SPENCER FAMILY DENTAL Gentle Caring State of the Art Dentistry For The Whole Family Cosmetic Dentistry • Restorative Dentistry • Preventative Dentistry CROWNS • CAPS • BRIDGES • COMPLETE and PARTIAL DENTURES New We Strive NON SURGICAL GUM TREATMENT • ROOT CANAL THERAPY Patients SURGICAL SERVICES For Painless Welcome BREATH CLINIC-WE TREAT CHRONIC BAD BREATH Dentistry HERBAL DENTAL PRODUCTS • All Instruments Fully Sterilized • Most Insurances Accepted Dr. Nasser S. Hanna Conveniently Located On Route 9 • (Corner of Greenville St. & Main St.) 284 Main St., Spencer 508-885-5511 Mailed free to requesting homes in Charlton, Charlton City and Charlton Depot Vol. VIII, No. 28 COMPLIMENTARY HOME DELIVERY ONLINE: WWW.CHARLTONVILLAGER.COM Friday, July 10, 2015 THIS WEEK’S QUOTE Skills on display, on the biggest stage “Forever is BAY PATH STUDENTS REPRESENT STATE AT composed of SKILLSUSA NATIONALS nows.” BY OLIVIA RICHMAN into words. When you are sitting there with NEWS STAFF WRITER Emily Dickinson 20,000 people and your students are called up CHARLTON — Back in March, a large to get medals … There’s no words to describe handful of Bay Path Regional Vocational it,” recalled Sanders. “You feel incredibly Technical High School students won gold proud and happy for them. It’s pretty cool medals at the state level SkillsUSA compe- because I worked hard to make the Business EDITOR’S tition, qualifying them for the nationals, Department what it is. We are right up there. which took place on Tuesday, June 23. By them doing well, it proves to them that OFFICE HOURS Business Technology Instructor Shawn they made the right decision by coming to MONDAYS 12-5 Sanders flew out to Louisville, Ky., with the Bay Path.” Two of Bay Path’s vocational teams WEDNESDAYS 1-5 qualifying students and got to see a few of his Photos courtesy Shawn Sanders own students place as one of the top in their received medals. One of those teams was FRIDAYS 1-5 Teamworks team building their house: Devon trade in a crowd of nearly 20,000 people. Turn To SKILLS, page A11 McCrillis and Tanner Bibeau. “It’s hard to explain. It’s hard to put it INSIDE Almanac ....................... 2 Obituaries ...................12 ‘Seniors’ needs Police Logs ................... 9 Opinion .......................10 Learning ....................... 9 Calendar .....................13 must be met’ Real Estate ........ B Sect. Sports ....................16-17 STEERING COMMITTEE PREPARES FOR MEETING LOCAL WITH SELECTMEN BY OLIVIA RICHMAN percent of the population. NEWS STAFF WRITER “We formed together to look at how STURBRIDGE — Since forming in we can meet the needs, whether it’s fix- March, the Sturbridge Senior Center’s ing this building or something else. It’s Steering Committee has been discussing just obvious. Every room is always occu- the different problems they see at the cur- pied. It needs be addressed,” said Vice rent senior center. Chair Susan Grandone. “We don’t want With senior citizens proven to be living to become stagnant. We want to grow and longer than ever before and becoming encourage seniors to come here to fulfill more of an active age group, Sturbridge’s their needs.” senior population is expected to continue With a lot of younger seniors in town, growing. There are already more than 1,800 senior citizens in town, around 20 Turn To SENIOR CENTER, page A12 When hard Courtesy photo work pays off Brookfield native Jennifer Lafleur recently showed her Page A3 new movie, “The Midnight Swim,” at Cinemagic in HISTORY COMES Sturbridge. LEARNING ALIVE The journey from Brookfield to L.A. LAFLEUR RETURNS HOME TO SCREEN LATEST MOVIE Summer reading program BY OLIVIA RICHMAN gets heroic at NEWS STAFF WRITER STURBRIDGE — Moving from Brookfield (pop- Charlton library ulation 3,390) to Los Angeles (population 3.884 Page A4 million) was a major leap for Jennifer Lafleur, but the actress has adapted to the life of “90 percent hustle, 10 percent glamour” perfectly. She doesn’t Olivia Richman photos SPORTS want it any other way. STURBRIDGE — Independence Day weekend at Old Sturbridge Village was fun Working on projects, booking auditions and and educational, with the goal of giving the holiday some context for people who connecting with people in the business, Lafleur visited the museum July 3-5. With more than 1,500 coming to celebrate at OSV on said she doesn’t really have any free time out the first day alone, the weekend was a huge success. Pictured, employees Phil Eckert and Peter Oakley prepare to fire off a historic cannon. For the story and more photos, Turn To LAFLEUR, page A11 turn to page A8! ‘You always learn something new’ Local soccer star GARDEN CLUB LOOKING TO BLOOM AS 75TH Ben Rickson com- ANNIVERSARY APPROACHES petes overseas Page A17 BY OLIVIA RICHMAN so members planted a tree on the Common. NEWS STAFF WRITER Through the years, the Garden Club has CHARLTON — The Charlton Garden Club planted trees at each elementary school and is looking for new members. planted flowers at the Police Department. OPINION The club was founded in 1937 by 12 women They have spoken to residents at nursing who wanted to “create interest in gardening homes and fixed their gardens. They designed GET YOUR and all its branches and encourage the beau- and planted the heirloom garden at the Rider Olivia Richman photos POINT ACROSS tification of home and community.” And so Tavern. far, the Charlton Garden Club has done just “Community is very important to us,” said Members of the Charlton Garden Club gathered PAGE A10 that. for a brunch. They meet on the second Monday of Turn To GARDEN, A13 For the club’s 75th anniversary, the 50 or page every month. 