Man About Canton: CANTON SENIORS ENJOY BOSTON POPS
By Joe DeFeliceDID YOU KNOW…
Thirty-five Canton seniors recently traveled by bus to Boston’s Symphony Hall where they heard an outstanding performance by the Keith Lockhart-conducted Boston Pops Orchestra and a superb group of entertainers singing some of the delightful music of Cole Porter. The seniors told MAC that it was a great time, and they look forward to another trip as soon as it can be arranged.
Speaking of seniors, members of the Canton Senior Men’s Club and their guests recently held their annual summer cookout at the Canton Town Club. This year’s outstanding event was catered by Centerfield’s, and everyone had a great time.
If you have any $2 bills, you are probably hoarding them because not too many are in actual circulation, and many people have never even seen one. Originally issued in 1928, the Treasury Department says the $2 bill makes up less than 1 percent of the $670 billion in genuine U.S. currency.
From our Trivia Department comes this: The population of the United States is 310 million, and the per capita income is $46,400.
The .75 local option meals tax, which adds 75 cents to a $100 dinner, has been adopted by ten communities south of Boston, and it is reportedly raising thousands of dollars for their annual budgets. The ten communities are Bridgewater, Dedham, Easton, Hingham, Milton, Norton, Quincy, Raynham, Stoughton, and Walpole.
Some unhappy “old timers” have complained to MAC that they want the town’s Memorial Day Parade to start in the center of town like it used to. However, now that the downtown war memorials, where the parade used to stop, have been moved to the beautiful Veteran’s Park at the Canton Corner Cemetery, the days of a downtown parade start are gone. On top of that, all of our World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam veterans are getting on in years, and each year it is more difficult for them to march. So starting the parade downtown is now out of the question. So everyone will just have to watch the parade from a place along the present shortened route.
According to Eurostat Statistics Agency, the French, on average, eat just under a half-pound of cheese per person each week. This puts them just behind the 27-nation champion cheese-eaters, the Greeks.
According to federal officials, more than 40.5 million Americans are now receiving food stamps, which is more than one-eighth of the total U.S. population.
The Ford Motor Company is going to discontinue its 71-year-old Mercury brand by the end of the year and expand its Lincoln line-up with a new small car. Mercury joins Pontiac, Saturn, Oldsmobile, Edsel, Studebaker, Nash, Packard, Rambler, DeSoto, Hudson, Tucker, and Plymouth among the Detroit-made autos that are now history.
Both Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare are reportedly still seeking the double-digit rate increases that were not allowed by state administrators just a few months ago. The fight isn’t over yet.
The Boston Globe recently reported that our neighbors in Randolph have been struggling with racial issues. According to the 2008 U.S. Census data, Randolph is almost 50 percent Caucasian, 35 percent African American, and 12 percent Asian.
The Boston Herald reports that more people quit their jobs in the past three months than were laid off, which is a sharp turnabout after 15 straight months in which layoffs exceeded voluntary departures. This suggests the job market may be on the upswing.
Hooray! Federal regulators have put in place new rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the recent “flash crash” in the stock market. The rules call for U.S. stock exchanges to briefly halt trading of some stocks that make big swings.
In case you missed it, Papa John’s Pizza Company beat out Pizza Hut and Dominos to become the official pizza sponsor of the National Football League and the Super Bowl, with a three-year, multi-million-dollar contract that will run through the 2012-2013 season. Papa John’s is the nation’s third largest pizza company, behind the two companies it beat out.
Speaking of the Super Bowl, advertisements for the next Super Bowl broadcast are reportedly selling like hot cakes, despite the fact that the NFL season hasn’t even started, and the big game is eight months away on February 7. It is reported that as much as 80 percent of the 30-second ad spaces are going for between $2.8 million and $3 million.
The Cheng Du Chinese Restaurant, formerly located in Stoughton’s Downtown Business District, has been shut down for several months because of a serious five-alarm fire. It is now scheduled to reopen in a new location at 657 Washington Street and will seat over 100 patrons. The location was formerly home to, among others, the Stoughton Diner, Ground Round, and (most recently) Phatt Boys.
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=2915
Posted by Joe DeFelice
on Jun 24 2010. Filed under Man About Canton, Opinion.
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