CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

Sixty bikers and one dog pedal "Coast to Coast " in Orleans Sunday

The Orleans Police and Rec Departments have fun teaching bike safety

The sixty bikers and one dog pedal by Beach Road in East Orleans on their way to Nauset Beach in the ninth annual "Coast to Coast" bike tour. Below the biker wait for stragglers before continuing, and an Orleans motorcycle policeman lead the way. Photos by Walter Brooks.

The Orleans Bike and Walkways Committee in conjunction with the Orleans Police Department takes pride each year in their Annual Coast to Coast Bike Tour celebrating Massachusetts Bike Week.

The event was postponed from two Sundays ago due to rain, and today's 70-degree weather was near-perfect as the motorcycle police lead the sixty bikers and one dog the five miles from Rock Harbor to Nauset Beach, thus "coast to coast."  This was the event's ninth year.

Fixing Broken 'Promises'

The "AA Promises"?

No such thing. Well at least not in the way that most of us have heard them.

Some group somewhere dug into a Big Book - picked out their 'personal' favorites'  - called them "The Promises" --- began reading it at the beginning of their group meeting and somehow it caught on.

What most of AAs are referring to are the relatively few “promises” that the co-authors make as a condition of achieving at least half of step nine - meaning completed nearly fifty percent of our amends.

They are not 'promised' before such time. We do not receive "promises" after we get "a few twenty fours" under our belt - or after we have completed 'ninety meetings in ninety days' .  Those particular promises are contingent upon AMENDS work - which is Step Nine.

I remind guys - and the occasional woman - I sponsor that if they want those promises to come true then they had better get moving on their amends - although unfulfilled promises are the least of the consequences of unfinished amends - the other is death by drink.

There are several hundred promises in the Big Book besides the ones on page eighty-four of  "Alcoholics Anonymous" which are similarly attached to specific steps - but nothing termed as "THE AA PROMISES".

As for what the co-authors meant by them I can tell you what I experienced when making amends - in my own practice of Step Nine - becaue my experience partalles their writing of the experience like a mirror image.

There are things in my past which I am not proud of - behaviors and modes of thought which were entirely self-centered, selfish and brought out through my fears. I do not EVER want to forget those things because those things are today a tremendous asset when working with other alcoholics - taking THEM through the same process, the Twelve Steps of recovery form alcoholism.

They are assets because as my protégées discover the things about themselves that are objectionable to them, I can look them in the eye and with clear conscience tell them of how the character defects which cause me similar problems in the past get removed.

" We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. The alcoholic's past thus becomes the principal asset of the family and frequently it is almost the only one!"

Of course, if I didn’t work with others, then the past would not be useful. it would only be a sore reminder. That is one of the reason that showing others how to recover from alcoholism through the Twelve Steps is our Primary Purpose.

I do not shut the door on my past because my past is the ‘present’ of still sick and suffering alcoholics and with that I can gain their trust, and credibility as someone who has walked in their shoes. Without that trust their will be no bond and no passing of the “this” message.

Hey but if you like 'promises" check out these - these are the Tenth Step promises. They will blow you away - and they will blow away most middle-of-the-road solutions based Pop-AA practitioners ideas of what sobriety is too. It's FREEDOM from alcohol - nothing less than that.

• And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol.
• For by this time sanity will have returned.
• We will seldom be interested in liquor.
• If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame.
• We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically.
• We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has
• been given us without any thought or effort on our part.
• It just comes! That is the miracle of it.
• We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation.
• We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected.
• We have not even sworn off.
• Instead, the problem has been removed.
• It does not exist for us.
• We are neither cocky nor are we afraid.

Not too shabby! Sitting around sober for three four or thirty years -  not living the twelve step lifestyle - still waiting till waiting for the "fear of  financial insecurity" to leave  -- what a crumby crappy creepy way to live. (That is s the 'promise' that you REALLY want the most right? Tell the truth?)

Please, if you are sitting in meetings newcomers about  "THE PROMISES" and letting them them think they will come "in time" - by "just not drinking" or by going to "lots of meetings" or by any way other than by making amends - you are lying to them. Please stop. Please.

