WHITMAN — There’s a new twist to the Family Field Day games at Whitman Park this July 4 — at least there’s one in the works — in the form of a greased watermelon relay.

The object would be for teams to pass said melon, slathered in vegetable shortening, from person to person without dropping it. Recreation Director Oliver Amado said the event is probable, but things could change.

What is definite is that there will be a few changes this year to bring out the crowds, including a water slide and police and fire vehicles for the kids to explore.

“We really want to see this take off,” Amado said of the Recreation Commission’s program. “I expect more people than last year.”

The day’s events begin at 8:15 a.m., with the annual 5K Fun Run — registration is from 7:30 to 8 a.m. A bike and carriage decorating contest takes place at 9:30 a.m., with field day games literally running (jumping and tossing) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The town pool is open, free of charge, for Whitman residents from 1 to 5 p.m.

State Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, plans to supply watermelon slices for refreshment and the Boy Scouts will be selling hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks and snacks to benefit Scout programs.

The 5K race will go on, rain or shine, unless there is lightning in the area, Amado said. Other events will depend on the amount of rain in the forecast, with updates available on the Recreation Department’s Facebook page.

The 2015 event was not thoroughly publicized due to the departure of the director shortly before the Fourth of July, Amado said. This year, fliers were sent out to schools and the event and summer park and recreation programs have been publicized more, including via mass e-mail.

The public will also be asked for suggestions at the Field Day about what they’d like to see added in coming years. For example, a basketball-related event is already being explored, and one person had suggested a greased pole-climbing contest for a donated $100 prize at the top — an idea rejected as unworkable.

“There was something about grease this year,” Amado recalled.

Another idea, rejected because of the potential for injury, was from a person in Braintree suggesting the Fire Department spray nontoxic foam on the field for kids to run through.

The potential for collisions in poor visibility rendered it a non-starter, Amado said.

Town officials remind residents that personal fireworks are also a poor choice for holiday entertainment.

Selectman Brian Bezanson, during the June 21 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, urged residents to be considerate of neighbors if they insist on flouting the state law prohibiting personal fireworks.

“It’s great that everybody has enthusiasm to celebrate the great country we have,” he said. “You have to remember your neighbors.”

Veterans and people’s pets can both be affected by the noise.

“[For veterans] it can bring back some nasty memories,” Bezanson said. “So think twice before you just, willy-nilly, shoot off these fireworks because it can be devastating to your neighbors.”

WHITMAN — When the Rev. Joseph C. Ouellette moved to the area from Michigan in 1977, he had no idea he would become a Pentecostal minister.

He came for a job with Honeywell in electronics development — and had grown up in the Catholic Church and parochial schools on the outskirts of Detroit. The job, however, changed more than his address.

It was there he met his wife Tina and found a new relationship with God.

She was working in the company’s personnel office when they met, and he eventually found that her Pentecostal faith spoke to him after he attended her church to seek her parent’s approval to date her.

“It started to grip my soul and I knew that I needed to get right with God and I started to search for the Lord,” said Joseph Ouellette, who goes by his middle name Craig. “I got baptized in Jesus’ name and about a month later I had an experience of what the Bible calls the baptism of the Holy Ghost. When this happens you start talking in tongues — whatever language the Spirit gives you.”

He said it changed everything for him.

He no longer planned to return to Michigan, where he had been in a band before attending electronics school, and ultimately changed the direction of his life.

“God wanted me to stay here,” he said of visions he had of himself “standing on tables and preaching to people,” but that wasn’t what he was comfortable doing.

This year, the man who used to dread public speaking celebrates his 30th anniversary in the pulpit. The couple started pastoring in Whitman on July 26, 1986.

“We pastor together,” Craig said as he sat in a front pew of the South Shore Pentecostal Church, 58 West St., Whitman. “I couldn’t do it without her.”

Tina is the church’s representative at ecumenical meetings because Craig still works full-time in the electronics field for Schneider Electric during the day.

services

A weekend of special services, both at his church and the First Congregational Church, 519 Washington St., both in Whitman, are being held from Wednesday, June 22 through Sunday, June 26 [see Calendar, page 4] featuring guest speakers Dr. Gerald Jeffers and his wife Ella, who is a Pentecostal prophetess. The Jeffers, originally from Massachusetts now work out of Atlanta, Ga., and will speak on the theme “The year of the Conqueror.”

