News Nearby: Family, Friends Remember Young Drowning Victim

Each Saturday, Melrose Patch will run a round-up with links to stories from surrounding communities that are of interest to Melrosians.

• : MALDEN—The family of a local boy who drowned in a Malden pool last week are “still trying to cope with things,” a spokesman said on their behalf. Josue "Josh" Eltume, 11, was going to be in sixth grade at Salemwood School this fall and loved to play football, was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital a day after arriving from the incident at 11 Wheeler St.

• MEDFORD—The decision to let go head soccer coach Mike Petrides was described by the athletic director as a total lack of respect to his department. Players threatened not to play next year. And the mayor urged the school’s headmaster to reconsider his decision to let the coach go. All during a school committee meeting in Medford Monday.

• : WAKEFIELD— Danielle Resha, a 2011 graduate of Wakefield High School, is headed to the Women's Football Alliance Super Bowl in Texas this weekend. “The biggest thing that people do not understand when I try to explain that I ‘play football’ is that it is full tackle and we wear full pads,” said Resha, who, standing at 5’4”, 140 lbs, plays kicker and running back for the squad. All this, and she’s only 18—the youngest player on the team.

• : READING—State Representatives James Dwyer and Brad Jones, along with State Sen. Katherine Clark, announced a $13,823 grant from the Department of Conservation and Recreation for Reading’s Kurchian Woods Conservation Area. Reading will match that funding with $14,972 of its own money to fund the improvement of current trails.