Preservation Act Moves Forward

on

Rochester is already making plans for its next Town Meeting, likely taking place in the fall, as the Conservation Commission voted on Tuesday to put forth an article asking residents to pass the Community Preservation Act.

The CPA is a state law passed in 2000 that allows communities to establish a local fund to support affordable housing, parks and recreation (including athletic fields), open spaces and historic resources. Those municipalities that do adopt the act – currently 155 across Massachusetts – also receive matching funds from the statewide Community Preservation Trust Fund each year.

Rochester defeated the measure in 2006, but Conservation Commission Chairman Rosemary Smith is hopeful in 2013.

“I’m excited about this,” said Smith. “There are a lot of projects in town that could use the funds. This is money that we’re missing out on.”

Participating towns and cities raise CPA funds through a surcharge on property taxes. Smith said that the Rochester article would ask voters for a 1.5 percent increase (3 percent is the maximum), an average of $47 per homeowner annually.

Elsewhere on the agenda, Commissioners authorized Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon to apply for a $20,000 mini-grant to initiate protection of the McCarty Property on Buzzards Bay.

The Commission also briefly discussed the flood plain bylaw revision, which will come before Rochester at its next Town Meeting.

The previously scheduled meeting for July 2 has been canceled.

By Shawn Badgley

‘Shindig’ finds Joy and Sorrow

on

Shindig took line honors in the 2013 Marion Bermuda race finishing the 645 nm course off St David’s Lighthouse at 4:55:13 ADT/3:55:13 EDT on Tuesday morning June 18. They were certainly glad to finish first, but sorry not to break the record after such a fast start.

“It was brutal,” quipped one of the Shindig crew when asked about the last miles to the finish. They had trouble getting the right angle to be able to cross the line going into both the southerly wind and the northbound current.

Lady B, John Madden’s Swan 62, finished 2nd at 06:59:56 ADT.

As Shindig was docking in the Royal Hamilton amateur Dinghy Club marina, we caught up with Watch Captain Mark Riley. He gave a great recap of their race.

“The start was as predicted, extremely windy [26+ knots]. We got off to a great start, real fast speeds up to 23 knots coming out of Buzzard’s Bay. We had a couple of wind shifts outside of the bay and we weren’t sure where we were going to go. As the steady breeze filled in, we made quick tracks to the [Gulf] Stream. Real fast again, hitting 20’s.”

“We covered about 500 miles in the first 45 hours and then the bottom fell out— We had no wind for 2 days. We struggled for the next 36 to 48 hours trying to cover the next 120 miles. It felt like every time we tacked or thought about tacking we were further and further away from Bermuda. It was a long drift in for the last 120 mile.”

Mark said, “We knew that the faster we could get South the better we would do.” And they got South fast.

Mark’s 12 year-old son Jo was also on the 15-person crew and the youngest sailor in the race. When asked how it was sailing with his son in Jo’s first offshore race, Mark was clearly emotional. “It was fantastic,” he beamed. “We had some highs and lows along the way, but not too many dads can be as proud as I am of him to be out there on fathers day in such a great event on such a great boat. Sailing with all the cadets from Mass Maritime was fantastic.”

Sonia Riley, Mark’s wife, was at the dock to greet her husband and son both with kisses. She said of her son’s adventure, “Jo had no idea of what he was getting into.”

Jo said he stood his watches including two at night. At one point during the last 120 miles his dad said he saw a tear in his son’s eye and asked what was wrong. Jo said, “can I just put it in gear?” The next day brushing away another tear Jo said, “It’s so long.” Go Jo… you made it.

Mark said, “Arthur Burke [who had donated the boat to Mass Maritime] spoke some real truth in his pre-race comments to the crew, ‘You will have moments of sadness, You will have moments of Joy… all of you will hit the wall’ and we did. A couple of us were seasick before the start and some during the race, but they all worked through their problems.”

The crew, some were Art’s regulars but most were Mass Maritime cadets, deserve high praise for persisting through the Happy Valley North of Bermuda and coming first overall across the St David’s Lighthouse line.

by Talbot Wilson

Shindig Takes Lone Honors

on

It was slow going at the end when Shindig took Line Honors in the 2013 Marion Bermuda Race. According to finish line chairman Eugene Rayner, the big blue Andrews 68 finished the 645 nm course at 4:55:13 ADT/3:55:13 EDT on Tuesday morning June 18. Although this looked to be a fast race for the first 48 hours, it became painfully slow as the boat inched its way in the last 100 miles approaching Bermuda.

