Elizabeth Taber Library

on July 24, 2016

Potluck Cookbook Club: Do you like to cook? Then join us on Thursday, July 21 at 6:00 pm for our first ever potluck cookbook club. Choose a dish to cook from this featured cookbook, The Bon Appetit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild, and bring it to share with the group. To register, please call the library at 508-748-1252 or email Libby at eoneill@sailsinc.org.

Annual Book Sale: Our Annual book sale will take place at the Marion Music Hall on Friday, July 29 from 4:00 – 7:00 pm and Saturday, July 30 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. Please come and support your local library. All funds raised from the book sale are spent on enhancing our programs and services. Gently-used book/CD/DVD donations will be collected at the library during our open hours. For more information on the book sale, please call the library at 508-748-1252.

Mystery Book Club: Please join us for our monthly mystery book discussion on Wednesday, August 3 at 11:00 am. We will be discussing Blue Heaven by C.J. Box. Please stop into the Elizabeth Taber Library today to register and reserve a copy of the monthly book.

Other upcoming meetings include: September – Crash and Burn by Lisa Gardner and October – 1st to Die by James Patterson.

Afternoon Book Club: Please join us for our monthly afternoon book discussion on Tuesday, August 16 at 2:00 pm. We will be discussing In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park. Please stop into the Elizabeth Taber Library today to register and reserve a copy of the monthly book.

Other upcoming meetings include: September – I Know Where I’m Going: Katharine Hepburn by Charlotte Chandler and October – The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

Museum Passes: Looking for something fun to do with friends and family this summer? Then come to the Elizabeth Taber Library to check out any of our museum passes with your SAILS library card. We currently have discounted passes to the Heritage Museums and Gardens, Museum of Fine Arts, Mystic Aquarium, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Plimoth Plantation, Providence Children’s Museum, Roger Williams Zoo and the Mass State Parks Pass. To reserve a pass or for more information, please call the library at 508-748-1252 or visit our website www.elizabethtaberlibrary.org.

Homebound Library Services: The Elizabeth Taber Library, in partnership with the Council on Aging, is pleased to offer homebound delivery services to those Marion residents unable to visit the library because of short- or long-term illness, as well as physical or visual disabilities. To be eligible for this program, you must be a Homebound Marion resident with a library card in good standing. To arrange to have library books or audio books delivered to your home, please call the Elizabeth Taber Library at 508-748-1252.

Free Online Resources: With your Marion library card, you now have access to a whole lot of fun and free information online. The Elizabeth Taber Library now subscribes to the following e-resources: Instantflix – access to thousands of streaming films and shorts from around the world; Universal Class – an online continuing education program with over 500 courses; Zinio Digital Magazines – access to 50 top magazines online; and A to Z World Travel – access to over 200 city travel guides online. For more information, please call the Elizabeth Taber Library at 508-748-1252.

Mariner Youth Soccer Fall Program

on July 24, 2016

The Mariner Youth Soccer Fall Program is now open for registration. The program runs on Saturdays from September 10 – November 5 at the Mariner Youth Soccer Fields located in Fairhaven. Programs are offered to children ages 4-14. There is no residency requirement.

Come join Mariner Youth Soccer this fall! Register now to reserve your spot: http://marineryouthsoccer.com/site/ClientSite/article/1194793 or contact fallsoccer@marineryouthsoccer.com.

Clean Living Make & Take Event

on July 24, 2016

Did you know that so many personal care and cleaning products that we use daily are filled with chemicals that are wreaking havoc on our health?

Do you want to learn just how easy it is to make your own for pennies on the dollar?

Join us at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Tuesday, July 26 from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm and learn how to make your own non-toxic summer-inspired personal care products with 100% natural ingredients.

And the best part? You’ll get to take your goodies home with you.

During this informative session, you will learn:

– The top 5 toxic chemicals that are in so many personal products that we use daily

– How they affect our family’s physical AND mental health

– Easy and inexpensive steps you can take + DIY ideas and recipes to remove these toxins from your home for LIFE

Fun for the whole family (children 6+ please). Register for this event at the library or by calling 508-758-4171. You can also email the library director at spizzolo@sailsinc.org.

Water Damages Books Slated for Fundraiser Sale

on July 24, 2016

It wasn’t looking good for the Elizabeth Taber Library Annual Book Sale coming up next week when, on Friday, July 15, staff discovered water pouring down from the ceiling of the basement room where donated books were being stored for the annual fundraiser.

The library staff at first thought it was a burst pipe raining water down onto a section of books donated from the community to the library but, come to find out, it was a clog in the sewer line that had water backed up and spilling out all over the books, as well as toilets overflowing.

The library closed early on Friday, and it remained closed on Saturday as well as on Monday so that town facilities workers could dig up the front lawn of the library to fix the clog.

“Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as we originally thought,” said Library Director Libby O’Neill. “We acted quickly and brought the books outside. Some of them we were able to dry off. Somewhere between one hundred and two hundred books were lost.”

Luckily, said O’Neill, the library receives book donations throughout the entire year, so a good number of books are still available to be sold at the Annual Book Sale, the library’s largest fundraiser of the year, going on at the Marion Music Hall on July 29.

O’Neill wasted no time getting the word out that the library needed more book donations to make up for the loss, and the community responded by replacing the lost books twofold.

“The community has done a great job hearing our message,” said O’Neill. “We have so many book donations coming in from the community, and we are so grateful for that.”

Marion Facilities Manager Shaun Cormier said the library, much like the other historic buildings in town, still has the old clay pipes and sewer lines underground. When the Sewer Department on Monday began snaking the backed-up pipe from the street, they found the clog was located right between the two locust trees on the property. The root system damaged the pipe and one of the two trees had to be cut down.

