Your Story: Open Mic

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Please join the Mattapoisett Historical Society (5 Church Street in Mattapoisett) for our second Your Story: Open Mic event on Sunday, February 12 at 4:00 pm. Inspired by the tradition of poetry slams and the appearance of “The Moth” at the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford, the Mattapoisett Historical Society invites you to our own open mic event. Participants will tell stories, share poetry and sing. Each performer is allotted a 5-minute performance. This is intended as a casual, comfortable, family-friendly environment (content should be appropriate for all ages). Stories, poems and songs can be funny, serious, personal, etc. Come enjoy some fun and creative performances. For more information, call 508-758-2844 or email info@mattapoisetthistoricalsociety.org.

Cooking For Two: A Valentine’s Day Treat

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If you are looking for an easy meal to make for Valentine’s Day, Karen Covey has got you covered! Join her at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Tuesday, February 7 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm for a free cooking demonstration. Recipes will be shared.

Karen J. Covey is the founder and publisher of The Coastal Table, a food and lifestyle quarterly journal. She is also the author of The Coastal Table: Recipes Inspired by the Farmlands and Seaside of Southern New England, published in 2013 by Union Park Press. Currently, she works as a recipe developer and teaching instructor. She lives in Mattapoisett.

Register for this free program by calling 508-758-4171 or emailing spizzolo@sailsinc.org. Seats are limited, so sign up today. The library is located at 7 Barstow Street in Mattapoisett village.

Selectmen Sign Deal for 911 Regionalization

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A Regionalized 911 system is a done deal for the Town of Rochester, now that the Rochester Board of Selectmen on January 23 signed a five-year agreement with the Town of Duxbury to receive emergency dispatch services.

Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar said that signing the agreement sooner rather than later was critical in order to meet the application deadline for grant money from the State 911 Department to cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades and almost half of the cost of the agreement.

Szyndlar said the State 911 Department has confirmed that the Town of Rochester would be eligible to receive the grant funding – totaling $300,000 for infrastructure upgrades alone – and another $125,000 towards the $300,000 annual cost for 911 services, leaving the town to fund the remaining $175,000.

Infrastructure upgrades include brand new commercial grade antennas and radio receivers, which Szyndlar acknowledged the Town would not be able to afford without the 911 regionalization grant.

The entire transition is estimated to take up to a year, including the grant application process, receiving the funds in the fall, and the ensuing infrastructure work, but the agreement would have to be signed without delay.

“Otherwise, we would have to go another year out,” said Szyndlar, adding that as towns increasingly apply for the 911 regionalization grants, funding availability would decrease over time.

The Town of Duxbury will assist Rochester with writing the grant applications and updating the Town as progress is made.

“We are in an advantageous position right now to be at the top rather than the bottom of the allocation field,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman Naida Parker.

Szyndlar concurred, saying, “There are several towns that are actually jealous of our position right now. We are in a very good spot.”

Selectman Richard Nunes pointed out that adopting the 911 regionalized dispatch is in alignment with the state Community Compact the Town signed last year, and the agreement will also ultimately save taxpayers money.

“And also to provide quality service,” said Parker. “It’s a twofold thing. Yes, we want to save money … but also to make sure that we’re not selling the residents of the town short on dispatch [and] … to provide the best possible service.”

“It’s really going to enhance and improve our system,” said Szyndlar. However, selectmen and Szyndlar all agreed that the move was in no way a negative reflection on the job the Town’s current dispatchers were doing.

In other matters, Parker, in her position as the town clerk, swore in the new full-time police officer before a roomful of family, friends, and fellow officers.

Alyson Rego has been serving on the Rochester Police Department for almost three years as a part-time predominantly night shift officer, and she has also conducted a few R.A.D. defense courses and attended a number of community events.

Police Chief Paul Magee called Rego “community-oriented,” adding, “She really gets the ‘community policing.’”

Rego has a bachelor’s degree from UMass Dartmouth in criminal justice and a Master’s from Curry College.

Also during the meeting, selectmen told Kelly Morgado, an abutter to the Rochester Memorial School parking lot, that the Town would investigate on her behalf the cost of installing a stockade fence along her property line where it abuts the parking lot.

Morgado said that for years she has had concerns over the security of her property in its proximity to the parking lot.

The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for February 6 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

 

Rita J. (Carrier) Galligan

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Rita J. (Carrier) Galligan passed away at the New Bedford Jewish Convalescent Home, on January 27, 2017, at the age of 101. She was the wife of the late Edward J. Galligan and the daughter of the late John and Marilda (Boily) Carrier.

Rita was most proud of mothering two sets of twins and family was her lifetime joy.

