During the May 2022 Sterling Annual Town Meeting those of us attending had our first extremely unpleasant exposure to new Town Moderator Jennifer Scalise-Mullet. She’s an intellectually dishonest, impolite, manipulative, speaker-interrupting shill for the Sterling Select Board and all other Town Boards and Committees. She didn’t ‘Moderate’ the 2022 Annual Town Meeting, she did her best to hijack it using her elected position to cut-off speakers and discussion. She was elected to a three-year term, so, unfortunately, we are guaranteed two more Annual Town Meetings with this megalomaniacal harridan up at the podium.

Turns out that Ms. Scalise-Mullett organized the 26 June 2022 Pro-Abortion Rally on the Sterling Town Common– https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/the-item/2022/07/01/protesters-gather-sterling-show-opposition-overturning-roe-vs-wade/7759068001/  She was there with her ‘wife’ and three children. Yeah, the irony—a lesbian with three kids organized a rally for abortion on demand. I wonder if Ms. Scalise-Mullett has explained to her daughter, Harper, the concepts of personal responsibility and self-restraint– as in no one would be clamoring for abortions if he or she exercised personal responsibility by using universally available birth control, or exercised self-restraint by keeping one’s knees together. Ms. Scalise-Mullett is a big wheel in Sterling’s First Church. I take it that Sterling’s First Church has jettisoned such traditional Christian moral and ethical principles.

Oh yeah, I also wonder if Ms. Scalise-Mullett has explained to her children what so-called ‘late-term abortions’ are–those are the procedures whereby unborn babies capable of surviving outside their mothers’ wombs have their spines ‘pithed’ by the baby-killer abortionist using a sharp instrument, are then dismembered limb by limb, and, lastly, have their dismembered body parts suctioned out through the birth canal. Only psychopaths support such hideous procedures.

The raving pro-abortionists out on the Sterling Town Common on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, 26 June 2022—all 24 or so of them collected from several municipalities—don’t know or care about correct Constitutional interpretation or application, of course, because they are mere chanting, self-serving, Faux virtue-signaling ideologues. Roe vs. Wade, decided in 1973, was the shoehorned result achieved by intellectually dishonest, result-oriented, power-hungry Supreme Court justices who used the judicially-created, bogus construct dubbed ‘substantive due process’ to achieve the decision they wanted. When I was a 22-year-old law student my first-year classmates and I were all required to take a full year of Constitutional Law, among other subjects. Even then I knew that ‘substantive due process’ was a COMPLETELY BULLSHIT, ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL CONSTRUCT. It should be junked next Supreme Court term and relegated to the dustbin of history.

Brilliant Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas discusses and dissects the ‘substantive due process’ bogus construct here– https://amgreatness.com/2022/06/26/thomas-on-the-end-of-roe-and-the-continuing-despotism-of-substantive-due-process/

So Roe vs. Wade, finally and rightly, was overturned. Big Deal. The abortion matter has been returned to the States, where it belonged all along, for regulation by each individual State’s legislature. That means Ms. Scalise-Mullett’s daughter Harper can stay right here in Massachusetts where abortions will be readily available if she wants one. I’m sure that Ms. Scalise-Mullett, being such a superb parental example and paragon of virtue, is pleased about that.

J.G.

Recently the rapacious developer of the ‘Northgate Meadows’ Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40B scam/sham ‘affordable housing’ apartment project on the Sterling-City of Leominster line, charging up to $2600/month rent for 2-bedroom apartments– https://www.apartmenthomeliving.com/apartment-finder/Northgate-Meadows-Sterling-MA-01564-16365625 –petitioned the Town of Sterling for a building permit fees waiver.

Now 150 Clinton LLC d/b/a Sterling Storage Solutions, 150 Clinton Road, Sterling, having out-of-state managers and an out-of-town agent for service of process, is seeking building permit fees reduction(s) from the Sterling Select Board. SEE https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2022_7_20_agenda.pdf Here is the Town of Sterling Building Permit Fee Schedule– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/building-department/pages/building-permits-fee-schedule-epermitting

Check out 150 Clinton LLC via name-search using the Massachusetts corporations database– https://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corpweb/CorpSearch/CorpSearch.aspx — and check out Sterling Storage Solutions’ unit rental price schedule here– https://thestoragesolutions.com/self-storage/sterling-ma-01564

Does your heart bleed for a developer charging $70/month for 25 square feet, and $265/month for 200 square feet, of mere storage space? Mine neither.

