Still time to register to ‘Stand in the Sand’ to support diversity, equity, and inclusion

Submitted by the Hull No Place for Hate Committee

The Hull No Place For Hate Committee has been working around the clock to get the word out –  on Sunday, Oct. 16, between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Mary Jeannette Murray Bathhouse, our committee will host its third Take a Stand in the Sand, and we invite all of our neighbors and friends to join us!

As mentioned in the Sept. 8 issue of The Hull Times, the idea to “take a stand in the sand” came from founding Hull No Place For Hate member Sumner Goldberg when he recalled an experience when his military unit spelled out its unit number and took a photo from the guard tower. He shared this photo with the other committee members and a seed was planted. Hence, the Take a Stand in the Sand on Nantasket Beach was born.

We are excited that we have confirmation from several local businesses, including California Underground, Hull Lifesaving Museum, Hull Physical Therapy, L Street Pizza, Nantasket Eye Care, Nantasket Pharmacy, Safe Harbor Sunset Bay Marina, Shipwreck’d, South Shore Cycles, and others to be announced.

By the way, you don’t have to work for a local business to form a team. For example, “The C Street Gang,” a team of neighbors, will be there along with Hull-Nantasket Rotary Club, Hull Artists, and several family teams. Members of the select board will be in attendance and we are waiting to hear back from several others.

We want to thank Nantasket Eye Care Associates for its generous donation to this event. Shout-out to Baby Squid Ink, which is making “Take a Stand in the Sand” T-shirts so folks can find committee members in the crowd. We also want to thank all of the businesses that are showing their support by hanging posters, including Breadbasket Bakery, Crave, Jake’s Seafood, Pet Parlor, Little Shop of Paula’s, A Street Liquors, To Dine For, Tourist Trap/Good Geeks, Kenberma Food Mart, Family Dry Cleaning, Nantasket Hardware, Saltwater Diner, Toast, and Hull Auto Repair. We appreciate you!

Hull No Place For Hate is super excited that Hull’s own SeaWitch and Obscure Notation will be performing, as well as a yet-to-be-announced high school band. We’re also honored to have Sen. Patrick O’Connor and State Rep. Joan Meschino share some words with us.

We won’t go hungry, either! Paragon Boardwalk will be providing our event volunteers with pizza and beverages. During the event, the South Shore Taco Guy will be on site. Shout out to Weinberg’s Bakery for providing us with hot chocolate to keep us warm.

All of this excitement will be captured by Hull’s one and only Al Coombs. Won’t you join us?
We can’t say enough how much we’d love for all of our community members to join us in Taking a Stand in the Sand. Here is how you can sign up:
RSVP at https://bit.ly/hullforall (or use the QR code). Though not required, RSVPing will get you updates and helps us with planning.

Here’s how to take part:

Register as a team. Your organization, business, family, neighborhood, or group of friends can form a full or partial letter.

Register as an individual. No team? No problem. RSVP or just come on the day; there’s a spot for you. Please invite family, friends, and neighbors, too.

Be a runner. We need runners to help coordinate with event organizers to ensure the letters are lined up properly.

We also need other volunteers. Put in a comment in the RSVP form if you would like to volunteer.

In the meantime, on the day of the event, check in at the reception table to locate your position. We will continue to feature newly onboarded teams in our updates in The Hull Times and on our social media @hullnpfh on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

We can’t wait to see some familiar faces and make some new friends!

Town to name street near war memorial ‘General Neal Way’ on Veterans Day

By Carol Britton Meyer

The late Richard I. “Butch” Neal, a Hull native and retired four-star Marine Corps general, will be honored on Veterans Day when the unnamed section street on the north side of the war memorial will be named “General Neal Way” at the request of the War Memorial Commission.

General Richard ‘Butch’ Neal

The dedication will take place on Friday, Nov. 11, with more details to come after the Select Board supported the request this week. Neal died on June 17, just three days prior to his 80th birthday.

The commission voted to request naming the section of road, an extension of Phipps Street which connects Samoset Avenue and Nantasket Avenue at Monument Square, at its meeting last month. Chair Paul Dunphy attended Wednesday’s select board meeting and noted that three members of the commission grew up with Neal.

“He’s another Hull kid who made good,” he said. “We have our own four-star general.”

After graduating from Hull High School, Neal continued his education at Northeastern University, majoring in history and education. Following his graduation from college in 1965, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

During the next 35 years, Neal served two tours in Vietnam. While serving in the Marines, Neal graduated from the National War College and earned his M.Ed. from Tulane University.

