PLYMPTON – On Monday, Oct. 15, Lisa Sullivan, a senior planner with the Old Colony Planning Council held a drop-in event at Town House to solicit opinions from the public and from town officials and committee members regarding the future of the village center and the Town House campus.

She was quick to note that it was a “visioning” event and that she was there to seek input, not to change anything. The OCPC provides grants and technical assistance for projects such as the future development and improvement of the village center, something that Selectmen have been discussing for some time.

“This is one…of the reasons that I ran for Selectman,” said Selectman Mark Russo. He wants to leave a “master plan” in place for officials in the future.

Some residents seemed a little confused as to who Sullivan was and what she exactly was there to do.

“Please don’t get upset,” said Sullivan. “We’re not here to make decisions…We make recommendations. We make a report.”

She’ll be summing up all of the input she gets, including from an online survey in a report that the Selectmen should receive in November, she says, for the Town to use as it sees fit.

They will analyze demographics, current zoning, streetscapes, parks, housing possibilities, even lighting and crosswalk preferences.

“Nothing will happen of this unless your community decides to act on it,” Sullivan added.

Participants at the event filled out surveys as they sipped bottled water and snacked on free cookies while talking to Sullivan, after she gave a brief presentation.

They also voted by placing colored stickers on charts depicting different suggested improvements for the village center. For example, several different types of affordable housing were pictured, and residents placed stickers next to the type they preferred, if any. Another chart contained several types of parks, while another showed crosswalks and another light polls.

One thing that became apparent quite quickly is that people define the boundaries of the village center in many different ways.

The board, according to Russo, hopes to have a master plan in place within a year. The survey is still available online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JNCL2HK

PLYMPTON – The Public Safety Building Committee met Oct. 3 for their monthly meeting.

Although the new driveway for the station was on the agenda, a perennially hot topic, it was only discussed briefly. After a site visit, the committee ended up discussing signage for the new station, a topic they had yet to address and was not, technically, on the agenda.

The Express was invited on an exclusive tour of the station but was asked not to photograph the inside of the building.

The approximately 6,500 square foot facility is well underway.

The framing, which can be seen from the street, will be finished by Friday, and windows have arrived and will be installed once the rain has let up, next week.

The electrical, plumbing and HVAC installation will all begin soon, Oct. 22.

The building has openings for large windows, and a community room will be in the front of the building. Offices surround a central reception area, which will be enclosed.

The prisoner holding cells, made out of concrete cinderblock, have taken shape, as has the booking area in the back of the station.

In the twilight, approaching Halloween, the dark and imposing half-built cells made for an eerie sight.

The very back of the building contains a secure sally-port to transfer prisoners from vehicles to cells and back.

Dan Pallotta, the project manager, says the building is about 30 percent complete.

He claims that the new station has the lowest cost per square foot of any new station in the state in the past three years.

The main topic of discussion at the PSBC meeting was an old, “retro” police sign that the police are fond of on the current, old station.

Robert Karling, the wiring inspector, brought up the fact the police are often concerned when the sign is not lit, which led to a further discussion of signage at the station, and on the Town House campus in general.

The group, at first discussed moving the old sign to the new building, but after taking a walk outside to look at it, Chairman Colleen Thompson took a strong stand against a move.

Pallotta even suggested using CPA money to restore the sign or build a replica of it. “It’ll need CPR before CPA money,” quipped Karling.

“I like blue lights,” Thompson said, which Pallotta eventually agreed with, and putting a sign at the bottom of the hill that would match the library sign.

Member Mark Russo mentioned that a master plan for the entire Town House campus is being developed now and public input is being sought. He expressed that he wanted to see signs that were compatible with each other, as well.

The PSBC will next meet Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m.

PLYMPTON – Plympton Selectmen met Monday night and had some upset neighbors before them. The citizens were frustrated that speed limit signs were raised in some areas on Main Street, Center Street, and Parsonage Road.

Scott Ripley, new Highway Superintendent, came before the board to explain the situation.

