The Kingston Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday, July 18. Chair Kimberley Emberg said on June 22 they received an email letting them know that Police Chief Maurice Splaine did not intend on renewing his contract which expires in February. She wished him well in his retirement and thanked him publicly for his service to the town.
Town Administrator Keith Hickey recommended to the Selectmen that they consider hiring a search committee to do an external search. “That doesn’t exclude any internal candidates from applying for the position; they would apply for the Police Chief position and if they were deemed to be in competition with any external candidate that applied, they would certainly go through that process and potentially be hired,” Hickey said. He continued, “In doing that, what I have found in the past… is that if an internal candidate gets hired, it provides the internal candidate some credibility with the Department and the community that they made it through the process and they are the best candidate for Police Chief and not just an internal promotion.” He also said that Duxbury is currently going through a Police Chief search now and he spoke to the company that is handling the search. Hickey told the Selectmen that the search would take 3-4 months to find and vet candidates to bring before the Board.
Hickey also suggested that they hire a firm to do a study of the current Police Department to make recommendations to the Selectmen regarding staffing levels, policies and procedures, and building needs. He said that it would be an impartial take on the Department that could be used to justify decisions made by the Selectmen as well as inform votes taken at Town Meeting. Selectman Sheila Vaughn asked about the costs of hiring these external firms. Hickey said that the evaluation would cost between $20 to $25,000 and the Police Chief search would be another $20 to $25,000.
Selectman Eric Crone argued that the Police Department might not need or want to have an independent evaluation done. He suggested that the Police Chief might be the best person to assess the Department’s needs. He also said he would be interested in hearing the thoughts of the Mass Chiefs of Police or IECP (International Association of Chiefs of Police) on the evaluation and asked Hickey about potentially reaching out to those entities.
Vaughn argued that it would be hard to do an expensive evaluation for one department, but not others. She said she felt it was a lot of money to ask for both the evaluation and the hiring firm. Vice Chair Donald Alcombright said, “At least to me, I think the benefit of it is you bring an outside perspective to a new Chief coming in that’s not clouded in anything; here’s the information, this is what we saw – you can do as you want with it, but I think that independent information could be beneficial to a new Chief coming in. Emberg said that it sounded as though the Selectmen were mostly in favor of hiring a firm to conduct the Police Chief search while the issue of whether to do the independent evaluation was less clear. They agreed to take steps toward hiring a firm for the search.
Hickey also said that the Selectmen may want to consider sponsoring a Town Meeting article that would remove the Strong Police Chief. Hickey explained the Strong Police Chief as, “a Police Chief that has basically complete authority over the Department, answers directly to the Board of Selectmen, and provides direct oversight for all of the staff in the Police Department. The alternative is to have a Police Chief that works for the Town Manager/Town Administrator… and answers to that position as most other department heads would.” A Police Chief that is a Strong Chief has hiring and firing authority as opposed to non-Strong Chiefs. Vaughn asked if most neighboring communities had a Strong Police Chief. Hickey said he was unable to find that information after a search but said that he suspects that as communities have become more professionalized, the Strong Police and Fire Chief positions have likely become fewer. Hickey recommended that if they were going to make the change, they do so before hiring a new Chief. The Board appeared to be mostly against making the move to restructure the Police Department in this way and agreed to table it for the time being. They noted that the fall town meeting would be too short of notice to bring such a change before the town for a vote.
Emberg said that there were a number of Boards and Committees that had vacancies. Those included openings on the Finance Committee, Community Preservation Committee, Capital Planning, Cultural Commission, Rent Control Board, Ichabod Washburn Fund Trustees, Old Colony Elder Affairs Board of Directors, Board of Registrars (Republican seat), and the Housing Authority. The Council on Aging also needs a volunteer to deliver for Meals on Wheels. The Board of Selectmen will hold a joint meeting with the sewer commissioners on August 1 to fill a vacant sewer commissioner position.
Emberg also went over several upcoming events including music nights at Grays Beach on August 15 and August 29 at 6 p.m. A movie night will be held on August 10 at dusk. A farmer’s market will be held on Sunday, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. National Night Out will take place on Aug 8 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Silver Lake Regional Middle School. Emberg said it “will feature food, refreshments, pony rides, public safety vehicles, K-9 demonstrations, a DJ, and more.” Laura Casey-Pupek, of the Police Department, spoke saying they still had vendor openings available for National Night Out.
The Selectmen also dealt with a number of appointments. Mary Hayes was appointed to the Council on Aging for a three-year term and Kathy Studley was appointed to a one-year term as an alternate. The Selectmen also voted unanimously to appoint Jennifer Alukonis to a two-year term on the Affordable Housing Trust.
