WHITMAN — A state policy change due to take effect March 1 would eliminate delivery of new vaccination doses for local fire departments and boards of health. It is meeting with near-universal criticism amid local officials and public safety personnel.

“It is highly premature to cut off the line of local vaccine doses, especially at this critical time,” said Whitman Fire Chief Timothy Grenno on Thursday, Feb. 18. “It cuts off a literal lifeline for many residents.”

Cutting off the supplies to the local clinics — operating for several weeks — showed a “gross lack of forethought” and is a waste of municipal time, energy and resources, he argued.

As state legislators, educators and representatives of more than a dozen Plymouth and Norfolk county police and fire departments and health boards looked on, Grenno sounded the alarm over the state’s mass vaccination program at the expense of local clinics. Holding a press conference at the Whitman Knights of Columbus on Bedford Street, officials expressed concern that the vulnerable elderly are especially being left behind.

“Since the Cold War, municipalities have been asked to plan and prepare for emergency situations,” said Grenno, who also serves as Whitman’s Emergency Management Agency director. “As a result, local leaders are uniquely qualified and trained to handle a situation such as the distribution of vaccines.”

State Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, attending along with state Rep. Alyson Sullivan, R-Abington, and state Rep. Kathleen LaNatra, D-Plymouth, said he planned to meet with state Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders’ office later in the day to readdress the change.

He said regional legislators sent a letter to the Baker Administration expressing disagreement with the vaccination policy change because local communities have the personnel to handle the situation.

“Our chiefs today aren’t saying that the mass vaccine sites aren’t working, they’re saying that they need it here, locally,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the Baker administration counted on local health officials from the beginning of the pandemic and is now shutting them out.

LaNatra added that Kingston and Plymouth have been in talks with Mass DPH for a long time with “no straight answers” to set up a regional vaccination site at the Kingston Collection.

“We need to put this back local,” she said. “Our chiefs, our boards of health, know their community. They know who is housebound.”

LaNatra, whose first-responder husband has been able to receive his second dose of vaccine, but not all have been able to do so.

“It’s a big lack of supply and every other week they’re changing their mind,” Brady said of state officials.

“We’re not against the mass sites, we’re not against the pharmacies that are having these [clinics] as well,” Abington Fire Chief John Nutall said. “There’s definitely a need for that, however, they cannot cover all of our residents.”

He said the state cited a question of equity as a major factor in officials’ reason for the policy change, but noted a supply had been approved for a private health spa located in an exclusive country club.

“We’re not allowed to question why these decisions are made,” Nutall said. “It is time to question what is going on, so that we can get the vaccines to our residents that we know best.”

Grenno said there is no doubt that there is a need for regional vaccination efforts, especially in larger areas or areas more adversely impacted by COVID-19, but said they must work in connection with locally led health boards and first responders. It is especially crucial during Phase 2 of the distribution, when seniors ages 75 and older are inoculated.

Whitman has more than 950 residents over age 75, and Grenno’s department offered to help transport them to a mass vaccination site with all proper precautions.

“We’ll register you, we’ll hold your hand, we’ll walk you in, we’ll get you vaccinated and we’ll bring you home,” he said the department told them.

Less than 25 of them accepted that invitation because of fear or mobility problems, he said.

Four Whitman clinics had been scheduled, which would have vaccinated more than 500 of them. The clinics have all been cancelled because the state is denying the vaccinations.

“These individuals are the ones who should be asked to drive the least distance and be given the greatest access to quick and efficient vaccination sites,” Grenno said. “They’re our neighbors helping each other  … local clinics for the oldest and sickest population, offer a familiar, a comfortable and convenient location when people need it the most.”

Mass sites are difficult for some to get to, involve long lines and staffed by unfamiliar people, while at local clinics they would be greeted by local fire personnel and health agents and involve shorter lines.

Whitman-Hanson Superintendent of Schools Jeff Szymaniak said vaccinations for teachers and students are also a concern, especially since teachers would run the risk of missing a school day to travel to a mass vaccination site.

“It was surprising to me that our schools aren’t being used as mass vaccination sites,” Szymaniak said. “Our school nurses are available and ready to work with our local health agents and fire chiefs to provide vaccines not only to our 65-and over populations,  but sequentially, our teachers.”

He noted teachers have been moved down the priority list for vaccines.

He argued the change reflects either a significant policy change by the state or a major vaccine supply shortage coming to the state from the federal level.

“Either way, it is an issue that should be discussed and addressed,” he said.

