Is target practice necessary?

Is target practice necessary? – (PIP # 80)

By Louise Peloquin    

     Coverage on Lowell police training.

 L’Étoile – December 5, 1924

THE POLICE DOES NOT NEED

REVOLVER PRACTICE

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Deputy Downey says using this arm is a rather simple affair.

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     Responding to journalists yesterday, Deputy Superintendent Hugh Downey expressed the opinion that target practice with a revolver was not at all necessary for the police. The many recent burglaries, where police officers in Boston and vicinity have been barbarously killed, triggered questions on the topic. The deputy said:

     “Concerning the need for officers to practice marksmanship with a revolver, allow me to point something out about anyone with extended police training. When a burgler starts shooting, he always does it before the officer or the armed citizen has the time to draw his own arm. He always has his gun pointed at someone or, in other words, he is ready for his prey. On the other hand, the police officer arrives quite suddenly and cannot shoot unless he is sure that the individual has a dangerous high-caliber weapon.

     And again, many of the agents in the department go to the shooting range in Dracut to practice using their revolver. In my opinion, every patrolman who has a gun learns all that is possible for his own protection and for that of the public. Let me tell you that we have excellent marksmen in our department. In fact, police officers are obliged use their revolver for their own preservation and therefore are naturally familiar with it.

     However, it is a noteworthy fact that even the most ignorant person can often get their hands on a revolver and use it. Hitting a target with a revolver does not require a special effort, as the case would be with a rifle or with a long arm.”

     Asked about equipment for target practice, the deputy declared that it would be impossible in the present building to accommodate such an exercise. As far as outside practice is concerned, no plan or arrangement has been made.

     Deputy Downey stated that he believes that all of his men are quite familiar with their own revolver and that there is a lot of pride among them about the number of bullseyes hit during their target practice sessions.

     Concerning the six Security Department machine guns, officers can benefit from training on using these arms whenever they wish. The deputy said that their use was very simple and that maneuvering them was not difficult.

     “Actually,” Deputy Downey said, “I think the officers are capable of facing a situation where it is necessary to fire a pistol, but that is quite rare. As a matter of fact, nothing of the kind has occurred since the murder of Abby Gilbride in Dracut last June.” (1)

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1) Translation by Louise Peloquin.

Lowell Politics: September 14, 2025

The Lowell City Council resumed meeting last week for the first time since August 12, 2025. Before getting to that, let’s look at last Tuesday’s preliminary election results.

Preliminary elections were required in just three council districts. Here are the results with incumbent councilors indicated by “(I)” and the candidates who will proceed to the November ballot in bold:

DISTRICT 3

1. Belinda Juran – 465
2. Daniel Finn – 378
3. Corey Belanger (I) – 344
4. Erin Gendron – 278

DISTRICT 7

1. Sidney Liang – 148
2. Paul Ratha Yem (I) – 105
3. Jose de Jesus Cervantes – 84

DISTRICT 8

1. Marcos Candido – 272
2. John Descoteaux (I) – 265
3. Francisco Maldonado – 207

These results, and the results of recent Lowell elections, are available on the Elections and Candidates page of richardhowe.com.

The first thing that struck me about Tuesday’s results was that none of the incumbent councilors finished first in their respective districts, which might indicate some discontent with the direction of the city. It should also increase overall interest in the November election since three challengers have demonstrated the ability to beat incumbents.

Incumbents are unopposed in three council districts so there will be no drama about the outcome for Mayor Dan Rourke in District 1; Councilor Corey Robinson in District 2; and Councilor Sokhary Chau in District 6.

There are challengers to the incumbents in the remaining two districts: In District 4, incumbent Wayne Jenness is being challenged by Sean McDonough; and in District 5, incumbent Kimberly Scott is being challenged by Sherri O’Connor Barboza.

The three at-large council seats are also on the November ballot. Incumbents Erik Gitschier, Rita Mercier and Vesna Nuon are all running for re-election. They are being challenged by Sixto DeJesus and Emile Kaufman.

The general election is on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Information about voting by mail, early voting, and voting on election day are all available on the City Election Department website.

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Before reading too much into the preliminary results as a gauge of voter sentiment, the turnout must be considered. Here are some participation numbers from Tuesday’s preliminary election:

• District 3 – 10,505 registered voters – 1,472 voted Tuesday (14%)
• District 7 – 8,417 registered voters – 340 voted Tuesday (4%)
• District 8 – 9,906 registered voters – 752 voted Tuesday (8%)

Here’s a comparison of the 2023 general election turnout to the turnout Tuesday in the three districts:

• District 3 – In Nov 2023, 1,039 voted. On Tues, 1,472 voted, an increase of 433.
• District 7 – In Nov 2023, 535 voted. On Tues, 340 voted, a decrease of 195.
• District 8 – In Nov 2023, 1,266 voted. On Tues, 752 voted, a decrease of 514.

