Vote No on Everything

Estimated receipts - Templeton

Vote NO!

August 21, 2019

District Wide Meeting

Final Figures for NRSD

VOTE NO ON EVERYTHING!

AUGUST 21, 2019

A remarkable life: Pair of couples mark 70th wedding anniversary in Templeton

By Doneen Durling
Reporter

Posted Jul 29, 2019 at 8:00 PM

TEMPLETON — A milestone was celebrated this weekend at the Henshaw Farm in Templeton and many were there to join in and rejoice.

George Barnes and Shirley Henshaw were married July 23, 1949 in the town of Templeton. Ralph Henshaw and Mildred Willis were married seven days later on July 30.

This year marks the happy occasion of both couple’s 70th wedding anniversary, which they happily celebrated with family and friends on Sunday, July 28.

The historic Henshaw Farm in Templeton, the site of the celebration, was where Ralph and Millie Henshaw were married. Ralph currently lives there and it is where he and Shirley Henshaw Barnes grew up. Amazingly, joining Ralph and Shirley at the event were their brothers Roger and Kirk Henshaw and Kirk’s wife Nancy. Also in attendance was George Barnes Sr.’s dad’s sister-in-law, Judy Barnes.

Also in attendance to recognize the amazing milestone were legislators, who presented the two couples with formal Resolutions from the State of Massachusetts.

The resolutions presented to the couples – signed by Senate President Karen Spilka; Clerk of the Senate Michael Hurley; Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo and Clerk of the House Steven James – describe a tiny insight into the two couple’s rich history rich history.

The Resolutions were offered to the couples by Senator Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) and Representative Susannah Whipps (I-Athol)

They stated that George and Shirley Barnes met on a blind date. After meeting once again a year later in Washington D.C., they decided to travel back to the Commonwealth to get married. Settling in the town of Templeton, they raised five children – Kathleen, Thomas, George Jr., Mary, and Charles – in a nine room house built by George’s own hands for his growing family. George and Shirley created a wonderful life together. Shirley was a correspondent with the Worcester Telegram and Gazette and George dedicated his life to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Police Department moving back to 33 South Rd -Tomorrow

Town of Templeton Police Department notifying residents that Tomorrow, July 30th 2019, the Police Department will be moving back to 33 South Road. 

During the move there could be a period of down time while everything gets switched over. 

As of right now we believe it could fall between 8 AM, and 12 PM. 

We will send an alert when the system will be down, and advise when it is back up and running. 

Thank you for all of your continued support. 

end of message

Time to Buy Some Bacon

'No way to stop it': millions of pigs culled across Asia as swine fever spreads

Experts say region is losing the battle to stop the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet has ever faced

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Bangkok

Wed 5 Jun 2019 20.59 EDT

South-east Asia is battling to contain the spread of highly contagious African swine fever, known as “pig Ebola”, which has already led to the culling of millions of pigs in China and Vietnam.

African swine fever, which is harmless to humans but fatal to pigs, was discovered in China in August, where it has caused havoc, leading to more than 1.2m pigs being culled. China is home to almost half of the world’s pigs and the news sent the global price of pork soaring.

There is no vaccination for African swine fever, which causes pigs to internally haemorrhage until they die, so the only option to contain the disease is to kill any contaminated animals. Some estimates say that in China up to 200m animals may eventually be slaughtered. The virus can last for several weeks on anything from clothes to vehicles, allowing for it to easily travel long distances.

'It’s not if, it’s when': the deadly pig disease spreading around the world

It has spread like wildfire across Asia, causing growing devastation to the pig farmers of Vietnam and Cambodia and putting Thailand, Asia’s second-biggest pork producer, on “red alert”. Cases have increased in Mongolia, North Korea and Hong Kong in recent weeks, while South Korea is blood testing pigs at the border.

The UN Food and Agriculture organisation (UNFAO) and regional experts fear that Myanmar, Philippines and Laos will be next because they are all highly susceptible to an outbreak, due to the struggle to control the movement of pigs and pig products across porous borders.

Meetings the Week of July 29, 2019

Meetings the Week of July 29, 2019

Tuesday   7/30/19

School Committee           KIVA                              5:30 pm

Thursday 8/01/19

Adv. Com                         PCS Town Hall*                   6:30 pm

   

* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall  

Pro-Fluoridation Institute Acknowledges Harm to Fetus; Council Cancels Hearing

Fluoride Action Network | Bulletin | July 23, 2019 

The dental-lobby, along with proponents of fluoridation on the Calgary City Council, worked to pass a resolution in February directing the University of Calgary’s O’Brien Institute for Public Health to conduct a review of fluoridation and present their findings to the council on July 24^th.  However, their strategy fell apart this weekend after the O’Brien Institute published their report, in part highlighting the neurotoxic risk posed to the fetus by fluoride.  Yesterday, the City Council voted 13-1 to cancel O’Brien’s Wednesday presentation.

