WHITMAN – The town will a have at least a taste of the rainbow this month after all, as the Select Board voted 3-2, on Tuesday, June 20, to support a proclamation from the board to declare June as Pride Month.
The proclamation supports a project to paint a crosswalk and walkways at the Whitman Public Library parking lot in rainbow colors while displaying the Progressive Pride Flag on town buildings as a way of expressing support for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Supporting the proclamation were Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski, Justin Evans and Shawn Kain. Member Laura Howe voted no because of objections some residents had voiced over the library’s location across the street from Holy Ghost Church. She said she would support it and Pride flags elsewhere, because she had heard no opposition to the basic idea.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci opposed the proclamation because, he argued, it would open a “Pandora’s box” of organizations demanding to fly their flags and that only the U.S. flag, the state and town flags – as well as the POW/MIA banner – should fly at town buildings.
A second 3-2 vote accepted a gift of Pride flags and other supplies from the nonprofit Whitman Pride organization.
In the end, neither Salvucci nor Howe signed the proclamation.
Whitman Pride official Christopher DiOrio, after the meeting, applauded the vote.
“I’m happy with the 3-2 vote. I think it’s a good step for the community to show that it’s inclusive, or at least our Board of Selectmen, speaking on behalf of the people that voted them in to create and show our community as being one of inclusivity,” DiOrio said. “Symbols do matter.”
He said people wondering if they are worthy or safe to come out in a community, they are not going to see a piece of paper on a wall – they’re going to see that flag and rainbow crosswalk.
“They’re going to see all of those things and they’re going to know that, at least for that brief moment in time that, ‘I’m OK, and that I’m worthy and that I’m somebody, and that at least somebody in the community is looking out for me.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has reported that a new record number of 417 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country since Jan. 1.
School Committee member Fred Small had suggested the proclamation itself simply be displayed in a town building instead of Pride flags or rainbow crosswalks.
But Town Counsel Peter Sumners said the proclamation, as a form of “government speech” would preclude such challenges.
“Following the advice of counsel, before [the May 23 meeting], we were being very cautious about this and we wanted to make sure that we understood the distinction between public speech and private speech,” Kowalski said. “We didn’t want to do anything that would encourage private speech we didn’t particularly care for, so we decided to take a break and look it over.”
While Sumners was researching the legal aspects of the issue, Kowalski said Evans researched what other towns were doing from which Whitman could borrow. One was that the town could simply proclaim some actions to express support for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Once such proclamation by the Braintree City Council, was used by the board almost word for word.
Whitman’s proclamation recognizes the rainbow as a symbol of “pride, inclusion and support for social movements that advocate for the LGBTQ+ community,” and that the town is “committed to supporting visibility, dignity and equity for all LGBTQ+ members in its diverse community.”
It supports the rainbow crosswalk at the Whitman Library – from the parking lot to the ramp at the rear entrance as well as from the front entrance – and progressive Pride flags on poles at Town Hall in recognition of Pride Month to encourage support and advocacy for LGBTQ+ residents and their contribution to the cultural, civic and economic success of the town.
Symbol of justice
“The symbolism of these crosswalks and flags is a reminder to all of us to embrace the principal of justice for all and to eliminate prejudice wherever it exists,” Kowalski read from the proclamation.
Salvucci objected to the inclusion of non-governmental or POW/MIA flags.
“If people want to display whatever they want to display on their house, on their private property, that’s up to them, they can do it,” he said. “As far as town property, I think they should stick to, as I said, state flags, town flags and [the] American flag.”
Sumners said the board’s proclamation prevents the “Pandora’s box” of requests that Salvucci feared.
Sumners said his understanding was that the message was to be conveyed in a way that was clear that it was from the town and not by any third-party group on town property.
“This [proclamation] is the board speaking on behalf of the town to say , ‘This is what we believe in,’” he said. “The government can choose to speak or not speak without opening up a forum for everyone to speak, or there are occasions, like public comment, when you do open up a forum for people to speak.”
He said the proclamation lands squarely in the realm of government speech.
