Cape & Islands News

Plymouth police arrest 14 anti-nuke protestors

Sarah Thatcher, Diane Turco, Paul Rifkin, David Agnew, ten others were arrested Sunday when they refused to leave Pilgrim Nuclear facility in Plymouth

  Look at all that beautiful white hair. That's your grandmother out there trying to save you from a nuclear cloud over Cape Cod. Why aren't you standing next to her? All photos by Paul Rifkin and Tom Azarowitz.

Group demanded Entergy accept a letter urging plant close down before melt-down

By Walter Brooks

Don't try to start a protest without Sarah Thatcher.At 4p.m. Sunday, May 20, my cell phone rang.

The caller was David Agnew of Cape Downwinders, and he was on his cell from a cell in the Plymouth Police Station where he reported that fourteen anti-nuclear demonstrators had been arrested an hour earlier by the Plymouth police for refusing to leave the Pilgrim nuclear plant.

Your grandmother's protest

Seven women were among  those hauled off to hoosegow for their civil disobedience.

Most had white hair and were around 70 years old. The women led the group which included protestors from Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Vermont, and for several, jail was not a new experience.

Some observers asked why the youth of Cape Cod was allowing their grandmothers to do their protesting for them. After all, if the Pilgrim Nuclear power plant, which is identical to the one in Japan which had a disastrous meltdown last year, had a similar meltdown, the nuclear cloud would almost certainly be blown over Cape Cod by our prevailing southwest winds.

Mike Risch, Sarah Thacher, Paul Rifkin and Diane Turco got busted for their sit-in at former Congressman Delahunt's Hyannis office in March 2008.Return to jail for Cape group

It was almost exactly four years ago during the height of the anti-Iraq-Afghanistan war protests the many of these same Cape Codders performed another act of civil disobedience by refusing to leave then-congressman Delahunt's Hyannis office.

They wouldn't leave back then until he agreed not vote for any more legislation to fund the war.

Delahunt didn't, and they were hauled off to the Barnstable jail.

At that time Paul Rifkin said, "We hope to fill the courthouse with fellow miscreants and  make a scene." We look forward to similar vigor from these patriots today.

In 2008, a wise Cape & Islands D.A. Michael O'Keefe who was up for reelection, chose not to prosecute and avoided any further publicity. IT will be interesting to see if the Plymouth D.A. is as wise when and if they come to trial for Sunday's protest and arrest.

Defendants Rifkin (with his ubiquitous "V" for victory finger sign), Turco, Thacher and Risch, await the decision from Judge O'Neill, but the DA chose caution over valor, or no bad press over the opposite, and decided not to prosecute in 2008.After an hour in the Plymouth jail, David Agnew said they had not been told whether they could post bail, or anything else about their arrest other than the fact they were trespassing by refusing to leave the Pilgrim nuclear power plant property unless their letter was accepted by an Entergy official.

By around 5 p.m. Sunday, most, if not all, of the seven women and seven men were released on $40 bail. They must return to the Plymouth Court Monday morning at 9 a.m.

Diane Turco of Harwich, a woman who has participated in anti-war civil disobedience protests for decades, said, "We have learned the tragic lessons of Fukushima. The horrific devastation of the Fukushima Prefecture area, where no one can return due to the man-made tragedy, is just unimaginable.  Can we ever believe that it could happen here on beautiful Cape Cod?"

According to a press release announcing today's march on the plant, Cape Downwinders said that the Nuclear Regulation Commission is considering Entergy’s application for re-licensing the Pilgrim nuclear power station for an additional 20 years without finding remedies from critical lessons learned from the disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

Resistance to Civil Government

Civil Disobedience is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849.
   In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice.
   Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican–American War. See Wikipedia here.Cape Downwinders says that groups of concerned citizens came to Plymouth to demand that the Pilgrim nuclear power plant’s 40 year license must expire. It is scheduled to expire in June.

The General Electric Mark 1 boiling water reactor is the same design that failed at four reactors in Japan. Loss of offsite electricity was the cause and, according to NRC officials, a similar accident could happen here.

The nuclear waste spent fuel pool was designed to hold 880 highly radioactive rods and currently holds 3,270.

Read the letter to Mr. Robert Smith, Vice President and Site Vice President, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, 600 Rocky Hill Road, Plymouth.

