Adult and Children Programs at the ETL

on

Mystery Book Club: Please join us for our monthly mystery book discussion on Wednesday, January 6 at 11:00 am. We will be discussing A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. Please stop into the Elizabeth Taber Library today to register and reserve a copy of the monthly book.

Story Time for Children: The grandmothers are at it again! Story time will start on Monday, January 4 at 10:30 am and will be held for six weeks. Children of any age and their families are welcome to join us at the Elizabeth Taber Library for a story and craft. Registration is required. Please call the library at 508-748-1252 or email Libby O’Neill at eoneill@sailsinc.org.

Puzzle Saturdays: Join us through the winter on Saturdays to do a puzzle at the Elizabeth Taber Library. Starting January 9 and running through February at 11:00 am.

Tabor Academy Students Provide Technology Help: At the Elizabeth Taber Library on Sundays, January 10 – February 21 (excluding Feb. 7) from 2:00 – 3:00 pm. Drop in for one-on-one technology assistance from a Tabor Academy student. Registration is not required. First come; first served.

Drop-in Technology Help: Do you have questions about Facebook, Twitter, Skype, or need technology assistance with an electronic device you recently bought or acquired? Then stop into the Elizabeth Taber Library any Wednesday and/or Thursday, January 6 through February 25 between 2:00 – 3:00 pm, and one of our friendly staff members will walk you through it! No registration is required for this free drop-in program. First come; first served. *Please note, if you cannot make one of these days, call the Elizabeth Taber Library to make an appointment for another time.

Learn more about your iPad/iPhone: January 4 and January 11 at 2:00 pm. To register, please call the Elizabeth Taber Library at 508-748-1252.

Learn more about your E-reader: January 8 and January 15 at 11:00 am. To register, please call the Elizabeth Taber Library at 508-748-1252.

Coloring for Adults: Coloring isn’t just for the kids anymore! If you like coloring and chatting with others, please join us on Wednesday, January 13 at 11:00 am for our Adult Coloring Session. Light refreshments will be served.

ORR Class of 1979 Alum

on

A reunion of the ORR class of 1979 is being planned for Saturday, July 16, 2016 during Harbor Days weekend.

We are compiling a contact list. Please share your contact information or anyone you are in contact with from the class of ’79 to Orrclassof1979@gmail.com or mail to DBW, P.O. 771, Mattapoisett, MA 02739. Please include your current name, name in 1979, email and mail address. For current updates, follow us on Facebook by joining the “Orr class of 1979” group.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

on

To the Editor:

Recently a local landscape design and construction business, Yard Boss, was called to task before the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission regarding the matter of water withdrawals at the Herring Spillway of the Mattapoisett River. This was prompted by a letter from the Town of Fairhaven who controls the spillway. I serve as an appointed member of ConCom, but I write this as a private citizen and this is an expression of my opinion.

There are four towns that comprise the Mattapoisett River Valley Authority: Mattapoisett, Marion, Rochester and Fairhaven. All four of these towns will soon put forth bylaw resolutions which will prohibit water withdrawals from this resource. I am writing to state for the record that this is a mistake. Here’s why:

There are currently no state considerations or laws prohibiting this activity but there are equipment and safety requirements which are known standards. Yard Boss knows this and has met these standards without incident for ten years and recently certified them with the Massachusetts Environmental Police. This documentation was provided to the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission; it is public record.

What’s an interesting conundrum is that the machine which requires these water withdrawals is a Hydro Seeder. It takes water from the river just before it would flow into the ocean and then it sprays this water back into the ground with grass seed and other materials to promote fast soil stabilization, many times in areas of critical concern to protect the resources which the Wetlands Protection Act was intended to conserve. What’s important, though, is the water goes back into the ground in these municipalities and in a way which provides a conservation benefit.

Does Yard Boss have other options?

Yes. All of which cost money, and these costs would then be passed onto the consumers that already collectively own a resource: The water. So if we’re going to regulate it, let’s be smart about it. Why would we want to do something which will cost all of us more money, when it doesn’t have to? It’s already our resource; let’s be intelligent about it.

All of the water used from the Herring Run is soon to spill into the ocean. The drinking water comes from upstream wells. If this water is sprayed back into the ground in a manner consistently required for Conservation uses and resource area protections, then I think we should allow the water withdrawal activity to occur. As it stands now, it is a perfectly legal activity and Mr. Rodrigues’ reputation for getting quality work done is impeccable.

