Hanson native uncorks a thriller
ByHANSON – Is Tim Wirzburger clairvoyant, or just an apt history student with the patience to see the value in a story idea that was worth countless rewrites?
About 15 years ago, the Hanson native began work on the idea for what became his first novel “In Plain Sight” [Palisade Media, 2022, 368 pages, trade paperback. ISBN#2370000893932] about a summer camp in western Pennsylvania with a sinister mission: hand-pick the teens to be indoctrinated into a group mentality toward a specific goal – for which some would be later selected for clandestine roles.
“Camp Bohr was supposed to be a normal summer camp: cabins in the woods, a beautiful lake, and dozens of teenagers just like Chris. However, strange things begin happening almost immediately – and Chris seems to be the only one who’s noticing,” Wirzburger writes on his website timwirburger.com.
Social media, the use of technology in such plots and other modern tools of politics and social movements also come into play, but any similarities to coup attempts, real or imagined, is purely coincidental, as the movie disclaimers read. But the novel’s fictional anti-government plot hinged to a date of Oct. 6 was not an attempt to reflect real events.
“I think we all know these kids,” Wirzburger said. “It’s supposed to be universal. … It’s not any political commentary. It’s a story, and I think it’s just coincidental that events in the last couple of years [mean] you might see some of that in there.”
The backstories of some characters and an ambiguous time period lend themselves to helping the imagination to wander into all kinds of scenarios.
“People have always said that something like this could happen,” Wirzburger said of the plot central to his story. “At the time I was first writing it, I was a teenager and I wasn’t plugged into anything political. I think the best books are ones that don’t have to live in a specific time, they can meet the reader whatever’s going on in their lives or in the world around them.”
He started it when he was about 17 and is now a 32-year-old digital marketing, living in Charlotte, N.C.
“It’s been about 15 years [in the writing],” he said during an interview with the Express during a visit home to see family.
What it definitely is, is a page-turner of a suspense yarn – and don’t ask, there will be no sequels to this story. Despite a suspenseful ending, he’s not planning to revisit Camp Bohr, the deep woods surrounding the fictional location in Pennsylvania, or the girls’ camp nearby.
When he began writing “In Plain Sight,” the TV show “Lost” and the film “The DaVinci Code” were both popular, and the plot twists and multiple storylines at work in both, appealed to Wirzburger.
“I never went to summer camp, believe it or not,” Wirzburger said. “But I like that idea and, looking back, I think it’s very similar to ‘Lost,’ in that the camp is like an island where it’s a controlled environment.”
If writers are told the best advice for writing is to write what you know, perhaps there are exceptions to that rule. While not having that summer camp experience for himself did present a challenge Wirzburger said creating those social interactions was fun.
“The suspense – I loved that, and I remember thinking I wanted to write something like that,” he recalls. “I kind of started outlining a story and would show a couple of friends, and it evolved a lot over the years.”
At times, he set the project aside for as much as a couple of years at a time while he was in college, studying history and communications at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H, working or just living his life in other ways. He wrote for the college paper and alumni magazine while at St. Anselm.
“Writing and history have always been two of my biggest loves, so there’s a lot ot both in there, “Wirzburger said. Each time he came back to it, the story still had its pull, even though he admits, whatever he had already written “wasn’t that good.”
“It sounded like a 17-year-old had written it, but the story was still good and I wanted to tell it, so I would start over,” Wirzburger said. Each draft still had its own technical problems, but the story itself kept getting better.
About a half-dozen years ago he took an online Masterclass.com course taught by novelist James Patterson. A commercially successful writer, Patterson taught a method of outlining that Wirzburger found the answer to what he needed.
“He talked about having everything in your outline – the plot, character arcs, if you think of bits of dialog, throw it in – and each chapter [would be outlined by] a full, meaty paragraph about what happens in that chapter,” Wirzburger said. “Then you can see all the pieces fit together.”
His outline for the 368-page book was 30 pages all by itself.
He also enjoyed writing the plot twists that keep the reader off guard.
Interweaving chapters about key characters’ origin storylines of service in Vietnam and the difficult return home, family dynamics and a police officer’s crises as all they stories merge together make for a real page-turner.
“I don’t know what it was about Vietnam specifically, or that timeline-wise it worked out,” he said. “I also like shows and stories that teach a little bit.”
Getting published was almost a story in itself, but after looking into the jungle of processes in the publishing world, he sent out 20 or 30 queries – “not that many,” he said – before deciding to self-publish.
“Lucklily, with my career, I have a background in marketing and digital marketing and I built my own website, I can do social media stuff and a little bit of graphic design, copywriting,” he said.
As for marketing the book, he has already begun plans to reach out to libraries, his college alumni and local bookstores. He has left a copy of “In Plain Sight” with the Hanson Public Library.
A book club in Hanover has also read the book and hosted Wirzburger for a Zoom-based discussion of it.
