hello and welcome to another edition of talking news today over twenty four with me max joined by claire and bob the following podcast is produced or sponsored by a community member the content views and opinions expressed are those of the participants and do not reflect those of b m c or the town of belmont b m c welcomes your comments call us at six one seven four eight four two four four three or email us at x at access at belmont media dot org and now the news eagle scout can that it starts a new tradition more than two thousand american flags were burned in a retirement ceremony on october fourteenth by joanna cates of a less more than two thousand american flags were burned in a retirement ceremony on october fourteenth  in belmont eagle scout candidate robert mountain jr organized the event with the help of his fellow to members from boy scout troop sixty six and cub scouts from pac three seven seven of belmont mountain who has been a scout since the third grade and is currently a junior at belmont high school began planning the event in the summer working closely with veteran services officer robert upton the town has been collecting retired flags for quite some time so they were interested in conducting a ceremony where they could be properly retired said mountain mountain did a lot of preparation for the event including publicity notifying all the necessary town departments and inviting others to participate including boy scouts girl scouts at and the belmont v f w american legion veterans memorial committees selectman chairman and vietnam veteran jim williams and town clerk ellen o'brien cush we researched other flag retirement ceremonies to come up with speaking roles that would help communicate the meaning and importance of the event i found it kind of weird that the proper way to retire an old flag is to burn it but we looked at military and scout flag retirement ceremonies on you tube and that's the official way to do it said mountain hand built burn barrels over the past few weeks he and his fellow scouts built burn barrels used to retire the flags we had to come up with a design that would handle the heat from all those flags but protect the clay pit area fortunately it worked out in the area was pretty much the same as when we arrived he said upton said this was the first ever flag retirement ceremony to belmont and it will now be an annual event the town will hold the burn barrels and other materials in storage mountain is writing a binder with all the steps needed to so another scout can run this again next year we learned a few things that will include like don't like the starter fires too early since they burn down quickly and bring more donuts they were a real hit he said upton was very pleased with the turnout and with the amount of flags delivered by the belmont cemetery department additional flyers were collected from the new collection boxes that have been put positioned at town hall and belmont cemetery over to you clear thank you max co existing with coyotes belmont coyote's and you a multimedia presentation by enema control officer john merrick iran is will be held october twenty sixth by christiane strong perhaps you have seen coyotes in the woods or at the golf course or the cemetery and knocked up much of it but that changes when one of your neighbors spots a coyote near your house while walking his dog then a friend tells you a coyote reem past your house near question square while her kids were outside playing in the middle of the afternoon and a photo gets posted on facebook of a coyote lying down next to someone's back patio a few feet from their house someone's cat in your neighborhood goes missing you hear reports small dogs have been taken one of them in broad daylight from a backyard and close by a fen suddenly what seemed like an acceptable coexistence now seems like a potential threat to the safety of your family within the past several months coyotes have been sighted in multiple multimedia presentation on thursday october twenty sixth at six thirty pm at the belmont media center in front of a live audience with a question and answer session afterwards titled coyote's belmont and you the presentation will educate people on the facts about coyotes and address common misconceptions and concerns micron is is a coyote expert and the massachusetts representative paul for our pro jet program jacked coyote a now national organization to say stated on their website is to promote compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife through education science and advocacy my goal is to empower people with tools on how to co exist with coyotes in belmont said ma grannis i've done a lot of educating over the years trying to be proactive coyote management is people management during the presentation my ground this will teach people how to correctly haze a coyote one of the prevalent issues when coyotes live in close proximity to humans what's happening now is because coyotes haven't been hazed properly they're just thinking here comes another human my gran is they aren't scared of loud noises or waving arms what we want to do is stimulate their inherent fear of people we want them to think this guy means business it's basic behavior modification the key component in stimulating coyote instinctual wariness is to walk towards a corey already instead of away from it once a coyote sees a human approaching it will run off fifty to sixty yards and then  evaluate at this point my granda says you walk towards it again or if you can see it stand your ground and put your hands on your hips to make yourself look a bigger they can see you even if you don't see them he said they need to perceive you as a threat some residents wonder why the town doesn't choose to send a coyote population either by reason locating or culling instead of residents having to haze the coyotes to get them to stay away here's why you can't get rid of coyote said mike of honest you have family groups in transient coyotes will fill whatever gap is left open if family groups undermined in addition