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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.”

Cannabis grow public meetings continue

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By Drew Sullivan
Express intern

HANSON — A small turnout for Impressed LLC’s latest public outreach meeting took place on Thursday, Aug. 8 at the Hanson Senior Center, as they continue their process toward opening a cannabis grow facility in town.

Local supporter Amanda Rubins was the lone person in attendance, as she talked about the possible benefits of CBD, the non-psychoactive chemical in the marijuana plant.

Co-owners and father-daughter team Ralph and Alli Greenberg talked about their positive impact plan, and the importance of community in their process.

“I think corporate social responsibility is instilled in us,” said Alli. “We founded a family nonprofit and I couldn’t think of being in this position and not trying to do more.

“We even hired someone to come up with our positive impact plan to then see what we could do beyond it.” said Ms. Greenberg

Alli then went into further detail about their nonprofit, Key for Hope.

“If we could find two local food pantries, we’ll do an annual donation, and I’d like to match that via our nonprofit as well.”

The donations would be an expression of community support, according to the Greenbergs.

“The end goal is to eliminate food insecurity,” said Ralph. “By utilizing the metal from spare keys, that can be turned into money to buy food.

“It’s not just the sheer economic value,” said Mr. Greenberg, “but a community program that provides awareness.”

Hanson resident Amanda Rubins appeared pleased with the steps that Impressed LLC has taken thus far.

“I’m a non-consumer, but I think all of their outreach and all they’ll do for Hanson will be great,” she said. “I’m glad they’re here doing great things for us.”

As for the hopeful company’s next steps, the Greenbergs have a plan.

“We still have to get through the licensing process,” said Alli, “then marketing and building our team will be our next big component. We’re hoping to be in business by spring of 2020.”

Wampanoag history kicks off Hanson 200th

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By Drew Sullivan
Express intern

HANSON — Dozens came together on Thursday, July 25 for a barbecue dinner commemorating the opening of a new Wampanoag exhibit at the Nathaniel Thomas Mill.

Camp Kiwanee in Hanson played host to the event, with close to 75 people attending. The dinner featured raffles and a silent auction to benefit Hanson’s 200th Anniversary Committee, in addition to a speech by native Wampanoag member and activist Paula Peters.

Residents and supporters dined on cheeseburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and barbecued chicken, courtesy of local catering company Fork In The Road of Bryantville, while music played throughout the lodge.

During the dinner, Peters sat down for an interview and talked at length about her tribe, its history, and its significance to Massachusetts itself.

“I see a lot of signs around here like Indian Head, roads named Indian road or that sort of thing,” said Peters. “I think that’s obviously from that rich [native] history.”

However, in 1616, a “virgin soil epidemic” as Peters refers to it as, commonly known as The Great Dying, swept through the area for three years. This ultimately decimated up to 90 percent of the indigenous population along the coastal and nearby inland regions.

Peters also spoke of the erasure and sanitization of her people’s history, along with many others in indigenous communities throughout the region and country.

“Our history has been largely marginalized and I think what people do know is out of balance from what actually occurred,” she said.

The ignorance and lack of knowledge surrounding native histories is less so in Massachusetts, according to Peters.

“I think it’s a little less here because we’re down the street from America’s hometown,” she said. “But I’ve traveled across the country and around the world since becoming involved, and there is this overall ignorance to it once you step outside the region.”

Legacy

The lasting impact of the Wampanoag people is still very much felt today, on both a local and national level.

“The spirituality of indigenous people, even our governing structure, was something that eventually became mirrored by the founding fathers of this country,” Peters said indicating it flies in the face of the notion that native Americans were savage or barbaric peoples.

This theme of governance will be on display at Hanson’s new Wampanoag exhibit, called “Our” Story.

The name “Our Story” is due to the fact that the Wampanoag people had complete creative and editorial control over the exhibit. This is especially important given the somewhat checkered history that the Wampanoag tribe has had with local government, which Peters explained.

“Back in 1970, during Plymouth’s 350th anniversary, a Wampanoag man named Frank James was invited to speak at the ceremony,” she noted. “However, they looked over his speech and said ‘Oh, no, we don’t want you to say any of this stuff.’ This was because they talked about the Great Dying, kidnapping of native people and the injustices that were suffered. Rather than edit his remarks, he took his speech to Cole’s Hill in Plymouth. That day is now celebrated throughout the country as the National Day of Mourning.”

As dessert was being served, consisting of cake, pie, chocolate, and various fruits, Paula Peters took the stage.

