HANSON — Hazardous material, specifically asbestos, has been found in the burnt remains of the former JJ’s pub, 16 Liberty St., Hanson. Town Administrator Michael McCue announced the findings to Selectmen at a brief Tuesday, Dec. 18, meeting. McCue has been in contact with Hanson town counsel Katherine Feodoroff and Building Commissioner Robert Curran, about to the ongoing situation.

McCue said that there was no public health hazard as the asbestos was not in the air, but that it would need to be cleaned up properly, causing costs to skyrocket from an original estimate of $14,000.

Feodoroff places a complete site cleanup at roughly $40,000 in an email to the board, which could rise due to procurement regulations, and because the debris will need to be hauled off-site for decontamination processing.

Town officials are bracing themselves to take on the full cost of a proper cleanup, as the Dec. 31 deadline for JJ’s owner Patricia Harrison, of Bourne, to erect a fence on the nuisance property approaches.

“I just want to clean the damn thing up,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

Feodoroff states that it is not necessary for her to go to court, as Selectmen had previously requested, to further expand a court order obtained against Harrison as it is already quite expansive, quoting the order in her email:

“[S]hould the Defendant fail to satisfy [the court ordered requirements] on, or before, but in no event later than Dec. 31, 2018 then Plaintiff, Town of Hanson, may enter onto the subject Property, without the need for further action by this Honorable Court, and take any and all actions(s) reasonable and necessary to erect said fence and screening and abate the nuisance … [A]ll necessary expenses incurred by the Town shall be paid by the Defendant, and shall constitute a lien against the property … until it is paid in full,” ordered Superior Court Judge Rosemary Connolly earlier this December.

Feodoroff wants to record the order with the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds so that the order is binding on any subsequent owner of the property, she states.

Whether or not there is actually a buyer for the property is not readily apparent, according to McCue, although Harrison has asserted that she does to the town and to the Express, previously.

McCue said this has not been independently verified.

Selectman James Hickey pressed this point, visibly frustrated, asking, “Can we assume there’s no potential buyer?”

McCue noted that regardless of who pays for the cleanup, a lien on the property will mean that the town should eventually get its money back, whatever the cost.

Selectman Chairman Kenneth Mitchell said that the town must do its due diligence if it’s going to be spending so much money on the cleanup.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 4 approved an increase in the cost of the inter-municipal agreement for fire dispatch services. The Selectmen declined, however, to support a process by which the town could seek home rule legislation to increase the number of All Alcohol Package Goods Store Liquor licenses permitted in town.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the current fire dispatch agreement with Holbrook provides 911 primary answering service as well as Fire Department answering and dispatch. Holbrook is moving toward a major upgrade of their facility and systems, resulting in a request for more financial support from member towns.

“I was a little taken aback by the first proposal,” he said of an initial request for a 25-percent increase. “[Fire Chief Timothy Grenno] did go back to Holbrook to have a discussion on it.”

That led to a gradual increase of 10 percent in fiscal 2020, 16 percent in fiscal 2021 and 14 percent in fiscal 2022. That would increase the current assessment of $54,000 to $80,000 at the end of the three years, subject to funding at Town Meeting.

A civilian dispatch system for 911 services would be “the wrong side” of $250,000, Lynam said they were told at a conference on dispatch services several years ago.

“The need to have coverage for fire is really essential, because once two calls are out there’s nobody left in the station,” Lynam said. Holbrook takes the calls, analyzes them and dispatches servies.

Grenno said the new facility in Holbrook is largely funded by a $4 million grant from state 911, but increased operational costs were also expected.

“They are planning ahead,” Grenno said. A return to town dispatch would take a firefighter off the floor each shift and onto the dispatch desk and cost the town more than $300,000 per year in firefighter salaries.

The decision came with an eye to the town’s bottom line as officials grapple with costs of the budget in general.

“We’re going to develop a budget that’s sound for the town and the schools, and we’re going to present the arguments for why that budget is needed — and it will be tied to an override, because there’s no way the levy can support it,” Lynam said. “We also have to be prepared at that point, if the answer is no, to work with a small budget.”

The Selectmen were invited to the Wednesday, Dec. 12 School Committee meeting to discuss that issue. The School Committee has asked for guidance from the towns as they develop that spending plan.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said he had recently spoken with a School Committee member who stressed the schools are only seeking a level-service budget, which Kowalski said is reasonable.

