Express Correspondent

HALIFAX/PLYMPTON– State and local officials are warning Massachusetts residents about the Zika virus. The virus, making headlines nationally, is making its way north from South and Central America into US territories such as Puerto Rico and onto the US mainland in states such as New Jersey, Texas and Florida.

Zika is usually spread by certain types of mosquitoes. It is extremely unlikely that anyone could become infected with Zika from a mosquito bite in Massachusetts because the kinds of mosquitoes that are known to carry Zika are not found here, say officials. But travelers to zika-ridden parts of the world are warned.

At this time, only people traveling to places with ongoing Zika virus outbreaks or engaging in sexual activity with someone who has traveled to these places are at risk for getting the infection. If you or your partner is planning to travel, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health recommends you check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices for information about where the Zika virus is occurring.

Most people– nearly 80%– who are exposed to Zika will not get sick. Those who do get sick may experience symptoms several days after infection that may include fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). Occasional immune system issues have occurred, rarely.

Although Zika virus is usually spread by mosquito, the virus can also be spread from a man to his partner during unprotected sexual contact and from a pregnant woman to her baby during pregnancy or around the time of birth.

Until more is known, pregnant women and couples trying to become pregnant should postpone travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing, according to the federal and state officials. Pregnant women should talk to their healthcare provider first and take great care to avoid mosquito bites during the trip. Further travel advice for pregnant women is available at this CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/pdfs/zika-pregnancytravel.pdf.

If you are trying to become pregnant and have potentially been exposed to Zika through travel or sexual activity, the CDC has provided suggested time periods to wait before trying to become pregnant, generally 8 or more weeks after exposure.  You should consult with your healthcare provider for more information.

Recently, there is also concern that Zika could be transmitted through blood transfusions from an infected donor, as well as breast milk, urine and saliva but transmission potential from these sources is still being investigated.

Although Zika virus has been known to cause infection in people in Africa and Asia since the 1950’s, outbreaks of Zika infection have occurred in areas of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands only more recently. During 2015, Zika virus was found in South America for the first time. Since then, it has spread to many countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean and some of the Pacific Islands, resulting in a very large outbreak of public health concern.

A young man in his thirties was burned over approximately 40% of his upper body after a gas grill explosion.  Crews responded for a call late Sunday afternoon to a reported propane tank explosion at 131 Lake Street in Plympton. “He was taken to a burn center in Boston. The victim did not breathe in the propane, which would have compromised his airway. This was a good indicator for the man’s recovery,” he said. The victim’s name has not been released due to medical privacy.      Following the investigation it appears that the man had started his grill and it went out.  As he went to re-ignite the grill, propane had pooled causing the explosion.

“Propane is used all the time but if used incorrectly it can be dangerous,” said Chief Warren Borsari.

Boston Med flight was requested to airlift the victim to Boston. The landing zone was at Billingsgate Farm, said Fire Chief Warren Borsari.

KINGSTON/SILVER LAKE– A plan to build a new police station for Kingston on the main campus of the Silver Lake Regional School District (SLRSD) has run into last-minute legal problems, and is now up in the air.

Kingston had plans to build the station on a 5-acre parcel on Route 27, carved out of land owned by the regional school district. The district had previously received legal counsel that it could sell the parcel, if all of the towns composing the district agreed to the sale of the land at their respective town meetings.

Kingston, Halifax and Plympton had planned to split the proceeds of the agreed-upon $250,000 sales price proportionally according to the percentage of students they send to the district, and Kingston had agreed to donate their proceeds back to the SLRSD for capital expenses.

But over the last few weeks, legal questions began to emerge over the process, according to Halifax Town Administrator Charlie Seelig, culminating in a last minute decision to scuttle the town meeting articles that would have supposedly set the sale process in motion.

Halifax, the first district town to vote on the article, passed it over on Monday.

Kingston Town Administrator Robert Fennessy wrote in an email Thursday evening, May 5, that a legal opinion originally given to the district was revised. Apparently, according to Halifax Town Administrator Seelig, the district only has the statutory authority to buy land, not sell it, as this was not in the original agreement among the towns that formed the regional school district more than 50 years ago.

Fennessy went on to note that because of this lack of statutory authority to sell land, special legislation from the state must grant the district the authority to sell the land if Kingston does want to move forward with the project at that location.

