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July 28, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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July 28, 2006
 
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DA inquiry under way over COMM open-meeting flap By Paul Gauvin pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com The district attorney 's office is "looking into" a Centerville man's declara- tion that he was barred from a public meeting of the Centerville-Osterville- Marstons Mills Fire District Prudential Committee and kept away from the fire sta- tion by the police. Assistant DA Thomas Shacklll,chief of operations, said this week the office is "looking into it" when asked about a letter of complaint hand-delivered on July 7 to the DAs office by R.F."Dick" Andres of 240 Oak St. in Centerville. Shack described the alle- gation byAndres as "an open matter,"meaning it is in the process of being explored. He said these types of inquiries can take days,weeks or even months and that Andres would be advised of the findings once the inquiry is concluded. In his letter, Andres says he attempted to attend an 8 a.m. posted public meeting on July 6 in the COMM Fire Station prudential office but was called outside by the police. "I arrived at 7:45 a.m. and read in my parked ve- hicle until I saw chairman Knute Silva enter the fire station." Andres sayshe entered the building and saw through an office window that Silva and committee member James Crocker, the two of whom constituted a quorum, were conversing. Andres said he knocked on the door to confirmthe loca- tion of the meeting. "Crocker confirmed the location but stated that I could not enter until 8 a.m. because he and the chairman were discuss- ing personal matters." Silva, chairman of the pru- dential committee, said the pair was talking baseball. Andres said he ignored Crocker 's request that he leave,instead sitting downat about 7:55 a.m.to read until the meeting began. "Crocker objected and went into a rage using inap- propriate language. He left the room and the police were notified ,"Andres said. "Patrolman Estey, Badge # 175, arrived a few minutes after 8a.m.and informed me they did not want me at the station.He didnot knowwhy. I explained I was there for a publicmeeting and directed the officer 's attention to the bulletin board posting. His reply was: 'They don't want you here.'" Andres says "...it appears there are both open meeting and civil rights violations." Silva agrees on what gen- erally happened , but notes the special meeting was to be held in a rare venue, the prudential panel's admin- istrative office. Since the office doesn't open until 8 a.m. and since the meeting was not scheduled until 8 a.m., Andres was asked by Crocker to leave, Andres refused and Crocker sum- moned the police. "The police called him outside and talked to him, then he got in his truck and left,"Silva said. He said that Andres could have entered the office when the meeting was convened. Silvacharacterized Crock- er as being angry over An- dres' refusal to leave but did not agree with Andres' assessment that Crocker "went into a rage" or used inappropriat e language. Crocker this week denied using inappropriate lan- guage or displaying "rage." He said when Andres en- tered the room, "I told him the office wasnot yet open for business and we were busy preparing for the meeting and asked him to leave. He replied that he wasn't leav- ing. I said in that case we'd have to call the police. He challenged me to 'go ahead and call the cops' or some such comment." Crocker said he then left the room and asked the dis- patcher to call the police. The police invited Andres outside and talked to him "for a long time," Crocker said, and then Andres left without returning for the meeting. "It's absolutely absurd when people come barging into a private office and make you go through that exercise." He said Andres attends many meetings and always gets his chance to talk and or retrieve information on public matters. Andres is one of a hand- ful of local gadflies who frequently pepper public officials with questions and intermittent accusations about public affairs. "We need them"Silvasaid, "to help keep everything straight." But sometimes, he implied, situations can get out of hand. Letters to the editor The Barnstable Patriot welcomes letters to the editor. Please keep them brief and either type or print them neatly.Include name, address and telephone number. Anony- mous letters will not be published , but names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. THE BARNSTABLE PATRIOT,P.O. BOX 1Z08,HYANNIS, MA 02601 OR E-MAIL TO letters@barnstablepatriot.com BREAST CANCER: Prevention is the Cure. One-Mile Swim,Two-Mile Kayak, orThree-MileWalk to