze Star with Valor.

“I said, ‘You know what, you can either die sitting here behind a bush, or you can try to make it out of here,’ ’’ said Silvestri, 31. “No matter what, I was fighting.’’

As Silvestri had done when he set numerous rushing records on Revere High School’s football field 12 years ago, he used his speed and elusiveness on the battlefield.

His squad leader, Staff Sergeant Steven Ellsberry of Ohio, who nominated Silvestri for the Bronze Star, confirmed the account of what happened that day.

Sly, as he is known to buddies in the Army, dodged enemy fire and ran 80 yards down a hillside to his platoon leader, who was trapped in the open.

“As I got there, I positioned myself in front of him and said, ‘Sir, get behind the rock,’ ’’ Silvestri said. “I was in the open at that point. Then the guys that were firing popped up, and I sprayed them and actually got both.’’

Silvestri and the lieutenant then huddled behind a rock and radioed back to base, he said.

About an hour later, Silvestri’s group seemed safe, but 15 Afghan National Army soldiers and their two Marine Corps advisers were still trapped up the mountain, awaiting air support.

“The Marine was at the top saying, ‘We can’t pull out; we’re pinned down,’ ’’ Silvestri said. “So I got up and ran about 100 meters up the hill.’’

Silvestri said he positioned himself directly under the final insurgent.

“He leaned out to fire, and I took a step out, looked up, and shot and killed him,’’ he said.

The collection of 32 US and Afghan troops then sprinted back to base, uninjured after a three-hour fight.

“If it wasn’t for Sly, some of the guys would have gotten seriously wounded or killed,’’ said Ellsberry.

“He saved some soldiers’ lives. There is no other way around it.’’

About two months later, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded next to Silvestri while he slept, leaving him with a concussion and shrapnel in his legs. He was awarded a Purple Heart.

In April, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the eighth-highest medal in the Army.

In the past eight years, 1,179 soldiers serving in Afghanistan have received the medal, said Wayne Hall, Army spokesman.

“There are lots of heroic acts performed by our soldiers over there, but only a select few of them warrant a Bronze Star’’ with Valor, Hall said. “It’s not easy to earn.’’

Silvestri was raised in Revere and attended American International College in Springfield, where he played football. He now lives with his wife, Nicole, and 6-year-old daughter Sienna at Fort Knox, Ky.

The family is expecting another daughter in March and his second deployment late next year.

Silvestri is humble about his accolades.

“When he came home, he wasn’t very talkative about it,’’ said his mother, Sharon. “He told us, ‘I was just doing my job.’ ’’

Turkey Day Score

The Revere Patriots were defeated by the Winthrop Vikings
41-13.

Other Thanksgiving Day scores <-- click here

Revere Powder Puff Game

Found out Revere lost to Peabody 14-8 yesterday in their Annual Powder Puff game. Some great photo's of the game can be seen at the following website:

Revere High Powder Puff Photo's

Globe North Sports

Campus corner

Senior Jessica Penta of Revere did not allow a goal in 135 minutes of play, leading the University of Massachusetts at Boston soccer team to wins over Massachusetts Maritime and Plymouth State. She was named Little East Conference Goalkeeper of the Week. Penta has a 1.14 goals-against average in nine matches covering 630 minutes.

Boston Globe

Teen to plead guilty as accessory in shooting of Revere police officer

A teenager who allegedly set in motion a series of events that ended with the killing of a Revere police officer is expected to plead guilty today in a Dedham courtroom.

Derek Lodie was 17 years old when he walked onto the athletic field behind Revere High School at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2007. A verbal confrontation occurred between Lodie and a group of adults who were drinking that included several Revere police officers.

Officer Daniel Talbot, a member of the department's gang unit, taunted Lodie about the Bloods, according to court records filed earlier in the case by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. Lodie -- who did not know Talbot -- allegedly used his cell phone to summon Robert Iacoviello Jr., 20, a suspected member of the street gang.

"As Talbot approached Lodie, who was continuing to taunt and in the process draw Talbot towards the parking lot, Iacoviello ambushed him," Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin wrote in court papers.

Talbot, 30, was shot in the head and later pronounced dead. At the time, Talbot was in the park with his fiancée and three other Revere police officers splitting a six pack of beer, authorities have said.

Iacoviello has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge and is being held without bail.

At the time of Lodie's arrest, defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr. called the events that led to Talbot’s death "very unusual and very suspicious."

The shooting led to the firing of Revere Police Sergeant Evan Franklin after an internal investigation. Franklin ran from the scene and ordered the first arriving police officer to drive him home, not provide assistance to Talbot, according to the investigation.

Relatives of Talbot are expected to address the court when Lodie pleads guilty today, according to a spokesman for district attorney. Lodie will appeared today in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham because Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady, who has handled the case, is now hearing cases there.

Convicted killer of Revere man gets six years in jail

REVERE - The man convicted of fatally stabbing a 26-year-old Revere man in a South Boston barroom brawl was sentenced to six years in state prison Wednesday.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Linda Giles handed Bernard Piscopo, 40, of Dorchester, less than half of the 14- to 16-year term recommended by Assistant District Attorney Holly Broadbent.

Piscopo was originally indicted for second-degree murder for the June 17, 2007 stabbing of Adam Rich, but a jury on Tuesday convicted him of the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. The jury acquitted Piscopo of stabbing a surviving victim during the same incident, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.



Prior to sentencing, Rich's father and sister addressed the court to tell of what they lost when the young man was stabbed seven times, including once in the heart.

"The last thing I ever thought I'd have to do was tell anyone how special and loved Adam was," said Brian Rich, the victim's father, adding that the young man had scored high on a test when he considered a career as a Revere firefighter.

