Today is Monday, Oct. 17—80 years ago today, Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000—and here are Melrose's five fast facts for the day:

1) Oh the wind is lashing lustily, and the trees are thrashing thrustily, and the leaves are rustling gustily: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. West wind between 15 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Tonight, partly cloudy, with a low around 43. West wind between 6 and 11 mph. (Forecast by the National Weather Service.)

2) All I wanna do is to thank you: On Friday, I introduced you to Melrose Patch's newest team member, Amanda Kersey, our new Community Producer (read last Friday's 5 Things for a rundown of what Amanda will be doing—you can reach her at amanda.kersey@patch.com). However, the introduction of Amanda means that today, we have to say goodbye to someone else.

Kate Estrop (pictured), who also teaches writing at Lesley University, has been Melrose Patch's freelance calendar editor for sometime now. That means that everytime you opened up our calendar and said, "Wow, I'm so glad that was here," found out about someone making the Dean's List, or looked up a death notice on Melrose Patch—unless these things were posted by one of you; I hope it was, because you can, and should—you should've thanked Kate. She also compiled the Grab & Go Kids Planner and Get Out weekend planner for me every week, and I didn't even have to blink—it was always there, without fail. (Sometimes with a fun little doodle to make me smile—check out that Melrose Trivia Bee!—and often with a very punny headline. *GROAN*)

Melrose Patch is sometimes portrayed as a one-man band, with me running the show, but the truth is that all I do is report a few stories between rambling incessantly on Twitter and blurting things out on Facebook. This whole operation would fall apart without the help of a whole lot of people, and Kate has been an integral cog in this machine for a while. So, Kate, Melrose salutes you and thanks you for all your fine work, and I personally say: My Blackberry Is Not Working! (Thank you, Kate.)

Check out Kate's ongoing endeavors at Printer's Devil Review, where she's the Fiction Editor, and if you're a writer, check out the Boston Writers' Meetup she co-organizes.

3) Stay awake, don't rest your head: Tonight at 6:30 p.m., join Dara VanRemoortel in her popular monthly bedtime program for toddlers and their parents at the Melrose Public Library. No registration required.

4) Hats off to the city fathers: The Melrose Board of Aldermen meet tonight starting at 7:30 p.m. (Appropriations Committee) followed by a full board meeting and two public hearings at 8 p.m. on National Grid petitions.

5) Mondays were made to fall: One of my favorite Pearl Jam songs of all-time and maybe Eddie's best work as a lyricist. Here's our lineup of weekly columns that run each Monday on Melrose Patch:

• Frugal Family: Our weekly deals column runs every Monday at 8 a.m. with five deals in and around Melrose.

• Viewfinder: Our weekly photo gallery runs every Monday at noon showing Melrose people in Melrose places (and asks you to upload your own pictures and videos).

• Weekly Sports Roundup: Our roundup of Melrose High School results runs on Monday afternoons.

• Where Is It in Melrose? Our weekly mystery photo runs every Monday at 3 p.m. and asks you to guess where the photo was taken in Melrose. Guess correctly and you can win a prize.

As always, check our calendar for the full slate of events—and add your own!