Scholarships Available for Tri-Town Seniors

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Graduating high school seniors from the Tri-Town area are urged to apply for a several scholarships now available through the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts (CFSEMA).

The following scholarships can be applied for online at www.cfsema.org/scholarships by April 30, unless otherwise noted:

The George Earl and Katherine Hartley Church Scholarship Fund provides several scholarships of at least $1,000 annually for tuition assistance to students pursuing an LPN, RN or BSN Nursing Degree while attending a two- or four-year accredited college or university. Applicants must be residents of Acushnet, Rochester, Marion and Mattapoisett who are graduating from either Fairhaven, New Bedford, Bishop Stang, Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical or Old Rochester Regional high schools or a graduating senior from Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School. The criterion for selection will be weighted 75% on financial need and 25% on academics.

The Charles J. Lewin Interfaith Scholarship Fund was established to provide scholarships to returning students and graduating high school seniors of Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes and Plymouth counties. The Fund provides several scholarships ranging from $700 to $2,000. Scholarships are granted for one year only, although recipients may reapply annually. The criterion for selection will be weighted 50% on financial need, 30% on academics and 20% on personal circumstances. Students with Expected Family Contributions (EFC) above $16,000 are very unlikely to be selected for this scholarship.

The Thomas S. Hathaway Scholarship is awarded to students residing in Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, New Bedford, Mattapoisett, Marion, Rochester, Wareham, or Westport, who have been accepted or are currently enrolled at Harvard University. Scholarships are based on financial need and academic excellence. The total amount to be awarded is $4,200 to one or two recipients.

The Ladies’ Branch of the New Bedford Port Society Scholarship provides scholarships for high school seniors and current undergraduates who have one or more of the following: documented family ties to the sea, have received an acceptance letter from a Maritime Academy, or will major in maritime science. First consideration is given to families of descendants of seamen. Applicants must be residents of the Greater New Bedford area, defined as of New Bedford, Dartmouth, Westport, Fairhaven, Acushnet, Mattapoisett, Marion or Rochester. The criterion for selection will be weighted 75% on financial need and 25% on academics. Please contact the school’s guidance office for details and an application.

Classic Film Friday

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On Friday, March 6 at 7:00 pm, the public is invited to the Marion Music Hall for the month’s Classic Film Friday presentation, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The event is co-sponsored by the Sippican Historical Society and the Marion Council on Aging, and is offered to the public free of charge. Produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, the 1964 black comedy/fantasy examines doomsday scenarios and Cold War politics via a pre-emptive nuclear attack by a paranoid brigadier general, which a war room full of politicians, military men and the eccentric Dr. Strangelove try desperately to stop. The film has been described as “a cynically objective, Monty Python-esque, humorous, biting response to the apocalyptic fears of the 1950s.” It was included among the first group of films chosen for the National Film Registry as culturally, historically or aesthetically important.

Dr. Strangelove features Peter Sellers, George C. Scott and Sterling Hayden, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Running time for the film is 95 minutes, and it will be followed by a brief talk-back session by David Pierce. The Marion Music Hall is located at 164 Front Street, and ample parking is available across the street at Island Wharf. For more information, contact the SHS at 508-748-1116.

Monthly Travel Talk at the ETL

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Come join us on Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30 pm for a tour of three undiscovered gems of Germany and Austria: Münster and Marburg in Germany, and Ladis, Austria. Christine Watt, a German native, grew up in the Münsterland, an area of Water Castles and stately farmsteads in the Northwest of Germany. Her husband, Stephen, has traveled extensively in Germany, including a year-abroad at the University of Marburg in central Germany. Marburg has played host to many famous German visitors, including Martin Luther and the Brothers Grimm, and its narrow streets, lined with half-timber houses, offer a glimpse into what Germany may have looked like several hundred years ago. Over the past ten years, Tine and Stephen have regularly visited the Oberinntal in the Alps of Austria. This is an area of not only breath-taking scenery, but also centuries-old traditions that still play a dominant role in the daily lives of local residents. We invite you to marvel at their natural beauty of these three areas of Germany and Austria, and learn more about their culture and history.

Committee Cuts Back Capital Improvement

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Thursday evening the Marion Capital Improvement Planning Committee met to discuss revisions to the fiscal year 2016 report ahead of the March 3 Board of Selectmen meeting. The report details the plans of the CIPC for the next 10 years.

