CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

Step Two - Blogshop # 7

"When you say that you have a problem with God just what do you mean by that?”

“I don’t believe in Him . . . that he even exists. ” Jack said and methodically rolled his whole head to the right -- his eyeballs staying fast and rotating inside of their sockets - - watching me - my face as if seeking a reaction. Less than an hour ago I had given Jack his second dose for the day of Seroquel, Aripiprazole and Trazadone -- so any odd facial ticks or behavior would not be too unusual - but this reaction was not drug induced. This was that creepy head-turn that people do when they want you to think that they are looking away from you but really are looking directly at you. Then he doubled-creeped the gesture by doing it again - only in the opposite direction this time wearing a one quarter shit-eating pseudo-grin that added a hardly visible curl to each end of his mouth that reminded me of Alex from "A Clockwork Orange."

“I’m pretty messed up huh?” he said.

“Yeah. That you are all right.” So there we stood my brothers - it was then that your Humble Narrator viddied this Sunday school type, lost in his own gulliver,  malchik as if for the first time and could most assuredly assured him - as any droggie intent upon having the boy avoiding snuffing it - with all the earnestness I had which right then was plenty- and I said, with a skorry sladky smile on my litso, “But that never stopped anyone from getting well. If we weren’t so fucked up then why the hell would we ever need to stop?”

Jack's mouth ends broke character and slipped into a real smile and a real chuckle “I have never heard anyone talk like you in AA.”

“Isn’t that a shame?” I said. The temptation to get going on a ‘POP-AA vs. Big Book AA’ tirade came strong just then - but listening to the ego when it tells one what to do usually results in either embarrassment or remorse or both. We needed to turn the subject back in the “God” direction though.

So I asked him if he believed in anything – anything at all that might be ‘up there’ – ‘out there’ ‘in here’ – something unseen maybe even mystical that was calling the shots – keeping the cosmic trains running on schedule, the hole in the ozone opening and closing for centuries - wall calendars flipping their pages in an orderly fashion and most importantly preventing the premature closing of the eons and preventing the Age of Aquarius from ever actually occurring.

“Well yeah, I think there must be something . . . . some energy or a force of some kind. . . . you know . . . something keeping the planets from crashing into each other and all that.”

“If it can do that it must be pretty powerful?” I said.

“Yeah, It’s powerful. I just don’t think that It’s God. It’s just a force or something. Like an energy."

“Now we’re getting somewhere” I thought. I remembered what Bill W had said. Just about the same exact thing that my friend here was saying, just using different words. Like Bill, my friend had a problem with the “Czar of the heavens” illustration passed around by religions and others less imaginative and open to little other than what has been fed to them by clerics. Bill Wilson preferred a term like “Creative Intelligence”, “Universal Mind” or “Spirit of Nature”. This is exactly what I was hearing from Jack.

Only now if we were getting somewhere – he still wasn’t completely convinced – but being completely convinced was not necessary. He needed only to make some kind of start and just the willingness to believe if he were shown was good enough. He would be shown all right.

Alcoholics who recover from alcoholism are blessed with the best seat at the best show in the universe – a personal miracle. While folks cry in vain “Prove yourself to me God!” – “Show me a sign” -- we who pursue this deal get just that without even asking. Once we turn our thinking and our actions over to Him we do anyway - and Jack here was approaching the threshold of doing just that.

He didn’t know that and his words showed it.

That’s why I can’t take the steps. I can never take Step Three.” Sometimes laughing out loud when a prospect says something is appropriate. This was one of those times.

“Never take Step Three.” Now that’s funny. It would be hilarious if so many people had not believed the same damned thing and if those same people did not die from untreated alcoholism all the while attending meetings and playing "AA" member in a fellowship that is supposed to be saving lives.

"The problem is not that you can’t take step three Jack. It’s that no one has ever shown you how to take the first two steps and so you keep jumping ahead to Step Three, the "GOD" word and start fretting and and reckoning that you can’t take the step – without ever having taken the first two steps.”

“Yeah but since I don’t believe in god I can see ahead and know I won’t be able to do it. So why waste my time?”

Wasting his time. Here was a man who had been going to AA meetings with more regularity than he had eating lunch – and no one had ever freed him to take step three by getting him through the first two.

“Well you know Jack there’s a reason that these Steps have numbers you know.” It’s so that Brianiacs like me and you don’t go jumping around out of order screwing them all up.”