“But then, if you think of every other department … they would like to have a level-service budget this year, too, but they’re all being told to anticipate maybe a 3-percent or 6-percent cut in their budget,” Kowalski said. “So it’s not a enjoyable year to have.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson said the work being done doesn’t mean much until the citizens have the final say.

Kowalski said a pre-Town Meeting should be held, to which the voters would be invited and officials could explain their budget needs and options the town has.

“We are purveyors of information,” Bezanson said. “They decide what dollars get spent and where they get spent and sometimes we forget that.”

Kowalski said the community assessment survey being conducted with Bridgewater State University will give the town a clue about how voters are thinking.

Lynam indicated that the project has resulted in 576 online responses and 150 or more paper surveys waiting to be reviewed as of Dec. 4.

“I suspect we’re going to see more because I got my survey in the mail on Monday [Dec. 3],” Lynam said, forecasting that a total of between 1,000 and 1,500 surveys could be completed. “They were apparently divided up over time.”

He said he has seen posts on Facebook to the effect that the town is looking for validation for the need to increase revenue, and said he does not think that is the case.

“I think it was a very objective, structured survey that really asks what people think,” Lynam said. “It’s going to help us with [planning for] the long term.”

Alcohol licenses

Selectmen voted 3 to 2 not to consider the request of Dinesh Kumar Patel, of  DJ’s Country Store at 535 Plymouth St., for an additional All Alcohol Package Goods Store Liquor license in town.

Previous DJ’s co-owner Joel Richmond spoke for Patel at the meeting, noting that Patel has 30 years’ experience in the package store business, owning stores in Quincy and Canton.

“It’s a matter of competing and staying effective in the marketplace as small businesses,” he said of Patel’s request, noting DJ’s would be the only package store on that side of town.

Current licensees are located on Temple Street and on South Avenue.

“This is a license we don’t currently have the authority to issue yet,” Lynam said of Patel’s request. “Each community is limited by population as to how many licenses they can offer.”

Whitman is permitted 15 Section 12 licenses (on-premise consumption), three off-premise licenses and five package store licenses. Additional licenses must be approved by Selectmen as in the interest of the town and how many more the town would ask for, Town Meeting and Town Election approval, and home rule legislation in the General Court.

“The other question we have to ask is where that leaves us as a community,” Lynam said. There are three requests, including Patel’s, for package store licenses, he noted.

“The question out there is, ‘Is there a need for an additional package store?’” said Selectman Scott Lambiase. He and selectmen Randy LaMattina and Kowalski did not think there was such a need. Selectmen Dan Salvucci and Bezanson were willing to leave a decision on that to Town Meeting.

WHITMAN — When 14-year-old Mason Giove returned home from two months at Children’s Hospital for brain cancer surgery, and a subsequent stint at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, his family was aware a police escort was in the works — but the procession that wound from the Whitman Police Station to their Beaver Street home Friday, Nov. 30 was a surprise.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Mason said of the welcome.

“I think it just all came together really quick, like overnight,” his father Mark Giove said, noting that some of their friends are police officers. “I imagine everyone [looking on in town] was wondering, ‘What the heck is going on?’ It caught us off guard, too.”

Mark Giove said he was told to stop by the Police Station for an escort home. He envisioned one or two cruisers, perhaps. The escort had started in Weymouth with a motorcycle officer, but along the way, more and more began to fall in line.

The Gioves were not expecting what Mark Giove termed the “hero’s welcome” Mason received on Friday, as that escort included Whitman and Plymouth County BCI and Whitman Fire Department vehicles while dozens of community members lined the sidewalk along Whitman Park to cheer for him. Purple and yellow balloons — yellow is symbolic for the fight against pediatric cancer — were placed along the park.

“The community has been very, very supportive of us,” Mark Giove said Saturday, Dec. 1 as his four children, including twins Louden and Lawson and daughter Mattea, enjoyed a pajama morning on the living room sofa. Laura Giove is a stay-at-home mom.
It’s been amazing,” Mark Giove said. “We’ve had people cooking meals for us — they set up a meal train website and people just went online and started to pick dates.”

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, meals have been left in a cooler in front of a blue and yellow sign that reads: “Mason’s Army” on the Giove’s front steps.

