Kirsten Ferrari would be making headlines on almost any other team but the St. Mary’s High School junior has been content this season making everyone around her a better player and her team a contender for the state championship.

Ferrari, the starting point guard on the St. Mary’s High School girls basketball team, had 12 points and nine assists in the Lady Spartans’ 48-41 victory over Weston in a Division 3 quarterfinal round game.

That clutch performance was emblematic of Ferrari’s valuable but unheralded leadership role for St. Mary’s: direct the offense, help beat the opposing team’s press, distribute the basketball, and contribute in the scoring column.

A reserve guard as a sophomore last season, Ferrari is averaging eight points and eight assists a game, meaning she personally generates about 24 points a night.

Ferrari scored 16 points (four 3-pointers) versus Manchester-Essex, 17 points (5 three-pointers) versus Archbishop Williams and had a season-high 18 points (12-for-14 from the line) in the Spartans’ first win over Bishop Fenwick in seven years. She is hitting her free throws at close to an 80 per cent clip.

St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall has overseen the steady development of Ferrari’s game. Ferrari has also received excellent guidance in the offseason from her Mass Thundercats AAU coaches, Marvin Avery, the Lynn Tech boys head coach, and James Ridley, Lynn Tech principal.

Ferrari has several offensive moves in her repertoire, but her ability to fake a shot and then either dribble past a defender or set up for a higher percentage shot may top the list.

“My dad always tells me to use that fake and it works, but I probably don’t use it as much as I should,” said Ferrari.

Newhall likes the way Ferrari pilots the offense against defensive pressure and the unselfish manner in which she distributes the ball to her teammates including Catholic Central League All-Stars Tori Faieta, Bria Tiro, and Cassi Amenta, and junior Molly Carey.

“Kirsten has a number of different moves, but the most important thing is that she’s comfortable with the basketball, and she’s comfortable handling the basketball with either hand,” said Newhall. “And playing the high level of teams we play against, you certainly can’t be one-dimensional. You have to be able to drive right, drive left, dribble with either hand, do the crossover, – you can’t be easy to defend. Her all-around skills are a credit to her commitment to playing basketball 9-10 months a year.”

Ferrari’s defensive skills are also superior, according to Newhall. “The most underrated part of her game is that she’s probably our best on-the-ball defender,” said Newhall. She’s a tremendous defensive player who’s fundamentally sound.”

Ferrari sees her role on the team as a caretaker of the basketball and a playmaker.

“My role is to take care of the ball and make sure it gets where it’s supposed to be and keep moving it around,” said Ferrari.

The daughter of Tim and Lisa Ferrari, Kirsten is carrying on the family’s legacy on the basketball court. Her sister, Amy, helped the Lady Spartans win a state championship at St. Mary’s in 2000. Another sister, Katie, also played basketball for the Lady Spartans. Her brother, Tim is a St. Mary’s graduate, while a cousin, Courtney, was a standout basketball player for Lynn Classical.

And now Kristen Ferrari and her teammates are preparing for the biggest game of their careers: a semifinal showdown with undefeated and No. 1-seed Pentucket Regional.

“I’m very excited about this game,” said Ferrari. “It’s a very big game for everyone. I love playing basketball with the girls on this team and I want our season to keep going as long as possible.”

With Ferrari continuing to excel at the point, the St. Mary’s season could keep going all the way to Causeway Street and Worcester.

“The crux of the matter – the power lines on the Lynnway development property – are about to be moved. We’re on the cusp of relocating those power lines,” he said.

Cowdell, Executive Director of the Lynn Economic Development and Industrial Corporation, is the lead agency for the project.

The power lines crisscrossing the Lynnway and running over prime property from the ocean border by the General Edwards Bridge near to the area where the casino boat used to dock, could well be the next generation of development for the city on a scale it has never before witnessed in its modern history.

Underutilized prime oceanfront property is what this development is all about.

“The relocation of the power lines is the key to everything happening. The Flanagan-Kennedy administration has given this project close scrutiny and attention, as did the previous administration which worked about 7 years to get to this point,” Cowdell added.

A waterfront master plan has been adopted by the City Council.

The main effort underway is to someday link up the downtown with an abundance of savvy development along the waterfront.

Such development might include thousands of units of high-rise housing, added commercial space and ocean front walkways and venues to bring the public to a place that has long been off-limits.

“We have the opportunity to open up fabulous waterfront space to the people of this city. Lynn’s oceanfront is the city’s last great-unused resource. We aim to make the best development possible. This is an opportunity not to be squandered,” Cowdell added.

At first, the city had hoped to bury the overhead power lines.

