SALEM — Talk about beauty and the beast.
The Salem Jail, once a community eyesore draped in razor wire, won a big award this week.
The National Housing and Rehabilitation Association, a trade group based in Washington, D.C., announced that the jail restoration won its J. Timothy Anderson Award for excellence in historic rehabilitation.
The Timmy Award is named for a Boston architect who played a key role in the redevelopment of Miami's art deco South Beach.
"We are thrilled," said Dennis Kanin, one of the principals (with David Goldman) of New Boston Ventures. "It's a great tribute to all the people who worked on this, including the city of Salem, the Salem Redevelopment Authority and the mayor."
The jail has 22 apartments, which rented out last spring in a few weeks. It also is home to a new restaurant, Great Escape.
Just to put this achievement in perspective, this is the building that former Mayor Stan Usovicz bought from the state for $1. After touring the dilapidated structure, a smiling Usovicz emerged to announce: "I think I overpaid."
To read or not to read
For those who struggle to understand the Bard, acting it out can help.
That's the philosophy Peggy O'Brien exercised during a recent visit to Salem Academy Charter School, where she guided students as they acted out William Shakespeare.
O'Brien is founder of the Folger's Teaching Shakespeare Institute in Washington, D.C.; edited the education series "Shakespeare Set Free"; and received the Shakespeare Steward Award in 2008.
"If I had been taught to read Shakespeare like that, I definitely would have understood it better in previous years," student Dustin Bagley said.
In addition to Shakespeare expert, O'Brien is also mother to upper-school adjustment counselor Beth O'Brien.
Testing is hell?
School Committee member Brendan Walsh isn't shy about much, including his disdain for government educational policies related to standardized testing.
But it was hard not to notice his rancor and raised voice at a meeting this week, where members discussed Salem's low scores on the recent state MCAS exams.
"I get concerned that everybody just bows to MCAS because that is the measure," Walsh said.
Colleague Jim Fleming said the city can't ignore the test scores.
"... And I know the educators don't like MCAS," he said, "but MCAS is the measuring rod for academic achievement, and we can't get away from it."
Responding to the comments by Fleming, a Vietnam veteran, Walsh said that "the body count was the measure of success — and that worked well."
Walsh also said the government that established the No Child Left Behind Act is "the same government that had 'mission accomplished'" in Iraq.
As she tried to keep the peace, Mayor Kim Driscoll, who chairs the school board, acknowledged the standard is "harder for some communities to meet ... than others ... and it happens to be the law of the land."
"The Nuremberg laws were the law of the land in Germany at one time," Walsh retorted.
Officer praised
Salem film buff Derek Caron, an associate court officer at Salem Superior Court, experienced a real-life drama Tuesday morning when he looked at a security monitor and saw an older man who had collapsed on the grass behind the courthouse.
As two correctional officers who were nearby called 911, Caron raced out the door to assist the man, then ran back, grabbed a defibrillator and then ran back again. The device detected a faint pulse and instructed Caron to begin chest compressions, which he did until an ambulance arrived.
Sadly, the man didn't make it, but Caron earned praise from the judges for his quick response.
Business boom
During this tough time for the U.S. economy, downtown Salem is booming.
This year alone, nine restaurants and 16 retail or takeout stores opened, which is pretty impressive. Those new businesses created 226 jobs, according to statistics provided by the city.
Can you name those new restaurants?
They are: Adriatic, Cafe Polonia, Cafe Valverde, Comida Mexican Taqueria (takeout), Coven, Custom House Rotisserie, Great Escape, Green Land Cafe, Howling Wolf Taqueria and Seaport Cafe.
Healthy Halloween
Unless it rains all Halloween weekend, the crowds are expected to be tremendous.
There are lots of early indicators that this will be a big year, including the information booth on the pedestrian mall. It had about 3,000 inquiries on a typical weekend in 2009 and has approached 5,000 on weekends this year.
Bigger than Salem?
There was a shocking story in Westchester (N.Y.) Magazine.
A writer boldly began a story with the prediction that "Westchester is overtaking Salem, Massachusetts, as the Halloween capital of the country."
She went on to gush about the 68,000 people who came last year to view 4,000 jack-o'-lanterns. That's a pittance compared to the mob that descends on this city. Those 68,000 people could walk naked through Salem on Halloween night and not even be noticed. Not that we're suggesting that.
Of course, to give them their due, Westchester is home to Sleepy Hollow of Ichabod Crane and Headless Horseman fame, and they do have a modern-day attraction called Horseman's Hollow, an outdoor haunted trail.
But, really. Overtaking Salem? We think not.
Power play
Does anyone know who's in charge of the Salem power plant now that Mike Fitzgerald has retired to begin a second career in rock music? (Don't laugh, Fitzgerald actually cut a CD a few years ago).
We called Dominion Energy in Virginia to pose that question.
And the answer is — Donald Craft Jr.
He went to North Carolina State, did graduate engineering work at Virginia Tech, and was director of fossil and hydro operations at five plants, including Salem, before being assigned here.
Craft has been with Dominion for 31 years.
Staff writer Julie Manganis contributed to this report.
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