coyotes will have logical it is in areas where the numbers are less abundant so trying to cull them creates even bigger problems rather than appointed the months for a special town meeting begins nov thirteenth according to rob it's one hundred sixty two signatures from all eight precincts for receive citizens petitions require a minimum of one hundred signatures we perceived that belmore needed a planning board that was accountable in the most basic basic way to voters in town upon further research we found that elected rather than appointed planning boards are the rule among our peer communities like lexington winchester wellesley bedford wayland sudbury weston and so on  elected bodies like school committee our board of assessors our library trustees and our selectmen if adopted current planning board positions they would be up for reappointment in two thousand and eighteen would instead be up for election planning board members whose terms expire in two thousand and eighteen could run for reelection in april after having gathered the necessary signatures and filled the necessary paperwork with the town clerk other residents with relevant expertise could also run for these open spots giving voters the chance to choose the best qualified candidates for each position states rob it's the sole power to fill interim vacancies until the next town election this amendment is our food without consideration of any particular installation of the planning board or its members rather  addresses a critical structural flaw in belmont's current by allies namely voters in town have no way to express their preferences for a body whose purview touches both residential and commercial development and indeed the very physical space of the town it is critical that voters be able to affirm their preferences for a body that exerts control over something as basic as their author looks at relationship between u s and china by rob carter when a rise in power threatens to displace a ruling power war is often the result according to local belmont author graham al alison dubbed this phenomenon the through cities trapped after a quote from the greek historian through cities inspired the theory it was the rise of athens and the fear that this instilled in sparta that made the war inevitable this pattern has played out over and over in history according to allison and its implications for the relationship between the united states and china are the subject of his latest book destined for war can america and china escape through cities trap alison said most americans have yet to awaken to the fact that in the last generation twenty five years the last generation of twenty five years china has come to rival or surpass us in almost every space he hopes his book conserve as a diagnosis shedding light on the relative strengths of the united states and china and the risk at which this puts both nations to say that war between china and the us in the current challenges inevitable would be wrong on the historical record but to say that it is much more likely than anybody has appreciated so far is correct alison said clues for peace the book explores sixteen instances where allison determined a rising power threatened the status of a ruling power and alison said war was the result in twelve of those incident instances alison said that in the four cases where war was avoided one or more of the parties figured out how to get beyond business as usual they didn't just go with the flow and then saw what happened what concerns allison currently is that he believes that for the past twenty years americans have just gone with the flow i'm not going to give you a solution because i don't have a solution allison said but said his hope for the book is that it helps politicians realize that not addressing the problem creatively could be catastrophic despite not offering a solution allison does propose twelve clues for peace one he emphasized was the need to distinguish between needs and wants allison said americans will probably have to make some concessions as they try to avoid war with china and when they do that then they'll have to know what is vital and what can be compromised changes needed destined for war was published in july of this year but allison said his research began well before the current presidential administration took office and said the outcome of the two thousand and sixteen elections change the situation outlined in his book quote less than you might think unquote as a structural reality the best way to think about it is a rising power rivaling a ruling power that doesn't matter if it's obama or trump or g s said allison but you would expect that under these conditions the leadership and the agendas would come to be shaped by these underlying structural factors over to you claire thank you  food is more than just an ordinary grocery store foodies market opened its fourth location in belmont center five months ago filling a void that was empty for more than four years since longtime in two thousand thirteen he opened his third location in south boston leon wanted foods to be more than just an ordinary grocery store which is why each of its new his new unique stores office food to go prepared by professional chefs such as executive chef laura brennan who has been with the company for more than ten years and has more than thirty years of experience we were learning quizzing nouvelle the french cooking rage at the time while other more famous cooking schools were still teaching escoffier as nineteenth century cuisine said brennan brennan took time out from her busy schedule to answer the following e mail questions from the belmont citizen herald number one what does a typical work day look like for you in your role at foodies my is now executive chef overseeing all the four foodies markets i am less hands on and more directing the overall style and quality of the prepared foods department we have deli departments that have a selection of up to thirty different salads seasonal vegetables as well as roasted meats and poultry so