EXTRA...

Former Cape priest convicted of serial child rapes

Priest Pleads Guilty To Raping Boys In Massachusetts

   The convicted priest, Frank Genevieve shown here at his sentencing yesterday, served as an assistant priest at a Cape Cod parish from 1998 to 2000.

Franciscan's sentence suspended, served at St. Margaret's Parish in Buzzard's Bay

"It ruined my life. I haven't been in a church since it happened." Mark LymanA New York priest has pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and another count of rape and assault while on field trips with children in the Bay State in the late 1970s. The Rev. Frank Genevieve, 51, who now lives in a Franciscan retreat in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., was charged with taking children from his Troy, N.Y., parish on field trips to Massachusetts during a period of several years.

Priest Pleads Guilty To Abuse Charges

Once there, according to the victims, he would abuse them."It ruined my life. I haven't been in a church since it happened, and I don't think I'll ever go to a church again," said victim Mark Lyman, of Troy, N.Y.  The boys were between 13 and 16 years old at the time. One boy was raped three times and another boy once at an unnamed rectory in the North End or in Genevieve's car in downtown Boston, said a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney... Genevieve taught at the former Christopher Columbus High School in Boston's North End and was an assistant priest at St. Margaret's Parish in Buzzard's Bay in the late 1990s...  WCVB.

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Worker shortage not as bad; Marc Jacobs's excellent vacation

Cape Cod worker shortage not as bad as anticipated

Early this year, when it became clear that returning foreign workers would not be granted their seasonal H-2B visas, business owners panicked, predicting dire circumstances ranging from reduced services to shorter hours to closing altogether.

The reality as of mid-July has not turned out to be as earth-shattering as originally envisioned. However, an informal survey of local business owners and managers shows that while the impact of the loss of returning workers varies, few have been able to proceed with business as usual.

As might be expected, the larger businesses are having the most difficulty... Still, the sky has not fallen, as many predicted back in January, when the town hurriedly put together a survey of local businesses in an effort to determine the scope of the problem the town was facing. Of the 111 Provincetown and Truro businesses that responded, about one-quarter of the total, the town estimated that 809 full- and part-time foreign workers needed to be found... MetroWest Daily News.
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Buzzards Bay Oil spill bill clears the Legislature

Legislation that would offer new protections against oil spills in Buzzards Bay is heading to Gov. Deval Patrick's desk.  The House approved a bill Tuesday that would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to assign state pilots and escort tugs to all oil shipments in the bay.

The bill passed the Senate earlier this session. It is an attempt by the Legislature to get around a federal court ruling that struck down major provisions of the state's 2004 oil spill law, enacted in response to a devastating oil spill in Buzzards Bay a year earlier.  Gov. Patrick and Ian Bowles, the secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, are expected to look favorably on the legislation...  Standard-Times.
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Marc Jacobs's excellent vacation

Here I am in this highly gay summer vacation village at the end of Cape Cod, trying to be mellow and uncritical for a month. But one day last week I was standing on Commercial Street, the town's main thoroughfare, when - I am not exaggerating - a dozen men walked by dressed in those puffy pleat-pocket Abercrombie & Fitch cargo shorts, scuffed-up baseball hats and tight-fitting tank tops with blocky, meaningless team numbers on the fronts and backs.

Suddenly my mellow was harshed. I wanted to grab each guy by his knotty lats and say, "You don't have to live this way!" Like that tinny "oonce oonce" music that emanates from the dance clubs here, the sporty college jock look has been a reigning summer style for guys for more than a decade, and it needs to die... Now a Marc by Marc Jacobs has set up shop here. I thought it would be full of precious, overpriced safari bags - and it does have them - but here's the shocking thing: a lot of stuff here is cheap and pretty great... International Herald Tribune.

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Cape Blind; Pickens on $300 a barrel oil; Dutch Wind Mill

Rebuilding a Dutch Tradition, One Windmill at a Time

  De Distilleerketel, a restored mill on the edge of Rotterdam, where Karel Streumer grinds grain.

The Dutch are building windmills again. Up and down the coast, out from port cities like this one, you can see them: white and tall and slender as pencils, their three slim blades turning lazily in the North Sea breeze.

