Hanson author writes about Boston El trains

HANSON — For Hanson resident Lawrence D. Mills, retirement has literally opened a new chapter in his life — several of them in fact — as he recently completed work on a book saluting Boston’s erstwhile elevated train system.

The book [“Main Line Elevated,” Xlibris, 83 pages, hardcover $61.99/large format paperback, $51.99/E-book, $24.99] is not a history, but rather a photo essay of the last years of Boston’s Main Line elevated train.

“It describes what it was like to see and use this transportation on one of the heaviest transit lines in the city of Boston,” Mills states in his promotional materials.

The elevated trains also afforded the chance for Mills and his sister to spend hours of locomotive and people watching at Dudley Station from a display window in Roxbury’s Ferdinand’s Furniture Store where his parents met on the job and his father worked again after WWII.

The Charlestown elevated route ended in 1975, followed by the one in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain in 1987, and “there are adults today that never saw it” he said of his reason for doing the book.

“It’s a way to see what life was like in those days because you see everything — the cars, the way people dressed, the ads — the whole business,” he said. “My view has always been that these pictures don’t do any good sitting in a closet. They should be where people can see them.”

While he never worked for a railroad or the MBTA, Mills continued his lifelong interest in railroads and transit systems during his military service, which included postings in Germany, and during a career with the Federal Protective Service, which protects federal buildings, for more than 35 years. His FPS service was largely in Boston and other New England sites.

“I’ve had this as a hobby all my life,” he said of his collection of El photographs. A book he bought about the Third Avenue Line in New York City provided the spur to create his own book.

Most of the photos are his from a personal collection dating back to 1964, except for a half dozen from Rockland resident George Jason, a few from a retired Boston Fire Lt. Jim Teed and some black white photos from Mills’ father Thomas.

“This was something I have been thinking about for years and when I retired, we sat down and [decided to] do it,” he said. His wife Michele, a former librarian, used her expertise and connections to find Xlibris, a self-publishing firm in Bloomington, Ind.

“The quality of the book turned out well,” he said. “I was impressed with that.”

Mills had done all the scanning and layout of photos on his home computer.

“That’s one of the good things about his pictures, he has all the old cars, the old buildings, the old signs,” Michele said. “They’re historic.”

Mills plans to make appearances at train and hobby shows — such as one held in Springfield next month — as his primary merchandising avenue, but the book is also available online via Barnes & Noble and Amazon and at rail museums.

Michele noted that the book will also be in The Library Journal so town libraries and special libraries may purchase it if they wish.

The book provided Mills with a project during last winter’s worst weather. He is now looking toward the next project while he continues interest in trains.

Even his move from Brookline to Hanson hinged on the Commuter Rail service, as his job did not initially include a “take home” vehicle.

“It was a convenient commute and they were building the area up,” he said.

“We worked together on the house,” Michele said. “Larry told me what he wanted and I worked with Jack Conway himself [to design it].”

Conway had been a friend of her family in Cohasset for years.

Dance show aids Whitman food pantry

The Dance Dimension School of Dance and Theatre of Whitman held its annual winter showcase at Whitman Hanson High School on Saturday evening.

HOLIDAY DREAMS: Students from Whitman’s Dance Dimension School of Dance and Theatre perform a number costumed in holiday PJs during the annual winter showcase Dec. 12. Photo by Stephanie Spyropoulos.

Collectively they raised $1,300, which was presented in a check by Owner and Director Laurie Healey to Bruce Perry for the Whitman food pantry at the start of the event and more than 100 pounds of food were donated for the pantry during the event.

There were 25 to 30 toys donated to the Whitman area toy drive through the efforts of the Whitman Hanson drama club. Along with the dance teams several vocal soloists from WH drama club, and chorus performed an array of holiday musical arrangements.

Mrs. Claus was portrayed by a local woman who volunteered her time for the event after overhearing the director talking about it.

