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A history of Lions Club pins on display

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Nancy Emerson of Oak Point in Middleboro, wife of the late Warren R. Emerson, has put together a display of the more than 150 Lions International trading pins she and her husband collected over his lifetime.

The official group is the International Lions Pin Trading Club and about 20,000 members from all over the world attend conventions in the United States and worldwide.  She shows in her display – just a fraction of the 3,000 pins the couple collected – pins from Russia and China, Denmark, and throughout the United States.

“We have not necessarily been to all the countries represented, but we have met people from all of those countries and traded pins with people from those countries.”

Nancy is especially fond of the Moscow pin. “Russia didn’t always have a Lions Club.  We had been in the Lions for quite a while before Russia had any Lions Clubs.”

Each club every year designs a pin for their trading club.   She pointed out a set that was Warren’s brainchild, the “Glossy Gobblers” turkey set.  Each member of their group would have his own pin – they each have a different saying like “eat chicken for Thanksgiving”.  People trading would have to go to each table of the members to collect a full set.

There are quite a few sets on display.  Nancy is particularly fond of the Pennsylvania quilt patterns.   As a quilter herself, Warren asked her if she would like for him to collect the full set and she said she would – so he traded and collected the set just for her.

Lions Club pin trading has a long history in Lions Clubs International.   Founder Melvin Jones who began the Lions Clubs in the 1920s designed the first pin – a single lion – in paper, to be pinned in the lapel of Lions members.  When Lions Club International came into being, a new pin was designed with two lions facing in opposite directions.

Through the years, pins have been designed and made from a variety of materials from paper to wood, to various metals and finishings.  Some of the older pins are true works of art, with bright, shining cloisonné.   Today’s pins use a process similar to cloisonné but using plastic instead of glass.

Warren Emerson was well known as an avid pin collector and earned several awards and recognitions.

Nancy said that through the years she and Warren would look forward to the various conventions, attending several during the year, and meet friends they have made along the way through the organization.

The pins remind her of the friends who gave them and she loves to share them.

Grove Street to close for gas line replacement

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Plympton Police Chief Matthew Clancy has announced that Eversource Gas Division will be replacing a 100-year-old natural gas main along Grove Street in Plympton.

The construction will tentatively begin on Wednesday April 28, 2021 and stretches from the Halifax/Plympton town line to the Kingston/Plympton town line. The project is expected to take 4-5 weeks to complete.

Grove Street, a popular cut through road near Silver Lake Regional High School and Middle School, will be closed to through traffic during daytime hours while construction is active.

Grove Street residents will have access under the direction of police details. School bus access will also be maintained.

The road will reopen to through traffic during evenings and over the weekends.

Those who are not residents of Grove Street are encouraged to seek an alternate route while this project is ongoing.

Kingston votes tomorrow

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KINGSTON – Kingston’s annual town election will be held Saturday, April 24.  All precincts, 1-4, will vote at the Kingston Elementary School, 150 Main St., Kingston, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On the ballot:  Select Board for three years, two candidates for re-election, Kimberly Emberg and Sheila Marie Vaughan.  (Vote for two)

Assessor for three years: Scott J. DeSantis.  (Vote for one)

Collector of Taxes for one year:  Jessica M Kramer and Kenneth G. Moalli.  (Vote for one)

Planning Board for five years: Jonathan Jacob Barnett, Sr., candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for two years: Emily R. Davis and Emma Rose Morgan.  (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for three years:  Leslieann S. Magee, candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Kingston Elementary School Committee for three years: Katina Bedard and Megan G. Cannon.  (Vote for one)

Water Commissioner for three years: Richard Wilson Loring, Jr., candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

Board of Health for two years: Dennis N. Randall.  (Vote for one)

Board of Health for three years: Janet D. Wade, candidate for re-election and Norman P. Harbinson, Jr. (Vote for one)

Library Trustees for three years: Emily Flight Curtin, candidate for re-election, Shannon J. Gauthier, and Christine Maiorano. (Vote for not more than two)

Recreation for three years: Melissa A. Bateman and Daniel P. Shropshire, both candidates for re-election.  (Vote for not more than two)

Sewer Commissioner for three years: Thomas W. Taylor II, candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

Candidates for Halifax Town Election

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Halifax voters will make their choices on Saturday, May 15, at the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth St., Route 106, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  with all COVID protocols in place.

