GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA

Ned Hand, the Irish-born, longtime Boston-based entrepreneurial and often rolling gourmet now settled into a showcase home on the bank of Goose Cove, has seen the future and it's lower Washington Street.

The owner of Ned's (silvery) truck, known to be stuffed with foods to die for that before her arrival here last spring couldn't be found here - fois gras, for example and cheeses from tiny Vermont and Massachusetts farms - is sinking roots here now.

From her ideal partnership with Alexandra's Bakery on Main Street, where she's sold her wares since the end of summer, Hand is moving, this time to a permanent new home - in the shell made synonymous with sweet taste by Jim Santos.

Ned has taken a lease from Jim, who was essentially driven out of the Washington Street basin by the year of incessant street digging and popped back up on Railroad Avenue, where he is almost ready to introduce a drive-through option to his bake shop.

Now that the excavating is over, Ned said she figured out that the basin is about to come back big time, what with a $2.5 million facelift in the works for the entire strip, from Joan of Arc to Grant Circle.

Ned said it might take a month to complete the "gut job" and refurbishing of Jim's old digs, but she said she was looking forward to the day the streetscape will sing and cafe tables will make come-hither gestures to strollers.

With the seeming end of the American Legion's long tenancy in the Legion Building, which actually is the onetime town hall, another piece of the Washington Street basin faces a new and perhaps more energetic life across from Two Sisters.

The Legion is on the way out due to the building's lack of sprinklers. No sprinklers, no liquor license, and neither the legionnaires nor the city is inclined to spring for the required safety hardware.

The City Council, the effective landlord, decided Thursday night to give the Legion a month to make up its mind, but no one is optimistic about the Legion's staying power.

Time to burn the brush

Open burning season is here. Through May 15, people with proper permits can burn very specific types of brush. Call the Fire Department at 281-9760 for details. And don't try burning without getting a permit and mastering the Fire Department's "can's and can'ts" list.

Gloucester's gift to Westwood

Gloucester native Stephen F. Dexter Jr. has been named assistant principal of the year for 2008 by the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association and will be honored by the organization at its Summer Institute in July.

An educator for more than 12 years, Dexter has been assistant principal of Westwood High School since 2005. He previously was assistant principal of Middleborough High School. Dexter was cited for his work preparing administrators and faculty for the reaccreditation process as co-chairman of the Committee on Accreditation and for his leadership in creating programs to celebrate student achievement, improve school climate and support new teachers.

The state award makes Dexter a candidate for national honors from the National Association of Secondary School Principals. He will attend a two-day Principals Institute in Washington in April with honorees from across the country.

Dexter is a 1988 graduate of McGill University in Montreal and earned a master's in education in the Donovan Urban Scholar Program at Boston College and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in education from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Dexter is the son of Steve and Dawn (Steele) Dexter and grew up in Gloucester and lived on Wheeler Street in Gloucester and Honeysuckle Road in South Hamilton. His dad is the owner of the Carroll K. Steele Insurance Agency in Gloucester and Rockport.

Calomo again chairs fisheries commission

Vito Calomo, a third-generation Gloucester fisherman and executive director of the Massachusetts Fisheries Recovery Commission, has been elected chairman of the Massachusetts Fisheries Commission.

The election marks Calomo's third term as chairman.

"I think it's good for Massachusetts and it's good for Gloucester," Calomo said of his re-election. "I think it was a good vote of confidence for me. I'll continue to try to do what I always do: keep a balance where people can continue to fish ... and rebuilding the stock."

Honored veteran

This week's honored veteran is Richard Franklin Irvin. Born at home in Gloucester on June 25, 1912, he was the son of Frank and Etta Irvin. He attended Gloucester schools and married Avis Tanner of Gloucester on March 28, 1935. They had three children: Edward Leon, Ellen Dorothy and William George. Irvin was employed at Davis Brothers Fisheries Co. Inc. before entering the service.

From July 1931 to May 1934, Irvin was a member of Battery A of the National Guard. The private entered the Army on March 15, 1943, and his specialty was in the infantry. He trained at Fort Devens and Fort Jackson, S.C. He underwent maneuvers in Tennessee before being shipped to Camp Atterbury in England.

Irvin was killed in action Jan. 23, 1945, by small arms and machine gun fire during an attack in the vicinity of Outhre, Belgium. He was 32. He left his wife, Avis, and his three young children as well as siblings Evelyn G. Irvin, Ellen E. Macleod and Oscar L. Irvin.

He was awarded the Purple Heart on March 24, 1945.

After the war had ended, Irvin's body came home by train to Gloucester. His family, friends, public officials and numerous veterans organizations representatives met the train and escorted the casket to the Armory, where it lay in state before the funeral service. He is buried at Beechbrook Cemetery.

The flag was requested to fly in his honor by his son, Bill, and daughter-in-law Roseann Irvin.

Anyone wishing to fly a flag in honor of a deceased veteran can call the Office of Veterans' Services at 978-281-9740.