By Robert Chiarito

For one night the Weweantic River filled in as the understudy for the mighty Mississippi and the Marion Art Center was transformed into Preservation Hall as the Dixie Diehards brought their brand of New Orleans Jazz to the Center for an evening of great Dixieland music on Saturday night, April 26. The band played several hours worth of early twentieth century jazz standards and classics to a packed house in the group's second appearance at the old Unitarian Church on the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets.

"We'd like to take you on a trip down to New Orleans, Louisiana," vocalist Rick Foster told the audience, drawing out the vowels of the name like a native Cajun so that it sounded more like New Awww-leans, Looo-see-anna. The audience was more than happy to go along for the ride as they sang and clapped along with each number throughout the evening. As he strutted in place while crooning along to the tunes being played by the band, Mr. Foster was every bit the Dixieland Jazz singer. At times his enthusiasm for both the music being played and the audience he was singing for became so animated one could imagine him producing a fringed parasol and leading the entire group out into the streets of Marion in a Mardi Gras-style parade.

The Dixie Diehards are a group of jazz enthusiasts who love the music that they play. On Saturday evening the catalogue they drew from began in the early 1900s with the newest songs being written in the '40s. This does not mean, however, that they are on a nostalgia trip. Far from it, this band lives and breathes the music of Old New Orleans just as the young musicians in the streets and clubs of that fair city do each time they play. Playing off one another and sharing the spotlight, these are pure musicians who would probably be playing with one another even if there were no audience. Thankfully on this night, however, there was not just an audience but a fevered crowd of equally enthusiastic jazz lovers, clapping, singing and stomping along with every song.

Though mostly a boys club, the Dixie Diehards also featured singer Dolly Fruzzetti's smokey vocal on several numbers. Ms. Fruzzetti vamped and camped it up hitting the stage with a smile brighter than any spotlight and a feather boa taking the mike to sing, "Hannah From Savanah." While the crowd gave polite applause to each musician as they took their solos, it saved the biggest cheers for clarinetist Santo Pullara whose lyrical style of playing recalled the great New Orleans native Pete Fountain.

The Diehards, while coming from all walks of life including a physician, a computer programmer, a retired college professor, businessmen and an investigative news reporter, put aside their day jobs when they come together to play the music they love. The group has a regular gig at Ma Glocker's in Bellingham the first and third Thursday of each month and have become a favorite throughout New England since they formed in 2006.

If you would like to find out more about the band or hear some of their music, you can go to the group's website at www.dixiediehards.com.

By Kenneth J. Souza

Members of the Mattapoisett Historical Commission are once again hoping to garner enough support from voters at the May 12 Annual Town Meeting to approve a Demolition Delay By-Law that would aim to "preserve and protect 'significant buildings' in Mattapoisett," according to an informational brochure that was mailed to residents this week.

First presented on last year's Annual Town Meeting warrant, the by-law seemed unclear and was written with a great deal of "legalese," according to Historical Commission Chairman Jo Pannell. It was subsequently withdrawn from consideration.

"We felt we would bring it up again and give people more of a chance to read about it," Ms. Pannell said. "We've sent a brochure to every household in Mattapoisett and we hope they've all had a chance to look at it."

If passed, the by-law would require anyone seeking to demolish a building to file a written application with the Building Inspector who then has seven days to forward a copy of the application to the Mattapoisett Historical Commission. The Commission, in turn, has 15 days to determine whether the building is "historically significant" and then notify the Building Inspector and applicant in writing of its decision.

If the structure is deemed to have historic value, no demolition permit may be issued and the Commission must hold a public hearing within 30 days. After hearing public input, the Commission must render a decision within 15 days as to whether or not the building should be "preferably preserved" or not. If a structure is recommended for preservation, the Building Inspector cannot issue any demolition, construction or alteration permits for a six-month period -- hence, the delay -- during which time the Historical Commission will work with the applicant to investigate other alternatives.

Although structures already listed on the National Historic Register are prime examples of those that should be "preferably preserved," Ms. Pannell noted there would be other candidates as well.

"Basically any houses that are at least 100 years old would be deemed to have historic value," she said.

Mattapoisett currently has three buildings on the National Register of Historic Places -- the Grange Hall on Route 6; the Jabez Goodspeed house; and the Ned's Point Lighthouse -- and another 140 buildings registered with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Of those, ten were built in the 1700s, 123 date back to the 1800s, and one was built in 1901. There are also eight public buildings in town that are over a century old.

The proposed by-law is something of a boilerplate based on existing by-laws already in place in other communities throughout the state. "So many towns in Massachusetts already have a Demolition Delay By-Law, we thought it made sense," Ms. Pannell said.

According to the brochure, the criteria for determining if a structure may be deemed as having significant historic value would be if it is:

* at least 100 years old;

* listed on the National Register of Historic Places or lie within an area of the National Register of Historical Places, or has been found eligible for the National Register;

* importantly associated with one or more of the town's historic persons or events, or with the broad cultural, political, economic or social history of the Commonwealth; or

* by itself or as part of a group of buildings historically or architecturally important in terms of period, style or method of building construction or in association with a recognized architect or builder.

As to why the by-law is a priority right now, records indicate the town's Building Inspector has received some 45 requests for demolition permits between 2002 and 2007. While only three of four of those would have been likely candidates for delayed demolition, they would have at least been worth consideration in terms of potential historic significance.

