If you or someone you know has gone through a battle with Cancer or Aids or other such diseases then you know how hard it is on the person suffering and on the family and loved ones of that person.

At the State House tomorrow afternoon, the Joint Committee on the Judiciary will begin debating whether to follow the leads of Oregon, Washington State and Montana and implement a so-called Death With Dignity law. It would allow Bay State residents for whom time and luck is running out to choose to end their suffering by ingesting a prescribed medical cocktail.

In a State that has a very high Catholic population, I am very surprised that there have not been more discussions on this bill. I have seen first hand on several occasions what cancer does to a person and the physical and emotional toll it takes on a family.I saw my cousin who was my age suffer the ravages of Aids and watched the toll it took on his family as well has the love and devotion to care that was given to him by them. It is so hard for that person who is in so much pain but wants to make those around them feel at ease. For the caregiver or family member watching you’re loved one literally shrink before your eyes is a painful, gut wrenching process.

It has moments of joy, the sick person expressing their love for you and all you have done and heartache as the person you love can no longer hold your hand, kiss you or even take a sip of water. I’ve seen or heard of a young wife and mother with more love, compassion and strength then I’ll ever have watch her husband lose his battle with cancer. A son day’s before his 18th birthday saying goodbye to his mom who fought cancer and made sure she was there for his high school graduation before she slipped away.

Is it fair to make a person suffer when the medical community can give you something that ends your suffering? In Oregon, 401 terminally ill patients have chosen to die on their terms since 1997, according to the Death With Dignity National Center.

Will Massachusetts become the fourth state to allow this?

Why has there not been more discussion and talk on this bill. It is one that screams for long open, honest debate.

I’m hoping that the Legislature takes its time and listens to those who have lost loved ones. Both those in favor and those opposed. To those who are battling a disease who want to end their suffering to to those who want to fight their sickness to the end.

Suffering and the toll these diseases take on a person cannot be something that gets a half-hour courtesy listen. This Bill needs to be strongly considered and given a fair chance, all who want to participate need to be heard.

Today’s Sun talks about the fact that Chancellor Meehan is approaching the last year of his contract and will be up for renewal soon. . I wonders what it will take financially to keep the Chancellor at the helm.
I was not a fan of Congressmen Meehan, especially after his famed flip-flop on term limits. When he took the U Lowell job I figured it was a landing spot until Ted Kennedy retired and then Marty would use his giant war chest to run for Senate.

A funny thing happened though, Chancellor Meehan turned out to be the best thing to happen both to U Lowell and for the City of Lowell. Under the Chancellor in the two-and-a-half years since he took over UMass Lowell, the university has acquired the Tsongas Arena (now the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell) and the former DoubleTree hotel (now the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference) for dormitory space, adding 770 new beds on campus and increasing the residential population from 25 percent to 39 percent of students now living on campus.

The freshman retention rate has risen from 76 percent to 81 percent, and average SAT scores for incoming freshman are up from a combined 1070 in 2007 to 1083 for this year’s incoming class.
Meehan has also overseen a 20 percent increase in undergraduate students enrolling at UMass Lowell, and a 10 percent increase in graduate students.

The university will break ground this spring on its first new academic building in a more than a quarter of a century, with plans moving forward for a second building on south campus as well.

The City and the University need Marty Meehan to get a new contract, unfortunately despite all that he has accomplished , to stay at the helm during a very bad finical time will involve Mr. Meehan re-upping at no increase or at best a 1% increase. It will be hard to ask others to take cuts while giving Mr. Meehan a well deserved raise but that is what should happen.

For the sake of Lowell and U Mass Lowell hears hoping Chancellor Meehan will step up and show everyone that his interest in growing U Mass Lowell is so sincere he is willing to do it at the same price he has been doing it.

It will show everyone again that when he wants to Marty Meehan is a true leader, a man of his word and has the best interst of the school and city in mind.

I am here to PRAISE my State Rep Tom Golden. In The Beacon Hill Roll Call report on the amount of Per Diem’s area Reps have collected in the past year TOM GOLDEN has collected 0. Tom could have put in and received $26.00 dollares for each day he showed up at the State House. Based on the amount of time Dave Nangle put in (159 days) Tom could have added $4,134 to his salary if he so chose. HE DID NOT

Tom deserves to be praised for not taking the extra money. By law he is entitled to it. By not accepting it he shows that he understands the frustration of people when it comes to government excess. So for that he should be applauded and recognized.

I have been very critical of Tom on some of his votes and his position on accepting donations from Lobbyist and PACS. I have also stated that I am against the Per Diem’s granted to the State Legislator’s on top of their salary. Tom deserves to be acknowledged when he does something like this. It is the right thing to do especially in this economy and he deserves to be recognized for it, just has he deserves to be called out when I disagree with him.

I should also comment on the fact Rep. Murphy put in for only 67 days. My initial thought is to be a wise guy and take the cheap shot by saying that based on his Law practice revenue he was probably only there that many days, but I’ll reluctantly give him some credit. I assume he could have put in for at least 40 -50 more days but chose not to.

Dave Nangle put in for 159 days the most of the area Reps.

Here is a list of what the 3 Lowell reps collected along with some other Area Reps.

Rep. Thomas Golden, $0 (0)
Rep. Cory Atkins, $180 (10)
Rep. Barry Finegold, $468 (26)
Rep. Kevin Murphy, $1,742 (67)
Rep. Colleen Garry, $2,522 (97)
Rep. James Miceli, $2,754 (153)
Rep. David Nangle, $4,134 (159)