Plympton-Halifax-Kingston Express

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Kingston votes tomorrow

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KINGSTON – Kingston’s annual town election will be held Saturday, April 24.  All precincts, 1-4, will vote at the Kingston Elementary School, 150 Main St., Kingston, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On the ballot:  Select Board for three years, two candidates for re-election, Kimberly Emberg and Sheila Marie Vaughan.  (Vote for two)

Assessor for three years: Scott J. DeSantis.  (Vote for one)

Collector of Taxes for one year:  Jessica M Kramer and Kenneth G. Moalli.  (Vote for one)

Planning Board for five years: Jonathan Jacob Barnett, Sr., candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for two years: Emily R. Davis and Emma Rose Morgan.  (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for three years:  Leslieann S. Magee, candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Kingston Elementary School Committee for three years: Katina Bedard and Megan G. Cannon.  (Vote for one)

Water Commissioner for three years: Richard Wilson Loring, Jr., candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

Board of Health for two years: Dennis N. Randall.  (Vote for one)

Board of Health for three years: Janet D. Wade, candidate for re-election and Norman P. Harbinson, Jr. (Vote for one)

Library Trustees for three years: Emily Flight Curtin, candidate for re-election, Shannon J. Gauthier, and Christine Maiorano. (Vote for not more than two)

Recreation for three years: Melissa A. Bateman and Daniel P. Shropshire, both candidates for re-election.  (Vote for not more than two)

Sewer Commissioner for three years: Thomas W. Taylor II, candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

Candidates for Halifax Town Election

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Halifax voters will make their choices on Saturday, May 15, at the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth St., Route 106, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  with all COVID protocols in place.

Registered voters can choose to vote early via mail-in ballot. The application form can be downloaded at http://www.halifax-ma.org/elections-registration/files/2021-vote-mail-application – and also can be obtained at the Town Clerk’s office or you can request an application be mailed to you.

The last day to apply for early voting via mail-in ballot is Tuesday, May 11. Applications must be received by 5p.m. on that day. Voters can drop off   Applications at the Town Clerk›s Office, use the election kiosk, or mail them to the Town Clerk, 499 Plymouth Street, Halifax, MA 02338.

It is expected that ballots will be mailed out starting on or about Wednesday, April 21. Ballots must be returned to the Town Clerk›s office or the election kiosk no later than Saturday, May 15 at 6 p.m.

The election kiosk located on the parking lot side of the Town Hall will be available for voters to submit applications and ballots.

On the ballot are

Assessor for three year term: Dorothy L. Lamureux. (Vote for one)

Board of Health for three year term: Alan J. Dias, candidate for re-election and Pamela Ann Engstrom.  (Vote for one)

Board of Library Trustees for three year term: no candidate.  (Vote for two)

Board of Library Trustees for two year term: Kathleen A. Shiavone. (Vote for one)

Halifax Elementary School Committee for a two year term: Lana M. Eldridge and Summer K. Schmaling.  (Vote for one)

Halifax Elementary School Committee for a three year term: Marline Amedee, James F. Keegan, III, Lauren M. Laws, Jennifer Ann Carroll, and Robert W. Johnson. (Vote for two)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for a two year term: Marline Amedee and Summer Schmaling.  (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for a three year term: Gordon D. Laws, Jr. and Jennifer Ann Carroll.

Town  Moderator for a three year term: no candidate.  (Vote for one)

Park Commissioner for a three year term: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Park Commissioner for a two year term: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Planning Board for a five year term: Alan J. Dias, candidate for re-election and Brendon William Elliot.  (Vote for one)

Board of Selectmen for a three year term: Thomas Millias, candidate for re-election and Ashley Anne Disesa.  (Vote for one)

Board of Water Commissioners for a three-year term: Daniel O. Bosworth, Jr., candidate for re-election.

Town Clerk for a three year term: Susan Marie Lawless.  (Vote for one)

Town Treasurer/Collector for a three year term: Pamela R. Adduci. (Vote for one)

Elections are held in the Gym at the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth Street.