“We’re getting a pretty pricey job done for free,” he said, explaining that MassDOT was upgrading street signs throughout the town at no cost. But, on the flip side, the speed limits, which are set by the state on both town and state roads, are being adjusted as well.

The project entails the replacement of signs, guardrails, and new line striping in Plympton, Rochester and Middleboro. Plympton is getting about $250,000 in free work from the state, according to Selectmen Chairman John Traynor.

The explanation did nothing to assuage residents’ concerns. Although they did not personally attack Ripley, he was certainly in the hot seat as question after question came from residents and selectmen.

The scene was a bit of a free-for-all, as Traynor did not ask residents to identify themselves, and people, in their enthusiasm, talked over one another.

Ripley, to much laughter, stated that the process to change a speed limit is for the town, at its own expense, to do a speed study, and then submit it to the state for final approval.

He said that the previous superintendent had signed off on the changes, but that the document was very confusing to read and about 90-pages long.

Vicki Alberti, of Main St., asked if the neighbors can individually complain. “Right now, we’re [Center Street] faster than Route 58.”

Ripley replied, “Yes, but the legality is the state sets the speed limits.”

He and the board later encouraged residents to call or write letters to MassDot Division 5, the division overseeing the work.

Selectman Mark Russo suggested that some of the areas were “thickly settled,” and would thus be subject to lower speed limits.

“My understanding of thickly settled is 200-feet between houses,” he said.

Traynor also brought up the fundamental speed limit warrant article that failed in Halifax. He wants to talk to Charlie Seelig, Halifax Town Administrator, in further detail about what such a proposal entails.

The Halifax article would have set a basic speed limit throughout the town, unless otherwise marked, which is not uncommon in area communities, but failed at their last Special Town Meeting.

Another audience member asked if trucks could be restricted on Main Street. Traynor said that he’d look into it.

One resident read all of the speed limits along her stretch of road. “They don’t make any sense…It doesn’t pass the silly test!” she exclaimed.

In other news:

• The board signed the warrant for the state election.

• The board directed the Town Administrator to send a memo to the Planning Board, alerting them to develop a marijuana zoning by-law for the town before the next Town Meeting.

• There are openings on the Finance Committee and the Planning Board.

• Town House will be closed Monday, Oct. 8 in observance of Columbus Day.

• The board next meets on Monday, Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m. For the two hours prior to that meeting, from 4:30-6:30 p.m., selectmen and other town officials will welcome the public to an open house at Town House to give input on the “Master Plan” for the Town House Campus.

Tuesday’s Halifax Board of Selectmen meeting had a dog hearing over a German Shepperd killing a small Monti dog.

Because of cooperation between the dog owners, the German Shepperd is being given a second chance rather than being put down.

When describing what happened the owner of the German Shepperd said he was playing catch with a football with the dog in the front yard. The electric fence was not up because the dog was on leash. When the owner threw the ball the ball though, the leash failed. Katie who also lives at White Island Road was walking her two dogs at the time.

He heard screams after throwing the ball. This was when the German Shepperd grabbed the five-month-old Monti in its mouth and shook it. The dog succumbed to its injuries.

The owner of the victim’s dog vouched that the German Shepperd isn’t a vicious dog but believed it didn’t know what it was doing. After a recommendation from Animal Control Officer Noreen Callahan, the Board of Selectmen ordered the 17-month-old German Shepperd get training, stay up-to-date on its licensing at all times, and a permanent fence be installed in the owner’s yard.

“I don’t think it knew what it was doing, Katie who owned the dog that was killed said when describing the German Shepperd, “I don’t think it’s vicious.”

Selectman Thomas Millias said the situation was sad on both sides and after the testimony agreed the dog may not have attacked out of aggression. “The dog may have been riled up from play” Millias said. “It doesn’t fix things but at least we know.”

Katie told the Board of Selectmen that the German Shepperd’s owner took responsibility for the dog’s actions offering to pay restitution and paid the medical bills for her other dog.

Police Chief Selection Process Underway

The Board of Selectmen narrowed down their search for a new police chief to five applicants and two alternates in case any of the five decline to be interviewed. There were 28 total applicants.

