Tour of the Southbridge Landfill April 29 2015

A Film by Paul Zotos

In conjunction with their MEPA application Casella sponsored a tour of the landfill on April 29. At that time they pointed out the various areas that would undergo site assignment as part of the proposal. Paul Zotos participated in the tour and made this video record.

Video: Special Southbridge School Committee Meeting, October 10, 2013

Video by Paul Zotos

Following the surprise resignation by School Committee Chairman Patricia Woodruff at its last regular meeting, the committee held a special meeting on Wednesday, October 9. The special meeting had been scheduled prior to the regular Tuesday night meeting. It was attended by five of the remaining six members, with Dr. Thomas O’Leary absent.

It was billed as a meeting intended to address expectations and goals for the committee during the coming year. However, prior to Mrs. Woodruff’s resignation it was widely believed to have her ouster as its true objective. 

They Laughed

Submitted by Paul Zotos

They laughed

They laughed at us

When we wanted to save

The whale

They laughed when we created

Earth day

They ridiculed us and called us

Tree huggers

They laughed at Al Gore for 

Climate change and trying to

Save Polar Bears

Al Franken’s “Saturday Afternoon Live” In Southbridge (VIDEO)

Ken O’Brien

Minnesota Senator Al Franken, known to many as one of the early stars of “Saturday Night Live”, appeared in Southbridge on Saturday, October 20, to kick off a day of canvassing and phone-banking on behalf of Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren and Democratic candidate for State Representative Kathleen Walker.

Recent polls have shown Warren gaining a substantial lead over incumbent Senator Scott Brown. Brown has been hampered by declines in his favorability ratings as well as recent needs to apologize for the behavior of staffers and inferences that paid actors were used by Warren in one of her campaign ads. In addition, he has been criticized for what a leading veterans’ advocate has termed misleading statements about his time in Afghanistan. 

So Where’s the Debate Video?

Ken O’Brien

UPDATE: 5:40 pm. The town council debate is now on the cable schedule for tonight on channel 12 at 9 pm and again at 10:30 pm.
The school committee debate is scheduled for 9:30 pm on channel 11.

Schedules for tomorrow’s repeats of the debates can be found here for the school committee and here for the town council.
On the calendar, click on the date you want to see.

Okay. So the debates featuring candidates for town council and school committee (at least most of them excepting most incumbents) were Saturday afternoon.

It’s now after 4 pm on Monday, following the listed closing hours for the Southbridge Cable TV office. No replay of the debates is shown for anytime today or tomorrow on any of the public info cable TV channel schedules on the town’s website.

What’s the problem? In my opinion Zotos would have had it up by now.

Background For Monday's Southbridge Town Council Meeting - Wednesday's General Government Subcommittee Meeting

A Film by Paul Zotos

EHS Subcommittee Violated Open Meeting Law – Council Chair “Fixed” Trash Ticket

Ken O’Brien

UPDATE: The video of Tuesday, May 15^th’s, EHS subcommittee meeting is available in three parts HERE.

Last night’s meeting of the Education and Human Services subcommittee lived up to expectations.

Among the revelations was the fact that the Attorney General’s office found the subcommittee to be in violation of the Open Meeting Law. The finding related to the meeting of August 2, 2011. In its report the Attorney General’s office determined that the subcommittee had failed to state there would be a discussion about Ann Beinema, even though the Chair reasonably anticipated one would occur.

The AG’s office did not find that the second complaint, that the subcommittee did not give Mrs. Beinema notice that her "reputation, conduct and character" would be discussed during an open session meeting on August 2, 2011, constituted a violation of the OML.

Exploiting The Victims

Ken O'Brien

Dan Butler, who has gained prominence as a voice of Southbridge tornado victims, posted the following on the Southbridge Tornado Relief FaceBook page on May 8.

UPDATE on the "Rebuild Western Mass" rebate crooks: about 3 weeks before the 1 year anniversary of the tornado and we have STILL yet to see a dime from this ripoff program and they just continue to give us excuse after excuse. today i got a phone call from them, and the guy told me that he received a call from Peter Durant's office claiming that we had issues with the program....

MSNBC's Chris Matthews in Worcester - A Film by Paul Zotos

“Take Back Our Town”

A Film by Paul Zotos & Mike Marketti

Southbridge residents James Marino and James Sottile discuss a petition to return Southbridge to a town meeting/board of selectmen form of government.

Following is the text of the petition:

Paul Zotos - from 1979

Thanks to Mike Marketti for this blast from the past.

Oh Paul, We Miss You!

Ken O'Brien

As we all know the town manager has forced through his "reorganization" of the public access channels.

At the core of this was the dismissal of Paul Zotos as the Director of that operation and the decision to hire three part-timers to replace him. Never mind the fact that, after years of service, and numerous awards, Paul was dismissed months before he would have been eligible for retirement and a pension.

One of the primary reasons cited in Paul's dismissal was a video that he recorded following the June tornado. In it, then town council chairman Steve Lazo was shown helping clear trees that had been devastated in the event.