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(Some) boards name officers

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One might title it Two Reorganizations and a Baby.

After opening the meeting with what has become the usual somber moment of silence in honor of the people of Ukraine – as well as in memory of the children and teachers slain in a mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas – Whitman Select Board Chairman Carl Kowalski said he wanted to open the meeting on a lighter note.

“You’ll notice there’s an empty chair here tonight, Justin Evans is not able to be here because he and his wife Kathy had a baby daughter this afternoon,” Kowalski said. “Eight pounds, five ounces, 21 inches – a good-sized daughter – and so he’s going to be with them for a little while and he won’t be able to be here this evening, which means we won’t be reorganizing the Select Board this evening.”

Kowalski said it has been the board’s practice to wait for the first meeting at which we have a full board after a town election to reorganize.

“I talked to Justin on the phone just a little while ago and he does plan to be here on June 7,” he said, indicating the reorganization should happen then.

The School Committee and Select Boards welcomed new members and reorganized their slates of officers last week, following the Saturday, May 21 town elections in Whitman and Hanson.

The Hanson Select Board and the W-H Regional School Committee did reorganize last week.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak, presided until the School Committee re-elected Hanson’s Christopher Howard as chair in an unusual Monday meeting on May 23.

“Congratulations to incumbent members Beth Stafford, Dawn Byers and Chris Howard for their re-election and [to] our newest member Glen DiGravio for his successful election,” Szymaniak said.

Howard was re-elected chairman with Scriven also returning in the post of vice chair. David Forth was tabbed as secretary/clerk. Steve Bois was elected treasurer and Dawn Byers won the post of assistant treasurer.

 Bois had placed his own name in nomination for chair post and Christopher Scriven nominated Howard for another term as the head of the meetings. Member Fred Small nominated Beth Stafford.

Szymaniak conducted a roll call of members, with a majority to decide the selection. Abstentions were deemed to be no-votes.

Bois failed to receive a majority with a vote of 4-5-1. Howard was then elected with a unanimous 10-0 vote, rendering a vote on Stafford’s nomination unnecessary.

“Thank you all, I look forward to working with you,” Howard said.

Bois also nominated himself for consideration as vice chair, with Scriven and Stafford also nominated. Bois failed to win a majority with a tally of 3-6-1. Scriven was elected by a 7-3 for the win.

The vote for secretary/clerk was between  Forth and  Small. Forth was selected by a 6-4 vote.

Bois’ name was again placed in nomination, this time by Dawn Byers for treasurer. With no competition, Bois was elected unanimously. Forth then nominated Byers for assistant treasurer, as was Stafford, again nominated by Fred Small. Byers was elected 7-3 with one abstention.

The committee then entered into executive session to discuss strategy in regard to collective bargaining with non-union personnel (a new special education director).

The next night, Hanson Select Board reorganized.

In Hanson, this process raised a bit of unexpected drama.

“Tonight we are welcoming and congratulating two new members to our select board – Ann Rein and Ed Heal,” said Town Administrator Lisa Green, who presided until a chair was selected.

Laura  FitzGerald-Kemmett was elected chair with Joe Weeks as vice chair and Rein as clerk.

FitzGerald-Kemmett nominated herself for chair, seconded by Rein. Member Jim Hickey also nominated himself, seconded by Joe Weeks.

“That’s alright, Joe, you don’t have to,” Hickey said. “You don’t have to, that’s OK. I withdraw my nomination.”

FitzGerald-Kemmett was elected by a 4-0-1 vote with Hickey abstaining. When FitzGerald-Kemmett opened the floor to nominations for vice chair an awkward silence was followed by Weeks nominating himself almost in unison with Rein’s intention of the same thing.

“Just so people don’t have to stare at a [silent screen],” Weeks said with a laugh. The vote was unaninmous. Rein nominated herself as clerk when no one else spoke up.

Storm water project updated

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WHITMAN — Environmental Partners Project Manager Natalie Pommersheim discussed Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit status of the town’s storm water management plan, during the board’s Tuesday, May 24 meeting.

Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski noted that Select Board member Justin Evans had looked forward to the presentation, but could not attend the meeting since Evans’ wife had just had a baby.

“He had asked for it,” Kowalski said. “I said, ‘Gee, Justin, sorry you’re going to miss the meeting tonight, but you’ll be able catch it on WHCA at your convenience.”

Pommersheim said the consulting firm has been working with the Department of Public Works for several years on the town’s storm water MS4 permit and the DPW had wanted them to come provide the Select Board with an overview of the town’s requirements. Senior Scientist with EP, Vern Lincoln, also participated in the presentation.

