HANOVER — Don’t call it “the Vo-Tech” anymore.

While the official name, as recorded in its regional agreement, is still South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School — a rebranding effort is under way to more accurately reflect the more demanding nature of school programs as well as its commitment to community.

“We wanted to get rid of the term ‘Vo-Tech’ … in part, because, unfortunately, there are people in the community who still refer to us as ‘Slow-Tech,” even though that is far, far from the truth of what we do in this building and where our students go to college and high-paying careers,” said Principal Mark Aubrey as he outlined the process during the Wednesday, Sept. 19 School Committee meeting.

“If you call the school, we refer to ourselves as South Shore Technical,” he said. “We are South Shore Regional Vocational Technical High School, we are SSVT, and we are the same school we were in June.”

The same technologies are taught and the same equipment is used, but community members may not be aware of the school’s high standards, Aubrey said, noting the change is important to accurately reflect the kind of education they provide.

“I agree, but bear with me,” joked School Committee member John Manning of Scituate noting that he still refers to the Tobin Bridge as the Mystic River Bridge.

“You have to make the school proud and the students proud of the school,” said School Committee member Robert Molla of Norwell.

School Committee member Robert Mahoney of Rockland supported the move, but noted he had been surprised by it because the website and other social media have not yet been updated to reflect the rebranding.

Aubrey said the IT department has been working on the changes and that Superintendent/Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey has purchased the website and name South Shore Technical, but stressed it will take more time. In the meantime, the website will come up if one searches for “South Shore Technical.”

A task force of faculty, staff members, students, parents and community members were brought together in recent months to discuss the rebranding idea. The school is also putting together a branding guide that covers school colors — what they are and can be for use by school teams and clubs. All students, starting with the seniors, will be given black polo shirts with the new South Shore Technical High School logo to wear with neat slacks when out on cooperative education work, field trips or to college fairs.

“That’s just another little thing we can do to get ourselves out to the community and let them know that we exist and what we do — and what we do very well every day in this school,” Aubrey said.

New-look Vikings

Even the Viking sports logo will be getting a makeover.

Students will have the opportunity to compete in a contest to design the new logo, personal to South Shore Technical alone, with the aim of having a new one selected by February.

“It kills me to drive through East Bridgewater and see the same Viking head,” he said. “I don’t mind sharing with the Minnesota Vikings, that’s fine, but to be just two towns away and have somebody else with the same Viking …”

Molla recalled that he had brought up the suggestion to give the Viking “a facelift” about two years ago, but noting had come of it.

“I’m glad to see it,” he said. “It’s time to change it. Put a smile on his face or something.”

Recycling effort

SSVT is also moving to a paperless environment and recycling culture in school operations.

School accounting is using the Cloud for an improved workflow for online purchase orders, payroll system and giving employees greater access to pay stub information.

“It’s an exciting time in the business office,” quipped Treasurer James Coughlin. “There’s been a lot of webinars and so forth over the past six weeks. … Right now there’s a big box in our office that produces a lot of heat and a lot of noise as a server and we’re going to take that offline and we’re going to the Cloud.”

Tyler Technologies, a secure national vendor, provides that service.

“That is a theme throughout the building,” Aubrey said of the paperless effort. “We are going to more of a waste-reduction method within the building.”

That includes recycling in all classrooms and shops. Head teacher Matthew Fallano has led the Science Department in training students on correct recycling practices.

“We have staff members in the building that are trying to run their classrooms 99-percent paper-free,” Aubrey said. “They’re using Google Classroom and all the technology that we have supplied to them to be able to run their classrooms without having to do the ‘paperwork shuffle.’ … We are truly hopeful to do a lot of good for the environment and do a lot of good for our students, teaching them proper recycling skills and things like that.”

Welcome

Assistant Principal Sandra Baldner outlined yet another change to the South Shore Technical culture.

Pineapples.

Pineapples are the traditional symbol of welcome, dating back to America’s Colonial days, and were incorporated in welcome-back packaging for faculty. It has since been expanded to use in another new project at the school.

“We are now welcoming staff into each other’s classrooms as part of a pineapple charting initiative,” she said. “It’s an industry trick. You post what’s happening in your classroom on a pineapple poster … and welcome you in to see the good things going on in their classroom.”

The pineapple posters list times of events during which visitors mat observe and ask questions about curriculum initiatives after the lesson.

The school library is now known as the Career and College Center, where students can expand their knowledge of career and college opportunities and interact with professionals in both areas — particularly on First Fridays, when the school will host career socials. The next is at 1:30 p.m., Oct. 5 when the school will hold a health services event.

“The objective of First Fridays is to provide students with the opportunity to practice interpersonal communication with adults, while acquiring the information they need to be successful post-secondary career and/or college,” she said.

