Westport
in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Wednesday,
February 1, 2012
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EverythingWestport.com Wednesday, February 01, 2012
#10 in our list of the top 10 is - World
Trade Center steel comes to Westport. The flag-draped, 435 pound
steel I-beam was silently clutched by members of the Westport Fire
Department. Like pall bearers carrying the casket of a fallen comrade,
firefighters took the steel remnant down from the bed of the green pickup
truck, which had transported it all the way from an airport hangar in New
York City, and brought into the fire station's front foyer to its final
resting place. More with photos. #9 - It took 67 years but WWII Silver Star
recipient Leo St. Onge finally got his bridge.
Leo never had a bridge, not even a plank or fallen tree, to help him and the
120 pounds of equipment on his back over a turbulent stream in Italy where in
neck-deep water he pulled a drowning comrade to safety. And
this one didn't come easy either for Westport's most highly decorated WWII
veteran. More with photos and video. #8 - In 2011 Westport lost two of its best-known advocates for historical
preservation. The names of Anne "Pete" Baker and William
"Bill" Wyatt will long be remembered by Westport historians. More.
#7 - After 25 years and a lost opportunity in
1991, Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery finally produced a red Pinot Noir,
but not without a near miss from Hurricane Earl. Hurricane Bob, one of New
England's costliest hurricanes, took out their first ever prospect in
1991. More. #6 - The Boston Post Cane, given to the
oldest living resident in Westport to use as long as they live, was awarded
twice by selectmen in 2011 for the first time in recent memory. The long
standing tradition started in 1909. More. #5 - Massachusetts revamps congressional
districts. U.S
Representative Barney Frank, the longtime Newton democrat, will depart the southcoast and Westport as a new congressional district
has been created that will include Cape Cod, Buzzard Bay coastal communities
including Westport, and a large part of Plymouth County. Frank, a longtime
advocate for Westport, will retire at the end of his term. The loss of
Frank's representation and friendship will ripple through Westport for years
to come. Westport's
long running U.S. Representative will not seek reelection in 2012 to the seat he has held since 1980, his office said. Inset: U.S.
Representative Barney Frank speaks last year to the Westport ROMEOs. The 71-year-old polemical Frank, a 16-term member of
Congress, is among the most liberal representatives, announced at a Bay State
press conference Monday afternoon that he will not seek re-election. The Boston Globe cited a source close to Frank as
saying a big reason for his decision is the redrawing of his district, which
will add more conservative voters and drop the heavily Democratic city of New
Bedford. Frank would have to make his pitch to over 300,000 new
constituents. Frank was a friend to Westport, finding Federal money
for many in-town projects such as dredging Westport Harbor and helping the
local fishing industry. Until recently, Frank was assisting Westport in
obtaining a Wild and Scenic River designation for the Westport River
watershed sought by local environmental and conservation groups. What will life be like after Frank?
#4 - PCBs at the Westport Middle School.
A standard examination looking for asbestos and other environmental contaminates revealed airborne PCBs at levels higher that allowed
for school children as determined by the EPA (Environmental Protection
Agency. The examination was routine for the beginning of
a green energy program, partially funded by a state agency, to replace
windows and the roof at the Westport Middle School. What happened next was anything but routine. Thus began a frantic five month, multi-million
dollar remediation process that almost prevented the opening of the building
at the start of a new school year, leaving the School Committee and
Superintendent to figure out a possible solution for relocating students.
Left: Remediation workers
removed all furniture and books from the contaminated school for cleaning and
storage until the Middle School was free from contaminants. Right:
All windows were sealed and ventilation and powered exhaust vents installed
to cleanse the air of airborne PCBs. Originally quoted at less than a million dollars,
the PCB removal process quickly ballooned to $3.2 million, and almost derailed
the school district's budget, leaving town officials to figure out how to pay
the massive cleanup bill. The
PCBs at the Westport Middle School came from PCB-tainted caulking used to
seal the schools windows, and PCB-tainted mastic (glue) that adhered rugs to
floors and ceiling tiles to ceilings, according to the PCB remediation
consultants hired to access and remove the contamination. The
Middle School eventually opened a few days late, and the school is now
cleared of 98% of PCB contamination, in compliance with current EPA standards. School
officials fear the EPA may again lower those standards, as they have done in
the past, and the Superintendent is currently considering several proposals
to abandon the Middle School in favor of relocation, consolidation, or the
building of a new school. A one-year,
short-term borrowing of $3.2 million approved at a December 6th Special Town
Meeting is now paying the bills; the PCB remediation
company, Triumvirate Environmental, Inc., had threatened to sue Westport if
its remaining bills weren't paid for work performed over the summer to remove
PCB contamination from the Westport Middle School. The town now has to deal with a longer term debt
exclusion or proposition 2 1/2 override at the upcoming annual Town Meeting. #3 - Commercial wind turbine slated for Beech
Grove hits the skids. After five years, tens of thousands of grant
dollars spent, and other green energy projects put on the back burner, the
newly restructured Energy Committee voted to abandon Beech Grove Cemetery as
a location, and directed their energy efforts towards a mix of solar power
and purchase power agreements . Sounding like a Goldilocks and Three Bears scenario,
a 150kw generator was too small, a 1.5mw too big, and a 750kw just not right.
