Selectman Terry Finnegan said she won’t run for re-election this year.

Finnegan, who has served on the board for six years, said she doesn’t have enough time to devote to the position.

“Whoever is in the position, I think, owes it to the town to be able to have a lot of time to devote,” she said. “I just don’t.”

Selectman Hilary Wilson has also announced that he will not seek re-election. He has served on the board for nine years.

Two town officials have shown interest in seeking the two available three-year terms on the five-member board of selectmen. Lew Stone of the advisory committee has submitted nomination papers. Planning board member Daniel Trabucco has taken out papers.

School committee members Ginny Wandell and Michael Tropeano have obtained nomination papers to seek new three-year terms on the committee.

Former Selectman Paul Dwyer and incumbent John Walsh Jr. have taken out papers for a one-year term as town moderator.

Selectman Arthur Boyle has taken out papers for a three-year term as constable. Were he to become a constable, he could continue to serve as a selectman, Town Clerk Mary Ann Smith said.

Lisa Cullity has taken out papers to run for another three-year term on the board of health. Resident Renee Hogan has taken out papers for a three-year term on the board of assessors.

Elaine Spalding has taken out papers to run for a three-year term on the board of library trustees. Jillian Taylor, who was appointed to the board to fill a vacancy, has obtained papers for a two-year term. A second three-year term is also available.

Also available are a five-year term on the housing authority, a five-year term on the planning board and a three-year term on the public works commission.

Prospective candidates must obtain nomination papers at the clerk’s office by March 12. Papers must be submitted by March 16, signed by at least 50 registered Pembroke voters.

Contact Sydney Schwartz at sschwartz@ledger.com. Gatehouse Media contributed to this story.

With budget cuts looming, the recreation department is looking at creative ways to bring in money.

Recreation commissioners hope to establish a Friends of the Recreation Center group similar to the Friends of the Pembroke Public Library and the Friends of the Pembroke Council on Aging.

“There’s always a need to be creative and think outside the box,” recreation commission Chairman Gregory Hanley said. “In these tough times, if we can develop a group of ‘friends’ that can help us fund raise, I think it’s a great thing.”

The idea is being spearheaded by Matt Newman, a new recreation commission member who previously served in town government in Weymouth.

Newman presented the idea to selectmen on Monday. He said he is looking for volunteers to help run the group.

“It’s just kind of another outlet in these tough times,” Newman said. “Just trying to create a new idea and help out, in case we need it.”

Hanley said the recreation department is self-funded through a revolving account that uses fees to pay for programs and part-time help. But the money to cover building costs and the salaries of the director and assistant director comes from the town budget.

“We’re looking at a mandatory cut from the advisory committee of 10 percent,” Hanley said. “We’re trying to give that back.”

Newman, who has children 3 and 7 years old, said recreation activities are important to children and adults.

“To me, it’s a vital part of growing up,” he said “I always enjoyed the programs.”

Sydney Schwartz may be reached at sschwartz@ledger.com.

Parents of Pembroke High School athletes say they were outraged to learn that $8,000 was allegedly stolen from the group by its new treasurer, and they are hoping to recover the money.

“I think it’s a shame that this person felt as if she needed to take away from kids,” said ice hockey parent Carol Allen, a former president of Pembroke High School Sports Boosters. “That’s what this money was raised for, to benefit the children of the sports program.”

Police arrested boosters treasurer Marlene D. Medeiros on a felony charge of larceny of over $250, alleging that she stole about $8,000 from the organization.

Medeiros, 41, of 95 Phillips Road, who had served as the treasurer since November, pleaded innocent at her arraignment Wednesday in Plymouth District Court.

She was also arraigned on a fugitive from justice warrant out of Texas, for larceny by credit cards. She was wanted there in a case involving theft of about $57,000, police said.

Prosecutors asked that Medeiros be held without bail, but Judge Thomas Brownell set bail at $5,000.

It was unclear Wednesday night whether Medeiros had been able to raise the bail money. A telephone message left at her home was not returned.

“It’s very upsetting that something like this would happen,” said parent Michelle Memmo, who has served with the boosters as a team representative from the football and lacrosse teams. “It’s something that nobody ever expected.”

Memmo said some money from the boosters was supposed to go toward funding a junior varsity lacrosse team.

“Hopefully we will be able to recoup all our money. We’re going to have to do a little extra fundraising,” she said.

Police say members of the boosters came to them on Monday after noticing a discrepancy in the group’s financial accounts.

Police said it appears that Medeiros took from the high school sports group, beginning in November 2008 by withdrawing cash and writing checks on the group’s bank account and using the money for herself.

The Pembroke High School Sports Boosters group raises money to support high school athletic teams by holding bingo and other activities.

“I kind of hope it isn’t true,” said selectmen Chairwoman Terry Finnegan, who has a son on the football and track teams. “We’ll just have to wait and see how the facts all play out.”

