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Only 7% vote in Halifax election

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HALIFAX– With 15 elected positions open, only 384, or 7%, of 5,344 registered voters took to the polls in Halifax on May 14.

Only three races on the ballot were contested, and no candidates filed papers for several of the seats, including both three-year terms on Holmes Public Library Board of Trustees, a five-year term on the Halifax Housing Authority and four-year and five-year terms on the Planning Board.

Thomas Millias, of South Street, who also is about to begin the second year of his first term with the Board of Selectmen, was re-elected to the Board of Assessors against Michael J. Schleifff, of Paradise Lane, 238-118.

Schleiff,  who received 144 votes, also lost his bid for Constable, the two seats being won by Thomas Hammond, of Paradise Lane, and Thomas Shindler, of Ninth Avenue, with 227 votes and 168 votes, respectively.

Schindler was also re-elected in an uncontested race as Parks Commissioner with 291 votes. John L. Weber, of Cranberry Drive, was re-elected, in an uncontested race, to the Board of Health, with 286 votes.

Kim Roy, of Plymouth Street, was re-elected as Selectman, unopposed, for a three-year term, her third term on the board.

Kimberly Cicone, of Highland Circle, won a three-year term on the Halifax Elementary School Committee, 203-108, besting Robert Baker of Holmes Street.  Paula Hatch of Oak Place was re-elected for a three-year term to the Silver Lake Regional School Committee.

Patricia McCarthy, of Parsons Lane, was elected to a four-year term on the Halifax Housing Authority, unopposed.

Karlis Skulte, of Rye Meadow Lane, won a four-year term on the planning board with 17 votes, but the seat for a five-year term resulted in a “failure-to-elect” sitation where no candidate is elected.

Robert Baker, of Holmes Street, and Madeline Flood, of Twin Lakes Drive, were both elected to the Board of Library Trustees for three-year terms as write-in candidates, but two open Planning Board seats resulted in  “failure-to-elect” situations, leaving them vacant.

Verizon strike hits home

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HALIFAX– Jamie Fitzgerald of Halifax and Jerry Hunter of Whitman, both unionized Verizon workers (IBEW Local 2322), joined in solidarity by Dennis Desmaris, of another company and union, were seen picketing on the sidewalk in front of the new Verizon Wireless store on Plymouth Street on Tuesday, May 10, with a steady stream of cars honking their support.

The men claimed that Verizon was attempting to export jobs, such as those in call-centers, to foreign countries, including Mexico, India and the Philippines. Hunter says that Verizon doesn’t have to pay foreign employees as much as Americans. “They are stealing our jobs. We have to fight back,” he said.

Fitzgerald mentioned that Verizon was trying to create a more mobile workforce, moving workers from their normal workplace for up to two months at a time without any extra compensation or any longer commute. He said that this was for non-emergency work.

They both also complained about the increasing use of contractors by Verizon, who they say don’t have to be compensated as much as union workers nor do they have to provide benefits.

Yet the store being picketed by the union members was not even a company-owned store, but a franchised retailer. Why were they picketing in front of the Halifax Verizon Wireless store?

According to Hunter, while it’s not the major focus of the strike, some believe that Verizon is franchising more stores, and closing company-owned stores, with cost-cutting in mind. The employees of a franchised store work for the franchisee, not Verizon, which they say is another form of outsourcing.

They were quick to note that they were not blocking any access to the store, and were not personally upset with the store’s owner or workers, just at Verizon.

The striking workers are part of a larger union action against Verizon that has been going on for a month, involving about 40,000 workers and the two unions that they are members of, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

Cicone runs for HES school seat

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Dear Halifax Residents,

My name is Kim Cicone and I am running for Halifax Elementary School Committee.  I am running for School Committee because I am a concerned parent and taxpayer.

In the seven years that my children have been at HES I have been an involved volunteer at the school. I have spent the past four years on the board of the HES PTO.  I spent two years as the President and the past two years as the Vice President.  During this time I have worked closely with the administration and have a good idea of how the school is run.  I also have a close relationship with many of the teachers and students at the school.  In addition, I have been the Secretary of the HES School Committee since August 2015.  Prior to my involvement with the PTO I was on the Board of Trustees of the Holmes Public Library for four years.

I hope to add the voice of a parent to the School Committee (currently only one of the five members of the committee has children in the school).  I would like to look out for the best interests of our students and teachers while keeping an eye on the budget.  In attending the School Committee meetings over the past year it seems that not all of the Committee members have the best interest of the students in mind when making decisions. I sincerely hope that adding my voice to the committee will change that.

