WHITMAN — The Whitman Area Toy Drive, along with Whitman Police, hosted a collaborative effort to  Stuff A Cruiser on Sunday, in honor of Sgt. Michael Chesna, a Weymouth police officer killed in the line of duty this year.

Toy Drive Co-organizer Donnie Westhaver shook his head in disbelief over the expansion and success of the annual event. He looked over the 50 plus rows of eight-foot tables and his eyes filled with tears.

“I could not have imagined this 18 years ago. We started with just two tables,” he said.

Jane Plasse co-organizer called the event a huge success.

“What an amazing day! We couldn’t ask for a better day except the weather,” she said. “The community was awesome bringing so many donations for the Whitman Area Toy Drive in honor of Sgt. Michael Chesna. I was so glad to have met his entire family. What a great tribute.”

Jason Ho of Needham came down to the event after seeing a flyer on Facebook.

“I have a full time job and I can afford to help others now,” he said. “It was something I saw that was shared through my car club. I wanted to make a donation.”

Santa was waiting to talk with the children as families dropped items off to stuff the cruiser. He asked many what they might like for Christmas. A joyful face of a child was clearly reason to smile as emotions surfaced for some of  the volunteers and family members of Sgt Chesna, who took photos and thanked those who donated.

Grace Eezepik, 2 1/2, of Whitman was learning about generosity in giving to others. In the rain she carried a toy donation wearing her raincoat, boots and a smirk.

She walked with purpose, dropped off her gift on the back of the police cruiser and promptly told Santa  she would talk to him from across the room but would not be taking a picture with him. Evoking laughter from the gathering of adults it was a stark reminder of why they do what they do each year — simply for the innocence of the children.

Westhaver described the Whitman Area Toy Drive as a one-stop-shopping event as families in need do get whatever they need in age appropriate toys, along with wrapping paper, tape and — if needed — even a Christmas tree.

There are approximately 10 people who assist with the toy drive at its busiest time but volunteers of up to twenty five people have come in from various groups to offer a hand.

The ages of 10-15 can be considered the tween-age in which gift cards are usually given, he said.

He also gently reminds givers that you cannot eat a toy. Often time someone would like to make a donation in the form of money- we do assist with providing a holiday meal gift card to the local a grocery store in some situations, he added.

“We have created a bond between Whitman Area Toy Drive the Chesna family along with Whitman police,” said Westhaver.

Cindy Chesna widow of Michael Chesna spoke about supporting the event in the future, according to organizers. She emphasized the family was really pleased about the upcoming collaboration of future events, Westhaver said.

The event tally was astounding after all of the collections were completed organizers counted 35 to 40 gallon trash  bags at maximum capacity of toys.

For information on assistance or donations for the Whitman Area Toy Drive Donnie Westhaver’s email is [email protected] or call 781-447-6883. Voice messages will be returned.

Jane Plasse can be contacted at [email protected] along with her cell 781-953-0642.

The School Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 14 voted to request that Business Services Director Christine Suckow seek lower increases in annual costs for the bus and custodial services than are currently contracted over the next two years. She agreed to make the requests and come back with information in December.

“It’s in writing that we have the right to exercise these options,” School Committee member Fred Small said. “The question is, by what date do we have to exercise the options and isn’t it worth a phone call to say, ‘We’re looking into doing our own [transportation] perhaps, etc., would you consider doing something that we would lock in for two years. … It’s still the same contractual obligation, we’re just not tying our hands for that extra year.”

He had suggested earlier in the meeting, during a report on a recent Mass. Association School Committees conference, that the district might want to consider purchasing its own fleet of buses to save money in the long run.

“I’m just looking at it as is there any harm in asking,” Committee member Christopher Howard said. “What do we have to lose?”

Suckow reported that contract extensions put out to bid for optional years four and five of the First Student bus and SJ Services custodial contracts and four through six for Collegiate Press for copy center services during her report on the fiscal 2019 budget update.

First Student will increase by $60,128 for next year’s budget and another $41,630 for fiscal 2021, or 3.5 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. Suckow said the figures were brought in during November to enable her to plan for building the fiscal 2020 budget.