During Operation Desert Storm, he served as the Deputy Director of Operations under General Norman Schwarzkopf, as well as Central Command Briefer, where he could be seen daily at national press briefings updating the country on the Persian Gulf War. He was promoted to four-star general in 1996 and appointed Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Neal’s decorations included the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star Medal with Gold Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal with Palm, Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V,” Purple Heart, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

Following retirement from the Marine Corps, Neal served as a senior mentor in the Marines and as a senior fellow for the National Defense University’s Capstone Course, which includes the training of all newly selected brigadier generals and rear admirals.

Select Board Chair Jennifer Constable thanked Dunphy for his service and his “consistent support of [his] fellow servicemen.”

Select Board member Domenico Sestito acknowledged Neal’s service to our country.

“It’s an honor to live in the same town that he lived in,” he said.

Nantasket Beach walk fundraiser on Oct. 9 to raise awareness of PANS/PANDAS advocacy

FALL FUNDRAISER. A fundraising walk along Nantasket Beach on Columbus Day weekend will raise awareness of PANS/PANDAS, an autoimmune disease that often is misdiagnosed. Hull’s Jennifer Whelan, far right, is one of the event’s organizers. [Courtesy photo]

By Carol Britton Meyer

An Oct. 9 walk along Nantasket Beach aims to raise awareness of the life-altering auto-immune disorder PANS/PANDAS, as well as raise funds for its education and advocacy group with local ties, according to one of the event’s organizers, Jennifer Whelan of Hull.

The first Awareness Day Walk will support the New England PANS/PANDAS Association, a group of parent and medical volunteers who provide education and advocacy about this disease.

PANS and PANDAS occur when misdirected immune responses to infections cause inflammation of the brain, resulting in severe symptoms that can include, but are not limited to, motor and vocal tics, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, rage, and restricted eating. The acronym PANS stands for Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome, while PANDAS is short for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections, a subset of PANS.

“I’m very passionate about this cause,” Whelan – who has a child who suffers from this disorder – told The Hull Times. “It relates to all aspects of life and affects the entire family. It steals kids’ childhoods and can affect their ability to go to school, to socialize, and to just be a kid.”

The walk, which will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon, starts at the Mary Jeanette Murray Bathhouse. Registration is from 9:30 to 10 a.m., with opening remarks and speakers from 10 to 10:30 a.m. This event is part of a “coast-to-coast effort and beyond” on that date, including similar awareness efforts in Italy and the United Kingdom.

The idea is for participants to walk, bike or run, either from and back to the bathhouse, as part of a group or by themselves, with their family, dogs, friends, or neighbors or as part of a team from wherever they are located, all in the spirit of community and raising funds. The donation is $25 for adults, and children are free.

The organized walk from the bathhouse to the end of Hull Shore Drive (at Phipps Street) and back is about .7 miles. Participants are invited to return to the bathhouse for music, raffle prizes, and refreshments. Information about PANS/PANDAS will be available.

“We’re hoping for a good turnout and good weather,” Whelan said.

She became involved with the association several years ago as a way to connect with other families who have children struggling with PANS/PANDAS in order to help raise awareness and to advocate for legislation mandating insurance coverage for the disease, which passed in January 2021.

PANS/PANDAS can have a life-changing physical, emotional, and financial impact on families, and passage of this legislation ensured that private health insurers cover medically-necessary treatment.

The law included the creation of a PANS/PANDAS Advisory Council and a mandate that insurance companies provide coverage for this disease by January 2022 – a huge victory for advocates, including Whelan.

“It’s amazing that this legislation passed and that an advisory council was formed so that we now have a voice at the State House,” Whelan said.

Both Whelan and one of her friends, Rockland resident Lisa Grisolia, serve on the association’s board, and Grisolia was appointed to the advisory council, which is charged with advising the Department of Public Health commissioner on research, diagnosis, treatment, and education relating to PANS/PANDAS.

Massachusetts was the eighth state in the nation to pass such a law but the only one to establish an advisory council at the same time.

“Hull is an amazing place for this event,” Grisolia, who also has a child diagnosed with the disorder, told The Hull Times. “Our mission is to educate the community, our schools, and anyone else who is interested by raising awareness.

“There’s still a desperate need for people to recognize PANS/PANDAS [in children who are as yet undiagnosed but who suffer from this disorder], for them to get treatment, and [to provide support to other families who are struggling] so they don’t feel really alone,” she said.

Because of a lack of awareness of PANS/PANDAS, many children struggling with this disorder are misdiagnosed and therefore are treated for the symptoms rather than the root cause, which is the infection.

