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This fence not seen as a good neighbor

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HANSON — The shortest distance between two points is a straight line is an adage that holds true just about everywhere — with the possible exception of state statute.

The board has pledged to continue discussing the issue with town counsel and planning officials with an eye toward presenting an update on the situation within a month.

Several residents of Lakeside Drive, a private road, crowded the Select Board meeting room Tuesday, June 14 to find out if there was a way to deal with the fence a resident with property on both sides of that road has built across it, blocking both vehicular and — in effect — pedestrian traffic as well from Rollercoaster Road. 

Rollercoaster Road can no longer be accessed from Lakeside Drive.

The town does grade and plow Lakeside, as it does all private roads approved by Town Meeting vote every year.

“I, too, have many, many questions as to what the objective is here,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I think that’s beyond the scope of what this board can do. … The elephant in the room is private ways in general.”

The owner of the property in question at 252 Lakeside Drive did not attend the meeting, but the session was held for residents to voice their concern about the situation, but FitzGerald-Kemmett cautioned the board was legally limited in what they could say.

“I’ve believed right from the beginning this is not a town matter,” said Select Board member Jim Hickey. “It’s a private matter. It’s a private road, but I want to help and the board wants to help as much as we can.”

He said he would like to speak with the owner of the property to find out why he is putting up the fence.

“We’ve heard everything why we don’t want the fence there,” Hickey said, noting they have no reason why it shouldn’t be allowed.

“It is private property,” he said. “What I would like to talk to this gentleman about is why he did it.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the board will ask Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff to work with the Planning Departments and Building Inspector on the issue.

“I don’t know that this is anything we’re going to be able to satisfy,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “That said, I’m going to try to effectuate some positive change here. I don’t know what that’s going to look like.”

Select Board member Joe Weeks said he understands the concern over discussions with town counsel that have to be conducted in executive session, but stressed the board is “on the side of trying to do what’s right for everybody.”

The erection of the fence may result in properties on the road not being in compliance with current dead end road zoning regulations,

But Police Chief Michael Miksch said that, as a civil matter, his authority over the situation is limited, but stressed that response times are not going to change.

“We’re going to get there,” he said. “We don’t usually use Rollercoaster Road to get to Lakeside — it’s a narrow road, it’s not a road I want to go down with an emergency vehicle, unless I have to respond on that road.”

He said there are roads like it all over town, and it presents more of a quality of life issue. Land court limits plantiffs in such cases to those directly aggrieved, not a town, he added.

“This is mainly a civil issue and I cannot deal with civil issues,” Miksch said. “There’s very few civil issues that police can enforce.”

Miksch noted that Fire Chief Jerome Thompson Jr., could not attend because he was working mutual aid on a large fire in Rockland.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said that if the board felt the situation did present a public safety risk, the decision it reached [to permit road closure] probably would have been different.

“We’re trying really hard to come up with a solution that makes sense,” Weeks said, but the fact that it is a civil matter ties the Select Board’s hands. “We haven’t come up to a situation like this in this way before.”

His concern is what it could do to the community and the open communication has been needed.

 “This is where we’re going to need Feodoroff’s office to work with the Planning and Building departments to see if that’s an option for a path forward,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said, stressing it is only an avenue to be explored.

Zoning Board of Appeals member William Cushing of 236 Lakeside Road said he grew up in the area and said the primary intent appears to be access to Oldham Pond, where the road closure at Lakeside and Rollercoaster would create a dead end with a right of way easement to the pond.

“We have a number of situations like this in Hanson,” he said. “This is the equivalent of saying, ‘I can put a gate up and allow who I want to pass, when I want [them] to pass.’”

It is the zoning enforcement officer’s role to enforce regulations through fines.

Nick Rubino of 279 Lakeside Road, who has lived there for five years, is an engineer with concerns about safety on the road and longer response times by taking the alternative route to Rollercoaster.

Another Lakeside Road resident, who is handicapped, said that, with one less access road and the frequency of storm damage to tree limbs, she is also concerned about ambulance response times.

“That is a safety concern for me,” she said. “I don’t feel safe.”