"The month of June is now a terrible month," he continued. "Adam's birthday was in June. So is Father's Day - the day he died."

The slain man's sister, Janelle Rich, spoke at length about "the hurt and agony" of his loss.

"I ... imagine, over and over, his last moments," she said, "bleeding from seven separate stab wounds, drowning in his own blood as his lungs filled up, suffocating, gasping for air with no one but a stranger to offer him assistance. He died with no one he loved to hold him, reassure him and comfort him ... Memories of how he died haunt me every day and those memories are engraved on my soul."

During two full weeks of trial, Broadbent introduced evidence and testimony showing that the victim and another man became embroiled in a fistfight at The 6 House on West Broadway in the early morning hours of June 17, 2007. The evidence showed that others present intervened in that melee, including Piscopo and the surviving victim.

Rich was escorted from the bar but soon returned and struck Piscopo. The evidence proved that Piscopo produced a knife and stabbed Rich seven times in the back, chest, stomach, legs and hand before fleeing through the bar's back door. Rich was pronounced dead of his injuries at the Boston Medical Center a short time later.

According to published reports, Piscopo, the father of two suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, sobbed uncontrollably as the judge issued his sentence.

Nicole Crosta was the victim-witness advocate assigned to the case. Assistant District Attorney Janis Noble second-seated Broadbent. Piscopo was represented by attorney Robert George.

$5G reward offered in 1974 Revere cold case

REVERE - Leigh Savoie was 10 years old when he left his State Road home to shine shoes, hoping to buy his mother an Easter present. It was April 7, 1974 - the last time anybody saw him.

Savoie's disappearance has remained a mystery. On Wednesday, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley and Revere Police Chief Terence Reardon jointly announced that a $5,000 reward has been offered in connection with the cold case.

The Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation, an independent private agency that provides awards in missing persons cases, has posted the reward for inf-ormation leading to Savoie's return or the prosecution of a suspect in his abduction.

"We are pleased that the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation has provided funding in order to aid us in pursuing a case that we and they consider very much active and worthy of our best efforts throughout this passage of time," Reardon said. "We request that anyone having any information, no matter how trivial, regarding this case contact us in order to contribute to its successful resolution."

Conley echoed that sentiment. "As long as there's hope - hope of finding Leigh or hope of finding justice for him - we will not rest," he said. "With law enforcement resources bolstered by the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation, and with the public's assistance, we have a chance to write this story's final chapter."

Savoie was last seen wearing blue pants, a blue sweater, brown shoes, and a white shirt reading, "Try it, you'll like it." He stood about four feet tall and weighed approximately 60 lbs. He had brown hair and brown eyes.

"Savoie sometimes shined shoes at nearby Suffolk Downs. On the day he disappeared, he left home with his shoeshine kit. Later the same afternoon, the owner of a Revere restaurant returned the kit to Savoie's home, saying the boy had dropped it off earlier in the day on his way to Revere Beach," said Conley spokesman Jake Wark.

Today, Savoie would be 45 years old.

Revere Police are investigating the case with the assistance of State Police homicide detectives assigned to Conley's office. In the absence of other information, the boy is currently classified as missing; should investigators develop substantive evidence that he was a victim of homicide, State Police will take the lead, Wark said.

Anyone with information on Savoie's disappearance is urged to call Revere Police at 781-286-8203 or State Police at 617-727-8817. Those familiar with the boy or his neighborhood in the early 1970s are also asked to call.

Daily Item

Coastsweep seeks volunteers for Rumney Marsh cleanup

REVERE - Employees from GE Aviation in Lynn, members of the Saugus River Watershed Council, students from Revere High School and state Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein will join forces on Saturday, Sept. 26 to remove trash and other debris from Rumney Marsh.

Joan LeBlanc, director of the watershed council, said more volunteers are needed to participate in the 22nd annual Coastsweep. "Volunteers will help remove trash and debris from Rumney Marsh and participate in a statewide survey of marine debris for the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management," she said, adding that the event presents an opportunity for high school students to earn community service hours.

Volunteers will meet behind the VFW Mottolo Post at 10 Garofalo St. The cleanup will be conducted from 9 a.m. to noon. Refreshments, gloves and trash bags will be provided. Work clothes are recommended.

"Please bring rubber boots if you have them," LeBlanc said.

Coastsweep coordinators have emphasized this year that volunteers should not move any fishing gear or pieces of fishing gear. Instead, participants should note any identification numbers and report the find to the state Environmental Police dispatcher at 617-626-1650. State law prohibits people from destroying or damaging pound nets, fish traps or weirs.

For more information about the Rumney Marsh cleanup, contact the watershed council at srw@shore.net or call 781-233-5046. The marsh is classified by the state as an environmentally-sensitive area and vital wetland.

The watershed council is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1991 to protect and restore the natural resources of the Saugus River watershed.

Coastsweep cleanups also took place last Saturday in Nahant at Long Beach and in Gloucester at Long, Niles and Wingaersheek beaches. Beach debris pickups were held earlier this month in Salem, Beverly, Ipswich and Newburyport.

Wounded Warriors Diaries

Joseph Ruggiero
BM1, U.S. Coast Guard

Wounded Warrior Diaries: Coast Guardsman Reflects on Heroism in Gulf

By Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg
Special to American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2009 – Petty Officer 1st Class Joseph Ruggiero’s heroic actions more than five years ago saved lives and earned him the first Purple Heart awarded to a Coast Guardsman since the Vietnam War.

Ruggiero entered the service May 1, 2000, not knowing what the future would hold for him. His father, who served in the U.S. Marines in Vietnam, also served in the federal government for nearly four decades before retiring.

