In nearly 70 years of prowling the familiar streets of the old hometown, I suppose I've known thousands, if not tens of thousands of our fellow citizens.
I suppose that over my life, I've known or do know roughly 100 that I've come to know as people of integrity that I've come to respect and admire for the values they have consistently demonstrated in their daily lives.
Then too there are somewhere between a dozen and 20 individuals whom I consider the "crème de la crème" - those who have distinguished themselves as over and above the rest of the pack by their exemplary courage, moral rectitude and unfailing willingness to help those less fortunate and improve the community in which we all live.
I may identify this list of folks in some future column, but today I want to shine a nostalgic spotlight on a true gentleman who is held in the highest regard, not just here, but by the thousands of students he inspired over three generations of teaching and coaching football.
The particular recollection today is one of the late Orazio J (Ralph) Bianchi's ultimately unsuccessful campaign (the second of two) for mayor. "Mr. B" always rose to a challenge and served as a highly worthy example to all who knew him.
Sharp blasts at Piggott
open Bianchi's campaign
Orazio J. (Ralph) Bianchi, an Attleboro teacher, today inaugurated the city's 1969 election campaign with a formal statement of candidacy for the post of mayor. The candidate took the opportunity to question incumbent Mayor Thomas A. Piggott on the progress of the city during the four-year tenure of the latter.
At one point in his lengthy announcement, Bianchi takes exception to a recent statement in the Sun that the mayoral campaign will be a warm one. "It will be more than warm; it will be torrid," he promises.
The candidate cites "deep and underlying reasons" which prompt him to run. Then in an obvious reference to campaign statements by Mayor Piggott two years ago, he says, "The author of the following statements should be asked to restate them under present circumstances:
"There are no issues, just some problems."
"Two terms are enough for any one successful candidate."
"This city does not need any engineers on a full-time basis. We can hire them as we need them."
"The Bank Street wells can only function with a $600,000 purification complex."
"The old water tower is beyond repair, and a new one must be built."
Bianchi does not mention the mayor by name in this nor in other portions of his statement but his meaning is clear. He charges "the same author" to evaluate and explain his answers to these questions:
"How many of the numerous commissions that have been appointed have been allowed to function without concerned leadership?"
"If the schools really need land for further expansion, does it matter who owns it?"
"How smoothly has the police department functioned during the past four years?"
The candidate then lists several areas in which he claims there is confusion and contradiction in city administration. "The school building dilemma in which the board waits for the mayor and the mayor waits for the board," the looming court fight over the school budget accepted in a "15-minute meeting by the finance committee," the mayor's reluctance to acquire Balfour Realty land in which the school committee expresses an interest, confusion over whether the high school can be expanded upward, favor by the school board of the idea of a free-standing high school and later reconsideration of the idea, contradictions in the mayor's endorsement of an all-at-once election of the school committee, school budget stand-off to which council reacts by seeking official curtailment of committee autonomy, mayoral claims of police department superiority in the face of resignations by two chiefs, an inspector, an officer and a commissioner.
Bianchi states that he will say more later about several other issues, including the ratio between school costs and other city services, and the lack of progress in increasing the water supply. He cites a few test borings and an engineering study as "needless repetitions."
"Something is wrong," he says "when we can have ordinances on the books prohibiting the keeping of a junk car or for exceeding the limit or keeping an unleashed dog, but nothing to prohibit dumping refuse into our water supply or polluting our streams and ponds."
Citizens and taxpayers should be asking, he says, such questions as: "Have we made strides in sewage disposal? Is our water supply better than four years ago? Roads? Are sidewalks installed in critical areas? Has state takeover of welfare helped the city budget? Has the sales tax helped? Is snow removal satisfactory? What progress in water pollution? What is the status of Max Markman Memorial Park? Oak Hill? Public transportation? How well have we held the tax line in relation to city services rendered?"
Bianchi, 55, is a teacher of vocational training at Attleboro High School and notes that he has 28 years of experience in the field.
In 1967 Bianchi also ran for the mayoral post and was a casualty of the preliminary voting. As a result of a written statement attributed to him he was sued for slander by former Police Chief William E. Heussler. The suit is still in Bristol County Superior Court. Heussler has also declared his candidacy for the mayoral post.
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Condolences to the family of the late George LeBlanc, in particular his daughter, Karen Borman, whose moving eulogy certainly honored her father. Vaya con Dios.
Let's all be good to one another. Peace.
Thomas McAvoy looks back at the past each Tuesday. Contact him at [email protected].