At this point, the identities of the candidates were not revealed. The Board of Selectmen said they legally cannot release their names this early in the hiring process, All selected candidates were referred to by a number.

Several merits of the candidates were discussed. At least four of them had Masters degrees and several had military experience. One candidate was a colonel in the military police.

After the assessment center reviews the five candidates, Selectmen Chair Kim Roy said the names can be released. Interviews after that will be open to the public.

Wage and Personnel Appointment

The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved appointing Claudia Noble-Cotton to the Wage and Personnel Board.

Noble-Cotton has lived in Halifax for 15 years and has two teens at Silver lake High School. She said now that her children are older, she has more time to get involved.

Noble-Cotton’s experience aligns with the positions, Roy said. She works for JP Morgan in Boston and has experience with hiring and writing job description.

Other News

The Board of Selectmen approved a one-day liquor license for Our Lady of the Lake Cjurch’s Octoberfest. Only beer will be served at the event and all bartenders are T.I.P. certified.

The next Halifax Board of Selectmen Meeting is Tuesday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m.

WHITMAN — The most common image that comes to mind with the phrase “missing persons detective thriller” involve Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade or Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer — hard-bitten tough guys who chain-smoke cigarettes and wear felt fedoras and their .38 in a shoulder holster.

A new novel with Whitman roots in its title, “Little Comfort,” introduces a different kind of detective hero.

She is Hester Thursby, a Harvard librarian who stands all of four-feet nine inches tall — that’s four-feet nine and three quarters inches tall — who takes care of her 3-year-old niece, her non-husband Morgan Maguire and a Bassett hound named Waffles. She works on missing persons cases in her spare time.

Hill is scheduled to talk about his book at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27 at the Whitman Public Library. He plans to read three excerpts from the book, centering on the three main characters and how they are introduced in the story.

“Hester is tough, she’s smart, she’s resourceful (unlike Rambo, she’s also articulate), but she definitely isn’t feisty,” author Edwin Hill says of his protagonist in his promotional materials. He said he is drawn to characters, especially in movies, that are faced with challenging situations with only their own resolve to make it through.

“I like difference,” he said of Hester’s size. “I wanted something to make sure she never blended in.”

It was an Agatha Christie novel he read on a car trip as a kid that hooked him on mystery novels.

“From that moment on, I wanted to be a mystery writer and it only took me 35 years to figure out how to do it,” he said. A failed attempt at publishing a book in the early 2000s left him discouraged until he found the kernel of an idea in the Christian Gerhartsreiter — AKA Clark Rockefeller — a professional imposter who kidnapped his daughter and was later convicted of murder. There are also facets of the Charles Stuart case in “Little Comfort.” By 2012 he was back to writing with an agent by 2014 and selling it two years ago.

His debut novel, released Aug. 28, traces Thursby’s latest case, a handsome, ruthless grifter whose life goal to be accepted as part of the wealthy class who owned the summer lake houses he grew up cleaning. Sam Blaine uses a secret he shares with Gabe DiPuriso, based on an incident out of Gabe’s foster child past.

A library is another source of his inspiration.

Hill’s grandmother, Phyllis Hill was the librarian in Whitman from the 1940s to the late ’60s.

“Librarians are really central to a community,” he said. “They really were then, too. She created all kinds of programs at the library that people would take part in and she really helped influence people’s futures.”

Mrs. Hill died in 1994 at the age of 99. Her grandson recalled how people came from all over to her funeral and talked about the influence she had on their lives and how she had always welcomed them.

His parents still live in Whitman, where his dad grew up.

While the book also takes the title from Whitman — once known as the Little Comfort section of Abington — but the story is set in Somerville where he grew up. Hill has a Google alert set up on his home computer for the phrase Little Comfort and has collected some unusual headlines.

“I just loved the name,” he said. “I always knew that my first book was going to be called ‘Little Comfort,’ because it’s such a perfect title for a mystery novel. Then I had to work it into the actual story.”

