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Friday, December 31, 2010
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EverythingWestport's 12 most notable new stories of 2010
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EverythingWestport's 12 most notable new stories of
2010 Friday,
December 31, 2010 photos/EverythingWestport.com Here's a look back at EverythingWestport's 12 most notable new
stories of 2010 that start and end with the Blizzard of 2010. How is this possible you say? Read
on and find out more about Westport's year including floods, fires, triumphs
and defeats, and light times that defined the most memorable moments in the
year of the Golden Tiger. Story #1 Lucky Leo got a lifeline - a heartwarming,
new year’s tale of a dog’s rescue. Quick action by town resident Fern Lavoie
and a daring rescue by Westport firefighters saved a Dartmouth dog from
certain icy death. Fern Lavoie
could have slept in Saturday morning, January 2nd or spent a little extra
time over his morning coffee. He could
have spent an extra minute watching the early morning news. But
he didn’t. What
Fern Lavoie of 179 Roberts Street did do was walk outside on that 20 degree
morning to get his Saturday morning paper at his usual time. That’s when he
thought he heard a dog barking in distress out on Sawdy
Pond. Click here to relive the story with rescue photos. Below: A tearful
Katelyn Savoie, 18, reunited with Leo at Acoaxet Veterinary Clinic.
Story #2
The $1.4
million dollar project was made possible by donation from the Manton
Foundation. With
a faltering economy that continued into 2010 and reduced state aid putting
pressure on town budgets, the Library has had to cut hours and expenses,
making the outcome of this improbably expansion even more exciting than
originally planned. Click here to read more and view photos. Story #3
Left: wind driven drifting on Adamsville Road. 12/28/2010 The first Blizzard of 2010 was a winter storm and severe weather event that hit New England between
February 9-11, 2010, dumping 12 to 40 inches of snow across a wide swath from
Washington, DC to Boston. The
much-feared snowstorm failed to deliver the wallop to Westport predicted by
forecasters. The over-hyped beast of a blizzard closed schools, town offices
and many retailers, and merely delivered beauty in the eyes of school
children and those adults who got the day off. Below
left: Winter shadows were long in the tooth over this undisturbed field of
snow on Thursday, February 11, 2010. Below
right: snow enshrouded cemetery off Sanford Road.
Story #4
The farm's “trifecta”
investment that gambled on wind turbines helping solve their energy needs was
sorely tested, however, when a dispute with NSTAR delayed the project for
months and months, frustrating the farmers who were only trying to use green energy
that the utility promoted. “We pay $1700 per month in electricity
costs for just our apple-processing shed,” bemoaned George Smith. "We
need those turbines spinning." No one said it was cheap to go green. George Smith and Doris Mills are finding
this out as they struggle with NStar to connect
their new, state-of-the-art induction motor turbines to NSTAR’s power grid. “Northeast Windpower
was to provide some perfectly capable trip relays that have been in use with
other comparable turbines across the country,” said Scott Fryer, Northeast
Air installer. But NStar told
WJAR’s Heim (seen above, center with Scott Fryer) that the relay was neither
UL certified nor utility grade. They want the farm to install NStar’s more expensive equipment that would add up to
$5000 per turbine to make the connection. Not true says Fryer. “Our trip relay is UL
certified and only costs $200 per turbine to install.” Click here to read and view photos about the delays in
the "relays"! Turbines
take a turn for the better. September
17, 2010 - After six months of
frustrating delays due to red tape and the monolithic indifference of NSTAR,
the wind turbines of Noquochoke Orchards are finally
spinning. “I’m happy,” said George Smith of the Westport Farm known more for
its Cortland’s and Macs than renewable energy. “They need to save me some
money!” ‘It’s not easy being green,’ Kermit the
Frog used to sing. George Smith and Doris Mills now sing out of the same
songbook. Read more of this story's final chapter. Story #5 Westport under
water! At the end of March, Westport weathered the
most rainfall since the keeping of records began, and the worst flooding in
almost 60 years. Adamsville Pond swamped Amanda Assad (pictured above - April 1, 2010) on Borden Street
sloshed through 18 inches of water on the first floor of their flooded home. “I renovated this home three times over the years and spent
thousands of dollars,” said owner Ron Assad. “We were just getting ready to
redo the kitchen.” The Assad’s home was condemned by the Westport fire department
on Wednesday. “Now what do we do?” Assad
said. On-alert town fire, police and highway
departments scrambled to shore up dams and reroute traffic on flooded
roadways. Route 6 was under water. South Watuppa
Pond was five feet above normal levels. The Westport Senior Center was on
alert for possible housing of flood evacuees. The National Guard was called
in. Affected residents around North and South Watuppa were evacuated, and some have still not returned
home. “Whether we see something like this again
in the next 50 years, we don’t know, but people are living through history,”
said Walter Drag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in
Taunton. “We pumped out more than 50 homes as of late Wednesday
afternoon, and had to condemn four homes on Drift Road, Tickle Road, and
Borden Street.” - Deputy Fire Chief
Allen Manley It would be many months before FEMA, MEMA, town,
city and state agencies had things sorted out and were abe
