New Assistant Harbormaster Appointed

on June 5, 2015

The Marion Board of Selectmen met June 2 to discuss various topics including the appointment of a new assistant harbormaster, the search for a new fire chief, and updates on the bike path.

The board heard from Harbormaster Michael Cormier on the topic of appointing Peter Bourgault as assistant harbormaster and assistant shellfish officer. Bourgault served with the U.S. Coast Guard for 20 years and is now retired.

“Peter’s background and training is perfect for our unit,” said Cormier. “He’ll be a tremendous asset to my department.”

Following a brief discussion and some light joking, the board voted unanimously to appoint Bourgault to the positions of assistant harbormaster and assistant shellfish officer.

The board heard from Town Administrator Paul Dawson on the status of two projects underway for the Town of Marion. The first is the development of the new bike path, a multi-town, multi-state project that would stretch 70 miles and connect Providence, R.I. to Provincetown.

Last week, Dawson met with members of the Marion Pathway Committee, officials from the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. In the meeting, it was announced that funding has been put into place in the federal fiscal year 2019 budget for the construction of the Marion bike path.

“They have placed funding in the amount of approximately $3.4 million to cover the construction costs of the bike path from the Mattapoisett town line, down over the railroad bed, through and over to Front Street and across through to Washburn park,” Dawson said. “It was really good news all around.”

The funds will be available for FY19, which begins on October 1, 2018.

“While that may seem far off, it really isn’t that far away,” Dawson said.

Additionally, Dawson updated the board on the search for a new fire chief.

“We have completed the preliminary process of the fire chief search,” he said. “We will have a series of interviews for the full Board of Selectmen to have.”

The first interviews will take place at 5:30 pm on Thursday, June 4. The second series of interviews will take place at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, June 9. The interviews are all open to the public and will take place at the Town House conference room located at 2 Spring Street in Marion.

“I’m very pleased to say it was a good process to go through,” Dawson said. “We are in an extremely fortunate position to have a number of really well qualified and very talented people in the pool. The board will not be disappointed.”

Current Fire Chief Thomas Joyce is set to retire on June 30 after six years of service to the town.

Other business at the meeting included appointment requests for two individuals seeking to be placed on the Zoning Board of Appeals. Discussion of the first potential appointee, Kathleen Mahoney, was tabled until the current members of the ZBA can interview her.

The other candidate, Joanna Wheeler, had already met with the ZBA and received a recommendation. The selectmen voted unanimously to appoint her to the ZBA.

The next scheduled meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is June 4 at 5:30 pm at the Marion Town House to conduct fire chief hiring interviews.

By Andrew Roiter

Spring Concert at Rochester Memorial School

on June 5, 2015

The night of May 28 was the Spring Concert at Rochester Memorial School. The band and chorus entertained a cafetorium full of family and friends, who especially liked the band’s rendition of “Happy.” Photos by Jean Perry

John A. “Allie” Rutledge

on June 4, 2015

John A. “Allie” Rutledge, 99, of Rochester, died June 1, 2015 in the Sippican Healthcare Center, Marion. He was the son of the late James R. and Ethel May (Sisson) Rutledge.

He was born in New Bedford and lived in Wareham for many years before moving to Rochester.

Mr. Rutledge was a WWII Navy Veteran.

Mr. Rutledge worked as a Surveyor for Walter E. Rowley and Associates in West Wareham for many years before retiring.

He enjoyed woodworking, sports and he loved horses.

Survivors include 2 sons, David Rutledge and his wife, Leona “DeDe” Rutledge and Wayne Rutledge and his wife Lisa all of West Wareham; 3 grandchildren, Ashley Rutledge, Allison DaSilva and her husband Russell and Derek Rutledge; a great granddaughter, Arya DaSilva; a step grandson, Paul Reidy and his wife, Debra; and 2 step grandchildren, twins, Tyler and Devin Reidy.

His graveside service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne.

UCCRT Graduates

on June 4, 2015

The following students will graduate from the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School on June 7:

– Kyle Boyle of Marion, Plumbing & Heating

– Jessica Tripp of Marion, Auto Collision Repair

– Megan Youlden of Marion, Culinary Arts

Handbell Concert

on June 4, 2015

Mattapoisett Congregational Church will host a Handbell Concert on Sunday, June 21 at 7:00 pm. The two handbell choirs – the “Carol” and the “Celebration” Ringers from St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church of Annandale, Virginia – are made up of junior and senior high school students from six schools in northern Virginia. They perform a repertoire of classical, popular, folk and sacred music, building a reputation of excellence over 38 years! The Carol Ringers performed at the State Department this past January and have appeared on ABC, CBS and CNN. The St. Matthew’s Handbell Choirs have performed at the Kennedy Center, the White House, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian and other venues in the Washington, DC area.

