Cape Cod Local News

Aquinnah unveil casino design for Southeastern Massachusetts

Aquinnah unveil proposed casino plans for either Freetown or Lakeville

   145,000 square foot casino, 150,000 square foot, 150 room hotel and a 130,000 square foot parking garage on 20 acres with 2,700 machines, 36 table games, and poker.

2,700 slots plus 36 table games and a 150 room hotel is $200 million short

By Walter Brooks

The State of Massachusetts Casino Gaming Bill calls for three casinos in the state, not four. It also designates that the Southeastern Region set aside a license tentatively for one Native American Indian tribe, not two.

Two weeks ago the Aquinnah Tribe said its community center at the western end of Martha's Vineyard could become a gaming hall with slot machines, table games and bingo. See the story here. Drawing is imaginary.
Is there a subconscious casino design connection with the island's famous Flying Horses Carousel? File photo.But there are two tribes now vying for that one license, and both have unveiled their grandiose plans, the latest by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) which offered preliminary plans for casino development in advance of the two referendum votes, one in Freetown May 29 and  the other in Lakeville June 2, the two towns where they hope to locate  a casino resort.

The presentation before residents at the Apponequet High School last night, allowed the development team to present details about the project, and the public to comment.

Aquinnah Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais said, last night, "We believe this proposal, with a design and scope that fits the area, will be very attractive to residents of Freetown and Lakeville."

There was little approval for their project at last night's meeting. Gov. Deval Patrick refuses to even negotiate with the Martha's Vineyard tribe insisting that the Aquinnah waived their rights to a casino in a 1987 land settlement approved by Congress.

Tribe will not abide by the referendum votes in either town

The preliminary design for the casino project shows a Phase I development with less than 50 of the 500 acres used for a casino, hotel, retail space and parking. The tribe's PR firm reported that the $167 million development would include traffic mitigation, road improvements and ample buffer space between the development and any retail or residential areas in Freetown or Lakeville.

The tribe announced last week that a substantial portion of the 500+ acres it is eying for placing in trust would be protected from development. The tribe intends to use some of the land for cultural and educational purposes.

At last night's meeting Andrews-Maltais refused to say the tribe would obey the referendum votes were they to turn down her project and said that requirement doesn't apply to the Aquinnah Tribe, as it falls under federal jurisdiction.

The proposed Aquinnah development is for $300 million which is well below the $500 million required by the state for commercial casino projects were the tribe to try to proceed along that route later.

Said Kevin Dwyer, principal of KMD Development Group, the tribe’s development partner: "We have been involved in numerous Indian gaming projects around the country, and the Massachusetts process provides ample opportunities for residents to comment and ultimately make for a better development."

Sandwich man killed after single-car crash in Yarmouth Tuesday

Yarmouth police investigate cause of fatal afternoon crash

   The car as it came to rest in the woods off Old Townhouse Road. YFD photo.

SOUTH YARMOUTH - A 46-year-old Sandwich man died after a single-car crash on Old Townhouse Road in South Yarmouth Tuesday afternoon. According to a Yarmouth police release, David E. Brazil was driving his 2012 Toyota Camry east on Old Townhouse Road when the car left the roadway just east of Webbers Path, rolled over a small tree , went through a split rail fence and came to rest on the side of an embankment in the woods.

Yarmouth officers arrived to find passersby tending to Mr. Brazil. According to YFD Captain Inspector John Sawyer, a bystander performed CPR until firefighters arrived.   David E. Brazil was then transported to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis by Yarmouth firefighters, where, according to Deputy Chief Steven Xiarhos, he was pronounced dead.  Witnesses told firefighters, it appeared Mr. Brazil had suffered a medical episode.

The cause of the crash is under investigation by Yarmouth police and members of the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office.

Anti-cancer KI pills aren't the answer to Pilgrim Nuclear danger [Op-Ed]

The Pilgrim 14 respond to Cape Cod Times

An anti-cancer KI pill is not the solution. Shutting down the nuclear plant is

By Diane Turco

Diane Turco at Pilgrim on Sunday. Rodney Lewis photo.The actions of the 14 people arrested on the demand of Entergy Nuclear Corporation in Plymouth this past Sunday was in the best American tradition of resistance and supports the fact that dissent in a democracy is an act of faith.

Whether one is for or against nuclear power, public safety should be a concern for all. 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? 

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, which is yet another General Electric Mark 1 BWR like the Fukushima reactors is just a few miles north of us and is up for relicensing for an additional 20 years beyond it's original plan for operation. 

At a Nuclear Regulatory Commission public meeting held in Plymouth this past March, I asked two NRC officials if Fukushima could happen here, and they replied YES! 

That response was both honest and chilling from an federal agency with a mandate to provide for public safety. 

On this past Sunday, Cape Codders and others from Western Massachusetts and Vermont were in Plymouth to deliver a letter to Entergy Nuclear Corporation (ENC) to request that they withdraw their application for relicense, store spent fuel in dry casks, and provide for economic conversion to protect their workers.

We also asked that Cape Codders be in an emergency preparedness plan as the NRC ordered the evacuation of American citizens within a 50 mile zone in Japan.  ENC blocked the road a mile from the reactor.  Refusing to accept our letter, the  ENC officials  had us arrested by the Plymouth police. 

This is the same corporation which supplies Cape Codders with anti-cancer pills, KI, as part of their ongoing operation.

