WHITMAN — Lyric poet Faye George of Bridgewater kicked off Thanksgiving week with readings and a discussion of her collection, “Voices of King Philip’s War,” at the Whitman Public Library on Monday, Nov. 21 — the 396th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s landing in 1620.

“That’s really not a very long, long time, is it?” she said. “And look what happened in that interval. … This was all forest.”

George has published five collections of her poetry. She’s been working on the King Philip book [2013, WordTech Editions, softcover, 142 pages, $20] for several years, perhaps unwittingly at first, as it flowed from her personal interest in that period of local history.

“We thought it would be topical and timely” to host George, said Library Director Andrea Rounds of the appearance, which was part of the Local Author Series funded by the Friends of the Whitman Public Library.

George related how one of her first jobs after high school was as a page in Shawmut Bank.

“They had a mascot symbol of [Shawmut sachem] Obbatinewat,” she said. The image spurred her to learn more of local history. George said her initial research was not directed, but rather sprang from idle curiosity stemming from her first realization that King Philip was not a European nobleman but the son of Massasoit.

“I’d like to know more about this,” she said of her thought process.

One reference source would lead to another and she would sit on her porch in Weymouth, where she lived at the time, and read and make notes.

George spoke of the plagues, which wiped out several small Algonquian bands prior to 1620, as well as inter-tribal clashes before the founding of the Plymouth Colony, which she termed “nothing in the way of absolute, take-no-prisoners, burn-it-to-the-ground warfare that the English brought.”

She wrote poems in the voice of several native peoples who played key roles in King Philip’s War, relying on her past research, interspersing passages from historic documents with her interpretation of how the native peoples would feel.

“The attitudes presented come from my imagination,” she said. Events portrayed are taken from the historical record, while some of the behaviors and attitudes are lost to history. George then recreated scenes within the context of their roles in events.

“I am primarily a lyric poet,” she said. “This was a total departure for me.”

After her third book, she felt the time was right to go back over her past notes, which led to the first of her monologue poems. That monologue dramatizes Philip’s brother Alexander’s (Wamsutta) refusal to surrender to the summons of Gov. Edward Winslow after Wamsutta was accused of selling Wampanoag land directly to colonists, rather than to the Plymouth colony. Alexander’s sudden death in Plymouth led the Wampanoags to suspect he was poisoned.

“… Summon me? — Wamsutta, Alexander,

Chief Sachem

Of the Wampanoag Federation!

Not for this did my father [Massasoit] and our people,

With all good will,

Give yours a place to make their homes

And dwell among us;

Not to submit as slaves to English law,

Not to live as

Children of the English governor!

Now you hear this;

We are not your children, neither your slaves. …”

— Excerpt from “Alexander: Wamsutta,” from “Voices of King Philip’s War”

“I had no idea how many voices there would be,” she said. “These characters that emerged were all from the historical record. These were real people.”

George noted that, since the Algonquian peoples had no written language, she had to depend on the histories written by white colonists, including the Christian missionary John Elliot, who had taught himself the Massachusetts dialect of the Wampanoags.

“It was a sad reality that, had they worked together, had the tribes been less competitive … they certainly, I believe, would had gotten a better deal than they did get,” she said. “Because they were just destroyed.”

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 15 voted to set a uniform tax rate of $15.08 per $1,000 valuation for fiscal 2017 on both residential and commercial property.

Assessor Kathy Keefe presented the Board of Assessors’ recommendation for the uniform rate to Selectmen. She also reported that the Department of Revenue had certified Whitman’s valuation for 2017 at $1,518,230,876, which, along with the tax levy of $22,901,992 to estimate the tax rate of $15.08, which could shift a bit when it is input into software, but is not expected to go higher than $15.10.

The fiscal 2016 tax rate was certified at $15.59.

The residential and commercial exemptions, which are always an option, were not recommended because Whitman does not have a high percentage of rental properties and the small commercial exemption only aids businesses that own their property.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam noted that the personal property class value decreased by almost $4 million after “extraordinary growth” from National Grid property, which declines over time.

A National Grid personal property report in March  2015 added $72.8 million in new growth, raising the town’s levy limit — and was not expected to last. The anomaly was discovered during an analysis of available funds, including new growth, according to Lynam.

“I expect that within the next seven years, we’ll lose all of that,” he said. “So we have not used that money as part of our budgeting concept — and because of that, you’re going to see an excess levy because we don’t want to use that money, otherwise we’ll have to play catch-up in the years that follow.”

Selectman Daniel Salvucci asked if that money could be spent on a capital project. Lynam replied that was done this past year when about $1 million was spent on capital projects using the money from the National Grid base figure.

