Beatrice D. Pires

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Beatrice D. Pires, of Marion, died peacefully on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 surrounded by her family. She was the wife of the late Lucien F. Pires, Sr. and recently celebrated her 100th birthday.

            A lifelong resident of Marion, she was the daughter of the late Mary (Correia) and Vincent Pina.

            During World War II, Mrs. Pires worked in the Hingham Shipyard building destroyer escorts for the U.S. Navy. She was also a longtime supporter of the March of Dimes, served as registrar for the Town of Marion, and was Past-President of the Benjamin D. Cushing Post # 2425 Ladies Auxiliary. Mrs. Pires was a private caregiver for local families until her retirement. She was an excellent cook and loved to bake. She enjoyed going to Foxwoods and playing Bingo with her friends.

            She is survived by her children, Glenda “Penny” Alves and her husband Domingo “Bobby” Alves of Marion, Mary Lou Rose of New Bedford, Donald Pires of New Bedford, Lynn Silva and her partner Joey Roderick of Marion, and Wendy Lee Barnes of Wolcott, CT. Also surviving are 10 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandson. She was predeceased by her sons, the late Lucien F. Pires, Jr. and Melvin Pina, and her siblings, the late Julio Nunes, Lawrence Pina, Anne Nunes Fernandes, Joan Gabouriel and Dominga Sequeira.

            Relatives and friends are invited to visit on Wed., May 11, 2022 at Chapman Funerals & Cremations, 2599 Cranberry Hwy. (Rt. 28), Wareham from 8:30 to 10:30 AM. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow in St. Patrick’s Church, High St., Wareham at 11 AM. Interment will be in Mass. National Cemetery, Bourne.

            In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Art in Bloom at the MAC in late June

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The Marion Art Center is pleased to announce Art in Bloom, June 23-25, with a reception scheduled Thursday, June 23 from 5-7 pm. The MAC will host several events over the three-day period. Anyone is invited to create an arrangement for Art in Bloom, and designers may work in pairs or teams. Designers may visit the MAC from now through Wednesday, June 22 and view the current show, Profusion of Color: Abstracts. Choose one of the works on display to inspire your artistic floral creation. There will be only one designer or design team per artwork. Designers may use any available MAC pedestals for displaying arrangements but are encouraged to bring their own unique stand of appropriate size and height. All arrangements should be delivered to the Marion Art Center no later than Thursday, June 23 at 12:00 pm.

The three day festival, sponsored by a generous grant from the Mass Cultural Council, will include multiple workshops and events such as: Cooking from the Garden with Edible Flowers and Herbs, hosted by MAC board president Jennifer Wolfe Webb (6/24 from 11 am-12:30 pm, $15 per person); Artful Flower Pressing with Meagan Souza (6/24, 2:00-4:30 pm, $35 per person); Creating Paper Flowers with exhibiting artist Alyn Carlson at her Hatch Street studio (more details TBA); Presentation on Biophillic Design with Cassy West in the MAC Theater (more details TBA); and more! Registration for workshops will open in early June. To learn more, visit marionartcenter.org/art-events

Mattapoisett Museum Announces Upcoming Events

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May 6, 6 pm – New Sounds of Silents with Southcoast Lessons Come on out for an evening of short films set to both improvised and newly composed pieces brought to you by Southcoast Lessons performers. Free. Space is limited, doors open at 6, show at 6:30.

            May 13, 7 pm – Northwoods – A Special Homecoming Record Release Celebration Adam Hanson formerly of Mattapoisett will be playing songs from his newest album “This Never Happened.” Adam graduated from Berklee College of Music and has since spent his professional years based out of Los Angeles. Since working in LA, he has spent as much time in the studio as the stage. Some of the artists Adam has worked with include David Ryan Harris of the John Mayer band, Anthony Ramos, JP Saxe, Julia Michaels, Lennon Stella, Rebecca Correia, Neal McCarthy, Will Wells, Sean Mendes, Quinn Sullivan, Amie Miriello, Kevin Garrett, and Badsnacks, among others. Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased by visiting www.mattapoisettmuseum.org/events Doors at 6:30.

            May 20, 6-8 pm – Open Mic Night As always, all ages, all genres are welcome. Sing a song, play a tune, do a dance, crack a joke, tell a story…The stage is yours, the musical community is all of ours to share! Free

LWV Luncheon

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The League of Women Voters SouthCoast will celebrate its Inaugural meeting with a special luncheon and distinguished speaker at the Wamsutta Club, 427 County Street, New Bedford on Thursday, May 19 at 12:30 pm.

