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‘Shining example of life well-led’: Hanson mourns loss of Robert and Mary Lou Sutter, active on town boards

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HANSON — The community is mourning the passing of a devoted couple who took an active role in their adopted hometown.

Former Town Master Plan Committee member Bob Sutter and his wife, long-time Water Commissioner Mary Lou Sutter died Thursday, Nov. 17, according to Town Administrator Michael McCue. The Sutters’ family plans to publish an obituary in the Express nest week.

“It took everybody here, as you can imagine, with a great deal of surprise,” McCue said Friday, Nov. 18, recalling a recent discussion he had with Mary Lou regarding her future concerns for the town’s Water Department. “It’s a shock and I’m deeply saddened. They were very kind and supportive of me and I will miss them.”

Mary Lou had served on the Capital Improvement Committee and Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center Director Mary Collins said Mary Lou had also been a dedicated eight-year member of the Friends of the Senior Center, of which she had served as president.

“She just wanted to be involved in her community,” Collins said, noting that when the Sutters moved to Hanson from New York, Mary Lou also became involved in supporting the schools. “This was their town as they aged. It was their choice to be here and they wanted to do as much as they could to be involved.”

Many who worked with them in town government joined Collins and McCue and the Sutters’ family in feeling their loss.

“Absolutely it’s a shock,” said Water Superintendent Richard Muncie said, noting Mary Lou had served as a Water Commissioner from 2003 to Nov 12, 2016. “We had a little celebration for her 13 years, we had a cake and told her how we appreciated all the things she and her husband had done for the whole town.”

“She just wanted to do the best for the town and she was always very positive,” Muncie said.

Selectman Don Howard, who also serves as a water commissioner, said Mary Lou wanted to make sure her post was filled before she retired.

“I don’t know what to say,” Howard said, noting Bob had been calling him recently about the work of the Final Plymouth County Hospital Reuse Committee. “They’ve done a lot for the town of Hanson that people don’t even realize.”

Bob Sutter had served on the original PCH Reuse Committee.

Community Preservation Commission Chairman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett and her husband John Kemmett, a former Planning Board member, had known the Sutters for about 10 years.

“From all outward appearances, it seemed like an unlikely friendship,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We had a 30-plus year age difference and vastly different backgrounds. Despite that, we found no end to the number of things we all enjoyed from woodworking to politics and everything in between.”

Unlikely friendship

She said Mary Lou and Bob left an indelible impression on them. FitzGerald-Kemmett had accompanied Mary Lou to the Nov. 1 Selectmen’s meeting at which she resigned as a Water Commissioner.

“They were a shining example of a life well-led,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “They were incredibly devoted to each other and despite their declining physical health they continuously strived to make a difference in their community and to help others who were less fortunate. We feel so blessed to have had these dear souls in our lives. We take comfort in the fact that neither of them was left to mourn the passing of the other and that they are no longer in any pain.”

Collins said she respected the way the Sutters worked with people of all political beliefs with respect and kindness.

“I will miss her,” Collins said of Mary Lou.

Those who met the Sutters more recently were also affected by their loss.

“I’m shaken to my core,” said Selectmen Chairman James McGahan. “Deep inside I feel a loss, although I was just starting to get to know them” McGahan said. “We’ve lost two great citizens who contributed a lot to the town and they will be sorely missed.”

McGahan said he had last spoken to Mary Lou at the Nov. 1 Selectmen’s meeting during which she announced her resignation from the Board of Water Commissioners due to health concerns. He and McCue had also recently spent  nearly an hour talking with the Sutters following a coffee he hosted at the Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center.

“[Bob] had built a model of Liberty Street and he wanted to show it to me … we never confirmed a date or time frame after that,” McGahan said. “I liked them very much and I thought they were community leaders. These people were ingrained in Hanson’s political life.”

McCue, too, recalled Bob Sutter’s architectural background.

“He had given me a book on architecture and he would bring me architecture magazines he thought I might have interest in that were applicable to municipal issues,” McCue said. “He’d come in and talk about different things the town could do moving forward.”

