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ACA reviews shootings, meetings, bestows John Woods a lifetime awardFor the full story, go to:https://bulletinnewspapers...
06/28/2025

ACA reviews shootings, meetings, bestows John Woods a lifetime award
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By Jeff Sullivan

The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met last week in a virtual format and discussed neighborhood issues.

Firstly, Boston Police Department (BPD) D-14 Community Service Officer Christine Marini discussed two shootings that occurred two weeks ago.

“They don’t usually occur,” she said. “The first was on June 12 on Pomeroy Street, which if you’re not familiar, it’s off of Gordon Street closer to North Beacon. We got a number of calls around 8:09 p.m. of shots fired. We did locate a juvenile male on the sidewalk there, he had a head injury from the fall and a gunshot wound to the chest. He is in critical condition and homicide has taken that case.”

The juvenile victim later succumbed to his wounds on June 17. He was 15 years old.

“Last night, there was another shooting incident around 9:20 p.m. around 282 N. Beacon,” she said, which is adjacent to the Faneuil Gardens Boston Housing Authority (NHA) building. “We got a lot of calls and when officers arrived they found the victim with a gunshot wound to the arm. They applied a tourniquet and got him to the ambulance and he’s going to be okay. Fortunately, on this incident the BHA has video and they anticipate an arrest shortly.” Marini said both shootings did not appear to be random.

In some good news, Marini said the neighborhood is a little safer in one regard, at least. “House breaks are really down,” she said. “We had four last month for the whole month. They’re still in that Gardner, Ashford and Pratt area. We have some video and the detectives believe this is the same person hitting this area and they’re hoping to get a little more on that and make an arrest soon. The suspect came in and the (victim) had a camera and wasn’t home. She called us quickly because she was alerted from her camera someone was in the house. He came in and threw a blanket over the camera so they have good video for that.”

Marini said another incident saw a witness observe the suspect jumping out of a window, and the witness called the homeowner first before calling the police.

“So my advice is if you see anything like that call us first,” she said. “The he called the neighbor, she wasn’t home, she got home and she said she believes he got in through the front window. They removed the bars and pushed in the screens. So the best thing to do, and I know the window is nice and you like to leave the windows open, but if you’re on ground floor you really need to shut the window.”

In other news, D’Isidoro announced that the ACA had selected Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) Director John Woods by the group for this year’s Joseph M. Smith Community Service Lifetime Achievement Award.

D’Isidoro said Woods was selected, along with that of the ABCDC,for helping to bring affordable housing to the neighborhood, which has been seeing home prices and rents spike for the better part of a decade.

“He’s out there doing God’s work,” D’Isidoro said. “As you know, we got the Hill Memorial Project on North Harvard Street and the Warren Building on Washington Street. They purchased some additional units as well and are retrofitting Raymond Street. They’re just doing an extraordinary amount of good work that has taken place in this community. So John, congratulations.”

Fighting Irish earned place in BostonFor the full story, go to:https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114...
06/28/2025

Fighting Irish earned place in Boston
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By Dilani Yogaratnam

Head librarian of User Engagement at Boston College’s Burns Library, Marta Crilly gave an hour-long lecture on the Irish’s significance in Boston at the West Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library on June 16.

Ranging from 1600s all the way into the 1990s, Crilly’s talk covered oppression, discrimination and ultimate triumph of the Irish immigrant experience in Boston. Sandy Serkess, president of the West Roxbury Historical Society, introduced Crilly.

Crilly jumped around to different time periods throughout the lecture, but patrons didn’t seem thrown, and she provided copies of original historical documents which she passed to the audience at various moments in the lecture. In 1901, Boston Mayor Thomas Hart declared Evacuation Day, celebrating the US triumph over the British on March 17, 1776. However, in South Boston, Charlestown, West Roxbury, to name a few, the Irish celebrated with extra gusto as the day happened to fall on St. Patrick’s Day. Roughly 40 percent of the city had close ties to Ireland at the time.