I guess my feeling is, where there is no harm, there is no foul and if something is working why monkey around with it, when ultimately the community as a whole benefits from the activity. Please bear in mind that because of the beauty we enjoy in our communities, regulatory compliance for resource conservation is already expensive, why would you want to make it more expensive?

That’s my 500 words.

Michael D King, Mattapoisett

 

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.

 

Tinkhamtown Chapel Christmas Tradition Lives On

on

Ever since she was a little girl, Gail Roberts has participated in an almost sacred local tradition at the Tinkhamtown Chapel in Mattapoisett. For decades, for as long as she can remember, Roberts’ family Christmas included the annual Christmas carol sing at the tiny chapel, welcoming all to gather their families together and pass an hour or so with their neighbors, sharing in the Christmas spirit with song inside the warmth of the humble little church.

When Roberts was a child, there was no electricity to light the darkness of the early winter nighttimes of Christmas. Only kerosene lamp flames would flicker and cast long shadows on the walls, spilling their warm light out through the windows and perhaps onto the snow or across the fields deep into the night.

“My mom and dad kind of started [the tradition] up when they moved back here from Western Mass shortly before I was born,” said Roberts. “Then, my grandmother played the organ at the time.”

The old potbelly stove kept the crowd warm during those colder-than-now nights, and Roberts and her family year after year came to stoke the fire, light the lamps, and pump the trusty old organ that led the voices through each Christmas carol, even though we all know them by heart.

“I remember singing ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ all by myself,” Roberts said. Back then, in addition to singing Christmas carols, the children would put on plays and performances, a tradition that has waned just a bit since then, she said.

That old organ accompanying them was a manual pump organ, with Roberts’ grandmother’s feet pumping the bellows through each song until Roberts got older and took on the job.

“In high school, I was taking piano lessons and my grandmother felt it was time to pass the organ to me,” said Roberts. So she would pump, “and we would sing every verse to every song.” Even despite the cramping in her leg she would experience from having to pump so hard. “You had to really pump,” Roberts said.

The pumping to make the old organ sound was too much for her brother, said Roberts, and one day Roberts’ uncle rigged the organ to a vacuum cleaner, running a line to a nearby building to power it with electricity. The vacuum would be switched to reverse to blow air instead of drawing it in, and this was how the old organ would be pumped – a breath of life of sorts, making the organ playing easier for Roberts.

“…And it worked fine … until this year,” said Roberts.

It is true. This year, the old organ took its first Christmas off in years – it stopped working early in the evening, leaving caroling voices without the steady lead of the pump organ.

“This year, we just had problems with the organ,” said Roberts. “It just wouldn’t play.”

Roberts said she was grateful that friend Louise Anthony was present that night with her violin, and another friend, Jake, with his banjo.

“And this woman appeared who plays in the New Bedford Symphony who was up the street and was able to come,” said Roberts. “I call her my Christmas angel because she appeared just when we needed her.”

Thus, the Tinkhamtown Chapel Christmas Carol Sing was saved for the 86 people who gathered that evening to carry on the Christmas tradition.

“It’s the same thing every year, and has been for the past many years,” said Roberts. “It’s had its ups and downs. When I was a kid, there were a lot more kids participating and we sang and kids would perform little pieces, so that’s sort of fallen off over the years.”

Roberts recalled when her daughter, now 30 years old, was small; the sing took on the traditional olde tyme Christmas caroling event, with more people singing together.

“And that’s sort of how it evolved into what it is today,” said Roberts.

One of the highlights for Roberts is listening to the children sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as they hold up cards for each of the days that Roberts provides year after year.

“Having the kids do the little things they do … is always very cute,” said Roberts. “And we will get the organ fixed.”

The old pump organ still uses a vacuum in the reverse mode to power the music – that is, when it is working.

“Fixing it is one of my New Year’s resolutions,” said Roberts. “I’ve been complaining about it for the last few years.”

But even a busted-up pump organ with a few missing keys couldn’t dampen the Christmas spirit and the people’s determination to sing and rejoice.

“The fact that you get together with the neighbors you might not see most of the year,” said Roberts, despite no organ, with everyone’s collective music memory kept the singing tradition alive. “And it’s just that time of year everyone is rushing around and you don’t have time to talk to people,” Roberts continued. “And this is an hour where you’re just sitting with your neighbors…. So I think that’s the highlight of the year, every year, getting together with everybody.”

