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You are here: Home / Archives for News

Planning hopefuls interview

October 11, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen, in a joint meeting with the Planning Board Tuesday, Sept. 24, interviewed two candidates for interim appointment to fill vacancies on that board.

Planning Board candidates Elaine Bergeron, Jerry Blumenthal and Adele Carew appeared at the joint session. The board is being sequentially reduced in membership, as voted at Town Meeting, to get down to a five-member board after the next election because of problems gaining a quorum in order to hold meetings.

One of the now-vacant positions disappears after next year because of the reduction of members. One of the two would then have to run to fill the seat that would be vacant.

Blumenthal had to leave the meeting, due to a family emergency, before the hearing, which was delayed due to an extended discussion during the public forum, could be opened. Town Administrator Frank Lynam said he is interested in serving on the Planning Board.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski suggested that because of Blumenthal’s early departure and the absence of a Planning Board member who wished to take part in the vote, the hearing could be continued to the Thursday, Sept. 16 meeting when he could be interviewed and a vote taken.

With five members, only three need to attend to achieve a quorum, mandatory to open mail and address bills, let alone talk to developers or others seeking to present plans to the board.

“What I’d like to do is, first and foremost … I’d like to have the definition changed so a majority of active board members, not sitting positions, would constitute a quorum, no less than three members,” said Chairman Eric Pretorius.

“Unfortunately, that would require a statutory action,” said Lynam. “It would require Home Rule legislation, because the quorums are established by law.”

To vote on membership, however, Lynam said only a majority of both boards would be necessary. Pretorius said no surveying experience is needed; one only has to be able to read through rules and regulations and ask questions.

Whitman native Bergeron served on the Finance Committee in the 1970s and has been a member of the Whitman-Hanson  Scholarship Foundation for almost 40 years as well as serving as an election worker. She is currently a senior vice president director of personal insurance, overseeing a staff of 60 both directly and indirectly, for a large insurance agency. Among her duties are figuring out what houses are worth and how they should be insured.

“I want to get back involved in the town,” she said. “I’m getting close to retirement, so I’ll have more time.

Selectman Dan Salvucci asked if she planned to run at the next election, but she did not have a definite plan for that, but intends to run.

“If I commit, I’ll commit,” she said.

Selectman Brian Bezanson, who has known Bergeron for many years, endorsed her and thanked her for stepping forward.

A 56-year Whitman resident, Carew is an Abington High graduate and has been a warden at Whitman polls for 45 years and is interested in some of the building in her Kenwood Drive neighborhood. She has also been a school volunteer.

If appointed, Carew said she would be willing to run for election “if the board felt I was adequate to do it.”

Bezanson also thanked her for her interest.

“We don’t get many volunteers for these boards and they’re not elected and certainly not paid, so any time we can get citizens to come forward, we really appreciate it,” he said.

Selectman Randy LaMattina said he has known Carew for a long time and she is someone who is committed to the town.

In other business, Selectman Scott Lambiase reported that he has reached out to several people regarding the budget working group that was slated to meet at 7 p.m., Monday Oct. 1 in the Selectmen’s meeting room at Town Hall. Agenda items were to include introductions and giving participants a “feel of what we’re here for, what we’re going to do,” important dates and milestones.

Lynam said the town would see a penultimate draft of the community assessment survey within a few days of the Sept. 24 Selectmen’s meeting.

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

Hanson to query gas firm

October 11, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON — Selectmen will be meeting with a representative of Columbia Gas at the 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 16 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

A hearing with the owners of the JJ’s Pub property is also being scheduled, to force them to clear away debris from the July 5 fire that destroyed the vacant building.

Selectmen had Building Inspector Bob Curran write letters demanding the property be cleared, with the last one — authorized on Sept. 18 — carrying a two-week deadline for a reply.

“We’re going to move forward as soon as possible,” Town Administrator Michael McCue said Tuesday, Sept. 25. That hearing will likely be Oct. 16. “We’ll line it up for that date and if something breaks in the meantime, we’ll have it lined up just in case.”