Grisolia noted that any infection, including COVID, can be a trigger for PANS or PANDAS, “which creates even more of a challenge.”

Raising awareness in the schools among educators and teachers can help identify an undiagnosed child who suffers from a PANS or PANDAS disorder and provide support to that child.

“It’s about supporting parents whose children have this disorder and helping to find answers,” Whelan said.

State Reps. Joan Meschino and Josh Cutler and state Sen. Patrick O’Connor have been “very helpful with this effort,” according to Whelan, and have been invited to the upcoming event.

Visit https://go.rallyup.com/nepans/Campaign/Details for further details, to register, or to make a donation to the cause.

'A giant undertaking' - School Committee accepts consolidation recommendation

By Carol Britton Meyer 

The school committee voted Monday night to accept the Best Educational Use of School Facilities Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendation to consolidate all grades into two buildings, with a PreK-7 configuration at Jacobs Elementary School and grades 8-12 at Hull High School. The Memorial Middle School would be used for other municipal and educational uses.

Following some discussion at its summer retreat, the committee took its formal vote at the first meeting of the new school year. The ad hoc committee had recommended Option 4 to the committee in June; other options ranged from making no changes to surrendering the middle school building entirely. The final decision on consolidation rests with the school committee, with the overriding focus of doing what is in the best interests of Hull Public Schools students. A timeline has not been established for the realignment of grades.

Chair Stephanie Peters asked fellow board members to compile a list of questions and concerns for consideration at the next and upcoming school meetings as the process moves forward.

“This is a giant undertaking for the town and a big decision. In the short-term, we will proceed with Option 4. The goal is to keep this on the agenda for every meeting,” she said. “We talked at the retreat about having a SC meeting where the main agenda topic would be the BEUSF so that the public is aware of what we are considering.”

The ad hoc committee’s recommendation came after contemplating during the 2021-22 school year the pros and cons of possible school consolidation based on the earlier report from the MARS consulting group.

Before making its recommendation, the committee considered the results of a community stakeholder survey and input from a number of forums that gathered input from teachers, students, parents, community members, and others.

The overall purpose of the BEUSF report, upon which the ad hoc committee’s work is based, was to evaluate the educational adequacy of the three school buildings currently in use – Hull High School, Memorial Middle School, and Jacobs Elementary School – in view of declining enrollments and other factors.

Under the chosen option, the school committee would maintain control of the Memorial Middle School, which could be repurposed for other public/municipal purposes.

Option 4 would also provide an opportunity to develop a memorandum of understanding between the select board and the school committee to guide future use of the middle school building.

Choosing Option 1 would have meant that the Hull Public Schools would continue to operate under the current model — Jacobs, Pre-K-5; Memorial Middle School, grades 6-8; and Hull High School, grades 9-12.

New uniforms, livestream, eSports generate positive energy as Hull High opens season

By Carol Britton Meyer

The Hull High School sports season “started off well,” Athletic Director Connor Duhaime told the school committee Monday night. Beyond physical sports, eSports and livestreaming of games, rallies, and other activities will be offered his year.

Excitement is mounting among HHS athletes, but also among students who don’t wish to participate in traditional athletics but are looking forward to accessing eSports. This name is short for electronic sports, a form of competition using video games.

“HHS is one of the pioneer schools to offer this option,” Duhaime said. “This way students who don’t participate in sports can feel like they are part of the [sports scene]. This is a way for them to connect with what it means to be a Pirate.”

Beyond that, livestreaming of Hull High – and also youth football games on Sundays by Hudl.com – has become a popular option to attending sports events in person, whether indoors or outdoors. Plans to install the equipment are under way, with support from parents and the Hull Boosters Club.

The livestreaming goes through YouTube free of charge. More information will be provided to families soon.

“Contributions from the Boosters and Hull youth sports is making this possible,” Duhaime said.

Back to the subject of in-person games, with a number of wins already accomplished, Hull students participating on sports teams are enthusiastic.

“There’s a new energy around this building [referring to the high school, where school committee meetings are held], and it has translated to our athletics,” Duhaime said. “We also have new uniforms, which generate excitement and show the athletes that we care about how they present themselves. They are representing the town, the community, and our school.”

Turf field usage by other towns was high during the summer is and expected to increase.

“People are learning what we have down here – the location and the restaurants and businesses that are in town,” Duhaime said. “Everything is growing and evolving around this facility.”

He also said he hears positive feedback from people who use the walking track, which is open to the public.

“It’s not just for the kids but for the entire community,” he explained.

