For the second consecutive year, North Easton Savings Bank proudly announces it was named a Top Places to Work by The Boston Globe for 2023.
In addition to the overall award, the bank also earned eight Top Workplace Culture Excellence Awards for innovation, work-life flexibility, employee well-being, employee appreciation, professional development, compensation and benefits, leadership, and purpose and values.
These new awards for 2023 come on the heels of the bank also winning major awards in 2022 for Top Places to work (The Boston Globe), Top Workplaces USA (USA Today), and Best-in-State Banks (Forbes).
“I am grateful for the opportunity to be included on this esteemed list once again,” stated Rich Spencer, president and CEO of North Easton Savings Bank.  “I want to thank all of our amazing employees throughout the organization who work hard every day to support our customers and the communities we serve. But more than that, I thank them for supporting each other, being there for one another, and truly making our Bank a wonderful place to build a career.
An award-winning local bank with over $1.5 billion in assets, North Easton Savings Bank is uniquely situated to provide personal and commercial banking and lending solutions to southeastern Massachusetts.
Founded in 1864, North Easton has a proven track record of growing the community through fair banking practices, financial advising, and local philanthropy. Looking forward, North Easton is well-positioned as the preferred area banking partner with a powerful combination of convenient features like mobile and online banking and the personal, hometown touch of a local bank. North Easton Savings Bank is fully insured by the FDIC and the DIF and is an Equal Housing Lender. For more information, please visit NorthEastonSavingsBank.com.

The Town of Plympton and Plympton Police Department are pleased to announce the kickoff of a new traffic safety and speeding enforcement campaign. This campaign will be run through the Police Department and is a multi-faceted approach tasked with the mission of keeping our roadways safer for our residents and slowing down traffic passing through town.
The Police Department has successfully secured grant funding to support additional hours for traffic patrols and for the installation of a new solar powered speed monitoring sign through the FFY 2024 Municipal Road Safety (MRS) Grant. These funds will be used as part of a High Visibility Enforcement program that will allow for committing a significant percentage of enforcement to several targeted areas in order to begin to mitigate aggressive, impaired, and distracted driving to prevent motor vehicle accidents.
The following action items are already in progress or will be commencing within the upcoming days:
• Each week there will be a street selected that will have officers on each shift conducting targeted Radar Patrols.

• Streets with a high incidence of reported speeding will be prioritized at key times of day.
• The Police Department will purchase 100 bicycle helmets for bike safety programming. School Resource Officers will provide these to any child needing a helmet or a new sized helmet.

• Over the next few months, we will be conducting several traffic initiatives such as click-it or ticket, school bus safety, distracted driving, hands free operation and winter impaired driving.
• Citizens can help us with this campaign by driving the speed limit as a way to model the behavior we are encouraging. Another benefit of this type of community involvement is that it will also help to slow down traffic generally, which will in turn slow down those speeding through town. Additionally, if citizens notice a particular street or a specific time of day in which they typically witness speeding issues, they are urged to reach out to the Police Department to let them know.
The main point of contact is Lieutenant Dan Hoffman. Lieutenant Hoffman can be reached via Email: [email protected] or by phone at (781) 585-3339 Ext. 502

The Central Plymouth County Water District Commission (CPCWDC) announces the public release of the Silver Lake Water Quality Monitoring Program Technical Memorandum: Halifax, Plympton, Pembroke, and Kingston, Massachusetts (2021-2022 Monitoring Results). The report was prepared by TRC Companies (TRC), on behalf of the CPCWDC, to address concerns regarding potential aquatic life and recreational water quality impacts to Silver Lake from watershed sources and water diversions to the Brockton Public Water Supply (PWS). The primary objectives of this Technical Memorandum are to provide a baseline understanding of current water quality to support aquatic life, identify key water quality drivers in Silver Lake, as well as potential management solutions and the next steps needed to address the observed conditions.
The Silver Lake Technical Memorandum findings raise concerns for public water supply consumers and the residents who live in the vicinity of these waterbodies. Silver Lake is the primary source of water for Brockton Public Water Supply System, and the supplemental sources of Monponsett and Furnace Ponds experience similarly compromised water quality. If source waters are left unmanaged, there is potential for blooms to increase the cost of finished water treatment and the associated cost of water. “We encourage the City of Brockton to collaborate with surrounding towns and other stakeholders to address water quality in the lake and the associated waterbodies as well as immediately pursue back-up alternatives, such as a connection to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)” stated Jack O’Leary, Chairman of the CPCWDC. “The reduction in water withdraws from Silver Lake would also help mitigate the stress on aquatic systems identified in the report.“ The Silver Lake Water Quality Monitoring Program Technical Memorandum: Halifax, Plympton, Pembroke, and Kingston, Massachusetts (2021-2022 Monitoring Results) can be accessed at: Technical Memorandum.
The full water quality data set can be accessed here: Data Set Public flyer can be accessed here: Trifold More information on Cyanobacteria can be accessed here: EPA Fact Sheet for Public Water Supply MassDEP Cyanobacteria Resources MassDEP Guidance Cyanobacteria and Public Water Systems Questions and written comments on the report or the monitoring program should be directed to:
Francis G. Basler Jr.
Administrator, County of Plymouth
44 Obery Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts 02360
o: 508.830.9104 m: 781.718.9967 f: 508.830.9106
[email protected]

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.
Caroline Bryson and David Shoblom, both of Kingston, were inducted into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Phi Kappa Phi inducts annually approximately 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni. The Society has chapters on more than 325 select colleges and universities in the United States, its territories and the Philippines. Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors. Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. The Society’s mission is “To recognize and advance excellence in all fields of higher education and society.” For more information, visit www.PhiKappaPhi.org.

