Town Hopes to Rebuild Kidsplace Sssskhswr; on the Other Side of Town
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, Wilmington Crar WWW.YOURTOWNCRIER.COM 26 PAGES 50TH YEAR NO. 52 -nUNE 978-658-2346 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2005 stnijp&^sterl 2005 - Town's 275; Town Crier's 50th year A couple of Bv STEPHEN BJORK state officials, along with representatives municipal solid waste, contaminated soils, ject differed substantially from what was Good Guys WILMINGTON - The debate over the from the solid waste industry, have liquid chemicals, newsprint, non-haz- originally presented. need for a new library and the fight to formed a loose coalition and have been ardous waste, and other products, from While it voted unanimously to dismiss,, block New England Transrail each drew a working hard to block NET from the site. trucks to railroad cars. The facility would the STB did not discuss or rule on the 1sP"* ^S^f iJ??S substantial amount of ink; more so proba- The proposed waste transfer facility include grinding and processing activities. merits of the proposal. The petition was bly than any other single story, but in would transload various materials, includ- Roughly 400 truck trips per day may be dismissed without prejudice, enabling No turn on red..arrow Sfs£== JHHy= ElS0! fifty-two editions of the Town Crier, read- construction and demolition debris, ienerated by the facility, depending on the NET to come back to the table for anoth- ers kept in close contact with thei success of the busi- er try. tT-^rr SMESSBB n_3^; So...whfll about Roccos? isd— %-Z Xo*.«a\',£ Syj*.'?5 ■■■^■"'■*'« mi— .>■*>— community. Summaries of some ness, and one train Wilmington Town Counsel Paul the most memorable stories of 2 with roughly 25 cars DeRensis is currently dissecting the 108- appear below. would likely run per page filing and will meet with Town offi- New England Transrail day on a six day per cials to determine strategy. As of December 5, 2005, Ne week schedule. It is Meanwhile, Miceli will be meeting with England Transrail (NET) once aga likely that a majority DEP officials and conferring with his began seeking a federal exemption of the truck traffic- coalition. which if granted would pave the wa; would access the Opponents of the project have unHL for the solid waste transfer station Eames Street loca- January 27, 2006 to offer comments. proposes to construct on the contain tion by way of Route The new library inated Olin Chemical property locat 38 through Woburn. The Town spoke loud and clear on the ed at 51 Eames Street. Local a: The site is located issue of a new library during the less than a mile from November 8th Special Town Election. By sprSS: 55rEr5 ~rr-_= Suspect evades po ??£}hz:£' invjCH-iT: •ir-i-rH.* '•" v*4* Mfca residential neighbor- a vote of 2,160 to 1,373, Wilmington resi- hoods in both towns dents opposed the construction of a new (Unijjji^flyp^r and from a library and discarded a $3.4 million state Wilmington nursing grant. llie Frank Kdley Roast home with more than Not a single one of Wilmington's six <—jW1B —fal— ««■ — ■*» ■■■ 100 residents. precincts voted in favor of the library pro- The federal exemp- posal. tion that NET is That was the second, and conclusive, seeking, which would' defeat of the most recent push for override all local and a new library. The week state regulations per- before, it failed to garner QtanmUgOIro taining to the han- the necessary two- A'C dling of solid waste, thirds majority t - ai" v» Wilmington loses two year protection 6 would come from the vote at the ^ (v\\t^L U.S. Department of Special ^^ Transportation's - SWigM I.I I.II—»-"<'i I.I-I. , *4 mil n,w Surface gS *&E§H 5@SS=S ^S-^- Transportation Board (STB). The STB is a three-mem ber board charged Crystal Not just flights of fancy, with promoting the Commons Flights of White gaining pound **-*•—*-*'"i*>i'**p»—,-*m use of railways to alleviate truck traffic lown Manager Get your on the nation's high- Town accused of unfair wallet ready tor WHS £=£=5 SKSS ways. labor practices I»M«U NET originally filed for exemption in Meeting, ^^^m'i December 2003, but but propo- '%'<^V'/S^''.^^ r^wSrtagloo Tie HIS FIRST PARADE: Bill Robinson recently joined the in May of 2005, the nents held tj^M^jifl WUrnington Minutemen. Sunday, Sept 18, 2005 he marched in m Ford back in STB dismissed the CONTINUED m iihe his first) parade, Wilmington's 275th Anniversary Parade. petition, ruling that f (Maureen Lamoureux photo) the scope of the pro- PAGE 16 $gT Town hopes to rebuild Kidsplace SSSSKHSwr; on the other side of town. "My hope is that we can apply some funding v?