Grenno also expressed concern about the status of the state’s online vaccination registration at VaxFinder, which crashed due to heavy demand at about 8:30 a.m. Feb. 18. The state’s 211 information line also went down that morning.

He said Whitman registers its elder residents, noting a lot of senior residents don’t even own a computer.

“We are prepared to provide local vaccine clinics,” said Medway Fire Chief Jeff Lynch, who is president of the Norfolk County Fire Chiefs Association. “We’ve done extensive planning, we’ve done significant investment in equipment and training for our firefighters.”

Lynch said fire personnel stand ready to bring the vaccine to homebound elders, but as of now, he is not aware of the plan to serve them.

Hanover Town Manager Joe Colangelo said his town has already invested $500 in federal CARES Act funds to build up a program to test residents and merge to vaccinations. Hanover Fire Chief Jeff Blanchard added that town’s frustration is palpable.

“We are prepared to do vaccinations, but we have no vaccine,” Blanchard said.

Abington Board of Health member Marty Golightly has vaccinated more than 200 75+ residents and has a plan in place to vaccinate shut-ins, asking only for the supplies to take care of his town’s own people.

Communities represented: Whitman fire and police departments, schools and town administrator, Hanson Fire Department and Board of Health, Abington Fire Department and Board of Health, Hanover Fire Department and Town Manager, Cohasset Fire Department, Duxbury Fire Department, East Bridgewater Fire Department, Halifax Fire Department, West Bridgewater Fire Department, Medway Fire Department and Board of Health, Plympton Fire Department State Representative, Canton, Stoughton Board of Health, Brookline Fire Department and Middleboro Fire Department.

Halifax has recently been embroiled in a controversy surrounding what kinds of signs and flags can be displayed in classrooms. Most recently, flags with vertical rainbow bars and PEACE emblazoned in big black bold letters across them were hung in the back of classrooms at Halifax Elementary School. The flags were removed after Principal Kayne Beaudry received complaints from parents who said they felt politically marginalized by the presence of the flags. Still, other parents wished to have different flags displayed in the classroom.

Silver Lake Superintendent Jill Proulx sent a letter home to caregivers stating, “Under equal access laws and regulations, we have to provide access to numerous points of view and cannot discriminate based on a particular viewpoint.” Moving forward, all flags and signs must be approved by the school administration prior to being displayed.

WBZ TV recently aired a piece on the controversy in town. Reporter Paul Burton interviewed Halifax Elementary School fifth grader Charlie Eldridge. Eldridge said that for him the flag represented “… that everyone should have peace and not be rude/mean.” He went on to say that the flag spoke to the need to just accept everyone for who they are. Parent Evan Smith told WBZ, “It’s simply encouraging love and kindness and I honestly don’t know why anyone would feel politically marginalized by that.”

A Change.org petition titled “Re-hang the Peace Flag at Halifax Elementary School” was started by Lana Eldridge and as of press time it has 5,727 signatures. The petition is aimed at Superintendent Proulx. The message on the petition says, “Please join me as I support my son, Charlie in his quest to get the Rainbow Peace flags re-hung at Halifax Elementary School. To encourage children to foster a community of love and acceptance is so important in today’s world. This flag represents us all on a human level. We should be celebrating each other, not fighting amongst ourselves!”

An event has been organized by Lori Costa-Cline and Jay Cline called Stand-Out PEACE for this Saturday in Halifax. A Facebook page has been started for the event. Organizers describe the event as, “a respectful public stand-out to promote peace and inclusion in our town and beyond.” The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with demonstrators lining up along the sidewalks at the intersection of Routes 106 and 58. While participants are asked to bring signs that promote peace and inclusivity, they have been asked not to bring signs that display broader political messages.

The flag in question was designed by artist Virginia Fitzgerald and features 10 vertical stripes of different colors and the word PEACE in black lettering. The red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple colors are representative of the rainbow flag originally designed by artist and activist Gilbert Baker in the late seventies for the LGBTQ community. The current iteration of the Pride flag actually features a few less stripes than Baker’s original.

The PEACE across the flag is reminiscent of the Italian peace flag first flown in 1961 in demonstrations against nuclear weapons. That flag has horizontal multi-colored bars and the word PACE, or peace in Italian, in white across it. In 2002, the flag was given new life as it was used in the campaign throughout Italy to protest the impending war in Iraq.

