Bob Cutler seems like an unlikely choice for the new executive director of the Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center. Before taking on the role in late November, he had never even played the game.
“In Arizona, where I’m from, you played baseball. That’s what I grew up on,” Cutler said. “I never even played lacrosse until I worked [at the game] with a board member after being hired, but if you have hand-eye coordination, a willingness to learn and a competitive edge, lacrosse can be picked up pretty easily.”
Still, Cutler doesn’t believe his unfamiliarity with the game will hinder him in his new position. “I’m not coaching the kids. I’m running the program,” he added.
Cutler graduated from high school in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1994 and spent the next three years in the U.S. Navy. He then went on to the University of Maine in Orono, where he earned a B.A. in primary education in just three years. After graduation, he taught kindergarten for a year in Maine before taking a sales position in Arizona. While Cutler admits the pay was good, he despised his job and left after a year and a half and relocated to Boston. Most recently, Cutler served as the athletic director and ran the summer camp program for the Hill House, a Beacon Hill community center that works with infants, senior citizens and everyone in between.
Despite Cutler’s athletic ability — he played baseball throughout high school and college — his main focus so far has been to expand the educational programming offered by the Learning Center. He recently launched two reading groups for children in third through sixth grades, and the Learning Center now offers a homework lab for Warren-Prescott Middle School students twice a week, as well as one-on-one tutoring for students from all age groups who need extra attention.
Besides the new partnership with the Warren-Prescott, the Learning Center has also teamed with Advantage Testing, a company that specializes in test preparation, to offer SAT tutorials. And, in the fall, the Learning Center plans to offer test preparation for the Independent School Entrance Examination to aspiring prep school students.
“The biggest thing with the learning center is giving every student the opportunity to success in the classroom,” Cutler said. “Classroom sizes are increasing, and the Learning Center is a great way for kids to get individual or smaller group attention to reinforce their lessons from the classroom.”
This isn’t to suggest that Cutler places less emphasis on lacrosse. (He joined during the off-season, which explains in part why he has focused more on educational programming). Instead, he believes that kids benefit the most from a combination of athletic and academic conditioning. “Our primary goal is to help kids succeed in the classroom, on the field and in life,” Cutler said.
Cutler believes one of the biggest obstacles facing the lacrosse program is that many local kids aren’t familiar with the game. In response to this challenge Cutler and a fellow Charlestown Lacrosse board member, Colin Cox, are running PE classes at the Warren-Prescott and Harvard-Kent schools that aim to introduce approximately 700 kids to the sport.
“Lacrosse isn’t the type of game that most learn growing up or with their parents,” he said. “Having access to kids in PE class will hopefully give them the desire to joining the lacrosse program. We want to put sticks in their hands and help them grow with the sport.”
With this early exposure, Cutler hopes that more kids will pursue lacrosse and join the program. “I would like to see an increase in the number of kids and families participating in Charlestown Lacrosse,” he said, adding that approximately 120 kids from kindergarten through 12th grade took part in the lacrosse program last year.
One obvious benefit of joining Charlestown Lacrosse is that the kids who are involved with extracurricular activities are less likely to get fall prey to substance abuse, teen pregnancy and other pitfalls of adolescent life — a philosophy that Cutler hopes to reinforce with the help of other local youth organizations.
“We recently partnered with Charlestown Against Drugs and the Charlestown Substance Abuse to give kids more exposure to the dangers of drugs, specifically to the athlete’s body,” he said. “We’re constantly looking for new partnerships that give our students an edge in the classroom and on the field.”
Most importantly, Cutler hopes that kids from all over Charlestown can benefit from the programming and the nurturing environment that Charlestown Lacrosse offers.
“Everything that takes place in the Learning Center is free, and the lacrosse fee is comparable with other sports programs in Charlestown,” he said. “The Learning Center is a warm, safe place where lacrosse programming is available to help kids excel in a new sport and to achieve new goals.”
For more information on the Charlestown Lacrosse & Learning Center, call Bob Cutler at 617-242-1813.

