Forty years after the body of Kingston teenager Tracy Gilpin was found in Myles Standish state forest, a Plymouth County jury this week will decide whether Michael Hand was her killer. With no DNA evidence, no witnesses and no forensics linking Hand to the murder, prosecutors will rely almost entirely on Hand’s own statements to […]
Tag: Feature
Posted inCulture
‘Most walkable’ town, says Boston Magazine
(This column has been edited to address an incorrect assertion that Massachusetts Audubon’s Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary was the first cranberry bog in the nation restored to its natural state.) I was sitting in my dentist’s office in Needham the other day flipping through the latest issue of Boston Magazine, the annual “Top Places to Live” […]
Posted inGovernment
Charges fly in Select Board race
The way Dick Quintal tells it, Select Board candidate and former Plymouth police officer Scott Vecchi went to Quintal’s produce business recently with a proposition: If Quintal helped him get back on the force, Vecchi would drop out of the race. Quintal, an incumbent up for re-election in May, would face one less competitor, and […]
Posted inGovernment
ZBA delays vote on Pulte condo project
Rattled by relentless pressure from a large group of vocal opponents to a North Plymouth condo proposal, members of the town’s zoning board of appeals took to their microphones Monday night to lament their helplessness to stop it. Their dramatic pleas were met with boos from a vocal crowd that has protested for months in […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
40 years later, a teenager girl’s murder goes to trial
It took more than 30 years for Michael Hand to be charged with the 1986 murder of Tracy Gilpin in Plymouth’s Myles Standish State Forest. And it took another eight years for Hand, arrested in 2018, to stand trial for her killing. A Plymouth County jury is finally hearing testimony in Brockton Superior Court in […]
Posted inCulture Calendar
Literacy Expo Night to boost joy of reading
You’re invited to submit a listing for this column: It’s easy. Email your information to listings@plymouthindependent.org at least 10 days in advance. A good quality photo without type on the image – sent as a jpeg attachment – helps. There’s something for all ages at the seventh annual Literacy Expo Night to be held from […]
Posted inCulture
‘Wash-a-shores’ v. ‘embedded clams’
What I love most about writing for the Independent are the responses I receive from readers after publishing an article. Locals share memories and newcomers express gratitude for learning about their adoptive home. One of the newcomers, who became a fellow Independent correspondent after moving here a little more than a year ago, is Peter […]
Posted inGovernment
Bill for last month’s blizzard: $2.5 million
The infamous blizzard of 2026 now has a price tag. Last month’s devastating storm cost Plymouth $2.5 million, Town Manager Derek Brindisi told the Select Board Tuesday night. The costs include everything from snow removal to the loss of a vehicle. A police cruiser was totaled in a collision under white-out conditions. A generator also […]
Posted inBusiness
The Farmhouse sells for $3.4 million
Paul Krasinski, who made news over various permitting and fire code controversies at his 9.7-acre compound known as The Farmhouse, has sold it for $3.4 million. Krasinski, the enigmatic brother of actor John Krasinski, famous for his role as Jim Halpert in the sitcom The Office, did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The Feb. […]
Posted inGovernment
Golden uses campaign site during storm
It was a Golden opportunity. As the now infamous blizzard of 2026 bore down on Plymouth and plunged the town into darkness, Select Board Chair David Golden seized the moment. Over the next few days, Golden, a recently announced candidate for state representative, worked to make himself an isolated source of information for residents trapped […]