WHITMAN — Sometimes a safe corner can change your whole life.

Whitman artist and writer Russell DuPont has explored his world on canvas, through a camera lens and with poetry. Now he has turned his direction toward prose, and his lightly fictionalized memoir “King and Train,” the story of his youth on the tough streets of South Boston and Dorchester — available as an e-book through Amazon — is the result.

Names are changed and characters he has developed for the story are composites based on “a number of people” or invented to serve the story, according to DuPont.

“I try to keep the incidents, what actually occurred, as close to fact as possible,” he said of his writing process. “It’s sitting down [to write] and seeing where these characters take me.”

The title refers to the intersection of two streets in Dorchester where he and his friends would hang out “in what I consider one of the most significant periods of my life,” DuPont, who moved to Whitman in 1975, said in a recent interview.

“I grew up in the projects in South Boston, where every day I fought,” he said. “I had to fight — I wasn’t a member of a gang — the local gang was the Mustangs, and for some reason, I was targeted.”

One reason could have been that his girlfriend at the time was connected in some way to one of the gang members. His family moved to Train Street in Dorchester when his fights “reached a danger point.”

“I ran into a group of guys there who were just terrific guys,” he said of the corner at “King and Train.” The concept of fights and gangs was unheard of there and when the owner of the corner store, “a grouchy elderly woman who hated to see us around there,” sold it to two Armenian brothers, and the new owners allowed the guys to hang out there.

“In turn, we’d do things for them and clean up, and make sure there was no mess and no noise,” he said. “It was just the opposite of South Boston. I never had to look over my shoulder or around corners.”

The non-fiction piece published as “The Corner” in the poetry anthology, Streets of Echo, was expanded and fictionalized to become the novel, “King and Train.”

While DuPont says his poetry is based on observation of detail in a scene, his prose, both fiction and non-fiction is based on large incidents and experiences that have affected his life: including “canoe trips over dams and finding, up in Wisconsin, hearing my name in the middle of nowhere.”

One of his two non-fiction works, “Up in Wisconsin,” had brought him face-to-face with another Russell DuPont in a bar in a remote community on the Michigan border.

“We tossed that around for awhile,” he said. In fact checking for his story, he called a county office and was told “we have loads of DuPonts here, they all came down to log from Canada. She said the whole county is full of them.”

If he had it to over again, DuPont said he would still be moved to write the book, but would hold out for a book-publishing contract for “King and Train” as he is doing for a subsequent book, despite the time and effort agents and publishers now require.

“I feel like I rushed into Amazon [eBooks] too quickly,” he said. “I wish I had not been so anxious to get it out there.”

He just finished another novel titled “Waiting for the Turk,” which stems from an old football saying about the process of making cuts during training camp. It’s the kind of noir-ish detective story DuPont says he’s always wanted to write. Set in South Boston it’s about a former football player who reluctantly joins the Vermont-based detective agency started by his father, a retired Boston Police detective.

He has also started a sequel to “King and Train.”

DuPont has done four previous limited-edition, hand-made books — two of poetry and two non-fiction — as well as in Streets of Echo and in two issues of Boston Seniority, a magazine published by the city for its elder population. He has also been a freelance sportswriter for the Patriot-Ledger and has also reported for the Melrose Free Press and the Dorchester Community News, where much of his writing was columns on politics — particularly the Boston school busing issue which engulfed much of the ’70s.

“I started writing poetry in my late teens and had some published in local literary magazines,” he said. “I had my own magazine, The Albatross, back then and I was working both in journalism and [creative] writing.”

When his family began to include children, however, he found that carving out time to “lock myself in a little room after work” was difficult to fit into family obligations. That’s when he put down his literary pen and picked up a camera.

While he became a teacher in the Sharon School District to support his family, he eventually became interested in painting, and a grant from the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts helped him take a year off from teaching in 1993 to develop his talents in that genre.