McCue reached out to Columbia Gas on Sept. 25 to arrange that meeting with the board and asked them to provide a representative to address any concerns about natural gas line and service safety Selectmen may have and to update them on the facility they are building in town.

“They’ve been very cooperative,” McCue said. “I continue to receive questions and concerns about the facility and the gas lines in general and [in] the town of Hanson.”

He said he expects that work on the new facility, still in the construction phase and referred to as a regulator station, at Whitman and East Washington streets is being done properly, but aims to have the public “hopefully glean a sense of security” that they are.

The existing underground regulator station is still in service and will remain in service until next summer  according to a company official.

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett had reached out to McCue on the issue as a result of multiple residents calls to her.

“Yes, Columbia Gas is an issue,” she said. “But now they’re finding that there were insufficient gas inspectors at the state level and they are questioning that. I also had somebody point out that it’s likely the same contractor that is being used here that was used in Lawrence, so we’ve got that additional concern.”

McCue said they became aware that the same contractor was involved after the Sept. 18 Selectmen’s meeting.

“I think it warrants somebody coming in and answering questions that the board may have,” he said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the main question would be how the company is going to negate any risks and make sure there is not a repeat of the Lawrence incident in Hanson.

“I don’t want somebody coming in and placating us and giving the song-and-dance or whatever,” she said. “I really would like to know what are they doing to vet contractors. … I’d rather that they mothball the project for awhile if they don’t have the right resources to do it properly.”

McCue noted it is a legitimate concern as the company, for appropriate reasons, is now focusing all its resources on the Merrimack Valley.

In other business, McCue said the town’s proposed Tax Incentive Financing (TIF) program article on the special Town Meeting warrant was being passed over Monday, Oct. 1 because the TIF Committee reached a consensus that more time is needed to prepare the proposal, which should be ready for the May Town Meeting.

The decision followed meetings last month with the state officials and TIF proponents.

“The TIF only takes effect in the coming fiscal year,” McCue said. “Since we had the extra time and we really weren’t going to put the proponent in an awkward situation, we made the decision, jointly, to go a bit slower.”

McCue and FitzGerald-Kemmett both stressed the postponement does not mean officials are not “extremely bullish” on pursuing the program, but the infrastructure is not yet in place and there is other information the town needs.

“We want to get the first one right,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “If this proves to be as beneficial as we think it will be, in improving Main Street, we’re hoping this will bee the first of several TIFs that we might entertain to get that area cleaned up.”

Filed Under: Featured Story, News

Indictments in Hanson arson

October 4, 2018 By Abram Neal, Express Correspondent

BROCKTON – Alfred Russo, 75, who had already been arrested in late August on arson charges in the burning of the abandoned J.J’s Pub, 16 Liberty Street, in Hanson, has been indicted along with two new co-conspirators, Patricia Harrison, 59, and Wayne Cummings, 49, all of Buzzards Bay.

According to a statement by District Attorney Timothy Cruz, Russo was indicted on one count of burning of a dwelling and two counts of arson causing injuries to a firefighter. Harrison and Cummings were each indicted on one count of burning of a building.

The Plymouth County Grand Jury returned the indictments on Friday, Sept. 28.

The fire, which Hanson Fire Chief Jerome Thompson, III, said nearly reached four alarms, destroyed the commercial property — abandoned for approximately five-years — adjacent to the intersections of Liberty Street and East and West Washington Streets. Investigators deemed it to be an estimated $400,000 loss, according to court documents.

The fire sent two firefighters to area hospitals, Lieutenant Sherilyn Mullin as well as Timothy Royer, who both sustained heat-related injuries, and had to miss some work due to these injuries, stated court documents.

It took some time to extinguish, due to the full involvement of the structure, according to a previous statement from the district attorney, and many towns and the state responded or provided station coverage for Hanson during the incident, according to Thompson.

Harrison is the owner of the abandoned property and Cummings is Harrison’s longtime boyfriend. The indictments allege that the pair conspired, and assisted Russo, in the arson of the building.

