Has the Copar Quarry become Westerly’s Watergate?

Sun exposes job offers by quarry principals to town zoning officials

By Will Collette

Westerly Sun reporter Dale Faulkner has done a Helluva job doggedly pursuing the truth behind the controversial Copar Quarry. The quarry sits on the Westerly-Charlestown town line and has plagued more than 100 Charlestown and Westerly households.

His three-part reporting in the Sunday, March 24 Sun (click here and here and here) really ups the ante and starts to get into the real dirt. Topping the list, Faulkner documents how the operators of the quarry offered a job to Zoning Officer Elizabeth Burdick while she was determining their compliance with the town’s zoning law – and how the Zoning Officer was seriously considering it.

Faulkner also detailed how Westerly Housing Authority attorney George Comolli offered another job – as head of the Westerly Housing Authority – to Bob Ritacco, chair of the Westerly Zoning Board while the Zoning Board was reviewing Copar’s appeal of the enforcement notice issued by the Zoning Official. Comolli just happens to be the lawyer to his family’s company, Westerly Granite, which owns the land where Copar operates.

COPAR Quarry ordered closed – AGAIN. Copar appeals – AGAIN

Noose tightens on notorious local strip mine

(left) The Copar quarry off Route 216 [screen shot from Google Earth]

By Will Collette

The Town of Westerly once again issued a “cease and desist” order telling Westerly Granite and its lessee, Connecticut-based Copar Quarries, to shut down operations at their controversial granite quarry on the border of Westerly and Charlestown in Bradford.

The order was issued on February 12 by Bob Craven, serving as Special Zoning Officer for Westerly. Bob is also one of Charlestown’s solicitors and is the newly elected State Representative for House District 32 in North Kingstown where he lives.

Local Westerly and Charlestown residents organized Concerned Citizens of Bradford-Charlestown (CCBC) to fight Copar’s numerous violations of the law, especially the clouds of silica dust that pollute the air, the incessant noise, vibrations from blasting that damage homes and wells, water pollution and truck traffic.

UPDATED: Westerly pol Bob Ritacco’s rape case is going to trial AND THE JURY ACQUITS

Ethically-challenged party boss faces biggest challenge to date

By Will Collette

UPDATED: Well, that was quick! Teflon Bob once again skates as yesterday's jury verdict acquitted him on both counts. 

For many years, Bob Ritacco was the old-school political boss of Westerly Democrats, largely deciding who got elected and who was told to “wait your turn.”

Despite numerous charges of corruption, Teflon Bob always seemed to escape accountability while continuing to hold on to power.

Charlestown residents may recall the key role Ritacco played as head of the Westerly Zoning Board in keeping the infamous, mob-tainted Copar Quarry operating on the Charlestown-Westerly town line.

That ended on April 25, 2022 when Ritacco was indicted by a Rhode Island grand jury and arraigned on two counts of first-degree sexual assault (rape). He was charges with two separate sexual assaults on May 29, 2021 against a woman while she was incapacitated.

Ryan Blessing of the Westerly Sun cited the court filing that described Ritacco’s alleged crime this way:

“According to the indictment, Ritacco allegedly penetrated the victim once with his mouth and once with his penis while the victim, a woman, was physically helpless.”

After the indictment, Ritacco said he would take a “leave of absence” as chair of the Westerly Democratic Town Committee. However, the WDTC expelled him and elected new leadership.

Ryan Blessing’s article details the long and convoluted legal road travelled between the 2022 indictment and the anticipated trial. CLICK HERE to read.

If convicted, Ritacco faces a prison sentence of 10 years to life for each offense. In the meantime, let’s remember that under law, a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Lots and lots of Charlestown Tapas

Short takes from in and around Charlestown

By Will Collette

Millstone power plant – I guess there IS cause for alarm

Despite my pessimistic belief that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would blow off recent safety problems at nearby Millstone nuclear power plant (just 20 miles to the west of Charlestown), the NRC announced that it plans to conduct a special inspection to find out why tanks ruptured and radiation escaped when outside power to the nuke was cut off briefly.

The outage knocked out both nuclear reactors and caused damage that prevented the plant from going back on line for days. 

But most disturbing was the rupture of the cooling water tanks. Not only is this not supposed to happen, but it could set off a cascade of problems with dire consequences to the plant’s immediate neighbors as well as down-winders like us.

While all this was going on, 420 Millstone workers voted in a two-day election to determine whether or not they wanted the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to be their union. The results of the vote were not announced immediately (not a good sign for the union); both sides await a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board.

