Raynham Police arrest Wareham woman after allegedly robbing convenience store with hypodermic needle

Chief James Donovan reports that the Raynham Police Department has charged a woman after she allegedly robbed a convenience store at needle-point on Monday evening.

As a result of a diligent investigation by the Raynham Police Department and the assistance of partner agencies, ASHLEY DEMERS, AGE 34, OF EAST WAREHAM was arrested and charged with Armed Robbery.

On Monday, at approximately 6:07 p.m., Raynham Police received a 911 call for a reported robbery at the Seasons Corner Market, located at 442 New State Highway. A description was given of an adult female suspect who brandished a needle she claimed to be infected with “Aids” before leaving with a quantity of cash. A license plate of the suspect’s vehicle was obtained and provided to Raynham Police investigators.

A notice was issued to surrounding communities to be on the lookout for the suspect and vehicle.

Moments later, the same vehicle was identified by State Police as being wanted in connection with a similar robbery in New Bedford. State Police located the vehicle and made a traffic stop in the town of Marion after a brief vehicle pursuit. DEMERS, the driver, was arrested thereafter a brief on-scene investigation.

DEMERS likely faces additional charges in other communities as well as charges stemming from the pursuit and motor vehicle infractions identified by State Police.

“This was a terrific example of the level of professionalism, teamwork and communication that exists among municipal police departments and the State Police,” Chief Donovan said. “In this instance, a suspect — who made violent threats against people doing their jobs to provide goods and services to the public during these difficult times — was apprehended safely and efficiently by well-trained police officers.”

DEMERS was booked at the State Police barracks in Dartmouth and will likely be arraigned tomorrow in either Taunton and/or New Bedford District Court.

These are allegations. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.



Massachusetts State Police appeal to public for extra help with “Toys For Tots” this year

“The Bristol County Toys for Tots program is asking for extra help this year, as that region still has many families in need of toys.

The Massachusetts State Police D Troop Barracks will be accepting new, unwrapped, non-violent toys for boys or girls, ages infant to 14. These are the barracks in Yarmouth, Norwell, Middleborough, Bourne, Dartmouth, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

These Barracks will be accepting toys until December 21. Thank you in advance for helping bring a Merry Christmas to these families.” -Massachusetts State Police.



Warren, Markey, Keating Joint Statement on Attorney General Maura Healey’s Investigation Into Bristol County Jail

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), along with Representative William Keating (D-MA-09) released a joint statement on Attorney General Maura Healey’s investigation into the violent events of May 1, 2020 at the C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center, Unit B, Bristol County Sheriff’s office.

“The thorough investigation by the Office of Attorney General Healey compiled significant evidence that the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office violated the civil rights of immigrants detained at the facility. We agree with the report’s recommendation that the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office should not be engaged in immigrant detention,” said the lawmakers in a joint statement. “Every person – regardless of their immigration status and regardless of where they are living – deserves to feel safe, to have access to due process under the law, to be treated with dignity, and to have their rights protected. We led our colleagues in calling on the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to conduct a federal investigation of these events. We look forward to the findings of that additional investigation, which we expect to help determine accountability for this disturbing incident and to offer further recommendations about how such events can be avoided in the future.”

In May, shortly after the violent altercation, Senators Warren and Markey, along with Representatives Keating and Joseph P. Kennedy III (D-MA-04), wrote to Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson to express alarm about the incident, to request that Sheriff Hodgson preserve video of the events to facilitate an investigation, and to allow persons detained at the facility to speak with their attorneys immediately. The four lawmakers also led the entire Massachusetts Congressional Delegation, as well as several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus-Chairman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Representatives Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.)-in requesting the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General and Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties investigate the violent incident.

On April 2, 2020, the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation wrote privately to the sheriffs overseeing each of the Massachusetts facilities, including Bristol County, that detain people on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The letter urged officials to implement alternatives to detention as much as possible, requested information about COVID-19 testing and their steps to comply with federal guidelines on management of COVID-19, and encouraged them to work to limit facility-to-facility transfers in order to protect the health and safety of detained people, facility personnel, and the general public during the pandemic.



New Bedford Public Schools to switch to all-distance learning ahead of the holiday break

All-distance learning will continue for the first week after break, January 4-8, 2021.

New Bedford Public Schools, currently using a hybrid model to serve almost 9,000 students in person and another 4,000 remotely, will convert the last 2 ½ schooldays leading up to the holiday break, December 21-23, 2020, to full distance learning days. Wednesday, December 23 is a half-day.

