BBC Bog Trails

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The Buzzards Bay Coalition invites you to join us for a public meeting on Thursday, April 25at 6:00 pm at the Center School Cafeteria, 17 Barstow St., Mattapoisett, to learn about a project to restore wetlands and improve trails at the Coalition’s popular Mattapoisett Bogs property on Acushnet Road.

            The Coalition acquired the 220-acre property from Decas Cranberry Company following their agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) to permanently retire the cranberry bogs and to restore natural wetlands on the property. GZA Engineering will help design this ecological restoration project in conjunction with partners at the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration and USDA-NRCS.

            Wetland restoration will be primarily focused on the 57 acres of retired cranberry bogs on Acushnet Road. GZA will assist with reviewing existing data and developing three conceptual alternatives, all of which will incorporate trail linkages that will improve public walking opportunities at the site. Alternative designs will be prepared this spring, and the Coalition plans to move forward into more detailed engineering and permitting this summer.

MLC Peter Hodges Memorial Scholarship Award Recipients

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James Nadeau, President of The Mattapoisett Lions Club, one of the 45,000 Lion’s Clubs around the world, is pleased to announce that Claire Noble Shriver and Mia Quinlan, both seniors at Old Rochester Regional High School, are the recipients of the 2019 Mattapoisett Lion’s Club Peter Hodges Memorial Award in the amount of $2,500 each.

            Claire Noble Shriver will be attending Georgetown University in the fall and majoring in biology. She is recognized as the result of her work in community service, her goals upon graduation, and her academic record.

            Mia Quinlan will be attending Texas A&M in the fall and majoring in marine biology. She is also recognized for her exemplary dedication to community service as well as her career goals and academic record.

            Funds for this award are raised through the efforts of Mattapoisett Lions at their annual Harbor Days Arts and Craft Festival and other events. For information on how to join the Mattapoisett Lions Club please go to www.mattapoisettlionsclub.org. 

Highlighting Trees in Mattapoisett

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The Mattapoisett Public Library and the Mattapoisett Tree Committee have teamed up to highlight trees this month with displays in both the Children’s and the Adult sections of the library. The displays feature the many books that the library has about trees, both fiction and non-fiction, and information about trees and their care as well as information about the Tree Committee and the work they do to qualify for Tree City USA awards each year. Stop by the library to view the books that are available to check out anytime.

Poet Dzvinia Orlowsky to Read

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Everyone is invited to hear award-winning poet Dzvinia Orlowsky on Saturday, April 27at 3:00 pm. She will have copies of her new book “Bad Harvest” available for purchase and signing.

            Dzvinia Orlowsky is a Pushcard Prize winner and founding editor of Four Way Books. She has published six collections of poetry. She serves as Contributing Poetry Editor for Solstice Literary Magazine and teaches at the Low Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at Pine Manor College and at Providence College.

It All Began in Sixth Grade…

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            Standing behind a table covered in equipment and with a projection screen ready to go, John Berg, inventor, scientist, and engineer, prepared for his presentation at the Mattapoisett Museum on April 11.

            The assembled had come to hear Berg speak about the LED lighting system he and his team at Carpe Diem, a Franklin company he helped to found, had developed to light the tower commemorating the lost souls of September 11, 2001. And while they certainly heard about the technology involved in supplying the monument with a beam powerful enough to be seen 50 miles away, they also heard a man tell an amazing story of a creative mind constantly spinning new solutions to modern problems.

            Berg began at his beginning, as a boy being raised in Dartmouth by a working-class family. He said he was always trying to find solutions to problems he faced, like weeding the garden. The youngster with the unrestrained imagination found a solution – why not use the geese raised on the property to do the work for him? Berg explained the mechanics.

            “I built a cage to contain the geese, then they would eat the weeds.”

            The moveable living weed whacker was created, giving the boy the freedom for other projects.

            In sharing this first tidbit, Berg said his presentations have been primarily for school children – children who he was trying to excite and encourage to get involved with S.T.E.M. programs. But he was also exposing the development of his own creative process, one where boundaries truly could be leapt if only one tried.

            When he was in the eighth grade, he became fascinated with space travel. He watched the popular TV programs of the time, such as Star Trek, and dreamed about states of suspended animation that he believed would be necessary to travel through space. This led him to his own study of hamsters at home in his basement.

            Berg said that he learned hamsters would go into hibernation if exposed to a temperature of 45 degrees. He placed two critters in the family refrigerator, he said, “behind the bottles of milk and food so they couldn’t be seen.” However, when the desired effect had been achieved, he thought that he had killed the tiny test subjects. Taking them back to the basement before anyone could see what he had done, he left the lifeless bodies there. When he returned later, they were gone. Berg was pleased and relieved. The experiment had worked!

