Maldden alld a Vol. 32, No. 52 den -FREEHave a Safe and Happy New Year 2024! AADD By Steve Freker W e all know and have done this. Maybe even today. Sometimes we are out and about, see someone we know and like – at a distance – and make a gametime decision not to go over to say hello, chat for a minute or two and move on. We might be running on a tight schedule where even a APPRECIATION | SEE PAGE 7 Ernie A. Ardolino Sr. CTE CAT AT www.advocatenews.net APPRECIATION: We lost a great one, Ernie Ardolino Sr., ‘Mr. A’: 1938-2023 Longtime Malden resident infl uenced and touched thousands of lives in over 50 dedicated years as an educator and coach I Published Every Friday 617-387-2200 By Steve Freker t would not be diffi cult to fi ll a couple of those old-school Rolodexes with examples of how she has served her ward and her community so well for the past 14 years. That’s what Barbara Murphy does: She takes care of people. That is point made oh so well by Carey Macdonald when it was his turn to speak at the last Malden City Council meeting of the calendar year on December 19. The fi rst-term Councillor-at-Large has a unique bond with the outgoing Council President Murphy – he lives in her City Council President/Ward 5 Councillor Barbara Murphy ward and has a front-row seat to how she operates. Councillor Macdonald, like all of the CounE Friday, December 29, 2023 Malden City Council bids adieu to 7-term colleague Barbara Murphy Outgoing Council President wraps up 14 years of service to Ward 5 and Malden cillors that night, spoke well and highly of Councillor Murphy as she banged the gavel for the last time, concluding seven terms of representing the greater Forestdale neighborhood on the Council. However, Macdonald’s highest platitude was in real-time. Just days before her fi nal meeting as a Councillor, Murphy had one more “mission” – as Macdonald aptly put it – “because that’s what she does.” A few days before that Council meeting, a combination of high winds and rain caused a major power outADIEU | SEE PAGE 6 Malden High coed swim team splashes out of the gate with two GBL victories Hailey Tran qualifi es for States in three events, leading to wins over Lynn Classical and Medford By Steve Freker I t certainly looks like the fi vestraight league champion Malden High swim team has no intention of letting go of the crown too quickly. Led by some impressive individual and relay performances, Head Coach Jess Bisson’s Golden Tornados squad splashed out of the gate with two Greater Boston League wins to get their season off to a perfect, 2-0 (2-0 GBL) start. Hailey Tran was the star of the week for Malden with a win in the 100-yard freestyle (58.55 seconds) and swimming a leg of the winning 200-yard medley relay (2:03.67) against Lynn Classical in an 89-67 Malden win on December 21. She also swam a fi rst-place fi nish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:15.20) in an 85-77 win over Medford on December 19 in Malden. All three of Tran’s times qualifi ed her to compete in those events in the MIAA Division 1 State Swim Tournament in March. The Xiaode “David” Xu won two events in the season opener for the fi ve-straight league champion Malden High coed swim team, including the 500-yard freestyle for Malden against Medford. (Advocate Photos/Henry Huang) members of the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay both qualifi ed for the North Sectional Meet with their fi nishing times in the win over Lynn Classical. Tran, her sister Sophie Tran, Tiffany Pham and Joslyn Nguyen combined for the States-qualifying win in the 200-yard medley relay to kick off the meet (2:03.67). Yinje Wang, Kevin Lin, Xiaode “David” Xu and Joao Santos swam a 2:12.57 for second place. Sophia Huynh, Stanley Yip, Joyce Zhou and Larissa Retamero swam fi fth at 2:33.86. Joslyn Nguyen (2:28.05) won the 200-yard freestyle as part of a 1-2-3 sweep in that event, with James Zhou (2:39.22) second and Yingyan Xia third (2:48.71). David Xu won the 200-yard individual medley (2:26.52) and Tiff any Pham fi nished second (2:59.91). Joao Santos won the 50-yard freestyle (27.07 seconds) with Yinje Wang fifth (32.97) and Yingyan Xia sixth (36.13). Xu won his second event of the meet with a 1:08.93 fi nish in the 100-yard butterfl y. James Zhou (1:24.09) was third and Ian Ian Ho was fourth at 1:36.87. Hailey Tran won the 100-yard freestyle (58.33) and Santos was second at 1:09.33 and Stanley Yip third (1:09.28). Malden’s Sophie Tran won the 500-yard freestyle (6:28.19) with Danielle HarSWIM | SEE PAGE 8
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