Cape & Islands News

Grist magazine readers are angry at RFK Jr.

Cape Crusaders
Readers write back about the Cape Cod wind-farm project and more

30 Jan 2006

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little

Dear Editor:

He wants to send the windmills five miles farther out in the interests of the fishermen? Or is it because at five miles farther out he knows the windmills would be beyond the horizon and thus invisible from shore?

C'mon, Bobby! Join us and support this project!

Robert Kennedy Jr. has done a disservice to the very interests he claims to protect. There is an important element missing in his commentary: a disclosure. Mr. Kennedy and other members of the Kennedy family own property that overlooks this area. The arguments they use against this project are the same as those used by opponents to action on global warming, whom Mr. Kennedy vigorously opposes. This glaring conflict weakens the political authority the Kennedy family has maintained over many years.

The second is that the fishing industry will face losses. Mr. Kennedy ignores the perilous condition of the fisheries, largely due to incompetent state and federal fisheries management, which has allowed the depletion of fish, dwindling numbers of species, and compromised habitat.

The most important issue is that the nation's thirst for energy will demand oil exploration and production off the coast of New England. Allowing the construction of this facility creates a strong position from which to argue against any drilling. Interestingly, there are no regulations against oil platforms in this area.

Dave D
via Gristmill

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little
Dear Editor:

Robert Kennedy Jr. has done a disservice to the very interests he claims to protect. There is an important element missing in his commentary: a disclosure. Mr. Kennedy and other members of the Kennedy family own property that overlooks this area. The arguments they use against this project are the same as those used by opponents to action on global warming, whom Mr. Kennedy vigorously opposes. This glaring conflict weakens the political authority the Kennedy family has maintained over many years.

Mr. Kennedy makes many incorrect assertions. The first is that this area is a navigational danger. It is a shoal, which is shallow water and is marked as such on the navigational charts.

The second is that the fishing industry will face losses. Mr. Kennedy ignores the perilous condition of the fisheries, largely due to incompetent state and federal fisheries management, which has allowed the depletion of fish, dwindling numbers of species, and compromised habitat.

Mr. Kennedy uses data on tourism developed by the Beacon Hill Institute, known for developing positions for the special interests funding the study. Wind installations in Denmark actually increase tourism, which is directly attributable to people who include wind farms in their sightseeing plans.

The most important issue is that the nation's thirst for energy will demand oil exploration and production off the coast of New England. Allowing the construction of this facility creates a strong position from which to argue against any drilling. Interestingly, there are no regulations against oil platforms in this area.

Mr. Kennedy needs to examine the facts before staking his claim. Surely the view of numerous oil drilling platforms would not be as pleasant as a stand of graceful wind machines.

Dave D
via Gristmill

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little
Dear Editor:

I recently traveled to Germany and was amazed at the number of wind turbines that are in use. They were everywhere, but never did they cause me anxiety over how they fit into the landscape. It was fascinating to watch them turn, to see how many you could spot as you looked farther and farther to the horizon. It took a concerted effort to pick the low hum out of any other background noise -- even in the countryside. I say: Bring on the turbines! They create clean energy and are so cool!

Crystal G. Gilchrist

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little
Dear Editor:

There seems to be some feeling that looking out on the ocean and seeing windmills will spoil the perfect beauty of a natural paradise. Um, folks, turn around, stop looking at the ocean for a moment, and look at Cape Cod -- it may be a nice place to live, but it's no Yosemite National Park. I think the roads and houses, etc., sort of take away from that. So if you can put up with destroying what was probably a natural wonderland 400 years ago, why should these windmills make a difference? The word hypocrite comes to mind.

Maybe if you stop the windmills, your next project should be to reclaim Cape Cod's natural beauty. OK, whose house is first to come down?

pw
via Gristmill

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little
Dear Editor:

I am in complete agreement with Mr. Kennedy. First, Americans use and waste astounding amounts of energy. If we became responsible consumers of energy, we could shut down coal-fired plants without expanding the energy grid. Second, solar and wind power are best generated at the residential or commercial site where power is used so that it is not lost to grid transmission inefficiencies. Third, several other industrial wind parks are slated for some of the most scenic viewsheds in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. These wind parks involve towers 300 to 400 feet high, transmission lines, and roads into sensitive areas, as well as other structures.

It's a damn shame that the environmental movement doesn't focus on the simple and immediate benefits of energy-efficient appliances, light bulbs, and automobiles. That would impact global warming immediately without the sacrifice of our precious viewsheds. I live in Appalachia and am not a person of wealth, but I treasure the scenic beauty in my backyard just like Mr. Kennedy does. Industrial wind parks may have a role in a comprehensive energy policy, but not at the expense of pristine viewsheds while America continues daily to recklessly squander power.

James Dentinger
Madison, Wis.

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little
Dear Editor:

It's distressing to witness environmental activists bickering over wind generators off Cape Cod. Bill McKibben, Michael Shellenberger, Ted Nordhaus, and The New York Times find an easy target in Robert Kennedy Jr. -- who, according to them, doesn't want his view or sailing opportunities sullied by unsightly windmills. To me, the issue appears a little more complicated.

Cape Wind power generators are not "vitally important" in the fight against global warming, as these commentators claim. Cape Wind, "one of the biggest projects in the world," will at best supply electrical energy for a projected 70 percent of Nantucket, Cape Cod, and Martha's Vineyard. This is not even a drop in a barrel of oil compared to United States energy needs, and hardly the results that will allow us to stop worrying about global warming.

The simple truth is that we must cut our energy use. Rather than building noisy, ugly, bird-killing giant windmills for a billion dollars, we as a society with dwindling resources might well consider investing in mass rail transit and energy-saving technology. Merely lowering the speed limit to 55 mph would save more energy per year than could be produced in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Like drilling in ANWR, which is admittedly more about torturing the enviros and milking the taxpayers than solving our energy problems, I have to suspect that building a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod entails motives beyond satisfying our craving for energy. And the motives are not pretty.

fiver
via Gristmill

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little
Dear Editor:

Thanks for this informative article. It is sad to see our community so divided.

The passing remark on the concerns of the Humane Society of the United States, Massachusetts Audubon, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare was of great interest to me, but you did not do much with it.

Inasmuch as we environmentalists can be divided into two groups -- physicists and chemists on the one hand, i.e., those more interested in energy production and pollution issues, and biologists and ecologists and ethicists on the other, i.e., those more interested in preserving biodiversity and defending animal rights -- Grist seems definitely on the side of the former. These two groups are by no means opposed to one another, of course. We are all worried about pollution; we are all worried about climate change. And we all (I hope!) recognize that we need to stick together. I only mean to point out that we who pay special attention to biodiversity-related issues are not receiving quite as much of your excellent journalistic attention as is fair.

Mark Stephen Caponigro
New York, N.Y.

Re: The Wind and the Willful, Muckraker, by Amanda Griscom Little
Dear Editor:

Ross Gelbspan stated that Cape Wind is a landmark project that "would offset approximately 880,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, the equivalent of keeping over 150,000 vehicles off the road."

According to the EPA, if every American household replaced five of their current light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, it would save as much energy as if we took 8 million cars off the roads. Perhaps Ross Gelbspan needs to go back to the basics, do the math, and advocate for conservation rather than the wind-power industry.

Dona
Re: No More Mr. Nice Guy, Soapbox, by Bill McKibben
Dear Editor:

Terrific op-ed. The efforts of no environmentalist should be discounted, but global warming is a bigger, tougher, and more potentially devastating problem than any other in environmentalism. It is simply a difference of magnitude.

No issue needs to take a "back seat" because the fight against global warming is the struggle to save birds, plants, trees, ecosystems, and all the rest.

scott s
via Gristmill

See the original page in grist here, and make your own comments below. 

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Romney makes the richer get richer, and...

By David Kibbe, Ottaway News Service, Nantucket Unquirer & Mirror

Gov. Mitt Romney earlier this week proposed a $25.2 billion state budget for next fiscal year that would overhaul the way the state distributes school aid to cities and towns, and result in an additional 63,762 in education aid to Nantucket.

One Cape Democrat, however, is already calling the overall plan a “disaster.”

Romney said his new aid formula would give more money to growing communities by basing half of the distribution formula on property values and half on income. Cape and Islands communities have long complained that the decade-old formula counts them as wealthy due to high property values, without considering their relatively low median incomes.

So local officials were taken aback when Romney’s new formula actually reduced Chapter 70 funding - the main category of education aid - in a number of Cape towns, even though some will see big net gains in other local aid accounts. Nantucket, however, would see a $63,762 increase in education aid to $898,930 under the Romney plan... Read the rest of this story in the Inquitrer & Mirror here, and comment below.

Mashpee- Governor Proposing $25.2 Billion Budget, Mashpee Shortchanged

By MICHAEL C. BAILEY, Enterprise Newspapers

Education aid would receive a $163 million funding increase under Governor W. Mitt Romney’s spending plan for Fiscal Year 2007.
Mr. Romney released his FY07 budget proposal Wednesday, laying out a $25.2 billion spending plan that he said “reflects a marked improvement in the fiscal health of the Commonwealth, allowing us to share the benefits of the turnaround with our cities and towns.”

The governor’s figure represents a 5.3 percent increase over the FY06 budget.

A point of interest to Cape schools are proposed changes to the Chapter 70 state education aid formula. “My budget increases and more equitably allocates aid to our local school districts” by a total of $163 million, Mr. Romney said. His budget also includes an extensive proposed overhaul of the Chapter 70 formula.

The governor’s budget would allot $3.4 billion to Chapter 70. Under Mr. Romney’s proposal, Bourne would receive $4.6 million in state aid, an increase of approximately $100,000 over last year. Falmouth would also receive an extra $100,000, bringing that town’s FY07 aid to $4.5 million. Sandwich would receive $5.8 million, a $200,000 increase.

Mashpee’s aid would not increase. Its Chapter 70 aid would hold steady at about $4 million...

Read the rest of this Mashpee Enterprise story here, and comment below

D/Y: Sullivan sees no compromise on school funding
By Craig Salters/ csalters@cnc.com / The Register

The towns of Dennis and Yarmouth have three options when it comes to regional school funding: stick with the existing regional agreement, adopt the more recent Chapter 70 formula or come up with a compromise formula ... and quick.

But Tuesday night's meeting of Yarmouth selectmen saw the board's chairman, Jerry Sullivan, express a desire to move away from the existing formula. He also expressed serious doubt that the two sides will be able to reach a compromise agreement.

"My personal view is that there doesn't seem to be support for the regional agreement," said Sullivan after Tuesday night's regular meeting. Sullivan was quick to point out that no formal vote on the matter had been taken; he did, however, discuss his views at the board meeting and encountered no disagreement.

That leaves the controversial Chapter 70 funding formula, which has been estimated to save Yarmouth million but would place that burden on Dennis. Unlike the traditional regional agreement, which funds regional schools on a per-pupil basis, the Chapter 70 formula relies on median income and other factors.

On numerous occasions Dennis officials have stated their desire to continue the existing regional agreement and a strong opposition to switching to the Chapter 70 formula. One case against the switch is that, by leaving the per-pupil formula, Dennis taxpayers would essentially be subsidizing Yarmouth students...

Read the rest of this Register story here, and comment below.

Less isn't ever more

By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist | January 30, 2006

There are a lot of people who were happy with how they fared when Governor Mitt Romney unveiled his $25.2 billion budget proposal last week. John Drew was not one of them.

The proposed budget includes more money for public health, education, and local aid. But for Drew, the executive vice president of Action for Boston Community Development, the antipoverty agency, it falls well short for one constituency: poor people.

''We're angry," he said yesterday. ''It doesn't take much to understand that jobs for kids for the summer, for the homeless, for counselors working for kids in the city, these things are important."

Though the budget represents an increase of 5.3 percent, there was belt-tightening in some areas, even as Romney renewed his familiar call to cut the income tax rate to 5 percent. Last year, the Legislature approved a supplemental $1.35 million increase in Head Start funding. That increase is nowhere to be found in the latest proposal.

''If we don't get that money, it would mean that hundreds of children could lose their child care services," Drew said. ''That's not a good investment."

Some housing programs and programs for teens also took hits. The Summer Jobs Program, now funded at $4 million, would shrink to $2 million...

Read the rest of this Globe column here, and comment below.

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"Queer Spawn" reunite in Provincetown

Grad film festival presents world view
"Queer Spawn" reaches emotional climax in Provincetown

While various parka-clad celebrities trounced around blustery Park City last week during Sundance, another film festival attracted less snow, pretentious Hollywood hanger-ons, outlandish antics and paparazzi chases. It was also significantly more accessible to the average NYU film buff.

Participating in NYU’s Graduate Film Festival, which showcases short documentaries, is the crowning achievement for those enrolled in NYU’s broadcast journalism graduate school. Fourteen films produced by the university’s own opened to audiences gathered at the third-annual festival in the Cantor Film Institute last Saturday.

Does having gay parents affect children’s lives?

Anna Boluda, 30, of Barcelona, screened “Queer Spawn,” a film that raises the question: “Does having gay parents affect children’s lives?” Boluda followed families from both New York and potentially less-forgiving Texas. Over the course of several months, she learned the nitty-gritty of filmmaking.

“We do everything by ourselves,” Boluda said. “I started at the end of last spring, and worked through production, shooting and editing. You just have to find your topic, grab a camera and go.” The result of her work was a film both humorous and poignant, exploring the lives of gay couples and their children across the country.

The film reaches its emotional climax during footage of a week-long retreat in Provincetown, Mass., designed specifically for “queer spawn” to meet other kids with gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender parents. Boluda’s subjects were surprisingly candid — talking about everything from struggling with their sexuality to dealing with discrimination. In the decidedly liberal atmosphere of Greenwich Village, it should be noted, the film received a raucous round of applause...

Read the rest of this Washington Square News story here, and please comment below. 

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A surprise visitor to Nickerson State Park

A Home of the Heart
By Robert Finch

Yesterday afternoon I went to Cliff Pond in Nickerson State Park. My intention was to see what winter ducks might be on the pond, but as it turned out, I found much more.

It was a misty, mizzling day, contracting the appearance of the earth and giving the woods a rich, formal aspect. There were a few dozen black ducks and mergansers out near the middle of the pond. As I watched them, a large, dark bird flew out of the tall white pines above me. A crow, I thought, and at first dismissed it as such. Then its size struck me; it was much larger than any crow, or even a raven, for that matter. Than I saw the mottled white patches, the large, hooked head, like a weight, and the slow, deep wingbeats.

It was an immature bald eagle, the first I'd seen this winter. Its flight was leisurely and stately as it drifted across the pond towards the western cove and into the pines on the hills above it. I followed it with my field glasses, but at last it disappeared in mottled splendor against the dark boughs and wind and rain. It seemed to be beckoning to me.

I walked along the shore to the western cove. It's a long, deeply indented cove, and at its far end is a small, grassy pond that was once connected to the larger pond, but is now separated from it by a sandy isthmus that has built up over the centuries. Steep, pine- covered hills flank both sides of the cove, and the wind, which blew from the southwest elsewhere, was here twisted around so that it blew from the north straight down the gullet of the cove. The pebble-worn shores were lined with large, opaque slabs of ice, stranded like white fish. The rocks in the water were ringed with smaller, clear arcs of ice that one could pick up and view the world through in a distorted fashion. The inner cove was covered with a very thin but continuous layer of dark ice. It rippled in the wind with a strange, sibilant, seething crackle, a sound I have never heard ice make before.

I stood and looked out across the ice of the cove at the wind, the mist, the criss-crossing of squadrons of ducks, the gargling laughs and clean falling cries of the gulls. I looked across the open water to the far obscured shoreline. And as I did, the cove took on an archetypal, enchanted aspect, like something encountered in dreams. It seemed like one of those homes of the heart that we sometimes suddenly recognize, a place that we have somehow always yearned for without knowing it, like Yeats' Isle of Innisfree or Thoreau's Walden Pond. Where these homes of the imagination come from it's hard to say. They may have some deep, ancient, mythic, even evolutionary origin, or they may have been engendered by some cheap romantic novel or movie we read or watched in adolescence. It doesn't really matter. We all know how noble, mortal passions can be brought out in men and women by the most trivial or unworthy objects. For me, I felt I could have built a small lake-house there in that cove and remained for a long age, listening to the ice in its strange, new tongue, learning what it had to say - it seemed to have so much to say.

Broadcast January 31, 2006 on WCAI/WNAN

Robert Finch has lived on and written about Cape Cod for over thirty years. He is the author of five collections of essays, most recently "Death of a Hornet and Other Cape Cod Essays," and co-editor of "The Norton Book of Nature Writing."

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services. 

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Mashpee tribe takes out another GOP Congressman

Another Republican Congressman linked to Abramoff
Sought quicker action for Mashpee Wampanoags

By Staff and Wire Reports

A California congressman who accepted campaign cash from disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and used his sports box for a fundraiser interceded on behalf of two American Indian tribes that were represented by Abramoff's firm, documents show.

GOP Rep. John Doolittle wrote Interior Secretary Gale Norton in June 2003 criticizing the Bush administration's response to a tribal government dispute involving the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. In October 2003, Doolittle appealed in a letter to the secretary for quicker action for a Massachusetts tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag, that was seeking federal recognition.

Both tribes signed on with Abramoff's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, that year. Sac & Fox hired the firm in May, the Wampanoags in November. Neither tribe appears tied to Doolittle's rural Northern California district, and Doolittle is not on the House committee that handles Indian issues... The letters are the latest example of connections between Abramoff's interests and Doolittle, a conservative ally of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and a member of the House GOP leadership...

Read the rest of this Capitol Hill Blue story here, and comment below.
See last week's story about prospects for a Wampanoag Casino here.

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School Lunch lady charged with stealing kid's lunch money

Lunch lady charged

PLYMOUTH (Jan 25) Police accused a former local school cafeteria worker of stealing school lunch money.

Janet Collins allegedly took more than $38,000 while working as a team leader in the cafeteria of Indian Brook School last year.

Collins, 46, of 8 Savin Road, pleaded not guilty to a charge of larceny of more than $250 by a single scheme Friday in district court. Her attorney said she is being used as a scapegoat.

According to court records, police accuse Collins of stealing $38,502 from the lunch program at the school between September 2004 and June 2005.

Police allege Collins admitted taking a small amount of cash from the lunch program after she was targeted by a sting last June.

Court records show Collins was the team leader of the Indian Brook lunch program and was solely responsible for collecting and depositing receipts.

Police allege she only deposited checks and kept the cash students paid for their daily lunches.

School officials became suspicious after discrepancies appeared when a colleague filled in while Collins was sick once. The lunch program took in significantly more money than normal that day, leading the co-worker to suspect she'd made a mistake.

An audit revealed the school took in significantly less money than other schools in town and less during the 2004-2005 school year than in previous years.

Last June, school officials set up a sting, submitting marked $5, $10 and $20 bills in the receipts. None of the bills appeared in the deposit.

According to court records, Collins allegedly admitted taking $120 after being confronted. Court records state she told school officials she had "hit a financial spot."

Court records also show the school took in $499 a day and $7,485 a month when Collins oversaw the program in September 2004. The program took in $861 a day or or $12,919 a month in September 2005, after Collins left her job...

Read the rest of this Old Colony Memorial story here, and comment below.
See the school's web site here.

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Liquor store crash, 2 arrested on weapons charge

PICKUP PLOWS INTO HARWICH LIQUOR STORE

HARWICH – One person was taken to Cape Cod Hospital for evaluation after smashing his pickup truck into the rear of Harvest Liquors at 706 Main Street in Harwich just after 3 PM.

The driver is seen here being helped to an ambulance. Building inspectors were called to check the extent of the damage while Keyspan shut off the gas as a precaution. No one in the store was injured. Harwich Police are investigating the cause of the crash. 

TWO ARRESTED ON WEAPON CHARGES IN BARNSTABLE
Two men were arrested after a routine traffic stop led to the discovery of unlicensed weapons and ammunition.

Barnstable Police stopped a pickup truck with Colorado plates at the Route 6/Route 132 interchange Sunday morning. Photos from our correspondent show officers and a detective processing the vehicle for evidence on the right and at least one longarm being secured in a police cruiser as evidence below on left.

We are awaiting a release from Barnstable Police with the names and exact charges the men will be facing in Barnstable District Court on Monday. 

FOUR INJURED SATURDAY IN WEST BARNSTABLE CRASH
WEST BARNSTABLE – Four people were injured, three seriously in a single vehicle crash in West Barnstable late Saturday night. The crash happened in the 1700 block of Route 6A shortly after 11 PM and is under investigation by Barnstable Police. The injured victims were all taken to Cape Cod Hospital. Further details were not immediately available. 

Read Cape Wide News here, and comment below. 

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Filene's "Going out of business" sale begins

Filene's liquidation sales to begin Sunday
Cape Cod Mall store is included

It's the beginning of the end for one more Boston landmark.

Filene's, a staple of the Massachusetts retail scene since 1881, will begin its final going-out-of-business sales on Sunday. The landmark store in Boston's Downtown Crossing, Braintree, Brockton, Burlington, Hyannis, Natick, and Peabody will all begin liquidating their inventory before those locations of the Boston-based chain will close.

Federated Department Stores, the parent company of rival department store Macy's, bought out May Department Stores in August 2005. Since several Macy's and Filene's stores are close by -- as is the case in Downtown Crossing, where the stores are literally across Winter Summer Street from each other -- several of the Filene's locations will be closed...

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Abbie Hoffman?s brother nabbed for selling rip-offs here

Feds charge Abbie Hoffman’s brother

Nearly two years after FBI agents raided his home, the brother of 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman is facing charges in federal court for selling imitation designer handbags.

Jack Hoffman has been formally charged in U.S. District Court with one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.

Jack Hoffman is the younger brother of Abbie Hoffman, a 1960s icon who may be best known as a member of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-war protesters arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

A co-founder of the Youth International Party, Abbie Hoffman also wrote several books, including "Steal This Book," a how-to guide on counterculture life. He died in 1989.

His lawyer, E. Peter Parker, denied that Hoffman deceived his customers by passing off fake handbags as genuine. Those who bought the bags at his Cape Cod flea market stand, Parker said, received cards explaining the bags were not authentic. A sign at the stand also made that clear.

Read the rest of this MedtroWest Daily News story here, and comment below. 

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Sandwich Blogger seeks candidates

Not The PTA puts up a Help Wanted sign
Seeks candidates for School Committee

We're looking at 4 open seats on the School Committee. Dave Mason isn't running again, Jim Foley bailed out early, Kathy Heras is an unknown, and Trish Lubold is awaiting further instructions. This is a majority of the Board. This is a great opportunity for 4 people with a background in finance, management, and/or education to help re-shape and restore the school system. (Rich Sadowski -- time to come back! Bob Guerin -- come on down ...! Ellen Scott -- we're waiting!).

