Office Hours: Rep Roy

State Representative Jeffrey Roy (D-Franklin) announced that constituent office hours will be held in Franklin for the Month of July on the following day: 

Franklin – Thursday, July 17th, 9:00-10:00AM, Franklin Senior Center – 10 Daniel McCahill Street Franklin, MA 

Christopher Yancich, his legislative aide, will be accompanying him. 

Representative Roy stated that all office hours are open to any residents of Franklin and Medway who may have questions or concerns that they wish to bring to his attention. Walk-ins are welcome; no appointment necessary. He looks forward to hearing from you. 

He also invites all constituents to call him at his State House office at (617) 722-2400, stop by Room 134 in the State House, or email him at Jeffrey.Roy@MAhouse.gov.

Senior Center - Community Concert - July 21

For additional information about events at the Senior Center, you can visit their page
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Senior/index

Franklin, there is still time to solarize your residence

Solarize Franklin is still looking for folks that are interested in solar power. Details are in the flyer shown here:



To learn more about the program visit the Solarize Mass webpage here
http://www.masscec.com/solarizemass

If you are interested in participating, you can contact Franklin's Dept of Planning and Community Development by calling 508-520-4907 or via email at TOFPlanning@franklin.ma.us

The 'Free Little Library' - Franklin

Franklin is already known for having the first public library in the US. We now also have a "Free Little Library." From a reader I received an email with this information to share:

I did want to share our Free Little Library, pictured below. It's an Amish-made cranberry box. We put books in it for people to take, and people come by and leave theirs. We've seen all types of books, from poetry to murder mysteries to classic lit -- and today's gem: the Supreme Court Reporter from 1939. 

There's lots about the organization here: http://littlefreelibrary.org/ and people can search for boxes all over the world using their locator.

free little library - Franklin

Supreme Court Reporter - 1939 edition

Where is the little free library in Franklin?

366 Lincoln Street

While Lincoln St is being re-done, it may not be as easy to visit until it is re-paved but it still might be worth a stop to get a book and leave a book.


Note: This email had arrived during the week before the 4th so the Supreme Court Reporter may not be there now (but it might also come back sometime too!).

The Franklin Education Foundation Announces 2014-2015 Grants Awardees

Franklin Education Foundation

The Franklin Education Foundation (FEF) has awarded 8 grants totaling $13,775 for the 2014-2015 school year to teachers who represent all educational levels in the Franklin public school (FPS) system.

Since its inception in 1997, the FEF has awarded over $300,000 in grants. A committee composed of FEF representatives and FPS staff read all proposals through a blind review process and selected the recipients. “Consideration was given to need, innovation, impact, and integration with other school programs” stated Kit Brady, President of the Franklin Education Foundation and Chair of the Grant Review Committee. 

This year’s recipients are: 

Franklin High School – Ann Butler, FHS Science Café; Carolyn Fortuna, Colleen Moore, Sarah Scannell, and Sam Rosen, Storytelling in 12th grade children's literature class. 

At the middle school level, recipients are: 

Horace Mann School – Heather Wilson, Carolina Campos, Chromebooks to support Spanish education; Erin O'Leary, School-based audio book library; Shawn Fortin, Expansion of middle school “virtual” online courses; and Remington School - Kimberly Schmidt, Chromebooks to support English language arts and social studies education. 

At the elementary school level, FEF awards went to 

Kennedy School – Kathleen Merten, Chromebooks to support 4th grade education; and Jefferson/Parmenter Schools – Brian Kelley, Number sense web site videos. 

Two yearly events, Casino Night and a Trivia bee, as well as an annual fund campaign, provide much appreciated support from businesses, families and organizations for the FEF grants. To see a list of programs the FEF has funded over the years, visit www.franklined.org. The Franklin Education Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization. All gifts are fully tax deductible.

New England Chapel in the news

How are you spending your summer?

In this first news item, a group of 33 people from Franklin's New England Chapel spent time in PA fixing up houses.

