Who wouldn’t enjoy standing at the Rochester Country Fair listening to a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band while watching men throw telephone poles like javelins … with an ice-cold one in their hand?

Sure, there might still be snow covering the Rochester Country Fairgrounds, but members of the Country Fair Committee are busy planning for the August 13-16 event, and on March 30 they gave the Rochester Board of Selectmen the latest lowdown on the hoedown.

And what is one of the biggest changes that any fairgoer of legal age can anticipate? Yup, that’s right … sip, aaahhh. Ice-cold beer served for four hours Saturday only for the big “Vyntyge Skynyrd” concert.

“We’re hoping to serve beer Saturday night for four hours,” said committee Co-chair Dave Souza. “We’re just kind of feeling it out to see how it would be.” Souza said he has already spoken with Police Chief Paul Magee, who was seated in the room for another matter, and he saw no problem with hiring an extra officer to keep the peace. “If we could go that route with the blessing from you guys…” Souza said to selectmen, who seemed fine with the idea.

Other additions to the program will be some new games and activities for children and the addition of the “Highland games” with people throwing “telephone poles” in the air, Souza said. The committee is also finishing a patio near the concert arena area.

“We’re gonna try to keep it to the kind of crowd that we want,” said Souza. You know, the Skynyrd crowd. “That’s the kind of crowd we want to keep catering to.”

Co-chair of the committee Julie Koczera said that during the most recent dinner and dance fundraiser for the fair, she passed around a questionnaire asking people if they would mind if the committee called off the parade this year, since last year’s parade saw a dwindling of participation from both onlookers and parade participants.

“Overwhelmingly, everyone was, like, no. Don’t get rid of it,” said Koczera. “I think we stirred the pot and let them know…. Hopefully the participation will be there, both watching and in the parade.”

Souza said the biggest expense for putting on the fair is the cost to hire detail police officers for the fairground site as well as during the parade. And he knows the selectmen will be attending the country fair, so the event is “being watched by our mother hens,” said Souza. “And we don’t want to be grounded.”

The 2015 Rochester Country Fair will feature four days of events for children, mechanical bull riders, tractor pullers, wrestlers, cow chip bingo players, and of course, the Skynyrd crowd.

Selectman Naida Parker said she is looking forward to it, but committee members begged, don’t you dare mention the weather or you might jinx it.

Also during the meeting, on a more serious note, Police Chief Magee, Fire Chief Scott Weigel, and Chief Dispatcher Tracy Eldridge gave a presentation on the heroin overdose epidemic in the region, as well as the life-saving medication Narcan, an opiate-antagonist that has saved lives since it was made readily available to emergency response services across the state.

The board had been looking for an update on the crisis since the introduction of Narcan, and Magee said the problem stems in most part from the easy availability of heroin, which Magee said has become a cheaper option for drug abuse that pills.

“We’re being inundated in Massachusetts … with heroin overdoses,” said Magee. Heroin is 60 percent more pure, he said, and is cut with a variety of substances. “So users really don’t know what they’re getting.”

Locally in Rochester, Magee said in 2014 there was one fatal overdose in town. He was able to track down three heroin overdose calls and four non-heroin overdose calls in 2014.

“So we are experiencing the same issues as other communities,” said Magee. And given the small population of Rochester, “I don’t think it’s disproportionate with other communities…”

Eldridge said she recently introduced an instructional card to the emergency response information that dispatchers use to instruct the caller on how to tend to the victim until the EMTs can get there. She said dispatchers would be trained on how to handle a heroin overdose over the phone while a caller might be too emotional to independently react appropriately.

EMS responders have Narcan on hand for such emergencies, and drug users and their families or loved one can also receive Narcan to keep in their possession in the case of an overdose.

Parker asked Magee about the now inactive D.A.R.E. program in town, and Magee told her that, without the funding, the program was halted years ago. Parker suggested approaching the Rochester Lions Club for funding.

“I think it’s valuable. I taught it many, many times,” said Magee. “It was very well received in the schools. We’d be able to start it immediately if we had the funding.”

Selectman Richard Nunes said, “It’s something you don’t think about in a small town.…We’re in a very small scale area, but it only takes a matter of time before it gets passed on…”

Chief Magee said anyone in Rochester is welcome to call the police station for more information about how to seek help and support for drug abuse.

“It’s no longer a city problem,” said Parker.

“Not anymore,” said Magee.

In other news, Town Administrator Michael McCue said, although Rochester “is not out of the woods,” the town is much closer to a balanced budget after some progress with the school budget.

“I’m cautiously optimistic at this point,” he said.

McCue also said the Town’s snow and ice removal budget is now in a $131,088 deficit, making a total of just under $200,000 spent, not counting last weekend’s Saturday snow showers. McCue said he is looking towards federal dollars that could be available.

The next meeting of the next Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for April 6 at 6:30 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.

By Jean Perry

What do you do when every Marion Conservation Commission agenda item is continued and there is a quorum of members assembled with only meeting minutes to approve and no new business? You watch them make jokes, approve a set of meeting minutes or two (without arguing over them), and witness them adjourn in under 15 minutes.

The March 25 meeting would have concluded faster; however, the individual items on the agenda – LEC Environmental Consultants and Saltworks Marine – had scheduled times for 7:00 and 7:10, respectively. Chairman Norman Hills waited for each set time to open the public hearings and continued LEC Environmental until April 25 and Saltworks until April 8.

In the meantime, commission members caught up on current events, perused the Town’s 2015 Annual Report which had just been released that day, and laughed when commission member Cynthia Trinidad accused Hills of chewing gum too loudly and gave her copy of the annual report to ConCom member Jeffrey Doubrava. (There was no gum, however.)

Conservation Commission member Joel Hartley – ten minutes late to the meeting – almost missed it entirely.

Although it is nice to have a break every once in a while, acknowledged Hills, future agendas will get longer and longer as nicer weather brings in new applications for outside work in addition to the continued items.

The next meeting of the Marion Conservation Commission is scheduled for April 8 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Jean Perry