Vaughn went over some recent donations including $800 in gift cards from an anonymous donor to the Veteran’s Department. There was also a $10,500 donation from the Kingston Public Library Foundation to the library programs. Of the donations, Vaughn said, “Woohoo, awesome!”
The Curious Case of the Vegetable Thief
by Linda Ibbitson Hurd
Special to The Express
In the Summer of 1960 when I was 13, I spent a lot of time with my best friend. We were the same age, and both named Linda. She was the youngest of six siblings and I was the oldest of four. We lived in Hanson, I on upper Elm Street and she down the end where it went into Halifax. She and her sister had the choice of attending school in Hanson or Halifax as the town line went through the middle of their house. They chose Hanson. The house, a big two-story old Colonial, was on a beautiful plot of land where there was also a barn with a second story which housed a wrought iron workshop where her grandfather worked and a kennel for Golden Retrievers attached to the rear of the house.
One particular Saturday night when I had been invited for the weekend, Linda and I were having supper with three of her sisters, her brother-in-law, their small daughter and Linda’s parents and grandfather. The conversation turned to a situation the married sister and her husband were going through. From the beginning of Summer when their vegetable garden started producing, they found some missing when they got up in the morning along with shoe tracks in the garden soil. Then one morning they found a few items missing from their barn, which was a good distance from the street but right beside the house. They lived down the end of Elm Street near Hudson Street and not too far from Linda’s house. Their garden was in their side yard not far from the street. The Police were investigating.
When supper was over, Linda and I helped watch her two-year-old niece until her parents took her home. After they left and everyone headed for the TV set, we went outside to walk around until her mother called us in, saying it was time for bed. With lights off in every room and the house so quiet, we stayed up talking for a while in whispers. We were sitting on her bed when she looked at me and said, “Let’s go catch that burglar!” “How’re we going to do that without waking everybody up?”, I asked. “I’ll show you,” she said.
We dressed in dark colors, took the sheets off the two beds in her room, tied them together then put them around the bed post closest to the window and took out the screen. She dropped the sheets down, only a few feet from the ground and we climbed out. We moved quickly to the road before anyone could see us and hoped her grandfather wasn’t up. It was a beautiful, still, summer night and the moon wasn’t quite full. We walked the distance to her sister’s house. The garden was full except for the bare spots where things had been taken and the lettuce and squash were closest and rather large. Linda whispered, “lie down between the rows of lettuce and don’t make a sound!” As we crouched to lie down in the dirt between the rows of lettuce, she stepped on a dry twig which snapped, making a louder than usual sound in the stillness of the night. In the dirt we were lying flat with her nails dug into my thigh when she whispered, “don’t even breathe”. All of a sudden, the back door slammed open under the overhead light and her brother-in-law Ray stepped out with a shotgun bellowing, “Who’s there!?” A shot rang out and we could hear it whizzing over our heads. Before another shot was fired, Linda stoop up screaming, “Ray, it’s us, me and Linda, don’t shoot!!” He made an anguished sound and broke the shot gun in half over his thigh, yelling, “Get in here right now, both of you!”
In we shuffled, heads down and were ordered into the spacious living room with wide speckled gray floorboards. We sat and awaited our fate. We got the third degree and answered all their questions. Ray was shaking and his wife Florence was sheet white. “Do you know I could have killed you, what were you thinking?!!! “That we wanted to catch your burglar”, Linda said. He looked at me waiting for an answer “I wanted to help”, I said. He put his head in his hands. After almost an hour and all the lecturing, he looked at Linda and said, “I’ll take you home and talk to your mother.” He looked at me and said, “You call your father right now!” Oh my God, I thought, I’m dead. I didn’t want to do it but I knew there was no way out of it. Linda argued for me but both Ray and Florence were adamant. I called my dad.
When my dad came and talked to Ray and Florence and we headed for home, he was very calm and never said a word. I could sense he wasn’t mad, not even lecturing me. I was relieved. The drive home was barely two minutes, we weren’t far from where they lived. My mom met us at the door, intensely upset chiding, “Do you realize a policeman could be carrying you home dead in his arms? do you know that!?” I looked at her and said, “well, he isn’t and I’m not”. “Go to your room!!” She shrilled. I went.
Linda and I weren’t allowed to get together for a while, we knew things had to cool down first. We both realized we were wrong and learned the valuable lessons of noninterference, that well-meaning intentions can go terribly wrong, and consequen-ces can be irreversible. These have held us in good stead.
OCES honors 220 volunteers
More than 220 volunteers from Southeastern Massachusetts attended Old Colony Elder Services (OCES) Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon and awards ceremony held at Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston.