Matt LeBlanc, of 140 Rollercoaster Road, said his driveway has become one of the turnaround spots since the fence went up.

“I was going to put a sign up: ‘I didn’t close the road, please use my driveway,’” he joked. But seriously, he said he sees the fence as a safety issue.

“Either it’s a private way that you can enforce or it’s a private way that can be traveled through public access — you can’t have it both ways,” Cushing said.

Feodoroff said the Planning Board’s role in looking at access is the creation of new lots.

“This is a little bit different,” she said. 

“To not enforce this as a zoning enforcement issue is to set a terrible precedent,” Cushing argued. “I’m not saying you’re saying to set that, I’m saying [that] if it was to be set it’s a terrible precedent because Hanson has a lot of situations like this.”

Feodoroff said that, from a zoning enforcement perspective, there is a question over where a zoning enforcement officer have the right to enforce a private agreement between parties of a legal deed.

Hanson Church plans Ukraine Relief Fundraiser June 25

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Humanitarian aid will be on the menu as the First Congregational Church in Hanson (FCC-Hanson) will present a “Love Ukraine” night on Saturday, June 25 at 6 p.m. The evening will also include information about refugee relief efforts being undertaken in several sites throughout the war-torn country.  

Rev. Dr. Peter Smith, Sr. Pastor of FCC-Hanson, has been hired by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian Relief agency, to serve as a part of their Disaster Assistance Relief Team, which works in partnership with the United Nations High Council on Refugees (UNHCR) to coordinate the work of the several relief agencies wo respond to international crises. Smith, who has been part of several international missions, worked in Ukraine in 1995 with the International School Project, helping to rebuild the educational system there after the fall of the Soviet Union. 

“I still have names and addresses of the teachers I worked with while I was there,” he said. “The Trustees and Deacons of the church were very open to my using scheduled sabbatical time to be part of a response to the greatest refugee crisis since World War II.” After a week of training mid-June at the Boone, N.C. headquarters of Samaritan’s Purse, Smith must be available to be deployed for three or four weeks with as little as 48-hours’ notice.  

In Ukraine, Samaritan’s purse is operating an Emergency Medical Field Hospital, several mobile medical units, and an extensive distribution chain for both food and non-food items. Transitional Housing as well as Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities wherever necessary.

The evening’s program includes a full chicken dinner followed by strawberry shortcake. A multi-media presentation will precede an opportunity for those in attendance to make tax-deductible donations to support the relief work in Ukraine being undertaken by Samaritan’s Purse.

The cost of the dinner is $12. Reservations are requested: please RSVP to 781-293-7997 or at [email protected].

Answer to a calling can take many forms

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NORWELL — Hanson resident Brett Miller and Walpole resident Mark Resnick have a lot more in common than graduating Norwell High School. 

Their journey since high school has resulted in each writing a book during the pandemic lockdown, which brought them back — to the Norwell Public Library, just off the long, winding driveway to their old school — to talk about their muse and the writing process.

“Personally, I’ve loved writing my whole life,” said Resnick, a Walpole resident, who has been an entrepreneur, boys’ hockey coach as well as an author. “I knew I would write a book, I just had no idea when.”

“I always wanted to write a book,” Miller said. “I wanted to write a good book, and this is one of the silver linings of COVID[-19] for me — I work a lot … but when COVID happened, we were shut down for four months.”

He said he had the book written in his head, but had never put it on paper.

Whether they initially set out to do so or not, both are now published authors, whose memoirs touch on their journey toward working with — and/or writing about — people with neurological disabilities, finding the opportunity and inspiration of the isolation imposed by the COVID -19 pandemic to finally sit down and write.

As an essential worker in his other job as a physical therapist, Miller worked one-on-one with clients during the mornings and write at in the afternoon and evenings. It took him about two and a half months to write his first draft.

A former Army combat medic and a licensed physical therapist, Miller is the owner of 110 Fitness in Rockland —the largest wellness center in the world for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. He is also an ambassador for both the Michael J. Fox and Davis Phinney foundations, and has worked in the fitness industry for 28 years. 