“Our hope is to continue to grow this (event) into other performance groups and people in our community. It is such a great town we live in,” said Laurie Healey’s husband and school co-owner Mike Healey.

— Stephanie Spyropoulos

Security cameras eyed for Whitman Park

WHITMAN — Police Chief Scott Benton is considering a Town Meeting warrant article calling for the placement of security cameras in Whitman Park. He has been discussing the issue with Town Administrator Frank Lynam, IT Director Josh MacNeil and DPW Parks and Highways Superintendent Bruce Martin.

Lynam urged Benton to bring the idea to the Board of Selectmen so, from a policy standpoint, “We can clear the air and not just surprise people by throwing cameras up there.”

The discussion was intended to inform the town and spur public discussion on the proposal.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Lynam said. “Ten years ago, this was Big Brother watching everything. I think today people realize that [cameras] serve a public and public safety purpose.”

He said cities, such as New York and London, are heavily covered by security cameras, and the trend is coming to smaller communities now. Lynam added that he’d like to see them used downtown, as well.

“There’s always a big debate on do cameras reduce crime? No,” Benton told selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 1. “The long and the short of that is no, but they go a long, long way to solve it.”

He noted that the Boston Marathon bombing, and many other cases including motor vehicle accidents, would not have been solved without video evidence gleaned from security cameras. FBI Academy information Benton cited points to security cameras as “holding more evidence than any other source — more than DNA, crime scene analysis or eyewitness testimony.”

“The need is there,” Benton said, citing past vandalism damage to the park area and town pool. He also stressed that recordings would only be reviewed when there is cause to do so.

“When something happens, people want answers,” he said. “You want to be able to provide those answers.”

Others make move

Many surrounding communities are also making the move to post security cameras. The initial cost is expected to be lower than the cost of maintaining equipment and archiving recordings.

“The ability to identify people who do bad things goes a long way toward deterring other people from doing bad things,” Lynam said. “The concern I have always had is one of infrastructure cost.”

Estimates are being sought on the cost of fiber optic and other wireless systems for a pilot program consisting of a couple cameras as a test, perhaps ahead of a Town Meeting vote.

Vice Chairman Dan Salvucci, who conducted the meeting in the absence of Chairman Carl Kowalski, asked if permission from the Historical Commission would be needed to place cameras in the historic park.

“We have talked about putting cameras in the park in the past,” Salvucci said.

Lynam said the small cameras would in no way alter the park’s appearance.

“In the times that we live in, I think it’s critical,” Benton said. “I think it’s my responsibility to make the board aware — make the people aware. I think we let the people vote, let the people have their say.”

But he stressed the importance of protecting the park as a place of recreation for young families.

“You don’t want to be the guy who’s looking at a family saying, ‘Geez, I don’t have any answers to that,’” Benton said.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea, and I don’t think you’ll have to do a lot of convincing,” said Selectman Lisa Green, citing recent “questional behavior” in the park as well as questionable items left behind.

Selectman Brian Bezanson also voiced support.

“Who knows what’s going to come around the corner and for us to say ‘we should have’ is not good enough,” Bezanson said.

Living Nativity

In other business, the board approved a request by the Rev. Joshua Gray to permit closing off a portion of Broad Street between Washington and Central streets from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 20 so the First Congregational Church may conduct a living Nativity program. Refreshments and a carol sing will follow in the church Fellowship Hall.

“It’s just a great community event, [we’re] trying to get people out to remember what this season is about for those of us who are Christians,” Gray said. “Just a fun community event.”

Beekeepers host candle workshop in Hanson with John ‘the Bee Man’ Phillips of the Plymouth County Beekeepers Association 

HANSON — A beeswax candle-making seminar hosted at the Plymouth County Beekeepers Association and Hanson Food Pantry building on High Street Nov. 21 was both motivating and educational for more than a dozen people.

Candles are a popular gift item and, with the holidays in full swing, and what better than gifting something homemade? Many of those in attendance were mainly part of the Beekeepers Association, according to John “the Bee Man” Phillips of Hanson, whose goal is to educate others about apiculture.

