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Letters to the editor
The Barnstable Patriot welcomesletters to
the editor. Please keep them brief and either
type or print them neatly. Include name, ad-
dress and telephone number. Anonymous
letters willnot be published , but names will
be withheld upon request. We reserve the
right to edit all submissions.
THE BARNSTABLE PATRIOT
P.O. BOX 1208
HYANNIS, MA 02601
OR E-MAILTO
letters@barnstablepatriot.com
medical^^^^
reserve ^B
corps
^^
Be informed.
Be prepared.
Be a volunteer.
Emergency preparedness is everyone's
responsibility.
www.capecodmrc.org
508-394-6811
RETROSPECTIVES FROM THE ARCHIVES j
WORKINGTOGETHER-BlazessetInoilpitsproducedhugecloudsof smokeas thefirst
FirefightersFieldDay was held at the Barnstable County Fire TrainingSchool inJune
1964.DepartmentsfromaroundtheCape,includingBarnstable's five,participated.On
Thursday, the town councilisscheduledto holda workshop with its fire districtstudy j
ACROSS TIME 6PLACE I
S
ome pun-ishment for you today.
We were driving on Main Street in
Hyannis on a sunny morn discussing
how absolutely civic it was of St. Francis
Xavier School students to adopt a project
to clean litter from South Street as an on-
going volunteer enterprise.
Kudos to them. They should know their
work is noticed and appreciated by older
neatniks too stiff with NEA (New England
Arthritis) to bend to the task of collecting
their own debris.
There was little traffic and we were talk-
ing education anyway so we slowed down to
look at the Sturgis School fagade transfor-
mation. "Isn't this a wonderful addition to
Main Street?" came a rhetorical question.
She, who is the furthest thing from be-
ing a devout pun-damentalist, looked at
the artwork peering at her from one of the
school's display windows, scanned the fa-
cade and, as she usually does, put her brain
in gear before offering her sincere artistic
assessment. "It's very classy."
* * *
Not far from these schools, however,
some very unclassy things are happening
in Hyannis. For example, shooting up the
homes of innocent people isn't classy. Less
so is mercilessly slicing up a lady's face with
a razor-type instrument over something
as inconsequential as money, and worse,
drugs, as recently occurred.
The government or whoever named the
Hyannis Street off Bearse's Way "Fresh
Holes Road" did not intend for it to mean
fresh holes made by bullets.
Rows of duplexes in that area are World
War II relics that have evolved into what we
might consider today a low-income neigh-
borhood that, sadly, quite looks the part.
The living units in these buildings are
evidently affordable to the low-wage strata
of families or individuals with little choice
but housing of last resort.
The recent rash of assaults and other
troubles requiring police reaction in that
neighborhood begs the question: The living
units there are affordable, but is the neigh-
borhood livable? Are nonviolent families
safe there, contented there? Do they share
with the rest of the town that cherished
intangible known as freedom from fear?
The good people in the neighborhood are
wary of danger to themselves, to the chil-
dren who get off the school bus and walk
the walk there. One prays their book bags
allow room for a modicum of hope that the
young'uns will someday escape - as did the
veterans before them for whom the housing
was built -, or, a novel idea, work together
with a coalition of families, human services
agencies and the municipal government to
improve the neighborhood.
The publicity about shootings and knif-
ings in a low-wage neighborhood does not
help create the imagery needed to convince
taxpayers in the safer parts of town to take
a purely objective view of affordable hous-
ing initiatives in general.
What neighborhood wants to invite the
potential for unsafe streets? Who wants
their children playing hopscotch in the
driveway to have to duck bullets or watch in
horror as some freaked out drug-head slices
skin on somebody else's anguished face?
The obsession with "affordable" ought to
be replaced in this case with "livable."What
can the combined forces of municipal and
volunteer agencies do to clean up the Fresh
Holes mess and turn it into "safe" afford-
able housing?
For starters, the municipal government
might want to pay more attention to that
area. An obvious initiative is to station a
two-man patrol car in the neighborhood
most of the night or, better, a two-man
walking beat for a while. As the song says,
it would facilitate "getting to know you,
getting to know all about you."
Presence, after all, is what helps trans-
form mere actors into stars and politicians
into presidents. Perhaps, in this case, it can
convert a distressed neighborhood into a
peaceful one.
