EXTRA...

South Dennis Sex-Ring bust; Osterville's Andy Hallett dead at 33; Tinman feeds the needy; Layoffs at The Globe

TODAY's quote: "I wasn't given a chance to show what I really do." - Georgianna Bloom, alleged madam.

Angel Star Andy Hallett Dies of Heart Failure at 33
Osterville actor in 70 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff, Angel

Andy Hallett, who starred as Lorne ("the Host") on the TV series Angel

Andy Hallett, who starred as Lorne ("the Host") on the TV series Angel, died of heart failure last night at age 33, according to his longtime agent and friend Pat Brady. The actor passed away at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with heart disease, with his father Dave Hallett by his side.

Hallett, from the Cape Cod village of Osterville, Mass., appeared on more than 70 episodes of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff, Angel, between 2000 and 2004. The accomplished actor was also a musician and sang two songs ("Lady Marmalade" and "It's Not Easy Being Green") on the Angel: Live Fast, Die Never soundtrack, released in 2005.

The actor's character on Angel was Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, or Lorne for short. Hallett's Lorne was a friendly demon, who, when not assisting Angel and his team in the investigation of various and sundry underworld mysteries, served as the host and headliner at a demon bar.

Back in 2001, Hallett told our own Jen Godwin that despite constant flirtation with David Boreanaz' character Angel, and the occasional sly Elton John reference, "We don't really know if he's gay. I don't really know. It's funny, because sometimes he's right in Angel's face, and that's when I feel it the most. And viewers would probably think, hmm, what's going on here? This guy's pretty curvy."

Hallett has spent his post-Angel years working on his music career, playing shows around the country. He had been admitted to the hospital three or four times in the past few years for his heart condition, according to Pat.

Another Angel castmember, Glenn Quinn, who played Doyle in season one, passed away in 2002.

A private funeral service will be held for family and close friends in Cape Cod, most likely over this weekend... E Online.

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Layoffs at The Globe

Thanks to a reasonably successful buyout program and last week's layoffs of 20 editorial part-timers--including five part-time photographers--today's layoffs hit the Globe newsroom with less force than they might have otherwise.. Phoenix.

Detroit newspaper pick worse day possible to stop home delivery

News day's like yesterday come once a year, but Monday was the day the two daily newspapers here stopped home delivery... NY Times.

Ten nabbed in Barnstable sex-for-sale case

Barnstable police arrested 10 people last week in an undercover sex sting organized over the Internet. The arrests included three women and a level 3 sex offender, who were arraigned in court on Monday on prostitution charges.

Undercover officers arranged for women to perform sexual acts on them at a local motel room using the Web site Craigslist, police said. Georgianna Bloom, 59, of South Dennis, was arrested on Wednesday after officers responded to her advertisement on the site, the paper reports.

Bloom said that she was not planning to really have sex with the undercover officer. She said she intended to "simulate and to tease" during the encounter. "What I was planning to do is not illegal. I wasn't given a chance to show what I really do."... WCVB-TV.
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Cape Cod diner offers free meals to those suffering from mental and social illnesses

"They are the forgotten people," - Barbara Lind

FALMOUTH - Closing hour came and went, but Barbara Lind had no thoughts of shutting down shop Sunday afternoon. She was too busy fulfilling a promise.  Last summer, she reopened her cherished My Tinman Diner in a new spot, eight years after an arsonist destroyed the original Pocasset restaurant.

For the two years before reopening, she worked at Plymouth Bay House, helping people with mental and social problems restore their lives.

"They are the forgotten people," Lind said from her diner Sunday. She never forgot her vow to help people with mental illnesses or other challenges... Standard-Times.

Christy running hard for 2010

Christy Mihos to run as a Republican this time
Deval Patrick's fumbles open the door for this one-time GOP stalwart

The only problem Yarmouth's Christy Mihos might have in his bid to replace Governor Deval Patrick is the disdain voters feel for the Republican Party.

The cc2day poll showed Christy beating Deval by six to one. Hopefully his 2010 campaign will be as much fun as the last.

The GOP insiders are already strapping the explosives around their waists for yet another season of  "political suicide bombings" by trying to foist another Boston tycoon on the electorate as their candidate in 2010.

This time "Muffy" will be replaced by "Buffy" in the person of Charlie Baker.

That's Charles Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a real barn-burner of a title.

Who isn't looking to vote for a rich insurance company executive?

Reminds one of when Romney tried to stuff a "carpetbagger" down voters' throats a couple elections ago and lost enough additional seats on Beacon Hill to make the GOP about as reliant as the Green Party, but with a worse platform (remember Gail Lese?).

As the Herald reported three days ago,

Rampant voter revulsion is bad news for Gov. Deval Patrick, a new poll shows...  Christy Mihos said last night he'll run for governor on the GOP ticket if he decides to jump into the race.