McGahan also noted that the Sutters had donated the funds to repair the lower-level doors at Town Hall, which are equipped with handicapped access buttons to open the doors for people who use walkers or wheelchairs. He also recalled that Mary Lou made it clear she preferred to be addressed by her first name.

The couple’s support for the failed new Hanson elementary school project as well as for override proposals to fund school budgets was also noted. They were strenuous supporters of the school building project, to the point of suggesting financial assistance programs such as food stamps and tax abatement volunteer work for those on fixed income.

The Sutters firmly believed every generation had a duty to educate their community’s children.

“Mary Lou and Bob Sutter were two very special people who were deeply committed to the Town of Hanson and the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner. “They will be missed and our memories of them cherished as we recall and reflect upon their unselfish contributions of time, energy, and talent to the community and to the school system.”

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes, a Hanson resident, also lauded the Sutters’ dedication to Hanson.

“Mary Lou and Bob Sutter were probably two of the finest people in the town of Hanson,” Hayes said. “They did an immense amount of volunteer work on several boards and committees and they will be sadly missed.”

He said they were very active in the school system.

“I used to hear from them all the time,” he said. “They believed in education.”

Sharing blessings: Residents share time, bounty with neighbors

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Stephanie Spyropoulos
Express staff

WHITMAN — Residents of all ages have rolled up their sleeves to contribute food, money and time ensuring that neighbors who are alone or in financial need are able to celebrate a joyous and bountiful Thanksgiving dinner.

“Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday for us here in the United States of America,” said Holy Ghost Church Pastor the Rev. James Mahoney before an annual Thanksgiving dinner for seniors at the Spellman Council Knights of Columbus Saturday, Nov. 19. “It’s not only become a national holiday, but I would ask everyone to make it sort of a religious holiday, as well … perhaps you could share with your tablemates what you are grateful to God for … having gratitude in your heart is a beautiful thing.”

The Rev. Thomas Stanton, the parochial vicar of Holy Ghost Church then offered the blessing. After the amen’s, a woman’s voice was heard ­saying, “Go, Pats!”

During the 42nd annual K of C event — five days before the 106th renewal of the Thanksgiving football game vs. the Abington Green Wave on W-H’s home turf — members of the Panthers football team joined forces with Whitman Police officers to serve turkey dinners to more than 320 area senior citizens in about 9 ½ minutes.

Whitman Council on Aging Director Barbara Garvey thanked the Knights for the event.

“Today, each of us will be enjoying this lovely Thanksgiving dinner with about 320 new and old friends,” Garvey said in her remarks. “The Whitman Knights of Columbus Council has always been a very kind and generous friend to this community and, in particular to our seniors.”

Pantry and paws

Conley Elementary School students had gathered to sing, recite poems, and express what they were thankful for during the annual Thanksgiving basket assembly on Thursday, Nov. 17. Superintendent of Schoools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner was one of the guests who attended the Conley gathering.

Bob Hogan of the St. Vincent DePaul Society accepted the school’s food pantry donation and thanked the staff and students for the great holiday show they saw.

“There is nothing we can do without you,” Hogan said. “All we do is give the food out but it is donated by all the so many wonderful people and businesses in Whitman.”

Recently, on a visit to a food pantry in Columbus, Ohio, Hogan said he shared stories of how giving the school system is in Whitman.

“I haven’t found a pantry yet that benefits from schools like the Whitman pantry. When I tell them what you do (at the Conley School ) … you are awesome. Many people will have a Thanksgiving dinner this year and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Students also give to support animals in the town’s shelter through the school’s Pennies for Paws program proving that every penny really does count, gathering enough coins to donate more than $500 to Whitman Animal Control. There were also matched donations from a AEW Capital Management donated $1500 as a matched donation and private donation from a Conley family.

“You reached deep into those pockets and found more pennies,” said Principal Karen Downey in praising her students, saying they were not going to believe how many pennies they raised for the Whitman Animal Shelter.

