Food Fees Tailored for Details

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The Marion Board of Health has updated its food-inspection fee schedule, and Marion Health Director/Nurse Lori Desmarais told the board at its April 4 meeting that Marion’s fees remain lower than area towns in some aspects.

The goal, according to Desmarais and Marion Health Agent Shallyn Rodriguez, was to sharpen up the fee structure to be more tailored to specific establishments, be it according to size, its status as a permanent versus seasonal establishment, or a specialty establishment.

Marion has added a Miscellaneous category to address food inspections more specifically, and Desmarais explained the need for an inspection for when new businesses come in and inquire with the town about properties of interest for prospective projects.

Seasonal restaurants are a new category, defined by being open for business less than six months of the year. Marion’s Temporary fee schedule is based on three days or less, while the state Department of Health uses 14 days as its definition of temporary.

Some food establishments are required to follow extra-stringent guidelines for preparation such as sushi.

There will also be a fee schedule for smaller establishments.

Board members Albin Johnson, Dr. John Howard and Chairman Dr. Ed Hoffer were all present to vote their approval.

In a septic update at 38 Rocky Knook Lane, Rodriguez reported on a meeting with the installer and engineer and was anticipating (by April 5) an analysis result. Desmarais received an email stating that the home remains unoccupied.

There are new businesses opening up for which Rodriguez is planning food inspections.

In the Health Director’s report, Desmarais told the board that MassDEP that Ansel’s Café is connecting to Marion’s Public Water system.

Board administrator Maureen Murphy is registering residents for a COVID-19 booster clinic to be held the week of April 15 (date and time TBA). The vaccine has been purchased by the town.

Desmarais is working with Marion Community EMS on a stroke-education-awareness grant application and working with Council on Aging Director Karen Gregory on a May 1 event at the Cushing Community Center.

The South Coast Public Health Collaborative has postponed an April 11, in-person meeting to May (TBD).

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health will be scheduled for Thursday, April 18, at 4:30 pm at the Town House Annex Building.

Marion Board of Health

By Mick Colageo

Colon Cancer – Find It Early!

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Cancer of the colon and rectum is very common. Colorectal cancer will occur in over 150,000 Americans this year. It is the third-leading cause of death in men and the fourth in women. Because it is an “equal opportunity” scourge, it is the second-leading cause of death when combining men and women (just behind lung cancer).

            Very troubling is the increasing incidence in younger people, a phenomenon that doctors cannot yet explain. We used to think that it was very rare in people under 50 unless you had an uncommon genetic risk, but colorectal cancer is being increasingly diagnosed in people in their 40s or even 30s.

            When caught early, it is very curable. The secret is early detection.

            The controversy is how best to detect it early and when to start looking.

            Most cancers begin as polyps, some of which slowly develop into cancer. The hallmark of such precancerous polyps is “atypia,” which can only be proven with microscopic examination. If all polyps are removed, the likelihood of ever developing cancer is minimal.

            Clearly the gold standard of early curable cancer detection is colonoscopy. After a good cleanout, allowing the gastroenterologist to see well, any polyps present can be removed and sent for examination. Ideally, everyone over 40 should have a colonoscopy (five years ago, I would have said over 50). If it is entirely normal, your next one can be in 8-10 years. If polyps are removed, that timetable will be shortened.

            The problem is that no one likes having a colonoscopy. It is really not that bad. When you finish this post, Google “Dave Barry colonoscopy.”

            No matter how much I or your primary-care doctor urge it, not everyone will consent. There are other ways to detect colorectal cancer before symptoms develop, when it is often advanced.

            The commonest test is to check for hidden bleeding in the bowel, which can herald polyps. Of the available tests for this, the current standard is the FIT (fecal immunochemical test), which has only about a 25% predictive value for cancer and advanced polyps when positive. A negative test does not guarantee you are in the clear, and to be useful, the test must be done annually.

            Another option is a stool DNA test, which is much more specific for advanced polyps and early cancers. On the horizon are blood tests that are fairly accurate.

            Key to properly using any stool or blood test is to follow a positive test with a colonoscopy – sadly, only half of people with such positive tests get one in a timely manner.

            Buck up – listen to Dave Barry and just do it. The life you save will be your own.