Backstory

The saying goes that one should write what you know and, just as Robert Cormier set his novels, such as “The Chocolate War,” in Fitchburg and Leominster where he lived and edited the local newspaper, Hill leans on his grandmother’s career in the town of his family’s roots for inspiration.

“When I was drafting, I wrote a lot of scenes of [Thursby] at work, but I really wanted the character to be very isolated, it’s central to the plot that she feels very isolated,” Hill said. “I actually ended up putting her on leave.”

In this novel, the first book in a series, she doesn’t go into work to achieve that feeling of isolation. But the Widener Library and her job there will feature in the second and third books in the series. The fifth book in the series is going to be set on the South Shore.

He said readers should be aware this is a story that involves violence and sex.

“This is not a cozy mystery,” he said. “It deals with some uncomfortable situations.”

A hint can be found in Hill’s inclusion of Hester Thursby’s idea of relaxation — retreating to her own top-floor apartment in the multi-family house she owns with Morgan to watch VHS tapes of her favorite movies. Her top 10 titles include “Alien,” “Jaws 2,” “Halloween” and “The Shining” as well as “The Little Mermaid.”

“She loves movies where women overcome extraordinary circumstances,” he said.

He also includes Crabbies — those crabmeat and cheese on an English muffin bites often served at family get-togethers — as part of a suggested menu for book club events. Macaroni and cheese also features as a food of choice for many characters in the book. Whitman groups may also appreciate his suggestion of chocolate chip waffle cookies, which are a tip of the hat to Hester’s beloved canine.

“Anything where you can get crowd sourcing is great,” he said of the recipes.

Does Hill see any of himself in his characters?

“When you write a book of fiction like this, I would say every character is you because they come out of you, and then no character is you at the same time,” he said.

A vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martins, a tech book division of Macmillan, Hill worked on his book early in the morning before work, and in the evenings, at home. But his professional connections would not have helped with a mystery novel, and he was careful not to blur the lines between his profession and avocation in any case.

“It was a long process,” he said of getting published. “You have to be resolved, you have to have grit and you have to be prepared to work through hearing, no.’”

After the major hurdle of finishing a book, comes the work of finding an agent, a publisher and, finally, an audience for your book.

That’s where Hill finds himself now. He has hit the road to visit bookshops and libraries in Brookline, Belmont and Whitman as well as New York City and Austin, Texas. On the day he spoke with the Express, he had just done an interview about the book with a Florida-based podcast.

PLYMPTON– The business line for the Plympton Fire Department has been restored after approximately 12 days out of service, according to Capt. John Sjostedt, III, of the PFD.

On the Facebook group Plympton Helping Plympton, Sjostedt posted, “The problem with the Plympton Fire Department phone lines has been fixed. The 781-585-2633 line is now back in service and will connect with the Public Safety Dispatchers at the Regional Old Colony Communications Center. Thank you for your patience during this technical challenge.”

The cause of the problem turned out to be more complicated than originally thought.

Speaking to the Express Sunday night, Sjostedt said, “Work was being done on the State Police Middleboro barracks, which used to dispatch us up until about five years ago. The ‘2633’ line used to be forwarded from the State Police to Plympton.”

When Plympton joined the ROCCC, that line was again forwarded to the ROCCC.

During the course of the telephone work at the barracks in Middleboro this patchwork of forwarding was somehow broken.

A Verizon official, in an interview last week, denied that the problem was theirs, blaming it on the town’s “business to business” service provider, which may be reselling Verizon products.

A town official said that the problem entirely lay with Verizon. The New York-based company would not send a technician to assist and attempted to fix the issue remotely. When they finally did send a technician, the problem was fixed, “within hours,” said the official.

For now, according to Sjostedt, a temporary solution has been found so that the number works, until an actual physical line can be put in.

The business line is 781-585-2633 for the Plympton Fire Department. Dispatchers at the ROCCC receive the call and deal with routine matters but forward the call to the PFD if necessary.

The PFD direct emergency line is 781-585-0783, but officials always suggest dialing 911 in case of emergency.