They reviewed what the town has accomplished to date, what is being viewed as current permit tasks 4 and 5, as well as what future compliance and estimated costs.

The state’s Clean Water Act of the 1970s focused on pollution controls of wastewater discharges, with Phase 1 focusing on major cities of Boston, Worcester and Springfield in the 1990s and Phase 2 permit releases beginning in 2003 covering smaller municipalities. Final permits were co-issued by the EPA and DEP in 2016, going into effect in July 2018.

MS4 systems include all storm water infrastructure owned by the town of Whitman — catch basins, pipes, manholes, swales, ditches, outfalls and more.

The permit is divided into six minimum control measures (MCMs) and additional water control requirements that go along with it, which Lincoln reviewed. Education and outreach as well as public involvement and participation must be made available to the public in the first two measures. The third includes discharge — any discharge, spill or dumping not entirely composed of storm water — detection and elimination.

Annual training and reporting is required.

Construction site storm water runoff control regulated active sites, regulating runoff and sediment control procedures under Phase 4 and post-construction sites under Phase 5. Finally Phase 6 involves pollution control and “good housekeeping.”

“All the day-to-day public works activities come into play,” Lincoln said. “It requires the development of an operations and maintenance program, which includes yearly inspections and ongoing maintenance of the town’s storm water BMPs.” 

Water quality limited waters emphasizes the impaired waters and watersheds the town contributes to including such impairments such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

To-date Whitman has completed all steps up to a bylaw and regulation review ahead of phases 5 and 6. The fourth-year proposed scope and budget has been pared back to $34,000, covering only things due in Phase 4 such as administrative reports, with another $72,000 expected to be the cost for Phase 5, but that, too was pared back to $34,000, again to cover only specific requirements.

“We do recommend that the town, in the future, find additional funds so that you can not only complete the things that are due this year, but to make progress to meet some year 10 goals,” Pommersheim said. “Storm water is kind of the lost and forgotten utility, but it is important.”

She said a lot of towns are hiring storm water managers or forming storm water committees, because DPWs alone can’t handle all the program components. Some communities are contemplating storm water fees or utilities to generate a consistent revenue source to fund consultant and permitting compliance and infrastructure improvements.

Answer to a calling can take many forms

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NORWELL — Hanson resident Brett Miller and Walpole resident Mark Resnick have a lot more in common than graduating Norwell High School. 

Their journey since high school has resulted in each writing a book during the pandemic lockdown, which brought them back — to the Norwell Public Library, just off the long, winding driveway to their old school — to talk about their muse and the writing process.

“Personally, I’ve loved writing my whole life,” said Resnick, a Walpole resident, who has been an entrepreneur, boys’ hockey coach as well as an author. “I knew I would write a book, I just had no idea when.”

“I always wanted to write a book,” Miller said. “I wanted to write a good book, and this is one of the silver linings of COVID[-19] for me — I work a lot … but when COVID happened, we were shut down for four months.”

He said he had the book written in his head, but had never put it on paper.

Whether they initially set out to do so or not, both are now published authors, whose memoirs touch on their journey toward working with — and/or writing about — people with neurological disabilities, finding the opportunity and inspiration of the isolation imposed by the COVID -19 pandemic to finally sit down and write.

As an essential worker in his other job as a physical therapist, Miller worked one-on-one with clients during the mornings and write at in the afternoon and evenings. It took him about two and a half months to write his first draft.

A former Army combat medic and a licensed physical therapist, Miller is the owner of 110 Fitness in Rockland —the largest wellness center in the world for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. He is also an ambassador for both the Michael J. Fox and Davis Phinney foundations, and has worked in the fitness industry for 28 years. 

Miller had definitely known since a young age that saving lives was his calling. While he always thought he might write that book, it took the lockdown of the gym for four months in 2020, for him to take that time.

The result, “It’s a Beautiful Day to Save Lives: A Medic’s Journey to His Destiny.”

Foe Resnick, writing “Ten Days with Dad: Finding Purpose, Passion and Peace During the Darkest Days of Alzheimer’s and COVID,” helped him cope with his father’s battle with the disease. 

Diagnosed in 2014, Resnick’s father was no longer able to drive, cook or take his medications within four years and could also no longer stay in his home.

Before moving into a long-term care facility, Barry D. Resnick stayed with his son’s family for “10 unforgettable days” during COVID.

The two joked about their school days, as they knew each other since middle school. The evening’s moderator Lisa Ruddwas only a few years behind them.

