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News and events you may be
interested in . . . Updated Monday,
February 08, 2010
Westport Troop 63 helps Haitian survivors with personal health kits. More.
The Westport Art Group
proudly presents: Children’s Winter Art Workshop
taught by Jennifer Gelinas. Looking for a fun and creative outlet during the
cold winter month of March for your young artists? Sign them up for an
opportunity to draw, paint, collage and exercise those creative minds and
hands! More.
 New Spirit of Christ Church
offers services at the Westport Senior
Center. Click here to read about this and other local church news.
Westport town
administrator turns down job in Bridgewater; holds discussions with Westport
selectmen. More.
Westport Library
announces upcoming programs. Click here to find out
more.
Early morning
fire destroys vacant home on State Road. More.
Mystery photo
solved on January 15, 2010 at 16:19:57. Click
here to see who won!
Real estate tax
bills go green. Use
“e-bill” says Tax Collector Carol Borden.
More.
Census forms mailed to all Westport households. Imperative all
residents comply Registrars say. More.
2006 Hummer
stretch limousine
fully involved in fire along with
the garage portion of a two story
wood frame house on Forge Road. Read
more.
Westport Historical Society’s Winter
2009/2010 newsletter is
now available. Click here to read.
Allens Pond Sanctuary’s newsletter now available. Click here to read.
Buy local, buy smart does not apply to all crops as one
Westport resident recently discovered.
Read more!
Beach passes and dog licenses for 2010
now available from Town Clerk’s office. Read more.
Brace yourself; new Westport tax rate is now in effect. 73
cent increase to $6.27 per $1000. Read more.
The Westport
Board of Selectmen invites qualified residents to apply to become Trustees for the new five
member board of Trustees for the Westport
Affordable Housing Trust established at the Town Meeting in May
2009. Read more and learn
about the Housing Trust.
Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary introduces Winter Bird Walks with
Paul Champlin. Read more.
New category “Computer Services” added to our Directory of Town Businesses. Click here to check it out.
Westport Historical Society seeks 19th century women’s clothing for exhibition. More.
See more art and theater events now!
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Community Bulletin Board
Keyboards
For Kids,
sponsored
by the Greater Tiverton Community
Chorus, is raising money to buy a new
piano for the Westport High School and one for Tiverton High School as
well. GTCC will raise $30,000 to purchase and refurbish concert pianos for
the schools in communities which have been providing support to the chorus
for almost
thirty years. More.
 The Westport
River Watershed Alliance (WRWA) is pleased to offer two scholarship opportunities for
graduating seniors in the Westport River watershed, Fall River, Dartmouth,
Freetown, Westport, Little Compton, and Tiverton. More.
Westport
Historical Society seeks Civil War material. 2011 marks the
beginning of the commemoration of the 150th
anniversary of the Civil War. In preparation for this anniversary
Westport Historical Society is undertaking research into Westporters who
were involved with the Civil War as soldiers, medical officers and other
roles. The historical society seeks photographs, objects, any personal
papers, accounts, correspondence and biographical information on Civil War
veterans from Westport. More.
Living
an Abundant, Joy-filled Life: No Matter the Circumstances! Fully Human
and Fully Divine. A six-week series
starting February 21 of experiential workshops tapping into and connecting
with joy, creativity and abundance from the inside out! Westport Point United Methodist Church,
Main Road, Westport, MA. More.
Essex
Public Library in Tiverton to host Indoor Miniature Garden Class. February 25 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. If
you’re yearning for the first signs of spring to appear, here’s your chance
to jump start the season by designing and creating your own indoor
miniature garden. More.
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Find out about all local area
upcoming events.
Click
here for our weekly calendar!
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Sign
up for our email newsletter!
Happening Now in Westport!
These events you don’t want to miss!
February
8th Monday
- Westport Fishermen’s Association
hosts their Oyster Supper and Annual Meeting
at the Westport Point Methodist Church. Greg Berman from Woods Hole
Oceanographic will be their guest speaker – “Barrier Beaches, Coastal Resources and the Effect of Human Impact.” More.
February
17th Wednesday
- Free Home Energy Saving Seminar
for Retirees coming to Westport Council on Aging.
Click
here
to read more.
Find
out about all local area upcoming events.
Click
here for our weekly calendar!
Tips for healthy living.
Is 2010 H1N1 in your future?
Click here to find out.
Get
some tips on preventing the
spread of Swine Flu now!
16 tips you need to defend
yourself against deer ticks and Lyme Disease for 2010. Click
here to get them now!
