Barnstable County Report

Hyannis White Hen Pantry cleared of Homeless Descrmination Charge

Press coverage made obeying the state law difficult for store owner

On June 26 of 2006 Deborah Tavano filed a complaint against the White Hen Pantry located on main Street in Hyannis. Tovano claimed that the owner, Paul McGowan ejected her from the store because she was homeless, hence her charge of descrimination filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Descrimination. Malcolm S. Medley, Investigating Commissioner signed the Commission's official response on October 31 of this year. The charge was dismissed.

McGowan endured a seering barage of press coverage for the few days immediately following the incident and charge. It will be interesting to see how much equivalent front coverage he receives now that he has been cleared.

According to the Commission's report and decison, based on statements made to them by Tovano and McGowan Tovano purchased two cups of coffee and a cup of Macroni and Cheese. When she paid using her Electronic Benefits Transfer card, the Massachusetts equivalent of food stamps, MacGowan asked her if she was homless. She told him that she was and he informed her that she would not be allowed to eat her food while still in the store.

Tovano did not agree with his instructions and promptly charged him with descrimating against her because she was homless. She said she was the subject of descrimination based on her homelessness because she had seen other store customers purchase food, pay for it and remain in the store to eat it while seated at one of the several tables in the front of the store.

McGowan's response was short and clear: allowing Tovano to remain in the store to eat her food would be a violation of the Commonwealth's rules about the allowed uses of the Elctronic Benefit Transfer card. He said further that he routinely accepts the EBT cards for food purchases by homless individuals but that Tovano's complaint is the first and only one ever brought against him for any kind of descrimination against the homeless. At approximately 12:00 this afternoon McGowan showed me a register tape from his store that indicated he had processed forty-five purchases since opening this morning for food stamp or EBT purchases.

It appears that the Commonwealth's rules, which are clearly spelled out in a procedure manual provided to all venders who accept the ETC, are intended to prevent food stamp recipients from using their benfits to buy meals in restaurants. The rules say clearly that food purchases must be taken away from the location where the purchases are made and  consumed elsewhere. The decision's final sentence says, "Complainant fails to sufficiently rebut this statement (McGowan's) and agrees she and another woman from a shelter were EBT card holders.

In conclusion the report states, "A finding of Lack of Probable Cause is recommended against White Hen Pantry for descrimination based on class. (emphasis as in report)

Tovano has the right of appeal. To appeal this decison she or her attorney must file an appeal in writing within ten days of the date of the decison. This instruction is clearly stated on the first page of the written decision. It is unknown at this time if Tovano intends to appeal.

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The sub-Standard Times

Local daily can't even read town reports accurately
Damages eateries by misquoting Barnstable's Health Department report

They have done it again at the Cape Cod Times; gotten it so wrong it is funny. Perhaps they will be able to survive as a humor journal. This is just a sample of how wrong they have it in today's (Sunday) issue of our rag of questionable record. They published their ratings of local bars and restaurants.

Do the editors of the Cape Cod Times have any concern at all about how much damage they can do to a business by printing stupid and false information?

For openers they published what they claimed to be the Town of Barnstable's Health Department grade for a Hyannis establishment that has been closed for more than three years, the Hyport Brewing Company on Main Street.

The Times claims that the grade is accurate as of the last eighteen months, but Hyport has been gone, closed for over three years.

They turn an A into a C

Then there is the case of  Earthly Delights in Osterville. The Times reports that the establishment received a grade of 'C'. The scale of grades is A, B, C, P (probation) and Failed.

Earthly Delights received a grade of B last year and the owner was very upset about this because she believed that there were not grounds for less than an A. So, she worked  very hard over the past year and received the A she thought she had deserved all along.

How then does the Cape Cod Times print that she received anything but an A? Do the editors of the Cape Cod Times have any concern at all about how much damage they can do to a business by printing stupid and false information? Do they care? Perhaps they should visit Earthly Delights again and ask the owner to show them the actual Barnstable Health Department report she has for this year's inspection clearly stating that her establishment recieved the highest grade, A.

Let's see, on a scale of A, B, C, D (dreadful) and L (let's go to capecodtoday.com).