Mason has been battling a “low-grade brain tumor” for almost 14 years. A freshman at WHRHS, Mason has attended Whitman public schools the whole time.

“It’s always been taken care of with chemotherapy … and kind of keep it at bay and we monitor it with MRIs and everything has always been like that for all this time,” said Mark Giove, an orthopedic surgical nurse at BID Plymouth. “Unfortunately, recently it grew a cyst in his brain stem area.”

He said the community support has made the last couple of months easier.

“We haven’t been together as a family in two months,” Mark Giove said. Mason said being in the hospital for that period was frustrating.

“For about three weeks, every day he’s been saying, ‘I want to go home,” Mark Giove said. Mason had been due to come home from Spaulding on Nov. 7, but the return of symptoms required additional surgery.

Selectmen lauded the outpouring of support in the community.

“The display this town put out for him” was overwhelming, Selectman Randy LaMattina said with a catch in his voice at Tuesday’s meeing. “I want to thank every member of this town … I want to thank the police and fire and sheriff’s departments and every town organization that brought this warrior home — and he really is a warrior.”

LaMattina said the town’s coming togther in support of Mason was equally as impressive as his courage.

HANSON — Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 27 voted to retain the services of Mead, Talerman & Costa MTC of Millis as general town counsel, but opted to end 14 years of work with labor counsel Norris, Murray & Peloquin LLC of Norwood.

The board unanimously voted to contract with Clifford & Kenny LLP of Pembroke for labor counsel services as of Jan. 1, 2019, with current attorney Leo Peloquin completing current work and transitioning all other projects to Clifford & Kenny.

Peloquin’s performance in the divisive investigation into rental and operational practices as Camp Kiwanee two years ago was a major factor in the decision for some Selectmen. Others cited the division of labor used by Clifford & Kenny — one partner dealing with fire department contracts and the other specializing in police contracts.

Also interviewing for both general and labor counsel positions were Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane MHTL of Quincy and Brooks & DeRensis of Boston.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett initially questioned the intent of the discussion.

“There is no agenda on that,” said Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell. “We can pick two finalists [for each service] and come back to another meeting and have them come back. If there’s a consensus on who we want to pick, we can pick them and we don’t have to have them come back.”

He noted that the process had been initiated to review the services provided by both current firms and to see if the town was “getting the best bang for the buck.”

Town Administrator Michael McCue said he had tailored the agenda item to permit the board to proceed in whatever manner they wished.

“I got a little concerned after the last meeting that the board may have felt I put too many constraints on the process,” he said. “I want the board to make its decision on how it wants to move forward.”

“This is important and I would love a unanimous vote,” said Selectman Wes Blauss. “I don’t want to string someone along if, in the end, minds are made up.”

For that reason, while Mitchell had argued for Peloquin’s firm, he voted for Clifford & Kenny as labor counsel in the end.

“I’m speaking for our current labor counsel,” he said. “Leo’s got the track record … he’s dealt with over 300 employee cases over the past 14 years and had only four go to litigation. … He’s won all four.”

Mitchell said Peloquin has always worked in the town’s best interests and has 33 years’ experience.

“The system wasn’t broken, but we wanted to test the waters to make sure the system wasn’t broken,” he said. “I don’t think Leo is the best-liked person in the town of Hanson, I don’t think he gets many Christmas cards from employees in the town … but I think we have to make the best decision for the town and put personal differences and personal opinions aside.”

He asked for McCue’s opinion on the choice because he deals with labor counsel most directly.

He said he is comfortable with the town’s current law firms for both general and labor counsel and it made sense to him to stay with the firms.

FitzGerald-Kemmett agreed with the points Mitchell made, but liked other firms’ use of a database of contract costs in the region that the town could use for comparison.

“Leo’s done [the job], but he hasn’t done it with the precision I would like to see,” she said. “I’d like to see some more preparation for some of those conversations that we’ve had. … If we retain him I’d want him to improve upon providing that information well in advance of those discussions.”

She also noted that while he has not been a popular figure, “He was asked to do a job.”

Selectman Jim Hickey said Clifford & Kenny’s division of work on contract negotiations appealed to him, as well that the firm would have Selectmen driving the process.

“He said any negotiations start with us,” Hickey said of a follow-up phone call he had with John Clifford. “Any negotiations that we did [since he joined the board] or contracts that we were going to sign, we got Friday at noontime on the agenda [with Peloquin]. Maybe that’s just me and it’s my fault because I never asked, but I didn’t know.”