These steps dovetail so beautifully, so tightly and completely into each other that not only does each step accomplish what it sets out to do delivering its very own set of promises but they also prepare the Twelve Stepper with the readiness, willingness and understanding that they will need for very next step in ways that mere reading or ardent study of the Steps simply do not provide. Nowhere is this more evident and operative than in these first three.

“Look. Let me ask you something. This ‘thing’ . . . . this power or force that runs the solar systems and the planets. . . . if it wanted to . . . . . could it turn that awning over there from blue to red.” I pointed to the canvas tarpaulin that created a “roof” over the picnic tables and gravel floor of the TSS smoking pen.”

Jack looked like he had just heard a profound joke - the kind George Carlin used to tell that are really funny but also true to experience if not science, logic when carefully considered in new perspective. A slant, if you will - given to the mundane. I intercepted him, “I know this power wont d that. C’mon that would be ridiculous."

^{_{But "if it wanted to – does it have the power to do it – to turn that blue canvas into a red canvas right before our very eyes?"}}

“Well yeah of course. But that is not going to happen”.

"Agreed. But it has the ability to do it IF it wanted to do it. Right?"

“Right”.

"If it is powerful enough to do that then is it power enough to remove that obsession to drink that you have – if wanted to?

“Anything that could turn the color of matter would have the power to do that too,” “Even though we do not expect it to do either, right?”

“Right”.

“Congratulations”. I said to him. “You just took Step Two.

“But I haven’t taken Step One yet.”

“Sure you did. You took it yesterday when you learned how to distinguish between the alcoholic and the non alcoholic and saw yourself as "ALCOHOLIC" and now . . . . today . . . . you just came to believe that a power greater than yourself could if it wanted to – remove the obsession to drink and that means restore you to sanity. That is Step Two."

"Obsession. Alcoholic insanity. The first drink. They're all interchangeable . . . . all the same thing." This kid was really catching on. He had a real chance and he didn't know it yet but he was ready for Step Three.

"Holy shit. If my idea of god can remove that then I'd be OK. You're right!"

“Fuckin’ "A" I’m right!

And with that, O my brothers - I ended the smoke break and drew all the alky walkys back inside and with a feeling of choodessny bliss at the thought of all the fun and excitement ahead of me and my new prospect turned protegee - and sauntered myself back into the building searching out even more alky walkys to help recover as this malchik had now come to believe that a Power greater than himself could restore him to sanity.

Righty-right, my brothers?”

Peace,

Danny S - RLRA
Real Live Recovered Alcoholic

Cape Cod love-ins united President Obama and P.M. Brown

Prime Minister Gordon Brown reaps reward of Cape Cod love-ins

The austere Brown finally has a chance to come into his own. "The new special relationship across the Atlantic is economic," said a prominent member of the Cape Cod set.

A new special relationship based on economics was forged between Gordon Brown and Barack Obama among the sand dunes and beach houses of Cape Cod, New England.

It was there that the brains behind Obama's economic team became friends many seasons ago with the up-and-coming young shadow chancellor of the exchequer. New Labour was just being created and Brown was eager to learn at the foot of masters who had summer houses there, such as Larry Summers, now head of Obama's National Economic Council, and Robert Reich, a professor at Berkeley in California and one of Obama's economic gurus.

There was another connection, too: the two top-flight American economists had taught Brown's young advisers, Ed Balls and Ed Miliband, at Harvard University. The aides went on to introduce their teachers to their boss. Brown's idea of holiday fun was to read the latest treatise on economics by Summers and chew over the details with him in person. Brown even took his bride on honeymoon to his summer wonkathon in Cape Cod. This Tuesday, Sarah Brown (on right) will have an altogether more stylish get-together with Michelle Obama.

Brown even took his bride on honeymoon to his summer workathon in Cape Cod.

The Browns cannot hope to match the sheer star power that the Obamas have brought to the White House. "Gordon is a much more buttoned-up fellow than Barack. You'd never see him running around with an open collar and no tie, and his wife is much more reserved than Michelle," said Morris Reid, a Democratic consultant...

When Brown lands in the US, he will be among friends. He not only knows Summers and Reich, but Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Timothy Geithner, Obama's treasury secretary. "Having that kind of direct contact in very relaxed circumstances creates natural feelings of affection," said a Cape Cod friend of Brown.,, Times of London.

