Marion Faces Unemployment Claim

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The Marion Board of Selectmen was dismayed by news that the Town of Marion may have to uphold an unemployment claim as well as take on the malpractice insurance for the affiliate hospital’s medical director. Town Administrator Paul Dawson opened both topics for discussion at the Board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, January 8.

            Dawson told the Selectmen that he was not asking for them to take any actions yet, since both matters require more research and legal counsel.

            In the first matter, Dawson said that an unemployment claim has been made against the town by an individual who resigned back in December of 2011 before taking a job elsewhere.

            “This person voluntarily left. We didn’t ask them to leave; they were a good employee,” Dawson said.

            However, the individual is no longer employed at what Dawson referred to as the “greener pastures” job and has therefore filed for unemployment benefits. Because the Town of Marion is a reimbursement community, there is a legal loophole, which requires Marion taxpayers to use their unemployment line item for this individual.

            Neither the Selectmen nor the Town Administrator found this acceptable.

            “I’m going to continue to work with Representative Bill Straus’s office,” Dawson said. “I’m drumming up awareness to what I feel is a really unfair and glaring loophole … the bigger problem needs to be addressed at the state level.”

            In the second matter, which Dawson described as “in the same vein, but not really,” the Town of Marion is facing a new EMS hospital affiliation agreement. Dawson has received the new agreement, which, reportedly, the Southcoast Hospitals Group would like to renew each year. Dawson said that he was immediately alarmed by some of the language in the contract.

            The contract, he explained, would require the Town of Marion to list the affiliate hospital’s medical director under their insurance policy for malpractice. This medical director is responsible for the EMTs and paramedics servicing the town, who work under the director’s license.

            “That’s an enormous liability and an enormous cost,” Dawson said.

            The contract is also unprecedented. The town employs its own physician as a medical director, for example, but does not pay for the malpractice insurance. In the contract presented by the Southcoast Hospitals Group, the town would pay for the malpractice insurance of a medical director who is not employed by the town. Furthermore, the contract is only for Tobey Hospital. The Selectmen do not know if they will be asked to do the same for the medical director at St. Luke’s Hospital, to where the ambulances sometimes take patients.

            Dawson said that the Town of Marion is not alone, however. He has spoken with the administrators for other troubled towns that have also been recipients of contracts from the Southcoast Hospitals Group, which contain similar language. Dawson is not sure if other hospitals are presenting similar contracts to their affiliated towns.

            “There’s language in [the contract] that’s just wrong,” Dawson said. “We really need to negotiate it.”

            Dawson has forward the contract to Jon Witten, the Town Counsel, for review. The town’s insurance company has also seen the contract, by which they are troubled, although Dawson is awaiting their formal comments.

            Dawson did not want to extend the conversations about either the unemployment claim or the hospital affiliation agreement until he has finished conversing with his colleagues, legal counsel and the insurance company. He will approach the Board of Selectmen to hold an executive session once he has received replies, in which he hopes to fully inform the Board as to the nature of both situations. This executive session will be critical for the hospital affiliation agreement, which the Selectmen intend to negotiate.

            In other business, the Board carried a motion to make eight appointments, seven to the Fireworks Committee and one to the Marion Affordable Housing Trust. Selectman Jonathan Dickerson reported that the Fireworks Committee has already seen a good response to their fundraising efforts.

            The Board also voted to approve that Marion Social Club’s request for a one-day all-alcohol license for their clam boil on Sunday, January 27 from 12:00 to 4:00 pm.

            Lastly, the Board approved Copper Medal, LLC’s request for revision of sewer allocation. Copper Medal, LLC had gone before the Marion Planning Board on Monday, January 7 to rescind a definitive subdivision plan and to seek approval for an ANR plan, which would combine a different pair of lots.

            “We would like to have [sewer] service for eight bedrooms on one lot and five bedrooms on the other,” said Richard Schaefer, the representative for Copper Medal, LLC. “We would like to reduce the capacity from 15 to 13. The other [sewer stump] would be deactivated.”

            Selectmen Jonathan Henry and Stephen Cushing voiced their approval of Schaefer’s handling of the project.

            “Certainly with the frontage is a better deal,” Selectman Henry said. “It’s much more classic and generally what we try to do here.”

            He recommended that Schaefer mark the third sewage stump as deactivated and not to pull up anything.

            “All you’re doing is creating the potential for something to go wrong,” Selectman Cushing agreed.

            The Board voted to approve the sewer allocation revision as per the recommendations of Robert Zora, DPW Superintendent.