HALIFAX– On Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, the Halifax Elementary School Committee began with a walk-through of the school (see accompanying article). Next, chair Summer Schmaling quickly went through the posted agenda until a major point of concern came up.

First, Principal Kayne Beaudry announced that enrollment at HES was 614 students for the upcoming school year. He, and Assistant Principal Brian Desantes noted some of the pressures this creates.

“First and second grade were hit really hard,” said Desantes, adding that, “We’re approaching 25 students per room.”

Beaudry stated that with families moving in and out of town, there was a net gain of about 20 students.

This increase in students not only puts pressure on teachers in the classroom but affects the busing schedule as well.

Superintendent Joy Blackwood said that the SLRSD leases nine buses, all but one shared with the rest of the district– Kingston pays for one extra bus due to their population. Each bus has a 77-seat capacity, at three students per seat, she said, and a bus costs $56,000 per year to lease.

Adding a bus, even one that’s shared, is expensive, she noted, so she’d like to negotiate a 10-year contract that would even out expenses over time if a bus needs to be added. Not only would that save money, but the SLRSD would get new busses and four would be larger capacity busses, she says.

There were difficulties negotiating the last one-year contract. “I had to beg,” she added.

Blackwood also stated that by law a seat must be held on a bus for all 614 students enrolled at the school, even those that are regularly driven to school, because the district is obligated to transport students every day, but parents aren’t obligated to drive their children every day.

“Where along in the process did we know we had a bus problem?” asked Alex Meade, a school committee member.

Beaudry responded that enrollment numbers are constantly fluctuating.

Another issue affecting HES is accommodating busing “special requests,” where students take one bus to school in the morning and another one to a different address in the afternoon.

As students enroll, and enrollment numbers are collected, they are entered into PowerSchool, the school’s management software.

Then, the bus contracting company, First Student, creates the routes from that data. Only then can special requests be accommodated.

Beaudry says that he has accommodated all two-bus requests– with just one morning and afternoon switch.

Meade didn’t think the school needed to accommodate these special requests at all. “I don’t see the need to honor any of these requests,” he said.

“I tend to agree,” replied Beaudry, but then said, “We want to help and accommodate what we can.”

Bus problems have plagued the town for years, said Schmaling. She said she has heard complaints from parents about students having rides that are too long, busses that are too full as well as busses that arrive too early and sit in front of the school.

Beaudry says that staff tries to address this each year by collecting the times buses arrive and leave and working with First Student to address any issues.

PLYMPTON– On Monday, Aug. 20, Plympton selectmen met at Town House and addressed another brief summer agenda. Notably the board opened and closed the warrant for the upcoming Special Town Meeting, were updated on the Two Brooks Preserve project– which is the reason for the upcoming Special Town Meeting, and also heard an update from Joy Marble, Director of the Council on Aging.

Special Town Meeting

Selectmen opened and closed the warrant for the Thursday, Sept. 20, Special Town Meeting. The process lasted all of a few minutes. The STM will be held at 7 p.m. at the Dennett Elementary School. There will be one article on the warrant, asking the voters whether they will authorize the purchase of the 113-acre property off of Prospect Road once known as the Atwood Property and renamed the Two Brooks Preserve by the Plympton Open Space Committee.

Two Brooks

Preserve

Linda Leddy and Vicki Alberti came before the board bringing an update to selectmen regarding the status of Two Brooks Preserve.

A new logo and campaign for the Two Brooks Preserve were launched on Monday night, including a tri-fold brochure that was mailed to town residents and a website for the project, www.twobrookspreserve.com was launched.  In addition, an information session scheduled to explain the Preserve will be held Saturday, Aug. 25, at 10:30 a.m. at the Plympton Public Library.

The purchase price of the property is $800,000. In order for the property to fund itself, without raising taxes for Plympton residents, the Open Space Committee has presented a proposal to the Community Preservation Committee asking for $440,000.  The remainder of the funds needed will come from selling up to three lots with frontage on Prospect Road.  Private donations are also being solicited to take care of any additional expenses such as survey costs.