A Boston Catholic newspaper, The Pilot, noted in 1850 that Boston’s native-born Irish population had been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day for over a century. Hart, perhaps thinking of the Irish vote, decided to make March 17 a dual holiday celebrating imperialist defeat as well as Irish culture, Crilly said. People often think of the Irish population in Boston as a result of the Great Famine (1845-1852), but the Irish were in Boston 200 years prior.

In the late 1600s, about 60,000 Irish came to the Americas, some involuntarily, she said, and some came to escape Oliver Cromwell’s attack of Ireland. In 1672, Robert Collins won his freedom from indenture in the Suffolk Court as he had been captured and sold against his will. Some could not speak for themselves in English, such as Irish Catholic Ann Glover, and suffered accusations of being a witch and was hung.

By the 1700s, the Irish population included merchants and free landholders who emigrated to New England from northern Ireland, most of whom were Protestants. Though some Irish were Protestants they were not Anglican and suffered similar discrimination such as an inability to perform marriages or hold offices, Crilly said. In addition, pressure was put on them to join the Congregationalist church. As a result, some fled to nearby regions. In 1729, the Irish Presbyterians formed their own church on the corner of what is now Channing and Federal Street and started performing baptisms. However, “Irish Catholics were met with persecutions.”

Kraft talks bike lane demosFor the full story, go to:https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/wr_...
06/28/2025

Kraft talks bike lane demos
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By Jeff Sullivan

The Centre Street Road Diet discussion is not over, not if Boston Mayoral Candidate Josh Kraft has anything to say about it.

“I think, as I said, we want to do a deep study on the bike lanes and where they have the most impacts, positive and negative, especially on small businesses,” he said when asked if he’d remove the bike lanes on Centre Street. “Centre Street could be one of the bike lanes we could remove. It’s the impact on businesses, and we would take the time to do detailed traffic studies and detailed impact studies on small businesses, detailed community studies and figure out the best place for bike lanes that are safe and efficient for everybody.”

Kraft said he believes taking a look at bike lanes will help to reduce traffic congestion.

“On some of the biggest thoroughfares congestion is a big problem, and I think the bike lanes have something to do with that,” he said. “But I also think we need to look at the timing of the lights and how that impacts it. But everything we do will be done with a detailed traffic study and community feedback and impact on small businesses. Small businesses are the heartbeat of our city, and we need to make sure their needs are taken into consideration, as well as bikers and pedestrians.”

Kraft said he has spoken to “daily bikers who use their bikes to get to work,” who told him the notification and public process around bike lane installations isn’t up to s***f. “One said, ‘I woke up and there was a bike lane on my street; I like biking but I wouldn’t bike there,’” he said.

Kraft said, when asked, that he would reach out to the community, “The way we always do,” when putting together a public process for such traffic improvements.

“I know people in the biking community who I’ve had long-term relationships with, and the Boston Cyclists Union, and we’d sit and we’d use detailed experts on traffic studies to figure out the traffic patterns, where bikes and where people would be least impacted and safest,” he said. “We would work with small businesses as well, because they are the heartbeat of the city.”

The Centre Street Road Diet – https://tinyurl.com/53287sym – was completed in 2023 and was first conceived in 2019 under former Mayor Marty Walsh. The impetus behind the diet was not in fact on bike lanes, but rather to slow drivers down, as resident Marilyn Wentworth was struck and killed by a vehicle that winter. Speed is widely regarded as the most critical factor when a vehicle strikes a pedestrian, and creating infrastructure that forces cars to go slower has been shown to help reduce deaths – https://tinyurl.com/543xfhtf. Since the implementation of the Road Diet, even businesses affected by the reconfiguration and reduction from four travel lanes to two travel lanes – with a middle turning lane – say drivers have slowed down.

Fed cuts impacting library plansFor the full story, go to:https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/nor...
06/28/2025

Fed cuts impacting library plans
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By Jeff Sullivan

The Morrill Memorial Library Board of Trustees met in the library recently and discussed the building study going on and where the library stands in terms of capital improvements.

Also at the meeting, Senior Library Custodian Jim Croak said the water infiltration study was recently completed and conducted in a satisfactory manner.

