CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

MA OxyContin and Heroin Commission announces Cape Cod Hearing

Hearing scheduled for July 10th in Hyannis

On Friday, July 10, 2009, the Massachusetts OxyContin and Heroin Commission will hold the sixth in a series of public hearings regarding the state’s growing rate of OxyContin and heroin addiction.

“Our sixth public hearing will focus on how unique populations have been affected by substance use disorders,” said Senator Steven A. Tolman (D-Boston), commission chairman. “I am looking forward to hearing from experts in veterans’ issues, co-occurring disorders, and other unique populations. I am so pleased with the feedback and recommendations we are receiving from each and every community we visit.”

“Substance abuse is a vital public health and public safety issue in our State. The work of this Commission will hopefully find innovative ideas and responses to improve the State’s prevention, treatment, and law enforcement efforts,” said Representative Jeffrey Perry (R-Sandwich)

“Substance abuse is a vital public health and public safety issue in our State. The work of this Commission will hopefully find innovative ideas and responses to improve the State’s prevention, treatment, and law enforcement efforts,” said Representative Jeffrey Perry (R-Sandwich). “Public attendance and participation is vital; the Commission needs to hear the public stories and experiences to develop relevant policy recommendations.”

“Many people think of Cape Cod as an idyllic resort destination but all too often, our sandy beaches and beautiful scenery mask troubles at home,” said Senator Robert O’Leary (D-Barnstable). “The Cape and Islands are home to some of the highest rates of alcohol and drug abuse in the Commonwealth and bringing these issues out in the open is necessary to making sure we can stop the cycle of addiction. I want to thank my colleague, Senator Tolman for holding a hearing on this very important local matter here in Hyannis.”

The Cape Cod hearing will be held on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 11 a.m. in the Knight Auditorium of Barnstable High School, 744 West Main Street, Hyannis.

The Massachusetts OxyContin and Heroin Commission was created during the 2007-2008 legislative session and plans to hold regular public hearings across the Commonwealth through August. The commission will release a final report of its findings in the fall.

Dennis PD, State Police aid Yarmouth PD with arrest after burlary in progress

Dennis PD aids Yarmouth PD with arrest after burlary in progress

Two men captured after door kicked in at Route 28 motel

   (Left to right): Richard M. Mullins, 20; Andrew T. Laverty, 21.

SOUTH YARMOUTH - On Monday, June 29, 2009 at 11:18 p.m. members of the Yarmouth Police Department responded to a reported burglary-in-progress call at room 10 of the Cavalier Motel on Route 28 in South Yarmouth. 

Yarmouth Police 911 Dispatcher Maria Curtis advised responding officers that the manager and a fellow employee of the motel had witnessed the suspects fleeing the scene in a green Saturn and were following them eastbound on Route 28. Massachusetts State Police and Dennis Police overheard the radio broadcast and stopped the vehicle on Highbank Road in Dennis near the Old Bass River Road intersection.

Yarmouth Police Patrol Investigator Philip Magnuson and Patrol Officers Michael Zontini and Justin Haire conducted an on-scene investigation that determined that the front door of the room had been kicked in and that the suspects fled on foot and jumped into the waiting green Saturn.  Two men in the stopped vehicle were identified as the suspects and they were placed under arrest and transported to Yarmouth Police Headquarters.

Both suspects, Richard M. Mullins, 20, of Upper County Road in Dennis and Andrew T. Laverty, 21, of Erin Lane in Hyannis, were booked at Yarmouth Police Headquarters and scheduled for arraignment in the Barnstable District Court Tuesday morning.  Both men were charged with Felony Breaking and Entering in the Nighttime and Felony Malicious Destruction of Property.

Release and mugshots courtesy of the Yarmouth Police Department.

Honduras: The Ham in the Sandwich

American imperialism in Latin America today

In April 2002, Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, was kidnapped from the presidential palace and in due course flown to Orchid Island, off the coast of Venezuela. An announcement was made that he had resigned. Within days those who had engineered this US-backed coup were forced by huge demonstrations and by divisions in the military to restore him to office.