Reggae party at Beach House Restaurant tomorrow

Take a break from those winter blues with some upbeat roots reggae tomorrow at the Beach House in North Falmouth. The reggae party, free of cover charge, starts at 2 pm and will go until 8 pm. Red Stripe beer, Appleton Rum, jerk chicken and Jamaican goodies will be served, as well as the regular menu items. Jamaican entertainment will be provided by One Drop Sound System, who will certainly be playing the reggae beats of legends like Bob Marley, Joseph Hill Culture, Lucky Dube, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear and many others.

Mary Starr of Hatchville has been working on grass roots promotional “street team” for the reggae legend, Burning Spear since 2006. Starr said, “Basically [Burning Spear] was screwed by the music industry and went on to start his own record label. He asked any fans who were interested in helping to work on small events to share his music.” Burning Spear and his wife, Sonia, provide the street teams with free give away items to introduce and promote the music.

Starr will begin the Burning Spear give aways at 4 pm. Items include posters, t-shirts, CDs, and gift certificates, including $100 to the Dead Zone in Yarmouth. So get there early to get the goods! Also, free raffle tickets will be given at the door.

SWING FOR THE HOMELESS WITH STAGE DOOR CANTEEN AND WOMR 92.1 FM

Stage Door Canteen Concert - Swinging Sweethearts Ball with Kami Lyle and Mike Connors
Opening will be the Nauset World Music Ensemble from NRHS.

Saturday, February 28, 2009; 7:30 p.m.
Nauset Regional Middle School Auditorium, Orleans.
A benefit for WOMR 92.1 FM and The Homeless Prevention Council
                                                                    (formerly The Interfaith Council for the Homeless)
WOMR - 92.1 FM and the Homeless Prevention Council invite you to the Swinging Sweethearts Ball on Saturday, February 28 at 7:30 pm, in the Nauset Regional Middle School auditorium in Orleans.  This joint benefit concert features the big band swing jazz of Stage Door Canteen, a 14-piece band with a complete horn section, guitarist, drummer, bassist, and vocalist, Stage Door Canteen brings the swing era back to life, playing the hits and sounds of the '40s that made the Big Band era what it was.

Opening the concert is one of the Cape's most unique musical groups, the Nauset World Music Ensemble, comprised of students from Nauset Regional High School and led by Wellfleet native Lisa Brown.

Saturday, February 28^th

Nauset Regional Middle School Auditorium
70 Route 28
Orleans, MA

TICKET INFORMATION
$17 in advance, $20 on the day of the show, $17 on the day of show with a contribution of
non-perishable food item for Lower Cape Outreach Council.
Purchase tickets online at www.womr.org, or by calling WOMR at 508-487-2619

 Tickets can also be purchased at the following participating businesses.

Stage Door Canteen is no ordinary swing band. For more than a decade, this 14-piece big band orchestra has brought high style, elegance, and unbridled energy to special events all over the Northeast - and beyond. Stage Door Canteen is led by alto saxophonist Roger Gamache, a graduate of Berklee College of Music.  Featured vocalists are Berklee grad and accomplished singer/trumpeter Kami Lyle, and Mike Connors - a versatile vocalist who sings Frank Sinatra as well as contemporary styles.  Stage Door Canteen plays music of all types, but specializes in swing jazz from the ‘40s & ‘50s.

WOMR 92.1 FM is nonprofit community radio broadcasting from Provincetown and serving the entire Cape.  More than 90% of WOMR's programming is produced locally, including live local news, spoken word programming on the arts and community affairs, and a wide variety of music including jazz, roots, oldies, opera and alternative rock.  Community participation is welcome and encouraged, and the station has a thriving program to train new DJ's of all ages - including dedicated slots for local students.  The station is also closely involved with the Barnstable County Emergency Planning Committee (BCREPC), and active in plans to serve the community in the event of a natural disaster or other major emergency.  

 The WOMR Orleans Expansion Project is the endeavor to improve WOMR's signal from Orleans to Hyannis and to introduce the viability of WOMR as an asset to the mid-Cape community. WOMR plans to install a second transmitter in Orleans by 2010 which will broadcast its signal at 91.3 FM.

 The Homeless Prevention Council is one of the most well-respected non-profits on the Lower Cape. Established in 1991 to combat homelessness in the eight towns of Chatham, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown, the Homeless Prevention Council has provided continuous service toward that goal since beginning in 1991. The premise was that what individual towns and churches are not structured to do individually, they can achieve with a central agency providing a professional and experienced staff supported by qualified individuals. As a community-based organization, the Homeless Prevention Council is positioned to identify the unique problems and the available resources to prevent or intervene in homelessness.

