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Weighing Whitman grow site

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WHITMAN — Selectmen will again discuss a proposed medical marijuana growing location in Whitman at its next meeting at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 13. Residents are welcome to attend and voice their opinion on the issue.

The proposed location is at 233 Bedford St., behind Sweezey Fence.

“It will be a fully enclosed building — probably a steel building very similar to a commercial garage,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said on Thursday, Dec 1. “It will have security as required by the state”

Ben Smith of Fresh Meadow Farm, who gave a brief review of the process during the Selectmen’s Nov. 15 meeting, will return Dec. 13, asking Selectmen to approve a letter of support or non-opposition regarding the project.

Lynam and Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green are researching the issues pertaining to the town’s obligations and rights should a grow facility be permitted, with the aim of preparing a recommendation for the board.

Lynam stressed that the town is not interested in a dispensary facility.

Medical marijuana dispensaries must be in plain view and people entering must be viewable to passersby to ensure any security issues are obvious, but it is not sufficient to sway Lynam’s opinion of how far the town would be willing to go.

He added that the one call he has received on the issue so far was “emphatically against dispensaries and OK with a grow facility.”

The letter of support or non-opposition 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.

“I would not be surprised to see these folks coming back to expand to the recreational piece once the dust settles on that vote,” Lynam said. “Right now the only regulations out are on medical marijuana, so it’s going to be difficult to determine how to regulate or approve a facility that’s for recreational marijuana.”

He said the grow facility is designed to be unobtrusive — there will be no signs and the hydroponic growing operation will be entirely done inside the building. Air scrubbers would  prevent any odors from reaching neighbors.

Lynam also discussed the future of Whitman’s regional animal control contract with Abington, now that Hanson has opted to withdraw from the erstwhile three-town program.

“The intent to creating a district approach for animal control is to take advantage of the geographical area that encompassed Abington, Whitman and Hanson,” Lynam said. “We recognized at the time we did that, that adding Hanson to the mix was going to significantly increase the area of coverage and we had some concerns about it.”

He said the Whitman-Abington program will continue to be reviewed, adding he tends to measure the success of programs in which Whitman participates by the number of complaints received.

“We have not had any issues either in Whitman or, of late, in Abington,” Lynam said. “I would say so far it appears to be working. I’m going to evaluate that, as we normally would any program, as we move forward in the fiscal year and determine if we have the right staffing and the right coverage.”

Whitman’s part-time animal control officer resigned to attend the academy to become an environmental police officer, leaving  the current animal control officer on call 24/7 to cover both towns, paid on a stipend basis. Calls are prioritized as to level of need.

Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue had met several weeks ago with Lynam and Abington Town Manager Richard Lafond, at which time the three concluded that either they go in different directions or obtain more funding to hire additional staff. McCue determined Hanson would be better off going solo and the other towns agreed. Hanson Selectmen voted Nov. 29 to appoint Ron Clark as interim animal control officer for Hanson. A permanent position would be posted in the spring.

“Apparently there were issues in Hanson that they feel they were not adequately being provided for and they have requested to be released from the contract early,” Lynam said. “I have no intention of holding anyone captive.”

He said he wishes Hanson well and will bill them only for the period the contract was in force.

Board forges ahead at Kiwanee: Hanson BOS supports McCue interviews for new Recreation Director

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HANSON — The town has reached amicable agreements to part ways with regional contracts for IT and animal control services, but Selectmen are divided on when and how to reappoint a new Recreation Commission.

The latter issue cropped up as Town Administrator Michael McCue reported to the board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 29 that the town has received eight applications for the Recreation Director job posting, which closes Friday, Dec. 2.

“We have some fairly strong candidates for that position,” McCue said, asking the board for guidance on how best to proceed. “I don’t think we will have a full [Recreation Commission] reconstituted within the next couple of weeks or so … unless the board directs me otherwise, I would like to move forward in bringing these people in for interviewing them.”

McCue said he would like to have a director in place by Jan. 1, 2017.

Selectman Bruce Young then advocated for meeting as soon as possible to reconstitute the Recreation Commission as the board has received seven applications from people interested in serving on the commission.

“The ideal situation would be if we could meet briefly next week to appoint the Recreation Commission, then they could organize and assign a person to sit with [McCue] and go through the process,” Young said. He noted that McCue and that Recreation representative would then conduct the interviews and recommend a couple of candidates to submit to the fully reconstituted Recreation Commission to appoint, as outlined in the Town Administrator Act.

The board voted 5-0 to appoint Selectman Bill Scott to sit in on interviews with McCue in order to prevent a hiring delay that could cause some applicants to withdraw.

Selectmen Kenny Mitchell and Chairman James McGahan advocated that the investigation process completed before sppointing a new commission so the town can move forward.

