HANSON — Selectmen have voted to seek a new computerized bookkeeping system at Camp Kiwanee, but rejected a deeper audit of past event contracts and the applications of five residents seeking appointment to the Recreation Commission.

The latter vote hinged on whether the proper application process had been followed by former commission members Janet Agius, Tricia Dransfield and Sheila Morse as well as resident John Mahoney, who has been active in Camp Kiwanee programs over the years. Only former Commissioner Audrey Flanagan had completed an application form to support her letter seeking appointment, but she was also passed over in a 3-2 vote when Selectmen voted on the applications as a slate, instead of individually.

Selectmen Bruce Young and Don Howard voted to approve the appointments and Kenny Mitchell, Bill Scott and Chairman James McGahan voted against. Young and McGahan had earlier voted to support a more detailed audit while Mitchell, Scott and Howard voted against it.

“For us to move forward would be putting the cart ahead of the horse,” Scott said on the appointments vote while the 30-day period for objections to the Kiwanee report is still in effect. “I want to hear the results of that, to hear whether or not that changes anything … and then consider applications.”

He said at that time anyone who applies would be considered. Young, however, argued there is no correlation between the two issues.

The heated discussions on both the audit proposal and appointments came after Young had proposed three recommendations regarding the Recreation Commission in the wake of last month’s report on the Camp Kiwanee investigation by labor counsel Leo Peloquin. Besides the new bookkeeping system and audit, Young had also suggested disciplinary action be considered against the town employee whose “serious errors” fueled the investigation. No action or discussion followed that recommendation, as it was deemed a personnel matter.

“The report basically deals with examination of records,” Young said. “One of the problems you have at Camp Kiwanee is the records down there are not integrated with the rest of the town.”

Young, a retired accountant, successfully argued that the WHRSD technology department, which also serves the town, be asked to install a simple online bookkeeping system to solve the problem.

His urging for a more detailed audit, however, met with resistance from some Selectmen who wished to move forward on the issue.

Young’s concern was that the 49 contracts focused on as examples of improper rental discounts in the report were pulled by “the same individual who had a strained relationship with many people named in the report, members of the commission and some employees.”

“The possibility does exist that there are many other instances of mistakes or deviations from the rental agreements and policies and procedure over that time,” Young said. “We need somebody to go through and ascertain what the magnitude of those deviations are because I don’t think it ends with the 49.”

He said he went through some of them before the Tuesday, Nov. 1 meeting and found 10 to 15 other contracts that showed rates that deviated from policy.

Young said a neutral third party should have reviewed the contracts as part of the investigation.

“I want to move on with this,” said Mitchell, who did agree a new bookkeeping program was needed going forward. “I don’t want to keep going back and looking into contracts and coming up with the same result. We’ve got to move forward.”

“We’re talking about things that were done and completed and are gone,” Howard agreed. “Can’t we just start now?”

Several members of the audience, including past Recreation Commission members, expressed concern with Young’s findings even as they agreed on a need to move forward.

One resident reminded Selectmen of their decision following Peloquin’s report, against seeking unpaid balances owed on improperly discounted rental agreements. Young replied that was not the point of an audit.

“He still wants to know how much of this is a problem,” McGahan said.

“We have no idea what the magnitude of this problem is,” Young said.

Resident Colleen McGrath-Smith said the purpose of a compliance check, with which she has experience, is simply to establish an historical record and offered her services to conduct one on a voluntary basis.

“It’s how you build the framework for the future,” she said.

Former Kiwanee employee James Flanagan also urged an audit.

“Everything was pointed at me [in the report] … now everyone wants to sweep it under the carpet,” he said. “I’m getting stuffed under there, too.”

McGahan expressed concern about the cost and time involved in a “full-blown audit,” but that, going forward, an independent audit every three years would be desirable.

Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett also reminded the meeting that the Recreation Commission has been given until Nov. 30 to challenge the report with Peloquin, but added that since the problems are already known, the benefit of “exhuming all these bodies” is unclear.

“I don’t think it’s going to further our goal of moving forward [and] getting things on the straight and narrow,” she said.

“She obviously doesn’t understand what I said,” Young retorted, drawing a reprimand from McGahan for a lack of respect. Young also reminded residents that the records, as public documents, are open for any resident to review.

Mitchell’s aside sparked another argument about Young’s offer to do just that.

“That’s not a conflict of interest?” Mitchell said.

“I don’t have any financial interest in this,” Young strongly countered. “I resent that remark.” As McGahan gaveled for order, Young said, “He went there.”

appointments
delayed

The contentious atmosphere intensified when the Recreation Commission appointments were discussed.

