The Bedford Citizen (https://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/category/community-news/page/2/)
Covid-19 has everybody running scared, and just when you thought it might be safe to leave your house – WHAM!
The Board of Health reminds us of all of our usual threats, mosquitoes and ticks.
Governor Charlie Baker has proclaimed July 12 – 18, 2020, to be Hurricane Preparedness Week in an effort to emphasize both the Commonwealth’s potential vulnerability to tropical storms and hurricanes and the importance of preparing for their impact, including taking necessary precautions during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Residents and visitors are encouraged to use this week to prepare for hurricanes, tropical storms, and other emergencies.
“During the ongoing COVID-19 response, our administration continues to ensure that the state and its residents are prepared for other disasters, including hurricanes and tropical storms,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Preparing in advance will help reduce damage to your property and protect your family in case of a hurricane or other emergency.”
Barrel House Z Brew House is coming to Bedford! The Weymouth Brew Pub and Craft Brewer had been planning to open up their second tap room on 54 Middlesex Turnpike this past April. Like many things planned for April….things changed.
The Town of Bedford and the Bedford Public Schools are pleased to announce a new affiliation with the William James College INTERFACE Referral Service, an outpatient mental health resource and referral Helpline, open Monday through Friday, 9 am-5 pm, and available to Bedford residents and students of Bedford Public Schools. The Helpline can be reached at 888-244-6843 for resource information and/or outpatient mental health provider referrals from a trained resource and referral counselor.
The Bedford Public Schools received recognition for their 2020 Safe Routes to School efforts at the annual award ceremony on June 8th at the Massachusetts State House. Like many ceremonies in 2020, this was delivered during a live Zoom event.
With thanks, as always, to the Town of Bedford for producing an excellent map for the area around Sabourin Field, noting the available parking spaces, and the number of footsteps to the field.
Listening to high school students’ stories. Advocating with lawn signs. Expanding housing opportunities. Supporting legislation. Opposing offensive school team names and mascots. Learning more about police efforts to avoid profiling. Collaborating with local resources.
These were some of the dozens of ideas presented in response to a call from the organization Bedford Embraces Diversity to define ways to keep issues of racial equality and justice prominent locally.
All right, there is a lot, I mean a lot of things wrong with life in our pandemic world. Healthwise, economically, socially, and worry, are just the big ones. There are countless other terrible aspects of all this. I’m lucky, I know, knock on wood, but everybody in our house is healthy, and no one has lost their job
In a Thursday evening email to members of First Parish Unitarian Universalist on Bedford Common, senior minister the Rev. John Gibbons reported that the historic 1817 building had been defaced.
“Grafitti of “BLM” was recently spray-painted on the exterior of Bedford’s First Parish,” Gibbons wrote.
Monday’s bi-weekly update includes the current case count along with updates on crisis counseling, mental health and social services available to Bedford residents, as well as a DPH order regarding non-essential elective procedures.
Click this link in the actual article to read the Town’s full update for Monday, June 29, 2020
The new commander of the 66th Air Base Group at Hanscom Air Force Base grew up in western Kentucky. But her arrival here is a homecoming of sorts – she was first assigned to Hanscom almost 20 years ago.
Col. Katrina Stephens was formally inducted in change-of-command ceremonies Wednesday on the base, succeeding Col. Chad Ellsworth. The ceremony was attended by a handful of people, while hundreds of military personnel, friends, families, and dignitaries all logged on through Facebook Live.
The East Middlesex Mosquito Control Project is planning to use a truck-mounted aerosol sprayer to control mosquitoes in Bedford on Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Spraying will be done between dusk and 11:30 PM.
On Wednesday, July 1, 2020, spraying is scheduled for areas of Bedford that are located in the vicinity of Concord Rd., Davis Rd., Carlisle Rd., North Rd., Wildwood Dr. and Gould Rd.
Caritas Communities, a nonprofit homelessness prevention organization that provides single-room housing for about 1,000 individuals who would otherwise be homeless throughout Greater Boston, today again expressed its sincere condolences to his family upon the death of Timothy White, a 62-year-old U.S. Army Veteran who was a resident of a Caritas facility on the Veterans Administration Medical Center campus in Bedford, MA.
“Caritas Communities is deeply saddened and offers our condolences to the family and friends of Mr. White,” said Karin Cassel, Executive Director of Caritas Communities. “We care deeply for our residents, many of whom suffer from the trauma of homelessness, and do our part to help them connect to the resources they need to succeed in permanent housing as this is core to our mission.”
One of the most familiar verses in the Bible begins, “Everything has its season.”