Boone T. Pickens tells US Senate $300 bbl oil absent a push for renewables

Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens warned a Senate committee today that the United States could face $300 per barrel oil within a decade unless it acts aggressively to boost renewable energy and reduce its dependence on foreign petroleum.
   "In 10 years, if we continue to drift like we're drifting, you're going be importing 80 percent of your oil, and I promise you, it will be over $300 a barrel," Pickens told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
   Pickens said he believes oil production worldwide has essentially peaked as demand grows. "We have walked into a trap, and we have to walk ourselves out of it," he said.
   And Pickens - in interviews and TV appearances - continues to warn about dire economic and national security implications of sending $700 billion or more overseas each year for oil.
   "We are more fragile today from a national security standpoint than we have been since World War II," Pickens said.
"I am convinced," he added, "we are paying for both sides of the Iraqi war."
   Pickens spoke in his first public Capitol Hill appearance since he unveiled his plan to reduce U.S. oil dependence. The Pickens Plan calls for building massive wind farms to provide electrical power and switching transportation to natural gas. Pickens is planning to build the world's largest wind farm in West Texas, with a total capacity of roughly 4,000 megawatts.
   All told, Pickens has predicted his plan could eliminate roughly 38% of the nation's oil use and cut roughly $300 billion from the annual amount that the country uses to purchase oil.
   Pickens told the Senate panel the government could facilitate the development of wind and other alternatives by extending the renewable-energy production tax credit for the next decade and help remove some of the potential roadblocks involved with building transmission corridors from the central United States to cities on the coasts.
   "If the government wanted to build a grid, do it. If they don't want to do it, I think the money is there to do it privately," Pickens said. "So it's kind of like either do it, or get out the of the way. But give us the corridors to put it in, and it'll be done."
   When asked by lawmakers, Pickens also threw his support behind drilling in offshore areas and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying he was in favor of "everything American" when it came to energy. "I'm saying do everything you can to get off foreign oil," he said.
   But Pickens also said he did not believe production from protected areas would substantially reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and questioned just how much oil there was off both coasts.
   "I think you're going to get a rude awakening as to the value of the East and West Coast when it's opened up and when it's put up for sale," Pickens said. "When those tracts are put up for sale, you're going to be surprised at the price you get for the tracts.

These generate electricity, of course, rather than grind grain. The government has already built one enormous farm of mills far off the coast, where they're inoffensive to tourists, and there are plans for a second farm. Yet it is also building, and rebuilding, mills like the squat, homely ones that have seemingly always dotted the Dutch countryside, and reflect as much the nature of the country as do tulips or Gouda cheese...  But the fast pace of change in the modern Netherlands is reviving interest in the old mills. As immigration changes the face of Dutch cities and globalization spreads its veil of uniformity over life in the Netherlands, many among the Dutch are looking for their roots. “It’s a little bit of national pride,” said Lukas Verbij, whose company, Verbij Hoogmade, is one of the leading mill builders and restorers... NY Times.
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Cape blind
A failure of leadership in the wind

[By Erik Hoffner - This recently appeared in Wendy Williams' blog. She is coauthor of the book Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound, now out in paperback -- a fascinating and horrifying read.]

I've been giving lots of talks about Cape Wind around the country, and I can tell you -- the American people are getting really angry. Both Democrats and Republicans are equally disgusted by what they read in our book about Cape Wind.

At this point, they're angry about a lot more than Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney getting together behind the scenes or over dinner to plot about how to kill Cape Wind.

The average American has caught on to the fact that the above behavior is happening in every sector. Corporate behavior is simply out of control. The airlines behave as if passengers are little more than cattle. The insurance companies have doubled and tripled their prices. Food prices have sky-rocketed, while the farmers who grow the food see little in the way of increased money. (It mostly goes to speculators.) Gasoline prices are doing real harm to rural people, who have little in the way of discretionary income in the first place.

Meanwhile, the folks in Washington fiddle and fiddle.

There are some simple things a leader -- a genuine leader, that is -- could do to bring things under control.

How about, for starters, suggesting that all Americans who own a car give up one automobile trip this coming Sunday. Since a good deal of the current price of gasoline is due to speculators' trading, imagine what would happen to the speculators if that happened. The price of gas would drop immediately.

And if a leader helped ensure that Americans kept up that kind of genuine grassroots pressure (as opposed to the "astroturf" emanating from fossil-fuel-funded outfits like the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound), the people themselves, with the right leadership, just might be able to bring this problem at least a little bit under control.

