CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

Happy New Year!!!

Happy 2011!

2011 will be called "two-o'leven" in American slang.

We here at the Sports Desk wish you and yours the best and happiest 2011!

Burgers, Brothers & Bold Predictions for 2011

The presents are unwrapped and the paper recycled (but not at the dump, because No one goes there anymore).  The leftovers are gone (almost), and first round of batteries on the nerf guns are almost depleted.  With that, it's time to look forward to what is sure to be an eventful and exciting 2011 in Falmouth.  Here are some predictions for the New Year:

After a snow-filled winter of our collective discontent, DPW Director Ray Jack announces that he can make snowplowing more efficient and cost-effective "in a heartbeat," much like a similar statement made about profitability at the dump.  He is promptly and publicly challenged by Highway Division Director John Lyons, who notes that snow is left on the roads intentionally as a teaching tool for young drivers.  A Blue-Ribbon Committee of former DPW Commissioners, including Nate Ellis, Virginia Valiela, and John Elliot (that retirement didn't last long), is appointed by Selectmen to discuss the matter.  They conclude and recommend a $7.5 million engineering study to determine the proper sand/salt mix for the roads. 

Speaking of an engineering study, the April Town Meeting unanimously and vociferously rejects the alphabet-soup Comprehensive Wastewater Management Study it to Death Committee (CWMSITDC) proposal for $7 million engineering study to further examine the town's nitrogen and wastewater woes.  By an overwhelming margin, the town does approve a $500,000 initiative to plant eel grass in every yard along Bourne's and Great Ponds put forth by Ron Smolowitz and a related initiative to rename the CWMSITDC as the Dozens of Answers (DOA) committee. 

In the May elections, former Fire Chief Paul Brodeur easily wins a seat on the Board of Selectmen, assuming the vacant seat left by nine-year incumbent Ahmed Mustafa, who does not seek re-election, citing the demands on his time representing pal George Morse before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Brodeur promises a joke at the beginning of each meeting and quickly becomes a fan favorite, restoring some levity to the Monday night proceedings.  He is censured by his colleagues in October, though, for placing whoopee cushions on each chair and asking Selectmen repeatedly to pull his finger.  

Selectman Chairman Brent Putnam is soundly defeated in his quest for a second term by local man-about-town Ron Braga, brother of Selectman David Braga.  The campaign slogan, "If you love Braga Burgers, you'll REALLY love the Braga brothers" becomes a marketing sensation, propelling both the burgers and the brothers to national prominence.  Both resign their posts shortly thereafter, citing the need to devote their full attentions to the burgeoning burger business, and the unrelenting demands of numerous appearances before an adoring and hungry public.    A special election is held to fill both seats.  In a crowded field, including previous candidates Catherine Bumpus, Cheryl Kozens-Long, R. Jude Wilber, Robert Volosevich, and Town Meeting veterans Richard Latimer and Dan Shearer, the election has to be postponed because the candidates continue to debate one another at the Morse Pond auditorium long after election day.  Eventually, Volosevich and Wilber are declared winners.  Exit polling shows that Volosevich's promise of free ice cream and Wilber's promise of free hats carried them to victory. 

Former Town Manager Bob Whritenour joins former FCTV personality David Oshman as the host of a new live call-in show on channel 13.  The show is promptly cancelled due to a lack of callers. 

As  Christmas 2011 rolls around, Parks Superintended Brian Dale makes his way into local lore by camping out on the Village Green for the entire month of December to prevent the stealing of Santa, after repeated attempts to swipe the local holiday icon.  Dale foils a late-night Santa-steal attempt on Christmas Eve by Mustafa and Morse. Upon arrest, Police Chief Anthony Riello sings "How Do You Like Me Now," by Toby Keith to the two in the booking room.  They are not amused. 

Falmouthites continue to be involved and informed, maintaining both their civic commitment and their sense of humor.  That's one prediction you can take to the bank.

This column is reprinted from the Falmouth Enterprise.

Coast Guard rescues crewman from Grace Marie 10 miles off Provincetown

U.S. Coast Guard rescue crews medically evacuate crewman from fishing vessel
Grace Marie has a history of tough breaks at sea. towed home after a rogue wave hit her in '07

The Grace Marie in Gloucester Harbor on a calmer day.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that its crews medically evacuated a crewman from the Gloucester, Massachusetts, based fishing vessel Grace Marie 10-miles north of Provincetown, on Friday, Dec. 30, 2010.

Coast Guard Sector Boston watchstanders received a report from the Grace Marie captain that a 52-year old male had sustained an arm injury at approximately 11 p.m.

A HH-60 rescue helicopter crew, a 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew from Station Provincetown and the 87-foot Patrol Boat Tiger Shark launched immediately to aid the injured man.

A boarding team from the Tiger Shark stabilized the man and transferred him to the 47-foot Motor Life Boat to be hoisted by the helicopter crew at 12 a.m.

The man was transported by the helicopter crew to Massachusetts General Hospital.