These numbers send a mixed message with the turnout in District 3 on Tuesday much higher than turnout in the 2023 general election. Conversely, the turnout in Districts 7 and 8 was considerably lower. The candidates in all three districts this year ran vigorous campaigns so candidate effort (or lack thereof) would not explain why turnout went up in one district and down in the other two. One factor that may have skewed the District 3 numbers in November 2023, was that the incumbent, John Leahy, ran unopposed.

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Dipping into Lowell political history for a moment, in the aftermath of Councilor Corey Belanger being eliminated in the preliminary election, someone asked if that had ever happened before. It has happened twice, most recently in 2021, which was the first year of the district council system. That year, three incumbent councilors faced each other in the Belvidere District. John Leahy and Bill Samaras finished in the top two and moved on to the general election, and David Conway was eliminated.

Under the old all at-large system, in the 1993 preliminary election in which the top 18 finishers moved on to the November election, incumbent Councilor Richard O’Malley finished 21st and was eliminated in the preliminary. (Notably, four other incumbents – Gerald Durkin, Bernard Lemoine, Kathleen Kelley, and Curtis LeMay – lost in the general election that year.)

This year’s outcome also comes with a caveat since Councilor Belanger was not elected by voters but had been appointed by the other councilors to fill a mid-term vacancy.

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As for Tuesday’s city council meeting, it was surprisingly low-key given the number of weeks that had passed since the council last gathered. Contributing to that was the absence of Councilors Corey Belanger, John Descoteaux, and Paul Ratha Yem (the three who were on the ballot that day) and City Manager Tom Golden.

Here’s a synopsis of some of the issues discussed by councilors:

Senior Center Expansion – Councilors Kim Scott, Rita Mercier and Paul Ratha Yem had a joint motion requesting the city manager explore the feasibility of expanding the Senior Center into the adjacent space formerly occupied by Walgreens Drug Store. Several members of the public spoke in favor as did several councilors. Councilor Erik Gitschier did bring up the lingering ambiguity about current and future ownership of the Senior Center, an issue that came before the council in the spring of 2024. I wrote about the issue in my newsletters of February 18, 2024, and March 24, 2024, so please check them out if you are interested in this issue.

Sidewalks near Bailey School – The Bailey Elementary School, located off Cambell Drive in the Upper Highlands, is one of the ten Lowell schools constructed in the early 1990s because of the city’s settlement of a civil rights lawsuit brought by parents of minority students against the city. A practical challenge of that construction effort was to find places to build these new schools since so much of the city had already been built out. Consequently, some of the new schools, like the Bailey, ended up on parcels that were not otherwise attractive for new construction (if they were attractive, something else would already have been built there).

The Bailey was built on lowlands behind the houses that line the west side of Campbell Drive, a long residential street that runs from Wedge Street to West Forrest Street. Access to the school is by a driveway that runs through a gap in the houses on that side of the street. That connects to a circular driveway that runs past the school, but there is almost no parking space within it. To allow school buses to get close to the school, cars dropping off or picking up students are excluded from the driveway. That means all private drop-offs and pickups take place on Campbell Drive and other streets in the vicinity. Few of those streets have sidewalks, so children going to or coming from school must walk in the road to get to their rides or to home if they live nearby.

In the mid-1990s, my son went to the Bailey for six years (pre-K to 4). My memory is that the traffic situation was chaotic back then and not much seems to have changed. There has been an ongoing push to install sidewalks on Campbell Drive, but when the city installed hardware that approximated the width of a sidewalk as a temporary test, homeowners (according to statements from city officials) revolted against the new hardware which consisted of vertical poles at 10-foot intervals with shorter lengths of rubber curbing between them. I saw them a few times while walking my dog. They reminded me of the hardware used to create protected bike lanes that I’ve seen in other cities. The hardware was removed in just a few days.

Ensuring that children can safely walk to and from the Bailey School is a 30-year problem that has defied a solution thus far, but that is no reason to stop trying. The case does illustrate the challenges of municipal government where trying to solve one problem often creates new ones.

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The council also discussed a joint motion by Councilors Rita Mercier and John Descoteaux that would prohibit needle exchange programs from operating within 1000 feet of a school or park. Councilor Erik Gitschier had a similar motion asking for an ordinance prohibiting the distribution of needles within 1000 feet of a school. The motions launched an extended discussion on the profusion of used needles littering the community, particularly in the vicinity of the South Common and the co-located Rogers School. Councilor Wayne Jenness observed that when walking in that area recently, he observed hundreds of used needles on the ground. Other councilors offered suggestions but none that seemed destined to help much.