She is a well-known leader in the Wampanoag community and former journalist for the Cape Cod Times. Her father Russell “Fast Turtle” Peters fought for the tribe’s federal recognition up until his death in 2003. The tribe’s federal recognition was gained in 2007.

During her speech, Peters asked the crowd about the history of famous Native American Squanto, and how much they knew about him. The room fell silent.

That, combined, with the number of questions she answered from the audience at the end spoke volumes about the educational importance of the event.

“The Wampanoag have been in this region for 13,000 years, so we feel a very strong affinity to this land. I felt a very strong affinity coming into Hanson today, it’s a beautiful place that I hadn’t ever seen before and is kind of preserved,” said Peters, adding jokingly “it’s a good thing nobody knows you’re here” as the audience responded with laughter.

As Peters was concluding her speech, she touched on some of the modern problems faced by native peoples including her own. Cultural appropriation is an issue, said Peters, referencing the NFL team the Washington Redskins. “Redskin” is widely considered a racial slur by many indigenous people, which made Peters ask, would a name like “Washington Jews” also be acceptable?

Some of her larger and more tangible concerns included securing and reclaiming all of her tribe’s land, recovering the native language, and the continued fight for greater federal recognition. “I’ve got all these things I’ve got to do. And I still have to circle back and worry about some ignorant people in the nation’s capital who think it’s okay to use a racial slur as a team name.”

The grand opening of the “Our” Story exhibit will be on Friday, August 2nd at the Nathaniel Thomas Mill, and the Hanson Historical Society will get a first look inside.

The exhibit, which is free of charge to all, will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Panthers win summer hoops league

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By Jack Dunn/Whitman-Hanson student intern

The W-H girls’ baskeball team won their summer league, in which they recently competed at East Bridgewater High School.

They played against Archbishop Williams, Cardinal Spellman, Carver, East Bridgewater, and W-H Red.

The team was coached by Eric Nunez and led by captains Hannah Damon, Brittany Gacicia, and Olivia Martin. In the finals they competed against a well-rounded East Bridgewaterteam.

“It is good for the girls to continue playing with one another to develop that on court chemistry and to have the ball in theirs hands throughout the offseason,” said coach Michael Costa about the experience at summer league. “It is also good for our younger players to experience and compete against varsity level type talent. However, I do not put a lot of stock in the record throughout the summer.

“A lot of times teams are not at full strength and there are many teams that do not have coaches on the bench with them and it is a lot more lax than a regular season game,” Costa said. “Obviously you want to win anytime you step on the floor but I do not take a lot away from it.”

Walking the walk on conservation

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By Drew Sullivan
Express intern

HANSON — Green Hanson, a local environmental group, took local residents on a nature hike Sunday, July 14, alongside Burrage Pond in Hanson.

Joanne Re, a longtime member of the group, led the roughly 3 mile hike beginning on Elm Street.

“I’m very interested in conservation of open land,” she said. Re mentioned her favorite part of the organization was their efforts concerning the quality of air and water in the area.

Roughly 15 people joined the hike, including two local families. Hanson mother Melissa Valachovic brought her husband and kids, along with their dog.

“I like finding new areas, being outside, and exposing our young boys to the nature,” she said.

As the hike continued, Re talked about the history of Burrage along with her personal connections to the area. “I remember the a-ha moment when I discovered this in my yard, that this belongs to everyone!” she exclaimed.

Most of the hikers agreed that one of the most pressing environmental problems today revolves around plastics and how they’re used and re-used.

“This is nuts,” said Jim McDougall, gesturing to his water bottle as he walked alongside his wife and granddaughter. “There’s too much [plastic]. It’s ending up in the oceans. If you kill the oceans it’s all done. It’s also effecting wildlife too much.”

As the hike came to a close, Re spoke in greater detail about the importance of this area, mentioning not only its history as the home of the nationally recognized brand Ocean Spray,  but also the home to a pair of Sandhill Cranes, an endangered bird species.

Those looking for more information on the group, ways to help their local environment, and future hikes can join the Green Hanson Facebook group for updates.

High number of stomach condition cases closes Conley School

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Conley Elementary School. (File photo courtesy Whitman-Hanson Regional School District)

WHITMAN —School officials closed Conley Elementary Schoolon Friday, March 15 due to a high number of students with a stomach condition.

“Over the course of the last two days, there have been multiple cases of students suffering from a stomach condition,” Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak stated in a message posted on the WHRSD web site. “After consultation with the lead nurse, school nurse and school department officials the school will be deep-cleaned this weekend and be prepared to open as usual on Monday.”

Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno had also announced in a tweet Friday morning that Whitman Middle School has been cleaned overnight and the remainder of the town’s schools would be cleaned over the weekend as a precaution.

