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Sparks fly over fiscal planning

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WHITMAN — Fiscal planning procedures and priorities again took center stage during a sometimes fiery discussion at the Tuesday, Sept. 25 Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

Resident Shawn Kain again raised the issue of the need for a five-year capital plan, criticizing the Building Needs and Capital Expenditures Committee for not providing a report for the town’s Annual Report.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the committee opted against forwarding a capital plan “until we had numbers.”

“It’s a way of thinking and, perhaps, we need to change it,” Lynam said. “On the plus side, I did apply for and did receive two grants from the Commonwealth Compact, a program that the Selectmen signed up for almost three years ago.”

The best practices grants are: a financial management approval to aid in preparing a capital improvement plan that reflects community needs set up within an annually reviewed finance plan that reflects the community’s ability to pay; and a financial management package that established budget documents detailing all revenues and expenditures as well as a narrative for the public’s benefit and clear, transparent communication of all financial policies.

Lynam credited Kain for focusing on those issues as directly as he has, and extended to him an invitation to join the Building Needs and Capital Expenditures Committee and to take over Lynam’s position as chairman.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, agreed with the invitation as a good move for the town.

Kain replied that he appreciated the invitation and that the Commonwealth Compact initiatives are sound ones, but said he is not interested in joining the committee this year.

“I feel like you have the critical pieces in place to make decisions quickly and to get action done,” he said. “I think my role in that might just confuse things, honestly.”

Earlier in the meeting, Kowalski had criticized the “Debbie Downer act” Kain has been playing about the success — or lack of it — on the part of Selectmen and others in town government.

“I just need to cast some balance to that,” he said, noting he prefers the direct approach to the use of social media. “This is the way our system is sort of set up, we have an open Town Meeting, once a year, that governs the town. We have open Selectmen meetings every two weeks in which we speak to the town — speak to each other. Sometimes we make motions, sometimes we are voted down.”

Kain stressed that, with the new modes of communication out there “is the ability to stop and do research and respond thoroughly,” something that’s difficult to do even in the forum of a Selectmen’s meeting.

“I like the opportunity to speak,” he said, in agreement with Kowalski. “I’m still an old-school person [and] I love Town Meeting, but this new form of communication that allows us to do a little more depth — there are people who use it for superficial reasons, but that hasn’t been me.”

taking issue

Kowalski said that Kain’s suggestion that Selectmen were guilty of incompetence or recklessness “just doesn’t meet the facts.” The boards basic goals over the past several years, have been to keep taxes low during the recession, to lay no people off from town jobs and to address major capital needs, he noted.

“I think a look at our history will show that we’ve done that,” Kowalski said. “We’ve ranked since [over the past nine years], 11th, 10th, 11th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 13th, 15th  and 12th out of 18 [area communities], with one being the highest tax rate on that scale.”

Since 2010, the town has added $3.61 to the tax rate, which puts Whitman 10th out of those 18 towns. No town layoffs were made and only five new hires have been made over the last 10 years —other than in the schools, which have a different budget structure — while the town accomplished capital needs projects such as building a new high school, police station, K-8 school renovations, as well as renovations to Town Hall and the fire station, Kowalski pointed out.

“We are short-staffed … and that comes at a cost that keeps us from doing some of the things I know you would like us to do and that we would like to do as well,” he said. “You’re right, we need to do better with respect to formalizing and writing our planning and operating procedures.”

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green has been working on updating procedures and policy guidelines for that reason. The process for developing a strategic plan has also begun, Kowalski noted.

Where the capital planning and operations are concerned, Lynam said the town has worked cooperatively, between the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and himself to identify budget and capital priorities are each year.

“I will take fault in two things,” Lynam said. “That we have not reduced it to a written plan and that I have not filed the plans for the last two and a half years.”

But Lynam stressed the things that have been accomplished. He said every year a balanced budget is delivered with appropriate funding for departments and spending based on priorities. In 2014 alone, to purchase equipment, improve buildings or service debt, the town spent $956,000 on schools including new equipment and debt service on the high school; $1,289,000 on town projects, including debt service to a project completed in 1999 and another completed in 2011. Another $53,000 was spent on town vehicles; $189,000 on fire equipment and vehicles; $692,000 on debt service for new water mains; $246,000 on repairs to pumping stations and $329,000 on roads.

“The most significant source of funds for capital improvement, by-and-large, has been our free cash,” Lynam said.

The Police Department project, presented in to Town Meeting in 2008, was done because the old police station had personnel “almost under the gun” by way of a safe work environment. It would have been presented as a debt exclusion had there been a full Select Board — there were only four Selectmen and one refused to vote to present a debt exclusion.

“Ironically, according to state law, it only takes three votes to present an override, but it takes four to present a debt exclusion, presumably because how long it runs,” he said. A special Town Meeting, attended by 265 people, of whom 223 — or 81 percent — voted to support the project within the levy limit via free cash.

“To say that this wasn’t planned would be a misstatement,” he said. He also said the town has a five-year projection, but the only significant source of growth revenue is Proposition 2 ½.

‘In crisis’

“We are in crisis,” Kain had repeated. “There are a lot of people — good people — whose jobs are on the line with what we do over the next year. … I have no personal hard feelings about anybody on the board, honestly I don’t.”

But he encouraged a “hard look through a business lens,” at the way the town has been run over the course of recent years, and argued the long-serving members of the board are unable to take an objective view of that.