Hit by rogue wave in 2007, towed earlier this year too

Three years ago the same fishing boat had to be towed into port after it was swamped by a giant wave.

And on June 10 this year,The Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba is towing the fishing vessel Grace Marie to Provincetown after was reported to be adrift without engine power on the southeast section of Georges Bank, see here.

Courtesy of the US Coast Guard.

In My Footsteps: Uxbridge, Mass.

     Growing up I only knew of the town of Uxbridge due to its unique name.  There are not that many towns with the letter ‘x’ in them.  After paying a visit to the town with the unique name I have come to realize that the name is not the only unique thing about this place.  As I have said with my articles on Sutton and Upton the beauty of the Blackstone River Valley is everywhere.  It was nearly impossible for me to drive from point to point and not find a random spot along the way that caught my eye and forced me to either slow down or pull over all together.

West Hill Dam

            The dam did not appear to be the typical dam to me.  The dam stands forty-eight feet tall and though there is the spot where the river flows through the area was so much wider open with lots of trails.  The dirt road I walked on led you off into the thick forest and I watched as a couple of bikers rode past and grew ever smaller despite still being in sight.  The road carried on forever just like the beautiful scenery around the dam area.  The water of the West River flowing through the dam was so calm that there were perfect reflections of the granite rock cliffs on either side of the river.  The absence of movement made the scene like a painting, perfect for pictures.

River Bend Farm

John Farnum House

            The final spot I took in during my time in Uxbridge was the Stanley Woolen Mill.  Originally known as the Luke Taft mill and established in 1851, this mill became the first to fully manufacture woolen garments.  The Stanley Woolen Company began in 1905 and was named for Stanley Wheelock who had helped his father organize the company.  Sadly the company was lost to bankruptcy in 1989 and closed.  Now it is being remodeled and restored for commercial use in the near future.     

Stanley Woolen Mill

            The buildings that make up the mill are in major disrepair and it looks like there is a lot of work needed before they can be used again.  It reminded me of something from a horror movie nightmare with the stoic brick building silently waiting to be put back to use.  It was one part eerie, but yet another part hopeful.  I would love to make a return trip to Uxbridge and see the new Stanley Woolen Mill development when it is open and operational again.

HARD A' STARBOARD.....NO, YOUR OTHER RIGHT!

 American advertisement whose promise never materialized

The RMS Titanic was an Irish built, British registered four-stack "unsinkable" ocean liner slated for luxury passenger service between the ports of Southampton GB, where it departed on April 10th 1912 and New York NY, where it never arrived. On April 14 th with 2,200 passengers and crew collided with an iceberg and sank, there were only 700 survivors.

Louise Patten, granddaughter of Titanic second officer Charles Lightoller, in her recently published novel Good as Gold, claims her grandfather and others covered up the actual cause(s) leading up to the demise of "The Last Word in Luxury".

"They could easily have avoided the iceberg if it wasn't for the blunder," Patten told the Daily Telegraph.
"Instead of steering Titanic safely round to the left of the iceberg, once it had been spotted dead ahead, the steersman, Robert Hitchins, had panicked and turned it the wrong way." Patten, said that the conversion from sail ships to steam meant there were two different steering systems.

This brings us to the subject of "tiller commands" vs. "rudder commands." One system meant turning the wheel one way and the other in completely the opposite direction. To simplify this, visualize a small sailboat's rudder. To come full starboard (right) the "tiller" would be swung as far as possible to the port (left) opposite of the intended direction, whereas on a ship with a modern helm, the wheel/joystick would be turned in the intended direction of travel.

It is claimed that First Officer William Murdoch upon becoming aware of the eminent collision ordered (rudder) "hard a' starboard" and QM Hitchins reacted with a tiller command response, bringing the iceberg down the starboard side of the ship. Robert Hichins great granddaughter Sally Neillson, disputes this claim: "Hichins had 10 years experience, seven of those as a quartermaster. He sailed the Titanic for four days before the accident, during which he did shifts of four hours on, four hours off. He would have steered the vessel during these times, so been familiar with the systems."

Having been born decades after tiller commands became obsolete I took the claim as viable until I did a little research and found that rudder commands did not replace tiller commands on ships for almost 20 years. It is possible that the two sets of protocol were being interchanged, I cannot say, as I was not there.

It is also believed that Bruce Ismay, chair of White Star Line, persuaded Captain Edward Smith, to keep the vessel in motion. This is, in my opinion,  what sent the world's largest metaphor to its cold watery grave that night. Had the vessel stopped and proper action taken to achieve watertight integrity, the ship could very well have made it back to port and saved 1500 lives. The reason the Titanic was called "unsinkable" is due to its ability to compartment.

As an example, when the MS Stockholm collided with the SS Andrea Doria some 40 yrs later, the engines on the Swedish ship were placed at "All Stop", watertight doors were secured, necessary compartments (rooms) were flooded to avoid listing and despite its bow being lowered by about three feet,  the Stockholm , in addition to her own passengers and crew , brought 572 live bodies on board from the Andrea Doria and returned to New York under her own power.

