CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

Bringin' The Spooky!

Halloween ended, and you didn't get scared enough? Watch some scary movies that are available for reasons unknown to me on YouTube:

Mary Reilly, a love triangle between Dr. Jeckyl, Mr. Hyde, and Julia Roberts:

Kate Beckinsale, vampire, fights werewolves and other vampires. Twilight, without the teenagers....Underworld Evolution:

It's not truly Halloween until you've had a zombie apocalypse. Night Of The Living Dead is available because George Romero never copyrighted it or something, which puts it in public domain:

Jack Sheedy and I were discussing this ghost story recently....the end/payoff scene of High Plains Drifter:

Stuffed Pumpkin, from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 medium sugar pumpkin
6 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce (pumpkin and cranberry are great items to get locally, and sauce is easy to make)
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dark rum (optional, or mandatory at the Monponsett house)
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root (an acquired taste)
1 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Position rack in the center of the oven.
2.Cut out top of pumpkin, and set aside. Scoop out seeds with a metal spoon.
3.In a large bowl, stir together the apples, walnuts, cranberry sauce, pineapple, brown sugar, raisins, and rum. Season with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and mix well. Spoon the mixture into the cleaned pumpkin, and replace top.
4.Set pumpkin directly on a baking stone or a thick baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until pumpkin begins to soften. Remove from heat, and stir, scraping the sides gently, so that some pieces of pumpkin fall into the apple mixture.

Galloping ghosts, prancing pumpkins on trick-or-treat trail

This year’s political campaign season has gotten so terrifying, particularly in the 10^th District, that Trail Hound must perform an intervention and focus your attention away from all things electoral.

 Today we bring you off Cape, to the quintessential New England town of Grafton, Massachusetts, to celebrate one of America’s greatest holidays – Halloween – on the Grafton Land Trust’s Big Pumpkin Trail Ride.  The ride covers by horseback some of the most scenic trails you’ll find east of the Berkshires, let alone in the Greater Worcester area.

 Turn off your talk radio. Don’t answer that robo-campaign call, even if it’s from Bill Clinton. Grab a few Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for the drive. Hitch up the trailer, and giddy’ up.

 The Grafton Land Trust is an exemplary conservation organization, in the same league as Cape Cod’s own Harwich Conservation Trust, except the GLT has been around for 52 years. Their website features 30 to 40 miles of trails on conservation properties owned or managed by the trust or town. The trails are ideal for hiking, running, horseback riding, and mountain biking (not ATVs); and they’re well marked and maintained, giving the impression that people are actually welcome to visit them.

 For the GLT’s 50^th anniversary in 2008, 25 new geocaches were placed on GLT or town conservation property as part of the Great Grafton Geocache, to introduce people to the trails.

 But Halloween is for horses. Today, some 75 equestrians, many in costume, headed for the wooded trails near Brigham Hill Community Barn (home to another vital organization, Community Harvest Project, which grew over 88,000 pounds of produce this year for the Worcester County Food Bank).

 On their 10-mile ride, connecting several parcels of conservation land, participants enjoyed wooded uplands, still showing colorful fall foliage, sweeping meadows, and trails along streams and ponds. All this natural terrain is remarkably accessible, yet feels peacefully remote, even though some properties border busy commercial streets and even the Mass. Pike.

 The Grafton Land Trust’s trails, like those protected by Cape Cod conservation trusts, are testimony to the importance of systematically preserving open space, before it’s gobbled up by development.  One of the most enjoyable ways to explore the treasures of the land is on a horse – with or without costumes and candy.

 It sure beats another scary attack ad.

 Happy trails.

Images, from top:

Jail birds enter the trail

Princess on unicorn

Brigham Hill field and wildlife area

Happy Halloween to All

So if you didn't carve out that pumpkin and you are feeling alittle creative try the recipe below.

Get a pumpkin about 3 pounds

Gather your

1/4 Stale Bread of your choice

1/4 lb cheese and cut in cubes

2 to 4 garlic cloves minced

4 strips of bacon crumbled

1/4 c snipped chives

1 tbsp minced fresh thyme

about 1/3 c heavy cream

 and a pinch of fresh grated nutmeg

Preheat oven 350 degrees. In a bowl toss in bread, cheese, herbs and bacon in bowl. Season with pepper. Cut the top of the pumpkin in starlike cuts as opposed to straight cuts so that the lid does not fall in. Clean out and place on a baking sheet. Pour in your bread mixture into pumpkin then add cream. Plac the lid on and bake for 2 hours. Remove the lid for the last half hour so that the liquid will be absorbed and the stuffing mix will brown.

