We Hear...

A Naming Contest! Yes, that’s right, Franklin Observer is inviting all local literati to pick up their pens and come up with a creative (and appropriate) name for the so-far unnamed “boulder of Franklin” that has been damaging cars and tripping up the unwary for several years. The observant will recall that said stone appeared suddenly, shortly after the revamped section of Main Street was opened to two-way traffic. Though not on the design drawings for the street, its location adjacent to the curbing at the entrance to the Post Office parking lot suggests it was intended to keep drivers attempting to merge into traffic from trespassing on the bark mulch at the sharply-radiused “exit” side of the driveway. After all, if you can’t convince people to turn correctly, why not damage their vehicles? Of course, the boulder accumulated its fair share of auto paint and, in the process, each vehicular interaction gradually moved it so that it is now a few  feet back from its original location. And there it seems fated to stay. So, let’s provide a name for this modest monument to municipal pride! Send suggestions to alan.r.earls@gmail.com by Friday midnight. What do you win? We will publish the results (as long they conform to generally accepted standards of good taste).

Starbuts....Sorry coffee colossus – you can’t mess with Planning....The Starbucks coming to completion on East Central Street was slated for an elaborate ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday that was going to feature an assemblage of uniformed veterans to do the honors...But (we hear) a call from the town put the kibosh on that. It seems that some tees needed crossing with the Planning Board and without their imprimatur, occupancy, even for a ceremony, was a no go. The project was, in fact, before the Planning Board on Monday night with a fairly long list of issues yet to be resolved.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Saturday October 9th at 2 p.m. at the First Universalist Society-Franklin Meetinghouse, 262 Chestnut Street, to honor Carole Rosine, long-time minister, who passed away in August at 77. The service will be outside under a large tent. Due to the large number of expected attendees, masks will be required and sensible shoes are recommended as the tent will be on grass. The service will also be available on Zoom, both through the FUSF website at https://fusf.org/2021/09/16/reverend-rosine/ and on the direct Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/5085285348

Just as Facebook suffered a major outage, we see that Steve Sherlock at Franklin Matters is making a statement on the social media giant. In yesterday’s posting he wrote:

As a data security and privacy professional I can no longer condone the Facebook business model. Effective Dec 1, 2021 the Franklin Matters Facebook page will go away. You are given notice to find one of the other options to obtain the valuable information shared but no longer directly by me on Facebook.

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Bravo! We certainly share Steve’s skepticism with the Facebook business model and their pillaging of personal information. And, more broadly, we might note that Franklin seemed a more civil place before Facebook became a primary means of communication...

Lastly, Broadcastify, the free internet service that carries hundreds of police and fire channels, seems to have lost its Franklin PD feed. Too bad. Time to invest in a proper Bearcat...