Welcome to Weekly Chit-Chat, the most popular internet forum in Wareham! All viewpoints are welcome here. Please join the discussion about issues and events that concern you, you family, your friends and your neighbors! 

    BREAKING NEWS: Student taken to hospital by EMS after another school bus accident. Accident occured Friday afternoon (Feb. 3) on Route 6 near Town Hall. Please come inside for more on the developing story.

    BREAKING NEWS: Former selectman Bruce Sauvageau explains why he's running again. For more, please come inside this thread!

    Supporters of selectman candidate Alan Slavin once not so supportive. For more, please come inside this thread!

    BREAKING NEWS: The Wareham School Department issues press release on the school bus accident; parents remain irate, call report "a lie." For more, please come inside this thread!  

    The following link is the official Wareham Police Department school bus accident report:

    http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/School_bus_incident.pdf

    The following link is the official procedure listed by the Wareham School District in the event of a school bus accident:

     http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/TransportationEmergency.pdf

     The Transportation Action Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. in the Wareham Middle School Auditorium. Please attend!

Wareham Police Department earns top honor: accreditation from the Commonwealth

   Welcome to another installment of Weekly Chit-Chat, the most popular internet forum in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcome here. Please join the debate about issues and events that concern you, your family and your neighbors!

   Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will be held Sunday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. All viewpoints are welcome!

    BREAKING NEWS: Parents livid over unreported school bus accident Friday; several students injured, taken to hospital by parents. For more, please come inside this thread!

    Wareham Police Department earns state accreditation! Talk about it here!

    Alan Slavin pulls papers for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.

    Please join us on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. for LIVE BLOG during the selectmen meeting! - Selectmen waive right of first refusal to purchase Bay Pointe; finally discuss sewer contract issues. Capital Planning Committee refuses to discuss capital needs in public with selectmen! For more, please come inside!

   Town Administrator Mark Andrews formally asks Board of Selectmen for a contract extention. For more, please come inside this thread! 

   Wareham Police Officer Don Bliss sues town, former town officials. Frivolous or legitimate? Talk about it here!

   For the Civil Service Commission report on the Bliss issue, please click the following link (See pages 25-26, sections 64-65 where the Civil Service Commission rules that there is no evidence to support claims Bliss makes in his lawsuit):

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/bliss_donald_050511.pdf

   LIVE CHAT will be held tonight (Monday, Jan. 23) at 7 p.m.!

   Wareham Police Department has been very busy the last few days. For more, please come inside this thread!

   The School Department has provided the following "studies" regarding school bus transportation costs, one from 1998 and the other from 2004.

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/StudentTransEfficiencyStudy1998.pdf

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/ReportTransAdvisory2004.pdf

   Go Pats!   

In This Corner - Robert Slager

    On Wednesday night in the Wareham Middle School Auditorium the long-awaiting “O” word was finally uttered during a public meeting regarding the FY13 School Department budget.

    Yes, it’s finally here. School officials are now formally pushing for a Prop 2 ½ override to finance their $1.7 million budget increase request.

    The “O” word has been the elephant lurking in the shadows of Wareham ever since town officials put an end to the shameless, and fraudulent, practice of balancing the town budget by double-dipping sewer users with a bogus sewer administration fee. For more than 10 years a devious little system was put in play at Town Hall where sewer users were charged a fee for work done by town departments on behalf of the town’s pollution control facility (which has no administrative wing itself). The problem was that town officials greatly inflated this figure, creating a nice little slush fund that could be used to balance the budget and give department heads hefty pay hikes. That, in turn, created loyalty to the town’s administration from many department heads.  Everyone was happy except for sewer users, who never realized they were being bilked for nearly a decade.

    The plug on that little scam was finally pulled after Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva publicly spilled the beans, telling the Wareham Bulletin that her department never performed any services on behalf of sewer users even though sewer users were charged for those non-existent services for years. Former selectman Bruce Sauvageau took that ball and ran with it, becoming the driving force to eliminate the bogus fees. That, of course, resulted in a well-publicized showdown with then-town administrator John McAuliffe during a selectmen meeting, which was red meat for political partisans throughout town.

    That was the night that truly divided Wareham politically. That was the night when the political machine that had existed for many years began to be dismantled. It was also the night when Wareham was finally forced to face the truth – the apparent stability in town services was just a mirage. Wareham had been living beyond its means for more than a decade, financed on the backs of unwitting sewer users. Now the town would have to finally face the truth of its financial future.

    We have learned much about that future over the past few years. We’ve learned that virtually no commonly accepted accounting practices and procedures had ever been put into place. We’ve learned that the management of the Pollution Control Facility purchased chemicals with no-bid contracts. We’ve learned that the former chief of police cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlements with police employees who had filed discrimination lawsuits against him. We’ve learned that developers were allowed to pollute the waterways with nitrogen to such an extent that Wareham’s most precious natural resource now hangs in the balance. We’ve learned that the town is facing a potential multi-million judgment because the former building inspector issued an occupancy permit for a monstrous structure in the middle of a neighborhood of Onset cottages before the zoning board even knew about it. We’ve learned that A.D. Makepeace was given as much sewer capacity as it may need for its proposed development, which in turn discourages other businesses from coming to Wareham because they cannot be assured of the amount of sewer capacity they may need.

    What Wareham faces today is the end result of a town government that kicked the can down the road year after year after year while putting itself before Wareham residents. Former selectmen Brenda Eckstrom tried to warn the community of all this more than five years ago during town meeting. She stood and practically begged those in attendance to help the town start living within its means. But the people who sponged off the system refused to listen. They weren’t ready for the gravy train to end. They were going to stay onboard that runaway train until it finally derailed.

    That day is here. Without being able to double-dip sewer users, and with state aid shriveling before our very eyes, hard decisions are now at hand. It’s been nothing short of remarkable that town services haven’t been slashed over the past few years. Whether Town Administrator Mark Andrews deserves credit or blame for that is in the eye of the beholder. The town budget has been held together with Scotch Tape and bubble gum. The Health Care Trust fund was raided last year to keep the ship afloat. He can't go to that well again. There are no more cards up Andrews’ sleeves.

    There is no way to keep town services intact while also addressing the town’s capital needs. Make no mistake - there is a severe need to address long-term capital items. The issues with local school buses have been well-documented. The roof of the high school has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese. The Wareham Police Department will need to maintain state-of-the-art equipment to continue waging its successful war against local crime. Something has to give.

    The answer, according to school officials, is a Prop 2 ½ override, which means the town would permanently increase its tax levy. In the most simplistic terms possible, your tax bill will permanently increase.

    The problem with that plan is that it will prove to be a very difficult sell to Wareham residents who are already struggling to make ends meet. Many people resent what they see as a “tax and spend” philosophy to government, whether it’s at the local, state or national level. Almost everyone wants the best educational system possible for local children. That makes Wareham a more attractive community. But many question why the School Committee continues to give the school superintendent raises while MCAS scores continue to lag behind state averages. Some are wondering if the problem isn’t as much financial as it is management. School officials cry poor at this point of the budget cycle every year. But year after year the Wareham School District gets more from the town than the state requires.

    Is that an adequate amount? No. It isn’t. Wareham educators face problems that those in most other communities do not – the large amount of foster children in the system, the fact that English isn’t the primary language spoken in the homes of many students, the spiraling cost of special education, and the inherently unfair formula the state imposed on communities such as Wareham when education reform occurred in the early 1990s.

    But many also question whether throwing more money at the problem is the solution.  At some point the School Committee needs to stop being cheerleaders for the administration and start being the watchdogs they were elected to be. Perhaps it’s time to consider the possibility that the current management of the Wareham School District has failed and to give somebody else a chance.

    Even if a Prop 2 ½ override passes it is a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. The cost of employee benefits continues to rise while state aid continues to shrink. That equation is at the heart of dozens of proposed overrides across the Commonwealth right now. Wareham’s problem is far from unique.

    But Wareham does have a problem that differs from most other communities. Don’t think for a moment that Wareham’s toxic political landscape hasn’t discouraged development. According to a Westfield consultant that is one of the primary reasons developers are hesitant to bid on a senior affordable-housing proposal. Anyone considering making an investment in Wareham certainly reads local newspapers and local websites and recognizes the deep political divide that exists here. Political discourse exists everywhere, but the level of viciousness evident in Wareham will never be mistaken for a welcome mat. Until the personal vendettas and shameless political rhetoric comes to an end this community will continue driving nails into its own coffin.

    Mark Andrews is caught in a no-win position. In all likelihood an override will fail in Wareham. Andrews will then be forced to do something that will bring a political firestorm down upon him. He will need to make the tough decisions. He needs to do what should have been done in Wareham a long time ago. He needs to shrink town government.

    Of course that will perpetuate the cycle of political animosity in Wareham. And when he leaves his successor (regardless of who that may be) will be faced with the exact same problem, and the community will continue to spiral downward, forever caught in the middle of warring political factions.

    There is a solution. End the dirty politics in Wareham. Accept the fact that many of current problems have been created at the state level and take the fight there. Stop asking the poorest people in the community to shoulder the financial responsibility for cleaning up a mess left by people who didn’t have the political courage to tell Wareham the truth a long time ago. Elect leaders who aren't controlled by special interest groups. Begin to work together to find solutions and stop allowing personal vendettas to divide the town.

    Then, and only then, will Wareham truly have a community.

Suspect sought in attempted robbery at Pepin's Liquor

   LIVE CHAT, scheduled for tonight (Sunday, Jan. 22) will be postponed for one night and will commence on Monday, Jan. 23, at 7 p.m. on account of the NFL conference championship games. Please join us tomorrow night!

   BREAKING NEWS: Armed robbery reported at Wendy's. For more, please come inside this thread!

   School superintendent asks Wareham for an operational override to pay for $1.7 million increase in the school budget. For more, please come inside this thread.

   Please click on the following link for interesting information on Prop 2 1/2 overrides:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Prop_facts.pdf

    Please join us tonight (Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m.) for LIVE BLOGGING during the selectmen meeting. With the yearly evaluation of Town Administrator Mark Andrews on the agenda, it should be very interesting!

   Suspect sought in attempted robbery of Pepin's Liquors. For more, please come inside this thread!

Lord, why did it have to be Tom Brady and the Patriots again?

    Please join us tonight (Sunday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m.) for LIVE CHAT, the most popular internet forum in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcomed here! Please join us in debating the issues that are important to you, your family and your friends!

   BREAKING NEWS: Bob Brady charged with operating with a suspended license after accident sends pregnant woman to hospital. For more, please come inside this thread.

   Attorney General proposes new Open Meeting Law regulations. For more, please come inside this thread!

   We'll be doing a little LIVE BLOGGING during tonight's selectmen meeting (Tuesday, Jan. 10, 7 p.m.). It should be interesting!

Tis the season ...

   Hello, and welcome to Weekly Chit-Chat, the most popular internet forum in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcome here. Please feel free to discuss issues that are important to you, your family and your friends. If you want spin, look elsewhere. This is where Wareham comes to learn the truth! 

    No injuries reported in scary Christmas Day crash on Glen Charlie Road. For more, please come inside.

    Upper Cape Cod Voc Tech teacher charged with raping student. 

    The Commissioner of Revenue has determined that the locally assessed values of real and personal property in Wareham represent full and fair cash valuation as of Jan. 1, 2011 for fiscal year 2012 and that these proposed property assessments satisfy the minimum requirements for certification. The tax rate can now be set! For more, please come inside!

    Myles Burke addresses his status as Director of Inspectional Services. For more, please come inside.

    Please join us on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m. for LIVE BLOGGING during the selectmen meeting. It should be good!

    Police arrest suspect in Sunoco Station fight. For more, please come inside.

    Tragic accident claims the life of 21-year-old Bobby Levine. For more, please come inside.

Jolly happy souls ...

   Please join us tonight (Sunday, Dec. 18, 7 p.m.) for LIVE CHAT, the most popular internet forum in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcomed here! Please join us in debating the issues that are important to you, your family and your friends! 

   To read Town Administrator Mark Andrews' "Budget Message" for FY12, please click the link below. The budget is preliminary and will likely see many changes throughout the budget cycle, but the following is the opening salvo:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/FY13.Budget.Message.pdf

    Please join us tonight as we do a little LIVE BLOGGING during the join selectmen/FinCom meeting regarding the audit, starting Wednesday at 7 p.m.!

    Wareham police arrest stabbing suspect with help of state SWAT team. For more, please come inside this thread!

    Powers & Sullivan 2011 Audit now available. Please click on the links below!

    http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Wareham_FY11_Draft_MGMT_letter_12-9.pdf

     http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Draft_Wareham_FY2011_SEFA.pdf

     http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Draft_20Wareham_20FY2011_20BFS.pdf

    Town sets single tax rate. For more, please come inside!

   Wareham Week publisher caught in a great, big lie. For more, please come inside this thread!

Wareham robbery suspect Clifford Mignault

   Please join us tonight (Sunday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m.) for LIVE CHAT, the most popular internet forum in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcome here. Please share you thoughts on issue that matter to you and your community! 

   Police arrest alleged drug dealer in Onset. For more, please come inside this thread!

   Suspect arrested in early morning robbery attempt at Mayflower Liquors. For more, please come inside this thread!

   Selectmen meeting turns ugly with multiple shouting matches; police summoned to break things up in hallway. For more, please come inside this thread to read LIVE BLOGGING of one of the wildest selectmen meetings ever.  

    Please join us tonight, Sunday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. for LIVE CHAT, the most popular internet forum in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcomed here. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you! 

    School Committee rips Andrews, selectmen for forming new school transportation study group. Discuss the issue inside this thread!

    Police cite three students for possession during drug sweep at Wareham High School. For more, please come inside this thread.

    Attacks on new Gateway Chamber of Commerce prove unfounded. For more, please come inside this thread!

    For Gateway's Articles of Organization, please click the link below:

    http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Gatway_pdf.pdf

    Excessive Coliform Bacteria in Wareham Fire District Water. For more, please come inside this thread.