Registered voters can choose to vote early via mail-in ballot. The application form can be downloaded at http://www.halifax-ma.org/elections-registration/files/2021-vote-mail-application – and also can be obtained at the Town Clerk’s office or you can request an application be mailed to you.

The last day to apply for early voting via mail-in ballot is Tuesday, May 11. Applications must be received by 5p.m. on that day. Voters can drop off   Applications at the Town Clerk›s Office, use the election kiosk, or mail them to the Town Clerk, 499 Plymouth Street, Halifax, MA 02338.

It is expected that ballots will be mailed out starting on or about Wednesday, April 21. Ballots must be returned to the Town Clerk›s office or the election kiosk no later than Saturday, May 15 at 6 p.m.

The election kiosk located on the parking lot side of the Town Hall will be available for voters to submit applications and ballots.

On the ballot are

Assessor for three year term: Dorothy L. Lamureux. (Vote for one)

Board of Health for three year term: Alan J. Dias, candidate for re-election and Pamela Ann Engstrom.  (Vote for one)

Board of Library Trustees for three year term: no candidate.  (Vote for two)

Board of Library Trustees for two year term: Kathleen A. Shiavone. (Vote for one)

Halifax Elementary School Committee for a two year term: Lana M. Eldridge and Summer K. Schmaling.  (Vote for one)

Halifax Elementary School Committee for a three year term: Marline Amedee, James F. Keegan, III, Lauren M. Laws, Jennifer Ann Carroll, and Robert W. Johnson. (Vote for two)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for a two year term: Marline Amedee and Summer Schmaling.  (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for a three year term: Gordon D. Laws, Jr. and Jennifer Ann Carroll.

Town  Moderator for a three year term: no candidate.  (Vote for one)

Park Commissioner for a three year term: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Park Commissioner for a two year term: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Planning Board for a five year term: Alan J. Dias, candidate for re-election and Brendon William Elliot.  (Vote for one)

Board of Selectmen for a three year term: Thomas Millias, candidate for re-election and Ashley Anne Disesa.  (Vote for one)

Board of Water Commissioners for a three-year term: Daniel O. Bosworth, Jr., candidate for re-election.

Town Clerk for a three year term: Susan Marie Lawless.  (Vote for one)

Town Treasurer/Collector for a three year term: Pamela R. Adduci. (Vote for one)

Elections are held in the Gym at the Halifax Elementary School, 464 Plymouth Street.

Vote

Silver Lake’s Little Mermaid

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Silver Lake High School will present The Little Mermaid, streaming LIVE to your livingroom  Thursday, April 29, Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1.  All shows stream at 7 p.m.  Go to www.SHOWTIX4U.com.  Tickets are $10, $8 students and seniors. Putting on a musical during a pandemic was a challenge met by the cast and crew.  Note the masks with clear panels so faces show through.  See more on Page 16.

Candidates for Plympton Town Election

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Plympton residents will vote at the polls on Saturday, May 15, at the Plympton Town House, 5 Palmer Rd. Route 58, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On the ballot are

Selectman for three years: Christine M. Joy, candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Assessor, for three years:  no candidate. (Vote for one)

Assessor, for one year: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Board of Health for three years: Harry L. Weikel, Jr., candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Finance Committee for three years: no candidate. (Vote for one)

Library Trustee for three years: Miranda Anne Pink, candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

Library Trustee for one year: no candidate.  (Vote for one)

Planning Board for five years: no candidate.  (Vote for one)

Planning Board for four years: no candidate. (Vote for one)

School Committee for three years: Jason W. Fraser, candidate for re-election, Suzanne L. Jaffarian, Nicole M. Mahoney, and Robert Randolph Montgomery.  (Vote for one)