The Plymouth County based non-profit agency that serves older adults and individuals with disabilities, honored their volunteers and presented special awards to 22 volunteers.
OCES is a National President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) Certifying Organization which honors outstanding volunteers and recognizes the impact they make. Armindo Rocha, OCES’ Volunteer Program Manager and Cidalia America, Volunteer Coordinator, hosted the event and bestowed the awards.
Sharon Frank of Wareham was presented with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. The PVSA’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes 4000+ volunteer hours in a lifetime.
The Annual Gold Award is given to those who have volunteered for more than 500 hours during the year. The PVSA’s Annual Gold Award was presented to Anne-Marie Borsje, David Drain, Peter Keohan, Mi Kim, Nancy McDermott, Joanne Protasewich, Sophia Loc-Tringali, John Tuffy, Gary Peterson, Marie Claire Ording, Richard Shoemaker and Sherry Williamson of Duxbury; Steve Meissner of Easton; Christina Butta of Middleboro; Kathleen Breen of Plymouth; and Sandra Saltzman of Stoughton.
OCES’ Make a Difference Award recognizes exceptional volunteers for their dedication to helping others making an impact on the community. Sharon Perry of Halifax, along with OCES staff members and volunteers Rochelle Degany, Rick Alvarnaz, Paul and Neal Mullen were each presented with the Make a Difference Award.
“We recognize and thank all of our generous volunteers for their tremendous dedication to helping others in our community and making the world a better place,” said Nicole Long, CEO of OCES.
More about the PVSA
In 2003, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation founded the President’s Volunteer Service Award to recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity. This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action too. Led by AmeriCorps and managed in partnership with Points of Light, this program allows Certifying Organizations to recognize their most exceptional volunteers. As an AmeriCorps Seniors grantee, OCES receives funds through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) for volunteers age 55+. RSVP of Plymouth County (RSVP-PC) volunteers help OCES and other local agencies that are Community Service Partners.
Volunteering for OCES
The Volunteer Program supports OCES and other RSVP-PC Community Service Partners. With the help of more than 550 Nutrition Program volunteers, OCES serves 2,000 meals each weekday as part of its Meals on Wheels Program. Money Management Program (MMP) volunteers assist older adults and individuals with disabilities with bill paying, reconciling bank statements, balancing checkbooks, and in special cases, negotiating debt with creditors. Volunteers also serve on the OCES Board of Directors, MMP and RSVP Community Advisory councils and contribute to many other important efforts.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities, visit www.ocesma.org.
Founded in 1974, OCES proudly serves greater Plymouth County and surrounding communities. OCES is a private, non-profit organization headquartered in Brockton with a second office in Plymouth. OCES is designated as one of 23 Aging Services Access Points (ASAPs) in Massachusetts.
Through the talent of an experienced and diverse workforce, OCES supports the independence and dignity of older adults and individuals with disabilities by providing essential information and services that promote healthy, safe living which positively impacts our community.
The agency offers several programs to serve older adults, individuals with disabilities, their families, and caregivers. For more information call 508-584-1561 or visit www.ocesma.org.
Plympton Seniors to State Park
Plympton seniors were treated to a trip to the Myles Standish State Forest organized by Capt. John Sjostedt of the Plympton Fire Dept. In addition to the history of the forest, the group learned about fire prevention and detection, with a special presentation by Smokey Bear. The day’s activities culminated in a cookout. Who could ask for more? The COA sends special thanks to the Plympton Fire Department and Capt. John Sjostedt for arranging the event. For more photos by Capt. Sjostedt, go to page 7.
Thrilled, proud, and emotional
That’s how Kingston’s Sienna Harrington described her recent trip to Missouri earlier this month, which culminated with her U14 Girls’ South Shore Select Soccer Club team winning the national championship.
“It feels surreal and exciting because the skill level and competitiveness of the other teams from all over the country we were going against were so good,” Harrington said. “They were very physical and fast paced games. Every player on the Select 09 GA team worked so hard all year to get to where we are and am so proud of everyone.”
Harrington’s club kicked off the July 6-9 trip with a 1-0 victory over the South Carolina Surf SC. It then beat the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals, 2-1, to earn a spot in the finals. It was there where the South Shore Select doubled up TopHat, 2-1, for the crown.
“The excitement of beating some of the top-ranked teams in the country and advancing from game to game until we were national champions was definitely a highlight,” Harrington said. “Especially because we came from behind and won our last two games, 2-1, in the second half of the game.”
Her favorite memory?