A daunting 59 percent of those polled say they’ve never even heard of Charlie Baker, touted by many in the GOP as the Republicans’ best hope for the 2010 governor’s race.

"I'm not their favorite person," he said of voters, "after announcing I wanted to fire 8,000 state employees."

Mihos, who ran as an independent in 2006, coming in a distant third place, said Patrick is making "stupid errors" in office but will be difficult to unseat once he calls on President Obama and Bay State Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry for help.

"There's no margin of error in this economy," Mihos said yesterday.

The Herald reported yesterday that only 34 percent of those surveyed in a  7News poll conducted by Suffolk University say the governor deserves to be re-elected, while nearly half said it is "time to elect someone else."

Whoopie! Christy comes to the rescue

Christy's only station at present, the C-Mart in Hyannis, has his famous Whoopie Pies.

Christy Mihos has been laying low, marshalling his strength one assumes for the tough run for governor. The race won't really begin even sporadically until the warm weather sets in, but Deval Patrick's continuing foibles will make it easier for Mihos.

Even as an Independent last time, he got 160,000 votes, 20% of what the Republican candidate received.

It will be far different in November 2010 unless the economy really makes an enormous turn-around and Deval trades in his Cadillac for one of those little India autos called the Nana.

In the mean time Christy is busy putting his third chain of gas station and mini-marts together.

When he sold "Christy's of Cape Cod" to Hess earlier this year, he didn't sell the name or the four stations which were in the process of being purchased and/or improved.

The first to open will probably be the one on Route 6A in Dennis, but he's already "in the game" with a discount gas station which doesn't have a mini-mart in Hyannis on Route 28 abaft the airport fence.

C-Mart doesn't have a mini-mart, but it does have Whoopie Pies and the price for a gallon of regular today was $1.83.

Whoopie.

Getting an off road permit; 1/4 of world's Right Whales are here; Can't sell his house so he quits TM job; Student homeless camps; MMA trains to fight pirates

TODAY's quote: "I'm delighted to welcome them back to the Commonwealth."
- Ian Bowles, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

A quarter of World's Atlantic Right Whales Gather Off Cape Cod

There are only about 325 North Atlantic right whales left in the world, and approximately 80 of them have assembled in the waters near Cape Cod. Above a mother and her calf. File photo.

They have come together to feed on an unusually huge population of zooplankton. The whales normally follow zooplankton from Canada as they are moved with ocean currents down to the Massachusetts coast. This year the extra numbers of zooplankton are attracting a record congregation of North Atlantic rights, which are one of the most endangered species in the world.

The extensive gathering is the largest documented so far this year. Scientists are surveying the population and their activities. "It's a pretty special sight in a tiny embankment so close to land," said Dr. Charles Mayo, a senior scientist from the National Marine Fisheries Science Center. Right whales are protected by law, but they have been dying due to ships striking them, and by entanglements in fishing equipment. This winter five whales were spotted entangled in such gear. Scientists are working with fisherman to make gear that is less dangerous to the whales, and there has been some cooperation within the fishing community. Another cause for hope: in Boston some shipping lanes were revised to provide greater area for whales to navigate without being killed by ships. Speed limits for large ships in Atlantic coastal areas have also helped, because right whale migratory paths cross some of the Atlantic Ocean's busiest shipping lanes... EcoWorld.
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For cadets, piracy echoes from afar
Mass. Maritime teaches gun use

Amanda Priest unloaded five quick rounds from her 9mm pistol, the spent casings hurtling over her right shoulder before clattering to the cement floor. The soft-spoken Massachusetts Maritime Academy senior had fired a handgun for the first time. Her shots, part of a deafening volley from her fellow cadets enrolled in the school's first-ever firearms training course, were taking aim at a threat half a world away: the surge of piracy off the Horn of Africa, the continent's easternmost peninsula that juts into the Arabian Sea. With the spate of ship hijackings posing a growing menace to global trade, the military-style college, whose mascot is a buccaneer, is expanding its security training to deter crime on the high seas.

The 1,000-student academy sends many graduates into seafaring careers where they might traverse pirate-plagued waterways, and joins other maritime academies in campaigns to thwart pillagers... Globe.
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Students camp in 'Cardboard Tent City' for homelessness
Cape Cod Man and Quakers tell of perils and salvation

Billy Bishop spent 10 long years as a homeless man on Cape Cod, enduring hunger, cold and isolation. He has lived in an old train, slept behind gravestones to block the wind and gone two weeks without a meal.  Bishop, who spent decades as a fishing boat captain, fell into homelessness when alcoholism got the best of him.

"I worked hard my whole life and I drank hard my whole life"

"I worked hard my whole life and I drank hard my whole life," he said.

