Cape & Islands News

Grist magazine readers are angry at RFK Jr.

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

30 Jan 2006

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

Dear Editor:

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

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

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

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

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

Dave D
via Gristmill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dave D
via Gristmill

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

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

Crystal G. Gilchrist

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

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

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

pw
via Gristmill

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

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

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

James Dentinger
Madison, Wis.

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

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

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

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

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

fiver
via Gristmill

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

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

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

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

Mark Stephen Caponigro
New York, N.Y.

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

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

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

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

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

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

scott s
via Gristmill

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

Romney makes the richer get richer, and...

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

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

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

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

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

Mashpee- Governor Proposing $25.2 Billion Budget, Mashpee Shortchanged

By MICHAEL C. BAILEY, Enterprise Newspapers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Less isn't ever more

By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist | January 30, 2006

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Queer Spawn" reunite in Provincetown

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

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

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

Does having gay parents affect children’s lives?

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

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

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

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

A surprise visitor to Nickerson State Park

A Home of the Heart
By Robert Finch

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

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

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

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

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

Broadcast January 31, 2006 on WCAI/WNAN

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

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

Mashpee tribe takes out another GOP Congressman

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

By Staff and Wire Reports

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

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

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

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

School Lunch lady charged with stealing kid's lunch money

Lunch lady charged

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Liquor store crash, 2 arrested on weapons charge

PICKUP PLOWS INTO HARWICH LIQUOR STORE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Cape Wide News here, and comment below. 

Filene's "Going out of business" sale begins

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

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

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

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

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

Feds charge Abbie Hoffman’s brother

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sandwich Blogger seeks candidates

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

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

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

But two serious points:

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

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