10 tips for living with
coyotes in Westport. Click here to learn how. PDF
Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) positive mosquito findings in New Bedford and
Freetown. Click here for more information.
Westport News!
Westport tweets from Grant
Welker of the Herald News.
Click here to get them now!
02/08/2010 - Three Westport businesses could be
denied licenses because of range of issues. More.
2/04/2010 - Westport School Committee seeks a $1
million (6.8%) spending increase for next fiscal year. More.
2/03/2010 - Westport voters will decide whether to
use rainy day funds to cover special education deficit. More.
1/31/2010 - Westport town administrator Coughlin is staying put; he turned
down Bridgewater job Thursday and didn't get other offer. Coughlin receives “outpouring
of support” from the fire and police chiefs, school and finance officials,
and others. More.
1/31/2010 - 'Wild and scenic' designation sought for
Westport River. Westport River Watershed Alliance driving issue. More.
1/28/2010 - Westport highway workers blamed in police report for last week's power
outage in south end of town. More.
1/15/2010 - Westport selectmen and finance board
decline to support using reserves on schools, as layoffs are warned. More.
1/15/2010 - Westport considers expanding police station. More.
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Meet
Mary Ellen Gomes
Director
of the Westport Council of Aging.
“They say that to
everything there is a time and to everything there is a season. This is the perfect time for me to come
back home to Westport and again serve as Director of the Council on Aging. To all of my old and dear friends, please
stop by the Senior Center for a visit.
If we have never met, this is the perfect season to get to know each
other. The future looks exciting;
and keep watching the “Evergreen” for details about new
programs and activities. I hope to
see your all soon.” Mary Ellen Gomes
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Westport Council of Aging
• Announcements •
COA
Evergreen Monthly Newsletter – January 2010
Read latest newsletter now.
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January, 2010
Click here to
view a schedule and hourly timetable of COA weekly events.
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 Westport
Council of Aging has a
new video! Click here to see it now.
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“Food for Friends” – The
new food pantry sponsored by the Westport
Council of Aging will be open every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
beginning on September 10, 2009. The food bank is located in the Senior Center on 75 Reed Road. It
is available to Westport residents over the age of 18.
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Jun 25th
2008 Wednesday - First Time Ever House Tour at Westport Point. The Friends of the Westport Council on Aging
sponsored this House Tour in the Historic District at Westport Point.
There
were more than just a few rooms with a view for the over 300 visitors who
toured Westport Point homes on the first ever Point House Tour sponsored by
the Friends of the Council of Aging.
Read
the full story with photos now!
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Attention Medicare
Beneficiaries!
With every New
Year come more health insurance choices for Medicare beneficiaries.
Read
more about your choices.
******************************
Council on Aging needs volunteers! Read more…
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Last week in Westport
Six more weeks of winter it will be!
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02/02/2010 - Thousands of people were gathered
before dawn this morning waiting for Phil’s weather forecast when the
prognosticator finally broke the sad news to the chilled crowd - six more weeks of winter it will be!
Click
on image below to see the video.
To the groans and
cheers of the devoted multitude, the gregarious groundhog had seen his
shadow!
 Click here to get the complete history
of Groundhog day.
Click here to visit Punxsutawney Phil’s official website.
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Curbside Appeal!
02/01/2010 – MRJ
employee Jeff Miranda sets a curbstone with the help of a Bobcat and
co-worker Donald at the new southend fire station. Workers took advantage
of sunny  weather
to tackle some of the outside preliminary landscaping chores.
Meanwhile, taping and mudding is finishing up interior drywall
installation.
Read more.
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ROMEOs host
Superintendent.
 Westport’s
new School Superintendent, Dr. Carlos Colley, recently shared his resume
and his reservations about the upcoming budget deficit with Westport’s
ROMEOs. Answering the group’s tough questions about education in Westport,
the soft-spoken Dr. Colley was articulate and anything but phlegmatic as
he outlined his vision for the Westport school system. Read more tomorrow.
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Recently in Westport
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1/29/2010 – Full moon rising. Dusk
heralded the first full moon of the new year, fabricating a thespian
setting to a Westport seascape battered by a howling west wind and
bone-chilling temperatures.
 
 January's full moon is also called the wolf moon,
according to Native American tradition associating this month's full moon
with wolves howling in the cold midwinter. Click
here to read more and
view photos.
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The howl of the
Wolf Moon.
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The 2010 wolf moon
will appear 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than any other full
moon this year, because our celestial neighbor will actually be closer to
Earth than normal.