to help affected residents. Read more with amazing photos! Local Westport safety officials praised
during flood; National Guard slammed. Click here to read more and view photos. Story #6
Sergeant St. Onge
was the honorary Grand Marshall for this year’s Westport and Fall River
Memorial Day parades. Courage in
the face of fire. During World War II when his comrade got
tangled up in a mass of communication cables while crossing a storm-swollen
creek, and was drowning, St. Onge pulled him out,
not because he was a hero, but because he needed the ammunition to support
his company’s charge up the hill. “They needed my machine gun and all the
men,” St. Onge said. “And a machine gun without
bullets is no damn good.” Six enemy pillboxes had St. Onge and his buddies in a cross fire. “I needed that
man’s bandolier (ammunition belt),” St. Onge
said. Westport selectmen honor WWII veteran Leo
St. Onge. Read more with photos. Story #7 Dramatic
early-morning rescue saves woman from burning, smoke-filled house. Courageous
firefighters carry the day. House is a total loss. An alert Fire Chief Brian Legendre spotted early morning
smoke from an upstairs window at the Drift Road residence as he was passing
by. His quick action saved a Westport woman from certain death.
The bungalow-style home is 3/4 of a mile
south of the Head of Westport. Left: firefighters work to extinguish the
blaze. photo/Lucy Tabit
for EverythingWestport.com According to Barbara Steele, executive
assistant to Fire Marshal Stephen Coan, the home
was experiencing electrical problems prior to the fire.” She reported the
fire was “most likely caused by an electrical problem, somewhere in the
ceiling above the kitchen.” Read more with photos on the daring rescue. Story #8
Those days of volunteerism and Yankee
thrift are now but ancient history as Westport prepares to celebrate the
opening of the largest public works project in its history - the new $6
million dollar South End Fire Station No. 1.
The 83-year-old wooden frame building
located in Central Village that housed Westport’s first new fire engine has
been retired, and the land returned to Mr. Woods’ son, Jim. The fire
apparatus is now housed in the new, state-of-the-art, taxpayer-funded fire
station that is the envy of all surrounding towns. My how times have
changed. The controversial project that took many
years and many revisions to approve and build was ready for its coming out
party. The grand opening and dedication was scheduled for Friday, July 30 at
11:00 a.m. Sandwiches and fire house chili for all! But with the completion of the new fire
house comes the end of an era when firemen’s associations built their own
fire stations and equipped them with town-owned equipment. Closed is the Reed
Road fire station, and closed is the Route 6 single-door fire station that
experienced its own controversy so many years ago. Click here to read more with lots of photos.
Click here to read about the grand opening with a
complete archive of all construction photos from ground breaking to grand
opening.. Story #9 Goodbye
Earl, we hardly knew ya! Westport woke up Saturday morning, September 4th to
blue skies and sunshine as the Category 4 hurricane that promised a wallop
passed by with hardly more than a whimper, skirting the shoreline and sparing
the coastal villages any real damage. Minor surface water runoff from the
sometimes heavy rains quickly dissipated, and the leaves stayed on the trees.
Above: The sailor’s denizen
of disaster – Half Mile Rock battered by waves and storm surge. The Westport
harbormaster closed the harbor entrance because of dangerous conditions. Area farmers, commercial and recreational
boaters, and seaside trailer owners poured days of preparations into
protecting themselves against a possible category 4 hurricane hitting the
coastal villages, but all for naught as downgraded tropical storm Earl
brushed Westport aside and headed for better pickings on the Cape and
Islands. But the ocean put on a dramatic show with 11'
seas and turbulent surf that had all the daredevil surfboarders out flashing
their skills and taunting King Neptune. Westport Rivers Vineyard was spared their second-only
red Pinot Noir crop in 20 years ever since Hurricane Bob took out a
prospective crop in 1991. “We need an early start and a hot summer in
order to approach a red wine year,” Rob Russell said. “This year was 1
vintage in 20 as far as we’re concerned.” “The 1991 season started early with the
vines displaying bud break two weeks before normal, just like this 2010
season. The 1991 season was hot and dry; the same is true for this
year.” But late August 1991 also
brought an unwelcome visitor - a hurricane named Bob. And with Hurricane Earl
bearing down on the vineyard, the Russell family wanted to see the
similarities between 1991 and 2010 end. Read more with dramatic photos. Story #10
Dancing to “What’s Your Name?” the duo
really clicked with diminutive Tiffany swirling and flying around the rock
solid, popular Fall River coach. The pair took home the gold in the first of
what many had hoped would become an annual Dancing with the Stars at White’s of Westport. This charitable event was Westport's social
event of the year. View all the hi-res photos; read more with 70 pictures. Story #11 Westport
voters have their say with big numbers on November 2nd. Westport’s Mike Rodrigues and
Paul Schmid overwhelmed their lesser know opponents to become the first
favorite-son legislators in Westport history to concurrently represent
Westport at the state house. State Senator-elect Rodrigues
took Westport over Lakeville’s Derek Maksy by a
vote of 4644 to 1745, a 72.68% margin in a record high town midterm turnout
of 56.58%. Newly elected State Representative Schmid
fared just as well taking Westport over Fall River’s F. George Jacome with a 4650 to 1498 vote tally, a 75.59% margin. Click here for more analysis and other race results with
photos.
