Mattapoisett Tree Committee

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Mattapoisett Tree Committee and Tree Warden are pleased to announce the ninth year of Tree City USA participation for the Town of Mattapoisett. One of the requirements of the Tree City USA program is that the town observe Arbor Day, which, at the Monday Selectmen’s meeting, was officially recognized as Friday, April 28. Tree Warden Roland Cote will arrange to fly the Arbor Day Flag on this day. This will culminate a week of recognition of trees, nature and the environment, for on Saturday, April 22, the Tree Committee will work with the Mattapoisett Lions Club, the Mattapoisett Woman’s Club, the Mattapoisett Land Trust and many volunteers from the community to clean up our town. Registration for this event will occur at 9:30 am at Shipyard Park or online at www.eventbrite.com/e/make-mattapoisett-marvelous-earth-day-clean-up-tickets-32236119100.

Following the cleanup, the park will have activities for children of all ages, music and refreshments.

Florence Eastman Post 280

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The monthly meeting of the Florence Eastman Post 280 will be held at the Post Hall at 7:00 pm on April 19. This meeting will cover the normal reports and will also feature the Post’s recent update of our lighting courtesy of Eversource’s commitment to reduce energy costs. This is our initial step to refurbish the Hall. There will also be a review of our efforts to help with the Lions and the Knights with their fundraiser for Rob’s much needed new, updated wheel chair.

Bring your ideas for these endeavors as we cannot function without our members support and, obviously, the support of the great folks in our area who always patronize our efforts. Please mention this meeting to members you may know as everyone should be involved with the subject matters. The Hall is still available for rental. Just contact one of our members or call Mike at 508-758-9311.

Marion Con Com

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Dear Editor:

I just want to set the story straight on my lot. The main intent of having a driveway added to my buildable lot on Indian Cove Road is to prepare it for future development and construction of a house. The other issues you so nicely highlighted are important as well. Also, bear in mind that the previous owners of the property had full permission from the Conservation Commission of Marion to have a driveway constructed.

There are many issues involved here. The ConCom insists on focusing on the less important issue of getting access to be able to drive my trailered boat in. Of course they make it sound quite foolish. Again, having access to my separate, buildable, fully-taxed lot is extremely important to me as I plan on going forward with the driveway after it is approved. I direct you to please read about the family in Falmouth, MA that recently sued their lovely town for nigh a million dollars, as their ConCom withheld permission to develop their lot.

In fact, Marion is about to finally have a presentation by town counsel on avoidance of overstepping their legal bounds when making decisions. Often members of boards and commissions throughout this fine county make decisions incorrectly, expanding their self-appointed roles to make decisions that they have no right to make. I understand that the ConCom tries to maintain wetlands, which are of extreme importance to our environment. I personally see that certain people in this very town get different considerations, depending on who they are. Some folks can fill in wetlands. Some can cut down trees in the wetlands. Some can build homes or even garages in or on the border of wetlands. Some can’t. Shouldn’t all citizens be treated equally and with respect? Why would any town allow one person to be on so many committees, basically controlling a large percentage of what goes on and doesn’t in one small town.

Michael Popitz, MD, Marion

 

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.

Scoutmaster Retires, Passes the Torch

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Rochester Boy Scouts Troop 31 said a fond farewell to its scoutmaster of nine years, Michael Blanchard, and inducted its new scoutmaster, Kevin “KT” Thompson, on April 3 at the Rochester Grange Hall.

Blanchard was the guest of honor for this special occasion, having been invited as a special guest only to be surprised by a crowd that gathered to honor him for his years of service and dedication to the boys of Rochester.

During the ceremony, the scouts and parent scout volunteers presented Blanchard with a number of gifts, some silly, some sentimental, and the Rochester Firemen’s Association was on hand to present Blanchard with an American flag that the Fire Department had flown outside the fire station that day.

Some things spoken about Blanchard that night: apparently he doesn’t like to wear socks (but he did that night), he always has his bug spray, and, as Thompson put it, the shoes he must fill are enormous ones – socks, or no socks.

The leader reflections on Blanchard’s service given by other scout leaders were, at times, emotional as they read poems that reminded them of Blanchard’s character and his contribution to scouting.

Blanchard thanked those who were in attendance and turned to his scouts, saying those boys “…Would forever be my boys.”

Before cutting the giant cake with an uncanny likeness of Blanchard on top fashioned out of frosting, Thompson took the oath and the torch was passed from Blanchard to Thompson.

