As the warmth of the summer sun begins to cool, and the leaves start to change color, people are finally putting away the bathing suits and sun block and breaking out the sweaters and scarves. Well break out those fall boots next because AHA! Night is back once again. For those who don’t know, AHA! Night is a FREE arts, history and architecture night that takes place 5-9 on the 2nd Thursday of every month in Downtown New Bedford. These cultural nights involve over 60 downtown venues such as galleries, museums, art organizations, restaurants the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and more. AHA! Night gives performers, artists and others the opportunity to come out and engage within the community.

If you haven’t been to AHA! Nights before here are some things you should expect for October 9, 2014, and some things I highly recommend because they sound like a great time.

Free

You can expect AHA! Night to be FREE. No cost at all for people to attend and have a great time, so why not keep that money in your pocket and come out for a free eventful night.

Music

There aren’t many chances in life where people can listen to live music for free, and luckily live music plays a huge role in AHA! Night. Performers come out and play their music for the community, it gives performers the opportunity to show people the kind of musicians they are, what they can do lyrically. This month, thanks to Cafe Arpeggio, Matt Borrello, a guitar player and singer, will be playing live music for downtown New Bedford!

Other chances to listen to music are when the UMass Dartmouth Jazz Ensemble plays at First Baptist Church, and when Gospel Choir & Soloist performs at Bethel AME. Cape Verdean music will be also played at Pilgrim UCC, and New Bedford Symphony Youth Orchestra will make and appearance at New Bedford’s Friends Meeting House.

Events

Events are always held at the New Bedford Whaling Historical Park, and this month people are able to go back in time with women from the 1850’s to talk about past fashion, and the latest fashion. With Halloween approaching, this event will surely give attendees new costume ideas. It’s about time people started switching costumes up anyway, so why not bring it back to the 19th century and wear authentic Victorian clothing. Hopefully, if people attend this event, they will decide against dressing like Elsa from Frozen along with the rest of the little girls of the world this year.

Halloween Activities

I love October because I can go apple picking, go on hayrides, run through corn mazes, and because I get to decorate pumpkins. Who doesn’t love to paint pumpkins? Luckily AHA! Night is giving everyone the chance to decorate pumpkins through Pilgrim UCC. You should also stop by Buzzards Bay Coalition to paint and decorate a Halloween jack-o-lantern!

Art

Downtown New Bedford is filled with opportunities to check out local art galleries, and view their exhibits. I suggest going to viewing artwork by students who are from Global Learning Charter Public School at Episcopal Church. I love seeing young minds create things. I have always been interested in students and their art because it amazes me how young yet creative kids are.

There are many other events taking place on October 9th so to find out times, and places visit http://www.ahanewbedford.org/calendar.html See you there!

The New Bedford Commission for Citizens with Disabilities has announced that it will make safety lights available to city residents with motorized wheelchairs or scooters to help improve safety for operators and motorists.

The Commission for Citizens with Disabilities will make the lights available at a cost of $5.00. To encourage participation, the first twenty residents who call and request the safety lights will receive the lights and assistance with their installation at no cost.

Residents may request a light by calling the Department of Community Services at (508) 979-3136.

Over the last year or so Eric Canto, a 17 year old senior from Westport High, recorded his debut EP “Graphing Planes” in the basement of his Westport home and finally released it back in May of 2014. Most people would think that a basement EP would produce terrible quality and sound like a grungy garage band EP from back in the 90’s, but this EP has the recording quality of some of the top notch studios in the South Coast area.

With a little help from the mixing and mastering of Chris Piquette (of Trophy Wives) at No Boundaries Studios in Providence, RI, Eric’s music has the upbeat, pop punk feel that makes you just want to get up and move. With catchy guitar riffs, crazy drum fills, and his poetic lyrics, it’s amazing to think how one person sat down and wrote all of these, and even recorded every instrument on his own.

“I wrote this EP as a way to kind of express myself in a different type of scene that I’m used to,” Eric said when I had the chance to sit him down. “After recording drums on the last EP for my other band Riverview, I just thought that since I had all of this time, I could work on some solo stuff,” he added.