In a police interview, the owner of the Hanson property, Harrison, said she and the defendant, Russo, a friend, were together at her home when she received a call from her real estate agent about the fire. Harrison’s boyfriend, Cummings, says he was out walking the dog when he received word of the fire from Harrison.

Yet both Harrison and Cummings identified Russo’s Jeep, in Hanson, when shown it in later interviews from cameras across from JJ’s Pub at times proximate to the fire, according to the State Police report.

Video surveillance from Dandel Construction Corporation was used to identify a party park a vehicle on the side of the building, enter through a door and remain inside for nearly eight minutes, according to the report. The party then exits, enters a vehicle and drives away. About six minutes after the party exits the structure, smoke is visible venting from the roof, it continues. Less than nine minutes later, fire is visible out of a side window.

When investigators went to meet Russo at his home in Bourne two weeks after the incident, police say he, “spontaneously stated that he was driving his Jeep in Hanson on the day of the fire.”

Russo, who was then taken for a voluntary interview at the Bourne Police Department, stated that he had been in Hanson on the day of the fire for a cookout at Cummings’ sister’s house, but didn’t end up attending because he didn’t feel well, according to the report.

He freely admitted to driving to the JJ’s Pub property, purportedly to move a generator, but said he never went inside, according to police.

In an interview with the Express, Russo blamed the fire on “spontaneous combustion,” and noted that his presence there was a “bad coincidence.”

The Hanson Fire Department’s official Twitter account tweeted: “Great Job by everyone involved from the investigators from the State Police and Hanson Police to the District Attormeys [sic] Office for getting these individual [sic] indicted.”

Fire Chief Thompson had previously been publicly critical of the Judge who originally arraigned Russo when he was first arrested.

The three will be arraigned at a later date in Brockton Superior Court.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

Whitman officer is honored

October 4, 2018 By Stephanie Spyropoulos, Express Correspondent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Filed Under: More News Left, News

Sparks fly over fiscal planning

October 4, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

WHITMAN — Fiscal planning procedures and priorities again took center stage during a sometimes fiery discussion at the Tuesday, Sept. 25 Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

Resident Shawn Kain again raised the issue of the need for a five-year capital plan, criticizing the Building Needs and Capital Expenditures Committee for not providing a report for the town’s Annual Report.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam said the committee opted against forwarding a capital plan “until we had numbers.”

“It’s a way of thinking and, perhaps, we need to change it,” Lynam said. “On the plus side, I did apply for and did receive two grants from the Commonwealth Compact, a program that the Selectmen signed up for almost three years ago.”

The best practices grants are: a financial management approval to aid in preparing a capital improvement plan that reflects community needs set up within an annually reviewed finance plan that reflects the community’s ability to pay; and a financial management package that established budget documents detailing all revenues and expenditures as well as a narrative for the public’s benefit and clear, transparent communication of all financial policies.

Lynam credited Kain for focusing on those issues as directly as he has, and extended to him an invitation to join the Building Needs and Capital Expenditures Committee and to take over Lynam’s position as chairman.

Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, agreed with the invitation as a good move for the town.

Kain replied that he appreciated the invitation and that the Commonwealth Compact initiatives are sound ones, but said he is not interested in joining the committee this year.

“I feel like you have the critical pieces in place to make decisions quickly and to get action done,” he said. “I think my role in that might just confuse things, honestly.”

Earlier in the meeting, Kowalski had criticized the “Debbie Downer act” Kain has been playing about the success — or lack of it — on the part of Selectmen and others in town government.

“I just need to cast some balance to that,” he said, noting he prefers the direct approach to the use of social media. “This is the way our system is sort of set up, we have an open Town Meeting, once a year, that governs the town. We have open Selectmen meetings every two weeks in which we speak to the town — speak to each other. Sometimes we make motions, sometimes we are voted down.”

Kain stressed that, with the new modes of communication out there “is the ability to stop and do research and respond thoroughly,” something that’s difficult to do even in the forum of a Selectmen’s meeting.