“We were getting together, and I said, ‘I’m getting ready to write a book and she said, ‘Brett Miller wrote a book!’” Resnick said. “She was so enthusiastic about Brett’s book and I’m like, ‘she’s got to be enthusiastic about my book, she’s the perfect person to be our moderator.”

Rudd said it was a rare privilege to read both their books, having grown up with both men.

“To get to see the way you know yourselves and the overlap of different things … you both have definitely put yourselves out there.”

They took differing approaches to their writing, but agreed that writing the book is the best part of writing a book, as Miller put it. Getting published is another matter.

Miller talked about the email stream he had with four different editors for the year and a half it took before his book was produced by self-publishing company AuthorHouse. 

Resnick, who also self-published his book, which he highly recommends, noting the self-publishing world is much different than it was even 10 or 15 years ago when it was dismissed as “vanity press.”

He prints on-demand copies through Amazon, as a good many self-published authors now do.

Resnick has always been a journaler, while Miller composes his chapters in his mind, dictating or writing them on his phone.

“I started journaling about my dad’s diagnosis and the effect it had on me,” Resnick said. “I turned to my journal to make me feel good … and it just turned into something a little bit bigger day by day.”

He said self-editing was the hardest part of the writing process.

“My first draft was absolute garbage,” Resnick said, and took eight and a half months to write.

They also discussed the divergent neurological conditions with which they have experience.

“He was living his book,” Miller said of Resnick’s care for his father as his book process was beginning.

Resnick said his father was not aware of the book project.

Miller described writing as a valuable therapy process.

“[You go] though all these sensations and emotions — revisiting those situations, over and over again every time you went to rewrite,” he said. “I recommend writing a book.”

Both said they were unaware the other was going through the emotional circumstances which they wrote about.

Resnick spoke about the heartbreak of his father’s disconnect because of Alzheimer’s.

“It’s developing in our brains 20 to 30 years ahead of time [for people who are ultimately diagnosed with the disease],” he said. “You can’t really obsess over that … like a lot of life, it’s too late.”

Resnick said his father’s mental decline seemed to worsen during the isolation of COVID. Miller underscore that, saying that his boxing program lost four Parkinson’s fighters during COVID, but not because of COVID.

“Because of COVID there are some new objective measurements that we’re able use to measure loneliness and isolation,” he said. “I truly believe that when COVID struck for a lot of people who didn’t have a place to be accountable to or some responsibility or purpose — especially some of our older people in the population — they died of isolation and loneliness for sure.”

While they were able to explore information about the respective diseases of which they wrote, both men also found some therapeutic value in the writing process for themselves.

“The whole vulnerability thing is something I’ve learned with age,” Miller said. “I’m a very private person to this day, but I also find value in personal growth and I find value in being vulnerable, even it’s a little risky about what the circumstances could be,”

The leap of faith “comes back to you ten-fold,” Miller also said.

The PTSD and emotional strain he experienced after leaving the Army has made him more purposeful and creative, Miller said.

“I keep reading my book,” he said. “It’s very emotional for me. … I keep reading it because it’s getting easier for me to read.”

Resnick compared writing to exercising a muscle, eventually I became a better writer.

The men were asked what takeaway readers should get from reading their work.

“If you are unsure of where you belong in this journey — help somebody,” Miller said. “Through service to others, you will figure out your focus and … what your greatness is. But it is your responsibility that, when you figure out what your greatness is, that you act upon it.”

“A comeback is always better than a setback,” Resnick said. “It’s a satisfying feeling to help somebody. … And ask for help if you need it, and it’s never too late to change.” 

Both books are available at Amazon.com.

Saluting the fallen

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Members of the Whitman Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts wave to onlookers as they march in the town’s annual Memorial Day Parade Monday, above. At right, American Legion Acting Commander Jake Ellis salutes the wreath he placed on a memorial at Town Hall. See more photos, pages 9 and 10.

Photos by Carol Livingstone

Heat wilts turnout in town elections

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In a low-turnout town election in both communities Whitman voters stayed the course with incumbents and candidates they knew, while Hanson residents voted in some new faces.

Incumbent Whitman Selectman Justin Evans, was the top vote getter in the vote-for-two race between four candidates, earning 698 votes, with fellow former Finance Committee member Shawn Kain garnering 695.

Retired Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton received 564 votes and Finance Committee member Rosemary Connolly took 350.

There were 1,308 voters — 11.78 percent of the town’s 11,114 registered voters casting ballots on the unseasonably hot day Saturday, May 21. 