Baldner also extended kudos to teachers and students for surviving the oppressive heat during the first week of school. Hickey said the school had a very smooth opening.

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, discussed two requests from the district received in recent days, one pertaining to the failure of an air handle at the Conley School and another seeking additional parking at the Duval School [see related story left] to accommodate increased staff.

The Conley repair has been made on an emergency basis and the district at the next special Town Meeting will seek reimbursement. Both requests will be discussed at the next Selectmen’s meeting.

“The question at the next meeting will be if we consider that, emergency spending,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said of the parking lot expansion, estimated at $28,000 plus $5,000 to move some playground equipment. He agreed the Conley repair met the criteria for an emergency.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he understood the need for parking but “really had a hard time identifying that as something that constitutes an emergency.”

Kowalski agreed that the board would have to discuss the issue before deciding whether it would support such an expenditure.

The board again tabled a proposed vote on the WHRSD regional agreement because Selectmen Scott Lambiase and Randy LaMattina were absent. It had been tabled for a vote of the full board once before and was tabled most recently pending more information on amendment procedures.

Selectmen received the School Committee’s Aug. 31 certification vote of the fiscal 2019 budget for $50,523,181 — an increase in the operating budget over fiscal 2018 for Whitman of $1,054,205, the amount voted at the May 2018 Town Meeting.

Dr. Melinda Tarsi of Bridgewater State University has advised Lynam that she and her class have drawn up a first draft of potential questions for the Community Assessment survey, which will be circulated to town boards and department heads for review.

“She felt that seeking additional public input at this time would not be helpful,” he said. “They want to wrap it up [to send it out].”

Kowalski asked for the review to be done in time for Tarsi to attend the Sept. 25 meeting. Lynam noted that, while the community information meeting was helpful for the process, Tarsi had only heard from about 25 people with suggested questions since.

streetlights

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green said more information regarding the failure rate, lack of choice for companies that handle the nodes involved and network costs for new street lights has been received.

For example, National Grid charges the same amount whether or not lights are dimmed. There is also a 3 percent failure rate on remote-controlled nodes.

One community using the system is still working to get the nodes, that control the lights remotely, to communicate together after six months.

“That, to me, is an issue,” Green said. “I don’t believe we’re a community that’s ready to deal with that type of an impact … I don’t know if it’s the right choice for us at this time.”

The manual control system has only a 1 percent failure rate, but she asked for consensus of the board.

Heat, dismissal schedules pose challenges

Despite some glitches surrounding air conditioning in general and dismissal schedules at some of the elementary schools, Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak gave the district’s opening day of the 2018-19 school year a grade of B-plus.

“I want to thank the police and fire departments from both towns who were giving high-fives to all middle school and elementary school kids,” Szymaniak said. “It was a great opening.”

The School Committee on Wednesday, Aug. 29 heard a review of the first day of school and a progress report on the new WHRHS scoreboard project.

There were some air-conditioning issues, even at the high school as the summer’s oppressive heat and humidity continued, according to Szymaniak, but he had Facilities Director Ernest Sandland purchase 60 80-bottle cases of water to distribute to the elementary schools and encouraged staff to keep students hydrated.

Szymaniak and Assistant Superintendent George Ferro toured all the schools on Tuesday, Aug. 28 to ensure they were ready for that evening’s open houses as well as Wednesday’s opener.

“Our facilities department is pretty awesome,” Szymaniak said. “We got emails from the three elementary principals saying [Sandland] got everything done, buildings looked great  … and I think parents were very excited about going to open house.”

Ferro was out directing traffic at the new inner drop-off loop at the high school and he and Szymaniak then “bounced around” from building to building to observe the opening.

When the dismissal issues cropped up at Indian Head Elementary, Szymaniak and Ferro went to the school to investigate the situation and get information out to parents “a little bit later than I wanted to, but” Hanson Police Chief Michael Miksch and resource officer William Frazier helped adjust the dismissal process.

Maquan School will officially be closed by Sept. 30, which permits time to hold yard sales of excess equipment on Tuesday, Sept. 18 for town departments to shop and on Friday, Sept. 22 for the general public.

Athletic Director Bob Rodgers announced that the new scoreboard is financed sufficiently with the aim for it to be installed for the season-opening game vs. Marshfield Friday night.

Rodgers took the opportunity to again stress that no taxpayer dollars are being spent on the project. The JJ Frisoli Foundation has donated $25,000 and will receive a double advertising panel on the scoreboard for the life of the unit. Mutual Bank and Richard Rosen have each contributed $10,000 for single panels for 10 years. Rosen will divide his panel between Rosen Realty and McGuiggan’s Pub. Two more $10,000 panels are still available and may be subdivided. Rodgers said he is in discussions with three companies that are “strong possibilities” for those spaces.