That won't happen though. That's because "leadership" is afraid to step out. Or more likely, just doesn't want to be bothered. After all, if they want to travel somewhere, all they have to do is call up someone with a corporate jet, and they're ready to ride ... Grist.
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US takes wind-power lead away from Germany

"It would take another $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to urban areas across the country. That's a lot of money, but it's a one-time cost, and, compared with the $700bn we spend on foreign oil every year, it's a bargain." -T. Boone Pickens

The US rush into wind power has enabled the country to pass Germany to become the world's biggest generator of such energy, according to estimates for the first half of 2008 from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

The US had not been expected to reach this milestone until the end of next year. It achieved this early, while still running behind Germany in total installed capacity, because its average wind speed in significantly stronger.

The total capacity of wind installations in Germany was 22,000 megawatts in 2007, compared with 17,000mw in the US.

Nonetheless, with growing attention on wind energy in the US, the AWEA says the country could well take the world lead in installed capacity as well by the end of this year... Financial Times.

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Sea turtle washed ashore; APCC moving to endorse Cape Wind

Another dead sea turtle washes ashore

A sea turtle washed up on Cuttyhunk on Monday, the third dead leatherback found on the southern coast of Massachusetts this month. Wildlife experts headed out to the island after receiving a call in the early afternoon, hoping to learn more about the animal and how it died.

"It is a female, about 500 pounds, that was tagged from West Trinidad," said Bob Prescott, sanctuary director for the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. "We are trying to learn as much about it as we can."  The latest dead leatherback follows two of its kind on southern Massachusetts beaches...  Standard-Times.
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Lone Star progress should inspire energy plans here
Cape Wind has been delayed for years by Senator Kennedy & others

APCC moving to endorse Cape Wind

A letter of resignation from one board member who disagreed with the apparent decision of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod to endorse the Nantucket Wind Farm project later this year has revealed this latest public shift towards support for Cape Wind.
   Ironically an APCC former president was Susan Nickerson who has spearheaded the fight to stop the wind farm as part of her six-figure execuitive position at the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a local group funded mostly by summer residents, many of whom own fossil fuel companies whose profits would be negitively effected by any renewable energy project's success.
   In an amusing flip-flop, the Alliance's coal-fired CEO Glenn Wattley is quoted in the Cape Cod Times today saying, "the position of advocacy groups on either side of the Cape Wind debate may not influence individual opinions as they once did." -WB

Faced with a ravenous appetite for electricity, Texas these days is finding that one answer to its energy needs is literally blowing in the wind. Given the potential offered by this renewable energy resource, its efforts illustrate just how important is the Patrick administration's support for Cape Wind and other renewable energy projects.

The Texas Public Utility Commission last week approved a $4.9 billion plan to build transmission lines capable of carrying enough power for 4 million homes. Texas passed California as the No. 1 wind power producer in 2006.

Massachusetts, by contrast, is trapped in the doldrums. Although the state ranks an abysmal 29th in wind power nationwide, Cape Wind has been delayed for years by opposition from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and others. Still, the Patrick administration's vigorous support for the project and other alternative energy sources offers hope that the political winds are shifting.

Putting 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound may seem modest by Texas standards, but it would represent a solid step toward achieving Massachusetts' wind-power potential - and real progress toward more environmentally responsible energy production. Telegram.
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Wind projects face stiff opposition, even in the Idaho

A lifetime running cattle above Wolverine Canyon's limestone spires has taught Peggy Stolworthy one absolute about eastern Idaho: The wind here blows like crazy.  Looking to harness that power, Stolworthy and a Seattle-based wind energy company aim to erect dozens of energy-producing turbines on 9,000 acres that have been in her family since the 1930s.

This high-country Idaho drama that has both sides vying for the affections of environmental groups is being played out elsewhere in America, too, as wind farm protests have arisen from small but vocal groups from Cape Cod to Washington.

She says the project will help keep livestock on land she could otherwise be forced to subdivide into ranchettes. But Stolworthy has encountered a stiff headwind from a wealthy healthcare-products mogul who owns land nearby and argues the 5,600-foot mountains here are too precious to be outfitted with industrial turbines that could poke 40 stories into the sky.

Frank VanderSloot, who owns Melaleuca, Inc., paid for advertisements in the local newspaper and erected a sign at the base of the canyon urging drivers to take pictures because "Wolverine Canyon will never be the same."

