Be The Nice Kid

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Promoting kindness has been the focus of Mrs. Rusinoski’s program “Be The Nice Kid” this school year. The fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students have met her challenge at Old Hammondtown School. Over the course of the school year, staff members were asked to note students’ acts of kindness towards others. Names that were submitted during the school year appeared on a star and were placed on the kindness bulletin board. On June 11, 2019, students were recognized by the entire student body and staff at morning meeting. The students listed below were presented certificates for their kind deeds and words at OHS by Associate Principal Mr. Tavares and Special Education Secretary Mrs. Rusinoski. Along with certificates, students received ice cream sundae gift cards. Mrs. Rusinoski’s advice to the recipients was to pay it forward and continue to be “The Nice Kid”! Students who were observed doing acts of kindness, being helpful, or showing empathy towards others were: Asher O’Brien- Nichols, Matthew Williams, Heer Patel, Tess Adams, Craig Knight, Piper Brodo, Nick Gouin, Owen Pelland, Kierra Keegan, Ryland Perron, Cy Higgins, Jake Nelson, Lillian Gendreau, Greta Anderly, Morgan LeBlanc, Eric Dawson, Ellie Correira, Mia Figuerido, Charlie Connelly, Aubrie Letourneau, Mallory Henesey, Alec Arsenault, and Vivana Bull.

Kiwi Spirit Takes Line, Abigail Leads Class A

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            Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) BERMUDA, June 18, 2019: Kiwi Spirit was the line honors leader from start to finish in the 2019 Marion Bermuda Race. The Farr 63 finished off St. David’s Lighthouse at 2:27:59 on Tuesday. Francis Seldorff’s Kinship, a Baltic 52, was second across the line at 5:01:02.

            Friends and families and volunteers have all commented on how straightforward this race has been, especially with so many boats finishing in such a condensed space of time. The Finish Line Report, accessed on the www.marionbermuda.com home page, lists boats that have finished and their elapsed times. Remember that an Anti-Bias adjustment to the ORR handicaps will be made and the adjustment will affect the corrected times.

            One of the Prizes of the Day has to go to Abigail, Robert Buck’s Aquidneck 52 from Marion, MA. She sits first in Class A based on preliminary corrected time results. This is a 52-foot yawl that was designed, built, and raced by the owner. The skipper of Kinship, which stands second in Class A, calls Abigail,a nice design with a cold molded wooden hull, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Mark Gabrielson, Abigail‘s navigator, said she is “just fast.”

            After sailing in second place overall for much of the race, Buck was asked how Kinship had passed them in the last 50 miles. They were both west of the rhumb line with a good angle on the wind coming through the Happy Valley.

            “We were working very hard to get the boat going, but it just didn’t feel right.” Buck said. “After we finished, we started the engine and backed her down. Huge clumps of weeds came up off the keel.” It’s not an excuse, but weeds on the keel do make for slower going.

            Like most of the rest of the fleet, Abigail sailed all the way from Sow & Pigs Reef, a mark of the course at the mouth of Buzzards Bay, on starboard tack. “We didn’t tack,” Gabrielson said, “but we sure did a lot of work making countless sail changes.”

            Kiwi Spirit has settled into ‘preliminary’ seventh place in Class A, but that hasn’t daunted Jo Riley’s enthusiasm (spirits?) for taking Line Honors. Riley is 18. This is his fourth Marion Bermuda Race. Of his four rides to Bermuda, three have been line honors winners.

            Asked how the trip was this time, he said, “Good. Good weather the whole way, no rain. We never stopped the whole way. … It was comfortable.”

            At one point in the race the wind dropped to about five knots and Kiwi Spirit hoisted their Code Zero. But they forgot to tape the shackle. The shackle came loose after the sail was hoisted and the spinnaker halyard ran up to the masthead.

            Riley explained, “After putting up the Code Zero, we lost the halyard. … Someone forgot to tape it. We had to send someone up. Since I’m the youngest and lightest one, I had to go up. We had to do it right away to get the Code Zero going. I was bumping all around … slamming back and forth on the mast.”