MS Stockhlm enroute to New York after the collision

Andrea Doria listing to starboard as seen from the deck of the Ile de France

Happy and Healthy New Year

I want to wish all CCToday readers, and the 1,000 or so readers that seem to have an interest in my blog, a Happy and Healthy New Year.

It has been both a challenging and fulfilling year for me and my wife Nancy. I'm truly fortunate that Nancy runs my three offices and acts as the firm's financial and administrative watchdog. She's the right hand that enables me to be involved in the many other activities that have allowed me to give back to the community (and she understands when I'm out of the house 3-4 nights a week).

This year, Outer Cape Health has turned many heads with our efforts to improve health care on the outer cape; Wellfleet Preservation Hall is on the road to completion, and I just became President of the Payomet Performing Arts Center(hint; this one is work and fun!). These activities have also enabled me to meet countless new friends and also participate in many other local activities. I can't begin to name all the people that have been an integral part of my professional and personal life this year; but they know who they are.

So; my best wishes to all my readers, friends and colleagues. I know that the New Year will bring new challenges, new friends and new achievements. Thanks to everyone that assisted me in my endeavors.

Bruce

A brief memoir of ten years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Looking back on a career of public service

By Representative Matthew Patrick

It’s never easy to lose an election because it is such a public process.  You can’t hide when you are given the news.  You must face your supporters and the press and put on a positive face.  Yet, lose I did after five terms in the House.  I can honestly say that I did what I thought was best for my constituents without regard for the future and that is perhaps what cost me the election in the end.  I have no regrets.

I want to thank my many volunteers, contributors and the voters who helped me stay in office for ten years.  You have made it possible for me to have a fulfilling and interesting term as the advocate for the constituents of Third Barnstable District and the Commonwealth. 

Representative Patrick's farewell speech

Greetings to all my colleagues.  Thank you for everything you do to make the Commonwealth a better place. Only we who have undergone the rigors of the elective process and the demands as elected representatives will know just how challenging it is.
     I consider my ten years here well spent.  I have made lifelong friends and I will miss you all – well almost all of you.  That is why I wanted to take this time to talk about how you can make this a better – more democratic – legislature.
     In light of the most recent scandal I can do nothing less.  I say this because of my profound respect for why you ran for office and what you do.  But all that is being lost in a torrent of bad publicity.
     The unwritten understanding here in the House is to never speak badly of the institution.  We don’t want to damage its standing with the public by being openly critical of it.  But we must face facts.
     The Massachusetts House is now deeply wounded in the public eye.  Its reputation is at an all time low.  The institution has suffered three major broadsides in the ten years that I have been in office.  Now is the time to make a change.
     Democracy is the foundation of our very existence.  Democracy has made this country great.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a leading role in that making.  We may make mistakes at times but our republican form of democracy has worked well along with the safe guards of our constitution and the courts.
     The theory is that a republican form of democracy is better because elected representatives will have more time to deliberate over the complexities of state government and make wiser choices. However, I would ask, are we living up to that responsibility?
     We all know how it works here.  The atmosphere is very seductive and you undergo total immersion.  You are flattered to be called Representative but later realize it is because everyone recognizes you as a new rep, but doesn’t remember your name yet. Even so it is great for your ego.
     You have never been in another legislature so you have no reference point.  You learn quickly that if you play your cards right, vote the right way and keep your criticisms to yourself, you have the chance of becoming a chair person of a committee.  As such you will be able to have more influence and influence over the process.
     Sometime later – it may be your second or third term – you find yourself not participating in debates, not even listening because you and everyone else know what the outcome will be.  It’s preordained.
     You continue to play the game until one day you find out that some lobbyists have more influence than you and you ask yourself, is this right.  Or you find out that your bill has been sidelined by someone, quietly without any explanation.
     Or you are asked to vote in favor of something that you oppose.  Should you mount opposition to the issue you will be marked as an agitator and, in any event, you know your effort will be futile.  Your reasons for opposition will not even be considered or deliberated upon because all of your colleagues know it is hopeless and you have no chance of winning.
     I want to be clear.  I don’t blame anyone for this.  It’s a system that has evolved over the decades and it is all we know.
     But I ask you, would we have allowed this probation hiring scheme to continue if we all knew it was happening?  Would we have enabled it to get started?  Would we have voted for the alleged Cognos deal if we knew about it?  Would leadership even attempt it if we had independent chairs elected by their fellow committee members?
     Now, I realize that the Cognos and probation department scandals have not been adjudicated yet and all those involved with those cases may be exonerated in the end but the fact remains that the public’s perception is all that matters.  These scandals are destroying the image of this Institution and our own reputations as lawmakers.
     Having more critical eyes on legislation will make abuses less likely to occur in the future.  Our chairs should be more autonomous to ensure that the House has an internal check and balance system.  If every member is aware of what is happening than these kinds of abuses will be less likely to occur in the future.
     Now is the time to make this change.  The model has already been established in other legislatures.  The membership should elect a committee on committees who will appoint members to each committee based on their experience, expertise, seniority and requests.  The newly appointed members of each committee will later meet to elect a chair and vice chair.
     Slates for the committee on committees must not be permitted.  Each member nominated for the committee on committees should give a time limited speech as to why they should be appointed.  The Dean of the House should conduct the caucus to elect the committee on committees and of course the Clerk should be in attendance to ensure the rules are followed.
     That’s it.  I want to thank my aide Peggy Konner who has been with me the whole ten years and and knows more about how this place works than I do.  I also want to thank my wife Louise, my daughter Mia and my son Sam for putting up with me for these last ten years.
     I wish you all happy holidays, luck and a productive future for the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Thank you and farewell.

