Whitman-Hanson Express

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Whitman crunches numbers on WMS

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WHITMAN – Numbers on the Whitman Middle School project have suddenly changed, leaving Committee members questioning why, the Select Board heard on Tuesday, Aug. 22
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter outlined the financials for the Select Board, noting that the Whitman Middle School project price tag has increased – but the MSBA reimbursement went up by a larger percentage.
The Building Committee met Tuesday, Aug 15 to discuss the most recent updates regarding the project. Another meeting for the Building Committee is slated for Monday, Aug. 28.
“Now it’s getting real, so to speak,” Building Committee Chair Fred Small said “There should be some options on the table for us.”
The whole committee needs to sit down and discuss why the numbers changed and to have the opportunity to seek another option – if one is available, he said.
“I’m glad you are calling another meeting,” said Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski.
A new school building’s total price tag increased by more than $7 million [$135 million, up from $127 million] – but the town’s portion after the estimated reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) would be increased by $17 million, with the town getting back $90 million rather than the $72 million previously anticipated – a 26-percent increase.
The Building Committee had also voted on Aug. 15 to send all the information on the schematic design phase of the project to MSBA. The final step before requesting approval from voters at special Town Meeting in October and a subsequent ballot vote. The schematic deadline was Aug. 31, and the Monday meeting should also look at options, including if an extension of that deadline could be granted.
“The numbers we were given for the new project originally were [about] $67 million to $72-something million.” Small said. “When we saw the $89 million figure, it was quite startling.”
He said the new numbers had not been received until very late before the Aug. 15 meeting, giving committee members little time to digest the information and have questions prepared.
“I ran some numbers and the impact of this new cost to taxpayers, is approximately $1,494.01 for the first year of debt,” Carter said. “This figure is based on a level-principal, 30-year debt schedule calculated at the district’s anticipated borrowing rate of 5.5 percent.”
That impact amount was based on an average single-family home with a valuation of $420,530 as of today. Debt payments based on a level principal debt schedule decrease each year over the 30-year term, according to Carter, with an average debt payment being $1,017.59.
“The difference in using a level debt service schedule as opposed to a level principal debt service schedule saves the town over $19 million on this new construction borrowing options,” she said. “That would be the option that I would say that I would want the town to use.”
She said staggering the borrowing over two or three years, based on projected cash flow, the interest rate used in the calculation would be different, and the impact to taxpayers would also be different.
A base repair option, for example, would be estimated to cost $60,358,000 with the impact to taxpayers on an average single-family house would be about $1,001.96 in the first year of debt. The borrowing rate of 5.5 percent and a 30-year schedule decreasing each year, were the same as the first option.
The average payment over the 30 years on a base repair option would be $682.38.
“The difference in using a level debt service schedule instead of a level principal service debt schedule for a repair option saves the town over $12 million in interest,” she said. Noting in this scenario, the level principal would be the best way to finance it.
“This is an estimate based on the district borrowing the whole amount in one bond issue,” Carter said.
The base repair cost is based on the useful life and would not be considered a renovation, but a repair of the building.
“The question is what would the useful life be, and you are allowed to expend your debt schedule based on the useful life,” she said, noting her calculations were based on a 30-year debt schedule. “If it were determined that it’s a 20-year useful life, of course, that payment would be even higher.”

WHCA contract
Comcast Executive Director Eric Dresser discusses the decennial license renewal process, the current license began in June 2014 and expires in June 2024.
“Just recently we kicked off the process of the every-10-years cable license renewal,” he said. He and Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe have met with attorney William Soloman in a preliminary meeting, whom the board approved to enter into the contract negotiations.
He said Soloman has assured WHCA they are not in any “red zone” in terms of timing, but they are aiming to continue progress on the process. The first of the necessary steps is holding an ascertainment hearing for the community to come in and speak about the benefits of the cable access service, including feedback or changes they might like to see in a new cable license.
He asked the Select Board to set a date for an ascertainment hearing, suggesting Sept. 19 or Oct. 3. The board agreed with Dresser’s preference for Oct, 3 for a meeting with department heads about how they can better serve them under a new contract. They have already conducted an ascertainment hearing in Hanson last February.
People who can’t attend in person can write a letter to WHCA.
“Our contact goes out over the entire world, so if there’s somebody that benefits from watching our programming in Florida, we’ll take whatever from wherever they are,” he said.

Fatal train crash involving pedestrian investigated

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Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak has announced with deep regret Wednesday, May 31 that a Whitman-Hanson Regional High School student died Tuesday night.

The name of the student has not been released out of respect for the family and no other information is available at this time.

A person described as a juvenile female was killed by a train Tuesday night, May 30, according to a statement released by Whitman Police and Fire Departments.  

MBTA Transit Police notified Whitman Police at about 8:30 p.m. that the crash occurred in Whitman involving a southbound train, which possibly struck a pedestrian on the tracks.

Whitman Police and Fire responded to the scene, where the victim was pronounced deceased.

Police officials also said the victim’s name was being withheld at this time.

“We are all tremendously saddened to hear of this tragic loss,” Szymaniak said in a statement issued through John Guilfoil Public Relations, which also handled press releases on the incident from police and fire officials. “Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends of the students and all those who knew them. We also extend our condolences to our friends at East Bridgewater High School, who were also affected by this tragedy.”

