"Pay for what we as a community value.." That is an interesting quote. An article about the school budget garners immediate response from many people defending their position. A recent article about the fire department garners little or no response. The supporters of the school and the school committee continue to bully those smaller department supporters in every aspect of these conversations. "Insurance costs go up for 1000 person department its much larger for a department with 10." You are correct, and the argument goes the same for the salaries of the employees. So should the school department employees not get a raise because its a larger group? Should the smaller departments expect less because the schools are all getting the money? Of course not. FINALLY the board of selectmen are seeing the light of day that there are other issues in town that need to be addressed. Mr. Sawyer lays out these proposals of cuts and class sizes and at the final hour the ticker tape rains down on top of them as they celebrate how the made the budget work or got more money here or there etc. Id like to see more support for the municipal side of the town including police, fire, highway, water etc. Its those employees and services that deserve a little respect and support from OUR COMMUNITY. View Comment

In 2011 there were 9,878 fatalities caused by drunk drivers. In 2011 there were 8583 deaths by firearms. Have we talked about banning alcohol to prevent these deaths? Have we talked about banning cars to prevent people from driving drunk in them? No. We never ever would think to do a thing like that. Two days after Newtown an off duty officer shot and wounded a man carrying a handgun in a movie theater in Texas. The man was there to kill his exgirlfriend. The officer chased and shot the man preventing any bloodshed. A GUN was used to STOP a possible massacre. Very little was discussed about this incident. Guns do kill people. So do knives, fists, fire, cars, and so many other things. If you were walking through a mall with your two children and a man suddenly appeared with a knife and came at you about to kill you and you're children. If a person appeared and shot the man before he could harm you would you're view on gun control change? I think it would. You can ban guns, control guns just like they did with alcohol during prohibition. People still drank and people are still going to get guns into their hands whenever they want. Maybe we should start sterilizing all children going forward so they can't procreate and the real problem behind killings will be eliminated....people. View Comment

Amy. I truly appreciate the efforts of all the parties involved in our decision making throughout the town. You've lived here 8 years and you are attempting to educate me on the members of the town. I am sorry Amy but I have lived in this town going almost 40 years now. My neighbors have lived her for over 50-60 years. I am fully aware of the people who are making the decisions and I am fully aware of the people before them and before them. I didn't pull my head out of the sand this morning and decide to write my previous post. I've been watching the situation the town is in for decades not for the past 8 years and unfortunately I have watched numerous citizens get engaged only to see their voice trampled on by the individual beliefs of certain selectmen and town leaders. My original point is...why do we see ONLY articles about the school departments budget but very rarely do we see articles about the pains and cuts in other departments. That was my point. View Comment

Asking for an increase like this is similar to a kid bagging groceries asking for a $65 an hour raise. Is the plan of Mr. Sawyer to ask for more in hopes the town will meet him in the middle? All town departments are understaffed and underfunded. Where are the articles from the Daily Voice about the water department? The fire department? The police department? By the way has anyone been in the police department lately?? That place is a dump! I'm embarrassed to say I live in this town knowing the men and women that protect us walk into that building each and every day. I wish the schools had all the money in the world because our kids are important but ALL services in town are important too. View Comment

Thank you to all the individuals who can cite cases that do not pertain to this case. First off. Gilk was recording officers IN PUBLIC. The officers in Gilk were AWARE they were being recorded. The Gilk decision protects individuals from being prosecuted for recording officers in public and protects them for prosecution of the same. Gilk does NOT protect against secretly recording officers in the performance of their duties. The "citemedialw" if you look at the site in the first paragraph uses the word "OPENLY". This gentleman secretly recorded this officer on a traffic stop. He IS NOT protected. Get your facts straight. And if you aren't 100%sure that the police have video cameras in their cars then you probably shouldn't be making assumptions that they have them because more police don't have them than those who do. The Shrewsbury Police officers are a great group of guys. They visited my neighborhood during Halloween and handed out glow sticks to the children who were ecstatic about the interaction with the police officers. Thank you to Officer Scanlon for doing your job. 60 mph in a 50mph zone IS breaking the law, no question about it. View Comment

John....don't the police investigate car accidents?? Seems like the last few accidents you've reported on you have quotes from the fire department not the police? View Comment

Time for some change on this board. Mr. Kane and Mr. Lebaux at least show some rational thought not to rush into multimillion dollar decisions weighed against the town. Sewer rates, water rates, cable rates up up up....whats another couple million on the backs of taxpayers. What a joke. View Comment

