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Happy 100th Birthday, Charlie!

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Saturday, April 15, Halifax resident Charles N. “Charlie” Bauer, Jr., was surprised by family and friends with a birthday celebration at Henrich Hall, featuring a cake made by his daughter, Nancy Lemon, and a catered luncheon for the more than 50 guests who came to wish him well.
Throughout the afternoon, a slide show ran with photos of a life well-lived. He is a veteran of World War II, Army Air Corps ball turret gunner, and worked as a plant supervisor at Goddard Memorial Hospital over 30 years until his retirement.
His son-in-law Herb Lemon, read the Citation that was read into the Congressional Record to be kept in perpetuity.

It was an ‘eggcellent’ egg hunt in Halifax!

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Saturday, April 1, the Halifax Elementary School gymnasium hosted hundreds of children all hoping to fill their baskets and have fun at the 22nd Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Halifax Youth and Recreation Dept.
Once again, Dick Steele, Director, led the activities, with the help of a large white furry flop-eared rabbit. Throughout the morning and afternoon, children enjoyed music, tattoos, balloon creations, face painting, bouncy houses, pizza, and hot dogs.
Children were separated by age groups to give everyone a chance to bring home a basketful of eggs.
Hundreds of area children enjoyed the day.

Open Space survey wants to hear from you!

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Alan Wheelock
Special to the Express
Plympton residents have an exciting opportunity to participate in a survey that seeks to gather their opinions on the future quality of life for their town. Starting now – and running throughout the month of April – townspeople can make their voices heard by completing a survey from the Plympton Open Space Committee. The survey will be available in hardcopy at the Library and at the Town Clerk’s office at the Town House. It is also posted electronically on the Town of Plympton website. A similar survey was conducted in 2016, and the responses to that iteration can be seen on the Town of Plympton Open Space Committee website.
For quite some time, when Plympton residents responded to surveys from the Open Space Committee, two primary areas of concern came through loud and clear: a) they want the Town’s rural character to be preserved, and b) they want to see continuing efforts to protect the purity of the aquifer on which all households depend for their water. Protecting our well water has been gaining in importance in the minds of respondents in recent years, as development pressures steadily increase. The current survey consists of 14 questions and takes only a few minutes to fill out.
This new survey also contains questions relating to recreational opportunities in Plympton, and the Plympton Recreation Commission participated in the development of the questions. Overall, respondents will find opportunities to express their opinions in writing in the survey, as well as filling out multiple choice questions that pertain to strategies for preserving land, how they and their families utilize our protected areas, how long they have lived in Plympton, and other areas.
Conducting these surveys plays a vital role in maintaining the Town’s ability to apply for grants that go towards land conservation. A recent – and vivid! – example of this is the half-million-dollar grant that Plympton was awarded by the state to help preserve Turkey Swamp. It was the largest land conservation grant in the town’s history and allowed us to permanently protect 300 acres of critically important white cedar swamp – some of the most ecologically important lands in southeastern Massachusetts. If Plympton had not been up to date with its Open Space Plan and survey, the town would have not been eligible for this critically important grant.

Please look for the Open Space Committee’s survey in April – the Committee is hoping for a large number of responses!

Seed Swap at The Mercantile

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It was a beautiful Spring Saturday last weekend – perfect weather to stop in at the Mayflower Mercantile shop at 4 Mayflower Rd., Plympton, and partake of their Seed Swap, and learn more about the Plympton Garden Club and the efforts to bring it back to its former vibrant presence in the town.
It’s almost time to get a head start on your garden and start some seeds inside – about 4-6 weeks ahead of the last frost is what gardeners advise.
The Plympton Garden Club has a long history in Plympton and has undertaken many beautification projects, not the least of which is the annual holiday tree decoration at the Gazebo on the Town Green. The Garden Club has also spearheaded the Plympton Town-wide Cleanup Day, with the support of the Highway Dept.
Watch for announcements of Clean-up Day and the annual Garden Club Plant Sale.
A hot cup of coffee on a bright spring morning is just the thing. Lady Sunshine coffee brewers brought their trademark yellow VW Vanagon with all the coffee brewing paraphernalia inside to the Seed Swap where customers could buy a hot cuppa coffee. Elizabeth dreamed of building her own coffee shop and the stars aligned for her to bring the world a coffee community on wheels. You can’t help but smile when you see the bright yellow van coming down the road. That’s what it’s all about with Lady Sunshine – bringing a bit more sunshine into the world – one cup at a time.
Mayflower Mercantile, a wonderful old-fashioned store with everything you didn’t know you couldn’t live without, has more events scheduled for Spring:
Wednesday, April 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. Mayflower Mercantile will host an Easter Cookie Workshop put on by Le Sucre Bake Shop. Kacey will teach the ins and outs of decorating five different cookies using Royal Icing. This is a perfect workshop for beginners! Cost is $70 per person.
Stephanie of Gate & Garden Herbal Apothecary in Weymouth, will showcase her items the use of regional flora, using mainly personally foraged or home-grown botanicals. This is a special opportunity to acquaint yourselves with their herbal apothecary on Saturday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

