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Clancy sworn in as Whitman fire chief

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WHITMAN — Change came in twos during the Tuesday, July 6 Board of Selectmen’s meeting — new Fire Chief Timothy Clancy was sworn and former Whitman Middle School teacher and mmber of both the School Committee and Board Selectman, Beth Stafford, was chosen to fill a School Committee vacancy.

Clancy’s badge-pinning ceremony was held in the Town Hall auditorium before the Selectmen, in a joint meeting with Whitman School Committee members, interviewed six applicants interested in filling the vacancy left by Dan Cullity’s resignation last month.

Firefighters and their families filled the hall to watch the brief ceremony during which Town Clerk Dawn Varley administered the oath and Clancy’s wife Danielle and daughter Kiley pinned on his new badge.

“[I’m] very proud to be standing here with you, we’ve worked together for a long, long time,” Varley said before swearing in Chief Clancy.

He declined shouts requesting that he make a speech.

“We’re about to go into a number of years with another Tim,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski after announcing that Clancy and the board had agreed to and signed a contract with Clancy during an executive session before the ceremony. “We have to find a fourth Tim at some point — that’ll be a job for the next number of years.”

Clancy follows Timothy Travers and Timothy Grenno as Whitman’s Fire Chief.

School Committee hopefuls were then interviewed in alphabetical order — Heather Clough, Shawn Kain, Sandra Masison, Beth Stafford, Ryna Tressel and Robert Trotta — before all six names were placed in nomination together and voted upon until one candidate received six of the 10 votes of the joint meeting. Stafford received that margin on the second ballot.

The complete interviews will be rebroadcast on W-H Community Access TV and posted on the WHCA YouTube channel.

Like Stafford, Trotta is a former educator and town official, having served 12 years on the School Committee. Kain is a teacher at an alternative high school who has been active in town financial discussions. Both Cough and Masaison — a businsessperson with two children, one of whom is special needs — are parents of children with special needs who attend W-H schools, and Clough ran on this year’s town ballot, coming within eight votes of winning a seat on the School Committee. Tressel works with the PCC program, a residential summer program for students in grades seven to 10 at Stonehill College and has worked at WHRHS in the past.

All but Trotta expressed a willingness to run for the seat at next year’s Town Election. His interest was in serving on a temporary basis until next year’s election.

Stafford said the number of applicants and the need for some of them to alter vacation plans to take part in the process speaks well for the town.

“I give great respect to everybody here,” she said after the vote, encouraging her competitors to “call me up and tell me what you need and I will do the best of my ability” to help with their concerns.

“I’ve always been interested in education,” Stafford said. “I feel I am the best candidate because of my past experience being on the School Committee [and having been] a Selectman. I have the fiscal side of me … working for the town for six years — a couple as chair — and being on the School Committee as vice chair.”

School Committee member Fred Small and Selectman Randy LaMattina focused on budget process in their questions to all candidates, which required Clough to be brought back for LaMattina’s question — when he had to draft a new one after Small covered his issue.

Stafford said keeping the community informed and balancing educational and town needs are among the key factors in the budget process.

“We need to be … more collaborative, right from the get-go, right from the start,” she said to LaMattina about how the town and schools can streamline the budget process.

School Committee member Dawn Byers asked about the candidates understanding and approach to the regional funding formula, and how corrections can be made while bringing perpetual investment in education back in line with the state average.

“I would be talking to the reps and state senators and try to see what’s going on, where are they and what can they do for us,” Stafford said. “We’re not getting the funding we need.”

School panel member Christopher Scriven asked each candidate what the high and low points of their committee work has been in the past. Member Steve Bois asked where they would improve themselves and David Forth asked what School Committee votes each candidate have and have not supported.

“I’ve been on both sides,” Stafford said in response to Scriven’s question. “I’ve been management — being Selectmen, being School Committee — but I’ve also been the employee.”

She told Forth that she was not happy with the cutting of full-day kindergarten from the budget, a position on which all six candidates agreed. She said the work done to help the district get through COVID was impressive.

“All of you on the School Committee have done a great job [in] a tough time,” she said. “A lot of difficult decisions have had to be made. … I thought the votes taken having to do with COVID were very well done.”

