CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

Dennis Police arrest 60-year-old for trafficking drugs

Dennis Police arrest 60-year-old arrested for trafficking drugs

Street value estimated at $3k

DENNISPORT - At approximately 1:30 p.m., Dennis Police officers, assisted by members of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Cape Cod Drug Task Forces as well as the K-9 unit of the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office, executed a search warrant at 212 Upper County Road, Apt. 11B in Dennisport.

During the warrant execution, the lessee of the apartment, Joseph Hannan, 60, was arrested and is being charged with Trafficking more than 26 grams of Methadone tablets and 2 counts of Possession of Class B Controlled Substances with Intent to Distribute (Percosets and Alprazolam).

The search warrant was the result of a three month investigation into alleged drug dealing from this apartment in which purchases of drugs were made by undercover police.

The total street value of the drugs seized is estimated at $3,000.

Release courtesy of the Dennis Police Department.

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Coast Guard completes investigation into Costa & Corvo sinking

Instability contributed to capsizing and sinking

The Coast Guard announced Friday the results of an investigation into the Nov. 13, 2008, sinking of the fishing vessel Costa & Corvo in which a New Bedford, Mass., fisherman lost his life.

Coast Guard marine casualty investigators have determined available evidence indicates several factors affected the stability of the Costa & Corvo and that instability contributed to the capsizing and subsequent sinking of the fishing vessel.

"We hope the results of this investigation raise awareness of what can cause a vessel to become dangerously unstable and help improve the safety of our fishing community." - Capt. Ray Perry

"The results of the investigation indicate that the vessel capsized and sank quickly," said Capt. Ray Perry, the commander of Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England. "Although we may never know exactly what happened, the available evidence suggests the vessel capsized due to several factors. It appears the vessel became rapidly unstable as a full fishing net was lowered on deck. The shifting weight of the catch, excessive water on deck, and closed freeing ports all seem to have contributed to the capsize."

Coast Guard crews searched for Antonio Mesquita from New Bedford, Mass., the captain of the Costa & Corvo, for more than 30 hours and covered more than 280 square miles, but never found him.

Three crew members, Francisco Brito, Joao Matias and Jorge Palma, all from New Bedford, were also aboard the Costa & Corvo when it capsized. They were rescued by a nearby fishing vessel, the Mary K, shortly after the accident.

Crew testimony was used to help determine the probable cause of the accident, as well as underwater images taken by the Navy Undersea Warfare Center of what is believed to be the fishing vessel Costa & Corvo resting on the ocean floor.

The Costa & Corvo, a 71-foot dragger, sank about 118 miles east of Nantucket on Georges Bank and currently rests in 120 feet of water.

"Our condolences go out to the family of Mr. Mesquita, who lost his life in this tragedy," said Perry. "We hope the results of this investigation raise awareness of what can cause a vessel to become dangerously unstable and help improve the safety of our fishing community."

The investigation report is available here.

Read the original story here.

Release courtesy of the USCG.

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Lindsay Graham's Big Problem

                                                                 Lindsay Graham's Big Problem

                                    "The big problem I have is that you're criminalizing the war...."

                                                                      -Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-SC

        "They committed murder here in the United States and we'll seek justice here in the United States,"

                                                                      -Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

                                 "Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."

                                                                               -Groucho Marx

 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

                                                                           - Benjamin Franklin

                  "My country right or wrong; if right to be kept right, and if  wrong to be set right."                                        

                                                                   -Sen. Carl Schurz, R-Wisc.

               The GOP's attack du jour on President Barak Obama is focused on Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed on criminal charges in the Southern District of New York.  We hear the usual right wing bellyaching, with allegations by "Rush" and others that Sen. Lindsay Graham "stumped" Holder because Holder refused to give a simple answer to a complex hypothetical question about where bin Laden would be tried if he were captured. 