McGahan started that conversation by reading a decision from town counsel that the Recreation Commission members’ August mass resignation was effective as soon as their letters were filed with the town clerk.

“A resignation need not be accepted by the appointing authority to be effective,” McGahan read. “Unless a resignation notice sets forth a public future date of resignation, it it’s effective on the date of its submission.”

Selectmen were divided on whether the letters for application or reappointment they received from four of the five applicants constituted actual applications since a form had not been filled out.

“[In] the letters we sent you, we asked to be reappointed,” Agius said.

McGahan said he did not think the window for applications had been opened, but Town Administrator Michael McCue said the board had alluded to its wish to fill the positions.

Members of the audience, including Audrey Flanagan noted the vacancies have been read as announcements at Selectmen’s meetings since Sept. 9, which meant that the application window had been opened.

Agius said if the board waits much longer to reappoint a Recreation Commission, hiring a new director by January would not be possible, but McGahan indicated McCue could start that process in his current status as interim director for Kiwanee. Young also pointed out that McCue has said he does not want to serve in that role any longer than he has to.

“It’s a seven-member board,” Joanne Blauss said. “You have five people here who are willing to go on it now, that still gives you two positions for the general public.”

McGahan said public servants owe their service to the public interest, not self-interest. Resignations, therefore, should be limited to “just cause,” such as health or family considerations.

“Resigning simply to make a statement was a selfish thing,” he said to a chorus of catcalls. “That’s how I feel about it, regardless of whether you agree with it or not — with all due respect.”

McGahan said, for that reason, his personal vote would be no.

Morse said they were told the matter had been tabled when the resignations were discussed and that they were later told a letter of application were appropriate. Dransfield said that, when she was first appointed to the Recreation Commission in January by a letter of application, she was given no indication that an investigation was being conducted and her resignation outlined how she felt about the situation and her inability to be effective as the investigation dragged on.

“We’ve been accused of bad record-keeping from another perspective,” McGahan said. “I want to see the paperwork.”

McCue said he had told the applicants that a letter would be permissible, based on past discussions with the board.

“It seems like you’re moving in the right direction,” said resident Tim Leonard. “But you’ve got a lot of people who want to help you out, and they are eager to do it. Why not just let them do it?”

The 3-2 vote was followed by an emotional outburst, prompting McGahan call a recess during which time a police officer was summoned to ensure order and McGahan, as well as other Selectmen, held sidebar conversations with some of the applicants before the meeting was resumed.

Early voting began in cities and towns throughout Massachusetts on Monday, Oct. 24 and ends Friday, Nov. 4. Early voters may not cast ballots on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Early voting hours in Whitman are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.,  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday. For public convenience, Whitman has also decided to offer weekend hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 29. Voting is in the Town Hall Auditorium.

In Hanson, early voting is held in the Town Clerk’s office from from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and from 8 a.m. to noon Fridays.

The School Committee has again voted to endorse a “No” vote on ballot Question 2, as voters head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8. The measure asks voters to decide whether 12 new charter schools, or enrollment expansions in current charter schools, should be permitted each year.

The committee has come out against Question 2 in the past, but School Committee Chairman Robert Hayes urged a second commitment as Election Day nears.

“It never hurts to be strong,” he said.

By a 9-1 vote, with Whitman member Kevin Lynam dissenting, the committee joined the long list of state school committees as well as the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools, in opposing Question 2.

“There’s been quite a large amount of confusion about Question 2,” said Hayes. “When I see the [TV] ads I get nauseated that schools get funded better [with charter schools]. They do not.”

Lynam argued families should retain the right to choose what is best for their children and state funding formulas demand more significant change.

Question 2 proposes that schools would be transitioned off state aid per departing pupil over three years.

“I understand the funding thing,” Lynam said. “I think it’s crazy … there’s no reason they should be touching our local assessment.”

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner reminded committee members that they are allowed to use their official positions to make statements about ballot questions that relate to their position. They are also permitted to take official actions concerning ballot questions.

In fiscal 2013 about 30 students from Whitman and Hanson were enrolled in charter schools, costing the district just over $290,000 in state deductions from per-pupil allocations, according to Business Services Director Christine Suckow. There were 30 in 2015 costing the district $342,000. While the number of students enrolled in charter schools declined to 22, the district’s assessment from the state was $254,000. The district projects there will be 27 students, costing W-H just over $322,000.

The state assesses school districts the prior year’s per-pupil cost multiplied by the number of students. That figure is deducted from per-pupil funding.

“Hear me loud and clear,” Hayes said, addressing cable-access viewers. “What they tell you on the television ads is not true. … Numbers don’t lie.”