Silver Lake Regional School Committee for three years: Lukasz Kowalski. (Vote for one)

Town Clerk for three years: Patricia L. Detterman, candidate for re-election. (Vote for one)

Tree Warden for three years: William N. Hayes, Jr., candidate for re-election.  (Vote for one)

LaNatra announces five fire dept. grants

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State Representative Kathy LaNatra of the 12th Plymouth District announced that the Baker-Polito Administration has awarded firefighter safety grants to 5 fire departments within the 12th Plymouth District. This funding is part of a $25 million bond bill filed by the Baker-Polito Administration that will support firefighter health and safety over the next five years.

“I am thrilled to see this wonderful investment in the health and safety of our firefighters by the Baker Administration,” said State Rep. Kathy LaNatra (D-Kingston). “Protecting the health and safety of our firefighters is paramount to ensuring that they are able to adequately do their jobs and protect our communities.”

Fire departments in Massachusetts were able to apply to this program for 114 different types of eligible equipment, including personal protective clothing, gear washers and dryers, thermal imaging cameras, assorted hand tools and extrication equipment, communications resources, hazardous gas meters, fitness equipment, and more.

This program represents a comprehensive approach to mitigating modern firefighter health and safety risks.  Firefighters face not only the well-known risks of fire, smoke, and hazardous materials, but also long-term health risks of occupational cancer associated with the exposure to fire by-products and debilitating physical injuries due to the strenuous nature of their work.

Funding to communities in the 12th Plymouth District is as follows:

Duxbury: $15,000.00

Halifax: $12,493.00

Kingston: $14,999.95

Plymouth: $25,995

Plympton: $9,457.96

Sen. Brady: House and Senate reach agreement

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Senator Michael Brady (D-Brockton) announced today, as a member of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, that the House and Senate have reached an agreement to pursue an increase to local aid in the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget.

The agreement funds the first year of the Student Opportunity Act and places the commonwealth on track to full implementation by 2027. Signed into law in 2019, the Student Opportunity Act is a landmark achievement for equitable education and constitutes the largest investment in Chapter 70 aid in over twenty years.

“The rapid outbreak of the pandemic caused many important commitments to be delayed,” said Senator Michael D. Brady, “We are working closely with our partners in the House, local school districts, and education stakeholders to ensure we can get the state back on track to ensure all students can receive a high-quality education.”

The local aid agreement includes the following parameters:

• Funds Chapter 70 at its highest level ever at $5.503 billion, an increase of $219.6 million over FY 2021, which fully funds 1/6th implementation of SOA rates;

• Creates a $40 million enrollment reserve fund targeted to stabilize school districts adversely impacted by pandemic-related enrollment changes; and

• Funds Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) at $1.16 billion, an increase of $39.5 million over FY 2021, providing additional local aid support to our cities and towns

Familiar faces fill Town House positions

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PLYMPTON — The Plympton Board of Selectmen met last Monday via Zoom, and took on a few previous items on their agenda, as well as several new ones. A public hearing for a Wine and Malt beverages application was also considered for KKaties Burgers Express Plympton, and two appointments were made, one for Lisa Hart, and another for Tara Shaw.

Hart, the former secretary of the Finance Committee, was appointed Town Accountant.  She said she was, “totally thrilled, and the right person for this job,” noting how much she loved Plympton.

Former Town Clerk Tara Shaw was appointed Assistant Town Treasurer, and mentioned that she had learned many things during her two-year break from Town House, working in an accounting-based University position.

She said that she, “would have regretted not putting into place [the] application… I’m looking forward to starting a new career.”

Mid-meeting there was a “wine and malt beverage” license application for KKaties, a local burger chain with locations in Hyannis, Marshfield and Plymouth. Keith Steiding, the president of the award-winning restaurant company, represented the company at the hearing.

Not long into the meeting, Steiding’s enthusiasm became obvious.

He began to speak, not always answering the questions posed to him, or answering them in a very round-about way, prompting slight smiles from town officials.