“I like the opportunity to speak,” he said, in agreement with Kowalski. “I’m still an old-school person [and] I love Town Meeting, but this new form of communication that allows us to do a little more depth — there are people who use it for superficial reasons, but that hasn’t been me.”

taking issue

Kowalski said that Kain’s suggestion that Selectmen were guilty of incompetence or recklessness “just doesn’t meet the facts.” The boards basic goals over the past several years, have been to keep taxes low during the recession, to lay no people off from town jobs and to address major capital needs, he noted.

“I think a look at our history will show that we’ve done that,” Kowalski said. “We’ve ranked since [over the past nine years], 11th, 10th, 11th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 13th, 15th  and 12th out of 18 [area communities], with one being the highest tax rate on that scale.”

Since 2010, the town has added $3.61 to the tax rate, which puts Whitman 10th out of those 18 towns. No town layoffs were made and only five new hires have been made over the last 10 years —other than in the schools, which have a different budget structure — while the town accomplished capital needs projects such as building a new high school, police station, K-8 school renovations, as well as renovations to Town Hall and the fire station, Kowalski pointed out.

“We are short-staffed … and that comes at a cost that keeps us from doing some of the things I know you would like us to do and that we would like to do as well,” he said. “You’re right, we need to do better with respect to formalizing and writing our planning and operating procedures.”

Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green has been working on updating procedures and policy guidelines for that reason. The process for developing a strategic plan has also begun, Kowalski noted.

Where the capital planning and operations are concerned, Lynam said the town has worked cooperatively, between the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee and himself to identify budget and capital priorities are each year.

“I will take fault in two things,” Lynam said. “That we have not reduced it to a written plan and that I have not filed the plans for the last two and a half years.”

But Lynam stressed the things that have been accomplished. He said every year a balanced budget is delivered with appropriate funding for departments and spending based on priorities. In 2014 alone, to purchase equipment, improve buildings or service debt, the town spent $956,000 on schools including new equipment and debt service on the high school; $1,289,000 on town projects, including debt service to a project completed in 1999 and another completed in 2011. Another $53,000 was spent on town vehicles; $189,000 on fire equipment and vehicles; $692,000 on debt service for new water mains; $246,000 on repairs to pumping stations and $329,000 on roads.

“The most significant source of funds for capital improvement, by-and-large, has been our free cash,” Lynam said.

The Police Department project, presented in to Town Meeting in 2008, was done because the old police station had personnel “almost under the gun” by way of a safe work environment. It would have been presented as a debt exclusion had there been a full Select Board — there were only four Selectmen and one refused to vote to present a debt exclusion.

“Ironically, according to state law, it only takes three votes to present an override, but it takes four to present a debt exclusion, presumably because how long it runs,” he said. A special Town Meeting, attended by 265 people, of whom 223 — or 81 percent — voted to support the project within the levy limit via free cash.

“To say that this wasn’t planned would be a misstatement,” he said. He also said the town has a five-year projection, but the only significant source of growth revenue is Proposition 2 ½.

‘In crisis’

“We are in crisis,” Kain had repeated. “There are a lot of people — good people — whose jobs are on the line with what we do over the next year. … I have no personal hard feelings about anybody on the board, honestly I don’t.”

But he encouraged a “hard look through a business lens,” at the way the town has been run over the course of recent years, and argued the long-serving members of the board are unable to take an objective view of that.

“I can’t yet say the situation is as dire as you say, but I’m not saying the situation isn’t serious,” Kowalski said.

Resident Mary Fox pointed to the new police station, air-conditioning in Town Hall and recently added firefighters as misuses of town funds. She also pointed to police logs as evidence that officers are not helping the town — arguing they should be writing more tickets to bring in revenue and control traffic violations — and arguing against out-of-state travel to conferences as a waste of money.

“I’ve been up here about the trips,” she said. “Now I want no trips. You thought it was bad I didn’t want you to go out of state and you pull a fast one, the guy already got his permission. … We have to cut back.”

She also argued for pay freezes.

Police Chief Scott Benton, however, had heard enough.

“This is a great country and, no matter how rational or irrational we may think somebody is, everybody gets to speak,” Benton. “I will tell you that, number one, to even question the integrity or the character of anybody on the Whitman Police Department, I find insulting. … Everybody has a story and everybody has a journey and I’ve heard yours over and over.”