Peace & Love,

Danny S

Jeep submerged at the Bourne Marina in Buzzards Bay

Slips out of gear, rolls into harbor early Sunday

BOURNE - Bourne firefighter Gil Taylor examines a Jeep Cherokee which became submerged at the Bourne Marina in Buzzards Bay Sunday morning (05-31-09) around 7:45 AM.

The vehicle, which was towing a boat and trailer, slipped out of gear and rolled backwards into the water.

There were no reported injuries or significant environmental issues.

(Photo by David G. Curran)

June is Nigh-Photos & Poetry

   Welcome to the latest edition of The Poets' Perspective. I'll be sharing some recent photos and poetry, as well as some older verses. 

I would like to thank the following educators, who helped to teach and inspire me.

George Albert, Charlie Andrade, Roger Cole,  Nancy Dempsey, George Hoar, Zara Kilmurray,  Dan McCullough, Maggie Nunes, J. Robinson Wells.

Irises are blooming!

East Bay, Osterville-shrouded in fog

Night air carries moans across the peninsula.

Suffering souls utter collective pleas.

Flung haphazardly into the misty depths of twilight-

Sweet hope girds the weakening links.

Ocean air will carry the chaff of pain away-

To swirl and eddy in incongruous playfulness-

Most critical life is held in fragile hands.

Circular thoughts held by threadbare minds.

Yet undaunted we go toward whatever awaits us-

Be what May, C'est la Vie.

Cautious hope will carry the day.

 A Box Turtle near Highland Light

A land snail with lilacs

He sat on his deathbed, holding his notebook-

Hoping to scribe a message to the world.

Of those critical omissions, those unspoken wonders-

He held valueless for so very long.

A deep breath was drawn, the task commenced.

I have seen andromeda dreams.

Aphrodite showed her orbs in mists of spring.

 The angels summoned tulips-

We witnessed blink-brief brilliance.

Held now tight to the soul-

The solstice tides summoned the waves.

The jetty awash with sight, sound and smell-

The night air carried lilac breezes.

Lightning bugs flew ‘round the children's heads

I saw endless summer days in the sun and the sand.

Passionate nights at the angel's command-

Days of defeat, where my soul seemed at odds

With the critical ascension of personal Gods-

I drew breath as a younger man hungrily,

As though the world full of air was all mine.

Never sharing with community or family.-

Smacked down by the tocks of Father Time.

I saw malevolence from smiling faces.

The sweet exteriors of contempt-

The dirty faces of unlikely angels-

The trappings of coerced consent-

The success of the wicked-

The poverty of the holy-

These enigmas all presented,

As delightful allegory!

So the old man goes...

Pilgrim Lake

The P-Town Monument peeks through the treeline.

The Return of the Birds

I saw a flash of neon blue.

Jay streaking dim daylight-

And then, like a Cape Cod rain-

A single cardinal came.

To outdo the neon blue,

A near impossible task.-

Oh, glory is well told,

In many flaps of wings,

Of springtime’s many hopes,

And life’s many wonderful things.

As optimism gropes-

For freely flowing words.

I credit the return of the birds.

 A lady's slipper- Race Point

 Photo by Brandon Mayo

The Bridges I’ve Burned

The bridges I’ve burned spanned far and wide.

Their remnants only visible above receding tides-

Subterranean pain courses swiftly through my veins.

Storm clouds consult me right before it rains.

If there’s any accounting for the power of my glare.

A hundred years of stories told might render you aware.

Young of age yet old at heart are the traits I call my own

I’m the most predictable bloke I know when I choose to be alone.

I am grounded by the cycles of summers and winters.

Of life and death’s frantic pace.

I find no time to hesitate.

Or slow the active synapsian race.

For fuel is to suffering what motivation is to rage.

Outlets aid us as we strut and fret our hour upon the stage.

Do no one harm with your hands.

Take paper instead and pen your demands.

And when the urge to throttle your fellow man seems utterly beyond control-

Take a breath, take a walk, mow your lawn, dig a hole.

Seek to mend bridges long past burned.

Hoist rusty girders from stagnant water and show what you have learned.

A gull rests at Stony Brook-Brandon Mayo

  Thanks again for reading my blog!

