EXTRA...

Chatham stops camp razing, refuses National Park a beach permit

TODAY's quote: "The Seashore officials are aware of the permission that they need, and they have given me every indication that they plan to follow the required process." - Chatham Police Chief Mark Pawlina.

Chatham blocks National Park demolition of five North Beach Island camps

Town refuses Cape Cod National Seashore Park a "beach sticker"

"For the sake of a nail the shoe was lost", but in this case, "for the sake of a permit the camp was saved" as Chatham's Chief of Police refused to give a permit to the National Seashore authorities to bring motorized vehicles and/or equipment ashore on North Shore Island to start the demolition of five summer cottages until after a hearing that will take place next Tuesday.

Chatham Police Chief Mark Pawlina.Therefore there will be no "Occupy Cape Cod" demonstrations likely this week unless the superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore Park ignores the wishes of the Chatham Police
Chief which Seashore Superintendent George Price has promised not to do.

What stopped the demolition?

Opponents of the demolition pointed out to town officials that a rule adopted in 2008 as part of Chatham Parks and Recreation Commission's North Beach general rules and regulations required that "any and all motorized equipment or machinery staying on the beach must secure permission from the Chatham chief of police before proceeding on beach."

In an emergency session yesterday afternoon, Chatham Selectmen voted to ask Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent Price to obtain a permit from the chief of police before beginning demolition of the five Seashore-owned camps on North Beach Island.

Price said Tuesday that the work, initially scheduled to start Monday, had been delayed due to internal discussions. He indicated crews could be out on the beach later in the week, on foot, not in "motorized" anything because the beach and the shacks are part of the seashore park.

A Cape Cod builder, who has no connection with either the town or the camps owners, told Cape Cod TODAY that the National Park's concerns are not only groundless, but unnecessarily costly.

The beach repeats itself over and over again.After a breakthrough years ago all the camps were repositioned on pilings which are buried deeply in the sand, and they would survive even after major erosion. If that did happen, and no one, not the park or police or town, have any idea what our barrier beach will do except change, removing the camps after they were exposed on the pilings would be far less costly to the national park than tearing them down by hand as proposed.

History shows that the barrier beach breaks, then repairs, the Atlantic Ocean currents change it, move the sands, and it may even reconnect with Monomoy again as it has in the past.

Meanwhile a request by camp owners and former leaseholders that the 11 remaining island camps be considered as a National Historic District was rejected by the Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer.

The Cape Cod Chronicle promises a complete report on this tomorrow.

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Retronaut does Cape Cod in the '40s

Archive site offers a view of the Cape through Eisenstaedt's lens

Summer on Cape Cod. Photo © Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Archives.

If you aren't already familiar with it, the image archive website Retronaut is one of the coolest sites on the web offering an amazing collection of photographs and images from the last one hundred plus years.

The site is broken down into decades and covers pretty much every topic you can imagine. It is an absolute delight for history buffs and a truly comprehensive peek into the past.

Today's email newsletter from Retronaut featured a special local treat--Summer on Cape Cod, 1940--showcasing photos by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Eisenstaedt (1898-1995) was a German-American photographer probably best known for his VJ Day in Times Square photo.

For half a century, Eisenstaedt vacationed each summer on Martha's Vineyard. And that love of Cape Cod and the Islands is clearly evident in the images he captured.

The photos are from the Life Archives.

Aquinnah joins the game: "dueling casinos" battle with Mashpee; Home insurance rates jump

TODAY's quote: “I do believe the Aquinnahs are viable in pursuit of a gaming license." - Mayor Flanagan.

Aquinnah Tribe and Mashpee in "dueling casinos", it's Fall River vs. Taunton

Home insurance increases

Following a torrent of claims from homeowners in the Berkshires and statewide whose properties were damaged by last year’s wild weather, insurers are seeking premium increases that could have a sharp impact on household budgets.
      So far, increases approved by the state range from 4.5 percent for Liberty Mutual to 8 percent for Commerce Insurance.
      Fair Plan, the insurer of last resort for people who can’t get coverage elsewhere, has sought an 8 percent hike, which remains under review. Homeowner policies are more costly in many parts of Massachusetts, such as Cape Cod, than in the Berkshires, where the average premium is about $600.
      Read The North Adams Transcript here.Two tribes want casinos, and the race is on

It's been only a week since the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe decided on Taunton for the site of its eagerly anticipated gambling casino and resort hotel, and now Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan has produced a stunning letter declaring that the Wampanoag Aquinnah Tribe on Martha’s Vineyard wants Fall River voters to decide if they want their casino - as soon as possible.

