KINGSTON -State Representative Kathy LaNatra (D-Kingston) commended Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito recently for their support of $920,000 in grant awards to 174 Massachusetts fire departments for gear and equipment for that will reduce firefighters’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals on the job.

All of the communities within Representative LaNatra’s district, with the exception of Duxbury, received funds in these grant awards. There are two different grants. For the first, the Firefighter Turnout Gear Grant program will provide firefighters in 144 departments with new hoods and gloves for structural firefighting activities. These items will reduce exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in the head and hand areas, which are high-risk areas for dangerous chemicals to enter the body. In total, approximately 3,000 hoods and 3,000 pairs of gloves will be purchased with the $500,000 from this program. Communities receiving grants in the district included Halifax, $2,390.07; Kingston, $2,506.25; Plymouth, $2,496; and Plympton, $2,440.

Through the Washer-Extractor Equipment Grant, $420,000 was awarded to 75 departments that will receive a new washer-extractor to clean their structural firefighting gear after exposure to smoke and other toxic chemicals. Because some of the recipient agencies are purchasing regional-use machines, 84 departments will actually benefit from them.  A national standard set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) on the care and cleaning of structural firefighting gear delineates specific types of machines that should be used to effectively remove cancer-causing chemicals after each fire. All washer-extractors purchased with this grant will meet this standard, and enable personnel to wear clean gear each time they leave the fire station for an emergency. The town of Middleboro received a grant of $5,000.

Representative LaNatra said, “First responders face so many dangers on a daily basis. I am thrilled to see the Baker-Polito administration taking an active role in first responder safety and ensuring that they are able to perform their jobs without the risk posed by out-of-date equipment.”

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.

She maintains regular office hours throughout the district. For additional information, please contact Chris Jean, Christopher.Jean@MAhouse.gov. Meetings can also be arranged by appointment.

For both hockey programs at Silver Lake, last Saturday, Dec. 28 was an encouraging day.

The boys’ hockey team and the girls’ hockey co-op with Whitman-Hanson each had lopsided victories over their respective opponents. For the boys, that win came in a 6-2 fashion against Abington. For the girls, it was a 5-0 victory over Plymouth.

In the victory over Abington, Ryan Solari and Gavin Simpson had their first career varsity goals for the Lakers while Peter Bond earned his first career varsity win in net. Ryan Solari also had a team-high four points in the victory and Bobby Guilford had a team-high two goals. Additionally, Nick Solari put up two points, including a short-handed goal. Plus, Kevin Cardarelli had a goal and an assist in the victory.

The win over Abington was the Lakers second win of the week. With it, they improved to 2-2-1.

The girls win over Plymouth was their first victory of the season, putting their record at 1-4 on the year. In the win–which came in Patriot League action–the team had four different goal scorers. Bridget Cardarelli led the way with a team-high two goals. Additionally, Alyssa Murphy, Emily McDonald and Neve Corkery each put one in the back of the net for the co-op. Kat Gilbert also picked up the win in net for the co-op.

Prior to this game, the girls had their share of offensive struggles. They had not scored more than one goal in a game in their first four contests prior to this win.

The boys next game is this Saturday, Jan. 4 on the road against the Duxbury Dragons at The Bog in Kingston (3:50 p.m. start time). The girls play next on Saturday, Jan. 4 as well. They are set to face Newton North on the road (6:15 p.m. start time).

Halifax’s first responders were on hand to serve  up a delicious roast beef lunch to the seniors on Tuesday, Dec.10, at the annual Halifax Council on Aging Holiday Luncheon,

Guests enjoyed Christmas music from Corey Winters  and organists Vivian Cardinal and many guests  sang along.

Santa himself made a special appearance and many guests enjoyed taking selfies and photos with the jolly old elf himself.