Whitman Police Chief Timothy Hanlon and Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Clancy also extended their condolences to the family.

Grief counselors are available and will remain available in the coming weeks to assist students and staff as the school district mourns and for anyone needing their services.

Szymaniak said the district encourages students and the school community to talk to counselors, faculty and parents, as this tragedy is sure to raise emotions, concerns and questions for us all.

Additional resources for students and families relating to gried and loss can be found at cdc.gov/howrightnow/resources/coping-with-grief, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, and nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/grief-and-loss-resources-educators-and-students, courtesy of the National Education Association.

Mass. State Police detectives, MBTA Transit Police, Hanson Police, East Bridgewater Police and the Whitman Department of Public Works also responded to the scene.

The crash is under investigation by Mass. State Police detectives assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office and MBTA Transit Police.

Whitman provides aid at 4-alarm Hingham fire

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HINGHAM — Whitman Fire Department was among 12 regional departments providing assistance from firefighters, chiefs and station coverage as they aided the Hingham Fire Department in battling a four-alarm fire at a large house Monday afternoon. The blaze had spread to at least four other homes in the area.

No injuries were reported in the fire that is under investigation by the Hingham Fire and Police departments and the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s office.

While the 6,000-square-foot house was a total loss and other homes sustained damage. Three people were inside 4 Mann St. when the initial fire started and all got out safely. 

The family will also be displaced. Several homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution due the fire embers spreading to nearby houses.

At approximately 12:50 p.m., Hingham Fire responded to 4 Mann St. after receiving multiple calls about a home being on fire.

While responding to the scene, firefighters could see large amounts of smoke above the house and struck a second alarm. 

Upon arrival, the house was fully involved and a third alarm was immediately called for. At 1:30 p.m., Chief Murphy struck a fourth alarm as the fire continued to spread.

Area residents were asked water down mulch beds on their properties.

Three people were inside 4 Mann St. when the initial fire started and all got out safely. The family will also be displaced. 

Several homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution due the fire embers spreading to nearby houses.

About 120 firefighters from nine of the communities, Hull, Cohasset, Norwell, Scituate, Rockland, Weymouth, Quincy, Braintree and Hanover Fire departments responded to the scene and the Whitman and Brockton Fire departments sent chiefs to provide assistance and Abington Fire Department provided station coverage for Hingham.

The Hingham Police Department controlled access to the site and aided in evacuating neighbors from the affected area.

National Grid and Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant were working to restore gas and electricity to the neighborhood after it had been shut off by the utility companies.

— Tracy F. Seelye

Soldiers’ stories of crisis

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By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]

WHITMAN – The wounds of war can go beyond the ones that bleed, to the invisible pain of moral and psychological scars.

“It’s a paradox that I want to acknowledge – the veterans’ paradox,” author Michael J. Robillard says. “As a veteran, how can one voice an opinion on the military and its policies without falling victim to the binary, of sounding either like a pacifistic victim or a war-hawk shill?”

He said the first risks sounding like a broken victim or a person condemning one’s own country, military or comrades in arms, or risking conflating patriotism with enthusiastic, uncritical endorsement of all things military and all things war.

American Legion Post 22 on June 29 hosted a book discussion with Robillard, who wrote a book titled “Outsourcing Duty: The Moral Exploitation of the American Soldier,” with Bradley J. Strawser. [Oxford University Press, hardcover 240 pages, $35 — available on Amazon.com]

“This book is an attempt to walk a tightrope,” Robillard said of the widening civilian/military divide. “If this town were to deploy in WWI, the entire town would have [gone] together and come back and spent the entirety of our lives sorting through what it was that we just did.” 

By WWII, families like the Sullivans, who lost all five sons, who had insisted on serving on the same ship, when that ship was sunk in action, led to a policy of separating family members or residents of the same town in service. By Vietnam, differing operation tempos affected how troops were deployed. 

The all-volunteer force since Vietnam takes the entirety of war fighting and decision-making “and drastically pushes it behind a social veil, where 1 percent or 2 percent of the population are doing the war fighting.”

Matthew Quimby of the Post’s Sons of the American Legion group introduced Robillard, reading from one of the book’s back cover blurbs.

“‘Outsourcing Duty’ is the first serious and detailed analysis of the ways in which societies and governments expose their soldiers to moral as well as physical risk,” he read during the event broadcast by Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV. “Soldiers are compelled to fight in wars about which they are given a little information. They must take responsibility for the life-and-death decisions that involve a great risk of wrongdoing.”

Robillard spoke of a military ethics conference he attended in Spain in March 2018 where he spoke to a fellow West Point graduate, Maj. Ian Fishback [a year ahead of Robillard] and veteran of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, was one of three 82nd Airborne soldiers who had written in 2005 to the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., about abuses of prisoners’ rights he had witnessed at a forward base in Fallujah, Iraq that “had gone unnoticed.” He chronicled in that letter what he saw as a military culture that was permissive toward the abuse of prisoners.

The friend had served three more tours after transferring to Special Forces before returning to West Point to become a philosophy professor, before working on his PhD at the University of Michigan.