“They had such good questions, and I love talking about the character and the writing choices,” he said.
Wirzburger is currently working on the outline of his next book, a suspense story he will only say has a more adult story line as teenagers try to save the world from Russians and monsters.
“If this book is Netflix, the next one will be HBO,” he said.
Stay tuned.
SST prepares for changes
HANOVER – Some change is going to come to South Shore Tech, as the school has said farewell and good fortune to Principal Mark Aubrey, as they begin the visioning process with the Massachusetts School Building Authority and project team for a renovation expansion project expected to begin in 2025.
The renovation project team is made up of a cross-section of students and parents.
“The purpose of the visioning session is akin to … a menu of options [and] the vision is where we choose the ingredients,” Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said during the recent School Committee meeting on Wednesday, June 14. “We talk about what we value in a school, we talk about what we value in terms of its architecture, how it responds to the community and what we need for instruction.”
The first of three such sessions was held on Tuesday, June 13. A public session will be held on Thursday, July 13. The sessions are held via Zoom virtual meeting and representatives of town governing bodies from the district’s member communities will be sent out to the July 13 session, Hickey said.
“These documents are an essential part of the beginning process for design,” he said. “It will eventually, by the end of this calendar year, lead us to narrowing down with the School Building Committee, a preferred option, and it should eventually lead to an action of this committee for something – probably in early 2025 – to go to the voters.”
Hickey said that, while there is still a long way to go with a lot of work to do on the project, he was glad to get it started with a strong response from parents and staff to get that started.
The committee approved budget transfers for three expenditures, including renovation design, a lease contract for three propane buses and vocational equipment purchases.
A stabilization transfer for $73,366 from the FY 2023 surplus revenue account for design and renovation purposes was approved.
“We scrubbed the numbers – both on the revenue said and the expense side to come up with a number as far as was there anything left in order to move money around at the end of the year,” said Treasurer James Coughlin.
A transfer of $434,760 for the lease/purchase of three new propane buses.
“With the surplus this year, we have a contract,” Coughlin said. “We can encumber the money and, by doing it now, we’re saving $45,000 in charges, so it’s a financially savvy move to pay off the lease as, pretty much a purchase of three buses.”
The district has been running propane buses for a few years now, which have proven to run cleaner, quieter and with fewer maintenance issues than diesel buses. This purchase makes the school bus fleet all propane vehicles.
The third transfer of $90,000 will fund the purchase of vocational equipment in need of replacement.
In other business, Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner reported on the end-of-the-school year activities as well as the annual summer program set to begin July 10 with 150 middle school students registered to explore nine vocational programs.
“I’m grateful to the professionalism and dedication of the school administrators, teachers and paraprofessionals who are making SST a year-round, day and night destination,” she said.
Baldner was appointed the school’s new principal effective July 1.
Aubrey, who is leaving to take a position at Blue Hills Regional, said he wanted to thank the committee – and the “brethren before you” – for the last 24 years.
“I will be gone and I wish nothing but the best for South Shore Tech,” he said. “You guys are going be a fabulous school, and I will be touring when you get that new school, because I want to see it.”
Hickey, on behalf of all the school’s graduates for Aubrey’s service, presented him with an Adirondak chair crafted by carpentry shop students, with a nameplate made by students in the manufacturing shop..
“I’m, not sure if we pulled this off or not,” he said, unveiling the chair that was hidden in the back of the room.
Whitman ready for the Fourth
WHITMAN — The town’s annual Fourth of July Family Fun Day, sponsored by the Whitman Rrcreation Department, returns to Whitman Park with a day of olf-fashioned fun for the whole family on Tuesday, July 4. The Bike $ Carriage Decorating Contest, seen above during last year’s event, will begin at 10 a.m. on the basketball court. After that, residents can enjoy music, activities, relay races, inflatables and more until 1 p.m. Bring your appetite to help support Boy Scout/Pack 22, which will be cooking up hot dogs and selling other snacks to support their programs. Sweeties Shaved Ice will also be selling food.
Cap the day off with a swim, as the Town Pool will be open to residnts free of charge from 1 to 5 p.m.
More to school sports than W’s and L’s
Athletic Director Bob Rodgers, provided an end-of-the-year review of the athletics program to the School Committee on Wednesday, June 7.
“I know a lot of times, when people look at an athletic program, they look at how many championships did you win? How many banners are going up?” Rodgers said. “The athletic program is far more than that.”
While everyone loves to win and celebrate teams that do well, he’s happiest about strong participation numbers.
The program saw 581 students across 27 different sports participating during the 2022-23 school year. The students did more than just keep their eye on the ball, at least 36 participated in community service projects doing everything from helping veterans with yard work, to adopting a widow in Whitman, which one of the teams did, taking care of her by doing chores like mowing the lawn and shoveling snow.