The final installation is now estimated at $110,000.

“It’s a much more complicated process than we envisioned when we started this,” he said. “But, with the scoreboard going up, I think a lot of people are going to see this and think the school must have tons of money.”

The project is being paid for outright through previous fundraising and gate receipts in addition to the donations and advertising sponsorships already received. Future fundraising will replenish those funds.

“I’m pretty optimistic about where this is headed,” Rodgers said, noting the board can be leased in a limited capacity for youth sports programs as well as post-WHRHS football game “fifth-quarter” movie screenings.

“We’re going to be able to sell advertising that will be meaningful advertising for the businesses in town,” he said. “Several restaurants” have already expressed interest.

Rodgers anticipates the scoreboard advertising will be an ongoing revenue source for the athletics department for years and can be offered to W-H clubs and organizations to sell advertising from which they can divide proceeds with the athletics department.

The School Committee also voted to accept advertising rates including “nonprofit shoutouts” for $25; 30-second video with audio for between  $100 to $400 depending on the sport and season and a digital full color display for between $25 to $100 per game or $200 to $250 per season. The committee will be updated prior to a re-vote on the advertising pricing during a meeting thhis coming June.

Special Ed PAC gears up for year

The district’s Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC) has been required since the 1970s but last year Hanson residents Tina Stidstone and James Fitzgerald took a leading role in revitalizing it.

“The plan is to make the SEPAC something more than it ever has been,” Stidstone says. “My kids have been in the district since 2002 and I never got involved before.”

She said in the past, the special education director planned meetings for parents that showed up, but noted SEPACs are intended to be parent-run organizations. Stidstone and Fitzgerald are hopeful some of the programs they are planning attract more parents to those meetings and some special events.

“This past year I emailed and said ‘all right, I’m taking it as a personal goal to get this thing up and running,’” she said. “I think we’ve done OK. … My whole thought is I have no right to say anything if I don’t become part of something to make it better.”

They started with five parents at last year’s meet-and-greet to 23 at the last meeting of the year, but with more than 600 special needs children in the district, Stidstone would like to see more parents attending.

“I think a lot of people aren’t aware of it, don’t know what it is or what it’s for,” Fitzgerald said. “It was one of those things that was slightly on my radar and with some of the changes the district was making I wanted to have an avenue to talk to other parents.”

They are also concerned about the status of Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Services Kyle Riley, who is currently on personal leave. Retired Special Education Coordinator Mildred O’Callaghan has been serving in a consulting capacity for the past few months, according to Stidstone. Executive Assistant Lisa Forbes has also been working with the SEPAC.

SEPAC meetings are held from 6 to 8 p.m., the first and second Tuesday of the month in the WHRHS library. The group’s first meeting of the school year will be on Tuesday, Sept. 11 and is the meet-and-greet session with district administrators, they noted. Other programs will center on school transition and public safety topics. A basic rights meeting also has to be presented every year.

An October meeting will focus on transition of students to new schools with the closing of the Maquan School and a November meeting will feature members of police and fire departments to discuss “our kids in the community” the duo said.

“The biggest impact of all of it was on the special needs kids,” Stidstone said. Most of them were transferred to Whitman’s Duval School, where they don’t know any of the other students she said.

“We have to know what happened good and what happened bad,” she said. “This can’t be just a ‘bash the district session,’ this has to be for constructive feedback.”

Like parents of preschool pupils with older siblings in Hanson Schools, Hanson parents of special needs students attending Duval are still working out transportation arrangements.

Stidstone said members of the group asked for the meeting with public safety personnel.

“If you see my kid walking down the road and he’s stimming (the repetition of physical movements, sounds, or words, or the repetitive movement of objects common in individuals with developmental disabilities), how are you going to react?” she said. Providing profiles for first responders of special needs children for their information in the event of an emergency is another topic they’ve discussed.

“They don’t want to send their guys into a situation where they frighten a child,” she said of the fire chiefs in both towns who are very supportive of the November meeting.
In December, they plan a meeting with the district about emergency drills at school and how the alarms can cause distress.

“During lockdowns, they are supposed to stay quiet in a corner,” she added. “My son’s not going to stay quiet in a corner. What is being done for those kids?”

Fitzgerald said during a first day of school fire drill, his son was upset when it came time to go back into the school.

“Those meetings [in November and December] are really about safety,” he said.

Parents have also asked for day meetings, and that is being looked at as possible spring and fall sessions after preschool drop-offs, perhaps in the high school’s Courtyard Café.

They are also working to plan a SEPAC family picnic with first responders perhaps bringing some of their vehicles for the children to explore. Stidstone said she, for example, has tried to bring her son to community touch-a-truck events in the past but he was too overwhelmed by the crowds.

