Westport in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Quick Article Index . . .
Noquochoke Orchard's George Smith speaks out.
South Coast Music Together is now enrolling for the fall session.
Despite no money, PCB cleanup will proceed full steam ahead.
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Noquochoke Orchard's George Smith speaks out. EverythingWestport.com Monday, August 01, 2011
The vitriolic atmosphere surrounding Westport's embattled Highway
Surveyor has ensnared the 110-year-old farm into a brouhaha over which Smith
is confused and angry about what he feels are town services that his farm has
paid good taxes over the years to obtain. "I called the highway department many times and they never got
back to me. I finally called Spirlet (Westport
selectman Richard Spirlet) and said I was going to
do the work myself and sue the town." Selectman Spirlet eventually authorized the
Highway Department to repair the road and to build a gravel ridge or berm to direct the water further down the road and
eventually into a brook leading to the East Branch of the Westport River. "The police were down here taking pictures of Sisson's crew doing
the work," Smith said. A recent state Inspector General's report included allegations of
improprieties in the Highway Department performing services on private
property, an especially grievous practice according to former Town
Administrator Michael Coughlin, and echoed in a recent letter to the editor
from the fiscal watchdog group, Westport
Taxpayers Association. According to Smith most of the work was down on town property, a 6
foot strip of land that abuts the eastern boundary of Smith's fields and farm
stand. "They filled three small, washed out areas with asphalt and laid
down a low, gravel band in front of the farm stand to keep the water
running down the road and off my
fields." The Highway Department's Surveyor, Jack Sisson, agrees it's the town's
responsibility to handle water runoff on public roads. "We handle these situations all the time," Sisson said.
"We do about 15 a year." Stormwater runoff has become an even more hot topic
in Westport since controversial new bylaws recently enacted in the town's
2011 Annual Town meeting implemented tough new requirements for commercial
developers to follow when building new properties. Smith expects the town to fulfill their obligations. He has repeatedly
put stone in the eroded areas of the town road, but heavy rains simply wash
the stones right on down the road. "The last rain storm washed a hunk of the recently installed
gravel ridge away," Smith said, "so what good did that do?"
South Coast Music Together is now
enrolling for the fall session. EverythingWestport.com Monday, August 01, 2011
All South Coast Music Together classes are for children ages birth to
five, and beyond, and their parents or caregivers. Classes meet for
forty-five minutes each week, for ten weeks, to experience new songs, chants,
movement activities and instrumental jam sessions. To give families an opportunity to experience South Coast Music
Together, free demonstration classes will be offered, the week of August 15 -
19, 2011. Classes will take place in New Bedford on August 15, at 10:30 AM,
and in Dartmouth and Marion, at 9:15 AM on August 19, 2011. Spaces are limited,
and locations will be provided upon reserving your space. For the older child there is the South Coast Children’s Singing
Circle, where age appropriate play continues, while exploring music ideas and
terminology. This class too may be previewed, with a free demonstration
taking place later in the fall, on September 22, in New Bedford. For more information, or to visit a free demonstration class, please
visit: www.southcoastmt.com, or call
508.636.7426. South Coast Music Together serves the communities of the
Greater SouthCoast. Despite no money, PCB cleanup will proceed full steam
ahead. EverythingWestport.com Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What wasn't expected was how little time it took. "It's probably a world record," Town Moderator Steven Fors quipped. In less time than it took the handful of voters in attendance to
pledge alliance to the U.S. flag, the articles to transfer $100,000 from the
town's stabilization fund, and to approve a proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion
article for $1 million were unanimously passed over. School Committee chairwoman Michelle Duarte (pictured left) made the
motions to remove the two articles from a vote, citing the cleanup costs are
expected to be twice what was anticipated. "We anticipate the cleanup costs to go as high a $2.37 million, and
the Town Moderator and town counsel have told us we can't raise Article 2
to that dollar level at town meeting," Duarte said. "Therefore I
move to pass over this article." The school district will fund the PCB cleanup at the Middle School
through their existing budget according to School Superintendent Dr. Carlos
Colley. Both Duarte and Colley have stated they will seek the full, finalized
decontamination costs at the scheduled fall town meeting. "We will proceed immediately and full steam ahead with the clean
up," Colley said.
