Joanne Chittenden Furtado

Joanne Chittenden Furtado, 77, of Mattapoisett, died April 17, 2013. She was the wife of Bob Furtado of Mattapoisett, and former wife of the late David Chittenden.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her daughter Janice Haggan, her husband Wallace and their son Patrick, of Pembroke; and her son, Alan Chittenden of Plymouth.

Joanne passed away at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford after suffering with cancer for many years. She was treated at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston under the direction of Dr. Steven McAfee and all of the wonderful nurses, practitioners and staff in the Cancer Infusion Unit.

At periods of time when she was at home, she was being treated by the wonderful staff of Community Nurse and Hospice Care of Fairhaven. Her family would also like to express their many thanks to the Mattapoisett Police, Ambulance and EMT’s.

Private Funeral Services were held on April 24, 2013 at the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd. (Rt. 6), Mattapoisett. Burial followed in the family plot at St. Anthony’s Cemetery, Mattapoisett.

‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at RMS

Thirty-six Rochester Memorial School fifth- and sixth-graders, with the help of six junior high and high school students, will present a public performance of “The Taming of the Shrew” on May 3, 7:00 pm, at RMD. The production is directed by Danni Kleiman, with costumes by Kate Tarleton.

Marion Recreation Info Night

Marion Recreation will be holding a Summer Program Information and Registration Night on May 6 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Sippican School. Please enter from the Park Street entrance, at the Bus Loop. In addition to Camp Silvershell, we offer Sailing, Swimming Lessons, Dance Camps, Basketball Clinics, Digital Photography, Counselor in Training, Junior Lifeguard Program, and much more. Participants do not need to be Marion residents. For information, please call Marion Recreation at 774-217- 8355 or e-mail info@marionrecreation.com.

MLT Sponsors Horseshoe Crab Lecture

Horseshoe crabs are one of the most ancient animals on earth, as well as one of the most unusual and most useful to mankind. In the midst of the crab’s spring spawning season, the Mattapoisett Land Trust invites the public to join its members and friends on May 11 for a lecture about horseshoe crabs by Vin Malkoski, Senior Marine Fisheries Biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries in New Bedford. We will learn more about what makes this arthropod so unique and important to Massachusetts fisheries and what we can do to ensure that horseshoe crabs continue to visit Mattapoisett each spring.

The lecture will take place at the Friends’ Meeting House on Marion Road (Route 6) in Mattapoisett beginning at 1:00 pm. The presentation is part of the Land Trust’s annual meeting and will follow a potluck lunch at noon, to which the public is also invited.

For more information about the presentation, visit the MLT website at www.mattlandtrust.org or leave a voice message at 774-377-9191.

ORR Students to Attend Boys’ and Girls’ State

Ten members of the Class of 2014 at Old Rochester Regional High School will be attending the Boys’/Girls’ State Convention sponsored by the American Legion’s Florence Eastman Post 280, June 15-21, at Stonehill College in North Easton.

The Mattapoisett Lions’ Club will sponsor Michael J. Wyman, Colin D. Knapton, Callie Gomes, and Ruhi Raje. Lawrence DiCara, Esq., will sponsor Haakon W. Perkins, Robert H. Magee, and Kelly Merlo. The Machacam Club will sponsor Andrew M. Ryan. Also, the Florence Eastman Post 280 will sponsor Renae Reints and Anne Roseman.

To be eligible for Boys’/Girls’ State, a student must be a member of the junior class who has achieved high academic success. Delegates must also show evidence of leadership ability and an interest in the democratic process. At the convention, delegates will study local and state government. They will establish and operate their own cities and town and state government in miniature. This will include forming two political parties, holding conventions, nominating candidates, conducting campaigns, and electing officials. The primary goal of Boys’/Girls’ State is for attendees to develop a better understanding of how State Government functions.