In February 2004, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, president of Haiti, was kidnapped, forced onto a plane and flown to Africa. It was announced to the media that he had resigned. Unfortunately, the people of Haiti have not been able to undo this US coup against their national sovereignty.

In June 2009, Mel Zelaya, above on right, president of Honduras, was kidnapped from the presidential residence in Tegucigalpa and flown to Costa Rica. An announcement has been made that he signed a letter of resignation. It remains to be seen whether international condemnation and internal protests will be enough to restore him to his post as the rightful president of his country.

Where "the rich don't sleep
and the poor don't eat."

Why Honduras? Why now?

In 1983 I was part of a Fellowship for Reconciliation delegation that had been sent on a fact-finding mission to Nicaragua and Honduras to ascertain what was going on in these two countries and to report back to the American people.

After flying into Tegucigalpa from Nicaragua one morning, our trip from the airport to our hotel convinced us that Honduras was, indeed, one of those countries where “the rich don’t sleep and the poor don’t eat.”

A monster pickup truck, outfitted as a police/military vehicle, had followed us from the airport, staying three or four cars behind us. Once in the city, a voice over a loudspeaker commanded the driver to stop. Several officers came forward to inspect us, our driver’s papers, and give us a warning.

As we continued on our way, we observed men in camouflage, carrying machine guns, at every major intersection. They stood ready to block off the street at a moment’s notice. Nearer our hotel I caught a glimpse of a man being arrested at rifle point on a crowded street.

We discovered that there was a police station catty-corner from our hotel. Men went in and out or stood around on the street with their guns. In Nicaragua we had seen men with guns, guarding official buildings or waiting for transportation to the border to fight the “contras,” Reagan’s mercenaries that were out to topple the Nicaraguan government. They mingled casually with the general population, chatting with adults or playing with the children. We had talked with several one day in a café where we were having lunch. But here in Honduras, we noticed that people who came along the sidewalk toward the police immediately crossed to the other side to avoid walking past them.

Viewing this armed camp, it was hard to believe that President Reagan had had the gall to hold up Honduras as a model of democracy.

Our first appointment for the day was at the US Embassy. We had considered ourselves fortunate that rather than Ambassador John Negroponte we would be meeting with Chris Arcos, the American Consul for Public Affairs for Honduras. He was a Chicano from Texas, a former campus radical married to a Honduran citizen. Rumor had it that he, a holdover from the Carter administration, would be a straight shooter.

Ambassador Negroponte, always willing to serve wherever the US Empire has problems, had flown over to Guatemala to attend to any fallout from a coup d’etat that had brought in an army general to replace the Guatemalan president, a born-again Christian who took his orders from God rather than the CIA. Negroponte had cut his diplomatic teeth in Vietnam alongside Richard Holbrooke, who is now US Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Both men have successfully worked their way up the foreign policy food chain.

Arcos began by explaining that Honduras by virtue of its geographical location had become the focal point for US operations in Central America. With Nicaragua along its southern border, Guatemala sprawled across its long northern one, tiny El Salvador nestled alongside both in the west, Arcos’s description of Honduras as “the ham in the sandwich” was apt.

To our consternation, Arcos suddenly switched gears, proceeding to detail the usual false claims.

To our consternation, Arcos suddenly switched gears, proceeding to detail the usual false claims: Nicaragua was shipping arms to the rebels in El Salvador, Nicaragua was the aggressor in the conflict with Honduras (Reagan employed the old bugaboo that with help from the Soviets, we Americans were about to be attacked by Nicaraguan tanks rolling into Harlingen, Texas), and that Cuba was training Hondurans to launch an internal revolt. 

Reagan’s policy, Arcos explained, was aimed at helping the Hondurans consolidate their new democracy by providing them with the minimum security that they needed to protect and develop their economy, referred to as a “dessert economy” because it was based on coffee, bananas and sugar. Four of the five largest corporations in the country were American-owned — Texaco, Amex, Standard Brands, and United Fruit.

