Cape Musings

Inmate Trash Pick-up Program is Dangerous

An Eerie Coincidence 

Are Inmate Trash Pick-Up Programs Safe? 

I find it eerie that a year ago yesterday another inmate died on a US roadway after being struck by a car as he picked up trash on the side of the road.  Exactly a year later, almost to the minute, a Barnstable County inmate died in Mashpee.  An odd coincidence to be sure, but perhaps there are some parallels to be drawn here. 

The accident that occurred last July 10th happened in Raleigh, North Carolina when the driver of a sport utility vehicle lost control on Route I-40 . The SUV skidded into the median, hitting three inmates and an empty prison van.  The inmates were part of a trash-pickup work crew from Wake Correctional Center, a minimum-security facility. The SUV rolled on top of inmate Charles G. Wilson, 31, killing him and injuring two others.

I'm all for convicted criminals paying their dues to society, but there's something about trash duty that irks me.  It's dangerous, plain and simple.  According to the Federal Highway Administration, 5,000 pedestrians are killed each year in traffic accidents, and 100,000 are injured.

Clearly, anyone working on the side of the road day after day is taking a risk. Some people are paid for taking such risks, but inmates are given time off  from their incarceration---a nice motivational carrot, and one that's hard to resist.  The truth is, all of the safety courses and precautions in the world are not going to make roadside duty any safer.  There are too many circumstances beyond our control.      

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Sex Acts on P-Town Beaches Prompt Outrage

As seen on the Drudge Report and the Boston Herald:

Sex acts on Provincetown beaches prompt outrage

Frisky sun worshipers are flocking to have sex on the beach in Provincetown - but are sending horrified family vacationers packing, officals said.

Angry Cape Cod National Seashore officials said they are cracking down on public sex acts along the picturesque shoreline after the number of citations for public sex acts more than tripled, from an average of 40 to 132 last year.

"This is not what we're interested in seeing," said George Price, Superintendent of the National Seashore. "Over the last couple of years, public (sex) acts like this have been viewed by visitors."

Price said officials are baffled as to why the vacation mecca has suddenly become a hotbed of public sex for randy exhibitionists.

"Laws and enforcement have not changed - it just seems to be something that some people decided we want to see," Price said.

Complaints have included whale-watchers sailing past large groups of nude men, and families stumbling upon people engaged in sex acts on the pristine national shore that attracts tens of thousands of vacationers from throughout the world each year.

One complaint, issued in 2007, was from a New Jersey family walking in the dunes who encountered couples and a large group of men having "sex in the nude, including oral and anal sex right out in the open," the Cape Cod Times reported last week... Read the Boston Herald story here.

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Red Sox Fan Shames Us All

A Day of Shame for all Cape Cod

I think we should all hang our heads low today.  After all, we don't live in a bubble.   We are all responsible for our communities on Cape Cod and when someone shames us it effects us all. This story is being read all over the country, including video clips on Fox News and Breitbart.com (click the screen on right to  see and hear the video).

Not only am I ashamed, but I am horrified by the events that took place at the Falmouth fireworks on Friday night. 

A man is here, presumably vacationing with his family on the 4th of July.  His kids are in the backseat of the car, leaving the fireworks after a long day.  Maybe they're all wearing red, white and blue.   Maybe they had a barbecue at their rental cottage before heading to the fireworks in Falmouth Heights.  But one thing is for sure:  No one gets out of the Heights quickly after the fireworks.  It's easy to get trapped on the little roads running in and out of the Heights---sometimes for hours.  You're better off shivering on the beach with a blanket and waiting it out than you are trying to join the parade of fleeing cars. 

Too bad the man from New York hadn't waited--the man from New York with his kids strapped into the backseat of the car, tired and cranky from a long day.   Of course, information is scarce, but it seems what happened next was completely unprovoked.  His only crime was having a New York State license plate. 