She said that despite occasional difficult issues that have cropped up in those roles, she enjoyed the work.

Selectman Dan Salvucci asked if they planned to run for re-election and why they were the best candidate, yielding a good-natured ribbing from Kowalski who cautioned each candidate that Salvucci would be repeating his question.

“I wanted to get back into education and working with the town again,” Stafford said. She also said she does see a need to abstain from negotiations votes on the committee because, as a retired teacher, she gets health benefits through the district.

Selectman Justin Evans asked for the applicants’ priorities among a list recently discussed by the School Committee as part of its summer strategy sessions. Like most applicants, Stafford pointed to early childhood education, as well as related arts and facility needs — pointing to her experience working in WMS, a school with repair needs.

Selectman Brian Bezanson asked their opinions on recent media debate over critical race theory.

Stafford, like Tressel in pointing out that concern about critical race theory is largely a product of misinformation, because it is not taught in K-12 schools. Other applicants pointed to a need for letting history teachers do the job of teaching an accurate portrayal of history.

“It’s taught in college, or if you are going to be a lawyer,” she said. “You really need to start with the basics of making everyone understand that teachers are not … teaching that. … If it comes, we have to so a lot of critical thinking of ourselves, and what we want. I have concerns about how it would be introduced at the different [grade] levels.

“It’s not blanking out history, it’s adding to history,” she said.

July 4th in Park returns

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WHITMAN — After a year of social distancing and limiting association with people outside of immediate households, Americans are sufficiently vaccinated to permit a return to traditional Fourth of July plans this year.

As 2021 began, however, that was not a given, said Recreation Commission member Michelle LaMattina.

“Kathleen Woodward is the new Recreation director and we’re trying to get things back on track after COVID last year,” she said.

On Sunday, July 4, the town’s traditional Independence Day celebration will take place in Whitman Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

From carriage and biycle parades to field games and races, music, activities — including those planned by the Whitman Public Library, inflatable games and more. Boy Scout troop/Pack 22 and Sweetie’s Shaved Ice will be selling food and the town pool (for Whitman residents only) will be open until 1 p.m. See graphic on page 3 for full schedule.

LaMattina said that once the Board of Health gave its approval for a July 4 program, the committee knew they were up against the clock.

“But I think the Fourth of July is something that everybody in town loves and it would be missed if we don’t do it,” she said. “We put it together as quick as we could.”

She said next year, the committee may try to make it bigger and better, but for now, just continuing the tradition is meaningful.

“The Recreation Department is active and we’re trying to keep things moving forward,” she said.

Residents will also be able to sign up for the remaining camp openings at the event.

LaMattina said there may have been disappointment at the cancellation last year, but suggested that people recognized it as a reality of the times.

“We’re hoping for a good crowd and [that] people are back and excited to go,” she said. She said the outdoor event may help some residents feel more comfortable attending.

Sponsors include Whitman Police and Fire departments, DPW, Recreation Department, Library, Scout Troop 22 and Sweetie’s Shaved Ice.

Grade eight dance

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Paparazzi  parents, family and friends gathered to photograph the special night for the  eighth-graders on the Hanson Town Green before their year-end dance and dinner at Somewhere Else Tavern, in Bryantville on June 17. See more photos, page 6.

School panel begins strategic planning

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The School Committee met to discuss strategic plan working groups at its Wednesday, June 23 meeting.

“Basically, we’re just going to go around, one-by-one and we’re going to share some ideas,” said Chairman Christopher Howard. “These ideas are meant to be broad areas of focus … we’ll come back [this] week, after we’ve let those ideas soak in and everybody’s had the opportunity to think about that.”

The goal is to ultimately vote on some of the ideas on a rank-choice basis to narrow the list to three ideas, which would be discussed over the summer — through to mid-August — doing a “deep dive.”

Mike Jones, who was away with his family, and Fred Small, who was seeing to a personal family matter, did not attend the meeting.

Steve Bois kicked things off by suggesting “lets get things done that we want to get done,” specifically full-day kindergarten and a return of foreign languages to middle school curricula, if not the elementary grades, as well.