"I've had some feedback as to why we're presenting it again," Ms. Pannell said. "I just hope it passes, because we do have a beautiful town and it's worth keeping (our historical buildings) intact."

By Robert Chiarito

It seems that in nearly every place where the sea meets land, there is an ongoing battle between those who want to develop such places to meet the demands of those who clamor to live near the shore and those who wish to preserve wild and open spaces for generations to come. On Saturday, April 26 a point was scored in the column of the latter as a small group of preservationists gathered in a quiet, hidden little corner of Mattapoisett to dedicate a pond that lies on a parcel of land acquired by the Mattapoisett Land Trust from Abel and Libania Grace in December of 2006.

In a brief ceremony a commemorative marker was unveiled near the pond, dedicating the pool as Grace Pond in honor of the family who sold the parcel to the Land Trust and in memory of Mr. Grace's father, Manuel "Leloca" Grace. Speaking on behalf of the Mattapoisett Land Trust, Paul Osenkowski the head of the group's stewardship committee said, "Mr. Grace is a great man. He had plenty of people breathing down on him to sell this property and he could have made much more money by doing so, but he chose instead to sell it to the Land Trust at a discount."

Pointing to a group of youngsters that stood among the people attending the ceremony, Mr. Osenkowski said as he continued, "Hopefully we'll be able to preserve this and many other area's so they will still be here when these children are our age."

At the moment Grace Pond is part dream and part memory. It is surrounded by reminders of its past life as a part of the Grace Family Farm and yet one can begin to see what lies in the future of this tranquil pool lying amidst the trees and brambles off Bowman Road. The dream is to create an area of protected land laced with trails that will be filled with wild birds, deer, aquatic life and other fauna that will stretch without interruption to the Friends Meeting House on Route 6. The Mattapoisett Land Trust plans to have a group of local sixth graders come to the site to do the work necessary to certify the pond as a vernal pool.

The Trust, with the help of members and other volunteers, will be continuing the work that began after they acquired the nine-acre parcel where the pond sits from the Grace family by clearing invasives such as old tires and bottles left over from an era when the fields surrounding the pond were used as a trash dump. The group has taken hundreds of such items from the property ... but there is still plenty of work to be done.

After the ceremony ended, Mattapoisett Land Trust President Gary Johnson invited people to visit the pond or hike on the nearby trails whenever possible, pointing out that the Grace property helped to form a tract of 178 contiguous acres held by the Mattapoisett Land Trust. If you would like to learn more about this or other properties that are held by the Mattapoisett Land Trust or are interested in the group's activities, you can find out more by visiting them on-line at www.mattlandtrust.org.

By Olivia Mello

First and foremost, it is my pleasure to give ORR senior David Lash a belated congratulations for his sweeping win in this year's Mr. ORR Competition. Dave not only won the honorable title, but also received a $100 check from the ORR School District. (It is suspected that his extra cute escort, Benjamin Violette, who is son of the school's science teacher, Ms. V, played an important role in Dave's success.) Second runner-up went to the senior foreign exchange student from Finland, Ville Sutinen, who received a check for $75. Additional titles were awarded to some of the existing candidates. Franck Tebou won Mr. Congeniality, John Whoriskey earned Most Talented, Michael Bridges won Most Energetic and Brady Wheeler received Crowd Pleaser. All in all, 2008's Mr. ORR appeared to have quite a good turnout.

As the month of April seems to have slipped right by us all at ORR, it's hard to believe that the school year is dwindling down to a close. Any juniors or sophomores who signed up for the May SATs should be reminded that the test will be administered on Saturday, May 3. All of those who are not taking the May exam should make sure to sign up for those being given on June 7. It's best to take the SATs before senior year so that sending applications to colleges can be done as easily and early as possible.

In addition, there are many colleges that require Subject Tests for admission or placement. Those tests are offered in subjects including English, Mathematics, Science, History and the Languages. These can be signed up for just like the SATs on www.collegeboard.com.

Important dates for the Old Rochester Regional High School's senior class have been administered. For all of those students, as well as parents, curious of when exactly everything will be happening, here are the official details. The Senior Prom will be held on Tuesday, June 3 at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, RI. Promenade will take place in the school's auditorium at 4:30 pm, from which students will then travel to the dance's location. Prom will begin at 7:00 pm and conclude at 11:00 pm. Unfortunately, any students attending the dance who are not from the senior class will be expected to be seen at school the following morning.

ORR Graduation will take place the following Saturday, June 7. Final exams, for the senior class only, are as follows. (Note: For any parents reading these dates, it's possible that you will be very confused. All of this jumble, however, should make complete sense to your child who has taken the final exams throughout all of their years in high school.) On Friday May 23, finals will be for those who have class on Day 1, Block 4 followed by Day 2, Block 3. Tuesday, May 27 exams will be for Day 1, Block 2 classes and Day 1, Block 1 classes. Wednesday, May 28 exams will be for Day 1, Block 3 and Day 2, Block 4. Thursday, May 29 exams will be Day 2, Block 1 and Day 2, Block 2 classes. Friday, May 30 will be reserved for any students who have missed an exam and must take a make-up. Remember, senior finals are only required to be taken by students who achieved less than an A average in each specific subject throughout the school year.

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