Pembroke Community Media Center’s is the only public access media provider in and for Pembroke, Massachusetts. Pembroke Community Media Center was created by Pembroke residents, and is run by volunteers with support from local businesses and people like you.
The Town of Pembroke was supposed to notify each and every landowner along 2.06 miles of Route 36 that a Commonwealth of Massachusetts highway project hearing was scheduled October 23, 2013, the same evening as baseball's World Series opening game featuring the region's own Red Sox team.
224 residents should have been told about the undertaking and the Town's intention to take land by eminent domain if property is not voluntarily surrendered.
Of the 11 people who came to the meeting, three were politicians: Lew Stone, Dan Trabucco, and Josh Cutler.
Only 67-yr-old Roger Rehs of 432 Center Street spoke, saying that the project would make his already steep driveway impassable.
Commonwealth engineers showed a map of 27 proposed permanent easements, a proposed 60 or more temporary construction easements, and other proposed changes to land on both sides of the street.
The entire event took less than 30 minutes.
Chief engineer Patricia Leavenworth will accept comments from landowners and others for ten days only, and the clock started ticking at the October 23rd presentation.
Concerns and comments sent after November 2, 2013 will be banned from the official hearing transcript.
Pembroke Community Media's series about WW II continues
with episode 5 in which Robert Kopper interviews tail and waist gunner Sgt
George Franklin Bent, Jr., originally from Milton, Massachusetts.
Episodes one through four of this series have been airing
weekly on television to over 3 ½ million viewers in PA, WI, IN, CA, ME, NH, and
MA, and are playing in 30 Massachusetts
towns, including Marshfield, Hanover, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Danvers and
Plympton. It is not playing in Pembroke.
A commercial for episode 5 shot September 18th by
Pembroke Media volunteers with James Whooley making his acting debut, was shown
as a promotional around the country prior to this video's release.
"You won't believe the original WW II documents you
see," Jim says in the 55-second spot. "You have to watch this
show."
If the Bent name sounds familiar, it's because the G H
Bent company has been making crackers in Milton since 1801. Locals call it "Bent's Cookie
Factory."
Here's some information about George Franklin Bent, Jr.'s
grandparents on his mother's side:
His maternal grandparents were US citizens. They formed the Wiseman family of four.
Harrison S. Wiseman and wife Mary were born in NewYork in
1868 and 1873 respectively. In 1910 they lived in Pontiac, Michigan with
13-yr-old daughter Ruth Julia Wiseman (that's George Bent's mom-to-be) and eleven-year-old son James Harrison
Wiseman. Both children were born in
Michigan. Another child had since passed away.
24-year-old William Herzog from New York lived with them
as a roomer, and worked as factory foreman in an automobile plant.
Mom Mary was a homemaker, and Dad Harrison fashioned
leather for the auto industry. On the paternal side, males named Shepherd, Joseph,
Junior, and Josiah Bent all lived in Milton in the year 1800 according to the
Census. Josiah was 29 at the time, having been born in 1771 to John Bent and
Hannah Coller.
Josiah is the
relative who started the George Bent Cookie Factory in Milton, Massachusetts,
famous for flour-and-water hard tack that became known as the first
"cracker." The staple required
no refrigeration and was part of nearly every soldier's wartime diet.
It wasn't until 1873 that births were recorded in a
family bible purchased by George and Edna who by then had babies Frances and
Annie. These parents must have know their household would be expanding, since
the illustrated and leather-bound book was a heavy thing with many empty pages
for entries.
The children of George Henry Bent and "first
wife" Edna Louise Hayden Bent as recorded in their bible:
Frances Ashton Bent was welcomed into the family on
February 29, 1872. Sister Annie Mabel Bent(Bradlee) was born July 5, 1873;
followed by Arthur Preston Bent on July 20-something in 1876; Gertrude Milton
Bent(Read) on August 2, 1880; Emiline Hersey Bent on July 15, 1882; Jesse Pierce Bent on December 2, 1883; Harvey Bent on June 20, 1885; George Franklin Bent on May 7, 1886; and Roy
Bent on August 17, 1891.
That's nine children from "first wife" Edna who
died December 17, 1895 at the age of 44.
A subsequent marriage to "second wife" Minerva
Clarable Eddy Bent (and later "Higgins") added Helen Margaret Bent,
July 3, 1907; William Eddy Bent July 2, 1909; and Charles Preston Bent
September 4, 1910. There were now a
family of 14.