Selectman Matt Dyer expressed concern that, while Peloquin knows the town, he is concerned about the firm’s plans for expansion and noted that Selectmen still have not been debriefed about the Camp Kiwanee issue.

“I feel I’m out of the loop on that, I don’t know exactly where we are,” Dyer said. “I don’t really know how to judge his work when I don’t know the ins and outs of the past.”

Dyer said he was impressed with the Clifford & Kenny approach for dividing contract work, use of comparison databases and a better client/staff ratio.

Mitchell did not like the two different attorneys for police and fire contract approach. McCue agreed that he would prefer working with a single attorney, but he would agree to talk to Clifford & Kenny as to which would be the lead attorney.

Blauss said the issue that sold him was the responses gleaned from FitzGerald-Kemmett’s question to the interviewing firms on their elective office experience.

Clifford & Kenny; Mead, Talerman; Brooks & DeRensis all have partners and/or associates with experience working for communities “on the other side of the desk” during contract negotiations.

“I taught for almost half a century and I was on boards and commissions in town and I think that gives you a huge perspective on things,” Blauss said.

Selectmen asked for a transition period to permit Clifford & Kenny to receive information on pending work with all new work going immediately to them as of Jan. 1.

General counsel

Mitchell led the praise for Mead, Talerman attorney, Katherine Feodoroff, who has been Hanson’s lead attorney for the past couple of years. The firm’s RFP indicated Talerman would remain lead counsel with Feodoroff acting as immediate backup. But others did express concern that the reverse has been true lately.

Mitchell said Feodoroff proved “extremely knowledgeable [and] led us in the right direction” on the issue of marijuana control bylaws for the town.

“I had anticipated, going into this, that I wouldn’t want to change general counsel, but then when we met with Brooks & DeRensis and they started talking about the depth and breadth of what they have there I was thinking to myself — not about Kate — but have we at least been somewhat taken for granted?” said FitzGerald-Kemmett before she ultimately voted to keep the firm. “Kate has become the person. But Jay [Talerman] was the person we signed up with.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett questioned whether the board wanted a single firm to represent both general and labor counsel duties, or to keep them separate. She preferred separate firms.

“The reason for that is I like to have the agility that, if things go south with the relationship, we don’t have to start all over again with both disciplines,” she said. “It’s worked out pretty well so far and it’s good if you have a matter that might cross over into both [areas].”

Blauss was also grappling with the decision between Mead, Talerman and Brooks & DeRensis before ultimately deciding to keep the former. Hickey expressed a preference for Talerman, Mead noting the smooth transition between attorneys.

“I didn’t realize it had happened when it happened. It was such a smooth transition that I don’t think anybody noticed,” Hickey said. He also liked the way Feodoroff is able to explain difficult legal precepts in plain language. Dyer agreed.

What would an elementary student mean if they went home and told their parents, “We had a stay put today?”

It might bring to mind an active shooter incident, but it could also have been something as basic as keeping students in classrooms because a student was sick in a hallway.

“Right now, our parents don’t know that,” Superintendent Jeffrey Szymaniak told the School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 14.   

The School Committee received a draft proposal for an elementary-level safety presentation being developed by Whitman School Resource Officer Kevin Harrington.

The work followed a symposium Harrington and Szymaniak recently attended at Stonehill College.

“I asked him to put something together for our elementary kids,” Szymaniak said of the draft currently being reviewed by school principals. “Kevin was looking at this through the lens of a school resource officer and DARE officer and I wanted some input from school principals to make sure it was adequate for our preK to [grade] five students.”

Szymaniak plans to make a formal presentation to the committee at its December meeting and at a parent night he will conduct with Harrington and Hanson Resource Officer William Frazier before it is implemented in January or February.

“Parents want to know what is being talked about with students for safety and security,” he said. “The other piece is our common language — of lockdown, stay put, shelter in place — so that everybody in the district knows common language.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said he has heard different parents tell their children to do different things. One would instruct their child to run if an emergency cropped up in school, while another would tell their child to listen to their teachers.

“I think it’s fantastic for children to be on the same page as each other, their teacher and their parents,” Committee member Fred Small said. “I would think it would be a wonderful thing to have not one parents’ night, but to put the parents through the actual training that their child was going to be receiving.”