Lisa Golden, the city’s Director of Health and Human Services, offered some perspective. She said there are two organizations that provide needle exchange services in Lowell. Both are fully cooperative with city personnel and provide other valuable services like Narcan distribution, HIV screening, and referrals to treatment opportunities. She cautioned councilors not to lay the blame for all the needles on these two outfits since often someone will simply pull up in a car or van and hand out hundreds of needles to whoever wants them. She also urged councilors that in their search for ways to reduce the proliferation of used needles to not incidentally curtail the “harm reduction” services being provided by these organizations. Councilors referred the motions to the City Solicitor to draft a proposed ordinance.

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Some upcoming events . . .

Today (Sept 14, 2025) at 10 am, I’ll lead a free walking tour of the Tyler Park Historic District. It begins at Tyler Park on Westford Street.

On Friday, September 19, 2025, lala books at 189 Market Street will host an author talk by poets Dan Murphy, Nina Palisano, and Paul Marion. Details are on the lala books website.

On Saturday, September 20 and on Sunday, September 21, both at 10 am, I’ll lead a free walking tour of historic Lowell Cemetery. The tour, which covers the same material on both days, will begin at the Knapp Avenue entrance to the cemetery.

Novelist David Moloney Draws on Lowell Life for 2nd Book

I spent my twenties working in juvenile residential homes, mental hospitals, and a county jail. During that time, I wrote constantly—journals, stories, notes—keeping the muscles loose, even if the writing went nowhere. After my wife became pregnant, I left the jail and returned to school, planning to become a high school English teacher. But college writing workshops wouldn’t let me abandon the dream I couldn’t deny: being a writer.

I write without a plan or outline. I begin by reading what I wrote the day before and follow my curiosity, letting my characters guide me. I watch them stumble, fail, and sometimes find what they seek. On the page, I preserve the parts of myself that resist schedules and checklists, the parts that chase wonder and surprise in ordinary life.

This approach shaped Barker House and carries into my forthcoming novel, Lion in Love, set in Lowell, Massachusetts, a former mill town on the Merrimack River. In that city, I return to the streets, the corners, the lives of people pushed to the margins, letting their stories unfold in ways only fiction allows.

David Moloney is the author of Barker House (Bloomsbury, 2020) and the forthcoming novel Lion in Love (Regal House, Spring 2027). His work has appeared in AGNI, Guernica, The Yale Review, Joyland, The Common, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, and elsewhere. He is the coordinator of Southern New Hampshire University’s undergraduate creative writing program and teaches at The Mountainview MFA, where he also attended. He is a native of Lowell, MA, the city in which Lion in Love is set.

Regal House Publishing is proud to bring you David Moloney’s Lion in Love in the spring of 2027.

Papa

Papa

By Leo Racicot

My father, Leo-Joseph Albert Racicot, was the son of Eliza (Dupuis) and Alphonse Racicot. A quick dip in the genealogy pond a couple of years ago told me Alphonse’s grandfather, Bon’homme (Bunnum for short), who hailed from Languedoc, migrated to Quebec, Canada sometime in the middle of the 19th century, made a family there then brought them including his grandson, Alphonse, to Lowell’s Little Canada where Alphonse met, courted and married Eliza. They thrived here in America and bought two homes in The Acre section of Lowell, at #5 and #7 Willie Street. My father was one of six children: Albert, Ray, Edmond (Eddie or “Fat”), Omer and Marguerite (Aunt Margaret). The family decided to make their home at #7 Willie.

When he came of age, Papa (I called him Papa) left home to strike out on his own. He took room and board with the Dean family of Pawtucketville because they, like him, loved and kept horses at their farm. He loved his years there and became close, lifelong friends with the Dean children, Edward (Teddy) and Anne. Years later, I became friendly with Anne who’d married and was Anne Dean Welcome. When I knew her, she was working for the National Park Service as a ranger and would relate to me much-longed for stories of Papa when he was a kid: evenings and weekend afternoons, she, her brother and Papa used to take the horses out on long rides in the countryside.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Papa signed up for the Army. He met my mother when he was stationed at Fort Devens and she was working at the Abbot Worsted in nearby Forge Village. Papa, being as good-looking as he was, was a well-known ladies man. When he asked Ma out for a date, knowing his reputation, she became wary of going out with him and stood him up. Well, that only served to draw Papa in all the more; he became more interested in her and they began seeing each other exclusively. When he was called overseas, she vowed to wait for him and when he returned, they married in 1945 as the war was coming to an end. In the war, Papa, recognized for his prowess with horses and horse-riding was assigned to the horse cavalry, serving much of his stint in India. I guess I inherited my passion for taking photographs from him; in the attic, I found many images he’d taken of India’s towns and villages and the friends he made there. One shows him with his pal, Susheel, with whom he exchanged letters in the years after the war. Many photos are of the Indian countryside, and show Papa astride an elephant. He used to say to Ma, “I brought India home with me.”  He, too, took lots of photos of his beloved horses, donkeys and mules. Finding these pictures helped me find myself in relation to him, in a small way.