Hockey’s Peterson Wins Major Award

Every year, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association pairs up with the Boston Bruins to award a sportsmanship award to one individual from each high school hockey league in the state. According to the MIAA, the award goes to a player who “best exemplifies the highest standards of fair play and sportsmanship.” This year, Old Rochester Regional High School senior and Rochester resident Garrett Peterson was selected by the South Coast Conference to receive the award.

Peterson, a defenseman who has played ice hockey on the Old Rochester/Fairhaven team for all four years of high school, attended a ceremony at the TD Garden on April 8 to receive the award. He and the other recipients watched the Bruins battle the Carolina Hurricanes, and during the second intermission, he was presented the medal by Bruins legend Johnny Bucyk.

Peterson had good reason to be selected. Sportsmanship aside, he led the ORR/Fairhaven Bulldogs to their first outright South Coast Conference title in 30 years. Along with seniors Cam Severino, Cam O’Connor, Nick Johnson, and Zack Matthews, Peterson led a team of 10 underclassmen (including his younger brother, Zach) and four eighth-graders to a playoff berth, where they lost to Scituate High School in the opening round.

But Peterson exhibited a lot more than just skill: His sportsmanship and hard work left nothing to be desired. Coach Eric Labonte, who transformed an inexperienced Bulldog team into a SCC championship team in his first year, had nothing but praise for Peterson.

“In my 18 years of coaching high school hockey, Garrett Peterson is the most polite, kind-hearted student athlete I have ever met,” Labonte said. “He was always positive, no matter what the situation. He always gave 100 percent of his very best effort and always put his team first.”

In the hard-hitting game of ice hockey, it’s difficult to demonstrate conduct and poise while simultaneously leading a team to victory, but Peterson was able to juggle his responsibilities as a player and as a leader for the Bulldogs. Because of his camaraderie and love of the game, Garrett joins Patrick Haverty as one of two Bulldogs to ever receive the award in its eleven years of existence.

Peterson is an honor roll student at Old Rochester, and will be attending Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he will major in electro-mechanical engineering.

By Michael Kassabian

New NHS Members Inducted

On April 30, Old Rochester Regional High School’s Class of 2014 was inducted into the National Honor Society. The new advisor, Sarabeth Fleming Morrell, held practices for the new inductees and current members for the night’s events. Current members assist Morrell with the very specific induction ceremony, following in the tradition of the years past.

Fifty-one juniors (and a couple of seniors) will be inducted into the National Honor Society this year.  The event was held in the high school cafeteria, where current members aided the event. Guest speakers included previous National Honor Society member Teresa Dall and current English teacher Kathleen Brunelle, as well as current National Honor Society officers.

The National Honor Society strives for leadership, scholarship, service, and character themes that are emphasized heavily through the candlelight ceremony. The inductees are required to pledge their commitment to these values as part of their induction.

The ORRHS Honor Society organizes such activities as tutoring, competition teams for the Honor Bowl, and community service projects around the holidays. Members are also allowed to go anywhere in the school without having to fill out a pass. Some of the community service projects include the annual Blood Drive at the school, as well as the Thanksgiving Food Drive and a Christmas gift campaign aimed toward helping local shelters.

By Jessica Correia

Against Solar Bylaw

To the Editor:

The Marion Spring Town Meeting Warrant has arrived in your mailbox. The warrant contains two solar zoning bylaw articles to be voted on at the May 13 Meeting. Yes, Marion needs good solar bylaws. There is no disagreement on this basic issue. Marion needs to protect our neighborhoods and property values form the adverse consequence of out-of-town solar speculators and poorly sited solar installations in our neighborhoods.

The Planning Board clearly recognizes the need for good, rationally designed and drafted solar bylaws, and plans to deal with this important issue in a way that benefits our residents, neighborhoods, and the town. Marion residents need the ability to install new solar technology. The technology is here. Solar performance should improve as well as the size and costs reduced over time as the technology matures.