You can change this recipe a bit with your favorite additions.

Have Fun !!

Get that Pumpkin Ready

Don't ever miss the chance to view some great pumpkin art work at the Roger Williams Zoo. Next year mark your calendar and go brave the crowds if it be on a weekend. Its worth the trip. Sorry if you missed it this year, but here's some inspiration for your pumpkin carving tonight. 

 Happy Halloween !!!

Corporate Personhood: Fact or Fiction?

Do Corporations Have Souls?

One of the delights associated with newspaper reading is the random encounter with an article whose headline might not have drawn you to it online, but which, with idle page-turning, happens to catch your attention for no reason other than pure serendipity.

Religion sections having become an exotic species in newspapers of late, my curiosity was piqued by a headline in the Cape Cod Times:  Do Corporations Have Souls?  The author (The Rev. Edmund Robinson) starts out with a Halloween peg about the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, during which "the veil between this world and the other world was said to be at its thinnest, allowing the fairy folk to escape the sidhe, or fairy hill, and wander about in human villages."

It was but a short narrative leap from those shades and spirits to the incorporeal entities now frighteningly empowered to fund election campaigns anonymously, courtesy of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, a case which infamously declared corporations to be persons under the law, and therefore entitled to all of the free speech protections of the 1^st Amendment.

Robinson then proceeds to demolish the premise of corporate personhood as a theological absurdity, a compelling perspective not previously encountered in my readings on the subject.

We may of course choose to accept or reject his doctrinal arguments according to our own religious convictions, but there is no getting around his essentially humanistic contention that corporations are not people because they are not mortal, and, consequently, neither die nor harbor fear of death, a uniquely human imperative that existentially influences our behavior, hopefully for the better.

I commend the complete article to your attention.

Murray and Keating for Cape Cod

Whether in Boston or Washington:
Cape Cod needs help from the other side of the bridges.

Terry Murray with Geraldine Ferraro, the only woman ever nominated for Vice President.

Senate President Terese Murray and District Attorney William Keating can better represent us in the larger forums of government than even our own.

State Senator Terry Murray (D-Plymouth) has been an effective advocate for not only the Cape Cod part of her district, but for Cape Cod as a whole.

Whether for Bourne, Sandwich, or Barnstable, she can always be counted on to deliver. But on the issues that affect all Cape Codders, from health care to small business.

Terry Murray has been in a unique position as President of the State Senate to address our issues. It's an advantage that comes around only once in a lifetime. We mean, how often does a Cape Legislator reach the position of Senate President or House Speaker?

How often does a Cape Legislator reach the position of President of the State Senate?

Voters in their own vested interest would be very wise to not throw that huge advantage away.

Despite some obvious shortcomings in local aid and Chapter 70 formulas, the Cape delegation has an ally in the Senate President when it comes to legislation that is important to all Cape Codders.

Terry Murray will have a new challenge reorganizing the Senate majority next year, with at least 10 new Senators entering the Chamber, including one from the Cape and Islands. Let's keep the advantage Cape Cod currently enjoys in the State House. 

We choose practical politics over ideology.

Tradition of Liberalism

Bill Keating yesterday with Vice President Joe Biden.

Cape Cod has been well served over the last two decades by Congressmen who have come from New Bedford and Quincy. The two population centers of the 10th District will always sway the vote, but it is up to the elected representative to weigh the interests of both ends. The Cape has done well so far, and will continue to gain with Bill Keating.

Whether it be commercial fishing, Gerry Studds' hallmark issue, or the environment, Bill Delahunt's, Bill Keating is more than capable of stepping into this role with his own brand of leadership for what will certainly be his trademark, bringing social justice to more people in the district through jobs and health care.

Keating's extensive experience in the Halls of Power (State Rep. and Senator) and the Halls of Justice (as a& District Attorney) have tempered him into a strong lever for change in the system.

He will follow our traditions on the social issues that matter most to all of us.

Whether he serves in the majority in Congress or not, he will be an effective advocate for the citizens of this district, and follow our traditions on the social issues that matter most to all of us. From Quincy all the way to Provincetown.

