By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

WHITMAN — A continuing problem with rats in an East Avenue neighborhood — and the possibility that two vacant houses on the street could be housing the vermin — brought about two dozen area residents to a Board of Health meeting Tuesday evening.

While there was doubt in some quarters if rats are, indeed, living inside 35 and 36 East Ave., there is evidence that raccoons are nesting in one of the houses.

A similar rat problem was dealt with in the West Street area two years ago.

“That has been a thorn in everybody’s side, to include ours,” said Health Board Chairman Eric Joubert, RN. “If we had our druthers, we’d tear the damn place [36 East Ave] down … the wheels are in motion to resolve those issues.”

Selectmen Dan Salvucci and Scott Lambiase also attended the meeting.

Small Animal Control Officer Robert Hammond said he has not seen rats on the properties, but has received reports of rats and raccoons from neighboring residents.

Town officials, meanwhile, say there are legal and financial limits to what can be done about the problem posed by the decaying houses and the two issues, of that danger and of the rats, have to be dealt with separately.

The town has foreclosed on 35 East Ave., and must wait until November [the end of a one-year waiting period] before it can do anything with it, including trying to sell the property to developer who would raze the house and build there, according to Town Administrator Frank Lynam.

“I can’t tell you with any certainty that the source of the rodents are these two houses,” he said, noting he has been to both houses in the past. “I took note of the conditions and they are horrible, but there was no evidence of wildlife in the houses.”

The house at 36 East Ave., had been in tax title but was redeemed by “one of the stakeholders of the property,” according to Lynam. One of the beneficiaries of the trust that holds it had been living there until condemnation proceedings began.

The properties face each other on opposite sides of the street.

“From an ownership standpoint, there are some things we can and some things we can’t do,” Lynam said.

To get rid of 36 East Ave., which Lynam termed the worst of the two, the town must begin an adverse taking process involving an inspection committee comprised of at least the building inspector, an engineer and a member of the Board of Health. Lynam indicated after hearing residents’ concerns that a member of the police and fire departments might also be included in that inspection committee.

Residents noted the boarded-up 35 East Ave., may have been broken into at the rear and that discarded propane tanks at 36 East Ave., are a source of safety concerns.

“There’s a lot of machines that have gas in them,” said Leo Dauksevicz of 44 East Ave. “There’s just a lot of safety concerns.”

He also raised a concern over what he described as a 36 East Ave. property owner burying asbestos shingles on the site.

A petition in the courts would follow a report supporting that action by the inspection committee.

“We will not move forward without a judicial order, because it puts the town in a liability position,” Lynam said. “The biggest question then becomes funding because we have to have funds have to pay someone to take the house down.”

That involves a Town Meeting vote.

Another option is to petition the Department of Revenue for permission to deficit spend and later transfer the money from the recap sheet as a bill to be paid by tax dollars next year.

The food source for the rats was also a topic for discussion as well as possible solutions to the problem.

“I had to get rid of my son’s rabbits,” said Steven Green of 28 East Ave., who also had to tear out his garden. “I looked in the cage and there was a rat staring at me — they’re going in and out of my basement.”

Green, whose son is 7 years old, lives next door to 36 East Ave.

Residents, including Patricia McKay of 26 East Ave., have been trapping rats to protect their homes. She asked if is possible to obtain state funding for baiting and trapping.

“I haven’t sat out in my yard for 14 months,” she said. “If they get into my home — it’s over.”

Another area resident suggested they work together on some fundraising to help pay for bait and traps, donating the funds to the town as a gift. The town is not permitted to conduct fund-raising.

Food source?

Some residents also believe dumpsters behind the Rosen Realty office and the condominiums next door to it on Temple Street are serving as food sources for rodents.

“The two biggest food sources for these rats are the two dumpsters,” said Stephen Capachione of 16 East Ave. “I’ve seen these rats run rampant around those dumpsters.”

He alleged Rosen’s tenants at 53 Temple St., are placing household trash and garbage in the business office dumpster and that the condo’s dumpster also overflows because it is not big enough. While Rosen built the condos, he no longer owns that property.

Contacted after the meeting, Richard Rosen called the assertions “absurd,” though he said he has found other people’s trash in his dumpster.

He said his dumpster, which has been in the same spot for 23 years, has been inspected by the board of health chairman as well as Health Agent Lou D’Arpino and Hammond.