The disagreement between the Planning Board and the Energy Management Committee, sponsor of the solar zoning bylaws, is that EMC’s poorly designed and drafted bylaws are clearly not the ones for Marion.

During recent public hearings, the EMC’s proposed solar zoning bylaws have been opposed by Marion Planning Board members. Article 30 is a solar bylaw that allows for the placement of ground and pole mounted solar systems including commercial solar farms, such as those planned for Rochester and Dartmouth, in Marion’s residential neighborhoods. Many South Coast towns either prohibit large-scale commercial farms in residential neighborhoods or restrict their placement to specially restricted solar overlay districts where their impact is more benign. All Marion’s residential neighborhoods, however, having lot sizes of an acre or more will become vulnerable for placement of ground and pole mounted solar installations including commercial solar farms.

Article 31 has to do with “as of right zoning” which would allow the Marion Energy Committee to place a private commercial solar garden on the town’s Landfill; therefore, bypassing Marion’s traditional zoning protections of special permit and site plan review now required for commercial and industrial projects.

These two bylaws contain bad public policy, are poorly drafted, and place Marion residential neighborhoods at risk for commercial solar development. The bylaws throw the door wide open to entice out- of- town solar speculators to shop for cheap land leases to site solar projects in order to harvest the very rich financial and tax subsidies and incentives available for these projects. The bylaws are so poorly drafted (no front or side yard restrictions as an example) that “your across the street neighbor” can install a ground mounted solar system of 900 SF in their front yard. That’s a footprint equal to the size of two city transit buses parked end to end. You will have no remedies under the EMC’s proposed bylaws to stop it. Do you want this in Marion?

The proposed solar bylaws, Article 30 and 31, are not good solar policy and zoning for Marion. Both Articles being rushed by the EMC to Town Meeting for a vote are poorly designed and drafted should be defeated by a NO vote. Wait for the Planning Board to respond with solar bylaws reflecting the needs of our Town. Developing good zoning is a participatory process.

Ted North

Marion

 

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence. 

Solar Bylaw Approval

To the Editor:

We have a lot of rights as citizens of the United States and as property owners in the town of Marion. Let’s paint a fictionalized picture: I’m overlooking the pool from my deck where my two children, their four friends, and our dogs are playing in a joyful (read: loud) manner, enjoying a swim to cool off after playing on our tennis court. There are big ruts in my front lawn from the trailer truck that just came on yesterday’s rainy day to pick-up my 40-foot sailboat from the side yard. The boat’s scheduled pick-up finally forced me to take apart the illuminated Santa’s sleigh in the front yard that the kids love so much. The boat, when shrink-wrapped, is about 18 feet high and takes up about 320 square feet and sits right on our property line.

My brother-in-law is at the table saw in our large garage/shop building his wife a desk for her birthday while enjoying a six-pack of Sam Adams. We’re excited about the arrival of summer and “Back in Black” by AC/DC is pumping through our outside speakers. Life is good.

I only wish my neighbors had more time to chat when I go out for my newspaper each morning.

Back to reality: The way we work as a town, state, and nation is that we have a lot of individual rights, even while that might be slightly uncomfortable at times for our neighbors. That’s why we invented block party barbecues, borrowed cups of sugar, and jumper cables to keep the peace. Unfortunately, despite the wide latitude we have on our property for swimming pools, boats, tennis courts, and garages, the Marion Planning Board appears uncomfortable allowing similar rights for modestly sized, noiseless, and properly screened solar panels.

For example, if I had at least an acre of land and wanted to install some solar panels and posts to hold them up that would cover only 1.5% of the lot size, set them back 35 feet from property lines, and screen it all entirely from my neighbors, the Planning Board would prefer that I still get a special permit to do so. Why? I love the adage, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Could it be that the Planning Board’s hammer is a Special Permit requirement? The reason given by one member, and I applaud his candor, is to retain “the ability to say no.” I do trust that his “the ability to say no” is well intended and for the town’s welfare as he sees it, however, that power is unnecessary for something as benign as solar panels.