Thank you for your time and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me at kimander@yahoo.com. Also, please keep an eye on the election news so you can make an informed decision on Election Day, May 14, 2016.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Cicone

First Saturday brings first class guitar performance

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First Saturday at the Plympton Public Library brought many patrons to hear a classical guitar performance by Glorianne Collver-Jacobson, a recent Plympton transplant, whose considerable education in music entertained many at the library for more than an hour.

Collver-Jacobson grew up in California and received her B.A. in music from the University of California, Berkley.  She took her junior year abroad in France, and summer in Spain.

Her classical guitar studies began when she was 14 and continued in Barcelona, Spain with Renata Tarrago.  She took international Master Classes with Julian Bream, Antonio Laro, Alirio Diaz and Manuel Barrueco, augmenting her training.  She also studied lute with Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basilliensis in Basel, Switzerland.

Glorianne lived in Europe for some time, continuing her studies in music and also teaching.

After returning to the United States, she and her husband moved to New England in the 1980s, and moved to Plympton last July.   

She has performed in concert in Europe and the United States, both as soloist and with other artists.

Glorianne is a Senior Music Performance Faculty at Wellesley College teaching guitar and lute, and coaches ensembles for the Mather Chamber Music Program at Harvard University.

She promises to keep us informed of other concerts planned in the area.

SLRHS STEM club shows how to make ice cream!

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SILVER LAKE/HALIFAX– On Monday, April 11, and Tuesday, April 12, students from Silver Lake Regional High School (SLRHS) STEM club (an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) travelled to Halifax Elementary School to tutor first, second, third and fourth graders in that school’s STEM/STEAM club (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) in the science of making home-made ice-cream (and, of course, understanding the principles of heat transfer and states of matter).

Halifax Elementary School kindergarten teacher Lisa Whitney joined other colleagues from the club that she advises in the collaborative project, along with a colleague from SLRHS, overseeing 56 first and second graders on Monday and 54 third and fourth graders on Tuesday as well as a group of high-schoolers as the older students taught the younger ones how to make their own ice-cream, and the scientific principles behind ice-cream production.

According to Whitney, the STEM/STEAM concept has “exploded” in the last few years, as the number of jobs in those fields have grown. Their stated goal is to encourage and show students that they can go into these fields. At HES, the ‘a’ was added to signify “arts” to the STEM club because the arts and sciences are closely related and early-childhood educators are often focused on creative activities. Whitney says that while she loves to get students excited about science, many of the club’s activities relate to the arts in one way or another, and the subjects are not mutually exclusive.

“Educators need to show all students that it’s possible for them to enter STEM fields,” she said.

When asked if the STEM/STEAM subjects are more important than other subjects, or if the clubs promote those subjects over others, Whitney responded by noting that the STEM subjects are not more important than others, stating that the “arts, languages, and social sciences are huge parts of a student’s education… I think the important thing to demonstrate is there is an explosion of STEM careers and showing more students that they can enter these fields.”

Whitney also responded to a question of whether the STEM/STEAM clubs target or recruit students that in the past have not traditionally gone into these fields, such as women, for example.

“[T]he short answer is “no”,” she said. “[I want all] students to realize and to have the confidence that they can participate in STEM activities, even if they don’t think they are good [at], say math.  But more importantly, it’s the skills that they are working at– students are learning what they can do when they are asked to imagine, create, design, experiment, problem-solve, persevere, collaborate, and have fun. These are important skills for any student to learn.”

Whitney says that she and colleague Laura Piccirilli, a Title-One reading tutor, started the STEM club in January of this year, and used kits from a company in Shrewsbury to begin working on projects with students. This ran for six weeks, and after that, due to the club’s popularity, the two added the “a” for “arts”, started creating their own kits, and have continued to run the club on their own.

Whitney’s favorite part of advising the club? “[I] love science, and… love watching students participate and get excited about hands-on science activities…[t]he students bring so much energy and enthusiasm to the club that it’s been a lot of fun!” she said.

She went on to note, “What’s great about the club is [that] we are not doing a lot of direct teaching– we teachers are giving the students a little bit of knowledge and then letting them explore and learn on their own. I love watching students figure things out, because projects may not always be easy, but they can always be rewarding in some way.”

