Nancy Lionberger Putnam

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Nancy Lionberger Putnam, 91, of Marion died peacefully at home surrounded by her family on July 12. She was born in St. Louis, MO where she met her wonderful husband Timothy. They moved to Marion upon his retirement. She leaves behind their three children Nancy MacDonald of Lincoln, VT, John of Carbondale, CO, and Leah Garcia-Blanco of Galveston, TX, eight grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren whom all adored her. A memorial service will be held at St. Gabriel’s Church, 124 Front St., Marion at 3 p.m. on July 19, 2015. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in her name to the Sippican Lands Trust, 354 Front St., Marion, MA 02738. Arrangements by Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, Wareham.

Marion Art Center to Host Exhibition

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The Marion Art Center is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition of paintings by Leslie Baker titled “Now and Then” and sculpture by St. George Tucker Aufranc that will run from July 17 to August 15. A reception honoring the artists will be held on Friday, July 17 at the Marion Art Center from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Cecil Clark Davis Gallery.

Summer Adult Programs at the ETL

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Outdoor Afternoon Book Club: While the weather is nice and warm, please join us for a delightful outside book discussion! On Tuesday, July 21 at 2:00 pm, we’ll be reading Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. On Tuesday, August 18 at 2:00 pm, we’ll be discussing Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain. Please stop into the library today to register and reserve a copy of each book!

Technology Tuesdays: Come to the Elizabeth Taber Library to learn all about our new, fun electronic resources for the Marion community! July 14 at 11:00 am – Universal Class; July 21 at 11:00 am – Zinio Digital Magazines; July 28 at 11:00 am – Mango Languages; and August 4 at 11:00 am – Indieflix. Registration is required. To register, please contact the Elizabeth Taber Library at 508-748-1252.

Drop-In Tech 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 Thursday, July 9 through August 20 sometime between 3:00 – 4:00 pm, and one of our friendly staff members will walk you through it!

Foreign Movie Showing: Bring your lunch and join us at 1:00 pm on Wednesdays, July 8 through August 12, for a foreign film provided through our new electronic resource, INDIEFLIX. Each week a different language will be featured.

Social Security Seminar: William J. Goldsmith, CFP®, CLU®, LIA, the President of LifeTime Financial Strategies, LLC, will present a seminar called “Solving the Social Security Puzzle” on Thursday, July 16 at 6:30 pm. This seminar will address your important questions about Social Security such as will Social Security be there when I’m ready to claim? How are my benefits calculated? How much will I get? And how can I get more? Light refreshments will be served. Registration is required for this free program. To register, please contact the Elizabeth Taber Library at 508-748-1252.

Harbor Days 2015

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The Mattapoisett Lions Club is known around the region for its annual Harbor Days festival. This week-long series of events begins on Sunday, July 12 with the triathlon and culminates on Sunday, July 19 with a pancake breakfast, live entertainment and raffle drawings. The Club will sell homemade strawberry shortcake on Wednesday, July 15 (rain or shine) at the town band concert at Shipyard Park. During the weekend of July 17-19, over 100 crafters and artisans will be set up in Shipyard Park (rain or shine) to showcase and sell their wares. They will be open Saturday, July 18 from 9:30 am until 6:00 pm and Sunday, July 19 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Food is a big part of Harbor Days. On Friday, July 17 we will offer a fish fry dinner catered by Hollywood Scoop from 5:30 – 8:00 pm, followed by entertainment from the Dave Charnley Band. Enjoy our Lobsterfest on Saturday evening, July 18 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm all the while relaxing to the Harpoon Harmonizers. Pancakes and sausage will be served on Sunday morning, July 19 from 8:00 to 11:00 am. Luncheon foods will be available under the tent both Saturday and Sunday, and our strawberry shortcake will be available all weekend.

Harbor Days has been the major fundraising event for the Mattapoisett Lions Club for more than 30 years. Proceeds from this event allow the Club to generously support Lions Club sponsored charities and to assist those in need within our community. For more information, visit www.mattapoisettlionsclub.org.

Marion Library Book Sale

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Don’t miss the Elizabeth Taber Library’s Annual book sale this summer! It will be held at the Marion Music Hall, 164 Front St, on Friday, August 7 from 4:00 – 7:00 pm and Saturday, August 8 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. There will be over 3,000 items for sale including books for all ages, DVDs and more!