Suckow said there is a reimbursement, but it does not come close to recovering what the district loses. In 2014, W-H got a $64,000 reimbursement. For this year, it is expected to receive a $70,000 reimbursement.

“When they say it doesn’t cost, it does cost,” School Committee member Fred Small said. “It hits our budget, and it hits it hard.”

operating costs

Small pointed out that, if one student out of a class of 26 opts to attend a charter school, the costs of operating that classroom is spread over a lower pool of per-pupil dollars.

“They’re taking the numbers and the facts, and they’re twisting them so far from reality, it’s not funny,” Small said of the pro-Question 2 TV commercials.

The Massachusetts Information for Voters booklet on ballot questions provided by the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office explains the issue and provides arguments on both sides.

“My personal feeling is fully fund our school district, give us all the resources that we need to do our job properly, and once we have those resources hold us accountable,” Small said. “Every child today deserves a good education … I’m afraid there are some kids that aren’t getting that within our district, because we don’t have the resources — and this just further drains it. It hurts and it’s wrong.”

School Committee member Robert Trotta said the question is part of an effort, going on for years, to privatize schools.

“When charter schools came in, they were supposed to be innovative,” Trotta said. “They’re finding that a lot of charter schools function as a public school.”

He said he looks at charters as a way to destroy public schools.

Lynam said a lot of things need to change.

“I think the state is pushing us off the cliff with education,” he said. “I envision that significant reform in education is necessary.”

   

WHITMAN — Residents got a sneak peek on Thursday, Oct. 6 of Whitman Public Library’s November celebration of National Writing Month, which will feature a half-dozen author visits.

The Friends of the Whitman Public Library funds the series.

Braintree resident and novelist Jim Lynch discussed his work Oct. 6, and read excerpts of his 2014 book “The Longshoremen: Life on the Waterfront.” Come November, the series shifts to 6 p.m., on Mondays.

“We are giving a platform to local authors to display and promote their work,” said Library Director Andrea Rounds. “Local author series are really popular around here. … Everyone is excited about a different talk.”

Among the authors slated to appear [see box, page 9] are: Terri Arthur who wrote, “Fatal Decision: Edith Cavell, World War I Nurse,” on Nov. 14; Faye George, author of, “Voices of King Philip’s War,” on Nov. 21 and — wrapping things up on Dec. 12 is Whitman photographer, writer and artist Russ DuPont.

DuPont suggested the program.

“I’m a writer and I thought it would be interesting for Whitman [Library] to do something like this,” DuPont said before Lynch’s talk. “She did the gathering. … I just finished some stuff and had been giving some readings in Boston and it dawned on me that I hadn’t seen anything here like that in a while.”

“He’s in the library all the time,” Rounds said of DuPont’s support for library programs.

Rounds saw Terri Arthur at a book talk while she was on vacation on the Cape this summer and jumped at the chance to book her for the series.

“That book talk is right around Veterans’ Day, so it’s pretty timely,” Rounds said. “The writer is a nurse herself.”  The King Philip’s War talk takes place three days before Thanksgiving.

“This was in our community, we are right in the area where this happened,” she said. “So we are thrilled that we can have Faye George come and speak about that book.”

Lynch, too, wrote about a subject to which he has a personal experience — he and his father, who emigrated from Ireland in 1918, were both longshoremen. His first book, “The Hook and the Badge,” [2008] is a mystery that also takes place on the Boston waterfront.

“The Longshoremen” intertwines the stories of three families and how they survived working the waterfront and its archaic hiring system called the shape-up.

Lynch spoke about the storyline of the book, how he got into longshoring and the history and function of the old hiring system. He then answered audience questions before signing copies of his book that were purchased.

“I knew [his father] worked on ships, but I didn’t know exactly what he did,” Lynch said of his teen years. “The furthest thing from my mind, growing up, was to be a longshoreman.”

But, after graduating from Mission Church High School in 1950, that’s where he went to work after a brief stint as a messenger boy earning 75 cents an hour.

Longshoremen could earn as much as $2 an hour straight time and, as the son of a longshoreman, he could inherit his father’s union card. His father had died in 1944.

There was a downside to that pay scale, however.

“You never knew when you were going to work, you never knew how much money you were going to be making,” he said, and has reflected in his characters’ struggles in the book.

In the shape-up, the longshoremen would stand in front of the stevedores who would call those they knew first — by name — for work. Those left, if needed, would be pointed to and union cards had to indicate dues were up-to-date for them to begin working.

Much of the work once done by longshoremen on cargo vessels is now done by automation on giant container ships. The shape-up is also now a thing of the past on the waterfront, Lynch said.

