On Sunday, September 3 at 5:00 pm, The Rev. Jeffrey Cave from Atlanta, Georgia will lead the congregation in a Hymn Sing including anecdotal comments on the history and background of the requested hymns.
The Rev. Cave is also the author of the history of St. Philip’s, “The Church by the Town Beach,” published for the church’s 125th year anniversary.
All are welcome to enjoy and participate in the Hymn Sing. A reception will follow in the side yard of the church.
Sippican Woman’s Club announces it first program for our club year to be held on Friday, September 8 at 12:30 pm. Recently-published local author Rachel Rowley Spaulding will take us on her journey to locate the Ellen Marie, a New Bedford wooden commercial fishing boat depicted in a painting the author purchased. Rachel’s search for the vessel exposed her to fishermen, the hardships of the fishing industry, the fishermen’s lives both aboard and those of the loved ones left behind. Her search led her to want to share both her journey of discovery of Ellen Marie and the stories of people she met along the way, including the boat’s one-time Captain. After earning a business degree from Boston University and enjoying a career in finance, Rachel enrolled in a writing course at UMass Dartmouth and put pen to paper to share the story In Search of Ellen Marie. A book signing will follow the program.
Members and guests are invited to join us at our clubhouse “Handy’s Tavern,” 152 Front Street, Marion, at 12:30 pm. Our program is preceded by a luncheon followed by a short business meeting. Guests are welcome, but we do ask that you call first as sometimes our meeting space is limited. Parking is available at the Island Wharf lot by the bandstand located across from the Music Hall. Please do not park by the General Store Parking Lot as it is reserved for customers of the General Store, Kate’s Eats and members of the Congregational Church.
For Sippican Woman’s Club membership information, contact Jeanne Lake at 508-748-0619 or visit our website: www.sippicanwomansclub.org.
David Neumeyer of Marion took first place, sailing Bob Gleason’s and Jane Duff’s Metaphor out of Wareham. Second place went to Dave Kane’s Able from Newport, RI, followed closely, in third place by Minneapolis, MN, native, Phil McGlave, who sails his Stone Horse, Blue Jay, out of Westport, MA. Finishing just out of the money was Patience with newcomer Rob Pirozzi of Mattapoisett, MA, at the helm. “Also rans” were Butterfly and Windfall skippered by, respectively, Vern Tisdale of Mattapoisett and Tom Kenney of South Dartmouth.
The race, delayed by one hour due to the threat of thunderstorms, was beset by fluky winds out of the east-southeast and the course was ultimately shortened to two legs because of the light air. The wind went light and fluky right at the starting gun, leaving boats in irons on the starting line and resulting in a few, slow motion, near collisions.
Able, Blue Jay and Patience stayed on the same tack for the first half of the race, with Able taking a slight lead. Metaphor tacked to the south in search of wind and moved into first place towards the end of the first leg. Butterfly and Windfall fell off to the south in hopes of better wind but became stranded well to leeward of the mark and unable to recover on the shortened course.
With the fleet struggling to make progress in the unsettled conditions, the Race Committee announced a shortened first leg, putting out a “Mark” boat, and they reconfigured the second, and now final, leg of the race. Metaphor extended its lead after turning on the Mark, with Able and Blue Jay settling into second and third places for the final leg. There was some great light air sailing by all the boats that finished in the money and by Rob Pirozzi’s aptly named Patience, but David Neumeyer’s risky decision to take Metaphor south and away from the fleet made the difference.
Post-race festivities were hosted by Tom and Ann Kenney at the New Bedford Yacht Club. A special thanks to Jack Mallet, skipper of the support boat, Acadia, out of Padanaram, and Walt Suchon, skipper of the Committee Boat, Sabrosa, also out of Padanaram, and also a shout out to Barbara Veneri and Ed Pavao who served with Walt Suchon on the Race Committee.
The Stone Horse Builder’s Cup is a one-design race limited to the 23’ Stone Horse designed by S.S. Crocker and built by Edey & Duff, formerly of Aucoot Cove, Mattapoisett, MA. Edey & Duff built 151 Stone Horses between 1969 and 1996.
The celebration of the year of the 200th birthday of great American writer (and Massachusetts native) Henry David Thoreau falls on turbulent times in the United States. As people all over gather to commemorate this bicentennial anniversary, many have found the return to Thoreau’s writings as an appropriate way to not only revisit the works of a master of American literature, but also to find solace and solutions to the contemporary American’s inner and outer conflicts with which we currently struggle.