“But I think the big issue that is coming up is the building study,” he said. “It’s been a lengthy process but I think we’re moving along… We did have the water infiltration study done and they did find some areas where there was leakage and I think at this point they’re putting a proposal together to move forward there. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some new painting done, as it’s been a long time.”

The infiltration study has a bit of a history. A number of years ago the library requested money from the Community Preservation Act (CPA) fund for painting and preserving the building to the tune of $650,000. That amount would cover all the storage and moving costs to keep the books from getting paint on them.

The building was found to be leaking during the initial stages of that project, so, as a part of another request, the library conducted a building study, part of which is the infiltration study. That infiltration program essentially sprayed water at the building in different places to figure out where it is leaking.

Morrill Executive Director Clayton Cheever said he spoke with the architects putting together the plan the previous week.

“They saw a draft, a couple hundred pages and it’s going to be quite a document when we finally get the report,” he said.

Cheever said a cost estimator will be going through all the reports to figure out what it’s going to take to get the building up to s***f and, hopefully, prevent future cost increases from what would essentially amount to deferred maintenance. The idea being the repairs will be costly upfront, but will help reduce spending over the long run.

“It will be put in tiers, you know things the architect thinks needs to be done immediately to one, two, three levels,” he said. “They anticipate that tier one alone is going to be quite expensive.”

Cheever said that the state has a formula for repair funding, and basically if the projected cost of the repairs over three years exceeds one third of the total building assessed value, the state requires that the building be brought up to accessibility and safety codes if not already done so.

“So the architect’s advice was that we secure the funding to 30 percent of our current assessed value because those tier one repairs are expected to exceed that 30 percent value,” he said. “Thirty percent of our assessed value is $1.4 million.”

Cheever said he recommended $1.4 million in the next three years to start repairing the building.

Mustang Sally on book shelvesFor the full story, go to:https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/norwoo...
06/28/2025

Mustang Sally on book shelves
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By Jeff Sullivan

The Adventures of Mustang Sally: Sally Goes to School is now available to purchase online at https://tinyurl.com/3c355vhm and about 70 residents came out to celebrate the new Norwood author/illustrator at the Wildewood Tutors location on Vanderbilt Avenue.

Sixteen-year-old Peter Jeneid started working on the book after Norwood Police Officer Geoffrey Baguma reached out to Bob Blood at IMPACT Norwood. Baguma said they wanted to do some kind of narrative with Sally as the star, and Blood said he knew just who to reach out to.

Jeneid got to work, and came up with a children’s book detailing a day in the life of Sally and highlighted key issues children are like to face, focused on bullying.

At the official release on Monday, Jeneid said he was grateful to see so many people come out to celebrate his work.

“I feel amazing; it feels so surreal to have this book come to life and have it printed and to go to people,” he said. “It feels great to have my friends and family come out all in one place to show their support too, seeing all these friendly faces. Honestly, I feel very cared for and loved.”

Jeneid said he’s gotten interest from people he doesn’t know on social media as well, which he said he feels is a good sign for the book.

“The other day I was just scrolling on social media and I saw that IMPACT Norwood had reposted this image of a little kid I didn’t even know holding one of my books,” he said. “I was shocked, because I knew this was going to be big with people I knew, but it’s a whole other ball game to have people who I don’t know personally buy these books. It’s just honestly amazing.”

Baguma said he was grateful to get to this point and loved the feedback from residents he’s been seeing.

“I’m over the moon,” he said with a laugh. “We got the right person for the job.”

Baguma said he’s had other departments from other municipalities reaching out to him on how they managed to do this in such a short time. In five or six months, Jeneid was able to put together a children’s book in an art style he hadn’t really been working with – he said he worked more on realistic pieces than the stylized art of children’s books – but he was able to learn new things and everyone at the event seemed happy with the product. Baguma said they weren’t the only ones, as other departments have expressed interest in the project and it’s likely to be replicated in the future.

“Congratulations to Peter, you’ve done a phenomenal job,” Baguma said to Jeneid and the assembled crowd.