 

By Jean Perry

ChapelCarols_6346 ChapelCarols_6354 ChapelCarols_6360 ChapelCarols_6368 ChapelCarols_6400 ChapelCarols_6405 ChapelCarols_6430 ChapelCarols_6435 ChapelCarols_6442 ChapelCarols_6445 ChapelCarols_6456

Barry A. Harwood

on

Barry A. Harwood, 50, of Fall River, passed away Monday, December 21, 2015, at St. Anne’s Hospital, in Fall River, surrounded by his loving family. He was the husband of Stacy L. (Sykes) Harwood.

Born in New Bedford, the son of Alan B. and Merilyn L. (Radu) Harwood of West Wareham, he grew up in Mattapoisett and settled in Fall River in 1999. Barry was a graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational High School and had worked as the Foreman at the Congregation Adas Israel Cemetery, in Fall River.

Barry loved music, and sang in several area bands including the Harpoon Harmonizers with his grandfather. He enjoyed Karaoke, watching the Patriots and the Bruins, and especially laughing and having fun with family and friends.

Beside his wife and parents survivors include a son, Tyler Harwood; a brother, Craig Harwood and his wife Ivette Cortes of Montreal, Canada; a sister, Karolyn Dunham and her companion Matthew Germano of Fairhaven; a grandson, Evan Harwood of New Bedford; an aunt, Joyce and Eric Ramos of Rochester; a niece, Alexah Dunham of Fairhaven and several cousins.

Calling hours are Saturday, December 26, 2015, from 4-7pm, in the Fairhaven Funeral Home, 117 Main Street, Fairhaven, with a service at 6:30pm. Cremation will follow and interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to FORM, Friends of Old Rochester Music, P.O. Box 1143, Mattapoisett, MA 02739

Over 55 Multi-Family Problematic For Owner

on

When Kerri Sousa inherited her father’s portion of the property located at 7 Marion Road, she also inherited zoning restrictions – restrictions that Sousa’s father requested. Now she’s finding that those restrictions are making it nearly impossible to get financing for the property.

Sousa came before the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals on December 10 to request a variance, a lifting of the only 55 and over restriction for inhabitants of the property.

“My father’s vision was that this property be for people 55 and over,” Sousa told the board members, adding, “Now no one is going to carry forth that vision…. But it’s difficult to get financing,” she said.

The mortgage was due in full in October, she explained. Yet due to the restriction, and in spite of the mortgage only being $230,000, lending institutes view the property as a higher risk, offering Sousa only high-interest financing.

“I need to get a lower rate than 7.5 percent,” she said.

The property is a historic building in the heart of Rochester. Chairman Richard Cutler suggested that possibly Sousa’s father, Tom Skrutski, although well-intentioned, might have asked for the restriction because Rochester’s willingness to allow a multi-family dwelling was questionable.

“I’m not saying that is why he asked for 55 and older, but it’s a possibility,” said Cutler.

The property currently is a four-unit upscale apartment building with a septic system designed and permitted for eight bedrooms. Sousa occupies one of the units, as does Skrutski’s former business partner, leaving two units open as rentals.

“You’ve inherited a self-inflicted hardship,” Cutler told Sousa.

The board members felt the application was difficult. There was a question as to whether Sousa should have filed a variance, a Special Permit modification, or a new Special Permit. Board member Kirby Gilmore asked Cutler if they needed town counsel assistance. Cutler concurred that to be the case.

Sousa was instructed to meet with Rochester’s Town Counsel Blair Bailey for assistance, and that the board would also discuss the matter with him. Sousa’s hearing was continued until January 14.

The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled for January 14 at 7:00 pm in the Rochester Town Hall meeting room.

By Marilou Newell

ROzba_121715

For Debate Team, Practice Makes Better

on

On Wednesday evening, not an empty classroom could be found at Old Rochester Regional. The debate team was holding the first debate of the year, with nine schools from the local area attending to compete. When all the debaters and the judges were added up, there were over 400 people at the school participating in the event.

From the name, it’s easily assumed that the debate team meets up with another school and then proceeds to yell at each other about completely non-relevant issues. That, however, couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are strict rules and guidelines, judges, and time limits.

Debaters are broken up into two “teams” of sorts: affirmative and negative.

“The affirmatives create a plan based on the resolve of the year, and the negatives have to argue against the plan no matter what it is,” said Colleen Garcia, who has been a negative for the past two years and is testing out the affirmative side of the team this year. “This year’s resolve is ‘Should the United States Federal Government Substantially Curtail its Domestic Surveillance?’”