Kowalski added he and Sumners talked about having a policy vs. a bylaw.
“This was the way to get it done now and it’s a way that we’re not going to be in any kind of jeopardy from any other group,” he said, noting that a number of towns have done a proclamation.
Kowalski noted that, while in Norton recently, he saw that town’s electronic message board was lit blue and yellow in support of Ukraine.
“The town had no problem proclaiming, ‘Pray for Ukraine,’ for probably a limited amount of time,” he said. “I personally don’t think we should have a problem proclaiming this at all.”
While the board had been under the impression that the library had signed off on the proposal, initially brought by Whitman Pride, there had been a change in leadership at the Library Trustees, and the new chair wanted more time to get the kind of information Sumners had supplied to the Select Board. They are expected to vote on it next week.
“The library does things like support women’s rights, Native American rights, African-American rights, and to me it’s on the spectrum of civil rights and the way that the library would celebrate those kinds of things,” Kain said. “Working with the library to do something really positive in the community is something I support.”
Salvucci then suggested that painted sidewalks doesn’t mean Pride month, it’s “Pride forever.”
Kowalski noted someone had suggested using chalk.
“That would mean we’re recognizing the value of the LGBTQ+ community before it rains,” he said to Salvucci’s vocal disagreement.
“We’re all elected, and we’re only elected from the people,” Howe said, noting that she heard a lot of complaints about the proposal, “but not for the reasons people are arguing about this.”
Location concerns
She said that, while not one person who spoke to her failed to support the LGBTQ+ community, they were concerned and upset about the crosswalk’s location.
“I just wonder, and it’s just a question please don’t laugh at me, could this be put somewhere else, like at the park, which is a town property,” she asked. “I honestly don’t want to see our community torn apart over something that … has not been a single thing I have heard.”
Former Selectman Brian Bezanson, Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly and Small were permitted to speak, although the discussion was initially intended to be among the Select Board.
Bezanson, said he is an acquaintance of the man who took the city of Boston all the way to the Supreme Court – despite losing at every lower court along the way – to win the right to fly a Christian flag at City Hall after the Pride flag had been displayed. Ultimately, it led to the Satanic Temple flag being flown at Boston City Hall.
He said the Select Board has enough to do tending to the “nuts and bolts of the community” instead of social justice, an example of overstepping boundaries that opens up a Pandora’s box.
“Our charge here is to tax, spend efficiently, make this government effective for all its citizens,” he said. “It has nothing to do about anything else.”
He argued there are nine other awareness month observations and to fly the flags of any of them would be pandering while real problems such as veterans’ suicides, drug overdoses and other problems are ignored.
Kain argued that the library offers programs that further the civil rights of everyone and this was one way to support that mission.
Evans said it was not a groundbreaking move the town was making.
“In the years pre-COVID, there was a Pride flag in the library for a number of Junes,” he said. “The COA had Pride flags in flower boxes for about a year and since the killing of Sgt. [Michael] Chesna, I believe the Thin Blue Line flag has been on the back of the fire engines for a couple of years now.”
Connolly said, while she is compassionate about the veterans’ deaths, there are examples in town where veterans are honored, including monuments, even while more could be done.
But, she added that 17 percent of youths in Massachusetts identify as gay and nearly half of those have seriously considered suicide, according to the Trevor Project.
On the same day as Whitman’s proclamation was voted, the attorney general in Tennessee forced Vanderbilt University Medical Center to turn over names of transgender patients during an investigation into billing practices for trans health care. The move sent a panic through the community of trans youth in Tennessee and Kentucky, according to the advocacy group Rainbow Youth USA, which fielded more than 375 calls from youths in crisis within 10 hours.
“There’s a lack of those symbols that we love our children,” Connolly said. “We love our children the way God makes them.”
She is also a parishioner at Holy Ghost and invoked Pope Francis’ admonition to “invite and love” the LGBTQ+ community.
“In that regard, I would say that this rainbow says, ‘We love our children,’” she said.
