Reminder: 2020 Franklin Police Response to COVID-19

2020 Franklin Police Response to COVID-19

March 13, 2020  (Updated 6/12/2020)

Dear Residents, Businesses, and Visitors to the Town of Franklin,

As Chief of Police I have enacted several new policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While many of these are internal and deal with how officers will continue to work and provide public safety, there are a few which the public should be aware of. These are effective immediately and will continue until further notice.

Effective March 10, 2020, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency and has urged other agencies to take action to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.  As a police department, it is impossible for our employees to cut off all contact with the public, and because our role in the community is so vital, we must respond to this situation with some changes.  In response to the state of emergency, and to protect the members of the Department and the public, the Franklin Police Department will implement the following changes until further notice.

·      Food - Food brought to the station by members of the community shall not be accepted.  Eating from a large common tray of food is an effective way to spread an illness; therefore we shall not take these trays in until further notice. 

·      Firearms Licensing – Please see the Firearms Licensing page for more detailed information. (Updated 6/12/2020)

·      Tours of Station / Ride Along  – All tours of the station, and Ride Along requests are suspended until further notice.

·      Solicitor Permits – Please see the Solicitor Information Page for more information. 

We understand that some of these changes may be an inconvenience to the public. We ask for your consideration as we concentrate our efforts on being prepared to respond to emergency calls for service and continuing to maintain our mission of providing a safe community for all who live, work, and visit the Town of Franklin. These changes outlined above are in place to limit potential exposure of our staff to the virus and keep them healthy and able to respond to emergencies.

Thank you for your understanding, and continued support,

Thomas J. Lynch

Chief of Police

Shared from Town of Franklin page:  https://www.franklinma.gov/police-department/news/2020-franklin-police-response-covid-1

 

Post from June 2020   https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/06/2020-franklin-police-response-to-covid.html

2020 Franklin Police Response to COVID-19 - Updated 6/12/20

Pantherbook: Profile - Olivia Quinn, Franklin Nutrition, and Spring softball

A round up of three articles from Pantherbook:

" Student Spotlight: Olivia Quinn"

"Introducing…Olivia Quinn!

Olivia is a junior at Franklin High School in Franklin MA, and is the Hockomock League (Kelly Rex division) MVP! She’s also been named a Boston Herald AND Boston Globe All Scholastic! Congratulations Olivia!"

Continue reading the article online:   https://franklinpanthers.us/top-stories/2021/04/15/student-spotlight-olivia-quinn/

"Restaurant Review: Franklin Nutrition is the Latest Up-and-Coming Café "

"Have you heard about Franklin’s newest café destination? Look no further than Franklin Nutrition.

Franklin Nutrition is run by a family business with Josh Zicherman, Yianna Zicherman, Josh and Yianna’s daughter, Tatyianna Zicherman, and Tatyianna’s husband, Frank Ansah."

Continue reading the article online: https://franklinpanthers.us/top-stories/2021/04/14/restaurant-review-franklin-nutrition-is-the-latest-up-and-coming-cafe/

 

"Spring Softball Season – A Return to Normal"

"Girls softball tryouts for Franklin High School are right around the corner! With the pandemic still in place, there will be some modifications made to assure a successful and healthy season.

As of right now, softball is considered a moderate risk sport. Players are expected to wear face masks and social distance as much as possible."

Continue reading the article online:   https://franklinpanthers.us/sports/2021/04/14/spring-softball-season/

Viral A cappella Sensation T.3 at THE BLACK BOX Outdoors Under the Tent - Apr 24

THE BLACK BOX will welcome back viral a cappella sensation T.3 as part of their Spring Arts Awakening Series on April 24. T.3 is a New York based vocal group composed of Liam Fennecken (School of Rock), Jim Hogan (Waitress), and Brendan Jacob Smith (The Simon & Garfunkel Story).  They gained popularity on social media platforms with covers of Disney, Broadway, and Pop hits. Both in-person and virtual tickets will be available. Masks and social distancing required for the in-person concert. 

Jim Hogan is a New York City based actor, singer, and musician.  His Broadway National Touring credits include Waitress, The Phantom of the Opera, and Spring Awakening.  Hogan has performed as a soloist with Symphony Orchestras across the US and Canada.  

Liam Fennecken is a proud graduate of the Penn State BA Theatre program.  He is an actor, musician, and songwriter living in NYC.  He recently toured the US and South Korea in School of Rock, and has toured North America with Once, American Idiot, and Peter Pan 360. 

Brendan Jacob Smith is an actor, singer and songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY. A recent graduate of Ithaca College, Brendan will be playing Art Garfunkel in the US/Canada Company of The Simon and Garfunkel Story. He recently finished up his time as a member of Hyannis Sound, Cape Cod’s professional A capella group, and was seen as Frankie Epps in Parade at The Rev Theatre Company. 

In-person and virtual tickets are available at  www.THEBLACKBOXonline.com or by calling the box office at 508-528-3370. Follow THE BLACK BOX on social media to stay updated on the venue’s offerings. 