It wasn't until he met Alan Burt that he was able to get back on his feet. Burt got Bishop into a home, helping him heal in mind and body. Now Bishop is the president of Homeless Not Hopeless, an organization on the Cape that assists homeless people by finding them housing and helping them to achieve a better quality of life... Standard-Times.
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Steven Angelo couldn't sell his Cape Cod house, so -
NH town to start searching again for town administrator

The fourth search for a new town administrator in a year will be underway soon. Atkinson Selectman William Bennett said the town is contacting the Local Government Center about a new search this week. The LGC was hired to find the last administrator, Steven Angelo, who left in January after less than five months on the job... Angelo was hired in September, but left abruptly, citing difficulty selling his Cape Cod home and a need to spend more time with his family. He was the third person to leave the job in a year... Eagle Tribune.
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How to get an off road vehicle permit at Cape Cod National Seashore

Dreams of driving on the beach can come true, with a little planning. A sand trail managed by the Cape Cod National Seashore, runs from Race Point Beach in Provincetown goes to Long Nook Beach in Truro. If you have a self-contained vehicle it is also possible to park overnight in designated areas.

The Race Point area is popular with fishermen and is a good spot for viewing whales and dolphins from land.  There is a multi-step process to getting that off road vehicle (ORV) permit, which is locally known as an oversand permit to take your 4X4 on Cape Cod National Seashore beaches.

Getting an ORV Permit at Cape Cod National Seashore
1. Have 4x4 vehicle inspected at the Off-Road Permit Station at Race Point
2. Have all required safety equipment (see list below
3. Show valid driver's license and 4x4 vehicle registration
4. View orientation video
5. Pay permit fee
6. Agree to follow regulations

(Important note: rental vehicles will not be given a permit)... Boston Examiner.

Orleans' Geithner facing DC test;; Golf Clubs lower fees; Businesses support cancer drive; PBS series on Wampanoags

TODAY's quote: "He is making decisions in areas where if you get it right 60-70 percent of the time, you are extraordinary. That means you are wrong 30-40 percent of the time." - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan speaking about Timothy Geithner

Tim Geithner facing own stress test amid economic woes
Grandson of Orleans' selectman is battling barbarians

It was at Dartmouth that Geithner met Carole Sonneberg, now a social worker. The two were married at his parents' summer home on Cape Cod, with Geithner's father serving as best man.

In any other year, Timothy Geithner already would have spent a week at tennis camp in Florida, sharpening his skills and kicking back with a group of friends that includes the mentor who helped put him on the fast track to the top of the Treasury Department.

Instead, Barack Obama's 47-year-old treasury secretary is in his office before dawn most days, grabbing lunch at his desk and juggling three Blackberries as he tries to untangle the wreckage of a financial system gone sour...

"Nothing has seemed to blow him off course," says Lee Sachs, a friend who worked with Geithner at Treasury during the Clinton years and is back in the department.

Geithner was a twentysomething whiz kid when he first came knocking on the department's doors in 1988. He had outgrown his first job as a grunt at Kissinger Associates but he wasn't ready to be one of its big-money rainmakers.

So Geithner signed on as a civil servant in the Treasury's trade office during the Reagan administration. Within a decade, he was on track to become the boss of the man who had hired him. Within two, he was fending off Obama's entreaties to become treasury secretary... International Herald Tribune.

EDITOR's NOTE: Timothy Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company. Upon his retirement, he moved back to Orleans and became a selectman for many years. Timothy's parents, Peter and Deborah Moore Geithner, live in Orleans where the Moore family roots go back to the 18th century. Tim Geithner himself owns a summer home in Orleans.
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Why some private clubs are waiving good-bye to steep membership initiation fees

At the start of 2009, the Golf Club of Cape Cod waived its initiation fee for new members -- an $85,000 nut reduced to a free pass because the club had trouble attracting new members.

The struggling economy has taken a toll on private clubs -- 10 to 15 percent admit facing serious financial challenges, according to the National Golf Foundation -- but the downturn means clubs are more willing than ever to offer incentives or waive fees for new members. "Club pros and general managers are going to have to get very creative to sustain their memberships, especially over the next few months," says Adam Scott... Golf.com.
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Business support key to breast cancer fund-raiser's success

Cheryl Osimo, outreach coordinator for Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and co-founder of its sister organization Silent Spring, is busy organizing the details for the 11th annual Against the Tide fund-raiser Aug. 15 that benefits MBCC and its work in preventing breast cancer, which has high rates on Cape Cod. One in seven women will get breast cancer, according to national statistics. Some towns on the Cape have a 21 percent higher rate than the state average, Osimo said.

The one-mile recreational and competitive swims, two-mile kayak and three-mile fitness walk at Nickerson State Park in Brewster raises money for MBCC through pledges from participants... The Register.
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Neither nobles nor savages
In the five-part series 'We Shall Remain,' WGBH aims to put Native Americans at the center of the American experience

On a steamy day last summer, the reproduction Colonial cottages at Salem's Pioneer Village buzzed with modern-day activity: cameras and boom mikes and makeup artists, real chickens, and a deer made of foam. Actors playing Pilgrims, bearing the heat beneath thick woolen coats, milled about a table set with berries and nuts. Native Americans in traditional garb lounged near a rental truck, waiting to be called into action.

