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iBy Paul Gauvlti|
Allegations by Lombard,
Cobb Trust tenants
disparage town hall
Assistant Town Manager Paul Niedz-
wiecki was attempting to explain
the duties of a trustee, but as he
spoke, the doubt among people gathered
for a recent West Barnstable Civic Associa-
tion meeting was palpable. Some in the
audience shook their head, others raised
questioning eyebrows at one another and
a few, anxiously leaning way forward in
their seats, chomped at the bit to flatten
Niedzwiecki's contentions.
Simultaneously,Parker Lombard, the
18th century benefactor who simply
wanted to help the poor, must have been
spinning fitfully in his grave while Enoch
Cobb, the 19th century founder of another
town trust, might be about to follow suit.
By now these gentlemen of philanthrop-
ic bent may be wishing they had willed
their assets to the local animal shelter,
where the population is less demanding
and more tolerant.
The Lombard and Cobb trusts are
involved in clashes of political, business
and legal intrigue that are neither maxi-
mally helping the poor at the moment, as
required by the Lombard Trust , nor the
schoolchildren, as directed by Mr. Cobb.
Quite the contrary. Actions - or inac-
tions -of the town concerning both trusts
are hurting rather than helping "real
people" who by their own admission are of
quite simple means, living on the edge and
getting poorer by the day.
Mike Rogers and his family own The
Village Store in West Barnstable. It and
an adjacent pizzeria anchor the village
center. Both outdated buildings, their
oldened character shaped by generations
of use, had to close recently because of
a septic problem that Rogers is trying to
repair. But to shore up the buildings, Rog-
ers says he needs, at minimum, a 20-year
lease to get a bank loan.For 12 years, he
and the town (trustee) have not been able
to agree, so the building has fallen into
disrepair and, one assumes, trust receipts
affected.
Residents at the civic meeting made
it plain they want their store back. They
want the town to help Rogers implement
a business/repair plan and execute a new
lease written by him that he says will yield
the town its continued taxes and the trust
a market-rate rent.
It's what the villagersexpect from the
trustee, the only person who can decide
the outcome. That trustee is John Klirhm,
who is also the town manager.He inher-
ited the Lombard lease issue from his
predecessors, who also could not find com-
mon ground, but has yet to advance it.
The people at that meeting, wary of town
hall pohtics and suspicious of possible
covert planning schemes for the Lombard
property, also suggested Klimm abandon
the trustee post, name three trustees, con-
duct lease negotiations in public to avoid
suspicion, and, since he, like President
George Bush, is the ultimate "decider,"
ought to appear for himself.
If it were just one case, Niedzwiecki
might have had an easier time selling
the Town Hall fine, a bland salad of legal
mumbo-jumbo, boogeyman land courts
and demonic judges.
But two other people -elderly women at
that -have surfaced with serious com-
plaints on how the trusts have handled
their cases and driven them to the edge of
despair and paucity -contrary to Lom-
bard's intent.
Elizabeth Parris of West Barnstable
Trading Co. antiques is one. She was on
the verge of tears explaining at the meet-
ing how the trust impeded the sale of her
building on Lombard land for $300,000 and
that now, out of weariness with the whole
affair, she is willingto accept a town offer
of a little over $100,000 that she says won't
carry her too well into the sunset years.
The other elderly person is Janice Flint,
who says she inherited the defunct Mitch-
ell's Steakhouse on Route 28 in Hyannis,
which sits on Cobb Trust land. She claims
the town has prevented her from selling
the building to pay off debt and that now
she is on the verge of losing her home. The
town for its part implies the ladies drive a
hard bargain.
Both women allege the town/trustees at
one point told them they no longer owned
the buildings. The Flint case is in litiga-
tion and out of Cobb trustee David Cole's
hands at the moment. It is being handled
by the town attorney. Cole said it would be
inappropriate for him to comment.
Merits of the allegations by Rogers and
the women notwithstanding, the appear-
ance of cold-hearted ineptitude on the
town's part is rising like the morning fog.
These cases bear watching.
t- i
F
^
CORNER
By Michael Daley
coiumnist@barnstablepatriot.com
I've been writingthiscolumn since 1995and I
can't ever recall sharing any of my work experi-
ences with the Patriot's readers.
Asit turns out,it is close to midnight and my
deadlineisbright and earlytomorrow morning.