Now, you can call this a Red Sox-Yankee skirmish if you like, but that would be taking the easy way out, because this isn't about a baseball team.  This is about violence and ignorance, pure and simple.  This is about a punk who lives on Cape Cod--who is, I assume, violent and ignorant himself----one who is reflecting a Cape Cod to our visitors that is slowly becoming a reality here.   And there you have it.  You are now living on a Cape Cod where a man sitting in his car with his family after a night of fireworks can be beaten with a baseball bat  for simply displaying a New York State license plate.  Welcome to your Cape Cod.  Not too pretty, is it? 

So, please don't make this about baseball as the media is sure to do.  This is a commentary on the sort of place we live.  

The story was given a minimal amount of space in our big daily newspaper, but who is surprised?  It seems saving face amidst the burgeoning reality of violence on the Cape is more important than facing the music.  We have a reputation to protect---- a reputation of Pottery Barn porches and All-American parades.  Baseball bats and attacks on innocent tourists isn't front page fodder.  Not when you have papers to sell, a reputation to promote. 

The man from New York is idling his engine on Worcester Court, at 10:00 last Friday night and I know how he must have felt.  Cars just don't move at all in that neighborhood when the fireworks end.  You almost believe you'll wake up behind the wheel, drooling and disheveled the next morning still waiting for the traffic to clear.  He had a car behind him and a car ahead of him and there was nowhere to go.  Nothing to do but sit and wait.  

The man must have been shocked when he realized he was under attack.  It's one thing to be sitting in your car waiting for traffic to move, but not in your wildest dreams are you fearing for your life.  You are not in an inner-city.  You are a man with your family in the car, in Perfect America Cape Cod.  You have nothing but a beach blanket and a bottle of bug spray in the back.  You aren't even looking over your shoulder.  

Police say  Robert Correia of Falmouth and several others attacked the New York man with a baseball bat.    First they accused him of supporting the Yankees and then they attacked him with the bat.  Then they attacked his car--just for good measure. 

I can imagine his children sitting in the backseat, wide-eyed and wild with fear.   Police say the man suffered head injuries and I imagine what it must have been like to see someone hitting their Dad in the head with a baseball bat.   It is, after all, a summer night on Cape Cod.  You are with your family on vacation.  There is no room in your reality for the scenario playing out in front of you. 

Other reports have the man pleading with the attackers to stop the insanity----his children were in the back seat after all.  But Robert Correia and his enlightened gang of thugs had no mercy.  The children were unharmed, but probably spent the rest of the long night in the emergency room at Falmouth Hospital where the New York man was treated for his injuries. 

I imagine the children trying to make sense of what happend to their father and really, what is there to say?  Do you blame a license plate or a baseball team?  Or do you tell the truth?  And here is what the truth is for me:

It is possible to be beaten on Cape Cod with a baseball bat on your way home from the fireworks.  The idyllic Cape Cod we tout to the world is slowly chipping away.  This enduring message will become more clear as the story makes the rounds across the country today.  

As for me, I apologize to our Tarrytown, New York visitor and to his children who endured such a horrible event on our shores.  As a part of this community, I realize that I don't live in a bubble.   I am a part of Cape Cod and all that happens here---both good and bad.

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Vatican: It's Okay to Believe In Aliens

I'm not the  voice of the aliens, but...

While I'm not sure I want to become the voice of the aliens, I couldn't help but add this to your daily news lineup. I've professed a belief here before that we couldn't possibly be the only living beings in a universe that doesn't end, and I have to say, this headline does nothing to dispel those beliefs. Neither does the fact more than 100 high ranking military personnel recently came forward (again) to admit they've either seen UFO's or have helped cover up their existence. It may be convenient for you to ignore such things  (lest you be forced to rearrange your world view), but the facts are the facts, ladies and gents.

Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer saidI don't think an institution that has, in the past, believed in purgatory and a little man with red horns should be the deciding factor on whether or not you believe in UFO's. Religion itself has some rather other-worldly ideas in the first place, but one has to question their motives here. What's the reason for this revelation now? If the US government won't get on the UFO bandwagon, then why would the Vatican? And of all the things the Vatican could have said it's "okay" to believe in, why this particular issue? This article shows some pretty forward thinking on the part of the Vatican, integrating faith and reason.

Keep in mind that nothing comes out of Vatican City without Vatican City knowing.