She was the mother of the late Joan G. Capone of Somerset. Survivors include two sons, Terrence E. Galligan and wife Alison of Acushnet, and Thomas J. Galligan of Plympton, her daughter Jean and husband Dr. James F. Tierney of Mattapoisett, as well as her son-in-law, Paul J. Capone of Somerset. Rita was blessed with 14 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be private. Remembrances may be made to the New Bedford Jewish Convalescent Home, 200 Hawthorn St., New Bedford, MA 02740 or Community Nurse Home Care, 62 Center St., Fairhaven, MA 02719. Arrangements are by the Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals, 495 Park St., New Bedford. For online condolence book, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

Rochester Women’s Club

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The next meeting of the Rochester Women’s Club will be on Thursday, February 2 at 6:00 pm. This is our annual pot luck dinner. Please call Marsha at 508-322-0998 or email the club at rwomensclub@aol.com for more information on our dinner. We are asking for RSVPs by Monday, January 30, please.

We will be creating our kindness rocks after our dinner. Members are urged to gather their rocks and the club will supply the rest of the items necessary to complete our project of hope. We are creating these kindness rocks in an effort to share our hope for peace, love and harmony throughout our community and our country. Please join us for this very worthwhile peacemaking event.

Our club members would also like to welcome all women into our group. Residents from any town are invited to all meetings. We are located at 37 Marion Road in Rochester.

Academic Achievements

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James DeMailly of Mattapoisett has been named to the academic honors list for work completed during the fall 2016 semester at Northfield Mount Hermon.

Emma Nizzari, an English major from Mattapoisett, has been named to the Fall 2016 Dean’s List at Mount Ida College in Newton, MA for achieving a GPA of 3.33 or higher.

Springfield College has named Ashley Pacheco of Rochester to the dean’s list for academic excellence for the fall 2016 term. Pacheco is studying Health Science/Pre-Physician Assistant.

Julian J. Peters of Mattapoisett has made the Dean’s List at Wentworth Institute of Technology for the fall 2016 semester.

Samuel Dorothy of Mattapoisett, Kristen Knight of Marion, and Catherine Ball of Mattapoisett have been named to the Fall 2016 Dean’s List at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI. Full-time students who complete 12 or more credits per semester and earn a GPA of 3.4 or higher are placed on the Dean’s List that semester.

Alternative Facts

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When I was a little kid, almost from the moment I was able to speak, I tried to change facts, realities, you know what I mean – tell lies.

To keep the drama in check around the household it became necessary, in my little kid mind, to never, ever own up to spilling the milk. And while it was obvious the milk didn’t spill itself, my lamentations, AKA lies, that “I don’t know what happened – it wasn’t me,” were so intense, the inquisition ended in a stalemate. For me, that was a win because I was spared a crack on the head for touching the milk in the first place.

But I wasn’t the only one fibbing.

My mother and father were great instructors on the art and science of fabricating ‘alternative facts.’

Sometimes when the insurance man came to collect the weekly policy payments, the envelope that should have held his coins was empty. Ma’s reaction would be something like, “Oh, my gawd! Who touched the insurance man’s envelope?!”

Hearing no response, with a glaring eye she would silently radio, “Shut-up and be guilty!” Then, turning to the rumpled collector she’d ask, “Is it okay if I just add that to next week’s payment?” As the poor insurance man slogged out the kitchen door, she’d turn to us hissing, “Now don’t tell your father.”

Living in circumstances Ma would call “close to the bone,” my parents became experts of trying to extend payment terms. Dad’s entrepreneurial talents included using alternative facts.

But this slippery slope of alternative fact telling only went so far. While half-truths and full fabrications could be told to others, being one hundred percent truthful to one’s self was paramount. To do otherwise would mean we were mentally and emotionally altered – as in sociopathic liars. We were not. We were just seeking alternative facts in an effort to benefit ourselves. Of course we were. That was the point.

My personal best in developing alternative facts came while I was in high school. I was failing physical education, or as we called it, gym class. I hated gym. Today, I can’t really explain it other than to say I was expending so much energy surviving domestic unrest and the darkness of being a seriously depressed teenager that I didn’t have enough energy to change into my gym clothes. And since they hadn’t been washed since the day they were issued to me, putting them on would have been gross. I needed to figure out a way to graduate from high school that didn’t include gym.

Enter alternative facts.

My after-school job at the time was working for the local doctor. I’d type out his bills and letters with his kind wife sitting beside me watching my every keystroke. She was a sweet, gentle soul who smelled of lunch and lilacs. I liked her a great deal.

One day, the doctor’s wife was ill. From the living room couch where she was nursing a migraine she told me, “Just type out the monthly bills dear, you can do that by yourself…” As I sat down, a plot began to form.

With a doctor’s letter, I might be excused from having to attend gym class. I played out worse case scenarios in my head. Being caught, I decided, wouldn’t be as bad as not graduating. I’d take a chance and try the alternative fact route. The idea of an alternative fact this big put my stomach in knots. Panic was hard to handle. Fear, however, ebbed away as I typed.

I wrote a diagnosis based on what I had learned from outgoing bills. The doctor would confirm that I suffered from migraines, flat feet, and psoriasis. I wrote – I mean he wrote – that the combination of conditions made it necessary for me to avoid exercise. I expressed that my parents had only recently sought treatment for me. I signed the doctor’s name. I graduated near the bottom of my class, but I graduated.

As the years have sped by, fibbing to protect the sensitivities of others and where no harm is done continued. I mean, whoever is without sin please cast the first stone. But on issues of substance, import, and darn it all, just because it’s the right thing to do, stating real facts and not making crap up has become the norm.