“The bus company [First Student] has also been notified to disinfect the buses,” Grenno Tweeted.

Maquan transition panel taking shape

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen is seeking three Hanson residents to serve as at-large members of the Maquan School Transition Committee. Those interested in helping determine the future of the elementary school building, being closed as a school and returned to the town at the end of the 2017-18 school year should apply to the Selectmen’s office as soon as possible.

Town Administrator Michael McCue told the board on July 11 he has been in contact with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner as well as School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes to appoint a Hanson representative to the committee.

While the School Committee is not scheduled to meet in July, Hayes said he will reach out to Hanson members to determine who is willing to serve on the panel.

“They’ve also indicated that members of staff, as needed, will be made available to us as we go forward,” McCue said.

Selectmen Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who has been selected to represent the Hanson Board of Selectmen on the Maquan Committee, also noted that a “litany” of other residents have also been mentioned as possibly being asked to serve the committee in an advisory capacity.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she wants to see the committee in place and ready to go to work by late August or early September at the latest.

“I don’t want to get dramatic about this, but it is a rather large-scale project and it’s a lot to look at in a fairly condensed timeline,” she said. “The number of people impacted [is large and there is] the anxiety level around it for a lot of people with little people that want to know what’s going on — the schools will obviously handle a lot of communication with folks around the physical transition of their little guys. But I would like to get our conversations going just about as soon as we hear from the school Committee on who they’ve got.”

McCue said he shared that concern and noted that the only difficulty would be in attracting the at-large members from town.

McCue is also aiming to convene a workshop meeting of some of the members of the Memorial Field Trustees, the Thomas Mill Committee, the Parks and Fields Committee and the Recreation Commission regarding committee consolidation as soon as he can arrange a date that works for all parties, preferably in early August.

“What we’re trying to do is look at efficient use of limited resources and take a fresh look at whether [some of] these committees are needed or whether they’re a little redundant and maybe another committee can pick up a few tasks without being unduly burdened,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

Selectmen also devoted more discussion to their goals for the year as Selectman James Hickey noted his wish to stress conclusion of the situation at the former Plymouth County Hospital site, perhaps citing a solar panel installation either there or at the transfer station as well as finding a location for a cell tower in town.

“Cell phone reception in Hanson is the worst,” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett and McGahan have already submitted lists to McCue.

“I want to make sure each member of the Board of Selectmen knows that I certainly want to welcome any items — any other input,” McCue said. “My hope is that, at the next meeting, I would have a formalized list I could present to the selectmen and we could all come to an agreement that this is what the board as a whole wishes to move forward on.”

McCue also noted that the state has given little guidance on the subject of marijuana bylaws, adding “we need to get in line so that we have some sort of bylaws on the books in October [when the special Town Meeting is the town’s next bite at the apple] in terms of regulating retail marijuana.”

He has already begun discussing the issue with the town planner and health agent, but noted Selectmen should also be involved and added that the current recommendation include with the present overlay district for medical marijuana — in a section of the industrial park toward East Bridgewater — a location for any retail establishment.

He cautioned, however, against bylaw that would contradict the state “once they get their act together.”

School repairs eyed

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HANSON — The Hanson Board of Selectmen Tuesday May 23, expanded the scope and changed the name of its school buildings repair committee.

It was the board’s first  meeting since the May 20 election, kicking off with the swearing-in of new selectmen Jim Hickey and Laura Fitzgerald-Kemmett, who were active in discussion and ready to provide input on many of the agenda items.

Most of the meeting dealt with Indian Head and Maquan School Priority Repair Committee, the name of which is being changed to reflect the concerns about all three Hanson school buildings.

The Selectmen decided to vote on renaming the committee to the concise School Repair Committee. They also unanimously voted to add the Hanson Middle School to this committee after discussing the responsibility and role of the committee.

“Maybe we need to incorporate all of the town buildings into this committee because they’re all in disrepair and we always seem surprised when something like a roof leak comes up,” Selectman Fitzgerald-Kemmett said.

Chairman McGahan agreed.

“We have a need for a group to focus on town buildings,” he said.

Selectman Howard asked if the school department didn’t take care of schools?

Essentially, the argument is that the schools shouldn’t be incorporated with town buildings, as the responsibility is lying in different pockets. Whitman contributes money to the school department. There is also the matter of people covering the school buildings not having knowledge of the happenings of town buildings.

“I don’t know if this committee is the way to do it (determining the needs to repair town buildings),” Selectman Kenny Mitchell said.

