Week in Review: New Mansfield PD Officers, A Look at the Cheng Du, and More

Meet Mansfield's Four Newest Police Officers

It is a time of transition down at the Mansfield police station. With officers leaving and retiring, a new group of police officers are ready to patrol the streets of Mansfield.

"The sands of time are moving on in the department and people are leaving. We're losing great people and great new people are coming in," Police Chief Arthur O'Neil said.

Four new full-time members of the Mansfield Police Department were sworn in Wednesday night, as the department begins to transition to new officers and a new chief next month.

In addition, officer Michael Fenore was also sworn in because he was away on his honeymoon at the time of the ceremony for the previous class.

The officers, Nicole Boldrighini, Derek McCune, Gregory Martel and Daniel Pennellatore, are all Mansfield High School graduates and recent graduates of the state police academy.

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Selectmen Thank Police Chief O'Neill for Years of Service and Prepare for New Chief

With a week and a half until retirement, Police Chief Arthur O’Neill was honored by the Mansfield selectmen for his 38 years of service to the town as an officer and as the Chief of Police.

“The board of selectmen on behalf of all citizens of the town of Mansfield congratulate Arthur O’Neill on 38 years of service to the citizens of Mansfield and most particularly the 20 years of service to the community as Chief of Police,” Selectman Kevin Moran said, reading from the selectmen's proclamation.

After O'Neill retires on March 31, Ronald Sellon will take over as the new chief.  A swearing in ceremony is planned for April 1 at 6 p.m. at Mansfield High School. Originally, the ceremony was planned to take place at Town Hall, but high interest in the event caused the ceremony to be moved to the high school.

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Cheng Du a Family Run Restaurant for Over 30 Years in Mansfield

Sonny Tang and his family have been in Mansfield at Cheng Du for over 30 years. He said his family emigrated from Taiwan in the late 70s and worked to open their own business, right in Mansfield.

“My mom and dad emigrated from Taiwan, and rather than work for other companies, they felt it was just a smarter way of bringing the family together,” Tang said. “First my parents came here, and then the whole family immigrated. We had enough people to actually get the business moving.”

Tang said he originally started working at the restaurant with his parents when he was 12 years old.

“It was kind of a school of hard knocks,” he said. “You were just thrown in the kitchen, starting with dishes, moving on to food preparation, working with the knife, to a busboy, a waiter, you were able to learn and obtain every aspect of the job. There was no Johnson and Wales background.”

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Selectmen Mulls Employment Question on Town Boards Application

New applicants for boards and committees will no longer have to list their current  employment in Mansfield after the selectmen voted to make the question optional 3-2. Chairman Olivier Kozolowski and Kevin Moran voted against the proposal.

The question, which asks applicants to list their current employer will now be optional as stated on the updated application on the town of Mansfield's website.

The issue was brought up by Selectmen George Dentino who thought the question was too intrusive for prospective board and committee members.

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The Mansfield Hornets threw everything at the Putnam Beavers, but unfortunately. Putnam threw it right back at Mansfield. With the Hornets leading by as much as seven points, the Beavers did what they were known for and took over the second half on the boards.

Despite forcing overtime, shooting fouls and a struggling offense in the extra frame hurt the Hornets as the Beavers took home the MIAA Division 1 state title with a 50-48 win at the DCU Center in Worcester Saturday.

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