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	West Roxbury Stories to Remember Transcript [West Roxbury MA] December 27, 2006 http://www.townonline.com/roslindale/homepage/8999325871789572095 Farewell to the commish Just before the start of the Parkway Little League season, Roslindale's Paul McLaughlin passed away at age of 62. McLaughlin was the heart and soul of the Little League in the Parkway. His tireless work was a major factor in keeping the league functioning. Not only was he big in Little League, he was also president of Parkway Youth Hockey. In addition to his hard work and dedication in youth sports, he was also known as a whiz at math. He was an honors student at Boston Latin, scoring a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SATs. He went on to MIT and then Northeastern, where he majored in math-science. Paul also served in Thailand during the Vietnam War. It was there where he began umping baseball games. He worked for Automatic Data Processing. "He has influenced thousands upon thousands upon thousands of lives," noted Rep. Mike Rush. "It'll take 10 guys to replace him," said Joe Petitpas, a Little League coach. What will happen to the VA? We will know that in the not-too-distant future. At stake — the fate of four Veterans Administration Hospitals in eastern Massachusetts, including ones in West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Brockton and Bedford. Even though we are currently a nation at war — with no end in sight — the federal government is considering merging at least two of the four facilities as a cost-saving move. In meetings during the fall, residents made it very clear to government officials that they are opposed to closing any of the four hospitals. The VA hospital in West Roxbury is a tertiary care site that includes emergency medical services, surgery and acute care. It has 188 beds. One proposal would have this facility merge with the hospital in JP, which is entirely devoted to outpatient services. Most residents feel the move makes absolutely no sense. Ryan defrocked Among the eight priests defrocked in March by then-Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley was Monsignor Frederick Ryan, who was accused of sexually abusing three students at Catholic Memorial in the 1970s and '80s. At least three students at the school had alleged Ryan sexually abused them, including David Carney, who was 15 years old when the abuse began. Another alleged victim, Garry Garland, said he would not have gone public with the allegations if Garlund hadn't done so first four years ago. Carney, now 39, said he wouldn't be surprised if the number of victims was "over 100." After the original story came out, the Rev. Robert Hoatson, a former teacher and assistant headmaster at CM from 1981 to 1985, came forward with more charges against Ryan, claiming the former priest kept a "Wall of Fame" bulletin board in his residence at the chancery that showcased hundreds of student-athletes in various states of dress and undress. He also claimed that "After football games, [Ryan] would massage athletes' backs while they were showering." Another victim corroborated Hoatson's account. Hello, Jim Roche Memorial Rink Last winter, Parkway residents welcomed the opening of the new indoor Jim Roche Memorial Rink. The Roche Bros. supermarket family donated $2 million for renovation to the old rink while the state kicked in another $1 million, with help from Sen. Marian Walsh and Rep. Mike Rush. The rink is gorgeous and most people really love it. This is a great example of a generous family stepping up in a major way to help out their neighbors. Leo Sybertz West Roxbury football coach Leo Sybertz earned his 200th career win on the final regular-season game of this past season. They finished the regular season with an outstanding 9-2 record before falling in the opening round of the playoffs. But even with that loss, this was a great year for the Boston North League Champion gridders. A surprise in soccer Catholic Memorial didn't have a great regular season in soccer, but the Knights sure made up for it in the playoffs with an incredible run that saw them capture the Division 1 South sectional title. In the playoffs, CM pulled off four close upsets, three of which came in overtime. St. John's Prep put an end to the season in the state tournament semifinal, but nothing can take away from the gutsy season these boys put together this fall. Summer festival Goodbye Sidewalk Sales Day, hello West Roxbury Summer Festival. In August, a new festival, meant to bring people into the Centre Street shopping district, made its debut. It was a great time to highlight the wonderful restaurants that exist in West Roxbury's main business area. Shop & Shut Stop & Shop announced in September that it is closing its store on the VFW Parkway in favor of opening a new one in Dedham. The news came as a surprise to many people in the Parkway. But even though the store is closing, there are other grocery store options in the Parkway to consider, including Shaw's, Roche Bros., Village Market and another Stop & Shop in Roslindale. Election 2006 This was an exciting election season, not only in Massachusetts, but across the country. The majority of voters decided they had enough of the Republican way of running things. In Massachusetts, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey was soundly beaten by Democrat Deval Patrick in the race for governor. Also, voters said no to the self-serving move by the grocery store industry in a referendum question that, if it has passed, would allow them to sell wine. The move was meant to drive smaller package stores out of business. The reality is that there would have been no cost savings at all for consumers. The idea of allowing a lot more liquor licenses did not go over well with voters. Supermarket industry spokesmen said they will try again to convince you to allow them to crack into the alcohol business. Locally, this past election saw a lot of excitement. West Roxbury has long been considered the election hotspot in Boston. There were plenty of visits from Patrick and Healey and their running mates during this election season. The highlight came on the night before the November election at the Truman Rally. There were plenty of people on hand to watch candidates of all parties come to the Parkway to make their final pitches. In terms of local races, the only contested seat came in the state Senate when incumbent Marian Walsh soundly trounced her conservative Republican foe, Doug Obey of Westwood. None of the four Parkway state representatives faced any opposition this year. There is never a year without an election for West Roxbury and Roslindale voters. Expect a lot of fireworks in 2007 when all the City Councilors will be up for reelection. New captain This year, we said goodbye to Area E-5 police Captain John Kervin and hello to his replacement, Captain James G. Hasson. It was part of a surprise citywide shuffle that saw seven captains moved. Kervin was sent to the Bureau of Field Service Night Command, and Hasson came to the Parkway after serving as captain in the B-2 district, which covers Roxbury and Mission Hill. So far, Hasson has been doing a great job. He's been very accessible to the public and has initiated some big and necessary crackdowns in the Parkway in an effort to stop the rising crime rate. Please, let me sleep There were still many sleepless nights for a lot of residents living near the VFW Parkway, thanks to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and its pipe-replacement construction. There is no doubt that there is a great need to replace the 200-year-old water pipes, but the work was occurring overnight. With all the blasting and other construction noise, residents were denied a good night's sleep. In addition to lack of sleep, anyone trying to drive along the Parkway during construction hours found the going just about impossible with a lot of sloppily conceived and confusing detours. The MWRA said it would switch more of its construction to the daytime. This project is still not finished, so expect a lot more noise and detours.
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