            Riley commented on beating out of Buzzards Bay in the solid 63-foot sloop. Winds were on the nose gusting to 30 and running against the tide flowing out. The chop was steep.

            “We were fairly comfortable looking at other boats. We weren’t moving very much [beating against the waves] while the other boats were hobby horsing through it. We were the first boat out, so it was fun.”

            Finishing first was fun, too. Riley said, “This was my third time to finish first in four races, so my race feels pretty good right now.”

            Kiwi Spirit was a family effort – father, son, and daughter plus three cousins and a brother-in-law make up the family part of the crew. Joining them was Chuck Fontaine, a lifelong friend who has run the Mass Maritime Sailing Program. Riley says Fontaine is now an adopted member of the Riley family.

            The two US Naval Academy teams hold preliminary one-two positions in Class B. Gallant, the Pearson Composite Navy 44 skippered by Christian Hoffman, sits in the lead and Defiance, the Navy 44 MK II co-skippered by Mark Navaro and George Hamilton, is runner up.

            In class C, Escapade II, a Morris 46 skippered by Tom Bowler of Marion, is the preliminary leader.

            In Class D, Concert, a Morris 40 skippered by Levin Campbell and Holly Ambler of North Haven, MN and David Caso’s Silhouette, a Cherubini 44, are the only boats that have finished. No call can be made at this time, not even a preliminary one.

            The remaining boats on the course are caught in a dying and shifting breeze North of Bermuda. Ron Wisner’s Hotspur II is still 114 miles from a Dark ‘n Stormy.

By Talbot Wilson

Mattapoisett Museum Events

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Inspiration: Time & Texture at the Mattapoisett Museum – Please join us for the opening of our special exhibition on Thursday, June 27at 5:30 pm at 5 Church Street in Mattapoisett. Inspiration: Time & Texture is an invitational art exhibit featuring works by local artists, inspired by the collections of the Mattapoisett Museum. Each artist was asked to draw inspiration from an object or aspect of the collection and create a site-specific installation imbued with self-expression. The exhibition is an homage to Mattapoisett’s visual culture with reverence for the handmade, as contributors work within their own styles and mediums to express personal, powerful visions of their local connections. Featured artists are Peter Michael Martin, Ryan McFee, Jo Mogilnicki, Tucker Aufranc, John Middleton, Anna Van Voorhis, Kent McCormack, Hoyt Hottel, Anthony Days, Dick Morgado, Katharine Staelin, Peter Mello, and Joy Mello. The Museum will be open in July and August on Fridays & Saturdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm; in September on Fridays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Questions? Please call 508-758-2844 or email director@mattapoisettmuseum.org. 

            Field Trip to Cape Cod Museum with Peter Michael Martin – Celebrated local artist Peter Michael Martin will guide visitors through his latest exhibition at the Cape Cod Museum of Art titled Moby Dick: Inspired Visions. Peter Michael Martin’s deep reading of Moby Dick inspired his monumental, modern, playful, and profound works of art created uniquely out of cut paper, Tyvek, and sailcloth. Sponsored by The Mattapoisett Council on Age, The Mattapoisett Free Public Library & The Mattapoisett Museum. Trip will happen on Thursday, June 27beginning at 10:00 am (COA van will depart at 8:30 am). The event includes a Gallery Tour and 3-course lunch at Encore Bistro in Dennis. Museum entry fee is $8 and lunch at Encore Bistro is $25 (choice of beef, cod, or chicken). Participants age 55+ may sign up to travel via the COA van ($10 per person). Sign up by Friday, June 21 at the Mattapoisett Council on Aging at 17 Barstow Street, Mattapoisett or by calling 508-758-4110. Space is limited.

A Float to the Finish During SCOPE Week

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            The highlight of SCOPE week for seventh grade students of Old Rochester Regional is the annual cardboard boat race when groups of students have a blast designing and building their boats of cardboard and duct tape to race on the open waters off Mattapoisett Harbor. The week of activities include field trips and creative learning opportunities outside the classroom. 