Benton told Fox she never has anything positive to say, adding “it doesn’t get us anywhere.”

He answered Fox’s criticism on citation quotas by noting that same afternoon his officers arrested a homicide suspect.

Town divided

“Good police work, that’s what that was,” he said. “The residents of this town can take a lot of confidence in knowing that the people that serve the Police Department in Whitman serve it well. … I have a problem with a person that rises and sleeps under the very blanket of freedom and safety that we provide and the questions the manner in which we provide it. I’d rather you just said thank you, myself.”

He admitted he doesn’t know where the town is going fiscally, but added he is confident that the people will make the right decisions as when residents voted to add firefighters to meet the needs of the Fire Department and community.

“By offending people or attacking people, nothing’s going to get done,” he said. “All we’re going to do is divide each other — and when we’re divided, we’re going to fall.”

Kowalski agreed the town doesn’t do enough to praise the department’s work and thanked Benton for officer Mark Poirier’s work in making Tuesday’s arrest.

Kain said his purpose in using social media is not to express his disagreement with town officials. Kowalski countered that there are dangers to social media, as one member of the board found out during the previous week.

“I’m very happy you brought that up now,” Selectman Randy LaMattina said. “I welcome this discussion. The route we’re going to go, I welcome it. That was a very bad choice of words on your behalf, but if we’re going to have it, we’re definitely going to have it.”

Kowalski continued, saying that people can hijack your Facebook personality and send the wrong message to people.

“That’s what I was going to say, Randy,” he said.

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

Hanson splits vote on cannabis shops

October 4, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

HANSON — Voters at special Town Meeting Monday, Oct. 1 narrowly approved an article amending the General Bylaws in order to prohibit the retail sale of recreational cannabis products, but failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required by a second article to amend the town’s Zoning Bylaws.

Both will also appear on a Nov. 6 town ballot, but the zoning question is effectively moot — leaving the town to depend on a bylaw approved in May restricting retail marijuana businesses to an overlay district with frontage on Route 27/ Main Street and Franklin Street.

“The reason why we have two separate bylaws on this Town Meeting warrant is because there is some question as to whether or not a General Bylaw will serve to prohibit,” said Town Counsel Katherine Feodoroff. “It’s potentially challengeable.”

She said her firm would do their best to protect the town if a challenge is received.

The 50-45 vote in support of the General Bylaw included those who out-and-out support the financial benefit such businesses represent for the town — such as all five Finance Committee members and three selectmen — and those who waned to give more voters the chance to vote on the issue. The Zoning Bylaw article’s 49-43 vote supporting it failed the two-thirds margin required by zoning articles — amid confusion over the difference between the two.

A question arose centering on the vote total on the General Bylaw as to whether a quorum still existed, but a handful of people, including Moderator Sean Kealy, said they had not voted.

Yes votes were in support of the prohibitions, no votes were in favor of allowing retail cannabis sales in town.

“We look at everything from a fiduciary standpoint,” said Finance Committee member Kevin Sullivan in explaining his board’s position. “It’s not our job to interpret whether or not the citizenry should take another vote. We looked at this as any other business coming into town, it’s a valid stream of revenue that comes to the town — quite frankly, we’re in desperate need of revenue.”

Town officials, however, declined to estimate how much tax revenue such businesses might generate, while others spoke of financial boosts already realized by towns of comparative size in Colorado, California and Washington.

“We feel that it would be irresponsible for us to try and estimate that,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “It’s a new business. … Anyone trying to do a business plan would be very hard-pressed to figure that out.”

“Like any other business, we wouldn’t measure validity of it based on revenue,” Sullivan said.

“The main reason that I’m voting yes on this article … is that I certainly want, for the very first time Hanson is going to be possibly authorizing sale of recreational marijuana,” resident Bruce Young of Indian Head Street said of the General Bylaw question. “I certainly want to maximize the democratic process.”

He argued that the town’s 7,600 voters should decide the issue, not a quorum of 108 people at a town meeting.

