he llo everyone welcome to the belmont journal belmont's own local program for hyper local news and community affairs programming i'm your host roger coulton now is the time for people to reenroll in the two thousand and nineteen marketplace health insurance the two thousand and nineteen open enrollment period runs through december th if you don't act by december th you cannot get health insurance through this program unless you qualify for this special enroll in that period plan sold during the open enrollment period begin on january one two thousand and nineteen welcome to this week in the bama citizen hero i have with me today joanna juve less who is the multimedia journalist for the citizen herald belmont's print and online source of news thanks for stopping over  there belmont savings bank a community institution is being acquired by a bigger bank that is the big news this week people's united bank is going to acquire belmont savings bank for three hundred and twenty seven million dollars in people's united is a connecticut based bank it is connecticut based that's right and as you know there are there are there's a branch at belmont savings branch in this too in belmont one in watertown there's  branches in the star market in waltham him in newton and cambridge so all of those are going to become peoples united and those will all remain open they're not going to close and i think it's right there will be staffing changes we don't know what all of them are yet but we do know that there will be a new president it's pat sullivan who currently is in charge of the commercial industrial market for massachusetts and this all occurred the nd quarter of two thousand  so everybody is asking how is this going to affect all the donations that bill one has received from belmont savings bank i think that's the big question that well i remember saying how much saving sponsors virtually everything seems that way doesn't he they really are in belmont and surrounding areas so i think you know we'll still see generosity coming from the bank the only other question that people are asking is how else is it going to affect customers and in fact a spokesperson for belmont savings assured me that's go make things better for customers it's going to prove what's available to them and it's going to even add more digital services like mobile banking and things like that and it will become one of the largest banks in the commonwealth of massachusetts the accident which luckily nobody was hurt we'll fell off one of the fitchburg line trains that was coming from boston it de rails on the belmont waltham line and there were eight hundred people on it or a one hundred passengers were affected but not only were those passengers affected the passage commuters that were waiting at the waverly stop to go into boston were affected they had over an hour delay and it took a while to get that thing off the tracks and how did this happen and i do get inspected on a daily biles this is this thing joe i was appointed by the governor to oversee the improvements for the whole transit system is assuring commuters that we are working on this you'll continue to see improvements we are investing money all the trains will be inspected keo list the company that oversees the mechanics of the train said we are inspecting all the wheels on the trains going to take this one dollar out of service the one that we can just hope that that's what they're doing and safety is the number one thing so thankfully no no injuries but a lot of delays and i know a day people waiting outside for more than an hour is pretty cold and i can just fundraiser that is coming up actually it's already started there the gift of hope fundraiser but there's a telethon coming up here yes get just a pope is a campaign that the palace and howell has been doing for years since before my time and we give to the belmont food pantry and the way we do that is every week between thanksgiving and new year's we run new stories about the food pantry playing with readers to give to the pantry they raise about thirty five thousand dollars a year through this campaign but not only from donations that readers give belmont businesses give and there are two fundraisers coming up that i just want to highlight in addition to our telethon a telethon is coming up december nd here at the belmont media center  welcome to drop by drop off their donations and we have a fundraiser that belmont carwash is doing to assemble th donating a dollar per car to the pantry and then december th several local belmont center businesses are giving ten percent of their sales to the pantry so it's supporting local businesses in supporting the food pantry people should people should shop local on december th kozel support bill that's great thank you we've been speaking with joanna jubilance the multimedia journalist with the belmont citizen how you can read about these stories and more on that in the citizen her own both online and in the print edition before moving on to speak with franklin tucker about a disturbing  to participate in that fund raising effort for the food pantry little bit longer five years the store's been around too we have put together a really fun campaign for the holidays we really work hard to market and do fun things for the community that's one of the reasons we got into this business is because we love the community and it's amazing to see what small businesses can do for the community so what we've come up with is and we hope you'll join us we have our vintage santa here and his north pole mailbox and we're hoping you come by with your children if you  would like to participate and you can put a letter in to our north pole box and we will ensure that it gets to santa in a timely manner and at the same time we ask that you are able to give us a small monetary donation for the belmont food pantry the food pantry will be moving so they ask that food donations are not accepted right now so we hope that you can find it in your pocket even if it's just loose pocket change any denomination is welcome locations we are open seven days a week this will be part of the gifts of hope and december th there is a gift of hope campaign that the small businesses here will be participating in so we hope to see you at the shopping event on december th where both of my stores will be giving a portion of the proceeds to the food pantry as part of the gifts of hope campaign welcome to this week in the belmont county and i have with me today for michael in tucker who is the editor and publisher of the belmont county in belmont online source for hyper local news thanks for stopping over oh thank you there was disturbing news that came out of the chandra middle school this week unfortunately what happen is onto a bathroom wall in a bathroom mirror i mean strikingly large and it really caused a lot of concern over at the charity and it was done by a middle school student yes they believe it was done by a middle school student was during the time that  students were in the building they still have not found the person who did it but what they did but what happened is that the leadership at the general led by mike mcallister the principal there for at