Tradition revived

At Duval Elementary School, fifth-graders revived the holiday basket tradition after a hiatus of about eight years with an assembly Nov. 17.

The entire student body as well as faculty and staff gathered in the Duval cafetorium — as the fifth-graders participating in the program sat on the stage behind the 15 laundry baskets brimming with side dishes, stuffing mix, table cloths and napkins for a Thanksgiving dinner for families in need.

“All of you have helped out some of our community in the town of Whitman and we wanted to take minute so that we could have all of you be part of the process of handing over all of these food items that are going to help somebody on Thanksgiving,” Principal Julie McKillop said to the students. “Doesn’t it feel good to help other people?”

Cheryl Happeny of the Duval PTO said teacher Erin Smith had suggested the school revive the tradition as a way to help the community. Letters were sent out to students’ families seeking donations of “Thanksgiving-types of foods” and supplies for the baskets.

Whitman Food Pantry volunteers Dorothy Conlon and James Davidson addressed the children, thanking them for their thoughtful gesture for neighbors in need.

“I used to work in the kitchen [at Duval] and I was the cook and manager for about 22 years,” Conlon said. “Shortly after I retired, I started volunteering at the Whitman Food Pantry. This event makes me very, very happy to see all these wonderful baskets full of goodies for people that are not as fortunate as we are.”

She told the students that their baskets would be augmented with a turkey and some vegetables for distribution, which began Nov. 17.

“It does my heart really good to see all of you and what you’ve done here today,” said Davidson, who has been a food pantry volunteer since 1984. “We will be helping approximately 150 families in town with Thanksgiving dinner.”

Last year, the Whitman Food Pantry aided more than 1,300 families and more than 3,200 individuals during the course of the year.

“What you’re doing here is terrific and we hope that you will remember this day for the rest of your life, so that wherever you go in this world you will think back on this day and how you helped someone in need,” he said.

McKillop said the students’ suggestions for other ways the school can help the community would be welcome in her office mailbox.

“Write me a letter and we’ll see what we can do,” she said. “When you go home this weekend I want you to think about what else could we do as a community to make somebody else out there smile a little bit bigger because of our actions.”    

Whitman Public Library bake sale

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The Friends of the Whitman Public Library will hold a bake sale on from 4 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 22 and 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 23, in the Community Room of the Whitman Public Library, 100 Webster St., Whitman.

Make your Thanksgiving a little easier this year!  Come by and pick up pre-made or ready-to-bake pies, cakes, breads, rolls, and more!

The Friends will also conduct a raffle for a holiday gift basket.  Tickets will be available for purchase at the bake sale. The drawing of the winner will take place at the Friends’ monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 14, in the library’s Community Room. The public is welcome to attend. The winner will be contacted.

Author honors a nurse’s sacrifice

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WHITMAN — Sometimes a muse finds their writer — and won’t let go until their story is told.

For retired Falmouth nurse Terri Arthur, British nurse Edith Cavell was one of these muses.

“Edith who?” one might ask.

Cavell’s work, dedication to humanity and determination to save the lives of about 200 British soldiers in German-occupied Belgium during World War I, led to her Oct. 12, 1915 execution by firing squad when the Germans caught up with her. The only woman so executed by the enemy during that war, Cavell’s death became an emotional recruiting tool for the British Army and launched a letter-writing campaign by American women’s groups to President Woodrow Wilson that is now recognized as a first step toward American involvement in WWI.

“Her death was [headlines] in every country all over the world,” Arthur said. “When they saw the headlines on Edith Cavell … [women’s groups] took her on as a cause celebré and they inundated Wilson with letters.”

In a way, Cavell’s stated life’s goal may have foreshadowed the circumstances of her death.

“Someday, somehow, I’m going to do something useful, something for people,” Cavell once wrote. “They are, most of them, so helpless, so hurt and so unhappy.”

But who was Edith Cavell?