Miller had definitely known since a young age that saving lives was his calling. While he always thought he might write that book, it took the lockdown of the gym for four months in 2020, for him to take that time.

The result, “It’s a Beautiful Day to Save Lives: A Medic’s Journey to His Destiny.”

Foe Resnick, writing “Ten Days with Dad: Finding Purpose, Passion and Peace During the Darkest Days of Alzheimer’s and COVID,” helped him cope with his father’s battle with the disease. 

Diagnosed in 2014, Resnick’s father was no longer able to drive, cook or take his medications within four years and could also no longer stay in his home.

Before moving into a long-term care facility, Barry D. Resnick stayed with his son’s family for “10 unforgettable days” during COVID.

The two joked about their school days, as they knew each other since middle school. The evening’s moderator Lisa Ruddwas only a few years behind them.

“We were getting together, and I said, ‘I’m getting ready to write a book and she said, ‘Brett Miller wrote a book!’” Resnick said. “She was so enthusiastic about Brett’s book and I’m like, ‘she’s got to be enthusiastic about my book, she’s the perfect person to be our moderator.”

Rudd said it was a rare privilege to read both their books, having grown up with both men.

“To get to see the way you know yourselves and the overlap of different things … you both have definitely put yourselves out there.”

They took differing approaches to their writing, but agreed that writing the book is the best part of writing a book, as Miller put it. Getting published is another matter.

Miller talked about the email stream he had with four different editors for the year and a half it took before his book was produced by self-publishing company AuthorHouse. 

Resnick, who also self-published his book, which he highly recommends, noting the self-publishing world is much different than it was even 10 or 15 years ago when it was dismissed as “vanity press.”

He prints on-demand copies through Amazon, as a good many self-published authors now do.

Resnick has always been a journaler, while Miller composes his chapters in his mind, dictating or writing them on his phone.

“I started journaling about my dad’s diagnosis and the effect it had on me,” Resnick said. “I turned to my journal to make me feel good … and it just turned into something a little bit bigger day by day.”

He said self-editing was the hardest part of the writing process.

“My first draft was absolute garbage,” Resnick said, and took eight and a half months to write.

They also discussed the divergent neurological conditions with which they have experience.

“He was living his book,” Miller said of Resnick’s care for his father as his book process was beginning.

Resnick said his father was not aware of the book project.

Miller described writing as a valuable therapy process.

“[You go] though all these sensations and emotions — revisiting those situations, over and over again every time you went to rewrite,” he said. “I recommend writing a book.”

Both said they were unaware the other was going through the emotional circumstances which they wrote about.

Resnick spoke about the heartbreak of his father’s disconnect because of Alzheimer’s.

“It’s developing in our brains 20 to 30 years ahead of time [for people who are ultimately diagnosed with the disease],” he said. “You can’t really obsess over that … like a lot of life, it’s too late.”

Resnick said his father’s mental decline seemed to worsen during the isolation of COVID. Miller underscore that, saying that his boxing program lost four Parkinson’s fighters during COVID, but not because of COVID.

“Because of COVID there are some new objective measurements that we’re able use to measure loneliness and isolation,” he said. “I truly believe that when COVID struck for a lot of people who didn’t have a place to be accountable to or some responsibility or purpose — especially some of our older people in the population — they died of isolation and loneliness for sure.”

While they were able to explore information about the respective diseases of which they wrote, both men also found some therapeutic value in the writing process for themselves.

“The whole vulnerability thing is something I’ve learned with age,” Miller said. “I’m a very private person to this day, but I also find value in personal growth and I find value in being vulnerable, even it’s a little risky about what the circumstances could be,”

The leap of faith “comes back to you ten-fold,” Miller also said.

The PTSD and emotional strain he experienced after leaving the Army has made him more purposeful and creative, Miller said.

“I keep reading my book,” he said. “It’s very emotional for me. … I keep reading it because it’s getting easier for me to read.”

Resnick compared writing to exercising a muscle, eventually I became a better writer.

The men were asked what takeaway readers should get from reading their work.

