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June 2, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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June 2, 2006
 
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You Have Worked Hard To Make A Home For Your Family. We'll Work Just As Hard To Protect It! °^ TW Oceanside |( /a) )l Insurance \ sS@ & s- West Main Street, Hyannis ^^£ fj? 508-775-0500 OVnuV www.oceansideinsurance.com &fje Barnstable patriot values our subscribers. That 's why we are happy to offer Mrs. Howard Bearse of Osterville a real value: an additional 4 months FREE if he calls within the next seven days. ^l^^s To become a |3atriOt subscriber call 508-771-1427 HAYES & HAYES ATTORNEYS AT LAW P.C. Harold L. Hayes,Jr. Michael J. Hayes Jane Smyth Sutton Stephen P.Hayes WILLS. TRUST, ESTATEPLANNING & ADMINISTRATION REAL ESTATE, COMMERCIAL , PERSONAL INJURY 23 East Main Street , Hyannis , MA • (508) 775-0080 ~ "Serving Cap e Cod f or over 50 years" ~ Gone to the dogs Pups make swift work of getting geese gone By Kathleen Szmit Manwaring kmanwanng@barnstablepatnot.com KATHLEEN SZMIT MANWARING PHOTOS SHE'S OFF - Vedda the Border Collie swims after intruding geese on the 17th hole at the Ridge Club in Sandwich under the watchful eye ol Greg Hamm. The pup belongs to Greg and Cokie Hamm and is part ol Fowl Play Goose Patrol, a goose removal service the Hamms operate from their home at Border Bay Junction Farm in West Barnstable. On a quiet country lane in West Barnstable sits Border Bay Junction Farm where lambs bleat, organic veggies sprout , and a bevy of Border Collies frolic happily. Suddenly the trill of a cell phone cuts the air.Ears perk up and tails wag. It's time. "Let's go, ladies,"calls Cokie Hamm as her husband , Greg, gets the truck." Eagerly, three dogs hop into the truck while the oth- ers watch wistfully. There are geese in the pond on the 15th hole at the Ridge Club in Sandwich and it's up to Tova, Vedda and Lola to send them away. Ridding local properties of the pesky critters is all in a day's work for these pups. They are the heart , soul, tails and ears of the Hamm's four- year-old business, Fowl Play Goose Patrol. To think it all started with sheep. In 1990 while the Hammswere livingin Norwell they decided they wanted a dog. While on a business trip to New York, Greg caught a segment of Saturday Night Live featuring Mike the Dog of the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills. He was instantly smit- ten with the Border Collie's talents, energy and loveable nature. Greg suggested the breed to Cokie, who learned all she could about them. It wasn't long before they brought home a spry little pooch named Maggie."It'sall because of her," said Cokie. Although Maggie wasn't cut out to herd sheep, as she would snap at the flock , the Hamms found success with another dog, Gaelen, now a grandfather. About four years ago Cokie learned about the use of Border Collies to rid geese from golf courses , school playgrounds and people 's homes. She was intrigued. "When we'd take the dogs to the beach, they would run for miles out of sight after the gulls," said Cokie. Together Cokie and Greg parlayed their dogs' bound- less energies and obsession for chasing birds into Fowl Play. During goose season, usu- ally early spring and fall when the seasons begin to change, calls willcome in from various clients that geese are on the premises. Within minutes , Tova, Vedda , and Lola are driven to the site where they get down to the business of, well, being Border Collies. "It's in their blood ," said Cokie. As soon as the truck stops, the dogs are off in a blur of fur. While two dogs traverse the water's edges, one takes the plunge , swimming feverishly after the squawkingflock. Not ten minutes later the geese are gone and the dogs trot happily back to the truck. "Geese have a visual concept of the dogs as a predator," explained Cokie. Geese removal by Border Collie is a fast-growing, EPA- approved method for ridding property of the unwanted waterfowl. "It is safe and humane," said Cokie. "The dogs are trained not to ever CONTINUED ON PAGE A:9 (Q HAMBER JVGTES Chamber members get more from their membership By Monica Parker monica@hyannis.com I have a confession to make. I'm really anerd. Not sliderules or a strange fascination with computer code kind of nerd. I like facts and figures. Love factoids. Wild about statistics. So I was in my element as a confirmed data hound the other day while poring over a recent survey of our member- ship. As surveys go, this one might seem a bit bland,just a few simple questions to learn a little more from our members about what they need from their Chamber so that we can turn that knowledge into bet- ter service delivery. Like any business, the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce can only succeed if it meets - and exceeds - its customers'needs and expecta- tions. Our customers, in this case, are the almost 700 mem- ber businesses that we serve, and wenever forget that we are onlyasstrong and assuccessful as our members. The questions ranged from demographic to qualitative, and the answers truly reflect the diversity of our member- ship. We represent everyone from commercial fishermen to large hoteliers; non-profit or- ganizations to businesseswith multimillion-dollar revenues and large employee bases. We expected awiderange of opin- ion in their responses, and we were not disappointed. But among this disparate group of businessmen and women, regardless of whether a member had been with usfor one year or 20 years, we found some striking consistencies. What washearteningtolearn is that even faced with com- peting demands for time and money from their businesses, a majority of our members described their membership in the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce as "important" or "very important" to their business. No one isrequired to belongto our organization and they would not be members if they did not view membership as important to their success as a business. Our members are not just businesses, though. They are also members of this commu- nity, and so the services that we provide,includingnetwork- ing, marketing opportunities, education , and advocacy are both about buildingbusinesses as well as building communi- ties. The next interesting tidbit that pops up in the survey results was that the word "credibility"was used over and over again. Organizations that experience major transition can sometimes struggle to maintain credibility, and the staff here at the chamber has worked hard to maintain the same level of reliability and integrity as the superlative teams who worked so hard to build the chamber that our membership came to trust. Other words frequently used to describe the chamber were "community involvement" and "tourism." It isn't enough to make sure our visitors get safely over the bridge. We be- lieve it is our job to get them literally to the doors of our member businesses. CONTINUED ON PAGE A:9 Council orders business shutdown from 1to 3 a.m Restricted hours set to take effect mid-June By Edward F. Maroney emaroney@barnstablepatriot.com EDWARD F MARONEY PHOTO HAVEITYOURWAY BUTNOTNOW -TheBurger King at routes 6 and 132 in West Barnstable is complying with a new town rule that retail businesses must be closed between 1 and 3 a.m. AsMel Brooks says,it'sgood to be the king, but in Barnstable,it's even better to be the police chief. Last month, John Finnegan won a battle for late-night crowd control when the town council agreed that all retail businessesintownshouldclosebetween 1and 3a.m.-even the "24-hour"Burger King at Exit 6 on Route 6. Thefranchise owners,theWymanfam- ily,weren't tryingto exercise their royal rights,but saidtheir statelease required round-the-clock operation. Finnegan countered that alocal ordinance would trump that restriction, and it appears CONTINUED ON PAGE A:12 Picked BEST Satin & Semi-Gloss Exterior Painty —JE^m^iM X T * 1 fl ¦ Gliddenj l^ ^ ^s j g^Jr f B *o SMMBEHMPV Jill*¦ *:/