"You put up those windmills and for me, the nature part is gone," VanderSloot said in an interview at his $800 million Idaho Falls-based company... Jackson Hole Star-Tribune.

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Globe does Cape Cod; Demetrius does badly; Bathers behaving badly

Globe does Cape

The venerale Boston newspaper examines its sandy neighbor... again.
   For decades the Boston Globe has spend much of a July issue on Cape Cod and the Island, and this year was no exception. The section on Sunday had a half dozen stories on different aspects of our paradise an hour's drive south. Globe.Pay to park? Do you know who I am?
Hack du jour Atsalis  & the Metermaid

What is it about state reps demanding to park for free? Actually, what is it about state reps demanding everything for free?

But first things first. Before going any further, you should know that the hack du jour, Rep. Demetrius Atsalis (D-Hyannis), denies saying "Do you know who I am?"
What he did do at the town parking lot at Veterans Beach a week ago Saturday was decline to pay $15 to park. He then put one of his State House business cards on the dashboard of his Audi.Which is a lot like saying, "Do you know who I am?"

The local paper, the Barnstable Patriot, said Atsalis refused to pay his fair share. They quoted from the police dispatcher's narrative, reporting that Atsalis' exact quote to the attendant was: "Just give me a ticket. They will laugh in your face"... Herald.
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One Dumb Way to Die
At what distance does electrical current in water no longer pose a danger? If I were somehow able to drop a plugged-in toaster into the water at a beach, how far off would a person need to be in order to be safe?
   The short answer, according to Ned Forrester, senior engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on lovely Cape Cod, is, "Don't do that."
   The longer answer involves things like "dipole faults," "milliamps," and "fibrillating," which is what the human muscle known as the "heart" does in response to electrical current. And if it does so long enough, you'll die of a heart attack.
   "It's not ‘undangerous at any distance,' " says Forrester. "And it's not ‘dangerous at every distance.' There's a falloff in danger with increased distance. But quantifying that is hard."
   And because Mr. Forrester was too kind to and it, Answer Fella will: you twit... (last item) Esquire.Gloucester ferry eases trip to 'other Cape'

To the editor in today's Gloucester Times: Last week, I traveled to Provincetown on the new ferry out of Gloucester, and it was relaxing, quick and enjoyable. We are very fortunate to have it here. Instead of being stuck in Cape Cod traffic burning fuel, I put my feet up and read my backlog of magazines.

On the trip out we stopped to pick up a deflated bouquet of Mylar balloons floating in the water that posed a threat to sea turtles, and on the way home we stopped again, this time because whales were leaping out of the water all around us. It was a sight not likely to be seen from a car. The ferry leaves early enough from Cruiseport and returns late enough to make a day trip possible.

Bring your bike and bring your camera. Tell your friends — we want to encourage the ferry to return again next summer.
JOEANN HART Fort Hill Avenue, Gloucester

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Mad Cow disease doubted in case here; No charges in pedestrian's death

Cape Cod woman diagnosed with rare brain disease, not Mad Cow disease

"There is no reason to think that this has any relationship to mad cow disease." - DeMaria

An elderly patient in a Cape Cod hospital has tested positive for a degenerative brain disorder, but officials say she's not showing signs of a variant linked to mad cow disease.  Massachusetts health officials said Monday the patient, who is in her 70s, has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fast-progressing illness that leads to dementia, movement disorders and ultimately death...

In very rare cases, it can be caused by consuming meat products from cows infected with mad cow disease. However, Dr. Albert DeMaria, the state's director of communicable disease control, said that is unlikely in this case, given the woman's age and travel history.  On average, there are approximately 6-7 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob in Massachusetts every year but none, to date, has a link to mad cow...  WCVB.

Mass. official says the illness is not communicable

Each year in Massachusetts, about six people are diagnosed with the degenerative disorder, which in most cases leads to rapid death, health officials said. The patient's identity is not being released.

The disease, known for decades among neurologists, first came to widespread public attention during the mad cow scare of the 1980s, when a strain of the disorder was linked to tainted beef in the United Kingdom...  Cape Cod Hospital did not return immediate calls for comment. Globe.
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Cape Cod patient investigated for mad cow disease

A spokesman for Cape Cod Hospital confirmed the facility had notified public health officials Thursday of a patient with test results that require reporting. He said hospital officials had been told there was no cause for concern and that the illness was not contagious.

