This map shows the “Hop for HOPS” 5K race route, which starts and ends on South Street.

Now is the time to register for the 2nd annual “Hop for HOPS” 5K Run/Walk!

 About 300 runners and walkers raced the course last year… and this year looks to be even better! They’re currently at the early registration phase… which means it will only cost $25 for entry fee. But after May 17th the cost jumps to $30… and there’s no guarantee late entrants will get the cool new “Hop for HOPS” tech shirts runners are getting this year. Take a second… use the link below… and get yourself all squared away:

http://friendsofhops.weebly.com/hop-for-hops-5k.html

And don’t forget to stay for more family fun all afternoon:  face painting, and bouncy houses.

See you Saturday June 6th! “Hop for HOPS”… Rebuilding the Magic… One sweaty step at a time.

Hazel the cow. Photo by Stephanie Spyropoulos.

Jonathan Seelig, chairman of the Friends of HOPS (Halifax Open Play Space) committee, was happy to announce that the recent “Plops for HOPS,” held Saturday, April 11, was a huge success, getting the project more than $9,000 closer to its goal.

The Plops event, generously sponsored by The Rockland Trust’s Halifax branch, was a lot of fun for all.  Pony rides, a petting zoo, face painting and jumpys were just some of the events on hand. DJ Keith was there playing the tunes… Bellas 2 was there selling delicious food.

Congratulations to the big plop winners:

First Prize: Joe MacDonald of Abington; Second Prize: 4-year-old Dylan O’Brien of Halifax; and Third Prize: Lynne Jamoulis of Brockton.

Thank you all so much to everyone who helped make the “Plop for HOPS” such a huge success.

It really was a great day. Hazel the cow came through…

Mother Nature finally cooperated … and we raised some serious money for the Halifax Open Play Space. We are still tallying things up but it appears the Friends of HOPS took in a little over $9,000!

Cow Plop indeed!

A HUGE thank you to Rockland Trust for sponsoring the event. Also to Walmart, Stop & Shop, Monponsett Trading Company, John the Barber’s, Cinderella Nails, A Fork in the Road and Lou Lou’s Cafe for all donating gift certificates, Bella’s for the pizza donation, Terri Carman, the Farming Association, and Hanson Grain for lending us their animals for the day. Fun Faces with a Twist for the face painting. Mr. Nessralla for helping us land a cow, The Well Church for providing the bouncy houses, Keith from “Just Dance Productions” for playing the tunes.  And a special thanks to Celebrity Judges Selectmen Kim Roy, Troy Garron and Youth and Rec Director Dick Steele.

The list goes on and on…

And please, please, please remember our local businesses the next time you need something. They ALL have been so supportive of HOPS and the children of this town. It would be great to return the favor.

The Friends of HOPS had a blast and hope you did too.

See you all on June 6th for the second annual “Hop for HOPS 5K”!

~ Jonathan Seelig

See more photos of the event on The Plympton-Halifax Express Face book Page:  https://www.facebook.com/plymptonhalifaxexpress/posts/1614507518764064

Rick Hamelin at the wheel.

Master potter Rick Hamelin presents Spouting Off! Teapots from Around the World, a pottery demonstration, at the Holmes Public Library, 470 Plymouth St., Route 106, Halifax, on Saturday, May 9, at 11 a.m.

Watch as these teapots take shape and hear the history of their form and function: the English “Brown Betty”, an Asian teapot made from one piece of clay, a Lebanese two-walled tea pot, and a unique, mythological-form tea pot.

Hamelin has been potting since 1976 and is committed to learning about the historical Redware potters after learning of the Colonial and Early American industries in his native Central Massachusetts.

Pied Potter Hamelin can be taken linguistically apart and understood as a “Colorful Potter from a Small Town”. 

Pied means multicolored, potter is his trade, and Hamelin translates as “one from a small town.”

Hamelin makes redware pottery that is hand-thrown on the wheel and after a drying period, his wares are bisques.  Following bisquing, they are covered with a lead-free glaze of his own formation, then fired again.  An antiquing finish is applied to the unglazed surfaces as a final step.

The running cat paw prints on the reverse of all the Kulina Folk Art and Pied Potter Hamelin plates and platters began by one of his cats leaping onto the slab of clay.  He had found an old brick with a dog’s paw print on it and thought it to be a unique way to make an association between our work.

