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Whitman votes plastics ban

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WHITMAN — Articles urging a ban on single-use plastic check-out bags and polystyrene food containers and beverage cups, sponsored by petition from students at WHRHS Environmental Awareness Club were approved at the Wednesday, June 2 annual Town Meeting.

The article borrowed from similar efforts passed in Hanson two years ago. The Whitman article provides businesses until January 2022 to prepare and gives the Board of Health discretion to permit more time for businesses up to six additional months.

The Bylaw Study Committee had voted to recommend that the article be passed over for further study to be brought before a future Town Meeting.

Former Town Administrator echoed that suggestion, arguing that it only came to the town 45 days ago. He wanted to give the town more time to research it.

“I want to recognize that a number of students have really worked at this, and I’m impressed with their commitment to their community and to sustainability, but, regrettably I’d like to make a motion to pass over this article,” Lynam said.

There was also some question about whether the students could speak at Town Meeting, but a previous article had resolved that issue, permitting non-voters to speak on articles they sponsor.

School Committee member Christopher Scriven spoke in favor of the article moving forward, asking what specific aspects of the articles were not clear.

“We don’t know what the businesses in town are prepared to do, or how easily or quickly they can make that transition,” Lynam said, also advocating that town counsel review and approve whatever language is used.

Selectman Justin Evans initially spoke for the students, before a point of order on the previous article’s passage opened the door for them.

“It may not seem like a big deal to you because plastic bags have been around as long as many of us can remember, but doesn’t it seem a bit sad that you frequently see the evidence of this problem when trying to enjoy a walk in our town?” Evans quoted from a statement the students wrote. “We’ve all seen a bag stuck in a tree or a coffee cup along the side of the road in a bush … it poses a risk to the natural world around us, one that we don’t feel we can responsibly ignore.”

Resident Shawn Kain made a motion to allow the students to speak, which was approved by the Town Meeting.

“Passing these articles would help improve our environment so greatly, even if we can’t see the effects now,” said Riley Getchel of Whitman, president of the environmental club. She noted that she is constantly reminded of the issue by a plastic bag stuck in a tree near her house.

“By making more environmentally friendly decisions, I’ve had a cleaner conscience, knowing I’m doing my part to protect the planet that provides for us,” said student Sarah Regan, who noted other materials could easily be swapped out for plastic.

Plastic also contaminates water supplies, never completely breaks down and effects 60 percent of towns in the state.

DPW Highway Superintendent Bruce Martin agreed that article is a great idea, because neither the bags nor the polystyrene cups and containers can go in recycle bins.

Dog complaint is dismissed

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WHITMAN — In a split vote Tuesday, June 8 Selectmen dismissed a complaint against the terrier-American bully mix, with no further action required The 3-2 vote saw Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski and Selectmen Brian Bezanson voting against dismissal.

An official determination will be issued in writing within a week and announced publically at a subsequent meeting.

The vote following an often-emotional dog hearing Tuesday, June 8 during a meeting in the Town Hall Auditorium.

Town Counsel Peter Sumners said a dangerous dog is considered to be one that has attacked a domestic animal and a nuisance dog is one that has done so in the past or that creates a disturbance by excessive barking.

Selectmen decided the dog in question met neither definition.

“No quarter shall be issued,” he said, quoting the law regarding penalties for dangerous dog — it must be removed from a community, but laws cannot be breed-specific. There are specific exceptions to the definitions and potential remedies.

Muzzles or banishment are required by dangerous dog provisions, but there is room for flexibility with a nuisance designation. Sumners said he does not believe the town is liable if it happens again.

The hearing stemmed from a March 2 complaint filed by Walter Aylward and his daughter, Marie, of 650 South Ave., concerning a terrier mixed-breed dog named Loretta, owned by Casey Mahoney of 50 Perry Ave. The delay in holding a hearing was due to an attempt to resolve the issue, in cooperation with Animal Control Officer Joe Kenney, without a formal hearing, according to Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski but the Aylwards decided in April that they wished to pursue a dangerous dog hearing.

The Aylwards alleged that Loretta lunged at their dog — named Buttercup — pulling the dog walker toward their fence, where it bit Buttercup, damaging their dog’s jaw. Buttercup was in a fenced-in yard.

The only sidewalk on that stretch of South Avenue passes in front of the Aylward’s home.

Kowalski said he felt bad about the situation because, while something had obviously happened to the Aylward’s dog, it was a one-time incident.

“My inclination is not to call Loretta a dangerous dog based upon one incident,” he said, basing his reaction on Kenney’s report.

Kenney told Selectmen this was the first incident concerning Loretta and there have been no incidents since March 2.

“It was definitely an unfortunate incident, but it was a dog-on-dog thing and neither was off-leash,” he said. “In a typical situation, we would just do a quarantine and followed those steps.”