George Henry Bent, the father of these 12 children, and
grandfather to our George Franklin Bent in Pembroke, Massachusetts, died April
13, 1915 from pneumonia. The story goes
that he hiked a lot with his dog Water Cracker Bill, caught a chill, and died.
That brings us to our George's father who was the 8th
child in the family of 12 siblings from Milton, Massachusetts. He was George Franklin Bent, Sr who married
Ruth Wiseman from Michigan.
George F. Senior served in WW I.
His and Ruth's children were Mary Catherine, Jean Marie,
our George Franklin Jr., and then Sylvia three years later in 1928.
Today 88-year-old Sgt George Franklin Bent lives in
Pembroke, Massachusetts with third wife Peggy.
This 5th episode of Robert Kopper's WW II series was recorded
Saturday afternoon, August 24th, 2013 in the living room of Bent's Pleasant
Street home.
On set, George was "grip," carrying all heavy
filming equipment in and out of vehicles and through doorways.
Pembroke Media is an alliance of volunteers interested in
recording local events and keeping history alive. Funding comes 100% from local
businesses and people like you. All support is fully tax-deductible under IRS
501(c)(3) regulations and Commonwealth of Massachusetts non-profit guidelines.
Go the www.pembrokecommunitymedia.com
or call 781-910-8899. You can sponsor a show, get a DVD, or just have fun
viewing.
Fine Artist Paul Crimi turned a blank canvas into an outdoor scene in less than an hour during episode 16 in this recent series of "how to" videos called "Expressions in Painting."
Crew included Pembroke Community Middle School students Jessica Fano and Laura McCue on studio cameras one and two, and Pembroke Media's own director, Cathie Briggette on studio camera three. Each operator wore headphones and took directions for the entire hour from the director in the sound room.
Laura McCue, age 12, gave Crimi the 5-4-3-2-1 finger countdown at the beginning. She also held up the 30, 15, 3, and one-minute cards letting Crimi know how much longer until his time was up.
Jessica Fano's camera was angled to get close-up shots of both the painting and the brush while Crimi applied colors. It was both Briggette's and Fano's first time using big cameras, and they did a wonderful job.
After 60 minutes of filming, everyone heard "It's a wrap," and knew it was safe to talk and make noise.
Crimi began the show with three finished paintings of bottles from other episodes. "I like the personalities they have," Crimi said. "They are starting to have their own kind of feeling."
He plans to make 25 or 30 similar works and have a series.
For this episode, Crimi created a Fall scene from his imagination. "I have all the colors, so let's just start," he said after squeezing two shades of green and blue from tubes into a Styrofoam dinner tray. "Then I'll sketch it out a little bit. I'll lay it out so we get some ideas."
Crimi continued and described the half-done painting. "It still has it's own personality and has a way of revealing itself.
This painting is going to look more impressionistic that realistic. I love impressionistic anyways. I call myself a contemporary impressionist."
Then Crimi advised the viewer that "You have to be patient. Just take your time and keep putting paint on the canvas.
If you just keep putting the paint on the canvas, eventually you're going to get to where you want to go."
He gave lots of instruction and uplifting advice.
"Painting is something you feel as well as see. After all these years I tell people that painting is an expression of your soul and how you feel about it. Especially when you are painting from your imagination and you have nothing to look at.
"All you have to do is do it. Don't be too critical of yourself if you're painting. Just keep painting. I tell people that the worst thing you can do if you hate the painting is start all over again by painting the canvas black and begin again. I have a bunch of paintings when I first started that I must have painted 10 or 12 paintings on the same canvas. Those people who bought those have no clue that there are that many paintings underneath those canvases."
Crimi's phone number is 781-871-5333. He loves to hear from viewers, and wants you to know that most of his works are available for private acquisition, maybe even the actual painting from this show.
Pembroke High School's Titans football team opened 2013 with a home game loss against Stoughton's Black Knights yesterday afternoon.
Pembroke was cursed from the beginning with the official timer malfunctioning and passes thrown to players who misunderstood their role. Nothing seemed to go right.
For Stoughton it was well worth the trip on two uncomfortably crammed yellow buses. They arrived 2:35pm at the front door with 4 coolers and a first aid box, then proceeded to claim the field with a 34-6 win, their second this season.
Their first victory was 28-0 against Marshfield just 2 weeks earlier.
