Peter Finn

Winthrop lost one of its all-time great citizens with the recent passing of Peter Finn.

Peter served as Winthrop’s Superintendent of Schools in the 1980s and helped our school system navigate the difficult years in the immediate aftermath of the passage of Proposition 2 and 1/2, which had the ultimate result of severely limiting funding for Massachusetts school departments.

Although that would prove to be a tumultuous period both in Winthrop and across the state, Peter’s steady hand and honest, straightforward approach guided our schools and community through those years.

The respect with which Peter was held by his fellow educators state-wide was evident by his selection as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Superintendents of Schools Association in 1988.

To paraphrase the old E.F. Hutton TV commercial, “When Peter Finn spoke, people listened.”

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Peter was well-known and well-liked throughout our community as a member of the Winthrop Golf Club and for his support of Winthrop athletics. Peter was a regular at Viking sporting events during the playing days of his children Kristen, Courtney, and Paul, all of whom were outstanding athletes.

We know we join with all of our fellow Winthrop residents in extending our condolences to his wife Marie and his children, friends, and family members.

May he rest in peace.

Merry Christmas

This is the most wonderful time of the year, to paraphrase the popular song, with holiday music playing in the malls and on our car radios, resurrecting our earliest childhood memories of Christmases-past.

We choose just the right tree, decorate it carefully with our family-heirloom ornaments, and when we first turn on the lights, it brings a smile to the faces of even the most-jaded among us.

Despite our hectic rushing to and fro’, everybody, it seems, is in a good mood. We endure the traffic and the long lines in stores because we know that what we are doing will bring joy and happiness to others.

For those of us with young children, we get to see Christmas through their eyes, giving us a second chance to experience the wonder and joy that we felt when we were their age.

Although all of us celebrate the holiday season in our own way, the common thread is one of peace, joy, and happiness, regardless of religious or secular beliefs. Whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or a Seinfeldian Festivus, the spirit of the season imbues us with a sense of togetherness that transcends whatever negativity may exist both in our own lives and in the world around us.

We wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.

Enjoy the holidays safely

The upcoming long holiday weekend means that most of us will be partaking in traditional gatherings with our families, friends, and co-workers to share the joy of the holiday season.

Unfortunately, this also means that many among us will be overindulging in holiday “spirits.”

It is the responsibility of each of us to ensure that where alcohol is present, it is used responsibly, not only by ourselves, but by those around us at our holiday gatherings. None of us wants to wake up the next morning with the regret, “If only I had taken their car keys.”

We wish all of our readers a happy, and safe, holiday week.

A correction for our  “MAHA moms” editorial

Two weeks ago in an editorial under the headline, “MAHA moms are right about toxic waste,” we discussed a petition that some of the members of the MAHA movement had sent to President Donald Trump urging him to fire Lee Zeldin, his EPA administrator, because of Zeldin’s recent directives that will make it easier for the production and use of harmful chemicals that threaten to contaminate our air, food, and water.

In that editorial we further wrote: “Also supporting the petition is the group Moms Clean Air Force (MCAF), which seeks to protect children from the effects of air pollution and climate change,” and we used a quote from MCAF founder and director Dominique Browning, which concluded, “Lee Zeldin must go.”

Taken together, our editorial suggested that the MCAF had signed onto the petition from the MAHA group.

However, according to a spokesperson for the MCAF, “Moms Clean Air Force is NOT a signatory to the MAHA petition. In fact, Moms Clean Air Force has absolutely no affiliation with MAHA.  Moreover, Moms Clean Air Force has its own national campaign calling for the immediate resignation or firing of Zeldin — in fact, Moms Clean Air Force was the first national organization to take such action.  But, as Moms Clean Air Force is totally independent of the MAHA petition; the timing was simply coincidental.”