Springfield College has named Dylan Aguiar from Rochester to the Dean’s List for academic excellence for the 2024 spring semester. Aguiar has a primary major of Health Science / Pre-PT.
Poetry in the Park
On Monday, June 17, some of our talented local poets will be gathering to share their work at Poetry in the Park, hosted by Mattapoisett Land Trust. Gather with MLT and the poets at 10 am at Dunseith Gardens (home of Salty the Seahorse). Gracing the Dunseith gazebo to read their work will be Margot Wizansky, Ellen Flynn, Elizabeth Syliva and Vivian Eyre.
Are you a poet interested in sharing your work? After the poets have presented, there will be time for others to share (sharing is not required, and if you’d like to just come and enjoy the morning, that is most welcome.). There are five additional slots available for attendees to share their work. Reach out to MLT Manager, Colleen Andrews, and request a time slot: manager@mattlandtrust.org. Poems must be kept to one page and/or less than 10 minutes.
Bring a picnic blanket, folding chair, or something to sit on. Light refreshments will be provided. Please park in the parking lot at Dunseith Gardens accessible from Rt. 6.
MAC-led Cuttyhunk Plein Air Festival
The Marion Art Center is pleased to present the ninth annual Cuttyhunk Plein Air Festival on Saturday, June 22 on the Elizabethan island of Cuttyhunk (town of Gosnold, MA). A rain date is scheduled on Sunday, June 23. Registrations filled quickly for this event, but guests are invited to visit the island to see painters in action and attend the “_ARTY.” celebration at the end of the day. Visitors can mingle with artists and purchase original (sometimes still wet.) paintings directly from the artists at the Scuttlebutt Grille Gallery.
On the morning of June 22, sixty artists will travel from State Pier 3 in New Bedford aboard the M/V Cuttyhunk Ferry to the island, where they’ll spend 3-4 hours painting from a location of their choosing. Island ambassadors – residents and volunteers – donate their time using golf carts to shuttle artists to and from their painting spots. Artists will wrap up around 2:30 pm in order to submit their paintings for jurying. Pamela Hoss, Jay Ryan, and Bob Smith will return this year to award 1st, 2nd, 3rd place, and purchase prize awards. The “_ARTY.” will take place from 3:00-3:45 pm, with visitors and artists wrapping up to board the ferry by 4 pm to arrive back in New Bedford at 5:00 pm. The “_ARTY.” is free and open to all.
In keeping with the missions of both the Marion Art Center and the GCC and to further their commitments to create a more diverse and equitable SouthCoast, the festival will again welcome ten sponsored artists, nominated by leaders of regional arts organizations. In 2023, several sponsored artists won prizes or sold their paintings to guests.
To learn more about the event or to download a walking map of the island, visit marionartcenter.org/cuttyhunk-plein-air. Those who wish to travel as spectators for the day can purchase ferry tickets at cuttyhunkferryco.com. If use of the rain date on Sunday is needed, the festival webpage on the MAC website will be updated by Friday night before the event.
Rochester Republican Town Committee
The Rochester Republican Town Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, June 12, at 6:30 pm, at the North Rochester Congregational Church, located on 247 North Avenue, Rochester. Rochester selectman, Adam Murphy, will be the guest speaker. All are welcome to attend.
Barbara M. LeFavor
Barbara M. LeFavor, 77, of Wareham died Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford where she was born on March 3, 1947.
Daughter of the late Phyllis (Chartier) and William C. LeFavor, Barbara graduated from Bishop Stang High School in 1945. She worked in the assessor’s office for Town of Wareham, retiring as chief assessing clerk in 2014 after 47 years.
Barbara was a communicant of St. Patrick’s Church in Wareham and enjoyed baking, shopping and spending time with her grandchildren who she adored. Barbara’s love for family was evident in her thoughtful birthday celebrations and her famous Christmas dinners.