We now need to have Gov. Patrick step in and refuse to allow the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to be relicensed due to the fact he cannot guarantee public safely in the event of an nuclear accident.  How can we allow a corporation to hold us hostage to their profits?

A KI pill is not the solution. Shutting down the plant is. We refuse to become radiation refugees.

Thank you so much for your continued coverage and support for all the people on Cape Cod.

With peace,

Diane Turco, Harwich

May 23- 1922: Free booze floats ashore; 1925: Legislating morality failed once before; 1982: "Save the Bales!"

1922: DRY NAVY TO WAGE RUM WAR RELENTLESSLY;

Coast Guard's New Armada Is Now Preparing to Extend Its Blockade Along the Whole Atlantic Coast

This is a Coast Guard picket boat of that era which is shown in the story below.During Memorial Day week in 1925 rumrunning boats were lying idle at their moorings all along the Northeast coasts. From Montauk to Barnegat, from Campobello to Cape Cod, the greatest illicit industry that America has ever known had come almost to a halt for a few days as a flotilla of Coast Guard boats were on the prowl for moonshine miscreants. The Armada of rumrunners that been lurking offshore more than four years, laden with contraband to be transferred to smaller local boats, disappeared into the mists of last week, bound north or south or standing out to sea upon the chance that vigilance might relax. See the reprint from The New York Times below.

The respite for the continuous delivery of illegal booze lasted about as long as it takes to get some pot today - it was as easy to get a drink around here during prohibition as it is to score some grass today from a teenaged neighbor's kid.

1922: Free booze floats ashore - 1982: "Save the Bales!"

A Coast Guard history mentions that a December 1922 northeaster brought at least three rum schooners to ruin: Jennie Bell, Madonna V, and Annie L. Spindler. The crew of the first escaped from their grounded vessel, the crew of the second was rescued and captured, as was the crew of the third schooner. As Spindler was breaking up in the surf near Cape Cod, a substantial crowd gathered hoping to share in the salvage of her cargo, an unknown quantity of contraband whiskey. 

A couple decades ago the same thing happend off the Cape when a pot-smuggler threw his cargo overboard as the Coast Guard neared. The rallying cry along of beaches then was "Save the Bales!" That's a popular T-shirt design of that era. See our report of last December here about when untold numbers of five gallon whiskey kegs floated ashore from P'town to Truro.

Scroll down for more "It Happened TODAY on Cape Cod"...

Fourth suspect arrested in Wareham home invasion, rape

Police continue to search for fifth suspect

  Brian Santiago (left) has been arrested in Georgia.  Police are searching for James JP Gomes (right). WPD booking photos.

WAREHAM - Wareham police have made a fourth arrest in the Dana Lane home invasion that occurred just after midnight last Thursday (May 17). Early that morning, police responded to the East Wareham home where two females and a male were assaulted and an undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry was stolen by several armed and masked men. The female victims were also sexually assaulted, according to police.

Two suspects were captured later that same day and a third was arrested that night.  All three were charged with armed home invasion, two counts aggravated rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, destruction of property over $250, assault in a dwelling while armed and possession of a firearm without an FID.

The fourth suspect, according to Lt. Kevin Walsh, was taken into custody around 2 a.m. this morning in Savannah, Georgia without incident. An investigation led police to this fourth suspect identified as 20-year-old Brian Santiago of Wareham. Santiago was arrested during a planned bus trip to Georgia. Wareham police are working with Savannah authorities to have Santiago extradited to Massachusetts where he will face the same charges as the other three in Wareham 4th District Court.

According to Lt. Walsh, a warrant has been obtained for a fifth suspect wanted in connection with the May 17 home invasion.  Police are searching for 21-year-old James JP Gomes, who is considered to be armed and dangerous.  Gomes, according to police, is a black male, 6'2" to 6'3", 175 lbs., with brown eyes, black hair and a mustache.

Anyone with information about Gomes or his whereabouts is asked to contact Wareham detectives at 508-295-1206 or to "Text-A-Tip" using #274637 to WAREHAMPD followed by their tip.

Local Republicans to host reception for Scott Brown May 29

Private and general reception with Senator Brown

Local Republicans will host a reception for Senator Scott Brown on Tuesday, May 29 at the Yarmouth House Restaurant at 335 Route 28 in West Yarmouth.  A private reception at 5:30 p.m. is followed by a general reception at 6 p.m.

Tickets for the private reception are $1,000 and $250 for the general reception. Spouses are complimentary with the purchase of a general reception ticket.

Host committee members are Phil Baroni, Joe Bunce, Paul Covell, Judy and Will Crocker, Sheriff Jim Cummings, Rob Cunningham, Patrick Foran, Ray Hebert, State Representative Randy Hunt, Pam Marsh, Register of Deeds Jack Meade, Clerk of Courts Scott Nickerson, District Attorney Mike O’Keefe, Register of Probate Anastasia Perrino, Tom Perrino, Gary Sheehan, Tony Shepley and State Representative Dave Vieira. The event is chaired by Rob Chamberlain, Mike Crossen, Arthur Luke, Dave Tamasi and Steve Boyson.

RSVP is requested to Rob Chamberlain at 508 362-6262 or via email.

US Senator Scott Brown is running for re-election this November. To learn more about Senator Brown or his campaign, visit his site here.