“You are relieved,” said Thompson to Blanchard. “I am relieved,” Blanchard replied.

By Jean Perry

Girls’ Lacrosse Starts off Season Strong

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Here is a look at the Old Rochester Regional High School sports for this week:

            Girls’ Lacrosse: The spring sports season has just begun, and very few games have occurred yet for most of Old Rochester’s sports teams. However, the Lady Bulldogs have already had two games. Last week, the girls matched up against Bishop Stang and won 20-15. The game began fast and the goals were scored quickly. Junior midfielder Madison Cooney was one of the leading goal scorers with five goals. Along with Cooney, junior attackman Ali Hulsebosch had five goals and four assists. Not far behind was senior captain Emily Hiller with four goals and two assists. The determination did not stop there as Old Rochester continued to score. Sophomore Megan Shay and junior Kat Tracy both had three goals each. The half ended with a drastic lead by the Bulldogs. However, Bishop Stang made a comeback in the second half to close the gap to a five-goal difference. The Bulldogs held strong. In their second game, the girls’ lacrosse team faced Barnstable and won 17-9. Again, Cooney was the leading goal scorer with five goals. Hulsebosch was not far off with four goals. Hiller and Tayler Lee each had two goals. Tracy, Shay, Ava Ciffolillo, and Maddie Demanche all had one goal each. The Bulldogs played the game with the focus on winning, and they did just that.

            Girls’ Basketball: Out of the 37 athletes that were nominated for the 2017 Dave Cowens Achievement Award, it was Old Rochester’s senior captain Sophia Church who came home with the trophy. She was the first female recipient for ORR since 1998. Church finished her Old Rochester basketball career with 831 points and led the team in assists.

            Girls’ and Boys’ Swimming: As one of the most talented swimmers in the area, Marc Bourgeois competed at Old Rochester and for the Seacoast Swimming Association out of Seekonk. Bourgeois won the SCC championship in both the 100 breaststroke and the 200 freestyle. He went on to the State Championship and finished second in the 100 breaststroke (58.55) and third in the 200 freestyle (1:44.06). During the Sectionals, freshman Jenna Durgin was 6th in the 100 free (54.97) and 10th in the 100 breast (1:10.36). At States, she was 8th in 100 free (55.43) and 11th in the 200 IM (2:13.72). Junior Madison Carvalho won the SCC diving championship with a score of 185.00. The ORR Varsity Swim team has only been around for a few years, but they are building fast.

Weather permitting, Softball, Baseball, Boys’ and Girls’ Lacrosse, Boys’ and Girls’ Tennis, and Boys’ and Girls’ Track all have games throughout this week. All spring sports teams hope to have a promising season.

By Alexandra Hulsebosch

 

BOS Closes Warrant, Approves ORR Fiscal Study

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The Marion fiscal year 2018 budget has been finalized, and the $21,950,375 sum now awaits the approval of town meeting members come this May 8.

The Marion Board of Selectmen met with the Finance Committee on April 4 to briefly go over the finalized budget which, said Finance Committee Chairman Alan Minard, is a balanced one.

For this current fiscal year of 2017, said Minard, the financial state of the Town is “in fairly stable condition,” with only a few matters like ice and snow over-expenditures to deal with; however, he emphasized, as mandated, the FY18 budget is in fact balanced.

“It’s getting harder to do each year,” Minard said. With rising costs, unfunded mandates from the State and with Proposition 2½, “That limits the amount of money we can raise and in many instances we get requests from all departments that greatly exceed the amount of money that we actually have.”

Heftier increases this year include the ORR budget by $230,000, Minard said. Sippican School is also up $69,000. The police budget is up some as well, with an additional $21,000 for Marion’s share of a full-time ORR school resource officer; an $18,000 increase for a new part-time 15-hour-per-week administrative assistant; over $33,000 in overtime pay to cover the shift of an injured officer; and $43,000 for the cost of new officers and planning for staff retirements.

Other things the Town has no control over, Minard said, such as health insurance hikes and pensions, are up $170,000.

The Town was able to save some money in cleaning services, Minard pointed out, and in some cases, such as with the library, consolidating the cleaning services down to one contractor throughout the town buildings saves tens of thousands of dollars.

All in all, said Minard, the FY18 budget is a little over 3% from last year. A “reasonable” budget, he called it.

