SMOKING BAN: Now that Boston has gone smoke free, all we read about is how the Senate and the House will soon be extending the ban statewide. The Globe reports that the matter could gain approval within days or weeks by the House and Senate Joint Committee on Health and be sent up for a full vote. If the ban is to take on a life of its own it must be statewide, thus ending the territorial wars being waged municipally.

CONGRATS MEGHAN: Once again, Meghan Caseau, along with family and supporters, raised a significant amount of money at the May 4 Plymouth Arthritis Walk. Meghan served as the National Ambassador for her worthy cause. All funds collected were turned over to the Arthritis Foundation for research and support services.

SENIOR REVERSAL: Fees at the town dump…sorry, landfill, have gone up. We don’t think it’s a big deal that the standard sticker fee went from $80.00 to $100.00. We do get a lot of service for the buck. What is crazy though is that the fee for senior citizens went up from $40.00 to $60.00. But even that is not what’s got a bee in our bonnet. Only in Kingston could the selectmen lower the acceptable age of what constitutes a senior citizen. In the past, senior citizen status was more according to the AARP age of 55. The selectmen have now raised that bar to 62. So, if you were a senior citizen last year at age 60, you are no longer considered one. While that may make some of feel young again, it will cost us another $20.00.

BAKER’S MAN: Developer Bill Hainey has had his sites on a 40-B housing proposal on Baker Avenue for some time now, perhaps close to two decades. We understand he is picking up the pace now that there is some thought about restricting these moderate income homes to only one spot in town. Nothing like preserving your project before the hammer falls…and who can blame him.

FLOODING RESOLVED: Last month we featured a story dealing with property owner Jen LaPlante who abuts the Arbor Hills development up on Wapping Road (Route 106), If you recall, the property flooded out with runoff from the construction. It’s nice to see a resolve to a situation now and again. Jen reports that the new owners, Tedeschi Development, provided her family with a new sump pump to replace the one that wore out trying to contain the water flow. Additionally, Tedeschi will provide cleanup to he site, bring in topsoil and hydroseed the front yard. Give credit to the Planning Board; they refused to consider any plan changes by the developers until a remediation agreement was reached. Other site work was done in order to insure that no future flooding would occur. As luck would have it, major rains fell about a week later…the result was positive, no flooding.

MORE DUMP: What might be considered is a truckload or trailer fee. How many times have you been behind a pickup or trailer at the landfill? You could get through the Sunday Globe waiting for them to unload every manner of debris. Why not effect a $20 fee per load? That sounds a lot more reasonable and effective than charging piece prices for things like TV’s, propane tanks, white goods, tires, etc. We could reach a point where we erect a small building on site, place a hired cashier inside it, and inventory all loads with payment made on the spot.

PAY CUTS? We read with interest that our former marriage partner Pembroke is trying to get its officials to refuse pay raises due them under contract. At the eye of the storm is Pembroke School Superintendent Pat Randall. Town leaders tried to put her on the spot at their recent town meeting inducing her to refuse her pay raise. We give the educator credit for sticking to her guns and not being bullied. Town meeting floor was the battleground and certainly not the place to essentially renegotiate her contract. It was, in our opinion, an assault on the collective bargaining process. Besides, is it Randall’s fault if Pembroke can’t manage its fiscal responsibilities? It seems that Pembroke has never grown up when it comes to “timing” and “process”, not to mention bill paying. Now, do you suppose Silver Lake administrators would ever offer to refuse a pay…forget about it.

PAROLE HEARING: We read with interest that former Plympton resident Donald Saarela will come up for a parole hearing on May 15, as this publication goes to press. Localites may remember that Saarela was convicted for the 1975 murder of Plympton resident Robert Holt, husband of then selectmen clerk Dorothy Holt. Saarela, 16 at the time, chose to be tried as an adult in order to clear his name. Had he chosen prosecution as a juvenile, it is doubtful a trial would have ever ensued. Certainly Saarela would never have served 28 years behind bars. This Ringside Observer had studied this case for many years. We went so far as to hire famous criminal defense attorney Pat Piscatelli out of Brockton. Piscatelli had successfully defended another Plympton resident, Ann Capute, dubbed the “Angel of Mercy.” Capute was accused of a “mercy” killing at the Morton Hospital, also back in the mid-seventies. After four days of testimony back in the early 80’s, Saarela lost out on his bid for a new trial and possible freedom. There is no question that a horror was committed on the Holt family in 1975. We just never believed it was Donald Saarela. After a year of reading every shred of paper available on the case, and conducting almost 50 interviews, we believe we knew who did commit the crime. Certainly the old timers in Plympton don’t want to talk about this case openly. A veil of silence has always been the general rule of thumb with our Plympton neighbors. Others tell you, privately and off the record, that they have always been troubled by the case. They insist that their names not be used, citing that it is, after all, a small town, and there were some powerful influences afoot back then.

Many of the key players have either passed away or are too old to remember details. What was always clear to us was that the Plympton PD totally botched the case from day one. The medical examiner called the death a heart attack until bullet wounds were discovered during the autopsy. That ME was a Kingston resident. The crime scene was never preserved, ballistics tests from Saarela’s .22 hunting rifle were found to be inconclusive, no motive was ever determined, Saarela was a model student at Silver Lake, and other provocative evidence and information was pursued. The Saarela case became a political football for then DA Bill O’Malley and Judge Henry Chmielinski who released Saarela in 1982 and granted him a new trial in 1983. Chmielinski then ran, unsuccessfully, for DA against O’Malley in 1983. Shortly thereafter, when Chmielinski passed away, O’Malley successfully argued before the State Supreme Court that Chmielinski overstepped his bounds in releasing Saarella. The Judge’s wife had told us many years ago, that her husband went to his grave being troubled by the Saarela case.