“[Doing] all of the things in the community that will help shape them as they leave Whitman-Hanson – to understand what it means to serve,” he said. “Our teams did well in terms of [athletic] competition as well.”
Fall cheerleading won their 30th straight league title;
Girls’ basketball, boys’ basketball and baseball all won their league titles;
Baseball played to the final four in the state tournament this season;
The wrestling team had three Div. 2 sectional champions – Charlie Lussier, Austin Gamber and Cooper Lucier – with Charlie Lucier winning the Div. 2 state championship.
Among the long list of athletic awards given out this year, Rodgers said Derek Schwede stands out. He served as the manager for several of the school’s teams, including four teams this year alone.
Rodgers also said the Captains’ Council had it’s first meeting of the coming school year on June 6, drawing 56 students who began the process of understanding leadership, service and the impact they can have on the culture of the school and “not just for the athletes.”
Rodgers said he issues an invitation to all students in the school, whether or not they are a captain or even play sports.
“We call it the Captains’ Council because it is about leadership and we do require all the captains to go to those classes, however, we want other students to go as well … as we hopefully help our school move forward through what we have right now, obviously some very tough times.”
He said the council is intended to help students shape school culture into who they want to be and what they want W-H to be about.
Coaches will also be having a pizza dinner roundtable discussion on program development and building strong and healthy relationships with parents to constructively address concerns such as playing time.
“We’ll be talking about some topics that can, hopefully, help our coaches grow … everything from how do we pay attention to the so-called ‘guy on the end of the bench,’ to your best player and how do you incorporate al of them together to make sure that everybody has a good experience regardless of their ability level,” Rodgers said. “[The aim being] at the end of the day, whether you were a starter or were at the end of the bench, that everybody can end the season and say, ‘I’m glad that I was part of this.”
There will also be a push to attract more students to teams, starting a visit with team captains on Monday, June 12. Rodgers said being on a team increases the chances that students will feel more connected to the school.
Vice Chair Christopher Scriven asked Rodgers if any thought was given to bring in a speaker to help coaches, similar to speakers that attend the annual Athletics First Night.
“It seems like everything is getting more and more difficult these days,” he said. “There’s more to be concerned about, there’s more to be aware of, there’s more challenges.”
He said an expert sitting down with a small group of coaches could have a considerable impact.
Rodgers said he is planning a program meeting on mental health with coaches during August, and it has been done in the past, noting that not only is coaching becoming more difficult, attracting coaches is becoming more difficult.
SST graduates receive chilly send-off
HANOVER – The day after Whitman-Hanson families depended on golf umbrellas to make shade while the sun seared the school grounds, SST parents depended on the umbrellas to keep them dry – and winter coats to keep warm even as they basked in the knowledge that the weather was no harbinger of things to come.
Thanks to their hard work and the skills they had gained in the last four years, it won’t be raining on their parade as 153 members of the Class of 2023 accepted diplomas that represented a ticket to the workforce, college, further trade education or military service.
As Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey noted in his speech:
“The bottom line is that the Class of 2023 possesses what employers want: They want individuals with current technical skills and a desire to expand their skill set. They need young adults who can problem solve/troubleshoot, work on teams, demonstrate a strong work ethic, and communicate with different audiences. Does the Class of 2023 pass the test?
Absolutely—with flying colors.”
Hickey said after the ceremony that, while the temperature hovered in the 50s, with a steady breeze blowing around the school grounds, people were “in very good spirits.”
While the weather resembled that of a November football game day than a typical June graduation, families seemed to take it in stride, Hickey observed. And making good use of tents purchased for the COVID-effected graduations of the last three years, the shelters offered just that for anyone who wanted to retreat there under the precipitation.
“They made use of them. … They came dressed like New Englanders … for a rain event.” he said. “A couple of times the umbrellas popped up just for a little bit.”
There was a little concern that all those umbrellas would raise complaints about obstructed views, but those fears were unfounded.
That preparation not only workplace skills, industry recognized credentials and familiarity with workplace culture including dress codes, safety regulations and behavior, but also teamwork and troubleshooting.
“Class of 2023, you are the complete package,” he said. “Employers will be lining up to hire you! You have what it takes to be successful in the workplace and to make an impact in our communities.”
Salutatorian Ethan Mayo told his classmates they are redefining what it means to be a Viking, as well. He noted that reference books call Vikings not much more than seafaring pirates, but he sees more meaning in the word.
“At South Shore it’s a little bit different,” he said. “Through our four years we learned to persevere, problem solve, and most importantly support each other.”
Echoing Hickey’s remarks, he added, “We will definitely encounter new challenges and setbacks as we move forward. However, I believe that we have the abilities, knowledge, and fortitude to prevail. Not only have we been set up for success, but also prepared with the strength to overcome the difficulties that lie ahead.”