“This will be our kids only,” she said. “It’s not going to be public. The plan is to have a picnic with our families and meet a couple cops and firefighters in their gear so that they know if a firefighter comes [to the house] he’s not a monster.”

They are also trying to plan a resource fair for the parents of special needs kids later in the school year to address the major concern parents had in a survey Stidstone and Fitzgerald conducted last year.

Fitzgerald said they are also coordinating with SEPACs in other districts.

HANSON — There was some disagreement on how the discoloration happens, but the Water Department has been asked by its board of commissioners to open a gate at High and Main streets — which directs water toward the train station —for at least a week to determine if it will clear manganese and iron deposits from water mains along three streets in town.

The idea is to direct clean water from the tank toward Hanson’s Main, Reed and South streets, where continuing problems with discolored water at their homes along those streets motivated more than a dozen residents to attend a Board of Water Commissioners’ meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 22, demanding a solution.

Residents were asked to return in two weeks to let the board know if the opened gate helps improve their water quality. They say the water pressure has been fine — and some left the meeting more dissatisfied than when they arrived.

“When everything’s running during the daytime, there’s a lot of water moving through the pipe,” Commissioner Don Howard said. “When everybody shuts down their house and the faucets and goes to bed, the tank fills up … the sediment sets in [dips in] the pipe. The next day, when you start using the water, it turbulates it up and it runs into the pipe and I think that’s what’s happening.”

Flow vs pipes

Water Department Assistant Superintendent Gerald Davis said he believed the problem was more likely due to the 12-inch main from Main Street connecting to another 12-inch main on South Street via an eight-inch pipe along Reed Street. He also argued more frequent flushing on the mains would also help.

But Howard maintained the gates were the likely source of the problem.

Residents, some of whom are thinking about selling their homes, voiced frustration at the expense of replacing water heaters, filters and clothing ruined by the dark brown water.

Assessor Lee Gamache, of 819 Main Street, said the situation is already hurting the real estate market in Hanson.

“If it was just one incident, I think we’d understand,” she said.

Her husband Joe asked what, if any, long-term plan there is to address the problem.

“You talk about low water costs, well it’s costing us a lot, not just for water, but we have a new hot water heater [and we’re] probably going to have to replace it,” he said, adding that they have also had to replace clothing. “There’s no real warning so financially, it’s been a burden constantly replacing things because of it.”

A couple from Gorwin Drive said they feel the problem is “creeping” in their direction.

Joe Gamache supported closing the gate in conjunction with a maintenance program including more frequent pipe flushing until pipes can be replaced.

“We’ve got to try something because we’re not going to get … pipe replaced tomorrow like we all want,” he said. “We can revisit this in a year. If we don’t see any kind of improvement, you’re going to see a ‘For Sale’ sign in my yard.”

Howard said Hanson’s 100-year-old water system now consists of three different types of water pipes in the ground, much of them cast iron.

“That pipe is the same pipe that Brockton and several other area towns have in,” he said. “The problem with it is the manganese and iron builds up in the cast iron [pipes] over a period of years.”

New pipes installed are required to be cement-lined.

“If we could to that in all of our cast iron pipes in town, we’d eliminate a lot of our problems, but the Water Department doesn’t have the money,” he said. “So we’re trying to keep the water flowing.”

More frequent flushing of pipes is not possible because of mandatory Mass. DEP water conservation regulations, Davis said. Howard agreed, noting the only flushing done in the past five years was done this past spring to try to reduce the iron and manganese deposits.

“I’m hoping and planning that we can do it again this fall,” Howard said, noting sediment sits in the pipes until a heavy use emergency such as a fire or water main break disturbs it. The July 5 fire at JJ’s Pub and an Aug. 20 water main break on Andrew Lane both caused that to happen.

Work being done by the Brockton water department on Main Street Monday, Aug. 27 was to Brockton pipes and should have no effect on Hanson water, according to the Hanson Water Department.

“How to control it? I have no way of knowing, I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “I’ve worked with water since 1957. We don’t want to raise the price of water.”

Howard also said the Water Department is trying to keep water prices down, but residents attending the meeting said they would be willing to pay more for clear water and that they are already spending a lot to resolve problems the sediment causes.

They are already buying water.

“We buy so much water,” a woman said. “I won’t drink it or cook with it or give it to the pets.”

Some of the residents said they don’t even like to shower in it.

“I’ll pay more for clean water,” said a South Street resident who said he would not have bought his house had he been advised of the water issue. “We’re talking in circles here. What’s the issue? What’s the resolution? What’s the cost? What’s the time frame? That’s what I came here to hear.”

He had serious doubts that 9,000 voters in town would back higher bills to help 1,000 people having problems. Howard replied that it is hard to get a quorum of 100 voters at Town Meeting.