And that appears to be a determining factor in the future of some of the independent businesses in Bedford affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the behest of First Parishioner Dorothy Africa, a small group gathered on Bedford Common to observe Juneteenth, on Friday morning, June 19 marking the 155th anniversary of the announcement of the end of slavery to the citizens of Galveston, TX.
The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 but the word took that long to reach Texas, to the benefit of local slaveholders. First Parish’s bell tolled 13 times at 10 am, to honor the 13th Amendment, along with the enslaved and freed Black Bedfordians interred at Bedford’s Old Burying Ground on Springs Road.
The group walked in silence from Bedford’s historic meeting house to Springs Road where they left a ribbon on the Black Slaves’ monument to commemorate Juneteenth.
The Board of Bedford Embraces Diversity met this week to discuss the next steps in its efforts to enlighten and inspire the community about anti-racism and race relations.
One important decision was to solicit ideas and comments from the community.
Bedford Embraces Diversity has scheduled a general meeting on the Zoom platform for Wednesday, June 30, beginning at 7:30 p.m. to present its agenda and hear from residents and friends. To register for the discussion, write to bedfordembracesdiversity@gmail.com.
All this online shopping is making it challenging to fit all the cardboard boxes in the recycling cart. Then there are these plastic bags that we used to be able to recycle at the grocery or department stores.
A panel put together by Bedford Embraces Diversity (BED) provided a platform for the first of the essential ongoing conversations which must take place for both the country and Bedford to move forward together. Mike Rosenberg of BED hosted the event, titled “Speaking Out: Sharing Stories of Pain, Frustration, and Hope.”
The panelists, all with strong connections to Bedford, shared their experiences dealing with race in America, and more specifically in Bedford. Many grew up in Bedford, attended Bedford Schools, or are current residents.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has confirmed the ongoing investigation into the death of a 62-year-old veteran who was located in a stairwell on the grounds of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital campus located at 200 Springs Road in Bedford on Friday, June 12 after he had been missing for a month.
The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the office will be examining the existing policies and procedures in place at the facility as well as the relationship between the tenant, Caritas Communities, and the Bedford VA. The office will also be investigating all of the circumstances surrounding the death and the failure to locate the deceased for a period of time.
Caritas Communities is a nonprofit homelessness prevention organization that provides Single Room Housing for 1,000 individuals annually throughout Greater Boston.
The Bedford Veterans Quarters is a Caritas Communities residential facility leased from the VA in one portion of one building on the VA campus in Bedford and provides single-room occupancy housing to formerly homeless veterans.
It is not a hospital or rehabilitation center, but an independent-living residence. Residents are free to come and go as they please and have no obligation to inform the staff of their whereabouts. They regularly go to work, grocery shopping, visiting family, and other normal activities.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office responded to the Bedford VA Hospital campus on Friday to investigate the report of a deceased male.
Upon arrival, the body of a 62-year-old male was located in a stairwell in Building 5. According to the Caritas Communities website, their 60-unit Bedford Veterans Quarters is located in Building 5.
Small businesses are slowly coming back to life around Bedford, consistent with state guidelines for reopening.
Alyssa Sandoval, the economic development director in the office of the town manager, said she has kept in touch with proprietors since the virus-induced state of emergency resulted in mass closures in mid- March. She said she has had no reports of businesses that are not planning to reopen.
Sandoval earlier this week sent a message to hundreds of residents who subscribe to municipal email messages, urging them to return to local businesses and “be patient, be sensible, be kind” as they adjust to new rules and schedules.
With the end of the school year in sight, families seeking seasonal fun or childcare may wish to investigate the Bedford Recreation Department.
Summer Adventures and Kids Club Summer Fun child care both have opportunities. Once registered for Kids Club, children are eligible for before and after school programs that will begin when school resumes.
Online registration begins at 9 pm on Thursday, June 11.
As Massachusetts begins its reopening plan, I had a chance to try one of the
first businesses to return to the “new normal.” Summit Health and Fitness on Wiggins Avenue this week started rolling out outdoor group fitness classes. They converted their parking lot into a spin cycling “room” and a CrossFit workout space. The classes were limited to 10 people, all 12 feet apart. Masks are required and everything is wiped down with disinfectant before and after use. The owners, Jane Karpovsky and Denis Mezhertskiy, of Bedford bought Summit on January 23 of this year. They consulted with the Bedford Board of Health to make sure all the protocols were met.
When Ed McGrath and I started talking about doing this series of columns, Ed said. “The whole recycling world can be summed up with a great big dollar sign. It’s all about the money.” It sounds crass but that is really what it is all about. It’s a constant conflict between people wanting to do the “right” things and municipalities having to deal with reality, namely the money.