Kenney said he usually also recommends that people change walking routes to put minds at ease.

“I think a lot of this situation had to do with the person handling the dog,” he said. “If it was [the dog walker’s] own dog, it might have been a very different scenario, they might have picked up on signs from the dog differently.”

Loretta is a 45-50-pound dog, a terrier and American bully mix. Buttercup is a 15-pound Shi-Tzu.

Walter Aylward said he was out in his yard with his two dogs, who were sitting together by the fence, and he saw the dog walker “struggling” with Loretta.

“No one barked at anybody,” he said. “My dog didn’t bark, that dog didn’t bark, and the next thing you know I saw the dog fly — and the woman with it — right across the sidewalk right into the chain link fence.”

He described his dog as that it’s face was hanging off. Aylward said an emergency vet told him the dog’s injury was life-threatening.

Kenney said, in his opinion, both dogs were likely barking at each other and Buttercup stuck her muzzle through a link in the fence, giving Loretta the chance to grab her lower jaw.

“That dog is dangerous,” he said of Aylwards. “It’s tasted blood and it’ll do it again.”

Marie Aylward said they have lived in their home — with dogs in a fenced-in yard — for 37 years without incident.

Walter Aylward said he is not asking to have the dog euthanized, but wants it muzzled at all times or moved out of town.

Casey Mahoney has been a resident for 10 years and is a board member of DFS and volunteers at the Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Mass. shelter in Brockton. She adopted Loretta from the MSPCA in Haverhill in 2014.

“Loretta has only shown love toward all of us, never aggression,” Mahoney said, noting she had walked the dog herself before taking a job in Boston and needing a dog-walker during the day.

She found Crystal Power, who has a few years of experience walking all sizes of dogs, on a posting on the Whitman Pride Facebook page. She had been walking Loretta for three or four months before the incident happened.

As part of the pandemic protocols Mahoney required of the walker, the dog was to be taken across the street if another dog was encountered. She found no evidence of blood on her dog and was not aware of any injury to the Aylwards’ dog.

“I was devastated,” she said of learning about Buttercup’s injury.

“On my walks to the train station over the years, I had numerous conversations with the Aylwards and said hello to their dogs. But on many of the walks with Loretta, when their dogs have been outside — and even inside — I have avoided walking by their home because of [their dog’s] continuous barking at Loretta and I.”

When she asked Kenney for suggestions about what to do, he told her she was already doing it by continuing to avoid walking by the Aylward’s house to have a more peaceful walk. Mahoney said she visited the Aylwards, apologizing and offering to help with vet bills, but learned they had hired an attorney and the financial portion of the case is now in the hands of her insurance company.

“I’m sad about what has happened, not only because Buttercup was injured, but because a relationship was lost between myself and the Aylwards,” she said. Loretta has helped her cope with some bleak emotional times during the pandemic.

Mahoney told Selectmen, through tears, that she does not think her dog should be muzzled as she is not a dangerous dog or a nuisance.

Power said the incident, which took place on Feb. 10, had never shown any signs of aggression to her or others, and was only walking on the sidewalks because of the safety challenges posed by snow and trash barrels along the roadside.

She said that both the Aylward’s dogs barked at Loretta, but that the dogs’ behavior was more of a “meet and greet.” She felt that Buttercup was nibbling at her, but there was no way Loretta could bite back through the fence.

“No party witnessed the incident at hand 100 percent,” Power said, but there was no blood on the white dog’s face. Loretta never barked or growled, she maintained.

Selectman Dan Salvucci said, in his experience, a dog is like an extra doorbell and he found it hard to believe that neither dog barked.

“We need to make sure this never happens again,” Selectman Brian Bezanson said, advocating a muzzle when the dog is being walked.

 

 

Whitman TM OKs budget

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WHITMAN — Voters approved the Board of Selectmen’s recommended  $42,473,116 municipal budget for fiscal 2022 — 2.6 percent higher than the current budget — after lengthy discussion on a handful of line items during the Wednesday, June 2 annual Town Meeting. The Finance Committee had recommended a bottom line of $42,462,547.

There were 116 residents in attendance.

The budget was presented as a consolidated financial plan, according to Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman.

“Welcome everyone back to Town Hall as we all continue to navigate this COVID-19 pandemic. I know we’re all happy to be back open and here tonight,” Heineman said. “[The budget] has largely the same service levels in FY 2022 as are being provided currently.”

He explained that the Madden Report, in which a consultant reviewed the town’s financial outlook in 2019, which had forecast an operational override be required.

“This budget does not require that,” he said. “This budget, proposed in the warrant by the Board of Selectmen [and] recommended for passage through the Finance Committee, avoids this scenario for this year … through some targeted spending reductions that do not decrease service levels, but reduce some appropriations to the levels, historically, that have actually been spent.”