lection varies by store and the neighborhood it serves in south boston we have a staff of five or six who open the department daily the cold case is reset every day sandwiches i made soups i heated oatmeal is made and breakfast sandwiches make it into the hot case before the hot lunch and trays ready many hands work to create the food he's prepared food experience to what are your favorite seasonal ingredients to cook with baby lettuces greens snap peas asparagus and citrus the rubab and just parsnips and potatoes to name a few it's a season of food that we have are and after a long winter new england winter three what's your personal favorite item to prepare for foodies personally i love to create soups and stews because they are a lake like  that are comprised of many ingredients that come together as one for what is the most popular prepared foods sold at foodies in the summer potato salad in all its disguises flies out of the case we made loaded potato salad with bacon and solid cream traditional red pit taito salad with jill and side with cream and what i call american picnic potato salad with the addition of had center cambridge where and hiller's clean is three and i will open cambridge where is one of the newly renovated spaces at seventy three leonard street by look at tele properties formerly macy's and company the dara decided to become self employed and do something she had never did before the room retail clothing store georgia verrall valley otus of waltham decided the former belmont cleaners at twenty five leonard street would be the perfect third location for his dry cleaning business hiller's clean as which is also located in i point in and south borrow rose has been dry cleaning business for more than thirty years his father was also a dry cleaner and a tailor for oleo just takes great pride in the fact that his cleaning headquarters in hopkinton uses a non hazardous environmentally friendly good complement to these sistine boteach x in the center we have received a very warm welcome in belmont as we fill in these for a popular brands of casual clothing including habitat and fresh once covered by calista is apparel store in belmont center cambridge wears a one stop boat which caters to dress and women in coordinated clothing with matching assessor reason putting shoes and jewelry the belmont store offers both special occasion and casual clothing designed for comfort many of the clothing and accessory lines are fair trade and eco friendly made of natural fibers for comfort and design and made in the united states over to you max thanks bob star market to sell lottery products again by joanna cates who of alias the selectmen voted in favor of  conditions of the liquor license transferred to star market five thirty five capello road in belmont at their october sixteenth meeting effective tuesday october seventeenth star market will be allowed to sell massachusetts state lottery products once again star market acquired its all alcohol liquor license on october sixth two thousand and sixteen when the selectmen approved the transfer of the license from the loading dock to star market two to one with selected mark polo the massachusetts state lottery commission approached selectman in april asking them to rethink their prohibition on allowing retail establishments with liquor license licenses such as star market to also sell lottery tickets noting sales have gone down considerably since they stopped selling them a moratorium was placed on allowing retail establishments holding liquor licenses to also sell lottery tickets when the original all alcohol license was granted to the loading dock on may first two thousand and fourteen on march sixteenth two thousand and fifteen the selectmen denied an application from jimmy's food mart for a liquor license with one of the reasons being the store did not want to give up lottery ticket sales jimmy's food mart closed its doors permanently following a fire on april eighteenth two thousand and fifteen one month after its liquor license application was da will be hosting a prescription drug take back initiative to prevent the abuse and theft of old unused and expired prescribed drugs unfortunately these drugs are highly susceptible to misuse by family and friends in addition they can be improperly disposed of and end up in our environment posing a potential health hazard the belmont police will have a collection point set up at the d p w yod thirty seven c street on saturday october twenty eighth at ten am until two pm old or unuse prescribe drugs no liquids may be dropped off for free with no questions asked you won't even have to get out of your car please take some time to check your medicine cabinet in this it us on october twenty eighth for more information on the r x drug take back initiative or a list of additional collection sites visit w w w dot d e a collection chaos located in the lobby of the police station that is accessible twenty four seven and over to bob new  records for those looking to obtain copies of belmont's public records a new online portal as been made available by the town clerk's office to get residence started help track for film and communicate with public officials and see what other public records are already available town clerk ellen o'brien cushman has been a does has been designated as the town's records access officer and reports that both residents and employees are delighted with the new utility and dish and using the portal called next requests to make a request for information anyone can look at the myriad dark moments that are already available and being added frequently since its launch one hundred fifty four public record requests have been satisfied and tracked using the new system spread across virtually all departments ranging from vehicle crash that are from the police to purchasing contracts to town meeting member public contact information over the max thanks bob and that brings us to the end of another edition of talking news on behalf of bob claire and me max i want to thank you for your attention