Aquinnah Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais attached an emailed letter about 1:30 p.m. Monday calling it “an official request” to them “to schedule a vote for approval of the tribe’s proposed gaming in the city of Fall River” asking Flanagan and city officials to follow one of the precepts of the expanded gaming act Patrick signed into law in November.

“King Cedric’s War”?

Since there is only one casino mandated for the state's Native Americans, it look like we are in for a 21st. century version of "Indian Wars", this one between the two local tribes.

Will Cheryl and Cedric meet in battle over "bucks"?At least during this war the European settlers (invaders?) get to sit back and watch instead of ducking arrows. Mashpee Cedric Cromwell will meet Aquinnah Cheryl Andrews-Maltais in a battle to determine which of these two, small tribes become millionaires if they can get their schick together before the July 31 deadline.Many doubt that they will, and the tribe's option will pass to other non-Indian interests.

Although they have no written history, the Aquinnahs claim their people "have lived for at least 10,000 years at Aquinnah (Gay Head) and throughout the island of Noepe (Martha's Vineyard)." The tribe even renamed the famous Gay Head Lighthouse the Noepe Light, and they say they believe that the giant Moshup created Noepe and the neighboring islands.

There is no mention of either the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.

Read the Fall River Herald News story here.

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Chatham birthday celebration starts; Beach camps leave

TODAY's quote: "The town's refusal to fund any kind of beach patrol, clarify what regulatory body actually has jurisdiction over what was formally known only as North Beach, or take a stronger stance on South Beach access, makes it apparent to me that there is no sincere  interest in managing such a valuable resource."
- Bob Long, Chatham Selectman.

Chatham Tercentennial Celebration begins Friday, to last 300 days

The theme of the Chatham Tercentennial is "Find Your Way", and celebrants can "Find Your Way" to Chatham Bars Inn at 7 pm on March 10 to celebrate the opening weekend of the Chatham 300 celebration for a fun-filled evening of great dance bands and music through the centuries. T. O'Brien photo.

Camp demolition begins

Barring bad weather the North Beach Camps will go today. The Occupy Cape Cod group threatens to protest, Paul Rifkin even said he might lie in down of the bulldozers, but the Chronicle reports that the demolition of five federally-owned camps on North Beach Island could start today despite both Paul and the weather.
      Rifkin's plan may be stymied by the fact no bulldozers are planned. The camps will be dismantled by carpenters who will remove windows and other dangerous objects ahead of the removal by a barge at a later date. 
      The Chronicle reports that citing what he describes as a lack of support from town staff, Selectman Bob Long resigned from the North Beach Advisory Committee. 
      He sent this letter Friday.Tercentennial means three hundred years, not more, not least, and since Chatham is a very proper kind of town, it plans its 300th birthday to be celebrated for 300 days, not 365, or in this Leap year, 366.

This coming Friday is the beginning of 300 days of celebration to honor Chatham for lasting 3oo years.

Events begin with the opening celebration banquet at the Wayside Inn on Friday, continue on Saturday with the Tercentennial Period Ball, and wind down (for now at least) on Sunday with an opening convocation at the First Congregational Church.

A huge slate of events will continue into the spring, summer and fall as the town rallies to mark this significant milestone in its history.

One of the lead off events is what happened here before the first European arrived in 1712.

The town of Chatham was then called the village of Monomoit.  It was one of 67 villages of the Wampanoag Nation that stretched from Cape Cod and the Islands through the southeastern portions of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

What is the Indian history of Chatham?  How will the Wampanoag be participating in the town’s 300 celebration?  Find out by visiting the Tercentennial website here.

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Concerned Nauset parents demand meeting at Middle School

TODAY's quote: “Advanced classes have been used for years and up to a quarter of all middle school students use them. What parents fear with this change is that teachers will just end up teaching to the middle and are upset that this was done unilaterally and without properly consulting parents."
- Julie Brooks, Brewster parent.

Nauset parents unhappy over loss of sixth grade advanced classes

Group urges concerned parents to attend meeting Monday at 7 at NRMS

The Cape Codder reports that after a chorus of protests from parents concerned over the cancellation of advanced classes for sixth graders, administrators from the Nauset Regional Middle School will be holding a meeting Monday, March 5 at 7pm at the Middle School to discuss the issue as well as their plan to make sure that students with different learning levels are accommodated.