Section Two of the O’Brien report deals with the potential harms of fluoridation, with a portion dedicated to neurotoxicity, including discussion of some of the more recent studies.  They point to the 2017 Bashash Mother-Offspring study that found that certain levels of fluoride in a pregnant woman’s urine will lower the child’s IQ.  They also commented on a second study from Bashash et al. 2018, which found that higher urinary fluoride levels during pregnancy was associated with attention hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children at 6-12 years of age.

But maybe more important than these acknowledgements, they point out that criticism from the pro-fluoridation lobby of these two studies was baseless and inaccurate:

One widely-stated stated caveat/criticism for these two ELEMENT studies just described is that the levels of urinary fluoride measured in pregnant Mexican women may not be relevant to Canada. This criticism is, however, addressed by a recent Canadian study…this study reveals that the maternal urinary fluoride levels for women in communities with water fluoridation is comparable to that of Mexican women in the ELEMENT cohort. The amount of black tea consumed may further increase the exposure to fluoride. [p. 20]

The O’Brien report also mentions a soon-to-be published Canadian IQ study, based on this graduate thesis, that re-affirms fluoride exposure during pregnancy lowers IQ at the levels found in “optimally” fluoridated communities.

Summing it all up, the O’Brien Institute writes:

…there is some new emerging evidence that fluoride exposure during pregnancy may be harmful to the brain development of children, with important studies having been published subsequent to the review of this evidence by the National Research Council in the U.S. in 2006…The new emerging studies in this domain need to be tracked very closely, and carefully evaluated as they appear.  [p. 21]

These acknowledgements and conclusions are incredibly damning for the fluoridation-lobby, who have relied heavily upon the mantras that the science is settled, that no studies have found harm, and that no mainstream public health organizations have questioned fluoridation’s safety.

No reasonable parent would trade less than one cavity saved for a lifetime of cognitive impairment for their child.  We can easily fix a cavity, but we cannot fix damage done to the brain.

We suspect that several factors may have contributed to the O’Brien report providing an honest assessment of the neurotoxicity data.

• First, they were specifically asked by the city council to be objective.
• Second, local organizers Safe Water Calgary leveraged this request to get the O’Brien Institute to interview some of our experts who highlighted these studies: Hardy Limeback, DDS, PhD, Robert Dickson, MD, and Paul Connett, PhD.
• Third, in 2018 a Canadian national survey of urine fluoride levels in pregnant women (Till et al.) was performed in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities.  It discovered similar fluoride levels to those found to reduce IQ in the Bashash studies, making the IQ research nearly impossible for Canadians to ignore.
• And fourth, local organizers and FAN professionals publicly emphasized the importance of the neurotoxicity studies, sharing this data with councilors.

Fool's Gold

From Jeff Bennett's blog:

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Special Town Meeting - Phillipston:

See the articles that relate to Templeton (entire warrant can be found on Phillipston town website.)


Greetings: In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Phillipston qualified to vote in elections and town affairs to meet at the Phillipston Memorial School, 20 The Common, Phillipston, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. to act on the following articles:


Article 1. TO AMEND THE NARRAGANSETT REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT AGREEMENT To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to petition the Narragansett Regional School District to amend the Narragansett Regional School District Agreement by deleting the current Section XII, Assignment of Pupils, and replacing it with the following:

SECTION XII ASSIGNMENT OF PUPILS Students in kindergarten through grade five (5) shall attend schools in their respective towns of residence, except as hereinafter provided. The School Committee may determine by a majority vote of the entire Committee to assign kindergarten through grade five (5) students to schools in a town other than their respective town of residence under the following circumstances: (1) in the event of an emergency which prevents use of a building in whole or part; or (2) a student requires specialized education or accommodation for a disability that cannot be provided by the school in the student’s town of residence and the parent or guardian of the student approves of the assignment.

