Last week the Marion Natural History Museum’s afterschool crew explored a variety of ways to identify trees without their leaves. By looking at bark, leaf scar arrangement and even using their sense of smell, the students had a chance to explore trees and woody shrubs without their usual foliage. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Leidhold
On Saturday, March 7, The Trustees of Reservations will offer a training session for volunteers interested in helping to monitor bluebird nest boxes this coming spring. The Trustees protect many properties with open fields that provide an ideal breeding habitat for rare species including Eastern Bluebirds. There are dozens of volunteer-built bluebird boxes on several properties along the South Coast that provide critical nesting spots for these beautiful birds. Bluebird trails have been established in Fall River, Westport, Dartmouth and Rochester and volunteers are needed to check the boxes regularly during the nesting season to keep track of the bluebird population and discourage non-native House Sparrows that force native birds out. A free workshop for those interested in learning more will be held between 1:00 and 3:00 pm at the Westport Town Farm located at 830 Drift Road in Westport. To register, go to www.thetrustees.org/volunteer, email kheard@ttor.org, or call 508-636-4693 ext. 5003. Come learn how you can participate in this ongoing project to bring back the Blues.
The Tri-County Symphonic Band will present “Viva Portugal!” a concert of both traditional and modern Portuguese music. Special guest conductor Fausto Moreira and guest fadista Cláudia Madeira will be joining the band. The concert will be at the Fireman Center on the campus of Tabor Academy, 235 Front St., Marion at 3:00 pm on Sunday, March 15. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for students, and children aged 12 and under are admitted free. Tickets are available at the Symphony Music Shop in Dartmouth and The Bookstall in Marion. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
To the Editor,
I want to thank Barry Denham in his plow for personally escorting the funeral director to my home on a Sunday during a snow storm. I love the caring of a small town.
Gail Lockwood, Mattapoisett
Even though there was still no word from the Environmental Protection Agency since the Town responded to the EPA’s draft NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit, anticipated engineering costs estimated at around $450,000 topped the priority list for the Capital Improvement Planning Committee’s fiscal year 2016 report presented to the Marion Board of Selectmen on March 3 by CIPC member Norman Hills.
Hills said the initial funding for wastewater treatment plant engineering and support was the “big ticket item” that pushed several other projects further down the priority list as it faces a possible response from the EPA upholding the NPDES draft it offered. That draft would prohibit the use of the Town’s three unlined wastewater lagoons that are vital to the wastewater treatment plant. Costs for subsequent upgrades to the wastewater treatment facility could exceed $20 million.
A new fire pumper made the priority list on the CIPC report as well, estimated at $540,000, but attention remained focused on the NPDES permit. Selectman Stephen Cushing called the NPDES matter “the big unknown.”
“Be still my heart,” said Chairman Jonathan Henry about his first reaction to the report. “Every time you see a big number, it’s like a dash of cold water.”
Town Administrator Paul Dawson said he continues to work closely with the engineers from CDM Smith, the consulting engineering firm for the Town. Meanwhile, Dawson said, tentative NPDES costs will continue to drive the budget, although costs are still unknown.
“We honestly don’t know and we won’t know until the EPA responds back,” said Dawson. “Obviously, the details of the final draft permit will dictate the measure and the level of work that will need to be done.”
Dawson said the premise for the Town’s response to the drastic measures mandated in the new NPDES permit is the questioning of the scientific validity of the data the EPA used to determine maximum levels of nitrogen and other pollutants, as well as the extent of the pollution the lagoons have made on Aucoot Cove and Sippican Harbor.
Dawson also reiterated that the draft NPDES permit gave the Town no options for seeking alternative solutions to pollutant levels; however, CDM Smith consultants advised selectmen last month some viable alternative solutions do exist.
Dawson said he hopes the EPA response will grant the Town more time to seek out other options, saying the EPA has no time restraints for issuing the permit.
“Our best estimate is $450,000 in capital improvement planning,” said Dawson, “and that might just be the tip of the iceberg.” He continued, “They could issue [the permit] tomorrow, or they could issue it three years from now.”
Dawson said the Town owes it to the ratepayers to find a fair and equitable solution to the NPDES conundrum.
“We don’t want to create the appearance that we’re stumbling along waiting for something to happen,” said Henry, who soon after was appointed as the board’s representative during talks with CDM Smith engineers.
Meanwhile, selectmen received a copy of a letter dated February 26 that Senior Attorney for the Buzzards Bay Coalition Korrin Peterson sent to Brian Pitt of the EPA. The letter urges the EPA to issue the Town of Marion the NPDES permit with a special condition requiring the facility to remediate pollution discharged from the lagoons. The letter also claims there are likely on-going violations at the wastewater treatment facility that violate the Town’s current NPDES permit.
The letter asserts, “…[E]ffluent from the lagoons was infiltrating into the underlying groundwater and the nitrogen from the effluent is flowing towards Marion’s impaired coastal waters…. [T]his evidence justifies the need for a permit condition requiring the town take immediate action to remediate this source of pollution.”
It further states that the lagoons, in their current state, are in violation of current NPDES permit conditions as well as state regulation, and maintaining the lagoons “in a state where they continue to leach into the environment should not be considered proper operation and maintenance.” The letter lists several alleged NPDES permit violations and on-going violations of state regulations.
