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What We Cover

Wakefield Patch covers the town of Wakefield, Mass., including local politics, business development, school news and breaking news.
Population: 24,932 as of 2010 Census
Local Government: Town Meeting, Board of Selectmen
High Schools: Wakefield Memorial High School, Northeast Metro Technical Vocational School, Nazareth Academy.

Meet Your Local Patch Team

William Laforme

William Laforme, Contributor, Editor

Bill has worked in journalism since 1995 in various capacities. He started as an online political reporter for the former evote.com and after eight years, went on to become a news editor for the Laconia Citizen in New Hampshire. He has also spent time working in public relations and search engine optimization writing.

Brendan Lewis

Brendan Lewis, Contributor, Editor

Long before becoming the editor of Andover Patch, Brendan grew up in the suburbs of North Tewksbury and attended private schools all his life. During his elementary years, he attended Notre Dame Academy and attended high school at St. John's Preparatory School. He later studied business at Quinnipiac University, achieving my B.S. in Business Management in 2005. However, during second semester senior year at Quinnipiac Brendan discovered a love for journalism and immediately began writing for the school newspaper. He worked in circulation at the Lowell Sun after graduating from Quinnipiac and eventually convinced editorial managers to allow him to freelance at the Lowell Sun. From there he eventually worked as a fulltime reporter in various towns in Middlesex County and Essex County for over four years at Community Newspaper Company. He has been an avid drummer/percussionist since adolescence and enjoys hiking and outdoor activities. He also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 2001.

Chris Helms

Chris Helms, Contributor, Editor

I joined Patch in July 2010 and was founding editor of Jamaica Plain Patch in Boston. I now manage 11 Patch sites on the North Shore. I have 17 years of experience at newspapers as an editor and reporter. I live on Buffum Street in Salem with my wife, Jane; our dog, Molly; and two cats: Sophie and Carlos.

John Castelluccio

John Castelluccio, Contributor, Editor

John joined Patch in August 2010 as the Local Editor for Danvers Patch. As of Memorial Day 2011, he switched over to become the editor for Peabody Patch, and now he's in charge of both Peabody and Danvers. Talk about things coming full circle... Prior to joining Patch, John spent three years at the Peabody-Lynnfield Weekly News, first as a reporter then editor of the two community newspapers. He graduated from Gordon College with a bachelor's degree in communications and has lived on the North Shore for the past eight years. John initially grew up in East Boston, but moved with his family to Southern Maine for several years and then came back to Mass. for college. He lives in Beverly with his wife and two sons.

Robert Gates

Robert Gates, Contributor, Editor

Bobby has worked at daily and weekly newspapers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont for 10 years before joining Patch in 2010. He has a journalism degree from St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vt. and lives in Beverly with his wife, two kids and yellow Lab.

Owen Boss

Owen Boss, Contributor, Editor

Terry Date

Terry Date, Contributor, Editor

Terry is a veteran newspaper reporter. He worked 12 years as a reporter for two shoe-leather New England dailies, Foster's Daily Democrat and The Eagle-Tribune. 

He has covered everything from presidential primaries, and state and local politics to education, veterans, water rights and transportation issues. 

His beats included Manchester-Boston Regional Airport and the Interstate 93 widening project in New Hampshire. He especially enjoys writing feature stories. He received journalism training at the University of New Hampshire and from conducting thousands of interviews and writing thousands of stories. 

Before he became a journalist, he worked for years as a shipfitter -- working with steel on submarines -- landscaper, and building and installing fences and arbors.

Bryan McGonigle

Bryan McGonigle, Contributor, Editor

Bryan has lived in the Merrimack Valley for much of his life and brings several years of journalism experience to North Andover Patch.

Patrick Luce

Patrick Luce, Contributor, Editor

After a six-year stint in South Florida, Patrick Luce returned to his home state of Rhode Island in 2007. Patrick comes to Patch as Associate Regional Editor after spending much of his career in newspapers, most recently as Editorial Page Editor of The Herald News in Fall River, Mass.

Lee Ann Hatch

Lee Ann Hatch, Calendar Editor

When not uploading calendar events for Patch, Lee Ann Hatch is a teacher in the Woburn Public Schools. She grew up in Malden and is a longtime Stoneham resident where she has raised her three children. 

Huntley Rainville

Huntley Rainville, Contributor, Sales

Huntley Rainville is North Shore all the way; born and raised on the sandy shores of Ipswich, she graduated with honors and a degree in communications from Emerson College located in the heart of Boston. Huntley spends her time boating, grilling, running, and reading, not necessarily on that order. She is simultaneously low-key and type A, and somehow it works for her. Huntley could not be more thrilled about Patch.com and is looking forward to meeting you and sharing the excitement!