“It’s never precise, we have to calculate it each year and we don’t know where the numbers will come in,” Lynam said. “I do know, however, that that number is going to continue to decline and I do not want to come close enough on our budget to have to come back in the fall because we overspent.”

The perception that “everybody does it” has taken another hit.

A regional drug use survey, taken on an anonymous and voluntary basis by high school students last year, has yielded some valuable insights on the issue, according to the Brockton Area Opioid Prevention Coalition.

Specific results of the survey were released only to School Committee members and Whitman-Hanson Regional School District administrators, but general information and the types of questions asked were discussed with the Committee during its Wednesday, Nov. 9 meeting at which the panel voted to expand a drug use survey to grade eight.

“We thought it was important for you to hear the results this evening, how we plan to move forward and the opportunity to give a similar survey to the eighth grade,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said.

Coalition members Hillary Dubois of the High Point Treatment Center and Ed Jacobs from the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office presented the survey findings. Whitman-Hanson WILL is also a member group of that coalition, whose work is funded by three regional grants.

“We want to take the limited resources that we have and focus them in the right place,” Jacobs said. “There’s a certain percentage of students who will say, ‘Yes, I’ve used over the past 30 days,’ but when you ask about their perception of do their fellow students use, that’s a far greater number.”

It’s also an incorrect perception, according to the data, which can encourage kids to avoid drugs or alcohol by showing them they are not alone.

“The actual number [of students who admit to drug use] is very small, which is good,” Jacobs said. “But the perception is ‘everybody’s doing it,’ or the majority is doing it … and that, we don’t think is necessarily the reality.”

But Dubois cautioned against complacency, saying that perception could lead to “peer-driven self internal pressure” for kids.

“When a young person is, for example, offered a prescription narcotic pain killer, if they have the belief that the majority of their peers are using it as well, they might be more inclined to try it,” she said.

In W-H, 998 high school students took part after the School Committee approved the survey last year. In Brockton High School 1,627, another 666 in Rockland High School and Middle School and 587 in East Bridgewater Jr./Sr. High School also participated.

“More so than any other district, you have a bunch of civil libertarians here at W-H who chose to not answer questions or take surveys or draw pictures,” Dubois said, noting a few may have declined to answer questions of their own potential drug or alcohol use.

Jacobs and Dubois argued that, by expanding the survey to grade eight gives a wider window for data collection so the coalition can determine if progress is being made or greater prevention methods are needed.

“We base our strategies off of an assessment that we complete in each of the individual communities as well as in the region,” Dubois said. “We use the information that comes from the survey to help inform what our next steps are in terms of working with the communities.”

That work will encompass the youth voice and perspective gleaned from the survey. Dubois said the current data would be shared with Whitman-Hanson WILL and the local Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapter. The survey results can also help make the argument for additional grant money in the future if problems are found.

“Rarely do we ask the kids who are most impacted by this. — What their feedback is, what their thought is, what they think speaks to their peers and … what speaks to the adults in their lives,” she said.

The School Committee also reviewed results of the spring assessment exams.

“Statewide assessments have changed and varied over the years,” Gilbert-Whitner said, noting that last spring it was a combination of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and MCAS exams.

Curriculum directors Brian Selig, Amy Hill and Mark Stephansky joined Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Ellen Stockdale in reviewing this spring’s scores and changes being made to prepare teachers and students alike for evolving tests.

Currently, because of the changes in the testing systems, Stockdale said the most consistent data is available from the high school MCAS scores.

In math, W-H performs at or better than the state average, Selig said, noting that test changes ahead will move to questions with more than one answer than the traditional multiple-choice questions featured on the MCAS exams.

English Language Arts, in which W-H students were 95-percent proficient or advanced, will also see more thought-provoking questions on future exams, Hill said.

“If we are teaching to our standards, if we are sticking to our standards, we will be OK,” she said, noting that sparking a love of reading is critical.

“They give children opportunities to see different types of texts at their level with high interest, so they keep them engaged,” Stockdale said of W-H teachers.

In science, which has never been featured in a PARCC test, Stephansky said 81 percent of W-H students scored proficient/advanced on the freshman biology MCAS compared to a 75 percent state average. Future exams, adapted from the federal standards in January, will demand new training of teachers, but there will little change this spring.

Taking it slow

Another challenge with online testing will be training tech-savvy kids to click slower on computerized exams, all the educators agreed.

The so-called Next-Generation MCAS, a hybrid of the two tests is the direction Massachusetts has decided to take in the future.

“What we really need in order to educate our children is a really solid, well-aligned curriculum with very highly effective teachers,” Stockdale said, adding the district’s teachers meet that description.

Schools are ranked on the basis of assessments according to a district’s lowest-performing school. W-H is at Level 2 — on a 1 to 5 scale with Level 5 being the worst.

