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January 27, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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January 27, 2006
 
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EDITORIALS: Super intentions This is being writtenjust hours before the school committee meets to select, it's hoped, one of three finalists to move into the seat of interim Supt. Tom McDonald. The next super won't have to ask McDonald to stand up; for the last two years, he's barely sat down. With a mandate from three of the five committeemembers (one disagreed with the majority 's de- fenestration of the former super- intendent,and another was away at the time), McDonald,principal of the Barnstable Horace Mann Charter School and HyannisEast Principal GlenAnderson became responsible for running the sys- tem. Since then, they've pursued aggressive responses to a broad range of issues, and most would say they've improved the opera- tion eveniftheyhaven't solvedits long-range problems of declining enrollment and aging buildings. That will be the work of the committee and the new superin- tendent (along with Anderson, whose title is permanent now), but that leader willhaveto strive to match the comfort level his or her employers have had with McDonald. Asprecipitouslyasthe commit- tee acted inswitchingsuperinten- dents,it has been extraordinarily cautious and slow in creating a search committee and giving its members an unusual amount of latitude in identifying what was needed inthe position.The quick fix has been followed by the long look. Such temperance paid off. Three candidates came forward, each with a compelling reason to be considered for the job. Nancy Laneimpressedwithherrapid and detailed responses to the school committee'squestions on educa- tion policy and practice, while Dr. Jeffrey Bearden displayed an easygoing familiarity with issues Barnstable much address sooner rather thanlater,such asbuilding closures and mergers. Dr. Patri- cia Grenier exhibited leadership skillsthat could inspire students, faculty and staff, and the com- munity to push the system from good to great. Fullthanksaredue themembers ofthe search committee,who de- liberated over factors small and large and helped lend a sense of gravitas to the definition of and searchfor the rightperson to hold the town's most important job. Here'shopingthese individuals stay involved in community af- fairs, asmost were before accept- ingthis assignment. Who knows? Someday oneormore ofthemmay be sitting on the school commit- tee as another search committee reports its findings. EFM editor@barnstablepatriot.com THE T/ VIEW FROM A SP ANCE * ¦ *" * BY PAULDUFFY A BY PAULDUFFY SAD For one long mad moment last week, the New England winter hid its icy face and we were bewitched. The sun came out,the temperature reached into the fifties and everybody stripped off their parkas, doffed their hats and gloves, and ran around saying, "Hey, what is this? Spring in Janu- ary? Maybe global warming is not such a bad thing." A few people in my neighborhood got all the way down to tee shirts.Winter had lost its grip and it wasn't hard to believe - well,hope -it was gone,done for, history. So long, Winter of '05-'06, and don't stop on the way out to say goodbye. That was last week. Then, before the guys in the tee shirtscould put awaytheir fur- linedjackets, the temperature dropped to 10 above and the skies assumed that dead grey look that told you that winter had onlybeenonacoffee break. Now it was back and it was time to stop fooling around. Sure enough,inminutesit was freezing cold,it was sleeting, it was snowing, the roads were murderous , cars were covered withsandy,saltygunk,lipswere chapped, and the miserable season was reestablished. Many profanities were ut- tered , accompanied by much wringing of hands. Winter was over and nowit wasback. Who did this? Who was respon- sible? Was this metero-ter- rorism? Was this a matter for Homeland Security? Or wasit just a little muscle-flexing by the god of disappointments? Considering his capacity for mischief, the god of disap- pointments gets surprisingly little attention. Those of us who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) are keenly attuned to the cruel caprices of the god of disappointments. Seasonal affective disorder, by the way, is one of those maladies that everybodyinthe sun-deprived latitudes suffers from, even if most are unaware