	"Franklin, MASS" Daily update ⋅ July 12, 2014
	NEWS
	News Item Missionaries wrap up week of fixing up Shamokin houses News Item The 33 volunteers from New England Chapel, of Franklin, Mass., arrived in Shamokin Sunday to perform construction work on dilapidated homes. Flag as irrelevant
	Shrewsbury Softball Player, Others Honored for Academics Patch.com Junior Edie Richardson (Franklin, Mass./Fontbonne Academy), sophomores Joanna Giordano (South Salem, N.Y./John Jay), and Caroline Kushner ... Flag as irrelevant

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VWR Internaional marks the 10th anniversary of its Franklin, MA Distribution Center

From the news wire, I find this company touting their Franklin, MA distribution center. I was unable to find the exact location but it is likely in one of our industrial parks. 

VWR International, LLC, a global solutions provider of laboratory supplies, equipment and services today announces the 10th anniversary of its Franklin, Mass. Distribution Center. Serving the Greater New England area, this location supports customers in the pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare industry. Over the last decade, this location has provided a variety of services to help VWR customers maximize supply chain security by providing reliable and transparent solutions to critical research, process development and manufacturing process applications. 

A special capability provided by the Franklin facility is production chemical services and supply chain solutions through regulatory compliance, operational efficiency and supply chain assurance. These special services including sampling in an ISO Class 8 Cleanroom and other unique services meets the specific needs of VWR's biotech and pharmaceutical customers. The facility is compliant with International Pharmaceutical Excipient Council's (IPEC) Guidelines for current Good Distribution Practices (cGDP) and has been recognized by Avantor Performance Materials, Inc. as Certified Excipient Distributor (CED) facility. In addition, the facility is ISO 9001:2008 registered, and a licensed Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy (BOP) warehouse.
Besides traditional distribution other services conducted at this 55,000 square foot facility include custom pallet programs, storage and warehousing of customer dedicated, pre-reserved or customer owned inventory, custom bar-code labeling, and furnishing product certifications with shipments. 

"The Franklin facility is an integral and valuable asset to our supply chain. The local support we've received over the years has significantly contributed to the success of our manufacturing operations in many ways," shared Alex Malgieri, Associate Director of Logistics for Alexion Rhode Island Manufacturing Facility. "On behalf of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, we would like to say thanks for the exceptional level of support." 

"VWR continues to focus on providing superior service to our customers by minimizing complexity and increasing their productivity," said Tim Wedemyer, SVP, North America Operations for VWR. "With the many special services our Franklin facility can offer to our customers, especially in the area of research and production chemicals, we look forward to many more years of serving our customers in key geographies like New England." 

VWR International, LLC

About VWR International, LLC
VWR International, LLC, headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, is a global solutions provider of laboratory supplies, equipment and services with worldwide sales in excess of $4.1 billion in 2013. VWR enables the advancement of the world's most critical research by providing product and service solutions to laboratories and production facilities in the pharmaceutical, biotech, industrial, educational, governmental and healthcare industries. With over 160 years of industry experience, VWR offers a well-established network that reaches thousands of specialized labs and facilities spanning the globe. VWR has over 8,000 associates around the world working to streamline the way scientists, researchers, medical professionals and engineers across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific stock and maintain their facilities. In addition, VWR further supports its customers by providing onsite services, storeroom management, product procurement, supply chain systems integration and technical services. 

For more information on VWR, visit www.vwr.com. 

VWR and design are registered trademarks of VWR International, LLC.

http://investors.vwr.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=859165

FHS Last Tour: Corridors and Student Art Work - part 6 (photos)

I was out of town and offline for most of the 4th of July week. So after a pause, let's continue the walk through the corridors of Franklin High School on the 'last tour.' I'll share more photos of student art work and other significant items of interest here:

student art - full wall mural - view from the left

student art - full wall mural - view from the right

the infamous lecture hall and stage

student art work - 1

student art work - 2

student art work - 3

student art work - 4

student art work - 5

student art work - detail

student art work - in context

Photos shared earlier can be found here:

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/fhs-last-tour-corridors-and-student-art.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/fhs-last-tour-corridors-and-student-art_30.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/fhs-last-tour-corridors-and-student-art_29.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/fhs-last-tour-corridors-and-welcome-to.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/fhs-last-tour-corridors-and-student-art.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/fhs-last-tour-field-house-small-gym.html
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/fhs-last-tour-field-house-photos.html


Note: all the photos will be posted to Facebook and to Flickr for anyone to view in a single place. The locations are already established and photos will be added to them over time.

