EXTRA...

Chatham considers "no trespass" order against US Government

TODAY's quote: “At the moment I'm flying by the seat of my pants because I have not had to sue the federal government in 28 years." - Chatham Town Counsel Bruce Gilmore.

   The Breakthrough in April 2007 in the barrier beach. North Beach Island on right is now cut off.

Chatham may issue "no trespass" order against US Government
Women can propose today
Many demur on "privilege"

This year is a "Leap Year", and a whimsical tradition dating back at least four centuries (and still trotted out at four-year intervals by newspaper feature writers) holds that leap years confer upon women the "privilege" of proposing marriage to men instead of the other way around.
      The "old wives tale" was that any man who refused such a proposal owed his spurned suitor a silk gown and a kiss, but only if she was wearing a red petticoat at the moment she popped the question.
      A leap year is any year whose date is divisible by 4 except those which are divisible by 100 but not those divisible 400.
      The exact number of days in a solar year is ever-so-slightly less than 365.25 (it is 365.242374, to be precise), so the algorithm had to be designed such that every now and then a leap year is skipped to keep the calendar.

The contractor hired by the Cape Cod National Seashore to demolish the five federally-owned camps on North Beach Island is expected to start work Monday.

The Cape Cod Chronicle reports today that Chatham's Board of Selectmen came within one vote yesterday of issuing a trespass order against the United States Government in an attempt to block demolition equipment from reaching camps on North Beach Island.

Selectman Timothy Roper said it seems odd to consider putting up no trespassing signs against the federal government, "but on the other hand, I kind of like the idea."

The newspaper says that the tactic was considered as a way to delay the demolition and thus to provide additional time for political or legal challenges to take hold.

But the proposal failed to pass on a 2-2 vote Tuesday.

The weekly reports that a barge is expected to arrive to remove the camps about March 7.

Read the Cape Cod Chronicle here. Our original 2007 story on the breakthrough is below.

Storm this week cut off another hunk, cottages isolated

By Walter Brooks 

In late April 2007 visitors to the Cape this school vacation week had an unexpected natural disaster to watch as about a mile of the barrier beach which protects Chatham Harbor and Pleasant Bay from the ocean waves was severed by up to a half mile wide breach.

The point where local beach police and others discovered the new breach is directly opposite a highland known as High Scatteree in North Chatham.  The new opening is pumping water into an area called Bassing Harbor which is adjacent to the larger Pleasant Bay and South Orleans.   The Chatham conservation land on Strong Island, once mentioned as the location for a President Kennedy Summer White House, may be eroded by the ocean currents entering the bay on its south shore.

At high tide early this week, huge ocean waves riding the seasonal higher tides could be seen crashing over the outer beach in four locations. Water was flooding Bassing and Chatham Harbor.  The washovers in the area between the first and second so-called “villages,” or clusters of beach camps. By Wednesday there was no beach left on the ocean side wide enough for off-road vehicles and the beach from about the Orleans line south was closed to traffic. 

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Tribe to pick Taunton today, still faces July 31 deadline

TODAY's quote: "The tribe will now have to apply to the US Department of the Interior to take the land into trust so it may qualify as Indian land under federal law. The Supreme Court stripped the federal government of that power in 2009, and legislation to amend the law has failed to move in Congress."

Tribe decision will cost Foxboro and Raynham any hope for a casino or slots

Land must be approved, governor must agree on profit share, all by July 31, 2012

The Enterprise reports that it has learned that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has decided on the nearby off Cape city of Taunton for the site of its eagerly anticipated gambling casino and resort hotel. Taunton is the county seat of Bristol County, and the 2010 census reports the city has a population of 55,874.

The weekly newspaper says that Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell and Taunton Mayor Thomas C. Hoye, Jr. will make a joint announcement at Taunton City Hall today.

This is good news for the city which faces even more unemployment because of the planned closing of the Taunton State Mental Hospital, see here.

Other cities which were vying for this huge economic plum included New Bedford, Fall River, Bridgewater, Middleborough, and Raynham, but the tribe has selected a 53-acre parcel in an industrial park near the intersection of Routes 140 and Route 24.

The location in near the Silver City Galleria shopping mall.

The Boston Globe reports the one big loser in this decision is the Raynham Park track in the next town which hoped to bid for the slot machine parlor license authorized by the state casino law.