A major change to the report from the last meeting was the removal of three projects from the FY16 plan to compensate for the adjustments requested by the EPA for renewing the license, or National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, for the Town’s wastewater treatment plant.

The projects removed include $150,000 for the design and engineering of a new Department of Public Works building; $4.77 million for Phase 1B construction of Village Area CIP improvements; and $270,000 for Phase 2 designs, totaling $5.19 million worth of projects put on hold.

Casey Barros expressed that he was happy to see the changes made to the proposed projects list.

Allocated for permit negotiations and lagoon analysis is a $450,000 placeholder amount to present to the selectmen.

“It’s a placeholder for engineering services for what we need to do to respond to the EPA,” said CIPC Chairman Norman Hills.

According to the report, the resultant financial impact of the changes is unknown. During the February 5 meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen, engineers determined that costs could exceed $20 million.

One of the major changes the EPA requests is the elimination of unlined lagoon use, as well as the prohibition of letting biosolids degrade naturally in the lagoons. This requires the elimination of three unlined lagoons off Benson Brook Road, which were built in the 1970s to store excess wastewater and treat biosolids. This would require the Town to export the sludge, line the lagoons, and expand filtration amongst other costs.

Other changes to the report include adding a detailed description of Item 2 listed in the proposed projects road repair for sections of Point Road and Front Street. Those repairs include grind, overlay and crack seal.

The cost of this project will be $273,000 and is funded by Chapter 90, a MassDOT program that entitles municipalities to reimbursement for certain projects.

The CIPC report suggests the funding of 20 FY16 capital projects, down from the originally suggested 23, totaling $2,162,065. The report also provides information detailing where the funding would come from for each project.

The changes were accepted unanimously by the committee following a brief discussion about more changes to grammar, capitalization, and spelling suggested by Barros.

The next meeting of the Marion Capital Improvement Planning Committee is scheduled for March 5 at 7:00 pm in the Marion Police Station conference room.

By Andrew Roiter

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Academic Achievements

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Kiernan M. Reynolds, son of Dr. and Mrs. Jason Reynolds of Marion, was named to the Dean’s List for the fall 2014 semester at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Kiernan is a junior majoring in Political Science.

Megan Psyhojos, a member of the class of 2016 from Marion, has been named to the fall 2014 Dean’s List at Loyola University Maryland. In order to qualify for the Dean’s List at Loyola, a student must have a GPA of at least 3.5 with a minimum of 15 credits.

Abigail Adams of Mattapoisett and Laura Morse of Mattapoisett were named to the Merrimack College Dean’s List for fall 2014. To be eligible for the Dean’s List, a student must achieve a 3.25 GPA out of a 4.0 grading system.

Fire Fighters Clam Boil

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The Marion Fire Fighters Association will hold its annual Winter Clam Boil on Saturday, March 28 at the Marion VFW Pavilion on Route 6. The Veterans will run a cash bar and there will be raffle prizes and a 50/50 raffle. Doors will open at 5:00 pm with dinner service beginning at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $27 each and can be bought by contacting Brooks Wilson at 508-728-0840 or brookswilson24@gmail.com. Buy your tickets today as tickets will not be available at the door. We thank you for supporting your local fire fighters.

Mattapoisett Friends Make ‘Amigos’ in Cuba

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The bridge between the Mattapoisett Friends Meeting and their Cuban Quaker counterparts has been strengthened by a first-time visit to Cuba by Deena Kinsky, the delegate for the Mattapoisett Friends, along with six other Quakers from other parts of the United States.

The Mattapoisett Friends have hosted Cuban delegates in the past as part of the program Puente de Amigos, which means Bridge of Friends, that serves to form sister meetings with the Cuban Amigos under the umbrella of the New England Yearly Meeting. The Puente de Amigos Committee was formed in 1991 to promote a spiritual relationship between Friends of both countries that is based on equality and mutual respect.

Last summer, one of the Cuban ‘Cuaqueros,’ the Spanish word for Quakers, visited the Mattapoisett Friends Meetinghouse and suggested the Mattapoisett Friends consider adopting a sister meetinghouse in Cuba, which Kinsky said interested her fellow Friends. Soon after, Mattapoisett Friends made the connection with the meetinghouse in El Retrete, a small town in the province of Holguin, and the sister relationship began.

