On his 50th birthday in 1987, John Lepper announced to his wife Joan that he was going to run for Attleboro City Council.

Before then, he had never thought about getting involved in local politics. The decision would lead him to become a state representative - a Republican in a Legislature dominated by Democrats.

After 14 years at the Statehouse, Lepper has decided not to run again. He is retiring at the end of this session to dedicate more time to his family.

When Norton Town Manager James Purcell looks at the budget situation in his town and others across the state, he sees "a perfect storm."

Health care costs are skyrocketing. State aid - which makes up more than a third of Norton's budget - has been cut dramatically. The economy is in a downturn, further reducing tax revenue. Voters are weary of property tax overrides and skeptical of local officials crying poor.

Sitting in his small office in Norton's town hall, with stacks of budget documents piled around him, Purcell said, "The community has made a judgment already on what resources will be provided for these services. And now comes the sorting out - the consequences of that.

REHOBOTH - For most of his life, Ben Sammis lived to fly. But the dream that eventually led him to become a heroic Marine Cobra helicopter pilot actually began on the water.

A chance meeting with a naval aviator during a sailing trip when he was about 10 years old fired the young boy's thirst for aviation and dreams of flying jets, his father recalled.

ATTLEBORO - At the ramshackle end of its life, the Sugarman Building, which once housed jewelry and box-making companies on South Main Street in the heart of the city, was nothing more than a warehouse for coffins - a somber and potent symbol for the death of an era where the mix of numerous factories and stores downtown created a vibrant center and a vibrant city.

But the Sugarman Building, its coffins and the insidious decay it represented, are long gone, something Mayor Kevin Dumas said residents might easily forget in the rush of daily events coupled with the seemingly plodding pace of seemingly endless efforts at city renewal.

ATTLEBORO - At 10:04 a.m. on March 4, 1998, a boom echoed across Attleboro and beyond.

It was heard and felt miles away. Residents reported their windows rattled and their houses shook.

People who were as far away as Briggs Corner said the concussion was so strong they thought a truck had hit their house.

FOXBORO, February 24, 2008 - Dogs are finally having their day.

Parks where they can romp and run unleashed with canine consorts while their owners yip and yap with each other have popped up in area towns like Foxboro, Sharon and Medway and are being planned in Attleboro and Somerset.

While the park in Foxboro has been backed into a legal doghouse by neighbors, the parks are popular in general and seem to represent a surge of pooch power locally and throughout the country.

I feel a lot older today.

The Triboro Cinemas is now mostly a pile of rubble, a victim of changing times and multiplex theaters that attract enormous crowds.

But the Triboro Cinemas was the new kid on the block in the early 1970s, a three-screen theater competing against one-screen movie houses such as the Union Theatre in Attleboro, the Community Theatre in North Attleboro and the Orpheum in Foxboro.

ATTLEBORO, February 17, 2008 - Only a short distance from Providence, Brockton and New Bedford - cities with documented street gangs and problems with youth violence - Attleboro has mostly avoided a rising tide of drive-by shootings, rampant drug dealing and petty crime. But the city's image as a gang-free environment is changing.

In the past several months, there have been growing instances of graffiti or "tagging" on public property, homes and businesses with gang insignia and messages, along with sporadic crime in which gang influence is suspect.

NORTON - Last August the lives of Danielle Cann, 16, and her 13-year-old sister, Brittany, hung in the balance.

Shortly after the girls and their mother, Elizabeth, returned to their home from a Tweeter Center concert, Elizabeth's former boyfriend, Robert McDermott, entered their home near Norton Reservoir and shot and critically wounded the three women and killed their dog. Elizabeth, 44, died.

Mention the Blizzard of '78 to most people and the memories come rushing back - of stranded cars and shuttered schools, sky-high snowbanks and futile searches for milk.

But for those in the under-30 set, the notorious nor'easter might as well be mythology.