“We don’t have the money to do that,” Cowdell recently told the council.

Burying the high-tension wires could cost as much as $30 million, according to energy company officials.

So moving the wires away from developable portions of the waterfront property is what the city is set to do.

To do so, Cowdell pointed out, easements will be granted instead of properties taken by eminent domain.

About $4 million in funding is being used by the city to do the initial easement process and relocation.

Mind you, this woman is a single mother working ridiculous hours to make a decent life for her three children and to pay her mortgage so they’ll have a home.

Th degenerates simply refused to pay their rent.

OK. Many people stop paying their rent.

But how many of those are drunk and degenerate all morning, all afternoon and all evening, while refusing to pay their rent – while ruining the premises?

In the case of my friend, this is the way it was.

Each time she got to court, a legal aid attorney informed the court of the rights of the degenerates. Mind you, this is one of the few nations on earth where degenerates have rights that put in danger the single parent mom of three young children who got behind on her mortgage because of these scumbags.

Now comes the Lynn City Council ready to pass a tenant nuisance eviction law. In fact, the Ordinance Committee of the Council approved such a law last Tuesday.

However, some well meaning public officials and agencies got very uptight that such a law might impact those who pay their rent, who take care of their premises, who don’t use drugs or alcohol, et cetera.

Neighborhood Legal Services was one of them – which is not exactly unexpected.

Lynn Economic Opportunity was another – also not unexpected.

Even the Lynn Chamber of Commerce jumped on the bandwagon claiming the law could negatively impact local business.

Wow.

I feel sorry for the property owners of Lynn. I feel especially sorry for the best efforts made by Councillors Darren Cyr and Peter Capano, both of whom agreed to table the measure to give it another chance at legislative life.

For those of you out there who don’t understand what a nuisance is or how a nuisance tenant or tenants can ruin your life, ruin your checkbook and ruin your property as well, let me further describe a nuisance.

In the case of my friend, the single parent with three young kids and a home being battered and broken apart by the drug addicted and drunk tenants who failed to pay their rent who ran to Legal Aid every time their eviction came up for longer than a year before they reached the end of their legal right to dispute, a nuisance eviction would have been proper, right and just.

Neighborhood Legal Services will never see it this way – nor do the courts.

In this instance, the city council has appeared to attempt to do the right thing only to be beaten into submission by the do-gooders who cannot tell a nuisance from a regular person who pays their rent.

This is the problem with the modern world.

Very few of us can differentiate the good guys from the bad guys so in the end, the bad guys who don’t pay the rent, who ruin the premises, who suck the system dry of its fairness and leave a road strewn with wreckage, have the same basic rights as those who don’t do any of that.

What a shame.

The council ought to get a spine and pass this law.

It won’t hurt anyone except the bad actors – and if you don’t understand that, then you don’t know what a nuisance is.

I am deeply troubled by the penalties assessed to Lynn English High School by the MIAA with regards to the recruiting violations that were determined to have occurred. After meeting with all the parties involved and conducting an investigation, I have determined that, as principal, Mr. Andrew Fila must bear the brunt of the responsibility for the violations that occurred. I have suspended Mr. Fila for one week, without pay, for his culpability in this matter. I have also asked Athletic Director Gary Molea to set up a meeting with all Lynn English coaches, without Mr. Fila present, to make clear that it is imperative that all MIAA rules and regulations be followed at all times. We are determined to learn from past transgressions and do everything in our power to see they are not repeated.

More kids here have lower reading and math scores than in most other cities and towns across the Commonwealth.

Many, many students in the Lynn School system cannot read or write in the English language – and cannot read or write in their own native language.

This is not exclusively the problem of the Lynn School Department – and so many students from poverty stricken homes with so little ability to comprehend inevitably takes away from the educational experience offered in the public schools in this city.

It is a proven fact, in fact, proven locally at Lynn’s KIPP Academy, that when given smaller class size, longer school days and non-union teachers inclined to work more for less, kids who might otherwise be lost in the vastness of the public school system do much better for themselves.

The test scores prove it. They do not lie. This is inarguable.

KIPP is going on to become a Charter high school. This is proper and this is right, even though Lynn’s school superintendent and her predecessor were dead set against charter schools for some of Lynn’s public school children and have gone to bat against them at public hearings.

The founders of the Hathaway School in Swampscott appeared to be on their way to a charter school mandate last week for a K-6 Lynn Preparatory School.

Even the Commissioner of Education in Massachusetts recommended the school for approval.

Lynn’s superintendent was there at the hearing where the school was nixed to express her opinion that she is against such a charter school for Lynn students seeking something better for themselves than the Harrington School, for instance.