    Please join us as we engage in a little LIVE BLOGGING during tonight's selectmen meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. (Tuesday, Nov. 15).

    Frank DeFelice appointed to Board of Health despite strong protests. Discuss the issue here!

    For more on DeFelice, please click this link:

    http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/img003.pdf

    Town Administrator Mark Andrews defended his fiscal plan for Wareham in an interview with the Observer on Friday, saying he intends to support several capital item proposals during Monday’s Town Meeting while also asking that any such items involving leasing be put off until a special town meeting can be called in the coming months.

    Andrews also revealed that the audit firm of Powers & Sullivan will supply a written update on its financial audit prior to Monday’s town meeting.

    Andrews told the Observer that he has been advised by Southwest Capital that all non-leased capital expenditures can be fit under the town’s current debt service limit, which will not impact other aspects of the current budget.

    “There are items that the Police Department needs right now,” Andrews said. “I have never made a secret of my commitment to public safety in the Town of Wareham. These items will not affect the bottom line cash dollar.”

    Andrews also said Powers & Sullivan has nearly completed its financial audit, which was conducted following the revelation that $919,000 was “missing on paper” from the town’s general ledger.

    “There is no money missing from the town’s treasury,” Andrews said. “No one came with a wheel barrel to cart the money away. Something went awry in the town accounting office. Powers & Sullivan will be certifying that in a written letter. We are making payroll. We are paying vendors. The accounting issue hasn’t affected the standing of the community. Free cash will be certified in the near future, and then we can all move forward from this.”

    Andrews said repeated delays in the financial audit (which have left some members of the community questioning the wisdom any supporting any capital expenditures right now) have been caused primarily by difficulties in reconciling unsupported ledger entries in the previous fiscal year.

    “Unfortunately we can’t just walk down the hall and ask somebody for help,” Andrews said, alluding to the departure of former town accountant Elizabeth Zaleski. Zaleski was initially fired by Andrews over the accounting difficulties earlier this year, but through a settlement agreement was allowed to resign instead.

    Turning his attention back toward Monday’s town meeting, Andrews said all leasing items, including a proposal to lease seven school buses, cannot be funded under the town’s debt service agreement with Southwest Financial. Andrews said additional local funding may soon become available under House Bill 3737, which now sits on Gov. Deval Patrick’s desk. If approved, Wareham would receive $121,000 in additional funding, which could then be used to finance leased capital items. Andrew said if the bill is signed within the next few days that could put leasing proposals back on the town meeting table, but he considers that unlikely.

    Two of the proposed leased items include a four-wheel drive police vehicle and a prisoner transportation vehicle. Police Chief Rick Stanley has five capital expense proposals in total listed on Article 1 of the Fall Town Meeting warrant.

    “Since I arrived in Wareham it has been clear to me that the only way we’re going to clean Wareham is to create the best police department possible,” Stanley told the Observer on Friday. “We have to rid the community of undesirables. We have surely put a dent in it but we have a long way to go before we, as a community, can see businesses thrive and see property values go up. The police department is the impetus for that change. And I'm proud to say that the officers have stepped up and worked hard for the community in that regard. I don't want to sit back and see progress slowed. I value every tax dollar our residents have put into the police department and I promise nothing will be squandered, but the items we have listed this year are critical to our continued success.”

    One of the items Stanley is seeking is 40 new defibulators for a total cost of $84,000. 

    “The current units are over 10 years old and have reached their life expectancy,” Stanley said. “They have been out of production for over three years, and tech support for the units will no longer be available after January 2012. It's important to note that your police officers are first on the scene on medical calls because they are already out on patrol. They are the first ones you will see when a loved one has a cardiac problem. After three to five minutes irreversible brain tissue damage begins to occur. For every minute a person is in cardiac arrest without being successfully treated by defibilation the chances of survival decrease by 10 percent for every addition minute.

Stanley is also seeking to replace the police department generator at a cost of $40,000.

    “The current unit is unreliable and is also not strong enough to carry the full load of electrical needs of the building,” Stanley said. “Between the new communication system in the station as well as the new computer system, which should be up and running in the next few weeks, the old generator is in no condition to carry the future load. During Hurricane Irene we had to contact FEMA for an emergency generator to be delivered to the station as we were having interrupted power surge. That is unacceptable and it is life threatening for emergency personnel as well as residents.”

    Stanley is also pushing for a new automated parking lot ticket system which he said will bring in additional revenue to the town.

    “This particular program will automate parking in Onset, both at the pier as well as at the upper lot,” Stanley said. “It will increase revenue for the community and bring us into were most resort areas are headed. It's a system that will modernize our parking. It will pay for itself in its first year and increase our net in the future.”

    Andrews said he fully supports the police chief in his effort to improve public safety in Wareham.

    “Public safety has been a theme for both myself and Chief Stanley, and the results so far have spoken for themselves,” he said.

Let's talk!

    Please join us tonight (Nov. 13) at 7 for LIVE CHAT, the most popular internet forum in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcome! Just come inside this thread and share your viewpoints on any subject under the sun!

   Wareham police make multiple drug arrests on Thursday. For more, please click "read more" and enter this thread!

   Wareham police bust alleged heroin dealer in Onset. For more, please come inside this thread!

    Please join us tonight for a little LIVE BLOGGING during tonight's selectmen meeting (Tuesday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m.)!

    New congressional maps released; Barney Frank will no longer represent Wareham. For more, please come inside this thread!

I am not a cartoon character!

    Please join us for LIVE CHAT, on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.! All viewpoints are welcome here. Please join the discussion on the most popular internet forum in Wareham! 

    Lynne Road residents drop lawsuit regarding group home. Discuss the subject inside this thread!

    Driver injured in crash with former Wareham police chief cleared of charges.

    Fire destroys top floor of apartment building at 298 Main St., which is owned by Finance Committee member Dominic Cammarano. For more, come inside this thread!

   Please join us for a little LIVE BLOGGING during Tuesday night's selectmen meeting, beginning at 7 p.m.!

    Town sends out proper bids, rehires same accounting firm. For more, please coming inside!

   Accounting firm withdraws following bid controversy. For more, please see the link below:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Andrews.pdf 

Sick of the politics

   Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will  begin at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30! All viewpoints are welcome here. Please share your thoughts on matters that concern the community on the most popular internet forum in Wareham! 

   Controversy erupts over actions of Board of Health associate member Frank DeFelice. For more, please read the letter on the following link:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/img003.pdf

   Powers and Sullivan has provided an update to its financial audit. For more, please click the link below:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Powers_&_Sullivan_audit_update_2.pdf

Town Administrator Mark Andrews

   
    Town Administrator Mark Andrews defended his fiscal plan for Wareham in an interview with the Observer on Friday, saying he intends to support several capital item proposals during Monday’s Town Meeting while also asking that any items involving leasing be put off until a special town meeting can be called in the coming months.

    Andrews also revealed that the audit firm of Powers & Sullivan will supply a written update on its financial audit prior to Monday’s town meeting.

    Andrews told the Observer that he has been advised by Southwest Capital that all non-leased capital expenditures can be fit under the town’s current debt service limit, which will not impact other aspects of the current budget.

    “There are items that the police department needs right now,” Andrews said. “I have never made a secret of my commitment to public safety in the Town of Wareham. These items will not affect the bottom line cash dollar.”

    Andrews also said Powers & Sullivan has nearly completed its financial audit, which has been conducted since the revelation that $919,000 was “missing on paper” from the town’s general ledger.

    “There is no money missing from the town’s treasury,” Andrews said. “No one came with a wheel barrel to cart the money away. Something went awry in the town accounting office. Powers & Sullivan will be certifying that in a written letter. We are making payroll. We are paying vendors. The accounting issue hasn’t affected the standing of the community. Free cash will be certified in the near future, and then we can all move forward from this.”

    Andrews said repeated delays in the financial audit (which have left some members of the community questioning the wisdom any supporting any capital expenditures right now) have been caused primarily by difficulties in reconciling unsupported ledger entries in the previous fiscal year.

    “Unfortunately we can’t just walk down the hall and ask somebody for help,” Andrews said, alluding to the departure of former town accountant Elizabeth Zaleski. Zaleski was initially fired by Andrews over the accounting difficulties earlier this year, but through a settlement agreement was allowed to resign instead.

    Turning his attention back toward Monday’s town meeting, Andrews said all leasing items, including a proposal to lease seven school buses, cannot be funded under the town’s debt service agreement with Southwest Financial. Andrews said additional local funding may soon become available under House Bill 3737, which now sits on Gov. Deval Patrick’s desk. If approved, Wareham would receive $121,000 in additional revenue, which could then be used to finance leased capital items. Andrew said if the bill is signed within the next few days that could put leasing proposals back on the town meeting table, but he considers that possibility unlikely.

    Two of the proposed leased items include a four-wheel drive police vehicle and a prisoner transportation vehicle. Police Chief Rick Stanley has five capital expense proposals in total listed on Article 1 of the Fall Town Meeting warrant.

    “Since I arrived in Wareham it has been clear to me that the only way we’re going to clean Wareham is to create the best police department possible,” Stanley told the Observer on Friday. “We have to rid the community of undesirables. We have surely put a dent in it but we have a long way to go before we, as a community, can see businesses thrive and see property values go up. The police department is the impetus for that change. And I'm proud to say that the officers have stepped up and worked hard for the community in that regard. I don't want to sit back and see progress slowed. I value every tax dollar our residents have put into the police department and I promise nothing will be squandered, but the items we have listed this year are critical to our continued success.”

    One of the items Stanley seeks is 40 new defibulators for a total cost of $84,000. 

    “The current units are over 10 years old and have reached their life expectancy,” Stanley said. “They have been out of production for over three years, and tech support for the units will no longer be available after January 2012. It's important to note that your police officers are first on the scene on medical calls because they are already out on patrol. They are the first ones you will see when a loved one has a cardiac problem. After three to five minutes irreversible brain tissue damage begins to occur. For every minute a person is in cardiac arrest without being successfully treated by defibilation the chances of survival decrease by 10 percent for every addition minute.

    Stanley is also seeking to replace the police department generator at a cost of $40,000.

    “The current unit is unreliable and is also not strong enough to carry the full load of electrical needs of the building,” Stanley said. “Between the new communication system in the station as well as the new computer system, which should be up and running in the next few weeks, the old generator is in no condition to carry the future load. During Hurricane Irene we had to contact FEMA for an emergency generator to be delivered to the station as we were having interrupted power surges. That is unacceptable and it is life threatening for emergency personnel as well as residents.”

    Stanley is also pushing for a new automated parking lot ticket system which he said will bring in additional revenue to the town.

    “This particular program will automate parking in Onset, both at the pier as well as at the upper lot,” Stanley said. “It will increase revenue for the community and bring us into were most resort areas are headed. It's a system that will modernize our parking. It will pay for itself in its first year and increase our net in the future.”

    Andrews said he fully supports the police chief in his effort to improve public safety in Wareham.

    “Public safety has been a theme for both myself and Chief Stanley, and the results so far have spoken for themselves,” he said.

    Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will begin at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16. This is the place for folks to offer their viewpoints on any subject without the fear of being personally attacked for it. Please feel free to join the most popular internet forum in Wareham!

   BREAKING NEWS: The State Ethics Commission is now investigating a formal complaint against Selectmen Steve Holmes and Cara Ann Winslow for attempting to use their political positions to pressure the town's Inspection Services Department into issuing building permits before complete inspections were conducted.

   BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Pedestrian killed in Cranberry Highway accident. For more, come inside this thread.

   BREAKING NEWS: Plan reportedly underway for town to take Bay Poite Country Club by eminent domain. For more, come inside this thread!

   BREAKING NEWS: A total of 14 Wareham School buses out of 37 fail RMV inspections in August/September inspection period. How is this allowed to continue? For more, please come inside this thread!

   Wareham police bust pot-growing operation in Onset! For more, step inside!

   Wareham Cooperative School principal William Plasko accused of sexual assault in Norwood, placed on leave in Wareham. For more, please enter this thread.

   Murder suspect arrested in Wareham! For more, please come inside!

   Wareham police arrest 38 in town-wide crime sweep!

   Onset woman charged with kidnapping in case of missing 6-year-old. For more, come inside!

In This Corner - Robert Slager

    Over the past few days there has been a great deal of discussion on this web site, as well as others, regarding the results of the Inspector General’s investigation into allegations of wrong-doing at the Wareham Free Library. Although I have engaged in that discussion at length on this web site, I wasn’t planning on writing a column about the issue until I read a comment by selectman Cara Ann Winslow on Wareham Week in which she attempted to completely dismiss the gaping hole inside the investigation.

    “No one keeps records forever,” she wrote.

   After picking my jaw off the floor it suddenly occurred to me why political partisans such as Winslow do not want people to actually examine the core problem with the Inspector General’s investigation. Those who have actually read the report have learned that virtually no financial records exist regarding the Wareham Free Library prior to 2001.

    That’s right. All those records are gone. There are no records of what books were ordered with your tax dollars. There are no records of what books were on the shelves. There are no records of whatever became of those books. According to testimony given by former library trustee Hazel Taber in court a few years ago, when she first became a trustee “The finances of the library were zilch and the records, the financial records, were in very, very poor form.”
   She later clarified that statement, saying “The trustee's funds were in sad affairs ... I remember when I first became a trustee, this one man had resigned. This man took over and he had a horrible time just finding receipts, finding deposits. The bookkeeping was just horrible.”

    That is the inconvenient truth people like Winslow do not want you to know. The reason allegations of embezzlement against former library director Mary Jane Pillsbury could not be proven is because most of the records from the 1990s – the period when the embezzlement scheme was allegedly at its peak - are gone. They just disappeared or were never created in the first place. Where were these records supposed to be stored? They were supposed to be stored at the Wareham Free Library under the “watchful” eye of Mary Jane Pillsbury.

    The lack of record-keeping at the library became such a concern that town meeting voters decided to transfer all town records to the town clerk’s office a few years ago.