            Dr. Ed Hoffer is the chairman of the Marion Board of Health, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Medical School. He is Associate Professor of Medicine, part-time, at Harvard and a Senior Scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Mattapoisett Museum Annual Meeting

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The Mattapoisett Museum at 5 Church Street is pleased to announce its Annual Meeting on Thursday, April 25 at 6:00 pm. After a short business meeting, Curator Connor E. Gaudet will regale the audience with the history of the iconic bark, Wanderer, since it was shipwrecked on the rocks of Cuttyhunk Island.

            This presentation is a “teaser” to prepare the public for the launch of this summer’s celebratory exhibit of the 100th anniversary since the Wanderer’s shipwreck, “Wanderer 100: The Afterlife & Legacy of Mattapoisett’s Last Whaler. It explores why the Wanderer has been honored, celebrated and venerated through the years and asks the questions, “Why is the Wanderer iconic?” and “Why do we love her so?”

            This talk at the Annual Meeting is open to all, but only Mattapoisett Museum Members will be asked to vote on new Board Members and changes in bylaws. Self-serve refreshments will be available.

Rochester Women’s Club Earth Day Celebration

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            The Rochester Women’s Club is hosting its annual Earth Day celebration this year with our town-wide street cleanup on Saturday April 20 from 9 -1 pm. The Women’s Club is located at 37 Marion Road. Join us rain or shine for this family-friendly event.

            This year we have two starting points in town. The Rochester Women’s Club at 37 Marion Road and 136 North Avenue at Your Life and Land. Gather with your family and friends at either spot, grab a snack, water and coffee. Receive your supplies, gloves and trash bags and leave your full bags of trash by the side of the road. Please call 508-322-0998 to register and give us your preferred location to clean.

            We will have a dumpster in our parking lot for Rochester residents. Small items will be welcomed. Each family is allowed a few items. No more than two large garbage bags. No electronics, appliances, paint, clothing, toxins, televisions, dehumidifiers, hazardous materials, metal or tires. Our dumpster will be monitored and only the allowed item will be accepted.

            We would like to thank the many organizations and companies for supporting us this year.

Taste of Italy

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The Marion Social Club, 44 Pumping Station Road, Marion, is hosting a “Taste of Italy” dinner on April 21. We will be serving Antipasto, Lasagna, Chicken Alfredo & Chicken Parmigiana. Doors will open at noon for socializing, serving will be at 1 pm. Tickets are $15.00 each and can be purchased by calling Betsy Youngson at 508-295-8253. Cutoff date for purchasing tickets will be April 17. Hope to see you there.

Sippican Prepares for New Leadership

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            The Old Rochester Regional School District needs to find a replacement for Sippican Elementary School Principal Marla Brown, who has cited health challenges with her decision to step away, and a new vice principal, as Peter Crisafulli plans to relocate after the school year for family reasons.

            In speaking to the Marion School Committee during its March 14 public meeting, ORR Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson offered public thanks to both Brown and Crisafulli for their impactful leadership at Sippican and expressed support for them in their future. He indicated that the hiring process for the 2024-25 school year is underway.

            ORR Early Childhood Coordinator Doreen Lopes, who is filling in as acting principal for the rest of the 2023-24 school year, called the experience of day-to-day work with Sippican students and teachers “a gift” and thanked the faculty for its support.

            Committee Chairperson April Nye expressed appreciation for Brown, noting that she had worked inside the building with VASE when Brown was new on the job.

            In the FY25 operating budget public hearing held on March 26, ORR administration presented a level-services operating budget of $7,080,780 for FY25, an increase of $414,587 (6.22%) over FY24 ($6,666,193). The budget was unanimously approved.

            Nelson explained that the drivers in the FY25 budget process included tradition ones such as contractually driven aspects dealing with collective bargaining, but the highest departmental increase is a new bus contract with Amaral that will drive up annual costs by 34% in the first year of the new deal. The FY24 figure of $518,500 rises in FY25 to $719,414, an increase of $200,914.

            Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber broke down the budget process for the committee during the March 26 public hearing, identifying approximately $320,000 in budget offsets and then noting how those offsets can be used.

