Community Corner
ABOUT TOWN: Crimmins Roast Well Done
Welcome to "About Town with Mark Snyder," a column that will keep you up to the minute with what's what, who's who and what's going on around town. If you see or hear something we could use here, let us know by sending an e-mail to pmpco@aol.com.
CRIMMINS ROAST A HUGE SUCCESS: More than 185 people came to the for the Roasting of Town Manager Frank Crimmins. The Stoughton Chamber of Commerce and The Memory Room were the beneficiaries of the proceeds.
A panel of a dozen roasters peppered Crimmins with comments ranging from his Harvard days, to his judge days in the courtroom, to his town manager appointment, and back through his Stoughton childhood.
His brother Barry recalled how he tortured his brother by taking his favorite flavored blueberry Pop Tarts. Roasters also included Selectmen Cynthia Walsh and Steve Anastos, Police Chief Paul Shastany, Zoning Board of Appeals member Attorney Bob O'Regan, AT & T/Cellco CEO Rick Kaplan, Plymouth County Juvenile Court Assistant Clerk Magistrate Paul Flanagan (who brought greetings via cell phone from Senator Scott Brown, who joked that Crimmins should double check the authenticity of any photos taken at the event), Yaitanes Landscaping owner Phil Yaitanes (who took barbed jabs at most of the roasters, in addition to Crimmins), Wrentham District Court Clerk Magistrate Ed Doherty, Attorney Harold Cohen, and Financial Counselor and Crimmins' college friend, Phil Jameson ("You can take Frank out of Stoughton, but you can't take the Stoughton out of Frank.")
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Samar Company CEO and Town Meeting member Bill Selby introduced Crimmins, who fired back, his own roasting flames, particularly towards Stoughton Chamber Executive Director Terry Schneider, and event emcee & About Town columnist Mark Snyder.
The Memory Room's founders Beth McNeill of Stoughton, Pam Abrams Warnick of Easton, and Francie Minder of Canton were introduced. The organization is intended to do to help families that have suffered the loss of a child.
Find out what's happening in Stoughtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Committee that put the event together, chaired by Cindy Pazyra (and including Kaplan, Schneider, Snyder and Chris Petrie) were quite pleased with the amount of tickets sold, the enthusiasm of the people who came, and the funds garnered from a raffle and auction that went directly to The Memory Room.
Faces In The Crowd included: Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey, Selectmen John Anderson and John Anzivino, School Committee member Joyce Husseini, Acting Fire Chief Mark Dolloff, and an array of town department heads. Nurses from the Stoughton VNA were well represented (Crimmins wife, and his brother's wife are both nurses.) The , which lent their podium for the occasion, also was well represented.
A fun time was had by all.
With the Red Sox Ticket auction, the 50-50 raffle, and the $5 per ticket targeted to The Memory Room, that the Chamber will be presenting a total of $1,650 to The Memory Room, as a direct result from the event.
Look in the photo gallery for pictures from the event. Also, check Patch in the coming days for video highlights from the roast.