            Lastly, Dawson informed the Board that a claim has been filed with the town’s insurance company for damage to the harbormaster’s vessel that happened back in August during the rescue of a stranded vessel. After the rescue, the harbormaster noticed that the outboard engine was making a knocking sound on the starboard side. Because it was the end of the boating season and the weather turned foul with Hurricane Sandy, no action was taken to repair the outboard. On December 20, however, it was discovered that the outboard motor had broken teeth on its lower gears.

            “We believe that it happened at that time [August] due to the wave jumping action during the rescue,” Dawson said.

            The cost to repair the outboard engine is estimate between $2,500 and $3,000. Dawson is currently working with the insurance company to organize the vessel’s repair.

            The Marion Board of Selectmen will meet again on Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00 pm at the Marion Town House.

By Anne Smith


Deer Woods Plan Might Change

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David Nicolosi was back before the Mattapoisett Planning Board on Monday, January 7, seeking guidance for his plan to create a development off Deerfield Road.

In previous meetings, Nicolosi presented a proposal for a series of estate-style lots spread out over Lots #33, 34, and 42B on the Assessor’s maps.  That plan would call for the construction of about 10 houses in the area.

Nicolosi came to the board with a new plan that would reduce each lot size and increase the number of houses built in the subdivision.

The new plan would allow four estate lots while maximizing the density for the rest of the property by building several multi-family homes.

“It would be similar to a townhouse or a quad.  They would be rentals,” he said.

Nicolosi has been investigating different possibilities for development of the land for the last few months.  His first plan also included about 30 acres of conservation land near the center of the property, prohibiting development there.  Cost of development has caused him to consider other options than what he originally proposed.

Nicolosi requested the Board table discussion of his first estate-lot plan so that he could focus on developing his new plan that includes construction of multi-family homes.

 In other business, the Board gave its blessing for a Form A application filed by Anthony and Karen Almeida and Gail and Peter Elen.  The applicants were seeking to make minor changes in the delineations to their properties at 1 and 3 Ocean Drive, respectively.

The Board also held a site plan review for an application regarding the construction of a storage facility on Marion Road.

“There will be no plumbing and only minimal electrical running to it,” said engineer Doug Schneider.  The storage facility will have 40 units, each measuring 10 feet by 10 feet.

The Board was amenable to the plan but member John Mathieu expressed his concern over adequate space for the movement of fire trucks in the event of an emergency.

“I’d also like to know for sure that this is approved use,” Mathieu said, who requested formal authorization from the Building Department and Fire Chief Murray regarding use and space of the area.

As a result, the hearing was continued until the Planning Board’s next meeting on Monday, February 4, 2013.  There will be no meeting on Monday, January 21, 2013 due to the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

By Eric Tripoli


Subdivision Rescinded, Replaced with ANR Plan

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The Marion Planning Board held a public hearing for Copper Medal, LLC at their regular meeting on Monday, January 7. The subject of the hearing was the rescission of a definitive subdivision plan that had been approved by the Board on July 20, 2009.

Dave Davignon, the representative of Copper Medal, LLC, the developer, explained that there were originally six lots. One, which did not appear on the map used in his presentation, had been sold. Of the remaining five lots, one had been divided into two. This subdivision was the focus of the hearing.

In the 2009 subdivision plan, two lots were created from a seven-acre parcel of land. A road, to be called Sea Haven Lane, and a drainage area were to be constructed before houses could be built on the lots. However, the lots were never sold; neither was the road nor the drainage area constructed, Davignon said.

“The purpose for Sea Haven Lane was to construct frontage for a secondary lot from that seven-acre lot,” Davignon said. “By eliminating the roadway, we would have sufficient frontage along Converse Road. It’s more a procedural thing than anything else this evening.”

Only two abutters were present at the public hearing, one of whom represented the Sippican Lands Trust. Both asked the Planning Board for clarification of what Davignon was requesting of the Board for that evening. Their concerns were largely about potential development on the land, such as where on the lots any houses could be built, and where the wetlands were delineated. The abutters were informed that the Board only was concerned with, at the moment, the rescission of the definitive subdivision plan and, after the conclusion of the public hearing, the submittal of an ANR application for some of the lots.

The Board unanimously voted to rescind the 2009 definitive subdivision plan and closed the hearing.

Next, the Board heard the ANR application from Davignon on behalf of Copper Medal, LLC. The ANR plan would combine two of the five lots which the developer still owns.