Superintendent Thomas Anderson announced the change at the December 14 meeting of the New Bedford School Committee. “Our staff continues to do an excellent job keeping the teaching and learning process moving at a high level. The conversion of these final 2½ days before the holiday break to the distance-learning platform will assist as high numbers of staff have been out for a variety of reasons including being close contacts, Superintendent Anderson, said. “While positivity rates are up regionally and across the country, contract tracing currently shows that there has been no transmission of the virus in our schools. This adjustment in the learning schedule adds one more preemptive health measure,” he added.

All instruction will occur virtually December 21-23. The holiday break starts on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 23 and runs through Sunday, January 3, 2021.

All NBPS schools and PRAB administrative offices will be open December 21-23 and NBPS employees who cannot work from home in their capacity are required to come in to their school or office. NBPS facilities and maintenance staff will report to work as scheduled.

• Monday (December 21), Tuesday (December 22) and Wednesday (December 23): ALL students in all cohorts will participate in the distance-learning platform and there will be no in-person classes.

• January 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8: will be Distance Learning Days for ALL students (including Cohort A) – there will be no in-person learning on these days.

• January 11, 2021: The current NBPS Hybrid model resumes with in-person learning for Cohort A (5-days). Cohorts B and C resume their 2-day in-person/3-day distance schedule. Cohort D students remain fully in the Distance Learning Academy.

Grab ‘n’ Go meals will be available for pickup at selected school locations, December 21-23, as well as during the week of January 4-8, 2021. Details on Grab ‘n’ Go hours and locations will be posted on NBPS Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewBedfordPublicSchools, and the NBPS homepage, www.newbedfordschools.org.

Superintendent Anderson advised families and students to monitor the district’s website, social media platforms and local media for additional announcements and news as it develops.

In a letter to staff and families today detailing the schedule changes, Superintendent Anderson stated, “We all know that we are in a fluid situation and adjustments may be necessary in the coming days or weeks. As always, thank you for your support as we continue to work together.”



Dartmouth’s Bishop Stang students are winners of Pope Pius X Award

Three Bishop Stang students were recently recognized with the Pope Pius X Award. This special award was established by Cardinal Sean O’Malley and named after Pope St. Pius X, founder of the Fall River Diocese, who was devoted to the youth of the church. Pastors from local parishes nominate extraordinary teenagers who selflessly serve their peers, parish and youth programs with commitment and dedication.

Senior, Emily DeDreitas, a Junior from Westport, was nominated by Fr. Paul Bernier of St. George Parish for her devotion, service, and selfless giving. Senior, Brenden Alexander, of Acushnet, was nominated by Fr. Riley Williams of St. Francis Xavier Parish for being “a faith-filled young man whose commitment serves as a role-model to young and old alike”. And newly graduated college Freshman, Joey Paulo from St. John Neumann Parish was nominated by Fr. Gregory Mathias for his humble service and “great witness to our faith”.

These winning recipients were presented with a cherished medal bearing the image of Pope St. Pius X along with his motto, “Restore all things in Christ”. Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, of the Fall River Diocese said of the recipients “ Your examples bear witness to all who know you. May God give you the courage and fortitude to continue to share your love of Christ, your devotion to your faith, and your steadfast commitment to sharing the Good News to all you encounter”.

Mrs. Amanda Tarantelli, Bishop Stang’s Director of Campus Ministry, said “We are so blessed to have so many outstanding students at our School and Brendan, Emily and Joey are no exception! They are not only a blessing to their parish communities but to our Stang family as well!”

Bishop Stang High School is humbled to be a part of the lives of these extraordinary young people and thanks them for their faith and service.


Bishop Stang photo.


Bishop Stang photo.


Bishop Stang photo.



UPDATE: Nor’ easter to wallop greater New Bedford Wednesday night into Thursday

Got your bread and milk so you can survive on French Toast during a prolonged power outage? A looming winter storm is heading for the SouthCoast and expected to arrive on Wednesday night and carry into Thursday.

“It looks like it could be a big storm, the type of storm that could easily bring a foot or more to the northeast corridor,” National Weather Service meteorologist Glenn Field said.

As of Tuesday morning afternoon, the storm track is not completely clear and it is this unpredictability that has meteorologists waffling over the specifics on the scale of the impact to the region. Depending on which meteorologist you follow you may hear a prediction anywhere between 3-4″ to as much as 18″.