“If this is what’s working for other districts — for places across the country — let’s just do it,” Bois said, noting he has always considered Massachusetts schools to be among, if not the nation’s best. “It’s probably not only to our benefit, but obviously, to the kids’ benefit.”

Michelle Bourgelas agreed with Bois on the language issue, noting that high school students have had the option of taking AP Spanish and earning the opportunity to pass on taking a language requirement in college. Because middle schoolers do not now take a language, the AP option is not available in high school so they will have to take language requirements in college.

Tracking student achievement in elementary grades is important, said Hillary Kniffen, but she asked what is being done to track it in grades six through 12.

Dawn Byers spoke of the need to analyze and address the funding decline, which began in 2009 during the Great Recession.

“My big-picture is district-wide, and it ties into kindergarten, but it’s combining grade levels,” she said. “My thought process is, it helps with equitable class sizes, if you combine all second-graders in Whitman, perhaps, in one school … it allows the teachers to collaborate and evens out the class sizes.”

She said she hoped the list would not be shelved until next year once a particular goal is selected as the primary goal for the year.

“It is going to be a multi-year plan,” Howard said.

Christopher Scriven said his decision behind his running for a seat on the School Committee, to begin with, was to affect change on the culture of the district.

“There’s been a lot going on, so I haven’t pushed hard for that, but I’ve been around long enough — I’ve worked in the district, I’ve seen enough things where … I think we could do better in areas, particularly the ‘average kid,’” Scriven said, stressing he is a “big fan of W-H.”

He said the emphasis on deliverables makes it hard to measure, but he wants kids to feel comfortable in school.

Dan Cullity said all-day kindergarten must be done. W-H is one of only about a dozen districts in the state to not have a full-day kindergarten program, as many districts that do are already shifting attention to full-day pre-K.

“We already missed the boat on that,” he said. “It’s going to be forced down our throats.”

David Forth suggested modernizing tech infrastructure as well as expansion to foreign language to the elementary level.

Small submitted written ideas pointing to full-day kindergarten as a primary goal, and Jones advocated for a deeper dive into facilities and capital goals. Howard, too advocated for early childhood education.

The full discussion can be streamed on the WHCA-TV YouTube channel.

Other ideas mentioned included social-emotional needs of children, uniform start time appropriate for all students, possible class size caps and early college credit classes targeting first-generation college students.

Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Szymaniak said the leadership team’s goals included continuing with the one-to-one technology initiative, a robust K-8 arts program — which could include languages and/or a life-skills program.

“If we’re doing what’s best for kids, then what do they need?” Assistant Superintendent George Ferro said of an arts/life skills program. “I could contend that I would rather take coding than Spanish, because I’ll take Spanish when I get to college. … What do we owe students in this time frame to make them successful for all aspects of their life?”

Howard said students may not be excited about learning the material needed to pass an MCAS test, but they want to learn.

Spring Street plan reviewed

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HANSON — Conflict of interest concerns were among the issues surrounding a proposed 40B development, which the Board of Selectmen discussed on Tuesday, June 29 during a review of the MassHousing determination of project eligibility for the Cushing Trails development off of Spring Street.

“The elephant in the room is that the chair of the Zoning Board is also the developer of this and there have been constituents that have raised concern about other members of the board being closely tied to this,” Selectman Joe Weeks said. “To not address that is a little naïve, so I think we have to find a way to have a joint meeting.”

Michael O’Shaughnessy, representing ZBA Chairman William Cushing who is also the project developer, said Cushing is going to recuse himself from the decision to the point where “I don’t expect he’s going to be at any of the hearings.”

Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett said that, since the ZBA is an appointed board — with an appointment slated for the same agenda — she expects them to “exercise their duties with as much impartiality as possible.” She also said she expected Cushing to recuse, but that other members of the ZBA, who have professional relationships with Cushing will still be participating in the meeting.

Selectmen Chairman Matt Dyer also suggested that ZBA members call the Mass. Ethics line to get an opinion on the issue and that the town clerk be consulted to determine that the proper ethics paperwork had been filed.

“It’s not unusual for a developer to be a member of a local board, either,” said O’Shaughnessy. “It happens in every town.”