“We’re consolidating two of the three lots to the south [of the lot that had been previously subdivided],” Davignon said. “The purpose of the ANR is to reconfigure those five lots and consolidate them to four. The middle lot, nearly eight acres, would be purchased by a buyer looking to build a single-family home.”

The Board unanimously voted to approve the ANR plan, although it will be held by the Board until the end of the 20-day appeal period for the rescission of the definitive subdivision plan.

Davignon informed the Board that, in about a month, he would most likely return with an application for a special permit to construct an association pier.

In its other business, Chairman Jay Ryder read an excerpt from a letter addressed to the Marion Board of Selectmen, in which the Town of Marion was recognized as being in the top three municipalities in the annual town report contest. The award was of little surprise to Ryder.

 “There’s a lot of information in [the report] and it’s very well organized,” he said. “I love writing the Planning Board summary for it.”

The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board will be held on Tuesday, January 22 at 5:00 pm in the Marion Police Station Community Room.

By Anne Smith

Town Hall Repairs Well Underway

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Repairs to the Rochester Town Hall are well underway.  The project, which was approved at the Fall Town Meeting in November, is currently in its first phase.  Town Administrator Richard LaCamera updated the Board on the project’s status during their regular meeting on Monday, January 7.

“The project is moving along very well,” said LaCamera.  “Everything is going good.”

The first phase of the project includes replacing the shingles on the roof.  It should be finished by end of the week, LaCamera said, thanks largely in part to the cooperative weather.

The second phase of repairs will include replacing the windows and the siding on the building.

In other news, Grant King from SRPEDD briefed the Selectmen on a public workshop that will be held in the coming weeks.  The workshop will inform all interested citizens on how they can change the priority protection and development areas outlined on the map that was established five years ago.

“This is just a courtesy call,” said King.

Every five years, a representative from SRPEDD visits its 27 communities in order to update their maps.  Once the workshop is held, the town will have a chance to change the maps to honor which lands they would like to be protected and which to be developed. After the workshop, a new map will be drafted for the Selectmen to endorse.

“We’re hoping to have as many people participate as possible,” said King.

Town Clerk Naida Parker announced that both nomination papers for the upcoming election and dog licenses for 2013 are available at Town Hall to be picked up.

The Rochester Board of Selectmen will meet again on Monday, January 14 in Rochester Town Hall at 7:00 pm.

By Katy Fitzpatrick

 

 

Hockey International at Tabor

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On Sunday, January 6, the Tabor Academy Varsity B Hockey Team hosted Academie St. Louis from Quebec, Canada for a non-conference game.  Once a year, a team travels down from Canada, and while the Seawolves were not victorious, the game proved to be a learning experience for the players facing off in an international match up.  Check out our action shots from the game!  Photos by Felix Perez.

 

Eye Protection Required

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Squash is more than just a gourd.  It’s a fast-paced competitive sport enjoyed by people all over the world.  Though it may not be as popular as basketball or soccer, its players and fans are fierce and loyal.  At Tabor Academy in Marion, the love for the game has been strong for decades.

“I don’t care about winning.  I care about kids playing because that’s how you get better,” said Connie Pierce, who heads up player development for Tabor Academy’s junior varsity women’s squash team.

Most of the kids she works with don’t come from a background rife with intense, weekly squash lessons.

“Squash courts aren’t available to everybody,” Pierce said, citing the popularity of sports like tennis and basketball, which tend to get more public space for play than many sports.

Pierce herself was a competitive tennis player before discovering squash.  She was living around Manchester, England in the 1970s when a friend invited her to play a game in an old airplane hangar.  She’s been with the Tabor program since the 1980s, and her colleagues and players lovingly refer to her using nicknames like “Squash Mother” and “Mother Hen.”

There is an instantaneous appeal to the game of squash.  Small, oval-shaped rackets are used to hit a rubber ball slightly bigger than a golf ball.  The players volley back and forth, hitting the ball against the wall opposite their positions.

“Most people, if they do it when they’re younger, they play most of their life,” said Tabor Academy varsity head coach Will O’Leary.  He was a hockey player in his youth who played squash for fun.  O’Leary has been coaching for about six years and is in his second year at Tabor.

The program at Tabor is decades old and the original wooden courts are still standing on the campus.

“We don’t usually go in there too often to play because the game has changed so much since then.  We call that the dungeon.  These are the newer courts,” O’Leary said as his players warmed up in the white and plastic boxes at the athletic center on Saturday before a tournament against Phillips Exeter Academy.

