Upcoming Events in Franklin, MA: FRI - May 10 to THU - May 16

Friday, May 10

10:00am

 Knitting Group

10:30am

 Happy Feet! (Community Room)

3:30pm

 Cultural District Dedication

6:00pm

 NAHS INDUCTION

6:30pm

 Music Awards Banquet

Saturday, May 11

8:00am

 Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

8:30am

 Rail Trail 5K

10:00am

 Franklin Historical Museum (Always free)

2:00pm

 Chicka Chicka Celebration! (FOFL) Lorelai and Grace

8:00pm

 Mamie Parris in Concert

8:00pm

 Ordinary Elephant @ Circle of Friends Coffeehouse

Sunday, May 12

 Mother's Day

1:00pm

 Franklin Historical Museum (always free)

Monday, May 13

10:30am

 Move Along

11:00am

 Toddler Playgroup

3:30pm

 Dungeons & Dragons for Kids ( Teen Room)

7:00pm

 OSKEY Tech

Tuesday, May 14

9:30am

 Cool Cruisers

10:30am

 Get Ready for Kindergarten

3:30pm

 French Storytime! (FOFL Room)

6:30pm

 Doggie Tales (FOFL)

6:30pm

 Doggie Tales (FOFL)

6:30pm

 The Etiquette Expert of 1890

7:00pm

 OSKEY Tech

7:00pm

 School Committee

7:30pm

 Franklin Bellingham Rail Trail Committee Public Meeting

Wednesday, May 15

10:30am

 Terrific Toddlers

11:00am

 Toddler Playgroup

2:30pm

 Preschool Play N' Learn (Community Room)

6:30pm

 High Art Opening

7:00pm

 OSKEY Performance

7:00pm

 Franklin Cultural District - Partners Meeting

Thursday, May 16

9:30am

 Baby Tummy Time

10:30am

 Story & Craft

4:00pm

 Franklin Historical Museum (always free)

6:00pm

 Volunteens

7:00pm

 OSKEY Performance

For the interactive version, please visit

http://www.franklinmatters.org/p/blog-page.html

For the Town of Franklin Public Meeting Calendar

http://www.franklinma.gov/calendar

Submit an event for the Community Calendar, please use this link

https://goo.gl/forms/7Pr1iBuAiIna7cUo2

Upcoming Events in Franklin, MA: FRI - May 10 to THU - May 16

"the declining enrollment helped us, as a community, be able to fund the services people expect”

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"A good economy should equal a sunny fiscal forecast. 

That’s what many residents believe, said Deputy Town Administrator Jamie Hellen, which is why a cloud of suspicion looms over the town budget’s structural deficit entering fiscal 2020. 

“A lot of people are frustrated. In such a good economy, and a great business climate, how are we in this pickle?” Hellen asked rhetorically. 

The answer includes many factors, some of which are not unique to Franklin, said Hellen. 

According to Hellen, the main culprits of the impending deficit include an increased demand for services, increased health insurance costs, charter school expansion costs, declining school enrollment, other post-employment benefits (OPEP) and the cost of doing business in town outpacing the town’s ability to raise revenue."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190509/franklin-seeks-solution-to-structural-deficit


Other budget related info

Legislative update to Town Council on May 8
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/05/live-reporting-legislative-update.html

State level budget info
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/05/it-is-statement-of-senates-priorities.html

Charter School impact on budget
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/05/charter-school-clarifications-on.html

Inside the proposed FY 2020 budget
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/04/inside-proposed-fy-2020-town-of.html

March 18 Finance Committee FY 2020 budget preview info (audio)
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/03/live-reporting-finance-committee-march.html

Prop 2 1/2 override process
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2019/05/what-is-process-for-prop-2-12-ballot.html

Rising health care costs drive benefits

How much is the School budget part of the whole Town budget

Odd Fellows Celebrating 141 Years in Franklin

William F. Ray Odd Fellows Lodge #71 has been a good neighbor in the Town of Franklin for 141 years, and counting. The local lodge was celebrating their 100th anniversary at the same time that the town was celebrating the Bi-Centennial Celebration in 1978. 

Their former location was the three story brick building on Depot St., which the lodge sold to Central West Realty Trust in 1981. That property was renovated and then named “The Brickyard” and housed various businesses for several years until the building was leveled for the Dean Bank addition and drive through lot.

After the sale of the Depot St. building in 1985, the lodge members bought the Varsinic Bogigian house and land at 330 West Central St. near the corner of Rte. 140 and Beaver St. in Franklin. The house was a smaller and more manageable property than the former Depot St. property, and with some internal renovations, was turned into our present day lodge hall.  
The hall was dedicated on December 3, 1985 and was honored during the ceremony by a visit from Sovereign Grand Master George Shaw, the highest ranking officer in the World Order. Being just one of 10,000 lodges in 30 countries, Odd Fellowship has the distinction of being the largest fraternal order in the world under one leader.