Born and raised in Charlestown, Lynch had worked as a longshoreman for 20 years before he became a teacher, including at Silver Lake Regional, Halifax and Pembroke schools, for special needs students and a basketball coach. The latter is something, at 83, he still enjoys doing at the Woodward School in Quincy and plays volleyball “a couple of times a week” and swims a lot.

“In the old days, people stayed in shape by working hard — they didn’t have to go to a gym,” he said.

They say the best advice for writers is to write what you know, and Lynch said that is exactly why he writes about the waterfront.

“The three things I know about are basketball, longshoring and teaching,” he said before his program. “I had some free time on my hands [after his 1996 retirement from teaching] and that’s when I started writing.”

His love of reading mysteries and thrillers informed the style of his first book. His characters are mainly composites of real people he knew and/or worked with, including main character Jimmy McGowan, who he based on himself — and he outlines each character’s physical appearance and personality before beginning a book.

“If you sit down and try to make it up as you go along, I didn’t find it worked,” Lynch said.

Lynch’s best advice to would-be writers?

“The best advice is to write and study writers,” he said. “I got into a writing group a couple of times and it didn’t work out, but if you can get into a good writing group, that helps a lot.”

HANSON — The Board of Selectmen expect to receive Labor Counsel Leo Peloquin’s report on the Camp Kiwanee investigation in the next few days, but may seek legal advice on the proper way to release it during an open session “sometime in October.”

Selectmen Chairman James McGahan made the announcement during the board’s Tuesday, Sept. 27 meeting. While Town Counsel Jay Talerman was present to participate in the special Town Meeting preview, he was not asked about the issue as the Kiwanee probe falls under the category of labor law, according to selectmen.

“As we get the report, we need to figure out what we have in it to be sure there’s nothing sensitive,” McGahan said. “If employees [are mentioned] we may have to redact some information. That will have to be determined by legal counsel.”

He said Selectmen will have to review the report to decide how to release its information.

Town Administrator Michael McCue was absent due to an illness in his family.

Former Recreation Commission Chairman James Hickey asked if those who might be mentioned in the report would be so advised before it was made public.

“I think that they would probably have to get it at the same time that the public gets it,” McGahan said. “But that’s something that we’ll have to figure out with the attorney. Frankly, I’ve never been put in this position before and I’m not clear on what we’re supposed to do for the next step.”

How to release

He indicated the board might have to meet in executive session before the release to determine how it will be done.

Selectman Bruce Young said the report could refer to “multiple individuals” if similar inquiries done in the past was a guide.

In a letter to the editor [see page 12], past Kiwanee Management Committee member Joanne Blauss said the investigation has left her without much hope in the matter.

“We thought it was going to be wrapped up in September and give the public a chance to look at it and talk about it before the Town Meeting,” Blauss said Monday.

“All we were really promised was that the investigation would be done by September,” said Wes Blauss. He said the major concern is regaining recreation programs for Hanson that can take place by-and-large at Camp Kiwanee.

“Weddings were meant to subsidize events at Kiwanee,” he said. “But now there will be no recreation [events] at Kiwanee next year. It’s booked solid.”

Concerns expressed

They said McCue had told them before Tuesday’s meeting that the investigation results would not be revealed at Tuesday’s Selectmen’s meeting.

She and others who have served on the commission had expected a “great reveal” on the findings of the nine-month investigation.

Among the events leading to those hopes being “squashed” were: a selectman’s dismissal of citizen rallies as “those fools in front of Town Hall,” the delay in delivering the promised “even-handed, unbiased report” on the commission and its management of Camp Kiwanee, and the closed-door “interrogation” of a 17-year-old seasonal worker at the camp.

The latter incident resulted in a complaint filed against Town Administrator Michael McCue by resident John Mahoney, who had been asked by the teen employee’s family to accompany him during the interview with Peloquin and McCue. Mahoney was denied access to that meeting.

Case closed

In a letter replying to Mahoney, Magahan wrote that the board had determined that McCue and Peloquin had acted appropriately.

“Consequently, the Board deems this matter closed,” McGahan’s letter dated Sept. 7 read.

Mahoney had charged that two part-time seasonal caretakers at Camp Kiwanee appeared for the Aug. 19 meeting in response to an email request from the Recreation Commission’s administrative assistant, instructing them to “make yourselves available” to meet with McCue at the Needles Lodge office.

“I asked to join them and was refused because, the lawyer told me, ‘it’s confidential, part of the investigation,’” Mahoney wrote in his complaint. While Peloquin represented town officials, Mahoney stated the caretakers “were not afforded the opportunity to have representation, either legal or otherwise.”