Narragansett Tribe wants Newport Navy land

Sex, lies but no video tape. Yet.

Copar Quarries story gets even weirder. And it’s not done yet

Did something nasty happen in the basement of Westerly Town Hall?

By Will Collette

If you heeded Governor Raimondo’s plea and stayed indoors today, or you didn’t get the Sunday Westerly Sun, you may have missed some remarkable reporting by Sun investigative reporter Dale Faulkner on the infamous Copar Quarry[*] operation that has plagued Charlestown, Westerly and Richmond for the past several years.

There are three must-read pieces in the Sunday Sun. 

The core article describes the web of corruption within Westerly Town Hall that showed how compromised the town’s response was to Copar’s destructive operations. 

It describes former Town Administrator (and current Raimondo Administration official) Steve Hartford’s sexual adventures at Town Hall, Zoning Board and Town Democratic chief Bob Ritacco’s involvement in what looks like a cover-up and blatant conflict of interest by the town’s former zoning officer.

There is also a very handy timeline that lets you track the Sun’s coverage of the story from the original deal between Copar and the Comolli family to acquire rights to the Bradford quarry in 2010 to the present.

Finally, there is a stunning Sun editorial that ends with a sentiment that we can certainly appreciate here at Progressive Charlestown:

In close-knit towns…, reporters who dig are regarded with disdain. They are considered rude and disrespectful. And when they expose disdainful and disrespectful actions on the part of those who seek respect, they are considered the enemy and they are blamed for committing the ultimate crime in a small town — letting the outsiders in on the secrets of the insiders.

It’s too bad that such a fine piece of work had to come out on a blizzard day. While on the one hand, you may have time on your hands to actually be able to bear down and read some outstanding investigative reporting. On the other hand, unless you read this article or the electronic version of the Sun, you may not know that it’s out there.

Charlestown chunks

Shorter news tidbits for Charlestown area

By Will Collette

In election years especially, there are lots of news items that often go unnoticed. This year, there are the elections, plus Russia’s war on the Ukraine, COVID’s fifth surge, corporate greed and price hikes competing for our attention. So here is a collection of local stories that you may or may not have seen. Here we go.

What happened to Charlestown’s children?

The statewide child advocacy organization Kids Count issued its annual Fact Book which produced one startling fact: Charlestown is one of only four RI municipalities to lose 20% or more of it’s under 18 population. Using the new 2020 census data, Kids Count reports a 22.9% drop - 345 children - in Charlestown’s population under 18.

This abnormal drop can be laid at the feet of the concerted effort by Ruth Platner and the Charlestown Citizens Alliance to eliminate housing for families with children. The CCA/Platner even developed a bogus mathematical formula to “prove” its theory that children are simply parasites sucking up tax dollars. Don’t believe me? CLICK HERE.

Instead, the CCA’s vision is that only a small number of older, well-to-do adults surrounded by open space in what would essentially be one great big happy gated community. The 2020 census shows significant progress toward that vision.

One person who seems unlikely to stick around for this grim future is one of the CCA’s founders, Tom Gentz, who has listed his house on Sea Breeze Drive with Randall Realtors. Boss Gentz ran the Town Council for several years, presiding over some of the most bizarre of the CCA’s excesses. He’s only asking $1.25 million.

Westerly Dem kicked to the curb

After a state grand jury handed down indictments on two counts of first-degree sexual assault (rape) against long-time Westerly Democratic Town Committee chair Bob Ritacco, Ritacco was voted out of that position by the Committee. Under RI law, these charges are considered “capital crimes” meaning they can bring a life sentence.

Ritacco ran the Westerly Dems like a stereotype of an old-time political boss for about 23 years. Thanks to great reporting by Dale Faulkner at the Westerly Sun, we learned about the major role Ritacco played in the infamous COPAR quarry scandal. The crime-riddled quarry was issued a cease-and-desist order by a town inspector, but appealed that decision to the Town Zoning Board, chaired by Ritacco.

COPAR was allowed to continue operations until their hearing was held – a hearing Ritacco refused to schedule. Meanwhile, Faulkner learned, Ritacco was negotiating for a new job as head of the Westerly Housing Authority with the Chair of the Housing Board, George Comolli, whose family owned and leased the land where the COPAR quarry was located.

If you don’t know the COPAR story, you can get the gist of it HERE, the story I wrote on the day it closed.

Despite new COVID wave, Charlestown Memorial Day Parade will take place

After a two-year hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Charlestown Memorial Day Parade is back. That’s despite a fifth surge of infections in Rhode Island with community transmission rates now topping 500 per 100,000 – compared to only 12 per 100,000 on the Fourth of July last year. Out of less than 8,000 people, 2,107 Charlestown residents have suffered COVID.