In 1996, Past Grand, John Gardner, engaged the Cub Scouts in Franklin and offered the Lodge to be the Parent Non-Profit Organization behind the creation of the new Pack #17. From approximately one dozen scouts in that year, the Pack grew to become the largest Pack in Franklin with 78 scouts. William F. Ray Lodge has provided a home base of operations for the scouts and we annually put on a Children’s Christmas Party in their behalf at neighboring Rising Sun Lodge in Medway. 

The Franklin lodge also assisted the Franklin Youth Soccer Association by allowing them full use of the building for their headquarters before obtaining more permanent quarters on Cottage St. Accepting the hospitality of the Odd Fellows Lodge enabled the FYSA to grow from a small and splintered organization, with its members working out of kitchens and basements, to a much more organized and centrally operated entity.

In the early 80’s and into the 90’s, the Franklin Odd Fellows ran 11 years of benefit volleyball tournaments for the Arthritis Foundation and raised over $27,000 for this worthy cause. We also organized an Arthritis Walk in Franklin, but it was lightly attended. The Grand Lodge, I.O.O.F. of Massachusetts in Worcester followed our lead and has been running with it ever since with such events as the Boston and the Worcester Walk-a-Thons, the Spring Charity Ball in Worcester and an annual golf tournament. 

This year, the golf tournament will be held at the Quail Hollow Golf and Country Club in Oakham, MA on June 17, the day after Father’s Day. The Odd Fellows and Rebekahs of Mass. raise more money for the National Arthritis Foundation than any other state in the country.

Local charities that the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs support are the scouting programs and foodbanks, the Franklin and Bellingham Rail Trail effort, the Odd Fellows Full Care Nursing Home, the Odd Fellows Children’s Summer Camp in Belfast, Maine, the Children’s Pilgrimage for Youth, the Veterans Walkway project and others. Nationally we support a Visual Research Foundation at the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Wilmer Eye Institute, a National Disaster Relief Fund, the Living Legacy Program, The Home for Little Wanderers, the Mass. Diabetes Foundation and an Education Scholarship Fund for our community’s youth. Odd Fellowship internationally supports S.O.S., a program of building children’s orphanage villages in Cambodia. 

Nationally, the Odd Fellows are celebrating their 200th Anniversary in this country and celebrations will be occurring in all 50 states. Internationally, Odd Fellowship is much older in England where it originated in the early 1600s but it is much younger in many of the 30 countries worldwide. Members who travel in this country and abroad will be welcomed at any lodge in any state or in any country. One of the Franklin members has made meetings in the New England States and Minnesota in this country and has also participated in meetings in the Netherlands and in Germany.

Our warm and personal affiliation with our Brothers and Sisters in the Order has attracted many notable names throughout our country’s rich history. The following have all been Odd Fellows: William Jennings Bryan, Sec of State; Wyatt Earp, Law Officer from the Old Wild West; Robert C. Byrd, U.S. Senator; Charlie Chaplin, Comedic Actor & Film Director; Ulysses S. Grant, 18th U.S. President; Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th U.S. President; Warren G. Harding, 29th U.S. President; Charles Lindbergh, American aviator, author, inventor and social activist; William McKinley, 25th U.S. President; Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd U.S. President; and Lucy Hobbs Taylor, first U.S. female dentist. A record of all past officers of our local Franklin lodge, going back to our institution in 1878, can be found in our web site under the History Tab.

The local lodge is currently undergoing a 2 year long building upgrade with a new roof, all new windows, new siding, insulation, a new bulkhead and garage door. Member and builder, Chris Miller, has generously given his time, as well as other dedicated members who work full time jobs and manage to find a few hours on weekends to work at the lodge. 

To help support our charities, the members are planning on a Second Annual Fundraiser Cornhole Tournament to be held at the Bellingham Sportsman Club at 360 Lake St., Bellingham, MA 02019 on June 23, 2019 at 1:00 PM. The cost of admission per player will be $20 per person with drinks available from the bar and the DJ services of Rich Gillespie of New Style Entertainment. Look for future notifications to come on this event.

The mission statement for the Odd Fellows fraternal organization is as follows: 

“We endeavor to elevate the character of mankind, to provide aid to our community, to make it and the world a better place to live, to aid the less fortunate members of our society by donating to charities, to support the youth of our community and help them grow, to aid our own members in times of distress, to support science and research foundations for the elimination of diseases and poverty and to support our community in every way possible.” 

The sister and supporting organization to the Odd Fellows is the Rebekah Assembly of Massachusetts who do a great job every year raising funds and awarding scholarships to needy high school students aspiring to go to college. Membership into either the Odd Fellows, or the Rebekahs, is open to both male and female and we honor a non-discrimination policy that comes directly from our Sovereign Grand Lodge.