Tabor senior and varsity team member Delaney Teceno had never played squash before arriving for her freshman year.  Before ninth grade, she’d been a soccer and tennis player, but an injury during her first year at Tabor forced her to quit the soccer team by her junior year.

“My dad had played squash a few times and he recommended I give it a try,” Teceno said.  She joined the junior varsity team during her freshman year and was hooked.

“I’d never had that.  It was something I wanted to get really good at,” she said.

She progressed quickly, getting moved to the varsity team by the middle of her sophomore year.  Since she began playing tournaments last year, she has been nationally ranked as #78 best female player under age 19.

This season, she has her work cut out for her.

“I’m playing girls who are much better than me.  A lot of them have been playing all their lives.  So far I’m holding my own,” she said.

The thrill of the challenge is shared by the whole team.

“It’s much harder here at the high school level,” said freshman varsity player Karina Lazaro.  The Brooklyn, New York native has played squash for about five years.

“I find it very interesting.  Nobody really knows what it is but it’s a great opportunity to play,” she said.

Pierce sees it as a learning opportunity as well as a time for fun.

“They go from knowing absolutely nothing to being able to keep the ball in play.  It’s amazing,” she said.  She also works with student helpers, who provide assistance to the team in a variety of ways.

“It’s great.  I can send them to the weight room to work with other players.  It gives them leadership and service opportunities.  Maybe we’re training future coaches,” said Pierce.

By Eric Tripoli

Science And Community Service Converge

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Back in 2012, Sippican School sixth-grader Julia Winters was in Vermont with her mother, Christine, when they decided to stop at the King Arthur Flour company.  The younger Winters, who has a budding passion for cooking and baking, was interested to see the home base of a familiar brand.

“They have a store and a mini-kitchen where they show you how to make certain foods,” she said.

Weeks later, her mother was surfing around the company’s website and found a special program that combined education with community outreach.

The “King Arthur Flour Life Skills Bread Baking Program” seeks to teach young students about the inner workings behind baking bread and it gives them the tools to help their communities with their new-found knowledge.

“We thought it’d be a nice way to show the kids at Sippican School the science behind bread,” said Julia, who also has a food blog dedicated to her culinary experiments.

Her mother, who is on the Marion School Committee, decided to help float the idea to the school’s administration and broached it to Sippican School principal, Evelyn Rivet.

“During the summer, we sent emails out to people like [ORR Junior High principal] Kevin Brigioli and [Assistant Superintendent] Dr. Elise Frangos.  Mrs. Frangos investigated further and found that there was a community service aspect to the project,” said Rivet.

Here is how the program works.  Representatives from the flour company hold a special assembly for the students, where they learn about the bread-making process, including the chemical reactions associated with the use of yeast.  At the end of the assembly, the students are given two bread-making kits with all the ingredients.  They bake one loaf for their family and one loaf to be distributed to a community outreach service chosen by the school.

There was one catch:  Sippican School didn’t meet the minimum number of required students in order for the program.

“We managed to get other schools involved, so students from Sippican School, ORR Junior High, Old Hammondtown, and Rochester Memorial School will all be baking bread,” said Rivet.

“I’m very excited for it because it’s learning and it’s helping others.  It’s like two-in-one,” said Winters.

All told, about 900 students across five grades will be taking part in the baking activity.  The donated loaves will be distributed to four South Coast community groups: the Marion Council on Aging, Friendship Table, Mercy Meals & More, and PACE.

“This is an amazing project,” said Rivet.  “It’s a wonderful way to connect education and community out-reach.  It involves science and math but has such a far-reaching effect.”

The assembly will be held at Sippican School on January 10, where Winters herself will be assisting the flour company representatives in their presentation.  The students will then receive their kits to be baked that weekend for distribution on January 14.

By Eric Tripoli

Ada (Heuberger) Moss

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Ada (Heuberger) Moss, age 90, of Kingston, passed away peacefully with her family by her side at her home in Kingston on Friday, December 28, 2012.

Born in New Bedford, the daughter of the late Helmuth and Ellen (Fowler) Heuberger, she lived in Mattapoisett for 37 years, moved to St. Johnsbury, VT for four years, and spent her last 50 years in Duxbury and Kingston.  She was the wife of the late Wilfred Moss.

A graduate of Fairhaven High School, Ada married in 1944, raised four children, and traveled the world in her later years.  A high energy fitness buff blessed with excellent health, she was a Life Member at Rockland Country Club, played her last round in May of this year, and as an adult went to the gym regularly through her 90th year.  She played duplicate bridge for over 50 years and always strove to keep her mind and body active.  Most of all, she loved her role as a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  A lifelong member of the Congregational Church, she was a member of churches in Mattapoisett, St. Johnsbury, and for 50 years, of the Pilgrim Church in Duxbury.