Public health officials in Massachusetts are investigating whether a patient in a Cape Cod hospital has the human form of mad cow disease.

Dr. Alfred DeMaria, the state's director of communicable disease control, confirmed Sunday to The Associated Press that tests are being done to see if the patient has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and whether it's the variant attributed to mad cow.

There have only been three cases of the human form of mad cow disease reported in the United States in the last several years, and officials say it's extremely unlikely the patient in Cape Cod Hospital has the disease... Herald.

In cattle: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad-Cow Disease (MCD), is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease in cattle, that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord and also causes red eyes. BSE has a long incubation period, about 4 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years, all breeds being equally susceptible. In the United Kingdom, the country worst affected, more than 179,000 cattle have been infected and 4.4 million slaughtered during the eradication program. Read about Mad Cow Disease here.

In humans: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a very rare and incurable degenerative neurological disorder (brain disease) that is ultimately fatal. Among the types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found in humans, it is the most common.  Read about Mad Cow Disease's variant in humans Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

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Driver in fatal pedestrian accident won't face charges

Police said yesterday they do not expect to file charges against the driver of a car who fatally struck a 16-year-old female pedestrian who suddenly darted into a street Saturday night on Route 28 in Hyannis, said Sergeant Sean Sweeney.

"She was just driving along, and the next thing you know this girl from nowhere came out," Sweeney said. He said a preliminary investigation has ruled out alcohol, speed, and cellphone use as factors.

About 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Paula Lemos, 38, was driving a 2002 Lexus along Falmouth Road near the Cape Cod Mall when she hit Crystal Manchuk of Centerville. Manchuk was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival at Cape Cod Hospital.

Her uncle, Kevin Duarte of Mashpee, said yesterday that Manchuk had just finished work and was walking to a birthday party she had helped organize. "Everybody loved her and she was just so kind to everybody," he said. Globe.

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Woods Hole Global Warming comedy; Florida vs Cape Cod; Nantucket shipwrecks

For some, Florida's heat has charms

Dennis Rooney can tell you all about the lazy joys of a sticky Florida summer. The beaches that beckon with water temperatures in the nearly bathlike 80s. The roads that are suddenly traffic-free... But as it turns out, the real joy of a Florida summer may come in the winter. Because Rooney chooses to vacation in his two-bedroom home in Delray Beach during July and August, he is free to rent it out in the prime winter stretch. Still, those who rent out their units in the winter are not necessarily deprived of the occasional in-season vacation. The key is being flexible. Linda Spencer, a Deerfield, Mass., "It was just 101 degrees in Cape Cod," she said, "and people there don't have air-conditioning"... Herald Tribune.Laugh till you turn green
Global warming comedy to play at Woods Hole fest

Someday, some smart marketer is going to come up with a better way to pitch "environmentally-themed films" than simply calling them "environmentally themed films." It's a sincere but not exactly sexy - or even vaguely provocative - come-on.

Which is a pity, because Randy Olson's "Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy," which opens the, yes, environmentally-themed Woods Hole Film Festival on Saturday, has the potential to be good, bawdy fun. Olson got a doctorate in biology from Harvard University and began making movies in 1994 as a career change. His feature "Flock of Dodos" was a lively look at the US culture wars, investigating the "intelligent design" movement in his home state of Kansas and then back on his academic stamping grounds in Cambridge.

His new "Sizzle" is mockumentary as much as documentary, complete with a cameraman who interrupts interviews to say that he thinks global warming is a scam, an endless quest for a celebrity host, and - more centrally - experts who don't agree on much of anything...Ticket and schedule information is online at woodsholefilmfestival.org, or call 508-495-3456. Globe.
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Lest Nantucket forget the wrecked, the rescuers

NANTUCKET - Proof that this island, now better known for trophy homes, celebrity chefs, and private jets, retains strong links to its past lies in the community's response to the reopening of the Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum...

The treacherous shoals, unpredictable weather, and primitive navigation tools of the day led to shipwrecks, more than 700 of them documented through the years. The second lighthouse in the nation was built at Nantucket's Brant Point, and early efforts included huts set in the dunes to aid those washed ashore. Few of the shipwrecked ever made it that far... Globe.

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100 year-old Lobster caught off Plymouth UK

New monster of deep discovered
A GIANT lobster that could be 100 years old caught by Plymouth fishermen.