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Commish candidate arrested for assault

Barnstable Town Council member was arrested over a decade ago
The charge against Milne was domestic assault and battery

For years the rumor has swirled around Hyannis that J. Gregory Milne, member of the Barnstable Town Council from Precinct 13, newly minted member of the town's charter commission and a candidate for Barnstable County Commissioner had been arrested more than ten years ago for domestic assault. To wit, Milne was believed to have assaulted his mother. Apparently three Barnstable police officers also believed that Milne assaulted his mother, because they arrested him.

At Tuesday night's debate Milne said he was "inspired to run by his mother."

According to the booking report of which BCR has a copy (see below), booking report #B9501889, Milne was arrested at 10:42 PM at 49 Harbor Road in Hyannis. He was taken to the Barnstable Police headquarters, booked and "jailed." The charge against him was domestic assault and battery. A description of Milne's offense on the report, perhaps we should say 'alleged' offense, says " ...assault - strongarm."

Open mouth, insert foot

All five candidates running in next Tuesday's Democrat primary election for seats on the Barnstable County board of commissioners appeared at last night's debate at the Yarmouth senior Center in South Yarmouth. Each was given two minutes to make an opening statement. J. Greg Milne's first words were that he was inspired to see office and serve the public by his mother. He continued to tell the assembled citizens that his mother had experienced severe repression under the government of her native East Germany.

In the spirit of researching this repression one might ask Greg's mother if she ever had to call the cops in East Germany.

BCR will attempt to gather more information about this case, including the text of the asrresting officer's report and the contents of any surviving file from the Barnstable District Court, where in the past, Milne has attempted to learn if any inquiries have been made about this case. No attempt has been made to contact Milne as his usual response to simple questions is interminable babble.

In another interesting situation, Milne appears not to recognize the usual boundaries of political discretion. Or manners. He has attended and participated in two meetings held recently to organize and manage the recall effort being waged against his fellow town council member, and council president, Janet Joaquim. Milne's incumbency on the town council alone makes this activity interesting but his simultaneous membership on the town's charter commission makes it even more so.

Milne apparently believes he has the authority to follow or reject what rules he chooses.

He is a serving member of a body whose existence the charter commission may recommend be ended or changed and he is at the same time actively working in an effeort to recall that body's presiding officer. It is clear that J. Gregory Milne apparently believes he has the authority to follow or reject what rules he chooses.

In an interview conducted by the Barnstable Patriot and published on September 5 Milne was quoted as saying, "I am different."  On that everyone should be able to agree.

Also, read about a recent incident involving Milne at the town's transfer station here.

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Precinct Thirteen's Eightball

Here is Milne's most recent  foray into diplomacy

The good news for residents of Barnstable's thirteenth precinct may be that J. Gregory Milne will not be, cannot be their town councillor after 2011. The bad news may also be that they are stuck with him until then, unless he does something really stupid or criminal to force him out of office. Here is Milne's most recent  foray into diplomacy. In the spirit of so many of Barnstable's great dramatic events this story happened at the town transfer station in Marston's Mills.

On Saturday, July 26 at or shortly after noon Milne, flush with his recent success at being allowed to claim his elected seat on the town's charter commission drove into the transfer station in a pick up truck. According to the written reports of three transfer station employees now in the hands of town officials, what followed was to say the least unusual.

Milne has a valid sticker for the transfer station, but he is limited, as are all holders of these residential stickers to a specific number of 30 gallon trash bags. The gate attendant determined that Milne had brought more than the limit into the facility and that he owed an additional $5.00 for the overage. Milne object and proceeded to complain that the rule resulting in this charge is a "stupid rule." And he should know, because he is a town councilor....but he is only at the transfer station as a citizen. Things got somewhat heated as Milne's language deteriorated and his temper rose. He claimed that he had not been to the facility for more than a week and that he should therefore be entitled to a break on the extra fee. The attendant and a coworker at the gate both said that he, Milne, had been in a few days earlier and that anyway the rule is what it is.

