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You are here: Home / Archives for Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

Author takes a poetic view of history

December 1, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — Lyric poet Faye George of Bridgewater kicked off Thanksgiving week with readings and a discussion of her collection, “Voices of King Philip’s War,” at the Whitman Public Library on Monday, Nov. 21 — the 396th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s landing in 1620.

“That’s really not a very long, long time, is it?” she said. “And look what happened in that interval. … This was all forest.”

George has published five collections of her poetry. She’s been working on the King Philip book [2013, WordTech Editions, softcover, 142 pages, $20] for several years, perhaps unwittingly at first, as it flowed from her personal interest in that period of local history.

“We thought it would be topical and timely” to host George, said Library Director Andrea Rounds of the appearance, which was part of the Local Author Series funded by the Friends of the Whitman Public Library.

George related how one of her first jobs after high school was as a page in Shawmut Bank.

“They had a mascot symbol of [Shawmut sachem] Obbatinewat,” she said. The image spurred her to learn more of local history. George said her initial research was not directed, but rather sprang from idle curiosity stemming from her first realization that King Philip was not a European nobleman but the son of Massasoit.

“I’d like to know more about this,” she said of her thought process.

One reference source would lead to another and she would sit on her porch in Weymouth, where she lived at the time, and read and make notes.

George spoke of the plagues, which wiped out several small Algonquian bands prior to 1620, as well as inter-tribal clashes before the founding of the Plymouth Colony, which she termed “nothing in the way of absolute, take-no-prisoners, burn-it-to-the-ground warfare that the English brought.”

She wrote poems in the voice of several native peoples who played key roles in King Philip’s War, relying on her past research, interspersing passages from historic documents with her interpretation of how the native peoples would feel.

“The attitudes presented come from my imagination,” she said. Events portrayed are taken from the historical record, while some of the behaviors and attitudes are lost to history. George then recreated scenes within the context of their roles in events.

“I am primarily a lyric poet,” she said. “This was a total departure for me.”

After her third book, she felt the time was right to go back over her past notes, which led to the first of her monologue poems. That monologue dramatizes Philip’s brother Alexander’s (Wamsutta) refusal to surrender to the summons of Gov. Edward Winslow after Wamsutta was accused of selling Wampanoag land directly to colonists, rather than to the Plymouth colony. Alexander’s sudden death in Plymouth led the Wampanoags to suspect he was poisoned.

“… Summon me? — Wamsutta, Alexander,

Chief Sachem

Of the Wampanoag Federation!

Not for this did my father [Massasoit] and our people,

With all good will,

Give yours a place to make their homes

And dwell among us;

Not to submit as slaves to English law,

Not to live as

Children of the English governor!

Now you hear this;

We are not your children, neither your slaves. …”

— Excerpt from “Alexander: Wamsutta,” from “Voices of King Philip’s War”

“I had no idea how many voices there would be,” she said. “These characters that emerged were all from the historical record. These were real people.”

George noted that, since the Algonquian peoples had no written language, she had to depend on the histories written by white colonists, including the Christian missionary John Elliot, who had taught himself the Massachusetts dialect of the Wampanoags.

“It was a sad reality that, had they worked together, had the tribes been less competitive … they certainly, I believe, would had gotten a better deal than they did get,” she said. “Because they were just destroyed.”

Filed Under: More News Right, News

Planting for the future: Vo-Tech plans horticulture curriculum

December 1, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANOVER — A proposed horticulture curriculum at South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School has taken another step forward.

Science Department Chairman Matt Fallano gave a PowerPoint presentation to the SSVT District School Committee during its Wednesday, Nov. 16 meeting, outlining how the program would start by offering a landscaping program. No vote was taken on the proposal.

Scituate member John Manning, of the Capital Projects Subcommittee, reported that Fallano and the group has toured facilities at a couple vocational schools that offer horticulture programs. School officials have met with counterparts at Silver Lake and Upper Cape regional schools regarding the cost and logistics of starting such a program.

All specializations would cover botany as well as soil properties and sciences, according to Fallano, who noted that small engine maintenance would also be covered.

“Right off the bat, if you’re starting to think what kind of jobs [are students being trained for], you can imagine what sort of background could be used or applied for,” he said.

The landscape and turf management program would include instruction on safety, design and estimation, maintenance and installation as well as turf management practices. Arboriculture, or tree sciences, would involve safety, equipment standards, tree climbing, tree maintenance and removal. Floral design and interior landscaping would teach greenhouse management, production and floriculture business operations.

“We would never start off with all three of them, so what we’re looking at is the soil sciences to begin with,” Fallano said. “You would not get this type of training at any other normal sending school. It’s perfect for a vocational-based school.”

It would eventually be a training ground for students interested in careers such as hardscape designers or architects, greenhouse and grounds workers, arborists, nursery or turf grass mangers and even farm managers.

“There’s a big push for small farms in the local area,” he said. “Having a resource that those farms can reach out to has been a [goal] for this area.”

There is also no feeder program for local horticulture businesses and a program at SSVT can also lead to college degrees. Students can also graduate with licenses or the bookwork for a license test when they are 18. That can boost earning potential.

