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| April 14, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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I By Paul Gauwin
pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com
Paramedic heals sting
of blogger's sleazy slur
She'stall, slim,smart and forthright.
She is a capable multi-tasker with a
paramedic associate 's degree, and
bachelors ' degrees in biology from
Stonehill and in fire science with
concentration in emergency medical
service. She can drive and handle all
aspects of afire engine, climb aladder,
handle a bucking hose and eat smoke
with the best of them.
She can either drive or command an
"advanced life support" ambulance,use
all of its life-saving equipment with ef-
ficiency, manage afire station shift,su-
pervise and conduct triage at accident
scenes and,inshort,sustainnear-death
trauma victimsinthe field under varied
and trying circumstances.
But that's not why her gross income
last fiscal year totaled $124,000.
She earned her pay because she is
a self-confessed workaholic, a team
player who is there when you need her
and a committed public servant who
responded because a colleague was on
long-term disability.
For this, Cotuit firefighter and
paramedic Jayne Pierce , a happily
married mother of two who shares her
homestead with agingparents,wasbe-
smirched by bloggers recently because
of an uncommon one-time income.
"What really bothered me," she said
last week interrupting a tour of the
spotless Cotuit ambulance, "was what
one unidentified blogger wrote - that
I was 'banging' the fire chief. My God!
The fire captain (David Pierce) is my
husband. "
Public service being what it is-aripe
target for the disgruntled ,the envious,
the compulsive, the concerned citizen
and the warymainstreammedia-Jayne
Pierce has taken a libelous hit but has
opted to grin and bear it. Another
with less tolerance might have hired
a lawyer.
What troubles Fire ChiefPaul Frazier
is that cert ain bloggers are spewing
statistics without explaining mitigat-
ing circumstances,asin Jayne Pierce's
case. Crass language and one-sided
interpretation of statistical data iswhy
some local bloggers waste whatever
talent and credibility they have - and
lose the readers ' respect.
To understand why Jayne Pierce
earned such a tidy sum, one has to
delve into the finer detailsof firehouse
coverage , union rules and the level of
service taxpayers are willing to under-
write in a changing world. (See story
on Village Page, B:l)
Pierce 's gross wage was a one-time
windfall engendered by the long illness
of a full-time firefighter and Pierce's
willingness to haul in the slack. Others
had the opportunity to share in the
overtime pool, Chief Frazier said, but
few responded.
"I'm fortunate,"Jayne Pierce said. "I
work one shift and my husband works
the other, so one of us is always home
with the children , who are 3and 6. And
if we have to be out at the same time,
my parents help out."
Her earnings in the last fiscal year
were unusual. "It was a phenomenal
year,"she said -mostly because of one
disabled colleague.
Jayne Pierce, who is a senior private
(which is akin to being a lieutenant),
is also a paramedic ,the highest of four
EMT ratings. She took the time to de-
scribe her varied duties as firefighter
and field medic, all of which requires
initial schooling, continuing classes,
constant training, bountiful dexterity
and responsibility.
For this, her base pay after five years
(she is an 11-year veteran) is $57,000.
In her case, educational perks boost
her annual base wage to $61,000. In
fiscal 2006, she earned $63,000 extra
for filling in not only for the disabled
colleague but for vacation and illness
of other employees at time and a half,
as dictated by a union contract ,
Chief Frazier said overtime will ease
off with the hiring of another fulltime
firefighter. "We are always discussing
when it becomes more prudent to hire
another employee than to keep paying
overtime," he said.
Jayne Pierce and her husband are
working by the rules and at a level
of service district voters desire and
fund. For this, neither she nor her
family deserves the personal insult
foisted upon them by bloggers. It isone
thing to alert the public to anomalies
in government spending or activity,
and quite another to do so by hitting
below the belt.
Shame.
.EG
I
_I
CORNER
ACROSS TIME 6PLACE
RETROSPECTIVE S FROM THE ARCHIVE S
Photo Courtesy Barbara Hansen
'20sINTHE '50s -This isathrowback to a throwback. InMay 1950, a Roaring TwentiesReview was
held at Union Hall (now Veterans Hall) in Osterville. Pictured (L-R) are Audrey Hinckley, Barbara
Hansen, Colleen Casperson, Esther Burnett, Carol McLane and Francis Evans. ,
' T*,TvT*ri'np
Cape chamber has no position on
BRT 'call to action'
I would like to clarify something in a story
reported in last week's Patriot about a press
conference called by the Association to Pre-
serve Cape Cod'sBusiness Round Table. In that
story it was referenced that Cape Cod Chamber
board chair Dan Wolf was a participant in the
press event. It is important for your readers
to know the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce
has not taken a position on the call-to-action
document released by the roundtable group. In
fact , the Cape Cod Chamber was not afforded
the time to review this document in order to
take a position.
While a few members of the Cape Chamber 's
board of directors also sit on the self-appointed
Business Roundtable ,their votes at tnose meet-
ings are not representative of the Chamber. We
have a well-articulated and often-used process
by which our organization takes positions on
behalf of our membership. This process was not
engaged relative to the BRT document prior to
the press conference.
Wendy K. Northcross
Chief Executive Officer
Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce
Letter mischaracterized Cape
commission
Larry Wheatley 'sletter in your April 7 edition
is full of inaccurate statements about the Cape
Cod Commission. First, the Commission was
never envisioned as simply an advisory group.
