IT'S OFFICIAL
By State Representative Don Humason, Jr. Well, it's official. Last Saturday, in the backyard of my new home, I got married to Janice Marie Tracey. We've known each other since we were both students at Westfield State College. We've dated for over 5 years. I asked her to marry me on Christmas Day last year. And now we are finally and officially married. Besides being such a wonderful event in my life, the marriage process has been interesting to me from another perspective too. It was interesting for me to see how a person goes through the process of obtaining a marriage license at our City Clerk's office in City Hall. Jan and I didn't have to get a blood test because the Legislature recently passed a law changing the requirement to obtain blood tests. I remember when I voted for that law thinking it was a good thing because Janice doesn't like needles. I can't even get her to give blood with me at the local bloodmobiles. We didn't get married in a church or have a Justice of the Peace marry us, although Westfield has something like 8 or 9 Justices of the Peace allocated to our city. Instead, we obtained a "One Day Designation to Solemnize a Wedding" for our friend Steve Pierce to do it. Even though Steve is a Judge, he still had to fill out the application and apply to the Governor's office and Secretary of State's office. If you would like more information on obtaining this special state designation so you can be married by a special friend or family member or so you can perform the marriage, please give my district office a call at 568-1366. I have the application forms and can give you more information about the process. I have also performed two wedding ceremonies under the special designation. The state election is now less than two weeks away. I can't get political in this column but I will continue to encourage my readers to get out on Election Day and let your voices be heard. Vote! I taped the next segment of my cable show, "From the State House to Your House," which airs on Westfield Community Programming Channel 15 Wednesdays at 8:30PM and Sundays at 4:30 PM, and again on Thursdays at 10:30PM. What made this episode so great was that for the first time in the history of Channel 15 we did a cooking show. My guest for the November show is Miss Margaret Toomey and the Gillette Senior Chefs and we taped the show at Westfield High School using Margaret's room and kitchen. The show features all these great folks and demonstrates how to put together a full Thanksgiving dinner. I hope you will enjoy it. Last week I also taped the December episode of the show. My guest is Bob Plasse, from WOW, Westfield on Weekends, and we talk about the many different activities of the Dickens Days events in Westfield. That show will air in December. This weekend is the 13th annual Community Fall Festival, Saturday, at the Boys and Girls Club. The YMCA is also having their annual haunted House, which I love to see. It gets me in the Halloween spirit. I also got a call that some of the soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard will be returning from Iraq this Saturday and I hope to be at the Armory to help welcome them back to Westfield. Saturday and Sunday is also the annual public machine gun shoot at the Westfield Sportsman's Club on Furrowtown Road up past Westfield High School. It's a great chance to come out and shoot, in safe and controlled conditions, many of the machine guns you may only have read about in history books, seen on the History Channel, or in Hollywood movies. Representative Brad Jones, House Minority Leader, recently filed an Order to allow the General Court to return for a one-day formal session to enact that capital bond bill I've written about in previous columns. The Speaker and Senate President would have the authority to call legislators back for a limited session. I hope they get to it quickly; I'm going on my honeymoon soon. Happy Halloween! Have a great week. Representative Don Humason and his aide Joe Wynn may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us |
