Plympton selectmen Monday night were surprised by the request of Highway Superintendent Scott Ripley to declare a snow and ice emergency. (Courtesy photo)

Plympton selectmen Monday night were surprised by the request of Highway Superintendent Scott Ripley to declare a snow and ice emergency as he has used up his snow removal funds for the season.

Having been a winter with the least snow in recent memory, according to Boston weather people, selectmen said they would either call him in to explain, or perhaps just have a member of the board meet with him and discuss how the funds were spent.

In all fairness, Ripley began his position of Highway Superintendent in August, 2018,  after the budgets were set by Town Meeting vote ion May of 2018.

Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy presented the marijuana by-law produced by Ann Sobolewski with the Planning Board for selectmen’s approval.  The approved by-law will be returned to the Planning Board so a hearing may be scheduled in preparation for the Annual Town Meeting in May.

Selectman Christine Joy told the board that Plympton needs to do a much better job in its recycling, as does the rest of the country, and the effects are being felt throughout our economy.

China no longer buys our mixed paper for recycling because of the contaminants we allow, an average of 25%, forcing the United States to look elsewhere to sell its mixed paper.  What in 2017 brought $90 per ton in trade with China, in 2019 brings only $4 a ton from other markets like India.  “I don’t know that the country will ever get China back,” Joy said.   

What items are the worst offenders?  Think long, stringy things that tangle up the processor: garden hoses, plastic one-use grocery bags, plastic wrap. Don’t put recyclables in plastic bags.  The attendant won’t open the bag; it just goes into the trash.  Clothing can’t be processed with recyclables; in Plympton, it goes in the charity bins near the bottle and can redemption trailer.

The presentation she attended also cited help Massachusetts is giving in the way of grants for educating residents about what is recyclable and what is trash, and also grants for building recycling facilities, to help communities get serious about recycling.

Selectmen unanimously approved the application of Upinto2, Inc., the corporate name of the motorcycle riding school on County Road.  Upinto2, Inc. was granted a Class II motor vehicle sales license to sell motorcycles, primarily to their students.   Selectmen stipulated that no motorcycles were to be displayed outdoors for sale and no more than 40 motorcycles, 10 of which would be for sale, the rest for students to ride in classes, would be on the premises at a time.

In other business selectmen

• reviewed the open election seats for boards and committees

• executed a contract for Air Vacuum Corporation to deal with the exhaust fumes of vehicles at the Fire Station.

• voted to open the warrants for the Special Town Meeting and the Annual Town Meeting, both to be held May 15.

• reviewed the process of compiling the Annual Town Report, making sure that boards and committees follow the instructions to submit their reports to the town before the March 21 deadline.

The next meeting will take place March 11, at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Superior Court Judge Robert Cosgrove hears arguments to dismiss several charges in the lawsuit filed by the Carver, Marion and Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District against Plympton Health Agent Robert Tinkham, Ray Pickles and Diane Bondi-Pickles.

Robert Tinkham, of Carver, the Plympton Health Inspector, asked a judge to drop several charges against him in a civil suit alleging he defrauded the Carver, Marion and Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District, where he was a member of the committee overseeing the district (and at times chairman of that committee) in his capacity as the Carver Health Agent. He, along with two alleged co-conspirators, Ray Pickles, once the district’s Executive Director, and his wife Diane Bondi-Pickles, a real estate agent, are accused of stealing in excess of $838,458.22 from the district.

At a hearing Jan. 14, Superior Court Judge Robert Cosgrove took the matter under advisement. On Feb. 7, Cosgrove partially allowed and partially denied the motion to dismiss the charges, and while he dropped one of the charges, six charges still stand.

In an 18-page written ruling, Cosgrove outlined his rationale charge-by-charge. The complaint against the three defendants originally contained nine charges. Two of the charges were plead in the original complaint only to “reach-and-apply” defendants, who have since been dismissed from the action, and therefore those two charges are no longer applicable.

Of the seven remaining charges, Cosgrove only dropped one, count six, for violations of M.G.L. c. 30B, or the Uniform Procurement Act, a 1990 law that codifies uniform public contracting procedures to promote competition and fairness, according to the state. (Cosgrove dismissed this charge against Bondi-Pickles as well.)

