Pepperell News

Police yesterday concluded that no crime was committed last month at Spaulding Elementary School, where a first-grade teacher was rumored to have put duct tape on children's mouths.

Town Administrator Charles T. Blanchard is one of three finalists for that position in Pepperell.

Command of U.S. Army Garrison Fort Devens changed hands yesterday morning as Lt.

Shirley Town Adminstrator Kyle Keady is among three finalists for the same position in Pepperell.

A 46-year-old Cambridge man, the son of a former state representative, was arrested at gunpoint outside a Somerville hotel accused of forcing a Pepperell woman into prostitution.

The doorbell plays "The Star-Spangled Banner'' at Jannine Kraus's home, where her dining room table nearly disappeared last week under parade signs, a rainbow of crayons, quivers of felt markers, and a sticky bottle of white construction glue.

Old-timers move on, newcomers move in. The relentless shuffle over time leaves the president of the town's historical society wondering whether local appreciation of Pepperell's most famous patriot will endure.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, has approved a plan presented by Sacred Heart-St. James Parish of Groton and St.

And then there were 291. The Archdiocese of Boston, which had 357 parishes back in 2002, is consolidating another pair of parishes tomorrow.

Former teacher Emily Metcalfe said she will receive her salary and benefits through the summer, and was never technically fired from her long-term substitute teaching job at Spaulding Memorial School in Townsend.

Thirty-nine percent of the town's 7,973 registered voters -- more than 200 of which were absentee ballots -- turned out yesterday to pass a $646,797 override that guarantees the library, senior center and community center will remain open for at least another year.

Polls will be open Monday until 8 p.m., as voters in Pepperell head to the Varnum Brook Elementary School to vote on a proposed Proposition 2 1/2 override that would save the senior center, community center and library.

On 24-year-old dispatcher Justin Zink's first day as an auxiliary police officer, Conway Chevrolet/Buick burned.

Teachers at the Peter Fitzpatrick School in Pepperell wave goodbye to students yesterday as the buses pulled out of the lot for the last time.

Fire Chief Donald Klein was both humbled and curious as to why he has been named recipient of the 2009 Nashoba Publishing Extraordinary Service Award.

Pepperell voters will head to the polls Monday to decide the fate of a $646,797 Proposition 2 1/2 override that, if approved, will be used to fund the library, senior center and community center.

Supporting piers for the landmark covered bridge that spans the Nashua River are in place and the late October completion deadline hasn't changed, but the historically significant structure is not the only bridge about to be replaced.

We were surprised to report on the secret ballot cast last week in Pepperell. The Boards of Selectmen and Health voted jointly on a new health board member to replace Scott Butcher.

Evidently, Maureen Marshall doesn't have enough to do as the full-time superintendent of schools of the North Middlesex Regional School District, so she also wants to run the Quabbin Regional School District at the same time.

All Emily Metcalfe wants is the chance to keep her career -- and dreams -- alive.