The property, identified as one of the most environmentally significant areas in the region, according to Leddy, was enrolled in the Chapter 61 tax relief program. In July the selectmen voted unanimously to exercise their right of first refusal on the property and subsequently signed a purchase and sales agreement with the sellers.

The preserve’s benefits to the town would be numerous, according to the OSC. They include environmental benefits such as extensive aquatic systems and wetlands that help protect healthy drinking water; diverse habitats including forests, meadows, brooks, a bog and a reservoir; and many plant and animal species, including species of “special conservation concern.”

Other benefits identified include a preservation of Plympton’s rural character, recreational and educational opportunities.

Council on Aging Concerns

Joy Marble, Director of the Council on Aging, came before the board to give them an update. Marble’s primary concern, a theme that ran throughout her comments, was the lack of a permanent space for Plympton’s senior citizens. Right now, the COA uses a meeting room at Town House for most of their office space and activities, which Marble says is not conducive to the council’s goals.

Marble indicated that the COA “tries not to step on toes,” but is now using the Town House kitchen and other buildings in town to carry out their functions.

“They [the seniors] need a place to call their own,” Marble said. “I’m working towards getting monies and funds to do that…”

“It’s the dream of all three of us [to find space],” said Selectman Mark Russo.

Selectman Christine Joy suggested that grant money might be found to build a “not elaborate” senior center, or incorporate space for one into the master-plan for the Town House campus.

“You still need some space…some designated space…we’re here to help you,” said Joy.

Marble also said that it was time for the board to think about trading in the van the COA currently uses, which she says is not handicap accessible.

Joy asked if a car-dealership might be interested in “wrapping” a van with their logo and sharing it with several towns’ Councils on Aging, to save money. This was a well-received idea on the part of all.

Marble was also concerned that the COA does not have a phone line of its own. Town Administrator Elizabeth Dennehy stated that the “infrastructure” was in place for the line, but it had not been activated yet.

The Board of Selectmen will next meet Sept. 10, 2018 at 6 p.m. at Town House.

WHITMAN — By his own admission, Richard Rosen may not be the best or the smartest beekeeper, but he is becoming the face of backyard beekeeping for people tuning into their local cable access stations from coast to coast as he learns more about it.

He has already inspired the 5-year-old daughter of Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV Executive Director Eric Dresser, who was captivated by seeing a guy in a bee suit.

Rosen has been fascinated by bees, and the idea of running his own hives, for a long time — and while the real estate developer knew honey production was no money-maker, he also knew it was important to try to save them.

“It’s fascinating is what it is,” he said of the life cycle of bees and their honey production. “It was something that I had thought about for years. I thought, kind of from the fringe, that it was pretty interesting.”

He has turned that fascination into a sideline at McGuiggan’s Pub, selling jarred honey, and now working on a drinks menu on which listed beverages will include his honey as an ingredient.

Rosen has also become something of a celebrity through the syndication of his cable access series “The Buzz Around Bees,” which is now seen in programming markets in 14 states, including California and New York. It is the first show WHCA-TV has ever syndicated.

Rosen has already experienced some face-to-face feedback from fans. While attending the Aug. 8 Whitman Police Night Out Against Crime, he said a person stepped up to talk to him about the show.

“There was passion in the person who was talking to me about what they learned from what we showed them,” Rosen said. “I think that’s really cool and it’s surprising how many people do say something to me that have seen the show. … It’s rewarding when people say things to you about what they have seen on the show.”

WHCA’s Access Operations Coordinator Kevin Tocci, who shares Rosen’s interest in bees, approached him about doing the show.

“The idea of what we do here is, if you see somebody who has a unique hobby —whether it’s bees, or gardening, painting, whatever it may be — to expand upon it,” Tocci said. “We’ve been successful here at getting people to take their hobby and make it into a TV program.”

Tocci noted that Rosen had done various other programs for WHCA over the years and is comfortable in front of the camera.

“When he told me he was getting bees I thought that would be a fantastic show,” Tocci said. “And we experienced some very interesting things … we not only experience that the hive had minted a new queen, we got to experience the marking process and [to] understand that.”