Therefore, the answer to whether you can do anything with solar panels on your property, with the exception of putting them on your roof, is “maybe.” When asked what the possible objections to solar panels might be, it was stated that neighbors might object to the sight of the solar panels even while they would have to be entirely screened. There was also a suggestion that these solar panels might lessen the property values of a neighbor’s home. How so? What makes solar panels different than pools, large garages, and tennis courts? We should give solar panels at least equal rights among these structures.

Marion is currently ranked No. 104 among 351 municipalities in Massachusetts in solar capacity per capita. Not terrible, but just my opinion that we should lead in renewable energy rather than follow. The sun’s energy is clean and financially competitive given the incentives. Massachusetts State Law permits solar installations in all zones and limits a town’s ability to regulate them. Marion’s Energy Committee, made up of some of our most admired citizens, has worked hard to come up with reasonable guidelines, in the form of bylaws, which will accommodate both the state law and the character of the town. The simple idea is – if you want to install solar panels, you may do so, by right, if you follow the common sense guidelines without further review from the town. You wouldn’t have to expend the time, energy, and maybe money for drawings and all that jazz that becomes part of a special permit process. Even the preparation for a one-night public meeting is a hassle given the very busy lives that people lead. In short, the special permit is an unnecessary friction that will slow the use of solar panels among our fellow citizens.

I enjoyed my rare visit to a committee meeting. The Board’s members are volunteers and our neighbors; they put in long hours hashing out issues with the nothing but good intentions and their sense of the well-being of the town. They were informed and engaged and the discourse was always civil. There was even some good, appropriate humor coming from the Board despite the disagreements. Despite my appreciation for their professional and studied approach, my preference, in the case of solar, would be for the Board to do what they have done so well in so many other areas: establish clear goals, policies and procedures that protect the town but also give property owners the knowledge, up front, to understand what we can or cannot do on our property. That’s what good planning is all about! I ask you to please attend the Town Meeting beginning May 13 and vote for the Solar Bylaw as recommended by the Energy Management Committee.

Dan Cooney

Marion

 

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence. 

Warrants Ready for Town Meeting

With Mattapoisett voters and town officials set to take up the important and weighty work of Town Meeting starting May 13, two warrant drafts are set for review.

The Annual Town Meeting warrant contains 31 articles this year. One special warrant comes on the heels of two well-known storms: Sandy and the blizzard of 2013.

The Special Warrant is requesting that voters approve the use of free cash to pay the $45,000 cost overruns the town incurred due to storm recovery. This sum will cover overtime, additional personnel, sand, salt, and various other items needed to help the town restore services and roads for residents.

The regular Town Meeting Warrant has several articles that voters will need to pay special attention to during the session. Article No. 3, titled Appropriate for OPEB Liabilities, is seeking $297,720 to meet the town’s obligation in a fiscally sound manner for the cost of post-employment benefits. In essence, if voters pass this article, they will be helping to ensure that the $10.5 million retirement plan in place for former town employees will not bankrupt the town in the future. The present model of pay-as-you-go was recently described by Town Administrator Michael Gagne as unsound. Noting San Jose, Calif., as the poster child of poor fiscal planning –“they have cut fire, police, and other services” – Mattapoisett is proposing to set aside funding annually to help support this long-term financial obligation.

This liability and obligation, along with the $6.5 million health care program in place for current employees, needs careful management, Gagne said.

The Capitol Improvement Committee has ranked the articles proposed, most of which will be paid for from free cash, while other larger line items such as new highway equipment will require a vote to borrow the money needed.

Other articles that the voters may find of special interest are the following: Phase 3 of road improvement programs, $170,000 for tennis court repairs and improvements, the establishment of a “facility assessment committee,” four articles related to water quality and water shed issues, and the completion of sewer work on Mattapoisett Neck.

By Marilou Newell