He said it also includes some “very limited use of some one-time revenues” to balance the budget while funding fixed increases of health insurance and the county pension fund as the town is required to do — as well as the town’s 4.8 percent assessment increase to the school district.

Both Selectmen’s and Finance Committee recommendations were presented for voters to question, before non-questioned were approved by voice vote and attention was turned to the questioned items.

Heineman also explained that the budget compresses what is nearly 450 line items to about 75.

“It simplifies the budget review for Town Meeting and … improves transparency to be completely clear about how much each department would be appropriated, both in salaries and expenses,” Heineman said, describing it as a snapshot of how the town intends to spend its money in the coming year, allowing departments more flexibility to handle problems as they arise.

Questions raised on budget line items included salaries for the town administrator and assistant TA, as well as salaries in other departments, non-mandated busing costs for the School District and the debt service article for South Shore Tech. All budget lines were eventually passed.

Officials’ salaries

Marshall Ottina of Lazel Strette asked what percent increase was reflected in the $311,278 the Selectmen and Finance Committee were recommending for the two positions.

Heineman pointed out that the increase in his salary brings it to the level that his contract with the town specifies and that the salary for an assistant town administrator was being offered in a range of $92,000 to $105,000 to make the position competitive in the marketplace to attract a good candidate.

“No one would be happier than I would be if we could get the absolute best candidate for a lesser amount,” he said. “This proposal is being offered in recognition that the market has changed.”

Finance Committee Chairman Richard Anderson said his panel has thoroughly reviewed the salary request and that is necessary to attract the right person.

Area towns offer between $98,000 for assistant town managers or administrators in Abington and Kingston to Hanover, where the assistant town manager makes $120,000. Hanson pays $100,000 to an assistant to the town administrator.

“We have set a maximum, a ceiling of what the town would pay for that person, depending on qualifications,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. “We want to get the best person we can.”

Lisa Green was making $90,400 when she served as assistant town administrator.

Town Clerk Dawn Varley said the salary issue doesn’t sit well with her because of contractual buy-outs. While lauding former Town Administrator Frank Lynam for sticking to his word and not accepting a buy-out of unused time off, “What you don’t see in this line is a buy-out that happens every year.”

Varley said Selectmen had agreed with Heineman to buy back two weeks of vacation time every year, instead of a buy-out the year he leaves or retires.

Other department heads do not receive that contractual consideration. She also urged amending the line to eliminate the buy-out and limit a new assistant town administrator to a 2-percent increase as other departments received.

The motion to amend was not supported, and the original line was passed. LaMattina said Heineman’s buy-back agreement was in the event that he does not use his vacation time, as state law requires if an employee works through vacation time.

“I was the one who ran the revolving door,” Lynam said. “I was the one who hired people and couldn’t keep them because we weren’t paying adequately for the demands of the job.”

He argued it was disingenuous to argue the town was “paying someone who isn’t here yet,” as Varley had maintained. Instead, he argued, the salary range is in recognition that it is very difficult to hire key people who do significant work and significant value to the town, but are not paid enough.

Line items for treasurer-collector salary and town clerk were increased by 7.1 percent and 11.8 percent respectively, while other department heads were increased by 2 percent in the budget based on that 2-percent increase and other avenues of pay that both offices have received, in the interest of transparency.

Non-mandated busing

Another vigorous debate centered on the Selectmen’s proposed $411,746 for non-mandated busing, vs. the $401,177 recommended by the Finance Committee.

School Committee member Fred Small made a motion to amend the article to favor the Selectmen’s recommended $411,746. The amendment was passed.

“The amount that we’ve requested … is the Selectmen’s proposed amount,” he said of the school budget. “That’s what it costs us for non-mandated busing” of students who live within a mile and a half of schools.

Small explained that the estimated $10,000 reduction recommended by the Finance Committee is “just not feasible” because of the cost to do the job of safely transporting students to school.

Anderson said they voted to level fund the line was largely economic, while they also voted for the full assessment of the school budget as voted by the school committee.

He gave three reasons not to support Small’s amendment:

• during a meeting on the issue in February, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak made a “clear commitment” to evaluate bus ridership and routes to effect cost savings, but no updates had been received;

• each town department has been continuously been asked to submit a budget that level-funds expense lines, but the school department did not make the same effort as most other departments; and

• this is a year in which the school district is negotiating a new contract with the bus company.

“We still have a structural deficit this year, as is evidenced by the fact that we continue to use one-time funding sources to close the gap in our budget,” Anderson said. “The Finance Committee remains dedicated to the safety of our students — as much as the Selectmen, as much as the School Committee.”

Small countered that the district works hard to obtain as accurate accounting of bus ridership as is possible during an annual summer census, so that only the students that are using non-mandated busing will have a seat.

