Westport Eastbayri.Com THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013 VOL
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ShorelinesShorelinesWestport eastbayri.com THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013 VOL. 19, NO. 45 $.75 Powerhouse bounces Westport Sixteen vie for title of Westport’s Voice Saturday event to Westport’s Steve Hartnett raise money for (left) and West Bridgewa- ter’s Derek O’Brien chase a Snyder Tennis Center bouncing ball during Tues- day's Division 4 South Sec- Three years ago, a group of tional quarterfinal-round Westport’ ‘stars’ put on their playoff match at Howard dancing shoes in support of the School in West Bridgewa- Dianne B. Snyder Tennis Com- ter. After a fairly even first half, powerful West plex. Bridgewater proved to be Building on that example, 16 too much for the Wildcats, brave contestants will gather running away to a 5-0 win Saturday evening, each in an and ending Westport's sea- attempt to convince coaches son. For more on the game and audience that theirs is West- and season, see page 13. port’s true ‘Voice.’ Fans of the hit NBC television show ‘The Voice’ will understand the concept, says Pam Manches- ter who is among the event’s organizers. “‘Dancing With the Westport Stars’” was such a success that a lot of people wanted to do it STEVE ROGERS again,” but it was a really chal- lenging event to get together. Ms. Manchester said the inspi- ration for Westport’s Voice came from the television show. “It’s such a great show, so New view for old house much fun, that we thought it would be something we could Point house turns to face Main Road pull off … it seemed like a fun night out.” She worried, though, about BY BRUCE BURDETT attracting enough courageous [email protected] Rick and Mary Sullivan Smith are thrilled with See VOICE Page 20 the elderly bungalow they bought a decade ago and love its 1962 Main Road location at Westport Point. All would have been nearly perfect there but for one thing — the house faced the wrong way. Special town meeting Instead of looking out to Main Road like its Westport's special town neighbors, the house's big front porch faced to the meeting was held Tuesday side and to Cunningham Lane, a laneway that evening after Shorelines dates back to the Point's shipbuilding days. went to press. Full coverage In so doing, the house turned a not so welcom- on the 20 warrant items will ing shoulder to Main Road passersby. appear in next week's paper "It's a really cool old house with a wonderful and sooner on the Westport porch in a great place and we bought it with an eye page of our website — to it being our full-time house," Mr. Smith said. "So Hoisted on blocks by Aquidneck Movers, the Westport Point house awaits placement onto www.eastbayri.com its new foundation. See HOUSE MOVE Page 3 Music man Local student strives to bring music to the lives of foster children EAST BAY LIFE Page 2 Westport Shorelines November 7, 2013 Friend of airport-loving snowy owls to visit Snow owls will be the topic at the Paskamansett Bird Club’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Dart- mouth Grange, 1133 Fisher Road, Dartmouth (not the club's usual meeting place). Norman Smith, director of Mass Audubon’s Blue Hills Trail- side Museum and the Norman Smith Environmental Education Center, will speak about his work with snowy owls. A self-taught naturalist who has always been fascinated by owls, Mr. Smith has spent count- less days and nights since 1981 in all imaginable weather studying these largest owls in North Amer- ica. As part of his research, he has worked with Logan Airport, observing and capturing snowy Norman Smith with a snowy owl. owls that could pose a danger to air traffic, banding them, and releasing them further along owls he captured. National Geographic, National their migration path. (Unfortu- These transmitters send out Wildlife, Ranger Rick, Yankee, nately, snowy owls love air- data such as location, tempera- Massachusetts Wildlife, Bird ports!) To date, Mr. Smith has ture, and altitude. The signal is Observer, Birding, Sanctuary, Geo, banded 442 snowy owls at the picked up by a satellite and even- Nature, Grolier Encyclopedia, airport, and information on tually retransmitted to BSU, Owls of the Northern Hemisphere where the banded owls have where maps are created to show and Owls of the World. traveled has added to knowledge where the owls have been. As a The meeting is free, open to the of their breeding area and migra- result, new information about public, and accessible. Parking is tion patterns. roosting, hunting and behavior available on the grass at the In 1997, Mr. Smith began work- while on their wintering grounds Grange, on Fisher Road (on the ing on a project with the US has been collected. Grange side of the street) and in Geological Survey and Boise He has done extensive research the parking areas of Alderbrook State University (BSU), attaching on many different raptors, and his Farm (across the street from the tiny transmitters to some of the work has been written about in grange). 