As Judge Judy says, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said.” Man, is she ever right. Keeping your story straight when you’ve embellished the facts or simply omitted pertinent details can trip up even the most seasoned serial alternative fact teller. That is, unless you have professionals to write the script and a teleprompter to aid your memory.

By Marilou Newell

 

A Very Short Night for ZBA

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The Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals had a very light agenda when they met on January 19, and they were able to dispatch what business was scheduled in nearly record time.

Coming before the board was Paul Griffith Jr., 14 Hereford Hill Road, along with Daniel Brown, son-in-law to the Griffiths.

When Griffith purchased the property, it was under the assumption that an addition measuring 700 square feet had been permitted as an in-law apartment.

Brown said that after consulting with a real estate agent in preparation for putting the home up for sale, they learned that was not the case and sought a Special Permit that would make it meet current zoning bylaws.

Andy Bobola, building inspector for the Town of Mattapoisett, told the board members that the applicant was “fortunate that the addition met the 700-foot requirement,” and was attached to the main residence.

Brown said that when the addition was constructed, it was for the purpose of having a separate but attached family unit, which had been utilized in that fashion for years, and they simply wanted to make everything legal.

Bobola said that everything was in line for the ZBA to grant the Special Permit requested, reminding them and the public that this case was very different from a previous case where an unpermitted apartment above a stand alone garage had been used as a rental unit.

Satisfied that the application met all zoning bylaws, the Special Permit was granted.

DG Service Company, 23 County Road, had also sought a Special Permit for the construction of a 2,100 square-foot addition to a commercial structure.

On this night, the applicant asked to withdraw that request without prejudice as they needed to settle concerns that had arisen with abutters. The applicant also asked for financial relief to the $300 fee already paid. The board members discussed what would be a fair amount given that the town had incurred some costs associated with the application. They agreed that a $100 fee was sufficient.

The board members also discussed a request presented to them from town counsel, the town administrator, and the Board of Selectmen regarding a case that had been withdrawn without prejudice, 102 Fairhaven Road.

Chairman Susan Akin read from a letter presented to the ZBA asking them to allow a further continuance of that case, given that the applicant, aggrieved parties, and the Town were close to an out-of-court agreement.

The issue raised was one between the condominium covenant for the over 55+ community and Town bylaws that had permitted the development under that covenant.

One of the residents had not met the age requirement. The ZBA agreed to continue the case until further notice.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for February 16 at 6:00 pm at the Mattapoisett Town Hall.

By Marilou Newell

 

NBSO Presents Strings Attached

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On Saturday, February 18, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra presents its fourth and final music director finalist in concert when Dirk Meyer conducts Strings Attached at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. Meyer is currently Music Director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra in Minnesota. The 2012 American Prize Winner in Orchestral Conducting, Meyer has guest conducted orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, South Africa, the Czech Republic, and Germany and has led many world and U.S. premieres.

The NBSO concert program begins with Miguel del Águila’s riveting The Giant Guitar. Next, award-winning pianist Sheng Cai joins the NBSO to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Completing the program is Rachmaninoff’s lush and mesmerizing Symphony No. 2, a highlight of the late Romantic repertoire.

The concert will take place on Saturday, February 18, 7:30 pm, at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in downtown New Bedford. Please join us before the performance for Mr. Meyer’s pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm in the Penler Space (adjoining The Z), free and open to the public. Concert tickets are $25‒$60, with $10 student tickets (not available online). Purchase tickets through the Z box office, 508-994-2900, or online at www.nbsymphony.org. Free and convenient concert parking is available in the Z garage. There will also be an opportunity to meet Mr. Meyer at an after-concert reception in the Penler Space. Concert sponsor is BayCoast Bank; reception sponsor is Russell Morin Catering & Events.

You deserve a symphony in your life – the New Bedford Symphony! The NBSO is a professional orchestra that annually presents a concert series of classical and pops music with prize-winning guest artists from around the world, as well as a chamber music series. In addition, the NBSO’s innovative and nationally recognized educational programs reach 30,000 students each year. The NBSO is dedicated to building a community of music in the South Coast. Visit www.nbsymphony.org for more information.

New Group Exercise Class in Marion

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Beginning February 1, the Marion Council on Aging in an exciting partnership with the Gleason Family YMCA will offer a new group exercise class on Wednesdays and Fridays, 9:30 am to 10:30am, at the Music Hall, 164 Front Street, Marion.

During this class, instructor Janet Memoli will help you improve your overall health while having fun and listening to motivating music. Comfortable clothing and a water bottle are suggested. The cost is $35/10-week session, free for members of the YMCA. Registration is required; call the Marion COA at 508-748-3570.

Janet has been a certified ACE trainer for 40+ years. She has taught classes at Gleason Family YMCA for the past 13 years where she has a loyal following. Her classes are fun and challenging and focus on balance, flexibility, cardio fitness, strength, and core development. The class uses light hand weights, chairs, bands and a person’s own body weight. This class is open to the community.