Their task: to re-create the first Thanksgiving for "American Experience," the public-television history series produced by WGBH. But this retelling - part of the upcoming series "We Shall Remain" - would be different from other Thanksgiving stories. It would be told from the point of view of Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader who made the risky choice to forge an alliance with the British colonists of Plymouth... Globe.

Peeing Policeman flushed; Bank robbing Scratch Ticket Millionaire is back; Radar site is cancer free; Crossing America from Cape Cod; Spawning on Georges Bank

TODAY's quote: "Understanding these processes could be relevant to the management of ocean fisheries practices at a time when many schooling oceanic fish species are being over fished." - Robert Blake, zoology professor of the University of British Columbia.

Brewster's Peeing Policeman flushed
Officer accused in concert urination fired

Brewster's chairman of the Board of Selectmen Peter Norton said Thursday that former Brewster police Officer Joseph Houston, 29, was "terminated for just cause" at a Feb. 26 executive session of the board.

Houston is scheduled to be arraigned April 8 in Boston Municipal Court on two counts of assault and battery and one count of open and gross lewdness stemming from a Jan. 18 incident at TD Banknorth Garden.

Pee for Two and Two for Pee

According to the Suffolk County district attorney's office Houston allegedly exposed himself and urinated on a young couple from Connecticut during a Metallica concert at the Boston Garden,   He was ejected from the concert, but refused to leave North Station despite repeated orders to do so by Transit Police, the DA's office said in a statement at the time. Houston was escorted out, only to return, the DA said. He was arrested and charged with trespassing.

Brewster Police Chief Richard J. Koch said Houston has been discharged for cause from the department.Peter Norton said Houston's appeal process is ongoing and he couldn't comment on it. But the selectmen chairman confirmed that the officer had been fired.
See previous story: News of Brewster's bad boy copper spreads nationally.
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Jewelry theft suspect has rich history
Timothy Elliott - Bank robbing Scratch Ticket Millionaire

A Barnstable man who was allowed to keep his $1 million lottery prize last year, even though terms of probation barred him from gambling, has been arrested, accused of stealing from a Boston jewelry store, police said yesterday. Fifty-six-year-old Timothy B. Elliott has been charged with larceny by fraud, accused of writing more than $20,000 in checks to a Downtown Crossing jeweler for gold chains and diamonds. When the jeweler tried to cash the checks later, he learned the account had been closed, according to court records.

The case of Elliott, a two-time bank robber convicted of armed robbery and larceny in 2001, received widespread news media attention in November 2007 when he won the Massachusetts State Lottery. (See that story here)

His newfound fortune was imperiled however, when authorities on the Cape learned that because of his criminal background, he was forbidden from gambling. Authorities at the time said he had violated his probation when he bought the $10 ticket at a Stop and Shop in Hyannis.  In January 2008, however, a Barnstable Superior Court judge ruled that he could keep the money and not face jail time... Globe.
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Air Force Says No Link Between Cancer & Cape Radar

The PAVE PAWS system uses thousands of antennas to scan the skies for missiles, satellites and space debris.

The U.S. Air Force says additional federal and independent studies have found no link between a radar station on Cape Cod and an unusually high number of bone cancer cases among children living nearby.

Seven children were diagnosed with a rare cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma between 1994 and 2005.

Air Force spokeswoman Barbara Burnett says a review of data compiled over the past 30 years and new tests showed the early warning radar emissions at Cape Cod Air Force Station were not a threat to public health... Mass. Health & Human Services.
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Hit the road

One of America's first coast to coast roads, Route 6 is called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway (after the Union Army in our Civil War) and begins in Ptown and ends in Bishop Caiifornia , the "Mule Capital of the World", 3,105 to the west.

SINCE Henry Ford began churning out his Model Ts in 1908, the US has been conducting a long and passionate love affair with the automobile. It comes with the territory. All that space just makes a fellow want to move, and cars are the way to go. Welcome to the open road.

Cape Cod, one day: This drive takes you to the beginning of America. Before hitting the road in Plymouth, check out the reconstruction of the Pilgrim Fathers' first settlement, Plimoth Plantation, where actors hoe vegetables, grind corn and hang out on street corners with their blunderbusses, ready to swap news about the 17th century.

A half hour later you cross the bridge to Cape Cod, a Huck Finn world where everyone has a fishing pole and a straw hat. Forgo the big mid-Cape Highway for the coastal road 6A, which follows an old Native American trail. It winds along the shore through small towns where summer homes nestle in dappled shade and sailboats rock in the harbours.

