EXTRA...

8 New England Hooters close; How a poor man can have a waterview; Middleborough School Board endorses casino

Eight Hooters close their doors
The Main Street Hyannis location closed June 21

SALEM - The Hooters restaurant here closed abruptly last week, on the heels of a bankruptcy that shut down restaurants in four states.  Eight Hooters scattered across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York closed. New England Wings Inc., which ran the independent stores, didn't find a buyer to suit Hooters of America.


Three possible buyers ...all three were rejected by the national chain. 
"It completely mystified us, shocked us, because they were the ones who were insisting that we find a buyer"
- Melvin HoffmanThe Salem restaurant closed June 21, along with restaurants in Boston and on Cape Cod. Hooters restaurants in Manchester and Nashua, N.H., also closed.

Many other Hooters restaurants, owned by other franchise operators, remain open - including one in Springfield, Mass.  But the abrupt closure of eight restaurants in this region means massive layoffs, according to a lawyer representing New England Wings.

"They're going to get liquidated. And we had 300 full- and part-time employees who've lost their jobs," said attorney Melvin Hoffman, of Looney and Grossman in Boston, who represented the restaurants. 

The closure came at the end of bankruptcy proceedings, but it also came as an abrupt shock to owners - who expected to sell the stores to one of three possible buyers...  Read the rest of this Eagle-Tribune story here.  

Hooters' workers to get paid
Foster's Democrat (Dover NH) reported that New Hampshire Labor Commissioner George Copadis said Friday that workers at three New Hampshire Hooters that closed their doors will get paid next week.

Copadis said the bankruptcy trustee in Massachusetts will write checks to the workers on Tuesday. He said they will be mailed to their last known address and should get them by July 6.
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School board endorses proposal to build casino
Schools in dire straits, 34 positions ended this year


“This is yet another department rushing to judgment without doing any serious consideration about the effect the casino will have on the town, the services it provides and it's quality of life,” said Mark Belanger, director of the opposition, CasinoFacts.orgMIDDLEBORO — The School Committee has joined the police and firefighter's unions in support of the Mashpee Wampanoag's proposed casino.  The unanimous vote was taken on Thursday night after two committee members and the superintendent visited Uncasville Connecticut, host town to the Mohegan Sun casino.

The endorsement came the same night the board instituted fees for sports, cut all middle school teams including cheerleading and heard grades K-8 are facing increased class sizes of up to 28 students. 

“Here's my concern,” said School Superintendent Robert M. Sullivan. “I just spent the last three months eliminating 34 positions. Class sizes have increased to numbers no one should accept. That's where my concern really is, it's not with a casino.”  Sullivan said the school system is in “deep trouble” due to the lack of financial support from the town. “How much worse can it get than what we've already done?” he said

“I support the concept of having any industry that can come into Middleboro and be a good neighbor. If the results bring a financial benefit, even better.”  Read the rest of this Brockton Enterprise story here.
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On the waterfront, real estate economics become bizarre
How a poor man can afford to own his own waterview

BAYSIDE, Maine — The midday sky darkens as the Surprise slides toward its mooring. We drop the sails. We have everything tied down just as the rain shifts from drops to downpour. The radio announces thunderstorms along the entire midcoast of Maine, an area that might be the most beautiful place to sail in the world...

Another answer: Rent a waterfront house. Though it might cost $500k or more to buy one of those properties, a great many cottages are available by the week for about $1k. That's less than $150 a day, well under the actual or imputed costs to the owner. The gap between the cost of owning waterfront vacation property and the cost of renting it has been enormous for decadesToday, boats are one of the few ways people who aren't rich get to enjoy magnificent water views. Along this part of the Maine coast, a very rustic waterfront cottage is likely to sell for $500,000 or more. In the more posh areas, such as Castine and Blue Hill, the cost of entry is well over $1 million.

The math is oppressive. A $1 million mortgage (at 6 percent) costs $6,000 a month for all 12 months. But prime season is less than three months, so the real cost is $24,000 a month, or about $800 a day. And that's before you consider taxes, insurance, maintenance and utilities.

This is not unique to Maine. Check the prices of waterfront houses on Cape Cod or Long Island, in Annapolis, Md., or anywhere along the Florida Coast, and waterfront is priced in multiples of $1 million. The same is true, in spades, on the West Coast. Anything on the water, anywhere, is the stuff of trophies — and priced accordingly...