Going in, Rosen thought Tocci was talking about a single program. It’s now in its second season, with Rosen shifting attention from his own hives to those of other area beekeepers.

The show’s six-episode first season was an eventful one.

Rosen and his wife Kathy demonstrated introducing bees to the hive, how a new queen had been created in one hive, and how another was “robbed” of its honey by other bees.

“It’s difficult for me to explain just how crazy it is,” he said of the life of honeybees. “But the whole life of a honeybee — how they’re born and when they’re born, how long they live and what they do — it’s pretty fascinating.”

“The Buzz Around Bees” also seems to bridge different ages, Tocci said, as Dresser noted his daughter was intrigued when Tocci posted a photo on Instagram of himself wearing a beekeepers’ outfit for videotaping.

“What’s he wearing?” Dresser said his daughter asked. “I brought up Episode 1 and I showed her ‘The Buzz Around Bees’ and I had never seen her captivated by anything that’s not cartoons until that moment.”

But long before the TV show was even a suggestion, came the development of Rosen’s hobby beginning with learning more about honeybees.

“I started researching it and I read two books and watched a two-hour-and-20-minute DVD, and I still didn’t have any idea what I was doing when I was done,” he said.

Rosen also knew a couple beekeepers, whose experiences fueled his interest. One of those friends, who lives in Duxbury, finally inspired him to buy a couple hives and give beekeeping a try.

His Danecca Drive backyard now hosts seven hives as he has added to his apiary each year.

He stressed that he is still learning about bees himself — taking the eight-week bee school program offered by the Plymouth County Beekeepers’ Association three times so far.

“I’ve said this many times on the show, they have forgotten more about bees than I’ll ever know,” he said. “The old joke is, if you ask three beekeepers the same question, you’ll get five different answers.”

That old saw did not make him hesitate to bring on, in his role as program host, three beekeepers in his first season on the air” PCBA President Anne Rein of Hanson, as well as Bill Veazie and Glen Cornell of Whitman. The sixth and final show of the first season wrapped things up with a panel discussion of issues facing bee populations between Rosen, Rein and Cornell.

This year’s shows began with the bee pickup day in Plympton — in a garage with 9 million bees in packages of 10,000 bees each —and has included the most recently produced episode about sugar shaking to determine if mites have infested a hive and the different pollinators bees seek out. Last season included a tutorial on setting up oil traps for beetles that can take over a hive.

“Last year was not a good honey year, a lot of beekeepers had a tough time … basically because of the weather,” Rosen said of that season, in which he managed a fair yield despite his challenges.

The damage done to bee populations by weather, mites, beetles and pesticides are a very real concern.

With 85 percent of plant species on earth, and about 52 percent of the food products at your grocery store, requiring bees and other pollinators to exist, a 2013 Whole Foods Markets “Share the Buzz” demonstration of the statistics proved an eye-opener for Rosen. The store showed that one of every three bites of food is produced by honeybees and other pollinators by removing all products requiring pollination from its store shelves — 237 of 453 products including almost the entire produce department.

Between learning of that demonstration and his experience as a beekeeper, everything Rosen now plants in his yard benefits bees. That includes selecting plants that have not been treated with pesticides like neonicotinoid, which kill bees.

“This year, so far, it’s been a great year and six of the seven are doing well. One is doing OK, but I think it’s because of where I have them placed. I have a couple [hives] more in the shade and I’m finding they don’t particularly like the shade.”

A daily tablespoon of local honey, produced within a 25 mile radius of where one lives, is also said to be helpful for allergy sufferers.

“There are a lot of people that live by that,” he said. “I have people who come into McGuiggan’s to buy honey that are not drinkers, they’ve just heard we have true local honey and they want to buy it.”

Stings are the last thing to worry about, he said.

“Honey bees don’t want to sting you because they’re going to die after they sting you,” Rosen said. “They won’t unless you swat them. You tend to be afraid of bumble bees, because they’re so big — bumble bees will not bother you —but yellow jackets are bad guys and will sting.”