            Ms. Korinn Petersen, Esq., vice president for Clean Water Advocacy at the Buzzards Bay Coalition, will discuss her advocacy work on behalf of the Coalition in town halls, state and federal agencies and in state and federal courts. Ms. Petersen’s focus is the long-term sustainable use of Buzzards Bay by managing both local and regional projects designed to reduce nitrogen pollution from wastewater.  

            Ms. Petersen is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a BS degree, cum laude, in Resource Economics. She received a Master of Studies in Environmental Law, cum laude, and a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School. 

            Be a part of history, visit our website and help us unveil the League’s new governance model at the Wamsutta Club, 427 County Street, New Bedford on Thursday, May 19 at 12:30 pm. 

            The League of Women Voters SouthCoast champions Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. As always, the League welcomes new members.

            To register for the luncheon and program, contact the League at: lwvsouthcoast@gmail.com by May 10, 2022. To view, the Luncheon/Banquet menu and cost go to: wamsuttaclub.org/functions-banquets-weddings/, scroll down to luncheons and banquets. A cash bar will be available.

Mattapoisett Public Schools

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To the Editor;

            The Mattapoisett Public Schools serve 439 of our town’s children each day– children with a wide range of strengths, needs and hopes. They are vibrant and empirically successful hubs of our community, far from the “money pits” on a “feeding frenzy” portrayed by the Finance Committee during the budget process.

            The School Committee’s budget poses a modest 1.7% increase while inflation has risen to roughly 7%, which is a testament to the School Committee’s work to responsibly allocate taxpayer funds. Investing in our schools is a Mattapoisett tradition that has long paid dividends to all taxpayers in the form of high property values; people perceive our town as a desirable place to live in part because of the success of our schools.

            After certifying nearly two million dollars in free cash last fall and setting our property tax rate comfortably below our levy limit for consecutive years, it’s clear that Mattapoisett can continue fiscally responsible leadership without making cuts to schools.

            The concern about the cost of maintaining two elementary schools is a prudent one, and that debate belongs outside of the budget process. None of our current educators or children had any say in a long-ago decision to support two campuses, but they would certainly be the ones bearing the impact of cuts.

            We ask that the voters of Mattapoisett maintain their tradition of supporting our excellent public schools and vote for the budget that the School Committee recommends by attending Town Meeting on May 9.

            Signed,

Sara Jacobsen, Mattapoisett Educators Association

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.

Tree Throws Shade at First Responders

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Mattapoisett’s Tree Committee is an active and vital volunteer group dedicated to the preservation of the town’s trees and its canopy. Just ask any one of the eight members, and you will hear how important tree preservation and planting is to human life.

            As part of Mattapoisett’s Arbor Day observances that included raising the Arbor Day flag at Town Hall, the committee watched as its gift of a magnolia tree was planted at the Police Station.

            Committee Chairman Sandy Hering explained that the tree and the accompanying inscribed grant marker were in honor and recognition of all first responders in Mattapoisett. The committee wanted to make a strong statement of their support and appreciation for those men and women who sacrifice their personal safety every day in the line of duty and never more so than during the pandemic.

            Hering, along with members Susan Perkins and Mike Immel, pointed out that trees help with drainage by consuming as much as 120 gallons of water each and every day. Trees also improve air quality, clean the atmosphere of dust and provide critical shade. On that singular point, the group said that the tree canopy helps to reduce power costs and consumption by reducing the ambient temperature under their leafy shade.

            In partnership with programs offered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, each year local fifth-grade students are invited to participate in a poster contest. The chosen rendering then is placed in a statewide competition. Hering said that this year the committee was delighted to receive 35 entries. The poster theme for 2022 was, “Be a cool community – plant trees.”

            Arbor Day celebrations have been taking place for 150 years. As pioneers moved westward, they were surprised to find how treeless and open the plains were. The landscape lacked windbreaks, and the winds removed precious soils.

            In the late 1800s, J. Sterling Morton, a newspaper editor in Nebraska City, enthusiastically advocated that the residents take responsibility for tree planting. The request caught on as civic organizations began planting trees. When Morton became secretary of the Nebraska Territory, he spread his message that trees were vital and necessary to the survival of the humankind. In January 1872, Morton promoted a tree-planting holiday called Arbor Day. The rest is an ongoing story of tree planting now across the planet.