The tribe’s site in Taunton is also less than 30 miles from two other proposed casinos as well, the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville, and Foxborough where Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn is proposing a $1 billion gambling resort.

Tribe faced with four month deadline to have BIA approve land, deal with Patrick

Now the tribe has to apply to the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs to take the land into trust so it may qualify as Indian land under federal law.

Then, for the tribe to maintain its advantage it must negotiate with Governor Deval Patrick on the money the state would get from gambling proceeds and how the casino would be regulated.

By July 31, the tribe would also have to win legislative approval of the compact and schedule a local referendum.

If the Mashpee Wampanoag fail to make the deadline, the commission must open the southeast to commercial casino bidders.

Read the Enterprise story here. Read the Globe story here. 

Read previous reports on this development below.

• Motivation for closing nearest state mental hospital questioned
  Posted in EXTRA... on February 23, 2012
• Tribe, Delahunt, talking to Taunton about their casino
  Posted in EXTRA... on February 14, 2012
  

  

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Is nuke era ending? Patrick Administration to save Otis, others

TODAY's quote: "I gave up thinking 'shut it down.'" - Mary Lampert.

Patrick administration wants to protect Mass. military facilities

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray Monday created a task force to review military assets and security in Massachusetts and prepare strategy to protect reserve and National Guard units and facilities from possible Department of Defense budget cuts.
      Read the Springfield Republican story here.Is the Nuclear Era ending here?

Many plants are the same as Fukushima

AlterNet reports that nearly one year after the Fukushima disaster, 23 nuclear power plants of the same model are still operating in the United States, many of them pushing 40 --and despite the risks they pose, a recent federal court decision will make it harder for states to close them down.

"I gave up thinking 'shut it down,'" says Mary Lampert, a Massachusetts activist who has waged a seven-year campaign against renewing the Plymouth Pilgrim plant's license. "There's a lot more that could be done to make it safer. Safe, no."

For example, she says, the pressure-relief vents could be passive, opening automatically in response to high pressure instead of electrically or manually, and have filters.

Lampert calls the NRC's cost-benefit analyses, in which the agency weighs the cost of offsite damage from an accident against the cost of fixes needed to prevent accidents and mitigate damage, "baloney." They have failed to consider possibilities such as the effect contaminated water in Cape Cod Bay would have on Massachusetts' marine industries, she says, and they grossly underestimate both the chances and the severity of accidents.

Read the Alternet story here.

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Orleans to celebrate "Battle of Rock Harbor" early; Chatham to use sheriff's dispatch

TODAY's quote: "The British demanded that the town of Orleans ante up a hefty sum of $1,000 for the safety of its citizens; otherwise the town would be bombed and the local saltworks destroyed. The neighboring towns of Eastham and Brewster had already paid handsomely to save their saltworks, but Orleans refused the insulting proposition." - Bill Quinn.

War of 1812 to be celebrated early in Orleans

"Orleans, 1812-2012, Defiant and Self-Reliant" includes concert, events in August

The HMS Newcastle frigate.Although the locally famous Battle of Rock Harbor actually happened in December 1814, about a week before the war ended, its roots are in September when townspeople refused to pay a $1,000 ransom levied by British Captain Rich Raggot of the HMS Newcastle. See the ransom note below.

Orleans historian and photographer Bill Quinn wrote about the battle for the Orleans Historical Society, "Cape Cod was particularly vulnerable during the War of 1812 and took part in a great number of naval conflicts. Rock Harbor, located on the west side of Orleans, is a relatively narrow and shallow inlet that serves as the town’s gateway into Cape Cod Bay. This tranquil cove was the site of a skirmish between locals and the British navy on December 19, 1814.

The British Marines came ashore and were repulsed by Orleans militiamen at Defiance Lane on Rock Harbor Road, so named for the skirmish.

According to Bill Quinn the British were not content with the outcome of the failed landing, and the Newcastle began to fire its cannons into the town, but the ship was too far offshore and the cannonballs fell short. Five days later, on Christmas Eve, 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed and the War of 1812 was over. The large and powerful Newcastle lived out a much more mundane career and was eventually disassembled and sold for
scrap in 1850.

Read the story in The Cape Codder here.

Chatham to turn regional dispatch over to sheriff's department

Chatham Board of Selectmen last week voted to pursue switching fire department dispatching to the Barnstable County Sheriff's Department, which already provides the service to more than a half dozen Cape towns.