Interim COA Director Brenda Fitzgerald welcomed all and thanked all the volunteers including members of the Halifax  Police, Halifax Fire, and the Plymouth County Sheriffs’ Office who helped make the luncheon a success.  Also helping was Jim Brenton from State Senator Mike Brady’s office.

Due to the large number of seniors participating in this event, the lunch was prepared and served at the Our Lady of the Lake Parish Hall .

The Silver Lake High girls’ basketball team has a new head coach, and they will look to bounce back from a rebuilding year under him.

Now the Lakers coach is Tony Pina, who also coaches softball at Silver Lake. The former Carver Crusaders head coach won 150 games during his decade-long tenure with the girls team–and it only took him one game to get his first win as the Lakers head girls basketball coach.

The Lakers kicked off their season against the Duxbury Dragons on Friday, Dec. 13 with a 42-26 win to improve to 1-0 on the season. In the win, Lily Gustafson, a junior, and Kiley O’Brien, a sophomore, led the way; they scored nine points apiece. The Lakers also showed off their depth in the victory as eight different players scored points for the team.

The Lakers starting five in their first game of the season featured: junior Riley Dunphy as point guard, junior Molly Terbush as shooting guard, junior Erin deMacedo and sophomore Kiley O’Brien as their two forwards as well as senior Holly Reeder-Morning as their center. As a sophomore, Reeder-Morning was a Patriot League All-Start and led the team in scoring. She missed much of last season recovering from a knee injury.

Off the bench, Gustafson provides the team with a boost–as she exemplified in the team’s opening win against Duxbury. Additionally, they will look to senior Jordan Carroll, juniors Lily Noonan and Natalie Bouchard, and sophomores Reese Colon and Samantha Kelly for contributions and to provide depth.

As of Wednesday, the Lakers were 1-2 on the season. They fell 54-36 to Norwell on Monday, Dec. 16 and one day later, they fell 45-31 against Pembroke.

The Lakers next contest is a non-league matchup this Friday at home. They will host the Marshfield Rams (6:30 p.m. start time).

After undergoing a rebuild last season, the Whitman-Hanson/Silver Lake girls’ hockey co-op appears to be in a position to take a step in the right direction, led by a Silver Lake-heavy team.

A young team last season, the Skaters had just two seniors on their roster. They got off to a slow 0-7-0 start, but enjoyed better results as the season progressed, picking up at least a point in the standings in six of their final 12 games to finish the season at 4-13-2.

The team enjoyed most of its success last season offensively–primarily from the stick of senior captain Alyssa Murphy, a Kingston native. A Patriot League All-Star last year, she had 42 points on the season (27 goals, 15 assists) and nearly half of the team’s 62 goals.

On top of that, Lilly Ulvila (9 goals, 3 assists) of Kingston showed promise as a freshman last season, finishing second on the team in goals scored; junior Ellie Grady (7 goals, 6 assists), also from Kingston, ranked third on that list. Outside of Silver Lake, Emily McDonald (6 goals, 9 assists), a junior at Whitman-Hanson, was also a key offensive contributor as a sophomore last season, ranking second in total points.

Junior Kat Gilbert, a Halifax native, returns in net for the third straight season. Before high school, she had not played goaltender full-time, so she will continue to gain experience. Defensively, however, the Skaters likely won’t have a ton of depth after two captains to graduation on that side of the puck.

The Skaters first game of the season was this Thursday, Dec. 12 on the road against Bishop Stang. Their next game is this Saturday, Dec. 14 on the road against the Canton Bulldogs. That game will take place at the Canton Ice House (7:55 p.m. start time, according to My Hockey Live).

Town clerk Patricia Detterman and town moderator Barry DeCristofano both attended the Monday, December 2 Plympton Board of Selectmen meeting to prepare for the special town meeting on December 16.

Thirty-five people will have to be present to constitute a quorum. There will be seven articles on the warrant to be voted upon. Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy said that the warrant would be mailed to residents. Dennehy said that the cost for making and printing the warrant for the mailing was $1500 so future warrants may need to be distributed only electronically.

