Pauly's Templeton Watch

Friday, January 31, 2014

Assessment highlights key health issues for Templeton

Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer
TEMPLETON — Templeton has a serious problem with heart disease, according to a Community Health Assessment recently released by Montachusett Public Health Network.

The report revealed the town has the highest age-adjusted cardiovascular mortality rate in the region at 360 deaths per 100,000 persons, outpacing surrounding towns and even the Commonwealth by a significant margain. The next highest rate was registered by the town of Sterling with 273, while the state as a whole sat at 200.

The assessment, which pulled data from 11 surrounding cities and towns, including Gardner, Fitchburg, Phillipston and Athol, provides information on everything from poverty rates to infectious disease prevalence and substance abuse.

250 miles of natural gas pipeline proposed

Katie Landeck & Eryn Dion
News Staff Writers

REGION — Local communities are being approached by officials from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., an entity interested in constructing roughly 250 miles of new pipeline through northern Worcester County.

“The project is in its very early stages,” said Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. spokesman Richard Wheatley.

Officials from Athol, Ashburnham and Winchendon have already been contacted by representatives from the company, which is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Inc.

The proposal, dubbed the Northeast Expansion Project, is being sought to upgrade existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline systems within New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. In addition to the construction of approximately 250 miles of new pipeline, the project would require the setup of new meter stations and modifications to existing facilities in order to carry natural gas to the eastern part of the state — according to a recent press release.

Templeton: Time to stop blaming and start doing

To The Editor: 1/31/2014
Virginia Wilder
Templeton
To The Editor:

A recent Letter To The Editor that appeared in The Gardner News on Jan. 15 threw blame all over the place for the current financial problems that the town is having.

I wouldn’t have bothered writing here at this time except the article used names, amongst which appeared mine. I can understand that, if I had failed the public the way the current Board of Selectmen appears to be doing, I would try to explain it anyway I could. You can throw around blame all you want, but the fact is that all of this is happening on the board’s watch. This money is not missing from past budgets it is missing now.

The first debacle was the need for having an override. The need for the override should never have been attributed to the need to fund the school. It should have been advertised as an override to appropriately fund the town budget obligations.

I have heard members of our own Board of Selectmen (BOS) say that the School Department was to blame for the financial problems in the town. Some members of our BOS made every effort to try to prevent the school department from getting the budget they needed to perform at a level that is conducive to good education for our children.