Medeiros will return to court on Feb. 20 for a pretrial hearing.

Prosecutors have dropped a second charge of forcible rape against a former Marshfield Fair carnival worker accused of raping two teenage girls.

The first charge of forcible rape was dropped in August, days after police charged Jeffrey Witham with raping the 13- and 14-year-old girls. Three other charges were also dropped at that time.

Witham, now 19, of Oxford, Maine, still faces two counts of rape of a child and one count of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14. He was released on personal recognizance on Aug. 22.

The girls, both from Marshfield, told police on Aug. 17 that Witham raped and assaulted them at one of their homes. They later changed their stories, prompting prosecutors to drop four of the charges.

The prosecutor for the case, Sharon Thibeault, a special assistant district attorney for Plymouth County, said she decided to drop the second forcible-rape charge after reviewing the case.

Thibeault, who works for the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s office, took over the case from a Plymouth County assistant district attorney last month.

“I was just making sure that the charges fit the facts that now exist,” Thibeault said Tuesday. “It wasn’t because of any new developments.”

In December, Marshfield police filed an application in Plymouth District Court asking the court to charge the teenagers with filing false police reports.

A clerk magistrate will determine whether to charge the girls. A clerk magistrate’s hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25 in juvenile court.

At a probable cause hearing on Wednesday, defense attorney Michael Bergeron asked that Judge Robert Baylor dismiss the case in district court.

Witham has not been indicted in Superior Court. The case cannot be tried in district court because of the nature of the charges, Bergeron said.

Judge Baylor continued the probable cause hearing to Feb. 24.

Sydney Schwartz may be reached at sschwartz@ledger.com.

Selectmen on Monday raised the application fee for earth-removal permits from $50 to $2,000.

The massive hike, the first increase in decades, came nearly 11 months after selectmen issued their first such permit in about 30 years – and a year after town counsel recommended the change.

“Our fee schedule for applications for gravel-removal permits is a little out of date,” Selectmen Chairwoman Katie O’Donnell said Monday.

Selectmen in March 2008 permitted developer Mark Investments to remove 40,000 cubic yards of sand, silt and gravel at the Walgreens site at the intersection of routes 139 and 3A.

During that permitting process, a disagreement arose between Town Counsel Robert Marzelli and the applicant’s attorney over the requirement that the applicant pay the fee for a consultant to review the plans.

Marzelli recommended the fee increase soon after. He said a $2,000 base fee would help pay for the application process, including a consultant’s review.

“I believe the board should revise its current fee schedule, which has not been revisited in decades,” he wrote in a Jan. 8, 2008 memorandum to selectmen.

Town meeting revised the earth-removal bylaw in April 2008. But, during the transition of town administrators that year, the change in the fee was left off the selectmen’s agenda. The change is effective today.

Selectmen have the authority to issue earth-removal permits for removal of more than 100 cubic yards of material. But, aside from Walgreens, they have no recent history of granting them. O’Donnell said she does not believe the board has issued an earth-removal permit since the 1970s.

In the fall of 2007, resident Peter Armstrong applied to remove 200,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from his property off Grove and Ferry streets.

Neighbors expressed opposition to the project at an October 2007 public hearing. Armstrong later withdrew the application.

Armstrong will likely apply for another earth-removal permit in connection with a new plan to remove gravel from the property and turn the land over to Marshfield Youth Soccer. The project is going before the zoning board of appeals in February.

When the previous owner of Armstrong’s property sought a permit in 1984, selectmen rejected the request.

Excavating contractor Biagini Inc. has had an earth-removal permit since the 1950s. Selectmen renewed the permit Monday. The new fee amount doesn’t apply to renewals.

Sydney Schwartz may be reached at sschwartz@ledger.com.

Joe Scoledge hopes to help those who have trouble communicating in emergencies. Scoledge, 17, a senior at Pembroke High School, has created cards with feelings, emotions, places and people for police officers and firefighters to use with autistic children and others who are nonverbal or too upset to speak.

Scoledge presented the “Nonverbal Communication Cards,” his Eagle Scout project, to police and fire officials Monday at a program sponsored by the Pembroke Special Education Parent Advisory Council. They will be placed in the town’s emergency vehicles.

“I made up cards so autistic people can talk to the first responders,” Scoledge said. “It’s kind of hard because they can’t concentrate, get stressed out. ... A lot of the times they’re nonverbal.”

Scoledge, whose father is a firefighter, said he came up with the idea several years ago, after attending a program through the The Autism and Law Enforcement Education Coalition at the fire station with his dad.

The program, sponsored by the Special Education Parent Advisory Council, provided training to first responders so they were able to recognize situations involving children and adults with autism.

The speaker showed attendees a key ring with nonverbal communication cards that first responders used in her town. Pembroke police and fire officials expressed an interest in using those cards, said Eleanor Prosper, a former co-chair and member of the council.