The Energy Committee in agreement with the consultant Atlantic Design
Engineering agreed to pull the plug on cemetery location. The Westport
Energy Committee told Selectmen at their December 12, 2011 Monday night
meeting that they would not be recommending that the town pursue the
installation of a commercial-sized wind turbine on a site behind the fire
station at 54 Hix Bridge Road. Read more about this recommendation. "Inadequate
setbacks, public opposition, and potential noise, flicker and visual concerns
all make the town forest land "not suitable for a utility scale wind
turbine," said Energy Committee Chairman Antone
Vieira, Jr., who is the Board of Selectmen's delegate to the committee. The Energy Committee received three petitions
opposing the location from hundreds of residents and most parishioners at St.
John the Baptist Church at last month's public hearing on the feasibility
study. Vieira indicated the Energy Committee, which
recently voted 5-0 not to recommend the 54 Hix
Bridge Road property, would now begin exploring other potential sites for a
municipal turbine, including the nearby capped landfill. #2 - Tropical Storm Irene demolishes East Beach
Road. The counter-clockwise
winds of an inland, tropical storm punched a 1000' hole in East Beach Road,
putt the emergency evacuation route on the disabled list, displaced oceanside
trailer sites, and ended the summer for most campers on the besieged seaside
road. Like
a cheap dime store novel, Irene blew into
town, broke a few hearts, and took the first bus out of town leaving a mess
for the rest of us to clean up. You gotta hate a tropical
storm. >
> Click here for video footage of Irene belting Westport. < < Read more with photos
and dramatic video footage. East Beach took a big hit, leaving the oft
bedeviled shore road impassable, littered with walkways, sheds, cinder blocks
and rocks, and slimed with mud and sand. And as a finishing touch, the street was blanketed
with the ubiquitous cobblestones. A large, weighty sea turtle, exhausted by
the strong surf and tides, lost its way and expired on the shattered asphalt
surface. Phone poles were down and as much as 50 feet of
beach was lost to erosion, leaving some summer campers scratching their heads
as to where their oceanside trailers will go next. The seasonal residents were evacuated by Saturday
before the storm, the trailers being hauled off days before up Horseneck Road
for safe storage on local farmland. Most never expected they might never return. Click here for
exclusive after-the-storm photos. #1 - Westport annual April election. In
a stinging rebuke to progressive politics, Westport voters swept independent and conservative candidates
into executive power, promising long-reaching change to this pastoral
community's governing landscape. Get all the election information, photos, and precinct
analysis. Farmer and educator Antone
"Tony" Vieira, and businessman James Coyne won seats on the Board
of Selectmen. Incumbent Brian Valcourt lost his
seat. Incumbent Steven Ouellette won reelection, but lost his chairmanship. In other races, embattled Highway Surveyor Harold
"Jack" Sisson had the last word in a landslide victory over rivals Mauk, Medeiros and Urban. Restructured Energy, CPC, and other committees
caused dramatic change to ongoing programs like effort to obtain a Wild and
Scenic Rivers Act designation for the Westport River watershed, and a shift
from a commercial wind turbine in Central Village to solar panels on the
town's capped landfill. Town Administrator Michael Coughlin resigned his
post, and the town got a new interim town administrator. A sidelight to the election, and one which changed
procedures for the handling of election nomination papers in Westport forever,
incumbent Selectman Brian Valcourt seeking
reelection failed to pick up his certified nomination papers from the Town
Clerk's office, and was declared ineligible for his name to appear on the
ballot. Valcourt sued
the town, won his case in court, but lost reelection in the court of public
opinion. Click here to get the entire story on Valcourt's
day in court.
Left: Antone Vieira being sworn in as Selectmen by Town Clerk
Marlene Samson in April 2011 annual election. Right:
Selectman Brian Valcourt (right) with attorney Dan
Perry after the receiving the judgment in his favor from New Bedford Superior
Court Judge McGuire. © 2012 Community Events of Westport. All rights
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