The largest lobster ever to have been caught was 'Big George' in 1974.  He weighed in at a staggering 37lbs after being caught off Cape Cod in the United States.Last week, The Herald reported that a 4.25kg (9.5lbs) lobster had been caught by casual fisher Neil Ridley with his fishing line off West Hoe. (Yes, that's Plymouth UK, not MA)

But another of the creatures, caught offshore between Bigbury and Hope Cove yesterday afternoon, has weighed in even heavier.

The lobster, which has not yet been graced with a name, weighs a whopping 5.88kg (12.9lbs) and is a hefty 32in (81cm) long.

Fishermen Jack Baker and Mark Tennyson were out with a friend on Jack's boat, Arandora Star, when they made the catch.

Mark said: "He just came up in the net. The net was so heavy it actually fell out of the winch. I thought to myself, 'this is heavy' and there he was - he just peeked his head out. He looked pretty angry when he came up in the net."

An experienced fisherman, Jack has been on the waters for over 35 years, but said he had never come across a lobster so big.“He's been down there a lot longer than I've been around I think.” - 41 year-old Jack BakerThe 41-year-old said: “I've been out with my father since I was about two years old, but he's definitely the biggest I've seen.

“He's been down there a lot longer than I've been around I think.”  The lobster will be quarantined and taken for health checks before settling into his new home at the National Marine Aquarium.

He will take his place in a special 'tenth anniversary' tank showing people what can be found in our own waters.  Douglas Herdson, information officer at the National Marine Aquarium, said: “To get this big he's got to be a survivor.

“He's definitely over 20, probably over 30 and could be up to 100 years old. It is very rare to catch a lobster of this size.”  Mr Herdson added, due to the size of lobster traps, once the creature reaches a certain size, he will not fall foul of fishermen's tactics.

It is notoriously difficult to pinpoint a lobster's age, said Mr Herdson, as they grow at different rates and shed their shells at varying frequencies.

But he said this particular male had not shed his shell for at least two years, as he was littered with well-grown sea worms.

Although he is the largest lobster known to have been caught in the region in recent times, the record has not been broken.

The current record-holder for a lobster of this species was caught in Fowey, Cornwall in 1931.  It measured 1.26m (49.6in) and weighed 9.3kg (20lb 8oz).

The largest lobster ever to have been caught was 'Big George' in 1974.

He weighed in at a staggering 16.78kg (37lbs) after being caught off Cape Cod in the United States.  Herald, Plymouth UK.
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Cape Cod Marine Dads Find Support In Friendship

YARMOUTH (WBZ) - On Cape Cod Saturday, volunteers wrapped up a collection drive for local Marines fighting overseas.  Food, clothing and other donated items were collected and boxed up for shipment, there was also an emotional meeting of two Marine dads.

Yarmouth police Lt. Steve Xiarhos' son, Nick, is serving in Iraq.  During combat last April, Nick's life was saved by Christian Haerter's son, Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, of Sag Harbor, New York, who was killed.

"He died doing his job, and he did it very well, actually, for that," Christian Haerter said. "I can't tell you how proud I am. I'm just busting out proud, that's how proud I am"... WBZ.

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Texas adds $5 Billion additional Wind Power

   Texas Approves a $5 Billion Wind-Power Project

   The new $5 Billion project announced this weekend is in addition to the $10 Billion Wind Farm that oilman Boone T. Pickens is building in West texas as well.

 Texas Is Full of Hot Air

After Boone Pickens' announcement earlier this year that he would invest heavily in wind power generation in the Lone Star State, the state has proposed a major expansion of its wind power transmission lines. New lines will carry enough power to support 3.7 million homes. Despite its conservatism, Texas already leads the nation in wind power generation.The state will put nearly $5 million into infrastructure, but Public Citizen estimates that the investment will save consumers $13 million in electric bills.
It will be interesting to watch to see if things go so well that other windy states follow suit. According to Al Gore's recent proposal, Midwestern states have enough wind to power the entire country. SFGateThis one is in addition to the $10Billion Wind Farm announced recently

Texas regulators have approved a $4.93 billion wind-power transmission project, providing a major lift to the development of wind energy in the state.

The planned web of transmission lines will carry electricity from remote western parts of the state to major population centers like Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. The lines can handle 18,500 megawatts of power, enough for 3.7 million homes on a hot day when air-conditioners are running.