“We don’t want to pay anything for dirty water,” the resident said.

Commissioner Gil Amado said he was a member of the commission because, as a South Street resident, he is affected, too.

I’m frustrated myself,” Amado said. “I’m on this board to help make things better. The water has been better, but we’ve had so many issues … water follows the path of least resistance and, when it starts flowing, it’s taking whatever’s in that pipe with it.”

“With money it could be cleaned,” the South Street resident said.

Another resident said they need to hear a timetable, too.

“What we keep hearing is you have a plan, you have a plan, you have a plan, but there’s no definite date,” she said. “There’s no definite solution. It’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to work on it, but it’s going to take 20 years or it’s going to take 10 years.’”

Call with problems

In the meantime, Davis urged residents to call the Water Department when problems occur — no matter how often — instead of going on Facebook.

“People read on Facebook that someone doesn’t have water, everybody runs to their faucet and then they turn the water on,” he said. “Don’t do that! Because, if there’s a water main break, you’re bringing all the dirty water into your house.”

Howard said water should be turned off when there is a main break.

When animals depend on water during a break, Davis said owners should also call. During the last main break, Water Department staff members provided water to horses on a farm in the affected area.

When lines are flushed, he can also plan to do it where people have animals or are served by a cast iron line, the timing of the flushing can be adjusted.

“This year alone it’s been so minimal, only until we disturb the system,” Davis said.

“I don’t think people are calling,” another resident said.

“If we know where the major complaints are, we can target that area. … I don’t care if you call everyday.”

Howard initially said the pipe-replacement plan could take 20 years, but then backed away from that estimate.

When Hanson painted the inside of the water tank last summer, it cost about $335,000 to purchase water from Brockton during those three months. The Water Department budget is $1.5 million of that, another $35,000 was required in electricity costs to pump the Brockton water.

New wells being put in on East Washington Street will help a lot of the cost and discoloration problems, Howard said. A pipe replacement program will be introduced after a new water tank is put in.

A couple who moved into their 300 South St. home in 2006, however said they are already preparing to sell their house because of the ongoing water problems.

“I know a lot of people have had problems since the water tank project,” the woman said, noting they have had to replace three pressure leak valves in three years because of the sediment. “We’ve had it since 2006 on a regular basis and it has increased.”

The residents said they were still having problems three days after the water main break.

Davis said any fluctuation in pressure would make water dirty.

HANSON — Officials must do a better job of communicating with residents, especially younger people, Selectmen say.

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Aug. 14, requested that Town Administrator Michael McCue determine methods for improving communication with the public and membership on town boards and committees.

The item was part of a continued review of McCue’s goals and timelines prompted by his request for clarification or feedback on some goals. He also sought more information on the goal for reducing costs and increasing revenues.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said she asked for the communication goal because she thought the town should be more active in making appearances on cable access programs or the WHCA community bulletin board and the Express in order to make sure people are aware of town meetings and board and committee vacancies. She said there should also be an effort to drive people to the town’s website.

“I know we’ve struggled with our social media presence, but we must find a way to get information out there where we’re going to reach people,” she said. “We need to engage younger people and we need to reach them where they’re at.”

FitzGerald also argued the effort is important because she wants to see the effort to fill vacancies on town boards and commissions be less difficult.

“I would really like to see such engagement that we’ve got a cross-section of all kinds of people on all these committees and boards so that we’re getting the best and the brightest and all kinds of ideas from across the spectrum,” she said. “The only way we can do that is to educate people.”

That includes a description of duties and estimated time commitment required of members.

McCue said FitzGerald-Kemmett’s explanation was very helpful and he is already mulling ideas.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also suggested some sort of deadline be attached to it to avoid having things put off. McCue said he would be willing to go on WHCA and discuss the needs of town boards and to submit some information to the Express.

Selectman Matt Dyer said he is also concerned how best to get information on the progress committees are making, and communicating needs, to the public on social media without violating the Open Meeting law.

“If we post it on social media is it public record because I’m on the board and now I’m using my official capacity to spread that information?” he asked. “I think if we get some clarification and guidelines on how to use social media to disburse this information, it would help.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett argued there should be a point person in Town Hall, whether it be the incoming IT director or someone else, to act as a conduit to getting information out to the public.

McCue suggested putting together a procedure for department heads to follow in achieving that.

McCue is continuing meetings with East Bridgewater to hire a shared IT director after a person the towns had hoped to bring on board had declined the offer.

Regarding costs and revenues, McCue said the town is “kind of doing that right now” in the auction of tax title properties.

But FitzGerald-Kemmett said it could also be as simple as an idea contest among town employees who may have ideas for more economical ways of doing their jobs.

“I would say that those conversations do take place to a certain degree, every month at our staff meetings,” McCue said, noting his idea was to see if the citizenry had any ideas.

