The Town of Halifax is seeking volunteers to serve on the Traffic Safety Committee and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Committee. Residents interested in serving on these and other committees and boards can complete a “Talent Bank Form” (available in the Selectmen’s Office in Town Hall or on-line at https://www.halifax-ma.org/board-selectmen/files/talent-bank-form-0) and send to the Halifax Board of Selectmen, 499 Plymouth Street, Halifax, MA 02338 or pamela.mcsherry@halifax-ma.org – For more information, call 781-294-1316.

Mayflower Church will host its 14th Annual Crafts Fair Saturday, November 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Briggs Building at 207 Main Street.

 The public is invited to come and join in for a fun day of shopping, treasure-hunting and dining.

 The event is being sponsored by the Mayflower Women›s Club. The Fair features a number of talented crafters, as well as several tables that are sponsored by the Mayflower Women’s Club.

 Crafters will offer a wide variety of beautiful wares. Also there will be a bake sale.

 Fairgoers will have the opportunity to bid on a variety of items; and, the Club is also looking for anyone with a product or gift certificate who might wish to donate it to the cause.

 Lunch is available, including hot dogs, chili, corn chowder, chips and beverages.

 The public is invited to attend to see the work of crafters from throughout the region, and purchase any items of interest.

 There is no admission charge to attend the fair.  Proceeds from the fair benefit local, state and global charities.

 Mayflower Church is located at 207 Main Street, Kingston, MA 02364. Reverend Anton Brown serves as Pastor. For additional information, please call 781-585-3167.

The Silver Lake High football team traveled up the road to face a tough Patriot League opponent last Friday night.

The Lakers faced the Marshfield Rams, who had not lost a game in Patriot League play and their opponent kept that winning streak going. Marshfield beat them 37-8. With the loss, the Lakers fell to 2-5 on the season.

Marshfield’s offense only scored in the first half, but its defense also put up a couple of points in the second. Marshfield led 35-0 at halftime in this one.

The first touchdown for Marshfield came on a 54-yard touchdown early in the first quarter; the team also had a three-yard touchdown run later on in the quarter.

Marshfield went on to add three more touchdowns in the second quarter. Two of those touchdowns came on passes and the other was a 10-yard run. The team made all of its extra point kicks.

The final score of the bout for Marshfield came in the third quarter. Marshfield got two more points on a safety against the Lakers.

While the Lakers entered the fourth quarter down 37-0, they didn’t give up. They scored their first and only touchdown of the game in the fourth. It came on a three-yard run from Austin Smith. He was also the receiver on the successful two-point conversion attempt. Jacob Barnett threw the pass on that two-point try.

The next game for the Lakers will take place this Friday, October 29 on the road against the Hingham Harbormen (7:00 p.m. start time). It will mark the end of the regular season, although the Lakers will play a few more times in November.

The Halifax Board of Selectmen met in-person on Tuesday, Sept. 21,  joined by town counsel. They began with a review of articles for the special town meeting to be held later that evening, and recommended or passed over all articles discussed.

Following the recommendations, the Selectmen turned their attention toward the fiscal year 2022 budget. Speaking of Town Accountant Sandra Nolan, Town Administrator Charlie Seelig said, “Sandy reran the numbers so that the articles for the raise and appropriate do pass so we’re at about $229 left on the table – something like that.” Selectmen Chair Gordon Andrews noted the remaining amount was less than recommended by the Finance Committee.

There was then a discussion over a proposed insurance settlement offer related to an insurance claim made by residents David and Laura Gibbons of Oak St. Specifics were not relayed as they were not in Executive Session but the Selectmen did vote to approve moving forward with the settlement.

Finally, the Selectmen discussed the 5G cellular “small cellular” general by-laws, zoning by-laws, and municipal permitting. Town Counsel Paul DeRensis said that there were four options available to the community. The first would be to adopt some regulations, the second would be to adopt a zoning by-law at town meeting, the third would be to do both numbers one and two, and the fourth option is to do nothing. “I got an email from Charlie saying he thought the third option is the best,” DeRensis said.

Seelig explained saying, “Zoning can obviously handle to a limited extent, where and how 5G can be installed; basically, the feds have said that the town really doesn’t have much authority over 5G; there might be reasonable permitting restraints we can put on it, but basically, the rule of thumb is they’re going to be allowed.” He continued, “But they could be setup through a special permitting process… most 5G cellular is going to be within the right of way of our streets and roads so that the Board will have the right to essentially issue permits for use of the right of way so we’ll have zoning, but we’ll also have regulations.” He noted that zoning would have to wait until May but regulations could be done sooner in the event that a 5G company came into town prior to then.

DeRensis called the third option the most “elaborate” and said the concern would be running up legal fees on these projects. “You do need something to protect the community against distasteful looking 5G installation.” He said the question, however, would be whether that is where you want to spend your legal costs. DeRensis said that they have drafted by-laws approved from the Attorney General in other communities and said it would be possible to adapt those to Halifax. Andrews recommended reviewing it further with some other committees before trying to implement something at the moment saying they should shoot for trying to get something implemented the second half of the year. The Board agreed.

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).

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.

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.

Many talented Silver Lake High athletes ended up extending their sports careers after high school is over, many of them end up competing in college athletics. Sometimes, they end up going to the same schools as one another. There have been instances of athletes who played together in high school being teammates at the college level as well as instances of both the girls’ and boys’ team at a respective school having Silver Lake alum on their rosters.

Although the two played on different teams–the girls team and the boys team at Silver Lake–Allie Crawford and JJ Devine both have something in common: they’re college soccer players at UMass Boston (NCAA Division 3) this season.

Crawford is a key contributor to the women’s team. As of the start of this week, she had started in each of the team’s two games so far this season. She was tied for the most minutes played (190). She had an assist and led the team with 10 shots taken, including seven shots on goal. Although there was no season last year, Crawford was a key player in the two seasons before that. She had 4 goals and 13 assists in 22 games in 2019. The year before that, she had four goals and 14 assists in 22 games.

On the men’s side, JJ Devine is new to the program. The Halifax native is a freshman goalkeeper for the team. Devine has performed well early on in the season. He got a shutout against Salve Regina in his college debut on September 1. He made two saves in the game. Additionally, he played half of the game on Saturday, September 4 against Springfield and didn’t let up a goal.

Devine was a Patriot League All-Star in soccer last year. He also had the opportunity to play football as a kicker for the Lakers because football season was pushed back to the spring.