Valedictorian Brandon LaFleur put it another way, chalking his academic success to a fear of failing.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m your typical valedictorian,” he said. “I didn’t have the usual motivation that one would have—the pursuit of higher education and impressing colleges. … “I was afraid of failing—but for me, “failure” meant not giving my best work to something, and I couldn’t accept mediocrity. I just wanted to know that I succeeded to the extent I knew I could.”
He encouraged his classmates to reject the temptation to become comfortable with subpar work, because it can be a reflection of yourself.
“This, sadly, did not mean that I did everything right and was perfect in my ways,” he reflected. “I dropped several bulbs, scrapped many pipes after failed bends, knocked down a ceiling grid, and crashed a scissor lift into an innocent shelf. But that is the thing with trying to become good at something, as all of us here have done. We all have failed.”
Failure can, instead, be an excellent teacher.
“Mistakes are guaranteed,” LaFleur said. “Show up for yourself every day, do the best that you can, and know that each misstep is one step closer to fulfilling your potential. If you can do that, you will be fine.
Another adjustment to life’s changes had senior Ben DuFour’s step-father Jaime Pearce receiving his diploma posthumously.
“We were able to work out what I think was a well-received, but brief acknowledgement,” Hickey said, calling students up alphabetically by shop. Ben was an automotive student who died in a car-train crash and his diploma was awarded to spontaneous applause and a standing ovation at the end of Automotive before the next shop was called.
State Rep. David DeCoste, R-Hanover, attended the graduation ceremony, as did School Committee members.
Hello, world
In the last four years, their lives have been turned upside down by a global COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges of remote and hybrid classes and becoming accustomed to the “new normals” that went along with all that.
So, why wouldn’t the commencement ceremony for the Class of 2023 be turned on its head by threatening weather?
“Like many of you, we’ve been watching the weather very closely today,” said WHRHS Principal Dr. Christopher Jones in his welcoming remarks. “So we’re going to do something a little different, and we’re going to have our dessert before our dinner. Out of an abuncance of caution, we are going to flip the ceremony, thereby offering the graduates what they really came here for.”
The graduating class loudly cheered as Jones announced that diplomas would be awarded first, in hopes that the weather would hold out for the remainder of the program.
It did – but, just in case, there was a plan for that.
“If it rains, we will stay for the ceremony,” he said. “If it thunders, we will not.”
The plan for a dangerous storm involved having the graduates – and their parents, Jones emphasized – report to the Performing Arts Center in the high school for the ceremony’s conclusion.
New School Committee Chair Beth Stafford, a former Whitman Middle School teacher, congratulated the class on behalf of the School Committee, addressing that fact.
“I have one word that I will use tonight to describe this class, that word is adapt,” she said, noting the changes the Class of 2023 have had to face. “You adapted from elementary school to middle school, and then to the high school, but the biggest issue was what you had to do in high school. … This ability to adapt will be very important in your future endeavors.”
Whether in the workforce, higher education or the military, they will have to adapt to new situations, leaving home, following orders, bosses and more, Stafford said.
“With your past experiences, you will be able to adapt to any changes that you will face in your future,” she said.
It certainly came in handy on graduation day, as uncertainty about thuderstorms forecast for about the time the ceremony would be hitting its stride, motivated school officials to not only pushed the commencement ahead an hour, but handed the diploimas out first.
With rain holding off until well after the commencement, seniors not only enjoyed an uninterupted, if unusual, ceremony, there was more time after it for them and their families and friends to mill about the football field for photos after its conclusion and before darkness decended.
Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak, who admitted to anxiety when having to speak before large groups, spoke to the class about his expectations, challenges and hopes for them.
“I expect you to be a good citizen, take part in your community – use your voice – remember to vote and to be a good neighbor,” he said. Manners, humility, kindness and passionate about living life to the fullest rounded out his expectations.
“I challenge you to take care of your mind and your body,” he said. “This gets really hard the older you get and the less time you have when life gets in the way.” Grace, stepping out of one’s comfort zones, thinking outside the box and listen to others regardless of viewpoint, with civility. Finally, he hopes for their success, according to each student’s definition of what that is, joy and that they believe in themselves.
Student speakers also touched on these themes [for complete texts of student speeches, see our graduation section].
For Valedictorian Noah Roberts, the journey to graduation came down to being able to answer the question: “Who are you?”
He candidly discussed the challenges and effects of mental illness and addiction on his family [see related story, page one] and the importance of caring for yourself.
“Trust me, I know that there is no such thing as a “normal” family situation, but make sure to give the ones that you see as family, whether by blood or by bond, an extra-long hug today,” Roberts said, thanking his grandmother and younger brother for their love and support.
“Nana, my entire being will be eternally grateful for the numerous sacrifices you have made for us,” he said, eliciting some tears from the woman who raised him when his mother could not. “you have always been there for me, and I genuinely don’t know where I would be without you, I love you nana. As for Cody, thank you for being my rock; through thick and thin you have stuck with me.”