The Swinging Sweethearts Ball is generously sponsored by the following local businesses: Seamen's Bank; Agway of Cape Cod; the Land Ho; Latanzi, Spaulding & Landreth, P.C.; American Heritage Realty; Cape Air; Cape Cod Five; and Orleans Wine & Spirits.

Late winter photo essay

Welcome to the latest edition of The Poet's Perspective.

My camera has been restless these past few weeks. Wonders abound across hill and dale. I'd like to share some recent photos taken in Yarmouth, Brewster, Eastham and Provincetown as well as some scattered verse.

We anxiously await the daffodils!

Visiting a  cedar swamp in Yarmouth provided interesting material.

                             Ice formations in the cedar swamp

Did the DPW worker notice his own art?

A Writer’s Prayer

 I’ve just found a notebook, uncluttered and clean,

On which to denote only that which I mean-

To leave no page besmirched by words of novel urge;

To tread merrily where parity and destiny diverge-

Perhaps to you it seems foolish to treat mere textiles with such seriousness.

By as of late, I’ve felt precious little purity of purpose.

At times the depths of little things multiply.

When desire devours hours, muses mystify.

So good-bye I say to the tides of dismay.

Through mere words I may lay an enticing display.

Through mere ink I may drink from the cup of forever.

If I yield ends I intend, you’ll be feeling much better.

For mine is an itch that burns from within.

Entwined in the riddles of virtue and sin-

We’ve no other choice than to heed our inner voice.

Which we will to be wary of with cause to rejoice-

And God knows I wasn’t born with angel’s wings.

But I’m nonetheless wary on the morn that angel sings.

I’ll prick my ears out to the whisperings of many birds and trees.

With an eye towards the tides as they rise and recede-

A joyous eye to the children as they frolic and play-

A jaundiced lens towards governments who deny and delay-

Romantic regard for all things natural-

One hand tending the critical, the other the practical-

For pursuits such as these are as dust in the breeze.

Wee little ghosts we entrust to release.

To worlds of uncertainty, ecstasy and avarice-

Idealist hopes lean towards a  broader sense of purpose!

Ice persists on the bank of Mill Pond, Punkhorn, Brewster

A tree succumbs to the wind-Eagle Point, Punkhorn

 The next photos are from the Penniman House and Fort Hill area in Eastham.

Sharpening Stone

Champlain dubbed it “Port de Mallebarre”

The Natives simply knew it as home.

Through muddy inlets of Nauset.

The Wampanoag once did roam.

One lone stone, perhaps more aptly termed a boulder.

Sat firmly tuck in the tidal muck of Nauset’s northwest shoulder.

Passers-by came to recognize that the sloping stone did abrade.

And through simpler commerce and truer communion, sharper implements were made.

Sharp eyes paired with sharpened tools.

Led to even sharper ability.

Soon their arrows and spears flew true.

Fishhooks set decisively.

But then came the visitors who cursed simplicity.

Embroiled in the fervor of well-intentioned epiphany.

They forged a whole new context.

One of glory and viral virility.

But in contrast still stands the lonely stone.

Which bears evidence today of its utility.

Parallel grooves, long and deep.

Suggest age old grace and patience.

A simpler definition of progress.

A trait so very un-European.

The late afternoon sky at Race Point 

Always Remember...

                         When uphill battles become the norm.

                         Level ground takes unusually attractive form.

                        When so rarely in life doth stability afford.

                       Those things that are earned do seem a reward.

Wamps on war path over court "insult"; Ruling is only latest setback for Indians; State money offered to study regionalization; Cape copter land in ball field

ODAY's quote: “We don’t see this as having any effect on us. Keep in mind, we have a deed to 16,000 acres in Mashpee dated before 1934 ... we have deeds dating to the 1600s.” - Aaron Tobey, Wampanoag

Mashpee Wampanoags call U.S. Supreme Court decision insulting

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is calling Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision insulting. “What little we have … including our dignity … they are trying to strip that away, too. It’s unacceptable,” said Aaron Tobey, vice chairman of the Mashpee Tribal Council.

“This decision is yet another assault on native sovereignty,” said Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell.  Tobey said formal acknowledgement for the Mashpee Wampanoag came two years ago, but he contends the tribe has always been recognized.

.. Some are calling the ruling the death knell for the Middleboro casino. "The tribe is in a lot of trouble," said Richard Young president of Middleboro's CasinoFacts and the statewide coalition Casino Free Mass.