Fallano also touched on the credentials the district should look for in a program director and committee concerns about accreditation. Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas Hickey is also looking toward grants to help fund the program startup.

Committee Chairman Robert Molla of Norwell indicated the start-up cost estimate would be included in preliminary fiscal 2018 budget figures when the committee meets again on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

In other business, Principal Margaret Dutch reported the MCAS performance of SSVT students in the Class of 2018 has been akin to moving mountains, describing how it translates to a graph.

“Because we are a regional school, we do not educate anybody until they get to grade nine,” Dutch said. “We take our students as they come from the eight sending towns, and wherever else they come from, and we try and get everybody on the same page and get them ready in less than two years to be successful on MCAS.”

The current junior class had 51 students who had failed the exam in grade eight — the first “mountain” on the grade chart, Dutch said. As sophomores taking the MCAS exam at SSVT, the same class had shown vast improvement.

“We [had] decided there was something we needed to do in order to make sure we didn’t have 51 10th-graders failing the MCAS,” she said. Targeted remediation and working with teachers to address problem areas for those students made that improvement possible. The high point of the scores curve last year — the second mountain — showed an increase in higher scores over the class’ grade eight marks.

“We’re not trying to compare ourselves with anybody else or what anybody else is doing because we are a unique entity,” Dutch said. “We are very proud to know that our teachers, with targeted intervention, can move mountains.”

Whitman Committee member Daniel Salvucci reported on some of the innovative vocational school projects highlighted at the recent Massachusetts Association of School Committee conference. The projects were tiny houses built by Southeastern Vo-Tech in Easton; an applications project at Assabet Valley to show teachers how effective a lesson plan was by symbols scanned by a free app on a teacher’s smartphone; a veterinary program offered at Norfolk Aggie and Massasoit as well as the new Essex Agricultural and Technical High School’s teacher mentoring program.

Salvucci said the tiny house project was popular with students because of the size.

“What they liked about doing it is that you had carpenters and electricians working so close together that they taught each other, and they worked together,” he said.

The committee also recognized Abington Graphics Communications senior Ryan Glynn as November Student of the Month and English teacher Allison Provost as Staff Member of the Month.

“Ryan is a focused, high-achieving student in class, but is also a great and caring person,” one of Glynn’s teachers wrote.

Another nominated Glynn as a “great overall citizen of the [SSVT] community” another noted he is a well-liked student-athlete saying, “No one had had a bad thing to say about Ryan.”

Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey said Provost was the student’s honoree for Staff Member of the Month after only two months as a teacher at the school. She had been a student teacher at SSVT about 10 years ago.

“When students nominated her they spoke of her being ‘very helpful, patient and kind, is that not something we want from every person in our lives, not just our teacher,’” Aubrey said.

Filed Under: More News Left, News

Brightening the holidays: Whitman Area Toy Drive kicks off annual appeal

December 1, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday have become ingrained in the seasonal habits of many shoppers between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

A group of Whitman residents are hoping the community has come to know the Sunday after Thanksgiving as Whitman Area Toy Drive Day. For 15 years, volunteers have been taking time on that day to kick off the annual toy drive, setting up shop in the Whitman VFW Pavilion, 95 Essex St.

The drive, which will also host a Photos with Santa party at the pavilion from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 4, is the first of several holiday events — many featuring St. Nick — in Whitman and Hanson. [See box].

On Sunday, Nov. 27 a small army of volunteers, including veterans, families, members of the Whitman Mothers Club and the WHRHS Drama Club gathered at the pavilion to sort gifts already donated onto tables representing gender and age ranges.

“What you see here now is maybe one-tenth of what we do through the whole Christmas season,” said toy drive founder Donnie Westhaver, gesturing toward tables already covered with toys. “We don’t want any kid to go without a toy. I don’t care where they’re from.”

The need

Westhaver said 90 to 95 percent of toys collected would go to Whitman families with the remainder to help families in need in Hanson, Abington and Rockland when organizations there run out of toys.

“I hope I’m around for another 20 years to be able to do this and when I’m not around I hope someone picks it up and keeps it going, because there are a lot of families out there in need,” he said. “There are actually families you wouldn’t expect — it might be your next-door neighbor. You might think they’re doing well, but they’re not.”

He said families that are just scraping by for the rest of the year have an especially hard time at the holidays.

“Christmas is for kids, but it’s also for us — you never lose that spirit,” Westhaver told his volunteers.

Large donations have been received from: Whitman VFW Men’s Auxiliary — $1,500; Whitman Mothers Club — $500; Sons of the American Legion — $500; Getchell Plumbing — $300; Whitman Firefighters Union Local 1769 — $250; and Fred Small — $250. Monetary donations helped the 501 (C)3 charity do some shopping on Black Friday for toys and boosted efforts to obtain grocery gift certificates at Wal-Mart for Christmas dinners.