“It’s on asphalt and it s absolutely spotless around that dumpster,” he said. “There is no garbage in my dumpster … we do not generate garbage in my office.” He suggested the abandoned houses on East Avenue and debris in neighborhood backyards was more likely to blame for the rat problem, s was the case on West Street.

“We all share your concerns and they will be addressed,” Joubert told those attending the meeting. “I think everyone is willing to work together to resolve this issue.”

Lynam told those at the meeting that municipalities cannot establish covenants on properties without violating individual rights.

“As much as we’d like to, we have no right to regulate neighbors who are slobs,” Lynam said.

The Health Department’s website will be updated regarding the inspection committee’s report and the owners of dumpsters at Rosen Realty and Temple Street Place will be asked to place bait and/or traps, to ensure no one off the properties uses the dumpster and that the receptacles are sealed and secure, Joubert said. Bird feeders should be put away until the problem is solved animal feed and trash cans must be secured.

With the permission of property owners, Lynam said he would ask the DPW about placing traps in the East Avenue area as well as policing town-owned land for debris.

Concerns on the matter should be directed to health@whitman.ma.gov.

School repairs headed to voters

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

HANSON — In a meeting marked by acrimony on the part of some residents over the resignation of a recently hired town accountant, the Board of Selectmen’s focus Tuesday, Aug. 26 was placement of nearly 40 articles on the warrant for the Monday, Oct. 6 special Town Meeting.

The board voted to close the warrant, but took no votes on whether or not to recommend the placed articles, which will be done at a September meeting after dollar amounts are nailed down.

Five of the articles center on needed repairs at the Maquan and Indian Head Elementary schools, as well as to reimburse the School District for repairs already completed as immediate needs.  Seven public safety articles deal with equipment and technology upgrade requests at the police and fire department along with financial housekeeping and articles from the highway and planning departments.

But the Indian Head roof and the process for determining and funding the project cost engendered the bulk of discussion.

Selectman Bruce Young, who spoke with fellow board members via speakerphone, said he wants to see a debt exclusion article to place the issue on a special election ballot. Young is recuperating at home from an illness.

“We’re looking for a separate election so the people can gear just on these particular issues,” said Young, adding he does not want to see the question lost amid the other votes on a general election ballot. “What I’m picturing is a possible roof, the [window] lintels and combined with the safety and security of the Maquan School.”

The Maquan security locks are already the focus of one of the articles proposed by the School Committee [see related story], but Young is aiming at a package approach to all three needs.

Town Administrator Ron San Angelo suggested that Young and School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes meet “to figure out how they want to move forward on this.”

Most residents attending the meeting, however, seemed more interested in the details surrounding the resignation of Town Accountant Kimberly Brown. Selectmen voted 4-0 to approve contracting with Financial Advisory Associates for accounting services to get the town through the October Town Meeting. The town has used the firm in the past.

While he did not object to the hiring of the temporary firm, resident Richard Hickey questioned, “how we arrived at this juncture.”

“The members of the town deserve to know exactly what’s been going on since February,” he said. “It’s quite reasonable for any slightly informed person to conclude that the town accountant was not the least bit qualified to begin with.”

Hickey said that, under the Town Administrator Act, San Angelo is responsible for reporting to Selectmen and the Finance Committee on the financial health of the town.

“You are 100-percent responsible for a bad hire,” Hickey said. “You failed in those responsibilities by not supervising … We’re talking about you, not her.”

San Angelo replied he does take responsibility for the hire, which he based on a résumé, interview and recommendation from another community where she also worked part time.

“That’s why we have a probation period,” he said. “I truly wish that I had a crystal ball and every time I hired an employee it’s going to be the greatest employee we ever had — it’s sad that is not the case.”

He explained the resignation was submitted after going over the results of an audit with the accountant, while declining to say whether one had to do with the other. He also stressed the town has sustained no financial harm.

San Angelo said Finance Committee Chairman Barbara Arena wrote a letter in support of Brown and the work she did.

Selectman Chairman David Soper said personnel regulations prohibit more being said on the matter.

“What’s the deal?” asked resident Iris Morway. “A little transparency — I think the community’s entitled to that.”

In other business, San Angelo read a report from state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, which included the announcement that weekend commuter rail service will likely be returning to the area in October.

“It looks like they got money into the [state] budget and it’s back,” San Angelo said. “They’re working on the details of that, but they’re expecting in October-ish to look at restoring that service.”