One answer: Buy a boat. It is possible to get on the water in a habitable boat for less than $30,000...   Read or lsten to the rest of this Commentary by Scott Burns here. 

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Letter from Beth's mother; Cronkite at 90; Willowbend for sale - $33M; Boston shipping lanes moved to protect whales; Rowing to Europe

Two whales have been hit in the last six weeks. Only about 400 North Atlantic right whales swim in the Atlantic ocean now, compared with roughly 10,000 in the 17th centuryFrom this weekend, ships entering Boston harbour have to shift their course to avoid whales.  Starting Sunday, large vessels will travel roughly 6.5km north of the existing path in new lanes to avoid parts of a whale feeding sanctuary.

It is the first change of US shipping lanes to protect an endangered species.  The Coast Guard says electronic maps have been recalculated, navigational charts reprinted and mariners warned.

Coast Guard cutters are patrolling the area to mark the new lanes with buoys in time for Sunday's shift, which adds 10 to 20 minutes of sailing.  Boston, a busy port since the early 17th century, receives at least three cargo ships carrying containers, oil or liquid natural gas each day.

Currently, ships cross the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary where humpback, minke, finback and North Atlantic right whales live from March to November. Two whales have been hit in the last six weeks.  About three are killed every year in the 2,180 sq km sanctuary that stretches from Cape Cod to Cape Ann.
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The Willowbend millionaires club for sale - $33,000,000
Fireman offering to sell golf club, but well-heeled members say it's too pricey

Now, however, Fireman (handicap: 6.6) wants out. In a document sent to Willowbend residents and members this month Fireman is proposing to sell the club to members or, failing that, to another bidder. Fireman's asking price: $33 million,MASHPEE -- Can the billionaire of Willowbend come to terms with his mere millionaire members?  Once upon a time, goes the story, former Reebok chief executive Paul Fireman got snubbed by the swells at the exclusive Oyster Harbors Club, just down the road from here in Osterville, who supposedly decided they weren't ready for a Jew, or at least this particular Jew, at their country club. "It's a fully restricted club. That's the reality," Fireman told The Globe years ago about his inability to get an answer on his membership application. "That's the ultimate issue. Do they have people of color? Do they have people of the Jewish faith? I mean, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it's a duck."

So Fireman, who got rich selling sneakers but whose life's passion has always been golf, bought his own country club. That was 1991, and for most of the last 15 years or so Fireman has run Willowbend Country Club, and run it extraordinarily well, as his own personal club. Though it has an A-list membership roster -- people like Patriots owner Robert Kraft, businessman William Koch, and investment legend Peter Lynch -- this was never a place run by committee...  Read the rest of this Globe story here. 
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Letter from Beth's mother;

Last Friday, Judy Lochtefeld, mother of the late Elizabeth "Beth" Lochtefeld, said that the victim statement about her daughter's death that was read in court by her other daughter Catherine following the guilty verdicts against Thomas Toolan, III, represented a statement compiled by the family and signified their feelings. Still, Mrs. Lochtefeld spoke further about the outcome of the trial and how the family is coping now that they have had some degree of closure.

"The families met in the judge's chambers after the trial to try to keep the strength and keep the faith," she said of speaking with the Toolans. "We commiserated with each other about having lost a child. Mr. Toolan said he hopes in the future more will be done to help people with mental problems so this doesn't happen. It was very poignant and it left me without any guilt. We're just two mothers of two ordinary families who felt they needed to reach out to each other. It's a tragedy for two families.

"On the other hand, we are very grateful to the jury, we couldn't have asked for a better judge, and we're very grateful to the press for being respectful to us. At the end, everyone was very quiet. No one mobbed us or pushed us."

Mrs. Lochtefeld said that with the support of her children and nephews and with deep appreciation for the outpouring of care extended to the family by the community, she and her husband John are starting to put their lives back together. 

Mr. Thomas Toolan, II, and Mrs. Dolores Toolan

declined to be interviewed.   Read the rest of the Nantucket Independent here.
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 Still Tacking Through Politics - Trusty Walter Cronkite at Age 90
"I think that the trust of the people has to begin with the President"


"I am a little disappointed there were not more of my brethren in the press saying out loud [what they] should have been saying for a long time: We don't belong in the war we are pursuing."Almost 40 years ago, after a careful assessment of the state of the Viet Nam war, Walter Cronkite delivered an editorial on CBS, saying it was time for a negotiated withdrawal.