            Then, there was the windmill.

            By the ninth grade, Berg was hearing about the energy crisis taking over the country. This was yet another problem to be solved. With a burgeoning mind focused on creative solutions, Berg’s thirst to understand and to explore possibilities increased. Berg called his mother at work to explain that he would be building a windmill for their home and installing it on the garage roof.

            “I don’t think she heard me clearly,” he said with an impish smile.

            Somehow, the young man gained the cooperation of a neighbor with a crane – yes, a neighbor with a crane – and placed the windmill he’d constructed on the roof. There was the need to cut a hole in the garage roof for the associated wiring and assembly, but those details were small for young Berg. The windmill was up and would solve the problem of providing energy to the household – until his mother came home.

            “That was not a good day,” Berg confessed. He learned quickly how to repair a roof.

            Undeterred by early failures, as often is the case with inventors, creators, and those whose minds go where others do not, Berg knew early on that he would study mechanical engineering.

            Because of his intense interest and desire to get into the space program, Berg attended the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, “because all the astronauts were Navy guys.” Later, he would study engineering at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and, still later, complete his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

            After realizing that, perhaps, a career in aeronautics was a bit too boring for his active imagination, Berg would venture off becoming a prime mover in the world of start-up companies working on a variety of solutions such as 3-D printing, fingerprint analysis, anti-theft locks for the retail industry, and LED lighting.

            Carpe Diem would be selected for the New York Port Authority’s premiere project formerly known as the “Freedom Tower” and now called “One World Trade Center,” the tallest building in the western hemisphere.

            “It’s the brightest LED ever built,” Berg said.

            He, along with the staff members, are now working on maintenance issues that have arisen since the first rays of intense light were beamed into the heavens – that issue being lightning. How does one protect the LED system when lightning strikes the tower?

            Berg passed around a diode currently in development to protect the delicate lighting system. The technical team thinks they are on the right track.

            “I’ve built a career on past experiences,” said Berg.

            From hard drives – or should one say, from ‘gardening solutions’ to DVD optical storage to fiber optics and holographs, it’s all in Berg’s wheelhouse.

            As science continues to be challenged by the demands of modern mankind and vice versa, Berg is exploring the potentials that may be found in nano-science and manufacturing possibilities therein. He spoke of pigment-less plasmatic color and how major players in the virtual world – Google, Facebook, and Apple, to name a few – are pouring “big money into it.”

            And the list of possibilities goes on, as Berg’s Carpe Diem group considers medical uses for nano-technologies. He explained that the scales of the Galapagos shark, which do not allow the growth of bacteria, could be replicated in the laboratory with the same result.

            “This is being explored for catheter tubing,” he said.

            For anyone who has suffered infection via medical appliance introduction, this understated discovery is quite significant.

            Berg’s presentation was a grand conclusion to the museum’s exhibit titled, “Movers and Shakers,” which debuted in the summer of 2018.

By Marilou Newell

Tight Schedule Cuts Beach Street Hearing Short

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            Disgruntled abutters to a project proposed for Beach Street left the Marion Planning Board meeting dissatisfied on April 16.

            The late afternoon public hearing for a new subdivision was cut short due to a scheduling conflict with the Board of Selectmen brought on by the Monday holiday.

            It was a packed agenda when the board met early on Tuesday night, and board members acknowledged they would need to be efficient to get though all the scheduled items.

            Most in attendance were interested in a proposed subdivision at 213 Converse Road, owned by 22 Cove Street LLC, and represented this evening by David Davignon of N. Douglas Schneider & Associates.

            The public hearing was scheduled late on the docket, allowing only enough time for Davignon to go through the extensive list of waiver requests after presenting the overview of the project.

            The 3.63-acre lot, located between Beach Street and Zora Road, is proposed to be divided into three lots. One-acre Lot 3 will get its frontage on Converse Road with its existing house, while the other roughly one-acre lots will get their required frontage on a 20-foot wide paved cul-de-sac coming in off of Beach Street through a lot which, according to Davignon, the owners purchased for this purpose.

            The required drainage system is made up of grass swales and a “dry pond” detention basin in the easterly portion of lot 2. There is a wetland flagged in the northeast corner of the parcel, a sewer stub located on the Beach Street lot, and the owners intend to bring town sewer and water to the new lots. In addition, there will be a fire hydrant placed along the cul-de-sac near Lot 2.

            Neither the fire chief nor the Board of Health had any objections to the project.