“There are no Pre-K to 12 districts in Massachusetts classified as Level 1,” Stockdale said.

HANSON — The town will continue to be taxed a uniform rate for all property classifications for fiscal 2017.

The Board of Selectmen voted to set the annual tax classification rates following a brief hearing with the Board of Assessors on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Such hearings are required by MGL Ch 40 §56 before a tax rate may be set.

Assessor/appraiser Lee Gamache made the presentation to Selectmen before their vote on a uniform or split tax rate as well as whether they would accept residential or small business exemptions. She also reported that the excess levy capacity for the town is $208,477 and that the town has seen a good year for growth in residential properties and free cash.

“Single-family [property] value has increased and is increasingly going up year-to-year,” Gamache said. “We’re in a condo boom right now and people are paying a lot of money for the condos in Hanson … the values for condos are also increasing.”

At the same time, commercial properties in town have lost a little value, she said, noting there has not been a lot of business coming into town.

The board voted 5-0 to support the uniform rate. Neither exemption was accepted.

The town’s residential tax classification is the largest, comprising 91.7741 percent of the actual levy for fiscal 2017. At a uniform tax rate — meaning all classifications, including commercial, industrial and personal property as well as residential — would be at $15.98 per $1,000 valuation.

“There’s very little commercial-industrial [property],” Gamache said. “We’re definitely a bedroom town, and that’s why the board has historically always recommended a uniform tax rate — so that the shift doesn’t go on the small amount of commercial property that we do have here.”

Gamache explained that the two exemptions apply mainly to communities with a high rate of rental properties such as Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and the Cape and Islands. In Hanson, residential property is 98-percent owner-occupied so the assessors have historically recommended against adopting a residential tax exemption.

Selectmen voted 5-0 against such an exemption.

She also explained that the commercial exemption, which only benefits small businesses that own their property, is not guaranteed to be passed along to companies that rent space. Again, Selectmen voted 5-0 against such an exemption.

In other business, the board acted on Water Commissioner Mary Lou Sutter’s resignation from her position, effective Nov. 12, due to health reasons.

“It has become increasingly difficult to attend meetings as my health worsens and winter approaches,” Sutter wrote in her letter of resignation. She added that she did not want to resign without leaving a full board to address the town’s water needs.

The board accepted her resignation with regret following a round of applause from the audience in honor of her many years of service.

In a divided vote, Selectmen and members of the Water Commissioners approved — 6-3, with Selectmen Bruce Young, Bill Scott and Chairman James McGahan dissenting — to appoint Dennis O’Connell to fill a vacancy on the commission. One vacancy remains open, but was not voted on during the Nov. 1 meeting. Selectman Don Howard had two votes, as he is an elected member of both boards.

O’Connell has worked as a union electrician who has worked with the MWRA and Deer Island as well as the MBTA and Boston Housing Authority. The second applicant, William John Garvey is a South Shore Vo-Tech grad with an HVAC certification, who has worked on the town’s committee overseeing repairs to roofs at the elementary schools. Selectmen and water commissioners voted 3-5-1 against Garvey — with only McGahan, Scott and Young voting in favor and Howard abstaining from his vote as a water commissioner.

“In two weeks we can have another appointment,” Howard said.

Young congratulated O’Connell on his appointment, saying he was sure O’Connell would do an outstanding job.

“For the record, I made my decision based on experience,” Selectman Kenny Mitchell said of his vote for O’Connell. The board also voted to hire Jamison E. Shave as the new administrative assistant for the Hanson Highway Department.

Town Administrator Michael McCue said of the17 applicants — six of whom were interviewed — Shave was determined to be the best-qualified for the position. Shave’s extensive resume includes experience with the Hanson Water Department and as Fern Hill Cemetery superintendent of the cemetery.

“He comes with a plethora of experience in both administration and payroll,” McCue said. “Of particular interest was … in his capacity at Fern Hill, he was familiar with an awful lot of things that he would have to deal with in the Highway position having to do with groundskeeping and plowing and all sorts of things.”

(Express intern Michael Hughes contributed to this report).

Early voting is a hit with local residents.

“We’re doing very well and people seem to really appreciate it, that’s the best part,” said Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan. “I would like to see it for all elections. I think it’s great.”

Whitman Town Clerk Dawn Varley would agree, as 2,210 residents turned out to cast early ballots along with 276 absentees between Oct. 24 and Nov. 2 — and there were two days left in the early voting window, which closes at the end of the business day on Friday, Nov. 4. Hanson’s total as of Nov. 2 was 1,160 with 220 absentee ballots.