School repairs headed to voters

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

The W-H School Committee has approved five warrant articles for Hanson’s October special Town Meeting to seek funds for several repairs deemed immediate needs at Maquan and Indian Head schools.

The articles fund repairs already made — Maquan cafeteria floor and asbestos abatement; Maquan boiler and heating plant repairs; Indian Head entry repairs, library carpet and cafeteria floor replacement.

“This is for items we are doing now,” said School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes, “This was also recommended by the Repair Committee.”

The articles also address upcoming projects such as replacing and rekeying Maquan classroom and office doors and corridor zoning doors as well an indoor ventilator for the Maquan offices to improve air quality.

The Town Meeting will also be asked to transfer funds to borrow toward developing a public bid document in the repair of the roof of the Indian Head School. Selectmen in the town would like them to write at least one more calling for a special election vote on a debt exclusion to pay for the roof repairs [see related story].

“This particular project is going to need an engineer … to come up with specifications so this job can be bid,” Hayes said. “When you build something of this caliber it has to have specifications and we cannot set specifications.”

A test roof section has already been installed for study.

Maquan’s cafeteria floor has been completed and passed post-asbestos abatement air-quality tests and carpet installation is done at the Indian Head library. Both were listed as emergency repairs after insurance inspections listed the floors as trip hazards and liability risks. Another trip hazard cited, on the sidewalk outside the Indian Head entrance, has also been repaired.

The Maquan door and lock article is aimed at putting locks on doors that may not have had them for more than 30 years.

“We’re also going to be replacing doors to bring it up to a little bit better code,” Hayes said. “The thought process was we can lock the building up if we do have a breach of the building.”

Assistant Superintendent of District Operations Craig Finley explained that some of the articles quote a sum of money, the lock article carries a figure that will become more accurate by Town Meeting as it is now in the bid process.

Hayes noted the maintenance of the two buildings impressed a state inspector this week.

“Her comments were the maintenance and cleanliness of the buildings was excellent,” he said. “The fact that the buildings are old and they have these issues, are the true facts.”

The inspection was part of the routine process for the district’s asbestos management plan, which passed. The full report will be received in 30 days.

In other business, Gilbert-Whitner announced the resignation of two district administrators who are moving to new opportunities. Finley is taking on a consulting opportunity in the private sector and Indian Head Assistant Principal Ryan Morgan, who has left to become the principal/director of Independence Academy. The school is part of a North River Collaborative program in conjunction with the district for students recovering from drug addiction.

“We wish Ryan well,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “He certainly was a top candidate and I’m not surprised he got the job.”

“Craig has been with us since he was very young, beginning as a paid person when he was 18,” she said.

She lauded his work as technology director and, for the past two years, as assistant superintendent of district operations, a job designed for his “unique skills and talents.” The job description will likely change going forward.

School Committee member Fred Small offered a salute to Finley’s service to the district and sought to induce him to stay.

“It’s been said Craig is a walking encyclopedia of the school district and I could not offer higher praise.” Small said. “He’s going to be sorely missed and I wanted to go on record as to saying, ‘Don’t go.’”

 

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

WHITMAN — A combination of traffic speed, poor visibility and “skewed intersection geometry” has meant years of serious accidents with injuries at the intersection of Franklin and Pleasant streets and South Avenue.

Whitman officials, concerned that a fatal crash could happen there unless a solution is found, met with representatives of the Old Colony Planning Council (OCPC) and MassDOT’s District 5 Traffic Division at Town Hall Thursday, Aug. 21. The meeting was followed by a site visit by OCPC and MassDOT personnel.

“If you’re going to have a fatality in this town, this is a good candidate — unfortunately — for a fatality,” OCPC Senior Transportation Planner Raymond Guarino said during the site visit. “The decision to take action is ultimately up to the town.”

The OCPC can help Whitman line up funding, noting that a project at the intersection would be eligible for federal funding, based on the functional classification as urban arterial of Route 27, if the town opts for a reconstruction option.

Guarino said his office will write a technical memo for the town, updating one written in 2008, listing the intersection’s deficiencies and alternatives.

During the meeting, officials seemed to lean toward a four-way stop with flashing red light overhead, but the potential for traffic backups over the train tracks is a concern.

“One added benefit could be it also slows down the speed of cars on South Avenue,” Assistant Town Administrator Gregory Enos said of a four-way stop. “We’ve got our marching orders … to look at it and see what the possibilities are.”