Testimony to the reality that few Hondurans benefited from these export crops is the following: In 1983, the 4.1 million people of Honduras had a life expectancy of fifty-seven years, forty three percent were illiterate, ninety percent of the children under five were malnourished, and eighty-three percent of the homes had no electricity.

At the end of the session we followed Arcos out into the hall and demanded to know why he had given us such a bunch of baloney. Away from his colleagues, he replied that two men had come into the room and, standing at the back, had monitored our questions of him and his answers. One had been sent from the White House, he said, just to keep an eye on him. 

That evening in an unscheduled activity, we climbed a dark staircase to enter a dimly-lit daycare center where three women waited to speak to us. It had all the elements of a clandestine meeting — which it was. The women were relatives of a young man who had been arrested and detained by the police. As a member of the United Federation of Students, he had been teaching peasants (small farmers) to read and write under an extracurricular program funded by the US Agency for International Development. Now they knew that he was one of the desaparacidos, the disappeared, because they could not find him among the living or among the dead.

Two of the women in tears, we realized how dangerous it was for them to meet with us.

At the end, two of the women in tears, we realized how dangerous it was for them to meet with us and offered to destroy our tapes and notes, but they insisted that we not do so. “Please tell Reagan of our situation. You must get him to do something.” We promised that we would try.

We knew that the CIA had built a huge listening post/communications center in the country, had improved its seaport to accommodate larger vessels, and had constructed a 60-bed military hospital as well as new roads. It mattered not a whit that the new Constitution forbid foreign troops on Honduran soil.

There is little reason to believe that the plight of the people of Honduras has improved. Their chance to be in charge of their destiny, to reap the benefits of their natural resources and of their own labor appears now to have been taken from them with yet another coup d’etat.

It seems pertinent to ask whether this ham-handed interference in Honduran affairs is a sign that the US is gearing up to roll back the progress made by the people of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, El Salvador (and perhaps even Peru and Chile) in throwing off the yoke of Yankee imperialism and becoming free and independent states?

Eastham Board of Selectmen seek candidates for town committees

Appointments to be made during the month of July

The Eastham Board of Selectmen is seeking candidates for consideration for the following town committees:

• Animal Advisory Board
• Bikeways Committee
• Conservation Commission
• 1651 Forest Advisory Committee
• Historical Commission
• Planning Board
• Search Committee
• Visitors Tourism & Promotions Board
• Zoning Board of Appeals

The Board of Selectmen will be making appointments during the month of July, 2009.  Anyone interested in serving on an appointed committee, commission or board is invited to submit a Citizen’s Interest Form at your earliest convenience.

The forms are available at Town Hall by calling 508-240-5900, or on the Town website www.eastham-ma.gov.

NY Times ask bids for Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram to be in by next Tuesday

New buyer must assume $59 million pension plan liability

By Walter Brooks

According to stories in the industry trade publication and elsewhere, the New York Times has asked specific parties to bid for the purchase of both its New England daily newspapers, The Globe and The Telegram.

The bids must be in by a week from tomorrow, July 8.

The Times recently concluded bargaining with all the Globe's unions and has apparently succeeded in reducing that newspaper's overhead by $50 million. The successful completion of that, due with a vote to approve the agreement by the members of the Newspaper Guild next month, was thought by many to signal that the threat of a sale had passed.

Apparently the bargaining was for the purpose of making the newspaper more "salable."

Among the published references is this in The Times followed by the one from The Globe:

Times Co. May Include 2nd Paper in Globe Sale

The New York Times Company hopes to sell a newspaper in central Massachusetts along with The Boston Globe and wants the buyer of the papers to take on $59 million in pension liabilities. It intends to make a deal quite quickly, according to a letter sent to potential bidders, The New York Times's Richard Pérez-Peña reports.

The confidential letter from the company's investment bankers at Goldman Sachs, which was obtained by a Times reporter, says the company will focus on getting the highest price and "on the certainty and speed with which bidders can sign a definitive agreement and complete an acquisition."

