Mailed free to requesting homes in Douglas, Northbridge and Uxbridge Vol. IV, No. 11 Complimentary to homes by request ONLINE: WWW.BLACKSTONEVALLEYTRIBUNE.COM “It is madness for sheep to talk peace with a wolf.” Friday, December 10, 2010 SUPER RAMS! NHS TOPS MILLBURY, 24-7, FOR NINTH TITLE BY GREG SEBASTIAO defeating Millbury, 24-7, in the Central ior running back Brandon Richard, SPORTS CORRESPONDENT Mass. Division 2A Super Bowl at who ran for 188 yards and a touchdown, FITCHBURG — The Rams are cham- Fitchburg State University. will have to continue to wait to get a pions… again. It was the Rams’ ninth victory in 14 ring for the first time since 2003. On Saturday, Dec. 4, the Northbridge Bowl appearances and its first win in Northbridge quarterback Tom football team avenged last year’s defeat the big game since 2007 when they Murphy led the way by throwing for 200 to David Prouty in the Super Bowl by defeated Wahconah, 17-15. Millbury, despite the success of sen- Turn To SUPERBOWL page A11 Douglas students honored for math, science endeavors BY CHRISTOPHER TANGUAY TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER DOUGLAS — The Douglas School Committee was recently treated to a special presentation about some of the outstanding achievements of local students. Douglas Intermediate/Elementary School Principal Beverly Bachelder intro- duced the first group of students — seventh- and eighth-graders who recently attended the STEM Kids conference at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton. STEM subjects — science, technol- ogy, engineering and math — have quickly become the cornerstones of modern education. “As technology becomes an inte- gral part of today’s workplace, sci- ence, engineering, technology and Courtesy photo math skills are no longer just good Christopher Tanguay photo Douglas students compete at the Lego robotics event at Valley Tech earlier this year. Turn To STUDENT page A13 A replica of the original cupola is elevated by crane and secured to the roof of the Whitin Mill to protect the historic Holbrook bell. Shooting suspect returns to court Whitin bell returned BY CHRISTOPHER TANGUAY spokesman for Worcester County Lewis was transported from the TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., East Street residence he shared with BY CHRISTOPHER TANGUAY between Whitins and Meadow TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER NORTHBRIDGE — A local man said following the hearing, his grandmother to UMass Memorial ponds, the chimes of the bronze charged with the accidental shooting Clark has been in custody at the Medical Center, Worcester campus, NORTHBRIDGE — For more bell on Paul Whitin’s Douglas Road death of his younger brother will Worcester County Jail and House of by Northbridge Fire Department than 100 years, through the height textile mill were a part of daily life. remain in custody until a status Correction in West Boylston since he personnel, where he was pronounced of the Industrial Revolution, life Now, after having been in the review hearing next month. was arraigned Wednesday, Oct. 20 on dead shortly after 8:30 p.m. revolved around two institutions possession of Old Sturbridge A pretrial hearing for Mark Clark, a charge of manslaughter. According to a narrative by State more so than any others — church Village for the last three decades, 24, was held Tuesday, Nov. 30 in The charge stems from an incident Trooper David Cravedi included and vocation. the circa-1833 George Holbrook bell Uxbridge District Court. on Tuesday, Oct. 19, during which among court documents, police were Family clocks and personal rou- has been returned to the restored “His trial has been continued to Clark accidentally shot his maternal summoned to the East Street home at tines were often dictated by the Whitin Mill to reclaim its place as a Jan. 4, and he’s still being held with- half-brother, 20-year-old Michael tones of bells atop each. out bail,” Timothy Connolly, Lewis. Turn To SUSPECT page A8 For families in the neighborhood Turn To BELL page A8 A2-3 ...................................... LOCAL A9 ....................... SENIOR SCENE A4-5 ..................................... OPINION A11 .............................. SPORTS CONTACT THE TRIBUNE EDITOR AT A7 .................................... OBITUARIES A14 ........................... CALENDAR ANDY STONEBRIDGEPRESS COM INSIDE @ . 