Reconstructing the intersection to either realign the streets or add a traffic circle are other possibilities, but the impact on a subsurface culvert and homes and businesses near the intersection were a major concern.

Stricter speed control is also an option.

According to Guarino, 85 percent of motorists approaching the intersection from all four directions exceed posted speed limits, in at least one direction — west of the intersection on Route 27 — by an average of 10 miles per hour over the posted limit of 35 mph.

Based on figures from 2007, each day 11,000 vehicles approach the intersection from the west along South Avenue/Route 27; 5,350 from the east on the same road; 5,250 from Franklin Street/Route 27 and 1,700 from Pleasant Street. Most of the Pleasant Street traffic, however, veers off via a fork in the road to head east and merge onto South Avenue.

Over a seven-year study period, the intersection has averaged nearly seven crashes per year. Half of those involved left turns crossing traffic, according to Guarino’s research.

“They’re usually more on the severe side,” Police Chief Scott Benton noted. He stressed traffic enforcement has always been important at the department.

 Fire chief Timothy Grenno added that most accidents with injuries there involve rollovers.

Visibility, both advance warning of an intersection and drivers’ line of sight at the stop lines were cited as major shortcomings of the area.

Solar-powered “approaching intersection” signs recently approved at Town Meeting could be placed there to help, DPW Highway Superintendent Bruce Martin said.

“Even if we put up Stop signs and everybody stops … the stop line is way back so that you cannot see any approaching cars coming down South Avenue,” said Selectman Daniel Salvucci. “You’ve got to crawl your car up to the crosswalk, or even over the crosswalk.”

The double lane — for left turn and straight ahead — leaves cars jockeying for a clear line of sight.

“If they jump out, there’s no reaction time,” Guarino agreed.

One option Salvucci suggested the OCPC explore is changing the Franklin Street approach to a single lane.

“You’ve got to direct drivers what to do and when to do it,” Salvucci said. “Or they just do it.”

Intersection design shortcomings are hard to solve, argues MassDOT’s Richard Olivera.

“The geometry is what the geometry is,” he said.

DPW Water and Sewer Superintendent Aaron Richardson and MassDOT representatives Tom Rubello and Mike Martin also attended the meeting.

Richardson suggested a right-turn only lane for South Avenue traffic turning onto Franklin Street. But that, too, could run up against the geography of the corner.

“I’m looking for a ballpark figure on cost and a solution least destructive to the intersection,” Salvucci said. “But it’s a safety issue and we know it — we’ve known it and we’ve tried changing position of stop signs and changing things around. It’s helped  but it hasn’t [been] solved.”

 

Repair panel eyes TM article

By Tracy F. Seelye,  Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

HANSON — The Indian Head and Maquan School Repair Committee voted 6-0, Wednesday, Aug. 13 to request that the Board of Selectmen approve a Town Meeting article seeking an unspecified sum to repair the Indian Head roof, with the understanding that an cost estimate would be available by the October Town Meeting.

The panel also reviewed the immediate repair needs supported by selectmen in a 4-0-1 vote the night before. Both meetings were broadcast on Whitman-Hanson Community Access Television.

“I just want to make it clear that this is an investigative committee, it’s an advisory committee and it basicaly works in conjunction with the School Facilities Subcommittee and the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen to determine what the priority repairs ultimately should be to present at the Town Meeting,” Chairman Bruce Young said in response to questions he has received about the powers and scope of the repair committee. “We can’t order anybody to do anything.”

During their discussion, it became apparent that two of the immediate repairs selectmen approved, involving a dishwasher replacement at Indian Head and boiler repairs at Maquan — at a combined $35,000 — seemed to come as news to the repair committee.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have any say,” said Vice Chairman Michael Jones. “We didn’t even know there was anything wrong with it until they put it [before] the committee last night for $16,000 as an emergency.”

Jones suggested the School District should work with the panel more cooperatively to develop repair priorities. A more pressing need, Jones agreed with Selectman  Bill Scott, would be a new set of door locks at Maquan School. It was one of the four emergency repairs the panel voted to recommed at its July 30 meeting.

“I really think they are remiss in not addressing that issue,” Scott said. “Nothing’s an emergency until something happens … the locks are a key part of that.”