He said the MassHousing letter is the first step to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals. The state agency has asked the developer to address Selectmen’s concerns submitted during the commentary phase.

One was the board’s request that some units be designated as handicapped-accessible.

“The developer is going to work with whoever has a specific need for an ADA unit … to make sure the unit functions for him or her, and we’ll meet their needs,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Generally, just getting into the unit is the issue.”

Grades and ramps are usually the bigger issues, with interior adjustments such as larger doors and hallways also being accommodated.

FitzGerald-Kemmett asked at what point the work would be done and whether the ADA accommodation would be advertised.

“We’re happy to work with your Housing Authority if that’s the best way to make this known,” O’Shaughnessy said. “We’re willing to work with people to accommodate their needs, but we’re not advertising specifically as ADA.”

Selectmen also requested that the developer be more responsive to the local housing needs as identified in its approved 2019 Housing Production Plan, and designate a larger number of three-bedroom units as affordable.

“It kind of ran the gamut as to what your needs are,” O’Shaughnessy said of the town’s plan. “We were focused on providing two-bedroom units and the thought was … some people want to downsize and that’s why we’re pushing the two-bedroom units.”

State and local housing agencies have an agreement that 10 percent of units built must be three-bedroom units and that more were included in the proposal than originally planned because of the Selectmen’s request.

Traffic volume and safety concerns were among the most notable objections to the proposal from Spring Street residents and town officials. O’Shaughnessy said a traffic impact study was filed with the ZBA on Monday, June 28, which he said seems to indicate there will be no impact.

“But it’s a public document,” he said.

Recreational elements the Selectmen requested has been discussed.

“I don’t want to say no and I don’t want to say yes,” O’Shaughnessy said. “I’d like to address that with the ZBA as the permit process goes forward.”

“It seems that quite a few of these things are going to be deferred to the ZBA,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “I understand it’s under their jurisdiction, but yet I’m feeling as though we’re not going to have that opportunity to speak to ZBA, so I’m wondering if we could contemplate how we could open up that line of communication with ZBA to make sure our needs and the things we’ve heard from our constituents are being contemplated by the ZBA.”

Dyer suggested a joint meeting with the ZBA. FitzGerald-Kemmett also suggested an independent review might be advisable, especially of the traffic study.

O’Shaughnessy said the ZBA’s comment period, including an opportunity for the Selectmen to express concerns, would provide such opportunities. He said the ZBA hires its own consultant to review traffic impacts.

The developer has consulted with the Water Commissioners, as they were asked to do on the potential to make some improvements to the water line on Spring Street and is waiting to hear back. Drainage concerns regarding drainage impact on abutting properties have met town regulations, O’Shaughnessy said, but stressed he was not involved in that phase of the planning.

A sidewalk on one side of the street plan has also been eliminated to control drainage problems.

Weeks, who chaired the Planning Board when the Cushing proposal was introduced for eight houses, said it was not approved at that point because of water access issues and asked if they had documentation of the Water Commission saying that is no longer an issue. He said storm water management was also an issue with eight units and asked how it could be less of one with 40 units.

O’Shaughnessy said that discussion centered on replacing the line on Spring Street and not tying into the abutting street, but leaving it dead-ended for installing hydrants.

At the applicant’s expense a water line would be installed from Spring Street to the project, where there is currently no line.

O’Shaughnessy said reduction of impervious pavement and handling of all storm water on site should resolve the issue via above ground retention basin, the infiltration system will be below ground.

“Are there plans to have a collegial conversation with the abutters to try to speak to them about what their concerns may be before you go full-bore into it,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.

“We’re happy to talk, and we’ll see if we can resolve the problem,” O’Shaughnessy said. “If we don’t know about it, we can’t do it.”

Selectman Jim Hickey said, while his knowledge of the drainage issue is limited, the idea of removing one of two planned sidewalks to improve drainage posed the question of why.

“Water runoff would be more of a concern if there was sidewalks on both sides,” he asked. “I’m glad I asked you this question now and not in the hallway [as O’Shaughnessy had suggested residents could do if they didn’t wish to speak in a meeting], because that makes absolutely no sense to me.”