The e-mail further says that Kingston will not have the article on their Annual Town Meeting warrant and suggests that Halifax and Plympton pull it as well, although due to the timing Halifax did pass-over and Plympton will have to pass-over the article.

“Clearly this was understandable, yet disappointing news to our town committees. We will now look at the available options to move forward,” he wrote. A source confirmed that Kingston officials have reached out to their state legislators for assistance.

The plans for a new station have been long in the works. A committee was formed to study the needs of the Kingston Police several years ago, and plans and renderings have been drawn up for the proposed station.  According to a previous interview with Kingston Police Chief Maurice Splaine, renovating the current station on Main Street is not an option as the early 1980’s era building is in a state of deterioration. The current building is about half of the size of police stations in similar towns with similar populations and numbers of officers.

HALIFAX– On Tuesday, May 3, Halifax selectmen met after a long break, and discussed two major issues in Halifax: the horse shows at Fieldstone Farms and modifications to the legal agreement that governs them, and a presentation from the Monponsett Watershed Association regarding the potential dangers of cyanobacteria in Monponsett Lake.

Fieldstone Farms

legal agreement

Scott Clawson, proprietor of Fieldstone Farms, accompanied by his son Shawn, came before the board for a public hearing regarding changes that he would like to make to the more than 20-year-old legal agreement between the farm and the town that governs the horse shows he puts on throughout the summer.

Clawson, who set off red-flags among town officials by advertising more shows than were allowed in the agreement this year, managed to turn the verbal chastising he got from the board for that transgression into a full-blown discussion about changing the contract.

This was the latest of several meetings where Clawson, his attorney and the board tried to painstakingly work out the details of changes that Clawson would like to see. Clawson was not accompanied by his attorney on Tuesday, claiming that both were not aware of the date.

Clawson was present at the meeting, as was his attorney, when the date for this public hearing was set, and several neighbors of the property were there to express concerns and ask questions.

Some of the many topics debated were the definition of a “warm-up day” for the horses, increasing the maximum number of show days, raising the maximum number of horses allowed for various shows, provisions for signage and shrubbery, allowing more RVs to house security staff on-premises, whether radios and open fires could be used, and changes to the type and number of vendors. Alcohol, and previous violations were also part of the discussion.

None of these issues

was resolved.

While Selectmen Troy Garron and Tom Millias observed most of the hearing, Selectmen Chairman Kim Roy presided over the hearing, and Town Administrator Charlie Seelig was quite vocal, frequently speaking back and forth with Clawson.

Neighbors were not shy with their suspicions of changes to the agreement because of their concerns regarding traffic, noise, and litter.

Roy wrapped things up after more than an hour of discussion, telling Clawson to come back with a new draft agreement, that addresses the concerns, and they can then pass them along to town counsel– again.

The original agreement came into being when the Halifax Building Inspector took action against Fieldstone Farms 23 years ago.  Following litigation, a settlement was reached with the town.

The agreement, signed by Clawson, the Board of Selectmen, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Building Inspector, has been in force since then, and changes, if the board agrees to them, will have to be agreed to by the courts.

  Monponsett

  Watershed Association

Paul Collis, president of the Monponsett Watershed Association (MWA), presented scientific information that his organization had discovered to the board. The research shows a correlation between cyanobacteria (also referred to as blue-green algae) toxins, which are found in the lake and may become airborne– to ALS and Alzheimer’s Disease.

The research, conducted by Dartmouth University and the University of New Hampshire, and reported in various news outlets prompted the MWA to release a statement regarding the perceived threat, which Collis read to the board:

“Previously public health authorities warned that physical contact with water containing high levels of cyanobacteria could cause skin rashes, gastric distress and/or respiratory problems.

Now research is showing that the cyanobacteria toxins can become airborne and can afflict people who have no physical contact with the water. Moreover, this research shows a correlation between these toxins and devastating afflictions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s.

The cyanobacteria toxin research has shown that people can be afflicted by the toxins even if they do not live near the water bodies. One study suggests that the toxins have a range of 18 miles. Additionally, studies have shown that crops (lettuce, blueberries) irrigated with algae laden water contain the toxins.

According to the Collis, cyanobacteria thrive in conditions where there are nutrients, warm temperatures and stagnant water.