Hamelin has taught and worked in museums and currently lectures and demonstrates pottery throughout New England.

This presentation by the Pied Potter, Rick Hamelin, is supported by a grant from the Halifax Cultural Council, a local agency funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

The pottery demonstration will be followed by a light tea to close out our week-long Books in Bloom event and to recognize our library volunteers!

On Wednesday evening, Plympton Selectmen met and finalized many recommendations for warrant articles in their marathon push to finalize the warrant by next Monday. They briefly touched on other business, including the spraying of herbicides in town that a citizen brought up last week and co-inspections by Town Assessors and Fire Department personnel, while skipping several agenda items.

After Town Adviser Dale Pleau suggested that the Board could vote on article recommendations that evening, rather than waiting until next week, the Board did just that. Approving many articles in groups, without fully reading them aloud, and only pausing for questions or to make modifications, the warrant is in nearly final shape.

All warrant articles for the Special Town Meeting were approved. A proposal that Selectmen John Henry had presented earlier in the meeting regarding retiring debt was sent to Town Counsel and will be voted on Monday.

An ongoing issue regarding an article to send a grant to the South Shore Community Action Council, which provides fuel assistance, housing grants, and other services to low-income residents on the South Shore was stricken from the warrant. Questions of whether the SSCAC is cost effective or beneficial to the town were previously raised, particularly by the Council on Aging Director Christine Maiorano, and the Board would like to study the issue for another year. Several remaining articles were not approved because the Board wants the advice of FinCom and/or Town Counsel before voting.

Selectmen Chair Mark Russo, “just to be done” with the issue, proposed separating Fire and Assessor inspections as the Board had voted to previously allow. According to Town Counsel, Fire Department inspectors must be given access to a dwelling, but Town Assessors do not have to be given access to a dwelling. Those who refuse access to Assessors, though, risk their property being assessed on attributes not related to a full inspection. Therefore they may be artificially high, or simply incorrect. The board unanimously voted to reverse their previous decision and the inspections will be separate moving forward.

Michael Antoine, of 17 Oak Street, appeared in the audience for the second meeting in a row with concerns over spraying herbicides. Due to some confusion during the previous week’s discussion, implications that this is an Eversource power-line issue were incorrectly reported. In fact, Keolis Commuter Services, the MBTA’s operator of Commuter Rail, will be spraying only “as-needed” and to “touch-up” along a small section of the railroad’s right-of-way in the northern part of town.

Although both Selectmen Chair Russo and Selectman Colleen Thompson were sympathetic to Mr. Antoine’s concerns of the herbicide, similar to the commercially available brand “Roundup”, seeping into the groundwater or harming bees (Mr. Antoine is a hobbyist beekeeper), they both emphasized that the spraying would be minimal.  Thompson had looked into the issue and read several articles that Mr. Antoine forwarded to her, yet remained unconvinced than any action needed to be taken this year. The Tree Warden and Town Health Agent were consulted as well and do not have concerns, for bees or humans. “How would you know if your neighbor wasn’t using the same thing?” Selectmen Thompson rhetorically asked at the end of the discussion.

In Other News:

• Three use of town property permits have been approved: one each for the Plympton Youth Athletic Association to have a family night showing a movie, one for a group called “Moving with the Spirit” raising money to donate to Haiti to hold a bake sale, and one for the Girl Scouts to build a community garden as they did last year.

• There are still many vacancies in town government and there is plenty of time to run a write-in campaign. The Board emphasized that training was available even if one doesn’t have much knowledge of a particular board or committee. There are especially vacancies on the Planning Board and the Finance Committee.

• There are several opportunities for the public to learn about the Town Meeting warrant as well as several open Board meetings coming up:

• Monday April 27th, 6 p.m. Open Selectmen Meeting with FinCom

• Monday May 4th, 12 noon. Run-through of Town Meeting with Moderator, and all major participants.

• Saturday May 2nd, 10:30-noon. Public meeting hosted by Town Moderator and Finance Committee at the Plympton Public Library.

• Wednesday May 6th, 7 p.m. Opportunity for the public to hear about the warrant and ask questions.

• Monday May 11th, 6 p.m. Open Selectmen Meeting.

Editor’s note: Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor, contributed to this story.