Word must be out that the Sterling Select Board prostitutes itself for property developers. Expect property developers’ efforts to get Sterling building permit fee waivers or reductions—that YOU will never get if you re-roof your home or install replacement windows, for examples—to continue.

J.G.

If you’ve driven by the ramshackle, deteriorating Sterling Inn during recent months you’ve noticed that nothing is happening there except sporadic grass-mowing.

The Sterling Inn property was auctioned off, with some fanfare, back in December 2021, for non-payment of property taxes, the inn and restaurant having been unused for many years, the utility connections shut off.

As for the auction itself, what an utterly amazing coincidence it was indeed that the Aponte Brothers, whose other brother JUST HAPPENED to be Town of Sterling Accountant and Acting Town Administrator at the time, Fred Aponte, prevailed with a bid of $600,000, just $25,000 more than the runners-up! SEE https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2021/12/14/sterling-inn-auctioned-off-for-600000-to-local-business-partner-brothers/

Thereafter, in March 2022, good ol’ Fred Aponte moved on to greener pastures– https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/the-item/2022/03/18/sterling-looks-financial-position-administrative-transition-continues/6986641001/ What exquisite timing! Was that just another coincidence?

With the cost of lumber and other construction materials and supplies having skyrocketed under Dementia Joe Biden’s entirely malevolent, corrupt, and destructive regime– Lumber Is Crazy Expensive Right Now. Biden Is About To Make It Worse. (reason.com) — the Aponte Brothers, perhaps, may be waiting for more favorable times before commencing restoration work on the old inn.

OR, perhaps the delay in work can be explained by the Massachusetts Ethics Commission actually doing its job– for a change — and investigating the Aponte Brothers’ glaring, apparent conflict of interest. I don’t know about that but one can always hope….

J. G.

Massachusetts General Laws Ch. 40B– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Comprehensive_Permit_Act:_Chapter_40B— is a statutory scam allowing rapacious developers to override local Zoning By-Laws in municipalities not deemed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to have at least 10% of their housing stock classified as ‘affordable,’ Sterling being one of those municipalities. Rapacious developers use Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 40B to ram through large multi-unit developments so long as 25% of units within each project are considered ‘affordable’ under the Commonwealth’s lax criteria. All other units in the project can then be ‘high end’ ones selling or renting for a premium. I have utter contempt for Ch. 40B, for Ch. 40B scam developments, and for rapacious Ch. 40B scam artist developers.

Here in Sterling “Northgate Meadows” off Leominster Road near the City of Leominster line is the most controversial, notorious Ch. 40B scam, with 2-bedroom apartments renting for up to $2600 per month– https://www.apartments.com/northgate-meadows-sterling-ma/fe74lsv/

The Ch. 40B “Comprehensive Permit” for “Northgate Meadows,” issued by the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat, has been modified at the request of the rapacious developer in question several times over the years, the latest version being issued in January 2021, permitting 216 apartments so long as 25% of them qualify as being ‘affordable’ under Massachusetts’ weak parameters. SEE https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/pages/northgate_meadows_-_stamped_decision_1-12-2021_-_216_rental_units.pdf

As you can see from the “Comprehensive Permit” provisions, the residents of “Northgate Meadows” are sucking down Sterling’s precious municipal groundwater supplies while the Town of Sterling scrambles to acquire another much-needed municipal well-field.

“Northgate Meadows” was built by Northgate Meadows, LLC/ James S. Whitney of Leominster. James S. Whitney’s primary development corporation is J. Whitney Development, Inc. You can search the Massachusetts corporations database for both “Northgate Meadows, LLC” and “J. Whitney Development, Inc.” here– https://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corpweb/CorpSearch/CorpSearch.aspx

It is fascinating to note that J. Whitney Development, Inc. is not Better Business Bureau accredited— https://www.bbb.org/us/ma/leominster/profile/real-estate/j-whitney-development-inc-0261-204759

ALAS, having been granted multiple Ch. 40B “Comprehensive Permit” modifications by the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat over the years, and while charging $2600 per month rent for 2-bedroom apartments at “Northgate Meadows,” the rapacious J. Whitney Development, Inc./James S. Whitney has now petitioned the Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat for yet ANOTHER modification—THIS TIME TO WAIVE/ELIMINATE BUILDING PERMIT FEES PAYABLE TO THE TOWN OF STERLING! The hearing on that request is scheduled for 12 July 2022 — https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/events/stamped_legal_ad_-_northgate_meadows_7-12-2022.pdf

Here is the Town of Sterling Building Permit Fee Schedule– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/building-department/pages/building-permits-fee-schedule-epermitting

Do you think YOU could get a Building Permit Fee Waiver for replacing some windows or re—roofing your house??? ANSWER: NOT ON YOUR LIFE!