Some of the highlights of the two gate attendant's' reports: "He (Milne) immediately became upset and said that it was a stupid regulation and that he did not have time for this. He started to drive off and I told him to hold on that there would be a charge. He said he was not going to pay." And, "I said are you kidding me? You are a town councillor and you are acting like this? I repeated this 3 times. He kept yelling that he wasn't going to pay. At that time I had to help other customers. He started swearing, using the F word."........

Milne claimed he did not have enough cash with him to pay the $5.00 but then discovered loose change in his ashtray. He threw it on the gatehouse steps and waited. The  change was counted, rung into the register and a receipt was presented to the still irate and now verbally abusive Milne. Unwilling to absorb any more of Councillor Milne's abuse the attendant called for the transfer station foreman who came onto the scene and took over for his two staff members.

In his report the foreman wrote that he explained the standing eight-bag rule to Milne. The transfer station foreman's report reads, "He (Milne) replied that the 8 bag limit is rediculous and cannot be enforced." As the confrontation continued Milne said that "(we) should use our employees in other areas to enforce recycling." Milne was told he should discuss any problems he has with the rules with the town's solid waste manager, Glen Santos. Also contained in this report is the following, "He (Milne) said we have the highest fees on the Cape  and they should be should be lower and include anything you want to dispose of with no limits."......"He also muttered something about his friend got denied a low income sticker after he had received on years before."

The final paragraph of the foreman's report says, "During the conversation he (milne) kept bringing up tha he was a "citizen" and the fact that he is a town coun(s)ilor should have nothing to do with anything and I kept explaining that it does not make any difference and everyone has to abide by the same rules. He did apologize and we shook hands in the end before he left."

Greg Milne has a history of sorts with Barnstable transfer station stickers. Reliable sources say he once behaved rudely as he attempted to coerce a female employee to issue his friend a sticker for no fee or a reduced fee and that he employed similar tactics when attempting to acquire a free sticker for himself. This latest incident was sufficently upsetting for the three town employees who experienced Milne's lack of decorum that the foreman contacted the head of the town's Public Works Department who told him that all three transfer station employees should immediately write a report and deliver it to town hall. They have done so and BCR has copies of all three reports.

Officials in Barnbstable town hall are concerned by Milne's pattern of employee abuse and by his clear belief that he is entitled to special treatment at least, if not to ignoring completely rules he does not like. This is a ticklish situation because the subject of these horror stories is, after all....J. Gregory Milne...than whom there is none greater. Milne is also a candidate for County Commissioner and would presumably, if elected to that post, bring with him his take charge and f... you attitude.

Interesting town, Barnstable. There is more to come in this saga.

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Patty Daley Is Having A Moving Experience

Barnstable's $100,000 job search in secrecy
Town Government jobs sure pay good around here

Patricia Daley has been involved in planning and land use issues on Cape Cod for nearly eighteen years. She served as in house counsel for the Cape Cod Commission from 1992 until 1999 when she joined the Sandwich environmental engineering firm Horsley & Whitten. From there she moved on to become a partner in the Mashpee law firm Daley and Whitten. Most recently Daley has been employed by the town of Barnstable, first as a member of the Planning Department and more recently and still as interim head of the Growth Management Department.

Niedzwiecki received a salary approval for $125,000 plus benefits annually, or a raise of something around $30,000 over his salary as assistant town manager

All that is about to change. The Town of Barnstable advertised for the position of permanent head of the Growth Management Department beginning two months ago and according to reliable sources in town hall the interview process is approximately 50% complete with the application process closed. According to the job posting shown on the web by the Massachusetts Municipal Association the salary range being offered is $91,158 - $100,646 plus benefits. No formal announcement has been made by the town or by Daley, but the publication of a search for an individual to replace her has caused considerable speculation.

A well placed source reports that Daley has spoken to town manager John Klimm and that he was made aware by Daley of her plans approximately two months ago. Specifically her plans are to follow her former boss, former assistant Barnstable town manager Paul Niedzwiecki to Barnstable Village and the offices of the Cape Cod Commission. It was under Niedzwiecki that Daley served in the Growth Management Department and together he and she crafted the downtown Hyannis growth Incentive Zone and the major revitalization of the Hyannis inner harbor waterfront which has produced the cluster of seven artist's shantys, soon to be removed, and the million dollar vistors center/harbor master's office.

