Brutal road conditions may have contributed to extensive fire damage during a two-story blaze in the Oakdale section of Wareham on Friday.
    According to Wareham Fire Chief Robert McDuffy, the condition of the roads made it difficult for his trucks to reach the location of the fire, which occurred in a Colonial-style home at 21 Avenue A off Sandwich Road.
    "We had a major house fire on Avenue A. It was difficult to respond to because the roads were so narrow," he said. "When we left the station we could see across the river (to Avenue A). The fire was already in the sky. They had heavy fire damage to the second floor, and substantial water damage to the first floor. They essentially have nothing left."
    There was heavy damage to the second-floor bedroom of the home, which is owned by Sharon Baptiste. Damage has been estimated at $100,000. The family’s pet – a Yorkshire terrier - died in the fire. Three people were home at the time of the blaze but all escaped uninjured.
    The home has been determined to be uninhabitable pending massive repairs.
    According to the Wareham Fire Department, the fire was reported at 4:29 p.m. A total of 28 firefighters responded to the scene as quickly as possible. The fire was brought under control around 8 p.m. The Onset Fire Department and Wareham EMS provided mutual aid.
    The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

    Wareham police have arrested a man suspected of breaking into Barnacle Bill’s Seafood Restaurant.
     On Dec. 11 Officer Stephen Joy responded to a reported break-in at the Cranberry Highway restaurant. Police say entry was gained by forcing a rear door open.
    After an inventory by the business owner, it was discovered that several cases of beer and wine valued at $500 were taken as well as seafood and a small amount of cash. Footage from surveillance video as well as a footprint at the scene led police detectives to Brian Felix, 27, of 3132 Cranberry Highway, Wareham and his brother, Christopher Felix, 30, also of 3132 Cranberry Highway, Wareham.
    On Dec. 21 Wareham police detectives obtained a search warrant for the Felix residence. Brian and Christopher Felix were subsequently arrested and charged with breaking and entering into a building in the nighttime and larceny from a building. 
    Wareham police are continuing their investigation into the Felix’s possible involvement in additional breaks that have occurred in the Cranberry Highway area. The individuals were arraigned at Wareham Fourth District Court and are scheduled to appear at later dates.

    No one was injured in this one-car accident which sent a car careening through the front door of the Justice Store at Wareham Crossing Wednesday shortly after 9 a.m. The store was closed at the time of the accident. A car parked near the store was also struck, sustaining damage to a fender. The driver was the same woman who crashed into a Mobile station last week.

    In their continuing investigation into housebreaks in the Indian Mound Beach section, Wareham police detectives have made a fourth arrest.
    Collen O’Donnell, 19, of 51 West Central Avenue in Onset, was arraigned in Wareham Fourth District Court last week on charges of breaking and entering in the nighttime in connection to a serious of break-ins around Thanksgiving.
    On Nov. 27 Patrol officers Jennifer Braley and James White were dispatched to 54 Wychunas Road after the homeowner arrived at her residence to find her home had been broken into. A bedroom window had been smashed to gain entry. The victim reported a piece of jewelry had been taken. Evidence was gathered from the scene by Braley and White ultimately resulted in O’Donnell’s arrest, according to police.
    O’Donnell is expected back in court on Jan. 28.
    Police detectives arrested 23-year-old Nicole Petronelli and 28-year-old Brian Duffy on Dec. 10 inside Wal-Mart in connection with the break-in. The pair was charged with stealing more than $10,000 worth of items during the Nov. 27 incident.

    The doughboy will always be an angry elf ... I will always meet with anybody who asks ... Assumption will always be the mother of all screw-ups ... The good people of Wareham will take back Wareham from the people trying to take it away from them ... A good chess player will always think three moves ahead ... I will always cherish being "toast" in two-against-one snowball fights ... Biz will be very busy in the coming weeks ... I will always prefer Mr. Ed ... Steve Urbon’s stocking will not be able to hold that much coal ... Someday the library lobby will start to understand the library never actually belonged to them ... I will never need home-field advantage ...

    TO THE EDITOR:
     A letter appeared in the Wareham Courier that was headed (taking a phrase from the writer), Charter Committee is a special interest group in disguise.
    Not in disguise. The letter-writer is absolutely correct that we are a special interest group - our special interest is in the well-functioning future governance of our town and, therefore, in the health of Wareham.
    We were mandated to review the charter and to make recommendations that we believed would further that special interest. As we’ve said before, when a charter review committee votes to recommend a basic functional change in either the legislative or executive branch of the town government, the laws of the Commonwealth require that the charter be rewritten to reflect that new form of government. 
    Although the letter-writer worries about taxpayer dollars being spent on attorney fees, the only legal expense we have surely incurred has been for the two hours spent at the beginning of our tenure to educate the committee about our responsibilities, rights, and limitations. We are checking with Koppelman and Paige as to any costs incurred by their review of the committee’s work-in-progress.
    The letter-writer is mistaken in thinking that having a town council rather than a Town Meeting is an abandonment of democracy. So long as the members of the council are elected by ballot to represent the citizens, or a particular segment of the population such as a precinct, and are accountable to that group – we are still a functioning democracy.
    One further comment about the complaint that the committee "disregard(s) written questions." Perhaps we have not made it clear enough that the questions we will respond to are about how the committee works, why it’s recommending something or what that recommendation entails or any of its implications, and the comments we will respond to are also about the committee’s process or the pros and cons of the different forms of government.
    We would like, once again, to refer all voters in Wareham to the town’s web site where, following the link to the Charter Review Committee, you can find a full explanation of our thinking that led to the rewriting of the charter and our response to comments and questions that have reached us. We urge you to participate by asking the questions that will help you to form an educated opinion about the recommended change.
    A working draft of the new charter will be made available to the public as soon as it is completed. We are planning a series of community events, the first of which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6.

 Charter Review Committee

Alan Slavin, Chair; Mick Jones, Vice Chair Mary Ann Silva, Clerk; David Begley, Leie Carmody, Jack Houton, Len Gay, Ed Pacewicz, Dave Smith