Peter Gay: Thank you Ernie Brodeur | Columns | thesunchronicle.com – The Sun Chronicle
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My desk is situated so I’m able to look out the window at Barrows Veterans Memorial Park diagonally across the street from North TV.
The park was busier than normal Friday morning in preparation for the next morning’s Memorial Day service. Town employees were busy manicuring the lawn and erecting two large tents to protect people from the predicted heavy rain.
I had wondered earlier Friday if the annual ceremony might have to be postponed or canceled, then I hit me that standing in the rain for a half-hour or more is the least residents can do to pay their respects to the men and women serving our country, especially those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
It was one of many thoughts I had over the past week. Here are five more I’ve have had inside this gray-haired head of mine:
I will be thinking of Ernie Brodeur today. Ernie lived across the street from us for approximately 20 years before he lost a courageous battle with cancer last month.
Although he was an Army veteran, enlisting after high school, his life was the epitome of another branch of the service, the Air Force and their motto of “service before self.”
Whenever a snowstorm hit Berwick Road, Ernie would be up before dawn and on his snow blower clearing the driveways of neighbors, starting with those who would have struggled to do so otherwise.
Pattie and I could always tell that we had received significant snowfall overnight when we heard the sound of Ernie clearing our driveway.
His was always the last house to get cleared — service above self.
I told his daughters, Shelly and Nicole, that they were blessed if he was as half as good a father as he was a neighbor.
I often run into people who don’t realize that North Attleboro, although safer than most cities and towns, still faces the same issues as communities all across our nation. It is why I have always advocated for full funding of the town’s police department when officials are dealing with tight budgets.
Last week’s homicide on historic High Street was proof that the town is not immune and why the men and women who serve the NAPD and other departments deserve our support.
It is why I wrote in this space two weeks ago that I’m in favor of installing traffic cameras to allow officers the time they need to deal with more important issues while also assuring area roads are safe.
While Plainville’s budget is the most important item on next Monday’s town meeting warrant, I’m waiting to see how residents will vote on Article 19, a “ban on the sale of miniature single-use containers for alcoholic beverages.”
Although Attleboro and other communities have been considering a similar ban, Plainville may beat them to the punch by passing the article. The ban would be effective on Jan. 1, 2022.
When North TV established goals in the development of a strategic plan late last year, we realized the importance of cablecasting as many live events as possible.
Ironically, the pandemic was actually beneficial because we were allowed to show high school games live for the first time, rather than wait for the Hockomock League’s 24-hour embargo to end.
In addition to showing Saturday’s North Attleboro Memorial Day service live, we have six high school games, six meetings of North Attleboro town boards, three Plainville meetings (including the annual town meeting on June 7), the Feehan baccalaureate Mass and the Feehan, North Attleboro, King Philip and Tri-County graduations all scheduled to be shown live on our channels and website.
That’s 20 live events over 11 days.
You can see why I’m not exaggerating when I call my North TV coworkers the hardest working staff in the business.
One of those live meetings will be Thursday’s school committee interviews with the three superintendent finalists.
John Antonucci, superintendent in Duxbury, will be the first to be interviewed at 6 p.m. Uxbridge Superintendent Frank Tiano is scheduled for 7 o’clock and Peter Marano, Bellingham’s superintendent, will follow at 8 p.m.
The successor to Scott Holcomb will be announced later that night.
Although it won’t have the same drama as the finales of “American Idol” and “The Voice,” it is much more important and should be must-see TV for all parents.
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