It’s been a busy year for Peabody with plenty to report on. From the realm of contentious municipal meetings to the moments where community support shows its strength, Peabody Weekly News was there to capture the story’s most important to the city. Here are the five most captivating stories from 2024, as decided by you, the reader.
Peabody and Lynn at a crossroads
A unanimous decision from the Peabody City Council to ban all left-handed turns between Lynnfield Street and Casco Road in a July meeting stirred controversy with Lynn, which holds jurisdiction of the intersection along with Peabody and Lynnfield.
“The Lynn group was very understanding of the fact that this is a concern of ours, but they also expressed concerns about traffic and the impacts that it would have on the City of Lynn, which is understandable considering the proximity to Lynn,” said Mayor Ted Bettencourt.
Lynn Assistant City Solicitor James Lamanna addressed a letter to Peabody City Solicitor Don Conn that it is the City of Lynn’s position that Peabody cannot enact any regulation prohibiting the left turn without providing written notice of the proposed regulation to the mayor of Lynn, holding a public hearing that was advertised in a “newspaper of general circulation” in Lynn, and receiving written agreement from Lynn’s mayor.
Despite the legality of a restriction of movement within this intersection coming into question, the city councilors all agreed that something had to be done to protect Peabody citizens. “We’ve been talking about this for over two years,” said Councilor-at-Large and Legal Affairs Committee Chair Thomas Rossignoll. “We can’t sit on this anymore. The safety of our residents is way too important.”
A change to Casco Road was held off after the City Council returned from a recess in August and a public hearing was scheduled for September. During this hearing, Lynn councilors voiced their concerns about an ordinance change, but Peabody City Council ultimately decided to implement delineator poles in that area to restrict left-hand turns as a 60 or 90-day trial period.
Shaq attacks Peabody chicken market
Big Chicken, a fast-food chain co-founded in 2018 by Hall of Fame basketball star Shaquille O’Neal, opened at the North Shore Mall on July 10th.
The restaurant’s menu features a variety of fried chicken sandwiches and milkshakes. The Peabody location is the chain’s 45th store and the first in Massachusetts, Big Chicken Head of Training Trisha Bovell said.
The first 36 customers in line for the grand opening received a gift card giving them $10 of food each week for a year. Shawn Langlois, of Salem, N.H., was the first customer in line. He said he arrived at Big Chicken at 9 p.m. on Tuesday to camp out for the grand opening and only slept for around an hour in his car
Three high-school friends, Ben Robert, Aidan Martyn, and Weston Puleo, arrived in line at 7 a.m. and were the fourth, fifth, and sixth in line for the grand opening. They said they plan on coming back every week to use their promotional passes. Martyn said he and Puleo drove to Robert’s house and knocked on his window to wake him up to get in line.
Franchise owners Paul Bains and Ryan Corcoran were at the grand opening and said they share ownership with Kyle Seyboth. Bains said after flying out to Ohio to try Big Chicken at another location, they “were both sold immediately” and wanted to own a franchise location.
High school student’s death stuns Peabody
Freddy Espinal, a junior at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, died on Sept. 22 due to a medical emergency suffered during a wrestling practice, Principal Brooke Randall stated in an email to the school community.
Espinal attended Welch Elementary School and Higgins Middle School before enrolling at PVMHS. He was a member of the Red Roots Wrestling Club in North Reading and the Saugus/Peabody wrestling team. He was also a member of the PVMHS football team.
Espinal was “a young man with a big heart (and) truly an infectious smile… That’s how I’ll always picture him,” said Randall. “He touched so many lives, and we’re going to remember him very fondly here.”
Mayor Ted Bettencourt described Espinal’s death as devastating news for the city. He said Espinal was a “very well-liked, well-respected member of the Peabody community — a very talented young man who made an impact in so many ways in the city.” He added that the town is going to do everything it can to support the school community during this difficult time.
A memorial game was held on Dec. 18 between the Peabody/Saugus and Marblehead/Swampscot teams. Espinal’s family and friends spoke to a packed crowd to remember the beloved student and dedicated a scholarship in his name that would be for senior athletes who intend to pursue careers in criminal justice.