“Do we have to agree to do both years, or could we do one year at a time?” Small asked about the transportation increases. Sukow said it was a decision for the committee to make, but she suggested they adopt both years of the contract extension, especially with First Student, which has little competition.

Committee member Robert O’Brien Jr., said he did not object to voting on a two-year figure, but argued it didn’t hurt to seek a better percentage. When contracts were put out to bid, they were negotiated for three years with options for four and five.

A vote also requested that Suckow ask for a similar reduction involving the contract extension for SJ Services — which included  3 percent hike of $29,000 and a 2-percent increase of $29,000 for fiscal 2021.

The Collegiate Press contract, which does not include increases in the three-year extension, was approved without discussion.

Suckow also expressed concern that transportation and out-of-district placement costs for special education and mandated costs for homeless student transportation, which is already $2,950 in the red, will increase.

“The rest is pretty status quo,” she said of the budget. The federal homeless transportation reimbursement, which has been 30 percent, is sometimes not received until the year after it is spent, Suckow said.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said the district is working to “brining the program in” with more services at the middle school level to help keep students in the district and control out-of-district placement costs.

“We might be spending money for next year’s budget to make money by keeping our kids here,” Szymaniak said, adding the district’s legal counsel has been consulted and had made a “stong recommendation to build a couple of programs” in language-based middle school programs that are now placed out. The expense would add a couple of teachers and paraprofessionals to work towards saving money in the future.

“We’re really looking at how we can be more effective and efficient,” Szymaniak said. “Our kids want to stay here and we want to keep them here.”

Small said inclusion is important.

“It’s nice that we save money, too, but keep our kids here,” he said.

MCAS results

“We’re like our peers,” Assistant Superintendent of Schools George Ferro said. “We are in the middle. … How do we get out of the middle?”

He indicated the district should not focus so much on what the state tests, but to look at the tools it provides educators in order to prepare students to succeed on the tests as well as out in the world.

“Our focus is clearly on learning and meeting standards … but we also have to make sure we’re giving our kids the playbook in which they’re going to have success,” he said. “We also need to embrace and change the lives of our elementary teachers.”

W-H schools arre among the 74 percent of individual schools in the state not requiring state assistance or intervention. The district also was part of the 90 percent of districts not requiring state assistance or intervention. It was also among the 53 percent of state districts that partially met every target for every school and student category.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has come up with a new accountability system in grades three to eight, according to Ferro.

New test results will be “exceeding expectations,” “meeting expectations,” “partially meeting expectations” or “not meeting expectations.”

He said it is important to note it is not just a change of names in the grading approach.

“The test that students take right now is much more rigorous, as far as the standards for reaching MCAS scores,” he said. “It is much more difficult, and they made it that way for certain factors. They valued readiness for the next grade level and consistent expectations across grades.”

Success is now based on student achievement, student educational growth rates, high school completion rates, English proficiency, chronic absenteeism and advanced course work.

“They’re trying to take a whole look for the district,” Ferro said. “Right now the state can look at every single teacher, every single student and every single time a teacher and a student interface at a data point.”

He said there are an average of 84,000 data points in a school year.

By Brooke Loring
WHRHS student intern

WHITMAN — This past Sunday, while most people were at the Tri-town Veterans’ Day parade in Abington, others were busy at work being Santa’s little helpers, at the Whitman VFW Pavilion.

The Whitman Area Toy Drive has now, for 18 years, provided toys for each Christmas season to between 200 to 300 families in economic need.

Donnie Westhaver, chairman and founder of the Whitman Area Toy Drive, found his calling in 2000, after two Toys for Tots trailers of donated toys were stolen and the community was in desperate need.

“We started at the American Legion with only two tables [of toys]”, Westhaver recalled. “We started to get so many toys we had to move.” Due to the many donations from last year, the toy drive was able to start two weeks early this year.

“We have plenty of toys now, for Whitman, Abington, Hanson, and Rockland!” Westhaver exclaimed. Within minutes of meeting Westhaver, his passion for the drive is evident.

“I saw a need to take care of the community.” Westhaver’s partner, Jane Plasse, has helped with the toy drive for almost seven years now. “She coordinates everything”, Westhaver states gratefully, “she’s the boss lady.”

