Sun Santa, radiothon for Salvation Army earn record amounts

LOWELL — The generous citizens of Greater Lowell reached deep into their pockets to help those in need this holiday season, setting new charity fundraising records during tough economic times.

The Sun Santa program raised more than $180,000 as of Wednesday, and organizers anticipate to break the record — $182,884 — raised last year. Sun Santa, which is part of Lowell Sun Charities, received donations from 1,283 people so far this year. That number is up from the 1,196 people who donated last year.

The Sun Santa fund assists area families by providing them with vouchers for toys and food through partners Community Teamwork Inc. and the Greater Lowell Salvation Army — the agencies that screen applicants and help distribute the vouchers.

Local radio station WCAP reported it raised a record-setting $102,157.62 in its 14th annual fundraiser for the Salvation Army. The number surpassed the $87,000 raised last year. One of the radiothon’s key organizers, Fred Simon of Tewksbury, had set a goal of $98,000 heading into the event. (more…)

The Lowell Sun, Sun Staff report

What will become of H1N1? When will a certain Tiger reappear? Is the economy creeping toward recovery?

These are some of the nagging questions tackled by notable locals offering their predictions for 2010.

Hope is universal. And Earth-like planets in other solar systems are waiting to be discovered.

Health/Science

Frank Singleton, Lowell Health Director: “I’m looking for swine flu (H1N1) to become seasonal flu (in fall of 2010) and we go back to having a normal flu season, when we’re not dealing with having to administer six or seven-thousand flu shots. Back to the normal grind of one or two thousand shots. But there is always something lurking out there. Drug-resistant tuberculosis may be showing up in the U.S. Two of our four public-health nurses deal with tuberculosis that is all treatable with antibiotics. If something shows that is not treatable, we’d have real problems in Lowell. These viruses learn to adapt. We stay ahead of the curve … but not by a lot.”

Norm Deschene, president and CEO of Lowell General Hospital: “It seems that the federal government is going to pass some sort of health-care reform, and I understand it’s quite a long and complicated bill, so we’ll probably spend 2010 trying to figure it all out. But hopefully it will result in better health insurance for all, and hopefully people will continue pursuing healthy lifestyles.”
(more…)

This morning’s political Column had a piece about Kevin Murphy that referred to last week’s school committee meeting.

In a meeting that seemed a bit off, with members failing to get their points across (yet finally coming together), Murphy was trying to prompt the members, without “leading the witness” so to speak.

Kevin was trying to say that if they were going to advertise for a position, that they should include the Academic Journal used by educators throughout the country.  I think he was just sort of frustrated at the point in the discussion that the board didn’t seem to see the obvious.. so he was trying to prompt them.

I don’t think this had anything to do with the Sun (an obvious choice for advertising).

And on the other point regarding the Globe, I think Mike Miles was making a political statement about the left-leaning newspaper.. indicating that he preferred the Herald’s slant on things… but that’s just my opinion.

You know, Sheehan is doing his best, but I think everyone is getting tired of this guy’s (Mullin) hiding from talking to anyone. Radio, press, parents.. the only way you get information from the schools is by forcing it via freedom of information act requests.

From this morning’s Lowell Sun:

Dracut School Department lays off 16 teachers

DRACUT- The School Department issued 16 layoff notices to teachers, according to School Committee Chairman Matthew Sheehan. The positions will not be reinstated, while some teachers were planning on retiring at the end of the past school year, Sheehan said. The Sun filed a Freedom of Information Act request yesterday for documentation about teacher layoffs and the School Department’s budget. The School Department recently received about $400,000 less in Chapter 70 state education aid than what was anticipated, said Town Manager Dennis Piendak. Superintendent of Schools Spencer Mullin did not return calls for comment. – Bridget Scrimenti

I get the feeling there will be no support (at least from the public and parents) to renew his contract when it comes up.. and I would bet he probably isn’t interested in doing so anyways.

Lowell Sun Editorial

With the national economy continuing its downward spiral, job losses increasing and new positions difficult to come by, area charitable organizations were concerned about meeting the region’s needs over the holidays.