“Looking to the future, I think we’ve been very prudent in our planning,” said Minard. And with $1.32 million of the $9.4 million in Town OPEB (other post-employment benefits) liability tucked away, Minard said, “This puts us way ahead of most of the towns in the community and one of the reasons we’re continuing to maintain our bond rating, so this is smart business.”

The selectmen took the Finance Committee’s recommendation that the Town contribute $5,000 in collaboration with Mattapoisett and Rochester to fund a fiscal analysis of the Old Rochester Regional School District’s spending habits, as first suggested by Mattapoisett Town Administrator Michael Gagne.

“I think that we all kind of suspect that [spending is] a lot looser than it should be, and it’s a pretty expensive place for loose finances,” said Minard.

An article will be added to the Annual Town Meeting Warrant asking to appropriate the $5,000 towards the study.

The board also closed and approved an Annual Town Meeting Warrant with 51 articles, and a Special Town Meeting Warrant of five articles.

In other matters, Town Administrator Paul Dawson said the Environmental Protection Agency has given the Town some good news, as well as some bad news.

First, Dawson was happy to announce that the EPA, in regards to the impending NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit, has agreed to the Town’s request to lessen nitrogen output standards from the EPA’s prior level of 3 to a level of 4.

“That’s good news,” said Dawson. “Very good news.”

Dawson reported that the EPA has also agreed to allow the Town to extend its wastewater discharge pipe out farther from the salt marsh as a way to bypass phosphorus emissions, as requested by the Town.

The bad news, though, is that the EPA has still not moved on its position that the three wastewater treatment plant sludge lagoons would either have to be fully lined (which they presently are not) or abandoned entirely.

“And that’s obviously going to be an extremely significant cost,” said Dawson. “The EPA remains rock solid in its [position].”

Also during the meeting, the Town House Building Committee (THBC) expressed a desire to work with proponents of a VFW site feasibility study, proposing now a THBC subcommittee to be comprised of four proponents of the citizen’s petition featured on the Town Meeting Warrant requesting its own committee to study the VFW site study, along with three original members of the THBC.

The consensus is that this merger of interests would expedite the feasibility study process and efficiently deliver the funding in order to begin.

THBC Chairman Bob Raymond said, “We’re all of the same mind; we really believe that the townspeople deserve a deep dive … into the feasibility study.”

Raymond said the subcommittee would work autonomously from the original THBC, which would have no right to veto or alter any determinations or decisions the subcommittee contrived.

“We want to make sure that this is a clean process,” said Raymond. “We may end up disagreeing with them,” he added, but at least the public would receive two clearly presented sides. “We think the voters deserve that,” Raymond said.

Also on the agenda, the selectmen invited the ORR/Fairhaven Varsity Hockey Team and its coach Eric Labonte to the meeting for praise and accolades on its accomplishment this year.

Chairman Jody Dickerson. “You represented the school well, and especially the town well. You made us very proud of you.”

The board also approved Police Chief Lincoln Miller’s request to appoint Scott Cowan as a full-time police officer.

The board continued Tabor Academy’s request to tie into an existing sewer connection for the construction of an additional 24-student dormitory that would replace an existing dorm, without expanding the population of students at Tabor. The Department of Public Works has recommended the request; however, Dickerson wanted to gather further information before approval.

Dawson announced that the joint meeting of the three Tri-Town boards of selectmen would be April 27 at 6:30 pm in the ORRJHS media room.

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 18 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Jean Perry

Bryant D. Palmer

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Bryant D. Palmer, 98, of Marion, died April 1, 2017 in the Charlton Memorial Hospital, Fall River. He was the husband of Mildred W. (Leach) Palmer. They were married for 65 years. He was the son of the late Clifford and Harriet (Smith) Palmer.

He was born in New Bedford and lived in Marion for most of his life. He graduated from New Bedford Vocational High School.

Mr. Palmer was a World War II Air Force Veteran.

Mr. Palmer worked for Tabor Academy in the Marine Maintenance Department for many years before retiring. He also operated a bicycle repair shop in town for many years. He was known around Marion as “Mr. Fix-All”

He held a private pilot’s license and was a member of the American Owner’s and Pilot’s Association.

Survivors include his wife, Mildred W. (Leach) Palmer; 2 sons, Clifford Palmer of New Bedford and David Palmer and his wife Norma of Rochester; 4 grandchildren, Regina Cyr, Johanna Palmer, Jessica Palmer and Katelyn Palmer; 4 great grandchildren, Rylan, Tori, Adrianna, and Colton. He was predeceased by his great grandson, Kayden.