At the Pavilion, toys are placed on tables and are sorted by age and gender. As Westhaver says, “every table has a reason.” Families are given about four to five toys, or however many to accommodate their needs. “I call it the one stop deal”, explains Westhaver, “and of course we let the parents do the ‘shopping’, they can pick out whatever they want. We meet a lot of single mothers, parents that have been laid off, and military families too. We usually find those in need through schools, churches, and St. Vincent DePaul.”

This year the Whitman Area Toy Drive also reached out to members of the Whitman Food Pantry. Each year, at the drive, about 100 volunteers from the community help set up, including some of Donnie’s fellow Marine veterans.

“It has truly become a community event,” he said. “I sleep good in December knowing what we did.” The drive will have more than 25 drop-off spots for donations, in the area, within the next few weeks. The Whitman Area Toy Drive is an event that surely displays the community coming together to help those in need. While giving an uplifting speech before the event, Westhaver stated his admiration for the community volunteers who turned out to help.

“I love you people, and I couldn’t do it without you,” he said.

HANSON — Hanson Day is making a comeback after a two-to-three-year hiatus.

Hanson Business Network Director Joshua Singer met with Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 30 to request the return of the community event on Saturday, June 1, 2019. A rain date would be June 8.

Selectmen approved use of the green for the event.

“I, in my own personal experience, thought it was one of the best events that I have attended in the town of Hanson,” Singer said of the past Hanson Days. “In the interest of looking for more exposure of everything that the town has going on and connecting that to the residents, I think bringing back this particular event will be a success, as it was in the past.”

The changes being discussed by HBN include holding it on the town green — instead of Camp Kiwanee — for improved access and visibility. Organizing and publicity will begin around the first of the year and will bring in community organizations such as the Rockland-Hanson Rotary, Hanson Kiwanis and Panther Education Trust as well as town committees.

Singer sees the event as an opportunity to showcase the good things going on in Hanson and to “show people in the town just how much this small town does.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she liked the idea of a table staffed by town officials to discuss openings on boards and commissions with interested residents.

Selectman Matt Dyer noted that the Recreation Commission, which has hosted the event in the past, had decided they no longer wanted to do it, and asked if Singer had reached out to them to see why they were reluctant.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said she thought Recreation had not been contacted yet, because of the aim to have the event on the green instead of Camp Kiwanee.

“I think that’s the stigma we have to shake,” Dyer said. “Recreation is town-wide it’s not just Kiwanee.”

Town Administrator Michael McCue said that was a worthwhile discussion, but indicated the Recreation Commission was established by Town Meeting to oversee the camp.

“I don’t know how that ends up working, but we do need to have the conversation,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett, suggesting one possibility could be an overseeing Recreation Commission with a subcommittee running Camp Kiwanee. “You just came at a philosophical time,” she told Singer about the Recreation Committee’s involvement.

Singer said he had not spoken with Recreation directly, but said former Town Administrator Ron San Angelo had been the driving force behind the event.

“With his departure, I think that has fallen by the wayside,” Singer said. “I can certainly touch base with them, but it is a bit of an involved event and takes a lot to coordinate.”

He suggested the Recreation Commission may be too busy with other concerns right now.

FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested it might be a good idea to see if they wanted to be involved, even if they didn’t want to organize it.

The Halloween Extravaganza held Sunday, Oct. 28 was a partnership between the HBN and Recreation, according to Singer and FitzGerald-Kemmett.

“It was a good partnership,” Dyer said.

“A lot of small towns have a lot of success with these type of events,” Singer said, mentioning Hanover Day and East Bridgewater Business Showcase, as examples. “One of the big issues that I see all organizations having is just getting people involved and I think that issue stems from not enough exposure.”

Selectman Jim Hickey said when he was a Recreation member, he involved youth sports leagues and said Hanson’s 200th Anniversary Committee should be included. Singer is also a member of the 200th Anniversary Committee.

Singer said he had no plans to charge admission or table fees, but welcomed other groups to use the event as a fundraising opportunity.