It sets a July 8 deadline for initial, nonbinding bids, after which the company would choose which potential buyers would participate in a second round and would be allowed to submit binding offers... New York Times.
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Times Co. sets deadline of July 8 for Globe bids
Company wants a deal that includes Telegram & Gazette, pension liabilities

The New York Times Co., through its investment banker, has asked potential buyers of The Boston Globe to submit preliminary bids by July 8, according to people briefed on the sale process.

In a letter to parties that have expressed interest in buying New England's largest daily, investment banking firm Goldman Sachs & Co., which was hired by the Times Co. to manage a possible sale, said it is looking for preliminary indications of interest, including a potential price range for bids, the people said.

They described the preliminary bids as nonbinding, stressing that the step was still early in the sales process. Following the preliminary bids would come more intense due diligence by those who indicate serious potential interest, said these people, who did not want to be named because they aren't authorized to speak about the process.

The Times Co. wants to sell the Globe as part of a package that includes the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, another paper the Times Co. owns. The letter, according to the people, details that the buyer would need to assume the papers' $59 million in pension liabilities - $51 million for the Globe and $8 million for the T&G.

The Times Co. bought the Globe for $1.1 billion in 1993 and the T&G for $295 million in 2000. The T&G is the largest daily in Central Massachusetts... Boston Globe.

Multiple offense drunk driver crashes and is captured by Police K9 Unit in Yarmouth; Harwich Police respond to 165 weekend calls including one OUI; Two arrests in Truro

Multiple offense drunk driver crashes and is captured by Police K9 Unit

   Mark Carlson Sprague, arrested on multiple charges including OUI Liquor 4th Offense.

WEST YARMOUTH - On Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 1:37 a.m., Yarmouth Police Detective Russell Giammarco noticed a suspicious vehicle stopped in a business area with its interior light on at the end of Townbrook Road Extension in West Yarmouth with a male and female seated inside.  As Detective Giammarco drove closer, the vehicle suddenly drove off at a high rate of speed south on Townbrook Road Extension.

Detective Giammarco activated his unmarked police cruiser emergency lights and siren and attempted to stop the vehicle.  The vehicle did not stop and continued to travel southbound across Buck Island Road and on to Townbrook Road heading towards Route 28 at speeds between 50 and 60 miles per hour in a posted 30 mile per hour speed limit zone. Detective Giammarco temporarily lost sight of the vehicle and fellow Yarmouth Police Patrol Officer Melissa Alden quickly located it crashed on the front lawn of DiParma’s Restaurant at the intersection of Route 28 and Townbrook Road. 

The vehicle in question—a green minivan—had apparently travelled directly across Route 28 over the granite curb and up onto the front lawn of the restaurant causing severe damage to the front end and undercarriage of the vehicle and landscaping. A female passenger was located standing nearby the vehicle and witnesses reported that the driver had fled on foot eastbound on Route 28.  The passenger was identified as Laura Gorman who reported that it was her ex-boyfriend, Mark Sprague, who had been operating her van. Ms. Gorman has minor injuries to her right arm and members of the Yarmouth Fire Department were called to the scene for emergency examination and treatment.

Under the direction of Yarmouth Police Patrol Sergeant John K. Fallon the immediate area was secured and a search was initiated for the suspect.  Yarmouth Police Officers George Tsoukalas, Melissa Alden, and K9 Patrol Officer Mark Thibeault and his partner Clark conducted a coordinated track starting from the driver’s door of the van.  Clark categorized the odor and immediately began tracking southeast of the restaurant and subsequently located the suspect hiding under heavy brush on the property of the nearby Cove Resort complex. The suspect, Mark Carlson Sprague, 30, of Prospect Avenue in West Yarmouth, was placed in custody and transported to Yarmouth Police Headquarters. Sprague was charged with the following:

• Felony OUI Liquor 4th Offense
• Leaving the Scene of a Crash with Personal Injury
• 2 Counts Failure to Stop for a Stop Sign
• Failure to Stop for a Police Officer
• Operating to Endanger
• Operating with a Revoked Registration
• Speeding

He was held overnight and transported to the Barnstable District Court for arraignment this morning.