“I can’t yet say the situation is as dire as you say, but I’m not saying the situation isn’t serious,” Kowalski said.

Resident Mary Fox pointed to the new police station, air-conditioning in Town Hall and recently added firefighters as misuses of town funds. She also pointed to police logs as evidence that officers are not helping the town — arguing they should be writing more tickets to bring in revenue and control traffic violations — and arguing against out-of-state travel to conferences as a waste of money.

“I’ve been up here about the trips,” she said. “Now I want no trips. You thought it was bad I didn’t want you to go out of state and you pull a fast one, the guy already got his permission. … We have to cut back.”

She also argued for pay freezes.

Police Chief Scott Benton, however, had heard enough.

“This is a great country and, no matter how rational or irrational we may think somebody is, everybody gets to speak,” Benton. “I will tell you that, number one, to even question the integrity or the character of anybody on the Whitman Police Department, I find insulting. … Everybody has a story and everybody has a journey and I’ve heard yours over and over.”

Benton told Fox she never has anything positive to say, adding “it doesn’t get us anywhere.”

He answered Fox’s criticism on citation quotas by noting that same afternoon his officers arrested a homicide suspect.

Town divided

“Good police work, that’s what that was,” he said. “The residents of this town can take a lot of confidence in knowing that the people that serve the Police Department in Whitman serve it well. … I have a problem with a person that rises and sleeps under the very blanket of freedom and safety that we provide and the questions the manner in which we provide it. I’d rather you just said thank you, myself.”

He admitted he doesn’t know where the town is going fiscally, but added he is confident that the people will make the right decisions as when residents voted to add firefighters to meet the needs of the Fire Department and community.

“By offending people or attacking people, nothing’s going to get done,” he said. “All we’re going to do is divide each other — and when we’re divided, we’re going to fall.”

Kowalski agreed the town doesn’t do enough to praise the department’s work and thanked Benton for officer Mark Poirier’s work in making Tuesday’s arrest.

Kain said his purpose in using social media is not to express his disagreement with town officials. Kowalski countered that there are dangers to social media, as one member of the board found out during the previous week.

“I’m very happy you brought that up now,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. “I welcome this discussion. The route we’re going to go, I welcome it. That was a very bad choice of words on your behalf, but if we’re going to have it, we’re definitely going to have it.”

Kowalski continued, saying that people can hijack your Facebook personality and send the wrong message to people.

“That’s what I was going to say, Randy,” he said.

Hanson splits vote on cannabis shops

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HANSON — Voters at special Town Meeting Monday, Oct. 1 narrowly approved an article amending the General Bylaws in order to prohibit the retail sale of recreational cannabis products, but failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required by a second article to amend the town’s Zoning Bylaws.

Both will also appear on a Nov. 6 town ballot, but the zoning question is effectively moot — leaving the town to depend on a bylaw approved in May restricting retail marijuana businesses to an overlay district with frontage on Route 27/ Main Street and Franklin Street.

“The reason why we have two separate bylaws on this Town Meeting warrant is because there is some question as to whether or not a General Bylaw will serve to prohibit,” said Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff. “It’s potentially challengeable.”

She said her firm would do their best to protect the town if a challenge is received.

The 50-45 vote in support of the General Bylaw included those who out-and-out support the financial benefit such businesses represent for the town — such as all five Finance Committee members and three selectmen — and those who waned to give more voters the chance to vote on the issue. The Zoning Bylaw article’s 49-43 vote supporting it failed the two-thirds margin required by zoning articles — amid confusion over the difference between the two.

A question arose centering on the vote total on the General Bylaw as to whether a quorum still existed, but a handful of people, including Moderator Sean Kealy, said they had not voted.

Yes votes were in support of the prohibitions, no votes were in favor of allowing retail cannabis sales in town.

“We look at everything from a fiduciary standpoint,” said Finance Committee member Kevin Sullivan in explaining his board’s position. “It’s not our job to interpret whether or not the citizenry should take another vote. We looked at this as any other business coming into town, it’s a valid stream of revenue that comes to the town — quite frankly, we’re in desperate need of revenue.”

Town officials, however, declined to estimate how much tax revenue such businesses might generate, while others spoke of financial boosts already realized by towns of comparative size in Colorado, California and Washington.

“We feel that it would be irresponsible for us to try and estimate that,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “It’s a new business. … Anyone trying to do a business plan would be very hard-pressed to figure that out.”

“Like any other business, we wouldn’t measure validity of it based on revenue,” Sullivan said.

“The main reason that I’m voting yes on this article … is that I certainly want, for the very first time Hanson is going to be possibly authorizing sale of recreational marijuana,” resident Bruce Young of Indian Head Street said of the General Bylaw question. “I certainly want to maximize the democratic process.”

He argued that the town’s 7,600 voters should decide the issue, not a quorum of 108 people at a town meeting.

Resident Annette Benenato of Brookside Drive, meanwhile, expressed concern over the type of products sold by such businesses, including edible products such as gummie candies, lollipops, sodas and baked treats containing THC, the psycho-active compound in cannabis.

“These marijuana products are appealing to our youth and there is growing scientific literature that shows adolescents and young adults who are regular marijuana users are at increased risk for addiction and mental health disorders,” she said. Benenato also argued that youth use rates are highest where cannabis is legal, that sales tax revenue will not present a tax windfall and the town has a right to opt out of retail sales.