We're also looking at 1 open BOS seat -- It could be a lonely place for a year or so. But wouldn't it be fun to see a vote that wasn't always 5-0? And maybe even see some lively dissent on Thursday nights -- or some discussion that doesn't begin with the phrase "I agree". (OK, there was that brief moment of dissent over the color of the ladder signs that RHCI was paying for -- and that brief monolog about people coming to Sandwich for "crooked intersections -- not the rocky beaches" -- or something to that effect. But, otherwise, it's like watching the College of Cardinals.

But two serious points:

First, people who do not vote can not complain. I have spent an inordinate amount of time with voter statistics this year and the results are atrocious. People under the age of 50 are grossly under-represented at the polls because they don't bother to show up. Ever wonder why the Selectmen only hold court at the 6A Stop & Shop -- and not the one on Quaker Meetinghouse? Because the folks in that neighborhood vote in every election. (and probably because the produce is better on 6A!)...

Read the rest of the NotThePTA blog here, and comment below. 

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Man charged in death of unborn fetus on Bourne Bridge

Plymouth man charged with OUI homicide after death of unborn fetus

BOURNE (AP) -- A Plymouth man has been indicted on motor vehicle homicide charges for the death of a pregnant woman's unborn fetus.

A Barnstable Superior Court grand jury this week indicted Aube on a charge of motor vehicle homicide while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

The crash occurred July 17th on Route 25, near the Bourne Bridge.

Aube also was indicted on a charge of causing serious bodily injury, in connection with the woman's injuries.

He will be arraigned at a later date. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

This is the second OUI offense for Aube, who has pleaded innocent when initially charged in August.

This story appeared Sunday on WHDH-TV here. Make your comments below.

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Iconic photographs of JFK and Jackie

Hundreds of books have been written about President John F. Kennedy since his death in 1963, each promising more intimate details about politics or love affairs than the one before. But a single aspect of his life is frozen in time -- the intimate family photographs taken in the White House and on holidays with Jackie, Caroline and John Jr.

"They're iconic, these photographs -- the pictures are almost now like stained glass," observes author Kitty Kelley, who is the personal representative for the estate of the photographer, Stanley Tretick.

"These were taken by a photojournalist, but by a photojournalist who obviously loved his subjects," Kelley says. "They're certainly not staged, but they do capture a glowing image."

Kelley, a biographer herself ("Jackie Oh!" "The Family"), has been instrumental in getting wider circulation for Tretick's photographs, most of which ran in Look magazine during Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign and his three years in office. A longtime friend, she helped care for Tretick after a series of strokes that led to his death in 1999.

"The Kennedy Years: Photographs from the Archives of Stanley Tretick," including 60 of his photos, goes on display Feb. 5 at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. It's one of a number of events marking the 40th anniversary of John F. Kennedy University, now based in Pleasant Hill.

A gala opening reception for the exhibit on Saturday is expected to include both Kelley and Gov. Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, daughter of Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. A speakers' series in February and March will feature Ted Kennedy Jr. and Rory Kennedy, the youngest of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's children...

Read the rest of this Contra Costa Times story here, and comment below.

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More severe fishing cuts coming Tuesday

Fisherman again facing severe fishing cuts

By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer | January 28, 2006

BOSTON --New England's fishermen are again facing onerous new cuts in their time at sea as regulators decide next week on more restrictions to help struggling fish stocks recover.

Fishermen absorbed major cuts under rules enacted in May 2004. But now more reductions are needed after an assessment of fish populations last year showed alarming declines in the amount of flounder and cod -- commercially important species that have been the focus of years of rebuilding efforts.

The specifics will be decided at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting in Portland, Maine, which starts Tuesday.

Gloucester fisherman Vito Giacalone said he expects the new cuts to be at least as damaging to the fishing fleet as the 2004 restrictions, called Amendment 13, though those changes received far more public attention. Fishermen loudly protested the last round of cuts, calling them "a death sentence" for the industry.

"The problem with crying wolf so many times over the years is that it waters down a legitimate cry," said Giacalone, who works for an industry group, the Northeast Seafood Coalition...

According to New England Fishery Management Council figures, the catch of Gulf of Maine cod must be reduced by 32 percent to reach targets set in Amendment 13 for fiscal year 2006. The yellowtail flounder catch must drop by 46 percent in the Gulf of Maine and 55 percent in the fishing area south of New Bedford.

In addition, the winter flounder catch must drop 46 percent in Georges Bank, east of Cape Cod, to meet the 2006 goals... Read the rest of today's Globe Story here, and comment below.

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Harwich School bus pelleted, Wellfleet hikers lost

WELLFLEET K9 FINDS LOST HIKERS
When Wellfleet Police got a call last Sunday evening from a man saying he and his two friends were lost in the woods they knew just who to call. By stroke of luck a cruiser on routine patrol had just radioed in a suspicious truck on Ocean View Drive which dispatcher Rosemary Fisk confirmed belonged to the lost trio. Officer Jerre Austin came to the rescue with his bloodhound Beau (on left) who picked up the scent in the truck and started tracking in the dark and quickly located Ted Wilson of Wellfleet, Stuart Peck of Orleans and Brian Riley of Pittsburgh, PA on the trails off Bell Road within an hour. Without the K9 the three may have been forced to spend a long cold, dark night in the woods.

Read the rest of this Cape Wide News report here, and

Police Dog Helps Rescue Trio in Woods

mmiller@cnc.com

Ted Wilson, owner of the Wellfleet Motel, and his friends Stuart Peck of Orleans, a self-employed carpenter, and Brian Riley of Pittsburgh, PA, are not likely to forget that mountain bike trip they took on Sunday, Jan. 22. They left their truck off Ocean View Drive, near White Crest Beach, and with Peck's dog, Cobie, took off on what was going to be a short ride though the back trails. 

But as dusk started to fall, they realized they were lost in the woods, and Riley, who had a plane to catch later that night, called 911 for help. He also called his wife, "who was at a party, and told her that we were lost in the woods, and then he hung up on her." Peck said.

They later learned that Riley's wife was at a party, and when she mentioned that her husband had just called and said that he and his two friends were lost in the woods, another guest at the party said her former boyfriend got got lost in a National Park and "and ended up dead," Peck said.

By the time Riley called 911, Peck said he realized that he would never make his plane, which took off from Providence.

Wilson and Peck said Riley is a "city boy," and was concerned about being lost in the woods, but they knew they'd eventually find their way out. While it was still light, they could see where the sun was setting, and they could also hear the pounding of the surf. "We really weren't' concerned at any point, but Brian wanted to catch his plane so we called the police and they sent out Beau, the rescue dog," Wilson said... Read the rest here, and comment below. 

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No more herring until 2009, and a Beach Battle in Eastham

One can only hope they’ll return.

On Nov. 9, the same day cod fishing north of Boston was shut down for two years, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries slapped a three-year moratorium on the harvest, possession and sale of river herring.

That means Brewster’s Stony Brook run, along with more than two dozen smaller Cape Cod runs, have been closed until January 2009.

"We hope this gives them a little breather to see if we start to see a recovery. This isn’t just a Massachusetts problem, other states have seen a drop in populations," said Phil Brady, senior Marine Fisheries biologist for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Wildlife. "We’re trying to be a little proactive."

Cod and other ocean fish have been imperiled for some time but river herring were in pretty good shape until just a couple of years ago.

"We’ve seen a steady quite dramatic decline in a lot of runs, including ones we’ve had counters on and anecdotal information from towns," Brady noted. "Over the past several years there has been a sharp drop. There’s always fluctuation but it’s been more dramatic than usual."

Excellent examples of that can be drawn from the volunteer work of Alewives Anonymous, a group based in the Rochester-Mattapoisett area in Ssoutheastern Massachusetts. River herring represent two species; the blue back herring and alewife, with alewives being more common.

They counted herring in the Mattapoisett River Run in 1989, tallying 40,000. Thanks to clearing and cleaning in the river, that number leapt to 130,000 by 2000. But then things went awry...

Beach Battle: Eastham’s bayside beaches losing ground
By Marilyn Miller/ mmiller@cnc.com

EASTHAM - With a sweep of his arm, Henry Lind, natural resources officer, Tuesday showed the selectmen the extent of erosion on Campground Beach that was exacerbated by the Dec. 9 storm.

"This is ground zero," Lind said, as he stood next to a wooden revetment, and pointed out how the beach has all but disappeared on the north side, toward Wellfleet, where one cannot walk the beach two hours before high tide. On the south side, however, the beach is wide. "The sand at Campground doesn’t know which way to go. It goes this way and that way and every direction simultaneously. The obvious big loser is the beach. There is no beach."

Lind, along with Katelyn Merrill, conservation agent, and Jim O’Connell, a coastal processes specialist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, took the selectmen to three bay beaches to demonstrate the erosion problem that has been accelerated due to the revetments that protect homes from being lost to the sea.

"The Cape Cod Bay shore of Eastham is eroding at approximately a foot to a foot and a half a year on the average," O’Connell told selectmen. He stressed the need for the town to continue to require those with revetments to replenish the sand that is lost due to their construction... Read the rest of this story in The Cape Codder here, and comment below.

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Five more Dolphin stranded Sunday in Ptown

EXTRA: 5 more Dolphins come ashore in Provincetown Sunday
This time all were safelt returned to the sea

Rescuers spring into action to save more dolphins stranded on the Cape Cod again. Five white-sided dolphins were found stranded on a sandbar in Provincetown yesterday. All of them survived and were released back into the bay.

The Stranding Network capped three days of dolphin rescues.

13 dolphins beach themselves in Wellfleet
It was 7th mass stranding along Cape Cod this winter

By Cristina Silva and Phil McKenna

WELLFLEET -- In at least the seventh mass stranding on Cape Cod this winter, 13 dolphins beached themselves in Wellfleet yesterday afternoon, sending dozens of volunteers scrambling to try to rescue the animals, authorities said. Eight of the animals were dead or were euthanized after workers were unable to save them.

Officials believe the animals came into the bay looking for food and were disoriented by the tides, said Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium.

Mass strandings have become frequent sightings along the shores of the Cape Cod Bay this winter, during which a total of 72 dolphins and 18 pilot whales were swept to shore and unable to return to the water independently.

Some of the animals died from the shock of being out of water, which gradually caused their organs to stop working. Most of the animals had to be euthanized because they became too ill from the shock to be returned to the ocean, LaCasse said.

LaCasse said he and other environmentalists have no idea why the animals are now coming to the shores in such numbers.

''It's what everyone wants to know, but we just don't know why," he said. ''We sometimes could go a whole winter with having only two or three strandings, but already we have had seven."

Aquarium officials received a call reporting the beached dolphins at about noon yesterday, LaCasse said. More than 30 volunteers rushed out in the cold to save the dolphins, which were beached in five different parts of Wellfleet Harbor, LaCasse said.

When the volunteers arrived, many of the dolphins were severely ill. Some of the dolphins had severe tissue damage around their eyes from being attacked by sea gulls, who, as predators, tend to peck at anything that moves, LaCasse said... Read the rest of The Globe story here, and comment below

ALSO: here's a radio series on Earth & Sky entitled,
Why whales beach themselves

Whale and dolphin strandings aren’t new. Here is a school of blackfish - a type of cetacean commonly called whales, but actually in the dolphin family - stranded on the shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1992. (NOAA) 

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Hurricane here could shut down insurance companies

Mass. Economic Warning:
Insurance Market Short on Capital
If a major storm hits the Cape it will probably destroy a few insurance companies

By Andrew G. Simpson, Jr.
January 27, 2006

Massachusetts is facing a shortage of insurance capital that could jeopardize the state's entire economy, especially if a major storm hits the metropolitan Boston area, the Commonwealth's insurance regulator is warning.

A major storm hitting the metropolitan Boston area would put a serious strain on the insurance system as it is now funded and have ramifications for banks and other businesses, according to Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler.

According to the Division of Insurance, there is about $32 billion in surplus supporting $980 million in direct written premiums in the state's homeowners market, far less than in neighboring states. The figures are for the carriers writing 80 percent of the market. According to these calculations, every dollar of homeowners premium in Massachusetts is supported by about $33 in surplus funds. In Connecticut, the market has $86 surplus for every dollar in premium; in New Hampshire, $229; and in Rhode Island, $221...

"If it (major storm) hits the Cape, we'll probably have to shut the lights of a few insurance companies but pay every claim," she predicted. "But if it travels more inward, we'll have to shut the lights of a number of insurance companies and a few banks and not pay all the claims."

She said she is particularly worried because, unlike in other states, the Bay State's personal lines market is dominated by regional insurers with little geographical diversification and a fast-growing residual market.

Bowler maintains that while critics tend to focus on either the lack of competition in the highly-regulated auto insurance market or the troubles surrounding homeowners insurance for coastal properties on Cape Cod, the two issues are closely related and the problem is bigger than either of them by itself.

"We have historically thought of auto and the Cape problem as isolated events but we need to start thinking about the impact on our general economy not if, but when, we have a bad storm," she said...

Read the rest of this Insurance Journal story here, click here to view the Katrina damage, and comment below.

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Rodney Dangerfield learned to sail on Cape Cod

Stand-up comic Klein

Rodney Dangerfield and stand-up comic Robert Klein went sailing once while vacationing in Cape Cod.

They were city boys who knew nothing about sailing — and Dangerfield didn't want to learn.

"I asked him what do you know about sailing?" Klein asked.

"What's there to know, it's the wind," Dangerfield replied. They rented a sailboat and an instructor started talking about parts of the boat.

"Never mind that bull——," Dangerfield said, "give me the keys."

Once out on the water, Dangerfield decided to go swimming. The water was more than a bit chilly — and Dangerfield was a guy who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.

Rodney started struggling, almost immediately.

"I brought the catamaran around, it took like an hour and a half to get back to him," Klein said. "Even drowning he sounded like Rodney Dangerfield."

The story is one of many from Klein's autobiography, "The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue," which came out last year. In the book, Klein looks back at the first 25 years of his life, growing up on Decatur Avenue in the Bronx, N.Y...

Read the rest of this Danbury CT News-Times story here, and comment below.

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Wind energy can help save America's environment

The winds of change are blowing through the United States, starting in Massachusetts
Friday, January 27, 2006, Illinois Farm Bureau

The winds of change are blowing through the United States, starting in Massachusetts. For too long, acid rain has showered its shores and beaches, and residents of Cape Cod and nearby islands have inhaled toxic air from dirty power plants.

The people of Massachusetts know firsthand the drastic effects of an oil spill — the 100,000-gallon spill in Buzzard’s Bay in 2003 soiled coastlines, closed shellfish beds, and killed nesting shorebirds and seals.

We are all feeling the pain of our country’s reliance on foreign oil. Offshore wind will be an important step toward putting all that to an end, and that is why Greenpeace strongly supports America’s first offshore wind farm.

For 30 years, Greenpeace has worked to protect the world’s oceans. We successfully campaigned to end dumping of radioactive and industrial wastes at sea, helped create a moratorium on commercial whaling, and have played a crucial role in the development of other laws and policies that safeguard our oceans.

It is with this background that we began our work in support of offshore wind in Europe and now in the United States.

The Cape Wind project is undergoing a comprehensive and thorough review process that looks at all aspects of the proposal. A draft environmental-impact statement was released late last year, two years in the making and more than 4,000 pages long.

Initial analysis found that the environmental, public health, and economic benefits of Cape Wind far exceed any minor short-term environmental costs that may be associated with the project.

Let me say unequivocally that if Greenpeace had any concerns that this project would have long-term consequences for the marine ecosystem of Nantucket Sound, we would be the first to oppose it.

We have opposed wind farms both on and offshore in the past, and we will continue to do so when projects are ill-sited or improper in size and scope.

Cape Wind, however, is the right project, in the right place, at the right time.

Unlike opponents of Cape Wind, Greenpeace has firsthand experience with offshore wind. In the United Kingdom (UK), where Greenpeace worked to develop the country’s first offshore wind farms, initial fears that the projects would lower property values, decrease tourism, or harm the environment were completely unfounded.

In fact, because of broad public support, the UK now plans to build additional offshore wind farms that will supply one in six UK households with energy from this clean renewable resource. Europe is proof of the benefits created by offshore wind; now that opportunity is coming to Massachusetts.

The wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound would provide 75 percent of the cape and islands’ energy without emitting asthma-causing pollution, spilling oil in the water, or producing any of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

In addition to protecting the environment, the wind farm will benefit the cape’s economy by creating jobs and attracting tourists.

Now Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who opposes Cape Wind, is trying to push aside air quality safeguards to allow power plants to burn oil if there is a natural gas shortage this winter.

Nobody would be talking about lowering health standards in the state if Cape Wind were up and running, yet the governor continues to oppose the project.

The opponents of Cape Wind would have you believe that to protect the environment, we need to oppose the wind farm.

In fact, the opposite is true. Global warming poses significant risks for the area.

From more frequent and severe red tides to rising sea levels and more intense storms, a warming planet is a big problem for the same beachfront homeowners who oppose Cape Wind.

The environment that is so important to our way of life is in jeopardy, and projects like Cape Wind are the solution.

John Passacantando is executive director of Greenpeace USA. Readers may write him at Greenpeace USA, 702 H St., Washington, DC 20001. Greenpeace is the largest environmental organization in the world with an international membership of over 5 million, This column orignially appeared in the Illinois Farm Bureau magazine here.

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Provincetown's youth movement

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Provincetown tries to attract younger residents as its year-round population ages, declines

By Cristina Silva, Globe Staff  -  January 27, 2006

PROVINCETOWN-- Its year-round population declining and its economy sagging like a wet beach bag, Provincetown has a new worry: It's getting old.

With its colorful art galleries and Bohemian personalities, Provincetown has long been a mecca for gay travelers. But town officials worry that its population is graying and that it needs younger visitors and their disposable incomes to pump up the local economy.

In the last year, the Provincetown tourism office has begun running flashy ads in gay and lesbian magazines that cater to readers under 40, such as Instinct, Genre, Curve, 411 Magazine, and Out Traveler. It has also advertised in more traditional gay- friendly publications such as the Boston Phoenix.

One ad shows one fresh-faced young man sporting a yellow and purple Mohawk and a coy grin. Another shows two newlyweds, identified as Donna and Lora, waving and smiling from the back of a car.

''Provincetown Like Nowhere Else," boast the ads.

''We are pulling out all the stops," said Bill Schneider, the town's tourism director. ''What we are doing is showing people that this is a place for people who are in-the-know and adventuresome."

Schneider said the town is also hoping to lure ecotourists, travelers who are not gay, group tours, and art enthusiasts, but is mostly targeting the gay community, who arrive every summer to pack the beachside bars, cybercafes, and ice cream shops that dot Commercial Street.

Schneider hopes that younger tourists will fall so much in love with the town in summer that they will want to move there or at least bring friends on their next visit. ''We want to introduce a lot of people who haven't heard of Provincetown to one of the most beautiful towns that exist," he said.

It might be a tough sell...
_{(PHOTO: Longtime resident Bertha Adams looked out at Town Manager Keith Bergman.)}

Read the Globe story in its entirety here. Add your opinion or comment below.

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State Ethics Commission complaint against Nantucket Selectman

By Jason Graziadei, I&M Staff Writer

Selectman Whitey Willauer (on right) has been informed by the State Ethics Commission that it has received a complaint regarding his conduct that raises concerns under the state conflict-of-interest law.

In a Jan. 17 letter, senior investigator Brett Wingard wrote that Willauer’s involvement with Save Our Waterfront, Inc., an island nonprofit group that opposes the current design of the proposed Great Harbor Yacht Club, combined with his subsequent conduct as a selectman when he voted on matters regarding the club, may have violated provisions of the conflict-of-interest law.

The letter went on to state, however, that the Ethics Commission does not intend to conduct an investigation at this time, and was simply informing Willauer that the agency had received the information. It did not identify the source of the complaint.

“The letter speaks for itself,” said Ethics Commission spokesperson Carol Carson yesterday. “Anything that comes in that alleges a violation of the conflict of interest law is considered a complaint.”

Wingard cited Willauer’s decision not to abstain from the board’s May 19, 2005 hearing on Save Our Waterfront’s appeal of the Historic District Commission’s approvals for various aspects of the club... Read the rest of this Inquirer & Mirror story here, and comment below.

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No charge in road death, Shining a light on human rights

Road fatality brings no charges

Yarmouth police say no criminal charges will be sought in the recent death of an 80-year-old Dennis woman whose car was struck by a falling tree on Route 6A in Yarmouth Port.

Barbara Lane, 80, of 59 Route 6A, Dennis, died last Wednesday afternoon when a large tree from the property of the Colonial House Inn fell onto her car as she drove westerly along Route 6A near the intersection of Church Street in Yarmouth Port. Police and firefighters responded to the scene but were unable to save Lane, who was pronounced dead at the scene... Read the rest of this Register story here, and comment below.

Shining a light on human rights
By Joe Burns/ jburns@cnc.com, Thursday, January 26, 2006

Education and mediation can prevent discrimination. That's the hope and goal of the newly created Barnstable County Human Rights Commission.

"Any time we can get out in front of something, that's a good thing," said Commission chairman Ernest Hadley.

"A lot of the commission's role is a proactive method. It's not simply dealing with complaints. It's the promotion of human rights. It's the promotion of understanding amongst groups and doing whatever we can do to facilitate that process of assimilation," said Hadley, a Truro resident and one of seven members nominated by the Barnstable County Health and Human Services Advisory Council and appointed by the Barnstable County Commissioners.

The other members are: Jacque Fields, Sandwich, the committee's vice-chairwoman; Rabbi Elias Lieberman. Falmouth; Danielle De Bruyn Grady, Cotuit; Larry Mahan, Provincetown; Ingrid Muzy-Murray, Brewster; and Rosario Gomez-Dunn, Mashpee.

A council, with representation from all 15 Cape towns, will serve as a liaison between the commission and the towns.

Responding to a need

In its Human Condition survey, the Barnstable County Department of Human Services determined that among the more than 20,000 Cape Codders who experienced significant barriers to meeting their basic needs, 17 percent felt that discrimination played a part. Among those considered to be among the most needy, the figure was 23 percent... Read the rest of this Register story here, and comment below.

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Christa accused want evidence thrown out

Man accused in Cape Cod writer's slaying seeks dismissal of DNA evidence 

The man charged in the slaying of Cape Cod fashion writer Christa Worthington is asking a judge to throw out the evidence that led to his arrest, including a DNA sample he claims his probation officer "tricked" him into giving to police.