“It was one of the most wonderful, productive years of my life,” he says. “When I was there, I decided this was it, as soon as my kids are gone, this is what I’m going to do.”

In 1990, he resigned his teaching job and obtained the first of a couple of different studio spaces, which included Rockland’s erstwhile Fourth Floor Artists, which he had helped found. In 2010, he returned to photography and about two years ago began working through Boston’s Elder Affairs office Memoir Project to hone his prose skills.

“That got me back into writing again regularly and I produced the piece for the anthology and pieces for the city of Boston,” he said.

By Chelsea Getchell
W-H student intern

The show will go on.

Postponed from March 3 due to a storm, a planned performance by the Whitman-Hanson Alumni Band has been rescheduled for 7 p.m., Friday, March 23 in the Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center at WHRHS.

Devin Dondero, the head of the Whitman Hanson band, is the conductor for the The Whitman-Hanson Alumni Band event — a night in which past band members, current band members and educators play about eight tunes together. It is widely agreed among those involved that having the community involved is exciting and beneficial. The evening is filled with music, knowledge and fun.

The pops concert brings current W-H students together with recent and veteran graduates for the eighth year.

“It’s nice to have the old guys come down and play with us. It’s interesting because the community band guys get to show people who haven’t been doing this for as long and give some advice,” said bassist James Segel, a senior from Hanson.

Not only do the student musicians get to perform in front of audience members, but they also get the positive learning experience that comes hand in hand with playing alongside other musicians. The alumni event offers more than one benefit to any beginner musicians in the high school band program.

This event attracts alumni and current Whitman-Hanson players alike, giving inspiration to the younger musicians who may be considering a future in music.

Matthew Gallagher, junior trumpeter, adds “It’s wonderful to have such a diverse group of players come down to the school and perform as one for entertainment.”

Networking notes

Many players love this event particularly because they can get tips and notes from mentors in their community, unlike any other event. The combination of community members serves to pass valuable knowledge onto young musicians and  to offer a night of fun.

The Whitman-Hanson Alumni Band event has been running annually for about seven or eight years, and the band program intends to grow and continue to host it. Each year more people participate in the great night making it bigger and more successful. Musicians of all ages are invited to join in on the fun and perform with the community.

Maeve Rooney, trumpeter, says “I’ve been playing since fifth grade and this concert is especially fun because we get to see our Whitman-Hanson alumni.”

WHITMAN – Progress on the roof and windows repair project at Duval Elementary School and school district capital projects proposed for the May 7 Town Meeting were reviewed by the Buildings, Facilities and Capital Projects Committee on Thursday, March 1.

Representatives of project engineers Gale Associates — project manager Sam Moore and Ed Stewart — and the W-H Regional School District members met with the Buildings Committee in an effort to assess progress with the project design and budget and prioritize other capital projects. Gale was contracted a year ago to perform an evaluation on Duval to determine the cause of deterioration and leaks traced to the exterior wall systems in the school’s newer addition and areas where severe ice damming occurred during the winter of 2014-15.

“Because of the budgeting it is going to be extended over a multi-year period of time,” Stewart said. Moore updated the committee on the schedule and budgeting for phasing-in the project.

“We know we want to perform the construction work for the first phase over the summer,” Moore said. “These [budget] numbers are not hard numbers, it’s stuff that [Schools Business Director] Christine [Suckow] and Gale will be working on to refine the percentages.”

The project is estimated to cost a total of $1.1 million with $600,000 already appropriated by a Town Meeting appropriation.

“This is probably not the way to go into a project — with partial funding,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said, noting he would be discussing the issue with Selectmen regarding a possible article at Town Meeting to fund the difference. “Initially, we thought we’d be doing an initial repair, evaluating it and then coming back, but it we’re all-in, then I think we have to look at how we fund [it].”

If the project is done in three phases, the first would remove all existing wall cladding and exterior insulating finish system (EIFS) on the second floor, replace windows and repair the low asphalt-shingled roof and sloped roof below it. Phases two and three would replace the upper roof areas.