Patrick Powers of Holmes Street reported that health department reports in Colorado and Washington both found that marijuana use actually decreased among youth in grades six through 12 after legalization as well as a 6.5 decrease in opioid overdose deaths. He also said children are not allowed in cannabis shops where customers must show ID to enter and wait in a waiting room before they are assisted by a certified employee who has passed background checks. No products are on display in the shops.

“We as a town of 7,000-plus voters have had a chance three times — this is our fourth, November will be the fifth — to come and voice their opinions,” Powers said. “So to say that our town hasn’t had a chance to come and vote on this issue, either on a state ballot or at a town meeting … is a complete falsehood.”

Joseph Campbell of Woodbine Avenue argued that Hanson would benefit from tax revenue on both the local and state level, noting that similar towns out west have benefits for land-locked towns with slowing growth.

“We have an opportunity knocking at our door,” Campbell said, noting individual moral decisions must take place in the home. “If you have a liquor store at the end of your street, is that going to make you an alcoholic? Probably not.”

He stressed that the Board of Selectmen will retain the right to grant or rescind licenses as well as bestowing the financial “gifts” of taxes from the businesses to public safety and school needs.

Thomas Pellerin of Waltham Street, who moved to Hanson from Lynn 21 years ago, said he has seen what drugs can do to a community from living in Lynn.

“Hanson has been a nice community and I think this would change that community,” he said. “Do we really want this for our town?”

Planning Board member Joseph Gamache asked Police Chief Michael Miksch to weigh in on the issue.

Miksch, who does not live in town, quipped that he really didn’t want to comment.

“I’ve been asked to speak about this a number of times,” he said. “This isn’t what Mike Miksch wants. But it doesn’t matter what I want. Whatever laws you pass, that’s what we enforce.”

He said he didn’t want to get into the financial question, but said a friend who serves as a major in the Colorado State Police has reported that accidents and impaired driving citations have increased. There is no scientific way to test for drug impairment.

“There’s always ripple effects to everything,” he said.

W-H seeks interim student services director

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Meeting in a special session on Wednesday, Sept. 19, the School Committee voted 6-0 to accept the resignation of assistant superintendent for pupil services Kyle Riley and post the position as director of student services on an interim basis to complete the school year.

The position was posted immediately after the meeting because state law requires the position be filled by Oct. 1.

Members Christopher Howard, Robert O’Brien Jr., Christopher Scriven and Alexandria Taylor were unable to attend.

“As you know, that position was formerly a director of student services, it was changed last September by the School Committee and the assistant superintendent position was formed,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said. “I’d like to go back to the director of student services and I need your approval for that.”

The salary for a director will be lower than that of an assistant superintendent, but the duties are similar.

“The director of student services incorporates special education, homeless transportation, special education transportation and English-language learners as well as home-school students,” Szymaniak said. “When we looked at it as an assistant superintendent it was a little more as a decision-maker in Central Office. As we put together a flow chart of superintendent, one assistant superintendent who has hands in a lot of different things and this as a true director position — much like many of the districts around us.”

Szymaniak also reported that he has advised Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue about the committee’s Sept. 12 vote to extend the Maquan School turnover date to Oct. 31.

“Does everybody understand we’re not mowing that field anymore?” Committee member Michael Jones asked.

Szymaniak replied that he believes the Maquan Re-Use Committee is discussing such particulars.

“We’re not going to have any obligation to do that,” Szymaniak said. “I think that’s going to be something that, if they ask us to do that, there might be a fee … but our responsibility to that facility is going to turn over Oct. 31.”

He said the town is now discussing how to secure the building and the district is working with town officials to purchase materials to board it up, for which they will seek reimbursement from the town.

Dates for the municipal and public yard sales will be announced at the Wednesday, Oct. 10 School Committee meeting.

Whitman police arrest shooting suspect

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Express staff

Whitman police arrested Rockland resident Allen Warner, 47, after he tried entering a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through in the wrong direction Tuesday afternoon while driving a flatbed truck he had allegedly stolen from T&K Construction firm.

Warner was the subject of an intense manhunt Monday night after he allegedy shot his estranged wife Shana, 48, who later died of her wounds at South Shore Hospital. The shooting, in Marshfield, forced residents in a large section of the town to shelter in place as a State Police Helicopter aided officers on the ground searching a wooded area near where the shooting occured.

Whitman, where he was arrested, is about 18 miles away.

Plymouth County DA Timothy Cruz said in a press conference Monday that Shana Warner called police at around 6 p.m. Monday to report that her husband was following her car. She was in the process of divorcing him. Published reports indicate the couple had been divorced twice and that Shana had been in the process of divorcing him for a third time.

Investigators believe he drove to Marshfield with the intention of finding her.

According to published reports, Dunkin’ Donuts employees were not sure what was happening the next afternoon when Warner was seen driving the wrong way in the drive-through. Whitman officer Mark Poirier stopped the truck, got Warner out and placed him under arrest, Cruz said at a follow-up press conference Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m really pleased that this ended peacefully, that nobody else got hurt and I want to thank the community, the press and the collaborative effort of all the law enforcement agencies that worked on this,” said Marshfield Police Chief Philip Tavares.

Whitman Police transported the suspect to Marshfield Police. He was scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge in Plymouth District Court Wednesday, Sept. 26.

