CAPTION: The Charlestown Recovery House is seen during Saturday’s grand opening ceremony.

The grand opening of the Charlestown Recovery House on Saturday was the culmination of a journey to bring a substance abuse facility to the neighborhood that began 15 years ago.
“It’s one of the most attractive new buildings in town,” Recovery House President Jim Travers said of Hayes Square facility that will provide treatment for 25 males over the age of 18. “It will be well maintained, and it’s a symbol of hope.”
In 1993, Rev. Ronald D. Coyne, then the pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish, met with Travers and the other future Recovery House board members Kevin Smith, Tom Howard and Paul O’Donnell and broached the idea of bringing a treatment facility to Charlestown. After the original plan to open a sober house in the convent behind St. Catherine of Siena Church fell through, Coyne and the future board members were left to find a new site for the facility, which Travers said was no easy task due to code issues and the lack of available real estate in the neighborhood.
The team behind the Recovery House scored a coup in 1997 when they were able to secure a $150,000 grant for the creation of a sober house through Partners Health Care Systems’ Community Benefits Program for drug and alcohol prevention ideas. “In the beginning, people didn’t want a recovery house,” Travers said, adding that the Partners process entailed 20 meetings. Soon afterward Partners awarded the grant, the Charlestown Recovery House was incorporated as a 501 (c)3 tax-exempt organization.
Over the course of the next year, the Recovery House board of directors set out to find a site that could accommodate a treatment facility and began working with the City of Boston to achieve this goal. In the spring of 2000, the Boston Redevelopment Authority designated the Recovery House as the developer of the lot at Bunker Hill and Moulton streets that the facility will share with the police substation that is currently under construction.
With design plans completed, the Recovery House won the support of the Charlestown Neighborhood Council at a meeting at the Harvard-Kent School, and soon afterwards, the fundraising and planning processes for the facility began. In the fall of 2003, the Recovery House partnered with Bay Cove Human Services, a Boston not-for-profit provider for families facing developmental disabilities, aging, mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction.
The Recovery House found another early ally in State Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty, who helped allocate $100,000 in state funding to help set up a referral program. To date, O’Flaherty has helped the Recovery House secure $600,000 in state monies and helped allocate an additional $460,000 to Bay Cove for the day-to-day cost of operating the Recovery House.
With state funding in place, the referral program was launched in 2004, which included a 24-hour treatment hotline. The service continues to operate on a volunteer basis under the guidance of board members Smith, Howard and Kristin Lundgren. Since its inception, Travers said the referral program has fielded approximately 750 calls and provided 450 people with services.
“That started familiarizing people with how to get help,” Travers said of the referral program. “We were able to precipitate a sea change by getting people into services.”
And Travers said the program has shown results, citing an 11 percent decrease in Charlestown’s overdose rate in Fiscal Year 2006, compared with Fiscal Year 2005. This also coincided with a 29-percent increase citywide during the same timeframe. Mortality rates from drug overdoses in Charlestown also dropped 41 percent from 2002-2003 to 2004-2005.
In recent years, the Recovery House has been the recipient of great financial support, which helped to defray the roughly $4 million cost of building the facility. This included a $2 million grant from Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as a mortgage loan from Citizens Bank and a $50,000 commitment from the Boston Foundation for the debt if necessary. Additionally, Teamsters Local 25 donated $10,000, and the Recovery House received smaller gifts from the Morrison family, among others.
The Recovery House has also received pro bono professional services, including architectural services from Rich De Coste of Woodbrier Associates and free labor courtesy of Suffolk Construction. Attorneys from the Boston law firms Hinckley Allen Snyder LLP and Rubin and Rudman have also provided legal services at no cost.
On Nov. 17 of last year, the community got its chance to support the Recovery House when a fundraiser took place at Knights of Columbus Hall. The event, which included legendary Boston comedians Steve Sweeney, Tony V. and Lenny Clarke, drew approximately 400 people and helped raise $30,000 for the cause.
“Everybody got to participate… so there was ownership of the house,” Travers said. “When people are given the opportunity, they’ll do the right thing.”
Unlike the city’s other treatment facilities like the Granada House in Allston, the Gavin House in South Boston and the Meridian House in East Boston, Travers said what makes the Recovery House most unique is that it was built from the ground up.
“Many neighborhoods in the country would like to do what this program did,: Travers said. “This doesn’t happen everywhere. Dreams do come true.”

CAPTION: Bill Durette, Chief Marshall of the 2008 Battle of Bunker Hill Parade.