Eric is also the drummer and vocalist for Riverview, a post-hardcore band out of Westport as well, so this transition to pop punk was a little different for him. “I’m huge into pop punk but I play in a post hardcore band, and I’ve always wanted to try something new. I pretty much wrote these songs because I was going through some stuff, just as everyone says about writing music, and I just wanted to get it all out. I ended up recording “Highway Sunrise” as a little rough demo and posted it on Tumblr and got an amazing response. That’s when I started doing demos of the rest of the songs, and people kept asking me to release them on an EP, so I did,” he laughed.

“I’ve recorded a bunch of covers and posted them, but after seeing all of these people telling me how much they loved my originals, it inspired me to start making something out of it,” he said with a smile. “I’ve always had people tell me that my music (in Riverview) has saved their lives, which is probably highest honor in music, and I wanted to help people on my own since I had all that time to do it.”

With his music starting to hit the South Coast scene, he’s now putting together a full band so he can play out, and hopefully start touring in the near future. He’s currently writing more music, and plans to put out another EP soon, hoping to have the same impact on people that “Graphing Planes” did. Eric’s EP is available for free at ericcanto.bandcamp.com, and comes with a “Name Your Price” option if you wish to donate some money so he can have CD’s and T shirts made up to help promote his music.

“I love writing music, and I know the direction I want to go with it, but I have to say, the hardest part of this is just coming up with a band name!”

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the whaling industry in America boomed, and eventually New Bedford became the world’s center of whaling. At the height of the whaling industry’s economic impact in New Bedford, there were more than 700 whaling ships out on the oceans of the world, and New Bedford was the home port to more than 400 of those ships.

The oil from the whales, bringing an incredible amount of wealth to New Bedford and making it one of the richest cities in the world during the 19th century, was used to light lamps during this time period, and earned New Bedford the title of “the city that lit the world.”

But with wealth and titles comes a cost – the voyages that men went on to bring New Bedford to this level of economic prosperity sometimes lasted years, and it was a hard, dirty, long and tiring job. Some of these men, when they returned to New Bedford, were known to seek out brothels and saloons or gamble away all the money they had made out at sea, spending it in just a matter of days. So, in 1830, the leading citizens of New Bedford met to discuss ways to help these men.

Part of their plan was to offer the seamen church services before they left for their voyages. The services were held either on the waterfront or in the Town Hall, but this was not a good long term solution. In 1831, Seamen’s Bethel was built (at a cost of $5,000 dollars), and in 1832 it was dedicated as a non denominational church for the men of New Bedford who went out to sea.

This chapel, still open and operating as a non denominational church today, eventually became a sort of historical record of those who spent their time on whaling ships. Mounted on the walls inside the church are cenotaphs. The word “cenotaph” is a Greek word which means “empty grave.” When men were lost or died at sea, the families at home had no way to bury them, so they could pay to have a cenotaph placed in the church. This way, loved ones could come and pay their respects to the one they lost. A cenotaph looks like a cemetery headstone, and it contains information about the man, including how he died.

These tablets tell brief stories of how difficult life at sea was. Many men fell overboard, were bitten by sharks, drowned or caught and suffered from diseases like yellow fever, malaria, and consumption.

Seamen’s Bethel also made its way into history through Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick. Melville went to services held at Seamen’s Bethel before he sailed out of Fairhaven in 1841 on the whaler Acushnet. He did not leave many direct accounts of this 18 month voyage, but it is probable that some of the events described in Moby Dick portray some aspects of his time at sea. The cenotaphs of Seamen’s Bethel, specifically, are mentioned in his novel.

Each year the New Bedford Whaling Museum hosts a Moby Dick Marathon. This coming January it will be a weekend event which will include a pre-marathon dinner, a Moby Dick themed lecture, and a quiz to test the knowledge of the Melville Society Cultural Project, followed by the reading of Moby Dick. Certain chapters of the novel will be read in the Seamen’s Bethel.

Seamen’s Bethel is located at 15 Johnny Cake Hill in New Bedford, across from the Whaling Museum, and it is a part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. It is open to the public every day from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Memorial Day through Columbus Day. This chapel is a small part of New Bedford’s whaling history and a reminder of the men who were lost at sea.

The 2014 Working Waterfront Festival (September 27 & 28) featured a variety of competitions throughout the weekend. Participants competed in whaleboat and survival suit races; a tug boat muster; net mending, splicing, link squeezing, and scallop shucking contest; and a Seafood Throwdown. Each event showcased a variety of industry skills, engaging the public in learning about different aspects of the fishing industry.