“But if a parent answers that they want a seat for their child, then they’re going to have a seat for their child,” he said. “The district doesn’t make any money doing this. The district doesn’t gain any benefit doing this — this is what it costs us.”

Small continued that Selectmen set policy and have decided to continue non-mandated busing, while the school district merely sends the bill.

Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly said her vote against the FinCom’s recommendation was because she wanted to see more information from the schools.

SST Debt

Voters approved an article to authorize South Shore Tech to incur $10,516,372 in debt for school renovation and expansion. All eight towns in the region had to approve the article, and Whitman was the only one that had not yet done so.

Whitman’s share of the money is 24.5 percent, based on the last three years of enrollment, according to Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey.

Lynam had cautioned authorizing debt before the scope of work is know.

“My problem is this is an open checkbook,” he said. “We don’t know what work’s going to be done over what period of time and I would like to see a more defined plan.”

Selectman Dan Salvucci, Whitman’s representative to the SST School Committee said the state has ruled that the district maintains the school too well to qualify for state funds.

Hickey said the school provided a multi-year planning matrix outlining how the projects will be prioritized and broken down, which was presented to member towns.

Reflections on perseverance

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For the 266 members of the W-H Class of 2021, the postponement of graduation to Saturday, June 5 due to threatening weather was just another bump in a road of adjustments they’ve had to make since COVID-19 closed classrooms in March 2020.

“I think it would be appropriate for us all to take a moment and reflect on the journey that has brought us here today,” said Principal Dr. Christopher Jones in his welcoming remarks. “There have been hardships overcome, joyful moments, and relationships both created and lost, but we have persevered.”

He then released two graduation balloons in memory of two W-H teachers who passed away during the school year.

Perseverance has been a hallmark of this class, and the community supporting them. The outdoor ceremony — another departure from recent tradition — was something of a graduation for the seniors’ families, teachers and the towns in which they live, as well.

Retired School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes, speaking at his last commencement ceremony, may have spoken for many when he forcefully exclaimed, “Goodbye, COVID!” to open his remarks.

Student speakers also related how the challenges of the last 15 months or so have affected them, as well as how they have not permitted the pandemic to dampen their outlook.

There were also timeline corrections — as speakers had to edit speeches on the fly, referring to “this morning,” instead of the “this evening for which they had prepared.

“The whole world seemed to have caved in on us, in some of our most important and memorable years of education,” Class President Delanie MacDonald said in response to the many admonitions her class had heard to “look on the bright side” during the pandemic during her welcoming address. “Were they perfect? Absolutely not. But they served as a gentle reminder to always be grateful for what you have, not envious of what you don’t.”

Still, she saw some humor in the events of the past year or so.

“This year taught us that imperfection isn’t just OK, but has actually been kind of welcoming,” MacDonald said. “What a relief to not have to dress up, fix your hair, remember which outfit you’ve already worn that week, and so on. This year allowed us to be more ourselves than ever before.”

She challenged her class to embrace the imperfect as they go on with their lives.

“There’s no question that this year was a disaster,” said Salutatorian Payton Bourgelas. “It felt like we were in a constant cycle of adapting and then readapting and then tearing it all down and starting over. … Perspective on what truly matters in our lives. Perspective that the ‘little things’ are what we will carry with us long after our time at W-H.”

She singled out, the teachers who gave space to students having trouble with stress, the prom at Gillette Stadium and the Senior Day organized for the class as examples of the little things that may not have been a lot, but were enough to show seniors that someone cares.

Such life lessons were reinforced by Valedictorian Abigal DeLory.

“Don’t be scared to try new things, whether it’s crocodile pizza on a trip to Australia or a new extracurricular activity,” she said. “Question everything, and challenge the status quo. … Treat people with kindness, just like Harry Styles always says. You never know what someone is going through, and a small act of kindness can go a very long way. … Everybody is on their own path, and no single path is objectively better than another.”

Citing her own intention to travel the country during a gap year before deciding on her future, DeLory concluded by advising her fellow classmen that they have the freedom to choose their own adventure for life, “so choose wisely.”

Winner of the student speech competition, Anna Williams, offered thoughts on the meaning of goodbye.

“High School is going to change you in unexpected ways, but do not try to avoid this change. This change is good. This change will help us grow. This change is what we need to use to make this world a better place,” she said. “As we go through life, we are going to experience failure and obstacles needed in order to reach success. However, it is these failures and these obstacles that are pointing us into the right direction–to achieve our goals.”

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak advised the graduates on life lessons is 27 years as an educator have taught him, including that they remove the words “should’ve, would’ve and could’ve” from their vocabulary.

Hayes, in addition to kicking COVID to the curb, advised students to soak in their last day among their entire class and the teachers that supported them over the past four years.

