Pentucket Middle-High School Building Project is Approved in Ballot Votes

pentucketporta on May 7, 2019

WEST NEWBURY — Superintendent Justin Bartholomew is pleased to share that voters in Groveland, Merrimac and West Newbury overwhelmingly voted to pass the Pentucket Regional Middle-High School Building Project through a ballot vote yesterday.

Residents in all three towns voted in favor of the project at three separate town meetings on Monday, April 29 and through a ballot vote in each town’s general election on Monday, May 6.

“Thank you to the Pentucket towns for all of their involvement in the voting process,” Superintendent Bartholomew said. “This was a big victory for the future of the Pentucket community, and a historic day for the district. This project really seems to have brought the community together, and these next few years will be an exciting, busy time for us all.”

Superintendent Bartholomew added that the vote in many ways reflects the communities’ approval not just of the project but also the diligent work that went into planning, executing and communicating this project over the past five years.

“Community engagement and communication were two constants since the district began this long process around 2014,” he said. “The voting results and excellent voter turnout in all three towns show that residents not only supported this project, but that our community members were educated voters both at town meeting and at the polls.”

In the coming years, the district will build a three story, modern facility that will house middle school students in one wing of the building and high school students in another. The building will replace the current Pentucket Regional middle and high school buildings, which were respectively built in 1967 and 1956 and are approaching the end of their useful life spans.

In the next six to eight months, the project will be put out to bid to construction companies. The district aims to begin construction in Spring 2020, with the goal of opening the new building for the fall of 2022.

For more information, visit pentucketproject.com. 

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Absentee Ballot Information

pentucketporta on April 4, 2019

Absentee ballots for the May 6 , 2019 town elections may be requested up to Friday May 3, 2019 by completing a Massachusetts Official Absentee Ballot Application and returning it to their Town Clerk’s office. Voters requiring their absentee ballot to be mailed to them, should allow ample time for mailing of the application and the ballot. Absentee Ballots will be available the first week of April. Completed absentee ballots received after May 6 are considered invalid.

Click here to print a Massachusetts Official Absentee Ballot Application.

Eligibility

This application may be completed by…

  • A registered voter; or
  • A voter’s family member (spouse, roommate, parent, sibling, child, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild, in-law).

Use this application to request an absentee ballot for…

A registered voter who will be unable to vote at the polls on Election Day due to absence from the voter’s city or town during polling hours, disability, or religious beliefs.

OR

A non-registered voter who is:

  • A Massachusetts citizen absent from the state;
  • An active member of the armed forces or merchant marines, their spouse or dependent; or
  • A person confined to a correctional facility or jail for reasons other than felony conviction.

Completing the Application

  1. Voter Information – Provide the voter’s name, legal voting address, and date of birth. Telephone number and e-mail address are optional fields.
  2. Ballot Information – Provide the address where you want the ballot mailed and indicate for which election(s) you are requesting a ballot. For primaries, if the voter is not enrolled in a party, provide the desired party ballot. Applications for “all elections this year” are valid for one calendar year.
  3. Special Circumstances – Check any of the listed circumstances which apply to this application, if any.
  4. Sign your name. If you require assistance in signing the application, you may authorize someone to sign your name in your presence. That person must complete the assisting person’s information in Section 3.

Submitting the Application

Send the completed application to the local election official at the voter’s city or town hall.

Applications can be mailed or hand-delivered. Applications may also be submitted electronically by fax or e-mail, as long as the requester’s signature is visible.

Please allow ample mailing time for this application and for the ballot. Ballots must be returned to your local election official by Election Day.

Find contact information for local election officials at www.sec.state.ma.us/ele or by calling 1-800-462-VOTE (8683).

West Newbury Police Warn Residents of Scam Technology Support Callers

pentucketporta on February 1, 2019

WEST NEWBURY — Interim Chief Jeffrey Durand  would like to issue a warning to residents about a recent spike in scam callers looking to access computers.

Multiple residents have reported to police recently that they been asked by an unknown caller to give him or her remote access their computers.

Allowing a scam caller to remotely access a computer puts the passwords and other private information stored on the device at risk. It also opens the computer up to possible damage. Scam callers also frequently seek payment for “fixing” a nonexistent problem with a computer, like a virus.

According to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Information website, phone scam callers who are seeking to access to a computer remotely may pretend to work for a technology company, like Microsoft or Apple. Scams may also cause pop-up messages to display on a computer screen, claiming the computer has a critical problem that must be fixed by calling a phone number and connecting to a technology support specialist.

“Residents need to be wary of unknown callers and suspicious pop-ups on their computers,” Chief Durand said. “It’s crucial to keep computers secure, considering all of the passwords and information we all store digitally today. Do not click on suspicious links, and do not give an unknown caller access to your computer.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has several tips for those looking to protect themselves from falling victim to a phone scam:

  • Let calls from unknown phone numbers go to voicemail. Do not answer.
  • If a caller claims to represent a company, like Google or Apple, hang up. Call the company, and verify if that individual was actually who they were claiming to be. Be sure to call the correct phone number by going to the organization’s website or looking at a recent bill from that organization.
  • Know that even “local” numbers on caller ID may not be from a local caller.
  • Never pay for a service with a gift card. Legitimate companies and organizations will not ask you to pay for any service with a gift card.
  • Report scam calls with the FCC Consumer Complaint Center by visiting consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us.
  • Report any money lost to a scam call to local police.
  • Check to see if your phone company has a service that will block robocalls.
  • Consider adding your telephone numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry www.donotcall.gov/. Law abiding telemarketers will not call phone numbers once they are added to the list.

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