Sometimes Cape Cod needs help from the other side of the bridge to span the gap between us and the rest of the Commonwealth and country. 

Terry Murray and Bill Keating can provide that kind of help.

CC Commisson battles Conservation Law Foundation; Bill Snowden charged with assault; Upper Cape Tech wins a big one; Cronin plays hardball with Cuba

TODAY's quote: "We were stopping them, and we weren't letting them make big gains."
- Kevin Farr Jr.

Playing hardball with Cuba

The Cape Cod Times on Sunday does a great job extolling Tom Cronin of American Heritage Realty's work getting Cuban and Dominican Republic baseball player trained and ready to succeed in the American big leagues. Read The Cape Cod Times story here and The Wall Street Journal longer story here.

Upper Cape Tech gets a team of their own

The Bourne Enterprise has a good football story this week about the Upper Cape Technical High School football team's debut game last month.

The story reports Kevin C. Farr Jr., son of the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School superintendent, saying he knew by halftime that September 13 would be a historic day for his school. The UCT Rams played their season opener against Blue Hills Regional Technical School in Canton. "We were stopping them, and we weren't letting them make big gains," Kevin said.

Upper Cape Tech's 28-6 won that first game over Blue Hills. It was the first game ever played by the school's own football team.

Read the Bourne Enterprise story here.

Town official Bill Snowden charged with indecent assault

Fox Television in Boston reports that a Dennis town official was arrested Friday on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, the Cape Cod Times is reporting.

William C. Snowden III, 62 on right, the clerk of the town board of health, was arraigned in Barnstable District Court on the charge.

Snowden was appointed to the Yarmouth Board of Health in April 2009. At that time two board members resigned after Snowden's appointment to the panel.

Snowden has had a long career on Cape Cod. He was the class president of the first class to graduate from the then-new Cape Cod Community College and in his twenties was elected as a town Selectman.

Read the Fox 25 report here.

Cape Cod Commission to fight Conservation Law foundation

The Cape Codder asks us to consider this nightmare scenario: A federal court rules that the Cape is in violation of the Clean Water Act and forces communities to build the fastest solution to solve the peninsula's wastewater problems.

The newspaper reports that to prevent that from happening, Cape Cod Commission has hired Cambridge's Anderson and Kreiger to represent the Cape's interests in the suit the Conservation Law Foundation and The Coalition for Buzzards Bay filed against the Environmental Protection Agency in August as well as their written intent to sue the county and Cape Cod Commission.

Read The Cape Codder story here.

Trick Or Treating During The Patriots Game

Halloween falls on an NFL Sunday!

This is important because the Patriots game this week (4 PM, TV: FOX.. Radio: 95.1 WXTK-FM, 98.5 WBZ-FM) falls during prime trick-or-treat hours. This will leave football-loving parents in a bit of a bind that could, if not handled properly, eventually have your child in psychotherapy.

It gets dark around 6 PM, depending on atmospheric conditions. That's right in the middle of the game. In many households, it's not an issue. The wife is happy to leave the husband watching the game, or maybe neither of the parents are into sports.

In other households, someone is missing the game, or the kid is going trick or treating at some odd hour. You have to work it out for yourselves there, folks... but I can help the process along.

- Try trick or treating at 3 in the afternoon. It's safer, the costumes will be more impressive, and the kids won't eat 5 pounds of candy at 8 PM on a school night. They'll instead eat it at 5 PM.

- Do what I think will happen... a blitz of rapid trick or treating, bracketing the halftime period of football inactivity. This should be just before it gets really dark.

- Hope for a blowout, and do the rounds once the score gets to 27-6 or so. This is dangerous, because the longer you wait for the blowout to be affirmed is the closer you come to that decision of missing the end of a great game or trick or treating til 9:30 PM.

- Go trick or treating at 7:15 PM or so, after the game.

I don't have this problem, as my marriage is divided into spheres of influence that made this decision for us years in advance. Simply put, escorting the girls around is the Colonel's responsibility (and will be until they are married off), while hostessing is my realm.

It's dark, and the world is an evil place. I'm too small to defend the children against a Michael Myers-style assault, so it's better if the Colonel takes the kids out roaming the mist-shrouded streets. The Colonel himself posed this theory to me, and his logistical thinking was sound enough that I've never questioned it.