               In fact, Graham revealed the basic phoniness of the GOP in his objection that Holder is "criminalizing the war."  Graham and the rest of the GOP desperately seek to have all Guantanamo detainees tried in military tribunals because that's the only way to legitimize the Decider's "war on terror," and they well know that apart from warmongering and carping about "liberals" the Republicans really have nothing to offer the American people.  

              The Republicans have no policy alternatives other than the failed policies they used to run America into the ground over the last eight years, and they've got no ideas.  So they cling to their tried and true agenda based on fear and obstructionism.  By insisting on military trials for Guantanamo detainees irrespective of where their alleged terrorist acts occurred, the GOP is in fact legitimizing them in the eyes of the world, and certainly in their own minds, as military combatants as opposed to the thugs and murderers they really are.

             We have a criminal justice system that recognizes the rights of the accused, unlike military tribunals, so foreign nationals tried in civilian courts will be accorded basic rights just like any other common criminal, say, Timothy McVeigh.  McVeigh, too, you will recall, claimed through his lawyers that he was part of the militia movement, an armed force opposed to the Government of the United States. 

            So why should Khalid, who is accused of killing civilians in a commercial office building here on American soil be considered an enemy combatant while McVeigh, who killed civilians in a federal government building, was considered a non-combatant? Both of them were driven by extreme ideology to commit mass murder here on American soil, targeting non-military facilities, and therefore both should be tried as common criminals here, in our criminal courts. 

            To do otherwise sends the wrong message to the rest of the civilized world and undermines our credibility, making us seem no better than how we viewed the Soviet Union under Stalin, or China today.  It is to tell the world that we don't trust the criminal justice system that is the hallmark of our basic liberties as a free people, a criminal justice system that is based on principle and not expediency or politics.  The GOP today is howling to sacrifice that principle solely in the name of expediency, based primarily on a politics that puts ideology ahead of the national interest.

            How does the GOP  differentiate between Khalid and McVeigh in principle?  Does it turn on the focus of their respective ideologies in the minds of Graham and the other GOP obstructionists, Khalid's Islamic jihad vs. McVeigh's right wing paranoia, ?  If so, that violates the essential purpose of the Constitution which is to protect the rights of the "people" and the individual "person," with no reference to citizenship, to ideology or to politics.

           The Fifth Amendment particularly states that no "person" shall be held to answer for a capital offense unless under presentment and indictment of a grand jury, i.e. a civil proceeding:

except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual  service in time of War or public danger.

 It is quite a stretch to claim, as the GOP would have us believe, that 9/11 was an act of war as opposed to terrorism such as militiaman McVeigh's attack on the Murragh Federal Building. 

           If we're going to define these issues by hyperbole, then let's try all the Mexican drug and gun smugglers in military courts as well.  After all, we're in the middle of a 40-year  "war on drugs," and those Mexican thugs should therefore be treated as enemy "combatants" no less than Khalid and his fellow Islamic thugs who violated the law here on American soil.

          The braying that we're hearing from Graham and the right-wing media jackasses about trying these murderers in civilian courts claims that holding military trials for all Guantanamo detainees is based on issues of national security.  That is to say, unquestionably, it is a matter of expediency for them, and it is an expedient that defies and diminishes the moral authority of our Constitutional rights and our criminal laws which either protect everyone, every "person," or they protect nobody in the final analysis.

          This fits exactly within the meaning of Franklin's aphorism, where those like Sen. Graham and the right wing media hacks that parrot him are willing to compromise our essential Constitutional rights in the name of security and expediency.  Such people and their supporters deserve neither the liberty our Constitution guarantees nor the false security they seek to achieve by the expedient of trying Khalid in a military tribunal, the judicial equivalent of a military band playing "Onward Christian Soldiers" as Groucho suggested.

          The single most ludicrous statement to emerge concerning this affair is Graham's remark that Holder and the President are making "bad history."  Huh?  Where's he been the past eight years of the Decider and Darth Cheney making history, bringing us two costly unwinnable wars, increasing our national debt and trade imbalance geometrically and nearly bankrupting the country.  Are we to believe that was "good history?" 