the at the che is decided that something had to be done you couldn't cover this up he really wanted the students to get involved and so he set up on wednesday before thanksgiving he basically said i want seventy minutes of your time for each teacher and they went through what was called not in our town in that is something that was developed billings montana where you know you could say something if something is said by somebody you to can be quiet which is being you know which is effectively you know giving the person who did a racist or homophobic or any kind of hate speech stage and but or you can say not in our town just be forceful about it and take on anybody who does that so it almost seems as though mike mcallister the principal had it right it's not as important to identify the individual as it is to develop a systemic response that right and they did a great  go through a series of problems basically you know informing the students what happened talk about what what how they felt about it and how that the people who were targeted how they would feel about it and then go on to say what would you say to this person and a lot of kids just said why would you do it why and he said they didn't they had three prompts and for response how does that make you feel what is the victim feels like and what would you want to say to that person and it basically was a way of just you know informing everybody this is how we feel and it's really kind of arctic way of not only finding somebody who who had done done this but for the school itself did the parents have a  two years ago we couldn't have done this but through our through our cultural proficiency bringing cultural proficiency into the school you know they now have a response to it and it's called marked moment you know if somebody says something horrible you stop class and you know respond to it or you circle back and you say you know last week i heard you say something or you know why don't we talk about that and he said now we have that opportunity where we can it and he said it really worked well this time but he said it but he also said this is a short term this is very short term it might happen again a great example is that reading high school where you're seeing a person over the last eight weeks one person basically putting swastikas over all over the high school even though they've been doing the same response it's still happening but you either can say nothing or you can continue to be vigilant and that seems to be part of the news coming out of th that the folks at the channel had a response that they they knew what they were going to do if and when something like that happened they were caught flatfooted that's right they were ready and you know they still had think about it to formulate a plan but they knew that that they had the structure waiting for them to go forward well hopefully we don't have to do it again but it's nice to know that they're ready that's right we've been speaking thanks for bringing us up to date on this and we've been speaking with franklin tucker who is the editor and publisher of the belmont county and belmont online source for hyper local news years for water service are coming to belmont residents homes smart meters provide residents with detailed usage information and the ability to access their water meters through their cell telephones joanna juba's talks to talk about the new smart meter program so currently everyone has this type of reader on their water meter and a person who drives around and picks up a radio read  your consumption the new meters the one that has and they'll to communicate with the electric meter and they have real time consumption for you to see and conserve water as you see original meter and put the new ones in there are about ten thousand meter locations that will be changing all the meters to this type in about eighteen months and certainly the program's going to start in january we have a rd party can start or he will notify you by letter and supply a dedicated four number so you can make an appointment  here's the belmont media centers jane peters to tell us about what there is to do in the upcoming week in the town about not everybody is your community calendar for next week learn about hanukkah's traditions and festivities at the bea street center on tuesday at five hundred and fifteen join rabbi avi and members of the team club and the center for jewish life of arlington belmont who will share more about the holiday and why it is celebrated belmont center hosts midnight madness on tuesday from six to midnight local stores will keep their doors open with refreshments and special discounts until the stroke of midnight look around various town center businesses and restaurant websites and scope out the deals available the  historical society invites you to their holiday open house in the clapham room at the library on wednesday from seven to thirty historic artifacts will be available for viewing and historic house plaques will be presented i look back on american musical heritage in honor of pearl harbor day through the sounds of a saxophone quartet on friday december th at the st center as part of power's music schools neighborhood concert series focusing on american classics jazz standards and patriotic the jamaica plain saxophone quartet will present an afternoon of memorable favorites old and new at one hundred and fifteen the belmont gallery of art is hosting its small works show in sale this weekend and next only you can visit for a festive holiday reception on friday from six to nine pm and browse small works of art available for purchase special guests this weekend only our artists indigo fire pottery studio donate twenty five dollars to the foundation for belmont education and the a will send a star award to your honored teacher or staff member with your name and a personal message this is a great opportunity to tell the people who enrich the lives of your children just how much they are appreciated you can also send a friend award to a community member doll for the st time in years the belmont riders defeated the watertown raiders in the traditional thanksgiving day football game franklin tucker gives us the details lucas trade ghost filmed  football by louis cancun's i take the snap from the center think to the right feedback i've got protection i've got a receiver down field what the hell is this is this a football is an issue a man's brown leather oxford a cousin to the football maybe the same skin but not the same thing made from the earth not the air i realize this is a world where everything is possible and i understand also that eleven often has to make do with what one has i've even pancakes for instance with the clear corn syrup on them because there were no maple syrup and they weren't very good well anyway this is different my man down field is waving his arms  certain responsibilities one has to make choices this isn't right it's not going to be thrown well that's it for this week's edition of the bell my journal as we sign off let's watch what's available on the belmont media centers community television stations thank you for your watching i'm your host roger cult and i'll see you again