Donations of $2,000 worth of toys from Brian Dennehy and his mother Jackie; toys collected at a family party hosted by Kevin Mayer and John Cookson at the Hanson AA and Reebok clothing from Kristin Nelson Ross were a few of those received already. Donation boxes, including three at WHRHS for the first time, can be found at the following businesses: Marcello’s Sub Shop, Whitman American Legion, Whitman VFW, Rockland Trust and Mutual Bank Whitman branches, Joe Goldsberry Photo & Video, O’Rourke Insurance, Whitman Knights of Columbus, Dancer’s Dream, Duval’s Pharmacy, Damien’s Pub in Hanson and Bailey’s Tri-Town.

For more information on donations or registering as a recipient family, contact Donnie Westhaver at 781-447-6883.

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

Whitman sets fiscal ‘17 tax rate

November 23, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 15 voted to set a uniform tax rate of $15.08 per $1,000 valuation for fiscal 2017 on both residential and commercial property.

Assessor Kathy Keefe presented the Board of Assessors’ recommendation for the uniform rate to Selectmen. She also reported that the Department of Revenue had certified Whitman’s valuation for 2017 at $1,518,230,876, which, along with the tax levy of $22,901,992 to estimate the tax rate of $15.08, which could shift a bit when it is input into software, but is not expected to go higher than $15.10.

The fiscal 2016 tax rate was certified at $15.59.

The residential and commercial exemptions, which are always an option, were not recommended because Whitman does not have a high percentage of rental properties and the small commercial exemption only aids businesses that own their property.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam noted that the personal property class value decreased by almost $4 million after “extraordinary growth” from National Grid property, which declines over time.

A National Grid personal property report in March  2015 added $72.8 million in new growth, raising the town’s levy limit — and was not expected to last. The anomaly was discovered during an analysis of available funds, including new growth, according to Lynam.

“I expect that within the next seven years, we’ll lose all of that,” he said. “So we have not used that money as part of our budgeting concept — and because of that, you’re going to see an excess levy because we don’t want to use that money, otherwise we’ll have to play catch-up in the years that follow.”

Selectman Daniel Salvucci asked if that money could be spent on a capital project. Lynam replied that was done this past year when about $1 million was spent on capital projects using the money from the National Grid base figure.

“It’s never precise, we have to calculate it each year and we don’t know where the numbers will come in,” Lynam said. “I do know, however, that that number is going to continue to decline and I do not want to come close enough on our budget to have to come back in the fall because we overspent.”

Filed Under: More News Right, News

Conference granted Kiwanee discount

November 23, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 15 voted 3-1 to approve a request by the Watershed Action Alliance of Southeastern Mass., to use Camp Kiwanee for a one-day conference at a reduced rate. Selectmen Bill Scott voted against the discount based on his concern over the group’s intent of charging participants a registration fee.

“We had asked that any deviation from the rates of usage of Camp Kiwanee — any reduction in the rate — be brought forward to this committee,” said Selectmen Chairman James McGahan in the meeting broadcast on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV. Selectman Kenny Mitchell was absent from the meeting due to illness.

The WAA submitted their request in a letter to selectmen, outlining their purpose and explaining that the alliance holds biennial conferences and workshops in intervening years. The coalition of 12 watershed groups’ regional conference was last held at Plimouth Plantation, which waived a fee in return for publicity as an event partner, in 2015.

They are seeking a similar sponsorship from the town to use Camp Kiwanee from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 16, 2017. The usual one-day conference rate for Camp Kiwanee is $1,000. The WAA requested a 50-percent discount.

Many conference attendees either work or volunteer for nonprofits with small budgets, the letter explained. It also offers reduced registration rates for students and low-income participants.

Two participating organizations, the Taunton Watershed and the Jones River groups, have connections to Hanson.

Town Administrator Michael McCue created a form for a discount request, which WAA representatives filled out, including backup information about the program and participating agencies.

“This would be a positive advertisement for Camp Kiwanee,” McGahan said.

“They charge a fee for people to attend, they’re not considered a nonprofit organization,” Scott said. “They generate funds from outside groups. I think it’s a good idea what they’re trying to do but I just wonder if we’re setting a precedent.”

McGahan and Selectmen Bruce Young suggested the registration costs might be a mechanism for covering the cost of the event and asked McCue to advise them if there is any reason to believe the fees are a profit-making device.

In other business, the board approved revisions to the complaint and service animal policies.

The only change to the complaint policy is that persons filing a complaint be the offended party or a parent or guardian. The service animals policy is a new one, allowing admission of service animals to town property for handicapped persons who need them. Under the guidelines, therapy animals are not considered service animals.

Selectmen also voted to place a Board of Water Commissioners vacancy, created by the Nov. 1 resignation of Mary Lou Sutter on the May 20, 2017 Town Election ballot, because the appointment made to fill the post was a short-term one.

Selectmen and Water Commissioners then voted 7-0 to appoint William Garvey of 66 Morton St., to fill the vacancy for now. If Garvey wishes to remain on the board he would have to run for election in May.

A South Shore Vo-Tech graduate, Garvey has an HVAC trade certificate, an applied science degree from Massasoit Community College in HVAC service and design and work experience in the field and has served on the Indian Head and Maquan Priority Repair Committee.