In response to the arguments, Fitzgerald-Kemmett said, “It’s evolving to where we need two or three committees… Bring groups together so they can prioritize what they all need.”

Selectman Hickey differed.

“I don’t know if we want to make two or three new committees,” he said. “We have enough trouble getting people to join our current committees.”

“This town is committee-ing itself to death,” School Committee chairman, and member of the Indian Head and Maquan School Priority Repair Committee, Bob Hayes said. He argued that regardless of how many committees there are, the town still has to vote to listen to them.

Town Administrator Michael McCue felt that this was something that could not be accomplished during this meeting. He thought the discussion was healthy but they should attend to the matter at hand, which was the Indian Head and Maquan School Priority Repair Committee.

The former selectman member of this committee was Bruce Young. Due to his retiring, the members had to vote on his replacement. Hickey said that he would like to take on this responsibility and the members voted to approve him unanimously. This will, of course, be his first committee as a selectman.

The meeting began with their swearing in with many attended the meeting in order to see these Hanson residents officially become Selectmen and there was applause from the crowd.

The board then reorganized, voting James McGahan back as chairman and Mitchell as vice chairman.

Spring renewal: Green Hanson plans events

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HANSON — Now that spring has “arrived,” Green Hanson is hitting the ground running this month with a quartet of programs, old and new — and a new nominee for chairman, 2012 W-H graduate Naomi Mastico.

Also a recent graduate of UMass, Amherst, Hanson native Mastico has returned home and is taking the handoff of Green Hanson’s reins from Marianne DiMascio, who has decided it’s time to step back a bit after some 10 years with the organization.

Mastico was a Green Hanson volunteer during her high school days, and said she is looking forward to rolling up her sleeves and planning more events.

“I’m really thinking of having an event per season,” Mastico said Friday, March 31, at DiMascio’s business office at 620 County Road. “That’s my big dream, because we’ve been really spring-focused. … We’re from New England and we’re famous for our seasons and I think so much of being green is a connection to that — to the Earth, to the weather, to the cycle of the seasons.”

Among her thoughts are a possible return of past fall harvest pot-luck dinners, outdoor summer film screenings and electronic recycling days, among others.

“We’re kind of revitalizing Green Hanson,” DiMascio said. “We’ve been doing some things all along … and we have four events coming up in April.”

First up for the group was an April 1 spring meeting for the organic Hanson Community Garden, held at the Hanson Public Library at which gardening tips were offered and interested residents could sign up for a plot at the garden, located at the Hanson Food Pantry on High Street.

On Tuesday, May 2 there will also be a demonstration during food pantry hours of how to do square-foot gardening for pantry clients and other interested residents, DiMascio said.

The annual Clean Up Green Up community spring roadside cleaning day is also being planned. The event will take place from 9 to 11:30 a.m., Saturday, April 22 with volunteers meeting at the Hanson Town Hall green at 8:45 a.m. for coffee and doughnuts — provides by Dunkin’ Donuts — and for their cleaning assignments.

“We were originally supposed to have it on [April] 8, and I’m glad we’re not, because it’s still cold,” DiMascio said.

“It’s impossible to dig through snow and find trash,” Mastico agreed.

Green Hanson is urging W-H students in search of community service projects to volunteer. All volunteers are advised to wear long-sleeved shirts and pants come prepared with work gloves and boots. Walker-Clay has donated 75 bright yellow T-Shirts for visibility, by arrangement with Town Administrator Michael McCue, but volunteers are asked to wear their own bright-colored clothing in case there are not enough T-shirts to go around.

“We also invite people to let us know if there are specific areas that they’re thinking of cleaning to send [that information] to us,” Mastico said.

Green Hanson’s Clean Up Green Up partners are: state Rep. Josh Cutler, Mike’s House of Pizza, Hanson Kiwanis, Hanson Middle School Builders Club, Hanson Boy Scouts, Shaw’s Supermarket, Dunkin’ Donuts, WasteZero, the Hanson Highway Department, Noonan Waste Service, Eco-Explorers 4-H Club and the WHRHS National Honor Society.

DiMascio has also organized a bicycle donation drive to benefit the nonprofit Bikes Not Bombs, which trains low-income youths in Boston to repair the bikes for shipment to Third-World nations where the bikes are desperately needed.

Area residents are invited to drop off repairable bikes, parts, tools, accessories and cycling clothing to 620 County Road from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Saturday, April 29. As it costs $10 to ship renovated bikes overseas, monetary donations are also being accepted, DiMascio said.

Acceptable bikes include: road, hybrid, mountain, BMX and tandem — basically anything except rusted bikes, kick scooters, motorized bikes, exercise equipment, tricycles or Trail-A-Bikes.

