Man About Canton: So Long 2011

DID YOU KNOW …

The year 2011 is finally coming to an end, and we will soon be entering the new year of 2012, and MAC hopes it will be a good year for all of you.

It is interesting to note that with the end of 2011, we find that gasoline prices are now averaging just over $3 per gallon, almost the same as the end of 2010.

Now that the year is coming to an end, it soon will be time to file your 2011 income tax returns, and the Associated Press says the Internal Revenue Service is going to increase the number of returns it will audit by nearly 10 percent. The statistics recently released show that wealthy taxpayers were most likely to be targeted.

Sixty-five children attended the Canton American Legion Christmas Party, one of the largest parties in recent years. Other Canton clubs have seen a significant decline in attendance.

Fifty percent of U.S. workers did their holiday shopping on the Internet while on the clock, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.

Just a thought: Why doesn’t the Canton High School football team play the Blue Hills Regional football team? It would be a great matchup between two high school teams from Canton.

Tickets for the 2012 spring training season at the Red Sox’s new 106-acre complex in Fort Myers, Florida, recently went on sale. The facility, called the Jet Blue Park at Fenway South, is a state-of-the-art, year-round site that features the same seating bowl geometry and field dimensions as Fenway Park in Boston. The park opens March 3 with exhibits against MAC’s alma mater, Northeastern University, and Boston College. Ticket prices range from $5 to $46.

Talking about baseball, the Brockton Rox professional baseball team may sit out the 2012 season in the Canadian-American League. The team may move to the year-old Amateur Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England.

The unemployment rate in Massachusetts is down to 7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The national jobless rate also fell to 8.6 percent from 9 percent.

The new State Pension Reform Bill has made a number of major changes. The bill raises the retirement age for most state and municipal employees from 55 to 60, while increasing the minimum age for receiving the maximum pension benefit from 65 to 67. Pension benefits under the new plan would be based on the average of the employee’s five highest wage-earning years, replacing the current three-year formula.

Critics of the current formula say it has promoted abuse by workers who accrue many years of service at low pay, then seek a high-paying job for their last three years. Another section of the bill increases the employee contribution to the public pension fund from 2.7 percent to one of the highest contribution rates in the country, approximately 10 percent. The changes would begin with workers hired after January 1, 2012. Current workers would be grandfathered.

There was one good section of the new bill for current and future public sector retirees: the bill increases the base amount for calculating cost-of-living increases from $12,000 to $13,000, and don’t forget, the state and municipal pensions are “good for life.”

The Bank of Canton has donated $100,000 to the town of Canton since 1998 through its Affinity Credit Card Program, which directs a certain percentage of purchases made by cardholders to area nonprofits, such as the Canton Food Pantry, where the bank recently donated $11,500.

The Canton Choral Society recently held its annual holiday concert in the Canton High School Auditorium. This year’s concert was dedicated to the memory of Ursula Duganiero, one of the Canton Choral Society’s founding members.

The rise of type pads and keyboards is rewriting school curricula and raising questions about the value of old-fashioned penmanship. Most students today sign their names in printed block letters. Cursive (handwriting) seems to be a thing of the past. Too bad.

Some politicians in Massachusetts would like to apply a sales tax to candy and soda, but most of the politicians on Beacon Hill are looking to raise the sales tax on gasoline.

You may or may not know that December 21, the first day of winter, the winter solstice, also marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, and the birthday of MAC’s daughter, Joanna … Happy birthday!

Finally, many of you will be celebrating New Year’s Eve in two days, in one form or another. If you plan to have a few drinks to celebrate the arrival of 2012, MAC suggests you make arrangements to have a designated driver take you home.

MAC wishes you and yours a happy and healthy New Year and hopes you have a safe and prosperous 2012.

This is all for now folks. See you next year!

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=10465

Posted by Joe DeFelice on Dec 29 2011. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.