WHAV (https://whav.net/category/localnews/haverhill/)
It wasn’t a raincoat. Downtown residents and visitors took notice of the statue of Hannah Duston clad in a blue plastic tarp as raindrops fell Friday. The statue, for the second time in a year and a half, was covered with red paint. Haverhill Police Chief Robert P. Pistone said the vandal struck sometime between Wednesday night and early Thanksgiving morning. He confirmed the city has cameras in the area and police are reviewing video in the course of their investigation.
The state Senate Monday backed advancing a House bill that, if eventually enacted, would allow a Haverhill firefighter to earn retirement credit for certain time served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Senators agreed to refer a petition on behalf of Firefighter John Farrell to the Committee on Public Service. The bill was filed by Amesbury state Rep. James M. Kelcourse. If approved, the bill would authorize the State Retirement Board to credit Farrell with two years and four months of creditable service for the period of Nov. 1, 1998 to Nov.
Members of the Haverhill Lions Club were collecting glasses for improving eyesight around the world during the recent VFW Santa Parade, but now, one could say, they are turning their sights to helping stock food pantries with soup. Lions Club member Tony Pecci was a recent guest on WHAV’s morning program. “We have several hundred cans of soup right now. We are collecting them to distribute to the local shelters. We have a drop off location at Maria’s in Haverhill at 81 Essex St., and the soups will be going to Haverhill food cupboards and pantries,” he said.
After nearly two years of a global pandemic, local nonprofits are counting on people not forgetting the critical work they are doing to ensure people are fed, housed and healthy this holiday season. Emmaus is one of those nonprofits and hopes to build upon its past success on #GivingTuesday and reach a new and ambitious goal of $50,000 on Nov. 30. This is the eighth year Emmaus has participated in the international day of giving. Last year, Emmaus raised $46,545, bringing the seven-year total for gifts made on #GivingTuesday to Emmaus to just over $176,000.
Both the Haverhill School Committee and City Council should elect representatives from each of Haverhill’s seven wards, limit both bodies to nine members and preserve candidate choices made by voters earlier this month. The overall consensus emerged last night during a joint meeting of Mayor James J. Fiorentini, City Council and School Committee as they took the first steps to change the city’s charter to comply with voting rights laws. City Councilor Thomas J. Sullivan spoke first, saying he and most of his colleagues share voters’ beliefs that this is the right move and the right time to make it. “We know that we have to make change. We’re willing to make the change and I think that we could certainly do the job with seven ward councilors and two at-large and with seven ward School Committee men and one at-large and the mayor,” he said.
This past Monday 80 veterans and their families received, what was called, a “Thanksgiving Kit” with a turkey and all the fixin’s in time for tomorrow’s holiday. The Haverhill Veterans of Foreign Wars Lorraine Post 29, working with Disabled and Limbless Veterans and the Middlesex County Deputy Sheriffs Association, provided the kits, which included a frozen turkey of about 12-14 pounds, boxed stuffing and instant mashed potatoes, fresh produce and dessert. One kit is expected to feed a family of four to six people. VFW Senior Vice Commander Donald Jarvis said, “It was an honor to be able to work with not just the other veteran organizations, but the Middlesex Sheriff, Peter Koutoujian, and the Middlesex County Deputy Sheriffs Association to provide enough food for 80 Veterans and their families to have a Thanksgiving meal. In a sense the Haverhill VFW was able to provide over 300 thanksgiving meals this year to the local veteran community.”
In addition to the Thanksgiving kits, the Haverhill VFW also provided Veterans Northeast Outreach Center with boxes of fresh produce and other items for their food pantry.
Following on the success of last year’s “Holiday Doors of Haverhill” celebration, The Haverhill Garden Club is seeking contenders for its second annual contest. Homeowners or businesses are invited to email photographs of their decorated doors to [email protected], where they will then be shared by the Garden Club on Facebook. There is no fee for those who want to share images “just for fun,” but there is a $10 fee for those who wish to be judged “Best Residential” or “Best Business” decorated door. Judges will select winners by Dec. 20.
A former Haverhill man was convicted this week by a federal jury of selling fentanyl, including a sale to a 26-year-old who died of an overdose the next day. Thirty-year-old Bernardito Carvajal was convicted following a five-day jury trial of two counts of distribution of fentanyl. U.S. Senior District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. scheduled sentencing for next March 22. Carvajal was indicted in January 2020 and has been in custody since his arrest in July 2019. “Drug dealers make a living selling death on the installment plan.
Haverhill families, including children of all ages, are invited to receive a progress report Dec. 8 on rebuilding the Dr. Albert B. Consentino School. A year and a half ago, the Massachusetts School Building Authority allowed the city to begin the process for repair or replacement of the now-52-year-old middle school. At the inaugural meeting of the Consentino School Building Committee early last year, school Superintendent Margaret Marotta said, at a minimum, the school needs six more classrooms. Currently, two classrooms were converted from rooms used for other purposes. “It’s not ideal for student spaces,” she explained.