Parents may request attendance in any of the Member Town schools through the so-called “school choice” program, subject to approval of the Superintendent.

or act in relation thereto

Article 4. TO PETITION THE GENERAL COURT FOR SPECIAL LEGISLATION PROVIDING FOR RECALL OF ELECTED MEMBERS OF THE NARRAGANSETT REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT COMMITTEE

To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Selectboard to petition the General Court for a special act providing for the recall of elected members of the Narragansett Regional School District School Committee, which act shall be prepared by the Selectboard and shall include but not be limited to the following: an affidavit to be signed under the penalty of perjury, setting forth the grounds for recall, to be signed by no less than 50 voters of each member town; a petition form including the grounds for recall as set forth in the affidavit, and listing the names of the first five voters who signed the affidavit from each member town, to be signed by no less than 10% of the voters in the district, with no more than 7.5% of such signatures to be from one member town, and which act authorizes the holding of a district election, to be paid for by the district, at which the question of recall and the election of a successor shall be acted upon; and further that a person who resigns following the submission of a recall petition, or who is recalled from office, shall be ineligible to be appointed to a position with the regional school district for a period of one year; provided, however, that the General Court may make clerical or editorial changes of form only to the bill, unless the Selectboard approve amendments to the bill before enactment by the General Court; and, provided further that the Selectboard is hereby authorized to approve amendments which shall be within the scope of the general public objectives of this petition;
or act in relation thereto

Article 5. TO DIRECT THE SELECTBOARD TO OBTAIN AN AGREEMENT FROM TEMPLETON REGARDING PHILLIPSTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

To see if the Town will direct the Selectboard to obtain the following as a signed agreement from the Selectboard of Templeton: “The Town of Templeton swears that it will not seek or accept monetary payments from the Town of Phillipston to help pay for their new elementary school should Phillipston students be assigned there.” And the Town further directs that no Phillipston students shall be allowed to attend the new elementary school in Templeton unless this agreement is signed by all Templeton selectmen and notarized;

or act in relation thereto

6 comments:

1. 
   Bob M9:39 AM

   So why should Templeton be forced to pay 100% for the cost of a new district school or 86% of Phillipston elementary costs even though it was not the districts plan.
   
   If Phillipston demands their elementary school stay open despite the district financial duty to the taxpayer, then they should pay for it.
   
   
   Does Templeton gain anything by this regional agreement without the transportation being funded 100% by the state? If not, why are we in it?

   Reply
2. 
   Bob M2:16 PM

   Do the people of Templeton even realize that 17.3% of the students at NRSD ( based on budget numbers fy19) were school choice.
   NRSD only receives $5,000 per school choice student. Almost 1/5 of NRSD students pay 1/20th of our budget and the administration feels this is awesome.............

   Reply
   Replies

   
   Bev.Bart.9:11 AM
   Why does Templeton take in "school choice" students if it costs $14,000.+ to educate a child and we received $5,000.? Someone please explain how that makes any sense !
   Reply
3. 
   Bob M9:25 AM

   Lets do some math............
   
   $19,700,000.00 ( fy2020 district budget) divided by the total students listed on budget, 1436 is $13,718.66 per child.
   Now lets remove school choice removals of 106 kids at $5,000 per paid out $530,000. Now let remove the 247 school choice in kids were we receive $5,000 per child $1,235,000. for a total loss in funding of $1,765,000.00
   
   Now we'll take the balance.
   
   $19,700,000
   - $1,765,000
   -----------------
   $17,935,000
   
   Now we only have 1436-247= 1189 kids to teach.
   
   
   $17,935,000 divided by 1189 is $15,084 per child.
   
   School Choice depleats our per child spending by 10%. It does not AD anything. It is my belief that our School Committee and Superintendent are doing the taxpayers of Templeton and Phillipston a disservice by using this School Choice money as a piggy bank. Every added child through school choice depleats the funding for Templeton and Phillipstons children, period.
   
   Before we build a new boat, let plug the holes in the one we have.

   Reply

School budget vote triggers district-wide meeting for Templeton and Phillipston

By Ken Cleveland / Correspondent

Posted at 1:08 PM  

Updated at 1:08 PM

 

TEMPLETON — The Narragansett Regional School Committee stuck with its number, and now it will be up to the voters in both Phillipston and Templeton on Aug. 21 to decide if they like it as well.
The school board Wednesday night, July 24, voted a $6.9 million assessment for Templeton, a figure the committee had earlier approved, a reduction from its $7.4 million request for fiscal 2020 at the annual Town Meeting.

Templeton voters at a special Town Meeting on July 18 approved a $6.4 million assessment figure, so the School Committee vote pushes the towns into a district-wide meeting, in which voters from both communities gather to decide the school district’s budget.

If the School Committee and meeting figures match, the process stops. If they disagree, there could be additional district-wide meetings and possibly budget adjustments until they do.

In case the higher school number is approved, Templeton is working on a plan to reduce municipal spending to make up the difference since increasing one area of the budget requires reducing another. Selectmen have ruled out an override since Templeton voters rejected that in the annual election, though the figure at issue has now dropped. But they had pointed to the 500-voter margin as evidence there was no appetite for an override.