“If you are unsure of where you belong in this journey — help somebody,” Miller said. “Through service to others, you will figure out your focus and … what your greatness is. But it is your responsibility that, when you figure out what your greatness is, that you act upon it.”

“A comeback is always better than a setback,” Resnick said. “It’s a satisfying feeling to help somebody. … And ask for help if you need it, and it’s never too late to change.” 

Both books are available at Amazon.com.

SST closer to MSBA funds

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HANOVER – The South Shore Tech Regional School Committee on Wednesday, May 18 discussed a pair of “homework assignments” related to the schools expansion-renovation application from the Massachusetts School Building Association.

Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said the MSBA has asked vocational schools in the funding pipeline to provide information – without the agency knowing the size of the school – on the vocational programs it might consider how they might meet strong labor market demands through the use of Chapter 74 funds.

That information will be forwarded to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a preliminary review.

“It’s all just potential,” he said. “MSBA wants to know, up front, from the Department of Education, would this be a viable program?”

DESE’s career and vocational unit take a close look at the data to determine, based on the same labor market data SST uses, to make that determination.

No assessment from the school about how it would need to expand to meet the educational program need, would be due for some time, Hickey explained.

The committee voted to forward the information to the MSBA. The second vote of the evening earmarked $900,000 – an estimated amount based on similar projects and school sizes, that the school would need to conduct feasibility studies once approval for the next round is received from MSBA.

“They want to know that, at the local level, there is support for this,” Hickey said. “There are no guarantees, but if, in fact we do move further into the pipeline and we are accepted, part of that money that is involved in that feasibility study will be reimbursed.”

If it were approved today, that reimbursement rate would be about 55 percent, but the MSBA does not dictate the amount schools should budget.

In other business, the students at South Shore Tech Gay/Straight Alliance Club is setting up a Transition Threads, a clothing drive program in which clothing may be donated to that other students in the school or community can do a “shopping day” to obtain free clothing they would not feel comfortable buying in a store in front of their parents or other people.

“They don’t have to come out of the closet, but they can still get clothes that make them feel comfortable,” said student body president and School Committee representative Grace Michel of Pembroke. 

The GSA has also collected more than $200 that will be converted to gift cards.

Select Board salutes Bezanson

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WHITMAN – The Select Board said farewell to colleague Brian Bezanson during his final meeting on the job Tuesday, May 10, presenting him with a gifts from the Board and a small reception after the meeting.

“I know we’re all very appreciative of Selectman Bezanson’s  18-years of service on the Board,” Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said. “We wanted to make sure, collectively, that we recognize that.”

“Brian Bezanson, this is your life,” Selectman Randy LaMattina joked.

State Representative Alyson Sullivan’s General Court Citation and a gift – of a gardening stool and pads to kneel on for weeding – were presented to honor what Heineman described as Bezanson’s many years of selfless service to the town.”

Sullivan apologized for her rough voice, which had been giving her trouble, but added that “it never stops me from showing up, especially for a friend like you, Brian.”

“I can’t really put into words how thankful I am to you, as a member of this board, over the last three and a half years, for myself up at the state level, and prior to that, while running for office,” she said. “I know this [decision to retire] was not a decision that you made lightly.”

She said that, while he may no longer be on the board, she does not believe his service to the town is done in any way, shape or form.

Her citation noted his exceptional public service for the town.

“I really appreciate that,” Bezanson said after the citation presentation, saying it was a complete surprise. “It’s been an honor and privilege to serve the community this long, and it’s been an honor working with you all.”

He credited the support of his family and the citizens’ “keeping me going, knowing that we do good here” with his longevity.

“On to gardening,” he said. “It’s been a wild ride.”

Board Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski thanked Bezanson for his years of service to the town.

“I will miss you all,” Bezanson said. “It’s probably been, other than my family, one of the highlights of my life.”

Bezanson made the motion to adjourn his final meeting, heard saying as it concluded, “Whose idea was this…?”

The board had earlier approved the town’s security camera policy governing park cameras, approved at town meeting the previous week, with very little discussion.

The Freedom of Information Act requirements on how long camera recordings must be kept on file will be followed.