Prosper, who has an autistic son in third grade, said Scoledge approached her about the project after the meeting.

She said there are autistic children who are nonverbal and use pictures to communicate. Some children also get so upset in emergencies that they have a hard time speaking, she said.

Scoledge collected, printed and cut out 66 images, laminated them and attached them to key rings. He created 40 sets of 33 cards with images like “sick,” “eat,” “water,” “parent” and “police person.”

He raised money for the project from local businesses, the police and fire unions and scout leaders. Other scouts helped him with the project.

He also created a binder with forms that parents of autistic children can fill out in case their kids wander off. Parents are encouraged to submit them with photographs. They will be kept at the police station.

Prosper said the book could lead officers to a missing child. If first responders know what children are interested in, she said, it can also help keep them calm in emergencies.

“It was something that I wanted and a lot of my friends with autistic children wanted, just in case,” she added. “We’re so excited that it’s done and that it can be passed off into the community.”

Sydney Schwartz may be reached at sschwartz@ledger.com.

Max Clary likes to be on stage, talk to people and make them laugh.

Last summer, the 15-year-old from Newton commuted to Camp Chuckles, a comedy camp at the Boys & Girls Club of Marshfield.

Now the Newton South High School sophomore is a regular performer at the Comedy Studio in Cambridge.

He is returning to Marshfield to perform with his comedy camp instructors in the Boys & Girls Club’s third annual “Comedy Night.”

“It’s a great program,” Max said. “It turned out at the end to be a great thing.”

The event, at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Venus II in Brant Rock, is a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club. More than 200 people attended last year’s event, which raised $4,500 for the nonprofit club.

Max will appear along with his camp instructors, Chrissie Kelleher and Jimmy Bowes, as well as Ed Kopesky, Johnny Cullen, Dan Boulger and Rich Gustus.

“Max was one of our most promising campers,” said Kelleher, the emcee for the event. “We’re like, ‘This kid is totally ready to do comedy.’ He was like a 15-year-old Billy Crystal.”

Kelleher has opened shows for Kevin Nealon and Loretta LaRoche and appeared on Nickelodeon’s “America’s Funniest Mom” show.

Cullen was a finalist at the Rhode Island Comedy Festival. Kopesky is a Boston comedian who also appears regularly at the Comedy Studio.

Boulger was winner in the 2006 Boston Comedy Festival. Gustus appears on Comedy Central.

Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased at the door. They can be purchased online at www.boysandgirlsclubofmarshfield.com or at the club in Library Plaza.

For more information, contact 781-834-2582.

Reach Sydney Schwartz at sschwartz@ledger.com.

An aquatic control company plans to treat Hobomock Pond with a chemical herbicide come summer.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation has awarded Aquatic Control Technology of Sutton a contract to get rid of the Hydrilla verticillata, the invasive aquatic weed in the pond.

The lake management company says it will apply for necessary permits in the next few weeks. The company hopes to begin treating the pond in June, when the weeds are actively growing, with an aquatic herbicide called Sonar.

Gerald Smith, aquatic biologist and president of Aquatic Control Technology, said the herbicide targets the photosynthetic process in the plant and kills it.

He said treatment would involve two or three applications during the summer. It could take 60 days or longer for the weed to fully die.

“What we’re trying to do (is) eradicate the plant, if we can. If we cannot permanently eradicate it, certainly keep its growth to a bare minimal amount to avoid spread,” he said. “The herbicide works quite well, but it works slowly.”

The pond has been closed since December to all recreational activity, including ice skating, hockey, ice fishing, boating and walking to prevent the spread of the weed.

The weed, which is native to Europe and Asia, was discovered in October by a volunteer from the Pembroke Watershed Association. State officials say it has likely been growing there for more than a year.

Hydrilla verticillata can fill a lake from top to bottom and make it difficult or impossible for fish to find open water. The weed can also impede boating, swimming and rowing, and affect property values.

Hydrilla verticillata is thriving in the lakes, rivers and ponds of Florida and the Southeast. Its only other documented presence in Massachusetts is in Long Pond in Barnstable and in a small private pond in Duxbury, Smith said.

“It’s highly invasive and has the potential to really raise havoc with our ponds and lakes,” Smith said. “It’s potential statewide is very much a concern.”

Smith’s company works on and manages about 500 ponds a year. He said the herbicide Sonar has been used to treat Hydrilla and other invasive species in ponds.

His company has treated the two other ponds in Massachusetts with Hydrilla. He has also been involved with about five other ponds around New England that were affected by the weed.

He said residents will be alerted when the pond is being treated and told to avoid swimming, boating, fishing or using of water for irrigation. He said the herbicide poses little risk to fish, wildlife or people.

“Hydrilla is a fairly new problem and not a widespread problem, fortunately,” Smith said. “But there are many other invasive aquatic plants, nuisance aquatic plants, that have spread.”