More information on the Odd Fellows organization and history can be found at the following web sites:
franklinmassoddfellows.org
massioof.org
odd-fellows.org

Odd Fellows Celebrating 141 Years in Franklin

In the News: Atria Franklin serves breakfast to Franklin police; Health care funding to be looked at

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

Atria Franklin serves breakfast to Franklin police

"Police arrived at the scene of Atria Franklin on Thursday morning. 

The situation: breakfast. 

The dining room at the King Street senior living community was filled with the scent of maple syrup and bacon, as officers from town were invited to talk to seniors and enjoy a hearty breakfast with them. 

The event was the first of its kind at the facility, said Community Sales Director Beth Comella."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190509/atria-franklin-offers-breakfast-to-police-officers


Health care funding to be looked at

"With minimum-wage increases already locked in for years to come and a new push for a surtax on high earners underway, Senate President Karen Spilka told small- business owners on Thursday that she would continue to work toward compromise even as lawmakers consider how to bring in new revenues. 

Spilka, the keynote speaker at the annual Small Business Day, outlined in broad terms her desire to see the Legislature take action to improve transportation infrastructure, better fund education and reform health care. She also touted the Senate’s new tax-reform working group that brings together a range of interests and expertise. 

“I believe that every issue we will tackle this session is in some way an economic development issue,” Spilka said."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190509/spilka-expresses-desire-to-return-to-health-care-bill

Rep Roy, Senator Spilka, and Senator Rausch at the Town Council meeting May 8, 2019

"Classroom Giving is best described as a gift registry for educators"

From the NY Times, an article with a good story about a web page to help teachers get supplies for their classrooms.

"After an elementary schoolteacher in Phoenix posted her salary on Facebook in March last year amid a statewide protest for more education funding, she got a lot of calls from the news media, and a lot of hate mail, too. 

But a few months later, the teacher, Elisabeth Milich, said she received what seemed to be an unbelievable offer from a stranger in New York City: He would pay for the snacks and supplies she and her husband had been buying for her students with their own money. 

“I thought it was a one-time thing,” Ms. Milich said on Thursday. 

Instead, the man, Ben Adam, has since supplied her classroom at Whispering Wind Academy with colored pencils, paper clips, books, crackers and big bags of Hershey’s Kisses for two semesters. He has also bought a butterfly farm for another teacher in Phoenix, and supplies for four other classrooms in the Phoenix area. 

He started a website last month called Classroom Giving, which allows other people the chance to give necessities to teachers."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/education/arizona-teacher-salary-facebook-post.html?

Go directly to the web page  https://sites.google.com/site/classroomgiving/home

"Classroom Giving is best described as a gift registry for educators"

MassCEC launches pilot program for whole-home heat pumps

A total of $500,000 has been allocated by MassCEC to provide rebates for the installation of whole-home air-source heat pump systems

Announcing the Whole-Home Air-Source Heat Pump Pilot Program The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center ("MassCEC") is excited to announce the launch of our Whole-Home Air-Source Heat Pump Pilot. MassCEC has allocated $500,000 to provide rebates for the installation of whole-home air-source heat pump ("ASHP") systems at residential properties – specifically at existing homes with natural gas and new construction projects designed to operate without fossil fuels. This pilot is meant to support ASHP systems that function as the sole source of heating in a home without the need for supplementary or back-up heat. The Pilot will accept applications until December 31, 2019 or until all allocated funding has been awarded.  HVAC contractors interested in becoming a participating installer should review the requirements in the Pilot Program Manual and reach out to ashp@masscec.com with any questions. Through the pilot program, MassCEC will promote projects at the leading edge of Massachusetts' strategic electrification efforts. A major goal of the pilot is collecting learnings and information on whole-home ASHP systems, so we look forward to sharing preliminary results, lessons learned, and case studies through the pilot program. Read our blog post to learn more about the goals of the pilot, and please reach out to us if you have any questions or ideas. Further program information can be found at www.masscec.com/clean-heating-and-cooling/air-source-heat-pumps. Warmly, The MassCEC Air-Source Heat Pump Team Massachusetts Clean Energy Center The MassCEC Air-Source Heat Pump Team Massachusetts Clean Energy Center 63 Franklin St, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110 617-315-9300 | ASHP@masscec.com Massachusetts Clean Energy Center   Grow the state's clean energy industry while helping to meet the Commonwealth's clean energy and climate goals. Copyright © 2019 Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, All rights reserved 63 Franklin Street, 3rd Floor Boston, MA 02110 Phone: 617-315-9300 Fax: 617-315-9356

Reminder: Franklin Cultural District: Dedication Celebration - May 10 - 3:30 PM

We are looking forward to the celebration of Franklin's New Cultural District. Please come join our legislators

• Senate President Karen Spilka
• Senator Rebecca Rausch
• Representative Jeff Roy

on Friday, May 10 at 3:30 PM at the Franklin Historical Museum, 80 West Central Street. Following the ceremony there will be a reception at THE BLACK BOX.