That question took Arthur on a journey of coincidental events that led her to write “Fatal Destiny: Edith Cavell, World War I Nurse,” [2015, $19.95, HenschelHAUS Publishing], a book so well received in Britain that she was asked to adjust spelling and syntax for a British edition.

Arthur’s visit to the Whitman Public Library’s Local Author Series on Monday, Nov. 10 traced both Cavell’s story and how she came to write it. The Friends of the Whitman Public Library fund the series.

“It’s time to resurrect Edith,” Arthur said. “She has a message for us today. She showed courage and strength at a time when it was very difficult to do.”

Arthur began her talk with an anecdote of how DNA left in bloody fingerprints by ancient native peoples who constructed New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon settlements helped answer some questions about possible connections to other Anasazi dwellings in the region.

“The person I’m going to talk about today also left her fingerprints in history, but she’s been basically forgotten, like those builders were forgotten,” Arthur said. “It’s time to bring Edith back.”

The centennial of Cavell’s execution was observed last year and the centennial of WWI is ongoing through Nov. 11, 2018.

For Arthur, the journey began with one of those nursing-related gifts many nurses receive and are never sure what to do with: a book titled “Postcards of Nursing” by Michael Zwerdling. She finally leafed through it on a stormy night and ran across postcards depicting Edith Cavell, some of which depicted her death and images of the Grim Reaper. She read an outline about Cavell in the back of the book and was “blown away.”

“How is it that I, as a nurse, had never heard about this nurse?” she said.

It launched her on a search for information, which led her to others whose response was “Edith who?” Even during a trip to the UK, where she made a special trip to the memorial statue to Cavell in Trafalgar Square, Arthur was unable to find anyone staffing tourist gift shops nearby who had heard of Cavell, either.

Arthur then made a side trip to Cavell’s burial site in  Norwich where, as fate would have it, the city’s cathedral was holding a 90th anniversary service for Cavell the next day — Oct. 12, 2005.

A BBC reporter caught the sound of Arthur’s American accent and asked what brought her to the event.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m a nurse and I believe that what Edith Cavell did really represents nurses in every country,’” Arthur said, adding the next thing she new, she was being interviewed for BBC-TV news.

Arthur was hooked.

“I don’t know who got who first,” Arthur said. “I don’t know if I got Edith Cavell first or if she got me first, but after that, I was hooked.”

Arthur’s research took her from the Imperial War Museum, where she was able to purchase copies of Cavell’s letters, to Belgium, the Royal London and the Brussels Hospital named in honor of Cavell as well as the Tir National Prison where Cavell was executed.

Before she began writing, however, Arthur also had take classes in creative writing techniques such as finding the voice of a narrative and setting the pace.

The eldest daughter of an Anglican minister, Cavell studied nursing at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel about the time of the Jack the Ripper murders, because that section of London was where she felt she was needed. She worked there until she was asked to begin a nursing school in Brussels in 1907. She had worked in Belgium before as a governess.

When WWI broke out in August 1914, Cavell was visiting her family in England but felt it was her duty to return to Belgium. The Germans occupied Belgium, reaching Brussels by Aug. 20, 1915. Since September 1914, Cavell had been helping smuggle British soldiers into the Netherlands after initially caring for two wounded British soldiers who had sought her out. She took them in despite signs posted by the Germans all over Belgium warning of the fatal consequences of helping allied soldiers escape.

She was arrested with 33 others on Oct. 5, 1915 after a German spy had infiltrated the underground, was tried for treason by a German court martial on Oct. 7 and executed on Oct. 12, 1915.

After the war, she was exhumed by the British and returned to England for a state funeral in Westminster Abbey [a rare film clip of which may be viewed at iwm.org.uk] and reburied at Norwich Cathedral. Her pallbearers included soldiers she had saved.

Since writing her book, Arthur has been the only American invited to participate in anniversary ceremonies for Cavell in both Norwich and London.

Voluntary drug survey to poll eighth-graders

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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.

Whitman weighs medical cannabis grow site: Selectmen say location is key

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WHITMAN — The Board of Selectmen told representatives of a business proposing a medical marijuana growing location in Whitman that any letter or non-opposition or support for such a facility hinges on its exact location.