Before enumerating the requested waivers, Davignon acknowledged, “It sounds like a long list of waivers, but it is innocuous to me – [these regulations] are designed for larger subdivision plans … and are overkill [for a project this size.]”

            Davignon went on to discuss the waiver from the materials list for the roadway, and one for the requirement of a development impact statement, which he said was designed for a subdivision of over 20 units. He described the requirement for a 200-foot midline radius required in the cul-de-sac design and illustrated why it is necessary for larger projects, but with the minor size of this project, he argued it was a “technicality, not a safety issue.”

            Davignon also asked for a waiver for the use of granite curbs and proposed “Cape Cod berms” instead, saying they were more in keeping with the neighborhood, citing the lack of curbs entirely on Beach Street. He also requested a waiver from placing the drainage pond on a separate lot, placing a 12-foot wide access path around it, requiring the pond be setback 100 feet from residences, and requiring a landscape architect to stamp the planting plans for the screening of the pond.

            Davignon pointed to the diminutive size of the pond, with dimensions of 35 feet by 70 feet and three feet deep, as support for the waiver requests. He assured the board that the pond will not be holding water and will not attract mosquitoes.

            Planning Board Chairman Will Saltonstall noted that Davignon’s plans do not designate a species or size of some of the plantings, and Davignon said the issue could be decided during the approval process.

            Saltonstall, noting the time and the other agenda items, suggested that the board “[did not] have time to debate this.”

            Planning Board member Chris Collings remarked, “There’s a lot to talk about.”

            Saltonstall noted that the board had hired a consulting engineer to review the technical aspects of the plan, but did not have that information yet.

            Before continuing the public hearing, residents in attendance expressed frustration that the board was not allowing the public to voice their concerns this evening. Saltonstall urged those unable to attend the next public hearing to submit their concerns in writing.

            A number of abutters also claimed to not have been notified about the project, as required by law. The hearing was continued to May 6 at 7:10 pm.

            Earlier in the evening, Davignon presented the board with two proposals containing Approval Not Required (ANR) lots, one that required a public hearing and one that did not. Both proposals were for 78 Wareham Street, owned by Henry and Judith DeJesus.

            The first was an application to create two ANR lots, with adequate acreage and frontage on Route 6. In addition, there is a 50-foot wide strip of land measuring 110 feet at the curb cut between the two lots leading to a 14-acre rear parcel labeled as unbuildable on the plan.

            Davignon shared a conceptual plan of what the rear lot could be in the future, which included five lots getting their frontage off of a roadway leading in from Route 6. This plan caused some confusion and concern among the Planning Board members and the public.

            George “T.J.” Walker, 639 Point Road, suggested that the board was creating a lot without adequate frontage and, if the frontage was to serve as access for the rear parcel, the board was not discussing the adequacy of the way.

            Davignon responded that the ANR planning process was very fluid and, if the lot lines needed to be moved in the future, it would be a simple matter to come before the board with a new ANR plan.

            Saltonstall expressed concern that the board was creating a non-conforming lot by default, with the rear lot not having adequate frontage.

            Davignon underscored where the ANR application states that a rear lot is not required to have 250 feet of frontage if it is labelled on the plan as “unbuildable”. He urged the board to think of the process as analogous to a conveyance from one neighbor to another.

            Planning Board and board of Selectmen member Norm Hills stated, “[It] becomes unbuildable until something changes in the future.”

            The board tabled this discussion to address the other plan before them from the same applicant. This was a public hearing for a rear lot definitive subdivision plan for the DeJesus property east of the first proposal.

            The subdivision would create two ANR lots on Route 6, with the balance of the parcel becoming the rear lot, including the DeJesus’ home. A 35-foot strip of land connecting the rear lot to Route 6 would meet the frontage requirement for a rear lot.

            Davignon highlighted the difference between the two proposals, saying that creating a legal rear lot requires that the applicants go through the subdivision process.

            Saltonstall stated that his “inclination is that the rear lot does meet the criteria.”

            When board member Andrew Daniel suggested other ways to create access for the DeJesus home, Davignon said plainly, “What we have done is create as many ANR lots as possible and gave [DeJesus] the balance. … [DeJesus is] trying to maximize property value.”

            After an inconclusive discussion as to whether the rear lot must use the 35-foot access for its driveway, the board unanimously approved the subdivision plan. 

Saltonstall alluded to the prospect of a housing development occurring on the site, including a 40B, which prompted resident Sherman Briggs to rise to address the board.

            Briggs asked Davignon to show the conceptual design of the subdivision for the first proposal, and said, “I’m all for ANR and rear lots, but the Planning Board needs to fix our bylaws. Seven lots [in a subdivision] trigger a free affordable lot,” Briggs continued. “That’s why it’s not happening” he said, referring to the conceptual plan showing a five- or six-lot subdivision tacked onto the two ANR lots.