“We’re very busy today, very pleasantly busy,” Varley said during the extra Saturday early voting hours Whitman offered Oct. 29. “During the first hour today we had about 100 people.”

Working couples with families and seniors hesitant to stand in long lines seem to appreciate the convenience equally, Sloan said. As she spoke, all five of the voting booths set up in her office and the hallway outside it were busy and more people were arriving to cast ballots.

“They don’t have to make their families drive them, it’s difficult to make arrangements because they’re working,” Hanson resident Leah Guercio said of her fellow seniors as she waited for a friend to finish voting Friday, Oct. 28. Guercio works with the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center’s supportive day program.

“I love it,” another resident said as she checked in to vote early at the Hanson Town Clerk’s office. “It’s amazing. I don’t know how anybody else feels, but I think it’s wonderful.”

“They love it,” Varley agreed regarding Whitman voters.

Whitman saw more voters cast ballots before the end of its second day, nearly 600, than turned out for the state primary in September, according to Town Administrator Frank Lynam at the Oct. 25 meeting of Whitman Selectmen. Only 375 people voted in that primary in Whitman.

“It’s amazing the traffic that’s coming in [Town Hall] just to early vote,” Lynam said.

By the morning of Oct. 28, Sloan had seen 540 early voters cast ballots and had received another 200 absentee ballots. Whitman also had about 200 absentee ballots before they dropped off during early voting. She said absentees will resume once early voting ends.

“I think there’s a lot of people that just don’t want to wait in line,” said Whitman Selectman Brian Bezanson, who also reminded residents watching the Oct. 25  meeting on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV to vote on Election Day, Nov. 8. “It’s obviously a very important election and we need as many people as possible to chime in on this as we can. There’s many ways to vote, so please do it.”

In addition to early voting — from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4 — and regular voting hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8, voters unable to go to the polls in some circumstances may cast absentee ballots.

Whitman Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, who voted early, had a concern about the security of the process.

“I’ve had a lot of questions,” Varley said as she checked in voters Saturday. “I’ve had a lot of people questioning how many hands are going to touch these ballots, what happens to these ballots — things like that. My answer to them is, if you want to know what happens to your ballot show up here on Nov. 8 at 8 o’clock at night, and you’ll see.”

Early voters place their ballots in a signed and dated sealed envelope, which poll workers run through voting machines in the appropriate precincts on Election Day.

“They do that at a time when they don’t have heavy voting, because the folded ballots could jam the machine,” Lynam said.

“Whoever opens it, knows how I voted, if he or she decides to glance,” he said. “This is something that struck me.”

Varley said the security of ballots is an issue she takes very seriously.

“It’s a process,” she said. “We have to do the check-in and the check-out for your ballots. This makes more work for the clerks.”

Selectman Daniel Salvucci said he has also spoken with Varley, principally about the time involved in counting the ballots Nov. 8, noting a final tally in Whitman is expected to be available by 11:30 p.m. that night.

“She also said that, if we wanted to, the room will be open [during the count], but lines will be drawn where people can stay there and watch them do what they have to do,” Salvucci said, echoing Varley’s comments. “You have to stay a certain distance away.”

“The final numbers are going to take a while on Election Night,” Kowalski said of the time involved in processing early ballots in the 28 states and the District of Columbia, where early voting is permitted. Another 20 states allow early votes with an excuse. There are 10 states that still prohibit early voting.

HANSON — Candidates for the Plymouth County offices of sheriff and county commissioner fielded questions from voters during a candidates’ forum Sunday, Oct. 16 co-sponsored by the Hanson Democratic and Republican town committees.

Hanson Town Moderator Sean Kealy moderated the event at the Selectmen’s meeting room in Hanson Town Hall.

Incumbent Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph D. McDonald Jr., a Republican, and Democratic challenger Scott M. Vecchi squared off in an often-heated exchange in the room filled with McDonald supporters. County Commissioner candidates Lincoln D. Heineman and incumbent Greg Hanley, both Democrats, and Republican incumbent Daniel A. Pallotta answered a few questions in more subdued exchange. Voters select two on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The 6th District incumbent Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury and his Republican challenger Vince Cogliano were joined by state Sen. Mike Brady, B-Brockton, as well as a statement from U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., read by Hanson resident James Egan were also involved in the event. None of Keating’s opponents took part or provided statements.

Right out of the blocks, in his opening statement, Vecchi went on the attack, describing his campaign as a reform effort against “the corrosive impact of employee campaign contributions, nepotism, patronage, and exploitation of our pension system.”

He said he misses the Joe [McDonald] of a 2004 debate.

“That Joe railed against the same things I’m railing against right now,” he said. “That Joe lashed out against hiring friends and family members [and was for] fiscal responsibility.”