Facebook album       Flickr album

Update: E-ZPass email phishing scam - sample email

I had shared the alert from MassDOT about the E-ZPass email phishing scam that was making the rounds. As I checked my email spam folder this morning, I found that I had one! How cool... This is what I got and how it looks in Gmail:

E-ZPass phishing email

While the Google spam filter has already identified this as spam, one of the key place to look is in the email address. The header of the email will look official (E-ZPass Service Center) but the actual email address will be something other than what it should be (support at dadomu.ru). The .ru in this case indicated the email is from a Russian domain.

The simple word on how to deal with suspicious emails? Delete.

Don't follow the link, you could pick up a virus or worse. Don't ever provide information if you do follow the link. They are looking for your account info and will take you for a ride if you give it to them.

Be safe!



For reference the post earlier this week can be found here:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/e-zpass-payment-for-driving-on-toll-road.html

In the News: Marjorie Turner Hollman

Marjorie Turner Hollman sat at a small wooden picnic table at the entrance of Louisa Lake Park in Milford. 

Hollman, a freelance writer and personal historian from Bellingham, watched as water trickled down the nearby dam. To the north, a paved pathway trailed into the distance. 

This trail, known as the Upper Charles River Bikeway, is one of 30 trails described in Hollman’s book, "Easy Walks in Massachusetts." The book describes hiking trails in Bellingham, Blackstone, Franklin, Hopedale, Medway, Milford, Millis, Uxbridge, Wrentham and Woonsocket, Rhode Island. 

"It’s not arduous walks," Hollman said. "It’s when you’ve got an afternoon or morning … and you just want go someplace right around the corner but you don’t know quite where to go."

You can continue reading the article in the Milford Daily News here:
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140712/NEWS/140718764/1994/NEWS

along the SNETT off Grove St in Franklin

You may recall that we featured a few of the Franklin walks from Marjorie's book last month. You can find the write up on each walk here:

SNETT
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/easy-walks-in-franklin-snett.html

Beaver Pond/Chilson Beach
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/easy-walks-in-franklin-beaver-pond.html

Dacey Fields
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/06/easy-walks-in-franklin-dacey-fields.html

MassBudget: What the Governor vetoed from the FY15 budget

MassBudget    Information.    Participation.  Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center    Democracy. The FY 2015 Budget and the Governor's Vetoes Today, the Governor signed into law the state budget for FY 2015. The budget is a statement of priorities, describing what we will do together in the coming year, and detailing how we will pay for those things. With the limited revenue available, this budget focuses on a few priorities, including making investments in our transportation systems, continuing the process of restoring deep funding cuts made to the state's higher education system, and funding reforms of the system for paying human service providers. In signing the budget, the Governor also exercised his authority to veto line items or portions of line items. These vetoes are small in the context of the full budget, reflecting a high degree of agreement among the Governor, House, and Senate. The Governor's vetoes are detailed in the table below, many of which are vetoes of specifically earmarked projects. The state budget includes not only funding appropriations but also changes to state law, in what are called "outside sections." The Governor also vetoed some of these policy provisions and proposed that the Legislature adopt amendments to others (details are included HERE). With the Governor's signature, the FY 2015 budget is now law. It is important to note, however, that with a two thirds vote of the House and Senate the Legislature can override any of these vetoes. Please read our recent Budget Monitor for more details on the Legislature's FY 2015 budget, which was enacted on June 30th, prior to these vetoes.   The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts. MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER 15 COURT SQUARE, SUITE 700 BOSTON, MA 02108

Privacy Policy. Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | 15 Court Square | Suite 700 | Boston | MA | 02108

Upcoming Events in Franklin, MA Area: FRI 7/11/14 - THU 7/17/14

FRI 7/11  12-6pm   Farmers Market at Franklin Common
FRI 7/11   6:30pm   Art Night Uncorked at Franklin Art Center

SUN 7/13   8am   Yoga on the Beach - Beaver Pond, Franklin.