Likewise, I work better as the trick-or-treat hostess back at the Compound. It's not unusual for the Colonel to frighten some of the younger trick-or-treaters by his sheer physical presence (he's about 6'5", 270), and he has a habit of throwing the candy into the children's bags. I present better, and can network with the neighbors somewhat as they come by with their own children.

So, I get to watch the Patriots game in a warm house, while my mortified husband walks the streets with Gabby the Ghost (she made her own costume this year, and is quite proud of it) and Melissa the Witch. He fought in Mogadishu, and I'm a pampered soccer mom. Life isn't Fair, but it sure is Good.

I should also add that, factored into this equation, is a humiliating experience I suffered trick or treating one Halloween not long ago. The Colonel and I took the Gabrielle around, while Ellen stayed back with Melissa (who was too young) at the house to disperse the chocolate.

I wore a hooded sweatshirt, and threw a Tom Brady jersey over it, more for an extra layer of warmth than for any costuming purposes. The Colonel isn't the sort of man who wears a costume. My husband is also a lot bigger than I am... I'm 5 foot nothing, and weigh about 105-110.

It only happened a few times, but it was enough. Elderly people would open the door when we knocked, marvel over Gabrielle (she was dressed as a duck), give her some candy... then instantly negotiate the difference in size between the Colonel and myself, and hand me some candy as well. "And aren't you just the prettiest little Patriot?"

I'd get all snooty and growl, "I have a doctorate, thank you." I did come up on me some Snickers and Twix Bars, so I really shouldn't complain. The Colonel had no candy presented directly to him, and therefore had to beg the stuff off Gabrielle. He got all the second rate goods that Gabby was willing to cede him.

He knew better than to ask me for any of mine. I- like many Frenchwomen- have a reputation for being difficult.

Some more predictions, from my main man at What's Gonna Happen: A Halloween Political Ad Week 8 NFL Picks | What's Gonna Happen

Woman meant to hit pedestrian in liquor store parking lot; CG rescue; Police rescue wheelchair bound man from burning car; School evacuated after child brings training grenade to class; 75-year-old Falmouth man seriously injured; Harwich crane tips over

Coast Guard rescues injured fisherman 130 miles at sea

OFFSHORE - The Coast Guard medevaced a crewman from the fishing vessel Rachel Leah 130 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass., Oct. 30, 2010.

Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a report from the Rachel Leah that the crewmen had sustained an injury after being struck by a lobster pot at around 2:18 p.m.

A HH-60 rescue helicopter transported the victim to Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod where local EMS took the victim to Falmouth Hospital.

Courtesy of USCG.

Bourne Police officer rescues wheelchair-bound passenger from burning car

BOURNE - A Bourne police officer pulled a trapped and handicapped wheel chair bound passenger from a minivan which caught on fire at the Mobil gas station at the Belmont Circle Rotary in Bourne, Massachusetts Saturday afternoon, October 30, 2010.

According to Bourne Police Sgt. Dennis Woodside, Police Officer Thomas Morgello pulled the trapped elderly man from the burning vehicle using a bear hug.  Sgt. Woodside has credited the officer with possibly saving the man’s life.

The driver of the minivan, who is the wife of the rescued man, escaped safely from the vehicle.

David G. Curran photo.

UPDATE: Police: Woman intentionally struck by car at liquor store

Amber Scanlan charged with A & B with a dangerous weapon - her car

BOURNE - Bourne police arrested Amber Scanlan of Falmouth Saturday on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

The weapon was her car.

Bourne police Officer James Czyrca spoke yesterday to other media and said, "it was part of a personal dispute (between the two women."

Bourne firefighters transported a pedestrian reportedly struck by a car from the parking lot of Seaside Liquors on Barlows Landing Road Friday evening, October 29, 2010 around 9:45 p.m.

The extent of the victim's injuries were unknown at the time, but he was reportedly conscious at the scene.

Bourne police are investigating the accident.

Photo by David G. Curran.

Wareham School evacuated after child brings training grenade to class

A Wareham Police Officer directs a car away from the blocked entrance to the Minot Forest Elementary School Friday afternoon after a training grenade was discovered.

WAREHAM - The Wareham Week is reporting that a child attending the Minot Forest Elementary School, brought a training grenade to class in a backpack Friday, October 28, 2010.