“[It] was when I was on the field and the whistle blew during the championship game,” she said. “Our whole team was celebrating on the field and the Select 06 team that was watching came running out on the field too.”
Harrington, an incoming freshman at Silver Lake, has now shifted her focus to the high school pitch.
“I’m going to spend the next six weeks continuing to work on my speed and agility to prepare for high school tryouts at the end of August,” she said.
~ Nate Rollins
Local Author Marianne Leone to speak at Adams Center
KINGSTON – Local author Marianne Leone will discuss her 2010 memoir about her son, “Jesse: A Mothers Story,” on Wednesday, August 2 at 6 p.m. at the Adams Center.
Jesse was an honor roll student, who loved to windsurf and write poetry. He also had severe cerebral palsy, was a quadriplegic, unable to speak, and wracked by seizures. He died suddenly at the age of 17 in 2005. In her memoir, Leone chronicles her transformation by the remarkable life and untimely death of her child.
During her discussion, Leone will also highlight how she and others communicated with her son, and how he communicated back through an adapted computer as a non-verbal individual. Leone’s author talk is part of this year’s Massachusetts Summer Reading theme, “Find your Voice,” with a number of programs at the Kingston Public Library to help individuals find their voice through writing, music, speechwriting or other means.
Leone is an actress, screenwriter, and essayist. Her other memoir, “Ma Speaks Up,” was published by Beacon Press in 2017. She had a recurring role on HBO’s, “The Sopranos,” and has appeared in films by David O. Russell, Larry David, John Sayles, and Martin Scorsese. Her essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, WBUR, and other publications.
This program is part of the 2023 Adult Summer Reading Program. Attendees will be given a raffle ticket to be used towards a prize. This year’s prizes have been generously provided by the Kingston Public Library Foundation
To register for this event, please visit – https://kingstonpubliclibrary.org. For more information, you can contact Steven Miller, Reference Librarian at (781) 585-0517 x6272 or at [email protected].
Food System Caucus prioritizes eight bills, endorses 20
BOSTON – Rep. Kathy LaNatra of Kingston announced that the Food System Caucus, of which she is a member, has prioritized eight pieces of legislation and endorsed twenty additional pieces of legislation for the 193rd session. Led by Co-Chairs Representative Kane, Representative Vargas, Representative Schmid, Representative Domb, Representative Donahue, Senator Comerford, and Senator DiDomenico, the Food System Caucus has based its priority and endorsed legislation on the three primary areas identified as priorities in the Massachusetts Local Food Action Plan and accepted by the Massachusetts Food Policy Council in 2015:
• Food access/insecurity: Reducing waste, hunger, and food insecurity while making available more fresh, healthy food to everyone who lives in the Commonwealth.
• Farmland: Protecting the land and resources necessary to produce food while maximizing the environmental benefits of agriculture and fishing and the preservation of agricultural land.
• Economic Development: Recognizing the significant impact to local, regional, and state economies, supporting the increase of production, sales, and consumption of Massachusetts-farmed food and seafood, and creating jobs and improving wages in the food, farming, and seafood industries.
• The Food System Caucus will be a hosting an upcoming legislative briefing to highlight and summarize the caucus’ priority legislation and answer any questions from members about the bills prior to August recess.
“Thank you to all of our fellow Legislators who submitted their important pieces of legislation to the Food System Caucus for priority consideration” said the Food System Caucus Co-Chairs. “We are excited to work together this session to propel these pieces of legislation forward.”
“I am pleased to be one of the many members of the Food System Caucus,” said Rep. Kathy LaNatra (D – Kingston).“The priority and endorsed legislation our Caucus has chosen this session will strengthen our local food system and help reduce food insecurity, as issue made acutely important over these past few years. I look forward to advocating with members to advance these bills this session.”
The House and Senate Clerks have now referred bills filed seasonably to the appropriate Joint Committee. All seasonably filed bills are guaranteed a public hearing before February of 2024, when Committees have a deadline to take action on bills heard by their Committees. Below is background on each of the priority and endorsed bills for the Food System Caucus.
The Food System Caucus includes 158 legislative members. For more information on the caucus, please visit our website: www.mafoodsystemcaucus.com
New Halifax trash collection schedule
Effective Monday, July 10, the Town of Halifax’s trash and recycling curbside collection schedule will be permanently delayed by one day.
New Curbside Collection Schedule:Monday’s trash and recycling will be picked-up on Tuesdays.
Tuesday’s trash and recycling will be picked-up on Wednesdays.
Wednesday’s recycling will be picked-up on Thursdays.
Recycling pick-up will still occur every other week.
Additional updates regarding trash and recycling curbside collection services will be posted online at www.halifax-ma.org as they become available.