The HES STEM/STEAM team instructors are Whitney, Piccirilli, Linda Ford, Jen Belsky, JoAnn Croce, and Elaine Fryer. The more than 100 Halifax Elementary School students who participated are too numerous to name.

The Silver Lake Regional High School students involved last week were Will Parker (President of the SLRHS STEM Club), Hope Moran (Vice President of the SLRHS STEM Club), Glen Birch, Teddi Moskowitz, Bryn Hooper, Caitlin Scully, Joshua Towne, Hayden Wechter, John McCarthy, and Patrick McCarthy. Their club advisor is Vivi Liousas.

Whitney also wished to especially thank middle-schooler Mark Piccirilli who has volunteered at all 19 sessions of the HES STEM/STEAM club to date.

Halifax Selectmen attempt new legal agreement

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HALIFAX– Halifax Selectmen met on Tuesday, April 12 and two major items dominated the meeting: an attempt to negotiate with Scott Clawson and Fieldstone Farms regarding an update to the 1993 legal contract with the town to give him more flexibility with his horseshows, and some bad news for Robert Bergstrom, who found out that due to zoning regulations, his planned “music event” to be held at Fieldstone Farms was not an acceptable use of the property in an agricultural zone, effectively ending the project as conceived. MudFest, held at Nessralla Farm, is also now in question, as the board may have erred in providing permits for the event previously, according to Robert Piccirilli, Halifax Building Inspector on advice of Town Counsel. The news was also not great for Clawson, who has been looking to diversify the events held at his farm.

Fieldstone Farms legal agreement

Scott Clawson, proprietor of Fieldstone Farms, was again before the board with his attorney, this time attempting to negotiate modifications to a years-old legal agreement that he and the town entered into in 1993 allowing him to hold commercial horse shows. The legal agreement was necessary because commercial horse shows were not considered an allowable agricultural use of the property at the time, which is in an agricultural/residential zone in Halifax.

Clawson wishes to add to the total number of shows per year that he can hold, but claims that for at least a few years they will not increase drastically. He also wants to allow more RVs to house staff –  (up from 5 to 25) that often accompany the valuable horses on show days. His attorney also debated with the Fire Chief, Jason Viveiros, over the type of medical personnel necessary at the shows, at one point even questioning Viveiros as to who he had spoken to at the state-level for his information.

Viveiros took the questioning of his authority in stride, but appeared visibly surprised at the remark. Selectmen Chairman Kim Roy made it quite clear that speaking for herself, not the whole board, that she would take the advice of Chief Viveiros on that matter.

Clawson, who was recently called before the Board for advertising more horse shows than were in his agreement, did not escape a rebuke from Selectman Troy Garron during the negotiations, who reminded Clawson, “You do remember how we got here, right?”

Two neighbors were present, and another who was not present wrote the board, all with noise concerns, as well as a concern about trash after the shows. Clawson stated that he will do more to control noise in the future and will work with neighbors on any issues they have.

The board will continue to negotiate the draft agreement with Clawson, but is seeking input from abutters, neighbors and the public before approving any changes and moving forward with the legal process of changing the agreement.

Bombshell Dropped On Bergstrom

Charlie Seelig, Halifax Town Administrator, delivered some bad news to Robert Bergstrom, who is known for his MudFest truck-racing event and more recently for planning a large-scale two-day concert to be held at Fieldstone Farms this summer.

Seelig and Building Inspector Robert Piccirilli had done some further zoning research, and consulted Town Land Counsel, and all agree that commercial or entertainment events cannot be held on property in an agricultural zone.

Thus the concert will not happen without a change in zoning by-laws, which require both the planning board’s approval and a 2/3 vote at Town Meeting, which cannot happen this year given how quickly town meeting is coming up. Seelig said that zoning by-laws are notoriously difficult to change, even for a future year.

MudFest, held at Nessrella Farm, is now being called into question as well. Seelig stated his belief that the board may have erred in their decision to permit that event previously, as they didn’t have that information at the time.

Selectmen Roy and Garron expressed that they wished they had had this information earlier, and Piccirilli stated, “This was not my intention. I was really looking for a way to fit you in [to the zoning by-laws].”

The only hope for MudFest is if the area of the property where it is held happens to be in a “conservancy zone”, but other zoning challenges exist, such as crossing differently zoned property to get to the event.