The New England Seismic Network Weston observatory confirmed that Plympton experienced a minor quake at 3:45 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Alan L. Kafka, of the Weston Observatory, told the Express this morning that a small earthquake measuring just 1.7 on the Richter scale struck the area about five miles east of Bridgewater, at 3:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21.  These tremors are not at all uncommon, he said, and in fact quite a few have been felt throughout the region, in Brockton, Middleboro, and even Martha’s Vineyard.  All coming down the fault line that goes through Cape Ann, north of Boston.

One Plympton resident thought he was awakened by a particularly strong thunder clap at almost 4 a.m. Tuesday, “but it was close to the ground, not really like thunder.”  He didn’t realize just how close to the ground it was.

With all this activity, are we getting ready for “the big one”?  You just never know.  Earthquakes aren’t easy to predict, although these little tremors are to be expected.

Kafka, author of “Why does the Earth Quake in New England?” said Thursday, that earth tremors and earthquakes really do occur on a regular basis in New England. 

‘We will see him again,’ family, friends of Bruce Wood assured.

Bruce Wood

HALIFAX — Family, friends and fellow firefighters said goodbye to the man many knew as “Wood Duck” on a raw and rainy spring morning Friday, April 17.

The hearse carrying 43-year Halifax Fire Department veteran Bruce Wood, escorted by Halifax police and fire vehicles, passed the Town Cemetery — where he would be laid to rest — and under a giant American flag suspended from a HFD aerial ladder, on its way to a funeral service in Halifax Congregational Church. The department formed an honor guard to escort Wood’s casket into the church where an hour-long visitation preceded his funeral.

“Every Sunday and every Wednesday without fail, Bruce would stand and sing the songs that we’re going to sing today,” said the Rev. Joseph Wadsworth in his greeting to the mourners crowding the sanctuary. “He would sing with joy in his heart, conviction in his soul and a smile on his face.”

Two hymns, “Saved By The Blood” and “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” opened the service, which was closed with “Amazing Grace” and “On Eagle’s Wings.”

A celebration of his life, Wood’s funeral service honored his evangelical commitment to Christ as much as his humor and love for duck hunting and motorcycles.

“Growing up we called him anything,” his sister Beth Wood recalled with a smile as she recalled his first “cycle” — an old Vespa scooter he obtained when he “felt the need for speed.”

“At that time, we called him Easy Rider, Hell’s Angel, he loved it because he thought he was going fast” around area bogs, she said fondly. “The name Wood Duck came along, thanks to his hunting friends.”

“As there is a species of waterfowl called wood ducks, and Wood was a good shot who loved duck hunting, so a nickname was born. But this was a man known more for his dedication to faith than his recreational pursuits,” she added.

“After Chris passed away, my brother changed, and changed for the good,” she said. “He refound his faith in God. He was happier. He even smiled even more, if you can imagine.”

Several members of the clergy and friends spoke of how Wood’s rededication to his faith helped him cope with the death of his only son Christopher, who was killed in a motorcycle crash in 2009 at age 21.

“I believe God saw his good works and need him to come home,” Beth Woods concluded. “My brother was right with God.”

The Rev. Henry “Hank” Belcher, retired from Silver Lake Chapel in Plympton, described Wood’s return to faith following his son’s death.

“I guess I was one of the lucky ones, I knew Bruce when he was a kid,” Belcher said, describing him as a typical boy before talking about the call he received from Wood about his son’s death.

“He loved his son very much — he loved all of you very much,” Belcher said. “At the end of the [son’s funeral] service he said, ‘Hank, I’m going to come to church.’ That was a shocker.

“He came to church, and he came every Sunday,” he said joyfully. Belcher even gave Wood a Bible when he said he didn’t have one.

“He read it and he became a different person,” Belcher recalled. “He was a loving soul — he loved everybody.”

When Belcher retired, Wood decided he needed to find another church and on Belcher’s advice to pray about it, found Bible Baptist Church in Hanson. Belcher also encouraged Wood in his decision to become the Halifax Fire Department chaplain.

“Bruce is gone, but his memory will never be gone,” Belcher said. “God has given us a wonderful gift — we are walking computers. We have memories, and I pray the memories we have of Bruce will carry us through the days ahead of us. We will see him again.”

Pastor Mike Fernandez of Bible Baptist Church, where Wood was a member at the time of his death, said in his sermon, “Bruce was a straight-shooter,” with an assignment.