Superintendent explains budget planningFor the full story, go to:https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832...
06/28/2025

Superintendent explains budget planning
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By Jeff Sullivan

Norwood Public Schools District (NPS) Superintendent Timothy Luff said in his report to the Norwood School Committee at its meeting last Wednesday that he and his staff are working on budget planning based on the Town’s current financial outlook.

To summarize the Town’s financial situation in as few words as possible…not good. Essentially, Norwood has been running a budget deficit for a few years now and has been filmmaking up the deficits with free cash – that’s surplus revenue that was either more money taken in that expected or more money saved than expected.

Town Meeting members voted in the spring to use $7 million in free cash out of the $20 million available to plug the hole for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26), but FY27 is looming. The Finance Commission and the Board of Selectmen have said they are embarking on a budgetary review and have created a task force to oversee it.

“I’m still waiting on that task force to kind of come about,” Luff said.

Town departments will be reviewing their budgets and are looking at some pretty draconian cuts to balance the books. Norwood, like many cities and towns is in this situation because of Prop 2½, a 1980s state law that limited tax levy increases to no larger than 2.5 percent. This means that Norwood cannot increase its annual revenue from taxes by more than 2.5 percent every year, even when expenses required by state law, like out-of-district student placements, insurance, healthcare etc., go up at a higher rate.

“We are having to consider a significant reduction in free cash as we develop the budget,” Luff said. “The Finance Commission said they wanted us to take out $4 million from the budget and see what happens. That’s going to be the kind of the conversation we’re going to have around this.”

Luff said the district will also be developing its level-services budget – the budget that will keep the level of services provided by the district the same next year as last year. During last year’s budget process for the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, that resulted in a budget increase of 13 percent.

“We will still complete our cost center meetings with all of our departments to figure out that level services budget, but we’re really going to be fconsidering a lot more on what could be reduced while keeping a focus on all the educational opportunities and efficiencies we have to have,” he said.

Luff said they will also be taking another hard look at potential outside funding sources like grant opportunities and MassHealth to help address budget shortfalls.

The timeline for these plans is to have both budgets ready for internal review by November this year, as well as any additional revenue the department might be able to find. By February 2026, he said both FY27 budgets will be ready for public consumption.

Community criticism impedes housing in Stonybrook neighborhoodFor the full story, go to:https://bulletinnewspapers.weebl...
06/28/2025

Community criticism impedes housing in Stonybrook neighborhood
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By Richard Heath

The community process is one part of housing development review Mayor Michelle Wu seems unable to streamline, at least in Jamaica Plain. Ground zero of that is tiny Meehan Street as Jose Harnett is quickly finding out with his modest plans to add a third apartment to 14 Meehan St.

The first Stonybrook Neighborhood Association (SNA) presentation was on April 7 about converting a ground-floor office to an apartment with new windows and doors; Harnett was asked to return with better plans and another Inspectional Services Department (ISD) refusal letter.

His second SNA presentation with attorney Lorene Schettino on June 9 lasted over 90 minutes; it ended with a seemingly exasperated chair Alcurtis Clark calling a vote on a motion to defer the customary SNA vote until a special meeting was held. That delay vote passed 6 to 4. The reason was not enough advance notification of the plans as Jennifer Urhrane quickly pointed out after Schettino finished her brief presentation.

“Who were we supposed to notify?” asked a seemingly bewildered Schettino. “This is no fault of my client. He’s losing money [with 14 Meehan] sitting there. This will delay us four months,” she said. “This is an allowed [three-unit] use.”

Meehan Street seems to have bad karma.

In 2019, Scott Dabney began his journey to convert 14 Meehan St., an old brick stable used as an artist studio, into two apartments and an office.

After going through the usual SNA process and getting Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA) approval over SNA opposition (reasons cited were removal of trees and lack of parking) in June 2021, Dabney let the project sit and finally sold it to Harnett in January 2024 for $1.45 million.

The same arguments about trees and parking by the same two abutters, although parking is onsite and trees will be added not removed, has also beset Harnett.

Harnett’s 14 Meehan St. is a rerun of 15 Meehan Street around the corner from Janus’s laundromat.

Sitting vacant and crumbling after the owner passed away, the two-family house was bought by Pierre Joas in November 2020, who proposed adding a third flat-roofed story to convert it into a typical triple-decker.