It’s unlikely that you’ll see much masking and social distancing despite the alarming COVID numbers which also include a sharp increase in hospitalizations as the current COVID variant is causing breakthrough infections among the vaccinated and repeat infections among the unvaccinated.

The Parade will start at 1 PM on Sunday, May 29 at Compass Hardware and will head down Old Post Road to the end point at Charlestown Liquors.

Rumble

Location of earthquake cluster. US Geological Survey.

Last weekend, southern Rhode Island experienced a cluster of earthquakes centered just off our coast. You probably didn’t feel them but they did happen.

They started early Saturday morning and the third was early Sunday morning. They ranged in magnitude from 2.0 to 2.5 on the Richter scale. Damage to buildings usually required a force of 5.0 or higher on the Richter scale. The strongest recent earthquake was a 4.6 quake on June 10, 1951 just offshore from Westerly.

URI geologist Brian Savage told WPRI these and similar quakes seem likely to due to very old faults left over from eons ago when Rhode Island was attached to Africa:

“There were two existing faults that existed hundreds of millions of years ago that likely slipped along the surface and that caused energy to be radiated out into the ground of the Earth….I don’t think this is something to be concerned about. We have 300 years of [white] people living here in the New England area and we’ve had minimal earthquakes.”

Wood River Health Services adds a family nurse practitioner

Wood River Health Services (WRHS) announces that it has added Taryn Bishop, FNP to its dedicated team of Family Nurse Practitioners. 

Taryn is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner who previously worked at Ocean State Healthcare in Westerly. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of Rhode Island in 2006 and worked in an emergency department and critical care setting as a Registered Nurse for several years in Connecticut. 

After earning her Master’s degree from Sacred Heart University in 2017 as a Clinical Nurse Leader, she transitioned into nursing management prior to obtaining a Post Master’s Certificate from University of Rhode Island as a Family Nurse Provider. For the past five years, she has worked diligently to develop a large panel of primary care patients.  

Taryn Bishop works out of our Westerly facility at 17 Wells Street Wednesdays through Fridays. Beginning in the fall, she will also be available at our Hope Valley location at 823 Main Street. She is currently accepting new patients. 

For more information about WRHS, call (401) 539-2461 or visit www.woodriverhealthservices.org. 

New General Stanton Inn owners hope to recruit staff

Janice Falcone finally found suitable buyers for the iconic General Stanton Inn (founded in 1740), the gateway to Charlestown’s historic village district. The new owners hope to revive the Inn’s restaurant and are actively recruiting servers and kitchen staff.

They told WPRI that experienced servers can earn up to $20,000 this summer and that they will pay dishwashers who stay the whole summer a $500 bonus.

Those who are interested can apply online or connect with a recruiter over the phone by calling (401) 680-5960.

Nukes, numbers and nuts lead off this week's Tapas

Charlestown Tapas - tasty nuggets of news

By Will Collette

NRC finally steps up oversight of Millstone nuclear plant

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued yet another notice of violation to Virginia-based Dominion Energy, owner of Millstone, our local nuke. However, this time they are also putting Millstone’s Unit 3 reactor under added scrutiny.

The plant operator has had on-going problems with maintaining a steady, reliable flow of cooling water without which a disastrous accident could occur – as happened at the Fukushima plant in Japan after an earthquake knocked out that plant’s coolant system. Dangerous levels of radiation were released over a 50-mile radius. Note that Charlestown is only 20 miles downwind from Millstone.

Last summer, nearby residents of Millstone were given free potassium iodide pills to be taken if Millstone should have a radioactive release to prevent thyroid cancer. Charlestown didn’t get any, though you can buy it without a prescription.

There’s another report out that suggests you should also stock up on beer. One can of beer can cut your dosage to beta radiation from tritium by roughly half. The Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines for tritium safety recommend staying well hydrated if you are exposed to radiation so your body can flush some of it out of your system. With Millstone as a neighbor, that’s good to know.

When good news is bad news

Copar Quarry dirty deals

The story so far

By Christina Holden Shea

One of Copar's dust piles

In Bradford RI, there is a Connecticut based business called Copar that is operating a quarry under an illegal permit issued by the zoning board of Westerly. This quarry had been abandoned for more than 40 years only to be started up in 2009.  

Westerly Granite, owner of the quarry site, checked off "existing" when asked on the permit if the business at the quarry was ongoing.  It was not.  Many of us who live near the Old Sullivan quarry can testify to that.

