Archive - News Article
May 11th, 2013
Michelle Decelles always knew Motherâs Day to be a big day at the Coachmenâs Lodge Restaurant she and her husband, Norman, run at 273 Wrentham Road in Bellingham.
It was a big day for the restaurant but Decelles never fully understood why people wanted to take their Momâs out on that day until she became a Mom six years ago.
âI donât think I realized what motherhood really was until I became a mother myself,â she said while working at the restaurant this week.
CENTRAL FALLS â A bomb threat involving Central Falls City Hall prompted an evacuation of employees and tied up traffic along Dexter Street and the surrounding area for more than two hours on Friday morning.
The threat proved to be unfounded and Police Chief James Mendonca gave the âall clearâ at around 12:15 p.m. after the Rhode Island State Police Bomb Squad declared the building safe. Two police dogs, trained to detect explosive devices, were used to search the facility and no evidence of any bomb was found.
May 9th
FOSTER â Anthony Manzo is seated in a vintage leather barber chair with his muscular right arm extended in front of him as tattoo artist Robert Young prepares to go in.
Clean-cut and bookish-looking in his thick-rimmed eyeglasses, Young gives off the demeanor of a doctor as he pauses for a moment, studying Manzoâs arm with quiet intensity. Youngâs hands are covered in black rubber gloves, one of which is holding aloft a metallic device that looks like some sort of oversized hypodermic.
PAWTUCKETâThe owner of a former nightclub at 242 Middle St. was denied a request for a liquor license to re-open based on the club's troubled past and objections from neighbors.
On Wednesday, the City Council's Board of License Commissioners voted 8 to 0 to deny a request by Robert L. Thibeault to obtain a liquor license for Club Macundo. At a public hearing, he told the council that he has had trouble keeping tenants in the commercial building, and he wants to re-open as a club to help pay his taxes.
May 8th
LINCOLNâA lunch of Del's Lemonade, chowder and clamcakes, hot wieners and Autocrat coffee milk already had guests smiling, and when Viola Davis took to the stage, it was a celebration of yet another classic product of Rhode Island.
The award-winning actress was in her home state on Wednesday to attend the 28th annual Rhode Island Tourism Unity Luncheon at the Twin River Event Center. Davis spoke at the event, and received the Rhode Island âMaking a Differenceâ Award for her contribution to art and culture tourism in the state.
May 7th
PROVIDENCE â The cost of getting married in Rhode Island could triple soon.
Pawtucket Rep. Elaine Coderre has introduced legislation that would add a $46 surcharge to the fee for a marriage license to pay for domestic violence prevention.
That would hike the cost of a license â which is currently $24 â to $70.
Of the additional $46, $44 would go to the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence (RICADV) to operate the prevention programs and $2 would be kept by the city or town issuing the license.
PAWTUCKET â The Slater Mill Museum historic site on the Blackstone River can teach visitors plenty about how cotton is spun into thread and eventually clothing.
But the museum also tells the story of life in the Blackstone Valley before Samuel Slater opened his mill, sparking the American Industrial Revolution; the details can be found in the heritage plants and flowers growing in the garden.
May 6th
EAST PROVIDENCE â The City Council will hold a public hearing tonight to give residents and local profit and non-profit agencies the chance to offer input on the funding requests proposed in city's 2013-2014 Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application.
This year, the city is applying for $620,675 in grant funding for local community development and housing needs, which will be available for programming during the fiscal year that begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2014.
The council's meeting begins at 7:30 at City Hall, 145 Taunton Ave.
LINCOLN â It could be upwards of a month before residents are able to move back into a Front Street triple-decker that was heavily damaged by fire Sunday night, fire officials said yesterday.
Lonsdale Fire Chief Timothy Griffin said the 263 Front St. building sustained $75,000 to $100,000 in damages and that extensive repairs will be required before the seven tenants left homeless by the blaze are allowed back in.