Marshfield was locked down in a four-mile radius of the shooting, as police launched Monday’s manhunt.

At first they thought he [Warner] had fled on foot and were searching the woods, but it turns out he was earlier chasing his wife in a vehicle on route 3A. She called 911 and was found shot in the face off the road.

Residents did not know, until about 10:15 p.m., from TV news that police no longer believed Warner was in the area.

Residents were told it was an active shooter situation, and to lock doors and remain inside, from roughly 5:50 to 10:15 p.m. Some people got robocalls, but non-residents visiting Marshfield, didn’t. those that didn’t get robocalls took to Facebook to express their displeasure.

(Correspondent Abram Neal contributed to this report)

South Shore gets Technical

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HANOVER — Don’t call it “the Vo-Tech” anymore.

While the official name, as recorded in its regional agreement, is still South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School — a rebranding effort is under way to more accurately reflect the more demanding nature of school programs as well as its commitment to community.

“We wanted to get rid of the term ‘Vo-Tech’ … in part, because, unfortunately, there are people in the community who still refer to us as ‘Slow-Tech,” even though that is far, far from the truth of what we do in this building and where our students go to college and high-paying careers,” said Principal Mark Aubrey as he outlined the process during the Wednesday, Sept. 19 School Committee meeting.

“If you call the school, we refer to ourselves as South Shore Technical,” he said. “We are South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School, we are SSVT, and we are the same school we were in June.”

The same technologies are taught and the same equipment is used, but community members may not be aware of the school’s high standards, Aubrey said, noting the change is important to accurately reflect the kind of education they provide.

“I agree, but bear with me,” joked School Committee member John Manning of Scituate noting that he still refers to the Tobin Bridge as the Mystic River Bridge.

“You have to make the school proud and the students proud of the school,” said School Committee member Robert Molla of Norwell.

School Committee member Robert Mahoney of Rockland supported the move, but noted he had been surprised by it because the website and other social media have not yet been updated to reflect the rebranding.

Aubrey said the IT department has been working on the changes and that Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey has purchased the website and name South Shore Technical, but stressed it will take more time. In the meantime, the website will come up if one searches for “South Shore Technical.”

A task force of faculty, staff members, students, parents and community members were brought together in recent months to discuss the rebranding idea. The school is also putting together a branding guide that covers school colors — what they are and can be for use by school teams and clubs. All students, starting with the seniors, will be given black polo shirts with the new South Shore Technical High School logo to wear with neat slacks when out on cooperative education work, field trips or to college fairs.

“That’s just another little thing we can do to get ourselves out to the community and let them know that we exist and what we do — and what we do very well every day in this school,” Aubrey said.

New-look Vikings

Even the Viking sports logo will be getting a makeover.

Students will have the opportunity to compete in a contest to design the new logo, personal to South Shore Technical alone, with the aim of having a new one selected by February.

“It kills me to drive through East Bridgewater and see the same Viking head,” he said. “I don’t mind sharing with the Minnesota Vikings, that’s fine, but to be just two towns away and have somebody else with the same Viking …”

Molla recalled that he had brought up the suggestion to give the Viking “a facelift” about two years ago, but noting had come of it.

“I’m glad to see it,” he said. “It’s time to change it. Put a smile on his face or something.”

Recycling effort

SSVT is also moving to a paperless environment and recycling culture in school operations.

School accounting is using the Cloud for an improved workflow for online purchase orders, payroll system and giving employees greater access to pay stub information.

“It’s an exciting time in the business office,” quipped Treasurer James Coughlin. “There’s been a lot of webinars and so forth over the past six weeks. … Right now there’s a big box in our office that produces a lot of heat and a lot of noise as a server and we’re going to take that offline and we’re going to the Cloud.”

Tyler Technologies, a secure national vendor, provides that service.

“That is a theme throughout the building,” Aubrey said of the paperless effort. “We are going to more of a waste-reduction method within the building.”

That includes recycling in all classrooms and shops. Head teacher Matthew Fallano has led the Science Department in training students on correct recycling practices.

“We have staff members in the building that are trying to run their classrooms 99-percent paper-free,” Aubrey said. “They’re using Google Classroom and all the technology that we have supplied to them to be able to run their classrooms without having to do the ‘paperwork shuffle.’ … We are truly hopeful to do a lot of good for the environment and do a lot of good for our students, teaching them proper recycling skills and things like that.”

Welcome

Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner outlined yet another change to the South Shore Technical culture.

Pineapples.

Pineapples are the traditional symbol of welcome, dating back to America’s Colonial days, and were incorporated in welcome-back packaging for faculty. It has since been expanded to use in another new project at the school.

“We are now welcoming staff into each other’s classrooms as part of a pineapple charting initiative,” she said. “It’s an industry trick. You post what’s happening in your classroom on a pineapple poster … and welcome you in to see the good things going on in their classroom.”

The pineapple posters list times of events during which visitors mat observe and ask questions about curriculum initiatives after the lesson.

The school library is now known as the Career and College Center, where students can expand their knowledge of career and college opportunities and interact with professionals in both areas — particularly on First Fridays, when the school will host career socials. The next is at 1:30 p.m., Oct. 5 when the school will hold a health services event.

“The objective of First Fridays is to provide students with the opportunity to practice interpersonal communication with adults, while acquiring the information they need to be successful post-secondary career and/or college,” she said.