On the Appalachian Trail

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Linda Redding
Special to the Express
The Halifax TRIAD met on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at the Halifax Town Hall. Halifax resident Dave Thurston was the guest speaker with a presentation on his 2022 hike of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.).
The presentation included pictures that Dave took along the way. He shared stories and discussed items from his hike that were on display including his tent, walking sticks and the medal he earned for completing the Appalachian Trail.
Dave started on the Trail. on March 1, 2022 at Springer Mountain in Georgia. Hiking the Appalachian Trail was a childhood dream for Dave and on October 12, 2022 he fulfilled that dream reaching the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine.
Dave noted that preparing for the seven month 2194.3 mile hike included daily long walks with a backpack weighing about thirty pounds. Hikers on the Trail must carry all their food and supplies. At points on the trail there were “Trail Angels” who would have water and food to help out the hikers. His wife would mail new hiking shoes and supplies to check-in points along the trail.
On the Appalachian Trail Dave was known as Christian. Hikers take on a trail name that they use along the trail with other hikers and at check-in stations. Dave’s “Certificate of Congratulations “ for completing the Appalachian Trail features his trail name.
Area 58 Community Media recorded the presentation and it will be available on the Halifax Community Channels and on the Area 58 Community Media YouTube page.
TRIAD is a partnership between local and regional groups to help inform and educate seniors. Halifax TRIAD meetings take place the first Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. in the Great Room of the Halifax Town Hall.
The April meeting will feature first responders from the Halifax Fire and Police Departments..