Tragically, Fishback died at age 42 in an adult foster care facility. According to a New York Times report of his death, his family said his career “begun to unravel as a result of neurological damage or post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The last time Robillard had spoken to his friend was in a Veterans Day phone call a week before Fishack’s death.

“Ian was a scholar,” Robillard said. “He was a warrior. He was an examplar of what it meant to be an American citizen, and our country gravely failed him. … Ian’s situation is not unique at all – not for him, not for my generation, not for … the last set of wars that America’s been fighting.”

Woburn native Staff Sgt. Keith Callahan was buried in 2007 after he was killed in Iraq. Robillard called him “the best platoon sergeant I ever had,” when as a new second lieutenant, the author found himself in his first command posting from 2003-04. Callahan was killed in action on a later deployment.

Robillard also spoke of Abington’s Marine Sgt. Daniel Vasselian, killed in Afghanistan in 2013; Whitman native Maj. Michael Donohue of the 82nd Airborne, who was killed in action in Afghanistan a year later; and  Sgt. Jared Monti, also of  the 82nd Airborne, who hailed from Abington, killed in 2006 in Afhanistan.

“Anyone know his story?” Robillard asked about Monti. “Medal of Honor. I would be very surprised if many people in this area are even aware of it. It was news to me.”

He said he listed the local fallen as a “brief snapshot of the side effects of our nation’s ongoing wars, at least for the last 20 years.”

It is not just a Massachusetts issue, he said, but a national one that spans the country and expands generationally.

Of the 1 percent that was doing any fighting in U.S. wars, much of that was assigned to Special Forces units, according to Robillard. Considerations about warfare, including ethics, was being pushed off to the tip of that spear.

“The civil/military divide I’ve just described is still widening,” he said. “This isn’t a static thing.”

The three side effects the authors see are: unchecked military adventures, or the “forever wars;” a basic breakdown in the shared notion of citizenship; and the moral exploitation of soldiers.

The book largely focuses on the latter, exploring the relationship of exploitee vulnerability and exploiter benefit, according to Robillard and Strawser.

“This is an incomplete account of how persons or groups can be exploited,” Robillard said. “Persons can also be exploited, unfairly or excessively, by being made to shoulder excessive amounts of moral responsibility. We think that is what’s going on, at least, in part, with America’s relationship to its soldiers and to its veterans – at least during the last 20 years and the War on Terror.”

PTSD, moral injury and the growing problem of suicides among the veterans community is tracking something within the moral space that illustrates the problem.

The book also traces the demographics of vulnerability within the military – socio-economic background, geography, age, race gender and recruitment means and methods. Society, on the other hand, benefits from minimal disruption and physical risk to a tremendous institutional immunity to moral injury and dilemmas.

They also offer three possible prescriptions for the problem: recruitment reform and compensation; going back to some kind of ‘skin in the game argument,’ perhaps like the pre-Vietnam citizen soldier model of some type of draft so communities see actual tangible evidence of a war; or a national service model. Some of the soluions examined in the book range from removing profit margin for war, giving youth more likely to go to war a voice in whether or not there should be one and limitation of military forces to home defense purposes. 

“It doesn’t have to be national military service – fighting fires out in Wyoming or building roads or doing something — but at least gives some damn sense that we’re shared citizens that are doing our part to collectively share in our war-fighting decision making, and we’re shouldering the responsibility equitably,” Robillard said.

Robillard said he is “most sympathetic” to the prescription of requiring more skin in the game.

Schools map out strategic plan work

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By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]

Strategic plan working groups will be spending this month examining issues to improve the district, with an eye toward fostering discussions involved in at the Aug. 17 meeting, the W-H Regional School Committee has decided.

The committee, at its Wednesday, July 6, following a pre-meeting executive session to discuss contract negotiation strategies, discussed and selected areas of focus for its strategic plan working groups, which are not designed to be public meetings. 

“With all of these [issues], it’s a conversation,” said Chair Christopher Howard. “We’re doing analysis, we’re sharing ideas.” It doesn’t mean that, come Aug. 17, the committee would have detailed plans ready for a vote. “It’s to understand and to build that long-term plan, with the exception of start times,” he said.

The committee did vote 9-1, with member Fred Small opposed, to establish an advisory committee, including a couple committee members to determine whether school start times will change.

“Among the issues parents have been asking for is a change to school start times, particularly at the high school. That issue, however has been carved out for work by the school district leadership team due to issues such as logistics, financial and potential contract implications will be addressed before suggestions are brought back to the committee.

Four public comment emails had also been received from Shawn Kain, Joshua Gray, Ann Gray and Jennifer Cronin, according to Howard. Kain’s comments were relating to budget process while pulling the five-year plan in and looking for budget efficiencies and and the other three were regarding school start times and post-graduation readiness – preparing students for college and career.

Previously discussed strategic plan topics have been placed in groups — relating to security; student climate, culture and support; robust K-8 related arts; STEM and 21st-century learning; 1-to-1 technology and early childhood education. Committee members prioritized which issues they wanted to work on. The top three categories were robust K-8 related arts, post-graduation readiness and student climate, culture and support as the three main focus topics this year.