“I always wanted to be a cop or something in law enforcement, especially back then, the Coast Guard wasn’t really known for its law enforcement, and it has come a long way,” Ruggiero said.

Ruggiero fulfilled those law enforcement goals, deploying overseas four times -- three times to the Persian Gulf and once to the Mediterranean Sea -- during his first four years while assigned to Tactical Law Enforcement Team South, also known as TACLET.

Petty Officer 1st Class Joseph Ruggiero became the first Coast Guardsman since the Vietnam War to earn the Purple Heart award, after he saved lives during an enemy boat explosion in the northern Arabian Gulf in April 2004 while his unit was on patrol. Coast Guard photo

He recalled the fateful events of 2004 when he was attached to the TACLET’s Law Enforcement Detachment team 403.

”We were deployed over to the Persian Gulf in late February, and were scheduled to stay until early June,” he said. “On the morning of April 23, we deployed on a coastal Navy patrol craft called the USS Firebolt that was deployed to the Persian Gulf in the spring of 2004.”

Firebolt and Ruggiero’s detachment arrived in the northern Arabian Gulf on the morning of April 24. They were tasked with maintaining and establishing a security zone around the Khawr al Amaya Oil Terminal by cautioning and redirecting vessels, mostly local fishing boats called dhows, to remain two miles clear of the structure.

In the evening, the crew, comprising two Coast Guardsman and five Navy sailors, left the Firebolt on a rigid hull inflatable boat to conduct patrols around the terminal. “We were tasked that day, along with the Australian navy, to clear out the fishing dhows around the oil platform,” he explained.

When they arrived at the oil terminal, they set up a two-mile security zone, passing out information pamphlets to dhows in a two-mile vicinity. They conducted a visit, board, search and seizure mission on board a 400-foot ship, but mostly interdicted dhows, Ruggiero said.

After securing these vessels, they were tasked to check out an incoming vessel on the other side of the terminal platform. This unidentified vessel was traveling on a course that would bring it too close to the oil terminal for comfort.

Something Wasn’t Right

“We came around on the other side of the platform. This is where the significance of this came in. This boat was very different than the norm you would see over there,” Ruggiero said. The “norm,” Ruggiero said,

was a boat that was “nothing pretty to look at, that’s all wood in construction with in-board engines.” Ruggiero, who was serving his second tour in the Persian Gulf, was familiar with the fishing boats, and was immediately on guard when his crew approached the vessel.

“As we were approaching this vessel, I noticed that it looked brand new. It had a brand-new paint job, outboard engines, and no fishing gear on the deck whatsoever. All I could see was one person on deck,” he said.

Ruggiero said the crew aboard a dhow typically will have five to 15 people, depending on the length of the vessel.

The vessel, maintaining a speed of about 20 knots, forced the crew to maintain a relatively safe distance of 10 to 15 feet from the vessel.

Ruggiero noted that the incoming vessel had outboard engines, unmarked, and possibly too small for the 30-foot vessel.

“The outboards were loud and putting out a very smoky exhaust,” he recalled. “That was just one indicator that the boat was loaded with something heavy or the engines may have been too small, or unequipped for that size of a vessel.”

In just 45 seconds, everything changed. As the crew pulled alongside the vessel, due to the language barrier, they used hand signals to gain the attention of the boat’s driver and inform him to slow or stop. Instead, he sped away from the oil terminal, but then quickly returned, and moved toward the oil terminal at full speed.

“We then looped around the vessel to gain a better position,” Ruggiero said. “We again tried to establish communications with the man on the vessel when he suddenly turned the boat very sharp and was heading directly toward us. [We] attempted to turn away from the vessel and opened up a distance of 15 to 20 feet when the vessel then exploded.”

In the Face of Danger

“When the explosion happened, I was basically looking at the boat,” he said. The blast capsized the boat, “throwing everyone into the water in all different directions.”

“[I was later told by] my shipmates and other Navy sailors, as soon as the blast went off, they were about 150 yards from us; they didn’t see anyone emerge from the water for at least a full minute,” Ruggiero said.

Leaning on his prior service and training, “I first pulled my lanyard on my life jacket, when the only thing that happened was air escaping from it causing it not to inflate,” he said. “I then tried to stop spinning in the water,” which was caused by forcefully being thrown into the water. Ruggiero knew he needed to let his natural buoyancy take over to help him reach the surface.

When he reached the surface, he looked around, attempting to gain his bearings, and saw that his boat was capsized. His first instinct was to search for the remaining crew. While looking for his fellow crew members and dodging the falling debris, he realized his lifejacket was in shreds.

“As I was turning around in the water trying to see if anything or anyone was around me, my hand hit the hose to my camel pack, which is normally used to hold drinking water,” Ruggiero said. “But knowing I drank most of the water early in the day I blew air into the hose, which inflated the blater resulting in it becoming a modified flotation device.”

Despite being wounded in the explosion -- his eardrums appeared to be ruptured, his right arm was wounded and face was bleeding and swollen from the blast -- Ruggiero remained calm. He needed to help his fellow crew members.

The first person Ruggiero found after coming to the surface was Coast Guardsman Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Bruckenthal. “The back of his head was hit many times,” he recalled, and Bruckenthal was falling in and out of consciousness.

While swimming with Bruckenthal on his chest, Ruggiero then saw the coxswain, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class A.R. Daley, whose arm was badly injured. After swimming with Bruckenthal and locating Daley alongside the boat, his first intention was to take them both toward the Firebolt.

Before doing so, he scanned the surroundings and found Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Michael J. Pernaselli floating face down 50 yards away. Pernaselli was the leading boatswain's mate and a machine-gun operator on board the Firebolt. Ruggiero secured Bruckenthal and Daley on the boat and swam toward Pernaselli. With the current’s strength of eight knots, Ruggiero swiftly reached Pernaselli’s location. However, once there, he discovered Pernaselli was dead on impact.