Article 1, which pertains to zoning, will be handled by the Planning Board and will require a two-thirds vote to pass. Article 2, which pertains to the police chief, will require a majority vote. Selectman Chair Christine Joy will speak on the article. Article 3 which requires a majority vote would authorize the selectmen to create safety zones with reduced speed limits. Selectman Mark Russo will make the motion and speak to the article. Selectman John Traynor agreed to speak on Article 4 which intends to secure money for a Council on Aging van. It will require a two-thirds vote. Chair of the Bylaw Review Committee Alan Wheelock will speak to Article 5 which would change the fees, etc. related to animal control. It will require a majority vote to pass. Articles 6 and 7 require a majority vote and will be explained by a member of the Board of Assessors.

A tax classification hearing for fiscal year 2020 was originally scheduled during Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting but Dennehy received notification during the meeting that the Assessors had canceled and moved the meeting to 6:15 on December 16 at Dennett Elementary School just prior to the special town meeting.

The Selectmen shared an update on the efforts of the Town Campus Committee who met for the first time the previous week. “They are going to be looking at really, two things. One will be the campus and the other will be building and land needs,” Joy said. The Committee will be setting up a maintenance schedule for building needs including large pieces of equipment such as air conditioners and furnaces. The hope is to eliminate doing band-aid type work on these items and focusing rather on spending money where it can be put to its best use. The next meeting will be January 7 at 6:15 p.m.

Joy said that the town had reached out to both The Brockton Area Transit Authority (BAT) and The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) about bringing services to town. BAT was very interested in meeting with Dennehy and Halifax town administrator Charlie Seelig. Taunton Mayor  Thomas Hoye is the current Chair of the GATRA Advisory Board. Traynor said that he had reached out to State Representative Kathleen LaNatra to organize introductions.

The Selectmen each shared their raves of the past few weeks. Traynor praised the annual Thanksgiving Feast organized by CASA (Community and School Association) and held at Dennett Elementary School. Traynor noted the efforts of the volunteers and said, “It was just a fun time and the spirit of the town was there.” Traynor also mentioned that the Boy Scouts are selling wreaths in town.

Joy’s rave was the upcoming pancake breakfast this Saturday, December 8 at 8 a.m. Santa will also be in attendance. Russo shared an experience he had recently sitting in on a meeting between Executive Director at The Compact of Cape Cod Mark Robinson, a representative from the Open Space Committee, and some private citizens. Russo praised the cooperative effort of those involved to look at a project proactively.

By Mallory McCarthy
The Laker Student Editor

Ms. Cahill’s journalism class sat in a semi-circle, intently listening to the life stories of their guest speaker Dr. Dorothy MacFarlane this past October 15th. MacFarlane is a Kingston resident and graduate of Silver Lake’s class of ‘61. She returned to her alma mater to share her experiences as a woman working in the male-dominated science field. MacFarlane explained her hardships and struggles with sexual harassment throughout her career, and expressed her hopes for gender equality in the future.

As a child, MacFarlane excelled in science and math. She followed her father’s words of wisdom to “aim high,” and wanted to pursue an education in the chemistry field. However, a college advisor told MacFarlane that chemistry is for men, and women should only consider careers in biology. Following this advice, MacFarlane earned her BA in Biology at Northeastern University in 1966, and went on to earn a master’s degree in physiology in 1972.

MacFarlane experienced sexual harassment during her college experiences. She told the students how she was afraid to walk down certain hallways in the school buildings because some male professors and administrators were notorious for cornering the young female students. MacFarlane said the harassment ranged from unwanted verbal advances to physical abuse. Whatever the victimized students endured, MacFarlane made it clear that there was nowhere to seek justice– often times the individuals students should turn to for help were perpetrators.