The other employee, after his interview told Mahoney the questions centered on a particular wedding about which a complaint had been lodged with the administrative assistant.

“The complaint is that the Town Administrator was not forthcoming about the nature of the meeting, nor that a legal representative would be attending, thus not allowing either employee to arrange for representation,” Mahoney wrote. “It is also a complaint that one of the employees … is an underage minor and should never have been subject to legal questioning without an adult present.”

The investigation is supposed to center on Recreation Commission practices and bookkeeping issues arising after an audit of operations. Wes Blauss said the questions instead have all involved drinking at Camp Kiwanee.

Both the Blausses had a recent meeting with McCue about “getting recreation back to the forefront and he wanted them to continue with plans for the play they had on the calendar, but dates required for rehearsal were largely booked for weddings.

Funding director

The wedding bookings also came up Sept. 27 during the Town Meeting preview when Dave Blauss asked how the town could rely on future bookings to raise enough money to pay a recreation director’s salary after the six-month period to be funded by warrant article 20. He said projections for fiscal 2018 are down, despite being booked solid through July 2017.

“We always know that because people book weddings a year to two years in advance,” Dave Blauss said in response to Young’s question of how that projection could be made. “The board should know what the income is coming in before we fill a position that we may not be able to fund.”

McGahan advised referring the question to McCue, who is now overseeing Kiwanee operations.

Finance Committee Chairman Michael Wojdag cautioned that the $273,000 made at Kiwanee in fiscal 2016, was offset by expenses that came in at $284,000 for that period with the loss offset by taxation.

“One of the purposes of the recreation director is to stimulate more rentals at the camp,” Young argued. “Right now, it’s not being run by a professional. It’s being run by part-timers and an administrative assistant.”

“The place needs to be run like a business,” agreed Selectman Kenny Mitchell. “You put the proper management in there, [and] you could absolutely generate more money for that place. … Me being a business guy, I think you take the risk.”

By Colin A. Young

State House News Service

BOSTON — Eleven of the state’s 14 counties have been deemed “primary natural disaster areas” by the United States Department of Agriculture due to substantial crop losses that began with a February deep freeze and continued though a summer marked by severe drought.

Barnstable, Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Worcester counties were designated as primary natural disaster areas, the USDA said, “due to losses caused by frost and freeze that occurred from February 14 through May 4, 2016.”

Farmers in those counties are eligible for low interest emergency loans from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, the USDA said. Farmers have eight months to apply for a loan to help cover part of their losses.

Farmers in Dukes, Nantucket and Suffolk counties — as well as several counties in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont — also qualify for the loan program if their farms are in counties contiguous to the primary disaster areas.

A deep freeze around Valentine’s Day wiped out almost all of the state’s peach crop, farmers previously told the News Service, and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said Tuesday that other tree fruits were affected as well.

On top of the deep freeze, Massachusetts farmers have been hit this season with an ongoing and widespread drought that’s been blamed for contributing to wild fires, an outbreak of gypsy moths, higher rates of ant infestation, smaller than usual apples, loss of crops, a shortage of cattle feed, and an elevated population of mosquitoes able to carry West Nile virus.

The state earlier this month launched its own $1 million emergency loan fund to help farmers who have struggled with the impacts of the drought.

“We appreciate the United States Department of Agriculture taking steps to assist farms across the Commonwealth,” Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement. “I encourage farmers adversely impacted by this year’s extreme weather conditions to explore the USDA programs and the state’s Emergency Drought Loan Fund.”

More than half of the state is experiencing an “extreme” drought, the second-most intense level of dryness on the federal government’s scale, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The 52.13 percent of Massachusetts in an extreme drought stretches from the Pioneer Valley to the Cape Cod Canal, and encompasses all of Metro Boston and northeastern Massachusetts.

“This year’s weather has been a great challenge to Massachusetts farmers; first with the winter freeze and now with a severe drought,” Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton said in a statement. “Despite that, our farmers have done a remarkable job at getting high-quality, nutritious food to market, and I urge Massachusetts residents to buy local to support our hardworking farmers.”

As of Aug. 19, when the application for a USDA disaster declaration was submitted, Massachusetts farmers had lost just shy of $14 million worth of crops, according to the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Massachusetts office.

The same 11 Massachusetts counties are also eligible for the USDA’s Livestock Forage Disaster Program, which compensates some livestock ranchers who have suffered “grazing losses on pasture land” due to the drought, EEA said.

“Our livestock and dairy industry is a significant contributor to the state’s economy, contributing over $70 million dollars annually,” Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner John Lebeaux said in a statement. “We appreciate USDA implementing a program to address this specific sector.”