About 7:30 the night of the election when I was standing in front of Mashpee’s Quashnet School greeting voters, an odd thing happened.  I glanced up and saw a shooting star or meteor that showed brilliantly for a long time very low in the sky running horizontally along the horizon.  I pointed it out to a number of the brave souls still holding signs with me and voters in that cold weather.  It eventually disintegrated in a shower of glowing particles.  I thought it might be a good omen but realized later, that it was a sign of my career as a law maker.

One day during the start of the budget deliberations, I was talking to reporters outside of the House Chamber about an amendment I was offering to restore the tax on stock dividends and interest to 12% to correct our tax system that is upside down with the top 5% of income earners paying only 5% of their income in state and local taxes while the bottom two thirds of us were paying 10%.  The first $5,000 in interest or dividends would be exempt for people 65 years of age.  It would have brought in a much needed $200 million annually. 

A reporter asked me if I was concerned about getting re-elected.  I said no, and quoted President Obama who said he would, “…rather be remembered as an effective one term president than an ineffective two term president.”  That’s been my theory from the beginning.  I was going to do what was right for my district and the Commonwealth and let the elections take care of themselves.  That philosophy enabled me to burn brightly for ten years and produce a significant body of legislation.

Reflecting on the legislation, many stories come to mind.  It’s a little long but you might find it interesting to learn how legislation actually gets put into law.

It’s exceedingly hard to pass legislation and I often joked that the only reason stuff passes in the legislature is because it met the Speaker’s or Senate President’s press relations needs and sometimes we do good things by accident.  Much of what I accomplished got tagged onto larger bills or passed based on the sheer merit of the proposal because my relationship with leadership was not always on great terms.  These are the stories behind the bills that I got through the House. 

The first bill I passed was the Mashpee’s home rule petition for an Economic Development Corporation with bonding authority, which had been languishing for years.  My good friend and colleague Angelo Scaccia who was chair of bills on Third Reading helped me get this bill passed because we had a history. 

After I organized the Quashnet Coalition to save the Quashnet River from development, Representative Tom Cahir, who proceeded me as Representative in the Third Barnstable District, filed legislation to purchase the 360 acres along the Quashnet.  The Environmental Affairs Committee had a hearing in Mashpee.  Representative Scaccia was a member and attended the hearing held at Mashpee’s Town Hall.  Bob Maxim, a Wampanoag Native American made a great presentation about the shellfish that inhabited Waquoit Bay into which the Quashnet flowed.  He even brought samples of the shellfish in to show the members of the committee.  Rep. Scaccia made a comment about how he would love to take the quohaugs home to eat so about a week later I went to the State House and gave him a peck of little necks that I raked in myself out of Waquoit Bay. 

When I got elected I went up to him and said, “Do you remember the guy that gave you the quohaugs from Waquoit Bay?”  Of course he did, so we immediately had some common ground to talk about.  He offered to help me out if I ever needed anything so he helped me move Mashpee’s bill.  He also helped me get a proclamation through that had the Massachusetts legislature endorse Federal recognition of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.  I continued to give him a peck of littlenecks around Christmas in an old Italian tradition.

The Potassium Iodide (KI) Supply Bill for towns in Barnstable County and the North Shore was another one of my early successes.  KI supplements prevent the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine that is given off if a nuclear power plant melts down.  It wasn’t my bill originally but I adopted and amended it to make it passable.  I argued that residents of the Cape and North Shore would not be able to evacuate in the event of a melt down and that the companies that owned the nuclear reactors should pay to provide a supply of KI in every town building and school.  In the event it is needed, people will be able to pick it up at those places in each town. 

Of course the nuclear power plants hated the bill and our own emergency agency, MEMA, dragged their feet implementing it but it happened after much prodding by me with a lot of back up by Pixie Lambert from Duxbury who made fighting Pilgrim Nuclear power plant her life’s work.  She helped me introduce many commonsense public safety bills in that area but none of them would pass in the face of heavy industry opposition.  That’s also when I realized that without staff, it is nearly impossible to provide the attention needed to pass complicated legislation.

