Over the past three years, the Marion Board of Health has banned ‘vaping’ in addition to smoking in public spaces and raised the minimum age to buy cigarettes and nicotine products to 21 before the state mandate. And even today, the board is still bent on pursuing a town-wide prohibition of flavored nicotine and tobacco products. But there remains one Marion resident who the board was unsuccessful in preventing from enjoying her smoke and that woman is Elizabeth Taber. Well, the life-size bronze statue of her, that is.

The ghost of Elizabeth Taber can take another puff off her pipe and breathe easy knowing that the Sippican Historical Society’s statue committee voted unanimously to follow the original design of the Taber statue portraying her seated on a bench clutching her smoking pipe in her hand. In her other hand she holds a book.

On January 22, the Board of Health sat down with Sippican Historical Society member and Celebrate Elizabeth Taber Committee Chairman Judith Rosbe and committee member Amanda Stone, who is also the public health nurse in Mattapoisett. During this meeting, the two women acknowledged the board’s request to remove the pipe from Taber’s hand because of a concern that the pipe would encourage smoking. Nonetheless, as Board of Health member Dr. John Howard put it, “I guess you could say they told us to go put that in your pipe and smoke it.” Which is, in a more a respectful tone, exactly what the two women told them – because the pipe stays.

“We appreciate the letter that you wrote to us,” Rosbe told the board. “I immediately thought, okay, we don’t want any controversy. We really don’t want her to be holding a pipe if that’s going to encourage somebody to smoke.”

During a recent meeting of the statue committee, Rosbe said the artist, New Bedford-based sculptor, Eric Durand, brought in two small-scale 3-dimensional sample arms for the committee to view – one arm’s hand cupped the pipe, and the other would simply sit on Taber’s lap.

“We had a long discussion … and most of the people on the committee woke up one day and said ‘Pipe,’ then woke up the next day and said, ‘No pipe,’” said Rosbe.

Ultimately, the committee’s vote was unanimous – Elizabeth Taber keeps the pipe.

“We really felt in the long run that we wanted to portray her as historically accurate, and she was a very unusual woman,” Rosbe said. “She was a very unusual woman.”

Taber, who lived to the age of 97, was a savvy investor who gained much of her wealth from railroad and whaling ship investments, Rosbe said.

“She had some eccentricities,” said Rosbe. “She was eccentric. She didn’t really care too much about what other people thought of her, and she did smoke a pipe.”

In its December 11 letter to the Sippican Historical Society, Board of Health Chairman Jason Reynolds wrote, “The Marion Board of Health has promulgated regulations banning smoking from all public places. … We feel that if [Taber] is depicted holding a pipe, it would not be compliant with the Marion Sanitary Code.”

In her written reply to the board, Rosbe initially indicated that the statue committee would consider the request. “I suspect that because of your input, we will recommend a change in the design, so that she will hold something else in that hand (or maybe nothing at all) instead of a pipe,” Rosbe wrote.

But once the smoke cleared and the matter was out in the open, the public responded to the board’s request on social media and approached members of the Historical Society with their own opinions.

On behalf of the statue committee, Stone said, “We certainly didn’t want to draw any attention to the pipe. That was never our intention … but we’ve seen that through social media, and people have come up to us and spoken about the pipe – those that are supportive of keeping the pipe and encouraging the committee to do so.”

Capturing the essence of who Taber was during that time period is important, Stone said, since that context is what made Taber so different from other women – which is why the pipe should stay. And also, Stone added, “… to support artistic expression, which, as a committee as whole, determined that was also a very important aspect of our decision making.”

Stone said the committee did some research on how behavior can be influenced by certain elements like violence on TV (or a statue with a pipe, perhaps), “and the fact that the committee voted unanimously to keep the pipe … spoke volumes, so that’s the direction that we’re moving,” Stone said. “The decision’s been made.”

“I don’t know if you’re happy about it or unhappy about it,” said Rosbe, “but thank you for letting us come in today.”

The board sat in silence as Rosbe and Stone left the Town House.

After adjourning the meeting, The Wanderer asked the board if it has any comment on the statue committee’s decision.

“I was always told that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all,” said Reynolds.

“I don’t think that the kids will even be able to tell that it’s a pipe, so I don’t think it’s going to make a difference,” said Board of Health member Betsy Dunn.

And as for Howard, he simply had fun coming up with puns involving the words “pipe” and “smoke” for the press to use and credit to his name.

The bronze statue honoring Elizabeth Taber will be unveiled during the summer of 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. It will be located in Bicentennial Park overlooking the Town House and the Elizabeth Taber Library, two of the six buildings Taber has bestowed onto the Town of Marion.

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health is scheduled for February 12 at 4:30 pm at the Marion Town House.

Marion Board of Health

By Jean Perry

The majority of school districts in the region continue the tradition of a school break week in February and April, but a discussion on January 9 showed Marion School Committee support for a study on the possibility of attempting a two-weeklong March break.

Sippican School Principal Lyn Rivet said the Sippican School Council discussed combining the February and April breaks into one, given this region’s propensity for multiple snow storms and blizzards late January through early March, resulting in multiple snow days and an interruption of full school weeks.

School Committee member Michelle Smith pointed out that having the two breaks is a strong tradition in this area and that unless other area school districts adopted the March break, certain areas such as the sports calendars, for example, would be affected.