The Buzzard’s Bay Rowing Club hosted whaleboat races on Saturday morning starting at 8:00. Tropicans won “Best Dressed” and “Most Theatrical” while Shiverin’ Timbers were deemed “Most Enthusiastic”. Complete race results are attached in image below.

Area tugs converged on the harbor Saturday afternoon for the annual tugboat muster organized by Charlie Mitchell captain of the Tug Jaguar and emceed by his brother Bob of R. A. Mitchell Company. While not a formal contest, tugs of all sizes showed their skill and strength with demonstrations of hawser tossing, turning, and pushing.

Rodney Avila and Ted Williams of Hercules SLR US presented safety demos including a life raft deployment and man overboard drill, as well as a survival suit race to give visitors a sense of the dangers of commercial fishing and the safety protocol that fishermen practice to remain safe at sea.

On Saturday groundfishing skills were highlighted with a net mending competition emceed by net designer Tor Bendiksen of Reidar’s Manufacturing and a rope splicing contest emceed by Barbara Merry of Marlinspike Artist. Winners of the net mending competition were Meghan Lapp, Geoffrey Hatfield and Sarah Fortin while Kevin Curole of Grand Isle, LA won the splicing contest.

On Sunday scallopers took center stage with back to back link squeezing (emceed by Mathieu Lemieux of Blue Fleet Welding) and shucking (emceed by Richie Canastra of BASE) competitions. Results of the shucking contest were as follows: Jonathan Hynd of the F/V Act IV took first place, Sergey Yuminov of the F/V Julie G took 2nd place and Justin Lawrence of the F/V Sea Ranger, Harvester and Patience took 3rd place.

Contest prizes were provided by Latti and Anderson LLP, Hercules SLR US Inc., Slave of the Sea, Marlinspike Artist, and Buzzard’s Bay Rowing Club, and the Working Waterfront Festival.

Sunday culminated with a Seafood Throwdown pitting the Port of New Bedford against the Port of Gloucester. In keeping with this year’s fishing family theme, our Throwdown chefs were home cooks from fishing families. With whiting as the surprise seafood ingredient, Vera Carvalho who works at Smithwick and Mariner’s Insurance Agency created a soup with an “explosion of flavor” to edge out her competition, Nina Groppo of Gloucester Fisherman’s Wives Association. The Seafood Throwdown is a collaboration between the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Working Waterfront Festival.

The Massachusetts State Police today are adding GREGORY J. LEWIS, 26, to our Most Wanted List. LEWIS is wanted for raping a child in Southbridge, for kidnapping and assaulting a woman in North Carolina, and for assaulting a member of his own family and stealing a handgun, ammunition, and cash from his family’s home.

The MSP’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section (VFAS) is assisting police in those jurisdictions in seeking LEWIS. The MSP’s Most Wanted poster is attached and contains more details.

LEWIS is armed and dangerous and has made homicidal and suicidal threats. Anyone who sees him should not approach but rather should call 911 immediately. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call 1-800-KAPTURE (1-800-527-8873).

The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) are out again in full force, increasing their number of patrols and using stationary and roving patrol techniques in marked and unmarked vehicles to catch violators texting at the wheel. The high-visibility crackdown which began on September 14th is ongoing through October 11, 2014. Texting enforcement patrols provide maximum visibility for deterrent purposes and saturate targeted areas using a zero tolerance approach.

The “Text With One Hand, Ticket in the Other” campaign is a strategic, multi-phase program, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, that started with two enforcement waves in 2013 (June and September), a third wave in June of this year, and will conclude with the ongoing final wave ending October 11, 2014. Wave 3 resulted in a total of 956 distracted driving citations bringing the grand total of all three waves to over 3,000.

A kickoff press event was held in conjunction with the Drive Sober campaign on August 28, 2014 at the MSP Troop A-1 barracks in Andover, MA. Ms. Emily Stein, whose father was killed by a distracted driver, was guest speaker and spoke to the heartache of losing a family member to this deadly epidemic of distracted driving.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving at any given daylight moment in America. And, of all injury crashes in the United States in 2012, more than 18 percent were reported as distraction-affected crashes.

Massachusetts, along with 43 more states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands ban text messaging (composing, sending/receiving electronic messages and data while driving). In Massachusetts, fines start at $100 for the first offense and go up to $500 for repeat violations.