Survivors include her son, Daniel LeFavor and his wife Julie of Marion; her brother, Philip LeFavor and his wife Cindy of Rochester; sisters, Donna Adams of Marion and Deborah Hazlett and her husband Robert of W. Bridgewater; cherished grandchildren, Bree and Jack LeFavor; her aunt, Irene LeFavor of New Bedford, her brother in-law David Ewan of Wareham, and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister, the late Paula Ewan and her brother in-law, the late Nelson Adams.
Relatives and friends are invited to visit on Monday, June 10, 2024 at Chapman Funerals & Cremations – Wareham, 2599 Cranberry Hwy. (Rt. 28), Wareham from 4 to 7 pm. Her funeral will be held on Tuesday, June 11 from the funeral home at 9 am followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Patrick’s Church, 94 High St., Wareham at 10 am. Interment will follow in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Wareham.
Donations in her memory may be made to St. Patrick’s Church, 82 High St., Wareham, MA 02571. For directions and on-line guestbook visit: www.chapmanfuneral.com
Keys to the White House
Recently the Prime Minister of Japan was given the key to the White House. Yeah, our White House. But the souvenir was not given by the current resident. No, a former resident who dreamed up the idea of a souvenir “Key to the White House” has been giving them out to foreign dignitaries for some time.
I don’t think it unlocks anything. It’s pretty big. The giant key is gold plated with the presidential seal, and that former president’s name engraved on the side.
I visited the place once and nobody gave me a key. I guess I was not dignified enough. Oh well, I’d probably misplace it or lose it outright anyway.
Who knew the White House had a key? Does it even need one? After all, there are Secret Service guards everywhere and a big fence surrounding the place. It’s pretty well protected. Some conspiracy believers say there are even mines planted around the grounds and that the current president’s dog set one off, that’s why it no longer resides there. But I don’t think that’s true.
If there is a key, is the president the keeper of it? Does he march around the building at midnight in his pajamas checking to see if the doors are locked? There are 412 doors in the White House. He’s a busy man and needs all the sleep he can get. Maybe he assigns that chore to the vice president, who probably isn’t very busy anyway. According to John Nance Garner, a former vice president, the office isn’t “worth a bucket of warm spit” (except he used another term that isn’t appropriate for a family newspaper).
Is there more than one key? Does the president carry around a chain with 412 keys on it? Does he have his own key to the situation room or the White House bowling alley or movie theater? If he did, he could sneak off, lock the door and watch “Real Housewives of Washington” or take a nap, and no one would know where he was.
Does he have a key to the wine cellar? Does the White House even have a wine cellar? Inquiring minds want to know.
Has any president been a sleepwalker, forgotten the key and locked himself out in the middle of the night? The American people should know if their president is a sleepwalker. It’s a good thing presidents aren’t allowed to drive because, if I were the chief executive and had the key to the presidential limousine, I’d love to take out the “beast” for a spin.
Do they change the locks with each new president? Does it come with the nuclear codes? What do they do with the old keys? Is there a junk draw in the resolute desk filled with keys that other presidents leave behind? Does the new president have to shuffle through it, trying to find the key to the executive washroom?
Oh, if you were wondering, Theodorus of Samos invented the first key in the 6th century BC to keep important documents safe in lock boxes. According to legend, he wore his key around his neck to show he was wealthy. Does a president wear the White House key around his neck?
Come to think of it, how many foreign dignitaries have a key to the White House?
The CIA should keep a list!
Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and happily retired writer. His newspaper columns appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.
Thoughts on…
By Dick Morgado
Old Shed Won’t Stop New Work
An old shed of an incalculable age helped seal the deal, as Rochester’s Conservation Commission Tuesday approved a Notice of Intent application to permit installation of a gravel driveway, stone patio and walkway and landscaping and to include work within the 100-foot buffer zone of wetlands at 96 Wolf Island Road.
Previously, the commission had raised concerns about an existing shed on the property 25 feet from the wetlands “no-touch” zone, and the members recently conducted a site visit to see if the structure was an obstacle to granting the permit.
