EXTRA...

Para-sites? Time means a lot to Helen Shah; Last day to register; Falmouth turns off 756 street lights; Casino committee angst; Dog support at Board of Health; No one hit in Mills shooting

TODAY's quotes: "So... we'll be 'para-sites'?" - Dilbert to Dogbert.
"If we want to achieve any kind of savings this year, there can't be an appeals process."
- Falmouth Town Manager Heather Harper

Today is last day to register for primary election

The primary election to select party candidates for U.S. Senator to replace the seat held for nearly a half century by Ted Kennedy is Dec. 8.

The last day to register for this special election is today, Nov. 18. Most town clerk's offices will be open until 8 p.m. on Nov. 18 for voter registration.

A statewide election will be held to elect the new senator on Jan. 19.

Eligible voters must be a US citizen, a resident of Massachusetts, and 18 years old on or before election day Jan. 19, 2010.
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Yarmouth Board of Health down one member after impromptu resignation

"I volunteered for a board that met in the afternoon and now that the time has changed to 5 p.m., I resign immediately."
                      - Helen Shah

Helen Shah, who has served on the Yarmouth Board of Health for the past eight years, stepped down Monday after the board voted to change the meeting time.

Helen Shah has been outspoken about her desire to keep the meeting time for the board in the afternoon, but remained on the board after the meeting was changed from 3 to 4 p.m earlier this year...

Fellow board member Bill Snowden and Shah have clashed publicly on many occasions at board of health meetings and have exchanged Letters to the Editor in The Register in recent weeks...The Register.
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Yarmouth market to keep its dogs

It was a packed house for yesterday's board of health meeting, but the more than 50 people in attendance did not stay for the conclusion of eight months of personal attacks between board members and wrangling over meeting times.
   They were there for the dogs. One after the other, neighbors and customers of the Yarmouthport Village Store rose to speak in favor of allowing 4-year-old Max and his mother, 7-year-old Phoebe, to stay in the quaint Route 6A store... Herald.

No injury in Marstons Mills shooting
No one was injured, but residents of a home on Wakeby Road were shaken up after shots were fired through their front window last night, according to Barnstable police.
   Barnstable police were called to a house on Wakeby Road around 11:15 p.m. to investigate, said Sgt. Sean Sweeney.
   A father and his 13-year-old son were home at the time, Sweeney said... Herald.

Falmouth to dim 756 street lights, save $11,750

In a town with 2,573 public street lights, Falmouth could see more than a third of them go dark with a proposal to temporarily eliminate 756 of them as part of cost-saving measures for this current fiscal year.

The savings are tied to September's Special Town Meeting in which $11,750 was trimmed from the streetlight line item, but Assistant Town Manager Heather B. Harper told selectmen last night the reductions would more likely need to be in the neighborhood of $28,650 because the town is nearly halfway through the current fiscal year... Falmouth Enterprise.
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Sandwich teacher shows fifth graders organs
Lungs, embryos included

Parents of some fifth-graders at a Sandwich school were horrified when their teacher decided to invite a presenter to class who showed them cell development at different stages of growth.

It happened during a class last Thursday at the Forestdale School. The teacher allegedly had the presenter come into her class with embryos, hearts and lungs at different stages of development... Fox Boston. See the statement from school officials here.
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Palmer advisory committee member upset that Town Council voted on casino without meeting
Monson School Committee votes NO

A casino impact study committee member has expressed his frustration with the Town Council for failing to meet with his committee before five of the nine councilors came out in favor of a casino in town.

Committee member Michael J. Swiatlowski said,  "For the Town Council to assign a citizen's group nearly two years ago and to ask that they prepare a report for the Town Council on possible impacts of a casino, only to have that committee watch as five Town Council members declare their stances on the subject before holding a proper question-and-answer session is nothing short of a slap in the face."

Meanwhile, the Monson School Committee has voted unanimously against a resolution that the Massachusetts Association of School Committees is expected to vote on at its conference Wednesday on Cape Cod. School Committee Chairman Michael J. Kane said he is prepared to propose an amendment to strike language calling for the exploration of casino gaming to generate revenue for school districts... Springfield Republican.
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Getting the big picture on Cape's wastewater future

The Cape Cod wastewater conversation reminds one of the "five Ws and an H" of journalism.

• Who is going to move projects ahead? The towns working together? The county leading? The Conservation Law Foundation with a lawsuit?
• What needs to be done, and where? Sewering the entire Cape is not an option. A draft regional wastewater management plan, and analysis of land use and wastewater flow, should provide some of the answers.
• When will action be taken?
• Why billions of gallons of wastewater need to be treated has been laid out in extensive public education efforts, but debate continues over methods: sewers, innovative and alternative (I/A) systems, or natural processes.
• How all this will be paid for is perhaps the most divisive of all the concerns...
  

Barnstable Patriot.