Letters to the Editor
Statement from the Trustees of the Gale Free Library Regarding the Override Election in Holden
For 138 years, the Gale Free Library has been a place where children discover reading, residents find community, and everyone has equal access to knowledge.
With a Proposition 2½ override vote on May 11, the Trustees are providing information about how municipal funding affects library services and operations. If the override does not pass, the library’s municipal appropriation would likely be reduced by approximately 30 percent - a cut that would almost certainly lead to decertification by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Decertification would have concrete consequences. It would mean Holden residents lose access to the statewide borrowing network that connects them to hundreds of libraries across the Commonwealth, as well as shared digital collections and research databases that no single town library could afford on its own. Your Holden library card currently opens doors far beyond our walls. Decertification closes them. The library would also lose approximately $40,000 in annual state aid.
Since the Massachusetts State Aid to Public Libraries program was established in 1987, Holden has never once failed to meet the Municipal Appropriation Requirement. Not once in nearly four decades. The upcoming fiscal year would be the first time.
The library’s budget affects hours, staffing, programs, and the basic maintenance of a historic building that belongs to this community. The library itself was established as a public trust in perpetuity in 1888. In recent years, private donors and the Friends of the Library have stepped up to restore the historic windows and renovate the Children’s Room – but private generosity cannot substitute for the municipal funding that keeps the doors open and the lights on.
Thousands of Holden residents rely on this library each year. The Trustees offer this statement so residents can understand how funding decisions affect the services the library is able to provide for the community.
– Unanimously approved by the Trustees of Damon Memorial / Gale Free Library, April 14, 2026
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Letter to the Editor:
The Paxton, MA Garden Club (PMAGC) would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Savickas family for their generous donation towards our Community Garden & Learning Greenhouse project we are building.
We are also extremely grateful to Kevin Quinn of Quinn Engineering for all his guidance and development of the plot plan. To Lawler Construction for their commitment to build a staircase up the banking and other site preparation work. To Jason Burgess of Burgess Homes for their commitment to build the shed. To Fling Electric for their commitment, Cornerstone Bank and Worcester County Memorial Park for their financial contributions, and to the Paxton Recreation Commission and Select Board for granting us the space to build upon. We are so excited to create this project for the community!
– The PMAGC Community Garden Subcommittee
Julie Dubuque, Karen Gearin, Duston Hill, Mary Hollingsworth, Barbara Matheson, Patti McKone, John Pender-Cudlip, Joyce Powers, Robin Tasca, & Andrea Thackeray
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Dear Editor,
I am a lifelong resident of the Wachusett area and a retired middle school teacher. I am extremely concerned about Holden’s middle schoolers’ behavior on Release Time days. My heart flies to my throat as they barrel down the hill to Dunkin, heedlessly running or e-biking right through moving traffic. I fear a horrid accident or even a fatality.
The newly formed Holden Safe Cycling Group (HSCG) offers a Fun 'n Safe Family Bike Ride on Sun. May 17, from Mountview Middle School, 2.5 miles on the new, mostly flat bike path to the center of town. Family cycling is an ideal way for parents to have fun with middle schoolers and model best practices of cycling safety.
HSC’s program in partnership with Massbike.org aims to keep kids safe. We target both ‘kids on screens’ and ‘kids on e-bikes’ in a fun, educational way. The family group ride, with school and police support, introduces the program.
In the fall, we will offer Safe Cycling clinics with professional MassBike instructors on Release Time days. Kids will be able to develop safe cycling routes to their own destinations, including Wachusett Greenways. It is an ideal place to get exercise and have fun with no motor vehicular traffic whatsoever.
We will also offer a demonstration Bike Bus for Davis Hill elementary schoolers. Teachers love it because the kids arrive wide-awake and ready to learn. Bike Busses are very popular in the Boston area. My 9-year-old granddaughter looks forward to riding her Bike Bus every Friday. https://youtu.be/pMvxYyA0bK0
Here is a fact to consider from The Boston Globe: Boston has the worst traffic in the nation, with Worcester trailing right behind at #4. We aim to cultivate safe, courteous cycling and driving. Too much is at stake.
If you have a bike that you would lend to a community member for the family bike ride, please email me [email protected]
–Elizabeth Johnson
Holden
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A Joint Statement From Paxton Selectboard Candidates
To the Editor:
For those who have been watching some of the recent board meetings on WPAX, sadly, the dialogue has become personal and divisive. Unfortunately, what makes great TV and politics does not necessarily work in the real world. What works in the real world is constructive cooperation while working towards shared outcomes.
While there are so many great things happening in town through active groups like the Lions, Women’s Club, Recreation, and the Garden Club, just to name a few, we are facing some difficult challenges. Some of these challenges are structural deficits, and the recent news of the transition of the town’s largest employer – AMC. Sometimes, while in flight at cruising altitude, we encounter turbulence. What is needed now is cooler heads to prevail and for us to generate the collective horsepower of the many great people and boards/committees working across town government to move forward.
We firmly believe that “we are all in this together” is a much better philosophy than “it’s their fault.” We do not have to check our opinions and brains at the door, but if we pivot towards getting something done, what success we could share! As a former U.S. president once said, “politics doesn’t have to be a blood sport; it can be an honorable enterprise that advances the public interest.” We believe anyone who steps up to serve the public (usually for free and on their time) should be respected. We encourage everyone at the Paxton political tables to appeal to their better angels and try to propel this town towards a mission of continuous improvement.
Thank you to everyone who serves on any board, committee, or volunteers in town in any capacity, and to our many great town employees. Without you, we would share an empty village.
We should never stop thinking about tomorrow!
– Steve Rebesco
Jeff Wentzell
Candidates for Paxton
Select Board
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