Resident Annette Benenato of Brookside Drive, meanwhile, expressed concern over the type of products sold by such businesses, including edible products such as gummie candies, lollipops, sodas and baked treats containing THC, the psycho-active compound in cannabis.

“These marijuana products are appealing to our youth and there is growing scientific literature that shows adolescents and young adults who are regular marijuana users are at increased risk for addiction and mental health disorders,” she said. Benenato also argued that youth use rates are highest where cannabis is legal, that sales tax revenue will not present a tax windfall and the town has a right to opt out of retail sales.

Patrick Powers of Holmes Street reported that health department reports in Colorado and Washington both found that marijuana use actually decreased among youth in grades six through 12 after legalization as well as a 6.5 decrease in opioid overdose deaths. He also said children are not allowed in cannabis shops where customers must show ID to enter and wait in a waiting room before they are assisted by a certified employee who has passed background checks. No products are on display in the shops.

“We as a town of 7,000-plus voters have had a chance three times — this is our fourth, November will be the fifth — to come and voice their opinions,” Powers said. “So to say that our town hasn’t had a chance to come and vote on this issue, either on a state ballot or at a town meeting … is a complete falsehood.”

Joseph Campbell of Woodbine Avenue argued that Hanson would benefit from tax revenue on both the local and state level, noting that similar towns out west have benefits for land-locked towns with slowing growth.

“We have an opportunity knocking at our door,” Campbell said, noting individual moral decisions must take place in the home. “If you have a liquor store at the end of your street, is that going to make you an alcoholic? Probably not.”

He stressed that the Board of Selectmen will retain the right to grant or rescind licenses as well as bestowing the financial “gifts” of taxes from the businesses to public safety and school needs.

Thomas Pellerin of Waltham Street, who moved to Hanson from Lynn 21 years ago, said he has seen what drugs can do to a community from living in Lynn.

“Hanson has been a nice community and I think this would change that community,” he said. “Do we really want this for our town?”

Planning Board member Joseph Gamache asked Police Chief Michael Miksch to weigh in on the issue.

Miksch, who does not live in town, quipped that he really didn’t want to comment.

“I’ve been asked to speak about this a number of times,” he said. “This isn’t what Mike Miksch wants. But it doesn’t matter what I want. Whatever laws you pass, that’s what we enforce.”

He said he didn’t want to get into the financial question, but said a friend who serves as a major in the Colorado State Police has reported that accidents and impaired driving citations have increased. There is no scientific way to test for drug impairment.

“There’s always ripple effects to everything,” he said.

Filed Under: Featured Story, News

W-H raises $1,000 for family

October 4, 2018 By Nate Rollins, Express Sports Correspondent

Friday night’s football game raised $1,000 to help build a disabled Army vet’s house.


 Whitman-Hanson Regional High athletic director Bob Rodgers saw last Friday night as an opportunity to give back, and the communities answered the call.

In response to a pair of 16-year-old juveniles, neither of whom were from W-H, causing more than $50,000 worth of damage to a home in Hanson being built for disabled Army vet Paul Skarinka, a Whitman native, earlier in the week, Rodgers got the approval to set up donation buckets at the football team’s game vs. Duxbury to help with repairs.

The two buckets were located at both entrances to the stadium and manned by Dawne and Richard Green. The effort raised $1,000.

“It didn’t surprise me at all that we raised so much money in a short time,” Rodgers said. “We are fortunate to live in a generous and caring community.”

Rodgers said he plans to reach out to Skarinka to see if he’d be willing to attend a game in November around Veterans Day.

“We will be having a game which we dedicate to all veterans and inviting them to attend free of charge,” Rodgers said. “With our new scoreboard, we plan to run a video about the Wounded Warrior Project too.”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 2018-19 Coverage, Bob Rodgers, Hanson Veteran's Home Vandalized, News, Paul Skarinka, Sports, Whitman-Hanson Regional High

New boys’ lacrosse coach excited to ‘get his hands dirty’

October 4, 2018 By Nate Rollins, Express Sports Correspondent

Tyler Sabens is the Panthers’ new boys’ lacrosse head coach.