“Right then and there I realized that we only worked with this Navy group not even a day, we really didn’t know anyone personally. The only person that I knew was Mike Pernaselli,” he said.

On instinct, without regard to his personal injuries, Ruggiero started to tow Pernaselli’s body against the current that had aided him swiftly through the water nearly five minutes earlier. After swimming against the current and fighting to see and breathe through the rotor wash from the helicopter above for nearly 20 minutes, he arrived at the capsized boat.

The helicopter was barely 15 feet above him and was involved in trying to help Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher E. Watts by lowering a cable to pull him out of the water.

As three other crew members were being rescued, including Bruckenthal and Daley, Ruggiero waited aboard the capsized boat trying to regain his breath. “I straddled the keel of the capsized [boat] and pulled Mike’s body across my legs,” he said.

“I later re-entered the water from the capsized [boat] with Mike’s body and started swimming back towards the Firebolt where I was assisted by two shipmates, who jumped into the water from the Firebolt. The three of us, while pulling Mike’s body, eventually made it close enough to the Firebolt where we were given a line and pulled in towards the ship,” Ruggiero said.

He later learned that his team member’s actions that day prevented a large-scale attack that would have caused severe damage to the oil pipeline or destruction of the offshore oil terminals.

In the explosion, Ruggiero’s fellow Coast Guardsman, Bruckenthal, and two sailors, Pernaselli and Watts, were killed, and four others wounded.

“We are all indebted to the boatcrew involved that fateful day, for they put others before themselves,” said Captain Gail Kulisch, acting commander for the Deployable Operations Group, the Coast Guard command responsible for overseeing tactical law enforcement teams. “BM1 Ruggiero’s heroic attempts to save the crew and his actions epitomize our service’s core values.”

A Salute to Heroes

Ruggiero was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained while defending the terminal, and the Bronze Star with a Combat “V” for Valor for his rescue efforts. Ruggiero's shipmate team member and friend, Bruckenthal, was posthumously given the same awards.

“I returned to the Persian Gulf by choice about a year and a half after the attack,” Ruggiero said. “I conducted missions around the oil terminals and actually lived on one of the terminals for about two weeks training Iraqi marines on how to conduct boardings.”

Today, Ruggiero still deals with lingering effects from the explosion. He said that for nearly a year and a half after the explosion his biggest concern was difficulty hearing and bleeding from his ears. He currently is having dental work completed to realign his jaw.

(This is the 12th installment of the Wounded Warrior Diaries series. Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg works in the Defense Media Activity’s emerging media directorate.)

Revere’s recorder - Henry retires as City Clerk, ending a 31-year career as the institutional memory of the city

At the next City Council meeting on July 20, there will be a noticeable difference in personnel.

No city councillors will be missing, but for the first time in more than 30 years, former City Clerk John Henry won’t be coordinating the meeting.

Henry submitted his letter of resignation to the council late last week, which will become official today, July 15, due to his retirement as full-time city clerk.

“I submitted a letter of resignation to the City Council that is effective this Wednesday, July 15, due to the fact that I’m retiring as a full-time city clerk,” said Henry on Monday. “My wife just retired from the Revere School System, so she’s around, and I’m 65 now. I’m in that range where people retire.”

Henry has indicated that he will stay on as temporary clerk if the council so wishes, and that arrangement will likely be the council’s first order of business on July 20 - whether to keep Henry on a temporary basis.

Two things will prevent the council from making an immediate decision about his replacement.

First and foremost, there is a spirited battle going on behind the scenes between a handful of people who are looking to become the next clerk. The city clerk’s position is an appointed position from the City Council. Only the City Council can choose whom they would like to serve as city clerk, and a mere six votes gets someone the job.

Secondly, there is a piece of legislation at the State House that looks to repeal the life tenure of the Revere city clerk. That measure passed the council several months ago, but was only recently heard on Beacon Hill. It will be reported out of a legislative committee this week and could be adopted by the Legislature sometime this summer.

The measure would give the city clerk a five-year term. Right now, the clerk enjoys life tenure, as Revere voters approved such an arrangement in a 1923 ballot question.

So while the dust settles on those matters, Henry has agreed to work without pay.

“During the interim period of time, upon a determination by the City Council, I would be willing to serve as temporary city clerk without compensation until the Massachusetts Legislature repeals the City Clerk Tenure Act and the appointment of a new city clerk by the City Council,” Henry wrote in his resignation letter.

He also indicated that any savings from his salary could be put towards keeping City Hall open on certain Fridays after Labor Day.

Mayor Tom Ambrosino said he has asked Henry to stay on as parking clerk, as supervisor of the city’s parking lots and as the clerk of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).

“I have asked him to stay on,” said the mayor. “I certainly want him to stay on as long as possible.”

Under state pension laws, Henry can retire from the clerk’s position and still work and receive income for the three other positions, which carry much smaller salaries, compared to that of the clerk.

Ambrosino and others said the potential of losing Henry can’t be measured. He is the institutional memory of the city for the last 30 years, in addition to all of the information he inherited from his predecessors, Joseph McCristal and Albert Brown.

“I was surprised to hear of his retirement,” said the mayor. “John Henry is an exceptional city clerk and very knowledgeable. I’ve relied on him quite a bit in my tenure as mayor for all sorts of advice and counseling. I hope he stays because I would miss him terribly.”

Councillor George V. Colella, the dean of the City Council, said losing Henry is devastating to the city and to the taxpayers.