When MacFarlane landed a job with the U.S. Borax company and moved out to California to begin her career, she hoped she would be taken more seriously. Yet, sexism in the workplace was evident from the very beginning of MacFarlane’s experience, with male higher-ups penalizing women for their achievements.

MacFarlane explained to Laker students how the harassment was not always blatant: Her presentations were at times cut short with insignificant questions, and she was often scheduled to present last, when all the men of the company were eager to leave and play golf. MacFarlane felt that she was not always taken seriously and granted the respect she deserved, and she was paid less than male individuals who had the same qualifications. This subtle, but continous discrimination only progressed as she attempted to flourish in her field.

Eventually the harassment became physical and more egregious. During a company trip to Puerto Rico, she was groped by one of her coworkers on the dance floor. Incensed by this, MacFarlane fled to her hotel room, where the man followed her and repetitively knocked on the door. MacFarlane was mortified by the unwanted attention and commotion caused, and waited until the man gave up. Later, she answered a phone call and remembered hearing, not only the voice of the pursuing man, but the laughter of her colleagues in the background. The people she thought of as friends, along with her bosses, found the situation entertaining and did nothing to rectify the hurt and embarrassment MacFarlane felt.

 After that trip, MacFarlane realized she would never be valued as an equal in that company. She shared that women did not have many options with regard to sexual harassment in the workplace. “Either you took it or you left.” MacFarlane left. This decision afforded MacFarlane the opportunity to continue her education, and she eventually earned her doctorate in biology in 1996.

In the wake of campaigns like the #metoo movement, Doctor Dot’s experiences are relevant more than ever. While sexual discrimination still remains part of our nation’s institutionalized culture, Dr. Dot is hopeful that women will keep making forward progress. She found assurance in the fact that Cahill’s thirteen year-old daughter could not conceptualize the wardrobe limitations put on female college students in the 70’s. When Dr. Dot explained she was only allowed to wear pants on Saturdays, Cahill’s daughter questioned, “What did you wear then!?” The skirt rules of the past are so far removed from the eight-grader’s current experience, that she misunderstood Dr. Dot’s anecdote.

Dr. Dot is still visibly angry and upset when she talks about the harassment she endured so many years ago.  She stood up against inequalities and hopes that by sharing her stories young people can continue to make progress. She encourages Laker students to live by her father’s words and “aim high” for the future.

The Silver Lake High football team might not be in the playoffs anymore, but they did have a strong performance against a playoff-caliber team.

Last Friday night, the Lakers hosted the Nauset Warriors and shined on both sides of the ball en route to a 28-0 victory. With the win, the Lakers improved to 5-5 on the season.

An early interception by Drew Keiran gave the Lakers the ball around midfield, and they capitalized on the field position. Ben Lofstrom capped off the drive with a short touchdown run and Keiran’s extra point made it 7-0 Lakers.

In the second quarter, Keiran had another interception, once again giving the Lakers solid field position. This time, they scored on a 35-yard touchdown run by Matt Gabra; Keira hit the extra point, putting the Lakers up 14-0.

Defensively, the Lakers had three first half interceptions; Owen Thompson got one on a deep ball as time expired.

The Lakers started the second half with the ball and Jake LaFerrara caught a touchdown pass from Lofstrom to complete a 60-yard drive. Nauset blocked the Lakers extra point attempt, making it a 20-0 game.

With Gabra excelling on the ground, the team also moved the ball downfield early in the fourth quarter. In the red zone, Lofstrom then hit Sean Waters with a short touchdown pass. The Lakers went for two and Waters caught another pass from Lofstrom, giving the Lakers a 28-0 lead.

The Lakers defense continued to shut down Nauset and Kyle Cipullo blocked a punt, giving the Lakers the ball back; with the game out of reach, they put in their second offense.

The Lakers have one last game left on their schedule: the annual Thanksgiving Day bout against the Pembroke Titans (10:00 a.m. start time).