^;£ When the school reopens next week, there will be a "Wait a minute — it was literally 15 months of my life!" in the upcoming budget. And we'll see if there v^£ vacant space on the Shawsheen School playground. After she said. "I don't regret doing it, but I didn't realize when are other resources," he said. A full replacement ~<;ZZZ, 17 years exposure to the weather, the Kidsplace playground I started how much work it actually would be." would cost about $150,000. It could be built in phas- structure has been torn down. But now the town is looking at doing something like that es, ^g Wood doesn't last forever, not even pressure-treated again. Town Manager Michael Caira said the town is not He said that he is confident there will be a new play- wood, and the structure had become dried and splintered. abandoning the playground area. ground to replace Kidsplace. 75' As the playground deteriorated, some vandalism occurred, and the DPW had to pull out some units Interchange update of the structure. The school wasn't using it, as it M1111 ■■ IKM ** 11' W»i-i«»«i4 was no longer considered safe. The 10,000 sq. ft. playground was built in fivel days in June, 1988 by an army of volunteers. How I Water ban continues many volunteers? Well, on Saturday, June 11,1988, the committee served 1000 lunches. Not all the vol- unteers were doing construction. There were many people at work on supporting tasks — for instance, serving lunch. Kidsplace was put together by a committee of 15 parents who worked for 15 months and raised $42,000. If the town had paid to have the play- ground built, it would have cost $180,000. School children raised $3000. It was designed by architect Robert Leathers, who has built more than 1000 similar playscapes, including one for the pandas at the National Zooj in Washington, D.C. The Leathers program is] known for involving members of the community] in the building of the playscapes. Children': J/ * ideas are incorporated into the structures Kidsplace had room for 150 kids. I resembled a castle, with 60 function ing pieces of apparatus, a hugi whale, a fort, suspensio: bridges, tire swings. It wasl designed to provide a pla; experience that was both fun and safe. The playgroum had no equal the area. Once it was done, someone asked Barbara Cannon, the general SPLINTERED: Kidsplace. after years of wear, and after giving many, many children splinters has been coordinator of the pro- splintered itself on Tuesday, Dec. 27th. Assembled by volunteers back in 1988 the technology of using pres- ject, if she could build one sure treated wood is now old-tech. (Stu Neilson photo) She's "The Alaska teacher" of Wilmington Bv SANDRA teaching, the students are so excit- which explain their patch on the tition begins in Wasilla on the fol- required to finish the race with at FLETCHER ed about the race, they don't even quilt. lowing Sunday and ends in Nome, least six. Any animal that is Half way through her realize they are learning." "The entire race is staffed by vol- over 1100 miles away. deemed unfit to compete for health tenth year teaching in As for example, Gordon discussed unteers from the guys who fly the The dogs that participate on each reasons is flown Nome to receive Wilmington, second grade the report writing, journal writing planes to bring food, to the veteri- sled team are Alaskan Huskies, a treatments and await his team's teacher at the Wobun; Street and geography lessons in which narians for the dogs," said Gordon, breed stemming from the Siberian finish. School, Lynne Gordon, is preparing students in her classes have partic- it is just about a sense of commu- Huskies, but a little smaller in body Gordon believes that the Iditarod for her annual lesson on the ipated. According to Gordon, the nity that all these different people structure. They are approximately is a great teaching tool and it keeps Iditarcd. students would create maps of the come together in honor of a leg- 40 to 50 pounds in weight and also her students excited about learn To assist her in this year's lesson, trail, learning about the climate endary race." have a thinner coat. ing. Gordon has gotten a hold of the and the different parts of Alaska, Gordon is unsure of what will be "Part of the problem with the "I have become the Alaska Iditarod quilt, created by teachers where the race is held. the ultimate rest home for the quilt. Siberian Huskies is that their coat Teacher' and I think it's great," across the nation, who have partic- The quilt is roughly six feet by six She is to send the quilt to someone was so thick, a lot of dogs were said Gordon.