EXTRA...

Blizzard conditions on the way; Elderly to wait for home care; Yarmouth's new Fire Chief gets $100k; Kirk Davis' new job

TODAY's quote: "It's not the return ON your money that matters anymore -
                                      it's the return OF your money." - Julian Jessop

Pelham fire chief accepts job offer in Yarmouth
Salary jumps from $76,000 to $100,000

On Feb. 2, Pelham Fire Chief Mike Walker will experience a Groundhog Day like no other when he awakes as the new fire chief in Yarmouth, Mass.

"And, hopefully, Chief Walker will be with us for the next 10 Groundhog Days, or so," Yarmouth Town Administrator Robert Lawton said.

Lawton told The Sun yesterday that he and Walker completed salary negotiations over the weekend, and Walker formally accepted Yarmouth's offer of a base annual salary of $100,000. In Pelham, Walker, a 33-year veteran firefighter, made $76,000 as chief.

FD Chief Mike Walker will start Feb. 2nd.

Walker's scheduled first day on the job in Yarmouth is Monday, Feb. 2, according to Lawton.  "This is contingent upon passing his physical, but he's set," Lawton said. "But he said he's not giving his resignation until the physical is completed"...

Walker topped a field of 25 candidates for the Yarmouth chief's position in December. Yarmouth selectmen voted 3-2 to extend an offer to Walker, with two board members favoring Yarmouth's in-house candidate, Deputy Fire Chief Robert Kelleher.

Yarmouth has 65 full-time firefighters and three stations. In the winter, the population is 28,000, but that figure doubles in the summertime, when seasonal residents and vacationers arrive, Lawton said.. TMC.
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Light snow, deep freeze looming
And a blizzard on Cape Friday

Near blizzard conditions. Cape Cod and Nantucket might be particularly threatened by the falling temperatures, strong northerly wind gusts, and briefly heavy snow along treacherous roads.

The dusting of snow and light drizzle expected this evening may leave streets and sidewalks slick with ice when a blast of arctic air from the upper Midwest causes temperatures to plummet after midnight...

Two to 4 inches of snow on Thursday is expected to be followed by howling cold temperatures. Wind gusts are expected to make it feel like 10 to 15 to degrees below zero in Boston on Thursday and Friday nights. Further inland, the wind chill may hit 30 below, forecasters said... Globe.
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Budget cuts force elderly to wait for home care
Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands has 14 on waiting list

Squeezed by state budget cuts, elderly service agencies have been forced to place people on waiting lists for a home care program that helps seniors stay out of nursing homes. The home care program's budget was cut by $6.7 million statewide in October as part of Gov. Deval Patrick's effort to balance the budget...

Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands Inc. began its waiting list Jan. 5, and it had grown to 14 as of Friday. The agency has to cut its caseload of approximately 1,700 by about 100, said Leslie Scheer, the agency's executive director... Standard-Times.
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Many Cape Codders remember Kirk Davis when he was the President of the Community Newspaper Co. in the early part of this decade and when he returned in 2006 to head the new company. He is now top dog at America's biggest newspaper chain which owns eight weeklies on the Cape and Island.

Kirk Davis' latest challenge

It looks like GateHouse Media has done something pretty smart: the community newspaper chain has named Kirk Davis (right) as its president and chief operating officer, the number-two position in the company. Davis, who currently runs GateHouse Media New England, will be replaced by his own number-two, Rick Daniels, a former top executive at the Boston Globe.

GateHouse owns some 400 newspapers nationwide, and more than 100 in Eastern Massachusetts. The company is currently involved in a nasty legal dispute with the New York Times Co. over GateHouse's and the Globe's competing online strategies.

I've interviewed Davis several times over the years, including, most recently, this past fall for a piece I wrote for CommonWealth Magazine. He is smart, passionate and an inveterate optimist.

I'm not sure anyone is up to the task of saving GateHouse — or, for that matter, the newspaper industry in general. But Davis is not someone I'd bet against... MediaNation.