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| October 6, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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Town may mull 'barking
lots' as condo-mania
crams center
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CORNER
* By Paul Gauvin
pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com
T
own Council President Hank Farn-
ham has a leg up on the future of
downtown Hyannis.
He floated , to those on his e-list, the
potentiality of a "doggie park" around
Main Street as new "high rise" condos
spring up from the land. Modern city
dwellers need a place for poochie to play,
and doggie parks have become a 'poopu-
lar' remedy elsewhere.
Attached to the e-mail was a story out
of downtown Los Angeles where condos
are cropping up like tourists in July and
people moving back into the heart of the
city with Fifi, Butch, Bailey and Spot.
The gist of the LA tale is that neo-
urbanites feel safer with their dogs as
there remains a large homeless contin-
gent (of humans) roaming the streets
that some see as a potential threat , a
hazard that is diminished by having a
snarling canine companion on the other
end of a leash.
It's gotten to the point, says the story,
that half the city dwellers have dogs,
rather than children, and it has been
good for business and social intercourse
as more people take to the streets to
walk their pets and, as though an after-
thought, mingle with the like-minded.
Friends in LA who host our annual
visit there are the doggie type. They
have a pooch named Kirby, albeit "Cur-
by" might be a more appropriate handle.
Most of their acquaintances have dogs
and they bring them when they drop
by for chitchat. It is common in LA to
have three or four dogs racing around
the pool or knocking a margarita off the
cocktail table with a wagging tail while
the ladies gossip, between growls and
howls, about the new hairdresser at the
salon.
Alonso isn't satisfied with just one
dog. On weekends, he drives more than
25 males one way on the busy freeway to
"bo row" Dillon, a friend's large Weima-
r ner, as a weekend playmate - and on
this we aren't clear - play-pal for Kirby
or, as we suspect, for Alonso?
As we watch our friend make toast for
himself and the dogs, hand-feed them
first while indulging them with idle
chatter, we consider novelist Edward
Hoagland's observation in "Dogs and the
Tug of Life" as to whether one merely
tries to train (the dog) to be semi-hu-
man or if the point is to open oneself up
to the possibility of becoming partly a
dog.
We go on post-dinner evening walks
along Palm Boulevard and trek over
the 405 Freeway (San Diego) overpass
to a large public park, a portion of
which is encircled by a wire mesh fence
around which some 30 to 40 people
dog-talk while their hounds, with lath-
ered tongues flopping out the sides of
their mouths, joyfully frolic in unleashed
abandon.
Three years ago in France, we read of
haughty Parisians defying an attempt
by government to force them to collect
their dog's droppings on city sidewalks,
etc. The owners considered such mun-
dane activity as wholly beneath their
dignity, and refused to bend to the task.
Voila. Other than that, European dogs are
more semi-human and well mannered
than American dogs. Why is that?
Barnstable now has 5,000 dogs, ac-
cording to Town Clerk Linda Hutchen-
rider and they may multiply along with
housing downtown. The community
already has about 75 canines named Max
and Molly, the leaders; around 50 each
for Bear and Buddy, followed by Lily, the
clerk reports. Evidently, Pluto has not
only been stripped of its standing as a
planet, but also as a dog.
Where a doggie park in downtown
Hyannis? Surely if one were proposed for
the Village Green, Town Hall would object
: "Not in my front yard, you don't." If peo-
ple already protest dogs on beaches, can
it be assumed some will object to dogs on
downtown sidewalks and public parks as
well, fenced in or not? Property too close
to Town Hall and its politics wouldn't do
anyway. Why risk another dog fight?
The armory property? Probably not,
for fear of causing trickle-down pollution
in the nearby wetlands.
For the moment the idea is just there ,
buried somewhere "on the table," as
they say, under a stack of other visions
for downtown Hyannis. If doggie park
ever crops up as a bona fide town coun-
cil proposal, expect it to become a bone
of contention.
\X 4
ACROSS TIME 6 PLACE
RETROSPECTIVES FROM THE ARCHIVES
MEGATHLIN'S DRUG STORE - MAIN STREET, HYANNIS- 1920: Megathlin's was part of the
bustling business area near the train depot, providing residents with their apothecary and
other needs.
Morality play
By Stew Goodwin
columnist@barnstablepatriot.com
What has happened to our national mo-
rality? Currently we are discussing some
very disturbing topics.
There isanationwidedebate that reaches
up to the highest levels of our government
over what types of torture should be per-
mitted to wringinformation from prisoners
with suspected terrorist connections. As a
part of thisdebate,we are deciding whether
the Geneva Convention should be ignored
or just subverted. Moreover,
these conversations are only i
the tip of the iceberg.