Tinkham argued that count six should be dismissed for three reasons: failure to allege any contract subject to the laws, failure to allege that he was a “procurement officer” as defined by the law and that there is no private right to sue under the act.

Cosgrove agreed with the final point, saying, “Consequently, Plaintiff’s claims against … Tinkham pursuant to … the Uniform Procurement Act, must be dismissed. Because there is no private cause of action under G.L. c. 30B, the court need not reach the other arguments presented by the defendants pursuant to that claim.”

The lawsuit now charges Tinkham with six causes of action: conversion and civil theft; breach of fiduciary duty; fraud; money had and received; civil conspiracy; and violations of M.G.L. c. 93A, the consumer protection law.

The lawsuit alleges Tinkham received monetary payments from the district between 1995 and 2018, but other waste district committee members did not receive compensation for their services. He did not have a contract or employment agreement with the district, and no taxes were withheld on the payments, according to the original lawsuit, which was later amended by the district.

Court records say he billed the district for landfill inspections while working for the Town of Carver. Carver’s job description for the health agent includes inspecting the Carver landfill, according to public records. In 2007, Carver officials reaffirmed this aspect of the job description.

But, the Carver landfill, leased by the district, is inspected by a professional engineer. Tinkham is not an engineer, according to his resumé, and he kept no records of his inspections for Carver, if they indeed occurred, the lawsuit alleges. The total amount paid to him for inspections by the district was $88,990.

In the lawsuit, the district points to 13 representative examples from 2004 and 2005 alone of Tinkham collecting payments from the district while being paid a salary from the Town of Carver.

Tinkham also stands accused of providing no goods or services in connection with money he was paid for the district’s “Grant/Recycling” services, between 2012 and 2018, totaling $88,100. He allegedly submitted false documentation for payment for that work.

Tinkham also stands accused of receiving payments not supported by any documentation at all. “In total, there are 82 payments totaling $86,703.82 for which payment was made but the District has no invoice or proof of any services rendered,” say court records.

The alleged fraud was discovered when Pickles, in 2017, without the authorization of the committee, sought payment of assessments from the district towns for the first time since 2015.

When Carver and Wareham refused to pay, claiming a lack of documentation, Pickles used district counsel, without authorization, to sue for breach of contract in Wareham District Court.

That suit was voluntarily dismissed. Pickles was terminated Jan. 29, 2018.

The district was created as a regional refuse disposal district in 1973 by a special act of the General Court.

It is an independent body-politic, based in Marion, funded by user-fees, assessments to the member towns and agreements with third-parties.

According to files obtained by the Express, the state Office of the Inspector General is investigating the alleged misconduct as well, in addition to the lawsuit against Tinkham, Pickles and Bondi-Pickles.

The district is seeking triple-damages, interest, costs and attorneys’ fees.

Tinkham denies all allegations.

VIGIL: Organizers Adrienne McDougall, left, and Diane Ostranber take part in a candlelight vigil for Maura Murray in Hanson Saturday, Feb. 9, the 15th anniversary of her disappearance after a New Hampshire car crash. (Photo by Abram Neal/Express News)

HANSON — Maura Murray, then 21, a native of Hanson, vanished after she crashed her 1996 Saturn into a snowbank along a curve on Wild Ammonoosuc Road (Route 112) in Woodsville, New Hampshire, a village of Haverhill, 15 years ago. The UMass Amherst nursing student’s mysterious disappearance on Feb. 9, 2004 has sparked worldwide attention in the press, on the Internet and on social media over the course of the last decade and a half.

Family, friends and supporters of Maura Murray marked the somber anniversary Saturday in New Hampshire and here in Hanson by lighting candles in hopes that she will be found. Her father, Fred Murray, 76, had shared with the public new details of an investigation he has conducted into her disappearance with the hope that the public attention will put pressure on New Hampshire authorities to further look into the matter. Investigators, meanwhile, say the investigation is still active.

Fred Murray, who spoke to the Express Monday, Feb. 11, says that he is certain he has found a burial site in a house “astonishingly close” to the site of the accident. According to him, locals first tipped him off about suspicious activity at the house in the first year after his daughter’s disappearance, including rumors of new concrete being poured in the basement shortly after the accident, he says.

