Man About Canton: WHERE ARE THE CONTRACTS?
By Joe DeFeliceDID YOU KNOW…
One of our readers has complained to MAC that the copy of the current labor contract between the town of Canton and Town Administrator Bill Friel, as well as the current contracts with the town unions and other town employees, are not on file at the library as required by longstanding town bylaws. The contract copies are supposed to be on file in the library’s reference section to allow voters an unfettered opportunity to review them to see where and how their tax money is being spent. The reference librarian told MAC they seldom get the copies of contracts, so what’s going on?
The Boston Red Sox have had the most expensive average ticket prices since 1996, but in 2010, the New York Yankees top the major leagues with an average ticket price at an eye-popping $72.97.
If you are thinking about going to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park and plan to sit in the State Street Pavilion behind home plate (like MAC recently did) you better bring a lot of cash and your credit card along. Besides the $52 average cost for a ticket, $30-$40 to park your car, and the $200 per seat charge in that elite State Street section, hot dogs cost $5.75, and the kid’s little leaguer combo of a hot dog, some fries and a juice box will set you back $9.75. Peanuts in the shell are $4.25, crackerjacks $4.50, and popcorn is $4.25. In addition, they charge $4 for a bottle of Poland Spring water, $4.75 for a coke, $3.75 for a cup of coffee, and $8 for a Bud Lite. As an aside, MAC bought an entire case of 24 half-liter bottles of Poland Spring water at CVS recently for less than $4. If you want to bring your family to a game with you, you might consider taking out a bank loan. So now you will be prepared if you ever get the opportunity to go to the State Street Pavilion section at Fenway Park.
Speaking of baseball, the Brockton Rox baseball team of the Can-Am league has signed 26-year-old right-handed relief pitcher Josh Papelbon, who spent four years in the Boston Red Sox farm system. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the pitcher spent most of the 2009 season with the Salem Red Sox of the Single-A Carolina League where he went 5-2 with a 2.87 ERA in 34 relief appearances. Josh is the younger brother of Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.
The main campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has received a record number of 31,300 applications for this fall’s freshman class.
MAC was pleased to see Canton town meeting voters approve spending $30,000 to purchase a water slide for the town pool on Bolivar Street, and $35,000 to build a park for skateboarders and roller skaters between the Galvin and Hansen schools.
It soon will cost you more money to eat in Stoughton. Town meeting voters recently approved a 0.75 percent local-option meals tax, which will be on top of the state’s 6.25 percent meals tax. On the other hand, Canton’s town meeting voters elected to forego the option tax and keep the meals tax at 6.25.
While the economy seems to be slowly improving, the housing market is still having problems. In March, there were more residential foreclosures in Massachusetts than in any month since May 2008; and since the start of the year, foreclosures have been running 25 percent ahead of 2009.
If you’re planning a trip to the Cape, you will be happy to hear that the Sagamore Bridge has reopened all four traffic lanes after undergoing repairs that included new pavement and curb replacements. Similar construction on the Bourne Bridge is scheduled to begin right after Columbus Day in October.
Our trivia department says blood hound tracker dogs are the only animal whose evidence is allowed to be considered in court.
If you’re impressed with the fact there are about 20 places in Canton where you can get pizza, you should know that in the United States, 93 percent of the population eats a piece of pizza at least once a month, and their favorite topping is pepperoni. It’s on 36 percent of all orders.
In case you’re interested, MAC hears that the new IScream ice cream parlor in down town Canton is doing well.
Canton-based Reebok is conducting its annual tent sale until September 6, and once again, it is located at 300 Technology Center Drive in Stoughton, opposite BJ’s Wholesale Club. As usual, the sale includes a “vast assortment” of footwear, apparel, and socks. You’ll find some great buys there.
Finally, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, a major 10-year international study of almost 13,000 participants has found that cell phone usage didn’t increase the risk of developing meningioma, which is a common and frequently benign tumor. Unfortunately, it did find that there were “suggestions” that using cell phones for more than 30 minutes each day could increase the risk of glioma, a rare and often fatal tumor. However, the researchers went on to state that they cannot “rule out that cell phone use causes brain cancer but wouldn’t say it does either.” So beware … and be careful.
The obvious is that which is never seen until one expresses it simply.
This is all for now folks; see you next week.
Joe DeFelice can be reached at
manaboutcanton@aol.com
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=2547
Posted by Joe DeFelice
on Jun 3 2010. Filed under Man About Canton, Opinion.
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