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Northshore Harbormasters Association News


2012 Scholarship Recipient

2012 Scholarship
Presentation of the 2012 North Shore Harbormaster scholarship – the winner is Rachel Mckechnie who recently graduated from Rockport High School and is headed to Salem State College to major marine biology.

Photo: Harbormasters Rosemary Lesch, mother Pam Mckechnie, Rachel Mckechnie and Harbormaster Scott Story, president of the North Shore Harbormaster Chapter of the Mass Harbormaster Association.

Posted on September 9th, 2012 by Administrator in North Shore


MHA Special Annual Meeting

MHA Special Annual Meeting. This will be a short meeting to ratify the MHA By Laws.
Thursday June 7, 2012 at  0900
Black Falcon Pier, Boston, Ma

*Ample parking on the water side of pier

 

Posted on May 30th, 2012 by Administrator in Massachusetts


2011 Scholarship Recipient

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2011 NSHM Scholarship recipient Tim Lawler of Newburyport High School. Newburyport Harbormaster Paul Hogg is making the presentation.

Posted on October 6th, 2011 by Administrator in North Shore


Manchester Harbormaster Position

The Town of Manchester is currently advertising for applicants for the position of harbormaster. Details can be found here.

Posted on October 6th, 2011 by Administrator in Manchester


2011 Scholarship Application

The Massachusetts Harbormaster Association North Shore Chapter is pleased to announce that for the eleventh year, we will be awarding a scholarship in the amount of $1,000.00.  Due to the involvement of your community’s Harbormaster Department with our association, a senior student at your school may be eligible for this scholarship. 

Please inform potential applicants in your graduating student body about the availability of this scholarship and furnish interested individuals with a copy of the enclosed application. We also ask that you let them know that this scholarship is available only to students pursuing a program of higher education in Marine or Environmental related fields.

Upon completion of the application, please include an essay of no more than five hundred words, financial aid form, if applicable, the student’s grade average and class rank (furnished by the school).

Applications must be received by May 15th, 2011 in order to qualify.

Material should be mailed to:

Scholarship Committee
Massachusetts Harbormasters Association
North Shore Chapter
c/o Ray Gauthier
24 Chandler Road
Salem, MA 01970

 

Posted on March 18th, 2011 by Administrator in North Shore


Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of Massachusetts Harbormaster Association, North Shore Chapter, will be held at the Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly, MA on Monday, January 31, 2011, at 6:30pm

Posted on January 14th, 2011 by Administrator in North Shore


Police patrol boat will carry fallen officer’s name

This Tuesday will mark 16 years since Patrolman Thomas J. Giunta was shot and killed in the line of duty during a seemingly innocuous assignment for the annual Holy Ghost Festival.

That morning will also be the day the city and police department ceremoniously honor the former motorcycle cop with a law enforcement memorial at sea.

The new 25-foot Fall River police patrol boat, with the black, gold and red markings of all department cruisers, will bear from that day forward the inscription of “Ptl. Thomas J. Giunta” on its port and starboard sides.

The harbormaster’s boat will also contain Giunta’s “Badge 20” as its registration, and badge numbers of the three officers killed in the line of duty in modern times:
Badge 88, Officer Richard G. Magan, killed Aug. 11, 2000; Badge 167, Officer John W. Ruggiero, killed July 23, 1973, and Giunta’s 20, killed Aug. 24, 1994.

Roland Proulx, the harbormaster, is a retired police officer and original member, with Giunta, of the department’s motor vehicle enforcement unit on motorcycle that was established in 1988.

Proulx told Chief Daniel Racine the police practice in New York to place the names of officers killed in the line of duty on their patrol boats, and asked if this could be done for his former partner.

“There’s never been an individual memorial for Tommy,” Proulx said.

“I think naming this boat after Officer Giunta is significant because he rode with Roland Proulx, the harbormaster. It’s a nice tribute,” Racine said.

Mayor Will Flanagan, who joined the two law enforcement officials at Borden Light Marina, where owners provide slips without charge for the patrol boat, said the memorial is meaningful to him.

“I knew Officer Giunta personally,” he said. “We as a city have an opportunity to memorialize him and his family. His name and memory live on through the harbormaster and this boat.”

Flanagan, the son of a police officer, said that by Giunta’s son, Tim, serving as a patrolman on the department, the family’s role in law enforcement continues.
“He was a good guy. I miss him,” Proulx said.

He recalled how his partner, who served for 21 years on the department, bought his own motorcycle to aggressively try to join what would become a new patrol unit. “If he was alive, he’d be on the boat,” Proulx said.

Racine agreed. “Tom had panache and flair. I know he’d be on the boat.”

He died during a fierce struggle while passing out free festival parking permits at a Middle Street apartment. He was fatally shot three times with the .38-caliber revolver the unexpectedly aggressive man pulled from the officer. It caused the department to change both its holster and service weapon, Racine said.

The department’s ceremony will begin Tuesday at 10 a.m. at police headquarters with the raising of an American flag that flew over the Capitol in Washington, D.C., in tribute to the fallen officers and their families.