The Mattapoisett Library and the Mattapoisett Land Trust on Saturday, August 19, hosted a small, intimate, yet casual event by the harbor at Munro Park to observe the 200th birthday of Thoreau, with each attendee reading excerpts from various Thoreau books and essays that personally resonated with them.
When the Thoreau Society contacted Mattapoisett Library Director Susan Pizzolato and asked the library to honor Thoreau’s 200th birthday by hosting an event that would promote the life, work, and legacy of Henry David Thoreau, Pizzolato went to the Land Trust to coordinate holding a reading of the works of Thoreau at a MLT property. There was a reason for selecting Munro Park specifically for this event, Pizzolato said.
“It was time to do things that Ruth Munro would enjoy,” said Pizzolato, describing the character of Ruth Munro, the woman who lived in the big yellow house across the street that donated the oceanside land to the Town. “It’s one of the reasons we thought we’d do something in a literary fashion.”
Commenting on the civil unrest in America this past week and referencing Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience, Pizzolato asked, “What better American writer and thinker to celebrate right now?”
“It’s a good time to go back and read some Henry David Thoreau,” Pizzolato said.
Thoreau held liberal religious views, subscribing to the Kantian-based Transcendentalism philosophy that holds the spiritual above the material, the instinct over logic, nature above institution. Vehemently opposed to slavery, he was a conductor of the Underground Railroad and devoted many months to the exploration of transcendental pursuits – his most famous being his two year stay in a small cabin at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts from 1845 to 1847.
Aside from a brief stint in jail in 1846 for refusing to pay his poll tax to support the war with Mexico – a war he considered to be immoral – he spent those two years in solitude, taking walks, writing in his personal journal, and writing essays.
Ellen Flynn, member of both the MLT and the Friends of the Mattapoisett Library, handed out copies of excerpts from Thoreau’s essays Civil Disobedience and Walking for attendees to read aloud.
MLT President Mike Huegenin read a passage from Walking that resonated with him: “I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks – who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering…. He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all; but the saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea.”
“And with ten miles of Land Trust trails [in Mattapoisett],” said Huegenin, in his own words, “there’s plenty of good sauntering out there.”
As the bees buzzed, stirring the fragrance of the rosa rugosa they were instinctively drawn to, the group took turns sharing the Thoreau quote they too were instinctively drawn to. The opalescent surface of the water swirled in the subtle waves, keeping time like a primordial metronome until the hour arrived to pack up the modest arrangement of chairs and the serving table with berries, fruits, and coffee.
Pizzolato left an impression of the essence of Thoreau upon the guests, reading from friend Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words on Thoreau at his funeral: “Wherever there is knowledge, wherever there is virtue, wherever there is beauty, he will find a home.”
The Mattapoisett Library has arranged a Thoreau display at the library for anyone wishing to check out a book. The library and the Mattapoisett Land Trust will host another Thoreau reading on October 28 at 10:00 am at the Dunseith Gardens at the corner of Route 6 and North Street.
By Jean Perry
It stands like a vision from the past – a large square structure where dogs are trained, Boy Scouts hold meetings, and the life of rural Rochester moves slowly from one generation to the next. But the sign on the building tells a more important story – one that connects Rochester to the entire country: Rochester Grange #257.
On August 19, the Rochester Grange membership held its annual fair. On display were the best examples from local gardens and kitchens and of crafts made over the long winter months, the achievement of individual effort in a variety of categories.
The annual event gives residents and members the opportunity to show off their talents in growing vegetables and flowers as well as arranging them in decorative ways, hooking rugs, drawing and painting, canning produce, taking photographs, baking cookies and knitting blankets – the bounty from a community maintaining the principles of an agrarian society.
Herb and Sue LaFleur, respectively chairman and secretary of the Rochester Grange, were busy preparing for the annual ham and bean supper that follows the juried event.
Slowly wafting in the fan-forced air circulating the grange hall were red and blue ribbons attached to giant zucchinis or long stalks of gladiolas. Sue LaFleur said that most of the jurying took place the night before while other categories were completed that morning. The colorful displays certainly harkened back to an earlier time when horse-drawn carriages drew farmers from fields to join others in the annual harvest celebration. But LaFleur said granges were much more than just about farms.
“It began after the Civil War,” LaFleur explained. She said granges were started to help the struggling farmers after the war that had devastated the landscape both north and south of the Mason-Dixon line. “Today we get involved with legislation,” she said.