Pembroke is the home team this year but surely, the Lakers have to be the favorite to win this one. Pembroke is 2-8 this season and coming off a 42-6 loss to Dedham, a team who did not make the playoffs this season.

Vice Chair Jason Fraser provided an update on the playground plans for the Dennett Elementary School at the Plympton School Committee meeting on Monday, Nov. 4. Fraser and Dennett Principal Peter Veneto had what Fraser described as “a very fruitful meeting” with consultant Joseph Dufour of O’Brien and Sons.

The two-hour meeting included a discussion of the plans to make the new playground as accessible as possible for all students. The original plan included a wheelchair accessible swing but Dufour said it takes two people to man the swing and because of risks posed by the heavy pendulum, it would have to be secluded from the rest of the playground.

Fraser said that since that defeats the purpose of being more inclusive, they will instead have two of the swings on the playground be adaptive swings that are molded and include a harness.

Dufour also dissuaded them from using an abundance of pine bark mulch as it may not be allowed as a surface on playgrounds in the near future as it wears down within 3-6 months affecting its impact resistance.  Dufour suggested incorporating more rubber surface into the design. A rubber surface is wheelchair-accessible whereas woodchips are not. Rubber grounding comes in at $17 per sq. ft., making it more expensive than mulch. Fraser asked the committee if upon completion of the project the contingency fund still exists that it be applied toward more rubber grounding. Committee Chair Jon Wilhelmsen suggested first running it by some others but agreed saying, “I think provided the money is there and available and there isn’t any cost overrun once the project is finished, I think there is some long term benefit to the town.”

A ground level merry-go-round was another ADA compliant feature that was discussed. The installation, delivery, and equipment will cost an additional $37,000. Dufour said that he could complete the installation over the summer. Regarding the addition, Fraser said, “We really felt that at that point we would have a well-rounded playground that we could hang our hats on and hold onto for the next twenty/twenty-five years.” Fraser asked the committee for their support in using school choice funds toward the merry-go-round.

Regarding cost, Fraser said they currently have $226,000 including school choice funds and Community Preservation Committee (CPC) funds with some money being held back as a contingency fund. As drawn up, the plan proposed by Dufour would cost $201,000. Fraser said it is looking likely that they will be going with O’Brien and Sons for the creation of the new playground.

Assistant Superintendent Jill Proulx gave a presentation on the Dennett students’ MCAS results. Their results indicated that they are outperforming 73 percent of other elementary and middle schools in the state.

Dennett students had high growth in both English Language Arts (ELA) and math as well as exceeding targets in science. Fraser expressed relief that the outcomes were significantly better than last years’. Wilhelmsen pointed out that given that Plympton has such a small population, the sample same size is limited and therefore a change in just a few students can make a big difference in the results.

Proulx said that chronic absenteeism (a measure used in reporting MCAS results) did rise slightly from 5.1 percent to 6.8 percent. While Proulx asked that no one come to school with the flu she did want to remind parents and students of the importance of coming to school whenever possible.

The Title 1 Director and K-6 Curriculum Coordinator Melissa Farrell also spoke to the committee. Farrell said that Dennett has adopted a new math program this year that is better aligned with state standards.

Farrell also said that they are currently working across the district to ensure that the science curriculum is better aligned with standards. Farrell also informed the committee that there will be a $120,000 cut in Title 1 funding. Farrell said that this year would proceed as usual, but that in January, it will be necessary to evaluate where they are.

Both site visits to the current campuses of the two superintendent finalists were conducted this past week. Final interviews will be held on November 11 and November 12 at 6 pm in the Silver Lake Regional High School library. A final deliberation and decision will be made on November 13 or November 14, if needed.

Important upcoming dates include a D.A.R.E. coffee hour on November 12. The event will be videotaped and posted to the school website. Picture retakes will take place on November 18 and the annual Thanksgiving feast will be on November 20 at 11:30.

There is no school on November 28 and 29.