Survivors include two sons and two daughters: Thomas Moss and wife Carol of Hingham and Mattapoisett, Patricia Moss of Newport, RI, Christine Bettencourt of Carver and Andrew Moss and wife Liz of Plymouth; one sister, Ellen Downing of Mattapoisett; six grandchildren: Victoria Bernstein and husband Todd of Hingham and Plymouth, Robin Moss of South Boston, Matthew Bettencourt of Carver, Alicia Moss of Abington, Andrew Jr. and Robert Moss both of Plymouth; two great-grandchildren: William Bernstein and Charlotte Bernstein; and many nieces and nephews.  She was the sister of nine siblings, all of Mattapoisett: the late Gladys Ellis, Ruth Heuberger, Beryl Roylance, Albert Heuberger, William Heuberger, Chester Heuberger, Milton Heuberger and Helmuth Heuberger, Jr.

Visiting hours were held at the Shepherd Funeral Home, 216 Main Street, (Route 106), Kingston, on Wednesday, January 2, 2013, from 4:00-8:00 PM.

Her funeral service was held at the Pilgrim Church of Duxbury, 404 Washington Street, Duxbury, on Thursday, January 3, 2013 at 10:00 AM.

Burial followed at the Cushing Cemetery, Mattapoisett at 12:30 PM.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Ada’s memory may be made to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen Street, Framingham, MA 0170

For online condolences, please visit www.shepherdfuneralhome.com

Rochester Annual Election Information

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The Town of Rochester’s Annual Town Election will be held on Wednesday, April 10, 2013.

The Polls are located at the Council on Aging Senior Center on Dexter Lane.

The last day to take out and return nomination papers is Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 4:30 pm.

The last day to register to vote at the Annual Town Election is Thursday, March 21, 2013.  The Registrars of Voters will be open for Voter Registration from 9 am to 8 pm on March 21.  Residents may register in person at the Town Clerk’s office or by Mail in Voter registration forms.

LIST OF POSITIONS ON BALLOT

Board of Selectmen – 1 position – 3 years
Brad Morse, incumbent
Board of Assessors – 1 position – 3 years
Diana Knapp, incumbent
Highway Surveyor – 1 position – 3 years
Jeffrey Eldridge, incumbent
Constables – 2 positions – 3 years
David Hughes, incumbent
Leo Dalbec, incumbent
Board of Health – 1 position – 3 years
Glenn Lawrence, incumbent
Cemetery Commission – 1 position – 3 years
Leo Dalbec, inclumbent
Park Commission – 1 position – 3 years
Incumbent (Philbrook) resigned, Chris Faustino appointed till 2013
RMS School Committee – 1 position – 3 years
Sharon Hartley, incumbent
ORR School Committee – 1 position – 3 years
Peter Bangs, incumbent
Water Commission – 1 position – 3 years
Richard Charon, incumbent
Planning Board – 2 positions – 5 years
Ben Bailey, incumbent
Incumbent resigned (Healy)– Robert Francis appointed until 2013

 

Caught on Video in Rochester

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On December 27 Rochester Police were called to Lloyds Market on Hartley Road after store owners realized that a book of lottery scratch tickets had been stolen from the store.

Rochester Police turned to the state-of-the-art video security system in the store for clues on who the suspect may be. The extensive video surveillance system captured the suspects arrival in a pickup truck, the theft and concealment of the lottery tickets, and the suspects departure route as clear as day on tape.

Using the high quality video, Rochester Police Officer Donald Kemmett and Sgt William Chamberlain were able to identify the suspect with some help from the Acushnet Police. They have filed charges against Dina M. Tripp, 39, of Main Street in Acushnet for shoplifting more than $100. If convicted, Tripp could be punished by a fine up to $1000 or by imprisonment in the house of correction for up to 2 1/2 years, or by both.

Rochester Police Chief Paul Magee said that this case most likely would not have been solved if it were not for the elaborate security and video system inside and outside of Lloyds Market. Chief Magee also said several other Rochester business owners have installed similar systems that have resulted in criminal cases against suspects.

Police previously charged an employee of a local restaurant with larceny after video evidence linked him to the theft of money from the business and they also charged another individual who was caught on video stealing a purse from an unlocked vehicle outside a local store.