Make a detour to Hyannis, famous as the summer home of the Kennedy clan, where you can visit the John F. Kennedy Museum and pay homage at the statue of the Wampanoag Indian chieftain who sold Cape Cod for $30 and two pairs of trousers.

The Cape begins to feel newly born as the road follows low tongues of land balancing precariously between sea and marsh. At the end is Provincetown, a picturesque place of pretty shingle houses and sun-baked sidewalks. This is where the Pilgrim Fathers first stepped ashore in 1620. Provincetown is now a favourite gay resort. Shops such as the Wild at Heart boutique ("erotica, gifts, dyke-wear and toys for Girls Like Us") must have the old puritans spinning in their graves... The Australian.
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Sensor Studies Schools Of Fish
Watching millions spawn at night on Georges Bank

Scientists say it confirms theories about the behavior of large groups of animals in general, from bird flocks to locust swarms.

Conservationists are now able to watch the movement of large groups of fish as they gather into sandbanks.

According to a report in Friday's edition of the journal Science, researchers were able to watch Atlantic herring gather off Georges Bank near Cape Cod, Mass., where they spawn during the night.

At dawn, the mass of fish return to the deep and scatter.

According to Nicholas C. Makris, professor of mechanical and ocean engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the team used a system called Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing to watch the fish across a 25 mile span.

Previous studies were only able to cover very small areas.

According to Makris, the difference is like being able to see an entire movie, compared to seeing a single pixel... Red Orbit.

Political Tailwind for Offshore Wind Power

Finally, a Political Tailwind for Offshore Wind Power
COM grad Jim Gordon's plans for Nantucket Sound gather momentum

By Seth Rolbein in BU Today.

Jim Gordon believes that by 2012 he will build a wind farm in Nantucket Sound that will look much like one up and running off Nysted, Denmark.  Photo courtesy Cape Wind.

Sitting in his Arlington Street office, musing about seismic political shifts in Washington, Jim Gordon, whose 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound has been stalled by legal challenges, controversy, and red tape for eight years, does one thing he hasn't done before: he refers to his opposition in the past tense.

"They've marginalized themselves," says Gordon (COM'75), CEO of Cape Wind. "That, and the earth has shifted under their feet."

Gordon is talking about political turf as much as growing awareness that the best response to global warming will involve wind and solar energy. President Obama has given a broad endorsement of renewables as a cornerstone of his energy policy, and the administration's new secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, has zeroed in on Gordon's project, announcing support for turbines atop the shallows of Horseshoe Shoal between Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, along with the bulk of state and federal regulators, also has signed on to the project that Gordon says will supply 75 percent of the electricity needed on the Cape and islands, with zero emissions, zero water consumption, zero waste discharge, and zero foreign energy. And reputable polling data suggest that more than 80 percent of the Massachusetts public now thinks building a mammoth wind farm in the Sound is a sound idea.

"They've marginalized themselves. That, and the earth has shifted under their feet."

Gordon sees his project as having the potential to kick-start a whole new industry. "I believe that offshore wind could be the next biotech, the next medical tech," he says. "We could become the world's leader in this, too. This project alone, ready to go, will create hundreds of jobs in technological spin-offs, helping allied industries."

There is still one political player, however, who is not aligned: Edward M. Kennedy, the state's senior U.S. senator, elder statesman, and most powerful politician. Kennedy has provided political cover and credibility for a small but wealthy alliance, funded mainly by property owners on the Cape and islands, which has fought the wind farm in Congress, in court, and through the regulatory process. So while regulators are all but satisfied, there are still opportunities to change the fate of the project in Washington, and more court appeals could keep it stalled.

"I want to produce electricity by 2012. I just feel at this point that we, as a nation, have wasted so many years."

Kennedy maintains that his opposition to Gordon's wind farm is based on his belief that Nantucket Sound, whose waters he has plied so often in his sailboat, should not be industrialized by a huge grid of interconnected turbines whirring atop massive poles speared deep into the ocean's floor. But it's true that on all but the foggiest days, Gordon's wind farm would be visible from Kennedy's beloved family compound in Hyannis, leaving him open to the charge of NIMBYism: that's a fine idea and all, just not in my backyard.

Mention of Kennedy transforms the relaxed, genial Gordon into a guarded, careful interviewee: "I'm hoping now that Senator Kennedy has the benefit of all the environmental reviews, from 17 distinct agencies, showing that Cape Wind will produce significant benefits with minimal impacts," Gordon says, "that he will become a supporter of this project. After all, he's always expressed the need for energy independence and reversing climate change."

Gordon knows full well that such a sea change is not likely. He also knows that Kennedy's failing health renders the conflict more sensitive than ever. He acknowledges that even if all the permits come through within a few months, more legal challenges and political wrangling are likely. But for Gordon, backing down now, after building so much support and spending $40 million of his own money on everything from scientific studies to legal action to lobbying in Congress, is not an option.

