Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The following uses information supplied by the Norfolk County District Attorney's office.
Martine Pressat was denied parole on February 19. Pressat was found guilty of murder in the second degree in 2000 for beating retired Brookline psychiatrist Dr. John Weil to death in his Westwood apartment in December of 1997. According to a statement from the Office of the Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey, evidence at the trial showed that Pressat had been writing herself checks from Dr. Weil’s account prior to the murder. Then Assistance District Attorney Anthony Gemma showed that Pressat killed Dr. Weil shortly after he had met with his accountant and discovered that Pressat was stealing from him. The jury found Pressat guilty of beating Dr. Weil to death shortly after he confronted her about the thefts. Dr. Weil wrote …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Selectmen Ken Goldstein discussed removing Brookline from Norfolk County at the Selectmen Meeting on Tuesday.
Selectmen Ken Goldstein wants Brookline out of Norfolk County. “There is a basic inequity in the county system of government,” Goldstein said. “Municipalities in those counties are paying for legacy costs, pensions, which poorly serve the town. We are paying 16 percent of the total assessment in Norfolk County.” That 16 percent equals about $700,000 annually, which is a lot considering that the Town of Brookline doesn’t use much of the county services. In the 1990’s Massachusetts dissolved most of the counties within the Commonwealth and assumed the financial obligations and other functions. In total, 70 percent of the population lived in these now-erased counties, leaving 30 percent of residents, Brookline included, in what Goldstein …
Monday, June 11, 2012
Editorial in the Boston Globe suggests that leaving Norfolk County is the right move for Brookline. What are your thoughts?
If anyone doubted Brookline's decision to leave Norfolk County, the move was praised in last week's Boston Globe. By the end of Town Meeting last month, Brookline Town Meeting Members voted to leave Norfolk County. In an editorial the Boston Globe ran on Friday, the editor suggests that leaving Norfolk County is the right thing to do. Last April, when the Warrant Article initially came up, the concern was that Leaving Norfolk Could Mean that the town could lose Brookline District Court. The editorial observes that court systems are now funded by the state and comparable to state systems. This year's petition was the third time that the warrant article had come before Town Meeting. Last November, the body voted to stay in Norfolk County…
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Brookline votes to pull itself out of Norfolk County, but does not vote to abolish the county altogether. The debate over Brookline's place in Norfolk County continues.
Brookline hopes to get itself out of Norfolk County, but seems to see the county’s value to other towns. At Town Meeting's final night voted on Article 24, which pertains to the removal of Brookline from Norfolk County, and Article 25, which would abolish Norfolk County government in Brookline. The vote means that Brookline will petition the State to remove Brookline from Norfolk County's government, but does not mean the town is out just yet. This recent discussion about Articles 24 and 25 is only the latest in a series of discussions concerning Brookline’s future participation in Norfolk County. These two articles appeared at last year's Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting, and both were voted down each time. Frederick Lebow, who …
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Brookline Town Meeting votes on the 30 warrant articles brought forward, voting to increase the COLA base, remove Brookline from Norfolk County, and increase the tobacco sales age, among other things.
Town Meeting season is over, votes cast and decisions made. A number of subjects, ranging from slavery to summer at the library, came before Brookline's annual Town Meeting for discussion. For information on the 30 warrant articles, and what Town Meeting's vote on them means, scroll through the list. See the Full results document from the Brookline Town Meeting Downloads page to the right, as well as the 2012 Town Meeting Honor Roll, remembering Town Meeting Members who have passed. More coverage on last night's Town Meeting to come later today. Article 1: Measurers of Wood and Bark Submitted by the Board of Selectmen Article 2: Collective Bargaining Agreements and Salaries Submitted by the Human Resources board Article 3: Compensating …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Brookline Town Meeting is coming up at the end of the year, and there is a slew of articles to be discussed.
Each year, the Town Meeting Members (TMMs) of Brookline gather to discuss a warrant composed of articles proposed by officials and residents around Brookline. This year, Town Meeting begins on May 22 and will run until Town Meeting Members vote on the 30 warrant articles. See the PDFs to the right, or check the Brookline Town Website to see the full warrant, explanations, and the combined report on the article. Some of these articles may have changed from their original versions as petitioned. Voting at town meeting may be on a different version of the article than presented. Article 1: Measurers of Wood and Bark Submitted by the Board of Selectmen This article has been voted favorably by a unanimous Board of Selectmen. The Advisory …
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Tuesday's Warrant Article discussion ended with a vote for looking into leaving Norfolk County.
On Tuesday night, the final night of Brookline's Town Meeting, the Town Meeting Members heard testimony and questions about Article 21, asked the question: Should Brookline end its membership to Norfolk County and save $700,000? Apparently, yes. When it came to vote, Town Meeting Members answered the question with a vote of 158-20. They chose an amended version which gives the Selectmen power to form a delegation to look into ways to address the inequity between what Brookline pays in County Assessment tax, what other communities pay, and the services the Town gets in return. Put more simply: The Selectmen will have people look into paying less. Norfolk County is made up of 28 other Massachusetts communities, none of which border …
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Brookline High School
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Results from the final Warrant Articles could take Brookline out of Norfolk County.
During last night's final chapter of the Brookline Anual Town Meeting, the Town Meeting Members and Selectmen discussed the remaining five Warrant Articles. The remaining articles included winter sidewalk clearing, the Transportation Board's traffic calming procedures, a resolution to end robocalls, an MBTA easement and ceding from Norfolk county. The discussion of this article, now passed, begins with a figure: $700,000. That figure is the cost to the town for membership in Norfolk County, and this assessment was referenced by Selectman Nancy Daly, Norfolk County Commissioner Peter Collins, and the petitionerer and Advisory Committee memb Fred Lebow, among others. The speakers also noted that it is a number based on real estate prices, …
Lar01
5:40 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
I assume that the records within the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds will still be accessible to us and handled somehow? more ›