Dyer suggested it could be as simple as placing a comment box or two around town. FitzGerald-Kemmett suggested something along the line of the Commonwealth Connect system Whitman uses where people can take a picture of a pothole or something else that concerns them and uploads it to the town site.

Selectmen also, in the board’s capacity as the body responsible for setting the Town Meeting warrant, voted to place a Housing Authority vacancy on the annual election ballot.

“This is a request and a requirement from the town clerk,” McCue said.

The town is also looking for volunteers to be appointed to the vacancy until the election, especially for those who also want to run for the office next spring.

WHITMAN — By his own admission, Richard Rosen may not be the best or the smartest beekeeper, but he is becoming the face of backyard beekeeping for people tuning into their local cable access stations from coast to coast as he learns more about it.

He has already inspired the 5-year-old daughter of Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV Executive Director Eric Dresser, who was captivated by seeing a guy in a bee suit.

Rosen has been fascinated by bees, and the idea of running his own hives, for a long time — and while the real estate developer knew honey production was no money-maker, he also knew it was important to try to save them.

“It’s fascinating is what it is,” he said of the life cycle of bees and their honey production. “It was something that I had thought about for years. I thought, kind of from the fringe, that it was pretty interesting.”

He has turned that fascination into a sideline at McGuiggan’s Pub, selling jarred honey, and now working on a drinks menu on which listed beverages will include his honey as an ingredient.

Rosen has also become something of a celebrity through the syndication of his cable access series “The Buzz Around Bees,” which is now seen in programming markets in 14 states, including California and New York. It is the first show WHCA-TV has ever syndicated.

Rosen has already experienced some face-to-face feedback from fans. While attending the Aug. 8 Whitman Police Night Out Against Crime, he said a person stepped up to talk to him about the show.

“There was passion in the person who was talking to me about what they learned from what we showed them,” Rosen said. “I think that’s really cool and it’s surprising how many people do say something to me that have seen the show. … It’s rewarding when people say things to you about what they have seen on the show.”

WHCA’s Access Operations Coordinator Kevin Tocci, who shares Rosen’s interest in bees, approached him about doing the show.

“The idea of what we do here is, if you see somebody who has a unique hobby —whether it’s bees, or gardening, painting, whatever it may be — to expand upon it,” Tocci said. “We’ve been successful here at getting people to take their hobby and make it into a TV program.”

Tocci noted that Rosen had done various other programs for WHCA over the years and is comfortable in front of the camera.

“When he told me he was getting bees I thought that would be a fantastic show,” Tocci said. “And we experienced some very interesting things … we not only experience that the hive had minted a new queen, we got to experience the marking process and [to] understand that.”

Going in, Rosen thought Tocci was talking about a single program. It’s now in its second season, with Rosen shifting attention from his own hives to those of other area beekeepers.

The show’s six-episode first season was an eventful one.

Rosen and his wife Kathy demonstrated introducing bees to the hive, how a new queen had been created in one hive, and how another was “robbed” of its honey by other bees.

“It’s difficult for me to explain just how crazy it is,” he said of the life of honeybees. “But the whole life of a honeybee — how they’re born and when they’re born, how long they live and what they do — it’s pretty fascinating.”

“The Buzz Around Bees” also seems to bridge different ages, Tocci said, as Dresser noted his daughter was intrigued when Tocci posted a photo on Instagram of himself wearing a beekeepers’ outfit for videotaping.

“What’s he wearing?” Dresser said his daughter asked. “I brought up Episode 1 and I showed her ‘The Buzz Around Bees’ and I had never seen her captivated by anything that’s not cartoons until that moment.”

But long before the TV show was even a suggestion, came the development of Rosen’s hobby beginning with learning more about honeybees.

“I started researching it and I read two books and watched a two-hour-and-20-minute DVD, and I still didn’t have any idea what I was doing when I was done,” he said.

Rosen also knew a couple beekeepers, whose experiences fueled his interest. One of those friends, who lives in Duxbury, finally inspired him to buy a couple hives and give beekeeping a try.

His Danecca Drive backyard now hosts seven hives as he has added to his apiary each year.

He stressed that he is still learning about bees himself — taking the eight-week bee school program offered by the Plymouth County Beekeepers’ Association three times so far.

“I’ve said this many times on the show, they have forgotten more about bees than I’ll ever know,” he said. “The old joke is, if you ask three beekeepers the same question, you’ll get five different answers.”

That old saw did not make him hesitate to bring on, in his role as program host, three beekeepers in his first season on the air” PCBA President Anne Rein of Hanson, as well as Bill Veazie and Glen Cornell of Whitman. The sixth and final show of the first season wrapped things up with a panel discussion of issues facing bee populations between Rosen, Rein and Cornell.