Release and mugshot courtesy of the Yarmouth Police Department.

Harwich Police respond to 165 call in the course of a weekend

Calls include eight car crashes, two arrests

HARWICH - From 8 a.m. Friday, June 26th to 8 a.m.  Monday, June 29th, the Harwich Police responded to 165 calls for service.  Among the calls were eight motor vehicle crashes and three disturbances. 

Four people will face a variety of criminal charges.  Below are two of the subjects who were arrested.  Two other subjects were issued criminal applications to appear in court at a later date.

Amanda Viera of Crestwood Lane in Dennisport was arrested on Sunday, June 28 on Division Street in West Harwich by Officer Aram Goshgarian on a Default Warrant for Motor Vehicle Violations.

Anne Flaherty of Lower County Road in Harwichport was arrested on Monday, June 29th on Headwaters Drive in Harwich by Sgt. John Sullivan for OUI (Liquor), Negligent Operation of a Vehicle, Possession of Mace without an FID Card, Failure to Yield to Right of Way and Marked Lanes Violations.

Release & mugshots courtesy of the Harwich Police Department.

Two arrests in Truro this past week

TRURO - The Truro Police Department responded to over 175 calls during the period of June 22 through June 28 including reports of suspicious activity and threats.  Two arrests were made during this period:

Officers arrested Courtney Alfanso Bogle, 53, of North Truro on Route 6 in North Truro for Assault and Battery and Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon.

Officers arrested Meredith Leigh Spearance, 24, of Shelburne, MA, on Route 6 at Stott's Circle in North Truro for Speeding, Suspended License, Refusing to Identify One's Self to an Officer While Operating a Motor Vehicle.

Release courtesy of the Truro Police Department.

Plymouth Rock Studios survives state funding cut; Voters favor Christy over Deval; Keetler's star reliefer to return; OpenCape may be stimulus

TODAY's quote: ""This is going to be a very competitive race. People are sick of tried and failed policies and taxes that place huge burdens on all of us to continue this one-party embarrassment." - Christy Mihos, 6/30/09.

Voters favor Christy Mihos
Conducted by Rasmussen Reports

Vote for Governor
Mihos 41%
Patrick 40%
Some other candidate 10%
Not sure 9%
FOX/Boston.

Plymouth Studios survives state funding cut
Developers seek private funding

The Plymouth Rock Studios project is moving ahead with private money after being denied economic development funding from the state.

Developers for the project had applied for $50 million from the state’s newly created Infrastructure Investment Incentive Program, called “I-Cubed.” The money would have been spent on road, sewer and water upgrades.

But state officials determined that the project would not generate the tax revenues needed to cover the bond payments.

The Patriot Ledger reported earlier this week that the funding wasn’t coming through, after Senate President Therese Murray told the paper’s editorial board that the funding program likely won’t work for any state projects. ... Cape Business.

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New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Cape Cod vacation
Was reliefer for Keetlers in 1960s

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is heading to Cape Cod for a vacation. The governor and first lady Barbara Richardson leave today for their getaway in Massachusetts.

Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the governor, said Monday that a state police security detail will accompany the governor... The Richardsons vacationed on Cape Cod in 2006 and 2003. The governor attended college at Tufts University in the Boston area and played amateur baseball in the Cape Cod League... KDBC-TV.
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Cape Cod Broadband Network May Be Model Stimulus Project

Stiff competition awaits local governments that are seeking a piece of the $7.2 billion set aside for broadband infrastructure in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Many already have plans that were shelved after the national craze for broadband deployments imploded a few years ago.

Local governments with less developed strategies may want to learn from one initiative observers consider a likely recipient of stimulus money: OpenCape is a consortium of local government and small business representatives in Cape Cod, Mass., who spent the last two years crafting a plan to deploy a broadband backhaul network for the entire cape.