Immediately following about 11, the new patrol boat will be dedicated to Giunta.

Councilor Ray Mitchell obtained the flag and with Councilor Eric Poulin had the boat dedication passed.

The families of Giunta, Magan and Ruggiero have been invited to attend and be honored for the ultimate sacrifice their loved ones gave.

At the marina and looking over the 25-foot Parker boat powered by twin 200-horse Yamaha outboard motors, Racine emphasized the public safety it can provide at sea.

The nearly $150,000 boat contains $25,000 of communications equipment, including FLIR thermal vision camera Proulx said would enable him and Assistant Harbormaster Paul Borges to see in the dark and fog.

“I really see this as saving lives. This is what we need when people are in distress,” Racine said.

Proulx said they responded to a call “in 12 minutes” to what became a fatal accident near Point Gloria recently.

Since acquiring the boat to replace a smaller 10-year-old boat on May 30, they performed a pair of rescues in July, one with two older men on a sailboat they could not right, the other with six people on a 20-foot power boat taking in water.

Their ocean patrol area ranges from Tiverton to Freetown, with a concentration around the bridges and four local marinas.

The 25-foot patrol boat was obtained through a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant that New Bedford originally applied for in 2007, Proulx said. The $146,913 price tag was the lower of two bids received and required a 25 percent match. That was provided by the Massachusetts Seaport Advisory Council.

E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.
 

Posted on October 4th, 2010 by Administrator in North Shore


2010 Scholarship Winner

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The North Shore Harbormasters Association is proud to award its 2010 One-Thousand Dollar college scholarship to Benjamin Haden of Salem, Massachusetts. Benjamin will attend Kenyon College in the fall. The scholarship is presented annually to a student who pursues a marine related college curriculum and who has attained a superior high school record. Students eligible to compete for this highly competitive award come from all coastal communities comprising the North Shore Harbormasters Association membership extending from Winthrop to Salisbury. Pictured accepting the award are the recipient, Benjamin Haden, and presenters Marblehead Assistant Harbormaster Ray Gauthier on his left, Chairman of the scholarship committee, and Marblehead Harbormaster Charles Dalferro on his right, scholarship committee member.

Posted on June 13th, 2010 by Administrator in North Shore


Red Cross Community Hero

Rosemary Lesch, Community Hero

Residents of Rockport have reason to be grateful to their fellow citizen Rosemary Lesch. One of the town’s two harbormasters, the harbormasters oversees the town’s four harbors and patrol the coastline from Halibut Point to Long Beach. Because it’s a job that can involve rescue work, Rosemary is a certified harbormaster, licensed captain and EMT. As such, she doubles as the head of the town’s Ambulance Department. Her work with the American Red Cross began early in her career first by taking an American Red Cross CPR and 1st Aid class and then joining the local Rockport Chapter of the American Red Cross to become a CPR and 1st Aid instructor. For over 35 years Rosemary has taught the skill of saving a life to all types of people: fellow harbormasters and EMT’s, boy scouts, day care providers, sailing instructor’s, fishermen, young mothers all are encouraged and most of them do successfully complete her 1st aid or CPR class. Rosemary’s goal is to make everyone comfortable with some aspect of saving a life whether it is the actual skill of CPR or being able to call as well as care for a family member or friend in need.

Rosemary’s effort on behalf of emergency training is but one aspect of her community service. She and co-harbormaster Scott Story, have not only provided their own vehicles to save the town money but regularly equip and fuel them at their own expense. And many townsmen have benefited from her off duty as well as official aid. As fellow Rockporter Kristie Ludwig explains: “She is someone you can count on to volunteer for any project, she exudes the same level of confidence and warmth whether she is flipping pancakes for the annual Ambulance Benefit Breakfast, rescuing a lone kayaker off Thacher’s Island, responding to an automobile accident or helping one of our lost tourists”.

We are pleased; therefore, to name Rosemary Lesch as one of this year’s Red Cross Community Heroes.

Posted on March 26th, 2010 by Administrator in North Shore,Rockport


2010 Scholarship Application

The North Shore Chapter of the Massachusetts Harbormasters Association, is pleased to announce that it will be awarding its annual scholarship in the amount of $1,000.00. Due to the involvement of your community’s Harbormaster Department; a senior student is eligible for this award.    

An Application form is included included herewith. Please inform potential applicants among your graduating student body of the availability of this scholarship and kindly furnish interested individuals with copies of the Application. Please advise them that this Scholarship is available only to students pursuing a program of higher education in Marine or Environmental related fields.

When applying, a completed Application along with an essay of no more than 500 words, a Financial Aid form when applicable the student’s Grade Point Average and Class Rank (furnished by the school) should be submitted.

Deadline for receipt of Applications is May 15, 2010.Material should be mailed to:

Scholarship Committee
Massachusetts Harbormasters Association
North Shore Chapter
c/o Ray Gauthier
24 Chandler Road
Salem, MA 01970

Posted on March 2nd, 2010 by Administrator in North Shore