“It would be different from everybody else, said Smith.

“The only way that’s going work – on a high school level – is if everybody else … is on a similar schedule,” said School Committee Chairman Christine Marcolini. “It’s an interesting concept, but I don’t think we would be able to do that in isolation.”

“I think parents would be in an uproar; the union would be in an uproar,” Smith said.

Superintendent Doug White suggested that the Tri-Town school districts would undertake a yearlong study first to review and allow a voice to be heard from all parties. White said he would gather available information from other school districts to ascertain “how it would look and feel in the Tri-Town and where the support would come for that.”

In other matters relative to the school calendar, the committee reviewed the proposed draft for the 2019-2020 school year, with White presenting a suggestion from the Rochester School Committee on rescheduling professional development days from later in the school year, instead holding them on January 3 and 4 to allow for two full weeks of winter break rather than having students return for only a short week on Thursday and Friday.

“It looks good on paper, unless you’re a working parent,” said Marcolini. “That’s really long. … It’s an interesting idea.”

Marcolini said, after returning back from this winter break to a shorter three-day week, “It was kind of nice to come back to a short week.” Still, Marcolini said it was a worthwhile idea that should be presented to the meeting of the joint school committees on March 7.

Also during the meeting, Marcolini said the Marion School Budget Subcommittee recently met and reviewed a draft 2020 fiscal year budget and would have one to present to the Marion School Committee at its next meeting.

The committee welcomed new Business Administrator Paul Kitchen to his first School Committee meeting since beginning the position on January 7.

The next meeting of the Marion School Committee is scheduled for February 13 at 6:30 pm at Sippican School.

Marion School Committee

By Jean Perry

            With a tall stack of project folders towering before him, Mike King, chairman of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission, made the command decision to take public hearings out of order from the agenda in an effort to expedite matters before the commission.

“Looks like we won’t be getting home before 9 tonight,” he commented to his fellow commissioners.

The fact that the Bay Club had some 22 public hearings listed certainly made it seem like a late night was assured. That was not to be the case.

At 6:30 pm, King began by hearing from Scott Snow whose Request for Determination of Applicability for approval of a wetlands delineation for 6 and 8 Prospect Road was swiftly granted.

Then came two Notice of Intent filings represented by Robert Field of Field Engineering. Michael Smith, 6 Whaler’s Way, sought and received conditioning for his Notice of Intent filing for the construction of an addition to an existing single-family home, and Edwin Fernandes’ NOI for Brandt Beach Avenue lot 13 for the construction of a single-family home got a similarly swift approval.

A Certificate of Completion requested by Kristin Demong, 6 Cecilia Avenue, was in the fast lane as well and was issued.

Then came the Bay Club.

Jeff Youngquist of Outback Engineering came before the commission and together they carefully processed the mountain of engineering plans and associated paperwork needed to permit the massive construction project planned for the Split Rock Lane neighborhood inside the Preserve at Bay Club.

Investors and owners had decided more than a year ago to change development plans from single-family homes to duplexes to meet market needs. It was determined that smaller residences were in higher demand than multi-bedroom single-family residences. This decision required that all the lots be re-engineered along with all the footprints for buildings.

This gave the Conservation Office a bit of a headache as lot numbers established no longer aligned with the Accessor’s Office documentation; they were different then those reflected on the new plans. King cautioned Youngquist that plans had to reflect the proper lot numbers and any approvals received would reflect that necessity.

One by one, Request for Determination of Applicability for lots 123 through 139 were discussed. King reminded Youngquist that RDAs required clearance from the Massachusetts Wildlife National Heritage & Endangered Species Program. For those lots pending such clearance, a continuation was requested. Others received Negative determinations, meaning the work would not take place within the wetlands.

Six Notice of Intent filings were then considered. Of this group only one required a continuation as, again, it was pending review from Natural Heritage, as well as water quality tests that the owner had requested. The continued case included lots 132,133,134, and a right-of-way. All others received standard and special Orders of Conditions.

To release many of the lots reviewed on this night from the original Order of Conditions previously requested and received, Certificates of Compliance were requested for lots 124 through 132 for work not started. Those were swiftly approved.

The commission’s secretary, Teresa Austin, questioned Youngquist on how owners of the duplex structures would handle obtaining Certificates of Completion when only one Order of Conditions was being requested for lots that would eventually have two deeds. King said that was out of the commission’s purview, while Youngquist agreed it could be sticky.

In the middle of Youngquist’s public hearings, two applicants for cases heard earlier in the evening arrived.

Apparently, the Field Engineering office had erroneously advised two clients that their cases were to be heard at 7:30 pm versus 6:30 pm. King instructed Austin to contact legal counsel for guidance on how to proceed saying, “It is incumbent upon us to take in public comment.” While Robert Field did represent his clients, because the clients were not present for their hearings at the proper time, concern over statuary regulations was prompted.

As the meeting drew to a close, King asked the commission to vote for the purchase of municipal identification badges to be used by commissioners when making site visits. He said that there have been times when builders questioned his authority to be on a construction site and he felt a more official identification would assuage concerns versus a baseball cap that presently is the sole identification. The commission agreed to the estimated $200 expense.

The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission is scheduled for January 28 at 6:30 pm in the Town Hall conference room.

Mattapoisett Conservation Commission

By Marilou Newell