An interesting story arises from all this. It appears that Niedzwiecki worked hard to gain approval from the Banrstable County Commissioners for a substantial increase in the salary Daley's new job will command. While it is not yet known what her job title will be Daley is rumored to be in for a salary of something in the neghborhood of $100,000 plus benefits. Niedzwiecki himself set a precedent for higher salaries at the commission when he was hired one year ago to succeed outgoing executive director Margo Fenn. Niedzwiecki received a salary approval for $125,000 plus benefits annually, or a raise of something around $30,000 over his salary as assistant town manager. In spite of the fact that the salaries paid to everyone mentioned here are drawn from public funds it is often difficult to establish who is being paid what.

Suffice it to say that public service pays well at higher levels on Cape Cod. An announcement from either Barnstable Town Hall or the cape Cod Commission is expected soon.

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Poor Planning at its BE$T

Or, how to waste a Million Dollars of taxpayer money
Informed sources claim cost was double

Hyannis inner harbor has a new landmark, some say scar on its shore; the brand new $1 million combination vistor center and Harbor Master's office. For purposes of this story and to avoid reader fatigue, we will use the figure $1 million. We will also do this because this is approximately the actual cost of the building and related improvements rounded off.

1,285 square feet and at $1 million costs around $800 per square foot

At this time the actual cost is slightly over $950,000 with two extra items remaining to be billed and paid. As this building stands it contains 1,285 square feet and at $1 million costs around $800 per square foot. Lavish residential construction costs less per square foot.

$35,000 railings?

Because it is raised five feet above the level of the federally certified flood plain on a system of wood piles the foundation cost for this structure might exceed what a traditional concrete foundation would have cost.... might have exceeded. However, the many people who know about such things whom I have asked all agree that there is no way this structure  should have cost more than half of what it has actually cost. The stainless steel railings alone cost $35,000. Railings? $35,000?

Poor planning on parade

Lavish residential construction costs less per square foot.

The new building was designed by a Boston architectural firm (their charges not included in total cost) and it was proposed and presented to the Barnstable Town Council by the Growth Management Department, then headed by Paul Niedzwiecki who was assistant town manager and who moved on one year ago to head the county planning agancy, the Cape Cod Commission. Grant moneys were used to fund the project. However, it was originally designed as  a two story building and was intended to house the entire Harbor Master's Department. The original two story building would have been two stories in height with an elevator and would have housed the entire Harbor Master's department. One of the building's more laudable features was to have been its use of electric composting toilets to honor environmental concerns. Actually the completed building uses traditional water-flush toilets connected to the town sewer...and they work only sporadically.

When town manager John Klimm became aware that Niedzwiecki's instructions to staff had been to get the project approved and underway and that the extra million dollars needed beyond the anticipated grant funds would be found somewhere he ordered a reduction in the building's size and cost. Then the Harbor Master weighed in on the issue, pointing out that he and his staff had been completely ignored in the planning process and that he had no intention of moving his entire operation from its present location on Phinney's Lane from which he serves the town's five harbors and where he can store his vehicles and equipment. The new building on the harbor would be a showplace but no place to store the gear used by the department.

The result is a one story building with one office and toilet for the assistant harbor masters who man the office twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week between May and November. There is no assistant harbor master on duty otherwise. Previously the harbor master's office on Hyannis Inner harbor was housed in a wood structure at ground level that also contained public bathrooms for men and women as well as storage for the department and the electric panels and plumbing used to serve the docks and boat slips. This building will be reduced in size but a portion will remain for the mechanical/electrical  connections to the docks.

