Monday, April 20, 2009 is Patriots' Day. Due to the holiday, state, county, and municipal offices will be closed. Offices will be open for business on Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Southborough Student helps University of Michigan place second

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The No. 4-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team placed second at the NCAA Championships on Friday night (April 17) with a season-high score of 361.500 at the University of Minnesota's Sports Pavilion. The finish is the highest for U-M since the 2000 season, when it was also the national runner-up. Stanford was crowned the 2009 national champion (362.800), and Michigan beat out third-place Oklahoma by a mere three one-hundredths of a point (361.200).

Five Wolverines advanced to tomorrow's NCAA Individual Event Finals, including sophomore Chris Cameron (Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Region), who is competing on a team-best four events -- floor, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars. Also competing will be rookie Adam Hamers (Salem, Ore./South Salem) on pommel horse, senior co-captain Phil Goldberg (Dalton, Ga./McCallie) on rings, sophomore Thomas Kelley (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) on parallel bars and high bar, and senior Joe Catrambone (Deptford, N.J./Gloucester) on high bar.

In addition to the overall season-best mark of 361.500, Michigan registered season bests on still rings (60.750), vault (62.900), and floor (61.200). There were 16 individual scores that tied or set career or season bests in tonight's meet as well.

After a bye in the initial rotation, Michigan performed on pommel horse in the second. Paced by Cameron's team season best of 15.300, the Wolverines collected 59.150 points on the event. The second-highest score came from Hamers, who tabbed a 14.900 to equal his personal best -- a mark which he originally set in yesterday's qualifying round.

Big Ten still rings champion, Goldberg, notched a team season high of 15.400 on the event to give the Wolverines a campaign-best 60.750 rings score. Cameron added a 15.300 to the mix, while senior Ralph Rosso (Morganville, N.J./St. John Vianney) amassed a season-high 15.050 to give U-M a total of 119.900 after the third rotation.

Michigan moved to the vault for the fourth rotation, where it tallied a season-high 62.900. The highest mark came from junior co-captain David Chan (Singapore/New Hale School, Perth, Western Australia), who set a season-best 15.850. Rosso and junior Mel Anton Santander (Southborough, Mass./Algonquian Regional) both earned 15.700 -- a season high for Santander -- to give the Wolverines 182.800 points.

A score of 58.250 on parallel bars gave the Maize and Blue a total of 241.050 after the fifth rotation. Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, Kelley, gained a 14.750 on parallel bars to equal his career high for the second time this season, while Cameron led the Wolverines on the event with a 14.950.

On the sixth rotation, the Wolverines grabbed a 59.250 on high bar -- a mere five one-hundredths of a point away from its season best -- to give them a total of 300.300. Kelley was the highest achiever with a 15.450 on the apparatus, and Big Ten high bar champion, Catrambone, scored a 14.700 for the squad's second-best score on high bar.

U-M's season-best 61.200 on floor exercise in the seventh and final rotation led to its second-place finish and its season-high 361.500 point total. Cameron's team season best of 15.650 helped solidify Michigan's place in the standings.

Tomorrow night (Saturday, April 18), five Wolverines will compete in the NCAA Individual Event Finals at 7 p.m. CDT at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn.

Town Meeting Completed Tonight

April 14, 2009 - Linda Hubley - What looked like another start to a stymied town meeting night eventually came together to a close for the  2009 Annual Town meeting. The meeting started off on Article seven which was to see if the Town will vote to amend the Northborough-Southborough Regional School Integrated Agreement by adding a new Section IV (h) as follows.. It was a compromised article that was submitted on behalf of the Regional School Committee. Well, that brought a series of voters to the mikes along with dissenting Regional School committee member Paul Butka and Martin Healy a former author of the agreement between the two towns (Northborough and Southborough). The original agreement between the two towns occurred in the 1950’s when the school was newly built. Anticipating a possible renovation/addition/new school project several years ago, a committee was formed to ensure that the two towns consider and share the agreement once again.

During the entire process of studies, presentations and the building and renovation of the Algonquin Regional High School the Regional Committee, the ARHS Building Committee, school and town officials always referred to the Northborough/Southborough agreement that was in place.

When it came down to the reimbursement issue last year, it was pointed out that under the reorganized chapter 70b, regional school systems may adopt either their agreement or the state statue for repayment. Several residents in Northborough thought that Southborough could pay more through the state statue vs. the agreed upon Regional agreement. Hence, there has been serious infighting between the two towns over the way the state reimburses the town for the ARHS building. Selectmen Boland and Giorlandino expressed their concerns over passage of the article. They stated they had been to many of the meetings in Northborough to talk about the situation and at times were not very welcomed at the meetings, at one time being called the “Evil people that want to steal our money”. Yet, Northborough wants Southborough to pay more than their share of the students that attend classes at ARHS.  (At Monday night's meeting after long discussion, voters approved funding for operational expenses that were above what Southborough felt they should have to pay.  The reasoning for the passage though was more town meetings and possible litigation would make the requested money figure miniscule in comparison to what a dragged out confrontation could cost.)

The Advisory Committee agreed with the Selectmen that as passed, the article would not deter the Town of Northborough from litigating for more money at a later date. It was made clear that one town cannot legally deny the other town from a future lawsuit either by wording in the agreement or a warrant article at a town meeting.   In the end, voters defiantly voted the article down.

Article eight then brought a flurry of speakers to the mikes once again, as Advisory Committee Member, John Butler, amended the article so that $27,000 would be raised and $223,00 would be transferred from the stabilization fund to help keep taxes down for the next fiscal year. Residents and Selectmen were concerned about taking money from the “rainy day” account and using it for an item that may or may not be a “rainy day” item. Discussion on the article went for about another thirty minutes before the vote was taken and it was passed with Mr. Butler’s amendment.

Article nine was split. The $40,000 for future risk assessment for the MCP compliance and close out of the DPW site remediation for PCE containments lasted several minutes. Ms Muggridge from Parmenter Road spoke in favor of getting this article through now and discovering how extensive the pollution is and how much it will cost to mitigate. The $40,000 was passed. The rest of the articles were bundled together and voters passed that article. Article ten passed for a total of $380,000 to make water tank improvements on Oak Hill Road and site improvements to Tara Road. These monies will come from the water department billing accounts.

Article eleven was reduced by the school committee to $30,000 to have the Trottier Fire Panel replaced and to have Finn School plumbing repairs made. Mr. James Denman spoke in favor of having the school department check on the availability of the students in the plumbing classes at Assabet Valley Regional High School do the work. Mr. White from the schools said that they would like to see this article pass for the full amount of $30,000 for work to be done but that he would definitely check in with the school about the students doing the work.

In another school article, voters questioned the expense of $67,000+ for new technology equipment. It was reported that school personnel in the technology department are looking to replace much older servers and switches. The article passed for a total of $132,158 with $64,991 going to pay for the last installment of a three year lease on computer equipment. Articles 13, 14, 25 and 26 all passed. Articles 15, 16, and 17 were postponed, most likely to come up at a special fall town meeting.

Articles eighteen through twenty-four were all related to the Community Preservation Act. The Committee through a series of presentations decided on the following items to present to town meeting: have the body of town meeting accept the report, appropriate money for the Housing reserve fund for future purchase or construction of affordable housing, historic fund restoration of South Union School, general fund for the town clerk to preserve more old town books and records, Southborough Historical Society to catalog and preserve historic items, pay for the open space at Chestnut Hill and place money in the account to assess any new properties for use as recreation fields for the Town of Southborough. All CPC articles passed.

The meeting ended shortly before 10:30 tonight.