    During the course of the Inspector General’s investigation I was interviewed twice, the first time in December of 2009 and again in August of 2010. During the second interview I was told that the allegations could not be “proven nor disproven” because of the lack of records from the 1990s. I already knew that because I had filed a public records request through the town accountant’s office for those records. I was told by the town accountant that after an extensive search by her office those records could not be found.

    As I first stated in a column written in November of 2009, two former library trustees claimed that from 1995 to 2005 more than $3 million was laundered from the Wareham Free Library under the direction of former director/selectman Mary Jane Pillsbury, who died in 2008. At least 123 people were reportedly involved in a highly sophisticated operation in which large portions of private donations were returned immediately to the donors, who in turn declared 100 percent of the donation on their tax returns. The amount kicked-back to the donor in cash varied from 50 to 75 percent, depending on the amount of the donation. The greater the donation, the higher the percentage would be. Many donors preferred making frequent smaller donations so not to alert the attention of the Internal Revenue Service.

     As much as $1.5 million was allegedly embezzled from the library during that time period in order to replenish the money given back to donors. This was done several ways. Some of the money came from “used” book sales sponsored by the Wareham Free Library. Many of those books were not “used,” however. They came off the selves at the Wareham Free Library, many just purchased with money from the library budget. To cover her tracks, Pillsbury reordered those books in the next budget cycle. She then simply stopped keeping inventory records of individual books purchased with taxpayer money by the library.

    Once this happened new library books were sold at cut-rate prices to private residents outside of organized book sales. Most of the money from this was channeled into an interest-bearing private account, with Pillsbury personally taking a 10 percent cut of the each deposit and 100 percent of the interest.

    Another source of revenue came from money residents spent using the copy machines. For more than 10 years most of that money was never recorded with the town. It was collected and put into the same private accountant, with Pillsbury again taking her 10 percent cut and collecting the entire amount of interest.
    I wrote about all of this nearly two years ago.

    State investigators weren’t able to find evidence of this because no physical evidence exists. In the report the IG’s office acknowledged that the town has no records of book orders prior to 2003. The SAILS library network has no inventory records for the Wareham Free Library prior to 2001. There is no record of how many books were declared as “surplus” by the library. There is no record of what books the Friends of the Wareham Free Library received from the library for book sales. There are no records of what happened to revenue generated through the library copy machines in the 1990s. In fact, two people interviewed by state investigators claimed that A-1 Copy Inc. serviced the copy machines during that time and kept the money. A vice president for A-1 Copy Inc. was interviewed by the IG's office and said his firm has no records of ever doing business with the Wareham Free Library. That should have been a huge red flag, but the IG never went back to question the people who made that claim.

   There is a tremendous amount of spin occurring right now by local political partisans who are claiming that the IG report “exonerated” Pillsbury. The report did no such thing. These allegations couldn’t be proven for two reasons. First, all the records necessary to prove it cannot be found. Second, the two sources behind the story were never contacted by the Inspector General’s office and were brutally harassed into not stepping forward. In fact the day the IG's report was issued an anonymous hateblogger threatened any trustee who might be willing to step forward with enough evidence to reopen the investigation (the IG stated that the case would be reopened if “compelling new evidence” was presented). If the library allegations are untrue, why would it be necessary to try to frighten anyone from stepping forward at this point?

    Last summer one of the former trustees expressed a willingness to testify if she was granted immunity from prosecution. I decided to e-mail that fact to one of the inspectors and never received a reply. After speaking to investigators for the first time in December of 2009 I gave them a list of 20 or so people to contact. More than six months passed before anyone on that list was contacted. The last time I spoke to them was last December when we had a heated discussion after they failed to notify me of a threat made against me by a former trustee. The investigators alerted the Wareham Police Department to this threat, but I only found out about it through a mistake in the police log, which stated that the threat had come from me. The Wareham Police Department admitted their error. A police report on the matter confirms this. I asked the investigators how my primary source could feel confident coming forward when they didn’t even bother to alert me that a former trustee had sent them an e-mail with a threat against me, a threat they considered serious enough to share with the Wareham Police Department but not with me.

    The heart of the allegations wasn’t about copy machines and book sales by the Friends of the Wareham Free Library, as some would have you believe. That was just a very small part of this. As many as 100,000 books allegedly disappeared from the shelves at the Wareham Free Library during the 1990s and were sold to book stores and to private individuals. The reason that can’t be proven is because all the library inventory records are gone.

    Did the investigators do a thorough job in looking into this matter? In my opinion this investigation fell well short of that. A former trustee was willing to step forward in exchange for immunity from prosecution and that offer didn’t even elicit a response from the investigators. They waited six months before interviewing the people I suggested they speak with, and they failed to contact a majority of the people on that list. The investigators acknowledged in their report that they never even conducted a forensic audit of the finances of library fund-raising groups, even after the town administrator publicly questioned the accounting procedures of one of those groups.

   What I believe happened is that the woefully understaffed IG’s office realized that with so many records missing they faced a daunting task in putting the puzzle together. According to former library trustee Elizabeth Pezzoli and former acting library director Marcia Griswold, the inspectors brushed aside their testimony because neither had “first-hand knowledge” of the allegations even though they offered circumstantial evidence. The investigators put relentless pressure on me to reveal my sources, going as far as demanding that I turn over the notes of an interview I had with one of them. I refused because I had sworn to protect this woman's identity. When I first spoke to the investigators I was advised by an attorney to only provide the inspectors copies of stories I had written and to discuss only things that had already been published. Otherwise I could have been called as a witness in court, which would put me in the position of having to reveal my sources or be found in contempt of court as Massachusetts does not have a "shield law" which protects journalists from revealing their sources.

    Instead of issuing a report that basically said they didn’t want to take the steps necessary to see the investigation through, the IG’s office tried to force some closure on the matter by taking the word of people associated with the library about things that happened nearly 15 years ago, regardless of the fact that no physical evidence exists to prove or disprove the allegations. Instead of doing a forensic audit, investigators simply accepted financial documents handed to them by people associated with library fund-raising groups without ever considering that money could have been channeled through other accounts. The IG accepted the claim of the current library director that the copy machines generate less than $1,000 a year but ignored that fact that the Friends of the Wareham Free Library listed copy machine revenue at $10,000 a year on their tax returns. There are more holes in the IG's report than in a slice of Swiss cheese.

   Some people in the community are asking me to apologize for my reporting on this issue. They are saying the town needs to heal from this. If Wareham wishes to heal then it needs to be brutally honest about what this report really means. The allegations could not be proven because under the care of Mary Jane Pillsbury all the inventory records from the 1990s simply vanished. That can’t simply be dismissed by saying “No one keeps records forever.”

http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/wareham_free_library_2011.pdf

   Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will begin Sunday night, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.! All viewpoints are welcome. Please join us as we seek civil debate on issues affecting you and your community!

   BREAKING NEWS: Please click the link below for the Inspector General's report on the Wareham Free Library:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/wareham_free_library_2011.pdf

    Please join us for Tuesday night's selectmen meeting as we will do a little live blogging!

   Breaking News: The FBI is investigating Selectman Steve Holmes' alleged involvement with the false claims of racism levied last year against Police Chief Rick Stanley by former White Pines Motel owner John D'Italia. For more, come inside this thread!

   Breaking News: Shocking e-mails between Selectman Steve Holmes and inspectional services! For more, please come inside this thread!

Please come inside for some milk and cookies!

   LIVE CHAT will begin at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 25, inside this thread! Please join us. It's been a wild week in Wareham. All viewpoints are welcome!

   BREAKING NEWS: Former teacher sues school superintendent for discrimination. For more, click on the link below and then come inside to talk about it!:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/img002.pdf

   BREAKING NEWS: Wareham school bus driver fired for leaving Kindergartener on bus. For more, come inside!

   Tobey Hospital sued follow death of patient. Why aren't the local papers covering it? For more, come inside.

   Come inside to read the letter to the editor that Wareham Week refused to run!

   For 2011 Fall Town Meeting Warrant, please click this link!

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Fall_202011_20TM_20Warrant.pdf 

Stand together

   Breaking News: Former Wareham Police Chief Tommy Joyce involved in serious car accident in Wareham. Joyce, now the Fire Chief in Marion, was responding to a fire at the Marion Fire Station. For more, please join LIVE CHAT inside this thread.

  Please join us tonight (Sunday, Sept. 18) at 7 p.m. for LIVE CHAT! All viewpoints are welcome. Just click on the the Weekly Chit-Chat thread and look for the LIVE CHAT alert!

  Thursday: Huge drug bust at Silver Lake Motel. For more, come inside this thread!

  Lynne Road residents fail to get injunction. Talk about it here!

  Winslow tries to kill affordable housing initiative during selectmen meeting! 

  A Plymouth County Grand Jury has indicted a Wayland man on murder charges after a state trooper died eight years after a drunk driving accident on Route 25 in Wareham. Thoughts?

  Is Makepeace behind stalling Westfield? Talk about it here!

  Get the facts about Westfield inside this link:

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/WESTFIELD_20RFP_20FINAL_20832011.pdf   

   Please join us tonight at 7 for a very special LIVE CHAT, where people can share their reflections on this solemn anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.  We must all remember the brave sacrifices of that day and the destruction that hatred can leave behind.

   Wareham Week allows alleged location of Schneider children to be published on its web site. Outrage?

   Share your thoughts on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.

   Calling on the Board of Selectmen to denounce the hatred in Wareham, starting with Bill Whitehouse's web site! Talk about it here!
   
   VIDEO OF MICHAEL SCHNEIDER'S DRAMATIC STATEMENT NOW AVAILABLE INSIDE THIS THREAD!

   Mike Schneider returns to Wareham, attends selectmen meeting, refuses to resign, calls for an end to the hatred in Wareham!

   Raynham man dies from EEE.

   Boston Globe: More than two decades of failed oversight have allowed the state’s special education collaboratives to misspend millions of taxpayer dollars, according to the state auditor’s office, which has found a pattern of excessive salaries, conflicts of interest, and possible pension law violations at six of the 30 publicly funded agencies.

   Welcome to this week's installment of Chit-Chat, where all viewpoints are welcome and personal attacks are not allowed. Please pull up a chair and have a seat at the grown-up's table in Wareham!

   
   Sheila Schneider, the wife of selectman Michael Schneider, has sent the Observer the following message (which is being published by permission of the Schneider family): 

   Mr. Slager, I am writing to let you know that the Schneider family is ok. I should know because I am Mrs. Schneider. While I have considered Wareham my home for almost 20 years now I have been deeply affected by the level of hatred that spews from those that will stop at no end to destroy people’s lives and their livelihoods simply because they are trying to do the right thing for the town. The problem is you can fight all you want and never win because these people are so entrenched within our town’s government and so connected and willing and able to use those connections to make your life a living hell but I don't need to tell you that. Just take a look at who some of our elected officials and their friends are.
    I advertised my business in your newspaper because my husband asked me to. He wanted others to know that there were people in this community that were willing to stand with others that believed in “freedom of speech.” Because of that my business was boycotted. The boycott of my business was supported if not started by some of those very same public officials that preach how the town needs economic development. Look no further than the selectmen’s seats to see who the boycott was supported by. Neither my husband nor I gave in. My husband spoke out in support of affordable housing for seniors at town meeting, and the next day people were looking to find whether my business was licensed to operate in the town (of course I was). I don’t think I have to tell whose friends it were that were trying to figure out a way to shut me down, do I, Mr. Slager?
    Shortly after my husband was on the transportation committee his hours were cut by his employer (another transportation company) ultimately to no hours over the summer. Funny thing is that I was told by more that one person that my husband's job along with that of a friend that he worked with was being targeted. I chose to believe that people could not be that warped. I was dead wrong! As I know that you know, we live in a town where even the schools are used as weapons. My girls were harassed to the point that I needed to drive them to school on a daily basis, not to say that I did not want to drive them and my son had false charges made against him by a member of the fire department who also works for the schools (the charges were thrown after an investigation by a private investigator). My children endured what they did because of their father’s involvement with the school bus issue and some of the other issues that he has tried to address for the town. 
   As for our financial status well, it is what it is … when your business is no longer making money and you lose your job there is no money to pay the credit card. That’s not to say we would not like to. While I fully stand behind my husband's decision to sit as a selectman, my children are my first priority and I am not willing to risk my 17 year old having a record or my daughters well being. The past 16 months have cost our family dearly. Another FYI, I have never blogged (you know me not!) but seeing some of the things that are written and allowed to be written on various web sites including Wareham Week by cowards whose only purpose is to destroy peoples lives, I am overcome with disgust and just can’t put into words how it makes me feel to know that some of these people actually raise children. 
    These people have gone after so many others and destroyed their lives. They even had the audacity to go after a police chief and the police officers who supported him. 
   Now you know. 

   Sheila Schneider   

   Note: Sheila Schneider has not yet responded to a question about her husband's status as a Wareham selectman.

Michael Schneider (right) reportedly set to step down from the Board of Selectmen

   Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will take place inside this thread this week beginning Sunday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m. Please join the discussion! All viewpoints are welcome!

  Selectmen Steve Holmes shares his views!

  Health Agent Bob Ethier lacks state qualification to perform sanitarian duties! Talk about it here!

  Selectmen hold meeting with no quorum! Share your thoughts!

  Join us in asking Wareham Week to enforce its own terms of service and stop letting anonymous hate bloggers attack private citizens! The hatred has to stop!

   Attorney General rules that Wareham Prudential Committee violated Open Meeting Law. See link below!

   http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Prudential_Committee.pdf

You can't handle the truth!

   Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will take place inside this thread this week beginning Sunday, Aug. 7, at 7 p.m. It's a bit of an experiment, but so much happened this week it might be helpful to hit the ground running and not have to repeat comments that have already been posted. It will also give some folks the opportunity to catch up on current events. Please join in! All viewpoints are welcome!

 Breaking News: Zaleski hired as new town accountant in Rayhnam.

