Features
Keeping Golf in Business
By Nancy Arsenault
For the next two weeks, the Stow Independent will take a look at the golf industry in and around Stow, examining how courses have adapted to the changing needs of today’s golfers and how communities view the golf properties that lie within their borders. This week, we will look at one town that took matters into their own hands when faced with a golf course on the verge of selling out.
In Massachusetts, 375 courses share in a $2.8 million local golf industry, producing an economic impact of $1.3 billion, according to statistics released by the Alliance of Massachusetts Golf Organizations.
Pop Legend John Ford Coley at Bull Run
By Ann Needle
Many folks SAY they have a story to tell. And then there’s John Ford Coley, who is his own story. A Grammy nominee and platinum artist — and Texas native, self-styled historian, former social worker, actor — this half of the former 1970s pop duo of England Dan and John Ford Coley will be playing at Shirley’s Bull Run Saturday night.
And, if a recent hour-long conversation with the animated Coley points to anything, it’s to an evening of old and new songs and stories from just about anywhere.
Oliver (Black and Blue) All Over
By Ellen Oliver
When I was invited to play paint ball with former military people and experienced weekend warriors, Nancy Reagan’s words kept ringing in my head: “Just say no.”
Sixteen of us met last Friday morning at Action Paintball in Tewksbury. The paintball compound is at the end of a road that makes you wonder if you’ve taken a wrong turn. Aside from a running freight train barely visible in the distance, the area is remote, prompting one player to claim he heard the banjo music from Deliverance as he drove up.
Needle at Large: Mr. Nashoba
By Ann Needle
Unless you live in reality TV, the world isn’t much for beauty pageants anymore. But don’t tell that to the young men of Nashoba Regional High School. As Friday night’s annual Mr. Nashoba Pageant proved, shirtless sells.
Sponsored by the NRHS Student Council, the pageant was launched a few years back to raise money for the SC’s activities. This year, it was also announced by pageant emcee, Psychology Teacher Bob Griffith, that half the cash earned would be split between the two scholarship funds founded in memory of former Nashoba students Will Hurley of Stow, and Lancaster’s Alison Murphy.
Putting the Money Where the Need Lies
By Nancy Arsenault
The cost of the Marathon bombings is tremendous. Some of that will be borne by the city, the state and the Federal government. But a lot of the cost will be the personal burden of the hundreds of victims and their families.
A week after the explosions, Stow resident and Boston radio personality Greg Hill had raised $226,601 for those families, with over $93,000 already directly dispersed to the people most in need. Thanks to his Greg Hill Foundation and the tremendous generosity of area residents and businesses, the fundraising efforts are Boston Strong.
