Academic Achievements

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It is with great pleasure that Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) congratulates Joseph Reardon of Mattapoisett and Aaron Bates of Mattapoisett on being named to the Winter 2024 President’s List. The winter terms run from January to May.

            Luke Mullen of Mattapoisett has been named to Southern New Hampshire University’s Winter 2024 Dean’s List. The winter terms run from January to May.

            Lucas Pothier of Rochester, was named to the Dean’s List at Cedarville University for Spring 2024. This recognition requires the student to obtain a 3.50 GPA or higher for the semester and carry a minimum of 12 credit hours.

            On Friday, May 10, Marion resident Alexandria Sheehan, who majored in Economic Science, was bestowed a bachelor’s degree at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s 155th Commencement Ceremony.

            Luke Couto of Mattapoisett and Geoffrey Smith of Rochester processed at Stonehill College’s 73rd Commencement on Sunday, May 19.

            Torsten Charles Brickley of Mattapoisett, a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering, was named to the Dean’s List for the Spring 2024 semester at Clarkson University.

Town Meeting, Elections and Other Strange News

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            After a short hiatus from my weekly attempt to give you a respite from the important news of the world, I am back.

            I find it difficult to understand how an election is more important than stories about pickleball, porches, phones that make bird calls and cherry trees (alas, Stumpy the cherry tree on the National Mall has met its maker), but I digress. A plethora of candidates’ resumes occupied this space last week. I won’t ask if you missed me, I am no fool. As lawyers are advised, never ask a question you don’t know the answer to.

            Much has happened in my absence. The Town Meeting was held, attracting an audience of 200-plus voters, presumably most of whom were there to debate the never-ending “Big Dig” road project and its “Treegate” component.

            The Town Election followed a few days later. I congratulate the winners and offer my sympathies to the losers. (It occurs to me as a former and experienced elected office holder, perhaps that should be reversed.)

            I do feel obliged to update my readers on other important news that occurred while I was away.

            You will be pleased to learn that Pennsylvania officials announced that Punxsutawney Phil became a father. Babies Sunny, a girl and Shadow, a boy, were born to Phil’s spouse Phyllis (who knew Phil was married?) The blessed event was appropriately announced on Mother’s Day.

            Each spring, Phil makes a prediction based on whether he sees his shadow. I wonder what will happen if Shadow the young groundhog ever runs away, will we have spring forever? Phil’s handlers made it clear that these offspring are not his predictors in waiting. There is “only one Phil,” they said. Does that mean the Phil we know has been the same animal since the 1700s when the tradition started?

            In other animal news, a Pennsylvania man says his emotional-support alligator named Wally is missing. Wally was lost on a vacation trip to Georgia. The man says that “we need all the help we can get to bring my baby back.”

            David Rush, a serial record breaker (which is better than being a serial criminal) from Boise, Idaho, recaptured his lost “Guiness Book of World Records” title by inserting 243 thumbtacks into a cork board in one minute (4 per second). He had previously lost the record to Andre Ortolf, whose record was 191. Rush has 168 world records of one kind or another. His goal is to beat Silvio Sabba, whose current record is 180 titles.

            You think we have problems with our roads … tumbleweeds have taken over areas of Salt Lake City, blocking streets and wrapping themselves around people’s homes, necessitating the city to spend a fortune of taxpayers’ money on police and fire details and on efforts to remove the mess. Tumbleweeds, also called Russian thistle, were introduced by Russian immigrants in the 1870s. The authorities have assured the populous that it is not a Russian invasion.

            Closer to home, 353 ballerinas in tutus set a new world record for dancing on their toes for a full minute at New York’s Plaza Hotel. The previous record was 306.

            To the foodies out there, you may want to rush to Old Bridge, New Jersey, where 500 pounds of cooked pasta … spaghetti and macaroni … were dumped in the woods. The culprits have not been apprehended. A city council candidate called the attempt to clean up the mess “Mission Impastable” and that the perpetrators should be sent to the state “penneteniary.”