The handbell choirs perform on seven octaves of Schulmerich handbells and seven octaves of Malmark choirchimes. The two groups have recorded eight times; CDs will be available for purchase the night of the concert, including the CD titled “Who Let the Bells Out.”

For more information on the June 21 concert, please contact Mattapoisett Congregational Church in person or by phone at 508-758-2671. The office is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 am to 12:00 noon.

South Coast Elite Basketball

on June 4, 2015

South Coast Elite Basketball camp will run August 10 – 13 from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm at Tabor Academy. Directed by Tabor basketball coaches and staffed with Tabor and ORR basketball players, the camp is run like a true high school practice and focuses on teaching the game at a high level. The camp is open to boys and girls ages 7-14 and costs $225 for the week. You can sign up by calling Chris Millette at 508-748-8348 or emailing cmillette@taboracademy.org. For additional information, visit www.southcoastelite.com.

Kids Enjoy Trial Breakfast Program

on June 4, 2015

Rochester Memorial School held its first of two days piloting a school breakfast program on May 21, and on June 2 RMS Principal Derek Medeiros told the Rochester School Committee what he heard in response from the students.

“The feedback I received from the students was pretty exciting,” said Medeiros. “The children were just really excited. It was awesome.”

One of the fifth grade students told Medeiros the school should’ve been doing the breakfast program all along so he could have enjoyed it for longer, said Medeiros. Medeiros had been working towards establishing a school breakfast program at RMS for some time.

“We do have some kinks to work out,” Medeiros said. “We did see some bumps in the road that we’re going to try to improve…”

The second trial run for the breakfast will be June 18 when sixth graders will experience breakfast at RMS for the first time. They were on a field trip on May 21, so they missed the first breakfast trial run.

Medeiros said that even if surveys of the students and parents churn out data not favorable to a full-time breakfast program, just changing the way kids enter the school in the morning like they did for the breakfast was a positive enough experience for possible changes in the morning routine. Students usually remain on their busses for longer periods of time before entering the school, but on May 21 students were taken immediately inside.

“It was nice to get the kids right off the bus … regardless of if we have breakfast or not,” said Medeiros. “I just saw a different tempo and beat from our students.”

After the June 18 breakfast trial, Medeiros will gather data from surveys to determine the viability of a breakfast program next year and will make a decision during the summer.

In other matters, the Rochester School Committee and central school administration are preparing to attend the June 8 Annual Town Meeting in Rochester in support of the fiscal year 2016 RMS school budget.

The Town, after working closely with the committee and administration over the past few months, has offered the district a little bit more wiggle room in its budget, particularly when it came to special education spending. The initial revised FY16 budget totaled $5,780,984, and the budget to appear on the warrant will be $5,798,410. The FY16 budget is up $126,067 from last year.

The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for September 3 at 6:30 pm at Rochester Memorial School.

By Jean Perry

Lost Ladybug Project

on June 4, 2015

Guided by Loree Griffin Burns, children headed out on May 30 from Plumb Library to search for ladybugs to photograph and document for the Lost Ladybug Project. In all, the kids found five ladybugs. The event was funded by a MOBY grant and organized by the RMS PTOs, the RLT, Kathy Gauvin at ORR, and the three town Cultural Councils. Photos submitted by Michelle Cusolito

MLT Hosts “Stranding” Lecture

on June 3, 2015

After a glorious morning walking their newest nature trail, feasting on potluck in the Friends community room and holding a brief annual meeting, Gary Johnson, outgoing president of the Mattapoisett Land Trust, introduced Kathy Zagzebski, executive director of the National Marine Wildlife Center.

Zagzebski was on a mission – a mission to educate humans on their dramatic impact on oceanic wildlife, and how that impact can help or hurt the animals.

Beginning with an explanation of the work of the National Marine Wildlife Center located in Buzzards Bay and then moving on to the types of endangered species that live in close proximity in and around Cape Cod, Zagzebski held the MLT members’ attention from beginning to end for a solid informative hour.