Filed Under: More News Left, News

‘Shining example of life well-led’: Hanson mourns loss of Robert and Mary Lou Sutter, active on town boards

November 23, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON — The community is mourning the passing of a devoted couple who took an active role in their adopted hometown.

Former Town Master Plan Committee member Bob Sutter and his wife, long-time Water Commissioner Mary Lou Sutter died Thursday, Nov. 17, according to Town Administrator Michael McCue. The Sutters’ family plans to publish an obituary in the Express nest week.

“It took everybody here, as you can imagine, with a great deal of surprise,” McCue said Friday, Nov. 18, recalling a recent discussion he had with Mary Lou regarding her future concerns for the town’s Water Department. “It’s a shock and I’m deeply saddened. They were very kind and supportive of me and I will miss them.”

Mary Lou had served on the Capital Improvement Committee and Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center Director Mary Collins said Mary Lou had also been a dedicated eight-year member of the Friends of the Senior Center, of which she had served as president.

“She just wanted to be involved in her community,” Collins said, noting that when the Sutters moved to Hanson from New York, Mary Lou also became involved in supporting the schools. “This was their town as they aged. It was their choice to be here and they wanted to do as much as they could to be involved.”

Many who worked with them in town government joined Collins and McCue and the Sutters’ family in feeling their loss.

“Absolutely it’s a shock,” said Water Superintendent Richard Muncie said, noting Mary Lou had served as a Water Commissioner from 2003 to Nov 12, 2016. “We had a little celebration for her 13 years, we had a cake and told her how we appreciated all the things she and her husband had done for the whole town.”

“She just wanted to do the best for the town and she was always very positive,” Muncie said.

Selectman Don Howard, who also serves as a water commissioner, said Mary Lou wanted to make sure her post was filled before she retired.

“I don’t know what to say,” Howard said, noting Bob had been calling him recently about the work of the Final Plymouth County Hospital Reuse Committee. “They’ve done a lot for the town of Hanson that people don’t even realize.”

Bob Sutter had served on the original PCH Reuse Committee.

Community Preservation Commission Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and her husband John Kemmett, a former Planning Board member, had known the Sutters for about 10 years.

“From all outward appearances, it seemed like an unlikely friendship,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We had a 30-plus year age difference and vastly different backgrounds. Despite that, we found no end to the number of things we all enjoyed from woodworking to politics and everything in between.”

Unlikely friendship

She said Mary Lou and Bob left an indelible impression on them. FitzGerald-Kemmett had accompanied Mary Lou to the Nov. 1 Selectmen’s meeting at which she resigned as a Water Commissioner.

“They were a shining example of a life well-led,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “They were incredibly devoted to each other and despite their declining physical health they continuously strived to make a difference in their community and to help others who were less fortunate. We feel so blessed to have had these dear souls in our lives. We take comfort in the fact that neither of them was left to mourn the passing of the other and that they are no longer in any pain.”

Collins said she respected the way the Sutters worked with people of all political beliefs with respect and kindness.

“I will miss her,” Collins said of Mary Lou.

Those who met the Sutters more recently were also affected by their loss.

“I’m shaken to my core,” said Selectmen Chairman James McGahan. “Deep inside I feel a loss, although I was just starting to get to know them” McGahan said. “We’ve lost two great citizens who contributed a lot to the town and they will be sorely missed.”

McGahan said he had last spoken to Mary Lou at the Nov. 1 Selectmen’s meeting during which she announced her resignation from the Board of Water Commissioners due to health concerns. He and McCue had also recently spent  nearly an hour talking with the Sutters following a coffee he hosted at the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center.

“[Bob] had built a model of Liberty Street and he wanted to show it to me … we never confirmed a date or time frame after that,” McGahan said. “I liked them very much and I thought they were community leaders. These people were ingrained in Hanson’s political life.”

McCue, too, recalled Bob Sutter’s architectural background.

“He had given me a book on architecture and he would bring me architecture magazines he thought I might have interest in that were applicable to municipal issues,” McCue said. “He’d come in and talk about different things the town could do moving forward.”

McGahan also noted that the Sutters had donated the funds to repair the lower-level doors at Town Hall, which are equipped with handicapped access buttons to open the doors for people who use walkers or wheelchairs. He also recalled that Mary Lou made it clear she preferred to be addressed by her first name.

The couple’s support for the failed new Hanson elementary school project as well as for override proposals to fund school budgets was also noted. They were strenuous supporters of the school building project, to the point of suggesting financial assistance programs such as food stamps and tax abatement volunteer work for those on fixed income.

The Sutters firmly believed every generation had a duty to educate their community’s children.

“Mary Lou and Bob Sutter were two very special people who were deeply committed to the Town of Hanson and the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner. “They will be missed and our memories of them cherished as we recall and reflect upon their unselfish contributions of time, energy, and talent to the community and to the school system.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes, a Hanson resident, also lauded the Sutters’ dedication to Hanson.