The current rainbow PEACE flag causing the controversy in Halifax has new colors added in skin tone shades to represent racial justice. The website commonstreet.org states, “The Rainbow Peace Flag Project seeks to extend kindness and caring across national borders, with love that includes people of all sexualities, genders, abilities, religions, races, and cultures, and to condemn acts of violence and hatred, embracing peaceful dialogue instead.”

Working all year to prevent mosquito breeding and conducting research to find what works best, the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project is proud to announce their receipt from the Department of Agricultural Resources, a citation for Outstanding Performance for their response to the Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus interventions of 2019 and 2020. The award is given annually and recognizes individuals or agencies that have made extraordinary contributions to public service.

Submitted by Cathleen Drinan, a Commissioner for the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project

Plympton’s Emergency Management Director and Fire Chief Stephen G. Silva told The Express on  Tuesday that Plympton’s increase to “Red” as of last Thursday was expected.  “We have been hovering in a yellow status for some time.”   The color status is based on a percentage of positive cases weighted against total persons tested, and then compared to the total community population.  This analysis is performed at the state level, Silva explained.

“When certain criteria are reached, the zone color changes.  Because we have such a small population compared to other communities, a small shift can change the equation and move us into a different category.  We have been the only community for months that remained in a lesser group for the entire area.  When you look at the state maps we are “surrounded” by red.

Last Thursday Plympton’s positive COVID-19 case count was 28, with another four additional cases as of Tuesday, according to Chief Silva.

“There is no smoking gun or hot spot that we have been able to identify at this time,” Silva said.  “I expected a rise due to increased testing as a result of better awareness and of course the return from holiday travel.  It is interesting that many people are testing as a safety measure only to find they are positive.  Many are fully asymptomatic or have had very mild symptoms; that is not to say others are not becoming very ill,” Silva said. “The change since spring is the more asymptomatic cases especially in the younger population.  This change in my opinion may breed a false sense of security.

“We are monitoring this very closely.  I optimistically hope the next set of numbers will show either a plateau or decline.”

Tuesday, Jan. 12, the Halifax fire station became a  Public Safety Vaccination Clinic with first responders receiving their first shots.

“This has been several months in the works.  Our staff has worked very hard to get our Community Paramedic Program licensed by the state and obtain the proper approvals to administer the vaccines.”

Viveiros furthered, “By the beginning of next week we hope to have all of our first responders done and are already working on plans to expand this to our elderly populations.”

HALIFAX – Keith Swanson, Halifax Water Superintendent, was recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Drinking Water Program for outstanding performance in 2019.

The Halifax water system achieved one of the top compliance scores in the Medium and Large Community System category of the 2020 Public Water System Awards Program.

“MassDEP realizes that it is no easy task to keep up with the ever-evolving federal and state drinking water regulations.  Your compliance efforts have not gone unnoticed,” the letter accompanying the certificate stated.

Swanson, who has been Halifax’s Water Superintendent for the past seven years, told The Express that his job has many facets, with a major portion of his time devoted to testing and communicating those results to the state and federal government by monthly and annual reports to ensure that Halifax’s water is safe and healthy to drink.

“We check for asbestos, chlorine, haloacetic acids, inorganics, lead and copper, nitrate, nitrite, manganese, perchlorate, radium 226-228, plus much more,” Swanson said.

Halifax water is pumped from four wells, Swanson told us, and what is not used in the system on its way to the tank is stored in the tall blue tank behind the Town Hall.

Swanson also takes care of the filtration plant on Plymouth Street where the water is filtered, the Ph adjusted, and disinfected, before going on to the faucet or water tank.

He has been a member of the Water Department for 26 years, serving as its superintendent for the past seven years.

Founder and Executive Director of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful (KMB) Neil Rhein led off the 2020 Massachusetts Clean Community Awards which was held virtually on December 3. Rhein, who also serves on the Select Board in Mansfield, explained the mission of the nonprofit organization KMB. Goals of the organization include litter prevention and cleanup, volunteer empowerment, recycling and waste reduction, beautification and community greening, and education and behavior change.

There are currently 28 local chapters of KMB around the state. The five newest chapters include Newton, Salem, Beverly, Shrewsbury, and Fitchburg. Rhein also thanked the local chapter leaders including Jeanne Kling of the Halifax Beautification Committee. He also noted that 23 of the 28 chapter leaders are women. Some of the highlights of the organization from the last year include distributing litter cleanup kits to local chapters in the spring of 2020, launching the litter cleanup crew in July, and distributing $2,500 via the annual plant something beautiful grants.

