Bristol Beat: News from around town

Help the kids

A group of 10th graders in Deborah Leonard's U.S. History class at Mt. Hope High School need the community's help to cheer up chronically ill children. For a service learning project, they are creating "Surprise Spring Baskets" for 6 to 12-year-olds at Hasbro Children's Hospital. If you'd like to donate to the baskets, some of the requested items include plastic pails, shovels, crossword puzzle books, children's Band-Aids, small packages of tissues, note pads, gel pens, Crayola crayons, playing cards, pencils, markers, card games, stickers, bubbles, coloring books and children's DVDs. Donations can be made to the Mt. Hope main office and marked "Surprise Spring Baskets." If you have any questions, contact the high school at 254-5980.

Dubble B. rocks

It's a double win for Dubble B. The rap band, made up of Mt. Hope High School students, won the school's Battle of the Bands competition earlier this month and won again in the court of public opinion. Following the competition, the Bristol Phoenix asked readers to vote online for their favorite group, and Dubble B. won convincingly, with 178 votes, about 37 percent of the total votes cast. Coming in second was Sabian the Cow, followed by All the King's Men, Yesterday's Bread, Matt Ricci and Johnny Clotheshanger. Songs, interviews and photos from the competition will run through the month elsewhere on this website.

Don't forget to file

You won't qualify for a federal rebate check if you don't file a federal tax return. Next Friday, Bristol will play host to an event designed to help taxpayers file their returns quickly and conveniently. On Friday, March 28, from 9 to 2 p.m., the East Bay Community Action program will host a tax preparation session for all residents in the St. Mary's Church auditorium. Besides helping people process returns, experts will be on hand to advise residents what they are due to receive under the rebate program, known official as the "economic stimulus package." For more information on the free event, call 435-7876.

Don't hang up

If you get a call from a Roger Williams University student over the next week, town officials hope you can spare a few minutes to talk. That's because the calls are part of a survey the town is conducting as part of its five-year Comprehensive Community Plan update. Officials need data from the surveys — they hope to complete 400 — to update the plan, which is required by state law and helps guide Bristol's growth over the next five years. So far, though, community development director Diane Williamson said volunteers have had a lot of hang-ups and "not interested" responses. Students will be calling between 6:30 and 9 p.m. through next Thursday, March 27, and residents who are interviewed will remain anonymous. Results will be compared with the findings of a similar survey conducted in 2002. Apart from the anonymous phone survey, workers will also call 100 businesses, though those surveys won't be anonymous. After the surveys are complete, the town will hold several focus group sessions to go over the results.

Finally

Today marks the first day of Spring, which arrives every year with the vernal equinox and ends, many people would probably agree, much too soon.

Copyright © 2003, The East Bay Newspapers