“The question is, ‘Do we bid it out as one project and then look at, essentially, that single contractor or general contractor being contracted for three years?’ of course, sticking with the phasing plan,” Moore said.

Stewart said Gale has done multi-year contracts before, with a benefit being a single warranty in place. Inflation considerations for materials and labor would have to be factored in. A stipulation would have to be included that follow-up phases are subject to appropriation.

Building Inspector Robert Curran asked if the committee could specify the type of windows used in Phase I be used for subsequent phases if multiple contractors are used.

Stewart said the board could vote to require a proprietary product.

Leak tests will also be conducted during construction.

Committee member Dan Salvucci asked how the phased contract approach was taken.

“It’s three-phase because we asked them to do it,” Lynam said. “It’s not their preferred approach — it’s budget-driven.”

Backing up Phase I would be the repair of “active leaks” that are going on now.

“One of the biggest concerns we have right now is just the scheduling,” Moore said, especially centering on the 16 commercial-grade windows that have to be ordered to match existing windows, to be installed before school reopens in late August.

Lynam asked if any of the active leaks were located in the non-contracted area, below the lower roofline. School officials said they would know after the Friday, March 2 nor’easter and would be checking the building throughout the storm. Based on Gale’s study none have been found in that area so far.

Gale will be backing up its bid-phase services with submittal review, pre-construction meetings with the contractor and bi-weekly meetings during construction.

School priorities

District officials were asked during the same meeting to prioritize the most important of more than 15 projects on their matrix at Whitman schools and about a dozen more at the high school flagged for possible action in 2018.

“We know we’re not going to be able to do all of them,” Lynam said.

In addition to the Duval roof, security upgrades to Conley and Duval schools; fire alarm and smoke detector replacement at Conley and Whitman Middle schools; updating security cameras at Duval and replacement of rooftop units at Whitman Middle all totaling between about $200,000 and $250,000.

“It is extraordinarily important for us to beef up that area of security so we can minimize the exposure in the schools because there’s a stop point,” Lynam said. “It’s our job to make sure our kids are safe.”

School Committee member Fred Small, who chairs the Facilities Subcommittee, said if Conley fire alarms could be replaced at about $55,000 and saved for parts to support the system at WMS, it could be a cost-effective solution to get through the year.

Facilities Director Ernest Sandland said the difference in new security cameras at Hanson’s Indian Head School last year is “phenomenal in what you can see.”

At the high school, Whitman’s 59.82 percent share of $210,000 in roadway repairs; $225,000 for resurfacing the outdoor track and $60,000 for security camera upgrades were cited as top priorities. A total of about $495,000 with Whitman’s share at $296,109.

“This is overwhelming,” Curran said of the complete matrix list. “In my opinion, you’ve got to take care of what you’ve got before it gets broke, but it’s kind of a lot.”

“We have to put it down somewhere,” Sandland said. “You’ve got to make the decision, but I think it’s up to us to identify what our needs are. … We’re in a tough spot because if we don’t identify [needs] people will come back and say, ‘You should have told us about this two years ago and we would have given you the money.’ We hear that all the time.”

“Or, ‘You don’t take care of it,’” Gilbert-Whitner agreed.

HANSON — Job applicants are frequently asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” The Hanson Public Library is asking patrons some similar questions about its next 20 years, and is encouraged by the public’s feedback so far.

A survey, now being circulated on the town website and via email to regular patrons as well as on paper at the circulation desk, will soon be mailed out to gather data through March 9 on the library’s future program offerings and expansion needs.

One need not be a Hanson resident, as library patrons from other communities are encouraged to take part in the study.

So far, the online survey has garnered more than 200 responses, according to Library Director Karen Stolfer of the project being conducted concurrently with the state-required strategic plan, which helps the library apply for grants. The aim is to finish both planning efforts by the fall.

“It’s kind of the first step toward expansion,” Stolfer said last week. “Before you can apply for a construction grant, the state requires you to have a building program on file with them.”