Assistant Superintendent of Schools for District Operations Craig Finley told the Board of Selectmen that, while the lock updates would not be done prior to the Wednesday, Aug. 27 start of the school year, it is work that could be done while classes are in session without too much disruption.

Resident Wilbur Danner, who had served on the W-H Regional High School Building Committee, suggested the district consider leasing a new dishwasher, rather than spend the $16,000 to purchase a new one. He had also attended a recent School Committee Facilities Subcommittee meeting at which the repair was discussed. The item was included in a list of five immediate repair needs because a wash tank is leaking and the tank’s deterioration is beyond repair, according to a letter to Town Administrator Ron San Angelo from Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner and Finley. The letter, dated Aug.12 was presented to selectmen that night and the repairs were approved for presentation to the October Special Town Meeting.

“We don’t have to shell out $16,000,” Danner said. A restaurant owner, Danner leases equipment from GNC for four years and maintenance is included in the lease agreement. “At the end of four years, I have to pay 5 perecnt of the original price and the title passes.”

The purchase proposed would involve Hobart, a manufacturer Danner said, “used to be the Cadillac of the restaurant business.”

“Hobart has slipped,” he said. “Most of its restaurant equipment is made in China. They’re really living on their name.”

The other item in the School District’s letter which took the repair committee by surprise was $19,000 in repairs to a Maquan School boiler to meet state certfication compliance.

The state came in early for an inspection on Monday, Aug. 11, according to Jones, who said state inspector was asked to come in, but he was uncertain why.

“Looking at it, I don’t blame them,” Jones said. “But at the end of the [school] year, it wasn’t an issue and now … I don’t understand how no one looked  at that.”

The fire sheild inside of the door was severely deteroiorated.

“It’s like hitting a moving target,” said committee member Maria McClellan of the latest reports.

Committee member Christopher Howard suggested that the panel request from the School District a complete list of all outstanding open repair items at both schools.

“I also think you should pay attenion to the validity of the items that are brought forward to you, and make sure they really are what they are,” said resident Mark Vess.  “There’s a big difference between corrosion and failure.”

In other business, the committee continued discussion of rood repair options for Indian Head School as well as possible options for renovating or replacing Maquan.

Vess suggested a nonbinding referendum could help determine the town’s preferred direction on the latter issue.

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

WHITMAN — The Whitman Police Department welcomed two new sergeants to the ranks Tuesday night with the promotion of officers Matthew Kenealy and David Gregory.

Both were sworn into their new rank by Town Clerk Dawn Varley during the Board of Selectmen’s meeting Aug. 19.

Kenealy, who joined the department in 2000, serves as the WPD armorer and is a member of the SWAT team. In noting that Kenealy became a police officer in the same year as Deputy Chief Tim Hanlon and Lt. Christine May-Stafford — who served as chief for four years —  Chief Scott Benton quipped that they have made a mark for themselves in the department as well.

Gregory had served as an auxiliary officer from 1986 to July 2004 when he was appointed a full-time officer. He is one of the department’s certified motorcycle officers.

“Without the auxiliaries the department and this town would not run as well as they do,” Benton said.

The board voted 4-0 to make the appointments, before they were sworn in, Kenealy first to establish seniority, and then Gregory. Selectman Brian Bezanson was absent.

Kenealy’s parents Bill and Cindy and his fiancée pinned on his badge. Gregory was pinned by his wife Lisa, daughter Samantha and his parents Anthony and Barbara.

“The first in-service class I’m going to send you to is “Silence is Golden,” Benton joked after the ceremonies.

Benton and Fire Chief Timothy Grenno also gave their monthly reports on their departments’ activities.

Benton reported the department has responded to 6,175 calls so far this year, compared with 6,322 at this time last year. He also shared a complimentary email concerning officer Gary Nelson’s actions in helping retrieve the $400 prescription glasses stolen from a resident’s daughter.

He also noted a change in how domestic assaults are reported in the police logs. A law signed by Gov. Deval Patrick designates some crimes as similar to sexual assaults in how they are reported and Benton has begun redactions accordingly.

“It was done for a number of reasons, but one of them I’m sure is it probably exacerbated things — after things cooled down — for somebody to see their name in the paper,” he said.

Residents interested in having a radar trailer placed on their street — especially in view of the Aug. 27 start of the school year — should call the station at 781-447-1212 to make a request.