She won the fight.

She had some help from the Legislature, which passed obscure legislation recently disallowing private schools from becoming public charter schools, thereby invalidating the Hathaway School from becoming a charter school.

Bottom line – the perpetuation of the failing worst schools in this city at the expense of charter schools shown to raise the bar in public school education makes no sense.

When a well educated, highly paid, very smart school superintendent of public schools here or anywhere stands against excellence because excellence would cost too much, then something is radically wrong.

It is one thing to work for better public schools.

It is another to stand against the proven excellence of charter schools.

Lynn resident

Bautista Gonzalez-Ayala of Lynn died on February 27.

Born in Utuado, Puerto Rico where he worked as a farmhand, he came to the United States in 1965, settling first in Newark, New Jersey and for the last 26 years in Lynn. He passed away at the North Shore Medical Center-Union Hospital in Lynn on Saturday evening at the age of 94.

He was the devoted father of Carmen Lydia, Luz Maria, Miguel, Efrain, Olga, Gloria, Aida, Victor, Luis, Felecita and Jose; cherished grandfather of many including Oscar, Gabriela, Ezequiel, Luis, Cassandra, Jose, Jr. and Isaud as well as many great grandchildren.

Family and friends are kindly invited to meet at the Smith Funeral Home, 125 Washington Avenue, Chelsea on Wednesday morning, March 3 at 9 a.m. with a procession to Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn at 10 o’clock. Visiting Hours in the Smith Funeral Home are today, Tuesday, from 4 to 8 p.m. To send a message of condolence to his family, please visit www.smithfuneralhomes.com

Nicholas Caruso

Member of Mohawk Athletic Club, Moose and Sons of Italy

Nicholas J. Caruso of Revere, formerly East Boston, died on February 26.

He was a member of the Mohawk Athletic Club, Revere Moose and Revere Sons of Italy.

He was the beloved husband of Denise (DiCino) Caruso with whom he shared 35 years of marriage; loving father of Vanessa and Gina Caruso, both at home; cherished son of Josephine (Zichittella) Caruso of Lynn and the late Nicholas; son in-law of Charles DiCino of Revere and the late Marie ( Minerva) DiCino; dear brother of Frederick Caruso and his wife, Roberta, of Florida and Pamela Granese and her husband, Joseph, of Marblehead; brother in-law of Charles DiCino and his wife, Marie, of Salem; uncle of John Caruso, Karen Correnti and Joseph Granese.

His funeral will be held from Vazza’s “Beechwood” Funeral Home, 262 Beach Street, Revere today, Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. followed by a Mass of Christian Burial in the Immaculate Conception Church at 11:30 a.m. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to Davenport 9 Oncology Suite, Salem Hospital, 154 Highland Ave Salem, MA 01970. For directions and guestbook, www.vazzafunerals.com.

Magaret Kotkowski, 84

Lynn resident

Margaret T. (Forrestall) Kotkowski of Lynn died at Salem Hospital after a brief illness on February 25. She was 84 years old.

Born in Everett, she was the daughter of the late Nicholas and Margaret Forrestall and the wife of the late Adam C. Kotkowski.

She is survived by two daughters, Margaret M. “Peggy” Shambarger of Peabody and Karen A. and her husband, Louis Sullo, of Lynn; two sons, Gerald A. and his wife, Barbara Kotkowski, and Edward J. and his wife, Cynthia Kotkowski, both of Hampton, NH. She was the sister of Michael, Francis, James and Brenda Forrestall, all of Everett, Marion O’Hare of Medford; grandmother of 13, great grandmother of two and also leaves several nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Lucy Furman, Katherine Pisano, Helen DeSantis, Cecilia Forrestall and Carol Julian.

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to the Nadworny Funeral Home, Lynn. Burial was in Pine Grove Cemetery.

Amelia Somers

East Boston resident

Amelia A. (Abruzzese) Somers died suddenly in East Boston on February 21.

She was the beloved wife of the late William Somers; mother of Jonathan Somers of Lynn; sister of Eleanora Montalto of Peabody, Marie Gray of New York, Peter Abruzzese of California, Anita Climo of Virginia and the late Robert Abruzzese; grandmother of Jonathan Somers Jr.

Memorial Services will be held at a date to be announced. Arrangements were by Magrath Funeral Home.

Anna Chaklos, 79

Of Salem, formerly of Chelsea

Anna (Pzyra) Chaklos of Salem, formerly of Chelsea, died on February 22 after a brief illness. She was 79 years old.