The library has contracted with Boston-based independent consultant Ruth Kowal to conduct the online and mailed survey.

“She’s helping us with this first stage in the process,” Stolfer said. “She is [also] looking at our collection, what our statistics show, measurements of the building. … You have to project out for 20 years growth.”

Kowal would be available to help make a presentation to a town meeting either this fall or next spring.

“We’re going to use input I get from the building program to help me write the strategic plan,” said Stolfer, who was aware of a state planning and design grant approved several years ago — as well as the Trustee’s wish to move forward with it — when she came on board as director. “I’ve worked here for 13 years, so I know what some of the deficits of the current facility are. … I just want to compare it to what people say.”

Patrons have also been taking Sharpie in hand to provide some off-the-cuff feedback to a series of four questions on flip charts in the library.

The first question asked patrons to share their favorite things about the library — with responses including kids’ programs, painting classes, story times, the helpful staff and being able to borrow from other libraries through the SAILS network. Follow-up questions involve what the library does for the community; what new services, programs or equipment would prompt greater use of the library; and are there physical changes that would enhance the library’s mission.

Demographic data will be part of the study, and focus groups will also be a part of that research with the Library Trustees slated to take part in one with Kowal on Tuesday, Feb. 27, with later focus groups to include the Library Foundation as well as members of the public to follow in early March. Discussions will also be conducted with town leaders, including Town Administrator Michael McCue — who has already begun doing that — and the Board of Selectmen as well as the School Committee.

“We’re trying to get input from different groups in the community,” she said.

The next steps would include a feasibility study, focusing on possible forms of expansion — adding on to the existing building, new construction and, if the latter, the proper location.

“This first documents helps you with that,” said Stolfer, adding the state requires that three potential locations be submitted for consideration in the case of new construction. She said, if that is the direction sought, the current location, Maquan School or the Plymouth County Hospital site are among the possibilities.

The survey also asks residents and patrons from outside Hanson for their feedback on some possible new directions for the library, such as making workspace available to start-up or home-based businesses as well as small meeting rooms for community groups to use.

“We’re trying to see what people want from the library, compared to what we have currently,” Stolfer said.

WHITMAN — With an infectious smile and determination Kyler Hockney’s played with his Lego toy like any child his age — he is full of spunk. Even his name means warrior, and he is certainly striving for the title.

At the age of 4, Kyler Hockney is battling, and winning, his fight against childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

With mom and dad by his side and new baby brother Max, Kyler was given a check from Cops for Kids with Cancer CFKWC for $5,000 at the Whitman Police station Tuesday, Aug. 8, along with an entertaining bag of treats, a teddy bear and a gift certificate to get ice cream at Peaceful Meadows.

“We can’t thank them enough for the involvement.  The people were phenomenal (CFKWC) we had to take Kyler in for an emergency platelet transfusion and we talked to Helena and she was wonderful helping us reschedule,” said Kyler’s dad Devin Cooney.

In January, with three weeks until her due date with Max, parents Lisa and Devin Cooney were given a diagnosis that Kyler who was then 3 years old, had childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He is also Philadelphia Chromosome Positive. ALL is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many immature lymphocytes a type of white blood cell.

The family was given direction from both a mutual friend and social services through Massachusetts General Hospital where he is being treated about the CFKWC program.

The Cooneys acknowledged their great support system they have through the challenges of Kyler’s treatments.

Most days he is running around playful, happy full of energy.

“He’s always smiling,” said dad. “We have those days he has been phenomenal you wouldn’t know, (he’s sick) but there are days his counts are off and he won’t eat and… he just wants to be a kid.”

In 2001 the FDA had approved a certain oral chemotherapy that Kyler takes daily. It specifically blocks the chromosome from doing what it wants to do, which is make the leukemia repeat itself. He has a specific treatment plan that he follows.

“Even though he has the chromosome … they know how to treat that,” said mom Lisa.