of it. SAD means,insomanywords,that winter gets you down. And while this willnot come as big newsto most people,it isgood for themtoknowthat the glum feeling they are feeling has a name -a truly stupid name, to be sure-and that they now know what that name is. If it sometimes seems that the sum of human knowl- edge would benefit from a subtraction or two, that is a theme for another, sunnier, day. Meanwhile, we trudge on through the recently fallen but alreadydirty snow,hoping that seasonal affective disor- der will not keep us from our appointed rounds. Those rounds took me first to the post office - one of my very favorite places to visit - where Iacquired from amid- dle-aged , overweight depres- sive some of the new 39-cent first-class stamps showing a fearsomely patriotic-looking Statue of Liberty. You can tell at a glance that Liberty does not suffer from seasonal affective disorder. She may look mad as hell, but there is nothing in her face or in her posture to suggest that she is feeling the least bit down in the winter dumps. Shejust wants to get on with the busi- ness of liberty,just like George Bush, and doesn't have time for trendy afflictions. Next stop was the drug store, where all the pharma- cists were beside themselves trying to cope with the new Medicare prescription drug plan.Igot the impression they didn't think the new plan was all that well planned. There were three of them -two men and a woman - and all of them were rolling their eyes and walking in circles in what appeared to be an imi- tation of Groucho Marx. The average drug store patron , having no inkling of the rea- sons behind the pharmacists' strangebehavior,might easily have concluded they were suffering from seasonal affec- tive disorder. I knew better. I look at SAD every day when I'm shaving and this wasn't it. This was something even worse. This was government- induced frenzy and it was horrible to witness. A dozen elderly customers were also wanderingaround mumbling. They seemed to be in shock and I couldn't look at them. I felt the unseenpresence ofthe god of disappointments. Ileft withoutevenfillingmy prescription. In the car Itook out mynewstampsandlooked at Liberty's face. Definitely not seasonal affective disor- der. I had bought a Snickers on the way out and I ate it in four bites. Ineeded an energy boost to get me home before it started to snow again. COMPILED BYJOHN WATTERS EAEYFILES@BARNSTABLEPATRI0T.COM STILL AT WORK- Selectman Jeff Wilson at his desk in town hall. This is Wilson's last week on the job in Barnstable. He starts a new assignment in Vermont next week. 1836 A storm of snow commenced here on Sunday evening, which in the course of the night turned to rain, and continued through Monday with great severity.A great quantity of water has fallen, flood- ingthe streets, fields, streams and cellars of allwho happen to have them situated in low ground. In our own there isthree feet of water,which has set afloat our winters stock of provisions below hatches. We have seen our beef and pork barrels moved to the cellar stairs. As for our apples and corn, and our big pumpkins, they have been dispersed by this invasion, and are "all adrift." It has been remarked by one of the oldest inhabitants of this village, that greater quantity of rain fell yesterday than ever has before within remembrance. 1866 The Ladies of Harwich Centre, who are ever alert to do something handsome, held a Levee at Exchange Hall on the evenings of Thursday and Friday of last week, which proved a most pleasant and successful affair. The company was numerous and everyone seemed to enjoy the entertainment. A party of gentlemen from New York have been spending a few days in hunting and fishing in this vicinity and judgingfrom appearances we should say that they were all satisfied. The "Town Pump," which was closed on the eve of the Ball, is again in "working order." There is a rumor in circulation that, as there was considerable drinking from it on that occasion, and the "Deputy" being present it was closed by order. 