            Bon Appetit.

            Oh, and one presidential candidate announced that a worm ate his brain.

            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

Cougars Get It Going against Blue Hills

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Sharon Delancey did her part as a pitcher and a hitter to lead the Old Colony Regional Vocational-Technical High School girls’ softball team to a 17-6 victory over visiting Blue Hills on May 18 in Rochester. Delancey was the winning pitcher, going seven innings while allowing 8 hits and striking out 4 Blue Hills batters. On offense, Delancey went 1 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs.

            Lindsey Bacchiocchi and Patty Spillane both went 2-for-3 to carry Old Colony’s offense. Bacchiocchi batted home a run and stole two bases, while Spillane doubled, had 5 RBIs and a stolen base. Kayleigh Desousa doubled and had 3 RBIs, while Bacchiocchi, Spillane and Desousa all reached base on each of their five at-bats. Faith Young went 1 for 2 and added 3 runs and a RBI, while playing a strong defense in center field with multiple difficult catches in the gaps.

            The Cougars did not fare as well against Tri-County on May 13 or Bristol-Plymouth on May 15, falling by respective 14-2 and 15-3 scores.

            Spillane and Delancey were Old Colony’s only players with hits against Tri-County, as Spillane doubled home a run and stole a pair of bases while Delancey went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs. At Bristol-Plymouth, Desousa had a double and a RBI, while Spillane added a run-scoring hit, and Leah Robitaille drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

            The Cougars carried a 6-9 record into Monday’s home game against South Shore.

Old Colony Sports Roundup

By Logan Hamlet

Committee Seeks Professional Advice

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The committee charged with examining how to combine, replace or rehab Rochester’s Police and Fire stations to alleviate cramped quarters needs expert help to take its planning to the next step.

            Public Safety Building Committee Chairman Arnold Johnson told Rochester’s Select Board Monday, “We need some direction, some professional help in some capacity to whittle down the options. Other than that, I don’t see us gaining ground on this project otherwise.”

            The Select Board said the next step should include finding how other towns with public-safety building projects under their belt, such as Mattapoisett, have organized their planning process.

            The favored option that evolved from a feasibility study completed late last year was to renovate and expand the 26 Dexter Lane Police Station, build a new Fire Station headquarters at 65 Pine Street or on Mendell Road and further down the timeline, build a fire substation on High Street, where a quicker emergency response will be needed when a proposed, 60-unit, senior-housing development is built off Routes 28 and 58.

            With both “hard” and “soft” construction costs and associated costs included, project consultant Ted Gallant said at the time that the two-site plan would cost roughly $32,000,000, and the sub-station plan would bump that cost up to $35,000,000.

            Johnson told the Select Board Monday that this study presented options that would prove too costly for the town to afford. Johnson said his committee was looking at the option of acquiring a prefabricated building to bring costs down to closer to $10,000,000, but the firm that created the study is not interested in helping with that type of construction plan, he added.

            “We need some direction, some professional assistance who knows state mandates and fire codes,” Johnson said. Maybe a professional fire engineer who’s retired.”

            Select Board member Adam Murphy said what has to be done first is reuniting members of the disbanded Feasibility Study Committee in a meeting with people from Mattapoisett (where a new Fire Station opened in the fall of 2021). “Get that group back together,” Murphy said. Johnson said he would set up that meeting right after the Memorial Day holiday.

            Murphy explained that without this expert help at this stage of the process, “we’d have to go out to bid to fully design it.”

            In other action, the board approved member Brad Morse’s motion to put on a Fall Town Meeting warrant an article to change the town clerk position from elected to appointed. A move to change the town clerk to a position appointed by the Select Board failed under a loud “no” vote at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting. It was known at the time that Paul Dawson was retiring from the job; Margorie Barrows was elected last year.