These are some of the active nuclear action groups locally:

• Cape Downwinders
• Freeze Pilgrim
• Pilgrim Watch
• Pilgrim Coaliton
• C-10 Research
• Citizens Awareness Network
• New England Coalition

All four lanes on Sagamore Bridge now open

Work completed Saturday, equipment removed

The US Army Corps of Engineers announced that as of 6 p.m. Saturday, all four lanes spanning the Cape Cod Canal on the Sagamore Bridge are now open to traffic.

According to a release, steel repairs above the road deck were completed Saturday and traffic control devices and equipment were removed.

All four lanes will remain open through Memorial Day and the rest of the summer.

The US Army Corps of Engineers said below deck steel repairs will continue on the Sagamore through the fall of 2012. During the fall, one lane travel restrictions may be implemented, but the work will have no affect on summer traffic as of today.

Several mult-mile- and many-hour-long delays at the Sagamore have created significant issues  for motorists the past several weeks.

Humpback whale freed from life-threatening entanglement

Humpback whale freed from entanglement in Cape Cod Bay

The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies entanglement response team throws a cutting grapple into the entanglement of the humpback whale, Basmati. PCCS image taken under NOAA permit 932-1905.

A Dolphin Fleet whale watch boat reported entanglement to PCCS

By Cathrine Macort, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies for Cape Cod TODAY

Yesterday, the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) marine animal entanglement response (MAER) team worked to disentangle a humpback whale north of Provincetown.

The whale, a female with a young calf, had a relatively minor entanglement, but the team removed some of the gear to minimize the chances of the entanglement becoming more complex. The entanglement was reported by staff aboard a Dolphin Fleet whale watch vessel. The boat stood by to monitor the animal until the MAER team arrived on site.

Entanglement is a leading causes of serious injury and mortality in humpback whalesThe whale had a relatively short length of line and two buoys on the flukes. While the entanglement should have been shed by the whale relatively quickly, the team noted that healed scars from a previous entanglement were holding the current entanglement in place. To reduce the chances that her current entanglement would snag on more gear, the team removed one of the buoys and a short length of line during a 4 hour operation.

Removal of more of her entanglement was deemed too risky due to the presence of her young calf and the fact that the pair was in a large feeding aggregation of other humpback whales. She will be monitored by the whale watch community and the team believes that her remaining entanglement will be shed naturally over time.

The humpback was identified as Basmati, a 14-year old female with a dependent calf, her second on record, according to the PCCS humpback studies program.  Center researchers are very familiar with her lineage, and have documented four generations since the 1970s. Basmati exhibits scarring from previous entanglements, and these may have contributed to this latest incident.

Entanglement is one of the leading causes of serious injury and mortality in humpback whales, and Center scientists have determined that more than half of the humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine have scars that were likely the result of having been entangled in lines and nets. 

PCCS entanglement response operations are conducted in partnership with Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service under federal permits issued by NOAA. Support for the Marine Animal Entanglement Response team comes from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust and contributions from PCCS members.  To report an entangled animal in Southern New England, please call: 1-800-900-3622.

Data in on the Cape Cod Class of 2011--lower graduation rates for minorities

With two exceptions, graduation rates on the Cape top state averages

by Teresa Martin

As June rolls upon us, the strains of Pomp & Circumstance fills the football fields, gyms, and auditoriums of the Cape as this year's cohort of newly minted high school graduates flip their tassels and embark upon their adult journeys.

Although the Cape overall performs well, not everyone on Cape Cod gets the same a chance to toss that cap in the air. Depending on which district you look at, somewhere from few percent to more than 20% of the senior class fails to receive a diploma in four years.

Mass rates

According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, graduation rate follows a simple formula, essentially the percentage of 9th graders who entered the school, adjusted for students who leave or transfer in, who then graduate on or before the end of 4 years.

Across the state, that translated into a class of 2011 cohort with a total of 74,307 students, with a graduation rate of 83.4%.

Cape comparison

On the Cape, that class of 2011 totaled 2,236 students, with graduation rates ranging from 77% to 96.8%, depending on location and with all but two districts exceeding the state average.

The numbers become even more telling when one looks into demographic differences in graduation rates.

Upper Cape Tech tops the list

The highest graduation rate comes from the Upper Cape, where the Upper Cape Regional Vocational Technical High School graduated 96.8% of its students.

Close behind came the US News & World Report #1 ranked high school in the state, Sturgis Charter School in Hyannis, with a graduation rate of 95.1%

Four other districts on the Cape also topped a 90% graduation rate:  Sandwich at 94%, Chatham at 92.6%, Bourne at 91.8%, and Nauset, also a US News & World ranked school, at 90.3%.