Since Copar came to town, we are subjected to constant noise from excavation and rock crushing, silica dust on our homes, trucks full of gravel, sometimes uncovered, barreling through the neighborhood all day and explosions from Maine Blasting and Drilling damaging our homes whenever Copar needs to free up more rock for crushing.  

As residents of Bradford and nearby Charlestown, we formed Concerned Citizens of Bradford-Charlestown to raise community awareness and to challenge the assumption that Copar is a good business that is good for the local economy.

Charlestown Tapas

More than a dozen juicy bits just for you

By Will Collette

Register to Vote!

If you aren’t registered to vote, you really have little right to complain how things go in state or town government. Decisions are made by those who show up, and when it comes to elections, you must be registered. To vote in the September 9 Primary, either party, the deadline to register is Sunday, August 10. While there are no primaries for Charlestown town offices or General Assembly, there are red-hot primaries for Governor (both parties), as well as General Treasurer, Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor. To download voter registration forms, please visit here.

Lame Duck’s last quack, phoniness is not illegal and other Charlestown news bits

Charlestown Tapas

By Will Collette

Town Council meets on Monday for lame-duck session

Count on Joe Quadrato to light the way

The Charlestown Town Council holds its final session before giving way to the new all-CCA Party Council members who were elected on November 4. This will be farewell to Councilors Paula Andersen (D), Lisa DiBello and CCA’s Dan Slattery.

The agenda for this upcoming meeting is fairly light. One of the “highlights” will be for the Council to complete the CCA Party take-over of the Zoning Board of Review through the expected appointment of Joe “Bright Lights” Quadrato as a full member of the Zoning Board of Review. 

Quadrato is a member of the CCA Party Steering Committee and one of their major money fund-raisers, according to sources.

As part of my announced pull-back[1] from Charlestown politics, I plan to put less effort into covering the Town Council. Not much point, since the Charlestown Citizens Alliance now holds every elected position in Charlestown and all the levers of power. They can do any damned foolish thing they want with no one in Charlestown to stop them. RI Superior Court is going to get a whole lot busier.

You can look up the agenda for yourself on Clerkbase.

Filippi claim that his “RI Liberty Coalition” was a fake organization is upheld

Filippi - phony or fanatic? Both?

The RI Ethics Commission dismissed my complaint against State Representative-elect Blake Filippi (or is that Fake Bilippi?) that he failed to list his directorship of the extremist Tenther group, the RI Liberty Coalition, on his ethics disclosure form.

After I filed my complaint, Filippi’s principal defense was that the RI Liberty Coalition was not actually an organization since it only consisted of himself. This is similar to the way that Chariho School Committee member-elect Ron Areglado carries a non-existent organization, the Center for Ethical and Moral Leadership, on his resume.

It is not against the law for a candidate to make up phony organizations and not a legal requirement to report these fake organizations on official reports, such as the annual financial disclosure form. Accordingly, the Ethics Commission ruled that the RI Liberty Coalition was not a “business entity” (non-profit or otherwise) under the meaning of the Act. Click here to read their decision letter.

There's just so much about this guy that doesn't check out - where he really lives and why he gives so many different addresses, his radical connections, his opposition to Social Security and environmental regulation based on his Tenth Amendment beliefs (yet he pretends to care about the Copar quarry victims and about taxes on retirees), his company's labor law violations. I am wondering if it's time to start asking him to crack out his birth certificate.

Quarries on the move in Westerly

Charlestown Chunks #4: Lawyers,. guns and COVID

All the local news that doesn't fit into a regular-sized article

By Will Collette

Sparsely attended "rally" of Fat White Guys Against Sensible Gun Control (screenshot from Scott McKay's twitter site). That's our state "Senator" Elaine Morgan to the right (of course) wearing a Deborah Birx scarf. She also spoke.

GUNS

It's never too early to teach your child how to fire a machine gun

As the General Assembly nears the close of its session, it seems likely that some new gun control measures will be enacted. They won't be enough to stop our outrageous gun violence, but they will be steps in the right direction. They will also infuriate right-wing gun nuts (see photo above). 

Nice to see Sen. Elaine Morgan, the Trumplican who represents the northern half of Charlestown had the guts to defy logic,  decency and the vast majority of voters to put gun rights ahead of innocent gun violence victims.

Her two local Trumplican colleagues, Blake "Flip" Filippi and Mad Dog Justin Price, have largely stayed out of the limelight. That's hard for Flip to do since he started mainlining publicity upon his entry into politics even though he not only supports gun rights but also illegal armed private militias. 

