By All Hands
Michael Costello, who is retiring after 30 years as executive director of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, will long be remembered within the area's business community. Now, the chamber board has taken steps to ensure he'll be remembered within the local education community as well.
Amid the pomp and circumstance of a gala retirement party that drew some 280 people to Cruiseport Gloucester this week, Don Sudbay, who served as master of ceremonies for the event, announced that the chamber will present a $1,000 Michael Costello Scholarship each spring to a local student who plans to pursue a business career.
The scholarship is one of several presented by the chamber to deserving local high school students each year, and its naming was one of a number of honors and tributes bestowed upon Costello, who built the chamber from 200 businesses in 1978 to more than 1,200 today, and launched nearly all of the events that make up the chamber schedule,
Sudbay, who heads Cape Ann's leading auto dealership, praised Costello for, above all else, his master sales skills.
"I don't know of a better salesman for Cape Ann businesses than Mike Costello," Sudbay said.
Costello officially steps down at the end of the year, with new executive director Bob Hastings due to take over the chamber's reins in January. Hastings is coming to Cape Ann after heading the Penobscot Bay Chamber of Commerce, based in Rockland, Maine.
'Reese' still in Riker's
A former conservative radio host who dubbed himself the "Crossover Negro," and who came to Gloucester to host a Boston-based show focused on Gloucester High's teen pregnancies, has pleaded not guilty in New York City to charges he raped his stepdaughter's former friend when she was 11 or 12 years old.
Reese Hopkins pleaded not guilty Wednesday at his arraignment on an indictment charging him with first-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child. Hopkins is being held on $300,000 bail at Riker's Island.
Hopkins lives in Malden. He was laid off last month from WRKO-AM in Boston, where he had hosted his "Reese On The Radio" talk show since December. He worked in New York from 2000 to 2005 at Hot 97.1 FM.
This summer, Gloucester became a frequent subject of Hopkins' on-air musings when national news outlets began covering stories of a perceived agreement among Gloucester High students to become pregnant and raise babies together.
During a live Sept. 8 broadcast, billed as a "town hall meeting" for Gloucester residents to speak up at George's Coffee Shop, Hopkins called for a return to traditional discipline, and for Gloucester families to hold frank conversations with their children about the perils of sex. Hopkins was openly critical of Mayor Carolyn Kirk's handling of the media storm that followed the story, and called for more open discussion about the issues of teen pregnancy and sex education.
Honored veteran
The flag at the Veterans' Center will fly this week in honor of World War II veteran Stephen Joseph Biondo. Born Nov. 24, 1926, he entered the Navy on Feb. 6, 1945, and served as a fireman first class with the destroyer escort USS Edgar G. Chase (DE-16) and the 10,000-ton light cruiser USS Cleveland (CL-55).
Biondo was awarded the World War II Victory Medal and the American Area Medal.
Biondo was discharged July 19, 1946, and died Nov. 14, 1997.
The flag was requested to fly in his honor by his wife, Frances Biondo, and family. Anyone wishing to fly a flag in honor of a deceased veteran can call the Office of Veterans' Services at 978-281-9740.