Grenno reported the Fire Department is conducting its annual apparatus service and certifications cycle.  Since Jan. 1, WFD has done 1,614 emergency runs. Last year at this time there were 1,619. Grenno said the miniscule difference was surprising as there were no significant storms “which usually jack our calls up by 200-300 runs.”

According to Grenno, 60 percent of the emergency runs were medical calls and of those, 58 percent were for behavioral or psychiatric issues. Another 35 percent were cardiac issues. The busiest days for runs over the past three years have been Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Busy times are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — with 1 to 2:30 p.m. the busiest of those hours.

Ambulance revenues are also up with $74,000 coming in during July alone.

Both chiefs spoke of the Thursday, Aug. 14 rollover on Franklin Street in which three people were seriously injured.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on how well the fire and police departments work together,” Grenno said. “If it wasn’t for the help of the on-duty police officers that evening it would have been more difficult for us to handle the situation.”

In other business, Selectmen voted 4-0 to accept DPW Superintendent Bruce Martin to reduce the trash/recycling pickup fee for fiscal 2015 from $250 for the year to $225.

“It appears we had a surplus in that line of over $106,000,” Town Administrator Frank Lynam said. “On that basis, he’s recommending that we reduce the fee.” Lynam said he and the Finance Committee chairman are concerned that the volatility of the market may cause a seesaw effect in the future.

“I reluctantly recommend it because I have concerns about how it fits the overall budget for the town,” Lynam said. The surplus becomes part of the excess funds that bankroll capital purchases.

“Apparently people are listening and recycling and we need to show them that what we said would happen will happen and we’d be able to reduce the fee,” said Selectman Daniel Salvucci.

Kiwanis fundraising effort stocks Hanson pantry’s coffers

By Stephanie Spyropoulos
Express staff

HANSON — The recent culmination of fund raising efforts between two groups working to make Hanson a better place has been successful following the announcement of a $13,548 donation to the Hanson Food Pantry.

Hanson Kiwanis International South Shore Chapter President Gerry Lozeau and Kiwanis member Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett presented Hanson Food Pantry Director Sharon Kennedy and Paul Nicol, a Rotarian and pantry volunteer, the donation check as well as gift cards and a deposited cash statement at the annual Steak Fry dinner on Monday held at the Hanson AA on Reed Street.

FitzGerald-Kemmet also chairs Hanson’s Community Preservation Commission.

Sharon Kennedy who has been with the pantry for 20 years, her husband Bill Kennedy and son Jason Kennedy — both Masons — have been working with other volunteers on the new expansion project of the food pantry at the High Street location. Work is steadily nearing completion, according to Nicol who said the effort is progressing.

Kennedy calls her service of two decades at the food pantry a vocation.

“It is part of my faith. God asks us to serve him by serving others,” she said.

She addressed members and guests at the Steak Fry thanking the efforts of everyone involved.

“We are grateful for all donations and the ability to witness what this great group of people has done. 3,000 people are serviced each year through the Hanson Food Pantry,” she said.

Nicol has been overseeing most of the renovations at the High Street building along with local plumber Mark Schneider, Liz and Bob Lundgren and numerous other volunteers. He said they have received $200,000 in in-kind donations and materials toward the renovation project.

The building has passed recent inspections and the group is moving toward the next phases of sheet rocking the bathrooms, said Nicol. They hope in the near future to get a temporary order to open on High Street.

In 2013, the Hanson Food Pantry 65,000 meals’ worth of food, said Nicol.

In the coming weekend of Aug. 22 and Aug. 23 St. Joseph’s the Worker Church of Hanson will take a second offering at their Masses, with funds going directly to the food pantry. Good Deeds thrift shop located at 209 Water St. in Pembroke will donate October proceeds to the pantry.

Ballot question draws bipartisan signature backing

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

Voters on Nov. 4 will have four ballot questions to answer while they are making decisions on state and federal office holders.

Question 1 has a local connection and enjoyed wide bipartisan support during the petition phase — that is one to repeal a new law linking the gasoline tax to the rate of inflation.

Questions to expand the bottle bill to include containers from sports drinks and other beverages, to repeal the casino gaming law and to mandate sick time for workers in Massachusetts were also placed on the ballot.

State Rep. Geoffrey Diehl, R-Whitman, was among a group of Republican legislators and activists who organized to fight the gas tax law shortly after is passed last year. During the petition phase, however, it became clear that signatures of Democrats outnumbered those of Republicans nearly 2:1.

