Sports

New Watertown Football Coach Works to Bond With Team, Build Excitement Around the Program

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Contributed PhotoNew Watertown Football Coach Joe Carroll took over the program in February and has been busy preparing for the first game in September. The first official football game is more than four months away, but new Watertown High School football coach Joe Carroll has been busy trying to bond with players, prep them for the upcoming season, and create a team culture. Since he was hired in February, Carroll has been making the most of the time he has with the team in preparation for his first season as a head coach. He takes over the Raiders after serving as assistant coach at Waltham High School for five years. Carroll has put together a schedule and to-do list to keep him focused, and each day he tries to check a few things off the list.

Around Town

Mount Auburn Cemetery Adds New Pedestrians Gates in Effort to Welcome the Community

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Photo by Charlie BreitroseThe opening of new pedestrian gates at Mount Auburn Cemetery was celebrated with a ribbon cutting. Pictured, from left, Mount Auburn Cemetery Trustee Sean McDonnell, Bree Harvey, Vice President of Cemetery & Visitor Services; Assistant City Manager Steve Magoon, State Rep. Steve Owens, Mount Auburn Cemetery President and CEO Matthew Stephens, and Cemetery neighbor Sarah Baker. Mount Auburn Cemetery opened its gate to the public, literally, on Friday when they celebrated the four new pedestrian entrances installed along the fence around the historic cemetery located in Watertown and Cambridge. Matthew Stephens, President and CEO of Mount Auburn Cemetery, said that the gates are part of Mount Auburn’s effort to make the property more open and welcoming to the public. “We want the community to be here in Mount Auburn,” Stephens said.

Around Town

Jury Rules Not Guilty on Rape Charges in Trial of Watertown Police Officer

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A Middlesex Superior Court jury found Watertown Police officer Kevin Rooney not guilty in the trial in which he faced two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault from an incident in 2021. Rooney has been placed on administrative leave by the Watertown Police, and Watertown Police Chief Justin Hanrahan told WBUR that he will remain on leave pending the results of the Police Department’s internal affairs investigation. Rooney also had his police certification suspended by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission when he was indicted on the charges in December 2022. A woman who accused Rooney told prosecutors that she blacked out after three alcoholic drinks while at dinner in South Boston, and the next thing she next remembered was waking up next to a man she didn’t know. The man told her he was an off-duty Watertown Police officer, and he told her they had “hooked up,” according to court documents obtained by WBUR.

Around Town

Come Meet the Artists Behind the New Pieces in Watertown’s Sculpture Walk

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Photo by Liz Helfer”All Style, No Substance” by Ken Reker is one of the new additions to the Watertown Community Sculpture Walk. Watertown’s Community Sculpture Walk has four new works of art, and the public is invited to meet the artists and find out about their process and inspiration. The opening reception for the new sculptures will be held on Friday, May 10 from 5-6 p.m. The tour begins at the beginning of the Community Path in Saltonstall Park (behind City Hall). Three of the artists will attend the opening, and one provided some audio of his poems to share at the event, said Liz Helfer, Watertown’s Public Arts & Culture Planner. Also attending the event will be Zachariah Hickman — the Tuba Guy.

Around Town

New Book Looks at Triple Murder in Waltham, and Ties to Marathon Bombing & Watertown

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A triple murder in Waltham in 2011, just half a mile from the Watertown line, has ties to the Boston Marathon Bombing, and to Watertown, author Susan Clare Zalkind discovered. The Newton resident began to follow the investigation, and has produced stories about the murders and the investigation — which remain open to this day — for Boston magazine and NPR’s This American Life, and wrote and produced the 2022 Hulu docuseries The Murders Before the Marathon. She also covered the Boston Marathon Bomber trial for the Daily Beast. In March, her book “The Waltham Murders: One Woman’s Pursuit to Expose the Truth and a National Tragedy” was published by Little A.

Zalkind has a personal connection to one of the victims. She was working for NECN when a story came across the wire about three dead bodies being found in Waltham. She later found out one of those people was her friend, Erik Weissman, who she met when she was 19. “I knew one of the victims, I liked one of the victims, but that’s not why I spent 11 years of my life devoted to this story,” Zalkind told Watertown News.

Government

FY25 City Budget Includes New Police Program, Funds for High School Project & to Meet Climate Goals

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Watertown’s Budget Stable Now, May Not be in Future Years

Watertown City Hall

The City of Watertown’s financial situation looks good for Fiscal Year 2025, which starts July 1, 2024, but the City may face some challenging budgets in the following years, City Manager George told the City Council on Tuesday night. The budget includes funding some ongoing efforts, such as the Watertown Square Area Plan, the Watertown High School project. It also includes funding to implement the City’s Energy and Sustainability Plan, to start the human rights commission, and add new programs, including at the Watertown Police Department. On April 30, Proakis presented his FY25 budget, which will be $203.975 million, which is a 1.96 percent increase from the revised FY24 budget (the current year). The majority of the budget comes from local property taxes, which funds 81 percent, or $165 million in FY25.