Perhaps, also, the Hyannis Civic Asso-
ciation, in concert with agencies familiar
with the people of the neighborhood, could
recruit new members there, forgo the $15
membership fee and pro-actively encourage
neighborhood representation at association
meetings to discuss and advocate for their
needs.
The good people of Barnstable are about
to make a major investment of skating
rinks and other sports and entertainment
facilities attracting youth to that part of
town.
It would be counterproductive to allow,
by neglect, an aura of malevolence to lurk
in its shadow.
Think affordable , but
focus on 'livable'
BY ELLEN C. CHAHEY
We
crossed the bridge last weekend
and drove all the way to Harwich.
We stopped first at West Dennis
Beach for a breath of salt air. People were
walking the long parking lot, or its paral-
lel stretch of beach. The sun and sand and
breeze encouraged exercisers , dog walkers,
visitors, and locals as we moved together
under a quiet blue sky.
I remembered a time on this beach with
my parents. I remembered a wedding I
had performed here. I remembered when a
friend took us here to dinner for our an-
niversary. I remembered that I baptized a
child here.
At that baptism, we all wore wreaths of
ivy. Mine still hangs on the bedpost.
But we didn't stay at West Dennis. We
drove on to a place we had lived.
We walked around to see the house that
once was home. We commented on the
changes in the neighborhood , and visited
the graves in a nearby cemetery. I remem-
bered the backyard astronomy I had done
in Harwich: my first glimpse of Mercury;
a solar eclipse on Christmas Day; my first
sight of the Andromeda galaxy.
Even my first In Other Words was inspired
off the back deck of that house, by the
moons of Jupiter.
We enjoyed a lunch of Mexican food. Then
my husband and I split to enjoy our indul-
gences: his at the library, mine at the thrift
shop. I promised to meet him where he
would be; thrift-shopping is infinitely more
' efficient than library-browsing.
When I had finished my excursion , I
walked up Main Street toward the library.
Halfway there , set back from the road , was
a little shop. Its sign announced: "Linens.
Pottery. Art Glass."
I like such things, so I decided to wan-
der in. The first thing I saw was a pillow
embroidered in the Transylvanian way: a
heart , bright red.
Then I looked around , and saw Transylva-
nian blouses, and wood carvings, and pot-
tery, and a photo album that showed scenes
of the region where my grandmother had
grown up, and where, even though I was
born in the United States, a big piece of my
heart calls home.
I hadn't noticed the whole message of
the sign. I had wandered into a shop where
everything was from Transylvania! Where
even part of the profits would go back
there!
I shopped my fill. Then I headed for the
library to meet my husband. We walked to a
farm stand that tempted us with tomatoes,
gourds, raspberries , apples, and corn.
After a long walk, I slumped into a beach
chair, baseball hat on head, in the sands
of Bank Street. Incredibly, some friends
walked by. We caught up on news and
laughed about how we had known each oth-
er for so many years that they remembered
when my hair reached down to my hips.
Home again that evening in the Town of
Barnstable, we marveled that , for just a
12-mile drive, we had experienced so many
other worlds: Mexico, Transylvania,.and
for all the colorful trees and white houses,
Vermont. All that , and the cranberry bogs
that say "Cape Cod."
I am so thankful to call this place home.
The Rev. Ellen C. Chahey is Minister of Spiritual Care at
Federated Church ol Hyannis.
flNOfHER
law
Duffy and paper have crossed
a line
At one timewhen Iwantedto know what
was going on in Barnstable,the one paper
I would gladly pay for was The Barnstable
Patriot. While I didn't agreewith the edito-
rialstaff alot of the time, the articles were
wellwritten and tried to give an unbiased
view from both sides of the issue. Even
the columns, From the Left and From the
Right, which I didn't care for because they
generallywere on national issues,not local,
gave reasoned arguments.
Since the change in ownership, it seems
the paper is going in a different direction;
onethat appears to simplymirrorthe Cape
Cod Times. Perhapsit'stimeto change the
banner on the front of the Patriot and drop
"An independent voice since 1830."
Perhaps the worst is the recent A View
from Askance by Paul Duffy: "How to write
a humor column." Within the first several
paragraphs of his sophomoric column he
refers to the President as a moron and
nitwit, and makes fun of his looks. Not
earth-shattering stuff; however, it's the
stuff of elementary school playgrounds. In
the article he alsogoesthroughthelaundry
list of complaints that I've been reading
for the last six years, most of them in Mr.