Principal Maxine Minkoff has drawn criticism for the change, which has stopped advanced classes in Social Studies, Science, Math and English language arts.

“We found that sixth graders are in a transition period and academically and emotionally developing.  For this and other reasons, it made more sense to have no advanced classes."
    - Principal Maxine Minkoff.Minkoff said that teachers are trained to instead use differentiated instruction to work with students of all learning levels in a single classroom.

What happened to merit at Nauset?

The tone of the parent's concerns was best stated by Jennifer Rabold, the chairman of the Brewster Elementary School Committee, who said, "We feel like we are taking a step backward right now. The whole system encourages the elevation of the lower performing students but doesn’t do enough to challenge the gifted students."

Many parents feel this is the ultimate in lop-sided "Political Correctness" holding back the talented so those less willing to achieve will not be "upset." Other parents pointed out that there are four subjects for students in middle school, and few are now placed in more than one or two of the advanced classes leaving the rest of their time in school to study with their peers including home room and athletics and extra curriculum activities.

Julie Brooks, an 18-year resident of Brewster who has two children in the schools, was unhappy with the situation. “Advanced classes have been used for years and up to a quarter of all middle school students use them. What parents fear with this change is that teachers will just end up teaching to the middle and are upset that this was done unilaterally and without properly consulting parents,” she said.

Read The Cape Codder story here.

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Sandwich PD out of whack, needs all of town's reserves

TODAY's quote: “For the last calendar year, arrests were up 28%, motor vehicle stops were up 45%."
- Sandwich Police Chief Peter Wack.

Sandwich Police Department overtime costs at out of whack says Chief

May need all of town's remaining reserve funds before end of fiscal 2012

Out of  control?

Sandwich is the only town which has moved two local town residents to write sad tales about it.
This newssite features the reports by two bloggers,  Sandwich Today and Sandwich Watchdog, regularly as they regularly reveal the misdeeds and weird decisions by the Cape oldest town.
      Sandwich Today mostly focuses on the town's high costs and confusions while Sandwich Watchdog is primarily interested in reporting about the antics of Chief Wack's department and the Sandwich School system meltdown.The Sandwich Enterprise reports that with only $375,000 left in the town’s reserves, Police Chief Peter N. Wack told the finance committee the Police Department may need it all before the end of the fiscal year.

He told the finance committee he will be back asking for a reserve fund transfer of between $250,000 and $330,000.

Department wants six more dispatchers

As one of the only towns on the Cape that still uses trained police officers as dispatchers rather than lower salaried civilians, the chief s aid huge overtime costs have been caused by over half the force being on leave, retiring or other undefined long-term absences.

Chief Wack said he will be asking for an additional $387,000 to hire six new dispatchers. After their training he will no longer have to send all 31 police officers away for annual training.

It was not explained why this hadn't been done years ago when most other departments stopped using trained police officers to fulfill a function which lower paid civilians are capable of performing as well.

Profiling, over aggressive law enforcement?

Despite the grim financial picture Chief Wack paints, and the wildly escalating overtime costs and shortage of personnel, he also brags that his department's arrests in the past calendar year are up 28 percent and vehicle stops are up a staggering 45 percent.

Is this possible without police profiling and over aggressive police work to intimidate residents? Anything seems possible in a gtown which gave us Jeff Perry as a State Rep.

Read the Enterprise story here.

To see all the Xtras, click here, and to write a Letter to the Editor, click here.

Read the Enterprise story here.

"Lady in the Dunes" may be another of Whitey Bulger's victims

TODAY's quote: “Our concern is just getting someone to come forward and give us information to identify the victim in this case. It’s fairly common knowledge that Mr. Bulger spent quite a bit of time in Provincetown in the ’70s and early ’80s.”  - Provincetown Detective Meredith Lobur.

A new image of the ‘‘The Lady of the Dunes'' was created by forensic experts from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Smithsonian Institution. The woman's body was found on the Cape Cod National Seashore in Provincetown in 1974. (Provincetown Police Department)

James "Whitey" Bulger seen as link to solving "Lady of the Dunes" mystery

Mobster was alleged male prostitute here

Some call the case the most famous of all unsolved murders in the six-state region, and now the Provincetown Banner suggests there may be a link in the case to the infamous mobster and alleged male prostitute James "Whitey" Burger.