"We've been up against some very powerful political forces all along," he says with a shrug, "but I had faith. Really, it was the merits that kept coming to the fore.

"I want to produce electricity by 2012. I just feel at this point that we, as a nation, have wasted so many years."

Seth Rolbein is the Editor of BU Today. He is a well known Cape journalist having been a reporter, author of several books, Editor of The Cape Codder, and until recently the Editor and Publisher of the Cape Cod Voice. Reprinted through the courtesy of BU TODAY.

Lynch suggests County budget cut; Whale of a day in Ptown; YMCA swimmers qualify; Cape man admits porn charges

TODAY's quote: "We see a lot of these animals through the years, but it is just remarkable - jaw-dropping - to see so many." - Charles "Stormy" Mayo, PCCS

County budget battle heats up
$837,000 cut in budget suggested by Tom Lynch

Tom Lynch, Barnstable's member of the Assembly of Delegates, doesn't think the deeds excise tax should be increased at a time when the real estate market is struggling. Instead, he's suggested $837,000 in cuts to the budget the county commissioners submitted for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.

Lynch would put the county fire academy on a path to self-sufficiency, starting with a $75,000 cut in FY2010; reduce county commissioner and delegate stipends; eliminate the proposed office of regionalization; and cut $100,000 in project funding for the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative. The commissioners have given the delegates a list of proposed expenses to be paid for by the 43-cent increase in the deeds tax... Barnstable Patriot.
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Five Makos swimmers qualify for Nationals

The Cape Cod YMCA Makos Swim Team set a New England record plus 13 team marks in the New England YMCA Championships last weekend at Boston University and Harvard. Five team members qualified for the YMCA Nationals April 6-9 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The team, coached by Ben Van Dyk, placed 12th out of 76 teams... The Cape Codder.
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Right whales put on heartening show
Endangered, dozens appear off Cape

A magnificent marine spectacle is drawing scores of awe-struck spectators to the sandy beaches of Provincetown: giant rare whales, more than 70 of them, thrashing, frolicking, but mostly feeding in Cape Cod Bay.

Scientists have never seen so many North Atlantic right whales in the bay so early in the spring - and they say the unprecedented group is a heartening reminder of the resiliency of the federally endangered species that has been ravaged by ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements in recent decades. Almost 20 percent of the estimated 375 leviathans left in the world have been seen in the bay in recent weeks, including ones researchers say they've never seen before there... Globe.
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Cape man pleads guilty to child porn charges

A Cape Cod man who had a child pornography collection that included tens of thousands of images and videos has been sentenced to seven years in a federal prison.  Harris Taubman was also sentenced in federal court in Boston on Thursday to 10 years of probation and ordered to undergo counseling after a judge approved a plea deal.

Barnstable police found the images and videos in Taubman's Hyannis apartment in the summer of 2007 while responding to a dispute between Taubman and a neighbor... WTEN.

111 Right Whale calls a day heard here; Cat needs foster home; Brewster's peeing policeman faces charges; Chamber unit gets $65 art grant; Animal Hospital back in business; Stop pot bylaw; Award for Cape Windscape design

TODAY's quote: "I was hanging around with Mittens this morning. He's a really cool cat." - Dennis' Assistant Animal Control Officer Lori Miranda.

Surveys show more right whales off Cape
111 Right Whales calls in last 24 hours, up to 60 Whales a day

Early counts of North Atlantic right whales returning to feed in Cape Cod Bay this spring show triple the normal population.

Two aerial surveys in the last two weeks counted about 60 whales each day, said Kate Longley of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.

A more common count at this time of the year would be 10 to 20 a day, said Longley.

Right whale habitat specialist Charles Mayo says the whales, spotted well offshore by aerial surveys, come to the bay to feed on zooplankton, which are in abundant supply this spring.

He says it's still too early to tell whether the whales will remain until the late spring like they did last year, when 70 to 100 of the marine mammals frolicked and fed in Cape Cod waters in April. Experts estimate there are only about 300 to 400 right whales left in the world... WTEN.

Just how vocal the whales are in nearby waters can be heard and seen at the lab’s Right Whale Listening Network Web site. The Web page shows data for the area around the arm of Cape Cod and into Boston, where buoys are still active... NY Times.
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      Quarantined cat in Dennis
     needs foster family

"I was hanging around with Mittens this morning. He's a really cool cat," Dennis' Assistant Animal Control Officer Lori Miranda said Sunday afternoon.
   No, the Dennis Police Department hasn't adopted a mascot. Mittens, the Scott Lebarre family's black-and-white male cat, is in temporary residence at DPD after a breach of his six-month quarantine. A Dennis resident called Animal Control Officer Cheryl Malone Jan. 25 to report a wounded cat on her property.
   Because Mittens' wound could have been inflicted by a rabid animal and his rabies protection had lapsed, Malone placed Mittens under the six-month quarantine state law requires when an unvaccinated animal may have been exposed to rabies... Barnstable Patriot.