Vote

Candidates for Plympton Town Election

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Plympton residents will vote at the polls on Saturday, May 15, at the Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Rd. Route 58, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On the ballot are

Selectman for three years: Christine M. Joy, candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Assessor, for three years:  no candidate. (Vote for one)

Assessor, for one year: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Board of Health for three years: Harry L. Weikel, Jr., candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Finance Committee for three years: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Library Trustee for three years: Miranda Anne Pink, candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

Library Trustee for one year: no candidate.  (Vote for one)

Planning Board for five years: no candidate.  (Vote for one)

Planning Board for four years: no candidate. (Vote for one)

School Committee for three years: Jason W. Fraser, candidate for re-election, Suzanne L. Jaffarian, Nicole M. Mahoney, and Robert Randolph Montgomery.  (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for three years: Lukasz Kowalski. (Vote for one)

Town Clerk for three years: Patricia L. Detterman, candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Tree Warden for three years: William N. Hayes, Jr., candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

LaNatra announces five fire dept. grants

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State Representative Kathy LaNatra of the 12th Plymouth District announced that the Baker-Polito Administration has awarded firefighter safety grants to 5 fire departments within the 12th Plymouth District. This funding is part of a $25 million bond bill filed by the Baker-Polito Administration that will support firefighter health and safety over the next five years.

“I am thrilled to see this wonderful investment in the health and safety of our firefighters by the Baker Administration,” said State Rep. Kathy LaNatra (D-Kingston). “Protecting the health and safety of our firefighters is paramount to ensuring that they are able to adequately do their jobs and protect our communities.”

Fire departments in Massachusetts were able to apply to this program for 114 different types of eligible equipment, including personal protective clothing, gear washers and dryers, thermal imaging cameras, assorted hand tools and extrication equipment, communications resources, hazardous gas meters, fitness equipment, and more.

This program represents a comprehensive approach to mitigating modern firefighter health and safety risks.  Firefighters face not only the well-known risks of fire, smoke, and hazardous materials, but also long-term health risks of occupational cancer associated with the exposure to fire by-products and debilitating physical injuries due to the strenuous nature of their work.

Funding to communities in the 12th Plymouth District is as follows:

Duxbury: $15,000.00

Halifax: $12,493.00

Kingston: $14,999.95

Plymouth: $25,995

Plympton: $9,457.96

Sen. Brady: House and Senate reach agreement

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Senator Michael Brady (D-Brockton) announced today, as a member of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, that the House and Senate have reached an agreement to pursue an increase to local aid in the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget.

The agreement funds the first year of the Student Opportunity Act and places the commonwealth on track to full implementation by 2027. Signed into law in 2019, the Student Opportunity Act is a landmark achievement for equitable education and constitutes the largest investment in Chapter 70 aid in over twenty years.

“The rapid outbreak of the pandemic caused many important commitments to be delayed,” said Senator Michael D. Brady, “We are working closely with our partners in the House, local school districts, and education stakeholders to ensure we can get the state back on track to ensure all students can receive a high-quality education.”

The local aid agreement includes the following parameters:

• Funds Chapter 70 at its highest level ever at $5.503 billion, an increase of $219.6 million over FY 2021, which fully funds 1/6th implementation of SOA rates;

• Creates a $40 million enrollment reserve fund targeted to stabilize school districts adversely impacted by pandemic-related enrollment changes; and

• Funds Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) at $1.16 billion, an increase of $39.5 million over FY 2021, providing additional local aid support to our cities and towns

For the love of books and friends

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After a storied career spanning two decades as Plympton’s Library Director and a dozen years before that as a part-time worker at the circulation clerk, Debbie Batson is retiring at the end of the month.

“I’m a little nervous.   It’s going to be a big change,” she said, “but it’s time”. Is she going to miss  all that fun?   “Being the director of a small town library you get to do everything … which is overwhelming but also fun.  It’s different every day – there’s always something different you can do.  People make it.   The people make it good.  They become friends.”