 Please read the truth about the town's nitrogen issues and the need to expand the sewer system:

Nitrogen Consensus Report:

 http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Nitrogen_consensus.pdf

 2002 Wareham Waste Water Management Plan:

 http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Wareham_Wastewater_Management_Plan.pdf

On the hot seat

  Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will take place inside this thread this week beginning Sunday, July 31, at 7 p.m. It's a bit of an experiment, but so much happened this week it might be helpful to hit the ground running and not have to repeat comments that have already been posted. It will also give some folks the opportunity to catch up on current events. Please join in! All viewpoints are welcome!

   Breaking News: Zaleski gets her job back, but agrees to resign following $42,000 settlement. Please see the following link:

"http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/Zaleski_termination_ruling.pdf

The official Gary Busey seal of approval

    Please join us for LIVE CHAT, which will begin at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 10. All viewpoints are welcome! 

    LIVE CHAT resumes this evening (July 3) at 7 p.m.! Please join us! All viewpoints are welcome!

    LIVE CHAT will resume this evening (July 3) at 7 p.m.! All viewpoints are welcome! Please join us!

In This Corner - Robert Slager

    The first time I slept with my wife was in a room of about 15 people. It’s not what you might think. It was the night of my best friend’s wedding in Concord, California, and Liza, a first cousin of the bride, had flown in for the wedding from Boston. After the reception a group of us ate pancakes at an IHOP at 3 a.m. before heading over the home of the bride’s brother for a short night’s sleep. Once there we drew straws to determine where everyone would sleep.

    Some got the floor. Others got a slice of couch. Liza and I drew the fold-out bed in the middle of the living room.

    I barely knew Liza before that night. I remember praying to the Lord above that I didn’t accidently roll over and crush that poor woman in my drunken sleep. I was literally twice her size.

    When the group finally stirred I turned to Liza and ask if it was good for her, too. Without missing a beat she winked at me and said “the best ever.”

    That’s how I met my wife. We slept together before we knew each other. Literally.

    That could have been the end of it, but fate had other ideas. Liza was scheduled to stay with her aunt for a few days in a small town called Sonora about 50 miles away in the Sierra-Nevada foothills, a community of just over 4,000 residents.

    I happen to be one of them.

    I told Liza to give me a call if she had any free time while staying with her aunt. Lucky for me she did, and I arranged to pick her up at 6 p.m. But I was working as the assistant sports editor of the local paper at the time, and we were putting together our high school football preview section. Soon 6 p.m. turned to 6:30 then to 7. At 7:30 p.m. all hope seemed lost.

    Liza told me not to worry about it. She said just come over whenever I was done.

    When I finally turned the engine over on my old Mustang and prepared to peel out of the parking lot, I noticed sometime unusual.

    The lights weren’t working.

    I beeped the car horn with my head.

    Determined not to stand up the cutest woman I had seen since … well, actually, ever, I decided to drive up a windy mountain road illuminated by a flashlight hanging out the window.

    Hey, I never said I was smart.

    When I finally arrived I told Liza my sad tale, content to just sit and chat with her at her aunt’s house. I couldn’t possibly expect her to drive with me back to town while I held a flashlight out the window.

    Not only was she game, she insisted on holding the flashlight for me.

    Of such things love is born.

    I chased that love all the way to Massachusetts, and 15 years ago today I stood at the altar at St. Anthony’s Church in Falmouth with the woman who had healed my wounded soul. I had known great loss over the previous few years and I had stopped looking for love. But with the grace of her spirit and the curl of her smile, Liza reminded me that in this life all things are possible.

    In 15 years it seems we have lived a lifetime together. We watched our newborn babies fight for their lives in a neo-natal intensive care unit. I developed diabetes. Liza’s oldest friend died suddenly from cancer.

    And then there was the Observer.

    For the better part of five years my wife has nourished the dream of a crazy dreamer, a dream in which truth proves more powerful than money, where a small community newspaper can maintain its journalist integrity in an industry saturated with corporate influence. And for the better part of five years Lisa allowed me to see these things with my own eyes.

    I know it wasn’t easy for her. We’ve had to fight off a completely frivolous lawsuit from the former chief of police. The Observer survived through the worst economic period in our nation since the Great Depression. The paper survived boycotts and a host of other underhanded tactics. I became the target of a relentless internet smear campaign by political partisans designed to drive me away.

    And then there were the threats, some so ugly that I refuse to share them here.

    But the biggest toll the Observer took on Liza was watching the toll it took on me. In February I weighed 238 pounds. My blood sugar level was nearly 500. That is within the coma range. I remember turning to Liza right before my 46th birthday and telling her that I felt like I was dying.

   As its turns out, I was.

   A small scratch on my lower back that I hadn’t even noticed became quickly infected. My entire back swelled up like a balloon. I went to my doctor and was told that if I had waited any longer I would not have made it. The infection had moved to within an inch of my spine.

    I have lost 51 pounds in the last four months. The first 10 or so were due to my new diabetes and heart medication. It made me really sick the first few weeks. The last 40 pounds came off after I went into “Rocky” mode. I didn’t have surgery or go on some unhealthy crash diet. I joined the gym, hired a personal trainer, and have literally been working my bottom off ever since. I never want to experience the pain I felt in February, and I never want my wife and daughters to see me like that again.

    I know Liza’s greatest fear over the past five years was that I would wind up getting hurt. She knew the odds. She knew I could have made a lot more money if I was just willing to play ball with the powers that be in Wareham. But she also knew I would never be willing to do that, because journalism demands more.

    I did get hurt. I internalized the frustration of watching good people get torn to pieces on local web sites for purely political reasons. I swallowed the pain of learning that the good guys don’t always win. I felt the sting of watching a community with such potential being obstructed by the egos of the rich and powerful, as well as by the lonely and desperate souls on the internet searching for an identity to call their own.

    Over the past few months I have repeatedly watched a clip from the final Rocky movie in which the title character tells his son that life isn’t about how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. For a Rocky movie, there’s a lot of wisdom in those words.

    On this day, 15 years after marrying the most wonderful woman on this Earth, it’s time for me to move forward with my own life. It’s time for Liza to put the flashlight down. She allowed me to touch my dream, and that was the most precious gift anyone has ever given me. She deserves to have the same husband she fell in love with, the one with the fire in his eyes who once told her he would always have her back.

    I can’t be that man while living in two different worlds. My life outside of Wareham has grown considerably over the past year. And recently I received word that a Hollywood studio wants to see a full script after reviewing a treatment I sent them. That doesn’t mean my idea will ever make it to the screen. It does mean that I have a script to finish.

    It’s time to say goodbye to a community that I fell in love with the first day I arrived. On that day our van broke down, and a mechanic opened the garage he had just closed for the day and got my family back on its way. That was the day I knew that Wareham’s heart beat with kindness inside.

    The website, as it’s currently designed, will remain for another week. I will host Live Chat on Sunday. Then I will be heading to Florida for a family reunion to celebrate my mother’s 70th birthday. When I return I will re-launch the site as a place where Wareham residents can offer their viewpoints on town issues. It will, in some respect, by similar to the format that Bill Whitehouse offers, but with rules of decorum. People in Wareham need a place where they can share their thoughts without the fear of personal attacks or being forced to view vile language and childish, offensive imagery. I would be happy to provide such a forum. I might even drop in from time to time to put in my two cents.

    But I cannot continue in my current capacity. Liza has held the light for me for too long. Now it’s time I hold the light for her.

    I am very proud to have witnessed Wareham’s first unsteady steps toward a better future. The town has a great new police chief. Michael Schneider and Ellen Begley will ensure that a measure of dignity and integrity remain on the Board of Selectmen. Local seniors will someday have a place to spend their final years in peace and comfort.

    But most of all people are talking now. Many are still talking “at” each other and not “to” each other, but it is a big step forward. Important issues such as nitrogen pollution, public safety, and transparency in town government have entered the public discussion. And while there is still a gulf that needs to be bridged it has become clear that the voices of bitterness and hatred on the internet no longer hold the interest of the community. The power struggles will undoubtedly continue, but that will recede in time. As more and more people move to the area, more and more voices will demand better for themselves and for their neighbors. It is inevitable.

    I can’t help but think back on that night in Sonora when I was stuck at work and almost missed the chance to spend my life with the woman of my dreams. I can’t help but remember how she told me to just come over when I was done.

    I’m done now, honey. Thank you so very much for waiting.

The Buzz

   Quote of the Day: "For you see, each day I love you more today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow." - Rosemonde Gerard

   Video of the Day: Please come inside ... 

In This Corner - Robert Slager

    There has been much baffling rhetoric in Wareham’s seemingly ceaseless political battle, but perhaps nothing has been quite so puzzling as the response to the recently ruling by the Attorney General’s office regarding last year’s “net-zero” nitrogen bylaw, a bylaw that was repealed during Spring Town Meeting.

    The Attorney General ruled that the language in the bylaw (specifically addressing the definition of “net-zero” nitrogen was unconstitutionally vague and therefore unenforceable. The Attorney General did not state that the concept of the bylaw was in any way legally flawed. This was purely a matter of language. If the term “net-zero” nitrogen was adequately defined the bylaw would have been acceptable.

    The usual political suspects are somehow treating this news as vindication for their opposition to the bylaw. They claim they knew the whole time the bylaw was flawed.

    Nonsense. What they did was dodge a bullet, and they know it.

    In all the arguments made against the bylaw prior to Fall Town Meeting no one ever said

“Hey, define net-zero nitrogen and I’m fine with it.” If there were concerns about the legality of the bylaw, why was it necessary to repeal it before the Attorney General’s office ruled on it? If there was such certainty that the Attorney General would deem a portion of the language unenforceable, why draft an entire warrant article to repeal the bylaw? Their claims that they knew the language was illegal all along just doesn’t jive with the fact they repealed the bylaw when that ultimately proved to be unnecessary.

    There is no vindication here. Opponents of the bylaw wanted it stopped regardless of what the AG’s office ruled. They claimed the bylaw was illegal before anyone knew if that were true. An illegally appointed committee was formed to “assist” the Board of Health in writing regulations. Lies after lies were told by developers and their mouthpieces about an alleged lack of science to support stronger nitrogen regulations.

    This has always been about profit. It has always been about giving developers a free pass, a fact that has been emphasized by the recent political movement to shift responsibility for cleaning up the town’s watershed on mobile home residents. The magnitude of that inequity is difficult to measure.

    Opponents of the bylaw seem to be missing something very important as well – the AG’s office provided a road map on how to craft a new bylaw. Supporters simply have to incorporate a specific definition of “net-zero” nitrogen in order to craft a legally solid bylaw. Now they also have the opportunity to present that definition to the AG’s office before putting the bylaw on a town meeting warrant.

    Every effort possible has been made over the past decade to stop stricter nitrogen pollution regulations from taking hold in Wareham. That’s because it would cost cranberry bog owners and developers money to bring their systems up to standard. Meanwhile, residents are paying insane betterment fees to basically subsidize these industries. Residents are paying to take the nitrogen out of the water while developers and cranberry bog owners are paying nothing to out that nitrogen right back in.

    It is unfortunate that the language in the bylaw wasn’t more thoroughly vetted before going to town meeting floor last fall. But as Wareham learned, there is new-found attention being paid to the nitrogen pollution issue now. Awareness has increased exponentially. For a community that relies on tourism to thrive, damaging the town’s most precious resourse – its waterways – is ultimately self-defeating. Residents are finally waking up to that fact. It's time to put politics aside and work toward a goal that will benefit all Wareham residents for generations to come.

    Now, with a roadmap in hand, true change may finally be on the horizon.

TO THE EDITOR:
   The FY 2012 budget is balanced.  If gas prices don’t rise, equipment doesn’t break down and there are no other unforeseen circumstances, Wareham may scrape by for another year.  Those are some pretty big “if’s.” 
    Those who are familiar with town finances recognize the challenges facing this town.  Wareham operates on a structural deficit.  We aren’t necessarily spending too much – we have a revenue shortage.  There are some line items which could be cut further (streetlights being one of our suggestions based on prior years expenditures - not based on turning off the lights!), but there are many more departments that may not be able to operate fully under the current budget appropriations (municipal maintenance heads that category).  The town has a list of capital needs that dates back ten years and totals in excess of $95 million dollars.  There are heavy obligations (which may range as high as $80 to $100 million) to fund pensions and health care obligations for future retirees.  These are many of the same issues that are being faced at the state and federal levels, but Wareham must find solutions on the local level. 
    The Administration is already investigating different ways to receive and provide services.  The use of technology to reduce costs, reorganization, and regionalization must all be looked at as part of the solution.  Although we hear catchy buzz words like “community development” and “smart growth” those are long term solutions.  For the short term - two to three years - we need to establish recurring revenues.  We need to start discussions on debt exclusion and the responsible use of an override.  Yes, these measures will raise the tax rate, but they will allow us to maintain a functioning municipal government and provide some level of services to the residents of Wareham.
    The first step is to formulate a financial management plan for the town.  The Board of Selectmen recently approved guidelines for the Stabilization Fund which outlines the funding of a savings account for the town.  This action will enhance the town’s bond rating and allow us to build up reserves for a rainy day.  We urge the Board of Selectmen and School Department to develop and implement financial Policies and Procedures during the 2012 fiscal year. We urge the Board of Selectmen and the School Department to work with the Town Administrator and the Finance Committee to adopt a comprehensive 5 year financial management plan as required by the Town Charter.   We also recommend the formation of an Audit Committee which would work with our auditors on an annual basis to determine the scope and schedule of the annual audit and periodically during the year measure progress towards correcting accounting weaknesses and other issues addressed in the annual management letter issued by the auditor. 
   Additionally, the Finance Committee would like to address and clarify some statements made at town meeting.  The FY 2012 budget was balanced in part due to a roughly $1.5 million dollar reduction in the amount held in reserve for employee health insurance.  Town employees will receive a corresponding suspension in premium payments.  This “health care premium holiday” is an emergency measure and is intended as a one-time fix.  Many spoke out against the idea at Town Meeting, but no one offered an alternative, perhaps in recognition that the alternative would result in a significant number of personnel reductions, layoffs, and an unacceptable cut in services within both the town departments and the school system.  Therefore, we felt the health care premium holiday was the better of the poor choices open to the town.
    We approached the FY2012 budget with the stated goal of working for consensus between the Board of Selectmen, the Town Administrator, the School Department and the Finance Committee.  Lack of timely information, incomplete data, reports with errors, and the inability to access key persons greatly hindered our ability to do our job.  We will not allow this to happen next year.  The work on the FY13 budget begins now.  We invite all concerned citizens to contribute to the process. 