This year’s shows began with the bee pickup day in Plympton — in a garage with 9 million bees in packages of 10,000 bees each —and has included the most recently produced episode about sugar shaking to determine if mites have infested a hive and the different pollinators bees seek out. Last season included a tutorial on setting up oil traps for beetles that can take over a hive.

“Last year was not a good honey year, a lot of beekeepers had a tough time … basically because of the weather,” Rosen said of that season, in which he managed a fair yield despite his challenges.

The damage done to bee populations by weather, mites, beetles and pesticides are a very real concern.

With 85 percent of plant species on earth, and about 52 percent of the food products at your grocery store, requiring bees and other pollinators to exist, a 2013 Whole Foods Markets “Share the Buzz” demonstration of the statistics proved an eye-opener for Rosen. The store showed that one of every three bites of food is produced by honeybees and other pollinators by removing all products requiring pollination from its store shelves — 237 of 453 products including almost the entire produce department.

Between learning of that demonstration and his experience as a beekeeper, everything Rosen now plants in his yard benefits bees. That includes selecting plants that have not been treated with pesticides like neonicotinoid, which kill bees.

“This year, so far, it’s been a great year and six of the seven are doing well. One is doing OK, but I think it’s because of where I have them placed. I have a couple [hives] more in the shade and I’m finding they don’t particularly like the shade.”

A daily tablespoon of local honey, produced within a 25 mile radius of where one lives, is also said to be helpful for allergy sufferers.

“There are a lot of people that live by that,” he said. “I have people who come into McGuiggan’s to buy honey that are not drinkers, they’ve just heard we have true local honey and they want to buy it.”

Stings are the last thing to worry about, he said.

“Honey bees don’t want to sting you because they’re going to die after they sting you,” Rosen said. “They won’t unless you swat them. You tend to be afraid of bumble bees, because they’re so big — bumble bees will not bother you —but yellow jackets are bad guys and will sting.”

McGuiggan’s 5K tops $15K to Whitman Food Pantry

WHITMAN — For nine years, the McGuiggan’s Pub Road Race has provided more to its community than bragging rights for runners followed by a block party to kick off the summer months.

It has also contributed proceeds to community organizations — the Whitman Food Pantry, in particular, which has received a total of $15,000 in race proceeds over the years.

On Thursday, Aug. 2, Richard Rosen and his daughter, Danielle, presented the latest check to the pantry, for $3,000.

“Since the first year of the road race, we have donated a lot of the proceeds from our race to the Whitman Food Pantry, because I think it’s really important to give back to your community,” Rosen said. “This year’s check represents over $15,000.”

Bruce Perry, Whitman St. Vincent de Paul president and Whitman Food Pantry director, said the gift is especially timely as the pantry has served about 80 families — a total of a little over 300 people — in the past month.

“This is usually our slower time [regarding people coming to the food pantry], but it hasn’t slowed down this summer at all,” he said.

The summer is also a time when donations drop off due to vacation schedules and other demands of donors’ time and resources, Perry noted. Donations don’t pick up in earnest until mid-November, when the holidays spur donations, he noted.

“The spirit of giving usually helps out,” Perry said. “We receive probably about half of our donations in the last three months of the year.”

This latest McGuiggan’s donation will buy the pantry about 10,000 pounds of food out of the Greater Boston Food Bank, possibly helping the pantry supplement other donations to meet the demand for another month and a half or so.

“Richie and his staff at McGuiggan’s have been doing this for years and it helps us at the food pantry and whenever we do have excess we call neighboring pantries, so nothing ever goes to waste,” Perry said.

St. Vincent de Paul Brockton South District President Robert Hogan noted that the Whitman Business Community has been and continues to be strong supporters of the Whitman Food Pantry especially McGuiggan’s, Duval’s Pharmacy, John Russell Studio, Regal Marketplace, Stop & Shop, Pea Pod, Mutual Bank and Dunkin Donuts.

“We are very grateful for their support and helping us to assure that our friends and neighbors of Whitman always have food on their table,” Hogan said.

Rosen noted there was a time when donations were held “close to the vest,” but said the community has a right to expect transparency concerning where race proceeds go.

“When we’re out generating funds, people want to know … and people do need to know,” he said.

While about half the funds over the years have gone to support the food pantry, several area veterans’ programs — such as Folds of Honor in support of the college education of children of deceased veterans; the Whitman American Legion; Whitman VFW Men’s Auxiliary; Disabled and Homeless Veterans — have also benefitted from the race.

Cub Scouts, the HUG Foundation, Whitman Police and Auxiliary Police, Whitman Fire Department, scholarship groups and the Whitman Library have also received donations.