Here's the article:
Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens
By ARIEL DAVID
Associated Press Writer
3:07 PM CDT, May 13, 2008
VATICAN CITY
Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict religion, touching on a theme of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made exploring the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

The Bible "is not a science book," Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most "reasonable" explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

But he said he continues to believe that "God is the creator of the universe and that we are not the result of chance."

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave behind divisions caused by Galileo's persecution 400 years ago, saying the incident has "caused wounds."

In 1633 the astronomer was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

"The church has somehow recognized its mistakes," he said. "Maybe it could have done it better, but now it's time to heal those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and collaboration."

Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

The Vatican Observatory has been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best.

The observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, is based in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the pope has a summer residence. It also conducts research at an observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.

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Pope Wages War on Satan

The Pope has announced a new initiative to train more priests in exorcisms.  They feel they've been a little lax as of late and it's time to get down to business.  In the next few years, priests from all over the world will be taught how to perform a series of gestures and prayers to invoke the power of God and stop the "demon" from influencing its victim. Standing with our hand in the cookie jar, we'll no longer be able to say, "The Devil made me do it."

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Officials call for UFO Probe

When I saw this headline yesterday  Former pilots, officials call for UFO probe,  I was pretty amazed.  (see article at the botton of this post).

I'm one of those crazy people, I suppose, that absolutely whole-heartedly believes that there must be life on other planets.  It's a big universe, folks.  And if that life has been around, oh say, another two hundred years longer than we have, it is very possible that they have the technology to visit other planets. Why not?  Imagine showing your personal computer to a cave man.  Intelligent life evolves and one of the fruits of evolution is technology.  

And I'm smart enough to know that we humans aren't as smart as we think we are.  We're still unlocking the secrets of the immune system, still putting pedophiles in jail, making bombs and using gasoline.   In universal terms, we're in kindergarten.   Nothing amuses me more than to hear someone say with the utmost of confidence that we must be the only life in the universe.   Kindergarten kids don't know anything for sure, do they?  My grandmother still marvels that she has indoor plumbing and electricity. 

Beyond the obvious, there are just too many competent people coming to the fore who say they have seen a UFO including Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, high ranking officials in all the armed forces, politicians and scores of others, including people that I personally know and respect.  And many, many people have stepped forward to admit that they were involved in projects and incidents which the government has covered up.  In fact, some of these people voluntarily attended a press conference several years ago to discuss their roles in the cover up.  Their names?

• Merle Shane McDow: US Navy Atlantic Command
• Lt. Col. Charles Brown: US Air Force (Ret.)
• Lance Corporal Jonathan Weygandt: US Marine Corps
• Maj. George A. Filer, III: US Air Force (Ret.)
• Nick Pope: British Ministry of Defense Official
• Larry Warren: US Air Force, Security Officer
• Sgt. Clifford Stone: US Army
• Master Sgt. Dan Morris: US Air Force, NRO Operative
• A.H.: Boeing Aerospace Employee
• Officer Alan Godfrey: British Police
• Sgt. Karl Wolf: US Air Force
• Ms. Donna Hare: NASA Employee
• Mr. John Maynard: DIA Official
• Dr. Robert Wood: McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Engineer
  

This is not a complete list of those men and women who were brave enough to come forward that day. The media virtually ignored this event, although their live testimony is accessible on the Internet.   You have to give these Boeing Aerospace engineers and Master Sergeants credit for saying anything in this climate of humiliation that exists when anyone even mentions the word UFO. 

A majority of Americans believe that life exists on other planets and that the government is trying to cover something up.  I think what they're trying to say is this:  It's a lot easier to believe that there is life on other planets than it is to believe our government always tells us the truth. 

The $64,000 question is why--if there are intelligent races swooping down to check us out--then why don't they do something that will definitively categorize them as real, something as simple as hanging out over the White House? 

My answer to that is why would they?  Would you want to come and make friends with a planet where wars are being fought all over the globe, where life-destroying bombs are hunkered down in silos beneath the earth, where humans are still---century after century--arguing over which god is the right god?   If their technology is so advanced that they've conquered intergalactic travel, they've obviously learned to get along with one another because they didn't blow themselves up.  There has been peace on their planet long enough for their technology to evolve.  

