Dealer gets last chance

WHITMAN — Vehicle dealer David Federico now faces a solid March 1 deadline to clean up the lot of his 575 Bedford St. Diesel Trucks business or face suspension of his Class II Auto Dealer’s License until he does.

The Board of Selectmen voted 4-1 Tuesday, Feb. 9 to support Building Inspector Robert Curran’s recommendation to grant the second extension. Selectmen Dan Salvucci vehemently disagreed.

“It’s been five weeks now,” Salvucci said. “I’ve seen a little improvement, but then you go back to your old ways. … I would think that you would do what we asked you to do and then come back [to request more vehicles]. You haven’t done that. It’s like pulling teeth for you to do what we’re asking you to do.”

Federico raised the board’s level of frustration by suggesting he should be permitted to store at least 52 vehicles on the lot and that they did not understand the nature of his business and were being unfair to him because he is not a Whitman resident.

“I’m working on an extremely tight margin here as profit goes,” Federico said after the vote. “I’m not from the area, I’m not from Whitman, I’m from Needham. Maybe I do feel I’m not being treated as fairly as another car dealer who’s from the area.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson agreed with Salvucci’s frustration and asked if the board wasn’t being more lenient with Federico than with other dealers in town.

“I believe we need to treat everybody the same in this category,” Bezanson said, but deferred to Curran’s judgment for now. “I don’t want the public to get the impression that we’re going the extra, extra mile.”

In January, Federico had been granted an extension to Feb. 9 after he had reduced the number of vehicles from 65 down to between 48 and 50 and created a handicapped parking space, but more issues — such as a car parked in the loading area — remained, bringing about the extension to Feb. 9. The board had ordered Federico to limit his inventory to 35, be open normal business hours and provide adequate customer and handicapped parking by Jan. 19 or risk revocation of his license.

Selectmen Chairman Carl Kowalski suggested endorsing Curran’s recommendation, while requiring a site plan and Curran’s oversight of the improvements.

“Mr. Federico ought to understand that March 1 is the dead deadline,” Kowalski said.

Curran now suggests 40 is a more realistic vehicle limit for the business and said he would continue working with Federico to develop the best layout for that number. He said March 1 is a workable deadline.

“He’s trying to keep the amount of vehicles to around 50 or a bit over that,” Curran said. “The issue here is, and I think I have to change my opinion a little bit, this gentleman is selling trucks — Diesel Trucks is the name of the business. I can’t go in there thinking I’m going to see cars for sale.”

He said Federico has a lot of older vehicles with diesel motors in them and said the motors are, more often than not, more valuable than the bodies and Federico markets mostly on the Internet.

“However, I still feel it’s over-crowded,” Curran said. “You should give him a little time to get rid of another 10 vehicles and then restrict him to 40 until he wants to re-address it.”

Inspections over the past week reveal the handicapped parking space is blocked again and the Federico still has the loading area blocked. Snow removal was also an issue.

“The vehicles at the rear of the property are kind of three or four deep and they seem to be backed up into the woods,” he said.

Federico brought in a plan he said took him eight hours to draw up, but Selectman Lisa Green noted there was no provision within it for the size difference between passenger cars and larger diesel vehicles and trucks.

“I don’t own the property,” Federico said, repeating several times his absentee landlord’s advice that he hire a lawyer. “My response to him was … ‘These guys seem like nice guys, I don’t think we need an attorney. I think we can go in and move some cars around here and get everything squared away.”

Federico suggested the property owner is ready to litigate against somebody.

Selectman Scott Lambiase and Assistant Town Administrator Greg Enos both reminded Federico the license is in his name, not in the property owner’s, and goes with Federico if he moves within town.

Whitman and Hanson libraries receive bequest

BROCKTON — Some people may, on occasion, consider taking a walk to their town’s public library — if the weather is nice and it’s not too far — but avid patron Bruno G. Guerra of Hanson thought nothing of walking as much as four miles through the woods to use a library.

The Brockton native used his research at three area libraries to build a healthy stock portfolio and, in his will, shared the dividends.

Brockton, Hanson and Whitman public libraries were each left more than $350,000 for capital projects. Guerra also left funds to Bentley College to endow a scholarship in honor of his wife Marjorie.

All three libraries will also post a memorial plaque to Guerra.

The libraries receiving bequests from Guerra’s estate co-hosted a reception program at the main branch of the Brockton Public Library Sunday afternoon as a thank you to his family.