The project will ease a bottleneck that has become a major obstacle to development of the wind-rich Texas Panhandle and other areas suitable for wind generation.

Texas is already the largest producer of wind power, with 5,300 installed megawatts - more than double the installed capacity of California, the next closest state. And Texas is fast expanding its capacity.

"This project will almost put Texas ahead of Germany in installed wind," said Greg Wortham, executive director of the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium.

Transmission companies will pay the upfront costs of the project. They will recoup the money from power users, at a rate of about $4 a month for residential customers... Jay Rosser, a spokesman for Boone Pickens, the legendary Texas oilman who plans to build what has been called the world's largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle, welcomed the announcement.

But because about a quarter of the Pickens project capacity will come online by 2011, two years before the Texas lines are fully ready, "we will move forward with plans to build our own transmission," he said... NY Times or The Examiner or the Houston Chronicle.
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Cape Wind on Fox Business Network

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Water woes; Free clinic; 144 Cape Coyotes klled; Girls cavort

Hunters Make Deep Cut In Coyote Population of Cape Cod


Users of the Shining Sea Bikeway in Falmouth this summer may notice rabbits serving almost like mobile distance markers, found every few hundred feet at the edge of the trail. If it seems as if there are more of them, not only on the bike path, but all over town, there is good reason for it.
   One of their main predators, coyotes, were harvested in unprecedented numbers during this year's hunting season, which was extended five weeks by the state, lasting from October to March.
   There was a 600 percent increase in coyote killings in Falmouth this year. State records show there were 28 coyotes killed, up from last year's total of four, though just four were taken during the extended weeks. Only two were killed in Mashpee during the 2007-08 season. Across Cape Cod, coyote killings also jumped, with 144 pelts checked in this year compared to 86 during the 2006-07 season... Enterprise.Brewster water alert
Began chlorinating the water system on Wednesday

The Brewster water department has experienced bacteria presence in Brewster's Water supply.  Five samples of 19 locations sampled on July 14, 2008 during weekly routine water sampling have been under evaluation for total coliform.

As of this time, three of the five suspect samples have been confirmed with total coliform bacteria. The locations are: 312 Point of Rocks Road, Standpipe #1 at 23 Yankee Drive and 2198 Main Street. One of the three confirmed total coliform samples, 312 Point of Rocks Road, has also confirmed for E. coli bacteria... The Cape Codder.
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Chatham clears water of coliform bacteria

It looks good" a week after routine testing revealed coliform bacteria in the system, according to the top water official. 

William Redfield, director of the water and sewer division, told The Cape Codder Wednesday that the latest samples, taken Monday and reported the following day were negative for total coliform bacteria, which includes many different kinds of bacteria. 

The results of other samples were pending.

A week earlier, on July 9, chlorine was added to the system to eliminate coliform bacteria, which are key indicators that disease-causing pathogens could be in the water system, according to Redfield... This is the second time in two years that coliform bacteria were found in well number two.. The Cape Codder.
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Women to descend on Provincetown
"Raise people's vibration." - Molnar

Calling all girls! It's time to party with a capital P and an emphasis on fun, fun, fun, July 19 through 27 when Provincetown opens its doors to the first-ever Girl Splash celebration. A formal kick-off for the weekend is the opening party at 9:30 p.m. July 19 at the Pied Bar, when women will have an opportunity to sip a beverage, get a handle on the scene and kick up their heels with some old and new friends in a welcoming environment.
"At every event we want to connect people," says Molnar. "Part of change comes when you raise people's vibration"... Banner. Free Clinic Offers Medical Relief On Cape Cod
About 500,000 Bay Staters Do Not Have Health Insurance

A group of medical professionals is providing a safety net for residents without health insurance on Cape Cod. The Cape Cod Free Clinic in Mashpee is serving the growing number of Cape Codders in need of free health care. Statewide, about 500,000 people do not have medical insurance. Of that number, about 70 percent are working uninsured.

Dr. Bernard Maney, a retired primary care physician, is one of 27 doctors who volunteer at the Cape Cod Free Clinic. Many have full-time practices... When it comes to lack of health insurance, the Cape is one of the hardest hit in the state. About 35,000 have no insurance at some point in any given year. The high number of seasonal jobs adds up to financial instability... WCVB.
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