The Cape Cod Chronicle reports that using the regional dispatch service will save the town money, and is a step toward full regional dispatching of all emergency services – police and fire – which a Barnstable County task force is currently studying.

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High wind damage mostly off Cape; Big tourism & wedding season coming

TODAY's quote: “We’re budgeting for a very good year.” - Peter Martino, Heritage House Motel, Hyannis.

The winds yesterday were vicious at times while walker sstruggled against the gusts, but most damage and outages were off Cape according to the NStar crews here which were moved inland during the storm.

The Boston Globe reports that strong winds downed tree branches across the state today, resulting in power outages for thousands of customers.

The weather also forced the cancellation of ferry service to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard as a strong low-pressure system generated gusts topping 60 miles an hour, reaching 63 mph in Harwich.

NStar spokesman Walter Salvi said, ‘‘Most of our outages were inland, which was a little different from the forecast. ‘The storm certainly got our attention.’’

Big come-back for Cape Cod tourism coming

Wedding show today at Ocean Edge Resort

Optimism is breaking out for a strong tourism season for inns and hotels in the town of Barnstable, reports the Barnstable Enterprise.

Jessica Sylver of the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce, said accommodations members are reporting that reservations are running ahead of last year and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce's Wendy Northcross said website traffic at the chamber was up 60 percent in the last quarter.

Attendance at today's Cape Cod Wedding Expo at Brewster's Ocean Edge is expected to break records.On the Southeastern Massachusett's largest vacation site, Cape Cod Travel, clients are reporting similar activity.

The Cape Cod Wedding Show today from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Ocean Edge Resort on Route 6A in Brewster is reporting a bigger than expected turn-out.

With the increase in tourism comes a similar boost in the area's wedding-related businesses, see Weddings On Cape Cod here.

Same sex marriages  add even more business

With Massachusetts leading the nation in recognizing same sex marriages, the Cape's wedding industry has received the lion's share of the activity due to the huge popularity of Provincetown for gay and lesbian couples who had already made the Cape tip town their vacation destination every summer.

See Gay Weddings on Cape Cod here.

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Whales are rushing the season this year--seen off Vineyard, Provincetown

TODAY's quote: “All of nature is ahead of itself." - Michael Moore, WHOI.

Right whales seen off the Vineyard, others return early off Provincetown

Is it the warmer weather, or a primal urge to return to Cape Cod? Whatever the reason the whales are back and they are early this season which bodes well for the area's whale watch fleet.

The Vineyard Gazette report that early this week David Damroth was strolling Zack’s Cliffs in Aquinnah and gazed across the gulf to Noman’s Land when he saw an eruption from the water a mile and a half out. It was a double spout, a trademark of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. For the next 45 minutes he watched as at least three animals romped about the surface.

The Boston Globe reminds us that there are only about 475 North Atlantic right whales left in the world, and many gather each spring in the rich feeding grounds of Cape Cod Bay, drawing crowds of onlookers with their acrobatic breaches.

But this winter, researchers first spotted the enormous creatures in mid-December, and have since identified almost three dozen more. With each new sighting, some within 300 yards of shore, scientists have grown more amazed.

A North American right whale was freed of entanglement a week ago Wednesday in Cape Cod Bay, thanks to the quick response of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies' (PCCS) Marine Animal Entanglement Response (MAER) team. The young male was sighted by the team during a dedicated search, according to PCCS spokesperson Catherine Macort.

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Mihos alleged domestic abuse--here and in Florida; Kennedy kicked nurse in the crotch

TODAY's quote: “This is nothing more than a money grab." - Douglas Kennedy.

Christy Mihos under investigation for domestic abuse

What's in the Kool-Ade at Alliance parties anyway?

Alliance co-founder Bill Koch had Christy Mihos' problem in 2000

On December 4, 2000, a charge of domestic assault and battery was filed against billionaire yachtsman Bill Koch, future co-chairman of the anti-wind farm Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, was dismissed, according to a story the following day in the Cape Cod Times.
   "Koch's estranged wife, Angela, had notified the district attorney's office that she would assert her marital privilege and not testify against Koch," according to the Times. "A note in the Koch file, signed by First Assistant District Attorney Michael O'Keefe, noted that without Mrs. Koch's testimony, the state had no evidence against her husband."
    "In July," the Times reported, "Angela Koch called the Barnstable police to the couple's Oyster Harbor home, claiming her husband had punched her in the stomach and threatened to hurt his 14-year-old son from a previous marriage."