Very truly yours,

WAREHAM FINANCE COMMITTEE

Donna Bronk, Chair

Marilyn Connors Donahue, Vice Chair

William R.C. White, Clerk

Richard Paulsen

David P. Trudell

Bonnie Jean Cottuli

Dominic A. Cammarano, Jr.

Franklin Heath

Samuel Gray

The Buzz

   Quote of the Day: "If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking." - Buddhist saying

   Video of the Day: Please come inside ... 

  The Attorney General's office has issued a letter supporting the repeal of the net-zero nitrogen bylaw. For more, please read the letter below:

http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/AG_letter_regarding_net-zero_nitrogen.pdf

The Buzz

   Quote of the Day: "No one can whistle a symphony.  It takes a whole orchestra to play it." - H.E. Luccock
   
   Video of the Day: Please come inside ...

Cheers

    The Zoning Board of Appeals – Taking the prudent path, the board decided to continue the public hearing regarding the Bog Wind Project until the Attorney General can sign-off on the town’s repeal of its wind energy bylaw. The proponent of the project is claiming that the bylaw could be deemed illegal because of incorrect information provided by town counsel during Town Meeting.

    That appears to be a pipe dream, however. Town Counsel Rick Bowan acknowledged his error (he said the project would be grandfathered in under the old bylaw, not knowing that the proponent hadn’t failed the necessary paperwork with the registry of deeds).

    A motion to reconsider the article after Bowan’s admission was soundly voted down. If that hadn’t occurred the proponent may have had a case. But the intention of town meeting voters on the matter seems very clear – they repealed the bylaw and then they voted to stand by that decision. And the fact that it was the proponent himself who failed to file the needed paperwork leaves very little wiggle room here.

    The ZBA played it smart, however, avoiding any potential litigation down the road by waiting for the AG to rule on the bylaw change before rendering its own opinion on zoning issues. Opponents of the proposed wind turbines should breathe easy. This project isn’t coming to Wareham anytime soon.

    Larry Gaines – A belated (and well-deserved) cheer to this tireless advocate for local seniors. His work with the Friends of Wareham’s Elderly goes far above and beyond the call of duty.

    Adam Bessey – The Massachusetts Maritime Academy student from Wareham will be promoted to the rank of Cadet Chief Petty Officer during the Grisnold Division of the United States Sea Cadet Corps bi-annual awards presentation on Saturday (June 11) at 11 p.m.
    This is a young man who is going places.

Jeers

    Cara Ann Winslow – This is a tough one. During Tuesday night’s selectmen meeting Winslow informed her fellow board members that Len Kopelman of former town counsel Kopelman and Paige had called her personally wondering why the town’s new legal counsel hadn’t yet taken over pending litigation that Kopelman’s firm handled on behalf of the town. Winslow raised a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

    But uncomfortable questions still linger. Why was Winslow, who is neither the chairman of the board nor the senior selectman, speaking with former town counsel about anything? Why wouldn’t Len Kopelman speak directly to either the town’s new counsel, the town administrator, or, at the very least, the chairman of the Board of Selectmen?

    Perhaps more troubling is, why didn’t Winslow simply refer the call to Town Administrator Mark Andrews? Wouldn’t that have been the most responsible course of action?

    It appears from this perspective that Winslow saw an opportunity to launch another volley in her apparent war against Andrews by publicly embarrassing him over this issue. There are certainly areas in which Andrews can be rightly criticized, but with far more pressing issues on his plate (including the town budget and the accounting mess), hitting Andrews on what could have been a simple lack of communication seems like a bit of a political cheap-shot.

    Chairman Walter Cruz handled things perfectly on Tuesday, suggesting that in the future the proper chain of authority be followed. That would go a long way in extract politics from the equation.

    Wal-Mart futility – No one wants to see East Wareham turn into a retain wasteland. No one outside of Wal-Mart wants to see Target lose business. But the reality of Wal-Mart’s proposed relocation to West Wareham is that in all likelihood it’s going to happen. If the Zoning Board of Appeals allows companies like A.D. Makepeace all the variances they desire it will be tough to legally justify ruling against Wal-Mart.

    Wal-Mart is run by a cold-hearted corporation whose sole objective is to make money. In its current location in East Wareham the store cannot sell groceries due to a lease restriction that protects nearby Stop & Shop. If people truly want to stop this move they should demand that Stop & Shop ask the property owner to waive that restriction. Of course Stop & Shop would never do that. They exist in the corporate world as well.

    Some people in Wareham are trying to tie Wal-Mart’s proposed move to local politics, but that’s nonsense. Wal-Mart wants to move for one reason and one reason only – they can make more money selling groceries at a different location.

    Yes, it’s sad. But Wal-Mart is going to follow the money trail wherever it leads.

    Hypocrisy – It’s fascinating that all the people who railed against Police Chief Rick Stanley’s salary became deathly quiet after the School Committee gave Superintendent Barry Rabinovitch a three-year contract extension, which will ultimately net him around the same amount that Stanley makes. In Wareham sometimes viewpoints are shaped by whose “team” people think you’re on.

In This Corner - Robert Slager

    Michael Spinks had never lost a fight in a professional boxing ring. With his famous right hand, known as the “Spinks Jinx,” he ran roughshod over the light-heavyweight division in the late 70s and early 80s. He later prevented then-heavyweight champion of the world Larry Holmes from tying Rocky Marciano’s legendary 49-0 record, in the process becoming the first light-heavyweight champion to ever wear the heavyweight crown.

    On June 27, 1988, at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, Spinks paced nervously in his dressing room. His 31-0 record and claim to the linear heavyweight crown could not mask his anxiety. On this night he would not be facing an ordinary fighter. On this night he would be fighting a force of nature.

    Spinks’ manager, Butch Lewis (who never met an advantage he didn’t want to exploit), decided to play a little mind game on his fighter’s opponent. He told the New Jersey Athletic Commission to have the hands of the 21-year-old bulldog in the next room re-taped. Lewis figured that such a tactic might break a young fighter’s concentration.

    A few minutes later a gloved fist exploded through the wall separating the locker rooms.

    Michael Spinks was doomed. As he approached the ring he looked more like a man on the way to the gallows than an undefeated heavyweight champion prepared to defend his title. During the pre-fight instructions fear fell like sweat from his brow.

    For a grand total of 91 seconds after the opening bell finally sounded Spinks stood in the eye of a hurricane. When it was over a man who had never tasted the canvas in his boxing career looked as if he had been run over by a locomotive.

    When Mike Tyson is inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday in Canastota, N.Y. many images will come to mind. For some it will be Tyson being led away in handcuffs after being convicted of raping an 18-year-old beauty queen in a hotel room in Indianapolis. For others it will be the night Tyson completely unraveled in the ring, twice biting the ears of then-champion Evander Holyfield. Some will drift to Tyson’s recent reinvention (a la George Forman) from sinister monster to cuddly teddy bear.

    But for die-hard boxing fans, it will be the night of June 27, 1988. That was the night we saw the most devastating fighter to ever grace a ring.

    The story of Mike Tyson is well known to fight fans. After his father abandoned the family, Tyson grew up on the brutal streets of Brooklyn, a shy boy with a noticeable lisp who escaped the prison of his life by raising pigeons on the roof of his tenement building. Tyson finally unleashed the rage inside after a bigger boy threatened to hurt his pigeons. No one ever threatened to hurt his birds again.

    With his new-found power, Tyson turned to the life of a delinquent, mugging elderly residents in his neighborhood. He was sent to a juvenile facility where he was discovered by an old boxing trainer named Cus D’Amato, who had once led Floyd Patterson to the heavyweight title nearly 25 years earlier. D’Amato saw something in the 15-year-old Tyson and brought him to the Catskill Mountains to become his second heavyweight champion.

    Five years later Tyson knocked down Trevor Berbick three times with one punch to become the youngest heavyweight champ in boxing history, surpassing the mark held by Patterson.

    Only D’Amato wasn’t alive to see it. He passed away a year earlier just as the fury of Mike Tyson was beginning to capture the imagination of the boxing world and beyond.

    Tyson would go on to collect all the other sanctioning body title belts, but in his mind he would not become the “true” champion until he beat Spinks. Spinks held a clearer claim to the title by beating Holmes, whom had earlier battered the shell of Muhammad Ali.

    When Tyson finally met Spinks fight fans witnessed a transcended moment for the sport. Tyson, as old school as they come, walked into the ring with no robe and no socks. He paced in front of his corner like a caged animal. And when the bell rang he attacked with a fury no fight fan will ever forget.

    For a few fleeting years Mike Tyson was an all-time great fighter. He beat his opponents before they even stepped in the ring. When he knocked people down they didn’t fall in the usual way. They were propelled in ways that didn’t seem natural.

    But fame and lingering insecurity began to tear away at Mike Tyson’s façade. When a 42-1 underdog by the name of James “Buster” Douglas (inspired to honor his late mother) finally stripped away Tyson’s cloak of invincibility on a stunning night in Tokyo in 1990, the end of an astonishing era had ended in the heavyweight division.

    There would be more chapters in the book of Tyson. When his ability to intimidate opponents through brute force diminished, he employed various unsportsmanlike antics to show he was still a menace. Outside of the ring he was rude and condescending, especially to women. He fought on, in need of the money. By the end, his skills evaporated, he fell to people who wouldn’t have lasted a round with him in his prime.

    There are people who don’t believe Tyson belongs in the Boxing Hall of Fame. On purely boxing terms, Tyson never beat another great heavyweight. Spinks was a great fighter at light-heavyweight, but the added bulk of moving up to face the big boys had sapped him of his remarkable reflexes. Tyson was also a front-runner. He never really overcame adversity in the ring. He was never able to summon that special something when he was hurt that legendary fighters like Ali could. When he could instill terror in the hearts of his opponents Mike Tyson was unbeatable. When he could not he would fight passively and ultimately take a beating.

    Others say Tyson should not be honored because of his conduct both inside and outside the ring. While these are both compelling arguments, few saints have been inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. Boxing has sported many black eyes along the way. It’s not for the faint of heart.

    On one night Tyson could have beaten any fighter in the history of boxing, and that includes Muhammad Ali. Ali proved to be the superior fighter over the course of his entire career, but on June 27, 1988, no one could have withstood the fire that burned within Mike Tyson.

    It was truly something to see.

The Buzz

   Quote of the Day: "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
  
   Video of the Day: Please come inside ...
     

   For a complete list of all the scholarship awards from Wareham High School, please click the link below:

http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/ScholarshipAwards2011.pdf

   
    Following a recommendation by legal counsel, the Zoning Board of Appeals has delayed a decision on the Bog Wind Project pending a ruling by the Attorney General’s office on the town’s recent wind energy bylaw change.
    Last month town meeting voters opted to repeal the town’s existing bylaw in favor of forming a study committee to further explore the impact of wind turbines in Wareham. That vote became controversial after Town Counsel Rick Bowan told residents the Bog Wind Project would be grandfathered in under the previous bylaw. Last Tuesday on the final night of Town Meeting he said his initial statement was in error because the proponents of the project had not filed the appropriate forms with the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds. A motion to reconsider the original vote failed to achieve the necessary majority.
    On Wednesday the ZBA decided to continue its public hearing until Oct. 26 in order for the Attorney General's office to review the matter.
    Beaufort Windpower LLC is proposing to construct two 400-foot wind turbines, one on Parker Mills North Bog and another on Barker Bog off Charge Pond Road. Initially the company had proposed building six 500-foot-tall turbines, but met with resistance from residents who said the turbines would adversely affect their quality of life and drive their home values down.
    Attorney John Witten, who represented the ZBA during Wednesday night’s meeting at Town Hall, said the board could still decide to oppose the proposal even if the Attorney General rules that the bylaw change is illegal.
    To read the Witten's opinion, please click the following link:

http://www.thewarehamobserver.com/photos/ZBABogWindlegalopiniontorenderdecisionduetoTwnMtgrepeal.pdf

   The status of still-pending legal cases against the town took center stage during Tuesday night’s selectmen meeting at the Multi-Service Center.

    In March the Board of Selectmen voted to switch legal counsel from Kopelman & Paige (which had represented the town for more than 20 years) to Blatman Bobrowski & Mead LLC. Town Administrator Mark Andrews had recommended that firm because Rich Bowan, who had represented Wareham for Kopelman & Paige for several years, had recently joined that firm.
    On Tuesday, selectman Cara Ann Winslow asked why still-pending labor lawsuits had not been transferred to the town’s new counsel. She noted that the firm of Blatman Bobbrowski and Mead does not handle such lawsuits.
    That led to more controversy after Winslow said she had been in direct contact with Len Kopelman about the issue. Several of her fellow selectmen strongly questioned why a lone selectman was having official legal conversations with an attorney without informing the chairman of the board or the town administrator of the situation.
    “Why would you get a personal phone call as opposed to the chairman, the town administrator, or town counsel?” Selectman Ellen Begley asked.
    Chairman Walter Cruz said the board needed a policy that “anything that comes through the town goes to the chairman of the Board of Selectmen or the town administrator.”
    Winslow said Len Kopelman “called me directly” to express concern that new counsel had not transferred still-pending labor cases that Kopelman and Paige had intially handled. Cruz said Blatman Bobbrowski and Mead has contracted an attorney – Bob Garrett – to represent the town in ongoing labor disputes.

    Kopelman and Paige was originally asked to continue representing the town in labor issues, but declined.

Winslow took issue with that, saying the Board of Selectmen should have the opportunity to interview anyone representing the town.