“And then the opportunity came for me to go there, so I got to meet them in person,” said Kinsky. “It sort of kicks off the relationship.”

Kinsky and the other six Friends were there in Cuba on what Kinsky called a “work visit.” In preparation for the trip, the Friends gathered the supplies they needed to help paint a meetinghouse in a village called Bocas as a sign of friendship and to also help with construction of the building.

The children of the Mattapoisett Friends Meetinghouse put together a photo album of pictures of the Mattapoisett meetinghouse and Friends for Kinsky to give to the Amigos as a gift, with the intention of continuing written communication between the children of both countries.

The Friends arrived on January 23 at the airport in Holguin, a small city on Cuba’s eastern shore in the province of Holguin, where an old ’57 Chevy took them to their first destination, the Quaker Meetinghouse in Holguin. From there, the group traveled to Gibara, a smaller town outside Holguin, where they visited the Amigos there and stayed in the dormitory of the Quaker Peace Institute. Kinsky also took a side trip to visit the Mattapoisett Friends’ sister meetinghouse in El Retrete before settling into another village for the work visit.

“Then we went to the village of Bocas,” said Kinsky. “We painted the ‘church.’ It’s a beautiful shade of blue now!” said Kinsky, showing the before and after photos. “They’re renovating the building. We did grunt work so the skilled labor workers could use their skills.”

The most significant part of the cultural and spiritual exchange was for both Friends and Amigos to share with each other their differences and celebrate their similarities – to come to a new understanding of what it means to be a Quaker.

“Their faith is really important to them and they meet several times a week,” said Kinsky. “They’re not very impressed with us over here.” She laughed. “We meet once a week and when the weather is nice, we might meet twice a week.”

One fundamental difference between the Bocas Amigos and the Mattapoisett Friends is that, while the Mattapoisett Meetinghouse is more non-denominational, the Bocas Meetinghouse is based more on Christianity. And while the Mattapoisett Quaker meetings are generally silent, the Cuban Cuaqueros engage in more singing and music, and preaching with the presence of a pastor.

“They have pastors, more like an evangelical church, so they have a different style there. They all told us, ‘Oh, we couldn’t sit for that long … Cubans like to make noise,’“ Kinsky said. “That was the biggest difference, but it was interesting to experience the differences.”

Throughout her stay in Cuba, as she observed those differences between the Amigos Meetinghouse and the Mattapoisett Friends Meetinghouse, Kinsky said she started asking herself, “What actually makes us all Quakers?”

One of the principles of the Mattapoisett Quakers, as well as other Friends Meetings in the United States, is simplicity. Kinsky said she noted there is more of an ornate characteristic to the Bocas Amigos, who dress up more for their meetings and sometimes wear more jewelry.

Kinsky asked others what makes them all Quakers, aside from the shared ‘peace testimony’ of pacifism, non-violence, and opposition to war.

“And really, everybody had a different answer,” said Kinsky. “The conclusion I came to was that it is a shared history.” At one point in history, Quakerism diverged into different groups that varied in a number of ways. “But we have respect,” she said. “They do things differently than we do.”

Kinsky returned home on February 3 and unfortunately, because of persistent snowstorms, has not yet been able to share her experience with the Mattapoisett Friends. But she knows that she is going to tell them about how welcome the Amigos of Bocas made her feel, the fun she had working together with them on the meetinghouse, and that the Amigos are grateful to know that people over here care about them.

“Even though our governments don’t see eye to eye,” said Kinksy, “it’s nice to know that we can still be amigos…”

By Jean Perry

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Board Content with Zoning Bylaw Progress

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Just one night after discussing its limited commercial zoning bylaw amendment with selectmen, the Rochester Planning Board on February 24 made some finishing touches to the language and now looks toward presenting it to residents living in or near the affected zones.

Based on issues brought up the night before, the board reviewed some notes sent by Town Counsel Blair Bailey meant to clarify certain sections of the bylaw – mainly points brought up by Planning Board member Ben Bailey about objective language subject to interpretation.

