Plympton-Halifax Express

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What happens when you dial 9-1-1?

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Linda Redding
Special to the Express

On Oct. 5, the Halifax TRIAD held the first in-person meeting since the pandemic closed public appearances in March of 2020. TRIAD is a partnership between local and regional groups to help inform and educate senior cittizens.  Meetings take place the first Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. and usually take place at the Halifax Police Station.

For the October meeting, participants gathered in the Great Room of the Halifax Town Hall to hear a presentation by Director Michael Mahoney and the education team of the Regional Old Colony Communication Center (ROCCC) where emergency calls from Halifax and Plympton are answered and dispatched.

Halifax TRIAD president Ken Vinton noted  that the location of the call center in Duxbury, questions on response time, and why the change of location took place are all areas of concern for the seniors.

The team from ROCCC responded to the concerns,  provided an overview of the center, and explained what happens when a 911 call is made.

According to Director Mahoney, the trend across the state is for towns to move away from public safety answering point at the town level and join together in regional 911 communication centers.  The State provides grant incentives for the latest technology and to help fund staff providing a cost savings to member towns. There are between seven to ten  dispatchers per shift every day all day and night on duty to answer calls.

Staff members go through rigorous training and frequent professional development. programs  Calls can come in from land lines, cell phones, and text.  For the 2022 Fiscal Year  ROCCC is receiving more than $2 million in grant funding.

ROCCC is the fastest growing regional communication center in Massachusetts.  It now serves more than 59,000 residents from the six member towns with room to grow to 100,000.  It was the first call center in Massachusetts to be able to receive text requests and was the first outside of Boston to take direct cell phone calls. In addition to Halifax and Plympton other member towns are Duxbury, Hanson, Hanover, and Rochester.

ROCCC recently moved into a new state-of-the-art communication center located at the Duxbury Fire Station. Prior the new center addition, ROCCC was located in the fire station attic.  Even though residents of Halifax and Plympton are calling a center located in Duxbury, within 13 seconds help is being dispatched after you dial 9-1-1.

First responders are still local and ready to respond.  Local police, fire, and EMS all serve on ROCCC committees.

When a 9-1-1 emergency call is made, the dispatcher will ask several questions and keep the caller on the line. The ROCCC team noted that even though you are being asked questions help has already been dispatched and is on the way.  The questions provide more information to help the first responders.   Be prepared to verify your location.  State the emergency you are reporting and whether or not it is happening now.  The dispatcher may offer instruction to provide medical help.  Always remain calm and only dial 9-1-1 for emergencies.

For more information on the Regional Old Colony Communication Center (ROCCC) visit them online at https://regionalcomms.wixsite.com/roccc911.

Stop & Shop in Halifax helps fight breast cancer

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Stop & Shop is once again joining the American Cancer Society’s movement to celebrate cancer survivors and thrivers and fund the future to fight this disease.   For more than a decade, Stop & Shop stores through the northeast have had the option of donating $1, $3, or $5 or rounding up their total at the self-checkout with 100% of the donation going to the American Cancer Society.

The campaign has become personal to Stop & Shop, and this year, their in-store campaign signage features their associates telling their breast cancer journeys – some facing the battle personally and others having their families affected by the disease. No matter the story or store, all are committed to the fight.

To bring their in-store fundraising to life, Stop & Shop will be supporting survivors and their local communities by extending their commitment to the Breast Cancer Awareness to all 400+ stores across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Anthony Marino, executive vice-president of the American Cancer Society, said “We are thrilled they have decided to expand their support to the entire footprint, tripling the size of the promotion, representing a hugely exciting opportunity for the American Cancer Society and the patients we serve.   We envision a future where our children will no longer live with the threat of breast cancer, and thanks to partners like Stop & Shop, their passionate associates, and their generous customers, we are continuing to push towards that future.”

Football tops Whitman-Hanson

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Put it down as a comeback for the Silver Lake High football team.

The Lakers trailed for much of the game. It looked like their opponent could shut them out. However, the Lakers played tough defense throughout the contest which kept them in the game. When their offense strung together a couple of positive drives late in the game, the defense continued to hold strong. As a result, the Lakers beat the Whitman-Hanson Panthers 13-6 at home on Friday, October 8. With the win, the Lakers improved to 2-3 on the season. It was their first Patriot League win of the year.

Whitman-Hanson got its first touchdown of the game in the second quarter. It came on a 12-yard rush and put the team up 6-0. Whitman-Hanson attempted a two-point conversion following the touchdown, but it failed. This was Whitman-Hanson’s only touchdown of the game.

