HOLDEN – Lace up the skates, the ice skating rink is coming back.
There was “scuttlebutt people would like to have the skating rink returned to its former glory,” Town Manager Peter Lukes told the Select Board at its most recent meeting.
The town’s skaters may see a prefabricated rink, which can be used over and over again, Lukes said, thanks to the donation of $5,000 by Robert Jacobson.
It was to be set up for the winter months, a positive winter activity to look forward to even if there is also snow shoveling to come.
The rink is being donated in the name of someone Holden had known for years as Mr. Holden, and whose Christmas visage brought smiles to young and old: Eric Johansen.
His family had maintained the rink for many years, Lukes noted.
Police accreditation
Following efforts to achieve the highest standard for the police department, officers were able to note that they had received full accreditation, awarded to few departments in Massachusetts.
“They (the Holden Police Department) are one of only four other towns in the Commonwealth that have achieved this high honor,” Lukes said.
“It was a tremendous amount of work,” he said. “It raises the level of professionalism for the Holden police.”
“It’s very stressful to go through this process; it’s essentially an audit,” Police Chief Timothy Sherblom said. “We volunteered to go through this process and have them tell us what we were doing right and wrong.”
The Holden department is the only one in Central Massachusetts to have achieved full accreditation.
“Most police departments haven’t even started the process of self assessment and fewer have gotten certified and fewer accredited,” Sherblom said. “We’re very proud of it,” a process that followed 18 years in which the department had been certified.