“He was praying he’d get everybody in the church one day,” Fernandez said. “Well, Bruce, here you are. … Right now, Bruce’s death is doing the work of an evangelist.”

It was also the work he did in life, handing out Gospel tracts, inviting people to church, praying for them and witnessing about Jesus.

“Bruce had the spirit of God inside him.” Fernandez said.

Fellow Bible Baptist Church member Peter Flores honored his friend as a “man of integrity — an honest man.”

Wood’s friend Harry Anderson remembered Wood’s smile under a giant black mustache when they first met each other in the 1970s.

He told of how Wood helped him impress his future wife with an airplane ride to view foliage, as well as their spring break adventure in Key West, Fla., and a winter hunting misadventure in the Berkshires.

Anderson, too, spoke of Wood’s spiritual rebirth after his son’s death.

“He was a better man for it,” he said.

After the service, mourners escorted Wood’s casket back under the flag, as it billowed in the breeze, to graveside services at Halifax Town Cemetery.

This neighborhood farm supports the community while growing local, organic foods.

Editor’s note: this article ran in the March 13, 2015 issue of the Plympton-Halifax Express.

Matt Bold, of Whitman, is employed through the Colchester Farm partnership with the N.E. Villages Day Services. Here he is lettering signs which will go in the gardens. Photo by S. Spyropoulos.

Despite the cold and snow out our windows preparations are ongoing at the Colchester Neighborhood Farm as they watch for warmer weather and the arrival of their baby goats.

Farming is a year round trade with an indoor start as seedlings get their beginnings over the winter months. There may be a misconception about farming as there is no commencement or completion to their daily chores although they have specific times they harvest crops there is a list of daily tasks to keep things successful.

MaryAnn Martinez Farm Manager at Colchester Neighborhood Farm (CNF) located at 90 Brook Street said the farm is as busy as usual getting things set for spring planting, which has been on hold as the snow slowly melts.

The farm boasts many kinds of chickens, including Barred Rock Chickens and Cochins. Photo by S. Spyropoulos.

“March 9 of last year we were planting leeks.  The fields will have to dry out to get the tractors out in the beds.  This season looks a little more compressed as we will be starting a bit later in planting,”said Martinez.

On a recent visit the greenhouse projects were underway as Matt Bold and his five co-workers were each working at a station.  Bold is a Whitman Hanson graduate and an adult resident of New England Villages of Pembroke.  He was painting and lettering wood tiles that will be displayed to identify herbs and other field vegetation.  Another employee was roping pole bean towers, which will help the vegetable to vine itself.

The first CSA share is set for June along with the opening of the farm stand. The family owned non -profit is set on eight acres and is Baystate Certified Organic.

There will be weekend plant sales, which will begin in early May. Customers will be allowed to cut their own or purchase fresh flower bouquets in early summer, and the farm also holds egg shares.

Martinez has doubled her planting space to two acres. The land is not easily cultivated so the additional plots are exceptional.

The Colchester Neighborhood Farm has a unique value proposition. The goal is not only to be a neighborhood farm but also a social enterprise.  We hope to be able to meet the need for locally sourced foods, provide meaningful work for adults with developmental disabilities and strengthen the local community, according to their mission statement.

The Barrows family has owned the property for 200 years, which makes it a National Bicentennial Farm.

Martinez invited people to stop by the farm when the snow melts and the warm weather approaches.

Families are welcome to visit the baby goats and chickens, she said.

Dapple the Donkey is their resident character who is bound to evoke laughter with her quirky, outgoing personality.

New England Villages enable adults living with intellectual disabilities to experience dignified, enriching lives as part of a dynamic, supportive campus community and through participation in meaningful day programming.

New England Village decided to pursue a venture into the farming industry in response to the decline in statewide manufacturing jobs that had previously provided work for its employment program. The Village also operates a cleaning and landscaping business, according to their mission statement and website.

For further information on donating to the farm, share forms and ordering or becoming a volunteer, visit http://www.colchesterneigh
borhoodfarm.com.

Faye George

Bridgewater poet Faye George read from her latest collection, World of Hard Use (WordTech, 2015), at the Holmes Public Library last week, to celebrate National Poetry Month. George explained that when she looked back through poems she had written she discovered that many of them shared the theme of work, which then became the theme of World of Hard Use. One poem George shared with the audience of seventeen poetry lovers who braved the evening’s cold rain was about the tragic Pemberton Mill collapse in Lawrence in 1860. Another, Pont du Gard, described the construction of the enormous stone aqueduct built by Roman slaves in the first century, A.D., preserved in southern France to this day. George also shared lighter poems, including one about getting ready for work in the morning called The Bathtub, the John, and the Sink. “Don’t laugh,” she joked. “The Paris Review took this one.”