            SCOPE stands for Student Centered Opportunity for Personal Enhancement and has taken place during the same week as Survival for over 40 years. It’s a junior high red team/blue team teacher collaboration to provide their students with outside-the-classroom learning opportunities – ones to help them learn about themselves and each other.

            Kathryn Gauvin, a grade 7 teacher at ORR Junior High, helped facilitate the boat race event on Wednesday, June 5, at the Mattapoisett YMCA shoreline.

            “It’s the highlight of SCOPE Week, definitely” she said. “The kids are creative. They do their own research, create their own design. … Some do focus on and get more involved in the creative side of the project instead of the design side,” she said moments after one of the more elaborately designed boats capsized immediately upon boarding.

            As the students line up their boats along the beach waiting for their boat to move up in the line, watercrafts are reinforced by duct tape and more duct tape – miles and miles of duct tape of all colors and textures. Lizzy Pinzino and Chase Jackson were busy reinforcing their boat, “The Real Mauna Loa,” built by Pinzino, Jackson, and Aspen Barratt.

            “Oh my God, the water’s cold! I don’t want to get wet!” shrieked Pinzino, her toes just slightly submerged in the water.

            “This is surely the coldest and the windiest [boat race] day we’ve ever had,” said Gauvin.

            Students struggled against the wind that sometimes sent them too far off from the floating marker where they are supposed to turn back. At one point the floating marker even floated away.

            One after the other, the boats sailed or sank. It was apparent that the more simple the engineering, the better it floats. But that didn’t stop some kids from riding the waves of creativity, like the creators of an elaborate pirate ship sailed by Simon DeRosa and Nicholas Miedema who ended up ‘shipwrecked’ on the shore. “Lack of being able to steer,” Miedema stated as his reason for coming up short in the race. The wind driven current just blew them off course.

            Other races turned into a couple rounds of “bumper boats” as grade 7 social science teacher Dan McEvoy described it. And seventh-grade social science teacher Justin Calderone who treaded water the entire time in his orange blaze shirt and endured the cold like a champion was there to keep the ships straight and above water as best he could. Some boats at first glance looked like they wouldn’t stand a chance of floating, at least for very long, but every now and then the students seemed to defy the laws of the natural world.

            “I guess I don’t understand science,” said McEvoy, in charge of keeping time of each race, “because the ones I thought were gonna sink don’t!”

            Gauvin values SCOPE Week for its opportunity to get students and families and educators all together at one place for a really fun event.

            “We just don’t have enough days in the year when we can share an experience like this with each other and with the community,” said Gauvin. “I look at today and feel very fortunate.”

By Jean Perry

King Will Not Seek Reappointment

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            On June 10 as the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission prepared to open their meeting, Chairman Mike King, in an aside to his fellow board members, said that this was his second to last meeting. King said that his appointment to the commission was ending on July 1 when the new fiscal year began and that he had not heard anything from the selectmen regarding reappointment.

            Later in the evening, just before adjournment, The Wandererasked King if he would be approaching the selectmen to seek reappointment. He replied, “No.” King has served on the commission since 2012.

            The rest of the evening was spent handling a number of Requests for Determination of Applicability (RDA) and Notice of Intent (NOI) Filings.

            The most complex hearing was a filing by Ryan Potter of 7 Melissa Ann Lane whose RDA request for the installation of a 27-foot above ground pool uncovered unpermitted activities.

            The Potters had used a space on their property as a dumping area for grass clippings and stones they moved from an area where a goat pen and shed had been constructed. Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold showed Potter on a drawing submitted by the previous owner what had, in fact, been permitted on the property.

            The issue for the Potters and the commission was jurisdictional wetlands and buffer zones that had been disturbed by unpermitted activities and that an abutter had questioned the filling in of wetlands and a vernal pool. Leidhold confirmed the existence of the pool.