Email us any upcoming Cape Cod political events (campaign kick-offs, fund raisers, informational sessions, debates, monthly meetings, etc.) and we'll feature them here on our Cape Cod Political calendar.

Barack and Brad are cousins - So are Hillary and Angelina

TODAY's quote: "Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins,
a series of grotesque caricatures of himself." - H. L. Mencken, newspaperman.

Bush and Obama are cousins connected by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod

"Hi cuz." Well, ninth cousins anyway.According to a great yarn in today' Daily Mail, Barack Obama is a distant cousin of both President Bushes.

Hey, 10th cousins, once removed is better than nothing, right?

They are linked forever by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.

President Obama has a prolific presidential lineage says the newspaper, and he can claim kinship with six U.S Presidents in total including President George W. Bush, his father George H. W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman and James Madison.

If politics bores you, be it also known that Barack Obama and Brad Pitt are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769, and Hillary Clinton is related to Angelina Jolie, Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette.

Read the Daily Mail UK story here.

To see all the Xtras, click here, and to write a Letter to the Editor, click here.

Connecticut guv disses Cape Cod

TODAY's quote: "My guess is the governor won’t be crossing the Bourne Bridge, anytime soon,
or driving an SUV at Race Point in Provincetown.
By the way, can you drive a four-wheel drive on a Connecticut beach?" - Dan Lovallo.

Connecticut's Governor Daniel Malloy disses Cape Cod

After half the state relocates here, he's jealous of our success

By Walter Brooks

“If I see another Cape Cod ad,
 I’m going to get sick.” - Conn. Gov. Malloy.I used to live on Route 39 in East Harwich where I noticed that some of the side streets near my home were named for Connecticut, even one named Connecticut Avenue.

It turned out many people from the Nutmeg State like myself had relocated here because we liked it more than our old Connecticut hometowns.

Now a Connecticut columnist says that the state's Democratic Governor Daniel P. Malloy is going to "see Connecticut" by dissing Cape Cod.

The writer says that is a big risk for Malloy particularly since the Cape was made famous by one of the Democrats' patron saints, John F. Kennedy.  Although the Cape had been a vacation spot, it was Kennedy’s election to the presidency that put the Cape on the map.  The Kennedys and Hyannis became synonymous.

The governor said watching TV ads of other states, trying to lure Connecticut residents, is getting tiresome.

To accentuate his point about TV ads, Malloy said at a tourism conference, "If I see another Cape Cod ad, I’m going to get sick."   The governor also mentioned how he once worked at an ad agency on the campaign that developed the very popular "I Love New York" slogan.

In the column Malloy predicted the Connecticut could double its $11.5 billion tourist industry. He added the $27 million dollar ad campaign he pushed for is just the beginning.

It's useful to remember that Connecticut got the nickname "Nutmeg State" because its early inhabitants tricked consumers by selling them wooden nutmegs in place of real ones.

Read the story in CT Talking here.

To see all the Xtras, click here, and to write a Letter to the Editor, click here.

RFK Jr. rejects blame for estranged wife's death at funeral

TODAY's quote: "He was a terrible husband, but he's a very good father." - A family friend about RFK, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. not invited to Mary's Manhattan memorial

He rejects blame for her death at funeral, family fight continues

By Walter Brooks

   Cape cartoonist Joe Quigley had this inspiration that Mary Jo Kopechne meets Mary Richardson Kennedy at that Chappaquiddick bridge on Martha's Vineyard.Relatives of Mary Richardson Kennedy snubbed her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), by not inviting him to a private memorial they organized in New York on Monday, a source said according to several New York newspapers.

Instead, he was set to take their four children to Florida, according to another source.

Most of the Kennedys are and were charmers, with a pacesetter's prescience of what and where to lead their followers, and in one case, the whole nation.

RFK Jr. is not one of those kind of Kennedys. He has a well-earned reputation for bombast coupled with hypocrisy enmeshed in his own self-interest. Many compare him with the family's patriarch bootlegger Joseph P. Kennedy who had a similar bad rep.

“I know I did everything I
  could to help her." - RFK Jr.
"He's an imbecile."
       - John Stossel, ABC Nerws.
"He was a terrible husband."
                - A family friend.ABC newsman John Stossel said about him, "The level of [Robert Kennedy's] hypocrisy is endless. He flies in private jets while preaching this stuff. He says we have to go to alternate sources of energy. But when they propose a wind farm in Cape Cod miles out to sea where the windmills would be an inch in your eyesight, but it's near the Kennedy compound, so he opposes it. I mean, he's an imbecile."

A consistent sort of hypocrite

Kennedy on Saturday delivered a self-serving eulogy at his estranged wife's funeral, disclaiming any blame for her suicide. Except for one sibling, none of Richardson Kennedy's relatives attended the funeral. Immediately after her death he was quoted by a Catholic priest saying he was "disappointed" by her suicide.

"I know I did everything I could to help her," Kennedy said in his eulogy at St. Patrick's Church in Bedford, NY.

The alternate memorial was being held at the Standard Hotel in Manhattan. It was planned by Mary's siblings after a bitter falling out with Kennedy over where she should be buried. Her relatives didn't want here remains spending eternity next to any Kennedy earthly remains.

Her children are likely to stay at their grandmother Ethel Kennedy's oceanfront home in Palm Beach, a family friend said.