His graveside service will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 8, 2017 in the North Marion Cemetery, County Road, Marion. Visiting hours have been omitted.

Arrangements are by the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funearl Home, 2599 Cranberry Hwy., Wareham. For directions and online guestbook, visit: www.ccgfuneralhome.com.

Gateway Youth Hockey

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Squirts’ Championship Game: The Gateway Gladiator Squirts closed out the 2016/17 season with a dramatic win over WHK in the Championship game of the Yankee Conference on Saturday. The Gladiators came ready to avenge their opening round loss to WHK, but after a slow start and a few critical mistakes, they found themselves down 4-0 with less than a minute to play in the second period. Brayden Cannon looked like he would get the Gladiators on the scoreboard with a late period breakaway, only to be stopped by the goaltender. On the ensuing defensive zone face-off, Tommy Clavell took the puck up the right side and cut across to the net and neatly tucked one in under the goalie with seven seconds left in the second. Still down three as the third period began, the resilient Gladiators dug deep and mounted a comeback starting with the first face-off of the third period. Ben Hebbel won the face off back to Mike Brown who passed to Cannon on the wing. Cannon moved the puck to a breaking Hebbel who sped to the net and netted the Gladiators’ second goal in 80 seconds. Continuing the comeback on the next face, Liz Kilpatrick pulled the puck to Bree Killion who fed Brayden Hathon who launched a wrist shot from the blue line then found the back of the net. WHK, with momentum swinging, took a timeout that allowed the Gladiators to catch their breath as well. The Gladiators kept the attack on with Cannon taking a pass from Hebbel and flipping the puck into the net above the reach of the goalie. With game tied, the fans chanting and WHK dazed, Hebbel took the ensuing face-off straight to the net to give the Gladiators a 5-4 lead. Not slowing down, Hebbel took the next face-off and found Cannon open across the crease, and Cannon again launched a shot out of reach of the goalie and extended the Gladiators’ lead to 6-4. All in all, the Gladiators scored six unanswered goals in just under ten minutes of play with a final score of 6-5. In net, with a standout performance was Ryan Killion, who stopped 26 of 31 shots for the win.

Pee Wees’ Championship Game: Gateway Gladiator Pee Wees had an incredible season losing a single game all year. On Sunday, the Yankee conference championship game pitted the Gateway Gladiator Pee Wee team versus the Coastal Stars. In the first period, Nathan Ribeiro put Gateway on the board with assists from Connor Macleod and Thomas Leger with Joe Urnek and Brady Kidney contributing some great plays. In the second period, Ribeiro scored his second of the game with assists from Sean Pollock and Leger. Lucy Murphy played aggressive to the puck giving her teammates a chance to take the puck to the net. Ribeiro soon completed the hat trick with an assist from Ty Rebeiro. Lucas Demoranville came in strong with Jacob Hebbel for some unbeatable defense. In the final frame, Matthew Stone was strong, making plays to get the puck where it needed to be and helping Ribeiro secure his fourth goal of the game with an assist from Rebeiro. The Stars added pressure, but Rebeiro was able to get through and score Gateway’s fifth goal of the game with an assist from Pollock. Matthew Paling had multiple shots the whole game, but he couldn’t reach the netting until late in the third when he put away an unassisted goal leaving the final score 6-0. Gateway’s Goalie Ryker King played an unbelievable game, making multiple difficult saves to keep the Stars from scoring and securing the shutout for the final game of the season.

Marion Art Center Annual Meeting

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The annual meeting of the Marion Art Center will be held on Tuesday, April 11 at 7:00 pm in the Patsy Francis Gallery, at 80 Pleasant Street. All members are invited to attend. Annual reports will be presented and officers and new members of the board of directors will be elected. The Art Center is comprised of two galleries, a small theater and a studio. Monthly gallery exhibitions are scheduled year-round in a variety of media and styles, and the Center hosts openings for each show, receiving a nominal commission on the sales. The MAC theatre produces several productions throughout the year. The Center offers a full schedule of classes in visual and performing arts year-round to both children and adults. For more information, visit www.marionartcenter.org.

Knights Teen Dance

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The next Knights Teen Dance is on Friday, April 7 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm for $8. The Knights of Columbus is located at 57 Fairhaven Road in Mattapoisett. Teen dances are for 6th, 7th and 8th graders only, please.