Phillipston had voted an override for its portion of the original budget so there is funding in that town, though reductions in the school assessment for Templeton also reduces Phillipston’s assessment.

The school budget uses additional school funds to help in keeping the schools in the two towns operating as they did last year. To close budget gaps, the board had twice come up with configurations for the schools that could work within more limited funding but triggered opposition from parents.
An initial plan had moved most elementary classes to the new Templeton Center School and the Phillipston Memorial School used for pre-K and kindergarten, with the reductions in staff also requiring larger class sizes. A second plan shifted students back to the original arrangement except for School Choice students, who would be in Phillipston.

The current plan resets the configuration to the way it was last year but uses funds such as School Choice revenue, which could help get the district through the coming year if the proposed budget is passed but could require additional revenue next year.

The special districtwide meeting will be held Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Narragansett Regional High School and be open to voters in both Phillipston and Templeton. It will be run by the district, with a moderator to be chosen by a joint meeting of the boards of selectmen in the two towns acting together.

Balancing town and school needs

For all you wing lovers out there - Left Wing. Right Wing. Whatever.

Wings

District Wide Meeting August 21, 2019 7:00 pm BE THERE!

Okay people, the district wide meeting is set:
 
Wednesday, August 21, 2019 at 7:00 P.M. in the auditorium.
 
All you voters have to do now is show up. 

If you do not show up, someone will decide for you. 

Templeton voters, your assessment stands at $6,978,408.00.

Massachusetts teacher pleads guilty to federal child pornography charges

Posted Jul 23, 5:03 PM

 

 

By Scott J. Croteau | scroteau@masslive.com

 

A Massachusetts teacher pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to receipt and possession of child pornography charges after authorities caught him with videos of young girls being sexually abused.

Warren Anderson, 27, of Lowell and Harvard, was a teacher in the Narragansett Regional Middle School in Templeton. The U.S. Attorney’s Office called Anderson a high school teacher in a news release.

He was placed on leave after he was arrested last year.

The files contained videos of girls, ranging in age from 3 to 5, being sexually abused, authorities said.

Anderson pleaded guilty to one count each of receipt and possession of child pornography in federal court. He will be sentenced in October.

“As part of an ongoing investigation into the online trade of child pornography through the use of Kik messenger, law enforcement interviewed Anderson in August 2018,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. 

“Anderson admitted accessing sites on the dark web to obtain child pornography, and forensic analysis of his computers revealed that he had thousands of files of child pornography, and that he had used both Kik and a dark web-based messaging platform to discuss and trade child pornography.”

Blood Sucking Ticks Blamed for the Death of Five Cows

North Carolina officials blamed the deaths of five cows on an infestation of Asian longhorned ticks.

 

By  Donna Fuscaldo

July 12th, 2019

 

Asian longhorned ticks CDC

 

Ticks caused the death of five cows in North Carolina, with all of the casualties linked to acute anemia because of tick infestations. 

In a letter warning livestock and pet owners to be vigilant in their measures to prevent ticks, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services said these exotic blood sucking ticks are infesting animals causing severe harm in some cases. 

Officials in North Carolina said one of the young bulls brought for testing at its Northwestern Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab had more than 1,000 ticks on it. The landowner lost four other cattle due to the same issue during 2018.

Testing confirmed the ticks were Asian longhorned ticks. The Asian longhorned tick is an exotic tick hailing out of East Asian. The ticks were reported for the first time in the U.S. in 2017.  Since then 67 counties in the U.S. have confirmed the presence of Asian longhorned tick populations. The cow deaths were in Surry County which is at the border with Virginia. 

“This is the fourth confirmed case in North Carolina since 2018, and the first case reported this year. Previous cases were found in Polk, Rutherford, and Davidson counties," North Carolina State Veterinarian Doug Meckes said in the letter. 

Asian Longhorned Tick a Serious Pest

The Asian longhorned tick is a "serious pest" of livestock in East Asia but its not clear what it means to those in the U.S. It is known to be an aggressive biter and often builds massive infestations on animals. The infestations cause stress, reduce growth and production and blood loss that can lead to death. Even more worrisome, the tick can reproduce without a male with a single fed female tick able to create a localized population, Meckes said. 

While it's unclear what impact the Asian longhorned tick will have on humans in the U.S. there are concerns they will continue to suck the life out of animals and eventually spread diseases to humans. North Carolina officials said the Asian longhorned tick hasn't been linked to any human infections in the U.S. so far, but the state is working to understand its distribution and monitor for any diseases the ticks may carry. 