“This may be the first time that the town has heard this is a possibility,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said. “It might make sense to, maybe, at our next meeting see if we receive any kind of input. There’s no need for a meeting with the Board of Appeals.”

The issue will be acted on at the Selectmen’s 7 p.m., Dec. 13 meeting.

“It’s important to know where it’s going to be sited because that’s going to trigger some response,” said Town Administrator Frank Lynam, who indicated he also wants to speak with the state Department of Public Health before any decision is made regarding the letter.

“If I’m going to ask the board to sign a letter, I want to know what we’re signing,” Lynam said after the meeting.

The letter is the next step the company, Mission Partners — to be known as Fresh Meadow Farm — must complete toward obtaining a Department of Public Health license. Because they are already in the licensing process, company officials said they qualify for the pool of applicants for a recreational marijuana license, but are now solely focused on the medical-use growing facility they hope to locate in Whitman.

Ben Smith of Fresh Meadow Farm gave a brief review of the process during the Board of Selectmen’s Tuesday, Nov. 15 meeting.

Smith said he had reached out to Lynam about the possibility of a medical marijuana growing facility in a warehouse-type building to be sited on Route 18 near routes 14 and 27. The company is working with Crosscup Realty on purchasing a site and is not releasing the exact location until it is firmed up.

The parcel is zoned for light industrial use.

“We have identified a property that might work for us and a land owner that is willing to lease to us to run this operation,” Smith said. The company will be working with Forefront Advisers, a national expert on helping businesses obtain marijuana-related licenses in states where it is legal, as well as helping with the day-to-day operation of the facilities.

Smith’s associate Andrew Thut, affiliated with Forefront Ventures, the financial entity of Forefront Advisers, said a municipal letter of support simply indicates “the town is fine with that facility being there.”

In 2012, 63 percent of state voters passed a ballot question legalizing marijuana for medical use. On Nov. 8, ballot Question 4 passed, legalizing marijuana for personal recreational use.

“The facility we’re looking to do would be [regulated] by the state Department of Public Health,” said Smith. “It’s strictly for cultivation. From the outside it will just look like a warehouse.”

He said the state has already vetted the firm, checking the background of all the people involved and Fresh Meadow Farm has been invited to the next phase of the licensing process — the siting profile.

“Since they’ve already vetted us, invited us to siting, as long as we [receive] the letter of non-opposition and a lease a license will be granted,” Smith said.

This phase requires evidence of interest, a letter of municipal support and compliance with municipal regulations.

Phase one of the project will involve an 18,000-square-foot building that matches area buildings, with an eye to doubling the size when the business grows. The company envisions about 20 job openings at the facility to start.

A Hingham resident, Smith runs his portion of the business from his home, but said Mission Partners has an office at 2 State St. in Boston.

Selectman Daniel Salvucci asked about proximity to schools and residential areas as well as security. Selectman Brian Bezanson suggested the local Board of Health be contacted in light of its recent work on tobacco control regulations.

The parcel meets the state law requiring a distance of 500 feet from schools, houses of worship or locations where children congregate and that a filtration process would be put in place to control smell from the operation.

“I have no objection if it meets legal requirements,” Salvucci said.

Security will be a top priority of Fresh Meadow Farm, according to Smith, who said the business partners with Cana Security, which works with about 500 businesses out West, and Windmill Group that just worked with a Quincy facility.

“We’ll have to work with [Whitman Police] Chief Scott Benton and come up with a plan that satisfies him,” Smith said. Other facilities now operating in the state have not had security problems, he said.

While they don’t plan to sell products directly to the public, Smith said the company would manufacture oils and edibles for medical use.

Park access

In other business, Lynam said the town has received a notice from the state’s Architectural Access Board summoning officials to appear before the board in Boston on Feb. 27, 2017 to discuss being fined at the rate of $1,000 per day in relation to a complaint about accessibility of Whitman Park. Town counsel has been notified of the summons and DPW superintendent Bruce Martin has been notified of issues outlined in the complaint.