The Boston Globe reports that Yarmouth Police said they are working with the Martin County Sheriff’s Department in Florida to investigate two alleged incidents that occurred in the last year.

The first, police said, allegedly occurred July 7 in West Yarmouth, where the 62-year-old Mihos lives in a gated home on Great Island with his wife, Andrea. The second incident allegedly occurred Monday in Stuart, Florida.

Andrea Mihos reported both incidents at the Yarmouth police station on Tuesday evening, said Deputy Chief Steven Xiarhos.

Mihos whose home is at 51 Smith’s Point Road on Great Island in Yarmouth, has not been arrested in either state, Xiarhos said, but the Yarmouth police have suspended Mihos’ license to carry firearms and seized the handgun that he owns.

Mihos associate at Alliance has a similar record

This is the second shocking story this week about the founders of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

On Wednesday Bill Koch of Osterville, another founder and major funder of this anti-wind farm group, was fined over a half million dollars by the United States Department of Justice for rigging non-compete contracts to avoids payments to the government.

Christy Mihos and Bill Koch are co-founders of the Alliance, and now also share the similar police record with Florida and Cape Cod police.

Some local observers are asking what's in the Kool-Ade at the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound parties.

RFK's son arrested after he kicked nurse in the crotch

Douglas Kennedy as a baby being held by his father Robert F. Kennedy and mothel Ethel Kennedy.The Daily Mail reports that the son of Robert F. Kennedy has been arrested for allegedly attacking two nurses who tried to stop him from removing his newborn baby from the hospital.

Douglas Kennedy, a journalist, is charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child following the altercation, which happened last month.

He is alleged to have twisted the arm of one nurse and kicked another in the crotch as they tried to make sure his two-day-old son Boru was not being treated roughly.

The nurse in charge of the unit, Anna Margaret Lane, said in a deposition that Kennedy wanted to take the child "to get fresh air" that evening. As he tried to leave, he was accompanied by a doctor from the hospital's emergency room, identified in court papers as "Dr. Haydock," later determined to be Dr. Timothy Haydock, a longtime family friend.

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Wolf calls for Plymouth Nuke to close, NRC chair sides with critics

TODAY's quote: “When you look at the benefits of a plant like Pilgrim, you have to look at the risk, and in a case where the risks are as high, and the consequences are so ugly, even if the likelihood is so small, you really have to question the benefits of having a plant in our backyard."
- Cape & Islands State Senator Dan Wolf.

Senator Dan Wolf calls for closing Plymouth Nuke Plant

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko calls for giving critics more voice

State Senator Dan Wolf (left) with Upper Cape Rep. candidate Patrick Ellis (right).The people who have been calling for the shutting down of the 40-year-old nuclear power plant just over the Sagamore Bridge in Plymouth got a huge double boost yesterday when Massachusetts State Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) called for the plant's closing and the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Gregory Jaczko wrote a dissenting opinion on his agency's support for the plant referencing.

The Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative Wednesday night at Cape Cod Community College was attended by half a hundred people, mostly opponents of the Pilgrim Nuclear plant being relicensed. Its present 20-year license is up for renewal by the NRC.

While our six-state region had eight nuclear plants operating at one time, the five remaining produce 30 percent of New England's energy, and the Plymouth plant employs 650 people and pays $10 million in taxes to the Town of Plymouth.

The Cape Codder reports that Mary Lampert of Pilgrim Watch reminded the audience that the Plymouth reactor’s design is similar to the plant at Fukushima, Japan, “So we had a real world test as to whether the vent works. It was tested three times and it failed three times and three reactors exploded. Would it be any different here? The answer is no.”

NRC chief sides with plant's critics

In what could be a greater hope for local environmentalists' efforts to stop the Pilgrim Nuke's relicensing, the Patriot Ledger reports today that the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is arguing to expand, not limit, the public’s chance to ask plant-safety questions in light of last year’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko wrote, “given the significance of that accident (Fukushima) and the potential implications for the safety of our nuclear reactors, we should allow members of the public to obtain hearings on new contentions on emerging information.”

Read The Cape Codder story here.  Read the Patriot Ledger story here.