They shouldn’t have worried.

Despite the dismal financial picture, Merrimack Valley residents and businesses once again came through for those needing a helping hand.

Thanks to the generosity of many, Lowell’s chapter of The Salvation Army was able to meet its fundraising goal of $175,000 and, statewide, the organization surpassed its $3.5 million goal. Despite tough times, the group raised $400,000 more than it did last year.

That says a lot about the munificence of Massachusetts residents. The donations serve as a reminder that despite financial struggles those who are still employed — even if they fear potential layoff or pay reductions — recognize the greater need of those who are already going without.

(more…)

In the weekly Lowell Sun Saturday Chat by Kendall Wallace (chairman of Lowell Publishing Co.) he jumps in on the spat that the paper started last week in the weekly gossip column (his words)…

On a lighter side, I’d like to chat about the controversy over the item in last Sunday’s gossip column that discussed recent radio ratings that appeared to show a serious decline in WCAP’s audience compared to similar ratings of a year ago.

Talk about gossip. The theories were wild: The Sun is angry because the new owners have been successful at growing ad revenue; The Sun wants to weaken the station so they can buy it at a fire sale; The Sun is upset because the previous owner wouldn’t sell it to them; The Sun is going down the tubes so it wants to bring the station down also. Great theories — no truth.

Could we have handled it better? Sure. The truth is we got along pretty well with the former owner and we feel we have a good relationship with the new owners. We keep in touch. We have had a lot of conversations about joint projects and we respect our different roles.

I’ve always felt good local radio enhances a good local newspaper. If radio stimulates an issue and the public interest, the newspaper becomes more important to elaborate on the issue. Our people are best served by both institutions doing well financially, so they can provide people with information important to their life and community.

Seems like Wallace is agreeing that the paper could have handled the situation a little better. Everyone agrees that media is having a tough time of it lately and nobody needs battle.

Good on them. I give ‘em props for having the guts to admit the mistake.

This morning’s Sunday Lowell Sun had a special treat for Dracut. Warren Shaw was the subject of Bob Conroy’s comic “Pink Slip”. Check out the graphic (as an Adobe pdf file) at:Warren Shaw in Conroys Pink Slip

We had Bob Conroy, the author and artist for the comic strip “Pink Slip”, on the show for a couple segments this morning, where he discussed his work with the Lowell Sun, as well as his other marketing work.

It was sort of a fun interview, as we tried to choose who else he should be making topics of future strips. There was a lot of discussion of what it takes to create a local strip, and what possibilities he has to move this one forward (or create a new one).

Feel free to contact Bob at mantis24@comcast.net

Attached you’ll find a podcast of the interview as well.

 

 Bob Conroy on WCAP Part 1 [12:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Bob Conroy on WCAP Part 2 [12:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Dracut continues to support the Sun Santa fund.

Here, you can see Town Manager Dennis Piendak joining two other town managers, and then you can catch the Dracut Football team…

Again.. head over to the Lowell Sun website and make a contribution..

 

 Dennis Piendak [2:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Dracut Football Team [1:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By DENNIS SHAUGHNESSEY, Sun Staff Lowell Sun

DRACUT — Selectmen Chairman James O’Loughlin and former Selectman Warren Shaw faced off on SunTalk Live on Tuesday night, debating the merits of a $9 million Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion to fund a new town hall.

A town-wide vote will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In a 55-minute discussion, moderated by Sun Editor James Campanini, Shaw and O’Loughlin came at the issue from different sides.

“Building a new town hall is the right decision,” said Shaw. “Spending money to renovate the old town hall would be a poor decision. But don’t ask the taxpayers to come up with $9 million.”

“If this doesn’t pass, my fear is that we will be looking at this five years from now saying that we should have done it when we had the chance,” O’Loughlin said. “We hammered (Town Manager Dennis Piendak) with all kinds of questions and scenarios and he was adamant that it could not be done inside the operating budget.”

For more on this story click on www.lowellsun.com. To hear the discussion in its entirety, go to www.lowellsun.com and click on the SunTalk Live logo on the Web site’s home page.

Update: Another Sun Article