Cell tower

The committee approved, 7-1, Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue’s request to move forward with the process of placing a cell tower on Hanson Middle School property. Member Christopher Scriven voted no and members Robert Trotta and Steven Bois were absent.

Hanson voters at Town Meeting have already approved a zoning bylaw change to permit cell tower development on public property and town officials have identified a wooded area at the northeast corner of the HMS property as a prime location for a cell tower.

The project more than likely must go back before the Hanson ZBA for variance because it is within 50 feet of an abutter and the Conservation Commission because of nearby wetlands.

Project Manager Sean Mahoney of SAI Communications LLC also attended the Nov. 14 meeting to brief School Committee members on the proposal. Three competitive bids had been received and SAI was deemed to be most advantageous to Hanson, with the potential to bring in about $270,000 in pad lease revenues over the first 10 years, plus about $75,000 in the 25-percent contribution per unit on the tower.

After 10 years, that comes to about $350,000.

“This particular project isn’t solely about revenues, it’s about safety, it’s about communication,” McCue said, citing storms last March that made it difficult for families to reach their loved ones in town because landlines were down and the town continues to have large cell service dead zones. Fire and police communication units would also be hosted on the tower at no cost and the tower’s signal range is planned to be from 2.5 to 3 miles in order to close gaps with other cell service.

Turning blue for the red and black

Several School Committee members, and district administrators, have already signed up to be “Freezin’ for a Reason” on Sunday, Jan. 27 as they take part in the inaugural Hanson PTO Polar Plunge at Cranberry Cove in Hanson. The inclement weather date is Sunday, Feb. 3.

Superintendent Jeffrey Szymaniak, Assistant Superintendent George Ferro and WHRHS Principal Dr. Christopher Jones have agreed to take the fundraising plunge as have School Committee Hayes and Hanson members Mike Jones and Christopher Howard. Member Robert O’Brien Jr., as Hanson’s deputy fire chief, will be working the event to ensure there is a hole in the ice in which to plunge, as well as for safety.

Prior registration for plunge participation is $30 with each participant asked to raise a minimum of $35 in pledges. Hayes also pledged to treat whoever raises the most money to dinner, including their spouse and children, to a “Johnny Macaroni-type” restaurant.

All those signing up must sign a waiver in order to participate.

Volunteers are also needed to coordinate on the day of the plunge for those a bit leery of jumping into the water in midwinter.

It is now known by many names — Veterans Day in the United States, Armistice Day in France and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Nations — but no matter what they call, it nations around the world paid tribute to their fallen on the centennial of the armistice that ended World War I at 11 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 11.

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 the armistice went into effect to stop four years of unfathomable bloodshed in Europe and in the Atlantic. Although the armistice ended the fighting, it was prolonged three times until the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed on June 28, 1919, took effect on Jan. 10, 1920.

Locally, Hanson planned to join in the Bells of Peace remembrance to mark the centennial. The bells at St. Joseph the Worker Church was among churches around the nation tolling its bells 21 times at 11 a.m., local time. Town Halls, schools, clock towers, fire engines, and fire with a bell were also encouraged by the Mass. Department of Veterans Services to participate in this program.

The Tri-Town Veterans Day Parade, in Abington this year, gathered bands, officials, floats, color guards and — most importantly veterans’ groups — from Abington, Rockland and Whitman to thank veterans and commemorate the centennial.

Hanson also took a moment on Thursday, Nov. 8 to treat its senior veterans to breakfast and present them with certificates honoring their service. The event, catered by the Olde Hitching Post and sponsored by the Friends of the Senior Center, also features musical tributes by the center’s chorus the Swingin’ Singers.

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, pitched in to dish out the French toast before he read the Veterans Day proclamation from Gov. Charlie Baker during the ceremony hosted by Hanson Veterans Services Director Timothy White.

“Our office is here to help as well,” Cutler said after White had outlined his office hours. “We hope you’ll consider us a resource if you need any assistance in any way, but certainly with veterans’ benefits.”

American Legion Chaplain Ernest Jutras offered an opening prayer for the program and Town Administrator Michael McCue offered a short speech.

“We beseech you to usher into our world of confusion and doubt, peace and tranquility, which alone can come from [God],” Jutras prayed.

