Community Corner

Week in Review: Murder Convict Given Parole, Food Carts, Liquor Licenses, Cyber Predator Faces New Charges

Medford's week in review. Monday, March 26 to Friday, March 30, 2012.

A man convicted of a 1971 murder at a West Medford convenience was paroled this week. Vernon Miller, 73, was granted parole by the state's parole board by a 6-1 vote Monday, according to the board's written decision. He is one of three people previously given life sentences to be granted parole this week. On April 12, 1971, Miller and Arthur Morris entered the Sunnyhurst Convenience Store in West Medford and demanded money from 53-year-old store clerk Armand Clivio, according to parole board documents. Clivio was shot in the head, and the two men escaped with $140. Prosecutors alleged that Morris shot Clivio, but Miller was convicted of first degree murder because he was present and intended to rob the store, the parole board records said. Miller was given a life sentence in 1972.

Medford City Councilors will consider calling for a reduction in required seating for a restaurant to hold a full liquor license. The council’s sub-committee on licensing unanimously moved a resolution Tuesday that calls for the council to request a home rule petition to reduce the required number of seats needed to apply for a full liquor license from 99 to 50. The resolution will be considered by the full city council in coming weeks.

A Tewksbury man who allegedly blackmailed a Medford teen into have sex with him faces 46 new charges stemming from coercing underage girls into sending nude photos, and in some cases blackmailing them into having sex with him, prosecutors said. Thomas Hutchinson, 19, originally faced eight charges after he allegedly used multiple aliases through a social networking site to convince a 15-year-old Medford girl to send him nude photos, then threatening to distribute the photos unless the she had sex with him, prosecutors said. He was turned himself in to Medford Police last July. Hutchinson faces the new charges after investigators scoured his computer files, discovering a trove of nude images of young girls, along with online chats and logs of converstations over Skype, according to the press release.

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Not Your Average Joe's in Medford is one of over 30 restaurants in the state that owes a total of 478 employees back wages, according to a labor press release. The Federal Department of Labor has discovered more than $1.3 million in owed salary to restaurant employees, the release said.

Medford city councilors are weighing whether the city should start licensing mobil food vendors in the city. For the second time this year, the council's subcommittee on licensing took up discussion on mobil food carts and trucks Tuesday night. City Solicitor Mark Rumley provided the subcommittee, which consists of Paul Camuso, Fred Dello Russo and Richard Caraviello, with copies of other communities' ordinances on food trucks and food carts. But the councilors took no action on the subject, choosing to take some time to review the information Rumley gave them and return to the topic in coming weeks.

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