“The problem I have with it is we’re probably going to expect some input [from the town’s attorney] because we also have a deadline on Nov. 30,” McGahan said of a previous decision to give Recreation Commission members named in Labor Counsel Leo Peloquin’s report time to rebut its findings.

“I don’t want to make any decisions on any Recreation Commission members until after this Camp Kiwanee [investigation] is completely done and over so we can move forward,” Mitchell said. “I want to start fresh — a nice, clean slate.”

Young asked how Mitchell and McGahan thought the investigation could affect a new Recreation Commission.

“You’re talking about appointing a new Recreation Commission,” Young said. “You might end up with two members from the last board, but those members probably weren’t even involved in that whole scenario. … I don’t see that any of the prior people who resigned put applications in.”

“A statement was made when they resigned,” McGahan said. “I’m not going to hurry up and get somebody in just so they can get that position, which is probably just going to sit there and allow Mike to just do the interview.”

Young argued that five or six new people have applied and should have a chance to go through the selection process in order to get the Recreation Commission back to work, noting the Town Administrator act does not give that post appointing authority. McGahan countered that Selectmen had voted to place McCue as the Camp Kiwanee administrator until a new director is hired.

“I don’t have any problem with him being the interim head of the Recreation Department, and I don’t have a problem with him even being a personnel manager and doing the interviews,” Young said. “I do have a problem with circumventing the Town Administrator Act.”

McGahan said he does not believe that is being done.

Contract changes

The contracts Selectmen voted to withdraw from involve an IT services contract with Whitman-Hanson Regional School District and the regional animal control agreement with Whitman and Abington.

McCue said that, in both cases, Hanson’s withdrawal was being done under amicable circumstances. The IT contract, which Selectmen had approved and authorized McCue to sign an amended contract with the school district through the end of the fiscal year. The town will only pay the $37,500 for a nine-month contract with an option for coverage over a full year.

“It’s unfortunate,” McCue said. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. … This gives an awful lot of lead time to figure out what makes sense both in the short term and long term for the town of Hanson.”

McCue said a meeting with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner and members of the district’s IT staff over the current agreement revealed the schools’ in-house demand on that staff has greatly increased, making it difficult to continue serving Hanson’s IT needs as well.

Whitman had gone its own way on IT services four or five years ago, hiring it’s own IT director Josh MacNeil.

“If they’re in a position that they feel they can’t really support us to the degree that I think we were hoping for, it makes sense — and both sides were in agreement on this — that the town of Hanson [should] move in its own direction on this,” McCue said. “They were very generous to let us out of the contract.”

He said either a consultant or a full-time IT person could be budgeted for and he has begun meeting with consultants to gauge the cost involved.

In supporting McCue’s advice that the town should also back away from the regional animal control agreement, Selectmen also voted to appoint Ron Clark as interim animal control officer for Hanson. A permanent position would be posted in the spring.

“I’m certainly a proponent of regional agreements when they make sense,” McCue said. “Unfortunately, this is another instance we’ve run into where the workload has basically surpassed the ability of the staff of the agreement.”

McCue had met several weeks ago with Whitman Town Administrator Frank Lynam and Abington Town Manager Richard Lafond, at which time the three concluded that either they go in different directions or obtain more funding to hire additional staff. McCue determined Hanson would be better off going solo and the other towns agreed to that.

Author takes a poetic view of history

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“… Summon me? — Wamsutta, Alexander,

Chief Sachem

Of the Wampanoag Federation!

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

With all good will,

Give yours a place to make their homes

And dwell among us;

Not to submit as slaves to English law,

Not to live as

Children of the English governor!

Now you hear this;

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

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

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

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

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

Planting for the future: Vo-Tech plans horticulture curriculum

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HANOVER — A proposed horticulture curriculum at South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School has taken another step forward.

Science Department Chairman Matt Fallano gave a PowerPoint presentation to the SSVT District School Committee during its Wednesday, Nov. 16 meeting, outlining how the program would start by offering a landscaping program. No vote was taken on the proposal.

Scituate member John Manning, of the Capital Projects Subcommittee, reported that Fallano and the group has toured facilities at a couple vocational schools that offer horticulture programs. School officials have met with counterparts at Silver Lake and Upper Cape regional schools regarding the cost and logistics of starting such a program.

All specializations would cover botany as well as soil properties and sciences, according to Fallano, who noted that small engine maintenance would also be covered.

“Right off the bat, if you’re starting to think what kind of jobs [are students being trained for], you can imagine what sort of background could be used or applied for,” he said.

The landscape and turf management program would include instruction on safety, design and estimation, maintenance and installation as well as turf management practices. Arboriculture, or tree sciences, would involve safety, equipment standards, tree climbing, tree maintenance and removal. Floral design and interior landscaping would teach greenhouse management, production and floriculture business operations.