In Hanson, where there were two open seats — a three-year term opened up when Select Board member Kenny Mitchell decided against seeking re-election, and the two years remaining on the term of Select Board member Matt Dyer, who resigned because of a job change. Edwin Heal won the three year seat in a squeaker with 309 votes to former Selectman and Water Commissioner Don Howard’s 300. 

Ann Rein received 341 votes to win the two-year post, besting Arlen Dias, who received 281 votes and newcomer Marc Benjamino who garnered 213. Health Board member Christopher O’Connell won 74 votes to finish a distant fourth.

There were 949 of Hanson’s 8,117 voters — 11.6 percent — casting ballots on May 21.

Whitman’s Select Board hopefuls said they were just that, if a little nervous, as well as they held signs near polling places.

Despite the murky start to the day, Evans and his supporters came prepared with sunscreen for sign-holding this year, after he and his wife Kathleen were badly sunburned three years ago.

“I think we’re doing alright,” he said as polls opened at Whitman Town Hall. “I’ve put the work in, hopefully the voters reward me.”

Benton was philosophical as he paused to speak with the Express after voting.

“I’m hoping,” he said. “The signs are out there and [I’ve] done the best I could. … I think all the candidates are qualified and good, I think it just comes down to a choice on what the people are looking for.”

Benton said that, win or lose he was glad he entered the race.

Kain, standing outside the Post Office, next door to Town Hall admitted to particular jitters Saturday.

“I’m nervous and excited,” Kain said, noting he had no idea how he would fare. “I’m in a positive vibe, but I’m definitely the underdog.”

But, he shared an anecdote that gave him hope later in the day.

“In the middle of the day yesterday, I was holding signs with my family and friends, wondering if I had done enough to get elected,” he stated in a letter to the Express, noting the heat was getting to everyone and he was beginning to wonder if it would keep people away from the polls.

Then he noticed a conversation his sister, Shannon, was having with an elderly neighbor on a bench on the Town Hall lawn.

“Mr. Schofield walked from Corthell Ave, using a walker, in the heat, to cast a vote in a local election; a veteran. We were all really moved by this,” Kain said. “Shannon drove him home and I found myself reflecting on his actions for the rest of the day. ‘Had I done enough to get elected?’ wasn’t so relevant after that,” he said.

“They say that finding meaning is about being part of something bigger than yourself,” Kain said. “I felt like I was part of something bigger, accompanied by a strong sense of reverence for our community. I am humbled by the support I received and I appreciate the kind words.”

Connolly indicated Monday that she doesn’t run to necessarily win rather than to inform. She said voters had expressed to her concerns that people can afford to live their day-to-day.

“We know that water rates are up, we know the recession is coming and we know prices of things are just climbing and they’re not going to stop, and we need to stabilize and come together,” she said.

Hanson’s newest Select Board members Heal and Rein signal something of a change in direction for the Select Board.

Heal said he had a “relatively high confidence” going into Election Day that he would win the three-year seat.

“I’m for all the citizens of the town — the people that vote and the people that don’t vote,” he said, adding that getting more information out to the town was a priority. “There are a lot of people that don’t vote and don’t get involved because it’s very hard to know what’s going on, and everybody’s got their own opinion.”

He envisioned an “everything Hanson”-type of website, for example, with information of questions like how residents could dispose of mattresses where families can go for a walk, what restaurants and gas stations are in town or similar concerns.

“You look at Facebook, it’s ‘this guy said this guy said that,’ but there is always a truth,” he said. “There’s Democrat, there’s Republican, there’s conservative, there’s liberal, but there is a truth.”

He said that was a goal of his, win or lose.

“I think I’m going to do well, but I hope everybody does well,” he said. 

Woerdeman said he was optimistic about the vote.

“I’m doing good, we’ve got the tactical campaign Jeep out,” he said, gesturing to his vehicle festooned with campaign signs. “It should be a good turnout — it should be low, but it should be good.”

He said getting the economy going and sound, with the addition of new businesses was a goal of his.

“Without that tax revenue, nothing else that we want to do happens,” he said, noting the marijuana business bylaw was a touchy issue for some people.

Challenger O’Connell, who was chairman of the Board of Health, a position for which he was not running for re-election, said he had no idea how he would do headed into Election Day.

“Four people running for a two-year spot is really pretty rare,” he said. “It seems the Selectmen are trying to take over the Board of Health, where it should be an autonomous body.”

None of the candidates connected with the health board won seats on the Select Board. Where the key issue of the race was concern, he said it was a financial one.