Massachusetts farmers interested in applying for the USDA aid should contact their local USDA Service Center for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures, the USDA said. More information is available at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

HANSON — Hanson police made two arrests in an afternoon bank robbery on Tuesday after a car was located on route 228 in Norwell matching the alleged get-away vehicle.

At approximately 1:28 p.m., Tuesday, the Hanson Police Department received a report that the Rockland Trust Bank branch, located at 470 Liberty Street had been robbed, according to Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch.

David A. Poulos, 28, and Paige A. Banagis, 24, both Rockland residents were charged in the crime.

Poulos was described as a white male, who did not show a weapon when he gave the teller a note demanding cash in large bills. Banagis was named as the alleged driver in the robbery.

Police broadcasted a description of the suspect alerting other towns to the incident and possible suspect/s. Officers from neighboring communities spotted the suspect vehicle and a stop was made by the Massachusetts State Police in Norwell. During the stop the suspect attempted to dispose of cash in the trash at the gas station.

The undisclosed amount of cash was recovered, said Miksch.

Hanson officers responded to the gas station and were able to make a positive identification of the suspect.   

Hanson Police, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department BCI and K9 Unit, Massachusetts State Police and the FBI Bank Task Force also responded to the scene.

The pair is charged with unarmed robbery and larceny over $250 [an undisclosed total amount].

Banagis is being held on $10,000 bail. Poulos is held on $15,000 bail. They were due to be arraigned in Plymouth District Court on Wednesday.

The Hanson police are currently co-operating with the FBI Bank Task Force and State Police further investigating whether the suspects are responsible for bank robberies in other towns, Miksch stated.

“The Hanson Police Department would like to thank the above mentioned agencies as well as the Rockland, Weymouth, Canton, and Norwell Police Departments,” Miksch said.

While there’s been plenty of news about the Nov. 8 presidential election, there’s a warm-up vote taking place here in Massachusetts exactly two months ahead of it — a state primary election on Thursday, Sept. 8 to be precise — that has quietly approached.

Since Monday was Labor Day, a Tuesday election would have required overtime and opening schools, where some polling places are located, on a holiday to set up, Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan said.

Polls are open in both Whitman and Hanson from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sept. 8, customary hours for a state or federal election.

Maquan School, where Hanson’s polling place is located, is open on Sept. 8, so voters in that community are urged to take extra precautions during hours when school buses and parent vehicles are dropping off and picking up pupils.

Whitman votes at the Town Hall Auditorium for all precincts.

While there is little in the way of contested races on the state primary ballot, town clerks remind voters this is a good opportunity to verify one’s registration status — or to register to vote — before the presidential election.

Sloan said Hanson residents may report to the Maquan School polling place or the town clerk’s office in Town Hall, where registrars will be available from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., during polling hours to assist voters. The town clerk’s office will be closed to other business.

Whitman Town Clerk Dawn Varley said her office will be open to assist voters with registration or questions about their voting status.

Every day is a good day to register,” Varley said, adding that voters can also check registration status, register to vote, apply for absentee ballots and receive other voting information at sec.state.ma.us/ele.

Appearing on the party ballots for the state primary in Hanson are:

• For representative in Congress — incumbent U.S. Rep. William R. Keating (Democratic ballot); Mark C. Alliegro of Falmouth or Thomas J. O’Malley Jr., of Marshfield (Republican ballot).
• For governor’s council — incumbent Christopher A. Iannella Jr., of Boston or Steven F. Flynn of Hull (Democratic ballot); no candidates listed on the Republican ballot.
• For state senator — incumbent state Sen. Michael D. Brady (Democratic ballot); no candidates listed on the Republican ballot.
• For state representative — incumbent state Rep. Josh S. Cutler (Democratic ballot); Vince Cogliano of Pembroke (Republican ballot).
• For sheriff — Scott M. Vecchi of Plymouth (Democratic ballot); incumbent Joseph D. McDonald Jr., (Republican ballot).
• For county commissioner (vote for two) — Greg Hanley of Pembroke and Lincoln D. Heineman of Scituate (Democratic ballot); incumbent Daniel A. Pallotta and Anthony T. O’Brien Sr., of Pembroke (Republican ballot).