McCue quoted Athenian Gen. Thucydides who lived from 460 to 400 BC: “The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage.”

“The courage described in that quote is and was the courage shown by every man and woman to don the uniform of the United States military,” McCue said.  “That courage is honored today and over this weekend, not by the Veterans’ Day auto sales and department store discounts, but by gatherings such as these across the nation. It is actually that courage that allows us in a free America to indulge in, what I feel, are the trivialities of this weekend.

“Today, here, is what counts on Veterans Day,” McCue continued. “I am proud to have been invited to participate in this and past events in Hanson, especially since I am only a beneficiary of this courage and not one that displayed it. Thank you all for your service.”

McCue extended apologies from Selectmen who were either traveling or working and unable to attend.

White also attended a breakfast for veterans and their families on Sunday, Nov. 11 at the Hanson American Legion. Prior to that he worked at Fern Hill Cemetery to change out veteran’s grave flags for the flags that are in poor shape.

August Silva, assisted White and Cutler in presenting certificates to his fellow veterans.

Veterans and surviving family members receiving certificates of service were: Harold Davis, William Walsh, the widow of Dominic Paradiso Sr., Ed Gronlund, Carol Tavares in memory of her brother Belmiro Tavares Jr. [killed in action, Vietnam], Lisa Wirth in memory of her brother Joseph W. Wirth [killed in action, Vietnam],  Ernest Jutras, Thomas Butler, George Copeland, John Banusiewicz, Ted  Coakley, Ed Weldon, Wayne Seer, James Richards, Robert White, Al Supple, James Stewart, Emery Maddocks, Dave King, Bob Kendrigan, Thomas Anderson, Larry Mills, John Barboza, Clarence Walker, Mark Morrocco, Angelo D’Agostino, Frank Mazzelli, Sam Hammond, Donald Howard, Joseph Marsden, Paul Finch, Bill O’Brien, Peter Travaline, Doug Squires, Allen Comeau, Blakie Bean and Robert Buckley.

ABINGTON – The exuberance at the home of Alyson Sullivan’s parents could hardly be contained. Shortly after 9 p.m., she and about 75 supporters received news that she had bested her opponent, former Abington selectman Alex Bezanson, in the race for the 7th Plymouth District State Representative 10,225 to 8,079. The 30-year-old will follow in the footsteps of her father, Michael, who held the same seat during the early 1990s.

“Thank you to everyone that helped with my campaign over the last two years,” Bezanson posted on Facebook, congratulating Sullivan. “Unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”

Sullivan, a young, enthusiastic paralegal and final-year law student talked quickly as she moved from guest to guest, freely giving out hugs for their support.

When asked how she would succeed as a Republican among so many Democrats on Beacon Hill, she said that she is an independent voice and does not see that as an impediment. “I’ll work with others,” she added.

She says her top priorities are Chapter 70 money for schools, Chapter 90 money for infrastructure and fighting the opioid crisis.

“I’ve had cousins who’ve lost their lives to opioids,” she said. She says she’ll partner with local law enforcement to go after drug dealers. “I want less and less people to get addicted in the first place,” she added.

Her plans are admittedly ambitious, but she says she can handle working as a legislator by day and going to law school at night.

Her campaign manager, Alex Hagerty, himself a rising star in local republican politics, sitting on the Abington Board of Health, described some of the campaign work that had “made it all happen.”

He described a grassroots effort to maintain the 7th District for Republicans that saw Geoff Diehl not seek re-election to the State House and lose his race for Massachusetts senator against incument Elizabeth Warren.

“She’ll have to fill the shoes of Diehl,” said Hagerty, who said the campaign wished Diehl the best of luck in his next endeavors and that they were disappointed in his loss

But, “Abington, Whitman and East Bridgewater could not have elected a better state representative,” he said.

BROCKTON – The owner of the former JJ’s pub, Patricia Harrison, 59, and her longtime boyfriend Wayne Cummings, 49, were arraigned on arson charges in the fire that destroyed the former bar at 16 Liberty Street, Hanson, last July, along with Alfred Russo, 75, who was previously accused of setting the fire.

Russo, Harrison and Cummings, all of Bourne, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Russo faces one count of burning of a dwelling and two counts of arson causing injuries to firefighters while Harrison and Cummings face one count each of burning of a dwelling.

The three appeared at Plymouth Superior Court at Brockton Friday, Oct. 26 before Judge Robert C. Cosgrove.