Shindig, skippered by Michael Reney and sailed by a crew of cadets from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and the former owner, Arthur Burke of Dartmouth, and the MMA coach Chuck Fontaine and a handful of experienced crew have pushed Shindig hard through a difficult race.

Lady B, the second boat is approaching the finish. She is a Swan 62 skippered by John Madden.

The fleet behind her is spread out across the original race rhumb line looking for wind. Handicap honors are still up for grabs in the three Founders division classes and the division itself.

Spectators at home or on mobile devices with the proper app can follow all the yachts in the Marion Bermuda Race on the YellowBrick tracker program sponsored by Kingman Yacht Center. Positions are updated every hour on the hour on the YellowBrick tracking map. Go to the Marion Bermuda web site— http://www.marionbermuda.com/ and click on the brick.

 
© SpectrumPhoto/Fran Grenon

Nunes Blasts ORR Budget, Full-Day K

on

Rochester Selectman Richard Nunes made clear Monday night his disappointment with the Old Rochester Regional School District’s 2014 budget, while calling the Rochester Memorial School’s recent decision to fund Full-Day K “disturbing and shocking.”

Rochester Town Meeting approved the ORR School District’s $4,418,858 request last month. Voters in Marion and Mattapoisett did the same with similar assessments. But in his report Monday night, Rochester Town Administrator Richard LaCamera lamented the shortfall in expected state aid for education after Massachusetts House and Senate votes and its potential impact on local schools.

“There’s concern in all three towns,” said LaCamera, announcing a June 19 Tri-Town Selectmen meeting at ORR. “The budget needs to be addressed now. We can’t just kick it down the road.”

Nunes was even more blunt.

“The superintendent proposed a budget based on assumptions about state aid, and how many weeks did they have to change it?” Nunes asked, referring to ORR School District Superintendent Doug White. “They had a month. They could have changed their figures to be more reasonable, but they decided to stick to the highest number. Now, they’re scurrying around to find more revenue to keep their inflated budget.”

Later in the meeting, during New Business, Nunes said the RMS Committee’s vote earlier this month to fund Full-Day K was “news to me and news to everybody.”

Board of Selectmen Chair Naida Parker suggested they invite RMS Committee representatives to a meeting for discussion.

“I guess we could,” Nunes said. “Up to this point, there has been no discussion about how to fund Full-Day K. Where are the funds going to come from? It’s a month after Town Meeting, when the budget was already set. And now there’s going to be a surprise increase in the RMS budget? There’s data behind this budget, line items for everything. At Town Hall, all of our money is allocated to the time, to the penny.”

In other school news, Parker told officials she had received a letter of resignation for personal reasons from newly elected ORR School Committee Member Derek Medeiros, effective immediately.

Elsewhere on the agenda, the Selectmen signed off on Municipal Health Insurance Reform and the Police Contract, while tabling the Longevity Pay Policy to work on the document’s language. In addition, LaCamera said that Rochester has “gotten nowhere” on receiving a safety assessment for the Cape Flyer Rail from the MBTA.

The Selectmen also authorized Rochester to undertake negotiations with DG Service Company on a new HVAC system for Town Hall. The Mattapoisett company bid $46,833.

Finally, Parker reminded the town that noon on June 24 is the deadline to request an absentee ballot for the June 25 statewide special election.

By Shawn Badgley

SPREDD Study and Public Survey

on

The evening’s business for the Mattapoisett Planning Board was quick, but two important issues were discussed.

Board Member John Mathieu shared a recent conversation he had with Grant King, principal planner for SRPEDD. Mathieu had requested specific information from King on the amount of acreage in town that is either fully protected or in a limited protection status in an effort to help with land use planning. King reported that of the 11,000 acres that constitute the entire town, approximately 3,000 acres fall into a protected category. That represents 28 percent of the total. Mathieu said that his next question to King will be how much of the remaining acreage is considered unbuildable wetlands. Once those two categories have been established, the Planning Board can begin the long and complicated process of re-zoning considerations of some spaces for revenue growth.

Board Member Karen Fields asked if having so much land in a protected status would eventually impact the tax base. Both Mathieu and Member Ron Merlo replied that it has already negatively impacted the town’s ability to increase revenue.

Merlo wanted to remind residents that the public survey regarding open space needs of the community is on the town’s website. The town is seeking public input. In the absence of public consensus on land use, boards and committees involved in the process will be missing a critical element in making decisions that will impact the town for many generations to come. Merlo wants the public to know their input is absolutely necessary.