All of the tenants are reportedly staying with family members, he said.
May 5th
CENTRAL FALLS â With the recent Boston Marathon bombing tragedy, much attention has been paid to the âfirst respondersâ who sprang into action to aid the injured. However, since last March and long before all the media attention, 18 Central Falls High School students were quietly meeting after school to learn how to be emergency responders, and their hard work and dedication has paid off.
May 4th
PAWTUCKET â Itâs a treat and a dessert and you can really have ice cream anytime. But there is something special about going to get ice cream at an ice cream stand or from a truck, even on a cool May evening.
Rod Florez, the General Manager of Palagi Brothers Ice Cream and Frozen Lemonade in Pawtucket, actually anticipates sales in late April and early May as some of the best for his business all season.
Palagi Brothersâ 25 trucks usually hit the streets on April 1 but were delayed this year by late winter weather and sales were still slower than usual this week, according to Florez.
PAWTUCKET â Norman Menard says you donât have to be a policeman, fireman or emergency management professional to help your community when there are threats of terrorism, crime, public health issues, and natural disasters.
What you do need, he says, is a willingness to learn and help support first responders any way you can when disaster does strike.
May 2nd
PROVIDENCE â After 17 long and frequently contentious years of political and legislative struggle, Rep. Gordon Fox, the first openly gay Speaker of the House, brought down his gavel Thursday and announced that the bill to allow same-sex marriage in Rhode Island passed by an overwhelming 56-15 vote.
PROVIDENCE â Police Chief Michael Kehoe of Newtown, Conn., who was a first responder when 20 children and six educators were slaughtered at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in his community last December, warned Wednesday that, âThe tragedies felt by Newtown and other communities can be repeated if affirmative action is not taken.â
April 30th
PROVIDENCE â On the day that Education Commissioner Deborah Gist delivered her annual State of Education address to a joint session of the General Assembly, the stateâs two major teachers unions released a poll that they say shows teacher morale is âabysmalâ under her leadership and that 85 percent do not want her contract to be renewed.
Despite that, Gist painted an optimistic picture of the stateâs education effort, citing progress in technology, early education and international competitiveness.
LINCOLN â A crowd of players engulfed the craps table as dealer Sam Hasney announced the cutoff for more bets.
âBets set,â he said. âShooterâs looking for four. Four wins.â
âCâmon Nick,â somebody cheered as an oversized pair of red dice tumbled across the green felt pit of the craps deck.
April 29th
PAWTUCKET â Due to the upcoming privatization of trash services, 19 employees in the city's Department of Public Works received layoff notices on Friday, but city officials say that all or most should be able to land other municipal jobs or a position with the vendor.
PAWTUCKETâA blaze suspected to be arson destroyed a wooden shed at the old Conant Thread Mill complex at 280 Rand St. early Monday morning.
According to Pawtucket Fire Capt. Robert Thurber, the city's fire marshal, firefighters responded to a call at about 2:20 a.m. from a resident of the nearby Coates Manor elderly housing complex, who noticed the blaze.
Thurber said the fire completely destroyed the 12-foot by 18-foot detached shed, which was located on the vacant mill complex that formerly housed the Conant Thread-Coats & Clark manufacturing operations. No injuries were reported.
CUMBERLAND â The townâs plan to merge its four independent fire districts reaches a major milestone Wednesday when the Town Council votes to ask state lawmakers to approve the incorporation of a unified town fire district.
The state-approved incorporation would include the creation of a seven-member interim appointed fire committee by June 30 to govern and manage the finances of the unified fire district until a permanent committee is elected next year.
The council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 45 Broad St.
April 28th
CUMBERLAND â A family of beavers who faced being trapped and killed for causing tree damage and flooding at Diamond Hill Park has been granted a stay of execution.
After initially stating that he was considering having a local exterminator kill the beavers, Parks and Recreation Director Michael Crawley says that plan has been scrapped â at least for now.