The Boston Globe reported last week what Murray said, based on those tips, “that a man who lived in the home at the time of the crash, as well as the man’s extended family members who lived nearby, were responsible for his daughter’s death.”

Although he told the Expressthat he is not positive that it’s his daughter who is buried in the house, he strongly believes that there are human remains in the house and that they are likely those of his daughter.

“I only need to be right once,” he pointed out.

The house, which he says police never searched, a point which officials don’t advertise unless pressed in statements, has come under new ownership since Maura Murray’s disappearance, and the new owners have been receptive to Fred Murray’s investigation. He says he is willing to pay to dig up their basement, although he’d rather New Hampshire authorities do it.

The New Hampshire Attorney’s General office said in a statement that they “searched the area with dogs at the time,” but never searched inside the house in question.

In November and December 2018, Fred Murray brought in two trained, accredited cadaver detecting dogs to the house, each one on separate occasions. They alerted, he says, by lying down in the same spot in the basement of the house. He says that video of the dogs alerting exists, and is available widely online from local television media outlets.

Later, ground-penetrating radar was used and indicated strong findings of an abnormality in the same spot in the concrete, he said. Much of Fred Murray’s investigation has been paid for by donations and through pro-bono work of those who support him, he says.

“It’s astounding that this [basement] wasn’t looked at before. I told the police about this in the first year … the State Police did an inadequate job when my daughter first went missing,” he added, adamantly.

Fred Murray said he has found the local police to have been less-than-helpful, and as for federal law enforcement, “The FBI has been dodging it [the case] for 15 years … they’re useless,” he said of the Boston office of the FBI.

He says that law enforcement’s response to his investigation, when he’s notified them of his findings, has been, “We looked at that, we looked at that, we looked at that.”

“Because of the institutional intransigence of the New Hampshire State Police the case is still alive 15 years later,” he said.

Fred Murray said that he thinks he’s been getting “the run around,” and that officials have been waiting for him to go away. “This time, the guy didn’t go away, and that guy was me.”

A representative for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, of which the New Hampshire State Police are a division, refused to comment because of the active nature of the investigation, but did refer the Express to the Office of the New Hampshire Attorney General.

“The case is still open and active.  We do receive tips and information periodically, as well as generate new information from investigative efforts,” said Jeffrey Streizin, Associate Attorney General and Director of the Division of Public Protection with the New Hampshire Attorney’s General office in an emailed statement.

He continued, “We are aware of the allegations regarding a home’s basement in that area and have considered and are considering next steps. That area was searched by law enforcement in the past, including with dogs, and nothing of significance was discovered.”

When asked to clarify whether the home itself was ever searched, Streizin said, “The State Police conducted a canvas of that area in 2004 and searched the area where that house is located with dogs. They did not go into the house at that time.”

“I need help. I’m asking for help,” Fred Murray said. “The people of northern New Hampshire have been wonderful. They are salt of the earth people … The goodness of people has really come to the forefront. Maura’s only friends in this have been the Massachusetts press, her friends and the great people of the area.”

Exactly where Maura Murray was headed, and why, has remained a mystery over the years. Moments after the crash, a good Samaritan stopped to assist her, but she waved him off and told him not to call the police, according to original police reports from 2004. The passerby called local police anyway, although he did drive off. A Haverhill police cruiser arrived within minutes, but the Saturn was locked, and Maura Murray was gone.

According to a four-part series reported by Maribeth Conway in this paper’s predecessor, the Hanson Express in 2007, Fred Murray had dinner with his daughter in Amherst two days before her disappearance.

She caused damage to her father’s car that night in a minor accident near UMass in Hadley, Massachusetts, and later friends reported she had been drinking that night, although no charges were filed in that incident.

The following day, she performed Internet searches for driving directions to Vermont and the Berkshires. She also called for a condominium rental reservation in Bartlett, New Hampshire, which she did not end up reserving. Her family often vacationed in Bartlett, a town in the White Mountains near the Attitash ski resort.

Her belongings were neatly packed up in boxes in her UMass dorm room before she left, according to reports, leading to speculation that she may have been considering leaving school permanently. But she had good grades, and her college textbooks were found in her car by investigators after the accident.