Not much attention was paid to the appointment of Boston's new fire commissioner in the city's dailies. Commissioner Roderick Fraser sort of flew in under the radar screen. He's young, energetic and the first civilian commissioner appointed to the post in nearly three decades.
The commissioner came to Charlestown recently where he met with the firefighters at Engines 50 and Engine 32/Ladder 9. He's been making the rounds throughout the fire stations in the city, visiting with all the Boston Fire Department and coming to know the men and the infrastructure of what is arguably one of the best departments in the nation.
"I guess there's really no controversy surrounding my appointment," Fraser joked over lunch recently with members of the Patriot-Bridge editorial staff. "I don't do drugs, I'm not a political insider, and after my shift is over, I go home to my wife and kids...I guess I'm boring."
Hardly.
Fraser grew up in East Millinocket, Maine. He received his bachelor of science in marine engineering from Maine Maritime Academy and was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in April 1986. Fraser spent the next 20 years serving in the Navy in a variety of assignments, culminating in commanding USS Underwood, a guided missile frigate.
Fraser led the ship and crew through a deployment to the Northern Arabian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was the scene-of-action commander responsible for protecting the Iraqi offshore oil terminals at Al Basrah and Khor Al Amaya. He was also responsible for training the Iraqi Navy in anti-terrorism, force protection, ship handling and maritime security procedures.
During his Naval career, Fraser was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal with two Gold Stars, Navy Achievement Medal with one Gold Star and numerous unit awards and commendations.
So why was Fraser on Boston's short list when Mayor Thomas M. Menino was looking to replace Commissioner Paul Christian who retired last year?
"I was the director of naval firefighting training," said Fraser. "I also specialized in chemical, biological and radiological defense."
Impressed yet?
Fraser served as the director of damage control and firefighting training at Surface Warfare Officers School Command, Newport, R.I., from 2000 to 2002, and as the director of engineering training from 2002 to 2004. During this assignment, he was responsible for directing 12 Navy courses of instruction that trained all U.S. Navy officers, from the position of commanding officer down to division officer in marine engineering principals and operations, damage control and shipboard firefighting. Additionally, he worked to bring new firefighting technologies into the Navy and established a new course to train Navy combat systems department heads in the maintenance and quality control programs and procedures for all Navy combat systems equipment.
It's this experience that made Fraser an attractive candidate for the post of commissioner.
"I like his ideas of bringing the department forward with more training and better technology," said East Boston's District Chief Richard Hartnett.
As the city's lead agency on chemical, biological and radiological defense, Fraser plans to have the Boston Fire Department take a stronger leadership role in developing a long-range training program for the department. The plan includes interagency planning and training. Additionally, Fraser will work to improve the diversity of our fire department to better reflect the communities it serves.
"I am deeply honored to have been appointed the 37th commissioner of the Boston Fire Department by Mayor Thomas Menino," said Fraser. "As we take pride in our heritage, we also look to the future to new challenges. I am proud to lead this department in this new century as we strive to improve the services we provide our community."

PHOTO CREDIT: D. Harney

With only one major snowstorm to date this season, the winter is turning out to be a lot less costly for the City of Boston than last year.
During Fiscal Year 2006, which ran from July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, the city spent $1.28 million on personnel for snow removal, according to Jen Mehigan, deputy press secretary for Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s office. So far this Fiscal Year, this expense only adds up to $641,000.
Contract equipment costs were predictably down as well. While this accounted for $6.23 million in expenditures during Fiscal Year 2006, the city has only spent $1.39 million in Fiscal Year 2007.
And even with the rising cost of salt — $42.50 per ton this fiscal year, compared with last fiscal year’s rate of $39 a ton — the city is saving money. The city bought 50,000 tons of salt during the last fiscal year, 26,000 of which went unused. This fiscal year, the city decreased its order to 33,000 tons. To date, 27,000 tons are left unused.
As for where the remaining money goes, Mehigan points out that the city typically dips into its general budget after all the money allotted for snow removal is spent, even during a mild winter. And she adds that despite the scarcity of snow, this winter isn’t necessarily over — yet.
“In the Northeast, we don’t make any assumptions about the weather because a freak storm could hit us in April,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Inspectional Services Department handed out 1,602 tickets for snow infractions between Feb. 15 and 19. Under city ordinances, homeowners who don’t shovel snow from public sidewalks abutting their property within three hours after a storm ends are subject to a $15 fine, while plowing snow into the street carries a $250 penalty.
Approximately 125 Charlestown residents were cited during last week’s sweep, according to an ISD representative.

