June 23, 2015—Another piece of Paul Mastroianni's vision for the property he purchased from the Terry family was presented to the public last evening at the Conservation Commission. Entrepreneur Donald Satterfield and accompanying engineers showed the Commission preliminary ideas for a facility with ten tennis courts, two adult pools and a children's pool for one of the parcels off of Lumber Street. While they were with the ConCom, Mr. Mastroianni was meeting with the Planning Board for the other parcel where he has planned a retail complex.

June 23, 2015—The State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and the United States Marshals Service recently developed information that WILLIAM BENTON, 22 [click thumbnail to enlarge] — one of the MSP’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives — was staying at an address on Seminole Boulevard in Tarpon Springs, Fla. At approximately 9:30 a.m. today members of a US Marshals task force based out of Tampa located and arrested BENTON without incident. BENTON was taken to the Pinellas County Jail, charged as a Fugitive From Justice and held pending rendition back to Massachusetts.

BENTON’s capture follows a lengthy investigation and search by State Police, US Marshals, and Yarmouth Police. He is the subject of multiple warrants out of Barnstable County in Massachusetts charging him with several counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and additional counts of aggravated assault, intimidation of witness, threats to commit a crime, and various firearm and motor vehicle offenses.

The warrants charge BENTON in two separate violent incidents. On May 10, 2014, BENTON was involved in an argument with a man at Keyes Memorial Beach in Hyannis. The man was accompanied by his child at the time. During the argument, evidence suggests BENTON pulled out a gun and shot at the man, missing him and the child. Barnstable Police arrested BENTON a short time later; during the case against him, while he was out on bail, BENTON did not appear for a scheduled court date. Additionally, evidence suggests BENTON stabbed a man four times on the evening of April 18 in Yarmouth. The victim survived but BENTON was not captured at the time.

Nearly a month ago, the State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section added BENTON to the department’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

June23, 2015—Last night, the Planning Board heard from Paul Mastroianni and REC Hopkinton, LLC to discuss changes sought by the town's peer review specialists. One of the alterations suggested was a reduction in lighting. As a result, the applicant reduced the height of the lighting fixtures from 18' to 15', according to landscape designer Mike Dryden.

        Mark Allen of Allen Engineering noted a change in the traffic pattern, per request of the peer reviewers. It will be a one-way southbound in front of the new building.

         The development will be adjacent to the current Mastroianni property at 77 West Main Street and will be fully accessible from that location as well as from Lumber Street entrances.

         Another meeting is scheduled for this project on July 6, 2015 at 7:30 pm, and is expected to be the last.       

Boston University Professor and Hopkinton resident Lee Staples, MSW, Ph.D., has updated his Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing (Praeger, 1984) and sent it to the publisher days ago, he noted in a chance encounter at Vinny's Pizza on Sunday. His last revision was in 2004 and was detailed in an interview of Professor Staples for HopNews (Old school) in 2005 by Elizabeth Eidlitz. It is worth another read. The book is available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

June 22, 2015—The Planning Board this evening added at the beginning of their meeting, an audience with Greg Mazur, who purchased and renovated 30-34 Main Street over the last year. Prior to that purchase, Mr. Mazur was approved to build a two-story building on the adjacent empty lot that he had recently purchased (thumbnail). However, difficulty lining up tenants and distractions with the other project, he said, moved him to abandon the idea of two stories, and instead, bring a new concept before the board of a one-story building*. He also let go the idea of a below-ground retail level.
     "From parking to economics, we decided to downscale," he told the board.
     "We're lopping off the top floor and basement, but keeping the same footprint. The parking doesn't change," he added.

      In relating conversations with prospective tenants, he said, "They want to see more rooftops," meaning a denser population. 

     Under Chairman Ken Weismantel's leadership, as well as an apparent consensus, the board chose to treat the change as a "light review" and not require Mr. Mazur to go through the entire review process all over again. 

      *Mr. Mazur said the drawing above was a rough concept that Gorman/Richardson/Lewis Architects put together on a day's notice. He also said Yogurt Beach, his tenant at 34 Main Streetwill be opening this week.

The Distance Medley crew of Giordano (1200m), Taylor Velazquez (400m), Monks (800m) and Hazzard (1600m), continued the medal streak for Hopkinton by battling to first in their heat and placing 6th overall in the Emerging Elite race with a time of 12:22.11

Meet results can be found here.

Distance Medley video can be found here.

4x800m video can be found here.

by Robert Falcione

June 21, 2015—It was just about one year ago that the Hopkinton Rumor Mill quoted people speculating about an impending purchase of 30-34 Main Street by Greg Mazur, who had already purchased the adjacent empty lot, as well as the next home down Walcott Street. Well, purchase it he did, and hired Ed Tarca and others to make it look new, removing the asbestos shingles,  adding trim and a cap and dentile on top, replacing and enlarging windows, and constructing an entirely new back porch.

      Mr. Mazur installed granite countertops, stainless appliances as well as a washer and drier in each of four units on the second floor.