In my second term, the big issue that initiated my advocacy was the murder of a young man from my district by a registered pedophile sex offender.  Although the sex offender was registered at an address in Mashpee, he never notified the police in Falmouth when he moved and was living with a former probation officer and a priest.  He also never notified the Falmouth Police that he worked at a local convenience store directly across from the Falmouth recreation building.  The boy’s mother contacted me and I worked with Rep. Vallee, then chair of the Judiciary committee, to craft a bill that would provide for more intensive probation with an ankle bracelet and unannounced drug and alcohol testing.  I introduced the mother to Senate President Terry Murray who also played a big part in making the more stringent laws regarding sex offenders happen.  It was the merit of the bill that moved it into law and like so many other bills, some young person has to die first before it comes to the legislature’s attention.

Also in my second term the Sagamore Flyover became an issue.  The new Governor Mitt Romney had made it a priority to eliminate the backups caused by the rotary in the summer tourist season.  The town of Bourne needed the big project because public safety was put in jeopardy.  They could not get their emergency vehicles through the rotary during the times when it was backed up.  That’s when Tom Cahir, the former State Representative for the Third Barnstable District and at the time working for Mass Highways, got involved.  He informed me of Bourne’s need and the fact that I was the only Democratic Representative among three that represented Bourne and could get the project passed.

I began calling all of my colleagues regarding the measure which was included in the Transportation Bond Bill.  My efforts were made more complicated because of two things: one of the new Reps for Bourne was the vitriolic Republican Jeff Perry who made nasty speeches and even criticized me by name which is never done therefore engendering the then Speaker Tom Finneran’s enmity and more importantly, the south coast delegation had decided that they could hold the project hostage to get passenger rails extended down to Fall River and New Bedford so they got many of my colleagues to commit to voting against Romney’s proposal, who was not well liked by Democratic legislators. 

I told my colleagues that if this didn’t get passed Romney would hold it against me in the upcoming election which we all knew would be tough because I had just won the previous year by 17 votes in a recount and a series of court cases that were finally settled by the SJC after nine months.  The south coast delegation was not happy and refused to let people give up their commitments to vote against the Romney flyover.  There were a number of votes and maneuvers on the floor coordinated by the Speaker and John Rogers, then chair of Ways and Means trying to get the flyover measure passed but Perry, who of course supported the measure, was irritating everyone and killing any chance the measure had with Speaker Finneran.  

It came down to me in the Speaker’s office with the powerful south coast delegation trying to get them to release the others from their commitment not to vote for the flyover.  Finneran asked each of us to speak.  I said that they were going to turn me into “road kill” then quickly said “no, make that rotary kill, (which got a laugh from everyone) in the next election if this didn’t happen and in fact it was necessary for public safety.”  Chairman Rogers suggested language that would get a commitment from the governor to move forward with a study on the project and the south coast delegation agreed.  John Rogers got the commitment from the administration and the south coast delegation released my colleagues from their commitment and the Sagamore Flyover measure passed in spite of Perry.  Tom Finneran and John Rogers earned my respect and gratitude from that day forward.  Regardless of their foibles, they are honest men who stood by me when I needed it desperately. 

The next big bill that I worked on was the Appliance Efficiency Standards Act.  It was originally filed by my good friend and colleague Paul Demakis of Boston who sat in front of me in the House but he retired and I filed it at his request the next session.  I was familiar with it because of my seat on the Energy Committee where Paul had been trying to pass it for several years.  It would increase the efficiency standards for many appliances and then give the Division of Energy Resources the ability to increase those standards after holding public hearings. Paul, a good man, always was at loggerheads with leadership and that’s why he could never get the bill passed. 

When my good friend Senator O’Leary became Senate Chair of the Energy Committee that session I went to him to talk about the bill and asked him to join me in sponsoring it.  He did so and I knew with his support we had a good chance of getting it through.  It had heavy opposition from the appliance industry who were well represented by many lobbyists.  After several contentious hearings, we got it out of the committee and to the floor where it was passed first by the Senate and then by the House with some compromise language.  The floor debate doesn’t stand out in my mind because I think the technical nature of the bill was too difficult for others to argue.  My expertise in energy had been pretty well established by the Cape Wind saga which contributed to the close election mentioned earlier so most of my colleagues accepted my explanation.

The complicated and extensive Green Communities Act was the first major energy bill to come out of the House in decades and Speaker Sal DiMasi deserves credit for making it his priority in the House.  However, it was I that went to him in the previous session to say that we should be moving on several policy changes:  raising the cap on net metering to encourage more and larger renewable energy projects, virtual net metering which turned it into an accounting practice, Least Cost Planning, which requires that the DPU prioritizes the provision of electricity through methods that cost the least in economic, societal and environmental terms and decoupling the profits of utilities from their sales of electricity.  DiMasi had me in to talk about the measures.  All of these items eventually found their way into the comprehensive bill but took months of work on my part to convince Senate Chair of Energy Mike Morrissey to understand and appreciate their value.  The only thing that was left out was decoupling and there was an understanding with the administration that it would be taken up by the Department of Public Utilities. 

