Effective immediately, Mr. Ireton has decided to retire from operating and maintaining the Melrose Messages Board. As with all things in life, we move on to seek new opportunities. Richie has decided that after seven years, it’s time for him to pursue other challenges. Rather than shut the board down, Richie asked me if I wanted to keep it running. I said yes.
The Citizens of Melrose who frequently read and post here have much to thank Mr. Ireton for. (I know Prof. Correctipants, I shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition..LOL!)
Seven years ago Richie had a vison he sought to materialize. He understood that local cities and towns only had one printed local paper that folks could read about what was happening in their community. Commenting on written stories or editorials was cumbersome and often times met with editorial distain or dismissal. The idea was to create a forum where people could discuss local politics and community issues in an environment that was free, anonymous and without the constraints of an editorial dictatorship. Melrose Messages was born.
This board has grown and evolved into a web based place to comment, vet, support and scrutinize what’s happening in our community in a way that is not available anywhere else. We can literally elate in what makes us proud to live in Melrose and feel free to point out the inane and egregious without fear of reprisals. We can poke fun or we can make fun. We can support or alienate. We can build up or tear down with just a few keystrokes. It’s up to you Melrose to decide how you will choose to express yourself.
Lastly, the rules will remain the same. This is an unmonitored board. Posts are not reviewed for content, political correctness or veracity. This is a First Amendment free for all. At the top of the home page is a link where anyone can report any offensive comment and it will be removed. Using the name of a child in a disparaging or derogatory manner will get you banned for life. Other than that…have fun!
And once again….thank you Richie Ireton!
Thanks for not abandoning us. Melrose Messages is the only place where we can find out what the real
concerns and issues are in Melrose. The print media simply does not have the time or resources
for in-depth coverage of the issues and citizen commentaries.
And thank you Patricia for keeping it going! Happy 4th.
Happy 4th to you my dearest Geezer! Check back later I'll have a surprise for ya!
Happy July 4th everyone!
Dear Patricia: Just a quick note to say thanks for keeping this public forum going since it is certainly needed. Having a public dialogue on issues of the day or just to have the ability to provide information to residents is certainly a worthwhile effort. Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to help continue this service to us.
Patty; thanks for maintaining the site.
As I have moved away and don't get back very often to talk to old friends about the latest happenings in the old town. With Melrose Messages, I can at least catch up on things, particularly in the Senior Section. At least if all I do is make comments in the Senior Section hopefully I won't get into to much trouble, I think.
Thanks Mr. Ireton for your service running this board and thanks Patty for keeping it going. The two local news papers will not discuss the hard issues and news stories in this town. They are tied exclusively to the current city administration and only their slant on all local city stories, which make them rather useless as an unbiased source. This is why we never saw any stories about the recent OML violations and active Federal Civil Rights investigation by the Federal department of Education. Despite the local mayor's and city solicitor's prior attempts to attack this vital news and opinion source and it's operators, (and thus, our First Amendment rights), this site has held tough and has exposed major stories that you will never see in the local so called news papers. Hooray for Mr. Ireton and Patty!
Thank you and good luck.
Thank you and good luck.
All of us owe much to you, Patricia, and Mr. Ireton for standing tall against a corrupt administration that has used our tax dollars and city employees (city solicitor, school administration, etc.) to deny basic American rights--those of free speech, freedom from harassment and discrimination being first on the list of "collateral damage" here in what used to be a much kinder and more civil community before these arrogant abusers of power became so empowered by this curiously passive citizenry. You both have taken a lot of heat and not gotten the kind of support you should have received. Thank you for keeping this message board open. It truly is the only real source of uncensored information in Melrose. Hopefully someday before too much longer the community will wake up and thank you properly.
Dear Citizen....I echo your sentiments concernng the value of this message board! Concerning your remark about hoping the community wakes up to what's going with our city & school leaders, I an not optimistic about this.
Can you believe there are still people out there that are totally ignorant about what the override means to them. Many people still think that it is a one time increase - even though city officials and aldermen have told us that it will be assessed year after year after year!
I'm afraid to say that if ignorance is bliss then Melrose residents are living in ecstasy!
Oop's, sorry for being late on this Patty, I've been out of town. Great to hear you will be saving this board.
Glad to see you're on board.