Language in one section of the bylaw mandating a 20 percent green or recreational space of the “disturbed” area of the development was tightened to include explicit examples of such spaces, like pedestrian walks, decks, paths, plazas, and gardens, among other things.

Bailey’s concern over the term “harmonious” led to a bit more discussion on the matter, but the term will stay put in the bylaw, regardless. Bailey wondered how one would decide what was harmonious.

“Isn’t it like pornography?” Planning Board member Susan Teal asked Bailey. “You’d know it when you see it.”

Planning Board Chairman Arnold Johnson added that this section of the bylaw serves more as a parameter for development and less as design restrictions. Bailey conceded.

“I understand that you can’t write a bylaw that protects the neighbors that doesn’t have subjective language,” said Bailey, adding that he stood mostly for property owners’ rights and fewer restrictions placed upon them. “But what I would do to this, nobody would vote for.”

The board decided to send the changes made to Bylaw Subcommittee Chairman Richard Cutler to review instead of calling another meeting of the subcommittee.

Johnson asked the board to make suggestions on a date for a Saturday public forum for residents living in or near the limited commercial zones affected by the bylaw amendment, and determined that March 28 at 9:00 am would be best.

“I would like to see a dry run of the presentation for the board no later than our second meeting in March,” said Johnson, who would prefer to answer all of the concerned residents’ questions at the forum rather than explain it on Town Meeting floor.

The next meeting of the Rochester Planning Board is scheduled for March 10 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

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Blood Drive at Tabor Academy

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In October 2013, two days before she turned one, Pippa Larsen, child of a faculty member at Tabor Academy, was unexpectedly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (A.L.L.). She immediately began a two-year chemotherapy treatment at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Her treatment involved many blood and platelet transfusions, more than the family can count! It is now the wish of Pippa’s family to give back in the form of a blood drive to benefit those receiving cancer treatments at the Dana Farber. Ginger Larsen says, “There is no gift more valuable than donating this gift of life for both children and adults in need.”

The Kraft Family Blood Donor Center provides blood for Dana Farber (including The Jimmy Fund) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Please join the Tabor community and the Larsen Family on Monday, March 2 at Tabor Academy for a blood drive to benefit The Kraft Family Blood Donor Center. Many families from the Southcoast of Massachusetts (and all around New England) make the trip to Dana Farber for their cancer care, so the impact of your gift may even be felt locally!

The blood drive will be held March 2 in the Blood Mobile parked in the Fish Center for Health and Athletics Parking Lot at Tabor Academy at 256 Front Street, Marion. To make a blood donation, either stop by the Blood Mobile on March 2 or call 508-291-8375 to make an appointment for a specific time between 9:30 am and 3:30 pm. (A photo ID is required to donate blood and you must be at least 17 years of age and weigh at least 110 pounds.)

On the day of the drive, photo ID required, drink extra water the day before and of donation, and eat before donating.

Marion Snow Budget in the Red

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This snowy and icy February has drained the Town’s snow and ice removal budget, prompting the Marion Board of Selectmen on February 20 to vote to allow deficit spending to cover the expenses from the last storm and any further storms to come.

The snow and ice removal budget was set at $50,000 and is now $19,475 in the red, which Town Administrator Paul Dawson told selectmen does not include the payroll from the February 14 snowstorm.

Selectman Jody Dickerson commented that, instead of the roughly $70,000 the Town has spent so far, he was surprised to hear the total was not yet more like $100,000 spent.

“We may be by the time we’re done,” said Dawson, “but we are not there yet.”

Dawson said snow and ice removal from Winter Storm Juno, which blasted the area with roughly 20 inches of snow and blizzard conditions on February 7, might be eligible for reimbursement from FEMA and MEMA due to the calling of a state of emergency during that storm.

“So we are marching forward with that assumption,” Dawson said. The February 14 storm did not reach the threshold for a state of emergency in the Tri-Town region, so the Town does not expect any reimbursement from that storm.

Also during the Friday special meeting of the selectmen, the board voted to award the contract for construction of the new Great Hill water tank to DN Tanks of Westfield, MA, the lower of the two bids the Town received for the project.

The bid was for a total of $1,352,200, which is lower than the Town Meeting approved maximum of $1.5 million.

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen is scheduled for March 3 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Jean Perry

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