He faults a cranberry bog on West Monponsett Pond that has the right to take and discharge water from and into the lake, as well as septic systems and storm-drain runoff for these nutrients. This all increases phosphorous in the lake, which helps cyanobacteria to thrive.

“We don’t want to be

alarmist, but this

research is alarming.”

They also, as Selectmen appear to, blame the City of Brockton for part of the water quality problems. Brockton has the right under a 1964 law, under certain conditions, to divert water from Monponsett Lake via Silver Lake into their drinking-water supply.

The MWA blames Brockton as well for artificially manipulating the water levels in the lake in order to meet the requirements for diversion laid out in the law.

Every summer since 2008 one or both of the Monponsett Pond basins has been under a public health advisory from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH). In 2015, MDPH tested West Monponsett Pond for 175 consecutive days, June-November, and a public health advisory was issued for 133 of those days,” said Collis.

The MWA has six demands, he went on:

“1) Regular, state funded testing at Monponsett Pond year ‘round;

2) No diversion of water from Monponsett Pond if testing shows an algae bloom above the MDPH guidelines;

3) No diversion of water from Monponsett Pond after May 1 and fully open all gates in the Stump Brook Dam to promote natural water flow and combat stagnant water;

4) Require the coordination of discharges from the Winebrook Bog on West Monponsett Pond and the opening of the gates of the Stump Brook Dam throughout the year. Reports on coordinated discharges must be submitted to the DEP and/or the Central Plymouth Water District Commission

5) Eliminate the use of phosphorus in fertilizer at the Winebrook Bog and upstream bogs that flow into West Monponsett Pond because phosphorus is the prime nutrient in blue green algae growth and is banned from residential fertilizer in Massachusetts; and

6) State funded aluminum sulfate treatments in Monponsett Pond to combat cyanobacteria that exists in the Pond.”

Halifax Health Agent Cathy Drinan has noted in the past that regular testing is done to determine if toxins produced by cyanobacteria are in the air around the lake, and states that they have not been found in the air.

She was also quick to highlight that the preliminary links to disease found in the research cited by the MWA did not necessarily prove causality between airborne toxins produced by cyanobacteria and the diseases mentioned, just a possible correlation.

While the research is certainly cause for concern, the issues surrounding the water quality at the Monponsett Lake are multifaceted, and the public should follow guidelines issued by state and local officials as they are issued.

At this time there is no known danger in breathing the air around the lake, according to Drinan.

Collis ended by saying, “We don’t want to be alarmist, but this research is alarming.”

• The Halifax Annual Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting will be held Monday, May 9, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room of the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth St., Route 106.

Halifax Fire Chief Jason Viveiros says that his department responded to ten calls for overdose-related emergencies in a recent 12-day span. The spike is part of a two-year trend showing a marked increase in the frequency of overdose calls, he says.

Of these ten recent calls, two were for accidental overdoses of prescription medications. The rest were for overdoses of illicit drugs. Four calls were on Monday, April 25 alone, in a less than a four-hour period.

The patients ranged in age from 24-65.

Viveiros also noted that emergency responders were seeing the same patients with increased frequency.

Noting a lack of resources to help people struggling with addiction, he said that some people have addiction issues and their families don’t have the financial resources to get appropriate treatment, which may be one of the causes of those who repeatedly overdose.

Special to The Express

BRIDGEWATER – Police Chief Christopher Delmonte reports that the Bridgewater Police Department is investigating a body recovered from a local pond Tuesday  night.

On Tuesday, April 19, police received a 911 call at 6:07 p.m. The caller reported that a woman’s body was floating in the middle of a pond behind the plaza at Nick’s & Angelo Pizza Place, on the Bridgewater side of 2105 Plymouth St.

East Bridgewater Fire retrieved the body of Cheryl Siegel, age 34, of Halifax. She was discovered by her boyfriend and boyfriend’s sister after she had been reported missing.

Initial inspection of the body revealed no obvious signs of trauma, but Bridgewater Police are waiting for the autopsy results from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Although the investigation is ongoing, the woman’s death is believed to be a suicide.

The incident remains under investigation by Bridgewater Police Detective Joseph DeMoura and an investigator from the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office. Officers from the East Bridgewater and Halifax Police Departments are also assisting in the investigation, along with the Bridgewater and East Bridgewater Fire Departments.