Project engineer Bob Rogers of G.A.F. Engineering said Tuesday the only town records available show the shed was renovated in 1988, but no other indication of its age exists.
“The shed is definitely older than 1988,” acting Chairman Ben Bailey answered, noting its rotting siding and shingles.
“Clearly the shed is old enough to be grandfathered in,” Commissioner Michael Gifford said.
Commission members concluded the shed could easily be grandfathered into the project being permitted and unanimously endorsed an Order of Conditions for the work.
The commission also agreed to the next step in the Herring Run restoration and maintenance project, the commission’s plan to clear the sometimes-clogged, herring-run area from Hartley Farm Pond to the start of the Rochester Boat Race.
Herring Inspector David Watling said the town needs to measure the cubic yards of dredging material that has to be moved to clear the run. Bailey said he and board member Bill Milka will be able to take the measurements themselves. The two set an appointment to do so at the start of the herring run area on June 7.
Bailey said the plan is not to remove the dredging material but to perhaps use it to build a berm on the other side of the bank.
Watling later reported good news on the herring run itself. He said he counted 9,353 herring in the run this year. He noted he counted 4,500 herring last year. So this is twice as many as was in the previous count, he said.
In other action, the board granted a three-year extension of the Order of Conditions set on July 20, 2021 for the Snipatuit Road solar project.
Bailey updated the board on its approval at the last meeting of the wetland resource boundary limits for an address on Gifford Lane. He said the Request for Determination of Applicability (RDA) that the project petitioners applied for should have been an Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation (ANRAD) instead, according to advice from the Department of Environmental Protection.
The filing of a RDA allows the applicant to side-step fees, but the work involved still requires town officials to conduct the delineation research. Rochester’s fee for such work is $2 per linear feet, ConCom members said. On that basis, the applicant would have paid approximately $1,000 for the appropriate permit. The commission resolved to henceforth require an ANRAD for such a project.
The next Rochester Conservation Commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 18, at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Conservation Commission
By Michael J. DeCicco
Writers Workshop, Redux
The next meeting is June 28. This is a place to share ideas and your work, whether you are a writer or just have stories that want to be told. We meet every fourth Friday, from 10:15 am until 12:15 pm, at the Mattapoisett Library, 7 Barstow Street, Mattapoisett, in the basement Community Room. Bring a piece of writing to share aloud or just come to listen at first; memoir, poetry, fiction, essay. Bring what moves you. No need to bring copies. Share your voice in a supportive setting. If you have a story inside you, we want to hear. Need more info? Contact artslandlady@gmail.com
SCUBA Vacation Bible School
A fun Vacation Bible School program called SCUBA will be hosted at First Congregational Church of Rochester, 11 Constitution Way in Rochester, this summer! At SCUBA, kids explore what it means to have a friendship with God! Kids participate in memorable Bible-learning activities, sing catchy songs, play teamwork-building games, devour yummy treats, experience one-of-a-kind Bible adventures, collect Bible Memory Buddies to remind them of God’s love and test out sciency-fun experiments that get imagination bubbling. Plus, kids will learn to look for evidence of God all around them through something called God Sightings. Each day concludes with a Fin-tastic Finale that gets everyone involved in living what they’ve learned.
This free program for kids in Grades K – 6 will be held on July 15-19 from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm each day. Register online at vbspro.events/p/966f16. For more information, contact the church office at 508-763-4314 or rochestercongregational@comast.net.
Bulldog Pride Alumni Association’s Award
The president of the ORR Bulldog Pride Alumni Association, Thomas Xenopoulos Peccini ‘88 announced the winner of Bulldog Pride Award at Senior Awards Night on Thursday, May 30, 2024. In attendance were fellow alumni and officers, including the Hon. First Justice of the Hingham District Court and Class of ‘88 valedictorian, Heather (Smith) Bradley.