          All Obama and Holder are doing is trying to follow Sen. Carl Schurz mandate -our country right or wrong, when right to be kept right and when wrong to be set right.  Given the past eight years of flat out wrong policy decisions by the GOP, they've got a lot of setting right to do, and trying mass murderers as such in civilian court, treating them as the common criminals they are instead of according them the dignity of enemy combatants, while upholding our fundamental constitutional principles, is clearly the right thing to do.

          Graham's real problem, meanwhile, and that of the GOP in general, is they really have no sound policy initiatives and no ideas other than more of the same small government, jingoist nonsense that created the eight year era of "bad history" from 2001 through 2008, so they keep trying to tear down Obama personally and obstruct his efforts to set things right politically.  And that's really a big problem -for the American people and for our constitutional democracy.

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You don't have to be Conservative to have a conscience or to be a good American

You don't have to be Conservative to have a conscience or to be a good American: Common sense American's: liberal or conservative and even those in the middle, have access to the same moral conscience, to the same facts; we may reach very different but honest conclusions.  I reach mine ( Liberal) based on the principle of the "Social Contract" and the Magna Carta- History has lessons for those who don't need labels... i.e.: socialism,tea baggers etc.

 What are History's Lessons?  

 We just need a cosmic-big picture-sense of humor and an understanding of the basic social contract to see them. Simply: the peasants agreed to not rise and kill the kings, if the kings agreed to the end of feudalism and to allow ownership of land ( the Magna Carta- remember that document?). Translated to 2009 and t0 20th/21st century terms, that means: we ( those who have more) agree to give to those that have less, a certain safety net of social services,i.e.:unemployment, welfare,medicare, The VA, etc; they ( those who have less) agree to live with their economic lives subject to the whim of large business shipping their jobs overseas or robbing their life savings( enron),the new serfs- those that just live their lives, raise their families and depend on the larger economic fabric to treat them fairly; They Agree to not rise up and revolt and kill everyone who has more than them. Thats the social contract..

America is  a republic based on certain balances.

If we don't get that, then we are a poor students of history and the socialogical lessons of the industrial revolution up to todays economies. Our social net or socialism as the birthers/teabaggers like to call it- communism, as the more ignorant call it- this balancing act of haves and have nots has been going on since the 1200's...Conservatives mix capitalism and free markets and usually understand neither. Free markets are not free, not when the haves can control it or manipulate it -remember the railroad monopolies of the 1800's, child labor, slavery, etc?  All of those  greed based motives affected the so called free market- what morality is inherient in that kind of capitalism? None- There's nothing democratic about that form of thug capitalism and free markets aren't free when those conditions exist- The social contract as exercised in our constitutional government causes the peoples representatives to make laws that prohibit those motives from conrtolling the free market.  

Morality must govern our treatment of others economically-

 It goes way beyond providing just opportunity. as for myself, I've started and run businesses for 30 years, developed real estate for over 25 years, I've experienced the best and the worst of our markets and capitalism, I've been elected to and served on over a dozen boards and committees in my community. The admonition by conservatives that liberals don't realize what an immigrant trying to get into America does, falls flat. I realize this; there are no easy glenn beck/rush/hannity cliches that honestly describe our social safety net and what they call 'socialism' is nothing more than the amount of balance it takes to keep the have nots from tearing your throats out. AIG, Enron, oil traders last year($150bl oil), they all appreciated republuican Senator phil gramms removal of decades long controls on how much oil could be traded, then Gramm( with the help of democrats as well) removed regulations on banks and mortgages- opportunity? yes, for the greedy. When I state that morality is the basis of our democracy, I mean it- it's about what's right. Not what can we get away with, it's about not ignoring the consequences of our economic actions( Enron, ect) on working families,consumers and investors. Does America provide Opportunity? Yes, the opportunity to do the fair, the reasonable and the morally right thing? It takes a conscience to be a good American, not a conservative.