As it further turns out, I just got home after
drivingseveral hours. Prior to my drive,Ispent
a long evening helping a group of town leaders
as they conducted a pubic hearing.
Thisparticular hear-
ingwashosted by alo-
calfinance committee.
This town's charter
requires that a public
hearing must be held
by the finance com-
mitteepriorto alltown
meetings.In addition to myservices,the town's
legalcounsel was alsopresent to assist the local
leadership.The matter before thispendingtown
meetingisnot important to this story.However,
it is very complicated and it involves multiple
elected boards in multiple legal disputes with
the town's largest taxpayer.
This client's matter has been in play since
2002. It has grown in complexity and risk. The
risk has been amplified each year as the argu-
ment has gone from civil discussion in 2002 to
fractured negotiations that broke off in 2005.
At that time, the town changed their special
counsel and the parties went to war.
In 2006, the discovery phase was completed
and the town also got agood outcome on aspe-
cific motion to dismiss a claim that was made
by opposing counsel. As a result, the parties
got themselves back to the table and agreed
to mediation. As it turned out, our mediator
was a resident of Cotuit. I must say this local
gentleman did an exceptional job.
Tonight I sat in thispublic hearingand I sud-
denly heard a speaker say the words I recently
read inaprivileged e-mailcommunication.The
quoted communication was from the town's
special counsel. It went to a small group of
elected officials , their respective professional
employees and me. What really troubles me is
the speaker of those private words.
Thisguyhad the nerve to get up and dispar-
age these elected officials, their staff and the
attorney. He lashed out at them repeatedly. He
claimed the highroad asthe watchdogthe town
needs to keep these alleged evil politicians in
check.He closed hisdramatic speech by shout-
ing "...shame, shame, shame,"
This disingenuous individual crucified these
individuals.He used insideinformation heknew
he shouldn't have inhiscustody.He never used
his righteous indignation to disclose the indi-
vidual who committed this egregious breach
of everything important in local government.
I watched as this new lawyer listen to his own
words read out loud. I'm not sure how this
professional will deal with a client that he can
no longer trust. It will be interesting to watch
this drama play out through the date of the
up-coming town meeting.
Now here is the part where I get to my point.
Thanks for bearing with me!
Thisexample of atwo-faced public figure and
the deviant official who leaked the information
helps me to feel a bit less troubled with some
of our local officials. Untiltonight,I planned on
doing this month's column about our local ap-
pointment process. Having seen a much worse
behaving individual tonight has given me a bit
of hope for some of our local leaders.
So in the spirit of no-hate politics, I simply
ask that every elected official try real hard to
accept and return every phone call or any other
types of outreaches initiated toward you from
any citizeninthis community. Thisisespecially
true of residents seeking appointments. It is
particularly important if the communication
comes from a resident of the very precinct
that you represent. Until tonight,I didn't think
there was a bigger breach of the public trust
than ignoringthe residents that you represent .
Thisis especially true when these residents are
seeking an opportunity to communicate with
you about an appointment to a committee.
Youjust never know. Perhaps the next time
that one of you ignores a constituent, a big-
ger jerk may not step up and help me fill my
monthly space!
The writer is a consultant to a number ot municipalities. He
lives inMarstons Mills.
Jerked to
attention
LETTERS
Fire study story needs
clarifying
I would like to make a few clarifications
to Mr.Gauvin'swell-written article on the
last meeting of the Fire District Study
Preparation Committee. First, the Com-
mittee did discuss the "ultimate goal" of
a fire study at prior meetings. The Com-
mittee made a firm commitment that
optimum response time was paramount
and should be preserved for citizens of our
town. Second, the Committee feels that
while the Council could vote to disband
the group, it is hoped that members of
the Committeewould be asked to serve on
an RFPCommitteefor anyproposed study.
Finally, although live presentations from
companies that conduct fire studies will
not be included at the proposed Council-
Committeeworkshop, written summaries
willbe supplied to the Council prior to the
workshop. These summaries will include
cost estimates.
Thank you
Councilor Janice L. Barton
Chair of FDSPC
Yes, I've lost my grip
In this past Friday'sletter to the editor,
Hyannis resident H.P Hopkins suggests I
have lost my grip on reality and my cred-
ibility,when Iproposed ifno other solution
isfound,then the town council building or
other town building be used to house the
homeless this winter.