“He came in with great credentials and he did an absolute superior job as clerk,” said Colella. “It’s a devastating loss.”

Henry first mentioned that he might retire late in January when the state’s fiscal crisis began to rear its ugly head. He indicated at that time that if it would help the city financially, he would step aside.

In his 30-plus years, Henry has been the continuity of the city, seeing several mayoral administrations and city councillors come and go. The personalities, the in-fighting and the victories - he has been there for all of them. There have been issues upon issues, and he and his staff have been there to record those comings and goings, along with the more mundane duties of keeping birth and death records, dog licenses and marriage certificates.

A native of Revere, he became the clerk in 1978 after having worked for several years as the director of intergovernmental affairs for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).

He said one of the biggest changes has been new technology, not only at his office in terms of computerization and the Internet, but also at the City Council meetings.

“There are fewer and fewer people participating in the Chamber meetings,” he said. “When I first came in, the Chamber was packed. Every seat was taken. Now, about every seat is open. They have access to TV now, and they watch it there.”

He said the public has access to much more information than when he came in - from the meeting agendas, which are much more detailed, to the information on the city’s website.

In the meantime, Henry said he hopes to do some traveling and he will continue doing historical research on Revere - producing short historical pieces for the newspaper, for the local cable access TV and for local lectures.

Though he said he is ready for the change, he indicated there was some sentimentality in closing his chapter as Revere city clerk, a position that doesn’t see a retirement very often.

“There’s a little nostalgia about stepping aside,” he said. “When you sit in that chair [in the council chambers] and in the clerk’s office, you become part of the building. It’s a little emotional…I’ll still be on Broadway, though, at 7 a.m. having my coffee and then coming over here and starting my computer. Any way I can help the city, I will.”

New England Sand Sculpting Festival at Revere Beach 2009

Revere Beach, the crescent shaped sandy playground north of Boston, is hosting the annual New England Sand Sculpting Festival on July 15th through July 19th. World champion sand sculptors from all over the U.S. will gather at Revere Beach, the nation's oldest public beach, to make art out of sand and entertain thousands of sunbathers and spectators alike.

The art of sand sculpting

Sand sculpting is not child's play, as you will see on the event website which displays photos of the sculptures. They are big, bold, beautiful and intricately carved. The sculptures are made out of water and sand only, though the sand is actually a special brand from New Hampshire and not the stuff you usually see on the beach.

There is a set of rules for the contestants, which include specifications for the dimensions of the sculptures ( 18 feet by 18 feet); hours that the sculptors are allowed to work and so forth. Each sculptor is given 10 tons of sand to create his or her masterpiece and must also participate in judging fellow sculptors' work.

The Revere Beach Partnership

The New England Sand Sculpting Festival draws 250.000 spectators to Revere Beach annually, according to information on the organization's website. The festival is a project of the Revere Beach Partnership, established in 2001 to "help preserve the historic character of Revere Beach."

"The Revere Beach Partnership is dedicated to hosting events such as this to bring the beach back to its place as one of the premier beaches on the New England coast line," said Revere Mayor Thomas Ambrosino.

For more info: Visit the New England Sand Sculpture website and the Boston Central website

Location: Revere Beach is located in Revere, MA (about 10 miles North of downtown Boston) and is accessible via the Blue Line on the "T".

Cost: The event is free of charge but donations are welcome

2 headed to prison for hacking into phone system

DALLAS — A teenager and a 23-year-old man from Massachusetts are headed to prison after being sentenced in Dallas on conspiracy charges related to a phone hacking case.

Nineteen-year-old Matthew Weigman of Revere, Mass., was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, victim or an informant and one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud. Twenty-three-year-old Sean Paul Benton of Malden, Mass., received an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to obstruct justice.

Prosecutors say Weigman hacked into Verizon computers to obtain identifying information on customers and change or discontinue their service. He and Benton then harassed a Verizon investigator who was cooperating with authorities in the case.

Houston Chronicle (Texas)

Free cheese fries and Coke at Kelly’s Roast Beef’s 58th celebration

Saugus - In celebration of 58 years in business, Kelly’s Roast Beef, a 5-unit fast-casual eatery, is giving each of its loyal fans a gift on the company’s anniversary, Friday July 3rd, 2009: A Complimentary Order of Cheese Fries and a 20oz. Coca-Cola Fountain Beverage.

Anyone who signs up as a fan on the Kelly’s Roast Beef Legends eclub is eligible to redeem this outrageously delicious incentive, no strings attached.

Patrons simply sign up their name and email address on Kelly’s website at: http://www.kellysroastbeef.com/legends.html and a printable coupon will be emailed directly to the patron’s inbox to be redeemed on July 3rd.

Ever since the first Kelly's Roast Beef opened on Revere Beach back in 1951, the now-legendary chain has been providing fresh sandwiches and seafood. The family-owned business has been practicing the Kelly's Credo: "delivering premium ingredients fresh daily and making everything to order," for almost six decades! “We're happy to give a bit back whenever we can,” says Manny Paula, Kelly’s COO.

This mouth-watering, free gift is only available for redemption on Kelly’s anniversary date, Friday July 3rd, 2009. Kelly’s wishes to thank all of its loyal fans who make its business thrive.

For more information, visit www.kellysroastbeef.com.

Lynn Item

Suffolk Downs puts community days on the card

EAST BOSTON -- Suffolk Downs will be celebrating civic institutions and organizations in several North Shore communites throughout the summer.

The community days began Saturday when the racetrack observed "Chelsea Day."

Lynn (July 18), Revere (Aug. 1) and Saugus (Aug. 8) are also on the list of communities to recognized at the track.

Also on the list are Salem (July 11), Winthrop (July 25), and East Boston (Aug. 22).