Vecchi charged those problems not only still exist, they have multiplied.

“My colleague likes to say a lot of very bad things about individuals at the sheriff’s office, the budgets,” McDonald countered. “I’m never going to overspend. The budget’s been very fiscally responsible. The people that I work with are the best. There is no patronage, there is no nepotism, there is no pension abuse.”

McDonald said there is only one of the candidates poised to double-dip on a pension.

“It’s not me,” he said.

McDonald, who has been sheriff for 12 years, said for his part, that while elections can be won, re-elections must be earned and he strongly asserted he has earned re-election.

“I’m going to share with you the good news about what’s going on at the sheriff’s office,” he said in his opening remarks. “I have the best staff in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and, I dare say, in the United States of America.”

He refuted Vecchi’s claims that budgets are over-spent.

“We’re right on budget,” he said. “In fact, we have the lowest per-inmate cost of any sheriff’s office in Massachusetts, and at the same time we are providing the highest level of community service.”

He pointed to his department’s work with Hanson, state and other local community departments in the response to an investigation of the Sept. 29 armed home invasion in Hanson.

“They came, they helped with the apprehension, they helped in gathering evidence,” he said of his department’s K-9 units. “This was tangible, this was real.”

He also lauded the work done by inmates on work crews for municipal projects.

A Plymouth resident, Vecchi is a member of the Alden and Mayflower Societies and is a sergeant on the Plymouth Police Department and a retired Marine gunnery sergeant — a combat veteran of Iraq. He is also an attorney with 23 years of police and corrections experience.

“When elected sheriff, I’ll be the only sheriff who’s actually been a corrections officer,” he said. As a police officer, he said he has been on the “front line” in the fight against the opioid epidemic, having administered Narcan and other first aid measures to overdose victims. He said the Police Association of Mass., MassCOP, the Professional Firefighters of Mass., and “numerous other unions” have endorsed him.

A Marshfield native, McDonald has a 25-year history in law enforcement, has a law degree from Suffolk University Law School and is a graduate of the National District Attorney’s Association National Advocacy Center in Columbia, S.C., the National Sheriff’s Institute of Longmont, Colo., the Municipal Police Training Committee Basic Reserve Academy in Plymouth and the FBI Academy’s FBI Leads Academy 59th session in Quantico, Va. He is the immediate past president of the Mass. Sheriff’s Association, and its current vice president, and was a member of the Governor’s Opioid Task Force and council on criminal justice reform.

Commissioners
candidates

Scituate native Heineman congratulated forum organizers for the mostly respectful exchange of views, terming it a “refreshing from what’s happening nationally.” He has worked on municipal budgets in Scituate as well as for the state inspector general’s office and holds an MBA, and he stressed the need for making county government more efficient. He said the commissioners must also do more to combat Lyme disease.

“We have a Lyme disease epidemic going on on the South Shore,” Heineman said. “Approaching it in a regional way is something we must do.”

Hanover resident Pallotta, who is the current chairman of the Plymouth County Commissioners, said that while he and Hanley are “on extreme opposites on the political spectrum,” they have worked together to return a sense of fiscal responsibility to the commission.

“Plymouth County should have been filing for bankruptcy when I took office four years ago,” Pallotta said. “It was selling land, they were selling buildings, they were selling everything they could to balance the budget. They had fraudulent revenue projections and it was just hack-o-rama down there with jobs and everything else.”

He said they worked together to “clean up the mess — and we did it the hard way — we cut people.” Unnecessary programs were eliminated or reduced and, for the first time in a decade, the county will have an audited set of books with a $400,000 surplus for the first time over the same period. He also said the county has already applied for a grant to address the Lyme disease issue and has also filed legislation to eliminate the sheriff’s liability for retirees and to allow the county commissioners to have a savings account.

“When we got into office, the cupboard was bare,” agreed Hanley, who is a Pembroke resident. “The previous commissioners wanted to end county government.”

He echoed President Kennedy’s comments on Russian advances during the nuclear era that, “It’s not the Republican answer that we should seek, nor the Democratic answer — it’s the right answer.” Hanley said, of the hundreds of votes he and Pallotta cast as commissioners, they have differed only once, in a philosophical vote on a labor issue.

They partnered with the legislative delegation on both sides of the aisle and, most important among those bills, saved the county communities from having to foot the bill for $32 million in legacy costs for retirement liabilities when the correctional facility was taken over by the state. The debt was forgiven by adding 10 cents to every transaction at the Registry of Deeds, Hanley said.

“We have a function to do and if we don’t do the function it’s going to go to the state,” Pallotta said.

“I give a lot of credit where credit is due to the existing commission for righting the ship,” Heineman said. “What we need to do now, is to take a new [direct] approach to, across the aisle in a bipartisan way, to make sure the commission is not just meeting its obligations, which it is now.”