Another friend added, "He was a terrible husband, but he's a very good father."

Read the Times Herald-Record story here.

To see all the Xtras, click here, and to write a Letter to the Editor, click here.

May 22 - 1912: Hyannis girl's murderer executed

1912: Hyannis girl's murderer electrocuted in Charlestown

Clarence Richeson, a Former local Baptist Minister, Pays Law's Penalty for Slaying Avis Linnell

Read all about it in
"Cape Cod Confidential."

On this day in 1912, Clarence Virgil Thompson Richeson was put to death in the electric chair in Charlestown Prison at 12:17 o'clock for his confessed crime of murdering Avis Linnell of Hyannis in Boston on October 13, 1911.

Reverend Clarence Virgil Thompson Richeson (15 February 1876 - 21 May 1912) was executed for the sensationalized murder of Avis Willard Linnell of Hyannis. Avis Linnell was first reported to have "committed suicide" October 14, 1911 at the YWCA in Boston. The story got the attention of the Boston Post, who assigned every available reporter to the story.

It was the Post that called for police to investigate her suicide.  It was also the Post that found the druggist in Newton who had sold Clarence Richeson the cyanide and called for the Rev. Richeson's arrest, which occurred 10 days after Avis's death.

An early electric chair like the one Richeson was executed in an electric chair on May 21, 1912.

"Murdered by the Minister"

The Post with its blaring, front-page headlines, worked all of New England into a fever pitch. The New York Times also provided extensive coverage extending beyond the date of execution. The New York Daily Post reviewed the episode Mar 24, 2007 under the headline "Murdered by the Minister."

In 1912, Richeson later claimed to Dr. Briggs that his first sexual encounter was not until 1904 and that he had no others until 1910 with Avis Linnell. He was expelled from college for cheating in 1905.  Although, an officer of the college wrote Richeson's father that "Clarence had become deranged" and they could no longer keep him as a student.

He took a pastorate at the Baptist Church in Hyannis, MA on Cape Cod in June, 1908 where he first met Avis Linnell. Avis' mother stated that she loved him as a son. On her 17th birthday, 19 December 1908, he gave her a gold engagement ring and the engagement was announced at a small party. Miss Linnell left Hyannisport in September 1910 to study at the New England Conservatory of Music.  She took a room at the Boston YWCA and the date of her marriage was set for October, 1910.  She wore the engagement ring until Christmas, 1910 when she gave it back to Richeson "to be repaired."

Over six hundred run the YPD-5K Sunday

Fifteen Yarmouth police officers run for a reason

YARMOUTH - Yesterday, 610 people participated in the 5th annual YPD  Blue 5K - Run for a Reason. Of the 610 runners and walkers, fifteen were Yarmouth police officers.

The 5K race which begins at Skipper Restaurant off Route 28 in South Yarmouth, was held on a perfect Cape Cod day. 

Each year, for the past several years, the race is held during the week of Peace Officers Memorial Day. This year, Chief Michael P. Maloney of the Greenland, NH was honored. Chief Maloney, a 26-year veteran of the police force, was killed in the line of duty last month.

The YPD Blue 5K is run in remembrance of fallen officers and their families.  Proceeds from the race benefit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the Yarmouth Police Relief Association.

This year's fastest male police officer was National Park Service Police Ranger Jay Kolodzwski with a time of 17:23. The fastest female police officer was YPD Officer Diana Wells with a time of 25.15.  The fastest male firefighter was New Bedford FD Firefighter Angel Martin with a time of 18:27.

The following Yarmouth police officers participated in the race on Sunday:

• Patrol Officer Matthew Sheehan 23:18
• Patrol Officer Justin Haire 23:36
• Reserve Police Officer Matthew Rossi 23:36
• Patrol Officer Louis Nickinello 24:34
• Patrol Officer Paul Mellett 24:59
• Patrol Officer Diana Wells 25:15
• Patrol Officer Richard Aprea 25:31
• Patrol Officer George Tsoukalas 26:54
• Patrol Officer Nicholas Giammarco 27:22
• Detective Gordon Gibbons 29:12
• Patrol Officer Michael Wells 30:39
• Deputy Chief Steven Xiarhos 30:31
• Patrol Officer Mark Noone 30:45
• Reserve Police Officer Alan Delaney 38:56
• Patrol Sergeant John Fallon 38:59

Editor's note: Photographs supplied by the Yarmouth police have been removed per the request of the Cape Cod Times.

Cape Cod Five announces increase in assets and local lending

Newly-elected corporators introduced, charitable foundation funding announced

   From left to right: Sheila O’Brien Egan, Robert A. Maffei, Brett A. Sanidas – in front with the suit on, Alan R. Long, Chris J. Joyce, Shawn J. Almeida, Scott V. Robertson, Sr., Laura Lorusso Peterson, Melissa D. Philbrick. Not pictured: Charles L. Bardelis, Jr., Paul Grover and Peter Karlson. Courtesy CC5.

Last week, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank and  the bank's parent company, Cape Cod Five Mutual Holding Company, held their annual meetings at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis.  President and CEO Dorothy A. Savares shared good financial news with the attendees.  In 2011 assets increased 6.6% to $2.10 billion and the net income for the year was $13 million--a 3.1% increase over the previous year.