There is truly nothing more dangerous than a planet that is advanced enough to destroy itself but still unenlightened enough to be destroying one another.  Technology in the hands of those who haven't learned to respect the gift of life is a dangerous thing indeed.  There's no disputing that our technology has outpaced our spiritual evolution.  If that doesn't answer the $64,000 question, then all you need do is look around at the state of our earth to understand why another race of people might not want to be our friends.  At least not yet. 

We must be an interesting planet to study, what with all our problems and pains.  Imagine looking down and watching thousands of people in a football stadium in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, hungry and ragged.  Imagine peering into a prison, a mental hospital, or a war zone and taking in the enormous suffering that is contained on our planet.  Observation might seem the best thing for the moment.  Observation over contact. 

Often enough, reports of UFO's trickle through the press, but it's rarely the mainstream press reporting.  You have to dig through the endless stream of negativity, Hollywood gossip, and political meandering to find the sound reporting on the UFO phenomenon. 

If anyone has come to the fore to expose this issue, it is Dr. Steven Greer, emergency room doctor turned UFO rabble rouser.  He is the one who called the press conference in our nation's capitol with dozens of competent and high ranking eye witnesses in tow to share their stories with the press----the conference that none of the mainstream press attended.  In the past few years, countries like England, France, Brazil and Ireland have opened up their UFO files.  In 2005, Brazil even initiated their own government committee to study the UFO issue.

Our country's closest equivalent is Dr. Greer, but he is often ridiculed and shut out of the press.  Greer sent out a press release today in light of the above referenced article published yesterday.  If you open up your mind, you may find some of his points compelling.  If you'd like to watch the eye witness testimony from those high ranking government officials yourself, visit http://www.disclosureproject.org/.   Here is the press release Greer has dispatched:

INSIDERS EXPOSE REASONS FOR UFO SECRECY

Disclosure Project Director Dr. Steven M. Greer reports that government insiders have revealed the existence of a shadowy, highly classified program related to UFOs.

The reasons for the secrecy are simple:  The inertia of highly classified programs, embarrassment over past illegal actions taken to enforce secrecy, and the fact that the energy and propulsion systems behind the mysterious UFO objects have been studied and fully understood. This disclosure would spell the end for oil, gas, coal and other conventional forms of power - and with that, the end of the current oil-based geopolitical order and economy. The truth is our tax dollars have been used to investigate this matter for decades and it is time for a dividend on that investment. The full disclosure of the facts will enable humanity to attain a sustainable civilization without global warming or the need for oil.

Recent calls for a US government investigation into UFOs have not taken into account the fact that such investigations are on-going, highly compartmented and top-secret.

Dr. Greer states, "As early as 1993, when I personally briefed CIA Director James Woolsey on the UFO matter, we knew of on-going, secret projects to which President Clinton and Mr. Woolsey were denied access.  The senior counsel for the Senate Appropriations Committee, then headed by Senator Byrd (D-WV) told me directly that upwards of $100 billion per year was going into so-called 'black' projects, including UFO programs, but that with a top-secret clearance and a subpoena power, he could not penetrate the veil of secrecy."

Subsequently, working with philanthropist Laurence Rockefeller, Dr. Greer provided in-depth briefing materials for President Clinton and Hillary Clinton, who reviewed the matter while staying at the Rockefeller's JY Ranch. (The briefing materials are at www.DisclosureProject.org).

Dr. Greer reports that "The Clinton's refused further disclosure of the matter. CIA Director Woolsey frankly stated that they could not disclose programs over which they had no control or access.  Mr. Woolsey and the Clintons were shaken by the secrecy, and the power behind it."

Since then, The Disclosure Project has uncovered thousands of official US documents and top-secret military and corporate witnesses to programs dealing with UFOs, including project code names and numbers.  Such operations are rogue and are beyond the scope of Congressional oversight committees.  

Note: The two paragraphs referring to Laurence Rockefeller and to Bill and Hillary Clinton had to be removed from this press release when we sent it out through our press release service - PRNewswire.com, because they refused to send out the original press release with those references.  It was referred up  the chain of command at their organization and censored by them. When you think that we have a free press, think again. This was not even censored by the outlets themselves, but by the entry point to those outlets!

