Published in the December 29, 2016 edition

BY BILL LaFORME

January

-On the afternoon of Thursday, January 7, the North Reading Fire Department sent personnel to assist after an explosion at the Dow Chemical facility in North Andover. Five workers were injured in that blast, three of whom suffered injuries serious enough to be sent along to hospitals in Boston.

-With help from a state grant from the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, North Reading held a workshop seeking public input on potential development on Route 28.

– North Reading High School was named to the College Board’s AP Honor Roll for the second year in a row, marking another increase in the school’s number of AP tests taken, as well in its average scores.

– Hilltop Nursery School, founded by the Union Congregational Church back in 1956, marked its 60th anniversary.

February

– The Transcript reported that representatives from Stop and Shop and Ocean State Job Lot met with town officials to discuss the redevelopment of the empty former supermarket at 97 Main Street.

– Congratulations to NRHS senior and girls varsity basketball captain Jess Lezon, who scored her 1000th high school point in a game against Lynnfield.

– As of February 18, only six candidates had taken out nomination papers for the May 3 town election, the Transcript reported.

– The school committee finalized the creation of an 11-member Middle and High School Athletic Facilities Committee, tasked with raising funds to build a public restroom facility at Arthur Kenney Field. Later in the month, the state gave the town a one-year extension to devise a plan to resolve the restroom situation at the field.

March

– North Reading voters backed Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in their respective party primaries on March 1. Trump won about half of all Republican ballots cast in town (1,324 out of 2,628), while Sanders had a much narrower 1,332 – 1,185 vote win over Hillary Clinton.

– Nine Department of Public Works employees resigned during the month of March as a result of a drug investigation, the Transcript reported in its March 24 issue. The DPW was able to manage a spring snowstorm that brought five inches of snow to town, despite the staff shortage.

– A woman received a court summons after a texting-related two-car accident that saw one driver transported to Lahey Clinic with minor injuries. The texting driver apparently drove into another vehicle and then continued into a display shed that was at the corner of Winter and Main Streets. She was also reportedly summonsed for leaving the scene.

April

– North Reading residents were among the several hundred people attending a forum in Lynnfield seeking to convince a panel of state officials not to grant survey rights for the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline project.

– Within a couple of weeks of the forum in Lynnfield, many area residents were delighted to learn that Kinder Morgan had made the unrelated decision to cancel the pipeline project, citing inadequate commitments from its potential customers.

May

-The town election saw a 12 percent voter turnout, with incumbents narrowly fighting off challengers in both the school committee and selectmen races. Selectmen Michael Prisco and Robert Mauceri prevailed over challengers Liane Gonzalez and Richard Wallner, while school committee incumbents Janene Imbriano and Mel Webster narrowly defeated challenger Laina Simone by only 14 votes.

– Ocean State Job Lot marked its grand opening at the former Stop and Shop location on Main Street on May 21.

– North Reading’s Trinity Evangelical Church celebrated its 200th anniversary during the month of May.

– The town received 21 applications for the vacant DPW director position, the Transcript reported in its May 26 issue. Former Director Richard Carnevale “resigned in March following two arrests and an investigation of alleged drug use by DPW employees.”

– Kinder Morgan officially withdrew its pipeline application from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, bringing further relief to local residents who had been concerned about local safety, water supplies and ecosystems.

– The town’s Memorial Day parade was cancelled due to heavy rain, but observations were still held at the Batchelder School gymnasium.

June

– Town Meeting approved a proposal to join the MWRA water system starting in 2019, a move that supporters presented as a responsible and necessary way to ensure an adequate future supply for the town.

– A severe regional drought, which in June was still in its earlier stages, had led town officials to enact odd-even outdoor water use restrictions.

– Town Meeting voters also approved naming the corridor connecting the middle school and high school after longtime teacher and administrator Charles Jones.

– A garage fire on Eames Street was quickly knocked down by the North Reading Fire Department, preventing a far more serious situation from occurring. Propane cylinders and aerosol cans in the garage reportedly exploded, and the fire had started to spread to the exterior of the house and to a vehicle parked in the driveway. A second vehicle in the driveway was also damaged before being removed by Fire Chief Bill Warnock, the Transcript reported.

– After reports of erratic driving and behavior, a 67 year old man fled police on Route 28 and crashed into a utility pole. The crash caused the car to flip over and catch fire, and police and fire department personnel rescued the man, who was transported to an area hospital.

July

– The town’s annual fireworks display resumed with help from the “Bring Back the 4th” Committee and others.

– The zoning board of appeals approved a new location at 211 Main Street for Francine Coughlin’s dog care business, Bark ‘N Roll. Coughlin had tried unsuccessfully on two previous occasions to secure a special permit for her business at two other locations.

– Casey Fitzgerald of North Reading, a sophomore defenseman, was drafted by the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. He was the 86th pick in the draft.

– North Reading High School students took 450 AP tests in 2016, their highest number ever, and their average score was up 6 percent over the previous year.

 

August

– A North Reading woman was arrested in North Andover after she allegedly defaced a Trump sign and then “nearly ran over the owner of the sign when she drove away erratically,” the Transcript reported on August 11.

– North Reading’s Horseshoe Grille celebrated its 90th anniversary. The Route 28 business opened in 1926 during the Prohibition era as a cider stand.

September

-The town secured a $625,000 federal drug abuse prevention grant over the next five years, which was hailed as a “big win” by Youth Services Director Amy Luckiewicz.

-North Reading High School students saw their SAT scores increase this year in critical reading, writing, and math, with a combined score in all three tests of 1,646 – the school’s highest such score since 2013.

– The Flint Memorial Library announced it would launch a new speaker series following a $10,634 gift from the estate of Gordon D. Ivester, a longtime town resident who died in December of 2015 at age 96.

October

– Andrew Lafferty was named the new director of the North Reading Department of Public Works.

– Voters at the October Town Meeting backed an article rescinding civil service for the police department.

November

– Hillary Clinton narrowly carried North Reading by a 297-vote margin over Donald Trump.

– The town’s tax rate for 2017 was set at $16.13 per thousand valuation.

December

-As the year came to conclusion, selectmen were informed that five proposals had been received for the re-development of the 30+ acre Berry property. This is likely to remain one of the town’s top stories as 2017 gets underway.