            The national organization, the Arbor Day Foundation, notes on its website Arborday.org that in the last 50 years, groups around the globe have been supplied with 500,000,000 trees in 50 countries. Now on the 150th anniversary of this secular holiday, their stated goal is to plant another 500,000,000 but in just five years, “… because the world can’t wait.”

            Arbor Day is a time to remember we share the planet with all living forms with trees being a very grand and essential part. Hering said, “Future generations will thank us for what we do today. Or to put it another way, the author Nelson Henderson wrote, ‘The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.’”

By Marilou Newell

Cell-Tower Proposal Faced with Petition

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The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision regarding granting a special permit for a 190-foot, monopole-style telecommunications tower facility on High Street will have to wait a little while longer.

            Industrial Tower and Wireless LLC seeks a special permit to reduce the required setback distance of 200 feet from other property lines by 50 percent or to 100 feet. The project’s representatives have argued in the hearing that the tower would sit on land owned by A.D. Makepeace, and the closest adjacent property would be 521 feet away.

            Attorney Donald Nagle, who represents 19 of the proposed tower’s neighbors and has given the Zoning Board of Appeals a petition signed by 54 neighbors voicing their opposition, has argued the tower would constitute an industrial use of a residential neighborhood and that the petitioner’s setback request doesn’t comply with town bylaws.

            The zoning panel on April 28 reopened its hearing into the permit request in order to review more public-comment correspondence on the issue, and it ended with a vote to continue the decision until Wednesday, May 4, at 7:30 pm.

            The board decided that for the May 4 meeting two draft decisions will be submitted by Town Counsel Blair Bailey for the panel to choose from, one based on a yes-vote decision and the other based on a no-vote determination.

            Bailey said he has a draft decision ready. The board said they prefer having draft decision(s) in front of them before they take their final vote. Bailey agreed to prepare two decisions covering both vote directions.

            In other action, the board swiftly approved a variance request from Greenwood “Woody” Hartley and Sharon Hartley, who were appealing the requirement that the minimum lot size be 30 percent of the existing living space because of their proposal to expand their home lot, 149 Marion Road, into a multifamily dwelling with an attached garage.

            Woody Hartley successfully argued a first-floor living space will be easier for them as they grow older. They will reside in the attached garage, and their adult daughter who is moving back home, will live in the main two-story house.

            Woody Hartley is a member of the Rochester Select Board, and Sharon Hartley his wife, is a member of the Rochester and Joint School committees.

            The Zoning Board’s next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 4, at 7:00 pm.

Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals

By Michael J. DeCicco

The MAC Announces Three Person Show

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The Marion Art Center is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibit, Profusion of Color: Abstracts, featuring works by Alyn Carlson, Pat Coomey Thornton and Pat Warwick. The exhibit runs May 13 through June 25. Attend the opening reception on Friday May 13 from 5-7 pm, a SouthCoast Spring Arts @ the MAC event. During the reception, learn how each artist approaches her individual creative process, creating stunning visual compositions, which are often full of vibrant color and poetic rhythms. Through mark making, layering of various media, and editing, these artists create works that ignite one’s senses and capture the essence of emotion. Guests will have the opportunity to meet the artists and ask questions. The exhibit will be on display during Art in Bloom at the MAC, scheduled June 23-25. During the three-day festival, guests can view creative floral arrangements inspired by works in the Abstract show and attend various workshops and events. Programs will be announced in late May. Art in Bloom is sponsored by a generous grant from the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. See all upcoming MAC events at marionartcenter.org.

Marion Garden Group Plant Sale

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The Marion Garden Group is hosting its bi-annual Plant Sale on Saturday, May 14 from 9 am to 12 noon, at Bicentennial Park, located across the street from the Marion Art Center. 

The plant sale is a wonderful community service, providing a wide variety of plants at fabulously low prices. Plants will range from as little as $3 to $10.

            Members have been digging, dividing and repotting a wide selection of beautiful perennial plants, herbs and shrubs that have thrived in their local gardens as well as in the town gardens sponsored by the garden group. In addition, a wonderful selection of popular herbs and veggies have been started by Chrissy Maier especially for the sale.

