The Week in Review: A Tragic Loss, School Openings

The week before Labor Day saw both sudden tragedy and the happy consistency of a brand new school year.

Garrison Road's Nicholas Roussos was swept off the rocks in Gloucester and drowned Aug. 31. Roussos was remembered as a hard-working man who loved his garden and the sea.

The school doors opened this week for the 2010-11 school year with parents taking photographs and teachers greeting their new charges. Police advised parents and residents to know the parking restrictions near schools.

Belmont High School was named by a leading regional magazine as one of the best in eastern Massachusetts.

The day before the first day of school, teachers and staff from the Wellington School came to the construction site of the new Wellington to sign the final steel beam during the celebratorial topping off of the new building.

Concord Avenue through Belmont Hill – from the Pleasant to Mill streets – will be closed to all but homeowners and those going to the Belmont Hill Club, Belmont Day School and the town cemetery during work hours from around 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the next several weeks.

The weeklong heat wave forced the Municipal Light Department to issue a heat advisory to ask residents to conserve energy. It also was the week that saw the first heat related failure of equipment that resulted in an outage.

While it turned out to be a mere nighttime shower, Belmont quietly prepared for what turned out to be the much hyped Hurricane Earl.

Artists and performers are being offered $3,800 in state grants through the Belmont Cultural Council. Deadline is Oct. 15.

The committee on the reuse of the Benton Branch Library is getting closer with a plan on creating a community library, close enough that a Newton resident gave the group its first donation towards that end.