Newly-hired head coach of the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ lacrosse team, Tyler Sabens, is thrilled to get the opportunity to take the insight he’s gathered over the years and put it to use.

Sabens, whose hiring was announced Sept. 13 via a press release from W-H athletic director Bob Rodgers, takes over for Rob White, who spent five seasons at the helm of the Panthers. White, who Rodgers announced stepped down at the conclusion of last season, led the Panthers to the tournament each of his first three years, but the team combined to win just seven games over the past two springs. W-H went 5-14 in 2017 and 2-16 last season.

“I am extremely excited to join Whitman-Hanson as their new lacrosse coach,” Sabens said in an interview with the Express. “The foundation here, just in terms of the amount of athletes and the way that Whitman-Hanson looks at student-athletes, serves as a great base to build a successful lacrosse program.” Sabens, who is in his first year as a guidance counselor at Whitman Middle School, referenced the W-H girls’ lacrosse team, which has made the tournament four out of the last five seasons, as an example of using that “great base” to its fullest.

“They’re successful and a program that brings players back,” Sabens said.

After graduating from Falmouth High, where he was a two-time lacrosse captain, Sabens went on to play at Manhattan College from 2008-12. Sabens captained the Jaspers his senior season. In addition to expanding his overall knowledge of the game during his time in the Bronx, Sabens said he ascertained the true value of togetherness.

“When you’re playing in college, you’re with each other, you live with each other, you’re surrounded by each other so much that you’re really forced to buy into one another, never mind the game of lacrosse, but one another and being successful together,” Sabens said.

In 2014, Sabens entered the high school coaching ranks when he hooked on with Falmouth’s boys’ lacrosse team. He coordinated the offense and coached the goalies up until this past spring, when Falmouth made it all the way to the Div. 2 South Sectional final. Sabens said he grasped how to build a winning environment and mentality, which are both something he plans to establish at W-H.

“Culture is so important on how athletes and coaches look at process,” he explained. “If we’re not all focused on doing the little things great, and doing the little things like they’re supposed to be done – in the field, off the field, in the classroom, in the community – if we can do that, that will lead to the big things like winning, the program growing overall.”

Sabens was also a coach on Falmouth’s 2016 football team that won the Division 2A Super Bowl, running its tripleoption offense and coaching the running backs and cornerbacks.

The Falmouth native has coached JV hockey, power skating, hockey skill sessions, town basketball and lacrosse clinics.

“I would coach anything, honestly,” Sabens said. “Sports is sports to me.”

Sabens met with the returning players and anyone else interested in joining the team shortly after his hiring.

“I introduced myself to the guys [and] had them fill out a small questionnaire, just so I can find out a little more about them,” he said. “It was really nice to meet all of the guys, or most of the guys.”

Togetherness and positivity were stressed at thatWednesday meeting.

“It is instrumental and pivotal that we approach adversity as it comes along together with an outlook for one another, rather than individuals,” Sabens said. “If we don’t approach what’s about to come as a team and really genuinely together, it’s gonna be a long year and it’s gonna be a tough process to start building up.”

As part of his process of building the program up, Sabens said he’s on a mission to retain current players, acquire new players and bring back former players.

“My overall goal is to put a footprint and really hope that people end up respecting the program after this year and kids want to come play for the program,” Sabens said. “Guys want to come back and play for me next year.”

Sabens said he’s eager to get to work.

“This [is] one of the best opportunities I think a high school lacrosse coach can come across,” Sabens said, “to be able to enter the Patriot League with the stacked lineup and the opposition that we’ll be facing. That itself just raises the level of the game being played and the interest it’s gonna attract. I’m so excited to get my hands dirty in the Patriot League and to really start building this thing.”

Filed Under: News, Sports Tagged With: 2018-19 Coverage, Sports, Tyler Sabens, Whitman-Hanson Regional High, Whitman-Hanson Regional High Boys' Lacrosse

W-H seeks interim student services director

September 27, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

Meeting in a special session on Wednesday, Sept. 19, the School Committee voted 6-0 to accept the resignation of assistant superintendent for pupil services Kyle Riley and post the position as director of student services on an interim basis to complete the school year.