“The DPW has made notable improvements to the park area based on findings that were made two years ago and again last year by the AAB,” Lynam said. “There was some movement by the AAB and the complaining party to require us to pave all the paths in the park and we are resistant to that. The park is over 100 years old. It was built by the firm of Frederick Law Olmstead, it’s on the National Register of Historic Places and I’m not at all interested in tarring the area.”

He also noted the AAB “went so far as to tell us we should grade the hills so they’re more level” at the last hearing, during which the AAB voted to find for the complainant before opening the hearing.

Lynam said photos submitted to the AAB “do not accurately reflect the conditions” and that a rut has been caused in the path because of water runoff and a lip on the apron of the pool is due to a past concrete lift that evened it out that the town was ordered to remove. A cobblestone path, which the complaint calls a barrier to park access, has been closed to all but maintenance vehicles, with another access path installed opposite the Senior Center.

“This complaint is disingenuous,” Lynam said.

Salvucci agreed the DPW has done a lot in the park.

“We’re getting it done as quickly as we can,” he said. “They can’t expect us to do it all in one year. The town just doesn’t have the money to do it.

Salutes to service: Town events honor veterans

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Whitman and Hanson honored veterans with a parade and recognition breakfasts spanning a weekend of gratitude for service to country.

The Hanson Multi-Service Senior Center kicked things off on Thursday, Nov. 10 with a breakfast ceremony that also saluted the 241st anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps at Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern on Nov. 10, 1775.

Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue and Selectmen James McGahan, Don Howard, Bill Scott and Bruce Young assisted Veterans’ Agent Bob Arsenault in distributing certificates of appreciation to the community’s veterans and widows.

“In the town of Hanson, we support our veterans,” Arsenault said. “One of the ways we do it is with our annual Veterans Day Breakfast.”

Arsenault also continued a tradition he began last year — thanking the women on the homefront who supported their boyfriends or husbands serving in war zones overseas.

Karen Sharon, president of the Friends of the Hanson Senior Center presented Director Mary Collins with a tablet computer to aid veterans in recording their oral histories. An application allows World War II veterans to record their answers to questions about their wartime service. The recordings will then be downloaded to the national WWII Museum in New Orleans and played for visitors to hear.

“WWII was one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of mankind,” Sharon said. “It spread across multiple continents and cost millions of lives. … To assure that people know what happened and how men and women who served dealt with it at the time, an app has been developed that will allow the WWII veterans to tell their own story in their own words for all of posterity to hear.”

Collins thanked the Friends group for the donation and for organizing the day’s event, which also featured a WWI-related gift to the town from Young.

“We will start with our WWII veterans and then hopefully continue into Korea and let’s hope we stop somewhere,” Collins said of the oral history project.

Young’s gift was a framed panoramic photo taken at Camp Devens in 1918 of Plymouth County from the Massachusetts 4th Division — soldiers just returned from the battlefields of Europe, which he presented to Arsenault for the town. The 4th Division was part of the 26th Infantry Yankee Division, the first U.S. soldiers sent to Europe in WWI.

The photo had belonged to former Hanson Veteran’s Agent Bob Baresel as part of his grandfather’s memorabilia, which Baresel had passed along to Young, who was a member of the Historical Society. Young, in turn, gave all but the photo to the Historical Society.

Arsenault also read Gov. Charlie Baker’s Veterans Day Proclamation and McGahan presented U.S. and POW/MIA flags to Collins for the Senior Center and the Swingin’ Singers performed a selection of patriotic music.

Tri-Town parade

On Friday, Nov. 11, the Tri-Town Veterans Day Parade took a new route through Whitman. The parade stepped off from the former Regal Shoe factory site under a brilliant sunny sky, making its way along South Avenue to the Legion post on Legion Parkway.

Sponsored this year by American Legion Post 22, the parade was dedicated to the veterans of Operation Desert Storm from Aug. 2, 1990 to Feb. 28, 1991. This year marked the 25th anniversary of that war’s end.