He also thanked teachers and school staff who have helped him through his school years, for everything from extra help with physics to an extra chocolate pudding in the cafeteria.
He also spoke of the stress students like himself also self-impose.
“Even in high school, I felt that I was under so much pressure to be the best, because if I failed to do that, then what good was I?” he said. “I’m not sure if this mindset is true for all high school students, but what I realize now is how that mindset is not only unhealthy but is also dangerous.”
He closed by encouraging his classmates to remember to be themselves in all they do as the best way to answer is initial question: Who Are You?
Salutatarian Leah Cataldo spoke briefly about the need to relish life as it goes by in the blink of any eye, with all the changes it confronts you with, and while reminiscing is enjoyable, “our pasts are nothing compared to our futures,”
ON Hope
Classmate Brian Bouffard, winner of the annual student speech competition, advised a healthy dose of hope, while echoing Stafford’s advice on being adaptable.
“During the pandemic, so many popular activities were forced to close. Restaurants, movie theaters, and family get-togethers grinded to a halt in the face of an omnipresent, insidious disease. But we endured,” he said. “I noticed this same trend in our school, too. … We were able to recognize the necessity of these conditions, and got through it together.”
It’s been a difficult four years, but Bouffard pointed to his recollection of a “Got Hope?” poster in a middle school guidance office that still carries an important message.
“We have all learned what hope looks like: hope is perseverance. Hope is endurance. Hope is togetherness,” he said. “I have hope for all of you, class of 2023. I have hope for your futures, for your dreams. I’ve seen firsthand what all of you can do, and it’s nothing short of awe-inspiring. There’s no challenge we can’t work through. It is for this reason that I have hope. We have to have hope… because where would we be without it?”
In addition to the school’s traditional moment of silence in respect to those who have served their country in uniform, members of the graduating class who will serve and those who have given their lives in uniform, Dr. Jones also asked for a moment of silence in respect for the family of student Ava Patete, who had been killed in an incident involving an MBTA train earlier in the week.
Honoring the fallen on Memorial Day
Heart-felt personal tributes by Select Board members to late family members and town residents who served in harm’s way during America’s wars, parades and ceremonies marked Memorial Day in Whitman and Hanson on Monday, May 29.
“As a community we tell their stories and we visit their gave sites
Whitman Select Board member Shawn Kain recalled the service of his grandfather, Robert Hughes, who was born in Boston in 1922. Hughes had lived in Whitman for a long time and had left at age 16 to join the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Depression.
The CCC was a New Deal program giving urban youths work and an opportunity to live in camps in rural or wilderness areas to get away from the unhealthy living environment of the cities.
After he became old enough, Hughes joined the Army and, during World War II, parachuted into the Normandy, France countryside on June 6, 1944 with the advance wave of paratroops as part of the D-Day invasion of Europe.
“I think of that moment and how powerful it was … and the sacrifice that he made,” Kain said. “I just can’t get over how unfathomable that is. My grandfather is my hero and, today, Memorial Day, as a community we remember our heroes. We tell their stories, we visit their gravesites.”
For those who didn’t come back, Kain said, the community holds a special place in their collective hearts for them and thank them for their service.
Select Board member Justin Evans paid tribute to WWII Medal of Honor posthumous recipient. 1st Lt. John Fox, who lies in Colebrook Cemetery. The Board had attended memorial ceremonies at Colebrook before the parade.
Evans recalled how Fox, an African-American soldier had radioed artillery fire on his position while being overrun by German forces in Italy. He had been found after the battle, along with more than 100 dead Axis soldiers surrounding his location.
“Part of the job at Memorial Day is recognizing some of these sacrifices,” Evans said, noting it took some 50 years before Fox’s family to gain the recognition of Fox’s all-Black unit. … [Another part] of that effort is continuing to fight for freedom and equality.”
Select Vice Chair Dan Salvucci saluted his father, who had enlisted uring World War II, and re-enlisted for transfer to the Pacific after the war in Europe had ended.
“I asked him why he did that, and he said, ‘My job wasn’t over.’ That’s the type of people who sacrificed of themselves,” he said “We can’t thank [our veterans] enough,”
Select Board member Laura Howe thanked residents for turning out to remember the sacrifices of the fallen.
State Rep. Alyson Sullivan R-Abington, told Whitman parade-goers about a conversation he had with a Gold Star wife in that town earlier in the day.
“There are so many mothers and fathers that we are thinking about today,” she said. “Today isn’t about a cookout or a barbecue or even the parade in an of itself. To all our Gold Star families and friends of Gold Star families, today we are thinking of you all.”