With Town Meeting approval of a full-time facilities manager and Robert Curran’s looming retirement, hiring for the nonunion position will follow the personnel policies now in place, Heineman said.

The vacancy announcement and job listing would be made public via advertising in the newspaper and online as well as posting at Town Hall for 10 business days.

After applications are in, interviews will be conducted with specifics about the interview process to be decided when the application window closes.

It is a separate position from the building commissioner for which interviews were already underway.

Covid update

Kowalski had also read a letter from Whitman Housing Authority Executive Director Eileen Gibson, expressing appreciation for the work Covid Coordinator Danielle Clancy and the Whitman Fire Department did in providing vaccine and booster clinics for its elderly and disabled residents.

“We are blessed to have such a great team on the Fire Department who took such good care of our residents during the administration of the vaccines and who provide life-saving care for our citizens every day throughout the year.”

She gave special thanks to Danielle Clancy, who has managed the needs of the town as health agent while working tirelessly to organize clinics, maintain staffing and inventory and to register patients, “all while taking care of people unable to leave their homes and some of the town’s most vulnerable citizens,” Gibson wrote.

Fire Chief Timothy Clancy also provided a Covid-19 update to the board, reporting reported there was still 43 positive cases in town, “although a few more have come in during the last day.” 

Whitman’s positivity rate is 5.2 percent – the last time the positivity rate was that high was the third week in February. 

“This was not unexpected with the Easter holiday,” he said, pledging to continue monitoring the rates. The vaccination rate is now at 68 percent. 

The fire department is ready to restart vaccination clinics at a moment’s notice as soon as the CDC says it should be done again.

A mom goes back to school

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WHITMAN — Amanda Peterson says becoming a teenaged mom forced her to “grow up and become an adult very quickly,” as it forced her to leave high school to raise her kids.

The Whitman resident does not regret doing so, save for the sacrifice of her incomplete education — a temporary one, as it turned out.

“I am not ashamed or unhappy with my decision to have my children young — they are the most beautiful part of my life,” she said. “But, I put my life on hold for the sake of my babies. I left high school to raise them and support them.”

As she celebrated Mother’s Day with her children, enjoying the homemade gifts they gave her as they had breakfast in bed together, she reflected on how far she has come since making that difficult decision.

To pay the bills at 19, she looked to a job in the fast-food industry, working the front counter at McDonald’s.  She was a knowledge sponge, soaking up whatever information she could to move forward in her career and support herself and her daughter. Fast-forward 16 years, and she’s a department manager, with the career she had envisioned as a teen.

So, how did she translate asking customers the expected phrase “would you like fries with that?” to a management career in a business some dismiss as “flipping burgers?”

Turns out her employer could, and did help.

Peterson obtained her GED through the McDonald’s Archways for Opportunity program.

“I made the tough decision of putting my education on hold to raise my children,” she said. “I always wanted to go back to finish what I started, and do what I thought was best for my children. McDonald’s presented me with the opportunity and I jumped at it.”

Getting her GED had always been a goal she wanted to accomplish.

“I always felt like a piece of me was missing,” she said. “Now that I graduated, I feel like I found that piece and I am whole again.”

She enrolled in Archways for Opportunity in May 2019 and graduated in June 2020, working trough the pandemic as she and her family did their best to stay safe and healthy. The company continued to support Peterson by allowing her to study during breaks while offering her a flexible schedule so she could attend classes, take tests, work, and take care of her family.

“While it was not easy, McDonald’s helped me get it done,” she said.

That her employer supported her in her taking care of her family gave her a feeling of family on its own. Her General Manager Roberta Pratt also encouraged her to take part in the Archways for Opportunity program.

“They are some of my biggest cheerleaders. Everyone was so excited to find out I was pregnant each time,” Peterson said. “Work-life balance and supporting families is one of the best parts of management here. I am so appreciative of the time I am given to bond with my baby and heal after giving birth last month to my third child.”

Pratt seems to be, indeed, a cheerleader for her employee.