I don't believe I have to justify nor will I announce what the ages of my kids are, where they go to school etc. I live in Shrewsbury, that is all you have to know. I have extensive knowledge of a the school and municipal system, and I am not going to tell you how I know this. You can try and discredit me with your rants but I am merely stating the facts. The school budget is out of control. That is why you are paying for all of these extra items you have listed off. Teachers are well paid and good for them they chose a great career. But you want to know the reasons the budget is out of control and why there are these gaps to close but you don't want to open your eyes to the reasons or the solutions. That's all I was saying. View Comment

My I hope the firefighter that was hit on the nose is ok! View Comment

HERE WE GO! Now we begin the "chicken little sky is falling" routine this town has become so famous for. We have no money, have no money...oh look we found 1.8 million dollars here you go schools. And we have "crowded" classrooms?? Whats the actual numbers. I'd like to see a break down of every single class in Shrewsbury and see how many actual kids are "crowding" these classes. This isn't Los Angeles, our schools are beautiful, are teachers are WELL paid and our classes are definitely not overcrowded. View Comment

Thank you to the first responders on scene....especially the one in the background of this picture. He really "nose" whats going on.... View Comment

The Memorial Day parade is a great day for the Town of Shrewsbury. It is a day where we get to honor our veterans and show support for the community. The honor guards from the police and fire department look great and all of the members march with such pride. The only distracting point is Mr. Josti's continued butchery of the names of some important people. Don Morgado? I'm pretty sure it's Dan. Mark Benson? Oh you mean Matt Beaton. And the list goes on. Don't blame the missing of the Star Spangled Banner on a technical difficulty, it's lack of organization. Square yourself away. Make your veterans proud. View Comment

If the Shrewsbury Police made the arrest why is there a picture of a State Police cruiser?? View Comment

Mike Moore is a flat out liar. He tells you one thing and does the exact opposite. Time for him to go... View Comment

Its hard to come together as a community when one part of it continues down the same path always advocating for the schools year in and year out. Some people in the community are for education, while others see our infrastructure crumbling around us, our services drastically cut etc. The school department is getting a 5% increase in budget this year, while other departments get cut again. Lisa writes: "They deserve their raises especially with what we are asking them to do with the huge budget gaps" No one is out advocating for the police who continue to do more with less, the fire department who faces a staffing shortage, the water department who continue to run with barely any staffing and the list goes on and on. We are in trying times. Class sizes need to go up, teachers jobs may need to be eliminated. It is a bad economy. The teachers keep getting raises through step increases and the salaries are taking a toll on the budget causing these huge gaps along with many other factors. The teachers don't care about class size or positions being eliminated. They care about they're pay checks, and if you don't think they do you are sadly mistaken. The doom and gloom "what about the CHILDREN" "our property taxes are going to go down" "chicken little the sky is falling" mentality needs to stop. View Comment

Override!!?? Has anyone mentioned an override for the firefighters?? Highway/water/sewer? Police? Nope. All we care about in Shrewsbury is schools. Deal with the budget with the money the town has. Maybe the overpaid teachers should make some concessions to save the town some money, though i wont hold my breath. View Comment

It appears to me we have developed an issue with the three local Shrewsbury websites. In the quest for the "big" story or the one to "break" the news it seems some websites have been putting the cart before the horse. The first news of this abduction broke on a local businessman's blog website alerting all residents while of course showcasing local real estate for sale. Then the other shrewsbury website jumped on board followed by the dailyshrewsbury. Truthfully the only news I follow is the dailyshrewsbury as the articles are well written and I don't have to hear about a 4 bedroom colonial with granite countertops as one of the headlines. I just hope in the future we can try to err on the side of caution and not set off a media firestorm and subsequent public frenzy. We should allow the police department to do their job and give us the facts of the case once it has been investigated. I have the utmost respect and faith in our local law enforcement in handling these matters and I think we should leave it to them to tell us when the next big story breaks and wait for the facts before we start creating chaos. View Comment

This flea market will be open on the weekends. Traffic is extremely light on the weekends. Make sure people coming out of the Oak Street exit must turn right towards Rt. 9. No Left Hand Turn signs should be posted on Oak Street so all traffic is funneled to Rt. 9. Have police officers there directing traffic and making sure no one turns down Oak Street utilizing cones and other means. Have more police inside the flea market area to show a presence to the individuals attending the market and everything should run smoothly. This is a warehouse. Unfavorable businesses could eventually end up here, I personally would rather see a flea market rather than a processing plant or shipping plant where you are going to see trucks upon trucks. Just ask those who live on N. Quinsigamond about the constant flow of mail trucks up and down all night. View Comment

Good. View Comment

The town should step up and support this. ALL kids should be provided with this opportunity to play at the Freshman level and not have to sit and watch their older teammates play while they ride the pine. The town needs to start prioritizing and make sure that OUR kids are taken care of first. Kudos to the Shrewsbury Athletic Dept. for continuing to provide a great service to the kids of this town. View Comment