Whitman Police have issued an arrest warrant for Kevin MacAleese, 53, of Braintree. He is wanted for threatening to commit a crime stemming from a domestic violence-related incident in Whitman late last year. An arrest has not yet been made as of Tuesday, Jan. 15.

A police report in Brockton District Court records said that on Dec. 13, 2018, Whitman police were dispatched to a Jenkins Avenue address at approximately 10:30 p.m. for a report of a male party, later identified as MacAleese, en route threatening to assault a woman and her husband.

The documents report that the alleged victim and MacAleese had known each other since childhood and were involved in a dating relationship beginning about 18-months ago, although both had later returned to their spouses.

The alleged victim met police outside her residence, while still on the phone with MacAleese. The police report said that the responding officer heard MacAleese make several threats over the phone, including to “beat-up” the woman’s husband.

The alleged victim then said to MacAleese that she was going to call police, which MacAleese allegedly did not realize had already occurred.

MacAleese replied “go ahead.” The phone call was interrupted, according to the report, but MacAleese called back, saying to “go ahead; call the police,” and “I’m not afraid (of the police); I don’t care if they shoot me. I have nothing to lose.”

According to the report, the officer inferred a possible “suicide-by-cop” situation from the nature of the comments, in which a suicidal individual acts threatening in an attempt to be shot by police.

When MacAleese arrived at the Jenkins Street address, he passed by, but his vehicle fit the description provided by the alleged victim, said the report.

MacAleese briefly attempted to drive away at a high rate of speed, wrote the officer, but he eventually stopped and cooperated with police after being pulled-over several blocks away.

Although he was traveling at approximately 50 mph in a residential neighborhood when stopped, and court documents report police detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his vehicle, there is no indication in the report whether police addressed either.

While this was occurring, the alleged victim was speaking to another Whitman police officer, whom she told that MacAleese was driving over to her house to “kill her” and “bury her.”

MacAleese was handcuffed, placed in a police cruiser and later sent to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital for further evaluation because of the homicidal and suicidal statements he made, said the report.

The report indicates that MacAleese admitted to making unspecified threats, but that he “would never hurt her [the victim].”

MacAleese was later served with an emergency restraining order at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital ordering him to stay away from the alleged victim, her home, workplace and another Braintree location.

The alleged victim is not MacAleese’s spouse. Other news outlets have identified his spouse as Karen MacAleese, who is listed as a Braintree Interim Deputy Police Chief, according to the Braintree Police website.

The Cape and Islands district attorney’s office will investigate the case once MacAleese is apprehended or turns himself in. The Express made several unsuccessful attempts to contact a spokesperson for that office.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz announced 2018 homicide and overdose statistics for Plymouth County on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019.

According to a press release, State Police Detectives assigned to the Plymouth County DA’s Office investigated 10 homicides last year.

In 2017, State Police responded to nine homicides. Both years do not include motor vehicle homicides.

“I commend State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office who work together with local police and federal authorities to solve these murders, investigate violent crimes and take guns and drugs off of our streets,” DA Cruz said. “We remain focused on eradicating gun violence and the deadly heroin and fentanyl drug markets to improve the quality of life for residents throughout Plymouth County,” Cruz said in the release.

State Police additionally responded to 112 fatal suspected overdoses in the county in 2018, with 81 of the victims being male, and 31 being female. In 2017, State Police responded to a total of 138 suspected overdoses in the county.

“The number of fatal overdoses that State Police responded to are down from last year and we are making strides, but we have work ahead of us,” DA Cruz said. “… I look forward to continuing to collaborate until we get well out in front of this addiction issue.”

Finally, last year, State Police Detectives assigned to the DA’s office were able to use “cellphone technology” to secure a manslaughter conviction against a Wareham man, Steven D. Foss, 37, who supplied the drugs in the fatal overdose of a 25-year-old Wareham woman, a first in the county, according to the office.

HANSON — The community is mourning the loss of Mary Margaret “Gret” Lozeau, 74, a dedicated teacher and community volunteer who died at her home, surrounded by her family on Thursday, Dec. 20.

She was a woman who lived by her favorite saying — “Be kind to someone who needs it,” as the Rev. Michael Hobson and her daughter, Teresa Santalucia, recalled during funeral services at St. Joseph the Worker Church Friday, Dec. 28.