Duhaime sang the praises of athletic trainer Lexie Watkins. “We’re fortunate to have her,” he said. “I don’t have an assistant athletics director, but if I did it would be Lexie. It takes a village to run an athletic department.”

Watkins works with athletes in the training room near the high school gym. “It looks like a college training room,” he noted.

Another popular attraction is the refrigerator in Watkins’ office stocked with Gatorade products that athletes using the training center can purchase. “The kids love it,” Duhaime noted.

School committee member Ernest Minelli asked if the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association allows any form of sponsorship on school uniforms to raise money for HHS sports.

While Duhaime wasn’t certain, he noted that there’s “nothing that says you can or you can’t” and that he expected to see this done more often in the future in different communities. Minelli suggested that absent any restriction, perhaps HPS could be one of the first districts to go that route.

Hull Artists to open their workspaces for two-day studio tour this weekend

The Hull Artists Open Studios is scheduled for Sept. 17-18, giving the public a chance to visit with and learn more about the artists in their home studios and at other locations around town.

In July, a similar tour drew 500 people, and organizers are hopeful that the fall version, which features more than 20 artists at 13 locations, will match or exceed that showing. The hours for this weekend’s event are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission is free.

This year’s sponsors, who enable the Hull Artists to better promote the event, are the O’Brien family and Jake’s Seafood Restaurant (the lead sponsor), Charisma Realty, Rockland-based Panopticon, Inc., and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Fliers are available at businesses around Hull that feature a map of the studio locations, as well as a description of the artists and their art.

For further details, visit HullArtists.com/OpenStudios or stop in at Hull Artists’ Gallery Nantasket, 121 Nantasket Ave., on the first floor of the Ocean Place Condominiums.

The Open Studios tour is one of three major events this weekend in Hull – as Hull Porchfest takes place on Saturday and the annual car show is scheduled for Sunday morning.

Dozens of performers ready to serenade Kenberma area with music during PorchFest

Fast becoming a treasured Hull tradition, Hull PorchFest ’22 arrives Saturday in the Kenberma neighborhood. This year’s porch-style music festival, the third staging of the event, brings almost 40 performers or bands to 14 porches, driveways, or yards.
The free event will take place within a walkable, contained area for enhanced pedestrian safety. Event organizers match musicians with hosts and create the performance schedule. There is no rain date, so organizers are hoping for mild, rain-free weather.
According to founder and organizer, Tom Hardey, the goal of past PorchFests hasn’t changed. “We want to cultivate more civic pride and community bonding and to present Hull in a positive, entertaining way both to residents and to out-of-town visitors. We also want to benefit local restaurant and bar businesses,” he said. “Most importantly, we strive always to be a source of aid to worthy organizations in need.”
New this year is a kick-off performance by Frankie Always & the Sometimes Band, starting at noon on the sidewalk in front of Nantasket Hardware. The full festival schedule starts at 1 p.m. and runs until 6 p.m.
Also new to Hull PorchFest are food concessions by local restaurants SandBar, at the intersection of Revere Street and Massasoit Avenue, and Daddy’s Dogs at the intersection of Kenberma Street and Manomet Avenue.

The Hull PorchFest merchandise and information tent, available from 1p.m. to 4 p.m., will be located at 81 Revere St. in front of the property owner’s garage.
Portable toilets will be located at both the public parking lot at the intersection of Kenberma Street and Nantasket Avenue, where limited parking is available, and at 93 Revere St.
Organizers advise the use of the northernmost HRA parking area at Phipps Street for out-of-town guests. Visitors are advised that the event footprint will be barricaded on the perimeter and manned by Hull Police for the duration of the event to ensure pedestrian safety. Local resident and band traffic only will be allowed on Massasoit, Samoset, and Manomet avenues, bounded by Kenberma Street to the north and Revere Street to the south.
For full information, map and downloadable schedules visit www.hullporchfest.org or the event’s Facebook page at facebook.com/hullporchfest.

Public invited to 9/11 ceremony

The public is invited to join with other members of the community to commemorate and remember those lost and injured by the acts of terrorism on Sept. 11, 2001.

Organizer Mary Jane Silva said former Select Board member John Reilly will be master of ceremonies at the event in the Boyer Auditorium at Temple Beth Sholom, 600 Nantasket Ave.

The ceremony will begin on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. and will feature music by the South Shore Men of Harmony, the Interfaith Choir, and Lily Sestito and her brother, Tony Carbone, performing the moving song, “The Prayer.”

Other guest speakers and participants are expected at the solemn ceremony.