A shortened parade route then wound around Whitman Park to the Civil War Monument at the crest of the park’s highest hill where the combined Whitman middle and high school band s played the national anthem and “Taps” – the latter also performed at Town Halls before memorial wreaths were placed at Town Hall’s honor roll monument and monuments to Civil War fallen and service in al wars.
Hanson’s parade, however, had to work around band music because of what Veterans Officer Joe Gumbakis described as misunderstanding about an agreement to alternate the WHRHS band between the two towns, due to music faculty changeovers.
“The band kind of fell through this year, for us,” he reported to the Hanson Select Board on Tuesday, May 23. After discussions with the district, he said the issue has been resolved and the rotation schedule would return next year.
Conservation Agent Phil Clemons said the Congregational Church in Hanson, where he is a co-leader of a group “willing, able and preparing to lead in the national anthem and ‘God Bless America’ at the appropriate times.”
“There’s a plan in place for that, and it will not be missed,” Clemons said. “And we will not fail to do it.”
The parade, with an adjusted format, began with an abbreviated ceremony at Indian Head School and wreath-laying at Town Hall, with the remainder of the program, including the participation of the re-enactors of the 22nd Mass. Vol. Infantry, honoring the original Union regiment that served in clashes such as the Seven Days, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and the Wilderness. A family-oriented living history group. The 22nd Mass., also includes female members portraying the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which promoted healthy living conditions in Union camps.
Some of the women in the group also portray the widows and other mourning female family members of the Union’s fallen.
The American Legion Post held a cleanup Saturday, May 27 in preparation for a post-parade gathering.
“It was s a great success, we had many volunteers that helped out, Veterans from the Legion, Sons of the Legion, Ladies Auxiliary, Select Board Members, our Veterans Agent, and many others,” Legion member Selectman David George said. “A special thanks goes out to Michael Guest from MW Guest Property Services in Hanson, as they showed up in full force with a working crew to include Michaels Wife Shannon and their five children.”
George termed the day’s efforts a job well done as horseshoe area, pavilion, and the whole yard was cleaned up front and back, New flags were installed on all flag poles, mulch donated by MW Guest was spread and flowers donated by the Ladies Auxiliary were planted.
Legal advice delays OK of flags, sidewalk paint
WHITMAN – Sometimes a singe individual can create an issue where there hadn’t been one before – for example, poet Amanda Gorman’s Biden inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was pulled from Miami-Dade, Florida schools following a single challenge to its “appropriateness,” the latest ban of literature and history books in that state’s schools.
Whitman town officials have, in the past year, received a complaint about small pride flags, bought with an employee’s own money, to decorate flower boxes at the Council on Aging as a signal for LGBTQ elders who may have no support elsewhere, that they are welcome.
Now a request from Whitman Pride to has moved Town Counsel to advise that the town form a policy on flag displays and painted sidewalks to remove any problems from the approval process for either.
“We’re not saying no, we’re saying we need a process,” Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said.
The Select Board voted on Tuesday, May 23, to refer the matter to the By-Law Committee, after members have a chance to ask questions of Town Counsel prior to its next meeting – on June 20. While that may be too late to hinge a sidewalk painting project planned at Whitman Public Library on the annual June Pride Month activities for the LGTBQ+ community, it is a project proponents wish to advance.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said Kathleen Evans had reached out to the library about painting portions of the sidewalk in rainbow colors for Pride Month – at the side entrance to the building and a small area at the front.
“It’s something that has not been requested before and I just think that maybe it should go for a by-law[ revision],” she said.
Because of a recent Supreme Court decision involving the City of Boston and its flag displays at City Hall, after a private Christian group demanded it’s flag be placed there in response to a Pride flag. Boston receives more than 280 requests for flag displays a year, but that application was the only one rejected.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer, writing for six members of the court, said the central question in the case, Shurtleff v. City of Boston, No. 20-1800, was whether the city had created a public forum by allowing private groups to use its flagpole or was conveying its own speech by choosing and endorsing the flags it approved.
“All told, while the historical practice of flag flying at government buildings favors Boston, the city’s lack of meaningful involvement in the selection of flags or the crafting of their messages leads us to classify the flag raisings as private, not government, speech — though nothing prevents Boston from changing its policies going forward,” Breyer wrote last year.
That is why Whitman’s legal counsel advised that the town institute a policy for flag or painted sidewalk displays before taking any action on the current application.
Select Board Chair Dr. Carl Kowalski said he has spoken to Town Counsel about the matter.
“It appears to me that displaying the flag – no matter what flag it is – and to paint a crosswalk, no matter what kind of designation the cause is – this has nothing to do with what is planned to be painted [at the library],” he said. “It would mean that, in the future, we would have to approve everything. Anything. It could be KKK or the [Proud] Boys, and so I thought we should be cautious on it.”
Counsel Michelle McNulty opined that, since the town does not have a policy governing crosswalk painting or flag display approval process, the town needs to have one in place before the board takes any action on any request, to protect both the town and applicants.