I suspect Justin Price is hiding in a cave with a small arsenal of automatic weapons waiting for the FBI to show up with an arrest warrant for his participation in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

COVID

You need to stop saying the pandemic is fading or listening to anyone who says that it is. The pandemic is NOT going away. 

In Rhode Island, our infection rates are higher than they were a year ago and there are two new variants that are even more contagious than the Omicron BA 2.12.1 variant that has been infecting so many of your friends and family. 

The two new variants – BA.4 and BA.5 - are even more adept at evading antibodies to re-infect those who have had COVID already or break through those who are fully vaccinated. But getting fully vaccinated and masking up are still your best protection from landing in the hospital or dying. 

But that’s something many fully vaccinated adults aren’t doing. Instead, they are treating COVID like it’s gone and are going to big events, restaurants and taking long trips unmasked. My nephew Chris and his wife both got sick from COVID after an unmasked trip to a California wedding – a super-spreader event. Chris says he and the others were guilty of “magical thinking” that they were safe when they weren't. 

Guardian columnist Brigid Delaney says the pandemic has undergone “social death” where, though it is still all around us, nobody wants to talk about it anymore. 

Some alarming new research shows that even mild break-through cases can lead to “long COVID” effects. A new article in Fortune magazine states that studies are showing long COVID in COVID survivors at rates ranging from 10% to 80% with the most recent estimate at 23 million people. The article does a great job at laying out the effects and symptomology of long COVID. 

It’s been said before that just because we’re done with COVID doesn’t mean COVID is done with us. 

Other than knowing the infection rate is high, we don’t really know how many people are getting sick. Our vapid Gov. Dan McKee (right) has effectively dismantled the state testing system, plus most households now have home testing kits. 

There is NO mechanism to get home-test positive readings counted. Thus, all reported case statistics are grossly undercounted. And that’s without considering those who had asymptomatic COVID and didn’t use a home-test. 

A new survey of cases in New York City by researchers at CUNY indicated the real number of people with COVID is actually thirty times higher than the official count. 

McKee has been a leading voice of denial in Rhode Island telling people the pandemic is over and to go out and spend money in restaurants. COVID be damned. 

His approach epitomizes Rhode Island’s major problems: lack of leadership. A third top-ranking Health Department official, interim department director Dr. James McDonald, has resigned. Dr. McDonald took over when Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott resigned a few months ago after clashing with McKee over COVID policy. Tom McCarthy, former executive director of COVID-19 response, also resigned, explicitly blaming McKee for politicizing COVID response. McDonald said he was leaving for family reasons: to care for his very elderly parents. 

It’s not known who’s left on the Health Department bench to replace McDonald. Maybe McKee has a veterinarian crony from Cumberland who needs a job. Or maybe he just doesn’t give a shit. 

Ritacco released on bail

Speaking of corrupt politicians, on June 1, former Westerly Democratic Town Committee chair Bob Ritacco was formally charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault.

Both charges are capital offenses in Rhode Island that carry the potential for a life sentence. 

He was released on a $20,000 surety bond. 

These rape charges result from an alleged rape that took place almost exactly one year ago. 

This is not Ritacco’s first time under a legal or ethics cloud. CLICK HERE for more. 

Shoreline access bill passes House 

Here's the fence bill co-sponsor and full-time hypocrite Rep. Blake "Flip"
Filippi erected - illegally - in from of his own beach front property on
Block Island (Block Island Times photo)

The full House voted unanimously to pass H8055, the bill produced by the shoreline access commission. While that’s good news to local activists like Charlestown’s Scott Keeley, the compromise bill may face a harder sell in the state Senate. 

The bill would ensure people can walk along the beach freely up to six feet above the high tide line. It doesn’t address how you actually get to the beach. Parking is restricted or expensive all over the coast. 

Beach property owners, ranging from fake fire districts to out of state owners to beachfront business owners – such as bill co-sponsor Blake “Flip” Filippi – have notoriously blocked public paths to the beach. In 2015, Filippi erected a fence across the entire beach in front of one of his properties (see photo above). 

Alex Nunes at Rhode Island’s The Public’s Radio reports that despite the unanimous vote in the House, there is no Senate version of the bill and the bill is not a priority for the Senate leadership. 

Nunes quotes an e-mail from Senate spokesperson Greg Paré that the bill “is not a focus at this time” and the Senate has “not had hearings on it or conducted any of the necessary diligence on it at this point.” 