“Mary Lou and Bob Sutter were probably two of the finest people in the town of Hanson,” Hayes said. “They did an immense amount of volunteer work on several boards and committees and they will be sadly missed.”

He said they were very active in the school system.

“I used to hear from them all the time,” he said. “They believed in education.”

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

Sharing blessings: Residents share time, bounty with neighbors

November 23, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

Stephanie Spyropoulos
Express staff

WHITMAN — Residents of all ages have rolled up their sleeves to contribute food, money and time ensuring that neighbors who are alone or in financial need are able to celebrate a joyous and bountiful Thanksgiving dinner.

“Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday for us here in the United States of America,” said Holy Ghost Church Pastor the Rev. James Mahoney before an annual Thanksgiving dinner for seniors at the Spellman Council Knights of Columbus Saturday, Nov. 19. “It’s not only become a national holiday, but I would ask everyone to make it sort of a religious holiday, as well … perhaps you could share with your tablemates what you are grateful to God for … having gratitude in your heart is a beautiful thing.”

The Rev. Thomas Stanton, the parochial vicar of Holy Ghost Church then offered the blessing. After the amen’s, a woman’s voice was heard ­saying, “Go, Pats!”

During the 42nd annual K of C event — five days before the 106th renewal of the Thanksgiving football game vs. the Abington Green Wave on W-H’s home turf — members of the Panthers football team joined forces with Whitman Police officers to serve turkey dinners to more than 320 area senior citizens in about 9 ½ minutes.

Whitman Council on Aging Director Barbara Garvey thanked the Knights for the event.

“Today, each of us will be enjoying this lovely Thanksgiving dinner with about 320 new and old friends,” Garvey said in her remarks. “The Whitman Knights of Columbus Council has always been a very kind and generous friend to this community and, in particular to our seniors.”

Pantry and paws

Conley Elementary School students had gathered to sing, recite poems, and express what they were thankful for during the annual Thanksgiving basket assembly on Thursday, Nov. 17. Superintendent of Schoools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner was one of the guests who attended the Conley gathering.

Bob Hogan of the St. Vincent DePaul Society accepted the school’s food pantry donation and thanked the staff and students for the great holiday show they saw.

“There is nothing we can do without you,” Hogan said. “All we do is give the food out but it is donated by all the so many wonderful people and businesses in Whitman.”

Recently, on a visit to a food pantry in Columbus, Ohio, Hogan said he shared stories of how giving the school system is in Whitman.

“I haven’t found a pantry yet that benefits from schools like the Whitman pantry. When I tell them what you do (at the Conley School ) … you are awesome. Many people will have a Thanksgiving dinner this year and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Students also give to support animals in the town’s shelter through the school’s Pennies for Paws program proving that every penny really does count, gathering enough coins to donate more than $500 to Whitman Animal Control. There were also matched donations from a AEW Capital Management donated $1500 as a matched donation and private donation from a Conley family.

“You reached deep into those pockets and found more pennies,” said Principal Karen Downey in praising her students, saying they were not going to believe how many pennies they raised for the Whitman Animal Shelter.

Tradition revived

At Duval Elementary School, fifth-graders revived the holiday basket tradition after a hiatus of about eight years with an assembly Nov. 17.

The entire student body as well as faculty and staff gathered in the Duval cafetorium — as the fifth-graders participating in the program sat on the stage behind the 15 laundry baskets brimming with side dishes, stuffing mix, table cloths and napkins for a Thanksgiving dinner for families in need.

“All of you have helped out some of our community in the town of Whitman and we wanted to take minute so that we could have all of you be part of the process of handing over all of these food items that are going to help somebody on Thanksgiving,” Principal Julie McKillop said to the students. “Doesn’t it feel good to help other people?”

Cheryl Happeny of the Duval PTO said teacher Erin Smith had suggested the school revive the tradition as a way to help the community. Letters were sent out to students’ families seeking donations of “Thanksgiving-types of foods” and supplies for the baskets.

Whitman Food Pantry volunteers Dorothy Conlon and James Davidson addressed the children, thanking them for their thoughtful gesture for neighbors in need.

“I used to work in the kitchen [at Duval] and I was the cook and manager for about 22 years,” Conlon said. “Shortly after I retired, I started volunteering at the Whitman Food Pantry. This event makes me very, very happy to see all these wonderful baskets full of goodies for people that are not as fortunate as we are.”

She told the students that their baskets would be augmented with a turkey and some vegetables for distribution, which began Nov. 17.

“It does my heart really good to see all of you and what you’ve done here today,” said Davidson, who has been a food pantry volunteer since 1984. “We will be helping approximately 150 families in town with Thanksgiving dinner.”

Last year, the Whitman Food Pantry aided more than 1,300 families and more than 3,200 individuals during the course of the year.

“What you’re doing here is terrific and we hope that you will remember this day for the rest of your life, so that wherever you go in this world you will think back on this day and how you helped someone in need,” he said.

McKillop said the students’ suggestions for other ways the school can help the community would be welcome in her office mailbox.

“Write me a letter and we’ll see what we can do,” she said. “When you go home this weekend I want you to think about what else could we do as a community to make somebody else out there smile a little bit bigger because of our actions.”    