Baldner also extended kudos to teachers and students for surviving the oppressive heat during the first week of school. Hickey said the school had a very smooth opening.

Marijuana prohibition on Hanson ballot

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HANSON — Voters were reminded during the Tuesday, Sept. 25 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, that it will take a “yes” vote on a Nov. 6 local ballot question to prevent retail marijuana sales in town.

There will also be two ballots, requiring separate check-ins, as local questions must be on a different ballot than the one for the state’s midterm election.

But first, the issue will crop up again on the Monday, Oct. 1 special Town Meeting warrant, in two articles — Article 21, which amends the town’s general Bylaws and requires a simple majority vote, and Article 22, which amends the zoning Bylaws and requires a two-thirds vote — aimed at prohibiting retail sales in town.

Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff, of Mead, Talerman & Costa LLC, attended the meeting to review the meaning of the articles and ballot questions during a half-hour forum on the issue.

“The board wanted to have a question-and-answer session prior to Town Meeting, in case anybody had any questions on this,” said Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell.

Feodoroff said both a zoning Bylaw and general Bylaw were passed at the last Town Meeting to regulate marijuana establishments.

“But there was a feeling that, perhaps, the town wanted to consider prohibiting marijuana retailers,” she said. “As a consequence, we put together an amendment to the Bylaw that was recently passed to prohibit marijuana retailers in the town.”

A complicating issue is that, when the town voted on the state ballot question regarding the legalization of recreational marijuana, the town’s voters came down on the side favoring the question, so this issue must also go on a ballot as well as before Town Meeting.

“To prohibit marijuana in the town of Hanson, you have to vote yes on the legislation,” Feodoroff said. “It’s a little bit counter-intuitive, but you are voting yes on the Bylaw, which serves as a prohibition.”

She assured residents that questions have been clearly written — at the urging of Selectman Jim Hickey — so voters will better understand what their vote will do.

Police Chief Michael Miksch and Fire Chief Jerome Thompson were asked what special training their departments would need to address the use of recreational marijuana.

Thompson said, while inspection requirements may be different, he does not anticipate much change in how patient care is delivered.

“It’s going to depend on what happens around us,” Miksch said. “One way or another I have to start training people on a thing called ARRIVE (Advanced Roadside Interdiction training), to cut down people driving impaired.”

The state just began rolling out training information, but he estimates it could cost about $8,000 to train his officers, and it may have to be done numerous times.

Host community portions of the wholesale/testing facilities regulations would provide a 3 percent levy on their sales to fund police security and training relating to the business.

“I don’t know the cost until I see the situation.” He said, noting that he does not need to place a detail officer at a package store. But, should retail marijuana be allowed in town, there are now only one or two banks in the state willing to work with the businesses.

“That’s a very big concern for host communities, as far as security goes, because basically you’ve got to make sure these places have more security than a bank — because they are a bank,” Miksch said.

“It’s a heavy cash business,” Feodoroff said. The marijuana retailers are not now able to obtain merchant accounts at most banks.

Town Administrator Michael McCue said he anticipates that a pending contract for a cell phone tower at Hanson Middle School property, if approved by Town Meeting, could bring in as much as $50,000 in the first year alone — mitigating the effect of any marijuana tax money lost if the town votes to prohibit retail sales.

Resident Bruce Young asked if a Town Meeting vote on the zoning Bylaw fails to meet the two-thirds requirement, wouldn’t render a ballot question pointless.

“I’m assuming that, unless the Town Meeting votes for both of those articles, it makes the election article vote absolutely moot,” he said.

Feodoroff replied that it is not a yes or no question. State legislation governs what towns can and cannot do, distinguishing zoning Bylaws but not general Bylaw functions. She said the town counsel firm believes a general Bylaw can serve to prohibit any form of marijuana if a town wished to prohibit it.

“We wanted to be very cautious and put in the zoning Bylaw measure because there’s a long list of cases that stand for the proposition that, if it looks like a zoning bylaw but only went through the process of a general bylaw Bylaw passage … [the state] struck those Bylaws down because they looked like zoning bylaws,” she said.

While zoning Bylaws can guarantee prohibition, if it fails, the issue still goes to the election ballot and if both pass, the town can vote on a zoning bylaw again at another special Town Meeting, or the town can rely on the amended general Bylaw. The latter option does carry the risk of litigation.

“None of the Bylaws have been challenged yet,” Feodoroff said. “We’re not in a position to know whether or not the court is going to demand that it be a zoning vs. a general bylaw.”

New resident Wayne Peterson asked, since the town passed the issue on the state ballot, how the prohibition effort is not just an attempt to push an unpopular opinion through with a smaller voter turnout. He noted that, while a midterm election would attract more voters than a local election, it would not be as great a turnout as a presidential election year like 2016.

Feodoroff said the legislation permits it since towns may have voted for recreational marijuana as a general issue, the “I don’t want it in my backyard” mindset led many communities to change their minds.

“The state has already spoken, the voters have already spoken, and passed it overwhelmingly,” he said of the town. “Now you’re going to an election with much smaller turnout to get the reaction that you want.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes, attending the meeting for the Town Meeting preview, compared the ballot initiative to towns in the state that opted to remain dry when the prohibition of alcohol was repealed or zoning bylaws governing adult entertainment businesses.