Elrick's column in this very paper. I've
read it in the dailyfor the last sixyears; I
grew so tired of it I won't even spend the
50 cents for the dailyanymore.
And if the editor of this paper thinks
I'll spend a quarter more to read articles
such as Mr. Duffy's that reads more like a
"letter to the editor" from the CCT, well,
think again.
I was going to use Mr. Duffy's advice on
"Howto writeahumor column"and attack
himpersonally.They even have apicture of
him in the column. However, then I would
only be going down to his level. Anyway,
I've read many of Mr.Duffy's columns and
I think he'sthe last person who should be
advising anyone on writing humor.
John T Patriquin, Jr.
Hyannis
Editor 'snote:Ottaway Newspapers ,Inc.,
a subsidiary of Dow Jones, Inc. and pub-
lisher of the Cape Cod Times,Nantucket' s
Inquirer and Mirror and many other news-
papers across the country, purchased The
Barnstable Patriot in2005. Freelancer Paul
Duffy haswrittenhis columnf orthe Patriot
since the mid-1990s. It may be worth not-
ing also that the daily endorsed George W.
Bush for re-election in 2004. (EFM)
The one-percent solution to
homelessness
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
If you, the residents of the Town of
Barnstable, don't get involved with the
Barnstable Town Council, the councilors
will make decisions and laws without
you.
Do you realize that every homeowner in
the Town of Barnstable is only allowed to
have five adults living in a three-bedroom
house, six in a four-bedroom house and
seven in a five-bedroom house? Also, you
arelimitedto four carsin athree-bedroom
house. And did you know you can be fined
up to $300 a day for being in noncompli-
ance? Well, you didn't pay attention and
•f
it is now the law.
Also, everylandlord must pay $90 ayear
to register each rental unit.The deadline
was Oct. 1. Only seven people signed up.
So, they're giving you until Nov. 1 now
to register and pay up or be subject to a
$300-a-day fine.
How do you landlords feel about
this? If you're not happy, which I think
you shouldn't be, then show up to the
Barnstable Town Council's next session
on Oct. 19 at 7p.m. and be heard. If you
can't make it, then phone or write your
councilors on this. A law has been passed
without your input,withoutyour consent.
Doyouthinkthat suchbigdecisionsshould
be made without your input?
This new rental and occupancy ordi-
nance, along with the voting down of
the AHOD proposal that was a way for
more affordable housing in the Town of
Barnstable, has made the housing crisis
worse than ever before.
I have suggested to a couple of coun-
cilors to invite Len Stewart and Steve
Brown from the Barnstable County Hu-
man Services Department to share data
that show that hundreds of families in
the Town of Barnstable are experiencing
difficult times with finances and housing.
Maybe these statistics will wake up our
councilors to the need for making these
issues a top priority.
I would further encourage Town Man-
ager John Klimmto talkto the other town
managers to come to this presentation
by Stewart and Brown as the problem of
homelessnesswhichisforced mainlyupon
the Villageof Hyannisto deal withisunfair
and hasbeen for much too long. Homeless-
nessisacounty problem. Len Stewart and
Steve Brown have the statsand can prove
thisifthe other town \managersarewilling
to listen to it.
Until all of the town managers are work-
ingcloselytogether to address the poverty,
housing and homelessness issues that
span all of Cape Cod, little will change.
The towns and their resources must join
hands in the effort to make Cape Cod
"One County Under God with Liberty and
Justice for All."
In my opinion, every Town should des-
ignate at least 1 percent' of their town
budgets to County Funds to be used for
Health and Human Services. Is 1percent
too much to ask of each town? Let's find
out.
This year,between 15towns, only about
$360,000 was available for the Cape's ef-
forts through Health and Human Services
to help our citizens in need. Not only did
thousands of individuals and families suf-
fer terribly this past year, many became
homeless and four human beings died on
our streets. All of this is very shameful,
somethingwe,the citizens and the leaders
of Cape Cod, must make right.
Although I may sound very critical of
our town councilors, I really do respect
them. They have done a lot of good work
and deserve our praise. But the issues of
poverty and homelessness have reached
critical levels which must force all of us,
residents andleaders alike,tomove quickly
to help our neighbors inneed. I realizethat
myvoice isone of urgency and expectancy,
CONTINUEDON PAGE A:10
__ LETTERS