Christopher McCowen, 34, of Hyannis, is also asking the court to suppress statements he made to police, arguing that he was under the influence of marijuana and prescription painkillers when he was questioned.

Worthington, a 46-year-old writer and single mother, was found stabbed and beaten in her Truro home in January 2002, with her 21/2-year-old daughter, Ava, near her body but unhurt.

McCowen worked for a trash-hauling firm and Worthington's house was on his weekly route. He was linked to the killing more than three years later after a DNA sample he gave was matched to DNA taken from Worthington's body.

Prosecutors have said McCowen told investigators he helped another man beat Worthington, and was present when she was killed.

In motions filed Thursday, McCowen claims that his parole officer tricked him into giving the DNA sample. At the time, McCowen was on probation in a domestic violence case and did not know he was a suspect in the Worthington killing, his attorney, Robert George, said in court documents.

During a meeting with his probation officer on March 18, 2004, McCowen was asked "whether or not he would mind submitting a DNA sample" in the Worthington investigation.

"Afraid that he would be violated on his probation if he refused, McCowen reluctantly agreed," George said in the motion... Read the rest of this WHDH story here, and comment on this case below.

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Region favors Gambling Casino 2 to 1

Survey: Southeast Massachusetts Region wants casino
SouthCoast residents favor gambling site, according to UMass Dartmouth poll

More than half of SouthCoast residents responding to a recent UMass Dartmouth telephone poll said they favor bringing a resort-style casino to the southeastern part of the state.

Approximately 57 percent of the 478 people surveyed said "yes" when asked, "In your opinion, should the Massachusetts state Legislature authorize a resort casino in Southeastern Massachusetts?" Twenty-seven percent of those asked were opposed, with 16 percent undecided.

Residents in New Bedford and Fall River were slightly more likely to favor a casino, 58.6 percent, compared to suburban residents, 53.8 percent, the study revealed. The survey was conducted by the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass Dartmouth, and was paid for by the university. The survey was conducted by students and a group of temporary hires, many of whom had done polling for the center in the past, according to the center's director, Dr. Clyde W. Barrow.

The random telephone survey, which has a 4.6 percent margin of error, interviewed people who live in the SouthCoast region that includes the cities of Fall River and New Bedford, along with the towns of Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester, Somerset, Swansea, Wareham and Westport. The region has approximately 345,000 residents.

As the state Legislature considers a bill that would allow casino gambling, the survey's purpose was to gauge support for such a move, and see if anything had changed from the mid-1990s, when voters expressed strong support for casino gambling...

He (Dr. Barrow) said that SouthCoast residents supported gambling initiatives by a 2-1 margin in the past: Fall River voters supported riverboat gambling in 1993 by a 62 to 38 percent margin; New Bedford voters backed a non-binding referendum on a Wampanoag-style casino in 1995 by a 77 to 23 percent margin, and Dartmouth voters supported the same proposal by a 61 to 39 percent margin. Residents of Rochester and Wareham also supported the proposal, while residents of Mattapoisett and Westport voted against the proposal in 1995...Read the rest opf this Standard-Times story here, and let us know you feelings by commenting below.

Gambling Magazine added
...The strongest support for a casino is among respondents who have a high school diploma or less (63.6 percent), although more than half of those with some college or an associate's degree (57 percent) also favored a casino, while only 40 percent of those residents with a bachelor's degree or higher also favor a resort casino in Southeastern Massachusetts.

The survey also found that many SouthCoast residents are gamblers themselves. According to the results, more than half of those surveyed (53 percent) have played a scratch ticket in the past year, while 47.5 percent have played other Lottery games, like Megamillions or Megabucks.

The survey found 30 percent play Keno, 25 percent have gambled at a casino, 6.6 percent have played bingo, 2.8 percent have wagered on a horse or dog race, 2.8 percent have bet on a sporting event and 1.3 percent have gambled over the Internet.

Gambling was more prevalent among residents with no diploma or a high school diploma, as 58.4 percent played scratch tickets, compared to 47.4 percent with some college or an associate's degree, and 49 percent who have earned a bachelor's degree or higher... Read the rest of the Gambling Magazine story here, and comment below.

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Rosie on cruising for gay parents and vacationing in Ptown

Sundance Buzz: A Family Affair
Rosie O'Donnell talks to TIME about being a gay parent and her new documentary All Aboard!

By Desa Philadelphia for TIME

Former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell made her first trip to the Sundance Film Festival to debut the documentary All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise. The film, which was commissioned by HBO (a division of Time's parent company, Time Warner) and will air on the cable channel April 6, profiles gay families aboard a 2004 cruise from New York City to the Caribbean that was organized by O’Donnell and her partner Kelli O'Donnell. Rosie spoke to TIME about the challenges of gay parenting.

TIME: Where did you get the idea to take a vacation with other gay families?

ROSIE O’DONNELL: We went to Provincetown (Mass.) and we had never been there before. I heard it was this great eclectic magical city and I thought yeah, but we have Greenwich Village right here in New York, so I never thought to go there. But we went and I was totally drawn to the place. There was a huge mix of all different kinds of families of all different make-ups. And when we were there we saw a sign for family week for gay families and friends of gay families. So we went back for family week, and took the kids. It was organized by a non-profit called Family Pride Coalition. They threw a clambake and there were speeches and there were kids on a panel who talked about being members of families with gay parents and our kids participated. We are very lucky in New York that our children are not the only gay family even on our street. But the stories that we heard that week of people who had come from all over the country just to give their kids that experience. I thought what could we do that could replicate this? And my friend Greg who had run Atlantis, the gay male cruise business for many years said ‘why don’t we do a cruise like Atlantis but for gay families?’ I thought that was a great idea because there is really nothing for gay families to do other than Family Pride Coalition events.

Read the interview in its entirety here.

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Comcast un-cast, More Dolphins ashore, Boat sinks at dock, more

DAMAGED CABLE KNOCKS OUT CAPE CABLE SERVICE
All Cape Cod towns served by Comcast lost service for a couple of hours late Thursday night. Sources tell Cape Wide News a cable damaged in an earlier storm gave out. Repair crews worked quickly to restore service.

EXPERTS BAFFLED BY CONTINUING DOLPHIN STRANDINGS
WELLFLEET – The Cape Cod Stranding network braved frigid temperatures and crashing waves to try to save 4 dolphins that stranded off Chequessett Neck in Wellfleet late this afternoon. Three of the four dolphins were successfully released at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown this evening (see video at link below). One had to be euthanized. It’s the latest in a series of strandings over the last several weeks in the “hook” of the Cape between Brewster and Wellfleet where Cape Cod Bay quickly gets very shallow.

FISHING VESSEL SINKS IN WOODS HOLE
FALMOUTH – The Coast Guard is investigating what caused a fishing vessel to sink at a dock in Woods Hole today. The “Jolico”, home port unknown became swamped in relatively calm waters. A Cape Wide News reader captured the scene and sent in this photo. Salvage crews were on scene pumping out water to try and refloat the vessel. Officials were also checking for any environmental damage. There were no reported injuries in the incident.

YARMOUTH POLICE INVESTIGATING SMASH & GRABS
YARMOUTH – Yarmouth Police are investigating two overnight smash & grab robberies. About 10:15 PM a burglar alarm tripped at the Village Store on Route 6A. Arriving officers discovered the front door window smashed. An inventory showed a three bottles of liquor had been taken. About three and a half hours later another alarm brought officers to the Town Quick Mart on Old Town House Road where again the front door window had been smashed. This time eight cartons of cigarettes were stolen. Police ask anyone with information to contact Det./Sgt. Kevin Lennon at (508) 775-0445 X134.

MOTORIST INJURED WHILE CLEARING TREE FROM ROAD
MARSTONS MILLS – (Thursday, 6:15 a.m.) It was a close call for one motorist in Marstons Mills this morning. The driver reportedly stopped at the intersection of Osterville-West Barnstable Road and Race Lane about 5:30 AM to remove a tree that had fallen when a vehicle collided with his vehicle. The victim was taken to Cape Cod Hospital with non life-threatening injuries. Police are searching for the other driver who reportedly fled the scene.

WOMAN TAKEN TO BOSTON HOSPITAL AFTER CRASH
BOURNE – (Wednesday, 6:30 a.m.) A woman was seriously injured in a crash on Sandwich Road Wednesday morning. 44-year old Sarah Gilmetti of Plymouth was taken to Jordan Hospital then transferred to Boston Medical Center. The driver of the other car 29-year old James Close of Harwich was taken to Falmouth Hospital with minor injuries. Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

DRIVER SERIOUSLY INJURED IN ROLLOVER
HARWICH – (Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.) A man was seriously injured when his vehicle rolled over on Route 28 in Harwich around 10:30 AM. Rescuers used the Jaws of Life to free the man. A Medflight helicopter could not respond because of weather so the victim was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital. Harwich Police are investigating the crash. Reports from the scene suggest the man may have suffered some kind of medical condition before the crash.

Click HERE to read the rest of today's Cape Wide News report, and comment below.

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Barnstable picks a new school superintendent, Activists won't be fooled again

Cape activists vow they won’t get fooled
Vigilance is urged for next elections
By Joe Navas, news@barnstablepatriot.com

Nearly 120 people gathered at Cape Cod Community College Saturday to listen to what a trio of speakers had to say about the two most recent presidential elections. The forum, “The Truth About the November 2004 Election – and How to Not Get Fooled Again in ’06 and ’08,” was sponsored by “Wake Up Cape Cod: a Committee of Correspondence.” Speaking at the podium were Dr. Stephanie Wall (on left), Ed Mangiafico and WUCC chairman Ernest Duquet.

“In my experience,” said Duquet, who is in his 70s, “I have never seen our country so perilously situated… Our objective is to keep examining the things that motivate the United States…and to see if we can perhaps help to motivate things in a different direction.”

Saturday’s event was based around the findings in the book Fooled Again (Basic Books, 2005) by Mark Crispin Miller. Miller examines the inconsistencies and defects of the various voting and vote-counting methods employed in the last six years, exposing what he sees as an undeniable Republican effort to win elections through subversion and intimidation.

Duquet introduced Mangiafico as a local Democratic activist and “rare liberal former member of Corporate America...” Read the rest of this Patriot story here, and make your opinions known by commenting below.

Dr. Patricia Grenier named Barnstable school superintendent
By Edward F. Maroney, emaroney@barnstablepatriot.com

The search process that resulted in the choice began nearly two years ago, however. Twenty-nine educators applied for the job, 10 were interviewed by a search committee, and three finalists were chosen for the site visits and final interviews.

Dr. Jeffrey Bearden, assistant superintendent for business at Maine School Administrative District No. 1 in Presque isle, in effect withdrew from consideration due to the high cost of living here compared to the far North... Read the rest of this Patriot story here, and comment on it below.

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Cape woman convicted of money laundering, tax evasion

A Centerville woman was sentenced yesterday afternoon in federal court for money laundering and tax convictions.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Joseph A. Galasso, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; Colonel Thomas G. Robbins, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, and John Finnigan, Chief of the Barnstable Police Department, announced that LynnAlberico, age 43, of 68 Old Farm Road, Centerville, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to 27 months in federal prison to be followed by 2 years supervised release. Judge Saris also orderedAlberico to forfeit $100,000. Alberico was convicted on July 18, 2005, by a jury of conspiracy to commit money laundering, making and subscribing to a false tax return, and failure to file a tax return.

Evidence presented during the nine-day trial proved that on July 9, 1997, Stephen Queen, formerly of Hyannis, illegally obtained over $900,000 in cash from his parents' safe deposit boxes in Florida. Mr. Queen returned to Hyannis, on July 12, 1997 with the cash. The evidence proved thatAlberico , along with her now ex-boyfriend, George Upton, stole the money from Mr. Queen and subsequently laundered a portion of it through the purchase of real estate at 89 Iyanough Road in Hyannis. The evidence also proved that on August 29, 1997,Alberico and Upton purchased a commercial property at 89 Iyanough Road in Hyannis with the stolen money. The property was purchased with 13 separate cashier's checks that were acquired byAlberico , Upton, and four other individuals recruited by Upton. The cashier's checks were purchased through a series of convoluted currency transactions, involving structured deposits in amounts below $10,000, deposits into individual and business bank accounts, and cash purchases. In addition, the evidence proved thatAlberico and Upton put a phony mortgage on the property in order to conceal the purchase of the property with cash.

The evidence also established that of the $900,000 stolen, Alberico received approximately $100,000 of it. She did not report this additional income on her 1997 federal tax return, but instead reported an adjusted gross income of $17,341 from her business, Alberico's Alteration and Tailoring. In 1999, whenAlberico and Upton sold 89 Iyanough Road, Alberico received approximately $39,000 of the profit. The evidence showed that despite this profit, Alberico did not file an income tax return at all in 1999.

Co:defendent Upton sentenced to 13^1/2 years last October 

Her co-defendant, George Upton, age 51, of 88 Yarmouth Road, Hyannis, Massachusetts, was convicted of all charges following a jury trial in October, 2004, and was sentenced to 13^1/2 years' imprisonment for the charges. He was also ordered to forfeit over $395,000.

The disappearance and presumed homicide of Stephen Queen remains under active investigation.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Barnstable Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William Bloomer in Sullivan's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit. Please make yourcomment below. Source: Yahoo.

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Bournes want to save Tugboat, dump Department of Natural Resources

Landmark Buzzards Bay tugboat may go home again
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnccom, Thursday, January 26, 2006

Word is spreading about the plight of New York Central tugboat No. 16 that now sits on land targeted for a new CVS store in Buzzards Bay.

Emmett Francois, moderator of the New York Central Marine Division, said the tug, formerly owned by restaurateur Howard Shaw of Gray Gables and Maine, "has great historical significance" and hopes it can be removed "from where it sits to a location that would be more fitting in light of its service."

CVS representatives this month told Bourne officials some tug removal options are being considered but are not finalized. The vessel’s future has stirred interest in Bourne historical circles but no plan has emerged to preserve the vessel or find a new location for it...

Move starts to revamp DNR
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com, Thursday, January 26, 2006

Bourne selectmen moved quickly Tuesday night, ordering on a 4-1 vote the reorganization of the Department of Natural Resources and placing its responsibilities within the police department and town administrator's office.

The move came after members reviewed the MMA Consulting Group's report into the DNR during a tense session filled with criticism of the report and selectmen, their push to revamp the department, their sidestepping other goals and failure to set DNR priorities that might have been achieved.

Only Selectman Richard LaFarge voted against changing the DNR, saying it wasn't on the weekly agenda and lacked a report and recommendation by Guerino as required by the charter."This is not the right process," he said. "We're doing something wrong here tonight."

Town Administrator Thomas Guerino has until Feb. 21 to revamp DNR responsibilities and report to the board, even as he prepares to deliver the fiscal 2007 budget Tuesday night. The process of reorganizing also calls for a public hearing.

The motion advanced by Selectmen Galon "Skip" Barlow and W. Thomas Barlow calls for shellfish constable, animal control and harbormaster duties to shift to the police department, marina management and an administrative assistant going to Guerino's office and a secretary merging into a new Town Hall fee collection process. DNR Director George Weinert's position would be eliminated... Read the rest of this Upper Cape Codder story here, and comment below.

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Fifth Home Insurer Leaves Cape - 2 stories

Insurer To Stop Renewing Cape Cod Policies
Vermont Mutual Group Plans Change For April 1 

BOURNE, Mass. -- Vermont Mutual Group will stop renewing thousands of home insurance policies on Cape Cod this spring, the company announced Wednesday.

"Well, it stinks for the homeowner, actually. I mean, it puts us in a tough position. I understand the issue of the insurers, but it leaves a lot of people in tough positions," homeowner Peter Goldberg said.

Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters put some insurance companies on edge. Some companies are looking more closely at the Cape through hurricane modeling companies... Read the rest of this WCVB story here, view video here, and comment below.

Vermont Mutual Latest to Exit Cape Cod Homeowners Market

Another insurer has decided it can't continue to write homeowners insurance policies on Cape Cod.

Starting April 1, Vermont Mutual will stop renewing about 4,700 homeowners and 400 dwelling policies, Tom Tierney, president of the insurer, confirmed to Insurance Journal.

The Montpelier-based company that writes throughout New England and New York had already stopped writing new homeowners policies on Cape Cod after Andover Insurance Companies dropped its more than 14,000 policies in the spring of 2004.

Last December, Quincy Mutual and Hingham Mutual announced they were pulling back on writing Cape policies as well.

"This does not make us happy because of the relationships we have had for years with our agents," Tierney said. He said the decision does not affect its writings in its other states nor its commercial policies.

While several private carriers remain writing selectively, the exodus of Vermont Mutual and others leaves the residual market insurer, the Fair Plan, as the most likely recipient of the business being dropped. The Fair Plan has become the largest writer on the Cape with about 27 percent of the market.

Tierney says that the Fair Plan is part of the problem because its rates are too low and insurers are on the hook for whatever losses it may suffer down the road.

Tierney says a company like his can't charge what it needs to reflect the true risk and recover rising catastrophe reinsurance costs related to Cape properties. Private carriers must also face the fact they will be assessed for whatever future losses the Fair Plan might suffer. In addition, the Fair Plan does not carry its own reinsurance but instead relies upon individual carrier's reinsurance.

"You have A.M Best looking at you also," he noted, referring to the organization that rates insurers' financial stability.

Tierney believes that storm forecasting models used up until now have actually underestimated the potential losses on the Cape and that reinsurance costs for Cape business will go up again after the models are updated.

The Fair Plan is currently in negotiations with the state to raise its rates. The insurer has proposed a 25 percent average hike on the Cape but Tierney says even that wouldn't be enough.

"Polticians use the term affordability but that's not the issue," he said. As more and more people are moving to coastal areas to live, insurance costs must reflect the risk, he added.

Tierney suggested that the state grant insurers an offset against Fair Plan assessments on any Cape policies they write to help cover higher catastrophe reinsurance costs on these risks.

That offset, along with the Fair Plan buying its own reinsurance and insurers being allowed to charge the correct price, would help restore a private marketplace on Cape Cod, the executive suggested. Source: Insurance Journal. Comment below.

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Ptown: lowest bond rating, highest per capita spending

Provincetown scores lower in bond rating, spends more per capita than other Cape towns

By Mary Ann Bragg, Banner Staff

PROVINCETOWN — A steady decline in government cash reserves in the last five years has kept the town’s bond rating the lowest of the 15 towns on Cape Cod, an analyst for Standard & Poor’s said this week. And on Monday, Town Manager Keith Bergman defended town government spending, which is the highest on a per capita basis on Cape Cod.

More than triple what Bourne spends 

The town spends $5,913 per year-round resident from the General Fund, which includes police, schools and public works, according to the latest data from the Massachusetts Dept. of Revenue. By comparison, the town of Bourne spends the least of any town on Cape Cod: $1,895 per year-round resident.

For General Fund spending that excludes schools, Provincetown is the highest at $4,669 per capita versus the lowest, Bourne, at $988 per capita.

And for capital spending Provincetown is also the highest per capita, at $2,864 per year-round resident. Sandwich is the lowest, at $28 per year-round resident.

In response, Bergman said use of a year-round population figure in the calculation does not capture the seasonal swing Provincetown experiences each summer, and the amount of government services required to support that influx. By his estimates the town’s population swells from 3,450 to between 30,000 and 60,000 visitors each summer. “I don’t know if there is any comparative data for the other towns,” Bergman said. “Does Yarmouth’s population grow ten- and twenty-fold, or does it merely double?” ... Read the rest of this Banner story here, and comment below.

And this

Harsh Winter, Odd Jobs, Night Flights

January 24, 1918
HARSH WEATHER HAMPER’S FISHERMEN’S LIVELIHOOD
What with fish scarcity, high prices for bait and bad weather conditions, the present season’s shore trawl fishery appears doomed to failure. Half ended, this season’s work has proved very unprofitable to the many dorymen. They have double cause for disquiet in the continued absence of the cod and haddock schools and the prevalence of weather of unwonted severity. It is doubtful if worse weather than that of the past two months has been experienced by local shore trawling dories for a corresponding period during the past 40 years. To date, few dories have made much more than enough to cover running expenses, it is claimed. Gale has succeeded gale with but little intermission. Meanwhile, household upkeep costs more than at any time since the civil war days and unless weather conditions improve and the cod species multiply hereabouts quickly, it is feared there may be many destitute families in town by spring.

All fishing work is dangerous and full of hardships. Dory trawling in winter is, perhaps, the most dangerous and painful of all forms of fishing work. If any body of workers deserves rich reward it is the men who handle iced trawls far from shore in wintry gales. We fervently hope for the speedy, simultaneous advent of good weather, and many cod in the bay, whereby the fishermen’s fortunes may be repaired and they and their families be made glad. Read the rest of this Banner feature here, and comment below.

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Two thousand, five hundred reasons to visit cctoday

The more astute readers of cctoday may have noticed a new benchmark today:

Cape Cod links directory
Try our bigger, better links directory. Browse by town, category or alphabetically.  Suggest your link here! There are now 2,501 Cape Cod links in our directory!

That's two thousand, five hundred Cape Cod web sites in one place, in simple, easy-to-find categories with a searchable database.

The traffic  cctoday is bringing to these  sites is really quite amazing, in fact, cctoday itself has tripled its web traffic in the last nine months. 

Businesses which linked themselves for the free listing received so many clicks to their sites that they bought banners and preferred placement, so that they could receive even more clicks.  Cape Cod Nautical Jewelry below is a good example. They linked themselves and received 300 clicks to their site in a couple of weeks, so they asked to become a preferred link and doubled the rate of click through. And we're talking 82¢ a day, $25 a month for this kind of enhanced listing, see below or click here for an example:
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Cape Cod Nautical Jewelry -- Free Shipping! "Wear a Cape Cod Memory." Sterling silver and 14K gold charms, pendants, earrings and bracelets. All nautical designs--flip flops, whale tails, sailboats, and much more. Convenient online shopping. (Dennis)

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Actually, for that price we now have added the text ads you see directly above and below this news item as well as a mini-banner popping up throughout cctoady. 

Calling all Clubs and Non-Profits

One commenter below asks if Clubs and Non-Profits can have free links as well.  The answer is a resounding YES! If you "mouse-over" Cape Cod Links on the left sidebar, then choose Community Links you'll see the 638 including 132 Clubs & Non-Profits which are already linked on Cape Cod Today.

But we owe it all to you, our readers. Thank you for your support of  local business,  and if you have a friend in business on Cape Cod, please tell them about cctoday, and let us give them a free link.   Add your free link by filling out this form.