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Elderly
housing gets back its mojo!
Greenwood
Terrace was starting to feel her age. 35 years can do that to a building.
But an $800,000 infusion of state cash and a couple of months of work
brought the gleam back to the State Road senior housing complex. More.
 
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The house of many gables gets
shingled.
Anthony and Virgil of Barr
Construction defend themselves against the cold as they shingle the new
southend fire house.
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Troubled Waters.
Monday, January 25 - Gale force
winds driven by unseasonably high January temperatures whipped up 7’ to
10’ choppy seas in Buzzards bay, pounding Westport shorelines. Southwest
gusts to 50 knots drove a tidal surge up the river, flooding the Point
and the Head of Westport. Heavy rain slashed through the area. Mild
temperatures will continue to midweek.
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New Spirit of
Christ Church now offers services at the Westport Senior Center.
Following the
national movement of tens of thousands of members of the Episcopal
Church, the Spirit of Christ Church will follow a more conservative path
in the Anglican tradition. Click here to read more
about the Anglican Church in North
America.
“We held our first
service on January 3rd,” said James ‘Jay’ Mumma, one of the leaders of
the new church. “We have no alignments at this time; we are a
free-standing entity.”
“The Reverend Pat
Smith has come out of retirement to head our church. We are utilizing
space provided to us by the Westport Council of Aging for our Sunday
service.”
The fledgling
church will also provide a Sunday morning nursery.
“Sunday worship and
Sunday School are both at 10 a.m.,” Mumma said. “We generally finish our
service at 11:30 a.m. and enjoy fellowship over coffee, food and
beverages. Many of our members come from Dartmouth and Westport,” he
added.
For more info call
(401) 265-0896, or email: jamesm.mumma@comcast.com
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Brown takes
Westport; wins U.S. senate seat.
 2/19/2010 9:30 p.m. - In a stunning upset,
Massachusetts once again “fired the shot heard round the word” by
electing Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the late Ted
Kennedy.
AP reported at 9:20
p.m. that Martha Coakley conceded the election to Brown, who was
sustaining a 6 point lead with 75% of all precincts reporting.
Left: Wearing a tri-corned hat,
Mary Lou Daxland, Westport Republican Town Committee Chairwoman, was
campaigning in the rain getting out the vote.
It wasn’t supposed
to be that kind of election. Off-year, special elections don’t get out
the vote. Dreary, wet and cold New England weather – no incentive there.
The primary leading to this taken-for-granted senatorial race was just
12.8% of registered Westport voters. Typical, overlooked, ho-hum.
Big turnout in Westport.
But the political
winds of change are blowing.
Unofficial Westport
results mirrored those of the state with Brown winning 52.15% of the
total 6142 cast in the five precincts. Only Precinct A voted for Coakley
by one vote.
53.54% of
Westport’s 11,471 registered voters turned out; excellent numbers for a
special, off-year election.
Brown ran a
well-orchestrated and vigorous campaign, preaching a national referendum
on healthcare reform, an increasingly unpopular piece of legislation with
Massachusetts voters.
Joseph L. Kennedy,
a member of the Libertarian Party and no relation to the Kennedy family,
received 77 Westport votes.
Massachusetts
hasn’t elected a republican senator since Edward Brooke III who won his
first bid for re-election, but lost in 1978 to Paul Tsongas. Senator
Brooke was only the third African-American ever to sit in the U.S. Senate
and the first to get there by winning a popular vote.
Click
here to get a precinct
by precinct breakdown.
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Westport in Brief – Sunday, January 17, 2010
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Art among Friends.
A visitor is
studying Heide Hallemeier’s watercolor, Trumpet Solo, at the
recent open house in the Tiverton Town Hall. This exhibition is
anything but typical. Almost 40 area artisans displayed powerful works of
art. The display runs through February 24. More.
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Spent surfer swept out to sea.
1/18/2010 - A
39-year-old Brocton man, overcome by exhaustion and an out-going tide,
was swept out to sea late Monday morning, and had to be rescued by a
joint effort between the Westport Fire Department and the Harbormaster’s
office.
“I guess he had the day off and wanted to take advantage of the
heavy surf,” Westport Harbormaster Richie Earle said. “He was surfing
alone, which is never a good idea.”
Click here to read more about the early afternoon Martin Luther
King Jr. day rescue. More.
A snowy hike in
Westport.