Maura Murray withdrew $280 from her bank account, leaving the account almost empty, and emailed professors and her boss at a local art gallery that she would be away from school because she was needed in Hanson due to a death in the family. Relatives later confirmed there was no death in the family.

No one is sure exactly why the college student made up the story.

A friend later suggested that Maura Murray may have been under a lot of pressure and wanted to get away to think about something important.

She grabbed some toiletries, a favorite stuffed animal — a monkey given to her by her father– and a necklace her boyfriend had given her. She then departed. Police say she next stopped at a liquor store, bought about $40 worth of alcohol — which police reports say some of which was found in plain sight in her car after the crash– and never returned to Massachusetts.

Fred Murray says his next step will be to try to enlist the help of senior New Hampshire State Police officials but that he continues to wait and marvel at the lack of help. He added, “We’re still going to win.”

When asked to clarify what a win for him would be, he hesitated and said, “There is no win. There is no satisfaction. I have to find her, bring her home and give her a proper burial. Every father who ever drew a breath on the planet should know what happens next.”

Kingston Town Administrator and former State Representative Thomas Calter. (Image Courtesy PACTV)

HALIFAX — Assessors in Halifax met Wednesday, Feb. 6, and briefly discussed personal property tax, in the amount of $12,511.09 that includes delinquent interest, assessors say is owed by Jordan Health and Wellness Center, RKP Capital, LLC, of which Kingston Town Administrator and former State Representative Thomas Calter, of Kingston, is the principal.  The delinquent tax stems from equipment in a gym, the Jordan Fitness Center, that Calter, with his wife, operated at 430 Plymouth Street between 2010 and 2012.

Assessors met and decided not to abate any of the amount despite the fact that Calter said, in both a phone call with the Express and in a letter addressed to the Board of Assessors that he had never received the bills and did not own the gym for part of the assessed period.

“I don’t know of a single taxpayer who would pay taxes on property they didn’t own,” said Calter in the phone conversation. Even though he did not attend the meeting the issue was on the agenda at his request.

“Even if we wanted to do something, we couldn’t and I wouldn’t want to,” said assessor Tom Millias, noting that the board treats everyone the same way and that the abatement appeals period had passed.

The dispute with the Halifax board has been ongoing since May 2016 when, Calter says, he was hand-delivered a letter from Tax Collector Pamela Adduci with personal property tax bills.

He said that he is happy to pay the fair amount of what he owes and proposed an amount much lower – $1,151.20– than what the assessors say he owes, and if they can’t come to an agreement, he will appeal to the Appellate Tax Board.

The meeting, which took less than 15 minutes, was video recorded by Peter Boncek of Kingston, who challenged Calter in the race for State Representative in 2016. 

The calm serene ice on East Monponsett Pond looks deceptively slick – ready for a pair of sharpened blades to write their stories on the surface. Don’t do it! (Photo by Deb Anderson)

Despite the recent cold snaps, officials are warning that the conditions of the ice on many bodies of water across the Commonwealth are uncertain, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). MEMA is warning of an uptick in ice rescues of individuals and pets and is therefore issuing safety precautions to be taken on frozen lakes, rivers, bogs and ponds.

“Before we experience a tragedy that is unfortunately too common this time of year, it is important that we remind everyone, particularly children, of the dangers of unsafe ice,” said MEMA Director Kurt Schwartz. “People may be a bit impatient and venture out on the ice for skating, hockey, ice fishing and other winter sports before understanding the conditions. We highly recommend the use of recreational skating areas provided by the Commonwealth and … local communities. It is very important to exercise precaution and common sense.”

MEMA says you can check with local officials to ensure that safe ice conditions exist. But, due to the uncertainty and constant changing of ice conditions and the dangers presented, they say many officials choose not to endorse the safety of lakes, ponds, streams, bogs or rivers. The strength and thickness of ice should be known before any activity takes place.

Plympton Fire Captain John Sjostedt said, echoing state fire officials, “The only safe ice is at a skating rink. Ice on moving water in rivers, streams and brooks is never safe. The thickness of ice on ponds and lakes depends upon water currents or springs, depth and natural objects. Changes in temperature cause ice to expand and contract, which affects its strength. Because of these factors, ice cannot be called safe.”

