CP_MBHC_20230426_1_A01
IN THIS ISSUE
ABBOT HALL
SPORTS
HISTORY
Contests emerge in ’23 local election
Living the dream
MHD’s famous ‘peanos’ seller
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NONPROFIT ORG PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
MARBLEHEAD, MA PERMIT NO. 25
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NEWS FOR PEOPLE, NOT FOR PROFIT.
TM
April 26, 2023
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VOLUME 1, ISSUE NO. 22
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MARBLEHEADCURRENT.ORG
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ON SOCIAL @MHDCURRENT
TOWN MEETING
Override annual cost to homeowner: $252 Administrator unable to rule out another ask next year BY WILLIAM J. DOWD The tax bill of a median singlefamily home valued at $807,400 would increase by $252.38 should voters approve a $2.5 million general override in the June municipal election. However, a two-thirds majority of Town
Meeting attendees in May must first approve sending the general override to the ballot box. The general override aims to address a projected structural deficit in the fiscal year 2024 municipal budget. Raising the additional property taxes would cover the town services cut from
the proposed $112.5 million fiscal year budget under Article 30. These cuts include the following: » three fire positions » a public works position » two police positions » 32 school positions plus programs (freshman
sports, middle school world languages) and facility maintenance Marblehead has passed several debt-exclusion overrides over the years, most recently in 2022 for nearly $25 million worth of capital projects. However, 18 years have passed since the
LIFE-SAVING MESSAGE
OVERRIDE, P. A11
CHARTER RESIGNATION
‘Be a hero’
Cleared of misconduct, head still steps down
Marbleheader with new heart forges bond with donor’s mother
BY LEIGH BLANDER
BY LEIGH BLANDER By sharing his incredible story of receiving a life-saving heart transplant, Marbleheader Gary Swain hopes to help others and spare families pain. “Sign up to donate your organs,” Swain said in an interview with the Marblehead Current coinciding with National Donate Life Month, which is observed in April. “Be a hero. Save Dan Decoteau, Iraq War veteran and somebody’s life.” father, died of a Swain, who is traumatic brain injury. 66, had suffered His family donated his from irregular organs. heart rhythms since he was a teenager. After an array of tests over the next few decades, his arrhythmia worsened, and he was eventually evaluated for a cardiac transplantation. An avid outdoorsman and sailor, he continued to hike and sail. “I remember thinking, ‘If I drop dead out racing, what better way to go?’” he said. In September 2019, he was sick enough to be listed for a heart
last time Marblehead approved a general override on June 15, 2005, for $2.7 million to fund supplemental expenses of several town departments. Unlike a debt-exclusion (temporary) override, which
COURTESY PHOTOS
Gary Swain is back at sea, racing last month in the Heineken Regatta with a ‘Donate Life’ flag on his sailboat.
transplant. “It was hard — I’ll admit, it was very hard,” Swain said. “A lot of people looked at me and had no idea what was going on.” Doctors ultimately diagnosed Swain
with a genetic defect, passed down from his father, that had damaged his heart. Swain had to ensure several
The Marblehead Charter Community Public School Board of Trustees announced that a misconduct investigation into Head of School Peter Cohen has “unsubstantiated those specific allegations” and been closed. Cohen, however, resigned, saying, “I have decided that what is best for the school and for Dr. Peter Cohen has me professionally and personally is to leave the resigned as head school. I wish the school of school from the Marblehead the best of success in Community the future.” Charter Public Cohen added, “I am School. moved by the many parents who took the time to reach out to me personally. I am grateful for those who worked to advocate on my behalf and tried to push for a speedy resolution. As you have been notified by the Board, the original complaint was without merit, and I have been cleared of any wrongdoing as it relates to the allegations that were raised in the complaint.” Charter’s Assistant Head of School Stephanie Brant will serve as interim head of school while the board searches for a new leader, according to the email. “I’m sad to see it’s resolved in this way with Dr. Cohen’s departure; of course, what choice did he have to return to such
SWAIN, P. A4 COHEN, P. A3
DEMOCRACY
Town Meeting opens Monday BY WILLIAM J. DOWD Marblehead Town Meeting convenes Monday at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Veterans Middle School, 217 Pleasant St., and subsequent nights until attendees finish all the town’s business. Marblehead has held Town Meeting since 1649, and its open town meeting format is direct democracy in action. It is vested with the authority to create and modify local statutes, known as bylaws, appropriate money to run the town, petition the Massachusetts General Court and
BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW
set elected officials’ salaries. Any resident registered to vote 20 days before the annual Town Meeting can participate in the civic gathering. Attendees can vote on articles, express opinions, enter debates, make motions and, before the big night, sponsor citizen petitions. Votes are taken by a show of hands. From leaf blowers and a $112.5 million budget to a $2.5 million general override and a proposed human resources department, the 2023 town warrant (the meeting’s MEETING, P. A10
ENVIRONMENT
As Bay State observes first Right Whale Day, struggle for lobstermen continues BY WILLIAM J. DOWD As Massachusetts observed its inaugural North American Right Whale Day on April 24, the lobster »Op-ed: industry, Doing right by regulators lobstermen. and conser Page A6. vationists remain at odds over how to protect the critically-endangered species. The federal government has deemed lobstermen’s fishing gear a real threat to right whales. Right whales are baleen whales, eating tiny crustaceans by straining immense volumes of ocean
water through their sievelike baleen plates, according to the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The right whale population has dropped to around 350, and federal wildlife authorities warn that the species faces extinction in the near future. Marblehead resident Rhod Sharp spent two years reporting on the conflict between lobstermen and right whale conservation efforts. That effort culminated in a six-hour series called “The Song of the Right Whale,” published by BBC Sounds. Sharp said right whales are prone to “entanglement in the
fixed lines that fishermen use to position the buoys which let them find the lobster trawls they have placed on the seabed.” Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution showed for the first time how fishing lines changed a whale’s diving and swimming behavior: “Fishing gear hinders whales’ ability to eat and migrate, depletes their energy as they drag gear for months or years and can result in a slow death.” Marblehead resident and lobsterman Ray Bates wants to find a balance, but he blames WHALES, P. A19