 1/17/2010 - The Westport Land
Conservation Trust kicked off their winter walk series with a ramble
through the recently expanded Herb Hadfield conservation property. WLCT
Director Peggy Stevens announced this past December the addition of 53
acres to the existing 50 acre Hadfield parcel, bringing total acreage to
103 acres. More.
Click here to view Land Trusts new
Winter Spring 2010 event schedule.
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Westport Free Public Library had their Grand Opening Celebration Saturday, January 16 with a large
crowd of local residents, dignitaries and officials in attendance. The library celebrated their recent
expansion and building renovations on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. The
Trustees and building committee members were on hand for the official
ribbon cutting. Click
here to read more and
view photos.
Right: Library Director Susan Branco.
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Fire station makes the grade with
a new septic system.
“Outside shingling
is well underway” says Owner’s Project Manager Peter Koczera. Despite the
bone-chilling cold the crews are hard at work installing sheetrock,
electrical, plumbing and VAC systems. Barr General Contractors are very
confident of meeting their June completion date. Exterior work is
clipping right along. More.
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Adaskin String Trio delivers
premier performance.
The Adaskin String
Trio was impressive at their recent CAP concert. Their intensity was
complimented by the delightful Sally Pinkas’ skillful piano playing. Above:
Warming up for their performance at the Westport Point United Methodist
Church were from the left: Steve Larson, viola; Emlyn Ngai, violin; Sally
Pinkas; and Mark Fraser, cello.
Concert pianist, Frederick Moyer, will
appear on Sunday, March 7, 2010 as Concert at the Point winds down its
2009/2010 season. More.
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Pass the salted sand please!
 Gregory
Nowell of Westport Point gives a “thumbs up” as he fills his bucket with
the free sand and salt mixture offered at the Westport Transfer Station.
Extreme weather this winter has given everybody a headache with icy
driveways and walkways! Read how to get your free sand.
Click on image to enlarge
photo.
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2009 Westport Woman of the Year
 For some 30 years, Geraldine Millham
volunteered countless hours of her time to protect a 40-acre farm that
was once home to Westport's poor.
Millham, a
Historical Commission member, oversaw the farm's maintenance and
advocated for its long-term preservation. She was motivated by a love of
historic buildings.
"I'm
fascinated by structures that previous generations have built," said
Millham, 62. "You go into an old building, and there are always
decisions that somebody made for reasons, and it is very interesting to
contemplate those decisions.” More.
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Child Identification Program
sponsored by the Westport Police Explorer Program and Noquochoke Masonic
Lodge.
The Westport Police Explorer Post
will be sponsoring a Masonic CHIP Event (Child Identification Program) at
Westport High School this Saturday, January 16. According to Deputy Chief John Gifford,
“the event will run from 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. The parents or guardians of those
processed will be presented a brief videotape, a set of fingerprints, a ToothprintsTM bite
impression and a DNA swab, free of charge.” More.
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Funky White turns
30 and throws a party.
It seems the Back Eddy is the place to be around New Years. The
fashionable Funky White Honkies jammed the Back Eddy Saturday night and
rocked the place down. This laid-back band has been a real sleeper for a
long time. Read more tonight.
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Lucky Leo gets a lifeline.
Quick-acting firefighters save
Leo from certain death.
Westport - Fern Lavoie of 179 Roberts
Street was getting his Saturday morning paper when he heard a dog barking
out on Sawdy Pond. Using binoculars grabbed from his house he recognized
the head of a dog that had fallen through the ice. Lavoie called 911 who
quickly turned the call around to the Westport Fire Department. The WFD
Emergency Rescue Vehicle was dispatched to Sawdy Pond a little after 8:35
a.m. Above: A tearful Katelyn
Savoie, 18, reuniting with Leo at Acoaxet Veterinary Clinic.
Read more with photos.
Photo/EverythingWestport.com
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A frightfully fine day for a run!
Little Compton - The
weather outside was frightful, but that didn’t stop Eric Lonegan (left) of
North Kingston from setting a blistering pace of 26:51, five seconds shy of
3 minutes ahead of the field, to win the 2010 Little Compton Scenic Winter
Road Race. Lonegan was 1:46 off last year’s record-breaking run of 25:06 by Bronson Venable.
Anne
Kugler (right) of Providence shook off South Kingston’s Claire Gadrow to
capture the Women’s title at 30:49, twenty seconds better than last year’s
winner Christine Anderson. This was Kugler’s first attempt at the annual
Little Compton event. More.
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Click
here for previous
“goings on” in Westport.
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Want to read about past events in Westport?
Visit our Weekly
Event Archive Now!
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events and more!
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