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Falmouth's Racial Profiling, Chief's contract postponed

Falmouth- Racial Profiling Survey Reveals Problems For Town To Address
But Police Get High Marks For Crime Prevention

By LAURA M. RECKFORD

How the Town of Falmouth is handling the racial profiling issue is being closely watched by police chiefs across the state and even nationally, according to consultants hired by the town.

Falmouth is one of the first communities in the state and, in fact, one of the first in New England, to reach out to citizens with a survey asking their opinions of the police department in general and racial profiling in particular. The surveys were sent out this fall to a random sampling of about 6,000 Falmouth residents. There was a concerted attempt to send the survey to non-whites... Read the rest of this Enterprise story here, and add your comments below.

Falmouth- Selectmen Postpone Vote On Police Chief's Contract
The celebration would have to wait

By LAURA M. RECKFORD

Under the watchful eyes of 15 to 20 police chiefs from around the state, Falmouth selectmen last night postponed the renewal of Falmouth Police Chief David F. Cusolito’s contract, citing continuing problems in the department.

Falmouth Town Administrator Robert L. Whritenour Jr. drew up a three-year contract for the chief but selectmen stated they would prefer one or two years at maximum.

The police chiefs who accompanied Chief Cusolito (above on right) into the meeting room and sat in the first several rows during most of the selectmen’s meeting waited and watched as selectmen discussed the racial profiling survey and the police chief’s contract.

Jack Collins, an attorney representing the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, even asked Chairman of the Falmouth Board of Selectmen Kevin E. Murphy to act on the chief’s contract in advance of other agenda items, so that the group could celebrate with the chief after the contract was renewed.

But the celebration would have to wait...  Read the rest of this Enterprise story here, and add your comments below.

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Harwich reassessing, Chatham consider new beach patrol

By William F. Galvin

HARWICH – Progress is being made on the town operations review task force recommendations, selectmen said Monday night as they began the first of their weekly meetings to discuss responses of department heads to those recommendations.

"I don’t consider no news is bad news,” Selectman Donald Howell said Monday night of charges of a lack of progress by the task force. “We’re doing things.”

Town Accountant David Ryan made a presentation before selectmen on behalf of the accounting and assessing departments in which he pointed out several changes have been made, including billing enforcement for town ambulance services that shows a 13.5 percent rate of increase.

Ryan said Treasurer/Tax Collector Dorothy Parkhurst has begun a program to aggressively pursue and manage the collection of unpaid taxes and to get owner unknown properties back on the tax rolls. In FY 2005, Ryan said, there was a 243 percent increase in those collections.

But the main focus of the evening related to two assessing policies. One related to supplemental tax assessment, more commonly referred to as the “Hopkinton Amendment.”

"The law would require assessors to calculate a bill for the addition or new dwelling that increases the value of a property more than 50 percent on a per diem rate for issuance of a certificate of occupancy requested by the homeowner and issued by the building commissioner,” Deputy Assessor David Scannell told selectmen...  Read the rest of this Chronicle story here, and comment below.

Selectmen To Revisit Lighthouse Beach Patrol Debate

by Alan Pollock

CHATHAM — A budget discussion last week rekindled debate over whether the town should add a land-based patrol to improve safety at Lighthouse Beach.

Under the recommendation of Harbormaster Stuart Smith, the town is seeking to add a part-time assistant harbormaster on the beach, to augment the boat-based patrol used on peak beach days. The position has been added to the fiscal 2007 operating budget at a cost of $6,480, a portion of which will be absorbed by the existing harbormaster’s budget.

"My experience tells me that the conditions on the bar and in the inlet there are treacherous enough that a second person is warranted,” Smith told selectmen last Tuesday. A part-time water-based patrol has been in place at the beach since February 2003, when selectmen instated it as a way to recover beachgoers stranded on a recurring sand spit. Smith’s original proposal was for a two-person boat-and-beach patrol, but selectmen rejected that proposal as too costly, opting for the boat patrol only.

Last summer, the boat patrol was kept particularly busy rescuing wayward beachgoers. During particular combinations of wind and tide, swimmers and waders were regularly swept away from the sand spit, battling currents too strong for even the strongest swimmers. According to figures from the harbormaster’s department, the Lighthouse Beach boat patrol rescued 48 people from the surf between July 21 and Sept. 2...Read the rest of this Chronicle story here, and comment below. Photo above shows the Chatham Lighthouse Beach duing a seal pup rescue last August.

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HMS student a local ambassador to China, Reps resign from Historic Committee

Harwich Middle School student a local ambassador to China.
Miffed over project, historic reps resign.

By Douglas Karlson, Harwich Oracle, Wednesday, January 25, 2006

He’s just 11, but  is bound for China this summer, part of a 20-student delegation whose mission is to improve international understanding and promote peace.

The Harwich Middle School sixth-grader was nominated by a teacher and selected to participate in the People to People Student Ambassador program, which was established in 1956 by President Eisenhower. Tyler is the only student from Harwich chosen to join the delegation; the other 19 youngsters hail from Sandwich, Falmouth, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Mashpee, Nantucket and Provincetown.

 "It was a total surprise," said Tyler’s mom, Debbie Kane. "I hadn’t even heard of the program until he was nominated." She said the nomination was made by a teacher in the middle school, she doesn’t know who, and suspects it’s because Tyler worked hard last year to improve his academic performance. Following his nomination, Tyler had to submit recommendations and essays, and be interviewed. Students can earn high school credits, and, of course, describe the experience in college applications.

 The idea is simple, according to the founder’s granddaughter, Mary Eisenhower, who heads the program and believes that "people can make a difference where government cannot."  Read the rest of the Oracle story here, and comment below.

Miffed over project, historic reps resign
By Douglas Karlson, Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Saying they're being excluded from efforts to restore the South Harwich Meetinghouse, and that, for all they know, work being planned might not meet federal standards, two members of the Harwich Historical Commission abruptly resigned last week.

But the board of selectmen refused to accept the resignations of Susan Brauner, chairwoman of the commission, and Chris Wood, a former chairman who has served on the commission for about 15 years.

Wood and Brauner told the Oracle they are frustrated over what they see as the selectmen's unwillingness to exercise the proper oversight of the Friends of South Harwich Meetinghouse, the group licensed to restore the historic 19th century building located on Chatham Road.

Last year, residents formed the Friends to raise money and restore the neglected property. According to an agreement with selectmen, any restoration work they do must first be approved by the town. But Wood said communication with the group has been poor, noting that commission members haven't been invited to their meetings. "They could be doing a wonderful job, but how would we know?" asked Wood. Read the rest of the Oracle story here, and comment below

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Catastropic damage to Famouth beach

Falmouth- Woodneck Beach Erosion Said To Be Catastropic

By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN

“Bombs Away.” It sounds like the title of a war novel, but in fact it is the title of coastal scientist R. Jude Wilber’s eyewitness account of last month’s storm and its effect on local beaches.

Wednesday’s storm sent Mr. Wilber back to local beaches to record what he sees as the steady demise of Falmouth beaches. Mr. Wilber said he records his observations of the town’s beaches almost daily, noting wind speed, tide fluctuations, sediment and dune patterns, water fluctuations and other qualities specific to the coast.

Wednesday’s weather has only accelerated a problem that has been caused by man-made armoring designed to protect upland coastal regions, Mr. Wilber said.  Woodneck Beach in Sippewissett is of particular concern to Mr. Wilber and members of the Falmouth Beach Committee.

Gregory L. Contos, committee chairman, said, “Woodneck Beach is a real catastrophe. We are going to have to assess the damages and see what we are going to do in the spring. It is in real tough shape.” Mr. Wilber, a professor at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, has been studying Falmouth beaches for the past 35 years.

He said Woodneck Beach is naturally nourished from two sources of erosion, primarily by the southern bluffs of the Cape Codder and also by the northern bluffs of Saconnesset Hills.

Since many homes and businesses sit on upland areas that affect beaches in other parts of town, he said both public and private enterprises have sought solutions to combat erosion. Read the rest of this Falmouth Enterprise story here.   Read another Enterprise story about last week's storm damage (photo above) here, and comment below.

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Cape author accused of groping girls

By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff, January 24, 2006

Brookline High School's freshman girls basketball coach pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges he inappropriately touched four players during a practice session last week.

Jonathon Alsop, 48 on right, of Brookline faces three counts of indecent assault and battery and one count of assault and battery. Alsop was arrested at his home last week and released on the condition he stay away from the four alleged victims and avoid unsupervised contact with any children younger than 18.

Alsop, who is due back in Brookline District Court on Feb. 13, had no comment yesterday, and his lawyer could not be reached for comment. Members of the basketball team leaving practice yesterday refused to comment, saying that school administrators had instructed them not to talk to the news media.

Alsop is also a widely published specialist on wines, maintaining an online site called In Vino Veritas, as well as writing about wine for numerous newspapers and magazines, according to his website. He wrote ''Fodor's Dining Guide to Boston, Cape Cod, and The Islands" from 1994 to 1999. Alsop also has taught wine, food, and writing classes at adult education centers in Boston, Cambridge, Newton, and Brookline.

His wine column "In Vino Veritas", translates to "In wine there is truth."

Alsop, who is not part of the Brookline High faculty, has been placed on indefinite leave with pay and faces a disciplinary hearing at the school next week. The school said it would hire an interim coach this week. Read the rest of The Globe story here, and comment below.

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Christy freaks out GOP, they want him in primary

"They work within the party organization, they're town committee members or a potential delegate," he said. "They're committed to the lieutenant governor for good reasons and just reasons and then they're told to vote another way. My sense is that doesn't speak to an open process."  - Christy Mihos

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey on Monday challenged convenience store magnate Christy Mihos to a head-to-head battle for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, urging him to forego a run as an independent and guaranteeing him the support to be on the fall GOP ballot.

Mihos, a former Massachusetts Turnpike board member and lifelong Republican, has alleged he's been shut out of the party nomination battle by Healey loyalists, and hasn't declared whether he'll run as an independent or Republican. Healey is backed by Gov. Mitt Romney.

House Minority leader Brad Jones, who chairs the GOP convention for Healey, pledged in a letter to Mihos released publicly on Monday that he would secure enough delegate votes for Mihos to get him a spot on the primary ballot.

Party rules require a candidate for statewide office to get 15 percent of the vote at the April 29 Republican state convention.

"Recent comments from you and your campaign indicate that you are concerned about being 'shut out of the process' in relation to the convention if you run as a Republican," Jones wrote.

"While I have no doubt you will in your own right easily win the necessary support to get on the ballot, my guarantee should put your mind at ease and put to rest unfair criticism of the party we have both worked so hard to build."

Mihos, whose family founded the Christy's convenience store chain, said he appreciates the "olive branch," but "we're in the process right now of trying to reach as many Republicans as possible and see that we can do this on our own."

He added: "I would like to run as a Republican, but we still we have to keep all our options open until we can verify that we can make the ballot on our own."

Mihos also questioned whether Jones could guarantee that the delegates who've pledged themselves for Healey would vote for him...   Read the rest of this Alabama Dateline story here, and comment below.

Christy rejects Healey's offer 

The Salem News reported today, Gubernatorial hopeful Christy Mihos yesterday rejected an offer by state Republicans to ensure he meets the party's 15 percent delegate threshold at the April convention. The Republican guarantee would have ensured Mihos made the September primary ballot as a Republican and had an opportunity to square off against Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.

But Mihos said the offer, which has Healey promising to send enough of her delegates to Mihos to guarantee he makes the primary ballot, was unfair to people who committed to be delegates for Healey. Read the Salem News story here, and comment below.

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Shaws, Star Markets sold to CVS & consortium

 New consortium will be nation's fourth largest food chain 

Supervalu, CVS Corp. and an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management put an end to recent press speculation Monday by announcing an agreement to buy retailer Albertson's Inc. for $17.4 billion cash, stock and debt.

Stockholders of Boise, Idaho-based Albertson's(ABS)will receive $20.35 in cash and a fixed exchange ratio of 0.182 share of Supervalu(SVU)stock for each of their shares, bringing the total consideration per share to $26.29.

Albertson's ended Friday's trading at $24.11, up 1% on the session.

On an annual basis, the transaction is expected to begin contributing immediately to Supervalu's earnings per share at a double-digit rate, excluding one-time costs.

After the deal, which is expected to close in the summer, about 65% of the new Supervalu will be held by existing stockholders and the rest by Albertson's stockholders

The purchasing consortium consists of Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu (NYSE: SVU); CVS Corp. (NYSE: CVS) of Woonsocket, Rhode Island; New York-based investment fund Cerberus Capital Management and Hyde Park, N.Y.-based real estate investment company Kimco Realty.

The acquisition will triple Supervalu's retail operations, making it the second-largest grocer in the U.S. with 2,656 stores.

Shaw's Supermarkets & Star Markets here part of sale 

Supervalu will acquire the operations of Acme Markets, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's Supermarkets, Star Markets, some Albertsons banner stores and related in-store pharmacies under the Osco and Sav-on banners.

For its part, CVS(CVS)will acquire some 700 stand-alone Sav-On and Osco drug stores as well as Albertson's ownership interests in the stores' underlying real estate.

The consortium will buy stores in Dallas/Ft. Worth area as well as in Northern California, Florida, the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest.

Media reports over the weekend had suggested that the company was near a deal to sell itself to the consortium of competitors and investment firms for $9.7 billion in cash and stock.

The acquired store banners are: Acme Markets, Bristol Farms; Jewel-Osco, Shaw's Supermarkets, Star Markets and Albertsons, which operates more than 20 stores in the Portland region. The deal also includes the combined grocery-pharmacy stores under the Jewel and Sav-On franchises.

The consortium made a $9.6 billion offer for Albertsons (NYSE: ABS) in December, but the grocery chain's board rejected the bid. The new deal reportedly includes a revised structure intended to ease antitrust concerns.

CVS adds 700 new locations in the deal 

CVS of Woonsocket, R.I., is purchasing about 700 stand alone Sav-on and Osco Drugstores and Albertson's ownership interests in the drugstore real estate for about $2.9 billion. The chain now operates more than 5,000 stores. Read the FTC release on the sale below these links.

• Cerberus Capital Management : Cerberus Capital Management
  
• SuperValu: Supervalu.com
  
• Albertson's: Albertsons.com
• Supervalu Inc.: SuperValu.com
• CVS Corp.:  CVS.com
• Star/Shaw's: Shaws.com

FTC Agreement with Shaw's Supermarkets and Star Markets Preserves Supermarket Competition in Greater Boston Area

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a proposed settlement agreement with Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc. and Star Markets, Inc. The agreement would resolve FTC charges that the proposed acquisition of Star Markets by Shaw's would substantially lessen supermarket competition in the Greater Boston metropolitan area and could result in higher prices or reduced quality and selection for consumers.

The proposed agreement permits the acquisition but would require Shaw's to divest 10 supermarkets -- three Shaw's supermarkets and seven Star Markets supermarkets -- in eight communities. Read the rest of the FTC  statement here, and make your comments below.

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Cape Verdeans vote here in island elections

Native Cape Verdeans living in the region headed to the polls yesterday to elect a new Parliament in advance of presidential elections next month.

_{In the DAVID W. OLIVEIRA/Standard-Times photo Manuel Pina, right, casts his ballot for Cape Verdean president during polling at the Cape Verdean Veterans Hall yesterday as Eduardo Baptista looks on.}

Just as American support was sharply divided between George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 election, Cape Verdean voters yesterday had strong and varying opinions regarding which presidential candidate and political party would best lead their native republic...

Outside of Europe, Massachusetts has the greatest population of Cape Verdeans -- 7,876.
New Bedford and Cape Cod account for 536 Cape Verdean voters, according to their government's figures... Read the rest of this Standard-Times story here, and comment below.

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Goodbye to our January Thaw

Meteorologically it's a Singularity

It couldn't last forever. After a stretch of unseasonably mild January weather, winter is back. Today's storm threatens to dump up to 10 inches of snow in some areas of New England.

After temperatures soared to 60 degrees across Massachusetts on Saturday, permitting people to head outside with T-shirts.

But the mercury dipped on Sunday, and by Monday morning heavy snow was blanketing much of southern New England. West Brookfield, in central Massachusetts, had 7 inches by 10:30 a.m.

Logan closed, 2" in Providence  

Coastal areas from Cape Cod to Rhode Island saw a mix of snow, sleet and rain. Downtown Providence, R.I., got two inches before it turned over to rain.

Logan International Airport closed for 37 minutes during the morning, but soon reopened with two runways operating, Massport spokesman Phil Orlandella said. The average delay was more than two hours.See the WHDH video of this morning's commute here.

Expected accumulations are six-to-ten inches in the Springfield area, five-to-nine in Worcester and three-to-five in Boston.

Cape Cod is spared 

Cape Cod is expected to get mostly rain with the temperature getting almost to 50º at the elbow. As this was originally written at 7:30 a.m. the rain in the Orleans-Brewster area turns to sleet and back to rain with temperatures in the mid-thirties. By the 1 p.m. however the temperature in Chatham had risen to 42º and by sunset the Harwich temperature was 46º.

The snow may have caught some motorists off guard this morning, because a number of skidding accidents are reported on Bay State highways.

The photo above was the writer's driveway a year ago today showing illegal use of child labor. 

What IS a January Thaw

Our famous and hallowed January Thaw, which usually occurs during the third week of January across the area east of the Mississippi River and between 40 and 50 degrees North latitude, holds a special place in New England weather lore. It's as prominent as Autumn's Indian Summer around here and is unique to North America.

The January Thaw is defined in the Glossary of Meteorology published by the American Meteorological Society as "a period of mild weather, popularly supposed to recur each year in late January in New England and other parts of the northeastern United States.... Statistical tests show a high probability that it is a real singularity."

Singularity is a characteristic meteorological condition that tends to occur on or near a specific calendar date more frequently than chance would indicate.

Although there are no generally accepted weather parameters that specifically define it, to be a genuine January Thaw it is generally thought that it must last for several consecutive days and have maximum daily temperatures above freezing and mean daily temperatures around 10º above the expected mid-January normals. The John Fitts photo above shows what the lighthouse on Hardings Beach in Chatham looked like during last year's January un-Thaw this same week.

To see today weather details on the cape, click here. 

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Plymouth police shooting stirs national debate

Five minutes. That's all it took for a teenager to lose his life in a confrontation with police -- and for this town to be thrust into the national debate about police use of force.

Anthony McGrath (on left) was a 16-year-old high school dropout who had had run-ins with the law when he allegedly tried to break into a liquor store before dawn. Police officers tracked him down, cornering him when the car he was driving struck a stone wall, backed up, struck a pole, and then drove toward the officers, who opened fire.

McGrath's relatives say officers weren't justified in killing the boy, whom they described as kindhearted. Police said officers fired the shots to avoid being run over.

The shooting is being investigated. The Plymouth Country prosecutor is considering whether the shooting is justified.

"Hopefully, they'll come up with the truth," Ron Knight, a cousin of McGrath, said after a church service in Plymouth. "It's a one-way story right now -- their story. Cops being judge, jury and executioner -- it ain't right."

The case has raised a number of issues, including whether police should fire at moving vehicles -- a debate that has raged in other cities across the country...

Boston police policy, described by Professor Alpert as a national model, bans shooting at a moving or fleeing vehicle "unless the officer or another person is currently being threatened with deadly force by means other than the moving vehicle." It says officers "shall move out of the path of any oncoming vehicle instead of discharging a firearm at it or any of its occupants." 

Read the rest of this WHDH story here, and comment below.

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Provincetown loses Birdman fundraiser

End of Birdman
Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project loses insurance for event
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com 

The Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project (GMDVP) announced Jan. 17 that it has retired its annual Provincetown Birdman fundraiser due to the organization’s inability to secure insurance for the event. The Birdman competition, which had become a signature Provincetown event since it was launched in 2003, featured contestants in colorful costumes jumping off MacMillan Pier to see who could stay aloft for the longest time, and contestants came ready to fly while dressed as everything from flamingoes to dragon flies to Wonder Woman. GMDVP Executive Director Curt Rogers said members of the P’Town community are sad to see the event end.

“We’ve talked to all of our sponsors… everybody was sad, and yet supportive,” said Rogers. “I think everyone understood that this was a possible reality.”  

GMDVP first encountered problems obtaining insurance for the event last year, when the organization was notified the week before the event by its insurer, the North Carolina-based First Financial Insurance, that they could not cover contestants jumping off the pier. They also claimed that contestants had never been covered in GMDVP’s insurance policies from the past events.

Birdman's downsized event last year produced half the eggs 

GMDVP made a last-minute scramble to secure insurance for the event, but no other provider would agree to cover participants either. Ultimately GMDVP held a dramatically downscaled event, with contestants leaping into the pool of the Crown & Anchor, and the organization took a major financial hit. In 2004 the event brought in about $14,000, but last year it only brought in about half of that... Read the rest of this Bay Windows story here, and make your comments below.

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Yarmouth's Mihos may change state's politics

State of independents
Everyone knows Massachusetts isn't a Republican state. But if you think it's a Democratic state, think again.

By Dave Denison | January 22, 2006

IN DECEMBER, at a law office in downtown Portland, Maine, two successful businessmen met to talk politics. The host was Angus King, who served two terms as governor of Maine in the 1990s and is now back at work in the private sector. The visitor was Christy Mihos, former president and CEO of Christy’s Markets, who had driven up from his Cape Cod home to ask King one of the most intriguing questions in American politics today: Who needs political parties?

King didn’t. When he ran as an independent in 1994, he beat Democrat Joe Brennan, a former governor and member of Congress, and Republican Susan Collins, who later became a US senator. He was reelected in 1998 by a wide margin, the same year Jesse Ventura became governor of Minnesota. Connecticut elected former Congressman Lowell Weicker as an independent governor in 1990. And, as King pointed out to Mihos that day, the trail had already been blazed for him in Maine by Jim Longley, who won the governorship as an independent in 1974.

If an independent candidate can win in Maine, Connecticut, and Minnesota, why not Massachusetts?

Massachusetts has no such precedent in the past century. And Mihos, a former member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board, isn’t sure yet whether it’s worth a try. A lifelong Republican, he says he would like to run for governor in the GOP primary. But his public battles in 2001 and 2002 with then-Governor Jane Swift over proposed toll increases – Swift tried to fire him but lost in court – mark him as something less than a party loyalist. Now, with his party’s establishment lining up behind Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, he is considering an independent campaign... Read the rest of the Globe story here, and comment below.

Read Cape Politics column on same subject here. 