Filed Under: Featured Story, News

Author honors a nurse’s sacrifice

November 17, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — Sometimes a muse finds their writer — and won’t let go until their story is told.

For retired Falmouth nurse Terri Arthur, British nurse Edith Cavell was one of these muses.

“Edith who?” one might ask.

Cavell’s work, dedication to humanity and determination to save the lives of about 200 British soldiers in German-occupied Belgium during World War I, led to her Oct. 12, 1915 execution by firing squad when the Germans caught up with her. The only woman so executed by the enemy during that war, Cavell’s death became an emotional recruiting tool for the British Army and launched a letter-writing campaign by American women’s groups to President Woodrow Wilson that is now recognized as a first step toward American involvement in WWI.

“Her death was [headlines] in every country all over the world,” Arthur said. “When they saw the headlines on Edith Cavell … [women’s groups] took her on as a cause celebré and they inundated Wilson with letters.”

In a way, Cavell’s stated life’s goal may have foreshadowed the circumstances of her death.

“Someday, somehow, I’m going to do something useful, something for people,” Cavell once wrote. “They are, most of them, so helpless, so hurt and so unhappy.”

But who was Edith Cavell?

That question took Arthur on a journey of coincidental events that led her to write “Fatal Destiny: Edith Cavell, World War I Nurse,” [2015, $19.95, HenschelHAUS Publishing], a book so well received in Britain that she was asked to adjust spelling and syntax for a British edition.

Arthur’s visit to the Whitman Public Library’s Local Author Series on Monday, Nov. 10 traced both Cavell’s story and how she came to write it. The Friends of the Whitman Public Library fund the series.

“It’s time to resurrect Edith,” Arthur said. “She has a message for us today. She showed courage and strength at a time when it was very difficult to do.”

Arthur began her talk with an anecdote of how DNA left in bloody fingerprints by ancient native peoples who constructed New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon settlements helped answer some questions about possible connections to other Anasazi dwellings in the region.

“The person I’m going to talk about today also left her fingerprints in history, but she’s been basically forgotten, like those builders were forgotten,” Arthur said. “It’s time to bring Edith back.”

The centennial of Cavell’s execution was observed last year and the centennial of WWI is ongoing through Nov. 11, 2018.

For Arthur, the journey began with one of those nursing-related gifts many nurses receive and are never sure what to do with: a book titled “Postcards of Nursing” by Michael Zwerdling. She finally leafed through it on a stormy night and ran across postcards depicting Edith Cavell, some of which depicted her death and images of the Grim Reaper. She read an outline about Cavell in the back of the book and was “blown away.”

“How is it that I, as a nurse, had never heard about this nurse?” she said.

It launched her on a search for information, which led her to others whose response was “Edith who?” Even during a trip to the UK, where she made a special trip to the memorial statue to Cavell in Trafalgar Square, Arthur was unable to find anyone staffing tourist gift shops nearby who had heard of Cavell, either.

Arthur then made a side trip to Cavell’s burial site in  Norwich where, as fate would have it, the city’s cathedral was holding a 90th anniversary service for Cavell the next day — Oct. 12, 2005.

A BBC reporter caught the sound of Arthur’s American accent and asked what brought her to the event.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m a nurse and I believe that what Edith Cavell did really represents nurses in every country,’” Arthur said, adding the next thing she new, she was being interviewed for BBC-TV news.

Arthur was hooked.

“I don’t know who got who first,” Arthur said. “I don’t know if I got Edith Cavell first or if she got me first, but after that, I was hooked.”

Arthur’s research took her from the Imperial War Museum, where she was able to purchase copies of Cavell’s letters, to Belgium, the Royal London and the Brussels Hospital named in honor of Cavell as well as the Tir National Prison where Cavell was executed.

Before she began writing, however, Arthur also had take classes in creative writing techniques such as finding the voice of a narrative and setting the pace.

The eldest daughter of an Anglican minister, Cavell studied nursing at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel about the time of the Jack the Ripper murders, because that section of London was where she felt she was needed. She worked there until she was asked to begin a nursing school in Brussels in 1907. She had worked in Belgium before as a governess.

When WWI broke out in August 1914, Cavell was visiting her family in England but felt it was her duty to return to Belgium. The Germans occupied Belgium, reaching Brussels by Aug. 20, 1915. Since September 1914, Cavell had been helping smuggle British soldiers into the Netherlands after initially caring for two wounded British soldiers who had sought her out. She took them in despite signs posted by the Germans all over Belgium warning of the fatal consequences of helping allied soldiers escape.

She was arrested with 33 others on Oct. 5, 1915 after a German spy had infiltrated the underground, was tried for treason by a German court martial on Oct. 7 and executed on Oct. 12, 1915.

After the war, she was exhumed by the British and returned to England for a state funeral in Westminster Abbey [a rare film clip of which may be viewed at iwm.org.uk] and reburied at Norwich Cathedral. Her pallbearers included soldiers she had saved.

