EXTRA...

Bad weather coming; Talking Turtle top Mason; Binghams file suit for Mashpee; Wamps "Living in Two Worlds":

TODAY"s quote; (News item - RI's unemployment tops in nation at 8.8%.)
"The recession is so bad in Rhode Island that the mob in Providence just laid off two judge." - A RI publisher.

Some forecasters say severe winter coming to New England

Remember Chatham's Main Street in '03?

Winter weather forecasts made in October are highly speculative, but some meteorologists who are willing to go out on a limb this season are seeing snow on the ground below.  Joe Bastardi, the long-range forecaster for AccuWeather, is predicting one of the coldest winters in years for the eastern third of the nation, and by implication, that portends a snowy winter as well.

"The winter as a whole ... will be a one-two punch of higher heating prices and lower temperatures," he said recently.  He envisions "bookends of cold" this winter, with a frigid December, a January thaw and more cold snaps in late January and February.

Less scientific in its forecasts is the Old Farmer's Almanac, which has predicted a "numbingly cold and snowy" winter for New England, with especially chilly temperatures in December.  Typically issuing a conservative forecast, the National Weather Service is hedging its bets, predicting equal chances for a cold winter as a warm one in New England and equal chances for a snowy winter as a relatively dry one.

So whose forecast should you trust?

...The models can be accurate, said Ed Carroll ABC40 weather man, "But if all the winter storms move 40 miles away from Cape Cod, the Pioneer Valley (in Central Mass.) doesn't get any snow. So a computer model can't tell people what's going to happen in Agawam over a six-month period..." Springfield Republican.
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Wampanoag Morgan James Peters to assume masonic post
Blogger know as Speaking Turtle

When the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge in New Bedford installs a new slate of officers Saturday, Morgan James Peters will become the 80th worshipful master of the Cottage Street lodge and the first Mashpee Wampanoag to hold the position in the 151 years of the lodge's existence.

Mr. Peters (on right), who is also known as Mwalim, is an assistant professor of English and African American Studies at UMass Dartmouth and has been a member of the lodge, officially known as Union Lodge No.4 F.& A.M., since 2003... According to a press release from the lodge, Native Americans have always had a presence in the Prince Hall lodge and an Aquinnah Wampanoag named Andrew M. Bush from Union Lodge went on to become a grand master in 1881... Standard-Times.
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"LIVING IN TWO WORLDS..."

The Boston Islands national park area announces that, "Living in Two Worlds: Native American Experiences in the Boston Harbor Islands," has received a 2007 Northeast Region Excellence in Interpretation Award for Media. The 30-minute documentary, which explores Native American connections to Boston Harbor through the ancient and living heritage of local tribes, features both personal reminiscences and footage of traditional communal events. The documentary's themes align with Massachusetts's standards for grades six through nine, and can be incorporated within several units of study. The DVD can be viewed as a single presentation or in chapters to enable pauses for discussion. The film asserts the enduring Native American connection to Boston Harbor through a collection of contemporary oral histories. Five individuals, representing the Natick Nipmuck, Mashpee Wampanoag, Massachusett and Nipnuck Nation share stories that illuminate the personal and communal ties to the islands and speak to the challenges of sustaining a Native identity in modern-day America. Call 617-223-8666 or visit here.

Binghams File Claim For 4,000 Acres Of Mashpee and State Property

Two members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe have filed a land claim against the Town of Mashpee and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, leaving out private property but seeking to reclaim more than 4,000 acres of publicly owned land.

In 1974 Amelia Bingham was one of the group who established the first tribal council

Amelia G. and Steven P. Bingham filed the complaint in US District Court in Boston on Wednesday morning, making good on their threats over the past 15 months that they would sue for land they claim was illegally taken from their ancestors when the town was incorporated in 1870.
A spokesman for the tribal council, Gayle Andrews, said on Wednesday that the suit has “nothing to do with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe"... Mashpee Enterprise.
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