    “We don’t know anything about this person and they are representing the town and this board,” she said.

     Cruz said the town had seen Garrett in action (he was one of the attorneys who represented the town in Town Accountant Elizabeth Zaleski’s recent public hearing following her firing by Andrews). Cruz questioned the wisdom in seeking interviews with every lawyer working with town counsel.
     Andrews said he would give the board a status report on the issue during the next selectmen meeting on June 21.

    Elsa Miller, the assistant assessor for the Town of Hull, has accepted an offer to become Director of Assessment in Wareham.
    “She brings a number of new and exciting ideas,” said Town Administrator Mark Andrews, who added that Miller’s hiring comes during the town’s re-evaluation period.

    “This is a critical position at a very critical time,” Andrews noted.
    Selectmen Michael Schneider, who was part of the hiring committee, said he was surprised to learn that Miller’s recent interview was the second she had with the town.
    “I’m surprised the appointment hadn’t been made sooner,” Schneider said. “She certainly seems to be a highly qualified and competent candidate.”

    Schneider also expressed disappointment in the lengthy process to hire a new Director of Assessment. Sheila Scaduto, who has served as interim Director of Assessment beginning last summer, had been appointed as full-time director in January, but resigned shortly after her appointment. Moments after Scaduto received praise and congratulations from Andrews and members of the Board of Selectmen when her appointment was announced, the process that led to Scaduto’s promotion took center stage. Selectman Cara Ann Winslow took Andrews to task for not soliciting input from the Board of Assessors prior to making his decision. A heated debate ensued as Scaduto remained at the front table, prompting selectmen Steve Holmes to apologize to a clearly embarrassed Scaduto on behalf of the board.

    On Tuesday, Chairman Walter Cruz defended the process, saying that there shouldn’t be a hiring committee if selectmen weren’t willing to take advice from that committee.

    “I understand your point,” Schneider told Cruz. “I just wish we had (Miller) a month earlier.”

The Buzz

    Wednesday, June 8 - Wareham Weather: Sunshine and clouds mixed. Warm. High 86F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Best gas price - 7-Eleven: $3.61. Meetings - Board of Health, 4 p.m., Town Hall; Finance Committee, 6 p.m., Multi-Service Center, Room 228; Conservation Commission, 6 p.m., Town Hall Auditorium; Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall Cafeteria; School Committee, 7 p.m., Middle School Auditorium; Appointing Authority Meeting, 7 p.m., Multi-Service Center, Room 320, Marine Resources Commission, 7:30 p.m., Multi-Service Center, Room 118.   

    Quote of the Day: "Do not repeat anything you will not sign your name to." - Author Unknown

   Video of the Day: Please come inside ...

The Buzz

   Quote of the Day: "The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself. " - Bertrand Russell

   Video of the Day: Please come inside ...

The Buzz

   Quote of the Day: "Leaders need to be optimists.  Their vision is beyond the present." - Rudy Giuliani

   Video of the Day: Please come inside ...

   Please join us for LIVE CHAT, beginning at 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 5. With Town Meeting finally coming to a close, and with an eye to the future, there is a lot to talk about. All viewpoints are welcome! 

Cheers

    Claire Smith – No, she isn’t perfect. She can be rigid at times. Yes, she allowed someone to disseminate a flyer during Town Meeting containing an outright lie about the now-repealed net-zero nitrogen bylaw. But only a hard-core partisan would refuse to admit Smith has improved noticeable since last year. She took control over photography issues of the past, she didn’t show any overt signs of bias, and she displayed a consistency sometimes lacking last year.

    And a cheer within a cheer for Deputy Town Moderator Joseph Ashley, who had his first really big decision to make last Tuesday – should he put a motion to reconsider up for a vote. According to town counsel, it was ultimately Ashley’s call. He made the right one but letting voters decide. Rather than flexing his newfound power for the sake of flexing it, he took himself out of the equation and eliminated any controversy. That is a real sign of maturity.

    Wareham Class of 2011 – The future belongs to you, not us. Wherever your journey takes you, remember all the lessons you learned these past four years. You are bound by nothing. Have dreams as wide as an Arizona sky and follow them as if your life depended on it. It does.

    Anika Clark – The Standard Times actually has a fair and balanced reporter covering Wareham these days.

    Hell can officially freeze over now.

Jeers

    Robert Brosseau – Sometimes the former chairman of the School Committee can make our jaws drop. On Tuesday during Town Meeting, he rose in support of financing new police cruisers, noting the importance of public safety. It was a nice moment, but he couldn’t leave it at that. He then swerved suddenly and called for support of new school buses, again noting the importance of public safety.

    Wasn’t this the same guy who told Wareham residents at a School Committee meeting that no Wareham school bus had ever failed an RMV inspection? It turns out than he was only off by about 200 failed inspections over the past few years.

    It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

    Steven Curry – We’ve grown accustomed to the fact that the Chairman of the Board of Assessors likes to dip his toe into town politics from time to time. But he stuck his entire foot in (and the better part of his whole leg) when he made a motion to essentially strip money away from the police wages budget after town meeting voters had already put that question to bed a week earlier.

    To be clear, town officials don’t give up their First Amendment rights when they become town officials. But there is such a thing as judgment. When the chairman of a town board tries to publicly manipulate a town department’s budget (even though acting as a private citizen), it can call his or her objectivity into question. Is that fair? Perhaps not. But external perception is something that often has a life of its own.

    Apathy – A community the size of Wareham can’t get a quorum of 150 on one night of Town Meeting? Can someone please tell me again how town meeting is the purest form of democracy? It’s not democracy if no one is compelled to vote.

In This Corner - Robert Slager

     Sometimes holes are so big you can’t even see them.

    Over the past month Wareham’s open wound bled slowly on Town Meeting floor. Yes, the town moved forward on some key issues. The plan to force Police Chief Rick Stanley out the door by cutting police wages was thwarted by residents who recognized the importance of having a stellar leader overseeing public safety. The town’s wind energy bylaw (a rushed and flawed first stab at addressing the pros and cons of turbines) will now receive the proper study it always required. The town’s budget, held together with Scotch Tape and bubble gum so no town employees loose their jobs, should keep the town financially afloat for at least another year.

    But something was missing during spring Town Meeting. It wasn’t just the 99 percent of Wareham residents who didn’t attend a single night and delayed the meeting a week because a quorum could not be reached. What was missing in the auditorium of Wareham High School was a sense of leadership and a true understanding of what is important to the people of Wareham.

    The people who are supposed to be leaders in the community have now been completely swallowed by the tsunami of local politics. It’s no longer about what’s right. It’s about who’s right. It’s about a tally on a  imaginary political scoreboard. And for some, it’s just about revenge.

    Both side of the political aisle in Wareham unleashed a full barrage of political maneuvers on Town Meeting floor. Outright lies were printed about the Net-Zero Nitrogen bylaw. There was a call for an up-and-down vote on the budget after residents requested debate on specific line items. There were motions to reconsider previous articles from previous evenings ever though such requests were a direct violation of Town Moderator Claire Smith’s repeatedly stated policy.  The Finance Committee tried to hi-jack one of the meetings because it couldn’t control the town administrator’s budget. And voters openly defied the advice of the Department of Revenue and decided to use money from an employee health care fund to balance the town budget.

    No one stood up to either side of Wareham’s political aisle to stop this madness.

    This is the collateral damage of years of political infighting. This is what happens when some people can’t see past their battle scars.

    There will be people who will claim the end justifies the means. They will say the “other side” started it, and they will try to justify their actions based on that. That will make them feel better.

    The line between right and wrong grew awfully blurry during Town Meeting. Those looked upon as leaders in the community did little to slice through the haze. Yes, the repeal of the nitrogen bylaw was incredibly short-sited and foolish, and the misinformation drifting through the auditorium that night should have been embarrassing to all concerned. But attempting to reconsider the article on the last night of Town Meeting is precisely the kind of tactic “the bad guys” would have tried to pull in the past.  Calling for an up-and-down vote on the budget mirrored the disgusting ploy the library lobby successfully pulled off a few years ago to protect their slice of the pie.

    True leadership isn’t sinking down to the level of those who play dirty. It’s about raising the level of discourse for everyone. Actions aren’t good or bad based on the person engaging in them. Actions are good or bad based on the actions themselves. Right is right and wrong is wrong.

    There is no doubt that many residents who selflessly volunteered for public service have been brutally attacked for their efforts. There is unquestionably a fringe element in Wareham who refuse to accept that time has passed them by. They spend their hours tearing down what others are trying to build because they have lost their place in the community and with it their sense of identity. These are the people who lurk behind screen names and fill their empty lives by embracing personal vendettas.

    It is understandable that victims of this kind of hatred would want to strike back. But anger truly is a boomerang. If people let others change who they are inside then they truly have lost. The only real victory in life is staying true to one’s convictions, especially in the face of adversity.

    Leaders unite through the strength of their vision. They lead through passion tempered by wisdom. They lead through the example of their words and their actions. They don’t pander to one side of the political equation. They speak with the voice of everyone in the community, not just the 150 or so that, by default, chart the course for the town’s future at Town Meeting. Sometimes they tell people things they don't want to hear.

    There is a reason that so few residents become involved in town politics now. They are tied of the fighting. They are worn down by the negativity. The finger-pointing, the name-calling, the shameless smearing creates a wall of noise that acts as a barrier for many residents. It doesn’t matter which side of the political debate one stands; failing to reach a quorum during Town Meeting should serve as a jarring wake-up call for everyone.

   Leaders stand up for what’s right. They put aside personal feelings and embrace ideas that lift everyone around them.

    But most of all they stay true to themselves even when that’s the hardest path of all.

The Buzz

   Friday, June 3 - Wareham Weather: Sunny. High 71F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Best gas price - 7-Eleven: $3.83. Meetings - Board of Assessors, 1 p.m., Town Hall Assessors office. 

   Quote of the Day: "Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them." - Robert Jarvik

   Video of the Day: Please come inside ...

The Buzz

     Wednesday, June 1 - Wareham Weather: Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 78F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent. Best gas price - Cumberland Farms: $3.69. Meetings - Board of Health, 4 p.m., Town Hall Cafeteria; Council on Aging, 6 p.m., Multi-Service Center, Room 208; Historical Commission, 6 p.m., Town Hall Auditorium; Finance Committee, 6:30 p.m., Multi-Service Center, Room 228; Conservation Commission, 7 p.m., Town Hall Cafeteria.

   The Bog Wind Project took a big hit, an attempt to reconsider the repeal of the town’s net-zero nitrogen bylaw failed, a plan to compensate members of the Board of Selectmen went nowhere, and a bid to reconsider the police department wage line item was thwarted during an often contentious final night of Wareham’s marathon Annual Town Meeting, held Tuesday night in the Wareham High School Auditorium.
    Along the way the town approved its share of the Cape Cod Voc/Tech annual budget, among a handful of other financial matters that were delayed a week due to a lack of a quorum last Tuesday.

   A quorum of 156 was reached on Tuesday (150 voters were needed), allowing residents to act on the remaining articles, much to the relief of weary voters in attendance.

    Political maneuvering marked the final night of Town Meeting as several reconsiderations of past articles were brought to the floor. Perhaps the most significant was Article 41, which had previously repealed the town’s former wind energy bylaw in favor of forming a study committee to further explore the issue. Last Tuesday Town Counsel Rich Bowen told residents that all current applications for the construction of wind turbines would be grandfathered in under the old bylaw. Voters approved the repeal, but afterward Bowen learned that his statement may have been erroneous. Bowen said proponents of a controversial proposal to erect two such turbines on local cranberry bogs never registered their plans with the registry of deeds, meaning that the repeal of the bylaw may put those plans in jeopardy.

    Resident Margaret Ishihara made a motion for voters to reconsider Article 41, despite Town Moderator Claire Smith’s repeated proclamations throughout Town Meeting that articles could only be reconsidered on the night on which they were voted, providing that new information had come to light in the interim.
    Smith allowed the reconsideration vote, but residents were not interested in changing last week’s vote on the issue. That action, however, opened the door for attempts to reconsider other articles.

    A motion was made to reconsider Article 42, which had repealed the town’s net-zero nitrogen bylaw (a bylaw that had initially been approved at Town Meeting last fall). School Committee Member Cliff Sylvia shot out of his chair after a resident motioned to reconsider that vote, challenging the moderator on her previous statements regarding the rules of reconsideration. Smith said that because she had recused herself from the initial vote on Article 42 several weeks ago (when she cited the appearance of a potential conflict-of-interest), the decision to reconsider would fall to Deputy Town Moderator Joseph Ashley because Ashley had presided over the initial repeal vote.

    Clean Water Committee Chairman Ed Pacewicz said Article 42 should be reconsidered because of false information printed and distributed to Town Meeting voters prior to the initial vote several weeks ago. He said the hand-out erroneously claimed that the Attorney General’s office had legal concerns about the article. On Tuesday, Pacewicz said the Attorney General’s office recently penned a letter specifically noting that no opinion on the legality of the town’s nitrogen bylaw had ever been rendered.
    “The hand-out given to you was a lie,” Pacewicz told the audience on Tuesday. "It was a lie and could have swayed voters into voting for the article by stating it was illegal."
    After conferring with Bowen, Ashley ruled that a motion to reconsider was out of order because it did not challenge the legality of the initial vote. Former selectman Bruce Sauvageau didn’t take that sitting down. He said the matter should be decided by voters.

    Selectman Cara Ann Winslow and Finance Committee Chairman Donna Bronk urged Ashley to stand his ground. Ashley then asked Bowen for his opinion.

    Bowen did little to resolve the issue, citing conflicting standards used in different states. Sauvageau then read from Roberts Rules of Order in support of his position.

    Ashley eventually relented and allowed voters to decide.

    The decision, by majority vote, was to uphold the repeal of the nitrogen bylaw.

    The reconsideration game wasn’t over yet. Board of Assessors member Steven Curry later made a motion to finance the leasing of three new police cruisers by using funds from the town’s new meals tax. Last week residents voted to use those funds to finance police department wages.