Bergstrom has worked diligently with the board for several years to put together the MudFest event that the board was initially skeptical towards, but has been increasingly popular and well-known, and the board did come around to support it in the past. Sadly for Bergstrom, it may need to find a new home.

In other news:

Town Clerk Barbara Gaynor is requesting that all Town Census forms, which were due in late January, be returned to Town Hall as soon as possible.

Plympton, Halifax after days of unseasonable weather

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PLYMPTON/HALIFAX– Despite windy weather last Thursday, snow squalls on Saturday and a one-two punch early April snowstorm on Monday and Tuesday, local officials reported that Plympton and Halifax were lucky with only a handful of motor vehicle accidents and downed trees and power lines.

Plympton Police Chief Patrick Dillon stated that Tuesday’s snowstorm, “caught us a bit by surprise,” but credited the Highway Department for keeping the roads as clear as possible. He stated Plympton saw few accidents.

Some notable incidents included a utility pole hit by a motor vehicle in front of Halifax Town Hall last Saturday, which snapped and knocked wires into the driveway, according to Halifax Fire Chief Jason Vivieros. Utility crews were quickly able to repair it.

Also in Halifax, Elm Street was closed for a period of about an hour on Tuesday after a pickup truck collided with a utility pole, knocking it into the street, according to Vivieros.

No serious injuries were reported.

“We were lucky,” he said, noting that conditions, especially Tuesday could have made for a much worse outcome.

Shane Sullivan at Bridgwater State Hospital until arraigned

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PLYMPTON – Shane Patrick Sullivan, 25, of Boston, continues to be held at Bridgewater State Hospital, now under a suicide watch, after a Plymouth District Court judge ordered him evaluated following charges that he allegedly attempted a home invasion on Brook Street, Plympton, Sunday, March 6, according to court documents.

Sullivan, whose arraignment was twice delayed directly following the alleged crime, was last to be arraigned Monday, March 28, but that was postponed at the request of the hospital, which is a secure mental health facility located at the Bridgewater Correctional Complex in Bridgewater.

The fourth attempt to arraign Sullivan will occur on Thursday, April 14 at 9 a.m. at the Plymouth District Court, 52 Obery St., Plymouth. He will remain in the custody of Bridgewater State Hospital until that date.

The hospital is conducting a forensic evaluation to determine Sullivan’s competency to stand trial and his criminal responsibility (known as a 15B evaluation).

Sullivan made headlines recently for allegedly leaving the Brook Retreat, a “sober-living” facility located at 55 Brook St., and attempting to break into a neighboring home on Brook Street with an icepick.

He is well known to police, law-enforcement officials have said, and court documents indicate a lengthy criminal record.

Sullivan was located when the victims called the Plympton Police, and according to the police narrative, he was making bizarre statements and was barefoot when found.

Sullivan told paramedics, who told police, that he had ingested drugs, although the veracity of the statement is not clear due to his behavior at the time police took him into custody and medical privacy laws.

Sullivan is charged with felony vandalizing property, felony home invasion, misdemeanor disturbing the peace and misdemeanor resisting arrest.

John Traynor is candidate for Selectman

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To all Plympton Residents:

I would like to announce my candidacy for Selectman of the Town of Plympton. A resident of the town since 1970, my wife Brenda and I have deep roots in the town. All three of our children went through Dennett Elementary and then onto Silver Lake Regional High School.

A graduate of Bentley College, with a degree in Accounting and Finance, I worked in private industry for over twenty five years in the business analysis and financial field, with an emphasis on long-range planning. During my eighteen years with Digital Equipment I made the transition from finance into consulting and sales as the senior corporate account manager for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

I have previously served twelve years on the Plympton Finance Committee, eight years as a Plympton Library Trustee, and the last eight years as Town Moderator. In addition I am a member of the committee addressing the Department of Revenue recommendations for the town, as well as a member of the Committee working with the University of Massachusetts Collins Center, through a State grant, to develop financial forecasts, a capital spending plan, and financial policies for the Town.

A member of the Upland Sportsman’s Club since 1970 I have served in the past as Club President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Director. I am also a member of the Plympton Garden Club and the Plympton Historical Society.

I am running for the Selectman’s position because I believe it’s important to continue the work of developing sound financial planning for the Town and to provide the leadership necessary to balance providing services without an undue tax burden. Plympton has a unique character that we all want to preserve.  I believe my extensive experience and knowledge of the town will serve Plympton well.

I would appreciate your vote on Saturday, May 21st.

John Traynor

Crescent Street