Tick Bites Outside U.S. Have Caused Human Diseases

According to the Center for Disease Control in other countries bites from this type of tick can make people as well as animals seriously sick. For instance, in China and South Korea, the tick has been blamed for spreading Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus or SFTSV. The tick-borne disease can cause hemorrhagic fever. 

As of June longhorned ticks have been found in several states in the U.S. including Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, and Virginia. So far there have been no harmful germs found in the ticks collected in the U.S. that can infect humans. 

Call to Action

LEGISLATURE’S CONFERENCE COMMITTEE RELEASES FISCAL 2020 STATE BUDGET WITH MORE FUNDING FOR MANY LOCAL AID ACCOUNTS

  

HOUSE AND SENATE INCREASE KEY EDUCATION AND MUNICIPAL AID ACCOUNTS BY $128M ABOVE THE ORIGINAL BUDGET FILED IN JANUARY

  

PLEASE CONTACT THE GOVERNOR TODAY TO SUPPORT LOCAL AID FUNDING AND KEY MUNICIPAL ISSUES

On Sunday evening, July 21, the fiscal 2020 state budget conference committee that has been meeting since early June released H. 4000, the House-Senate compromise budget bill that is expected to be approved later today (Monday, July 22) by the Legislature.    Funding levels for many municipal and school aid accounts are higher in the Legislature’s final budget than in the recommendation (H. 1) filed by the Governor in January, providing $128 million more for key municipal and education programs. The Governor has 10 days to review the budget bill and make decisions on what to approve and what to veto or send back with proposed changes. Legislators will then have until the end of formal sessions in this calendar year (in November) to consider whether to accept or override those changes.    Please call the Governor’s office and ask that he approve the municipal and school aid accounts in the Legislature’s budget bill, including those funding levels that are higher than what he recommended in January, when the outlook for state finances was less positive than it is today. You can find the Chapter 70 and UGGA amounts for your community in Section 3 of H. 4000, beginning on page 271 of the printed version of the budget, or on page 279 of the downloadable PDF.    Click Here for a Link to the Legislature’s Budget    Later this week, the Division of Local Services will notify communities of their final Cherry Sheet receipts and assessments. When available, Cherry Sheets will be posted on DLS’s website.    Click Here for a Link to the Division of Local Services Final Cherry Sheet    Here is a summary of the key priorities and local aid increases for cities and towns:    Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) In a continuing victory for cities and towns, H. 4000 appropriates $1.129 billion for the Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) account, an increase of $29.7 million over the fiscal 2019 level of funding. The 2.7 percent increase reflects the policy of increasing general municipal aid at the rate of growth in state tax collections reflected in the consensus tax forecast. This revenue sharing policy has been adopted by the Governor and the House and Senate since fiscal 2016, and is a key priority of the MMA’s.    Chapter 70 School Aid and Local Contributions In a major step forward for many communities, H. 4000 appropriates $5.176 billion for Chapter 70 school aid (7061-0008 and section 3). This is a $281 million increase over the current fiscal 2019 funding level. This will fund the basic requirements of Chapter 70 education aid, and makes progress by more aggressively implementing the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission, including higher funding for health insurance and special education costs, and significant increases in funding for communities with a high number of economically disadvantaged students. The budget continues to fund the target share provisions for those communities where the local contribution exceeds the target share level, and funds minimum aid at $30 per student. This Legislature’s budget provides a Chapter 70 increase of $68M above the amount originally proposed by the Governor in January. The community and district Chapter 70 funding levels match the distribution numbers passed in the Senate budget in May. We recognize that most communities will continue to remain minimum-aid-only districts, in spite of this impressive and appreciated statewide Chapter 70 increase, and the MMA will continue to prioritize higher minimum aid funding going forward.    H. 4000 also supplements Chapter 70 by providing $10.5 million for a reserve fund to provide assistance to communities impacted by changes in how low-income students are counted. This amount is not included in the section 3 Chapter 70 distribution, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will distribute these funds to communities early in the school year, with the Legislature stating their intent that those districts that received over $500K under this program in fiscal 2019 should receive similar levels in fiscal 2020.

Meetings the Week of July 22, 2019

Meetings the Week of July 22, 2019

Tuesday   7/23/19

COA                                 Sr. Drive                          1:30 pm

Elem $$$                          PCS Town Hall*                 5:00 pm

Elem                                 PCS Town Hall*                 5:00 pm

Wednesday 7/24/19 

School Committee           KIVA                              5:30 pm

   

* Pauly Cosentino Sr. Town Hall