State’s police reform enacted

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HANSON — The town’s Police Department has seen many changes in the past year and a half, according to Police Chief Michael Miksch in his quarterly report to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, June 15.

Many of those changes are due to the passage of the Police Reform Act, some of which was passed as emergency legislation.

“The governor signed it and they expected us to have everything done the next day,” Miksch said. “That was impossible. Some of them are being implemented in, but one of the first things that needed to be taken care of was a re-do and review of our Use of Force policy.”

Miksch said the effect of that provision wasn’t that bad for Hanson because the department had an up-to-date policy, meaning only minor changes were needed.

“I never thought I’d have to put into a policy that you can’t choke somebody, but I did,” he said. “I thought it was common sense — something that people should understand in Massachusetts. None of us had been trained that way.”

He said in the more than 26 years he has been a police officer that — choke holds, carotid artery holds — has never been taught to us,” Miksch said. “So, we never said, ‘Don’t do it,’ because you were never taught to do it in the beginning.”

The policy was updated in any case, with Lt. Mike Casey doing a lot of that work.

Grants made available to departments across the country through an executive order by President Biden also carried requirements for certain terms of service and policies, one of which governed use of force. The department had to undergo a state accreditation process to prove they had made such policy revisions.

The department received a letter on June 14 that its use of force policy met both federal and state standards. Miksch said his department also incorporates the policy in training between two and four times a year.

Officers will also need to be certified under the reform act. One effect of the requirement has Miksch busy with administrative tasks and he foresees some budgetary impact in future years, but for now the department is in good financial shape.

Personnel changes have also been dealt with and he thanked the town for approving the override to save officers’ jobs.

“We went to regional dispatch a year ago — last June,” he said. “With that, I lost three very dedicated civilian employees who, I’m very happy to say, have actually found other jobs and are working.”

One was moved to serve as Miksch’s administrative assistant and another was transferred to the police academy.

Sgt. Gene Andrews hired just before COVID hit last year, retired after more than 30 years on the department.

“Normally, we’d bring those people in with their families and thank them and bring in the new officers and swear them in,” Miksch said. “When Sgt. Andrews retired, it opened up a promotion and I was very proud to promote Jared Meegan as sergeant who, of course, is banished to midnights where all new sergeants go.”

Four new officers were hired in order to keep the station open after the civilian dispatchers were let go to regionalize that operation. Officers Corey Arsenault and Mario Thompson, who were present or former part-time officers in Hanson as well as Bobby Mansfield, from Oak Bluffs Police and Rick Bekerian from Hopedale were also hired. Officer Chris Dominguez left the department when he was offered a better salary from Braintree.

“Internally, there’s been a lot of changes,” Miksch said. “There’s been a lot of adapting, but overall, it’s going well.”

On a somewhat humorous note, Miksch said a lock is being installed on the door to the police station for the first time ever.

“There is no lock,” he said. “[It’s a] good and a bad thing. We never needed it — there was always somebody there to say, ‘Hi!’ We plan on keeping someone there to say, ‘Hi!’ but unfortunately, because of the nature of operations within the department, there’s a desk officer when you walk in, now.”

Closing books on fiscal 2021

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WHITMAN — Selectmen approved line item transfers Tuesday, June 22 to close the books on the fiscal 2021 budget.

Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman said the fiscal 2021 budget, which closes on June 30, is balanced overall as revenues exceed expenditures as approved at the 2020 Town Meeting. The transfers for the individual line items before the board have, or are projected to have, deficiencies at the end of the fiscal year.

“Moving monies between line items in the last two months of the fiscal year or the first 15 days of the new fiscal year upcoming are allowed with the approval of the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee,” Heineman said.