When colors run

McCue said a private company that was responsible for striping of town roads that came into question has been dismissed and work is beginning to hire another firm to fix the mistakes and continue the work. He and Highway Surveyor Bob Brown had made the decision for the change.

“We are very upset about the problems and we are taking care of the problems,” he said, noting that the paint used on Reed and Phillips streets was water-soluble. The paint, therefore, ran as it had been applied before, after or during a rainstorm.

“Not only did the paint run all over the place, you can imagine running your car through it and getting it splattered all over your car,” McCue said. The process had already been started to replace contractors after work was not being done on time.

“After that, I said, ‘We’re all done,’” he told Selectmen.

“If you looked at it, it literally looks like chalk running down the street,” said FitzGerald-Kemmett. “It’s really crazy.”

HANSON — JJ’s Pub owner Patricia Harrison has been given five days to put up secure fencing around the site, 15 days to take out a demolition permit, which will include an environmental study to look for hazardous materials, and 45 days for the debris to be cleaned up to the satisfaction of the building inspector.

On Tuesday, Oct. 30, Hanson selectmen held a hearing pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 139, § 1, to determine if the debris from the burned-down JJ’s Pub at 16 Liberty Street constituted nuisance demolition debris.

Harrison, was represented at the hearing by her lawyer, Jack Atwood, and accompanied by her boyfriend, Wayne Cummings. Harrison and Cummings are under indictment along with a friend, Alfred Russo, in Plymouth Superior Court for the suspected arson fire of JJ’s.

“I’ve had so many freak accidents here…I just want to get out,” said Harrison, who indicated that she feels she is being treated fairly by the town, in an interview after the meeting. “It [JJ’s] was my 10th birthday present. I’m heartbroken.”

Town counsel, the building inspector, and both the police and fire chiefs were available to testify, although only town counsel and the building inspector did.

Atwood, Harrison’s Plymouth-based defense attorney, said that Harrison is waiting on insurance money to remove debris from the property, but because of the indictments, the insurance company won’t pay for the cleanup. Curran believes the total cost for removal will be in the realm of $16,000. Atwood also mentioned that Harrison has a buyer and a purchase and sales agreement for the property, which did not hold much weight with the board.

Kate Feodoroff, Hanson Town Counsel, had prepared a statement from the board to Harrison, and described to the board how to proceed with the hearing. She encouraged them to describe their observations and feelings about the site and said she wanted to encourage Harrison to clean up the site, so that public funds wouldn’t be expended on the removal. But, she said, the town could act to clean up the site if Harrison does not and put a lien on the property to recoup the cost.

The board did find that the building on the property was demolished after the fire, but the debris was never removed. Photos of the site were presented to the board by the building inspector, Robert Curran, who also spoke of his efforts to work with Harrison to clean up the site.

The board found as well that the property was not secured and was an “attractive nuisance,” especially to children, to which Atwood said everyone agreed. “There is substantial risk of injury or death to inhabitants, trespassers or emergency personnel who may enter the property,” the document states.

“It’s a blessing that no one’s gotten hurt,” said Selectman Clerk Matthew Dyer. “People all want a piece of JJ’s pub.”

The board also found the property to be a general nuisance and eyesore. “The complaints are non-stop,” said Selectman Wesley Blauss.

Although the board discussed several different approaches to the removal, they all agreed on one thing: they were done acting in good faith with Harrison, who had been asked to clean up the property several times.

“I can appreciate there’s other stuff going on,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I have constituents who are sick of looking at it,” she added.

HANOVER — If MCAS improvement placed all students at the 10-yard line on a football field, South Shore Tech students would have advanced to the three-yard line this year.

Principal Mark Aubrey outlined the improvement in last year’s scores for the School Committee at its Wednesday, Oct. 17 meeting.

Aubrey reiterated that the state is looking more at how any students achieve proficient and advanced ranking, rather than how many pass the test.

“We’re focusing on learning,” he said. “We’re trying to take a hodge-podge of different curriculums [from sending schools in and out of the district] and put everybody on the same page and move them forward.”

In the English Language Arts (ELA) test, there were 43 students who scored as advanced in 2017 out of 143 students tested, this year 63 students achieved those scores. In math — Aubrey said, using percentages because the data was reported differently — the school went from 79-percent proficient/advanced to 84 percent over the same period.