Parking and admission will be free for residents of the communities honored (with proper ID).

In addition to a full card of live racing, the track will provide family entertainment, including pony rides, carnival games, face painting and a balloon artist, at the outdoor tent, picnic area and playground.

All in attendance will have the opportunity to have pictures taken with a racehorse and jockey at the track's "Fan Photo Experience."

The family fun begins at 12:30 p.m. First post time for live racing is 12:45 p.m.

Different groups, charities, organizations, clubs and youth sports groups from each community will take part in the festivities.

The track established the "Community Winner's Circle" in a continuation of its long-standing community outreach program.

Each "Community Winner's Circle" honoree is recognized by the track in a post-race winner's circle ceremony.

The track will also contribute toward a charity or a cause within the community being celebrated.

There will be additional beneficiaries of the community day festivities as well.

Also, a local group will perform the National Anthem, while another will present the colors.

Lynn Item

State pushes a wave of construction

Public outlays could spur private projects


Governor Deval Patrick’s administration will spend hundreds of millions of dollars this summer building roads and highway ramps for at least five struggling private developments - from the former Naval air station in Weymouth to Somerville’s Assembly Square - in hopes of jump-starting construction and the local economy.

The money, a combination of federal stimulus money and state funds, will not go directly to the private developers, but rather for public works that Patrick aides said they expect will make it easier for companies to arrange financing in otherwise tight credit markets. That, in turn, would kick off construction of the planned office parks, shopping centers, housing, and hotels that will create new jobs.

Although more projects may be chosen later, the ones already approved include not only SouthField in Weymouth and Assembly Square, but a new business park in Fall River that will recruit biotech companies, the Westwood Station project, and Waterfront Square at Revere Beach.

The state’s immediate goal is to start work in the current construction season, with the first five projects receiving $20 million to $60 million in public works improvements. Patrick officials expect to officially an nounce the funding commitments over the coming weeks.

“The projects we will be announcing will change the way we grow and develop over the next 10 years,’’ said Gregory Bialecki, the Massachusetts secretary of housing and economic development. “What we’re trying to do is create the places that will be our new employment centers.’’

The federal funds will come out of an $800 million allotment for transportation projects Massachusetts received from the stimulus package.

Initially the Patrick administration used some of that federal money for simple projects such as road paving. But it now wants to target improvements that have the ancillary benefit of creating additional economic growth.

“Now, we’re able to look over the horizon and go after the big picture things we’re trying to do,’’ Bialecki said.

In Somerville, Mayor Joseph Curtatone called the selection of the Assembly Square project a major benefit for his city, which like many communities is struggling to fund public services with less money.

“This project will do a lot to stabilize our future,’’ Curtatone said of the proposed development. “It will allow us to invest in education, public works and public safety. It’s the most important project in the city.’’

The state is still sorting through the list of projects that have applied for public aid, and more may be added in the coming months.

But Bialecki indicated several high-profile stalled developments have needs the state cannot accommodate.

One is Columbus Center, an $800 million condominium, hotel, and retail project over the turnpike in Boston that has been unable to arrange private financing.

Another request that is too large to fill came from Gale International and Vornado Realty Trust, developers of the Filene’s block in Downtown Crossing, which Bialecki said were looking for as much as $300 million in assistance.

Neither set of developers returned calls seeking comment.

In downturns in the early 1990s and 2001, Massachusetts lagged the national economy in its recovery, taking months longer to restore jobs and production lost during the contraction.

The new spending initiative is an attempt to reverse that trend, although it is unclear just how quickly some of these private developments can get underway and contribute to the economy.

The five projects chosen so far are all ambitious:

◼The Assembly Square project in Somerville includes retail stores such as Ikea, office buildings, and more than 2,000 residential units.

◼The former South Weymouth Naval Air Station would become SouthField, a minicity with more than 2,800 housing units, golf course, stores, offices, and movie studios. State officials are arranging financing to build an access road that would connect the development with routes 3 and 18 and cost about $60 million.

◼At Waterfront Square at Revere Beach, Eurovest Development is planning to build a $500 million mixed use project that would include more than 900 housing units, a hotel, and 200,000 square feet of stores, restaurants, and offices. The state is considering upgrades to the MBTA’s Wonderland Station as well as the network of roads around it.

◼For Fall River, the state will build an off-ramp from Route 24 that would allow officials to add new space next to the city’s 500-acre Industrial Park for biotech companies.

◼The $1.5 billion Westwood Station project includes hundreds of housing units, retail stores, and offices on a large site opposite the Route 128 Amtrak station. The developers want help building a new highway interchange at interstates 95 and 93 that would improve traffic flow around the project, which is projected to create about 3,700 construction jobs and as many as 9,000 permanent jobs.

“We have one or two critical tenants that are still waiting to see what happens with the road system. And if these commitments come through, we can get financing to move the project forward soon,’’ said Jay Doherty, chief executive of developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes.


Boston Globe

Homeless man's body pulled from Saugus River

REVERE – A state police dive team extracted the body of a 46-year-old homeless man from the banks of the commuter rail bridge crossing the Saugus River in Revere by the General Edwards Bridge just before 12:40 p.m. today.

The fully clothed body was pulled into a state police boat from three to four feet off shore at low tide. It took police about an hour to raise the body using ropes.

"State police assigned to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office responded to a body recovery in water near Mills Avenue in Revere late Wednesday morning," Suffolk District Attorney Spokesman Jake Wark said.

The case was later handed over to Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office, where the incident remains under investigation.

Essex County DA Spokesman Steve O'Connell confirmed that the body was that of a homeless man, but did not release his identity as next of kin has yet to be notified.