One of the interesting sidelines of the Green Communities Act was that when I presented clarifying amendments the chairman of the Energy Committee told me that if I ever wanted to see the home rule petition I filed for Falmouth pass, I should withdraw the amendments.  I was furious and tried to show him that they were not substantial amendments, just technical fixes.  He seemed to be checking with his aide who kept saying no.  Off I went to see Senator O’Leary to ask him to file the amendments and of course he agreed to file them barring any major problems.  I marched back to the House and I told the chair that he would have to pass the Falmouth home rule petition immediately, and they did, moving it through the final three steps in the process in about five minutes, something that could, and usually did, take forever.

Closing corporate tax loop holes became important to me when I found out that about 1,100 corporations in the Commonwealth grossing between 100 million and a billion dollars annually paid the minimum tax of $456, less than the average family in Massachusetts.  I recruited several friends to help:  Senator Jaime Eldridge who was still in the House at the time, Carl Sciortino, Steve D’Amico, Mark Falzone, Dave Sullivan and Denise Provost.  Chairmen Jay Kaufman and Frank Smizik were our inside game.  My good friend Dave Linsky also supported the effort in caucus where a lot of this stuff is argued out because the Democrats dominate.  This also happened during Sal DiMasi’s Speakership.  Before the caucus, we started calling members to give them the facts and asked them to support our amendments.  We had a lot of support but probably not a majority of the Dems.  So during the caucus I got up immediately after the speaker finished his introduction and launched into the arguments.  Dave Linsky stood after I was done and gave a great speech in favor of the amendment. Then Mark Falzone, Carl, Jaime, Denise and Dave Sullivan all spoke.  There was very little opposition except from my good friend Barry Finegold who said we would lose jobs.  I pointed out that most other states had the same laws governing taxes.

There are another 113 corporations with over a billion dollars in sales that pay no taxes. How do they do it? The corporations create subsidiaries in other states that charge no corporate taxes and assign all their profits to those places.  I gave an excellent floor speech on the issue that you can find on my website.  In the end, after some compromises, we won and gained the $200 million annually in much needed tax revenue.

I filed the all terrain vehicle bill (ATV bill) after getting a request from a constituent, Margaret Cooper and the Falmouth Natural Resource Officers Mark Patton and Chuck Martinsen because they were upset with kids driving them through the woods, making noise and tearing up the trails.  They also mentioned that many children were seriously injured riding ATVs through the woods.  After doing some research I decided to focus on the child safety factor.  The bill hearing in the Transportation Committee became one of those heart wrenching moments because the parents of a small boy who was recently killed on an ATV that was much too large for him came in to testify.  The parents left their son with a neighbor who let him ride a large ATV even though he had never been on one before.  The parents, who were from Plymouth, were devastated.  They were not going to rest until the bill passed to memorialize their son.  Before long I had them talking to their senator and representative, Senate President Terry Murray and Vinny DeMacedo, a Republican.  Both became big supporters of the bill. 

The Senate Chair of Transportation, Steve Brodeur, took ownership of the bill and nursed it along through two sessions and many hearings.  He deserves credit for the final draft which became much more complicated and extensive than my original language.  There was a lot of opposition because parents viewed ATV riding as a family past time and of course the industry hated it.  We also had emergency room trauma doctors coming in to testify about the damage done to kids on ATVs not only in Massachusetts but nationally.  Of course the industry fought it to the end but we managed to put out the toughest restrictions in the nation.  It is now the national standard which other states are looking to emulate.

The PACE (property assessed clean energy), which will enable towns to set up programs that will enable residents and businesses to finance clean energy projects using the borrowing power of the town and pay back the loans through betterments, passed mainly based on the merit of the proposal and its success in other states.  It had overwhelming support in the hearing with very little opposition.  Latter it was amended to the municipal relief act with the sponsorship of three chairmen, Frank Smizik of Global Warming and Climate Change, Jay Kaufman of Taxation, Barry Finegold of Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy and myself.  The amendment drew bipartisan support.

In another example of adults acting poorly, I managed to get through the “No name calling day” bill as an amendment to the Anti bullying bill that passed.  I filed it on the request of the Mashpee K Kids Club, so they could learn something about the legislative process, come to the state house and testify for the bill.  This is interesting because the aforementioned Jeff Perry, eventual losing candidate for Congress, shared the town of Mashpee with me and out of a courtesy, I asked him to cosponsor the amendment.  He did but the bill was later cited by Howie Carr, Boston Herald columnist, as an example of wasted time and effort by state legislators and it stalled in committee.  The Mashpee K Kids showed up to testify with their teachers and did a fantastic job.  One of them even spoke to the cynical column by Carr.  Perry was nowhere to be found.  Afterwards, no matter how I tried, the chairman said that the Speaker didn’t want it to move because of the Carr column and the negative publicity.  So, when the time came, I filed it as an amendment to the anti bullying bill.  Leadership wanted me to pull the amendment, but I refused and luckily didn’t have any home rule petitions pending.  Eventually they caved in and agreed to add it to the bill.  Of course Perry, who was already running for Congress, wanted nothing to do with it.

There are many other stories I could tell you but this has probably tested the limits of your endurance already.  Thank you again for your support through the years.  I could not have done it without you.