Bezanson challenged Evans’ being included in the vote because he had to leave the room during the first meeting. But Town Counsel Michelle McNulty explained that no longer applied because the original proposal by an immediate Evans family member, as a member Whitman Pride, was not the party putting forth the proclamation for a vote. The proclamation was brought for a vote by the Select Board as a form of speech on its own behalf.
“At this point in time, what is before the board is very different,” she said. “At this point in time you are taking government speech. Government speech, you control.”
Evans said he had contacted the state Ethics Commission, whose concern was about the appearance of undo influence because his wife was one of the people making the request and he filed a disclosure of with the Town Clerk’s office saying he could continue with his duties. The fact that the Whitman Pride request is no longer before the board because it was voting on the proclamation.
“This is the smart way to do it,” DiOrio said. “If they want to create a policy down the road, they can.”

HANSON – Aside from end of the fiscal year concerns, May and June are busy months for the Hanson Police Department, as officials work to wrap up training for the year as part of police reform, which requires Chief Michael Miksch to report to the state by June 30.
Every officer’s training for the year, ensuring standards are met and any issues raised through complaints are addressed, are included in that report.
“A lot of this isn’t a big deal for Hanson,” Miksch told the Select Board in his regular report on Tuesday, June 6. “We’ve been doing the requirements.
Officers are completing the required 40 hours of in-service, including at least eight hours of firearms training – Hanson usually does 12 – and periodic use of force and pursuit policies review.
“The important things,” he said. “We want to make sure nobody gets hurt and we’re doing the right thing and keeping the liability for the town down.”
Miksch said officers are also being trained in laws surrounding human trafficking.
“You wouldn’t think that’s something that really would affect Hanson, but it affects every community,” he said. “You never know when it’s going to creep up, either through business fronts, or – for that matter – when we stumble across some people who might be transitioning through.”
Three officers are going to that training at the end of June, paid for and supplied by a grant through the office of DA Timothy Cruz.
Miksch said his department has received just under 5,000 calls so far this year, which he said, is actually a little low for them.
“I think I have a reason for that,” he said. “It isn’t that people are behaving better, I think it’s the way that we’re documenting some things.”
Of the calls received, there have been 34 arrests – mostly for OUIs or domestic disputes – which are usually challenges every year, he said.
The department has also been working to renew its accreditation over the past nine months. It’s a process that requires Hanson Police to meet 394 specific standards, most of which are already being done.
“It’s just [that] we haven’t put them on paper,” Miksch said. That includes training and records maintenance procedures.
One or two individuals have to be dedicated to the accreditation work, so personnel has been moved around, and the work on rules and regulations is almost complete.
“A lot of the things we do are taught to [officers] in the adacemy .. specialized training or in our own in-house training, but, it wasn’t always on paper and most of our policies are out-dated,” he said. “The high-liabilty ones are kept up to date, but a lot are out-dated.”
Sgt. Peter Calogero has drafted policies to address about 300 of the standards, now they have to get them out to officers and keep them up to date and, over the past year, some standards have already been changed.
It will likely take another two years to first be certified and then accredited.
Miksch is also working with Plymouth County Outreach Hope to place Narcan boxes – one of which is already installed at the Hanson Public Library where staff had requested one – at Town Hall and the senior center and the Fire Department has reached out to offer training.
A substance abuse resource in Plymouth County, PCO Hope is funding the project through a grant. The boxes are similar to ones in place for cardiac emergencies in public buildings.
“They are an extremely helpful resource for us,” Miksch said of PCO Hope. “They assist us when we have overdoses or if we have anybody with some sort of substance abuse.”
PCO Hope aids the department in getting people who need it, treatment hospital placements or outpatient care, as well as resources for families of those refusing hospital care as well as tracking statistics. The department is averaging one outreach a month.
“That translates into about one or two of our residents not making it a year,” he said, but noted that eight out of 12 times such an emergency call is responded to, a person goes for treatment or at least accepts initial help from outreach workers.
He said a warrant request for some of the $8,900 in opiod money the state received and is sending to the town to help fund PCO Hope, now funded through federal grants that are drying up in October.
Miksch also discussed staffing, maintenance and cruiser replacement challenges.