O'Connell said there did not appear to be any signs of foul play, but the district attorney's office is awaiting the results of an autopsy to conclude the investigation.

“ There were no obvious signs of trauma on the body,” said O'Connell. “But the case will remain under investigation as we await the results of the autopsy. We have a pretty good idea of who this person is, but we are still attempting to locate and notify his family.”

O'Connell said two individuals fishing in the area made the initial call to the Revere Fire Department to report the body.

Revere Fire Chief Eugene Doherty said his department took a call at 11:25 a.m. for a body floating in the water at the junction of the Pines and Saugus rivers. According to the caller, the body appeared to have floated down the Saugus River.

Doherty said he dispatched a fire boat and asked for the assistance of a private boater at the Point of Pines Yacht Club.

Divers appeared to locate the location of the body quickly, but it took the dive team some time to carefully lift the body from the water in to a police boat.

Three state police cruisers closed a portion of the General Edwards Bridge during the investigation.

Body found floating near Route 1A in Revere

The remains of a person were spotted this morning floating off the Point of Pines neighborhood in Revere today.

The remains were recovered by the Revere fire department after they were found near the confluence of the Pines and Saugus rivers and alongside the General Edwards Bridge on Route 1A, according to Revere Fire and Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office.

The person's gender or identity could not be immediately established, officials said.

State police assigned to Conley's office are investigating. The discovery was made around 11:25 a.m., Revere fire officials said.

Revere DPW worker arrested for sign thefts

REVERE - Police say veteran city employee Michael Ferragamo admitted to stealing street signs from the Charger Street city yard over the last two weeks and selling them to an Everett scrap metal dealer.

Ferragamo, 47, 65 McKinley St., is slated to plead innocent in Chelsea District Court to breaking and entering and larceny charges.

Police Sgt. Thomas Malone in a report filed Friday stated Ferragamo admitted being paid $500 to $700 for the signs valued by Public Works Superintendent Donald Goodwin at $2,000 to $5,000. Between 1,000 and 1,500 signs are missing.

A call to Ferragamo's listed telephone number Friday afternoon found it disconnected.

A public works employee returning to work Wednesday after a week off noticed the signs missing from the sign shop in the Charger Street yard. Police reviewed security camera videotape with DPW officials and observed Ferragamo getting out of a city van and entering the shop on May 28. Video taken May 29 and June 1 shows the van leaving and entering the Charger Street yard.

The GPS device installed in the city van tracked the vehicle traveling on May 28 and on May 29 to a residence abutting Ferragamo's house and to Everett. The GPS also tracked the vehicle traveling to Everett on June 1.

The theft is the latest source of unwanted attention for Goodwin and his department.

A confrontation last week with City Councilor at Large John R. Correggio prompted both men to file criminal complaints set for review June 25 in Chelsea District Court.

The missing signs also raise the specter of another city theft a half year after city auditors documented misspending in the public library. Former Library Director Robert Rice resigned after the spending discrepancies were found and the probe into library accounts continues with the Suffolk District Attorney's office spearheading it.

Lynn Item

Newest tax scofflaws

If the various elected and appointed officials of Revere could tear themselves away from dope slapping each other at wakes, and put aside, just for a moment, their quest for metal detectors on the Blue Line to keep out-of-town "yutes" from corrupting their fair city, maybe they could get around to doing something that really affects the quality of life of all their constituents.

But that would mean standing up to the banks, which requires significantly more effort than throwing haymakers at funeral homes or blaming kids from Boston for everything except what the seagulls pick out of the barrels along the beach.

The pols in Revere and just about every city and town in the Commonwealth should be lining up to help Gerry D'Ambrosio. D'Ambrosio is a fine lawyer who performs for cities and towns the thankless task of collecting overdue taxes from assorted deadbeats, crooks, and scalawags. Ask him what the biggest problem facing financially struggling cities and towns like Revere is and he'll tell you.

"Banks," D'Ambrosio said. "Banks that foreclose on properties, throw people out, and then won't pay the taxes."

This is a relatively new phenomenon, a byproduct of the mortgage meltdowns that have fueled the recession, and the seeming inability of government or anyone else to put real pressure on the banks that have received billions of taxpayer dollars to be good corporate citizens.

"We always had three categories of people who didn't pay taxes on properties," D'Ambrosio was saying. "Mom and pops, and municipalities bend over backward to help in these cases, because they don't want to throw them out on the street.

"The second group is slumlords - playing games, manipulating property without doing work on it, and selling it. They play a shell game. They own 10 properties, pay taxes on half, don't pay taxes on the other half. So when the city is about to foreclose, they'll pay on the half they weren't paying and stop paying on the half they were paying. They're just trying to flip properties.

"The third category is commercial enterprises.

"Over the last six months, we've developed a fourth category: banks. Banks foreclose on properties, throw the people out, leave the property empty, letting it become a blight, and at the same time the banks don't pay the taxes."

It's not just one or two banks doing this, he said, "and it's pretty much statewide."

This is new. He calls it "a real industry-wide trend."

Said D'Ambrosio: "It used to be, if a bank had a property, the taxes got paid, right away.

"But now, since the bailouts, it's all changed. So the taxpayer is bailing out the banks, the banks are throwing people out of their houses, and then the banks don't pay the taxes. Properties run down, neighborhoods run down. It's nuts."

Peter Brown, D'Ambrosio's law associate, says banks are suddenly ignoring court orders, unconcerned with the blight and decay that often result.

"In talking with them, they are blasé about the whole process and their obligations, and believe they have an unlimited right to deal with these issues on their timetable and in the manner that best suits them," Brown says.

Last week, D'Ambrosio's firm oversaw the auction of a house in Gloucester. A bank hadn't paid the taxes for months, but at the last second tried to step in and pay the taxes off.