The afternoon discovery of the grenade led to an evacuation of the school.  Wareham Police responded to the scene along with Wareham fire and emergency personnel and the State Police Bomb Squad.

Authorities reported the grenade to be inert. - Photo by David G. Curran.

75-year-old Falmouth man seriously injured after being struck by car Thursday night

EAST FALMOUTH - A 75-year-old Falmouth man was taken to Boston Hospital Thursday evening, October 28, 2010, in serious condition after being struck by a blue Pontiac Grand-Am.

Around 9 p.m., the Falmouth Police responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a car  at 439 East Falmouth Highway, in front of 3 Ways Liquors.  The man was taken by ambulance to Falmouth Hospital and later transferred to a Boston hospital. His condition was listed as serious at the time.  A MedFlight helicopter was original called to the scene, but canceled due to inclement weather.

A section of East Falmouth Highway was shut down as a result of the crash and subsequent investigation.

No charges have been filed against the driver of the Grand-Am.

Falmouth Police are withholding the man's name pending notification of the family.

The incident is being investigated by the Falmouth Police Accident Reconstruction Team.

Release courtesy of the Falmouth Police Department. Photo and video by David G. Curran.

Crane tips over at work site in Harwichport Thursday

HARWICHPORT - Harwich police and firefighters responded to a work site in Harwichport after a crane tipped over Thursday morning, October 28, 2010.

There were no reported injuries at the construction site on Wychmere Harbor off Route 28.

Thursday morning, the upended crane could be seen leaning against a foundation and newly-constructed building frame.

An investigation into what caused the crane to tip will be conducted.

Photo and video by David G. Curran.

Baker barnstorms with Brown; Biden boosts Bil; Tea Party revolution Tuesday?; Kerry's a good surrogate; Cops for Lewis; Baker shot in his achilles' heal; Globe endorses Connaughton; Patriot Ledger endorses Keating; Al Baker endorses Milne for Delegate

TODAY's quote: "I want you to honor me and everything that I have stood for, and everything that I believe in, by electing my friend, a great district attorney, Bill Keating"
- Bill Delahunt, see report here.

Baker barnstorms with Brown

GOP Gubernatorial hopeful and former Massachusetts Budget Chief Charlie Baker travelled across the commonwealth with U.S. Senator on his campaign bus yesterday in a last minute ditch to turn out the vote on Tuesday.

Criticizing Governor Deval Patrick because Welfare EBT cards are being used to purchase liquor, Baker has been ramping up his attacks against the Governor as of late.  Patrick on the other hand has released a new commercial chastising Baker for his negativity.

Baker's bus tour began in Foxbourough and travelled throughout Western Massachusetts.

To read about it, click on the Boston Herald.

Biden barnstorms for Bill

Vice President Joe Biden rallied a big crowd including Vicki Kennedy and Bill Delahunt to support Bill Keating i n his race for the Mass. 10th Congressional District yesterday in Quincy. See Ana Paulina's photo essay.

GOP rises from the dead

Over the last four years, the Democrats rose to power by first taking over control of both chambers of congress in 2006, but built upon their majorities in 2008 with the culmination of electing who many observers believed to be the next coming of Franklin Deleano Rooselvelt reincarnated in the body, mind, and spirit of Barack Obama.

However, since then with the nation and the rest of the world in an economic depression not seen like this since the Great Depression in the 1930, the political winds have shifted the minds of the American electorate as we head into Tuesday's election.

Government measured unemployment peaked at over 10% in October 2009 with little change since then and it is believed that the real unemployment figures are closer to 20% because those who are no longer receiving unemployment benefits are included in the government's "official figure."

Is America on the brink of some sort of revolution, possibly and on Tuesday, the grassroots, libertarian, Tea Party movement may deliver hell to pay for the current party in power.

To read an interesting piece on this, click the Washington Post.

John Kerry excels as senior surrogate for the Democrats

Since being trumped by George Bush for the Presidency in 2004, no other Democrat has contributed more to his party's success in reclaiming power over the past four years than the Massachusetts Senior United States Senator John Kerry.

Not only did Kerry host key strategy sessions with many Democratic United States Senators and the Democratic National Senatorial Committee in the summer of 2006 at his summer home of Nantucket where the Democrats plotted their takeover of both chambers of congress, but Kerry may have been the most important politician in helping elect Barack Obama to the Presidency.  In 2004 by allowing him to give the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and through his early support for Obama in 2008 over Clinton.