25% of state getting retirement income, Cape has older population; Steamship Authority helps with special delivery; Here come the Barons, our new hockey team; Chatham recall fails; Feinstein's amendment enrages Cromwell, tribal leaders; Cape Wind's lease

 TODAY's quote: "Will you still need me, will you still feed me...When I'm sixty-four?"
- Paul McCartney.

   This is one third of the scene at Logan Airport's jetBlue terminal at 5am yesterday. Travelers waited hours in lines snaking down connecting corridors to the next terminal. Walter Brooks photo.

Eastham has 38% getting retirement funds, Harwich & Orleans 34%, Chatham 33%
Census data indicates Cape, Berkshires, are meccas for older people

As the data in the 2010 census gets examined more thoroughly, we are discovering how much we've changed in a decade. The Cape has always had a larger than average concentration of people over 65 who retire in what was their favorite vacation spot, it runs over a quarter of the population in some towns, but now we find we are what today's Boston Globe calls a "Mecca" for older folks.

The newspaper reports that in some Cape Cod towns, a sizable chunk of residents are receiving retirement income, according to US Census figures.

In twelve Massachusetts communities more than 30 percent of the residents receive retirement income. The Western Massachusetts town of Rowe led with 38.3 percent of residents receiving retirement pay, with Eastham and Orleans on the Cape placing second and third, with 37.8 percent and 34.1 percent, respectively.

Overall, about one in five households in the state is getting a retirement check.

Read the Globe story here.
See the Globe interactive map here.

Recall of Chatham Selectmen falls

The Cape Cod Chronicle reports that a recall effort to dump three selectmen came up short.The recall itself was officially declared dead in the water last Monday, when the town clerk released certified signature totals. Backers failed to reach the 1,406 signature threshold required to trigger a recall election, collecting 1,102 signatures to recall Selectman Sean Summers, 1,057 for Timothy Roper, and 923 for Florence Seldin.

Joyce Lance, who helped start the recall drive after the board voted 3-2 to not renew Town Manager William Hinchey's contract when it expires June 30, called the effort "a magnificent exercise in democracy." The drive gave more than 1,100 residents "a way to voice their dissatisfaction with the decision not to renew the town manager's contract. I feel very good about that."

Read the Chronicle here.

Cape Wind lease details

According to the Federal Register, the 33-year lease provides for payment of $88,278 in annual rent prior to production and a 2 to 7 percent operating fee after production starts.
   See the details in the Federal Register here.

Steamship Authority helps with special Vineyard delivery

The Martha's Vineyard Times is reporting that the Steamship Authority truly was a lifeline between the island and the mainland on the night of December 20th.  That night, a mother ready to give birth, came into the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. Due to the circumstances surrounding her pregnancy, a specialized medical team from Boston was required to deliver the baby.

When the medical helicopter was grounded due to strong winds, the only way for the special team of doctors to reach the island was by ferry.  According to Wayne Lamson, the general manager of the Steamship Authority, "we decided that as soon as the ambulance got here we would leave, regardless of what time it was."

The team got to the hospital at 9:14 p.m. and the baby was delivered just two minutes later.

Read the story in the Martha's Vineyard Times here. 

Broome County Barons to relocate to Cape Cod

The News-Times is reporting that the Broome County Barons, a Federal Hockey League team, will be relocating from Binghamton, NY to Cape Cod. The move is being made due to low attendance.

It was announced on Wednesday that the Barons will be finishing their 2010-2011 season on the Cape. The team is currently fourth in a league of six teams.

According to the newspaper, management felt a move to a new location made more sense then folding the team.

The average attendance at a Barons game in New York was one half that for other teams in the league.

A team scrimmage will be played at Tony Kent Arena in South Dennis on January 5, 2011, and the first Cape home game against the Rome Frenzy will be played on February 26, 2011 at Gallo Arena in Bourne according to the Barons' website.

Read the News-Time story here.

Visit the Cape Cod Barons' website here.

Talk of Feinstein's amendment enrages Cromwell, other tribal leaders

Indian Country Today reports that word of a possible amendment by California Senator Dianne Feinstein sparked a controversy at September's New England Gaming Summit.  When Mashpee Wampanoag Chairman Cedric Cromwell heard of the "Carcieri fix" amendment he was enraged--and for a good reason.

The amendment would eliminate a tribe's ability to take newly-acquired land into trust for gaming.  This would be "devastating for newly recognized and disadvantaged tribes," according to Cromwell.  The Mashpee received federal recognition in 2007. 

It only got worse when it was learned that Feinstein's office was using the drafting services of the Interior Department.

Read the story in Indian Country Today's Year in Review here.

2010 goes out with a CRASH and a SNAP!

Our Christmas week was bookended by a pair of wild storms. The first brought an unpredicted foot of snow, and the second, more violent storm, dropped nary a flake, but unleashed hurricane-force winds. We lost the duck pen to the first storm; it simply collapsed under a heavy parfait of ice, wet snow and a topping of powder. The second storm, the night after Christmas, found my daughter and I on the couch, dreamily perusing stacks of Christmas books and periodically pausing to tensely observe the auditory excitement of splintering branches and crashing trees. We didn't have to fire up the generator during either weather event, though the gas cans were at the ready and the hurricane lanterns in easy reach in both cases.

