GEORGETOWN – Whether taxpayers here will see a large, permanent tax increase next year will be decided by the voters on May 13, not by the Town Meeting on May 6, as previously thought. Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco told the SelectBoard last week that he had...
Stewart Lytle

Stewart Lytle is the lead reporter for The Town Common newspaper. Before joining The Town Common, he was a national correspondent for Scripps-Howard Newspapers in Washington, D.C., covering the Pentagon and Congress. He has also written for newspapers in Dallas, TX, and Birmingham, AL.
As a national reporter for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain, Stewart wrote the inside story on military life of soldiers and sailors and their families. He landed on aircraft carriers, experienced oxygen deprivation for high-altitude flight training and crawled through the mud with Marine snipers.
One of his proudest achievements outside of journalism was assisting USAA Chairman Robert McDermott in securing federal legislation that mandated air bags in vehicles.
Stewart is also a novelist and has written non-fiction books. He is currently working on a non-fiction book and screenplay about an incident that occurred in Boston.
His first novel, Iron City Conspiracy, explores power in a city. It features a black newspaper editor solving the bombing of a historic black church in a tough Alabama town.
Following in the footsteps of his idol, Ernest Hemingway, Stewart has completed a new novel about a love affair in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. The book, Montserrat, is based on a true story and has been made into a screenplay that will become an international feature film.
A graduate of Phillips Academy and Princeton University, Stewart lives with his wife, Mary, in Newburyport.
Georgetown Faces $3 million Override
GEORGETOWN – Property owners here are facing the possibility of a hefty tax increase to overcome a shortfall in revenues that has been years in the making. The Finance Advisory Committee voted unanimously last week to move forward with a proposal to the Board of...
State Tennis Champs Ask for New Courts
NEWBURYPORT – For the last two years the Newburyport High School girls’ tennis team has won the state championship, but always with other teams hosting the championships. Newburyport trains outstanding players, whose record entitled them to be the host for the...
Tax Relief Coming
REGIONAL – Massachusetts, jokingly nicknamed Taxachusetts for its long history of high taxes, took steps this year to lower the provide $1 billion in tax relief for businesses, families, rents and two programs to help seniors, 60 and 65 years old and older. During the...
Evans Steps Down at River Valley Charter School
REGIONAL – The River Valley Charter School is looking for a new director following Jonnie Lyn Evans’ announcement Friday that she will leave the school in June after helping found it 25 years ago and serving in its administration for the last 11 years. “While there is...
MeVa Rerouting Buses
NEWBURYPORT – The Merrimack Valley Transit Authority (MEVA) and city leaders will hold a forum Thursday on proposed changes to the city’s bus routes designed to appease unhappy residents on two streets near Ana Jaques Hospital. The proposed change will eliminate...
Tarr Honored as Education Leader
REGIONAL – At a time when local schools are facing tough challenges with declining enrollment, lower revenues and rising costs, the Massachusetts Assn. of School Committees (MASC) named Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr from Gloucester to be its educator of the year....
ConCom Approves Trash Transfer Station
GEORGETOWN – The Conservation Commission (ConCom), under direction of the state Land Court, voted last week four to zero with two abstentions to approve the controversial trash transfer station on Carleton Drive. The commission, which regulates wetlands and other...
Honoring Peter Pratt – Legendary Storyteller
REGIONAL – One of Georgetown’s treasures was Peter Pratt, who for almost a half century sat behind a display case he used as a desk surrounded by an eclectic array of large and small toys, vintage coins and his favorite soap box derby kits. The Pratt Hobby Shop at 20...
Don’t Go in the River — Yet
REGIONAL – A cleaner Merrimack River may soon be more than a pipe dream. Last summer was one of the worst for raw sewage flowing downriver by your boat or dock. And don’t expect it to get much better this year, depending on the number of rainstorms that roll through....
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