Sjostedt added, “Our members are trained to conduct ice rescue if the need arises. The Plympton Firefighters Association recently purchased a new cold weather suit for the department. When we [educate] the public, we fill a five-gallon pail with ice water and put 100 pennies in the bottom of the bucket. We ask the participants to take one penny out of the bucket at a time. This shows them what can happen and how [the] body constricts if they were to fall through the ice.”

The following tips from MEMA could save your life:

•  Never go onto the ice alone. A friend may be able to recue you or go for help if you fall through the ice.

•  Always keep your pets on a leash. If a pet falls through the ice do not attempt to rescue your pet; call 911 or go for help.

•  New ice is usually stronger than old ice. As ice ages, the bond between the crystals decays, making it weaker, even if melting has not occurred.

•  Beware of ice covered with snow. Snow can insulate ice and keep it strong but can also insulate it to keep it from freezing. Snow can also hide cracks, weak and open ice.

•  Slush is a danger sign, indicating that ice is no longer freezing from the bottom and can be weak or deteriorating.

•  Ice formed over flowing water (rivers and lakes containing a large number of springs) is generally 15 percent weaker.

•  Ice seldom freezes or thaws at a uniform rate. It can be one foot thick in one spot and be only a few inches thick 10 feet away.

•  Reach-Throw-Go. If a companion falls through the ice and you are unable to reach that person from shore, throw them something (a rope, jumper cables, tree branch, etc.). If this does not work, go for help or call 911, before you also become a victim. Get medical assistance for the victim immediately.

•  If you fall in, try not to panic. Turn toward the direction from which you came. Place your hands and arms on the unbroken surface, working forward by kicking your feet. Once out, remain lying on the ice (do not stand) and roll away from the hole. Crawl back to your tracks, keeping your weight distributed until you return to solid ice.

Map courtesy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts/MEMA.

If an emergency were to occur at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, before or after shutdown, the local, state and federal governments have developed complex plans for mitigating such a disaster. The plans are most detailed for a 10-mile radius around the plant known as the Emergency Planning Zone, or EPZ.

Plympton and Halifax are outside the EPZ, although emergency evacuation routes for those within the EPZ run through the two towns, according to publicly available plans.

The 10-mile EPZ, at first glance, might seem arbitrary, but emergency planners deny this.

“The … EPZ is not random; it is based on the NRC’s assessment of the immediate inhalation-based risk following a release or potential release from the plant … If we had a release, the long-term exclusion zone might be larger than the 10-mile EPZ; that would be determined on a case-by-case basis,” according to Massachusetts Emergency Planning Agency (MEMA) representative Christopher Besse.

Residents of surrounding communities that are not in the EPZ, such as Plympton and Halifax, would not be directed to evacuate but might be asked to remain off the roads, if possible, to facilitate the evacuation. This likely would be a request; not a directive that they shelter in place, he said.

If an evacuation was ordered of some, or all of the EPZ, traffic control points would be set up throughout the area to help facilitate the evacuation and movement of vehicles, he said.

Besse said that if a precautionary transfer of school children from schools in the EPZ to host schools outside of the EPZ was initiated, as plans call for, Plympton and Halifax parents would go to the Bridgewater/Raynham Regional High School “host school” to pick up their children as Kingston, including the Silver Lake Regional Middle School and Silver Lake Regional High School, is in the EPZ.

This transfer of school children would be done early in an emergency, before an evacuation of the entire population is ordered, he said. Generally, a full evacuation would not be ordered until the plant is at a higher emergency classification. Planners have prepared for parents of school children to pick up their children at the host school before a full evacuation begins. This timing, he asserts, would help alleviate traffic congestion.

However, if school children were transferred at the same time as an evacuation of the EPZ is taking place, staffed traffic control points and the existence of multiple evacuation routes would be sufficient to effectively move the traffic out of the EPZ and in and out of the host school, Besse said.

  When asked if the emergency plans were realistic, Besse responded, “State and local emergency plans are reviewed by [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] and regularly exercised.”

gency Planning Zone, or EPZ.