The Ouellettes anticipate following that theme for the coming year, as well, for the church of about 40 members from around the region.

The message of being a conqueror within oneself through God’s strength and the light of his love is a theme that reflects Craig’s journey, too.

“I didn’t really have a calling or feel that I could be a pastor, although there was elements of my life where I would think about God and the responsibility of living through God,” he said of his youth.

When he prayed on it, he decided to accept the Holy Spirit’s messages to him to preach that he began receiving after his Pentecostal baptism.

“I realized if I’m going to have what God wants me to have, I’ve got to do what he asked me to do,” Craig said. “I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’”

Tina’s father Larry Maynard was a pastor who founded the South Shore Pentecostal Church and knew God had been calling Craig, taking him on as an assistant pastor. When Rev. Maynard took over at a church in New Brunswick, Canada, Craig assumed the ministry in the Whitman church.

Whitman presence

South Shore Pentecostal Church bought the West Street church building from the Adventist Christian Church in 1980 when that church began consolidating some congregations. The Ouellettes rented the Adventist Church’s parsonage on Raynor Avenue until that church sold the house. The couple, who have two grown daughters and two grandchildren, now live in Pembroke.

As Apostolic Pentecostals, the South Shore Pentecostal Church members are baptized in Jesus’ name as the human manifestation of God himself rather than as a trinity with the Holy Ghost, which they believe is the Spirit of God, Craig said. The “classical” Pentecostals believe mainly in receiving of the baptism in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. They said the Pentecostal church is the fastest-growing Christian denomination “because people are hungry for a reality of God,” he noted.

They don’t do snakes, though, as Tina has explained to one woman who asked that question outside the church one day.

“I told her no,” Tina said. “There have been Pentecostal churches that have done it, I guess. But as long as I’m in this building there won’t be any snakes passed out.”

It’s not exactly spelled out in the Bible, either, Craig said, pointing out that the serpent is used as a symbol for the devil.

“We follow the Bible very closely,” Craig said, referring to principals of the Old Testament, but focusing on the New, particularly the Book of Acts, which focuses on repentance and baptism in the Holy Ghost.

“I know what I had before and what I’ve got now,” Craig said of his journey of faith. “It’s not that there wasn’t anything good before, but there was no power in it. There was no real relationship with God, it was a formality, a ritual.”

HANOVER — For the 139 graduates receiving diplomas from South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School on Friday, June 10, the ceremony meant much more than an end to classes and the ubiquitous post-ceremony cigars.

As Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas Hickey, noted their high school experience has meant finding a calling or at least building a foundation for discovering what that calling might be.

“We believe that discovering a career, learning a trade, can help one discover one’s calling,” he said. “We gave you choice, opportunity and time and surrounded you with great teachers and resources. And as a result you have built for yourselves a solid career foundation, and wherever life takes you, I am sure your foundation will help you discover your calling.”

While Hickey focused on allied health student Rebecca Reardon of Rockland, culinary student Connor Christie of Whitman and metal fabrication/welding student Tim Cashman of Abington as examples of his point, the school’s co-valedictorians and other student speakers also illustrate it.

Reardon will study occupational therapy in college, and Christie plans to attend the Culinary Institute of America with a goal of following his love of working as a line chef. But Hanson Valedictorian James Cosgrove, a metal fabrication/welding student plans to study nursing at UMass, Dartmouth and Abington Valedictorian Rachel Rapson, a drafting student, plans to major in pre-veterinary at Beckett College. Senior Class President Emily Flynn of Whitman, an auto student plans to major in education in college with the goal of becoming a middle school teacher.

“Your future is like another exploratory program,” Hickey said. “So take the advice we gave you as freshmen: Be flexible, try your best, be open to learning new skills.”

Flynn and Cosgrove reminded classmates of the progress they’d made since entering SSVT as nervous freshmen, and the life lesson that progress holds.

“Walking into the doors freshman year was OK for a few of us, but for the unlucky majority it was scary,” Flynn said. “Coming out of this school, we are going to be technicians, cosmetologists, graphic designers, generals in the Army and much more.”

She added that, with the educational opportunities afforded by SSVT, that even if they don’t stick with their trades, they come away with an education to last a lifetime.