One path which places the storm on land right over us would impact a wider area, most of southern New England. However, if the storm decides to move offshore, we’re in trouble, or at least our lower backs are if you don’t own a snowblower: the SouthCoast would take the brunt of snowfall accumulations on the higher range.

The “happy” medium would dump 6-8″ of snow on us, something more likely to happen. While the snow is expected to be the “fluffy” kind which translates to being a smaller power line threat, the strong winds which may reach up to 45mph may cause power outages.

Regardless, the snow accumulations, whatever they may amount to, are only part of the story. Along with the snow, we can expect coastal flooding and seas of 12-18′ particularly on Thursday afternoon during high tide. It goes without saying, the commute will be a nasty, hazardous one.


National Weather Service photo.

**********



Bristol County Sheriff’s Office K9 Firearms Detection Academy starts with BCSO, Fall River Police Department dogs

“Fall River and the rest of Bristol County took a big step toward being safer Monday with the beginning of the Firearms Detection Academy for three K9s.

Bristol County Officer Ryan Isherwood and his partner, K9 Xiro, joined two Fall River Police Department K9 teams (Sgt. Jeff Richard and K9 Odin, and Officer Kevin Lopes and K9 Joseph) in beginning firearms detection. The academy is led by BCSO Lt. Kenny Almeida.

After the eight-week academy, the K9 teams will be able to detect the odors present in firearms. This will certainly come in handy in Bristol County, where Lt. Almeida and K9 Will have responded to more than 40 shootings this year.

We’ll check back in with the teams through the next eight weeks. Good luck to all.


Bristol County Sheriff’s Office photo.



Massachusetts State Police deliver “care buckets,” each containing a winter coat, hand sanitizer, and masks

Troopers from the Massachusetts State Police Boston Barracks recently delivered “care buckets” collected through the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation’s Coats4Veterans program to the New England Center and Home for Veterans on Court Street in Boston.

Each bucket contains a winter coat, hand sanitizer, and masks. The MSP and other law enforcement agencies picked up the buckets for distribution last week at Gillette Stadium (the Patriots, other Boston pro sports teams, Home Depot, and other organizations are supporting the charity along with numerous police departments).

Seen in the photos are Chris Schafer, the operations manager for the center, and two veterans from the home. They accepted the buckets from MSP Troopers David DiCrescenzo, Mark Bartholomew, and Christopher Brandon.

In addition to serving the citizens of our state, the three Troopers also have served our nation with honor and distinction: Trooper DiCrescenzo is a Major in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, serving as the Operations Officer for the 211th Military Police Battalion; Trooper Bartholomew is a US Navy veteran who served on a counter-piracy task force as part of an F/A-18 Super Hornet squadron; and Trooper Brandon is a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Squadron, 172 Cavalry Regiment of the Vermont National Guard. We are indebted to all veterans for their service to our country, and are honored to be able to assist the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation in this most worthy effort.


Massachusetts State Police photo.


Massachusetts State Police photo.



World War II Veteran Gets COVID-19 Vaccine at VA Bedford

By Katie Lannan and Michael P. Norton
State House News Service

As the first COVID-19 vaccines began arriving in Massachusetts on Monday, a 96-year-old World War II veteran in Bedford became the first VA patient in the country to get the shot.

The VA Bedford Healthcare system announced the milestone over social media, posting that Margaret Klessens, a resident of the Community Living Center in the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital received the shot at 12:07 p.m.

Andrew Miller, a housekeeper in environmental management service, was the first VA Bedford employee to get the vaccine, at 12:20 p.m.

The recipients of the Bedford VA’s first doses are among the initial tier of Americans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine outside of manufacturers’ trials in the early rounds of a distribution campaign that is set to strech for months.

The Bedford system is one of 37 VA sites the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs tapped to receive its first doses of COVID-19 vaccines for front-line health care workers and long-term care residents.

Massachusetts ordered its initial round of 59,475 doses of Pfizer vaccines — which received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday — from the federal government on Dec. 4. Those doses, according to Gov. Charlie Baker’s office, will be delivered to 21 hospitals and the Department of Public Health immunization lab, then redistributed to 74 hospitals across the state for front-line medical workers.

A COVID-19 vaccine shipment arrived at Boston Medical Center on Monday morning. [Courtesy/BMC]

The next 40,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines “will be allocated to the Federal Pharmacy Program to begin vaccinating staff and residents of skilled nursing facilities, rest homes and assisted living residences,” Baker’s office said on Dec. 9.