Born and raised in Chelsea, she was a graduate of Chelsea High School and lived in Chelsea until moving to Salem in 1967. She worked for Salada Tea in East Boston and while living in Chelsea, she was a communicant of St. Stansilaus Parish where she was a member of the Ladies Sodality. She was a former communicant of St. James Parish in Salem. Her family was her greatest joy and she will be remembered as a devoted wife, mother and grandmother.

She was the beloved wife of 55 years of the late Clarence E. Chaklos who died 11 days before her. She was the daughter of the late Stansilaw and Apolonia (Hardel) Pazyra and is survived by her five children, Jerry Chaklos and his wife, Beth, of Salem, Kevn Chaklos and his wife, Linda, of Malden, Sharon Arrigo and her husband, Rick, of Epping, NH, Mark Chaklos of Salem and Brian Chaklos and his wife, Andrea, of Lynn; five grandchildren, Sabrina and Rebecca Chaklos, Elyse and Courtney Arrigo and Scott Starrak-Chaklos; two sisters, Irene Cyr of Lynn and Helen Vecciarello of Revere; her beloved cousin, Gladys Nieptepski as well as many nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Francis, Joseph and Jane Pazyra and Angela Ford.

Funeral arrangements were by the Solimine, Landergan and Richardson Funeral Home, Lynn. Burial was in Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden. Those who prefer may make donations to the American Cancer Society, 30 Seen St., Framingtham, MA 01701. Guest book at www.solimine.com

Lynn Tech basketball coach Marvin Avery felt in his heart he would be getting a phone call soon from Antonio Anderson, with the message that he had been expecting to hear.

Avery knew that his former star player at Tech had been excelling for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the NBA Developmental League, having been selected to play in the league’s All-Star game earlier this month. Avery also understood that NBA scouts were keeping tabs on Anderson’s continuing progress for the Vipers.

Avery’s cell phone rang Saturday afternoon and that’s when Anderson told his former coach and long-time mentor that he would be signing a contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA on Monday.

“I’m just so excited for Antonio and not only for the Lynn Tech program but for the whole city of Lynn,” said Avery. “He’s been through a lot of adversity and the hard work paid off. It’s just very special to see one of my players out of my program go to the National Basketball Association.”

In the pre-season Anderson was the last player cut by the Charlotte Bobcats. He was the first player chosen by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, an affiliate of the Houston Rockets.

“I just told him to keep working hard and we felt that something was going to happen after the All-Star break,” said Avery. “Sure enough, it did and he got the phone call from the Thunder. Good things happen to good people.”

Anderson played three seasons under Avery at Lynn Tech, helping to lead the Tigers to the 2002 Division 3 state championship. After attending prep school, Anderson earned a basketball scholarship from Memphis University. At Memphis, the 6-foot-6-guard became a starting player and helped the Tigers advance to the NCAA Division 1 national championship game.

Avery hopes that Anderson will be with the Thunder for the remainder of the season. The Thunder, who have one of league’s rising stars in Kevin Durant, play the Boston Celtics on March 31 at the TD Garden.

The Lynn Tech boys basketball program was named one of the top programs of the decade by Boston Herald sportswriter Danny Ventura.

Ventura had Watertown nipping Tech for the Division 3 team of the decade honors.

Tech’s status as the best vocational school program in the state was reaffirmed Friday night as the Tigers won another state vocational title with an 88-59 victory over Greater New Bedford at Tech.

“We haven’t seen that kind of defensive pressure all year,” said GNB coach Rob Pimental. “They’re a 6-foot and under team that rebounds pretty well; they get after it on the defensive end of the floor, and they’re a fast break team. Tech has a very good program.”

Those comments are a tribute to Avery’s coaching methods and having a genuine scorer like Rich Warren Jr. (15 points) and teammates B-Jay Baptiste, Omar Nyang, Trey Gallo, Gerrad Fairweather, Michael Duarte, and football star Ryan Muprhy adhere to the team-first philosophy that has made Tech a powerhouse during the Avera Era.

Tech has won eight of the last 10 state vocational championships. The Tigers went deep to their bench against GNB and their defensive pressure and intensity eventually took its toll on a very good opponent that has high hopes in Division 3 South.

“We have 15 guys on the roster and our style is going to take a toll on an opponent one way or another,” said Avery. “We make things happen with our defensive pressure. Our kids all define and know their roles. We just keep coming at teams in waves.”

Greater New Bedford stayed in contention for close to three and a half quarters, but Tech exploded for a 19-1 run in the fourth quarter to lock up the victory.

Avery now turns his attention to the State Tournament and a first-round matchup with Northeast Regional.