            Saltonstall noted that the lawsuit brought by the owner of 78 Wareham Street appealing the board’s decision regarding the solar farm proposed for the parcel has been dropped. After a short discussion, the board approved the ANR application for 78 Wareham Road, with the remaining rear parcel designated as unbuildable.

            Also during the meeting, the board approved the change of use for the Masonic Lodge located at 11 Spring Street. Russell and Brigitte Benoit’s proposal is for, as Benoit put it, “A non-traditional blend of physical therapy and personal training” for people 50 years of age and older. Benoit stated there would be no more than seven people at the business at one time. The board unanimously approved the change of use.

            The next meeting of the Marion Planning Board is scheduled for May 6 at 7:00 pm in the Marion Town House.

Marion Planning Board

By Sarah French Storer

Anita Babineau Bernier

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Anita Babineau Bernier, 86, of Rochester passed away on Friday, April 19, 2019.  She was the wife of Conrad “Slim” Bernier and the daughter of the late Edward Babineau and late Judith (Babineau) Babineau.  She was preceded in death by her brother, Edmour Babineau and his wife, Beatrice.
            Anita was born in New Bedford and lived most of her life in nearby Rochester.  She was a graduate of Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School where she was a cheerleader.  She met her husband, Conrad, through mutual friends and married April 21, 1956.  She enjoyed quilting, tole painting, and European travel.  Anita was gregarious, nurturing lifelong relationships with both family and friends.  Civic minded, she gave back to her community by serving as a Girl Scout Leader, and as a volunteer for the Rochester Women’s Club, Historical Society, the St. Rose of Lima Quilty Bees, French Club, German Club and the Rochester Council on Aging.
            Survivors include her husband, Conrad “Slim” Bernier; two brothers, Leonard Babineau and his wife Francine; Gerard Babineau and his wife, Joan; children, Judith Brandau and her husband, Jeffrey; John Bernier and his wife Lynn; Janet Cote and her husband, Rick; Edward Bernier and his wife, Karen; and Steven Bernier and his wife Julie.  Anita was grandmother to Aimee Rock, Danielle Ayala, Andrew Bernier, John Bernier, Lauren Bernier, Steven Cote, Christopher Bernier, Devin Cote, Emma Bernier and Emily Bernier.  She is remembered fondly by many nieces and nephews.  
            A Funeral Mass will be held on Wednesday morning at St. Rose of Lima Church, Rochester at 10AM followed by a luncheon at the Rochester Council on Aging.  Interment will be at Sacred Heart Cemetery, New Bedford.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Rochester Council on Aging.

Priscilla Alden Hathaway

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            Priscilla Alden Hathaway, 87, of Mattapoisett, professional artist, teacher, and environmentalist passed away April 20, 2019, at her home after a prolonged illness.

            The daughter of the late Andrew J. and Gladys (Maertins) Alden and the wife of Bradford Allen Hathaway, she was born in Brockton and lived in Braintree during her youth. Her family moved permanently to Mattapoisett in 1948 after summering at Aucoot Cove beginning in the 1930’s. She was a descendant of 13 Mayflower passengers.

            She graduated from Fairhaven High School in 1949, where she met her future husband. She earned a BS degree in art education from Boston University and taught elementary art first in New Bedford and later in Framingham, Westport and Mattapoisett.

            She and her husband were married on July 3, 1954, at the Mattapoisett Congregational Church. They were married just shy of 65 years.

            An accomplished artist, she sold her works locally and through galleries on the Caribbean islands of St. Thomas and Anguilla.

            Her father was the owner of Aucoot Boatyard and her bonds to Aucoot Cove and Buzzards Bay naturally followed. As a young girl she learned to sail on her gaff-rigged sailboat Little Coot and for many years after she and her husband cruised around the bay on their Cape Dory Typhoon.

            Her environmental work began as a water tester for SOS (Save Our Seas) a grass roots organization in Marion concerned with pollution in Aucoot Cove and adjacent Hiller Cove.

            For more than 12 years she was a volunteer Bay Watcher in the same coves for the Buzzards Bay Coalition. In 1995 she was the recipient of the Wanderer’s Keel Award. In 2010 she and her husband received the Buzzards Bay Coalition’s Guardian Award for their environmental work.

            She was a co-founder of the Mattapoisett Land Trust, serving on its first board of directors. She also served several years as a Mattapoisett representative to the state’s Coastal Zone Management.