Through this award, the ORR BPAA wishes to recognize a graduating senior of the Class of 2024 by virtue of the pride for ORR, who may go unnoticed because of the unsung values that are often missed by scholastic or athletic merit-based awards. Unique to the Bulldog Pride Award, the profile of the successful candidate features active participation in and leadership of the ORR community, championing fellow students, the class and ORR. Through recognition of students who passionately support their peers in school activities, the BPAA promotes kindness and good will towards others, as the pathway to acceptance and inclusion. This is the spirit of the Bulldog Pride Award.
The executive committee founded the Bulldog Pride Award at its Quarterly Executive Committee Meeting on January 28, 2024. It also approved the funding of this award based on the fundraising efforts of the BPAA during this school year’s Homecoming 2023 where the association’s events over alumni weekend raised in excess of $8,000 with pledges totaling nearly $35,000. The alumni association voted unanimously to fund the award for the next five graduating classes. The precursor to this award was the ‘88 Bulldog Pride Award. Founded in 2019 by the alumni and friends of the Class of ‘88, the award was given to a graduating senior of the classes of 2019 through 2023 in the amount of $300. This year, the recipient received $1,000, marking a significant increase to the funding of the award.
Mattapoisett resident Murray Callahan was recognized with an Honorable Mention. This outstanding student deserves recognition as an inspiring team captain and for her extensive volunteer work, some of which are related to physical disabilities, both in the school and in the community. A committee member wrote in the assessment of Ms. Callahan’s application that this student “has demonstrated strong leadership skills by standing up for others, regardless of the personal cost. Capable of doing the right thing even when it is extremely difficult, the student sees the big picture to achieve success as a collective unit. Selfless acts have allowed the team and teammates to excel. Another committee member wrote that Murray “is a young advocate for the ORR community, showing through her actions and words the spirit and dedication to helping other students to become their best selves while challenging herself to become even better.” Director Michelle (Gayoski) Tackitt ‘87 presented the certificate to Ms. Callahan.
This year’s recipient is Alia Cusolito from Rochester, a student who most reflects the profile of the Bulldog Pride Award. From this student’s advocacy for fellow students, awareness training of faculty, and serving as an ambassador of the school in state and national events, Ms. Cusolito takes the extra step in promoting the values of ORR, leading from behind in non-traditional roles.
The committee members wrote in their assessments that this “remarkable” student, “has demonstrated […] a passion to lead and to promote change in areas that need improvement” and “demonstrated leadership, an advocate for so many. This is the essence of Bulldog Pride.” The BPAA president shared with the assembled parents and relatives an excerpt from this student’s application, “I am aware that I don’t fit the image you may have expected when opening applications for this scholarship. I believe that being a student advocate is undeniably a manifestation of my school spirit and love for the students and the school itself. I commit to the values we hold as a community and genuinely hope to see our school flourish. My activism within our school, I believe, reflects my love for the Bulldogs as well as my active participation in shaping ORR’s future. Mr. Peccini commented that he noticed Alia cheering on each award winner throughout the ceremony, noting that this Rochester resident is an asset to the ORR school community. A certificate was presented to the winner by Secretary Lara Schofield, ‘88, and a commemorative plaque that will hang in the school was presented by Executive Committee member, Racquel Rezendes ‘88, conferred on behalf of the Scholarship & Grants Committee, chaired by Vice President Dana Palmer-Donnelly, ‘88.
Heading off to Smith College in the fall, Alia will receive $1,000 for this distinction, made possible by the generous gifts of alumni of this school. Mr. Peccini thanked the alumni and friends for their generous contributions to the nascent alumni association, the guidance department for their assistance and to Principal Devoll and Superintendent Nelson for their continued collaboration.
In lieu of the absence of alumni records going back to the class of 1963, all interested alumni of ORR and ORRJHS are invited to register in the database as members of the BPAA. Please click on the following link: forms/gle/LymUwv86nLJBr6MU9.