Boston Medical Center received 1,950 doses Monday morning of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, a spokesman confirmed.

“Beginning Wednesday, we will begin the first wave of vaccinations to front line health care workers, a group including doctors and nurses from our ICU and Emergency Department and patient floors that treat COVID-19 patients, but just as importantly, employees from environmental and support services, and other crucial positions that work in COVID-positive patient areas,” the hospital said.

Massachusetts officials expect to receive 300,000 first doses of the two-shot vaccine by the end of the month.

The Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association on Monday trumpeted the Friday vote by the Food & Drug Administration to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, writing in its newsletter that health care workers and long-term care facility residents “can expect to get vaccinated as early as this week.”

Boston Medical Center received nearly 2,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday. [Courtesy/BMC]

“The fact that this vaccine, and another from Moderna that is expected to be approved shortly, went from conception to large-scale distribution within a year is unparalleled in the history of vaccinations,” the MHA wrote in its Monday Report.

The MHA said one concern of its vaccine workgroup, who has about 80 members from nearly all hospitals across the state, is that the two-dose vaccine, delivered about three weeks apart, “has been reported to cause some recipients discomfort for a day or more after the initial dose – a similar reaction to other viral vaccines.”

Hospitals plan to stagger vaccine delivery to avoid gaps in their workforce if employees take a sick day, the MHA said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told Martha Raddatz of ABC News Sunday that he would be on hand Tuesday when the first vaccine shots in his state will be given at University Hospital in Newark.

“We will begin vaccinating our heroic health care workers,” Murphy said. “It’s gonna be a big day on Tuesday morning in Newark.”



Decked out for the holidays: New Bedford’s Buttonwood Zoo offers opportunity for fun, while giving back this season

The Buttonwood Park Zoo is getting dressed up for the holidays, thanks to a grant from Southeastern Massachusetts Visitors Bureau to the Buttonwood Park Zoological Society.

Zoo-goers can expect festive decorations at the entrance, leading the way into the campus and culminating with a themed photo-op area.

“Typically at this time of year, the Zoo hosts a variety of holiday events,” said BPZOO Director, Keith Lovett. “While we knew we would not be able to invite the community to have breakfast with Santa, or celebrate ‘Noon’ Year’s Eve this year, we wanted to make the grounds festive for our winter guests. We appreciate the opportunity presented by the Southeastern Massachusetts Visitors Bureau and the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism to help the Zoological Society make the Zoo warm and inviting during these colder winter months.”


BPZOO Asian elephant, Emily, participating in an enrichment activity with Zoo Keepers. Buttownwood Zoo photo.

Events are not the only way BPZOO typically marks the holiday season. “Art Gone Wild”, an annual online auction, is a holiday tradition that showcases original artwork created by resident animals. The auction is running now through December 15, 2020 and includes 54 one-of-a-kind animal paintings – including the painting debut of Kodo, a red panda cub born at BPZOO this past June; Sandy, a Hoffman’s two-toed sloth; and BPZOO’s family of bearded emperor tamarins. Bidding is happening now at 32auctions.com/bpzoo. “Art Gone Wild”, now in its 7th year, is proudly presented by Chase Farm Veterinary Hospital.

Another exciting offering this holiday season is the introduction of the “Buttonwood Break Box”, a fun, safe way to bring the BPZOO’s education programs home. Each box includes fun activities with step by step instructions and a complete set of supplies – the perfect way to entertain children ages 5-10 during the holiday break. “Buttonwood Break Boxes” are sponsored by Hawthorn Medical Associates and are available for purchase at bpzoo.org.

Proceeds from “Art Gone Wild” and “Buttonwood Break Boxes” support the education and conservation work of the Buttonwood Park Zoological Society, which has suffered serious financial loss during the ongoing global pandemic. Visit bpzoo.org/holiday-gift-guide/ for other ways to support BPZS during this holiday season – including making purchases in the gift shop, symbolically adopting an animal or making a donation to the year-end appeal.

“Winter is a great time to visit the Zoo,” said Lovett. “Many of our cold weather loving species, such as red pandas, become more active this time of year.”

The Buttonwood Park Zoo is located at 425 Hawthorn Street in New Bedford and is open from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm daily throughout the winter. Ticket prices for non-New Bedford Residents are $10 for adults/$6 for children 3-12; Ticket prices for New Bedford Residents are $7.50 for adults/$4.50 for children 3-12. All tickets must be reserved online, in advance of your visit, at bpzoo.org.