Rochester Grange also gets involved helping the local and larger community. “Every year, we give the third graders at Rochester Memorial School their own children’s dictionary in a program we call ‘Words For Thirds,’” LaFleur said. She said the dictionaries are something that the students look forward to and get to keep when the school year ends.
And the Rochester Grange’s compassionate consideration of others goes beyond the town lines. “We help with children who are taken into foster care.” LaFleur explained that the membership provides “hygiene bags” filled with such essential items as toothbrushes, soap, face cloths, and shampoo. “When the children are taken into DCF care, they have nothing.” The grange members also collect gift cards, which are distributed to the children. “The teens especially appreciate the cards.”
Regarding the early proactive work granges pursued, LaFleur said that in its history granges advocated for rural mail delivery, railroad expansions, and electricity through political action that influenced legislation. Lobbying on behalf of rural Americans continues at the national level, she said.
LaFleur seemed most proud to share that granges were one of the first organizations that granted women full membership. “Women were always allowed to vote, even before they were given the right to vote, and they could hold office in the granges too,” she said enthusiastically.
Considering that membership to granges has dwindled as family lifestyles have changed, the LaFleurs and the members of the Rochester Grange are steadfast in their belief that the work they do is important to the overall fabric of the community.
From the National Grange website we find the following: Every year, Grange members give thousands of hours to volunteer in their communities and raise millions of dollars for important causes. Grangers attend public meetings, inform themselves of local, state and national issues, and speak for the rights of all Americans, especially those who work in agriculture, producing our food, fuel and fiber (www.nationalgrange.org).
Grange halls throughout the country are also used for other community events and activities. Rochester’s Boy Scout Troop 31 holds their meetings in the Grange, which has opened its door to the Scouts for years. Both organizations recently received special recognition for their community work.
Active duty Rochester resident CW4 Daniel Ferreira, U.S. Army, gifted the two groups with a decommissioned American flag that was flown aboard a Pursuit marine vessel involved in Task Force ODIN in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The flag and accompanying citation honor the guiding principles of the two organizations.
The Rochester Grange meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm. “Everyone is invited,” LaFleur said with a smile. The Rochester Grange is located at 205 Hartley Road.
By Marilou Newell
Sandra Lee (Kidston) Tollison, age 68, of Mattapoisett, passed away on Sunday, August 27, 2017 at St. Luke’s Hospital following a long illness. She was the wife of Terry Tollison with whom she shared 30 years of marriage.
She was born in Danvers, MA, a daughter of the late Theodore and Gertrude (Durrigan) Kidston.
She loved the comforts of her home and loved spending time with her children, grandchildren and dog Freddie. She enjoyed many trips to Disneyworld where she renewed her vows with Terry.
In addition to her husband, her family includes three daughters, Tracy Spangler, Tammy Everett, Kara Standish and her husband Keith; her siblings, Patricia Clark and her husband George, David Pryor, Daniel Pryor and his wife Donna, Karen Cardoza and her husband David; seven grandchildren, David Cabeceiras Jr., Jessica Spangler, Cory Cabeceiras, Scott Spangler Jr., Bethany, Meghan and Madison Spangler; two great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. She was the mother of the late Daniel Querido.
Relatives and friends are invited to pay respects to her family on Saturday, September 9, 2017 beginning at 1pm at 121 Marion Rd., Mattapoisett, MA. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701.
For online tributes please visit: www.rock-funeralhome.com
The South Coast Children’s Chorus welcomes singers in grades 3-12 for our 2017-2018 concert season. Led by SCCC musical director Dr. Tianxu Zhou, auditions will take place at the Unitarian Memorial Church, 102 Green Street, Fairhaven on September 12 from 5:30 – 7:00 pm. New singers will be accepted throughout September at the beginning of regular Tuesday rehearsals from 5:30 – 7:00 pm at the same location.
Full and partial scholarships are available. The cost of tuition for the year is $300. All young singers who are interested are encouraged to audition through a process that is designed to make children comfortable showing their musical abilities.
Exciting performances include holiday collaboration with the Sippican Choral Society, First Night New Bedford and a joint performance with renowned African Children’s Choir.
To register and for more information, contact SCCCsings@gmail.com. Also, visit our website at www.singsouthcoast.org or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/southcoastchildrenschorus.
The Rochester Council on Aging announces the following day trips scheduled during the month of August:
– Friday, August 25: Free Fun Friday Day Trip to Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park.