“Amanda’s goal has always been to show her children they can do anything they set their mind to,” she said. “It was her dream to finish high school, and I am so amazed by how hard she worked every day to achieve this goal for her family and to further her career. I am so proud of her!” 

Richard Hogan, the owner/operator of the North Weymouth McDonald’s where Peterson works called her an incredible role model for the program and the organization.

“We are grateful to have Amanda as one of our teammates. She’s hardworking, passionate and embodies the best of our brand values,” Hogan said. “The sky is the limit for her.”

While she doesn’t have an actual vision board for her future, Peterson said she is incredibly happy with where she’s at in her personal and professional life. But she does plan to one day own a McDonald’s restaurant.

“I am putting that out into the universe,” she said. “I set my mind to something and I achieve my goals. Down the line, it will happen.”

In the meantime, her kids are probably happy they can enjoy their favorite menu option — chicken McNuggets and cheeseburger Happy Meals. But, then, when mom is happy in her life, isn’t every meal a happy one?

Senior outreach position OK’d in Hanson

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HANSON — Residents in Town Meeting Monday, May 2 voted to fund an outreach director for the Senior Center as well as approving a meals tax. A portion of those proceeds, it was argued could be used to fund the Senior Center position.

The Finance Committee voted against recommending it. FinCom Chairman Kevin Sullivan noted they had not recommended any article that was aimed at adding personnel due to the town’s tenuous fiscal position.

But Select Board liaison to the Senior Center Jim Hickey and Council on Aging Director Mary Collins both argued it is a labor-intensive process that robs her of time to do other important work.

Select Board member Jim Hickey reiterated that 41 percent of Hanson residents are over age 55, with 40 percent of those over age 60. He said the SHINE program that helps people with Medicare paperwork takes about an hour per person. Collins helped 100 people with the paperwork last year.

Overall, Collins said the SHINE program saved Hanson residents more than $33,000 last year during the open enrollment period for Medicare.

“There are services that are available to people to help them remain in their homes successfully as they age,” she said. “Many people are unaware of those services. If I don’t have someone to help with that outreach, the outreach relies solely on me. This is a need that is going unmet.”

Residents Joseph O’Sullivan, Judy Caldas and Janine Foster offered their personal examples of the need for services the Senior Center offered.

Caldas, is the outreach worker, social services coordinator and SHINE counselor at the Marshfield COA, said she is a full-time employee in her role and has the help of a part-time assistant. Collins sought a 19-hoour per week part-time position with no benefits.

“I don’t know how [Collins] could do this,” Caldas said. “I saw over 300 people in that seven weeks of open enrollment. I have four other SHINE counselors working with me that saw another 300 people.” She said they also assist younger people with fuel assistance, housing for the disabled or food stamp programs.

Veterans Agent Timothy White added that Collins’ position is vital to helping the town’s older veterans and surviving spouses, as well.

“We’re talking about $21,736, that’s at the top-end of the scale of 19 hours times $22/hour for a 52-week year,” resident Lance Benjamino said. “If you look down at the next article, you’re talking about a .75-percent meals tax.” He asked what that would bring in.

“That would be about sixty grand ($60,000), sir,” Hickey said.

A second attempt in as many years to adopt a meals tax was successful without discussion, as opposed to the vigorous debate that preceded it’s defeat last year.

Leaving workdays in the dust

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HANSON — When Town Administrator Lisa Green has a bad day, we all do from time to time, she has a unique way to vent frustration — she burns rubber.

Heck, she gets behind the wheel to leave ’em in her dust when she’s had a good week, too.

“It’s a great stress reliever,” Green said. “When I’m sitting at that starting line, I’m not thinking about, ‘I have to get the warrant for Town Meeting printed out,’ or I have to address this records request, or that personnel item, or this budget request. It’s just focusing on the lights and trying to win the race.”

Her results may not be setting the world on fire — yet — but then, she is basically bringing her car back from the dead. While Green is still awaiting that first win, she said she doesn’t go into a race day thinking she has to win, she is simply aiming to improve at this point as she hones both her car’s mechanics and her drag racing technique.

“I got beat in the first round, but that’s OK. That’s to be expected,” she says of her first competition this season. “My win light will come.”