President Lyndon Johnson, in response, was famously quoted as saying: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America." Five weeks later, the President announced he would not run for reelection.

If he were still an anchorman, Mr. Cronkite would have delivered a similar editorial long before now about the Iraq war.

"I'd be as strong as I was in the other war. We ought to be out of there. I've being saying that practically since that war began, since we invaded. I don't think we should be there," he said.  Walter Cronkite is 90 now and sitting in the front room of his house overlooking the Edgartown inner harbor. It's a pulpit of much less influence than the desk at CBS, but he is apparently no less prepared than he ever was to express an opinion on the state of things. The number one thing, of course, being the President and his war...   Read the rest of this Gazette story here. 
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To France he'll row, row his boat
He hopes to beat record for voyage

"You have to live for this project. It's three years of my life only to prepare for this adventure."ORLEANS -- Charlie Girard is not a man of the sea. Instead, the mechanical engineer is betting on a sleek boat he engineered himself, six months of intense workouts, and a little luck to row by himself 3,600 miles from Cape Cod to his native France and into the record books.

After three years of preparation, Girard planned to push off this morning from the Orleans Yacht Club, attempting to beat the record set in 2004 of 62 days, 19 hours, and 48 minutes for a solo rowboat crossing of this route across the North Atlantic.

Dozens of yacht club members and others curious about him showed up yesterday afternoon to watch his final preparations.

Some had one question: Why?

"It's very difficult to understand," said Girard, 26, a balding, wiry man who wore a black T-shirt, brown shorts, and white Nikes with black socks. "There is not one answer. I want to test myself to know what I'm able to do when my life is in danger. Exactly, in fact, I don't know why."

His girlfriend, Sabrina Boisset, 27, has given up all her free time to help Girard reach his dream and has given up trying to figure out how he came to it...  Read the rest of this Globe story here. 

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Buyers market in rentals this summer; Wind farm works on calmer days

Harnessing wind way of future on East Coast?
U.S. energy bill calls for finding best sites

The shallow water just miles from the Rehoboth Beach shoreline could be the site of the country's first offshore wind farm -- but it will not be the only one, as similar projects are racing forward in Massachusetts and New York, experts say.

The energy bill the U.S. Senate approved last week authorized $5 million to study where offshore wind farms would be best located on the East Coast. Such an assessment could spur further interest from wind-energy businessesWith more Americans focused on green energy and concerned about dependence on foreign oil, it's just a matter of time before hundreds of turbines harnessing the wind could line the shore from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

East Coast wind energy got another boost this week when the U.S. Department of Energy selected Massachusetts as the home for one of two new wind turbine blade-testing facilities. Massachusetts and Texas each will receive $2 million grants to build research centers...  Cape Wind has been going through the permitting process since 2001 to build 130 turbines in the Nantucket Sound. The wind farm would generate enough power for about three-fourths of the needs of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Sound, or about 200,000 homes. A draft environmental impact statement is to be released in August. Many of the complaints against the wind farm have to do with aesthetics.

"If you have a large, oceanfront home, the distant view of wind turbines in clear conditions is not something everyone can accept," said Mark Rodgers, Cape Wind spokesman. Still, he said, there are plenty of people who think the churning blades are beautiful.

Besides the high winds and the shallowness of the water, the sound also is the ideal location for a wind farm because of the area's long tradition of wind power, Rodgers said.  "In the early 1800s, there were 1,000 working windmills on Cape Cod powering the energy needs of the day, pumping water, grinding grain, making salt," he said... Read the rest of this Wilington News-Journal story here.  
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Wind farm productive on hottest days, Cape Wind says
Alliance says report is faulty

Critics of a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound have long complained that the wind won't blow on the days New England needs power the most, such as yesterday, when electricity use recorded its eighth-highest peak on record. But project developer Cape Wind Associates released a report yesterday suggesting that offshore winds continued even as city dwellers sweltered on the region's top 10 power-usage days.
Cape Wind tracked weather conditions on the 10 highest-ever demand days. On those days, the wind would have been strong enough, according to the company, to produce 310 megawatts of power, compared with the wind farm's estimated average daily output of 182 megawatts.