Saarela has served his time. By all known accounts he has been a model prisoner. We don’t know that a greater sense of justice will be served through his continued incarceration. We know that the Holt family will disagree. We know that Old Plympton will remain silent. We know that these short paragraphs can never adequately explain why we feel as we do. If interested, call us and we’ll go into… the rest of the story.

ANOTHER PALOMBO: Years ago, Joe Palombo was booted out of his Deputy Sheriff’s position when he supported Charlie Decas for Sheriff rather than Joe McDonough. Joe filed suit for unfair labor practices. These things seem to drag on forever, but they do eventually reach an end game. Joe has been called in for depositions as part of McDonough’s defense. We hear that the sheriff has a four man legal team. Wow! Who pays for that? Why is it that we get a sick feeling that the taxpayers are footing the boot?

THREE AMIGOS: The members of the Board of Health must have thought it was a bad dream. The Health Agent must have seen flashbacks. There they were, the entire membership of the old three-member health board from 10 years ago. Paul Tura (who quit rather then serve), Ken Stevens (who also abdicated), and David Fitzgerald (who was beaten at the polls). Somehow these ghosts of health board past thought it was important to emerge from oblivion to recapture some of their glory days in a place they had abandoned a decade earlier. Stories of their exploits still circulate. These guys took the word “public” out of service and cost this town a ton in legal fees. If they continue to haunt the BOH, we’ll take a picture and run a photo of this decade old crass reunion.

EMPTY NESTER housing is becoming the high fashion of building these days. Another new project will change the face of the Brook and Elm Street intersection forever. Builder Bob Gosselin (a local guy who does a decent job) plans on constructing three duplexes (six living units) on that 5+ acre lot adjacent to the Coughlin Building near the one lane bridge. Environmental watchdog Pine DuBois pointed out some wetlands concerns, which the Conservation Commission will review in depth. She contends that Third Brook constitutes a river and therefore falls within the Rivers Act. There will be 18 parking spaces, no blasting of ledge will occur, and 50% of the lot will be open space.

NICK NIKITAS of banana fame and the owner of the Inn at Plymouth Bay, received approval to add 44 more units to his motel complex behind Bickfords, or whatever it’s now called. That means Nick will go from 66 to 110 units. Years ago he believed that the rail route would kill his business. The tunnel construction cost Nikitas parking places and some access issues. We are glad to see that all those fears were obviously unfounded…business must be good. Interesting to note: Nick told us that nobody from the restaurant ever told him about the name change. Wide parking lots make good neighbors.

ROUND TWO: Last month we told you about the Mauro Mazzilli/David Fitzgerald fray outside Carmela’s Restaurant. Once again, ZBA czar Mazzilli mixed it up with nemesis Jack Keefe. The two have been at odds since Keefe built a house next to Mazzilli, which resulted in a charge of erosion problems by Mauro. Although no fisticuffs resulted, somebody allegedly got spit on and the police got involved. End result? Mauro, we hear, can’t go back to his favorite Italian Restaurant. We hope the Southside Pols start to clean up their act…this kind of stuff is embarrassing. Guys, this isn’t 1920’s Chicago.

BUILDING BOOM construction continues here in Kingston where we are rapidly in a race for maximum buildout. There are 16 acres in the vicinity of 130 Wapping Road, where 13 houses are on the drawing table. The interesting thing about this particular proposal is that the land must first be offered to the town. You know, one of those farm/agricultural things where tax breaks had been issued throughout the years. So, how much would this cost us? We would imagine that raw land up there would go for about $140,000. Multiply that by 16, add on an existing house and you get about $2.2+ million. Would the town pay that kind of money to keep the land open or for its own use? Sadly, probably not. This one has not yet hit the relevant boards. You’re reading it first.

TOM O’BRIEN has lots of faith in the state. He announced that if all three town in the school district approve the school override, we will be assured of getting the 73% school construction reimbursement. School Committee member John Creed said that, while buoyed by O’B’s comments, it is the Department of Education that will make the determination, not the legislature.

POLITICAL CLOUT: The Richard Cretinon/Richard Kenney political machine worked so effectively in the recent elections, word is that they have fixed their focus elsewhere for next year. Priscilla Palombo will be completing the end of her three-year term next April. You may recall that the person who ran against her was…none other then Richard Cretinon. Flushed with success this year, he could be looking to snag the seat next year. The topic has come up at the coffee shop…he’s mum on that matter. We won’t be if it happens.

SUMMARY JUDGEMENT: It has been a lengthy period of time by legal standards, but there is still no decision from the judge on the Davis land matter. The town had filed a motion to have the Davis claim thrown out of court. Sharon Davis is vying for a trial in order to prove that the land her Pottle Street barn sits on is indeed her land. Our guess is that the decision has been made, but the judge is taking care in the written decision to make it appeal proof from the losing side. Whether it will be over or whether it goes to court, we want to know how much the town has already spent in all this. We’ll check with Kevin Donovan and report back.

CONGRATULATIONS TO Mark Beaton, Olly DeMacedo, Joe Casna, Tom Calter and Cynthia Lynch and the proponents of Question 1 for their election victories on March 26.