Tabor Boy Enters Marion Bermuda Race

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SSV Tabor Boy, the 92’ sail training schooner owned by Tabor Academy in Marion, will be making history on June 14 when she will be crossing the starting line on her way to Bermuda as one of the classic yacht entries in the 2019 Marion Bermuda Race! https://marionbermuda.com/

            The Race Committee expects around 100 boats on the line for the race. Just two vessels will be in the Classic Yacht Division, with SSV Tabor Boy providing some competition for the Spirit of Bermuda, which has sailed uncontested in the past. Tabor Boy will join 18 current entries to take advantage of the incentives for navigating by the stars. Marketing Chair of the Marion Bermuda Race, Ray Cullum of Marion, shared that this is twice the number of entries for celestial navigators as in the last race in 2017.

            Another exciting opportunity for Tabor Boy is the chance to compete for the Offshore Youth Challenge Trophy given to encourage youth participation. The crew must be comprised of at least four people aged 16-23, representing 66% of the crew. Tabor Boy is planning to meet this criteria, with many of the crew experiencing the thrill of offshore sailing for the first time. 

            Marion Bermuda is the only offshore race that offers a celestial navigation class, which is perfect for Tabor Boy and her student and alumni crew who will be navigating the vessel. Twelve students will be joined by seven alumni crew members, three licensed mates, and Capt. James Geil at the helm. Geil reports that nine out of ten celestial navigators on his crew are under age 24, providing a real test of the knowledge of his students and alumni from the classes of 2017 through 2020 who took the celestial navigation class he teaches at Tabor. 

            “We are looking forward to a memorable trip in June to Bermuda. The student crew is ready to go and put their navigation skills to the test in a real-life situation.” said Geil. “We look forward to greeting many of our Tabor friends on the island on arrival.”

            Tabor Boy will host an Open Ship for Tabor alumni, parents, and friends in the area, and any prospective students and their families are invited. The reception will be held in Hamilton on June 23 starting at 5:30 pm.

Estate Jewelry Sale/Appraisals

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The Rochester Historical Society will be sponsoring an estate jewelry sale/gold appraisal on Saturday, May 4from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Rochester Church/Museum 355 County Road Rochester. Joel Gonsalves, jeweler from the Surry Jewelry Service at What a Find in Fairhaven will be available between 9:00 am – 11:00 am to appraise and purchase your gold jewelry. He will also install watch batteries. 

            The jewelry on sale starts at 25 cents and up. Great finds for crafters. Mark your calendars and support your local organizations while getting some great bargains. 

There will also be a bake sale the same day. 

Mattapoisett Woman’s Club Spring Fundraiser

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Are you looking for a different Mother’s Day or thank you gift? Are you trying to show a special person that you are thinking of them? Or do you just want to treat yourself? With warmer weather and longer days; brown turning to green, our thoughts focus on our gardens. Let us help you get started. 

            For $10.00 you may purchase a Pathway to Planting Passport from the Mattapoisett Woman’s Club (MWC). On May 18 & 19, 2019 enjoy savings on your Spring gardening needs. Some local Garden Centers & Nurseries are offering discounts to those holding a Pathway to Planting Passport. 

            Passports are available at the Town Wharf General Store at Shipyard Park, 10 Water Street, Mattapoisett or the Pen & Pendulum at 67 County Road (Route 6), Mattapoisett. 

            All proceeds go to the MWC Scholarship Fund. For over 75 years the Mattapoisett Woman’s Club has been helping young people pursue their educational goals by awarding scholarships to high school seniors from the community. The MWC thanks the community for its continuing support. For more information, contact Sue Mitchell at 508-758-9464

Friends of OR Drama David Boyce Scholarship

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The Friends of Old Rochester Drama are pleased to announce the 4th annual David Bartlett Boyce Memorial Scholarship to honor the memory of a great patron of the arts in all of its various and beautiful forms, as well as an ORR alumni. David was a 1967 graduate of Old Rochester High School, who attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and later completed his Bachelor’s Degree and his Masters Degree from Goddard College in Vermont. David was a lifelong supporter of the arts and arts education. This scholarship, in the amount of $1,000.00, is being offered to a graduating senior of Old Rochester High School who is planning to further his/her education at a college or university of his/her choosing, in the area of the Visual Arts, Creative Writing, or the Performing Arts. Applications are available in the Guidance Department and are due on May 10, 2019. Please mail to Lisa Cardoza, 4 Hawthorne Street, Mattapoisett, MA 02739.

Spring Swing Golf Program

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Mattapoisett Recreation is thrilled to announce the new Spring Swing Golf program. This 4 session program with The Bay Club will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, May 29 & 30 andJune 5 & 6. This is a great way to get ready for golf season. The cost is $125 and registration is open on our website www.mattrec.net. We also have a few spots left in the Spring Tennis session for 8-12 year olds. Sign up today.