“He loved the library,” said nephew Barry Guerra. “He loved to read and had a lot of passion for libraries and he had a lot of friends — he just loved to talk to people.”

The libraries loved him back as the advocate for the valuable services libraries continue to provide communities.

“It took a lot of self control on my part to tell nobody for like a year,” Brockton Library Trustees President Fred Howell said of the probate period. “We decided it would be really nice to have an event to memorialize Bruno’s gift to the library systems of Brockton, Hanson and Whitman and to bring his family here to recognize what a wonderful gift this was.”

Library directors were invited to talk about the benefits of the libraries to their communities.

“Libraries are a place that anybody can go to,” Howell said. “It’s just a huge opportunity and a place where you can grow personally.”

Two of Guerra’s friends — Corinne Cafardo of Hanson and Don Karp of Brockton — spoke fondly of their late friend.

“The [Hanson Library] Foundation is overwhelmed by the generous donation made by Bruno Guerra,” said Foundation member Cafardo, a neighbor of Guerra’s. She enjoyed conversations with him about libraries and books he liked to read.

Honoring a friend

After seeing him walking through Whitman one day, Cafardo asked Guerra where he was headed and he told her he often walked the two miles from his house on Holly Ridge Drive in Hanson to the Whitman Library. Agreeing that Whitman’s Library is an excellent facility within easy walking distance, Cafardo also told him about Hanson’s library.

“Then I found out he had walked four and a half miles to the Hanson Library through the woods,” she said. “I had a talk with him about walking through the woods. I didn’t want anything to happen to him. The next I heard, he was walking down Route 58.”

She then had to insist driving was safer.

Cafardo said Bruno believed in the value of public libraries as a means to connect people and foster friendships.

“I will always remember Bruno as a loveable neighbor and friend,” she said, choked with emotion.

Karp, for whose family business — Central Radio Stores — Guerra worked for some 50 years, related how Guerra worked to learn bookkeeping and became a tax preparer.

“His life was centered around the library,” Karp said. “He was a very modest man, not particularly materialistic, he drove old cars because they were imperfect.”

Libraries were Guerra’s Google search engine, he said. He used the library to research companies before making small investments.

“His life centered around the store, his friends, his nephews in particular and the library,” Karp said.

Plans for gift

Hanson Library Director Nancy Cappellini, said Guerra was a very humble man who  is helping enhance the facility. She said his bequest can help her library, built in 1991 and outgrown within four years, to expand.

“Libraries are busier than ever,” she said. “You can find any information you need … it’s a lifeline for most people.”

Whitman’s Assistant Library Director Marcie Walsh-O’Connor said the gift is greatly appreciated by a staff that is as dedicated to the community as Guerra was to libraries.

“It is truly a blessing to have staff and to have a community that cares,” she said, noting the gift will be used to enhance library technology. “Most people no longer have a desktop in their home anymore, so the ability to have brand-new computers in the library to assist them so that the staff can sit with them and show them how to use this lovely gift will be amazing.”

Brockton Library Board of Directors member Mark Lindy added that libraries treat all patrons alike.

“There are no barriers,” he said referring to a 1930s WPA mural on the third floor that calls libraries “the people’s university.”

Physical barriers to the city’s libraries were recently removed through renovations at the main and east branches and Guerra’s gift will be used to help renovate the west branch.

“People that need to seek jobs come here, people that need to learn about the stock market come here … and we’re just happy and pleased that we have all these folks here on a cold winter’s day to keep the library alive,” Lindy said.

Bob Buckley, chief of staff to Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter concluded the program by presenting a citation of appreciation to members of Guerra’s family.

“Municipalities can’t survive without the generosity of people like Bruno Guerra,” he said. “Money is tight, as you all know, we’re battling for every dollar at the state, federal and local level and a gift like this is something that opens doors to people that would [otherwise] be closed forever.”

Petition seeks action on Murray mystery using Change.org

On Feb. 9, 2004 Hanson native Maura Murray, then 21, disappeared after a car accident on a remote stretch of Route 112 in Haverhill, N.H.

Almost 12 years later, private investigator John E. Smith of Truth Seekers Investigations in Bethlehem, N.H., has launched a change.org petition to ask the FBI to actively enter the case.

Photo courtesy of https://truthseekersinvestigationssearch4mauramurray.wordpress.com/

“We’re trying to keep Maura’s story in the light,” Smith said. “We’re not looking for anyone to be ‘on our side’ … we just want what we’re trying to do put out there.”