And here is the article making headlines yesterday:

Former pilots, officials call for UFO probe

Tue Nov 13, 9:57 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich may have been ridiculed for saying he had seen a UFO, but for some former military pilots and other observers, unidentified flying objects are no laughing matter.

An international panel of two dozen former pilots and government officials called on the U.S. government Monday to reopen its generation-old UFO investigation as a matter of safety and security given continuing reports about flying discs, glowing spheres and other strange sightings.

"Especially after the attacks of 9/11, it is no longer satisfactory to ignore radar returns ... which cannot be associated with performances of existing aircraft and helicopters," they said in a statement released at a news conference.  ... Reuters

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A Compilation of Cape Cod Thoughts

A Compilation of Cape Cod Thoughts

Warming Whispers

While I try to remain apolitical about global warming, there are moments of reality that call for my attention. 

Today I went outside in my bare feet to weed the garden.  (Sometimes as I'm passing by my flower beds, I'll lean down and pull a few weeds out whether I came outside to do it or not.)  A honey bee buzzed by and landed on my flowering purple lavender.   I clipped a bouquet of roses as a daddy long legs crossed over my toe and a grasshopper hopped along down the sidewalk.  My dog panted on the farmer's porch.  Daisies sprouted yellow. 

These are whispered messages I listen for in May.   But here, in November, my ivy geraniums grow past the front porch rail in the window box. 

Cape Cod Crash Course

In the fall, I have the great privilege of escorting breathless travelers throughout New England to observe the changing leaves and to shop along the windswept streets of New England's towns and commons.

This year, the last leg of our tour brought us to Cape Cod, where I was embarrassingly aware of the horrible drivers we have zipping around our rural roads.  After three days of crazy drivers cutting off our tour bus, pulling out in front of us, and behaving in all manner of drivus-horriblus-- one woman turned to me and said, "Aren't you just terrified to let your kids drive around here?" 

Well, yes, as a matter of fact I am.  Especially now, that I have three young drivers on the road.  They're all doing quite well with their parallel parking, three point turns and highway passing---it's everyone else I'm worried about.  In order to survive around here, you have to be prepared to save your own life when you're behind the wheel.  A constant vigilance must be maintained if you're going to have any chance at all of getting home safely.  The number of fatalities we have around here is horrifying.  

What the hell is going on anyway? 

Are our drivers finally proving that Cape Codders are so isolated, so removed from the real world, that our own "style" of driving has invaded our common sense and decency?  Do we now have our own rules and modes of behavior, like the removed-from-the-world contestants on Survivor?  

Here's my favorite offense, one I'm certain you are familiar with: 

You are driving down a main thoroughfare, let's say Route 28, and you see a car approaching from a side street.  You are certain he knows you're there because he slams on his brakes at the very last second, his front end sticking out into traffic.  You try to make eye contact with him---(the best way, I tell my children, to communicate in such situations), but it's too late.  He pulls out in front of you, even though a quick check in your rear view mirror confirms there is no one behind you for eight miles. 

Listen folks.  If someone has to slam on their brakes because you want to pull out from a side street, then you shouldn't have pulled out.  The drivers on the main road have the right of way.  It's just common sense.  Oh, yes. You may have to wait a few minutes until it is safe to go.  But take a chill pill.  Relax.  You won't be eating dinner or getting married in your car.  There will come a time when it is safe to pull out, I promise. 

I've become a honker.  If you see a woman in a blue Volvo wagon honking her horn, it is probably me.  Becoming a honker ( a road disciplinarian, if you will) subjects me to all manner of rude gestures and obscenities.  In fact, in just the past two days, I have been given the middle finger a total of four times.  The last woman to do it almost ran me over driving 50 miles per hour in the Marshall's parking lot.  I, of course, honked after she almost took my front end off.  When she pulled up beside me to do the nasty deed (the middle finger), I noticed a little girl buckled in the back seat.  A real class act. 