Get out your popcorn, attend this 12 July 2022 Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals a/k/a The Developers’ Doormat hearing, and watch those ZBA ASSCLOWNS roll over for a rapacious profiteer at your expense.

UPDATE, 5 JULY 2022: Check out the Select Board’s Agenda for its 6 July 2022 Meeting, “Consider Building Permit fee for Northgate” —https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/agendas/2022_7_6_agenda.pdf

Select Board members Maureen “Our Lady of Perpetual Bullsh*t” Cranson and John “Bent Buffoon” Kilcoyne never met a property developer for whom they wouldn’t prostitute themselves and the Town of Sterling, so watch them reduce the Town’s Building Permit Fees just for the “Northgate Meadows” developer.

J.G.

It should come as no surprise to Sterling taxpayers and voters that the Sterling Board of Health’s 7 April 2022 Meeting Minutes, concerning Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals’ member Joe Curtin’s 218 Upper North Row Road septic system, discussed in connection with his proposed new ‘Accessory Dwelling Unit ‘ at that location, constitute a mini-Master Class in omission and deception.

The relevant portion is reproduced as follows:

“Health Agent Report:
Update of Complaint Regarding 218 Upper North Row Road Accessory Dwelling Unit:

A complaint was filed with David Boyer at DEP, suggesting there was collusion and corruption occurring at this address in regard to a building permit for a one-bedroom accessory dwelling unit. Health Agent Favreau sent a letter to Mr. Boyer explaining the complete history with this home, which was constructed in 2012 as a 4-bedroom dwelling. Mr. Favreau performed an assessment of the home and determined the addition of the accessory dwelling unit, to be located in the basement, would not increase the existing design flow of the system as the septic system was designed and constructed for 5 bedrooms.”

SEE https://www.sterling-ma.gov/node/2376/minutes-agendas

Fascinating how those Meeting Minutes fail to mention that Sterling Zoning Board of Appeals member Joe Curtin owns that 218 Upper North Row Road property AND THAT HE HIMSELF, as a “Registered Professional Engineer,” signed his own 2012 septic design plan for that property instead of “John M. Deline, Jr.” of “Deline Engineering,” the firm that supposedly completed that Plan, the name “John M. Deline, Jr.,” typed onto that Plan, having been lined out. Mr. Curtin placed his own signature above his own Seal reciting “Commonwealth of Massachusetts Registered Professional Engineer.” That was an utter conflict of interest and fraud on the Town of Sterling.

If that Septic Design Plan was REALLY legitimate then why was John M Deline, Jr.’s name lined out as signatory and why was the Curtin house built in 2012 with four (4) bedrooms, NOT five (5)? Do you really think that David “Nowhere Man” Favreau, the Board of Health’s alleged “full-time” Agent, who was running his own septic business in 2012, witnessed the construction of Curtin’s septic system and knows its actual capacity?

The Board of Health met next on 12 May 2022. The relevant portion of that Meeting’s Minutes is somewhat curious:

“General Business Updates:
Approve Any Available Minutes: April 7, 2022:

A motion to approve revised minutes of the April 7, 2022 meeting was made by Cathie Martin and seconded by Anne Marie Catalano. Roll call vote: Hoffman – aye; Martin – aye; Catalano – aye. Motion carried.”

SEE https://www.sterling-ma.gov/node/2376/minutes-agendas

“Revised minutes of the April 7, 2022 meeting”, Eh?

How much you wanna bet that the “revisions” were about covering various and sundry asses?

In essence, the Sterling Board of Health’s 7 April 2022 “revised” Meeting Minutes demonstrate that if the Board of Health and its alleged “full-time”
agent, David “Nowhere Man” Favreau, are not FRAUDS themselves, then they are at least “Accessories After the Fact.”

NOTE: The BOH Meeting Minutes referred to herein WERE NOT posted on the Town’s website until I sent the BOH a Public Records Request for them noting that the BOH had failed to post, as of the date of my Request, the vast majority of its Meeting Minutes from and after July 2021.

J.G.