Man About Canton: Fall Has Arrived

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Now that Labor Day has come and gone, kids are back to school, and the hot summer months are over, signs of autumn are beginning to be seen all around. Fall officially began on September 22 at 4:02 p.m. The weather is noticeably starting to change, and temperatures are starting to slowly slip downward, causing crickets to chirp a little slower in the evenings. With their two-plus months of summer freedom over, students, dressed in their new school clothes, have returned to their classrooms; and most, if not all, beaches and swimming pools have closed until next year. Tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis, and cucumbers have finished ripening on the vine. Summer flowers are now being replaced with fall mums, and it won’t be long before we will be wearing long-sleeved shirts during the day and sweaters in the evening to keep the chill away. Sports fans will be glued to the TV in the coming weeks in hopes of a Red Sox World Series appearance or another Patriots Super Bowl appearance.

It won’t be long before the leaves on the trees begin changing from green to more colorful yellows, oranges, and reds before they fall to the ground, leaving bare trees behind to cope with biting winter winds and snow. While we all can look forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, together with a few pleasant Indian Summer days, we also have to face the fact that winter will soon be knocking on our doors, and that is not a very pleasant thought (for some of us), especially after the record-breaking snow a few years ago and the record-breaking cold weather of last year. MAC hates to say it, but it is time to dig out your winter clothes and boots, replacing what no longer fits or has worn out, and to remember where you stashed the old snow shovels when last winter ended. So there you have it, summer is officially over and fall is here.

Bill Galvin, who is currently serving his 14th term as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, has taken a new job as the development executive for the Bank of Canton. Bill worked for more than 40 years at the Joseph D. Galvin Insurance Agency in Canton, a company his grandfather founded in 1925.

On average, more than two people per day died of heroin/opioid overdoses in Massachusetts this year. The average age of the victims was 35, and about 80 percent were male. Police officials blame the large number of deaths on the increased strength of heroin on the street, much of it tainted with the deadly drug fentanyl.

Old Rochester High School, also known as the Bulldogs, was honored recently by the Boston Globe with the prestigious Ames Division 4 Scholastic Award for having the best combined winning percentage among similarly sized schools. (The Globe organizes schools into divisions based on enrollment). Old Rochester sports teams won 68.7 percent of their games in 2016-2017. The principal of the school is Mike Devoll, a graduate of Canton High School and former CHS varsity boys basketball coach.

Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, with 1,080 students, compiled the best winning percentage (75.84 percent) of any school in Massachusetts to earn its fifth straight Nason Division 3 Scholastic Award. (Nason Div. 3 comprises Catholic co-ed schools.)

The Boston Globe Scholastic Awards, now in its 45th year, ranks schools based on their winning percentage for regular-season play. The awards are named after former Boston Globe high school sportswriters and editors, including Larry Ames and Jerry Nason.

Canton High School’s football team plays Stoughton High twice this season — once on Friday, October 6, and again on Thanksgiving Day, November 23. Both games will be played in Canton. MAC thinks the October 6 date should be changed to a game against another Division 5 team. Why play Stoughton twice each year?

The Blue Hill Regional School’s football team is in Division 8 South. MAC still would like to see Canton High School play Blue Hills.

There are 195 schools that fielded football programs in eastern Massachusetts in 2016. Only three teams finished the season unbeaten. The Hockomock League’s King Philip in Division 1A was one of them with a record of 12-0. The other two were Hanover (D3, 12-0) and Falmouth (D2A, 13-0).

This year, there are eight divisions in the eastern Massachusetts football program. Canton High is in Division 5.

According to the U.S. census, as of 2015, there were 327,990 veterans living in the state of Massachusetts. The largest living group of veterans today served during the Vietnam era, and 119,600 of them live in Massachusetts. According to Canton Veterans Agent Tony Andreotti, 504 of those veterans live in Canton. Today, there are an estimated 18.8 million men and women veterans living in the United States.

You can now call 2-1-1 for non-emergency assistance. The Massachusetts 2-1-1 system is staffed by the United Way 24/7 and was created as a resource to connect callers to information about critical health and human service programs. It includes locations for open shelters, transportation, or restrictions due to declared states of emergency, post-disaster assistance, ways to volunteer or donate, or other services you or your family may need.

Toys R Us has filed for bankruptcy. It will still keep its 1,600 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores open as well as serving customers while in bankruptcy. It blames online leader Amazon for increasingly exerting its influence over a huge part of the retailing world. Price is also a big issue with shoppers.

Junction Pub won the Canton Men’s Over 30 softball playoffs by beating Turnpike Café 11-10 in the final game. Turnpike Café won the regular season title with a record of 10-1.

Jack Martinelli, the head football coach at Foxboro High School since 1982, was recently honored when the varsity football field was named in his honor. The coaching legend has 261 wins, four Super Bowl titles, and has beaten Canton High every season for the past 25 years.

It’s not what we have in life, but who we have in our life that matters.

That is all for now folks. See you next week.

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

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Posted by Joe DeFelice on Oct 6 2017. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.