I loved the big house at #5 Willie where we lived when we moved from Pine Street in The Highlands. Family rumor had it that either his siblings and parents gave him and Ma the house as a wedding gift or had owed him money and gave them the house to close out the loan. Either way, it was a grand home to grow up in.

Papa worked for the city’s Public Works Department and once-in-a-while would take me along with him for the day. In fact, the main building on Broadway which now houses the Lowell Senior Center, was where I spent most of my visits. The structure still reads: City Stables 1877. Passing by it now almost daily, I am reminded of our times together when it was a dusty, dark, almost menacing interior full of rusty nails on the floor, old jalopies and ‘airy diggers’ (cranes). When Papa was promoted to be his boss, Mr. George Legrand’s chauffeur, my visits stopped because Papa said, “I’m always out on the road.”

Papa didn’t have an easy time when he started out; in order to blend in better in what was the city’s then-predominantly WASP/Irish population, he anglicized his name Racicot to Roscoe. Long-established residents didn’t embrace French-Canadians (Canucks) readily into their fold.

I am so thankful for the memories I have of Papa, few as they are. I remember him in his and Ma’s bedroom teaching me how to pray The Our Father, he repeating each part then having me repeat it back.  To this day, when I hear that prayer being said, my mind returns to that afternoon.

I remember his lessons in wintertime teaching me how to ice fish, see him weilding a saw to cut a hole in the frozen lake (this was out at Lakeview), showing me how to drop the line down. It wasn’t fun waiting/sitting/standing in the cold air for a fish to take the bait but what kept me warm was being with my Papa. Most of all, as I have written about before, I remember every Friday night, Papa popping up a gigantic brown paper bag of popcorn in the kitchen, plunking it down between himself and me in the front seat of the big, green Plymouth and heading to the Lowell or Chelmsford Drive-In to see the latest war picture or Western. Heaven. I loved the movies but loved more being alone with my dad. it was our special time together; Ma and Diane weren’t allowed; they had their “girls day out” on Saturdays. Even at that age, I was mesmerized by Papa’s face, his piercing green eyes, his rosy, healthy cheeks, the sum robustness of him. I’d catch myself staring up at him, instead of at the movie. At home, at the kitchen table, I’d find myself unable to stop staring at him; he, lost deep inside a seeming trance, in a brown study, as we used to say, not noticing my focus on him. He was my own personal movie star. And maybe, just maybe he knew he was, was used to others admiring his beauty.

He got very sick, very fast. In early summer of 1960, he was misdiagnosed with a stomach ulcer and was treated for such. By the time the doctors realized it was cancer, it was too late. The transformation from what he was to what he became is too terrifying to write about; overnight, the strapping Papa I knew turned into a weak, old man.

One memory I can never forget — I walked into his room to ask if he’d read to me. He said, “no”, he didn’t feel up to that. But I persisted with what were too many “Please??”  Of-a-sudden, he rose up and out of his bed like a ghost from out of a grave and was chasing me with his cane, screaming at me, swearing at me. I ran into the living room but he was right behind me. He raised the cane high over his head and it would have come right down on mine but in raising it as high as he did, it hit and shattered the bare bulb of the living room light. It made me cry. The explosion and seeing my fear dissipated his rage and he retreated, sadly, back to his room. That’s the last time I saw him. He died soon after in November, 1960, at the age of 45.

Papa in his service uniform

Papa astride an elephant in India

Papa’s Army buddies at the motor pool in India

Street scene, India

Papa’s Indian buddies Susheel & Vihan in Bombay

Papa in India

Papa with is brother Ray and Eddie with 7 Willie Street in the background

Papa working the counter at Paul Cloutier’s drugstore

My parents on their wedding day in 1945

Papa, me, and Sparky at horse stables

My paternal grandparents, Eliza & Alphonse Racicot

Papa wearing riding jodhpurs with Buster Obie

Papa with one of his buddies in the driveway between 5 & 7 Willie Street

Papa with Teddy Dean at Dean Farm

One of Papa’s horses at Dean Farm