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Black Ice, Mid-Cape Center injury, Mashpee School Fire

BLACK ICE TRIGGERING SEVERAL CRASHES
TRURO – (Tuesday) For the second morning in a row commuters are dealing with slippery going. Left over moisture is combining with near freezing temperatures to form black ice on many area roads. Several crashes have occurred such as this Jeep coming out of Provincetown that lost control across from the Pilgrim Heights area in Truro and rolled over off the side of Route 6 about 7 AM. The driver was not hurt and so far none of the other crashes have resulted in any serious injuries. Motorists should continue to use caution for a couple of hours or so.

WORKER INJURED AT ORLEANS LUMBERYARD
ORLEANS – (Monday) Orleans Police and OSHA are investigating an industrial accident at the Mid-Cape Center in Orleans shortly before 10 AM this morning. A worker was seriously injured when he was struck by a forklift in the parking lot of the lumberyard. The victim was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital. Further details were not immediately available.

SLIPPERY MORNING COMMUTE
CAPE COD – (Monday)The morning commute got off to a slippery start as some mixed precipitation moved in at the start of the latest storm. In Sandwich a school bus apparently slid off an icy road while in Dennis two vehicles collided with another school bus. No one was injured in either crash.

BLAZE GUTS OUT BUILDING AT MASHPEE HIGH
MASHPEE – (Sunday) A fire completely gutted a storage building on the Mashpee High School grounds on Old Barnstable Road off Route 151 just before 11 PM Sunday. The building which housed heavy equipment was detached from the school and there was no damage to the school itself. To CWN’s knowledge there will be school as usual today.

Read the rest of this Cape Wide News report here, and comment below. 

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Wareham Nursing Home battle, Onset Banquet Hall

Wareham: Battle rages over Forestview sale
By Robert Slager/ rslager@cnc.com, Friday, January 20, 2006

Depending on who was doing the talking on Friday, Kindred Healthcare’s proposed purchase of Forestview Nursing Home (on right) will either turn the facility into a state-of-the-art health care facility or a house of horrors.

The Department of Public Health called for a public hearing to discuss the issue last Friday morning at Town Hall. Representatives for Cape United Elders, an senior advocacy group, had garnered 50 signatures from local residents, enough to mandate the DPH to hold the meeting.

According to Susan Walker, community organizer for CUE, Kindred’s track record is cause for serious alarm.

"They have shown a trend toward more deficiencies when reviewed by Medicare," said Walker, who added that she would like to see the DPH put Kindred on a one-year probationary period before approving the purchase... Read the rest of the Wareham Bulletin story here, and comment below.

Onset: Banquet fit for a king
Friday, January 20, 2006

For decades the old dance hall sat silently as Onset grew up around it. The Knights of Pythias used to be the most happen spot in town back in the 1930s, but its doors closed more than 65 years ago.

Those doors swung open on Saturday night in high style as 150 guests celebrated the grand opening of "Salerno's," a new banquet hall and conference center.

The Victorian-style ballroom is owned by John and Mark Salerno, who have operated Marc Anthony's Pizza for more than 28 years. They bought the building in 2002 and began to restore the old dance hall a year later.

The original tin walls remain, although the boast a new sheen. " The walls, all original tin, were brown and dingy..." Read the rest of the Wareham Bulletin story here, and comment below.

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Ptown budget woes, Cole wins in Harwich

PROVINCETOWN - Like a storm coming up the coast, it is still unclear if Proposition 2 1/2 will hit Provincetown head-on or blow out to sea. But the skies are growing more ominous. The town could be preparing for its first Proposition 2 1/2 override, to the tune of $448,000, according to Town Manager Keith Bergman.

"With level-funded operating budgets for FY 2007, Provincetown will be $340,000 over its Proposition 2 1/2 property tax levy limit - largely from unrealized savings in group health costs and increased assessment from Cape Cod Tech," wrote Bergman in a memo to town and other local officials. "If the [Provincetown] school budget increases by the 2.6 percent requested by the school committee, that figure rises by $108,000 to $448,000 over the levy limit."

The options before the town are to either cut deeply into the level funded budget, which hovers a little over $20 million, or go for an override, Bergman continued.

"No decisions have been made," said Bergman, who explained that the override is not an absolute certainty, yet. Read the rest of this story in The Cape Codder here, and comment below.

Cole captures Harwich selectman’s seat
By Douglas Karlson/ dkarlson@cnc.com, Friday, January 20, 2006

HARWICH - Just days after crossing the finishing line in a grueling 26.2 mile marathon to raise money for stroke research in Phoenix, Larry Cole (on right) crossed another finishing line of sorts, winning Wednesday’s special election for selectman.

Cole picked up 58 percent of the votes cast by 2,015 residents who turned out on a warm but rainy and very windy day. His opponent was Town Clerk Anita Doucette.

The special election fills the vacancy created by the sudden death of Selectman Robert Peterson in September. The term expires in May 2007.

Cole, a 72-year-old economist who retired to Harwich from New Hampshire in 1997, attributed his victory in part to an active campaign in which he spent time at the transfer station and Harwich Port post office reaching out to the public. "It matters that one gets out and gets seen," he said.

Feedback on the campaign trail indicated that voters wanted a new face in town hall, said the selectman-elect. While Cole has served on the Cape Cod Commission, as well as the town’s utility and energy conservation commission and the capital outlay committee, this is his first elected office.

High on his list of priorities, he said, is improving the efficiency of town services by implementing some of the measures put forward by an operations review task force that was formed largely as a result of Harwich’s budget fiasco last year.

In May, angry taxpayers voted down a $3.2 million override but in August approved one for $1 million... Read the rest of this story in The Cape Codder here, and comment below.

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For Sale: Nantucket Lightship, $7,600,000

Nantucket Lightship Up For Sale
Slideshow: Inside The Nantucket Lightship, Offered At $7.6 Million 

(CBS4) BOSTON Are you looking for a unique home on the water?

You can't miss her. She's 128 feet long and bright red.

"This is 4,000 square feet of luxury for home or office," said Golden. "It has commanding views of the water ... you could possibly imagine."

It's safe to say that it's one of a kind, from its granite counter tops to the game room, complete with a big screen TV, to its luxurious master bedroom and roomy bathroom. 

The lightships have a storied history from the 1850 to the 1980 they often anchored some 20 to 50 miles off Nantucket. The ship and others like it were the first thing immigrants and other travelers saw as they arrived in this country...

Read the rest of this CBS4 exclusive here, click here to see the slideshow, and make a comment below.

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Storm's victim was active, independent and popular

Woman killed in storm was independent, popular

By Franci R. Ellement, Globe Correspondent, January 20, 2006

DENNIS -- Barbara Lane may have been 80 years old, but as far as her relatives were concerned, the independent and popular Cape Cod native had a lot more life to live.

It was only four months ago that Lane, a widow since 1994, finally downsized from the old Victorian home where she raised her five children to a tiny, more manageable condominium.

She was in good health, and, with relatives who lived to be 107, Lane never talked about dying, her family said.

So, friends and family who gathered at her home yesterday were stunned and puzzled by the bizarre accident Wednesday afternoon when a tree fell on her car at the intersection of Church Street and Route 6A as Lane was driving to a doctor's appointment in Hyannis. The tree trunk crashed through the car's roof, killing her instantly.

She was the only reported death in Massachusetts from the powerful storm.

''It was just a second, one way or the other," said one of Lane's four daughters, Debbie Wilbur of East Freetown. ''It's awful." ...  Relatives alternated laughs and tears as they remembered Lane. Debbie Wilbur recalled how when Lane had her haircut last week, she quipped that she looked at least ''a half-year younger." Wilbur made one simple request: ''Please don't call her elderly. She was a young 80."

Read the rest of this Globe story here, and comment below.
Read the original report on the storm here. 

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13 more Dolphins die, 55 stranded in last month

13 Dolphins Found Beached On Cape Cod
Experts Puzzled By Deaths in Barnstable, Eastham, Wellfleet, Orleans and Brewster

Thirteen dolphins were found Thursday beached on five beaches along the Cape Cod coastline.

NewsCenter 5's Jorge Quiroga reported that the dolphins, from two different species, were found in Barnstable, Eastham, Wellfleet, Orleans and Brewster. 

"We have two different species of dolphins coming up in small numbers all over Cape Cod Bay. We were genuinely puzzled. We don't know the answer to that," New England Aquarium spokesman Scott Weber said.

"We don’t know how long they were stranded. If they come in on a high tide in the evening, they could be up there for eight to 10 hours. All their internal organs are being compromised," Cape Code Stranding Network's Tony LaCasse said.  Since Dec. 10, 2005, 55 dolphins and 18 pilot whales have been found stranded on Cape Cod. Read the WCVB story here, view the video here, and add your comments below.

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Barnstable Water Board revised, School energy costs impact budget

Barnstable: Water board to be revised

By David Still II,  dstill@barnstablepatriot.com

The town council was expected to create a permanent citizens board for the town-operated water works in Hyannis this week, though with some changes.

How members would be appointed proved to be the greatest source of discussion. Members of the current advisory committee and the Hyannis Civic Association’s board of directors were vocal about the need to avoid politics as much as possible and get a board ready to work. Their recommendation was to have the town manager be the appointing authority, which was contained in the initial proposal. That language has been reworked and was expected to be introduced as substi tute language this week.

The new plan is to have the town manager make the initial appointments, which has the benefit of an expedited process, with subsequent appointments falling to the council... Read the rest of this Patriot story here, and make your comments below.

By Edward F. Maroney, emaroney@barnstablepatriot.com

The school department has built a budget intended to keep a storm surge of electricity prices from drowning all initiatives in the coming fiscal year, but energy costs and the need to clean up the system’s schools leaves little room to maneuver.

In presenting the $62 million draft budget for the period beginning July 1, interim Supt. Tom McDonald shared the school committee’s disappointment that more could not be done to reduce fees and significantly enhance priority programs.

“We were hoping electricity would go up 10 percent,” McDonald said, but the truer estimate appears to be 50 percent. “With these numbers, we really could have done some great things for the school district...” Read the rest of this Patriot story here, and add your comments below.

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Falmouth dogs couldn't vote, Bourne teacher goes to sea

Falmouth- Management Team Reviews Leash Rules For Beebe Woods

To leash or not to leash. That was the question discussed at Thursday night’s meeting moderated by the Beebe Woods Management Team. Dogs were not at the meeting, but their owners were, and they were vocal in their support of keeping the status quo in Beebe Woods, a 387-acre town-owned parcel that is a popular destination for residents to walk their dogs off leash.

The Beebe Woods Management Team was created in the spring of 2004 and its purpose is to come up with a written management plan for Beebe Woods. The team makes recommendations to the Falmouth Conservation Commission based upon its plan. In November, the Falmouth Conservation Commission turned down a proposal by the Beebe Woods Management Team to create a fire road of about 1,000 feet in length... Read the rest of the Falmouth Enterprise story here, and add your comments below.

Bourne- Middle School Teacher Adds MMA Voyage To Her Lesson Plan
By DIANA T. BARTH

Bourne Middle School students have an inside source of information when it comes to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy cadets’ upcoming time at sea.

BMS science teacher Marilyn Linn’s son, Brendan Linn, is a freshman at the academy. He is about to experience the MMA Sea Term for the first time.

Ms. Linn has translated her interest in the voyage into the math and science frameworks of the middle school curriculum.

The ins and outs of everything from how much food the ship needs to carry to navigation will be fodder for teaching math and science to the students as they follow the journey online... Read the rest of the Bourne Enterprise story here, and add your comments below.

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Knowing Noah, town wants boat moved & costly golf couse clean-up

Knowing Noah

It was three seconds at best - maybe less - and then the young man who had suddenly appeared in George Booth’s Marstons Mills yard, quickly disappeared, sprinting gracefully down a deer path and out of sight.

"Just those three seconds and he’s gone. That really affected me," says Booth of his brief encounter with Noah Curtin. Booth didn’t know who the young man was, but the memory stayed with him.

"It struck me. And then after he went missing it made more sense to me," says Booth, who began making sketches from memory of the 22-year-old.

Noah, who lived in West Barnstable, was reported missing last May 11 after he failed to return home from one of his frequent daylong walks through the woods. His story made headlines for weeks as the search for him continued. Noah was found a month later, drowned in a Marstons Mills pond.

When Booth learned of the young man’s death he created two paintings (one is above). One was as he remembered him darting past, with his finger pointed outward in acknowledgement. The other was as Booth envisioned him, wading up to his neck in the water, something that Noah often did. Suffering from a mild form of schizophrenia, Noah would walk for hours through the woods, often wading into ponds as he went on his journeys... Read the rest of this Register story here, and comment on it below.

Smith ordered to remove tour boat from Bass River property
By Nicole Muller/ nmuller@cnc.com, Thursday, January 19, 2006

Dennis selectmen have denied Cliff Smith's request to continue storing his tour boat on the town's new property at the Bass River Bridge. The boat will be removed from the property by Jan. 31.

Smith has dry-docked the boat on the property for the 16 years that he has operated kayak rental and river tours there. Admitting that Town Administrator Bob Canevazzi advised him before the town closed on the purchase that he'd probably have to remove the boat, Smith argued Tuesday night that he has a $1 million insurance policy, indemnified to the town, and that the boat's presence on the property presents no risk. "It's aluminum, so there's no fire hazard," he said. "There's no toxic waste, and it's nine-feet high, so no one can climb up into it - no one ever has." Read the rest of this Register story here, and comment on it below.

Dennis golf course cleanup will be costly
By Nicole Muller/ nmuller@cnc.com, Thursday, January 19, 2006

The brief but mighty storm that struck the Cape Dec. 9 had lasting - and expensive - effects on Dennis' two town-owned golf courses.

The storm claimed close to 250 trees - about 50 at Dennis Highlands and about 200 at Dennis Pines. Golf Superintendent Mike Cummings and his crews have devoted most of their time since the storm cleaning up the debris. Now, they need help.

"We have two problems that we aren't capable of handling ourselves," Cummings said. "Some trees are broken and leaning against other trees. We need a bucket truck to safely take those down, and the town does not own one. Most of the damaged trees are pines, which have shallow roots and were pulled out of the ground by the high winds. We don't have the equipment necessary to remove and dispose of the large logs or to remove the roots and stumps."

Truckloads of oak logs have been sent to the transfer station for the next town firewood giveaway. But 90 percent of the logs are pine, which is undesirable for burning. The town's wood chipper has reduced branches to usable mulch, but it can't handle thick trunks... Read the rest of this Register story here, and comment on it below.

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Jack & Dona on Wind Turbine Noise

Since we only have room for a few headlines, cct is giving you BOTH sides of this particular argument in one take:

Jack on the turbine noise:

From the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, in its decision last May to approve Cape Wind's request to connect its turbines to the regional grid -

"Based on the record, the Siting Board finds that, while the wind farm may be audible onshore when meteorological conditions permit, the noise levels produced by the wind farm would be lower than background noise levels onshore, and would not result in a perceptible increase in the overall noise levels at shore locations.

"The record does not contain information on the potential changes in noise levels at other locations that would result from the less frequent operation of generators displaced by the wind farm. However, the Siting Board notes that many fossil-fueled generators are located in close proximity to residential areas and result in significant increases in overall noise levels when operating...  Read the read here.

Dona on the turbine noise:

The biggest problem with large-scale wind-powered electricity generation is the grid. A home system can work well because the fluctuating output (even in the windiest places it is highly variable) can be regulated by batteries or flywheels, and another source (the grid or a gas-powered generator) is tied in to kick in when need be. This is the model where larger systems work in isolated villages, too.

But industrial-scale wind plants designed to supply the grid do not work well, even where the wind is superb. The grid is meant to respond to demand, constantly modulating the various suppliers to match the demand exactly. Wind plants respond only to the wind, forcing the more controllable "conventional" plants to change their output in response to wind production as well as to grid demand. And the need to respond within seconds to a drop in wind production requires a plant that runs more inefficiently than one that could run if the grid didn't have to cope with the unpredictable fluctuations of significant wind-powered sources. That is to say, wind farms may actually cause more fossil fuel burning... Read the rest here.

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Plymouth wants to tax nuclear waste

Tax the spent nuclear fuel rods?

PLYMOUTH (Jan. 18)  Ask your state officials what it's like to talk with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and you'll get one adjective: frustrating.

"It's mind-boggling that we have absolutely no control," state Sen. Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, said of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station's license renewal. "They've given FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) authority through the next quarter-century to remove the waste so we can't even bring that up."

True to its word, the NRC limited relicensing discussion to the plant's environmental impact and its aging components when it met with town and state officials last Thursday.

And, Murray said, as it seems clear Pilgrim will likely receive its new license without any discussion of Plymouth's concerns, which include evacuation plans, security, and spent fuel rod storage, the best course of action is to make sure Plymouth gets the most compensation possible for hosting the plant.

At the request of selectmen, Murray, Rep. Vinny deMacedo, R-Plymouth, and Rep. Tom O'Brien, D-Kingston, filed special legislation that, if passed, would allow the town to receive payment for the spent fuel rods stored within its borders.

So far, the legislation filed would allow the town to charge plant owner and operator Entergy a minimum of $2 million per year to store spent fuel rods on site as it does today. The board will debate whether that minimum is sufficient before formally endorsing the legislation... Read the rest of the OCM story here, read our blog about the Nuke Plant here, and comment below.

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Lobster Liberation? Is a Crab Crusade next?

By People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - PETA
January 18, 2006, By Paula Moore

Last March, a crowd of well-wishers gathered at Manomet Point in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to see off a new friend as he journeyed back home.

The gathering made headlines because the traveler was a 15-pound lobster named Donovan, on the final leg of a nearly 1,000-mile trek. After spending weeks in a tank in a Potomac, Maryland, seafood store, Donovan, estimated to be between 35 and 40 years old, was being returned to the Atlantic Ocean, courtesy of a sympathetic customer who shelled out $150 for his release and another $100 to send him home.

That was just the beginning. I predict that the trend in lobster liberation will continue—and it will expand to other sea animals. Fish freedom is coming. All it takes is for one person to say she’s leaving fish in their ocean homes and off the barbecue grill—and for others to stop and really think about her decision.

Donovan is hardly the first sea animal to escape becoming someone’s dinner. Also in March, newspapers across the country reported on Bubba, a 22-pound lobster who was saved from a fish market and shipped to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium (where, sadly, he died in quarantine). Earlier, schoolchildren in Port Angeles, Washington, rescued 14-pound Hercules from a supermarket tank and sent the lucky lobster to Maine for release.

In fact, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals hears from so many concerned shoppers who want to help after seeing lobsters languishing in grocery store tanks, we’ve set up a Web site with tips on successful crustacean liberations.

Can crab crusaders be far behind? I don’t think so. As we learn more about sea animals, and how similar they are to us in so many ways, more and more people are having trouble with the idea of putting them on the table.

For example, researchers have discovered that octopuses play charades in order to avoid harm. Two little species of Indian Ocean octopuses, one no bigger than a walnut, were videotaped disguising themselves as coconuts or clumps of floating algae with six of their arms, while walking away from danger, backwards, using the other two—discrediting the theory that walking requires hard bones and skeletal muscle.

Researchers are also debunking some old fish stories about fish.

We now know that fish are smart. They feel pain. They have complex social structures and can recognize individual “shoal” mates. Some fish gather information by eavesdropping on others, and some use tools, such as the South African fish who lay their eggs on leaves and then carry them to safety. Fish even like to play: Oscar fish will toss and push ping pong balls floating on the surface of their water.

An issue of the journal Fish and Fisheries cited more than 500 research papers proving that fish are clever, have impressive long-term memories and sophisticated social structures, and can use tools. The introductory chapter said fish are “steeped in social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian strategies of manipulation, punishment and reconciliation.” Sound like anyone you know?

If you find the idea of eating Flipper (or Fido) hard to swallow, then flounders should be off your plate, too. Liberating old lobsters like Donovan is a good first step, but let’s extend our compassion to all sentient beings. The best way to start is to stop eating them.

Paula Moore is a senior writer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510. FishingHurts.com.

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Sandwich PAC must dissolve, Four Bourne ponds in trouble

Sandwich taxpayers Political Action Committee (PAC) ordered to dissolve

By Silene Gordon/ sgordon@cnc.com. Thursday, January 19, 2006

The PAC, which promoted the passage of a Proposition 2 1/2 underride in town, should have formed as a ballot question committee instead, said OCPF Director Michael J. Sullivan.

This office has concluded, based on our review, that Sandwich Taxpayers PAC was, indeed, acting as a ballot question committee and should have organized as a ballot question committee," wrote Sullivan. "The campaign finance law does not contemplate ongoing ballot question committees. Ballot question committees must dissolve once the voters have made a final determination on the specific ballot question or questions the committee was organized to support or oppose." Read the Upper Cape Codder story here, and comment below.

Four Bourne ponds have water quality problems
Thursday, January 19, 2006 

The Bourne Planning Department is reviewing a report from the Cape Cod Commission about the water quality in local ponds.

Two areas listed "at-risk" are Lilly Pond, off Williams Avenue beyond MacArthur Boulevard, Pocasset, and Picture Lake (also known as Flax Pond), Pocasset.  Read the rest of  the Upper Cape Codder story here, and comment below.

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80 year-old Yarmouth woman dies in storm

High winds blamed for one death, traffic snarls, power outages 

The storm turned tragic on Cape Cod when  83-year-old Barnara Lane was killed when a tree fell on her car in Yarmouth. The accident happened on Route 6A near Church Street Wednesday afternoon.

Strong winds associated with an intensifying storm system buffeted the Cape today and the results have turned deadly. A squall line containing the strongest winds has now passed through the Cape. Wind gusts to 66 MPH at Provincetown and 61 MPH at Nantucket were reported. Read the CWN story here.

In all, more than 50,000 Bay State residents were in the dark Wednesday, including about 33,000 National Grid customers in Bellingham, Franklin, Marlborough, Southborough, Wrentham and the Merrimack Valley.

NewsCenter 5's Jack Harper reported that at Pleasant and North streets in Bridgewater, Boston Edison crews had to restore power after a large tree went down, taking lines with it.

"We've got power out all over town. We got a big tree down here. There's primaries out all over. Right here is a main concern, with the high voltage on the top lines ... Forest Street, South Street, center of town, it's very dangerous out there," Bridgewater fire Capt. Cliff Whiting said.

"Most of the town is without power right now, and we expect it to be that way for some time as the crews continue to work on it. We have had a lot of trees down as well as power lines," Bridgewater police Sgt. Christopher Delmonte said. Read the read of the WCVB  story here.