Bands from Boston and Brockton were joined by high school bands from Whitman-Hanson, Rockland and Abington, area town government and public safety officials, state leaders, veterans, Scout groups, the First Mass. Vol. Cavalry, fire engines and vintage vehicles.

The parade Grand Marshall was Past Post Commander and Adjutant Paul Tracey of Whitman American Legion Post 22, along with co-marshalls, Charles Kimball of Rockland, a Navy veteran of Korea, and James Valler, a Navy veteran of WWII.

Hanson’s Calvary Baptist Church concluded the weekend’s events by hosting a Thank You Breakfast for veterans and first responders from area communities. To-go meals were delivered to on-duty police officers and firefighters as well as veterans in poor health. Tables in the church fellowship hall were decorated in red, white and blue, featuring hand-made thank-you cards from the students in the Good News Bible Club at Whitman’s Conley School.

Hanson sets tax rate for FY 2017

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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).

W-H students vote for Trump

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With 47.7 percent of America’s popular vote backing Hillary Clinton and 47.5 percent for Donald Trump, youths seem to be just as divided as adults by the 2016 presidential election.

Whitman-Hanson Regional High School students took part in the annual National Student Mock Election on Friday, Oct 28, in which they gave the win to Trump, with 282 votes to Clinton’s 253 — with 208 votes going to third-party candidates. Libertarian Gary Johnson received 173 votes and Jill Stein of the Green-Rainbow Party garnered 35 votes.

The national Scholastic Student Vote held last month, meanwhile, picked Clinton, with 52 percent of the vote to Trump’s 35 percent and 13 percent for “others.” In Massachusetts, the split was 65 percent for Clinton, 24 percent for Trump and 11 percent for others.

Johnson received the third-highest vote totals in the Scholastic voting, as well as at W-H.

On the four ballot questions, W-H students rejected another slot parlor by 141 votes and crushed the proposed expansion of charter schools by 505 votes. They approved Question 3 for better treatment of farm animals by 491 votes and approved the elegalization of marijuana by 309 votes.

The National Student Mock Election in Massachusetts is coordinated through the JFK Presidential Library.Results from Whitman-Hanson have been sent in to be calculated along with others from around the United States.

Lydia Nelson’s business law students and students on the Mock Trial Team have been working for weeks with curriculum materials, materials from the Secretary of State, news sources, and fact-checking websites to create legitimate resources for the school.

The school news broadcast daily information sent by the students.  Information was placed on the school network’s share drive for easy access. Posters were made and placed around the school. The results were tallied and submitted to the JFK Presidential Library.

Scholastic magazine touted the track record of its mock election as an accurate barometer for the real thing.

“Since 1940, the results of the student vote have usually mirrored the outcome of the presidential election,” according to Scholastic. They have only been wrong twice — picking Republican Thomas E. Dewey over President Harry S Truman in 1948 and Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy in 1960. In both those elections, the margin of victory was extremely close — for Truman it was 1,012,125 popular votes over Dewey and Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond in 1948; for Kennedy in 1960 it was only 112,827 over Nixon.

Cutler defeats Cogliano: Incumbent state Rep. wins by a wide margin

By

 Thomas Joyce
Express staff

State Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, cruised to a third term over former Pembroke Selectman Vince Cogliano on strong numbers in all three 6th Plymouth District communities of Hanson, Pembroke and four Duxbury precincts.

“I’m a big believer in the best way to keep your job is to do your job, and I work hard — and I think folks recognize that — and I feel honored that they’re sending me back for another two years,” Cutler said.

In Hanson, Cutler garnered 3,718 votes to Cogliano’s 2,045. Pembroke delivered 8,853 votes for Cutler to 4,648 for Cogliano and from Duxbury’s precincts 2 through 6 were 5,135 for Cutler to 2,603 for Cogliano.

Cutler received 64 percent of the voted (15,173 votes in total) while his opponent received 36 percent of the vote (8,550 total votes).