Plympton school budget up 8%

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The Plympton School Committee met in-person onMonday, Feb. 27, for the first time in nearly three years. Previously, meetings had been held virtually.
Superintendent Jill Proulx shared Version Two of the budget with the Committee. Regular day is at 3.13 percent, special education is at 22.24 percent, and the total budget is an increase of 8.56 percent. Committee Chair Jon Wilhelmsen asked which numbers in the budget were down that would likely increase next year. He said he was worried for down the road when laptops or other equipment would need to be replaced. Director of Business Services Christine Healy said that the funding Technology Director Steve Pellowe has received in grant money, would last for several years. Tech, textbooks, and instructional software were the three areas named in the budget as having significant decreases. “We cannot guarantee that that’s going to carry over to another year where it wouldn’t go back up again,” Wilhelmsen said of those areas. Committee member Jason Fraser called the budget “extremely tight” and “fiscally responsible” despite the seemingly large increase. The School Committee voted to approve the 2023-2024 out of district vocational budget of $60,000, the special education budget of 1,388,644, and the regular day operating budget of $2,854,051.
Proulx said that earlier this year they became aware of some problems surrounding the integrated preschool program. She said the main problem is that Silver Lake Regional is a Grade 7 through 12 program and does not include elementary. Wilhelmsen said, “Just so everyone’s clear what programs we are talking about – we are talking about the integrated preschool, which is pre-k, the sort of in-district special ed programs that are K-6… we’re also talking about certain support staff within our budget for our special ed, in-building program.” The State is allowing for a grace period so the district can make necessary changes.
Proulx said that they need to look at a multitude of factors including the need for additional staffing as well as increases to tuition as they look to find the best option for restructuring. Wilhelmsen said that one option would be to fully regionalize the entire district where you would have a single school committee overseeing everything. Proulx explained that an entire grade level could be added to the regional district but noted that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) would not allow for individualized programs such as the special education program, to be added to a district. Fraser asked if they could consider running a collaborative in lieu of the program being added to the district. Proulx explained that it could incur additional costs as staffing would need to be added as it couldn’t be shared. Proulx said that as of right now, they can either fully regionalize or one of the schools could fully absorb the programs. Fraser said that he was not interested in having the discussion surrounding fully regionalizing and Wilhelmsen said he thought that the residents of the three towns would likely feel similarly. “Plenty more to come on that,” Wilhelmsen said of the discussion. Fraser said, “I’m just a little surprised that DESE isn’t working harder to make what we have work considering it is right and good for kids.”
Wilhelmsen said, “Kingston is footing the bill for certain extra work for this program; they’re not being compensated for it. The people are doing the work and they’re doing it because there are students in their building and they would not neglect any student in their building but we’re not (we and Halifax) are not paying any percentage based on our students being in that building for administrative staff, for school psychologist, for nurses, for whatever, and that is something that we need to address regardless.”
Fraser gave an update on two policies. He said, “One has to do with access to our security cameras… it’s basically who is allowed to view our cameras and for what reasons and what rights parents have to any of the footage on cameras, for which circumstances.” He further said that the policy allows for emergency responders to access the cameras during emergencies. Parents are also allowed to come in and view the recordings though he noted that faces of students would be blurred. The second policy has to do with the current policy surrounding student surveys and the rights of parents to be notified when said surveys are given. Fraser said that parents would be given plenty of time to opt-out of surveys and would also be given sample examples of questions.
The Committee dealt with unfinished business. Wilhelmsen said that he met with the Police Chief to discuss putting out a sign to let people know that dogs are prohibited from the fields on the school grounds. Regarding the playground, Director of Business Services Christine Healy said that they will be ready to put the new surfacing down in the spring. Regarding the ongoing solar project at the school, Wilhelmsen said, “giving credit where credit is due, I have to thank the folks at DESE for being incredibly prompt in getting us their approval.” He said that panels should be placed on the backside of the building by April. “Hopefully that will have some incremental impact on our cost for electricity,” he explained.
Wilhelmsen gave an update on Capital Improvement and said that himself, Dennett Elementary School Principal Peter Veneto, and Director of Facilities Matt Durkee met to talk through some of the pressing items for the year ahead. He said there are no excess funds this year so they will need to think about things “a little bit differently.” He said that they will need to pay for a few classroom floors through an article at Town Meeting. He also said that improvements to the roof will likely be paid for with ARPA funds. There is a plan to use Town Properties Committee administrative funds to pay for an infrared study of the Dennett’s roof to determine what next steps need to be taken and what will be the associated costs.
Fraser provided a legislative update. Regarding private special education schools, Fraser said that typically the State governs how much those schools can raise their tuition. He said that they usually see three or four percent increases but that a 14 percent increase was approved for FY24. He said that the Governor would be releasing the House One budget soon but said that it appears that Plympton would be receiving an additional $40,000 in Chapter 70 funds next year. “Special ed Circuit Breaker is fully funded already in this first version of the budget for the year at 75 percent but she also included four times more dollars for extraordinary relief which is not paid back for the year that has already gone by; we can access those funds for the years that we are encumbering those expenses,” Fraser explained. He called it the first inning of a nine-inning budget process but noted that it is looking good for schools so far.
Fraser said that State Representative Kathy LaNatra filed legislation that would increase the special ed reserve fund from two to five percent. “This would, again, allow municipalities to establish a Special Ed reserve fund of up to five percent of net school funding in case they ever face extraordinary special ed costs; we’re at the cusp of that locally.” Wilhelmsen asked if there would ever come a time when the State would just take over special education. “We have had that discussion several times that special ed is the unifier of all school districts across the State. When we find assistance in special ed, it helps urban schools, rural schools, and suburban schools – wealthy districts and poorer districts, all the boats rise together when special ed is addressed … we are still advocating for it to be a ninety percent reimbursement at three times the foundation number,” Fraser explained. He further said that the State wants school districts invested financially so they would likely never take over 100 percent of costs.
Veneto provided a Principal’s report which began with letting the Committee know that enrollment stands at 240 students currently. He told the Committee that no one has applied for the open School Psychologist position saying it was a problem for many districts right now. He said that three people interviewed for a building substitute position but all three took other jobs. In a more positive update, Veneto said that the school is celebrating Read Across America.
Fraser told the Committee that the Governor’s press release on her budget was “a little bit nebulous about some language changes that the State’s going to be putting into this year’s budget to lessen restrictions on ESSER dollars from the State perspective to allow school districts to spend down those moneys before they sunset in a more fluid way.” Esser refers to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds that were issued to schools as a result of the Covid pandemic.
Superintendent Jill Proulx provided an update on students attending private, parochial, and charter schools. She said that Plympton has gone down from an all-time high of seven students to just two students this year. She said that overall students in the three communities attending private, parochial, or charter schools is actually up despite Plympton’s numbers falling. Proulx also said that one student in Plympton is utilizing school choice.

