In the 60s, Matthew

Several months before Athena Assets, LLC sold 160 Ayer Road to MR3, Athena Assets received all of the unpaid back rent on Suite 4—the suite where your wife’s recreational cannabis shop was supposed to go. One big check, Matthew, which, reportedly was “sixty-six thousand, no sixty-two thousand . . . it was in the sixties,” […]

19,304 Days, Littleton

Soon after my dad’s 52nd birthday, he was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer and given six months to live. He managed to live nine and died in the house he and my mother built. I was there. She was there. My sister was there. My dad died when I was 27, which, to 27-year-old […]

Who’s In Charge? Gary.

On Nov 28, 2023, at 6:15 AM, Jenna Brownson wrote: Good morning, Steve and Gary, Is the 12/5 “non-televised meeting” still an open meeting? If not, under what authority are the two bodies permitted to meet? Asking for a friend, Jenna * On Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at 09:28:09 AM EST, Gary Wilson wrote: Where in […]

A Little Lesson in Grammar, Chuck

Of all the information that Tom Porell shared with me over the phone on Valentine’s Day 2023—and then later on April 13, 2023, in person—the most surprising was not about Matthew’s wife and suspicions she’d been paid not to open. As disturbing as that notion was, what came as a far greater shock to me […]

Check My Math, Matthew?

On the 31st of August, after confirming that the attorney who’d represented your wife in our lawsuit (Nov 2019-Apr 2021) no longer represented her in that matter, I sent a very generous offer to your wife. I did not receive a reply from her. On the same day your wife’s special permit with the Planning […]

Connect These Dots for Us, Matthew

In early 2019, your wife and I met Attorney Blake Mensing at some totally lame cannabis mixer where we had to suffer through a presentation about something cannabis related. Amateurish as it was, your wife and thought it was worth it because we got Blake’s card, and he “specialized” in cannabis law. In the fall […]

It’s Like Peeling an Onion, Matthew

Back in the fall of 2022, when you were chair, I came to your Select Board meetings to ask what the Select Board could do to encourage your wife to get her ass in gear and open the Apothecary. At one of those meetings, this was made clear: Because your wife held a special permit […]

What’s It Like to Be You, Chuck?

When you, Anthony, and Cindy came walking down the hall that evening, I remember looking at your outrageous* hat, blanching, and exchanging a baffled look with Cindy. I knew very little of Cindy at the time, so what passed between us, to me, felt like an awareness that she and I were both looking at […]

Remember How I Looked Away, Chuck?

Chuck, I have a confession to make: I didn’t go to the ethics board or the press back in January 2019 because I didn’t want to get on your bad side. Matthew’s wife and I had announced our intention to apply for one of the two licenses, and I didn’t want to risk saying anything […]

An Open Letter to Chuck Decoste

Dear Chuck, When we met up for coffee on 2/3/23, upstairs at Kimball’s (mezzanine, not the back room), it was the first time I’d seen you up close and in person since your wife passed. I didn’t know her, only of her. And what I knew of her was this: she was deeply loved, and […]