Young plans a nationwide campaign, calling on congressmen and senators to stop the swell of tribal casinos. "Middleboro was sold on the inevitable," Young said. "This ruling proves a casino is not inevitable"... The Enterprise.
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School districts to study regionalization
State gives towns $15,000 to $25,000 grants to jump start the idea

Merging the state's smallest school districts into larger entities is one of the many initiatives Governor Deval Patrick laid out in his sweeping state education overhaul effort known as the Readiness Project. The proposal calls for "dramatically reducing the number of school districts in the state" so less money is spent on administrative services and more can be spent in classrooms. All but 41 of the state's nearly 400 school districts serve fewer than 5,000 students.

Financially strapped communities from Cape Cod to the Berkshires will receive state grants to study the possibility of regionalizing their school districts, which state education leaders say could lead to greater cost efficiencies.

At a press conference this morning at the public high school in Greenfield, state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester announced that Greenfield's schools, along with other districts across the state, would receive the first batch of grants from a new state program that is urging regionalization. Each grant ranges between $15,000 and $25,000...Globe.
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Airbase Cape Cod Helicopter lands in Little League field

ACoast Guard Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod, made a precautionary landing at a Little League baseball field in Middleborough, Mass., this morning.

The crew safely landed the helicopter around 9 a.m., after it experienced a fuel leak.

Local police and fire departments also responded, and are on scene while Coast Guard crews investigate the cause of the leak and make repairs.  

"The crew responded very quickly and was able to safely land the helicopter to address the problem," said Lt. Wayne O'Donnell from the air station. USCG report.
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U.S. Supreme Court ruling latest setback for Indians

The 11 students at Nuweetooun School start every day the same way. They sit in a circle and greet each other in the Narragansett Indian language.  Sun koonay (How are you?), they ask. On most days, they name the things they are thankful for.

But on Wednesday, the K-8 students discussed a thornier subject: the U.S. Supreme Court decision that blocks the tribe from placing land in federal trust. "They heard their families talking about it. Their parents are upset," says Loren M. Spears, who started the private school for Native Americans more than five years ago.

Tribal members say the ruling is more than just a land dispute. Rather, they say, it is the latest threat to Indian identity and self-rule, or sovereignty...

THE CONFLICT is an old one.

At one time Narragansetts ruled much of what is now southern New England from their ancestral lands west of Narragansett Bay.

But in 1675, the Wampanoag Indian leader King Philip rebelled against the Plymouth colony. The skirmish drew all of southern New England -- Indians and English -- into a bloody 14-month war.

In December 1675, the Plymouth, Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies sent a militia of more than 1,000 soldiers and Indians against the Narragansetts in the Great Swamp in West Kingston. They crossed the frozen swamp, fired on the Narragansetts and burned their fort, killing men, women and children. Hundreds died... Providence Journal.

Humpback freed but severly injured

Provincetown-based marine animal disentanglement team frees whale off New Jersey

   PCCS image. Taken under NOAA permit 932-1489, under the authority of the US Endangered Species Act.

CAPE COD – A humpback whale was freed from a life-threatening entanglement yesterday off of the coast of New Jersey, east of Sandy Hook, by PCCS Marine Animal Disentanglement team and NOAA.

The 25 to 30 foot animal was first spotted entangled by a recreational boater on February 25, which reported the entanglement to the U.S. Coast Guard.   At the same time, NOAA officials were retrieving a telemetry buoy that had been shed from an entangled right whale in the area.  NOAA responded, evaluated the condition of whale, and attached the telemetry buoy to the entangled humpback.  The whale was anchored in the middle of major U.S. shipping lanes.  U.S. Coast Guard vessels from NY and NJ set up a security zone around the anchored whale to prevent possible ship-strike, and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Penobscot Bay protected the animal overnight and remained with the whale until rescuers from PCCS could arrive.

“This whale was very lucky to have been found and reported.  It had sustained substantial injuries from its ordeal, but we hope that it will stand a better chance of survival now that the gear has been removed,” said Scott Landry, of PCCS Marine Animal Disentanglement Program

The three-man rescue team included trained NOAA and PCCS disentanglement responders.  The team was supported by the NOAA research vessel Nauvoo from the agency’s laboratory at Sandy Hook New Jersey, and the U.S. Coast Guard.  All were on scene with the whale at 11:00 a.m.   The operation was especially difficult for rescuers since the gear anchoring the animal was not accessible near the surface of the water.  The animal appeared to be anchored to the seafloor by gear embedded in its tail and could only raise its head to the surface.  After several hours of effort, the team successfully removed the gear using specialized disentanglement tools, allowing the animal to swim away.