Pembroke's 2nd home game is scheduled against North Easton's Oliver Ames Friday, September 20th, at 4pm, but there are rumors that the date may change.
Our Robert Kopper WWII Series has been widely received, is playing on TV channels throughout Massachusetts, and being viewed nationally. The show is sponsored by NSK Inc. Information Technology Specialists in Boston and John McCue Well Drilling in Pembroke.
Please call 781-910-8899 today to discuss and sponsor upcoming programming.
After the June 2012 dissolution of Pembroke's television station and studio, volunteers didn't miss a beat, created their own non-profit Pembroke Community organization, continued producing local shows, and became an award-winning alliance.
Most recently, The Corporation for National and Community Service at 1201 New York Avenue, NW in Washington, DC gave volunteer Bob Ryerson the 2011 Presidential Service Award for his work with Pembroke's media endeavors.
Our own Catherine Briggette received the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Ambassador of the Year Award given to only one person annually by the largest chamber in Massachusetts.
Guidestar granted the Gold Seal of Excellence to Pembroke Media's for national recognition, excellence, and status as a non-profit organization.
There is absolutely no affiliation with pactv.
DVDs are free with a $20 donation to support Pembroke Community Media Center. Call781-910-8899, or CLICK HERE.
ALL SUPPORT IS FULLY TAX-DEDUCTIBLE
Have an idea for a show or want to cover a local event? Join the fun by contacting us today to start your project tomorrow.
Hobomock
Elementary School's annual spring concert was held June 10, 2013 before a
capacity audience in the Pembroke, Massachusetts high school auditorium.
This
edited and audio-balanced video was made from footage shot by John McCue who is
part of the all-volunteer group of moms, dads, and children called Pembroke
Community Media, located right here in town.
School
concerts, sporting events, points of interest, political forums, shows by and
about older residents, current happenings, historic documentations, scouting
projects, parties, and much more are captured for posterity and posted on the
website pembrokecommunitymedia.com.
There
is also the yourpcmc.blogspot.com site housing over a hundred descriptive
production articles, features in the Patriot Ledger on-line newspaper,
spotlights in the Town's Mariner/Reporter weekly paper, and e-mail
notifications labeled "Pembroke News."
Three
of McCue's children are in the Pembroke school system. "I have two boys at
the high school, and a daughter at the middle school," McCue said,
"So I know first-hand how important is is to make videos of children while
they're young. It's now or never."
McCue
continued, "And with all the mobile devices people have, there are plenty
of poor quality recordings. But you tell me how many of those get saved. Not
many. That's why this Hobomock concert video will be appreciated even more
later on."
DVDs are free with a $20 donation to support Pembroke Community Media Center. Call 781-910-8899, or CLICK HERE.
ALL SUPPORT IS FULLY TAX-DEDUCTIBLE
Have an idea for a show or want to cover a local event? Join the fun by contacting us today to start your project tomorrow.
The
annual Hobomock Elementary School Lip Sync Concert was held Thursday evening,
June 6, 2013 at the Pembroke, Massachusetts Middle School auditorium with the
back partition removed to extend seating into the cafeteria area. There were 29
acts involving grades K through 6 elementary students.
The
entire display was filmed by pembrokecommunitymedia.com volunteer and high
school student John H. O'Keefe who thought it was "one goofy show."
O'Keefe manually adjusted audio while taping, because the clapping and cheering
were extra loud after each act. Good Job John!
The
roaring and boisterous crowd of family and friends was egged on by back-stage
emcee PJ the DJ who began with "This goes without saying, but everybody
knows to clap really loud for all our participants here, right?"
PJ
has a 6th grader in the school, and has been volunteering for the Lip Sync for
over a decade.
He
introduced each act with a "Let's-give-it-up-for," and ended with a
"Wow-that-was-great!"
The
Family Programs division of the Hobomock Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) began
organizing and planning well before May when acts were conceived and groups
began practicing both at school and at home.
Some
class performances even had teachers on stage with the students.
Parent
Saheeda Kelly remarked that "It's so much fun to watch the children
perform on stage. The whole school gets
involved supporting each other and that's a wonderful thing to see
happening."
Pembrokecommunitymedia.com is an
all-volunteer group of Pembroke Moms, Dads, and children who live in Pembroke
and are interested in recording and promoting local events. No funding comes from either the Town or
Comcast. Support is from local businesses and people like you. To get involved, call 781-910-8899, and go to
www.pembrokecommunitymedia.com.