 

Viral A cappella Sensation T.3 at THE BLACK BOX Outdoors Under the Tent - Apr 24

Franklin Downtown Partnership Coordinating the 2021 Harvest Festival - Oct 2, 2021

The Franklin Downtown Partnership (FDP) is forging ahead with planning the 2021 Harvest Festival based on the decrease in COVID-19 cases and the planned widespread vaccination by the fall. The FDP is optimistic that the town can resume its Harvest Festival this year on Saturday, Oct. 2 with a rain date of Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021.

Held every autumn, with the exception of last year, the Harvest Festival draws thousands of people to the closed-off streets of downtown Franklin to enjoy community, entertainment, food, art, kids activities, and more. 

“With recent developments with increased vaccine accessibility, a number of FDP members and people throughout the community are seeing some light ahead,” said Scott Martin, president of the Franklin Downtown Partnership Executive Board. “Knowing how we all want to be together again, and how much people want to return to the kind of events that bring our community together, our FDP will move forward with planning our Harvest Festival for the first Saturday in October.”

The Strawberry Stroll, normally held in June, has been canceled for 2021 but the FDP is looking forward to hosting it again in 2022!

The Franklin Downtown Partnership is a nonprofit, 501©3 organization made up of more than 350 business owners, community leaders and residents working to stimulate economic development downtown and create a positive impact throughout the area.  https://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/

 

Planning underway for Franklin Harvest Festival - Oct 2

FM #512 Joint Budget SubComm Mtg- 04/12/21 (audio)

FM #512 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 512 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares the Joint Budget Subcommittee meeting held on Monday, April 12, 2021.

The Joint Budget Subcommittee is made up of members of the Town Council, School Committee, and Finance Committee 

The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format: some of the Finance Committee members, School Committee, Schools Central Office, Town Council members, Town Administrator and key personnel, were in the Council Chambers; the remaining Subcommittee members joined the public via conference bridge, all to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

Links to the meeting agenda and associated documents are included in the show notes. The recording runs about 25 minutes, so let’s listen to the Joint Budget Subcommittee meeting. Audio file = https://player.captivate.fm/episode/0e686928-3b7e-4aff-875e-154b55f98b01

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Joint Budget agenda  

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif591/f/agendas/2021-04-12_joint_budget_subcommittee_meeting_1.pdf l 

Town of Franklin budget page  https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget 

Franklin Schools budget page  https://www.franklinps.net/district/school-district-budget 

My notes captured from the meeting recording
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/04/recap-joint-budget-subcommittee-meeting.html  

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm). 

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit   Franklinmatters.org/  or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

FM #512 Joint Budget SubComm Mtg- 04/12/21 (audio)

FHS volleyball top Mansfield 3-0 to advance to final of Hockomock Cup

From HockomockSports.com we share the FHS sports results:

 

Volleyball = Hockomock Cup

• KR2 King Philip, 3 @ D1 Canton, 1 – Final

• KR3 Mansfield, 0 @ KR1 Franklin, 3 – Final

This sets up the final game with Franklin at home vs King Philip on Friday (5:15 PM)

https://hockomocksports.com/wednesdays-schedule-scoreboard-04-14-21/

 

The Boston Globe has coverage of the KP-Canton match 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/15/sports/king-philip-girls-volleyball-ousts-canton-hockomock-cup-semifinal-next-faces-franklin-final/

 

FHS volleyball top Mansfield 3-0 to advance to final of Hockomock Cup

 

Franklin Area NonProfit Network (FANN): meeting info and ACTIONS for April 19, 2021

Coming out of the Franklin Area NonProfit Network (FANN) kickoff meeting (3/29/21), we have the following notes and Actions

• Frequency – at least monthly until we get up and running 

• Will try and lock in a standard day/time 

• Initial phase is for members to get to know each other.  This phase is expected to take anywhere from 4-10 meetings, depending on how many organizations want to get involved and the speed at which we can conduct the introductions.  Intent is to invite 10-12 organizations per meeting and provide them up to 5 mins each to tell all about their organization; with a focus on their mission, highlighting services provided and target audience.

• During the introduction portion, all should listen carefully to identify touchpoints of connection, potential help or cross referral. 

• Issues raised from the organization will be placed in the parking lot for future consideration by the group (address via an ad-hoc small group to study or as an upcoming FANN Topic, or ??) 

• First topic up is Media 101 and speaker is Pete Fasciano, Franklin Community Cable (Franklin TV, Franklin Public Radio) 

• Also, will want to address creation of Leadership/Steering Comm and Website in either housekeeping or wrap up

Actions:

Organizations can sign up for the “get to know each list”  https://forms.gle/cFTsMSu5y4fwfPkP7 

We’ll confirm the orgs and order of presentations before each meeting

Meeting agenda for April 19, 2021

700 PM Call to order, review agenda and any housekeeping Steve Sherlock

710 PM Introductions NPO 1 

715 PM NPO 2 

720 PM NPO 3 

725 PM NPO 4 

730 PM NPO 5 

735 PM NPO 6 

740 PM NPO 7 

745 PM NPO 8 

750 PM NPO 9 

755 PM NPO 10

800 PM FANN Topic for the month TBD  

820 PM Wrap Up, Actions, Next Month agenda Steve Sherlock 

(NPO introductions on schedule, Topic for the month…)

 

830 PM Adjourn 

 

meeting info and ACTIONS for April 19, 2021