On the tour bus, I was embarrassed for Cape Cod.  Here we were, driving about in the sleepy little hamlets that are our windswept towns, sea grass waving in the wind, sleepy little churches clanging with their  tall white steeples, and offered as a stark dichotomy to this sweet little scene was the rude and scary raceways that are our roads.       

When the wind blows, where do you go? 

Certainly not to take away from the great job Cape Cod Today did during our recent hurricane, what with their hourly updates on the worst of days...but seriously....aren't we in need of some sort of media clearing house for information when we have regional emergencies?   During my reporting days at WQRC, people often turned to the station during weather emergencies, but it had to be a real emergency for anyone to stay on air.  Reporters leave there at 6:00 PM and don't often return until 5:00 in the morning.  Sundays?  No reporters there at all.  What you hear is canned news digitally rerun throughout the night.  I haven't worked there in years and since I am away quite a bit,  I don't regularly listen to the station anymore. 

When our power went out for almost three days last weekend and I was no longer able to access the Internet, we felt out of touch.  In a pinch, I called the Cape Cod Times news desk one night to see why we were still in the dark, and quite frankly, they had nothing to tell me.  Nothing.  

I'm not talking about the kind of clearing house that hands out information at their leisure, but a real and dependable outlet that everyone knows they can turn to---that is, quite frankly, designated for this purpose and has a civic responsibility to do so.  And the kind of information I'm looking for isn't how many of my neighbors are without power, but real information, like why it's taking so long to get the power on, the closest shelter to my house, if the bridge is open or closed, which grocery stores are up and running, which roads are closed-----and I want updates every hour. 

God forbid we have a real hurricane anytime soon.

Who ya gonna call when we do?                                          

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Not charmed by the Cape's antiquity

I told NStar they could come over and vacuum for me

I've lived on the Cape long enough to know how it goes----if your neighbor sneezes the power goes out and it won't go back on until NStar stops by to wipe her nose.  It's been fifteen years of resetting clocks and putting off laundry and reprogramming the television set and until today, I've just considered it another unusual by-product of living on Cape Cod.  

But today is the last straw.  

I had a million things to do this morning.  My daughter is graduating from high school and a flock of family will soon be arriving on my door step.  If I ever needed my washing machine it's today.  And my power outlets?  We are not speaking terms.   

 This isn't your usual power outage, it's a scene right out of a horror flick.  The power has gone off and on at least fifty times, and the twentieth time my dryer blewThe woman who answered the phone today at NStar must think I'm nuts.  I told her she could come over and vacuum for me later.  We certainly pay enough for the blessing of electricity and today, I'm not getting my money's worth.  At least she could do is come over and help me make up for lost time.   She can make the brownies while I vacuum.

 This isn't your usual power outage, it's a scene right out of a horror flick.  The power has gone off and on at least fifty times, and the twentieth time my dryer blew.  You think NStar will take me to Sears for a new one? Will they come over and reset the clocks in my house, restore the volume on my flat screen TV?  Teach me how to reprogram our new alarm system?   

If we took half the energy we are giving to the wind farm we could solve some real problems here--problems that should be long gone---like updating the Cape's antiquated infrastructure.  Here we are waving the flags to thousands of new residents coming over the bridge in droves and we can't even promise them their alarm clock will go off in the morning.  

I'm off to set up the old clothesline in the backyard.  But before I go consider this:  I think it's great that we are trying to retain what's charming about olde Cape Cod.   But there are days that living in the 19th century loses its appeal.   Today is one of them.          

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Two Cape Cods: Hidden Poverty

tressed Out: Single Parenting
According to a survey conducted by Barnstable County last year, 80% of the most needy households on the Cape wrestle with stress and anxiety. More

Youth Flight
If the next generation of teachers, nurses, and firefighters can't make the Cape their home, then who will serve and take care of the people who can? More

Elderly Poverty
The ever-rising costs of living means that for a growing number of seniors, retirement has not been the life of leisure they may have expected. More

Homeless
Shelters housed more than 500 homeless people last year. But untold others live on friends' couches, in motel rooms, and in tents in the woods. More

Wampanoag
Of the 350 Wampanoag living in Mashpee today, 90% live from paycheck to paycheck, undeniably poor. More