Member Dawn Byers suggested start time could be grouped in under student climate and support. She said it was not clear whether the committee is in total agreement as it was on all-day kindergarten, and “was not sure why the committee is not being invited to work along with that.”

Vice Chair Christopher Scriven said it was an example of collaboration toward a more efficient solution, as Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak has indicated he is willing to include committee members in that work.

“We’re not shelving it,” Scriven said. “We’re going to continue to be involved.”

He said he had no problem with administration and some committee members taking the lead on it, making a motion to that effect.

Member David Forth suggested doing the work under the umbrella of an advisory committee, which are not subject to the Open Meeting Law, and could provide the flexibility to bridge the concerns Byers voiced.

 “I was going to take start times on with my leadership team myself,” he said. “Based on public comment, based on what people have been emailing me, based on research that we’ve talked about since 2012, this was going to be one of my goals with my team this summer and putting it forth to the committee … so the committee could focus on a couple other things.”

He said he was willing to take some committee members on board with him for the work, but said some of the areas involved in the student climate and culture group would make the job overwhelming to put forward.

“When Jeff and I spoke, his point was it may be a more effective prioritization, [and] to get this moving quicker, for his team to look at the logistics of what it would take, rather than for us to spend the summer [discussing it].”

Howard said moving the issue forward in that way would make it a higher priority and, while the committee would still begin the working groups in August, but that Szymaniak would add one centering on what implementing new starting times might look like.

“It kind of bumps this one to the top of the line, if we want to go that way,” Howard said.

Szymaniak also said the start time issue has financial and contractual implications, as well as the need to notify parents if there’s a change.

“It’s not something that I can throw out there next February or March [along] with the calendar, saying, ‘Hey, by the way, all the elementaries are going to be going in at 9:30,’ that might not be fair for parents who’ve already established day care,” Szymaniak explained. He said he would rather see a proposal and potential impact bargaining issues with the teachers’ association by December.

Vice Chair Christopher Scriven said he is “very much in support” of working on start times.

“I’m thrilled that you’re going to take that on as one of your iniatives,” he said to Szymaniak. 

“We don’t need a discussion on it,” member Beth Stafford said. “I think we’ve all agreed with it … but what needs to be done is stuff that we can’t do.”

She pointed to busing logistics and budget impacts are more familiar to the district leadership team.

“If that gets things faster, let’s do it that way,” she said. “We have so many other things we can be working on if we know the administrative team is solely working on that one.”

Howard said another consideration was that setting up meetings to work on it would be easier with the leadership team than with the whole committee.

Member Glen DiGrazio asked what start time was actually based on.

“Long story short, in 2012, we cut the budget by about $400,000 and realigned all our start times,” Szymaniak said, noting it cut both bus routes and the number of buses needed to move the high school start time up 35 minutes – from 7:40 to 7:05 a.m.

Start time changes at the high school have a ripple effect to all the other schools.

Member Hillary Kniffen, who teaches in Pembroke, said making a start time change for that school district was a three-year process making 10-minute changes in each of those years.

“This is not shelving [work on start times], it’s prioritizing,” Scriven said, seeking to clarify the approach. “It’s not kicking the can down the road.”
Looking at the task ahead of the committee, member Fred Small, said that it would require meeting in smaller groups, looking into the individual items on the lists of topics divided between them.

“Unfortunately, in today’s world, some of it’s going to be financial — or what can and can’t we do — logistics … and also, what is the greater good,” he said.

While later start times benefit the four grades at the high school, he said a decision might crop up between that and a more robust related arts program that benefits eight grades.

Discussing information gleaned during July will be discussed toward making those decisions in August.

Forth said he saw valid arguments both for Szymaniak’s proposal and the inclusion of the full committee in the working group process, advocating a vote on that as well as votes for other top priorities in preparation for the Aug. 17 meeting.

Small suggested having committee members involved could potentially bog the process down. Howard said that if committee members want to participate, they would have to agree to Szymaniak’s schedule.

Whitman OKs senior tax work-off policy

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By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
[email protected]

WHITMAN — The Select Board, on Tuesday, July 12, voted to establish a policy governing seniors participating in the tax work-off program and adhere to town policy on minimum wage.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman noted that voters at Town Meeting had approved an article to permit residents age 60 and over to reduce their real estate taxes by allowing a maximum number of hours each year instead of a maximum dollar amount.

“We have not has a policy for the senior tax work-off program in the past, just sort-of some procedures that were laid out by the Council on Aging,” he said. “It seemed like an opportune time to have a policy to bring clarity on a couple things.”

He based the policy on one he wrote for Hanover when he served as Town Manager there. 

Whitman will differ from the town’s current practice in that the board had recently voted that town employees should be paid minimum wage. There is also currently no cap on the number of tax work-off employees, but the proposed policy recognizes there might be with the 125 hours — now at $8 per hour, but possibly more — there might be some increased interest, which might require capping the number of people included in the program.

“Tax work-off employees are employees,” Heineman said. “They’re employees of a different kind. It’s up to the board what the hourly rate would be — it doesn’t have to be minimum wage.”

But his proposal left it to Select Board consideration to possibly have it at minimum wage.

