Westport
in Brief!
EverythingWestport.com
Thursday,
February 20, 2014
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Quick
Article Index . . .
Storage building
fire flares into unlicensed firearm charges against a Fall River man.
Westport
Cultural Council seeks Helen Ellis Trust grant proposals.
Obituary - Richmond Woods Bachelder.
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Storage building fire flares into unlicensed
firearm charges against a Fall River man. Routine post-fire walk-through
reveals stash of high-powered weapons, cocaine. EverythingWestport.com Saturday, February 15, 2014
At three minutes
past midnight on Tuesday, February 11th, the Westport Fire Department
responded to a commercial structure fire located at 212 American Legion
Highway. Read about the fire. Inset: the red line outlines where the fire was contained by firefighters. Arriving
apparatus found heavy smoke and fire coming from a 500’ by 100’ one-story, wood
frame commercial building that was divided into individual storage and work
stalls. Fire crews and
Westport police officer Robert Rebello were working
their way through one of the rental storage units at about 2:30 a.m. when
they spotted guns inside a car - a rifle barrel and what appeared to be a gun
with foldable stock. Police obtained a
warrant and later found a small stash of high-powered weapons and ammunition
in the vehicle. Police also found over 10 grams of cocaine inside a backpack.
Above: Westport Police
Department photo. Police found an AK-47 variant style high capacity assault
rifle with more than 25 rounds of high-powered ammunition; a rifle with a
loaded 40-caliber magazine; and a firearm that resembled an Uzi-style gun
with a loaded 9mm magazine. Mr. Rodriguez was
charged with three counts of possession of a large capacity firearm without a
license, possession of large capacity feeding devices (gun magazines),
possession of ammunition without a license, possession of a firearm in the
commission of a felony (drug distribution), and possession with the intent to
distribute Class B cocaine. The incident remains under investigation by
police and town officials.
Investigators
were still there around 5 a.m. when a vehicle drove up and a man later identified
as Roberto Rodriguez walked up to investigators. When they learned that he
was the one who had been renting the booth, they placed him under arrest. According to
police, the storage facility contained about 10 rental units about a quarter
of a mile off the road. Westport detective Jeffrey Majewski
said that some of the units were being used as a mechanic business and had
vehicles inside them. He said the
rental units did not have names or numbers on them and were separated with
plywood doors and locks. There were numerous code violations, including
heating units that were vented through plywood walls. Building
inspector Ralph Sousa was called in to investigate and cited several
violations. According to Majewski there was a fire in this complex about two years
ago, and the owner was cited for the same code violations that exist there
today. Heaters were
vented directly through the wooden walls without insulation or the proper
fixtures, according to Sousa. Westport
Cultural Council seeks Helen Ellis Trust grant proposals. The
Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust Grant applications are available commencing
Saturday, February 1, 2014. EverythingWestport.com Thursday,
February 20, 2014 Applications are
available at the Westport Free Public Library or at the Town Clerk's office
beginning February 1, 2014. Visit www.westportculturalcouncil.org
for more information or to download an application form. The Westport Cultural
Council is now accepting applications for the Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust
grant. This grant program funds cultural activities and events that benefit
the Westport community. The council
invites artists, musicians, educators, naturalists, and others with creative
programs to apply by the closing date of Monday, March 17th. Notification will occur in April 2014. Programs can be scheduled to
begin any time after Thursday, May 1, 2014, and must be completed by
Wednesday, April 1, 2015. Visit www.westportculturalcouncil.org
for more information or to download an application form. Resources Download a Helen E. Ellis Charitable Trust Reimbursement Form in
PDF or in WORD format. About Helen E. Ellis Helen E. Ellis (1889-1978)
was a beloved artist and educator who lived in Westport for more than half a
century. A talented sculptor and carver of wood, Miss Ellis had a lifelong
interest in the arts, culture, About the Westport Cultural Council Since its
founding in 1982, the Westport Cultural Council has worked enthusiastically
to bring art and culture to the community. The council has provided funding
for many of Westport's most popular events, including school field trips,
exhibitions, concerts, children's events at the library, nature programs, and
many more. Inset: Among the programs supported by a Cultural Council grant in 2012 was
Creature Teachers at Westport Public Library. Here Richard Roth of Creative
Teachers holds a porcupine. Photo by Terry Somerson. For
resident convenience, there are drop-off census boxes in front of Town Hall
next to the mail boxes. EverythingWestport.com Thursday,