– Tuesday, August 29: Shopping and lunch at Clinton Crossings Premium Outlets, CT.
Please call the Senior Center at 508-763-8723 for more information regarding these events, including times, any costs involved and reservations.
While the temperatures simmered outside on August 22, the tempers simmered inside the Rochester Council on Aging Center when the Rochester Planning Board held its meeting.
What should have been fine tuning and housekeeping on site plans submitted by Wellspring Farms, as proprietors Jim and Holly Vogel sought to bring closure to the many months of site improvement planning, turned into another airing of long-held grievances by abutter Kathy Mendoza.
Ken Motta of Field Engineering, the peer review consultant, had reviewed the latest iteration of the site plan, ticking off such items as additional fencing, gravel driveways, signage, and handicap parking as ‘in process’ or ‘to be completed’ in the coming weeks.
The Planning Board members seemed quite satisfied with the progress that had been made in satisfying abutter concerns and other issues. But Mendoza remained steadfast in her assertion that her home life has been destroyed by the operation of the experiential therapy clinic the Vogels operate at 42 Hiller Road.
“There’s constant noise from kids screaming,” Mendoza said. Continuing on, she stated, “We have suffered.” The hearing continued in this vein with the Vogels’ counsel George Boerger refuting Mendoza’s comments, including her complaint that the Vogels had “flown under the radar for years” and were now being rewarded.
Chairman Arnold Johnson took umbrage to Mendoza’s comment, saying, “Hold on. This plan has changed significantly.” He said conditions would be put in place to satisfy many of abutters concerns and if complaints are lodged, those will be investigated.
Boerger said, “The implication that we were flying under the radar is a gross exaggeration. Jim had a permit as a right at the time, a lawful permit,” referring to an earlier board’s permitting of the operation under an agricultural activity.
Bitter words continued, and Jim Vogel countered, “These things are not true at all…. We’ve had enough…. Do we have to hear it again!”
Planning Board member Lee Carr shouted, “Take it outside!”
As things simmered down, the board asked the applicant to agree to a continuation and to return with the edits requested for the plans. The hearing was continued until September 12.
Also getting an earful from concerned residents was Steve Long of Borrego Solar Systems for property located at 453 Rounseville Road. The planned 9,000-unit solar voltaic array developer has met several times with Rochester boards and was returning after an August 7 hearing when representatives failed to answer all the questions raised.
Long presented his edits based on comments by, once again, Ken Motta of Field Engineering, the peer review consultant. Such issues as the number of trees that would be removed, placement of transformers and associated equipment, stormwater management, screening, and service roads were all discussed.
Board member Gary Florindo asked if the overhead electrical cables could be placed underground. Long said the utility provider governed that aspect of the project, but after some pressure from several members of the public, said he would discuss that option with the operating partners.
Strong sentiment against the project came up again and again as members of the public and abutters shared their opposition towards the project.
John Sheehan said, “You’re going to put an industrial solar project in a residential area! They are eyesores. It’s going to damage my property. It’s going to destroy the character of the town!” he stressed.
Others were concerned that the solar panels would leach toxins into the land and water. Still others wanted to know why Rochester was becoming a place for so many solar projects.
Johnson explained that they could not refuse to allow solar projects. But Florindo agreed that it was “getting a little bit too far out of hand.” Yet he defended the work of the Planning Board, saying, “People sitting at this table are the same as the people sitting in those chairs,” pointing to the public. “We’ve been to the site; we’re listening to all your information…. I have to do my duty.”
Then Planning Board member Michael Murphy asked the public, “Are you ready to go to court?” The audience roared, “YES! We are ready to go to court.”
Johnson calmed the proceedings, saying, “We have to take a reasonable interpretation of the regulations.” Then he reminded the crowd that when the townspeople were against a cell phone tower, a judge settled the matter by giving the town the opportunity to select a location or he would do it from them. “We can’t prohibit solar farms,” he said.
Several in attendance said they had been in contact with Representative William Straus’ office and would share emails received.
The hearing was continued until September 12.
Also continued until the September 12 meeting are two continued hearings by applicant Craig Canning (including one for Progressive Growers) for two business ventures he is pursuing. The agricultural distribution facility that he plans for Kings Highway was vetted first.
Motta was again front and center as the peer review consultant, saying in his commentary to the board that issues he had brought to Canning’s engineering consultant had been addressed. Such matters as erosion controls, septic placement, traffic site lines, and traffic routing via Route 28 were discussed.