Last weekend at Epping, she said her car ran really well, even in a loss. She put in a speed of 122 mph in 11.26 seconds over a quarter-mile.

“It is so much fun,” she said of the sport recently. “There’s a strategy to it … learning how to do a burnout is not easy.”

Driving through water and spinning the tires both dries the tires and warms the rubber so it sticks to the blacktop easier for faster takeoffs.

“You have to watch the ‘tree,’” she said. “As the lights come down, you have to make sure you accelerate as soon as that green light goes on.”

Those who fail that, get a red light indicating a false start, and they automatically lose.

So, how many times has that fate befallen her?

“Once,” she said. “It happens even to the most experienced racers.”

Green, who has been interested in cars her whole life through her father Les Lucier,  who was also involved in racing.

“He raced, and ever since I basically could walk, he’s been racing, so I’ve spent my whole life growing up [spending] weekends at New England Dragway,” she said of the Epping, N.H. course where she races the 1983 Camaro that once belonged to her dad while he raced from 2006 to 2009. The car was put away after that — sitting in one place for 10 years.

Getting it back in shape to race has been an investment. The whole bottom had to be sanded, mice had found their way into it and established a lot of nests. The roll bars had also rusted and needed to be restored.

The car itself has a new paintjob and the engine required a lot of work — as well as new brakes, rotors and front tires. After all the work had been completed last season, Green spent it on the “test and tune” phase to see what more needed to be done to get back on track — literally.

“Back in the day, when my father raced that car, the fastest it did was 120 mph down a quarter-mile,” she said. “It did a quarter-mile in 11.023 seconds.”

Last year she drove it in 111mph — in 11.47 seconds.

Over this past winter, a whole new fuel system was put in the car, because a lot of the engine components were old and needed to be rebuilt, sand-blasted or replaced. The rear tires were also replaced this go-round. Hanson mechanic John Sandahl, who owns Tube Chassis Designz on off Franklin Street near the Meadow Brook Restaurant, worked on the fuel system.

She was just hoping for a weekend that was not cold and rainy for another test and tune — she got that this past weekend and her first race in the BP Fuels Points Race Series.

She got the sun, but with a temperature of 47 degrees and a 38-degree wind chill, it still was not perfect weather. It cut the track distance to an eighth-mile because of the track conditions and required recalculations to determine how fast the car would have gone at the full quarter-mile.

“I call myself right now in the ‘PeeWee league,’” Green said, compared to the funny car circuit.

“My father’s crew chief, who is Jimmy Reed from Reed Automotive in Whitman, his son, Jim Jr., and myself are a month apart in age,” she said. The younger Reed has also been racing for a long time.

While racing may run in her family — and that of their friends, Green’s father was not a fan of her wish to take up the sport.

Her dad had three cars through his racing career, the 1983 Camaro being his last one.

Jim Reed, Jr., is now racing a 1952 Corvette, Green said. That one is a nine-second car.

HERE’S THE PITCH

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Owen Cadres fires one in from the stretch as he pitched for the Tag Team Fitness Mets during opening day of Hanson’s Little League season Saturday, April 9. The game followed a parade from Town Hall led by a Hanson Fire Department engine and ceremonies at Boiteri Field. Whitman’s opening day parade is Saturday, April 23 at 9 a.m. See more photos, pages 8 and 9.                                                                                                     

Hanson Rec gets down to business

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HANSON — The fiscal 2023 Recreation business plan and budget was presented to Selectmen on Tuesday, April 5 funds full operation of the camp, but the inability to attract lifeguard applicants, means the Cranberry Cove Beach at this point.

 “I’m not looking at this as you presenting a budget right here,” Selectman Joe Weeks said. “I’m looking at this as a budget plan with, realistically, your expenses are going to be … what you’re projecting being able to bring in.”

He said it was easier to ask the town for free cash to close their budget out with a solid business plan.  

Chairman Frank Milisi and Vice Chairman Audrey Flanagan presented the Recreation Commission’s financial plans for fiscal 2023 and 2024 to the Board of Selectmen. If the plan works out, the commission would be less likely to ask the town for more money next year as they seek to do more to bring in more profit, Milisi said.