Too late.

The house sold for $180,000, and the bank lost a $165,000 mortgage.

"None of this makes any sense, for the banks, or the cities and towns," D'Ambrosio said. "If you ask me what's really happening, I'd say these are decisions that are being made in boardrooms, not in neighborhoods.

"I don't know how this can be helping the bottom line in boardrooms, but I can see with my own eyes what it's doing to neighborhoods, and it's not good."


Boston Globe

The not-so-sweet science of Revere politics

Fists-up tradition fuels calls for change

REVERE - City officials are routinely threatened, their cars and homes vandalized by angry residents or disgruntled city workers. Political challengers report similar intimidation, and even ordinary citizens fear reprisal if they speak out against entrenched leaders.

Politics in this city goes beyond angry outbursts and face-to-face screaming matches. Insults are thrown, sure. But sometimes, so are punches.

Last year, a city councilor investigating trash complaints was slugged in the face by a constituent. And last week, in a tragicomic twist on Revere's bare-knuckles brand of politics, a city councilor and public works superintendent scuffled at a wake.

The widely publicized altercation, coming at a well-attended wake for the wife of a former city councilor, has cast a harsh light on the state of local leadership. And it dragged front and center the city's rough-and-tumble political culture of short tempers and long memories.

"All in a day in Revere," sighed Al Terminello, a former president of the Chamber of Commerce who now works as a freelance photographer. "This wasn't the first fight, and it won't be the last."

Even in a working-class city that prides itself on its plain-spoken style and combative, colorful reputation, the altercation has struck a nerve, stirring outrage and embarrassment. For longtime residents who chafe at the city's seedy image, it marked still another setback. For relative newcomers, it confirmed their cynicism with local affairs as an insiders' game marred by feuds and personal vendettas.

And for those already furious at city leaders for a series of high-profile controversies involving pensions and expenses, it was a last straw.

"It's a disgrace," said Stacey Rizzo, a local real estate agent who has run for the School Committee. "It's tiring. It's disheartening. And people have just had enough."

Adding fuel to the fire are several local blogs that routinely trash city leaders and traffic heavily in rumor and innuendo, including a report that Councilor Anthony Zambuto had recently gotten in a fistfight at a restaurant in East Boston. Zambuto said the encounter in question occurred in late April and was not physical.

Zambuto acknowledged in an interview that the city's political culture has become more "contentious, to say the least."

After insisting he seeks to remain above the fray, Zambuto barely paused before taking aim at his colleagues on the board. He dismissed George Rotondo, a councilor with a maverick reputation, as a "bomb-thrower" more interested in his own career than the city. He then slammed John R. Correggio, the councilor involved in the fight with DPW director Donald Goodwin, for telling the press that many students who played hooky at Revere Beach in late April were carrying weapons. It was an exaggeration that could hurt the city, Zambuto said.

"You don't make comments like that," he said angrily. "We're trying to sell condos and attract developers. To throw the city under the bus like that, it disgusts me."

Correggio conceded he is "getting a lot of anger from a lot of people."

"It seems like everyone, whether they are in politics or not, are on edge," he said. "People are depressed and intense. We're getting the full brunt of it."

In many ways, Revere's political scene is a throwback to a more parochial time, when old-boy networks ruled. The current 11-member City Council, for instance, is entirely male. While city leaders fight relentlessly among themselves, they unite against perceived outsiders and criticism, observers say.

"It's incestuous," Rotondo said of the city's political culture. "It's more than unique [to Revere]; it's absurd."

Rotondo said he is still frowned upon as an outsider for growing up in Everett and for inviting controversy by criticizing council policies.

"There's a sense of Omerta, that every wants to shut things up and sweep things under the rug," he said, referring to the code of silence in criminal organizations. "This is not the Revere I want my children growing up in."

Rotondo said he has received anonymous death threats and his car has been vandalized too many times to count. His wife once found dead birds on her windshield, he said.

State Representative Kathi Reinstein, a Revere resident in her sixth term, said the entire front of her car was vandalized just the other day. Growing up as the daughter of Revere's mayor, she remembered the family car being set on fire.

It's good that Revere residents care about politics, Reinstein said. But sometimes, they probably care too much.

"People are very passionate, but sometimes the passion takes over," she said.

Some of the city's most charming and coveted qualities, namely residents' disarming bluntness and strong sense of community, wind up hurting its politics, local observers say. Many liken the political scene to a close-knit, dysfunctional family.

"Brothers and sisters fight," said Terminello, 71, the former chamber president. "Who hasn't fought with their parents? It happens. It's a city whose politics are inbred, and whose fights carry on for a long time."

The atmosphere of rancor and recrimination, local observers say, discourages some people from running for office and overshadows the city's progress. But the fall election is shaping up to be highly competitive, with many City Council candidates touting their outsider status.

"I am totally a newcomer to Revere politics," said Joe Lavino, a 30-year-old who vows not to "knock anyone else down to get ahead."

"The only people I care about are the neighbors, and they are sick of business as usual," he said.

With a hint of sadness, Terminello said he believed the funeral home fight, which was the culmination of a long-running feud over the council's scrutiny of spending at the Public Works Department, could mark the end of an era. The culmination of disagreements that were once handled in-house are now drawing outside attention, presumably from tipsters alerting the media.

"Things are going to be different now," Terminello said. "You can't talk about anything like before."

At a City Council meeting Monday, councilors were chummy, smiling in private conversations and slapping the backs of officials and members of the public. They handed out citations and a college scholarship, and posed for several photo-ops. Afterward, Zambuto requested the floor.

"I just want to say it's nice to get some good press once in a while," he said.

Boston Globe