“We have to find revenues for the town,” he said. “I don’t know what people didn’t understand when the FinCom Chairman told them there was going to be a $1.2 million deficit next year that isn’t going to be covered with free cash like this year.”

He said approval of expanded marijuana business in town, as sought by the current manufacturing license-holder has already proven his commitment to work with the town.

Health Board candidate Eric Twiss, who lost out to his cousin, Jamie Rhynd, said he didn’t know what to expect from his first campaign experience, but he felt an open seat was a good opportunity to run. 

Twiss, who received 493 votes is in the food service profession. Rhynd, who is an RN and certified nurse practitioner earned 697 votes for the win.

Her family, holding signs for her while she was off talking to someone, were confident of her chances — and they were right.

“I am thrilled to have been elected to the Board of Health,” she said Monday. “ to my cousin and opponent Eric Twiss on a solid campaign. Thanks to the town of Whitman for putting your faith in me. I look forward to serving our community.”

“She’s the right person for the job,” her sister Nicole Nassrella. “Jamie just wants to do Board of Health, she doesn’t have other aspirations.”

“Congratulations to my cousin Jamie, her and I both ran positive clean campaigns,” he said after the votes were announced. “I’m glad we gave the voters two good options. She will do a great job for the town.”

In the race for a seat on the Whitman Board of Assessors, Christine MacPherson was the winner with 666 votes to Britanny Cavallo’s 452.

MacPherson works in an assessor’s office and said she has waited for a position to open in Whitman.

Hanson voters elected Melissa Pinnetti, forensic psychiatric social worker, to the Board of Health. She ran because she felt the mental health of our citizens and our children received minimal consideration during the pandemic.

“I’m feeling pretty good, I’m hopeful,” she said while sign-holding outside the Hanson Middle School polling location Saturday.

“I think we’ve run a pretty strong campaign. … I think the last two years have highlighted how important the Board of Health really is, particularly in small towns. People don’t think about it … just how important the role is and how much power they have.”

 She declined to give further comment after her win.

“I’m going to hold off on commenting so that I can focus on getting to work for the citizens of Hanson,” she said in an email to the Express Monday.

School gets their goat

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HANSON – Most days the students participating in the WHRHS Transition Vocation Program’s students, including Grace Culley and Riley Miller at Channell Homestead farm on South Street in Hanson, spend their shifts doing the usual chores. 

They muck out horse stalls, feed the animals and, when there’s time, maybe pet the rabbits.

Playing midwife to a pregnant nanny goat was an unexpected addition to the job skills curriculum this month.

Farm owner Christianie Channell had a few errands to run while W-H adviser Sarah Hall and her students were working, and said the goat in question seemed perfectly fine. No signs of going into labor.

“We breed Nigerian dwarf goats, and that day a first-time mom goat had babies,” Channell said this week. “I didn’t think she was going to have babies until that afternoon, and I was out with my 3-year-old son, and I get a call from Sarah saying, ‘Um, I think the goat’s having babies!’”

Dottie, the nanny goat in question, decided she would be giving birth early.

Channell was at least 15 minutes away and told Hall, she was going to have to deliver the kids.

Hall admits she was a little unnerved by the whole thing, but her students knew what to do.

Grace took part in the midwifery. Riley was not present for the excitement.

“It was fun and gross at the same time,” Grace said.

“There was a lot of … um… liquid,” Hall expounded. “But I would say the students were more calm than I was.”

Grace agreed. She remembered that Channell used cloth towels and puppy house training pads to rub the kids vigorously to make sure they were breathing OK, as they had seen in a video the farm made of a previous birth.

They had been having lunch and were looking forward to “snuggle time” with the baby animals before returning to school, Hall recalled.

Grace and her friend Jackie had been checking on the goat frequently at the request of Ms. Channell, “and she ended up having babies,” Grace said.

Channell talked them through the birthing assistance n FaceTime.

“Out of nowhere, she just dropped down and plopped those babies out,” Channell said. “They all came together and [Hall] ended up FaceTiming me, so I just kind of told her what to do. They did everything just right.”

The students have been working at the farm since the beginning of the school year.

“They’ve been such a blessing,” said Channell, who said they would be doing a summer program as well and next school year.

The farm does other summer programs, including horseback riding lessons as well as running a farm stand that sells goat’s milk products. 

“We make all-natural body products,” she said. “I milk the goats every day. [The goat’s milk products] are really very beneficial to your skin.”

The WHRHS program places the students in real jobs at Dollar Tree, Meadow Brook, All-American Assisted Living and Channell Homestead to provide real job site experience. The students were also involved in renaming the program that was once known as the post-graduate program.