February 20, 2014 The Westport
Board of Registrars has mailed the 2014 annual census forms to every
household in town. A yearly census
is mandated by the state and the forms must be returned in the envelopes
provided within ten (10) days. Any resident who
has not received a form, especially those in new dwellings, should notify the
Registrar’s office at 508.636.1001. Residents should
follow the instructions on the back of the form, and provide information on
any new residents or family members who have moved along with their new
addresses. Those who do not return their forms will have their voting status
changed to inactive per state law. The local census
is important to provide an accurate population count and street listings. It
also is vital for school enrollment planning, senior citizen needs, veteran’s
benefits and in determining the state aid that the town will receive. It is imperative
that all residents comply For resident
convenience, there are drop-off census boxes in front of Town Hall next to
the mail boxes. Obituary
- Richmond Woods Bachelder Westport
Point resident and longtime member of the Westport ROMEOs, Richmond Woods Bachelder died Tuesday, February 11th. EverythingWestport.com Friday, February
21, 2014 Richmond Woods Bachelder, 87, an over 50 year resident of Weston, MA and
more recently Westport Point, died Tuesday, February 11, 2014. Members of the
Westport ROMEOS affectionately called Richmond “Bach.” He will be
missed. Click here to read about how Westport Point resident shared WWII memories with
ROMEOs. Born in Lowell,
MA on October 17, 1926, he was the son of the late Richmond K. and Maggie Lee
"Sue" (Woods) Bachelder; the beloved
husband of over 60 years of Sally (Manchee) Bachelder of Westport Point and Weston; the loving father
of Douglas K. Bachelder of Westport Point, Robert
A. Bachelder and his wife, Hope, of Wenham, and
Melissa A. Bachelder of Somerville; and the Richmond was raised
and educated in Newton, attended Newton High School, and graduated from Tabor
Academy in 1944. He served in the Navy Air Corps during WWII as a bombardier
navigator in Patrol Bombing Squadron Ninety-Nine as part of the European and
then Pacific Fleet. He graduated from Harvard College with the class of 1950
and held a B.A. in Economics. He worked in
Boston for over 50 years as a Financial Advisor at Kidder & Peabody and
then later as a Senior Vice President at Morgan Stanley. He was a long
term Trustee and Treasurer for one of Boston's oldest charities, The Howard
Benevolent Society, which helps the needy in Boston with living expenses. He served on the
town of Weston's Conservation Commission and was a founding member and
President of the Weston Forest and Trail Association. His lifelong interests
also Bach regaled his ROMEO friends
with accounts of his WWII heroic deeds centered on torpedo runs on German
U-Boats in his Martin PBM-5 Mariner seaplane. A memorial
service will be held on Friday, February 28, 2014 at 11:00 AM at the First
Parish Church, 349 Boston Post Road, Weston, MA. In lieu of
flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Richmond's memory to The
Howard Benevolent Society, 14 Beacon Street, Room 804, Boston,
MA. 02108. Southcoast Health System among first
hospitals in the U.S. to offer new implantable, life-saving device to
patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. EverythingWestport.com
Sunday, February 23, 2014 Southcoast® Health
System announced today that Southcoast hospitals
are among the first in the region to receive early use of the new Boston
Scientific S-ICD® System before it is widely available on the
market. The Boston Scientific S-ICD System is the world's first and
only commercially available subcutaneous implantable defibrillator (S-ICD)
for the treatment of patients at high risk for sudden cardiac arrest. Currently, Southcoast is one of the first
hospitals in Massachusetts and Rhode Island to receive the device, along with
Brigham and Women’s, Massachusetts General, Tufts Medical Center, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center and Rhode Island Hospital. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is an abrupt loss of heart function,
typically caused by rapid and/or chaotic activity of the heart. Recent Inset: Boston Scientific's new S-ICD system is placed
under the skin below the patient's armpit and works similarly to an EKG. “Southcoast’s early allocation of these
devices is testament to its dedication to deliver the most beneficial cardiac
technology available, close to home,” said electrophysiologist,
Ramin Davoudi,
MD, who is trained on implanting the device. “We believe we were chosen
to be among the first to offer this device because of the depth and breadth
of our cardiac services. All of our electrophysiologists
are board certified, and our expert physicians have years of experience and
successful patient outcomes. This marks an exciting development in heart care
for the South Coast region.” The new device is designed to provide the same protection from SCA as a
traditional ICD and studies have shown the S-ICD to be just as effective in
controlling dangerous heart rhythms.
For more information on Southcoast's
Cardiovascular Services, visit http://www.southcoast.org/heart/.
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