Little League officially in drawing for free lights

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — The Little League moved one step closer to winning free lights from Granite City Electric Friday, when the city became one of eight communities participating in the competition to surpass the required 1,500 votes on the company’s Web site. Mayor Mark Hawke, who has been advocating for residents to go online and vote in the competition for the past few weeks, said it is exciting to know that the league is now officially entered. “I have sent out a lot of e-mails, the Web site is on my blog and I sent out notices to city councilors and friends,” said Mr. Hawke. “When I first went online and voted there were something like 65 votes and now to see we are getting toward 2,000 is fantastic and hopefully we will be successful.” Although there are two dozen communities listed in the competition, only eight have met the 1,500 mark, which Mr. Hawke said is very encouraging for the city’s chances. ] This will be the fourth installment of Granite City Electric’s “Field of Dreams, with Holliston winning in 2005, Pembroke two years ago, and Whitman last year. “With 12 days left one or two more of these towns might make it, so we are looking to have about a ten percent chance of winning,” said Mr. Hawke. The Little League, which has been chartered in the city for 54 years, is the largest youth organization in the city, and board member Patrick Ballentine said the new lights would not only help Gardner with scheduling conflicts, but stand to help leagues in other communities as well. “These lights will allow for night games, which will open us up for tournament play and it would benefit the other towns in the area,” said Mr. Ballentine. “The field is in a perfect spot there right off of the highway.” Earlier this summer, the city sold the league land for an additional field aimed at solving scheduling problems the league has been having because it has so many members. League officials face the task of scheduling 35 teams and almost 500 youth in both boys and girls leagues. In order to enter the contest, each municipality had to present an essay describing why they deserved the lights, and in the essay for Gardner, league Treasurer and project manager Stanford H. Hartshorn said the program is ready for night games. “We desperately want to play baseball under the lights, but simply find it out of our reach for the foreseeable future without some help,” Mr. Hartshorn said in the essay, “Our program is active, well-run and growing. We see your logo on the Green Monster at Fenway Park every home game and know of our commitment to the communities in your service area.” The voting period ends Sept. 12 and league officials are still asking for people to go online and vote at http://www.granitecityelectric.com/special/survey despite passing the required 1,500. In the running for lights at local field COMMUNITY Votes • having already surpassed 1,500 votes Bellingham 2,100 Billerica 3,115 Bridgewater 1,802 Cranston, R.I. 1,534 Franklin 1,672 Gardner 1,993 Marshfield 1,715 Rockland 2,792 • near the 1,500 vote threshold Halifax 1,436 Mendon 1,436 • Other communities Abington 1,111; Ashland 274; East Freetown 746; East Woonsocket, R.I. 317; Fairhaven 311; Fall River 67; Monson 574; Needham 628; N. Attleboro 1,147; Sharon 292; Southbridge 1,136; Swansea 254; Warwick, R.I.; West Newbury 150. Source: Granite City Electric Web site oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 8/30/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 206)