           Copyright 2009 Jonathan Mayo. except where otherwise noted.

Sorry about the sound quality.

This  band was featured on WMVY's Fresh Produce #5, one of the tightest, coolest reggae bands out there.

Selectmen spare that tree; Cape's MLB brouhaha; Kennedy has enemy on health plan; Orleans ProCuts open despite news report; Tom Brady rides to Cape; 2 days, $200 on Cape Cod; Cape redefining fishing; Woods Hole acclaimed

Meeting to remove Brewster "Christmas Tree" Monday
Selectmen choose pavement over piety

Brewster will have to find a new tree to hang its Christmas lights on this year if the local s electmen have their way at Monday night's meeting at town hall at 7:30.

The tall spruce at the intersection of Stony Brook and Setucket roads is slated to be chopped down as part of an extensive remodeling of the Stony Brook Mill site. (Photo is from last Christmas.)

At a public hearing two weeks ago selectmen approved, by a 5-0 vote, a plan that would replace the tree, add parking and straighten the intersection.
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Brady rides in Best Buddies Challenge to Cape

Tom Brady seen here crossing the finish line in Hyannis was the event's honorary chairman for the second straight year. Video by David Curran

Celebrities and athletes alike went the distance on Saturday for a very important cause. Teaming up with people with intellectual disabilities, members of the Best Buddies organization made their way from Boston to Cape Cod by bike or by foot to raise money and awareness for the organization. As many as 1,500 riders headed home on Saturday night after making the trip.

New England Patriots quarterback was the event's honorary chairman for the second straight year, topping a list of celebrities that included actor Vern Troyer and Olympian Carl Lewis. Brady is coming off surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL he suffered in a injury .. NECN.
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ProCuts in Orleans open since Wednesday despite newspaper story
Either that or I was dreaming about getting my hairs cut there

See the David Curran video of the crash scene last week.

The current May 29th. edition of The Cape Codder reported that the ProCuts hair salon on Route 6-A in Orleans, which was the scene of a tragic accident over a week earlier, was still closed and that the building had been condemned.

The newspaper went on to report "The extent of the damage is so great - the car's rear doors were inside the building - that the building has been condemned. ProCuts has put up a sign that directs patrons to its Dennis location."

Since this reporter had his hairs cut there this Wednesday when the salon had already reopened for a day or so, we can report that ProCuts is fully open and if the building is condemned, there is no notice posted on it as late as yesterday. The accident sent an 80 year-old man sitting in the salon to a Boston hospital, see story here.
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Village of big science, big water, small pleasures

WOODS HOLE - To understand this village in Falmouth, you have to think beyond the parking lots overflowing with ferry passengers bound for Martha's Vineyard. Park at the Falmouth Mall, hop the WHOOSH trolley, and you can spend a day on beaches laced with salt ponds and pink rosa ragosa. From its main drag Water Street to the channel between Penzance Point and Nonamesset Island for which it was named, Woods Hole is synonymous with ocean... Globe.

Wooden bat league faces splintering relationship
MLB licensing issue causes dilemma for Cape Cod teams

The relationship between the Cape Cod League and Major League Baseball always has been mutually beneficial. One in five major leaguers played summer league amateur ball for teams with names like the Cotuit Kettleers and the Brewster Whitecaps.

MLB recognized the importance of the league - one of the only leagues of its kind still using wooden bats - and takes the relationship seriously, as evidenced by an annual $100,000 grant it gives to the league. The league has become a paradise for scouts. The players, many of them fresh from the NCAA playoffs and the College World Series, are assembled from the best amateur talent in the United States... Herald.
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2 days, $200 on Cape Cod
Priceless and affordable, rare and rejuvenating, there is plenty to sample and savor if you look around this lovely peninsula

Those who know the outer Cape know that its subtle charms and salt-sprayed majesty are nestled nearly everywhere. An exit from Route 6 can quickly turn up perfect terrain for soft adventure or idle hours outdoors. So the outer Cape is a good place, particularly outside the high months July and August, for two travelers to spend two days for under $200 (not counting gas). Here is one way to do that... Globe.
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Cape could Redefine Fishing

Vincenzo Russo, a fisherman here for 35 years, used to fish as many days as he wanted, but federal regulations now require him to secure expensive permits - up to $500,000 - if he wants to fish more than 73 days a year... The system calls for fishermen to band together in groups called "sectors" that would receive the right to take a set percentage of the annual catch of a variety of fish. Two sectors have been operating in Cape Cod on an experimental basis, and in April, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which regulates ocean fishing, announced that it would provide about $16 million to move the rest of the Northeast toward sector fishing... NY Times.