One shipment of repaired bikes sent to Uganda, for example, enables a group of 500 village health workers to reach patients in rural areas. Another project, in Guatemala, creates bicycle-powered machines as an emissions-free technology to improve the productivity and efficiency of rural livelihoods.

“A bike can change someone’s life,” she said. “They can get to a market, they can get to town — mobility. It’s having the bikes go to a good place and multiple purposes.”

Other area Bikes Not Bombs collections will be held: Saturday, May 9 in Sharon or Saturday, May 20 in Hingham. For a complete list of Masssachusetts drives, or to learn more about Bikes Not Bombs, visit bikesnotbombs.org.

Green Hanson is also hosting a trail walk at the Webster-Billings Conservation Area off Old Pine Drive and East Washington Street, Hanson from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Sunday, April 9.

The next meeting of Green Hanson is at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 12 at 620 County Road. The public is welcome to attend.

For more information, call Mastico at 781-974-8455 or email greenhanson@gmail or facebook.com/greenhasonma/.

Trio Café marks 10 years

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WHITMAN — It’s a family business where customers have become a part of the family.

Trio Café owners Ilian and Elena Tchourilkov are celebrating their business’10th anniversary year — since opening in November 2006. Many of their customers have ordered Trio catering services for everything from baby showers to funerals, corporate events to staff lunches.

“I know that 10 years is not that long to be in business,” Ilian said. “On the other hand, for one particular family we did a christening for their daughter, graduation parties [from both high school and college] and then we did a baby shower.”

Tears still come to Elena’s eyes as she thinks of customer-friends who have passed away years ago.

Family sticks with you.

“We become attached to them,” she said. “That’s life, it’s part of everything.”

The couple, who also owns a Trio Café in Boston, emigrated from Bulgaria 20 years ago, and moved to Whitman 12 years ago when their daughter was 2 — drawn to the community and schools.

Now she, like a handful of other WHRHS students, works in her parents’ café where the Tchourilkovs employ a staff of six plus some part-time staff. Ilian said the shop’s unusual family-oriented hours have made Trio’s a good place for students to work. Their Boston shop is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the Whitman shop closes at 4 p.m.

The small business is also a big hit with some very big companies, incluing Google, Microsoft, GoDaddy and Mass. General, as well as local businesses such as Mutual Bank, Tama  Dojo and Bike Barn.

Catering is their main focus right now, and accounts for its interesting customer base.

“For some reason, we have different types of customers,” Ilian said. “Monday through Friday, we have the big corporations, we get the offices and Saturday and Sunday its birthdays, christenings and family parties.”

The two locations work closely together, as do the Tchourilkovs. Ilian is in the Boston store on weekdays, starting as early as 4:30 a.m.

“We could extend hours, but family is family, so you don’t want to overdo it,” he said. “Up until we get 24 hours busy, there is always room to grow. We try to keep it manageable.”

That was part of the reason for a shift of focus to the catering end of things, with only Whitman offering room for a small dine-in area — Boston offers only take-out and catering services.

They also continue to do the baking for tea cart services at a few Boston hotels.

“When we started the main idea was the bakery,” Elena said five years ago. “Then we started serving sandwiches and the menu is now a lot bigger. Slowly we added the catering service.”

The catering menu was increased in 2012 to offer a lot more choices, both in dishes and how — and how big — they could be prepared.

Organization is a vital skill in the business, and there are some plans for changing a few things. Ilian’s Christmas present figures in to that — new top of the line coffee machines and grinders.

“I want to sell Starbucks coffee,” he said, aiming to become a destination for fine coffee. Trio used to sell Lavazza coffees, but the importing system from Italy was cumbersome. If there is a problem for them to overcome, its that the business is growing but the building is not.

The main goal for the future, however, is to keep up the good work with good food — no additives are used.

“We try to be more efficient — to be faster and more accurate,” he said. The pastry shelves were relocated twice before being removed and ice cream is no longer offered.

Unlike  a lot of area eateries, Trio does not go in for constant coupon deals.

“There is no hidden cost,” he said. “We think it’s fair pricing and there’s no reason for games.”

“If people come back, that means we’re doing a good job,” Elena said, adding it is not usual to see catering clients order small portions as new customers, then placing big orders after they’ve tried it.

Community participation is also important, Ilian said.

Trio continues to donate food and/or cater for events such as the Friends of Whitman Park wine tasting, the DFS A Taste of Whitman & Hanson, events for veterans groups, the Knights of Columbus and other events.

“I don’t remember saying no,” he said. “It’s a nice community, it’s a small town.”