The transfers were:

• $1,500 from tax title line to the clerical/collector line to accommodate personnel and outsourcing changes in that office including overtime to handle a backlog of work to finish the fiscal year;

• $5,000 from to the legal line from claims deductible/expenses to handle possible overage in legal services;

• $7,000 to ambulance repairs/maintenance from the Norfolk County Agricultural High School tuition line to pay for unforeseen  ambulance repairs;

• $7,000 to ambulance billing from the Norfolk County Agricultural High School tuition line to pay the billing company;

• Three transfers to auto expense and inspectional services — $500 from building inspector/zoning enforcement, $1,000 from assistant building inspector salary and $1,200 from expense/wire inspector — to pay for maintenance and routine repairs to the building inspector’s vehicle;

• $74 to recording secretary/DPW from union/labor salaries, DPW to pay for secretarial services for one more DPW meeting that was not budgeted;

• $8,000 to the health inspector line from the Visiting Nurses line to fund overlap between the former health inspector to the new one and CARES Act funds are available to cover a lot of Visiting Nurse costs during this fiscal year;

• $4,800 to recreation activities/expense from recreation director salary line to help get the recreation program back on track post-pandemic, especially the July 4 celebration, for which funds were not appropriated, and the park program;

• $2,000 to park programs salaries from the recreation director salary line to supplement programs;

• $5,000 to unemployment compensation from assistant library director line to cover any unanticipated expenses;

• $10,000 to union salaries in the water/sewer labor line from budgeted reserve for water and sewer to cover labor overtime costs involved in repairing last week’s water main break;

• $3,354.93 to water and sewer/gasoline from water and sewer/gas heat to pay for a final delivery of diesel fuel for the fiscal year; and

• $5,542.10 from fiscal 2019 encumbrances for water and sewer to the fiscal 2020 line to pay sewer bill to Brockton.

“There are more than sufficient funds in the Norfolk County Agricultural High School line because the original estimate a year ago of how many students would be attending this school year was lower than what it ended up being,” he said of the ambulance-related transfers.

Selectman Justin Evans asked if some of the expenses were eligible for CARES Act funding, especially ambulance costs. But Heineman said billing issues were not applicable because an increase in ambulance runs were related to emerging from the effects of COVID and the repairs were to the non-COVID ambulance.

Heineman reminded residents interested in serving on the School Committee that letters of interest and résumés are due by Tuesday, June 29 to his email lheineman@whitman-ma.gov.

Selectmen voted to appoint School Committee member Fred Small to the Capital Committee through June 30, 2024, as well as appointing the following persons to fill existing vacancies, some of which had been inadvertently omitted from a previous agenda:

• Chris DiOrio to the By-law Study Committee (member), through June 30, 2022;

• Jake Dodge to the Conservation Commission (member), through June 30, 2022

• Brandon Griffin to the Board of Appeals (associate member), through June 30, 2022;

•Bryan Skuderin to the Conservation Commission (alternate), through June 30, 2024

• William Haran to the Cultural Council (member), through June 30, 2023

• Julia Nanigian to the Cultural Council (member), through June 30, 2024

• Tina Vassil to the Cultural Council (member), through June 30, 2024.

Selectmen accepted the resignations of Wayne Carroll Jr., (effective June 8) and James Cranshaw (effective June 10) from their positions as auxiliary/special police officers as well as the resignation of Norma Gardner (effective June 7) from the position of member of the Historical Commission.

The board voted to appoint Daniel Kelly to the position of special police officer through June 30, 2022 and to appoint Adam Kosterman to the position of auxiliary/special police officer through June 30, 2022.

Selectmen also voted to permit Richard Rosen to conduct the 11th annual McGuiggan’s Pub 5K Road Race on Sunday, Sept. 26, to close off Legion Parkway from noon to 5 p.m., and for a one-day liquor license to serve from a tent at 16 Legion Parkway.

Two facing drug charges

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BRIDGEWATER — The W.E.B. Major Crimes and Drug Task Force, consisting of the Whitman, West Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Bridgewater and Bridgewater State University Police Departments, reports that two men were arrested on multiple drug charges this week.

Marlon Teixeira, 31, of Bridgewater, was charged with: Trafficking Fentanyl Over 200 grams; Trafficking Cocaine Over 100 grams; Trafficking Percocet; Unlawful Possession of a Firearm; Unlawful Possession of Ammunition. Additionally, Djestiny Andrade-Fonseca, 20, Brockton, was charged with:  Unlawful Distribution of a Class A Drug (Fentanyl) and Unlawful Distribution of a Class A Drug (Fentanyl).