“In the face of many obstacles, you have chosen to rise, grow and succeed instead of wavering,” he said, noting those traits show their character. “You faced a pandemic head-on, not only for one academic year, but for two.”

Jones, in relating a difficult story of his own high school challenges on the wrestling team, advised students that the only thing that truly made their experience meaningful was not quitting because it seemed hard.

“You found out along the way one of the most valuable secrets to life: No matter how down and out you are, you always have more to give and just on the other side of that is where your success lies,” Jones said.

Honoring the fallen

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Hanson Selectmen Joseph Weeks, above from left, and Kenny  Mitchell escorted Janet Hamilton of Ladies in Mourning following her wreath lying at the Memorial to the Unreturned at Hanson’s Fern Hill Cemetery during Memorial Day observances Monday, May 31. VFW Auxiliary member Pat Tibaudo and American Legion  Commander Walter Aylward lay a wreath at the Veterans’  Lot at Colebrook Cemetery. See more photos, pages  6, 8 and 9.

Photos by Stephanie Spyropoulos, top/Tracy Seelye, right

SST fine-tunes school return guidelines

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HANOVER  — South Shore Tech was granted a return to school waiver following a site visit from officials with the Department of Elementaty and Secondary Eduation (DESE), according to Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey reported to the South Shore Tech on School Committee on Wednesday, May 19.

The waiver is only good through the end of the school year.

“We can continue as we are for the remainder of this school year, which can now be very easily interpreted as kids are in school eight days out of 10,” he said. “They’re in every shop day and they’re in three days a week out of five for their academic week.”

Hickey said the school will push the limits where there is the space to do so.

Starting May 24, students were returning to class for full days of instruction, no longer having staggered starts in the morning.

When seniors sign out, Hickey said freshmen will be in school for a full day everyday because there is adequate capacity in the building without the seniors in the building.

“Our plan … [is] we will have a schedule that will look a lot more like a normal year,” Hickey said. “We’re planning for September with the assumption that there’s still some sort of distancing between kids — three-foot distancing.”

The school will then be open without additional modifications needed for the 2021-22 school year.

“It’ll be nice to see some of the hallmarks of a normal school year,” he said.

Hickey said he expects that indoor mask-wearing requirements will continue for the remainder of this school year, but for outside activities including shops, gym class and sports teams will no longer be included under the mask rules.

The outdoor mask guidelines have not been clear on whether they apply to adults, he said however.

Masks will not be required at graduations, according to the state, Hickey said, but unvaccinated people will still be encouraged to wear them.

Final guidelines for the June 5 graduation ceremony was being relayed to parents as soon as possible.

The Parent Advisory Council has asked for a breakdown of grading philosophy for the school as part of the school improvement plan, approved by the School Committee May 19, which already grades academic achievement and work ethics separately, Principal Mark Aubrey said.

Providing more information on school rules and improving communication are other goals.

“We do a really, really strong job communicating with our families about what is going on, what they can expect from us, but I had a number of [freshman] parents who, obviously, went through a different year this year,” Aubrey said. “They were able to pinpoint some things they felt we needed to work on, which I felt was good for us to hear.”

Continued Zoom meetings, which they see as beneficial to families who can’t attend meeting otherwise. Cooperative education, which is seeing the best year so far, according to Aubrey, is explained well to students, but parents have asked for a separate informational meetings.

Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner said 135 students took part in the coop program with 120 earning a combined $140,000 so far in 35,000 hours of employment.

Parents have also asked for a career pathway with the guidance department, whether students are planning higher education, the military or a path into the workplace.

Freshman Andrea Fernandez has suggested a student saving program to help plan for the high cost of yearbooks, prom expenses and other graduation-related costs when they become seniors.

“There’s a lot of money that goes out of the house in that two months,” Aubrey said.

Some parents have also suggested that union sponsorships be sought to help defray costs of the student service learning trip.

Hanson reviews Main St. future

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HANSON — The board of Selectmen, met in a joint session with the Economic Development Committee on Tuesday, June 1, discussing the proposed South Hanson Village Rapid Recovery Program, funded by a grant offered by the Mass Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHC).

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett also serves on the EDC. The full video meeting can be viewed on the WHCA-TV YouTube page.

The committee has been working with Planner Deb Pettey to apply for the state grant, which provided funding to hire Stantech Consultant Phil Schaeffing.

“There’s a lot of talk on social media about  of the Main Street corridor. “I just want to remind everybody, we’re talking about privately-owned property…we do try to encourage compliance.”

She said Stantech was going to boil down all the brainstorming done so far into an action plan, and that Tuesday’s meeting was an update on the consultant’s work so far.

