The Mystery of the Morning Choppers
Why were helicopters flying overhead on Wednesday morning?
On Wednesday morning, Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as email, buzzed with the question, "Why are there helicopters overhead? What is going on?"
Some mentioned that the helicopters were over the Melican Middle School, certainly always a cause for concern ... or curiosity.
Northborough police noted that National Grid had sent an alert indicating the company would be doing fly-overs to check power lines on Wednesday. A call to National Grid contradicted the information, as a spokesperson indicated that, "We had nothing in the Northborough area today. There were some in Lawrence, but not Northborough."
Massachusetts State Police confirmed that the helicopters were part of the funeral service for State Trooper Matthew Murray, who, at 44, lost his seven-year battle with multiple myeloma.
Born and raised in Northborough, Murray lived in Shrewsbury, where a funeral mass was held on Wednesday morning at St. Mary's Church followed by a burial in Mountain View Cemetery.
In This article
-
Robert E. Melican Middle School
145 Lincoln St, Northborough, MA -
Northborough Police Department
211 Main St, Northborough, MA -
joe smitty
2:56 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Note "Helicopters" is plural. Nice use for our scarce resources. I'm sure the tax payers a pleased.
Shrewsbury resident
10:16 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Too bad the patch didnt write a nice article about the funeral for this trooper. The lt.governor was in town and the patch is printing about national grid rumors???!
Please bring back a report who will actually write stories about Shrewsbury.
Charlene Arsenault
10:40 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
We appreciate your feedback. Many people were asking what the "helicopters" were, so we try to answer our readers' questions. We certainly would hope to write a tribute to Trooper Murray. We have featured his obituary on both sites for days, as well. Thanks again for your feedback.
Ron king
11:46 pm on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Please bring back a reporter who will actually write stories about Shrewsbury. The regional stuff gets mixed up because it is not noted what town things are happening.
Brian Northborough
12:11 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
People are always quick to criticize non-emergency related uses of aircraft...But pilots and aircraft must maintain a certain amount of flight hours...so these instances can also double as training/maintaining qualification flights...If that's not satisfactory keep in mind that a trooper died after fighting cancer for 7 years..
Charlene Arsenault
12:17 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
There actually was no criticizing involved whatsoever...just concern and curiosity. But as always, thanks for the feedback. We really do appreciate it.