Give her a shout to learn more:

huntley.rainville@patch.com

Jeff Pappert, Sales

Charlie Breitrose

Charlie Breitrose, Contributor, Editor, Blogger

Charlie has worked in newspapers for the past 14 years, first in California and since 2001 in Massachusetts. He has made his home in Watertown since 2003. Charlie enjoys watching all kinds of sports, loves to travel and enjoys cooking. He earned his bachelor's degree in geology at the University of Michigan and got a master's degree in journalism at Indiana University.

Molly Buccini

Molly Buccini, Community Editor

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Molly Buccini joined the Patch team as the Danvers Local Editor in May 2011. Buccini now covers Beverly Patch. 

Grant Mukaï

Grant Mukaï, Contributor

Grant began his interest in broadcast journalism when he was in high school after volunteering with a local television station in Northern Virginia.  During his college days, Grant was a reporter for Boston University Television's Inside Boston, a student-run news show.  He also worked for Kitay Productions at the Agganis Arena in Boston doing video production during sports events.

This past spring, Grant was an intern at WGBH (PBS) as the Antiques Roadshow Web Intern.  He has also interned with Public Synergies and Rpublictv in Asnières-Sur-Seine, France (a suburb of Paris).  Through this internship, Grant produced a variety of  projects including multimedia presentations for a convention.  He was also given the opportunity to see how the industry operates outside North America.

 

Tasha Schlake Festel

Tasha Schlake Festel, Contributor

Julie Keysor, Contributor

Michele Penta, Contributor

Michele Penta lives in Wakefield with her husband Joe and their two teenage children.  She works as a Personal Trainer at Pumps Real Fitness for Women and an Advisor for AdvoCare, a health and wellness nutrition company.  Physical fitness & healthy liivng are two of her strongest passions, other interests include music, reading and gardening.  After growing up in Somerville, then Arlington, she is delighted to call this wonderful community of Wakefield her home.

Matt Schooley

Matt Schooley, Editor

A 2007 graduate of Springfield College, Matt Schooley took over as the local editor for Wilmington Patch at the beginning of 2011. Prior to starting with Patch, Matt was an award-winning staff writer at Neighborhood News, Inc., based in Manchester, New Hampshire. At Neighborhood News, Matt covered board meetings, high school sports and anything that was interesting in the community. With Patch, Matt looks forward to providing in-depth coverage of breaking news, features and sports. He is also excited to meet the people of Wilmington and show them why Patch is their home for everything local.

Danielle Masterson

Danielle Masterson, Community Editor

Danielle Masterson is the Community Editor for several Patch sites in Massachusetts, including Woburn. Between 2010 and 2012, she served as the Woburn Patch Local Editor.

Danielle graduated from Boston University's broadcast journalism program in 1999, then joined the Stoneham Sun as a full-time reporter. After five years with the Sun, as both reporter and editor, she left journalism to teach elementary school. Danielle obtained her master's degree from the University of Massachusetts – Boston while teaching in Malden. She also taught sixth grade in Marblehead, before jumping back into community journalism with Patch. 

Robert Marra

Robert Marra, Contributor

Bob Marra is a 1977 graduate of Boston University's College of Communication, where he majored in Journalism.  An attorney by profession, (Suffolk University Law School, 1981), he recently has renewed his passion for photography, especially sports and weddings.  Bob is a lifelong resident of Revere, where he currently serves on the City's License Commission and as chairman of the Revere Community Media Center, the city's community access television station.  Besides photography, he enjoys bicycling, writing, his wife's yoga class, and classical music. Bob also serves as president of the North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra, which plays its concerts at Swampscott High School.  Bob and Janine also keep busy with their dogs Milo and Erin and their cat Seconda.

John Waller

John Waller, Contributor, Editor

John got hooked on journalism as a Lexington High School junior covering Middlesex League sports for various local weeklies. He matriculated at Colby College in Maine where he studied English, ran track and cross country and wrote about White Mules athletics. After graduation, he became a staff writer at a Vermont daily and developed a passion for feature writing, especially profiles.


About Us

What is Patch?

Simply put, Patch is an innovative way to find out about, and participate in, what's going on near you.

We're a community-specific news, information and engagement platform driven by passionate and experienced new media professionals. Patch is revolutionizing the way neighbors connect with each other, their communities, and the national conversation.

We want to be the most trusted, comprehensive, and relevant news and information resource in your community. What can you do on Patch?