Personal consumption of marijuana remains permitted by state law. The use of marijuana while driving is still illegal, as is any form of impaired driving.

Selectmen eye school repairs

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WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, discussed two requests from the district received in recent days, one pertaining to the failure of an air handle at the Conley School and another seeking additional parking at the Duval School [see related story left] to accommodate increased staff.

The Conley repair has been made on an emergency basis and the district at the next special Town Meeting will seek reimbursement. Both requests will be discussed at the next Selectmen’s meeting.

“The question at the next meeting will be if we consider that, emergency spending,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said of the parking lot expansion, estimated at $28,000 plus $5,000 to move some playground equipment. He agreed the Conley repair met the criteria for an emergency.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he understood the need for parking but “really had a hard time identifying that as something that constitutes an emergency.”

Kowalski agreed that the board would have to discuss the issue before deciding whether it would support such an expenditure.

The board again tabled a proposed vote on the WHRSD regional agreement because Selectmen Scott Lambiase and Randy LaMattina were absent. It had been tabled for a vote of the full board once before and was tabled most recently pending more information on amendment procedures.

Selectmen received the School Committee’s Aug. 31 certification vote of the fiscal 2019 budget for $50,523,181 — an increase in the operating budget over fiscal 2018 for Whitman of $1,054,205, the amount voted at the May 2018 Town Meeting.

Dr. Melinda Tarsi of Bridgewater State University has advised Lynam that she and her class have drawn up a first draft of potential questions for the Community Assessment survey, which will be circulated to town boards and department heads for review.

“She felt that seeking additional public input at this time would not be helpful,” he said. “They want to wrap it up [to send it out].”

Kowalski asked for the review to be done in time for Tarsi to attend the Sept. 25 meeting. Lynam noted that, while the community information meeting was helpful for the process, Tarsi had only heard from about 25 people with suggested questions since.

streetlights

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green said more information regarding the failure rate, lack of choice for companies that handle the nodes involved and network costs for new street lights has been received.

For example, National Grid charges the same amount whether or not lights are dimmed. There is also a 3 percent failure rate on remote-controlled nodes.

One community using the system is still working to get the nodes, that control the lights remotely, to communicate together after six months.

“That, to me, is an issue,” Green said. “I don’t believe we’re a community that’s ready to deal with that type of an impact … I don’t know if it’s the right choice for us at this time.”

The manual control system has only a 1 percent failure rate, but she asked for consensus of the board.

A rosy retirement blooms

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WHITMAN — When Buds & Blossoms, 531 Washington St., closes its doors for the last time this month, owner Jackie Ferguson says she’ll miss the customers who she has come to know as friends — but it’s time to move on.

“I would like to say thank you to all who supported my flower shop and to all who just came in to visit and to say, ‘Hi,’” she read from a hand-written statement she wrote up to express her gratitude to her loyal customers. “You will be missed, but it’s time to hang up my apron and put my flower scissors away.”

It is time to move on to a retirement filled with family, cooking, hobbies — and flowers. Ferguson will miss working closely with her daughter, Dartha Flaherty, however, with whom she said she had a great working relationship as well as a close mother-daughter bond.

“I’ll still be just around the corner — not going far and I hope to see all of [my friends] in town,” she said, noting she also plans to work around the house and in her garden or getting together with friends. “I don’t know if I’ll have much free time.”

People have come in to ask what she might do with spare time, to which she replies, “I just might enjoy spare time.”

Her plan has been to close the business by Sept. 30, but at the rate she has been selling off, or giving away inventory, that date could be moved up.

“As soon as I put the free sign up, they came,” she laughed. “The girls over there [at the nail shop across the street] came in in droves, which is good. I sold what I could sell and what was left, I just want it to be gone.”

As Ferguson rearranged the remaining vases, she was giving away during the final days of her going-out-of-business sale on Friday, Sept. 14, she took a break to look back on her 24 years at the shop, her career in horticulture and her plans for an active retirement.

She intends to stay home and “putter around my house … cook for my family, have the kids over for dinner.”

As a young woman growing up in Saco, Maine, Ferguson got her start in the business by helping her father plant geraniums in the cemetery boxes that were a large part of his greenhouse business as well as in his garden, as he specialized more in planting than cut flowers. Her garden at home supplied quite a few of the flowers she used when she opened her own shop.

Ferguson’s children all enjoy gardening as well, and all have “lovely gardens” she says.

“I think it’s kind of in our DNA,” she said. While she is fond of sunflowers and carnations, Ferguson said she really does not have a preferred bloom. “I like them all, really.”

Prior to opening Buds & Blossoms, she worked for a flower shop in Abington for 10 years before her husband John suggested she open her own shop.

“We did it together,” she said. “I ran the flower shop and he was still working [as a brick salesman] at the time … but he was very supportive and we had a lot of fun.”

As a florist she says she enjoyed all phases of the business, from weddings and funerals to birthdays and “just because” arrangements. She also enjoyed teaching occasional flower arranging classes at Whitman Public Library.

“I just enjoyed being here,” Ferguson said. “I enjoyed doing crafts before I opened the shop and I just enjoy creating.”

She loves people and didn’t mind if customers came in just to chat rather than to buy.

Ferguson said she had planned to retire next year, but decided the fall was a better time — and she wasn’t looking forward to working around another winter.