Kowalski suggested the matter be passed to the By-Law Committee without discussion, but as Kathleen Evans’ wish to explain her project was granted – that meant Select Board member Justin Evans, who is her husband, had to leave the room.
Select Board member Shawn Kain expressed concern over passing it to the By-Law Committee without being able to ask questions of town counsel first.
“It would be helpful to have some guidance from counsel here, because the massage I [got] as a lay person reading these documents, I thought it said if you don’t explicitly have a by-law, which states how we fly flags and that kind of stuff, then you can’t really restrict because if you restrict one, you should be restricting others,” Kain said. “There was some ambiguity about it.”
He stressed it was not the cause that caused his concern.
‘I think it’s a cool imitative, I think it’s cool for Pride Month,” he said. “I’d like to support it, but obviously I don’t want to go against what’s recommended by counsel.”
He asked if there was a way to expedite the request.
Kathleen Evans said ideally the project was intended to be done in time for Pride Month in June, but it could be done in a different month. She said that, if it paves the way for other Pride displays in town, it would be worthwhile to have the By-Law Committee create a policy.
“I’m not comfortable with Justin having to leave,” Kain said.
“She said he has to remove himself from the room, because he could affect it just by being here – and he’s an imposing figure,” Kowalski quipped. “Just by being here he could affect what goes on in the room.”
Kathleen Evans said she and a group got together last year to do the sidewalk project as an inclusive project, and that other South Shore communities, such as Hingham have done similar projects in the past year alone.
“It seemed like it would be really feasible and the library expressed interest in doing it,” she said. “I think inclusivity is important and this would be a really cool way to get people involved in a project that would last.”
Kowalski said he totally agreed with the project and the reason behind it, but the town had to “make sure we don’t open the path for people who aren’t as interested in sensitivity to other people.”
Rosemary Connolly, of Franklin Street, asked if some of the groups like the Proud Boys that Kowalski had mentioned, would be covered under hate speech regulations.
“I really think we need something in writing,” he said. “I was just using those [groups] as an example.”
Select Board fetes Hickey
HANSON – The Select Board on Tuesday, May 9 said goodbye to departing member Jim Hickey, who declined to seek re-election to a third term this year.
The Town Election is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 20 at Hanson Middle School, with early voting having been underway between Monday, May 15 and Wednesday, May 17.
Hickey said he will still be around and is looking forward to what the future brings.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Hickey said. “There’s actually an open seat on the Council on Aging. I’m going to take that seat and I’m going to be around. It’s just that there’s been opportunities placed before me and I want to pursue those opportunities and still be a vital member of the community and help the seniors.”
Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett, who was elected to the board the same year as Hickey in 2017, gave him a hug after presenting him with a proclamation from the board citing his work as Senior Center Liaison and member of the W-H Regional Agreement Committee. Hickey had also served on the Recreation Commission for two years and had been a member of the town’s 200th Anniversary Committee in 2020.
“We’ve learned a lot together over the last six years and grown a lot and it is with great pleasure that I present this to you,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “There’s no way to put in a proclamation or a citation all of the things that you’ve done, so we’ve just hit a couple of high spots.”
She then read from the proclamation, prefacing it with a prediction about Hickey’s legacy.
“Your swan song, the thing that you will be known by this board for will be your contribution to that Regional Agreement Committee, and also all of the things you did for the Senior Center,” she said. “Don’t think that they went unnoticed, because they didn’t, that legacy will live on.”
The board also presented Hickey with a photo taken by Town Clerk Beth Sloan and framed by Administrative Assistant Lynn McDowell of Hickey sitting on the throne in the Robin Hood stage set before Town Meeting on May 1.
Select Board members shared other memories of serving with Hickey. Ed Heal said he learned a lot in his first year of office from Jim.
“For me, it’s going to be unbelievable not to have you rattling off all these numbers off the top of your head, percentages that you wouldn’t even think you could do,” Joe Weeks said. “Thank you for your leadership, everything that you’ve done for the Senior Center, the seniors in general – the representation there – everything you’ve done for the Regional School Agreement. Fantastic. You’re a great leader [and] a great citizen.”
Member Ann Rein said, “I’m going to miss you because I was hoping to learn more from you, and I’ve learned a lot already.”
State Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, also presented Hickey with a citation from the General Court.
“I’m honored to be here and represent the town of Hanson and several other communities in Plymouth and Norfolk counties as a state senator,” Brady said. “Thank you for your service to the community.”
The Select Board also conducted something of an after-action review of the Town Meeting and the status of the fiscal 2023 budget with Town Accountant Eric Kinsherf as a way to determine how things went and how they could have been done better.
“We could always do things better and this definitely not taking pot-shots at anybody, “ FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “This is more sort of with the mind set of, ‘Let’s just improve the process and experience for the next time around.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she has already discussed the need for stricter enforcement of article filing deadlines with Town Administrator Lisa Green.