“For those of us entering college or the workforce, I urge you to always remember where you started and to think about the positives of what Vo-Tech has brought us, even if it’s something as simple as an inside joke or as meaningful as lifetime friends,” he said.

He also reminded the class that they have already impressed people outside their school for what they have learned outside the classroom, relating how a waitress at their prom venue had complimented them.

“‘I can tell you guys are Tech kids,’” he recalled. “I didn’t know where she was going with it, but then she went on to say that we had a certain maturity about us. It was a nice memory on top of a fun night.”

Rapson, too, spoke of the dividends gleaned from their high school years.

“For the past four years, we have been going to school together, finding friends and creating relationships,” she said. “And the day has come where we will be leaving this community. … We are able to grow and see the world. We get the chance to live our lives, educated and inspired, a privilege other people don’t always get.”

The Class of 2016 had a sense of fun, too, which was evident by the mortar board décor alone — cosmetology students tweaked the title of last year’s biopic about rappers NWA with their “Straight Outta Cosmo” caps and Student Body President Madeline Long of Rockland referenced the catchphrase for Disney’s “Up,” “Adventure is out there.”

Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey literally gave a tip of his hat to the graduates’ humor after relating the fate of the senior prank. A group of students planned to camp out on his front lawn, he said — but were unaware he had moved.

The class also held a beach party on the school’s front lawn last week, but didn’t tell him because they were concerned he’d be angry.

“I’m just mad I wasn’t invited,” he said, pulling an over-sized white, black and green Aloha shirt out from behind the podium and putting it on over his robe, topping it off with his trademark black cowboy hat before announcing scholarship awards.

HALIFAX– A man who drowned while boating at Silver Lake Friday, June 3, has been recovered and identified. Shi Hu, 28, of Boston, was found in the water shortly after noon, Sunday, June 5, by State Police divers, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz.

Local officials said that  at approximately 1:23 p.m., Friday, June 3, the Halifax Fire Department and the Halifax Police Department responded to a report that an individual had fallen into the water and was struggling offshore from the Brockton-owned water treatment facility located on Route 36, situated on Silver Lake straddling the Halifax/Pembroke line.

There were multiple witnesses to the incident, both from the water and shore, saying they believed the victim was fishing with a friend, according to officials. The friend was in a canoe, and the victim was in a kayak, which then overturned.

The friend attempted to reach the victim before he went underwater, but was unable to reach him in time. An investigation into how the drowning exactly occurred is ongoing. The victim was not believed to be wearing a life preserver, multiple sources say.

During the initial response, employees at the water treatment facility assisted firefighters by shuttling them on a facilities boat to the last known position of the victim. That initial search was not successful, at which time Halifax officials called for assistance from the State Police, Environmental Police and the Plymouth County Technical Response Team (Dive Unit).

More than a dozen Plymouth County communities responded, and scores of rescuers from local and state agencies were quickly on scene with specialized equipment, coordinated by Halifax Fire Chief Jason Vivieros.

Rescuers suspended the search on Friday evening, after a herculean effort to locate the missing boater with no success. By Saturday morning, the search and rescue mission had grimly turned into a recovery operation.

The State brought in a mobile command post and other assets to assist with the recovery efforts. Personnel from as far away as Rhode Island were seen and a staging area for divers was bustling with activity as firefighters, police, and others supported the efforts of divers in the lake from shore.

Advanced “side-scan” sonar was used to scour the lake bottom, along with cameras and other technologies, which had very low visibility, say sources. Sonar (sound navigation and ranging) uses sound waves to find and identify objects in the water. Side-scan sonar is a specialized system for detecting objects at the bottom of a body of water.

At around 11 a.m., Saturday, about a half-dozen family members of the victim arrived, and appeared to speak with various officials, who sources say updated them on the recovery efforts. They could be seen, visibly distraught, under a tent set up on a lawn near the mobile command post.

Local firefighters and police were seen comforting them and providing them with water and other amenities. The family members left after about two hours. Members of the press were politely asked to keep their distance, which they did, although distraught crying could be heard from hundreds of feet away.

On Sunday, the decedent was finally recovered, under gray skies and a light rain. Although State Police say they actually made the recovery, they did note that it was a “cooperative mission.” Within a couple of hours, almost everyone had left, leaving behind just a handful of law enforcement and fire officials.