WRBPA focuses on fellowshipFor the full story, go to:https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/wr_...
06/28/2025

WRBPA focuses on fellowship
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By Dilani Yogaratnam

The West Roxbury Business Professional Association (WRBPA) held its last meeting before summer break in a cozy corner of the Corrib on June 18.

Typical meetings are held in the morning featuring one or two speakers who lecture and then take questions. According to some members of the WRBPA, President Jim Hennigan has in the past offered members the opportunity to introduce themselves and state their concerns, but that had apparently led to an unbalanced meeting with vocal members dominating time. Hennigan took over the role of president from the late Mary Mulvey Jacobson, a vibrant volunteer in the community and close friend of Hennigan’s in 2017 after her passing. Two of her sisters, Helen and Maggie, were in attendance at the meeting and greeted each table.

New members got a chance to introduce themselves in a more casual way, such as Renee Montella, the new advocacy and benefits specialist of the Boston Age Strong Commission for West Roxbury. She passed out fliers letting saying she would be available at the West Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library the second Thursday of the month, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., to assist seniors applying for SNAP, fuel assistance, Medicare and Medicaid, tax exemptions, to name a few. On the fourth Tuesday of the month, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. she will do the same at the Boston Elks on Morrell Street as well as the BCYF Roche Community Center, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Montella also mentioned the commission’s goal to implement age-friendly business program which includes a one-hour training, meeting some guidelines, which would entitle the business owner to a certification from the mayor and their business listed on the Age Strong website, as well as promotion on Age Strong social media. After that, she introduced herself to some members and enjoyed the festivities.

District 6 City Councilor Ben Weber, representing West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, reminded the audience he is at the end of his term and up for re-election in November. He urged those who had questions about speeding on neighborhood streets, potholes, property tax assessments, schools to contact him.

“It’s been a pleasure for me to be in spaces like this and be an advocate for you.” He turned to State Rep. Bill MacGregor and acknowledged how important it is for city legislators to be coordinated with the state.

A frequent concern at these meetings is traffic, and one member brought up safety for Ridgecrest Village tenants along DeSoto Road, near the Beethoven School. Weber told her to get in touch with Patricia Connors, who he pointed to, a bike advocate for West Rox Bikes.

“You can’t see out of the side streets. Washington Street safety has been Patricia Connors’ mission.”

Faulkner dedicates new patient wing and garageFor the full story, go to:By Richard HeathWhile the project began at an in...
06/20/2025

Faulkner dedicates new patient wing and garage
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By Richard Heath

While the project began at an in-person meeting in the hospital auditorium on Aug. 22,2019, the ribbon cutting for the newly completed, 78-bed patient wing and 950-space garage for Jamaica Plain’s own Faulkner Hospital took place on June 4.

After finally getting approvals from the Mass. Health Council of the Mass. Public Health Commission on May 22, 2022, construction began with a $100 million construction permit for the five-story in-patient wing and five-story garage on Allandale Street designed by George Takoudis, principal architect of NBBJ Architects.

The lengthy review process, including three community meetings as reported by The Bulletin, increased the cost from $250 million in 2019 to $280 million in 2022.

Given the stress the public puts on parking at every meeting involving buildings, the garage is twice the size of the patient wing built for the hospital’s mission.

Parking concerns from Brownson Terrace, Whitcomb Avenue and Malcolm Road residents dominated the Boston Planning and Development Agency (now the Boston Planning Department) public meetings on the Faulkner expansion.

The garage has a separate exit cut into the hillside slope opposite Springhouse and the original entrance opposite Brownson is for ambulances, shuttle buses, pick-ups and drop-offs and an entrance to the appropriately named Hillside Garage.

The new garage replaced the existing 580-car garage nearest Whitcomb which is now completely demolished. The new parking structure is at the rear of the hospital, and its construction was the most dramatic to watch as the entire hill was dug out over a two-year period and the garage set into the excavated bowl.

The five-story garage has two floors tucked into the hillside and was built of precast modular beams manufactured off site and trucked on flatbeds to the site up Whitcomb Avenue.