Just when you think you've seen it all
The Cape and its denizens perform, invent, collect, cook up, frame, save, resuscitate new things to do

There's little doubt that on Cape Cod, where thousands return annually to air out their summer cottages or book the same two weeks at the same guest house, familiarity breeds content. But even here, change can be good. Take the new "runway" into Hyannis: Route 132 has been widened from two lanes to four, and anyone who has joined the scrum for the Cape Cod Mall and the Christmas Tree Shops on a rainy summer day will applaud the upgrade. Among other new touches are the Hampton Inn on Route 28 in West Yarmouth, the first new motel in the area in more than 20 years, and Sweet Caroline's, an ice cream shop on Route 130 in Sandwich that, by virtue of its name alone, is likely to be an extra-base hit.

Here are 10 other promising new options for summer visitors... Globe.
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2 Democrats Spearheading Health Bill Are Split

"We can not afford the health plan we have already."
                       - Sen. Grassley

A significant split has eveloped between the two Democratic senators leading efforts to remake the nation's health care system. They disagree over the contours of a public health insurance plan, the most explosive issue in the debate. One of the senators, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, reasserting himself after months of treatment for brain cancer, made clear this week that he favored a robust public health care plan, a government-sponsored entity that would compete with private insurers.

As a starting point for his bill, Mr. Kennedy favors a public plan that looks like Medicare, the government-run program for older Americans created in 1965, when he was a young senator. By contrast, Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Finance Committee, has been working for months with the panel's senior Republican, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, in the hope of forging a bipartisan bill, which would probably play down the option of a public plan.... NY Times.

Found from '87~Voodoo:The Origin of Rock&Roll~

http://miniver.blogspot.com/2007/06/hear-that-long-snake-moan.html  I looked and looked for this two-part article in WHOLE EARTH REVIEW #s 54 and 55 when I first got online... now that I'm reading VOODOO SEASON(2005, published the day Katrina broke the levees) by Jewell Parker Rhodes http://www.jewellparkerrhodes.com/books/voodoo_season.html I was reminded to try again, and this blogpost from a year & a half ago popped up~ the whole essay in easy-to-read form.  Now more than ever, this connects all the dots about the religious underpinnings of American pop culture...  Michael Ventura: "Hear That Long Snake Moan"!

Woods Hole Handworks opens for its 27th season

Cooperative gallery to open June 19th

The Woods Hole Handworks, a cooperative Gallery of art and fine crafts on the ground floor of Woods Hole Community Hall, 68 Water Street is celebrating its 27th consecutive season, opening Friday, June 19 at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., then afterwards, daily through September 6, then on weekends until October 11.

Its sustaining thirteen artist members will be on site during selective days and evenings (to 8p.m. Thursday-Saturday beginning July 2).  They include:

• Jane Fay Baker (Falmouth) printmaker, specializing in hand-printed woodcuts of marine life
• Mark Chester (Woods Hole) black-and-white photography
• Tamara Clark (North Falmouth) prints and cards
• Karen Colburn (Woods Hole) textiles
• Jeri Dantzig (Martha’s Vineyard) glass
• Vivian Vine Dreisbach (Woods Hole) textiles
• Judi Goudreau (Lincoln, RI) painting
• Ann Hanson (Harwich) jewelry
• Sarah Morse (South. Dartmouth) jewelry
• Julia Peterson (Cohasset) custom personal care
• Nicole St. Pierre (New Bedford) textiles
• Pat Warwick (Warren, RI) ceramic tiles

A member of the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, Handworks is located by the magical and scenic newly renovated Eel Pond drawbridge, gateway to Vineyard Sound.