These students now have a bullet point in real-world experience of having to think on their feet to add to their résumé.

SST closer to MSBA funds

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HANOVER – The South Shore Tech Regional School Committee on Wednesday, May 18 discussed a pair of “homework assignments” related to the schools expansion-renovation application from the Massachusetts School Building Association.

Superintendent-Director Dr. Thomas J. Hickey said the MSBA has asked vocational schools in the funding pipeline to provide information – without the agency knowing the size of the school – on the vocational programs it might consider how they might meet strong labor market demands through the use of Chapter 74 funds.

That information will be forwarded to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for a preliminary review.

“It’s all just potential,” he said. “MSBA wants to know, up front, from the Department of Education, would this be a viable program?”

DESE’s career and vocational unit take a close look at the data to determine, based on the same labor market data SST uses, to make that determination.

No assessment from the school about how it would need to expand to meet the educational program need, would be due for some time, Hickey explained.

The committee voted to forward the information to the MSBA. The second vote of the evening earmarked $900,000 – an estimated amount based on similar projects and school sizes, that the school would need to conduct feasibility studies once approval for the next round is received from MSBA.

“They want to know that, at the local level, there is support for this,” Hickey said. “There are no guarantees, but if, in fact we do move further into the pipeline and we are accepted, part of that money that is involved in that feasibility study will be reimbursed.”

If it were approved today, that reimbursement rate would be about 55 percent, but the MSBA does not dictate the amount schools should budget.

In other business, the students at South Shore Tech Gay/Straight Alliance Club is setting up a Transition Threads, a clothing drive program in which clothing may be donated to that other students in the school or community can do a “shopping day” to obtain free clothing they would not feel comfortable buying in a store in front of their parents or other people.

“They don’t have to come out of the closet, but they can still get clothes that make them feel comfortable,” said student body president and School Committee representative Grace Michel of Pembroke. 

The GSA has also collected more than $200 that will be converted to gift cards.

Man killed by MBTA train

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HANSON — A man was struck and killed in Hanson by an MBTA commuter rail train, according to Hanson Police, whose officers were called to the scene to assist MBTA Transit police. 

According to published reports, Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan said the man, who was not identified, was trespassing “directly in the right of way” when the train hit him. While the incident is under investigation, Sullivan indicated that foul play was not suspected.

The Boston Globe reported the victim was a 31-year-old man.

Hanson Chief Michael Miksch, said the Transit police called Hanson to assist them with securing the scene.

“It was not a scheduled train,” Miksch said Monday. “Empty trains are not uncommon at night to deliver cars to Kingston and … during the winter snow trains plow the tracks at night.”

The MBTA had halted commuter rail trains along the Kingston Line at Hanson, transferring passengers between Hanson, Halifax and Kingston while the tracks were closed for the police investigation. Regular service had resumed by 10 a.m., Sunday.

An Abington High School senior, Katelyn McCarthy was killed by a commuter rail train on the Kingston Line the week before when she was walking along the right of way in the area of Birch Street, according to published reports about the investigation of that incident.

Counselors were made available to students at the school Monday.

Fireworks site cleanup plan outlined

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HANSON — Town officials are looking for some influence in the final cleanup phase involved in removing munitions pollutants from the watershed and ponds around the former National Fireworks site in Hanover.

Hanson’s Select Board met jointly with the Board of Health and the Conservation Commission on Tuesday, May 17 to hear an overview of the plan for the ponds and streams on the property, which borders part of the town in the area of Winter and King streets.

“There are some new developments,” Town Administrator Lisa Green, saying that prompted her to invite the company to brief town officials.

While Hanover is “leading the charge” on the project, Select Board member Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

“We have a piece of it in Hanson and we thought we needed to have a little bit more of a voice — or, at least, a voice — in what was happening,” she said, noting at least four board members wrote in during the remediation plan’s public comment period for Phase 3. She asked if the towns were being consulted on remediation plans before they proceeded with the “full-on cleanup.”

“Because none of the people responsible own any of this property, the preference was [to] get rid of it and take it away,” said Ronald Marnicio, Tetra Tech’s national discipline lead for risk assessment. “When you get to that point, there’s not too many other choices.”

The company Tetra Tech, a global consulting and engineering firm that helps clients address water, environment, infrastructure, resource management, energy and international development challenges based in Pasadena, Calif., is cleaning up munitions at the site. The munitions response is scheduled through 2024, while that is being done the design is being completed and permitting will take about a year, so the first digging would likely not happen until 2025 or after.

