Sentinel & Enterprise (Newspaper) - June 1, 2002, Fitchburg, Massachusetts SPORTS Knights advance in Div. 2 softball tourney Page Bl LOCAL NEWS Only two races for local lawmakers Page AS WORLD U.S. asks diplomats to leave India Page A7 THE VOICE OF NORTH SINCE 1838 A new day is SENTINEL JULIA CHENG Josean Miguel waits with other graduating seniors in the Fitchburg High School cafeteria for the opening procession of commencement Friday at the school's field Fitchburg High graduates 257 By Andrienne Clark com day is dawning for the 257 members of the Fitchburg High School Class of Thomas A told his classmates Friday night during the school's graduation ny in the field the Fitchburg High tion ceremony is held at Crocker but thunderstorms forced school administrators to move it into the field This was the first time the facility had been used for this purpose since the new school opened in September 2000. Laakso took as his theme a line from the Led Zeppelin to which Please see FITCHBURG A5 Graduates a St. Bernard's High School graduates 125 By Lisa E. Dupill com the roof of the Performing Arts Center at Regional Vocational Technical School shook under a pour during the 80th commencement of St. Bernard's Central Catholic High a rainbow appeared just in time for the graduates to receive their diplomas Such an event would have no small significance to those in the theater gathered to celebrate the release of 125 students in the class of 2002 into the St. Bernard's Principal Daniel W. Costello and graduating senior Deonne O'Connor received a round of applause for a fine duet performance of the National Following a theme of twos in honor of the Student Council President Shelby Peterson and Class President Natalie Toomey advised their mates to hold to the values and spirit gained at St. unity we earned was put to the test many but we have over- come many obstacles through ter and values we Peterson is only the it's not an Toomey said Headmaster John A. Bierden the two class Julia Bishop and Kristina Nicastro with an explanation was less than of a point difference in their grades and we felt that they both earned the Bierden daughter of David and Nancy Bishop has earned the respect of her classmates and the and earned top he She will attend William and Mary College in the fall Nicastro participated in many school activities and traveled to Ireland as a student ambassador in her junior The daughter of Phillip and Sandy she will attend Stoneham College in the Bishop reminded her classmates of a line from a song new beginning comes from another be- Commending family teachers and staff of the Bishop four years we were told to tuck in our shirts and spit out the gum but you taught us to You made us work for what we want and we are Nicastro called teachers and staff on She also thanked families and Please see ST. BERNARD'S A9 SENTINEL ENTERPRISE JULIA CHENG Shelby Lynn Lady of the class of sheds tears as she awaits the conferment of diplomas at St. Bernard's Central Catholic High School held Friday at Regional Vocational Technical Democrats gather in Worcester WORCESTER The Democratic candidates launched a last-minute push to court party activists and woo voters on as thousands of Democrats arrived in Worcester for the party Stakes at the convention were some of the five candidates face the prospect that after months of and their candidacies could be over by weekend's Delegates flocked to the Worcester Centrum wearing brightly colored buttons and stickers touting their favorite Huge campaign banners hung from the and delegates watched vintage television ads for a youthful U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and the late U.S. Paul 1992 presidential Tim who grew up in Lebanon and worked in Jamaica for the Peace veled at the thousands of people who had turned out on a night when the Celtics were playing a decisive playoff game and the Red Sox were playing the lived in countries where democracy was a privilege and not a and it depended on the money you had or your Garvin said religion of America is U.S. Rep. Martin received an award named for Tsongas in honor of his efforts in Congress fighting for campaign finance Friday several of the gubernatorial Please see DEMS A5 Church to require background checks By Robert Mills com All employees and volunteers who work with minors of the Diocese of Worcester will have to undergo criminal background checks as part of a revised policy on sexual abuse of minors re- leased Along with the revised Bishop Daniel P. Reilly has established the Office of Healing and which will work to provide services to victims of those accused of abuse and according to a press re- The sexual abuse which was last re- vised in also spells out procedures for re- porting allegations of The full text of the policy is available on the Web The policy mandates that anyone who is aware of abuse report it to civil authorities and the diocese Such reports can be made to the Initial Review which handles all new allegations of The com- can be reached at 929-4348. Please see POLICY A4 Chinese city's economic progress impresses delegation By Andrienne Clark FITCHBURG The signing of a Sister City agreement with has opened a new world for Fitchburg now has the very est level contacts and relationships with China and that is very cial for said Robert A. administrative tant to Mayor Dan H. The agreement was signed May 20 at a ceremony in the Crystal Palace Hotel in the port city of Tianjin ing a visit of Fitchburg city ment officials and the Fitchburg Sister City Committee the week of May 19 through 24. Besides the delegation included Michael A. Fitchburg economic development di- Marcia D. man of the Fitchburg Sister City Heide a com- Daniel S. a member of the Fitchburg Redevelopment and for- mer Mayor Mary H. as the mayor's and as Sister City Committee signed on behalf of Fitchburg and Zhang Guo vice chief of the Tianjin dis- signed for During the the delegation discussed plans for Tianjin officials to visit Fitchburg either next fall or spring 2003. The signing ceremony also ed an exchange of gifts between the two Fitchburg gave leaders a silver bowl engraved with the date of the agreement and the names of the a tapestry from the Fitchburg Historical Society woven with images of Fitchburg Coggshall Park T-shirts with images of city key chains with the Millennium City logo and Fitchburg State College Please see CHINA A4 PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT PONTBRIAND The vice mayor of Zhang guo presents a gift to Robert assistant to Fitchburg Mayor Dan at a ceremony in China establishing a Sister City A delegation from Fitchburg visited China last INSIDE TODAY VISIT Us ONLINE AT Partly chance of showers Classified Comics B4 Crossword B4 Editorial A6 Entertainment B5 Local A3 Lotteries A2 A7 Obituaries A7 Seniors A10 State A2 Sports