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Judge had freed sex offender; CC Commish gets watershed case; "White Nose" disease killing northeast bats; Shipwreck reappears in Wellfleet

Suspect in rape at library was freed sex offender
Judge denied the prosecutor's motion to keep Corey Saunders in custody

In 1994, he was found wandering the streets holding a teddy bear. He had been missing for 14 hours, and his mother signed over care to DSS. Saunders was sent to the psychiatric ward of Cape Cod Hospital, where doctors said he had low intelligence and showed signs of developmental disability, the judge wrote.NEW BEDFORD - A convicted sex offender arrested this week on charges of raping a 6-year-old boy in the public library had been released from prison a year ago, despite the strenuous objections of the district attorney and three psychologists who argued that he posed a serious threat to children.

Superior Court Judge Richard Moses denied the prosecutor's motion to keep Corey Saunders in custody indefinitely, arguing that he had a low IQ and had suffered physical and sexual abuse as a child. The judge said Saunders, who was sentenced to four years for the attempted rape of a 7-year-old boy in 1999, had not committed any major sexual offense while he was in prison. Moses released Saunders, ruling that he was not dangerous.

Later, Saunders was classified as a Level 3 sex offender, the most dangerous category considered likely to reoffend. Level 3 offenders are required to register with local police, and their photos are posted on a state website.  Police say that on Wednesday, Saunders, 26, raped the boy between the downtown library's tall book shelves on the second floor, just a few feet from the child's mother, who was working on a computer and was unaware of what was happening. At a press conference at police headquarters yesterday, police officials expressed outrage at Moses' decision to release Saunders...  Globe.  
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Unexplained "White Nose" Disease Killing Northeast Bats

ALBANY, New York, January 31, 2008 (ENS) - State environmental officials and caving organizations are asking people not to enter caves or mines with bats until further notice to avoid the possible transfer of a mysterious new bat disease from cave to cave.  Thousands of hibernating bats are dying in caves in New York and Vermont from unknown causes, prompting an investigation by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, DEC, as well as wildlife agencies and researchers around the nation.

The most obvious symptom involved in the die-off is a white fungus encircling the noses of some, but not all, of the bats...  "Bats from a cave in Dorset, Vermont have been documented traveling in the spring as far as Rhode Island and Cape Cod," says Darling...  Environment News Service
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Watershed protection proposal sent to Cape Cod Commission

Brewster - Protecting Brewster’s groundwater resource was the motivation by a unanimous vote Monday by the board of selectmen to nominate the town’s watershed as a District of Critical Planning Concern.  The vote followed a public hearing and the application goes to the Cape Cod Commission, the regional planning authority that will consider acting on the nomination at one of its regularly scheduled meetings.

Town officials expressed confidence the commission would accept the nomination of the watershed as District of Critical Planning Concern. It is expected the designation would provide an increased level of oversight and planning for land use and activities within Zone 2 regions of the Groundwater Protection District. The easternmost zones borders Orleans and is also considered part of its watershed...  The Cape Codder. 
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Wrecked schooner drifts ashore and into mystery

WELLFLEET - The 50 feet of hand-cut oak ribs had probably been swallowed by the sea more than a century ago, the remnants of a schooner lost with some 1,500 other ships that have sunk in the unpredictable waters off Cape Cod.  But a violent storm this week churned history up off the sandy, ocean floor, spitting the remains of the 19th-century shipwreck onto Newcomb Hollow Beach.

The timbers and planks, held together by wooden pegs, offer a glimpse of the golden age of the schooner, when hundreds of sails dotted the horizon here as ships transported lumber, granite, and coal. Poking up like the bones of a mighty whale, the wreckage has become a magnet pulling the curious onto the frigid beach, where frozen sand crunched underfoot.

"It's unbelievable," said Anneliese Barrio, 74, who brought her 4-year-old grandson, Jack, bundled in mittens and a knit wool cap. "The storm had to be wicked rough to bring this in."  The wreckage has set this sleepy beach town abuzz with speculation about the name of the vessel and the story behind its demise. Was it a majestic, three-mast schooner that sailed shortly after the Civil War? Or a worn, wooden barge, stripped of its masts, brimming with coal that sank in the late 1800s?...  Globe.