“We would never start off with all three of them, so what we’re looking at is the soil sciences to begin with,” Fallano said. “You would not get this type of training at any other normal sending school. It’s perfect for a vocational-based school.”

It would eventually be a training ground for students interested in careers such as hardscape designers or architects, greenhouse and grounds workers, arborists, nursery or turf grass mangers and even farm managers.

“There’s a big push for small farms in the local area,” he said. “Having a resource that those farms can reach out to has been a [goal] for this area.”

There is also no feeder program for local horticulture businesses and a program at SSVT can also lead to college degrees. Students can also graduate with licenses or the bookwork for a license test when they are 18. That can boost earning potential.

Fallano also touched on the credentials the district should look for in a program director and committee concerns about accreditation. Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas Hickey is also looking toward grants to help fund the program startup.

Committee Chairman Robert Molla of Norwell indicated the start-up cost estimate would be included in preliminary fiscal 2018 budget figures when the committee meets again on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

In other business, Principal Margaret Dutch reported the MCAS performance of SSVT students in the Class of 2018 has been akin to moving mountains, describing how it translates to a graph.

“Because we are a regional school, we do not educate anybody until they get to grade nine,” Dutch said. “We take our students as they come from the eight sending towns, and wherever else they come from, and we try and get everybody on the same page and get them ready in less than two years to be successful on MCAS.”

The current junior class had 51 students who had failed the exam in grade eight — the first “mountain” on the grade chart, Dutch said. As sophomores taking the MCAS exam at SSVT, the same class had shown vast improvement.

“We [had] decided there was something we needed to do in order to make sure we didn’t have 51 10th-graders failing the MCAS,” she said. Targeted remediation and working with teachers to address problem areas for those students made that improvement possible. The high point of the scores curve last year — the second mountain — showed an increase in higher scores over the class’ grade eight marks.

“We’re not trying to compare ourselves with anybody else or what anybody else is doing because we are a unique entity,” Dutch said. “We are very proud to know that our teachers, with targeted intervention, can move mountains.”

Whitman Committee member Daniel Salvucci reported on some of the innovative vocational school projects highlighted at the recent Massachusetts Association of School Committee conference. The projects were tiny houses built by Southeastern Vo-Tech in Easton; an applications project at Assabet Valley to show teachers how effective a lesson plan was by symbols scanned by a free app on a teacher’s smartphone; a veterinary program offered at Norfolk Aggie and Massasoit as well as the new Essex Agricultural and Technical High School’s teacher mentoring program.

Salvucci said the tiny house project was popular with students because of the size.

“What they liked about doing it is that you had carpenters and electricians working so close together that they taught each other, and they worked together,” he said.

The committee also recognized Abington Graphics Communications senior Ryan Glynn as November Student of the Month and English teacher Allison Provost as Staff Member of the Month.

“Ryan is a focused, high-achieving student in class, but is also a great and caring person,” one of Glynn’s teachers wrote.

Another nominated Glynn as a “great overall citizen of the [SSVT] community” another noted he is a well-liked student-athlete saying, “No one had had a bad thing to say about Ryan.”

Assistant Principal Mark Aubrey said Provost was the student’s honoree for Staff Member of the Month after only two months as a teacher at the school. She had been a student teacher at SSVT about 10 years ago.

“When students nominated her they spoke of her being ‘very helpful, patient and kind, is that not something we want from every person in our lives, not just our teacher,’” Aubrey said.

Brightening the holidays: Whitman Area Toy Drive kicks off annual appeal

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WHITMAN — Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday have become ingrained in the seasonal habits of many shoppers between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

A group of Whitman residents are hoping the community has come to know the Sunday after Thanksgiving as Whitman Area Toy Drive Day. For 15 years, volunteers have been taking time on that day to kick off the annual toy drive, setting up shop in the Whitman VFW Pavilion, 95 Essex St.

The drive, which will also host a Photos with Santa party at the pavilion from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 4, is the first of several holiday events — many featuring St. Nick — in Whitman and Hanson. [See box].

On Sunday, Nov. 27 a small army of volunteers, including veterans, families, members of the Whitman Mothers Club and the WHRHS Drama Club gathered at the pavilion to sort gifts already donated onto tables representing gender and age ranges.

“What you see here now is maybe one-tenth of what we do through the whole Christmas season,” said toy drive founder Donnie Westhaver, gesturing toward tables already covered with toys. “We don’t want any kid to go without a toy. I don’t care where they’re from.”

The need

Westhaver said 90 to 95 percent of toys collected would go to Whitman families with the remainder to help families in need in Hanson, Abington and Rockland when organizations there run out of toys.