The Lakers offense was quiet for much of the game, but the team put up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

The first one came on a four-yard rush from Austin Smith. He was the team’s leading rusher in the win; he ran for 120 yards. The Lakers took a 7-6 lead on the extra point kick from Seth Wakefield. It’s a lead the Lakers never relinquished either. Rather, they extended it. Ryan Carroll would later catch a four-yard touchdown pass from John Dickinson to put the Lakers up 13-6. The Lakers tried to kick an extra point following the touchdown, but it was blocked.

The Lakers shut Whitman-Hanson out offensively in the second half

Coming off a win, the Lakers will face their toughest challenge yet this Friday night. They will host the Duxbury Dragons on Friday, October 15 (7:00 p.m. start time). Duxbury has not lost a Patriot League game since the 2000s.

Autumn Fest brings two parishes together

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Food, fun and fellowship was the theme of the Holy Apostle Parish Autumn Fest held at Our Lady of the Lake in Halifax on Saturday, Sept. 25.

The church officially merged with St. Joseph the Worker in Hanson in February to create Holy Apostles Parish with both churches retaining their names. The Autumn Fest was an opportunity for the parish to join together and celebrate the merger.

For more photos please see pages 6 and 7.

SL football beats Norwood

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Put a win on the board for the Silver Lake High football team.

The Lakers took down the Norwood Mustangs 20-7 at home last Friday night for their first win of the season. The win put them at 1-2 on the season.

Norwood struck first in the game, but the Lakers played tough defense as things progressed and were able to prevent it from happening again. Norwood scored a touchdown in the first quarter and made the extra point to take a 7-0 lead, but the Lakers would go on to score a touchdown in each of the next three quarters; this gave them the points they needed to win the game.

In the second quarter, they got a one-yard touchdown run from John Dickerson. Seth Wakefield’s extra point kick was good, tying the game at seven apiece. In the third quarter, the team got a touchdown in the air. Ryan Carroll caught a 10-yard pass from quarterback Jacob Barnett. Wakefield’s extra point kick was good, putting them up 14-7.

And in the fourth quarter, Barnett took it in himself. He had a 15-yard touchdown run that put the Lakers up 20-7. The Lakers went for two instead of kicking an extra point, but their attempt came up short. Carroll also performed well defensively with three sacks.

Additionally, Austin Smith had 90 yards on the ground for the Lakers.

The win marked the final non-league game of the regular season for the Lakers. Now, they will kick off their Patriot League schedule. Their next game will take place this Thursday, Sept. 30 on the road against the Plymouth North Eagles (7:00 p.m. start time).

‘Dual Use’ solar projects questioned

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Northfield, MA – After months of hearings and deliberations that led to special permits being issued for 10.5 Megawatts and 26,000 solar panels by the Northfield Planning Board, an appeal was filed in Franklin Superior Court in Greenfield asking the Court for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief prohibiting the landowners and developers from taking any action to begin construction of the project.

The plan would span across 124 acres of farmland located in land zoned as Residential Agricultural, all lying outside of the Town’s solar overlay district. The developer is BlueWave Project Development, LLC, with offices in Boston. The landowners and developers proposed the project as “dual-use”, a category of solar project in Massachusetts that maintains its use as agricultural land under the solar panels and is able to get higher ratepayer subsidies. The Massachusetts legislature had to vote to release the properties from a ten-year agricultural covenant so that the solar panels, otherwise not allowed, could be built on the farmland.

“If I had known that the farm fields across from my house would be covered with acres and acres of solar panels, I never would have bought this property,” said Chris Kalinowski, one of the plaintiffs in the complaint. “Now I have to think about my property values and constant noise. And I am really worried about what happens if the lithium batteries leak or catch fire. This whole area is where my well water comes from.” Also listed as concerns are light pollution and glare, noise, dust, and vibration during and post-construction, and the loss of scenic value of his property. “We have a solar overlay district. It’s land that’s not much use for anything. We all voted and said to put solar panels there. I never agreed to have them at my house.”

A key issue for the plaintiffs is whether the concept of ‘dual-use’ is even a viable concept. “This project is being marketed as building a solar array but keeping the land in agriculture. That looks to me like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” said Michael Kellett of RESTORE: The North Woods, the other plaintiff. “You can see in the documents that the Clean Energy Center at UMass Amherst had many questions about this idea. There are studies that show things don’t grow nearly as well in the shade of solar panels as in wide-open fields. This developer came up with the idea of part-time sheep grazing on the property as a way to claim that the land will remain in farming. In fact, there is even mention of using these same sheep to graze at other nearby properties to help other solar projects qualify as ‘dual-use.’ This rent-a-sheep idea is creative, I suppose, but can we really call these industrial-scale solar arrays farms?” Kellett’s organization decided to join the complaint to help protect a healthy environment for members of his organization who live in Northfield.