The board waived the septic setback requirements and agreed that the Kings Highway curb cut would only be used for emergency vehicles.
The hearing was continued until September 12 to give the Conservation Commission adequate time to complete their plan review.
Canning was up again for the last hearing of the evening with his plans for a permanent farm stand and retail business located on Marion Road.
Once again, the board members seemed satisfied with site plan modifications that had been requested at the previous meeting, covering such items as wooden guardrails, handicap parking, driveway and parking areas, and screening.
But once again things got heated when Attorney Donald Fleming attempted to point out problems with the plan as he represented abutter Mrs. Kenneth Cutler of 223 Marion Road.
Fleming took exception to the number of additional vehicles the business would draw into the residential area, the use of a second building proposed for the site, and lighting.
Johnson said that it was too early in the review process for this business, and that since Fleming had not been in attendance at earlier meetings he was unaware that some issues had already been discussed.
Then Cutler asked to speak.
“I do not want it across the street,” Cutler began. “I don’t want a commercial building in that field.” She went on to complain heartily about the current traffic problems on Route 105, but her biggest issue was that the commercial structure will be situated in a field she currently enjoys viewing.
The hearing was continued until September 12 to give the applicant time to complete site plans edits.
The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for September 12 at 7:00 pm in the Rochester Council on Aging Center on Dexter Lane.
Rochester Planning Board
By Marilou Newell
On a perfect Saturday afternoon, Ted Brito watched his lovingly crafted radio-controlled model airplane circle Mary’s Pond.
As he used the controls on the RC unit to guide his mini-Cessna through various loops and turns with the joystick radio control unit, the plane gliding across a clear, blue sky, you could see how someone could happily do it all day.
“I’ve had this one maybe three years. Someone else built it, but they never flew it,” Brito said. “Some people are afraid to fly on water.”
Then, Brito tried what is a fairly routine rudder turn maneuver and … SPLASH! His Cessna divebombed into the middle of the pond, ending the relaxing afternoon for him.
“Another one for you!” someone called out to the two men in a boat whose job it was to recover crashed planes. When they got back to the shore, Brito’s plane was done for the day, but not in terrible shape; the other plane, however, was in two parts and would be going back into the shop for sure.
Brito was one of a crew of around 25 RC plane and flying boat enthusiasts who took to the shores of Mary’s Pond on Saturday for the John Nicolaci Memorial Float Fly.
“That’s three or four to go down today,” said Andy Argenio, New England vice president of the governing American Model Aeronautics organization (AMA). “Typically, it’s only one or two. Today, who knows why? Just chalk it up to the plane gods. They weren’t favorable today.”
“It’s a good crowd, very good. This is a good site,” said Gary Carreiro, who in addition to being president of the Bristol County chapter of the AMA is also the tax collector and treasurer in Marion. “We’ve had on occasion fifty, sixty planes in the air here, but this is a nice day.”
Flyers and a few spectators camped out on the hill eating lunch from a food truck and watched the planes and flying boats buzz through the air. At the registration stand was a near-life size standup poster of Nicolaci, the event’s namesake, who passed away in 2009.
Nicolaci was the owner of Cliftex Corp. and a Marion resident, and flew a PBR Mariner that was the standard by which all others in the club were judged. He had actually worked on the real thing during World War II, working for an aircraft factory in Maryland. He built a scale model here, and he flew it around the country – including a legendary 27-mile trip from New Bedford to Martha’s Vineyard, following behind with his controller unit on a boat.
“The first flight, he ran out of battery – not fuel – and it crashed,” Carreiro said. “And the Coast Guard showed up because they thought it was a real plane. And that’s typical.”
“So he rebuilt it and tried it again, and this time it was successful,” Argenio said. “He was a luminary in our field, years ahead of his time, and a wonderful guy.”
The AMA has 200,000 members and is sanctioned by the FAA. Like any hobby, the cost is up to the dedication (obsession?) of the participant.
“You can go out and fly a little foam flyer for five hundred dollars, or you can spend thirty to forty thousand dollars,” Argenio said. “We have a jet meet next week in Gardner, and we have a guy who comes in from New York, full-length trailer, oak-lined, a hundred thousand in planes, golf cart, everything. And he has someone drive him out to the middle of the field, watches his jet fly by at 200 miles an hour, has a drink, and that’s it.
“But it’s really something people enjoy, and there are plenty of different ways to enjoy it.”
By Jonathan Comey