            On March 14 while still engaged in the budget process, Nelson said that while the ORR District is working within “a level-services ideology,” the district continues to advocate for “what Sippican needs” had prohibitive challenges in the process not existed. That would include the addition of full-time special-education and reading teachers and a full-time math interventionist.

            In her March 14 report, Nye recognized the arduous work done by Barber and Nelson during a difficult budget season. Nye also thanked Marion Finance Committee Chairman Shay Assad for recognizing needs at the school. She thanked Town Administrator Geoff Gorman and Finance Director Heather O’Brien for listening well to the school’s needs. Select Board Chairman Toby Burr, in attendance at the meeting, was also recognized for his support.

            The Transportation Contract was approved at the committee’s March 14 meeting, at which Nelson emphasized the rise in busing costs and that contract’s effect on the overall FY25 budgeting process.

            The current, five-year contract with Amaral expires at the end of the 2023-24 school year. It was originally a three-year deal that was extended two additional years on an optional basis. Coming off two extensions at the same cost, Barber characterized the new bid as essentially a three-year increase. At his recommendation, the board voted unanimously to award the new contract to Amaral.

            Barber said the original bidding process was meant to put all four school districts under one contract, but that scenario was not successful. The revised bidding process was based on a town-by-town basis.

            Nelson called the new negotiations “a difficult process.”

            In other business conducted on March 14, the committee voted to accept a $10,000 FY24 Safe and Supportive Schools Continuation Fund (grant) aimed at supporting social, emotional learning curriculum.

            Nelson used his administration’s report for lighter news, saying that Sippican has made progress on $19,000 in funding for a comfort dog for the school. He also discussed the renovation of the gardens outside the music room and the flagpole area near the bus loop, recognizing the efforts of Jody Dickerson at the Marion Department of Public Works.

            Dr. Shari Fedorowicz, ORR’s assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning, updated the committee on the ongoing literacy program.

            The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is scheduled for Thursday, April 25, at 6:30 pm at Sippican Elementary School.

Marion School Committee

By Mick Colageo

Waiting, Waiting, and More Waiting

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No one likes to go to the doctor. Usually it is wait, wait, and wait some more past your appointed time. If you made the doctor wait that long, he’d send you a bill for the time he had to wait for you.

            Usually stopping by the office just for bloodwork without seeing the doctor isn’t as bad. I had to do that recently. In my case, they had assigned me an appointment the previous time I was there, months ago, for this day at 11:00 am so they should have expected me. I even received a recorded message the day before to confirm that I would be arriving on the scheduled date and time. The message was longer than the time it takes for them to draw my blood.

            First, they said the whole thing in Spanish … what buttons to push to indicate if you are seeing the doctor, having blood work, paying a bill, asking for medical records, etc. I don’t speak Spanish. Then they repeated the whole thing in English.

            There are a lot of Portuguese-speaking people around these parts; I wonder what a person who speaks no English or Spanish would do. Anyway, I pressed the appropriate button which, of course, was the last one on the list. Confirmed!

            The next day I arrived at the appointed time. Usually, I have to pass a personal identification card under a card reader, whereupon a receptionist places a plastic band around my wrist with my medical information printed on it, and off I go into the inner sanctum, the blood lab. A kind phlebotomist stabs me with a long needle, fills a few vials and off I go.

            Not this time!

            The card reader was broken so I had to wait for the receptionist to shuffle some papers and answer the phone. Finally, she asked, “What’s your name?” “I have an appointment,” I said. “A lot of people have appointments.” she responded. “All at once?” I muttered under my breath. I respectfully gave her my name. “Go sit over there,” she barked as she pointed to the dozen chairs in the empty waiting room.

            My momma always told me to do what I was told so I dutifully sat down and waited and waited.

            After what I thought was a reasonable time … somewhat past my appointment … I approached her again to ask if there was a problem. “What’s your name?” she asked. “I need a wrist band,” I said. “I’ll be with you in a minute, go sit over there,” she directed.

            My blood was beginning to boil. I waited. And waited. And waited.

            At full boil, I approach another woman who had arrived behind the counter. I told her I had an appointment for blood work, and that the other woman hadn’t yet given me a wrist band though I had been waiting a long time. “What’s your name “Dracula,” I offered, “just kidding.” She didn’t laugh.