“We raise money and we give it all away,” Rosen said. “But the majority has gone to the Whitman Food Pantry.”

pasta dinner

The food pantry will also be holding a pasta dinner from 5 to 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 25 at the Cardinal Spellman Center at Holy Ghost Church. The cost is just $5 and raffle tickets for gift cards, various items, and services will be available.

Whitman boy honored for aid to fallen officer’s family

A hot, humid week of DARE Camp recreation and anti-drug lessons closed on Friday, July 27 with an emotional ovation for a 7-year-old Whitman boy who didn’t even attend the event.

But Brady Proto’s compassion for the family of Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna — raising $1,100 for them at a lemonade stand — earned him the traditional cheer of “Outstanding!” as campers raised their arms to make the top of an “O.”

Brady was asked to lead campers, their families and Plymouth County law enforcement officials, including about a half-dozen chiefs of police, in the pledge of allegiance. He was then presented a plaque of appreciation by District Attorney Timothy Cruz and Sheriff Joseph McDonald.

He’s also been invited to tour the Hanson Police Station with DARE/School Resource Office Bill Frazier.

After leading the audience in a moment of silence for all officers killed in the line of duty, Cruz offered his appreciation to Brady Proto for his aid to Sgt. Chesna’s family.

Chesna was killed in the line of duty on Sunday, July 15 when a suspect allegedly attacked him with a rock and repeatedly shot the officer with his own gun.

“Sgt. Chesna was a resident of Plymouth County and his death had a profound effect on all of us, young and old,” Cruz said. “A 7-year-old boy from Whitman, Brady Proto — who led us all in the pledge of allegiance today — was so affected by what happened to Chesna that he went out and he raised $1,100 by selling lemonade.”

Cruz said Brady’s selfless action “caught all of our attention” so the county’s police chiefs and officers, sheriff, and Cruz took the opportunity to thank him for his “outstanding act of kindness” with an Outstanding Achievement Award cited Proto’s gesture.

Cruz also presented service awards to three DARE campers who followed the rules and performed above and beyond what was expected of them. Officer Robert Quigley Peer Service Award was presented to Katie Bondar; the Officer Helen Gray Student Service Award was presented to Taylor Cunningham. Both the officers had served the Marshfield Police Department. The Whitman Officer Gerald Mont Student Service award was presented to Benjamin Carr by Whitman School Resource Officer Kevin Harrington.

Retiring police officers, and DARE camp volunteers, Fred Mello of Carver and James Wigmore of Duxbury were also saluted and the annual five-way tug of war event has been renamed the “Wiggy War.”

“This camp has been going on since 1994 and every year it gets bigger and bigger,” host DARE officer Frazier said in his opening remarks. In its 24th year, about 625 youths from Plymouth County communities attended the five-day camp at the invitation of their local police departments. He credited Cruz with the camp’s existence and success.

Cruz, in turn, thanked the communities, police and fire departments of Whitman and Hanson — as well as the school district — for use of the WHRHS building and grounds. He also thanked the many businesses that contributed food, funds or other donations to make the camp possible.

He stressed that the camp, which teaches and reinforces drug awareness lessons, is funded in large part by money seized in narcotics arrests and the donations he had mentioned. The camp has only been funded by the state once in 24 years.

“We felt, as the funding was non-existent, that the program was too important to let go,” Cruz said about the use of forfeited drug funds. “We take their money and give it back to the community and a big chunk of that goes to you.”

On Monday, July 23, Cruz spoke about the DARE program after addressing campers during opening ceremonies.

“DARE has changed over the years,” he said. “DARE here in 2018 is not the same as it was back 10 years ago.”

He said part of that difference is the need to reach kids at a younger age especially now, in the face of the opioid epidemic, the fentanyl and carfentanyl issues going on and marijuana legalization.

“The kids have a lot of challenges that they face and it’s really incumbent upon us to open their eyes and to tell them about the dangers so they don’t go down that wrong path.”

Vaping, which contains high levels of nicotine, is another challenge that communities and schools must control, said Cruz.

“A lot of kids are vaping in school and I think its incumbent upon each school district to make sure that kids are not vaping in school and the school resource officers do their job to make sure [to stress to students about] that path of continually smoking nicotine where that may lead somebody to the next step.”

He also said a blanket decriminalization of drugs is not an answer to the nation’s drug problems.

“We live in a world right now where the biggest drug problem that we have is alcohol,” he said. “Alcohol is legalized and that still brings all sorts of problems to us so when you’re talking about dangerous drugs like opiates [and] prescription meds, when you’re talking about methamphetamine, LSD, you’re talking about cocaine, crack — it’s important that we get that stuff off the street and we control it through illegalization.”

Friday’s graduation ceremony concluded with the introduction of the 24 teams of campers, with the top three finishers in the cheer competition performing their cheers.