Two separate efforts are now underway to recognize St. Francis de Sales Cemetery as a significant historic landmark.
The Boston Irish Tourism Association, which promotes Irish heritage throughout the state, plans to include the 19th century cemetery on its Heritage Trail guide, alongside 72 other landmarks. Besides St. Augustine’s Church cemetery in South Boston, St. Francis de Sales Cemetery is the second oldest Catholic cemetery in New England, according to Michael Quinlin, president of the Boston Irish Tourism Association.
. “As time goes on, it’s important that we preserve these landmarks for the next generation,” Quinlin said.
Quinlin has also entered Boston into the “Twin City of Bushmills in America” contest sponsored by Bushmills Irish History, with support from Sen. Jack Hart and City Council President Maura Feeney. If Boston beats out the other finalists — Portland, Maine, and Louisville, Ky. — Quinlin would use half of the $40,000 prize money from the 400-year-old Irish distillery to restore significant Irish-American monuments, including St. Francis de Sales Cemetery.
While Quinlin said the decision to renovate the cemetery was ultimately not his to make, he offered to lend his organization’s support in any way possible, including bringing in preservationists to look at gravestones in danger of toppling over and sponsoring spring clean-ups.
“We’d like to clean up the graveyard and make it a place where people can go who are interested in genealogy,” Quinlin said.
Quinlin also applauded the work of Rev. Daniel Mahoney of St. Francis de Sales Church for looking after the cemetery located behind the church Bunker Hill Street. “That’s a lot for one parish to maintain by itself,” he said.
Another effort is underway from the filmmakers of the 1996 documentary “Green Square Mile: History of the Charlestown Irish” to build a memorial honoring the 9,000 Irish people buried at the gravesite. Proceeds from the film will be used to finance the project.
“It’s a tremendously historical piece of property in my view,” said Ed Callahan, one of the documentary’s producers and its narrator.
Callahan also hopes a memorial will compel more relatives of those buried at the graveyard to visit the site. “A lot of individuals don’t visit the graveyard to look for headstones of their loved ones because they’re gone,” he said.
Meanwhile, Quinlin believes the time is right to preserve St. Francis de Sales Cemetery for future generations.
“As neighborhoods change and ethnic groups move on to other places, it would be a shame if the Charlestown Irish weren’t remembered for their contributions to the town,” Quinlin said. “One of the ways we can do this is to make sure that landmarks are treated with the reverence they deserve, especially when it comes to cemeteries.”
If you’re interested in contributing to the memorial from the makers of “Green Square Mile,” donations can be sent to the Charlestown Historical Society, P.O. Box 291776, Charlestown, MA 02129.

CREDIT: Courtesy of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

CAPTION 1: Pictured, left to right, are Jackson, Caitlyn and Cathy McDermott.

CAPTION 2: Tony’s Team members and friends: Daniela Agin, age 8; Max Agin, age 10; Morgan Franklin, age 11;, Eli Swab, age 10; Ben Ringrose, age 10; Jackson McDermott, age 11; and Caitlyn McDermott, age 8.

Following the untimely death last month of Charlestown resident Anthony McDermott to cancer at age 41, his children, Jackson and Caitlyn McDermott, wanted to do something to honor Anthony’s memory.
Jackson, age 12, formed Tony’s Team in memory of their father, an avid skier, and took part in the CSC Jimmy Fund Snow Challenge at Nashoba Valley in Westford, Mass., on Feb. 9. This year’s snow challenge raised more than $50,000 for cancer care and research through Boston-based Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund. As for Tony’s team, they raised nearly $20,000 — the most of any team — and won the first place youth team prize, as well as competition’s biggest prize for the fastest new overall time. While not a member of Tony’s Team, Caitlyn, age 11, raced in the Snow Challenge to raise money for the Jimmy Fund in her father’s name.
“They felt great about what they accomplished for the Jimmy Fund and for themselves,” said Cathy McDermott, Anthony’s wife of 13 years and the mother of his children.
Immediately following Anthony’s death, Jackson wanted to participate in the Jimmy Fund Walk. Anthony and Cathy took part in the fundraising walk in September of 2007.
With help from thee McDermott kids’ teacher at the Learning Project Elementary School in the Back Bay, Caroline Carver, Jackson and Caitlyn found a link to the Snow Challenge Web site and began planning for the competition.
“I think it gave them some immediate relief and made them feel like they could do something,” Cathy said. “It’s been extremely helpful to them. It helped them put their grief aside and focus on something positive.”
Cathy also credits her friends Charlestown for helping the family through this difficult time.
“Our friends and neighbors couldn’t have been more helpful,” she said. “There was a constant flow of people helping us out by talking to us, brining us food and sponsoring Tony’s Team in the race.”
And the McDermott children’s work isn’t done yet: They plan to participate in the Jimmy Fund Walk in September and take part in the Snow Challenge again next year.
“As a parent, I couldn’t be more proud,” Cathy said. “Both kids wanted to make sure that [what happened to us] doesn’t happen to other families.”

CAPTION: State Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty.

