Town Talk: Leno returning, Colombo yogurt leaving and other short items worth talking about

News

Related Photos

Ann Hermes

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

February 4, 2010

Tonight (as of March 1) it's Andover's Leno

Looking glum and somewhat defeated, Jay Leno appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show last Thursday, Jan. 28, and talked about losing his 10 p.m. show and returning as host of The Tonight Show effective March 1. The move means Conan O'Brien is out of a job.

Leno, who grew up in Andover, insisted the move by NBC was all about numbers. Ratings were down for both his show and The Tonight Show, Leno told Oprah. When asked if he was embarassed by all the public negativity, as some believe O'Brien lost his job because of Leno, the 1968 Andover High grad said he was sort of glad that his parents and brother aren't alive to hear it.

Leno, who grew up on Clark Road, is the son of the late Catherine and Angelo Leno. His only sibling, Patrick, is also deceased.

- Judy Wakefield

Wheels for Haiti

Andover resident Aileen Peters has started a charity called Wheels for Haiti (www.wheels4haiti.org) to collect or buy new, broken, or used manual wheelchairs for Haitian amputees. There are expected to be tens of thousands of amputees in Haiti. "In an impoverished, field-worker society, it is a sentence to increased poverty and abandonment. There are lots of people who want to help. I figure 'if you build it, they will come'. So I started the site, have some donation days set up, and by the middle of next week will have the donor page functioning to accept donations," Peters said in an e-mail.

The first collection dates are Sunday, Feb. 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Thursday, Feb. 11 from 9 to 2, at Temple Emanuel, 7 Haggetts Pond Road.

Last spoonfuls of Colombo

Colombo Yogurt, one of Andover's greatest business success stories and at one time the fourth bestselling yogurt in America, will soon sell its last cups. General Mills will stop producing it, focusing on its more popular Yoplait line.

Colombo yogurt began in 1929 in the Andover kitchen of Rose and Sarkis Colombosian. Sales took off in the 1950s after a Readers' Digest article about the health benefits of yogurt. Son Robert Colombosian moved the company moved to Methuen and in 1977 sold it to the French firm Bongrain, which in turn sold it to General Mills in 1993. Robert Colombosian and his wife, Alice, were familiar faces on television starting in 2001 as they starred in a series of ads for their yogurt. Alice died in 2008. "It is a big part of my life," Colombosian, now 84, told the Eagle-Tribune. "It is the oldest yogurt brand in the United States."

New leaders for AHS diamonds

With Opening Day right around the corner (well, we can dream), baseball coaching at Andover High School has new hires for both the softball and baseball dugouts. Each is an Andover High grad.

Dan Grams, who has been the junior varsity coach for the past 25 years, takes over the baseball program from Ken Maglio, who was not rehired and has filed a grievance, while Steve Tisbert will replace Stephanie Ragucci, who resigned as head softball coach to pursue adopting a child from Russia. Tisbert was a volunteer assistant in softball for the past 12 years and also helped out in baseball.

Suffice it to say that they both bleed Blue and Gold.

- Dave Willis

Sun not setting

Native Sun in Andover is staying put on Main Street after all. Owner John Darke had said he was closing all three of his Native Sun women's clothing stores - in Andover, Sudbury and Newburyport - but Andover now has been spared. He said the Andover store is the smallest of the three and there has been an outpouring of customer support since the closing was reported in the Newburyport Daily News earlier this month. Darke met with his landlord this week and was able to renegogiate his Andover lease, he said.

"I'm really excited. We're staying in Andover and that's positive news," he said.

- Judy Wakefield

Budget blog up, running

Have a question about union bargaining, your taxes, town budget or other municipal operations? A trio of board members just may be blogging the answer to your question.

The tri-board communications subcommittee, comprised of Selectman Mary Lyman, School Committee member Annie Gilbert and Finance Committee member Mary O'Donoghue have been posting answers to resident's frequently asked questions on a Web log they launched this winter.

Visit www.andoverbudgetblog.blogspot.com to read their posts or send questions via e-mail.

- Bethany Bray

Whole Foods creole cuisine benefits Haiti earthquake victims

Whole Foods Market, 40 Railroad St., is selling a $9.99 Haitian-inspired dinner for two in the prepared foods department where all proceeds from sales will go towards Partners in Health's Stand with Haiti efforts. The Creole Shrimp with Red Beans and Rice pre-packaged dinner was created at the company's kitchens with the help of Haitian employees who work at the Everett facility.

Customers can also donate at registers toward Partners in Health's efforts in Haiti. The red beans and rice dinner will be sold through Feb. 14.