For more information, contact Woods Hole Handworks Gallery, 508-540-5291, 68 Water Street, Woods Hole 02543, co-managers Mark Chester, 508-299-8311 and Pat Warwick, 401-481-0721.

American Oystercatcher

The American Oystercatcher is a very distinctive looking shorebird.  The Oystercatcher is usually seen only in marine environments along pebbly or sandy coastlines.  These shorebirds have a black head, a brownish back and white under parts. In addition, they have yellow eyes, and a long red-orange bill that is laterally compressed and very sharp.  They are quite wary and fly away quickly when approached.  They have a unique high pitched call sound.  The Oystercatchers have recently been observed in Falmouth near Black Beach and at the north end of Wood Neck Beach.

Vern Laux notes in a recent Cape Cod Times article that “the beaches are active with piping plovers and oystercatchers. The American Oystercatcher, with its outrageous coloring and noisy, gregarious nature is a favorite of any who are aware of them. These spectacular birds have been increasing significantly in our area for the past 25 years and can be seen almost anywhere there is a beach or salt marsh.”  Vern Laux's birding column appears every Saturday in the Cape Cod Times. Laux is the resident naturalist for the Linda Loring Nature Foundation on Nantucket. You can also hear him on "The Point" with Mindy Todd at 9:30 a.m. the first Monday of the month on the Cape's NPR station, WCAI, 90.1.

According to the American Oystercatcher Working Group, “American Oystercatchers breed on coastal beaches from Baja California to Nova Scotia. Recent evidence of population declines, has prompted research aimed at understanding the bird's biology and conservation needs. In recent years, coordinated, widespread banding and re-sighting efforts along the Atlantic coast have revealed connections between breeding and wintering sites and a tantalizing glimpse into the complexity of patterns of movement and dispersal. For more local information click on American Oystercatcher Research in Massachusetts.

Enjoy,

Craig Gibson
www.birdsoftheair.com

May photo gallery

Advice from the Dad of a Grad

 Lessons learned on the third rock from the sun

My daughter Sydney will graduate from Falmouth High School next week, completing one journey of life and learning and starting another, alongside nearly 300 classmates.  As a forty-year-old Dad of a grad, I am just figuring out my own place in our community and on this third rock from the sun, much less imparting wisdom to our graduating seniors.  What I can offer, though, are some lessons learned in my own journey to our newest full-fledged adult Falmouthites. 

I've learned that there is no substitute for sincerity.  Our grads will become everything from caregivers to CEOs, from laborers to lawyers.  No matter the vocation, the value of saying what you think far outweighs the value of saying what you think someone wants to hear.  I've learned that service to others is not a career choice; it is a way of life, a defining philosophy.  It is simply the law of averages and the mores of our society that some crossing the platform and receiving official kudos and recognition from the Falmouth School Committee will pursue service to others, and some will not.  To those that do, do it because you can feel it deep in your soul that making this place better for others is who you are, not who you want others to think you are. 

I've learned that the teachers who touch your lives in high school can truly leave an imprint on your entire life.  The lessons I learned from men like Joe Studley, Ted Rowan, and Paul Cali are with me today.  Hard work, respect, fairness, and kindness can be learned from others - High School is not just about Euclid and the Telltale Heart.

I've learned that whoever said that showing up is half the battle was right, and this includes classes in college.  On that note, I've also learned that college is not a four-year respite from responsibility, it is the opportunity to demonstrate some. It is indeed the gateway to the odyssey and should be cherished.    

I've learned that being patient with yourself is one of the most important components to success.  Out of college, I rushed and clamored to achieve and meet the goals I had established to attain before the age of 30.  That birthday was a stinker because those lofty goals had not been met.  That disappointment clouded my ability to see the importance and value of what I had accomplished.  Now, many years and many lessons later, I realize that a career, like a life, is a journey, not a destination.  The value is in learning, growing, and sharing those lessons as we progress. 

I've learned that the road of life inevitably leads back to people we've met and places we've been, as long as we don't burn bridges along the way.  I also know it's never too late to repair a bridge - even plank by plank - if you've burned it.

I've learned that as much as we think we know - leaving high school, college, or grad school - there are new lessons to learn every day.  I've lived in Falmouth most of my life and meet new people that touch my heart and teach me something every week.  I learned what an allen wrench is at 35, the ingredients to a seven layer bar at 38, and read my favorite book at 40.

