Current Editorials

Next Tuesday, Marblehead voters will head to the polls — if they haven’t voted early, or by mail — to cast their votes on elected offices and nine binding referendum questions and one non-binding question, number 10 on the ballot. In recent weeks, the Current has provided detailed descriptions of each question. Today, we offer our positions on them for your consideration. Question 1: Expanding the public records law Voting in favor of this question would make the governor’s office and state legislature subject to…

For most of the past 100 years, we have enjoyed the opportunity to view movies at a cinema called The Warwick. The previous iteration was owned and operated by the McNulty family until 1999. Those involved in the new Warwick have included Johnny Ray, Edgar Alleyne and GM Tim Nasson. As recently reported in the Current, the future sustainability of this local gem has been called into serious question. Allegations of mismanagement, failure to pay vendors and, most troubling, failure to pay employees, some of…

Last December, before Question 1 had even secured a spot on the ballot, the Current called it “an easy yes.” Ten months, one advisory-opinion request and a steady stream of objections later, we still think there’s merit to the proposal to make most records held by the Legislature and the governor’s office public records under state law. But some concerns raised since then, including by our own state representative, merit serious consideration. Start close to home. As the Current reported recently, Marblehead town departments have…

Let's start with what's most important, and what's actually reassuring: When the new U.S. News & World Report ranked Marblehead High School 78th in Massachusetts, down 17 spots from 61st a year ago, no one in the town panicked. There was no wave of anxious letters, no dueling statements from override supporters and skeptics, no attempt to spin a single composite score into either an indictment or an exoneration. It showed up as a brief item in the Current and mostly stayed there. In a…

In the aftermath of an unusual Board of Health meeting whose sole agenda item ended in the censure of one of its members, more than a few people have suggested it is time to move on. We understand the impulse, and in one sense it is right. Tom McMahon has pledged to “be better.” Nothing anyone says or writes will determine whether he does. We wish him luck. But if this episode can be a teachable moment for Mr. McMahon, it can be one for…

"History tends to forget." When Fire Chief Jason Gilliland made this statement to the Current this week, he was referring, of course, to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the 25th anniversary of which will be observed with the traditional ceremony at Memorial Park on Friday, beginning at 10 a.m. We were struck by the chief’s comment, too, that he now has firefighters in his department who weren't yet born when the towers fell. Similarly, many residents were not here a quarter-century ago. They…

Let’s start with what’s most important: Best we can tell, our town officials — and indeed, most adults — share a commitment to doing whatever they can to lessen the chances that another local family will have to bear the worst consequences of teen drinking. Unfortunately, what that concern has recently spawned — a debate led by the Board of Health over whether the cause might be served by repealing the town’s social host bylaw — is a case of misdirected energy. To review: The…