Rhein announced the night’s award winners including Shirley Graf of Halifax being named the KMB Litter Buster of the Year. Rhein described the award as being the most coveted of the night and said that they had nine deserving nominees that year. He described the award saying, “It’s really for those unsung heroes who are out there doing the dirty work of cleaning up other people’s messes.” He said that what set Graf apart from the other amazing litter busters is “her passion for the scourge of nip litter.”

Beginning in January of 2019, Graf made a decision to begin documenting the nip bottles she collected into a spreadsheet. As of October 2020, she had collected and stored 5,220 bottles over the course of 20 months. Graf donated those bottles to the Keep Gardner Beautiful Nip Hunt. Another of the night’s awards winners Jim Kraskouskas of Anthony’s Liquor Mart in Gardner, won for KMB Business Partner of the Year. Kraskouskas organized a nip pickup in October where he offered to pay 5 cents for every bottle picked up through 100,000 bottles. As a result of those collected nips, including the ones donated by Graf, Kraskouskas donated nearly $2,500.

In the last few weeks alone, Graf has collected an additional 700 nip bottles. As of early December, she said she had reached 6,018 total nips collected with more than 3,000 of those collected within a mile of her home. In addition to the nips that Graf collects she also picks up other forms of trash across the towns of Halifax, Pembroke, Duxbury, and Marshfield. Graf also helped to persuade the Halifax Board of Selectmen to support Massachusetts House Bill 2881 which would add nips to the bottle bill. While it didn’t pass, the hope is that it will be resurrected in January.

Graf spoke at the awards ceremony taking the time to thank Kling who was the one to nominate her. “I would particularly like to thank Jeanne Kling, the Chairwoman of the Beautification Committee who nominated me for this award.” Kling said of Graf, “It has been a pleasure to get to know Shirley over the last few years. She always has a smile and an encouraging word. She truly inspires others through her actions; it’s hard to imagine a more admirable or deserving candidate.” Graf thanked both the Monponsett Watershed Association and the Halifax Beautification Committee for their work to promote cleaner roadways and waterways.

Graf said that she first learned more about KMB through a chance encounter with the previous year’s Litter Buster of the Year award winner, Peter Walter.  Graf said that she randomly ran into Walter while he was also out and about picking up litter. Walter spoke and thanked Rhein and KMB for their efforts.

In addition to the Litter Buster of the Year, several other awards were also given out. Senator Jamie Eldridge of the Middlesex and Worcester district was named as the Environmental Legislator of the Year. He is the Senate Chair of the Clean Energy Caucus and has sponsored several bills to increase the use of solar energy and other renewable energies. Fellow state senator Paul Feeney called Eldridge an “unapologetic advocate for bold legislation.” The Municipal Partner of the Year was awarded to Doug Munroe of the Gardner DPW. Nancy Wall of Keep Mansfield Beautiful was awarded the Chapter Leader of the Year award. Rookie Chapter of the Year went to Keep Fitchburg Beautiful.

The final award of the night for the KMB Youth Volunteers of the Year went to Nate Lord and Ben Feldman of Natick. Rhein explained that this was a new award this year and said that one of the goals of the KMB is to inspire future generations. “The median age of our volunteers is probably not within Gen Z or even Millennials,” Rhein explained.

Senator Feeney also spoke about the importance of getting the younger generations involved. Feeney said that he was recently on a Zoom call for a public hearing in the community he represents. “The crux of the debate was about the protection of a beautiful swath of open space… hiking trails and hundred-year-old trees that are filled with wildlife,” Feeney explained. He said that over 20 high school students from an agricultural school were there to testify. He said that over the course of the hearing, the students began to change their backgrounds to images of Dr. Suess’ The Lorax, a story which tells of the danger of human destruction on the environment.

Democratic Presidential Nominee and former Governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991 Michael Dukakis also spoke at the event. Dukakis said that he first become interested in community cleanup due to the state of the city of Boston when he first became involved in politics. He described Boston as “filthy” and said “litter was everywhere.” Dukakis, who said he turned 87 on Election Day, recently retired from teaching at Northeastern University. He said that he would walk home from his job at Northeastern and pickup litter daily. “I pick up litter, I hope you pick up litter, I hope everyone picks up litter,” he said.

Dukakis shared a sentiment that had been expressed by others over the course of the night. He said he was concerned with the degree of seriousness with which the state government is appearing to take the issue of community cleanup. He ended by saying, “What’s this all about? A sense of pride, a sense of caring, a sense of how we make our communities something that we can be proud of.”