Your average tough-as-nails … librarian

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WHITMAN — The most common image that comes to mind with the phrase “missing persons detective thriller” involve Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade or Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer — hard-bitten tough guys who chain-smoke cigarettes and wear felt fedoras and their .38 in a shoulder holster.

A new novel with Whitman roots in its title, “Little Comfort,” introduces a different kind of detective hero. She is Hester Thursby, a Harvard librarian who stands all of four-feet nine inches tall — that’s fourfeet nine and three quarters inches tall — who takes care of her 3-year-old niece, her non-husband Morgan Maguire and a Bassett hound named Waffles. She works on missing persons cases in her spare time.

Hill is scheduled to talk about his book at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27 at the Whitman Public Library. He plans to read three excerpts from the book, centering on the three main characters and how they are introduced in the story.

“Hester is tough, she’s smart, she’s resourceful (unlike Rambo, she’s also articulate), but she definitely isn’t feisty,” author Edwin Hill says of his protagonist in his promotional materials. He said he is drawn to character, especially in movies, that are faced with challenging situations with only their own resolve to make it through.

“I like difference,” he said of Hester’s size. “I wanted something to make sure she never blended in.”

It was an Agatha Christie novel he read on a car trip as a kid that hooked him on mystery novels.

“From that moment on, I wanted to be a mystery writer and it only took me 35 years to figure out how to do it,” he said. A failed attempt at publishing a book in the early 2000s left him discouraged until he found the kernel of an idea in the Christian Gerhartsreiter — AKA Clark Rockefeller — a professional imposter who kidnapped his daughter and was later convicted of murder. There are also facets of the Charles Stuart case in “Little Comfort.” By 2012 he was back to writing with an agent by 2014 and selling it two years ago.

His debut novel, released Aug. 28, traces Thursby’s latest case, a handsome, ruthless grifter whose life goal to be accepted as part of the wealthy class who owned the summer lake houses he grew up cleaning. Sam Blaine uses a secret he shares with Gabe DiPuriso, based on an incident out of Gabe’s foster child past. A library is another source of his inspiration.

Hill’s grandmother, Phyllis Hill was the librarian in Whitman from the 1940s to the late ’60s.

“Librarians are really central to a community,” he said. “They really were then, too. She created all kinds of programs at the library that people would take part in and she really helped influence people’s futures.”

Mrs. Hill died in 1994 at the age of 99. Her grandson recalled how people came from all over to her funeral and talked about the influence she had on their lives and how she had always welcomed them.

His parents still live in Whitman, where his dad grew up.

While the book also takes the title from Whitman — once known as the Little Comfort section of Abington — but the story is set in Somerville where he grew up. Hill has a Google alert set up on his home computer for the phrase Little Comfort and has collected some unusual headlines.

“I just loved the name,” he said. “I always knew that my first book was going to be called ‘Little Comfort,’ because it’s such a perfect title for a mystery novel. Then I had to work it into the actual story.”

Backstory

The saying goes that one should write what you know and, just as Robert Cormier set his novels, such as “The Chocolate War,” in Fitchburg and Leominster where he lived and edited the local newspaper, Hill leans on his grandmother’s career in the town of his family’s roots for inspiration.

“When I was drafting, I wrote a lot of scenes of [Thursby] at work, but I really wanted the character to be very isolated, it’s central to the plot that she feels very isolated,” Hill said. “I actually ended up putting her on leave.”

In this novel, the first book in a series, she doesn’t go into work to achieve that feeling of isolation. But the Widener Library and her job there will feature in the second and third books in the series. The fifth book in the series is going to be set on the South Shore.

He said readers should be aware this is a story that involves violence and sex.

“This is not a cozy mystery,” he said. “It deals with some uncomfortable situations.”

A hint can be found in Hill’s inclusion of Hester Thursby’s idea of relaxation — retreating to her own top floor apartment in the multifamily house she owns with Morgan to watch VHS tapes of her favorite movies. Her top 10 titles include “Alien,” “Jaws 2,” “Halloween” and “The Shining” as well as “The Little Mermaid.”

“She loves movies where women overcome extraordinary circumstances,” he said.

He also includes Crabbies — those crabmeat and cheese on an English muffin bites often served at family get-togethers — as part of a suggested menu for book club events. Macaroni and cheese also features as a food of choice for many characters in the book. Whitman groups may also appreciate his suggestion of chocolate chip waffle cookies, which are a tip of the hat to Hester’s beloved canine.

“Anything where you can get crowd sourcing is great,”he said of the recipes.

Does Hill see any of himself in his characters?

“When you write a book of fiction like this, I would say every character is you because they come out of you, and then no character is you at the same time,” he said.

A vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martins, a tech book division of Macmillan, Hill worked on his book early in the morning before work, and in the evenings, at home. But his professional connections would not have helped with a mystery novel, and he was careful not to blur the lines between his profession and avocation in any case.

“It was a long process,” he said of getting published. “You have to be resolved, you have to have grit and you have to be prepared to work through hearing ‘no.’”

After the major hurdle of finishing a book, comes the work of finding an agent, a publisher and, finally, an audience for your book.

That’s where Hill finds himself now. He has hit the road to visit bookshops and libraries in Brookline, Belmont and Whitman as well as New York City and Austin, Texas. On the day he spoke with the Express, he had just done an interview about the book with a Florida-based podcast.