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL! $ 25/mo. THIS AD GOOD FOR ONE DAY PASS! Gift Certificates Available for the Holidays Indoor Walking Track Huge Cardio Deck Beginner Circuit Yoga/Pilates/Zumba Over 120 Classes a Month Basketball Court Certified Personal Trainers* Best in Free Weights Senior/Silver Sneakers & & Pinselect Equipment Beginner Programs Clean Comfortable Atmosphere 52 Windows for Fresh Air! Hours: Mon-Fri 5am-9pm • Sat 8am-5pm • Sun 8am-1pm 31 Shove Street • Tiverton, RI • 401-624-3440 www.atlantichealthandfitness.com % wicked deals SAVE 50 OR MORE BIG .com On great products & services from merchants in the East Bay. Westport Shorelines November 7, 2013 Page 3 HOUSE MOVE: Point house pivots to the west From Page 1 we decided to move it." Though the planned move would be a short one, about 30 feet with a rotation toward Main Road, the changes were signifi- cant in a historic district whose look has scarcely changed in many generations. In addition to the move, they wanted to add a first floor master bedroom to what would be the rear (east) side of the house to make it more comfort- able. The Smiths took their ideas to the Historic District Commission. "We knew changes in a historic district can be challenging but the commission was wonderful to work with" — supportive with lots of good ideas. "It was very important to us that the changes work for the neigh- borhood," he said. "We wouldn't have wanted to do anything that would diminish" either the house or the area's historic character. Built in 1918 by a New Bedford plumber as a summer cottage, the bungalow has three bedrooms (and will still have three when they are done) and sat on a rubble foundation. "There's nothing like the old construction," Mr. Smith said, and we wanted "to keep the integrity intact." Plans eventually approved, they hired Adamsville contractor Den- nis Talbot to handle the project. He, in turn, brought in Portsmouth-based Aquidneck Almost there — By Monday, the house was nearly in position to be lowered onto the foundation with a view to Main Road. Movers to lift the house and set it on its new foundation — this time with a full basement. Aquidneck Movers "has been Their 12-year-old golden They'll live in their other house moving all sorts of things for retriever Tucker seemed per- up closer to Boston until then, about 300 years so I don't think plexed, he said, and tried without "and friends have been wonderful this is too difficult for them." success to find a way into his about offering us places to stay Last week, the movers hoisted house that now stood about 8 feet down here for which we are very the house off the old foundation in the air. grateful." and set it on blocks. Since the house had to be dis- Friends first introduced them to The couple — he works in connected from all utilities and Westport and the Smiths Wakefield, she in Boston — much work remains to be done "searched for awhile for a place we missed that but stopped down lat- after the move, they won't be able liked and could afford." Despite er for a look. to settle back in until spring. the house's funny alignment, they say they couldn't be happier with what they found. "I love to fish and shellfish and October was bone dry here I'm very happy when I'm on the river," Mr. Smith said. October was an especially dry month in Westport with only .60 "And my wife and I both love inches of rain falling into the gauge at Walter Quinn's Cherry & the way Westport preserves its Webb Lane weather station. The biggest "storm" dripped just .15 open spaces. The way people inches back on Oct. 6. There was no precipitation at all on 20 respect the land means a lot to us days and just trace amounts on most other days. Winds were rel- … It is a wonderful community, atively calm as well. A peak gust of 39 m.p.h. was recorded on one of the last of its kind along the Oct. 26 from the west-southwest. coast." "We are lucky people." Movers prepare to turn the house. How to reach us Index WESTPORT SHORELINES For news contact: For advertising information contact: Marsha J. LaPointe, Around Town . .9 (USPS #021-729) Advertising Representative Bruce Burdett, Editor 401-424-9119 At the Library .