In other business, Brian Grady representing Michael Solimando regarding Appaloosa Lane came before the board to discuss the upcoming roadway and drainage project at this location. The board will provide Grady with text so that Solimando with his legal team can craft a homeowners’ trust. This trust will bind the owners to provide financial support of Appaloosa Lane for road maintenance into perpetuity. The road will always remain a private roadway. Having a trust will help to ensure the safety of the road for the residents and abutters with property located there.

The next Planning Board meeting is scheduled for July 1 at 7 p.m.

By Marilou Newell

Memorial School Flag Day Ceremony

on

Rochester Memorial School 4th Grade held an all school Flag Day ceremony on June 14th honoring and thanking community first responders.  Commencing this energy filled event was the raising of the flag to the National Anthem followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  Acknowledgements to a fantastic show of local and state police, fire fighters, EMT’s, veterans and serving military heroes was presented through 4th grade students and famous poems, songs and personal thank yous.

Photos courtesy of Ilana Mackin

Shirley Wojtunik

on

Shirley Wojtunik, age 88, passed away Saturday, June 8, 2013 at the New Bedford Health Care Center. She was the wife of the late Edwin S. Wojtunik.

A lifetime New Bedford resident, she was the daughter of the late William and Albina (Denault) Yates.

Mrs. Wojtunik worked as a sales associate at the Outlet company and enjoyed being a homemaker. During World War II she was an air raid warden.

Survivors include her children, Michael Wojtunik and his wife Elaine of Acushnet; Marsha Sciandra and her husband Russell of Buffalo, New York; 5 sisters, Claire Bougeois of Rochester; Dorothy Yates of Fall River; Joan Rivet of Rochester; Barbara Callier of Rochester; Janet Dugas of Rochester; 6 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Norman Yates.

Her private funeral arrangements were in the care of the Rock Funeral Home, 1285 Ashley Blvd., New Bedford, MA.

Leaders struggle for Late Night Finish

on

 

As predicted late Sunday, the ‘line honor’ leaders hit the wall Monday afternoon. According to the YellowBrick tracker they now seem to be sailing on the wind, on a long port tack to Bermuda.

 

The ‘handicap’ leaders are the smaller boats that have kept the old, reaching breeze longer and made their time on the other boats in their class. Integrity, the Navy 44 Mk II STC (NA22) skippered by Mario Avila, leads his Class B and appears to be one of the best on corrected time in the whole fleet. Other class leaders are Gardner Grant’s J120 Alibi in Class A and David Caso’s perennial winner Silhouette in Class C. Classic Division entry Spirit of Bermuda, a heavy 112 footer, suffers in these light conditions. She’s slogging along at 3-4 knots vmg at 74º. Her heading is less than perpendicular to the rhumb line in that report. Spirit was 122 miles from home.

 

At 15:00 EDT Monday afternoon, Shindig seems to have found a fairly steady southeasterly breeze. The Andrews 68 was about 9 miles west of the original 164º rhumb line to Bermuda sailing 159º 57miles from the finish. Lady B, a Swan 62, was in a similar breeze 22 miles off the rhumb line some 72.5 miles out steering 168º. Both boats are doing between 6 and 7 knots so they should reach the island in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It is still a battle for line honors between Shindig and Lady B although Shindig holds the inside edge. The outcome will depend on which way the wind blows… and how much.

 

Southerly winds 5-10 knots should persist around Bermuda until Tuesday night. Pressure should then build from the West as a low moves off the mid-Atlantic coast and squeezes the high back to the southeast. This should give the boats in the back of the pack a nice boost to their finishes.

 

Spectators at home or on mobile devices with the proper app can follow all the yachts in the Marion Bermuda Race on the YellowBrick tracker program sponsored by Kingman Yacht Center. Positions are updated every hour on the hour on the YellowBrick tracking map. Go to the Marion Bermuda web site— http://www.marionbermuda.com/ and click on the brick.

© SpectrumPhoto/Fran Grenon

Leader hits the Happy Valley

on

1600hrs ADT/1500 EDT, June 16, 2013: Little has changed in the race for line honors on the 2nd full day of racing in the 2013 Marion Bermuda Race. It is just wait and see… and enjoy the pink beaches and the bright Bermuda sunshine or a round of golf while you’re at it. Today, the Bermuda fitted dinghies are match racing in Mangrove Bay. Monday is a Bermuda holiday— Hero’s Day— and they have fleet races there, too. Many of the Race officials from the US are traveling to Bermuda today.

At 1600hrs Sunday in Bermuda, the Yellowbrick tracking site reported that the closest boat to Bermuda was Shindig, Mass Maritime’s Andrews 68 that has led from the start. She was 161 nm out and doing 6.9 knots for the previous hour, well below the record pace she had carried for the first 48 hours. Shindig may finish Monday afternoon while the volunteers and guests are having cocktails at St David’s Lighthouse overlooking the finish line.