Accidental Gov. Dan McKee has not committed one way or the other, but that’s par for the course for him. 

To become law, bills must pass both houses of the General Assembly and then be signed by the Governor. The General Assembly plans to adjourn in a couple of weeks. 

Animal Rights group calls for federal investigation of Mystic Aquarium

Free these intelligent creatures from the taunts of children

Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), a national animal welfare group with a history of successfully challenging animal abuses, filed a formal complaint with the US Department of Agriculture over the mistreatment leading to death of beluga whales at the popular Mystic Aquarium. 

We reprinted an excellent piece by Charlestown’s Cynthia Drummond in EcoRI last April on the deaths of beluga whales at the Aquarium. 

After Cynthia’s article ran in EcoRI, I cut back Progressive Charlestown’s coverage of Mystic Aquarium, including their events, seal releases in Charlestown and other news, pending a change in policy by the Aquarium. 

In my opinion, Mystic made the classic organizational mistake of taking on too much by those importing sick belugas from Canada. More belugas, more ticket sales. 

Belugas are remarkable, intelligent marine mammals. But none of these wonderful creatures whose intelligence rivals that of humans should be kept in watery cages unless there is a genuine medical reason why they can’t be released into the wild. 

I have long admired Mystic’s marine mammal rescue program that has saved, healed and then released hundreds of seals and sea lions usually from Charlestown’s beaches. 

As much as I have loved watching whales in the wild, watching them in a tank is just plain sad.HEALTH 

Million dollars to Tomaquag 

When the Champlin Foundation of Providence announced its new grant awards, one grant really stood out: a million dollar grant to the Tomaquag Museum to help it build “a comprehensive, four-building campus on 18 acres of rural University of Rhode Island land in South Kingstown” to honor the history and culture of Rhode Island’s indigenous people. 

I wish this project could have been built in Charlestown, perhaps in Ninigret Park. But Tomaquag’s partnership with URI makes a lot more sense. 

If this project had been proposed for Charlestown, it would have faced bloody resistance from the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), the town’s professional Indian fighter attorney Joe Larisa and a death struggle with Planning Commissar Ruth Platner. All are committed to maintaining institutional racism in Charlestown largely centered on the Narragansetts. 

Tomaquag Executive Director Lorén M. Spears said this about the Champlin grant: 

“Support and enthusiasm for our campaign continues to grow, and this gift from Champlin further underscores the momentum we have for elevating the stories of Indigenous people and engaging more Rhode Islanders in exploring, understanding, and honoring that legacy.”

Jonnycake Center forms another partnership

In the last Charlestown Chunks, I wrote about a new partnership between Wakefield’s Jonnycake Center and Wood River Health Services to provide food, nutrition and services to pregnant women, babies and small children. 

The Independent reports another partnership, this time between the Jonnycake Center and the Westerly Credit Union to help low-income households with trashed credit rebuild their credit rating, using $500 micro-loans. 

Having a decent credit history is one of those things you don’t appreciate until you lose it and find you can’t rent an apartment or get a car loan. 

Those who receive the micro-loan will get credit counseling and home finance education and will be expected to pay back the loan in one year. The idea is to show a pattern of reliability to help lift credit scores higher. 

Said Jonnycake Center director Kate Brewster, “The credit union wanted to do more for the community at the time the Jonnycake Center identified the housing problem for rentals for low-income individuals and families… Without a good credit score, they may be unable to qualify for housing in a tight market where rentals are scarce anyway.” 

Save Spanish 

In my youth, an anarchist friend of mine used to tell me “petitioning the government is like pissing in the wind.” Though that’s still mostly true 50 years later, there are some petitions worth signing. 

Alex Korus has started up a Change.org petition to try to save K-12 Spanish-language classes at Chariho as the district cuts back after voters twice defeated their proposed budget. 

Alex makes the sound argument that this will hurt students’ ability to compete for college admissions. He notes it’s easier to learn languages when you’re young – I can certainly attest to that. Then there’s the fact that Spanish is the largest second-language in the US spoken by almost 42 million people. 

Support Alex and his fellow Chariho Middle Schoolers by signing the petition HERE.

Free daily digest

If you would like to get a daily listing via e-mail of all the articles in the current Progressive Charlestown, look for the graphic shown to the right. 

Fill in your e-mail and click "Subscribe."

This e-mail contains a link to each article to save you from having to scroll down.

You'll find this subscription box in the right-hand column just a few inches down. The graphic on the right is not "live." It's just a graphic.