Our government hasasserted
its right (until partially struck
downby the Supreme Court) to
retain certain allegedly threat-
ening individuals without in-
forming anyone that they are
in custody, without allowing them access
to legal representation , without granting
habeas corpus , and without permitting
them to see any specific accusations.
It has been further asserted that these
conditions should not be subject to judi-
cial review. After years of denial we have
finally admitted keeping some, again with
suspected ties to terror, in secret prisons
located in countries with fewer civilrights
than our own.
Additionally, the federal government,
with considerable corporat e assistance,
has conducted a comprehensive program
of monitoring telephone and computer
communications to and from our citizens.
Once more,the rationale isto provide pro-
tection from terrorists attacks in the "new"
twenty-first century world.
Using the same reasoning,
executive branch power and
secrecy have been raised
to unprecedented levels,
greatly reducing transpar-
ency.
Stigmatizing and ostra-
cizing those of whom we
disapprove have joined lying and cor-
ruption as political staples. Some of the
positions emerging from the battles over
immigration, global warming, and social
CONTINUED ON PAGE A:8
LETTERS
Lighting up the Compact, Pt. II
In a recent op-ed piece, Cape Light
Compact officials substituted red herrings,
inaccurate information , and questionable
claims for a genuine response to questions
posed in my commentary published early
last month.
First, I asked the Compact to describe
what it is doing to reduce power supply
rates. Compact official s acknowledged
adopting a less risky approach to sup-
ply procurement but failed to discuss its
implementation. Are bids for 2007 being
entertained from different companies over
varying timeframes, with benefits from
lower or more stable pricing to be shared
by all? Or isthe Compact now asubsidiary
of ConEdison Solutions, with price breaks
continuingto flow to municipal consumers
andprofit marginsand revenues remaining
unreported?
Second,Iasked the Compact to improve
consumer disclosure practices. Rather
than agreeing to make direct-mail disclo-
sure a contract provision for supplier(s),
CONTINUED ON PAGE A:8
IBy
IDavid Still II
About time
D
espite our long acquaintance, time is
not my friend. Mine is a world of good
intentions, occasional timeliness and
oft-missed marks.
Ask my wife, publisher or pressman.
There are many with my condition, and
everyone knows who we are. Just look for the
empty seat.
It's not a disregard for timekeeping. We
know what time it is, and that's part of the
problem.Through a combination of optimism
and over-confidence , we're always convinced
we can beat the clock, irrespective of past
lashings by the second and minute hands.
What's amazing about people with my con-
dition is that we can get angry at others for
making us late. It's part denial, but a greater
part dependence. We require of others what
we can't accomplish on our own, because it
adds structure to our amoeba-shaped concept
of the temporal world.
Here's a good example. For the first couple
of years when my oldest was in school, her bus
driver was the model of efficiency, arriving at
the appointed time on the dot, day after day.
It was a wonderfully predictable and comfort-
ing schedule. A change of drivers one year,
apparently to someone with shades of my af-
fliction, and the daily routine was torn asun-
der. Fortunately, a veritable metronome took
over the route, and peace returned.
Living life so close to the timing margins,
there's a natural inclination toward the outer-
most time something could happen. A tardy
bus one day gets immediately, if erroneously,
programmed into the allowable cushion. So
when the bus arrives on time the following
day, which you realize after waiting an opti-
mistic amount of time for it to pull up (Hey,
maybe she's even later today), it's easier to be
angry at the reason outside your control than
the real root of the problem.
When such daily reference points disappear,
it's chaos, frightening even.
An irony here is that I love watches. I have
maybe 20 of varying quality and function. Ask
my kids. My youngest pulls me away from the
jewelry counters during runs through the mall
For a person who has trouble tending time,
I'm infatuated with the devices that keep it.
I've given up on the "set it ahead 10 min-
utes" model of timekeeping. I know math and
quickly developed the formula for any given
time discrepancy (time displayed - minutes
ahead + acceptable margin of error - when I
really have to be there).
I don't know if this timepiece fascination is
universal, but it wouldn't be surprising.
But through all of this, we're an incredibly
optimistic and confident bunch. Ask us how
long something will take to finish and we'll get
downright rosy.
How does it take to cook a turkey?
Well, the book says 20 minutes per pound,
but with a little finessing of the heat, I'm
pretty sure I can get it down to 15, maybe 10
[...and the salmonella cheered].
How long will it take to get there (any-
where)?
Five to 10 minutes less than anyone else
(yes, we fancy ourselves good drivers).
We're also a generally likeable bunch, which
cuts us a lot of slack. In my case, I've also
been blessed with the handy gene. It allows
me to do things such as change power steer-
CONTINUED ON PAGE A:8
OP-ED
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