            Interim Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar announced the Council on Aging has received two new vehicles, a mini-van and a 12-passenger vehicle through a $95,000 matching grant award. The town’s share of that grant, $39,000, was appropriated at last year’s Town Meeting, she said.

            The board approved the contract with Iron Horse Structures to install two new salt sheds at the Department of Public Works’ Ryder Road property.

            The board approved granting Szyndlar authority to sign day-to-day documents and grant awards.

            Paul Meunier of Boxberry Lane asked the Select Board’s help securing guest passes to Marion’s town beach. He said not being to access these passes has been a hardship for his daughter, who visits with her two children yet cannot find beach parking. Board members responded they are negotiating with Marion to resolve this problem that other Rochester residents also have had. Murphy explained Rochester has rights to Marion water but not the beaches.

            The Rochester Select Board did not set a future meeting date upon adjournment.

Rochester Select Board

By Michael J. DeCicco

Ann E. Wallace to Read at the Mattapoisett Library

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Former Marion resident Ann E. Wallace will read at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library on Saturday, June 1, at 2:00 pm from her latest poetry collection, “Days of Grace and Silence: A Chronicle of COVID’s Long Haul.”

            Ann E. Wallace, PhD, is the 2023-24 Poet Laureate of Jersey City, New Jersey. As a longtime survivor of ovarian cancer, a woman with multiple sclerosis and one of the nation’s first Long Covid patients, she has lived and written through illness for 30 years. Pain, disability and disease—as well as hope and resilience—have inspired and informed her work as a poet, memoirist, patient advocate and scholar. Her new poetry collection “Days of Grace and Silence: A Chronicle of COVID’s Long Haul”(Kelsay Books, 2024) was written over three years, beginning when Wallace was first sick with severe acute COVID and following her teenage daughters’ and her long journey of recovery.

            Wallace is host and producer of The Wildstory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants by the Native Plant Society of New Jersey and Professor of English at New Jersey City University.

            A reception and book signing will follow Dr. Wallace’s reading. The program is part of the Purrington Events Series. Everyone is invited to attend. The library is located at 7 Barstow Street in Mattapoisett and is fully accessible.

Robert Abele & Mary Moquin at the MAC

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Painters Robert Abele & Mary Moquin will be exhibiting their work at the Marion Art Center, kicking off with an opening reception on Friday, May 24 from 5:00-7:00 pm at 80 Pleasant Street, Marion. The show runs from May 24 through June 28 and will encompass the annual Art in Bloom festival at the MAC, which sees the public selecting a painting and creating a flower arrangement that evokes it. Art in Bloom is scheduled Thursday, June 13 through Saturday, June 15.

            Robert Abele is an American fine artist living and working in the South Coast of Massachusetts. His work captures the essence and beauty of architecture, particularly found in early New England homes. His works in oil also depict the coastal landscape of New England. Gestural & loose, painted alla prima, Robert’s work draws from French and American Impressionism with an affinity to the work of the Ashcan School and an enhanced interest in turn of the century architecture. (Alla prima is an Italian phrase that means ‘at first attempt’. It refers to a wet-on-wet approach whereby wet paint is applied to previous layers of still-wet paint, often in a single sitting.)

            Mary Moquin is a professional artist and teacher. She lives on the Cape and spends part of the year in a remote dune cottage on the peninsula known as Sandy Neck in Barnstable, MA. The inspiration for her paintings comes from observing time passing as the light and shadows fall across the structures there. The structures have transformed into metaphors for meditation. Her work has won numerous awards and has been included in several regional and national juried shows. Mary holds a BFA in printmaking and an MFA in painting from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Her work is represented in Wellfleet, MA at the Cove Gallery, on Martha’s Vineyard at North Water Gallery in Edgartown, MA. Learn more at marionartcenter.org/events.

Girls Lacrosse Peaking at Right Time

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            The Old Rochester Regional High School girls’ lacrosse team built its record to 12-4 with a 12-2 victory over visiting Bourne on May 15 and only had Monday’s regular-season finale on home field against Marshfield before preparing for the state tournament.

