On Monday August 1 at 1:10pm Rochester Police received a call reporting an erratic operator driving a Chevy Blazer on Mary’s Pond Road near Pierce Street. The reporting party stated the Blazer was all over the road and driving in the wrong lane. As officers headed toward the area, the reporting party said that the operator of the Blazer had pulled over, exited his vehicle and began to strike it repeatedly with a hatchet.

Sergeant Robert Small arrived on scene and observed the man striking his own vehicle with the hatchet. Upon seeing the cruiser, he began to flee on foot. Sgt Small followed in his cruiser until the man stopped, turned around, raised the hatchet and began to run toward the cruiser.

As Sgt Small prepared to exit his cruiser and encounter the man, he ran past the cruiser and got back in his vehicle and fled. With assistance from Rochester Officer Robert Nordahl he was pursued through Rochester, Acushnet and into New Bedford. During the pursuit he threw items from the car and poured lighter fluid on himself and on the vehicle. He was also waiving the hatchet out the window as he drove.

Rochester police terminated the pursuit in New Bedford once New Bedford Police entered into the chase. As the officers made their way back to town, the chase circled back through Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion and Wareham. Several attempts were made to stop the vehicle with spike strips but they were not successful. The chase continued back through Mattapoisett, Fairhaven and eventually back into New Bedford where the suspect abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot. He was taken into custody by the State Police.

Rochester Police are filing charges in Wareham District Court against the driver, 50-year-old Randall W. Harrison of Summer Street in New Bedford. Harrison will be charged with negligent operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stay in marked lanes, disorderly conduct, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for a stop sign and failure to stop for police.

Rochester Police Chief Paul Magee says that Harrison has a lengthy criminal history including resisting arrest and negligent operation and that his driving history with the Registry of Motor Vehicles is extensive with multiple license suspensions and offenses dating back to 1989. Rochester Police have filed an immediate threat request with the registry to have his license suspended immediately.

Chief Magee said that the chase was primarily at low speeds. Magee said he is happy that this dangerous person was taken into custody and that none of the involved officers or any citizens were injured.

Rochester Police Department Press Release

On July 20, Jim and Holly Vogel were once again sitting before a governing body in the Town of Rochester. This time, it was to review the clean up and habitat rehabilitation plans precipitated when an enormous manure pile was deemed a hazard to jurisdictional areas of their farm.

The Rochester Conservation Commission issued an enforcement order in June mandating that the manure be removed from the property and that plans be put in place to allow the affected wetlands to be restored to original conditions.

“The Vogels mobilized a contractor to remove the pile and engaged an engineer to plan remediation,” Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon reported to the commission. She also performed on-site soil investigations and wetlands flagging to further the process of repairing the damage that had occurred and to ensure ongoing compliance of the wetland regulations.

Farinon explained that the goal is to allow the approximately 7,100 square feet of disturbed or altered areas to re-vegetate and/or be planted with a New England wetlands seed mixture as outlined in plans prepared by Joseph Webby who specializes in land surveying and soil analysis. Farinon said that Webby had consulted with Brad Holmes, a wetland scientist, in drawing up the plans.

In concluding her remarks, Farinon said, “I’m pleased with the proposal and responsiveness of the property owners. That’s what we ask for but doesn’t always happen that way.” She said the project should be monitored for the next two years to ensure total restoration and no further jurisdictional issues arise.

Chairman Rosemary Smith said, “We appreciate your efforts.” Jim Vogel thanked the commissioners for working with him and said that working with Farinon had been a good experience.

In other business, Danny Hughes, 549 Walnut Plain Road, presented his Notice of Intent application for the construction of a two-story accessory building near a perennial stream. He received an Order of Conditions.

James Fraser and Katherine Hanson, 361 Snows Pond Road, represented by Douglas Schneider of N. Douglas Schneider & Associates, presented a Notice of Intent application for the construction of a 20- by 28-square foot studio building near a no-disturb zone and wetlands buffer zone in the Snipatuit Pond area. The application was continued until August 3 to allow for confirmation of wetlands flagging and site visit by commissioners.

Two Request for Determination of Applicability applications – one from Willow Creek Builders for the drilling of wells on three separate lots off Forbes Road and the other from Martin Harris, 86 Hartley Road, for the construction of a free standing private solar array – received Negative determinations and Orders of Conditions.

The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for August 3 at 7:00 pm in the town hall meeting room.

By Marilou Newell

The Town of Rochester has decided to go green, following several other towns in the region that have gone after state grants to fund electric cars and charging stations for town use at little to no cost to the town.

Facilities Director Andrew Daniel told the Rochester Board of Selectmen on July 25 that he had read about Marion’s recent acquisition of electric vehicles and contacted Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson for some guidance. Daniel then contacted Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon for grant writing assistance.

The grant, called the Mass Electric Vehicle Incentive program, would cover the cost for a three-year lease on an electric car, which the town would acquire through a bidding process with electric vehicle dealerships. Another $10,000 grant would cover the cost of installation of two electric charging stations.