“Student growth percentile (SGP) measures how far we’ve moved them down the football field,” he said. “This school in ELA was 12^th in the state … on moving SGP. That is a phenomenal effort by your staff, every single day, coming to school.”

Still, one student did earn the perfect score of 280 on the mathematics MCAS test this year.

“The math department [based on SGP] was number three in the state,” Aubrey said. “That is teaching and that is learning and that is what this building is about.”

In science, 109 students scored proficient/advanced last year, this year there were 125 scoring at that level.

“We’re moving in the direction the state wants us to move in,” he said. “It’s not just passing. We are moving kids further up the ladder to where they need to be and where the state expects them to be. … This is done by the entire staff.”

Related instructors use math and ELA skills, through reading and bookwork in the latter case, to reinforce classroom instruction.

Hickey thanked School Committee members who were able to attend the Saturday, Oct. 13 open house, during which 265 students were registered for 175 to 180 available places in next year’s freshmen class — 161 applications were completed and 125 interviews were also completed. Of the 265, 198 were eighth-graders and 44 were seventh-graders taking an early look at the school.

“When we only have so much room and we have to turn around and say to parents ‘I’m sorry, but we don’t have room for your children,’ We should be able to get them all in the school that are looking to be here,” said Whitman School Committee member Daniel Salvucci.

Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said the data received from MCAS scores and the number of applicants the school receives should help SSVT’s position when the Massachusetts School Building Authority makes its decisions on statements of interest in December.

School Committee member Robert L. Molla Jr., of Norwell agreed with Salvucci’s comments about the number of students that are placed on waiting lists.

“The parents, especially, were positive [at open house] about this school, that’s why the students are here,” Molla said. He noted tat parents from Rockland have been disturbed that SSVT has not been allowed to go to Rockland to conduct interviews with student applicants during the day.

School Committee member Robert L. Mahoney of Rockland said he has already spoken to his town’s school officials.

“The bottom line is public education has become a competitive market and we are in that competitive market a lot stronger than we used to be in the past,” Mahoney said. “What the towns are not realizing is we have to be held to the same standards as they have to be held by the state.”

He said the competition public schools are now experiencing from private, charter and parochial schools are costing them a lot of students and the state funding that goes along with them.

“The frustrating part of this is it’s not about kids, it’s about money,” Mahoney said. “It’s about the money they’re losing, and it’s about the money we’re losing because we’re not big enough to take in more.”

Vocational schools are, however, public education, Mahoney stressed.

“We are the second public school,” he said. “We are succeeding in the public market out there, that’s the problem.”

In other business, the school’s new vocational coordinators, Keith Boyle of Hanson and Robert Foley, reported on their new initiatives at the school.

“These gentlemen are responsible for overseeing and being the direct supervisors for half of our vocational-technical programs,” Hickey said. “Their job is to get to know the teachers and the students, the advisors in these programs and they have both done a phenomenal job from Day One.”

Boyle, formerly a horticulture teacher at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Bourne, is also a cranberry grower in Hanson. Boyle is a graduate of Norfolk County Agricultural High School. He is developing SSVT’s horticulture program as well as serving as a vocational coordinator where he is working to expand the cooperative work program.

Right now 33 seniors are working at approved coop sites and have earned a collective $22,000 in the first month of the school year, Boyle reported. He has also started a school chapter of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) program, a career and technical student organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education from horticulture and animal husbandry to forestry and agri-business.

Horticulture students have already been working to improve the outward appearance of the school, Boyle said, including planter boxes at the restaurant/salon entrance and are working to install a well at the front of the building to provide irrigation.

Foley, a former lead carpentry teacher at Blue Hills Regional Vocational Technical High School in Canton, is a Kingston resident. He was president of the SkillsUSA Board of Directors, which he had to forego the position as he is no longer a teacher. He is still a board member and will soon become director of the state SkillsUSA competition.

“I’m excited to help invigorate a very rigorous program that’s already in place here,” Foley said.

A licensed builder with a heavy construction background, he is assisting with construction of the new greenhouse for the horticulture program, and is planning a pre-apprentice vocational school training program sponsored by Mass. Laborers International Union, on Monday, Nov. 5.