Plympton and Halifax are outside the EPZ, although emergency evacua

Attorney Phil Taylor represents Scott Clawson, of Fieldstone Farm, in his request for additional horse shows. (Photo by Abram Neal)

HALIFAX — The Halifax Board of Selectmen met Tuesday, Jan. 8, and tackled a lengthy agenda and five appointments in just under two hours. The agenda was wide-ranging, but the lengthiest item involved horse shows at Fieldstone Farm.

Clawson asks for more horse shows

Scott Clawson, proprietor of Fieldstone Farm, through his Stoneham-based attorney Phil Taylor, was before the board asking for two additional horse shows in June at his equestrian show park on Plymouth Street, and one additional show in August, for a total of three additional shows to the allowable 30.

The number of shows Clawson is allowed to hold is governed by a consent agreement signed between the Town of Halifax through the Board of Selectmen and Clawson, first agreed to by the town, Clawson and the Plymouth County Superior Court in 1993, and then updated after an exhaustive series of meetings with the board prior to August 2017, when a new agreement was signed into force.

The board, especially Kim Roy and Tom Millias, were vocally frustrated with Clawson and the board refused to, for now, allow any additional shows without talking to Halifax Town Counsel.

Millias noted that while the board was being asked to add more shows, “My more specific question is, do we have to do it?”

The answer, according to Taylor, is that they do not, although they can at their discretion without reopening the consent agreement. That interpretation was not shared by the board.

Roy and Millias hammered the attorney because of an ongoing issue Clawson had with the building department, where he was constructing a two-story gazebo, something that the building department was not made aware of in original plans, according to Roy and Millias.

The building department, said Roy, would send correspondence to Clawson, but he did not communicate back with the town to resolve the issue in a timely manner.

A solution was eventually found, according to Millias, in which the gazebo is to be used for non-commercial use and is one-story, but only after the town spent considerable effort to attempt to get Clawson to comply with the building department.

Although the issue was separate from the question of adding additional shows, the board in its entirety was visibly annoyed.

Selectman Troy Garron noted that Clawson did not appear to have respect for the authority of the town’s boards, but especially the selectmen.

Millias, who happens to be the Plympton Building Inspector, noted that ultimately responsibility lies with the property owner when the attorney blamed a contractor for the gazebo issue.

Roy said she did not want to punish a business in town but did not want to reward bad-behavior.

The board will take up the issue again at their next meeting, Jan. 22, 2019.

Cremation Wall

The board approved $10,000 for Highway Surveyor and Cemetery Superintendent Steve Hayward to begin a test run of a “cremation wall” in the Halifax Central Cemetery. The wall, which works somewhat like a post office box, allows family members of the deceased to receive a key to the box where remains are kept as a memento.

Hayward said the money for the wall would come from the “Lots and Graves” account, and that the wall could be built in sections, modularly, as land is cleared and usage is gauged.

Town Administrator Charlie Seelig said that cremation is becoming more and more popular as traditional burials are much more expensive.

Union Files Grievance

AFSCME Council 93 Local 1700, the union representing a highway worker who had filed a previous grievance against Highway Surveyor Steve Hayward, has filed a new grievance against the town on Jan. 2.  The original grievance regarded a worker being denied a heavy equipment operator (HEO) position– a decision that the Board of Selectmen upheld in a Dec. 21, 2018 executive session.

The recent grievance alleges that the town should not have released information to the public following the December executive session.  Information released to the Express regarding the employee did not paint the worker in a positive light.   The December meeting was reported by the Express and the new complaint will be heard by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations.

The information regarding the latest grievance was obtained through a verbal public records request by the Express.

In Other News:

• The board scheduled a Special Town Meeting for Monday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Halifax Elementary School to address funding for that school’s fire suppression system construction project. More information will follow.

• Police Chief Joao Chaves requested that Animal Control Officer Noreen Callahan be appointed Police Matron for the department. The position may be regionalized at some point, he said. Callahan joined the department in 2013 and when asked by selectmen how she felt about taking the position said, “I feel great about it.”

• Police Officer Thomas Hall will retire in February after 21 years with the Halifax Police Department. The board regretfully accepted his resignation and wished Hall luck with his future endeavors.

• The Board of Selectmen will next meet Jan. 22, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room of Halifax Town Hall.