“Total expenses we estimate to be around $200,000 fully funded,” Milisi said. “That is with Cove staff, a facilities manager and coordinator, the camp staff and the clerical staff.”

The total operating expenses, including staffing costs, are forecast to be about $200,000 to fully fund operations. Funding only funds the facilities manager or the events coordinator — not both — which cuts about $52,000 out of the salary line. There is also no plan for the recreation director position to be filled in fiscal ’23.

Revenue is anticipated to be about $373,250, mostly from weddings, including bar services, ceremonies and camping fees, which he chalks up to a “COVID rush to get married.” But without free cash, he said they would be short of their budget goals for the coming year, according to Milisi. To fund staff needs to meet contractual obligations, he said the Recreation budget would need $60,000.

Weeks said that would be a smart investment to keep the camp going the way it needs to.

The fiscal 2024 forecast is for $372,000 as the COVID wedding rush in plans wind down.

“Wedding revenue is the main source of income for Camp Kiwanee,” Milisi said.

They are starting to consider other ways of diversifying revenue sources for the future, including selling Cove passes to subsidized Cove staff, online camp site and cabin rentals, rolling wedding price increases — potentially 2 to 5 percent a year, to name a few.

The facilities position is a change to the facilities manager post at Town Hall, according to Milisi, but the events coordinator position must be approved by Town Meeting.

He said they do not anticipate hiring Cove staff this year because they have not received any applications for lifeguards, etc., and the pay grade is significantly lower than other places — $16 to $20 per hour. But there is $30,000 budgeted for it. If the beach is open, beach pass fees would subsidize salaries for the Cove staff, and the recreation director position is not anticipated to be filled this fiscal year. 

“This is a wish list,” Flanagan said. “As a business plan, this is ideal — we’re just not there yet.”

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer noted that DCR is paying lifeguard $26 per hour, Milisi also noted some fast food employers are paying $19 per hour.

“That just shows how competitive this market is,” said Dyer, who works for DCR.

Flangan said the openings have been posted for several weeks without one single applicant, and with the bee situation [sand wasps] at the beach, the commission is not fully ready to open the beach.

“Our goal is to get the beach back so we can open next year,” Flanagan said. “[The bee problem] hasn’t gone away.”

“There are no bees at the beach, as it stands right now,” Milisi added. “We’re working through things to remediate it, but the problem with remediation of these bees, is it costs us money — money which we do not have.”

Milisi explained that after a bee infestation last year, the plan is to renovate the facility to a more natural habitat than it was before, which was the recommendation of the Conservation Commission to prevent a recurrence of bee problems, is being planned for fiscal 2024.. The commission is looking to CPC funds to help with that cost.

The department brought in during the 2018-19 season was $269,000 — that year’s salary baseline was $179,600 and operating expenses were $87,000. In fiscal 2019-20 it was $204,000 — salary baseline was about $184,000 and operating expenses were $107,000. By 2020-21, with the COVID-19 pandemic in full effect, the camp was “essentially 100-percent shut down,” with revenue only $66,000 salary baseline was $95,000 and operating expenses were $52,000.

“Obviously, that was a significant cut to our revenues,” Milisi said.

Fiscal 2022 saw $184,453 come in as wedding bookings and programs began to come back, the salary baseline was $91,840 and operating expenses were $60,000. Revenues are used to pay out salaries and operating expenses, which were higher in 2018 and ’19 when there was a director and full caretaker staff on the job.

“Right now, we’re running the camp at full capacity with a half budget,” he said.

Maintenance costs have increased greatly at the facility where everything is made of wood, as lumber costs have increased 400 percent recently. Dyer also noted that the utilities costs — at $30,000 — is a huge portion of operating costs and asked what is being done to reduce energy consumption and the resulting carbon footprint as well as cost.

Milisi noted that the cost also reflects for contracted services for general maintenance. Flanagan said an energy audit has been done at the camp recently and that the economical operation of utilities such as air conditioning is now included in staff training.