The PCCS Humpback Whale Studies Program has monitored the frequency of humpback whale entanglement off New England based on the injuries that entanglements produce.  Of the approximately 900 whales in the Gulf of Maine humpback whale population, more than half have experienced an entanglement in their lifetime and 8-25% acquire new entanglement scars annually.  This research also indicates that less than 10% of humpback whale entanglements are actually witnessed and reported.

“This whale was very lucky to have been found and reported.  It had sustained substantial injuries from its ordeal, but we hope that it will stand a better chance of survival now that the gear has been removed,” said Scott Landry, of PCCS Marine Animal Disentanglement Program. “What we learn from this whale will help us prevent other entanglements.”

NOAA authorizes disentanglement activities in the United States.  PCCS maintains an on-call fulltime primary response disentanglement team on Cape Cod that is prepared to travel as needed throughout the Network’s rage which includes the entire Atlantic Coast of the United States.  PCCS also provides response coordination and technical services such as equipment development and distribution, satellite telemetry, and data management.  PCCS works closely with NOAA to respond to reports of entangled whales and operates under a federal permit to disentangle marine animals.

Release courtesy of PCCS.

Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving marine mammals and ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine through research, education, public policy initiatives, and management strategies.  PCCS played a key role in the federal designation of Stellwagen bank as a national marine sanctuary and Cape Cod Bay as a critical habitat for the North Atlantic right whale.

Stevie Wonder Presented With Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize At White House Reception

What a wonderful event it was at the White House last night, as President Obama presented the Library of Congress' Gershwin award to Stevie Wonder.

This was an expression of the very best of our American constitutional democracy, based on inclusiveness, with an African American president giving a prestigious national cultural award to an accomplished African-American musician, surrounded by an appreciative multi-racial audience.

Anyone who cannot appreciate this, seeing black men, white women, white men and black women all getting together to joyously sing and play jazz music, a truly American art form, without even a whiff of marijuana in the room, is clearly not worthy of the Consitutional rights and liberties which made this event possible.

Ecstasy Lab Bust on Nantucket; DEA disposes of lab materials

MACE Responsible for Nantucket Ecstasy Lab Bust

   27B Evergreen Way, the scene of an Ecstasy lab bust this week.

Story & Photographs by Peter Robbins

NANTUCKET - A Multi Agency Cooperative Effort (MACE) resulted in the arrest of David Lemberg, 32, of 27B Evergreen Way on Nantucket, and seizure of a major operational but non-working Ecstasy lab.  A three-month investigation involving the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Cape Cod Task Force, the Massachusetts State Police Drug Task Force and the Nantucket Police Department resulted in the execution of  a search warrant on February 25th at 3 p.m in the afternoon.

According to DEA spokesperson Tony Pettigrew, "This is an on-going investigation with the Massachusetts State Police, Nantucket Police & the DEA."  Whenever a clandestine lab is identified and seized, it is just the beginning of a lengthy, time consuming and costly process. The materials, by-products and waste all are categorized as hazardous materials and have to be properly contained and disposed of (right).

To accomplish this, in 1987 the Drug Enforcement Administration founded the New England Clandestine Enforcement Team. A group of highly trained personnel who dismantle and remove the material in a fashion reminiscent of the government officials processing the home in the movie "ET". Under the direction of a senior chemist, the materials are properly identified and securely turned over to a hazardous materials vendor under contract with the DEA.

A large bag of sassafras roots was included in the materials removed from the location.  Sassafras oil is one of the main ingredients used to make Ecstasy and is readily available. Through a steam distillation process, the roots are processed to obtain the oil, and additional steps are followed to create the final product.  Although non-working, this lab had the potential of producing thousands of units of MDMA, or Ecstasy.

The seizure of some 200 grams of what is known as GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyric Acid), or the date rape drug, are of tremendous concern to law enforcement. A source close to the investigation commented, "This is the largest amount I have ever scene in one location."

Steroids and hypodermic needles were also removed from the house. The lab on Nantucket was the only one of this type and magnitude seen in New England since 2002 when a similar one was identified in Connecticut.  It is also the first for the Cape & Islands.