Charlestown Chunks #15

Good food, good stats. We need more affordable housing and less Bob Ritacco and Mikey Chambers 

By Will Collette

Chef/owner of Charlestown restaurant among finalists for prestigious James Beard award

The annual Beard Award is like the Nobel prize for chefs and Sherry Pocknett of Sly Fox Den Too is one of only three RI chefs to make the final 20 in the competition. Ms Pocknett, a Wampanoag, took over the old Gentleman Farmer space on Route 2 in 2021 and has been serving regional Native American food with remarkable creative flair. 

Since the pandemic, I haven’t gotten out to restaurants much, but Progressive Charlestown co-founder Tom Ferrio enticed me to lunch, and I was very impressed with the taste, quality and value. I had the “Indian Sammich” and it was delicious. I brought home some Indian Pudding for Cathy who declared it was the best she’d ever had. 

Winners will be announced on June 5 at a ceremony in Chicago. 

CRMC takes an unusual vote 

In other local restaurant news, Perry Raso, owner of the outstanding Matunuck Oyster Bar, wants to expand his oyster farm in Potter Pond in South Kingstown despite the usual opposition from area Aqua-NIMBYs. There is general consensus that oyster farming removes pollution from coastal pond water as well as providing jobs and helping to grow Rhode Island’s “blue economy.” 

But Aqua-NIMBYs hate the idea of seeing working people in the water, spoiling their million-dollar views. The Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) whose approval is necessary, voted uncharacteristically to defer to agency experts who are reviewing Raso’s revised and scaled down plan.  

This decision comes after CRMC decisions, often contradicting staff recommendations, were defeated in court. All of this comes as part of a running battle between the Matunuck Oyster Bar and its neighbors after it gained its well-earned reputation as one of the best seafood restaurants in southern New England. 

Surprising survey results 

It’s been an article of faith, particularly among conservatives, that Rhode Island sucks. The media, especially the Providence Journal and GoLocal, feed into this by citing endless surveys ranking Rhode Island against other states. 

The survey industry is huge with numerous companies devoted to crunching numbers and coming up with best and worst listings. One of the largest is Wallethub. Every workday, I get an e-mail from them with the latest rankings they’ve devised. Recently, Rhode Island was ranked in several more unusual categories. 

For example, they did a survey of states that did the most to discourage smoking. In that survey, Rhode Island ranked 4^th among the states, behind Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. Missouri, Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina were deemed the most smoker friendly. 

We also ranked the 4^th worst state for driving that factored in congestion, gas prices, taxes, insurance costs, road quality and car thefts. We came in behind Hawaii, Washington State and Delaware. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see Rhode Island ranked 7^th in the category of workers least likely to quit their jobs. This category was surprisingly divided Blue versus Red, with Blue states seeming to have the best rates of job satisfaction while Red state workers were more likely to want to quit – Alaska, Wyoming and Montana topped that list. The best states for job stability are New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  

Jamestown plans higher property tax credits for volunteer firefighters 

The Jamestown Town Council voted to ask its General Assembly representatives to secure state approval for a planned boost in property tax credits for volunteer first responders which is currently $700. The town wants to raise the credits to $1,000 to $2000 depending on the years of service.  

Jamestown fire chief James Bryer said, “volunteerism is a dying breed right now, and we are trying to figure out how to maintain it here in Jamestown.” 

Charlestown’s active fire districts (as opposed to FAKE districts in Shady Harbor and Central Quonnie) suffer chronic shortages. Charlestown offers no tax incentives to recruit or retain volunteer first responders. They should, in my opinion. 

State education aid would increase to Chariho towns 

If Governor Dan McKee’s budget is passed by the General Assembly, Charlestown would receive an additional $101,029 in state aid. Hopkinton would get an additional $622,664 and Richmond’s share would be $613,523. 

That’s a total of $1,337,216 of proposed additional state aid that would go into the Chariho school system.  

Major political change goes largely unnoticed 

I’ve been watching to see what else might come out to explain the abrupt January 3 notice that former one-term RI Secretary of State Matt Brown was out as both leader and board member of the RI Political Co-op which he founded in 2018. The Co-op largely recruited and helped to support progressive Democrats to run in primaries and elections to counter the mainstream Democratic leadership. 

The Co-op was also Brown’s launch pad for several quixotic runs for state office, all of which he lost in spectacular fashion. The Co-op’s highpoint was the 2020 election that saw eight co-op candidates win. In 2022, it was a different story as Co-op candidates failed across the state. 

In a twist, new state Rep. Megan Cotter originally started out as a Co-op candidate in her near successful 2020 effort to unseat Richmond rightwing nut Justin Price. She dropped her Co-op affiliation for an encore in 2022 and won. 