He said it is largely agreed that more services can be provided in more ways than are currently being delivered.

HANSON — Candidates for state representative in General Court fielded questions, Sunday, Oct. 16, about benefits for illegal immigrants, ballot questions, infrastructure needs and which presidential candidates they support during a candidates’ forum co-sponsored by the Hanson Democratic and Republican town committees.

The 6th District incumbent Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, and his Republican challenger Vince Cogliano — a former Pembroke Selectman — were joined by state Sen. Mike Brady, B-Brockton, candidates for Plymouth County Commissioner and Sheriff in fielding questions from voters at the Selectmen’s meeting room in Hanson Town Hall. U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., sent a statement read by Hanson resident James Egan. None of his opponents took part or provided statements.

Hanson Town Moderator Sean Kealy moderated the event.

Cutler and Cogliano were cordial in their exchanges, but firmly made their case for the very different ways in which they approach the issues. Cutler backs Hillary Clinton and Cogliano supports Donald Trump in the race for the White House.

Cogliano, a veteran and lifelong Pembroke resident who attended Silver Lake Regional High School, still runs his family farm, growing pick-your-own strawberries and Christmas trees. Cutler is an attorney and former owner of the Express newspapers, who is now a partner in Hanson’s Coletta Cutler Real Estate.

Both men are former selectmen and Cogliano was a founding member of the committee that helped Pembroke negotiate and form an autonomous school district.

“It was a very good thing for the town in so many ways,” Cogliano said, of that effort. He has been endorsed by Gov. Charlie Baker and state Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman.

“We’re all very proud that [the Tank the Gas Tax] measure passed and protected the will of the people, who don’t want taxes raised in the dark with no vote,” Cogliano said in his opening statement, of the ballot initiative Diehl started and for which he collected signatures. Cogliano said that, unless more Republicans are elected to Beacon Hill, Baker’s next two years, as governor will be marked with efforts to block his legislative goals. He argues that taxes should not be raised unless it is made clear “where the money is going, how it is being spent, is it being spent wisely and is it reaching the very people that it’s intended to reach and help.” He advocates a more business-friendly legislature as well.

Cutler, speaking second in his opening, said he is proud of the legislative work being done in Massachusetts, where some significant legislation has been passed in recent years through a bi-partisan effort. Major economic development, veterans’ housing, clean energy were among those efforts.

“We’ve done it on an almost-unanimous basis in many cases, and that’s because we have a reputation for working across the aisle, building consensus and getting things done,” Cutler said.

He noted that he and Diehl put aside their differences to build a coalition of more than 70 legislators, successfully raising the Chapter 70 funding formula to schools from $25 to $55 per pupil. “It directly benefits our communities,” he said.

As a member of the Elder Caucus, Cutler said he has worked to help increase funding for councils on aging. He has also worked to secure funds to help clean up local ponds and Camp Kiwanee improvements as well as to restore commuter rail service.

Cutler said unemployment, currently at 3.9 percent, is the lowest it’s been since the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and the bond rating is at a historic high. State schools rank fourth in reading on a global level, and ninth in math.

“We’ve done much in the commonwealth to be proud of,” he said.

Cogliano said he is running because change is needed and that the state has a spending problem.

“One of the reasons that we have such a high bond rating?” he said. “Bonds are set by the ability to pay back and when you have the ability, because you’re controlled by a one-party system to arrange taxes to pay for the bond, bond-rating agencies love you.”

Brady gave a brief statement, as he has no opponent for the state Senate in November. He has served more than seven years as a state representative as well as many years on Brockton City Council.

“We have worked very diligently on bipartisan legislation to address the opioid addiction crisis,” he said, echoing Keating’s statement, which led off the evening. “It’s affecting too many communities. … We still have to work harder.”

He pointed out that insurance companies restrict rehab coverage to 14 days, “Which is ridiculous,” he said, noting many times first responders are administering Narcan to the same patients multiple times a day. “There’s a revolving door.”

He has also worked toward the increase in per-pupil school funds, as well as funds for Camp Kiwanee and the Monponsett watershed.

“It is vital that we support the education and training of our next generation’s workforce,” Egan read from Keating’s statement. “To this end, I have secured over $10 million in federal funding in the last two years alone for vocational training, apprenticeship, Head Start and youth-building funding.”

Keating said he has supported cranberry exports within the new global market, and worked to limit “misguided regulations” on small cranberry growers as well as supporting the fishing industry.

He credited Cutler and Brady for their work against the opioid epidemic and has worked on bipartisan legislation in the house. Keating also serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and as the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism.