We also want to remind you all of our upcoming May Cultural District Partners meeting on Wednesday, May 15, 7:00 PM Franklin Public Library.

Franklin Cultural District: Dedication Celebration - May 10

Honor Roll for the third quarter from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School

The honor roll for the third quarter of the 2018-2019 school year from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin is now available. 

• Students who receive term grades of B- or better in all subjects earn honor roll status.
• Students who earn grades of A- or better in all subjects receive high honors.

Download a copy of the listing here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YwJvUTBhB5UiHcwXZb37FG16Vsh08mwb/view?usp=sharing

Honor Roll for the third quarter from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School

FHS baseball, softball, boys tennis, and both boys and girls lacrosse teams post wins

Via HockomockSports, we share the results of the FHS sports action on Wednesday, May 8, 2019


Baseball = King Philip, 1 @ Franklin, 11 – Final 
– Franklin had three pitchers combine for a one-hitter scored double-digit runs for the fourth straight game. Liam Dailey allowed one unearned run on one hit and two walks, striking out four in five innings of work. Ben Guzman (two strikeouts) and Will Pacheco (three strikeouts) each pitched an inning in relief. Scott Elliott led the offense with three hits, including a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Alex Haba (two runs, RBI), Jake Macchi (two runs), and Brennan Rivera (run, two RBI) each had two hits for the Panthers.

Softball = Franklin, 0 @ King Philip, 6 – Final
– King Philip Faith Turinese had a strong performance in the circle, scattering five hits in a complete game shutout. Meghan Gorman had two hits, including a home run, to lead the Warriors’ offense. Liliana Rolfe also had two hits and Abby Carey came through with a key single with the bases loaded. Franklin’s Maddy White went 2-for-3.

Boys Lacrosse = Franklin, 21 @ Mansfield, 1 – Final
– Franklin built a 13-1 lead by halftime and then pitched a shutout in the second half, rolling to a win over the Hornets. Senior Jacob Alexander continued to dominate at the face-off X, winning 20-of-22 draws to help the Franklin offense control possession. Sophomore Matt Lazzaro scored six goals and had two assists, junior Jake Davis scored five times and added two helpers, senior Nitin Chaudhury had a pair of goals and one assist, and both junior Ben Greco (three assists) and senior Tim Kolb (two assists) scored once. Senior Will Davis made nine saves in net.

Girls Lacrosse = Mansfield, 3 @ Franklin, 16 – Final
– Franklin ran away with the game, picking up its seventh straight win with a 16-3 decision over visiting Mansfield. Senior Annie Walsh (four goals, three assists) and junior Erin Walsh (five goals, two assists) led the offense with seven points apiece, while Kelsey MacCallum added a hat trick and assists. Junior Gianna Cameron had a strong game in goal with 11 saves.

Boys Tennis = Franklin, 3 @ King Philip, 2 – Final
– Franklin won two matches in singles action and won one doubles match in a three-set thriller to edge King Philip in a battle of top teams in the Kelley-Rex division. The Panthers, who entered tied with the Warriors in first in the division, got the deciding win from Saket Gandham and Shoumik Sompally, who pulled out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win at second doubles to give Franklin the win. Liam Marr won at 6-3, 6-3 at first singles and Vayshnav Malhotra didn’t drop a game in a 6-0, 6-0 win at third singles. King Philip sophomore Nick Putney won 6-1, 6-2 at second singles and the team of Jack Cannon and Nate Ihley, both juniors, secured a 6-4, 6-0 win at first doubles.

Girls Tennis = King Philip, 5 @ Franklin, 0 – Final

For the other results around the Hockomock League
https://hockomocksports.com/wednesdays-schedule-scoreboard-05-08-19/

FHS Panthers

Get a one-ring call? Don’t call back

Get a one-ring call? Don't call back by Michael Atleson Acting Assistant Director, Division of Consumer & Business Education A while back, we warned you about the "one ring" scam. That's when you get a phone call from a number you don't know, and the call stops after just one ring.  The scammer is hoping you'll call back, because it's really an international toll number and will appear as a charge on your phone bill — with most of the money going to the scammer.  Well, the scam is back with a vengeance, and the FCC just issued a new advisory about it. Read the FCC's advisory for more detail, but the advice from both agencies remains the same if you get one of these calls: Read more https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2019/05/get-one-ring-call-dont-call-back?utm_source=govdelivery This is a free service provided by the Federal Trade Commission.

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