            “We have a generous supply of hardy and well-established plants,” reports Liz Hatch, President of the Marion Garden Group. They include lilies, daisies, trees, ornamental grasses, astilbes, russian sage, mums, iris, hydrangea, roses, sedum and ferns and much more!

            “How wonderful that these plants,” says Ms. Hatch, “will provide years of continued enjoyment. They have been proven to thrive in our coastal climate and sandy soil. What a pleasure to prepare these plants to share with our neighbors at such an affordable price. It certainly is a community service and labor of love to bring this to the townspeople.”

            Plant information and pictures will be provided for most of the varieties for sale. In addition, there will be an informational component to warn and inform about one of our biggest dangers in Marion – Ticks! Come buy and learn!

            The plant sale has been a popular event, typically selling out quickly. Mark your calendar and come early.

            All proceeds from the Marion Garden Group sale benefit the town. The Marion Garden Group plants and maintains the window boxes and planters throughout the village, they have established and maintain many lushly landscaped garden beds for the town and support many local worthy causes, all for the benefit of the town. Please come out and support our initiatives to do more for the town.

            Round out your day after shopping at the plant sale by attending a SouthCoast Spring Arts @ the MAC event! The Marion Art Center is offering an outdoor Paint & Sip Workshop on Saturday, May 14 from 1-3pm (cost is $30.) Paint your very own version of a gorgeous sunflower, led by artist Barbara Healy while sampling some great wines along the way! In the evening, you can attend a Jazz Jam in the MAC Theater from 7-9:30 pm (tickets just $12.) Improvising musicians interpret jazz standards in various style formats, led by trombonist Phil Sanborn. Join as a participating musician, or come to listen in the audience! The MAC is located at 80 Pleasant Street, Marion. See the full 10-day schedule of Spring Arts @ the MAC events and register online at marionartcenter.org/scspringarts.

            The non-profit organization welcomes donations to help support its mission. Contact them at Marion Garden Group, PO Box 403, Marion, MA 02738 or visit their website at: www.mariongardengroup.org.

Affordable Housing Petition Hits Legal Snag

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            The Rochester Select Board met on Monday night, approved the final draft of the warrant for the May 23 Annual Town Meeting and reviewed what might become its most problematic article.
            A citizen’s petition article would authorize the town to enter into a 99-year lease agreement with a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization to build affordable housing on four acres on the south side of Perry’s Lane. The lease price tag would be for $1, and the units would be limited to Rochester seniors and veterans.
            Town Counsel Blair Bailey told the board he has several problems with the petition but cannot suggest changes prior to Town Meeting. A petition article must be published in a warrant as is because the citizens who signed the document were signing onto its exact language.
            Bailey said a particular non-profit is behind the petition but added that this agreement would have to be open to any 501(c)(3), and the town may not be able to restrict the project to town residents.
            His biggest problem with the measure, he said, is that a town cannot enter a 99-year lease. For that, the town would need special state legislative approval, which then would require a separate town meeting approval. “They’ve put the cart before the horse here,” Bailey said. “The town can’t do this without a special act of legislation.”
            Town Administrator Glenn Cannon said the warrant will be posted on the town website (townofrochester.com) this week. The 28-article warrant features a $24,174,626 operating budget for FY23 that includes both town and school expenditures.
            The board attracted its largest audience on Monday, however, for its annual renewal of the Sippican Rod and Gun Club Range Permit. Club members packed the meeting room to standing-room-only level in response to the board placing it as an agenda item for special discussion.
            Club president Andrew Daniel explained to the board that the club is nearly 100 years old, and its practices have met or exceeded mandated safety standards for a long time. “We are very proud of our safety record,” he said.
            Select Board member Woody Hartley explained why he had sparked making it a separate agenda item. “Why I brought this up is that I had no backup information in my packet,” he said. “I never vote on something without having a full understanding of it. Now I am satisfied.”
            In other action, the board appointed town resident Michael Gifford as a new member of the Conservation Commission, issued a citation congratulating Gail Roberts on her retirement after 15 years as director of the Plumb Library and issued a one-day liquor license for an Old Rochester Youth Baseball event scheduled for Saturday, May 21, from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. at the Arch at the Meadow facility, 332 Mendell Road.

            The Rochester Select Board will meet next on Monday, May 16, at 6:00 pm.

Rochester Select Board
By Michael J. DeCicco