Looking ahead

Select Board member Kenny Mitchell asked what the area would look like in five to 10 years.

“It’s up to you guys,” Marnicio said. “It should be clean and useable for just about anything.” Hanover would remain classified as recreational land, but most of the land in Hanson is private property.

“In Hanson, it might look pretty much like it’s looking right now,” he said.

Conservation Commission Chairman Phil Clemons said he would like the work approached less like a regular engineering project and more like the “visionary, large-picture, long-term fix that it ought to be” and that no one would regret.

Marnicio said Phase 3 of the cleanup, what is being called the “final remedy,” is addressing chemical contamination in most of the ponds and streams on the property in both Hanover and Hanson. Most of the work is being done in Hanover.

“When the facility closed, it was quite apparent that there was a lot of burial and dumping down there,” Marnicio said.

Most of the contamination has been found in Hanover. Hanson’s land is located at the bottom third of the fireworks site around what is known as Factory Pond, was used as a test site and disposal area when the fireworks factory was in operation.

The site is being cleaned up under the Mass. Contingency Plan, which according to Marnicio, is not quite like the federal Superfund program. MCP is voluntary program.

Site assessment has been going on for “quite a few years,” partly because of the size of the site and the impact on soil, sediment and groundwater.

“Originally, our clients [owners of the fireworks property] were paying for all of this, so it was phased to keep the ball moving,” Marnicio said. “But it took a few years to get the whole thing characterized in terms of what was out there and what do you have to do to clean it up.”

The second phase of the MCP process in 2019-2020, drew up options for cleanup efforts and evaluation. In June 2021, the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection approved the remedial action plan, laying out requirements of the cleanup, including how much sediment would have to come out and acceptable levels that could remain.

Because none of the responsible parties own the property

“One of the things that has changed over the last couple of years is the magnitude of the munitions response,” Marnicio said. “[It] has to be completed before the cleanup of the sediment in the ponds.”

The discovery of additional munitions has extended the phase before the final remedy.

That was FitzGerald-Kemmett’s concern. 

“We’ve been pulling things out of there since 2017,” Marnicio said. “These numbers are really kind of staggering — 18,300 items were explosive and were removed and exploded by the Mass. State Police Bomb Squad.”

There was also a lot of inert material, which resembled munition, but would not detonate. Still, Marnicio said it was “not a good thing to have in a public property.” More than 10,000 tons of contaminated soil has been shipped off the site. The cleanup in the upper portion of the property is about 75 percent done.

 “We believe when the place closed down, they bulldozed a lot of things into [Factory] pond,” he said, noting that a copper dam will be installed on the outside of an upper area of the pond to bring water level down and remove contaminants in dry conditions.

Final remedy is designed to remove mercury and lead from the sediment in ponds. Estimated cost of Phase 3 is between $64.7 and $95.1 million. State figures the cost as being between $72.6 and $106.5 million.

“This is not going to cost the taxpayers in either town any money, I’m assuming,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “And I’m assuming … ‘the potentially responsible parties’ will be paying, or who will be footing the bill for this massive cleanup?”

Marnicio said the potentially responsible parties were paying for it, the trust fund set up when one party went bankrupt has been paying for all the munitions response work and some of the characterization work.

MassDEP and the Department of Defense have been working on a consent decree to figure out who pays after the trust is depleted. 

FitzGerald-Kemmett said the town does not have the money to do so and did not contribute to the problem, and should not be expected to pay any costs.

After digging

“After we dig, there’s always been the question of to what degree do we need to put material back in,” Marnicio said. “Do we need to restore wetlands?”

Exposing material that had been underwater also triggers more regulation and they have to work with private citizens who own property along the Hanson portion of the property.

“I am really shocked at the thought of draining such an important little ecosystem,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “We all know restoration, once those things go backwards, it’s hard to restore them … only time does that, with the right conditions.”

Marincio said most of the area has contamination within the top six inches of the sediment.

She asked what would happen if a resident did not give permission for remediation on their property.

“I honestly don’t know how that would be handled,” Marnicio said.

Health Agent Gil Amado noted that everything has to be approved by DEP.

“The balance is you destroy it to save it,” Marnicio said. “There are requirements to re-establish wetlands and there are multiple-year monitoring that the restoration requires. It is risky, but that’s part of the plan, to put things back.”

He said groundwater was something that’s been measured since the ’90s.

“Fortunately, groundwater has not been a concern,” Marnicio said.

FitzGerald-Kemmett also spoke to the groundwater contamination and long-range health concerns residents have been speaking about and posting on social media.