West Dennis, Plymouth lose power 

At Logan International Airport, incoming flights were delayed more than 2 1/2 hours by the weather at midafternoon, according a Federal Aviation Administration Web site

At least 90,000 customers lost power in outages around the state. National Grid reported 35,000 customers affected, mostly in the southeastern part of the state and the Merrimack Valley. About 50,000 NStar customers lost service, primarily north and west of Boston... Read the rest of the WSFB story here, and comment below.

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Ptown may leave Cape Tech, pay highest per-pupal cost now

By Pru Sowers, Banner Correspondent

PROVINCETOWN — Town Manager Keith Bergman has formally asked officials in the 11 other towns that send students to the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School (below right) to let Provincetown temporarily withdraw from the district for the 2006-07 school year, potentially stranding nine local students who currently attend the vocational school.

The withdrawal would save Provincetown an estimated $152,000, reducing a projected budget shortfall of $400,000 to approximately $250,000. Even with the reduction, as it stands now, Provincetown voters will be asked at the April Town Meeting to approve a Proposition 2 1/2 budget override.

Withdrawing from the Cape Tech district, however, could also mean that the nine Provincetown students who currently attend the vocational school would be forced to leave and put their names on a 200-person waiting list.

“That’s just ridiculous,” said Terese Nelson, chair of the Provincetown School Committee. “Those children who go to that school to learn technical services won’t be able to attend. It’s leaving those kids hanging out to dry.” Currently, Provincetown pays the highest per-pupil tuition rate of all the 12 towns in the Cape Tech school district... Read the rest of the Provincetown Banner story here, and comment below.

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Chatham's Bergstrom to run for Rep., New Harwich Housing Trends

Bergstrom Announces State Rep Run

CHATHAM --- Selectman Ronald Bergstrom said this week he plans to seek the Fourth Barnstable District state representative seat being vacated by Shirley Gomes. Bergstrom, a Democrat, will face a field of opponents for his party’s nomination in the September primary. Shortly after Gomes announced that she would not seek another term, Harwich resident Ray Gottwald threw his hat into the rink. Gomes’ Democratic opponent in the 2004 race, Provincetown Selectman Sarah Peake, also said she would run again.

Bergstrom acknowledged the challenges of seeking the state representative seat, but said his experience as a selectman and in various county positions made his realize there’s only so much you can accomplish on the local level.

“I feel this district is a great place, and it needs good representation,” he said.

This would not be Bergstrom’s first attempt at political office outside of Chatham . In the Nov. 2, 2004 election, he unsuccessfully ran for Barnstable County commissioner. Although he received the most votes in the Fourth District, he was not able to top the vote count of the incumbents in the more populous Upper Cape towns... Read the rest of this Chronicle story here, and comment below.

Harwich Housing Trends Move Toward Demolition And Reconstruction
by William F. Galvin

HARWICH --- As land for development becomes more scarce with each new home constructed, the trend toward demolition and new construction grows in this community. That is clearly reflected in year-end building permit tabulations that show more than double the amount of demolition permits issued from 2003 to 2005. This comes as the number of building permits issued over the past three years has declined.

"There are more and more teardowns and they’re down by the water,” Building Commissioner Geoffrey Larsen said of his experience since taking the position in town six months ago.

The board of appeals is seeing more requests for special permits to alter or expand non-conforming uses. Larsen said the requests for demolition permits are more often accompanied by building permit requests for larger structures.

The special permit requests for non-conforming structures are particularly prevalent in the town’s Ocean Grove Campground section of town where houses were built on small lots along Nantucket Sound and for years used as seasonal cottages. Those structures are now being converted to year-round use... Read the rest of this Chronicle  story here, and comment below.

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State warned of Rolling Blackouts this winter

Energy prices are at all time high - and the electric industry is still feeling the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

This could mean rolling blackouts for us this winter. Chris May (on right) reports, so far we've been lucky, because the weather has been mild.

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Maybe the Chinese discovered Cape Cod too

I see they are unveiling this week in Beijing a map that proves that a Chinese admiral called Zheng He discovered America in 1421 long before Christopher Columbus was even a gleam in his old man’s eye.

A Chinese lawyer named Liu Gang came into possession of the map, which is said to show all the world, even the new one, with remarkable accuracy, in 2001 and has spent the intervening years trying to authenticate it.

"It’s authentic. It supports my book to the hilt," says Gavin Menzies, the Brit author who first laid out Admiral Zheng He’s claim, including the theory that his fleet reached the coast of Rhode Island.

I say, welcome to the club. What else is new?

Columbus but in the realm of fantasy, with occasional hard evidence, there apparently were so many strangers wandering around the Americas in 1492 that Chris was hard put the find room to land.

A good deal of them wound up in New England, too.

Some 50 years ago, a man named Frederick Pohl discovered holes in some rocks along Bass River and Follins Pond in Yarmouth and decided they were mooring holes for the Viking Leif Ericson’s ships and proclaimed Cape Cod to be the long-sought Vinland...

Read the rest of this CNC column here, and comment below.

Read the original story in The Age here. 

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Four more Dolphins stranded at Linnell Landing in Brewster

Four More Dolphins Recovered On Cape's Shores
The Cape Cod Stranding Network (CCSN) was busy on Tuesday with more  stranded dolphins

CBS4) CAPE COD The Cape Cod Stranding Network has recovered three Atlantic White-Sided dolphins that were found stranded at Linnell Landing in Brewster Tuesday morning. Another dolphin was found at Chipman’s Cove in Wellfleet. These incident are the latest in a string of dolphin strandings on Cape Cod beaches.

The dolphins were euthanized and animal autopsies will be conducted on Wednesday to determine the cause of the stranding.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, experts said a snowstorm might have contributed to the deaths nine whales and 24 dolphins after becoming stranded on Cape Cod in Massachusetts last year, see story here. 

Read the CBS4 story here, and comment below.  

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Senator Kennedy has a Cape Cod "love child"

Mag: Ted K’s secret love child a secret no more
By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The National Enquirer splashes this week  with a shocking story about Sen. Ted Kennedy’s secret love child with a Cape Cod woman whom the mag says he dated during his days as a swinging single.

 According to the tabloid’s source, the boy, named Christopher, just celebrated his 21st birthday and is “mature enough to make his own choices about his background and biological father.”

A Kennedy family confidante told the Enquirer, “This is one of the biggest secrets in the Kennedy family and known to only a few people including Ted’s ex-wife, Joan.” As for the senator, his spokesgal Melissa Wagoner last night called the tabloid tale “irresponsible fiction.”

Here’s the story according to the Enquirer: Back in 1983, Kennedy, then 51, took up with Caroline Bilodeau, an attractive brunette, several months before divorcing Joan, the mother of his three kids — Kara, Ted Jr. and Patrick. Bilodeau’s friends told the Enquirer the local lass became so smitten with the senator, she “had dreams about being the next Mrs. Ted Kennedy.” But the love affair came crashing down when Bilodeau told Ted a baby was on the way, the mag reports.

"Caroline announced to the family that she was two months pregnant around May 1984," blabbed a Bilodeau confidante. "Ted was not happy about the news. He already had three kids with Joan and knew a baby out of wedlock could hurt him politically." According to the Enquirer, the scandal-scarred senator begged Bilodeau to have an abortion, but she refused. "He told her he couldn’t undergo another scandal — not after Chappaquiddick, not so close to his divorce from Joan” said the source. “He was very angry when she defied him and had the child."..

Read the rest of the Herald story here, and comment below.

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Harwich, no hate, a labor debate but DQ to rebuild

Harwich NEWS, January 18, 2006 

Proclaiming respect in Harwich
By Douglas Karlson/ dkarlson@cnc.com, Wednesday, January 18, 2006

It’s official. There’s no place for hate in Harwich.

 A few dozen town residents braved frigid temperatures Monday to participate in a public ceremony on the steps of town hall, where a proclamation was read designating Harwich a "community of respect for all people."

"We must be the first responders to hate," said John Bangert, who has taken the lead in organizing the "No Place for Hate" movement in Harwich. The movement gained momentum last fall after a swastika was painted on a road sign near the bike path (see related editorial, Page 14).

 During his remarks on the legal holiday honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Bangert recalled Captain Jonathan Walker, a Harwich native who in 1844 helped fugitive slaves in Florida. He was imprisoned and branded on the hand with the initials "S.S." for slave stealer. As the "man with the branded hand," he gained national fame as a champion of freedom.  (The photo shows Selectman Robin Wilkins taking his turn signing the "No Hate" proclamation. Oracle Staff photo by Merrily Lunsford)

Read the Oracle story here, and comment below.

Labor negotiations spark debate within town hall
By Douglas Karlson/ dkarlson@cnc.com, Wednesday, January 18, 2006

With six labor contracts up for renewal soon, some town officials and civic leaders are sparring over how Harwich should conduct its labor negotiations. Some have argued that the town's new legal counsel should take the leading role to keep labor costs under control. That's fine, said Town Administrator Wayne Melville, but the town doesn't have enough money to do that - not this year, anyway.

The issue erupted after Melville disclosed that a $14,000 monthly legal bill from the town's general law firm, Kopelman and Paige, threatened to blow this year's legal budget. He has suggested that the town use its new labor attorney, Collins, Loughran and Peloquin, in the most cost-effective way possible.

"In a limited-budget environment we should use counsel for strategy and language," he told the Oracle. The town administrator noted that politics can play a role in labor negotiations, referring to past police and fire contracts where deals were struck between labor representatives and members of the board of selectmen.

That view drew fire from Selectman Don Howell, who told the Oracle that Melville's comments made such a practice seem routine, which it is not, he said. He has participated, after asking permission, he said, in a negotiation over the superior officer's contract. Responding to Howell's charge, Melville said that deals were also made behind his back with the fire contract, resulting in a shift structure that no one likes.

Read the Oracle story here, and comment below

Dairy Queen owner vowing to rebuild after weekend fire
By Douglas Karlson/ dkarlson@cnc.com, Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The owner of the Dairy Queen on Route 28, which was severely damaged in a two-alarm fire Saturday, pledged to rebuild the popular ice cream and fast food shop that was regarded by many as a Harwich Port institution.

"Depending on who you talk to, it’s iffy whether the building can be saved," said owner Mary Lou Duquette, who was in Florida when the blaze erupted. An insurance adjuster was scheduled to visit the site Tuesday.

Harwich firefighters received the call at 6:14 p.m. after police noticed the fire. At 6:24 p.m. fire responders sounded a second alarm, summoning help from Dennis, Chatham, Orleans and Yarmouth. The fire was extinguished by 6:48 p.m. The fast food restaurant was closed at the time and there were no injuries.

Deputy Chief William Flynn categorized the damage as in excess of $500,000. "The biggest challenge with the fire was it had been going for a while and it was very hot," said Flynn. "It destroyed all the kitchen equipment."

Read the Oracle story here, and comment below

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Not in the Kennedys' Backyard

Do not doubt the Kennedys' devotion to renewable energy. If they had their way and the policies they support became law, there would be new wind farms along the coasts and on Appalachian hilltops, Midwestern prairies and Rocky Mountain ridges - more than 100,000 turbines twirling from sea to shining sea.

Just not in the waters where the Kennedys go sailing. Their love of renewable energy does not extend to the 130 turbines proposed for Nantucket Sound. Many other environmentalists consider it one of the most promising new energy projects in America, but the Kennedys are against it.

Robert Kennedy Jr., the environmental lawyer, warned in an Op-Ed article that the wind farm would "damage the views from 16 historic sites," one of which happens to be the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port. He didn't specify the damage, but this is what it would amount to: if you stood in Hyannis Port, six miles from the wind farm, the turbines on the horizon would appear to be a half-inch high, about the size of a fingernail.

Senator Edward Kennedy is also opposed to the project, and his colleagues on Capitol Hill may effectively kill the project by slipping a last-minute amendment into a Coast Guard budget bill. The bill was passed earlier by both houses and is now being negotiated behind closed doors in a House-Senate conference committee.

Senator Kennedy says he has nothing to do with this maneuver and doesn't support it, but a committee source tells me that the Massachusetts delegation lobbied for the amendment, which would ban offshore wind farms within 1.5 nautical miles of shipping lanes. That's a dubious requirement, considering that European offshore wind farms already operate near much busier shipping lanes than those in Nantucket Sound.

To be fair, there are good arguments against the wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Robert Kennedy rightly complained that it wouldn't be feasible without hefty state and federal subsidies. But neither would the other renewable-energy projects promoted by him and his uncle...

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Orleans woman cited in Dennis rollover

DRIVER CITED AFTER DENNIS ROLLOVER
DENNIS – (Tuesday) Dennis Police cited an Orleans woman after this rollover crash on Route 28 at Depot Road around 8:15 AM. According to the Times a pickup driven by 36-year old Brandy Tanner ran a stop sign and collided with a vehicle driven by 54-year old Kathleen Briggs of Dennis. Tanner’s pickup then rolled over striking the side of Barbo’s Wayside Furniture causing minor damage to the building. Tanner was cited for a stop sign violation as well as operating an unregistered and uninsured motor vehicle. Neither driver was seriously injured

BODY OF APPARENT SUICIDE WASHED UP ON NAUSET BEACH

ORLEANS - (Tuesday) An early morning beach walker found a man washed up on Nauset Beach today. Police and rescue were called to the scene at 6 a.m. for what seemed to be a suicide.

Orleans police officials said the unidentified man apparently parked his car in the beach parking lot and waded into the surf. State police detectives on scene said there seemed to be nothing suspicious about the death.

Read the rest of the Cape Wide News here, and comment below. 

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A walk on the winter beach

Harding's Beach Walk

By Robert Finch

It's 7 a.m. at Harding's Beach in Chatham, a barrier beach stretching about a mile east along Nantucket Sound. Sea snow is sifting through the air in a northwest wind. The tide is low, exposing a hard flat beach about thirty feet wide to walk on. To my right the waters of the Sound are a steel blue, the surface cut into a billion little knives by the wind. Water is different in winter, more viscous when it's cold, almost gelid. Waves slide thickly up onto the beach, and the foam at the edges hardens and freezes, so that it crumbles and blows away like sawdust when you kick it.

The beach is so hard that my steps leave no imprint at all. Dried bits of seaweed scamper and skip by me as if with a life of their own. There are many more shells here than on the Bay side, mostly big whelk and slipper shells, occasionally mermaid's toenails and clumps of minuscule cowries.

The Nantucket Sound shore is more sheltered than Cape Cod Bay from the northwest winter winds, so there also tends to be more sea birds on this side of the Cape. Little dunlins run along the shore, picking at shells and seaweed. Some black ducks and scaup bounce between the waves. But the big flocks are red-breasted mergansers: sleek, streamlined sea ducks that seem to compress themselves laterally and extend their length when they take off in unison into the wind on strong, rapid wingbeats.

I stand at the entrance to Stage Harbor, watching a flock of 150 or so mergansers take off, admiring their grace and beauty and health under such harsh conditions. Then I notice one duck near shore, separated from the rest. As I approach, he skitters away from shore, but with an awkward, unbalanced motion. When he gets about a hundred feet offshore, he stops, and I can see that he's not right. He uses only one wing, and is constantly tipping over on one side, like an unbalanced toy, exposing his white belly. Every minute or so he tips over and disappears entirely under water for about fifteen seconds, then bounces up and swims around in circles.

Mergansers are diving ducks, but this one doesn't seem to be diving for food. He seems to be having trouble just staying upright and afloat. I wonder if some gunner has winged him, or if his is just a natural calamity, a reminder that the strength and grace of his brothers has a high price. At any rate, I know I'm tiring him just by keeping him out there in that strong, running current with my presence. So I move along, and watch him limp back towards the shore, probably to freeze or starve, if the gulls don't get him first. If I went back for him, he'd only swim out again; and if I could reach him, what could I do for him? Animals, wild animals, at least, don't want pity from us. They don't want anything from us. I think that's one reason why it's so hard for us to grant them equal status on the earth. Whether it's cruelty or compassion, they just don't play our games.

_{Broadcast January 17, 2006. Robert Finch has lived on and written about Cape Cod for over thirty years. He is the author of five collections of essays, most recently "Death of a Hornet and Other Cape Cod Essays," and co-editor of "The Norton Book of Nature Writing."}

To read the rest of this WCAI essay by Robert Finch, click here, and please add you comments below.

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Big gaps in state's plans for emission

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff, January 17, 2006

Governor Mitt Romney has touted Massachusetts's  first-in-the-nation plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the dirtiest power plants, but the plan that went into effect Jan. 1 remains incomplete, and Romney is pushing changes that could allow plants to avoid pollution reductions.

The governor's proposed changes would permit power plants to expand the use of ''offsets" -- measures intended to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere -- to compensate for excess pollution at their facilities. The offsets could, in certain cases, be purchased anywhere around the world, meaning a facility owner could pay to plant a forest in Chile, for example, or capture gases seeping from a landfill in India.

But state officials do not have a blueprint for how to administer the complex program. Neither the existing plan nor Romney's proposal details how state officials would verify that offsets were actually carried out or achieved promised greenhouse gas reductions. It's also not clear how power plants would be penalized if they fail to comply.

Hearing in Sandwich on February 16 at 6 p.m. 

In addition, the governor is advocating language changes that environmental critics say would weaken key criteria to evaluate proposed offsets. Instead of requiring projects to be ''enforceable," for example, Romney wants them to be ''enforceable as a practical matter," wording that critics say amounts to a loophole because the meaning is not clear.

The governor announced his proposed changes last month, just days before the state pulled out of a more ambitious regional pact to limit greenhouse gases from all power plants in nine states...

The Massachusetts program applies to the state's six oldest power plants, which account for more than 70 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted by all 32 plants in the state. Although the plants are often called the ''Filthy Five," there are actually six: two in Somerset, and one each in Salem, Sandwich, Everett, and Holyoke.

Read the rest of the Globe story here, and make your comments below.  

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New England energy is 36% above nation's

New England faces shifting energy game

BY NEAL PEIRCE AND CURTIS JOHNSON

New England historically has been America's energy orphan, lying at the end of the energy pipelines. Only Hawaii is more vulnerable to interruption of imports or distribution system breakdown. Electricity costs are 36 percent above the national average.

P_{HOTO: The control room at ISO New England serves as an around-the-clock watchdog-coordinator of power flowing over the region's 7,000 miles of electric transmission lines. photo courtesy of ISO New England}  

Now, in a century shadowed by threat of global energy emergencies - Middle East instability and violence, Asia's insatiable energy appetite, the prospect of more Katrinas and devastating flooding wrought by global warming - can New England survive and prosper?

Are the six states ready to unite in a search for radical diversification of energy sources? Can they conserve so smartly that they reduce their vulnerability?

... It's not just political leaders who need to lead New England's energy revolution. New ideas, skills, advocacy, need to come too from corporate leaders, scientists, planners, and the region's rich array of nonprofit groups. Where conversions to a new energy age hit barriers, civic and political New England's leaders need to be on deck. Think of the impact of top public-private leadership standing up, collectively, to local opponents of energy breakthroughs - opponents of wind farms off Cape Cod, and in the Vermont mountains, for example. The message wouldn't be hostile, simply that every reasonable new piece of energy supply is needed to enhance New England's energy future... 

The activism seems directly linked to what some experts call "civic environmentalism" - an ideal rooted in the New England heritage of shared responsibility that began on the deck of the Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor on Nov. 11, 1620. The ideal was nurtured over centuries of town meetings and stewardship of local forests and farmlands. Starting in the 1960s, it expanded dramatically as towns across New England set up land trusts to protect treasured local lands, more recently to advance "smart growth" measures.

Read the rest of this Bangor Daily News story here, and give us your comments below.

_{These articles are the kickoff of a New England Futures Project aimed at identifying 21st century challenges facing the six-state region. Citizen reaction and participation, leading to a shared regional agenda, are key to the project. Your comments are welcome at www.newenglandfutures.org. Journalists Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson have reported for newspapers on the unique strategic issues facing two dozen metropolitan regions nationwide. Peirce is a syndicated columnist (Washington Post Writers Group) who also has written two books on New England. Johnson is a public policy analyst and a former community college president and Minnesota government official. They are co-authors of the book "Citistates. "}

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Another predator for our dwindling cod stocks

 Just what Cape Cod needs - MORE SEALS.
Canada opens hunting season on them again.

Pupdate
By Marine Animal Lifeline  

Many people ask us if we ever are able to determine how the animals do after they are released. All of the animals we release are fitted with a small plastic disc that is glued to the fur on the top of their heads. This disc has the animal's ID number on it as well as the phone number to the Lifeline. If the animal ever strands again and is found, we can be called and can identify the animal quickly. This does happen on occasion, and on other occasions we receive sighting reports of released animals which are doing well on their own. We received such a call last week when one of the harbor seal pups raised in rehabilitation last summer and was released, was seen basking in the sun, healthy, on a dock in Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This is great news to hear! The seal is # 229 and was originally found stranded in Bunker Harbor, Maine, on June 6, 2005, only one week old at the time, and was rehabilitated and released on August 6, 2005. When investigators approached her, she turned, growled at them, and jumped back into the water and swam off!

Read the Pupdate story here (4th paragraph), and make your opinion know below. 

Canada faces up to the seal vs. cod problem

As this BBC story relates, the Canadian government gave the go-ahead for more than 300,000 seals to be killed there last year.

The Canadian government said the measure was necessary because the seal population is booming, causing the area's stocks of commercial fish - particularly cod - to dwindle.
Read the BBC story here, and make your comments below.

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Global warming, Cape Cod, and Manicheanism

Global warming, Cape Cod, and Manicheanism

Posted by David Roberts at 9:50 AM on 16 Jan 2006

Unlike, apparently, 150 other environmentalists, I don't know enough about the proposed Cape Cod wind farm to venture an opinion on it.

Bill McKibben says "when [other environmental] efforts come into conflict with the imperative need to act urgently on global warming, they have to take second place." It's a common sentiment these days, but I'll be honest that it makes me a bit nervous.

I like to think I "get" global warming, but I don't necessarily accept that it's the One and True Problem, the overwhelming existential threat before which all other considerations must go overboard-- any more than I believe the same of terrorism.

But even in light of global warming, we still owe ourselves honest debate about other issues. Biodiversity matters. Wilderness matters. Human culture, democracy and rule of law matter. The economy matters. If you go far enough down the matters scale, eventually you find the pastoral ocean views of American aristocracy on Nantucket, and hell, even they matter a little bit.

Of course, this discussion is a bit moot in light of the fact that global warming receives nothing near the attention it deserves in most contexts. I just don't want to end up saying, "you're with us or you're with the global warmists," to batter down all local or countervailing concerns. That kind of manicheanism is for the other side.