Items seized during the bust including equipment, a van, lab and electronic materials will all be analyzed and examined for additional information as the investigation continues. Although there appeared to be conflicting information between the Town Assessor's Department and the Nantucket Registry of Deeds, Town records revealed that a David Lemberg purchased the Evergreen Way property on November 19, 2005 for $325,000. The present parcel value is $953,500.  An address of 8 Mary Ann Drive was purchased on May 5, 1999 for $129,000 by a David Lemberg.  That property has a parcel value of $978,000.

Perhaps an attachment is in order.  There appears to be enough equity ni the real estate to offset the costs associated with the investigation and the clean up and disposal of the materials.

   The DEA Clan, or Clandestine Lab Truck.

   Seized lab materials are properly packaged.

Three month investigation results in drug lab bust

NANTUCKET - Wednesday at 3 pm., after a three-month narcotics investigation, members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Cape Cod Drug Task Force, the Massachusetts State Police Drug Task Force and the Nantucket Police Department's Detective Unit, executed a search warrant at 27B Evergreen Way in Nantucket.

The search resulted in the seizure of an operational, but non-functioning, drug lab capable of producing Methylenedioxy Methamphetimine (MDMA), commonly known as Ecstacy, a Class B controlled substance.  The search also resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of Gamma Hydroxy Butyric Acid (GHB), over $2,900 in cash, a computer, one motor vehicle and lab equipment and materials.

David Lemberg, 32, of Natucket, was arrested and charged with Attempt to Manufacture a Class B Controlled Substance (MDMA aka Ecstasy) and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Class A Substance (Gamma Hydroxy Butyric Acid aka GHB), both carrying a penalty of up to ten years in state prison.

Lemberg was released on $2,500 cas bail and will be arraigned on Monday, March 2nd.

Due to the toxic nature and dangerous elements involved in the manufacturing of MDMA, the DEA's Clandestine Lab Removal Team responded on Thursday the 26th and safely dismantled and removed the lab.

Authorities will continue to investigate the situation.

Release courtesy of the Nantucket Police Department.

'Gran Torino,' 'The Visitor' share themes of male loneliness, redemption

Two Walts comes to grips with their lives by Anne M. Kirby

Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood, becomes a reluctant protector of Hmong immigrants in "Gran Torino."

Eastwood, Jenkins shine in their roles

By Anne Kirby

I remember my amazement when I discovered that the Incan and Egyptian pyramids were simultaneously constructed within one century.  Without cross-cultural communication, without blueprints and, without knowing whether or not other cultures even existed, these architectural wonders owe their existence to a common knowlededge -- a mathematical genius -- that enables them to flourish as strong edifices thousands of years later.

Released within six short months of each other, both films mirror each other through a common theme of male loneliness, helplessness and the ensuing isolation that results when both films' male leads become widowed.

Arising out of a collective conscience that   spreads information, perhaps telepathically like wind,  the seeds of its fruit carry the genius of  knowledge -- which  graces humanity with an unconscious and intuitive, collective awareness  --  enabling cultural evolution through discoveries and events that protect and guide mankind when we need it the most.

Such is the case with the two look-alike films, "Gran Torino," directed by Clint Eastwood and "The Visitor" directed by Thomas McCarthy.

Released within six short months of each other, both films mirror each other through a common theme of male loneliness, helplessness and the ensuing isolation that results when each of  the male leads becomes widowed.

Is the universe trying to tell us something through this coincidence?  I think perhaps yes - especially after  discovering an even odder commonality which is that each of the two lead roles share the same, first name -- Walt.  Coincidental collective conscience?  Let's see.

In "Gran Torino," Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) plays a cranky old, retired Detroit auto worker and Korean War veteran who spends his days sitting on his front porch, like an on-duty security guard, aggressively protecting his property from his unwelcome Third World neighbors.

Walt believes they are the reason why his good old middle-class neighborhood is becoming more like the hoods in Los Angeles, replete with gangs of immigrants who prowl covertly around in small vehicles with large boom boxes blasting.

Guzzling beers, rifle at the ready

Guzzling beers, with his yellow Labrador retriever by his side and a rifle just inside his front door, Walt communicates with his neighbors through sneering looks and hissing racial epithets that he mutters underneath his breath. The neighbors he offends the most are Laotian refuges - members of the Hmong tribe - who ironically served as American allies in the Vietnam War.

Between visits to his one friend, a local barber, with whom Walt comically spars in a game of verbal jousting that reinforces their macho egos, Walt polishes his perfect, hand-assembled Ford Gran Torino that sits in his garage like a prized museum piece.