“That kind of problem depends on your exposure over time,” he said. “I don’t think there’s been an increase in contamination.”

As they do the munitions removal they are cleaning soil cleanup goals for the final remedy, Marnicio said.

He also spoke to Select Board concerns about air-quality during the soil and sediment removal.

“What we’re most watching is particulates,” Marnicio said, noting that wind-direction is constantly monitored to make sure they are not going off-site. Work is stopped with air quality monitors sound alarms.

“Truck traffic on-site when it’s very dry will beep,” he said. “We determine what the cause is, [and] if we can determine that cause right away we can try to fix it or use water sprays.”

While it’s never happened yet, if the cause can’t be found, work will stop until it is found and addressed.

“There needs to be some robust communication,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. Marincio said Hanover’s website tracks needed information and makes it available to residents.

Select Board Chair Matt Dyer said he would prefer 24-hour monitoring of the ponds to the continuous monitoring being planned once digging begins.

During the second year of the work the wetlands will be allowed to fill back up and close the dam down. Hanson areas are relatively shallow with a limited amount of sediment needed to be removed.

Moving a memorial

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Many traditions around the world — perhaps most notably Mexico’s Día de Muertos — hold that, so long as a person is remembered, they live on.

With such thought in mind, the W-H School Committee is supporting an effort to move a memorial stone from the former Maquan School to Indian Head Elementary.

The School Committee had received a request from state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, through Hanson Town Administrator Lisa Green, to move a memorial stone placed at Maquan School in 1977 to honor the memory of Ruth Masters, a teacher at the school who was murdered in Miles Standish State Park while riding her bicycle.

Since Maquan School has closed, Cutler noted, the stone is now almost completely hidden from view.

“I believe it should be moved to a location more fitting, perhaps Indian Head,” he wrote.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said he had no issues with moving the stone, but wanted to first run it by the committee.

“You don’t usually move memorials and that building is no longer ours,” he said. “I want to keep to the memory of Ms. Masters, but before we put anything on school grounds — or move it — I just wanted the board’s thoughts.”

School Committee member Beth Stafford, a retired teacher, asked to add a little to the story.

“Ruth and I were team teachers at Maquan and we taught fourth grade together,” she said. “I was out on maternity leave when this happened. Ruth and her daughter would stop by just about every Friday afternoon to see us and she had told us she wouldn’t be stopping by [that day] because they were going on a family outing at Miles Standish.”

Stafford received a phone call that weekend that they had found Masters’ body. Eric Anderson, who had already been serving a 20-year sentence for attacking a woman in Maine was convicted of Masters’ murder in 2003 when he was 76. He died in prison in 2016.

“It was really tough on the kids, because they had a little long-term sub for me at the time and now she was gone,” Stafford recalled. “The kids all thought that I died, too, because I wasn’t there.”

“Oh, my goodness,” Committee Chairman Christopher Howard said.

The principal had asked Stafford to come in to the school and show the kids that she was all right.

“Ruth was a very kind, quiet person,” she said. “The memorial was set up a little after all the ceremonies and everything. I’m really happy to know that the memorial will be kept somewhere safe and the elementary school would be appropriate because she taught fourth grade.”

Howard said with time, people forget.

“I think with some of the memorials, sometimes the story gets lost because it’s a stone,” Howard said. He and fellow Hanson Committee member Mike Jones both attended school at Maquan and said they were not even aware the stone was there.

“Maybe within the school, there’s a way to explain what the stone represents and who it represents and the story behind it,” he said. “Then you remember the person for who they were and not just what happened to them.”

Szymaniak recalled that when last year’s WHRHS graduation on the football field was postponed because of thunder storms, “people were all over Dr. [Christopher] Jones [the principal] about why it was delayed.

“Someone said do you know where the kids are graduating and who the field’s named after?” he recalled, noting that Coach Dennis M. O’Brien had been struck and killed by lightning on the field.

Committee member Dawn Byers said locating a memorial to a fourth-grade teacher would be meaningful at a school where fourth-grade students are taught.

“It should follow the fourth grade where she taught,” Byers said.

In other business before the School Committee, Szymaniak also thanked residents for supporting the district budget at town meetings.

“I can’t say thank you enough to the taxpayers of both communities [for] supporting the regional school district in their capital items and in the district budget,” Szymaniak said. “We will be working hard to make sure we are working efficiently and effectively, but putting our students and our faculty forward in the next fiscal year.”

He also thanked the School Committee for staying forward-thinking in the budget process a win for the district and students.