Laughter funds hunt for cure

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They are a family on a mission.

For the past year and a half, Whitman native Mark Chauppetta’s Wheelchair Strong Foundation has spearheaded fundraising efforts in support of Duchenne muscular dystrophy research donations to third-party 501(c) 3 organizations such as the Kingston- based Jett Foundation. Wheelchair Strong has raised more than $30,000 in the last two years for the Jett Foundation, which also raises money for Duchenne research, and a series of 10 grants of $1,000 to families with children with various disabling diseases.

Funds are also used for advocacy.

The three-part goal of the foundation is to raise awareness for Duchenne, help all children that have diseases and to keep his twin sons Troy and Andrew Chauppetta, 23, who suffer from Duchenne, active, participating in life and proving what people in wheelchairs can achieve.

“Wheelchair Strong Foundation wouldn’t be in existence if I didn’t have those two boys … mainly because they are very bright, and they are computer savvy and graduated from [Southeastern Regional] trade school,” he said Friday. “They have degrees in design, visual communications and they know how to write code.”

Troy and Andrew built and manage the foundation’s website wheelchairstrong.com as well as their dad’s private investigations site. They also design graphics for the Wheelchair Strong logo and marketing materials for foundation events, which they also work — selling products from their own business twinteeshirts.com.

“The cool thing about the Wheelchair Strong Foundation is everything we do is entertainment- based,” Chauppetta said. “Everything we do is fun.

… I think laughter and fun and involvement have been the best medicine that Troy and Andrew could have ever had. I think it’s what’s kept them healthy and smiling and laughing and the karma has been amazing for them.”

A big part of that focus on fun has been its annual comedy fundraiser.

Comedy show

The third annual comedy night benefit for the Wheelchair Strong Foundation — Komedy for a Kause 3 — will take the stage Saturday, Oct. 6 at Plymouth Memorial Hall, 83 Court St, Plymouth. A VIP reception with appearances by Boston sports teams legends, will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with doors opening to the public at 7 p.m.

Headlining this year is “Police Academy” movie actor Michael Winslow, the “Man of 10,000 Sound Effects.” Also appearing will be Brockton standup comedian Dan Miller, Boston comic Dave Russo, Jerry Thornton of Barstool Sports and newcomer Harrison Stebbins, with Easy 99.1’s Tom Stewart hosting the program.

Chauppetta said The Hollywood Reporter recently ran a story announcing a new “Police Academy” movie is in the works, to feature Winslow and Steve Guttenberg as academy instructors this time out.

Tickets are now on sale at wheelchairstrong.com.

TV puppeteer Paul Fusco, the voice of cat-eating alien “ALF” has recorded a promotional spot for the show, which can be viewed on the wheelchairstrong.com site.

“My youngest, Max, who is 12 is a huge fan of ALFs,” Chauppetta said, so as a private investigator, he decided to find the actor who voiced the Alien Life Form. “I hunted down Paul Fusco, who is the creator and the voice of ALF.”

He found Fusco’s people and was able to get him a message, and agreed to do the 30-second public service announcement, with a picture of ALF seen wearing a Wheelchair Strong T-shirt from Troy and Andrew Chauppetta’s business site twinteeshirts.com.

“It’s been a great success,” Chaupetta has said of the Komedy for a Kause shows. “What I like to do every year is bring in a celebrity from the past. I’m a product of the ’80s, my wife says I’m stuck in the ’80s, I get great joy out of connecting with people, like ALF, from the ’80s.”

Chauppetta also recently sent a Wheelchair Strong Tshirt to iconic ’80s villain in shows and the move “Vision Quest,” Frank Jasper, who has also helped the foundation raise funds. “Sopranos” heavy Steve Schirripa has also been a long-time supporter of the foundation.

“It’s good exposure for us and they like helping out, Chauppetta said. “Anyone who’s seen Troy and Andrew’s story, how could they say no? They’re these motivated boys that believe in ability and not disability.”

Better perspective

The twins drive a van operated with hand-controls that look like something out of a video game, own a business and live life to the fullest, their proud dad points out.

“Probably more so than ambulatory people, because I think they have a better perspective on life because of their disease,” he said. “Their time is limited — they’re 23 years old, they’re defying the odds. They weren’t even supposed to live this long and they are extremely high-functioning, they’re extremely happy, they’re never not smiling.”

Chauppetta said they do have tough moments behind closed doors, but that the family deals with those moments as a family. “They just bring strength to everyone in our life,” he said, noting he always comes back to Whitman as a 1987 graduate of WHRHS and volunteer with the W-H wrestling team and his youngest son attends Hanson Middle School.

“I’m still active in the community here,” he said. A successful pig roast held in July at the Whitman VFW offered an opportunity for advocacy and to outline the foundation’s purpose for the public.

Chaupetta is also working to complete a feature-length documentary titled “A Father’s Fight,” slated for a local premier in January, on his journey as a father struggling to raise handicapped children.

A trailer can be viewed at wheelchairstrong.com for the film that also features Chauppetta and his sons Troy and Andrew, comic Lenny Clarke, Patrick Renna from the move “The Sandlot” and the Netflix series “Glow,” UFC fighter Joe Lauzon and a lot of family and friends. The film follows Chauppetta who, as a 50-year-old dad, trains while struggling with the decision whether he should get back in the UFC ring to raise money for his kids’ illness.