Now the assistant harbor master on duty sits at a new desk and looks through new windows toward the harbor...but he cannot see it because there is a 42" high wood wall between him and the open water. This is the barrier required by the building code to keep the public from falling off the buidling's elevated deck. To see the harbor and the arriving and departing boats he is supposed to supervise the assitant harbor master on duty must stand on the open deck or patrol the edges of the docks, in all weather. In so doing he will not be available to answer questions from the constant stream of people who used to come directly to him at his ground level office, from which he could both talk and see. Also, the person on duty is responsible for logging in and out the commercial fishing craft which use the harbor to off load fish and take on fuel as well as the parade of pleasure craft that use the public dockage. There is book keeping to be done and there are records to be kept...from a seated position in the office from which the harbor cannot be seen.

The best feature of the new building, the architect-designed $1 million building is its secret room. One room in this building contains storage for the janitorial supplies such as mops and brooms to be used by the assistant harbor masters in their janitorial functions, for they are expected to clean toilets and mops floors as well. This same room also contains the building's utility sink and its two large electric panels. The entire building's emergency electric cut offs are in this secret room. The Town of Barnstable actually paid a registered architect to design a brand new building in such a way that to gain access to janitorial; storage and emergency power switches one has to walk from the front of the ladies room to the far rear wall, then turn left, walk  into and through the womens handicapped toilet stall then turn left again and go through an unmarked door. Barnstable paid an architect to design this and actually accepted not only the design but the building itself.

As one of the assistant harbor masters observed....what happens if he or one of his fellow workers has to get into that closet in a hurry and surprises a woman in diasarray on the toilet? Also, what happens if he or one of his fellow workers is already in the closet and becomes trapped by a handicapped woman who comes in to the toilet stall to use it? Who approved this plan? He can be found in Barnstable Village where he is busy writing the new Regional Policy Plan for the future of Cape Cod and for every aspect of our lives, even our handicapped toilets.

Perhaps worst of all is the fact that this perhaps unnecessary building is not just an exercise in ego but also a major problem. It blocks the former open harbor view of a highly taxed hotel that has been on Hyannis Inner Harbor for decades. Rumors of a tax abatement filing are swirling around Ocean Street.

What the town got for a million dollars

This new building contains the following:

• one bathroom each for men and women,
  
• one large utility closet,
  
• one open room (as yet containing nothing) to house the Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center and
  
• the office and bathroom for the harbor master

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Is the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District now a school for scoundrels?

Cooperative is not a word that comes easily to the tongue when describing the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District, at least as far as Yarmouth selectmen and an increasing numbers of parents and citizens are concerned. Consider, in January of this year in response to an invitaion to meet with the Yarmouth selectman, school superintendent Carol Woodbury appeared at the appointed time accompanied by Mr. Phil Morris. Morris is a member of the school committee and serves as Yarmouth's liaison to the school committee. The problem was, and remains, that  the entire school committee had been invited. Then the school committee and the superintendent stood by a budget for fiscal 2009 which, in the absence of a $1.5 proposition 2 1/2 override that failed  in Yarmouth  was upheld by voters at a district meeting on August 4 and the Town of Yarmouth began dismantling portions of town government in order to pay the school district. These are all facts.

At that district meeting Woodbury said in very clear language that she had already cut 39 jobs from the school district in order to make the budget as lean as possible. She said of those cut, "These are real people....." In a written listing of those jobs  handed out to voters at the district meeting Woodbury listed the following jobs:

• 2 administrators
• 14 teachers
• 1 social worker
• 5 secretaries
• 2 custodial position
• 14 special education assistants

Combining Woodbury's spoken words at the district meeting and her written listing of the jobs she had alrady eliminated, jobs held by people who she told the district meeting had already been sent letters informing them of their termination, it is clear that no one employed by the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District who was to be terminated as a cost cutting measure for 2009 had not been informed prior to August 4. Conversation among several of those who attended last night's Yarmouth Selectmen's meeting indicates the truth may be another matter.   

Parents of students in the district and  citizens who know school employees are saying that well after the district meeting school district employees were being told of their termination and that they were shocked and surprised. There is also widespread discussion of parents not yet knowing who will be teaching their children in two weeks at the start of the new school year. In addition the superintendent has shuffled the adminstration staff, principals and assistant principals,m in at least three of the district's schools. The most unpopular move appears to be the shifting of the long-time Mattacheese Middle School principal to the M.E. Small Elementary School.