Since writing her book, Arthur has been the only American invited to participate in anniversary ceremonies for Cavell in both Norwich and London.

Filed Under: More News Left, News

Voluntary drug survey to poll eighth-graders

November 17, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

The perception that “everybody does it” has taken another hit.

A regional drug use survey, taken on an anonymous and voluntary basis by high school students last year, has yielded some valuable insights on the issue, according to the Brockton Area Opioid Prevention Coalition.

Specific results of the survey were released only to School Committee members and Whitman-Hanson Regional School District administrators, but general information and the types of questions asked were discussed with the Committee during its Wednesday, Nov. 9 meeting at which the panel voted to expand a drug use survey to grade eight.

“We thought it was important for you to hear the results this evening, how we plan to move forward and the opportunity to give a similar survey to the eighth grade,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said.

Coalition members Hillary Dubois of the High Point Treatment Center and Ed Jacobs from the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office presented the survey findings. Whitman-Hanson WILL is also a member group of that coalition, whose work is funded by three regional grants.

“We want to take the limited resources that we have and focus them in the right place,” Jacobs said. “There’s a certain percentage of students who will say, ‘Yes, I’ve used over the past 30 days,’ but when you ask about their perception of do their fellow students use, that’s a far greater number.”

It’s also an incorrect perception, according to the data, which can encourage kids to avoid drugs or alcohol by showing them they are not alone.

“The actual number [of students who admit to drug use] is very small, which is good,” Jacobs said. “But the perception is ‘everybody’s doing it,’ or the majority is doing it … and that, we don’t think is necessarily the reality.”

But Dubois cautioned against complacency, saying that perception could lead to “peer-driven self internal pressure” for kids.

“When a young person is, for example, offered a prescription narcotic pain killer, if they have the belief that the majority of their peers are using it as well, they might be more inclined to try it,” she said.

In W-H, 998 high school students took part after the School Committee approved the survey last year. In Brockton High School 1,627, another 666 in Rockland High School and Middle School and 587 in East Bridgewater Jr./Sr. High School also participated.

“More so than any other district, you have a bunch of civil libertarians here at W-H who chose to not answer questions or take surveys or draw pictures,” Dubois said, noting a few may have declined to answer questions of their own potential drug or alcohol use.

Jacobs and Dubois argued that, by expanding the survey to grade eight gives a wider window for data collection so the coalition can determine if progress is being made or greater prevention methods are needed.

“We base our strategies off of an assessment that we complete in each of the individual communities as well as in the region,” Dubois said. “We use the information that comes from the survey to help inform what our next steps are in terms of working with the communities.”

That work will encompass the youth voice and perspective gleaned from the survey. Dubois said the current data would be shared with Whitman-Hanson WILL and the local Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapter. The survey results can also help make the argument for additional grant money in the future if problems are found.

“Rarely do we ask the kids who are most impacted by this. — What their feedback is, what their thought is, what they think speaks to their peers and … what speaks to the adults in their lives,” she said.

The School Committee also reviewed results of the spring assessment exams.

“Statewide assessments have changed and varied over the years,” Gilbert-Whitner said, noting that last spring it was a combination of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and MCAS exams.

Curriculum directors Brian Selig, Amy Hill and Mark Stephansky joined Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Ellen Stockdale in reviewing this spring’s scores and changes being made to prepare teachers and students alike for evolving tests.

Currently, because of the changes in the testing systems, Stockdale said the most consistent data is available from the high school MCAS scores.

In math, W-H performs at or better than the state average, Selig said, noting that test changes ahead will move to questions with more than one answer than the traditional multiple-choice questions featured on the MCAS exams.

English Language Arts, in which W-H students were 95-percent proficient or advanced, will also see more thought-provoking questions on future exams, Hill said.

“If we are teaching to our standards, if we are sticking to our standards, we will be OK,” she said, noting that sparking a love of reading is critical.

“They give children opportunities to see different types of texts at their level with high interest, so they keep them engaged,” Stockdale said of W-H teachers.

In science, which has never been featured in a PARCC test, Stephansky said 81 percent of W-H students scored proficient/advanced on the freshman biology MCAS compared to a 75 percent state average. Future exams, adapted from the federal standards in January, will demand new training of teachers, but there will little change this spring.

Taking it slow

Another challenge with online testing will be training tech-savvy kids to click slower on computerized exams, all the educators agreed.

The so-called Next-Generation MCAS, a hybrid of the two tests is the direction Massachusetts has decided to take in the future.

“What we really need in order to educate our children is a really solid, well-aligned curriculum with very highly effective teachers,” Stockdale said, adding the district’s teachers meet that description.

Schools are ranked on the basis of assessments according to a district’s lowest-performing school. W-H is at Level 2 — on a 1 to 5 scale with Level 5 being the worst.

“There are no Pre-K to 12 districts in Massachusetts classified as Level 1,” Stockdale said.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

Whitman weighs medical cannabis grow site: Selectmen say location is key

November 17, 2016 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen told representatives of a business proposing a medical marijuana growing location in Whitman that any letter or non-opposition or support for such a facility hinges on its exact location.