The Cape tip weekly reports that since  Bulger's capture last June, witnesses have reported seeing Bulger with a young woman in Provincetown during July of 1974, the time the murder is believed to have occurred.

The new informants say that woman strongly resembled a composite of the "Lady in the Dunes" created by the Smithsonian after her body was exhumed a few years ago.

The victim's remains were found on July 26, 1974, in the sand dunes about a mile east of Race Point Beach at the tip of Cape Cod. Her hands were amputated, apparently to prevent identification, and she had been nearly decapitated.

Provincetown Police Chief Jaran is the fourth chief to investigate the case, the town's only unsolved murder.

Chief Jaran said, "It was a horrific, brutal murder. It would be awful for any time, any place. But for the Cape, for Provincetown?’’

"Drag  Queen for a Day" in Ptown often

Doomed actor Sal Mineo and an old flame Whitey.Friends of Ours blog reports that Irish mob boss Whitey Bulger has long has been rumored to have a "little sugar in his tank", and that he once allegedly had a fling with doomed actor Sal Mineo.

The blogger added that Whitey was known as an overnight guest at the gay resort Crown and Anchor (A.K.A. Crown & Whip) in Ptown when it previously was owned by Staniford A. Sorrentino and Henry D. Vara Jr., and the Winter Hill gangster's name came up during a tax evasion trial against Sorrentino in the early 1980s.

It has also been reported that Bulger had been an overnight guest at the inn and had stayed at Sorrentino's home on occasion.

Bulger also had been spotted by Boston Police Superintendent Bob Hayden in the long-standing drag queen bar Jacques in the Bay Village. In his book The Brothers Bulger, Carr alleges that Whitey got his start in the criminal underworld as a teen after a lesbian pimp recruited him to hustle out of gay bars.

Read the Banner story here. Read Friends of Ours blog here.

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Rifkin at Chatham's Tienanmen Square; Gas price poll

TODAY's quote: “I am involved in Occupy not only for economic justice… I think there are 10,000 injustices occurring and I am willing to spend my energy dealing with any of those injustices. I am against what I see as immoral or unjust." - Paul Rifkin, Occupy Cape Cod.

   Will Paul Rifkin stand in front of the bulldozers on North Beach Island?  Does the gull poop on the sand? And if he can't find a bulldozer, a Chinese tank will do just fine.

Is gas more costly today
than a century ago?
The answer is no.

We ran a poll for the past several days asking readers whether gas was higher, the same or lower than 100 years ago using the established conversion scale for the value of 1912 US dollars vs. 2012 US dollars.
      Here are the results. They show that 60% of readers thought gas was "a lot higher" when in actuality, it is "slightly lower".
      In 1912 gas sold for 20 cents a gallon. A dollar in 1912 would buy $22.57 worth of stuff in 2012. 20 cents times $22.57 is over $4.50.
     So don't complain, pump.
But will Paul Rifkin swim to North Beach?

By Walter Brooks (with tongue in cheek)

One-time Hippie, current restauranteur, photographer and political activist Paul Rifkin may have finally bitten off more than even he can occupy.

The irrepressible activist has been a part of, and major figure in, every protest for the poor, disfranchised and needy since he moved to Cotuit more years ago than an admirer like myself will reveal.

But Paul may have finally over-reached.

The Chatham "Occupy" movement

The Cape Cod National Seashore Park is about to tear down the remaining private beach camps on Chatham's truncated North Beach Island, and Paul says he will lie down in front to the bulldozers to stop them if he has to, sort of a Tienanmen Square scene on the sands of Cape Cod.

We hope Paul and his "occupiers" are aware that the wealthy cul-de-sac town of Chatham is known for being quite conservative and has voted Republican ever since the Whig Party was no longer available.

How Chatham will react to a 1989 Tienanmen Square situation like Paul is proposing is a joy to consider.

There are an estimated half-dozen known liberals in the town, but we've been told they are all at their Palm Beach estates at this time of year.

The Cape Codder reports that Paul is even willing to lie down in front of bulldozers to protect remnants of the old Cape he cherishes and the weekly newspaper goes on to say that next week he may have to do just that on North Beach Island. 

So if the town doesn't put up "No Trespass" signs, and the National Park Service begins tearing down the camps on the barrier beach Monday, their efforts will be complicated, and maybe even streamed online, as members of the Occupy Cape Cod movement sun themselves off season on a Chatham outer barrier beach.