The mid-performers

Several of the schools clustered at or slightly above the state average. Eighty-seven percent of Provincetown's 2011 class of 16 students graduated. In Falmouth, 86.8% received their diploma, while the Cape Cod Regional Vocational Technical School in Harwich came in at 85.8 percent.

In the Mid Cape, Harwich and Dennis-Yarmouth hovered right around the state rate, with 84.8% and 84.6% respectively.

Comments or questions about this article? Send a letter to the editor here.

Below average

Two districts, Barnstable and Mashpee, had the smallest percent of graduates. Just 80.2% of Barnstable's Class of 2011 graduated --  and only 77.8% of Mashpee's senior class received their diplomas in four years or less.

Digging deeper

The numbers become even more telling when one looks into demographic differences in graduation rates.  Although some districts had too few students to report in various demographic categories (in the charts, those values are marked with a "-"), those that did often showed 10 or more percentage points of variation.

In Mashpee, for example, not only do more than 20% of all students fail to graduate - Native American students in Mashpee have the lowest rate in the school. Just 63.6% of Native American students graduated.  The state average for Native Americans is 76.2%.

In addition, girls, regardless of declared ethnicity, graduate at a lower rate in Mashpee than boys, with only 75% of the female students in Mashpee successfully completing 12th grade compared to a state average of 86.5%.

Meanwhile, in Harwich, the gender story played out the opposite way. With an overall 84.8% graduation rate, 95.7% of girls graduated, while just 73.3% of boys did.

African-American, Hispanic at lower rates

In Falmouth, with an overall graduation rate of better than 86%, two glaring exceptions jump out. For African American students in Falmouth, the graduation rate is 55%; for Hispanic students, the rate is 69.2%.

With a total potential Class of 2011 of just over 2,000 students across the entire region, the Cape results are best taken with a grain of Cape salt and an awareness that a small number of individual students in graduating classes of fewer than 100 (or in the case of Provincetown, fewer than 20!) can greatly sway the overall reporting numbers.

At DY, which ranked just above the state average at 84.6% overall, Hispanic and African-American students also fared less well, with just 50% of Hispanic seniors graduating and 66.7% of African-American students doing so.

State average for African-Americans reports in at 70.7% and for Hispanics at 61.9%.

Barnstable shows a similar story. In addition to its below-state average 80% rate, its African American students graduate at just 64.3%.  Even worse, its special education graduation rate is 42.6%, the lowest on the Cape, versus a state average of 65.6% for special education students.

On the plus side

Not all schools reflect those variations. For example, at top performer Upper Cape Tech, low income students graduated at a 96.6% rate, while special education students graduated at 92.7%.

Nauset, with a 90.3% graduation rate, sees near total gender parity, with 90.5% of boys and 90.2% of girls graduating. In addition, 80% of special education students graduated.

At Sturgis the special education graduation rate was 85.7%, substantially higher than the state average.

And in Chatham, with a graduation rate of 92.6%, fully 100% of its low income students graduated, while in Sandwich, with a 94% graduation rate, 89.7% of low income students graduated, marking, along with Upper Cape Tech, the highest percentages for that sub-group on the Cape.

With a grain of salt

With a total potential Class of 2011 of just over 2,000 students across the entire region, the Cape results are best taken with a grain of Cape salt and an awareness that a small number of individual students in graduating classes of fewer than 100 (or in the case of Provincetown, fewer than 20!) can greatly sway the overall reporting numbers.

By way of comparison of scale, the two largest high schools in Massachusetts - Brockton's 4,300 student body and Lowell's approximately 4,000 students - had a combined 2011 senior class just slightly smaller than all of Cape Cod's 2011 potential graduates.

And for the record, Brockton's class of 2011 with 1,021 students had a graduation rate of 78.5%. Lowell, with 823 seniors last year, had a graduation rate of 70.4%.

To search the state databases, click here.

Teresa A. Martin has worked at the intersection of technology and content for more than 25 years. She served as a CEO and COO of technology companies in Silicon Valley and metro Boston, authored three books on web and online technologies, and launched several start-ups. 
     She was part of the high-profile Information Design Lab within Knight-Ridder, developing a prototype tablet newspaper in 1994, along with early content management tools to store, retrieve, archive, and manage mixed media content. She then founded one of the first web content publishing companies and grew it from launch to acquisition in five years.
     She writes on educational issues regularly for Cape Cod TODAY and Plymouth Daily News, and authors Cape Eyes here.