Engine 50 firefighter Jim O’Brien found himself the reluctant recipient of the Marine Corps League’s Semper Fidelis Public Service Award on Tuesday for his role in saving a badly-maimed soldier last fall in Iraq.
“I’m honored that I should receive such recognition,” O’Brien said. “I’m also humbled by it because a lot of other Marines and sailors have done other good work and not been recognized for it.”
O’Brien, who was profiled in last week’s Patriot-Bridge, served as a Navy corpsman with the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines. On Sept. 4, 2006, while on routine patrol in Fallujah in the Anabar province of Iraq, O’Brien faced enemy fire to rescue two injured Marines from their armored vehicle after it struck a roadside bomb. O’Brien personally tended to one soldiers who lost a leg in the explosion — Sgt. Terrence “Shane” Burke of Dorchester — before turning him over to Navy doctors at a nearby medical facility.
On Tuesday, O’Brien was given his accolade as part of Iwo Jima Day, which commemorates the pivotal WWII battle where the U.S. defeated Japan in 1945 and its veterans. Each year, a procession marches from City Hall Plaza to the State House. A ceremony then takes place at the State House, which includes the Marine League Corps’ award presentations.
“I’m honored to be in the presence of Iwo Jima veterans on Iwo Jima Day,” O’Brien said.
In addition to O’Brien, Burke, who served with 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, also received the Naval Achievement Award.

Safety goes with class
Community leaders here would be among the first to tout the safety, in general, of Charlestown outside of its projects. The neighborhood is reasonably safe, with an occasional homicide, random shooting, stabbing or beating disrupting the pervasive calm.
For many people living on Charlestown’s better streets and in its tonier residences, violence and lawlessness are things to read about in the Globe or the Herald or to watch on the television news.
According to a report carried in the Sunday Herald and based on statistics on file with the Boston Police Department, Charlestown’s Navy Yard is one of the safest places to live in all of Boston.
As was stated in the report: “Charlestown’s Navy Yard - one of the safest areas of the city - is less than a mile away from one of Boston’s worst crime zones, the Bunker Hill housing development.”
The case can be made that the Navy Yard really isn’t Charlestown –— at least, since it closed for business in the early 1970s. Many of the residents there come and go from the smaller rental units that cater to the younger set on the move in their lives. There’s no crime in that. Indeed.
The very rich living on the water in extravagant townhouses and everyone else in the Navy Yard are basically residing in a crime-free oasis.
If only the rest of our neighborhood could be as crime free.
Perhaps there is something to be learned from the Navy Yard experience that leads to so much less crime. Is something going on there we ought to know about or is it simply about demographics and the absence of something like the Bunker Hill housing development?

Tom Brady
Those of you who are Patriots fans are now aware that quarterback Tom Brady and his ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynihan are having a child. Most of us who live a bit more conventionally usually marry, then the children follow, and a family is formed.
Moynihan apparently wanted to be married. Brady did not. They’ve been separated for three months, and now its been announced in the media – on the front pages of both Boston dailies – that she is pregnant with Brady’s child.
You have to wonder what has become of privacy when the pregnancy of the Patriots quarterback’s ex-girlfriend is front page news. This is for sure, the Brady we have come to know from afar – from television and the newspapers – is a classy young man who appears humble in victory and magnanimous in defeat.
This may not be his ideal situation, but we hope he’ll make the best of it by being a father to the child and a generous ex-boyfriend to his former lover.
As long as he doesn’t emulate Larry Bird, the great former Celtic star who hid an illegitimate child and paid little notice to her until she was discovered by the press, Brady will be OK.
He seems like a good guy. He should make a good father.