Arts council, state issue $1.3M in grants
Includes $65,000 for Cape Cod Chamber unit

The Massachusetts Cultural Council and the state legislature's Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts & Cultural Development announced Wednesday the recipients of more than $1.3 million in new arts and cultural grants.

Among the organizations and projects receiving funding are: $70,000 for Arts Boston, Inc. to increase cultural tourism; $65,000 for Cape & Islands Community Development Inc. (a part of the Cape Cod Regional Chamber of Commerce) to open new markets for artisans on Cape Cod.. Boston Business Journal.
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Losing altitude
With the airport nearby, Winthrop's high hopes for wind turbine, revenue are sinking toward disappointment

Being in a waterfront community with no shortage of wind, Winthrop officials were optimistic the town would be a key cog in the state's goal of becoming a leader in wind power. Private investors in green technology and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust were also keen on Winthrop, offering financial support as town officials studied the feasibility of erecting a 250-foot wind turbine in one of two spots near the Belle Isle Cemetery or at the Department of Public Works site.

"The whole concept of green energy is pretty popular in our town," said DPW director David Hickey, who led the way in the town's project-application stage... Globe.
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Ex-Brewster officer Joseph Houston, 29, faces assault charge

A former Brewster police officer is scheduled to be arraigned April 8 in Boston Municipal Court on two counts of assault and battery and one count of open and gross lewdness stemming from a Jan. 18 incident at TD Banknorth Garden. During a Metallica concert at the Garden, Joseph Houston, 29, allegedly exposed himself and urinated on a young couple from Connecticut, according to the Suffolk County district attorney's office. He was ejected from the concert, and then refused to leave North Station despite repeated orders to do so by Transit Police, the DA's office said in a statement. Houston was escorted out, only to return, the DA said. He was arrested and charged with trespassing. Brewster Police Chief Richard J. Koch said Houston has been discharged for cause from the department. Globe.

Police Chief wants fine for public marijuana smoking

Possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is no longer a criminal offense, but Falmouth Police Chief Anthony Riello wants to make sure that the new law doesn't encourage smoking marijuana in public. At Riello's request, an article on the April 7 Falmouth special Town Meeting warrant will ask voters to approve leveling a fine of $300 for the public consumption of marijuana or Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)... Falmouth Bulletin.
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Cape Cod Animal Hospital back in business

Two weeks ago Scott Munson's business came to a halt after fire ravaged the Cape Cod Animal Hospital in Marstons Mills. But the closure wasn't for long.

Munson, a veterinarian and owner of the hospital, said this week the hospital is already making appointments again in a trailer owned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and he hopes to have a limited kennel operation up and running within the next few weeks. Munson said the kennel portion of the business is currently shut down... The Register.
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Lewis to Receive National Architecture Teaching Award
Won award for Cape Wind design "110% Juice" too

Karen Lewis, assistant professor of architecture at University of Kentucky College of Design, has been named a recipient of the New Faculty Teaching Award presented by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). The award recognizes demonstrated excellence in teaching performance during the formative years of an architectural teaching career...

Her work on "110% Juice," a collaborative design for an off-shore wind farm in Cape Cod, was recognized in the WindScape Ideas Competition by the Boston Society of Architects... U of Kentucky.

Girl Scout cookie sales crumble; Classmates remember Steve Bernard; Google improve "Cape Cod" search

TODAY's quote: "It's been a difficult selling season." - Ruth Bramson, Girl Scout Chief Executive Officer

Google tinkers with 'special sauce' for searches
New features provide more detailed results for users' queries

Online seekers take note: If you type "Cape Cod" into the Google search box, links for "Martha's Vineyard" and "Nantucket" now pop up on the bottom of the search page. Internet search provider Google Inc. yesterday added two features to its Web search function to help people find what they're looking for more easily. One offers relevant phrases related to queries, the other offers longer snippets of text for more complicated searches... Globe.
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High School classmates remember Cape Cod chip founder Steve Bernard

BRIDGEWATER - Stephen Bernard, founder of Cape Cod Chips, is being remembered by members of the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School Class of 1965 as a great guy who was friendly, fun, smart, athletic and loyal to his class.

Bernard, late of Marstons Mills, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November and died last week at the age of 61.

Friends say Bernard's passing was mentioned at last week's reunion meeting on Saturday as members were planning their 45th reunion for next year.... The Enterprise.
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Girl Scout Cape Cod cookie sales crumble
Biting economy leaves Eastern Mass. troops scrambling

Cash-hungry local Girl Scouts have just six days to sell a staggering 300,000 boxes of Thin Mints, Daisy Go Rounds and other cookie favorites or else face possible steep fee hikes and deep cuts in their charity programs.