“My work to highlight airport security weaknesses led to a first-of-its-kind, top-to-bottom review of all U.S. airports with TSA presence and passage of my legislation to seal gaps in perimeter and access-control security,” Egan read from Keating’s statement.

WHITMAN — A blighted house at 35 East Ave., vacant for about a decade, now has a new owner and will soon be renovated — and returned to the tax rolls.

The boarded up house, across the street from the rodent-infested house torn down at 36 East Ave., on Nov. 12, 2015, was purchased by James Bowen of Middleborough during a street-side auction on Friday, Oct. 7.

The houses date to about the 1870s.

Minimum bid for the auctioned house was $85,000. Bowen bought it for $103,000 after a short bidding war with another interested party after the price had climbed to $100,000.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam reported to Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 11 that the cost of sale — for the auctioneer and advertising — was $4,500. The town nets more than $99,000 and, even after the $86,897 in total carrying costs for the property while it stood vacant, the town “comes out on this property as whole as we would have” if it had never been vacant.

Bowen operates rental properties, mostly in Brockton and Lakeville, Middleborough and Avon. This is the first of some 40 projects he’s done that will be in Whitman. He used to work for Shadley Brothers on Day Street, however, so he knows something about the town.

He plans to put on a new roof to weatherproof it within the next few weeks.

“I like old houses,” he said of his plans to renovate instead of tearing it down. “I just did one over from the 1880s so I know the old houses and it seemed like a good investment.”

Auctioneer Samantha Saperstein of the Paul Saperstein Co. of Holbrook began the bidding at 11 a.m., asking if all qualified bidders had registered and if there were any questions. As a town sale, and not a foreclosure, she was not required to read a legal notice before opening the bidding.

One person asked if any taxes were due on the property.

“We’re not seeking taxes, we just want to sell it,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam. “You start getting taxed the day you own the property.”

He and Building Inspector Bob Curran represented the town at the auction.

“This is a big step,” Curran said, noting the rest of East Avenue is a beautiful neighborhood. “This was the worst part of it.”

“Whatever you bid here today is what you close at closing,” Saperstein said. “A few of you have asked about two-family housing … If you go to just rehab it, as it is, you can do what you want with it — if you have the proper permits. If you tear it down, I believe you’ll have to go in front of the zoning board [ZBA] and get the proper permits to do a two-family home.”

The property had not been a legal multi-family home in the past.

“[Paul] Saperstein is a preeminent auction house,” Lynam said.

A neighborhood resident, who has lived on the street for 71 years said it was good to see something done with the problem properties.

“It was sad to see that one go,” she said gesturing to the vacant lot where the 36 East Ave. house stood. “This one — I don’t know how old it is, but it was certainly here when I moved on the street.”

With the presidential election a little more than a month away, voters are reminded of some important dates.

The deadline for registering to vote in the Tuesday, Nov. 8 election is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Early voting begins on Monday, Oct. 24, concluding on Friday, Nov. 4.

“Registered voters do not need an excuse or reason to vote early,” said Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan. “The first step is making sure you are registered.”

Sloan is ready for early voting, having set up four voting booths — two handicapped accessible — behind the counter in her office. In Whitman, the early voting booths are now on display in the corridor outside the Town Clerk’s office, but will be moved into the auditorium by Oct. 24.

Absentee voting will also be conducted as usual for the Nov. 8 Election Day.

“Anyone who is 18 on or before Nov. 8 can vote, but must register by Oct. 19,” Whitman Town Clerk Dawn Varley said. “A lot of the young kids think they can’t vote because the deadline is Oct. 19.”

Whitman early voting hours [Oct. 24 to Nov. 4] are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and special hours on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The application deadline for early voting by mail is noon on Friday, Nov. 4. The Whitman Town Clerk’s office will be closed to all non-election business on Nov. 8.

In Hanson, early voting is available during business hours: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Friday, 8 a.m. to noon.  Registered voters also have the option to request an early voting ballot through the mail. Simply fill out an application and mail it to Town Clerk, 542 Liberty Street Hanson, MA 02341.

Former Gov. Deval Patrick signed the election reform law on May 22, 2014 to allow early voting in state biennial elections, starting 11 business days before an election and ending two business days before Election Day.

The election reform law also permits early registration for 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, although they would not be permitted to cast ballots until age 18. For more information on registering to vote or to obtain an early voting by mail application, visit the Secretary of State’s website at sec.state.ma.us.

The law also requires the state to audit 3 percent of precincts during presidential election years to make sure voting machines are working correctly. It establishes a task force to pin down the cost and administrative requirements of the early voting provision and examine other voting issues such as same-day voter registration.

A Republican-backed provision for voter ID cards was rejected by lawmakers.

