On Monday, local basketball legend, former NBA and Boston Celtics player Chris Herren visited Old Rochester Regional High School to address students. Herren was not there to strictly talk about basketball, however. Herren serves as a influential, motivational speaker, having lived through many years of drug abuse and near-death experiences as a result. He captivates listeners with stories of his meteoric rise and nearly catastrophic downturn. I would know, as I also heard him speak over a decade ago at my high school. On Monday, however, Herren was speaking to the students in ORRHS in a packed auditorium.

            Herren was born in and grew up in Fall River. He played basketball at B.M.C. Durfee High School, achieving the rare feat of a 2,000-point career before attending Boston College in 1994. While playing for BC, Herren failed drug tests and was later injured while playing. Being out of the game, Herren explains, exacerbated his drug dependence. He was expelled from BC but attended Fresno State in California. He was drafted into the NBA in 1999, his senior year. He first played for the Denver Nuggets and transferred the next year to the Celtics. Following a few years in the NBA, Herren played internationally in Italy, Turkey, China, Germany, Iran, and Poland.

            His talk to ORR students did not focus on his basketball career, though that may serve as a good hook initially. Herren details his long struggle with addiction and dependency on painkillers following injuries like Oxycodone, Percocet, and Vicodin. He says, “The focus oftentimes is on the worst day when it comes to speaking about addiction. We need to understand how this begins rather than how it ends. Prevention starts on the first day.”

            Following a near-death car crash following an overdose from heroin in 2008, Herren has been drug- and alcohol-free since. Speaking at ORR, Herren is close to home as he often circles back on his travels which have seen him speak to millions of students and listeners.

            ORR said in a statement, “Today was maybe the most attentive we’ve seen our student body!”

By Sam Bishop

            This week in Revolutionary War history, let’s check up on what was going on 250 years ago in New England and the northern Thirteen Colonies. Last week, General Washington and thousands of Continental Army soldiers departed from Boston in triumph and made their way across southern New England towards New York. Major General Philip Shuyler as well as many in the Continental Congress seek to send soldiers north to bolster another attempt at capturing Quebec, though Washington is generally focused on the defense of New York City. In North Carolina, the first governing body officially called for independence.

            On April 12, 1776, Washington arrives in Greenwich, Connecticut, the last major settlement before crossing the border into the Province of New York. According to army expense reports, Washington stopped in Knapp Tavern, a meeting place for Freemasons. The tavern still stands and is used for local meetings of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

            On April 13, Washinton arrives on Manhattan crossing the “King’s Bridge” that stood until 1913 into the Bronx. He had crossed this bridge about 10 months prior on his way to take command of the Continental Army outside Boston. The city he returns to is a stronghold of Tory sympathizers, much unlike Boston.

            On his first night in New York, he dines in another tavern still standing to this day, The Queen’s Head Tavern on the corner of Pearl and Broad Street. This time, towards the south of the island by The Battery owned by Samuel Fraunces. Today, the tavern is owned and operated by the Sons of the Revolution. Big theme here.

            On April 14, Washington issued his first General Orders from his new headquarters at 1 Broadway. The Kennedy Mansion would serve as his headquarters for his first few days in the city until the arrival of his wife, Martha. In his orders, the general commends the troops that have been stationed in the city thus far for their buildup of fortifications as well as the fact the city has not fallen into enemy hands. Towards the masses of troops now entering the city, he adds, “The General flatters himself, that he shall hear no complaints from the citizens, of abuse, or ill-treatment, in any respect whatsoever; but that every officer, and soldier, of every rank and denomination, will pride themselves (as men contending in the glorious cause of liberty ought to do) in an orderly, decent and regular deportment.”

            The next day, the general writes replies to the many letters sent to him while he was on his way to the city. To John Adams, he thanks for important introductions to important powerbrokers in the city as well as thanking the Continental Congress, “I am impressed with the deepest Gratitude for the high honor intended me by the Congress.” To John Hancock, president of the congress, he gives a detailed account of his journey west. He informs Hancock he has sent four brigades, about 2,000 men, north through Albany towards New York, following Schuyler’s request. He also mentions he sent them by boat up the Hudson River. He noted he has called upon much artillery, though many cannons are being held up by the defenses of Providence and New London.

            On April 16, Washington writes in his General Orders that he has instructed Colonel William Prescott, Groton-born and leader of the defense of Bunker Hill, to cross over to Governors Island just south of Manhattan and immediately begin the construction of fortifications. General Charles Lee had been in the city since January, and at this time, the two generals were working together from Broadway on strategies for defense of the city and the mouth of the Hudson.

This Week in Revolutionary War History

By Sam Bishop

                  On April 9, the Town of Marion was notified that The Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project organization would be conducting aerial pesticide application throughout the following week through April 18. The county-wide effort comes just as temperatures begin to rise and is done primarily to destroy mosquito larvae before they can hatch.

                  Per Marion Board of Health, the application is done only over wetlands and not residential zones, between 5:30 am and 3:00 pm. The group would service about 500 acres of Marion wetlands at the same time as 400 acres in Pembroke to the north.

                  For this pre-summer application, Vectobac is released via plane, specifically a red and white Cessna Ag-Wagon.

                  This initiative has been longstanding, as it received heightened funding following the West Nile Virus outbreaks of 2022 and other recent spread of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE or “Triple E”). Rochester also often sees spraying, though the organization has not yet announced when that will begin.

                  According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Tri-Town is uniform in its current risk levels. There is a “Low” risk of EEE, though still above the lowest level of “remote.” For WNV, there is a moderate risk. The last positive cases of either were both reported last September, meaning the current likelihood of contact is negligible, though it will rise once mosquitos become more prevalent as temperatures climb.

                  Anti-larvae initiatives will continue throughout the warm season as professionals and health experts keep mosquito levels at bay. For more information on these programs, you can visit plymouthmosquito.org or the state’s site at mass.gov/mosquito-bourne-diseases.

By Sam Bishop