Deputy Chief of Canton Police Helena Rafferty, who is also President of Cops for Kids with Cancer was the presenter at the gathering at the Whitman Police Department. She started her remarks with wishing that Kyler didn’t have to have cancer in his life and be able to play at the playground being a healthy kid.

“When your child is traveling this journey of being treated for cancer there are so many concerns that families come up against,” said Rafferty. “They should be able to totally concentrate on the child. But there are so many financial issues mortgage, gas and transportation to the hospital.  It is a privilege to be able to help the family.”

In the past families have used monies presented by CFKWC to construct backyard playgrounds, pay mortgages and even take a family vacation.

“[As officers] we have taken the oath to protect and serve — we know what the protect aspect is-the everyday things you connect with policing,” Refferty said. “This is serving our community. The people who truly need it at a desperate time and when your child is sick- there is nothing more desperate than that.”

On behalf of the Whitman police she donated the check to the family to offset their financial burdens with Chief Scott Benton and Whitman officers gathered to welcome the family and offer their encouragement.

Established in 2002 according to the CFKWC website the charity has grown tremendously over the last fifteen years.

“We have a 20-plus person board of directors comprised of active and retired police officers, and friends of law enforcement,” Rafferty said. “All are volunteers, receiving no salaries. We all work very hard to plan events and keep our overhead to a minimum.” Their missions  is Cops for Kids with Cancer is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on raising funds to provide assistance to families of children fighting cancer, to improve their quality of life.

Although life has challenged them this last year the Cooney’s are staying focused on Kyler’s recovery.

“Having a three year old diagnosed with cancer was very hard to hear at first,” Devin Cooney said. “We have such a great support system around us it’s helped tremendously. We can’t thank the people at Mass General enough. They have made this so much easier for us, for him.”

When Kyler’s treatments were decided upon they felt optimistic in the news doctors gave.

“We were told at the beginning that this medicine is a ‘game changer,’” he said. “We were told by his doctors it (ALL) used to be a very bad actor. But with this new medicine prognosis is becoming much better.”

Kyler has had some setbacks delaying treatments due to low platelet counts but they are about five months through his treatments.

“We have amazing medicine now in 2017. We can’t really look too far in the future, it is taking each day as it comes,” said his mom Lisa.

HANSON — In April, Lakeville resident Marybeth MacKay became Hanson’s new Recreation Director. Having worked a similar part-time position in Lakeville, the Abington native also brings an extensive background in the event-planning industry to her new job.

While she originally majored in interior decorating in college, and worked for a Stoughton flooring company for 13 years, after graduating from Abington High School, MacKay said she found the entertainment business when she met her husband Gordon in 1993. He worked as a video promoter for Polygram Records, and groups such as KISS and Bon Jovi during the music video heyday.

“He got me into moving more into the entertainment business,” she said during an interview with the Whitman Hanson Express Thursday, July 20. “As the music industry changed, we changed, ourselves, into doing family entertainment, fairs and festivals — which he was already kind of doing with some of those music acts already.”

They have a 14-year-old son who, growing up in the entertainment world, is a bit blasé about the bold-face names he’s encountered during travels with his parents.

“When he was 10, he told us he was sick of the traveling,” she said with a laugh. “When I was a kid, I would have been star-struck by a daredevil or a rock star. It’s very normal for him.”

She mentioned a photo she has of her son and singer Eddie Money surfing their iPhones backstage during an event, looking thoroughly bored.

As we spoke, two kayakers paddled along Maquan Pond as the laughter of kids swimming at Cranberry Cove could be heard from our vantage point on the back porch of Camp Kiwanee’s Needles Lodge.

Q

: What kind of family entertainment did you arrange?

A: “We kind of broadened our horizons from just music to family entertainment such as circus acts and educational animal shows, like we have coming up here at Camp Kiwanee Aug. 1 and 8. We also did marketing and looking at the demographics of the fair and the local area, working within their budget, setting advertising, doing public relations. Most were nonprofit events, anything from Renaissance to county fairs. We also traveled quite a bit to Puerto Rico and Spain [with a U.S. government cultural arts exchange program].”