Appearing on the party ballots for the state primary in Whitman are:

• For representative in Congress — incumbent U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (Democratic ballot); no candidates listed on the Republican ballot.
• For governor’s council — incumbent Christopher A. Iannella Jr., of Boston or Steven F. Flynn of Hull (Democratic ballot); no candidates listed on the Republican ballot.
• For state senator — incumbent state Sen. Michael D. Brady (Democratic ballot); no candidates listed on the Republican ballot.
• For state representative — no candidates listed on the Democratic ballot; incumbent state Rep. Geoff Diehl (Republican ballot).
• For sheriff — Scott M. Vecchi of Plymouth (Democratic ballot); incumbent Joseph D. McDonald Jr., (Republican ballot).
• For county commissioner (vote for two) — Greg Hanley of Pembroke and Lincoln D. Heineman of Scituate (Democratic ballot); incumbent Daniel A. Pallotta and Anthony T. O’Brien Sr., of Pembroke (Republican ballot).

There are no candidates listed on ballots in either town for the Green-Rainbow or United Independent parties.

Buses officially rolled for the first day of school Wednesday, but about 340 sixth-graders in the Class of 2023 and some 270 high school freshmen in the Class of 2020, have already had one foot in the schoolhouse door for the past week.

Freshmen attended an orientation session at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School on Wednesday, Aug. 24, with about 200 grade six students learning their way around Whitman Middle School and another 140 or so attending orientation at Hanson Middle School on Aug. 25.

High school athletes attended an information night Sunday, Aug. 22.

Orientations at the middle schools and WHRHS featured upperclassmen on hand to give school tours, demonstrate lockers, answer questions and otherwise ease the transition for incoming students. Parents’ questions were answered by administrators as their children learned about their new schools.

W-H Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak introduced faculty and administration members attending the high school session before explaining the purpose of the evening, organized by English teacher and student mentor coordinator Ellen Galambos.

The 80-plus student mentors had to apply for the position, Assistant Principal David Floeck said.

“They had to put down reasons why they wanted to be a mentor and, pretty much to a person, they talked about understanding how important it is to get off to a good start, remembering how it was to be a freshman coming into the high school,” Floeck said. “A lot of them wrote, ‘I remember how important my mentor was to me when I started … They helped me navigate to a good start and I want to give back.’”

Szymaniak also praised the mentors, while explaining the change to a semester-based schedule at the high school this year.

“These student leaders are from all over the walks of W-H halls,” Szymaniak said. “You have athletes, people that perform in drama, you have musicians, you have artists, you have scholars … you have the students who started the Harry Potter Society here … they all sat in your seats as freshmen.”

He said opening the door and stepping into an opportunity is sometimes the hardest thing to do, but stressed the students in school activities want freshmen to join them. Every student is welcome to attend Student Council, a non-elected body, for exaample.

“The more you get involved as a student, the more you can balance your academic, social life and extra-curricular life, the better off you are — the more successful you are,” he said.

Szymaniak cautioned, however, that academics will always come first as students build a high school transcript that will determine a lot about the direction they take in the future. He also urged students to communicate with teachers when they need extra help.

“It counts,” he said. “What people look for after you graduate is your record. Your record here is your transcript — your grades and your attendance.”

The balance of academic excellence and extra-curricular activities were also stressed at the middle schools.

At WMS, eighth-grade student leaders, wearing long-sleeve gray T-shirts with the school’s motto for the year — “Work Hard and Be Kind” — were on hand to assist new sixth-graders with the transition to what principal George Ferro termed 580 days of personal and educational growth before high school.

“This is going to be the quickest three years of schooling that you will have,” Ferro told students and parents, noting only law schools are also based on a three-year program. “If we can achieve students who know how to study, if we can achieve students who know how to communicate effectively with their peers and adults, if we can achieve students who can think for themselves, if we can achieve students who respect themselves … [who] can respect others, then we’ve given them as many skills as they need to be successful in life.”

At the same time he said students will be expected to Work Hard and Be Kind every day they come to school.

“It’s not a joke,” he said. “If you work hard and be kind you’ll be successful, your parents will be successful, your community will be sucessful.”

School rules were also reviewed.

There will be no gum-chewing. Cell phones are not allowed in classrooms at WMS, sixth-grade social studies teacher and event coordinator Beth Stafford told the students. They are to be turned off and left in lockers or placed in classroom bins. Boys are expected to remove their hats in school and girls’ tank top straps are to be at least an inch wide.

“Remember this is not the beach — this is school,” Stafford said.

Students should walk to the right in halls and use the center stairs for “up” and the side stairs for “down.”

Students also must bring a silent reading book to peruse on occasions when they finish a classroom assignment early. Some teachers give pop quizzes to check for them, she cautioned.

Rewards were also featured to add to the fun.

At WMS, it was a grab-bag of school supplies for the first team of 10 students to finish a get-to-know-your-school scavenger hunt — without losing anyone. Stafford donated the prizes. At the high school, student mentors held raffles throughout the evening.