The Elizabeth Taber Library is funded in only two-thirds part by the Town of Marion, and the remaining one-third is through the generous donations and this book sale. Our goal for the library is for it to be much more than just a place we go to check out books; it should also be a place to participate, face to face, in community activities in a way we can’t do over the internet.

Please come and support your local library. All funds raised from the book sale are spent on enhancing our programs and services. Hardcover books will be on sale for $3, large paperbacks for $2 and regular paperbacks are $1. Children’s books will be three for $1. DVDs will be priced at $2. Gently-used book/CD/DVD donations will be collected at the library during our open hours until August 6. For more information on the book sale, please call the library at 508-748-1252.

Gateway Youth Hockey Golf Classic

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Please join us to raise money for Gateway Youth Hockey. Gateway Youth Hockey is a nonprofit organization solely based on the children. Our goal is to help children from the Tri-Town area continue to participate in youth hockey and to provide learn-to-skate programs for all ages at the lowest cost possible, allowing any child to play! The proceeds from this golf tournament will help in allowing more children to be able to play hockey. It will also help defer the cost of equipment and ice time.

The golf classic and raffles will take place at Bay Pointe Golf Club, 19 Bay Pointe Drive, Onset, MA on Saturday, August 1 with a 1:00 pm shot gun start time! Cost is $500 per foursome; $125 per single person. For additional information, please contact Ben Hathaway, President, at 774-454-1114 or Jenny Wilson, Head of Fundraising, at 774-766-9436.

Johnson Site Plan Approval Extended

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It was smooth sailing for the Marion Planning Board at their regular meeting on Monday, July 6. Before adjourning, the board extended a site plan approval for Johnson Family Investments, as well as concluded the pre-submission conference for the Gas Station Allied Ventures property located at 439 Wareham Street.

Arnold Johnson appeared before the board in order to reiterate his request for a one-year extension of the approval for his property, 806 Mill Street, the former site of the Frigate Steak House. Johnson’s site plan review was approved by the board in 2013 but expires on July 25, 2015.

“A number of us were not here when this was originally approved,” Chairman Robert Lane said. “We have the right to extend the site plan review for one year or to not extend the site plan review.”

Lane cautioned that if the board granted an extension, the resulting extension would not address the applicant’s right to use the property as specified in the original site plan.

When Johnson took to the microphone, he explained the steps he had already taken to bring the property to its current state. Multiple family illnesses in the past year had stalled Johnson’s plans, but now Johnson is ready to move forward upon receiving a final cost estimate for part of the proposed year-round produce store.

“Being a small, family-run operation of what we were trying to do, that put 2014 into the backburner,” Johnson said.

“Coming into 2015, I’ve done research and have a contractor lined up. I have everything the Building Department requires … I could go in tomorrow and file a building permit; I’m just waiting on this one last price,” he concluded.

After brief deliberation, the board unanimously voted to extend the site plan approval, with the understanding that Johnson will return to the board with a new application if a high final cost estimate forces him to revisit his business plans.

Johnson clarified that in such an event, he would scale the building back from a year-round produce store to a seasonal farm stand, although he would keep the building’s footprint and look the same in order to keep the floor plan spacious for customers.

“This would be a desirable development for the town, and I think if there’s anything we could do to help that, we should,” board member Jennifer Francis said of the project.

Lane began the continuation of the pre-submission conference for Gas Station Allied Ventures by explaining the next steps of the application process. Upon conclusion of the pre-submission conference, which would inform the applicant about the necessary paperwork in order to file a formal application with the board, the board would review the submitted materials, hold a public hearing, and make its final decision. The sole purpose of the pre-submission conference, Lane said, was to identify the necessary materials that the applicants must compile for the board to review.

Francis, who had earlier been appointed as the coordinator for the project, listed the following necessary materials: a major site plan review, an environmental assessment (although Francis noted that many items under the environmental assessment fall under the Commonwealth’s purview given that the project is a gas station), a stormwater management assessment, a public hearing, a list of abutters to the property in question, and a mailing to those abutters informing them of the project and the public hearing. The board also requires an application fee. Finally, Francis noted that the board is not going to waive the site plan details.

After reviewing this information, the board voted to conclude the pre-submission conference and adjourned for the evening.

The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board will be on Monday, July 20 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Anne Smith

MRplan_070915

Alewives Anonymous, Inc.

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To the Editor:

We have compiled the results of the 2015 alewives (herring) migration as recorded by an electronic fish counter on the Mattapoisett River at Snipatuit Pond in Rochester.