Filled with overcrowding war memories, Walt Kowalski has no need for his two sons and a selfish granddaughter, all of whom he views as self-centered. Basically, Walt is happier being alone with his tough-guy, ex-soldier façade that canonizes his loneliness, yet keeps him ticking.

For Walt, the car symbolizes better times and his gratifying, post-Korean War life that was marked by a happy marriage to a woman whom Walt describes as the "best woman that ever lived."

Filled with overcrowding war memories, Walt finds no need for his two sons and a selfish granddaughter, whom he views as self-centered, wastes of time.  Basically, Walt is happier alone with his tough-guy, ex-soldier façade that canonizes his loneliness, yet keeps him unabashedly ticking.

A few hundred miles to the east in Connecticut, we meet Detroit Walt's  emotional counterpart.  Sharing the same first name, he plays the lead role in the "The Visitor" as a professor named Walt Vale (Richard Jenkins.) Widowed, miserable and stalled at the same emotional crossroad as Detroit Walt, Professor Vale is introverted, cerebral, gentlemanly and quietly passive-aggressive - the complete opposite of the crankier "Gran Torino" Walt.

A professor going through the motions

Professor Vale is in his early 60's. Bored by the routine of teaching in a local college, he goes through the daily motions of teaching and writing a make-believe book that he uses as the excuse to escape his classroom duties. When confronted by a student seeking reprieve for a late term paper, on the grounds of "personal problems," Walt mechanically denies the student's request without explanation.

At home, Professor Walt lives a reclusive life. With the exception of his son, who lives in London, he has no close relationships.

Behind closed doors, we see Professor Walt attempting to jumpstart his life through piano lessons using his deceased concert pianist wife's piano, which symbolizes their happier times together.

Both Walts have no idea of the effect their loneliness has on them and others who get in the way. More significantly, they have no close friends with whom they can confide intimate and emotional thoughts.

The lessons do little more than exacerbate his pain and frustrate his musically inclined goal of revival. When he finally realizes he has no talent, he unleashes his smoldering aggression upon his innocent piano teacher, with pertly drawn, sealed lips that dismissively reject and devastate her with the force of a grenade.

Both Walts have no idea of the effect their loneliness has on them and others who get in the way. More significantly, they have no close friends with whom they can confide intimate and emotional thoughts.

Given their despair and embittered loneliness, one questions whether or not they have any emotional development or the strategic knowledge of how to overcome what they endure.

And this is the point of the films' theme - just how does one transcend feelings without the knowledge and wisdom of helping friends? It is safe to say that both of their emotional lives died with their wives.

Encounters with immigrants change their lives

Fire fights fire. What transpires for the Walts in "Gran Torino" and "The Visitor" is a bit of luck and a dash of divine justice that positions the two men in close proximity with immigrant families facing their own kind of emotional problems of deportation, physical harassment and a displacement in a foreign culture that makes their very survival a life-threatening process.

For Detroit Walt, this occurs when he comes to the rescue of his Hmong neighbors who need his protection when they are victimized by a menacing gang of indolent, tough guys who carry guns.

As for Professor Walt, his immigrant relationship begins when he returns, after many years, to his New York City apartment, where he discovers a young immigrant couple living there after having been exploited by a greedy and scamming landlord who takes advantage of the empty apartment.

In both cases, the two Walts eventually develop close relationships that develop out of their respect and empathy for the innocent and victimized immigrants who openly share musical talents, food, and their time with them.

In both cases, the two Walts eventually develop close relationships that develop out of their respect and empathy for the innocent and victimized immigrants who openly share musical talents, food, and their time with them. In return, each Walt becomes, once again, energized and alive while providing the foreigners with protection and the help they need to navigate through American life, its legal rights, socioeconomic mores and institutions.

The immigrants provide both Walts with the insight they themselves are unable attain to move their lives beyond the negative emotions their wives' deaths have caused.   Similarly displaced,  the immigrants -- through their shared humanity -- provide the misguided Walts with a powerful message that defines their new roles in life as people embracing their common humanity.

Although there are no fairy tale endings to these two, sobering films, each of the men becomes unshackled from the emotional bondage that prevented them from claiming the destinies that lie ahead of them.

And as for the mental telepathy and collective conscience phenomena, I believe each of the films reinforces a timely message that signifies a more humanistic era about to form before our very eyes --  if we choose to see it. 

Walt Vale, left, played by Richard Jenkins, gets an impromptu drum lesson from his immigrant friend Tarek, played by Haaz Sleiman, in "The Visitor."