I've learned to take nothing for granted, and to never doubt the power of ideas.  When I graduated from FHS more than twenty years ago, there were no i-pods, laptops, e-mails or microwave popcorn.  Polaroids were the closest thing to digital cameras, wind power was found in convertibles with the top down, and you did your research at the library or at a neighbor's house who had an updated set of encyclopedias.  On the other hand, I've learned that good pizza is timeless.  Paul's, Kosta's, Steve's and the North Falmouth House of Pizza are proof that some things, some good things, never change. 

So to you, my dearest Sydney, and all graduates of the Class of 2009 - know that as much as the i-pod and facebook define you today, they will be the nostalgia of your tomorrow.  Cling to the Paul's pizzas, the constants in your life in this wonderful small town, that defined your youth, and be prepared to use that foundation to create and define tomorrow for us all.

This column is reprinted from the Falmouth Enterprise.

Cape Air flies to Green; Bourne may ban whales; Final ocean plans; Turkey shoot; Pirate base; Homelessness network leadership in flux; Mr. Bornstein builds his dream house; Cape Air survives storm

TODAY's uote: "We've been always looking to develop it, but we're really not looking to do that right now. We'll clean up the dock for a couple of boats and a small house and enjoy it. I've had a lot of calls from people congratulating us down there. Usually I get things thrown at me." - Stu Bornstein.

Air service begins June 5 from Green to Cape Cod with 5 daily flights
Largest US independent airline flew 650,000 passengers in 2008

Cape Air soars into the summer season with its annual nonstop service from Providence to Cape Cod and the islands, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation announced Wednesday. Beginning June 5, flights will leave daily from T.F. Green Airport in Warwick. The carrier will offer eight daily flights to Martha's Vineyard and six a day to Nantucket. The summer schedule ends Sept. 10.

Headquartered in Hyannis, Mass., Cape Air began in 1989 with its first flight from Provincetown to Boston. It now offers year-round service for South Florida and the Keys, the Northeast, the Caribbean, Micronesia, New York and the mid-Atlantic. The carrier has more than 50 Cessna 402s planes offering 850 flights daily.

Last year, 650,000 passengers flew Cape Air, making it the nation's largest independent regional airline. Providence Journal.
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Cape Air weathers shifting travel patterns

"The European market was huge last year because they all flew into Boston. Even if Provincetown does well this year, if it's a drive market, that won't help us,"

It's an interesting time to be Dan Wolf. As president of Cape Air, the independent regional airline that got its start in 1990 flying just one route from Boston to Provincetown, he is facing a dicey summer vacation season that on paper right now doesn't look very good. But he is also overseeing the largest route expansion in the company's history, moving into 14 new cities in the past year alone. And in his spare time, he is trying to figure out how the company will replace its signature nine-passenger plane that Cessna has stopped manufacturing.

All in a day's work, he says, projecting infectious optimism about Cape Air's future. He is currently performing a balancing act to determine what level of service reductions should be implemented in the Provincetown market, which has seen a 30-percent drop in advance bookings for June, July and August, considerably above the 10-20 percent decline in bookings for the airline company-wide... Taunton Gazette.
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State putting final touches on ocean planning map

As the nation increasingly looks to its oceans for energy, Massachusetts is putting the final touches on a vast regulatory map designed to plot out where wind farms, and other offshore projects, can be located in its coastal waters.
   A year ago, Gov. Deval Patrick signed Massachusetts' Oceans Act, a first-in-the-nation effort to create a single document to cover a myriad of ocean activities while drawing lines around areas considered too environmentally sensitive for development.
   The law requires Massachusetts to make sure all decisions and permits related to state-controlled waters up to three miles from the coast conform to a single, science-based management plan, instead of being considered on a patchwork basis.
It's more than just an exercise in bureaucratic rule-making... PDnet.

Whale disposal at Bourne landfill may come to an end

Bourne landfill crews buried a 10-ton washed up finback whale Tuesday morning, May 26, but this may be the last whale put in the disposal facility off MacArthur Boulevard for some time. The 30-foot whale was placed in a 10-foot-deep hole and covered with trash. It was the second whale burial at the landfill this year.