      On the ground floor, Mr. Mazur has installed handicap-accessible washrooms and a rear entrance to service both the existing Vinny's Pizza and the soon to open Yogurt Beach. Vinny's Pizza expects to have his18 seats soon, which will enable an expanded menu.

      Kudos to Mr. Mazur for the fine improvement to the Downtown!       

by Robert Falcione
June 21, 2015 — Architectural firm Johnson Roberts presented their conceptual plan of the Library expansion to the Downtown Hopkinton Historic District last week, and received a Certificate of Appropriateness, a necessary step in the approval process. The drawing above shows the building beautifully, something that, unfortunately, we can't see in real life.

       This writer asked at the meeting if the tree in front would be coming down, and was told that it would not.  This writer noted that the tree blocks the architectural beauty of the building, something we might assume architects would embrace. No, they said, even though the landscape plan was not complete, the tree would definitely stay, this writer was told.

        And when trees in the rear that form a barrier between the abutters and the addition, we were told, would be coming down, architect Philip O'Brien noted, "But not this one," pointing the the overgrown tree out front, and building a running gag at the expense of this willing writer.

       People may remember that the mansion across from the HopNews office had spreading yews in front that grew to the second floor.  Thank you, Peter, for cutting them down.

       Others may remember the overgrown arborvitae that  were as tall as the eaves in front of Town Hall, and formed a hedge across the width, hiding the architecture. Thank you, Deb, for not planting trees as tall in your restoration.

       In design, there needs to be balance, and there is none in front of the library. In the drawing above, the opaque value of the tree is mitigated by shading that misrepresents the true visual. And the width of the tree is about as big around as the waist (29") or hips (34") of the petite female model walking past, when in reality the tree's circumference is actually 74".

       To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, I implore you, "Mr. O'Brien, tear down this tree."  

       Let the architectural features of the building become free.

       (Or at least cut it back in the extreme). 

       Please mouse-over the image to see the real visual.

BOSTON - Friday, June 19, 2015 – Today, MassDOT Registrar of Motor Vehicles Erin C. Deveney announced that applications for the 2015 Low Number Plate Lottery are now available at the Registry’s website and at branch locations throughout the state.

“It’s the favorite time of year again for Massachusetts plate aficionados,” said Registrar Deveney. “There is a large pool of classic plates, including Z9, up for grabs this year and we encourage everyone to visit our website www.massrmv.com  to download an application. Good luck to our entrants!”

In addition to the availability of plate Z9, there are 155 other plates that are part of this year’s lottery including: 650, 7X and L91. Annually, approximately 6,000 applications are received.

Low number plates must be renewed every two years.

Applications are available for download online or at Registry branches across the Commonwealth. By law, applications must be postmarked by August 21, 2015. Applications can be found at http://www.massrmv.com/Portals/30/docs/21843.pdf
Details of the drawing, date, time and location will be announced later this summer. By law, winners must be announced by September 15, 2015 and will be posted on the Registry website.

MILFORD – Dr. Leonard G. DiGiovanni has completed the first single-site robotic gynecological surgery at Milford Regional Medical Center, further advancing the use of robotic surgery at the hospital and solidifying its role as a leader in state-of-the-art surgical procedures in Central Massachusetts.

Milford Regional was the first hospital in Central Massachusetts to offer single-site surgery for the gall bladder, and now that same surgical system is being offered as an option to women for certain gynecology procedures.
Dr. DiGiovanni, an OB\GYN with UMass Memorial at Milford, used the da Vinci® robotic system to remove a 6-cm ovarian cyst through a single incision. Dr. DiGiovanni has been performing robot-assisted hysterectomies, which involve multiple small incisions, since 2013. The single-site system is the next step in the evolution of robotic surgery and Dr. DiGiovanni will soon be using the more advanced platform to perform hysterectomies with one incision.

“This is phenomenal for the removal of ovarian cysts and we will be using this technology in the near future for hysterectomies,” said Dr. DiGiovanni. “Pain-wise and cosmetically speaking, this surgical option is far superior to the traditional laparoscopic surgery.”

The benefits of single-site surgery are a single incision, virtually no scarring, faster healing times, a low rate of complications, low blood loss, and a shorter hospital stay.

With the da Vinci single-site system, Dr. DiGiovanni is in complete control of the robotic-assisted system and his hand movements are translated into smaller, more precise movements of the tiny instruments inside the patient’s body which have been inserted in one single location. With da Vinci, the surgeon controls the movement of the miniaturized wristed instruments from a console where he can view the surgical site through a magnified three-dimensional high-definition vision system.

Unlike traditional laparoscopic surgery where the surgeon is limited by rigid hand-operated instruments, the da Vinci system enables the surgeon to operate with enhanced vision and precision, increased range of motion and improved dexterity. The specially-designed single-site instruments allow the surgeon to perform surgery through a one-inch single incision in the belly-button. A gel port is inserted into the incision, and through the port, a camera, two laparoscopic arms and an assistant port are inserted.

“At this hospital, the only minimally invasive robotic gynecological surgery up to this point has been laparoscopy which requires three separate incisions,” Dr. DiGiovanni said. “The single-site system is far superior.” Contributed content, file photo