Smith, a retired Littleton, N.H., police officer who lives about 15 miles from the scene of Maura’s accident, has been working with the Murray family for nearly 12 years.

The FBI, meanwhile maintains it is already aiding in the investigation.

“The FBI is assisting New Hampshire Sate Police and we’re going to defer to them as they are the lead agency,” spokesman Kristen Setera of the Boston FBI office said in a prepared statement this week. “Due to the fact that there is an ongoing investigation, we have to decline further comment.”

As of press time, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Sate Police had not returned calls for comment.

The petition has 2,880 of a 5,000-signature goal as of Wednesday morning, but Smith would like to see 50,000 people sign it. A podcast interview with Maura’s father Fred linked to the petition has had more than one million views.

A father’s pain

Fred Murray described his daughter as one who “never gave her parents any trouble in her entire life.” Initially interested in a military career, she later determined it did not suit her personality and transferred to UMass, Amherst midyear to study nursing.

“We just want her back,” Fred said on the podcast. “I need help and I’m so totally frustrated. … It’s my daughter. I can’t go away. I’ve got to find her.”

He said his daughter’s car was malfunctioning and due to be replaced within a week.

At about 7 p.m. on the night Maura disappeared she evidently veered off the road on a curve near a farm, a review of case information on the change.org petition states. A witness calling 911 reported hearing a vehicle accelerating and a thud. It was determined her car had spun out of control and hit a tree but Maura was nowhere to be found.

Accident reconstruction later determined no trees were hit by her black 1996 Saturn and that the damage to the car was likely caused by “a solid stationary object or a solid object at the same height as the damage” to the car.

A rag was also found stuffed into the tailpipe, according to the writeup.

“The only thing that the FBI ever did was, in late 2004, they went to Hanson, Mass., and talked to Maura’s high school friends,” Smith said last week. “We’re not sure what that had to do with the whole investigation because none of her high school friends were her college friends.”

That was one of the questions on which the FBI deferred comment.

“I think the only way it can be [solved] is if we have, hopefully, and unbiased FBI that will step in here,” Smith said. “We’re not sure what happened. We have several different theories.”

He said she could have just walked away, she could have been picked up by someone at the scene and  “taken far away and murdered or something.”

Smith said there have been a lot of inconsistencies with police reports over the years, including conflicting ID numbers of responding cruisers and a lack of timely investigation to the east of the crash site.

“We’re even looking into the possibility that there’s some type of police involvement or some type of cover up on the part of the locals because someone important might have been involved,” he said.

He said New Hampshire authorities would have had to ask for help and that he was told they felt the assistance was not needed.

Questions

Smith said that is one of the questions surrounding the case that has never been answered and hopes signatures on the online petition will generate answers and a full-scale FBI investigation into a case involving Maura’s movements through three states.

“We actually have three states involved because she lived in Massachusetts, she drove though Vermont and she ended up in New Hampshire,” he said. “Now, with as long as this case has been going on, there’s just so many inaccuracies and inconsistencies that have followed this case for years that it just   made no sense and made it harder to investigate for all of us involved.”

Whitman panel to study voting devices

WHITMAN — A committee is being formed by Town Moderator Michael Seele to study the pros and cons of electronic voting at Town Meeting — an issue affecting bylaws that will ultimately be put before Town Meeting to accept or reject.

Seele and Town Clerk Dawn Varley are the first two members of the study committee, being asked to update selectmen on its progress in March. Members from both sides of the issue will be placed on that panel.

Small, remote control-type devices, like the one showed above, are being studied as a voting toll. They have a numeric keypad on which a yes or no vote would be cast by punching number one or two. They can be leased or purchased with the town able to borrow extra from other towns if a huge Town Meeting turnout is seen.

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Dec. 15 expressed divided opinions on the idea — with Brian Bezanson and Dan Salvucci supporting electronic voting, Scott Lambiase voicing objections and both Lisa Green and Chairman Carl Kowalski saying they need more information before forming an opinion.

“I’m not really comfortable being on the fence on anything,” Kowalski said. “My first reaction was we don’t need that.”

But, he added that he understands how a shy person can feel cowed by the number of people around them that may be voting differently.

“I’m interested in hearing some more about the motivation for this,” he said.

Varley opened the discussion with a report on how electronic voting works and opinions of officials in towns now using it.