President and CEO Dorothy A. Savares addresses the attendees of the bank's annual meeting in Hyannis. Courtesy CC5.

The bank's commitment to local lending was bolstered by a 7.5% increase ($126.9 million) in deposits bringing net loans from $138.2 million to $1.56 billion.

"The bank was able to continue its prudent growth, remain strong and expand its customer base through the commitment of its corporators and trustees and through the dedication of our employees who serve our customers on an individual basis each and every day in a consistent, high quality manner," said Savares.

Newly-elected corporators announced

During the meeting, Savares announced the newly-elected corporators of the Cape Cod Five Mutual Company: Shawn J. Almeida of Almeida and Carlson Insurance Agency, Charles L. Bardelis, Jr. of Island Commuter Corporation, Sheila O'Brien Egan of Swain's Travel, Paul Grover of Robert Paul Properties, Christopher J. Joyce of Joyce Landscaping, Inc., Peter Karlson of NeuEon and Entrepreneur in Residence at the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Alan R. Long of Eldredge and Lumpkin Insurance Agency, Robert A. Maffei of Robert Maffei Landscaping Contractors, Laura Lorusso Peterson of Cape Cod Aggregates Corporation, Melissa D. Philbrick of ReMain Nantucket, Scott V. Robertson, Sr. of Robertson Auto Salvage and local attorney Brett A. Sanidas.

In the bank's quarterly report, Savares noted, "Our steady, conservative approach has served us well and, as always, we will continue to pursue our mission of responsibly providing financial products and services in our communities."

In January of this year, Cape Cod Five filed to change its structure to a mutual holding company, a move that has clearly strengthened the bank's place in the community.

Charitable foundation funding announced

Vice President and Director of Community Relations David B. Willard. Courtesy CC5.In honor of the 45th anniversary of David B. Willard joining Cape Cod Five, Savares announced $1 million in funding to the Cape Cod Five Center Savings Bank Charitable Foundation Trust.  The $1 million will create a permanent endowment that will fund a new $45,000 annual category of giving named in honor of Willard.

"Finding a meaningful way to recognize David's contribution to Cape Cod Five and the communities we serve was not a simple task, Savares said. "We hope to recognize his decades of effort and allow him to have a long lasting impact on the work of the bank and the foundation for many years to come." 

The Cape Cod Five Center Savings Bank Charitable Foundation Trust was founded in 1998. Serving the needs of the Cape and Islands, the foundation supports local youth, culture and art, economic development, health and elder services and conservation and environmental non-profits. Willard is the bank's Vice President and Director of Community Relations.

Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank was founded in 1855.  For more information about the bank, its many services or one if its twenty locations across Cape Cod, visit their website here.

Coast Guard rescues crewman off Cape Cod after fishing gear injury

New Bedford fishing vessel was 98 miles east of Cape Cod

The Coast Guard rescued a 46-year-old crewman from a New Bedford-based fishing vessel after the man was reportedly hit by the vessel's gear.

According to a USCG release, watchstanders from the Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England Command Center received a call from the 98-foot Osprey around 3 a.m. Monday.

The man suffered injuries to his face after being struck by the gear.

An Air Station Cape Cod MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crew met the boat 98-miles east of Cape Cod and flew the crewman to an awaiting ambulance at Logan International Airport in Boston. He was then transported to Boston Medical Center.

According to Petty Officer 1st Class Jacob Page, a medevac was not originally planned, but as the man's condition deteriorated, the decision was made to get him to a hospital.

Big pipes vs. small pipes: regulators haven't caught on yet

TODAY's quote:  “We are capable of dealing with these issues as daunting as they seem." - Tracy Mehan.

Big pipes vs. small pipes at sewer forum

The regulators haven't caught on yet

“I think even the EPA will say ‘no’ one size fits all." - Mehan.The Cape Codder reports that the sponsors of an upcoming forum on wastewater share the belief that the current paradigm of large sewage treatment plants is not only too expensive, but may be unnecessary.

Those who sponsored the forum say advances in technology have made smaller, cheaper solutions as effective as tried and true sewers, but the regulatory agencies haven’t caught on yet.

The newspaper adds that the problem is further complicated, said Tracy Mehan, by the fact the Clean Water Act wasn’t written to address "diffuse" non-point pollution sources, such as septic systems, which are polluting water bodies with nitrogen.

Read The Cape Codder story here.

To see all the Xtras, click here, and to write a Letter to the Editor, click here.

May 21 - 1833: Mashpee Indians demand self-rule. 1962: The day the South sent Black Americans to Hyannis. 1960 JFK wins Oregon

1833: Mashpee Indians demand self-government

On this day in 1833, the Mashpee Tribe of Cape Cod signed what amounted to an Indian Declaration of Independence.

They reminded officials in Boston that "all men are born free and Equal, as says the constitution of the country" and spelled out the details of what had become an intolerable situation — the appropriation of their woodlots, hay fields, pastures, and shellfish beds by whites.

The Mashpee declared that they would take action against further encroachment by white settlers. A group of Barnstable farmers decided to test the Indians' resolve. When they arrived to cut wood on Mashpee land, the Indians resisted, and a violent confrontation followed.

Fearing an insurrection, the legislature granted the Mashpee the right of self-government in 1834.