            Priscilla became interested in Mattapoisett history at an early age while surface hunting for Native American artifacts along the Northwestern shore of Aucoot Cove. Part of her collection of arrowheads and other artifacts are on permanent loan at the Mattapoisett Historical Society. A life member of that organization, she has served as its president and a member of its board of directors. She was responsible for having a 1700’s loom dismantled in the attic of her father’s home (the Isaac Hiller homestead at Aucoot) and reassembled at the historical society’s museum.

            As a member of the Mattapoisett Historical Commission, she led a small group of town women on weekly trips, over several years, to the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, where they dated more than 100 of Mattapoisett’s oldest houses and arranged for the black and white markers displayed on those buildings to this day.

            Priscilla’s spiritual journey took a major turn at mid-life when she became a member of the Mattapoisett Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends. For several years she served as clerk of the historic Quaker Meeting in East Mattapoisett. In 1991, she played a leading role in planning construction of the meeting’s new community hall.

            She was an active member for many years of the Mattapoisett Women’s Club and its Garden Group. She enjoyed gardening. Different rhododendrons, many from the Dexter Estate on Cape Cod, surround her home. In addition to gardening, she enjoyed saltwater fishing and shell fishing, playing tennis with a women’s group in Tinkhamtown, bicycling, hiking and birding. When her sons were young, she was a Cub Scout Den Mother. She was an excellent cook. She loved the outdoors, especially the woods, the beaches, the sand flats and the marshes at Aucoot.

            Priscilla was a member of other organizations over the years including Marion Art Center, Westport Art Group, Rochester Land Trust, Sippican Lands Trust, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Nasketucket Bird Club, and Alewives Anonymous.

            Survivors include her husband, a daughter Jane, and two sons David and Joshua; sisters Faith Paulsen of Marion, Jean Wist (Walt) of South Carolina, and Dorothy Whittaker (Brendan) of Vermont; a brother-in-law Malcolm R. Hathaway (Patricia) of North Carolina; and many nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Elizabeth Roe.

            A memorial service in the Quaker tradition will be held at 11:30, Saturday April 27, at the Mattapoisett Friends Meeting House, 103 Marion Road (Route 6), East Mattapoisett, followed by a reception in the meeting’s Community Hall. For those unable to attend the service, there will be opportunity to greet the family between 9:00 and 10:30, that same morning in the meeting house. Please omit flowers. Those who choose may send donations in her name to the Mattapoisett Land Trust, P.O. Box 31, Mattapoisett, MA 02739 to be used to protect land in the Aucoot District.

            Arrangements are with the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd., Route 6, Mattapoisett. For online guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

Volunteers Needed

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The Marion-Rochester Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is seeking volunteers to assist with efforts to prepare for and respond to threats to the health and well-being of our towns’ residents. We need a diverse group of volunteers with both medical and non-medical skills and abilities.

            Medical: Nurses, PCAs, Physicians, Behavioral Health Specialists, Veterinarians, Pharmacists, Medics, EMTs, etc.

            Non-medical individuals with abilities, skills, or interests in any of the following areas: Leadership, organization, logistics, communication, social media, tech savvy, strong people skills, greeters, clerical, financial, security, traffic flow, childcare.

            Please join us on Saturday, April 27, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Town House parking lot, 2 Spring Street, Marion or Saturday, April 27, 2019, 10:100 am to 3:00 pm at Washburn Park.

            If you are unable to visit our table, but are interested in being involved, please contact the Marion Board of Health at 508-748-3530 or the Rochester Board of Health at 508-763-5421.

Alewives Anonymous Meeting & Chowder Supper

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            Alewives Anonymous, Inc. (AA) will host its annual meeting and quahog chowder supper for members, guests, and others interested in the world of alewives (herring) on Sunday, April 28, 2019, at 5:00 pm to be held at the Council on Aging Senior Center, Dexter Lane, Rochester. After the annual meeting, a program by UMass Dartmouth Phd student Christopher Rillahan about his observations of Mattapoisett herring with high resolution sonar equipment will be presented. Please make your reservations with Arthur F. Benner by calling 508-763-2024 or emailing artbenner@comcast.net by Wednesday, April 24. 

            There is no charge for the supper for members whose dues are paid up, members who re-new their annual dues ($10), or new members joining ($10); otherwise, the charge is $5.00 per person. New members are always welcomed.

            AA, The Herring Helpers, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and increase of the alewife fishery resources in the Mattapoisett River and the Sippican River in the towns of Rochester, Marion, and Mattapoisett. Alewives Anonymous, Inc is also involved with monitoring the alewives population using electronic fish counting equipment and other efforts and projects to enhance their numbers and to improve their environment. 

            We invite you to please join and help support our efforts.