The small, remote control-type devises with numeric keypad on which a yes or no vote would be cast by punching number one or two. They can be leased or purchased with the town able to borrow extra from other towns if a huge Town Meeting turnout is seen.

“I’ve pretty much given you all the information that I found out, and that’s what my job was,” Varley said.

She did report that voice votes are generally inaccurate, standing counts are time-consuming and public votes can result in the potential for intimidation.

“I have a problem with that [last point] because we shouldn’t feel intimidated or fear retribution when we’re in our own town — in our own community — and we all have a common interest,” Kowalski said. “They’re our friends and neighbors.”

Kowalski said, even though there have been contentious town meetings in the past, the current practice of voice and standing votes has worked for a number of years.

“I don’t remember the really weird times,” he said.

Another reason for considering electronic voting is the continuing effort to increase voter turnout.

“Every Town Meeting, I’m fighting to get 150 people,” Varley said. “I think this might be it.” Lawn signs and reminders on census forms are also being considered.

“The participation is going to be [based on] what you have for warrant articles,” Lambiase said. “I think that the biggest thing is that a great majority of the populace has no idea what we do at Town Meeting.”

Bezanson said he, too, likes to think intimidation is not a big factor in low Town Meeting turnout.

“It doesn’t stifle any discussion,” he said of electronic voting. “But I think it really takes a burden off the voter when it comes time to make the vote.”

Salvucci also favors electronic voting, but expressed concern over its ease of use, especially for seniors.

“I like the idea of the device,” Salvucci said. “I like the idea of secret ballots because you vote the way you want to vote. It’s that simple.”

Seele discounted concern about intimidation, saying he has not received any complaints from voters about it.

“We have a tradition here in this town of standing up and being counted for you vote,” Seele said. “I’ve not gotten the sense … that there was any sort of recrimination or intimidation going on against anybody.”

He called it “probably the largest conceptual issue” around electronic voting.

Police Chief Scott Benton again argued that intimidation could cut both ways, as his department “doesn’t make everybody happy.”

While the police have a lot of supporters in town, he said the job doesn’t always make friends in performing their duties.

“I’m not saying I’m against [electronic voting],” he said. “In my line or work, I’m here to represent our department and look at the misuse because that’s what we deal with.”

Seele said he is also concerned about the nuts and bolts of how it would work, especially for the disabled and those uncomfortable with the technology.

“I’m all for technology,” he said. “But I wonder if this is a hammer in search of a nail.”

Lambiase, who works in Duxbury where electronic devices — but only on close votes — are used, said officials in that town calculated they only saved four minutes in an eight-hour town meeting.

“Personally, I don’t agree with it,” he said. “I’m more of the spirit that Town Meeting is to be an open town meeting and we should not be afraid to get up and speak our mind and be proud of our vote.”

Green said the discussion toward making Town Meeting more efficient is a healthy one, but said more information is needed before any decision is made.

IT Director Josh MacNeil said a lot depends on the company used and whether devices are leased or purchased, but agreed with Green that more information is needed.

“I agree with everything that’s been said here,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “I can agree that the concerns people have are valid, because I can remember town meetings when I may have been the only one standing up.”

He said people genuinely feel intimidated in voting for contentious issues.

“I don’t know that that’s a reason to do this,” Lynam said. “I think it’s something we should look at.”

The Lobstah Tree: Lobsterman finds off-season notoriety with Christmas tree

WHITMAN — A Christmas tree is not an uncommon sight this time of year, but one constructed out of lobster traps just might make you stop for a second look.

Lobsterman Tim Walsh of Whitman points out he is not an artist, but he has created a bit of roadside folk art.

“I just wanted to bring the ocean a bit further inland,” he said.

AHOY, THERE: Tim Walsh takes time out from building his tree for a photo. Photo by Stephanie Spyropoulos.

Where grass and farm land are familiar, he is set to light up his lobster tree in the backyard of his Perry Avenue home simply to evoke joy in all who travel down the busy Route 58/Plymouth Street as they go through Whitman and Hanson.

After the positive responses he received last year and the countless folks who stopped along the roadside to snap photos of his lobster tree, Walsh set out to go bigger with 300 stacked traps painted in greens and reds.

It took him about a full day and a half to stack the traps. The tree will be lit with hundreds of colorful holiday strands and the dedication to his late friend will top the unique structure.

The tallest buoy belonged to fisherman John Fleck of Hull who lost his battle with cancer.

“He was my friend, mentor and fellow fisherman,” Walsh said.