“This is a project,” she said, warning against dreams of a quick-fix. “It’s a process that’s going to require cooperation from the businesses. It’s going to require support from the citizens. This is our first step.”

The grant would cover Main Street to Elm Street and Schaeffing,  who is an urban planner, said the Boston design firm was interested in the basic needs for the area and developing actionable recovery plans tailored to economic challenges.

There are 43 communities involved in the grant program, with Hanson’s centering on the Commuter Rail area. The June 1 meeting was the conclusion of the first phase of the program. It will be followed by webinars, consultations and discussions with subject matter experts before a final plan is presented in September.

Recommendations will be made in the public and private realms, revenue and sales, administrative capacity, tenant mix and the potential role of cultural/arts in town.

“We’re putting together, essentially, a road map that says, ‘Here are the projects, here are the potential funding sources, here are some of the responsible parties for these different projects … and kind of a time frame for it,’” Schaeffing said of the planning grant.

Priority areas for recommendations are: a community events and business resource guide, tech aide and outdoor events to showcase local businesses, with improved pedestrian and bike safety and improving the appearance of vacant buildings and business facades in the long term.

“We gave the overall study area a C,” Schaeffing said of sidewalks as well as crosswalks in the Commuter Rail area where pedestrian safety is concerned. Street lighting, meanwhile, earned an F. Signing also earned an F.

“Some of the key takeaways are a real need to make improvements, particularly to support pedestrian activity — improvements to sidewalks and providing amenities that don’t exist today, like street trees for shade in the summer and pedestrian lighting,” Schaeffing said of a recent survey of business owners and residents of the area.

Commuter Rail costs — $10.50 for a one-way Zone 6 ticket, or $340 per month — was another issue Schaeffing spoke of, especially in light of the potential long-term impact of COVID on business.

“There are a number of businesses — 63 in Hanson Village — it’s kind of hard to tell, because some of them are kind of hidden inside buildings that don’t necessarily have signage,” he said.

A handful of residents attended the meeting virtually to ask questions. One resident, viewing from home, asked how new businesses could be attracted to town.

Schaeffing said that, while different types of businesses have different needs, one help would be in creating the business environment where companies complement or support each other.

“Another is to figure out as a town what do we want this area around the Commuter Rail station to be?” he said. “Do we want sort of main street-type businesses to fill in some of the vacancies here, or do we see this as a service/commercial corridor?”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the EDC has also heard from businesses that some of Hanson’s zoning bylaws “may not be super business-friendly.”

Another resident asked if grant or funding options have been looked into as a method of outreach to businesses to improve exteriors.

“We really need to figure out what we want to see as a town down there,” said Planner Deb Pettey, echoing what Schaeffing said. She said she has looked into block grants, but said Hanson is in a predicament where grants are concerned because of the town’s higher income compared to other competing communities.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer suggested that an economic anchor and a New England-themed recreation option are ways that the town — and the Final Plymouth County Hospital Reuse Committee in particular — are examining to draw people to the area.

Selectmen meeting

Selectmen voted to rescind the COVID state of emergency in town, effective June 15 in coordation with state guidelines ending on that date as vaccination goals are met. The board voted to extend outdoor dining permits until Dec. 1, however.

“I try to look for silver linings and in COVID, this was a silver lining, to try to help all these restaurants expand their footprint outside because there’s a lot of people even still who don’t feel comfortable eating inside,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, noting that all restaurants in town said they had benefitted from it.

Dyer said the state would have to pass legislation before the towns are able to do so on a permanent basis.

Selectmen voted to approve a cannabis delivery service at Impressed LLC, meaning a potential additional $7 million, of which the town could impose a 3 percent local option tax, on top of the 3 percent tax the state collects and sends to the town, potentially meaning $420,000 annually for Hanson. The company had written a letter to the board requesting such consideration.

In fiscal 2020, recreational cannabis sales generated $122 million in taxes to the state, of which, $30.5 million was in sales taxes and $14.4 million in local tax options, according to Town Administrator Lisa Green.

“This is definitely a substantial revenue generator for municipalities that we really should consider supporting,” said Green, who said there is no time limit mentioned for the fee, which is on top of the impact tax. The Cannabis Control Commission would still have to approve the company’s application. The company will not be doing direct retail business in Hanson.

“People are going to be allowed to deliver cannabis to Hanson whether we allow Impressed LLC to do it or not,” FitzGerald-Kemmett noted, pointing to state law permitting it.

She also requested that the town seek an updated financial forecast from Impressed LLC.

“It’s a commerce entity,” Green said. “You really can’t stop them.”

Dyer asked about the potential for Selectmen getting a tour of the Impressed LLC business, which Green’s office said has been offered as an invitation to the board.

Selectman Jim Hickey, who had voted against the warrant article at last month’s Town Meeting, changed his position citing the potential funds for the town.