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Route 25 Rollover; Harwich students arrested for "silent sit-in"

 One injured, took an hour to free driver

BOURNE - One person was injured in a single vehicle truck rollover on Route 25 eastbound on the Bourne/ Plymouth town line Friday afternoon (11-20-09) around 1:20 PM.

Firefighters from Bourne, Plymouth and Onset spent nearly one half hour extricating the female victim from the vehicle using the jaws of life. The extent of the female victim's injuries is unknown at this time. She is being transported to Tobey Hospital in Wareham. State Police are investigating the cause of the crash. (Photo by David G. Curran)

Students arrested at Cape Cod Tech protest, school in "lock down"
Student Facebook cites heavy-handed disciplinary treatment of students

A heavy police presence was visible outside the school, and police on the scene told a news photographer the facility was "locked down."

HARWICH - Students held a sit-in protest at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich early Friday morning, and the event led to the arrests of at least two students.

A Facebook page set up by students said the "silent sit-in" demonstration was meant to call attention to what they say is heavy-handed disciplinary treatment of students by some teachers and school administrators.

Several students and parents outside the school while the protest was going on said more than 400 of the school's 600 students were participating in what began as a peaceful protest. They said many of the grievances were directed toward Dean of Students Paula Maxwell... Harwich Oracle.

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Demolition and Flooding

Buzzards Bay

by Ana Paulina

I arrived at the scene around 9:00 am this morning to find  that this was all that was left of the  Buzzards Bay Theater.

And set back in the distance, behind the theater, another lot was  being demolished.

Shortly after the rain storm passed, the Buzzards Bay area became a blanket of fog.

Due to vandalism, the Buzzards Bay Park, facilities have been closed for the season.

This Fundy Lobster, came gliding by as I happen to be in the area.

I found a great deal of flooded out sections  all along Main Street and side roads of Buzzards Bay.

And here is some land runoff into the Cape Cod Canal.

And while visiting a friend in Plymouth yesterday, I came across this beauty, behind a vacant Wal-Mart.

Beijo!

Photographical Property and Work of ©Ana Paulina 2009

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A calm break from worry and anxiety ~ kindness meditation

Link: http://www.kindyoga.com

Have you  thought meditation is only about making your mind go blank? And really, that doesn't seem very useful or interesting does it? 

Yogis and meditators have practiced various forms of meditation for ages, and the benefits may lead to enlightenment, but what if your goals aren't so lofty - just a reduction in blood pressure or  clearer thinking, maybe a calmer mind and a little less worry would be nice.

Here is a meditative practice called Metta, or kindness meditation you may want to try. Metta cultivates a sense of compassion for yourself and for all life, and gets you off the hamster wheel of worry and anxiety. Set aside a few minutes, it would be 5 or 10. Maybe the same few minutes you would have listened to a ryling radio show or the news that would have brought your blood pressure up.
You can begin by sitting  in a comfortable position, closing your eyes if you want to.
Sit with your back straight, without being strained or overarched.
Take a few deep breaths, relax your body. Settle into your body and into the moment.
This meditation begins with the self and then the focus broadens out to people close to you, then your community, then all beings.  You might imagine it like ripples going out in a still lake.

First, contemplate kindness for the self, Classical Metta phrases are:
"May I live in safety. May I be happy. May I be healthy, May I live with ease."

See if certain phrases emerge from your heart that express what you wish most deeply for yourself, not just for today, but in an enduring way.  Phrases that are big enough and general enough that you can ultimately wish them for all of life, for all beings every where.

Second comtemplate and repeat the phrases for a loved one, a friend or family member:

"May you live in safety. May you be happy. May you be healthy.  May you live with ease.

Then apply the pharase to someone you don't really know - consider the bank teller or cashier you saw this morning, and again repeat the phrases: May you live in safety, etc.