“Everybody wants to go green,” said Daniel. “These are green cars,” made of recycled and 100 percent recyclable materials. “At they’re state-of-the-art vehicles. They’re really sharp.”

The town currently utilizes several outdated, high-mileage, high fuel usage vehicles for certain departments within the town boundaries, which would be replaced by the high-efficiency electric vehicles.

“We’ve tried to find a negative argument,” said Daniel. “We really can’t find one. It’s a good deal.”

Selectman Brad Morse said he sees a great need for electric vehicles in town and quickly made the motion to authorize Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar to sign any grant proposals on behalf of the Board of Selectmen.

“Look at our current fleet of vehicles,” said Morse. He called them “junk vehicles” and said, “Get rid of ‘em.”

“As long as it doesn’t cost the town money,” said Selectman Richard Nunes.

“It sounds like a really great idea,” said Selectmen Chairman Naida Parker.

In other matters, the board approved a new policy on Town Hall early closures, voting to make it an ongoing practice to close Town Hall at noon on Christmas Eve day, and 2:00 pm on Good Friday, New Year’s Eve day, and the day before Thanksgiving.

The board also discussed the removal of bark mulch at the Police Station with Police Chief Paul Magee, who said new fire marshal regulations prohibit the placement of mulch within 18 inches of combustible material on public buildings due to a fire hazard. He suggested removing the mulch and replacing it with crushed stone, but agreed to any inexpensive alternative the selectmen might prefer.

Selectmen decided to take it under advisement and work with Szyndlar and Daniel on a cost-effective option.

The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for August 8 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

When the Moujabber family purchased the defunct Mattapoisett Chowder House on Route 6 at River Road, one of their first projects was to clean up the long neglected property.

But on July 25, the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission heard an abutting neighbor complain that the cleanup behind the restaurant also removed the screening they’ve enjoyed for years.

Fred Wyze and his family, 3 River Road, came out to explain to the Conservation Commission that brush and tree removal along a disputed boundary line has now removed what had been thick screening that shielded them from viewing the back of the restaurant.

“They clear-cut and now we are looking at the back of the restaurant and the parking lot,” Wyze said. He also concluded that trees on his property had been removed.

Conservation Commission Chairman Bob Rogers said that the responsibility of the commission was not to review private property rights, but to enforce wetlands regulations and that this board was probably not the right one to air tree removal grievances. The hearing with Moujabber was a Request for Determination of Applicability for an after-the-fact filing, as well as future landscaping, signage, parking lot repairs, and completion of invasive species cleanup.

The Wyzes pressed on saying that Moujabber had been told to stop cutting on three separate occasions by the building inspector but had continued the process.

Nabah Moujabber, represented on this night by his son Gary and his wife, purchased the closed restaurant several months ago and has been renovating and preparing to open his Lebanese Kitchen at this location after the New Bedford location suffered fire damage several years ago.

Mrs. Moujabber said, “We want to do everything right. We thought we had the correct paper,” referring to the cleanup effort. She told the commission that years of trash and overgrown brush were being removed.

Rogers explained that because the entire property was in jurisdictional areas, either coastal zone flooding or river valley, anything they did would require prior approval.

Mrs. Moujabber was clearly frustrated saying, “The cops came and they looked and wondered ‘What wrong they are doing?’”

Both Rogers and commissioner Mike King suggested that Moujabber ask for a continuation of the hearing, to return with property line delineation and a more fully fleshed out plan for the landscaping. The case was continued until August 8.

A continued RDA hearing for wetlands delineations requested by Dennis Arsenault for a site located in swampy woodlands at the end of Snow Fields Road was reopened.

Mark Manganello, LEC Environmental Consultants, told the commission that he and Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold had visited the site and were in agreement as to the location of bordering vegetated wetlands and intermittent streams.

Closely watching the proceedings were Peter and Pam Lafreniere, 12 Snow Fields Road, whose property abuts the Arsenault parcels. Lafreniere told the commission that water migrates from the wetlands on Arsenault’s property and drains onto his property.

The delineations were accepted with Rogers telling the Lafrenieres that any future construction on Arsenault’s property would require the filing of a Notice of Intent with notification to all abutters.

Blue Wave Capitol, LLC received confirmation that Environmental Consulting and Restoration was selected as on-site peer consultants for the duration of development of the Crystal Spring solar array project scheduled to begin in six to eight weeks.

Earlier in the evening, the commission met briefly with three candidates seeking to fill two vacant seats on the commission. Coming before them were Chapman Dickerson, lifelong Mattapoisett resident, member of the Agricultural Commission, and concerned citizen; Bernice Kaiser, recently retired businesswoman, former Middlesex Soil Conservation member, and newly transplanted resident; and three-time nominee for a position on the Conservation Commission, Diane Tsitos, who believes her negotiating skills and ability to distill and apply technical regulations will be beneficial as a commissioner.

The commissioners cast secret ballots to select their candidate and will forward the majority favorite’s name to the Board of Selectmen who will make the final decision.

By Marilou Newell