Attorney Margaret Sheehan of Plymouth, who filed the complaint also questions the dual-use policy, not just in Northfield, but on cranberry bogs in Southeastern Massachusetts. “Unscrupulous developers are exploiting taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies for green energy. Dual-use solar is an unproven experiment. Developers are mounting solar panels in cranberry bog wetlands on telephone poles treated with copper chromated arsenic. Is this how the cranberry industry is going to grow food for 30 years? On bogs covered with telephone poles leaching arsenic? Over 1,000 telephone poles are being installed on a bog on Route 58 in Carver by a Canadian multinational corporation with our state green energy dollars. AD Makepeace is installing a mile of solar over an agricultural canal that was once a stream. Some systems are installed but there are no crops growing under them such as the REDP project on Gate Street in Carver. How well can crops grow shaded by solar panels sited to use the sun on a plot of land? Common sense says not very well. This is a waste of our money and farmland. We are in a climate crisis and it’s code red. We shouldn’t be wasting the public’s money on ridiculous schemes like this. The state’s Department of Energy Resources needs to pull the plug on this subsidy program,” says Sheehan.

Climate scientist and former IPCC report author on climate mitigation, and Emeritus Professor of International Environmental Policy at Tufts University, Dr. Bill Moomaw, supports solar energy, but only in the right places. “We need solar panels to replace burning fossil fuels and wood to make electricity. Solar panels belong on rooftops and wastelands. If we are concerned about regional resiliency, are committed in Massachusetts to buying local food, and know we need forested land to sequester carbon to mitigate climate change, how much sense does it make to weaken our farming land base. Wouldn’t that mean we either import more food or cut forests for farming?” Dr. Moomaw also cited a Mass Audubon report that calculated that we can get 80% of our electricity by putting solar on rooftops, parking lots, and brownfields.

Mr. Kalinowski added, “I am all for solar energy, just put it in the right places. Why is this even happening in my town? Because someone convinced someone to give money for it. That’s really the story here.”

Sheehan is collecting signatures on a petition asking Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to put a temporary hold on subsidies for clear-cutting forests or using farms for large-scale solar. It can be found on the Save the Pine Barrens website.

Jaws of Life used to free driver

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On Monday, Sept.  20, Plympton Fire and Police departments responded to a motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Palmer Road (Route 58) and Center streets.  First responders found a red Toyota RAV4 on its roof with its operator,  Deborah Lynch from Rockland, trapped inside.  Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to extricate her. The Plympton ambulance transported Lynch to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police determined, according to their incident report, that the other vehicle, a white Subaru Forester driven by Meghan Dyer of Somerville,  travelling west on Center Street, failed to stop at the four way intersection, colliding into the red RAV4, causing it to roll over, strike an Eversource utility pole, and land on its roof.  Dyer was issued a written warning for failure to yield/stop.

Both vehicles sustained serious damage and had to be towed from the scene.

Clarification

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Last week’s main headline stating that the mask mandate equals persecution could have been misconstrued as meaning the reporter and/or the newspaper promoted that point of view.  The headline intended to refer to those in the audience who made that claim.   The Express apologizes for any misunderstanding.

Meeting postponed to Tuesday, Sept. 21

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Failing to meet its quorum of 100 voters, last week’s Special Town Meeting had to be rescheduled to Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Elementary School when it is hoped that the business of the town can be completed.

As with previous meetings, both the Gym and the All-Purpose Room will be used and due the continuing pandemic, COVID protocols will be in place – https://www.halifax-ma.org/moderator/files/what-expect-town-meeting-september-2021.

Warrants have been mailed out or a copy can be downloaded – https://www.halifax-ma.org//town-administrator/files/special-town-meeting-warrant-september-8-2021

If you have any questions, please contact the Selectmen’s Office at 781-291-1316.

To begin with, please do not attend the meeting if you have signs of a fever or a measured temperature above 100.3 degrees, or greater, and/or any symptoms of COVID-19 including fever, chills, shaking chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell, persistent cough or trouble breathing within the past 24 hours or if you have had “close contact” with an individual diagnosed with COVID-19 during the last fourteen days.

Close contact” means: living in the same household as a person who has tested positive for COVID-19; caring for a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, being with six (6) feet of a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 for about 15 minutes, or coming in direct contact with secretions (e.g., sharing utensils, being coughed on) from a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, while that person was symptomatic.

• OR

• You have been asked to self-isolate or quarantine by your doctor or a local public health official or have been told by a medical provider that you probably have COVID-19 even in the absence of a test.

20 years later… We remember

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A solemn remembrance was held Saturday morning, Sept. 11, at 9:15 at the Plympton Fire Station  in honor of those who lost their lives Sept. 11, 2001, in the attacks at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crash in Shanksville, PA.  Cadence Sjostedt placed the wreath at the flagpole, where the flag was lowered to half staff.  First responders lined up and saluted.  Fire Chief Stephen Silva read the Firefighter’s Prayer to the assembly.

For more photos please see pages 8 and 9.