Lastly apply the contemplation to all beings - you can include all people, animals, trees, etc.
"May all beings live in safety, May all beings live with ease, etc.
You can repeat these phrases over and over again, have your mind rest in the phrases and whenever you find your attention has wandered, just see if you can gently let go and begin again.

Try this paractice for a few weeks and see what happens. So much research is now being done on the benefits of meditation, and the results are amazing health benefits which affect the health of your heart and mind.

check out the center for mindfulness at UMass http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/index.aspx

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Nor’Ida Whips up a Wild Weekend at Wellfleet Bay

Tropical depression Ida landed in the Northeast and Cape Cod last week as a nor’easter. While we were spared the heavy rains that fell just over the bridge, the Cape was pummeled with strong winds that gusted over 40 mph at times on Friday and Saturday. Despite the wild weather, 13 hearty folks came down to Wellfleet Bay to spend the weekend with us looking for stranded marine animals as part of an adult Cape Cod Field School.

Mid November is the traditional peak time for strandings of cold-stunned sea turtles on bayside beaches. The field school was organized to take advantage of this and enlist the help of the participants in the rescue of sea turtles off the beach, as well as provide them with a unique educational experience. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. With the winds out of the east-northeast and balmy temperatures in the 50s, the conditions were not right for turtle strandings to occur.

While we didn’t find any cold-stunned sea turtles, there were plenty of unique educational experiences throughout the weekend.  Given the winds, the group patrolled Sandy Neck and Scusset Beach in search stranded marine life and got an insider’s look at winter beach ecology. The group assisted with the removal of a 250 pound + ocean sunfish from a Wellfleet beach which was brought back to the sanctuary for a group-assisted necropsy. A peek inside a deceased Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle was also a thrill for many of the participants. And the weekend ended with a cruise into Wellfleet Harbor to see grey seals and seabirds and ducks. A rare sighting of a pilot whale within the harbor was also a thrill! Visit Don Lewis’ Turtle Journal for details on the weekend—complete with photos and video.(Ed. Note: You can also follow Don on Twitter @turtlejournal.)

The weekend was led by Sanctuary Director Bob Prescott, Naturalist Dennis Murley, researchers Don Lewis and Sue Wieber Nourse (who provided these images), and Carol “Krill” Carson, adjunct professor at Bridgewater State College and founder of NEBShark. The collective energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge combined with the participants’ sense of adventure and good humor, made for a great weekend.

Melissa Lowe

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Breaking and entering arrest in Falmouth; Yarmouth Police weekly arrests include felony assault, destruction of property, OUI & warrants

Breaking and entering arrest made in Falmouth

FALMOUTH - In an effort to combat the most recent spike in the Breaking and Entering of residences, businesses and motor vehicles, the Falmouth Police combined information from several sources which led to the arrest of Robert Estrela, 18, of East Falmouth, for Breaking and Entering at a home on Shorewood Drive in East Falmouth.

Release courtesy of the Falmouth Police Department.

Yarmouth PD arrests November 12-19, 2009

Felony assault, destruction of property, OUI and warrants this week

YARMOUTH - During the past week, from Thursday, November 12 through Thursday, November 19, the men and women of the Yarmouth Police Department responded to  551 calls resulting in the criminal charges against 32 individuals. 

The following are some of the more significant criminal events during that period. 

Release and photos courtesy of the Yarmouth Police Department.

Editor's note: The information and images (mugshots) are included in this blog as a matter of public safety.  Inappropriate comments on this blog post will be deleted. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Stats vs. truth, part deux: ex-Harwich Mariner Tim Lincecum wins NL Cy Young

San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum yesterday won the 2009 National League Cy Young Award despite posting only 15 wins - which, in case you're counting, is one fewer than Kansas City Royal Zack Greinke had in winning the AL award earlier this week. Yet, as with Greinke, the honor for this former Harwich Mariner is one that is richly deserved given the truth of his performance.

See the rest of this article on Examiner.com!

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