In her reflection, Santalucia said her mother was a natural teacher who loved every day she spent in the classroom and a person who chose to love others and live every day with joy.

“I truly believe that everyone here has had the benefit of her life well-lived,” Santalucia said, relating how her mother felt she had lived a nearly perfect life. “She chose kindness every time. … Kindness was her mantra. It was her life’s lesson plan.”

Hobson related in his homily how Gret put her faith to work in her home and hometown.

“That lifelong teacher in her expresses someone that understood the importance in being an example for others … not only in word, but in deed as well,” Hobson said.

As a life-long parishioner of St. Joseph the Worker Church, Gret served as a Sodality Board Member and religious education teacher. An outstanding teacher for over 29 years, she was a member of Hanson Kiwanis and the Advisor for the Kiwanis-sponsored Hanson Middle School Builders Club, receiving a Kiwanis International Distinguished Service Award.

Those who knew her through her work with these organizations also felt Gret’s infinite capacity for kindness.

Dollars for Scholars President Michael Ganshirt remembered her great support for the program.

“I think it was an extension of her dedication to education and her commitment to students,” he said, noting how Lozeau had organized a holiday wreath fundraiser for DFS each year and had attended many other fundraising events. “She was just a very sweet person — someone you were always anxious to see and talk to. She was just a very nice person.”

Hanson Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett echoed Ganshirt’s sentiments.

“I knew Gret through Kiwanis and through her family,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “She was an incredibly kind, warm and caring person. She literally lit up any room she was in and I always felt better in her presence. The love she had for her family was boundless and they were her true source of joy. This world was simply a better place for her having been in it.”

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, who represents Hanson remembered her dedication to family and community, as well.

“Gret represented the best of Hanson –– a dedication to community, family and service,” Cutler stated. “She will be dearly missed.”

Gret was a dedicated life-long teacher on many levels and in a variety of settings. She loved each of her students without reservation and the written comments and thank you notes from students and parents indicated their admiration and gratitude.

“Gret was long retired by the time I got to Hanson Middle,” Principal William Tranter said last week, noting that her commitment to the school extended past her retirement from the classroom. “After retirement she was active in the Kiwanis Builders Club. Gret had a great passion for helping others and through her efforts with the Builders Club she was able to instill the ideas of service to others and giving back to the community. The students learned a great deal from her example of service.”

Gret won many awards as a 4-H member and Plymouth County leader of 4-H, including the distinction of being a state sheep-shearing champion.

Lozeau was selected for a Massachusetts Learning Teacher Leader Award; the Whitman-Hanson Express newspaper featured her as the Hanson Citizen of the Year for 2011; and, she was elected (2004 to present) as a Trustee of the Hanson Public Library Foundation, serving as secretary.

Library Foundation President Linda Wall, who worked as a librarian at Hanson Middle School when Lozeau taught there, said her friend as a kind, loving and giving person.

“Those traits underlined everything she did, all her contributions to the community,” Wall said. “I was fortunate to know her as a friend and a colleague at Hanson Middle and a volunteer at the library.”

Lozeau’s work was unpretentious but top-quality, Wall said, noting that she had worked with Gret on projects to help make learning more exciting and relevant to students. Lozeau was first elected to the Library Trustees in 2004 and was a founding member of the Library Foundation in 2006, serving as a corresponding secretary since that time.

“She brought her wisdom to anything that was brought before the Library Trustees,” Wall said.

“She was always a pleasure to work with in both the [Hanson Library] Foundation and as a Trustee,” said Corinne Cofardo chairman of the Library Trustees. “She always had a generous smile. I remember her as a woman of inspiration who was always willing to help out.”

Cofardo also said Lozeau was a fun person who will be greatly missed at the library.

She will also be missed at the Hanson Senior Center, where the Builders Club students still work on projects with senior citizens.

“She was instrumental in creating opportunities for young people to engage with people of older generations,” Center Director Mary Collins said Monday, Dec. 31. “She saw this as an opportunity to bring the two generations together. … She recognized that people can benefit from interation from people of a different generation.”

Gret also loved the outdoors. While in Colorado with her husband, she was a first-place champion in racquetball tournaments, skied, and participated in tennis leagues and tournaments. In addition, she represented the University of Rochester as an admissions volunteer, served as a Channel 2 Auction volunteer, and also served as Secretary of the Cranberry Cove Boosters.

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.