The whale washed ashore in Provincetown on May 21. The Cape Cod Stranding Network called Landfill Operations Manager Dan Barrett about disposal options... Barrett wanted the whale delivered to the landfill on Friday before the weekend. The whale arrived on Tuesday after the necropsy, however, and was sitting on a flat-bed truck.

The odorous load prompted a few complaints, but town officials were notified of the pending disposal following a communications policy for such matters. But the board of health was not pleased... Bourne Courier.
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Cape turkey culling criticized

For the past two months, Fred and Wilma, a pair of wild turkeys, wandered into yards in Forestdale to gobble leftovers from bird feeders. Kathie Powell saw the pair so often on her lawn at 43 Falmouth-Sandwich Road that she decided to name them after the Flintstones cartoon characters. On occasion, she would add some bread to their twice-a-day meals.,, Herald.

Finding ways to fight pirates at maritime academy

Fearing for his safety and concerned about protecting his crew from the ever-increasing number of Somali pirate attacks, merchant mariner Shane Murphy said he planned to buy a gun as soon as he docked in Africa last month, reports the Cape Cod Times.

But Murphy, 34, didn't get a chance to buy a gun while at port in Kenya because four Somali pirates briefly hijacked his ship, the Maersk Alabama, and took his captain hostage. Yesterday at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Murphy presented testimony to a special session of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee and highlighted the need to allow merchant mariners to protect themselves from armed pirates.

"It was my intention to buy a gun in Africa and keep it in my room without telling anyone," Murphy said. "And that's because I felt like a mall cop with no way to defend myself"... Herald.
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Cannery crumpled on Freezer Point

The site of Bornstein's new home. Sources have reported that the property has been offered for sale ranging from $9,000,000 to as low as $5,500,000. Town officials would not comment on the ongoing negotiations relating to the purchase price. The 2008 newly released Town of Barnstable figures show an assessment of $2,667,200. cc2day file photo.

Stu Bornstein builds his dream house on Barnstable Harbor

Two H1N1 flu cases in Hyannis
The first cases of H1N1 (swine) flu in the Town of Barnstable were reported to the health division Wednesday.
A 48 year-old man and a 30-year old man, both of Hyannis, were diagnosed with the illness, according to Director of Public Health Tom McKean. He said both were mild cases and neither man was hospitalized... Barnstable Patriot.

When developer Stuart Bornstein and his wife, who live on the water in Mashpee, decided to downsize, they looked around for similar locations to buy - until they realized they already owned the perfect place.
Last week, after more than a decade of battles with villagers and historical commissions, Bornstein tore down the mid-20th century cannery building on Freezer Point in Barnstable village, making way for what he hopes will be his new home.

"We've been always looking to develop it, but we're really not looking to do that right now," Bornstein said. "We'll clean up the dock for a couple of boats and a small house and enjoy it. I've had a lot of calls from people congratulating us down there. Usually I get things thrown at me."

Bornstein had best hold on to his catcher's mitt. In his monthly progress reports, Friends of Barnstable Harbor President Ted Theodores wrote that he "sadly witnessed" the demolition. "Many of us continue to feel that the best and highest use of that property would be a Town-owned expansion of existing marina activities, thereby relieving some of the congestion on the Millway side, while also providing additional public access and services"... Barnstable Patriot.
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New Leadership in the County?
Homelessness network leadership in flux

Ron Bergstrom (on right) is the coordinator of the Regional Network to Address Homelessness on Cape Cod and the Islands - unless he isn't. Bergstrom said county human services director Beth Albert sent out an advisory stating that Bergstrom's appointment had been withdrawn due to a conflict with the county charter. As an elected county official - he's Chatham's member of the county Assembly of Delegates, and its speaker - Bergstrom is not allowed to be paid with county funds.

County commissioners chairman Sheila Lyons told the Patriot May 27 that Bergstrom was no longer in the position. She said the decision was the result of discussions with county attorney Robert Troy. But the nature of the funds for the homelessness network - flowing from the federal government to the state - remains at question, according to Bergstrom... Barnstable Patriot.