"Our study shows that Cape Wind will be producing significant power at the very times that the electric grid is under greatest stress and needs the power the most," said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Cape Wind.  Wind farms only produce power when the wind is blowing at the right speed and in the right direction, and opponents often cite that as one of the biggest drawbacks of the farms.

"Ironically, the peak demand for electricity in New England comes as those dog days of summer cause air conditioners to operate at full throttle," Glenn Wattley, an energy consultant for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, has written on the organization's website. "Yet, as any sailor knows, those sultry days in August are precisely when the wind is not blowing on Nantucket Sound."

But Cape Wind says wind speeds measured by its data tower in the sound tell the opposite story...  Read the rest of this Globe story here.
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Cape Cod is a renter's market this summer
But rentals are up, and highest priced are renting faster

"I've noticed a lot more signs on the property that say summer rental," she said. She suspects that homeowners are advertising rentals themselves rather than hiring a broker, to save on the commission fee"
- Barbara HubleyIf you're about to do that last-minute scramble to find a house to rent this summer on Cape Cod, there's no rush.  With home sales in decline, owners of Cape Cod vacation properties are more anxious than ever to rent them for income to cover big mortgage payments or home equity loans. There is so much availability that rental agents and homeowners are jockeying to attract latecomers looking for rentals in July and even into August, the most popular month for vacationers.

"There are too many homes on the rental market," said Mary Fritz, a rental agent for Wilkinson & Associates in Orleans. "You can get a deal. People are negotiating." One of her clients knocked $1,000 off the $5,000 weekly rate for a four-bedroom house on Pleasant Bay in South Orleans...  Read the rest of this Globe story here.

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Red Tide closes North Shore shellfish beds; New Bedford is courting Mashpee tribe, big time; Another Frenchman to row the Atlantic home

   The Mashpee tribe wants to buy the KOA campground in Middleborough which is adjacent to the acreage on which they already have options.

New Bedford makes no bones about it, the city wants a casino
Tribes wants KOA Campground that abuts the proposed site in Middleboro

On Tuesday night, the New Bedford City Council made its pitch to Mashpee Wampanoag tribal leader Glenn Marshall. Marshall is not playing the town against the city, said tribe spokesman Greg D'Agistino, but he told the councilors, “We're not there yet” in terms of choosing a location for a casino.

Tribe spokesman Scott Ferson confirmed the tribe is interested in purchasing the KOA Campground that abuts the proposed site in MiddleboroDespite a land grab in Middleboro, D'Agistino said Marshal characterized Middleboro and New Bedford as being on the same playing field. He said Marshall has had several discussions with the mayor of New Bedford and is “keeping his options open.”

The New Bedford councilors voted to allow the casino committee to meet with Marshall to sell their city's potential as a better site for a casino. D'Agistino said the city is also prepared to offer support services if the complex is sited elsewhere.

The City Council's Special Committee on Gaming-Casinos told Marshall the city has voted many times in favor of a casino...  Read the rest of this Brockton Enterprise story here.
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Red tide again shuts down shellfishing on North Shore
Algae's return hurts harvest, is cape next?

Red tide has once again shut down shellfishing in the land that made the fried clam famous, leaving retailers and restaurants from Manchester to Maine to ponder the public's response to the third such closure in as many years, and right at the start of the busy summer season.

"Not another red tide story! As soon as anyone hears 'red tide' they skip over the clams and order the haddock."
- Kelly Corrao, owner of Essex Shellfish Co.Since 2005, summertime blooms of the red tide algae Alexandrium have at various times shut down shellfishing from Maine to Rhode Island, crippling the harvest of the popular soft shell clams, also called Ipswich clams, for which the North Shore is famous. The algae produce a neurotoxin called saxitoxin that builds up in shellfish as they filter food, including the Alexandrium, from sea water. Shellfish contaminated with red tide can be poisonous for humans. Red tide does not affect crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters.

Last Wednesday, the toxin was found in various shellfish at levels the federal government deems unsafe to eat. The Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries shut down the harvest from the state line south to the Gloucester/Manchester border. The Massachusetts closure came one day after New Hampshire announced a similar ban along its 11-mile coastline...  Read the rest of this Globe story here. 
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Frenchman to depart Cape in transatlantic rowing bid
Scheduled to leave tomorrow from Orleans t France, 2,500 miles

He's leaving from Orleans because a cousin in Boston had friends in town, and the Orleans Yacht Club offered to helpA mechanical engineer from France plans to depart Orleans tomorrow morning in an attempt to row across the Atlantic faster than anyone else.