The implosion of the duck pen might have been a minor farmyard calamity and could have even provided a bit of diversion from the Christmas punch-list had I not been hunting a wayward pig through the woods the night of the storm and the following days. In fact, the complete destruction of the 20' by 20' covered pen was small potatoes to me at the time, proving songwriter David Roth's assertion that "what you see depends on where you stand and how you feel." I felt like an idiot, but I'll tell you about that some other time.

What I saw was matter-of-fact. I constructed the pen out of 'found' materials, in much the same way I made the pig house, the chicken house and pen, and the duck house. I had happened upon a great source of cull lumber culls from a friend who used that lumber to build a beautiful two-story house. He bought cull lumber, threw aside any two-by-fours, -sixes and -eights that were too warped, split or funky, and I made our chicken house out of that. I had enough to form the footers and headers for the chicken run, and even a few leftover short pieces to frame out the little duck house. But I was utterly out of wood when it came to the duck run. I used freshly cut 3- and 4-inch diameter maple saplings for the posts and a haphazard collection of skinnier maple saplings for the overhead supports to hold up the net roof. I sunk the posts two-and-a-half feet deep and stapled fresh light-gauge chicken wire around the perimeter. When I got to the roof, I was fresh out of chicken wire, as usual.

The chicken pen has the same issue. I didn't have enough wire for the roof, so I made up the difference with what they call plastic snow fence. Funny. Snow fence earned its name by effectively herding snow drifts into a desired location or keeping snow away from things. It can be used to keep snow from drifting onto a road, or to collect drifts into an area to provide a water source when it melts. It does not belong strung up in the air as a roof and not just because it looks like crap. Because the gauge is so thick compared to wire, it holds the snow, just as it is designed to do - in this case above the chickens and ducks. The duck pen's maple posts and roof supports couldn't handle the load and broke under its weight. The chicken run faired better, probably because all the roof supports are two-by-fours. I used a pole to poke and prod and shake the snow through the little holes onto my head, and I heard the supports making little cracking noises, but that roof survived. The "funny" thing is; I had "replace chicken and duck roofs with wire" on my winter to-do list. The ducks survived in their hut unscathed and they've been waddling and flying (!) around the homestead without any sign of post-traumatic stress.

With a significant amount of hard fencing on the property in the form of a permanent goat paddock and pig pen, I worried when the more recent storm kicked up ferocious winds. Morning revealed five new leaner locusts, those tall deadfall traps that rest uneasily in the branches of other locusts or maples and creak and groan with every gust for years until some kamikaze tree guy figures out how to drop them. Another locust, some 20-inches in diameter, was torn off four-feet off the ground and made it all the way down without hanging up. The tips of its canopy rested gently on the goat fence. Without any damage I was free to rejoice in the sudden wealth of firewood delivered by the storm. Taking the good with the bad and the tools sharp is the way we roll. Without any further ado, I invite you to feast your eyes on some wind-storm arboreal carnage. Best of luck in 2011!

Kent's Point revisited

It seemed right to tie up loose ends as the year was drawing to a close. 

In geocaching, I have my list of shame – the Did Not Find statistics from my recorded attempts. Some caches I’ve logged as DNF are ones in which I lost interest and decided the site was too sketchy to continue the hunt. Climbing 40 feet up a tree or scaling a 30-foot, shopping-mall retaining wall with boulders that started to roll would fall into that category. Others I simply couldn’t find and logged the DNF in case the cache had gone missing. These are geocaches I like to come back to for another look.

The latter part of the week before New Year's also brought moderate and sunny weather to Cape Cod, a far cry from the OH MY GOD, IT’S BETWEEN THE FIFTH AND TENTH BIGGEST BLIZZARD IN RECENT HISTORY that struck across the canal earlier in the week.

So on a calm, bright morning, and with two teenagers in the house who could benefit from a walk in the woods, I returned to the site of my favorite (if there can be such a thing) DNF: Kent’s Point Conservation Area in Orleans. 

For the record, the teens agreed only to go for the walk; they would allow me just a few minutes to search out the indicated geocache site – as long as I didn’t draw attention.

The beauty of this former home site and artists colony had struck me when I visited in summer. The gentle paths leading around the point and down to the water afforded delightful views of Frostfish Cove, The River and Little Pleasant Bay. The views were just as striking in winter, even without sailboats bobbing in the water.

We circled the point clockwise, saving the geocache attempt for near the end. As we approached the scraggy embankment, with the knotted shrubs and trees that harbored the elusive micro-cache, teen daughter announced in a blasé voice, “There it is.”  Indeed, an inch-long bison tube hung discreetly attached to some flora. Cache found; log signed. And a child shall lead them.

Happy trails – and Happy New Year!

Images, from top:

River to Frostfish Cove

Toward Little Pleasant Bay

Shoreline

Kent’s Point trail