I do agree with Hopkins. I have lost my
gripontherealityofmost.Inmyview,there
are two realities.There isthe world reality
wherewearemovingawayfrom each other
and God out of self centered, self-serving
ways.And there is the God Reality where
we are moving towards each other and
God through love and kindness towards
those most in need.
My view here isn't credible, as most
people do not agree with me at all. They
agree with H.P Hopkins. However, the
scriptures of the old and new testaments
are clear on thisissue.The most important
thing God wants us to do with our fives
on earth is to love and take care of those
most in need. Yet, throughout the history
of mankind, this has remained the most
difficult thing for us to do. We continue to
say "No" to God. Our refusal to love and
help others in need is what is wrong with
each of us and subsequently, this world.
So, Hopkins is right. I have lost touch
with world reality,yet I am pleased to re-
port that hundreds of others on Cape Cod
have lost touch with this reality as wellas
we are welcoming the homeless into our
churches, our homes, our lives.
So, I am not discouraged with Hopkins'
remarks.Instead,Iwillcontinueto encourage
others to lose their touch with world reality
and move in thoughts, feelings and actions
towards God's Reality. Just as we say in our
pledge of allegiance,"One Nation under God
withLibertyand Justicefor All."letusbecome
a united community under God.
Right now,we are not united, we are not
working together in love and kindness,
which hasbeen the real cause of the suffer-
ing and homelessness of thousands of our
Cape cod citizens each year.Yes, I did say
thousand^.If you want statistics,I recom-
mend your contacting Steve Brown, the
community coordinator of the Barnstable
County Department of Human Services
(508-375-6630). He has the statistics as
sad as they are. 508-375-6630.
I have decided to pray for H.P Hopkins
and others to open their minds and hearts
to God and through this higher sense of
love and commitment to God's ways, to
join us in our efforts to end homelessness
on Cape Cod.
And I do agree with Hopkins that the
othertownsneedtoprovidemoreresources
to help the homeless who do tend to come
to Hyannis as this is where the homeless
shelter, hospital and other social service
agencies are located, which so many of
the homeless need close by. But, if they
continue to choose not to help, we must
continue to do the work ourselves as tak-
ing care of our neighbors in need should
be the kind of town we live in.
I also believe that if we, "The Town of
Barnstable," become more committed to
helping the homeless, we will likewise be-
come more vocal and insistent upon other
towns helping as well.
Iwillclose with aquote from Mother Te-
resa,wholikewise endured much criticism
from the NIMBY people where sheworked:
"In the end, we willbe judged by what we
have done for and to the homeless."
Alan Burt
Centerville
Envelope held more than one
message
One morning not too long ago, I picked
up the mail from the box at the end of my
driveway on the way to school. I handed
the pile ofletters tomy8-year-old daughter,
who promptly scanned them for anything
interesting. Rifling past the usual return
labels, she stopped and gazed upon a fa-
miliar name: Deval L. Patrick, Democrat
for Governor.
"Dad, can I open this? she inquired.
1 nodded automatically, not giving it a
thought.She opened the letter and began
reading.Iglanced overto what I presumed
was another invitation to contribute to his
campaign. When she got to the end, she
asked, "Is Deval a friend of yours?" I said
yes and asked why.
There at the bottom of the thank
you note was a hand-written message:
"Spyro, Thanks for your friendship, Deval."
She looked pensive for afew seconds. Then
she asked, " Isn't he black?" I responded
accordingly.Thensheaskedsomethingthat
I still can't forget , "Can I tell people that
he'syour friend? "Of course," I replied.
A little while later she bounded out of
the car and off to school. I wonder some-
times how my child comprehended this
revelation, although I think that it will
stand her in good stead as she navigates
the vagaries of life.
I want to thank Deval Patrick for having
the sincerity to express hisappreciation to
me,andfor affordingme the opportunity to
teach my children one of life's important
lessons. Living on Cape Cod, sometimes
weforget about that one. Itoo am grateful
for his friendship and look forward to vot-
ing for him.
Spyro Mitrokostas
Yarmouth
Thanks for your support
On Sept. 9. the Nam VetsAssociation of
• CONTINUED ON PAGE A:8
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RETROSPECTIVE S FROM THE ARCHIVES
THE PEANUTMAN- A beloved Hyannischaracter from the 1940s and '50s, Mike the
PeanutMan was a fixture infront of the idleHour movie theater, locatedon the siteof
what's plannedto be a four-story mixeduse buildingat the corner of Main and Ocean
streets.
ACROSS TIME 6PLACE