Memorial Mass Service for the F/V Lily Jean

Following the 4 PM Memorial Mass Service at Saint Ann’s Church, Fishing Partnership Support Services and Riverside Community Care clinicians will be available in the church basement to support families and friends of the F/V Lily Jean. 

Coffee, food, and space to talk will be provided.

As Gloucester mourns this heartbreaking loss, help is on the ground. Fishing Partnership Navigators are offering trauma support, financial resources, and more. To connect directly, call Morgan Eldredge at 774-722-0737.

As we continue to grieve together, let us support those in our community who need it most.

Mary Anne Nay: Community Engagement Through Biscotti in Newbury

Great to see our Senior District Director, Mary Ann Nay, lending a hand at the Newbury Council on Aging alongside Select Board Chair Bill DiMaio during his biscotti demonstration. Mary Ann serves as a familiar and trusted resource for constituents at the COA each month, and on Thursday she stepped into the role of *sous chef* as well.

Community engagement takes many forms, and whether it’s assisting residents with state matters or helping bring people together around a kitchen counter, Mary Ann brings the same care and commitment to the people of our district and I am grateful to have her as a member of my staff.

Read the full article featured in the Daily News of Newburyport by Matt Petry all about her most recent community engagement at the Newbury COA ⬇

🔗 https://www.newburyportnews.com/.../article_ce445260-7eb9...

Newbury Council On Aging

Friends of the Newbury Council on Aging

Remembering Merlin Hunt Jr.

 

I consider myself fortunate to have known and to have called Merlin a friend. It was an honor to share a few words in his memory at his burial, and I’m grateful that some of those reflections were included in the Gloucester Daily Times' article by Gail McCarthy 'Legacy of Merlin Hunt Jr. lives on in those he mentored or assisted on the roadways.'


EXCERPTS BELOW:


"At his graveside service, Tarr reflected on “Tally’s University,” and being among the alumni of youth who worked there driving tow trucks and pumping gas.

Started by the Taliadoros brothers, Tarr said the second-generation immigrants quickly realized the surname was too long to fit on a tow-truck door — hence it was shortened to Tally’s.

“My family started the company after World War II and over the years it’s been a place where folks got their first job or had an in-between job. For many, it was the beginning of their working career and my uncles used to say it was ‘Tally’s University’ because folks had to learn a lot of things there — about people, the importance of work and being responsible for a lot of different things,” Tarr said. “It taught a lot of life skills, a lot of lessons about business and treating people fairly and with respect.”

AND

Reflecting on Hunt as a young man, Tarr said he was one of Tally’s longest-serving and most dedicated employees. Tarr recalled how Hunt would drive his pick-up truck to work to sleep in it overnight at the garage so he could be on hand to answer the AAA phone calls and respond at once.

“Merlin was legendary because he was the person who would be out there in a blizzard when a plow truck tipped over or when other very challenging situations developed. He was always there,” Tarr continued. “Everyone loves to watch these Weather Channel shows, like ‘Heavy Rescue,’ but in those days we didn’t have that type of modern equipment and hydraulics. We had only ingenuity and our wits to figure it out and Merlin represented the very best of that and a get-it-done attitude.”

“He gave people jobs when they really needed it, whether it was for six months or ten years,” Tarr said."


Read full article


https://tinyurl.com/4d6c9d4c

Statement on the sinking of the F/V Lily Jean

TARR IN THE NEWS | 1.28.26

'Report: Tax Cut to Cost State $5B' 

By Christian Wade | Gloucester Daily Times

EXCERPT BELOW:

"BOSTON — A proposal to cut Massachusetts’ personal income tax to 4% would cost the state government an estimated $5 billion a year in lost revenue, according to a new report from a left-leaning policy group, which warns the move would trigger deep cuts in public services.

Inching toward the Nov. 3 ballot is a proposal by the Massachusetts High Technology Council, Pioneer Institute and other groups to reduce the personal income tax rate from 5% to 4% over three years, which backers say would save individual taxpayers an estimated $3,000 during that period."

"Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, have filed bills every legislative session to lower the rate, but their proposals have been stymied in a Legislature controlled by Democrats."

Read the full article

https://www.gloucestertimes.com/.../article_a1272d38-43a9...

 

TARR IN THE NEWS | 1.26.26

'Damon and Walker named to clamming expansion task force' | By Amy Palmer

Thank you to The Local News for their continued, informative coverage of the newly-formed Shellfish Harvest Expansion Task Force, its membership and our upcoming meeting in February.

EXCERPTS BELOW:

"The task force, led by Sen. Bruce Tarr, will examine multiple options to increase the shellfishing capacity in the area after FDA regulations closed the Ipswich river flats nearly two years ago. Local clammers have long relied on those flats during the winter.

 
“We know it’s not a replacement for that winter fishery, which is particularly important, but we think we’ve pursued that as far as we possibly can right now,” Tarr said. “None of us wants to walk away, so this is an attempt to look at other options, to try to do what we can do.”"

AND

"The group will include Tarr, Rep. Kristin Kassner, Shellfish Constable Matthew Bodwell, Wayne Castonguay of the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), and representatives from the town’s water and wastewater departments.

At the first meeting, which is expected to take place in February, the committee will put all of the options for shellfish expansion on the table, from relocating the wastewater treatment outfall pipe to dredging the river to reclassifying and expanding certain harvesting areas.

The task force is expected to make its final set of recommendations by Dec. 31. Tarr said the group can continue to meet and make recommendations if need be, but he doesn’t want it to become an “endless pursuit without results.”"

Read the full article by Amy Palmer

https://thelocalnews.news/.../damon-and-walker-named-to.../

TARR IN THE NEWS | 1.27.26

'Woman arrested after wrong-way crash on I-95' | Gloucester Daily Times

EXCERPT BELOW:

"Massachusetts legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, and local and state officials have been meeting periodically to consider ways to prevent such crashes in the future.

The North Shore Regional 911 Center has already taken an “action step,” establishing a policy and priorities for wrong-way driving incidents for telecommunication purposes, Tarr said last month."

Read the full article here

https://www.gloucestertimes.com/.../article_b9e6d3d3-bd8f...