OpenCape is applying for stimulus funds to build the network. Commercial providers will be able to use the infrastructure to provide services to residents, businesses and government entities on the cape that the providers currently don't serve because it's cost prohibitive... Government Technology.

Flowers for Cassandra Flynn-Rakos, 21

The floral tributes begain yesterday at the scene of the fatal Bourne Accident

By early yeaterday, flowers begain being placed at the scene of a fatal accident on County Road in Bourne, Monday afternoon (06-29-09).

Cassandra Flynn-Rakos, 21, of Bourne was killed in the single vehicle crash and two other 21 year-olds seriously injured. See the accident report here. (Photo by David G. Curran)

Cameras are rolling on the Lower Cape

Future stars hone their craft in Wellfleet and Truro

   On location with Jomar Motion Pictures in Truro. All photos courtesy of Jomar Motion Pictures.

by Bethany Gibbons

Cape Cod has, on occasion, been a playground for famous folk, but for the past few weeks, playgrounds on the Lower Cape might have been visited by future stars. The cameras have been rolling in Wellfleet and Truro, as Joel Greenberg and crew shoot scenes for his second independent film, Ironsides, based on his book 12 Year Old Ironsides.

The story takes place on a secluded island offshore the New England coast, where, as Greenberg’s synopsis puts it, “a 1973 summer vacation becomes a battle for two boys who each strive to make their fathers proud… one by fighting, the other by seeking peace.” The pacifist’s father makes a meager living as a ‘low-level boxer’ who espouses a cool-headed, fists-free response to trouble, while the town bullies endure sadistic tutorials in street fighting from their alcoholic father. In what is perhaps a nod to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the island-bound rabble rousers adorn their faces with war paint and advocate brutality.

Creating a summertime resort

With a stable of child actors from around the country on hand, as well as adult leads and local extras, Greenberg’s Jomar Motion Pictures has made use of Wellfleet’s seaside rental cottages and Truro’s Concert Park to create the feel of what Greenberg calls a “summer beach-type resort.” Based in Peabody, the company’s choice of film location was a natural choice, and Greenberg has no shortage of flattery when it comes to describing the area. “We needed a town common for 2 scenes and discovered Concert Park. The backdrop is almost like a wheat field, and it has a little stage built in – it just looked perfect. Everyone at Town Hall was very receptive – very friendly people,” he said. Wellfleet’s scenes were shot on rented private property that doubled as housing for the crew. As public land was not used, clearance by that town’s government was not required. “The location here is just beautiful,” Greenberg said of working in Wellfleet.

Rain, rain, go away

Shooting commenced last Thursday in Truro, after rainy weather caused the first delays the production has seen. The Truro scenes included a talent show, during which the drunk, aggressive father creates an uncomfortable disturbance as he removes his son from the festivities for embarrassing him – apparently tough guys really shouldn’t dance. The second shoot in Truro was a Fourth of July fireworks scene, with incendiaries to be added digitally in post-production.

Ironsides is the first film Greenberg has both written and directed. The script for his first independent film, You Have the Right to Remain Violent, earned a world-wide top ten rating in the 2007 Slamdance Screenwriter’s Contest. Greenberg harnessed the screenwriting talent of Doug Klozzner and Ted Campbell for that project and found a multi-award winning director, Roberto Monticello, to direct the film.

The genesis of the Violent film is a story itself. “My whole company was really founded by accident,” said Greenberg. “Our first story began as a joke.” Greenberg was working as an ice-cream truck driver and ran into trouble with his neighbors – and Massachusett’s Blue Laws – for parking his truck in his driveway. Forced to purchase some commercial property, he made lemonade from lemons and expanded his fleet. While driving his route, he met a 13-year-old Mark Munford at a local skate park and the two got into joking around about the restrictive town government. They became fast friends and collaborators and soon came up with the idea for Greenberg’s first film. With a degree in communications from Boston’s Emerson College, Greenberg was no stranger to the mechanics of television and film, and he boasted friends in both places. “I’ve been around the business for years,” he said.