The position was posted immediately after the meeting because state law requires the position be filled by Oct. 1.

Members Christopher Howard, Robert O’Brien Jr., Christopher Scriven and Alexandria Taylor were unable to attend.

“As you know, that position was formerly a director of student services, it was changed last September by the School Committee and the assistant superintendent position was formed,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said. “I’d like to go back to the director of student services and I need your approval for that.”

The salary for a director will be lower than that of an assistant superintendent, but the duties are similar.

“The director of student services incorporates special education, homeless transportation, special education transportation and English-language learners as well as home-school students,” Szymaniak said. “When we looked at it as an assistant superintendent it was a little more as a decision-maker in Central Office. As we put together a flow chart of superintendent, one assistant superintendent who has hands in a lot of different things and this as a true director position — much like many of the districts around us.”

Szymaniak also reported that he has advised Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue about the committee’s Sept. 12 vote to extend the Maquan School turnover date to Oct. 31.

“Does everybody understand we’re not mowing that field anymore?” Committee member Michael Jones asked.

Szymaniak replied that he believes the Maquan Re-Use Committee is discussing such particulars.

“We’re not going to have any obligation to do that,” Szymaniak said. “I think that’s going to be something that, if they ask us to do that, there might be a fee … but our responsibility to that facility is going to turn over Oct. 31.”

He said the town is now discussing how to secure the building and the district is working with town officials to purchase materials to board it up, for which they will seek reimbursement from the town.

Dates for the municipal and public yard sales will be announced at the Wednesday, Oct. 10 School Committee meeting.

Filed Under: More News Right, News

Whitman police arrest shooting suspect

September 27, 2018 By Tracy F. Seelye, Express Editor

Express staff

Whitman police arrested Rockland resident Allen Warner, 47, after he tried entering a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through in the wrong direction Tuesday afternoon while driving a flatbed truck he had allegedly stolen from T&K Construction firm.

Warner was the subject of an intense manhunt Monday night after he allegedy shot his estranged wife Shana, 48, who later died of her wounds at South Shore Hospital. The shooting, in Marshfield, forced residents in a large section of the town to shelter in place as a State Police Helicopter aided officers on the ground searching a wooded area near where the shooting occured.

Whitman, where he was arrested, is about 18 miles away.

Plymouth County DA Timothy Cruz said in a press conference Monday that Shana Warner called police at around 6 p.m. Monday to report that her husband was following her car. She was in the process of divorcing him. Published reports indicate the couple had been divorced twice and that Shana had been in the process of divorcing him for a third time.

Investigators believe he drove to Marshfield with the intention of finding her.

According to published reports, Dunkin’ Donuts employees were not sure what was happening the next afternoon when Warner was seen driving the wrong way in the drive-through. Whitman officer Mark Poirier stopped the truck, got Warner out and placed him under arrest, Cruz said at a follow-up press conference Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m really pleased that this ended peacefully, that nobody else got hurt and I want to thank the community, the press and the collaborative effort of all the law enforcement agencies that worked on this,” said Marshfield Police Chief Philip Tavares.

Whitman Police transported the suspect to Marshfield Police. He was scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge in Plymouth District Court Wednesday, Sept. 26.

Marshfield was locked down in a four-mile radius of the shooting, as police launched Monday’s manhunt.

At first they thought he [Warner] had fled on foot and were searching the woods, but it turns out he was earlier chasing his wife in a vehicle on route 3A. She called 911 and was found shot in the face off the road.

Residents did not know, until about 10:15 p.m., from TV news that police no longer believed Warner was in the area.

Residents were told it was an active shooter situation, and to lock doors and remain inside, from roughly 5:50 to 10:15 p.m. Some people got robocalls, but non-residents visiting Marshfield, didn’t. those that didn’t get robocalls took to Facebook to express their displeasure.

(Correspondent Abram Neal contributed to this report)

Filed Under: Breaking News, News

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