FINAL-20 CP_MBHC_20231018_1_A01 Mon, Oct 16, 2023 3:39:41 PM
IN THIS ISSUE
SPORTS
BEST BETS
FOOD 101
Magicians dominate Beverly for 2nd win
Famous bluesman returns to Me&Thee
’Tis the season for pumpkin lovers
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PAID
MARBLEHEAD, MA PERMIT NO. 25
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NEWS FOR PEOPLE, NOT FOR PROFIT.
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October 18, 2023
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE NO. 45
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MARBLEHEADCURRENT.ORG
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ON SOCIAL @MHDCURRENT
TRASH TALK
Transfer Station override to be sought Call made for Narcan in schools; resident says infighting is ‘not a good look’ BY LEIGH BLANDER The Board of Health voted unanimously Oct. 10 to ask Town Meeting this May to fund a feasibility study on building a construction and demolition drop-off area at the Transfer Station. Public Health Director
Andrew Petty estimates the cost at about $50,000. The project would require a debt exclusion override. Meanwhile, the town is still waiting for final approval from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection of its $1.6 million update to the
OFFICER SUSPENSION
Transfer Station, which has delayed plans to start the project this fall. “We would like to complete this project this winter,” Petty said at the meeting. Winter is the Transfer Station’s least busy time of year. BOH member Tom McMahon
said he would still like to pursue a stickerless system at the Transfer Station with a licenseplate reader. Anyone caught using the dump without paying would not be able to renew their driver’s license. McMahon said he had spoken to an “ex-police chief in town”
who can help with the system but declined to identify him. McMahon refused to sign off on the routine payments to vendors, saying he wants the names and amounts read aloud at Board of Health meetings to BOH, P. A4
HOME SAFE
Marblehead man escapes Israel Gallo resolution delayed again Kezer grants himself extension to Dec. 1 BY KRIS OLSON Citing the “level of effort” required to ensure everything was done properly, Marblehead Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer granted himself an extension to Dec. 1 to complete his report in which he will make his recommendation about possible further disciplinary action against Police Officer Christopher Gallo, Kezer told the Select Board at his Oct. 11 meeting. The extension means that Gallo’s paid administrative leave, which began on June 16, 2021, will extend into its 31st month. Gallo is accused of spending more than 100 hours at home while on duty over a four-month period and of violating police policies involving a domestic disturbance at his home. A public hearing concluded in May with Police Chief Dennis King recommending Gallo be fired. Attorneys for Gallo and the town then requested and were granted a couple of extensions to file their final briefs with Kezer, the request for the second extension attributed to the need for more time to “transcribe all of the audio recordings.” Kezer initially had said that once he had the briefs in hand, he would need 30 days to prepare his recommendation. But at the Oct. 11 Select Board meeting, Kezer acknowledged that that 30-day period had expired the previous Friday. “What’s important in this process is that the process is done correctly,” Kezer said. That, he suggested, was more important than how long the process takes. The determination that he makes — and that the Select Board will ultimately make after receiving his recommendation — must
COURTESY PHOTO
Jacob Abbisso of Marblehead is shown with his parents, James Abbisso and Melinda Grosser, in Jerusalem just days before the bloody Hamas attacks.
BY LEIGH BLANDER Jacob Abbisso, 23, is relieved to be back home in Marblehead after escaping the Hamas attacks in Israel last week. He was in Jerusalem studying to be a rabbi at Hebrew Union College. “Saturday morning [Oct. 7] I woke up to my program director calling and asking me if I’m safe,” he said.
“I asked him, ‘What do you mean?’ and then I heard the sirens outside. I grabbed my parents who were visiting, and we ran to the stairwell. That’s the safest place in my apartment building to shelter in case of missile attacks.” Abbisso said it takes missiles about 90 seconds to get from Gaza to Jerusalem, so that’s how long he and his parents had to get to shelter. For the next few days, he watched
the news and his phone apps, which alerted him about incoming missiles and attacks across Israel. He and his parents finally got a flight to Boston Wednesday night, Oct. 11. “We left for the airport and in the back of my mind, there’s always the chance,” Abbisso said. “What if there’s ABBISSO, P. A13
PRAYERS FOR PEACE
Community comes together amid unrest BY LEIGH BLANDER A world away from Israel and the Gaza Strip, hundreds of people gathered in Marblehead and Swampscott recently to sing, pray and hope for peace amid bloody terror attacks and a war. On Sunday, Oct. 15, people filled Star of the Sea Church for an interfaith vigil conducted by the Marblehead Ministerial Association, VIGILS, P. A11
GALLO, P. A14
CURRENT PHOTO / LEIGH BLANDER
Rev. Jim Bixby walks down the aisle at Sunday’s interfaith peace vigil at Star of the Sea Church.
BIG REVEAL
Haunting hobby Architect hard at work on new Halloween installation BY LEIGH BLANDER
COURTESY PHOTO / BROOKE TRIVAS
Marblehead architect Tom Saltsman works on a model for his latest Halloween installation.
BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW
With Halloween still more than a week away, people are already slowing their cars and peering into Tom Saltsman’s Pleasant Street driveway, hoping to catch a sneak peek of his
latest Halloween installation. “He started working on it in early September, planning and making models and sculptures,” Saltsman’s wife Brooke Trivas told the Current. “There’s a lot of prep work.” The owner of a design and
construction firm, Saltsman has been creating awe-inspiring Halloween installations in his driveway and garage for nearly 20 years, attracting people from around Massachusetts and HALLOWEEN, P. A12