Local Luncheon Ladies Unite to End ‘Period Poverty’

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            The ladies who luncheon together every Friday at the Bay Club know how to enjoy themselves. They reserve a long row of tables lined end to end and, on days like May 24, they cram as many seats in as they can while sipping blood orange mimosas and chatting, laughing, and celebrating their fortune of friendship. Sometimes they just have lunch and play a favorite game, LCR (Left Center Right), a dice game involving one-dollar bills that can get pretty exciting when you have over a couple dozen players contributing $5 each to the “center” jackpot.

            Then there are Fridays like this past one when the group’s ambassador of good will, Wendy Russo, invites them all for a special purpose where one small good deed on behalf of the individual suddenly becomes something much bigger when the ladies converge at the table.

            It wasn’t long ago that the purpose of one ladies’ luncheon was to provide baby shower gifts for opioid-addicted newborns born in Southcoast hospitals. A few of those items such as diapers, bottles, and baby booties hadn’t been bought by some of the ladies in quite some time, except for perhaps a new grandchild. This Friday, many of these ladies again found themselves buying products they hadn’t in a while, and they didn’t mind doing it at all. They were products that no woman should ever have to go without, period. Yet, many often do, especially young women still attending school and living in relative poverty.

            It’s a problem, one that Russo had never heard of, and neither had the other luncheon ladies. It’s called “period poverty” and it’s a real thing in this world, even in communities we live in or at least visit.

            According to Brigit Latham from the YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts, one in five girls misses school while on her monthly cycle. It’s just easier for them to stay home while having their period than be in school. It’s also a major disruption to the girl’s academic achievement and growth, and the broader impacts of period poverty include risks of depression, anxiety, and physical conditions like toxic shock syndrome from using menstrual products for longer than the recommended stretches of time.

            Latham is spearheading a campaign with the Girls Exclusive project at the YWCA called “Justice Flow,” which was started as a result of some of the startling confessions from girls at New Bedford schools. When discussing potential changes at school that might improve the girls’ school experience, one girl told Latham, “I’d love to not have to be charged for pads anymore at the nurse’s station,” Latham said.

            “I’ve had to choose between buying a snack or buying a pad,” 12-year-old Jeana reported. Najah, also 12, told Latham, ”Sometimes it’s easier to just stay home when I have my period.”

            “I didn’t know this was an issue,” said Latham. “Access to menstrual products is an issue – a human rights issue.”

            A pilot program was launched to make menstrual products available for the girls, for free, in designated bathrooms throughout the schools. And it’s working. It even brought some of these girls to the State House in support of a bill that would make menstrual products available at all schools to all girls at no cost.

            “These products are not covered by EBT cards, and many of these parents use EBT,” said Latham. “These are families with a household income below $10,000. There’s just not that extra bit to take care of the cost of these products.”

            “I just couldn’t believe it when I heard about it,” said Russo.

            Russo got a message to the luncheon ladies that for this lunch they were to bring in plain paper bags filled with as many boxes of menstrual products that they could, and they did not disappoint. By the time all the guests arrived and squeezed into their spot at the crowded table, there were thousands of these essential products stacked neatly in paper bags, just as Russo requested.

            “This is so fabulous,” said Latham, clearly overwhelmed by the response. “You’re amazing,” she told the group. “I really can’t believe we collected so many in one seating. I’m just speechless.”

            The pilot program includes a workshop on menstrual health and hygiene that students and staff are required to take, and members of Justice Flow are also working towards a statewide movement to achieve access to menstrual products for all girls in schools, prisons, and homeless shelters.

            Because no girl or women should have to worry about how she’s going to get through another month without supplies, period.

            The YWCA is collecting pads and tampons to distribute to the Greater New Bedford Youth Alliance to ensure that not only do girls have access to sanitary products while at school, but also outside of school hours and weekends. Help them end period poverty by donating menstrual products at the YWCA Standish House, 20 South Sixth Street, New Bedford during drop-off hours Monday through Friday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. You may also contact Jordan Latham at 508-999-3255 or at jlatham@ywcasema.org.

By Jean Perry

Edith B. (Barrows) Rehbein

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Edith B. (Barrows) Rehbein, 89, of Marion, died April 30, 2019 at home. She was the widow of the late Roy H. Rehbein and the daughter of the late Stanley and Sadie Louise (Wrenn) Barrows.

            She was born in Milford and lived in Hopedale for many years. She then lived in Middleboro and Carver before moving to Marion 10 years ago.