Empty Nets
Cape Cod, a land named for its bounty of fish, doesn't have many commercial fishermen left. More

Moving out: The Winter Rental Shuffle
With off-season rental-housing prices skyrocketing, where are the working poor expected to look for shelter? More

Lack of Mass Transit
Without reliable public transportation, working poor cannot access the job opportunities and public services they so direly need. More

Foster Care: Aging Out
More than 250 children live in foster care. When these children leave state custody, more and more are winding up on the streets. More

Childcare: Sea Babies
Struggling families must choose between spending $300 a week on childcare and forgoing a paycheck to stay home. More

Martha's Vineyard
Much of the world knows Martha's Vineyard as a rich person's playground, but many locals are struggling to find adequate food and shelter. More

1: Meals on Wheels
2: Habitat for Humanity

Workforce Housing
With a median home price of $1.6 million, many in the Nantucket workforce will never be able to live where they work. More

The Road Ahead
Series Conclusion
If living the American Dream means getting married, buying a house, and raising a family, Cape Cod may not be a viable option for future.

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Tourism: We Can Do Better

Cape Cod needs a lesson in Tourism 101
Insulting your guests and customers is truly a no-no

Yesterday my husband and I decided to head to Hyannis and enjoy an afternoon walking Main Street.  It was Memorial Day and neither one of us had been there in years, as, until now, there seemed to be no reason to visit.  But we'd been reading about its renaissance in the papers, and my job as a tour guide had taken me by some of its newer restaurants and shops in the past few weeks. We wanted to have lunch there and visit a museum or two, so we set off in our shorts and shades.

I am here to report that the state of tourism on Cape Cod hasn't changed at all.     

I recall a Boston Globe article written less than ten years ago by one of our State Representatives who had spent a weekend on the Cape.  The article was bitter as he recalled a weekend of horrible food, backed up bridges and rude salespeople.  His family had been chased out of a restaurant for using their restrooms--the only one they could find.  He vowed his days of visiting Cape Cod were over.  I wonder if he kept his word.  

 Our first stop was the JFK Museum.  It was after 11:00 and a group of tourists were waiting out front for the doors to open.  After a few moments of standing around, someone did indeed open the doors and we shuffled in to buy our tickets.  The museum was empty and there was no one at the ticket booth.  Six or seven of us were gathered in the lobby just inside the door, kind of looking around and waiting for direction.   

After five minutes a woman came from around a corner, a look of absolute disgust on her face.  

"What are you all doing in here?" she yelled.  

 Someone in the group volunteered that the door had been opened for us and no one had complained when we had all shuffled through.  

"I highly doubt that anyone opened the door for you, as I am the only one here and I certainly did not open the door!  Now, the museum doesn't open until noon and I want you to leave right now."  

In effect, she was accusing us of breaking into the museum uninvited, and since I'm certain no one there was brandishing a crowbar, I had a hard time understanding how she had connected those dots.  I expected her to give us all a time out in the corner. 

As a representative of the tourism industry, I also know that insulting your guests and customers is truly a no-no and no matter their transgressions, politeness is the operative word.  

We left, and we didn't go back at noon.  And neither, I'm sure, did any of the other members of our group.  

Instead we spent some time visiting some of the tourist shops on Main Street, and while there has been some improvement over the years, most of the merchandise was beyond tacky.  I didn't see anyone grabbing a plastic statue of an obese woman in a bathing suit (with the inscription "My Husband Thinks I'm Cute") running up to the cash register to bag her Cape Cod treasure.  Listen, I've traveled the world enough to know there are tacky gift shops everywhere, but we can do better than that.  We've got seashells and handmade baskets from Nantucket and jewelry and sea glass and pottery and little wooden sailboats that can really be sailed in a pond.  

We had lunch at one of the Hyannis Harbor restaurants and immediately wished we hadn't.  

For $50, which included one cold beer each, we were treated to an abomination of a meal---the typical tourist fare, consisting of  gummy seafood with a handful of soggy breadcrumbs thrown on top.  Our baked potatoes were shriveled up and cold and the only good thing about the meal--the coleslaw--came in a miniscule plastic cup with three tiny teaspoons of the stuff. Our waitress was nonchalant, harried and rude.   As we left the restaurant, a woman pulled up in her car and shouted out to someone in the parking lot that the bridge was backed up for miles and miles.  Welcome to our humble land.  