Christine Kelley, Plympton Town Treasurer/Collector, wants residents to know that beginning with the February (3rd Qtr.) RE tax bill ALL RE & PP bills will now be mailed four times a year.
All residents of Plympton will receive a bill for EACH quarter a payment is due.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Treasurer-Collector’s office at 781-585-0409 Mon-Thurs 9 a.m to 2 p.m.
Our office is also pleased to announce that the Building Department & Board of Health will be accepting debit/credit card payments for permit applications effective Monday, Nov. 20.

Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to the Express
My children are now grown but in 1974 when my son Brian was 7 and my daughter Heidi was 3, I experienced a Halloween with them I’ll always remember.
Heidi was born with a severe hearing loss and although she would be getting hearing aids soon after her fourth birthday, she didn’t have them yet. She was in a preschool program with other deaf children in Duxbury and was transported to and from school by a special cab company. She became very good at lip reading and sign language. Sometimes I drew her pictures if she didn’t understand something and that worked very well for both of us. She had no understanding of Trick or Treating so taking her to see what it was all about was best.
The week before Halloween my son and the neighborhood kids were all trying to decide what costumes they would wear on the big night. By the 70s, kids were more interested in store-bought costumes than homemade ones, but in our little group most of them put together their own with a little help from us parents. Disappointed because he had outgrown his Lancelot Link costume, Brian let Heidi wear it and settled for a beard and mustache put on with makeup.
It’s always a plus when the weather is perfect for Halloween. Brian came home excited and we put newspapers on the floor and table to make jack-o’-lanterns out of the pumpkins we had so we could put them outside with some candy and a sign ‘ONE BAG ONLY!’ I learned long ago that making anything but something simple for supper on Halloween is useless. After some grilled cheese sandwiches and roasted pumpkin seeds from the oven, the little group of kids who were coming with us arrived and off we went!
My grandmother and parents lived in Hanson and were expecting us, but we did stop at a couple of friends’ houses in Halifax first. Jack-o’-lanterns on steps and porches flickered their lights as we drove by. Eerie sounds, witches, skeletons, and huge spiders lurked at lamp posts and graveyards in people’s yards. A fat overstuffed scarecrow was propped up against a fence at the first house we stopped at. The kids got out of the car with their bags and went up to the house. Heidi was holding my hand and seemed undaunted by some of the sights and more interested in watching intently as candy was put in each bag. As I walked forward with Heidi to the door she stopped, shook her head no, so we left.
At the last stop in Halifax Heidi didn’t want to take the bag with her, she didn’t wait for me, she ran ahead with the kids to stand and watch, looking up at the people who were passing out the candy and then looked back at the kids and then got in the car. I didn’t think too much of it, I knew she was processing what was happening.
My grandmother lived in a big blue house near my parents. I parked the car, and we walked down the well-lit path beside the peony bed to the two spacious cement steps that led to the open door where Gram was waiting and smiling under the big overhead lights. She wanted to know who was who under the make-up and behind the masks and when she saw Brian, she called him her pet name for her great-grandchildren which was pollywog. The kids giggled at that and I was pleased at their politeness as they answered all her questions. Gram spotted Heidi and bent over to say hi to her and Heidi smiled back, smiled at me and pointed to Gram. I knew that meant she remembered going there during the Summer. The kids were just about wiggling out of their costumes as Gram asked if they were ready for candy. She started passing it out and all of a sudden Heidi ran off the bottom step with a determined look on her face. She picked up a nice smooth rock that was on the ground, then she stepped towards me wanting her bag. The other kids had come down off the steps and Heidi ran up to them and when Gram put the candy in her bag, Heidi smiled up at her, her eyes shining, and gave Gramma the rock. Gram had a laugh like musical notes that rang out at her delight with Heidi’s gift. She lifted her up in her arms, walked to the big mantle in the dining room and put the rock in a special place telling Heidi she loved it and thanked her. Heidi’s face glowed as she hugged Gram and smiled at me with a look of complete satisfaction.
Gramma kept the rock on the mantle and loved telling people the story about Heidi and the lovely gift she got for Halloween. Years later when Gram fell ill she asked my dad to give Heidi the rock to remember her by.

Linda Ibbitson Hurd is a Halifax resident who grew up in Hanson and graduated from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in 1965. Her fond remembrances of life in a simpler time are a delight.