Read The Cape Codder story here.

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Patrick ready to talk casino with Cromwell; Dead dolphins litter Brewster beach

TODAY's quote: “If I understand it correctly, the compact negotiations begin once the town or city has taken a vote, or once they schedule the vote, ... and as soon as they do we’re ready to go.”
- Gov. Deval Patrick.

Brewster's dead dolphins

Dead dolphins clutter Brewster's  beach. What do you do with dead dolphins on the beach? It used to be very little, but now Cape Cod Bay beaches have become a mortuary of sorts with the record stranding of 179 dolphins and one resident is tired of watching them decay.
   Read the story in the Abington Mariner. Gov. Patrick is ready to talk terms with Tribe

Now that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has chosen Taunton as the location of its casino and hotel complex, Gov. Deval Patrick told reporters yesterday he was prepared to begin negotiations with the tribe over a revenue-sharing compact with the state for one of three casino licenses according to a stories in today's Patriot-Ledger and Boston Globe.

Casinos pay NJ 8 %, CT gets billions

In the neighboring state of Connecticut the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation promised the state $80 million or 25% of their annual slot revenue. For the first 10 years of operation, Connecticut received more than $1.7 billion from Foxwoods alone.

In New Jersey the casinos pay the state 8 percent of their gross revenues.

A spokesman for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on Thursday described the request for a local vote as imminent, after which the Taunton City Council would be required to schedule a local referendum within 60 to 90 days.

Read what Blogger Monponsett thinks this will mean for Taunton here.

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Wife alleged Mihos hires prostitutes, porn stars, was sex addict

Update: Andrea Mihos drops charges, Christy will not face domestic assult charge

Former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos will not face domestic assault and battery charges over a recent incident with his wife accordsing to a report on NECN this afternoon.
Christy’ wife has been uncooperative with the investigation and that her version of events has been inconsistent.
Originally, Andrea Mihos claimed her husband injured her in a fight over his alleged involvement with prostitutes. But now, an attorney for Mrs. Mihos says his client injured herself.
Police now say there is not enough evidence to make the charges stick.

Christy Mihos issued this statement today:

Andrea and I have been married for almost 38 years and I cherish the perfect wife she has always been. We are blessed with two wonderful children. I am now seeking the proper course of treatment to make myself a better husband, father and person. But I am not the perfect person and have made mistakes in judgement that have hurt the ones I love most. I am not the same man I was after majorcancer surgery and a significant fall which left me unconscious and hurt me badly in December of 2009. I humbly ask that you respect the privacy of my marriage and my family. Christy Mihos.

Mihos hit wife with her phone as she tried to record argument

Andrea Mihos says Christy hired prostitutes for $400-$2,000 an hour

Andrea and Christy in happier times.Andrea Mihos told the Stuart Florida Sheriff that money problems and her husband's addiction to hiring prostitutes, strippers and porn stars for sex, was the cause of the argument that ended in a domestic assault last week near her oceanfront home there.

WBZ-TV reports today that during a fight in Christy Mihos' car the two-time candidate for Massachusetts Governor told his wife of 38 years that she could, “easily disappear or be hurt or killed.”

When his wife began to record the fight on her iPhone, she alleges Mihos grabbed it and threw it at her hitting her lip.

Christy's wife alleged her husband paid $400 to $2,000 an hour for sex in three different states, but she refused to co-operate with investigators in Florida after going to Yarmouth Police for help.

Read the WBZ story here.

Florida Sheriff closes Mihos investigation

“You could easily disappear
   or be hurt or killed.”The Jupiter Courier reports that the Martin County Sheriff's Office said that during a heated argument with her husband, Andrea Mihos tried to record what was happening with her iPhone, but she told police that Christy Mihos grabbed the phone away from her and threw it away.

The Florida sheriff has closed its domestic battery investigation of Mihos who is suspected of assaulting his wife at their Stuart home, according to an incident report.

The Sheriff's Office released the details of the Feb. 22 incident between  Christy Mihos, 62, and his wife Andrea Mihos, 60, that show the couple argued about previous marital problems.

An attorney representing Andrea Mihos told a Sheriff's Office detective that she wouldn't make any more statements to Florida law enforcement about the incident, the report states.

Read the Jupiter Courier here.

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