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Motivation for closing nearest state mental hospital questioned

Cape Cod, South Shore and the Islands affected

   The Taunton State Hospital (formerly known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton) is a psychiatric hospital built in 1854. The architecture of most of the facility's buildings is of a unique and rare neo-classical style, designed by the architect Elbridge Boyden. It is also a Kirkbride Plan Hospital.

Nearest state facility would be in Worcester after Taunton closes

“We feel that the consolidation of the beds to Worcester State Hospital and Tewksbury State Hospital constitute an enhancement of mental health services." - Marcia Fowler.Lawmakers piled on the state mental health commissioner Wednesday, using an annual budget hearing to lambast the Patrick administration’s decision to shutter a Taunton mental hospital by the end of the year.

The Patrick Administration plans to shutter the facility and move the bulk of its 169 beds to what official call a “state-of-the-art” hospital in Worcester slated to open later this year, and about 45 beds would be moved to a facility in Tewksbury which is even further away.

Critics of the move say it would leave the South Coast and Cape Cod without convenient access to a long-term care facility. State Senate President Therese Murray, whose district includes Plymouth and the Upper Cape, has called for the Governor to reconsider the move, see our previous report below.

Read the story in the MetroWest News here.

Murray protests closing, outlines Taunton Hospital's effect on Cape Cod

Taunton State Hospital was mortally wounded in 2006 when an arson-sparked blaze destroyed the entire central administration portion of the asylum.

Closing makes Worcester the nearest such facility for Cape Cod

While Patrick administration has defended the proposal to close the Taunton facility to ensure that the agency lives within its budget, and the state's Department of Mental Health officials intend to move most of the hospital’s 169 beds to facilities in Tewksbury and Worcester. 

Senate President Therese Murray, whose district included Plymouth and the Upper Cape, called yesterday for mental health resources to be available in “every community,” repeating the phrase for emphasis in front of Department of Mental Health officials who recently announced plans to close Taunton Hospital, a facility that serves Murray’s Cape Cod constituents.

Once state-of-the-art mental healthcare facilities, Kirkbride buildings like Taunton have long been relics of an obsolete therapeutic method known as Moral Treatment. In the latter half of the 19th century, these massive structures were conceived as ideal sanctuaries for the mentally ill and as an active participant in their recovery.

Read the Herald-News story here.

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Where the money is; Gorey birthday; Island boom

TODAY's quote: "The business model behind printed news might be dying. But the business model behind information is just transitioning." - Ezra Klein in The Washington Post.

Where the ad dollars will be
Web over print 16 to 1
Think about this in terms of the ratio of ad dollars to time spent. Print is 1:6. The web is 16:22. Mobile is 1:23.
      That’s not sustainable. Via The Next Web, above is a telling chart from mobile analytics company Flurry comparing where advertisers spend their dollars to where consumers spend their time.
      The business model behind printed news might be dying, but the business model behind information is transitioning.
      Read the Washington Post report here.Edward Gorey birthday party today

World-renowned Yarmouth author and artist Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was born on February 22, 1925. In celebration of the anniversary of his birth there will be a special evening of Gorey-themed entertainment.

Cakes and refreshments will be provided, and visitors will enjoy mysterious interpretations from the Fantod Deck; joyous readings from Gorey’s unique books.

We probably won't attend since it's at the Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore in San Francisco, CA.

But we may drive by his home on Route 6A in Yarmouth Port and smile, or visit.

See the CBR News story here.

The real estate boom returns on Nantucket

I never read a newspaper, so I never see the ads

I don't read a newspaper any longer, at least the printed kind. I switched my New York Times subscription to my Kindle reader (for a third the price) over three years ago, so I never see the ads in the Times.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday I forgot to bring my Kindle with me on my morning bike ride, soI bought a copy at a news store.

Pages B2-3 in yesterday's New York Times.Ugh!

How awkward it was to have to hold those huge pages as the corners curled up (they're using cheaper and thinner newsprint these days), and then having to find a trash basket to dispose of it after.

But at least I saw THE AD.

On page 3 of the Business Section appeared a full-page ad for a 10,000 square foot home on Nantucket called Harbor Haven.

A full page in the NY Times costs up to $100,000 a pop, so I guess the recession really IS over, at least for the rich.

Any real estate broker wishing good results for a tad less should try here instead. - WB

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