The Friends of the Holmes Public Library sponsored this poetry reading on April 8. If you missed it, George will be reading again at the Lakeville Public Library on Thursday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m. and at the Thayer Public Library in Braintree on Wednesday, April 29, at 7 p.m.

‘A nicer man you would not meet’

By Deborah Anderson
Express Staff

Bruce Wood

Flags all around the South Shore were lowered on their masts to honor Bruce Wood, a 43 year veteran of the Halifax Fire Department and contract mail hauler for the US Postal Service, who was killed in a head-on collision Friday, April 10, at 2:37 p.m.

Bruce drove his box truck among the various South Shore post offices delivering and picking up mail, and on Friday left the Plympton post office with a cheerful comment to the mail clerk about it being a good day, and on his way to the Carver post office met a  truck head-on which, travelling north, had reportedly drifted into the southbound lane.  Wood was declared dead at the scene and the other driver, 35-year-old Joel Reed of New Bedford, was taken to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth with serious injuries. Reed, it is reported, was later transported to a Boston Hospital.  His condition could not be determined at press time.

Chief Patrick Dillon of the Plympton PD, said that the cause of the accident is under investigation by the Plympton Police Department and the State Police Accident Reconstruction division. State Police have custody of a cell phone which was found in the passenger compartment of Reed’s vehicle.

Wood’s funeral service will be held this morning, Friday, at 11 a.m. at the Halifax Congregational Church, 503 Plymouth St., Route 58, Halifax, following visiting hours at the Church at 10 a.m.  After the funeral service, Wood will be buried at the Central Cemetery in Halifax. Arrangements are by the Leighton-MacKinnon Funeral Home.

A visitation was held at the Funeral Home, 4 West Washington St., Hanson.

Bruce was a lifelong resident of Halifax, and a 43-year member of the Halifax Fire Department.  He was also the department’s chaplain, Halifax Chief Jason Viveiros told the Express.  He was known for his smile and upbeat attitude.  “A nicer man you would not meet.”

Bruce was the only son of the late Myron “Bud” Wood Jr. and Elizabeth “Betty” (Alger) Wood. He was the loving father of the late Christopher Wood, his only son, who died in a motorcycle crash in 2009 at the age of 21.

He was the most wonderful brother and will be sorely missed by his sisters Beth Wood of Shelbyville, KY, Bonnie Wood and Brenda Pettingill and her husband Robert, all of Halifax. He also leaves aunts, uncles and cousins whom he truly loved.

Bruce graduated from Silver Lake High School, Class of 1970. He attended UMASS for two years and in 1974 worked at Armstrong Cork in Braintree. In 1972 Bruce joined the Halifax fire department and maintained his service till now working with many generations of firefighters and friends. He was most recently made Chaplin of the department.

He started driving early in life on a John Deere tractor on his grandfather’s farm. The seat felt so good he started driving professionally. Local businesses, Bosworth and Casoli’s, were predecessors to his eventual postal contract as a distributor of bulk mail to the local post offices. He enjoyed the rigorous schedule because of the great people he saw every day. He was active through his life with boats, motorcycles, fishing, hunting and enjoying the outdoors.  Since his son’s passing, he found great strength through local churches and the words they bring. Through this knowledge, he felt his greatest achievements were being able to help those in need.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Bruce’s memory may be made to one of his causes: Bible Baptist Missions, PO Box 17615, Pensacola, FL 32522, or to any homeless charity in your area. It will make you feel good.  Visiting hours were held in the Leighton-MacKinnon Funeral Home, 4 West Washington St., at the corner of Rte. 58, Hanson, Thursday, April 16, from 4 – 8 p.m. Services will be held at the Halifax Congregational Church, 503 Plymouth St, Halifax on Friday April 17, at 11a.m.  There will be a visiting hour before service. Relatives and friends respectfully invited to attend. Internment will follow in Central Cemetery, Halifax.

