Scandals Cost Influential High School AD His Job: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Friday, June 18. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Talk about a quick turnaround: The Provincetown lobsterman who was almost eaten by a whale was on a late-night talk show.
• One town has to take major precautions with its drinking water after E. coli was discovered this week.
• Kitt, the heroic K-9 killed while protecting his handler in a Braintree shooting, will be laid to rest.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's top story

After a series of scandals involving Duxbury high school coaches, Athletic Director Thom Holdgate announced that his contract will not be renewed for next year.

Football coach Dave Maimaron was fired after members of the football team were caught using anti-Semitic slurs during a game against Plymouth North. Less than a month later, boys' hockey coach John Blake was fired following an investigation into a lawsuit alleging Blake repeatedly raped a middle school student in the mid-2000s.

Holdgate has not commented on either scandal, other than to discuss how the Duxbury football team would continue the season after Maimaron was fired in March.

Holdgate was named the MIAA's Athletic Director of the Year in 2010.

Read the full story here

Thursday's Other Top Stories

One day you're being eaten by a whale, the next you're one Kimmel: Michael Packard, the veteran lobster diver from Cape Cod who had an extreme encounter with a whale, was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday night. Kimmel welcomed the commercial diver to the set by informing him that he had a seat designed for him to look like he was sitting inside a whale's open mouth. "I thought about it, and no way am I getting in that...I'm going back to Cape Cod!" says Packard who braved the entire eight-minute interview inside the seat that he told Kimmel he originally wanted no part in.

After E. coli discovery, residents must boil water: Burlington town officials do not know what caused the E. coli contamination that prompted Thursday's boil water order, which remains in effect Friday. The Burlington Board of Health has not heard about anyone becoming ill due to the contamination. DPW is sampling the water across the town, including three of the 11 water samples that came back positive for E. coli, a bacteria that can cause illness such as diahrrea, headaches, fatigue and other symptoms.

Rest easy, Kitt: Braintree police will hold a closed memorial service for K-9 Kitt, who was killed while protecting his handler from a man authorities said wounded two police officers in a shooting near the Braintree Village apartments. The memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m., Tuesday at Cartwright-Venuti Funeral Home in Braintree, but it's limited to uniformed first responders and invited guests.

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