Surf camp staffer rescues swimmer on ‘unguarded’ section of DCR beach

TO THE RESCUE. When he spotted a swimmer in trouble in the water and no DCR lifeguards in sight, Northeast Surf Camp’s Matthew Lees jumped into the water and helped get her safely to shore. [Courtesy photo]

By Carol Britton Meyer

An employee of a surfing camp pulled a struggling swimmer from the ocean last week in a section of the beach that was “unguarded” due to a lack of personnel, according to a witness and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

During camp operated by Northeast Surfing on Aug. 31, owner Ronnie Lees and others on the beach noticed a woman drifting out to sea at about 11 a.m., “with people screaming,” he recently recounted to The Hull Times.

According to Lees, his 19-year-old son, Matthew – an aquatic first responder certified by the American Lifeguard Association – was working at the surf camp along the Hull Redevelopment Authority stretch of beach that morning. He grabbed a surfboard paddle and headed into the rip current to try to save the woman’s life.

“The woman was one breath away from drowning and had swallowed a lot of water,” Lees said.

When Matthew reached the woman, “she was barely breathing and was on her last breath,” Lees recalled. “He was able to get her onto the surfboard paddle parallel with the beach and got her to safety. Someone had called 911, and the Hull fire and police departments arrived at the scene. The woman was complaining of cramps and other medical issues.”

Once emergency personnel arrived, the Northeast Surfing staff got out of the way. Around the same time, Lees reported, DCR lifeguards showed up in “a small golf cart-type vehicle” to assist the woman.

DCR Deputy Communications Director/Press Secretary Ilyse Wolberg said the DCR’s lifeguard services at Nantasket Beach began for the season on May 28 and ended on Labor Day, Sept. 5.

“Lifeguards remained on duty at the beach throughout the end of August. However, due to some guards returning to school and other various obligations, lifeguards were stationed at the center of the beach near the main bath house to serve the highest concentration of visitors,” Wolberg told the Times. “On August 31, 2022, a member of the public alerted Nantasket Beach lifeguards of an incident when another visitor was struggling in the water at an unguarded area. Once lifeguards arrived on scene the swimmer was out of the water and refused further care.”

According to Town Manager Philip Lemnios, the area where the incident occurred is under the control of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

“The lifeguards, their schedule, and presence are also under the control of the DCR,” he said.

Hull Police Chief John Dunn suggested that the newspaper contact the harbormaster and the fire department for information about the incident “as they are the primary agencies for this.”

Harbormaster Kurt Bornheim told the Times that he was dispatched for that call and was on his way to the front beach “when the person was pulled from the water. I [then] returned to the harbormaster dock at Steamboat Wharf.”

Hull Deputy Fire Chief William Frazier said his department responded to the Cook Bathhouse at about 11 a.m., and crews reported that “all parties were safely on the  shore and were denying the need for medical treatment.”

“There haven’t been any lifeguards down this side of the beach for a while,” Lees told the Times on the day of the incident. He said that this was not the first time Northeast Surfing staff assisted swimmers who were struggling in that area when there were no lifeguards, “but today was more serious.”

He noted that his company had three lifeguards, and another surf camp operating at the beach had one lifeguard on the beach that day, “all private.”

Lees noted that his son didn’t hesitate “for one second” when he saw the woman struggling.

“He just ran in,” he said, noting that with his son’s experience with surf camps that provide ocean safety classes and explain how to deal with rip currents, he knew “exactly what to do.”

Wolberg said that “when lifeguards aren’t on duty at a particular station, such as at less popular areas away from the center of the beach, proper signage is posted to inform visitors.

“Furthermore, DCR utilizes a flag system at its designated swimming locations, including Nantasket Beach, to inform visitors of abnormal water conditions, such as water quality information, marine life in the area, and hazardous surf conditions,” she added. “Also, if waters become too hazardous, the agency will close the water to swimming until conditions subside.”

Voters head to polls for state primary Sept. 6

In the first four days of early voting in advance of Tuesday’s State Primary Election, about 100 people cast their ballots in person at town hall, Town Clerk Lori West reported Wednesday.

Early voting began on Saturday and continues through today [Thursday]. The election will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at Hull High School, 180 Main St., with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

West said that more than 1,600 of Hull’s 8,824 registered voters requested ballots by mail.

Races on the ballot include governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor, governor’s council, county commissioner, district attorney, Representative in Congress, state Representative and state Senator, among others.

Voters who are registered with either the Democratic or Republican parties must take the ballot matching their registration; unenrolled voters may choose a party ballot without changing their voting status.

Sample ballots for Hull voters are available by clicking here.

The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

-- Christopher Haraden