There are currently 32 slots available under program guidelines, all of which have been filled.

“This would make it so there could possibly be a cap of 35,” he said. “If there were more applicants for the program … how would a determination be made about who was in the program and who wasn’t?”

Heineman’s policy proposal would give preference to those already in the program, establishing a first-come-first-served waiting list, provided that those on the waiting list would be well-matched by their skills and background to open positions.

Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked what a position should pay per hour for a 125-hour post to take $1,500 of their taxes.

Heineman said it would be $12 per hour. The present minimum wage is $14.25 per hour (taking about $1,800 of property taxes) and rising to $15 per hour on Jan. 1. Right now a senior in the program working 100 hours at $8 per hour has $800 taken off their property taxes.

Heineman said the program is not required to meet the minimum wage requirements.

“I don’t think it meets the intent that we set when we set that policy, though,” Chair Randy LaMattina said. “I see tremendous value in this program. It’s helping out seniors in two ways, financially by way of taxes, but most of us have known these people from the time we voted the first time until last election. These are dedicated seniors that also get a lot, personally, out of this program.”

LaMattina said he had no problem going to minimum wage for the program.

The Council on Aging manages staffing through the program.

“I certainly would support it going to minimum wage,” member Shawn Kain said. “I feel like it’s a benefit they should be entitled to, not something [where] they should jump into a lottery and potentially get [sunk].” He advocated removing the cap on the number of participants.

“The question is, how much can the town [afford to] take off its taxes?” Salvucci asked. “Can we lose the revenue and still give services to the town? You’ve got to think on that issue.”

“And are there 100 positions to fill?” member Justin Evans asked.

Heineman said he expects the increase in hourly pay, along with the cap of 35 positions, the policy would take only about another $23,000 out of the overlay account, which funds it. The account typically carries $125,000.

“It would come out of taxes and reduce the excess levy,” he said.

LaMattina said he would like to see, monetarily, what the policy rules would do with the new rate.

“This program has been, I think, relatively stable,” he said. “If interest was out there, or if the need was out there, it can be amended.”

Correction to Meat Raffle in Hanson

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The date on the Meat Raffle with the Hanson American Legion was incorrect. It it sceduled for this Friday, Jan. 28th and not Nov. 12th.

We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have brought!

6th Dist. hopefuls square off

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Public safety reform, economic recovery in the wake of COVID and the accompanying public health concerns surrounding it, as well constituent services were the focus of a recent 6th Plymouth District candidates’ forum at the Plymouth Area Community Television cable access studio.

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Pembroke, and challenger Republican Tatyana Semyrog faced off in the session moderated by PACTV Executive Director Julie Thompson. The broadcast touched on political divisiveness, the immediate pressing issues facing the state – including policing, legislation they would back to benefit constituents, committee preferences and what they have learned about each other.

“This will not be a debate per se, but rather an opportunity for the candidates to let voters know who they are and where they stand on certain issues,” Thompson said.

The candidates were introduced in alphabetical order and had three minutes for an introductory statement before Thompson began her questions on state and local issues.

Formatted in a similar fashion to the presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 29, responses to each question were followed by a point-counterpoint opportunity to ask questions of each other. Candidates had three minutes to make closing remarks.

There was no audience or campaign staff present in the studio.

“I really love my job,” said Cutler, who is now serving his fourth term. “I believe in public service. This has been certainly the most challenging, but also the most rewarding term that I’ve served because a lot of people need help.”

Noting his pride in the fact that Massachusetts leads the nation in education, health care, biotech, energy efficiency, marriage equality and veterans’ benefits, Cutler said there is still more work to be done, especially with the public health and economic challenges posed by COVID-19. He serves on the Ways and Means Committee, Telecommunications and Energy Committee and the Higher Education Committee as well as the House Chair of the Coastal Caucus and is leading an initiative on workforce development for persons with disabilities.

An inventor and entrepreneur, Semyrog is also a mother, a widow and cancer survivor.

“All these tragedies that happened to me truly made me a survivor and inspiration to many,” she said of losing her husband in a car crash four years ago as well as her battle against breast cancer. “My family also survived severe persecution in the former Soviet Union for many generations.”

She said an independent district such as the 6th Plymouth should have all political viewpoints represented in the State House.

On the political polarization in the state as well as the nation, Semyrog said it breaks her heart, but repeatedly characterized a July vote Cutler cast for police reform as defunding the police.

“It is painful to watch us being ripped apart — by the media, truly — that is, dividing us up into classes, labeling us certain names that are unfair and I am here to address that and say, ‘This has to stop,’” she said. Semyrog claimed she has been ostracized and criticized by Cutler’s supporters on social media. “If we’re going to say that everyone’s lives matter, then let’s include everyone, including our police, who are being marginalized right now — attacked, dishonored and mocked. That has to stop.”

Cutler said the situation is a tale of two cities with division in Washington, D.C., specifically the White House, with both parties contributing to it; and Boston, where the legislature is Democratic and Gov. Charlie Baker is Republican.

“And yet, we found a way to work together and to build consensus,” he said. “We don’t always agree on every issue, but we work together to try to solve problems. The nation could learn from what we’re doing in Massachusetts, where we have Democrats and Republicans working together to solve issues.”