1896 A little after 9 o'clock on Friday evening an alarm of fire was sounded throughout the village occasioned by the discovery that the new brick school building on Ocean street , Hyannis was on fire. The citizens turned out in large numbers and watched the progress of the devouring element,for that was about all they could do. The church bells were rung and the old hand fire-engine from the railroad shops was hauled to the scene. The bells seemed to increase the excitement of the crowd which grew with every peal. The engine was useless after it arrived as water was scarce and hose was not in abundance. Men rushed into the building and removed anything they could lay their hands on. Doors were unhung, seats ripped up, windows taken out, books and other portable articles were carried to a safe distance. At about 10:30 the slate roof and the side walls collapsed. The school was dedicated three weeks ago, and school had been in session just two weeks. It was built at a cost ol $23,000. ' 1906 Discovery of a leak at the gas holder last week prevented the new gas plant at Hyannis being put into operation until repairs could be made. 1916 A very novel feature of entertainment and one greatly enjoyed by those participating was a pro- gressive dinner party givenby eleven of our popular young ladies. The dinner consisted of six courses, each being served at a different home, and then those with perhapsvery dainty appetites were able to create a much larger one between courses. The weather wasperfect,the moon so graciouslylending its presence and in allrespects like anight inspring rather than January.The girlshad planned the nice walksbetween courses,but the most generous and hospitable owner of a fine "seven passenger" was too good to let go by and the invitation of Mr. T. W. Nickerson was accepted and the girls merrily motored from home to home. 1926 At the monthly meeting of the Hyannis Board of Trade, William Lovell reported no progress on the Fish Hills property for a park and playgrounds. It was the sense of the meeting that some tangible proposition be made by the owners. Dr. Gray spoke of the dangers of children under the age of 12 especially walking to the beaches on Hyannis' inadequate sidewalks. Dr, Gray also outlined a pet scheme of his which commanded the attention of the meeting. He favored dredging out the bay, and filling in the coves which are at present polluted. This would afford a park, bathing beaches and re- C0NTINUED 0N PAGE A:12 EARLYFILES Zty Pamstable patriot — Founded in 1830 — Published Weekly at 396 Main Street, Suite 15 • P.O.Box 1208 • Hyannis, Massachusetts 02601 Tel:(508) 771-1427 • Fax: (5O8) 790-3997 E-mail info@barnstablepatriot.com • www.barnstablepatriot.com PUBLISHER, Robert F. Sennott,Jr. EDITOR David Still II BUSINESS MANAGER ..BarbaraJ. Hennigan ASSOCIATEEDFTOR Edward F.Maroney ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Luanda S.Harrison Representative David Curran Reporter John Picano Representative Melora B. North Reporter Carol A. Bacon Representative Jack Mason Representative DESIGN/PRODUCTIONDEPARTMENT TomJ. Walsh Representative Cathy Staples Graphic Designer David Bailey Graphic Designer CIRC. & RECEPTION TanyaOhanian „ nit MEMBER NEW ENGLAND PRESSASSOCIATION i Sj3 I FirstPlace, General Excellence-New England PressAssociation, 2001 % 1*3 FirstPlace, General Excellence-Advertising,2002 & 2003 We're coming home Starting next week , your Barnstable Patriot is going to be showing up on your doorstep. With the first issue of February, we'll be making home deliveries of the paper for the first time in its history. This will allow us to push back our absolute deadline for news to mid-day Thursday. The new schedule will give us more time each week to find and refine the information you need and enjoy. Also, we like to think we'll be doing our part to reduce congestion in post office parking lots throughout the villages. Home delivery customers will receive the Patriot early on Fri- day mornings.Those who elect to continue havingthe paper mailed will receive it on Saturday. As always, we welcome your comments at letters@barnstab lepatriot.com or PO Box 1208, Hyannis MA 02601. The Editors editor@barnstablepatriot.com I Next Weekin gEfre patriot... | ^ In the Schools Get in the swing of things with a visit to the new Science Center at Cape Cod Academy and its Foucault pendulum.... www.barnstablepatriot.com Pub. No. USPS 044-480 Periodical Postage paid at the Buzzards Bay Post Office and at additional entry offices. Terms:$29.00 per year in advance We assume no financial responsibility for typographical errors in advertisements, but we will reprint that part of the advertisement in which the error occurs. POSTMASTER: send addresschanges to THE BARNSTABLE PATRIOT P.O. Box 1208, Hyannis, MA 02601 © 2006, The Barnstable Patriot, idivision ol Ottmny Newspapers Inc.