    Calling it “a back-door attempt to reconsider a previous article,” Smith quickly shot down Curry’s motions. Voters then approved the financing to lease the new cruisers.

    Former selectman Brenda Eckstrom later tried to amend an article to provide each member of the Board of Selectmen with a “salary” of $2,000 per year (selectmen aren't currently compensated as are elected officials from the Wareham and Onset water districts). Attempts to compensate selectmen have failed several times throughout the years.

    Eckstrom said selectmen put a great deal of time and personal expense into serving the community.

    “I am not (a selectman) anymore and I won’t benefit from this,” Eckstrom said.

    Bronk voiced opposition to the proposal, saying “this town can’t afford it right now.” Bronk later said if the selectmen are compensated the Finance Committee and the School Committee should be compensated as well.

    The debate then turned to whether a $2,000 salary would make selectmen eligible to participate in the town’s health insurance plan. To the chuckles of many in the audience, Bowen told voters that would be up to the selectmen.

    Voters ultimately turned down the amendment (76-67) after several residents said such a proposal should have been made during debate on the budget itself and not inserted after the fact (thus throwing the budget out of balance).

   Lucille (Silva) Thurston, 77, of New Bedford, formerly of Wareham, died Wednesday, May 18 at Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. She was the wife of the late Michael Thurston.
    Born in New Bedford, she was the daughter of the late Antone & Mary (Raposa) Silva. A graduate of New Bedford High School, she also attended Southeastern Massachusetts University, now UMass Dartmouth. A longtime New Bedford resident, she lived in Wareham for 16 years. Mrs. Thurston was administrative assistant to the former Bristol County District Attorney Paul Walsh. She then worked as a legal secretary in Wareham. Mrs. Thurston was also a volunteer for Turning Point in Wareham. She is survived by her children, Leslie A. Partridge of W. Wareham and husband John, Andrew G. Oliveira of New Bedford and wife Tara; her step-children, Kristine Monteiro and husband Kevin of Yarmouth and Michael Thurston, Jr. of NH; her brother, Armand Sylvia and wife Irene of New Bedford and her grandchildren, Christina and Mia Oliveira. She was predeceased by her sister, the late Natalie Moore.
    Her funeral service was held May 23 at the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home. Interment will be in Center Cemetery, Wareham. Donations in her memory may be made to American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701. For directions and on-line guestbook visit: www.ccgfuneralhome.com.

    Patricia A. (Kupiec) Moses, 71, of Wareham, died May 20 in Tobey Hospital after a brief illness. She was the widow of the late Thomas Moses and the daughter the late Joseph and Stacia (Kiela) Kupiec.
    She was born in Fall River and lived in Wareham for many years.
    Mrs. Moses was a communicant of St. Patrick’s Church. She loved her family, playing poker and bingo.
    Survivors include her three sons, Michael Denwood of Wareham, Stephen Dowd of Wareham and Angelo Bacchiocchi of Shelton, CT; three daughters, Pamela Denwood of New Bedford, Colleen Dowd of Wareham and Mary Dowd of Wareham; a sister, Esther Slade of Whitinsville; eight grandchildren; three great-grandsons; several nephews and nieces. She was the sister of the late Butch Kupiec.
   Her funeral was held on Wednesday, May 25 from the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 2599 Cranberry Hwy., Wareham, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial . in St. Patrick’s Church, 82 High St., Wareham. Burial followed in Agawam Cemetery.
    Visiting hours are from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the funeral home. For directions and online guestbook, visit: www.ccgfuneralhome.com 

   Tickets are now available for a breakfast sponsored by the Wareham Democratic Town Committee on Saturday, June 11, 9 a.m. at Lindsey’s Restaurant, 3138 Cranberry Highway, Wareham. Congressman Barney Frank will address citizen concerns, including the potential impact of redistricting in Massachusetts because of our lowered census numbers. Please call (508) 295-1544 for tickets ($20). 

In This Corner - Robert Slager

    A few random thoughts about Town Meeting on this most beautiful day:

    Much is being made about Town Moderator Claire Smith’s performance Tuesday night after flare-ups with former selectman Brenda Eckstrom and resident Harry Irving. This may be a case where Smith was both right and wrong in both instances.

    Irving approached the microphone during debate on using Health Care Trust Fund money to help balance the budget. He came armed with a Lawrence Eagle-Tribune story about how the Town of Lawrence tried the “Health Care Trust Fund Holiday” with disastrous results. Wareham Town Administrator Mark Andrews was Lawrence’s financial manager at the time.
    When Irving asked to read the article he was denied by Smith, who claimed the reading of a newspaper article did not speak to the motion on the floor.
    Was raising this newspaper article a political cheap shot against Andrews? Maybe. But the story itself contained pertinent information that Andrews implemented a “holiday” once before, and it failed miserably. Voters had the right to know that. Smith, perhaps overly sensitive to any perceived personal attacks, denied voters the opportunity to be fully informed. Her heart may have been in the right place, but her judgment was not.

    Later in the meeting Brenda Eckstrom rose to ask a question after Smith had clearly indicated that the previous speaker would be the last to comment on an article. Smith rightly denied Eckstrom’s request to be heard. Eckstrom, before retuning to her seat, gave what can best be described as a sarcastic thumbs-up.

    It wasn’t very cordial on Eckstrom’s part, but Smith clearly overreacted by threatening to remove Eckstrom from the auditorium. To her credit, Eckstrom did not escalate the situation at that point. Again, Smith was attempting to maintain order, which is admirable, but Tuesday night she clearly went too far.

    Former selectman Jane Donahue will not be getting any cheers this week. Her motion to move the town budget for a vote will other residents had placed holds on several line items was completely out-of-line. Several years ago, when the library budget was being threatened, a motion was made to end debate after the library budget was approved. Several other line items after that remained on hold. That motion carried, which was an affront to democracy.

    Donahue should be above such ploys. It was wrong then and it’s wrong now. It is interesting to note that a group of political partisans are rightly outraged by Donahue’s actions. It’s curious they were so quiet when the same thing happened a few years back.

    The decision to give the town and its employees a “holiday” from paying into the Health Care Trust Fund has sparked much debate. This is one of those issues where both sides have legitimate arguments to make.

    The practice of not paying into a employee benefit fund and using that money to balance the town budget instead is fiscally irresponsible on every level. From a financial perspective, there is no reasonable argument to be made in support of this plan. While legal, towns have been badly hurt by doing this sort of thing. The Department of Revenue strongly frowns upon it. Essentially you are mortgaging a part of the future to address needs of the moment. That, by anyone’s perspective, should be considered a very risky thing to do.
    But the other side of the argument speaks to the human equation. If this hadn’t been done people would have been laid off. Hours would have been cut. And from a functional perspective, it would have impacted town services greatly.

    What remains baffling, however, was the Finance Committee’s support of the holiday. Members of a finance committee are supposed to put their blinders on and focus solely on overseeing the finances of the town. When a motion was made to reduce police wages by $122,500, Finance Committee Member Marilyn Donahue basically told Police Chief Rick Stanley that is wasn’t personal. It was a budget decision.
    But then the Finance Committee turned around and supported the Health Care Trust Fund holiday even though a freshman economics student could recognize the flaws in it. The Finance Committee needs to form decisions based solely on financial merit. There is no room for personal and political viewpoints. Their support of the “holiday” should send a chill down the spine of this community.

    And finally, no one has ever said so much while saying so little as Mark Andrews … Town Meeting is a lot quieter without Bob Brady … Having Town Meeting halted because of a lack of a quorum in a town the size of Wareham is disgraceful on both sides of the political aisle … I agreed with Cara Ann Winslow on something and the world did not explode. ... The hatebloggers are becoming less relevant each Town Meeting ...

    Wareham finally has a FY12 town budget to the tune of $51 million, but Town Meeting isn’t done yet, and at the rate it’s going it may never be.
    There was, as expected, much debate Tuesday night in the Wareham High School Auditorium. A 2006 wind energy bylaw was repealed, but not before a total of three amendments came and went. But the main event was the budget, even if only a sparse crowd attended. In fact by the end of the evening the room fell clearly short of a quorum, and several articles remain in play, including the town’s share of funding the Upper Cape Cod Regional Vocational-Technical High School budget. That amount - $2,375,173 – needs to be addressed in some fashion, and Town Moderator Claire Smith called for a continuation of Town Meeting until Tuesday, May 31, at 7 p.m. What happens if there’s no quorum that night is anybody’s guess.
    There were two major battles Tuesday night when Article 6 took center stage. First, as expected, the Finance Committee proposed an amendment to the budget, cutting $126,500 from the police wage line item and placing it in the town’s reserve account. FinCom Chairman Donna Bronk said the town had “no alternative.”

    Police Chief Rick Stanley sprung from his seat like he had sat on a thumbtack.
    Speaking to the audience, Stanley said “You gave use additional tools (at last year’s annual town meeting), but I won’t have the manpower to use them.”

    Stanley said such a cut would eliminate summer police officers and cut necessary training for his officers.
    “You will cut the feet out from under us,” he said.
    Stanley argued the budget reduction would also affect the quality of life in Wareham, as well as impact collective bargaining. Then he took aim at gang activity in Wareham.
    “Gang issues are growing and we need to step on them and get them out of Wareham once and for all.”
    Former selectman Brenda Eckstrom said the BOS has already instituted a policy to put money into the town’s reserve fund. She argued strongly against cutting the police budget, noting “the headway they have made in the community.”

    Resident Donna Ashley continued the parade to the microphone, saying she has seen definite improvement in the Wareham Police Department under Stanley’s watch.
    “I want to see that continue,” she said.
    Resident Ed Pacewicz said “the chief needs the manpower and he needs it now.”
    FinCom member Marilyn Donahue was one of the lone voices of support for the amendment. After praising the work of Stanley and his officers, she said the proposal was “a budget decision” and that the cuts were, in fact, more of a erasure of a recent budget increase.
    The amendment failed by a wide margin.

    The second battle concerned the use of money meant for the town’s Health Care Trust Fund to use to plug gaps in the FY12 budget. School and town officials had reached an agreement to help bridge the school budget gap. The town would take a six-week “holiday” from paying 75 percent into the fund while town employees would do the same at 25 percent. Town Administrator Mark Andrews said the town would save approximately $1.5 million from not having to pay into the fund during that time. He factored having that money into his proposed budget.
    But it was up to Town Meeting voters to decide if that was a prudent idea. Viewpoints were strong from both sides of the aisle.
    Selectman Cara Ann Winslow said using employee benefit funds to balance the town’s budget was “a dangerous path to follow.”
    “We have to walk as a community to resolve this problem,” Winslow added.
    Former selectman Jane Donahue called the budget “well-crafted.”
    “This is a one-time shot in the arm,” she said.
    Selectman Ellen Begley also spoke out in favor of passing the budget as presented.

    “This will buy us a year to be intentional with those cuts,” she said.
    Fellow selectman said using a trust fund to balance the budget “is just not financially prudent” and wondered what might happen if many employee claims were received over a short period of time.

    Residents ultimately voted, 90-58, to pass the budget with the Health Care Trust Fund money included.
    A resident then noted the finally tally to be under 150, the number of residents required at Town Meeting in order to establish a quorum to vote on money issues. The town moderator said no one requested a quorum count prior to the vote (making the vote legally binding).

    Following that, another quorum count was called. Falling well short of 150, town meeting voters got to leave a little earlier than expected at 9:30 p.m. 
    Earlier in the evening spirited debate ensued of the proposed appeal of a 2006 wind energy bylaw.
    Eckstrom, the proponent of the article, said when the initial bylaw was presented by the school department the stated intent was to facilitate a wind energy study. She said the information in that study in badly out of date, as are aspects of the bylaw itself.
    “We need to step back so the town can look at the total ramifications (of the existing bylaw),” she said.
    The Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee both supported repealing the bylaw. Planning Board member Alan Slavin provided the first wrinkle, offering an amendment to restructure the new wind energy study committee Eckstrom also proposed in her article.

    Winslow said she was opposed to the idea, noting that Tobey Hospital and the town’s Pollution Control Facility are both looking into the possibility of constructing a wind turbine. She said those entities should not be excluded from pursuing this option. She then mentioned the 900-pound gorilla lurking in the room.
    “I think we’re reacting to one project, and I don’t think that’s right,” she said.

    Winslow was referencing the controversial Bog Wind Project proposal currently under review by the Zoning Board of Appeals. The plan to place six (now down to two) 500-foot wind turbines on different cranberry bogs has faced fierce resistance from residents concerned about the impact on their property values and quality of life.
    Eckstrom correctly noted that the proponents of the project are protected from zoning changes by state law because they are currently engaged in the permitting process (Town Counsel later confirmed that).
    Another amendment, this one making the new bylaw essentially retroactive May 5, went down to defeat. Former selectman Bruce Sauvageau said passing an unnecessary amendment to a flawed article could make it appear the town was giving its tacit approval to the Bog Wind Project.
    Voters ultimately passed the repeal without any amendments. 