As a result of the investigation, the State Police assigned to the Plymouth County DA’s office Narcotics Unit sought and obtained a search warrant for an apartment on High Street in Bridgewater (Teixeira’s residence). The warrant was executed on Sunday, June 13.
Teixeira was located in a camper in the rear of the property. State Police found approximately one kilogram of fentanyl inside the camper and a 9mm Glock firearm with a high-capacity magazine. State Police also seized an additional 523 grams of fentanyl, 249 grams of Percocet, 125 grams of cocaine and $142,193 in cash.
As a result, Teixeira was placed under arrest and arraigned in Brockton District Court Monday, June 21.

During the investigation, Andrade-Fonseca was also located inside the camper and was identified as an alleged runner for Teixeira. He will be arraigned in Brockton District Court at a later date.

“These arrests were the result of several weeks of investigation on behalf of multiple local and state agencies, and we are fortunate to have been able to take large quantities of drugs off the streets without incident,” East Bridgewater Police Chief Paul O’Brien said.

The investigation is ongoing.

These are allegations. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

They also serve…

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WHITMAN — Pat Tibaudo is not always recognized as a veteran — sometimes even overlooked as such while volunteering during DAV Poppy sales or marching in parades in a VFW uniform. It’s a reason she has a “Woman Veteran” bumper sticker on her car.

It’s not a unique situation, VFW Director of National Security and Foreign Affairs Sarah Maples wrote in an essay in The Atlantic magazine in November 2017.

“Without the uniform, there is no outward indication that these women are veterans, Maples wrote. “Women are often denied recognition for their military accomplishments.”

Far from seeking glory for her own service, Tibaudo is, however, determined that women veterans receive due respect.

She is a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve, deployed to war zones three times, including to Spain in a storekeeper unit in the Supply Support Battalion from 1990-91 during Desert Storm (she also was assigned brief excursions into Kuwait). She was deployed to Iraq in 2006 and in Afghanistan detached to an Army unit as an individual augmentee in charge of training local troops and overseeing a women’s barracks — among a few other jobs — and has served as the first, and so far the only, female commander of the Whitman VFW.

She is currently an adjutant with the Whitman post, joining the organization in 1995.

“I volunteered when they needed people for bingo, when they needed people for color guard,” she said.

The Whitman VFW Color Guard ended up being the state color guard as well as the local unit.

“Every weekend I was marching for something,” she said.

Tibaudo said she stays with the post because there are not enough veterans joining and helping with volunteer projects, such as the Voice of Democracy, right now.

“I just have a good feeling every time I’m doing something,” she said.

Tibaudo is in charge of the  Whitman VFW’s annual Christmas party for Brockton VA patients and volunteers to pack food for veterans at Patriot Place.

She says there is nothing she would do differently, if she had the chance.

“I have no regrets,” she said. “The men are so used to having women now in the military, that it’s no big deal. … We watch each others’ backs, that’s what it comes down to. We’re there for one purpose — the mission.”

Being overlooked is mostly a civilian blindspot.

She relates a story of a time when, wearing a Navy veteran cap, a woman asked who she borrowed it from, assuming the answer would be a husband or male relative.

“I said, ‘It’s mine,’” she recalled. “How many times have people, even in my uniform, have pushed me to the side and thanked the guys?”

Such difficulties with the veterans’ community are rare, Tibaudo stressed, but they do happen. When she returned from Afghanistan, she was awaiting surgery in Virginia and went to a local VFW with a friend and were kicked out.

“I don’t know if they didn’t believe me or not, but I had to leave,” she recalled. “I showed them my regular military ID.”

But, while that can be frustrating, the Avon native, who now lives in Norwood, always had an interest in serving. Her brother was in the Army. While he was at first adamant that she not join the military, he later changed his mind.

“In the end, he ended up being my biggest supporter,” she said. “It’s my way of giving back.”

She was initially drawn to the Navy Reserves in 1979, giving thought to transferring to the Army after her second deployment, but stayed with the Navy, even as she was attached to an Army unit in Afghanistan a “Sand Squid,” as Army personnel called her. She retired from the Navy as a chief. She was working in civilian life as a storekeeper so the Navy assigned her to supply, later called logistics.