1962: Segregationists try to embarrass JFK

Lie Laid to Southerners by State Rep

On this day in 1962, Massachusetts State Representative Allen Jones, a Republican, accused Southern Segregationists from Little Rock Arkansas of attempting to embarrass Democratic President John F. Kennedy by urging unemployed black southerners to come to Hyannis for jobs.

The Little Rock Citizens Council flyer read "President Kennedy's brother assures you a grand reception to Massachusetts. Good jobs, housing, etc.... are promised you..."

A different bi-partisan era

It wasn't even unusual forty-six years ago for a Republican to come to the defense of a Democrat, that's how greatly the religous right in the GOP has sullied the American political scene in our lifetime.

It was also a time when Black Americans were called Negroes or worse.

Read the wire service story about this event on the top right.

1962: JFK Wins Oregon Primary. Comes to Cape to celebrate

On the same day two years prior, John F. Kennedy was still fighting to win the nomination to run for President in the fall.

When he won the important Oregon Primary the day before, he flew to Hyannisport for a birthday celebration at the Kennedy Compound although his actual birthday wasn't until the 29th when he would be back in Washington to continue the campaign.

A brief wire service report is on the right.

Plymouth police arrest 14 anti-nuke protestors; Released after Plymouth court appearance: Must return for trial on July 11

UPDATE: Anti-Pilgrim Nuke protestors released without bail

One of the protesters, Sarah Thatcher of Harwich, being restrained and taken into custody at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Sunday. Paul Rifkin of Falmouth awaits his turn in background. PDN photo.

An Entergy emploiyee vidos the arrests.After sitting in a Plymouth Courtroom for six hours on Monday, the fourteen anti-Pilgrim nuke protesters were released on their own recognizance and must return for a pre-trial hearing on July 11.It remains to be seen whether the Plymouth County District Attorney will have the wisdom to"nolle prosecuri"a group of white-haired patriots performing an act of civil disobedience.

The group told CapeCodTODAY they want a trial to plead their cause, but in a similar case in 2008, the Cape % Islands D.A. saw no good would come of a trial on this sort of divisive issue.

Those arrested for trespassing were: David Agnew, Janet Azarovitz, Susan Carpenter, Maure Briggs-Carrington, Patricia Garrity, John Hopkins, Joyce Johnson, Peter MacAusland, William Maurer, Sarah Thacher, Diane Turco, Garret Schenck, Paul Rifkin and Michael Risch.

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 and Matt Nadler of Plymouth Daily News.

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.

What happened inside the plant property

Once at the Entergy gate, David Agnew of Cape Downwinders read the letter aloud. He was then followed by several speakers, including Mary Lampert of Pilgrim Watch, who called recent NRC recommendations for improving plant safety in the wake of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Japan, “totally inadequate.”

She repeated the call for moving spent fuel at the plant from the pool where it now soaks to dry cask storage, stating that fuel stored that way in Japan came through the tsunami and earthquake unscathed.

Entergy is in the process of building an area for dry storage of nuclear fuel at Pilgrim Station. The first fuel rods are expected to be moved in 2014.

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.

Another speaker said she had protested against the opening of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire with her children in the 1970s. “We didn’t think it was safe then, we don’t think it’s safe now,” she said.

Jones River Watershed Executive Director Pine Dubois attacked the plant for being a hazard to marine life in Cape Cod Bay. Taking one river herring, she said, is punishable by stiff fines, but Pilgrim Station kills thousands of the threatened species. Entergy, she claimed, is violating the law. Her group has filed complaints with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the plant’s supposed threat to the environment.

Eventually, several of the protesters crossed the gate and were told by Entergy Security they were trespassing. Agnew attempted to hand the letter to an Entergy representative who declined to take it, telling him Robert Smith was not at the power plant, nor, it seemed was anyone else who could accept the letter. This led to a chant of “no one’s in charge” and a round of “This Land is Your Land” by the group.

After as brief standoff, a group of protesters were arrested for trespassing. Despite some chants of “shame” directed at Plymouth Police who insisteon restraining some of the white-haitred grandmothers.

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.

NRC Chair's resigmation concerns protestors

Gregory B. Jaczko, whose three-year tenure as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been marked by bitter battles with colleagues and with Republicans in Congress who resist any changes in the present nuclear plants liceninsing, announced Monday that he would step down as soon as a successor was confirmed.

The NY Times reports that he attempted to address some longstanding safety problems at the 104 nuclear power reactors in the United States, but with a background in nuclear physics and nuclear policy and not in the nuclear industry, Dr. Jaczko was viewed with skepticism and mistrust by some industry insiders as well as the many fellow members of the NRC board moist of whom were former emplyees of the industry they are now charged with regulating.

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.

Sandwich discovers School Choice economics; Orleans advertises

TODAY's quote: “We already have a teacher in place, so there’s no additional cost."
- Sandwich School Superintendent Richard Canfield.

Sandwich schools realize public education is a competitive business

Orleans advertises for School Choice business.This ad soliciting parents to consider using School Choice to send their children to the Orleans Elementary School appeared on page A5 of yesterday's Cape Cod Times.Superintendent urges using
School Choice funds for ads

By Walter Brooks

Sandwich School Superintendent Richard Canfield told the town school committee that if a child switches districts the state aid dollars follow that child to the new district, and it is some of that money that the other superintendents are using to promote their schools.