            She enjoyed bird watching and feeding the birds in her yard and enjoyed collecting New England themed items especially from the Cape.

            Survivors include 4 sons, Craig Rehbein and Fox Keri both of Marion, Glenn Rehbein of Uxbridge and Christopher Rehbein of Wareham; a daughter, Karen Holmes of Cooper, ME; a sister, Dotti Kirby of Orange Park, FL; a granddaughter, Kara Rehbein of Milford.

            Her graveside service will be held at 12:30 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne. Please arrive at the cemetery at 12:15 pm.

Sherlock Holmes’ Mystery at the Manor

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The fifth and sixth grade students from the Rochester Memorial School Drama Club will be performing “Sherlock Holmes’ Mystery at the Manor,” a two-act comedy/mystery adapted from Hound of the Baskervillesby Arthur Conan Doyle.

            Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. John Watson, head to Devonshire, England to solve the mystery of a large hound haunting the neighboring moor. This hound has been rumored to kill anyone who carries the Baskerville name. Charles Baskerville has recently died and his nephew, Henry Baskerville, is set to inherit the manor. Can Sherlock Holmes solve the case before Henry suffers the same fate as his uncle?

            To complicate matters, Charles is said to have hidden a large sum of money at his estate, and an odd collection of characters living in the manor hope to find it. Come join us to see how Sherlock Holmes unravels the mystery at the manor!

            The performance will be Friday, May 3,at 7:00 pm. The show is approximately two hours long. There will be a15-minute intermission between the two acts Friday night. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 to 18. Children under 6 are free. Tickets can be purchased at the door or reserved ahead of time by contacting Mrs. Karen Della Cioppa at karendellacioppa@oldrochester.org.

Mattapoisett Fire Station

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To the Editor:

            In 1957 I was eleven years old. The Mattapoisett Fire Station was just six years old. We were both youngsters. Now we are both old. Neither of us can do what we once could. I can’t, for example, run to the fire station if the fire horn were to blow.

            In those days whoever spotted a fire would call the police station by telephone and the dispatcher would relay the call, also by phone, to the station where the first person to arrive, after the horn blew, would answer the ringing phone and write where the fire was in chalk on a blackboard by the door. We lived a short distance away and I would sometimes be that person. The firemen would arrive, see the message and be on their way sirens blaring.

            Thankfully today our dedicated, on-call firefighters are summoned by modern electronic means. That is about all that is modern at the station house. Like myself, the engines are much larger than they once were and barely fit through the doors to be parked inches between the hoses of one and the ladders on another. There is no place to exhaust toxic fumes generated by idling vehicles and the firefighters carry home toxic substances on their clothing because there are no showers or decontamination facilities thus exposing their families to the same contaminants. Vehicles and other equipment must be stored offsite and there are no adequate restrooms or space for training activities. Health code violations need to be addressed. The deficiencies go on and on. The situation is urgent and the solution will be expensive.

            A few blocks away the town wharves need restoration and facilities upgraded and just down the street another situation is calling for a solution. The Old Rochester High School athletic fields and auditorium are in disrepair and need renovation. That eleven year old who ran to the fire station would enter ORR when everything was new, though the tennis courts I played on were built over a swamp and flooded every time it rained … but I digress. Like me and the fire station, the facilities in question at the school are old and tired from overuse.

            A private group has put together a plan, supported by the school committee, to alleviate the deficiencies. They are warning that the fields are unsafe and could lead to injuries and cancelations of games and possibly the end of the sports programs. The auditorium lighting and sound systems are apparently antiquated and inefficient and potentially dangerous. The situation is urgent and the solution will be expensive.

            As it is with public facilities the solutions will require property tax increases. Difficult choices are in the offing for Mattapoisett voters especially those on fixed incomes or limited means.

            Ask yourselves, when the alarm sounds which way would that eleven year old run.

Dick Morgado, Mattapoisett

The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wandererwill 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 Wandererreserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderermay choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wandererhas the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wandereralso reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.

Pine Island Watershed Walks

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Join the Mattapoisett Land Trust (MLT) for a guided walk on the beautiful Pine Island Watershed lands north of Angelica Avenue and Crescent Beach on Saturday, May 4 and 11, 1:00 pm. MLT is working to preserve 120 acres of forests, streams, freshwater wetlands, and salt marsh in the Pine Island Watershed. Town Meeting on May 13 will consider a grant of Town funds to support this effort. Please come see this spectacular property.

            The walk will begin at the Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. stone foundation site on Angelica Avenue, just after the turn east from Prospect Road. Please park at the adjacent Town pump station or along the roadside. The trail is gentle but be prepared for mud and dress for the weather. Long pants and closed shoes are recommended.

            For more information, please email us at info@mattlandtrust.org.