A harsh winter, a tough economy and a widespread peanut butter panic conspired to take a big bite out of this year's cookie dough, leaving sales down 11 percent from last year and the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts $1.2 million short of their goal.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, which serves 45,000 girls ages 5 to 17 in 178 communities from Cape Ann to Cape Cod, has sold some 2.5 million boxes of cookies since January - 300,000 less than last year... Herald.

Wind advisory today; Buzzards Bay wind farm must wait; Wamp talks; Energy from canal's currents; Environmentalists' country-wide clash

TODAY's quote: "We are anxiously awaiting the results of that process (state's Ocean Act), which may have some bearing on the scope of our project and its location," said Todd Presson, director of wind energy development for Patriot Renewables.

The New England Aquarium vessel "Voyager III" enters the east end of the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich during a recent trip. Is it bucking the curent? (Photo by David G. Curran)

Energy may come from the Cape Cod Canal currents

The long jurisdictional confusion among federal agencies that has delayed federal rules and permits for offshore energy projects is apparently over. That should help streamline much-needed alternative- energy projects for New England's coastal areas. It should, for example, give a boost to such projects as Deepwater Wind's plan to put 106 turbines off Rhode Island.

It seems strange that the FERC, with its expansive name, wouldn't handle both, but the MMS seems to have sort of inherited the offshore-wind gig because of its oversight of offshore oil- and natural-gas drilling facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.

Under the rather eccentric agreement, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service will have very clear jurisdiction over offshore wind projects, such as Cape Wind, the 130-turbine project planned for Nantucket Sound. The Army Corps of Engineers used to have the main chore of studying and approving or rejecting Cape Wind. (It might have been better if it had kept it.)

Meanwhile, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will handle wave, tide and ocean-current projects (aka "hydrokinetic") to make electricity. These sorts of projects are now considerably more visionary than wind farms, but as technology develops, we expect to see a big increase in the number of proposals, such as using the powerful tidal currents in the Cape Cod Canal... Providence Journal.
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Buzzards Bay windmill project awaits state report
The Oceans Act must be in place by Dec. 31

The red dots show the three site which Jay Cashman considered for Buzzards Bay. Larger map at bottom.

Environmental impact studies for a proposed Buzzards Bay wind farm (see larger map at bottom) are on hold until the state releases an ocean management plan detailing where renewable energy facilities may be placed in ocean sanctuaries such as the bay.

The Oceans Act of 2008 requires the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs to develop, with input from scientists and stakeholders, a comprehensive plan for ocean uses in state waters. The plan must be in place by Dec. 31.

The company, which is a subsidiary of Jay Cashman Inc., announced plans three years ago to build a 300-megawatt wind farm in Buzzards Bay. The original proposal for the South Coast Offshore Wind Project called for as many as 120 turbines divided into three clusters to be placed off Fairhaven, Dartmouth and Naushon Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands. In May 2008, Patriot Renewables dropped plans for the Fairhaven site due to high boat traffic and a large population of endangered roseate terns... Standard-Times.
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Wind Advsory until 8p.m.
Includes: Bourne, Chatham, Falmouth, Hyannis, Provincetown, Wellfleet.
Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers through early afternoon...Then partly sunny with a slight chance of snow showers late. Very windy and cold with highs in the mid 30s. North winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 45 mph.
Chance of snow 50%, see here.

Mashpee Wampanoag heritage protected

Talks will begin soon between the Mashpee Wampanoag and officials at the Massachusetts Military Reservation about the tribe’s historical links to that land, a base official said last week.

Federal law requires once a tribe is recognized that the military consult with that tribe about activities on the base that may potentially impact "tribal resources or cultural items of interest to tribes"... Herald.
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Environmentalists in a Clash of Goals
Conflict spans the country from Cape Cod to California

The conflict began playing out almost a decade ago in places like Cape Cod, Mass., where a plan to place 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound has pitted energy-conscious environmentalists against local residents who fear harm to aquatic life and the view.

As David Myers scans the rocky slopes of this desert canyon, looking vainly past clumps of brittlebush for bighorn sheep, he imagines an enemy advancing across the crags. That specter is of an army of mirrors, generators and transmission towers transforming Mojave Desert vistas like this one. While Whitewater Canyon is privately owned and protected, others that Mr. Myers, as head of the Wildlands Conservancy, has fought to preserve are not.

To his chagrin, some of Mr. Myers's fellow environmentalists are helping power companies pinpoint the best sites for solar-power technology. The goal of his former allies is to combat climate change by harnessing the desert's solar-rich terrain, reducing the region's reliance on carbon-emitting fuels.

Mr. Myers is indignant... New York Times.
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The map below shows the locations of the arrays of turbine proposed by Jay Cashman's South Coast Offshore Wind Project.