            Abutter Carol Larson, 12 Bayberry Lane, complained that Potter had been filling in wetlands on his property, and although she had no complaint with the proposed pool construction, the threat to the vernal pool was troubling.

            King agreed that some activities on the property had disturbed resource areas but thought that the pool could be permitted given it was not within those areas. He suggested, and Leidhold agreed, that action was necessary to remediate buffer zones and protect the pool in question.

            Potter was granted a Negative 3 determination for the pool, but was instructed to file an after-the-fact RDA so the disturbed resource areas could be addressed and corrected no later than September 1.

            There was also a bit of confusion when Scott Snow’s continued hearing for an NOI filing for a proposed subdivision located off Prospect Road re-opened. Prime Engineering’s Richard Rheaume who has represented Snow and property owners David and Cheryl Morey and Joanne Garfield throughout the nearly yearlong process approached the commissioners.

            King addressed Rheaume saying, “We received a note from the Planning Board. … There are still a couple of items to be cleared up.” He continued, “You are free to present whatever you want but until they sign-off, we aren’t going to approve…”

            Rheaume responded, “They (the Planning Board) said they wouldn’t approve without you!” He then pointed out on the plan of record those items the Planning Board had wanted spelled out on the plans. King noted the seven waivers that were granted. 

            After further review, King said, “I can’t see anything ConCom-related that would stop approval.” He then closed the public hearing.

            The commission issued an Order of Conditions, which included an operation and maintenance plan for stormwater features that the homeowners association would be responsible for, and that the project could not commence until the Planning Board gave their final decision.

            In other business, David and Jennifer Kaiser, 54 Ocean Drive, received a Negative 3 decision for the construction of a two-car garage and two-story addition; Alyssa Kratochvil, 123 North Street received a Negative 3 decision for the construction of an above ground pool.

            Wetlands delineation for property located off Park Lane and owned by Andre Rieksts and Scott and Margo Wilson-Atkinson was accepted with the caveat that other wetlands and jurisdictional areas may be uncovered at a future date. The RDA filing was given a Positive 2A decision.

            The following cases were continued until June 24: NOI filed by Michael Ward, 26 Meadowbrook Lane, for the construction of a handicap lift; NOI filed by David Kaiser/Kaiser Yachts LLC for repair and improvements to coastal structures; and an NOI filed by the Mattapoisett Land Trust and Georgia Glick for property located at Noyes Avenue and Dyar Road for the eradication of invasive species.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for June 24 at 6:30 pm in the Town Hall conference room.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

Mattapoisett Road Race

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The Mattapoisett Road Race Committee is gearing up for our annual race to be held at 9:00 am on Thursday, July 4. The committee is looking for the oldest Mattapoisett Road Race t-shirts. If you have the oldest t-shirt, you will get free registration to next year’s “50th Anniversary” road race. Simply bring your t-shirt to the registration tent and we will take a picture of your shirt. We will contact you if you are the winner. 

            Pre-Entries are online at www.mattapoisettroadrace.com – The registration fee is $20.00 until June 26. Mail-in postmarked by June 23 is $25.00 and in person at Shipyard Park on July 3rd from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm is $25.00 and July 4 from 7:30 am – 8:30 am is $30.00.

Tick Talk

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            Hate Ticks? Come to the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Wednesday, June 26from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm for a tick talk by local expert Blake Dinius and learn how to deal with them.

            Summer vacation is almost here! Get ready for fun! Beaches! Camping! Cookouts! And nymphal deer ticks! The CDC estimates nearly 300,000 cases of Lyme each year, with most cases occurring during the summer months, but with the right tools and knowledge, tick-borne diseases are preventable.

            There’s a lot of misinformation and fear surrounding ticks. What yard sprays should you use? What about “all-natural approaches”? What about deer? What if there was more you could do beyond just “covering up”?

            All things ticks will be covered in this informational talk, including tick biology, tick-borne disease epidemiology, personal protection methods (repellents, proper removal), yard protection, and pet protection, with the goal of bursting myths and learning practical applications based on scientifically-backed data.

