Dracut News

As valedictorian and cheerleader captain of Dracut High School's Class of 1948, none of Louise Regan's Middie classmates had more reason to cherish their "Dracuteer" 1948 senior class yearbook as a keepsake full of golden photographic memories than she did.

Massachusetts is one of 43 US states that have passed or are considering legislation to regulate the use of unpiloted aerial vehicles or drone aircraft.

Lt. Edward Dowling, a 32-year veteran of the Lowell Police Department, is on paid administrative leave as internal affairs investigators probe the officer's handling of sex charges against another officer under his command, The Sun has learned.

Eric Maxfield tossed a 5-inning no-hitter and Shedd Park defeated Andover Blue, 11-1, in 14-15 year old Pony League baseball action Saturday.

Mah Chea of Lowell is the Junior of the Month. She is an honor-roll student in the Medical Assisting program.

COUNT GEORGE Malliaros, attorney and former Dracut selectman, among the many people from inside and outside town who expressed great surprise upon selectmen have the power to change the Proposition 2 1/2 override amount approved by Town Meeting.

I know you have been bombarded with emails from outraged parents and citizens of the town and although I don't want to add to the list, I just wanted to send along a quick note.

GONE TOO FAR: It's all right to dispute the selectmen's decision on the schools, but to bring the federally mandated new Town Hall into the discussion is out of order.

Send information for this listing 10 days in advance of publication to: Club News, Lifestyle Department, The Sun, 491 Dutton St., Lowell, MA 01854.

DUMB DRACUT: Everybody knows that all cities and towns stack their town meetings to get the results that they want.

Dracut resident Tina Mirabello, 50, and her partner were in the midst of becoming legal guardians to two foster children,, ages 7 and 12, when she thought they had lost an important source of support.

Cities and towns cheered last month's legislative approval of record amounts of road-repair funding, but Gov. Deval Patrick's recent decision to release only half of the $300 million now has some of the same local leaders disappointed.

From sunrise to nightfall by phone and social media, four School Committee members, hundreds of parents, and the founding members of the education-funding activist group, Stand Up for Dracut, vented their collective outrage at the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday.

White, a Pawtucketville native who founded Whyte's Automotive on Pleasant Street in Dracut in 2003, recently moved his auto-repair operations to 360 Mammoth Road in Lowell.

SHOWS, NO SAY: Dracut has always had quorum problems when it comes to the Annual Town Meetings.

Taking an action that stunned Dracut's School Committee chairman and other backers of a nearly $3 million Proposition 2 1/2 override for the schools, Selectmen Chairwoman Cathy Richardson and Selectman Joe DiRocco won the board's approval to set a July 16 meeting to discuss possibly reducing the Town Meeting-approved override amount from $2.9 ... (more)

A 40-year-old Dracut man is in critical but stable condition at a Boston hospital as a result of injuries he suffered when his car left Willowdale Road and struck a tree Tuesday afternoon, according to police.

At McLaughlin's sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney's Office will ask Judge Douglas Woodlock to sentence the 67-year-old Dracut resident to 12-to-18 months in jail for paying himself a total of $548,192 in an over-inflated salary from 2008 to 2011 as the executive director of the Chelsea Housing ... (more)

Police have been seeking to arrest since Friday a Dracut woman who allegedly attempted to kill her mother by choking her and battered the woman with a cell phone, police said.

HARVEY J. and LOYCE E. GAGNON of Dracut, recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a lawn party of family and friends at the home of Jay and Melissa Alexa in Tyngsboro.