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May 22 - 28, 2013 Vol. 9, No. 29
Fun Run to Raise Money for Bombing Victims By Stewart Lytle, Reporter –––––––––––––––––
"By George" in Salisbury Page 2 Celebrity Thanks Volunteers Page 2
The Winners Circle Running Club at the Boston marathon this year.
YWCA Greater Newburyport Secures $45,000 Grant Page 4 5th Annual Byfield Days 5K Road Race and 1 Mile Fun Run Page 6
The Town Common Courtesy Photo
Leaf Blower Bans Shot Down on North Shore – For Now REGIONAL – For decades there has been a love/hate relationship with leaf blowers. Gas powered leaf blowers are ear-piercing. They blow dirt, grass and leaves and other less attractive things into the air for asthma and allergy sufferers to breathe. But the machines make cleaning up a yard much faster, easier and, if you are paying a landscaping company to keep your yard neat, a lot cheaper than raking and sweeping the lawn litter into bags. This conflict may soon come to your city or town. Invented by Dom Quinto in the late 1950s, the leaf blower was originally introduced into the U.S. as part of an agricultural chemical sprayer. But manufacturers quickly saw the potential of the invention as
By Stewart Lytle, Reporter –––––––––––––––––
Leaf Blower.
Photo by Stewart Lytle
a common lawn and garden tool. The now ubiquitous leaf blower became very popular in California, but then residents, upset with the noise, started asking their cities and towns to ban them. Carmel by the Sea and Beverly Hills were the first towns to ban leaf blowers as far back as the late 1970s. Now dozens of California towns and cities ban leaf blowers. Municipalities in New York and Connecticut soon joined
those in California in banning or limiting the use of leaf blowers. Proposals to ban or limit their use have gained popularity in Massachusetts towns in recent years. Cambridge, Arlington and Brookline have already enacted a limited ban on leaf blowers. It was on the agenda of several Town Meetings along the North Shore this spring. The Town Meeting members in Swampscott voted this month for an article that would have prohibited the use of gas-powered leaf blowers by residents from May 16 to September 14. The first vote was 124 to 121 in favor of the ban. The second night of the Town Meeting, the members had second
REGIONAL – When Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev placed two pressure cooker bombs at the end of the Boston Marathon a month ago, they thought their actions, which killed and injured so many, might weaken the people of Boston. They never met eight women, members of the Newburyport Mothers Club, who barely knew each other until a few weeks ago. The women teamed up to organize the first ever 2.62 Mile Fun Run in Newburyport on June 2 to support the One Fund that benefits the victims of the bombing. Wendy Tinkham, one of the mothers, said an email went out to women in the club, suggesting it might be a good idea to organize a fun run to support the victims. In less than a month, Tinkham, Calli Towne, Cheryl Burkinshaw, Abby Considine, Alison Moore,Valerie Natoli Paquette, Sam Fahey and Christine Carico sprang into action to organize the fun run. They turned to Mike McCormick and Scott Walsh with the Winner's Circle Running Club for help and advice. And now the event has taken on a life of its own, attracting dozens of sponsors and followers on Facebook. “There is a sense of urgency about this event,” Tinkham said. “It is so great to see the community coming together. It is very exciting.” The run will start at 10 a.m. at Cashman Park on the Merrimack River and go up the Rail Trail. Registration will begin this week at http://runthecircle.org/
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