Officials say they do not yet know how the man gained access to the lake (and if so, if it was via the treatment facility), although Halifax Police Chief Edward Broderick mentioned that Silver Lake is a popular fishing area, where fishing may be, “Tolerated…”, but, “not encouraged.”

Use of the lake is restricted because it is a component of the City of Brockton water supply. “No Trespassing” signs are widely visible around Silver Lake. Motor boats and swimming are strictly prohibited, but other restrictions Brockton puts on the lake were not specifically known.  Broderick could not say if the man was trespassing on the lake at the time of the incident.

The Plymouth County Tactical Response Unit, via Twitter, thanked all of the responding agencies. In a statement late Sunday evening, Chief Broderick on behalf of the Town of Halifax said, “Our sympathies go out to the family and friends of [the victim of] this tragedy.”

WHITMAN — Officials are working to address how the town will approach businesses seeking to locate round-the-clock operations in Whitman.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam recently received a request from 7-Eleven, which has taken over the Tedeschi’s convenience store locations, to operate the stores on a “24/7” basis in Whitman.

Right now, there is no authority to say yes or no, he told selectmen on Tuesday, May 24, so the business will be told to proceed on “the basis of operating standards.”

Whitman’s store is at the corner of Park Avenue and Washington Street.

“We have not regulated the hours of business, except by license,” he said. “In the case of Tedeschi’s, or 7-Eleven, there will be no license issued by the Board of Selectmen because they are not a common victualler.”

Lynam explained that, in the past, when businesses were opening and required site approval, and the process included an assessment of impact on residential areas, the Board of Appeals would set business hours that would have the least disturbing impact on abutters.

As the location in question in this case is within a business district, Lynam said he sought advice from town counsel, which is “lacking in a firm reason to limit the hours.”

To do so would be considered restraint of trade, Lynam reported. He said he will be receiving a written opinion on the issue, at which time he plans to consult with other communities on their licensing process and come back to the board with a recommendation on whether the town needs to establish an ordinance or by-law providing oversight to hours of operation.

“Lacking any other type of authority, we really can’t regulate those hours,” he said. “By virtue of opening, they have the right to operate a convenience store 24 hours a day.”

The Board of Appeals had “exceeded its authority” in denying another business the right to operate 24/7, Lynam said the business opted to locate in another town. While he is working to identify “when, how and where” such a business may operate to avoid future conflicts.

Selectman Dan Salvucci asked if, should the store sell alcohol, would they be required to cover those products during certain hours and lock it up. He also asked about the number of employees the store plans to have on duty each shift for safety concerns.

“They don’t have a license to sell alcohol and they would have to come to us for that, and that would give us the authority to regulate the business,” Lynam said. “I don’t think it’s our authority to tell them how many people to have working in the store.”

In other business, Selectman Brian Bezanson said that, while 20-percent turnout was very good for a town election, the fact that only one in five voters turned out for an important override vote was “troubling,” and asked if more could be done to increase turnout.

Chairman Carl Kowalski said Lynam had asked him if a town-wide emergency message should be sent out as an election day reminder, but he didn’t think it necessary at the time.

He did agree, however, that something needs to be done to unify the town and motivate people to vote.

Whitman-Hanson Cable Access Executive Director Stephen Roy is being remembered as a gifted musician, talented broadcast executive and good friend.

His loss leaves a “significant void,” in the words of WHCA Cable Access Coordinator Kevin Tocci. Roy, 65, died unexpectedly Sunday, May 15.

“He was a great boss,” Tocci said. “I was fortunate to know the guy for about 15 years and learn a lot from him.”

Roy had a vision, not only about everyday life, but about the cable access organization and how it served its communities.

“The whole region is going to miss him,” said former Whitman School Committee member Mike Kryzanek, who recalled working with Roy on a cable access program titled “Issues & Opinions.”

“He was always quite helpful, always willing to go the extra mile, a wonderful technician, but also a wonderful human being,” Kryzanek said.

Co-workers at WHCA echoed those sentiments.

“I’ve found myself lately just thinking, ‘I’ve got to ask Steve this,’ and then I realize I can’t,” said Producer Carol Brewster. “He was always the go-to guy.”

Brewster said Roy was a patient, calming influence when things go wrong.