For more information on texting while driving and its prevention, including the demonstration grant to Massachusetts, visit www.distraction.gov.

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park recently held an award ceremony honoring the Junior Ranger Service Corps as the National Park Service’s Northeast Region recipient of the George and Helen Hartzog award for Outstanding Volunteer Service, Youth Group Category. The ceremony took place in the Corson Maritime Learning Center of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park on Saturday, September 13. The group developed a project to research New Bedford’s South Water Street neighborhood during the 1850s, the heyday of whaling. With this material, the Junior Ranger Service Corps presented their findings by portraying individuals who lived on South Water Street during that time.

The Junior Ranger Service Corps is a group of 4th to 8th graders who meet monthly at the park to learn about history and offer their service to the community. In 2013-14, Junior Ranger Service Corps members learned about the diversity of New Bedford and spent considerable time researching who lived in the city during the height of the whaling industry. Youth participants used the 1851 city directory to make a list of all the people who lived or worked on South Water Street and learned about their ethnicities and occupations. This information was used to build a model of the street using boxes to represent the buildings and sites found in the directory.

Each member of the group dressed in appropriate clothing and wrote a statement about the person they portrayed. The public presentation of “The South Water Street Project” on July, 2013 AHA! (Art History and Architecture) night last year offered visitors an opportunity to get a sense of what it would have been like to walk down Water Street and speak to the residents in 1851. Visitors learned about the diversity of residents, their occupations, and stories such as a nurse who lived on the street and was nearly sold into slavery. AHA! is a free arts & culture event which takes place the 2nd Thursday of every month in Downtown New Bedford.

The Junior Ranger Service Corps is seeking new participants for this coming school year (September through June). Applications for the program can be obtained at the National Park Visitor Center or downloaded at www.nps.gov/nebe/forkids/service.htm.

Autumn is settling in and we’ll have cool temperatures this weekend, particularly in the mornings and evenings where we’ll get as low as 43 degrees. Perfect for perhaps throwing a log on the fireplace to set a pleasant atmosphere. We’ll reach as high as 69 degrees during the day, and mostly pleasant except Saturday which will be cloudy and breezy with some evening rain.

As always, click on the title for more or detailed information on the event. Most of the events were pulled from our event calendar where you can find hundreds of local area events each month. The event calendar is FREE, so if you are a local business, and not taking advantage of FREE publicity, shame on you! Are you a local business and want to sponsor this high traffic, weekend guide? Contact info@newbedfordguide.com for more details. Have an event to add? Check out our tutorial. For more info, you can click on each title. Know of another event this weekend? Post a reply!

Friday, October 3rd

UMass Dartmouth Observatory FREE Night Sky Viewing Session (5:00pm-8:00pm)
Free night-sky viewing session. Viewing will take place through Observatory’s 16-inch telescope and other telescopes operated by ASSNE members. Free. For information or to check weather conditions call (508) 999-8715 or visit www.assne.org. Old Westport Road.

Painting with a Splash: Van Gogh Starry Night & It’s Fall (7:00pm)
Welcome to Painting with a Splash Where you are the artist! Painting with a Splash is the newest addition to Historic Whaling City Downtown New Bedford. Bringing you an experience of art as entertainment. Add a little wine (BYOB) that will surely tap into your creative side. With step by step instruction and a little music, you and your friends will create the evenings featured painting with a splash of your own uniqueness. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! Just a desire to have fun.

FREE Concert: The Mayflower Camerata (Lakeville) (8:00-9:00pm)
Lakeville Arts and Music Festival presents a free concert by The Mayflower Camerata. 45-minute program of music ranging from the 17th century to the present. Lakeville United Church of Christ, corner of Routes 18 and 015.

Saturday, October 4th

Psychic Fair at III Suns (10:00am-5:00pm)
Tarot, Angel, Crystal & Mediumship Readings, Aura Photography. Psychic Fair at the absolutely most unique and incredibly high energy holistic shop in New Bedford! Check out their new location, amazing interior decor, phenomenal readers, all the tools you need for your own spiritual development and soak in the love and positive energy that creates this amazing place! And of course, check out Utopia’s Path products while you’re there! All you could need or desire in regards to herbs, teas incensed, smoking blends and more! Call for appointments or walk-ins available.