“I was wrong,” he said.

“You weren’t wrong, you just got more educated,” Selectman Kenny Mitchell said.

An exploration of destiny

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HANSON  — Brett Miller always seems to be where people need him.

Call it fate, call it a calling, call it karma, a blessing or a curse, the Hanson resident has been there when lives have been at risk — since he was 6 years old and saved his older brother Kerry, who had fallen through the ice of a frozen cranberry bog.

It followed him through tours of duty as an Army medic in Desert Storm and Bosnia, and most recently on a flight to Los Angeles when a fellow passenger on the plane suffered a cardiac emergency.

Call it destiny, he does.

“The whole premise behind my book is all these events that occurred in my life where I have to save someone’s life,” he said during a backyard interview Tuesday, May 25. “Things happen when I’m around for some reason.”

Writing a book about that life experience, too, seems to have had a hand from fate. Now that book, “It’s a Beautiful Day to Save a Life: A Medic’s Journey to His Destiny,” [AuthorHouse, 2021, 114 pages, hardcover $26.99, softcover $13.99, E-book $3.99, available on Amazon and Kindle] will be celebrated by the business where he makes another kind of difference every day.

A book signing event is being held at 5 p.m., Thursday, May 27 at 110 Fitness, 200B Weymouth St., Rockland, where Miller runs programs for Parkinson’s patients, among others.

“I had always wanted to write a book and I had compiled multiple things in my head that I would write my book about, but I had never really organized it,” Miller said.

When the Covid-19 pandemic started, his gym was closed for four months while he continued working everyday — just fewer hours — which gave him time to write.

“I started doing some brainstorming,” he said. “I outlined it first in my mind more than on paper. I literally have notes that are on a Post-It.”

Those notes included his title for the book and a couple of chapter ideas. That developed into a nightly habit of writing a chapter. Each of the book’s 14 chapters are a something of their own short story representing a noteworthy event in his life. The writing may have been the easiest part, he said, noting that after that three-months of work it took another 10 months or so to find a publisher and go through the editing and pre-production process.

“The easiest part of writing a book is writing a book,” he said. “And then [editors] just beat it to death. They want to change your story, they want to make it marketable, they want to make it saleable. My primary purpose was not to be a New York Times bestseller, but just to share my story and be able to be a little bit vulnerable so, if it helps somebody else then I’ve achieved my goal.”

Miller is already working on book number two, this one on his experiences in building his gym and it’s programs.

“Most people don’t think they can write a book,” he said. “I originally thought that. I didn’t think I had the ability, nor the content.”

His life experiences and a desire to help others recognize that everyone faces struggles, showed him otherwise.

“Whether you have Parkinson’s Disease, or you have PTSD, or you have cancer, there’s so many commonalities to the struggle that makes it real for everybody,” he said, noting his own struggles have included attempted suicide, alcoholism and PTSD, mostly service-related.

“Bosnia was my biggest deal,” he said. “I came in after the ethnic cleansing and the massacre at Srebrenica, which is something that no one talks about.”

But he stressed it is also a story of inspiration — getting into struggles and overcoming them.

“Vulnerability is courageous as hell,” he said. “People judge no matter what, right? I don’t care. I’m at that point in my life where I get my book out, and most of the people that know me — or don’t know me — if they really dig in and look at my book, they’ll say, ‘Wow, for someone to put that on paper and be willing to share that with people…’”

He said the primary purpose is to help other people be less ashamed to admit they are struggling and need to ask for help.

Miller grew up in a rundown marina with his mom, a single mother at the time, and his brother, later moving to Norwell. He had planned to study health sciences at Northeastern University after high school, but balked at the cost and joined the Army to become a combat medic. He went into the medical equipment business while training professional boxers and using boxing to work with Parkinson’s patients in their homes when people began calling him after they saw a “60 Minutes” story in 2016 on a boxing program called Rock Steady that had the same aim.

He started 110 Fitness in Marshfield shortly after that, relocating to a bigger space in Rockland shortly after that.

Now the book “tour” begins.

Miller has already done a radio interview with WATD and is working on scheduling an appearance at the Derby Square Barnes & Noble store. He is also interested in local libraries.

He is also considering doing a podcast.

“I’m open to any ideas,” he said. “Who knows where I’ll go from here?”

Need a digital detox?

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WHITMAN — After a year of Zoom meetings, remote education classes, FaceTime calls with family and friends and overloading on social media during pandemic lockdown, it may be time for a “Digital Detox.”

Reducing that screen time was the topic of a recent program presented by the Friends of the Whitman Library — perhaps ironically via Zoom recorded for streaming on the WHCA-TV YouTube Channel as the library was still closed to in-person indoor programming on Saturday, May 22.