In April when Charlestown native Bill Durette was asked to be Chief Marshall of the 2008 Battle of Bunker Hill Parade, he reluctantly agreed to do it in memory of Charlestown veterans who gave their lives while serving their country.
“My first reaction was it’s quite an honor, but I’m not a war hero,” Durette said. “I only served during peace time.”
Born on March 9, 1960, Durette grew up at O’Brien Court before his family relocated to Samuel Morse Way and then Bunker Hill Street. He attended the Kent, Harvard and Edwards schools. After graduating from Charlestown High School in 1977, Durette enlisted in the Army.
“It was something I always wanted to do as far back as I can remember,” Durette said. “Growing up in Charlestown, a lot of veterans were my heroes so that inspired me to do it.”
After completing basic training at Fort Knox, Durette was stationed at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and the U.S. Naval Air Station in Key West, Fla., as a member of the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade. In Key West, he attended the Special Forces Green Beret scuba diving school. He eventually took several assignment with Special Forces for which he won an award for small unit tactics. Durette completed his final three years of active duty at Fort Bliss in Texas. After active duty Durette served in the Army reserves for 10 years.
After active duty Durette returned to Charlestown in 1981 and found work as a field service engineer fixing Compugraphic typesetters. In 1990, he started working in the semiconductor industry. During this time, he lived and worked in Florida for five years and Singapore for two years. In 2001, he returned home and took a job with a company that manufactures explosive detection devices. Today, Durette works for Woburn-based scientific instrument firm Innov-X Systems, Inc.
In 2004, Durette’s fascination with the military inspired him to join the New England Living History Association, which reenacts World War II battles. Durette and other members of the organization were featured on an Ocean Videos documentary that will eventually air on PBS.
Durette is also a member of the veterans organizations Memorial Hall and the 26th Yankee Division Association.
In 2004, Durette came across a story about the Library of Congress keeping oral histories of veterans who served in WWII as historical records. This inspired him to launch the Charlestown Veterans Project in conjunction with the Charlestown Historical Society. He eventually took all the information he gathered and held a World War II Living History Day. The Veterans Project’s inaugural event was held on Veterans Day Weekend 2006, One thousand people turned out for event and walked away with a renewed appreciation on what Charlestown veterans did during World War II.
“We need to teach people and educate them about Charlestown’s contributions [to the military],” Durette said, adding that his grandfather was a World War II veteran. “We need to leave documentation for future generations. My 8-year-old daughter Gabrielle knows more about WWII then most kids older then her.”
As part of the Charlestown Living History Project, Durette is now compiling materials for a documentary that will focus on the men from Charlestown who fought in the Battle of Okinawa during World War 1I, specifically the six Charlestown men who were killed in the Battle in 1945. Durette learned during the course of his research that one veteran lived at 58 O’Brien Court, the same hallway where his family settled years later.
Durette’s other interests include scuba diving, and he has visited diving sites worldwide, including diving the Japanese wrecks in Truk Lagoon, Micronesia, where during WWII, planes from the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill helped sink the Japanese ships there in 1944.
As for the parade, Durette has worked with Memorial Hall and the Charlestown Historical Society in creating a moving Honor Roll Wall that will be part of this year’s parade. The honor roll wall will list all the names of each person killed during World War I, World War II, the Korea War and the Vietnam War and will be transported on a flatbed truck, where spectators will have the option of placing flowers in honor of the Charlestown men and women who made the supreme sacrifice.
And he is expecting a good turnout this year.
“People said they would come to see this who haven’t been to the parade in years,” Durette said.

CAPTION: An artist’s rendering of the Bunker Hill Community College Health and Wellness Center.

Bunker Hill Community College broke ground Tuesday for a 48,000-square-foot Health and Wellness Center, the first new building on the Charlestown campus in 30 years, Mary L. Fifield, BHCC president, announced. The new building will house state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories supporting students majoring in nurse education and health professions.
“The college is committed to helping Greater Boston meet workforce needs in healthcare, a critical component of the regional economy,” said Jesse M. Thompson, executive vice president and CFO. “Since 2003, Bunker Hill Community College’s enrollment in healthcare degree programs has nearly doubled. This project is essential to supporting that growth.”
David B. Perini, Massachusetts Commissioner of the Division of Capital Asset Management, took part in the groundbreaking, as did State Sen. Anthony D. Galluccio, State Rep. Eugene L. O’Flaherty and former State Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios, who is now head the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.
The new structure, at a cost of $22.7 million, will provide additional faculty and administrative offices, a gymnasium and a fitness center. Engineered to take advantage of natural light, conserve water and reduce energy requirements for heating and cooling, the building will meet requirements for LEED Silver Certification.

CREDIT: Courtesy of the National Park Service

CAPTION: A view of Pier 1 in the Navy Yard from the water shuttle.

The National Park Service has announced plans to build a new ferry landing and a covered visitors’ shelter at the end of Pier 1 in the Navy Yard.
According to Park Service planner Ruth Raphael, the new pile-supported floating system will measure approximately 78 by 25 feet, with a set of set of four ramps connecting it to a fixed pier at Pier 1. The visitors’ shelter has been designed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standard for Historic Preservation in a style consistent with the small-scale structures in the Navy Yard, which is designated a National Historic Landmark. The new barge will be built off-site, and minimal construction would take place at Pier 1. The dock and shelter will both be furnished with solar LED lighting. The estimated cost of the project is between $1.3 million and $1.4 million, said project manager Stephen Carlson.
“The purpose [of the project] is to make it a safer, more structurally sound facility,” Raphael said, adding that the new barge would have three kinds of freeboards to make it accessible to more boats. “We’re improving the facility we already have and opening up new possibilities.”
The new ferry landing will replace the existing barge, which the Park Service received as surplus from the state Environmental Protection Agency in 1978, Raphael said, adding that the deck of the existing barge was uneven and had to be pumped full of foam to keep it afloat.
As part of the project, Raphael said the Park Service had filed for legislation through State Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty seeking exemption from the current state harbor line, which now extends to the end of Pier 1. The legislation would extend the harbor line by approximately 50 feet and allow Park Service rangers to have jurisdiction over the area.
The project is currently in the design phase. Pending approval of the new legislation, construction would begin in July and should be completed by mid-September, Raphael said.
For more information or to comment on the project, visit http://parkplanning.nps.gov/bost.