Aquinnah to preserve land in Freetown and Lakeville

Free Cape Cod National Seashore passes made available to military members, families

Free access granted to national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands through Joining Forces initiative

This week, it was announced that active duty service men and women will be granted free access to national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands beginning on Armed Forces Day (May 19).  The new military version of the America The Beautiful pass was made available through the Joining Forces initiative.

According to a release from the United States Department of the Interior, the Joining Forces initiative was started last year by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden.

The annual pass grants free access to more than 2,000 federal sites including the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Service men and women in the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and activated National Guard and Reserves need only show a valid military ID at any of the participating locations. 

"Our country's iconic memorials, open spaces, and majestic landscapes provide inspiration for those serving in the military, especially those far from home," said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, whose agency oversees national forests. "In appreciation for their service, we want to encourage these men and women and their families to visit and enjoy America's wondrous lands and waterways."

Passes are valid at participating sites that charge an entrance fee. The pass is good for the owner and passengers of a single, private, non-commercial vehicle at recreation sites that charge per vehicle. Where per person entry fees are collected, the pass is valid for the holder and three adults age 16 or older. There is no charge for children 15 or younger.

See more information about the active duty military pass here. See the list of participating locations here.

Nuke plant workers denied entry into building

  Entergy workers locked out on eve of strike

The lights were red for workers at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station picket outside the plant on Wednesday.

By Matt Nadler, Editor, Plymouth Daily News.

Talks break down between Pilgrim Station owner and union

Workers at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth were not allowed into the facility Wednesday morning, as a labor dispute between the Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 and power plant owner Entergy came to a head.

“It’s a nuclear power plant.
  How can you say some 
  workers are non-essential?”While picketers outside the power plant carry signs which read “lockout,” Plant Spokesman Carol Wightman said it was not a lockout, since the workers not allowed in were given a paid day off.  Some workers, deemed essential by the company, were allowed inside. “It’s a nuclear power plant,” Union President Dan Hurley said, “how can you say some workers are non-essential?”

UWUA Local 369 has 380 members currently working at Pilgrim Nuclear.  Nearly all of these employees serve in high level roles responsible for the day-to-day maintenance and operations of the 40-year-old plant and many have been working at the facility for decades, according to a press release from the union.

The workers left outside today won’t be allowed back in until the company “works through some issues,” said Wightman. Entergy management has “detailed contingency plans,” she added. ,

According to a press release from the company, the two sides, which had brought in a mediator yesterday, negotiated until early morning May 16 before talks on a new contract ended. The union’s contract expired at midnight, May 15. Union negotiators said they would bring the company’s final offer to its membership for a vote. While the press release said the union did not specify a date for a vote, Hurley said the vote would be taken in a week.

Health insurance costs are the main area of dispute between the two sides. According to Hurley, Entergy wants to shift more of the cost to workers, who currently pay 25 percent of their premiums. The company, he said wants to increase that amount by “hundreds of dollars.”

Pilgrim Station has been in the process of getting its license, which expires in June, renewed. Recently, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff recommended the plant be granted its new license.

See previous story Pilgrim nuclear plant union to strike next week.

Search ends for missing towboat captain in Buzzards Bay

UPDATE: Search ends for missing captain

Body discovered in cabin of submerged vessel

   Members of the state medical examiner's office remove the captain's body from a boat in Wareham as family members look on. Photo by David G. Curran.

The search has ended for the missing captain of the Triple J. According to the United States Coast Guard, Wareham Fire Department divers found the captain deceased in the cabin of the towboat.

The discovery was made around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday

Triple J towboat captain radioed he was taking on water at 1 a.m. today

Wareham harbor master found tug unmanned and partially submerged around 6 a.m.

By Walter Brooks

The location of the submerged towboat Triple J.The Coast Guard reported today that it is searching for a missing towboat captain in Buzzards Bay west of Pocasset between the towns of Wareham and Falmouth.

Watchstanders from the Sector Southeastern New England command center received a distress call at approximately 1 a.m. from the captain of the 29-foot TowBoat U.S. vessel Triple J, reporting that his vessel was taking on water.

A 25-foot Response Boat from Station Cape Cod Canal, a 41-foot utility boat from Station Woods Hole and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tigershark were immediately launched to search for the captain.

Harbor master discovers unmanned, half submerged vessel

The Wareham harbor master found the Triple J unmanned and partially submerged around 6 a.m. approximately three miles south of Hog Island Channel.

Lt. Brian Hall, the command duty officer at Sector Southeast New England said, “He called us on a VHF-radio and we were able quickly find a fixed position. We launched several assets and are conduct a through search of the area."