By Abram Neal
Express Staff

Tuesday evening the Halifax Board of Selectmen began on a sad note by acknowledging the tragic death of 43-year veteran Halifax Firefighter Bruce Wood in a head-on collision Friday afternoon, and offered their condolences to his family, several of whom also work for the Town of Halifax.

Presentations from the Beautification Committee and a dialogue with State Representative Thomas Calter were also on the night’s agenda.

Representative Calter was invited to explain to the Board why the town was moving forward with a non-binding ballot question asking if voters support continuing with the current Massachusetts Common Core Standards, or wish to go back to the MCAS curriculum framework that existed prior to 2010. John Shiavone stated from the audience that a group within town had formed opposing the Common Core Standards, and wanted to gauge where the rest of the town stood on the subject.

Representative Calter stated that about a year and a half ago he been to a forum, also attended by Selectman Kim Roy, which was clearly opposed to Common Core. He believed that decisions should be based on data, not emotions as at that forum. He left the Board with some data he had prepared for other legislators. Representative Calter stated that he did not want to take a stand on one side or the other.

Calter went on to say that critical thinking was the most important skill lacking in today’s youth. He then repeatedly stated that the Common Core Standards taught critical thinking, despite emphatically taking the position that he wasn’t taking a position.

Rep. Calter also pointed out that under either standard, area community colleges were reporting back that large portions of their budgets were being spent to teach remedial math and English to students who had passed S.A.T. and MCAS testing, seeming to indicate a severe deficit in education today. From a businessman’s standpoint, Representative Calter said that this was frustrating as mid-career employees were now filling jobs once held by entry-level college graduates, and college graduates were now graduating with only a degree, but without the right skill-sets needed to get jobs.

He said that there are plenty of jobs available, yet the employment rate lies artificially high because people are not being trained in the right job skills. He finished with a heart-warming anecdote of a friend’s daughter whom, when unable to decide what to do with her business degree,  he counseled to combine her two major interests from high school, sports, and writing, and become a sports writer, which she had never considered. She is now a well-known sports writer, but apparently had never been taught critical thinking skills before her encounter with Representative Calter, he said.

Two forums will be held for the public on the issue of the Common Core ballot question, one on Wednesday April 29 and again on Thursday May 7.

The Beautification Committee presented to the board three proposals for a spring and summer garden outside Town Hall. Selectman Roy, a self-described “former gardener”, seemed most interested, and the major debate revolved around which type of tree to plant in the middle and was it appropriate for the site. Selectmen were solicited for their ideas outside of the meeting. Work will begin in May and the garden is hoped to be ready for a dedication ceremony in June. Selectmen moved to allow the project to continue to go forward with the caveat that they be updated if any major changes are made to the proposal.

Russ Kleekamp, an engineer, updated selectmen on a grant for feasibility studies to put automatic flood controls on a dam on Monponsett Pond. He expects to be able to report back soon on the feasibility, cost and size of the project, but noted that it is a multi-faceted project with many stakeholders, and it might take some time before any work begins, if the grant is awarded.

Finally, a debate on issues regarding parking on a town-owned parcel at 15 Ocean Street was held, and was obviously a difficult subject for the Board. Town Counsel strenuously objects to neighbors or anyone else parking there, due to liability issues for the town. A Mr. Dale Anderson was present, and has an unregistered car on the site. It was a hardship for him to move his car until next week, despite the deadline being April 14 to have vehicles removed, as Selectmen voted last week. All selectmen were visibly torn regarding the issue of balancing Mr. Anderson’s hardship against the town’s liability. Mr. Anderson submitted a written letter to the Board asking for a one-week extension, which in a 2-1 vote, was granted, after a lengthy discussion by the Board. Selectmen Roy voted against, stating her duty was to the liability of the town and that this had been going on since January, and surprisingly during the actual vote vociferously exclaimed “No!.” after the first two “Yea” votes. Mr. Anderson thanked the Board for their time and apologized for putting them in that position.

In other news:

Police Officer Al Hingst was recognized for his work mentoring a young person through a difficult family situation. A letter was written by the person’s mother to the police chief who shared it with selectmen. The Board voted to send a letter of thanks to Hingst and also include a copy for his file.

The grant application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for replacing the roof at Halifax Elementary was submitted by Superintendent John Tuffy.

Selectmen voted to extend the third year of a 3 year contract for gas and diesel fuel with Dennis K. Burke.

Selectmen will not meet next week.