Apparently Dr. Canfield noticed that in the last fiscal year 154 kids used School Choice to leave his district while only 24 used School Choice to come to Sandwich from elsewhere.

The loss of 154 pupils creates a financial loss for the district, and this only adds to the problem that since 2001 Sandwich has lost 15.61% of their students to declining population, school choice and charter schools.

After months of PR disasters, Sandwich Public Schools is just now pondering why parents of 154 kids have lost confidence in their district, and apparently its answer is to advertise according to this week's Sandwich Enterprise.

The school committee could begin the budget process as much as $250,000 in the hole.The newspaper reports that Dr. Canfield said the goal is to address the situation the board is faced with, having to dip into Fiscal Year 2013 School Choice funds that are typically held in reserve for FY2014, in order to balance the budget.

He explained that with School Choice funds being tapped to balance this year’s budget, the school committee could begin the budget process as much as $250,000 in the hole.

Read the Enterprise story here.

Read the latest in our School Choice series:

• Data in on the Cape Cod Class of 2011--lower graduation rates for minorities
• Nauset vs. Sturgis as school get competitive
• Cape's charter schools can teach the "big boys" about thrift
• Wampanoags, Mashpee Schools, at an educational crossroads
• Wampanoags, Mashpee Schools, at an educational crossroads
• Orleans vs. Brewster Elementary School cost vs. results
• Nauset Regional Middle School makes changes in 6th grade teaching
• School Choice Marketing Failure
• School Choice Update: Some schools win, some soon lose
• Sandwich Schools search for an excuse or a scapegoat
• Observor's 6-Part series on School Choice and Economics.

To see all the Xtras, click here, and to write a Letter to the Editor, click here.

May 20 - 1963: President Kennedy creates a Summer White House here; 2007: Babesiosis is spreading, and hard to diagnose

2007: Babesiosis is spreading, and hard to diagnose

Carried by same insects that spread Lyme disease

The Deer tick here is magnified several time on the rim of a penny.

On this day in 2007 the Newburyport News reported Rick DiMichele, a physically fit 55-year-old, came down with a mysterious disease last summer. He had a fever of 103 degrees, he looked pale and puffy, and he had a terrible pain in his side. It turned out to be a rare infection called babesiosis, which is similar to malaria. While malaria is common in tropical climates, DiMichele believes he caught this disease in his own Ipswich backyard.

Babesiosis is spread by deer ticks, the same insects that spread Lyme disease. DiMichele, who works at New Balance in Lawrence, lives on a wooded road about two miles from the center of Ipswich, where deer eat people’s shrubs and Lyme disease is a major concern.

Many doctors still think of babesiosis as a problem limited to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, where it has been circulating for nearly a generation, Matyas said...  Read the reast of this Newburyport Daily News story here.

1963: Jack and Jackie to spend summers in Hyannisport

On this day in 1963, the New York Times heralded the news: A Second White House--For the Summer?

The story went on; a recent proposal for an official Presidential vacation spot raises the question of how presidents can escape the misery of Washington's sweltering summers. A Summer White House?

"The one essential," Franklin Roosevelt wrote to his wife in the anxious days after Pearl Harbor, "is complete lack of any distraction on the very occasional weekend I can get away from Washington"...  See a photocopy of the complete story below.

Second summer on Cape as President
The summer before, the Kennedys had stayed at a Squaw Island house owned by singer Morton Downey, father of future television talk show host Morton Downey Jr.

Squaw Island, a geographical misnomer, is a half-mile west of the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport where JFK owned a house next to his brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Ethel Kennedy, whose summer home was situated next to that of Kennedy elders Joseph and Rose Kennedy. Ted and Joan Kennedy also owned a house on Squaw Island.

JFK's house in the compound "is not large enough for a combination house and office," the AP reported, though the Secret Service was said to prefer isolated Squaw Island to the compound for security reasons.  The photo above shows Jack and Jackie on the President's Wianno Senior off Hyannisport.

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.

Another Staake winner; RFK Jr. "disappointed" by wife's suicide

TODAY's quote: RFK, Jr. is “disappointed” by his wife Mary's suicide. - Monsignor George Thompson.
"Yeah, those Kennedys sure are ladykillers." - George Carlin, Melody Tent, 1987.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s wife almost missed her own funeral today in Hyannisport

Bob Staake knocks another out of the park
The current cover of the New Yorker magazine is by Bob Staake of Chatham who is the creator of the best-ever selling cover art from America's premier literary weekly. This week it's the White House where the Ionic columns have turned into the gay pride colors by President Obama's recent statement about the fairness of same-sex marriage. See the New Yorker here.Rancor flares as funeral for Mary Richardson Kennedy approaches

By Walter Brooks

Catholic priests have no reason to lie about something as tragic as a tormented 52-year-old mother of four's death by her own hand, but it was still shocking to read today's New York Daily News quote by Monsignor George Thompson, who will officiate at the funeral service for Mary Richardson Kennedy, say the her husband said he was "disappointed" by her suicide.

The Westchester County, NY medical examiner said Mary Kennedy died of asphyxiation due to hanging. She was found dead Wednesday in her Bedford, NY home.

The News and all the rest of the New York media report that Mary Richardson Kennedy nearly missed her own wake last night after a legal battle broke out over her body as her siblings fought with her husband over her remains.

Mary's family just didn't want her buried with the Kennedys.

