A plan to install a Keno monitor at the Hall’s Corner Store will move ahead as the Board of Selectmen said this week they had no objection to it.

This action is a reversal of a decision made by a previous board five years ago.

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Duxbury Town Counsel Robert Troy released a statement today stating he was directed by Town Manager Richard MacDonald and a member of the Board of Selectmen to not withdraw from four civil suits. That selectman was Shawn Dahlen.

According to Troy, his office received a phone call from MacDonald on April 24 instructing him not to file motions of withdrawal on the four suits, including a civil suit brought by Johnson Golf Management. This was a follow-up to an April 19 email Troy received from MacDonald instructing him to withdraw as counsel from four civil suits pending against the town following a vote by selectmen.

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(Tucker Hannon, flanked by his mother Sheila, father Tom and attorney Jay Mullen, is swarmed by media following the hearing in Plymouth District Court.)

Plymouth District Court acting-Court Magistrate Philip McCue ruled last Friday that a crime did not take place when Duxbury High School junior Tucker Hannon was cross checked in a January hockey game against Scituate and suf-fered a concussion.

“There does not exist probable cause that a crime took place,” said McCue. “I deny the hearing.”

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(The Board of Selectmen met Monday and appointed a Special town Counsel, Arthur Kreiger. Picture l – r are Kreiger, Finance Director John Madde, Town Manager Richard MacDonald, and Selectmen Shawn Dahlen, Chair Ted Flynn, and David Madigan.)

The Duxbury Board of Selectmen appointed a special town counsel to oversee four civil suits following the board withdrawing the representation of longtime Town Counsel Robert Troy.

Arthur Kreiger, a partner in the law firm Anderson and Kreiger LLP, was designated special town counsel at Monday night’s meeting in an unanimous vote by the board. He will guide the board in four civil suits filed against the town, including one filed by Johnson Golf Management, Inc.

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The Duxbury School Committee elected new officers last week, installing John Heinstadt as chair and Mary Lou Buell as vice-chair.

In one of his last acts as leader of the school committee, Gary Magnuson nominated Heinstadt to be chair over vice-chair Anne Ward.

“I would like to nominate John because of his experience with the law and his experience on the building committee,” said Magnuson. Heinstadt is the school committee’s representative to the Duxbury School Building Committee which is responsible for overseeing construction of the co-located middle and high schools.

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Infighting, charges of rumormongering and complaints about board members have come to a head on the Duxbury Housing Authority Board. All came to a head at a the Monday morning meeting when the executive director resigned and a newly elected board member brought legal counsel.

The six-member board, composed of four elected members, one appointed by the state, and an executive director hired 10 years ago by the then board has been beset with discord for nearly a year according to several members.

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Congressman William Keating contacted Entergy on behalf of the Town of Duxbury to ask why towns not in Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) have traditionally received more emergency management funds.

“We’re looking at EPZ towns and the host communities,” said Keating. “It seems to me that host communities are getting more funds than Duxbury. If you’re in an emergency zone, it seems to me you’d get more money.”

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Newly elected selectman David Madigan said Monday that his priorities as a selectman will be to bring transparency to how the board governs the town and to use his financial background to improve the town’s budgeting process.

Madigan assumed his new duties Monday night after being sworn in Saturday by Town Clerk Nancy Oates at the close of the election. He beat his opponent Paul McCormack by a vote of 733 to 314. Madigan replaces Selectman Christopher Donato, who did not seek re-election after one term.

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(Berrybrook Oak: The magnificent Berrybrook Oak stands alone on the field. Buttkus estimates it’s about a century old.)

Where some may see simply a tree, Peter Buttkus notices its shape, he looks to see if mushrooms are growing along roots, he checks for signs of decay and the overall integrity of the structure. He can also distinguish a red oak from a white from an English.

While most of Duxbury knows Peter Buttkus as the director of Public Works, few know he’s also a nationally and internationally licensed arborist. Asked why he has such an affinity for trees, Buttkus said he’s always been invested in the outdoors and fascinated by the intricacy of plants. He said trees have an especially symbiotic relationship with their environments.

“They help cool us in the summer, and warm us in the winter by cutting the wind, they provide oxygen and prevent soil erosion,” said Buttkus. “And they’re damn pretty.”

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By a margin of only eight votes, residents passed an article at Town Meeting that will place on the November ballot a measure to reduce the Community Preservation Act (CPA) surcharge from three percent to one percent.

Article 39, a citizen’s petition introduced by Thomas Chapman, served as a double blow to advocates of the CPA, coming on the heels of a previous measure that had already exempted the first $100,000 from the assessed value of residential homes from the surcharge. That article, introduced by the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) which did not want to be the unintended beneficiary of an expected jump in local taxes, passed unanimously.

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(Candidates Paul McCormack (l) and David Madigan (r) discuss the issues at a debate held at WATD radio and co-sponsored by The Duxbury Clipper. WATD news director Christine James (rear) poses a question.)

Saturday to choose a new selectman for the seat being vacated by Chris Donato, they will have to choose between two candidates who largely agree on the issues, but present themselves very differently.

In a debate co-sponsored by The Duxbury Clipper, WATD Radio and Wicked Local, candidates Paul McCormack and David Madigan lightly sparred over the issues, though they agreed more than they disagreed. The most glaring difference between the candidates was how one spoke with wonkish authority while the other was an antagonistic advocate for reform of government and its officials.

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A Town Meeting article introduced by the Board of Selectmen to change the position of Town Clerk from elected to appointed overwhelmingly failed Monday night.

Debate started when Finance Committee member Melissa Donohoe presented the committee’s recommendation that the position of Town Clerk be elected as part of the continuing professionalization of town government. Professionalizing Duxbury’s town functions has been a long-term goal in the wake of Duxbury’s adoption of the Town Manager Act in 1987. The article would have allowed the town’s election watchdog to fall under the purview of the elected Board of Selectmen.

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A routine article on the Town Warrant became a big to-do when Finance Committee member Colleen Brayer attempted a parliamentary maneuver to nix part of the new co-located middle and high school budget, jeopardizing the entire project.

Buzz started building Saturday on social networking sites and around the PAC that someone would try to amend Article 12, a routine budgetary measure set to be indefinitely postponed. During lunch break, at 1:45 p.m., Brayer introduced her measure to Town Meeting. Moderator Friend Weiler said it was allowed because the motion to indefinitely postpone the article was a “negative procedure,” thus allowing for Brayer’s positive procedure.

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The idea to adopt a state law allowing Duxbury to consolidate some town and school services generated a bit of debate at Saturday’s Annual Town Meeting before it passed on a voice vote.

Previously, state law required town government functions to operate separately from those of the school administration. Now, town and school officials can look at ways to consolidate their efforts in areas such as information technology, facilities management, human resources and grounds maintenance. The goal is to save money.

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(Duxbury Schools Coordinator of Guidance Lisa Dembowski stands outside of her office where a staff is ready to help students and their families.)

Part one of a two part series.

It’s that time of year when high school seniors run to their mailboxes and click-click-click their e-mail in anticipation of that all important college acceptance letter.

For many teens and their families, it’s also the time of year when the stress of applying to college begins to take hold in unprecedented ways.

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