The margin became evident as town clerks began transferring signatures electronically to the Secretary of State’s office.

“We didn’t even ask them,” Diehl said. “They told us afterward, ‘This is one funny little fact for you — you had twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans that signed your form.’”

It is perhaps not surprising in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, but Diehl notes it is also an indication of displeasure over the “triple whammy” effect of the law. Candidates for office also depend on that cross-part appeal to win.

In fact Diehl, who is running unopposed this year, is able to devote more time toward campaigning for the gas tax repeal than for his own race.

Eying opposition

But poll numbers don’t win elections, he cautioned, pointing to reports that opponents of Question 1 plan on spending $3 million to defeat it.

Right now, the issue’s ability to anger voters has been working in favor of the “Tank the Gas Tax” effort.

“Clearly there is no need to link the gas tax to inflation,” state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton, told tankthegastax.org. “By giving the State House more and more money we are not demanding accountability.”

She equated the law with taxation without representation, a comparison with which Diehl agrees.

“It had a provision by which all future gas tax would be subject to an automatic increase annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI),” said Diehl of the law that initially raised the tax by three cents per gallon. “We saw it on Blue Mass Group (a progressive Democratic organization), that they consider this a regressive tax. It affects middle-to-low income families more than anybody else.”

Those consumers have to drive to work, often in less fuel-efficient vehicles and they lack the funds to replace a car with a hybrid. Corporations hit with the tax pass it along to the consumer for hit number two and a Diehl amendment to exempt municipalities from the gas tax was defeated.

“Obviously, your property taxes are hit as well because ultimately towns have to bear the cost,” he said. “It’s what you put in at the pump, anything you buy and even your property taxes get hit.”

It is the only state tax that can increase without a vote.

Tech’s clout

Within six weeks of the bill’s passage, an accompanying sales tax on internet services — the so-called “tech tax” — was repealed, but the gas tax change remained in effect.

AAA has not worked against the gas tax, as it had done on a similar measure 23 years ago, since is has partnered with MASSDOT to offer licensing services, according to Diehl. The state’s tech industries worked hard to get the tech tax repealed, by contrast.

“We were already collecting record revenue above and beyond what was expected,” he said of the fiscal climate when the tech tax was repealed. “We want people to know that you need to manage your money better before you start asking for more.”

1812 is the backdrop to a novel of early America

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

HANSON — Perhaps it could be called the Rodney Dangerfield of wars.

Even on the bicentennial observance of its final year — and of the writing of the “Star-Spangled Banner,”  during the 1814 British bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry — there has been little notice of the  War of 1812, as the Napoleonic Wars were called hereabouts, outside of history classrooms.

That may be due, in part, to how close we came to losing our fledgling nation back to the British only about 20 years after winning it.

Author Deborah Hill of Brockton suggests that today’s attitudes toward the conflict are also not much different from those of 1812-14.

“Most people never strayed far from home, communication was very difficult, America was really just a collection of citizens here and there whose concerns usually stopped at their front door,” Hill said.

Eonomically, states were fairly autonomous.

“The new nation was was becoming firmly locked into regional power struggles,” she said. “The sea provided for anybody, like the fisherman and the mariner who got rich as the Boston merchants got rich.”

At least that was the case before President Thomas Jefferson decided an embargo on trade with Britain in an attempt to halt the impressment of American sailors.

“The embargo meant that both merchants from Boston and mariners of the seas would face ruin,” Hill related.

Her latest historical novel, “This is the House,” intersperses chapters of a fictionalized biography of such a mariner — an ancestor of her husband’s family, Cape Cod sea captain Elijah Cobb of Brewster — with those of an invented character representing his wife and the struggles they faced as a result of the embargo and war.

“I am not a professional historian, I am an author and authors are known to take liberties with fact,” she said to a Hanson Historical Society audience Thursday, Aug. 7. “I hope not to take liberties with history.”

As part of the cadre of mariners working to establish trade and credit for the new nation, she recounted how Cobb ran afoul of British press gangs looking to bolster their navy during the Napoleonic Wars. By that time, America had become entwined in the conflict, though few were aware of it.

Cobb and his crew were held at St. John, Nova Scotia and later exchanged for the crew of another merchant ship,  the Alert, captured earlier.

“The people I’m writing about are based on my husband’s family, based on the town of Brewster,” she said. “I keep telling my husband’s family this is not a biography.”