2 • Friday, December 10, 2010 BLACKSTONE VALLEY TRIBUNE CMDART receives trio of grants TRIBUNE ALMANAC QUOTATION OF THE WEEK “It did everything for the REGION — The Central Massachusetts Disaster Animal Response Team, Inc. community. With the excep- (CMDART) recently received a $500 commu- nity grant from Walmart of Northbridge, a tion of church bells, this was $162 grant from the Animal Welfare Fund and probably the most important a $2,000 grant from the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). bell in Whitinsville.” The Walmart and Animal Welfare grants will help increase the number of trained ani- — Alternatives’ Tom Saupe, on the return mal disaster responders in the Blackstone of the circa-1833 George Holbrook bell to Valley. The ASPCA grant will purchase some the Whitin Mill. basic Large Animal Emergency Rescue Equipment. CMDART, Inc. is an independent, charita- OPEN TO CLOSE ble, non-profit, tax-exempt organization, pro- Northbridge Town Manager viding information, training, support, sup- (508) 234-2095 plies and personnel to help plan, prepare and Northbridge Town Clerk respond to aid animals affected by man-made (508) 234-2001 or natural disasters. CMDART provided emer- Northbridge Middle School, Pleasant gency services for pet owners and their ani- Street, Whitinsville (508) 234-8718 mals during hurricanes, the ice storm of 2008, Northbridge Elementary School,87 in cases of hoarding and puppy mill incidents, Linwood Ave., Whitinsville (508) 234- as well as aiding the American Red Cross of 5264 Central Mass. with local fire incidents. Northbridge High School, Linwood “People think of large disasters like Avenue, Whitinsville (508) 234-6221 Hurricane Katrina when they think of disas- Balmer School, Crescent Street, ters and don’t realize we have a number of Whitinsville (508) 234-8161 incidents in Central Mass,” said JoAnn Grammar & Primary Schools, Cross Griffin, president and team director for Street, Whitinsville (508) 234-6346 CMDART. “Fires, floods, hazardous waste Special Education Department.87 incidents, snow storms and economic change Linwood Ave. Whitinsville (508) 234-8701 can all affect large numbers of pet owners. Douglas Town Manager During the ice storm, elderly had to be evacu- (508) 476-4000, ext. 101 ated from their apartments and homes and Douglas Town Clerk were refusing because they didn’t want to (508) 476-4000 leave their pets behind. This creates a public Douglas Elementary School, Gleason safety, public health risk. “ Court, Douglas (508) 476-2154 CMDART works in cooperation with local Douglas Intermediate School,21 emergency management, local animal control Davis St., Douglas (508) 476-3332 officers and public health departments and Early Childhood Center, 29 Depot St., aids municipalities that seek to comply with Douglas (508) 476-4034 the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Special Education Department,29 Standards Act. This law, established in Depot St., Douglas (508) 476-4035 October 2006, requires local and state emer- Uxbridge Town Manager gency preparedness authorities to include (508) 278-8600 household pets and service animals in their Uxbridge Town Clerk evacuation plans. Animals affected by disas- (508) 278-3156 ters can include small and large animals such Uxbridge High School, 62 Capron St., as pets, livestock and exotics. Uxbridge (508) 278-8633 “There have been a number of horses that Courtesy photo Taft Elementary School, 16 Granite have gone down this year,” said Griffin. “We St., Uxbridge (508) 278-8643 CMDART volunteers practice animal rescue maneuvers at Ironshoe Farm last summer. might have been able to help local emergency Whitin Intermediate School, 120 responders if we had this large animal emer- Granite St., Uxbridge (508) 278-8640 gency equipment. Perhaps it would have CMDART depends solely upon grants and CMDART is taking registration for resi- Special Education (508) 278-8654 saved a few of these beautiful creatures. This private contributions to fulfill its mission. dents who might be interested in becoming a Veterans Agent (Northbridge, Douglas, ASPCA grant is merely a start for the equip- For more information about CMDART or to volunteer animal disaster responder. Contact Uxbridge and Sutton) ment we need to help and support local emer- make a contribution of any size, contact [email protected] to inquire about Ken Trajanowski (508) 234-9808 gency responders, but it’s a start and we are www.cmdart.org or call (508) 476-3677. upcoming training programs. grateful for it.” FRONT PAGE QUOTE WSL Children’s Programs Thomas Fuller 50 percent chance • Dec. 11: Appletree Arts Music and Movement program, 10:30 a.m. Please stop by or call the library at (508) 234-2151, ext. 4 to register. of White Christmas • Dec. 18: Deb Hudgin’s Holiday Music and Movement Celebration for Children, 11 a.m. Please stop by or call the library at BY HEATHER BUCHMAN (508) 234-2151, ext. 4 to register. ACCUWEATHER MET • Dec. 28: Art with Erin Lewis, 1-2 p.m. for ages 7 and up. Seating is limited. Registration is required. Please stop by or call For millions of people hoping for a the library at (508) 234-2151, ext. 4 to register. white Christmas this year, AccuWeather.com Chief Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi has good news, especially for residents of the • LIGHTS • 1000’S ORNAMENTS • East. Bastardi says that more than 50 per- Greater cent of the country may be covered VISIT OUR CHRISTMAS BEAR SHOP Write with an inch or more of snow on ALL ITEMS 33% OFF Worcester Monthly Christmas Day, which is quite a feat considering the average coverage is 50% OFF ALL ARTIFICIAL WREATHS & GARLANDS Coin Show Us! usually between 25 and 35 percent. • Looking at the current snow cover Custom Made Bows • Live Trees ANGELS CHRISTMAS BEARS • Sun., Dec.