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Officials are questioning why the leg shackles that would have kept George McNeal from bolting away Saturday weren't made available to the two patrolmen escorting him from the HealthAlliance Hospital, where McNeal received treatment for a head wound, to a squad car. [Peter Roddy] acknowledged that shackles still should have been used, since McNeal had given police a false identity and was a suspect in a double-stabbing. Officer Colleen Patterson held onto McNeal's right bicep and forearm as Officer Randy Osborne went to open the cruiser door, Patterson wrote in reports.

[Jennifer Flanagan] may already have a challenger in past rival Ward 2 City Councilor Claire Freda. Freda said she was disappointed that Flanagan did not pledge to seek an additional $1.35 million in lottery aid for Leominster that Romney has tentatively pledged in his 2007 budget. Freda said she's been disappointed that Flanagan hasn't once approached the City Council, like her predecessors have, to discuss budget issues and priorities for the city.

[George Cecil McNeal], 26, is wanted for the killing of Ellabell, Ga. resident Michael Taranovich, who McNeal allegedly shot six times while trying to rob him of $550 in cash and his pickup truck on Sept. 15. Nathaniel Hughes, who suffered a wound to the abdomen, told police he and his brother arrived at ex-girlfriend Denise Lavender's apartment to pick up his child, who had fallen ill with scarlet fever. McNeal, who had recently been dating Lavender, came at him with the kitchen knife as he put his son's jacket on, he told police. McNeal and Lavender told a different story, saying the Hughes brothers forced themselves into the apartment and attacked McNeal with a knife.

Mayor Dean Mazzarella said the city's other pet project, Rockwell Village -- the area containing Adams, Cotton and Pearl streets -- is just starting to take shape after years of work. The city has applied for more than $1 million in Community Development Action Grants to pay for sewer and water line improvements, and sidewalk and streetlight installations in the Comb and Carriage district. Mazzarella also envisions placing a new police station in the area, to keep tabs on crime and foster a feeling of safety.

Another 116 seniors voted for the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg, and two students voted to hold the ceremony at Leominster High School, [William Hart] said. \"There's nothing better than a graduation on a nice, sunny day on Doyle Field. But we'll have a very nice alternative,\" Hart said. Out of the six graduations he's hosted, Hart had to hold one ceremony in the Leominster High School gymnasium due to rain, and many people had to watch the ceremony telecast in the auditorium due to space constraints.

\"Thirty-one students left,\" Coleman Nee said. \"That's based mostly on the rumors that the school was closing. The rumors really took off after the school received $100,000 from the sisters of Notre Dame (in April 2005).\" While a drop in enrollment hurt the school, increasing debt - - a total of $1.1 million -- also played a factor in closing it down, Nee said. \"We've been in touch with the superintendent from the Worcester Dioceses' Catholic Schools office,\" Nee said. \"He said he'll do everything to help with transitioning. ... That just happened today.\"

\"We have no agenda to close (St. Joseph's),\" Worcester Diocese Superintendent Stephen Perla said. \"St. Joseph's is at risk. ... We hope to rebuild. Our goal is to try and keep St. Joseph's viable and open.\" [Cheryl Slattery] has created a budget that relies on bringing in about $490,000 into the struggling school, with $30,000 having to come from fundraising. Slattery said she'll need to cut art, music, physical education and French classes out of the curriculum unless enrollment increases.

Andover attorney Peter Caruso, who specializes in the state's Open Meeting Law, said it is unacceptable for city officials to hold discussions in private and only provide a brief description. The committee discussed complaints from two parents, Mary Jean and Terri Bisbee, who contended there was mold in Leominster High School early last year. The mayor did contend that members had probably been talking about a legal issue in that instance. Jean and Bisbee had been threatening a lawsuit at the time, [Dean Mazzarella] said.

\"I think we need to make it very clear. No one inside (the Leominster school system) is pegged for the job,\" [Dean Mazzarella] said. \"I've heard rumors, but nobody in the district has approached me about having any interest in the job. Anyone interested should give it a shot.\" Mazzarella will ask Assistant Superintendent Susan Hitchcock to serve as acting superintendent if the committee has no one in place by August, freeing up more time for a thorough search at a time when many superintendent posts around the state are vacant. The idea of hiring a professional headhunter -- someone who will go out and recruit candidates -- appealed to Mazzarella.

[John Dombrowski] had still been thinking about the petition when it needed to be turned in, [Gregg Lisciotti] said. Dombrowski would not comment on his thoughts on the petition Tuesday. \"Councilor [David Rowlands] was not asked to sign,\" Lisciotti said. At Large Councilor James Lanciani said the move would give Lisciotti more flexibility in what businesses he could bring in to the few spaces he still has open.