10th Annual Lakeville Arts and Music Festival (10:00am-4:00pm)
Free day of community, arts and crafts, music and more. Entertainment provided by The Corvairs, magician and juggler Scott Jameson, entertainer Linda Peck an more. Guests can also enjoy the number of local jewelry, pottery, painting and arts vendors as well. Free. Junctions of Routes 105 and 18, Precinct St.

Seaside Harvest Festival (Mattapoisett) (10:00am-4:00pmpm)
Sponsored by the Ladies Auxiliary of Damien Council #4190. Arts, crafts, sales booths, food, entertainment and more. Vendors wanted, call (508) 994-4929. 57 Fairhaven Road.

Open Studios South (10:00am-6:00pm)
Our first of two weekend events starts with showcasing Orchard Street Studios and Kilburn Mills Studios. While you’re at Kilburn, make sure to visit Judith Klein Fine Art and Colo-Colo Gallery!

Silverbrook ACUSHNET Harvest Festival!! (10:00am-4:00pm)
Silverbrook Farm heralds the arrival of autumn with two packed months of fall-themed family attractions included with admission. Parents and progeny crunch leaves underfoot as they hone their ability to navigate through carbs in the corn maze or head toward horse-powered transit for a hayride.

Pony rides and proximity to resident farm animals enchant kids, as does Mother Goose story time, visits with Charlie T. Chicken, and the NEW Corn Caper Barrel Ride. Pumpkin-painting and face-painting booths doll up human and gourd counterparts in matching makeup, and one takeaway sugar pumpkin per guest extends the fall festivities.

100th Anniversary of Marion’s Marconi installation (Marion) (11:00am)
Presented by the Sippican Historical Society and Sippican Lands Trust. The property was acquired by the SLT in 1986, and is the actual site of the once-active Marconi wireless telegraph station. Local resident and Radio Tower steward Richard Evans will lead participants through the trails and remnants of this historic property, and Mr. Trowbridge will be on-hand to offer his insights, as well. Free. For information visit www.sippicanlandstrust.org.

9th Annual New Bedford Oktoberfest (3:00pm-12:00am)
Oktoberfest is not Oktoberfest without good beer. This year, the NB Oktoberfest will feature the largest selection of any of the years past, with over 25 beers on tap. The breweries that will be present are largely local microbreweries and they will be bringing that unique autumn ale flavor that can only be done right in the North East! Read more: http://www.newbedfordguide.com/2014-oktoberfest-survival-guide/2014/09/09

Painting with a Splash: Happy Halloween (10&up) & Parasol (3:00pm & 7:00pm)
Welcome to Painting with a Splash Where you are the artist! Painting with a Splash is the newest addition to Historic Whaling City Downtown New Bedford. Bringing you an experience of art as entertainment. Add a little wine (BYOB) that will surely tap into your creative side. With step by step instruction and a little music, you and your friends will create the evenings featured painting with a splash of your own uniqueness. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! Just a desire to have fun.

Sunday, October 5th

Fall Parish Breakfast, Raffle Table & Bake Sale (8:30am-11:30am)
Serving blueberry & plain pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, roasted potatoes, fruit cup, juice and coffee. Tickets on sale after all weekend Masses and at the Rectory Office. Visit www.sscc.org/stmaryfhvn for more information or click on event title. Adults-$6.00, Youth 5-10-$3.00, Children under 5-FREE. Raffle table and bake sale donations are welcomed and appreciated. For information on how to volunteer to help, please message St. Mary’s Parish facebook page.

Silverbrook ACUSHNET’S Harvest Festival! (10:00am-4:00pm)
Silverbrook Farm heralds the arrival of autumn with two packed months of fall-themed family attractions included with admission. Parents and progeny crunch leaves underfoot as they hone their ability to navigate through carbs in the corn maze or head toward horse-powered transit for a hayride.

Pony rides and proximity to resident farm animals enchant kids, as does Mother Goose story time, visits with Charlie T. Chicken, and the NEW Corn Caper Barrel Ride. Pumpkin-painting and face-painting booths doll up human and gourd counterparts in matching makeup, and one takeaway sugar pumpkin per guest extends the fall festivities.