Benefit the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition © 800-649-MBCC sve-r, or online at www.mbcc.org/swim POLITICAL POTPOURRI; Bill would allow special districts Legislationthat would allow creation of special develop- ment districts is still alive on Beacon Hillafterbeingvetoed by Gov. Romney. An alert reader brought a Boston Herald article about the proposed Chapter 40T to the Patriot' s attention this week, prompting a search for the act's text. A version of the bill posted on the Internet states that municipalities are finding it difficult to finance infrastruc- ture improvements, consti- tuting "an economic liability, substantially impairing or arresting the growth of the Commonwealth' s housing stock and retards the eco- nomic well-being of the Com- monwealth"and that "lack of public investment for such infrastructure improvements decreases the value of private investments andthreatensthe sources of public revenue." Enter the special develop- ment district, which can be called for "the proprietors owning real estate within the proposed district. " In Barnstable, it would be up to the town council to then determine whether such a district was needed and then approve it. Once in operation , the dis- trict would function some- thing like the town's fire dis- tricts.Prudential committees would assessfees for improve- ments that might include wastewaterinfrastructure ,for example,andwould be ableto bond major projects. Districts would have the ability to acquire property through exercise of eminent domain. Special development areas exist already, but, the Herald noted, "the new bill would eliminate the need for state approval for such districts." A call to a Cape legislator's aide for an update on the bill was not returned by press time. Perry gives good report card to Ed. Comm. The ranking Republican on the state Legislature 's education committee , state Rep. Jeff Perry of Sandwich, noted the group's accomplishments in a press release. They included a 6.6 percent increase in state funding, up by $463 million; a growth aid provision for fast-growing communities; and a 23 percent increase in transportation funds to help school districts transport regional and charter school students. Governor's vetoes fall to overrides In separate press releases, state Rep. Demetrius Atsalis (D-Barnstable) and state Sen. Therese Murray (D-Plym- outh) celebrated passage of projects over the objection of Gov. Mitt Romney. Atsalis trumpeted the sur- vival of appropriations for the Mature Workers Program of the Cape and Islands Work- force Investment Board, the Cape Cod Regional Incubator Project , the Cape Cod Eco- nomic Development Council, the Cape Cod Maritime Mu- seum,and the Cultural Center of Cape Cod (in Yarmouth). All but the first two made Murray's list, which also in- cluded $125,000 for training health care workers for Cape Cod Healthcare, among other items. AG Reillyto Barnstable Saturday Look for Democratic gu- bernatorial candidate Tom Reilly's "On Your Street, On YourSide"campaign to make a stop at 151 Rolling Hitch Road in Centerville at 4 p.m. tomorrow. The attorney gen- eral has held 16similar events across the commonwealth. Court knocks out oil spill prevention law The state can't do the Coast Guard'sjob in enforcing laws to prevent oil spills, a federal judge ruled this week. That action "gutted",the law, according to astatement by state Sen. Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), who helped writethe legislationfollowing a spill in the Cape Cod Canal. Shenoted that someelements survive, including increased penalties, a vessel tracking system, and the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Trust Fund. West Nile... CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:1 Public Health Web site, the Hyannis pool is the second in the state to test positive this year, the other coming June 23 in Needham. Birds are especially suscep- tible to WestNile virus and are an indicator that the disease is present. The first positive test in a bird, a crow, came earlier thisweekinSaugus.Therehave been no reported human cases in the state this year. Since testing began in May, thestatereportsthat 1,675dead birds have been reported, 136 sent for testing and 126 actu- ally tested. Tularemia on Vineyard Six cases of tularemia have been identified on Martha's Vineyard , according to the DPH. Tularemia can be spread to people in various ways, includ- ing the bite of an infected tick. InMassachusetts,the common dog tick ismost responsible for spreadingtularemia,according to the DPH Web site. Four of the cases are em- ployed as professional land- scapes. All six have been successfully treated and are recovering,accordingtoapress statement. 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