Selectmen (left)
and the Finance Committee (right) had little to do and even less to say at
last night's special town meeting. August 7, 2011 Select Board
sound bites. Westport School Superintendent to take a pass with special town
meeting articles. Click here to watch the
video clip. August 5, 2011 Uncertainty
reigns as the Superintendent and School Committee grapple with PCB issues at
the Westport Middle School. In a two-hour meeting Friday, the Westport School
Committee voted unanimously to authorize an immediate multi-million dollar
PCB clean-up at the Westport Middle School, despite having no funds to defray
the cost. "It'll come out of the school budget," School Superintendent
Dr. Carlos Colley said. "But I'm not sure from where." The meeting then raised the ugly specter of where to relocate students
if the remedial efforts aren't finished, or fail to reduce the PCBs to an EPA
acceptable level by the school's September opening date. "We'll have to pick an answer from a bad lot of
possibilities," one school committee member said. The Committee will meet Monday to decide whether they will request
Selectmen at Monday night's meeting to push off Tuesday's special town
meeting to request additional funds to cover the cleanup, possibly up to $1.8
million. Is a new school on the horizon? Click here to read more with
photos. EverythingWestport.com Thursday, August 11, 2011
Two expert speakers will reveal the emerging knowledge and
recommendations for treatment, testing and prevention of Lyme Disease and
Tick Borne Illness. Senator Rodrigues will discuss pending Lyme legislation
in his opening remarks. Arthur Gertler, MD is a board certified internal medicine
physician from the D'Arcy Clinic in Natick, Massachusetts who will speak on
appropriate treatment recommendations and the confusion surrounding Lyme
complex of illnesses. Robert Giguere, a director of IGeneX
Laboratory will speak about advances in testing. There will be educational materials showing how to protect yourself,
your property, your children, and your pets through proper tick removal and
prevention tips. Program begins at 6:30 p.m.. Seating is limited - come early. Free and
open to the public. Westport Grange,
931 Main Road, Westport. For more information please call Megan Madara
at 856.912.8196 or Barbara Smith at 508.636.7569. 16 tips you need to defend
yourself against deer ticks and Lyme Disease for 2011. Click here to get them now! Click
here to get the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Fact Sheet on Lyme
Disease. PDF Kelly Secor used to be an athlete. Barbara Smith, a Westport social worker, and Megan Madara
of Westport are running the event. Smith runs a local support group for
people with Chronic Lyme. Westport summer resident, 18-year-old Megan Madara
sought out to do advocacy work for Lyme Disease in honor of her 17 year old
cousin, Kelly Secor, who has struggled with the
disease for three years. Megan was introduced to Barbara Smith by her pastor,
Katherine Mitchell from the Westport Point United Methodist Church. "When I got Lyme, everything changed," Secor
said. "I haven't played sports for the last three years, and I've lost
friends in the process. It's not just feeling bad with Lyme disease - your
whole life, physically and emotionally is changed. Barbara Smith is a clinical social worker who practices in Westport
and has been doing Lyme education and advocacy for the last three years since
her diagnoses in 2008. The two collaborated to organize this event to educate
Westport and surrounding south coast communities about the dangers of Lyme
Disease and Tick Borne Illness and the tips for prevention and treatment. Smith first contracted the disease at 19 years of age while visiting Martha's
Vineyard. She said that contrary to popular belief you do not necessarily
have to get the traditional 'bulls-eye' rash associated with Lyme.
"There is so much misinformation out there. I want people to get the facts,"
Smith said. "Doctors don't have all the answers." Chipmunks
overrunning Westport? In case you haven't noticed there is a population explosion of
chipmunks in Westport, and probably the rest of the state as well. Hunters over the winter shot a record 442 coyotes, up from 222 the
previous year, according to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife. Of the 442 coyotes, 199 coyotes were shot in the division's
southeast district, which includes Cape Cod. The record harvest came after the coyote hunting season was extended
by five weeks in response to increasing public worries about the safety of
pets and increasing interest from hunters. Also, animal control businesses
now can remove problem coyotes as they remove raccoons and other problem
wildlife. People think there are too many coyotes, Robert Prescott, executive
director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife
Sanctuary said, "but when we're getting this many reports of rabbits, in
particular, and chipmunks, I would argue that there are not enough
predators." Chipmunks may be enjoying an absence of other predators as well. "The main missing ingredient may be the skunk, probably the
foremost mouser for eating any rodent, from white-footed mice to all the
squirrels," Prescott said. "Skunks took a hit from mange and
distemper a few years ago and they may not have recovered." One summer's reprieve from predators might be enough for a boom in
chipmunks. Chipmunks mate twice a year, in spring and summer, producing
litters of two to nine chipmunks. At 8 to 10 weeks, they are fully
independent and leave home. Chipmunks are
known carriers of deer ticks, so the cute little rascals can expose you to
Lyme Disease and Tick borne illness, so be careful of the little tykes. - - - - - End - - - - - ©
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