We see them all the time.   When the little kids who came in for story time grow up and are bringing their kids in, “you know you’ve been here a long time.  I will miss that.” Even though we live in a small town how often do we see each other?  I will miss all the people.  But after almost 20 years as director, and 12 years before that at the circulation desk, it’s time.  There are some new faces in the library – relatively new – Chris Stratton from Kingston is at the circulation desk now since Kathy Keirstead retired, and Madelyn Pompei from Carver is in the children’s area.  The library world has changed a lot in 32 years; things move a little faster.  Somebody new will bring new energy and new ideas and I think that will be a good thing.”

What do you look forward to most?  “Being able to get up and do whatever I want.”  I won’t have to worry if the rain is coming in the library.  It will be nice not to have the building as a concern.”   They’ve had lots of critters in the library over the years – a squirrel for several weeks – nobody could catch it.  Finally one day the animal control officer was in the library and threw a net over it and caught it. For a while every spring there would be birds.  “We got so we were pretty good getting them out of here.”  And then there were snakes in the cellar … “not my favorite,” she said.

Was it more stressful to operate a library in the height of the pandemic? “Probably no more stressful than moving the library – all the books, shelves, everything – over to the Town House while the new library construction was underway,” she said.  School kids from Mrs. Bowden’s class, I think, took a day and made a line to pass books from one to the other all the way across to the Town House.   “We spent a whole summer with the library in the Town House working out of boxes.  Then we moved it all back.   And once was enough of that!  One pandemic, one moving a library,” she said.

“I couldn’t really imagine doing this when I started all those years ago at a part-time job, you know?   I had no idea that I would end up being director of the library for 20 years! I truly did not.”

“I can’t believe how quickly it has all gone by.  People always say that, but it’s true.”

Plympton town-wide cleanup April 17

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After a one year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Plympton Garden Club is once again sponsoring a town wide litter clean-up for Saturday, April 17th from 9 AM until noon. This community based effort has been a tradition in Plympton for many years, and residents are encouraged to pitch in and help their neighbors get the town looking beautiful – just in time for the blossoming of all our ornamental trees, shrubs, and gardens.

Given that Plympton has 18 residential streets that comprise many miles of roadway, broad participation is very important. Residents can make a strong contribution just by picking up the roadside trash and litter close to their residence. The Plympton Highway Department will be picking up full bags of trash placed by the side of the road and bringing it to the transfer station.

Street assignments, bags, and general information can be obtained on the morning of the event by stopping at the parking lot of the Plympton Town House. Organizers will be manning a table there. In the event it rains on the 17th, the following day has been designated as the rain date. Thanks in advance for your help!

XAVERIAN BROTHERS HIGH SCHOOL ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER HONOR ROLL

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WESTWOOD – Dr. Jacob Conca, Head of School at Xaverian Brothers High School, is pleased to announce that 600 students from 75 cities and towns have been named to the honor roll for the second marking period of the 2020-2021 school year.

The Xaverian Brothers High School honor roll has three designation levels:

• Ryken Honors indicates all marks are A- or above

• First Honors indicates all marks are B or above

• Second Honors indicates all marks are B- or above

Local students are:

Halifax

Panayioti Haseotes, Ryken Honors, 8

 Hanson 

Michael Bulger, Ryken Honors, 10

Whitman 

Michael Kanaan, Ryken Honors, 10

Xaverian Brothers High School is a Catholic, college-prep day school for boys in grades 7-12. For more than 50 years, Xaverian has been at the forefront of Catholic education, challenging young men to become their best; not just as students but as leaders of strong faith and character. For more information visit www.xbhs.com.

LaNatra announces legislators pass landmark climate bill

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State Representative Kathy LaNatra (D-Kingston), whose district includes Kingston, Halifax, Plympton, and portions of Plymouth, Middleboro and Duxbury, announced that the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the State Senate have passed comprehensive climate legislation, known as the Next Generation Climate Roadmap bill.

The legislation overhauls the state’s climate laws, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, advances the clean energy industry, and prioritizes and protects environmental justice communities.