“I hope I’m around for another 20 years to be able to do this and when I’m not around I hope someone picks it up and keeps it going, because there are a lot of families out there in need,” he said. “There are actually families you wouldn’t expect — it might be your next-door neighbor. You might think they’re doing well, but they’re not.”

He said families that are just scraping by for the rest of the year have an especially hard time at the holidays.

“Christmas is for kids, but it’s also for us — you never lose that spirit,” Westhaver told his volunteers.

Large donations have been received from: Whitman VFW Men’s Auxiliary — $1,500; Whitman Mothers Club — $500; Sons of the American Legion — $500; Getchell Plumbing — $300; Whitman Firefighters Union Local 1769 — $250; and Fred Small — $250. Monetary donations helped the 501 (C)3 charity do some shopping on Black Friday for toys and boosted efforts to obtain grocery gift certificates at Wal-Mart for Christmas dinners.

Donations of $2,000 worth of toys from Brian Dennehy and his mother Jackie; toys collected at a family party hosted by Kevin Mayer and John Cookson at the Hanson AA and Reebok clothing from Kristin Nelson Ross were a few of those received already. Donation boxes, including three at WHRHS for the first time, can be found at the following businesses: Marcello’s Sub Shop, Whitman American Legion, Whitman VFW, Rockland Trust and Mutual Bank Whitman branches, Joe Goldsberry Photo & Video, O’Rourke Insurance, Whitman Knights of Columbus, Dancer’s Dream, Duval’s Pharmacy, Damien’s Pub in Hanson and Bailey’s Tri-Town.

For more information on donations or registering as a recipient family, contact Donnie Westhaver at 781-447-6883.

Lunch Menu Correction

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There is no early release day at the high school Friday, Dec. 2. Lunch served that day will be: Cheese pizza, tossed salad, carrot sticks with dipping sauce, chilled and fresh fruit and milk.

 

Whitman sets fiscal ‘17 tax rate

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

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

The fiscal 2016 tax rate was certified at $15.59.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conference granted Kiwanee discount

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HANSON — The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Nov. 15 voted 3-1 to approve a request by the Watershed Action Alliance of Southeastern Mass., to use Camp Kiwanee for a one-day conference at a reduced rate. Selectmen Bill Scott voted against the discount based on his concern over the group’s intent of charging participants a registration fee.

“We had asked that any deviation from the rates of usage of Camp Kiwanee — any reduction in the rate — be brought forward to this committee,” said Selectmen Chairman James McGahan in the meeting broadcast on Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV. Selectman Kenny Mitchell was absent from the meeting due to illness.

The WAA submitted their request in a letter to selectmen, outlining their purpose and explaining that the alliance holds biennial conferences and workshops in intervening years. The coalition of 12 watershed groups’ regional conference was last held at Plimouth Plantation, which waived a fee in return for publicity as an event partner, in 2015.

They are seeking a similar sponsorship from the town to use Camp Kiwanee from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 16, 2017. The usual one-day conference rate for Camp Kiwanee is $1,000. The WAA requested a 50-percent discount.

Many conference attendees either work or volunteer for nonprofits with small budgets, the letter explained. It also offers reduced registration rates for students and low-income participants.

Two participating organizations, the Taunton Watershed and the Jones River groups, have connections to Hanson.

Town Administrator Michael McCue created a form for a discount request, which WAA representatives filled out, including backup information about the program and participating agencies.

“This would be a positive advertisement for Camp Kiwanee,” McGahan said.

“They charge a fee for people to attend, they’re not considered a nonprofit organization,” Scott said. “They generate funds from outside groups. I think it’s a good idea what they’re trying to do but I just wonder if we’re setting a precedent.”

McGahan and Selectmen Bruce Young suggested the registration costs might be a mechanism for covering the cost of the event and asked McCue to advise them if there is any reason to believe the fees are a profit-making device.

In other business, the board approved revisions to the complaint and service animal policies.

The only change to the complaint policy is that persons filing a complaint be the offended party or a parent or guardian. The service animals policy is a new one, allowing admission of service animals to town property for handicapped persons who need them. Under the guidelines, therapy animals are not considered service animals.

Selectmen also voted to place a Board of Water Commissioners vacancy, created by the Nov. 1 resignation of Mary Lou Sutter on the May 20, 2017 Town Election ballot, because the appointment made to fill the post was a short-term one.

Selectmen and Water Commissioners then voted 7-0 to appoint William Garvey of 66 Morton St., to fill the vacancy for now. If Garvey wishes to remain on the board he would have to run for election in May.

A South Shore Vo-Tech graduate, Garvey has an HVAC trade certificate, an applied science degree from Massasoit Community College in HVAC service and design and work experience in the field and has served on the Indian Head and Maquan Priority Repair Committee.

‘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

By

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.”