Assisting in the search are:

• Bourne, Mass., Police Department
• Wareham Harbor Master
• Marion, Mass., Harbor Master

   Bourne Fire Rescue aided with the search. Photo by David G. Curran.

Cape's charter schools can teach the "big boys" about thrift

Thrifty Cape Charter schools resist "edifice complex"

Charters do with less - a lot less

By Walter Brooks

Cape Cod’s two public charter schools are both in the midst of high profile construction projects.  Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School (CCLCS) is mid-way through the renovation of the former Regal Cinema multiplex in Harwich and even has a creative blog about the project's progress.

CCLCS in former Route 137 Harwich movie theater.

At the same time the Sturgis Charter Public School is about to place the modular units for their new “Sturgis West” campus in Hyannis.

Both charter schools have managed to succeed in rather unconventional spaces prior to building their new facilities.  Sturgis’ main campus is in the former Meyer’s Furniture store in Hyannis and their “new” campus is temporarily housed in the former Artifacts Fine Furniture store across the street.  In Orleans, CCLCS has run a middle school out of the “underground mall” for over 15 years.

Indeed, Sturgis was just named the fifteenth best high school in the United States by US New and World Report and the best high school in Massachusetts.

Sturgis West rendering by Studio G Architects.

Sturgis under $11 million, Lighthouse for $4 million

In a recent radio newscast Sturgis’ Executive Director, Eric Hieser declared that the cost of the Sturgis West campus was “under $11 million.”  Paul Niles, director of the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, quoted the cost of his school’s project at $4 million - $1.9M to purchase the property and $2.1M to convert the Harwich multiplex.

Meanwhile, Nauset Regional High School raised eyebrows last year with a $6.5 million project to replace windows and the roof at the multi-building campus in North Eastham.

Over in Harwich, the Monomoy Regional School District withdrew its request for a $68 million high school complex at the site of the current Harwich High School.  In the face of taxpayer outrage, the Monomoy committee decided to re-think the project.  The $68M proposal had included surprises such as a $3 million sports stadium complex.  “Edifice complex” was the term one taxpayer used in expressing his dissatisfaction with the Monomoy building committee.

Yesterday, Sturgis launched the Sturgis West  - Breaking New Ground blog to keep people informed about the construction project, according to Marion Weeks, Community Outreach Coordinator at Sturgis. Sturgis  West - Breaking New Ground is a collaborative effort by JK Scanlan Company, Studio G. Architects and Sturgis Charter Public School. Visit the blog here or sign up for their email alert.Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School is rehabilitating its facility for considerably less than the cost of a maintenance project at Nauset Regional High School and Sturgis is building a 400 student school for about 16% the proposed cost of Monomoy’s 700-800 student school.

Our two charter schools’ history of excellent teaching in unusual spaces proves that the four walls around a classroom are less important than what the teachers and students do behind those walls.

Perhaps the charters might teach the traditional public school districts a thing or two about thrift in school construction.

The taxpayers who eventually have to pay for any public works would appreciate the thrift.

Haddock, five other fisheries return to healthy levels

Six fish stocks return to normal levels

Gulf of Maine haddock, Atlantic flounder, among six fisheries mentioned

By Walter Brooks

Where the Summer Flounder are fished.
An adult Summer Flounder.
An adult Gulf of Maine Haddock.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that a record number of fisheries have returned to what the agency calls healthy levels, and they all got there last year.The six populations of fish which returned to healthy levels in 2011 are:

• Bering Sea snow crab
• Mid-Atlantic summer flounder
• Gulf of Maine haddock
• Northern California coast chinook salmon
• Washington State coho salmon
• Pacific widow rockfish

Altogether the NOAA Fisheries Service said 27 fish stocks have been returned to health in the last 11 years.

Success at last for troubled NOAA reporting

The local Massachusetts commercial fishermen have been highly critical of the  methodology used by NOAA when it cut allowed catch levels in recent years. However, their hands are tied because under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, NOAA must report annually on fish stocks in waters within 200 miles of the coast, and depleted stocks must be rebuilt to healthy levels.

NOAA reported to Congress this month that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) tracks the biomass trends for over-fished stocks to monitor rebuilding progress. In 2011, six stocks have fully rebuilt to at least 100% of their biomass sustainable levels ( BMSY), bringing the total number of stocks rebuilt since 2000 to 27.

More stocks were declared rebuilt in 2011 than in any other single year tracked.

Read the NOAA report in its entirety here.