A handmade sign welcomed visitors at a beeswax candle-making seminar hosted at the Plymouth County Beekeepers Association and Hanson Food Pantry. Click here to see more photos from the event. Photo by Stephanie Spyropoulos.

“Candle making is interesting and can be fun. Overall it was well attended,” Phillips said.   

In past years, turnout for the workshop was good — but with several local activities occurring simultaneously Phillips thought there were slightly fewer people this year. He is considering doing another candle making seminar in the months to come if there is an interest in the community.

Phillips also offers a woodworking seminar in which Beekeepers Association members can receive assistance in setting up their wooden hives. Beekeepers Association membership does cost a small yearly fee to join.

Phillips has been a bee keeper since 1971 and a club member since 1978. The club itself had been established in the late 1960s. He offers teaching on bee topics and assists in maintaining the building.

He has two hives at his home and said his honey production last year was averaged at about 40 pounds.

Most people in the club got a similar amount of honey the median around 40 pounds, which is good considering  the South Shore is close to the ocean, and spring  weather is wet and raw. There are many factors which affect the production of honey, he said.

Further inland Massachusetts bee keepers easily double the production of honey with the increased warmer, drier atmosphere.

During the candle workshop, Phillips and other club members melted approximately ten pounds of wax, which was demonstrated as one of the four to five steps in candle making.

At home his wax is melted via a sun-solar wax melter and then it is purified before making candles. The wax is boiled down and poured into rubber molds mainly to keep the shape and they easily split apart to release the candles.

To quicken the process several molds were placed in the freezer to cool the wax but he said he doesn’t often do that. Everyone left with a candle following the seminar.

The website for the Plymouth County Beekeepers Association contains information and invitations about upcoming Beekeeping School, which will be held this winter for approximately eight weeks at the Pembroke Community center. For more information, visit plymouthcountybeekeepers.org.

Whitman razes blighted house

WHITMAN — A blighted house at 36 East Ave. was torn down Thursday, Nov. 12, to ease the process of auctioning off a vacant house across the street and resolve complaints from neighboring residents of vermin they said were traced to the condemned house.

GOING: A worker operates the heavy equipment to tear down a dilapitated house at 36 East Ave., in Whitman last week. Courtesy photo, Frank Lynam.

Selectmen voted on Tuesday, Nov. 10 to authorize Town Administrator Frank Lynam to hire an auctioneer for 35 East Ave.

“This has been something that’s been pending for several months,” Lynam said of the auction. “We have had permission to sell the property for a while, but given the fact that the property across the street is even worse than that and we had voted to take that property down, I wanted to wait until we actually did that before seeking to auction this.”

The presence of 36 East Ave. would have greatly reduced what could be brought in by an auction of 35 East Ave., according to Lynam.

The town received a judicial order to demolish the property.

“Once it’s down and graded I’d like to move forward with the sale of the other property,” Lynam told selectmen.

East Avenue neighbors attended a Board of Health meeting on Sept. 2, 2014 regarding a continuing problem with rats in the East Avenue neighborhood — and the possibility that the two vacant houses on the street were housing the vermin. While there was doubt in some quarters if rats were, indeed, living inside 35 and 36 East Ave., evidence that raccoons nested in one of the houses had been found.

Town officials, meanwhile, saw legal and financial limits to what could be done about the problem posed by the decaying houses.

The town had, by that time, already foreclosed on 35 East Ave., and had to wait until November 2014 [the end of a one-ear waiting period] before anything could be done with it, including trying to sell the property to a developer who would raze the house and build there, according to Lynam.

“We will not move forward without a judicial order, because it puts the town in a liability position,” Lynam said at the 2014 Board of Health meeting. “The biggest question then becomes funding because we have to have funds have to pay someone to take the house down.”

A Town Meeting vote in May of this year provided the funds.

— Tracy F. Seelye