“I had a comment…” he said, “This is a malt and liquor license [not a full liquor license] … that’s all we want … [The] other locations have bars… this is not one of those situations.”

Steiding said that it was more of a restaurant where “you could grab a beer at lunch, and then leave,” as opposed to a full bar, as in the other locations.

Selectman Christine Joy had a question, although Selectmen Mark Russo and John Trainer did not have much to say.

Joy appeared concerned that because KKatie’s stated in their application that since they would be using third-party delivery services, they might try to get into delivering alcohol. The answer was a resounding, although round-about, “No.”

The motion for the application passed unanimously, after some discussion.

Finally, Secretary to the Board of Selectman Bri Martins, who phoned into the meeting and traditionally coordinates Memorial Day activities with the Selectmen, reported that the Board of Health had shut down any notion of a parade of any sort this year. There will be some limited activities, she said, but Martins sounded disappointed.

The final selection of limited activities will depend on health and safety guidelines.

A very special delivery!

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One baby girl made a grand entrance in Halifax last Thursday giving her dad Ryan Walsh and mom Christina an exhilarating story as she entered the world at 1 a.m. in the family’s home.

Michaela Rose is a healthy 6 pounds 13 ounces and 18 inches long with a full head of dark hair. She has a big sister Melanie, 3, who slept through the whole event.

The family was waiting to find out their induction plan for the following day when Christina woke up feeling “off” Wednesday just before midnight. Thinking she was nervous about the next day’s induction she timed a few contractions that did not seem regular for the first few minutes.

“I woke up Ryan and said get the papers upstairs,” she said

Thinking they were going to call the doctor on her status and head to the hospital. Within five minutes things changed fast. Really fast!  Instead she was yelling “call 911” from the bathroom in the time it took Ryan to get up the stairs to grab keys and sneakers she reached down and the baby’s head was emerging.

He jumped over and down the landing of their split level ranch stair and she heard his feet hit the floor, she said.

By that time he was already on the phone with 911 and the dispatcher was giving instructions to assist with the imminent arrival of baby Walsh.  The second time parents said the entire delivery from the midnight wake up to the baby’s arrival at 1:15 was unbelievably rapid.

Halifax Police Officer Michelle McIntyre was first on scene- a mom herself -and credited long time Regional Old Colony Communications Center 911 dispatcher Christina Manning of Hanson who had given calm instructions to dad who was keeping mom as composed as he could.

“She told me to cradle the head and check the umbilical cord, it was slightly around her neck but I kept my finger there to keep it loose,” said Walsh.

The couple credited and thanked everyone for the help they received from start to finish.

Christina said she had been to the hospital so many times for routine care in the previous month that nearly all the nurses knew her and came in to congratulate them and see the baby.

We were the talk of the delivery floor, she said.

The couple recalled the delivery together with first responders in a more lighthearted and stress less circumstance at their Halifax fire station reunion on Monday.

The story included a few laughs that dad Ryan (whose birthday was the day Christina went in to labor) had no medical background other than being a boy scout.

Knowing that nobody except Michaela had planned this arrival, Christina said she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

Appearing to tell the story rather calmly she said she still feels all the adrenaline and excitement of the arrival- she may be slightly in shock.

But there was no doubt that Michaela was on her way.

The update from radio dispatch was that the baby’s head and shoulders were out and by the time she ran up the driveway the baby was delivered and with mom and dad, said Officer McIntyre.

Arriving in moments Halifax firefighters and Paramedic Bridget Riley who has been a firefighter for five years and a medic for two said it was her first delivery. She thanked Ryan for letting her cut the umbilical cord.  He replied the event was a blur at that point with everyone laughing and relieved that everyone was healthy.

The team of first responders with shift Lt. Joe Gibbons also on the medical response with EMT Mike Delcourt swaddled the baby and cleared the airway as they packed the family up to head to Brockton Hospital.

Three year old big sister Melanie missed all the commotion and was more excited to wake up and find that her Auntie Lynn (Mom’s best friend) slept over at her house, said dad.