I’ll update you as more of the backstory comes out, especially as it may affect the 2024 election. 

Update on Bob Ritacco 

Bob Ritacco ran the Westerly Democratic Party like an old-fashioned stereotype of a political boss and dominated town politics despite a record of shady dealings. But his domination came to a decisive close when he was indicted by a state grand jury on two counts of first-degree sexual assault (i.e., rape) last April. 

He has been out on $20,000 bond awaiting trial. However, the Westerly Sun reported that he was supposed to have his pre-trial conference in January, but now that date has been pushed back to May due to time conflicts. 

Charlestown and Charlestownians in the media

Kudos to Thom Cahir who was interviewed by public radio’s Ian Donnis and made these comments about affordable housing: 

“Charlestown Affordable Housing Commission member THOM CAHIR:

 The issue of affordable housing in Rhode Island has been a minefield since the legislature mandated municipalities reach a 10% threshold 30 years ago. Living conditions should have become fairer and more equitable, but only disparity and dichotomy remain. Legislation passed at the end of the session last year was a good start, but with housing costs and rent so high, and people living outdoors and not enough space to shelter them, now is the time to bring all stakeholders together to craft something that allows for more than a "one size fits all" solution. What works in urban areas caused those of us in the hinterlands to rewrite whole swaths of affordable housing, zoning and planning ordinances to come into compliance. Work with local officials to find specific workarounds. Convene the experts to discuss renovating existing structures in cities, and boosting accessory dwelling units in the suburbs and rural areas. And most of all, educate the NIMBY class that their kids can't move back home after college if all they care about is their property values. Also, citizens need to know that communities can't thrive without a healthy workforce. I would urge whoever ends up as the new housing secretary to work with the General Assembly as an opportunity to enlist every stakeholder to push for every creative idea being explored in every corner of the state to make housing more affordable. If not now, when?”

Germane to Thom’s point: new data ranks Charlestown as #14 among Rhode Island’s 39 cities and towns for fastest growing home prices. Charlestown’s home prices rose by 8.8% over last year with a typical Charlestown residence priced at $625,840. 

CCA ideologue Mikey Chambers has returned to his former role as the CCA’s most prolific commenter and writer of letters. Lately, he has joined in beating the drum on a couple of favorite new CCA themes: that Charlestown’s low tax rate absolves the CCA of all crimes and misdemeanors and that the CCA really and truly loves the town’s staff, especially those who do exactly what the CCA tells them to do. 

Mikey was particularly worked up over the resignation under pressure of the CCA’s favorite, Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz (whose rancid record is detailed HERE).  

In a Jan. 28 comment on the CCA blog, Mikey assumed the mantle of an Old Testament prophet on behalf of Stanky, writing: 

“The people responsible for forcing Mark out of his job will be judged on their humanity and character and cannot be absolved from this heinous act unless they publicly come clean. It is not my place to forgive them this sin, they sinned in public and need to seek redemption in public."

Holy shit, Mikey. That’s way over the top even for you. As one of Stankiewicz’s long-time critics, I am proud of my well-documented challenges to him and to his CCA masters.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

CRASH

A bus carrying Prout High School’s girls’ varsity basketball team to Chariho High crashed on King’s Factory Road on the way to the game on January 6. The bus went off the road and hit a tree.  

Several of the young women suffered minor injuries. The driver was charged with several violations including failure to maintain control and leaving the lane of travel. He was not charged with hitting the tree, in violation of Charlestown Ordinance 163-10, “Protection of Trees within public rights-of-way.” 

Charlestown Police Chief Michael Paliotta said investigators found the driver was fiddling with the GPS at the time of the crash.  

EVENTS 

Notices have recently appeared calling for local singers to audition for upcoming performances at the Chorus of Westerly.  This local institution is looking for singers, young and old, to apply. 

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

If you’re looking for something worth picketing, the RI Republican Party has joyously announced that former Trump strumpet Kellyanne Conway will keynote the GOP’s March 2^nd Lincoln Day Dinner at the Event Factory in Warwick. Aside from showing a video of Abraham Lincoln spinning in his grave, you can count on Conway to serve up a steaming pile of lies for all the MAGAnuts in attendance to swallow up. Click here for more details on the event. 

Here's a sad non-event. The once annual RI National Guard Air Show at Quonset is “no longer,” according to Major General Christopher Callahan. The show took a big hit from the pandemic, but the cancellation now has more to do with logistics including a $100 million construction project. The show used to draw thousands of spectators.