That program, part of the UMass Transportation Committee and Workforce Development Program funded by a federal transportation grant through MassDOT. Instructors will work with 25 students from various shops for week, after which students will be certified in first aid, CPR and AED with all hours involved qualifying as pre-apprentice hours transferrable to carpenters, laborers, electricians, sheet metal workers, pipefitters and operators unions. A free CDL license will also be offered through the New England Tractor-Trailer Training School.

“It’s a great opportunity for our kids,” Foley said.

“This is a very exciting time to be in voke-ed,” said Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner. “We’re really in a good spot right now and I think you’re going to see lots of growth in our school.”

An additional Chapter 74 grant is being sought to offer a license in web design and programming, which could help students throughout the school.

HANSON — Bridges over sometimes-troubled political waters — and the late Charles W. Mann’s role in spanning political divides throughout his career in public service — was the theme of the Oct. 12 dedication of the Hon. Charles W. Mann Bridge.

“Today, we come together to commemorate a man who built bridges between communities, parties, people … that when we leave, in the days to come, we would be able to help build bridges, as well,” Pembroke Assembly of God Pastor Joe Quaresimo prayed in his invocation.

The Charles W. Mann Bridge, spanning the Drinkwater River — which flows under Winter Street — connects the towns of Hanson and Hanover. Mann’s public service, too, spanned the two neighboring towns. A very short distance downstream the Drinkwater joins with Indian Head Brook to form the Indian Head River and further downstream it is joined by Herring Brook in Pembroke and there turns into the North River.

Most of Friday’s emotional ceremony was moved from the bridge to Hanson Town Hall, where a collation had already been planned in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room. But once the morning rain abated, the actual unveiling of signs took place at both ends of the bridge.

“It’s very evident that Charlie did not have many ‘fair weather friends,’” quipped host and Hanson state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, about the large turnout as torrents of rain fell outside. “I think it’s very appropriate that we’re here at Hanson Town Hall in the Selectmen’s Room. … We know that Charlie was a consummate public servant who served his district and Commonwealth for five decades.”

Cutler added that the only location that would be as appropriate was Sandy’s Coffee Corner, where Mann often held forth over coffee with members of the community.

“He loved to talk to people, connect with people and help people,” Cutler said, noting that Sandy’s is where he first met Mann while campaigning for Mann’s old Sixth Plymouth District Seat. “Even though we were from different generations, different towns, different political parties, I’ve always admired him, and respected him and appreciated the civil discourse he brought to his endeavors.”

Friends and political colleagues and family members spoke at the ceremony about Mann’s dedication to reaching across the political aisle in the interest of serving his state and constituents back home.

Fifth Plymouth District state Rep. Dave DeCoste, R-Norwell; state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, Hanson Selectmen Chairman Kenny Mitchell and retired sheriffs Peter Flynn and Charles Decas shared memories of their work and friendships with Mann before his daughter, Karen Barry spoke for the family.

Brady noted that Mann’s service in the State House in 1966, “when I was only 4 years old,” noting that Mann was an Army veteran who epitomized bi-partisanship.

“Unlike what we see in Washington today, we were very fortunate to have people like Charlie Mann, because he was able to work across the aisle,” Brady said.

Cutler and DeCoste — who co-sponsored the bill to name the bridge after Mann — also alluded to the bipartisan effort to honor Mann, whose legacy was one of bridging the political divide.

“I was a strap-hanger in this whole effort,” DeCoste demurred. “Josh is the guy who did it. … There were so many people who came out of the woodwork [to support the bill]. They saw it on the agenda that the [Hanover] Selectmen were going to approve it.”

DeCoste said Mann’s legacy has lived on as one of the people who went to Boston to get something done and not for political perks.

“Your dad was able to put together coalitions of people on a broad political spectrum and make things happen,” he told Mann’s daughters Barry, Theresa Cocio, Debbie Stauble and Jennifer DiCristofaro.

Mitchell also continued the bridge metaphor in his remarks, while noting Mann also served on the School Committee, the North River Commission and as a Town Moderator.