CLINTON, NY–Caitlyn Smith, of Kingston, has been named to the Dean’s List at Hamilton College for the 2022 fall semester.
To be named to the Dean’s List, a student must have carried a course load of four or more graded credits throughout the semester and earned an average of 3.5 or above on a 4.0 scale.
Smith, a senior majoring in history and religious studies, is a graduate of Silver Lake Regional High School.

The Memoir of a Female Soldier

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Introducing March as American Heroine’s Month, it is fitting to feature our own official state heroine, Deborah Sampson, in a newly released book based on her life,
This historical novel is closely based on the true story of Deborah Sampson, a young Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man, enlisted in the Continental Army and fought during the American Revolution. Learn about the amazing young woman, brought up in poverty, who enlisted in the army to support herself. This well-researched story helps us learn about this remarkable woman.
Stationed at West Point for a year and a half, she was wounded fighting the Tory loyalists who terrorized the Hudson Valley and was promoted as an aide to a general.
Twenty years later, as a wife and mother, Sampson told her tale as the first American woman to do a lecture tour. In this fictional memoir, Sampson sets the record straight about her life and military service, seeking to overcome prejudice against her and to gain the respect due her.
Deborah grew up in Middleborough, as did Jan Lewis Nelson, the book’s author. In his foreword, the author’s husband, Steve Nelson, tells how Jan recalled first learning about Deborah from a substitute teacher in junior high school. It made a lasting impression on her, and 16 years later she began research for this book, working with local historian the late Charles H. Bricknell of Plympton.
This led to Steve and Jan getting married in the house in Plympton where Deborah was born and living there while Jan worked on her book in 1974. Publishers weren’t enthusiastic about her project so she put the book away while she raised their son and life took the family in another direction. After the author was treated for breast cancer, life slowed down for the Nelsons. Steve took out the old boxes of pages and helped his wife put them together for the book you have here.
Sampson was named the official Massachusetts state heroine in 1983. After receiving an honorable discharge, she received a military pension. She married Benjamin Gannett from Sharon and the couple raised three children. Four years after her death in 1827, Gannett applied for, and received a widow’s pension, the first man in the country to do so. He unfortunately died before he could collect it. Deborah Sampson Gannett and her husband Benjamin are buried in Sharon.
Massachusetts observes each May 23 as an anniversary commemorating Deborah Sampson Gannett’s enlistment in the Continental Army.
The book is available for sale on Amazon.com.

TRIAD explains NARCAN use

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Linda Redding
Special to the Express
The Halifax TRIAD met on Tuesday, Feb.7, at the Halifax Town Hall.
Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz opened the meeting by discussing the initiatives in Plymouth County to help in the fight against drug overdoses and addiction. One successful program recognized nationally for innovation is Plymouth County Outreach (PCO). A collaborative effort made up of the 27 municipalities in Plymouth County along with the Bridgewater State University police department, PCO provides free tools and support to individuals and families living with substance abuse.
Hannah Panteleos. Program Manager, reviewed the many programs and resources offered through Plymouth County Outreach. A sampling of their programs include community outreach, Harm Reduction Kits, and support to families.
Recovery Coach Supervisor Haley Kennedy explained how Narcan can save lives when administered to an overdose victim. The Harm Reduction Kits that PCO provides on the streets include Narcan. She demonstrated how to properly administer Narcan. TRIAD members were encouraged to take the free Narcan provided by PCO. Visit plymouthcountyoutreach.org for more information or call (508) 830-4218 X261.
TRIAD is a partnership between local and regional groups to help inform and educate seniors. Halifax TRIAD meetings take place the first Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. in the Great Room of the Halifax Town Hall. The much-anticipated speaker for March is Halifax resident Dave Thurston Dave will be talking about his experience walking all 2198.4 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

Celtics honor young Kingston Hero

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Kingston resident Bendeshe Bonner was honored as a Celtics Hero Among Us for his efforts helping his village in Ethiopia by providing basic essential items and building a school. The ceremony was held during the. Boston Celtics’ game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 28.
Sixteen-year-old Bendeshe Bonner is living proof that “it takes a village” to raise a child.
The young man was adopted in 2007, and returned to his native Ethiopia in 2020 to reunite with his birth family. During his visit he recognized that the residents’ needs weren’t being met. When he returned to the United States, he created Bendeshe’s Village, a nonprofit that built a school and now provides school uniforms and covers tuition for more than 200 students. He hopes to expand the school’s programs and build community centers.
For building a bridge betwen his Massachusetts and Ethiopian villages and providing essential items and building a school with future plans to expand, Bonner was honored as a Hero Among Us.