Additionally, over the past four years, Kerry has been a prolific fundraiser for Democrats across the country and has raised millions.  Although it is unlikely Kerry will ever run for President again, in the mind of this reporter Kerry's efforts to help his party members is similar to the efforts of another political surrogate who helped his fellow party members succeed after he lost the Presidency in 1960, Richard Nixon.

To read about Kerry's efforts, click on the Boston Globe.

MBTA Patrolmen Association endorse Lewis for Congress

Independent Candidate for Congress in the 10th Congressional District Maryanne Lewis received another key endorsement.  This time from the MBTA Patrolmen Association.  The MBTA Patrolmen Association represent 200 patrolmen who protect constituents in the 10th Congressional District.

The association had this to say about why they picked Lewis:

"As a former Assistant District Attorney and as the wife of a former patrolman and K9 officer, Maryanne understands the challenges we face every day. She's committed to supporting and protecting all members of the law enforcement community and will work hard in Congress to develop a strict but sensible Federal immigration policy - a critical issue amongst our membership."

To read more, click here.

Baker's shot in his Achilles' Heal: The Big Dig

The Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby wrote an interesting commentary about how Governor Patrick finally exposed GOP rival Charlie Baker's weakness: his role with the financing of the Big Dig.

During the final Gubernatorial debate, moderator Charlie Gibson asked Baker, who had repeatedly denied having much say in the financial decisions surrounding the gigantic public works project, to explain his actions on a memo that Baker wrote in 1998 which specifically makes clear that Baker was indeed the major architect on how the project was funded.

To read Jacoby's piece, click on the Boston Globe.

Globe endorses Connaughton for Auditor

No one can say that the Boston Globe only endorses Democrats because this week, they announced their endorsement for Mary Connaughton for State Auditor over Democratic rival and Massachusetts Secretary of Labor Suzanne Bump.

Although the Globe acknowledges that both candidates have their flaws, they specifically point out that they believe that it would be Connaughton who would best do the job due to her unique skills as both a public accountant at Ernest and Young and due to her independence as demonstrated by her outspokenness on the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

To read their endorsement, click on the Boston Globe.

 Patriot Ledger endorses Keating for Congress

In what the Patriot Ledger describes as the wildest election seen for this seat since the elimination of Brian Donnalley's 11th Congressional seat in 1992 which set off a frenzy of possible successors which included current Independent candidate and former Mayor James Sheets, 2010 Democratic nominee for Auditor Suzzane Bump, and current Boston Mayor Tom Menino, the Patriot Ledger endorsed Norfolk District Attorney Bill Keating for Congress.

The main reasons why the Ledger picks Keating over Perry is that first Perry's honesty is in serious question and number two, Keating's tenure as both lawmaker and DA is marked by many accomplishments.

To read this endorsement, click on the Patriot Ledger.

Al Baker endorses Milne for Barnstable Assembly of Delegates

Mr. J. Gregory Milne is running for Barnstable representative to the Assembly of Delegates. Mr. Milne has been a Barnstable Town Councilor for eleven years. He was a member of Barnstable's most reason charter commission and is a county mosquito control commissioner. Milne is also on the county's charter review commission.

J. Gregory Milne has earned this position by being the people's voice. He does his homework, vets controversial matters and welcomes constituent opinions. Gregory takes hard stands and explains his positions in a well-thought-out manner. Gregory has won the public's confidence. He received the third highest vote on the most recent charter commission ballot of almost 25 candidates.

Many residents of Barnstable think the current delegate is in conflict with his second position as Barnstable's assistant town manager. How can a representative of the delegation truly represent the people while under the wing of the administration of the town? Does this mean that the town manager is also incognito the delegate?

I ascertain that they are both one in the same. When Barnstable delegate Tom Lynch represents the Town of Barnstable as a delegate, he is in fact representing the town with the rubber-stamp and approval of his boss, Town Manager John Klimm.

Barnstable needs a delegate that is strong, detailed and informed. Barnstable needs a delegate that represents the people's wishes. J. Gregory Milne is that individual. His proven track record will not fail us.

Jeff Perry Bus Tour & Rally- Reaction to Joe Biden visit

Video by Daivid Curran.