Making plans

Expecting a 75-percent turnout for the presidential election, Varley has asked for, and received, Whitman Selectmen’s support for safety procedures she plans to institute at Town Hall on that date. The measures have been used before in high-turnout elections and center on restricting parking and charitable solicitations.

Town Hall employees and election workers will be required to park at the police station on Election Day to free up Town Hall parking for voters. Employees and election workers will be shuttled to Town Hall. Parking along South Avenue from Day Street to the center of town will be limited to a half-hour on a temporary basis.

The 150-foot “no electioneering” rule around Town Hall will be enforced, including fundraising efforts by Dollars for Scholars and other groups.

Voters have also been receiving the “Massachusetts Information for Voters” booklet on the 2016 Ballot Questions from the office of Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin.

Voters’ guide

The 29-page, newsprint booklet provides the text and summaries of the four questions, an explanation of what yes and no votes will do, a statement of fiscal consequences, and arguments from representatives on both sides of each issue.

A clip-out voter checklist is printed on the back cover for voters to use to note how they intend to vote as a pocket reference to take with them to the polls.

Question 1 refers to expanded slot-machine gaming; Question 2 asks whether charter schools should be expanded in the state; Question 3 refers to the conditions in which farm animals are raised and Question 4 involves whether marijuana should be legalized, regulated and taxed.

The booklet is mailed to residential addresses of registered voters, group quarters and convenient public locations throughout the state. To obtain a copy, call Galvin’s Elections Division at 617-727-2828 or 1-800-VOTE (8683) or the Citizen Information Service at 617-727-7030.

HANOVER — South Shore Vocational Technical High School wants to get more students out to work — whether through co-operative employment, after-school jobs or unpaid internships.

“It almost seems like it’s unnecessary to say that,” Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey told the SSVT Regional School Committee Wednesday, Sept. 21 about his opening-day talks with faculty, staff and junior and senior students. “But, what I was specifically referring to in terms of staff was … the importance of talking up to students the ability to spend some part of their experience here outside this building.”

One of Hickey’s evaluation goals for the year is to increase such work projects by 10 percent. He also asked School Committee members to formulate a plan for some form of graduation requirement eventually mandating “some sliver of their time” in an external work environment.

“If they don’t have a car, we can help them,” he said of school day co-op positions. “If they need help with job placement, we can help them, and we’re sending the same message to students.”

Other goals Hickey outlined for the year are: professional learning communities to support teachers with weekly meetings on educational issues; action plans to reach state accountability goals for student achievement; that 100 percent of eligible students pass a third-party industry, OSHA or shop-specific test; and proper administration of the educator evaluation framework.

Whitman School Committee member Daniel Salvucci suggested an informational cable TV program on the work students can do — and have done  — in work environments and in-school municipal projects. The shows could be made available for broadcast in all member towns.

“A key thing for making this work is to have employer partners,” Hickey agreed. “We’re open to any relationship at all they want to have. They may not have a job for a student, but they may come in to give a presentation.”

Municipal projects

Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey said students have also been working on projects involving the rewiring of the Stetson House next to Hanover Town Hall, repairing an ice machine for the Scituate Knights of Columbus, printing projects for Rockland town officials and Veterans’ Council, and will be refurbishing a bike rack for the Scituate Library and metal display platforms for the Whitman Public Library.

At the end of the 2015-16 school year, the metal fabrication shop  designed and built a smoker for two Hanover police officers, who went on to win first prize at a regional contest between police and fire personnel.

“It has our name on it [so] we got a lot of good publicity out of it,” Aubrey said, noting contest participants were impressed with the smoker’s design and workmanship.

Hickey added that Hanson Veteran’s Agent Bob Arsenault has also asked that the school’s auto body shop help with the sand-blasting and re-painting of markers for the town’s memorial squares.

“I recently sent a letter to all of our town administrators, acting as a refresher, reminding them that we value municipal work and collaboration on projects,” he said. “The real-world curriculum serves our towns — everybody wins.”

Community goals

Students are already moving ahead with their own goal to become more involved with the community, even as School Committee Chairman Robert Molla reminded Student Advisory Council representative Jacob Cormier of Hanover that the committee wanted to see a detailed list of projects.

Nine members of the Student Advisory Council have already volunteered at the Special Olympics in Randolph, they are working on the annual Haunted Hallway project planned for Oct. 29 in the school cafeteria (476 Webster St., Hanover), a powder-puff football game and a possible future service trip to help repair homes destroyed in natural disasters in Louisiana.

The Haunted Hallway project will feature activities geared toward elementary school-aged children and is always popular.

Molla also asked the council to take on a “face lift” for the 50-year-old Viking mascot or T-shirts to promote the school.