On the regional level, Cutler said he has worked with Republican colleagues to provide paratransit ride services for the disabled, North River issues and 40B projects in Hanover, and worked with the Republican leader in the House on the Energy Save Act.

“Fundamentally, I believe, in politics this job should be about addition and not division,” Cutler said.

Semyrog replied that, in knocking on 5,500 doors across the district, she has heard residents say they feel “betrayed” and that his record is “lacking in bringing people together.” She did not offer specific examples, other than claiming his vote to defund police has divided the community.

Cutler countered that the chairman of the W-H School Committee, who is a lifelong Republican, supports him, as do GOP members of the Duxbury Planning Board and that people understand that he works across party aisles.

Asked to list three issues they see as most pressing in the state, Cutler termed his the “Three Es” — education, economic development and energy/climate issues.

“I’ve been fighting for school funding and changes in our school funding formula,” he said.

Special education funding and financial assistance to districts struggling with the challenges surrounding COVID-19 resulted in a pledge by Ways and Means that cities and towns would see no cuts to local aid.

Semyrog said her number one issue is public safety, economic recovery was also mentioned.

“I know my opponent doesn’t like to call it ‘defund the police,’ but really, [a bill passed in July] is a bill that will hurt our police officers by taking away their qualified immunity,” she said.

She said raising the gas tax at this time is also “despicable.”

“She’s certainly entitled to her own opinions on this, but she’s not entitled to her own facts,” Cutler responded. He said he voted for an additional revenue source dedicated to police training as well as other bills funding needs of local departments.

“There’s a broader issue at play here,” he said of national debates surrounding policing. “I would agree in one respect, I think our law enforcement does a fantastic job here. … I think there’s also a need to look at policing reform and accountability.”

He noted that Massachusetts is one of only four states lacking a licensing certification for police officers and the legislation sought to address that. Cutler said he does not favor defunding the police nor ending qualified immunity and is “disappointed that my positions are, frankly, being misconstrued.”

Semyrog said she has been unanimously endorsed by police unions in Pembroke and Hanson, as well as the Mass Cops union and asked if the vote wasn’t for defunding, why do police officers feel that it is.

“I feel this is a very important matter that you need to own,” she said.

On legislative goals to help constituents, Semyrog said the next two years must focus on economic recovery, vowing to introduce bills to help small business and expanding Chapter 70 funds for schools and to help first responders.

Cutler said he would continue to do just those things, as he said he has done since being elected to the seat, as well as fighting for local aid and leading on issues of climate, preventing abuse of the disabled and again stressed he supports the police and also has a string of union endorsements, as well as one representing nurses.

“Everything you’ve accomplished is your job,” Semyrog replied.

Cutler also said continuing to serve on Ways and Means, which works on crafting a state budget, remains his priority. He stressed that the committee, even amid COVID, has committed to hold harmless to any cuts in Chapter 70 and lottery aid, protecting local aid to cities and towns. He also hosted a Ways and Means hearing in the district for the first time.

Semyrog also said she has an eye on the Ways and Means Committee, asserting she would “do more.” She also has an eye on the Public Safety Committee and the Community Development and Small Businesses Committee. Cutler said those were good committees to aspire to and that he has served on the Community Development and Small Businesses Committee and has been endorsed by the chairman of the Public Safety Committee.

Semyrog said she knew nothing about Cutler before running, and her canvassing has led her to feel constituents want new representation.

Cutler said he does not know Semyrog well, but looks forward to get to know her better and was dismayed that she chose to take such a divisive position.

About the candidates

Cuter grew up in Duxbury and now lives in Hanson. The Skidmore College and Suffolk Law School graduate owns a small business in Hanson and is the former owner of Clipper Press, which published the Duxbury Clipper and Whitman-Hanson Express before those newspapers were sold in 2013 before he ran for office. He also earned a master’s degree in environmental policy from UMass, Dartmouth.

His previous governmental experience includes three years as a Selectman in Hull, four years on the Duxbury Planning Board and on that town’s Alternative Energy Committee for 10 years. He currently serves on civic or business associations in all three district communities.

Semyrog’s family emigrated to the United States when she was a little girl in 1988. She has seven siblings settling in Springfield to start a new life. Her family’s Christian faith made them a target for persecution in the USSR, she said, explaining that her grandfather served 28 years in a labor camp and two of his brothers were summarily executed for possessing bibles.

“I was reborn in this country,” she said.

She said she graduated with a degree in political science and has worked for a few members of Congress, including U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass.

To watch the complete broadcast visit: https://youtu.be/06kyACQvVcA.

Whitman Area X baseball finds success

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With the high school and American legion baseball season being cancelled there was a potential for no baseball for the local high school players but Area x baseball was formed and started their season on July 6th. Whitman won the opening game of the season that night with a 6-2 win over Rockland. It was a great win and great to see these players who lost their spring and summers seasons out on the field playing again for the first time in a year. Tommy Marshall was the star on the mound coming in with the bases loaded and no outs and getting out of the jam and pitching shut out ball in relief. Offensive stars were Bobby Marshall and Chris Zalewski who each scored two runs and were on base 6 times.