Charlie Girard's sleek 23-foot rowboat arrived from France on Tuesday. He plans to depart tomorrow from Orleans. His destination on the coast of France is nearly 2,500 miles away...  Read the rest of this WPRI story here. 

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TM ordered to vote on Middleborough casino; Tribe to meet with New Bedfordtonight; 10,000 new Conn. slots

Casino plan requires OK by Middleborough Town Meeting

MIDDLEBOROUGH -- Selectmen learned last night that voters at a Town Meeting must approve the terms and conditions of any agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag for a proposed casino and resort project to proceed.

New Bedford officials indicated in a statement yesterday they have a meeting scheduled tonight with the tribe's leader, Glenn Marshall.
 See story in today's Standard-Times here. Town attorney Daniel Murray told the panel in a letter opened last night at the selectmen's weekly meeting that state law mandates that voters sanction such contracts before town leaders formalize a deal. Selectmen said they plan to schedule a special Town Meeting, but they have to work out logistics.

Proponents and opponents of the proposed casino applauded the news that a town meeting will be required.  "This is exactly what we were asking for," said David Parker, a member of the anticasino group Casinofacts. "We're hearing everyone say we are a minority voice. That's absolutely not true, and we're going to prevail."

Gambling supporters are confident a Town Meeting vote would favor a casino...  Read the rest of this Globe story here.  
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Rivals cut into Conn. casino’s cash from slots
Cape Tribe will cut into that pile

“There are 10,000 new slots in the Connecticut market between Yonkers and Twin River. “I think it’s only logical there will be some shakeout.”
    -Mitchell EtessConnecticut’s powerhouse Indian casinos, after years of unchecked growth, are facing a new phenomenon - competition.  Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods recently reported their second month of falling slot machine revenues, the bread and butter for most gambling complexes.

Mitchell Etess, Mohegan’s chief executive, said he can’t recall a similar, back-to-back monthly decline. The drop-off comes after big expansions by the newly revamped Twin River “racino” and its slot machines in Rhode Island and a slots complex in Yonkers, N.Y., acknowledged executives at both Connecticut casinos. Gas prices also hurt. Meanwhile, the two Connecticut casinos, now among the world’s largest, also face another, potentially even more devastating threat from the Bay State.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is pushing ahead with a proposal for its own gambling resort, modeled after the two Connecticut resort casinos.a “There are 10,000 new slots in the Connecticut market between Yonkers and Twin River,” Mohegan’s Etess said. “I think it’s only logical there will be some shakeout.”   Read the rest of this Herald story here. 

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CC Hospital beats national average for heart patient recovery; Dillrd's latest; State forsenics lab fix

Heart death rates beat US average at four Massachusetts hospitals
Cape Cod  Hospital had a better than average mortality rate

A patient's chance of surviving 30 days after suffering a heart attack or heart failure is better than average at four Massachusetts hospitals -- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cape Cod Hospital, and Southcoast Hospital Group -- according to newly released data from the federal Medicare program.

They were among 1 percent of hospitals nationwide with significantly better than expected mortality rates -- after the data were adjusted for the severity of patients' medical condition. The other Massachusetts hospitals fell within the average range...  Cape Cod Hospital had a better than average mortality rate for heart attack patients. The rates for all hospitals are posted on Medicare's website here.  See the CCH site here.
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A Complex Marriage on Nature’s Path
New Dillard novel set on Cape Cod

Shim, scumble, saurine, skeg: It’s impossible for readers who delight in such words not to be entranced by the way Annie Dillard chooses — and uses — her arsenal in “The Maytrees.” In the three decades since “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” the nonfiction debut in which she introduced a prose style so gorgeously precise that every sentence sang, this poet, essayist and journalist has written nine original volumes powered by spare but brilliant language.

Now in “The Maytrees,” her second novel and a shimmering meditation on the ebb and flow of love, Ms. Dillard has created the sort of narrative that will have acolytes moaning low.

Set in Cape Cod after World War II, her compelling short novel chronicles the lives of Lou and Toby Maytree, bookish bohemians whose marriage seems charmed... Read the rest of this NY Times review here. 
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More work needed at medical examiner’s office

Persistent negative reports coming out of the state medical examiner’s office in recent years are cause for concern.  On Thursday, Public Safety Director Kevin M. Burke prohibited state pathologist Dr. William M. Zane from examining any possible homicide victims until a review of the entire office is completed. Dr. Zane admitted to mistakes he made in the autopsy of an Ayer man killed in a fight with two brothers. Dr. Zane’s admission forced prosecutors to reduce the charges against the men from murder to involuntary manslaughter.