<sub>Editor's Note:
Man·i·chae·ism. n.
1. The syncretic, dualistic religious philosophy taught by the Persian prophet Manes, combining elements of Zoroastrian, Christian, and Gnostic thought and opposed by the imperial Roman government, Neo-Platonist philosophers, and orthodox Christians.
2. A dualistic philosophy dividing the world between good and evil principles or regarding matter as intrinsically evil and mind as intrinsically good.</sub>

This appeared in GRIST. Please tell us what you think of this column by adding your comments below. 

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Walter Cronkite: the Pat Robertson of the MSM

Lapsed Catholic Blogger offers "Flashback to one of my fave stories of 2005":

"When a reporter for The New York Times Magazine called Walter Cronkite, a windmill opponent, and asked him about the proposal, the retired newsman bristled at the suggestion that this was all about selfishness. But, he had to confess, that's exactly what it is.

"'The problem really is Nimbyism,' he conceded by telephone, 'and it bothers me a great deal that I find myself in this position. I'm all for these (windmills), but there must be areas that are far less valuable than [my property].' The reporter prodded, and he said maybe the California desert would work. Isn't that a bit far away to supply Cape Cod? Well, he added, 'Inland New England would substitute just as well.' In fact, any place but here would do just fine.

"It seemed to dawn on Cronkite that such honesty wasn't serving his cause or himself: He interrupted his train of thought and implored the reporter, 'Be kind to an old man.'"

See "Relapsed Catholic" blog ("Where the religious rubber meets the pop culture road") here, and please comment below.

The National Review had this even funnier take on "Our Ted":

Meanwhile, other environmentalists and conservationists are eager to stop the wind farm from being built, largely because it will mar the view from their extravagant coastal homes. Leading this charge is Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose famous compound would have a nice view of the turbines. (To be fair, though most people say the turbines would be hard to see except on very clear days, and even then they'd be tiny blips on the horizon.)

But Ted wants no such thing spoiling cocktail hour on the veranda. So he drafted his famously green nephew Robert to join the fight — even though Robert is a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which strongly backs the project.

Obviously, the reason this is so much fun is that the stakes are so small for everybody except a handful of people who deserve to lose.

Read all of the National Review article here, and please comment below.

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Deval Patrick speaks on MLK in Hyannis

By KEVIN DENNEHY STAFF WRITER

HYANNIS - Deval Patrick, the former civil rights attorney now running for governor of Massachusetts, last night urged a Cape gathering to live out the lessons of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a world where King's message of ''ultimate human goodness'' is slipping away.

Patrick, the first major black candidate for governor in the state's history, reminded a packed Zion Union Church that all of society's problems were man-made.

To resuscitate the dreams of a better world that King spoke about four decades ago will take efforts of all people - from politicians to individuals in the community.

Read the rest of The Cape Cod Times story here, and comment below.

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Cape part of new navigation system

By Mark Pothier, Globe Staff, January 16, 2006

The morning commute was going well: I was seeing orange, not red. According to the map on my console-mounted computer screen, that meant the traffic flow ahead was ''moderate," moving at between 27 and 52 miles per hour, from Route 3 in Hingham to the Southeast Expressway.

I was midway through a six-day test of a $50,000 Acura RL outfitted with a navigation system and a real-time traffic display. My daily drive, from Plymouth to Boston, offers plenty of real-time traffic challenges. It can take 40 minutes, or 2 hours...

The traffic feature is more novel. And for now, its scope is limited. At the time I drove the Acura, coverage areas included Boston, plus major routes in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Worcester counties. Parts of Cape Cod and the Springfield region also have coverage, as do Manchester and Nashua, N.H., and Burlington, Vt. Nationwide, about 20 major cities have real-time traffic displays...

A few days later, though, it was back to my Honda Civic. I was once again relying on radio reports and skillful lane-shifting, feeling a bit blue and driving red.

Read the rest of this Globe story here, and make your opinions felt in a comment below.

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Two vie in Harwich Wednesday

By William F. Galvin

HARWICH --- The Harwich Civic Association candidates’ forum drew a crowd on Saturday morning in the first opportunity to hear Larry Cole and Anita Doucette discuss reasons why they should be elected selectman a week from Wednesday.

The forum provided an opportunity for the candidates to answer several prepared questions provided by the association. Then the 60 people in attendance had a chance to ask questions.

Cole, chairman of the capital outlay committee, said he decided to run because the financial issues facing the town last spring and summer-- including two overrides-- did not have adequate discussion relative to the quality and quantity of services taxpayers expect from local government.

Doucette, the town clerk, said she has a history in the community, having lived here most of her life, graduating from Harwich High School, and can bring a balance to the board for long-term residents and those who have just moved to town.

Read the rest of this Chronicle  report here, and make your choice for Selectman below.

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Kerry & Kennedy fail the fish

 Fixing the fishing

ce Journal, Monday, January 16, 2006

Congress is set to re-target the 1976 Magnuson Act. In the act's last reauthorization, in 1996, Congress missed its aim of making America's fisheries healthier and more profitable. Maybe this time it will finally hit a bull's-eye.

Stocks of groundfish off the New England coast have failed to rebound, and fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific are also in trouble.

A robust groundfish fishery is particularly critical for the Ocean State. Fishermen used to catch cod and haddock as far south as Cape May, N.J., and there were plenty in the waters off Point Judith. With the region's major fishery now contracted to its central grounds, on Georges Bank, because of overfishing, Rhode Island's fishermen are subject to increased expense, not to mention danger, in the long steaming time to and from the fishing grounds.

Back in the '70s, the fear was that foreign fishing fleets would wipe out our coastal fisheries. The Magnuson Act established a 200-mile economic-extraction zone for U.S. fishing and other interests, to protect our most valuable fisheries, including Georges Bank.

For a while, stocks of cod and other groundfish on the bank stabilized. Then, with huge new investments in boats and with various gear advances, the American fishing fleet became so efficient that, by the mid-90s, the vast schools of cod suddenly disappeared -- were fished out. The same thing happened with the halibut fishery off Alaska and the red snappers in the Gulf of Mexico.

The 1996 reauthorization, which added the name of Sen. Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska) to that of the late Sen. Warren Magnuson (D.-Wash.), to make the act the Magnuson-Stevens Act, sought to limit damage to habitat by trawls and other fishing gear on the sea floor. But by letting a management system continue that regulates days-at-sea -- i.e., time and effort that fishing vessels can spend catching fish -- it missed its mark of ending overfishing.

Senator Stevens, who is shepherding the act's current reauthorization, is admirably determined not to let that happen again, mainly by insisting on enforceable catch limits. His advocacy of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has not endeared him to the environmental community, but in this instance he should enjoy its vigorous support.

He doesn't. The seeming environmentalists in the Senate, such as Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.), John Kerry (D.-Mass.), and, critically, Olympia Snowe (R.-Maine), are arrayed against him, mostly because of constituencies in the fishing ports of New Bedford, Gloucester, and Portland, which don't want any rules to change -- even, apparently, at the risk of losing the entire fishery within a few years. As usual, whether it's pleasing the rich folks on Cape Cod's southern shore who don't want the Nantucket Sound windmills (which could replace some fossil-fuel burning) or opposing fishing reform, selfish short-term political interests get the lion's share of care and feeding -- whatever the rhetoric.

Catch limits, in which those exceeded in one season would be reduced in the next, have been very effective in the Alaska halibut fishery. There the regulation of days-at-sea had reached the ridiculous, with a two-day annual "season." Fresh halibut was then available for only a few days. Fortunately, the event wasn't attended by bad weather. With the entire Alaska halibut fleet at sea, it could have been disastrous.

The reauthorization vote is coming up. For the sake of the fisheries and New England, Rhode Island's Senators Reed and Chafee should vote for enforceable catch limits.

This originally appeared here  in The Providence Journal. 

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More Dolphins stranded, half survive

(CBS News) CAPE COD - The Cape Cod Stranding Network (CCSN) was very busy on Saturday attending to ten stranded dolphins on Cape Cod.

Two dolphins were found in Rock Harbor suffering from dehydration and other injuries. Rescue crews attempted to save the dolphins, but were unsuccessful. They were humanely euthanized to end their suffering.

Read the rest of the CBS4 story here, and make your opinion known by commenting below.

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Chatham's Dolphin Inn to become six new homes

By Tim Wood

CHATHAM - Demolition of the motel buildings on the former Dolphin Inn at 352 Main St. is expected to begin next month, following approval last week of a special permit allowing the property to be divided into residential lots.

The three-acre parcel will be subdivided into six lots, with one holding the existing 200-year-old main inn. Single-family homes will be built on the remaining five lots.

The size of the new homes will be restricted to no more than 3,900 square feet of living space. Owner David Oppenheim of 352 Dolphin LLC, agreed to the restriction after members of the zoning board and some residents expressed concern that the 4,200-square-foot limit he initially proposed would result in homes out of scale with the neighborhood.

_{(The photo on left is the Dolphin Inn Windmill cottage.)}

Read the rest of the Cape Cod Chronicle story here, and make a comment below 

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Harwich Port Dairy Queen burns down

HARWICH DAIRY QUEEN BURNS
HARWICH – (Saturday) Fire gutted the Dairy Queen restaurant similar to the one shown on Route 28 in Harwich Saturday evening. Flames were shooting out of the rear of the building when firefighters arrived shortly after the 6:10 PM alarm. The blaze went to two alarms bringing in mutual aid from Orleans, Brewster, Chatham, Dennis and Yarmouth. The restaurant was closed for the season and no injuries were reported. A half million is the estimate of the damage to one of The Cape's last DQs.

 PART-TIME FIREFIGHTERS CUT IN BARNSTABLE
BARNSTABLE – (Saturday) The Barnstable Fire Department has no volunteer members this morning. Fire Chief Robert Crosby dismissed eight volunteer members at a meeting on Thursday. The Chief cited low attendance and rising insurance rates in the wake of a recently enacted state law requiring communities to insure volunteer members against injury or death. Many of the volunteer have full time jobs making it difficult to respond especially during the daytime. The move leaves the West Barnstable and Cotuit Departments as the only departments in the town still utilizing volunteer members to supplement full time firefighters. Provincetown is the last all volunteer department on the Cape where members get only a small stipend while Truro uses a call system where members are paid by the call.

SANDWICH OFFICER INJURED IN CRASH
SANDWICH – (Saturday) A Sandwich Police officer was reportedly involved in a crash early this evening on Route 130 near Cotuit Road. Sources tell Cape Wide News the collision involved a cruiser and civilian vehicle. An ambulance was requested to the scene and did transport 1 person to a hospital

BANK ROBBERY REPORTED IN HYANNIS
HYANNIS – (Friday) Barnstable Police are looking for the man who robbed the Rockland Trust on Main Street late this afternoon. No weapon was actually shown as the robbery took place. Reports say a money bag was tossed by the robber near or at the British Beer Company causing a dye pack to explode.

DRIVER SERIOUSLY INJURED IN FALMOUTH CRASH
FALMOUTH –(Friday) One person was seriously injured when their vehicle crashed into a tree. It happened on Old Barnstable Road near the Falmouth Country Club shortly after 6 AM. The driver was taken by ambulance to Falmouth Hospital where a Medflight helicopter was to fly the victim to a Boston hospital. Falmouth Police are investigating the crash.

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Barnstable County foreclosures up 42%

Foreclosures up through the roof - Barnstable had more than 97% of the other 358 towns

Foreclosure filings in Barnstable County last year were up 42% compared to 2004. Relative to the other towns and cities in the state in the last 60 days, Barnstable, had more foreclosed properties than 356 of the state's 368 towns. 

In the chart on the right Dark Bar indicates foreclosures filed and Light Bar indicates foreclosures foreclosures on the site. 

The most foreclosures in the past two monthes were in the town of Barnstable with 22, followed by Falmouth and Sandwich with 11 each and Yarmouth with 9.

The number of Massachusetts foreclosure filings through November of 2005 was nearly 10,500, according to the ForeClosuresMass.com Web site.

Essex County had a 49% increase over the same period in 2004, while Suffolk, Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable counties all had increases of more than 42%.

Escalating home prices seen as reason

In the last six months Boston alone had 483 foreclosures. One reason is that home prices in Massachusetts have appreciated 67% in the past five years, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. October’s median selling price for a single-family home in the state was $349,000 — up from about $210,000 in 2000. Cape Cod's increases have exceeded all other counties.

Communities with the greatest foreclosure spikes include Reading, at 250%, Burlington, at 200%, Seekonk, at 163%, and Newburyport at 163%. Of towns with at least 50 foreclosures in 2004, the top hikes were in Lawrence, with 113%, and Lynn, with 70%

On Monday The Globe weighed in: Mary Nunziato peeked out the window to see who had arrived to take her house away from her family.

The auctioneer placed folders full of papers on the hood of his car and waited for bidders.

"I was nervous. I was upset," said Nunziato, who quit her job as a school custodian more than a year ago after being diagnosed with leukemia and diabetes. ''I kept going to the window."

Turns out the auctioneer wouldn't need to shout over the dogs barking inside or the planes overhead approaching Logan International Airport. "Nobody showed up," Nunziato said... Read the rest of The Globe report here.

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Wareham's invisible crimes, plus a $1M school shortfall

In this corner: The invisible crimes of Wareham

Two weeks ago a Wareham man was arrested for domestic assault and battery for allegedly beating his girlfriend with a belt. He was one of five local residents charged with assaulting a spouse or girlfriend that week.
But you never saw their names in this newspaper, at least not in connection with their alleged crimes. If there were additional charges such as breaking and entering or property damage associated with the reported assault, those were listed in our weekly police log. But all references to domestic violence were carefully edited out.
And that makes me feel more than just a bit queasy.
It's been a long-standing company policy to protect the identities of victims of domestic violence, much in the same way newspapers protect victims of sexual assaults. The rationale is that if we list the names of domestic abuse victims, we would be victimizing them again, adding to their physical wounds the psychological scars of public embarrassment. So we list the names of men arrested for outstanding traffic warrants but we won't identify somebody who beats his girlfriend with a belt.
I cringe every time I hit the delete key. Sometimes I wonder if editing this stuff out somehow perpetuates the cycle of violence. Maybe holding these cowards publicly accountable for their despicable actions would make them think twice before physically imposing their will on somebody else.
Read the rest of this Wareham Bulletin opinion piece article here, and make your comments below.

Seeing red: Local schools fall $1 million short for '07
By Robert Slager/ rslager@cnc.com Friday, January 13, 2006

If anybody has an extra $1 million laying around, the Wareham school committee would love to hear from you.
At a meeting Tuesday night at Wareham High School (on right), the school district unveiled its proposed 2007 school budget, one with a $914,690 structural deficit that could grow even larger in the coming weeks.
"Never as a member of this board have I seen such drastic fiscal problems," said school committee chairman Robert Brousseau.
Rising health insurance costs, teacher salaries and special education tuition have left the district in perilous condition, Brosseau said.
"I don't know how we can sustain programs unless we go before town meeting," he said. "These are not scare tactics. Education is the most important service for kids in this town. I know it won't be easy for the town, but if we don't have help, there will be severe and difficult choices."
The school committee announced an overall budget of $25,688,414, up more than $1.6 million from fiscal year 2006. But cost increases have soared, according to Brousseau. Special education tuition is expected to increase by $684,000. Increased utility and health insurance costs cannot be avoided, Brousseau said. Approximately $590,000 has been set aside for salary negotiations with the teachers union.
Read the rest of this Wareham Bulletin atory here, and make your comments below.

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Fissel Bee the Clown exposed kids to porn

PLYMOUTH (Jan. 14) n A clown who entertained children at a local park stands accused of molesting two young girls. Norman Foster, 70, of 217 Beaver Dam Road, Plymouth, is also charged with showing pornographic magazines and movies to the 5- and 6-year-old girls.

Foster, known to many as Fissel Bee the Clown, was arrested by local police Wednesday after one of the girls told her mother about incidents at Foster's home in the Manomet apartment complex. The girl told police Foster has touched them between the legs, first above and then beneath their clothes, for some time. The girls told police Foster also masturbated while they were at his apartment and showed them a sex toy he kept in his bedroom.

The 6-year-old told police the incidents happened during visits to play with Foster's 5-year-old daughter. The girl said the incidents have occurred for a long time but she was afraid to tell anyone about them until Wednesday. The other girl, a 5-year-old, told police a similar story.

The girls said Foster showed them a broken green dildo he kept in the top drawer of his dresser. The girls knew the name for the sex toy as well as a lewd term for the way Foster allegedly touched himself beneath a blanket during their visits. One girl said Foster was teaching them how to talk dirty.

Smith said police found the sex toy in the exact dresser drawer where the girls said Foster kept it.

Read the rest of the Old Colony Memorial story here, and make your comments below.

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Empty storefronts in Orleans, Cape Commish has a plan

ORLEANS - When S. Kyle Hinkle goes into a town and sees vacant businesses, it makes her nervous.
"It says something about the community," said Hinkle, the Orleans Chamber of Commerce's executive director.
Seeing empty buildings in town recently alarmed Selectman Mark Carron, which is why he requested that Hinkle and Town Planner George Meservey attend Wednesday night's meeting to discuss what could be done about empty commercial properties.
 "That doesn't look good, and it doesn't help us," he said. "It takes all of us to work together to make sure the town stays vibrant."
Hinkle said the chamber's job is to support its members, and this year's goals are to attract business from second-homeowners; improve access to high-speed communication; increase workforce housing; and improve transportation.
On Tuesday, Hinkle said two of the more prominent recent closures - the Soft As A Grape on Main Street and the Friendly's on Canal Road - were corporate decisions.

Read the read of this story in The Cape Codder here, and make a comment below. 

Orleans: The man with the plan
Commission planner discusses update with Orleans selectmen
By Bill Fonda/ bfonda@cnc.com Friday, January 13, 2006

The Cape Cod Commission may not have developed a reputation for being "user-friendly" over the course of its 15-plus years, but the Cape's regulatory agency is working on it.
As part of its five-year review of the county's Regional Policy Plan, the commission is considering changes in its process that would spur growth in existing downtown areas.

One of the changes being considered is limited Development of Regional Impact review for smaller projects, perhaps ranging from 7,000 to 20,000 square feet. The change would bring more projects before the commission, as the current DRI minimum for commercial development is 10,000 square feet, but the review would focus on only the most significant impacts.

Read the read of this story in The Cape Codder here, and make a comment below.

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Feds interview Wampanoags, CanalSide Commons gets invite

By KATHY A. BULPETT, Mashpee Enterprise, January 13, 2006

As part of the Mashpee Wampanoag quest for federal recognition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has sent Dr. Kimberly Cook, an anthropologist, to Mashpee to corroborate much of the tribe’s contemporary history.

According to Dr. Christine Grabowski, the tribe’s liaison to the BIA, it isn’t uncommon in a case such as this to send an anthropologist to gather information on the tribe’s social and political history over recent time.

According to Dr. Grabowski, the Wampanoag possess a unique situation due to the fact that they filed for federal recognition in the 1970s and while their petition sat untouched for many years, some of their best historical documentation passed away: their elders.

Read the rest of this Mashpee Enterprise story here, and make your comments below.

Bourne-Upcoming Review Prompts Invitation To CanalSide Developer

By DIANA T. BARTH, Bourne Enterprise, January 13, 2006

Bourne selectmen voted 3 to 1 Tuesday to invite Lenord G. Cubellis to come before the board to discuss current plans for CanalSide Commons, the oft-downsized, controversial mixed-use project proposed for undeveloped land near the Bourne rotary.

Richard E. LaFarge cast the dissenting vote and W. Thomas Barlow was absent.

Selectman Linda M. Zuern said that any time selectmen can start a dialogue with a developer, "it can’t hurt." She said she thought the board should probably have invited Mr. Cubellis to a meeting a year ago.

Selectman LaFarge disagreed, saying that Mr. Cubellis had not provided pertinent information that selectmen had requested. Mr. LaFarge also noted that Mr. Cubellis had said he would never propose a Chapter 40B affordable housing development. "He said it would destroy the town of Bourne," Mr. LaFarge said.

Read the rest of the Bourne Enterprise story here, and make you comments below. 

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Cape Cod Hospital - No Citizen? No Cash? No Cure.

Illigal immigrants, tuition - Live free or work
By John Burtis, Canadian Free Press, Friday, January 13, 2006

Cape Cod Hospital has just announced that emergency services will be provided on a cash only basis, due to the deleterious impact of illegal immigrants .

In an outpouring of sanity rivaling anything seen in our most liberal state in many years, the Massachusetts House defeated a bill which would have guaranteed illegal immigrants not only access to state schools and colleges but would have provided these scofflaws with tuition rates rivaling those reserved for the children of the resident taxpayers.

Because the illegals work off the books and have no traceable incomes, except for welfare and supplemental Social Security benefits, they would undoubtedly qualified for the coveted tuition-free status as well as student loans, further limiting the availability of higher education to the working citizens of Massachusetts. And because of the illegal status of those receiving the benefits, the future chances of the Commonwealth ever receiving a future payback in the form of income taxes is, to say the least, just about nil, what with the phony names, repeated moves and the lack of enforcement that accompanies their transient way of life.

The way this law was written was unique as well, and says a lot about those who crafted the bill. As worded, it would have included and provided benefits for any illegals from anywhere in the world...

In America today, there is no greater liberal darling than the illegal immigrants, who are flooding our shores, climbing our fences, such as they are, destroying our health care systems, not just in our southern border states but close to home, and overloading our support systems. Cape Cod Hospital, in Massachusetts, has just announced that emergency services will be provided on a cash only basis, due to the deleterious impact of illegal immigrants, while studies show that at least one-third of all the aliens in the country are on some sort of welfare relief. And the liberals keep piling on the free perquisites.

Read the rest of Canada Free Press here, make your comment below. 

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Elder advocates criticize buyer of nursing home

WAREHAM -- Senior advocates criticized the proposed new owner of Forestview Nursing Home at a hearing yesterday, saying the company has a mixed record.
They insisted that the state Department of Public Health scrutinize the proposed transfer of ownership to Kindred Healthcare Inc. of Louisville, Ky.
Deficiencies increased in most of Kindred's Massachusetts homes in its 2005 state survey results, compared to the previous year, according to Cape United Elders, a Hyannis-based advocacy group.
"The community will not tolerate inconsistent performances when it comes to the quality of care of our nursing home residents," said Harriet Consiglio, a member of the organization, reading a prepared statement.
Representatives of Forestview and Kindred defended their records and said the purchase will benefit the nursing home residents.

Read the rest of the Standard-Times story here, and make your comments below. 