A website and several social media accounts exist for KMB including Keepmassbeautiful.org. Emails can be sent to info@keepmassbeautiful.org.

Oh what fun on the Plympton Green at the home of Jon Wilhelmsen and Ann Sobolewski for the unveiling of their annual gingerbread house Saturday.  Their holiday party took on a new look in the wake of the pandemic and the festivities were held outside.

The much anticipated gingerbread house of the year was actually two houses – very important houses – the Police Station and the Fire House.  “We wanted to celebrate our first responders this year.”

The annual gingerbread house has been part of Plympton’s holiday season for the past 23 years.  We asked Jon and Ann about their project.

Q.  How do you choose which house you are going to feature each year?

A.  We have done a number of houses/buildings in Plympton including a number of neighbors (259 Main, 260 Main, 268 Main, 271 Main) and a lot from around town including 53 Mayflower, 2 Ring Road, 39 Ring Road, 10 Center Street, 140 Palmer Road, 49 Main Street, 162 Main Street, 292 Main Street, 147 Lake Street, 32 Parsonage.  We did the Library back in 2013 and have occasionally done buildings not in Plympton, though largely we keep it within the town borders.

Q.  What are some of the challenges you have overcome?

A.  Since most of these houses are old and have evolved over time, rooflines can be very challenging (Library, Fire Station) to replicate in paper and then have them work perfectly in gingerbread.  Also – since gingerbread can change shape when baking, it can come out of the oven looking somewhat different from when it went in.  That is why I use an Exacto© knife to help trim or shave pieces down to get them to fit.  I also often have a spare piece of gingerbread for last minute piece replacement or edits in case a piece was missed in the drafting.

The Library was quite a challenge because it was difficult to photograph a full side of it given how large the building is and that the woods were in the way.  “For that plan I actually paced out the measurement of the building with window locations to use with the pictures to draw up the plans.  Also, we had a friend’s house that we did in another town that was built into a hill so we also made gingerbread cake and ‘built’ the house into the hillside rather than build the hillside around the house.”

One of the biggest challenges can be getting the pictures in the fall to use for creating the plans, he noted.  “We try to make sure the building is a surprise so we don’t want anyone knowing about it until the unveiling.  When you have folks who are home a lot, that can be very challenging to get the pictures without getting nabbed by the homeowner or perhaps having the police called on you!”

Q.  Getting the gingerbread just right so that it will stand up well must present its own obstacles, then, getting the add-ons to replicate the details is a challenge itself.  Is this your own recipe?  asked The Express.

A.  It is actually not a special recipe – just a standard gingerbread dough recipe from Martha Stewart, Sobolewski told The Express. That said – it is really important that the pieces be cold when baked so they hold their shape better – so a cold day is always better for the baking as they can be put out on the patio to keep cold while other pieces are baking in the oven.”

Q.  Does Jon make the blueprints for the houses?   How do you make your houses so accurate?

A.  Yes – I create the blueprints/templates for the various pieces needed to construct the buildings.  They are generally drafted using pictures of each side of the building and sometimes Google is enlisted to help looking the aerial view of the building for proportions.  Typically I start with one feature (a window or door) and that is used to create a standard form of measurement – if window #1 is 1.5” wide, then similar windows in each of the other pictures is also 1.5” wide.  If the space between windows is about 2 windows wide, then the space is 3” in the plan. We don’t strive for exact measurements, just ones that provide details that help you recognize the building and keep everything in proportion.”

Q. Tell me what you hope people will remember about your houses and why you keep doing this year after year for what has become decades!  Your gingerbread houses have become a treasured Plympton tradition.  I›m sure the town is glad you didn›t let anything like a global pandemic stop your baking artistry and holiday fun.

A.  When we decide to do a house, it often is done as a thank you for work done over the past year for the town or community.  We have also done it to welcome new neighbors or just as a nice gift.  Secondarily – almost all of these house are older homes.  It gives me a chance to better understand how they were put together and also, I hope, to help our guests/friends to more fully appreciate the different historic architecture in Plympton.  This year absent the party, we decided to double the work and give something back to our first responders – something fun that helps to let them know that as a community we appreciate all their hard work and sacrifice not just this year, but every year.  And – I think it is also a lot of fun to see the reaction to the creations – something that folks look forward to all year.  Both the cookies and the gingerbread buildings were something that we could still do safely and provide just a little bit of normal in a very not normal year.

Q.  And the cookies!  How many different cookies?  I can count the kinds on my enclosed cookie guide but I thought you might know it offhand.

A.   This year: 57