With Massachusetts facing a $1.3 billion deficit, the House of Representatives is left with the daunting challenge of closing this gap as it prepares the state’s balanced budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2009.
The proposal is being prepared by the House’s Ways and Means Committee in response to the budget bill for Fiscal Year 2009 (which runs from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009) submitted by Gov. Deval Patrick in January and will be debated in the House in April. The House’s budget is still being finalized during weekly meetings between State Rep. Robert DeLeo, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, and Speaker of the House Salvatore Dimasi’s leadership team.
State Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty, a member of the speaker’s leadership team, described the process of preparing the $26 billion budget as “setting up the framework for the most important thing the House does each year.”
Perhaps the most notable difference between the House and the governor’s budget proposals is in terms of casino revenues. While the House includes projected earnings from slot machines at racetracks, the governor’s budget includes income from five proposed Massachusetts casinos and anticipates $124 million in revenue.
While Dimasi has promised that casino gambling will be up for debate in the House this year, O’Flaherty said the speaker has expressed reservations about the proposal.
“We’re reluctant to embrace [casino gambling] because we’re unclear where the numbers are and whether, in the long term, they can solve the fiscal problems we have in the Commonwealth,” O’Flaherty said.
The House proposal recommends $100 million in its budget that will affect programs proving services such as housing, food stamps and homeless shelters. O’Flaherty said deciding which programs will ultimately lose out to budget cuts is “the most difficult part of the whole debate.”
Another House recommendation would adjust the cigarette tax by one dollar per pack. Besides lowering the number of smokers and reducing long-term healthcare costs, the House expects the additional tax will generate $152 million in new revenue for the state.
Still, O’Flaherty is skeptical of the proposed cigarette tax.
“It’s a controversial piece because if we can avoid cigarette, alcohol and gas taxes, you’re saving people money who can’t afford to spend more on a regular basis,” he said.
The House also advises drawing $229 million for the budget from the state’s Stabilization Fund or “rainy day fund,” which would still maintain a balance of $2 billion – one of the highest in the nation. Other recommendations include suspending the transfer of $107 million in additional funds to the Stabilization Fund and using the $91 million in interest earned on the fund in the state budget.
For Massachusetts businesses, O’Flaherty described two House recommendations as their “salt” and “butter.”
The “salt” comes in the form of proposed business tax reforms of combined reporting and federal “check-the-box” regulations (which allow domestic unincorporated businesses to elect to be classified either as partnerships or corporations). The tax reforms, which O’Flaherty said are signs of cooperation between the House and the governor’s office, would result in $289 million in new revenue for the Commonwealth.
“By changing the tax structure, we got more money from businesses in Massachusetts, but not by putting Massachusetts businesses at a disadvantage because it would be in tandem with what most states already have,” O’Flaherty said.
The “butter” for state businesses is an incremental reduction in the corporate tax rates from the current 9.5 percent to 7 percent over three years, amounting to $85 million in savings for businesses in this fiscal year. The net result of the tax reforms and the corporate tax reduction is $204 million in revenue for the Commonwealth in Fiscal Year 2009.
Another House incentive for Massachusetts businesses recommends freezing the unemployment insurance rate. This would save businesses $150 million to invest in the Commonwealth, while increasing the unemployment trust fund to nearly $1.3 billion.
As for the results of its budget proposal, the House expects it will allow the state to increase local aid and Chapter 70 (which go to local schools) funds, while giving local businesses an additional $235 million to Massachusetts businesses to invest in the state’s economy. The overall business contribution, meanwhile, would be increased by only $54 million.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority’s plan to relocate MBTA water shuttle service from Pier 4 to Pier 3 in the Navy Yard has raised safety concerns among residents, as well as the possibility that the move will mean an extended walk for some commuters.
A Feb. 12 meeting sponsored by the Friends of the Charlestown Navy Yard Development Committee was held for the purpose to collect public comments for submittal to the BRA and the state’s Executive Office of Transportation, which awarded the BRA a $1.5 million grant to rehabilitate Pier 3 in April of 2007. Approximately 80 residents and elected officials, including State Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty and City Councilors Sal LaMattina, Michael Flaherty and John Connolly, were in attendance. (Sen. Anthony Galluccio has also sent the BRA written comments regarding the water shuttle relocation).
The proposed move was referenced in the Water Dependent Use Management Plan, an amendment to the BRA’s 1991 Municipal Harbor Plan that was submitted concurrently with Charlestown Navy Yard Waterfront Activation Network Plan to the state’s Environmental Office of Environmental Affairs. The Boston Conservation Committee approved the waterfront construction components of the project in November.
The BRA maintains that relocation of the water shuttle service to Pier 3 would allow Courageous Sailing Center to expand its programming in the Navy Yard and better accommodate visiting naval vessels.
According to a BRA document obtained by the Patriot-Bridge, “The Charlestown Navy Yard was developed to encourage additional public use and enjoyment of the Navy Yard and its waterfront location. Moving the docking facility will enable the BRA to achieve its goals as stated in the Network Plan.”
Despite the BRA’s claims, residents expressed concern that a proposed bridge over Dry Dock 2 had been moved from Phase 1 to Phase 4 of the project. The bridge, which would provide access to the new ferry stop, would mean an additional 50-yard walk for commuters, as opposed to walking around Dry Dock 2, according to Michael Parker, chairman of Friends of the Charlestown Navy Yard.
Other concerns raised at the meeting were in regard to personal safety, lighting, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, vehicular drop off and maintenance to Pier 3 along Baxter Road.
While Parker commended the improvements to the Navy Yard, he believes concerns raised by the water-shuttle relocation still must be resolved.
“We are happy that the BRA and EOT are putting much needed infrastructure dollars into rehabilitating the Charlestown waterfront.” Parker said. “Combined with the National Park Service's recent proposal to rehab Pier 1, this will serve to activate and improve the waterfront. However, there were many concerns provided by the public that need to be more fully addressed by the BRA, such as the personal safety of commuters and whether the facility will comply with the American Disability Act.”