“I’m very excited about what I call the Real Dance – the MIAA Tournament,” said Avery. “We play Northeast and though we’ve beaten them earlier, I’m not taking anything for granted. We’ve been to the Eastern Mass. finals five times with this program and hopefully we can get back there again. My team is well prepared and ready to go.”

Charlie Gaeta has a bit more vision around here than most people trying to help the city’s historically significant neighborhoods to come back or to re-do themselves.

As the head of the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development (LHAND), Gaeta’s efforts are more often than not routed in his understanding of development and how one must control an area before getting down to the business of remaking it.

Such is the case with Gaeta’s efforts on Washington, Sagamore and Suffolk Street, Sagamore Hill in general and the surrounding area leading down to the sea.

It is a neighborhood on the cusp of a revival but without a major push as Gaeta is suggesting, the area will remain as barren as an empty field absent of its topsoil.

“We’re attempting to create the assemblage we need to move this area into a new era,” Gaeta said.

Indeed.

Gaeta sees a mix of affordable housing and commercial development mixing with the neighborhood as it already exists.

I love what Gaeta is trying to do. I know how difficult it is to move forward right now because everything has been turned upside down by the near collapse of the American economy little more than one year ago.

Yet Gaeta is doing what must be done – he’s trying against heavy odds to make something good happen.

If anyone can make something positive come to life around here, Gaeta is that man.

On that theme, we know that James Cowdell is also a man of vision not unwilling to take risks – and that his biggest challenge, is to find an anchor of some kind to come into the downtown area of the city and to build 2,000 to 3,000 units with all the accompanying commercial outlets that would be necessary to support such a venture and more importantly, to insure the success of a rebirth downtown.

As the head of the EDIC, and as a former council president, Cowdell can be depended on to make something happen.

But he would need the tools to alter the direction of history and investment here.

He needs a sweet tax deal in his hand from the city to entice developers seeking a way to invest their money.

The belief that the downtown could once again thrive in a major way is not the stuff of dreams – it is the stuff of hard-nosed business reality.

Cowdell working with Gaeta and both of them working with Mayor Judith Flanagan-Kennedy and the city council, the Chamber of Commerce, and with every big time real estate guy and gal in the city – well – doing this and anything becomes possible.

Those of us who can still recall the Lynn of the late 1950’s, 1960’s and early 1970’s grow impatient with nothing happening.

The spate of condo and studio type developments made here in the past decade have changed part of the downtown persona but not enough to make it a great place to live, to shop, to visit, et cetera.

Charlie Gaeta is doing yeoman’s work near to Sagamore Hill.

We know Cowdell is trying to do the same.

Lynn needs a major hit – and it is going to have to give something away to get it.

The MIAA will not allow head coach Buzzy Barton to coach the team during games in the 2010 State Tournament and Barton will have to sit out the first 10 games of the 2010-11 season. Barton can participate in practice sessions with the team.

“I don’t agree with their (the MIAA’s) decision to now allow Buzzy Barton to coach our team,” said Fila. “I’m going to speak with the superintendent of schools (Catherine Latham), but right now my intention is to appeal the decision and the penalties with the MIAA.”

The recruiting issue involves English student-athlete Cory McMillan. East Boston High Principal Michael Rubin filed a complaint with the MIAA stating that McMillan was recruited by English to transfer to the school.

Fila referred to the “Dorian Brown situation” in defending English’s actions regarding the Corey McMillan issue. Brown, a talented athlete who went on to play Division 1 college basketball at Jacksonville State University, transferred from Lynn English to Bellingham High School for his senior year. Brown helped lead Bellingham to the Division 3 state basketball championship.

“Dorian’s father made the choice to transfer to Bellingham and we supported his decision,” said Fila. “The same thing has happened with Corey McMillan. His [McMillan’s) father made the choice to have his son transfer to English. So I guess, what’s good for Dorian Brown isn’t good for Cory McMillan.”

Fila said that Cory McMillan’s relatives work at a Lynn institution and that they approached him about having Corey transfer to Lynn English.

“He was looking to move someplace,” said Fila. “His other choice was to go to Florida because he has relatives in Florida.”

Fila conceded that it’s too late to have Barton on the sidelines for English’s first game in the State Tournament. “I asked that and I was told it couldn’t be done,” said Fila.

Fila also weighed in on another controversial topic: the decision by Northeastern Conference coaches to select only one player (Ryan Woumn) from English to the NEC All-Star team. English was the NEC Large champion this season.

“Shame on the Northeastern Conference coaches – they’re adults,” said Fila. “It was a gutless move not to vote our players to the All-Star team that deserved the recognition.”