Boys Lacrosse

            The Bulldogs lost a close one, 9-8 to Bourne (10-6). ORR’s record stands at 8-7 with the Bulldogs’ final game to be played at Nantucket on Thursday, May 23.

ORR Sports Roundup

By Aiden Comorosky

Water Complaint to Be Heard

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The rearranged Marion Select Board assured 159 Spring Street residents Matt and Jen Christopher that they will be heard, but new chairman Norm Hills insisted the Christophers’ complaint over their water bill be thoroughly fleshed out with representatives from the Department of Public Works on hand and only after he has had ample time to digest the documents presented the board.

            Tuesday night’s meeting of the Marion Select Board still entertained some discussion after member Randy Parker requested that the Christophers state their case on the basis that hearing from them in person will help the board members interpret the documents they will be pouring over until Town Administrator Geoff Gorman is able to arrange a meeting.

            The DPW is recommending the Select Board not honor the Water/Sewer Abatement request of $9,122.34, a four-year bill, primarily because the homeowner did not respond to the DPW’s contact efforts.

            Matt Christopher insisted, based on the mathematics involved, that the billing goes back 18 years on an estimated basis and is wholly inaccurate as to what he should be charged.

            Gorman explained that the system rounded up and down to the nearest hundred. All sides agree that given the new metering equipment, current usage is being accurately measured.

            Jen Christopher said they are “asking for a fair resolution and a fair number.”

            The Select Board did act to disapprove another Water/Sewer Abatement request of $600 coming from 71 Olde Knoll Road. The bill was not recommended by DPW and was attributed to high use without a cause.

            Water/Sewer commitments were approved for $759.65 (final readings May 8), $10,450 April 25 new water and sewer service and $125 sewer reconnection April 12.

            The Marion DPW has been contacted by the Wareham water commissioner to discuss a potential interconnection of the two towns’ water systems, the purpose being to allow Wareham to maintain its current permit (draw level). Such a connection does not necessarily imply a physical connection of the neighboring systems.

            Hills pointed out that Marion’s wells in Rochester, though down for years, are scheduled to soon be up and running. He suggested the town have engineering firm Tata & Howard evaluate the situation and let Marion officials know where the town now stands.

            Parker referenced a situation that had town officials seriously considering a tie-in to Wareham water on an emergency basis after the line in the Sippican River ruptured and drained the water tower.

            Marion had intended to have its rehabilitated wells online by now, but there were problems with the well pumps that have since been replaced.

            Given the prospects for wells online and with the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District as a fallback, Marion officials are wondering if any water connection with Wareham is necessary.

            Marion Finance Director Heather O’Brien explained during a presentation on FY25 water and sewer rates that service and supplies will include an electric increase with three wells coming on line.

            Projected revenue will include $300,000 lost from the departure of Lockheed Martin. In what has been characterized as a “very wet year,” O’Brien said the town is trying to carry a surplus of $100,000.

            The rate adjustment for water will be 1.5% on a rate charge, 1.5% on the first and second tier of usage and a 3% increase on the third tier.

            The Select Board approved O’Brien’s report.

            The board re-organized with Hills back serving as the chairman, Toby Burr as vice chairman and Parker as clerk. Hills will continue representing the board to the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) as a member for 2024-25 and also as member of SRPEDD’s Joint Transportation Planning Group.

            Parker publicly thanked Burr for his year as chairman, sparking applause at the meeting. Gorman, in turn, congratulated Parker on his re-election to another three-year term on the Select Board. “We need more voting,” said Parker, who was not happy with Marion’s turnout of fewer than 900 voters for the May 17 Town Election.

            A DiMinimus Determination regarding the Shared Use Path is no impact according to the Select Board, meaning that the construction project will not threaten wildlife. There are several parcels in Washburn Park with easements that the board believes will enhance the recreational benefits in the park.