   As has been the case through this tumultuous Annual Town Meeting, Monday night’s installment ended with a cliffhanger.
   After taking care of housekeeping articles, approving Community Preservation Funds for the Depot Crossing affordable housing development and the continuing protection of the Weweantic River corridor, Town Meeting voters didn’t have time to end debate on the town budget, a discussion that was delayed in large part by the Finance Committee’s attempt to stall such discussion until June 14.
    Claiming that members were “blindsided” by the Board of Selectmen’s vote against using a Health Care Trust Fund holiday to help bring a gap in the school budget, the Finance Committee pushed to delay a vote on the budget for several weeks.
    “We were informed about five minutes before this meeting that the Board of Selectmen did not support it],” said FinCom member Frank Heath, who served on the “Ad Hoc” budget committee that tried to broker a budget deal between Andrews and the School Department this spring. “We've been blindsided."
    New selectman Michael Schneider took offense at that characterization, saying the only group trying to blindside anyone was the Finance Committee in its attempt to further delat Town Meeting.
    Just prior to the resumption of Town Meeting in the Wareham High School Auditorium on Monday, selectmen meet in the school cafeteria and voted 4-1 against Andrews’ Health Care Trust Fund proposal. Selectmen said it was financially irresponsible to take funds intended for employee benefits and use the money as a one-time “stop-gap” to balance the FY12 town budget. Selectman Steve Holmes noted that while the concept of a “holiday” is legal, the Department of Revenue strongly recommends against such a practice.
The vote was symbolic, however, as only town meeting voters have the authority to formally approve such a plan.
    Members of the Finance Committee also claimed they were not aware that the recently approved meals tax in Wareham could not legally take effect immediately. They sited that as another reason they needed more time to review the budget.
    With barely a quorum of voters in attendance, residents were unmoved by the FinCom’s reasoning. Residents overwhelmingly voted down FinCom Chairman Donna Bronk’s motion to put off discussion of the budget for several more weeks.
    Residents then began to tackle the budget itself, but with the hour of 10 p.m. approaching they decided to wait until tonight (Tuesday, May 24) to finish the task. Several line items were put on “hold,” however, including police department wages. That will likely set up the big battle on Tuesday – the FinCom’s reported intent to try to force Police Chief Rick Stanley out of Wareham by cutting his budget by $120,000. The town’s lifeguard program will also be a target of the Finance Committee, according to sources.
    Prior to the start of the budget debate, town meeting voters did get down to some business. Articles dealing with money had been put off for several weeks as the town addressed some of its accounting issues with the help of the audit firm of Powers & Sullivan. Confident that his balanced budget was fiscally solid, Town Administrator Mark Andrews informed those in attendance on Monday that no town employees would face layoffs or a reduction in hours.
    There was some debate over the use of $50,000 of CPC funds to help upgrade apartments in the Depot Crossing affordable housing development. CPC member Nan Miller said the funds were needed by property owner South Shore Housing in order to apply for the necessary grants and tax credits. She said upgrades were needed to preserve the apartments as affordable housing units.
    “No one will get a penny from us until we have a contract,” Miller told voters who had earlier noted the town’s past issues with South Shore Housing. Miller said that a different management company – Community Partners – would be overseeing the property. “We had problems with South Shore, but Community Partners is close to perfect.” 
    Selectman Steve Holmes agreed.
    “Please don’t be shortsighted,” he urged voters. “This is a pretty good deal for the town for $50,000.
Voters also approved using $375,000 in CPC funds to purchase 33 acres of land along the Weweantic River corridor in West Wareham. One resident said the CPC should take care of the properties the town already owns before purchasing more land, but voters decided to approve the request to preserve water quality along the river.
    Town Meeting will continue tonight (Tuesday, May 24) at 7 p.m. in the Wareham High School Auditorium.

In This Corner - Robert Slager

    Sometimes subtext means everything.

    On the surface not a whole lot happened Monday night as Town Meeting resumed in the Wareham High School Auditorium. Barely scratching out a quorum, residents passed several financial housekeeping articles now that the auditors are nearly done cleaning up town’s accounting mess. Except for John Decas firing his verbal cannon at Town Administrator Mark Andrews, the proceedings were, for the most part, civil.

    But a vote just prior to the resumption of Town Meeting by the Board of Selectmen set the stage for a power struggle that would echo loudly for the next few hours. By a 4-1 margin, the Board of Selectmen voted symbolically against a plan by Andrews to call for a six-week “holiday” in the town’s Health Care Trust Fund in order to free up more more than $1.5 million for the town budget. It's unclear how only six weeks would bridge that amount, however.

    Andrews claims there is enough money currently in the trust fund for the town and its employees to “take a holiday” from paying into the fund. The town pays into the fund at a 75 to 25 ratio with town employees. By not having to pay into the fund for six weeks, the town would be able to free up cash to balance the budget, Andrews said.

    This idea was the brainchild of the “Ad Hoc” budget committee, a group that seemed to appear out of thin air right after Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch released his preliminary school budget. The School Department is expected to get the lion’s share of that bounty because the “Ad Hoc” committee wants to give it to them. Members of that group, along with Andrews and the School Department, signed a memorandum of agreement on Wednesday, throwing their full weight into the plan.

    But the Board of Selectmen, during a posted meeting in the Wareham High School Cafeteria, didn’t exactly get on board with the idea. Only Chairman Walter Cruz offered support, saying that something needed to be done to bridge the $2.6 million budget gap between the town and the schools.

    The other selectmen strongly opposed the idea. Cara Ann Winslow argued that the town was essentially raiding an employee fund “as a stop-gap” measure.
    “We have really difficult decisions to make,” she said.

    Steve Holmes called it fiscally irresponsible. Michael Schneider agreed, adding that any agreement wasn’t legally enforceable because town meeting voters have the final say in budget matters.

    The Finance Committee went ballistic when they heard this. They had a meeting scheduled in the cafeteria at the same time as the selectmen’s meeting but quickly reconvened to the school library (which may constitute an Open Meeting Law violation). It was during that meeting that members hatched a plan to halt discussion on the town budget on Monday night.
    FinCom Chairman Donna Brock made a motion to hold off discussing the town budget to June 14. She said her board could not make a recommendation on the budget because members didn’t know the Health Care Trust fund money might not be available as expected. A FinCom member said his board was "blindsided by this."
    Oh, they did try to provide themselves some cover, claming they also didn't know the meals tax wouldn't take effect immediately. Far be it for them to do some homework from time to time.

    Like a well-rehearsed play, members of the audience rose in support of the motion, saying that the Finance Committee is vital to the education of town meeting voters, and if the FinCom isn’t allowed to make a recommendation on the town budget then what’s the point of even having a town meeting?

    Logic soon took over, however. Town Meeting voters were assured that the opinions of various boards were just that: opinions. Residents would be the ones who would ultimately decide whether to call for a Health Care Trust Fund holiday.

    By majority vote, residents denied the motion, thus thwarting the Finance Committee’s attempt to hijack Town Meeting for several weeks.

    With that out of the way, voters began voting on which budget line items to hold. When the list reached police department wages, several individuals made certain the town moderator heard their wishes.

    That’s the real battle still to come on Tuesday night. The Finance Committee will reportedly make a plea to cut $120,000 out of that line item in an attempt to drive Police Chief Rick Stanley out of Wareham. Stanley is under contract, however, and if $120,000 is shaved off the police budget the seven new seasonal police officer coming on board may have to turn around and go right back home.

    Town Meeting may have appeared uneventful on Monday, but in Wareham things aren’t always as they seem.

The Buzz

   Quote of the Day: "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist." - Golda Meir

   Video of the Day:  Please come inside!

   According to a media report, the attorney for Lt. Don Bliss has claimed that the town will not appeal the Civil Service Commission decision to reinstate the Wareham police officer.
   Selectman Michael Schneider has confirmed the accuracy of this report.
   Bliss was fired two years ago for allegedly violating state ethics law by using his position as a Wareham police officer to aid his private business ventures. Special Town Counsel Steve Torres, who investigated the allegations against Bliss, had issued a scathing report to the town prior to the decision by then interim town administrator John Sanguinet to fire Bliss. That report stated that Bliss used his town-issued cell phone to aid his real estate ventures, as well as his job with Intercity Alarm.
     According to the civil service decision, Bliss is owed more than $200,000 in back pay from the Town of Wareham.
    Bliss will need to become recertified in CPR and First Aid, and will have to received his gun permit before he can return to active duty.
     According to the civil service ruling, Bliss could not be fired from his position for improper use of a town-issued cell phone because he had already been disciplined for doing so and had subsequently ceased to use his cell phone for that purpose. The town also had no specific policies regarding the use of town-issued cell phones.
    The town also failed to prove that Bliss benefited financially in private business ventures while on the clock with the Wareham Police Department. The town also failed to prove that Bliss sold alarm equipment while wearing his police uniform.
   “Lt. Bliss has found great comfort in a number of the findings of fact made by Commissioner Stein,” Andrew Gambaccini (Bliss's attorney) said in a statement.
    The commission also dismissed a claim by a local resident that Bliss attempted to sell her alarm equipment at her residence while wearing his Wareham Police Department uniform. In his ruling, Paul M. Stein wrote that the testimony of Lisa Bindas on this matter was too inconsistent to serve as evidence of her claim.
   Bliss had allegedly been disciplined by former Town Administrator John McAuliffe for using his town-issued cell phone number in a newspaper advertisement for a private alarm business (Bliss also had business cards displaying his town-issued cell phone number). Stein ruled that after receiving that discipline, Bliss did not use his cell phone for business purposes again. Stein said terminating him on the basis of actions that had already been addressed was unfair.
    "In sum, Lt. Bliss exercised poor judgment in allowing his cell phone to (be) used in a business context, for which he had already served appropriate discipline of 16 hours of punishment duty, forfeited additional overtime, and has prospectively rectified his mistake," Stein wrote. "Wareham has failed to provide 'just cause' for any further discipline of Lt. Bliss."

In This Corner - Robert Slager

 
    After four hours of intense testimony (and a whole lot more still to come), the public hearing regarding the firing of Town Accountant Elizabeth Zaleski provided a fascinating insight into the accounting mess the town now finds itself in. Although the hearing has been continued to an undetermined time and date, Thursday night’s verbal slugfest offered local residents plenty to consider in the coming weeks.
    Let’s take this a step at a time. First, Town Administrator Mark Andrews absolutely should have recused himself as the presiding officer for the hearing, as was requested by Zaleski’s attorneys. The conflict of interest involved here is staggering. Forget for a moment the claim by Zaleski’s attorneys that Andrews fired their client in order to save his own job. No evidence has been provided yet to support such an assertion. Even if Andrews has no personal stake in the outcome of the hearing, he was the person who fired Zaleski. As the hearing officer, he will essentially decide if he did so with or without cause. There is no way he should be in that position.
    Town Counsel Rich Bowen argued that the Town Charter provides the mechanism for employees who wish to appeal the termination of their employment. He also argued that Zaleski knew what that procedure was when she signed her employment contract. Fair enough. But what the Town Charter actually says is that the “appointing authority” should preside over such a hearing. When did the town administrator become the town’s appointing authority?

    This reveals a fundamental problem with the Town Charter, a problem that the Charter Review Committee attempted to address with no success at Town Meeting last year. The term “appointing authority” in the Town Charter is nebulous, and political partisans have been interpreting the term to their advantage for years. We saw that last fall when the Board of Selectmen appointed members of the Westfield RFP Review and Recommendation Committee. Finance Committee Chairman Donna Bronk loudly (and erroneously) complained that the appointing authority is actually the town moderator, the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and the chairman of the Finance Committee. The Town Charter defines two appointing authorities. The Finance Committee, the Capital Planning Committee, the Personnel Board and the Planning Board are chosen by a three-person committee consisting of the town moderator, the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and the chairman of the respective board an applicant wishes to join. All other appointment responsibility falls to the Board of Selectmen. That is why the BOS took the position that the former Board of Library trustees was never properly appointed under the rules of the Town Charter.

    Unfortunately, the term "appointing authority" is often used in isolation in the Town Charter, which has led to confusion throughout the years. But one thing is certain – The charter does not define the town administrator as the appointing authority in any capacity.
    It is baffling that Zaleski’s attorneys didn’t press this issue to a greater extent on Thursday. But, frankly, they didn’t represent their client very well on a number of issues during the first night of the hearing. They repeatedly tried (and failed) to attack the integrity and objectivity of Jim Powers of Powers and Sullivan, the owner of the highly respected municipal audit firm. They tried to twist his words, insisting that he said he had a hand in drafting Zaleski’s termination letter when he clearly stated that he merely pointed out a typographic error after he was sent an e-mail copy of it. Zaleski’s attorneys also said their client had admitted her mistake, even after Powers noted that Zaleski told him that cash had been reconciled when in fact it had not been. They often tried to cut off Powers in mid-sentence when it appeared they didn't like his responses.

    The town didn’t get off easy either on Thursday. It was strongly established that Zaleski inherited an accounting system that had no established policies and procedures, which falls squarely in the lap of former town accountant Robert Bliss. Powers said Zaleski was trying hard to fix the problems she inherited.
    But the most damning part of the hearing occurred when Powers said Zaleski told him that she falsified ledger entries while under pressure to balance the books prior to the audit. Powers called that a “mortal sin” in the accounting world.

    That may prove an insurmountable hurdle in Zaleski’s attempt to get her job back. Yes, she inherited a mess. Yes, she needed help to resolve the issues. But it appears, based on Power’s testimony on Thursday, that she panicked under the pressure and falsified entries in order to close the books. Powers said there is no justification for that.

    Power’s also said that while the town administrator and the Board of Selectmen have oversight authority, the day-to-day accounting responsibility should fall squarely on the shoulders of the town accountant. If, as Powers stated, Zaleski misled people into believing cash had been reconciled when it hadn’t been, Zaleski deserved to be fired.

    Zaleski’s attorneys claimed that their client was fired by Andrews so he could protect his own job. The hearing was continued before they could provide evidence to support that claim. They also claim Andrews was motivated by a letter to the editor by selectman Cara Ann Winslow in which she wrote that Andrews should either fire the town accountant or resign himself. Winslow will be called to testify when the hearing resumes.
    That claim may be difficult to prove, however. Powers offered compelling testimony that Zaleski knowingly made false entries in the town ledgers. That alone would appear to be cause for her termination regardless of what Andrews’ motivation may have been. Powers also said he came to the conclusion in March that some of Zaleski's numbers were "fraudulent." If Powers didn't come to that conclusion until March, it's not reasonable to expect Andrews would have known that either.

    Another interesting aspect of Thursday’s hearing was the revelation that many of the accounts that didn’t match were between the town’s records and the school department’s records. Powers said Zaleski should have investigated those discrepancies by failed to do so. It’s a pretty good bet that Powers, in his continuing audit of the town’s books, will not make that same mistake.
     If the school department records prove to be inaccurate, this story just became a whole lot bigger.