“I think it is very fitting that we are dedicating this bridge in his memory,” Mitchell said. “Charlie was a uniter — someone who tried to bring people together and bridge divides, just as this bridge does now.”

He thanked the Mann family for sharing him with Hanson all these years.

Flynn and Decas, who were close friends of Mann’s shared personal stories of the Charlie Mann they knew — a guy who loved a card game and a good cigar with a close friend who was fighting a losing battle with cancer, Flynn’s brother David.

“I was on the periphery, but they were really friends,” Flynn said In a choked voice. “David was dying … I’m sure they talked about the past, I’m sure they talked about the present and I’m sure they talked about Dave’s future.

“I think that was one of the toughest bridges that Charlie had to build — the bridge, for my brother, between here and there,” he said, pointing skyward. “Charlie probably didn’t know how much he meant to our family for what he had done.”

Decas said passing over the bridge will be sure to bring back memories of Mann to all who knew him.

“When special people touch our lives, then suddenly we see how beautiful and wonderful our world could really be,” he said.

Barry said Flynn and Decas were a tough act to follow, and thanked all those who attended. She also thanked Mitchell and the selectmen in both towns who chose to dedicate the bridge to her father.

“More than anything, it’s the wanting to do this that’s most meaningful,” she said. “I believe that our father considered his public service as a privilege, not a job, he loved these communities, never left them … and he loved the people in them.”

She said the bridge was a fitting legacy to a man who believed in bridging divides.

“He made it clear that he represented everyone,” she said.

Among the people thanked by Barry and Cutler were the Hanson and Hanover town administrators and boards of selectmen, Hanson Selectmen’s Assistant Meredith Marini, the Hanson Historical Commission, Hanson Police, Fire and Highway departments, Plymouth county DA Timothy Cruz, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department, Country Ski & Sport, Legislative Aide Cole Angley and the staffs of Brady and DeCoste.

WHITMAN — It was a literary homecoming.

Author Edwin Hill spoke about the process of writing his debut novel “Little Comfort” at the Whitman Public Library on Thursday, Sept. 27 — to a crowd that included old friends and family members of the writer whose grandmother Phyllis Hill was the librarian in Whitman from the 1940s to the late ’60s.

Many in the room had not yet read the mystery-thriller featuring Hester Thursby, a petite Harvard librarian who takes care of her 3-year-old niece, her non-husband Morgan Maguire and a Bassett hound named Waffles while working on missing persons cases in her spare time.

The book has been out for just over a month with Hill still a bit nervous in only his fifth book talk, and the first without a moderator, in support of the novel.

His talk focused on how the novel developed, focusing on three main characters — Hester, Sam Blaine and Gabe DiPuriso.

“I actually worked on the novel so long [eight years], that I actually forgot a lot of this and it’s been fun over the last month to just discover it,” Hill said, noting that the Clark Rockefeller case was his entry point. Christian Gerhartsreiter — AKA Clark Rockefeller — was a professional imposter who kidnapped his daughter and was later convicted of murder.

“I saw that story and I thought, ‘I always wanted to be a writer, I’m going to write something,’” he said. The resulting two-and-a-half-page theme sat on his computer for years. He knew his villain would be named Sam and that he had “done something bad, and left town.”

Hill would open the file occasionally, read it and think to himself, “That is terrific.” Then he would close it again.

In between jobs he started to write a novel on it, but ended up keeping Sam, but needed a foil. Thus Hester was created.

Hester’s living situation with her non-husband in a three-family home where they kept separate apartments, and her fondness for dark films featuring strong women, informed her character, Hill explained.

He read from his book to illustrate how he introduced each of his three main characters.

Hester, for example, drinks her coffee with cream and seven sugars — a passage that has drawn knowing laughter in each of his talks so far.

Sam is based on that friend everyone seems to have who can get away with anything, but he’s also a serial killer who always knows when to get out of town.

“He really knows how to get into these people’s lives,” Hill said, explaining that Sam’s crossing paths with a librarian like Hester, for whom finding information is her job, illustrates how information has changed life in the Internet era. “If you wanted to disappear right now, you’d really have to work at it. It’s really hard.”

That also serves to shift the theme from the search for someone to what happens after Hester finds him.