            The Library is located at 7 Barstow Street and is handicapped accessible.

Shady Updates for Some Solar Farms

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            The Rochester Planning Board finished quickly with its business on the June 11 agenda with the continuation of two public hearings and the closing of one uncomplicated application, leaving plenty of time for some solar project updates needing attention.

            After giving Town Planner Steve Starrett some flak for vouchers seeking reimbursement for an over $200 phone charger and $40 in mileage reimbursement, the board heard Starrett’s update on some solar projects in town that have seen sunnier days.

            It was all in good fun until Johnson referred to Starrett as the “current town planner,” which Starrett and the board laughed off.

            The contractors of the Mendell Road solar farm have left the site, Starrett said, “But they’re not finished yet.”

            Borrego Solar System employee Steve Long assured Starrett that he would come to the site personally to make sure the remaining finishing touches to the landscape are completed. There is still some seeding to be done, but the landscaping is coming along, said Starrett.

            Another issue at the site is the responsibility of Eversource, Starrett stated. The 80-foot apron at the curb has been changed to a straight drive, but the work must wait for Eversource to be completed.

            “We’re waiting for Eversource,“ said Starrett. “We don’t have any control over it.”

            Starrett said Borrego is looking into a possible third solar project in Rochester on Walnut Plain Road. A possible project on Rounseville Road has been held up, Starrett said.

            “We will see the new project on Walnut Plain before we even see that,” said Starrett. “That one may not even happen.”

            Over at the solar farm on Snipatuit Road owned by IGS, formerly owned by Melink, some shrubs that are part of the landscape plan have died from an apparent disease, Starrett said.

            “So they’ll have to deal with that,” said Starrett.

            At the solar farm on 268 Mattapoisett Road, the grass isn’t any greener.

            “Apparently, their new maintenance people went in and sprayed Roundup (herbicide) on … every single row of panels and within two or three days killed everything and killed the soil,” said Starrett. “It’s a huge error.”

            The board was concerned since the use of chemicals and herbicides is prohibited in the written decision.

            Planning Board Chairman Arnie Johnson said he attended a site visit and said, “We gave them ten days to remediate and put grass in … or we’re gonna reopen the hearing and possibly revoke their permit.”

            Starrett said the multi-acre site would have to be scraped and hydro-seeded and completely re-done.

            “Every row in the entire project,” he said. “It was looking good: it’s too bad.”

            In other business, the board closed the public hearing for a special permit for a back lot filed by Mark and Susan Trahan of 243 Mattapoisett Road.

            “I think it looks pretty straightforward,” Johnson said.

            Town counsel will prepare a draft decision for the board to consider at the next meeting.

            The public hearing for the Site Plan Review for Sophia Darras care of Patricia McArdle, Rounseville Road, was continued until June 11 at the applicant’s request.

            The public hearing for REpurpose Properties, LLC was continued until June 11 as well, as this and the prior application is running in tandem. REpurpose is seeking to construct an age-restricted residential development in the vacant land beside Plumb Corner.

            The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for June 25 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

Rochester Planning Board

By Jean Perry

Sculptor Erik Durant at the MAC

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The Elizabeth Taber Library, The Marion Art Center (MAC), and The Celebrate Elizabeth Taber Statue Committee present an evening with New Bedford sculptor Erik Durant at the MAC on June 18at 5:30 pm. Join Erik to hear about his life in art and the creation of the life-sized bronze statue of Elizabeth Taber coming to Marion’s Bicentennial Park. To sign up for this free program call the Elizabeth Taber Library at 508-748-1252. Space is limited.

ORR Class of 1964

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The Old Rochester High Class of 1964 will have their annual summer get-together on Saturday,June 29at 12:00 pm at Ned’s Point in Mattapoisett, rain or shine. All classmates, spouses, and friends are invited to bring a lawn chair and a bag lunch and reminisce, review the year past, or just enjoy the view. Members of the ORR Classes of ’62 – ’65 are always welcome.