City Bitties

A virtual army of sidewalk sweepers, rakers and gardeners descended upon the Cambridge Commons this past Saturday, working overtime to get the park in shape for the annual Mayfair festival.

Besides garnering extra pay for city employees, the outdoor extravaganza promises hefty profits for Harvard Square businesses. According to Sally Alcorn, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, local proprietors look forward to the good weather and May 5 celebration to draw customers.

More than 20 Cambridge residents picketted along Commonwealth Ave. in front of the Harvard Club last Friday. Town-gown tensions, however were not the cause.

Instead, members of the North Cambridge Toxic Alert Group hoped to attract the attention of local research firm . Little Co. (ADL). ADL was holding its annual shareholders meeting at the club.

Equipped with respirators, black balloons, and carrying placards reading "Nerve Gas Get Out of Cambridge," protestors distributed leaflets and asked shareholders to reconsider the company's nerve agent research.

One stockholder from Cambridge read a statement at the meeting criticizing ADL's testing of hazardous chemical warfare agents in the city.

Although the city banned such testing a few months ago, ADL obtained court permission to continue the potentially toxic research during the appeals process. The case is currently being considered by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

An estimated 250 people turned out for Monday's Patriots Day celebration on the Cambridge Commons. City Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55, a Cambridge resident since he was eight-years-old, called it the biggest crowd he had seen gathered on the commons in years.

The hour-long festivities featured proclamations from the governor and the mayor and patriotic song and dance from local high school students. The reanactment of William Dawes's--Revere's counterpart--ride through Cambridge highlighted the event. After beginning at Boston's Old North Church and continuing through Brookline, Dawes rode through the Square at about 11 a.m.

The city's veterans services offices and several local veterans groups--including the Polish American Veterans and Jewish Veterans leagues--organized the annual celebration. While the weather surely had a lot to do with Monday's big turnout, Paul J. Ryan director of veteran services for the city, offered another explanation: "I think there's been a rebirth of patriotism in the past few years."

Equipped with respirators, black balloons, and carrying placards reading "Nerve Gas Get Out of Cambridge," protestors distributed leaflets and asked shareholders to reconsider the company's nerve agent research.

One stockholder from Cambridge read a statement at the meeting criticizing ADL's testing of hazardous chemical warfare agents in the city.

Although the city banned such testing a few months ago, ADL obtained court permission to continue the potentially toxic research during the appeals process. The case is currently being considered by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

An estimated 250 people turned out for Monday's Patriots Day celebration on the Cambridge Commons. City Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55, a Cambridge resident since he was eight-years-old, called it the biggest crowd he had seen gathered on the commons in years.

The hour-long festivities featured proclamations from the governor and the mayor and patriotic song and dance from local high school students. The reanactment of William Dawes's--Revere's counterpart--ride through Cambridge highlighted the event. After beginning at Boston's Old North Church and continuing through Brookline, Dawes rode through the Square at about 11 a.m.

The city's veterans services offices and several local veterans groups--including the Polish American Veterans and Jewish Veterans leagues--organized the annual celebration. While the weather surely had a lot to do with Monday's big turnout, Paul J. Ryan director of veteran services for the city, offered another explanation: "I think there's been a rebirth of patriotism in the past few years."