            The public hearing for Verizon New England, Inc. and NStar (dba Eversource) for a South Street pole installation that had been scheduled for Tuesday night was continued to June 18 at 6:15 pm in the Police Department conference room.

            A donation of $1,085.40 in art supplies from the Friends of Marion Recreation to the Marion Recreation Department was earmarked for the Silvershell summer program and approved by the board.

            The board also approved adding Sunday hours from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm to Vinodivino’s existing alcohol license at its 154 Front Street package store.

            Three Special One-Day Alcohol licenses were approved for events at the Music Hall: Blackstone Caterers June 13 (6:00 pm to 7:30 pm … 80 guests, full bar); Emery’s Catering June 16 (4:45 pm to 10:30 pm … wedding June 16 beer, wine and liquor), and ICJ Corporation June 29 (4:00 pm to 11:00 pm … 75 people, full bar).

            The board determined after a second read that a proposal for a Music Hall fee increase needs more tweaking with a third read.

            In his Town Administrator’s Report, Gorman recognized Jody Dickerson of the Marion Highway Department and Marion’s DPW staff in a presentation of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) Award for the department’s work on the County Road pavement project. It was one of 10 such awards across the state. The Marion DPW saved the town between $63,000 and $65,000 on berm work.

            Gorman recapped the Annual Town Meeting, thanking the volunteers and noted that voters approved all financial articles. Gorman told the board he is standing by for procurement regarding the Bird Island project, the DPW construction, the new patrol boat, and CPC projects.

            Gorman thanked the DPW staff for its work on the landscaping surrounding the Police Station.

            Memorial Day observances will begin at 9:00 am at the Music Hall with a procession and ceremonies at Old Landing.

            Independence Day parade marching applications are available on the town website and at the Town House.

            The Fireworks Committee still needs to raise “two or three thousand” to hold the event planned for July 6; the committee has until June 16 to call off the event and recover all expenses.

            Gorman publicly welcomed what he dubbed the town’s “rockstar team” of Meghan Mosher and Emily Miller, Marion’s new grant administrator.

            The board voted to schedule monthly meetings through the summer on the third Tuesday of the month. The Select Board summer schedule is June 18, July 16 and August 20, with meetings shifting to the Police Station.

            The next meeting of the Marion Select Board will occur at the Annual Town Meeting to be held on Tuesday, June 4, at 6:00 pm at the Town House Annex building.

Marion Select Board

By Mick Colageo

Rochester Historical News

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This June we won’t be having our regular 3rd Wednesday of the month meeting. Instead, we will be opening our new exhibit: Past Pastimes-How We’ve Entertained Ourselves for the Last 337 Years. This exhibit is supported by the Rochester Cultural Council, a local agency, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. This exhibit will showcase the toys, games and activities that residents of Rochester have enjoyed through the centuries. Some will be items that are lost in the midst of time while others will show how they’ve adapted and changed over the years.

            In addition, on this same weekend, June 22 and 23 from 10-3, we will be holding a Historic Fair with a Colonial Flair. You’ll be able to enjoy watching Colonial living history along with old fashioned games and crafts. There will be music, a treasure hunt, a scavenger hunt and more. The fair is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. There will be lots of activities for children and adults and a bake sale.

            July 17 will be music and an ice cream social at 7:00 pm in our cool downstairs. The weekend of August 3 and 4 will be our annual yard sale. Hope to see you at our upcoming events.

Mattapoisett Memorial Day Ceremony

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The American Legion Post 280 and The Tri-Town Veterans Office would like to invite all to attend the Annual Mattapoisett Memorial Day Ceremony. The ceremony will be held at Center School at 17 Barstow Street on May 27 at 1:30 pm. Our guest speaker is Pete O’Brien USMC (Ret) as well as performances by the Old Hammondtown Band and the Showstoppers. Please come out to support our community and to remember those who have fallen in service to our Country.