MON 7/14   4-7pm   Farmer’s Market at Whole Foods Plaza in Bellingham.
MON 7/14   6:30pm   Family PJ Storytime at Franklin Public Library.

TUE 7/15   4pm   Lego Club and Games at Franklin Public Library

WED 7/16   1pm   Teddy Bear Picnic at Franklin Public Library (lawn area)
WED 7/16   6pm   Concerts on the Common - The Bubble Music Man followed by The Frank Padula Band.

THU 7/17   6:30pm   Art Night Uncorked at Franklin Art Center (Sangria Night)

For all the Town of Franklin Public Meetings click HERE.

For more details about events click HERE.

*If you have any suggestions or events for the calendar, please email Renata@BetterLivingRE.com

Franklin Farmers Market - Town Common

The farmers market is open today on the Town Common from noon to 6:00 PM.

Franklin farmers market

MA.gov provides a searchable map to locate farms and farmers markets.
http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/map.htm

The search of a 15 mile radius around Franklin reveals 16 markets. So if you can't make it to the Town Common today, there are others days to visit a market.

screen shot of Mass Grow map

300 Fisher St - MA DEP, EPA presentation

Matthew Fitzpatrick, from the MA DEP, provided the presentation file used for the discussion on 300 Fisher St during the Town Council meeting Wednesday.

You can view the file here:



All the files on the MA DEP site associated with 300 Fisher St can be found here
http://public.dep.state.ma.us/fileviewer/Rtn.aspx?rtn=2-0016683

and here
http://public.dep.state.ma.us/fileviewer/Rtn.aspx?rtn=2-0017879


One of the recent updates (7/10/14) reveals that the most recent walk through of the site found it to be unsecured "from trespassers"

MASSDEP SPOKE WITH JOE SALVETTI LSP. MASSDEP STATED THE FENCING NEEDS TO BE REPAIRED, SIGNAGE REPLACED, AND IRA STATUS REPORTS
MUST BE SUBMITTED.  ALTHOUGH THE FENCING/SIGNAGE HAS BEEN REPAIRED/REPLACED LAST WEEK, THE SITE IS CURRENTLY NOT SECURED.
MASSDEP STATED INSPECTIONS AND MAINTENANCE MUST BE INCREASED SUCH THAT THE SITE IS SECURED FROM TRESPASSERS.

http://public.dep.state.ma.us/fileviewer/Default.aspx?formdataid=4544200&documentid=0

photo of map shown during presentation at Town Council meeting

300 Fisher St (map)

A follow up email from a Fisher St resident prompted sharing this map.



As I understand the water flow, Mine Brook flows from the Fisher St area towards Beaver St and i495. As you look at this map, it would be flowing up to the top of the map and to the left (oriented as north and westerly).

screen shot of the detailed map showing contamination at 300 Fisher St and Mine Brook

The details on the hazardous waste (contaminated soil and ground water) can be found in the notes from the Town Council meeting this week:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/live-reporting-epa-300-fisher-st.html


The presentation document and associated MA DEP files on 300 Fisher St can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/07/300-fisher-st-ma-dep-epa-presentation.html

In the News: recycling center, downtown project

The recycling center will open on Sundays beginning next month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through November, a change the Town Council pushed hard for. 

The town still has to get the staff in place, and adding the new hours at the 455 Beaver St. center will cost roughly $2,200, which will likely come from the sale of permits.

Continue reading the full article in the Milford Daily News
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140711/NEWS/140719256/1994/NEWS

After a decade of waiting, interspersed with numerous meetings and design updates, the initial improvements to the downtown will finally begin this month with roadwork on Lincoln and Main streets. 

Throughout the summer, construction crews with Walsh Contracting, the project manager hired by the state Department of Transportation, will install new drainage infrastructure and start a full reconstruction of the roadways. 

Delays and detours during the daytime hours are expected as the work progresses. A construction superintendent will notify residents who live along the streets when crews are working in front of their homes. 

Continue reading the full article in the Milford Daily News
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140711/NEWS/140719264/1994/NEWS