The genius of the garage design is the long, parallel green rods on the Allandale Street side breaking up the otherwise dull grey façade of the parking shelves.

Landscape architect Mark Klopner melted it into the hillside with extensive and expensive plantings of 190 new trees, plus many shrubs and a wide variety of ground covers.

Vice president of clinical services for Brigham and Womens Faulkner Hospital, Susan Dempsey, told the community at the Oct. 4, 2022 hybrid meeting announcing the start of construction that work would be completed in April 2025; rarely is a completion date that accurate.

Groundbreaking took place on October 26, 2022.

Hearing held on HP health access, community health center discussed For the full story, go to:https://bulletinnewspapers...
06/20/2025

Hearing held on HP health access, community health center discussed
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By Matthew MacDonald

Last Thursday, June 12, the Boston City Council’s Committee on Public Health, Homelessness and Recovery held a public hearing regarding health access in Hyde Park.

It took place in the auditorium of Hyde Park’s New Mission High School, rather than City Hall’s Iannella Chamber, and brought four city councilors and more than 50 residents together to address the neighborhood’s lack of – and need for – a community health center.

Hyde Park is one of two Boston neighborhoods (West Roxbury is the other) that do not have health centers, and it outpaces the rest of the city in a number of bad health categories.

Most glaring among them is its infant mortality rate (death before a newborn’s first birthday), which leads all neighborhoods. Other out-of-the-ordinary Hyde Park health statistics that were brought up and returned to throughout the hearing with concern included maternal health, high premature mortality rate (death before age 65) from heart disease, hospitalizations related to diabetes, and asthma-related emergency room visits for children.

The hearing was co-sponsored by District 5 City Councilor Enrique Pepén and City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune. It was, however, driven along by the seven-person community panel that shared the stage with the committee for its first hour and a quarter.

The panel was comprised of members of the Hyde Park Health and Wellness Center Steering Committee. Officially formed in late 2023 with the goal of bringing a health center to the community, the group and its mission first took shape back in 2020 – spurred into action by healthcare inequities in the neighborhood that were exposed as a result of the pandemic.

A recurring talking point throughout the hearing – during panelist statements, Q&A, and public testimony – had to do with the distance and time required to commute to health care provider locations; some referenced car rides through the city to downtown hospitals/health centers, while others referred to lengthier trips made to medical complexes in more suburban locations.

Juneteenth honors localsFor the full story, go to:https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/norwood_rec...
06/20/2025

Juneteenth honors locals
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By Jeff Sullivan

This year’s Norwood Juneteenth might have been a bit muted because of the rain, but that didn’t stop residents from coming out and enjoying the celebration, which featured local food, performances, musical interaction and more.

Organizer Geoffrey Baguma reminded those gathered at the crowd that freedom means something different to everyone, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from honoring Juneteenth, as it’s a celebration of all kinds of freedom. So he asked the crowd to shout “Happy Freedom Day” before he started speaking.

“It took me some time to think until I realized I never uttered any other statement which starts with the word, ‘happy,’ that leaves such a bittersweet taste on my tongue,” he said. “It’s mostly sweet like a strawberry, but then it has just the slightest, smallest hint of- wait a minute, I’m still tasting it – it’s like a slight tartness.”

Baguma said it was the word ‘freedom’ that brings that tinge of sour to his tongue when he says, “Happy Freedom.”

“Freedom is more complex,” he said. “The word may conjure up images in your mind of people reclaiming their physical freedom. It’s a happy moment, but one that comes with tears. Those are happy tears. That part, it’s more complex.”

Baguma invited everyone to taste and celebrate their own slice of freedom on Juneteenth.

“Freedom comes in many different versions and there are many different types of freedoms,” he said.

The day also honored local dentist husband and wife team of Epic Dental Dr. Jasun Mahaffey and Helen Fassil, for whom Baguma said earned the 2025 Norwood Juneteenth Trophy.

“I think Helen and I are very humbled to get this award; we never seek any accolades or recognition whatsoever,” Mahaffey said. “We’re honestly genuinely surprised and extremely grateful.”

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