Here are some brief thoughts on some of the events taking place around the North Quabbin area:
Athol has begun a new era, with a new fire chief, Joseph P. Guarnera, who was sworn in with a bit of pomp and circumstance at a nice ceremony featuring many town officials and chiefs from many nearby towns. At a recent Selectboard meeting he was formally introduced to the board.
Town Manager Shaun Suhoski said that with 20 years of experience in law enforcement and fire and rescue in Revere, and most recently as assistant chief of operations in Berlin, Guarnera is a good fit for his new job. Guarnera thanked the board and observed that his arrival is the next step for the department’s and his professional growth.
It will be a change, the first time in decades the department will be led by an officer moving into town. Retiring Chief John Duguay worked in the department for three decades.
The Royalston Historical Society led candlelight tours of Old Center Cemetery this past weekend, among many area groups who combine the festive spirit of Halloween with a history lesson.
Visitors will learn about the lives behind the graveyard’s headstones, and indirectly about the town’s past. Royalston residents, along with students from Athol High School, will be playing roles featuring the merchants, soldiers, mothers, ministers, wives, doctors, grave robbers, farmers and founders.
Sounds like a good cross section to tell what life was really like in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Christine Hoegen’s second-grade students at Royalston Community School took their science lessons to the great outdoors recently.
The class had been studying seed dispersal, and with the help of Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, viewed and collected seeds in their natural habitat.
Led by Jessica Tierney, a Mount Grace Science educator, the students hiked and explored more than two miles of Royalston’s Eagle Reserve, a 139-acre mix of woods, wetlands, and open water that is open to the public.
After protecting the land in 2016, Mount Grace created low-impact access at the reserve. A new bridge connecting the Southern peninsula to a small island in the middle of the Reserve was used by Hoegen’s students.
Everyone participated in a seed scavenger hunt and discussed the many ways that seeds travel: by wind, by water, by bursting, and by animals.
Hunter Vaillette, a 7-year-old, described the hike as “… the best field trip I’ve ever had!” We hope she and her peers will have plenty more.
The third annual cupcake wars fundraiser pitted Halloween against Christmas against St. Patrick’s Day in a holiday-themed cupcake competition in the American Legion in Orange recently.
Cupcake Wars is a fundraiser for the 20th annual Mahar After Prom Party, a drug- and alcohol-free party after the annual prom.
Helene Holmes, the perennial organizer, said the idea is to try to raise enough money to mount the after-prom party, which costs an estimated $12,000.
“It’s really neat,” Holmes said. “We have everyone from professionals to children.”
The state’s plan to log a stretch of Wendell woodland that’s been untouched for 110 years has roused some opposition.
In response to the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s proposal to log 88 acres of the 7,000-acre publicly owned Wendell State Forest, 1,148 people have signed a petition calling for Gov. Charlie Baker to cancel the project.
“This forest has been a wild land for over 100 years. We want it to remain exactly as it is, untouched by human interference,” reads the petition, delivered by the nonprofit calling itself RESTORE: The North Woods, one of the groups organizing against the logging.
The group asserts logging could affect “wildlife habitats, soils, air and water quality, scenic beauty and recreational trails.”
In May, DCR spokesman Troy Wall said logging projects are “thoroughly reviewed” by the Department of Fish and Game, and Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
It’s the age-old debate about whether it’s ever a good time to harvest wood, either for the health of the forest or for profit.