This year’s count of herring in the Mattapoisett River was 42,332. That is approximately 13,000 fish less than the 2014 total of 55,429 which was a 156% increase over 2013. This year’s decrease of 13,000 fish is about 25% less than last year. Due to the very cold weather in March, the counter wasn’t installed until April 6. Evidence of herring being present at Mattapoisett (gulls, cormorants, seals) weren’t seen until the second week in April; therefore, we don’t feel we missed counting many with the three week late install of the counter. Counting conditions were ideal this spring; the counter appears to have performed without errors.

We were not successful in getting an electronic counter to operate correctly on the Sippican River at Leonard’s Pond. The ladder at Leonard’s Pond appeared to function ideally for fish passage even through the latter part of the season with lower water. Comments from recreational boaters indicated that they had seen herring spawning in the upper regions of the pond on a number of occasions. This would tell us that the ladder at Hathaway’s Pond and Leonard’s Pond provided successful access to the spawning area.

The moratorium against the taking or possession of herring from the Mattapoisett River and the Sippican River, as well as many other rivers in Massachusetts, remains in effect. Over the years that the moratorium has been in effect, the herring population in the Mattapoisett River has increased from about 6,000 to just over 55,400 last year. The counting effort will provide the necessary information to manage a future harvest in the Mattapoisett River; however, continued improvements in the counts are needed to support a sustainable fishery plan and to justify an opening.

Once the herring population reaches a point where a sustainable harvest plan can be formulated, filed with Division of Marine Fisheries, and approved, harvesting could be resumed.

Arthur F. Benner

President, Alewives Anonymous, Inc.

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.

Marion Fireworks Committee

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The 2015 Marion Fireworks Committee would like to thank all of the supporters that made the Saturday, July 4, 2015 fireworks display such a success!

It was a fantastic night, and we would love to have a repeat of it in 2016!

We are still accepting donations. Any donations received will be used toward the 2016 fireworks. Donations are tax deductible.

Please consider sending your donation to help us get a head start on next year’s show.

Please send your donations to Marion Fireworks Committee, 13 Atlantis Drive, Marion, Massachusetts 02738. Any questions, feel free to contact us at 774-217-8355 or fireworks@marionrecreation.com.

Thank you for your support!

Marion Mile

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The annual and weekly Marion Mile, sponsored by the friends of Marion Recreation and Wareham Pediatrics, started back up on Tuesday, June 30 for this summer’s season.

The first of six nights had a great turnout as over 100 runners competed in the race designated as “just for kids.”

Children between ages 7-14 are welcome to compete in the mile race for a one-time fee of $15, and those age six and under may join the half-mile race.

On every Tuesday until August 4, all are welcome to the Tabor Academy fields on Spring Street by the chapel to register and run. In order to register, families should arrive between 6:00 and 6:15 pm for the 6:30 pm starting time.

Those who run three or more races during the summer are eligible for an award on the last night. The top three male and female runners from each age group (7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14) will receive trophies.

Additionally, all finishers receive ribbons upon completion of each week’s race and a T-shirt each summer.

Each week, Race Director Chris Adams posts results to the Marion Mile Facebook page. Volunteers assist Adams in putting on the event, including Jim Soden, Tabor alumni, and current students. Last week, Julia O’Rourke, Sarah Adams and Binjo Emmanuel helped Adams put the race together. Parent volunteers are welcomed as well.

On the first night of the summer, Meg Hughes won the mile race in a photo finish with Davis McCain who ran times of 5:35 and 5:36 respectively. Hughes also achieved her 5th age group record in this time, beating the five-year-old record held by Gwen McCain of Marion.

Finishing out the top five racers were Harrison Hughes (6:04), Stephen Old (6:05), and Miles Reed (6:07). The top seven runners ran miles under seven minutes.

Seventy-six runners raced in the older kids’ race, while 46 competed in the half-mile.

Grady Oliveira and Lyla Dorschied came in right together in times of 4:30 and 4:31, immediately followed by Jack Goodwin. Rounding out the top six runners who ran times under five minutes were Gisele Duchaine (4:41), Dylan Ladd (4:55), and Natalie Meleo (4:57).

Registration is open to newcomers each week. Checks must be made payable to Village Run and more information can be found at www.marionrecreation.com/marion-mile.html or on the aforementioned Facebook page. Registration forms are available online and on race nights.

By Julia O’Rourke

Marion MIle