On Monday night Whitman played against Pembroke who was leading the south region In Area x baseball. Whitman fell behind 6-2 but battled back to win the game 9-6. Ty Gordon and Tommy Marshall combined to pitch 4 innings of shut out relief. The offense was led by Cole Levangie who had 3 hits, Tommy Marshall who was on base all 4 times he batted and Chris Kenney who started 2 rallies and scored 2 runs. Jack Allen and Dan Bird also chipped in with 2 hits and ty Gordon came within inches of hitting the seasons first homerun.

Whitman also started a junior team in the Area x league and is off to a great start having only 1 loss. Ryan Mcdonald has picked up 4 wins on the mound. Sean Daggett, Sam and Ben Pace, Connor Sottak and  Matt Phelps have also chipped in with valuable innings pitched. Connor Sottak has been on fire at the plate, crushing the ball time after time. He has had plenty of help with Ryan Carroll, Sean Daggett, Josh Googins, Aidan Blake and Jake Falco putting up some great offensive numbers as well. Jack Carron missed the first couple games of the season but has played flawlessly in the field and at the plate since his return. Other team members who have helped get the new team off to the fast start are Ryan Hawley, Jake McAleer, Jake Googins and Manny Essling.

-head coach Mike Josselyn

Brianna Wu challenges Lynch in primary

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By Austin J. Schofield
Express correspondent

The presidential race isn’t the only area seeing Democratic primaries in 2020. In the Massachusetts 8th Congressional District, engineer Brianna Wu is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch for the party’s nomination. The Express recently spoke with Wu to ask her about herself and her campaign.

Q: Where are you from?

A: “I’m from Mississippi, but I’ve lived all over. I’ve lived in D.C., I’ve lived in Mississippi, I’ve spent a lot of time in Colorado, I’ve lived in Silicon Valley – where I got married.”

Q: What would you say your main background is in?

A: “I think it would be generally in tech start-ups, as I’ve started three throughout my career so far. Traditionally, however, I am trained as an engineer, and my specialty is graphical subsystems – so Vulkan, OpenGL, OpenCL, and so on.”

Q: So, you are formally trained as an engineer, and you’ve also worked in the tech industry establishing start-ups. Where did the interest in politics come into play?

A: “Well, I was adopted into a family of extremely right-wing republicans who were hyper-political. I grew up on a diet of Rush Limbaugh, Fox and others to a ridiculous degree. My father was a lieutenant commander in the navy — he used that career to break away from a life of poverty in Mississippi — and so my family had the kind of politics you would expect of someone from Mississippi of that generation. Therefore, I always had that interest in politics, but it was around the time that, frankly, George Bush started sending my friends off to die in Iraq — that really changed me.”

Q: What motivates your primary challenge of Stephen Lynch?

A: “I have been angry at Stephen Lynch for a long time. I think he is fundamentally out of step on Massachusetts’ values. I urge you to look into why he got into politics in Massachusetts in the first place. It was because he was angry at gay people for participating in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. In the ’80s, he got drunk and assaulted some Iranian students who were protesting American policies. [The Boston Globe reported in 2001 that the charges in the incident were dropped and that Lynch had struggled with alcohol abuse at the time. Fifty-two American hostages were held hostage in Iran from Nov. 4, 1979 to Jan. 20, 1981 leading to a great deal of anti-Iranian fervor in the U.S. — editor]

For a long time, I have been frustrated with Lynch and the leadership he has shown. I think that, in the Trump era, that disappointment in even more morbid. I’ll give an example; we have an ad out today that is of Stephen Lynch literally yelling at the constituent asking him to do something on impeachment. He’s like, ‘yeah, yeah, it’s not going to work, you’re just going to get him reelected.’ So I feel like there is fundamentally a leadership vacuum here in District 8, and if you go and compare that to Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, such amazing leaders, and then we have this guy that seems so out of step with everything we stand for. I can accept that he has less progressive social policies than most people, but what I can’t accept is the feckless leadership style that he enacts. If there’s a fight to be had, Stephen Lynch is not the person who’s going to fight.”

Q: Where do you part on specific issues?

A: “I think women’s’ rights is a very big one. Stephen Lynch, for the longest time, was anti-women’s’ reproductive health care access — he stood against that forever. He was against it and then he tried to run for senate and lost, and that’s when he changed his view. I’ve been dead solid consistent on this. I don’t just say I believe in women’s rights. I’ve had bricks thrown through my window for women’s rights. I’ve gone up against the worst figures in the Republican party over women’s rights. I’ve had to get Katherine Clark to intercede with the FBI for me over my position on women’s rights during Gamergate. So, that’s something that I feel very strongly about.

“I also think there’s this. There’s a teacher strike in Dedham, as we speak, because their healthcare costs are so out of control that even in an affluent neighborhood, teachers aren’t being paid enough to get healthcare. Stephen Lynch has failed, fundamentally, at bringing money from DC back to Massachusetts. We pay far more than we get back. So when our roads are crumbling, you need to ask, where are our Department of Transportation grants? When our T is literally catching on fire, my question is, where is Mass. and our fair share of that federal money? He has not been effective at bringing money back to the district because he is not willing to fight.”

Q: Where do you feel Rep. Lynch has fallen short?