“It’s about balance,” said Josh Misner PhD, a mindfulness and communications professor at Gonzaga University and North Idaho College. “It’s about how I can return control to myself over my device.”

The number one thing people can do to regain control over digital addiction is committing to turning off your device for a period of time each week, and intentionally notice the difference. He practices device-free Saturdays and family meals.

“You are going to get far richer conversations from people in person than you are in text,” he said.

Misner’s presenation, “Finding Stillness in the Age of Distraction,” argues that we are living in “one of the largest most revolutionary changes in the way that humans communicate since the dawn of time.”

Other examples of such changes through history included the basic development of language, the printing press, the advances of the Industrial Revolution — modern cameras, telephone, radio, film, and satellites —

“We always talk about these revolutions being driven by technology,” Miner said, including the act of writing itself. “It allowed us to store records, to send messages over much longer spaces. It allowed us to analyze communication.”

The length of time between these revolutions shrinks almost predictably in an exponential manner, he argued.

“For thousands of years, every time we have one of these revolutions in communication technology, we have some group of people resisting against that … saying we would lose part of our humanity,” he said.

Misner gave the example that Socrates thought the written language was bound to create a generation of idiots, because people would not be able to remember things the way the had to in years before.

“I’ve heard it said that the two most important inventions of the entire 20th Century were the birth control pill and the solid-state transistor,” Misner said.

The first gave women more autonomy over their bodies and the second allowed reduction in the need for binary computer language and vastly increased computer memory capacity.

With the development of BlackBerry and other smartphone technology, came the resulting bleeding of work emails and other interruptions to our personal lives, he said.

“Because I had my ‘CrackBerry’ for so long, I didn’t realize how sucked in I was becoming — how addicted I was becoming — to checking and clearing all those notifications, how socially conditioned I was becoming, to that ever-familiar buzz in my pocket,” he said.

After an epithet about it in Costco from his wife and a heated argument, he realized he was sending the wrong message to his family.

“I’m a communications scholar and this is a communication problem, so I’m going to do what communication scholars do,” Misner told himself. So he researched just what is going on.

In 1989 it was determined that one edition of the New York Times contained more information that the average person in 17th-Century England would encounter in a lifetime, Misner pointed out. Today, the 4GB available on a top-of-the-line computer hard drive from 1996 can fit on any inexpensive USB stick.

By 2025, it would take 1.8 billion years at the fastest available computer technology, one person to download and store all the information in the world’s computers.

He then gave a glimpse of that information exposure to human behavior.

In 1968, a study by George Gerbner found that people who watched TV more than four hours a day thought the world was a more dangerous place than it really was thanks to violence on the medium.

“I think we can apply that to social media,” he said. “People who are using social media are starting to have an extremely warped view of the world around them.”

The world of politics and the divisions there are the best example of that, Misner argued.

So, what to do?

Find some time, every day to unplug, calm down and focus on one thing at a time.

Practicing mindfulness — being intentional, present-focused and aware, noticing novel developments as they happen and practicing nonjudgmental acceptance — can boost your attention span.

Milestones of spring

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It’s going to be a busy week between Monday, May 31 and Sunday, June 6. Here’s a glance at the calendar on the wall:

Memorial Day

Whitman veterans will be gathering by 10 a.m., Memorial Day, Monday, May 31 at American Legion Post 22, 33 Legion Parkway, setting off to visit all four Whitman Cemeteries starting with High Street. They will then travel to Zion, St. James and Colbrook cemeteries for ceremonies before ending with a ceremony at Whitman Park.

A breakfast will be served at Post 22 after the ceremonies.

Hanson will be conducting a Memorial Day service at Fern Hill Cemetery at 9 a.m., Monday, May 31. The 22nd Mass, Vol. Infantry honor guard, American Legion flag-lowering and Don Teague on bagpipes during the event. Prayers, speakers and Scouts honor the nation’s war dead. The names of Hanson veterans who have died in the past year will be read.

Town Meeting

Whitman’s annual Town Meeting has been changed to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 2 in the Town Hall auditorium as town buildings will reopen to normal pre-pandemic hours on June 1.

Graduations

WHRHS Scholarship Night will be streamed on June 1 over Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV.

W-H Community Evening School graduation is at 6 p.m., Thursday, June 3. It will be held indoors in either the Performing Arts Center or library.

High School commencement, 6 p.m., Friday, June 4. Each student receives six tickets for the reserved seating area during the outdoor ceremony, with the doors opening to general admission at 5:15 p.m.

South Shore Tech’s graduation is slated for 10 a.m., Saturday, June 5 at the school’s football field. The rain date is 2 p.m., Sunday, June 6. Graduates are limited to one car per family and streaming coverage will be available for those unable to attend. Two student speeches and an administrator address are planned.

As with last year’s graduation, students will form a procession by shop to receive their diplomas.