The appointment of Dr. Mark Flomenbaum as the new chief medical examiner for Massachusetts in 2005 was seen as the start of a turnaround of the office which had long been underfunded and neglected. But just last month, he was suspended with pay after his office misplaced the body of a Cape Cod man, who then was buried in the wrong grave and had to be exhumed...  Read the rest of this Telegram story here. 

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Cape couple homeless; Tribe wants more land; Middleboro to decide tomorrow

Couple homeless after Cape Cod Dennis blaze
The Red Cross will pay for the couple to stay at the Gull Wing Suites Motel for a couple of days

Two Cape Cod residents are living in a motel today after their house was destroyed by a fire. Elizabeth and Bruce Hodgkins, who had lived in a house on Pond Street in Dennis for three years, were left homeless after the one-alarm fire at about 1:15 p.m. yesterday.

A neighbor called the fire department, then tried to put the blaze out with a garden hose, the Dennis fire department said. But the single-story house was completely destroyed, along with everything inside it except some of Elizabeth Hodgkins' jewelry, said the couple's landlord, Bill Brodeur. He estimated the house was worth more than $200,000...  Read the Globe report here.  
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Tribe eyeing casino negotiates to buy 200 acres
“I’m looking toward retirement...  This is the golden goose that could answer the town’s prayers”
- Cheryl Kutzy

MIDDLEBORO - The Mashpee Wampanoag Indians are negotiating to buy another 200 acres in Middleboro to develop into a casino, despite stepped-up opposition and a slow-down in talks with town leaders.  The tribe owns or has options on more than 350 acres in Middleboro and now is talking to a family trust that is shopping 202 acres abutting the tribe’s new parcels.

“Our land is for sale. If the tribe wants to buy it, we’ll sell it to them,” said Cheryl Kutzy, who said her family has been contacted by the tribe. “I’m looking toward retirement.”  Neither Kutzy nor tribe spokeswoman Amy Lambiaso would speculate about a price. The tribe paid the town $1.8 million this month for about 125 acres. At that price per acre, the market for the 202 acres would be about $3 million.

“The tribe continues to see Middleboro as an attractive spot,” said Lambiaso, who confirmed that the tribe is talking to the family...  Read the rest of this Providence Journal story here.  
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Ruling on Middleboro casino vote expected tomorrow

“If we can garner a financial gain, without the negative and social issues, I'm for it .... we need a revenue stream.” MIDDLEBORO — Selectman Steven P. Spataro wants to know if voters at town meeting have to approve any agreement the board makes for an Indian-run casino. He expects a decision from the town attorney at the board's meeting on Monday.

“There's very few contracts selectmen can enter into without town meeting ratification,” Spataro said. “We're within our rights as selectmen to negotiate a contract,” he said, but he believes it's the responsibility of town meeting to ratify the deal.

“People said they wanted to vote,” Spataro said. So he's asking Town Counsel Daniel F. Murray for a legal determination. “I'm confident nobody wants to do the wrong thing. If town meeting is required, then town meeting it is.”  Read the rest of this Enterprise story here. 

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Appeals court overturns ruling that threw out state oil spill law

Federal appeals court overturned a ruling that tossed out key provisions of a state law aimed at preventing oil spills 

BOSTON -- A federal appeals court has overturned a ruling that tossed out key provisions of a state law aimed at preventing oil spills, a move environmentalists hailed as a victory in efforts to beef up protection of its waterways and coastline.

The state Legislature passed the Oil Spill Prevention Act in 2004 after a barge struck a rocky ledge at the mouth of Buzzards Bay and spilled 98,000 gallons of oil. The spill polluted more than 90 miles of shoreline along southeastern Massachusetts and closed nearly 100 thousand acres of shellfish beds.

Read the rest of the story at WHDH-Boston here.  Read the statement from the office of Martha Coakley, MA Attorney General, here.  And more from the Standard Times here.

Read about the oil spill protection ending from July '06 at CapeCodToday.com here.