Among many who attended last night's Yarmouth selectmen's meeting the mood was one of anger and confusion.

Yarmouth will now vote on $1.5 million ovrerride at the election to be held on September 16 and there will be a special town meeting held on the following night to decide how to handle the town's fiscal 2009 budget, that decision to be affected by the preceding day's override vote. Selectmen at last night's meeting considered placing one of two dollar amounts on the ballot, $1.5 million or $753,295. The higher number would fully fund town operations for the next year while the lower number would cover only the cuts in public safety budgets needed to satisfy the school district's budget. The higher amount will appear on the ballot.

Adding to the fiscal woes of Woodbury's domain is the fact now emerging that she is predicting a shortfall of as much as $800,000 by the close of the school year which starts in two weeks. Energy and escalating special education costs figure prominently as causes of this new cash drain. While Massachusetts mandates that expensive resources be available for those students requiring special attention, up to and including in-patient or residential placements costing occasionaly more than $100,000 for a single student for a single year, there is little additional funding provided by the state to help towns absorb these costs. According to Woodbury 16.4% of all students in the dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District are classified as requiring special education. that works out to slightly more than one out of six students costing extra. The average enrollment throughout the system is just under 4,000 students.

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Has DY School Superintendent Carol Woodbury been truthful?

There were grim words spoken at the Dennis Yarmouth Regional School District's district meeting held last Monday night under a huge white tent at the Dennis Yarmouth High School. Yarmouth officials and department heads spoke of the need to cut personnel and services in order to comply with the school district's demand for $1.5 million to top off the district's fiscal 2009 budget.

Both the  Yarmouth Fire Chief and the Yarmouth Police Chief spoke of painful cuts. The fire department in September will close its one year old $4 million West Yarmouth station and the police will cut four officers as well as reducing the hours for the records division and other services. The two Yarmouth police officers currently assigned to the schools will be placed back on patrol. Other town departments will face deep cuts. Voters resoundingly rejected a proposition 2 1/2 override request at Yarmouth's town election in May.

If history is any indication of what the towns can expect from their regional school superintendent that person, Carol Woodbury bears watching. In 2007 she requested $400,000 in the school budget to hire three additional deans. When the school committe rejected her request she proceeded with the hirings anyway, using $400,000 she 'found' somewhere in a school department budget she claimed had no surplus and no extra funds. Now there may be another example of the curious definition Woodbury uses when telling the truth.

At the district meeting last week she spoke movingly of the 39 school district staff who had already been given termination notices as a measure of the budget cuttiing she had already done. She said in very clear language, "....These are 39 real people." She said that the 39, along with town employess who would lose their jobs are faced with raising families, losing their homes and other painful circumstances all caused by the budget woes faced by Dennis and Yarmouth and their regional school district. Superintendent Carol Woodbury was very clear: 39 school district staff had already been terminated in order to reduce the school district's budget.

The facts now coming to light appear to oppose Woodbury's declaration. Four school district staff members of the  39 supposedly terminated actually retired. Members of the regional school committe knew that as they listened to Woodbury speak. The retirees will not be without income as they will receive pensions. Now it appears that either 11 or 12 of the remaining staff allegedly terminated to save money were actually cut due to the district's declining enrollment. Therefore, it may well develop that 39 school district staff were not cut in order to save money but perhaps as few as 23.

All the sad stories about how Woodbury met personally with each of the fired 39 personally so that the superintendent could tell them how grateful she and the district and the towns were for their loyal service and how sad she was personally to have to let them go...what was that? Stage acting? Political dressing? Outright deception? The entire Dennis Yarmouth School committe sat with grim faces before the assembled voters at last week's district meeting and listened as Woodbury told her sad story of painful firings, knowing that the correct numbers were far different from what their superintendent publicly stated.

Also there and listening were 1600 voters and the Yarmouth selectmen and the Yarmouth Chief of Police and the Yarmouth Fire Chief. Not one person asked for this article for his/her understanding of Woodbury's words said anything other than, "She said she had fired 39 people to save money in the budget." Woodbury's salary jumped by $9,000 this year.