For questions, please contact the Recycling Center by calling (781) 293-1732 or e-mailing [email protected]. If your trash does not get picked-up, you should contact the Town’s new trash hauler, All State Waste (www.allstatewasteinc.com), at (508) 807-4646.
Selectmen reject name change…again
The Plympton Board of Selectmen met in-person on June 26. As he has done in the past, Selectman John Traynor brought forth the issue of changing the name of the Board of Selectmen to the Select Board. “I saw a Boston Globe article that said we are now at about 100 towns that have either made the renaming or not all of them are not yet official, but they are in progress. And I just think it’s going to happen, I would just like to see this Board approve it,” Traynor said. Selectman Mark Russo said that he still was not in favor of the renaming. Selectman Christine Joy said, “I don’t really care about keeping up with everyone else; I like the name Board of Selectmen. I actually find it very empowering to be on the Board of Selectmen and I just think I’m not ready to make the change yet.” Traynor said, “That’s alright, I’ll just keep bringing it up.”
The Selectmen voted to allow a one-time increase to the cost-of-living adjustment granted to retirees for FY23. Town Administrator Liz Dennehy recommended the adjustment.
Dennehy also provided a Town Administrator’s update saying, “we have been very busy trying to close out FY 23 and also beginning the preparations for FY24. She told the Selectmen there were a number of items in correspondence.
Dennehy said that Upland Road Solar is changing ownership entities. She said that there would be a lot of documentation associated with that and recommended that the Board vote to allow Joy to act on behalf of the entire Board. The documents would still appear before the entire Board for approval once finalized. The Selectmen voted to authorize Joy to work with the Town Administrator and Legal Counsel regarding all documents pertaining to Upland Road Solar with the understanding that the finalized documents would come back before the full Board.
Dennehy also told the Selectmen that she had a request from the Library for use of town property. The Library was requesting the use of the Deborah Sampson room in the Town House for estate planning on July 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Selectmen voted to approve.
Highway Superintendent Rob Firlotte met with Dennehy to discuss several roads that will be undergoing work. Dennehy said that Elm St. would be getting paved from Main St. to Winnetuxet Rd. and West St. She also said that Main St. would be getting a binder course to bring it back up to grade from roughly 149 Main St. to Ring Rd. “As the time gets closer, we’ll put stuff out on social media if we need to,” Dennehy said.
Dennehy further told the Selectmen that she received a memo from the Board of Health, who had contacted Webby Engineering to look at the elevations between the Fire Department and the Library. She said the hope was that the current Fire Station could tie into the Library septic system, but they were told it was not feasible. She said she would be sending the results of the study to the Town Properties Committee.
The Selectmen ended their evening with their raves for the last few weeks. Joy said her rave was for the screening committee responsible for bringing forth three excellent candidates for the position of Fire Chief. She announced that earlier that evening, the Selectmen had voted unanimously to appoint Captain Cheryl Davis as Plympton’s next Fire Chief. For his rave, Russo said, “It is a great pleasure to me that the little town of Plympton would have a woman Fire Chief.” Traynor said, “My rave is for the Assistant Assessor Wendy Jones. I’m sad to see her leaving; I think she’s done a great job. We’re losing a critical resource – I’m sorry to see her go.” Traynor also noted her excellent work on the complicated subject of solar and said that she would still be assisting with that in some capacity during the transition.
Route 58 closed for fatal accident
A news release from Plympton Police Chief Matt Ahl stated the following:
Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at approximately 2:07 p.m., Plympton Police Department and Plympton Fire Department were dispatched to a t-car motor vehicle collision involving a roll-over an entrapment on Palmer Road.
Upon arrival, officers observed a truck and a sedan involved. The truck was operated by a male Plympton resident and he was the sole occupant of the vehicle. The sedan was operated by a male non-resident and he was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
The male non-resident driver of the sedan was transported to BID-Plymoouth with non-life threatening injuries. The male Plympton resident from the truck was promounced deceased on scene.
Palmer Road was closed from Center Street to Main Street, as well as Main Street from Palmer Road to Mayflower Road for multiple hours due to the collision and investigation. Halifax and Carver Police Departments assisted with road closures. The Plymouth County Bureau of Criminal Investigation, as well as the Massachusetts State Police COAC Unit and Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Section responded to the scene. The investigation is ongoing.
We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the resident who succumbed to their injuries. The family has been notified and we ask the public to please respect that we will not be releasing further information on the deceased at this time. This is a time where our communty must come together and our department is committed to offering support to all impacted by today’s tragedy.
Respectfully,
Chief Matthew Ahl
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- …
- 204
- Next Page »