During her military career, Tibaudo earned certification for driving an explosives forklift so she could transport ordnance as  supply personnel. She also drove and up-armored Humvee as a lead convoy driver in Iraq on occasion.

“The guys requested me [as a driver], because — one thing about a Humvee, if you take too sharp a turn, it tips over — if you tipped over the gunner’s gone,” she said. “To me, that was precious cargo I was carrying.”

When she joined, she had been divorced with two young children and said the Navy Reserves never saw her status as a single parent a deterrent.

“I just had to make sure that I had somebody, in case I got deployed, that would be responsible for them,” she said.

She has definitely traveled a lot of the globe in 30 years.

“I was one of the lucky ones, I came home,” Tibaudo said, becoming quiet-spoken, as she demurred from going into in detail about her military experiences beyond general job descriptions. “When you sign that piece of paper …” she said, her voice trailing off. She retired from the Navy Reserves in 2010.

She still worked her civilian job as a nursing assistant for the cardiac floor at Brockton Hospital, where she worked for 25 years.

Meeting outlines vote process

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WHITMAN — A joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the remaining Whitman School Committee members was held on Tuesday, June 15 at which they discussed naming a substitute member for the balance of the school year.

The town has 30 days to make a decision on a replacement member. Committee member Dan Cullity’s resignation is effective June 30.

“Basically it’s among us to make a decision,” said Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski, noting that he, School Committee Chairman Christopher Howard, Town Administrator Lincoln Heineman and Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak held a preliminary discussion via Zoom last week.

Three people have already stepped forward to express interest in serving, they and any other interested residents are being asked to submit a letter of interest via to Heineman email [lheineman@whitman-ma.gov] and résumé by June 29 for interviews at a Tuesday, July 6 meeting. Selectmen expect to make a decision at that time, after all names are placed in nomination with votes cast until one reaches the required six-vote majority.

Much of the discussion centered on the question of how candidates are chosen, Kowalski said, noting that while the regional agreement makes clear who makes the decision, but not how.

Kowalski said town counsel has provided the opinion that a majority of those entitled to choose is needed, but if some members do not attend the voting meeting, town counsel opined a majority attending and not having a conflict of interest would be needed.

School Committee member Steve Bois said because there are 10 votes to be cast, a solid decision needed be made now to decide the issue.

“We’re going to have to be solid on the ground rules,” he said.

Committee members concurred with the town counsel’s opinion on the vote threshold, but member Dawn Byers expressed concern with the potential of people being absent.

Kowalski agreed, saying it might be preferred that all members of the two board commit to attend, to know that six votes will decide it.

The procedure was initially intended to nominated people one at a time until one garners six votes.

“There will be no ranked-choice voting,” Kowalski said.

But Selectman Dan Salvucci and Bois advocated a roster of all candidates to be voted on at one time. Kowalski indicated town counsel did not recommend that, but that is the route the panels settled on, although Town Counsel’s letter to Selectmen reinforced Kowalski’s explanation.

“I recommend treating this like a standard board action,” town counsel’s letter read, advocating nominations of one person at a time.

Selectman Brian Bezanson disagreed with the opinion because it does not seem transparent.

“This does not appear to be a transparent process, and I believe we need to have all nominations come before us and if there is a second [nominee] I think everyone should be considered,” Bezanson said, noting that while he appreciated the town attorney’s work, he disagreed. “This appearance of the way this is done smacks of a backroom deal to me — that somebody’s predetermined that they’re going to get this spot.”

Kowalski vigorously disagreed.

“There’s something to what you say, but it has noting to do with backroom deals and transparency,” Kowalski said. “We’re in a room right now, discussing a process, and I don’t know how much more open you can be. … I think we’re being quite transparent.”

School Committee member Christopher Scriven said the letter needed to clarified in terms of process.

Salvucci suggested all names be put in nomination for a vote, as had been done with a DPW vacancy. Selectman Justin Evans agreed, noting that it may take more than one round of votes, as has happed with a recent Library Trustees vote, as well.