“This may be the first time that the town has heard this is a possibility,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said. “It might make sense to, maybe, at our next meeting see if we receive any kind of input. There’s no need for a meeting with the Board of Appeals.”

The issue will be acted on at the Selectmen’s 7 p.m., Dec. 13 meeting.

“It’s important to know where it’s going to be sited because that’s going to trigger some response,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam, who indicated he also wants to speak with the state Department of Public Health before any decision is made regarding the letter.

“If I’m going to ask the board to sign a letter, I want to know what we’re signing,” Lynam said after the meeting.

The letter is the next step the company, Mission Partners — to be known as Fresh Meadow Farm — must complete toward obtaining a Department of Public Health license. Because they are already in the licensing process, company officials said they qualify for the pool of applicants for a recreational marijuana license, but are now solely focused on the medical-use growing facility they hope to locate in Whitman.

Ben Smith of Fresh Meadow Farm gave a brief review of the process during the Board of Selectmen’s Tuesday, Nov. 15 meeting.

Smith said he had reached out to Lynam about the possibility of a medical marijuana growing facility in a warehouse-type building to be sited on Route 18 near routes 14 and 27. The company is working with Crosscup Realty on purchasing a site and is not releasing the exact location until it is firmed up.

The parcel is zoned for light industrial use.

“We have identified a property that might work for us and a land owner that is willing to lease to us to run this operation,” Smith said. The company will be working with Forefront Advisers, a national expert on helping businesses obtain marijuana-related licenses in states where it is legal, as well as helping with the day-to-day operation of the facilities.

Smith’s associate Andrew Thut, affiliated with Forefront Ventures, the financial entity of Forefront Advisers, said a municipal letter of support simply indicates “the town is fine with that facility being there.”

In 2012, 63 percent of state voters passed a ballot question legalizing marijuana for medical use. On Nov. 8, ballot Question 4 passed, legalizing marijuana for personal recreational use.

“The facility we’re looking to do would be [regulated] by the state Department of Public Health,” said Smith. “It’s strictly for cultivation. From the outside it will just look like a warehouse.”

He said the state has already vetted the firm, checking the background of all the people involved and Fresh Meadow Farm has been invited to the next phase of the licensing process — the siting profile.

“Since they’ve already vetted us, invited us to siting, as long as we [receive] the letter of non-opposition and a lease a license will be granted,” Smith said.

This phase requires evidence of interest, a letter of municipal support and compliance with municipal regulations.

Phase one of the project will involve an 18,000-square-foot building that matches area buildings, with an eye to doubling the size when the business grows. The company envisions about 20 job openings at the facility to start.

A Hingham resident, Smith runs his portion of the business from his home, but said Mission Partners has an office at 2 State St. in Boston.

Selectman Daniel Salvucci asked about proximity to schools and residential areas as well as security. Selectman Brian Bezanson suggested the local Board of Health be contacted in light of its recent work on tobacco control regulations.

The parcel meets the state law requiring a distance of 500 feet from schools, houses of worship or locations where children congregate and that a filtration process would be put in place to control smell from the operation.

“I have no objection if it meets legal requirements,” Salvucci said.

Security will be a top priority of Fresh Meadow Farm, according to Smith, who said the business partners with Cana Security, which works with about 500 businesses out West, and Windmill Group that just worked with a Quincy facility.

“We’ll have to work with [Whitman Police] Chief Scott Benton and come up with a plan that satisfies him,” Smith said. Other facilities now operating in the state have not had security problems, he said.

While they don’t plan to sell products directly to the public, Smith said the company would manufacture oils and edibles for medical use.

Park access

In other business, Lynam said the town has received a notice from the state’s Architectural Access Board summoning officials to appear before the board in Boston on Feb. 27, 2017 to discuss being fined at the rate of $1,000 per day in relation to a complaint about accessibility of Whitman Park. Town counsel has been notified of the summons and DPW superintendent Bruce Martin has been notified of issues outlined in the complaint.

“The DPW has made notable improvements to the park area based on findings that were made two years ago and again last year by the AAB,” Lynam said. “There was some movement by the AAB and the complaining party to require us to pave all the paths in the park and we are resistant to that. The park is over 100 years old. It was built by the firm of Frederick Law Olmstead, it’s on the National Register of Historic Places and I’m not at all interested in tarring the area.”

He also noted the AAB “went so far as to tell us we should grade the hills so they’re more level” at the last hearing, during which the AAB voted to find for the complainant before opening the hearing.

Lynam said photos submitted to the AAB “do not accurately reflect the conditions” and that a rut has been caused in the path because of water runoff and a lip on the apron of the pool is due to a past concrete lift that evened it out that the town was ordered to remove. A cobblestone path, which the complaint calls a barrier to park access, has been closed to all but maintenance vehicles, with another access path installed opposite the Senior Center.

“This complaint is disingenuous,” Lynam said.

Salvucci agreed the DPW has done a lot in the park.

“We’re getting it done as quickly as we can,” he said. “They can’t expect us to do it all in one year. The town just doesn’t have the money to do it.

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

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