_{Cape United Elders (CUE) is a grassroots senior activist program. The program focuses on promoting self-determination and assisting seniors in achieving an active voice within the community. CUE advocates for increased quality within nursing homes and their residents, issues impacting senior, networks with local, state and national organizations, as well as provides an educational and social environment. Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands, 115 Enterprise Rd., Hyannis, MA 02601.  (508) 771 1727 e-mail: cacci@cacci.cc}

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Nauset Region has "Baby Bust", Red Tide funds untapped

Enrollment projections point toward teacher cuts at middle school

ORLEANS - Everyone has heard of the "baby boom," but what is its opposite - a baby bust?

Whatever the name, it is coming to Nauset Regional Middle School. This year’s enrollment of 609 students is projected to fall to 536 in 2006-07 and 468 by 2009-10. With fewer students comes the need for fewer teachers, forcing the administration to figure out how to get there from here.

"We are trying to accomplish the inevitable staff reductions with thoughtful attrition wherever possible," Superintendent Michael Gradone said when he presented his 2006-07 budget proposal to the regional school committee last week.

In a plan Gradone called "thoughtful and bold," middle school Principal Gregory Baecker has devised a way to cut seven core teachers (English, math, science and social studies) over the next four years with possibly only one layoff.

Read the rest of this story in The Cape Codder here, and make your comment below.

Red tide relief remains untapped
By Matthew Belson/ mbelson@cnc.com

During the red tide crisis last summer, dire predictions were made that the true financial impact would not be felt until this winter. However, the continuing mild temperatures mean that commercial shellfishermen can still dig for clams and harvest oysters. Each day a shellfisherman can ply his trade is viewed as another step to recouping lost revenue from the summer and building a cushion to survive a severe winter.

"We’re still kind of waiting," said Robin Carroll, director of human needs for the Lower Cape Outreach Council, for requests of financial assistance specifically from commercial fishermen. "We have helped a few families."

The bloom of the alexandrium fundyense algae, which is toxic to humans who consume contaminated shellfish, closed shellfish grounds from Maine to Cape Cod and the Islands. The closures came in June at the start of the peak season when demand for clams, oysters and mussels are at their highest.

Read the rest of this story in The Cape Codder here, and make your comment below.

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Rhode Island to produce 15% of energy by wind

A wind-power initiative is at the forefront of R.I.  Governor Carcieri's five-part plan to address rising energy costs.

BY TIMOTHY C. BARMANN, Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Governor Carcieri yesterday announced an ambitious plan to supply 15 percent of the state's total electricity demand with wind power, and he named his choice to fill the new position of energy adviser.

Carcieri said the state will finance a study to determine the feasibility of generating as much as 150 megawatts of electricity with wind turbines, enough to power about 150,000 homes.

Wind turbines could be clustered in a single location, on or offshore, he said, or they could be scattered in different parts of the state.

"I think this is something we can achieve, and I'm going to pursue this aggressively," Carcieri said at a news conference.

The governor unveiled the initiative as part of a five-part plan to address rising energy costs.

Carcieri also created a new post in his administration -- chief energy adviser -- and appointed Andrew C. Dzykewicz (pronounced dis-KEV-itch) to fill it.

Read the rest of the Providence Journal storty here, and make your comments below.

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Airport design falls flat, historic home to go

The Barnstable Historical Commission, the Mas sachusetts Historical Commission and the Cape Cod Commission’s own historic preservation planner don’t want Mannheim Realty LTC to tear down an 1890s home in the Hyannisport National Register Historic District.

With an OK from a commis sion subcommittee, however, the owners of 17 Hawthorne Ave. may receive approval Jan. 26 at a meeting of the full commission. The draft decision released this week would approve de molition of the Queen Anne style residence as well as construction of a replacement of about the same size and in a style consistent with the neighborhood.

Read the rest of this Patriot story here, and make your comments below.

Airport building falls flat
New access Road holds traffic promise

By David Still II  dstill@barnstablepatriot.com

Make no mistake: last week’s presentation of a new terminal design for Barn stable Municipal Airport did not go well.

What was to be an up date of the project for the town council turned into a critique of the as yet in complete design for the $35 million effort.

Read the rest of this Patriot story here, and make your comments below.

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The Wind and the Willful

By Amanda Griscom Little, 12 Jan 2006

A long-simmering disagreement within the environmental community over a plan to build a massive wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., is now boiling over into a highly public quarrel.

The four-year-old battle started heating up last summer when Greenpeace USA staged a demonstration against well-known eco-activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's been an outspoken opponent of the proposal for a 130-turbine wind-power project in Horseshoe Shoal, a shallow portion of Nantucket Sound south of Cape Cod. Kennedy -- a senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council and a pioneer in the waterway-protection movement -- was on a sailboat for an event with the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which opposes the wind project. A Greenpeace vessel cruised up alongside with a banner that read, "Bobby, you're on the wrong boat" -- a stunt that was part of a larger Greenpeace campaign pressuring Kennedy to change his mind on the development.

In mid-December, Kennedy, wanting to explain his position to critics and the public at large, published an impassioned op-ed in The New York Times in which he argued that the wind farm would mar a precious seascape, privatize a publicly owned commons, and damage the local economy.

That, in turn, prompted about 150 environmental advocates -- including global-warming authors and activists Bill McKibben and Ross Gelbspan, Bluewater Network founder Russell Long, and youth leader Billy Parish -- to circulate a letter asking Kennedy to reconsider his position. "We are, simply put, in a state of ecological emergency," it read. "Constructing windmills six miles from Cape Cod, where they will be visible as half-inch dots on the horizon, is the least that we can do."

Arctic battle should move to Hyannis Port

Signers of the letter also included "Death of Environmentalism" authors Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, who made the quarrel far more personal -- and nasty -- in an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle last month"Arctic battle should move to Hyannis Port" . They called on Kennedy to step down from his position at NRDC, and took a swipe at his famous family by criticizing "the privileged patricians of a generation for whom building mansions by the sea was indistinguishable from advocating for the preservation of national parks or big game hunting in the wilds of Africa."

Read the rest of the GRIST story here, and make your comments below.

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Bernardo vs. Doherty race starts early

By David Curran dcurran@barnstablepatriot.com

Given the way the last Barnstable County budget was set, the process to set the next one seems sure to be drenched in controversy.

While Board of County Commissioners Chairman Bill Doherty (right) and Assembly of Delegates Speaker Tom Bernardo (left) both said this week they hope this year’s process plays out differently, the the things they want changed only reinforce that expectation. Each wants the other’s body to do things differently, and neither seemed amenable to the other’s suggestions.

Bernardo’s plan to challenge Doherty for his seat in the November election only adds another layer of potential conflict. They agree, though, that for the first time in several years, budget cuts likely will be needed. The commissioners began their annual series of meeting with county department heads Wednesday, and will use the information they get to prepare a spending plan they must submit to the Assembly March 1.

Read the rest of The Patriot story here, and make your comments below.

Read Bill Doherty's blog here.  and Tom Bernardo's "Manifesto" here.

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Debunking Bobby's 10 Lies about Cape Wind

Renews Call for Bobby Kennedy’s Resignation from NRDC

Breakthrough Institute co-directors, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, issued the following statement:

In his op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 11, 2006, Bobby Kennedy has continued his campaign of lies, distortions, and misinformation against the critically important Cape Wind Project. In so doing, Kennedy is not simply destroying his own reputation as someone who is serious about addressing global warming, he also is threatening what is arguably the most important clean energy development in the world while encouraging the already substantial public perception that environmentalists are elitists who only care about protecting their own private playgrounds.

Ironically, Kennedy attacked us for dividing the environmental movement because we had the temerity to criticize his untenable public position in opposition to Cape Wind. Yet it is Bobby, not us, who is in fact dividing the environmental movement on this crucial issue.

Nearly every national environmental organization in the country supports the Cape Wind Project including Bobby Kennedy’s employer, the National Resources Defense Council. The NRDC wrote that Cape Wind “is, to our knowledge, the largest single source of supply-side reductions in CO2 currently proposed in the United States, and perhaps in the world.”

There is no credible environmental opposition to the project. Angered by Bobby’s public advocacy against Cape Wind, over 200 of America’s leading environmentalists sent an open letter to Bobby on January 3, 2006 asking him to reverse his position.

The environmental movement is united on Cape Wind except for Bobby. Yet, Bobby, due to his name, his prominence, and his access to the New York Times opinion page, would lead Americans to believe that there is a genuine debate about the environmental benefits and impacts of Cape Wind. There is none. Many environmentalists, including Bobby, complain when the media publish the views of the tiny minority of global warming deniers in the employ of the fossil fuel lobby in the name of balance. Yet Bobby takes advantage of the same effort to achieve balance to publicize his own distortions of the facts surrounding the Cape Wind development. He does so in service of his own selfish motives, namely, to protect the views from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port from a development that he fears would sully them.

Environmentalists have long prided their strict adherence to science and the facts and have viewed that adherence as central to their credibility and their success. Bobby’s employer, NRDC was largely founded upon that premise.

Unfortunately, Bobby’s continued and blatant distortions of the facts and the science related to Cape Wind threaten to undermine that credibility. For this reason, we are today renewing our public demand that Kennedy resign his post as senior attorney with NRDC. At a time when both the environment and science are under siege, the national environmental movement in general and NRDC in particular, simply cannot afford to allow Bobby Kennedy’s selfish and arrogant assertion of personal and familial privilege to undermine its credibility.

Here are just a few of the distortions and outright lies that Kennedy has made about Cape Wind:  RFK Jr.'s 10 Lies & Distrotions

• Kennedy Lie #1: “[Cape Wind] will ruin the livelihoods of hundreds of Cape Cod’s treasured commercial fishing families by evicting them from their primary fishing grounds.”

The Facts: The largest union of commercial fishermen, the International Seafarers Union, supports Cape Wind. Most of the area in question is too shallow for commercial fishing. The cables that Kennedy claims will entangle fishing nets will be buried 6 feet under the ocean floor, specifically to avoid interaction with fishing gear or anchors.

• Kennedy Distortion:#2: [Cape Wind turbines] will “be visible for up to 26 miles.”

The Facts: In clear conditions, from a distance of 6 miles at the shoreline of Hyannis Port, the wind turbines will appear one half inch high on the horizon if you were to extend your arm straight in front of you and separated your thumb and index finger. From the Town of Nantucket, at 13.8 miles, the wind turbines would appear as tiny specks on the horizon in clear conditions.

• Kennedy Lie #3: [Cape Wind] will pose “a dangerous navigational hazard to air and marine traffic.”

The Facts: The wind turbines will be spaced between 600 and 900 feet apart leaving ample room for ships to navigate the area. There has been no finding by any responsible agency or party that the turbines will in any way effect or endanger air traffic.

• Kennedy Lie #4: [Cape Wind] “requires a quarter billion dollars in government subsidies.”

The Facts: Cape Wind is raising 100 percent of the capital for its project from private investors — a process being led by Martha’s Vineyard resident, Theodore Roosevelt IV, great grandson of the great conservationist American president.
That said, the Breakthrough Institute strongly supports larger subsidies for wind farms, including the well-designed Cape Wind project, through the expansion of the Federal Production Tax Credit for wind energy, which reduces taxes on wind energy. By way of contrast, the U.S. government spends ten times more money subsidizing the nuclear, coal, gas and oil industries than clean energy industries.

• Kennedy Lie #5: ''The noise of the turbines will be audible onshore.”

The Facts: There is simply no way the Cape Wind turbines will be heard, over the wind and waves, six miles away onshore. Engineer and retired Army officer, Solon Economou of South Dennis, MA, visited one of Denmark’s modern offshore wind farms and reported that he and the others on his trip couldn’t even hear the turbines at the base of the towers. In his op-ed criticizing Bobby, Officer Economou wrote, “In Denmark's newest, 72-turbine wind farm in the Baltic, we ran the boat right up against the wind tower and turned off the engine. The turbines were inaudible.”

• Kennedy Distortion #6: “A transformer substation rising 100 feet above the sound would house giant helicopter pads and 40,000 gallons of potentially hazardous oil.”

The Facts: The ''hazardous oil'' Bobby is referring to is mineral oil, which will be stored in triple hulled containers, and is far less of a threat than the millions of gallons of fuel oils that are shipped across Nantucket Sound every year, much of it in single hulled tankers.
It is ironic that while Bobby, self-appointed environmental defender of Nantucket Sound, rails against the as yet established mineral oil threat, yet has nothing to say about the well-documented threat posed by transportation of fuel oil across the sound. The environmental group, the Coalition For Buzzards Bay, endorsed Cape Wind as a means of reducing accidents the one in 2003 when 100,000 gallons of oil en route to a power station spilled into Buzzards Bay killing 450 seabirds and contaminating beaches.

• Kennedy Lie #7: [Cape Wind] “lights to warn airplanes away from the turbines will steal the stars and nighttime views.”

The Facts: The wind turbine safety lights will be barely visible from shore — but nowhere nearly bright enough to impact the stars overhead.

• Kennedy Distortion #8: “The Humane Society estimates the whirling turbines could every year kill thousands of migrating songbirds and sea ducks.''

The Facts: Nearly every national environmental group decided to support the Cape Wind project after extensive studies of wind farms in Europe found very few bird deaths from the very slow moving windmill blades, which most birds easily avoid. Moreover, the Humane Society received money from Bobby Kennedy’s allies, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a coalition of wealthy homeowners, to kill the Cape Wind project. Economou sums it up best: “Only two birds were killed in two years at the Baltic wind farm. I'd wager that's fewer than the birds killed each year flying into the sides of the Kennedy compound in Hyannis.” Global warming and oil spills, not windmills, are the greatest threat to birds.

• Kennedy Lie #9: “There are many alternatives that would achieve the same benefits as Cape Wind without destroying this national treasure. Deep water technology is rapidly evolving, promising huge bounties of wind energy with fewer environmental and economic consequences. Scotland is preparing to build wind turbines in the Moray Firth more than 12 miles offshore. Germany is considering placing turbines as far as 27 miles off its northern shores.”

The Facts: Moray Firth is a demonstration project, a heavily subsidized one, aimed at powering offshore oil rigs. The electricity from the windmills won’t be cabled to shore. The project’s developers say commercial applications of their technology are more than 10 years away. The Department of Energy also says deepwater wind farms are 10-15 years away. David K. Garman, Under Secretary of Energy, wrote in March, 2005, “As the first shallow water offshore project under review in the United States, utility-scale projects like Cape Wind are important to our national interest and a critical first step to building a domestic, globally competitive wind industry. Success in this project could also lay the foundation for a focused national investment to develop offshore wind technology in the coming years.”

• Kennedy Distortion #10: Thousands of small businesses, including marina owners, hotels, motels, whale watching tours and charter fishing operations will also be hurt. The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston estimates a loss of up to 2,533 jobs because of the loss of tourism - and over a billion dollars to the local economy.”

The Facts: The Beacon Hill study was paid for by Kennedy’s anti-wind allies, the Egan Family Foundation, whose two sons are on the board of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. (The Boston Globe discovered this fact, which was hidden from Beacon Hill’s original report.) There are no examples of wind mills hurting tourism. Just the opposite, there are many examples of them helping increase tourism. Even the Beacon Hill study acknowledged that, “on balance, tourists favor the windmills.” Tourist visits to Denmark’s wind farms are increasing. Wind power is in fact a venerable Cape Cod tradition. By the early 19th Century there were nearly one thousand working windmills on Cape and the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. They pumped water, ground grain, and made salt — they powered, in short, the local economy.

Michael Shellenberger is co-director of the Breakthrough Institute, a think tank, and co-founder of American Environics, a research and strategy firm, Michael works on and writes about everything from politics to energy to changing social values.

Ted Nordhaus is co-director of the Breakthrough Institute and co-founder of American Environics. He specializes in crafting strategic initiatives that reframe old debates in new ways and along new political fault lines.

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RFK Jr. gets "NIMBY" Award from consumer group

The Center for Consumer Freedom is pleased to announce our 5th Annual Tarnished Halo Awards. Each year we shine the spotlight on America's most notorious animal-rights zealots, environmental scaremongers, celebrity busybodies, self-anointed "public interest" advocates, trial lawyers, and other food and beverage activists who claim to "know what's best for you." This year's winners:

"Not in My Backyard" Award
Given to environmentalist lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose fight for "green" energy apparently stops as soon as the results might spoil his view. Kennedy penned an irate New York Times op-ed in December, condemning the proposed building of wind turbines around the Nantucket Sound. While Kennedy criss-crosses the country in his jet-fuel-burning private plane stumping for alternative energy sources, he wants an exception for his own backyard. Greenpeace spokesman Chris Miller was not pleased, saying: "It's about a vision for healthy oceans, not the view from the Kennedy compound."

Read the rest of The Center for Consumer Freedom awards here, and make your comment below. 
Also see: The Alliance to Save the Sound (ASS) wrote and distributed the infamous RFK Jr. Ed/Op piece. Or do you believe it was RFK, Jr. working late at night at his computer emailing his article to every newpaper in the free world?  here.

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

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Falmouth cop called racist, sues town

A Falmouth police officer says the hostile work environment created by management at the Falmouth Police Department is so severe he cannot return to work. He has been out on sick leave for five months, ever since an incident in August when he says a police sergeant called him a racist.

On Friday, Falmouth Patrolman Robert P. Curtis Jr. filed charges against the town with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Officer Curtis, who is white, said that his supervisor, Falmouth Police Sergeant Arthur Roger Gonsalves, who is Cape Verdean, called him a racist, among other slanderous statements.

Some of the statements, Officer Curtis said, were made in the presence of Falmouth Police Chief David F. Cusolito. Officer Curtis is the fourth Falmouth police office in the past month to file charges against the town with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination having to do with statements alleging racism made by Sgt. Gonsalves.

Read the rest of the Falmouth Enterprise story here, and make a comment below.

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Dennis park planned, Yarmouth closes school

Time will tell how the town of Dennis will use its newest land acquisition, the 2.5 acres formerly owned by Jay Howland at the Bass River Bridge.

On Dec. 6, Dennis selectmen appointed a nine-member Bass River Park Property Use Committee to study the property and submit short-range proposals by Feb. 15. They received the first four recommendations from Margaret Kane, the committee's chairwoman, on Dec. 28, the day town officials closed on the $3.2 million purchase.

Two proposals concern the existing water-based businesses, one involves involves remnants of the former mini-golf business, and the fourth recommends the removal of the Even Keel restaurant building from the property by April 1.

See the rest of The Register story here, and leave a comment below.

Yarmouth considers closing its oldest school
By Nicole Muller/ nmuller@cnc.com Thursday, January 12, 2006

Closing the John Simpkins Elementary School would help bring the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District budget into balance. But the cost may be Yarmouth's neighborhood elementary school concept.

D-Y Superintendent of Schools Carol Woodbury came up with the school closure plan as a way to begin cutting $1.2 million from the district's proposed $46.5 million budget. At a school committee meeting Monday night packed with parents concerned about the school closure plan, Woodbury said closing Simpkins at the end of this school year would save the district $600,000.

See the rest of The  Register story here, and leave a comment below.

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Abramoff scandal may derail Wampanoag casino

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Mashpee Wampanoag Indians, who greeted the Pilgrims and the Mayflower in 1620, were in the final stretch of a 30-year quest for federal recognition. Then along came Jack Abramoff (on right).

Classification as a tribe would give the group, located about 70 miles south of Boston on western Cape Cod, rights including the ability to build a casino and eligibility for federal health, housing and education programs.

Tribal members such as Jessie Little Doe say their efforts may be delayed by their lobbyists' association with Abramoff, who pleaded guilty this month to conspiracy to corrupt public officials, mail fraud and tax evasion."The lobbyists we have were trained by Abramoff," said Little Doe, 42, a researcher and teacher of the Wampanoag language. "Are we getting the same level of ethics and behavior from a different person?"

The Wampanoag's tribal council last year paid $100,000 to lobbyists Kevin Ring and Michael Smith, who worked with Abramoff at law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP until 2004, said Scott Ferson, an outside spokesman for the council with Liberty Square Group in Boston. The council hired the lobbyists in 2003 because it was frustrated with the languishing application, Ferson said.

Read the rest of this Bloomberg story here, plus earlier Village Voice story here, and leave your comment below.

And the Wampanoags want more?
California tribes worried about fallout from Abramoff affair

According to a story in today's Sacramento Bee "...Despite Anthony Miranda's (_{^{chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association}}) call for Indian tribes to shun lobbyists and represent themselves in the halls of Congress, the Congressional Quarterly Weekly newspaper reported that many of Abramoff's former clients - including the Mississippi Band of Choctaws, the Hope and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribes - are lining up to sign on with new lobbying firms on Capitol Hill."

Read the rest of the Sacramento Bee story here, and make your comments below. 

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Harwich budget for '07 reaches $42m

Budget for '07 reaches $42m

By Douglas Karlson/ dkarlson@cnc.com Wednesday, January 11, 2006

At about this time last year, Harwich taxpayers were looking down the barrel at a $5 million override to fund the budget. How times have changed.

The FY07 operating budget recommended by Town Administrator Wayne Melville Monday night is 2.15

percent larger than the current year's budget. Given other sources of revenue, and dropping debt service, the net increase for property taxpayers is coming in at $165,686.

Using real estate values and tax rates in place today, the tax increase would translate into roughly 3 cents per thousand, or about $15 for a house valued at $500,000.

Read the rest of the Oracle story here, and add your comments below.

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Wellfleet's Herring River tidal flow to be restored

River restoration gets go-ahead

WELLFLEET — By a unanimous vote this week, the Board of Selectmen adopted the Herring River Technical Committee’s recommendation to restore tidal flow to the Herring River salt marsh.

Technical Committee chair Gordon Peabody presented his group’s recommendation to a packed audience Tuesday evening, stressing that the restoration of the 1,100-acre marsh (the dike was originally built in 1908) would be an “incremental” one.

See The Banner story here, make your comments below.

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Bourne school layoffs, Foley quits Sandwich School Committee

The first stanza in Bourne's budgetary blues played out last week when it was learned each 1 percent of pay hikes afforded teachers and school custodians in contract talks this year means the system will have to trim its fiscal 2007 level-funded budget request by $140,000.

Superintendent of Schools Edmond LaFleur, with this in mind, said layoffs and reductions throughout the system are likely next year unless there is an infusion of revenue. He said no money has been budgeted to cover any pay increases.

See Upper Cape Codder story here, comment below

Amid conflict, Foley quits school committee

Citing health problems, Sandwich School Committee Chairman Jim Foley has resigned.

Foley referred to his health issues as "problem solving 101" and admitted that he believes his well-being was being impacted by the negative atmosphere surrounding town government.

"I see a community that has turned very vicious and very nasty," said Foley. "This is not the Sandwich I know. This isn't the way it used to be.

See Upper Cape Codder story here, make your comments below.

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