Gabe, meanwhile, is Sam’s human collateral damage.

“For me, he sort of turned into the heart of the novel,” Hill said. “He’s the character who changes the most — from someone who seems very lost, who seems very disconnected from the world — and he changes in the novel in a way that, I think, he and Hester certainly have a strange bond at the end.”

He uses narrative discourse for all but the most essential dialogue from Gabe to keep the reader at a distance from the character, especially at the beginning of the story.

Audience members asked if the characters — or story — came first and are they based on real people, how he picked Boston/Somerville as the setting and how Hester ended up being so short.

The title has nothing to do with Whitman, save that it used to be called Little Comfort and he always liked that phrase.

Hill put a bit of himself in Hester’s love of horror movies and her sloppy habits and used his understanding of loneliness in creating Gabe, but tries not to base whole characters on real people.

He said the scene he wrote all those years ago, while not in the book at all, was his gateway to finding Hester.

A writer who likes contrast, Hill was looking for traits that made it hard to not notice, an occupational drawback for someone who follows people for a living. He also wanted her to be someone who has to fight a little bit.

“It was story first, then character, then story, then character, and with a mystery novel, you always want to make sure that there’s tension and that there’s forward momentum in that story,” he said.

Hill lived in Somerville for several years and works in Boston.

“The easiest reason is write what you know,” he said. “Hester basically lives in the [imaginary] house next door to the one I lived in. … Somerville has a nice mix of population.”

Beacon Hill gave him a chance to “play with class” and in Boston one can travel from an urban to suburban or rural area easily.

Hester returns in Hill’s next book, “The Missing Ones,” due out in September 2019.

WHITMAN — Police Officer Mark Poirier was presented two citations for his arrest of murder suspect Allan Warner who was wanted for the death of his estranged wife Shana Warner last week in Marshfield.

Police Chief Scott Benton of Whitman police addressed colleagues as well as family and local politicians to praise Poirier’s swift apprehension.

“I have this opportunity certainly to highlight some great police work — that I am not surprised — was done by Officer Mark Poirier of our police department,” Benton said. “He apprehended homicide fugitive Allen Warner who had brutally murdered his ex-wife –to- be in Marshfield the day before (Monday, Sept. 24).”

Poirier has been a patrolman and a detective for the Whitman police. He is a lifelong Whitman resident and graduate of the W-H class of 1990.

“Mark is conscientious about what he does and how he does his job,”said Benton.

On Sept 25  there was a call to police about a hit-and-run involving a flatbed tow truck that struck potted plants at Dunkin’ Donuts drive through on South Avenue. Poirier contacted the truck company and found out it had been stolen.

During the investigation, Poirier witnessed the truck pulling in to the company where it was stolen and engaged the operator who tried to back up and flee.

He recognized the suspect despite the change in his appearance. Benton commended Poirier for his vigilance in the capture of Warner doing so safely in which no one else was hurt, he said.

“We are lucky to have him here, I am thankful to have him here and the citizens of Whitman are certainly served well by Mark as a police officer,” said Benton.

A Citation from the Massachusetts General Court was presented by state Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, commending the actions of Poirier. After a summer of upheaval for officers across the country, Diehl said he was pleased to see a local officer commended for doing his job right.

“I think Whitman is such a lucky town to have great leadership under Scott Benton our Chief and the great training that has led to the apprehension that could have gone a whole different bunch of ways — but in this case it went the right way and Officer Poirier was able to successfully apprehend someone who was a threat to the community, a threat to the South Shore,” said Diehl.

He also acknowledged Poirier’s family as the backbone of support for a job that is so dangerous.

“I think the other thing that goes unnoticed is the family behind him that supports what he does every day. When you are an officer in Massachusetts, across the country or right here in Whitman when you go out there to serve the public what you are doing is saying- no matter what the case is I’m going out there and keep you safe,” said Diehl.

State senator Mike D. Brady, D-Brockton, also commended the work of Officer Poirier and presented him with a citation on behalf of the Senate.

Poirier’s wife Stephanie, daughter Savannah, 15, and son Mark Jr., 18, along with his parents Pete and Marilyn were also present to congratulate him.