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Sandcastles kill; Terrapins & robots; Tribe's quest; Fishfinder

Be afraid: Sandcastles can kill

by Simon Tisdall 

First it was killer sharks. Then it was killer bees. Now American holidaymakers heading for the beach this summer are being warned to watch out for another lethal hazard: killer sand castles.

The US bucket and spade brigade went on full alert yesterday after research by a top physician revealed that people falling into holes dug in the sand had accounted for more fatalities in the US since 1990 than shark attacks - 16 as opposed to 12.

Read the rest at the Guardian Unlimited here.

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 Robots to help explore Arctic Ridge

Jay Lindsay, AP

BOSTON - The Gakkel Ridge, encased under the frozen Arctic Ocean, is steep and rocky, and scientists suspect its remote location hosts an array of undiscovered life.

Researchers hope newly developed robots will give them their first look at the mysterious ridge located between Greenland and Siberia.

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod plan to begin a 40-day expedition of the ridge on July 1. They plan to use the robots to navigate and map its terrain and sample any life found near a series of underwater hot springs.

Read the rest of the story in the Philadelphia Daily News here.

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Terrapins nest in Freetown

by Autumn Spanne

FREETOWN - Residents who live along the shore of Assonet Bay were treated to a special show this week, as rare turtles descended on their beach to lay eggs.

It's the first time that researchers have been able to document the small Assonet Bay population of diamondback terrapin turtles, a non-migratory species that lives in estuaries from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite their extensive range, the turtles are listed as threatened or endangered in several states - including Massachusetts - as a result of predation, over-fishing and coastal habitat destruction.

The Assonet Bay terrapins are likely a remnant population in distress, separated from the few other small clusters near Barrington, R.I., and other SouthCoast enclaves, according to Don Lewis, who has studied the turtles for nearly 30 years as a volunteer with Mass Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

Read the rest of the story in the Standard Times here.

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Tribe's land quest continues despite opposition

 BOSTON - The Mashpee Wampanoag Indians are negotiating to buy another 200 acres in Middleborough to develop into a casino, despite stepped-up opposition and a slow-down in talks with town leaders.

The tribe owns or has options on more than 350 acres in Middleborough and now is talking to a family trust that is shopping 202 acres abutting the tribe's new parcels.

"Our land is for sale. If the tribe wants to buy it, we'll sell it to them," said Cheryl Kutzy, who said her family has been contacted by the tribe. "I'm looking toward retirement."

Read the rest in the Boston Herald here.

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Outer Cape throwing around heavyweight tuna

by Chris Estrada

 The fishing is good off Cape Cod this week. Check out the Globe's fishfinder, broken down by region.

Read the rest in the Boston Globe here.

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Boat line, island in accord; Foums planned on growth of Vineyard

Headlines of the week, June 22, 2007 

Island Plan Moves Ahead with Forums to Provoke More Public Involvement
Roughly 200 new homes are built on the Vineyard each year, many of them out of scale with surrounding neighborhoods or sprawling into once rural and open areas.

Boatline and Key Union Find Accord on Contract
After a standoff lasting four years, the Steamship Authority and one of its major maritime unions are expected to have a new workplace contract within a month.  greement between boat line senior managers and the Marine Officers Beneficial Association, which represents some 230 unlicensed deck hands, was reached last Friday night, after two days at the table with a state-appointed fact finder. Contract details are yet to be made public, and the precise language of the agreement now is being put together by attorneys on both sides.  But the Boston area representative for the union, Bill Campbell, said a final written agreement would go out to members early next month in preparation for a vote.

Ambitious Vision for Downtown Edgartown
The old Navigator restaurant in Edgartown - she ain't what she used to be.

Defense Department Declares Cape Wind No Radar Problem
The proposed offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound will not interfere with a crucial missile detection radar system on Cape Cod, Pentagon officials said last week.

Oak Bluffs Voters Face Packed Agenda at Special Town Meeting
While special town meetings in late spring or early summer often are ho-hum affairs called to approve routine housekeeping matters and spending items at the end of the fiscal year, Tuesday's meeting in Oak Bluffs could pack as much punch as the town's annual town meeting in April.

School Children Are All Smiles; Last Bell Rings
Out-of-control classrooms, last-laugh pranks and papers being thrown to the wind as students stampede through the double doors after the last bell: those are images that come to mind when thinking about the last day of school. 

Read the rest of this week's Vineyard Gazette here. 

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