Listen up, Cape Cod.  The world has evolved, gone on its merry way.  Everyone is traveling now--and not just to Cape Cod but to the far reaches of the earth.  The places that want to attract the savvy tourist and their dollars have gotten their acts together.  People want decent food for their money, they expect decent service and a smile when they walk in the door.  Tourists don't have to come here---there's a million other seaside towns in the world and unless we learn how to treat our visitors, they're going to start spreading the news that the Cape isn't the place to park your suitcase.  

It's time to let those tacky tourist lobster shacks know that breadcrumbs are nice, but there's other ways to prepare seafood.  And if someone is going to spend $50 on a simple lunch, maybe they deserve something more than a plastic fork.  This is a generation of travelers that's been watching the Food Network.  At home. our tourists have been sauteing shrimp with tequila and lime and experimenting with braised short ribs in their own kitchens.  Travelers are more sophisticated than they ever were---just turn on the Travel Channel if you don't believe me.  Food has evolved, ladies and gentleman, and so has the tourism industry.  Tourism is competition.  When a region adopts the cultural attitude that the tourist is lucky to even be allowed over the bridge, they are no longer competing. 

I'm not going to be sold the line that our regional cuisine, that the items in the gifts shops are what the tourists want.  In my opinion, that's just what they get.  The truth is--- we can do better.  You can put that entree on a better plate, you can throw on a really good baked potato (that's not hard to do) and you can offer enough coleslaw to make it worth their while.   That's a $25 dollar lunch. Oh, and you can have the waitress smile when she comes to the table.  She can welcome them to their humble establishment.  That's a $30 lunch.  

This summer, I am working a job that requires me to hang out with tourists all day long.  I'm tired of the sad stories.  I've talked to tourists from Pennsylvania, California and Georgia who are disgruntled by soggy meals, rude salespeople and Cape Codders who make it clear they don't like "outsiders" trespassing over the bridge.  They often ask me for recommendations on where to eat, what to do, and where to do it.    So, I'd like to make myself perfectly clear.  I can name two places right now that I'll never send them.  In fact, I can only think of a handful of places that I can honestly recommend.  If you're charging $25 for a perfectly terrible lunch, you're not on my list.  If you have the sort of waitresses that make it clear they'd rather be at the beach, then you're not on my list either.   And if you're the sort of museum representative who would rather scream at a few confused visitors rather than politely show them to the door, you can be sure I won't be sending them to your establishment.

I am tired of rude people.  They're everywhere.  Last week, I watched as a local man bolted from his car in a supermarket parking lot and screamed at a visitor who had cut him off while he was trying to park.  Everyone in the parking lot stopped and stared, their mouths open in astonishment.  Half of them were visitors buying their corn and hamburger buns for the weekend.  I'm familiar with the cultural story of how Cape Codders--- and New Englanders in general--were suspicious of new comers.  In the early days of our history, they'd make newcomers live a mile outside of town for a year until they'd checked them out.  But that was 400 years ago.  Let's let some light shine here in this part of the world.  Let's join the brigade of people who are trying to make the world a nicer place.  Really, a little generosity goes a long way.  Welcome a new neighbor by going next door and introducing yourself.  Throw a little more coleslaw on the dinner plates. Smile at the tourist in his striped shorts and give directions with enthusiasm.  And if you think I'm being sanctimonious, ask anyone who has moved to Cape Cod in the last year how welcome they feel.  Ask them how many friends they've made, ask them how many people came by and said hello when the moving van pulled up in their driveway.   

Each and everyone of us who comes in contact with a visitor, whether you're serving their dinner, giving them directions or cleaning their hotels rooms--you are a representative of our home.  You are defining for them who we are as a people.  Much as some of us hate the summer crowds, abhor the long lines and the traffic jams, tourism is an important part of our economy.  If we can offer more than plastic forks, disgruntled waitresses and stern lectures at the museum door, then we'll be doing better.   

 Even so, we still have a long way to go.              

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