Selectmen also received a copy of another letter from BBC Attorney Peterson dated February 6 to the EPA and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection saying the BBC fully endorses the draft NPDES, and included specific comments on points in the draft permit.
“The unlined lagoons are a clear source of pollution,” the letter reads. It further states, “…[T]here is no liner or leachate collection system and all evidence demonstrates that the wastewater and sewage sludge are contaminating the groundwater. Marion has offered no evidence to the contrary.”
Also during the meeting, the board approved minor changes that Marion Police Chief Lincoln Miller made to Police Department Rules & Regulations, and took several matters under advisement after brief discussions.
The board will consider the proposed job description of the Music Hall coordinator as well as a draft of financial policies.
The board voted to allow Dawson to draft a Town Meeting article pertaining to the Community Electricity Aggregation Program endorsed by SRPEDD, which would allow residents to opt into a community agreement to purchase electricity at more competitive rates. Town Meeting would have to approve the program, which Dawson said would give residents more purchasing power and “strength in numbers.” Residents would not be obligated to participate and participants could opt out at any time.
A next meeting of the Marion Board of Selectmen has not yet been scheduled.
By Jean Perry
The Marion Natural History Museum provided an opportunity on February 27 to get up close and personal with critters from the insect world, including praying mantises and jumbo-sized grasshoppers. Above: Tapper Crete, 7, was the first one brave enough to ask to touch a praying mantis. The event was hosted by Maire Anne Diamond, owner and educator at ‘Bugworks.’ Photos by Felix Perez
The next teen dance is on March 6 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm; admission is $8 at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Route 6, Mattapoisett. This is a safe place for 6th, 7th and 8th graders to have a good time socializing, dancing and listening to their favorite music on a Friday night. Knights of Columbus chaperones and a uniformed police officer are on site at all of our dances.
To the Editor,
We wish to thank the first responders from the Tri-Town area and Fairhaven who responded to a house fire at our home and business on February 18. Their quick response and professionalism despite the bitter cold conditions and frozen hydrants allowed us to salvage at least a portion of our personal belongings and memories. Thank you.
Our deepest gratitude also to everyone who has showed us so much compassion and support. We count ourselves truly blessed to live in such a caring tight-knit community. We only hope that we can in some small way repay the kindness that has been offered us.
Sincerely,
Jilly Jarvis and Paul Wildnauer
What’s in a collection? A whole lot if you are looking at Nate Bekemeier’s eclectic compilation of curious objects he has encountered and saved throughout his entire life.
Each little figurine, a memory. Every tiny trinket, a tale. Each of the odds and ends, an experience, a time, a place.
Bekemeier was one of several collectors who shared his treasures with the public at the Mattapoisett Historical Society’s February 26 event, “Sharing Your Passion: Personal Collections.”
Bekemeier thought his quirky collection was too special to be kept hidden away in a dark drawer to be forgotten. Thirty years ago, he hand built a special glass-top display table so he would have a place to put the interesting things he happened upon for all to admire. Many who paused to wonder at the table of a thousand things said it reminded them of a game of “I Spy.”
Bekemeier has many interesting stories to accompany his interesting objects. Among the dice and fetishes, in between campaign buttons and shells, and somewhere mixed in with the random figurines and a glass eye lies a roll of pennies that Bekemeier said is one of his favorites of all the little things that fill his display table.
As Bekemeier tells it, he had a friend who was “always doing funny things.” One day, he found the old man picking pennies out of a large chunk of cement. “He was painstakingly picking the cement off the pennies,” said Bekemeier.
When he asked his friend why he was doing this, he told Bekemeier that he had been tossing pennies into a cement bucket for years and had finally decided to cash them in.
“He placed the cement block on the counter and, unsurprisingly, the clerk would not accept it,” said Bekemeier. “But she told him that if he picked enough cement off each penny so that at least 50-percent of it was visible, he would be given full price for the penny.”
So, what did Bekemeier do at that point? He offered his friend a dollar for the fifty-cent roll and has kept it ever since.
“I thought his collection was hysterical,” said Mattapoisett Historical Society Museum Curator Elizabeth Hutchison. “If you sit and talk to him about it, it’s just crazy. What’s even more amazing is that he remembers everything that’s in there.”
Bekemeier’s was arguably the most popular collection at the event, but there were others with their own uniqueness, their own brand of treasure, for those looking around to admire.
Hutchison noted one remarkable collection of Chinese turquois-colored porcelain figures that Leda Kim had collected over the years.
“Those were beautiful,” said Hutchison. “Interesting, too, because it’s not something you often get to see.”
Ellen Flynn brought in her collection of porcelain, glassware, and a silver goblet with her name on it, which has been in her family for generations.
Flynn began collecting her pieces while in her 20s and, over the past 40 years, she has collected over 200 items – some from occupied Japan, France, and all over the world.
“I was impressed by the peoples’ collections,” said Hutchison. “We had a lot of fun stuff. It was interesting to see.”
Hutchison said one of the board members of the museum suggested the event, which was inspired by the Brooklyn Historical Society’s annual Collectors’ Night.
“It was a fun thing to do,” said Hutchison. “That’s essentially what a museum is for, so we can share things. It was an opportunity for people to share their collections and their passions.”
Felix Perez contributed to the content of this article.
By Jean Perry
Due to poor weather conditions the Department of Environmental Protection hearing scheduled for Thursday evening in Mattapoisett has been postponed. At this time a new date for the meeting has not been scheduled.