Putting the "Mar" in Jomar

It wasn’t an obvious choice for Greenberg to produce his first independent movie. “We were offered $100,000 for the rights to the screenplay and story,” he said. “We refused it. They wanted to change the story and drop Mark [as the lead character] because he never acted before. That’s not what we wanted to do. I raised the funds on my own from family and friends and people I knew. When I had $150,000 I shot the movie.” That venture just wrapped up post-production work and has been entered in major indy film fests, like the Hampton’s International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.

Greenberg hasn’t left behind young Mark Munford, whose name is ostensibly half of Joel Greenberg’s “Jomar” company name. In the new movie, Munford has a role as the equally abused older brother of the local bully.

Greenberg infused his script for Ironsides with the real-life experience of discovering – and ending – a case of child abuse. He says that he changed the characters and events so much, even the person he was writing about did not recognize himself in the film.

An admitted “big fan of using unknown kids,” Greenberg used a combination of online and in-person casting to find child actors from as far away as Missouri and Ohio. The leading roles are paid, while extras are not. Working hours of the young actors are restricted by child labor laws and some parents are on set. Greenberg is quick to note that there are also adult actors, and principal roles total around 10 characters.

Local talent includes behind the scenes players. After posting an ad on Craigslist, Greenberg found Niall Hopkins Builders of South Yarmouth. “He built the sets for the Truro scenes,” Greenberg said. “He’s really become our props person, too. He likes to do movies.”

Greenberg predicts more big-screen action for the Cape. “Hollywood likes the tax credits. They like to see 25 percent of their film back,” he said, making reference to the expanded tax credits for filmmakers Governor Deval Patrick helped put into place in July of 2007. “Plymouth Rock Studios should also bring a lot of film into the area,” he said.

Busy weekend for Chatham Police: B & E; Perv on bike path

Chatham Police arrest male for disorderly conduct near public restrooms

On Saturday, June 27, 2009 at around 3:22 pm, Chatham Police responded to complaints of a male acting suspiciously in the area of a public rest room.  The public restroom is located along the Cape Cod Rail Trail Bike path, in the area of White’s Pond, Wilfred Road, Chatham.

Witnesses described a semi-clothed male attempting to look into a public restroom.  On arrival police located the male matching the descriptions behind the restroom.  When police approached, the male fled on foot.  After a brief foot pursuit, Officer William G. Massey and Brian J. Skinner placed the male under arrest.  He was identified as Mark Hamlyn (right), 53, of Run Hill Road in Brewster.  Mr. Hamlyn has been charged with Disorderly Conduct and a Chatham Town By-Law Violation.

Mr. Hamlyn was found guilty of Indecent Exposure and Open and Gross Lewdness in 1998 in the town of Brewster. He was found guilty of Indecent Exposure in 1995 in Brewster.

The Chatham Police Department is asking the public to contact Officer William Massey or Detective Louis Malzone at 508-945-1217, if they have had any suspicious contact with Mark Hamlyn along the Chatham (Cape Cod Rail Trail) Bike Path.

Release courtesy of the Chatham Police Department. 

Four arrested during daytime housebreak in Chatham

CHATHAM - On Saturday, June 27, 2009 around 12:53 p.m., Chatham Police Officers arrested four suspects during a daytime housebreak.

Officer Joshua S. Wisniewski was on patrol when he observed signs of activity at a Morris Island Road residence known to be vacant.  As he approached the home, Officer Wisniewski observed persons attempting to flee the residence.  The residence was surrounded and officers located four male suspects inside.  The four suspects, listed below, were arrested and taken into custody:

• Julien S. Collins, 23, of  Main Street, Chatham (right)
• A 16-year-old juvenile, of Wellesley
• A 15-year old juvenile, of Chatham
• A 16-year-old juvenile, of North Easton

All were charged with Breaking and Entering (Daytime) with Intent to Commit a Felony.  The 16-year-old from North Easton was also charged with Possession of Marijuana.

All four were scheduled to be arraigned in Orleans District Court Monday.

Release courtesy of the Chatham Police Department.