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Bank of American raises fees for non-customers on September 15

Bank of America must be in tough shape. After September 15 anyone who wants to cash a check drawn on Bank of America at a bank of America branch will have to pay a fee of $6.00 or open an account with Bank of America. Of course, last year the CEO of the bank suffered an 11% cut in total compensation from his 2006 pay. He made only 20.4 million dollars in 2007.

So, every tradesman who wants to convert his paycheck into cash so that he can fritter it away on food and other necessities without waiting for it to clear his own bank if he deposits it must pay a $6 ransom to the mighty Bank of America. Bank of America ranks among the top ten or so corporations globally every year, keeping company with the likes of Exxon and Microsoft, but to survive it must now charge wage earners $6 to receive their pay in currency or force them to do business with Bank of America itself.

Bank of America tellers are now informing non-bank customers of the impending change whenever they cash checks drawn on the bank. They are also informing  non-bank customers that if a Bank of America account holder does not want people it pays by check to fork over the $6 ransom fee they, the Bank's customers, must make arrangements with the Bank to absorb the fees themselves. Either way Bank of America is going to levy a $6 fee on all checks written to and cashed at their counters by non-Bank customers.

One question arises, at least; why does it cost nothing for Bank of America to process checks drawn on its own customers' accounts when those checks are deposited in the payees' accounts in other banks, but it costs $6 to poay an identical check at the teller's window?

Bank of America, according to information leaking out of the Bank, cascading actually,  controls approximately 10% of the total banking business on Cape Cod annually. The two remaining  banks, Cape Cod Five Cent Savings Bank and the Capen Cod Coperative Bank, both locally owned, handle far more of the total Cape Cod banking business in terms of dollar volume. Some estimates place their total banking activity at or above 50% (combined) of the gross Cape Cod banking business.

Perhaps there is a message in the following fact: Bank of America is one of the mega banks constantly in the spotlight because of its massive losses resulting from unsound underwrinting of sub-standard mortgages. Cape Cod Cooperative Bank has had one foreclosure and has accepted two deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure during the current mortgage crisis. And, Cape Cod Cooperative bank does not charge a fee to cash checks for non depositers when those checks are drawn on Cape Cod Coopereative accounts....neither does the Cape Cod Five Cent Savings bank. Apparently they feel at least as strongly about service and fairness as they do about income and fees. their antiquated banking methods rely on sound banking practices, sound loans and investments plus careful control of costs to produce steady profits.

Of course, both of these banks are locally owned and managed by ordinary people who have not yet figured out how to lose billions of dollars in bad loans. When they do they too will probably be charging fees to cash checks for their customers' workers.

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To recall means more than remembering

Janet Joaquim once again facing a recall

Barnstable Town Council president Janet Joaquim is once again facing a recall effort by voters in her district, precinct 6 in Centerville. On Tuesday afternoon Mary Michael presented 66 signatures on a petition asking for a recall vote. 50 signatures are required.  On Monday Taryn Thoman had presented a petition but the town clerk was able to certify only 49 signatures. Also, comments were made by parties unknown to the effect that Ms. Thoman is not a voter in precinct 6 and therefore should not be leading the recall drive.

The grounds cited for the petition are Joaquim's alleged insulting words directed at citizens and voters

So, overnight Mary Michael gathered 66 signatures, all legible and presented them at the clerk's office just before the close of business.

The grounds cited for the petition are Joaquim's alleged insulting words directed at citizens and voters, her compromising the integrity of the Zoning Board of Appeals through the council's appointments process and her failure over her six years in office to honor her promise to voters to support a split tax rate.

Now the clerk must process the petition and if it is passed a second petition must be presented with ten percent of the registered voters in precinct six, estimated to be 250 signatures, in order to place the recall question on the ballot at the next town election. This is the second recall petition aimed at Joaquim within as many years.

Two years ago, in a hotly debated council action, Joaquim openly changed her position on the question of a split tax, voting against it. Two weeks ago the entire board of appeals resigned in protest over council interference in their business. A letter approved by all the resigning ZBA members was read into the record by Gail Nightingale during the last meeting of the ZBA in which the town council was named as the reason for the board's decision to resign.

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