Psychic Fair at III Suns (10:00am-5:00pm)
Tarot, Angel, Crystal & Mediumship Readings, Aura Photography. Psychic Fair at the absolutely most unique and incredibly high energy holistic shop in New Bedford! Check out their new location, amazing interior decor, phenomenal readers, all the tools you need for your own spiritual development and soak in the love and positive energy that creates this amazing place! And of course, check out Utopia’s Path products while you’re there! All you could need or desire in regards to herbs, teas incensed, smoking blends and more! Call for appointments or walk-ins available.

2014 New Bedford Seaport Chowder Festival (NOON-5:00pm)
Restaurants, caterers and organizations with great dining facilities are lining up to compete in this friendly competition, The day culminates in awards decided by the votes of the attendees for “Best Of” in all the categories and the “Judge’s Choice” Award will be decided by a blind taste test. This year’s judging panel includes the 2012 “Chopped” Champion, Chef Joe Rego: Standard Times Food Critique and Food Blogger, Auditi Guha, and WFHN Radio Personality, Michael Rock. Read more: http://www.newbedfordguide.com/nb-chowder-festival/2014/09/03

Painting with a Splash: Fall Lighthouse (1:30pm)
Welcome to Painting with a Splash Where you are the artist! Painting with a Splash is the newest addition to Historic Whaling City Downtown New Bedford. Bringing you an experience of art as entertainment. Add a little wine (BYOB) that will surely tap into your creative side.

With step by step instruction and a little music, you and your friends will create the evenings featured painting with a splash of your own uniqueness. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! Just a desire to have fun.

Edaville’s Pumpkins Aglow Festival (10:00am-5:00pm)
Pumpkins AGLOW festival returns today through the 26th on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Back by popular demand, come see the garden of endless jackolanterns. Dress in your Halloween costume and join the costume parades. You can trick or treat at your favorite ride, and go for a ride on our all new Haunted Train.

Want to sponsor this weekend guide? Contact info@newbedfordguide.com for more details.

In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter announced today that he is partnering with the 20 police departments across the county as well as Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine Program, which collects unused wireless phones and parts to support survivors of domestic violence.

Throughout the month of October, the public is invited to drop off wireless phones and parts no longer in use to support survivors of domestic violence. Collection boxes will be located at the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office in New Bedford and Fall River as well as at all police departments throughout the county.

Verizon became the first wireless carrier in the nation to collect and recycle no-longer-used cell phones. HopeLine® from Verizon puts the nation’s most reliable network to work in the community by turning no-longer used cell phones into support for domestic violence victims and survivors. The program recycles used cell phones, batteries and accessories, and uses the funds generated to donate phones, airtime and funding to domestic violence agencies. Since 2001, HopeLine has collected more than 10.8 million phones, properly disposed of 2.4 million no-longer-used wireless phones, and donated 180,000 HopeLine phones with free airtime to domestic violence organizations nationwide.

“Donating a no-longer used cell phone to HopeLine is an easy and effective way to support domestic violence agencies throughout Massachusetts, and open the lines of communication for victims,” said Michael Murphy, spokesperson for Verizon Wireless. “With support from our customers, we can give victims of domestic violence a lifeline to help in an emergency, and help raise awareness about this important issue.”

Although this partnership highlights October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, these agencies work continuously throughout the year to mitigate domestic violence and educate and train those in the community.

The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office recently received grant funding to hire three additional victim witness advocates to assist victims of domestic violence. The Office has also partnered with local law enforcement and advocacy agencies to work together on domestic violence high risk teams identifying high risk offenders and working to hold these individuals accountable while keeping their victims safe. In March of this year, District Attorney Sutter kicked-off the White Ribbon campaign by partnering with Employers Against Domestic Violence and the Boston Celtics to educate men about this program that gives them a voice to speak out and pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about domestic violence.

Drop off hours and locations:

During AHA! Night in Downtown New Bedford on October 9th:
Hallway of the Bristol Building, located between the Green Bean and Travessia Winery
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm, 740 Purchase Street, New Bedford, MA 02740

All month long during normal business hours at the following locations:

Bristol County District Attorney’s Office:
New Bedford office – 888 Purchase Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
Fall River office – 218 South Main Street, Fall River, MA 02721.

Any police station in any of the twenty cities and towns of Bristol County:
Acushnet, Attleboro, Berkley, Dartmouth, Dighton, Easton, Fairhaven, Fall River, Freetown, Mansfield, New Bedford, North Attleborough, Norton, Raynham, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton, Westport.