“It is a rare commodity,” she said. “He was technically inclined and yet seemed to be able to manage people fairly well. Usually you don’t get those combinations together.”

Brewster came to cable access in 1985 after taking a course at Bridgewater State and wanted to learn more about television production.

“I think he was a very good teacher,” she said.

Roy also met his wife Michele while working at the Brockton studio where she volunteered. She said her late husband was a Kennedy Assassination buff mentioned in 13 different books and working on one of his own, as well as a musician. He was also a devoted dad of two daughters, Simone and Evette.

“It’s hard for them, but we’re going to get through it with the help of all these wonderful people,” Michele said.

For many of those people the wonder was Steve Roy.

‘Make it happen’

Tocci said Roy was all about helping residents of Whitman and Hanson put their own vision on the air.

“He had a saying, ‘Let’s make it happen,” Tocci said. “We have a mission. The mission is to provide local programming and also show people how to create their own magic.”

Whitman Selectman Dan Salvucci agreed Roy will be a hard act to follow.

“I’ve known Steve Roy probably from the time he started in Whitman at our cable studio,” said Salvucci who, as selectmen chairman at the time, was involved in contracting Whitman-Hanson Cable Access. “He did a fantastic job. … He not only knew about what went on behind the camera, he knew how to fix a camera. He was just amazing.”

Even those new to local public service, knew Steve Roy.

“I’ve known him for years,” said first-term School Committee member Alexandra Taylor of Whitman.

State Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, who used to work in television in Los Angeles, said Roy was an advocate of getting people to do their own cable access shows.

“He ran it efficiently with a great staff,” Diehl said. “The guy really understood that content from the people in town was what would make people watch that station.”

He recalled how Whitman-Hanson Cable Access was “must-see TV’ sometimes. Diehl’s wife KathyJo Boss had been on WHCA performing with her dancing school as a kid and that viewers felt a connection with such programs as they watched the children in the community grow up.

“The good news is that he was in a vocation that he loved,” Diehl said.

There are many people in Whitman and Hanson, in all walks of life, who have worked with Roy on local programming.

“I worked with Steve Roy for over 30 years,” said Hanson resident Mark Vess. “He was an incredibly talented man. His musical abilities, his electronics abilities and his personality were exceptional.”

Wings Over Hanson

Vess, in fact, reminisced with Roy during a Hanson Selectmen’s meeting on April 19 about their production of a program titled “Wings Over Hanson,” which Roy said was one of the most popular programs he ever worked on and had one a local cable award.

“You were in the plane and you were hanging out of the plane taking the camera work, right?” Hanson Selectmen Chairman Bruce Young said to Vess during that meeting.

“That is correct,” Vess replied. “It couldn’t be done today, I don’t think.”

“Can you guess how many people were watching at home, hoping you would fall out of the plane?” Young said.

“Literally dozens,” Vess rerplied with a laugh.

Vess said Saturday that he valued the opportunity to know and work with Roy.

“I am extremely saddened at his passing, and I think there’s going to be a giant hole in cable TV communications as well as his personality,” Vess said. “He’s going to leave a big pair of shoes to fill over there and he’s very much missed already.”

Producer Paul Watson is another WHCA colleague who has known Roy “for about 30 years,” a phrase one hears a lot from those who knew and worked with him.

“I’m one of the late-comers to that one,” Watson said. “Steve was one of those guys I went to when I got stymied by something because I knew he’d have a solution.”

He also remembers Roy as “just a nice guy to talk to.”

“His sense of humor was very dry, very wry and at times, extremely outrageous,” Watson said.

Lost friend

Young, who had also worked with Roy since the days when Continental Cablevision was the contracted service also expressed sorrow over the loss of a man he counted as a friend.

“Steve Roy’s passing leaves a tremendous void in cable access in Hanson,” Young said. “He was the rock that really held it together for all these years and the man was a true believer.”

Young also noted Roy’s skill in passing on his knowledge of television production to those wishing to learn it.

“I have no idea how the process works, but those are going to be hard shoes to fill,” he said.  “You would be hard-pressed to find anyone as skilled and as dedicated as Steve was.”

Thursday, May 12, at 2 p.m. was the last day to submit for letters to the editor in regard to the annual town elections on Saturday, May 21.