The assistant district attorney, Alex Zane, presented over 130 exhibits to the three defense attorneys, saying that they represented the culmination of a very long grand jury investigation. Russo is a friend of Harrison and Cummings, say police reports.

Russo, a retired Boston firefighter, was arrested last August, while Harrison and Cummings were arraigned on “direct indictments,” meaning that the matter never went to District Court, just before the grand jury. Now that the matter is in the Superior Court, the District Court proceedings are obviated.

According to the ADA, most troubling to him was the alleged fact that all three were in “precarious financial situations” – Harrison stood to gain $250,000 in insurance payouts–and were illegally consuming prescription drugs and heavily consuming alcohol, leading the judge to order all three to remain drug and alcohol free while awaiting trial.

Russo already had this condition imposed, and while Cosgrave kept it in place for him, the judge did remove the condition that he wear a GPS ankle bracelet that was used in an exclusionary manner to keep him away from the crime scene.

Harrison, according to Zane, was taking Vicodin, a narcotic pain killer, before being called as a witness before the grand jury and was asked not to take the stand because her demeanor had changed so much after consuming the pills, which she said were for an old car accident.

Zane also alleged that Russo had joked, “What’s the big deal?” and “I better get a passport,” when confronted with the allegations.

In a previous interview with the Express, Russo blamed the fire on “spontaneous combustion” and noted that his presence there on the date of the fire, which he freely admits, was a “bad coincidence.”

Russo’s Falmouth- and Taunton-based attorney, Drew Segadelli, said in a phone interview with the Express that there are other possible people that could have burnt down the building, including a “firebug,” common slang for an arsonist, who was investigated, and he says not held, at the time of the JJ’s pub arson.

The alleged serial arsonist Segadelli is apparently referring to, Mark Sargent, who investigators say committed many arsons, including one at this building, was held on $100,000 bail and ordered to home confinement and to wear a GPS bracelet if he posted bail. Sargent, according to court personnel, was being held without bail at the time of the fire, as he still is, although Segadelli suggests Sargent as an alternative to Russo in the case of the arson.

“I think that’s kind of jaw-dropping,” said Segadelli, referring to Sargent not being investigated in this case.

“Who knows the real truth? None of us were there, we just defend our people,” said Segadelli.

Maybe it’s not even an arson at all, he suggested. “They’ve got to exclude all other possibilities…to prove this is an arson,” he said.

Segadelli emphasized Russo’s age, disability and length of service with the Boston Fire Department in terms of his defense.

The fire, according to Hanson Fire Chief Jerome Thompson, III, reached nearly four alarms and totally destroyed the abandoned commercial property adjacent to the intersections of Liberty Street and East and West Washington Streets.

It sent two firefighters to the hospital, Lt. Sherilyn Mullin and Timothy Royer, who both sustained heat-related injuries and had to miss some work due to these injuries, stated court documents, and an Express photographer also was treated at a hospital due to injuries sustained in the course of her work.

The fire took some time to extinguish, due to the full involvement of the structure, according to a previous statement from the district attorney, and many towns and the state responded or provided station coverage for Hanson during the incident, according to Thompson, putting many lives at risk.

The chief has been outspoken at times, in the media and on Twitter, about this fire and especially about Russo’s release. He was present in court along with several Hanson firefighters, but did not wish to comment on the removal of Russo’s GPS bracelet.

Video surveillance from Dandel Construction Corporation was used to identify “a party” park a vehicle on the side of the abandoned building, enter through a door and remain inside for nearly eight minutes, according to reports.

The party then exits, enters a vehicle and drives away. About six minutes after the party exits the structure, smoke is visible venting from the roof, it continues. Less than nine minutes later, fire is visible out of a side window.

Police and prosecutors allege this party was Russo.

When investigators went to meet Russo at his home in Bourne two weeks after the incident, police say he, “spontaneously stated that he was driving his Jeep in Hanson on the day of the fire.”

Russo stated that he had been in Hanson on the day of the fire for a cookout at Cummings’ sister’s house but didn’t end up attending because he didn’t feel well, according to the report.

He freely admitted to driving to the JJ’s Pub property, purportedly to move a generator, but said he never went inside, according to police.

They are next scheduled for a pre-trial conference in Plymouth Superior Court at Plymouth on Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.