  • Keep up with news and events
  • Check out photos and videos from around town
  • Learn more about local businesses and the people behind them
  • Participate in discussions
  • Share your perspectives via our Local Voices blogging platform
  • Submit your own announcements, photos, and reviews

Who's Behind Patch?

Patch is run by professional editors, photographers, videographers, and salespeople who live in the regions they serve, and is supported by a great team in our New York City headquarters. Patch also gets advice from our Advisory Board and from many members of the community.

We look forward to meeting you and hearing your stories. If you see us around town, don't be afraid to say hi and tell us what you want to see on Patch!

Where You Come In

We hope that our sites will strengthen communities and improve the lives of their residents, but we can't do it without you. We've built Patch so that you have plenty of opportunities to comment on stories, share your opinions, post photos and announcements, and add events to the community calendar. So get to it! And if you're a business owner who wants to be listed, just let us know.

Giving Back

You can't truly serve a community unless you provide the help it needs most, which is why giving back is so important to us. We do it as part of our coverage — in a dedicated space that lets local charities and volunteers find each other — and with a program called "Give 5," through which we donate advertising space to charitable organizations and contribute our own time as volunteers. Want to know more? Email us at give5@patch.com.


Advisory Board

Phil Meyer

Phil Meyer

Phil Meyer is Professor Emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame in Journalism in the spring of 2008.  He joined the Journalism School in 1981 and served as Knight Chair in Journalism Professor from 1993-2008.  Prior to joining the school, he held a number of reporter and research positions at various media outlets. 

He has won numerous awards including the 2005 Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Research About Journalism (with Scott Maier). He was named a Fellow of Society of Professional Journalists in 2005. In 2004, the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication gave him its Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award. And in 2000 he received the American Association for Public Opinion Research Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement.

Meyer is the author of several books including The Vanishing Newspaper:  Saving Journalism in the Information Age and Precision Journalism:  A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science Methods.  Journalism Quarterly in 2000 listed this book as one of the 35 significant books of the 20th century in journalism and mass communication; and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, observing its 50th anniversary in 1996, listed it as one of 50 significant books on public opinion research.

He received his B.S. in technical journalism from Kansas State University and his M.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina.

Steven Berlin Johnson

Steven Berlin Johnson

Steven Berlin Johnson is a pioneer in the web world, as a co-founder of FEED, Plastic.com, and Outside.in, which was acquired by Patch in March of 2011. He also co-created Findings.com, which launched in late 2011. Steven was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School at Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He is a bestselling author of seven books, and won acclaim and a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his 2010 Time Magazine cover story, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." 

Speaking of Steven's editorial prowess, check out this video based on Steven's book, Where Good Ideas Come From, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Economist.

Brian Farnham

Brian Farnham, Founding Editor-in-Chief

Brian was Editor-in-Chief of Time Out New York magazine before coming to Patch. Before that he worked for a variety of publications both online and off, including Details magazine, New York Magazine, and the old, dearly departed Sidewalk.com. He has written for numerous publications, from the New York Times magazine to Harper's Bazaar. He graduated from Bowdoin College and got an MFA in creative writing at Columbia University so he could put his novel in a drawer with distinction. He lives in Manhattan with his beautiful wife, adorable son, angelic daughter and the world's most dog-like cat. He’s proud as hell of what the Patch team has built.

Ken Paulson

Ken Paulson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the First Amendment Center

Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C.

Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.  He is now a columnist on USA Today’s board of contributors, writing about First Amendment issues and the news media.

Throughout his career, Paulson has drawn on his background as both a journalist and lawyer, serving as the editor or managing editor of newspapers in five different states.

He also is past-president of the American Society of News Editors, the nation’s largest organization of news media leaders.

Paulson also was the host of the Emmy-honored television program “Speaking Freely,” seen in more than 60 PBS markets nationwide over five seasons, and the author of "Freedom Sings," a multimedia stage show celebrating the First Amendment that continues to tour the nation's campuses.  

He was an early advocate of making newspaper content available online, launching online newspapers in both Florida and New York in 1993.

For 12 years, Paulson was a regular guest lecturer at the American Press Institute, speaking to more than 5,000 journalists about First Amendment issues. He was honored with the API Lifetime Service Award. In 2010 and 2011, he served as chair of the PBS Editorial Standards Review Committee.

In 2007, Paulson was named fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists, “the highest honor SPJ bestows upon a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession.” In 2008, he  received the Robert S. Abbott Memorial Award for Meritorious Service in Mass Communications from the Southern Regional Press Institute. He has also been elected to the Illini Publishing Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois.

He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He also has served as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from American University.