Rochester Police Chief Paul Magee announced the dedication of a bench at the Rochester Police Station to former Police Chief Elmer Lawrence.
“I was very fortunate to know Chief Lawrence, who served from 1967 to 1970,” Magee said. “Of course, I didn’t know him at that time,” he joked, “but I was very fortunate to know him and learn the history of Rochester from him. There were many donations made in his name when he passed in 2007 with the intent of creating a memorial, but we wanted to find something special for him. Many members of his family are here tonight. It means a lot to them, and it means a lot to me.”
Magee continued on to invite the board to the upcoming dedication, which will include a small ceremony.
The memorial bench was one element of an Eagle Scout project completed by Riley Nordahl, who was honored at the meeting for completing his project.
“Riley approached us about working on his Eagle Scout project. The Rochester Police Station was in dire need of landscaping, so he volunteered to take that on,” Magee explained. “He redid all of the flowerbeds and created the nice memorial bench to Elmer Lawrence. It was a very nice job, very professionally done.”
Nordahl was given a certificate by both the Selectmen and the Police Brotherhood for his services to the community, and he received an enthusiastic round of applause from the room.
Magee had one more new project to announce before he left the meeting.
“Rochester is entering into Project Outreach, a locally-based program to get addiction sufferers help,” he told the room. “A lot of towns nearby are already part of the project: Plymouth, Brockton and Duxbury. In the area, and even in Rochester itself, we’ve seen a number of drug overdoses and even overdose deaths. The phenomenon is only increasing; we’re starting to see overdoses daily, and overdose deaths once a week.”
Magee explained that the project would help overdose victims receive treatment.
“The day after they’re released from the hospital, a plainclothes Rochester police officer will visit the house and offer an immediate bed at a treatment facility. A treatment bed is an incredibly hard thing for an individual to find on their own, and we want that to change.”
Selectmen Chairman Naida Parker thanked Magee for introducing the program.
“I’m glad you’re bringing this in. It’s a great thing for the people of Rochester, to offer them this help” she said.
In other matters, Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar and Facilities Manager Andrew Daniel gave an update on Rochester’s electric car bid.
“We’ve decided on three Kia Souls,” Daniel explained, “as they came in at the best bid. The charge stations will be on the far side of the Town Hall; the first four parking spots will be charging spots.”
Old Colony offered to do the electric wiring for the charging stations, which Daniel appreciated.
“It will only cost us parts, not labor,” he said. “Labor wouldn’t really be a big deal since we got such a great deal on the charging stations, but it’s good learning experience for the students, so I’d rather have them do it anyway.”
Daniel mentioned that the new cars could be delivered as early as Monday. Several town cars will be donated, but the vehicle in the best condition will be retained for out-of-town trips, as the electric cars do have distance limitations.
The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen will take place on November 22 at 7:00 pm in Rochester Town Hall.
By Andrea Ray