Shindig would have to finish before 10:13:45 Monday EDT/ 11:13:45 ADT to break the record. The furthest racer was Regulus, a Class C Hinckley SW 51CB, 357 miles North west of Bermuda. She is skippered by Emmett Harty from Stonington CT.

Early wind in the Bermuda ocean races often dangles race records like a time carrot in front of the bows of the big boats. But the record is very elusive. When the top of the course has pressure and speed, the system that is producing the wind is already moving out into the North Atlantic.

A high pressure expands from the West and the South of the original windy area. A ‘parking lot’ grows right in the middle of the last 100 miles of the course. Racers call it the “happy Valley. A boat would have to average over 9 knots to break the current record from Marion.

Boats behind Shindig are moving faster now compared to the leader, still carrying the pressure. On corrected time at this stage, two boats have moved ahead of Shindig in Class A. Alibi stands first and Lady B has moved up to 2rd. This trend should continue through Sunday evening until they, too, find their parking place.

Integrity, a Navy 44 skippered by Mario Avila of the USNA, leads Class B. Roust, a Sea Sprite 34 (the smallest boat in the fleet) leads Class C on corrected time. Roust’s Skipper is Ian Gumprecht from Oyster Bay NY. George Cubbon’s Alice Kay from Bermuda has moved up to 2nd in that class.

The second nearest boat to Bermuda was the Class A Lady B, John Madden’s Swan 62 from Newport RI. She was 214 nm out. Kismet was 3rd 253 miles out while the local Bermuda favorite, Spirit of Bermuda, had fallen back to 9th. On YellowBrick boats look like they are piled on top of each other. It is a close race with many more miles to go.

Positions are updated every hour on the hour on the YellowBrick tracking map. Spectators at home or on mobile devices with the proper app can follow all the yachts in the Marion Bermuda Race on the YellowBrick tracker program sponsored by Kingman Yacht Center. Go to the Marion Bermuda web site— http://www.marionbermuda.com/ and click on the brick.

 

About the Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race Association

Since its inception in 1977, the biennial Marion Bermuda Race has been a premier 645 mile ocean race and sailing event which appeals to a broad range of cruising and racing enthusiasts.  The spirit of the race is one focused on Family and Fun, and all yachts and crew are participating for the joy and pleasure of sailing, competition, and the camaraderie that accompanies such an offshore event.  The Marion Bermuda Race encourages the development of blue water sailing skills on seaworthy yachts that can be handled safely offshore with limited crew.  The Marion Bermuda Race is a 501(c)(3) organization and among other educational efforts, supports and encourages Youth Sailing programs.  The Marion to Bermuda Race is organized and run entirely by hundreds of volunteering members of The Beverly Yacht Club (BYC), The Blue Water Sailing Club (BWSC) and The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) for the Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race Association. 

Fireworks Will Return to Marion

on

Last year was a dud, but this year will be a blast.

Marion will have a fireworks display on Saturday, July 6, at dusk on Silvershell Beach.

Thanks to the work of a dedicated Fireworks Committee, led by Marion Recreation Director Jody Dickerson and Co-Chairman Donna Hemphill, the group raised just over $40,000. Other Committee members who worked all year on the effort include Wendy Carrou, Christine Santoni, Wanderer publisher Paul Lopes, and Suzanne and Gary Taylor.

“We’re thrilled,” Hemphill said. “If it weren’t for the generous people of Marion, this wouldn’t be happening.”

The Committee is working out the remaining details on the cost of fire and police involvement, as well as toilet rentals and the sound system.

The town put out bid specifications, and three companies requested the information, but only one bid came through. Atlas PyroVision Productions bid $29,000 for the fireworks and the barge that holds them.

“The contract states that the display will be 20 to 25 minutes long,” said Town Administrator Paul Dawson.

Atlas PyroVision Productions of Jaffrey, N.H., is the largest fireworks display company in New England, specializing in state of the art computer-designed and electronically fired displays for cities, towns, parks and recs, professional and college sporting events, amusement and water parks, weddings, civic, corporate and private celebrations.

“People missed the fireworks last year,” Hemphill said. “It’s a time to gather with friends and family to have a celebration of our nation’s independence and enjoy the fireworks together.”

The Committee is still accepting donations, which will help offset the 2013 expenses and any monies left over will start the kitty for the 2014 fireworks display. Checks can be made out to Marion Fireworks Committee and sent to the Town House at 2 Spring Street, Marion, MA, 02738.

By Joan Hartnett-Barry