This plan Garcia mentioned can be on anything that falls under the resolve, which allows students to focus on hot-topic issues like drone and Muslim surveillance in America.

In order to ensure these plans are relevant and pertain to modern issues, they must follow the guidelines set by ‘stock issues,’ which are: “Solvency – how does it solve the problem?

Inherency – why is it not already in effect? Need for change – why do we need it in the first place? Topicality – does it relate to the resolve?” explained Garcia.

“Especially because we’re debating domestic surveillance, the topics that we’re debating are actual things that happen in the world. So while your debates don’t really have a direct effect on current events, they help you see new ways to counter modern issues that really do exist,” said James Goulart, a three-year affirmative for the team.

But what’s the difference between the negative and affirmative teams?

“The affirmative team, throughout the season, has one plan, and they just have to perfect that plan over the season,” said Goulart. “But the negatives go into the debate without knowing what they’re going to go up against, so they need to know every single plan.”

Yes, that’s right, the negatives need to know a little bit about every possible plan in order to debate whatever surprise the opposing school’s affirmatives have up their sleeves.

Practicing debating may seem difficult for the team, but they do a scrimmage of sorts – to put it into sports terms – to perfect their techniques.

“Well, so far, because the season’s only just started, we’ve been working on our plans and writing them,” said Goulart. “As the year goes on, Mr. Everett [the teacher in charge of the group] comes up with mock questions and sometimes we’ll practice debating that way.”

So, we’ve covered the basics on how the team runs, but how is the winner of the debate determined?

There are two separate scoring systems. One is for who wins and loses the debate, and that’s comprised of four stock issues and disadvantages of the plan. The affirmative team needs to win every single issue, and the negative team only needs to win one. And if they do that, then they win.

Although that might not seem like a fair scoring system, the work of the negative team is quite a bit more intense, as they need to know a little bit about any possible issue, so it evens out.

Old Rochester itself did well in the debate, but it’s not possible to name the winners by school, as each individual team of two gets its own individual score. That means we’ll just have to wait and see which debaters end up on top.

By Sienna Wurl

Bulldog

From the Marion Town Clerk

on

Marion Annual Street Listing 2016 (Census) forms were mailed out this month. Please complete the forms as soon as possible and drop them off at the Town House, 2 Spring Street, or mail them back in the enclosed envelope.

These census forms are very important for the town as State aid is based on the numbers returned. The Annual Street List is compiled from this information. No children under the age of 16 are placed in the street list; however, it is very important that children be noted on the census form for school and state purposes. Again, no children under the age of 16 are placed in the street list.

Dog licenses for 2016 will be available beginning December 14, 2015. (Nice Stocking stuffer).

Please call the Town Clerk’s office at 508-748-3502 with any questions you may have.

Marion Holiday Rubbish Collection Schedule

on

Please be aware of the following changes to the upcoming curbside rubbish collection schedule:

The collection scheduled for Friday, December 25, will be picked-up on Thursday, December 24.

The collection scheduled for Friday, January 1, will be picked-up on Thursday, December 31.

If you have any questions, please contact the Marion DPW office at 508-748-3540 ext. 101.

Gordon M. Sequeira

on

Gordon M. Sequeira, 84, of Marion, died Saturday, December 19, 2015 at Tobey Hospital in Wareham. He was the husband of Delores (Martin) Sequeira.

Born in Wareham, he was the son of the late Lawrence and Mary (Mendes) Sequeira. A graduate of Wareham High School, Class of 1949, Mr. Sequeira worked as a laborer in road construction for Laborers Local # 385 in Fairhaven. He was a Korean War veteran serving in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1954.

He enjoyed playing cards, collecting antiques and loved being with his grandchildren.

Survivors include his wife, Delores of Marion; his children, Darlene Pinckney and her husband Arthur Pinckney and Valerie Cardoza and her husband Bruce Cardoza both of Onset and Gordon M. Sequeira, Jr. of Marion; two sisters, Beverly Lima of Buzzards Bay and Maryanne Baptista of New Bedford; five grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren, 1 great great grandson and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers and sisters, Timeo Sequeira, Clemmie Cruz, Priscilla Harris, Lawrence Sequeira, Jr., Shirley Perry and Ronald Sequeira.

His funeral will be from the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 2599 Cranberry Highway (Rt. 28), Wareham on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 9 AM followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Patrick’s Church, High St., Wareham at 10 AM. Interment will be in Mass. National Cemetery, Bourne. Visiting hours will be Monday from 5 – 8 PM.