A: “I think that’s one of the big ones. There are many on social policy, and its also important to say that, for all of Lynch’s talk about unions, unions are far worse off today in our state than they were when he was elected. Participation in unions is down 4 percent in just the last few years. Its plummeted. And take National Grid — how long were those guys out there protesting in the cold last year? A really long time. I was out there — I never saw him; so I think Stephen Lynch has marketed himself very effectively as a pro-union guy but when you look at the reality, its not there.”

Q: Lynch is a former president in the IronWorkers union. How do you view what he has done for these workers? What is your view on them?

A: He takes it for granted. I think a lot of these battles, he doesn’t show up. My team and I were with Stop & Shop workers during their strike. Was Stephen Lynch there? I didn’t see him. He sat that one out. I’ve never seen him out with National Grid, or with the hotel workers striking in downtown Boston. He sure wasn’t at that teachers rally in his own district just a few weeks ago. So, this is what I would say. Steelworkers are incredibly important, and I want to have their back, but, we need to look at where Massachusetts is today. The top two fields, as far as revenue, in Massachusetts are Biotech and Tech. And we are having very serious talks in both of these fields about our need to unionize and I am working with those people day in and day out on those unionization measures. When it comes to media, I sure have never seen Stephen Lynch on twitter talking about Vox’s union. I know the leaders for that rwally well. So, my dream for union participation in district 8 is: I don’t think we need to be separating Vox media people and steel workers. We are all in this together and I think white collar tech workers need to get over the elitism that makes us think we don’t need to stand with teachers and other kinds of workers. I think when it comes to working on wider issues for the wider 21st century economy, Stephen Lynch has fundamentally failed.”

Q: What are the most important issues facing the 8th District in your view?

A: “Basically, there are two buckets. There’s the kitchen table, economic discussions that keep a lot of families awake at night. I am a software engineer and my husband is one of the senior IP people at a major Biotech company. We just managed to afford a house this year. That’s how expensive it is. There are spiraling health care costs. Stephen Lynch wouldn’t even vote for Obamacare, much less more aggressive measures. He’s not there. As far as people in this district, I am talking economic issues that focus on them like a laser.

“The other bucket is a grand vision of where Massachusetts is going to be 100 years from now, and this is where I am ridiculously qualified to take us. Stephen Lynch is flat out terrible on tech and biotech issues — this is my field; this is my husbands’ field. So, when we are talking about bringing tech and biotech jobs into the state, one of the things that really disturbs me about Massachusetts is, we spend all this money on education, as we should, but we are a brain drain state. People come here and attend college, and then they go back to Silicon Valley or New York or Austin, Texas and they take those skills elsewhere. That is because our leaders in this state have failed to keep start-ups and talent in this state, starting the companies of the 21st century. I know how to get us there, and Stephen Lynch doesn’t.”

Q: Lynch chairs the Joint Committee on Commerce and Labor. What committee assignments would you aspire to if elected?

A: “There is a committee in congress right now that is not being taken as seriously as it should be; that is the science, space and technology committee. This committee controls patents, it controls communication standards, it controls encryption standards, it controls a wide array of tech standards and we are embarrassingly ignoring this committee. When we think of Facebook and their negligence causing our democracy to be damaged immensely – that is something that this committee has the power to regulate. There’s a videogame called ‘Total Spectrum Warfare,’ and the idea behind this game is that the wars of the 21 century are not fought with guns and bullets and bombs and missiles, they’re fought by controlling an enemy’s economics, their power system, their shipping infrastructure, their media infrastructure, their water infrastructure – this is where the U.S. is vulnerable. You could take out power to a majority of this country if you were to aim a missile at a very particular two-mile area of our power grid, and we don’t have a plan for that. It is a fact that Russians hacked our nuclear powerplants. We don’t have a plan for that. So, when it comes to the kinds of wars and attacks on our democracy in the 21st century, I am serious about being on the forefront of that committee addressing it.

“We have a role to play in the U.S. safeguarding our democracy. I come from Mississippi. We had more people serving per capita than any other state in America. I saw a lot of my friends die in Iraq and when I think of all the brave men and women that have given their lives so that we can vote, it makes me furious to see Congress failing to safeguard our elections in common sense ways. We have got to take this seriously, and Stephen Lynch is fundamentally a part of that problem.”

Q: Before we wrap up, is their anything else you’d like to touch on?

A: “Yes. The demographics in this district have changed immensely since he was elected just after 2000. Please understand how he got elected. We were attacked on 911 and he was a part of the backlash against that and in that moment, we went with the most conservative choice. Stephen Lynch’s base has traditionally been South Boston, so when you look at what this district looks like today, almost 20 years later, what are the differences? It’s much younger, it’s more diverse racially – Asian voters are almost 11percent of our district the last time I looked. We have areas like Brockton that are fundamentally falling apart. He’s not there. Stephen Lynch has kept power by focusing on this one small area of district 8, which is massive. We’re going to go out there, we’re going to talk to the people in Brockton that don’t even know who Stephen Lynch is because he never shows up. We’re going to talk to them and win their vote. The truth is, Stephen Lynch has taken the seat for granted for a long time and it’s time he had a real fight.”