Hill grew up on Lake Erie in Ohio — which is where some of the heaviest fighting in the western frontier was experienced, usually with the United States on the losing end, as Canada was dragged into the conflict.

“These skirmishes might as well have happened on the moon,” she said. “They were just not relevant to us at all and news of them would come weeks after they occurred.”

Hill outlined how, as the state militias dispatched to Ohio, the British were able to take territory in Maine, burn Washington D.C., and be prevented only by fortifications in Baltimore from taking back the United States after Napoleon abdicated and the French were out of the war. Militias from Massachusetts and Connecticut, who refused to go fight in Ohio, as well as Southern militias helped protect Baltimore.

“But the British people did not feel like having anymore war and they didn’t want to raise taxes — and they saved us,” she said.

A certain respect for America had been earned by the victories at Baltimore and New Orleans, demonstrating the renewed military organization of the militias and regular Army, she concluded.

4-H course teaches the ins and outs of child care

By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com

HANSON — Where do good babysitters come from?

Parents seeking dependable child care while they go out for the afternoon or evening are sometimes confronted by the challenge of how to find a good sitter.

Plymouth County 4-H helps to increase the supply in an effort to meet this demand by offering babysitter certification courses, which provide an overview of the ways to keep young charges safe and happy. The certificate of participation students received for the course attests to the six hours of instruction in safety and appropriate diversions for different age groups as well as hands-on practice in diaper changing and the crafting of “boo-boo bunnies” with which to ice bumps or scrapes.

CPR certfication comes with a different course not offered by 4-H, but this class offered guidance on when and how to deal with first aid needs and when to call in help. Basic nutrition and bottle feeding were also covered.

“It helps parents realize they take babysitting seriously and that they have thought out some form of training,” said instructor Evelyn Golden, a program assistant with Plymouth County 4-H. “I encourage them toward getting certified in first aid and CPR.”

Golden was assisted in conducting the class by 4-H Ambassador Emily Capasso, an experienced club member and role model who mentors 4-H youth.

“I am glad Emily agreed to share her stories of being a  babysitter and how babysitting has allowed her to choose a major that will allow her to work with children when she graduates and leaves for college,” Golden said.

The next course Golden teaches will be at the Pembroke Library, but a date haas not yet been determined. Golden has already conducted the class at libraries in Whitman, Abington, East Bridgewater and Scituate. They are often held once a year in each town.

On Saturday, Aug. 9, a group of about 15 tweens and young teens attended such a course at the Hanson Public Library — four of them boys.

“That is the most boys I’ve had in a class to date,” Golden said. “Of the six classes I’ve taught, I’ve only ever had one other boy sign up, so to get four in a class was pretty exciting.”

She said two of the boys were very interested and the parents of another thought their son should do it.

The students entered the library’s Community Room yawning at the compartively early hour for a class on a sunny summer Saturday — 9 a.m. — but soon Golden was peppering them with thought-provoking questions and exercises.

She started off with an overview of her own expertise.

Growing up in a small Kansas town, Golden said she babysat a lot for her siblings as well as the children of teachers and friends.

“The fact that I had been babysitting for these people led to my first non-babysitting job when I was in high school,” she recalled. It also afforded her a change of scenery when she took a job as a nanny while in college, which brought her to the South Shore in Massachusetts. It also inspired her to study early childhood development in college and led to her starting her own daycare business and eventually to her post at 4-H.

“You’re thinking of babysitting as a couple of extra bucks here and there, but it could be something that could carry you and affect you into the next step of your life,” she said.

Babysitting skills also transfer effectively to the responsible care of the frail elderly, which can help them assist with family situations, according to Golden.

“Today is your chance to shine and show me you are ready to become a responsible babysitter — that you are ready for parents to leave their children alone in your care,” she said.

The students began by discussing age-appropriate contents of a “babysitter’s magic bag” that good babysitters bring along to help them entertain young charges and good storybook choices to read to children of various ages.

Some basic rules of deportment were also reviewed:

• Never answer a knock at the door while babysitting.

• Ask the parents how and if they want the phone answered.

• Never spend time texting or talking on the phone with friends.

• Be prepared. Know the children’s names and ages ahead of time, their bedtimes and any allergies and other information parents may need you to know.

• Know the street address in case of emergency and get parents’ cell phone number.

For more information on future babysitting courses or other 4-H programs, visit the site plymouthcounty4h.org or call 781-293-3541.