“It’s an honor to serve,” Cutler said. “I love my job. With the presidential election being a nail-biter, it’s nice we can bring people together who don’t always agree on things.”

Previously, he won the 2014 and 2012 elections, but never by as wide of a margin as this campaign. In those two, he never received more than 55 percent of the vote.

“Even a one vote victory would have been gratifying,” he said. “But I am appreciative of the voters for sending me back for another term. I appreciate my opponent running a classy race and I’ve always thought the best way to keep your job is to do your job.

“Hopefully, the voters recognize that, too, and I’m ready to go back to work,” he added. “I’m truly honored by the result and am looking for another two more years doing work for Pembroke, Hanson and Duxbury.”

Unlike the nail-biter going on in the presidential campaign — projected behind Cutler on TV screens during a joint election-night party with state Rep. Jim Cantwell, D-Marshfield, at Marshfield’s Cask N’ Flagon restaurant — Cutler spoke of his winning effort after addressing well-wishers.

“I was a little surprised,” Cutler said of the margin of victory. “I felt [good] going in, but as a candidate you’re always a little nervous to the very end so I was pleased with the outcome.”

Earlier in the evening Cogliano, who joined his supporters at the British Beer Company in Pembroke, had called Cutler to concede the election.

“He was very classy and very kind when he called me and congratulated me,” Cutler said.

“It’s such an odd year, but that’s the way it is,” Cogliano said after the polls closed. “As much as I’m disappointed about losing, it’s been a fun experience until tonight. We’ve met a lot of great people. I think if we had thought of the signs earlier and done the things that your mom says, it would have been a different story.”

Challenger
concedes

Republican Cogliano had entered the day with cautious optimism. Holding a sign for some polling place politicking,  Cogliano declined to express early-morning confidence in the day’s outcome.

“Any time you run against an incumbent it’s a challenge,” Cogliano said, noting that even some candidates he knows who are running unchallenged campaigns were feeling a bit nervous in an uncertain election year. That said, Cogliano — a Trump supporter — said, Tuesday the morning that he expected Clinton to win in a presidential race he felt would be called early.

Among issues, Cutler noted some of his top priorities are: bringing in more funding for local schools, cleaning up ponds, fixing roads and attending to the Opioid Crisis. In his two terms as a representative, Cutler has not missed a roll call vote yet, and he said he hopes to keep that streak alive.

During his brief victory speech, Cutler thanked several of his campaign’s key personnel.

“We had great supporters and volunteers out at the polls right until eight o’clock tonight,” he said. “I was out there door knocking. I wasn’t taking anything for granted and never will.”

Cutler spent most of the day campaigning before heading to his election night party at the Cask ‘N Flagon. Had Cutler not been re-elected, he would have left office when his term ended on Jan. 3, 2017, not that he is concerned about it now.

“I didn’t have a plan B,” he said with a laugh. “I just had to let the chips fall where they may.”

In Whitman, where more than 3,200 eligible voters cast early voting ballots, Town Clerk Dawn Varley said her election workers would be feeding those ballots into voting machines to be counted after the polls closed at 8 p.m., and expected it to be “very late” before unofficial results were posted.

Hanson Town Clerk Elizabeth Sloan, meanwhile, said her election workers would be feeding ballots into voting machines all day to count the more than 1,700 early voting ballots in her town.

Several weeks ago, Varley had forecast a 75 percent turnout for the election while Sloan on Tuesday said she expected about 70 percent of Hanson voters to cast ballots. Voting at the Whitman Town Hall polls was steady and busy, Michelle Winnett, voter registrar, said minutes after the polls closed Tuesday night.

“Early voting is amazing,” Winnett said. “We’ve had all-day elections where only 3,000 people show up, so this is fantastic,’ she said.

Whitman saw 77 percent of voters cast ballots this year — with 8,060 of 10,420 registered voters turning out. In Hanson, about 80 percent of the town’s 7,560 voters, more than 6,000 voters cast ballots.