Q: What brought you back to the South Shore?

A: “About four years ago, when my son got sick of traveling, we looked for something local that was within my expertise. Doing events for a town is a lot like doing it for a fair and some towns, like Spencer [in central Massachusetts], own their own fairgrounds.” She’s also worked with the Topsfield Fair, bringing in acts like a rodeo and the Flying Walendas.

Q: It sounds like the recreation job is a good fit for you.

A: “It really is. It is a lot like what I was doing before, only instead of being concentrated over four days, it’s spread out over the course of a year.”

Q: How did you find out about this opportunity?

A: “I came here from the Lakeville Parks Department. I was working there part time and they were looking to stick with part time to stay within their budgets and I wanted to expand to full time. I saw this opportunity come up, it’s a very similar facility with a wedding hall to help pay for [Lakeville’s] Parks Department … instead of having cabins and camping like we have here, they had a beach with soccer and baseball fields, horseshoe pits and both a youth and adult volleyball program through USA Volleyball.”

Q: Were you familiar with the challenges in the Hanson Recreation Commission when you first came here?

A: “A little bit. I had heard something about it, but I really didn’t get too involved.”

Q: What was the hiring process like?

A: “I applied back in November and I know there had been some delays — I know they changed the job description — and I was interviewed in February. They hired me in March and I started on April 3 after I finished in Lakeville.”

Q: Did that give you time to hit the ground running with programs?

A: “It’s very difficult for the summer. Summer is when everybody wants everything to happen and you’re competing against all those fairs and festivals because those same animal educators — we have Marla Isaac coming up at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 1 with birds of prey — and on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, she’s at fairs and festivals. We’re kind of limited as to what we can do this summer, but we’re hoping to hit the ground running, I’ve got a lot of great ideas, for the fall, after-school and half-day programming like Wicked Cool Science.”

Q: Did starting the job in April also put you behind with the beach programs?

A: “With lifeguards, it’s a national shortage. The National Parks and Rec Association for the last three years, has been putting out information in their newsletter on the crisis with lifeguards, which they attribute to a few different things. A lot of parents are having their kids concentrate on their education over the summer. You’re seeing more kids choosing to go to summer school to get more time in. The other factor they attribute it to is the cost of becoming a lifeguard. It can cost an average of about $300 to become a lifeguard and it’s an entry-level position. Towns and recreation departments have budgets to think about. … I think it’s a great opportunity for a kid because there’s nothing better than being outside. Lifeguarding also teaches kids social interaction, leadership and gives them more responsibility than just ringing up at the supermarket. It probably looks really good on a college application.”

Q: You mentioned some programs you are planning, what other potential is there for increased community use of Camp Kiwanee?

A: “I think the rentals are going really well, and that’s a good thing, because the rentals help pay for the programs and salaries of the staff. … It would be nice to maybe expand some things down at the beach, because we get such a great response from the swimming lessons. It would also be nice to have some kind of a summer program here with the camps … to give kids a few days so they don’t have to travel to some of the Y camps.”

She said the narrow access road and limited parking creates a problem with planning larger festival-type programs at Kiwanee.

Q: What do you like most about the job so far?

A: “I like working with people, I really do. I find that everybody has an interesting story. I enjoy meeting people — you never know who you’re going to meet and what they’ve done.”

Q: What are some of the bigger challenges?

A: “Just getting used to a new culture. It’s very different here from Lakevillle, where they were more sports-oriented [at the Parks Department]. Here they are more arts-oriented. But I also have that experience with fairs and festivals.

“Growing up, I knew about it and had a friend who worked for the Lakeville School Department who was actually the beach director here and had done all the jobs growing up.

“We’re surrounded here by beautiful nature and I think that’s the programming that’s probably really a best fit. … People can learn about why [animals]  are here.”