This winter could be a difficult time for some of our neighbors to keep their homes heated.  Last year nearly 150 families in Duxbury asked for fuel assistance from the Duxbury Interfaith Council and the South Shore Community Action Council.   The DIC depends on donations to meet these heating needs.

Deborah Anderson, who served as the Clipper’s acting publisher for the past year has been named publisher on a permanent basis. Deborah will work with Editor-in-Chief David Mittell Jr., himself a Duxbury native and former Patriot Ledger and Providence Journal columnist.

The state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced last week that Duxbury is one of six coastal communities receiving grants dedicated to improved coastal water quality. Duxbury will receive $124,115 to begin construction of three systems that will capture and filter storm water flowing into Kingston Bay along Bay Road. The hope is to be able to reopen shellfish beds that have been polluted by contaminated run-off.

The town has been cleared by the state to repair a section of the Powder Point Bridge with a carbon fiber wrapping,  announced Town Manager Richard MacDonald this week.

There will be plenty of Lego® to use in the lower level Resource Room of the Duxbury Free Library on Wednesday, Dec. 5 from 4:15 to 5 p.m. for the monthly Lego® building program.

Forty Duxbury bicycle riders were among the 2012 Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC) which raised $37 million for cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy Fund. The 2012 fundraising total is $2 million more than the PMC gave in 2011 and brings its 33-year Jimmy Fund contribution to $375 million.

Social Security Office News.  The Social Security Office will close to the public a half hour earlier each day and at noon on Wednesdays.  Effective immediately, all Social Security offices will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday. In addition, beginning Jan. 2, 2013, offices will be closed to the public at noon every Wednesday. 

Social Security Office News.  The Social Security Office will close to the public a half hour earlier each day and at noon on Wednesdays.  Effective immediately, all Social Security offices will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday. In addition, beginning Jan. 2, 2013, offices will be closed to the public at noon every Wednesday. 

SSC Community Voices, South Shore Conservatory’s adult chorus for individuals with developmental delays, present their annual winter concert on Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at South Shore Conservatory’s Ellison Center for the Arts, 64 St. George Street, Duxbury.

A search committee has named three finalists for the position of Duxbury’s next town counsel, and they include the current interim town counsel, Arthur Kreiger.

Friday evening, Nov. 17, the Duxbury Student Union (DSU) hosted speaker Jonathan Woods, young philanthropist and founder of the “Under the Tree Foundation,” to inspire young people to think about giving back and making a difference.

Pocket shots, boozy bears, “binge in a can,” blunts, Scooby snacks, salvia and Percocets: these are just a few of the choices available to teens when choosing to take alcohol or drugs to get high.