2 •THE CHARLTON VILLAGER• Friday, July 10, 2015 www.charltonvillager.com Middle school teacher arrested on child porn charges BY OLIVIA RICHMAN Peeler had allegedly been using Internet-based NEWS STAFF WRITER instant messaging services with video streaming SOUTHBRIDGE — The community is reeling capabilities with individuals in the Philippines after news broke last week that a Southbridge engaged in child sex trafficking and streaming live Middle School teacher was arrested on child porn videos featuring sex shows involving underage charges. children, ranged from 4 to 14. According to court Middle school teacher Scott Peeler, 53, of documents, this had been taking place between Worcester, was charged in U.S. District Court on April 2013 and July 2014. June 30 with attempting to purchase live video sex According to the FBI, Peeler attempted on sev- shows involving Filipino children, stated a Federal eral different occasions to purchase live sex shows Bureau of Investigation press release. involving young children. At the time of his arrest, the teacher admitted the Yahoo! account linked to these actions belonged to him. He also claimed he had never actually Remodeling Expert purchased any videos. During a search warrant, child pornography was found ADDITIONS © on Peeler’s computer. © GARAGES “The leaders of this child sex trafficking © SIDING organization were identified as a result © ROOFING of tips provided to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” DECKS © reads the FBI’s Press Release. “Filipino Quality Building Since 1985 authorities, working in conjunction with Licensed & Insured Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, have identified and arrested 508-764-2293 • 774-230-3967 the members of the organization, and rescued the children being exploited. The operators of the child sex traf- ficking Charlton Orchards Farm organization will face prosecution in Pick Your Own the Philippines.” It has been stat- Blueberries & Raspberries ed that no local PICKING IS PRIME! students were involved in the Visit our Farm Store case. Acting ~ Pasture Raised Beef ~ Superintendent Lettuce, Tomatoes, Rhubarb, Eggs, of Schools Sheryl Broccoli, Squash and Wine! Stanton stated at a press confer- Wine Tasting Saturday & Sunday 12-4 ence on Thursday, Obadiah McIntyre Farm Winery July 2, that the School Department 44 Old Worcester Rd. • Rt. 20 • Charlton, MA is “extremely 508-248-7820 • www.charltonorchard.com alarmed” at the Open Monday-Saturday 9-5 • Sunday 10-4 • Closed Monday charges against Peeler. In response to his arrest, Stanton said Peeler has been placed on administrative leave, ensured that the employee is not currently involved in any summer programs and has 8x7-9x7 Steel Liftmaster 1/2 hp requested a no tres- 2 Sided Insulated pass order through Chain Drive the Southbridge Garage Door 7ft Opener Police Department. r-value 9.65 Inc, standard hardware & The school district track, 8 color & 3 panel design options $270 will continue to $570 inc Installation cooperate with the inc Installation price matching available on all written quotes federal and local law enforcement as the investigation continues. “There will be a local commu- nity meeting at RONNIE’S SEAFOOD the Southbridge Middle/High RT. 31 CHARLTON DEPOT School next week with local and fed- “Proudly serving the community for over 40 years” eral law enforce- ment agencies to answer question from parents, teachers and com- munity members,” concluded Stanton. OPEN “As soon as we have any further information and a Tuesday-Sunday date and time we will share with the entire communi- 11:00am to 9:00pm ty.” Olivia Richman can be reached at 508-909-4132 or by email at olivia@ stonebridgepress. Accepting most major credit cards com. A STONEBRIDGE PREss PUBLICATION Greater PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Worcester Monthly FRANK G. CHILINSKI (508) 909-4101 Coin Show [email protected] CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OFC F I E HOURS: SUBSC RIPTION SERVICES: VILG L A ER STAFF DIRECTORY RON TREMBLAY Sun., July 12th, 2015 MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY KERRI PETERSON (508) 909-4102 9:30AM - 3:30PM 8:30AM-4:30PM (508) 909-4103 EDITOR [email protected] Auburn-Webster Elks Lodge [email protected] ADAM MINOR OPERATIONS DIRECTOR TO PLACE A RETAIL AD: (508) 909-4130 JIM DINICOLA 754 Southbridge St.