The passage of the climate bill comes after a joint commitment from Senate President Karen E. Spilka and House Speaker Ronald Mariano to quickly refile the legislation following a gubernatorial veto last session. After evaluating Governor Baker’s amendments and recommendations, the legislature’s final provisions include the following:

• Sets a statewide net-zero limit on greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and mandates emissions limits every five years, as well as sublimits for transportation, buildings, and other sectors of the economy.

• Codifies environmental justice provisions into Massachusetts law, defining environmental justice populations and providing new tools and protections for affected neighborhoods.  Establishes a municipal opt-in specialized stretch energy code which includes a definition of “net-zero building” and net-zero building performance standards.

• Requires an additional 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind, increasing the total authorization to 5,600 megawatts in the Commonwealth.

• Directs the Department of Public Utilities (DPU), the regulator of the state›s electric and natural gas utilities, to balance priorities going forward: system safety, system security, reliability, affordability, equity, and, significantly, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

• Sets appliance energy efficiency standards for a variety of common appliances including plumbing, faucets, computers, and commercial appliances.

• Adopts several measures aimed at improving gas pipeline safety, including increased fines for safety violations, provisions related to training and certifying utility contractors, and setting interim targets for companies to reduce leak rates.

• Requires utilities to include an explicit value for greenhouse gas reductions when they calculate the cost-effectiveness of an offering of MassSave.

• Increases the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) by 3 per cent each year from 2025–2029, resulting in 40 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

• A national first, this legislation factors the «carbon sequestration» capacity of Massachusetts› natural and working lands directly into emissions reduction plans.

• Prioritizes equitable access to the state’s solar programs by low-income communities.

• Sets benchmarks for the adoption of clean energy technologies including electric vehicles, charging stations, solar technology, energy storage, heat pumps and anaerobic digestors.

• Establishes $12 million in annual funding for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to create a pathway to the clean energy industry for environmental justice populations, minority-owned and women-owned businesses, and fossil fuel workers.

• Provides solar incentives for businesses by exempting them from the net metering cap to allow them to install solar systems on their premises to help them offset their electricity use and save money.

• Creates a first-time greenhouse gas emissions standard for municipal lighting plants that requires them to purchase 50 percent non-emitting electricity by 2030, 75 percent by 2040 and “net zero” by 2050.

Representative LaNatra said, “This is significant, forward-thinking legislation that will put us on a path toward lowering harmful carbon emissions, help our green economy, and give our environment the protection that it needs. I am pleased that my colleagues in both the House and Senate worked so tirelessly to bring this bill forward.”

The bill now returns to the Governor’s desk.

Representative LaNatra’s district includes all residents of Halifax, Kingston and Plympton, as well as residents of Precincts 1, 11 and 13 in Plymouth; Precinct 1 in Middleboro; and Precinct 1 in Duxbury.  To reach her, email Kathleen.LaNatra@mahouse.gov or her legislative aide, Chris Jean, Christopher.Jean@MAhouse.gov. The phone number for the office is 617-722-2430. For updates and announcements, please visit Representative LaNatra’s Facebook page, https://bit.ly/2Ura8VR

or her website, https://www.kathylanatra.com.

Plympton PD puts a patch on Autism awareness

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April is Autism Awareness month and the Plympton Police are hoping citizens in the area will reach out to buy a special Plympton Police Autism Awareness patch.  The price is only $12 and it shows your support for a noble cause.

The program is sponsored by former Patriots’ player Doug Flutie, whose son Doug Flutie, Jr., is on the Autism spectrum.   

When Plympton Police were invited by the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism to take part in this fundraising for a cause they didn’t hesitate.

Chief Matt Clancy and his department pulled together and designed this beautiful Plympton Police Autism Awareness patch that all the officers will be wearing for the month of April.

How can you get one?  Let Sgt. Steve Teri know how many you would like, make out a check to “The Doug Flutie Jr Foundation for Autism” for the number of patches times the $12 fee, then email Sgt. Steve  at steri@plymptonpd.org to arrange a convenient time for pickup.

All of the money raised goes to The Doug Flutie, Jr Foundation for Autism to help people whose families are impacted by Autism.