“When we don’t enforce the deadline, it all floats downhill to Lynn and Lisa and legal counsel … and everyone is running around like maniacs,” she said. “You all make it look so flawless to the people sitting in the audience, but I know that there’s pandemonium behind the scenes and it’s unnecessary.”
For planning this October’s special Town Meeting warrant, it is vital to reinforce deadlines, she said, with “absolutely no exceptions” being granted.
“I liked the fact that this board didn’t have any questions,” she said. “By the time we got to Town Meeting we had discussed every single article.”
There was a “disconnect” on some submitted articles that had been changed, but the change hadn’t been captured before the warrant was printed.
“This is a group effort,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “It doesn’t have to fall on us or Mr. Kinsher for on anybody.” Once a draft warrant is created, she suggested it be recirculated through departments and others submitting warrants to allow for confirmation on wording.
“I really would like to see multiple QC [quality control] processes, because I think what happens a lot of times, particularly with legal documents that are this size, you start to see what you want to see because you’ve been looking at it so long,” she said. “I think we need fresh eyes.”
She also gave high praise to McDowell, who did not come to the job as administrative assistant from a municipal background, for the speed in which she familiarized herself with the warrant process.
Heal expressed concern about the order of articles in the warrant, after some comments had been made from Town Meeting floor about an article being listed out of the right order and they had to be switched around.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said legal counsel had explained that past practice in listing articles a certain way did not mean that practice had to be adhered to forever and the board has the prerogative for ordering articles.
“I think some compelling arguments were made to suggest that perhaps the way that it used to be done was preferred, but again, there was noting legally impermissible about what was done,” she said.
“I thought it was a good Town Meeting, especially for the number of articles that we had, ” Weeks said. “It was actually a relatively short night, considering what it could have been.”
He did mention typos in the warrant and the number of handouts were a little unwieldy.
“They were all needed, so I don’t know how you’d fix something like that,” said.
“I think we overwhelmed people with that information,” Rein said. “I wonder if there isn’t a way to get that out before [Town Meeting].”
Heal suggested a common format that identified what articles they explain. FitzGerald-Kemmett also suggested a deadline for handouts should also be considered.
“You’ve got to put yourself in peoples’ shoes,” she said.
Weeks said more time simply needs to be devoted to educating people.
“I just feel you [should] give as much information as possible,” he said.
“The website is going to be key,” Rein said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett also said Frank Milisi’s suggestion that the meeing start earlier appeared to boost attendance.
Kinsherf suggested that plain-language summaries be required for articles, with the warrant providing a link to the summaries once it is posted on the website.
Mother’s Day: Laughter amid the love
By Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
When my siblings and I were growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, our mom was a Sunday school teacher at Hanson Baptist Church. Every Sunday the four of us kids went to church with her.
One particular year, when my sister Barbara was 4, brother David 7, sister Penny 10 and I was 13, we were all up and getting ready for Sunday school and church – that in itself was an effort for a family of six with one bathroom and Penny and I fighting over the mirror. Our dad was a Deacon of the church but rarely went. He said it was okay with God if he stayed home and fixed what needed to be done while it was quiet.
It was also Mother’s Day and our mom looked so nice in a navy-blue suit, white blouse and navy and white high heels.
My brother had made her a hat in Sunday school the week before out of a white paper plate with all kinds of colored macaroni glued to it. A pretty blue satin ribbon was attached to either side of the plate which mom tied under her chin. We all piled into our Buick sedan dressed in our Sunday best.
Mom solved the problem of us arguing over who would sit in the front seat with her by proclaiming only the youngest got that spot. She also put an end to any arguments about who sat by the window seats in back by telling our brother it was safest for him in the middle, as Penny and I were bigger and older.
Once we arrived at church, we all went to our Sunday school classes and Barb was delivered safely to the children’s room until it was time for the church service.
I was in charge of getting the four of us to the Sanctuary after Sunday school was over. Mom was waiting for us at the Sanctuary door hat in hand. My brother pointed out she had taken it off. She graciously retied the hat and we went in to sit down. I noticed other moms also donned their white paper plate hats and I remember feeling admiration for them. My brother was so proud!
Mom seated us in the pew with her on one end with Barbara beside her and me on the other end with my brother between Penny and me. It worked perfectly as we both liked him but didn’t think too much of each other at our ages.
It was a Communion Sunday and Barbara kept wondering what the tiny glasses in the holders on the back of the pews were for. She looked at them and up at mom but mom pressed her fingers to her lips which meant “Be quiet”.
As the service progressed and it was time for Communion, I watched Barbara looking at everyone taking it all in. When it was all over and a second collection plate was passed in the quiet and solemn hush of the meaning of the moment, Barbara’s clear little voice pierced the silence, “was that to pay for the drinks?”
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