The old sewer line was replaced with an updated PVC pipe.

As for the book donations, O’Neill said that this year, thanks to the generosity of the community, the book sale might have more books available for sale than the previous year, despite this “little set-back,” as O’Neill put it.

By Jean Perry

Peace and Unity

on July 24, 2016

Local police, clergy, and members of the Tri-Town community gathered this morning, Saturday, July 23, at ORR Junior High School to come together in peace and unity during an ecumenical service to honor those in uniform, those officers who have recently been assassinated in Dallas and Baton Rouge, and to pray for an end to racism and for the protection of police officers.

Sippican Choral Society

on July 23, 2016

The Sippican Choral Society is looking for quite a few new members to help us ring in the Christmas 2016 season. Rehearsals are starting soon, and we’d love to see you there.

We are a group of local singers who love to lend our voices to this large and inviting group. The rehearsals are a lot of fun and are certainly an educational experience, as our new director, Dr. Tianxu Zhou, leads us through the many ins and outs and nuances of the music he selects for our group. He is always very respectful of all of our members, and you will be very comfortable during the process and amazed at how he coaxes the best out of everyone. The end result is a completely well-rehearsed and balanced chorus accompanied flawlessly by not only our incredible rehearsal accompanist, Michelle Gordon, but also by the hand-picked orchestra members who fill out our sound, delighting every audience member.

The Sippican Choral Society is a volunteer organization and does not require auditioning; however, there is a select Chamber Chorus that requires an audition should you choose to participate.

Rehearsals start on Monday, September 12 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm at the Mattapoisett Congregational Church Auditorium. Our Christmas 2016 concert will be presented on December 2 at St. Lawrence Church, New Bedford, and December 4 at Wickenden Chapel, Marion.

If you have any questions, please call Nancy Sparklin at 508-763-2327 and leave a message, or you can check out our website at www.sippicanchoralsociety.org.

Super Duper Summer Fair

on July 23, 2016

The Annual Super Duper Summer Fair of the First Congregational Church of Marion, 28 Main Street, happens on July 30 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. The church grounds and street will be transformed into a festive Fairground complete with tents, a midway, sidewalk café, entertainment and a wide array of items for sale.

Exciting news! Two dinghies will be offered for sale at the Fair – an 8-foot Stur-Dee Boat Co. Harbormaster Dinghy and one other for a more modest budget. Get there early to check out these boats.

This is shaping up to be a great Fair for all ages. Find numerous estate items, furniture and merchant gift certificates at the Silent Auction Table. The White Elephant area overflows with attic treasures at bargain prices. Crafts, games, midway, bouncy house and dunk tank will entertain the children.

Search the Nautical and Sporting Goods Tables for summer fun items for sea and land. Find a wide selection of $1 books, including lots of young adult titles. Take home some delicious prepared foods and appetizers, along with yummy homemade baked goods and candy.

The plant area will have a wide assortment of houseplants, cut flowers, perennials, annuals and vegetables. Discover fresh picked local blueberries, gifts, jewelry, crafts and more.

Savor our famous lobster rolls and chicken salad wraps in the air-conditioned Chapel Café while musicians Truman Terrell and Bob Sanderson play. The Sidewalk Grill features pulled pork sandwiches, hamburgers and hot dogs. Enjoy the Harpoon Harmonizers as they entertain throughout the fairgrounds.

Board Holds Special Meeting for ‘Simple’ Project

on July 23, 2016

The Rochester Planning Board on July 19 made good on its word to hold a special meeting to help Special Permit applicant Kristina Bacchiocchi of 428 Walnut Plain Road hold to her construction timeline to install a new parking area before she can construct the new addition to her house to open her daycare business.

During the previous meeting on July 12, Bacchiocchi got emotional when she learned that she could not begin construction on the addition until she had approval for the parking area from the Planning Board, which was expected to take a number of meetings before that would happen.

During this meeting, however, with all the requested information and engineering the board had asked for the week prior, Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson told Bacchiocchi that Town Planner Mary Crain would have a draft decision drawn up for the board to review and likely approve next Tuesday during the regularly scheduled Planning Board meeting.

“I think that we have everything that we asked for,” Johnson said. Board member Ben Bailey agreed. “Looks good,” said Bailey.

Planning Board member Gary Florindo said he had only one concern, which was keeping all stormwater from running off the property and down to the street. Bacchiocchi said she had faith that her engineer would not allow that to happen.

The board does not usually review a draft decision and approve it on the same night, said Johnson, “But in rare cases where we have a simple project like this, we’ve done it in the past … a couple times.”

The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for July 26 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

When Life Gives You Lemons

on July 23, 2016

In 1988, Kathleen Renzi and Roni King, wives of Lions Club members, wanted to help the organization, but women weren’t allowed to be members. The two decided to sell lemonade during community events, giving a portion of the proceeds to the Lions Club and other charitable organizations. For decades they sold lemonade at Harbor Days. In more recent years, their wooden stirring spoon has been passed down to their daughters Catherine Renzi and Kathy King. “We thought about not doing it this year,” said Renzi, “but the Lions said it wouldn’t be Harbor Days without the lemonade.” Photo by Marilou Newell

Mariner Youth Soccer Scholarships

on July 22, 2016

Mariner Youth Soccer is pleased to announce the winners of its first annual scholarship program. Scholarships were awarded to Elexus Afonso and Kyle Rood from Rochester. Samantha Kirkham and Serena Jaskolka received the scholarship from Mattapoisett and Hannah Dawicki was the recipient from Fairhaven. We wish these student athletes who had played at Mariner the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Mariner Youth Soccer provides recreational and competitive soccer training at its Fairhaven facility to players ages 4-18.