Left: good friends Steve and Twiggy
Medeiros of Westport share a ‘salute’ with their favorite state senator-elect,
Michael Rodrigues. Rodrigues
has been a big supporter of Westport causes and charitable events, in
particular the Annual Rock, Rhythm and Blues Festival. Right: state representative-elect Paul
Schmid gets a congratulatory hug from Westport's Helga Nichols. Story #12 Westport's budget crisis required one
regular and two special town meetings to sort out, with a proposition 2 1/2 override
scheduled for a town-wide ballot vote March 1, 2011.
For the articles' authors, however, the
holiday season came early as no article was defeated. "It was very unusual for a special
town meeting to run that long," said Town Clerk Marlene Samson. "I was very surprised how long it took
on some of the articles, especially when those articles didn't face any
opposition." There’s
just a hint of irony that Pearl Harbor Day was selected for the special town
meeting as the town’s finances are under attack by painful reductions in
state aid and local tax collections. Dr. Carlos Colley, Superintendent of
Westport Community Schools, gets a major victory. Westport's school system wins big with the passage of Article
15. Read more about the special town meeting with photos. Westport
Annual Meeting. Meals tax in; rooms tax out! Westport voters overwhelmingly approved a proposed
meals tax increase, and then rejected a 2% rooms tax boost as Westport’s town
meeting got underway Tuesday night. In a levy perceived by many town residents
as unfairly targeting one local family, voters widely rejected the “Hampton
Inn” tax. In a surprisingly quiet evening voters
approved the $29.8 million budget for fiscal 2011. But many fiscal hurdles
remain. Stormy weather is on the horizon as the
contentious issues of overrides and underrides lie
ahead Wednesday when town meeting picks up again at 7:00 p.m. 865 voters were in attendance, a number
eerily predicted by Town Clerk Marlene Samson. 100 voters were seated in the
cafeteria but went mostly unheard throughout the evening. Council of Aging Board Chairwoman Heather
Reed was stymied by parliamentary procedures when she tried to make a motion
to increase Article 15 by $40,000. On night two of the town meeting voters
quickly passed over two controversial articles - a $2 million tax underride, and gutting the town’s participation in the
Massachusetts Community Preservation program. 187 remaining Westport voters
in attendance quickly dispatched most of the remaining articles in
Wednesday’s final session of Town Meeting. What could have been a lackluster
evening of housekeeping tedium was not without its moments. Voters, persuaded by shy support from
Selectmen and Finance Committee members, and strong backing by conservative
gadflies almost put retired town employees over 65 on Medicare. View 37
photos of Town Meeting. | Hi-resolution |
Dial-up |
Representing less than a percent of the
schools’ overall budget, this single issue galvanized community activists and
students alike to get out Westport voters in numbers not seen at town meeting
since 1992. Town Clerk Marlene Sampson swore in three
assistant moderators to handle the overflow of the 1462 registered voters in
attendance; they were directed to the high school’s cafeteria, media room and
gymnasium. The auditorium’s seating capacity of 840 was maxed by 7:00 Honorable
mention
Sending
directions to visiting friends and relatives, Tom and Kate Schmitt often include the phrase: “when you come to the fork
in the road,” as a part of instructions about which way to turn when one
comes to the intersection of Old Harbor and River Roads. Occasionally Tom
and Kate would wonder aloud about that term’s literal interpretation, and
from time to time imagined how drivers might react if, upon reaching the
intersection, they were to encounter a large fork. Read more. © 2010 Community Events of Westport. All rights
reserved. EverythingWestport.com |