            Yelling over to the first woman, she restated my tale. “I did give him a band,” the first woman barked back as I stood arms, bare wristed, held up high. “Go sit over there,” the second woman instructed.

            Shortly I was called back to the first woman. “What’s your name?” Finally, I received my wrist band long past my appointed time. Almost immediately I was called into the lab.

            “Where have you been?” the phlebotomist queried. “I’ve been waiting for you since 11:00 am.”

            Editor’s note: Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and retired newspaper columnist whose musings are, after some years, back in The Wanderer under the subtitle “Thoughts on ….” Morgado’s opinions have also appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.

Thoughts on…

By Dick Morgado

Mattapoisett Road Race College Stipends

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July 4 will be here before we know it and so will the 52nd running of the Mattapoisett Road Race, “4 on the 4th ” Begun in 1971 by Bob and Doris Gardner, 15 runners raced from Point Connett to Shipyard Park. Since then, the route has changed a few times, and now, over 1000 runners start at Shipyard Park, run through the village and around Ned’s Point Lighthouse, and finish at Shipyard Park. Townspeople line the course and cheer on their friends and family. Proceeds from the race are used to fund awards for college-bound senior athletes from Old Rochester Regional High School. Over the years, more than $200,000 has been given to deserving students. The online application can be accessed via a QR code available at the high school guidance office. The application deadline is May 17.

Professor’s Assistance Sought

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At the end of Monday night’s Mattapoisett Conservation Commission meeting, the commissioners heard from Chairman Michael King, who said that the Select Board was conferring with Christine Hatch of the University of Massachusetts in an effort to learn if soil testing is warranted at The Bogs owned by the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

            The commission had asked the board to provide guidance on whether or not soil testing for hazardous chemicals at the site was necessary after it was learned that during winter storms soils had transferred off the former cranberry-bog site. The property has been undergoing a massive restoration that plans indicate will allow the manmade, agricultural features to return to a more natural woodlands, with passive recreational opportunities.

            King said the lifting of an Enforcement Order issued to the BBC could not happen if and until a determination is made by the board. He did express, however, that he hopes the matter will be resolved soon.

            Hatch is a UMass extension professor and associated director for academics specializing in hydrogeology, water resources and climate change, ecohydrology, and surface-water and groundwater interactions.

            In business handled earlier in the meeting, a Notice of Intent filed by Christopher and Mary Riley, 3 Goodspeed Island, for restoration of the coastal bank was conditioned. Also conditioned was a NOI filed by Beth and David Oberlander, 1 Angelica Avenue, for the construction of a new single-family home.

            A three-year extension permit filed by Karl and Elizabeth Pothier was granted for property located at 2 Holmes Street.

            Two certificates of compliance were issued to William Fredericks, 30 Holly Woods Road.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16, at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell

Goldman, Fiano Key Fast Start

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The Old Rochester Regional High School softball team defeated Wareham, 13-6, on April 6, making their record to start the season 2-0. Tara Goldman and Alex Fiano were named the players of the game. The Bulldogs’ next game will be against Fairhaven on Thursday, April 11, at West Bridgewater.

Girls Lacrosse

            ORR beat Falmouth, 10-7, in the Bulldogs’ season opener on April 2. Kelly Quinlan was named the player of the game. ORR was scheduled to play a road game on Wednesday at Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech.

Girls Tennis

            ORR’s girls’ tennis team dominated Dartmouth on April 5, winning 5-0. Emily Wyman was named the player of the match. The Bulldogs were scheduled to play on Wednesday at West Bridgewater.

Baseball

            The Bulldogs evened their record at 1-1 with an 11-2 victory over Wareham 11-2 on April 6. Freshman Malcolm Bean was named the player of the game. ORR was scheduled to visit Dartmouth on Wednesday.

Boys Lacrosse

            ORR’s boys’ lacrosse team defeated Dennis-Yarmouth, 16-1, on April 1. Caleb Bousquet was named the player of the game. The Bulldogs were slated to host West Bridgewater on Wednesday.

Boys Tennis

            ORR’s boys’ tennis team played at Dartmouth on April 5 and lost 5-0. The Bulldogs were scheduled to host West Bridgewater on Wednesday.

Sports Roundup

By Aiden Comorosky