“This group of people dedicated time this summer to go through mentor training and they also donated some of their very hard-earned cash … to put together some raffle prizes,” said Floeck, noting about $300 in gift cards and other raffle prizes were drawn during the evening.

At HMS, Principal William Tranter said his incoming sixth-graders were divided into groups for tours of the building, meeting their teachers, activities such as tug-of-   war, in which he participated and basketball — followed by ice cream.

Both middle schools will hold an open house in which parents can follow their children’s class schedules and meet teachers at 6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 8.

Elementary Schools held open house at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 30. Families of students at all schools have been urged to follow the schools through Twitter for news and updates.

HANSON — A multi-use building at 1000 Main St., which houses offices, retail, manufacturing and warehouse businesses — as well as the Express offices — was also being used as a movie set Sunday, Aug. 21.

Filming at the Hanson was for a scene in, “Altar Rock,” an indie-film project described in media reports as a thriller inspired by the Boston Marathon bombing, but executive producer Kristin Kuhns Alexandre said this week that is not the case.

“The Boston event is not connected to ‘Altar Rock’ at all, except that there are brothers in the story,” Alexandre said Sunday. “I wanted to do a story about a young man torn between love of family and love of a young woman and America.”

The fictional story is said to revolve around Nantucket teenager Tillie Gardner, who is mourning her parents’ deaths in an airplane crash when she meets a young Albanian cab driver named Niko. She later learns Niko and his troubled older brother may have been involved in her parents’ plane crash, and are planning to blow up a beach full of people on the Fourth of July.

Amazon.com has indicated that Alexandre, of Delray Beach, Fla., planned to release the story as a novel after the film is completed, but she said there is no book planned right now. She is also a novelist (“Gem City Gypsy”) and author of how-to books (“Find a Great Guy: Now and Forever”).

“We’ll see,” she said. “Screenwriting is a whole different world of story arcs and scenes, and that’s why I worked closely with a veteran screenwriter — my writing partner A. Wayne Carter.”

Beach scenes for the movie were recently filmed in Duxbury.   

“It worked out really well, because Altar Rock on Nantucket is, honestly, not as beautiful as Bay Farm [Beach in Duxbury],” Alexandre’s daughter Cynthia said Friday that the Duxbury beach has an “absolutely gorgeous overview of the beautiful Duxbury oceanfront.”

Cynthia Alexandre is working as an assistant to director of photography Vern Nobles on the project. She said when filming wrapped there they moved to the Hanson location.

“Our locations department found an easily accessible space to build a movie set in at a great budget while taking into consideration how far base camp can be from the actual set, as well as town rules and regulations,” Cynthia Alexandre said.

Duxbury, Plymouth and surrounding South Shore communities were scouted for film locations, Kristin Alexandre said, noting that obtaining permits during summer months was challenging.

“We shot a very important beach scene in Duxbury, important body shots in Plymouth Harbor and other important shots all over the area,” she said.

Building owners at 1000 Main St., as well as Hanson town officials were pleased to have the cinematic attention.

“We’re really exited about the opportunity to have a movie filmed in our building,” said building co-owner Kelly Ryan Holmes. “But not just for us, it’s also exciting for the town of Hanson … to promote the town.”

She said location scouts  loved the space being used in the building — a loft-style office area and adjacent warehouse space — and how it looks in relation to other nearby buildings. The area is being meant to represent a warehouse area of Brooklyn she said producers told her.

Town Administrator Michael McCue said he’d like to see more projects film in town, even if this week’s footage should end up on the cutting room floor.

“Hanson as a setting for this upcoming movie, whether identified in the script or not, is a fun and boastful thing for the town,” McCue said. “I have in other communities spoken to the Massachusetts State Film Office about the availability for similar projects and will look to do the same in Hanson as appropriate.”

A Hanson firefighter on set to ensure safety while the film crew had the fire alarm system turned off during filming, said the scenes shot Sunday morning were rather exciting.

“They were ‘fighting’ and then ‘shot’ someone,” he said of the morning scenes.

Tenants of the commercial building had been group-texted Friday by the building owners about the scenes so no one would be alarmed if they heard shots fired.

Moody Independent is a film company headquartered in Boston and has produced many small and medium-sized movies, Alexandre said.

Andrzej Bartkowiak, cinematographer on “Speed” and director on “Romeo Must Die,” is directing “Altar Rock.” Bartkowiak’s cinematography credits include “The Verdict,” “Prizzi’s Honor” and “Terms of Endearment.” He also directed “Exit Wounds” and was the director of photography on “Grey Lady,” starring Eric Dane and Natalie Zea, which was also filmed on Nantucket and partially financed by Alexandre, according to Variety.