The Kennedy PR machine

Since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was disappointed by his estranged wife's death, it was not unexpected to see the usual Kennedy public relations machine go to work describing a neurotic, distraught, possibly alcoholic woman rather than the successful architect and environmentalist Mary Richardson Kennedy was in life. Her family has strongly criticized media accounts of her death for what they called "inaccuracies and misrepresentations" of her life.

Her family's statement read in part, Mary Richardson Kennedy in a 2005 photo provided to the media by Peter Michaelis.
Yesterday's New York Daily News cover."While we would naturally prefer to remain private at this very upsetting time, we feel compelled to make this statement because the description of Mary carried by certain news organizations since her passing yesterday is wholly inconsistent with the sister we knew and the life she, in fact, lived."

Robert Kennedy Jr. reportedly ordered Mary Kennedy's sisters from the Bedford, NY home when they arrived there following their sister's suicide. Mary's sisters were forced to use a police escort in order to return to collect some of Mary Kennedy's personal papers, the Daily News reported.

The AP reported that one of Mary's brothers, Thomas Richardson, filed legal papers in White Plains NY on Thursday listing Robert F. Kennedy as the defendant. The document wasn't made public and was then subsequently sealed, along with all other papers related to the case, by Judge Joan Lefkowitz.

As political pundit and NewsBuster's columnist Jack Coleman reminded us this morning, George Carlin quipped at the Melody Tent in Hyannis around 1987, "Yeah, those Kennedys sure are ladykillers."

Burial in Hyannisport

Mary's funeral is planned for this morning at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Bedford, and a private memorial service is planned in Manhattan a Kennedy's family member said in a statement.

Mary will be buried in Hyannisport, Massachusetts near the Kennedy compound, and this was what her brothers fought to prevent.

They simply felt their sister had had her fill of Kennedys already.

The Kennedy Curse

The media loves to imagine a "Kennedy Curse" like its equally imagined "Curse of the Bambino" which prevented the Boston Red Sox from winning a World Series for fifty years.

That "curse" was solved when the team brought in Tony Francona and some better ballplayers, and the Kennedy version is just as silly.

People tend to die sooner if they lead dangerous lives, and the Kennedys did that in spades. If the latest generation stays away from planes and drugs, it will probably live a lot longer lives. Here's the "curse" list.

• August 12, 1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
• May 13 1948 - Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish.
• November 22, 1963 - President John F Kennedy.
• June 6, 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy.
• July 18, 1969 -  Mary Jo Kopechne.
• April 25, 1984 - David Kennedy.
• December 31, 1997 - Michael Kennedy.
• July 16, 1999 - John F Kennedy Jr.
• May 16, 2012 - Mary Richardson Kennedy.

Read the Telegraph list here. 

Read the NY Daily News story here.

Read today's CNN reports here.

Read the LA Times on Mary's family feelings here.

Read the Ap story in YahooNews here.

To see all the Xtras, click here, and to write a Letter to the Editor, click here.

May 19 - 1896: Worst fire in Cape Cod History; 1713: Boston poor riot for bread

1713: Boston's poor riot over cost of bread

A half century before "Let them eat cake"

56 years before Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat brioche", the people in Boston were also rioting for bread.

On this day in 1713, more than 200 people rioted on Boston Common over the high price of bread. The lieutenant governor tried to intervene but was shot and wounded for his efforts. This was the third such riot in four years. With grain in short supply, merchants were hoarding it to drive up prices. If they exported the grain to the West Indies, they could make even greater profits by selling to the sugar planters there. Boston selectmen tried without success to restrict grain sales to the domestic market. The riots helped persuade the colonial legislature to pass regulations designed to manage food shortages. Even with these laws on the books, however, hoarding and food riots continued throughout the eighteenth century.

Bostonians like to think of themselves as cultured, law-abiding people, but in fact colonial Boston had a well-deserved reputation for street violence. Between 1700 and 1764, there were four riots in New York and six in Philadelphia. Boston had 28.

Compared to other cities, Boston's economy was stagnant in the eighteenth century. There was an ever-wider gulf between the "haves" and the "have-nots." A significant number of men were barred from voting because they owned no property. Mariners, unskilled craftsmen, apprentices, common laborers, slaves, indentured servants, free blacks, men under the age of 21- and, of course, women - were all excluded from the political process. When the hardships seemed unendurable, disenfranchised Bostonians essentially "voted with their feet": they rioted.

There were frequent protests against customs regulations, brothels, and the impressment of sailors; several "Pope Day" riots targeted Catholicism. A common cause of rioting was the chronic shortage of the grains produced and consumed by people in Massachusetts - corn and rye.  And this was fifty-six years before the French Revolution and "Let them eat cake".

1896: Cranberry Bogs burned; Great dmage don by fires on Cape Cod

Many Houses in the Path of the Flames Destroyed -- The Most Disastrous Fire in the Cape's History -- Thirty Fires to be Seen from Gouverneur -- Even the Earth Is Burning

On this day in 1896 the New York Times front page shouted the news that a forest fire which destroyed such a large amount of property in and around Sandwich only a month ago was at the time considered the worst ever heard of on the Cape, but the Tremont fire, which started at Kelly's sawmill yesterday afternoon, has surpassed even that in the amount of damage done to property. The photo is of a firefighting apparatus of the era.

Flames were worse than the famous fire of a month prior, read the story below.