Top Five Local Stories Last Week

Here's a look back at the top five stories in the past week in Hamilton and Wenham.

The Hamilton-Wenham Regional School Committee endorsed a $500,000 so-called “giveback” unanimously on Thursday night, a budget number equal to what Hamilton Town Meeting voters supported in May. That meant that a Special Town Meeting scheduled for Monday night was no longer needed and the 2012 school budget was approved.

The War Memorial Committee and Town Hall-Police Station Building Committee met together on Thursday morning at the urging of the Board of Selectmen in hopes of having the two group work together to come up with a design for the memorial. Wenham Town meeting voters said the memorial should go on the car barn lot but a design needs to be developed - Selectmen hope that can happen before a Town Meeting in the fall.

The Town Advisory Committee looking at the future of the Iron Rail property in Wenham came back to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday with a recommendation that they take no action. The Committee said that there were too mainly unknowns, mainly with the nearby Mullen property, which was home of Mullen Advertising until a few years ago and could be redeveloped.

While Monday night’s Special Town Meeting is no longer needed in Hamilton, the second biggest story heading in to the meeting was that voting machines were being prepared for use at the one question meeting. The machines were being planned so that the vote tally would be faster and more accurate.

Mary Morin of Hamilton was honored at Fenway Park last weekend. Morin, a cancer survivor, will be riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge is August.