The Cape Cod Commission Act (the legislation
that created the Commission) gave the Com-
mission broad planning and regulatory powers
including review of Developments of Regional
Impact , and nomination and review of Districts
of Critical Planning Concern. That legislation
was approved by a referendum vote of Cape
Codders in l990.
Second, the Commission's mandate was not
limited to "good economic job growth" as can
be seen from the language of the Act.
"The purpose of the Cape Cod Commission
shall be to further: the conservation and pres-
ervation of natural undeveloped areas, wildlife,
flora and habitats for endangered species; the
preservation of coastalresources including aqua-
culture; the protection of groundwater, surface
water and ocean water quality, as well as the
other natural resources of Cape cod; balanced
economic growth; the provision of adequate
capital facilities, including transportation , wa-
ter supply, and solid, sanitary and hazardous
waste disposal facilties; the coordination of the
provision of adequate capital facilities with the
achievement of other goals; the development of
an adequate supply of fair affordable housing;
and the preservation of historical , cultural ,
archaeological, architectural , and recreational
values."
CONTINUED ON PAGE B:5
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5
BY ELLEN C. CHAHEY
All
around the world, Christians and Jews
are marking holy days. The middle of
April will bring Passover and also the
two Easters celebrated by the Eastern and
Western branches of Christianity, this year a
week apart.
In observant homes all over the Jewish and
Christian map, this means that people are
bringing out treasured holiday objects. For
examples, I know of one home where there is
a Passover tablecloth stained with a bit of red
wine. Part of Passover, when you are a guest
at their table, is to hear the host tell that the
wine-stain is there because his father-may his
memory be a blessing - would wipe his right
little finger exactly there every year after he
would sprinkle the drops of wine that the Seder
service commands are to be wasted intention-
ally,to diminish our pleasure at drinking them,
in remembrance of the pain that the Egyptians
felt when God sent them the plagues.
When I attend a Seder, I wait for the moment
when the town of Bnai Brak is mentioned. When
itis, Ilove to recount how, duringthe year Ispent
in Israel,Bnai Brak had a colossal sewer backup
in which the town was inundated with waste
- chocolat e from a nearby confectionery!
In our home, I have decorated for Easter ever
since my mother and stepfather spent a Holy
Week in Europe and learned of the custom of
hanging fancy eggs and other symbols from a
bunch of pussywillows. In fact , by now I use
the pussywillows all year, as a Valentine tree,
an Easter tree , and in the last couple of cat-
friendly years, even a Christmas tree.
Decorating for Easter is always poignant at
our house, because our little friend Patty made
so many of our ornaments. In the last few years
of her life, which ended just after her tenth
birthday, we had evolved the custom of hav-
ing her spend the night with us the day before
Palm Sunday. We'd make decorations for the
"pussywhistles," eat some pizza, and let her
hang my extensive scarf collection from the
frame of our canopy bed.
Later, my husband and Iwould he in the dark-
ness on the living room sofa.We'd listen to the
cystic fibrosis cough and wish that there were
something we could do, and know that there
was nothing we could do, except to make all
the memories we could.
The other day, I carried up the Easter
boxes.
There was the stuffed lamb I'd once given
Patty. "She won't sleep without it ."her mother
jokingly complained to me once , "and that
bell around its neck is driving me crazy." As I
gently nested the lamb into a basket , the bell
sounded.
A mobile that Patty had made from old Easter
cards was next. On the backs of the pictures
of birds and flowers, Patty had drawn her own
balloons and eggs and hearts and a smiling sun
that is telling us to "Have a sunny day!"
On the piano, I put the picture that Patty
drew of a "pussywhistle" tree made with a few
real "pussies" that had fallen off my bunch. It
says, "Happy Easter," and she has inserted an
"a" with an editor 's caret.
I don't cry any more; I smile when I see these.
This year when I pulled out the Easter orna-
ments there was something new to smile at:
The ornaments my mother had accumulated
for her pussywillows. The ones I brought home
after she died last July.
I had to clean out her apartment quickly,
so I had just looked into the shoebox, labeled
it, and packed it into my car in the "fragile "
category to join the other Easter ornaments
in our basement.
And so it was that our Easter this year has
something new. I decided, just this once, to use
only my mother's ornaments on my Easter tree.
We're going to greet Easter 2006 with a dozen
wooden eggs and one glass one, and one real
one painted red , black and white.
We also will have eight ducklings, seven bun-
nies, and a goose. The little floral wreath Mom
had on the door of her apartment will spend
the season on the door of my study.
An angel Ijust bought at a thrift shop for fifty
cents rounds out the picture. My extravagant
purchase will help a worthy cause.
Of course, it's not about the ornaments. It's
not about the sentiments.
It'sabout a grounding in faith. I literally have
put Patty, and my mother, and scores of other
people into their graves. Some I have loved ,
some I have never met. All I have is what I be-
lieve istheir ultimate destiny:life. Their trinkets
help me smile at their memory. My faith makes
me rejoice in their future.
The Rev. Ellen C. Chahey is Minister of Spiritual Care at
Federated Church ot Hyannis.
l
INOTHER
V__RDS