Several of the dangling buoys also belong to friends making the tree a unique vessel of heartfelt joy.

His family is also an inspiration.

Walsh’s wife Lori, who hails from Weymouth, is expecting their first child in the spring. She is a holiday lover, Walsh said.

She is also the inspiration in the naming of his lobster boat the Miss Lori, which is moored in Allerton Harbor in Hull where Walsh grew up.

A graduate of the Class of 2004 in Hull, he spent his days either in the water or on it.  His father passed on the trade of fisherman and love of the ocean, he said.

“I love it,” he said.  “I couldn’t do it if I didn’t.”

Walsh logs an average of 10 hours a day on his boat — it’s both his career and passion for living as a lobsterman.

He takes time off during the winter and heads back out in the spring.  He is looking forward to the holidays and some much needed rest with his family.

South Shore Vo-Tech to keep MCAS…for 2016 anyway

HANOVER — As it now stands, South Shore Vo-Tech will again administer the MCAS test as planned in the spring while the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education irons out details of an MCAS/PARCC hybrid exam as the new state standard.

Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey updated School Committee members on the issue during the Wednesday, Nov. 18 School Committee meeting.

“My gut is why would we change midstream,” he said.

More than half of state school districts administered the PARCC test in spring 2015, while SSVT conducted a pilot PARCC test but administered MCAS.

“In 2016, the test will be MCAS with a sprinkling of PARCC-like questions,” Hickey said. “In 2017, the expectation is that the hybrid test would be real for everybody, but everyone would be held harmless.”

By 2019 all testing is expected to be online.

“Let’s just take one year at a time,” said Hickey, adding he needed to obtain more information on the district’s options for 2016. “As it stands here, the curriculum is what it is. Our math and English departments are perfectly comfortable with the curriculum that they’ve been teaching and they continue to get our kids ready. I have absolute confidence that they will continue to do so.”

He stressed, however, that SSVT must prepare for any future changes.

Whitman representative Dan Salvucci, meanwhile, said delegates to the recent Massachusetts Association of School Committees conference voiced general opposition to standardized testing.

“They feel you need to look at [students’] entire educational experience … and not just if he passes a final exam or MCAS,” Salvucci said. “I had to agree with them, but you also need to be able to test students.”

Scituate representative John Manning said alternatives to standardized tests could be an area where vocational schools have an advantage.

“We have people out in the trades telling us what our students need to know,” he said.

In other business, Kyle Thompson of Hanson, a senior culinary student and football team quarterback, was named Student of the Month for November.

“Every month we introduce different facets of leadership and success,” said Guidance Director Michael Janicki. “Kyle’s nomination came about a s a result of his leadership on the football field.”

Thompson leaves everything out on field and is a role model for his teammates, football coaches reported in their nomination. He is planning to attend college — most likely at Bridgewater State University — where he plans to pursue a degree in teaching or business.

November’s Staff Member of the Month is science teacher Jeremy Shaw. He was not able to attend the Nov. 18 School Committee meeting, but will be recognized next month along with the December honoree.

According to Principal Margaret Dutch, Shaw has been teaching at SSVT since September 2013 has degrees in electrical and computer engineering from WPI and Tufts University.

He has “excited an engineering curiosity” in SSVT students while developing a comprehensive engineering program at the school, according to Dutch. He is also a physics teacher, a senior class advisor and helps out with the cross-country team.

“Mr. Shaw is a good person,” read one student’s nomination. “He is always there to help and is an amazing teacher.”

Molla said he asked that the presentation be made despite Shaw’s scheduling conflict as a demonstration of the committee’s commitment to honoring a staff member in the month they are chosen.

“The committee takes this quite seriously,” Chairman Robert Molla said.

“He was thrilled to have it and thrilled to know that it came from the students,” Dutch said.

School Committee members and school staff alike expressed great satisfaction with the Nov. 14 open house.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve done a couple tweaks of where things are and how we present the school and departments — and we nailed it,” Janicki said. He added that feedback regarding students who attended and their families was universally positive as well.

The school also received good news regarding work students have performed as Habitat for Humanity volunteers, doing electrical work on two house projects on Center Street in Hanover. Habitat is now seeking additional help from SSVT students and teachers for a project in Duxbury.

“Although Duxbury is not in the district, I feel this is an excellent opportunity,” said Hickey. “It comes recommended from the staff.”

Senior students would be working on it only for a couple of shop week cycles into December, returning in the spring to do some finish work, according to Hickey.