EXTRA...

Ponzi schemer sought on Cape; Obama vacation here confirmed; Healthcare head's record eyed; Walter Cronkite dead at 92; Fishing rule format draws fire

TODAY's quote: "They've spent vacation time there before and are looking forward to relaxing together as a family at the end of a very busy summer." - White House spokeman.

Manhunt For Money Manager Stretches To Cape Cod

Earl Jones resigned from Cape Cod's Living Independently Forever during the saying that "he had pressing business issues that required his full focus."

A suspected Ponzi scheme has a Wellesley man sending out a plea to a shady investor named Earl Jones. "Earl, please turn yourself in," said Jerry Coughlan, whose mother lost a seven figure sum to the man.

The 77-year-old Canadian woman sold her late husband's business and two homes and gave all her money to Earl Jones. Her son says Jones sent bogus statements every month that showed high returns.

Last week, Jones changed the locks on his Montreal office and disappeared with his wife. He is suspected of swindling as much as $50 million from more than 150 victims... WBZ.

Related story:Investors in alleged Montreal Ponzi scheme discuss class action suit

About 60 clients of missing financial adviser Earl Jones were meeting at a hotel in Montreal Friday to get an update on the legal proceedings against him, including a possible class action lawsuit.

Jones is suspected of using a Ponzi scheme to bilk investors out of approximately $50 million.

Several west island social services and support groups were also at the meeting, along with local politicians, to assess the immediate, basic needs of Jones's investors now struggling to make ends meet.

Without their investment income, several investors said they're now struggling to pay rent... CBC-TV.

See previous story Missing Cape Cod adviser spotted on flight to U.K. (third item) here.
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White House confirms: Obamas Vineyard-bound

The Obamas are said to have rented a large cottage on East Chop overlooking Nantucket Sound and Cape Cod. It's a mile west of Oak Bluffs center.

President Obama and his family will vacation at Martha's Vineyard during the last week of August, a White House spokesperson told the Globe this afternoon.

"They've spent vacation time there before and are looking forward to relaxing together as a family at the end of a very busy summer.

"We'll have more details about the exact dates and location at a later date," the spokesperson said, confirming the plans that have been rumored and talked about for weeks.

Folks on the vacation destination off Cape Cod have already been preparing for the Obamas. The Clintons also spent holidays there when they were in the White House. Globe. 

Editor's note: The map on right shows Martha's Vineyard's two "chops", a nautical term for a piece of land jutting out in the sea which is not long or large enough to be termed a peninsula. Some say it refers to the fact the area is shaped like a chop of meat as in lamb chop. You'll have to decide for yourself.
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Fishing rule format draws more fire
Council member files 'minority report' over catch allocations

A minority report raising questions about the fairness and legality of decisions by the New England Fishery Management Council to use differing formulas in splitting up the total allowable catch of groundfish next year has been filed with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.  David Goethel, a commercial fishermen and a council member from New Hampshire, noted his dissent at the conclusion of the council meeting in Portland, Maine, last month, and has now released the text of his letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke...

The first council vote gave what Goethel called an unfair allocation of Georges Bank cod to the two "sectors," or harvesting cooperatives on Cape Cod. The second vote gave the recreational fishery its historic five-year high allocation of Gulf of Maine cod and haddock, which was the period from 2002 to 2006. The shift in quota to the sectors of Cape Cod will be worth about 2.5 percent of what would have been the allocation to the rest of the permit-holders in Georges Bank cod... Gloucester Times.
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CBS Legend Walter Cronkite Dies
Retired to  Martha's Vineyard

Walter Cronkite, who personified television journalism for more than a generation as anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News," has died. CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. Friday with his family by his side at his home in New York after a long illness. He was 92... CBS.
   Mr. Cronkite, a keen sailor, had a seasonal relationship with Martha's Vineyard that endured far longer even than his tenure in the most influential media job in the country - some 40 years. Read today's Vineyard Gazette story here.

Dr. Richard Salluzzo faces accounting questions
$20m overstatement of net income alleged by auditors

A former Conemaugh Health System executive is facing controversy for inflated income reports at the Tennessee-based health system he led after leaving Johnstown (to head Cape Cod Healthcare).

Wellmont Health System revised its financial statements for 2006 and 2007 this week, after new auditors found accounting issues that overstated net income by $20 million under Dr. Richard Salluzzo's leadership, the system announced.

The audit was launched after Salluzzo, former chief executive officer at Conemaugh and its flagship Memorial Medical Center, left Wellmont to take the reins of Cape Cod Healthcare Inc. in Hyannis, Mass.In a statement released Monday, Salluzzo said the amounts listed under "accounts receivable" were interpreted differently.

The category includes money the hospital expects to collect from insurance companies, Medicare and other payers. While those amounts are almost always less than the hospital's official charges, actual payments are often hard to predict.

"It's more art than science," one health system leader said.Wellmont leaders stopped far short of blaming Salluzzo... Tribune-Democrat.