Zagzebski said the work done at the center is to provide medical attention to injured or stranded turtles and seals. She explained that Cape Cod is a “stranding hotspot” with dozens of seals and hundreds of dolphins and turtles being treated each year due to a variety of medical and environmental issues.

In 2014 alone, 1,232 turtles were recovered from the Cape Cod area suffering from either injury or disease. With the combined assistance of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, New England Aquarium, NOAA, USFWS and Zagzebski’s organization, 71 percent lived. However, due to a lack of “beds” available at the local level, 60 percent of those animals had to be transported to other states that could provide medical attention. This 2014 event, she said, “overwhelmed the stranding network.” She said it takes months to rehabilitate sick or injured turtles, further straining available services.

On the theme of what can we do to help, Zagzebski told the MLT members to share with people in the community who to contact should they find a turtle in distress and, more importantly, to keep trash and plastic out of the ocean environment.

Sadly, Zagzebski said that more than 50 percent of turtles taken into care are found to have plastic in the digestive systems.

“Turtles feed on jelly fish. A plastic bag underwater looks and moves like a jelly fish,” she said. One of the primary foods of all ocean turtles is the jellyfish.

Zagzebski also spoke of the plight of seals throughout the area. She said the National Marine Wildlife Center is the only seal hospital in all of New England, but it has very little capacity in terms of the number of animals that can receive care at any given time. Humans and human activities are the primary reasons seals sustain injury or suffer a negative impact, she noted, with seal pup disturbance at the top of the list.

When a harbor seal hunts, she will leave her pup in a location she is well aware of – a specific location selected to give the pup maximum protection while she is fishing. These adorable pups are often perceived as being abandoned and are collected by good-intentioned humans who do all the wrong things in their zealous efforts to provide aid. “Leave them alone,” Zagzebski said.

Zagzebski provided important contact information to share with everyone. If you find a seal or seal pup living or deceased, call the IFAW at 508-743-9548. If you find an ocean turtle in similar condition, contact the Massachusetts Audubon Society at 508-349-2615.

Zagzebski’s parting words were, “Keep trash out of the environment, spread the word about seals and turtles, and volunteer time and resources…”

The National Marine Wildlife Center’s website is http://nmlc.org.

By Marilou Newell

ConCom Issues Enforcement Order

on June 3, 2015

Quietly, almost gently but assuredly with resolve, the Rochester Conservation Commission on June 2 approved moving forward to deal with property owners who were not in compliance with wetlands regulations.

Last December, Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon received an anonymous letter complaining that property located at 78 Alley Road and owned by Robin Baptista had sustained unauthorized earthwork and grading. At that time, Farinon met with Baptista requesting that he complete documents for a Notice of Intent after-the-fact application. Baptista was advised not to continue these activities until such time as he received directives from the Conservation Commission.

Some time went by and, once again, a letter was sent to Farinon with the same complaint. She met last month with Baptista and seemed to receive his agreement and cooperation. However, he continued with earth moving activities including digging a utility trench.

“Sometimes people need more than a letter of violation,” Farinon told the board. “I have drafted an Enforcement Order.” The order demands that unauthorized work cease and desist in jurisdictional areas and that Baptista complete a NOI by June 30 for restoration of disturbed areas. The commission moved to have Farinon send the letter to Baptista.

Also facing action by the commission were Travis and Dustin Lalli for activities that first were discussed last September when, again, an anonymous letter complained of earth movement and stormwater runoff into wetlands.

At that time, the Lallis said that they had sunk their life savings into the 10-acre parcel that they hoped to farm ‘old school’ style.

They were given guidance on how to proceed with a site plan and obtain permits to carry out various activities on the land. In October, they were again before the commission receiving guidance, but they were also told to comply with state and local statutes for the protection of wetlands. They were given until May 2015 to file a NOI for the restoration of the disturbed areas and for a site plan. That NOI has not been filed.

Farinon said Town Counsel Blair Bailey would attend the next commission meeting to further discuss the matter with the Lallis and to arrange a site visit in order to confirm or refute a more recent anonymous letter of complaint.

In other business, the commission gave negative determinations of applicability to Norene Hartley, 102 Bradford Lane, for tree removal, and Thomas Ferreira, Walnut Plain Road, for the construction of a dog kennel and placement of a roll-off storage container.

The next meeting of the Rochester Conservation Commission is scheduled for June 16 at 7:00 pm in the Rochester Town Hall.

By Marilou Newell